Crypto World
Brent Crude Approaches $110 Amid Escalating Iran Tensions and Hormuz Blockade
Key Highlights
- Brent crude climbed close to $110 per barrel while WTI hit $96 amid escalating Middle East tensions through early April.
- President Trump postponed the deadline for potential strikes on Iran’s energy sector until April 6, citing active diplomatic discussions.
- Iranian officials have publicly rejected claims that negotiations with Washington are underway.
- Approximately 8 million barrels daily remain unavailable due to the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Energy analysts from Macquarie project oil could surge to $200 per barrel if hostilities persist beyond spring.
Global crude markets continue their sharp ascent as geopolitical strife involving the United States, Israel, and Iran throttles critical energy transport routes. Brent crude advanced nearly 2% to reach $109.92 per barrel during Friday trading. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate climbed to $96.08.
March appears set to deliver unprecedented gains for Brent crude. The benchmark has jumped approximately 52% throughout the month, representing one of the most dramatic monthly advances in modern energy trading history.
Hostilities erupted in late February and have resulted in the virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow maritime passage typically handles roughly 20% of the world’s petroleum shipments.
The strait’s closure has removed roughly 8 million barrels daily from international markets. Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank’s commodities strategy chief, noted that supply constraints are accelerating rapidly as vessels that departed Gulf ports before the crisis have completed their deliveries and offloaded their cargo.
President Trump pushed back the White House’s ultimatum for Iran to restore access to the strait or risk American military action against its energy infrastructure. April 6 now marks the revised deadline. Trump indicated that Iran requested the postponement and characterized ongoing discussions as productive.
Tehran contradicted this narrative through official channels. Iranian authorities stated that no diplomatic engagement with the United States is currently in progress.
Military Operations and Troop Deployments Expand
Combat operations have persisted throughout the region. Israeli forces announced they targeted a primary Iranian production center for missiles and naval mines located in Yazd. Kuwait confirmed drone strikes against two of its port facilities. Saudi authorities intercepted unmanned aircraft in the kingdom’s eastern provinces.
The Pentagon is evaluating the deployment of as many as 10,000 additional ground forces to the area, potentially including elements from the 82nd Airborne Division and Marine Expeditionary Units.
The Trump administration is simultaneously working to organize a diplomatic gathering in Pakistan scheduled for this weekend. Vice President JD Vance and additional high-ranking officials may participate in discussions aimed at identifying a pathway toward resolution.
Iranian leadership indicated it declined a 15-point American peace framework and presented alternative conditions. Tehran’s terms reportedly include formal acknowledgment of Iranian authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
Economic Ripple Effects and Global Market Reaction
The dramatic oil spike is amplifying wider economic anxieties. Government debt yields have climbed as market participants anticipate that elevated energy costs may compel monetary authorities to implement tighter policy.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield advanced to levels not observed since July. European bond markets in Germany and France experienced similar yield increases.
Numerous nations have implemented measures to cushion the impact on their populations. India reduced taxation on diesel and gasoline products. Vietnam implemented a temporary freeze on fuel-related levies through mid-April. New Zealand authorities documented evidence of consumer stockpiling of petroleum products.
Macquarie’s analytical team estimates a 40% probability that military confrontations will continue through June. Under that scenario, their forecasts suggest crude could reach $200 per barrel.
Two commercial container vessels operated by China’s Cosco Shipping made an attempt to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Friday but reversed course in proximity to Iranian territorial waters.
Crypto World
Ondo, CC sidestep macro concerns with institutional deals as BTC, ETH prices slide: Crypto Daybook Americas
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Bearish macro headlines dominate crypto market sentiment, as they have done for most of the month, but concrete updates advancing mainstream blockchain adoption still have the ability to resonate with investors.
That’s evident from the 7% gain in Canton Network’s CC token over the past 24 hours. It’s the second-best-performing top-100 token by market value, behind Ondo Network’s ONDO token, which has risen 9%.
