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Bitcoin’s weekly chart is at a pivotal point, with price action hovering around key structural levels. Traders are now questioning whether the current move marks the start of a deeper correction or just a healthy consolidation before the next leg up.
Elliott Waves Academy, in its latest analysis tracking Bitcoin’s expected wave path on the weekly timeframe, has raised a key question: has the corrective wave begun? The recent market structure indicates that the bullish leg has likely completed, and the price may now be transitioning into a corrective phase. A critical support level of the prior upward wave has been broken, hinting at a potential wave reversal in progress.
The evidence for this transition grows stronger when observing the break below the lower boundary of the diagonal pattern and the final price channel. Both of these structures previously acted as strong supports during Bitcoin’s impulsive climb, and their breakdown now suggests that market control is slowly shifting from buyers to sellers.
Currently, Bitcoin is trading beneath the lower boundary of the price channel, which has flipped into a key resistance zone. As long as the price remains below this zone, bearish sentiment could persist, keeping the market in a cautious state.
Despite the weakness, there are signs that the downward sub-wave might be nearing completion. The structure suggests that a short-term upward corrective wave could emerge as the market attempts to stabilize and regain footing.
Sharing his expectations, Elliott Waves Academy noted that Bitcoin may continue to consolidate around its current levels as bulls attempt to defend their positions. Such a phase of sideways movement often reflects a period of indecision in the market, where both buyers and sellers are waiting for confirmation before committing to their next major moves.
However, the Academy cautioned that if signs of weakness begin to emerge near the current resistance zone, the market could face a potential reversal. This shift could trigger renewed bearish pressure, pushing Bitcoin into a deeper corrective leg.
According to the analysis, the correction could extend toward the 50%–61.8% Fibonacci retracement levels of the previous upward wave. These Fibonacci zones often serve as key areas of support during corrective movements, and a decline into these ranges could provide a more stable foundation for a future bullish reversal.
Ultimately, monitoring price behavior around these crucial levels in the following days will be essential. Whether the market holds firm in consolidation or slips into a deeper retracement, the upcoming movements in these zones could set the tone for the next phase of Bitcoin’s long-term wave cycle.
Darius Baruo
Oct 18, 2025 14:50
LINK price prediction shows mixed signals with analysts forecasting $17.78-$25.41 range. Technical analysis suggests potential bounce from $16.70 support toward $21.57 medium-term target.
Chainlink (LINK) presents a compelling case study in contrarian technical analysis as the token trades at $16.84, showing resilience near critical support levels. Despite recent bearish momentum, our LINK price prediction indicates potential for a significant recovery in the coming weeks.
• LINK short-term target (1 week): $19.20 (+14.0%) – Testing pivot resistance
• Chainlink medium-term forecast (1 month): $21.00-$23.50 range – Breaking above moving average cluster
• Key level to break for bullish continuation: $20.30 (SMA 20 resistance)
• Critical support if bearish: $15.71 (Bollinger Band lower support)
The cryptocurrency community shows stark divisions in their Chainlink forecast, creating an interesting contrarian setup. CoinCodex maintains the most optimistic LINK price prediction at $25.41, citing bullish technical indicators and a Fear & Greed Index reading of 55. This bullish outlook contrasts sharply with bearish predictions from 30rates.com and LongForecast, both targeting the $17.78-$17.90 range.
The consensus appears bearish for October 2025, with multiple analysts predicting 17-18% declines. However, PriceForecastBot’s AI model offers a more balanced perspective with a $21.57 LINK price target by December 2025. This divergence in analyst opinions often signals potential reversal opportunities, especially when combined with oversold technical conditions.
Changelly’s moderate $19.07 target represents the middle ground, acknowledging the falling 50-day moving average while recognizing potential support levels. The wide prediction range from $17.78 to $25.41 highlights the uncertainty surrounding LINK’s near-term direction.
Chainlink technical analysis reveals a classic oversold setup with LINK trading significantly below all major moving averages. The current price of $16.84 sits 23% below the 20-day SMA ($20.30) and 30% below the 50-day SMA ($21.88), indicating severe technical weakness that often precedes strong reversals.
The RSI reading of 35.24 positions LINK in neutral territory but approaching oversold conditions. While not yet in extreme oversold territory (below 30), the momentum is clearly bearish with the MACD histogram at -0.3797. However, this bearish momentum may be reaching exhaustion levels.
