Despite Bitcoin’s recent volatility, institutional confidence remains strong with Standard Chartered projecting a $500K target. Meanwhile, North Korean hackers executed the largest crypto theft in history and the SEC ended its Uniswap investigation.
By Anton Varanov
Edited by Marco T. Lanz
Updated
6 mins read
The crypto market has faced another turbulent week, with Bitcoin BTC $83 229 24h volatility: 0.6% Market cap: $1.65 T Vol. 24h: $13.78 B experiencing a sharp selloff, regulatory developments shaking up the industry, and a record-breaking cyberattack making headlines. Despite short-term volatility, institutional confidence in Bitcoin remains strong, and key players continue to shape the future of digital assets.
While Standard Chartered upholds its bold $500,000 BTC target, Binance’s CEO downplays concerns over a prolonged downturn. Meanwhile, the FBI has linked North Korean hackers to the largest crypto theft in history, and the SEC’s decision to drop its investigation into Uniswap marks a major win for the DeFi sector. Here’s a closer look at the biggest events in crypto this week.
Bitcoin may have stumbled, but Standard Chartered remains unfazed in its long-term bullish outlook. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital assets research, projects that Bitcoin will surge to $500,000 before Donald Trump’s presidency ends. That’s despite a sharp selloff that dragged the cryptocurrency to a three-month low.
Kendrick anticipates Bitcoin reaching $200,000 by late 2025, marking a critical threshold before advancing further. He emphasized that institutional participation, particularly from major financial entities such as Standard Chartered and BlackRock, will play a pivotal role in that trajectory.
Binance CEO Richard Teng dismisses fears of a prolonged BTC downturn. He highlighted that historical data indicates crypto markets respond to macroeconomic shifts similar to traditional financial assets. However, digital assets have consistently rebounded from sharp corrections. He cited the 2022 crash when Bitcoin briefly dropped below $20,000 following Federal Reserve interest rate hikes before recovering as conditions stabilized.
The recent market dip aligns with past short-term fluctuations, rather than exposing fundamental weaknesses in the sector. Price volatility often dominates, but the real growth drivers remain strong, Teng noted. Crypto has matured as an asset class and has repeatedly recovered from macroeconomic-driven downturns.
Popular economist Peter Schiff has raised concerns over Michael Saylor’s Strategy, previously known as MicroStrategy, slipping into bankruptcy. His concerns come as the MSTR stock price witnessed sharp corrections after dropping 5.74% on Monday, and another 4.7% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. After a strong rally last year in 2024, the stock faced major selling pressure and is trading 6% down year-to-date.
Economist and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has weighed in on Strategy’s Bitcoin-centric strategy. He also forecasted potential challenges for the firm if the MSTR stock starts trading at a discount to the value of its Bitcoin holdings.
In this scenario, Schiff predicted that Michael Saylor’s firm could theoretically sell Bitcoin and use the proceeds to buy back shares, thus closing the discount. However, he argues that such a move could trigger a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price and, consequently, in MicroStrategy’s stock value.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially confirmed that hackers affiliated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) orchestrated the devastating Bybit hack on February 21, 2025. This cybersecurity breach, now recognized as the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, resulted in the theft of nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum from the Bybit exchange.
According to the FBI’s statement, this attack, known as “TraderTraitor,” is part of a more extensive series of cyberattacks linked to North Korean state-sponsored hackers.
Analysts at the renowned research and brokerage firm Bernstein have made a rather bold claim about the crypto market. In their latest report published on Monday, the analysts, led by Gautam Chhugani, believe that market liquidity is about to shift from speculative memecoins to utility-focused tokens. More so, in sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Chhugani recalled that memecoins rose to fame as a kickback against the hostile disposition that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had toward utility token and NFT projects. This was during Gary Gensler’s time as the head of the commission.
However, things have taken a new turn, and there is now an air of optimism on the regulatory front of the United States.
The tokenized time sector looks to be taking off at the moment, and it appears that Time.fun may be at the center of this cause. This follows after the platform officially launched on the Solana blockchain.
Time.fun’s latest move comes after a trial deployment on the Base network last year, which, by the company’s standards, was largely successful.
According to founder Kawz, there is no doubt that Time.fun was well received when it initially launched on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base in 2024. He noted that the platform saw well over $2 million of trading volume during its time on Base.
Hamster Network, launched on September 26, 2024, becomes the first-ever gaming-focused Layer-2 blockchain built on TON, the company mentioned in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter). The network brings a powerful mix of scalability, speed, and cost-efficiency designed specifically for gaming and decentralized applications.
“The network is launched in collaboration with TON who helped make this a reality. Telegram has been […] bringing Web3 right into almost a billion phones through easy-to-use mini-apps that require no installation,” the company said.
Hamster Kombat’s developers are spearheading this innovation, ensuring that users experience seamless Web3 interactions with minimal transaction costs. With Telegram’s massive user base of nearly a billion people, this new Layer-2 aims to bring crypto adoption to the mainstream.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has recently accused rival stablecoin firms of using regulatory tactics to eliminate the industry leader rather than competing on innovation. His comments came in response to mounting concerns that new US stablecoin regulations could severely restrict access to US Treasuries for international stablecoin issuers which could include the issuer of USDT $1.00 24h volatility: 0.0% Market cap: $144.03 B Vol. 24h: $14.19 B .
Ardoino noted how USDt, the company’s flagship stablecoin with a market capitalization of $142 billion, serves as a crucial financial tool for millions across Africa, South America, and other developing regions. According to Ardoino, Tether has built an extensive network of both physical and digital distribution points, ensuring widespread accessibility to dollar-backed assets.
“Tether has over 400 million users and is growing at a pace of 35 million new wallets per quarter,” he added. He further explained that Tether holds over $115 billion in US Treasuries, ranking it as the 18th largest holder—making any attempt to curb its access to Treasuries a direct threat to dollar liquidity abroad.
The cryptocurrency industry has secured another victory against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the agency has officially ended its investigation into Uniswap Labs without taking any enforcement action.
On Tuesday, the company behind the popular decentralized exchange (DEX), Uniswap, announced that it is no longer under the SEC’s scrutiny.
Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.
Anton is a crypto journalist with over five years of experience in the industry. For four years, he served as an editor at ForkLog, the largest Russian-speaking Bitcoin magazine. Anton combines his deep understanding of crypto markets with hands-on investment experience, offering sharp insights on expert forecasts, NFT trends, and Web3 innovations. His clear and engaging analysis makes complex topics accessible, empowering readers to make informed decisions in the evolving crypto landscape.
