GSN CEO Ryan Kirkley Flags $61.2K as Critical Bitcoin Support

Bitcoin News

Global Settlement Network (GSN) CEO Ryan Kirkley has warned that Bitcoin (BTC) faces a precarious setup, calling the current market phase a 'mild bear market' and identifying $61,200 as the critical support level that leveraged funds will defend. In a wide-ranging assessment of the digital asset sector, Kirkley said more than 100 cryptocurrency and blockchain projects have halted operations, filed for bankruptcy, or effectively vanished since the start of 2026, as the shakeout that followed the 2020-2021 investment boom accelerates. The ongoing elimination phase, Kirkley suggested, is the natural consequence of a period in which numerous ventures raised significant capital at high valuations without developing real revenue or profitability. Those companies became reliant on successive funding rounds to stay operational, and the tightening of capital markets made their vulnerabilities increasingly visible. Kirkley cited Galaxy Research data showing venture capital inflows into the crypto and blockchain space reached roughly $4 billion across 355 deals in the first quarter of 2026, a decline of about half from the fourth quarter of 2025, while the number of transactions fell only 16 percent — evidence that the funding contraction is concentrated in the largest, highest-valuation rounds. Kirkley expects stablecoin issuers, digital banks, institutional wallet services, and payment and settlement infrastructure to emerge stronger from the consolidation, while social tokens, memecoins, and other altcoin categories face mounting pressure. The GSN chief also noted that government interest in blockchain remains intact, saying he has met with officials from seven countries in the past month, with state and institutional attention focused on reducing financial costs, asset tokenization, and cross-border payments rather than decentralized finance. On Bitcoin specifically, Kirkley warned that a break below $61,200 could force leveraged funds to liquidate positions and accelerate downside momentum, potentially opening a broader decline toward $41,000.

Bitcoin's price action remains locked in a corrective structure, with the asset trading near $64,300 after failing to reclaim key resistance levels, according to the latest technical assessment. The daily chart shows BTC below a descending trendline and beneath both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, keeping the broader bias tilted lower until those dynamic resistance levels are retaken. The most immediate hurdle sits at the $67,000 zone, where the trendline converges with a horizontal supply area; a daily close above that region would mark a meaningful improvement in market structure and could open the path toward $72,000-$74,000, with $82,000 representing the next major supply region. On the downside, the $60,000 demand zone remains the last line of defense for the bullish case, and losing it would expose the deeper $55,000 support region. The four-hour chart offers a more constructive short-term picture, with BTC compressing inside a tightening symmetrical triangle between an ascending lower trendline and a descending upper trendline. The price is approaching the upper boundary of that structure, with the $66,000-$67,000 resistance zone as the first major test. Four-hour RSI has climbed to the higher end of its recent range, signaling improved short-term momentum, though the indicator is also nearing overbought territory, meaning a rejection at these levels could spark another pullback. On-chain data shows the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) metric, which tracks the aggregate unrealized gains or losses of Bitcoin holders, has deteriorated sharply, falling from above 0.5 — a level associated with all-time-high euphoria — to approximately 0.18, well below the 0.25 threshold. That puts the indicator far closer to the capitulation and low-profit zones of past major corrections than to the elevated readings that accompany euphoric markets, and while it does not support a bullish interpretation on its own, it also suggests that much of the selling pressure from profit-taking has already been absorbed.

Taken together, the two assessments converge on the same battleground: the $60,000-$61,200 zone. Kirkley's warning that leveraged funds could be forced to sell below $61,200 aligns with the technical picture, which identifies $60,000 as the critical demand zone that separates the current consolidation from a deeper slide toward $55,000. The on-chain data reinforces the caution — NUPL at roughly 0.18 shows unrealized profits have been largely drained, leaving little cushion for a euphoric rebound. As COINOTAG's analysis of the order flow indicates, the market is compressing ahead of a decisive move; until Bitcoin reclaims $67,000, the path of least resistance remains to the downside.