HBAR has seen a notable rally recently, bringing the altcoin back into a key consolidation zone just under $0.20. Trading close to this critical level, HBAR is showing signs of strong momentum.
A successful breach of $0.20 could mark the beginning of further upside, provided bullish market conditions continue to support the move.
HBAR Traders Are Optimistic
The market sentiment around HBAR remains highly optimistic, as indicated by its funding rate, which has stayed positive for nearly two weeks. A positive funding rate suggests that traders are confident in the altcoin’s bullish trajectory and are positioning themselves to benefit from potential gains.
Additionally, the dominance of long contracts highlights the heightened bullishness among investors. Traders are betting heavily on HBAR’s price increase, reinforcing the view that the altcoin could soon breach its key resistance.
The broader macro momentum for HBAR is mixed, presenting both opportunity and risk. The liquidation map shows that about $42 million worth of long contracts are at risk if the HBAR price falls to $0.167. This exposure underlines the critical importance of the $0.200 resistance.
Given this setup, maintaining current price levels is crucial for HBAR. If the altcoin fails to sustain its upward momentum and investors lose confidence, the resulting liquidations could significantly impact its price trajectory.
HBAR is currently priced at $0.193, holding just under the critical $0.200 resistance. This level has remained unbroken for more than a month and a half. Historically, repeated failures to breach significant resistance levels have often led to declines, making the current situation pivotal for HBAR’s near-term direction.
If HBAR fails to break through $0.200, the altcoin could lose its $0.182 support and slip to $0.167. A fall to this level would trigger the liquidation of the $42 million worth of contracts mentioned earlier, likely intensifying the downward pressure and causing further market distress.
Conversely, if broader market conditions remain favorable and investors continue to support HBAR, the altcoin could successfully breach the $0.200 barrier. Achieving this would invalidate the bearish outlook and set HBAR on a course toward $0.222, opening the door for renewed bullish momentum.
Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see what analysts say about Bitcoin amid the showdown between BTC behemoth Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and Jack Mallers’ investment firm, 21 Capital. With their Bitcoin models coming into question, is there a specific definition of what winning means in Bitcoin?
Strategy Grows Bitcoin Stockpile, Buys $1.42 Billion in BTC
Strategy announced that it recently purchased another 15,355 BTC worth approximately $1.42 billion at an average price of $92,737 last week.
The firm currently holds 553,555 BTC, valued at approximately $52.7 billion. The average buying price is $68,459, and the unrealized profit is $14.8 billion.
“By continuing to grow its Bitcoin holdings, the company maintains its status as a major force in the cryptocurrency market, drawing interest from investors and industry analysts. Strategy is the largest Bitcoin Treasury Company, an independent, publicly traded business intelligence company, and a Nasdaq 100 stock,” Phoenix reported.
A recent US Crypto News publication highlighted the advent of 21 Capital. The Bitcoin investment firm sprouted after Cantor Fitzgerald, SoftBank, Tether, and Bitfinex pooled $3 billion in capital.
Based on sentiment, this new venture could inadvertently challenge Strategy’s position at the helm of corporate Bitcoin ownership in a model sense. According to 21 Capital, Strategy size could make increasing its Bitcoin per share difficult, a metric investors tend to consider.
Amid chatter that 21 Capital could threaten the Michael Saylor-led firm, BitStrategy, a shareholder at Strategy, challenged the prospective market rival’s business model.
Tension Grows in Bitcoin Treasury Space
In a detailed post on X (Twitter), BitStrategy acknowledged the brewing tension in the Bitcoin treasury arena. However, it holds that Strategy is way ahead of the competition.
“Their company is in direct competition with ours, and they seek to exploit a perceived vulnerability in our structure, openly highlighting their strengths relative to ours to win investment,” BitStrategy challenged in a recent post.
Beyond BTC Yield, also reported in a recent US Crypto News publication, the firm initiated key performance indicators months ago- BTC Gain and BTC $ Gain.
Bitcoin Gain multiplies the BTC Yield by Strategy’s aggregate balance, reflecting the scale of the firm’s operations.
Bitcoin $ Gain takes this further, converting the BTC Gain into dollar terms, for added transparency.
This proactivity by Strategy suggests a commitment to defend its position as a leading Bitcoin-holding corporation amidst rising rivals.
“You can fake an impressive BTC Yield. You cannot fake an impressive BTC Gain,” BitStrategy chimed.
However, analyst KenjiKoshu argues that while Strategy may show substantial Bitcoin gains, smaller companies like 21 Capital could achieve higher Bitcoin per share.
“As someone who has done deep thinking about why MSTR is undervalued, it might be true BTC gain can still be substantial if not higher for MSTR. On a per-share basis, however, which would be what supports the stock; it will be hard to deny a smaller, similarly reputable company is going to make more Bitcoin per share when on the same strategy,” the analyst wrote.
This outlook aligns with sentiment from 21 Capital that Strategy’s large size impedes increasing its Bitcoin per share.
