Crypto lender Ledn has issued $188 million in asset-backed bonds secured by 
bitcoin-collateralized loans, marking a first for the structured credit 
market. The deal includes an investment-grade tranche and relies heavily on 
automated bitcoin liquidations to manage risk. First Bitcoin-Backed Loan Hits 
Market Crypto lender Ledn has entered the structured finance arena with a $188 
[…]

Ledn Issues First Ever Bitcoin-Backed Bonds Worth $188 Million

XRP price breaks local bearish market structure, shifting momentum, with price 
now testing a key volume support zone that could establish a higher low for 
higher prices.

XRP price breaks local bearish structure as rising volume targets $1.70

Digital asset treasuries are companies holding crypto on their balance sheets, 
often trading at discounts. M NAV is a metric for valuing companies relative 
to their crypto holdings. The decline in crypto prices has significantly 
impacted M NAVs, raising questions about equilibrium.
The post Steve Ehrlich: Digital asset treasuries are trading at deep discounts, M NAVs reveal market valuation challenges, and Ethereum&#8217;s staking makes it a superior asset | Unchained appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Steve Ehrlich: Digital asset treasuries are trading at deep discounts, M NAVs reveal market valuation challenges, and Ethereum’s staking makes it a superior asset | Unchained

Crypto’s reputation is improving, but investors still complain that their 
banks are blocking their accounts for interacting with digital assets.

Banks can’t seem to service crypto, even as it goes mainstream

Quantum computing has become the latest all-purpose explanation for Bitcoin’s 
recent drawdown, but NYDIG says the numbers don’t back the narrative. In a 
Feb. 17 research note, NYDIG research head Greg Cipolaro argues that “quantum 
fears” are loud, but not a primary driver of the sell-off when you look at 
search behavior, cross-asset correlations, and broader risk positioning. 
Quantum Panic Didn’t Sink Bitcoin NYDIG frames “Cryptographically Relevant 
Quantum Computers” as the theoretical endgame risk investors keep circling. 
The problem is that market behavior doesn’t look like a repricing of an 
imminent existential threat. First, Cipolaro points to Google Trends. Search 
interest for “quantum computing bitcoin” did rise, he wrote, but the timing 
matters. “Search interest for ‘quantum computing bitcoin’ has risen, but 
notably this occurred alongside bitcoin’s rally to new all-time highs, not 
ahead of sustained weakness,” the note said. “In other words, heightened 
searches about quantum risk coincided with price strength rather than 
weakness. If the market were repricing bitcoin on an imminent technological 
threat, we would expect search intensity to lead or amplify downside risk, not 
accompany a period of gains.” Related Reading: Is Jane Street Manipulating 
Bitcoin? The Viral Theory Explained Second, NYDIG looks at how Bitcoin traded 
versus publicly listed quantum computing equities, specifically IONQ, QBTS, 
RGTI, and QUBT. If investors were rotating out of Bitcoin because quantum 
advances were “catching up,” you would expect quantum-linked stocks to diverge 
positively as Bitcoin falls. NYDIG says it saw the opposite. Bitcoin was 
positively correlated with those equities, and those correlations strengthened 
during the drawdown, suggesting a shared driver rather than a direct quantum- 
to-Bitcoin causality. NYDIG’s conclusion is blunt on that point. “The data 
provides no evidence that quantum computing is the proximate cause of 
bitcoin’s weakness, even if it is the dominant risk narrative at the moment,” 
Cipolaro wrote. “The more plausible explanation is a broader macro repricing 
of risk across long-duration, expectation-driven assets. Bitcoin’s recent 
drawdown appears more consistent with shifts in overall risk appetite than 
with any discrete technological catalyst.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Bearish 
Momentum Losing Steam? Analyst Flags Key Metric The mechanism NYDIG highlights 
is familiar to anyone watching liquidity regimes. Quantum computing firms, it 
argues, are long-duration, expectation-driven assets with minimal revenues and 
high EV/revenue multiples. Bitcoin, while structurally different, often trades 
as a long-duration bet on future adoption and monetary dynamics. When risk 
appetite contracts, both can get hit together. Meanwhile, NYDIG flags a 
divergence in derivatives markets that, in its view, better captures the 
current tape than quantum headlines. The 1-month annualized basis on CME has 
“persistently traded above” Deribit, which NYDIG uses as a proxy for onshore 
US institutional positioning versus offshore positioning. Structurally higher 
CME basis implies US desks have remained more constructive, while the sharper 
decline in Deribit’s 1-month basis points to rising caution offshore and 
reduced appetite for leveraged long exposure. At press time, Bitcoin traded at 
$66,886. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in USD