Crypto Pulse Media

Several major investment firms have preemptively downgraded Coinbase and other platforms as a sharp drop in trading activity and falling token prices threaten to derail upcoming first-quarter earnings results.
Barclays took the most direct step, downgrading Coinbase (COIN) and warning that “global crypto trading activity has declined to a level not seen since the end of 2023.” The bank added that “absent a resurgence in near-term crypto trading activity, we see profitability under pressure at Coinbase.”
The slowdown is visible in the data. Coinbase’s March trading volume marked “the lowest volume month since September 2024,” Barclays wrote, with April showing “no signs of improvement.” For the first quarter, the bank estimates volumes fell roughly 30% from the prior quarter.
Coinbase and other exchanges charge fees on each transaction they facilitate, meaning lower volumes will lead to less revenue.
The mechanics are straightforward. When markets turn quiet, many traders step back. A retail user who once traded weekly during a rally may stop altogether when prices flatten. Multiply that behavior across millions of accounts, and exchange volumes drop quickly.
That matters because transaction fees remain the main revenue driver for most crypto platforms. Barclays underscored this risk, saying its forecast for Coinbase’s adjusted EBITDA is about 24% below the Street, driven largely by weaker spot trading and retail activity.
Crypto prices have pulled back in the first quarter, with the average price of major tokens falling sharply quarter-over-quarter. Bitcoin lost over 22% of its value in the first quarter of this year, while ether was down 29%.
Oppenheimer struck a similar tone but kept a more upbeat stance on Coinbase. The firm said it is cutting its forecasts due to softer crypto prices and lower trading activity in the first quarter, driven in part by broader economic uncertainty. It also noted that current Wall Street estimates still do not fully reflect the drop in trading volumes during that period.
Across the industry, analysts are revising models downward to reflect a quieter market.
Oppenheimer cut its Coinbase volume estimate to $211 billion for the quarter, down from $244 billion previously, and now expects total revenue of $1.48 billion, below prior forecasts and consensus.
The reset is not limited to Coinbase. Oppenheimer said that Circle (CRCL) continues to expand the USDC stablecoin network, with stablecoin market cap and USDC transfer volume rising about 1% and 12% quarter over quarter, respectively.
Crypto platform Bullish (BLSH), the owner of CoinDesk, saw “strong on platform activity” tied to volatility in February, though spot volumes still missed expectations. As a result, Rosenblatt downgraded BLSH earlier this week while Compass Point downgraded CRCL — to "neutral" and "sell," respectively.
Even these pockets of strength highlight the broader issue: the core business of crypto trading is slowing.
Efforts to diversify revenue streams are underway but may take time to offset the downturn. Coinbase’s push into becoming what it calls an “everything exchange” includes derivatives, tokenized assets and new markets. Barclays was skeptical, writing that the strategy is “likely to take a long time to pay off” and that it sees “little ‘right to win’ in new asset classes like equities.”
Stablecoins, often seen as a steadier revenue stream, also face uncertainty. Barclays pointed to ongoing debate in Washington over regulation, noting that the status of stablecoin rewards “remains in question.” At the same time, Oppenheimer sees near-term support from new use cases, saying “increased prediction market activity could support USDC growth.
Still, those areas remain secondary to trading.
The broader takeaway is that analysts are moving preemptively. With earnings season approaching, firms are lowering estimates now rather than risk being caught off guard by weak results later.
Coinbase reports second-quarter earnings on May 7 and Bullish reports on April 23. Circle has not yet announced a date.
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Traders on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid are increasingly favoring perpetual futures tied to commodities.
By trading activity, oil and silver contracts now far outpace SOL and XRP perps, which posted $176 million and $31 million in volume, respectively. For context, both XRP and SOL have multibillion-dollar market caps and rank among the world’s largest cryptocurrencies.
This trend comes as commodities have turned highly volatile amid the ongoing Iran conflict, which has disrupted crude supply through the strategic Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint for roughly 20% of global oil shipments. It underscores Hyperliquid’s emergence as a go-to platform for price discovery in commodities, especially over weekends when traditional markets are closed.
Brent and WTI crude prices have surged more than 45% this month, the kind of returns typically seen in memecoins. The rally has pushed oil above $100 a barrel, sending inflationary shocks worldwide and drawing renewed attention to commodities as a sector of interest amid heightened geopolitical and market risks.
The uncertainty shows no signs of abating, suggesting Hyperliquid’s energy markets could continue to see heavy activity and potentially challenge bitcoin and ether’s dominance. Perpetual contracts tied to the two tokens still remain the most traded on the exchange, posting 24-hour volumes of $1.94 billion and $990 million, respectively.
Iran said early Monday that the Strait of Hormuz would be "completely closed" immediately if the U.S. follows up on President Donald Trump's threat to attack its power plants.
The stark warning came after Trump said the U.s. would obliterate Iran's power plans if Tehran fails to fully allow oil tankers to pass through the Strait within 48 hours.
In the meantime, analysts at investment banking giant Goldman Sachs have lifted their oil price forecasts amid the ongoing supply disruption.
They now see the Brent crude averaging $100 a barrel over March-April, up from a prior forecast of $98, and implying a roughly 62% premium to their full‑year 2025 outlook. The bank also revised its full‑year 2026 Brent average higher to $85 a barrel, while maintaining a robust $80 average for 2027.
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As oil shocks revive investor anxiety, stablecoins solved payments, but not purchasing power, says Michael Ashton, who's USDi token aims to fix that.
For Michael Ashton, co-founder of the USDi stablecoin along with Andrew Fately, the figures underscore a flaw in crypto’s monetary architecture.
The stablecoin boom has accidentally rebuilt only half of the monetary system,” Ashton told CoinDesk in an interview. “Stablecoins solved the medium-of-exchange problem for crypto, but nobody solved the store-of-value problem. USDi is the first serious attempt to finish building the monetary system onchain."
The $300 billion stablecoin market, dominated by dollar-pegged tokens, has become essential plumbing for crypto trading and payments. But those tokens, typically backed by cash or Treasury bills, are designed to hold a nominal value of $1, not preserve purchasing power. In real terms, Ashton argues, they are losing value.
As stablecoins graduate from crypto-trading tools to genuine payment infrastructure, the store-of-value gap becomes a real institutional concern, not just a philosophical one," he said. "Treasurers, neobanks, and cross-border payment platforms holding float in stablecoins are quietly taking inflation risk they probably haven't priced."
Instead of tracking the dollar, the token is designed to track inflation itself. Its value increases in line with changes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), effectively making it a blockchain-native version of an inflation-protected principal.
Ashton describes USDi as closer to the principal value of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), but without some of the drawbacks that have caught investors off guard in recent years.
While TIPS offer inflation linkage, they are still bonds, meaning their market price can fall when interest rates rise. USDi, by contrast, aims to function more like an inflation-linked savings instrument.
The stablecoin's reserves are invested in a in a low-volatility private fund called the Enduring U.S. Inflation Tracking Fund, which uses TIPS, U.S. Treasury debt, foreign exchange and commodity futures and options; to generate return.
There isn’t really an inflation-protected savings account,” Ashton said. “That’s the gap we’re trying to fill.”
Oil markets have been on a sharp and volatile upswing since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February. Prices initially jumped into the $80s before rapidly breaking above $100 a barrel as fears mounted over disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for roughly 20% of global supply.
