Bitcoin price can hit $160K in October as MACD golden cross returns

The battle between fallen giants of the crypto world isn’t over!

Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has subpoenaed former FTX executives, accusing them of illegally liquidating more than $1.5 billion in positions during the 2022 market crash. The move drags Sam Bankman-Fried back into the spotlight, but this time from prison. 

What’s happening now? Here are all the details.

Sam Bankman-Fried Set to Testify

A court filing shows 3AC’s liquidators want testimony from Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and Ryan Salame. If approved, Bankman-Fried will be transported from a California prison to testify under oath on October 14, 2025.

It’s another twist in the story connecting two of crypto’s biggest crashes – 3AC in June 2022 and FTX later that year.

Allegations of Forced Liquidation

3AC co-founder Zhu Su claims FTX pushed the hedge fund over the edge by force-liquidating $1.5 billion of its positions “without proper authorization.” He argues this illegal move accelerated 3AC’s collapse.

Ellison, who ran Alameda Research, faces scrutiny over trading practices that may have worsened the situation. Salame, a former FTX executive, is accused of using insider information to front-run trades and profiting more than $1 billion.

FTX Fires Back

The FTX estate has rejected 3AC’s accusations. In June 2025, it argued the hedge fund’s account balance was closer to $284 million, not the $1.6 billion claimed.

“FTX creditors should not be a backstop for 3AC’s failed trades,” the estate wrote in a 94-page objection. According to its filings, most of the money vanished during the market crash itself, not because of unlawful action. 

FTX says it only liquidated $82 million, well within its rights under contract terms.

Creditors Still Waiting

While the legal fight heats up, FTX continues repaying creditors. Around $6.2 billion has already been returned since 2022. The next round of cash distributions is scheduled for September 30, 2025, through partners including BitGo, Kraken, and Payoneer.

But not everyone is getting paid. More than 300 Chinese users have challenged the decision to exclude payouts in 49 jurisdictions, calling the restrictions unfair and without legal basis.

Also Read: https://coinpedia.org/news/warning-for-ftx-creditors-phishing-scam-hits-ahead-of-1-9b-payouts/Could You Lose Your FTX Claim? Payouts May Be Blocked in These 49 Regions

Why This Matters

The FTX and 3AC collapses remain two of the biggest failures in crypto history. With subpoenas now targeting top executives, the question of accountability is once again front and center.

October’s deposition of Bankman-Fried could be a turning point for 3AC’s recovery efforts and for how future crypto bankruptcies are handled.

The global economy is flashing warning signs, with traders, analysts, and economists pointing to more trouble ahead. 

The calls of a looming recession are growing louder, and the crypto market is showing increased volatility, all while Wall Street braces for Fed rate cuts and further market swings.

Trader Doctor Profit has issued a major warning that the macro economy is in serious danger. Here’s why.

Signs Of Recession

According to the trader, irrespective of whether the recession crash comes in the next few weeks or in Q1–Q2 2026, the Bitcoin target of $90K–$94K remains unchanged.

One of the best indicators to watch, he says, is the yield curve, which compares short-term U.S. bonds with long-term bonds. Normally, long-term bonds pay more, a healthy positive spread. But when short-term bonds pay more, it’s called an inversion, and always signals that trouble is ahead.

The 10Y–2Y curve inverted on July 5, 2022, staying that way for 784 days, the longest in U.S. history. On Aug 27, 2024, the curve flipped back positive. Doctor Profit explains that history shows recessions don’t start during inversion, they come after normalization, as seen in 1990, 2001, 2007, and now in 2024–2025.

The Calm Before the Storm?

This cycle is different because the inversion has lasted much longer than usual. 

At the same time, unemployment is creeping up, job growth figures are being revised downward, and the Fed has already begun cutting rates, similar to the setup before the 2001 crash.

Doctor Profit warns that the period from now until the second quarter of 2026 is a high-risk window for a major recession and market crash. The bond market is also sending warning signals, reminding him of the calm before the storm that played out ahead of the 2001 and 2007 crashes.

Doctor Profit predicts Bitcoin’s next move to $90K–$94K. After reaching $90K, two scenarios are possible:

• BTC prints $90K and then moves toward $140K before the recession crash or
• The recessionary crash begins in the coming weeks.

He clarifies that the move toward $90,000 should be viewed as a separate correction and not the start of the recessionary crash itself.

Policy Risks and Inflation Bubbles

Meanwhile, other experts warn that policy mistakes could make economic risks even worse. 

Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff criticised Trump’s economic team, arguing that they fail to recognize the difference between real growth and inflation-driven bubbles. 

