The US Marines' action heightens military tensions, impacting Strait of Hormuz trade normalization odds and risking potential Iranian retaliation.
The post US Marines seize Iranian vessel in Gulf of Oman, enforcing blockade appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The exposure of Iran's terror network may accelerate regime instability, potentially paving the way for leadership changes by 2026.
The post Israel exposes global Iranian terror network linked to IRGC’s Unit 4000 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The incident heightens tensions, solidifying expectations of Israeli military action in Beirut, while casting doubt on ceasefire stability.
The post Israeli troops kill suspected terrorist crossing truce line in Lebanon appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Khamenei's firm leadership stance may delay political shifts, impacting Iran's stability and influencing regional geopolitical dynamics.
The post Khamenei’s Telegram message signals firm grip on Iranian leadership appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The IDF's actions highlight the fragility of ceasefires and could lead to market volatility if traders reassess the ceasefire's viability.
The post IDF strikes southern Lebanon despite US-brokered ceasefire appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Bitcoin Magazine

Jason Lowery Appointed Special Assistant to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander, Bringing Bitcoin Strategic Expertise
Jason Lowery, former Deputy Director of Technology & Innovation at the United States Space Force, and author of Softwar: A Novel Theory on Power Projection and the National Strategic Significance of Bitcoin, has announced his new role as Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
In a LinkedIn update, he shared his Honor to receive the appointment, explaining that “In this new position, I will directly advise and report to the Combatant Commander on strategic priorities affecting the Department of Defense and the Indo-Pacific region.” Lowery added, “It’s a humbling responsibility during a critical time for our national security posture. I’m grateful for the trust placed in me to support this level of leadership, and excited to contribute to the mission.”
Lowery rose to Bitcoin fame as he made the case that Bitcoin is a new landscape of military technology and defense, where power is projected not via bullets, missiles or drones, but by commanding more hashing power, which governs Bitcoin’s proof of work protocol. Those who control enough hashing power can guarantee the confirmation of their Bitcoin transactions, and in extreme cases, those who dominate the hash rate can interfere in the confirmation of their enemies’ transactions. The thesis, which is best understood by reading Lowery’s work, poses Bitcoin as a fundamental change in military technology, akin to the discovery and proliferation of gunpowder or aviation.
The announcement comes just days after Iran told FT they would specifically accept Bitcoin for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. While there have been no reports of the Bitcoin Toll of Hormuz becoming a reality yet, the story made international news and appears to have reached the halls of power in D.C. and the Department of War. While the Gulf states and the Strait of Hormuz fall under a different division of the DoW called CENTCOM, the timing of Lowery’s appointment nevertheless demonstrates a recognition of Bitcoin’s strategic value in geopolitics. He will be advising command over a wide region, including China, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean regions, many of which benefit tremendously from Gulf oil that passes through Hormuz. Some reports suggest China drew up 42% of its oil from affected Gulf states before the war.
This post Jason Lowery Appointed Special Assistant to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander, Bringing Bitcoin Strategic Expertise first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.
Bitcoin Magazine

Capital B Buys 12 Bitcoin, Expands Treasury to 2,937 BTC
Capital B, the listed arm of The Blockchain Group, confirmed the acquisition of 12 bitcoin as it continues to build out its treasury strategy centered on the digital asset.
The company said it spent €0.8 million on the purchase, bringing total holdings to 2,937 BTC. The group’s aggregate acquisition cost stands at €270.1 million, with an average purchase price of €91,975 per bitcoin, according to a note shared with Bitcoin Magazine.
The latest buy follows a series of transactions since early 2026, with the company reporting a year-to-date BTC yield of 1.57%. It also posted a BTC gain of 44.4 BTC and a BTC-denominated gain of €2.9 million over the same period. Quarterly figures show a 0.85% yield and a gain of 24.4 BTC.
Last week, the company confirmed the purchase of 37 BTC for €2.3 million, at a reference price of €60,892 per coin, as part of its ongoing Bitcoin Treasury strategy.
Alongside the purchase, Capital B completed several financing actions tied to its treasury strategy.
The firm confirmed the full exercise of 16.6 million BSA 2025-01 warrants, which converted into 2.36 million ordinary shares. The transaction raised about €1.29 million. The company noted that the warrants expired on April 10, 2026, and any unexercised rights are now void.
Capital B also carried out a capital increase under its at-the-market agreement with TOBAM. The issuance of 370,701 new shares at an average price of €0.60 generated €0.22 million. The price reflects a discount to the recent market close, based on the agreement’s pricing mechanism tied to trading volumes and prior-day benchmarks.
The proceeds from these operations supported the latest bitcoin acquisition.
The company positions itself as a Bitcoin Treasury Company, with a stated objective of increasing the amount of bitcoin held per fully diluted share over time. Its model mirrors a growing trend among public firms that allocate capital to bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Custody and execution for the latest purchase were handled by Swissquote Bank Europe SA, with assets secured through infrastructure provided by Taurus.
Capital B operates subsidiaries focused on data intelligence, artificial intelligence, and decentralized technology consulting. Its shares trade on Euronext Growth Paris.
The company’s capital structure reflects a mix of institutional and public investors, including Blockstream Capital Partners, TOBAM funds, and other shareholders. Following the latest transactions, total shares outstanding stand at about 274.9 million on an ordinary basis and 394.8 million on a fully diluted basis.
Earlier today, Strategy (MSTR) added 34,164 BTC for $2.54B, its third-largest purchase, bringing total holdings to 815,061 BTC acquired at an average cost of about $75,527 per coin. The move pushed the company ahead of BlackRock in total Bitcoin holdings, with its position now roughly near break-even as BTC trades around $75,000.
Disclaimer: Bitcoin Magazine is owned by Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA). Nakamoto Inc. also owns UTXO Management. UTXO Management invests in Capital B.
This post Capital B Buys 12 Bitcoin, Expands Treasury to 2,937 BTC first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Cross $1B Last Week in Inflows as Cumulative Flows Approach Record High
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $996.4 million last week, marking the strongest weekly intake since mid-January. The move extends a three-week inflow streak that has added more than $1.8 billion to the category and pushed year-to-date flows above $1 billion after a prior stretch of net outflows.
BlackRock’s IBIT led issuance with $906 million in net inflows during the week. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT posted $71 million in inflows in its first full trading week after launch on April 8. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded $275.8 million in net inflows over the same period.
ETF accumulation continues to define bitcoin market structure in 2026. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs bought 8,572 BTC on Friday alone. The ten-day net accumulation rate reached 24,197 BTC. Total holdings sit 3.71% below the peak recorded on October 10, 2025, despite a large price decline during the same period.
Cumulative net flows across U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs sit near $58 billion. The peak level reached $62.8 billion. The gap between current and peak cumulative flows stands near $5 billion. This metric remains the central reference point for institutional adoption tracking because it reflects total capital entering the product set since launch, minus all withdrawals.
Market structure data shows sustained demand from institutional allocators. Weekly inflows have returned after a period of net redemption pressure. The recovery follows a full reversal of prior outflows and extends the category back into positive territory on a year-to-date basis.
ETF demand has become a dominant component of bitcoin supply absorption. New issuance from mining remains limited relative to ETF accumulation rates. The imbalance between supply and demand continues to influence liquidity conditions across spot venues.
Morgan Stanley’s newly minted MSBT Bitcoin ETF recorded $116M in net inflows in its first week, a small figure against the firm’s $1.9T asset base but notable for a new crypto product in a competitive ETF market.
Despite trailing giants like BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, the launch signals growing bank involvement in Bitcoin ETFs, with its low 0.14% fee positioning it as a cost-competitive and legitimacy-driven entry point.
Price action across all ETFs remains sensitive to flow regimes. Bitcoin ETF inflows tend to align with stronger bid support in spot markets, while outflow periods coincide with reduced demand absorption. The latest inflow wave coincides with stabilization in broader risk assets and renewed positioning from institutional desks.
The composition of inflows shows concentration in large products. IBIT continues to capture the majority of flows across the category. Smaller and newer funds show uneven participation, though MSBT recorded early traction in its first full trading week.
Across global products, cumulative ETP demand shows a similar direction. Institutional accumulation remains a key driver of total bitcoin demand alongside corporate treasury purchases and long-term holder retention.
ETF holdings remain close to record levels despite volatility in price. This divergence between holdings and price reflects sustained accumulation during drawdowns rather than distribution. The structure suggests long-duration allocation behavior rather than short-term trading exposure.
This post Spot Bitcoin ETFs Cross $1B Last Week in Inflows as Cumulative Flows Approach Record High first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy (MSTR) Buys $2.54B in Bitcoin in Third-Largest Purchase, Surpasses BlackRock Holdings
Strategy added 34,164 bitcoin to its treasury last week, spending about $2.54 billion in one of the largest single purchases in its history, according to a Monday regulatory filing.
The acquisition was made at an average price of $74,395 per bitcoin and brings the company’s total holdings to 815,061 BTC. Strategy has now spent roughly $61.56 billion accumulating bitcoin at an average cost basis of $75,527 per coin. This is Strategy’s third largest bitcoin purchase.
With bitcoin trading near $75,000, the firm’s position sits close to its aggregate purchase price, leaving the holdings near break-even after recent market volatility.
Strategy has overtaken BlackRock in total bitcoin holdings with this latest purchase.The firm led by Michael Saylor now holds 815,061 BTC, surpassing BlackRock’s 802,823 BTC, which is primarily held through its spot bitcoin ETF products.
The latest buy marks the company’s third-largest purchase on record and its most aggressive accumulation since late 2024. Strategy remains the largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, continuing a balance sheet strategy first introduced in 2020.
Executive Chairman Saylor signaled the move ahead of the announcement, posting a message over the weekend urging observers to “think even bigger,” a phrase that has become associated with the company’s ongoing bitcoin accumulation campaign.
The purchases were financed through a combination of equity issuance and preferred stock sales. Strategy raised about $366 million through the sale of common shares and approximately $2.18 billion through its perpetual preferred stock offering known as STRC.
The STRC instrument has taken on a central role in funding recent acquisitions. The preferred stock carries a variable dividend structure designed to maintain a price near par value while offering an annualized yield of about 11.5%. The company recently proposed shifting dividend payments from a monthly to a semi-monthly schedule, a move aimed at improving liquidity and reducing reinvestment delays.
Strategy continues to expand its capital raising capacity. Billions of dollars in additional common and preferred shares remain authorized for issuance under existing programs. These efforts form part of a broader plan to raise significant capital through equity and convertible instruments to fund further bitcoin purchases through 2027.
The scale of Strategy’s holdings now represents more than 3.8% of bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins, underscoring the firm’s outsized role in the market.
Shares of Strategy declined about 2.5% in pre-market trading following the disclosure, reflecting investor sensitivity to both bitcoin price movements and the company’s continued reliance on capital markets to fund acquisitions.
Strategy is moving to increase the frequency of payouts on its STRC preferred stock, signaling a push to make the Bitcoin-backed instrument more attractive to income-focused investors.
In a proposal, the company said it plans to shift STRC (Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock) dividends from a monthly to a semi-monthly schedule. The change would effectively split the current 11.50% annualized yield into two payments each month, offering more frequent cash flow and input to shareholders.
The adjustment reflects growing demand for shorter-duration income streams, particularly as Bitcoin markets remain volatile. With BTC trading near $74,000, Strategy appears to be positioning STRC as a more responsive yield product for both institutional and retail investors seeking regular liquidity.
STRC’s structure is designed to maintain a stable $100 par value through a variable dividend mechanism. When the share price dips below that level, the yield is increased to incentivize demand and support price stability. This dynamic rate-setting process — currently adjusted monthly — could become more reactive under a semi-monthly framework.
At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is dancing between $75,000 and $76,000.
This post Strategy (MSTR) Buys $2.54B in Bitcoin in Third-Largest Purchase, Surpasses BlackRock Holdings first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Bitcoin Magazine

