The crypto market today is seeing gains as Bitcoin price surge above $93,000, triggering a wave of excitement across investors. The sudden surge has many asking — why is the crypto market up today? The answer lies in a powerful mix of political optimism, institutional inflows, and renewed risk appetite.
Trade Optimism and Institutional Inflows Drive Rally
U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made market-moving remarks hinting at potential relief in the U.S.-China trade war. Bessent called the current 145% tariffs “unsustainable” and suggested a de-escalation could be near. That was enough to boost investor confidence, not just in equities but also in risk-on assets like crypto.
Backing the momentum, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $381 million in net inflows on Monday, the highest since January. The return of institutional money is a bullish signal, especially as MicroStrategy added another 6,500 BTC to its holdings — reinforcing long-term belief in Bitcoin.
SEC Shakeup, Altcoin Surge, But Caution Remains
Adding to the bullish sentiment, newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has already dismissed several crypto enforcement cases. His pro-crypto stance is giving the industry fresh hope for a more innovation-friendly regulatory climate.
Meanwhile, Ethereum jumped above $1,700, Dogecoin surged 8.6%, and SUI spiked nearly 12%. Traditional markets also bounced back, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recovering from recent losses.
However,the liquidity and new demand remain weak compared to past bull runs, according to CryptoQuant. Resistance zones could still trigger pullbacks, but for now, the rally has reignited crypto market momentum.
Grayscale has announced the launch of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) to track the performance of companies with sizable Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. While not the first-of-its-kind, the Grayscale Bitcoin Adopters ETF will attract a new demographic of investors to Bitcoin-related products.
Grayscale Rolls Out Bitcoin Adopters ETF For Investors
According to a press release, Grayscale has unveiled an ETF designed to provide investors with exposure to public companies with Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Dubbed the Grayscale Bitcoin Adopters ETF (BCOR), the fund will track the performance of companies that have adopted BTC as a treasury reserve asset.
Per the statement, the newly minted ETF will invest in entities that make up the Indxx Bitcoin Adopters Index. A close look at the proprietary index reveals a focus on publicly traded companies with a market capitalization surpassing $100 million.
However, Grayscale pegs the minimum Bitcoin to be held by the companies at 100 BTC. Upon launch, the ETF is tracking over 33 companies cutting across 15 industries, providing a novel way for investors to get exposure to BTC.
“As more companies integrate Bitcoin into their balance sheets, BCOR provides a forward-looking strategy to capture this momentum through traditional equity markets,” said Grayscale Global Head of ETFs David LaValle.
In March, Bitwise launched the OWNB ETF to track institutions with substantial BTC holdings, earning a first-mover position. Grayscale will jostle with Bitwise for market share as the firm eyes expanding its range of ETF products. The firm is bidding its time after the SEC delayed its proposal to enable staking on its Ethereum spot ETF.
A Growing Number Of Firms Are Adopting The Bitcoin Standard
Several publicly traded companies are turning their gaze to Bitcoin, adding the largest cryptocurrency to their balance sheet. Led by MicroStrategy and Marathon Digital, publicly traded companies hold nearly 600,000 BTC cumulatively.
MicroStrategy recently acquired 15,335 BTC for $1.42 billion, bringing its holdings to 553,555 BTC, matching the holdings of Grayscale and BlackRock.
While the trend shows no indications of ending, 21 Capital is set to mirror MicroStrategy with a sizable Bitcoin purchase. 21 Capital has raised significant capital from SoftBank and Tether, potentially snapping up 42 BTC upon its formal launch.
The renewed institutional interest from Grayscale and other heavyweights in Bitcoin comes amid a price resurgence for the top crypto. Bitcoin is trading at $95,000 and is targeting a price rally to $100K on the back of several positive fundamentals.
Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd proposed removing arbitrary size limits on OP_RETURN, igniting an intense debate. The entire debacle reveals deep divisions over Bitcoin’s purpose and future.
