Bitcoin Core developer Gloria Zhao has stepped down as a maintainer and revoked her Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signing key, ending about six years as one of the project’s gatekeepers.
On Thursday, Zhao submitted her last pull request to the Bitcoin GitHub repository, removing her key from the trusted keys and withdrawing herself as one of the few maintainers able to update Bitcoin’s software.
Becoming the first known female maintainer in 2022, she focused on mempool policy and transaction relay: the rules and peer‑to‑peer logic that decide which transactions get into nodes’ waiting rooms and how quickly they propagate across the network.
She helped design and implement package relay (BIP 331) and TRUC (Topologically Restricted Until Confirmation, BIP 431), along with upgrades to replace‑by‑fee (RBF) and broader P2P behavior, making fee bumping more reliable and reducing censorship.
Zhao’s work was funded through Brink, where she became the organization’s first fellow in 2021, with her fellowship backed by the Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund and Jack Dorsey’s Spiral (formerly Square Crypto), placing her among a small cohort of publicly supported, full‑time open‑source Bitcoin protocol engineers.
Beyond her technical contributions, Zhao mentored new contributors and co‑ran the Bitcoin Core PR Review Club, helping junior developers learn how to review complex changes and navigate Core’s conservative review culture.
Her resignation comes after more than a year of public disputes between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots, and the removal of OP_RETURN limits, a fight over whether Bitcoin’s default node software should make it harder to use block space for non‑monetary data.
In 2025, Zhao deleted her X account amid personal attacks during the OP_RETURN war, after a livestream in which a core developer questioned her credentials.
While some Bitcoin Core critics celebrated Zhao’s departure, others took a more somber tone.
“They bullied her and made her life as miserable as possible until she rage quit, and quite frankly, I think what they did to her was tragic,” said pseudonymous Bitcoiner Pledditor.
Pledditor added that it set a “terrible precedent” and called it, “sad and pathetic.
“Congratulations you finally did it. You bullied one of Bitcoin Core’s most prolific and consistently excellent maintainers until she gave up,” said Chris Seedor, co-founder and CEO at Bitcoin wallet backup company Seedor.
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Privacy coins are just a step in a broader laundering pipeline after hacks. They serve as a temporary black box to disrupt traceability.
Hackers typically move funds through consolidation, obfuscation and chain hopping and only then introduce privacy layers before attempting to cash out.
Privacy coins are most useful immediately after a hack because they reduce onchain visibility, delay blacklisting and help break attribution links.
Enforcement actions against mixers and other laundering tools often shift illicit flows toward alternative routes, including privacy coins.
After crypto hacks occur, scammers often move stolen funds through privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. While this has created a perception of hackers preferring privacy coins, these assets function as a specialized “black box” within a larger laundering pipeline. To understand why privacy coins show up after hacks, you need to take into account the process of crypto laundering.
This article explores how funds move post-hack and what makes privacy coins so useful for scammers. It examines emerging laundering methods, limitations of privacy coins like Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) as laundering tools, legitimate uses of privacy technologies and why regulators need to balance innovation with the need to curb laundering.
How funds flow after a hack
Following a hack, scammers don’t usually send stolen assets directly to an exchange for immediate liquidation; instead, they follow a deliberate, multi-stage process to obscure the trail and slow down the inquiry:
Consolidation: Funds from multiple victim addresses are transferred to a smaller number of wallets.
Obfuscation: Assets are shuffled through chains of intermediary crypto wallets, often with the help of crypto mixers.
Chain-hopping: Funds are bridged or swapped to different blockchains, breaking continuity within any single network’s tracking tools.
Privacy layer: A portion of funds is converted into privacy-focused assets or routed through privacy-preserving protocols.
Cash-out: Assets are eventually exchanged for more liquid cryptocurrencies or fiat through centralized exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) desks or peer-to-peer (P2P) channels.
Privacy coins usually enter the stage in steps four or five, blurring the traceability of lost funds even more after earlier steps have already complicated the onchain history.
