While regulators in Europe and the US debate crypto’s future, young Africans are already using blockchain to solve pressing challenges from unstable currencies to internet access.

Bitcoin price hovers around the $111K all-time highs, and multiple onchain and technical data suggests that the upside is not over for BTC.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin’s price consolidates below its all-time high of nearly $112,000.

Whale accumulation, strong ETF inflows, and other factors suggest BTC is on track to $120,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) shows multiple onchain and technical signals that there is still more upside for BTC.

Bitcoin whales accumulate more BTC

Large Bitcoin investors have been adding to their holdings in anticipation of price increases in the future. Data from market intelligence firm CryptoQuant shows that the percentage of wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC has increased sharply since May 6, accompanying a 16% price increase over the same period.

This is a “sign of growing investor confidence,” said CryptoQuant in a May 29 post on X, adding: 

“It is historically linked to higher prices.”Bitcoin: Total whale holdings and monthly change (%). Source: CryptoQuant

Ochain data provider Santiment also highlighted that aggressive accumulation is occurring among wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC. 

In the past 6 weeks, this group has added more than 337 wallets, collectively accumulating more than 122,330 BTC, worth approximately $13.3 billion at current prices.

“Over the past 5 years of Bitcoin’s history, no tier of wallets has been more price-correlated to crypto markets than the behavior of whales holding between 100 to 1,000 $BTC.”Number of coins held and number of wallets 100-1K BTC addresses. Source: Santiment

Additional data from Glassnode data shows the Bitcoin Accumulation Trend Score (ATS) at 1, which signifies intense accumulation by large investors.

Overall, this is a positive sign as continued accumulation signals bullish sentiment among this cohort of investors.

Strong spot Bitcoin ETF inflows

US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to see massive capital inflows, with data from SoSoValue showing these investment products have recorded inflows for 10 consecutive days, totaling $4.2 billion. 

Spot Bitcoin ETF flows data. Source: SoSoValue

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have “seen a sustained period of buy-side pressure that originated in late April, and remains strong today,” said blockchain analytics firm Glassnode in its latest Week Onchain report, adding:

“This large and sustained buy-side pressure from both retail and institutional investors suggests a continued confidence in the asset, and has been a meaningful tailwind for the market, supporting all previous ATH breaks since they went live in 2024.”

This is also reflected across all other Bitcoin products, with CoinShares pointing out that flows into BTC investment funds totaled $2.97 billion in net inflows during the week ending May 23.

Investor sentiment stays positive

Social media circles have sustained positive sentiment around Bitcoin and crypto assets. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a barometer of investor sentiment, stands at a notable score of 74, hinting at prevailing “greed” in the market.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me

Notably, this index is above 50 after staying below the midlevel between February and April. Sustaining this index in the “greed” zone since May 6 strongly indicates the positive sentiment the market players have for the wider crypto market.

This pattern in market sentiment has been a precursor to price rallies in the past and could be an indicator of an upcoming bull run. Interestingly, the index is significantly lower than 82 in March 2024 and 94 in December 2024, marking the local tops. 

This suggests that the Crypto Fear and Green Index could still rise into the “extreme greed” zone beyond 85, possibly pushing Bitcoin price toward new highs. 

Related: Bitcoin price will reach $130K or even $1.5M, top bulls say

Bitcoin’s OI remains high post-ATHs

Open interest (OI) for Bitcoin futures contracts has seen marked growth since the sub-$74,000 local low in April, expanding to a record high of $80.5 billion on May 23 from $50.8 billion on April 8, according to CoinGlass data.

The IO is currently at $78.4 billion, reflecting a $27.6 billion or a 54% increase over the last 50 days alone, suggesting a buildup of leverage ​​often accompanying bullish environments.

Bitcoin futures aggregate open interest, USD. Source: CoinGlass

Also backing BTC’s upside is open interest in options contracts that has surged to a new all-time high of $46.2 billion from $20.4 billion, as per data from Glassnode.

Glassnode noted:

“The rapid expansion of options open interest reflects a maturing investor base which is increasingly employing option contracts to execute more sophisticated strategies to fine-tune their risk management and trading positions.”Bitcoin options OI across all exchanges. Source: Glassnode

Historically, when the OI remains high for an extended period, markets tend to enter a euphoric phase. With Bitcoin price still hovering around all-time highs, investor interest continues to build in the derivatives market, positively impacting the price.

Bitcoin price eyes $120K next

Liquidation data shows a thick cluster of orders between the $111,000 and $115,000 levels. These positions often act like a magnet, pulling the price toward them as market makers hunt for liquidity.

BTC/USDT six-month liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

If BTC continues climbing, it will pressure short sellers who may be forced to exit, triggering a cascade of buy orders.

Liquidity maps often front-run the price. With such dense activity above the all-time highs, the path of least resistance appears upward in the near term.

Glassnode argued that the BTC price “still has more room for further expansion before the unrealized profit held by investors reaches an extreme level,” represented by the upper MVRV band around $120,000.

“As the market moves into a phase of price discovery, the $120K level appears as a key zone of interest, with sell-side pressure expected to accelerate in and around this zone.”Bitcoin: MVRV extreme deviation pricing bands. Source: Glassnode

As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin is expected to hit $120,000 in the first half of 2025 en route to $200,000 by year-end.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Tim Berners-Lee said at ETH Prague that if he were designing a domain system today, he would make it more decentralized, in a nod to concerns over DNS centralization.

