Bitcoin Erases Weekend Decline, Returns to $73,400 as Oil Retreats Back Under $100
Bitcoin erased a 4% weekend slide, climbing to $73,400 by the close of Monday’s U.S. session. The rally coincided with a broader risk‑asset bounce, as the Nasdaq rose 1.2% and oil slipped back below $100 a barrel. MicroStrategy’s Strategy (STRC) continued its aggressive buying, logging a record $770 million in trading volume and suggesting more large‑scale purchases. Crypto‑related equities such as Circle, Gemini, MARA and Bullish also posted double‑digit gains.
Coinbase VP of International Policy Leaves for OpenAI
Tom Duff Gordon, Coinbase’s vice‑president of international policy, has left the cryptocurrency exchange after nearly four years to become OpenAI’s head of EMEA Policy. Gordon brings eight‑plus years of banking experience from Credit Suisse and a reputation for navigating complex...
Crypto Wallet Firm Exodus Sues W3C and Its CEO Garth Howat, Seeking to Compel $175M Acquisition
Exodus Movement has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to compel W3C and its CEO Garth Howat to complete a $175 million acquisition agreed in November 2025. The complaint alleges that Howat and W3C accepted $80 million in loans...
White House Crypto Adviser Witt Says Other Clarity Act Hurdles Being Cleared
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt told CoinDesk that a newly‑crafted compromise on stablecoin yield remains intact, clearing a major obstacle for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in the Senate. He said the agreement, which eases banks’ fears about...
U.S. SEC Says Software Allowing Crypto Wallet Transactions Not Considered Broker
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued a policy statement that software platforms enabling users to trade crypto securities through self‑hosted wallets will not be classified as broker‑dealers, provided they avoid certain activities. The guidance outlines a checklist—no solicitation...
Crypto Exchange Kraken Targeted in Extortion Attempt but Says There Was No Breach and No Client Funds at Risk
Kraken disclosed that a criminal group tried to extort the exchange by threatening to release internal videos, but the firm says no breach occurred and client funds were never at risk. The extortion relates to two insider‑related incidents in which...
Circle CEO Says He Won’t Freeze USDC without a Court Order Even as Hackers Walk Away with Millions
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire reiterated that the company will only freeze USDC wallets when directed by a court order or law‑enforcement request, rejecting real‑time intervention during hacks. Critics, citing incidents such as the recent $280 million Drift Protocol exploit, argue that...
CFTC Chair Mike Selig Argues for Agency's 'Exclusive Regulatory Authority' In Prediction Markets Fight: State of Crypto
CFTC Chair Mike Selig told CoinDesk the commission will continue to defend its exclusive regulatory authority over prediction markets in court. He said the agency’s lawsuits against Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut, along with an upcoming Ninth Circuit case, reinforce the...
DeFi’s Shakeout Is a Stress Test, Not a Death Sentence
DeFi is undergoing a shake‑out as protocols like ZeroLend close and others pause operations, reflecting a bear‑market contraction. Total value locked dropped from $167 billion to $100 billion, while stablecoin market cap rose above $300 billion, indicating capital rotation toward lower‑volatility assets. Institutional...
Bitcoin May Be Forming a Base at $65,000 as 'Paper Hands' Have Been Flushed Out
Fidelity’s global‑macro director Jurrien Timmer says Bitcoin is likely forming a base around $65,000 as selling pressure eases. He points to oil backwardation, stable credit spreads and a S&P 500 drawdown of only about 1% as evidence that markets are pricing...
Oil Futures up 7% on Hyperliquid as Trump Orders Naval Blockade of Hormuz
Oil futures surged on the decentralized Hyperliquid exchange after President Donald Trump ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global petroleum shipments. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contracts jumped 7% to $96.40, while Brent rose...
Market Makers Are Fleeing Public Blockchains to Protect Their Secret Trading Playbooks
Market makers are abandoning public crypto exchanges because their strategies are exposed on‑chain, prompting GoQuant to launch GoDark, a Solana‑based DEX that hides trade details with zero‑knowledge proofs. The platform promises order‑matching speeds of 25–50 ms, a notable improvement over most...
