Bitcoin Near $66K as Aztec Hack Drains $2.19M, Dunamu-Naver Merger Faces Probe

Crypto News

Bitcoin clawed back toward the $66,000 mark, yet the recovery is showing little conviction. On-chain data points to fading strength: trading volumes are thinning and network activity remains subdued, while momentum gauges and on-balance volume still sit near bear-market lows. Analysts caution the bounce could reverse quickly without fresh inflows. Direction now hinges partly on geopolitics, with President Trump signaling a US-Iran peace agreement set for signing Friday. Should the deal falter, renewed Middle East tension and an oil shock could reignite volatility, leaving short-term price action exposed to headlines rather than underlying demand.

South Korea's competition authority has intensified its review of the proposed tie-up between Dunamu, operator of the Upbit exchange, and Naver Financial, canvassing 18 brokerages for written opinions due by month-end. Regulators are probing whether merging a crypto exchange, an unlisted-share trading platform and a payments service under one ecosystem would entrench market dominance and raise entry barriers through combined user data. The review also examines potential stablecoin expansion. The boards approved the comprehensive share-swap on 26 November 2025, with antitrust scrutiny opening two days later — a case likely to shape how authorities assess large platform-finance-crypto deals.

Roughly $2.19 million was drained from a deprecated Aztec Connect smart contract, a stark reminder that abandoned code can stay dangerous long after a project winds down. Security researchers confirmed the exploit hit a legacy component rather than the current Aztec Network, which was not compromised. The episode underscores a structural weakness in decentralized finance: immutability makes deployed contracts predictable but also impossible to patch once vulnerabilities surface. Users often mistake a shuttered front-end for a safe exit, yet on-chain funds and token approvals persist. The takeaway is to withdraw idle assets and revoke approvals on discontinued protocols.

Wall Street has coined a new shorthand for the artificial-intelligence trade: MANGOS, grouping Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Alphabet, OpenAI and SpaceX. The label gained traction after SpaceX's listing opened retail access, and issuers are racing to package it. One filing proposes an ETF allocating at least 80% to MANGOS-linked equities and derivatives, using special-purpose vehicles to gain exposure to still-private OpenAI and Anthropic; another folds in chipmakers such as AMD, Broadcom and Micron. Skeptics argue the basket is closer to marketing than investment thesis, noting the thin academic case for bundling mega-cap public names with private AI labs.

Macro risk dominates the week as the Federal Reserve prepares its latest interest-rate decision, accompanied by the FOMC statement and a press conference. Traders are also weighing US May retail sales, core retail figures and weekly crude-oil inventories, any of which could sway risk appetite before the central bank speaks. Crypto markets, already showing fragile momentum, tend to amplify moves around Fed communications, with leveraged liquidations frequently spiking on surprises. With positioning cautious, a hawkish tone could pressure altcoin markets harder than Bitcoin, while a dovish surprise might supply the catalyst bulls have lacked.

In strategic-minerals news with supply-chain implications, Critical One Energy reported a standout drill result at its Howells Lake antimony-gold project in Ontario, intersecting grades up to 70.2% antimony over a four-metre section. The company has secured funding for a 20,000-metre drilling campaign running through December 2026 and signed a memorandum with a major Canadian infrastructure firm covering road design and Indigenous employment. It also appointed retired four-star US Army General Charles A. Flynn to advise on government and defense supply-chain partnerships. Antimony's growing role in defense and battery materials is fueling a rapid revaluation of North American sources.

Taken together, these threads trace a market caught between structural maturation and acute caution. Legacy DeFi exploits, merger scrutiny and a politicized crypto sector — where one US PAC poured over $12 million into an Alabama primary — show an industry embedding itself deeper into finance and policy, even as Robinhood trims 10% of staff. COINOTAG's aggregate data frames the mood: our Fear and Greed Index reads 23, or Extreme Fear, Bitcoin dominance stands at 69.8%, and total crypto market capitalization sits near $1.89 trillion. With capital concentrating in Bitcoin and risk appetite thin ahead of the Fed, conviction — not a new all-time high — remains the missing ingredient.