CoinDesk

The Consensus conference in Hong Kong, held from February 18 to 20, 2025, has officially concluded, successfully completing its first fully booked event.
As the largest and longest-running series of key dialogues in the Web3, digital assets, and blockchain fields, the Consensus conference attracted nearly 10,000 on-site participants from 102 countries, with participants' total assets under management (AUM) exceeding $40 trillion. The success of this event has drawn international attention, and it has been announced that it will return to Asia in 2026.
The timing of this event coincides with an important moment for Hong Kong in the region, with several significant announcements made, including:

$BTC is attempting to reclaim upside momentum, testing the $110,000 mark as traders eye a potential recovery in crypto markets. The #CoinDesk 20 Index has risen just over 1% in the past 24 hours, but the biggest moves came from tokens like $HYPE , $KHYPE , and $XMR , which posted double-digit gains, signaling pockets of strong buying interest despite broader market caution.

Social media sentiment remains broadly bullish, largely fueled by expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates by 25 basis points next week, extending the ongoing cycle of liquidity easing. However, the U.S. dollar continues to show strength, with the dollar index trending higher, which could cap Bitcoin’s upside potential. A stronger greenback tends to pressure BTC, highlighting the tug-of-war between macro tailwinds and headwinds.

Risk proxies are sending a mixed message. The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) have recently breached key support levels, signaling underlying risk aversion in traditional markets. Volume studies on Bitcoin also suggest fragility, reinforcing the cautious tone. This combination validates the persistent put bias seen in BTC options on Deribit and aligns with Standard Chartered’s short-term bearish outlook.

LondonCryptoClub, a newsletter service focused on crypto, noted that recent banking funding stress and liquidity tightening are keeping BTC anchored and weighing on risk appetite. Yet, they remain optimistic over the medium term, pointing to lower bond yields and economic slowdown risks that could force aggressive Fed easing, potentially sparking a significant rally or “melt up” in crypto markets.

Meanwhile, traditional markets are also experiencing turbulence. Oil surged 4% in both Europe and the U.S. after the U.S. imposed sanctions on major Russian producers Rosneft and Lukoil over the Ukraine conflict. Rising energy volatility could increase risk aversion across broader financial markets, indirectly influencing crypto trading dynamics.

Investors are advised to stay alert as macro and market signals continue to pull in different directions. While Bitcoin shows signs of resilience, risk proxies and dollar strength suggest upside could be limited, making selective trading in high-momentum tokens like HYPE and XMR more appealing in the short term.
#Bitcoin #Market_Update

CoinDesk is a premier media platform that delivers trusted news, analysis, and insights about cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital finance. Founded in 2013, it has become one of the most influential sources in the crypto industry, providing accurate and timely coverage of market trends, regulations, and technological advancements. CoinDesk’s mission is to inform and connect the global crypto community through journalism and research.

Beyond daily news, CoinDesk is known for its Data & Indices section, offering in-depth crypto price charts, market data, and benchmark indices like the CoinDesk 20. It also organizes the annual Consensus conference, one of the largest gatherings of blockchain innovators, investors, and policymakers worldwide.

With its blend of credible reporting and deep market insights, CoinDesk remains a cornerstone for anyone looking to understand the evolving world of digital currencies and decentralized technologies.
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CoinDesk Daybook

Crypto market sentiment remains unsettled following bitcoin's (BTC) quick reversal of the early Tuesday spike to $114,000, and most altcoins mimicked the pop and drop. The #CoinDesk 20 Index is little changed over 24 hours even as gold's rally stalled, raising hopes of rotation into digital assets.

The two-way price action liquidated crypto futures bets worth $600 million. According to #CryptoQuant , this represents a three-sigma liquidation event: The liquidation volume was three standard deviations away from the average, marking it as an extreme outlier and an indicator of heightened volatility.

Meanwhile, the ratio of open interest (OI) in bitcoin options to futures OI rose to the highest level since late 2023. That's typically a sign amplified price swings are in the offing. Additionally, bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility indices, BVIV and DVOL, remain elevated (check the Technical Analysis section), sustaining the gains seen following the Oct. 10 crash and underscoring the lingering uncertainty.

"Such fluctuations do not contribute to improving the mood of crypto investors," Alex Kuptsikevich, the FxPro chief market analyst, said in an email.

