This week, cryptocurrency markets continued to decline for the fourth week in a row, raising concerns about the status of the bull market cycle.
Investor concerns increased on Thursday after a report from 10X Research revealed that BitMine Immersion Technologies, the world’s largest corporate holder of Ether (ETH), is reporting a cumulative unrealized loss of $3.7 billion on its combined holdings.
According to 10x Research founder Markus Thiele, most digital treasury bonds (DATs) have seen declines in net asset value (NAV), making it hard to raise funds for fresh investments or attract fresh retail investors, leaving existing shareholders “locked” with mounting paper losses.
DATs are also under significant pressure from MSCI’s stock index, which is considering excluding corporate crypto treasuries with more than 50% of crypto assets on their balance sheet.
The consultations will last until December 31, and they will be announced on January 15, 2026. The changes will come into force in February.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a six-month low of $82,000 on Friday, a level last seen in April as markets recovered from losses following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Emancipation Day tariff announcement, TradingView data can be seen.
BitMine suffers $3.7 billion loss as ‘Hotel California’ DAT meets BlackRock ETF investment
Concerns are growing about the sustainability of corporate cryptocurrency companies as BlackRock moves forward with an invested Ether fund that analysts say could directly compete with existing digital asset vaults.
Immersion Technologies, the world’s largest corporate holder of Ether, is currently losing $1,000 per ETH purchased, representing a cumulative unrealized loss of $3.7 billion on all holdings, according to Thursday’s BitMine study. report from Crypto Insights 10x Research.
The decline in net asset value (NAV) of these companies makes it hard to attract fresh retail investors, while leaving many existing shareholders “trapped” unless they sell at a significant loss, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen he wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“When premiums inevitably fall to zero, as they do now, investors will be trapped in this structure and will be unable to get out without significant damage, which is the true Hotel California scenario,” he said. He added that unlike ETFs, digital asset treasury companies, or DATs, “are subject to complex, opaque and often hedge fund-like fee structures that can quietly undermine returns.”
The mNAV ratio compares a company’s enterprise value with the value of its crypto assets. An mNAV above 1 allows a company to raise funds by issuing fresh shares to accumulate digital assets. Values below 1 make it much more hard to enhance capital and shares.
According to data from BitMine, the basic mNAV was 0.77 and the diluted mNAV was 0.92. Bitminetracker.
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The SEC will host a roundtable on privacy and financial oversight in December
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Cryptocurrency Task Force has scheduled a roundtable discussion focused on privacy and financial oversight in December amid a renewed focus on privacy in the cryptocurrency industry.
Privacy round table is scheduled to take place on December 15. As with other SEC roundtables, cryptocurrency industry executives and SEC officials will discuss common problems and solutions, but no difficult policy proposals will be made.
Privacy has become a balmy topic following several events, including the partial guilty verdict in June in the trial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, the guilty verdict for developer Samourai Wallet in November, and the rise in privacy token prices over the past two months.
“Authoritarians thrive when people have no privacy. When those in power become hostile to privacy protection, that’s a major red flag.” he said Naomi Brockwell, founder of the Ludlow Institute, an organization advocating for freedom through technology.
The renewed interest in privacy harkens back to the cypherpunk roots of cryptocurrencies and is one of the main reasons for the invention of the cryptographic technology that underlies cryptocurrencies – to provide secure channels of communication between parties in a hostile environment.
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Coinbase launches ETH-collateralized lending as onchain lending exceeds $1.25 billion
Coinbase has launched Ether-collateralized lending for users in the US, allowing customers to borrow USDC against their ETH holdings without selling, in a fresh offering powered by Morpho and running on Base.
The exchange said the product is available in most U.S. states, except Modern York, with variable interest rates and liquidation risk tied to market conditions. Users can borrow up to $1 million in USDC stablecoin (USDC).
Coinbase plans to expand the program to other assets, including loans backed by its staked Ether token, cbETH.
The fresh product launches in partnership with Morpho, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol. In September, Coinbase integrated Morpho into the Coinbase app, offering users a yield of up to 10.8% on their USDC investment.
According to Dune data, Coinbase’s onchain lending marketplaces have processed over $1.25 billion in loans, backed by approximately $1.37 billion in deposits. The outstanding loan amount is approximately $810 million and there are over 13,500 portfolios with lively loan positions.
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Advocacy group proposes DeFi solutions to solve global poverty
The DeFi Educational Fund, a decentralized finance organization, has proposed using the technology to lower costs to address poverty in the United States and around the world.
In Wednesday’s blog post, the group he said DeFi infrastructure could potentially save around $30 billion annually for the unbanked and underbanked around the world by reducing the cost of remittances. The organization cited examples of employees sending funds home and paying fees, which can be reduced “by up to 80%” thanks to DeFi.
“Poverty premium [the expenses incurred by low-income households that wealthier individuals are often able to access at a lower cost] persists because the current multi-layered, outdated financial infrastructure makes it costly to serve low-income customers cost-effectively,” the DeFi Educational Fund said, adding:
“Nothing is free, and DeFi doesn’t completely eliminate costs, but by removing intermediaries and using software instead of outdated financial systems, we can dramatically reduce the cost of financial services for everyday people and give them more control over their finances.”
Many advocates have proposed using various applications of blockchain technology to address factors contributing to poverty, such as reducing transaction times, eliminating or reducing fees, and increasing access to financial services. The DeFi Education Fund cited rising costs in the U.S. associated with cashing checks without a bank account, using money orders and owning a home.
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Mastercard uses Polygon to turn clunky crypto addresses into basic usernames
Mastercard is expanding its Crypto Credential program to include self-service wallets, allowing users to send and receive crypto using verified username-like aliases instead of long wallet addresses.
According to a Tuesday press release shared with Cointelegraph, Polygon will be the first blockchain to support the implementation, and payments company Mercuryo will handle identity verification and granting users aliases.
“By streamlining wallet addresses and adding significant verification, Mastercard Crypto Credential is building trust in digital token transfers,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard.
Once verified by Mercuryo, users can link a human-readable alias to their self-service wallet or request a soul-bound token on Polygon, which confirms the wallet belongs to a verified person.
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DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.
The privacy-focused Canton network’s (CC) token fell 32%, the biggest drop this week, followed by its Story (IP) token, which fell 29% last week.
Thank you for reading our roundup of the most critical events in DeFi this week. Join us this Friday for more stories, insights and education about this lively space.
