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According to monitoring by Omar Faridi, the net demand from institutional investors for Bitcoin has regained strong momentum, reaching the highest growth rate since the end of 2025.Data from Bloomberg, Glassnode, and Bitwise Europe shows that the buying power of professional institutions such as funds and asset management companies significantly exceeds selling pressure. Industry analysis points out that institutional funds typically feature large transactions and long-term holdings, and the renewed acceleration of their net demand indicates an increased confidence among large players in Bitcoin as a store of value. Currently, the rise in institutional participation is driving improvements in market liquidity and is seen as a signal of Bitcoin's further solidification in the global financial system.

Morpho CEO Paul Frambot posted on X, stating that over the past week, he communicated with several large institutions to understand their views on the current DeFi situation. The core conclusions are as follows.First, institutional interest will not disappear. The reason is simple: distribution channels will not vanish ------ massive assets under management (AUM), payment, and lending operations are moving on-chain. Almost all fintech companies aim for full on-chain integration. For institutions, this is not a question of "whether" but "a must."Second, they have lost trust in the pool/hub model. Institutions and distributors want to control everything, including control over the code, control over risks, and control over compliance. At the same time, they also want flexibility, meaning the ability to isolate their own business and connect to a global liquidity network that is compatible with them.

According to CoinDesk, the open interest (OI) of the Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund IBIT under BlackRock once surged to $27.61 billion, surpassing the $26.9 billion scale of the Bitcoin options market on the crypto derivatives platform Deribit for the first time. Analysts believe this milestone indicates that the institutionalization process of the Bitcoin market in the United States is accelerating.Additionally, according to Volmex data, the open interest volume of IBIT call options suggests that its call options primarily expect the Bitcoin trading price to rise to $109,709, which is about 41% higher than the current market price of $77,400. Furthermore, the average expiration date of IBIT options is also about two months longer than that of Deribit, indicating stronger bullish sentiment and a preference for longer-term holdings.

The Humanity Foundation has recently made significant adjustments to the $H token allocation plan, requiring investors to make a final choice between two options by April 26 at 09:00 UTC: one, extend the distribution, pushing the Cliff to September 25, 2026, and changing to equal distribution over 12 quarters; two, a 3:10 discounted immediate unlock, replacing the original 16,666,666 tokens with 5,000,000 $H (a 70% reduction), to be fully distributed on June 25, 2026.It is understood that the Humanity Foundation has sent adjustment notifications to over 100 investors. Early investment firm Trix Ventures has publicly disclosed its choice of the discounted immediate unlock.It is reported that this firm invested during the project's valuation phase of approximately $60 million, and even after the 3:10 discounted replacement, it can still achieve about 7 times return. Notably, the Humanity Protocol previously reached an in-depth cooperation with payment giant Mastercard, and the project's fundamentals have received endorsement from traditional financial institutions. The on-chain identity verification sector it belongs to is currently in its early market stage, but with the continuous expansion of AI-generated content and automated accounts, the demand for on-chain real identity verification is widely believed to grow exponentially, giving this sector long-term potential to become a leading project in the Web3 infrastructure field.The project is about to face a test of significant selling pressure from a one-time massive unlock, and whether it can grow explosively alongside the AI sector is crucial. Analysts point out that choosing the one-time unlock on June 25 is a safer decision. In the current market cycle, "certain liquidity" far outweighs paper numbers. The deferred plan extends the cycle to 3 years, with huge uncertainties regarding the protocol's survival and team stability.From a market structure perspective, June 25 faces obvious concentrated selling pressure risks: the Sablier contract release node is transparent on-chain, and quantitative and short-selling funds will precisely target this node; institutions may lock in profits by hedging in advance during the two-month window; market makers may withdraw buy depth in advance, causing the actual realization value to be less than 10% of the nominal value. Historically, large-scale concentrated unlocks of Starknet (STRK) and ApeCoin (APE) have triggered severe selling pressure, with the former dropping over 95% from its peak and the latter declining 77% within 7 months.