CC’s upswing follows Visa’s announcement that it joined Canton Network as a super validator, helping secure and validate transactions on the blockchain.
The move is pivotal because it brings a global payments giant onto a privacy-preserving network specifically built for institutions that want to transact on the blockchain without exposing sensitive data to other network participants.
Visa will help “extend privacy‑preserving blockchain infrastructure to banks and financial institutions around the world,” the firm said in an official announcement.
Privacy is widely seen as a key requirement for broader institutional adoption of the technology. At Consensus Hong Kong in February, investment banking giant JPMorgan and crypto firms Abraxas and B2C2 emphasized the need for privacy-preserving infrastructure, noting that institutions are unlikely to transact at scale on fully transparent networks where sensitive financial data could be exposed.
ONDO, too, is rallying primarily due to its pole position in the real-world asset tokenization sector, underscored by the early-week news of its partnership with Franklin Templeton to tokenize traditional assets.
The broader market remains under pressure due to geopolitical tensions and oil prices, which have traders pricing a Fed rate hike in two weeks.
Bitcoin has dropped over 3% to $66,800 alognside similar losses in ether (ETH) and XRP (XRP). Solana’s SOL token fell over 5% and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) lost 3% decline.
According to Marex, renewed outflows from spot ETFs are weighing on bitcoin.
“ETF outflows have returned in size, which removes a steady bid from the tape and makes dips feel less protected,” Marex’s analysts said in a morning note.
They added that with the quarterly options expiry out of the way, the market is more exposed to the real catalysts again: oil, war headlines, rates and risk appetite.
Speaking of risk appetite, it could remain weak as government bond yields across the advanced world, including the U.S. and Japan, are rising again. Stay alert!
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to Watch
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.
- Crypto
- Macro
- March 27, 10:00 a.m.: U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Final for March est. 55.5 (Prev. 56.6)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- March 27: Sphere 3D (ANY), post-market, -$4.68
- March 27: Bonk Inc (BNKK), post-market
- March 27: Mawson Infrastructure Group (MIGI), post-market, -$10.40
- March 27: ZeroStack (ZSTK), post-market, -$1.97
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.
- Governance votes & calls
- Unlocks
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead“.
Market Movements
- BTC is down 6.13% from 4 p.m. ET Thursday at $66,329.42 (24hrs: -4.44%)
- ETH is down 8.13% at $1,987.25 (24hrs: -4.27%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 3.34% at 1,909.22 (24hrs: -3.86%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is unchanged at 2.74%
- BTC funding rate is at -0.0097% (-10.5930% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is up 0.10% at 100.00
- Gold futures are unchanged at $4,460.60
- Silver futures are unchanged at $68.82
- Nikkei 225 closed down 0.43% at 53,373.07
- Hang Seng closed up 0.38% at 24,951.88
- FTSE is down 0.69% at 9,902.97
- Euro Stoxx 50 is down 1.39% at 5,488.69
- DJIA closed on Thursday down 1.01% at 45,960.11
- S&P 500 closed down 1.74% at 6,477.16
- Nasdaq Composite closed down 2.38% at 21,408.08
- S&P/TSX Composite closed down 1.53% at 31,887.52
- S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.44% at 3,481.68
- U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 9 bps at 4.42%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.51% at 6,492.00
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.71% at 23,624.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index are down 0.48% at 46,009.00
Bitcoin Stats
- BTC Dominance: 58.49% (-0.61%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02996 (0.07%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 994 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $31.97
- Total fees: 2.37 BTC / $164,687
- CME Futures Open Interest: 118,140 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 15.1 oz.
- BTC vs gold market cap: 4.44%
Technical Analysis
- The chart shows bitcoin’s daily price swings in candlestick format since July last year.
- BTC has slipped to support of the trendline from Feb. 6 low, characterizing the price bounce within the broader downtrend.
