Show – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com Latest Crypto News Mon, 11 Aug 2025 04:51:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.10 https://i0.wp.com/earlybirdsinvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-New-Project-2024-12-17T235703.455.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Show – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com 32 32 240146708 Prove, don’t show: Why Zero-Knowledge proofs are TradFi’s next security layer https://earlybirdsinvest.com/prove-dont-show-why-zero-knowledge-proofs-are-tradfis-next-security-layer/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/prove-dont-show-why-zero-knowledge-proofs-are-tradfis-next-security-layer/#respond Mon, 11 Aug 2025 04:51:02 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/prove-dont-show-why-zero-knowledge-proofs-are-tradfis-next-security-layer/

The following article is a guest post and opinion of Prabal Banerjee (Co-founder of Avail) and Shailey Singh (Marketing Manager and Researcher at Avail)

Imagine a world where you walk into a bank and apply for a $1 million loan. Instead of handing over your full income history and credit report, you generate a cryptographic proof confirming you meet every loan criterion without exposing actual numbers or documents. The bank verifies the proof instantly. No raw data changes hands. No paper trail for hackers to follow.

Today, for a financial institution to verify a fact—whether it’s a customer’s loan eligibility or proof of compliance—it must reveal every underlying piece of data, including sensitive personal information. That data lives in centralized systems, secured by or shared with third parties, creating an ever-expanding attack surface.

This is the paradox at the heart of modern finance: compliance demands disclosure, but disclosure erodes privacy and security. Zero-knowledge technology flips that script.

In a world of mounting cyber threats, regulatory scrutiny, and customer fatigue, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) offer a better model for trust: verifiable, privacy-preserving, and future-ready. ZKPs let one party (the prover) convince another (the verifier) that a statement is true, without revealing why or exposing the underlying data.

Integrating ZK technology into traditional finance may seem futuristic, but the truth is, we need it now.

A Surge in Cyber Risk

Data privacy and security go hand in hand. The financial sector is under siege. In 2024, the average cost of a data breach for banks and insurers skyrocketed to $6.08 million—about 22% higher than the $4.88 million cross-industry average. Companies take an average of 168 days to detect and 51 more to contain these breaches, prolonging operational chaos and reputational damage.

In 2023, the financial industry accounted for 27% of all data breaches handled by Kroll—more than any other sector. These aren’t outliers; they’re bleeding-edge trends that cut into profits and erode public trust. Consider Equifax, which lost over $5 billion in market cap and 13% stock value after its 2017 breach; or Bank of America’s vendor-related breach that exposed the records of 7.6 million customers, prompting forensic investigations and intensified regulatory scrutiny.

Compliance Overload

Regulatory demands have outpaced legacy infrastructure. In the United States, Dodd‑Frank and SOX require firms to disclose detailed or near-real-time compliance data.

Europe’s MiCA adds granular reporting for crypto companies. Firms face nonstop exposure, rising complexity, and compliance fatigue. The result: bloated tech stacks, siloed data, and mounting vulnerability under constant internal and external scrutiny.

Banks Demand More Personal Data

Banks and fintechs are asking users to surrender increasing amounts of personal data: documents, income history, even biometric data, just to get started. Customer acquisition has become a leak-prone liability.

A 2023 Fenergo study found 67% of banks have lost potential clients due to clunky KYC and onboarding. Banks contact new customers an average of 10 times during onboarding, requesting countless documents, costing around $128 per customer and seeing an average 18% abandonment rate, per a 2024 report. These data-hungry paths are alienating users while making institutions data-rich and danger-rich.

Zero-Knowledge Tech: Proof Without Exposure

Zero-knowledge proofs change this calculus. ZKPs are built on decades of cryptographic research. Foundational work by researchers like Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, Oded Goldreich, Amit Sahai, and others laid the groundwork for modern zero-knowledge systems, defining both their theoretical limits and practical designs. Today, ZKPs have moved from mathematical concepts to real-world tools.

Under the hood, zero-knowledge systems rely on advanced cryptography to generate compact, verifiable proofs. No raw data ever needs to be revealed. Rules and inputs are programmatically smart-contract encoded, the proof is generated without exposing the underlying data, and the verifier receives a tamper-proof cryptographic assurance that all conditions were satisfied.

Recent breakthroughs have made these proofs fast enough for real-time use and efficient enough to scale across high-volume financial systems.