Lydian Launches Visa Platinum Crypto Card to Enable Everyday Spending of Digital Assets
Lydian has launched the Lydian Card, a co-branded Visa Platinum card issued by Rain that allows users to spend more than 300 supported digital assets, including stablecoins and major cryptocurrencies, across Visa’s global merchant network.
The card is available in both physical and instant-issue virtual formats and can be used wherever Visa is accepted, giving cardholders access to more than 150 million merchants worldwide, according to a release seen by Bitcoin Magazine. Users will be able to fund, manage, and track transactions through an app or online dashboard, aiming to streamline the conversion of digital assets into everyday purchasing power.
The launch comes amid rapid growth in crypto-linked payment cards. Industry data cited by the company shows monthly crypto card spending has surged from $100 million in early 2023 to more than $1.5 billion today, with forecasts suggesting digital asset spending access could expand by 66%. The trend reflects a shift among crypto holders from passive storage toward active spending.
Lydian is leveraging Rain’s stablecoin-native infrastructure, which supports wallets, cards, onramps, and offramps. Rain recently reported significant growth, including a 30-fold expansion in the past year and a $250 million Series C round that brought its valuation to $1.95 billion.
Executives from both companies said the goal is to reduce friction in crypto payments and make digital assets usable in everyday commerce through existing Visa infrastructure.
Carl Grimstad, CEO of Lydian, said: “Digital asset holders have long struggled to use their funds in everyday life. Converting tokens manually, navigating limited merchant acceptance, and wrestling with clunky user experiences has made spending crypto more complicated than it needs to be. The Lydian Card turns this all on its head.
“Whether tapping in-store or making a purchase online, the Lydian Card makes it simple to spend digital assets. Supported by Visa’s global network and powered by Rain’s infrastructure, the card enables a seamless shift from digital ownership to everyday use, helping users and merchants participate in the $4 trillion digital asset economy.”
Farooq Malik, CEO & co-founder of Rain, said: “Tokenized money and digital assets hold huge potential, but mainstream adoption only happens if spending them in the real-world is actually easy to do. Historically, getting this right has been tricky and complex.
“By using Rain’s on-chain card issuance solution, Lydian is making it convenient for cardholders to use their digital assets everywhere Visa is accepted — a critical step toward unlocking continued usage around the world.”
This post Lydian Launches Visa Platinum Crypto Card to Enable Everyday Spending of Digital Assets first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf chose a strange phrase for a dangerous moment. In the middle of a live crisis around the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s parliament speaker mocked “vibe-trading digital oil” and took a swipe at US Treasuries as well, turning a market argument into part of a wartime message campaign.
The immediate surface read is easy enough. A senior Iranian official wanted to ridicule speculative pricing and frame physical oil as the real thing.
The deeper significance sits somewhere else. A state actor in the middle of a regional conflict is now speaking directly to the way risk is being priced on crypto-native rails.
That shift deserves more attention than the phrasing itself. Oil has always carried military weight, inflation risk, and political leverage.
What changed over the past several weeks is the venue through which some of that risk gets expressed first. As CryptoSlate documented in late March, the market for 24/7 oil exposure accelerated as geopolitical shocks kept landing outside the operating hours of traditional exchanges.
The world does not pause on weekends, so traders increasingly want a venue that stays open when the old infrastructure is dark.
The Iran angle carries more force than a generic crossover between geopolitics and crypto. Tehran is no longer talking about crypto as a sanctions story, a payments workaround, or a symbolic side channel.
It is reacting to a market function. When a public official in a war zone starts arguing about “digital oil,” the implication is that these synthetic and crypto-linked instruments have become visible enough to enter the information battle around price itself.
The timing carries extra significance because the Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most important chokepoints. The International Energy Agency says around 20 million barrels per day moved through the strait in 2025, about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade.
The US Energy Information Administration says flows through Hormuz accounted for more than one quarter of global seaborne oil trade and about one-fifth of oil and petroleum product consumption, alongside around one-fifth of global LNG trade.
Those numbers pull the issue out of crypto-native abstraction very quickly. A disruption there can bleed into fuel prices, shipping costs, inflation expectations, central-bank bets, and broader market stress.
Ghalibaf has already been leaning into market language throughout this conflict. Last week, after Washington tightened pressure around Hormuz, he warned that Americans would grow “nostalgic” for cheaper gasoline.
CryptoSlate also reported that Iran had floated Bitcoin-denominated payments for tanker passage, pulling BTC directly into a coercive chokepoint debate. Today’s attack on “digital oil” extends that pattern.
Tehran is speaking in the language of price, and that reveals something important on its own. Crypto has moved closer to the front edge of global market signaling during conflict, and public officials can see it.
The central mechanism here is simple and powerful. Legacy oil markets still have defined hours, established benchmarks, and deeper institutional roots.
Conflict does not respect those hours. Missiles, naval warnings, tanker disruptions, and diplomatic breakdowns tend to land whenever they land.
That leaves a gap between the moment risk arrives and the moment conventional venues fully reopen. Crypto-native derivatives platforms have spent the past few months filling that gap.
The strongest example has been Hyperliquid. In March, Bloomberg reported that an oil-linked perpetual contract on the platform generated more than $1.2 billion in 24-hour volume as Middle East tensions intensified.
CryptoSlate later noted that wartime oil trading helped push HYPE into the crypto top 10, with the token gaining a second channel of demand as traders used the venue to express oil views around the clock.
Hyperliquid’s oil-linked contracts have become a live venue for traders who want exposure before mainstream markets come back online.
Crypto did not suddenly take over the global oil price. Brent, WTI, physical barrels, and legacy futures venues still anchor the market.
What crypto venues are beginning to influence is the first tradable reaction when the old system is shut. In fast markets, that first reaction can carry real weight.
It shapes sentiment, frames expectations, and gives traders a reference point before more established benchmarks catch up. During an active conflict, first-reaction pricing can become the first draft of the broader macro move.
That is why Ghalibaf’s language stands out. He appears to be dismissing a pricing mechanism because that mechanism has become inconvenient.
Physical oil still rules the real economy, while synthetic and crypto-linked oil markets now help translate fear, scarcity, and military risk into a visible price before dawn in New York and before London is fully engaged.
Once that translation begins, the move can travel. The people trading those contracts are reacting to the same geopolitical stress that will later hit energy desks, rate markets, and equity futures.
The broader backdrop reinforces the tension. The market structure around 24/7 trading is expanding beyond crypto itself.
In late March, Wintermute launched a round-the-clock crude product through OTC channels. The same report pointed to a broader migration across finance, with tokenized equities, extended-hours settlement, and new 24-hour trading pushes gathering momentum.
Once that architecture spreads, the distinction between “crypto market” and “macro market after hours” starts to thin out.
Two paths now sit in front of the market, and both carry weight. One path leads to persistence.
If traders keep using crypto rails during geopolitical shocks, platforms built for continuous trading gain a durable foothold in macro price discovery. The other path leads to retrenchment.
If the conflict cools and volume collapses back to pre-crisis levels, the past several weeks still stand as proof points of what opens up when the legacy clock fails. Either way, the old assumption that oil, war, and macro risk belong to one world while crypto belongs to another looks weaker than it did a month ago.
Bitcoin enters this picture through consequence rather than analogy. BTC is one step removed from the direct oil trade and sits one layer downstream, where oil shocks feed inflation anxiety, rate repricing, and broader risk appetite.
That chain comes into focus because the latest energy data already shows the conflict hitting the real economy. In its April Oil Market Report, the IEA said global oil demand is now expected to contract by 80,000 barrels a day this year, a dramatic reversal from the growth outlook it carried just a month earlier.
The agency also said global oil supply plunged by 10.1 million barrels a day to 97 million barrels a day in March, calling the disruption tied to attacks on energy infrastructure and restrictions through Hormuz the largest in history.
Those numbers reach far beyond energy desks. Higher oil prices can harden inflation pressure.
Harder inflation pressure can delay or dilute expectations for easier monetary policy. That is the bridge back to Bitcoin.
When markets push rate cuts further out, the effect often spills over to speculative and duration-sensitive assets as well. Traders can track that chain in real time through the CME FedWatch tool, where rate expectations shift as inflation risk and macro stress evolve.
That dynamic helps explain why Bitcoin can attract attention during geopolitical chaos while still trading like a risk asset when the oil impulse grows too strong. According to CryptoSlate’s latest BTC market data, Bitcoin changed hands at about $75,219 on April 20, up 0.19% over 24 hours, up 6.22% over seven days, and up 6.51% over 30 days.
Those numbers show resilience. They also show that BTC is trading inside a larger macro frame rather than floating above it.
There is a reason the cleaner direct market expression of this specific wartime shift has been Hyperliquid rather than Bitcoin itself. CryptoSlate’s latest HYPE data shows the token at around $40.87, down 5.60% on the day, down 1.81% over seven days, and still up 3.26% over 30 days.
That profile looks less like a simple fear trade and more like a venue trade, a bet that continuous access to macro risk has become a business in its own right.
The most human part of the whole picture remains easy to miss. Most people will never trade an oil perpetual contract on a crypto platform.
They will still feel the consequences if wartime risk keeps lifting energy prices, tightening supply chains, and forcing central banks into a harder posture. That is why Ghalibaf’s broadside carries more bite than it first appears to.
He is arguing about price formation because price formation is where conflict turns into lived cost. In that sense, the clash over “digital oil” is a clash over who gets to shape the first market answer when the world jolts after hours.
If this pattern holds, crypto’s next phase may look less like an isolated parallel economy and more like an overnight extension of global finance, especially in moments when old systems are closed, and the pressure is highest.
If the pattern fades, the last several weeks still offered a revealing preview. A live military crisis pushed oil speculation onto crypto rails; Iran responded by attacking the legitimacy of “digital oil” in public, and Bitcoin found itself caught in the same chain reaction that runs from conflict to crude to inflation to risk.
That is a very different place for crypto to stand than the one it occupied a few cycles ago.
The post Crypto trading joins wartime propaganda as “digital oil” called out amid volatile US-Iran ceasefire trading appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The S&P 500 closed at 7,126 on April 17, another record, while the University of Michigan’s preliminary April consumer sentiment reading fell to 47.6, the weakest print in the survey’s history.
The split on the screen looks surreal.
Charlie Bilello shared the chart below, highlighting the gap.

