Bitcoin may have already bottomed in early February at around $60,000 and is unlikely to go lower this year, according to a crypto analyst, despite expectations of another downturn.

“The dozens of bottom signals only flashed in synchrony at the bottoms. They were not flashing in the middle. Yet they all flashed in Q1 2026 at 60k,” Matthew Hyland said in an X post on Friday.

“To compare the current price action to mid bear market price action has major visible flaws because you did not have bottom signals flashing in the middle; they flashed at the bottoms,” Hyland said, pointing to chart movements in prior cycles.

Source: Matthew Hyland

Analysts are divided over whether $60,000 was the bottom

Bitcoin (BTC) analysts have recently been divided over whether the asset already bottomed in February or if it still has further downside in this cycle.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt said in March that $60,000 may not be the lowest level for 2026, forecasting that Bitcoin could retest or even move “slightly lower” in September or October this year.

Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo said in an X post on March 17 that, from a liquidity perspective, Bitcoin is about one-third of the way “through the bear market.”

More recently, in an X post on Friday, MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe pointed to a forming pattern on Bitcoin’s short-to-long-term realized value ratio chart to argue that Bitcoin is nearing the end of the bear phase.

“The levels are hit again, which shows that we’re at the end of the bear market, and not at the start,” van de Poppe said.

Source: Michael van de Poppe

Bitcoin recently reached its highest price in three months

Bitcoin reached $82,499 on Wednesday, its highest price since Jan. 31. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $79,646, approximately 32.74% higher than the $60,000 level it reached in February, according to CoinMarketCap.

Related: Bitcoin bulls target $115K by December: Does data back the expectation?

Bitcoin analyst Kyle Chasse pointed out the price increase in an X post on Thursday, saying he expects further upside in the near term.

“$82,000 this week. Up 5% in five days. Crypto legislation is moving through Congress. Iran peace talks reducing risk-off pressure,” Chasse said.

“The technicals are clean. Bull-stacked moving averages. Shorts getting squeezed,” Chasse said, adding that the “next wall” is $85,000.

“Above that, the path to $100k opens back up,” Chasse said.

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Digital Asset Holdings, the enterprise blockchain company behind the Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain network for financial institutions with privacy features, is reportedly raising fresh capital at a $2 billion valuation.

The $300 million round is being led by venture capital firm a16z crypto, and is expected to close in several weeks, according to Bloomberg, which cited unidentified people with knowledge of the deal.

The report comes less than a year after Digital Asset announced it had raised $135 million in a strategic funding round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets. A company spokesman on Sunday declined to comment in response to an email query from Cointelegraph.

In December, Digital Asset, the Canton Network and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced a partnership to enable the tokenization of DTCC-custodied assets on the Canton Network.

Canton Network topology. Source: Canton Network Whitepaper

Last week, DTCC announced plans to pilot trading of tokenized versions of some of the $114 trillion in liquid assets that it custodies beginning in July with a goal of a full service launch in October.

Related: Canton, ZKsync clash over how blockchains enforce rules

Financial institutions are onboarding or experimenting with Canton Network

While the Canton Network has drawn mixed reactions from the crypto community over its role in the blockchain ecosystem and its level of decentralization, it continues to onboard global financial institutions, banks and government entities.

In March, financial rating agency Moody’s deployed its ratings data on the network, allowing financial institutions to use the data directly within blockchain workflows, making it the first credit ratings firm to publish its data onchain, according to an announcement from the firm.

In April, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), a financial clearinghouse and settlement service for equities, commodities and derivatives, announced it was testing onchain government bonds on the Network.

More specifically, JSCC is testing whether ownership of Japan’s government bonds can be transferred onchain and used as digital collateral. 

The Canton Coin’s price action since December 2025. Source: CoinMarketCap

Earlier this month, Swiss crypto bank Amina, announced custody and trading support for Canton Coin, the utility token of the Canton Network.

Amina is the first bank regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to announce support for the Canton token, according to an announcement from the crypto bank.

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