There’s never a dull moment on the blockchain. Here’s what you need to know this week:

Bitcoin

$85,090.19



0.01%

Ethereum

$1,629.27



0.34%

Tether

$1.00

陋

0.02%

XRP

$2.14



0.50%

Solana

$129.38



2.99%

USDC

$1.00



0.00%

See the latest prices

MARKET BYTES

Markets gyrate as Trump tariffs rewire global trade

Markets of all kinds — from stocks to crypto and even gold — have seen extreme volatility over the last week following the rollout of the Trump administration’s global tariff strategy last Wednesday.

At first, crypto prices seemed to be less impacted than most other asset classes. But from Friday through Monday, bitcoin fell from $85,000 to below $75,000, ether fell from about $1,800 to below $1,500, and a wide range of altcoins also saw deep declines.

On Wednesday afternoon, however, markets staged a strong recovery after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on certain tariffs and “a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%.”

Still, BTC’s relative stability last week as other assets flailed is worth noting, according to some analysts. “Bitcoin’s behavior the last several days reflects its developing investment thesis as a store of value asset,” said 21Shares market specialist David Hernandez, “one that could provide uncorrelated sources of return during moments of macroeconomic uncertainty.”

Here’s what you need to know…

$1.5 billion in long crypto bets was liquidated on Monday

Why did crypto prices move so quickly over the weekend? One factor is the way leverage — or borrowed capital — works to accelerate gains or losses in the modern economy.

Here’s an example of how it works: If a trader believes the price of BTC will rise, they can borrow money to buy a bunch of BTC. This is known as a “long position” (the opposite is a “short position”). 

If the price rises, their returns are amplified on a long position, and they can use some of the profits to pay back the loan. But if the price falls, the trader is now on the hook for all the money they borrowed, and both their investment and the collateral they put up to secure the loan can be liquidated.

On Monday alone, around $1.5 billion in long crypto positions were liquidated as the shock making its way through the global financial system finally impacted crypto.

• Silver linings… One analyst suggested that this week’s dip was actually less pronounced than expected, given BTC’s historic volatility compared to the stock market. “I think crypto investors should be extremely pleased with the modest pullback in bitcoin,” said Grayscale’s head of research, Zach Pandl.

A leveraged XRP ETF hit the market  

Speaking of leverage, a new crypto ETF began trading on Monday. The new fund, from Teucrium Investment Advisors, is linked to XRP, but unlike popular spot crypto ETFs such as BlackRock’s IBIT, it doesn’t hold XRP directly. Instead, the ETF aims to use leverage to offer twice the daily return of XRP. 

According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, it’s unusual for a leveraged ETF to launch for an asset before a simpler “spot” ETF, although the odds “remain high” for a spot XRP ETF to eventually gain SEC approval. Following the launch, XRP was up around 11% on Tuesday.

• New standard… According to a new Standard Chartered report, XRP could rise 500% to around $12.50 by 2028 as regulations evolve and new use cases emerge. 

DOJ shutters Biden-era crypto investigations unit 

The market volatility of recent months has come against a backdrop of positive regulatory news for crypto, with the Trump administration and regulators including the SEC working to reverse many Biden-era policies. 

This week, the Department of Justice announced that it would be disbanding a unit dedicated to crypto investigations that it said had been used to “to pursue a reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution.” The move came in response to President Trump’s January executive order to “establish regulatory clarity” for the crypto industry. 

In a memo, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche instructed DOJ employees to concentrate on “prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors” rather than “targeting virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets.”

• Bank on it?… Many market watchers agree that the pro-crypto climate in Washington could soon bring major changes to the global financial system. In a conversation with Messari CEO Eric Turner, Sygnum Bank co-founder Thomas Eichenberger predicted that U.S. banks would begin offering crypto trading and custody “this year.”

CRASH COURSE

Four big questions — and answers! — about the current crypto market

Crypto investors are used to a little volatility. But in the week since the Trump administration announced its latest round of tariffs, investors have been jolted into near record-levels of fear (based on the crypto fear and greed index), with little certainty about what to expect next. 