Wall Street is trading at altitude. Households are signaling something far darker.
Bitcoin sits in the middle of that gap, pulled between its hard-asset mythology and its actual behavior in a market regime still dominated by equity risk, ETF flows, and macro positioning.
That tension gives the current setup its shape. It also gives the dot-com comparison a fresh audience, because the concern centers on the anatomy of late-cycle rallies.
A recent look under the hood of the S&P 500 shows how much of the earnings revision support has come from a narrow group of names, with Micron alone accounting for 51% of positive earnings revisions since the Iran war began.
That sits alongside concentration data showing the top 10 holdings at 35.5% of SPY and the Mag 7 at 30.4%.
The index can keep climbing in that kind of structure. It can also become more fragile in exactly the moment it looks strongest.
For Bitcoin, the core question is straightforward.
If the stock rally turns out to be thinner than the headline index suggests, does BTC absorb the shock like a high-beta extension of risk appetite, or does it hold up as distrust in the broader system spreads?
Recent market behavior leans toward the first answer.
In March, Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation with the S&P 500 rose to 0.74, the highest level of the year.
That does not settle the long-term identity debate around Bitcoin. It does narrow the short-term map.
In this phase, BTC has been moving in sync with stocks, and many holders want it to trade as an alternative.
The clearest way to understand the present moment starts with the household side of the economy, because that is where the emotional reality comes through most sharply.
The Michigan survey sank 10.7% from March, with current conditions at 50.1 and expectations at 46.1.
Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director, said the slide extended a decline that began with the start of the Iran conflict, while respondents pointed to high prices, weaker asset values, and worsening buying conditions for durable goods and vehicles.
One-year inflation expectations jumped from 3.8% to 4.8%, the largest monthly increase since April 2025.
This is what a squeezed consumer sounds like.
Gas, groceries, financing costs, and uncertainty around household balance sheets all show up in that reading.
Energy is part of the bridge between Main Street and the market.
U.S. crude has risen to $87 and Brent to $95 after renewed tension in the Strait of Hormuz, with national average gasoline prices around $4.05 a gallon.
The survey itself points back to the Iran conflict as a driver of deteriorating sentiment.
Consumers do not need to model earnings revisions or passive inflows to feel this.
They experience it at the pump, in their shopping cart, and in how they think about replacing a car or taking on new credit.
At the same time, the equity market has been behaving as if those pressures are manageable.
The S&P 500 keeps printing all-time highs, and the Nasdaq just logged one of its most powerful bursts on record.
Plenty of that move has a rational foundation.
Earnings have held up better than feared in key pockets of the market, and hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East have offered investors a reason to take on risk again.
Even so, the divergence has widened into something difficult to ignore.
Household psychology is signaling strain. Asset prices are still signaling resilience.
That gap creates the natural tension around Bitcoin.
Crypto holders do not need another abstract debate about whether consumer sentiment can predict a recession.
The practical question is: what happens to BTC if the market decides that households have been sending the truer signal?
Bitcoin is trading around $75,500 on CryptoSlate, down 0.40% over 24 hours, up 6.3% over seven days, and up 6.5% over 30 days.
The coin has stabilized, and ETF demand has helped, though the price structure still sits 41.3% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,198.
That leaves room for two very different interpretations.
One sees consolidation ahead of another leg higher. The other sees a market still tethered to the same macro forces that lift and threaten equities.
The Nasdaq chart from 2000 has a way of resurfacing every time a market gets stretched.
It resurfaces for a reason.
Bear markets often feature violent countertrend rallies that feel persuasive in real time.
The 2000 to 2002 sequence included rebounds of 35%, 12%, 25%, 41%, and 45% before the full drawdown ended at 78%. Thierry Borgeat shared the chart below.

