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Morning Crypto Report: $130 Million DeFi Hack Hits Balancer; Bollinger Bands Say Forget $3 XRP; Bitcoin Going Through IPO, Says Wall St. Veteran

Mon, 3/11/2025 - 11:12
The new crypto week opens with blood on the DeFi charts after Balancer loses over $100 million across chains, while XRP's Bollinger Bands flash a firm "no $3 anytime soon" and Wall Street calls Bitcoin's current phase its own IPO.
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Morning Crypto Report: $130 Million DeFi Hack Hits Balancer; Bollinger Bands Say Forget $3 XRP; Bitcoin Going Through IPO, Says Wall St. Veteran
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After the weekend uptick in crypto prices, Bitcoin slipped 3% to about $107,000 at the week's opening, while Ethereum trades under $3,700 already and most of the top 10 coins are printing red. Traders woke up to a typical Monday: low volumes, high fear and an ongoing DeFi exploit cutting the liquidity in pools.

TL;DR

  • OG Ethereum decentralized exchange Balancer loses around $128.6 million across seven chains.
  • XRP trading below both daily and weekly midbands at $2.47 and $2.81, respectively.
  • Bitcoin analyst compares BTC phase to IPO distribution cycle.

Major DeFi protocol balancer suffers $130 million hack

Balancer’s treasury wallets were drained overnight in what PeckShield calls a multichain coordinated exploit. Visible traces show transfers totaling $128.64 million in wrapped ETH derivatives and staking tokens:

  • 6,587 WETH worth $24.46 million.
  • 6,851 osETH worth $26.86 million.
  • 4,260 wstETH worth $19.27 million.
  • More losses on Arbitrum ($6.86 million), Berachain ($12.86 million), BASE ($3.9 million), SONIC ($3.44 million), Optimism ($1.58 million), Polygon ($232,000).

The exploit targeted multiple vaults simultaneously, implying either a compromised admin key or shared contract vulnerability. PeckShield confirmed ongoing movement of assets between Ethereum's mainnet and satellite L2 chains, totaling $99 million.

DeFi analysts note that this marks Balancer’s largest incident since 2023 and comes amid low TVL recovery rates across the sector. Risk dashboards now list total DeFi losses in 2025 above $2.8 billion YTD, pushing protocols into emergency mode again.

Market reaction remained limited — ETH’s 5% drop to $3,700 likely mixes hack sentiment with macro uncertainty — but the erosion of trust is visible. TVL trackers show around $400 million in withdrawals within hours, while audit firms rush to publish quick post-mortems. The phrase “classic Monday in crypto” has rarely sounded this literal.

Forget about $3 XRP, Bollinger Bands warn

XRP closed at $2.40 after sliding 4.9% on the day, and now both the daily and weekly Bollinger Bands confirm a bearish bias:

  • Daily midband $2.47: Price below lower range with $2.26 as next big support.
  • Weekly midband $2.81: Failed to reclaim since October.

It is clear that the structure has been under pressure for a while, and it seems like it is going to continue to go down. Since September, each bounce met resistance around $2.70-$2.80, creating a clear supply zone. Unless the volume goes above $2.90, $3 is still out of the question.

Article image
XRP/USD by TradingView

Historical November strength for XRP is an average of +81%, but this cycle is different. The weekly chart shows that this is the first time since Q1 the close was under the 20-week band. Usually, this setup leads to a drop for 2-3 weeks before things reverse. The weekly chart shows the first confirmed close under the 20-week band since Q1, a setup that typically extends down 2-3 weeks before reversal.

The next demand zone is around $2.10. For now, the Bollinger message is simple: forget about $3 until the market proves otherwise.

Bitcoin going through IPO, says Wall St. veteran

Wall Street manager Jordi Visser offered one of the most measured takes this quarter — Bitcoin, he says, is not "dead money" but in its own IPO phase.

Visser says the market is shifting from early holders to a wider range of institutions: the old whales are diversifying, and new funds are accumulating. This creates a sideways range with occasional sell spikes — not a collapse, but a transition.

Article image
Bitcoin Price by CoinMarketCap

Visser draws a parallel to traditional equity post-IPO behavior: after listing, companies often enter months of distribution while early investors take profit and new investors build positions. Bitcoin is now in its first truly liquid cycle. 

This "IPO logic" also explains why BTC's correlation to NASDAQ keeps weakening — institutional capital sees it as a diversifier, not a tech proxy. 

'80% drawdowns are in the past; 10x rallies become 3x, but the network finally qualifies for corporate balance sheets'.

His math is simple: if 100 people own half of the supply and one sells, 0.5% of that hits the market. However, if one million people own half, 10,000 sales equal the same 0.5%, spread across time and price. 

Bitcoin's $107,000 today might seem painful, but it is actually the calmest phase of redistribution it has had in its 15 years.

Outlook

The focus is on the American session — whether institutional desks buy the Balancer dip or wait for audit clarity. Until then, crypto starts its first November week on the defensive, watching liquidity leaks more than candles.

  • BTC: Watch $109,000 band for confirmation of support reclamation. Below $105,000 opens a test of $102,000 — the Black Friday wick zone.
  • XRP: Needs daily close above $2.70 to neutralize bearish setup.
  • Macro: U.S. PPI and NFP later this week will define Friday volatility.
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