Crypto News

- Iran's Preconditions Put Talks at Risk Iran's parliament speaker publicly demanded a Lebanon ceasefire and the release of frozen Iranian assets before weekend peace talks in Islamabad can begin. The statement from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived just hours before VP JD Vance departed for Pakistan-brokered negotiations, injecting fresh uncertainty into a fragile diplomatic window. Bitcoin's Ceasefire Rally Faces a Test Bitcoin (BTC) surged 5% to $72,700 on April 7 after President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran via Truth Social. The move triggered roughly $595 million in crypto futures liquidations, with short sellers absorbing the bulk of the losses. As of this writing, BTC traded just shy of $73,000, riding the...

- Strategy Adds 4,871 Bitcoins to Its Stash This Month Although the crypto market has cooled off this year, Michael Saylor, the Executive Chairman of Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR), remains as bullish as ever. His company continues to add to its stockpile of crypto, adding 4,871 BTC thus far in April, for a total purchase price of around $330 million. With that purchase, the company now has 766,970 BTC. Its average cost is $75,644, which is still above the levels that Bitcoin is trading at right now. With Bitcoin's valuation coming down in value this year, there has been growing skepticism about whether Strategy might unload some bitcoins in order to strengthen its financial position. Saylor previously said he expects the company to "be...

- Fannie Mae now backs Bitcoin mortgage loans, and Bitwise CIO calls it "a huge win" Fannie Mae is now offering mortgage loans backed by Bitcoin, a milestone that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. For Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management, the significance goes beyond the product itself. "It shows how far we've come," Hougan told TheStreet Roundtable. "That Fannie Mae would even consider something related to Bitcoin, two, three years ago, that was an imaginary thesis." What Fannie Mae is offering The mechanics are straightforward. Bitcoin holders can use their holdings as collateral to secure a mortgage without selling. That means no liquidation, no capital gains tax, and no giving up...

- Morgan Stanley Enters Bitcoin ETF Arena With the Launch of a New Fund The digital asset landscape is witnessing a significant tactical shift as traditional financial institutions aggressively expand their crypto footprints. Despite recent price volatility that has characterized the start of the year, institutional adoption has reached a new milestone this week with Morgan Stanley officially launching its Bitcoin Trust. The debut signals an end to the cautious "wait-and-see" era for major global investment banks. The newly launched Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (NYSE: $MSBT) hit the ground running, generating $30.6 million in net inflows out of the gate. By leveraging the bank’s expansive wealth management network and attaching an...

- Can DeFi Survive Mythos? It's funny. Institutions are finally arriving onchain, and the thesis that decentralized lending becomes the default primitive for financial applications has never been more credible. And yet, plenty of crypto-natives are shrinking from DeFi or pulling out altogether. The risk factor continues to outpace the reward, and the events of the past ten days have only made it worse. Mythical Threats As most know by now, on April 1, attackers drained roughly $285 million from Drift Protocol, a Solana-based perps exchange, in about ten minutes. Security firms attributed the attack with medium-to-high confidence to UNC4736, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group. The group didn’t execute a flash loan exploit...

- XRP’s Quantum Setup May Leave It Better Positioned Than Bitcoin XRP may be carrying a narrower immediate quantum-computing risk than BTC, at least based on how much supply currently sits behind exposed public keys. A recent review of XRPL accounts found that roughly 300,000 accounts holding about 2.4 billion XRP have never sent a transaction, meaning their public keys have never appeared on-chain. The more exposed slice appears much smaller: widely shared estimates put only about 21 million XRP in larger dormant accounts with visible public keys, or roughly 0.03% of supply. That distinction is starting to matter more as the quantum debate moves from distant theory to practical attack surface. Bitcoin still carries a larger legacy...

- TD Cowen Sees More Than One Crypto Treasury Winner The crypto treasury trade is starting to look less uniform than it did a few months ago. TD Cowen cut its price target on Strategy to $350 from $440 while keeping a Buy rating, and at the same time initiated Buy coverage on Sharplink, Strive (NASDAQ: $SATA), Nakamoto Holdings (NASDAQ: $NAKA), and The Smarter Web Company. The shift leaves Strategy as the category’s largest benchmark, but it also points to a market that is beginning to sort these companies by structure, yield profile, and the kind of digital-asset exposure they offer. For Strategy, the lower target appears to reflect a more conservative bitcoin price deck and a reduced multiple on projected future bitcoin-related...