After the collapse of crypto giants like FTX, proving reserves became a top priority for crypto firms, especially exchanges. Centralized exchanges like Kraken, Gate.io, and OKX have already proven reserves without exposing sensitive details.

Traditional banks can adopt similar mechanisms to prove Basel III compliance or liquidity thresholds without ever leaking proprietary risk models.

Some already have. In 2023, Société Générale Forge explored zero-knowledge technology to enhance confidentiality in digital bond issuance (fully subscribed by AXA Investments and Generali Investments) on Ethereum L1. In March 2024, the European Banking Authority began exploring ZKPs as part of its digital compliance toolkit. Singapore’s MAS has also funded ZK-based pilots for cross-border data privacy.

The other important aspect is scale. Interbank markets process trillions daily, but most require full disclosure for settlement—from counterparties to trade details. ZK-rollups can batch thousands of trades into a single proof, offering near-instant finality without revealing anything other than what needs to be proved.

Why Now? Tech + Timing

Zero-knowledge proofs aren’t new. But what is new is that they’re finally fast, scalable, and accessible.

Proof generation speed has improved dramatically in the past two years alone. With zk-SNARKs and zk-STARKs, proofs can now be generated in seconds and verified in milliseconds—even for complex financial computations. Developers are advancing ZK tech in the context of rollup architecture acceleration, with Ethereum’s rollup-centric vision.

Tooling has matured as well. Today, developers can plug into open-source libraries like Halo2, PLONK, or zkVMs with real-world use cases. Platforms like Polygon, zkSync, StarkWare, and Scroll are already deploying ZK-powered financial apps.

Legacy institutions may face challenges in upgrading entrenched infrastructure, aligning with regulatory frameworks, building internal cryptography domain expertise, and educating teams. But these limitations are shrinking fast.

Today, the pieces are in place. The time to act is now.

Those who move early will set new standards. The new model of trust is “verify, never reveal.” Early adopters will set the standard and win the clients.

Mentioned in this article
]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/prove-dont-show-why-zero-knowledge-proofs-are-tradfis-next-security-layer/feed/ 0 52594 Block Your Dates for The Global Blockchain Show 2025 Hosted by VAP Group in Abu Dhabi  https://earlybirdsinvest.com/block-your-dates-for-the-global-blockchain-show-2025-hosted-by-vap-group-in-abu-dhabi/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/block-your-dates-for-the-global-blockchain-show-2025-hosted-by-vap-group-in-abu-dhabi/#respond Fri, 08 Aug 2025 16:27:11 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/block-your-dates-for-the-global-blockchain-show-2025-hosted-by-vap-group-in-abu-dhabi/

Last updated: 

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]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/block-your-dates-for-the-global-blockchain-show-2025-hosted-by-vap-group-in-abu-dhabi/feed/ 0 52182 Bitcoin Advanced Sentiment Index Reaches Bearish Levels: Futures Traders Show Caution https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-advanced-sentiment-index-reaches-bearish-levels-futures-traders-show-caution/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-advanced-sentiment-index-reaches-bearish-levels-futures-traders-show-caution/#respond Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:53:32 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-advanced-sentiment-index-reaches-bearish-levels-futures-traders-show-caution/

Bitcoin has broken down from the two-week consolidation range that held the market between $115,724 and $122,077, reaching a new local low near $114,000. The drop confirms a shift in short-term momentum, putting bulls on the defensive. The $117,000 level—previously a key support zone—now serves as the immediate resistance that must be reclaimed to signal a possible reversal.

Related Reading

The breakdown comes at a critical time, as sentiment across the market begins to shift. According to fresh data from CryptoQuant, futures sentiment turned bearish today, falling sharply before bouncing back slightly to 48%. While still close to neutral, any reading below 50% signals bearish dominance in positioning. This adds pressure to an already fragile technical structure and suggests traders are bracing for more downside.

Unless bulls can recover $117K quickly and close with strength, Bitcoin risks entering a deeper correction phase. With long-term support levels still intact, the broader bull trend remains in place—but this breakdown marks the first significant loss of momentum in weeks. The coming sessions will be critical in determining whether this is just a shakeout or the start of a larger trend reversal.

