Bitcoin tested the $74,000 mark, traders switched to Hyperliquid for oil and gold trading, miners began selling coins more aggressively, and the community announced a boycott of ChatGPT, among other events from the past week.
Attempts to Establish a Base
The last seven days have been quite volatile for the crypto market, but they also brought some positive signals.
The leading cryptocurrency opened Monday at $65,000 and by evening was nearing $70,000. This was not the first attempt in recent weeks for the asset to break through this level, but this time it was successful.
After a slight correction on Wednesday, March 4, digital gold surged to $74,000 for the first time in a month. However, it couldn't hold these levels for long.
The next day, Bitcoin tested $74,000 again but then entered a correction.
During the latter half of the week, the coin gradually lost value, dropping to $67,500 by Sunday.
Bitcoin's rise was accompanied by a recovery in inflows to spot ETFs based on the asset, with a net inflow of $586 million for the week.
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the products recorded positive dynamics: +$458 million, +$225 million, and +$461 million, respectively. However, Thursday and Friday saw negative inflows: -$227 million and -$348 million.
Bitcoin continues to react sharply to global conflicts and macroeconomic factors. A statement from U.S. President Donald Trump, ruling out any chance of resolving the situation in Iran through negotiations, triggered a spike in oil prices and strengthened the dollar index. This put pressure on risk assets like tech stocks and cryptocurrencies.
The rest of the digital asset market traditionally followed the leader, although some representatives showed more negative dynamics.
According to CoinGecko, the price of ETH lost 2.5% over the week, dropping to $1,930. SOL fell by 3.5% to $82, while TRX managed to gain 1.8%.
Analyst Darkfost noted that about 38% of altcoins are nearing historical lows. The situation in the sector is worse than after the collapse of the FTX exchange.
He stated that investors are avoiding risks, with liquidity flowing into stocks and commodities. Alternative coins are taking the brunt of the impact and losing market share.
As of March 8, the total market capitalization of digital assets stands at $2.36 trillion, with Bitcoin dominance at 56% and Ethereum at 9.9%.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is holding steady around 12.
Oil and Gold on the Blockchain
The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East prompted a mass migration of crypto traders to the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid for trading perpetual futures on oil and gold.
The main interest was in tokenized commodities based on HIP-3.
On March 8, the price of the USOIL token paired with the stablecoin USDH reached a local maximum of $125, after which it corrected to $115. The daily trading volume peaked at $17 million.
Gold is also seeing high demand, with peak daily trading volume exceeding $159 million.
Traders showed the most activity in the segment of perpetual futures tied to silver, where daily trading volume reached $398 million.
On March 2, amid trader interest, the Hyperliquid network topped the charts for generated fees, almost reaching $2 million.
“This is proof of the strength of tokenized assets and perpetual contracts built on cryptocurrency infrastructure,” said Kenny Chan, head of the stablecoin ecosystem at Coinbase.
He noted that previously, during significant geopolitical events on weekends, traders had no choice but to use Bitcoin. Now, thanks to blockchain, the situation has changed.
What to Discuss with Friends?
- In The Economist, they predicted an era of space data centers.
- “The worst is behind us.” K33 noted the end of Bitcoin sell-offs.
- Bitwise predicted a rapid shift of Wall Street to DeFi.
- AI models preferred Bitcoin over stablecoins and fiat.
Miners Selling Off
Reports of Bitcoin miners capitulating have been increasing. TheEnergyMag reports that recent reports from major players indicate a potential intensification of this trend.
Recently, the following miners have liquidated their holdings:
- Riot — sold four times more coins in December than it mined in 30 days;
- Cango — liquidated 4,451 BTC (60% of reserves) in February;
- Bitdeer — fully sold its Bitcoin reserves (about 943.1 BTC) in the same month;
- Core Scientific — announced plans to sell most of its coins by the end of Q1.
Analysts estimate that public miners have sold over 15,000 BTC in total over the past five months.
Data from BitcoinTreasuries also indicates that Bitcoin mining companies are mass selling their reserves. The capital raised is being directed towards building infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
The long-term holding strategy is losing popularity due to declining mining revenues. While in 2021, Bitcoin mining margins reached 90%, this figure has sharply decreased due to high competition, expensive electricity rates, and price corrections.
