Bitcoin's market value decreased by 1% to $27,546 on Friday following the expiration of options worth billions of dollars and bearish bets on the cryptocurrency's Ethereum-based wrapped version, WBTC. Market makers sold their spot and contracts to maintain a direction-neutral exposure, leading to the price drop. The sale of borrowed WBTC tokens may have also contributed to the decline. WBTC is the largest wrapped version of bitcoin on Ethereum and can be swapped on a 1:1 basis for BTC. The number of WBTC borrowed from decentralized lending protocol Aave has increased by 29% in two weeks, signaling renewed interest in taking an indirect bearish bet on bitcoin.

Katie Fortune, who leads the Bank of England's work on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), has said that she believes a coexistence between CBDCs and bitcoin is possible. Speaking at the Citi Digital Money Symposium, Fortune said that the bank envisages a mixed ecosystem of different forms of money, similar to the current system with different mechanics for bank deposits and cash. Fortune sees CBDCs acting as a bridging asset between different forms of digital money, such as stablecoins, providing a uniformity which is a "social good" and not a government control issue. The Bank of England has been exploring the idea of a digital pound, sometimes referred to as “Britcoin”. However, practical use cases for CBDCs would be required for its implementation, with Fortune suggesting a focus on retail payments and ecommerce. She also called for a focus on building infrastructure that allows for smoother digital payment processes, adding that once this was in place, the potential for further innovation would be likely.

After several weeks of out-performance by Bitcoin prices, the market is taking a breather. Within this consolidation, we will gauge investor confidence in the uptrend using a suite of on-chain tools, ranging from exchange flows, to profit taking, and coin holding times.

US banks, already hesitant to work with crypto customers, are now even warier of providing services to the industry after a string of regional-lender collapses and amid heightened scrutiny by regulators. 

TeraWulf has built 110 MW of mining infrastructure and plans to add another 50 MW in Q2 2023.

Bitcoin (BTC) rewards app Fold and Visa (V) have expanded their ongoing partnership. The U.S. payments giant will now serve as the exclusive network partner for Fold's prepaid debit and credit products in North America, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Bitcoin realized cap is currently sitting around 60% from roughly 50% last year, and it’s 20% higher than in 2018. Realized cap gives a much more accurate version of events as it substituted the current token price with the price when the token last moved. In addition, it filters out founder coins, and if a token has never moved, its realized price is zero. While Bitcoin market cap dominance currently sits below 48%, a vast difference from the realized cap dominance.

Investor and host of The Pomp Podcast Anthony Pompliano has opined that Bitcoin continues to be the best hedge against inflation in the face of mounting criticism. 

Automated software that buys and sells cryptocurrency based on predetermined algorithms and market conditions.