That pattern reminds investors that powerful upside bursts can happen inside broader periods of repricing.
It also reminds them that the path and destination can point in different directions for a long stretch.
Today’s setup still carries a different structure.
The late-1990s market was loaded with companies built on fragile business models, speculative capital, and distant earnings promises.
Today’s leaders are larger, richer, and far more cash generative.
That changes the comparison. It also raises a different risk.
When leadership narrows, and index performance depends on a smaller and smaller set of engines, the benchmark can project strength even as participation beneath it thins.
That is why the recent market internals warrant more attention than the “pure bubble” label.
Goldman Sachs data show that Micron was responsible for 51% of S&P 500 earnings-per-share revisions since the Iran war began, while Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips together contributed another 29%, and Broadcom 10%.
The median S&P 500 company saw no change in earnings expectations.
That leaves the rally resting on a narrow support base.
It does not guarantee a break, though it leaves the structure more exposed to disappointment in a small number of names and sectors.
Concentration data points in the same direction.
The top 10 holdings in SPY (35.59%) and the Mag 7 (30.44%) tell the same story in plain English.
A lot of the market’s apparent health is sitting on a small platform.
Valuations remain elevated, too.
YCharts’ cyclically adjusted P/E data and other long-run valuation measures reflect a market priced for confidence.
When leadership narrows, it takes fewer weak points to change the tone of the whole market.
When positioning is crowded, the unwind can travel faster than the buildup did.
Bitcoin’s role in that setup has changed over the last year.
Spot ETFs have made BTC a more direct channel for institutional capital, bringing both sponsorship and sensitivity.
SoSoValue’s Bitcoin ETF dashboard shows the sector attracting meaningful capital again, with $664 million in net inflows on April 17, following a March rebound after months of outflows.
Those flows can cushion a weak session.
They can also transmit a broader risk appetite straight into crypto.
Bitcoin gains a larger buyer base through ETFs, and it also inherits more of Wall Street’s mood swings through the same door.
That leaves Bitcoin in a position that feels unresolved, which is the central tension running through the market now.
It is caught between two roles.
One role is a liquid risk asset that tends to run when stocks run, especially when ETF inflows are healthy and macro stress is easing.
The other role is a harder asset that can attract capital when confidence in the broader financial order weakens.
In previous cycles, those narratives often took turns. This time, they are competing in the same frame.
The near-term market still favors the risk-asset interpretation.
Bitcoin’s elevated correlation with the S&P 500 shows how the market has been treating BTC as part of the same broader appetite for risk.
The current price data on CryptoSlate’s Bitcoin page shows recovery, though the market has not yet reclaimed its prior peak.
A calm macro backdrop, continued ETF buying, and broader participation in equities could keep that stabilization going.
In that path, Bitcoin would likely keep grinding higher alongside the same forces lifting tech and large-cap growth.
A more consequential path opens if the divergence between Wall Street and households closes through falling asset prices rather than through improving consumer confidence.
That is where Bitcoin’s identity test becomes tangible.
A crack in equities driven by narrow leadership, fading systematic support, or renewed energy stress would put immediate pressure on BTC if the current correlation regime holds.
The move would not need a crypto-specific trigger.
Stocks could do the work on their own, and Bitcoin could absorb the second-order impact through sentiment, positioning, and ETF flows.
There is another route as well, and it is the one Bitcoin bulls still have in mind.
If household stress persists, inflation fears remain sticky, and confidence in traditional assets weakens without turning into outright liquidation, Bitcoin could begin to trade more like a parallel store of value than a leveraged tech proxy.
That path is harder to call from today’s evidence.
It would likely require relative strength against the Nasdaq during a wobble in equities, along with steady ETF inflows and renewed demand for assets perceived as outside direct sovereign control.
The setup is possible. The market has not yet confirmed it.
For now, the live detail sits in the split-screen itself.
Stocks are celebrating, consumers are retreating, oil is still capable of repricing inflation expectations overnight, and Bitcoin is holding a middle ground that may not hold forever.
That is why the comparison to 2000 keeps returning.
It captures the emotional risk of powerful rallies that arrive on uneasy foundations.
It also leaves room for a more precise conclusion.
The current market does not need to be a replay of the dot-com bubble for Bitcoin holders to have a real exposure problem.
A concentrated stock rally and a deeply pessimistic consumer can coexist for a while.
They rarely coexist without consequence.
The post What Happens to Bitcoin if the TradFi rally breaks? Wall Street keeps printing record highs but consumer confidence just hit rock bottom appeared first on CryptoSlate.
KelpDAO's $292 million rsETH exploit landed at the wrong moment for DeFi. Roughly $10 billion left the sector over the weekend, after confidence had already been shaken by Drift Protocol's April 1 breach and Venus's March post-mortem.
That combination makes DeFi's problem harder to ignore. While open DeFi may still be alive for now, it is losing the case for being the default gateway to on-chain finance. Stablecoins, tokenized Treasuries, and regulated settlement rails continue to scale, while permissionless protocols continue to absorb the trust discount.
A hack scoreboard circulating on X captures the mood.
Some incidents are well documented. Some remain live situations. Some blur the line between protocol exploit, bridge failure, and user compromise. The safer route is to anchor the piece to verified 2026 failures and to the competitive shift they expose.
This moment feels different from the heyday of the DeFi Summer in 2019 and the bull run of 2021, which now feel like distant memories. Back then, DeFi sold the market on openness, speed, and composability. In 2026, those same traits still matter, but they no longer come with automatic narrative prestige.
Each large exploit raises the cost of trusting the stack, while the safest and fastest-growing corners of on-chain finance increasingly look like payment rails, Treasury wrappers, and regulated tokenized products rather than reflexive token ecosystems.
The live test is whether open DeFi can rebuild trust fast enough to keep default-front-end status. Right now, the sector looks squeezed rather than finished.
The easiest mistake after a big exploit is to treat every failure as another smart-contract bug. Drift's loss of about $285 million is a good example of why that frame is getting stale.
Chainalysis described a breach built around privileged access, pre-signed administrative actions, and fake collateral rather than a simple line-by-line contract failure. The market got another lesson in how much DeFi risk now lives in governance paths, signer workflows, and operational complexity.
That detail changes what users are being asked to trust. Audits and battle-tested code still matter, but they do not cover the full path from signer to bridge to oracle to market configuration. Once the system spans multiple chains, admin councils, liquidity venues, and collateral wrappers, the attack surface grows faster than the language around decentralization.
Venus's own post-mortem shows a different version of the same problem. The attacker borrowed about $14.9 million against an inflated THE position and left the protocol with just over $2 million in bad debt. That was not the same failure mode as Drift, yet the reader-facing conclusion was similar. A major DeFi venue could still be pushed into emergency accounting around thin liquidity and structural edge cases.
Then came KelpDAO's weekend shock. The exploit was severe enough, according to CryptoSlate, to trigger roughly $10 billion in withdrawals across DeFi and to force freezes around rsETH-linked markets. Even if that outflow estimate moves as conditions settle, the signal is clear. Users saw cross-chain complexity, collateral uncertainty, and possible contagion, then pulled capital.
That reaction lines up with the broader security trend TRM outlined in its 2026 crime-report summary. The firm said infrastructure attacks drove the majority of 2025 hack losses, outpacing smart-contract exploits.
DeFi's trust problem is becoming harder to quarantine because the sector is defending the entire operating system around the code, not only the code itself.
The capital base tells a different story from a straight collapse narrative. An April CryptoSlate report pointed out that USDT had reached $185 billion in market capitalization and USDC had reached $78 billion.
The same report cited DefiLlama figures showing Tron at $86.958 billion in stablecoins and Solana at $15.726 billion.
DefiLlama's Ethereum chain page also shows where the deepest open DeFi capital still sits, which makes the current setup look more like concentration than abandonment.
The rotation is even clearer in low-volatility yield products. RWA.xyz's Treasury dashboard shows $10.9 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries and 55,144 holders as of March 12, 2026.
The user taking risks there is still choosing blockchain-based settlement and ownership rails. What that user is rejecting is the idea that open-ended DeFi complexity deserves an equal share of the balance sheet.
A quick way to frame the split is this:
| Trust and positioning pressure | On-chain growth signals |
|---|---|
| KelpDAO's $292M exploit triggered a reported $10B retreat across DeFi. | USDT and USDC together now account for roughly $263B in supply. |
| Drift lost more than half its TVL in a privileged-access breach. | Tokenized U.S. Treasuries reached $10.93B with 55,144 holders. |
| Venus showed lending markets still carry thin-liquidity and bad-debt risk. | Visa is pairing USDC settlement expansion with a broader institutional stablecoin push. |
The split is hard to miss. Capital is rotating toward products that look more legible, more collateralized, and more institution-friendly.
That is why Visa's 2026 stablecoin strategy note deserves attention. Visa said stablecoin supply grew more than 50% in 2025, reaching $274 billion in December from $186 billion a year earlier. It also framed 2026 as the year institutions need an actual stablecoin strategy. That is the language of a market category being normalized.
The same pattern appears in settlement. In its December 2025 USDC settlement announcement, Visa said its monthly stablecoin settlement volume had passed a $3.5 billion annualized run rate.
The specific number is smaller than the broader stablecoin market, yet the institutional meaning is larger. Regulated financial plumbing is moving on-chain without needing the full cultural package that DeFi used to sell.
A recent CryptoSlate analysis framed the competitive problem clearly. Regulated venues are chasing an on-chain capital pool above $330 billion, including roughly $317 billion in stablecoins and nearly $13 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries.
That capital will continue to look for speed, programmability, and round-the-clock settlement. The broad live market overview reinforces that attention is concentrated on the largest assets and rails rather than on the long tail of governance experiments.
That is where the 2021 comparison turns harsh.
In the earlier cycle, DeFi could claim it was both the infrastructure and the product. It was where the innovation lived, where the yields lived, and where users went if they wanted to see the future arrive early. In 2026, more of the future is being packaged in ways that cut out the messier parts of that proposition.
Tokenized funds can offer 24/7 movement and faster settlement. Stablecoins can handle payments and treasury operations. Institutions can adopt those benefits while keeping tighter control over compliance, counterparties, and market structure.
More than 80 crypto projects had formally shuttered or started winding down in the first quarter, according to a CryptoSlate report on project closures. That number spans more than just DeFi, but it still reinforces the point that capital is becoming less patient with products that cannot demonstrate durable utility, yield, or distribution.
Crypto ETFs belong in that context. At the product level, regulated options now absorb more attention and capital, while users and institutions gravitate toward rails that deliver blockchain advantages without demanding full DeFi trust assumptions.
That leaves DeFi with a narrower but still meaningful role. Open composability and permissionless experimentation still matter, especially as a research lab for new financial primitives before safer wrappers absorb demand.
The latest evidence describes a trust squeeze.
Open DeFi is losing narrative leadership and may lose default-front-end status unless it can rebuild trust, tighten operations, and prove that its added complexity buys something irreplaceable.
The live debate now is who captures the next wave of on-chain demand, and the safer wrappers are winning the race.
The post Six years after “DeFi Summer” is the sun already setting on the decentralized finance revolution? appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Institutional investors are looking past the crypto market’s two largest behemoths, aggressively rotating capital into alternative cryptocurrencies as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East agitate traditional markets.
Data from SoSoValue shows that US-based investment vehicles tracking the spot price of XRP absorbed $55.39 million in fresh capital over the past week, positioning the asset as the undisputed leader among alternative cryptocurrency funds.
When combined with substantial allocations into Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink, Wall Street poured more than $100 million into altcoin-focused exchange-traded funds last week, signaling a sophisticated diversification strategy beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The surge in altcoin demand comes amid severe macroeconomic crosscurrents. Digital asset markets are currently navigating deeply fragile sentiment driven by escalating military confrontations between the United States and Iran, alongside a looming ceasefire deadline.
Yet, rather than retreating entirely to the safety of cash, institutional and retail participants are utilizing regulated crypto investment vehicles to capture yield and position themselves for potential supply shocks.
Overall, the US crypto ETF landscape witnessed massive inflows across the board last week. Bitcoin funds commanded $996.38 million, while Ethereum products pulled in $275.83 million.
However, it is the rotation down the market capitalization spectrum that has captured attention, highlighting a maturing market in which traditional finance is increasingly willing to underwrite the risk of decentralized payment networks and smart contract platforms.
The nearly $56 million allocated to XRP-linked funds marks the product category's second-best weekly performance of 2026, trailing only the week of Jan. 16, which saw $56.83 million in net additions.
This latest wave of capital cements XRP as the best-performing crypto asset outside of the industry's two majors.
By comparison, Solana-linked funds secured $35.17 million during the same period, its strongest performance since February.
Meanwhile, Avalanche and Chainlink ETFs registered slightly over $5 million each. Notably, this represents the strongest weekly performance since launch for Avalanche, and the highest weekly buy-in for Chainlink since last December.
Smaller-cap products also saw minor activity, with Dogecoin ETFs registering $187,310 and Hedera pulling in roughly $123,300. In a testament to the highly targeted nature of this altcoin rotation, only Litecoin products recorded zero flows during the week.
| Product | Weekly flow | Context |
|---|---|---|
| XRP ETFs | Nearly $56 million | Second-best week of 2026, behind Jan. 16 at $56.83 million |
| Solana ETFs | $35.17 million | Strongest weekly performance since February |
| Avalanche ETFs | Slightly over $5 million | Strongest weekly performance since launch |
| Chainlink ETFs | Slightly over $5 million | Highest weekly buy-in since last December |
| Dogecoin ETFs | $187,310 | Minor inflows |
| Hedera ETFs | $123,300 | Minor inflows |
| Litecoin ETFs | Zero flows | Only product category with no flows |
For XRP, the latest figures represent a major reversal from sluggish March, when the funds saw their first notable outflows of the year.
The resurgence was characterized by a relentless six-day positive streak, with the funds averaging double-digit, million-dollar inflows daily.
According to SoSo Value data, these investment products are now on track to record their strongest month of the year, having already attracted $65.89 million in April.
This latest push has elevated total historical inflows to $1.27 billion, pushing cumulative assets under management to approximately $1.11 billion.
Beyond the confines of traditional ETFs, XRP's fundamental demand is being bolstered by aggressive expansions into decentralized finance (DeFi).
Last week, a wrapped version of the asset (wXRP) officially went live on the Solana blockchain. Issued by the institutional custodian Hex Trust, the integration makes the token natively available in Solana's bustling DeFi ecosystem for the first time.
According to Hex Trust, every wXRP is backed 1:1 by native XRP held in segregated custody accounts, ensuring immediate redeemability.
The development allows XRP holders to deploy their assets to major Solana-based decentralized applications to generate yield, without being forced to liquidate their underlying spot positions.
This launch is part of a sweeping interoperability rollout that Hex Trust initiated late last year, with future expansions targeting other networks, including Ethereum and layer-2 network Optimism.
The Solana launch extended XRP into a part of the market where trading, liquidity provision, and collateral use are more active than on the XRP Ledger itself.
That does not change XRP’s core role in payments and settlement, but it does broaden the token’s role within crypto infrastructure.
Notably, Ripple has been leaning into that broader institutional pitch over the past year. The crypto payments firm has linked XRP demand to a broader stack built around custody, prime brokerage, payments, and the XRPL's settlement functions.
As Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated:
“Demand for XRP keeps growing. More access, more ecosystems, more utility.”
The accelerated pace of these developments initially coincided with easing expectations surrounding the US-Iran conflict, but the geopolitical baseline remains exceptionally volatile.
Market sentiment was jolted following reports that US naval forces fired upon and seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, marking a drastic escalation in the region's naval standoff.
President Donald Trump confirmed the military action, stating that the vessel was given “fair warning to stop” while attempting to bypass a US blockade of Iranian ports. Trump stated on Truth Social:
“The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom. Right now, U.S. Marines have custody of the vessel. The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”
The incident is deeply intertwined with the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.
The vital shipping artery was briefly opened on April 17 under strict Iranian conditions requiring commercial vessels to obtain authorization from Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to transit through designated safe lanes.
However, as the US maintained its broader shipping blockade of Iranian ports, Tehran once more closed the Strait on April 18.
This naval brinkmanship has pushed global markets into a tense countdown toward an April 22 ceasefire deadline.
Furthermore, there has been increased uncertainty about Iran’s willingness to participate in forthcoming diplomatic talks in Islamabad, keeping risk-asset managers on high alert.
For the crypto sector, these geopolitical developments and the looming threat of retaliatory strikes are acting as a double-edged sword: introducing severe near-term volatility while simultaneously reinforcing the narrative of decentralized assets as a hedge against sovereign supply chain shocks.
The post Wall Street moves beyond the Bitcoin ETF trade as XRP leads altcoins on fragile macro relief appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Publicly listed Bitcoin miners liquidated more than 32,000 Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2026, marking a record sell-off as the industry's largest operators redirect billions in capital toward artificial intelligence.
This historic shift is unfolding precisely as the economics of Bitcoin validation reach a critical pressure point.
With mining profitability hovering near cyclical lows, weighted production costs surging, and network hashrate showing persistent signs of strain, the infrastructure giants that defined the last crypto boom are fundamentally reengineering their business models.
The sheer magnitude of the first-quarter liquidation reflects the severity of the capital pivot.
Public mining firms unloaded more Bitcoin in the first three months of 2026 than they did throughout 2025.
To contextualize the scale of the sell-off, the Q1 offload easily surpassed the roughly 20,000 Bitcoin dumped by the industry during the chaotic Terra-Luna collapse in the second quarter of 2022.
According to on-chain data from CryptoQuant, miner reserves have steadily eroded throughout the cycle, with prominent operators now using their digital treasuries as vital liquidity engines rather than long-term strategic holdings.

