For two years, Litecoin’s social media managers laughed at Solana’s blockchain outages. This weekend, they had to eat their own words as Litecoin’s blockchain suffered its own denial-of-service and double-spending attack.

Repeated Solana outages drew smug chuckles from Litecoin. Unlike Solana, according to its sustained declarations, Litecoin doesn’t have outages.

On Saturday, that talking point died. Litecoin definitely had an outage, as well as a double-spending problem.

A consensus bug in Litecoin’s privacy upgrade let an attacker mint invalid coins. Looking to double-spend as quickly as possible, the attacker rapidly traded LTC for other digital assets at crypto exchanges before honest miners could stop the sales.

Its blockchain split. Eventually, miners rolled-back transactions, creating about 32 minutes of de facto downtime.

Interestingly, due to the unusually slow mining times during the attack, it actually took over three hours in real-time for the network to produce the 13 replacement blocks that would have normally consisted of just 32 minutes worth of transactions.

Anyway, the Litecoin Foundation then explained its 13-block reorganization to its own followers.

No more 100% uptime

Just weeks earlier, Litecoin boasted of its “100% uptime,” claiming its blockchain “100% works” after being “100% battle-tested.”

Litecoin’s account spent 2024 and 2025 laughing at Solana’s problems without fixing its own.

When Solana scheduled maintenance for a weekend in June 2025, Litecoin told the Solana account, “This way you can schedule your outages for the weekends. Good call.”

It replied to another Solana status update with one word, “Downtime.” 

When the two networks signed a tongue-in-cheek ceasefire later that month, the foundation’s joke version had Litecoin promising to stop “mocking Solana for six hours and Solana will just continue to not do anything.”

Solana’s own people declined to return the favor this weekend. Vibhu Norby, Solana Foundation’s interim chief product officer posted, “I will not bring up the 1,000 times @litecoin dunked on Solana for downtime. Because we are better than this.”

Banking Circle has rolled out institutional stablecoin settlement services after securing regulatory approval in Luxembourg.

According to a Monday announcement from the Luxembourg-based bank, the expansion follows its April 15 registration as a Crypto Asset Service Provider with the country’s financial regulator, enabling regulated conversion between fiat and stablecoins for institutional clients.

Support currently includes USDC issued by Circle, USDG from Paxos, and the bank’s own euro-pegged token EURI, extending capabilities first introduced with EURI in August 2024.

Serving more than 750 payment firms, financial institutions, and marketplaces, Banking Circle said its infrastructure processes over €1.5 trillion, or about $1.7 trillion, in annual transaction volume. Chief digital asset officer Kirit Bhatia stated in the release that stablecoins are “a natural extension” of the bank’s existing systems, adding that they play a key role in lowering costs and improving settlement efficiency.

Banking Circle expands foothold as euro stablecoin race intensifies

Banking Circle’s earlier launch of EURI positioned it among the first banks to issue a euro stablecoin aligned with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, with the CASP approval now allowing it to scale regulated services across clients.

Competition across the region has accelerated as traditional banks and crypto firms build compliant payment rails under MiCA. French lender Société Générale, through its digital asset arm SG-FORGE, introduced the euro stablecoin EURCV in April 2023 on Ethereum and later expanded to additional networks as part of its multi-chain strategy.

On April 15, SG-FORGE integrated its dollar-denominated token USDCV into MetaMask, giving users access to a regulated stablecoin issued by a European bank.

Swiss-based Sygnum added EURCV to its B2B platform in January 2025, targeting institutional clients and partner banks. In September 2025, a group of lenders, including ING, UniCredit, and CaixaBank, announced plans for Qivalis, a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin scheduled for release in the second half of 2026.

The consortium has since expanded to 12 banks, adding BBVA, BNP Paribas, and DZ Bank, and partnered with Fireblocks to support custody and tokenization ahead of launch.

Crypto-native firms continue to build competing infrastructure. In April 2025, Circle introduced the Circle Payments Network to offer managed settlement services for banks and payment providers. 