Commodity Traders Are Getting Debanked Due to Iran War, Pushing Them to Rely on Stablecoins
Commodity traders in Europe are being "debanked" as banks pull back from Iran‑linked transactions due to heightened compliance risk. To replace traditional rails, traders are increasingly using stablecoins, especially Tether's USDT, for cross‑border settlement. Haycen, a trade‑finance‑focused stablecoin issuer, is...
Tron’s Justin Sun Slams Trump-Backed WLFI for Treating Users as ‘Personal ATM’ After $75 Million DeFi Loan
Tron founder Justin Sun has severed ties with Trump‑backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) after the firm deposited 5 billion WLFI tokens (≈$395 million) on DeFi lender Dolomite and borrowed roughly $75 million in stablecoins. The loan drove Dolomite’s USD‑1 pool to 100 % utilization,...
Musk’s SpaceX Holds $603 Million in Bitcoin Despite $5 Billion Loss Stemming From xAI
SpaceX reported a near $5 billion loss for 2025 after the costly integration of Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI, even as revenue rose to $18.5 billion. Despite the downturn, the company’s treasury still holds 8,285 BTC—about $603 million—safely stored in Coinbase Prime. The Bitcoin...
Bitcoin Signals Potential Seller Exhaustion as Realized Losses Decline
On‑chain data shows Bitcoin’s realized losses have dropped to about $400 million per day, down from a $2 billion peak, while the profit‑to‑loss ratio climbed to 1.4. Spot markets are moving from aggressive selling toward net buying, and the price has steadied...
The Crypto Honeymoon Is over for Now as Analysts Warn of a Major First-Quarter Profit Squeeze
Wall Street analysts have cut forecasts for Coinbase and other crypto exchanges as trading volumes and token prices plunge to their weakest levels since late 2023. Barclays downgraded Coinbase and now expects adjusted EBITDA about 24% below prior Street estimates, while...
Bitcoin, Broader Market Flat as U.S.-Iran Negotiations Begin
Bitcoin slipped below $73,000, down about 0.6% in the last 24 hours as high‑level U.S. and Iranian officials began talks in Islamabad. The broader crypto market remained largely flat, with the CoinDesk 20 index up 0.12% and Ethereum gaining 0.1%....
Iran War Oil-Price Shock Revives Inflation Trade and a New Stablecoin Play
The Iran‑related oil shock has pushed U.S. inflation up 0.9% in March, reigniting investor interest in inflation hedges. Michael Ashton’s USDi stablecoin aims to fill a gap in crypto by tracking the CPI rather than a fixed dollar, preserving purchasing...
Crypto Perpetuals Predict the Direction of Wall Street’s Monday Open with 89% Accuracy, Data Shows
Crypto perpetual futures tied to traditional assets now predict the direction of Monday’s opening price in conventional futures with 89% accuracy, according to Binance Research. Over half (57%) of the expected price move is already reflected in these crypto markets...
Crypto Clarity Bill Has 30% Chance of Passing This Year, Wintermute’s Hammond Says
Wintermute policy chief Ron Hammond estimates a 30% chance the Crypto Clarity Act will pass in 2026, citing bank opposition over stable‑coin yield, shifting timelines, and broader political friction. A recent Punchbowl survey of lobbyists placed odds at 26%, while...
The Bitcoin Market Is Splitting in Two. Here's Who Is Buying and Selling Amid the War
Six weeks of conflict have split the bitcoin market into two camps: a handful of mandated buyers that keep accumulating and a broad group of discretionary sellers exiting positions. Strategy, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs and Bitmine Immersion Technologies together account...
Star Xu Calls CZ a ‘Liar’ as Founders of World’s Largest Crypto Exchanges Argue over Past Allegations
The long‑running feud between OKX founder Star Xu and Binance chief Changpeng Zhao resurfaced after the release of Zhao’s memoir, prompting Xu to label Zhao a “habitual liar.” Xu revived a 2015 contract dispute from Zhao’s brief stint at OKCoin, sharing a...
The Magic Word for Digital Assets Adoption and Success: Choice
The column argues that the digital‑asset ecosystem will only thrive if market participants are given genuine choice—across blockchain networks, tokenized asset classes, custody models, and wallet providers. Fragmented chains risk locking assets and stifling liquidity, so interoperability and a "network...
Bitcoin Gains After Core CPI Rose a Less-than-Forecast 0.2% in March.
