Crypto whale who previously set "10 major targets" may have returned to profitability on short positions, with unrealized gains of approximately $770,000.

Bitcoin has recently rallied to a multi-month high, with Bitfinex analysts noting the current upswing is driven primarily by spot buying and short covering rather than new leveraged funds, giving it longer staying power than a typical short squeeze. As all investors who bought bitcoin over the past five months are currently in unrealized profit, the key risk to the current rally comes from profit-taking flows into trading platforms. Bitfinex identifies the U.S. Treasury’s August 19 announcement to expand its long-term bond repurchase program as a major catalyst for the recent price action. The early stage of this rally was indeed fueled by short liquidations. On the same day, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $297.6 million in inflows. However, subsequent price gains were driven mainly by spot buying. Looking at positioning, while bitcoin prices rose 10% to 11%, open interest (OI) increased by only around 4%, indicating spot demand and short covering are the primary drivers, with leveraged funds playing a limited role. Bitfinex points out that the $68,000–$69,000 range is a key current support level, near the average cost basis of bitcoin buyers over the past five months. Holding above this level will keep those investors in profit, reducing selling pressure from previously trapped positions during rebounds. On the funding front, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw a single-day inflow of $606.29 million on August 20, the largest daily inflow since May 1, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for roughly 82% of that total. Bitfinex says if this inflow persists for a week, it will further strengthen the market’s demand structure. However, Bitfinex warns that the biggest current risk is a surge in profit-taking bitcoin flowing into trading platforms, which could trigger the largest sell-off since 2026. Analysts add that if real yields rise back to levels that previously pressured bitcoin below $65,000, macro factors could quickly impact the market.

Keeta co-founder Ty (@schenkty) released a statement on the recent security incident, noting the team has made significant investigative progress and collected evidence to identify the responsible party for the attack. Keeta has obtained multiple attack-related details, including the attacker’s IP addresses, VPN and VPS infrastructure, user agents and technical environments used to launch unauthorized requests, associated email addresses, software and infrastructure service providers, and other identifying information. The relevant evidence has been preserved and will be provided to appropriate parties. Keeta has given the attacker a 72-hour deadline to return all funds obtained from the breach. The team said refunds in KTA, ETH, or USDC are acceptable, and has published the fund return address on the Base network. If the attacker returns the full amount, Keeta is willing to discuss an appropriate bug bounty to recognize their vulnerability discovery, and aims to resolve the incident without further legal action. Keeta noted this proposal is contingent on full fund return and cooperation to confirm the incident’s resolution; if funds are not returned within the 72-hour window, the team reserves all rights and will proceed with legal and fund recovery measures.

Alibaba announced on Sunday that it plans to conduct a new share placement in Hong Kong. The total size of the offering is HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion). The company stated that this transaction will be the largest primary follow-on offering in the history of Hong Kong-listed firms, the largest Regulation S stock offering on record (for securities issuance and sales outside the United States), and the third-largest primary follow-on stock offering globally this year, following Alphabet and Intel. Alibaba added that it plans to use 100% of the net proceeds from the placement to invest in its full-stack artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, including expanding and upgrading its AI infrastructure.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has dropped below $76,000, with a 1.9% decline in the past 24 hours.

According to a New York Times report, European crypto exchange Zondacrypto is in crisis. After its founder Sylwester Suszek went missing in 2022, Przemyslaw Kral, who took over as the exchange’s CEO, also lost contact this April. This incident has once again drawn external attention to fund security and regulatory issues in the crypto industry. Zondacrypto, formerly known as BitBay, was founded in Poland in 2014 and was once one of the largest crypto exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe. Suszek was dubbed the "Crypto King" by Polish media, but he disappeared near a fuel depot in southern Poland in March 2022. His family later received messages allegedly from kidnappers demanding a ransom in Bitcoin. Polish prosecutors have previously launched an investigation into suspected unlawful deprivation of liberty involving relevant individuals. After Suszek’s disappearance, Kral, a lawyer and his assistant, took over the company’s operations. This April, Zondacrypto’s website shut down, leaving users unable to withdraw funds or conduct trades. Kral had previously claimed the platform held Bitcoin reserves worth over $330 million, but accessing the assets required digital keys held by Suszek. This claim has been met with skepticism, as the associated wallet has shown no activity for a long time. Zondacrypto had previously claimed to have around 1.3 million users, and expanded its influence through sponsorships of football clubs, the Polish Olympic Committee, and other entities. However, as user withdrawal issues persisted, Estonia’s financial intelligence agency revoked its parent company’s operating license on June 29. Currently, Polish prosecutors are investigating the establishment and operations of Zondacrypto, and Kral has not made any public appearances for several consecutive months.

According to Coinglass data, as Bitcoin fell below $76,000, the crypto market experienced a wave of rapid liquidations. In the past hour, total liquidations across the network hit $91.27 million, with long positions accounting for $84 million and short positions totaling $7.44 million.