The firm noted that, since the start of the current cycle, miners have recorded a net sell of 61,000 BTC. This heavy selling activity is led by Marathon Digital, which offloaded over 13,000 BTC and has since dropped out of the top three Bitcoin holders.
Other BTC miners selling their holdings include Cango, which sold 2,000 Bitcoin for roughly $143 million to extinguish Bitcoin-backed debt obligations and clear its balance sheet. Core Scientific unloaded around 1,900 Bitcoin in January to raise $175 million, while Riot Platforms sold 4,026 BTC.
The engine driving this mass exodus of capital is a broken economic model, exacerbated by the April 2024 halving, which slashed block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
The programmatic 50% cut in block subsidies fundamentally repriced the revenue baseline for the entire sector, leaving operators highly vulnerable to market fluctuations.
Since that reduction, BTC mining economics have been defined by unrelenting downward pressure.
James Butterfill, head of research at digital asset manager CoinShares, noted that the weighted average cash cost to produce a single Bitcoin for public operators surged to nearly $80,000 in the final quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, the revenue side of the equation continues to deteriorate. Hashprice, the metric tracking expected revenue per unit of computing power, plummeted to between $28 and $30 per petahash per second per day in Q1 2026, marking some of the lowest profitability levels on record.
With transaction fees remaining structurally weak at less than 1% of total block rewards, miners are highly dependent on spot price appreciation.
However, with Bitcoin hovering around $77,000, substantially below its cycle peak of approximately $126,000 reached in October 2025, miners are caught in a vise.
Ballooning debt burdens and massive electricity overheads are squeezing cash flow to the breaking point, forcing executives to look elsewhere for earnings.
Faced with shrinking margins, pure-play operators are finding that boards of directors and institutional investors are aggressively rewarding a pivot toward AI and high-performance computing.
Unlike the volatile, spot-market nature of Bitcoin mining, AI data centers offer stable, predictable, multi-year revenue contracts with technology giants like Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic.
The equity market’s verdict has been unambiguous. Mining companies that set AI revenue targets of 80% or higher have seen their stock prices skyrocket by an average of 500% over the past two years, securing vastly superior market multiples compared to their pure-play mining peers.
Butterfill estimates that public miners could derive up to 70% of their revenues from AI by the end of this year, a steep climb from roughly 30% today.

With more than $70 billion in cumulative AI and high-performance computing contracts announced across the public mining sector, capital is no longer flowing toward next-generation ASIC replacements.
Instead, debt and equity are being funneled into data-center-style infrastructure. Operators like TeraWulf, IREN, and Cipher have taken on billions in collective debt to fund these buildouts, driven by the underlying unit economics.
While electricity accounts for roughly 40% of Bitcoin mining revenue, energy costs for AI cloud operators leasing high-powered chips are in the low single digits.
The wholesale migration of computing infrastructure has ignited a sharp debate over the long-term security of the Bitcoin network.
On the one hand, the bearish thesis holds that as public miners halt reinvestments in mining hardware and commit their massive energy capacities to AI, the network’s security backbone risks hollowing out at a critical juncture.
Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, views the trend with profound alarm, noting projections that the average Bitcoin revenue share among top public miners will collapse to just 30% within three years.
He observed:
“If these numbers are even half accurate… the energy and commitment to Bitcoin is under significant threat.”

Adding cultural texture to this shift, Bitcoin researcher Paul Sztorc noted that the industry is quietly scrubbing its original roots.
According to him, dedicated mining publications have rebranded to focus on broader energy themes, and major industry conferences have swapped out mining stages for energy-focused platforms, reflecting a sector actively distancing itself from pure crypto workloads.
Yet, veterans of the protocol argue this is precisely how the system was engineered to survive.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back countered the alarmism, pointing to Bitcoin's self-adjusting difficulty mechanism. If computing power leaves, mining difficulty drops, instantly improving profit margins for the remaining operators.
Back argued:
“It's an arbitrage, with equilibrium when mining margin is the same as AI workloads.”
He also described a “positive reflexivity” in which higher margins mean surviving miners sell less Bitcoin to cover power costs.
Meanwhile, James Check, an on-chain analyst at CheckOnchain, views the transition through the lens of pure capitalism. He noted:
“Massive turnover is literally the intended design of the difficulty adjustment.”
In his view, the AI pivot is a highly rational diversification strategy for infrastructure firms that simply “buy power and compute,” noting that AI serves as a constant baseload while Bitcoin mining remains an intermittent tool to balance grid loads.
As the Bitcoin network progresses through the second half of this halving epoch by recently crossing block 945,000 in April 2026, the public mining industry faces a profound identity crisis.
Hashrate Index argued that the next two years, leading up to the 2028 halving, will severely test the protocol's self-correcting mechanisms against the gravitational pull of Wall Street's AI capital.
The outstanding questions facing the market are now structural, rather than cyclical. It remains to be seen whether the spot price of Bitcoin can stage a robust enough recovery to comfortably clear the near-record cash costs of production, or if network transaction fees will permanently remain a negligible fraction of total revenue.
If the underlying spot economics do not materially improve, the market will be forced to weigh whether the current, unprecedented pace of treasury liquidations can be sustained without permanently dampening asset prices.
Furthermore, the industry must determine the baseline at which the network's computing power will stabilize definitively once the marginal players have exited the ecosystem.
Ultimately, the most pressing tension is existential. By 2027, the publicly traded companies that heavily drove the industrialization of Bitcoin validation over the past half-decade may no longer be miners in the traditional sense.
Instead, they are on track to become diversified energy and high-performance computing conglomerates, holding only residual, legacy exposure to the digital asset that originally built them.
The post Public miners dump record BTC and are pivoting to AI — is Bitcoin’s security backbone starting to hollow out? appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Bitcoin ($BTC) is trading around the critical $74K–$76K range, a zone that has become the most important battlefield for the market right now. Despite strong institutional inflows and major bullish headlines, price action remains muted.
This lack of reaction is telling.
While previous cycles saw Bitcoin surge on positive news, the current market shows hesitation. Buyers are present, but conviction is not. Sellers, on the other hand, are not aggressive enough to trigger a full breakdown.
👉 This creates a compression phase — and these phases rarely last long.
Recent developments confirm heavy accumulation:
Yet, Bitcoin is not breaking higher.
This divergence suggests that liquidity is being absorbed quietly. Instead of immediate price expansion, the market is building pressure beneath the surface.
👉 When price ignores bullish news, it often signals that a larger move is approaching.
The $74K level is now acting as a key support zone.

Adding to this setup is the presence of a CME gap around $77,400, which Bitcoin has historically shown a tendency to fill. At the same time, liquidity is building below current price levels.
If $74K breaks:
👉 This is not just a technical level — it’s a liquidity trigger.
Bitcoin is no longer trading in isolation.
Current price action is heavily influenced by:
This explains why Bitcoin is:
👉 The “digital gold” narrative is weakening in the short term.
👉 Bitcoin is behaving more like a macro asset than a hedge.
If Bitcoin holds above $74K and reclaims $77K:
If Bitcoin loses $74K:
👉 In both cases, volatility expansion is expected.
Right now, Bitcoin is not trending — it’s waiting.
This creates a rare setup where:
👉 The next move will likely be sharp, fast, and decisive
The $74K level is not just another support —
it is the line that separates continuation from correction.
Bitcoin is approaching a defining moment.
Despite strong fundamentals and institutional demand, price remains trapped in a narrow range. This tension cannot last.
👉 A breakout above resistance could reignite the bullish trend
👉 A breakdown below $74K could trigger a deeper correction
For traders and investors alike, this is the level to watch.
Confidence in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem has plummeted to an all-time low following a cascading series of security failures. What began as a targeted exploit on Kelp DAO’s rsETH (Liquid Restaked ETH) has rippled through the industry’s most trusted protocols, most notably Aave, the world’s largest lending market.
The incident has reignited a fierce debate over the risks of "DeFi composability"—the practice of layering different protocols on top of one another. Critics argue that a simple Ethereum deposit should not be vulnerable to the failure of a complex, cross-chain restaking bridge.
The crisis was triggered by a sophisticated exploit targeting the bridge infrastructure of rsETH. According to forensic reports, the attacker—widely identified as the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group (DPRK)—executed a multi-stage attack on LayerZero’s Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN).
Contrary to initial speculation that the DVN itself was compromised, the attackers targeted the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) nodes that the DVN relied on for data.
The exploit allowed the attacker to mint fraudulent rsETH and deposit it into Aave to drain approximately $300 million in ETH. This sudden exodus of liquidity caused a "Whale Panic," with figures like Justin Sun reportedly withdrawing over $150 million in a single transaction.
In an official statement, Aave confirmed that rsETH is now frozen across Aave V3 and V4. Additionally, WETH reserves remain frozen on several networks, including Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea, to prevent further contagion.
Aave’s official analysis suggests that rsETH on the Ethereum mainnet remains fully backed, and the exposure has been capped. However, the market remains skeptical. The "bad debt" looming over the protocol remains a primary concern for crypto news analysts. Until it is clear who will bear the brunt of the $300 million hole, trust in the "money lego" architecture of DeFi will remain suppressed.
For those looking to secure their remaining assets, diversifying into hardware wallets or reviewing top exchange comparisons for safer exit ramps has become a priority for many retail users.
The fallout from this incident suggests a shift in investor sentiment. There is an increasing demand for a "return to basics"—using pristine collateral like Bitcoin or native ETH rather than complex derivative products. While LayerZero has restored its DVN services, the industry now faces weeks of introspection regarding RPC security and the dangers of single-point-of-failure configurations.
The crypto market is entering a phase of tight compression, where price action looks stable on the surface—but pressure is building underneath.
Bitcoin is holding around the $74,000 level, showing resilience despite negative headlines. Ethereum, meanwhile, is hovering near key support zones, with no clear breakout direction yet.
At the same time, traditional markets are sending a very different signal. U.S. equities are pushing toward new all-time highs, absorbing liquidity and attention, while crypto lags behind.
👉 This divergence is critical.
It suggests that crypto is not weak—it is waiting.
One of the most striking developments comes from a large Ethereum position:
This kind of positioning is not noise—it’s a statement.

But there’s another side to this.
👉 High leverage positions often appear before major volatility spikes, not during calm trends.
This raises a key question:
Is the whale early—or is this liquidity bait?
Beyond charts and trades, macro events are quietly escalating.
Recent developments around U.S. naval actions and tensions in the Middle East are adding a layer of uncertainty across global markets. Historically, such events act as volatility catalysts rather than directional signals.
Crypto reacts fast to these shocks because it sits at the intersection of:
👉 Any escalation could trigger:
Right now, the market is pricing uncertainty—but not panic.
Bitcoin’s current position is deceptively important.
This creates a neutral zone, where both bulls and bears are waiting.