Most significantly, LINK’s Bollinger Band position at 0.12 places it very close to the lower band at $15.71. Historically, when assets trade near Bollinger Band extremes, mean reversion becomes highly probable. The $4.59 gap between current price and the middle band ($20.30) represents substantial upside potential.
Volume analysis from Binance shows $52.2 million in 24-hour trading, suggesting adequate liquidity for any potential reversal. The daily ATR of $2.00 indicates normal volatility levels, providing clear risk parameters for position management.
The primary LINK price target in a bullish scenario focuses on $21.57, aligning with PriceForecastBot’s medium-term prediction. This level coincides with the 50-day moving average resistance and represents a 28% upside from current levels.
For this bullish Chainlink forecast to materialize, LINK must first reclaim the pivot point at $16.70 and demonstrate sustained buying pressure above $17.50. A break above the 7-day SMA at $18.13 would confirm short-term trend reversal and open the path toward $19.20 resistance.
The ultimate bullish LINK price prediction targets the $23.73 immediate resistance level, which aligns closely with CoinCodex’s optimistic forecast. This scenario requires breaking through the dense moving average cluster between $20.30-$21.88, indicating strong institutional accumulation.
The bearish case for our LINK price prediction centers on a breakdown below the critical $15.71 Bollinger Band support. Such a move would likely trigger algorithmic selling and test the psychological $15.00 level.
A sustained break below $15.71 could accelerate toward the $7.90 strong support level, though this extreme scenario appears unlikely given current market conditions. The 52-week low at $10.93 provides ultimate downside protection but represents a -35% decline from current levels.
Risk factors include broader cryptocurrency market weakness, negative news regarding Chainlink’s oracle partnerships, or a breakdown in Bitcoin’s technical structure. The negative MACD reading suggests caution until momentum indicators show signs of stabilization.
The current technical setup suggests a measured approach to LINK accumulation. Primary entry opportunities exist between $16.50-$16.84, with initial stop-loss protection at $15.50 (-8.0%).
Conservative investors should wait for confirmation above $18.13 (7-day SMA) before establishing positions, trading the momentum rather than attempting to catch a falling knife. This approach reduces risk but may sacrifice some upside potential.
Position sizing should reflect the high-risk nature of this setup. Consider allocating no more than 2-3% of portfolio value to LINK given the bearish momentum indicators. Scale-in strategies work well in these conditions, adding to positions on any move above $17.50 and $19.20.
Technical traders might consider the $16.70 pivot point as a key decision level. Bounces from this support with increasing volume could signal accumulation, while breaks below suggest further downside testing.
Our base case LINK price prediction targets $21.57 by December 2025, representing a 28% upside from current levels. This forecast aligns with mean reversion expectations and assumes successful defense of the $15.71 Bollinger Band support.
Confidence level remains MEDIUM due to conflicting technical signals and mixed analyst sentiment. The oversold conditions support potential upside, but bearish momentum requires careful monitoring.
Key indicators to watch include RSI movement above 40 (confirming momentum shift), MACD histogram turning positive, and sustained trading above the $17.50 level. Failure to hold $15.71 support would invalidate this bullish Chainlink forecast and suggest revisiting downside targets.
The prediction timeline spans 4-8 weeks for initial targets, with the $21.57 objective achievable by year-end assuming broader cryptocurrency market stability. Traders should remain flexible and adjust positions based on evolving technical conditions and market sentiment shifts.
Image source: Shutterstock
A new cyber threat is emerging from North Korea as its state-backed hackers experiment with embedding malicious code directly into blockchain networks.
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) reported on October 17 that the technique, called EtherHiding, marks a new evolution in how hackers hide, distribute, and control malware across decentralized systems.
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GTIG explained that EtherHiding allows attackers to weaponize smart contracts and public blockchains like Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain by using them to store malicious payloads.
Once a piece of code is uploaded to these decentralized ledgers, removing or blocking it becomes nearly impossible due to their immutable nature.
“Although smart contracts offer innovative ways to build decentralized applications, their unchangeable nature is leveraged in EtherHiding to host and serve malicious code in a manner that cannot be easily blocked,” GTIG wrote.
In practice, the hackers compromise legitimate WordPress websites, often by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities or stolen credentials.
After gaining access, they insert a few lines of JavaScript—known as a “loader”—into the website’s code. When a visitor opens the infected page, the loader quietly connects to the blockchain and retrieves malware from a remote server.