According to Schiff, this blind spot could push the Fed and policymakers to repeat the mistakes that led to the 2008 financial crisis, weakening America’s industrial foundation once again.

On the other side, Morgan Stanley’s Equity Strategist says that the U.S. has been in a slow, hidden recession since 2022, with different sectors struggling at different times. With the Fed cutting rates, a new bull market is forming, though short-term volatility is expected.

Fed Rate Cuts and Market Outlook

After a weak August jobs report, markets expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points, with some hoping for an even bigger move. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there is a 90% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut and a 10% chance of a 100-basis-point cut.

While traders hope that rate cuts will boost stocks, some warn that the impact may be limited. The crypto market also often benefits from rate cuts as cheaper borrowing and more liquidity push investors toward riskier assets like Bitcoin.

Real-world asset tokenization platform OpenEden and crypto infrastructure provider BitGo have entered the competition to issue Hyperliquid’s planned native stablecoin, USDH, bringing the number of contenders to eight.

Hyperliquid validators will start voting for the USDH proposal from Thursday and will be able to cast their votes until Sunday. Other suitors include Ethena, Paxos, Frax, Agora, Native Markets and Sky.

The winning bid will decide how it will manage Hyperliquid’s $5.9 billion stablecoin reserve, with 95.56% of it held in USDC (USDC), according to DefiLlama.

OpenEden’s bid for USDH

OpenEden’s founder and CEO Jeremy Ng on Wednesday laid out the platform’s proposal on how it will handle USDH were it to win the bid.

The RWA platform pledged to distribute all the yield it will generate from the USDH reserves to the Hyperliquid ecosystem, which will include buybacks.

It will additionally use the proceeds from minting and redeeming USDH to buy back Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and distribute it to the Hyperliquid validators.

The company has earmarked 3% of its native EDEN token supply to provide additional incentives, which could be boosted in the future.

USDH reserves will be stored in a tokenized US Treasury Bills Fund, whose custody will be under The Bank of New York Mellon.

The company has partnered with The Bank of New York Mellon, Chainlink, AEON Pay and Monarq Asset Management for adoption.

BitGo touts regulatory prowess

Meanwhile, BitGo said it will leverage US dollar-backed liquid assets, bank deposits, short-term treasury bills and more for minting and redeeming USDH.

The company stated that it will use Chainlink’s crosschain interoperability protocol to maintain interoperability between chains.

The yield from the underlying assets will be used to buy and stake HYPE tokens, with the company taking a 0.3% fee of the total reserves.

BitGo touted its regulatory compliance as its major strength, as six of its companies have acquired licenses from Dubai, Singapore, Denmark, New York and a Markets in Crypto-Assets license from Germany.

Native Markets leads the pack

At the time of writing, Native Markets has received the most votes, with 33.73% of the delegate stake selecting its proposal.

Native Markets, co-founded by community member Max Fiege, has proposed splitting the proceeds from the reserves, with half of the proceeds being used to buy back HYPE tokens, while the other half being granted to the Assistance Fund. However, the proposal has received backlash from the community.

Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture fund Dragonfly, has cast doubt regarding Native Markets’ bid.

“Hearing from multiple bidders that none of the validators are interested in considering anyone besides Native Markets. It’s not even a serious discussion, as though there was a backroom deal already done.” Qureshi said.

Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik refuted the claim, saying that they along with their allies, have been engaged with bidders and have encouraged them to put forth their proposal to make the bidding process competitive.

On the network side, XRP is showing something that might push it up sooner rather than later: over the past few days, the number of active accounts has increased by almost 30%, reaching over 26,000 unique senders. This spike in activity rekindled user interest and may be a crucial indicator of the asset’s performance going forward. Increased interest in holding and transacting with an asset is frequently reflected in the growth of active accounts.

For XRP, which markets itself as a blockchain that focuses on payments, this metric is essential. Its viability is primarily determined by the volume of transactions and transfer usage. More market participants are transferring money, testing the network or making cross-border payments, as evidenced by a 30% increase in active wallets.

XRP's market performance

In terms of the market, the timing is significant. A descending trendline has been pressed against by XRP’s consolidation around $3.00, which has been above the 50- and 100-day moving averages. Although it has not yet reached the levels observed during July's explosive rally, buying volume has gradually increased again. On the other hand, the rise in network activity provides a basic level of support that might support a technical breakthrough. Chart by TradingView">

When interpreting active accounts as a direct driver of price, one cannot ignore the overall risk surrounding XRP, though. Use of the network does not always correspond to long-term price growth; occasionally, it may even be a reflection of speculative exchanges or transfers. However, the increase in active accounts may work as a tailwind when paired with improving chart structure and market sentiment.

What's next?