Elevated oil prices can stoke inflation by raising transportation and production costs across the economy, which are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
The moves have been marked by extreme volatility, with daily swings driven less by fundamentals than by headlines as markets price in a persistent war premium tied to the risk of prolonged supply disruption
T-bills are around 3.5%, inflation is around 3%, but historically, inflation has often outpaced short rates over longer periods,” Ashton said. “We may be returning to that pattern.”
The dynamic, he added, strengthens the case for an asset explicitly designed to track inflation rather than nominal yields.
Still, Ashton frames USDi as more than a tactical trade. He sees it as a structural evolution in crypto, one that completes the system bitcoin began.
Bitcoin was conceived as an alternative monetary system, and potentially as a store of value like gold,” he said. “But its volatility makes it difficult to use that way over shorter horizons. Stablecoins solved the payments side. Now we need to solve the store-of-value side.”
Beyond its core design, USDi plans to introduce something Ashton says is difficult, or impossible, to replicate in traditional finance: customizable inflation exposure.
CPI itself is a composite of multiple categories, including housing, health care, transportation and education. USDi’s architecture, Ashton said, could eventually allow users to tailor exposure to specific components of inflation.
You don’t have to hold one aggregate basket,” he said. “You could isolate health-care inflation, or tuition, or energy. You could even tailor it by geography: Dutch inflation, French inflation, U.S. core CPI.”
That flexibility allows for more specialized applications, particularly in industries with direct exposure to specific cost pressures.
Insurance companies, for example, face inflation risk in areas like medical costs but lack precise hedging tools. Traditionally, they've managed such risks by holding more capital or transferring exposure through reinsurance or catastrophe bonds. But those tools are blunt and often unavailable for certain types of inflation risk.
There’s never really been a direct hedge for something like health-care inflation,” Ashton said. “If you can hedge that exposure more precisely, you can reduce the capital you need to hold, or expand the amount of business you can underwrite.”
He expects insurers and reinsurers to be among the earliest institutional adopters in a second phase of USDi’s rollout.
Other potential applications include education financing. Programs already exist in parts of the U.S. that allow families to prepay tuition years in advance, effectively locking in prices. Ashton sees a tokenized inflation hedge as a more flexible alternative.
Tuition is a classic inflation risk,” he said. “Being able to hedge that directly, that’s powerful.”
USDi is already up and running, with Ashton targeting a seed raise of around $1.5 million in the coming months.
The broader pitch, however, is less about funding and more about reframing how investors think about risk.
You’re born with inflation risk,” Ashton said. “You’re not born with credit risk or equity risk."
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World Liberty Financial responded to CoinDesk's reporting by saying it would "simply supply more collateral" if markets moved against it, a statement that did not reassure holders.
When CoinDesk reached out for a comment, WLFI did not directly address or dispute the transactions. Instead, it pointed to a social media post published after CoinDesk's report, which argued that the position was intentional and beneficial.
The statement also noted that WLFI would add more of its own token as collateral to avoid liquidation, further highlighting, rather than resolving, the concern raised in CoinDesk's reporting.
Adding more WLFI to back a position denominated in WLFI on a protocol advised by WLFI's own advisor is a form of circularity that investors may want to keep track of.
WLFI framed its role as "anchor borrower," saying the borrowing generates yield for other users at a time when traditional markets offer little. The team disclosed $65.58 million in open-market buybacks of 435.3 million WLFI tokens at an average price of $0.1507 over the past six months, and said a governance proposal to unlock tokens for early holders would be posted next week.
The token is now trading roughly 48% below the buyback average, meaning WLFI's own treasury purchases are significantly underwater.
Meanwhile, three billion additional WLFI tokens sit in an intermediary wallet after the treasury transferred them on April 2 and April 7. That stash is worth roughly $234 million as of current prices, down from $266 million a week ago.
The math works against WLFI on every side if those tokens follow the same path into Dolomite. Lower prices mean less borrowing power per token, and depositing more tokens to borrow more stablecoins from a pool that is already nearly drained makes it harder for other depositors to withdraw. The collateral backing the position becomes even more concentrated in a token that just lost 12% in a day.
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The proposal would move block building away from individual validators, create a revenue entity called FIRE to buy and burn FLR, and reduce annual token inflation to 3%.
External estimates put annual MEV revenues at tens of millions on networks like Arbitrum, upwards of $500 million on Ethereum, and as much as $1 billion on Solana. Flare's three-stage proposal would route the revenue into the protocol's own token economics.
In the first stage, block building moves from individual validators to a designated builder, initially run by the Flare Entity, with a fallback to the current model if the builder is unavailable. In the second, block building moves into Flare Confidential Compute, making the process publicly auditable. The third stage merges the builder and proposer into a single entity, shifting existing validators to a verification role.
The proposal also creates FIRE, the Flare Income Reinvestment Entity to collect revenue from multiple protocol sources including attestation fees, FAsset and Smart Account fees, confidential compute fees and the captured MEV. FIRE's primary mandate is reducing FLR token supply through open-market buybacks and burns.
Several changes would take effect immediately after approval. Annual FLR inflation would drop to 3% from 5%, with the hard cap cut to 3 billion tokens per year from 5 billion. A 20-fold increase to the base gas fee, from 60 gwei to 1,200 gwei, would raise estimated annual FLR burn from roughly 7.5 million to 300 million at current transaction volumes. Even after the increase, a standard Flare transaction would cost a fraction of a cent.
Flare has deep roots in the XRP ecosystem, having distributed its initial token supply through an airdrop to XRP holders in 2023. Its FAssets system, which has produced over 150 million FXRP, is designed to bring smart contract functionality to assets on blockchains like XRPL that do not natively support it.
The network reports over $160 million in total value locked as of late March 2026, with more than 887,000 active addresses.
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Six weeks of war have revealed that bitcoin's floor depends entirely on a handful of mandated buyers absorbing what everyone else is trying to get rid of.
Here is who is on each side and what their behavior tells us about where conviction actually sits.
Three entities account for nearly all of the sustained buying pressure in the bitcoin market right now, and all three are buying because their business model requires it rather than because they've made a discretionary call on price.
Strategy has been the most visible. The company disclosed its latest purchase on April 5, adding 4,871 BTC for approximately $329.9 million at an average of $67,718 per coin.
Total holdings now stand at 766,970 BTC acquired for $58.02 billion at a blended cost basis of $75,644. The position is underwater by roughly 8% at current prices, but Strategy continues buying below its average, pulling the breakeven lower with each purchase.
A CoinDesk report last week showed Strategy's 30-day accumulation holding steady at approximately 44,000 BTC through March.
Strategy's STRC preferred equity product saw hundreds of millions in new inflows around its recent ex-dividend date, providing the capital for continued accumulation. As long as investor appetite for that yield product holds, Strategy keeps buying. If STRC inflows slow, so does the bid.
Meanwhile, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs absorbed approximately 50,000 BTC in March's 30-day rolling window, the highest monthly pace since October 2025.
But the broader ETF industry data tracked on a weekly basis tells a less bullish story. CoinShares reported only $22 million in U.S. spot ETF inflows last week out of $107 million in total bitcoin ETP flows globally. Meanwhile, most flows came from one country – Swiss-listed products pulled in $157 million alone, accounting for 70% of the global ETP inflow of $224 million.