Separately, an April 21 partnership between Coinbase and global payments platform Nium enables businesses to fund cross-border transfers using USDC and settle in either fiat or stablecoins across more than 190 countries.

Institutional money is flowing back into crypto faster than retail this cycle, and the data is starting to back the rally bitcoin has been quietly running.

Digital asset investment products attracted $1.2 billion in inflows last week, a fourth consecutive weekly gain, according to CoinShares data published Monday.

Total assets under management across crypto funds rose to $155 billion, the highest level since February 1, though still well below the $263 billion peak from October 2025. Bitcoin alone took in $933 million, bringing year-to-date flows to $4 billion. Ether attracted $192 million, the third straight week above $190 million.

Meanwhile, blockchain equity ETFs are one to watch for outside of crypto-related funds. These products invest in publicly traded companies that derive revenue from crypto infrastructure, like miners, exchanges, and chip makers selling into crypto applications.

Inflows totaled $617 million over the past three weeks, including a record weekly figure, marking what CoinShares analyst James Butterfill described as an explosion in demand for indirect technology exposure to the asset class.

The pattern suggests allocators who cannot or will not hold spot bitcoin directly are rotating into the equity wrappers around the sector.

Bitcoin tagged $79,399 overnight, its highest level since January 31, before reversing to $77,705. The level matters because $80,000 is where buyers from January and February are approaching breakeven on positions held through the war-driven correction.

The week ahead is the test of whether institutional flows can absorb that selling pressure or whether a third rejection from $79,000 starts to define a range rather than precede a breakout.

Megacap tech earnings on Wednesday and Thursday from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, followed by Apple on Thursday, represent roughly a quarter of the S&P 500’s market capitalization and will determine whether the broader risk-on bid that has been lifting bitcoin alongside equities continues.

Strong earnings would extend the four-week run of crypto inflows and bitcoin may gets the catalyst it needs to clear $80,000. Disappointing results, however, could send prices dwindling lower.

Ether (ETH) has surged more than 10% in April, reaching as high as $2,430 this month amid renewed market optimism.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

Yet during the same period, the Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit overseeing the Ethereum protocol’s development, has continued notable treasury sales.

Key takeaways:

• The Ethereum Foundation has sold approximately 20,000 ETH so far in 2026.
• Institutional demand for ETH remains strong, offsetting the foundation’s impact on the market.

Why is the Ethereum Foundation selling ETH?

In early April, the Foundation sold 5,000 ETH for roughly $11 million in DAI. This was followed by a larger 10,000 ETH OTC sale to Tom Lee’s Bitmine at an average price of $2,387, raising approximately $23.9 million.

Source: X

The sales are not reactions to price action but follow a disciplined Treasury Policy adopted in June 2025.

The Foundation maintains fiat and stablecoin reserves equal to roughly 2.5 years of operating expenses. Periodic ETH sales replenish these reserves to fund protocol development, research, grants, and ecosystem support.

In 2026 alone, the Foundation has sold approximately 20,000 ETH, raising over $45 million. It still holds around 92,500 ETH (~$215 million) in its liquid treasury, plus 53,000 ETH staked, according to data resource Arkham Intelligence.

Ethereum Foundation’s ETH balance. Source: Arkham Intelligence

The Foundation’s 53,000 staked ETH may generate $4–$5 million in annual yield, assuming the current ETH price and the annual percentage yield of approximately 2.7%–3.8% gross remains about the same or higher in the future.

This new income stream should gradually reduce the Foundation’s reliance on ETH sales to fund its operations.

Are Ethereum Foundation’s sales bearish for ETH?

The Ethereum Foundation’s ETH sales remain small relative to daily ETH volume.

A typical 5,000–10,000 ETH sale represents just 0.08%–0.25% of Ethereum’s average daily trading volume of $10–12 billion.

This modest size means the market can comfortably absorb the Foundation’s selling pressure with negligible impact.

On-chain data already highlights robust underlying demand for ETH from large holders.

For instance, the number of daily accumulation addresses, wallets steadily buying and holding Ether, rose to 2,434 this week, surpassing the number of exchange depositing addresses (wallets preparing to sell), which fell to 2,300, as shown below.