- Should the support give way, we could see a deeper selloff that could test dip demand around February lows near $60,000.
- The latest pattern is similar to the one seen through December and January, which ended up deepening the selloff.
Crypto Equities
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Thursday at $173.38 (–4.26%), –1.72% at $170.39 in pre-market
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $19.61 (–8.06%), –1.33% at $19.35
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $8.58 (+3.62%), –0.58% at $8.53
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $14.01 (–7.62%), –0.18% at $13.98
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.79 (–7.39%), –0.51% at $15.71
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.30 (–6.63%), –0.54% at $9.25
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $6.85 (–6.04%)
- CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $37.08 (–7.99%)
- Circle Internet Group (CRCL): closed at $98.27 (–5.38%), –2.35% at $95.96
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $36.44 (–2.64%), –0.93% at $36.10
Crypto Treasury Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $132.93 (–4.46%), –0.99% at $131.61
- Strive Asset Management (ASST): closed at $10.41 (–4.06%), –1.15% at $10.29
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.53 (–10.30%), –0.61% at $6.49
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.07 (–10.08%), +1.87% at $1.09
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.16 (–3.33%)
ETF Flows
Spot BTC ETFs
- Daily net flows: -$171.3 million
- Cumulative net flows: $56.14 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.29 million
Spot ETH ETFs
- Daily net flows: -$92.5 million
- Cumulative net flows: $11.6 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~5.76 million
Source: Farside Investors
While You Were Sleeping
Glassnode’s Accumulation Trend Score by cohort is signaling broad-based selling led by retail participants as bitcoin falls below $67,000.
The 30-day Accumulation Trend Score, broken down by wallet cohorts, measures the relative behavior of entities accumulating or distributing coins on-chain. It combines both the size of each cohort’s holdings and their net balance change over the past 30 days. A score closer to 1 indicates accumulation, particularly by larger entities, while a score near 0 reflects distribution or a lack of accumulation.
Currently, the heaviest selling pressure is coming from retail participants holding less than 10 BTC. Wallets with under 1 BTC have a score of 0.11, while those holding 1 to 10 BTC are even lower at 0.05, indicating aggressive distribution.
Further up the spectrum, selling pressure becomes less pronounced. Whales holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC are neutral with a score around 0.5, suggesting neither strong accumulation nor distribution, waiting to see where prices head next.
The largest cohort, those holding over 10,000 BTC, are showing mild distribution but not at levels seen late last year when Bitcoin traded above $90,000. Meanwhile, entities holding 100 to 1,000 BTC are also in notable distribution.
There has been limited accumulation since early February, when bitcoin briefly dropped toward $60,000. The current trend suggests retail investors are capitulating, while larger players remain on the sidelines, waiting rather than actively buying.
Key Highlights
- Shares closed down 11.37% at $688.80 Thursday, then climbed 1.50% to $699.10 after hours.
- Company disclosed plans for a 240,000-square-foot Greensboro, NC production site purchased from Qorvo, with operations expected by mid-2028.
- NVIDIA named as a confirmed customer through existing strategic supply agreements linked to the facility.
- Previous quarter showed Lumentum exceeding EPS forecasts ($1.67 actual vs. $1.41 projected) while revenue jumped 65.5% annually to $665.5M.
- Wall Street price targets vary significantly — BNP Paribas projects $1,040 while the average consensus hovers at $575.06; company insiders offloaded approximately $38.9M in shares recently.
Shares of Lumentum Holdings (LITE) experienced significant volatility Thursday, plummeting 11.37% before settling at $688.80. Trading volume reached approximately 6.18 million shares — representing a 4% increase over typical daily activity.
However, the semiconductor stock staged a comeback during extended trading hours. Shares climbed 1.50% to $699.10 after the company disclosed details about a significant domestic manufacturing investment.