The institutional channel is open but the flow tis highly concentrated and is slowing on a weekly basis.
Meanwhile, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, while primarily an ether play, represents the same structural dynamic on the ETH side.
The company bought 71,252 ETH last week, its largest single-week purchase since December 2025, and now holds 4.8 million tokens worth roughly $10 billion.
Chairman Tom Lee called the stock market bottom this week while his company was actively spending hundreds of millions accumulating the asset he was publicly talking up.
Whales holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC have turned from the market's largest buyers into its largest sellers. The one-year change in whale holdings has swung from roughly positive 200,000 BTC at the 2024 bull market peak to negative 188,000 BTC, a nearly 400,000 BTC reversal that CryptoQuant described as one of the most aggressive large-holder distribution cycles on record. The 365-day moving average continues to decline, confirming the selling is structural rather than reactive to any single event.
Mid-tier holders, wallets with 100 to 1,000 BTC, are still technically accumulating but the pace has collapsed more than 60% since October 2025, from nearly 1 million BTC in annual additions to 429,000. They have not flipped to selling yet, but the trajectory points that direction.
Listed bitcoin miners are liquidating treasury. Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and Genius Group disclosed selling more than 19,000 BTC from their treasuries in a single week earlier this month.
Some are facing operational strains, with bitcoin near $70,000 and difficulty at all-time highs and rising energy costs. The likes of Core Scientific, Iris Energy, and Hut 8, are pivoting capacity to AI hosting where contracted revenue replaces the volatility of mining income.
Bhutan, the only sovereign nation that built a bitcoin position through its own hydropower-backed mining operation, has sold 70% of its holdings since October 2024, from roughly 13,000 BTC to 3,954. The kingdom moved another 319.7 BTC to exchange-linked wallets this week. Its last mining inflow exceeding $100,000 was recorded over a year ago, suggesting the operation may have stopped entirely. Strategy now buys more bitcoin in a typical week than Bhutan has left.
The gap between what mandated buyers are doing and what the rest of the market feels is historically unusual.
The Fear and Greed Index spent over a month pinned between 8 and 14, the most sustained period in extreme fear territory since the 2022 bottom. It only climbed out of single digits this week after the ceasefire was announced.
Santiment data showed five bearish social media posts for every four bullish ones last weekend, the most negative skew since the war began.
Yet through all of that, ETFs were buying 50,000 BTC a month, Strategy was buying 44,000, and bitcoin never broke below $65,000. The floor held because the mandated buyers were absorbing what the discretionary sellers were dumping. The question is whether that absorption is sustainable.
The ceasefire announcement Tuesday produced the sharpest single-day rally in over a month, with bitcoin surging past $72,000 and $427 million in shorts getting liquidated. Open interest in BTC and ETH perpetuals expanding by $2.1 billion and $2.2 billion respectively in 24 hours, with coin-denominated OI also rising, confirming net new long positions rather than just short liquidations.
The Coinbase Premium turned positive for both bitcoin and ether for the first time since October's all-time high, reversing months of persistent negative readings. If it holds, that is the first sign of genuine U.S. buyer re-engagement since the war began.
But the ceasefire has not changed the structural dynamics underneath. Whether it converts into a trend reversal depends on whether the two-week truce becomes permanent, and whether the institutional flows that held the floor through the war can push through the $73,000 ceiling that has rejected every rally since late February.
In conclusion, a read across all of the data is that bitcoin's buyer base has been narrowing for months.
The number of entities providing sustained buying pressure can be counted on one hand. Strategy, ETFs, and to a lesser extent Morgan Stanley's new channel. Everyone else is either selling, slowing down, or leaving.
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Despite its vast mineral wealth, the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to struggle to attract stable foreign investment amid insecurity, with brewing giant Heineken selling its Bralima stake in a major restructuring of its long-standing presence.
Heineken has sold its stake in Bralima, ending decades of direct ownership in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The sale to Mauritius-based ELNA Holdings comes amid ongoing insecurity and instability, particularly in eastern DR Congo.
Conflict and armed groups continue to disrupt business operations, logistics, and supply chains, impacting foreign investment.
Despite immense mineral wealth, DR Congo struggles to convert resources into stable fiscal revenues and attract dependable FDI.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is witnessing another major corporate retreat as Heineken completes the sale of its stake in Bralima, marking a significant shift in one of the country’s oldest brewing operations amid persistent insecurity in the east.
The Dutch brewer said it has sold its shareholding in Brasseries, Limonaderies et Malteries (Bralima) to Mauritius-based ELNA Holdings Ltd, which will assume control of production, distribution and staff as per Reuters
The move effectively ends decades of direct ownership dating back to 1986, although Heineken will continue earning revenue through long-term trademark licensing agreements for brands including Heineken, Primus and Turbo King.
Bralima, founded in 1923 by Belgian investors, has been repeatedly affected by instability in recent years, with conflict in eastern DR Congo disrupting logistics, supply chains and market access.
DR Congo’s long-running struggle with armed groups, including the AFC/M23 rebels, has continued to undermine commercial stability, particularly in the east where key infrastructure has been repeatedly targeted.
Breweries and depots in cities such as Bukavu and Goma have faced looting and operational shutdowns, forcing multinational firms to reassess exposure.
The wider impact extends beyond manufacturing. The conflict is closely tied to the country’s mineral-rich eastern regions, where competition over gold, coltan and other strategic resources has fuelled insecurity for decades.
Despite vast resource wealth, DR Congo continues to struggle with converting its mineral endowment into stable fiscal revenues, limiting public investment capacity.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has remained uneven, with companies increasingly cautious about long-term commitments outside extractive sectors.
Several firms have scaled back or exited operations due to security risks, infrastructure gaps and regulatory uncertainty.
While Kinshasa has recently pursued new international partnerships, including engagement with the United States on strategic minerals, investors remain wary.
Multinationals cite concerns over contract stability, conflict exposure and logistical fragility as key barriers to re-entry or expansion.
The latest Heineken transaction underscores a broader trend: continued corporate restructuring in DR Congo rather than sustained withdrawal, reflecting a market where opportunity and instability remain tightly intertwined.
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Nigeria’s aviation sector is currently confronting a new dilemma as the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency sounds the alarm on its old radar systems, which could hamper the country’s ability to properly monitor its skies
Nigeria's airspace surveillance is at risk due to aging and obsolete radar systems, notably the TRACON system.
The equipment, installed between 2008 and 2010, has exceeded its ten-year operational lifespan and now lacks spare parts and backup.
Budget constraints, including a 30% cut from the Federal Government, hinder necessary system upgrades and maintenance.
Revenue from air navigation fees has become outdated, but attempts to raise charges face resistance, affecting equipment sustainability.
Air traffic controllers, who rely on the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) system, are expressing increasing concern regarding its reliability.
During a meeting with Mahmoud Kambari, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Farouk Umar, Managing Director of NAMA, described the current condition of the TRACON system as substandard.
Per an assessment by the Punch Newspaper, initiated in 2001, the multibillion-naira Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project was designed to provide comprehensive radar surveillance across the country.
For an extended period, this infrastructure functioned as the primary framework for air traffic monitoring, enabling controllers to maintain real-time tracking of aircraft.
While TRACON was formerly regarded as the fundamental component of national air surveillance, its current operational integrity is reported to have significantly deteriorated.