Gate Research Institute released a market forecast report titled "Polymarket Growth Accelerates, Gate's Layout for New Entry into Prediction Markets," which dissects trading volume, fee mechanisms, and market structure. The report points out that Polymarket's trading volume and active users continue to grow, and the platform has evolved from early on-chain experiments into an event trading market with real liquidity and revenue capabilities. Overall growth is driven by political, sports, and geopolitical events, and user retention may decline during the phase when hot topics fade.Fees and revenues are rising rapidly, driven on one hand by expanding trading demand and on the other by the expansion of the fee scope and changes in the fee structure. Revenue growth is directly related to rule adjustments. Platform trading is highly concentrated in a few high-interest sectors, and the long-tail market contributes limited overall liquidity.Gate has integrated a Polymarket entry in the app, providing two interaction modes: prediction mode and trading mode. Users can participate using USDT through their exchange accounts or use USDC on Polygon via a Web3 wallet. The report believes that prediction markets are evolving along two parallel paths: the integration of on-chain open infrastructure and centralized products. Its long-term potential depends on the continuous stability of event supply, regulatory environment, and user behavior.

According to CoinDesk, Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor stated "Winter's over" when Bitcoin was around $78,000. Analyst Mati Greenspan pointed out that the previous "flash crash" was more of a correction in a bull market, and he believes the bottom for Bitcoin has been reached, with the next phase of growth driven by "national-level adoption," including central banks incorporating BTC into reserves alongside gold.The report mentioned that the U.S. government currently holds about 300,000 BTC and is discussing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve; El Salvador continues to purchase daily, and Bitcoin has also been included in asset allocations by the UK government and some state-level pension funds in the U.S.

Coinbase Institutional tweeted that its March market cycle survey shows that among institutional investors, 43% believe we are currently in the late bear market; among non-institutional investors (retail), 49% believe we are still in the bear market markdown phase.

According to The Block, JPMorgan analysts stated that the frequent security incidents in DeFi and the stagnation of total locked value (TVL) in ETH terms continue to limit institutional interest in DeFi. The report mentioned that a recent cross-chain bridge attack related to Kelp DAO led to a loss of approximately $20 billion in DeFi TVL within a few days. The attackers minted about $292 million in unsecured rsETH and borrowed real ETH on Aave using it as collateral, resulting in approximately $230 million in bad debt. JPMorgan also pointed out that after security incidents, users tend to turn to Tether's USDT for safety.

The crypto lobbying organization Blockchain Association, along with CCI and more than 120 industry institutions including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, and Circle, jointly sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee urging the acceleration of the review process for the CLARITY Act.Industry representatives stated that the U.S. needs to establish a unified regulatory framework for the digital asset market, clarify regulatory responsibilities, and strengthen investor protection. Relying solely on law enforcement and regulation cannot create a long-term stable environment. Institutions warned that prolonged policy ambiguity will lead to the outflow of capital, talent, and technology, weakening the strategic advantage of the U.S., while also calling for the development of appropriate federal unified regulatory rules for stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized technologies.

Chief Economist Fu Peng of New Fire Group delivered a speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit, stating that the integration of traditional financial institutions and the cryptocurrency market will herald the arrival of a new era in the market. The participants who will truly succeed in the future are those who can quickly complete their transformation at critical turning points.Fu Peng cited the Cold War, oil crisis, and the simultaneous rise of computer and semiconductor technology in the 1970s and 1980s as examples, pointing out that technological advancements and global order turmoil often go hand in hand, with risks and opportunities always accompanying each other. He believes that AI and data computing power are now widely recognized as the core productive forces of the next era, indicating that the first half of the cryptocurrency industry has essentially ended, and the industry is at a critical stage of reconstruction and rebirth.Looking ahead, Fu Peng predicts that stablecoins will take on payment functions, Bitcoin will evolve into a core asset with both value storage and financial transaction attributes, and a brand new chapter of the era is about to begin.