Lumentum revealed its purchase of a 240,000-square-foot production campus in Greensboro, North Carolina, from fellow semiconductor company Qorvo. The facility will focus on manufacturing indium phosphide optical components, including continuous wave lasers and ultra-high-power laser systems utilizing 6-inch InP wafers.
Operations are scheduled to reach full capacity around mid-2028. Chief Executive Michael Hurlston noted that clients are “constructing the technological backbone that will shape the future generation of computing.”
NVIDIA received confirmation as a client through existing strategic partnership agreements connected to this manufacturing expansion. Debora Shoquist, NVIDIA’s EVP of Operations, stated the development “reinforces supply chain reliability and enables us to address increasing infrastructure requirements with assurance.”
The after-hours recovery indicates investors interpreted Thursday’s selloff as an attractive entry point rather than evidence of underlying business deterioration.
Impressive Financial Performance and Upgraded Outlook
Lumentum’s latest quarterly earnings provided substantial reasons for investor confidence. The firm reported earnings per share of $1.67, surpassing Wall Street’s $1.41 consensus by $0.26.
Total revenue reached $665.5 million — representing a 65.5% increase compared to the same period last year and exceeding analyst expectations of $646.74 million. Management issued Q3 2026 EPS guidance ranging from $2.15 to $2.35.
Despite this positive momentum, shares have retreated from their 52-week peak of $808.80. The stock nevertheless trades 84% higher than its 52-week bottom of $45.66, with an extraordinary 941.90% gain over the trailing twelve months.
Current pricing remains substantially above key technical indicators — the 50-day moving average sits at $567.66 while the 200-day moving average rests at $363.11, both considerably beneath today’s levels.
Wall Street Remains Divided
Analyst perspectives vary considerably. BNP Paribas maintains a bullish $1,040 price objective, suggesting roughly 47% appreciation potential from present valuations.
Morgan Stanley kept its Equal-Weight stance while increasing its target from $520 to $595. Mizuho holds an “outperform” recommendation with a $645 price goal.
The aggregated view from 19 Wall Street analysts indicates a “Moderate Buy” rating with a mean price target of $575.06 — presently trading below the stock’s current market value.
Regarding insider activity, company executives have disposed of approximately 65,775 shares valued at roughly $38.9 million during the previous 90-day period. Institutional investors control about 94% of outstanding shares.
LITE’s relative strength index registered 52.34 entering Friday’s session, with the company’s total market capitalization standing near $49.18 billion.
An Australian court ordered Binance Australia Derivatives to pay $6.9 million after misclassifying retail clients and exposing them to high-risk crypto products.
The Federal Court of Australia has ordered Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Binance Australia Derivatives, to pay a 10 million Australian dollar ($6.9 million) penalty after the company admitted to misclassifying more than 85% of its Australian client base and exposing retail investors to high-risk crypto derivatives without required protections.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the affected group included 524 retail investors who were wrongly treated as wholesale clients between July 2022 and April 2023. Those clients later incurred $6.3 million in trading losses and paid $2.6 million in fees.
Binance also admitted in a statement of agreed facts to multiple compliance failures, including not providing product disclosure statements to retail clients, not making a target market determination and not maintaining a compliant internal dispute resolution system.
The penalty comes on top of the around $9 million in compensation that Binance’s local derivatives unit was ordered to pay to affected clients in November 2023.
Binance did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Related: White House clears review of proposal to allow crypto in 401(k) retirement plans
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Investors may want to take a step back as stocks swing amid rising geopolitical tensions.
DBi’s Andrew Beer suggests the market’s crystal ball is broken.
“It’s not normal for big markets to move as much as they are right now,” the firm’s managing member told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Something is deeply wrong in the market’s ability to forecast the state of the world… The only thing we can all do as investors is: This is the moment to plan and to prepare for the worst. You hope for the best.”
Beer, who has spent more than three decades in the hedge fund industry, thinks it’s remarkable the number of stresses on the financial system over the past 12 to18 months hasn’t caused things to spin out of control.