U.S. core CPI for March rose 0.2% month‑over‑month, under the 0.3% forecast, while headline CPI matched expectations at 0.9% amid a sharp oil price surge linked to the Iran war. The softer core reading nudged Bitcoin higher, with the cryptocurrency...
Institutions' Bitcoin Positioning Lacks Conviction; CPI, Iran Talks Might Help
Bitcoin is hovering around $72,000 as institutional investors hedge their bets with both $80,000 call options and protective puts. Options tied to BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF show strong open interest in the May $45 call, while skew remains negative, indicating...
Bitcoin Holds Steady as Inflation Data Looms, Bittensor Drama Unfolds
Bitcoin held near $71,700 on Friday as its Bollinger bands narrowed to the tightest level since early 2024, reviving analyst forecasts of a possible 40% price swing. The upcoming U.S. CPI report, projected at 3.3% year‑on‑year, could add macro pressure...
HSBC and Standard Chartered-Led Group Land Hong Kong’s First Stablecoin Licenses
Hong Kong’s monetary authority granted its first two stablecoin issuer licences to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a Standard Chartered‑led joint venture. The licences are the inaugural approvals under the Stablecoins Ordinance that took effect in August 2025, following an assessment...
XRP Adjacent Flare Proposes Protocol-Level MEV Capture and 40% Inflation Cut
Flare has submitted a governance proposal to capture maximal extractable value (MEV) at the protocol level by shifting block building to a designated builder and eventually to a confidential compute layer. The plan creates a new entity, FIRE, to funnel...
Mike Novogratz Spotlights Helios as $15 Billion Powerhouse in Galaxy Digital Annual Report
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz highlighted the firm’s transformation from a pure‑play crypto trader to an infrastructure‑focused powerhouse in its 2025 annual report. The company’s Helios AI data‑center campus in West Texas is now valued at over $15 billion, backed by...
Banks Are Treading Carefully on Stablecoins Despite Market Growth, S&P Global Says
U.S. banks are proceeding cautiously with stablecoins despite the market swelling past $300 billion, according to S&P Global. Only 7% of smaller institutions are developing frameworks and none are running pilots, highlighting a wait‑and‑see posture. Larger banks may explore issuing tokenized...
Tokenized Perpetual Swaps Hit $31 Billion Weekly Volume on Commodities Volatility
Tokenized perpetual swaps surged to $30.7 billion in weekly volume, representing 1.72% of the crypto derivatives market. Commodities led the rally, with oil‑linked swaps alone reaching $6.9 billion after heightened geopolitical tension. Stock perpetual swaps exploded 908% to about $4.9 billion, while overall...
Fartcoin's Price Crashed 50% After $145 Million Manipulation Bet Went Wrong
A group of wallets built a $145.24 million long position on the meme token Fartcoin on the Hyperliquid perpetual futures exchange. The oversized bet collapsed, slashing the token’s price by 50% in one hour, from $0.2519 to $0.1244, and costing the...
Bitcoin’s $80,000 Bull Bet Just Took over the Market
Bitcoin’s market sentiment has flipped bullish as the $80,000 call option on Deribit became the most‑traded contract, overtaking the previously dominant $60,000 put. Open interest at the $80,000 strike now exceeds $1.6 billion, while whale wallets holding more than 10,000 BTC...
Bitcoin Stalls Below Key Resistance as Analysts Clash over Next Move
Bitcoin is trading around $71,200, stalled just below the $75,000 resistance level that many traders view as a catalyst for the next market move. Analysts are divided, with Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone warning a drop to $10,000 if the level fails,...
Strategy’s STRC Sees One of Its Highest Volume Days, with Just One Penny of Volatility
Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock STRC logged $333 million in trading volume on April 9, marking its seventh‑highest daily volume since its July 2025 debut. Despite the heavy flow, the security stayed anchored at its $100 par value, delivering just one penny of price...
CZ Says SBF Asked for Billions 'Like a Bologna Sandwich' As FTX Collapsed
In his memoir "Freedom of Money," Binance founder Changpeng Zhao reveals he signed a non‑binding Letter of Intent to acquire FTX in November 2022 merely as a formality, never intending to buy the exchange. Zhao recounts Sam Bankman‑Fried asking for...
