Bitcoin is back above the $60,000 mark after falling below that key level for the first time since October 2024 on Friday.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has lost about 27% of its value in 2026, and it’s now about 50% off its all-time high. Despite the carnage, traders aren’t backing away from this space. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) was among the top 20 most popular tickers in the options market by volume, and two of the top 15 largest options trades by dollar amount were in Strategy and Coinbase on Monday.

Each of those trades painted a very different picture of where this market could be heading next.

In Michael Saylor’s Strategy, one trader sold 29,425 of the 125/180-call diagonals, collecting about $56 million in the process. Specifically, the trader sold the 125-strike calls expiring Aug. 21 and used the proceeds to buy the 180-calls expiring June 18. It’s an options strategy that is most profitable if Strategy shares drop and stay below $125 through August expiration. Ideally, you want both calls to expire worthless, allowing you to pocket the full credit.

The bitcoin treasury company’s recent sales of the flagship crypto – its first in years – have spooked investors in both the company and the broader cryptocurrency world. But one top expert thinks a rebound is likely.

“In the face of the onslaught of AI narratives undermining trust of traditional systems, bitcoin remains the soundest money, and the resilience of its proof of work architecture has been demonstrated,” said Tom Lee, BitMine chairman and FundStrat head of research.

That resilience will be the key to any crypto comeback, and to Monday’s other marquee crypto trade in Coinbase, where one trader is betting about $21 million on a sizable comeback for the hard-hit exchange stock.

This trader also used a diagonal strategy, selling 10,990 June 18 expiration calls for $4.9 million and buying $26 million worth of Aug. 21 expiration 160-calls. While this setup also profits from time decay, it’s a decidedly more bullish position as the trader is hoping the longer-dated calls appreciate.

This trade takes advantage of elevated premiums in Coinbase to generate immediate income, while positioning for a longer-term move higher in the name. For those August expiration calls to be profitable, the stock will have to move above $183.40 per share, or about 13% higher than where it was in Monday’s session.

CANNES — Wall Street’s new plumbing is being built on Ethereum and this week its architects took over the same French Riviera villas and red carpet venues that host the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The Ethereum Community Conference, or EthCC, took over the beachside town that was swarming with crypto founders, developers, and some of the institutional giants now building atop the infrastructure.

The crypto elite climbed the iconic red-carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals — a cinematic landmark now repurposed as the stage for Ethereum’s flagship European event.

“The atmosphere this year was palpable in Cannes,” said Bettina Boon Falleur, the powerhouse behind EthCC for the past seven years. “The prestige of the location, combined with the quality of talks, has reinforced Ethereum’s stature and purpose in the wider ecosystem.”

Private parties sprawled across cliffside estates and exclusive resorts, but the conversations were less about price action and more about the blockchain’s evolving role as the back-end of global finance.

EthCC, now in its eighth year, has tracked Ethereum’s trajectory from scrappy experiment to institutional backbone.

“That impact was unmistakable this year,” Falleur said. “From Robinhood embracing decentralized finance infrastructure via Arbitrum to local governments like the City of Cannes exploring deeper integration with the crypto economy.”

Indeed, one of the boldest moves came this week from Robinhood, which became the first publicly traded U.S. company to launch tokenized stocks on-chain.

At a product showcase held inside a Belle Époque mansion overlooking the sea, Robinhood unveiled a sweeping new crypto strategy — including the ability for European users to trade tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs via Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network built on Ethereum.

The announcement helped push Robinhood stock past $100 for the first time, capping off a week of fresh all-time highs and a more than 30% rally since being snubbed by the S&P 500 during a recent rebalance.

Ether, the token native to the Ethereum blockchain, was up nearly 6% on the week and several public equities tied to the blockchain have rallied alongside it.

BitMine Immersion Technologies, a company that mines bitcoin, gained more than 1,200% since announcing it would make ether its primary treasury reserve asset. Bit Digital, which recently exited bitcoin mining to “become a pure play” ethereum staking and treasury company, gained more than 34% this week. And SharpLink Gaming, which added more than $20 million in ether to its balance sheet this week, jumped more than 28% on Thursday.

Ether ETF inflows are rising again too — a sign that institutional investors are warming back up.

Ether is still down more than 20% this year and lags far behind bitcoin in market…