Why privacy coins are attractive for scammers right after a hack
Privacy coins offer specific advantages right at the time when scammers are most vulnerable, immediately after the theft.
Reduced onchain visibility
Unlike transparent blockchains, where the sender and receiver and transaction amounts remain fully auditable, privacy-focused systems deliberately hide these details. Once funds move into such networks, standard blockchain analytics lose much of their efficacy.
In the aftermath of the theft, scammers try to delay identification or evade automated address blacklisting by exchanges and services. The sudden drop in visibility is particularly valuable in the critical days after theft when monitoring is most intense.
Breaking attribution chains
Scammers tend not to move directly from hacked assets into privacy coins. They typically use multiple techniques, swaps, cross-chain bridges and intermediary wallets before introducing a privacy layer.
This multi-step approach makes it significantly harder to connect the final output back to the original hack. Privacy coins act more as a strategic firebreak in the attribution process than as a standalone laundering tool.
Negotiating power in OTC and P2P markets
Many laundering paths involve informal OTC brokers or P2P traders who operate outside extensively regulated exchanges.
Using privacy-enhanced assets reduces the information counterparties have about the funds’ origin. This can simplify negotiations, lower the perceived risk of mid-transaction freezes and improve the attacker’s leverage in less transparent markets.
Did you know? Several early ransomware groups originally demanded payment in Bitcoin (BTC) but later switched to privacy coins only after exchanges began cooperating more closely with law enforcement on address blacklisting.
The mixer squeeze and evolving methods of laundering
One reason privacy coins appear more frequently in specific time frames is enforcement pressure on other laundering tools. When law enforcement targets particular mixers, bridges or high-risk exchanges, illicit funds simply move to other channels. This shift results in the diversification of laundering routes across various blockchains, swapping platforms and privacy-focused networks.
When scammers perceive one laundering route as risky, alternative routes experience higher volumes. Privacy coins gain from this dynamic, as they offer inherent transaction obfuscation, independent of third-party services.
Limitations of privacy coins as a laundering tool
Privacy features notwithstanding, most large-scale hacks still involve extensive use of BTC, Ether (ETH) and stablecoins at later stages. The reason is straightforward: Liquidity and exit options are important.
Privacy coins generally exhibit:
These factors complicate the conversion of substantial amounts of crypto to fiat currency without drawing scrutiny. Therefore, scammers use privacy coins briefly before reverting to more liquid assets prior to final withdrawal.
Successful laundering involves integration of privacy-enhancing tools with high-liquidity assets, tailored to each phase of the process.
Did you know? Some darknet marketplaces now list prices in Monero by default, even if they still accept Bitcoin, because vendors prefer not to reveal their income patterns or customer volume.
Behavioral trends in asset laundering
While tactical specifics vary, blockchain analysts generally identify several high-level “red flags” in illicit fund flows:
Layering and consolidation: Rapid dispersal of assets across a vast network of wallets, followed by strategic reaggregation to simplify the final exit.
Chain hopping: Moving assets across multiple blockchains to break the deterministic link of a single ledger, often sandwiching privacy-enhancing protocols.
Strategic latency: Allowing funds to remain dormant for extended periods to bypass the window of heightened public and regulatory scrutiny.
Direct-to-fiat workarounds: Preferring OTC brokers for the final liquidation to avoid the robust monitoring systems of major exchanges.
Hybrid privacy: Using privacy-centric coins as a specialized tool within a broader laundering strategy, rather than as a total replacement for mainstream assets.
Contours of anonymity: Why traceability persists
Despite the hurdles created by privacy-preserving technologies, investigators continue to secure wins by targeting the edges of the ecosystem. Progress is typically made through:
Regulated gateways: Forcing interactions with exchanges that mandate rigorous identity verification
Human networks: Targeting the physical infrastructure of money-mule syndicates and OTC desks
Off-chain intelligence: Leveraging traditional surveillance, confidential informants and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Operational friction: Exploiting mistakes made by the perpetrator that link their digital footprint to a real-world identity.