“Our area of urgent attention includes the air traffic surveillance service. The TRACON system has aged. Components are becoming obsolete with no spare parts, and most parts are working without backup. The airspace is at risk of losing surveillance service,” Mr. Umar stated
The Managing Director noted that although the system was implemented between 2008 and 2010, it has since surpassed its projected operational lifespan
“The lifespan of this kind of high-tech equipment is about ten years. Since 2014, the technology has been going out of fashion globally, with many countries migrating to more advanced systems,” he stated
“Without a reliable surveillance system, maintaining safe distances between aircraft becomes more difficult, increasing risks in an already complex aviation environment
Nigeria could also struggle to meet international standards. Providing air navigation services in line with ICAO requirements might become a challenge if urgent steps are not taken,” he added.
In addition to the technical challenges, the managing director revealed that the agency is struggling with budgetary limitations that make upgrading vital systems much more difficult
Speaking about the difficulty of a 30% Federal Government cut from NAMA's internal earnings, Umar maintained that, “This deduction is affecting our ability to meet critical obligations
He also added that. “Revenue challenges persist as well. Since 2008, we have been charging N11,000 per aircraft for each flight
That amount is no longer realistic, yet we face resistance every time we propose an increase. We must sustain our equipment, and that requires funding
Furthermore, he spoke of a lack of manpower and limited training opportunities for staff, which has been detrimental to the system
In response, Mahmoud Kambari, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, committed the ministry to aligning Nigeria’s aviation sector with international standards.
We will continue to work closely with all agencies to ensure they succeed. Nigeria’s aviation industry must remain a key economic driver and a hub of global connectivity,” Kambari stated.
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African-linked vessels are among the first non-Iranian ships cautiously navigating the Strait of Hormuz after a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran, even as traffic through the world’s most important oil chokepoint remains far below normal levels and hundreds of ships remain stranded.
The Gabon-flagged MSG completed the first non-Iranian passage post-ceasefire, while a Botswana-flagged LNG tanker was turned back by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
African-linked vessels are among the first non-Iranian ships cautiously navigating the Strait of Hormuz after a fragile US-Iran ceasefire.
Iran claims only US- and Israel-linked vessels are restricted and may allow special arrangements for countries like South Africa, while also considering imposing tolls on container ships.
Ship traffic through the strait remains far below normal, with only a handful of vessels passing and more than 600 ships still stranded.
Ship-tracking data shows only a handful of vessels have crossed the strait since the truce, underscoring continued Iranian control of the waterway and growing geopolitical tensions involving Washington, Tehran and global shipping operators.
The Gabon-flagged oil tanker MSG was among the first non-Iranian vessels to transit the strait after the ceasefire, carrying about 7,000 tonnes of Emirati fuel oil bound for India, according to MarineTraffic data.
A Liberia-flagged tanker, Daytona Beach, also crossed earlier, transiting at 8:59 a.m. CET after departing Iran’s Bandar Abbas port about an hour earlier at 7:28 a.m. CETSiyam
By contrast, a Botswana-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker, Nidi, reversed course after attempting to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a designated route before being directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Associated Press
Iran has required ships to coordinate movements with the Revolutionary Guard and follow specified routes through the strait amid security risks
Data from market intelligence firm Kpler shows at least 12 vessels have crossed the strait since the ceasefire, far below the usual daily volume of more than 100 ships
Five vessels crossed on Wednesday, down from 11 the previous day, while seven transited on Thursday, indicating traffic has not meaningfully recovered.
More than 600 vessels, including about 325 tankers, remain stranded in the Gulf, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, raising concerns about prolonged supply disruptions and rising shipping costs
Iran’s continued control of the strait has prompted diplomatic outreach, including from African economies reliant on Gulf energy supplies
Addressing the United Ulama Council of South Africa in Cape Town, Iran’s ambassador to Pretoria, Mansour Shakib Mehr, said reports that the energy supply chain had been closed since the start of the conflict on February 28 were inaccurate
He said only vessels linked to the United States and Israel were being restricted from sailing through the strait, which carries about 20% of crude oil originating in the Persian Gulf
Mehr added that Iranian authorities had allowed Chinese- and India-bound shipments to continue under specific conditions and that the same “special arrangement” could be extended to South Africa
Despite Nigeria and Angola cushioning supply disruptions across parts of Africa, the two producers supply roughly two thirds of crude demand in some markets, helping limit immediate shortages but leaving the continent exposed to global price volatility
Countries including China, Malaysia, India and Egypt have opened discussions with Tehran to secure passage through the waterway, as Iranian officials weigh plans to formalise control of the route, including proposals for a toll of about $2 million per container ship
A spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union also indicated that shipping firms may be required to pay Iran a levy in cryptocurrency for each barrel of oil transported through the strait
US President Donald Trump criticised Iran’s management of oil transit, writing: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz
He also warned: “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait – They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, accused Washington of failing to honour the ceasefire. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” Araghchi said in a post on social media. “The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments
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One of the most obvious indicators that it could be a smart idea to buy a house rather than keep renting is a lower price-to-rent ratio.
The price-to-rent ratio measures whether it is more affordable to buy or rent a home.
A low price-to-rent ratio suggests that home prices are reasonable compared to rent costs, making buying more attractive
Lower ratios indicate more balanced markets and less financial strain for first-time buyers
According to Numbeo, several major African cities currently have low price-to-rent ratios, indicating that homeownership is financially advantageous there
The statistic, which compares the cost of owning a house to the cost of renting it, is straightforward, yet it provides useful information on long-term financial benefit and housing affordability.
In comparison to rental income, a low ratio indicates that property prices are reasonably priced
Fundamentally, the price-to-rent ratio aids in providing a practical response to the following query: Is it more affordable to rent over time or own this property outright?
Financial hardship is more likely in markets where the ratio is high, since purchasers frequently exceed their budgets to purchase expensive properties
To put it another way, the price of purchasing a home is not much more than what you would eventually pay in rent
This increases the sustainability of homeownership, especially for first-time purchasers
A lower percentage, on the other hand, indicates a more balanced market where genuine economic value underpins property prices
The ratio also takes into account more general market conditions
A lower percentage frequently suggests that supply and demand for housing are reasonably balanced, preventing a sharp price rise
This gives buyers greater leeway to bargain for better prices and less pressure to make snap judgments
Additionally, it may indicate a more stable real estate market where fundamentals rather than speculators drive prices
Numbeo shows that standardizing comparisons across markets is made easier by using realistic assumptions, such as determining rent per square meter based on actual apartment sizes (50 square meters for a one-bedroom and 110 square meters for a three-bedroom)
The ratio nevertheless offers a solid foundation for assessing affordability and making wise choices even when taxes and maintenance expenses are not taken into account
In the end, a low price-to-rent ratio benefits purchasers by bringing the cost of ownership into line with actual rental values
With that said, here are the major African cities with the lowest price-to-rent ratio, indicating that owning a home is more financially viable than paying rent, per data from Numebo.
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African central banks are gradually aligning with a global shift toward gold-backed reserves, as total central bank purchases reached 27 tonnes in February 2026, valued at about $2billion depending on prevailing prices.
African central banks are gradually increasing gold-backed reserves.
The majority of global central bank gold demand is concentrated among a small group of consistent buyers.
Africa's gold accumulation is modest but strategic, led by the Bank of Uganda, Kenya and the DRC
While global gold demand remains high, driven by countries like China, Poland, and Kazakhstan, Africa is adopting a slow and policy-driven approach to increase holdings.