Bitcoin Advanced Sentiment Index Signals Rising Bearish Pressure

Top analyst Axel Adler has shared new insights into the Bitcoin Advanced Sentiment Index, a key metric used to gauge futures market positioning and broader investor mood. According to Adler, the index recently dropped to 40%—a sharp decline that reflected growing risk aversion and bearish positioning. Although the metric has since rebounded to 48%, it remains below the critical 50% threshold, which separates bullish from bearish territory.

Bitcoin Advanced Sentiment Index | Source: Axel Adler on X
Bitcoin Advanced Sentiment Index | Source: Axel Adler on X

This rebound signals a temporary pause in negative sentiment, but the broader trend shows a shift from bullish caution to bearish fear. Adler notes that as long as the index remains below 50%, the market lacks the confidence needed to sustain upward momentum. Traders are growing increasingly defensive, reducing long exposure and bracing for further downside.

If momentum continues to deteriorate, BTC could test the $112,000 level—the previous all-time high set in May. This zone may act as psychological and technical support, but failure to hold it could trigger a deeper correction.

With the Advanced Sentiment Index stuck in bearish territory and price action weakening, the market appears to be entering a riskier phase. While this doesn’t yet signal a full trend reversal, it does reflect growing uncertainty. Until sentiment and price reclaim higher ground, caution is warranted. The next move will likely depend on whether bulls can defend $112K—or if bears gain full control of the trend.

Related Reading

BTC Loses Key Support After Breakdown

Bitcoin has officially broken down from its two-week consolidation range, losing the critical $115,724 support level highlighted in the chart. The price reached a new local low at $114,116 before recovering slightly to the $115,100 zone, where it’s currently attempting to find footing. This marks a significant shift in momentum, as bulls failed to defend the lower boundary of the range, which held firm throughout July.

BTC testing key demand after losing range | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
BTC testing key demand after losing range | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

The 12-hour chart shows rising volume accompanying this breakdown, adding weight to the bearish move. BTC now trades below the 50-day SMA ($116,981), confirming weakness in short-term structure. The next major support sits around $112,000—the prior all-time high set in May—which could act as a psychological and technical floor.

Related Reading

The 100-day and 200-day SMAs remain well below current price action, suggesting that the macro trend is still intact. However, immediate momentum has clearly shifted, and bulls must reclaim the $117,000 area quickly to invalidate this breakdown.

Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-advanced-sentiment-index-reaches-bearish-levels-futures-traders-show-caution/feed/ 0 50902 Vera C. Rubin Observatory First Light Images Show 10 Million Galaxies https://earlybirdsinvest.com/vera-c-rubin-observatory-first-light-images-show-10-million-galaxies/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/vera-c-rubin-observatory-first-light-images-show-10-million-galaxies/#respond Sat, 28 Jun 2025 22:21:49 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/vera-c-rubin-observatory-first-light-images-show-10-million-galaxies/

Last Thursday, I took my son to the Rose Center for Earth and Space at New York’s Museum of Natural History. In the Hayden Planetarium, we watched a simulation of the Milky Way bloom above us, while the actor Pedro Pascal — who truly is everywhere — narrated the galactic dance unfolding on the screen.

It was breathtaking. But it didn’t compare to what was blasted around the world just a few days later, as the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory began broadcasting its “first light” — its inaugural images of the cosmos. I found myself pinching-to-zoom through a picture that contains roughly 10 million galaxies in a single frame, a vista so vast it would take 400 4-K TVs to display at full resolution. I could hold the universe itself on my screen.

Perched 8,660 feet up Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes, where the crystal-clear nights provide an exceptionally clear window into space, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory began construction in 2015 with funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy. Named for the pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin, whose work on galaxy rotation helped prove the existence of dark matter, the observatory was built to run a single, audacious experiment: the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

It will photograph the entire Southern Hemisphere sky every few nights to tackle four grand goals: unmask dark matter and dark energy, inventory the Solar System’s asteroids and comets, chart the Milky Way’s formation, and capture every transient cosmic event.

What makes Rubin so special is its eye, which is a marvel. At its core is a 27-foot-wide dual mirror cast from 51,900 pounds of molten glass that is still light enough to sweep across the sky in seconds. The mirror directs a flow of light from the cosmic depths to the 3.2-gigapixel LSST Camera, a 5-by-10-feet digital jumbotron that is the largest digital camera ever made. It’s like a massive magnifying glass paired with the world’s sharpest DSLR: Together they capture a swath of the night sky equivalent to 45 full moons every 30 seconds.

