Autor Cointelegraph By Ciaran Lyons

Crypto bullish chatter on social media has surged to levels that, according to crypto sentiment platform Santiment, could signal the current market uptrend may be short-lived.“Rallies that arrive with a confident crowd tend to fade faster than those climbing a “wall of worry,” Santiment said in a report published on Saturday. “Those climbing skepticism tend to extend,” Santiment added.Santiment said the ratio of bullish to bearish crypto-related comments on social media is currently around 1.5 to 1, based on a sample of active crypto accounts tracked across multiple platforms. It comes as Bitcoin (BTC) has increased 11.50% over the past 30 days, trading at $80,628 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap. A confident market tends to see rallies fade fastMarket participants often watch overall crypto sentiment to gauge whether it may be a good time to buy or sell, or to look for clues about where the market could be headed in the coming weeks.The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which tracks overall crypto market sentiment, posted a “Neutral” score of 47 on Sunday after slipping back into “Fear” territory on Thursday, signaling investors are cautious about the crypto market.The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to a “Fear” score of 38 on Friday. Source: alternative.meSantiment said the best scenario for Bitcoin right now is not to break out further. “The team’s ideal setup is a pullback to $75k that flushes late longs, resets sentiment, and builds a healthier base,” Santiment said.Bitcoin supply on exchanges risesMeanwhile, Santiment pointed to a recent increase in Bitcoin supply on crypto exchanges, potentially signaling that holders are viewing current price levels as an opportunity to take profits.Related: Strike CEO Jack Mallers dismisses idea that Wall Street threatens Bitcoin“On-chain activity is broadly quiet, but Bitcoin supply on exchanges has ticked up over the past five days after an extended decline. The reversal could indicate early profit-taking,” Santiment said. Analysts are divided on whether it will fall into that price range or continue higher.MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said he “wouldn’t be surprised that we retest lower at $70-75K before we continue to run.” Crypto analyst Matthew Hyland said that Bitcoin is “likely” to reach between $87,000 and $95,000 before June.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said he was not very confident he would be pardoned by US President Donald Trump after serving a four-month prison sentence in 2024 for violating US anti-money-laundering laws.“You never know because we actually had very strong anti-lobbying from some of our perceived competitors in the US,” Zhao told Ran Neuner on the Crypto Banter podcast published to YouTube on Saturday.“The other crypto exchanges in the US don’t want me to get a pardon,” Zhao said, arguing they were concerned about Binance re-entering the US market after its exit in November 2023. The departure followed a $4.3 billion settlement with Binance and the US government over violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), as well as failure to register as a money transmitting business.Binance.US resumed operations roughly four months after pardon“I’m pretty confident it happened to some extent. I don’t have concrete evidence of any of it, but I’m pretty confident there was push back,” Zhao said, referring to crypto exchange competitors in the US.Zhao spoke to Ran Neuner on the Crypto Banter podcast. Source: Crypto BanterUS President Donald Trump pardoned Zhao in October 2025, just over a year after Zhao completed his four-month prison term in September 2024.During an interview with 60 Minutes in November 2025, Trump said he had “no idea who he is” but was told that he was a victim of a “witch hunt” by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.Binance.US resumed operations for eligible US users in February 2025, months before Zhao’s pardon was granted.Zhao cleared of recent allegationsZhao’s comments came just months after a federal court in Alabama granted a motion in March to dismiss a 2024 complaint filed against Binance, its separate US entity Binance.US, and Zhao over allegations that the crypto exchange facilitated transferring funds to terrorist groups.Related: US CLARITY Act sees ‘big step forward’ as markup set for May 14Looking ahead, Zhao said in April that he hopes cryptocurrencies and blockchain will simply become an invisible part of daily infrastructure by 2031, much like the internet today.“I’m hoping that we don’t talk about crypto as crypto in five years, just like we don’t talk about the internet anymore, we don’t talk about TCP/IP, we don’t talk about HTML, JavaScript, etc,” Zhao told Scott Melker on the Wolf of All Streets podcast.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