The uptick marks a rebound from January’s slowdown and reflects a sustained push toward reserve diversification.
Global gold demand from central banks remains highly concentrated among a small group of consistent buyers rather than being evenly spread across the global financial system.
Although more than 60 central banks have added gold in recent years, the bulk of net demand is still driven by a narrow group of aggressive accumulators, mainly in emerging markets.
According to analysis by the World Gold Council, the National Bank of Poland has been one of the most aggressive, adding roughly 80–95 tonnes in 2025, while People’s Bank of China remains the most consistent accumulator, extending its buying streak beyond 16 months with reserves above 2,300 tonnes.
Kazakhstan has also steadily increased holdings, adding about 40–50 tonnes, while Turkey and India have taken a more cyclical approach, alternating between purchases and pauses depending on domestic and market conditions.
This concentration has helped keep global demand elevated above historical averages since 2022, often exceeding 1,000 tonnes annually in peak years before easing slightly in 2025–2026.
African participation remains modest but increasingly strategic. Uganda is at the forefront, launching a domestic gold purchasing programme targeting at least 100 kilograms (0.1 tonnes) over four months.
Last year, African central banks delivered mixed but increasingly strategic performances, with gold playing a central role in managing currency pressures and economic instability.
Ghana stood out for aggressively boosting reserves to support the cedi, while Egypt maintained a more cautious, stability-focused approach. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe experimented with a gold-backed currency, achieving short-term stability but facing lingering credibility concerns.
The initiative reflects a deliberate shift toward locally sourced reserves, aimed at reducing exposure to currency volatility while strengthening balance sheet stability.
In Kenya, gold reserves remain extremely low at just 0.02 tonnes, but policymakers have signaled plans to begin gradual accumulation. With foreign reserves estimated at $12–13 billion, Kenya has room to diversify into gold as part of broader reserve management reforms.
Elsewhere, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is targeting 15 tonnes of artisanal gold production in 2026, as part of efforts to formalise mining output and strengthen state control over bullion flows.
Although Africa still holds a negligible share of global central bank gold reserves, the direction is increasingly clear.
Rather than aggressive accumulation, the continent is adopting a slow, structured, policy-driven approach, aligning with a wider global trend where gold continues to regain importance as a reserve hedge in uncertain financial markets.
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Amid persistent disruptions to global trade in the Strait of Hormuz, Togo is putting forward an ambitious plan to position the Port of Lome as a more secure and dependable logistics center for the international maritime industry.
Togo aims to position the Port of Lome as a secure and reliable logistics center amid disruptions in global trade routes, especially the Strait of Hormuz.
Geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have increased shipping costs and risks, impacting global supply chains dependent on oil.
Togo's Minister of Maritime Economy highlighted the modernization of the Port of Lome, making it capable of handling large-scale international shipping traffic.
The Port of Lome is presented as a strategic alternative for goods bound for Asia and Africa, potentially bypassing risky areas like the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal.These disruptions have impacted global supply systems, particularly in places that rely significantly on imported petroleum and supplies.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world's most important maritime corridors, carrying around 20% of global oil shipments.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions between Iran and the United States have prompted concerns about the safety of vessels traveling the route, resulting in greater shipping costs, delays, and increased insurance premiums.
These disruptions have impacted global supply systems, particularly in places that rely significantly on imported petroleum and supplies.
Against this backdrop, Togo's Minister Delegate for Maritime Economy, Edem Kokou Tengue, during an interview with Sputnik, underscored how the Port of Lomé could serve as a strategic alternative for global trade lines.
“So, Euroassian shipping lines can now rely on the Port of Lome as a transport hub, thus avoiding the dangers that exist on the other side of the planet
Tengue emphasized that the West African port has undergone significant modernization, positioning it to handle large-scale international shipping traffic.
This is essentially the message we conveyed at this forum, demonstrating how the Port of Lome is a modern port, with modern infrastructure, capable of accommodating the latest generations of ships.”
The minister further highlighted that Togo’s proposition goes beyond the Strait, as even disruption in other maritime channels like the Red Sea could be mitigated using the Port of Lome.
Whether Asian routes carry goods destined for Asia, or even the rest of the African continent, I’m referring specifically to Southern and Eastern Africa, the Port of Lome now offers an alternative to the dangers posed by the route through the Strait of Hormuz, or the route through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea,” he stated.
Lomé's strategic offer is consistent with Togo's overall goals to become a logistics powerhouse in West Africa.
Tengue emphasized that altering trade patterns could lead to new collaborations and routes, particularly among Eurasian economies looking to avoid risky regions.
We now have a credible alternative to the traditional trade routes that countries in this part of the world, particularly Russia and others, used for their international trade."
I believe that Russia, like other countries, has much to offer, especially for those of us who want to promote our country as a logistics hub," he added.
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The crypto exchange said its operations in the United Arab Emirates remain unchanged and that many employees have chosen to remain
The spokesperson also said its operations in the UAE remain unchanged and that many employees have chosen to stay.
Our operations in the UAE continue as normal — a large number of our team has chosen to remain in the UAE. We remain deeply committed to the UAE as a key hub for Binance and to the broader region,” the spokesperson said. “As a global company, we continue to operate seamlessly and serve our users without interruption.”
The offer of relocation comes after a ceasefire agreement, following roughly six weeks of escalating regional conflict that has disrupted business activity in the UAE. The country has intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones since hostilities began in late February, according to the UAE Ministry of Defense, with additional interceptions reported on April 8.
The Middle East conflict has already disrupted major crypto, business and sports events across the UAE. TOKEN2049 Dubai has been postponed to 2027, while TON Gateway was canceled due to security and travel concerns. Other large events, including Middle East Energy Dubai and the Dubai International Boat Show, have also been delayed, and the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula 1 races, key for crypto sponsorship exposure, are set to be canceled.
In December, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) said Binance’s global platform would operate under its regulatory framework, marking a significant step in formalizing the exchange’s structure.
Binance, which reportedly has 1,000 staff members or 20% of its total global workforce in the UAE, has also indicated that its worldwide operations are supported from Abu Dhabi, though it has not clearly defined a single global headquarters.
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The magic word for digital assets adoption and success: choice
The opportunity is both real and transformative, but accelerated adoption of digital assets is not guaranteed.
igital assets have moved well beyond the hype cycle. What began as an experiment in decentralized value transfer has evolved into a serious conversation about how capital markets, custody, settlement and asset ownership could be re-imagined for the digital age. Tokenization, programmable money and distributed ledgers may deliver faster settlement, greater transparency and new efficiencies across the financial system.
If investors, issuers and intermediaries are forced into narrow paths and left without options, the promise of digital assets risks being constrained by the very silos they were meant to dismantle. For Web3 to flourish, market participants must be able to choose how, where and when they engage.
The ecosystem’s success will not be determined by any single technology, protocol, innovator or platform. Instead, it will hinge on whether the industry embraces a principle that traditional markets have relied on and come to expect for more than a century: choice.
Without interoperability, assets risk being locked into isolated environments, limiting liquidity, mobility and investor access. The result is a digital version of the same inefficiencies that have historically plagued financial markets, with the added benefits of being faster and more complex
One of the most pressing challenges facing digital assets adoption today is fragmentation. New blockchains and networks continue to emerge, each optimized for different use cases, governance models or performance requirements. While innovation is healthy, disconnected ecosystems can quickly become a barrier to scale.