OP_RETURN is the operation code (opcode) that allows small data payloads to be embedded in Bitcoin (BTC) transactions.
Bitcoin Core Developers and Community Clash Over OP_RETURN Limits
Peter Todd’s proposal #32359 on GitHub would lift long-standing restrictions on how much data can be stored using OP_RETURN, which is currently capped at 80 bytes.
One of Satoshi Nakamoto’s theories’ candidates, Peter Todd, argues that the change would simplify Bitcoin’s codebase. The cryptography developer also highlights its potential to improve efficiency without endangering the network.
As OP_RETURN outputs are unspendable, they do not bloat the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) set that all Bitcoin full nodes must track for transaction validation.
“The restrictions are easily bypassed by direct substitution and forks of Bitcoin Core,” Todd noted in his GitHub comments.
Peter Todd’s proposal to remove arbitrary limits on OP_Return. Source: GitHub
According to Peter Todd, formalizing higher limits would reflect existing practices and benefit use cases like sidechains and cross-chain bridges.
Many in the Bitcoin community view the change as a dangerous shift toward non-monetary use cases for the pioneer crypto. This is reminiscent of the 2014 OP_RETURN Wars when spam concerns forced developers to reduce the data cap from 80 to 40 bytes before raising it again.
That era saw services like Veriblock flood the chain with data, leading to increased block sizes and transaction fees.
“Sidechain builders shouldn’t influence Bitcoin Core. Bitcoin on its base layer is money and should be only focused on money,” warned Willem S, founder of Botanix Labs.
Willem argues that changing standard rules to make development easier sets a troubling precedent, particularly when workarounds already exist.
Proposal Is A Betrayal of Bitcoin’s Fundamental Principles, Critics Say
Meanwhile, critics call the proposal a betrayal of Bitcoin’s foundational principles. One such critic is Jason Hughes, who works in development and engineering at Ocean Mining. He accuses developers of steamrolling dissent and ignoring broader user concerns.
Hughes said the change could push Bitcoin toward being a worthless altcoin.
“Bitcoin Core developers are about to merge a change that turns Bitcoin into a worthless altcoin, and no one seems to care to do anything about it. I’ve voiced objections, lost sleep over this, and despite clear community rejection of the PR it’s moving,” Hughes lamented.
Nevertheless, others are more optimistic, with some acknowledging the potential of this move to drive network improvement.
“Catering to applications such as sidechains and bridges drives more transactions, which is good for the network,” countered Karbon, a popular user on X.
This sentiment hinges on the assumption that people already bypass the limit anyway. The backlash also stirred broader philosophical objections, with some likening it to the ongoing Ethereum woes.
“Bitcoin should not follow an ‘L2-centric’ roadmap. It is actually, what killed Ethereum. Bitcoin is money and should be focused on that,” another user argued.
Amidst debates on the technical merits of the change, the social impact may be harder to contain.
The proposal has amplified long-simmering concerns over developer centralization and revisited the risk of alienating users who believe Bitcoin should remain a minimal, sovereign monetary protocol.
Whether the proposal moves forward or stalls, the controversy reveals the growing tension between Bitcoin’s purist roots and the pressure to evolve.
Vladimir Smerkis, co-founder of Telegram-based crypto project Blum, has been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of large-scale fraud. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court approved his detention following a request from state investigators, according to reports from the Russian news agency TASS on Sunday. The charges against Vladimir Smerkis are based on Article 159 of Russia’s criminal code, which addresses serious fraud crimes. If convicted, Smerkis could face up to 12 years in prison. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether formal charges have been filed. Past Ventures Under Scrutiny Local media outlet Mash linked Vladimir Smerkis and this investigation to previous crypto ventures, ‘The Token Fund and Tokenbox’. Both platforms were launched in 2017. Combined, those projects allegedly resulted in losses of around $15 million for investors. Although Blum is not connected to these older ventures, the incident has placed the project under intense scrutiny. Notably, Smerkis also once headed operations for… Read More at Coingape.com