Binance ERC-20 stablecoin whale activity index. Source: CryptoQuant

Also, spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded strong inflows for three consecutive weeks, attracting more than $2 billion in new capital since early April, according to data from SoSoValue.

US spot Ethereum ETF weekly flows. Source: SoSoValue

This sustained institutional buying signals growing demand for Ethereum investment products on Wall Street.

Ether’s rising wedge hints at 15% dip ahead

From a technical perspective, Ether is currently forming a rising wedge pattern, a structure defined by two ascending trend lines that are converging, accompanied by noticeably declining volume.

In technical analysis, a rising wedge resolves when the price breaks below the lower trend line and falls by as much as the structure’s maximum height.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

Applying this rule to ETH’s chart brings its downside target to around $1,950, down by over 15%, by June, assuming the breakdown point is the wedge’s apex at approximately $2,580, where the two trend lines converge.

Related: Ethereum whale opens $90M long bets as ETH price chart eyes $3.2K

Conversely, a break above the wedge’s upper trendline may invalidate the bearish outlook. Instead, bulls may target the 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA, the blue line) at around $2,630 as their next upside target.

Pudgy Penguins’ recent rally may be a breakout driven by ecosystem momentum. This move appears to have benefited long-term holders in unexpected ways, according to on-chain data.

According to DNTV Research founder Bradley Park, the surge may have provided liquidity, that is, enough buyers in the market, for large holders to sell following a mid-April token unlock.

“The news around the Pengu Card, PenguBot, and other ecosystem updates are secondary narratives at best,” Park told CoinDesk. “The real story is the large token unlock that happened roughly 10 days ago.”

The Pudgy Penguins team did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Token unlocks are scheduled releases of coin supply, similar in spirit to post-IPO lockup expirations that periodically flood equity markets with newly available shares.

Park points to the token unlock on April 17, when roughly 703 million PENGU — about 0.79% of the total supply of roughly 88 billion — hit the market in a single tranche.

The on-chain activity in the hours that followed, paired with a sharp jump in futures positioning, tracks the pattern seen at prior unlocks, where large holders use a window of rising liquidity to sell into strength.

The primary unlock wallet received 182.8 million PENGU and, within roughly 50 minutes, dispersed them across 19 separate addresses.

Park calls the sequence a “vesting-claim-and-disperse” pattern, the kind of choreography more commonly associated with preparing to sell than with settling in for the long hold.

The mechanics aren’t complicated: tokens come out of the vesting contract and get split across multiple wallets, which lets the eventual sale move in pieces small enough that no single transaction tips the market against the seller.

The futures market moved alongside it. Open interest in PENGU rose from about $36 million to $59 million during the rally, with repeated short squeezes amplifying upward momentum.

Short squeezes — the same mechanic retail traders watched drive GameStop in 2021 — force traders betting against the price to buy back in and cover their positions, layering fresh demand on top of whatever was already pushing the market higher.

For a holder trying to exit, that is close to an ideal environment: someone else’s forced buying absorbing their selling, with the price still moving the right way.

Open interest measures the total value of futures contracts still open in the market, and when it rises alongside price, it usually means traders are piling into new long positions rather than closing out old ones. That deepening of liquidity is exactly what a large holder needs to sell size without moving the price against themselves.

“My hypothesis: the price rally was engineered to provide exit liquidity for unlock recipients,” Park told CoinDesk in a note. “The bullish narratives — game launches, Visa card, Telegram bot — gave market participants a reason to bid, while the unlock beneficiaries used the resulting liquidity to sell into strength.”

“The news didn’t cause the rally,” he added. “It provided cover for post-unlock distribution.”

Park’s analysis aligns with broader signs of concentration in the NFT market.

As CoinDesk reported earlier, buyer participation has been declining even as prices rise, with activity increasingly concentrated in a handful of collections, such as Pudgy Penguins. In that environment, relatively small flows can have an outsized impact on price.

Next month will show if this is an isolated event or part of a pattern.