👉 The longer Bitcoin stays in this range, the stronger the eventual move becomes.
Another key signal is the widening gap between traditional markets and crypto.
This is not typical in strong bullish environments.
But this type of divergence rarely lasts.
👉 When capital rotates back, crypto tends to move faster and more aggressively than traditional assets.
All current signals point to one conclusion:
👉 The market is not trending—it is compressing.
You have:
This combination typically precedes a liquidity event.
Not a slow move.
A fast, decisive one.
Instead of reacting to noise, focus on the triggers:
These are the signals that will define the next move.
Crypto right now is like a coiled spring.
Nothing dramatic is happening—yet.
But everything is aligning for a major shift.
The presence of high leverage, macro uncertainty, and diverging markets creates one clear expectation:
👉 Volatility is coming.
The only question is direction.
Ethereum is trading around the $2,330–$2,350 zone, sitting directly on a strong support level that has been tested multiple times. This area is clearly acting as a short-term decision point for the market.

The key structure is tightening between nearby resistance and deeper support:
The recent failure to hold above $2,400 signals that bullish momentum is fading, with price starting to form lower highs in the short term.
$Ethereum previously surged from the $2,200 region to nearly $2,450 in a strong breakout move. That rally, however, quickly met selling pressure at the top, leading to a gradual slowdown.
Since then, price has slipped below short-term moving averages, which are now flattening. This shift doesn’t confirm a full trend reversal yet, but it clearly shows that the market has entered a cooling and consolidation phase rather than continuation.
The RSI is currently near 34, hovering just above oversold territory. It recently dipped lower and is now attempting a small recovery, which often hints at a potential short-term bounce.
Still, the signal remains weak:
This suggests that while a bounce is possible, it may not be strong enough to immediately reverse the trend.

Ethereum is sitting at a critical support zone around $2,300, and the reaction here will likely define the next move.
If buyers defend this level, the recovery path becomes clearer:
A move above $2,450 would shift momentum back in favor of bulls and open the path toward $2,500.
On the flip side, if this support breaks, the downside could accelerate quickly:
The chart reflects a classic post-rally structure. After a strong upward move, $ETH entered a distribution phase, followed by a gradual decline toward support.
This type of structure often leads to a decisive move once compression ends. Right now, price is caught between holding support and breaking down, making this a make-or-break zone for the short term.
The most likely scenario is continued consolidation between $2,300 and $2,400 as the market builds momentum.
The breakout from this range will likely be sharp, as volatility is currently compressing.
The latest crypto news cycle has been dominated by one key reality: macro events are now driving crypto more than crypto itself.
Over the past days, markets reacted sharply to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices surged, risk assets dropped, and crypto followed.
Bitcoin briefly lost momentum as fear spread across global markets — but quickly rebounded once de-escalation signals appeared. At the same time, something more important happened behind the scenes:
Institutional money continues to flow into crypto.
Large inflows into Bitcoin, combined with growing involvement from traditional finance players, are supporting prices even during macro uncertainty.
This combination is critical:
This is exactly why the next move could be explosive.
Bitcoin is currently trading near a key resistance zone.