- Exodus Rolls Out 'Exodus Pay' to Turn Bitcoin Wallet Into Spending App Exodus, the publicly traded crypto wallet provider, began rolling out a new “Exodus Pay” feature on Wednesday, aiming to turn its self-custodial storage app into a tool for everyday payments. The launch is currently limited to users in five states, including New York and California. The Omaha-based firm listed its stock on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024 and says the new feature expands the role of its wallet beyond storage into payments. The company positions the service as an alternative to centralized payment apps. “Most payment apps are third parties that hold your funds for you,” Exodus co-founder and CEO JP Richardson told Decrypt. “That means they...

- Bitcoin Hits $73,000 Amid Ceasefire Rally, But Coinbase Chief Gives Caution Coinbase Global Head of Investment Research David Duong said the US-Iran ceasefire provided markets with a relief valve, not a full reset, as Bitcoin price tops $73,000. The two-week truce sent oil back into the low $90s and triggered a broad risk rally. However, Duong argued that underlying constraints from the war have not disappeared. Why the Ceasefire Rally May Not Last BTC was trading for $73,085 as of this writing, up by over 3% in the last 24 hours amid risk-on sentiment following the temporary US-Iran ceasefire. Yet core disputes between the US and Iran remain unresolved. Shipping firms still want security assurances. The Strait of Hormuz may...

- Japan Officially Classifies Crypto As ‘Financial Products’ Japan’s government has officially classified cryptocurrencies as financial products, marking a shift in how the country plans to regulate digital assets. The new classification places cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, a framework used for stocks and other securities. If passed during the current parliamentary session, the new crypto classification could take effect as early as 2027. Until now, Japan has treated cryptocurrencies that also include Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) as a payment tool under the Payment Services Act. The previous approach focused on custody, anti-money laundering checks, and exchange...

Bitcoin Breaks $73K on Ceasefire Hopes, STRC Bitcoin topped $73,000 briefly on Thursday, per data from CoinMarketCap, reversing an early sell-off after Netanyahu signaled Lebanon negotiations. It bounced off that level and is holding just above $72K this morning. The Bitcoin options market is even more bullish. Data shows that the $80,000 level is seeing the most volume in June expiry contracts with over $1.6 billion in open interest, a full 10% move from current levels. As for why traders are bullish—well, it could be Saylor-driven. Strategy's STRC had another massive day Thursday with over 3 million preferred shares moved, generating capital to purchase 2,000+ Bitcoin ($144 million). Wednesday’s numbers were similar, and the totals...

- "Iran Turns Strait of Hormuz Into Bitcoin Toll Booth: Will Crypto Hit $100,000 Again?" Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) has ridden a wild ride lately. It hit an all-time high of $126,198 in October before crashing to around $60,000 in early February. Amid rising global tensions, it has risen to over $72,000 today. Geopolitics, regulation, and macro forces keep swinging the price. Yet a fresh development in the Middle East just handed crypto its biggest real-world utility test yet. What if one of the planet’s busiest shipping lanes started requiring Bitcoin payments? Iran is doing just that and some say it could move Bitcoin toward a six-figure price again. Iran’s Crypto Toll Booth on the Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz funnels roughly...

- SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ:SBET) stock earned a fresh Buy rating from TD Cowen on Friday, initiating coverage with a bullish thesis on the company's positioning at the intersection of sports betting affiliate marketing and institutional crypto treasury management. No price target accompanied the initiation. For investors watching the digital assets space, it's a signal worth understanding before dismissing this as too speculative. SharpLink stock is down 28% year-to-date, trading at $6.47 against a 52-week high of $124.12. That's a wide gap, and TD Cowen's initiation arrives while the stock sits well below its moving averages. The Analyst's Case TD Cowen's Buy reflects confidence in SharpLink's dual identity: a sports betting...

