hodler

6 Feb 2026, 04:43

Bitcoin miner MARA moves $87 million BTC to various trading desks and exchanges: Arkham

The largest transfers went to credit and trading firm Two Prime, which received more than 660 BTC, while additional chunks were sent to a BitGo address and a fresh wallet.

6 Feb 2026, 04:41

SpaceX bought xAI using a structure that avoided repaying billions in existing debt.

Elon Musk has merged SpaceX with xAI in a way that helps shareholders skip paying taxes right now and lets the company dodge billions in debt. As Cryptopolitan reported earlier, the deal has made SpaceX worth $1.25 trillion pre-IPO, and also keeps xAI running as its own company under SpaceX, not fully combined, thereby stopping any of xAI’s legal or financial problems from landing on SpaceX. xAI owns the X social media platform and created the Grok AI chatbot. X is being investigated in Europe for allegedly letting Grok spread deepfake images of real women and children. By keeping xAI separate, SpaceX stays clear of those legal issues. The merger became official on Monday and sets up a path for SpaceX to go public later this year. Musk avoids debt payout and tax hits using merger tricks Elon didn’t merge the companies in the traditional way. Instead, he used a structure called a triangular merger, which is common in big company deals. xAI just became a wholly owned subsidiary, so SpaceX now owns xAI but doesn’t get tied to its past contracts, lawsuits, or debts. Gary Simon, a corporate attorney at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, said, “In an acquisition where the target ends up as a subsidiary of the buyer, no prior liabilities of the target necessarily become liabilities of the parent.” He said that keeping stockholders protected from lawsuits is one big reason buyers do it this way. There’s also the tax angle. The deal was structured as a tax-free reorganization. That means anyone who had xAI shares doesn’t pay tax when they receive their new SpaceX shares. They’ll only pay tax if they sell them later. Every xAI share turned into 0.1433 SpaceX shares. The numbers from the deal put xAI’s value at $250 billion and SpaceX at $1 trillion. Another major win for Elon is the way the deal avoids repaying xAI’s massive debts. When xAI bought X in 2025, it picked up $12 billion in debt. Then it added at least $5 billion more. That kind of debt usually comes with rules that force early repayment when the company is sold. But because the deal went through two shell companies in Nevada and used Musk’s name as the link, those debt rules didn’t kick in. Matt Woodruff, a senior analyst at CreditSights, said , “The permitted holder definition includes the principal investor and its affiliates, which of course is Musk. That would presumably mean SpaceX is treated as an affiliate, so a change of control is not required.” The debt markets liked what they saw. Last summer, xAI sold $3 billion worth of five-year bonds with a high interest rate of 12.5%. Before this merger news, they were trading at 107 cents on the dollar. After the deal, they went up to 113.5. The stronger financial health of SpaceX gave investors more trust in those bonds. This was an all-stock transaction, and it’s now the biggest corporate merger ever recorded by LSEG data. And despite the size of the deal, it hasn’t changed SpaceX’s IPO schedule. Bret, the company’s CFO, invited top bankers to SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California last month. He didn’t say anything about xAI during the IPO talks. Bankers were told to pitch their ideas, and winners would be chosen this month. Reports say SpaceX might raise over $50 billion when it goes public and could be valued at more than $1.5 trillion. The IPO could line up with Elon’s 55th birthday on June 28. SEC rules may let SpaceX avoid extra reporting When a company buys another business before going public, it can trigger SEC rules. If the new company is considered “significant,” then financial details must be shared. But that depends on things like revenue and assets. Gary said, “If it doesn’t meet the ‘significant subsidiary’ test, SpaceX generally would not have to include xAI’s financials in its IPO filings with the SEC.” Still, some investors are uneasy. SpaceX already handles rocket launches, Starlink, and U.S. military work. Now it’s adding AI and social media. Elon has even talked about bringing in financial services through the X platform. That makes the company harder to value. Justus Parmar, the CEO of Fortuna Investments and a SpaceX shareholder, said, “How would you value a company like that when there is no competition?” He called the combined company a “conglomerate.” If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .

6 Feb 2026, 04:38

STRK Technical Analysis February 6, 2026: Support and Resistance Levels

STRK is approaching critical supports at the 0.05$ level; primary support 0.0410$, secondary 0.0458$. Among resistances, 0.0497$ is the strongest barrier, BTC's downtrend is pressuring altcoins.