Indeed, some investors may prefer open, public blockchains, while others may gravitate toward private blockchains. It’s not a matter of ‘or’ – both can and should be available
Interoperability has the potential to change that result. A “network of networks” approach enables assets to move securely across platforms, enabling market participant firms and investors to take full advantage of tokenization’s potential while preserving market integrity and scale. It simplifies use cases, unlocks new business models and supports regulatory consistency, without forcing the industry to converge on a single ccha
Tokenization is often discussed as an inevitability, but inevitability should not be confused with immediacy. Not every asset will tokenize, and those that do will not do so at the same pace
Achieving this vision will require collaboration. Market infrastructure providers, technology firms and regulators must work together to establish frameworks that prioritize compatibility and interoperability over control. In a recent white paper authored by The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in collaboration with Clearstream, Euroclear and BCG, we explored how shared standards and coordinated governance could help advance interoperability while maintaining trust and resilience. The message was and remains clear: interoperability is foundational to scale and the future growth of digital markets
Certain asset classes, especially those with clear operational inefficiencies, high reconciliation costs or settlement frictions, are natural early candidates for tokenization. Others may follow as technology matures, regulatory clarity increases, and market demand evolves. Giving issuers and investors the ability to decide what makes sense for their needs, and on their timeline, reduces risk and builds confidence
For example, while The Depository Trust Corporation (DTC), as a securities depository, facilitates the post‑trade settlement of securities representing over $100 trillion in value, we are not advocating for broad, indiscriminate, or immediate tokenization. Particularly in the early stages of this ecosystem, disciplined sequencing, intentionality, and caution are essential
Digital transformation does not mean abandoning established investing principles and processes.Certain asset classes, especially those with clear operational inefficiencies, high reconciliation costs or settlement frictions, are natural early candidates for tokenization. Others may follow as technology matures, regulatory clarity increases, and market demand evolves. Giving issuers and investors the ability to decide what makes sense for their needs, and on their timeline, reduces risk and builds confidence
Choice, in this context, is about sequencing and needs. It allows the market to learn, adapt and scale responsibly rather than forcing adoption before the infrastructure is ready
A successful digital asset ecosystem can support both. Investors should be able to hold assets in tokenized form alongside traditional securities – and even switch back and forth between them – without sacrificing legal certainty, operational continuity or even the feeling of being in control. Flexibility ensures participation is driven by value, not obligation, and that trust is earned, not assumed
For many institutional investors, tokenized assets will coexist with traditional holdings for many years to come. Some will prefer onchain representations for their operational efficiency or programmability. Others will continue to rely on established custody models, particularly as compliance and risk frameworks evolve
Perhaps the most tangible expression of choice is the wallet
As digital assets enter mainstream financial markets, participants will bring different preferences, risk tolerances and operational requirements. Some will prioritize self-custody. Others will rely on institutional-grade solutions. Many will want the freedom to change over time
Wallet selection should belong to clients (market participant firms). No prescribed wallet. No mandated standard. This model empowers market participants to choose based on their own security needs, regulatory considerations, geographic requirements or internal controls
This flexibility is essential for adoption at scale. Markets will thrive when financial institutions have the opportunity to engage on their own terms and can make decisions based on their clients’ and investors’ strategies, needs and preferences
The success of the digital assets ecosystem will not be built on constraints and limitations. Instead, it will be built on options: choice in blockchain, in assets, in custody and in wallets. These are practical requirements for facilitating growth
If the industry gets this right, digital assets can deliver on their promise: more inclusive, efficient and resilient markets. If it gets it wrong, it risks recreating the limitations of the past on faster rails
#CZonTBPNInterview
#HighestCPISince2022
#FedNomineeHearingDelay
#IranClosesHormuzAgain
#PolygonFunding

The approvals by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory's central bank, mark the first batch under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect in August 2025.
We look forward to the issuers launching business according to their plans, exploring growth opportunities while properly managing risks," HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said in an announcement on Friday.
We hope their promotion of regulated stablecoins will address pain points in financial and economic activities, create values for both individuals and businesses, and support the healthy development of digital assets in Hong Kong.”
The HKMA assessed 36 applications and had signaled that the initial round would be limited. Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in his February budget address that only "a small number" would be approved, with the regulator prioritizing risk management, reserve quality, and anti-money-laundering controls.
The decision to license the city's note-issuing banks first appears to be deliberate. HSBC and Standard Chartered are two of only three commercial banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollar banknotes, a system that dates to 1846, when private banks began issuing currency backed by silver deposits in the absence of a colonial central bank.
Today, each note-issuing bank deposits U.S. dollars with the government's Exchange Fund at the fixed rate of HK$7.80 per dollar and receives Certificates of Indebtedness in return, against which it prints banknotes.
Yue drew the parallel in a December 2023 blog post.
Pre-1935 banknotes issued by commercial banks in exchange for deposited silver were a form of "private money," Yue wrote, and stablecoins function as their blockchain-based equivalent — tokens with stable value that can serve as a medium of exchange on-chain.
The licenses come with one of the world's strictest KYC frameworks for digital money.
Under the HKMA's AML guidelines, licensed stablecoins can only be transferred to wallets whose owners have been identity-verified. The travel rule applies to transfers above HK$8,000 (~$1,000).
In practice, this means HKD stablecoins will likely embed compliance checks into their smart contracts, restricting transfers to wallets listed in an on-chain white list. That makes them structurally different from freely transferable tokens like USDT or USDC.
The bank-led stablecoin model also reflects the HKMA’s decision to deprioritize its central bank digital currency for retail use, as an 11-group pilot program completed in October found the retail case was weak.
CBDCs have historically been a big theme at Hong Kong Fintech Week. Last year, there was barely a mention. Instead, stablecoins were the hot topic.
Chartered CEO Bill Winters said at the time Hong Kong’s push into stablecoins and tokenized deposits could “lay the foundation for a new era of digital trade settlement,” positioning them as a new medium for cross-border commerce
Whether the market agrees remains to be seen.
Stablecoins are a roughly $310 billion asset class, and USD-denominated tokens dominate nearly all of it.
Data from CoinGecko shows that the largest stablecoins by market cap are dollar-pegged, with no euro-or yen-pegged tokens breaking into the top ranks
Hong Kong is betting that regulated, bank-issued HKD stablecoins can carve out a role in regional trade settlement, issued by the same institutions, under the same constraints, on new rails
The question is whether a non-dollar stablecoin, however tightly regulated, can build the network effects needed to compete
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#Notcion
#Binance
#VOTEme
#CryptoPatience

Close to 9 million BTC – roughly 45–46% of the circulating supply – are currently held at a loss, a threshold that has historically preceded either violent capitulation or the opening of a late-cycle accumulation window.
The last time this metric touched comparable levels was January 2023, in the wreckage of the FTX collapse, when extended consolidation followed rather than a swift reversal.
Whether the current setup resolves the same way or breaks differently is the question every trader holding a BTC position needs to answer right now.
The metric in focus is percent of supply in loss – every coin whose last on-chain move occurred at a price higher than today’s is counted as underwater.
