Institutional buyers are aggressively accumulating DOT at $1.29 despite bearish technicals, with whale positioning hitting 2.2x long – targeting $2.00 within 10 days as compressed volatility sets u…
Market Context: Smart Money vs. Charts
DOT trades in a war zone between what the charts say and what the money does. The token sits 38% below its 200-day moving average at $2.08, screaming technical weakness. Yet derivatives positioning tells the opposite story – top traders maintain 68.9% long exposure while open interest climbed 2.94% to $51 million over 24 hours.
This disconnect creates explosive setups. When institutional money fights technical gravity this aggressively, something breaks. The question is whether weak hands capitulate first or resistance levels crack under buying pressure.
Technical Powder Keg Building
The indicators show a market coiling for violence. RSI hovers at 49.37 – neutral territory where breakouts tend to be brutal. MACD sits flatlined at zero, indicating momentum is compressed and ready to explode. DOT’s position at 0.70 within the Bollinger Bands shows the recent bounce from $1.28 has room to run before hitting overbought conditions.
Most telling is the $0.08 daily ATR – volatility compression that historically precedes 20-30% moves within days. The 1.22 buy/sell ratio over the past hour confirms aggressive accumulation is happening at these levels.
The Whale Signal
Funding rates remain neutral at 0.0028% despite heavy long positioning – meaning smart money isn’t paying premium for their bets. This suggests they’re accumulating before the crowd realizes what’s happening. When whales go 2.2x long without driving up costs, they’re positioning for a significant move.
The institutional alignment with retail (both heavily long) creates a tinderbox. Either this coordination drives a powerful squeeze, or it sets up for coordinated liquidation if key support breaks.
Battle Lines Drawn
The setup points to $2.00 within 10 days if DOT can break above $1.34 resistance. That level triggers short covering that should propel the token toward $1.50, then momentum carries it to test the 200-day average near $2.08.
The bear trap sits below $1.26. Break that support and overleveraged longs face liquidation pressure targeting $1.15-$1.20.
DOT’s fate hinges on the $1.31 pivot. Above it confirms whale conviction and triggers the squeeze to $2.00. Below it exposes the bulls as wrong and opens the door to significant downside.
Given the aggressive institutional positioning and compressed volatility, the setup favors explosive upside. The whales are betting big – their conviction should drive price action over the next week.
ALPHA trades at extreme oversold levels with RSI at 16 – expecting either capitulation to $0.005 support or technical bounce to $0.015 resistance within 7 days.
ALPHA’s Oversold Territory
ALPHA sits at $0.01 in brutal oversold conditions. The RSI reading of 16.20 puts this token in territory where panic selling either exhausts itself completely or accelerates into full capitulation. Most assets don’t stay at these extreme levels long – they either bounce hard or break down violently.
The MACD histogram flatlined at zero shows momentum has completely stalled. Neither bulls nor bears have control right now, creating a powder keg situation where the next directional move carries outsized impact. This technical vacuum rarely lasts more than a few trading sessions.
Trading near the lower Bollinger Band at 0.0095 confirms the oversold thesis. When price hugs the lower band this tightly, it signals either a bounce setup or continued free fall through support. The Bollinger Band squeeze suggests volatility expansion is imminent.
Volume and Market Structure
The stochastic oscillators sit at multi-month lows (%K at 3.65, %D at 2.92), reinforcing the oversold narrative. These readings often coincide with capitulation bottoms in smaller cap tokens, but can also persist during prolonged downtrends.
All major moving averages now act as resistance overhead. The 20-period SMA at $0.02 and 200-period SMA at $0.04 create multiple layers of seller interest on any bounce attempt. This resistance stack limits upside potential even in a relief scenario.
The neutral funding rate on perpetual futures suggests limited shorting interest remains. When derivatives traders lose appetite for shorting oversold assets, it often marks emotional exhaustion in the selling pressure.
Market Psychology Assessment
ALPHA has fallen completely off the mainstream radar. The absence of discussion from crypto influencers and analysts reflects the token’s descent into irrelevance rather than accumulation opportunity. This radio silence can persist for months in smaller projects that lose narrative momentum.
Current price action resembles other tokens that experienced similar technical breakdowns. The pattern suggests either a final capitulation flush or extended sideways grinding in obscurity.
