While the cryptocurrency market is sharply losing weight amid another geopolitical conflict — an outcome that was widely anticipated — the Bank for International Settlements and its partners are taking Project Agor to a fundamentally new level: after two years of development the group is moving from simulations to live testing with real money.

As the bank's report states, participants in the project include the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and, from the private sector, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Mastercard and Visa. Tim Adams, head of the Institute of International Finance, who organized private sector participation, said that the initiative would benefit the entire financial system. He added that it is crucial to do the work correctly rather than rush results. The Bank of Canada has already joined the project, and additional private sector participants are expected shortly.

At the system's core lies the BIS concept of a "single ledger" — a platform that unites tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits. The key technical solution is atomic settlement: before executing a transaction, the system gathers all necessary information in advance and then updates balances simultaneously across all participating banks. In practice this compresses processes that today take days into a matter of seconds. Despite the use of blockchain technology, the project intentionally preserves the correspondent banking architecture and all existing control mechanisms — sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering systems remain in place.

All of that is positive for the development of blockchain and digital currencies, but it does nothing to help Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins in the near term.

Trading recommendations:

Buyers of BTC are currently targeting a return to $73,100, which would open a direct path to $74,700 and then to $76,500; breaking $76,500 would signal attempts to restore a bull market. On the downside, buyers are expected at $71,400. A return of price beneath that area could quickly push BTC toward $69,800. The furthest target on the downside would be $68,000.

As for Ethereum, a clear hold above $2,026 would open a direct route to $2,084. The farther target is the high near $2,128; a break above that level would indicate strengthening bullish sentiment and renewed buyer interest. On the downside, buyers are expected at $1,969. A drop below that point could rapidly send ETH toward $1,911, with a deeper target at $1,845.

What we see on the chart:

- Red lines indicate support and resistance levels where either a price slowdown or active growth is expected;

- Green lines indicate the 50-day moving average;

- Blue lines indicate the 100-day moving average;

- Light green lines indicate the 200-day moving average.

A crossover, or a price test of moving averages, typically either halts the move or sparks fresh market momentum.