Bitcoin extended its decline during Asian hours, slipping to about $82,300 before recovering to around $82,800. That left the asset roughly 4% below Tuesday’s high near $86,600. The CoinDesk 100 index was down close to 2% over the past 24 hours.
The price move coincided with a sharp debate inside crypto after Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake urged the industry to prepare for what he called “bunker mode.”
Drake’s warning puts wallet cryptography in focus
In a post on X that drew nearly 4 million views, Drake said the industry should start planning for a scenario in which AI-driven advances in mathematics break the cryptography protecting crypto wallets.
His “bunker mode” idea calls for a gradual migration of funds into new addresses whose public keys have never been exposed. Drake said it is reasonable to brace for a break of the elliptic-curve signatures that secure bitcoin and ether wallets in “months not years.” As support for that view, he pointed to a batch of 722 mathematical results released by OpenAI this week.
The response was split. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the risk from AI-accelerated math is real and should be taken seriously, but he advised holders not to scramble to move funds. Samson Mow, chief executive of bitcoin technology firm Jan3, told followers there was no need to panic “because an Ethereum researcher is saying silly things.”
Bond-market pressure adds to the risk-off tone
Crypto was also dealing with pressure from rates. According to CNBC, the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 4 basis points to 5.71%, while the 10-year yield climbed to 5.32%, ahead of a $22 billion auction of 30-year bonds later Thursday.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, released Wednesday, showed all 19 officials backed last month’s rate increase. Most said another hike by year-end would likely be appropriate. The Sept. consumer price index, due on Oct. 14, is the last inflation reading before the Fed’s Oct. 28 rate decision.
Derivatives positioning still favors sellers
Market positioning showed sellers remained in control, though forced selling eased. The 24-hour taker long/short ratio stood at 48% to 52%, little changed from the previous day, when shorts held a share slightly above 52%. Crypto futures open interest fell 1% to $150 billion, while trading volume was largely unchanged at $187 billion. Liquidations dropped to $400 million from $548 million a day earlier.
That points to continued downside pressure, but with less liquidation-driven selling than before.
Majors look more like deleveraging than fresh bearish bets
Notional open interest, the dollar value of active futures positions, fell in BTC, ETH, HYPE, XRP and DOGE by as much as or more than their spot prices. In practice, that suggests traders were not adding new positions aggressively on the way down. In some cases, they were closing them. The selloff looked more like de-risking than a build-up of fresh shorts.
NEAR stands out with fresh inflows
NEAR rose 4% over 24 hours, while its notional open interest jumped 11% to $1.70 billion, a sign that new capital was entering. The signals behind the move were mixed. Funding was slightly negative, meaning shorts were paying to hold their positions. At the same time, NEAR’s 24-hour open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta, or CVD, was the most positive among major tokens, pointing to aggressive buying. If the rally holds, shorts betting against it could be forced to cover.
SOL open interest rises as price falls
Solana’s notional open interest increased 1.5% even as SOL fell 2%. A rising open-interest reading alongside a falling price often suggests new short positions are being added.
Broad selling pressure persists for a second day
The 24-hour CVD was negative for most major coins, including BTC and ETH. NEAR and SUI were the exceptions. That indicates sellers were still hitting bids with market orders, much as they did the day before.
Options markets turn more defensive
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, rose 5% on the day, bouncing from yearly lows. The move suggests some fresh demand for options protection, even though the index remains inside its recent range. Some analysts have argued that the calm seen in crypto and on Wall Street may not last as volatility in the bond market keeps rising.
Options positioning also shifted. Bitcoin’s one-week put-call skew rose to 10%, while one-month and two-month skews turned slightly positive. That points to a preference for puts, or downside protection, after readings were largely neutral a day earlier. Ether skews showed a similar tilt. Even so, bitcoin and ether calls still ranked among Deribit’s five most-traded contracts over the past 24 hours.
Sector moves: Solana DeFi tokens rebound, AI tokens keep falling
Solana DeFi tokens rebounded from Wednesday’s selloff even as SOL itself slipped about 1% since midnight UTC. DEX aggregator token jupiter (JUP) gained 15% over 24 hours. Solana-based DEX token raydium (RAY) rose 14%, and liquid staking token jito (JTO) added 10%. A day earlier, jito and jupiter had both fallen 6% to 8%.
Drake’s post also lifted some tokens tied to networks that promote their cryptography as quantum-resistant. Algorand (ALGO) led the CoinDesk 100 with a 9% gain since midnight. The network uses post-quantum Falcon signatures for its state proofs. Starknet (STRK), whose proofs rely on hash-based cryptography, added 4%.
Not every token in that theme moved higher. Zcash (ZEC), described in the report as the largest privacy coin by market value, fell 6% over 24 hours to around $1,240. Cardano-linked privacy token midnight (NIGHT) dropped 8%. Monero (XMR) was little changed and edged up about 0.5% since midnight.
DeFi was split as well. Curve (CRV) rose 11% over 24 hours, while synthetic dollar token ethena (ENA) lost 7%, leaving the sector without a clear bullish catalyst.
AI-linked tokens extended their losses. Bittensor (TAO) fell 6% over 24 hours, venice (VVV) dropped 7%, and decentralized AI data network grass (GRASS) also declined 7%.