zkLend hacker claims losing stolen ETH to Tornado Cash phishing site
The hacker behind the $9.6 million exploit of the decentralized money-lending protocol zkLend in February claims they’ve just fallen victim to a phishing website impersonating Tornado Cash, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of the stolen funds.In a message sent to zkLend through Etherscan on March 31, the hacker claimed to have lost 2,930 Ether (ETH) from the stolen funds to a phishing website posing as a front-end for Tornado Cash. In a series of March 31 transfers, the zkLend thief sent 100 Ether at a time to an address named Tornado.Cash: Router, finishing with three deposits of 10 Ether.“Hello, I tried to move funds to a Tornado, but I used a phishing website, and all the funds have been lost. I am devastated. I am terribly sorry for all the havoc and losses caused,” the hacker said.The hacker behind the zkLend exploit claims to have lost most of the funds to a phishing website posing as a front-end for Tornado Cash. Source: Etherscan“All the 2,930 Eth have been taken by that site owners. I do not have coins. Please redirect your efforts towards those site owners to see if you can recover some of the money,” they added. zkLend responded to the message by asking the hacker to “Return all the funds left in your wallets” to the zkLend wallet address. However, according to Etherscan, another 25 Ether was then sent to a wallet listed as Chainflip1. Earlier, another user warned the exploiter about the error, telling them, “don’t celebrate,” because all the funds were sent to the scam Tornado Cash URL.“It is so devastating. Everything gone with one wrong website,” the hacker replied.Another user warned the zkLend exploiter about the mistake, but it was too late. Source: EtherscanHow zkLend was exploited for $9.6 million zkLend suffered an empty market exploit on Feb. 11 when an attacker used a small deposit and flash loans to inflate the lending accumulator, according to the protocol’s Feb. 14 post-mortem. The hacker then repeatedly deposited and withdrew funds, exploiting rounding errors that became significant due to the inflated accumulator. The attacker bridged the stolen funds to Ethereum and later failed to launder them through Railgun after protocol policies returned them to the original address. Following the exploit, zkLend proposed the hacker could keep 10% of the funds as a bounty and offered to release the culprit from legal liability and scrutiny from law enforcement if the remaining Ether was returned.Related: DeFi protocol SIR.trading loses entire $355K TVL in ‘worst news’ possibleThe offer deadline of Feb. 14 passed with no public response from either party. In a Feb. 19 update to X, zkLend said it was now offering a $500,000 bounty for any verifiable information that could lead to the hacker being arrested and the funds recovered.Losses to crypto scams, exploits and hacks totaled over $33 million, according to blockchain security firm CertiK, but dropped to $28 million after decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch successfully recovered its stolen funds. Losses to crypto scams, exploits and hacks totaled nearly $1.53 billion in February. The $1.4 billion Feb. 21 attack on Bybit by North Korea’s Lazarus Group made up the lion’s share and took the title for largest crypto hack ever, doubling the $650 million Ronin bridge hack in March 2022. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis
Coinbase CEO calls for change in stablecoin laws to enable ‘onchain interest’
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is calling for legislative changes in the US to allow stablecoin holders to earn “onchain interest” on their holdings.In a March 31 post on X, Armstrong argued that crypto companies should be treated similarly to banks and be “allowed to, and incentivized to, share interest with consumers.” He added that allowing onchain interest would be “consistent with a free market approach.”Source: Brian ArmstrongThere are currently two competing pieces of federal stablecoin legislation working their way through the legislative process in the US: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.In reference to the stablecoin legislation, Armstrong said the US had an opportunity to “level the playing field and ensure these laws pave a way for all regulated stablecoins to deliver interest directly to consumers, the same way a savings or checking account can.” Armstrong: Onchain interest a boon for US economyArmstrong argued that while stablecoins have already found product-market fit by “digitizing the dollar and other fiat currencies,” the addition of onchain interest would allow “the average person, and the US economy, to reap the full benefits.”He said that if legislative changes allowed stablecoin issuers to pay interest to holders, US consumers could earn a yield of around 4% on their holdings, far outstripping the 2024 average interest yield on a consumer savings account, which Armstrong cited as 0.41%.Armstrong also said onchain interest could benefit the broader US economy — by incentivizing the global use of US dollar stablecoins. This could see their use grow, “pulling dollars back to U.S. treasuries and extending dollar dominance in an increasingly digital global economy,” according to the Coinbase CEO. He also argued that the potential for a higher yield than traditional savings accounts would result in “more yield in consumers’ hands means more spending, saving, investing — fueling economic growth in all local economies where stablecoins are held.”