And those images, which will be continuously shared with the world, are jaw-dropping. The headlining shot from Rubin’s debut, nicknamed “Cosmic Treasure Chest,” stitches together 1,185 exposures of the Virgo Cluster, our nearest major collection of galaxies, some 55 million light-years away.

But the Rubin Observatory is about much more than producing pretty cosmic wallpaper. Its unprecedented scale gives it the ability to search for answers to grand questions about space science. The NSF notes that Rubin will gather more optical data in its first year than all previous ground telescopes combined, turning the messy, ever-changing sky into a searchable movie.

A wide-field image of deep space showcasing the Virgo Cluster, teeming with galaxies of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Large elliptical galaxies appear as soft yellowish glows, while spiral galaxies display distinct arms. Numerous smaller galaxies, star-like points, and reddish and bluish dots are scattered throughout the black cosmic background. A faint tidal stream trails off one of the galaxies near the center-right, suggesting gravitational interaction. The scene is a rich, visually dense tapestry of galactic evolution and structure.

Cosmic Treasure Chest.
RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA

It’s not just pretty pictures

As I’ve written before, the world has made great strides in planetary defense: Our ability to detect and eventually deflect asteroids that could be on a collision course with Earth. Rubin has already begun paying dividends toward that goal.

In a mere 10 hours of engineering data, its detection software identified 2,104 brand-new asteroids — including seven near-Earth objects, heavenly bodies whose orbit will bring them near-ish our planet.

That haul came from just a thumbnail-sized patch of sky; once Rubin begins its nightly scan of the whole Southern Hemisphere, it’s projected to catalog over 5 million asteroids and roughly 100,000 NEOs over the next decade, tripling today’s inventory. That will help NASA finally reach its congressionally mandated target of identifying 90 percent of the 25,000 city-killer-class NEOs (those over 140 meters) estimated to be out there.

How powerful is Rubin’s eye? “It took 225 years of astronomical observations to detect the first 1.5 million asteroids,” Jake Kurlander, a grad student astronomer at the University of Washington, told Earth.com. “Rubin will double that number in less than a year.”

A vivid, high-resolution image of a star-forming region in deep space, prominently featuring the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) in glowing pink and the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) in a blend of pink and blue hues. The nebulae are surrounded by dense star fields and golden interstellar dust clouds. Dark filaments of cosmic dust snake through the frame, especially near the pink emission areas. The overall color palette includes warm golds, reds, cool blues, and purples, highlighting active regions of stellar birth and ionized gas.

Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae.
RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA

And the images that Rubin captures will go out to the entire world. Its Skyviewer app will allow anyone to zoom in and out of the corners of space that catch Rubin’s eye, including celestial objects so new that most of them don’t have names. Looking at the app gives you a sense of what it must have been like to be one of the first human beings, gazing up at a sky filled with wonder and mystery.

Finding perspective in a pixel

It might seem strange to highlight a telescope at a moment when the world feels as if it is literally on fire. But the Vera Rubin Observatory isn’t just a triumph of international scientific engineering, or an unparalleled window on the universe. It is the ultimate perspective provider.

If you open the Virgo image and zoom all the way out, Earth’s orbit would be smaller than a single pixel. Yet that same pixel is where thousands of engineers, coders, machinists, and scientists quietly spent a decade building an eye that can watch the rest of the universe breathe, and then share those images with all of their fellow humans.

Seeing Rubin’s images brought to mind the lines of Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.”

I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

On days when life on our little world feels chaotic, Rubin’s first-light view offers a valuable reminder: We’re just one tiny part in a tapestry of 10 million galaxies, looking up from our planet at the endless stars.

A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/vera-c-rubin-observatory-first-light-images-show-10-million-galaxies/feed/ 0 44682 Scammers hijack real support pages to show fake phone numbers https://earlybirdsinvest.com/scammers-hijack-real-support-pages-to-show-fake-phone-numbers/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/scammers-hijack-real-support-pages-to-show-fake-phone-numbers/#respond Thu, 19 Jun 2025 23:50:02 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/scammers-hijack-real-support-pages-to-show-fake-phone-numbers/

Bottom line: A recent warning from Malwarebytes explains that users searching for tech support phone numbers can encounter fake contact information, even when visiting the official websites of major brands. Users should carefully examine text appearing in support site search bars and approach sponsored Google search results with caution, if at all.