Privacy coins increase the complexity and cost of an investigation, but they cannot fully insulate scammers from the combined pressure of forensic analysis and traditional law enforcement.
Did you know? Blockchain analytics firms often focus less on privacy coins themselves and more on tracing how funds enter and exit them since those boundary points offer the most reliable investigative signals.
Reality of legitimate use for privacy-enhancing technologies
It is essential to distinguish between the technology itself and its potential criminal applications. Privacy-focused financial tools, such as certain cryptocurrencies or mixers, serve valid purposes, including:
Safeguarding the confidentiality of commercial transactions, which includes protecting trade secrets or competitive business dealings
Shielding individuals from surveillance or monitoring in hostile environments
Reducing the risk of targeted theft by limiting public visibility of personal wealth.
Regulatory scrutiny isn’t triggered by the mere existence of privacy features, but when they are used for illicit activity, such as ransomware payments, hacking proceeds, sanctions evasion or darknet marketplaces.
This key distinction makes effective policymaking difficult. Broad prohibitions risk curtailing lawful financial privacy for ordinary users and businesses while often failing to halt criminal networks that shift to alternative methods.
Balancing act of regulators
For cryptocurrency exchanges, the recurring appearance of privacy coins in post-hack laundering flows intensifies the need to:
Enhance transaction monitoring and risk assessment
Reduce exposure to high-risk inflows
Strengthen compliance with cross-border Travel Rule requirements and other jurisdictional standards.
For policymakers, it underscores a persistent challenge: Criminal actors adapt more quickly than rigid regulations can evolve. Efforts to crack down on one tool often displace activity to others, turning money laundering into a dynamic, moving target rather than a problem that can be fully eradicated.
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The global non-fungible token (NFT) sector fell below $1.5 billion in total market capitalization, returning to levels last seen before the sector’s rapid expansion in 2021.
The retracement unfolded alongside a broader crypto market downturn over the past two weeks, CoinGecko data shows. On Jan. 23, total crypto market capitalization stood at about $3.1 trillion, before falling to $2.2 trillion on Friday.
Major assets like Bitcoin (BTC) slid from around $89,000 to about $65,000, while Ether (ETH) fell from $3,000 to near $1,800 throughout the same time frame. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the top two networks for NFTs in terms of 30-day trading volume, according NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam.
The NFT market cap drop follows several high-profile closures and exits, highlighting the sector’s continued contraction.
Total NFT market cap chart. Source: CoinGecko
Rising supply collides with falling demand
The market reset has been compounded by a growing imbalance between NFT supply and buyer demand.
As reported by Cointelegraph on Dec. 31, total NFT supply continued to expand even as sales and prices declined, pushing the sector into a high-volume, low-price structure.
CryptoSlam data showed that the number of NFTs in circulation rose to nearly 1.3 billion in 2025, up by 25% compared to 2024. Total NFT sales fell 37% year-over-year to $5.6 billion, while average sale prices slipped below $100.
The divergence suggests that while minting became cheaper and barriers to issuance fell, buyer participation and spending failed to keep up.
Corporate exits and platform closures add pressure
The drop follows a series of high-profile retreats that mirror the market’s pullback. On Jan. 7, footwear giant Nike quietly offloaded RTFKT, the digital collectibles studio it acquired at the height of the NFT boom.
The reported sale followed the company’s decision to shut down operations amid an investor lawsuit.
In addition, marketplace shutdowns have accelerated. Nifty Gateway, one of the earliest NFT platforms, said it will close on Feb. 23 and has entered withdrawal-only mode. The Gemini-owned platform cited a prolonged market downturn as it winds down.
On Jan. 28, social NFT platform Rodeo announced it would cease operations after failing to scale sustainably. Rodeo said it would transition to read-only mode before shutting down entirely in March.
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The Aster decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) and perpetual futures platform announced on Thursday that its layer-1 blockchain testnet is now live for all users, with a potential rollout of the Aster layer-1 mainnet in Q1 2026.