“You just you have more geopolitical risks stacked on top of each other today [and] more economic risk factors than I remember at any time in my career,” he added.
Beer urges investors to ask themselves how they would act if a 2008 or 2022 market downturn happens again.
“These financial assets are, they’re an investment, but they’re also what you need to survive, to live on, to retire, and so it’s the very real human side of it that I hope people will focus on,” he added.
According to Beer, investing like it’s 2025 could turn into regret.
“The best thing to do in 2025 was just turn off your computer beginning of the year and come back at the end of the year, and you’ve made money, your stocks and your bonds and everything else,” he said. “It won’t continue like that. We will go through a more difficult period.”
Recent moves in gold, silver, bitcoin and crude oil underscore how difficult it has become for investors to calibrate portfolios, especially as sharp reversals unfold over short periods of time, according to Beer.
“No one has a playbook for that,” said Beer, who is also watching for signs of strain in private credit, insurance company portfolios and other corners of the market where unusual stress could begin to spread.
NovaDius Wealth Management’s Nate Geraci highlighted exchange-traded funds that are designed to offer portfolio protection — particularly managed futures ETFs.
“This is absolutely something that is a longer-term allocation, and I almost view it as portfolio insurance,” the firm’s president said in the same interview. “You want that insurance when something goes bad in the market, and maybe that’s stocks and bonds going down together.”
Key Highlights
- Unity reported preliminary Q1 revenue of $505M–$508M, surpassing its own forecast of $480M–$490M and beating the Street’s $494M estimate.
- The company boosted its adjusted EBITDA outlook to $130M–$135M from the previous $105M–$110M range, representing a 58% increase versus the prior year.
- Vector, Unity’s artificial intelligence-driven advertising platform, powered the outperformance and now represents approximately 80% of Strategic Grow segment revenue.
- The company plans to shut down the ironSource Ads Network by April 30 and has engaged advisors to divest its Supersonic game publishing division.
- Wall Street firms including Citizens, Wedbush, and William Blair maintained positive ratings, with Citizens setting a $37 price objective.
Unity Software significantly exceeded its first-quarter projections, propelling shares approximately 15% higher in early Friday trading. The company disclosed the preliminary financial results in a Thursday evening announcement.
Management now projects first-quarter revenue landing between $505 million and $508 million. This handily surpasses the company’s previous outlook range of $480 million to $490 million, as well as the Wall Street consensus estimate of $494 million compiled by FactSet. The figure represents approximately 17% growth on a year-over-year basis.
Regarding profitability, Unity anticipates adjusted EBITDA will reach between $130 million and $135 million. This significantly exceeds the company’s earlier projection of $105 million to $110 million, marking a substantial 58% climb compared to the year-ago period.
Chief Executive Matt Bromberg highlighted Vector, the company’s artificial intelligence-powered advertising solution, as the primary catalyst behind the strong performance. Vector employs machine learning to connect players with appropriate games and has been generating superior long-term returns for advertising partners, according to management.
Vector currently comprises nearly 80% of the Strategic Grow segment’s revenue. The entire Grow division is projected to generate approximately $352 million during the first quarter.
Strategic Divestitures of Underperforming Assets
Unity simultaneously revealed plans to discontinue the ironSource Ads Network, with operations ceasing on April 30. During the latest quarter, ironSource contributed merely 11% of overall revenue expansion.
Additionally, the company has retained a financial advisor to pursue strategic alternatives for its Supersonic game publishing operations. Management indicated these strategic moves will accelerate top-line growth, enhance adjusted EBITDA performance, and boost operating margins.
The restructuring initiative has garnered favorable analyst commentary. William Blair’s Dylan Becker observed that the Grow segment, once these legacy operations are removed, is already expanding at a notably faster pace than the consolidated business.