6 Feb 2026, 04:37

Bitcoin Price Today: BTC Crashes to $60K on $1.45B Wipeout, $1T Stocks Gone

Bitcoin is trading at $64,478 , down roughly 3% in 6 hours and about 25% for the week, with dramatic liquidations shaking the market. The total crypto market capitalization has shed an astonishing $2 trillion so far this year. BTC dominance sits near 54.8%, reflecting Bitcoin’s continued leadership even in declines. Current Price and Liquidations Bitcoin opened Feb. 6, 2026 around $64,478 after testing support near $60,008, marking one of the sharpest downturns since 2024. Liquidations surged to about $1.45B over 24 hours — one of the highest in recent periods, wiping out nearly 311,000 margin positions. Longs accounted for the majority of forced closures, with BTC longs around $739M liquidated. Open interest in futures markets also dropped, amplifying the slide below key technical levels. Technical indicators reflect extreme pressure, with the daily RSI sitting in oversold territory, suggesting capitulation but also the potential for temporary technical bounces. Immediate resistance is seen near $70K, while crucial support zones lie at $60K and below. Crypto stocks got hammered too: MSTR down 17%+, COIN 9%, HOOD 7-8%, mirroring BTC's pain amid macro pullback. Market Context The sell‑off extends beyond crypto alone. Bitcoin recently fell below price levels seen before the 2024 U.S. election, erasing gains from the post‑Trump rally and contributing to broader risk‑off sentiment across tech and speculative assets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have shifted from heavy inflows earlier to significant redemptions in recent weeks, weakening one source of institutional demand and exacerbating price pressure. Some products still attract funds, but the overall flow trend has been outflows. Meanwhile, analysts highlight macro factors such as a strong U.S. dollar and hawkish expectations around Federal Reserve policy, which tend to make risk assets like Bitcoin less attractive relative to traditional safe havens. Miner & Corporate Stress The drop below $70K, already far under the estimated BTC production cost near $87K, has put pressure on mining operations, risking capitulation among smaller players as profitability vanishes. Corporate holders haven’t escaped the pain. Firms like Strategy, with a 713,502 BTC position, are now grappling with massive unrealized losses due to the price retreat. Analysts describe Bitcoin’s current phase as capitulation mode, with some warning prices could test even lower key technical supports before a sustained recovery begins. Volatility has spiked as leveraged positions unwind and sentiment shifts to extreme fear territory.

6 Feb 2026, 04:37

Vitalik Buterin: Copy-Paste L2s Are Hurting Ethereum’s Progress

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said that many new Layer 2 (L2) networks are repeating shallow design patterns, and warned that generic EVM chains with optimistic bridges are holding back meaningful progress. His comments extend the public debate over whether today’s L2 ecosystem still aligns with Ethereum’s original scaling goals. No More “Copypasta” EVM Chains In a February 5 post on X, Buterin argued that comfort and familiarity, not technical necessity, are driving many L2 launches, leading to copy-paste designs that add little beyond surface-level Ethereum compatibility. The developer drew a comparison between infrastructure choices and governance habits, writing that making yet another EVM chain and adding “an optimistic bridge to Ethereum with a one-week delay” has become routine in the same way forking Compound once dominated DAO governance. “That’s something we’ve done far too much for far too long, because we got comfortable, and which has sapped our imagination and put us in a dead end,” Buterin wrote. He was even more direct about alternative designs that drop Ethereum bridges entirely. “If you make an EVM chain without an optimistic bridge to Ethereum, that’s even worse,” he said, adding, “We don’t friggin need more copypasta EVM chains, and we definitely don’t need even more L1s.” Buterin insisted that Ethereum’s base layer is already scaling and will continue to add EVM block space through 2026, though not without limits. He noted that some workloads, such as AI-related applications, may still require lower latency or specialized execution environments. In his view, those needs should push developers toward genuinely new architectures rather than lightly modified replicas. Matching “Vibes” With Real Ethereum Connection Buterin’s criticism builds on comments he made earlier, suggesting many L2s no longer meet the original definition of scaling Ethereum because they fail to fully inherit its security. He argued that Ethereum no longer needs L2s to act as branded shards, especially considering mainnet fees are falling and gas limits are rising. In his latest post, the 32-year-old stressed that public positioning should reflect technical reality. “Vibes need to match substance,” he wrote, criticizing projects that market themselves as tightly connected to Ethereum while treating that link as an afterthought. The blockchain’s co-founder outlined two models he considers reasonable. One is an app chain that depends deeply on Ethereum, such as prediction markets that settle and manage accounts on the L1 while handling execution on a rollup. The other is what he called “institutional L2s,” where systems like government registries publish cryptographic proofs on-chain for transparency, even if they are not trustless or credibly neutral. “If you’re the first thing, it’s valid and great to call yourself an Ethereum application,” Buterin said. “If you’re the second thing, then you’re not Ethereum… so you should just say those things directly.” The post Vitalik Buterin: Copy-Paste L2s Are Hurting Ethereum’s Progress appeared first on CryptoPotato .

6 Feb 2026, 04:30

‘I’ve Never Been More Bullish on Crypto’: Balaji Srinivasan on Why Today’s Price Doesn’t Reflect What’s Coming

Crypto’s real trajectory is being missed by markets obsessed with volatility, as decentralized networks quietly position themselves to replace failing global institutions and reshape economics, governance, and coordination, according to Balaji Srinivasan. Why Balaji Srinivasan Says Crypto’s Future Is Bigger Than Price Charts Balaji Srinivasan shared on social media platform X on Feb. 5, 2026,