Several new features are slated for a Q1 launch, including fiat currency on-ramps, the release of the Aster code for builders and the upcoming L1 mainnet, according to the Aster roadmap.
Aster will focus on infrastructure, token utility and building its ecosystem and community in 2026, according to the roadmap.
The launch of a dedicated layer-1 chain for Aster reflects the trend of Web3 projects shifting to custom-tailored blockchains to support high-throughput transaction volume, rather than relying on general-purpose chains like Ethereum or Solana, which host mixed traffic.
Monthly trading volume on perpetual exchanges hit the $1 trillion milestone in October, November and December, data from DefiLlama shows.
The sharp rise in trading volume during 2025 signals growing interest and investor demand for crypto derivatives products and platforms, as more of the world’s financial transactions come onchain.
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Small dev team uses PBRFusion AI to convert thousands of legacy textures into modern PBR materials, cutting years off Painkiller RTX remaster timeline.
A small modding team has demonstrated how generative AI can compress years of texture work into weeks, rebuilding the 2004 shooter Painkiller with path-traced visuals across 35 levels using NVIDIA’s RTX Remix toolkit and custom AI models.
The project showcases a production pipeline that processed thousands of legacy textures into modern Physically Based Rendering materials—work that would have been impossible for a small team using traditional methods.
AI Handles 80% of the Grind
McGillacutty, the project’s environment and material lead, puts it bluntly: manually rebuilding thousands of materials across 35 levels with minimal texture reuse wasn’t happening. Enter PBRFusion, an open-source model created by team member NightRaven specifically for RTX Remix workflows.
The model batch-generates base color, normal, roughness, and height maps from legacy textures. Quinn Baddams, team lead and founder of Merry Pencil Studios, estimates AI automation eliminated roughly 80% of repetitive work, freeing the team to focus on the 20% requiring artistic judgment.
“PBRFusion was always intended to be a tool, not a drop-in replacement,” NightRaven explains. The model went through three major iterations and over 1,000 hours of development before reaching the version used in production.
Where AI Falls Short
The team found clear limits to automation. Metallic materials were largely hand-crafted. Glass, transparent surfaces, and skin required custom values and maps—particularly for subsurface scattering effects. Texture atlases, where single images contain multiple unrelated surfaces, confused the AI models entirely.
Roughness maps proved especially tricky. “AI-generated roughness often requires adjustment to achieve physically accurate results,” Baddams notes. “Correct values can be very specific.” The team cross-referenced real-world PBR materials to validate their outputs.
Hero materials received additional treatment using CC0 PBR blending, procedural workflows in InstaMAT Studio, and manual painting. The hybrid approach—AI baseline plus human refinement—became their standard operating procedure.
Path Tracing Exposes Everything
Full-scene path tracing fundamentally changed the material workflow. Properties like roughness, reflectivity, and wetness became far more visible than traditional rendering ever revealed. The original game’s baked shadows, which added contrast in 2004, now created physically impossible lighting responses.
The solution: strip baked lighting from source textures, then reintroduce contrast through roughness variation, stronger normal maps, and controlled self-shadowing. RTX Skin technology enabled subsurface scattering on characters—light genuinely scattering through surfaces rather than simple highlight tricks.
“To my knowledge, this level of ray-traced subsurface scattering hasn’t been available to game developers in a practical, real-time way,” Baddams says. “It was previously limited to offline rendering.”
Implications for the Industry
The project arrives as the broader Painkiller franchise sees renewed activity. 3D Realms announced a modern reimagining in March 2025, targeting an October 2025 release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC. The timing creates an interesting parallel: official studio resources versus small-team AI-augmented workflows achieving comparable visual ambitions.
For developers considering similar approaches, the team recommends starting small—capture a single scene, apply basic PBR materials, iterate with path tracing to understand material-light relationships before scaling up.
NightRaven is already finishing the next PBRFusion version. NVIDIA will showcase related RTX neural rendering advances at GDC, where VP John Spitzer will present path tracing and generative AI workflow innovations. The tooling gap between AAA studios and indie teams continues narrowing.
