Morning Minute: Bitcoin Rebounds as Oil Falls

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GM!

Today’s most important news:

• Crypto majors rebounded after a sell-off on Thursday morning; BTC +1% at $70.4k
• JPMorgan mentions Hyperliquid in latest research report
• TAO rises 13% after Chamath and Jensen Huang discuss the latest pod
• Polymarket gets MLB partnership; Kalshi raises $22 billion and has a record day
• Myriad announces a ‘milestone’ seed round

🌍 Crypto rebounds as traders bet the war will end sooner than feared

Crypto rebounded on Thursday after a brutal risk breakout earlier this week. Bitcoin had fallen below $69,000 during the sell-off, but risk assets rallied as oil prices fell and markets reacted to comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who suggested the war could end sooner than many had feared.

US stocks also recovered in the afternoon after comments from Netanyahu circulated saying the war with Iran would end “much sooner than people think.”

At the same time, oil futures that had been sharply higher earlier in the session turned lower, easing some of the inflation and macro pressures that had weighed on crypto.

Key details

• Bitcoin fell below $69,000 during the panic before recovering to $70.4,000
• Oil prices fluctuated as much as 15% in intraday trading
• Gold fell 0.5% on the day and continues to outperform BTC

🤖 Crypto.com cuts 12% staff in AI pivot

Crypto.com is cutting 12% of its workforce, or about 180 employees, as part of what CEO Kris Marszalek described as an “enterprise-wide AI” pivot.

The exchange is reframing its operations around AI-driven execution, making this one of the more explicitly AI-related restructuring moves by a major crypto company to date.

The layoffs also add to a growing list of job losses in the crypto sector this week, following similar reductions at the Algorand Foundation and Messari.

Key details

• Crypto.com is reducing its workforce by 12%, affecting approximately 180 employees.
• Marszalek framed this move as part of an AI-driven operational shift.
• This is the company’s third workforce reduction in four years.

🏦 JPMorgan is now talking about hyperliquid

Hyperliquid is gaining so much traction that JPMorgan now explicitly mentions it in research.

The Block reported that JPMorgan analysts pointed to Hyperliquid’s growing appeal among non-crypto investors looking for 24/7 exposure to oil trading via perpetual futures.

That’s another sign that Hyperliquid is breaking away from the crypto-native conversation and going mainstream. It is increasingly seen as a platform where traders can access macro products outside of normal market hours, one of the clearest and strongest use cases for crypto rails in 2026.

Key details

• JPMorgan highlighted Hyperliquid’s popularity among traders seeking 24-hour oil exposure.
• The mention comes just after Hyperliquid expanded further into real and macro-related perpetrators.
• In connection therewith, the SEC approved Nasdaq’s rule change allowing tokenized securities to be traded on the exchange

🎯 Polymarket and Kalshi have Blockbuster Day

Prediction markets had a big day on Thursday.

First, Major League Baseball named Polymarket its exclusive official partner for prediction markets.

The league also signed an “integrity framework” agreement with the CFTC, creating a formal channel for sharing confidential information about threats to the integrity of baseball-related markets. Commissioner Rob Manfred said the agreements were intended to proactively manage the fast-growing space.

Secondly, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kalshi is raising a $22 billion valuation in an ongoing round, with Coatue Management leading the financing for a total of approximately $1 billion.

That’s a huge number for the industry and another sign that the prediction markets currently have virtually unlimited capital at their disposal.

Key details

• MLB signed an exclusive prediction market partnership with Polymarket.
• Polymarket and Kalshi continue to set new volume records almost every week, having combined to exceed $5 billion for the past three weeks in a row
• WSJ reported that Kalshi is valued at $22 billion in a round led by Coatue, with total funding of about $1 billion.

🔮 Myriad closes a ‘Milestone’ seed round

Prediction market Myriad closed its seed investment round, with support from MoonPay Ventures, Auros, EVG, Side Door Ventures and Verda Ventures, along with individual investors including Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, Blondish and Luca Netz.

The team described the increase as a “milestone” for the platform.

CEO Loxley Fernandes said the new capital will be used to invest aggressively in product development, liquidity and market expansion.

The increase comes at a time when prediction markets across the board are receiving stronger institutional and mainstream attention, and increasingly higher increases to reflect that attention (see Kalshi’s story above).

Key details

• Investors include MoonPay Ventures, Auros, EVG, Side Door Ventures and Verda Ventures.
• Angel investors include Tom Lee, Blondish and Luca Netz.
• Proceeds go to products, liquidity and expansion.

🌎 Macrocrypto and markets

• Crypto majors are mixed, but rebound after sell-off on Thursday; BTC +1% at $70.4k; ETH -1% at $2,140; SOL flat at $89.2
• BTA (+14%)PI (+7%) and FET (+7%) were the leaders
• Oil fell 2% to $94.80 and gold fell another 0.5% to $4,670
• Twin shares rose ~7% after hours to $6.45 on news that the exchange has cut 30% of its workforce and will focus on prediction markets
• BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) reached $254 million in assets under management just one week after its Nasdaq debut on March 12

Corporate bonds and ETFs

Meme coin tracker

• Meme majors were mixed; DOGE even, SHIB +4%, PEPE even, TRUMP -1%, PENGU +2%, SPX +1%, FARTCOIN +4%
• Chibi (+5700%), fine999 (+6700%), PUNCH (+26%) and testicle (+24%) led top onchain movers

💰 Token, airdrop and protocol tracker

• Chamath and Jensen Huang discussed TAO in the latest “All In” pod, fueling a 13% rally to $280
• Prediction markets are expected to have had record volume on Thursday during the opening of March Madness

🚚 What’s happening in NFTs?

• NFT Leaders were red; Punks -1% at 28.9 ETH, Pudgy -3% at 4.06 ETH, BAYC -1% at 5.17 ETH; Hypurr’s -4% on 432 HYPE
• Chromie Squiggles (+4%) and Bearish (+55) were the main gainers