According to PR Newswire, Valour, a subsidiary of DeFi Technologies, has secured approximately $11 million in institutional investment to purchase its Hedera (HBAR) related ETP products, with about $10 million corresponding to products listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and about $1 million corresponding to Valour Hedera SEK listed on the Swedish Spotlight Exchange.DeFi Technologies stated that these two transactions were facilitated by its Abu Dhabi seminar, reflecting the growing institutional demand for gaining exposure to Hedera through regulated exchange-traded products and supporting its asset management growth in the German market.

Gate held the Institutional Circle event in Hong Kong, focusing on the theme "AI Reshaping Crypto Liquidity & Market Access," gathering several institutional representatives from the Asia-Pacific region to discuss the evolution of the crypto market structure and the path to liquidity reshaping. Gate's founder and CEO Dr. Han attended the event and interacted with institutional guests on-site.At the event, Gate's Global Institutional Head Addis Hu delivered the opening speech and shared insights on the platform's service capabilities and market changes in the context of deepening institutional participation. AWS Senior Regional Business Development Manager Ethan Hui shared industry insights from the perspectives of technical infrastructure and asset services.During the discussion session, attendees engaged in in-depth discussions on the evolution of liquidity, changes in market structure, and trends in multi-asset allocation against the backdrop of continuous institutional capital inflow. Overall, this event provided institutions with a reference for understanding current market structure changes and future allocation logic, further reflecting that the industry is moving towards a more mature and structured development stage.

This week, the UK-related economic development agency invited the management of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit to London to meet with representatives from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the House of Lords to discuss topics such as cryptocurrency regulation, business establishment, and employment.Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated that the UK side hopes to attract large companies to establish bases locally and promote innovation through stablecoins, tokenization, and payment system reforms. Reports indicate that this invitation coincides with the UK's FinTech Week and reflects the UK's intention to reverse the trend of funds and businesses flowing to the UAE.

Gate will hold the "Institutional Circle: Al Reshaping Crypto Liquidity & Market Access" institutional exchange event in Hong Kong, aimed at institutional participants, focusing on discussions related to "AI Reshaping Crypto Liquidity and Market Structure." The event will invite institutional founders and business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region to explore the direction of industry evolution from a practical perspective.On the day of the event, Addis Hu, Global Head of Institutions at Gate, will deliver the opening speech and a keynote address; Ethan Hui, Senior Regional Business Development Manager at AWS, and Chen Zhao, Executive Director of Digital Assets and CEO of FinChain, will also attend as special guests and give speeches.In addition, the event will include registration and gift distribution, free networking, and a dinner segment, providing attendees with opportunities for in-depth communication and resource connection, further promoting institutional collaboration and industry cooperation.

According to Bloomberg, 39 signatories, including Nasdaq, Stuttgart Stock Exchange Group, and various financial technology associations, are calling on the European Commission and the European Parliament to treat the distributed ledger technology pilot system as an independent legislative fast track and to separate it from the EU market integration and supervision scheme.The signatories stated that if the overall negotiation process takes too long, Europe may fall behind the United States in DLT applications, and they demand the removal of asset class restrictions, an increase in the total trading volume cap to €150 billion, and the elimination of license time limits. The letter also mentioned that the United States has established a stablecoin regulatory framework through the Genius Act and is rapidly establishing a leading position in the tokenized asset field.The European Commission is currently promoting a rapid resolution of the entire regulatory scheme and views it as a key part of the Capital Markets Union plan. Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque has previously called for all legislative proposals to be passed in sync.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, a certain whale/institution lost 310 ETH (worth 720,000 USD) by directly selling the deposit certificate (aEthWETH) for ETH through a swap in order to retrieve 17,400 ETH that was on Aave. This resulted in a discount of 1.8%, and the ETH obtained was then redeposited into Spark.Note: Currently, Aave has paused WETH withdrawals, so to exit ETH from Aave, one must either convert it to other assets (such as wstETH) or swap the deposit certificate (aEthWETH) for ETH, but there will be a slight discount.