At current levels near $65,200, that cohort has swelled to nearly 9 million BTC, with peaks near 10 million BTC registered at recent local lows. Long-term holders (coins unmoved for more than six months) have 4.6 million BTC – 30% of their total holdings – in the red, realizing their worst loss profile since 2023.
Prior instances tell a consistent story. In mid-2018, a comparable underwater supply reading preceded a further 50% collapse into the $3,200 December low.
Mid-2022 saw the same signal appear before a grind through the $17,500 capitulation bottom. January 2023 was the exception that proves the rule – the signal appeared, but forced selling had largely exhausted itself, and the market recovered without a second washout.
The distinction that mattered in 2023 was the absence of large, active sell-side pressure. That distinction matters now, too.
Analysts at CryptoQuant noted that “when such a large share of supply turns unprofitable, markets enter either capitulation phases or late-stage accumulation zones,” framing the core tension as a question of who dominates the sell side – forced liquidators or patient accumulators. Right now, the data tilts toward the former.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen $3 billion in net outflows year-to-date, with investors’ average entry price sitting at $83,956 – a 23% paper loss at current prices.
ETF participants alone offloaded over 600 BTC daily last week. The risk-off sentiment driving ETF outflows is compounding an already stressed on-chain picture, with whales shedding more than 43,000 BTC in the past week.
The Bitcoin Impact Index hit 57.4, entering what Checkonchain classifies as a “high impact” zone historically tied to outsized price moves in either direction.
The 1-month holder cohort has a realized price near $69,000; the 1–3 month cohort sits near $90,000 – both levels now function as overhead resistance ceilings, not support.
Glassnode’s Sean Rose flagged “persistent loss realization into rebounds rather than a single climactic selloff” as the defining characteristic of this drawdown, which has unfolded gradually from the $126,000 October peak through $100,000, $90,000, and $80,000 without a single day of panic-volume catharsis.
Right now, it all comes down to flows and how much pressure the market can absorb, because if ETF demand flips back to strong inflows, something like $500 million weekly, and whales keep buying into the weakness, that starts tightening supply again and gives Bitcoin a real shot at reclaiming $69K and pushing higher from there.
But the more realistic setup for now is still compression, with price stuck between $63K and $69K while the market works through all the underwater supply, no panic flush yet, just slow grinding and choppy moves with no clear direction.
The danger zone sits at $63K, because if that level breaks on a daily close, it likely triggers another wave of liquidations, especially from shorter-term holders, and that is where downside can open up fast as more supply gets forced onto the market.
Watch weekly ETF flow data as the leading indicator – it has front-run BTC price direction more reliably than any on-chain metric over the past six months. Any single week with net inflows above $1 billion is the clearest early signal that the bull case is activating. Any acceleration in whale outflows beyond the current 43,000 BTC weekly pace is the bear case trigger.
The six months of sustained bearish conditions that produced this underwater supply reading did not arrive with a single shock, which is exactly what makes resolution harder to time. The market may need the capitulation day it never got.
#HighestCPISince2022
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#FedNomineeHearingDelay
#freedomofmoney
#IranHormuzCryptoFees

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Mined in America Act on March 30, creating a federal certification program for domestic Bitcoin mining operations and codifying President Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve executive order into law.
The bill targets a structural vulnerability that the industry can no longer ignore: the U.S. controls 38% of global Bitcoin hash rate but sources 97% of its mining hardware from China.
That asymmetry is the entire legislative thesis. Hash rate geography and hardware dependency are two different things – and right now, they’re pointed in opposite directions.
The bill’s core mechanism is a voluntary certification program administered by the Commerce Department. Mining entities that opt in commit to a phased elimination of hardware manufactured by companies tied to foreign adversaries – China and Russia named explicitly – with full phase-out required by the end of the decade.
That distinction matters operationally. Voluntary means no penalty for non-participants, but the incentive architecture is designed to make certification economically attractive. Certified facilities gain access to existing Department of Energy and USDA rural financing programs – covering grid-stabilizing load, excess renewable absorption, and methane capture from landfills and oil fields.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership would be directed to support U.S. firms developing domestic ASIC miners, with domestic assembly mandates attached.
NIST’s role here is notable – it signals the bill frames hardware security as a standards problem, not just a trade policy problem.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve codification adds a direct supply-chain-to-reserve pipeline. Certified miners can sell newly mined BTC to the reserve in exchange for capital gains tax exemptions – a budget-neutral expansion mechanism that doesn’t require Treasury to go to market.
Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, which co-crafted the legislation, put it plainly: “America controls 38 percent of the world’s Bitcoin hash rate, but 97 percent of the hardware powering it comes from China. That is not leadership, that is a liability.”
The bill’s immediate gating variable is committee referral – Senate leadership will assign it to either the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee or the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, likely within weeks.
The Commerce referral is the faster path; Energy and Natural Resources has a heavier docket and more competing priorities in Q2 2026.
Watch for a companion House bill within 60 days – Lummis has coordinated House counterparts on prior crypto legislation and the political incentive to move in parallel is strong ahead of midterm positioning.
NIST’s initial ASIC development guidelines are also a near-term signal – if those drop within 90 days of potential passage, it indicates the executive branch is moving implementation infrastructure ahead of floor votes, which is typically a signal of White House prioritization.
For mining stocks, the first-mover indicator is DOE program eligibility guidance – if Commerce and DOE issue joint certification criteria quickly, expect MARA, RIOT, and CLSK to move on the news before any operational benefit materializes.
The bill is on the calendar. Whether the incentive structure survives committee markup intact – particularly the capital gains exemption for reserve sales – is the variable traders need to track.
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#DelistingAlert
#Altcoins!
#FactCheck
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US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $1.32 billion in March 2026, ending four consecutive months of net outflows and posting their first monthly gain of the year. The reversal signals institutional demand returning to Bitcoin specifically, not to crypto broadly.
That distinction matters. While BTC funds snapped their negative streak, Ethereum ETFs closed March with $46 million in outflows, extending their own losing run to five straight months. XRP funds also ended in negative territory, sharpening a capital rotation thesis that increasingly favors Bitcoin dominance over altcoin exposure.
The prior four months had been brutal. Outflows totaled approximately $6.3 billion between November 2025 and February 2026, $3.5 billion in November alone following Bitcoin’s crash from its $126,000 all-time high on October 10.
December added $1.1 billion in redemptions, January another $1.6 billion, with February contributing $206 million more before sentiment began stabilizing.
Macro conditions drove the pressure. Sticky inflation, a cautious Federal Reserve, and geopolitical risk from the U.S.-Iran conflict kept institutional risk appetite compressed. Bitcoin retraced over 50% from its October peak, closing Q1 2026 at $66,619, down 23.8% from January 1.
ETF investors were sitting on an average cost basis near $84,000 against a market price roughly $18,000 below that.
On-chain data showed wallets categorized as whales accumulated 30,000 BTC – approximately $2.1 billion – through March, absorbing selling pressure and stabilizing price near $65,000 during peak Iran-related volatility.
BlackRock’s IBIT added $98.42 million on March 31 alone, and led a $458 million single-day surge earlier in the month. US spot Bitcoin ETFs added $117.63M as BTC reclaimed $68K at one point during that window, reinforcing the case that institutional demand was quietly rebuilding beneath the noise
That $1.32 billion inflow number sounds strong, but it does not tell the full story, because it still failed to offset the $1.81 billion that left earlier in the quarter, leaving Bitcoin ETFs with a net outflow overall, so calling this a clean recovery is a stretch
What we are really seeing is uneven demand, bursts of buying followed by sharp redemptions, which explains why price still feels stuck instead of trending.
