Welcome, and congratulations on surviving another wild week in crypto.
Since our last issue, much has happened in the markets. First and foremost, the number of long and short-leverage liquidations increased to $1 billion, leading to social media flooding with screenshots of traders getting rekt. The general sentiment turned bearish at an alarming (and unexplainable) rate. Everything seemed staged. Then gold rallied to a new all-time high above $2400 before correcting just before the market closed on Friday. And, oh, did traditional assets miss the fun over the weekend…
Top Story
Over $200 Billion Were Wiped From The Crypto Market
On Saturday, tensions in the Middle East rose when Iran launched an attack on Israel. News spread quickly, causing even more panic in the crypto market, as it was the only tradable asset class over the weekend. Bitcoin fell to 60,908 in a flash candle, while the total market cap of all coins lost more than $200 billion. Everyone watching the charts expected this to signal the start of the bear market.
Interestingly, while gold could not be traded on Saturday, PAX Gold (a commodity-backed gold stablecoin) briefly traded at $2900, or approximately 24% higher than the actual price. We can only imagine how traditional assets such as oil, precious metals, and stocks would have reacted if the news had come during the workday. The first days of this week will probably be shaky.
Market Updates
Bitcoin: First To Fall, First To Recover
Bitcoin's price volatility resulted in the liquidation of $256 million long traders. However, BTC price recovered by 8% after a post from an account associated with Iranian officials stated that they were halting the attacks on Israel. During the crash, Bitcoin set a new three-year high for market dominance at 55.88%.
There are a few things to keep an eye out for. The first, of course, is the upcoming halving event on April 20 (which also happens to be DOGE Day). Second, following last week's announcement that Asia is entering the ETF race, with Hong Kong likely to approve Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs today, it is expected to be one of the most discussed topics for the remainder of the month. Analysts are betting on whether Asia will be as successful as the United States in institutionalizing cryptocurrency.
Altcoins: Four Months Of Gains Get Erased In Days
Unlike Bitcoin, altcoins are still bleeding. Ethereum and Solana fell to lows of $2800 and $120, respectively, but managed to regain some ground. DeFi coins weren’t so lucky, with ICP down 26.58%, Injective down 27.79%, THORChain down 30.82%, and Jupiter down 26.64% over the last 7 days.
Uniswap (down 35.11%) is the top project worth monitoring in the coming months. On April 10, the founder of the world's largest decentralized exchange announced that the Uniswap Foundation had received a Wells Notice from the SEC (a warning of an impending lawsuit). Following the news, the entire crypto space expressed their support, referring to the case as "The War On DeFi."
Former SEC official John Stark, described the effort to “fight back” against the Wells Notice as a mistake that could backfire on Uniswap.
Amid the news, Uniswap increased the fees charged to users for trading on its interface. Most swaps conducted through the platform now incur a fee of 0.25% (instead of 0.15%) increasing the protocol’s revenue further. On a bad note, users have reported gas fees reaching $300-$400 for simple swaps.
Crypto Lore: Two Legendary Traders Make A Comeback
Capo and GCR are back! For those in their first crypto cycle, these names may sound unfamiliar, but for OG crypto degens, the enigmas behind them have served as the foundation for endless discussions, conspiracy theories, and 20+ tweet-long threads. These two traders have sporadically disappeared from public view over the last 1-2 years, so them returning in the same week was nothing short of epic.
On April 12, Capo expressed a bearish outlook on the current market, predicting a shakeout of 15%-25%. This is the same broken record he has advocated for the past two years. Yet, the market began to fall shortly after his announcement, so it was a small W for Capo this time.
On the other hand, GCR's return was brutal. After a year-long hiatus from social media, GCR made a surprising comeback from retirement. At the peak of the market turmoil and escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East he tweeted: "... I was enjoying retirement from social media, but don't want to see my brothers get shaken out when the future is still so bright"
And just like that, the FUD vanished.
MORE BITE-SIZED STACKS
DeFi
- USDe And FDUSD Experience Brief Depegs During Market Shake-Up
- EigenLayer To Unpause Restaking Deposits On Apr 16
- EIP-3074 Was Approved To Go Live In The Next Ethereum Hard Fork
- Stablecoin Whales Are Accumulating $ETH At Unprecedented Levels
Crypto Courtroom
- Coinbase Seeks To Take Core Questions In U.S. SEC Case To Higher Court
- Software Engineer Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Nirvana Hack
Misc
- IMF Demands Changes To El Salvador's Bitcoin Law
- Circle Enables USDC Transfers For BlackRock's First Tokenized Fund
- ZachXBT Warns Community For A Potential Scam On Blast
- UFC 300 Victorious Fighter Wants The $300k Bonus In BTC
Yields, Airdrops & Degen Plays
- DYOR: deBridgeFinance Strategy For Getting In The Top 500
- Solana DEX Zeta Markets Set To Airdrop 100 Million Z Tokens
Tweets For Thought
DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended as financial advice or any form of recommendation for investment strategies. The information provided should not be relied upon in making any financial decisions. Always conduct your own research and exercise caution when dealing with financial matters.