Bitcoin, Ether Face Fresh Pressure as Coldcard Sweep Campaign Reaches Day Five

The crypto market downturn has remained relatively controlled despite the severity of the Coldcard wallet breach, the millions of dollars in bitcoin losses, and the growing concerns surrounding the security of hardware-based self-custody solutions.

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) continue to face pressure as the Coldcard exploit enters its fifth day, raising fresh questions about the risks of holding digital assets directly without relying on centralized platforms.

The incident has damaged confidence among crypto users, with many smaller investors reporting losses of long-held assets and reevaluating their trust in personal custody methods.

According to Marex analysts, the attack has further weakened sentiment by pushing some investors to transfer their coins back to exchanges, reversing the industry’s long-standing shift toward self-custody. They argued that lower market prices cannot address the issue when the main concern is the safety of cold storage systems.

Despite the estimated $114 million bitcoin theft, the market reaction has been relatively muted. Bitcoin recently fell 1.5% over 24 hours to around $62,595, a level it has approached several times in recent weeks. Ether slipped nearly 2% to $1,842, while the CoinDesk DeFi Select Index declined 2.5%.

Bitcoin’s 200-week simple moving average, currently trading above $63,000, has returned to focus after Strategy, the company led by Michael Saylor, announced that it is tracking the long-term indicator. The firm also hinted at potentially restarting bitcoin purchases after a five-week pause, funded through preferred stock carrying a 12% yield.

Market uncertainty has also been influenced by geopolitical developments. President Donald Trump said new negotiations with Iran would begin, though Iranian officials quickly rejected the statement. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said there were no plans for Tehran to accept a U.S. delegation or send representatives for discussions.

Derivatives Market Update

Bearish positioning strengthens:
Crypto futures taker data shows traders have become more cautious, with short positions accounting for more than 52% of volume. Market takers are participants who execute trades immediately against available orders on exchanges.

Bitcoin futures participation rises:
Bitcoin futures open interest has increased to a one-month high of 772,000 BTC, showing renewed activity. Annualized funding rates remain moderately positive at around 4%, suggesting a slight bullish bias. However, negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta indicates sellers are currently more aggressive through market executions.

Altcoin futures trends diverge:
ADA, ETH, and BCH have experienced increases in open interest, while SOL futures exposure continues to decline. TRX, DOGE, CC, and GRAM have recorded negative funding rates, pointing to growing interest in short positions. Still, funding levels remain relatively balanced, suggesting the market is not heavily crowded on the bearish side.

Options market remains calm:
Despite the Coldcard incident and higher Treasury yields, crypto options markets have shown limited signs of stress. The BVIV 30-day implied volatility index has stayed around 37% for four consecutive days, suggesting traders are not expecting extreme volatility.

Call options attract bullish bets:
Deribit data shows that bitcoin call options with $68,000 and $70,000 strike prices are among the most actively traded contracts, indicating continued interest in potential upside moves.

Token Market Highlights

NEAR Protocol’s Intents system has surpassed $24 billion in lifetime transaction volume, according to the project’s latest monthly update. The system allows users to define the outcome they want, such as swapping tokens across different blockchains, while the network handles the execution process automatically.

The increase followed the launch of protocol version 2.13, which introduced improvements including quantum-resistant transaction signing and dynamic resharding. Quantum-resistant technology aims to strengthen blockchain security against future quantum computing risks, while dynamic resharding enables the network to automatically expand processing capacity as demand increases.

NEAR is also strengthening its artificial intelligence strategy through AI compute staking, allowing token holders to lock NEAR assets to support AI computing infrastructure and earn rewards linked to usage demand.

NEAR recently traded near $1.72, according to CoinDesk data.