Price Target Analysis
Primary Scenario (70% probability): ALPHA breaks current support and declines to $0.005 within 7 days. The technical damage appears too severe for a sustained bounce, and the lack of buying interest suggests further downside pressure. Any relief rallies get sold into the moving average resistance levels.
Alternative Scenario (30% probability): RSI divergence triggers a relief bounce to $0.015 resistance over the next 10-14 days. This outcome requires either unexpected fundamental catalysts or coordinated buying from existing holders defending positions. The bounce would likely stall at the first significant resistance zone.
The risk/reward currently favors waiting for clearer directional signals. A break below $0.009 confirms the breakdown scenario, while RSI climbing above 30 with volume expansion would validate the bounce thesis.
ALPHA remains a falling knife until proven otherwise. The technical setup demands either a clear breakdown entry or patience for oversold bounce confirmation with proper risk management protocols.
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded nearly $1 billion in net inflows over the past week, marking their strongest performance in more than three months as market sentiment shifts toward risk assets.
Data from SoSoValue shows that spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs attracted $996 muillion in total net inflows last week, the highest weekly intake since early January, when inflows reached about $1.4 billion.
Friday saw $663.9 million in inflows, the strongest single-day performance of the week. Earlier gains included $411.5 million on Tuesday and $186 million on Wednesday, followed by a more modest $26 million on Thursday. The period began with a $291 million outflow on Monday.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs see nearly $1 billion in weekly gains. Source: SoSoValue
Total net assets across spot Bitcoin ETFs climbed above $101 billion by Friday, alongside a sharp increase in trading activity, with daily volumes nearing $4.8 billion.
According to analysts at Bitunix, markets are increasingly pricing in how geopolitical tensions evolve rather than whether they persist. Signs of de-escalation, particularly around US–Iran relations, have reduced extreme risk scenarios, weakening demand for traditional safe havens like the US dollar, they said.
The analysts added that the Federal Reserve is still taking a cautious approach, and expectations for rate cuts remain limited. At the same time, concerns about US debt demand and high long-term yields are starting to weaken confidence in traditional “risk-free” assets. This has contributed to additional pressure on the dollar, further supporting flows into alternative assets, including Bitcoin.
“In crypto market structure, BTC is currently in a classic liquidity redistribution phase,” they wrote, adding that Bitcoin continues to trade in a defined range, with resistance above $75,000 and support forming near $72,000. “Liquidation heatmaps suggest the market is building a new equilibrium range rather than extending a directional trend,” they said.
On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister announced that the Strait of Hormuz has been reopened to commercial shipping for the duration of the current ceasefire, a move quickly confirmed by US President Donald Trump. The decision eased immediate fears of supply disruption in one of the world’s most critical oil transit routes, triggering swift reactions across global markets.
Bitcoin surged above $77,000 following the news, while Brent crude fell roughly 10% to around $85 per barrel.
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Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched USDC Bridge, a new user interface built on top of the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) that seeks to simplify native cross-chain transfers of the USDC stablecoin.
On Friday, Circle’s USDC X account said the bridge allows users to move the USDC (USDC) stablecoin in a “predictable, transparent way,” citing a native burn-and-mint transfer mechanism and no bridge complexities.
Gas fees will be handled automatically, fees will be shown upfront, and live status updates will be provided throughout the transfer, Circle added.
The USDC Bridge builds on Circle’s CCTP, which was introduced in April 2023 and facilitates hundreds of millions of stablecoin transfers each day.
CCTP eliminated the need for wrapped and synthetic versions of USDC.
Cross-chain bridges seek to make the broader crypto ecosystem interoperable, functioning as a unified network rather than a collection of fragmented, isolated blockchains.
Making bridges as simple and easy to use as possible has been an area of focus for many crypto infrastructure firms.
In the past, bridges have confused users and arguably slowed crypto adoption, especially for beginners struggling to navigate bridge interfaces, trade routes and gas fees.
USDC Bridge supports over a dozen blockchains
Cointelegraph found that USDC Bridge supports USDC transfers between at least 17 Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Monad, Optimism, Polygon, Sonic and World Network.
Circle’s CCTP supports a broader number of blockchains, including Solana, Sui and Aptos, which are not natively EVM compatible.
On Wednesday, Circle was hit with a class action for failing to freeze around $230 million worth of USDC that moved through its CCTP from the Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.
More than 100 members are involved in the class action. The law firm representing them, Mira Gibb, is seeking damages, with the final amount to be determined at trial.