This level has acted as a barrier multiple times, and the market is now testing it again under very different conditions:
If Bitcoin breaks above this level, the move could accelerate quickly due to:
If rejected, however, a pullback or consolidation phase is likely.
👉 In both scenarios, volatility is expected to increase.
Crypto regulation remains one of the most powerful catalysts for price action.
Any progress in U.S. legislation could:
On the other hand, delays or negative signals could slow momentum.
👉 This is a high-impact, long-term trigger.
Bitcoin is now highly sensitive to macro liquidity conditions.
Key drivers to watch:
If liquidity increases, crypto typically benefits.
If conditions tighten, pressure returns quickly.
👉 This is the most powerful short-term driver.
Recent crypto news made one thing clear:
Markets are reacting instantly to geopolitical headlines.
Rising tensions → risk-off → crypto drops
De-escalation → risk-on → crypto rebounds
Oil prices are a key indicator here, as they directly impact inflation and global sentiment.
👉 This is the most unpredictable but fastest-moving catalyst.
The NSA is reportedly running Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview on classified networks, even as the Pentagon fights the AI giant in court.
Bitcoin investment products accounted for $1.12 billion in inflows last week, as BTC hit its highest level since early February.
The round comes on the heels of NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange’s $2 billion investment in the prediction market firm.
Quantum computers could threaten Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major networks. Here’s how Ripple plans to secure the XRP Ledger.
Amid the ongoing GPU shortage, Ocean Network is looking to connect the world’s massive amounts of idle computing power with those who need it.
Ripple has unveiled a comprehensive four-phase roadmap designed to make the XRP Ledger (XRPL) fully quantum-resistant by 2028.
Bitmine now controls 4.12% of the Ethereum supply, powering Wall Street's AI nodes. BMNR holds 4.97 million ETH as the top institutional validator.
With Bitcoin ETFs surpassing a historic $101 billion, experts Nate Geraci and Eric Balchunas clash over Vanguard's refusal to launch a native crypto product.
XRP finds spotlight as major cryptocurrency exchanges, including BitMEX, issue mysterious XRP posts that suggest a major development ahead.
Total losses estimated at about $293 million, making it the largest DeFi exploit of 2026.
Shares of Ennis, Inc. (EBF) experienced a significant downturn following the company’s release of quarterly and annual financial data that demonstrated consistent profitability alongside moderate revenue expansion. Trading at $19.63, the stock fell 9.41% and remained near its lowest levels of the session following a pronounced selloff. Investor sentiment appeared influenced by deteriorating margin performance and lackluster organic growth despite the company’s ability to maintain earnings stability.
Ennis, Inc., EBF
The company disclosed quarterly sales totaling $96.4 million, representing a 4.0% year-over-year advancement. Nonetheless, gross profitability margin experienced a modest contraction to 29.2% from 29.5% in the comparable prior-year period. Net earnings totaled $8.8 million, with diluted earnings per share holding firm at $0.35.
On a sequential basis, performance indicators revealed additional strain, with gross margin deteriorating from 31.9% in the immediately preceding quarter. EBITDA similarly decreased to $16.3 million, accounting for 17.0% of total sales. These figures compared unfavorably to $16.5 million and 17.8% of sales recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Acquisition activity generated $8.8 million in quarterly revenue, providing partial mitigation against softer organic sales volumes. Diminished customer demand for traditional printing solutions continued to create headwinds for overall business performance. The financial data suggested operational consistency but revealed an absence of robust expansion catalysts.
Across the complete fiscal period, Ennis recorded total revenue of $392.4 million, reflecting a marginal 0.6% decline versus the preceding year. Notwithstanding this top-line softness, gross profit climbed to $120.4 million, with margins expanding to 30.7% from 29.7%. Net income advanced to $42.6 million, while diluted earnings per share increased to $1.66.
Strategic acquisitions bolstered bottom-line performance, adding $0.14 per share across the full fiscal year. The company demonstrated disciplined operational execution, enabling margin improvement despite stagnant revenue dynamics. Consequently, profitability metrics strengthened even as sales volume remained essentially flat.
Full-year EBITDA amounted to $75.7 million, constituting 19.3% of total sales. This represented meaningful improvement compared to the prior year’s 18.3%. These metrics underscored ongoing operational rigor and successful expense management initiatives throughout the fiscal period.
Ennis sustained a formidable financial foundation characterized by zero debt obligations and expanding cash holdings. The organization also executed share buybacks totaling approximately 793,000 shares for $14.5 million throughout the year. These measures demonstrated management’s commitment to strategic capital deployment and enhancing shareholder value.
Inventory levels were reduced from $60.8 million to $54.9 million during the reporting quarter. This action followed previous initiatives to address supply chain vulnerabilities stemming from a domestic manufacturing facility closure. The company successfully identified alternative supply partners to ensure uninterrupted operational continuity.
Integration of Northeastern Envelope Company into corporate systems reached completion. This consolidation enhanced expense oversight and pricing strategy execution throughout business operations. Nevertheless, persistent erosion in printed product demand coupled with margin pressures continued to weigh on market perception.
The post Ennis (EBF) Stock Tumbles 9% as Margin Concerns Overshadow Revenue Gains appeared first on Blockonomi.
Bank of Hawai’i Corporation unveiled a contrasting picture in its first quarter 2026 financial performance, with net income retreating while fundamental banking indicators displayed resilience. Shares climbed to $81.52, gaining 1.79%, as investors responded positively to intraday price action and consistent upward trajectory. The quarterly report emphasized net interest margin expansion, deposit stability, and disciplined credit management even as bottom-line figures softened.
Bank of Hawai’i Corporation disclosed diluted earnings per share of $1.30 during the opening quarter of 2026. The institution generated net income totaling $57.4 million, representing a sequential quarterly reduction of 5.7%. Return on average common equity contracted to 13.90% from the preceding quarter’s 15.03%.
Net interest income expanded to $151.0 million, posting a 3.9% sequential increase. This advancement stemmed from reduced funding costs following monetary policy adjustments. The net interest margin strengthened to 2.74%, climbing 13 basis points and demonstrating enhanced profitability on the core balance sheet.
Average yields on earning assets experienced modest compression to 4.03%, while loan portfolio yields retreated to 4.75%. These declines originated from repricing dynamics on variable-rate instruments responding to the evolving rate environment. Nonetheless, reinvestment activities in fixed-rate instruments provided offsetting yield support.
Total assets registered $23.9 billion as of quarter-end March 2026, reflecting a modest 1.1% sequential contraction. The reduction primarily originated from diminished cash position holdings. Securities classified as available-for-sale alongside total loan exposures posted incremental growth throughout the reporting period.
Aggregate loans and leases climbed to $14.2 billion, bolstered by expansion in commercial real estate portfolios. Business lending advanced 2.0%, while retail loan segments experienced slight attrition attributable to scheduled principal payments. Total deposit liabilities contracted 1.1% to $21.0 billion, although non-interest-bearing deposits held steady near the 27% threshold.
Noninterest income retreated to $41.3 million reflecting subdued origination volumes and fee generation. Concurrently, noninterest expenses elevated to $116.1 million, propelled by compensation-related outlays and infrastructure investments. Adjusted calculations revealed moderate expense trajectory growth, underscoring disciplined cost oversight despite typical quarterly patterns.
Credit quality indicators maintained exceptional performance as non-performing assets contracted to $12.1 million. This figure constituted merely 0.09% of aggregate loans and leases outstanding. Credit loss provisioning similarly declined to $1.8 million, signaling contained portfolio stress.
Net charge-off activity totaled $1.1 million, demonstrating enhanced collection outcomes relative to the prior reporting period. The allowance for credit losses measured $147.0 million, sustaining a steady coverage ratio of 1.04%. These measurements validated ongoing prudent underwriting and portfolio monitoring practices.
Capital adequacy ratios persisted at elevated levels surpassing regulatory thresholds. The Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 14.40%, while the leverage ratio strengthened to 8.62%. The company executed $15.1 million in share repurchases and announced a $0.70 per share quarterly dividend, underscoring its commitment to shareholder capital distribution.
The post Bank of Hawai’i (BOH) Q1 2026: Net Income Drops to $57.4M as Net Interest Margin Expands appeared first on Blockonomi.
Shares of BlackBerry (BB) experienced a dramatic rally exceeding 15% on April 20, 2026, driven by news of an enhanced technology alliance with NVIDIA (NVDA).
BlackBerry Limited, BB
The collaboration focuses on merging BlackBerry’s QNX OS for Safety 8.0 operating system with NVIDIA’s IGX Thor computing platform alongside the Halos Safety Stack. This integration aims to enable engineers to create and launch mission-critical edge AI applications.
The strategic initiative zeros in on industries demanding absolute dependability — specifically industrial automation and advanced robotics. In these environments, software malfunctions transcend mere technical glitches and become serious liability concerns.
Blackberry’s QNX platform has maintained a steady presence in the safety-certified operating system landscape. This alliance provides the technology with prominent exposure through NVIDIA’s cutting-edge hardware.
Market sentiment was amplified by recent context. BlackBerry had delivered better-than-expected quarterly results in early April, generating renewed investor interest even before this partnership was unveiled.
The dual catalyst — strong financial results combined with a prominent AI-focused announcement — propelled shares significantly higher during Monday trading.
The NVIDIA IGX Thor architecture serves edge AI deployments in harsh operational conditions. Combining it with QNX OS for Safety 8.0 delivers engineers a certified, real-time operating foundation for systems requiring stringent safety compliance.
The Halos Safety Stack enhances the package by providing additional functional safety capabilities. This comprehensive toolkit targets developers creating advanced robotics and industrial AI solutions.
BlackBerry has consistently expanded its software and IoT presence. Earlier in 2026, the company secured an agreement with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Leap Motor, demonstrating ongoing traction in automotive markets.
BB traded near $4.86 when the partnership was disclosed. According to GuruFocus analysis, the GF Value stands at $3.58, suggesting the stock trades roughly 35.8% above the platform’s calculated fair value estimate.
The price-to-earnings ratio currently registers at 59.73x, significantly lower than the five-year median of 113.81x — indicating valuation compression from historical peaks, though still elevated in absolute terms.
The company’s GF Score of 71 out of 100 demonstrates respectable financial strength and growth metrics, though a profitability ranking of merely 3 out of 10 highlights persistent challenges converting revenue into sustainable earnings.
Regarding insider transactions, no purchases occurred during the previous three months. Sales by company insiders totaled $260,489 during this timeframe.
Daily trading volume averages approximately 8 million shares. Prior to today’s surge, BB had gained roughly 8.4% year-to-date.
Technical indicators already signaled a buy rating before the session’s rally commenced.
The post BlackBerry (BB) Stock Rockets 15% on NVIDIA AI Integration Announcement appeared first on Blockonomi.
PayPal is navigating challenging waters as Wall Street analysts adopt a more conservative stance. Mizuho Financial Group recently lowered its assessment of PYPL from “Outperform” to “Neutral,” simultaneously slashing the price objective by $10 — dropping from $60 to $50.
PayPal Holdings, Inc., PYPL
With shares trading near $50, this revised target implies minimal room for appreciation. The rating change signals Mizuho’s reassessment of PayPal’s market standing beyond immediate financial metrics.
The catalyst? Elon Musk’s X Money initiative. Set for an April debut, this payment solution is designed as the financial infrastructure of Musk’s “super app” vision. It merges payment processing, digital wallet functionality, and e-commerce capabilities — all integrated within X’s platform.
This description closely mirrors PayPal and Venmo’s core offerings. Mizuho identified X Money as a significant competitive challenge to PayPal’s peer-to-peer transaction services and branded payment solutions.
X boasts more than 400 million active monthly users. This represents a substantial ready-made customer base for any financial service launch. The platform is reportedly preparing to roll out cashtags for monitoring equities and cryptocurrencies, alongside potential collaboration with Visa.
Additional speculation suggests that X Money might provide yields approaching 6% on account balances — a capability that would position it as a serious alternative to established fintech offerings.
PayPal’s latest financial performance did little to alleviate investor concerns. The company posted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.23 per share, missing the $1.29 Wall Street consensus. Revenue registered at $8.68 billion versus projections of $8.82 billion.
While revenue increased 4% compared to the prior year, such modest expansion fails to inspire confidence as competitive pressures mount across multiple segments.
Market observers project annual EPS of $5.03 for PayPal. Shares currently trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, appearing inexpensive — though the valuation discount reflects underlying concerns.
Citi and Wells Fargo both maintain Hold positions on the security, pointing to decelerating growth prospects and eroding market position. Goldman Sachs adopted a more bearish stance, reducing its target to $41 with a “Sell” recommendation issued in February.
Bank of America initiated coverage during March with a “Neutral” outlook and $48 price objective. Across the 45 analysts monitored by MarketBeat, 7 recommend Buy, 32 suggest Hold, and 6 advise Sell.
Waterfront Wealth Inc. reduced its PYPL holdings by 45.8% during the fourth quarter, divesting 22,251 shares. The fund’s remaining position of 26,372 shares carried a value near $1.495 million at period close.
Company insiders have also been net sellers. During the previous 90 days, executives and directors disposed of 87,608 shares valued at roughly $3.83 million. Notable transactions include insider Suzan Kereere reducing ownership by 54.83% in February, while CAO Chris Natali cut his stake by 65.95% in March.
Institutional ownership remains substantial at 68.32% of outstanding shares. While certain smaller funds marginally increased positions in the third quarter, larger portfolio adjustments have predominantly involved position reductions.
PayPal’s 52-week trading range extends from $38.46 to $79.50. Shares opened Monday’s session at $50.81, trading above the 50-day moving average of $44.88 yet considerably beneath the 200-day average of $55.76.
The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.14, equating to an annual payout of $0.56 and yielding approximately 1.1%.
The post PayPal (PYPL) Stock Slips After Mizuho Cuts Rating Amid X Money Competition appeared first on Blockonomi.
International banking watchdog identifies stablecoins as emerging systemic threats
USD-pegged digital assets could destabilize traditional monetary frameworks
Rapid redemptions may trigger liquidity crises and market contagion
International coordination needed to address regulatory fragmentation concerns
Digital tokens function more like exchange-traded funds than traditional currency
The Bank for International Settlements has escalated its concerns regarding stablecoins, identifying them as potential catalysts for systemic financial disruption. In a comprehensive assessment, the international banking authority detailed how dollar-pegged digital currencies could undermine monetary stability and trigger cascading market failures. Officials underscored the pressing need for harmonized global oversight to mitigate cross-border vulnerabilities.
The Basel-based institution outlined significant deficiencies in existing stablecoin architectures that prevent them from functioning as dependable payment mechanisms. While acknowledging their operational advantages in international transactions and smart contract applications, the organization maintains that present configurations fall short of requirements for widespread monetary circulation.
During a regulatory forum in Tokyo, Pablo Hernández de Cos from the BIS articulated concerns about how these digital assets more closely resemble speculative instruments than stable value stores. The analysis highlighted redemption obstacles and price volatility that compromise their purported stability guarantees.
The institution scrutinized the collateral frameworks supporting prominent tokens such as USDt and USDC. Findings revealed that providers typically maintain reserves in short-duration government securities and commercial bank accounts. This structure creates vulnerability, as mass withdrawal events could compel distressed liquidation of underlying assets.
The BIS outlined scenarios where stablecoin destabilization could cascade into conventional financial infrastructure. Large-scale redemption waves might create acute stress in government bond markets, amplifying stablecoin spillover effects throughout the broader economic ecosystem.
The organization identified regulatory blind spots stemming from decentralized ledger technology implementations. Permissionless blockchain networks and self-custody wallet systems present enforcement challenges for anti-money laundering protocols. Authorities recommended enhanced oversight mechanisms at conversion touchpoints.
Macroeconomic implications received particular attention regarding widespread stablecoin penetration. The assessment indicated that extensive adoption could intensify currency substitution dynamics in developing nations. Such displacement threatens to diminish central bank policy transmission effectiveness across vulnerable economies.
The BIS emphasized the imperative for synchronized international governance structures addressing stablecoin proliferation. Divergent regulatory approaches create opportunities for jurisdictional shopping that undermine protective measures. Harmonized standards were deemed critical to preventing fragmented oversight landscapes.
European authorities have pioneered restrictive stances toward non-euro denominated stablecoins. French and European Union regulators advocate stringent constraints on foreign currency-backed tokens. Ongoing deliberations encompass reserve liquidity standards and operational transparency mandates.
Alternative jurisdictions continue experimenting with controlled stablecoin integration pathways. Switzerland has initiated supervised trial programs within regulated financial parameters. Concurrently, British authorities evaluate implications for deposit insurance schemes and systemic resilience.
The organization examined taxonomical debates surrounding stablecoin categorization. Designating them as securities would mandate comprehensive disclosure protocols and compliance obligations. Conversely, monetary classification might facilitate broader market penetration but introduce different regulatory complexities.
Interest-yielding characteristics emerged as a pivotal regulatory consideration. The BIS proposed that restricting return generation could mitigate deposit migration from traditional banking institutions. The assessment concluded that internationally coordinated frameworks represent the only viable approach to managing stablecoin ecosystem expansion.
The post Bank for International Settlements Sounds Alarm on Stablecoin Systemic Dangers appeared first on Blockonomi.
The fallout from the $293 million KelpDAO exploit over the weekend has spread across the DeFi ecosystem, with Total Value Locked (TVL) across several chains dropping significantly in the last 24 hours.
According to data from on-chain analytics platform DeFiLlama, at least 126 of the networks it tracks were in the red, with CosmoHub the hardest hit, having lost more than 1,500% of its TVL in that period.
Pseudonymous analyst Vet brought attention to the decline, writing in a post on X that TVL was going down on all the top 20 DeFi chains. “Money is exiting,” they noted, adding that people were “repricing the risk/reward.”
Indeed, when CryptoPotato checked the data, we found that the pullback was widespread, although the scale varied. For example, Ethereum, the largest DeFi chain with more than 1,700 protocols, posted a 24-hour TVL dip of nearly 11%. Its nearest rival, Solana, fared relatively better, going down by just over 4% in the last day, although the change was more noticeable across one month, at 19.06%.
Arbitrum, Base, and Avalanche also saw their TVL dip by 9.97%, 5.76%, and 6.61%, respectively, while Bitcoin, Tron, and BSC were the least affected among the top ten chains by TVL, with none of them taking a hit bigger than 1.6%. Meanwhile, in that group, Hyperliquid was the worst hit, shedding more than 12% of the total value of assets it held and taking its dollar worth to $1.44 billion.
Outside the top 10, the losses were sharper, with Mantle, which DeFiLlama co-founder 0xngmi flagged as one of those most exposed to bad debt after the hack, alongside Base and Arbitrum, down almost 42%. Others that were heavily hit included Taiko, which lost 22% of its TVL; Monad, which went down 13.21% in 24 hours; and Berachain, which dipped by over 17%.
The flight from risk did not reach every corner, though, with some smaller chains posting gains. One of them, Q Protocol, jumped 477% in 24 hours, with Oasys and Shibarium also in the green, gaining 90.6% and 85%, respectively.
The KelpDAO hack is the worst security breach in the DeFi space so far this year. Reports say that the liquid restaking protocol lost over $293 million after an attacker took advantage of its bridge contract. LayerZero has since said that the Lazarus Group’s TraderTraitor unit was behind the attack.
The post DeFi TVL Plummets Across Top Chains After KelpDAO Hack appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Running from April 17 to May 8, 2026, the campaign supports both followers and experienced Lead Traders. This month features a record 15 USDT entry bonus for registration, the highest starting incentive in the series to date.