GTIG pointed out that this attack often leaves no visible transaction trail and requires little to no fees because it happens off-chain. This, in essence, allows the attackers to operate undetected.
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Notably, GTIG traced the first instance of EtherHiding to September 2023, when it appeared in a campaign known as CLEARFAKE, which tricked users with fake browser update prompts.
Cybersecurity researchers say this tactic signals a shift in North Korea’s digital strategy from merely stealing cryptocurrency to using blockchain itself as a stealth weapon.
“EtherHiding represents a shift toward next-generation bulletproof hosting, where the inherent features of blockchain technology are repurposed for malicious ends. This technique underscores the continuous evolution of cyber threats as attackers adapt and leverage new technologies to their advantage,” GTIG stated.
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, described EtherHiding as an “early-stage experiment.” He warned that combining it with AI-driven automation could make future attacks much harder to detect.
“I expect attackers to also experiment with directly loading zero click exploits onto blockchains targeting systems & apps that process blockchains… especially if they are sometimes hosted on the same systems & networks that handle transactions / have wallets,” he added.
This new attack vector could have severe implications for the crypto industry, considering North Korean attackers are significantly prolific.
Data from TRM Labs shows that North Korean-linked groups have already stolen more than $1.5 billion in crypto assets this year alone. Investigators believe those funds help finance Pyongyang’s military programs and efforts to evade international sanctions.
Given this, GTIG advised crypto users to reduce their risk by blocking suspicious downloads and restricting unauthorized web scripts. The group also urged security researchers to identify and label malicious code embedded within blockchain networks.
Grayscale, one of crypto’s largest institutional asset managers, published a research note on Oct. 10 calling Solana (SOL) “crypto’s financial bazaar.”
This characterization goes well beyond the usual speed-and-throughput pitch. The report positions SOL as the category leader in users, transactions, and fees, arguing that its user experience, architectural moat via the Solana Virtual Machine, and application diversity create a durable foundation for valuation.
It’s a significant shift in institutional tone. Grayscale is now giving Solana the same treatment it once reserved for Ethereum as “digital oil.”
The thesis matters less for what Grayscale believes than for what it signals. When a major allocator aligned with the traditional finance ecosystem formalizes an investment case around a blockchain that was left for dead after FTX collapsed, other desks take notice.
The question is whether the numbers support the narrative, or whether “financial bazaar” is still more metaphor than measurable reality.
We stress-tested Grayscale’s claims against primary on-chain data, developer trackers, and technical benchmarks. The direction is right: Solana leads on several key metrics.
However, the institutional case carries trade-offs that the report acknowledges only in passing, and a few headline figures deserve closer scrutiny.
The report frames Solana as the standout among smart contract platforms on three core fundamentals: users, transaction volume, and fees.
Grayscale cites roughly $425 million in monthly ecosystem fees, an annualized run rate above $5 billion, and points to $1.2 trillion in year-to-date DEX volume routed through Raydium and Jupiter.
It highlights Jupiter as the largest DEX aggregator by volume in the industry, Pump.fun’s 2 million monthly active users, and Helium’s 1.5 million daily users as proof of application diversity.
On the developer side, the report notes more than 1,000 full-time Solana developers and claims the ecosystem has grown faster than any other smart contract platform over the past two years.
Speed and cost receive equal billing. Solana produces blocks every 400 milliseconds, with transactions considered final in roughly 12 to 13 seconds.
Average transaction fees sit at $0.02, while median daily fees this year have averaged $0.001, one-tenth of one cent, thanks to local fee markets that isolate congestion to specific high-demand applications.
A forthcoming upgrade called Alpenglow aims to reduce finality to 100 to 150 milliseconds.
Grayscale also draws boundaries. It explicitly states that SOL “may be less suitable as a long-term store of value than Bitcoin or Ethereum,” citing higher nominal supply inflation and centralization vectors.
The report noted that Solana’s efficiency comes at the cost of comparatively high hardware and bandwidth requirements, with 99% of staked SOL in data centers and roughly 45% concentrated in the top two hosting providers.
DeFiLlama shows Solana consistently running around 2.6 million active addresses in the last 24 hours and roughly 67 million on-chain transactions over the same window, in line with 2025’s typical pace.
