Balancer attacker converts $48.7M ETH to 617 BTC, retains 1k ETH

A Balancer attacker has liquidated roughly 21,000 ETH (about $48.7M) into 617 BTC over three days while leaving ~1,000 ETH in the attacker address. That forced conversion and ongoing sell-off are exerting short-term selling pressure on Ethereum. Prediction-market signals show extreme bearish near-term sentiment: Polymarket rates the chance of ETH being above $2,600 on April 26 at just 0.2%, and a separate market prices “another $100M+ crypto hack by Dec. 31” at 100% YES. On-chain sleuths and firms like Chainalysis are being watched for follow-on movements; further liquidation of the remaining 1k ETH (or other large outflows) would likely deepen downward pressure on ETH prices.