Bitcoin Vaults Past $72,000 as U.S. Stock Futures Surge on a Two‑week U.S.–Iran Ceasefire
Bitcoin surged past $72,700, climbing about 5% in 24 hours as U.S. stock futures rallied following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a two‑week cease‑fire with Iran. The cease‑fire eased geopolitical tensions, sending West Texas Intermediate crude down more than 10%...
Stablecoin Issuers Get Closer to U.S. Federal Rules with FDIC's New Proposal
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) has formally proposed its first stablecoin‑issuer rule under the GENIUS Act, aligning closely with the OCC’s earlier framework. The proposal, which includes 144 regulatory questions, opens a 60‑day public comment period and sets capital,...
Trump-Linked World Liberty Faces Scrutiny over Ties to Sanctioned Network: The Times
World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture co‑founded by former President Donald Trump, is under renewed scrutiny after its partnership with Southeast Asian blockchain firm AB DAO, which had promoted a resort tied to Cambodia’s Prince Group—a network sanctioned by the...
‘Don’t Waste Time with Crypto': Here Is What Solana Foundation's Cryptic Message Really Means
The Solana Foundation unveiled a San Francisco billboard that reads “Don’t waste time with crypto,” signaling its push to make crypto invisible infrastructure for AI agents. It promotes the new x402 micropayment standard, which already supports more than 15 million AI‑driven transactions....
Inflation Takes Center Stage: Crypto Week Ahead
Inflation data dominates the crypto agenda this week as the U.S. core PCE and March CPI numbers are set to test whether the Federal Reserve can delay rate cuts. Market odds of zero cuts in 2026 have surged from 2.9%...
XRP Drifts Higher to $1.33, but Range-Bound Trade Still Dominates
XRP nudged up 1.08% to $1.33, trading in a tight $1.30‑$1.35 band as volume rose 23% above its 7‑day average. Buyers defended the $1.30 support, creating higher lows, but repeated selling near $1.33 capped further gains. The token’s movement mirrors...
AI Is Making Crypto's Security Problem Even Worse, Ledger CTO Warns
Ledger’s CTO Charles Guillemet warned that artificial intelligence is dramatically reducing the cost and speed of crypto hacks, turning what was once a high‑skill, expensive endeavor into a near‑zero‑cost operation. Over the past year, crypto attacks have siphoned roughly $1.4 billion,...
Ant Group’s Blockchain Arm Unveils Platform for AI Agents to Transact on Crypto Rails
Ant Digital Technologies, the blockchain arm of Ant Group, unveiled Anvita – a platform that lets autonomous AI agents tokenise real‑world assets and settle payments in real time using USDC stablecoins. The offering comprises Anvita TaaS for asset tokenisation and...
Bitcoin Tends to Outperform Gold and Stocks After Global Shocks, Mercado Bitcoin Finds
Mercado Bitcoin’s research shows Bitcoin consistently outperforms gold and the S&P 500 in the 60‑day periods following major economic or geopolitical shocks. The study cites examples such as a 24 % Bitcoin gain after the 2023 U.S. tariff announcement, a 21 % rise at...
Ex-UK Chancellor Backs Bitcoin as Alternative to Failing Systems
Former UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, reflecting on the 2022 mini‑budget fallout, warned that Britain is trapped in a fiscal “doom loop” of overspending and rising taxes. He criticized short‑term political thinking and promoted Bitcoin as a resilient, long‑term monetary alternative....
Schwab Plans Spot Bitcoin, Ether Trading Launch in First Half of 2026
Charles Schwab announced it will launch spot trading for Bitcoin and Ether in the first half of 2026 via its Charles Schwab Premier Bank unit. The firm has opened a wait‑list for a new Schwab Crypto account that will let...
Naoris Protocol's Quantum-Resistant Blockchain Goes Live as Bitcoin and Ethereum Face 'Q-Day' Threats
Naoris Protocol launched a quantum‑resistant mainnet built on NIST‑approved post‑quantum algorithms, marking its shift from proof‑of‑concept to production. The network has already validated over 100 million transactions and mitigated more than 603 million threats during testing. Its debut comes as Bitcoin and...
Todd Blanche, Author of DOJ Crypto Enforcement Memo, Is Now Interim AG
Todd Blanche, former personal attorney to Donald Trump and deputy attorney general, was named interim Attorney General after President Trump removed Pam Bondi. Blanche previously authored a DOJ memo that halted crypto regulatory‑violation prosecutions and dismantled the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement...