The lingering nervousness, reflected in the Crypto Fear & Greed index's drop to 25, could be a good entry point. "At current levels, the rule of ‘buy when everyone is afraid’ may work, or there may be a switch to a more intense sell-off after three months of stagnation," he said.

In other news, #Japan 's newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is said to be preparing an economic stimulus package that exceeds last year's $92 billion to help households tackle inflation. The move is seen as adding to BTC's upward trajectory by the observers including Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom Fund.

In industry news, the #WSJ said crypto trading firm FalconX is acquiring ETF manager 21Shares, and the combined firm will develop funds focused on derivatives and structured products.

A #Bloomberg report noted that some of Asia's biggest stock exchanges have grown averse to digital asset treasury firms. As for traditional markets, the dollar index held on to weekly gains and gold fell for the second day, nearly testing the $4,000 per ounce price mark. Stay alert!

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$BTC $ZEC

#CoinDesk Daybook

Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market recovered over the weekend, offering a brief reprieve after sticky selling pressure kept cryptocurrency prices depressed in the aftermath of a $500 billion value-destruction event.

The price of bitcoin rose 3% in the past 24 hours to $110,770. It remains down about 4% for the month. The recovery came as global risk sentiment improves, with equities rising and investors rotating back into more volatile assets.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s softer stance on #Tariffs and signs that the #Fed 'eral Reserve may ease monetary policy later this year have helped calm markets. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index rose 4.3% in the past 24 hours with all members in the green.

“While bitcoin has seen a notable short-term correction, the long-term trend remains a different story, as the cryptocurrency’s trajectory is still heavily influenced by macroeconomic factors such as the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, U.S. dollar strength, spot bitcoin ETF flows, and geopolitical risks,” XS.com markets analyst Linh Tran told CoinDesk in an emailed statement.

Still, short-term momentum may not signal a lasting trend. Analysts at Coinbase Institutional warned that thin liquidity, a strong U.S. dollar and uncertainty around the Federal Reserve's rate path continue to weigh on market structure.

A spike in U.S. #Treasury yields at the end of last week and #GeopoliticalUncertainty tensions with Israel conducting retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza after attacks on its forces while a ceasefire was in effect and as Russia advances in Ukraine, have kept many institutional investors cautious.

Nevertheless corporate accumulation has kept on going, with BitcoinTreasuries data showing that in the past 30 days these entities increased their holdings by 8.4% to 4.04 million BTC. Access to crypto exposure is also growing, with BlackRock and 21Shares adding debuting their crypto ETPs on the London Stock Exchange for retail investors.

“Overall, in my view, bitcoin is currently in a reaccumulation phase following its short-term correction, with market sentiment stabilizing and institutional demand remaining resilient,” Tran added. Stay alert!

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$BTC

#CoinDesk | Crypto Long & Short

The digital asset market faced its largest-ever liquidation cascade on October 10, now being referred to as crypto’s Black Friday. Within 24 hours, over $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, marking the single biggest deleveraging event in the industry’s history.
The sell-off began late in the U.S. session after President Trump announced a proposed 100% tariff on Chinese imports, triggering global risk aversion across equities, commodities and crypto. The steepest declines occurred within a 25-minute window, as high leverage collided with thin liquidity. According to CoinDesk Reference Rates (CADLI), bitcoin fell to $106,560, ether to $3,551, and solana to $174, with smaller-cap tokens dropping more than 75% intraday.

#market dynamics & scale of deleveraging
According to CoinDesk Data, total perpetual futures open interest fell 43%, dropping from $217 billion on October 10 to $123 billion by October 11. The largest single-day contraction occurred on Hyperliquid, where open interest declined 57%, from $14 billion to $6 billion, as positions were forcefully unwound.
Data suggests that around $16 billion of the $19 billion total came from long liquidations, with nearly every trader carrying 2x leverage or higher with no stop-losses on altcoins being wiped out within minutes.
Public blockchains such as Hyperliquid provided a rare, transparent look into the sequence of forced liquidations, where the liquidation queue and execution can be verified on-chain. By contrast, centralised exchanges aggregate and batch liquidation data, meaning the true scale of forced unwinds may have even exceeded the widely reported $20 billion, since grouped reporting often understates notional values.