Many people likely understand that they should verify URLs when visiting sites for banks, tech companies, and other critical services to avoid fraudulent links. While steering clear of links in suspicious emails is a well-known security precaution, hackers also frequently purchase sponsored Google ads that lead to fake websites designed to steal personal information.

However, the latest scam is even sneakier. Instead of creating fake websites, scammers inject false tech support numbers into legitimate sites by modifying parameters in sponsored search links. Search engines don’t display the added text in the URLs, and official support pages don’t block it, making the scam appear more convincing.

The scheme begins when users search Google for tech support numbers for major brands. Clicking on a top sponsored result leads to an actual support page, but the scammer’s phone number appears in the site’s search bar.

Unsuspecting users who call the number, thinking they’ve reached the company’s call center, are instead connected to scammers attempting to steal account credentials or banking information. Malwarebytes reports that attackers have targeted support pages for Netflix, PayPal, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Bank of America, and HP. These hijacked search results are hardest to spot on Apple’s website.

Malwarebytes says its Browser Guard extension can detect this tactic as a search hijack and warn users. Other red flags include phone numbers appearing at the end of legitimate URLs, excessive use of alarming language, encoded characters like “%20,” and search pages showing results before users enter a query.

To stay safe, users should look up support numbers in previously verified communications, such as past emails or direct messages from the company, and compare them with current search results. If a support representative asks for personal or banking information unrelated to the issue, hang up immediately.

Manually navigating to a company’s website and accessing the support section (without relying on search engines) can also help avoid hijacked sponsored links. Verified links can often be found in trusted communications or on the company’s official social media profiles and Wikipedia page.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/scammers-hijack-real-support-pages-to-show-fake-phone-numbers/feed/ 0 43004 Bitcoin Profit Taking Speeds Up Post Golden Cross, Hourly BTC Cashouts Top $500M, Blockchain Data Show https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-profit-taking-speeds-up-post-golden-cross-hourly-btc-cashouts-top-500m-blockchain-data-show/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-profit-taking-speeds-up-post-golden-cross-hourly-btc-cashouts-top-500m-blockchain-data-show/#respond Wed, 04 Jun 2025 07:13:42 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-profit-taking-speeds-up-post-golden-cross-hourly-btc-cashouts-top-500m-blockchain-data-show/

Bitcoin

holders have increased their profit-taking activity since the cryptocurrency’s price averages flashed a key bullish signal two weeks ago.

BTC’s 50-day simple moving average (SMA) crossed above its 200-day SMA on May 22, confirming a golden cross – a technical indicator signaling bullish long-term momentum, according to data from TradingView. On the same day, bitcoin’s price hit a record high above $111,000, according to CoinDesk data.

Still, holders are increasingly locking in gains rather than holding for further upside, according to on-chain data tracked by Glassnode.

“Entity-adjusted realized profit spiked above $500M/hour three times in the past 24 hours, signaling intense profit-taking activity,” Glassnode said on X on Tuesday.

The entity-adjusted realized profit represents the total USD profit of all coins that have been moved onchain, where the price at their last movement is lower than the latest transaction price.

Bitcoin: Entity-adjusted realized profits. (Glassnode)

Bitcoin: Entity-adjusted realized profits. (Glassnode)

The chart shows the profit-taking activity has steadily increased since the second half of May, topping the $500 million mark several times. That’s the most intense profit taking operation since early February.

Other metrics, such as the entity-adjusted spent output profit ratio (SOPR), suggest the same. SOPR tracks the profit level of all moved coins during a given period. It’s entity-adjusted version discards transactions between addresses of the same entity, providing a reliable indicator of real economic activity.

“The recent ATH breakout has led to a notable uptick in profits locked in, with the average coin capturing a +16% profit. Fewer than 8% of trading days have been more profitable for investors, suggesting a meaningful transition into profit-taking activity is underway,” Glassnode said in its weekly report.

The report added that profit-taking is still not as intense as seen during prior major price-topping patterns.

