- Bitcoin price fell below $115,000 after reaching overnight highs above $116,000, with the U.S. Dollar Index remaining steady.
- Analysts expect new all-time highs for Bitcoin and significant gains for select tokens, including HYPE, SOL, and ENA.
- Open interest in cryptocurrency futures rose 3%-5% amid increased risk-taking after economic data supported expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts.
- One of Thorchain’s founders was hacked via a deepfake video call, resulting in the theft of $1.2 million linked to North Korean Hackers.
- Funding rates and open interest show signs of bullish sentiment for major coins, while some smaller tokens face bearish pressure.
Bitcoin dropped to under $115,000 on Thursday morning, declining from highs above $116,000 as the U.S. Dollar Index held steady. Traders continued to watch for possible interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, which could impact crypto markets.
Market analysts remain optimistic, predicting new record highs for Bitcoin and strong performance for tokens like HYPE, SOL, and ENA. Smaller tokens, including MYX, HASH, PENGU, PUMP, and MNT, saw price gains of more than 10% this week.
Open interest in derivatives such as futures contracts for the top ten cryptocurrencies increased 3%-5% over the past day. Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, said, “The CPI + jobs combo created a classic ‘good news/bad data’ trade: inflation prints higher, but weaker labor data preserves the easing narrative, a net positive for crypto in the near term.” Positive funding rates for perpetual futures, currently near 10%, suggest traders are mostly betting on further price rises. In contrast, negative rates for some tokens, like SKY and PYTH, indicate more traders are betting on prices falling.
Open interest in PENGU, one of the week’s best-performing tokens, reached a record high of 7.78 billion coins, with a funding rate of about 15%. On the institutional side, CME‘s bitcoin futures saw an increase in open interest after weeks of decline, while ether futures dropped to a one-month low. Options open interest for both Bitcoin and Ethereum stayed at multi-month highs, and traders currently favor put options—bets that prices will fall—through December, even as the market anticipates multiple U.S. rate cuts by mid-2025.
In other news, a founder of Thorchain, a decentralized trading network, suffered a hack after a deepfake video call on Zoom. The attacker used social engineering and phishing methods, emptying an old MetaMask wallet. According to Peckshield’s online alert, about $1.2 million was stolen and ZachXBT added the perpetrator is connected to North Korean hackers. Earlier this year, researchers linked Thorchain and similar platforms to over 80% of $1.4 billion from a large Bybit hack being laundered.
Thorchain’s token, RUNE, is trading at about $1.28, down 14% in the past month and over 90% below its March 2024 high. The hack is part of a broader trend; social engineering and phishing contributed to $2.5 billion stolen by hackers in the first half of 2025.
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