If inflows actually stabilize and turn consistent, especially with macro tension easing, that is when Bitcoin has room to push through $74K and aim higher, helped by April usually being a solid month
Right now though it still looks like a range, with price caught between roughly $67K and $74K while institutions absorb supply but do not push aggressively, and retail participation remains weak in the background.
The risk is that those recent inflows were just short term positioning, because we already saw a sharp weekly outflow at the end of March, and if that kind of selling returns and price loses the lower range, things can open up quickly to the downside.
Nate Geraci, co-founder of the ETF Institute, previously argued that cumulative outflows since the October crash are statistically insignificant relative to the $56 billion in total net inflows the category has attracted since its January 2024 launch. The diamond hands thesis holds – but only if inflows resume with conviction rather than in isolated bursts.
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Circle has launched cirBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin token backed 1:1 with native on-chain BTC reserves, deploying first on Ethereum mainnet and its own Arc blockchain.
The move is direct: Bitcoin holds over $1.7 trillion in market cap but generates almost no DeFi activity, and Circle is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer that changes that.
The institutional implication is immediate. With Bitcoin ETFs reversing months of outflows and fresh capital flowing into BTC exposure, the demand for yield-bearing Bitcoin products is structurally rising – and Circle is moving to own that pipeline before a competitor does.
The existing wrapped Bitcoin market is not small, WBTC launched in January 2019 and at its peak represented billions in DeFi TVL, but it has been defined by custodian opacity.
The 2022 FTX collapse accelerated distrust in centralized wrappers, and renBTC, which once held over $1 billion in TVL, faded as audit credibility eroded. Circle is betting that its track record with USDC, now above $30 billion in circulation, gives it the institutional credibility those products never had.
That distinction matters. WBTC routes through BitGo as custodian – a model that requires trusting an intermediary’s audit. cirBTC uses real-time onchain reserve verification with no third-party custodian sitting between holder and backing BTC.
For institutional desks and DeFi protocols that learned hard lessons from opaque collateral structures, verifiability isn’t a feature – it’s the threshold requirement. If Circle can demonstrate reserve proof holds under stress, the institutional case becomes difficult to argue against.
The mechanism integrates directly with Circle Mint for OTC desks and connects ready-made to USDC liquidity pools, creating a cross-collateral environment that no prior wrapped BTC product has had at launch.
The caveat: Circle’s infrastructure is centralized by nature, and IMF warnings around cross-chain tokenization risks apply here as they do across the RWA sector. The bear case accelerates if a bridge exploit or smart contract failure forces Circle to respond – and the firm’s 2023 inaction during $230 million in USDC bridge thefts on Multichain remains an open scar on its credibility.
Full rollout is targeted for Q2 2026, with DeFi protocol integrations and Circle Mint connectivity expected by May.
Expansions to Solana and additional L2s are on the roadmap but unconfirmed. The immediate variable to watch is DeFi TVL migration – specifically whether lending protocols route BTC collateral toward cirBTC or remain with WBTC given its deeper existing liquidity moats.
Regulatory backdrop matters here too. The 2025 U.S. stablecoin legislation created a clearer framework for fiat-pegged digital assets, but tokenized BTC products sit in a grayer zone.
Broader institutional regulatory clarity from the SEC and CFTC on tokenized assets could accelerate or stall adoption depending on how cirBTC is classified. Circle’s NYSE listing as CRCL adds public accountability that custodian-model competitors do not carry – a pressure point that cuts both ways
If cirBTC captures even a fractional share of BTC held in ETF structures and redirects it toward DeFi yield, the liquidity impact on Ethereum and Arc protocols would be structural, not marginal. If adoption stalls at the institutional access layer due to regulatory friction or a trust event, it validates every skeptic who argued Circle’s credibility is stablecoin-specific and doesn’t transfer to Bitcoin infrastructure
#MegadropLista
#KEEP_SUPPORT
#jasmyustd
#cryptouniverseofficial
#receita_federal

Riot Platforms sold 3,778 Bitcoin in Q1 2026, netting $289.5 million-a volume that dwarfs its 1,473 BTC production for the same period by 2.6x.
The company ended Q1 with 15,680 BTC on its books, down 18% from the 18,005 coins it held at the close of 2025. That gap between what Riot mined and what it sold is the number that demands explanation.
Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham flagged a separate 500 BTC outflow from a wallet attributed to Riot on Thursday, suggesting the selling didn’t stop when Q1 closed.
The company is also pushing deeper into high-performance computing colocation, shifting its business model beyond pure mining toward infrastructure hosting-a pivot that requires capital, which partially explains the aggressive liquidation pace.
Energy costs are the other half of the story. Kadan Stadelmann, blockchain developer and co-founder of AI company Compance, said miners are selling because rising energy costs-worsened by the escalating Middle East conflict since February-are compressing margins across the industry.
Selling 2.6x your quarterly production isn’t treasury management in the traditional sense-it’s a structural drawdown.
That matters because it signals Riot isn’t just covering operating costs; it’s funding something larger, whether that’s hash rate expansion, colocation infrastructure buildout, or balance sheet repair ahead of continued Bitcoin price pressure.
The operational data cuts against a pure distress read, though. Riot improved its all-in power cost 21% year-over-year to 3.0¢/kWh and grew deployed hash rate 26% to 42.5 EH/s. It also generated $21.0 million in power credits during Q1-more than double the year-ago period-by leveraging renewable energy agreements and grid services.
That’s not the profile of a miner bleeding out; it’s a miner reallocating capital aggressively into infrastructure while conditions remain volatile.
Riot isn’t alone. MARA Holdings, Genius Group, and Nakamoto Holdings sold a combined 15,501 BTC in the past week.
Genius Group went further-liquidating its entire Bitcoin stash. The industry is clearly in a rotation away from passive accumulation toward active treasury management, a departure from the hodl-first playbook that defined miner strategy through the 2021 bull cycle. If Bitcoin prices don’t recover in Q2, watch for Riot’s treasury to test the 14,000 BTC level within two quarters at the current drawdown rate.
Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped from approximately 145 trillion to 133 trillion on March 20-a 7.7% decline-while network hash rate fell from 1,160 exahash to roughly 990 exahash as of Friday.
Weaker miners are going offline, exactly as Stadelmann predicted, which structurally benefits survivors like Riot with lower difficulty and higher per-block rewards.
The supply side picture is more complicated when viewed against demand. Bitcoin ETFs snapped a four-month outflow streak with $1.32 billion in March inflows, meaning institutional demand is partially absorbing the miner supply hitting the market.
Riot alone doesn’t move BTC price-but Riot plus MARA plus Genius Group plus Nakamoto in the same week represents a coordinated pressure event that on-chain miner outflow metrics will reflect clearly.
The invalidation condition here is simple: if BTC reclaims and holds above $90,000 in Q2, Riot’s treasury logic flips from defensive liquidation to premature selling at cycle lows. Until that happens, the selling looks rational given the broader market pressure on holders and the rising cost environment compounding miner margin squeeze globally.
#QueencryptoNews
#writetoearn
#ETFvsBTC
#Robertkiyosaki
#tobechukwu