As of writing, BTC changed hands at $105,600 amid reports of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform moving a step closer to offering a bitcoin exchange-traded fund to everyday investors.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-profit-taking-speeds-up-post-golden-cross-hourly-btc-cashouts-top-500m-blockchain-data-show/feed/ 0 40043 Indicators show retail remains sidelined as Bitcoin trades at new highs https://earlybirdsinvest.com/indicators-show-retail-remains-sidelined-as-bitcoin-trades-at-new-highs/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/indicators-show-retail-remains-sidelined-as-bitcoin-trades-at-new-highs/#respond Fri, 23 May 2025 23:35:46 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/indicators-show-retail-remains-sidelined-as-bitcoin-trades-at-new-highs/

Despite Bitcoin (BTC) reaching a new all-time high at $111,965.80 on May 22, retail adoption and on-chain gauges indicate speculative leverage has not stretched market conditions.

VanEck head of digital assets research Matt Sigel shared App-store data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence, showing crypto-platform downloads fell 14% year-over-year in April.

Binance and Crypto.com downloads dropped 29% and 41%, respectively, with Coinbase off 16%. Sigel said the figures imply individual investors “missed the rally” or played it through stocks, noting that equity proxies such as mining shares absorbed some of the flow.

Furthermore, Sigel shared a Google Trends chart showing that searches for Bitcoin were only slightly above 25% on May 20, right before BTC climbed to a new all-time high.

The decline in apps related to retail trading contrasts with spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), whose combined inflows reached $44.5 billion, according to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

The movement continues from the record lifetime inflows of $40.3 billion that US-traded Bitcoin ETFs registered on May 8. This suggests the latest leg higher has leaned on institutional demand rather than broad retail participation.

On-chain signals show limited speculative heat

According to CryptoQuant Korea community manager Crypto Dan, funding rates across major derivatives venues have risen but remain well below levels that preceded corrections in March 2024 and November 2024.

In a May 22 report, he noted that futures open interest and liquidations also trail prior peaks, indicating modest use of leverage.

On-chain analysis of coin age supports that view. The share of BTC changing hands within one week to one month, often associated with momentum trading, has climbed only marginally despite the price record. Meanwhile, long-dormant coins continue to hold firm.

Crypto Dan added that whales logged fewer profit-taking transactions than during previous tops, signaling restrained selling pressure.

He also mentioned the US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded positive flows for eight consecutive sessions through May 21, bringing their collective holdings above 1.2 million BTC. 

The steady bid and muted retail froth could indicate that price discovery may extend if risk appetite broadens.

Mentioned in this article
Latest Alpha Market Report
]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/indicators-show-retail-remains-sidelined-as-bitcoin-trades-at-new-highs/feed/ 0 37949 Bitcoin exchange inflows show heavy institutional activity, virtually no LTH selling https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-exchange-inflows-show-heavy-institutional-activity-virtually-no-lth-selling/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-exchange-inflows-show-heavy-institutional-activity-virtually-no-lth-selling/#respond Fri, 09 May 2025 01:06:55 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-exchange-inflows-show-heavy-institutional-activity-virtually-no-lth-selling/ Bitcoin exchange inflows over the past month have been driven almost entirely by freshly moved supply, with minimal involvement from long-dormant holders.

Nearly three-quarters of all daily deposits across major exchanges consisted of coins that had last moved less than 24 hours earlier, pointing to high-frequency repositioning activity rather than strategic distribution.

This type of churn, dominated by recent outputs and large-value transactions, suggests that the bulk of near-term sell-side pressure stems from professional entities cycling liquidity or managing inventory rather than from broader capitulation among long-term participants.

The dominance of ultra-fresh supply is consistent across the dataset. On average, coins younger than 24 hours comprised 75.3% of all daily inflows between April 6 and May 6. The highest single-day reading occurred on May 6, when this bracket represented 86.2% of all inflows.

Another spike in short-term coin movement appeared on May 3, when the 1–7 day age band surged to 44.3%. This was the only day in the sample when longer, though still recent, coin movement outpaced same-day turnover.

Despite these variations, the overarching pattern remains unchanged: the vast majority of inflows are driven by coins that were either newly minted or recently circulated rather than by older or untouched holdings.

