SHORTS EAT $330 MILLION AS BITCOIN SQUEEZES TO $79K — AND THE LEVERAGE NOW SETTLES IN DOLLARS

Bitcoin ran from roughly $57,000 to a weekly close near $79,175, and the leverage on the wrong side got flushed: $570.08 million in positions liquidated over 24 hours, $329.60 million of it shorts against $240.48 million of longs, with a single $103.54 million bitcoin position wiped on Bitget. The structural tell underneath the squeeze: crypto-margined futures have collapsed to about 12 percent of open interest, down from nearly 100 percent in 2019–20, as “dollar collateral steadily displac[es] crypto as the backing for leveraged bets.” The Technologist read: the plumbing changed while everyone watched the price. Bets that used to be backed by the coin are now backed by dollars, so the derivatives tail pulls less on spot than it once did — and when a squeeze comes, it clears in stablecoins and settles fast. The network didn’t notice. It never does.