Have some questions about the latest market moves? Here’s what you might want to know. 

What is a bear market? And are crypto markets in one?

A bear market is a period when asset prices are falling, investor confidence is low, and supply is greater than demand. In percentage terms, one common definition for a bear market is when a major index is down 20% or more from a recent peak. 

Since its recent high of $109,000 in January, bitcoin was down around 25% to $81,500 as of midday Wednesday.

Ki Young Ju, CEO of the onchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, noted that in recent days bitcoin was experiencing so much sell pressure that even large buys weren’t moving prices upward, which is  “a classic bearish signal.”

How did crypto’s initial selloff compare to other major corrections? 

It might surprise you to learn that it’s not actually unusual for crypto markets to see corrections of this magnitude — even in the midst of historic rallies. Between 2018 and 2021, for instance, BTC rose from around $10,000 to $69,000, and saw three corrections of more than 50% along the way. 

• This cycle, BTC peaked at $109,000 the day before Donald Trump was sworn into the White House. On Monday, prices fell as low as $74,909 — or down around 31.2%, before rebounding on Wednesday.

• Last August, bitcoin fell as low as $49,121 after climbing above $70,000 the week prior — a 30% correction. That decline was attributed to a market shock caused by negative economic data and rising interest rates in Japan. 

• In November 2022, following the collapse of FTX, bitcoin fell as low as $15,460 — a 64% decline from its April 2022 high of $43,443. 

• In March 2020, as the COVID-19 crisis grew, bitcoin fell from $8,901 to $3,543 — more than 60%. 

​​Can crypto be a hedge during periods of broad volatility? 

A major narrative for bitcoin in recent years has been its role as an inflation-resistant store of value like gold, and a variety of market watchers from Bernstein analysts to Mark Cuban continue to debate BTC’s role as a potential hedge in times when other asset classes are struggling. 

 “I think bitcoin will become a hedge against tariff risks this time around," said Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, over the weekend. 

Kendrick also noted that bitcoin held up better than most of the “Mag 7” tech stocks as markets sank last Friday. While Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia fell by more than 15%, bitcoin fell around 10%. Only Microsoft outperformed bitcoin during the same period. 

Bernstein’s Gautam Chughani, like Kendrick, pointed out that bitcoin’s price action more closely mirrors that of stocks than gold. However, “this still does not take away from its longer term outperformance as a digital ‘store of value’ asset,” Chughani wrote Tuesday. “[BTC] trades as a higher volatility and more liquid version of gold.”

What should investors keep in mind amid a down market?

It’s never fun to see the value of your portfolio dip. But navigating downturns can be easier if you have a clear strategy.

One of the best ways to avoid emotional trading is to have a long-term strategy like dollar-cost averaging (simply buying a set amount of crypto every week or month no matter what the market is doing).  

While DCA has benefits, it's important to note that like any resource-allocation strategy, it doesn't guarantee profit or protect against loss.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

$1.25 billion

Amount that Ripple is spending to acquire prime broker Hidden Road, marking one of the biggest deals in the history of the crypto industry. The deal will help Ripple create “robust infrastructure” to help institutional investors “enter this space,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

$34.6 billion

The trading volume recorded by the DeFi platform Curve Finance in Q1 of this year, up 13% compared to the same period last year. Curve, which has around $1.8 billion in total value locked, also saw 3.7 million more transactions than in Q1 of 2024, highlighting the protocol’s resilience even amid a broader market downturn.

$50 million

Amount of new capital raised by crypto-powered restaurant app Blackbird, which was created by Resy founder Ben Leventhal and is designed to help restaurants manage payments and reward loyal customers. (Disclosure: Coinbase Ventures is an investor.)

1 zetahash per second

Bitcoin’s new all-time high hashrate, which is a measure of the network’s total computational power for mining new BTC. Despite the record, which has been driven by increased global competition among bitcoin miners, mining revenues have dropped to historic lows.

TOKEN TRIVIA

When is Tax Day in the U.S.?

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