“If we don’t unlock onchain interest, the U.S. misses out on billions more USD users and trillions in potential cash flows,” Armstrong added.Currently, neither the STABLE Act nor the GENIUS Act gives the legal go-ahead for onchain interest-generating stablecoins. In fact, in its current form, the STABLE Act includes a short passage prohibiting “payment stablecoin” issuers from paying yield to holders:Source: STABLE ActRelated: Stablecoins, tokenized assets gain as Trump tariffs loomSimilarly, the GENIUS Act, which recently passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 18-6, has been amended to exclude interest-bearing instruments from its definition of a “payment stablecoin.”Commenting on the current state of the STABLE Act, Representative Bryan Steil told Eleanor Terrett, host of the Crypto in America podcast, that two pieces of legislation are positioned to “mirror up” following a few more draft rounds in the House and Senate — due to the differences between them being textual rather than substantive. “At the end of the day, I think there’s recognition that we want to work with our Senate colleagues to get this across the line,” Steil said.Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
SIR.trading begs hacker to return $255K or ‘no chance for us to survive’
The founder of the recently hacked decentralized finance protocol SIR.trading has made an emotional plea to the attacker, asking them to return around 70% of the stolen customer funds otherwise, the protocol will not survive.“Here is my proposal, keep $100k as a fair share for your critical bug find, and return the remaining,” SIR.trading’s pseudonymous founder “Xatarrer” wrote in a March 31 onchain message to the attacker following the $355,000 hack on March 30.“We’ll call it even. No legal games, no drama,” they added. Xatarrer said that SIR.trading was built on the back of four years of late-night coding and $70,000 from friends and believers without any additional venture capital funding.“We grew to $400k TVL organically without any advertising. If you keep 100% of the funds, there is no chance for us to survive.”Xatarrer even praised the hacker for the sophisticated hack, stating that it was “almost beautiful if it wasn’t for all the funds people lost.”Source: SIR.tradingThe hacker hasn’t responded and has already transferred the stolen funds through to Ethereum privacy solution Railgun, according to data from Ethereum block explorer Etherscan.Xatarrer initially said on March 30 that the SIR.trading team intended to keep the protocol up and running despite the setback. “We’ve already started planning our next steps. Those impacted by the hack will not be forgotten,” it said on March 31.Hack resulted from feature added to Ethereum’s Dencun upgradeThe hacker targeted a callback function used in the protocol’s “vulnerable contract Vault” which leverages Ethereum’s transient storage feature. The hacker managed to replace the real Uniswap pool address used in this callback function with an address under the hacker’s control, allowing them to redirect the funds in the vault to their address by repeatedly calling the callback function until all of the protocol’s total value locked was drained.The transient storage feature was added to Ethereum in the March 2024 Dencun upgrade as a solution to offer users lower gas fees than gas typically required for regular storage.Related: DeFi hacks drop 40% in 2024, CeFi breaches surge to $694M — HackenSIR.trading’s documentation shows that it was billed as “a new DeFi protocol for safer leverage” to address some of the challenges that often occur in leveraged trading — such as volatility decay and liquidation risks.It comes as crypto lost to exploits and scams fell to $28.8M in March, blockchain security firm CertiK said in a March 31 X post. Around $4.8 million was subtracted from that figure after hackers involved in the 1inch Resolver incident returned the stolen funds.Crypto exploits and scams had one of its worst months in February, headlined by the $1.4 billion Bybit hack.Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably
Privacy Pools launch on Ethereum, with Vitalik demoing the feature