Pudgy Penguins’ vesting schedule shows monthly unlocks of roughly 703 million PENGU continuing through at least July, with the next tranche scheduled for May 17.

Each event introduces new supply, creating recurring windows where price action and underlying flows may diverge.

What the market has to sort out now is whether the rally reflects durable demand or just well-timed liquidity around new supply.

The ecosystem news is real enough. Whether it points to growth or to a cover for an exit is the question the next few months of unlocks – without the same bullish narratives – will answer.

Bitcoin (BTC) counts down the final days of April with a fresh attack on $80,000 as price teases key breakouts.

• Bitcoin sees its first weekly close above a key trend line since October 2025.
• Liquidity grabs ramp up as traders eye a potential support retest closer to $70,000.
• The Federal Reserve interest-rate decision and inflation data form macro volatility catalysts.
• Analysis sees the “end of capitulation” on Bitcoin as institutions shore up the market.
• US manufacturing data could allow BTC/USD to avoid a retest of its macro lows.

Bitcoin closes above 21-week trend line for the first time in six months

Bitcoin may have failed to tap $80,000 or even hold its latest gains, but the weekly close was still significant.

After a last-minute push higher, BTC/USD managed to close out the weekly candle just above a key trend line, data from TradingView confirms.

BTC/USD one-hour chart with 21-week EMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

This was its 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) — a resistance feature on the chart in place since October 2025. The last weekly close above it was when the pair traded at nearly $115,000.

As Cointelegraph reported, the 21-week EMA was already on the radar for trader and analyst Rekt Capital. 

A weekly close above it, he argued last week, was a prerequisite for avoiding a support retest of $73,000.

“Unless BTC is able to reclaim the 21-week EMA as support… Then this EMA could indeed force BTC into a post-breakout retest of the top of the Double Bottom price broke out from last week,” he told X followers.

BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X

The 21-week EMA currently forms the upper boundary of Bitcoin’s bull market support band, together with the 20-week simple moving average (SMA) at $76,550.

Similarly, it was in October last year that price completed a weekly close fully above the band’s two trend lines.

Last week, trader Daan Crypto Trades said that such an event “could confirm the end of this down trend and further relief bounce.”

BTC/USD one-week chart with bull market support band. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Liquidity grabs drive low-time frame BTC price action

On short time frames, the BTC price landscape is offering traders mixed signals.

As overall strength persists despite geopolitical uncertainty, bulls continue to struggle with reclaiming key support lines.

“Some great momentum on $BTC lately, however there are some crucial levels to consider,” crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe commented in his latest analysis on X.

Van de Poppe said that price breaking through $79,000 opens up the path to levels up to $100,000, which will nonetheless “take time.”

“If there’s no clear breakout at $79K, it wouldn’t be surprising to expect some period of consolidation before there’s another test of the resistance,” he reasoned.

“In that case, there’s a level that I prefer to see hold: $73.5k+.”

BTC/USDT six-hour chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on expectations of a fresh BTC price comedown and even new macro lows. 

Van de Poppe added that such an outcome could occur should the $73,000 area fail.

Continuing, trader CrypNuevo suggested that liquidity grabs could bring about that trip to the lower end of the $70,000-$80,000 corridor. 

After the weekly close, BTC/USD took out late shorts above $79,000 before rapidly heading downward, liquidating newly placed longs, data from CoinGlass shows.

BTC 24-hour liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

“Price could take the upside liquidations first in a range highs deviation, before going for the lower ones at $70k mid-range,” CrypNuevo predicted.

He added that both $70,000 and $80,000 had an “interesting amount” of potential liquidations to offer.

BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CrypNuevo/X

Powell’s final Fed FOMC meeting brings stocks warning

With markets still unsure of the roadmap for the US-Iran war, risk appetite is nonetheless “returning,” analysis says.

This week has begun with the hope of further negotiations to end the conflict, this time thanks to an Iranian proposal.

Bitcoin appeared to find reason for relief on the news, hitting new multimonth highs before quickly retracing. 

“Risk appetite continues to grow rapidly in this market,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter wrote in an X response as BTC/USD neared $79,500.