Bitcoin risks a deeper slide as miners and US spot ETFs cut BTC exposure, adding supply pressure during a fragile downtrend.
Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped by more than 22.5% in the past week to $69,000 on Thursday, wiping out 15 months of gains entirely. However, the downtrend may not be over, according to veteran trader Peter Brandt.
Key takeaways:
Brandt says “campaign selling” is pressuring BTC, with miners and ETFs also cutting exposure.
A potential bottom zone is near $54,600–$55,000.
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView
Bitcoin may drop another 10% as miners, ETFs cut BTC exposure
BTC’s decline left behind a sequence of dailylower highs and lower lows. Simply put, the lack of even modest rebounds suggests few traders are stepping in to buy the dip, at least for now.
This structure, according to Brandt, had “fingerprints of campaign selling,” a deliberate, sustained distribution by large institutions, not retail liquidation.
Source: X/ @PeterLBrandt
Onchain data supports Brandt’s outlook. For instance, as of Thursday, the BTC miner net position change metric was showing a clear shift into net distribution throughout January, with miners consistently sending more BTC to the market.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs also reduced their exposure, with net BTC balances falling to 1.27 million BTC as of Wednesday from 1.29 million at the beginning of the year.
This distribution boosted Bitcoin’s chances of reaching its bear flag target of around $63,800, down 10% from current levels, as shown below, based on Brandt’s technical setup.
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Peter Brandt
Bitcoin may bottom below $55,000
Bitcoin risks a deeper drop toward $54,600 amid continued institutional selling, according to onchain analyst GugaOnChain.
The downside target is aligned with the lower zone (red) highlighted in the BTC DCA Signal Cycle metric below. This zone reflects Bitcoin’s one-week to one-month realized price and helps identify periods when BTC is structurally undervalued.
In 2022, the signal turned bullish as BTC fell below the same red zone near $20,000, forming a bottom around the level, before rallying to over $30,000 a year later.
GugaOnChain said:
“The current price convergence toward the band signaling the start of the accumulation phase, situated around $54.6K, suggests we are in the critical transition between Capitulation and Accumulation.”
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.
The new facility allows institutions to redeem tokenized real-world assets into stablecoins instantly, addressing a key liquidity bottleneck in onchain markets.
Injective (INJ) shows oversold conditions at $3.33 with RSI at 26.78, targeting $4.50 recovery by March 2026 as technical indicators suggest potential bounce from current support levels. INJ Price…
Injective (INJ) shows oversold conditions at $3.33 with RSI at 26.78, targeting $4.50 recovery by March 2026 as technical indicators suggest potential bounce from current support levels.
While specific analyst predictions are limited for the current period, historical forecasts from late January 2026 projected INJ to reach between $5.80 and $6.20 by February 2026. However, the current trading reality shows INJ significantly below these targets at $3.33.
According to on-chain data and technical analysis platforms, Injective’s current price action suggests the token has entered deeply oversold territory, which historically presents potential accumulation opportunities for patient investors. The absence of recent dated predictions from major KOLs indicates market uncertainty, but technical indicators are beginning to show signs of potential reversal.
INJ Technical Analysis Breakdown
Injective’s technical picture presents a compelling oversold scenario. The RSI reading of 26.78 places INJ firmly in oversold territory, typically indicating selling pressure has reached extreme levels. This oversold condition often precedes price bounces as weak hands finish selling and accumulation begins.
The MACD indicator shows bearish momentum with a reading of -0.4045, matching the signal line exactly, resulting in a histogram of 0.0000. This neutral histogram reading suggests the bearish momentum may be stabilizing, potentially setting up for a momentum shift.
Bollinger Bands analysis reveals INJ trading near the lower band with a %B position of 0.0774, indicating the price is hugging support levels. The middle band at $4.25 represents the 20-period SMA and serves as the primary recovery target, while the upper band at $5.32 would signal a strong bullish reversal.