The April challenge departs from randomized lucky draws to focus on streak-building. Participants earn escalating rewards for maintaining an active market presence over two, five, seven, and ten consecutive days. To lower entry barriers, Toobit has also implemented a safety net covering 20% to 100% of a first copy trade loss, capped at 100 USDT in Trial Funds.
Beyond consistency, the campaign rewards participants who scale. A 25,000 USDT pool offers tiered bonuses based on volume, starting at 10 USDT for 200 USDT in volume and reaching 150 USDT for those surpassing the 30,000 USDT milestone.
Lead Traders receive similar focus. New Lead Traders earn a 50 USDT reward upon generating 500 USDT in volume, with tiered performance bonuses topping out at 1,000 USDT for those surpassing 1,000,000 USDT in total volume.
To participate, traders must register on the campaign page. For a comprehensive breakdown of activity tiers and eligibility requirements, full details are available on the official announcement page.
Copy trading and automated social trading protocols have seen a 42% year-over-year increase in monthly active users as of March 2026. Furthermore, exchange-led copy trading volumes now account for nearly 18% of total global futures turnover. This shift underscores a growing demand for platforms that provide structured, strategy-driven environments for retail participants.
The post Toobit Launches April $150K Copy Trading Campaign with New Streak Rewards appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around $75,000, about 24% higher than its recent bear-market low, thanks to a combination of institutional buying and geopolitical intrigue.
However, on-chain data show the story is more complicated, with weaker holders offloading coins and whales sending more BTC to exchanges, casting doubt on whether we are witnessing a real trend reversal or just another bear-market bounce.
According to analyst JA Maartunn, Strategy’s raising of about $2.7 billion in just two days last week was one of the biggest catalysts for the uptick in Bitcoin’s price. And today, the firm made one of its biggest BTC purchases in years, when it acquired more than 34,000 BTC for about $2.5 billion.
However, all that activity still hasn’t been enough to keep the flagship cryptocurrency above the $77,000-$78,000 range, as noted by fellow market watcher Ted Pillows.
Maartunn explained that the reason we haven’t seen prices breaking higher may be because of two groups of sellers: short-term holders (STHs), who have moved approximately 60,000 BTC to exchanges, with their SOPR reading below 1 and confirming they are selling at a loss; and whales, who have increased their exchange inflows, which is a sign that they too are distributing into the current price range.
But there is one encouraging undercurrent: over the last 30 days, the supply of Bitcoin in the hands of long-term holders (LTHs) has increased by 354,000 BTC. According to Maartunn, that accumulation means that the asset is rotating from weaker, more reactive hands into those with a longer time horizon, something he says is a stabilizing force. But even with this, combined with Strategy’s latest buy, the analyst is preaching caution.
“The key question: is it enough to push Bitcoin higher?” he wondered. “For now, this still looks like a bear market rally… But a strong breakout could quickly shift the trend.”
The macro backdrop is doing little to help Bitcoin’s cause, with the asset reaching as high as $78,400 last Friday after Iran’s foreign minister announced that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened and US President Donald Trump made positive noises regarding peace talks between the two nations. However, Iran rubbished Trump’s claims, and subsequent strikes against each other caused BTC to drop below $74,000.
At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency had gone back above $75,000, representing a 6% increase in the last 7 days and nearly 9% over two weeks. However, it is still down by more than 11% on a one-year basis and still around 40% below its all-time high of over $126,000.
Meanwhile, in his assessment, Pillows said $72,000 is a key level for Bitcoin, and if it loses this, then it could retrace the entire “ceasefire pump.”
The post Bitcoin Up 24% From February Lows, But Breakout in Doubt appeared first on CryptoPotato.
The cryptocurrency market is a strange mix: on one side are assets that have been around for decades and have strong fundamentals, like Bitcoin (BTC), but on the other, many speculative tokens whose prices can nosedive to virtually zero at any time.
Recently, RaveDAO (RAVE) collapsed from over $27 to less than $1 in the span of 24 hours, while its market capitalization plummeted from nearly $7 billion to less than $200 million. We asked four of the most widely used AI-powered chatbots which coin could be next to experience such a massive fall.
While ChatGPT said that naming a single exact cryptocurrency that could crash to zero is more “guesswork” than analysis, it mentioned several sectors that pose the highest risk:
“The most vulnerable area of the market is still heavily narrative-driven tokens, especially in sectors like AI. Projects such as PAAL AI and ChainGTP have seen strong attention, but much of that attention is based on hype rather than proven long-term demand. When narratives shift – and they always do – capital leaves quickly, and weaker projects don’t recover.”
The chatbot also paid special attention to gaming tokens like GALA (GALA) and Illuvium (ILV), estimating that their prices can plunge out of the blue. Last but not least, it argued that projects such as SushiSwap and Balancer are at risk as well.
“These are not ‘dead’ projects by any means, but they are structurally weaker than they used to be. Declining total value locked, lower fees, and increasing competition mean that if momentum doesn’t come back, they can gradually lose market position,” it explained.
Google’s Gemini picked different potential candidates. It claimed that the next RAVE could be Power (POWER), whose “constant supply expansion is currently overwhelming demand, creating a slow-motion crash.” Story (IP), Wormhole (W), and Drift (DRIFT) are the other three tokens the chatbot warned about.
Perplexity did not name specific cryptocurrencies, but it alerted traders and investors to closely monitor four key elements that could help identify a dangerous or potentially fraudulent project.
The first red flag is a large portion of the token supply being concentrated in just a few wallets. If a handful of holders own 80-90% of all existing coins, even a small sale from some of them can trigger a massive price drop.
The second warning sign is sudden spikes in volume without any real product updates or major news, which often indicate coordinated trading activity rather than genuine market interest.
Third, investors should treat a project with suspicion if its market capitalization is disproportionately small compared to the buzz it generates. And finally, a token should be approached with caution in case its price is primarily driven by memes or influencer promotions.
For its part, Grok – the chatbot integrated within X – predicted that most altcoins will eventually crash to zero. “No token is immune, but the risk is highest in fresh launches, low-cap narrative plays, or anything with <30-40% truly circulating supply,” it added.
Not long ago, the popular analyst issued a similar warning, forecasting that roughly 99% of all altcoins would eventually go to zero. He believes that BTC, ETH, and SOL are the only three whose existence is guaranteed over the next 10 years.
The post Which Crypto Will Crash to Zero Next? We Asked 4 AIs, and The Answers Might Shock You appeared first on CryptoPotato.
[PRESS RELEASE – Sam, United States, April 20th, 2026]
Unicoin Inc. today announced the official launch of the Unicoin Foundation, a mission-driven organization dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to create meaningful social impact and expand access to the digital economy.
The Foundation’s launch aligns with the evolving market restructuring and regulatory clarity introduced under the leadership of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, which emphasizes transparency, responsible innovation, and clear governance frameworks for digital assets. This milestone underscores Unicoin’s long-standing commitment to compliance, accountability, and building a sustainable and inclusive crypto ecosystem.
A New Era: Crypto as a Force for Good
Anchored in the flagship initiative “Crypto for Good,” the Unicoin Foundation aims to demonstrate how cryptocurrencies can contribute to broader social and economic initiatives.
Through education and ecosystem development programs, the Foundation is developing a scalable entry point to the digital economy for communities traditionally underrepresented in crypto. Within its Crypto for Good framework, it presents digital assets as a tool for expanding access, opportunity, and participation across global markets.
Its education-first approach focuses on financial literacy and long-term wealth creation, enabling individuals to transition from passive saving to active participation in both traditional and digital markets. At the same time, the Foundation accelerates entrepreneurship through hands-on training, mentorship, and startup support, equipping participants with practical capabilities in AI, blockchain, and Web3 to build and scale ventures, shifting the narrative from speculation to knowledge, ownership, and value creation.
Strengthening Trust Through Transparency and Compliance
The establishment of the Unicoin Foundation reflects the company’s proactive alignment with the principles of transparency and responsible governance emphasized in the evolving regulatory landscape. By separating social impact and educational initiatives into an independent foundation, Unicoin reinforces its commitment to ethical innovation and long-term sustainability.
“The future of crypto will be defined by trust, education, and real-world impact,” said Silvina Moschini, co-founder of Unicoin.
A Strategic Engine for Ecosystem Growth
Beyond its social mission, The Unicoin Foundation is expected to play a pivotal role in strengthening Unicoin’s global reputation, expanding its community, and accelerating adoption. By engaging new audiences and fostering trust, the Foundation supports the long-term development and sustainability of the Unicoin ecosystem.
These efforts are further reinforced through a set of strategic impact areas that translate the mission into measurable value creation. The Foundation drives market expansion by actively engaging women and underserved communities worldwide, unlocking new user segments and fostering inclusive participation in the digital economy. It contributes to ecosystem development by supporting entrepreneurs, developers, and innovators, enabling the creation of new solutions and use cases within the Unicoin network.
Finally, it strengthens community engagement by building a global network of informed and empowered participants who act as advocates and contributors to the ecosystem’s growth.
“With the Unicoin Foundation, we are creating a structure that not only advances responsible innovation, but also expands access to opportunity—ensuring that the benefits of digital assets are more inclusive, transparent, and meaningful for communities worldwide, added Alex Konanykhin, co-founder and CEO of Unicoin.”
Governance and Partnerships
The Unicoin Foundation will operate with independent governance from Unicoin Inc, guided by principles of transparency, accountability, and measurable impact.
The Foundation will be chaired by Robert Newman, a seasoned entrepreneur and one of Unicoin’s largest investors, and governed by a board of 27 directors, all of whom are Unicoin investors elected by shareholder vote, ensuring strong alignment between governance and the broader community.
This milestone follows a significant governance decision within the ecosystem:
The restructuring aligns the ecosystem with SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ proposed “token taxonomy” framework, under which certain digital tools and functional tokens may fall outside securities registration requirements if they are not reliant on managerial efforts for profit.
About Unicoin
Unicoin Inc., a/k/a TransparentBusiness, is a U.S.-based crypto company committed to building one of the world’s most transparent and compliant cryptocurrency ecosystems. Through innovation, education, and community engagement, Unicoin aims to democratize access to economic opportunities and redefine the role of digital assets in society.
About the Unicoin Foundation
The Unicoin Foundation is an independent, mission-driven organization dedicated to advancing the responsible adoption of blockchain technology. Through its Crypto for Good initiative and comprehensive educational programs, the Foundation seeks to empower individuals, support impactful projects, and foster a more inclusive and sustainable global economy.
Website: www.unicoin.org
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the anticipated impact of the Unicoin Foundation. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. Nothing in this release constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities or digital assets.
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