WEEKLY: Bitcoin recovery to $79,500, $3B in liquidations, SafePal leak

The main driver of the week was the rapid surge of Bitcoin, which triggered a record wave of short position liquidations, while the industry simultaneously reacted to user data leaks, a series of hacker attacks, and new US regulatory initiatives.

Bitcoin's Market Surge

Bitcoin broke through resistance at $72,000 and rose to a local high near $79,500, showing a weekly gain of 18.8 percent. The rapid rally caused a cascading short squeeze: within 24 hours, exchanges liquidated nearly $3 billion in positions, $2.74 billion of which were short positions, with over 170,000 traders recording total losses.

This growth allowed Strategy, which holds 840,447 BTC with an average purchase price of $75,385, to completely emerge from unrealized losses, raising its portfolio value to $66.81 billion. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao highlighted a fundamental supply shortage: out of 21 million coins, 20.07 million have already been mined, leaving just 4.4 percent of the emission, while 10 to 20 percent of issued bitcoins are permanently lost or locked.

Analyst Forecasts

Optimistic estimates regarding Bitcoin are confirmed by key market figures. Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick expects a rise to $100,000 by the end of 2026, while Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong predicts the $100,000 mark in the near term with potential movement toward $400,000 by 2030 amidst a new bull cycle. 

An additional catalyst is the US Department of the Treasury, which plans to increase monthly buybacks of long-term government bonds from $4 billion to $30 billion. According to macro strategist Mark Connors, such a liquidity injection could create conditions for Bitcoin to rise to $180,000.

Ethereum 

Ethereum demonstrated even higher momentum, gaining 25.5 percent over the week and establishing itself at $2,416. Ecosystem developers officially launched the testnet for the Glamsterdam update. 

This alters the gas price calculation mechanism and block formation algorithms, establishing a technical foundation for the network to operate under record loads.

SafePal Leak, Binance Data to Russia, and GTA 6 Leak

Hardware wallet manufacturer SafePal confirmed a data breach affecting 39,798 customers who placed orders between March 2025 and April 2026. An authorization flaw exposed names, email addresses, phone numbers, purchase details, and shipping addresses to third parties, although seed phrases, private keys, and payment details remained secure. 

Concurrently, it was revealed that Binance transferred personal customer data to Russian state authorities. In the entertainment sector, the hacker group Cyberleek leaked GTA 6 gameplay and map data online, launching the CYBERLEEK memecoin with a $4 billion market capitalization to fund its ongoing operations.

Security Incidents in DeFi

The finance sector faced several exploits: Maya Protocol lost $1.7 million, including 20 BTC, prompting the team to pause network operations and announce compensation plans. MANTRA Chain temporarily froze its mainnet due to a vulnerability in the Cosmos EVM module, successfully safeguarding user funds.

The Sandbox project suspended the SAND cross-chain bridge on Base and BNB Chain following an anomalous token issuance of $49 billion, though the actual loss was less than 0.01 percent of the total supply.

CLARITY Act 

The CLARITY Act legislation stalled in the US Congress, with the head of the Solana Policy Institute estimating the likelihood of its approval before elections at just 10 percent despite Donald Trump's calls to support the bill, while Senator Ruben Gallego and expert Hermine Wong criticize the bill for favoring major crypto intermediaries. 

At the same time, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed an updated regulatory framework for token sales. Grayscale believes that simplifying procedures will unlock capital raising through ICOs and support the growth of blockchain infrastructure.

AI Takes Over Infrastructure

In the tech sector, the main highlight was the hype surrounding the IPO of Unitree, a developer of humanoid robots. The surging interest in Unitree underscores a shift in investor focus toward the intersection of artificial intelligence, hardware, and decentralized computing networks.

Kursoff’s Take

Bitcoin's rapid rise to $79,500 signals the presence of a strong buyer, but $3 billion in daily liquidations serves as a warning against using high leverage. Avoid opening margin positions at local highs.

If you ordered a SafePal wallet during the breach timeframe or use centralized exchanges, pay close attention to phishing attempts and never disclose your seed phrases or private keys on external platforms.