- Canada’s CZ Says We Won’t Be Talking About ‘Crypto’ Within Five Years Canadian crypto mogul and Binance co-founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao says cryptocurrencies are likely to become as ubiquitous as the internet within five years. As such, Zhao says we will likely no longer speak about or debate cryptocurrencies in coming years because the underlying technology will no longer be a topic of conversation.  In a podcast interview, CZ compared the current phase of crypto to the early days of the internet, suggesting that the technical jargon will eventually fade into the background. “I’m hoping that we don’t talk about crypto as crypto in five years, just like we don’t talk about the internet anymore… We just use it,” said Zhao. The...

- More money flowed into XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) investment products last week than into Bitcoin, Solana, and every other crypto asset combined. CoinShares reported $119.6 million in net inflows across XRP funds, which includes ETFs, ETPs, and trusts globally. It amounted to about 53% of all crypto fund inflows for the entire week and the largest weekly figure for XRP since mid-December 2025. When you look at who is actually buying, it is coming from a new and unexpected wave of investors. Most of that $119.6 million did not come from the United States, where six spot XRP ETFs are already listed. It came from Europe, with Switzerland alone accounting for more than five times the U.S. contribution. So what is pulling a completely different...

- Bitcoin Surges Past $72,000 as U.S. Inflation Misses Wall Street Forecasts U.S. headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March rose 3.3% year-over-year, falling below the median Wall Street forecast of 3.4%. Bitcoin (BTC) responded immediately, climbing above $72,300. Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, printed at 2.6% annually versus the 2.7% consensus. The softer-than-expected readings sent a clear signal through risk markets. Why Today's CPI Print Matters More Than the Number March marked the first inflation report to fully capture the oil price shock tied to the Iran conflict. Crude briefly topped $115 per barrel in early March, pushing U.S. gasoline prices above $4 per gallon for the first time since...

- After hitting an all-time high above $126,000 in late 2025, bitcoin has had a rough 2026. It plunged about 50% from its peak this year before recovering a bit. Some investors see a buying opportunity, while others see warning signs of a crash. GOBankingRates spoke to investing experts to share their thoughts on where bitcoin is headed this year. Here’s what they said. Bullish Case Despite the major losses this year, some experts argue that bitcoin is showing signs of resilience rather than a crash. “Bitcoin has shown great resilience in 2026, even after a 40% crash,” said Marcel Thiess, CEO at Thiess Invest. “The rise of institutional adoption shows that Bitcoin has matured to the point where its price is no longer dictated by...

- Key Takeaways Artificial intelligence could emerge as the long-awaited breakthrough use case for crypto, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said, as analysts increasingly point to Ethereum as a key beneficiary of the convergence between AI and blockchain. Speaking on the Latent Space podcast, Andreessen described the intersection of the two technologies as a “grand unification,” arguing that autonomous AI systems will require native digital payment infrastructure. AI’s “Killer App” Andreessen pointed to early experimentation among advanced users of AI tools, who are already assigning financial autonomy to software agents. While adoption remains limited, he said the trend is likely to scale. The implication, analysts say, is that...

- Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Today, Friday, April 10, 2026: Prices Rise Ahead of CPI Report Bitcoin (BTC-USD) opened at $71,783.52 on Friday, 0.9% higher than Thursday’s opening price of $71,120.57. The value of bitcoin as of 7:16 a.m. ET was $72,139. Ethereum (ETH-USD) opened at $2,189.99 on Friday, nearly the same as Thursday’s opening price of $2,190.33. The value of ethereum as of 7:16 a.m. ET was $2,210. Both bitcoin and ethereum have moved slightly higher ahead of the March CPI report due on Friday. Economists expect a headline inflation rate of 3.3% to 3.4%, which would be about a 1-point increase from the prior month. High inflation rates can clip demand for cryptocurrencies as investors shift to lower-risk assets. Activity...

- Crypto giant Kraken's Fed payment account sparks concerns about risks April 10 (Reuters) - Crypto giant Kraken's landmark Federal Reserve master account comes with restrictions aimed at mitigating risks, but it - and others likely to follow in its wake - could still create vulnerabilities for the U.S. financial system. Founded in 2011, Wyoming-based Kraken is one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, with both retail and institutional clients. Last month, it became the first-ever crypto company to win a Fed master account. The Kansas City Fed granted Kraken a "limited-purpose" account for one year initially, but neither party disclosed details of its restrictions. Fed master accounts are often likened to bank accounts for...