Bitcoin Exchange Inflow - Spent Output Age Bands (%)
Spent output age bands for Bitcoin exchange inflows from April 8 to May 7 (Source: CryptoQuant)

Long-term holders, meanwhile, have shown almost no activity in this period. Coins older than one year comprised just 0.7% of all inflows on average, peaking at 7.6% on April 10 but otherwise remaining below 1%. This lack of participation from older supply indicates that deep-pocketed holders continue to exercise patience, opting to hold rather than take advantage of recent price strength. Their absence also limits the probability of an abrupt surge in exchange-based supply that could weigh on price action in the short term.

Bitcoin Exchange Inflow - Spent Output Value Bands (%)
Spent output value bands for Bitcoin exchange inflows from April 8 to May 7 (Source: CryptoQuant)

The nature of inflows is further clarified by examining the value distribution of these deposits. Transfers between 100 BTC and 1,000 BTC accounted for a dominant share of daily inflow value, averaging 47.8% over the past week and reaching as high as 67.8% on May 3. These block-sized transfers signal activity from institutional desks, custodians, or ETF market makers rather than retail participants.

Supporting this, the 1,000–10,000 BTC band grew from a 7.9% average share in mid-April to 10.7% in early May, with a notable 30.5% spike on April 29. Although infrequent, a single 10,000+ BTC transfer was recorded on April 25, contributing 2.1% of that day’s volume. Large-scale movements like this one are rare and likely represent internal rebalancing or cross-platform transfers rather than simple liquidation.

Retail activity appears minimal by contrast. Inflows below 1 BTC averaged just 3% across the entire period. This low figure reinforces the idea that current exchange activity is primarily driven by institutional actors rather than a groundswell of smaller traders or panic selling. It also highlights the ongoing detachment between retail sentiment and market structure, as price volatility continues to be shaped primarily by large-scale movements rather than grassroots engagement.

When age and value are combined, a clear pattern emerges. The overwhelming share of exchange deposits originates from coins moved within the same day, and those deposits are increasingly delivered in large batches. This convergence of freshness and scale points toward automated or desk-based activity such as arbitrage, liquidity provisioning, or ETF-related demand. This behavior differs from past market tops or panic-driven phases, where older supply resurfaces, and smaller holders dominate the outflow pattern.

The persistent absence of older coins suggests that long-term holders are not seizing recent price moves as an opportunity to exit. Instead, exchange deposits remain structurally tied to professional cycles. The dominance of block-sized transfers also implies that any sustained price swings will likely require confirmation through more profound shifts in coin age distribution or a rise in retail-sized flow.

Finally, the reappearance of larger whale-sized inflows in early May followed the changes in Bitcoin derivatives markets, including a jump in open interest and increased directional positioning. The expansion of the 1,000–10,000 BTC bracket could be an early indicator of strategic reallocation or upcoming large-volume trades, especially as ETF flows and institutional interest continue to dominate spot volumes.

The post Bitcoin exchange inflows show heavy institutional activity, virtually no LTH selling appeared first on CryptoSlate.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-exchange-inflows-show-heavy-institutional-activity-virtually-no-lth-selling/feed/ 0 35173 GameFi Tokens Show Signs of Life After Gala Games, White House Tie-Up https://earlybirdsinvest.com/gamefi-tokens-show-signs-of-life-after-gala-games-white-house-tie-up/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/gamefi-tokens-show-signs-of-life-after-gala-games-white-house-tie-up/#respond Sun, 27 Apr 2025 08:55:01 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/gamefi-tokens-show-signs-of-life-after-gala-games-white-house-tie-up/

Gaming tokens have seemingly been on the sidelines since the 2021 crypto boom. In fact, data from SoSoValue shows that they were the worst-performing crypto basket over the last 12-month period, enduring a 62% drop in the period, compared to a 174% rise on PayFi tokens.

However, under the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly stance, it might be changing.

Gala Games—a blockchain-based gaming platform—says it became the first crypto gaming company to partner with the White House, bringing a Web3 game Easter Egg Hunt to the 2025 Easter Egg Roll. White House official X’s account also mentioned on the social media platform about the tie-up amid a plethora of other collaborations with tech giants.

The GALA token has risen roughly 18% since the announcement, GameFi tokens went up 13%, and the broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, rose 8%.

User engagement

The effort aimed to introduce blockchain to families without overwhelming them.

The game, hosted at easter.gala.games, offered a “free and simple” experience where players collected virtual eggs to win unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) stored on GalaChain, Gala’s proprietary Layer 1 blockchain, the company said in an announcement shared with CoinDesk.

