Denis Omelchenko & Olivia Capozzalo
November 24, 2025

Happy Monday, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

After BTC’s fall to $81K on Friday, the weekend kicked off with further chaos when Cardano experienced a sudden split into two chains, while Etherscan shut down its free API.

In other news:

NFT lending collapses
BTCFi token BOB rallies
Tax agencies come for crypto
How Beldex is building the internet’s privacy layer

Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.

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We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today

📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$86,053	-0.84 %
Ethereum	$2,806.6	-0.93 %
XRP	$2.08	1.64 %
BNB	$835.41	-1.50 %
Solana	$129.59	-1.63 %

Today’s Big Story

Cardano’s Accidental Split: What You Missed Over the Weekend

Friday evening, after crypto markets were already shaken by Bitcoin’s brutal fall to $81,000, Cardano suddenly forked into two competing chains. What appears to be old bug in the blockchain’s code let a staking pool operator, known as @KpunToN00b on X, create a transaction that passed on newer nodes but was rejected by older ones. That mismatch created two Cardano chains running in parallel for hours.

Shortly after, @KpunToN00b apologized in an X thread, saying they had no “evil intentions” and felt awful once they realized the impact.

“It started off as a ‘let's see if I can reproduce the bad transaction’ personal challenge and then I was dumb enough to rely on AI's instructions on how to block all traffic in/out of my Linux server without properly testing it on testnet first, and then watched in horror as the last block time on explorers froze,” @KpunToN00b wrote.

But Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson didn’t buy it, calling the act “absolutely personal” in an X post shortly after @KpunToN00b’s confession. Hoskinson noted that “the FBI is already involved,” prompting at least one Cardano developer to resign, citing fear that routine mistakes could now have serious consequences.

The issue was resolved within hours, but ADA dropped sharply on Friday and proceeded to trade sideways over the weekend, posting 17% losses on the week.

Etherscan Cuts Free Access

In other news from over the weekend, Etherscan, the most widely used blockchain explorer and API provider, got called out for suddenly cutting free API access to some networks.

In an X post on Nov. 22, Lefteris Karapetsas, founder of the open-source crypto portfolio app Rotki, slammed Etherscan for failing to notify in advance. Many teams were left stuck because the change came overnight during DevConnect.

“I completely sympathize with the difficulty of keeping a Free tier running for all chains. But guys come on at least: Give a heads up of some weeks/month so people who use that API can adjust. Don't do it during a conference week when everyone is not able to react due to travelling,” Karapetsas wrote.

Etherscan CEO Matthew Tan admitted the timing and communication could have been better, saying in an X post on Sunday, Nov. 23 that reducing coverage by roughly 10% was unavoidable given infrastructure pressures.

Bear Market Pending

On the market side, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw over $1.2 billion in outflows last week, marking the third consecutive week with over $1 billion in outflows, per SoSoValue. BTC is back up near $86,000, flat on the day and down about 10% over the past week.

BTC 7-day price chart. Source: CoinGecko

Analysts at NYDIG noted in a Friday research note that digital asset treasury (DAT) premiums are compressing as prices drop, with some vehicles trading 60% below their net asset values (NAV), meaning investors are buying shares at prices far below the value of the Bitcoin or other crypto the funds actually hold.

The analysts also said that Bitcoin had triggered a “death cross” earlier in the week when the 50-day moving average fell below the 200-day, though they noted that the indicator isn’t as bad as it sounds. Meanwhile, Coinglass’s 30 Bull Market Peak Indicators — an indication of the market top — still show none activated.

But as The Defiant explained earlier, over half of the 30 indicators have already passed the halfway point, meaning a cluster could hit critical levels at all at once, potentially surprising the crypto community and sparking a new wave of FUD.

Denis, staff reporter at The Defiant

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🎬WATCH

Tokenize Everything: Robert Leshner’s Vision for On-Chain Finance

In the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sits down with Robert Leshner — the mind behind Compound, and now the founder of Superstate — to discuss why DeFi itself shouldn’t change, but assets will, how tokenized T-bills, basis strategies, and even equities are finally getting institutional traction, and what happens when DeFi becomes the infrastructure powering TradFi.

Pluis. what he’d do differently after Compound’s messy transition to decentralized governance.

Top News Since Friday

NFT Lending TVL Nears All-Time Lows The NFT lending market has collapsed to single-digit millions in total value locked (TVL), plunging to levels last seen in 2022. Why it matters: One expert told The Defiant that rather than lending TVL, on-chain outstanding debt would be the “best lens for understanding the NFT lending market” right now because NFT collateral “is so illiquid.”
Build on Bitcoin Token Rallies on Coinbase Listing Despite the crypto market’s woes, newly launched token BOB, from the Build on Bitcoin BTCFi project, is rallying after a Coinbase listing. Why it matters: The rally, which continued today, could indicate investor interest in Bitcoin DeFi, despite the overall market slump.
United States, Korea, and Brazil Eye Crypto Tax Crackdown The Trump administration has brought greater legitimacy to the crypto and DeFi industries, and, as a result, countries such as the United States, Korea, and Brazil are considering new tax regulations for crypto transactions. Why it matters: In the U.S., crypto is currently treated as property, meaning it is subject to capital gains taxes, but exempt from certain rules that apply to equities.