It’s All About Crypto Blog
Why Crypto Didn’t Crash During the Latest Middle East Escalation
The war in the Middle East has now been going on for four days, drawing in more and more countries. It feels far more serious than many of the previous flare-ups in the region. And yet crypto prices haven’t collapsed. Over these four days, they’ve moved both down and up - but only slightly. Overall, the market has been doing its own...
Crypto Outflows from Iran: Capital Escape or Defensive Withdrawal?
Today, many news sites reported that crypto outflows from the Iranian exchange Nobitex surged eightfold after after the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran. Following Elliptic - whose blog was the first to publish the story - most commentators have interpreted this as evidence that capital is fleeing Iran for foreign destinations. My first reaction was: what...
Everything Looks Right - But the Transaction Fails. Part I
Among cryptocurrency users, there is a widely held belief: if you enter the correct address, choose the right network, and have enough of the native token to cover the fee, the transaction will go through. In the overwhelming majority of cases, that belief holds true. But every blockchain has its own hidden rules - rules that only surface in very specific...
The $4.8 Million Illusion
The back-to-back headlines in February about South Korean government agencies losing crypto have made a lot of people smile. And yes, it does sound almost comical: * a hacker steals 320.8 BTC from the prosecutor’s office, * 22 bitcoins stored in a police station’s cold wallet somehow vanish, * and the most spectacular episode - crypto confiscated by the tax authorities is drained...
Can Governments Accept Financial Systems They Cannot Control?
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill aimed at ending the prosecution of software developers who do not control other people’s crypto assets. The DeFi Education Fund (DEF) says the bill would likely put a stop to cases like those brought against the developer of Tornado Cash and the creators of the Samourai wallet. I agree...
Bitcoin Futures Signal Strength - But Is the Real Test Still Ahead?
CryptoQuant has released new data suggesting that the 2026 market cycle may be fundamentally different - and potentially healthier - than what we saw in 2018 and 2022. In both of those years, Bitcoin futures on the CME were trading below the spot price of Bitcoin. In other words, the market was pricing in further downside. Futures were in backwardation, reflecting...
From Speculation to Prediction: How Crypto Is Finding a New Use Case
For a long time, crypto was seen primarily as a vehicle for speculation. If you wanted to "use" cryptocurrency, you traded it. And that meant most activity flowed through centralized exchanges. But lately, something interesting has been happening. Spot and derivatives volumes on exchanges have been flat or even declining. Meanwhile, transactions on prediction markets...
Buy TER, Move to Bhutan: A New Model for Token Distribution
You may have heard about Bhutan’s unprecedented digital nomad visa: pay $2,800 and you can live there for a full year. For anyone who has ever wanted to spend time in Bhutan, the offer sounds incredibly tempting. The country has long been extremely closed off. Officially, the only way to visit is as part of an organized tour - with a licensed guide who accompanies you...
What Happens When the ETH Runs Out?
News that Vitalik Buterin has been actively selling ETH barely causes a ripple anymore. So what if his wallet has shrunk by another 17,000 ETH this month? Most people have grown used to it and assume it’s just how things are supposed to work. After all, he’s not only spending the proceeds on himself - he’s also funding Ethereum’s development. But...
Confidential Doesn’t Mean What I Thought It Meant
Alright, I’ll say it straight: I was wrong. Or at least, I was wrong until recently. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably remember my enthusiastic posts about assets on the Liquid network. L-BTC, USDT on Liquid - I praised them more than once. I wrote that transactions there are confidential, that this protects you from...