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Bitcoin soared above $76,000, opening the doors for a further rally toward $84,000.
Several major altcoins are showing strength, signaling broad-based buying by the bulls.
Bitcoin (BTC) skyrocketed above the $76,000 resistance on Friday after Iran’s foreign minister said that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open for the remainder of the ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran.
Another positive sign for the bulls is that BTC’s rise has been supported by solid accumulation by the whales. According to CryptoQuant data, BTC whales holding more than 1,000 BTC have added about 270,000 coins in the past 30 days, the largest buying spree since 2013.
However, some analysts remain skeptical about BTC’s advance. Glassnode said in its latest Week Onchain newsletter that the current recovery has more legs to it, but is likely to face selling pressure at the True Market Mean at $78,100. Buyers will have to sustain the price above $78,100 on a mid-term basis to create a “structural shift toward a bull market.”
Crypto market data daily view. Source: TradingView
Another cautious view came from trading resource Material Indicators. In a video posted on X, Material Indicators said that BTC will have to cross the yearly open at $87,500 and the 50-week moving average near $97,000, and the relative strength index has to close above the 41 level on the weekly time frame to confirm that a bull market has returned.
Could BTC and select major altcoins sustain above their overhead resistance levels? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
Bitcoin price prediction
BTC surged above the $78,000 level on Friday, its highest level in ten weeks, indicating sustained buying by the bulls.
The upsloping 20-day exponential moving average ($72,136) and the RSI near the overbought zone indicate that the bulls are attempting to seize control. A close above the $76,000 level will complete a bullish ascending triangle pattern, opening the door to a rally to $84,000, then to the pattern target of $92,000.
The moving averages are critical support levels to watch on the downside, as a close below them suggests the bears remain in control. The BTC/USDT pair may then tumble toward the triangle’s support line.
Ether price prediction
Sellers attempted to halt the recovery at the $2,415 level in Ether (ETH), but the bulls continued to exert pressure and did not allow the price to dip below the 20-day EMA ($2,235).
If the ETH price closes above the $2,415 resistance level, the recovery may extend to $2,800, then to $3,050. Such a move suggests that the ETH/USDT pair may have bottomed out at $1,748.
This bullish view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns down sharply and breaks below the moving averages. That suggests the break above the $2,415 level may have been a bull trap. The pair may then decline to the $1,916 level.
XRP price prediction
XRP (XRP) closed above the 50-day simple moving average ($1.38) on Wednesday, indicating that the bears are losing their grip.
The 20-day EMA ($1.37) has started to turn up gradually, and the RSI is in the positive territory, indicating an advantage to the bulls. The XRP price may rally to the downtrend line of the descending channel pattern, which is expected to behave as a formidable hurdle. If buyers clear the hurdle, the XRP/USDT pair will indicate a potential trend change.
The moving averages are the vital support to watch out for on the downside. If the support breaks down, the pair may retest the crucial $1.27 level.
BNB price prediction
BNB (BNB) closed above the 50-day SMA ($626) on Thursday, indicating that the selling pressure is reducing.
If the BNB price remains above the moving averages, the next stop is likely to be the $687 level. Sellers will try to halt the recovery at $687, but if buyers bulldoze their way through, the rally may reach $730 and eventually $790.
On the contrary, if the price turns down from the current level or the overhead resistance and breaks below the moving averages, it signals that the BNB/USDT pair may remain within the $570 to $687 range for a while longer.
Solana price prediction
Solana’s (SOL) close above the moving averages suggests that the bulls are attempting to push the price to the $98 resistance.
Sellers are expected to fiercely defend the $98 level. If the SOL/USDT pair turns down sharply from $98 and breaks below the moving averages, it signals that the consolidation may extend for a few more days.
The first sign of strength on the upside will be a break and close above the $98 resistance. That opens the doors for a rally to the $117 level, where the bears are again expected to step in.
Dogecoin price prediction
Dogecoin (DOGE) turned up from the moving averages on Wednesday and rallied to the $0.10 level on Thursday.
Sellers will strive to halt the recovery at the $0.10 level, but if buyers do not give up much ground from the current level, it increases the possibility of a rally to $0.11 and subsequently to $0.12.
The bears are likely to have other plans. They will attempt to pull the DOGE price back below the moving averages. If they succeed, the DOGE/USDT pair may plummet to the solid support at $0.09.