Artemis reporting from mid-2025 highlighted that Solana matched all other layer-1 and layer-2 networks combined on monthly active addresses, corroborating the “category leader” characterization on user count.
Regarding fees, the “$425 million per month” figure requires context. Token Terminal’s chain-level fee data for Solana show tens of millions per month in several 2025 periods, around $30 million to $40 million in recent months.
DeFiLlama shows current daily chain fees around $0.8 million to $1.6 million and app fees around $9 million to $13 million, together implying roughly $300 million to $450 million per month at the recent pace, depending on market intensity.
Hundreds of millions per month during busy periods is plausible, but $425 million as a steady baseline overstates the run rate. The mix between chain fees and app fees also matters for apples-to-apples comparisons across networks.
The report also addressed volumes. DeFiLlama’s chain dashboard shows Solana regularly posting multi-billion-dollar daily DEX volume and more than $40 billion in the last seven days, with multiple recent days topping Ethereum.
Weekly, Solana topped Ethereum’s volumes for 33 out of 42 weeks this year.
Jupiter currently ranks as the industry’s largest DEX aggregator by 30-day volume, roughly $22.3 billion versus $13 billion to $14 billion for 1inch, supporting Grayscale’s claim.
For the active developer base, Electric Capital’s live tracker shows Solana with approximately 17,708 total developers as of mid-October 2025, with the full-time developer base up 29.1% year over year and 61.7% over two years.
The ecosystem attracted 7,625 new developers in 2024, the most of any chain, and has added more than 11,500 new developers year to date through mid-October 2025.
That places Solana second only to Ethereum in active developers, confirming the “large and growing” characterization.
On finality and speed, Chainspect reports Solana slot time around 0.4 seconds and typical finality at roughly 12.8 seconds today, aligning with Grayscale’s 12- to 13-second claim.
Additionally, Helius’ technical documentation on local fee markets explains how Solana sustains high throughput while keeping median user fees in fractions of a cent, even during congestion.
The data directionally support the thesis that Solana leads in active users, often leads in DEX flow, hosts the largest aggregator, and ranks second in developers.
The fee claim is accurate during hot markets but overstates the steady-state baseline.
Institutions are warming to Solana because the user experience is now measurably fast, cheap, and more predictable.
Local fee markets keep most congestion and priority fees localized to hot applications, so everyday transactions stay inexpensive even when activity spikes, something custodians and venues value when they batch flows or settle client orders.
Chainspect measures roughly 0.4-second block times and 12.8-second finality today, and the Alpenglow upgrade targets sub-second finality, reducing settlement risk windows for market makers and brokers.
Reliability has improved since the mainnet halt on Feb. 6, 2024, which lasted about five hours. Yet, data shows stronger uptime and throughput in subsequent months.
Liquidity has deepened across both DEX and aggregator rails, which matters for execution and hedging.
DeFiLlama shows Solana regularly at or near the top in chain-level DEX volumes. At the same time, Jupiter ranks as the largest DEX aggregator by 30-day volume, giving institutions a single router into pooled liquidity across Raydium, Orca, Meteora, and others.
Token Terminal data also shows rising fee capture on Solana’s stack, chain plus apps, a proxy for sustained user demand that supports tighter spreads and deeper books.
Post-FTX, the ecosystem has rebuilt credibility and infrastructure. The Artemis report already mentioned suggests that the user base and throughput weren’t just hype cycles.
On the product side, a regulated-product pipeline has emerged, with multiple spot SOL exchange-traded funds (ETFs) applications pending before the US government shutdown paused SEC reviews, signaling mainstream issuers’ interest, even if the timing has slipped.
Together, user traction and visible institutional wrappers lower the perceived idiosyncratic risk that kept some desks sidelined in 2023.
Grayscale acknowledges centralization but only in outline. Running a high-quality validator still assumes server-class hardware, 12-plus cores, AVX2/512 instruction sets, NVMe arrays, and 256GB-plus RAM, which raises the barrier to entry and pushes operators toward data centers.
Solana’s effective decentralization, measured by the Nakamoto coefficient, stood at 20 as of Apr. 16, 2025, down from a higher peak, meaning fewer entities would need to collude to censor transactions than in periods when the coefficient was larger.
Client diversity remains in transition. The Agave and Jito clients still dominate Solana, while Firedancer is progressing but has only run in limited or non-voting configurations, with full rollout targeted for 2025.
Until Firedancer and other clients are widely adopted, single-client risk persists.
