Bitcoin Eyes $100K as Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade Looms—Wall Street Still Doesn’t Get It

BTC bulls charge toward six figures while ETH devs play the long game with a late-2025 hard fork. Meanwhile, traditional finance scrambles to explain why their ’bubble’ keeps inflating.

The Fusaka upgrade promises scalability fixes—but crypto’s real breakthrough? Proving skeptics wrong since 2009.

Crypto Market Developments

With Bitcoin still testing the crucial $95,000 resistance level, the whole bitcoin market is going through a phase of wary optimism. Market data shows that BTC has risen 30% from its April 7 low of $74,400, mostly due to declining US-China trade tensions and major inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs valued $3.06 billion last week alone.

As both a “hedge against political instability” and a risk asset responding to macroeconomic events, market observers highlight Bitcoin’s changing story. With market players now focusing on the lifetime of Bitcoin’s rising trend, investment company QCP Capital observed in a recent bulletin that this “flip-flowing between safe-haven and risk-asset behavior suggests that traditional correlation frameworks are becoming less instructive.”

Although institutional interest is still high, analysts believe Bitcoin would require a novel stimulus to cross the elusive $100,000 level. Lack of “sustained demand and fresh capital” is the key barrier preventing Bitcoin from reaching six figures, crypto analyst Tazman underlined.

Critical U.S. macroeconomic data includes the JOLTs report, CORE PCE data, ISM Manufacturing PMI, and the employment report will shape trader mood in the bitcoin market during the next week. These economic data could momentarily restrict the upward potential of Bitcoin as traders take a cautious approach during moments of events loaded.

Bitcoin Battling $95K Resistance, Bullish Trend Intact

Bitcoin BTC/USD has shown amazing tenacity as it carved out a narrow trading range between $93,000 and $95,500 since April 25, maintaining its posture NEAR $95,000 despite opposition at this level. Buyers are showing strength at lower levels, so avoiding notable downward movement and implying a phase of normal consolidation prior to the next step up.

Technical analysis shows that Bitcoin is still above its annual open at $93,340, which today provides daily support. Popular trader Mags underlined the relevance of the present price range and advised Bitcoin to aim at $106,000 should it hold.

The institutional demand for Bitcoin is still strong; hedge fund founder Dan Tapiero projects that rising market liquidity will drive Bitcoin to $180,000 by summer 2026. Based on assumptions that the Federal Reserve will not overlook macro signals indicating an economic downturn, Tapiero’s projection is predicated on more supportive monetary policy.

Currently trading around $1,797, Ethereum (ETH) is confronting major headwinds; it dropped 63% from its cycle high. Still, focus is now on the blockchain’s future because the Ethereum Foundation revealed intentions for the Fusaka hard fork, scheduled in Q3 or Q4 of 2025.

Ethereum Debating the Bottom Amidst Scaling and Competition

With Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko verifying that the contentious EVM Object Format (EOF) upgrade has been taken off the Fusaka implementation, the forthcoming update already sparks debate. Reasons for the removal were “technical uncertainty about its impact” and worries about it maybe postponing the implementation.

Structural improvements to how smart contracts run would have come from the EVM Object Format, including a container module for bytecode and substitute instructions to the present JUMP and JUMPI commands. EOF was “very complex,” according to critics, and because of its great attack surface might cause fresh vulnerabilities.

With $2.5 billion in fees expected in 2024 and $50.5 billion in total value locked, Ethereum ETH/USD continues to rule the DeFi industry despite these technical arguments.

BNB Chain Showing Resilience and Strong Activity

Emerging among the most durable altcoins available on the current market cycle is BNB Chain BNB/USD. Trading at over $605, BNB is down only roughly 10% from its previous cycle high, much outperforming numerous rivals including Ethereum.

Analyst João Wedson noted that “while most altcoins have suffered drops of up to -98.5% from their all-time highs, BNB stands out alongside BTC as one of the least affected cryptocurrencies.” With a network often ranking third in daily transactions (4 million) and active addresses (1.1 million), BNB Chain’s strong foundations support this pricing stability.

Based to DappRadar, BNB Chain’s ecosystem keeps growing to support 5,686 distributed apps (DApps), greater than any other blockchain including Ethereum (4,987). Third in total money locked in DeFi with $5.8 billion comes likewise from only Ethereum and Solana.

Although BNB Chain’s $194 million in 2024 lags behind rivals including Ethereum, Tron, Bitcoin, and Solana, its vast DApp ecosystem helps it to be well-positioned for future expansion as Web3 usage picks speed.

Top Altcoins to Watch Today

• XRP XRP/USD: XRP rebounded from its 20-day EMA showing positive sentiment as it approaches a key resistance line that, if broken, could signal a trend change and potential rally to $3.
• Solana SOL/USD: Solana faces resistance at $148-$153 but maintains strength with upsloping 20-day EMA and positive RSI, suggesting a breakthrough could clear the path to $180.
• Dogecoin DOGE/USD: Dogecoin has retreated to moving averages, with a potential double-bottom pattern targeting $0.28 if it can break above the $0.21 resistance.
• Cardano ADA/USD: Cardano remains positioned above moving averages with a pending bullish crossover, suggesting a break above $0.75 could propel it toward $0.83.
• Sui: Sui is consolidating near $3.90 resistance with persistent buying pressure that could trigger the next leg of its uptrend toward $4.25 and potentially $5 if broken.