The leading cryptocurrency dropped below $67,000, the miner activity index hit a historic low, and Ethereum's quantum protection is set to be ready by 2029, among other events from the past week.
Market Sensitivity
The past seven days have once again been mixed for the digital asset market, which reacted sharply to news from the Middle East.
Monday began with Bitcoin rising above $70,000 following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a pause in strikes against Iran.
After a slight correction, the coin continued its upward trend, reaching over $72,000 by Wednesday.
However, this level proved to be a local peak. By Thursday, March 26, the first cryptocurrency began to decline, falling from $72,000 to $68,000 in just one day.
On Friday, the correction continued, with the asset plummeting to $65,000. The quotes reacted negatively to reports of escalating conflict in the Middle East and outflows from ETFs.
Spot ETFs based on the first cryptocurrency ended a four-week "green" streak, losing $296 million from March 23 to 27.
Ethereum ETFs saw $206 million withdrawn.
Over the weekend, Bitcoin's price stabilized, holding just below $67,000, down 3% over the week. Market observers believe that future developments will depend on macroeconomic and geopolitical factors.
The rest of the crypto market followed suit, reacting even more sharply to sell-offs.
Ethereum fell by 4%, XRP by 5%, and Solana by 5.8%.
The HYPE token managed to maintain its position at number 10 by market capitalization, gaining 2% over the week.
The total market capitalization of the crypto market stands at $2.37 trillion, with Bitcoin's dominance index at 56.1% and Ethereum's at 10.1%.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index remains in the extreme fear zone at 9 points.
Miner Inactivity
The Miner Position Index (MPI) dropped to -1.04, marking the third lowest value in history. CryptoQuant analyst Ignacio Moreno de Vicente described this as a bullish signal.
Such levels indicate that miners of the first cryptocurrency are sending fewer coins to exchanges than usual compared to the annual average, suggesting reduced selling pressure from their side.
"MPI reflects the relative behavior of sellers but does not show who is absorbing the supply. Without a clear increase in demand (spot flows, ETF inflows, or positioning in derivatives), a low MPI alone cannot ensure a sustainable upward movement," de Vicente added.
The signal becomes stronger when the index begins to rise from its lows, indicating a return of activity as market conditions improve.
Meanwhile, CoinShares analysts reported that 20% of Bitcoin miners have capitulated. According to them, the fourth quarter of 2025 was the most challenging for miners of the first cryptocurrency since the last halving. The average production cost for public companies reached $79,995 per coin.
Those at risk are operators with outdated equipment and high electricity costs.
Miners with mid-generation devices are operating below breakeven at the current hash rate, especially if they pay over $0.05 per kWh for electricity. To maintain profitability, they need rates below this threshold.
Stagnation in Bitcoin's price will worsen the situation for market participants. According to CoinShares' head of research James Butterfill, a prolonged downturn will lead to the shutdown of unprofitable operations, slowing hash rate growth and ultimately balancing profitability.
Major miners also continued to sell off their reserves. This week, MARA Holdings reported selling 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion.
The proceeds will be used to repurchase the company's bonds.
Topics to Discuss with Friends
- In the U.S., credit services backed by Bitcoin will be introduced.
- A dispute over cryptocurrencies split a dynasty of Swiss bankers.
- In Russia, there are proposals to limit the use of AI in education.
- Brad Garlinghouse called stablecoins the "ChatGPT moment" for the crypto business.
Ethereum's Quantum Protection
The Ethereum Foundation has unveiled a roadmap for protecting the blockchain from quantum computers, which includes four hard forks.
Key updates include:
- Fork I will provide network validators with a public key that can be activated in the event of a sudden appearance of a quantum computer.
- Fork J will reduce gas costs for verifying secure signatures.
- Fork L will implement state compression using zero-knowledge proofs to compactly package blockchain state and signature data.
- Fork M will protect against future quantum threats to L2 networks.
The transition will affect all three levels of the protocol—execution, storage, and data availability.
According to the foundation, "cryptographically significant" devices are not expected to emerge for at least eight to twelve years, but preparations must begin now.
"Quantum computing will eventually break public key cryptography, which secures ownership, authentication, and consensus in all digital systems. Work must begin long before the threat becomes a reality," the Ethereum Foundation noted.
The blockchain team aims to complete the network overhaul by 2029, but full migration will take several more years.
Closure of Sora
OpenAI has announced the closure of the AI video generation app Sora without providing reasons.
Despite the buzz following the launch of the updated Sora 2 model and its namesake social network, the product failed to retain its audience. In November 2025, downloads peaked at around 3.3 million in the App Store and Google Play, but by February, this number had dropped to 1.1 million.
The Sora social network was intended as a TikTok alternative with a focus on artificial intelligence. Its key feature, cameos, allowed users to scan their faces, create realistic deepfakes of themselves, and share them with others to generate collaborative videos.
The Sora 2 model is still available, but only on a paid basis through ChatGPT.
OpenAI also discontinued the Instant Checkout feature launched in September 2025, which allowed users to confirm orders, delivery, and payment without leaving the chatbot interface.
"The company underestimated how complex it would be to implement transactions. On one hand, it's somewhat surprising, but on the other, it's not easy for retailers either," noted Bob Hetu, an analyst at the research and consulting firm Gartner.
After reviewing its strategy for individual projects, OpenAI plans to turn ChatGPT into a "super app"—a unified ecosystem for the AI programming assistant Codex, the Atlas browser, and the chatbot. These products will be integrated into a single desktop application, which is expected to include Sora as well.
Also on ForkLog:
- NYSE partnered with Securitize to launch trading of tokenized stocks.
- In a16z, they predicted the end of internet advertising due to AI agents.
- A Neuralink patient learned to play World of Warcraft using thought alone.
- Oil and precious metals outperformed altcoins and generated billion-dollar turnovers for Hyperliquid.
Telegram Bond Redemption
Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the messenger has fully redeemed convertible bonds issued five years ago.
In March 2021, the company issued five-year dollar bonds with a 7% annual interest rate totaling $1 billion. The bonds allowed investors to convert them into Telegram shares at a 10% discount to the nominal price in the event of an IPO.
In May, the company issued additional bonds worth $750 million under the same terms.
According to Durov, the monetization strategy adopted five years ago enabled the messenger to become profitable as early as 2024.
"As a result, our new bond issuance last year was oversubscribed," he added.
Earlier, media reports indicated that Telegram planned to go public by the end of 2023. As the deadline approached, information emerged about a postponement of the IPO by another 18-24 months.
Telegram had previously issued debt securities, with a quarter of one tranche worth $270 million purchased by Durov himself.
Further Reading
ForkLog discussed with lawyers and market participants the contentious aspects of future cryptocurrency regulation in Russia.
We explore why the concept of AI as a regular digital advisor is becoming outdated and how new blockchain standards are turning algorithms into full-fledged market participants.
This week also saw the release of two episodes of "Deconstruction": a special episode analyzing the new crypto law project in Russia and a traditional podcast covering the week's news.