A new semi-permissionless privacy tool, Privacy Pools, has launched on Ethereum, allowing users to transact privately while proving their funds aren’t linked to illicit activities.The privacy tool, launched by Ethereum builders 0xbow.io on March 31, earned support from the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who not only backed the privacy project but made one of the first deposits on the platform. 0xbow.io said that it implements “Association Sets” to batch transactions into the anonymous Privacy Pools and that a screening test is conducted to ensure that those transactions aren’t linked to illicit actors, such as hackers, phishers and scammers.gm Ethereum ☀️It is our great honor to announce the mainnet launch of Privacy Pools!ETH users can now achieve on-chain privacy, while still dissociating from illicit fundsIt is now up to all of us to Make Privacy Normal Again 🫡More info in this thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/3nJO0AxoD1— 0xbow.io (@0xbowio) March 31, 2025The Association Sets are “dynamic” — meaning that if a transaction is admitted but later found to be illicit, it can be removed from the set without disrupting any other deposits, 0xbow.io said.If a deposit is disqualified, the user can click the “ragequit” function to return the funds to their original deposit address.The innovation is part of 0xbow.io’s vision to “Make Privacy Normal Again” while also attempting to achieve regulatory compliance. Privacy protocols have received considerable backlash from regulators in recent years due to their increasing use by illicit actors to launder funds. One of those privacy tools, Tornado Cash, was sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) between August 2022 and March 2025 after it was linked to around $7 billion laundered by the North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group.Tornado Cash has since been removed from OFAC’s blacklist after a US appeals court said the sanctions were unlawful in January 2025.0xbow.io noted that initial deposits are limited to 1 Ether (ETH) but that the limit would be raised once the privacy protocol is more battle-tested.Privacy Pools inspired by Buterin and othersOver 21 ETH has already been transferred into Privacy Pools from 69 deposits, including at least one from Buterin, 0xbow.io noted.Source: Vitalik ButerinIn addition to Buterin, 0xbow.io said it also received investment support from Number Group, BanklessVC, Public Works and several angel investors.Related: Privacy isn’t a luxury in crypto, it’s a necessity — Midnight CEO0xbow.io also praised Buterin, Chainalysis Chief Scientist Jacob Illum, and two academics at the University of Basel in Switzerland for crafting a September 2023 white paper outlining how Privacy Pools could be built. 0xbow.io strategic adviser Ameen Soleimani also contributed to the paper, which has seen over 12,000 downloads and has been cited in nine other papers.The Privacy Pool code also passed a successful audit from Audit Wizard. a smart contract auditing firm co-founded by former Apple engineer Joe van Loon.More than $41 billion worth of illicit transfers were made in 2024, which made up 0.14% of total onchain volume for the year, according to the Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Crime report published on Jan. 15.While it marked around an 11% fall from 2023, Chainalysis said that figure could climb to around $51 billion as more criminal-tied addresses are found.Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation
Hyperliquid DEX trading volumes cut into CEX market share: Data
Hyperliquid is one of the current bull market’s standout DeFi success stories. With daily trading volumes having reached $4 billion, the exchange has become the largest decentralized (DEX) derivatives platform, commanding nearly 60% of the market.Hyperliquid still lags far behind Binance Futures’ $50 billion daily average volume, but the trend suggests that it has started to encroach on centralized exchange (CEX) territory.What’s behind Hyperliquid’s parabolic rise?Launched in 2023, Hyperliquid gained popularity in April 2024 after launching spot trading. This, combined with its aggressive listing strategy and easy-to-use onchain user interface, helped to lure in a wave of new users.The platform’s real explosion, however, came in November 2024, following the launch of its HYPE (HYPE) token. Hyperliquid’s trading volume skyrocketed, and it now boasts over 400,000 users and more than 50 billion trades processed, according to data from Dune.Hyperliquid cumulative trades and users. Source: DuneWhile Hyperliquid started as a high-performance perpetual futures and spot DEX, its ambitions have since expanded. With the launch of HyperEVM on Feb. 18, the project has become a general-purpose layer-1 chain capable of supporting third-party DeFi apps built