Players were able to log in, explore, and collect eggs without needing a crypto wallet experience, Gala Games said. Every NFT reward was stored on GalaChain, hinting at future use across Gala’s entertainment projects, including Gala Music and Gala Film.

The Web3 gaming firm told CoinDesk that over 300,000 games have been played since the event launched, with about 100,000 new accounts created. Roughly 17% of participants went on to explore Gala’s other projects, suggesting real user engagement beyond the Easter event.

The project, founded in 2019 by Zynga co-founder Eric Schiermeyer, has been laying the groundwork for broader adoption through partnerships with DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal, and collaborations with artists like Snoop Dogg. Earlier this month, Gala Film announced a partnership with LG Electronics to bring Web3 entertainment to TVs, and the company hinted it is working with a government agency on transparency efforts.

Industry reaction

The Easter game marks a real-world test for the project and the broader GameFi sector.

When asked about the lead-up to the event, Schiermeyer shared that the project has been focusing on the high-level tie-up. “We have a team dedicated to government outreach,” they said. “I also spent time at Mar-a-Lago and spoke with the President. But mainly we wanted to help make the event more fun, and I think that sentiment was well received.”

Industry reactions were mixed. Some praised the visibility, while others pointed out that more work is needed for the mass adoption of the GameFi industry.

Jack O’Holleran, CEO of SKALE Labs, told CoinDesk that GameFi has never stopped expanding, but its issue has been visibility instead. The technology, on top of that, has matured. “In the past, you needed to manage your own crypto wallets and pay high gas fees just to play,” he said. “Now, gas-free blockchains and seamless onboarding remove those barriers.”

“Functional values and utility that blockchain brings to gaming cannot be suppressed for much longer,” he added.

Still, a broader adoption of the GameFi sector will require further meaningful collaboration with mainstream gaming outlets. This could potentially open the “floodgates,” O’Holleran added, as player bases for the traditional gaming sector are far beyond the crypto sector’s user count. If so, the “floodgates will be open.”

Meanwhile, Mitja Goroshevsky, co-founder of Gosh, praised the visibility of Gala Games and the GameFi sector via the White House tie-up but warned that the industry must still solve its identity crisis.

“It’s caught between being about gaming and being about trading,” he said.

“Until blockchain games introduce fundamentally new experiences, government partnerships alone won’t drive mass adoption.”

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/gamefi-tokens-show-signs-of-life-after-gala-games-white-house-tie-up/feed/ 0 33064 Strategy Bitcoin purchases show minimal effect on BTC price https://earlybirdsinvest.com/strategy-bitcoin-purchases-show-minimal-effect-on-btc-price/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/strategy-bitcoin-purchases-show-minimal-effect-on-btc-price/#respond Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:40:43 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/strategy-bitcoin-purchases-show-minimal-effect-on-btc-price/

Weekly Bitcoin (BTC) purchases by Strategy have little to no measurable effect on BTC’s market price, according to VanEck’s head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel.

Sigel pointed out that Strategy-related only accounted for 8.4% of average weekly volume, a figure skewed by four weeks where purchases exceeded 20%. 

However, Strategy represented just 3.3% of activity in most weeks, and did not buy BTC in eight of the 27 weeks analyzed.

Analysis of weekly Strategy BTC acquisitions. (Source: VanEck’s Matthew Sigel)

As a result, Sigel reported a 25% correlation coefficient between Strategy’s weekly Bitcoin purchases and BTC’s end-of-week price and a 28% correlation with BTC’s weekly price change. 

Both figures suggest only weak associations that lack predictive or explanatory strength in understanding Bitcoin’s broader price behavior.

Sigel’s analysis also addressed the broader relationship between Bitcoin mining volumes, fund purchases, and secondary market activity. 

Over the past 27 weeks, Bitcoin’s secondary trading volumes have been nearly 20x greater than newly mined Bitcoin volumes. Even after factoring in Strategy’s purchases, secondary market activity remained approximately 17x larger than aggregate new supply.

The findings challenge the assumption that structured Bitcoin acquisition programs have a material influence on short-term price action. 

Instead, Bitcoin’s price appears driven primarily by broader secondary market forces, consistent with asset market behaviors where large, liquid trading venues dilute the impact of isolated supply or demand events.

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