Meanwhile, the hash price has fallen below $30 per PH/s per day. Under these conditions, most public players are operating at or below breakeven.
Additionally, many miners are now forced to settle debts. The industry has utilized credit lines, Bitcoin-backed loans, and secured bonds to finance both operational expenses and the large-scale development of AI data centers.
The decline in the first cryptocurrency has forced many firms to increase collateral by selling part of their coins.
ChatGPT Boycott
Recently, the relationships between major startups in the artificial intelligence sector and the U.S. military have been actively discussed.
At the end of February, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a partnership with the Pentagon. The company agreed to deploy its AI models in secret military networks.
In contrast, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly rejected such contracts. He prohibited the government from using the project’s neural networks for mass surveillance and the creation of autonomous weapons.
While Anthropic faced criticism from U.S. authorities, including negative remarks from President Trump, OpenAI encountered harsher backlash within the user community.
After the military contract was announced, a Reddit post calling for a boycott of the ChatGPT chatbot garnered 30,000 likes, and the themed account quitGPT on Instagram attracted 78,000 followers.
More than 700 employees from Google and OpenAI also signed an open letter urging a halt to the use of AI in surveillance systems or for combat tasks without direct human oversight.
Following the wave of negativity, Altman quickly sought to clarify the situation, promising to amend the agreement with the Pentagon. In the new version, OpenAI added a clause prohibiting the “intentional use of artificial intelligence” for spying on U.S. citizens.
“One thing I did wrong: we shouldn’t have rushed into the deal. The issues are very complex and require clear communication. We genuinely tried to reduce tension and avoid a much worse outcome, but I think it came off as opportunistic and sloppy,” said the project’s CEO.
However, the amendments did not significantly change the situation. Amid the boycott, the Claude chatbot from Anthropic surpassed ChatGPT in downloads on the U.S. App Store.
Also on ForkLog:
- Solana Mobile opened access to its software for Android device manufacturers.
- A five-year DCA strategy yielded a 72% net profit for Bitcoin investors.
- An application for detecting smart glasses has appeared online.
- U.S. authorities arrested a suspect in the theft of $46 million from a government wallet.
Banking Interventions
The past week was also marked by initiatives in the cryptocurrency space from major financial players. Investment bank Morgan Stanley, with $1.9 trillion in assets, filed an application with the SEC to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF.
To store the cryptocurrency, the organization plans to engage the custodial services of Coinbase and BNY Mellon. The majority of the Bitcoins backing the fund will be placed in cold wallets to minimize hacking risks.
Over the past five years, Morgan Stanley has consistently expanded its presence in the crypto market.
In 2021, the bank was the first among major U.S. financial institutions to offer its wealthy clients access to the Bitcoin fund from NYDIG. In 2024, the company allowed advisors to recommend exchange-traded structures based on the first cryptocurrency from BlackRock and Fidelity. In the fall of 2025, Morgan Stanley analysts recommended allocating up to 4% of portfolios to cryptocurrencies.
Another significant event of the week was the announcement of a stablecoin by Western Union. The USDPT coin, pegged to the U.S. dollar, is set to be launched on the Solana blockchain. The project is being implemented in collaboration with the Web3 platform Crossmint.
The main feature of USDPT is direct conversion into national currencies. Users will be able to cash out digital dollars at 360,000 Western Union locations in over 200 countries. This solution will enable third-party fintech applications to conduct transactions instantly via Solana and send funds directly to cash-out points.
Among other initiatives in the stablecoin and crypto banking sector from the past week:
- Visa and Stripe will implement stablecoin cards in over 100 countries;
- The Bank of Japan launched a blockchain sandbox for domestic transfers;
- Tether supported the project to integrate USDT into the Bitcoin blockchain;
- A native stablecoin USDsui was launched on the Sui network;
- Florida passed the first state-level stablecoin bill in the U.S.
What Else to Read?
In the new ForkLog cards, we explain what tokenized gold is, how the tokenization process works, and why billions are being invested in it.
How surveillance AI systems are structured in large cities and why governments rushed to implement them widely.