# swift

Bitcoin’s new all-time high around $126,000 underscores a risk-on phase tempered by widespread profit-taking strategies and concerns about liquidity. Institutional developments, including claims that SWIFT is building payments on Ethereum’s Linea and Ethereum’s rise to the 22nd largest global asset, point to maturing crypto infrastructure.

Institutional moves, including BitMine lifting its Ethereum treasury near $11 billion and Chainlink bridging Swift workflows with UBS, signal a strengthening settlement infrastructure. Simultaneously, record short positioning against the dollar, falling retail demand, and large creditor repayments point to a volatile test of crypto’s role as a macro hedge.

Market whipsaws erased $435 million in leveraged positions, reinforcing a shift toward lower-risk retail behavior. At the same time, SWIFT is integrating a blockchain-based shared ledger with Consensys and Chainlink while Belgium prepares a 10% crypto gains tax, signaling institutional pragmatism and tightening policy that will shape adoption.