World Wide Web and hypertext markup language (HTML) inventor Tim Berners-Lee said that if he were building a domain name service (DNS) today, he would make it “more decentralized.”

Speaking at ETH Prague on stage alongside Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Berners-Lee reflected on early internet architecture decisions.

“If I could go back […] I would make it more decentralized,“ he said.

DNS was invented in 1983 by Paul Mockapetris, replacing the previous hosts.txt file-based system with a scalable, distributed system for naming IP addresses. Still, while Berners-Lee was not personally responsible for DNS development, he could have opted for a URL structure not tied to the DNS we know today, or he could have pushed for a decentralized alternative.

Source: Mely.eth

Related: Decentralized naming could bring ‘next billion’ users to Bitcoin

Centralization of the DNS

The DNS system is highly centralized, particularly at its top levels of hierarchy. The root zone, which governs top-level domains such as .com and .org, is managed by the US-based nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Furthermore, the most authoritative servers are operated by a handful of organizations, further centralizing the system. This allows for easy censorship and control by governments that can unilaterally seize or block domain names.

This degree of centralization also makes outages due to centralized service disruption more likely. Control over root zones and domain policies is also concentrated in a few regions and among a select group of stakeholders.

There are also concerns around privacy because centralized DNS queries can be monitored, logged and intercepted by internet service providers and other intermediaries.

Related: Community split on ENS petition against Unstoppable Domains patent

Crypto’s solution to the problem

Decentralized alternatives to the DNS system are being developed. The most well-known of them is the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), which maps human-readable names to Ethereum addresses, content on the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS), or other data.

Another alternative is Unstoppable Domains. Its system mints domains as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum and Polygon.

ENS has seen a fair share of adoption. In late 2024, ENS Labs also partnered with PayPal and Venmo, sparking speculation about how this partnership is likely to boost mainstream adoption.

IPFS runs on Ethereum smart contracts and aims to be user-owned and censorship-resistant. Currently, it is primarily used in Web3 applications, wallets and decentralized websites.

Another alternative is Handshake (HNS), which aims to be a decentralized and permissionless naming protocol that is compatible with traditional DNS. Another project with a similar aim is Namecoin (NMC), an early Bitcoin fork designed specifically to offer .bit domains and store DNS records onchain with censorship resistance.

IPFS is also accompanied by its own Inter-Planetary Name System (IPNS), which enables mutable naming for IPFS addresses (hashes). URLs generated this way point to specific content, not servers.

A non-crypto alternative to DNS is OpenNIC. This is a user-run project that offers non-ICANN domains, aiming to decentralize control through community governance.

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Donut’s AI agents understand page intent and autonomously execute blockchain transactions for token swaps, yield farming or portfolio optimization.

New York-based Donut Labs has raised $7 million in a pre-seed funding round to build what it claims is the world’s first “agentic” crypto browser — a tool designed to help users interact with blockchain-based applications using artificial intelligence.

The round was led by Sequoia, Bitkraft and HackVC, with participation from angel investors including Solana and other ecosystem leaders, such as Matrix Partners, Sky9 Ventures, Makers Fund and SonicSVM.

The $7 million will support the development of Donut, an executable crypto browser powered by artificial intelligence agents, with a native cryptocurrency wallet and decentralized exchange integration, decentralized network access and onchain execution.

Unlike traditional web browsers, Donut’s AI algorithms understand page context and user intent, helping it autonomously execute blockchain-based operations.

“The traditional browser hasn’t changed for more than 30 years. We’re re-architecting everything,” said Donut founder and CEO Chris Zhu. “We’re reconstructing the front end of the internet to be hyper-financialized for AI agents.”

Donut closes $7 million pre-seed round. Source: Donut

Related: Metaplanet’s Bitcoin ‘premium’ nears $600K per BTC

Donut’s users will gain access to an array of decentralized tools and crypto services under a single agentic interface, which could make digital asset transactions safer.

“Architecturally isolated signing environments and AI-powered risk screening secure every transaction while optimizing execution for speed and cost,” said Zhu, adding that “AI translates opaque calldata into plain English and assigns safety grades.”

Donut’s AI agents can trade or swap tokens, place bets, or earn passive yield on digital assets.

Related: Polygon-backed, high-yield blockchain launches for institutional adoption

Agentic browsers could reshape internet in next decade

While Donut’s earliest adopters will likely be crypto traders, builders or decentralized finance (DeFi) users, agentic browsers may explode into the mainstream during the next decade.

Within the next five years, Ethereum layer-2 (L2) networks will use agentic browsers to cut settlement costs. Mainstream browsers will also integrate agentic capabilities or build interoperability with purpose-built agentic browsers as AI becomes cheaper, according to Zhu.

However, the most significant adoption will come within the next decade when onchain and offchain environments will be completely merged for internet users, Zhu said, adding:

“Agentic browsers are poised to become the default entry point — much like smartphones replaced feature phones.”

In the long term, Donut aims to support payments, gaming, content creation and social interaction, all within a single crypto-native browser. The company also plans to leverage advancements in decentralized identity and confidential computing to turn the browser into a personal “crypto CFO” for retail users.

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