It is possible that XRP will push toward $3.40-$3.50 if it is able to overcome its resistance around $3.10. This is especially true if user activity stays high. The downside is that if momentum is not maintained, the $2.78 support level may be retested.

As of right now, the 30% increase in activity shows that XRP is not at all stagnant. Interpret price action as a sign that participation is increasing once more, even though confirmation is still pending. This could pave the way for the subsequent stage in XRP’s market rally.

Bitcoin’s liquidity tug-of-war enters a critical phase on Binance, which happens to be the exchange with the deepest order books.

With BTC’s price already showing strength a little below its all-time high level, the current liquidity battle on Binance may not just be noise – it could be the early signal of the next bullish leg.Binance Flashing a Bull Market Trigger?

CryptoQuant explained that in early August, Binance’s refill_30d indicator, which tracks the 30-day rolling inflows of Bitcoin to the platform, climbed sharply and repeatedly outpaced the drain_30d indicator, which measures withdrawals. This influx of BTC, particularly strong between August 4 and 18, meant that traders were preparing for distribution or hedging as Bitcoin’s price neared $120,000.

But after peaking, inflows declined in the second half of the month, in what appeared to be reduced selling intent and waning momentum. By mid-August, both drain and refill indicators had entered equilibrium, indicating a temporary balance in trader behavior and contributing to a phase of relative price stability.

The change yet again in early September, when the drain_30d indicator surged past 22 million, one of the highest levels seen in recent months, while refills stayed muted. This divergence is important since it points to renewed withdrawals of BTC from Binance, reducing exchange liquidity and potentially tightening supply. When exchange liquidity dries up and demand stays firm, the market can tip into sharp rallies fueled by scarcity.What’s Next For BTC

What’s crucial is that despite these oscillations in liquidity, Bitcoin’s price hasremainedrelatively steady, which can be attributed to the market absorbing both inflows and outflows with minimal disruption.

Looking ahead, the imbalance between rising outflows and weak inflows could tilt the scales. If drains continue to rise while refills remain low, Binance may face a liquidity squeeze that intensifies buying pressure. Such conditions can set up the possibility of an imminent rally.

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

Global stock markets and U.S. stock futures were mostly in the green again on Thursday after Oracle's surge and an unexpected decline in producer prices powered the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to fresh record closing highs in the prior session. Tech-sector gains and the near-certainty of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve next Wednesday have powered markets higher, with investors now awaiting consumer price data later to provide clues to the pace of rate cuts through end-year. The dollar edged higher, as did Treasury yields.

In Europe, the European Central Bank is expected to leave rates unchanged and provide little steer on its policy outlook.

• U.S. futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were recently up 0.1%, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat. Oracle's shares surged 36% on Wednesday after the company said it won several billion-dollar AI deals in its latest quarter, boosting the S&P to its 23rd record close this year.
• Asian shares closed mostly higher, supported by technology stocks after Oracle's contract wins. Chinese AI hardware stocks regained momentum with AI chip designer Cambricon Technologies, viewed as a potential future challenger to Nvidia, gaining as much as 13% in Shanghai, while Chinese contract chip maker SMIC climbed by up to 8.6%. Japan's Nikkei closed 1.2% higher at a new record; SoftBank Group closed at a record high, gaining 10%. South Korea's Kospi was up 0.9%.
• Early in Europe, the pan-regional Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.2% with a narrowly-mixed picture across national markets. Europe's oil-sector stocks were up despite Brent crude oil trading down slightly; the U.K.'s BP led the gainers, rising 1.4%, while Shell moved up 0.9%. The FTSE 100 added 0.5%.
• The dollar was up modestly against a basket of currencies ahead of data that are expected to show U.S. inflation accelerated in August. Economists in a WSJ survey expect inflation to rise to an annual rate of 2.9% in August from 2.7% in July. There is a risk that inflation is higher than expected and much still suggests that the Federal Reserve will deliver a 25 basis-point interest-rate cut next week, not a larger 50 basis-point reduction, Commerzbank's Michael Pfister said in a note. The euro was flat at $1.1693 ahead of the ECB, while the DXY dollar index was last up 0.1% to 97.895.
• Bitcoin rose to a two-and-half-week high of $114,452, according to LSEG data.
• U.S. Treasury yields traded higher late in Asian trade, with the 10-year Treasury yield up 2.1 basis points at 4.052%, according to Tradeweb.
• In commodities, gold prices slipped but remained above $3,600 a troy ounce. Oil prices were broadly steady after a three-day rally triggered by mounting geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East. Copper fell in the Asian session, with the three-month LME contract shedding 0.2% to $9,991.50/ton earlier after it hit $10,013/ton in the previous session.

Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com