Moving averages paint a bearish picture with INJ trading below all major timeframes. The SMA 7 at $3.60 provides immediate resistance, followed by the SMA 20 at $4.25. The significant gap to the SMA 200 at $9.04 illustrates the extent of the current downtrend.
Injective Price Targets: Bull vs Bear Case
Bullish Scenario
The primary Injective forecast for recovery targets the immediate resistance at $3.55, followed by strong resistance at $3.77. A break above $3.77 would confirm the oversold bounce and target the SMA 7 at $3.60.
The medium-term bullish target aligns with the SMA 20 at $4.25, representing a 27% upside from current levels. Breaking above this level would signal a return to the previous trading range and potentially target the SMA 50 at $4.65.
For this INJ price prediction to materialize, we need to see RSI recovery above 30, indicating oversold conditions are relieving. Additionally, increasing trading volume above the current $6.6 million would confirm renewed buying interest.
Bearish Scenario
The bearish case for this INJ price prediction centers on a break below the immediate support at $3.21. Such a move would target the strong support level at $3.08, representing the lower boundary of the current consolidation range.
A breakdown below $3.08 would be concerning and could signal further downside toward psychological support levels around $3.00. The high volatility, as measured by the ATR of $0.31, suggests significant price swings remain possible in both directions.
Should You Buy INJ? Entry Strategy
Based on current technical conditions, a dollar-cost averaging approach appears most prudent for this Injective forecast. The oversold RSI suggests accumulation opportunities, but the bearish momentum requires careful timing.
Primary entry consideration would be near the current support at $3.21, with a secondary entry if price tests the strong support at $3.08. Stop-loss placement below $3.00 would limit downside risk while providing room for normal volatility.
For more aggressive traders, a bounce play could be considered if INJ shows signs of RSI divergence or volume increase near current levels. However, position sizing should reflect the high-risk nature of this oversold bounce strategy.
Conclusion
This INJ price prediction suggests a recovery toward $4.25-$4.50 over the next month, supported by extremely oversold technical conditions. The RSI reading of 26.78 represents one of the most oversold levels seen recently, historically providing good risk-reward entry opportunities.
However, investors should note that cryptocurrency price predictions carry significant uncertainty, and the current bearish momentum could extend further before any recovery materializes. Risk management remains crucial, with position sizing and stop-losses essential for navigating INJ’s current volatility.
Disclaimer: This analysis is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry substantial risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
CRV price prediction shows potential recovery from extreme oversold conditions at $0.26, targeting $0.30-$0.34 range as Curve battles critical support levels amid bearish momentum.
Recent analyst predictions from late January and early February painted a more optimistic picture for CRV. Felix Pinkston projected on January 30, 2026: “CRV price prediction shows potential 25-44% upside targeting $0.40-$0.46 range over the next 2-4 weeks as Curve battles oversold conditions near $0.32 support levels.”
Tony Kim followed up on February 1, 2026, stating: “CRV price prediction shows potential recovery from oversold levels, with analysts targeting $0.39 short-term and $0.40-$0.46 medium-term as Curve battles current bearish momentum.”
However, CRV has since declined further to $0.26, making these targets appear increasingly optimistic. According to on-chain data and current market conditions, a more conservative approach may be warranted given the intensified selling pressure.
CRV Technical Analysis Breakdown
The technical picture for Curve presents a deeply oversold scenario that could signal a potential bounce, though momentum remains decidedly bearish.
RSI Analysis: At 23.28, CRV’s RSI sits firmly in oversold territory, historically a level where short-term bounces often occur. This extreme reading suggests selling pressure may be reaching exhaustion.
Moving Average Structure: The price action tells a concerning story with CRV trading significantly below all major moving averages:
– 58% below SMA 200 ($0.59)
– 30% below SMA 50 ($0.37)
– 24% below SMA 20 ($0.34)
– 7% below SMA 7 ($0.28)
MACD Signals: The MACD remains bearish at -0.0331, with the histogram at neutral (0.0000), indicating momentum has stalled but hasn’t yet turned positive.