Citizens maintained its Market Outperform recommendation with a $37 valuation target. The firm highlighted that Vector’s positive momentum persists, while data integration capabilities with Vector have entered the testing phase. Unity’s in-app purchase commerce solution is also scaling up.
Wedbush reaffirmed its Buy stance with a $30 price objective. Meanwhile, BofA Securities raised Unity from Underperform to Neutral, pointing to a more balanced risk profile.
Valuation Analysis Points to Upside Potential
Unity’s earnings per share are expected to improve dramatically from -$0.96 to $1.02 during the current fiscal year, based on InvestingPro projections. Citizens anticipates EBITDA margin expansion as the high-margin Vector platform captures an increasingly larger portion of total revenue.
William Blair’s Becker emphasized that Unity’s valuation remains attractive relative to direct competitors when examining 2026 revenue and EBITDA multiples.
Separately, Unity is said to be evaluating strategic alternatives for its China operations, including a possible divestiture that could command a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
House Financial Services Committee ranking Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters sent a formal letter Thursday to Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Jeff Schmid, demanding answers on why Kraken’s banking subsidiary was granted a Federal Reserve master account, and what that access actually means in practice.
Waters set an April 10 response deadline, asking Schmid to detail which Fed services Kraken can access, what restrictions apply, and what anti-money laundering and consumer protection measures were evaluated before approval.
This is not routine congressional oversight. It is a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the most consequential crypto banking decision the Federal Reserve has made.
Key Takeaways:
- Legislative Pressure: Rep. Maxine Waters has demanded the Kansas City Fed respond by April 10, outlining the scope, restrictions, and risk controls behind Kraken Financial’s master account approval.
- Kraken’s Position: Kraken Financial — a Wyoming SPDI operating under a full-reserve, no-lending model — became the first crypto-native firm to secure Fed master account access, granted as a one-year pilot on March 4, 2026.
- What’s at Stake: The account gives Kraken direct access to Fedwire, placing a crypto exchange on the same payment rails as commercial banks and credit unions — a structural shift that traditional banking groups are calling premature and opaque.
What Waters Is Actually Demanding
Congressional scrutiny of the Kansas City Fed’s approval process centers on one core complaint: the Fed disclosed almost nothing.
The Kansas City Fed’s press release explicitly cited business confidentiality as the reason for withholding details about which services Kraken can access, a stance Waters called insufficient given the stakes.
Waters wrote that “the Kansas City Fed’s announcement does not disclose specific information about Kraken’s access to the range of Federal Reserve financial services due to the confidentiality of business information provided by applicants.”
Her letter demands specifics: which Fedwire functions, what ACH access, which safeguards, and how the approval aligns with existing statutory frameworks.
The account in question is a limited-purpose, or “skinny”, master account, granting Kraken Financial Tier 3 access to Fedwire and potentially ACH for reserve holdings and settlements.
It does not include access to Fed liquidity facilities. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman described the arrangement at an American Bankers Association conference on March 11 as a learning exercise: “We’re trying to learn,” she said, acknowledging the Fed could intervene if behaviors proved inconsistent.
Kraken Financial operates as a Payward subsidiary under Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institution framework, full-reserve, no lending, no FDIC insurance. Every deposit is backed 1:1. That structure was central to the approval argument, but it has not quieted critics.
Bank Policy Institute policy counsel Paige Pidano Paridon stated the approval “ignores public comment that the Federal Reserve sought on this framework, and it was issued with no transparency into the process for approval or the risk mitigants.” The Fed had closed a public comment period on a crypto payment prototype account proposal less than one month before the March 4 approval, a timeline that has amplified banking sector frustration.
What to Watch
The deeper signal is precedent. Custodia Bank, also a Wyoming SPDI, was denied a master account in 2023 after years of litigation. Kraken’s approval on the same institutional framework, without a finalized Fed policy, means the criteria for access remain effectively opaque, which is precisely what Waters is targeting.
Transparency requirements that emerge from this congressional exchange could shape whether any future crypto firm can replicate Kraken’s path, or whether this pilot becomes a one-off carve-out.