Structural stress & #Order book collapse
The episode underscored how tightly coupled liquidity, collateral and oracle systems have become. What began as a macro-driven unwind rapidly evolved into a market-wide stress event. As prices breached key liquidation levels, market depth collapsed by more than 80% across major exchanges within minutes.
In some instances, thin order books saw large-cap assets like ATOM temporarily print near-zero bids; a reflection not of fair market value but of market makers withdrawing liquidity as risk systems throttled activity. With collateral shared across assets and venues relying on local price feeds, feedback loops amplified volatility across the ecosystem. Even well-capitalised platforms proved vulnerable once liquidity evaporated across the board.

Fair-value pricing in #volatility
When exchange-level pricing becomes erratic, CoinDesk Reference Rates such as CCIX and CADLI act as stabilising mechanisms. These multi-venue benchmarks aggregate prices from hundreds of sources, applying quality filters and outlier rejection to produce a global, consensus-based fair value.
During Black Friday’s volatility, reference rates revealed that market-wide valuations remained far less extreme than certain venue-specific prints suggested. This transparency allows market participants to distinguish between genuine repricing and localised dislocation, providing a neutral reference for post-trade performance assessment.
Reference rates don’t stop volatility, but they define it – ensuring traders, funds and exchanges have reliable data when the market breaks.

Closing #thoughts
The severe dislocation in the market showed how leverage, liquidity and fragmented infrastructure can converge into a feedback loop that overwhelms even the largest trading venues. It also revealed the limits of transparency in a system where some on-chain exchanges, such as Hyperliquid, expose liquidation flows in real time, while centralised venues still operate as partial black boxes.
Crypto’s maturity will be defined by how it internalises these shocks. Better risk controls, unified collateral standards and real-time transparency will matter just as much as utilising pricing benchmarks. CoinDesk Reference Rates help confirm fair valuations when screens go red, but true resilience depends on exchange architecture, deeper order books, more robust oracle design and ultimately, exchange uptime.
The industry now faces a choice between treating this as a singular event, or as the blueprint for building a market that can absorb the next one.

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$BTC $ETH $SOL

#CoinDesk Daybook

Bitcoin’s #BTC bounce from late Tuesday lows near $110,000 has stalled just above $113,000 as the lack of fresh U.S. economic data leaves both crypto and forex traders in limbo. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index steadied above 3,800 points, representing a 4% gain on a 24-hour basis.

The ongoing government shutdown has deprived investors of key macroeconomic indicators, prompting a reprieve for the U.S. dollar.

Analysts at ING noted that " #usd bears have become discouraged by the lack of soft jobs evidence, and many have thrown in the towel," suggesting dollar positioning looks more balanced now.

It means that the greenback could hold on to its recent gains, making it harder for bitcoin and other dollar-denominated altcoins to post strong advances.

Meanwhile, #GOLD remains bid, with major institutions like Bank of America and J.P. Morgan expecting further upside for the precious metal, projecting prices between $4,500 and $5,000 an ounce by 2026.

This bullish outlook has benefited gold-backed tokens as well; according to TokenTerminal, the supply of tokenized gold on Ethereum has more than doubled this year, nearing $2.7 billion.

QCP Capital expressed hope that bitcoin could soon resume its bull run, catching up with gold. "With institutional treasuries accumulating positions and ETF inflows remaining robust ($102.7 million into BTC ETFs and $236.2 million into #ETH ETFs yesterday), the setup for a renewed rally may already be forming," the firm's market insights team said.

They added that it remains to be seen if BTC can maintain its “digital gold” status in the next phase of the macro cycle as tariffs risk resurface and liquidity dynamics shift.

Liquidity dynamics have also come into focus following a recent report from Finery Markets, which showed that over-the-counter (OTC) desks acted as key shock absorbers during the latest market crash, providing greater liquidity compared to centralized exchanges. This reportedly helped cushion the blow in turbulent times.

In other developments, Taiwanese stablecoin payment company OwlTing has received approval for its direct listing on the Nasdaq, with trading set to commence this Thursday. This milestone reflects growing institutional acceptance and maturation within the crypto payments ecosystem.

Data tracking website Coinglass noted a concerning trend pertaining to centralized exchanges. These avenues, led by Binance, have witnessed massive outflows in the past seven days. If the liquidity dries and bid-ask spreads widen, there could be more volatility on the horizon.

Overall, as markets await clearer macroeconomic signals, bitcoin and crypto investors remain cautiously optimistic but aware of ongoing challenges from dollar strength and liquidity trends. Stay alert!

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$BTC $ETH