Bitcoin steadies near $64K as a $7.5M DeFi exploit and record ETF outflows weigh on sentiment

Two stories dominated the session. First, a hacker drained $7.5 million from Ethereum's largest sandwich bot — a piece of automated software that profits by inserting its own trades around other users' transactions. The irony is that the bot itself was exploited using a similar front-running technique. The incident reinforced existing unease about DeFi security and contributed to the negative sentiment visible in Hyperliquid's 3.6% drop and the broader fear reading. Second, geopolitical pressure resurfaced: renewed threats to close the Strait of Hormuz — a critical oil shipping lane — clouded ongoing US-Iran ceasefire talks, adding a layer of macro uncertainty that kept risk appetite subdued. Bitcoin's relative stability near $64,000 in this environment is notable, but the 30-day context is less reassuring: Bitcoin ETFs have shed a record $6.4 billion in net outflows over the past month, the largest sustained fund exit since these products launched in early 2024. That pace of redemption reflects institutional investors pulling back rather than rotating into other assets. Solana was the clearest exception in the top 15, rising 3.4% to $73.91 with no single identified catalyst — the move appears technical against an otherwise cautious backdrop. The Fear & Greed index at 23 places the market firmly in fear territory, consistent with the ETF outflow data.

• –Ethereum's largest sandwich bot — an automated trading program that profits by inserting trades around other users' orders — was itself exploited for $7.5 million, highlighting that even sophisticated DeFi actors face meaningful security risk.
• –Bitcoin ETFs recorded a record $6.4 billion in net outflows over the past 30 days, the largest sustained redemption period since spot BTC ETFs launched in the US.
• –A Japanese corporate pension fund announced plans to allocate 1% of its assets to crypto, according to Nikkei — a small but symbolically significant move by a traditionally conservative institutional investor class.