Macro volatility is set to continue in the coming days, thanks also to US macroeconomic events.

Wednesday will see the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest-rate changes, and markets will be watching Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for cues when it comes to future policy.

Fed target rate expectations for Wednesday’s FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group FedWatch Tool

The war has added new inflation risks for the US, and Thursday’s release of the Fed’s “preferred” inflation gauge should reflect its impact on the trend.

This week also marks the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting with Powell as Chair, ahead of the assumed takeover by Kevin Warsh.

“New Fed chairs have a history of being greeted with market volatility,” trading resource Mosaic Asset Company noted in the latest edition of its regular analysis series, The Market Mosaic.

An accompanying chart put the average S&P 500 drawdown in the year a new Fed chair takes over at 20%.

S&P 500 drawdowns under new Fed chairs. Source: Mosaic Asset Company

BTC price analysis sees “structural bottom” in place

Bitcoin near $80,000 has led analysts to suggest that the “end of capitulation” is already here.

In one of its QuickTake blog posts on Monday, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant pointed to institutional investors as the key supporting factor during the 2026 bear market.

“During the Hormuz Shock, large investors refused to sell their Bitcoins and the panic in derivatives was irrelevant, as institutional conviction was already cemented,” contributor GugaOnChain summarized.

In early February, CryptoQuant argued, when BTC/USD briefly fell to near $60,000, a “purge” of low-conviction investors had already been underway for several months.

“Operators took profits, purging weak hands and retreating the support to $54.5K,” GugaOnChain continued, referring to Bitcoin investors’ average cost basis, also known as realized price. 

“In practice: the retail that paid the speculative premium at $90K entered absolute panic with the free fall. Forced to sell at a loss, they returned their Bitcoins to the Smart Money in the $62K zone, establishing an early support above the fair price.”

Bitcoin realized price data (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant

CryptoQuant described the “apex” of the process occurring in February, with a recovery underway ever since.

“The apex of this purge occurred on February 5, 2026, consolidating the ground zero of this Bear Market. With the Spot squeezed at $62.8K and the Realized Price (RP) at $55.3K, the deviation was only 1.34%,” GugaOnChain explained, calling a “structural bottom.” 

“Unlike the absolute capitulation of 2022, when the price crossed below the network’s base, this time the panic stalled at a 13% distance from the Wall. Institutional capital erected a concrete floor before the abyss, exhausting the selling power of investors without conviction.”

Bitcoin realized-price data ordered by date coins moved onchain. Source: CryptoQuant

US macro data may save Bitcoin from new bear-market low

Throughout the current macro volatility, US Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) has formed a key upside catalyst for crypto and risk assets.

Related: Bitcoin Bull Score hits six-month high as 2022 bear-market fears linger

This is set to continue, with PMI entering an “expansion” phase for the first time since 2022.

For commentator Matthew Hyland, this now has implications for Bitcoin price action for the rest of 2026. In this bear-market year, BTC/USD should find a bottom in Q4, matching 2022 — but PMI should change the landscape.

“Because of the strength of the PMI expansion trigger along with the other 10+ signals I do not believe the ‘4 year cycle’ works out as most expect,” he wrote on X.

BTC/USD versus US PMI data. Source: Matthew Hyland/X

Instead of beating its February lows, Bitcoin should instead put in “higher low” near $60,000, contrary to the majority’s expectations. Supporting this, Hyland made reference to “10+ signals” showing that the new bottom is already in place.

“My invalidation would be a severe black swan something worse than the past few months however black swans are NOT likely so Its low percentage odds of being invalidated and not favorable to happen,” he added.

TL;DR

• Hyperliquid (HYPE) holds near $42 with a bullish structure above $40.
• The bullish structure is supported by rising futures Open Interest and positive funding rates. 

Hyperliquid (HYPE) trades above $42 on Monday, sustaining its upward trajectory from an ascending trendline. 

While the broader trend remains constructive, signs of cooling retail interest contrast with a steady buildup in leveraged positions, creating a mixed near-term outlook for the decentralized exchange token.

