The incident has rocked sentiment on crypto social media, with numerous small holders complaining of losing long-term holdings and reassessing their faith in crypto.
"Worse for sentiment, it [the hack] has spooked holders into sending coins back to exchanges, the opposite of the self-custody trend crypto is built on,” analysts at Marex said. “When the thing wobbling is cold storage itself, a cheaper barrel does not fix it."
Given the gravity of the situation and the $114 million of bitcoin stolen, the price reaction of the largest cryptocurrency appears relatively restrained. BTC was recently 1.5% lower over 24 hours to $62,595, a level it has visited several times in recent weeks, with ether down nearly 2% to $1,842. The CoinDesk DeFi Select Index has dropped 2.5%.
Bitcoin’s 200-week simple moving average, currently placed above $63,000, is back in focus after the Michael Saylor-led Strategy (MSTR) said it is tracking the long-term average and hinting at resuming purchases after a five-week pause, its longest, funded by preferred stock held at a steep 12%.
Geopolitical news flow remains confusing. President Donald Trump said new talks with Iran will begin today, an assertion that Iran quickly rejected. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said there are no plans to receive a delegation from the U.S. nor send an Iranian one.