Store-of-value headwinds stem from issuance and fee policy. The current annual issuance ranges from 4% to 5%, with a disinflationary path toward a lower long-term target, higher than Bitcoin’s fixed schedule and capable of diluting holders absent offsetting burn.
Following SIMD-0096, only 50% of the base fee is burned, and the priority-fee burn has been discontinued, weakening the burn counterweight when activity shifts toward priority fees.
High throughput drives large ledgers, frequent snapshots, and upgrade cadence.
Recommended setups include multiple high-TBW NVMe devices for accounts, ledgers, and snapshots, which raises ongoing operational costs compared to lighter chains.
Grayscale’s Solana thesis, which posits that fast, cheap, and sticky applications yield sustainable network value, holds up on the fundamentals that matter most to institutions: active users, transaction throughput, developer pipeline, and liquidity depth.
The “financial bazaar” framing is more than marketing, as Solana hosts a diverse and dense on-chain economy that rivals or exceeds its peers on multiple dimensions.
Yet, the caveats matter. The $425 million monthly fee figure is a high-water mark, not a baseline. Centralization vectors, centered around hardware requirements, stake concentration, and client diversity, are real, even if they haven’t yet impaired network operations.
And the store-of-value limitation Grayscale draws is a deliberate line. SOL is a utility and speculation vehicle, rather than a monetary asset in the sense of Bitcoin or Ethereum.
The following milestones to watch are Alpenglow’s finality upgrade and Firedancer’s full deployment.
If Solana can deliver sub-second finality while diversifying its client base, the institutional case strengthens. If hardware requirements continue to push validators into data centers and the Nakamoto coefficient drifts lower, the “bazaar” risks becoming a walled garden.
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Timothy Morano
Oct 18, 2025 15:02
BCH price prediction suggests recovery to $525-$540 range as oversold RSI and analyst consensus point to short-term bounce from current $467 levels.
Bitcoin Cash has found itself at a critical juncture, trading at $467.30 after a modest 1.46% daily gain. With multiple technical indicators flashing oversold signals and analyst predictions clustering around the $520-$570 range, our BCH price prediction suggests a tactical bounce is likely in the coming week.
• BCH short-term target (1 week): $525-$540 (+12% to +16%)
• Bitcoin Cash medium-term forecast (1 month): $480-$590 range with high volatility
• Key level to break for bullish continuation: $570 (SMA 50 resistance)
• Critical support if bearish: $443.20 (strong support confluence)
The latest Bitcoin Cash forecast from multiple analysts shows remarkable consensus despite different methodologies. DigitalCoinPrice leads with the most optimistic BCH price target of $572.25, while CoinLore provides the most conservative estimate at $517.62. This $55 spread represents roughly 10% variance, indicating moderate agreement among forecasters.
Notably, all five recent predictions fall within the $517-$572 range, suggesting institutional confidence in Bitcoin Cash’s ability to recover from current oversold levels. The convergence around the $538 level (average of predictions) aligns closely with our technical analysis showing the EMA 12 at $521 as initial resistance.
The current Bitcoin Cash technical analysis reveals a classic oversold setup with multiple confirming indicators. The RSI reading of 30.88 sits in neutral territory but shows signs of bottoming after likely touching oversold levels recently. More compelling is the Bollinger Bands position, with BCH trading at just 0.0011 above the lower band – historically a reliable bounce indicator.
The MACD histogram at -9.8195 confirms bearish momentum remains dominant, but the narrowing gap between MACD (-23.4783) and signal line (-13.6588) suggests momentum deceleration. This technical divergence often precedes short-term reversals, supporting our BCH price prediction for upward movement.
Volume analysis shows $16 million in 24-hour Binance spot trading, which is moderate but sufficient to support a relief rally. The daily ATR of $33.60 indicates normal volatility conditions, giving room for the predicted $58-$73 move to our target zone.
Our primary BCH price target of $525-$540 represents the first meaningful resistance cluster. The EMA 12 at $521 provides initial resistance, followed by the psychological $540 level where three analyst predictions converge. A break above $540 would target the SMA 7 at $512.76 (already below current resistance), then the more significant SMA 20 at $552.13.
For this Bitcoin Cash forecast to materialize, we need to see RSI recovery above 35, MACD histogram reduction below -8, and most critically, a daily close above $485 to confirm the bounce from Bollinger lower band support.