Hyperliquid price prediction
Sellers are attempting to pull Hyperliquid (HYPE) back below the breakout level of $43.76, but the bulls have held their ground.
If the HYPE price continues higher and breaks above the $46 level, it suggests that the bulls have flipped the $43.76 level into support. That increases the likelihood of a rally to the $50 to $51.43 zone.
Time is running out for the bears. They will have to pull the HYPE/USDT pair below the 20-day EMA ($40.78) to make a comeback. If they manage to do that, the pair may slump to the 50-day SMA ($37.38).
Sellers are expected to aggressively defend the downtrend line, but if the bulls prevail, the ADA/USDT pair may climb to $0.32, then to $0.37. Such a move signals a potential short-term trend change.
On the contrary, if the ADA price turns down from the downtrend line and breaks below the moving averages, it suggests the pair may remain within the channel for some time.
Bitcoin Cash price prediction
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) pierced the 20-day EMA ($447) on Thursday, but the relief rally is facing selling at the 50-day SMA ($454).
The 20-day EMA is flattening out, and the RSI is near the midpoint, suggesting that the selling pressure is reducing. If bulls prevent the BCH price from dipping below $443, it could signal a shift in sentiment. That increases the likelihood of a break above the 50-day SMA. If that happens, the BCH/USDT pair may surge to $486, then to $520.
Alternatively, if the price breaks below $443, it signals that the bears remain sellers on rallies. The pair may then plunge toward the solid support at $419.
Chainlink price prediction
Chainlink (LINK) is attempting to break above the $8 to $10 resistance, where bears are expected to mount a strong defense.
If the price turns down from the overhead resistance and breaks below the moving averages, it suggests that the LINK/USDT pair may consolidate inside the range for a few more days.
On the other hand, if the LINK price closes above the $10 level, it indicates that the consolidation has resolved in favor of the bulls. The pair may then rally to the $11.61 level, where the bears are expected to step in. There is resistance at $10.94, but it is likely to be crossed.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision. While we strive to provide accurate and timely information, Cointelegraph does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your reliance on this information.
ALPACA trades at $0.22 facing a critical resistance test at $0.27 that will determine whether it rallies to $0.35 or crashes back to $0.13 support levels.
Market Context: Why ALPACA is Moving Now
ALPACA has carved out a defensive position at $0.22 following its recent pullback, but the token sits squarely in the crosshairs of a major technical decision. The DeFi lending protocol’s native token trades well above its major moving averages yet struggles to convert that strength into sustained upward momentum.
The current price action reflects broader uncertainty in the yield farming sector, where institutional interest battles against retail exhaustion from previous boom-bust cycles. Trading patterns suggest accumulation phases interrupted by periodic profit-taking, creating the choppy sideways movement that defines ALPACA’s recent behavior.
Indicator Alignment
Technical momentum tells the story of a market caught between competing forces. The RSI’s position in neutral territory masks underlying strength from the moving average structure, where shorter-term averages maintain their upward slope despite recent hesitation. This creates a coiled spring effect where small catalysts could trigger outsized moves.
The Bollinger Band positioning reveals ALPACA trading in the upper portion of its recent range without reaching extreme levels that typically signal reversals. Meanwhile, the average true range expansion warns of increased volatility potential as the current consolidation pattern approaches its breaking point.
Most significantly, the interaction between price and key moving averages shows ALPACA defending critical support while repeatedly testing overhead resistance – a classic setup for a decisive breakout in either direction.
Strategic Positioning
The Upside Scenario: ALPACA’s push above $0.27 resistance opens a clear path toward $0.35, where the next major Fibonacci extension awaits. This move requires sustained buying pressure and volume confirmation, but the technical setup supports this trajectory once resistance breaks. The 200-day moving average provides a solid foundation for such a rally.
The Downside Risk: Failure at current levels triggers a retreat to test the $0.21 support zone, with further weakness potentially driving price back to the $0.13 area where stronger buyers historically emerge. This scenario becomes more likely if broader DeFi sentiment deteriorates or if ALPACA fails to generate meaningful trading volume.
The Trading Plan: Watch for decisive action at the $0.27 resistance level over the next week. A clean break above this zone with expanding volume signals the start of a larger rally. Conversely, rejection at resistance followed by a break below $0.21 confirms the bearish scenario and opens the door to deeper losses.