The April 10 deadline for Kansas City Fed President Schmid’s response to Waters is the immediate inflection point. If Schmid discloses detailed service access and risk protocols, it normalizes the approval and weakens the transparency critique.
If he cites confidentiality and deflects, the congressional pressure escalates, potentially triggering formal committee hearings that put the entire Fed crypto banking framework under public examination.
The one-year pilot evaluation and Kraken’s IPO timeline are moving in parallel. How the Fed answers Congress will determine whether Kraken’s master account becomes the template for crypto banking access, or the last one approved before the window closes.
The post US Lawmaker Presses Kansas Fed Over Kraken Exchange Master Account Approval appeared first on Cryptonews.
Bitcoin (BTC) remained under pressure on Friday as on-chain data showed large holders were still adding to their positions.
Summary
- Santiment said wallets holding 10 to 10,000 BTC added 61,568 Bitcoin over the past month.
- Bitcoin fell below recent highs as Bhutan-linked transfers and Middle East tensions added pressure again.
- Retail wallets with under 0.01 BTC kept buying, matching whale accumulation and delaying breakout signals.
The move came as retail wallets also kept buying, while market sentiment stayed weak amid fresh geopolitical risk and renewed selling activity from Bhutan-linked wallets.
Santiment said wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC added 61,568 BTC over the past month. The firm said that amounted to a 0.45% increase in holdings, even as Bitcoin slipped to the $68,100 area during the latest pullback.
The same data showed that smaller wallets did not step back. Santiment said wallets with less than 0.01 BTC added 0.42% over the same period, a pace close to the increase seen among whales and sharks. The analytics firm said large-wallet buying usually works best for price when retail investors are reducing exposure instead of matching the move.
Santiment said the current setup has not yet produced a clear breakout. It stated that a stronger upward move has often appeared when larger holders keep accumulating and smaller traders stop chasing price.
Bitcoin price weakens after recent rejection
Bitcoin traded at $66,349 at the latest check on Friday, according to market data from the finance tool. The same data showed an intraday high of $69,789 and a daily decline of almost 5%, keeping the asset well below the $72,000 level seen earlier in the week.
The recent decline has kept traders focused on whether on-chain accumulation can offset near-term selling pressure. Market watchers have tracked a pullback from the recent rebound, with price action failing to hold near the upper end of the current range.
Bhutan-linked wallets added to that pressure this week. Reporting based on Arkham Intelligence data said the Royal Government of Bhutan moved 519.707 BTC worth about $36.75 million, pushing its 2026 outflows above $150 million.
Middle East risk keeps sentiment fragile
Geopolitical tension has also stayed in focus. Reuters reported that the Pentagon is weighing the deployment of up to 10,000 additional US ground troops to the Middle East to give President Donald Trump more military options as he considers peace talks with Tehran.
That report followed earlier Reuters coverage that thousands of additional US troops were already expected to move to the region. The buildup has added another layer of caution for risk assets, including crypto, as traders monitor the chance of wider conflict around Iran.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
The crypto market tumbled to the lowest levels in more than two weeks, with bitcoin dropping below $67,000 and ether (ETH) closing in on $2,000. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) lost 2.2% since midnight UTC, reaching its lowest since March 9.
The fall coincided with a drop in U.S. equities. Nasdaq 100 futures are now trading at 23,760, 10% below this year’s high from January.
The risk-off atmosphere was spurred by rising oil prices and fears that the war in Iran would not de-escalate as quickly as many had hoped. Oil remains above $100 per barrel, stoking inflation concerns.
Sections of the altcoin market were harder hit on Friday, with the likes of ETHFI losing 6% since midnight. WLD, WIF, SEI and FET all lost between 3.6% and 4.7%.
Derivatives positioning
- Long crypto futures bets, or bullish positions on market direction, bore the brunt of liquidations over the past 24 hours, with nearly $300 million liquidated, compared with just $50 million in short positions.
