Crypto markets absorbed nearly $1 billion in liquidations over 24 hours as Bitcoin prices fell to a five-week low amid escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran.
According to analyst Scott Melker, total liquidations reached $958.8 million across 167,706 traders, with 93% of the wipeout concentrated in long positions.
Bitcoin liquidations alone accounted for roughly $386 million, while Ethereum liquidations came in at approximately $246 million across the same period.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF recorded $528 million in daily outflows, marking the second largest single-day outflow on record and extending an eight-day outflow streak.
Melker noted that a $1.3 billion sell order on the ETF had been flagged the previous day, suggesting the outflows may reflect a delayed market reaction to a major institutional exit.
Ethereum futures open interest simultaneously hit a record high as prices broke below $2,000, indicating traders were aggressively opening new short positions despite the price decline.
On the institutional adoption front, the DTCC announced plans to connect tokenized stocks, ETFs, and Treasuries to the Stellar network, targeting completion in the first half of 2027.
The DTCC custodies $114 trillion in assets and processes roughly $4.5 quadrillion in annual volume, with more than 50 financial firms participating in the effort, including BlackRock, Circle, and Goldman Sachs.
Stellar’s token surged more than 35% over 24 hours following the announcement, a notable move that Melker described as a potential signal that parts of the altcoin market are responding to major institutional headlines.
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) secured a New York BitLicense to support stablecoin and digital payment infrastructure, a regulatory approval Melker described as exceptionally rare and difficult to obtain.
SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) launched its own stablecoin, SoFi USD, across the Ethereum and Solana networks, targeting its approximately 15 million customers as a bank-issued alternative to existing stablecoins.
Block’s Cash App also began a phased stablecoin rollout to its nearly 60 million users, with Block’s leader stating, “I don’t like that we’re going to support stable coins, but our customers want to use them.”
He added, “I don’t think it’s wise to go from one gatekeeper to another,” but the move signals that even the most committed Bitcoin-focused platforms are accommodating stablecoin demand.
Melker observed that the stablecoin market has now reached $322 billion, exceeding the foreign exchange reserves of 95 nations including the UK and Canada.
Tether alone holds $141 billion in US Treasuries, making it the 18th largest holder of US government debt globally, underscoring the scale of dollar-denominated stablecoin adoption.
Melker framed the stablecoin boom as a paradox, arguing that Bitcoin was created as a hedge against dollar dominance, yet stablecoin infrastructure has effectively built what he called “the dollar a better delivery truck.”
In a separate story, a Google engineer was charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after allegedly using an internal Google tool to track search trends and bet on the outcomes on prediction market platform Polymarket.
The engineer, whose Polymarket username was Alpha Raccoon, allegedly sent 3.8 million USDC to the platform and made a $1.2 million profit before laundering the proceeds through swap services and privacy tools.
President Trump posted a statement declaring that “Gary Gensler and the anti-crypto army nearly destroyed the American crypto industry,” and pledged to “codify a future proof digital asset market structure that cannot be undone by the crypto haters.”
The US CFTC also filed a request to erase its prior settlement with Gemini, which the current administration no longer considers fair, signaling continued regulatory reversals on crypto enforcement actions taken under the previous administration.