The current technical structure suggests ALPACA won’t remain range-bound much longer. The compression between support and resistance levels, combined with the underlying momentum indicators, points to an imminent resolution that should provide clarity for the next major price move.
BTC price action attempted to capitalize on recent strength across risk assets, with geopolitical tensions and uncertainty over global oil supplies increasingly priced in. A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon appeared to further boost market confidence.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 hit 7,050 points for the first time in history, sealing its highest-ever close and its second all-time high of the week.
Commenting, crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe said that Bitcoin should soon gain more thanks to reduced macro volatility, notably in the VIX volatility index.
“As long as the VIX continues to fall, and we’re in a new equilibrium, where oil volatility goes down, Gold volatility significantly drops,” he wrote in a post on X.
“What will you start to see? More inflows in the $BTC ETF as allocators can allocate more towards Bitcoin.”
US spot Bitcoin ETF netflows (screenshot). Source: Farside Investors
Van de Poppe referred to the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have seen $330 million in net inflows week-to-date, per data from UK-based investment firm Farside Investors.
“That would also benefit altcoins and $ETH, as they’ll follow the path of Bitcoin,” he added.
“In that case, I see a strong case for Bitcoin continuing the rally to $85-88K in coming 2-4 weeks.”
BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X
Trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, put $72,800 as the “pivotal” level to reclaim at the upcoming weekly candle close for BTC/USD.
“If Bitcoin wants to Weekly Close above the Weekly resistance ($72,810, blue), then price would need to hold the blue level as support on any upcoming dip,” he explained alongside a chart showing key price points.
“The last time Bitcoin rejected from the black resistance in mid-March, price also lost the blue level as support. Which is why a Daily Close below the blue level after any upcoming dip could see price drop back into the blue-blue Weekly Range.”
BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X
Trader warns of volume-led BTC price downside
Bearish perspectives included that of trader Roman, who maintained expectations of lower levels next.
Declining trading volume into the highs, he warned, was a telltale sign of fading momentum.
“We’re in a macro downtrend which when we see high volume continues downward. Low volume implies consolidation/correction to continue the overall trend,” he explained on X.
“The next high volume move likely takes us lower.”
BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Roman/X
As Cointelegraph reported, sub-$50,000 price levels remain a popular bet for Bitcoin’s next macro bottom.
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research before making any decisions. Cointelegraph makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information presented, including forward-looking statements, and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content.
Neo co-founder Da Hongfei has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the Neo Foundation after years of deadlock with co-founder Erik Zhang left one of crypto’s oldest networks effectively paralyzed.
The plan follows Neo’s first public financial disclosure since 2019, showing about $461 million in assets held across the Neo Foundation (NF) and Neo Global Development (NGD) at the end of 2025.
The proposed restructuring aims to replace what Hongfei described as informal, founder-driven governance, arguing the outcome could serve as a test case for how aging blockchain networks manage large treasuries and transition away from founder control.
Hongfei told Cointelegraph that at the core of the restructuring is a break with the founder-centric model that defined Neo’s first decade.
The proposal would redomicile the foundation to the Cayman Islands, create a five-member board and an independent Supervisor with power to block bylaw breaches, and impose a 24-month ban on either founder sitting on the board or supervisory body.
Neo’s fight has become a case study in how older blockchain networks with large treasuries struggle to move beyond founder-centric governance, especially after years of informal control and limited public financial disclosure.
According to the disclosure, NF and NGD currently control about 41 million NEO (31.3%), mainly under single-signature control. Hongfei’s “Giveback II” plan would return 49.5 million reserved NEO (NEO) to the community and consolidate NGD-managed investments back into the foundation, which would operate under mandatory annual financial reports, onchain attestations for large transfers, and fully disclosed multi-signature wallets for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), stablecoins and other liquid assets.
He said the changes are designed to replace “trust me” governance around treasury and custody, pointing to Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin’s influence-through-research model as a standard founders should emulate.
Zhang remains unconvinced, arguing that the proposal grounds Neo’s legitimacy in offchain legal structures and still leaves room for opaque third-party attestations instead of directly verifiable onchain addresses.
He said excluding him from the board for 24 months strips Neo of essential technical oversight, calling the Cayman “reset” a cosmetic shell change that dodges historical accountability and unresolved transparency issues.