If the current support at $467 fails, our bearish BCH price prediction targets the $443.20 level, which represents both immediate and strong support confluence. This would represent a 5% decline from current levels and would likely trigger further selling toward the $420 zone.
Key bearish catalysts include RSI breakdown below 28, increased MACD divergence beyond -25, and daily volume exceeding $25 million on selling pressure. The 52-week low at $269.20 remains a distant but relevant downside reference point.
Based on our Bitcoin Cash technical analysis, the current $467.30 level offers a favorable risk-reward setup for short-term traders. The optimal buy or sell BCH decision favors buying with these specific parameters:
Entry Strategy: Scale into positions between $465-$470, using the Bollinger lower band as a guide. The tight range between current price and strong support at $443 provides a clear stop-loss level just 5% away.
Risk Management: Set initial stop-loss at $440 (below strong support) and take partial profits at $525 (first target). Trail stops above $520 if momentum confirms our BCH price prediction.
Position Sizing: Given medium confidence levels and 15% upside potential versus 5% downside risk, a 2-3% portfolio allocation appears appropriate for risk-tolerant traders.
Our BCH price prediction anticipates a 12-16% recovery to the $525-$540 range within the next 7 days, supported by oversold technical conditions and analyst consensus. This Bitcoin Cash forecast carries MEDIUM confidence given the conflicting signals between oversold bounces and underlying bearish momentum.
Key confirmation indicators include RSI recovery above 35, MACD histogram improvement, and daily closes above $485. Invalidation would occur with breaks below $443.20 support or if volume spikes above $25 million on selling pressure.
The timeline for this prediction extends through October 25th, with initial moves expected within 2-3 trading days as oversold conditions typically resolve quickly in cryptocurrency markets.
Image source: Shutterstock
Last week’s massive crypto crash didn’t just hit traders, it also wiped out millions in stolen funds held by hackers who, caught in the panic, misplayed the market with disastrous timing.
Blockchain sleuth Lookonchain has tracked at least six wallets linked to known hackers that lost more than $13.4 million after panic-selling ether during the downturn.
The hackers in question appear to be part of a group of cybercriminals who have recently engaged in cryptocurrency theft. The mention of “6 hacker wallets” losing over $13.4 million suggests a coordinated effort, possibly linked to a known hacking syndicate.
The sell-off began when one wallet offloaded 7,816 ETH at $3,728 per coin, a move that coincided with the steepest part of the crash. As prices dropped further, five more wallets followed suit, contributing to the broader market dump.
However, rather than holding the sold assets in stablecoins or attempting to launder the ETH, the hackers rebought the same amount — 7,816 ETH — at $4,159 as the markets bounced back, locking in another round of losses.
By Oct. 18, blockchain analysis revealed that the total loss from these trading missteps reached $13.4 million.
Given the scale of the funds (about $29 million in the latest transaction alone), these hackers are likely sophisticated actors with access to advanced tools for exploiting vulnerabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, exchanges, or smart contracts.
The hackers’ trading patterns during volatile market conditions suggest that while they’re experienced in exploiting the ecosystem’s players, they react to market swings like any other over-leveraged trader would: with poor timing and emotional decision-making.
Lookonchain labeled the behavior as “panic selling,” while some crypto observers even joked that the attackers might be “great hackers, terrible traders.”
However, the hackers likely acquired those funds through hacking. So while the losses are real, the funds were likely not earned but stolen.
Blockchain analysts believe the ETH originated from earlier attacks, meaning the hackers were trading with assets they hadn’t bought in the first place.
In that sense, the losses may not hurt in the way they would for ordinary traders.
Think of it this way: someone finds a suitcase of cash, gambles it poorly, and walks away empty-handed. They’re worse off than before but not out-of-pocket, since the money they lost wasn’t theirs in the first place.
Maybe the hacker group should’ve just stuck with hacking and maybe start looking for a portfolio manager for criminals. Still, the missteps reveal something about the current state of the crypto landscape. Even sophisticated attackers can falter under pressure.
There’s another possibility out there. While they were ‘terrible traders’, they may also have been laundering their ill-gotten gains through these trades, strategically dumping tainted funds during the panic to then buy back clean funds, even if at a loss.
As one X poster said, “It’s a form of money laundering. While they are puking, on the other side, they are buying. Then they reverse after it rises. Loose the stolen money, earn on fresh money.”
