ETH, XRP, ADA, BNB, HYPE sit near key levels after a choppy week of failed 
breakouts and fragile supports. Ethereum (ETH) traded relatively flat over the 
period, with buyers maintaining key support levels as selling momentum 
decreased, according to technical…

ETH, XRP, ADA, BNB, HYPE flash mixed signals this week

XRP sentiment jumps to 2.35 in 5 days as partnerships fuel bullish social 
buzz. Social media sentiment toward XRP has surged to a five-week high while 
sentiment around Bitcoin and Ethereum remains muted, according to data from 
analytics firm Santiment.…

XRP social buzz hits 5‑week high as BTC, ETH cool

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has climbed to 144.40 trillion (T) at block 
937,524, marking one of the sharpest accelerations in network competition 
since the 2021 bull cycle. At the same time, Bitcoin’s (BTC) total hashrate 
has surged to 996.99 EH/s, hovering…

Why is Bitcoin difficulty surging at its fastest pace since 2021?

Bitcoin’s slide into the $60,000–$70,000 zone has lit up the usual “bottom” 
dashboards: extreme fear, washed-out positioning, and a cluster of indicators 
many traders treat as capitulation signals. But CryptoQuant contributor 
Mignolet says the market is missing the only thing that ultimately matters: a 
visible bid from dominant buyers. “What I emphasized in the $80K–$90K range 
still remains the same,” he wrote on Feb. 18. “Many indicators that market 
participants follow are pointing to a bottom and extreme fear. However, we do 
not see dominant players (whales) actually using this situation.” Mignolet’s 
core argument is simple: a bottom is not a sentiment reading, it’s an event 
and he doesn’t see the kind of forced absorption that typically marks a 
durable turn. “No matter how many indicators suggest a bottom, if there is no 
real buying force stepping in, we cannot know where the true bottom will be,” 
he said. “That is why I do not make price predictions lightly.” Related 
Reading: Revealed: The Biggest Bitcoin Holders Of 2026, According To Arkham 
Data He contrasted the current tape with the 2024 bull cycle, when fear could 
still dominate headlines even as large allocators quietly took the other side. 
In that period, he argues, the market had a measurable backstop: institutional 
demand showing up through US spot Bitcoin ETFs, specifically BlackRock’s IBIT 
and Fidelity’s FBTC, which “clearly absorbed the selling pressure.” The “most 
important point,” in his framing, is that the same mechanics aren’t showing up 
now. Mignolet says the accumulation pattern FBTC sustained for roughly a year 
has “already broken down,” and IBIT, previously described as a buffer during 
heavy sell pressure, is “now trending downward, unlike last year.” That shift 
is why he keeps the bottom call “on ice,” even if price ultimately holds the 
current region. In his view, Bitcoin remains in a phase where traders should 
“be cautious about further shocks,” and even a successful defense would likely 
require time before it can be treated as confirmed. When Everyone Reads The 
Same Bitcoin Data Beyond flow, Mignolet is also warning about a structural 
change in how market narratives form. He argues the proliferation of on-chain 
analytics has made the space more information-dense, but not necessarily more 
insightful and in some cases, more hazardous. Related Reading: Bitcoin Doesn’t 
Get A Macro ‘Bailout’ This Time: Alden Warns Of Gradual QE “The problem is 
that everyone looks at the same data and often reaches similar conclusions,” 
he wrote. “In many cases, even the people producing the data do not fully 
understand it. When information becomes too common, it pushes expectations in 
one direction.” He describes today’s well-packaged on-chain dashboards as 
“clean and convincing, almost like an answer sheet,” which can harden 
conviction precisely when flexibility is required. The downstream risk, he 
suggests, is that widespread agreement around “obvious” bottoms can keep 
investors anchored through deeper drawdowns or longer grind periods. In the 
near term, Mignolet’s base case is not a clean trend reversal but “sideways 
movement without a clear direction,” with enough volatility to create 
opportunities for short-term traders. For his own positioning, he described 
the period as “waiting,” stepping back to watch “liquidity flows, supply and 
demand conditions, and overall market sentiment,” then “reset” his framework. 
The bigger picture, he says, is still bearish and potentially more drawn out 
than he expected last year. His closing warning is that this down cycle is 
“unlikely to end lightly,” with the plausible outcomes being a larger-than- 
expected drop, a longer-than-expected sideways phase, or both. At press time, 
Bitcoin traded at $67,889. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from 
TradingView.com

Bitcoin Bottom Call On Ice: Fear Is Extreme, Whales Aren’t Buying

Metaplanet’s Simon Gerovich hit back at critics who accused the company of 
hiding losses and key details of its Bitcoin bets, as investor anger over 
leveraged Bitcoin treasuries spreads.

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