- That’s the fifth time in 10 days the longs have neared that level of punishment, an indication traders were predominantly positioned for the Iran war to translate into a price rally that has not materialized.
- XRP’s price fell over 2.5% in 24 hours, while open interest in futures has increased by 2% to 1.95 billion XRP, the most since Feb. 2.
- That combination represents renewed investor interest in shorting the falling market. Negative cumulative volume delta and sub-zero funding rates suggest the same.
- Futures tied to bitcoin, solana, dogecoin and BNB displayed an XRP-like bearish profile.
- Memecoin SHIB has the largest negative open-interest–adjusted cumulative volume delta among major tokens, signaling aggressive derisking, or shorting, by traders.
- Canton Network’s CC token stood out with positive funding rates and an increase in futures OI, both signaling growing demand for bullish exposure.
- Bitcoin and ether’s 30-day implied volatility indices, BVIV and EVIV, continued to drop despite weak spot prices, suggesting that traders aren’t panicking yet and do not anticipate a turbulent selloff.
- On Deribit, bitcoin options worth over $15 billion expired early Friday. So, the supposed expiry-related price magnet of $75,000 is no longer valid, which opens doors for deeper declines amid a worsening macro outlook.
- Bitcoin and ether puts are again trading at 6 to 8 volatility premium to calls across all expirations, risk reversal shows. It indicates sticky demand for downside protection.
Token talk
- The altcoin market showed its fragility again on Friday, failing to cling on to key levels of support in a low-liquidity trading environment.
- The CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS) was the worst-performing benchmark, tumbling by 2.3% while the bitcoin-dominant CoinDesk 20 (CD20) dropped 1.2%.
- One token that bucked the bearish trend was ONDO, which rose after Ondo Finance, an asset management company, said it agreed to tokenize five Franklin Templeton exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and bring them to the Ondo Chain.
- The token is up by more than 8% in the past 24 hours, although it gave back some of those gains since midnight UTC.
- The average relative strength index (RSI) across all crypto tokens remains neutral despite the selloff, suggesting further declines are likely on Friday.
Yesterday, shares of Meta Platforms saw a sharp decline, dropping by approximately 8%, with trading closing below the $550 level for the first time since late April 2025.
Why META Shares Declined
The move was driven by a combination of factors, including:
→ Jury ruling. According to media reports, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million for misleading parents about the safety of Instagram and Facebook. The court also found the company liable for developing addictive algorithms that harm teenagers’ mental health.
→ Confirmed capital expenditure (CapEx) for 2026 in the range of $115–135 billion. Significant funds are being directed towards energy infrastructure, including a 6.6 GW nuclear energy deal to power the Prometheus supercomputer. The market may question whether returns on AI investments will justify such large-scale spending.
Sentiment has also been weighed down by reports of plans to cut up to 20% of the workforce. While layoffs are typically viewed positively due to cost savings, in this case they may signal that profit margins are being squeezed more than expected due to AI-related expenditure.
Technical Analysis of META
At the end of January, we:
→ constructed a system of two trend channels;
→ noted that META’s share price had moved above the psychological $700 level.
As it turned out, this was a bull trap formed in the wake of strong quarterly earnings. In early February, the price fell towards the lower boundary of the long-term ascending channel, and by the 13th, that boundary was broken under selling pressure.
As a result, the upward trajectory is losing relevance, giving way to the previously identified descending trend channel. In this context, the bearish breakout zone at $620–640 may now act as resistance, where sellers previously showed strength.
Additionally, it is worth noting that:
→ the psychological $600 level has lost its role as support;
→ yesterday’s candle featured a wide body with a close near the low, accompanied by high volumes — a clear sign of heavy selling pressure.
Against this backdrop, it cannot be ruled out that continued bearish control may push META’s price towards the lower boundary of the red channel.
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