However, BitStrategy articulated that the point of BTC Gain and BTC $ Gain signals the importance of a whole-of-company view of performance relative to a per-share view.
Per the shareholder, there is no agreed-upon conventional valuation methodology for Bitcoin companies. This means any metric is somewhat arbitrary.
Investors increasingly turn to digital assets as a safe haven, with Bitcoin becoming a hedge against the US dollar’s volatility as crypto inflows surge to $3.4 billion.
Saros, the Solana-based altcoin, has been on an impressive uptrend over the past month. The token’s price has formed new all-time highs (ATHs) nearly every day throughout March.
However, with the momentum showing signs of slowing, investors are wondering if this rally is nearing its end.
SAROS Refrains From Following Bitcoin
The correlation between Saros and Bitcoin (BTC) is currently negative, sitting at -0.43. This negative correlation has worked in Saros’ favor, as it allowed the altcoin to perform well during Bitcoin’s struggles throughout March. While Bitcoin faced significant declines, Saros was able to rally largely due to this inverse relationship.
The shifting dynamics between Bitcoin and Saros will be key to the future price movement of the altcoin. Should Bitcoin regain its upward momentum, Saros may face increased selling pressure. This is because the negative correlation that has benefited Saros may reverse, impacting the altcoin’s ability to maintain its upward trajectory.
The overall macro momentum of Saros shows that investor interest has remained strong. The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) indicator has been increasing steadily over the past month, signaling consistent inflows.
Recently, it crossed the saturation threshold of 0.7, a level that has historically led to price corrections. This suggests that while Saros has experienced significant gains, the market may be nearing an overbought condition. If profit-taking begins, a price pullback is highly probable for the altcoin.
Saros has surged by an astounding 1,024% since the beginning of March, trading at $0.153 as of now. Throughout March, the altcoin has formed new ATHs almost daily, reflecting strong investor sentiment and demand.
The current ATH stands at $0.163, and the momentum could continue pushing the price upwards, potentially reaching $0.200 if the uptrend remains intact. However, as the price continues to rise, the risk of profit-taking increases.
If Saros faces such a pullback, it could fall back towards the $0.100 support level. If the altcoin loses this key support, the price could drop further to $0.055, invalidating the bullish outlook. Investors should keep an eye on these levels as they will help determine whether the current rally is sustainable.
The role of stablecoins is expanding beyond the crypto market and attracting attention from traditional financial institutions. Meanwhile, new regulations from Europe and the US could make stablecoins more useful in the real world.
However, these regulations also pose challenges for stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle. Currently, Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC dominate the stablecoin market capitalization, but many experts believe this could change in the future.
Expert Questions the Sustainability of Tether and Circle’s Business Model Under New Regulations
A recent PitchBook report revealed that the top 10 stablecoins have a total market capitalization of approximately $220 billion—up from less than $120 billion two years ago. Tether alone accounts for about 65% of this total, while USDC holds another 25%.
Market Capitalization of Top 10 Stablecoins.Source: PitchBook
The report also highlighted that fiat-backed stablecoins are the most common, making up around 95% of the total supply. However, Robert Le, a senior analyst at PitchBook, warned that such a high concentration carries risks.
“Another major risk is centralization, in which a single entity such as Tether or Circle controls the minting and burning of tokens, raising concerns about decision-making and conflict of interest. An issuer might halt redemptions or freeze funds under regulator pressure, hurting legitimate holders,” PitchBook Analyst Robert Le commented.
Legal risks are also becoming more evident as US regulators draft specific rules for stablecoins. Several bills, including FIT21, GENIUS, and STABLE, are currently under discussion.
The US is expected to introduce stablecoin-specific legislation next year. This would legalize stablecoins but impose stricter requirements on issuers, such as higher reserve standards, mandatory audits, and increased transparency. Meanwhile, the EU’s MiCA regulations require stablecoins to meet banking-like standards. In response, Tether has opted out of the European market to avoid MiCA compliance.
Traditional Finance Firms Plan to Enter the Stablecoin Market
A report from Ark Invest stated that in 2024, the total annual transaction volume of stablecoins reached $15.6 trillion—equivalent to 119% of Visa’s volume and 200% of Mastercard’s. Despite this, the number of stablecoin transactions remains relatively low at 110 million per month, only 0.41% of Visa’s and 0.72% of Mastercard’s.
This suggests that the average stablecoin transaction value is significantly higher than those of Visa and Mastercard.
Meanwhile, investment giants such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity are offering tokenized money market funds. These funds function similarly to stablecoins and could directly compete with USDC and USDT.
“We further expect that every major financial platform or fintech app will seek to launch its own stablecoin, hoping to lock users into seamless payment ecosystems. However, we believe only a handful of trusted issuers—those with regulatory greenlights, recognized brands, and proven technological reliability—will ultimately capture the majority of market share.” – PitchBook predicted.