Governance woes across decentralized finance
The push comes as governance fights and perceived insider advantages dominate debate across decentralized finance. Aave’s long-running dispute between the founder-aligned Aave Chan Initiative and other stakeholders has raised questions about how much power entrenched service providers should wield inside decentralized autonomous organizations.
The Trump family-linked World Liberty Financial drew scathing criticism from stakeholders this week, including Tron founder Justin Sun, over a proposed new unlock schedule for its WLFI governance token and discretionary control over treasury assets.
Neo’s bet to revive network relevance
Behind the governance reset sits an attempt to give Neo a credible new thesis in a market where activity has consolidated onto Ethereum, a few layer-2s, Solana, and a handful of other chains.
Hongfei conceded Neo’s user base today is “not where it was in the 2017 to 2021 cycle,” and the numbers “reflect a project that has seen better days.”
He said users are more concentrated in long-term holders and community groups; the Chinese market that once fueled activity has shrunk under Beijing’s bans, and Neo missed “DeFi Summer” after delays in shipping its N3 upgrade.
He now argues that the next decade of onchain activity will be driven less by humans than by autonomous AI agents transacting on their behalf, positioning Neo X as an “agent-first” blockchain optimized for the shift.
He said the real test for both the governance reboot and the AI thesis will be whether, over the next 12 to 24 months, Neo can complete its restructuring and attract a meaningful pipeline of agent-native projects, and whether he would still seek a board seat if those milestones are missed.
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The frequency of kidnap and ransom attempts on prominent cryptocurrency executives has skyrocketed in recent years.
Referred to, perhaps crudely, in the crypto community as a “$5 wrench attack,” these attempts to extract millions from crypto bigwigs have spurred politicians to mitigate risk.
Policymakers in France are currently working on safeguards, including a prevention platform announced at Paris Blockchain Week yesterday. In the private sector, insurance companies are offering bespoke coverage to crypto execs, which includes awareness and prevention training.
With kidnap and ransom attacks on the rise, the crypto wealthy are adopting new tactics and practices to stay secure.
Why are crypto execs targets?
Ransoming wealthy crypto holders is not a new problem. Cypherpunk and early Bitcoin adopter Jameson Lopp keeps a Github repository of such attacks. While not exhaustive, it has recorded at least 316 since 2014.
Rigel Walsh, a software developer at Swan Bitcoin, was already giving lectures on the topic in 2019, covering different attack vectors, from impersonation to home invasion and kidnapping.
According to Lopp’s repository, 79 ransom attacks occurred in 2025, while already in 2026, media have reported 27 attacks on crypto holders.
This type of crime is hardly exclusive to the crypto-rich, but the nature of digital assets and the industry itself makes crypto executives and investors particularly vulnerable.
Christian Ogden Davies, global head of distribution and innovation at Relm Insurance, told Cointelegraph that some of the new crypto-rich “don’t have big risk infrastructure around them.”
Traditionally, as an organization grows, “you usually then have more people come into your organization like a CEO that’s experienced and maybe a chief risk officer or a chief legal officer, and then they start to look at insurances and how that kind of impacts them.”
As revenue increases, “you might have asset managers and wealth managers who turn around and go, ‘have you talked about or looked at your own personal security?’”
“Instead, in crypto, some people go from zero to hundreds of billions of net worth in weeks or months.”
This lack of concern, or at least attention, to personal security follows them into the very social and friendly space that is crypto. Davies said that crypto is one of the only sectors where “you’ll have five CEOs of competing firms go and sit down for dinner and […] see how things are going.”
Crypto is also highly liquid. Despite the increased amount of attention on crypto, be it through government monitoring and sanctions or private security and analysis services, crypto criminals can still cash out fairly easily.
Davies said that, while countries like North Korea and Iran have been sanctioned heavily, state-connected actors like hacker group Lazarus have still been able to get away with stolen funds. “If you have the right avenue and exit venue for it, you can still make it liquid.”
Legal and cultural elements may play a role in eliciting criminal attacks on crypto holders. France, and Paris in particular, has become a hotbed of ransom attacks on the crypto-rich. It “eclipses every other region by a country mile” in terms of crypto ransom attacks, said Davies.
One of the most high-profile attacks was the 2025 kidnapping and ransom of Ledger wallet co-founder David Balland. His colleague and co-founder, Eric Larchevêque, has reportedly said that French law, namely a requirement that entrepreneurs register their names and addresses, is at least partly to blame.