Retail momentum fades as social dominance drops

Retail-driven momentum appears to be weakening. Data from Santiment shows Hyperliquid’s social dominance has declined sharply to 0.137%, down from 0.688% at the height of the US-Iran conflict in late March. 

The drop suggests reduced retail attention as geopolitical tensions ease, removing a key narrative driver that previously fueled speculative interest in the DEX.

In contrast, derivatives activity is heating up. According to CoinGlass, HYPE futures Open Interest (OI) has climbed roughly 3% over the past 24 hours to $1.65 billion, signaling an increase in outstanding leveraged positions.

Funding rates remain positive at 0.0077%, indicating that long positions continue to dominate. This persistent positive funding over the past month reflects growing bullish conviction among leveraged traders, even as spot-driven retail enthusiasm cools.

HYPE price outlook: Rising wedge puts $40 support in focus

The HYPE/USD 4-hour chart is bullish and efficient as HYPE is consolidating within a rising wedge.

The token remains supported above both its 50-day EMA at $38.98 and 200-day EMA at $34.90, reinforcing the underlying bullish structure.

Momentum indicators suggest steady but controlled upside. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits at 56, pointing to positive but not overbought conditions, while the MACD is trending higher toward a bullish crossover, hinting at fading downside pressure.

If the bulls push higher, they would encounter immediate resistance at the $43.71 level, which caps the current recovery and aligns with the upper wedge boundary near $46.80. A decisive break above this zone could trigger a stronger bullish continuation.

However, if the market undergoes a correction, the ascending trendline support near $41.21 remains critical. 

A breakdown below this level would likely expose the 50-day EMA at $38.98, with the 200-day EMA at $34.90 acting as a deeper demand zone if selling pressure intensifies.

While Hyperliquid’s structure remains bullish above $40, the divergence between fading retail interest and rising leverage suggests the next move could be determined by whether momentum expands or reduces.

Project Eleven, the quantum cybersecurity startup backed by Coinbase Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Castle Island Ventures, and Variant, awarded a one bitcoin (BTC) prize last week to a researcher who claimed to have broken a 15-bit elliptic curve key on IBM Quantum hardware.

However, despite a Project Eleven press release framing it as the largest public quantum attack on the cryptography securing “Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over $2.5 trillion in Elliptic Curve Cryptography-secured digital assets,” several independent reviewers managed to replicate the feat using non-quantum, classical computing tactics like random number generation.

Indeed, within hours of the news, independent Bitcoin developers reproduced the supposed breakthrough on home computers.

Using no quantum computing, they showed that the prize winner basically repurposed a fancy random number generator.

Replicating a quantum prize win with home hardware

Researcher Yuval Adam ran one of the replication experiments using the public code of prize winner Giancarlo Lelli, a specialist whose GitHub repository hosts the winning submission.

However, Adam swapped Lelli’s IBM Quantum backend for a far more basic random number source, Linux kernel’s /dev/urandom.

Adam mostly left the rest of the setup alone, then opened a pull request against Lelli’s repository, documenting the outcome.

Finally, Adam asserted that random data from a non-quantum laptop provided a classical computer as much brute force energy as Lelli’s “IBM Quantum” backend for the goal of recovering a cryptographic private key from a public key.

He posted the summary on X: “I replaced the quantum computer with /dev/urandom. It still recovers the key.”

In the end, Linux’s urandom helped a regular computer recover the key in an comparable number of attempts to the supposed quantum backend.

Classical computations wearing quantum costumes

Former Bitcoin Core maintainer Jonas Schnelli claimed to have reproduced the prize-winning pipeline in roughly 20 lines of Python without any quantum hardware. 

Schnelli summarized, “The quantum computer contributed nothing (noise)! The answer was recovered by a classical checker sifting random noise.”

Coldcard founder NVK read the source code and reached the same verdict, calling the demonstrations “classical computations wearing quantum costumes.” 

Lelli’s own README conceded the point in plain text: “When shots >> n, random noise alone can recover d with high probability.”

Project Eleven’s three-judge panel awarded the BTC anyway.