Crypto Markets Pull Back After Rally As Bitcoin Drops From Three-Month High

Crypto markets pulled back after a rally, with bitcoin losing around 0.7% since midnight UTC and ether down around 1% during Asia and European hours.

“Safety first: Why Adam Back says Bitcoin is winning the 'DeFi security war' The Blockstream CEO told Consensus Miami 2026 that sovereigns, pension funds and treasury companies will join the next wave of bitcoin adoption”

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Ether was trading at $2,325 after briefly topping $2,420 on Wednesday, while bitcoin had rallied to a three-month high of $82,800.

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The altcoin market showed signs of rotation, with ALGO and $TON rising by between 8% and 9% since midnight UTC.

In derivatives, total futures volume rose just 3% to $216 billion while aggregate open interest (OI) declined 3% to $133 billion, and $BTC open interest fell to 762K $BTC from 793K $BTC a day earlier.

Bitget also pointed to negative funding rates for $DOGE at an annualized rate of around 6% and said $TON open interest climbed more than 10% to another record high as its price briefly reached $2.90 earlier today.

At Consensus Miami 2026, Blockstream CEO Adam Back argued that “Bitcoin infrastructure is much more simple, robust, security first,” framing recent DeFi exploits as reinforcing institutional preference for Bitcoin’s infrastructure.

Back said the next major adoption wave will come through institutional portfolio allocations, sovereign entities and pension funds gaining bitcoin exposure, and he described Bitcoin adoption as occurring in three waves.

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He also pointed to Blockstream’s Liquid Network as an example of Bitcoin-based infrastructure supporting tokenization, trustless trading and smart-contract functionality, while maintaining a more conservative design approach than virtual-machine-based chains.

In describing tokenized asset trading on Liquid, Back said, “You have basically a hardware wallet to hardware wallet trade,” adding that it was “arguably the most secure trading platform or trading mechanism available.”

CoinDesk’s coverage also quoted Back saying “The model portfolios that BlackRock and others are putting out…those allocations haven’t taken effect yet,” tying the institutional narrative to timing.

The quantum computing debate resurfaced as Adam Back rejected immediate warnings, while markets and institutions weighed longer-term cryptographic risk.

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In one account, Back criticized Castle Island Ventures co-founder Nic Carter for amplifying concerns, with Back accusing Carter of spreading “misinformation noise” and suggesting such comments were of little use to Bitcoiners.

The same coverage said Carter warned that quantum computing could become a real threat to Bitcoin within two to nine years if the network does not upgrade its cryptography to quantum-resistant cryptography.

Separately, TradingView reported that Jefferies trimmed 10% of bitcoin from its portfolio and replaced it with physical gold and mining stocks, with Christopher Wood described as removing the 10% of bitcoin from his model portfolio in his Greed & Fear letter.

TradingView also quoted the risk framing around quantum attacks, stating “Quantum computing raises fears of a major vulnerability for cryptocurrencies against future attacks,” while also noting that developers such as Adam Back considered the threat still distant.