The Oct. 10 market correction affected traders across the board, triggered by a combination of macroeconomic pressures and thinning liquidity in decentralized markets that led to a $500 billion slump.
While hacks and exploits are usually viewed in isolation, last week’s developments show how on-chain markets, by design, apply the same rules to everyone: whether they’re retail traders, whales, or hackers.
Arthur Hayes’ home office Maelstrom is seeking $250 million in capital investment to finance a private equity fund targeted at mid-sized crypto companies. According to Bloomberg, the fund is designed to provide traditional investors more access to the crypto market amid a spectacular recovery from the FTX-inspired market crash in November 2022.
In a post on Friday, Bloomberg reports that Maelstrom, founded by Arthur Hayes and former BitMEX M&A Head Akshat Vaidya, is actively working to raise $250 million for investment in mid-sized crypto firms.
The fund, tagged as Maelstrom Equity Fund I, is expected to cover the acquisition of six crypto companies, with each purchase expected to range between $40 million-$75 million. Notably, there will be a strategic focus on blockchain service providers, including trading infrastructure and analytics startups.
In a recent X post, Vaidaya, who acts as the managing director, provides more insights into this fund, highlighting the problem and proposed solution.
Vaidaya describes the new initiative as the first control-buyout PE fund to focus solely on the crypto ecosystem. The Maelstrom Equity Fund I is to achieve profitability in three main ways. First of which is providing founders of supporting blockchain services to access clean exit opportunities at reasonable valuations.
Furthermore, the PE fund would also aim to help new TradFi entrants to the crypto space navigate investment in businesses by providing them access to “an acquisition-ready portfolio of cash-flowing, growing businesses for future buyers of crypto businesses like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, X, Wealthfront, etc.”
Finally, Hayes, Vaidaya and newly hired partner Adam Schlegel are also looking to offer capital allocators such as pension funds or other family offices the opportunity to invest capital at scale, e.g, 9 figures+, into the “most fundamentally valuable” sectors of the crypto economy, i.e., the blockchain supporting business, without having to worry about token exposure or market volatility.
Interestingly, Bloomberg notes that Maelstrom’s proposed equity fund comes amidst a challenging period as PE firms are globally struggling to attract capital. In the crypto market, PE investment is reportedly down to $1.4 billion, representing a 65% decline from the peak of 2021, which suggests a significant business risk for Hayes and partners.
However, a series of high-profile acquisitions amidst a rebounding market since the FTX crash, coupled with the mechanics of the Maelstrom, provides an appealing context for investors. At press time, the total crypto market cap is valued at $3.59 trillion following a 1.06% decline in the last 24 hours.
Featured image from Fortune, chart from Tradingview
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Pi Coin has recently witnessed heightened volatility, with its price fluctuating amid weak growth over the past few days.
The altcoin’s limited upward movement has raised skepticism, but improving investor sentiment and technical signals suggest a potential reversal is likely.
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The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for Pi Coin is currently in the oversold zone, a level that often indicates exhaustion among sellers. Historically, such dips have marked key turning points for the cryptocurrency.
Just last week, a similar condition preceded a notable rebound, suggesting that accumulation may soon replace selling pressure.
Investors often interpret oversold conditions as opportunities to enter the market at discounted prices. If accumulation strengthens, Pi Coin could experience a shift in momentum as buyers move to capitalize on low valuations.
Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Crypto Newsletter here.
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The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) indicator has shown fluctuations over recent sessions but remains above the zero line in positive territory. This implies that capital inflows continue to outweigh outflows, a positive sign for market stability. Even with temporary weakness, sustained inflows indicate that Pi Coin’s investor confidence has not fully eroded.
While momentum has softened slightly, the overall liquidity structure supports a steady recovery. If the CMF maintains its position above zero, it could provide the foundation for renewed buying activity.
Pi Coin is trading at $0.205, holding firmly above the $0.200 support level, which has acted as a critical base for past rebounds. The level helped the altcoin recover last week, and a similar bounce could emerge if bullish sentiment builds further.
Should this occur, Pi Coin could rise toward the $0.229 resistance level, with a potential breakout paving the way to $0.256. Achieving this move would require solid investor support and favorable market cues.
However, if the broader market turns bearish, Pi Coin could lose the $0.200 support. Thus, the token could slip to $0.180 or even $0.153—its all-time low—invalidating the bullish thesis.