on top of its infrastructure. As one of Hyperliquid’s founders, Jeff Yan, put it, “Most L1s build infrastructure and hope that others will come build the killer apps. Hyperliquid takes the opposite approach: polish a native application and then grow into general-purpose infrastructure.”If this approach works, the liquidity driven by Hyperliquid’s core DEX could naturally feed into the broader ecosystem and vice versa, creating a flywheel effect.Related: Hyperliquid flips Solana in fees, but is the ‘HYPE’ justified?Will Hyperliquid become a sustainable CEX alternative?According to CoinGecko, Hyperliquid now ranks 14th among derivatives exchanges by open interest, sitting at $3.1 billion. That’s still behind Binance’s $22 billion but ahead of older names like Deribit or derivatives divisions of Crypto.com, BitMEX, or KuCoin. It’s the first time a DEX is competing so closely with established CEXs.Furthermore, as Hyperliquid deepens its focus on specialized trading pairs, it continues to chip away at the market share of major exchanges. The DEX accepts not only Arbitrum USDC as collateral but also native BTC. This makes it one of the few decentralized platforms that handle BTC wrapping and unwrapping natively, giving users the option to use BTC for Web3-wallet-based trading.X user Skewga.hl noted that Hyperliquid’s BTC perpetual futures volume share recently hit an all-time high, reaching almost 50% of Bybit’s and 21% of Binance’s. Skewga.hl wrote,“No DEX has ever come this close to matching Tier 1 CEX volume.” Daily volume ratios, Hyperliquid vs Other exchanges (BTC perp). Source: Skewga.hlSince 2024, perpetual swaps have seen a revival as a trading tool. During the 2021–2022 bull market, daily perps volume averaged around $5 billion. In early 2025, that number often exceeded $15 billion, with Hyperliquid accounting for nearly two-thirds of it.Data from DefiLlama illustrates the shift: while dYdX (green) dominated in 2023–2024, the landscape diversified significantly in 2024—and by 2025, Hyperliquid (pink) had taken the lead.Perps volume breakdown. Source: DefiLlamaDespite the recent JELLY token scandal, which involved the exchange halting trading and delisting a low-market-cap token that a whale had exploited, Hyperliquid remains a popular exchange among DeFi and DEX traders. It has yet to capture institutional investor flows or scale to the level of top-tier CEXs. However, if its layer 1 ecosystem gains traction with developers, Hyperliquid could evolve into more than just a leading DEX.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
North Korean crypto attacks rising in sophistication, actors — Paradigm
North Korea has been making headlines in the world of cryptocurrency for its increasing involvement in cyberwarfare attacks. According to a report by crypto firm Paradigm, titled “Demystifying the North Korean Threat,” these attacks are becoming more sophisticated and involve multiple groups.
The attacks range from targeting exchanges and using social engineering tactics to phishing attacks and complex supply chain hijacks. In some cases, the attacks can take up to a year to execute, with North Korean operatives patiently waiting for the right moment.
The United Nations estimates that between 2017 and 2023, North Korean hackers have made a staggering $3 billion from these attacks. And the numbers have only increased in recent years, with successful attacks on popular exchanges like WazirX and Bybit, resulting in a combined $1.7 billion in stolen funds.
The report identifies at least five North Korean organizations involved in these attacks, including Lazarus Group, Spinout, AppleJeus, Dangerous Password, and TraitorTrader. These groups are also known for posing as IT workers and infiltrating tech companies worldwide.
One of the most well-known and notorious groups is Lazarus Group, responsible for high-profile attacks on Sony and the Bank of Bangladesh in 2016, as well as the WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack in 2017. They have also targeted the cryptocurrency industry, with successful attacks on exchanges like Youbit and Bithumb.
But it’s not just about stealing funds. The report also highlights the group’s predictable money laundering methods, where they break up the stolen amount into smaller pieces and convert it to more liquid assets like Bitcoin. They then hold onto the stolen funds until the attention from law enforcement dies down.
The FBI has identified three alleged members of the Lazarus Group and has indicted two of them for their involvement in global cybercrimes. However, the group continues to operate, and their tactics are constantly evolving.
As the threat of North Korean cyberattacks on the cryptocurrency industry continues to grow, it’s essential for exchanges and users to stay vigilant and take necessary precautions to protect their assets.
VC Roundup: 8-figure funding deals suggest crypto bull market far from over
Venture capital funding continued to pour into the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry in March, even as market commentators sensationalized the end of the bull market amid Bitcoin’s 30% retracement. VC flows are considered a vital sign for the blockchain industry, with higher deal activity indicative of strong investor appetite and growing innovation in the space. As Cointelegraph reported, blockchain startups raised a combined $1.1 billion in February alone, with projects spanning decentralized finance, decentralized physical infrastructure networks and payments attracting the lion’s share of capital flows. Despite fear and trepidation in the crypto market, February was a strong month for blockchain VC. Source: The TIEEarly signs suggest that March was arguably a stronger month for crypto VC deals, as evidenced by the growing size of the investment rounds and the number of investors participating. Eight deals are featured in this month’s VC Roundup — and seven of them were valued in the eight-figure range. Related: VC Roundup: Investors continue to back DePIN, Web3 gaming, layer-1 RWAsAcross Protocol raises $41M via token saleAcross Protocol, an Ethereum crosschain interoperability platform, raised $41 million in a token sale that was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Paradigm. Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto and Multicoin Capital also participated in the token sale round.Across Protocol is expanding Ethereum layer-2 connectivity through so-called “intents,” an architecture approach that decouples asset transfers and message verification.Across Protocol (ACX) price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap“The urgent tasks — moving assets and fulfilling the intent — are carried out immediately by a relayer […] while the time-consuming message verification is done afterward,” wrote Aiden Park, an engineer and technical writer, in an explanatory note on intents. “This approach enables Across to send messages cheaply, quickly, and securely, setting it apart from other message-passing protocols,” he said.Related: Greedy L2s are the reason ETH is a ‘completely dead’ investment: VCRibbit Capital leads $23.6M Crossmint raiseEnterprise Web3 company Crossmint has closed a $23.6 million funding round to scale its onchain onboarding technology, which is designed to help companies and AI agents embrace Web3 without needing blockchain expertise. The funding round was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Ribbit Capital. According to Crossmint co-founder Rodri Fernandez, the platform provides low-code APIs for a variety of blockchain functions, including wallets, stablecoins, tokenization and credentials. The announcement also claimed that more than 40,000 companies and developers are now using Crossmint across more than 40 blockchains. Financial app Abound gets backing from Near Foundation, Circle VenturesNew York-based remittance app Abound has closed a $14 million funding round led by Near Foundation, with participation from Circle Ventures. The Abound app has been designed to bridge the remittance gap between India and its vast diaspora of citizens in the United States. The app claims to have processed more than $150 million in remittances.Abound was developed by the Times of India Group, a Mumbai-based media company. Although it’s not entirely clear how blockchain technology and digital assets factor into Abound’s service offerings, if at all, participation from Near and Circle Ventures suggests that blockchain-focused companies are increasingly focused on cross-border payments and remittance services. Source: Near ProtocolChronicle closes seed roundChronicle, an Ethereum Oracle and tokenization infrastructure provider, raised $12 million in seed funding led by Strobe Ventures, formerly known as BlockTower Venture Capital. Additional investors included Galaxy Vision Hill, Brevan Howard Digital, Tioga Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Gnosis Ventures, 6th Man Ventures and several angel investors. Chronicle connects protocol developers to real-time data feeds, which are essential for DeFi and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization ecosystems. The company cited growing institutional interest in RWA tokenization as one of the reasons for its early success in raising capital.Related: Tokenized real estate trading platform launches on PolygonDeFi-yielding stablecoin Level debuts with $2.6M in fundingIn March, blockchain developer Peregrin Exploration debuted the Level USD stablecoin with $2.6 million in backing from Dragonfly Capital, Polychain, Flowdesk and others. Level USD is a yield-bearing stablecoin that issues digital dollars collateralized by restaked stablecoins. The stablecoin’s market capitalization has grown significantly since its launch, reaching $116 million at the time of writing. Level USD is integrated with several DeFi protocols, including Pendle, LayerZero and Specta. It can also be used as collateral on noncustodial lending platform Morpho.Demand for dollar-backed digital tokens has surged over the past two years, with the total stablecoin market approaching $230 billion. Source: RWA.xyzRelated: VC Roundup: Bitcoin RWA, BNB incubator, Web3 gaming secure fundingHalliday raises $20M for Agentic Workflow ProtocolNo-code blockchain developer Halliday has closed a $20 million Series A funding round to scale its Agentic Workflow Protocol (AWP) — an AI tool that helps developers build DeFi applications without the need to write smart contracts. The funding round was led by a16z Crypto, with additional participation from SV Angel, the Avalanche