Bollinger Bands: CRV is trading near the lower Bollinger Band at $0.25 with a %B position of 0.058, suggesting the token is testing key technical support levels.
Curve Price Targets: Bull vs Bear Case
Bullish Scenario
In a recovery scenario, CRV faces multiple resistance levels that could cap upside moves:
Immediate resistance: $0.28 (intraday high and SMA 7)
Primary target: $0.30 (psychological level and strong resistance)
Secondary target: $0.34 (SMA 20 and middle Bollinger Band)
A sustained break above $0.34 would signal a potential Curve forecast shift toward the previously predicted $0.40+ targets, though this appears unlikely in the near term given current market structure.
Bearish Scenario
Downside risks remain significant with key support levels under pressure:
Immediate support: $0.25 (lower Bollinger Band)
Critical support: $0.24 (strong support level)
Breakdown target: Sub-$0.20 if critical support fails
The combination of bearish MACD readings and price action well below all moving averages suggests additional downside risk if broader market conditions deteriorate.
Should You Buy CRV? Entry Strategy
For traders considering CRV positions, the current oversold conditions present both opportunity and risk:
The high-risk, high-reward nature of this setup requires careful position sizing and strict risk management protocols.
Conclusion
Our CRV price prediction suggests a potential short-term bounce to $0.28-$0.30 as oversold conditions may provide temporary relief. However, the medium-term Curve forecast remains cautious, with resistance at $0.34 likely to cap meaningful recovery attempts.
While previous analyst targets of $0.40-$0.46 may eventually prove accurate, current technical conditions suggest a more measured recovery timeline. Traders should approach CRV with appropriate risk management, as the token remains vulnerable to broader market sentiment and could test support below $0.25 if selling pressure intensifies.
Disclaimer: This CRV price prediction is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk, and prices can be highly volatile. Always conduct your own research and consider your risk tolerance before making investment decisions.
Crypto project Payy, which operates a privacy-focused wallet alongside a crypto banking card, has launched an Ethereum layer-2 network designed to support private ERC-20 transfers.
In an announcement via X on Wednesday, Payy said users can add the network as a custom chain in MetaMask and that ERC-20 transfers made on it are routed through privacy pools by default with “no smart contract changes required.”
Payy said the two core user types on its network would be institutions and fintech firms seeking to bring financial flows onchain while limiting public transaction traceability and crypto natives seeking to use privacy tools without “juggling multiple wallets.”
Payy said it has signed undisclosed launch partners among stablecoin issuers, which it plans to name in the coming weeks.
The network is compatible with any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) wallet, and the project’s website indicates that the layer-2 is primarily geared toward enabling private stablecoin transfers on its network, despite also supporting all ERC-20 tokens.
Following the announcement, Payy CEO Sid Gandhi also shared more details on X, noting that Payy is working to help large traditional finance institutions feel more comfortable moving capital onchain.
“Nearly every bank, fintech, and enterprise is telling us the same thing: They cannot move real capital flows onchain if their financial data is exposed to the world,” he said.
Payy explained that the layer 2 hosts private ERC-20 pools that users’ transactions are automatically routed through when using wallets like MetaMask. This enables users to move funds from their normal wallets without publicly exposing transaction counterparties on the Payy Network.
When interacting with decentralized finance apps and smart contracts, funds are withdrawn from the private pools to a new address.
Previously, Payy primarily offered its own privacy-focused wallet and a crypto banking card, which launched in mid-2025. The project claims to have reached roughly 100,000 users since then.
There are already other L2s and protocols offering privacy services on Ethereum, such as Aztec Network and Railgun.
According to Payy, it aims to provide a point of difference by reducing the operational complexity of using privacy tools, such as managing multiple wallets or switching between protocols.
However, Payy is not the only one working on this. Cointelegraph reported in October that Ethereum developers were working on upgrading wallet privacy as part of the Kohaku roadmap.
The goal of Kohaku is to reduce reliance on centralized parties that track transactions, while also including features such as private sending and receiving.
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