Bitcoin payments application Strike CEO Jack Mallers said that Wall Street’s growing involvement in Bitcoin poses no threat or conflict to the asset itself.“My one-word answer to that is no,” Mallers told Danny Knowles on the What Bitcoin Did podcast published to YouTube on Thursday, in response to whether institutional involvement threatens Bitcoin’s core principles.“If Wall Street getting into Bitcoin kills it, it was never going to be successful in the first place,” Mallers said.Jack Mallers spoke to Danny Knowles on the What Bitcoin Did podcast. Source: What Bitcoin Did“Bitcoin is predicated on this idea that it is money for all. And the all part should be explored. That means your enemies, too,” he said. “That means the ex-wife that cheated on you, that means your neighbor that’s a fan of the opposing football club, that’s everybody,” he added.Bitcoin is competing for global capital, says MallersSome Bitcoiners argue that Wall Street’s presence threatens Bitcoin’s original ethos by concentrating ownership, influence and custody of the asset in the hands of large financial institutions. Since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US in January 2024, the 11 funds have collectively recorded $59.38 billion in net inflows as of Friday, according to Farside data.However, Mallers said the “obvious implication” is that Wall Street and other major traditional investors would get involved in Bitcoin as the asset competes for global capital.“Where wealth exists today, those things will be demonetized like real estate will be demonetized, fine art will be demonetized, government debt will be demonetized, and Bitcoin will be monetized,” he said.Some Bitcoiners have argued that growing institutional involvement could eventually give large firms too much influence over Bitcoin itself. Bitcoiner and venture capitalist Nic Carter said that major Bitcoin-holding institutions may eventually lose patience with Bitcoin developers for not addressing quantum computing concerns quickly enough. “I think the big institutions that now exist in Bitcoin, they will get fed up, and they will fire the devs and put in new devs,” Carter said in February.Wall Street moves in on crypto platforms’ customersThere have been several developments in Wall Street’s adoption of Bitcoin and, more broadly, crypto over the past couple of years.Related: CLARITY Act support carries electoral boost, HarrisX poll findsMost recently, on Tuesday, it was reported that Morgan Stanley rolled out a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, charging lower basic retail fees than some of the largest US crypto and brokerage platforms. The Wall Street bank is charging clients 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab on standard retail pricing. Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

The US CLARITY Act, which aims to provide the US crypto industry with greater regulatory clarity, is set to be voted on by the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.On Friday, Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott confirmed the legislation will go to a vote on Thursday, triggering a strong reaction across the crypto industry, which has been waiting months for a new markup date.The bill, introduced in July 2025, was expected to progress earlier this year, but stalled in January after Coinbase withdrew its support for the legislation, citing several concerns, including a lack of legal protections for open source software developers, a prohibition on stablecoin yield, and decentralized finance (DeFi) regulations. CLARITY Act is “on like Donkey Kong”: Coinbase exec“It’s on like Donkey Kong,” Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewel said in an X post on Friday, following the announcement. Meanwhile, Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad said in an X post that it was a “big step forward” and the legislation is essential “for protecting consumers, supporting innovation, and ensuring this technology develops in the United States rather than offshore.”Source: Faryar ShirzadUncertainty around crypto regulation during the Joe Biden administration, with crypto skeptic Gary Gensler leading the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was linked to reports of crypto firms relocating offshore to more crypto-friendly jurisdictions. Industry participants argued it was harming innovation in the US.US Senator and pro-crypto advocate Cynthia Lummis said in an X post, “Let’s pass the Clarity Act out of the Banking Committee on Thursday!”Industry execs had predicted the markup would take place It comes just days after Kara Calvert, the vice president of US policy at crypto exchange Coinbase, told attendees at the Consensus 2026 conference that she expected “a markup next week.”Related: ‘Visible flaws’ in Bitcoiners’ mid-bear market forecast: AnalystCalvert said that the bill needs at least 60 votes to pass in the Senate and that the CLARITY bill needs bipartisan support to become law.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

Bitcoin may have already bottomed in early February at around $60,000 and is unlikely to go lower this year, according to a crypto analyst, despite expectations of another downturn.“The dozens of bottom signals only flashed in synchrony at the bottoms. They were not flashing in the middle. Yet they all flashed in Q1 2026 at 60k,” Matthew Hyland said in an X post on Friday.“To compare the current price action to mid bear market price action has major visible flaws because you did not have bottom signals flashing in the middle; they flashed at the bottoms,” Hyland said, pointing to chart movements in prior cycles.Source: Matthew HylandAnalysts are divided over whether $60,000 was the bottomBitcoin (BTC) analysts have recently been divided over whether the asset already bottomed in February or if it still has further downside in this cycle.Veteran trader Peter Brandt said in March that $60,000 may not be the lowest level for 2026, forecasting that Bitcoin could retest or even move “slightly lower” in September or October this year.Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo said in an X post on March 17 that, from a liquidity perspective, Bitcoin is about one-third of the way “through the bear market.”More recently, in an X post on Friday, MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe pointed to a forming pattern on Bitcoin’s short-to-long-term realized value ratio chart to argue that Bitcoin is nearing the end of the bear phase.“The levels are hit again, which shows that we’re at the end of the bear market, and not at the start,” van de Poppe said.Source: Michael van de PoppeBitcoin recently reached its highest price in three monthsBitcoin reached $82,499 on Wednesday, its highest price since Jan. 31. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $79,646, approximately 32.74% higher than the $60,000 level it reached in February, according to CoinMarketCap.Related: Bitcoin bulls target $115K by December: Does data back the expectation?Bitcoin analyst Kyle Chasse pointed out the price increase in an X post on Thursday, saying he expects further upside in the near term.“$82,000 this week. Up 5% in five days. Crypto legislation is moving through Congress. Iran peace talks reducing risk-off pressure,” Chasse said.“The technicals are clean. Bull-stacked moving averages. Shorts getting squeezed,” Chasse said, adding that the “next wall” is $85,000.“Above that, the path to $100k opens back up,” Chasse said.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves