WeekInCrypto: Bitcoin crashes, SEC backs off, experts remain optimistic

Despite Bitcoin's recent volatility, institutional confidence remains strong, with Standard Chartered predicting a $500,000 price target for Bitcoin. Meanwhile, North Korean hackers carried out the largest cryptocurrency theft in history and the SEC closed its investigation into Uniswap.

Standard Chartered's firm $500,000 Bitcoin price forecast suggests that institutional confidence is growing despite short-term market volatility.

The FBI confirmed North Korea's involvement in the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, highlighting the escalating threat from the nation to the security of digital assets.

Regulatory developments suggest a possible shift in U.S. regulation as the SEC dropped its investigation into Uniswap, marking a major win for decentralized finance.

It's been another turbulent week for the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin experiencing a sharp sell-off, regulatory developments shaking up the industry, and record-breaking cyberattacks making headlines. Despite short-term volatility, institutional confidence in Bitcoin remains strong, and key players continue to shape the future of digital assets.

Standard Chartered sticks with its bold $500,000 BTC target, while Binance CEO downplays fears of a prolonged downturn. Meanwhile, the FBI has linked North Korean hackers to the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, while the SEC’s decision to drop its investigation into Uniswap marks a major win for the DeFi space. Here’s a closer look at the biggest stories in crypto this week.

Standard Chartered sets $500,000 Bitcoin target despite recent sell-off

Bitcoin may be suffering a setback, but Standard Chartered remains unfazed by its long-term bullish outlook. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s head of digital asset research, predicts that Bitcoin will surge to $500,000 before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. This is despite a sharp sell-off that has sent the cryptocurrency to a three-month low.

Kendrick expects Bitcoin to reach $200,000 by the end of 2025, a key threshold before further gains. He stressed that institutional participation, especially from major financial institutions such as Standard Chartered and BlackRock, will play a key role in this trajectory.

Binance CEO: Crypto Market Decline Suggests Strategic Pause, Not Collapse

Binance CEO Richard Teng dismissed concerns about a prolonged Bitcoin downturn. He stressed that historical data shows that crypto markets react to macroeconomic changes similarly to traditional financial assets. However, digital assets have been rebounding from sharp pullbacks. He cited the 2022 crash, when Bitcoin briefly fell below $20,000 after the Fed's rate hike, before recovering as conditions stabilized.

The recent market decline is consistent with past short-term volatility, rather than exposing fundamental weaknesses in the industry. Teng noted that price volatility tends to dominate, but the real growth drivers remain strong. Cryptocurrency as an asset class has matured and recovered from macroeconomic-driven downturns many times.

Peter Schiff predicts Strategy Bank will go bankrupt if this happens

Peter Schiff, a well-known economist, expressed his concerns about the decline of Michael Saylor's Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, into bankruptcy. His concerns stem from a sharp correction in MSTR shares after they fell 5.74% on Monday and another 4.7% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. After a strong run to 2024 last year, the stock has faced significant selling pressure and is down 6% so far this year.

Peter Schiff, an economist and Bitcoin critic, gave his opinion on Strategy's Bitcoin-centric strategy. He also predicted that the company would face potential challenges if MSTR stock began to trade at a discount to the value of its Bitcoin holdings.

In this case, Schiff predicted that Michael Saylor's company could theoretically sell Bitcoin and use the proceeds to buy back shares, thus making up for the discount. However, he believes that such a move could cause a sharp drop in Bitcoin prices, leading to a drop in MicroStrategy's stock price.

FBI Confirms North Korean Hackers Are Behind $1.5 Billion Bybit Theft

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially confirmed that hackers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) orchestrated the devastating Bybit hack on February 21, 2025. The cybersecurity breach is now considered the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, resulting in nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum being stolen from the Bybit exchange.

According to the FBI’s statement, the attack, dubbed “TraderTraitor,” was part of a wider series of cyberattacks linked to North Korean government-backed hackers.

Bernstein Analysts Predict Crypto Market Shift From Memecoin to Utility Tokens

Analysts at renowned research and brokerage firm Bernstein have made a rather bold assertion about the cryptocurrency market. In their latest report, released on Monday, analysts led by Gautam Chhugani argue that market liquidity is about to shift from speculative memecoins to utility-focused tokens. This is particularly true in areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Chhugani recalls that memecoin rose to prominence after receiving a backlash from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its hostile attitude toward utility tokens and NFT projects. Gary Gensler was the commission’s chairman at the time.

However, things have taken a new turn, and there is now an air of optimism on the U.S. regulatory front.

Time.fun Launches on Solana: A New Era for Tokenized Time

The tokenized time space seems to be taking off at the moment, and Time.fun looks like it could be at the heart of that undertaking. Previously, the platform had officially launched on the Solana blockchain.

Time.fun’s latest move follows a trial deployment on the Base network last year, which was largely successful by the company’s standards.

Time.fun was undoubtedly well received when it first launched on Ethereum’s layer 2 network Base in 2024, according to founder Kawz. He noted that the platform saw well over $2 million in transaction volume during its time on Base.

Hamster Network Becomes First Gaming Layer 2 on TON

Launch on September 26, 2024, Hamster Network becomes the first gaming-focused Layer-2 blockchain built on TON, as the company mentioned in a recent article on X (formerly Twitter). The network brings a powerful combination of scalability, speed, and cost-effectiveness, designed for games and decentralized applications.

“The network is launched in partnership with TON, which helped make this possible. Telegram has been working to bring Web3 to nearly a billion phones through easy-to-use mini-apps that require no installation,” the company said.

The developers of Hamster Kombat are leading this innovation, ensuring users experience seamless Web3 interactions with minimal transaction costs. With Telegram’s massive user base of nearly 1 billion, this new Layer-2 aims to push cryptocurrency adoption into the mainstream.

Tether CEO: USDt is the most successful tool of dollar hegemony

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino recently accused rival stablecoin companies of using regulatory tactics to eliminate industry leaders instead of competing on innovation. His comments were in response to growing concerns that new stablecoin regulations in the United States could severely limit access to U.S. Treasuries for international stablecoin issuers, which could include.

Ardoino noted that the company's flagship stablecoin USDt, with a market value of $142 billion, is an important financial tool for millions of people in Africa, South America and other developing regions. According to Ardoino, Tether has established an extensive network of physical and digital distribution points to ensure that dollar-backed assets are widely available.

Related article: March: Major Crypto Industry Events

“Tether has over 400 million users and is growing at a rate of 35 million new wallets per quarter,” he added, further explaining that Tether holds over $115 billion in US Treasuries, making it the 18th largest holder — and any attempt to restrict its access to US Treasuries would be a direct threat to overseas dollar liquidity.

DeFi space celebrates major victory as SEC drops investigation into Uniswap Labs

The cryptocurrency industry has won another victory in its battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the agency officially closed its investigation into Uniswap Labs without taking any enforcement action.

On Tuesday, the company behind the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap announced that it is no longer under SEC scrutiny.