Then there’s the cultural draw. Davies said, “everyone loves Paris […] It’s a beautiful city and it just attracts lots of visitors as well. Whether you’re an A-list celebrity, musician, actor, film star, you want to go out and hang in Paris and go and eat [at] the restaurants and stuff. If you’re a crypto exec, you do the same thing. If you’re an investment banker, you do the same thing. So you do have a lot of high concentration of visiting wealth to that area.”
Overall, the lack of security has created a new reality that “everyone has kind of had to wake up to very violently.”
Crypto execs spend more on personal security
And woke up they have. Spending on personal security among crypto executives has skyrocketed.
In 2024, American crypto exchange Coinbase spent $6.2 million on executive protection for its CEO Brian Armstrong. According to TechCrunch, this was more than the combined security costs of executives for JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Nvidia.
Larchevêque pays over $50,000 a month for security for himself and his family. He has cameras and weapons in his home and has reportedly lobbied for crypto executives to be allowed to carry firearms for their protection.
There have also been government-level efforts to address the problem. Yesterday at Paris Blockchain Week, Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the interior minister of France, said his office had launched a prevention platform which has already drawn thousands of sign-ups. The platform will improve security coordination, which Berger said he’ll be working on with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez in the coming weeks.
At Paris Blockchain Week, police reportedly had a strong presence. In a post on X, The Block’s head of growth Tim Copeland said some conference attendees had police escorts through Paris.
Insurance companies have also seen a surge in interest. Ben Davis, who runs a crypto-centric insurance brokerage in the UK, Native Broking, told Reuters last year, “Two years ago, kidnap and ransom wasn’t really a big problem. No one really wanted to talk about it. Now 100% of our clients are talking about it.”
Christian Ogden Davies told Cointelegraph that Relm started offering a K&R (kidnap and ransom) policy after massive client interest. “The reason we launched it is because we’re being asked by so many people for it.”
The product offers security expertise and remuneration of funds to clients should they find themselves in a situation where they need to pay a ransom. But much of the policy, and of mitigating possible ransom attacks generally, is making sure the client knows how to avoid that situation altogether.
“There’s initial training and education of the people first. Try not to get yourself in that situation. This is what you say. This is what you don’t say. This is who you speak to, how you speak, how you engage.”
“Don’t turn left down that dark alley. It might be a shortcut, but just take that normal route.”
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Flow Capital Partners is planning to tokenize its private credit fund through Singapore-based DigiFT, Bloomberg reported Friday, as the Hong Kong credit manager looks to tap blockchain-based distribution for its next capital raise.
According to the report, Flow Capital plans to bring its $150 million private credit fund on the blockchain through Singapore-based tokenization platform DigiFT by the end of April, seeking to raise an additional $30 million in tokenized shares by the end of 2026, Jacky Tian, chief investment officer of Flow Capital, said.
The $30 million raise is part of the company’s plans to expand the size of the fund to $250 million with a target net return of 12%. The fund launched in mid 2025, with $125 million in seed capital, according to the company. Cointelegraph has approached Flow Capital and DigiFT for comment.
The move adds to a growing push to use tokenization as a distribution channel for traditional credit products.
Some of the largest TradFi companies have announced similar tokenization initiatives, including asset manager BlackRock, which launched its BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), a tokenized treasury fund on Ethereum, in March 2024. Investment banking giant JPMorgan also launched its tokenized money-market fund, My OnChain Net Yield Fund (MONY), on Ethereum in December 2025.
However, industry leaders have raised misconceptions tied to the liquidity of tokenized assets.
“I think there’s still this idea that tokenizing something illiquid will somehow magically make it a liquid asset, which is just not true,” said Celiktemur, speaking during a panel discussion at Paris Blockchain Week 2026.
Francesco Ranieri Fabracci, head of tokenization expansion at Tether, made a similar point, arguing that tokenizing an asset won’t make it liquid, but added that some instruments, including bonds, money market funds and stablecoin, will likely see consistent liquidity on blockchain rails.
The total value of tokenized assets rose 9.6% during the past 30 days to $29.9 billion on Friday, data from RWA.xyz shows.
Tokenized US treasury debt was the largest sector with $13.7 billion in value, followed by commodities with $5.4 billion and asset-backed credit with $3.2 billion.
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