Blizzard Fund, Credibly Neutral, Alt Layer and other angel investors. Through AWP, blockchain companies can “build applications in hours, not years,” Halliday said in its announcement. Halliday’s programming model handles all the technical aspects of blockchain development and execution, which can theoretically enable companies to scale their products faster. AI-driven Validation Cloud closes $15M Series AValidation Cloud, a company at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain infrastructure, has closed a $15 million Series A investment round backed by True Global Ventures. Additional investors include Cadenza, Blockchain Founders Fund, Bloccelerate and others. The funding will be used to expand Validation Cloud’s Web3 infrastructure solutions, including staking, node API and data offerings. Validation Cloud provides access to blockchain data and offers node and staking solutions to institutions. Its technology is used by Hedera, Aptos, Stellar, EigenLayer, Polygon and others. Skytale Digital debuts $20M Polkadot Ecosystem FundBlockchain investment firm Skytale Digital has launched the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund, earmarking $20 million to further develop the so-called “network of networks.” The fund combines financial support, technical expertise and mentorship to help Web3 developers expand their product offerings in the Polkadot ecosystem. Specifically, the fund is targeting decentralized applications and critical infrastructure projects. Source: Cryptking.ethPolkadot is the 20th largest blockchain network, with a total market capitalization of around $7.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Related: Crypto Biz: GameStop takes the orange pill
4 key Bitcoin metrics suggest $80K BTC price is a discount
Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped from $87,241 to $81,331 between March 28 and March 31, erasing gains from the previous 17 days. The 6.8% correction liquidated $230 million in bullish BTC futures positions and largely followed the declining momentum in the US stock market, as the S&P 500 futures fell to their lowest levels since March 14.Despite struggling to hold above $82,000 on March 31, four key indicators point to strong investor confidence and potential signs of Bitcoin decoupling from traditional markets in the near future.S&P 500 index futures (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView / CointelegraphTraders fear the global trade war’s impact on economic growth, especially after the March 26 announcement of a 25% US tariff on foreign-made vehicles. According to Yahoo News, Goldman Sachs strategists cut the firm’s year-end S&P 500 target for the second time, lowering it from 6,200 to 5,700. Similarly, Barclays analysts reduced their forecast from 6,600 to 5,900.Regardless of the reasons behind investors’ heightened risk perception, gold surged to a record high above $3,100 on March 31. The $21 trillion asset is widely considered the ultimate hedge, especially when traders prioritize alternatives over cash. Meanwhile, the US dollar has weakened against a basket of foreign currencies, with the DXY index dropping to 104.10 from 107.60 in February.Bitcoin metrics show strength, while long-term investors are unfazedBitcoin’s narratives of being “digital gold” and an “uncorrelated asset” are being questioned, despite a 36% gain over 6 months while the S&P 500 index fell 3.5% during the same period. Several Bitcoin metrics continued to show strength, indicating that long-term investors remain unfazed by the temporary correlation as central banks pivot to expansionist measures to prevent an economic crisis.Bitcoin’s mining hashrate, which measures the computing power behind the network’s block validation mechanism, reached an all-time high. Bitcoin mining estimated 7-day average hashrate, TH/s. Source: Blockchain.comThe 7-day hashrate reached a peak of 856.2 million terahashes per second on March 28, up from 798.8 million in February. Hence, there are no signs of panic selling from miners, as shown by the flow of known entities to exchanges.In the past, BTC price downturns were associated with periods of FUD regarding the “death spiral,” where miners were forced to sell when becoming unprofitable. Additionally, the 7-day average of net transfers from miners to exchanges on March 30 stood at BTC 125, according to Glassnode data, much lower than the BTC 450 mined per day. Bitcoin 7-day average net transfer volume from/to miners, BTC. Source: GlassnodeBitcoin miner MARA Holdings filed a prospectus on March 28 to sell up to $2 billion in stocks to expand its BTC reserves and for “general corporate purposes.” This move follows GameStop (GME), the US-listed videogame company, which filed a $1.3 billion convertible debt offering plan on March 26 while updating its reserve investment strategy to include potential Bitcoin and stablecoin acquisitions.Related: Trump sons back new Bitcoin mining venture with Hut 8Crypto exchange reserves dropCryptocurrency exchanges’ reserves dropped to their lowest levels in over 6 years on March 30, reaching BTC 2.64 million, according to Glassnode data. The reduced number of coins available for immediate trading typically indicates that investors are more inclined to hold, which is particularly significant as Bitcoin’s price declined 5.1% in 7 days. Lastly, near-zero net outflows in US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) between March 27 and March 28 signal confidence from institutional investors.In short, Bitcoin investors remain confident due to the record-high mining hashrate, corporate adoption, and 6-year low exchange reserves, which signal long-term holding.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.