Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s Fragile Recovery Follows Unprecedented $20 Billion Leverage Purge

Published

1 month ago

October 14, 2025

Bitcoin’s modest rebound from Friday’s record crash has provided some relief, but it falls short of undoing the damage from a $20 billion liquidation wave that crippled parts of the market. Open interest in Bitcoin futures plunged from $94 billion to $70 billion, marking the steepest single-day decline in over two years, per Coinglass data. This deleveraging erased months of speculative buildup, forcing some funds to exit entirely amid automatic margin calls and fragmented liquidity.

The crash exposed the market’s vulnerabilities, with leveraged positions amplifying the downturn. Traders report that the scale of the purge not only wiped out gains but also disrupted trading dynamics. While Bitcoin has stabilized somewhat, the event serves as a reminder of how quickly sentiment can shift in a leverage-heavy environment.

Looking ahead, reduced open interest may temper short-term volatility, but it also signals the need for better risk controls in crypto derivatives. The fragile recovery highlights ongoing risks, potentially attracting regulatory attention to prevent future cascades.

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Bitcoin

Philippines Solidifies Status as Asia’s Leading Crypto Powerhouse

Published

23 minutes ago

November 18, 2025

Coin Reporter Correspondent

The Philippines has quietly become the most crypto-native nation in Asia.

While Singapore and Hong Kong compete for institutional headlines, and Thailand courts blockchain tourists, the Philippines has built the deepest grassroots adoption on the continent, with over 18 million active crypto users in a population of 115 million, a penetration rate that now surpasses even South Korea.

Real-World Use Cases Drive Mass Adoption

Two engines power the surge:

Remittances
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sent home nearly $40 billion in 2024. An increasing share now arrives instantly and at near-zero cost via stablecoins on platforms like PDAX, Coins.ph, and global players such as Binance and Maya. GCash, the country’s super-app with 90 million registered users, began rolling out direct crypto top-up and cash-out features nationwide in Q3 2025.
Play-to-Earn & Gaming Economies
The Axie Infinity boom of 2021 was only the beginning. Today, thousands of local and foreign-developed web3 games continue to pay out millions of dollars monthly to Filipino players. Entire communities in provinces like Cavite and Cebu have built sustainable income streams from gaming guilds and scholarship programs.

Institutions Follow the People

Traditional finance is no longer watching from the sidelines:

UnionBank became the first universal bank in Southeast Asia to offer direct crypto trading and custody to retail clients through its app
BPI and Metrobank now allow instant fiat on-ramps to licensed exchanges
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued 18 Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licences, more than any other ASEAN country, while maintaining one of the most pragmatic regulatory frameworks in the region

BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. stated earlier this year: “We regulate to protect, not to block. Crypto is already part of the Filipino financial reality.”

A Blueprint for Emerging Markets

The Philippines model, high retail adoption first, followed by progressive regulation and rapid institutional integration, is now being studied by regulators in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nigeria.

Local exchanges report that average user holdings have matured from speculative altcoins to stablecoins and Bitcoin, with monthly trading volumes regularly exceeding $4 billion across licensed platforms.

Industry leaders point to one statistic as proof of irreversible momentum: over 40% of GCash users have now transacted with crypto features at least once, a level of mainstream penetration that most developed markets can only dream of.

From remittance corridors to rural gaming guilds, the Philippines didn’t wait for permission to embrace digital assets. Instead, it forced the system to adapt, and in doing so has built what many now call the most vibrant, organic crypto economy in Asia.

The message to the rest of Southeast Asia is clear: when adoption leads, everything else follows.

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