Bitcoin Sidechain Loses $320M as Privacy Coins Rally and Geopolitical Volatility Shakes Markets

Bitcoin trades near seventy-nine thousand six hundred dollars as the Liquid Network sidechain suffers a three hundred twenty million dollar exploit from purported white-hat hackers, forcing exchanges to halt deposits. Zcash surges forty-five percent weekly to twelve hundred dollars following Grayscale's spot E T F launch, pushing privacy coins into the spotlight. U.S. strikes on Iranian oil infrastructure drive West Texas Intermediate crude above ninety-two dollars, raising inflation concerns ahead of Wednesday's C P I data. Germany's far-right A f D party scores historic state election victory with forty-four percent, triggering capital flow concerns across European markets. Spot Bitcoin E T Fs log seven hundred thirty million in single-day inflows-the strongest since January-while Federal Reserve rate hike odds hold at fifty-eight percent despite strong jobs data. Plus, Harmony proposes shutting down its blockchain after seven years, Solana triples transaction size limits, and major banks form stablecoin consortium targeting 2027 launch.