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

Bitcoin

$94,420.58

陋

0.16%

Ethereum

$1,807.43



0.04%

Tether

$1.00



0.00%

XRP

$2.25

陋

2.33%

Solana

$150.09

陋

0.71%

USDC

$1.00



0.00%

See the latest prices

MARKET BYTES

BTC breaks $94,000 despite broad market volatility

One of Bitcoin’s core narratives is that the original cryptocurrency is a scarce, inflation-resistant store of value that has the potential to provide HODLers some shelter (though this has been debated!) in rocky economic periods — in other words, digital gold. 

For much of the current cycle, however, crypto prices had been tracking fairly closely to prices for other major asset classes like stocks. But this week, when stocks, bonds, and the U.S. dollar all saw a sharp decline on Monday, crypto (as well as gold) spiked. 

After rallying past $90,000 on Monday as traditional markets sank, bitcoin broke past $94,000 on Wednesday morning — the highest price since February — boosted by hopes that U.S.-China trade tension could ease, and President Trump’s comment that he had “no intention” to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, despite recent criticisms. A wide range of other tokens, including ether, dogecoin, and SOL were also on the climb by midweek. 

Here’s what you need to know…

Why have markets been so volatile this week?

According to analysts, markets were rattled in recent days by President Trump’s frustration with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, as the Fed hasn’t moved as quickly as the president would like in cutting interest rates (in part because of the uncertainty created by the administration’s tariff policies) and that Trump had “hinted at Powell’s ‘termination,’” per CNBC. Following that news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 900 points on Monday. 

But on Tuesday, stocks (and to a lesser extent bonds and the U.S. dollar) recovered after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told a group of investors that the “tariff standoff with China is unsustainable and that he expects the situation to de-escalate,” according to Bloomberg. 

On Wednesday, most markets — including crypto and stocks — saw further gains as President Trump dialed back some of his critiques of the Federal Reserve and floated a trade deal with China.  

• Steady hands… “We are in a period of extreme uncertainty, where one should not react too much to daily moves,” said Anwiti Bahuguna, Northern Trust Asset Management’s CIO of global asset allocation, on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday.

Why did crypto weather the early-week uncertainty so well?

Markets are complicated, so it’s hard to say for sure, but analysts point to a variety of factors for crypto’s Monday rally as the stock market was selling off.

For one, it appears that crypto and stocks are, for the moment, both moving independently of each other — which is not often the case. “As capital rotates into safe-haven and inflation-hedging assets, BTC and gold are proving to be key beneficiaries of the exodus from USD risk,” noted a report from QPC Capital.  

The increasingly pro-crypto regulatory landscape in Washington is another potential tailwind, with Paul Atkins (who has worked in the past with crypto firms) sworn in as SEC chair on Tuesday. 

• The bottom line… “The decoupling from U.S. assets — in large part driven by a slumping dollar — offers some relief for crypto bulls after Trump’s first three months in power failed to ignite the rally many had expected,” noted Bloomberg.

BTC ETFs notch biggest day since January

On Monday, U.S. spot BTC ETFs tallied $381.3 million in new capital, according to CoinGlass data — making it the biggest day since January. 

Generally, bitcoin has fared better than the broader crypto market as tariff-fueled volatility has grown in recent weeks, a resilience that some analysts connect to the rise of BTC ETFs among institutions.

“The fact that bitcoin has gained institutional adoption and been integrated into more portfolios via spot ETFs has separated it from other tokens,” said Coinbase Institutional's head of research David Duong. “Bitcoin’s price decline from the peak has been pretty gentle compared to what we’ve seen in prior cycles, suggesting there’s greater conviction in holding bitcoin for the long term.” 

• Approval matrix… New SEC Chair Atkins has 72 applications for crypto ETFs waiting on his desk, with prospective products ranging “from XRP, Litecoin, and Solana to Penguins, Doge, and 2x Melania — and everything in between,” according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

AROUND THE WORLD

Crypto’s $850 billion opportunity to reshape global remittance payments

Crypto is borderless. But the traditional financial system notoriously isn’t, which can make cross-border payments expensive and slow. 

Remittances, or money sent by workers abroad back to their families in their home countries, are an $850 billion-plus market, and are increasingly catching the eye of crypto startups and governments alike as an industry ripe for disruption by blockchains.

For many people, these payments can be a financial lifeline. But sending money across borders via traditional methods can take days and costs an average of 6% in fees due to inefficiencies in the existing payment systems. 

Blockchains and stablecoins can cut those costs by more than 90%, though, and crypto-based remittances could save individuals an estimated $54 billion in fees annually.

Here’s what you need to know. 

USDC issuer Circle is making a major foray into remittances

Circle, the company behind the $60 billion-plus USDC stablecoin, announced that its next product will be a cross-border payments network, with remittances as a focal point. 

According to Bloomberg, Circle is aiming to enable instantaneous settlement of cross-border transactions by connecting USDC (and the 19 blockchains it’s available on) with a variety of institutional partners. 

Using Circle’s network, senders can initiate payments in either fiat currencies or stablecoins, and the recipient can choose to accept stablecoins, or convert them into their local currency. Eventually, Circle says, users will be able to use smart contracts to automate and streamline their payments. The service is expected to roll out on a limited basis in May. 

Pakistan wants to bring blockchain-based remittances to its citizens

Pakistan is one of the largest global recipients of remittance payments, with Pakistanis abroad sending more than $31 billion in payments back home last year. Last month alone, a record $4 billion was sent in remittances to Pakistan. 

According to Bilal bin Saqib, the chief advisor to the country’s finance minister, the newly established Pakistan Crypto Council is planning to explore blockchain-based remittance solutions to help cut costs. 

Despite a ban on trading cryptocurrencies, Pakistan ranked 9th in Chainalysis' 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Saqib says Pakistan’s growing crypto adoption, plus the pro-crypto posture of the Trump administration, is a sign to countries worldwide that it’s time to embrace crypto or “be at the risk of being left behind.”

Ripple is helping to enable remittances across Africa and in Brazil 

The crypto-powered payments firm Ripple, which uses the XRP token as part of its network, recently announced a partnership with Chipper Cash, a fintech firm that reports having more than 5 million customers across nine African nations, including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. 

More than $100 billion in remittances get sent back to countries in Africa annually, and Ripple’s partnership with Chipper Cash will enable Chipper’s customers to receive payments from anywhere in the world, near instantaneously. Much like in Pakistan, remittance payments are essential for many citizens in African countries, with remittance payments often outpacing direct foreign investment in some places. 

"Crypto-enabled payments have the potential to enable greater financial inclusion, accelerate access to global markets, and empower businesses and individuals across Africa,” said Chipper Cash CEO Ham Serunjogi.

In February, Ripple also announced a partnership with Portuguese crypto exchange Unicâmbio to help streamline remittance payments between Portugal and Brazil. An estimated $470 million in remittances was sent from Portugal to Brazil last year, and Ripple’s payment network is already being utilized for such remittances via a partnership with Mercado Bitcoin and Travelex Bank.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

$13.5 trillion

Approximate volume of global stablecoin transactions in 2024, surpassing Visa’s payment volume in the same period, according to Bitwise Asset Management’s recent Crypto Market Review of Q1 2025. “Stablecoins AUM surged to an all-time high of over $218 billion, up 13.50% quarter-over-quarter,” the report noted. “Transaction volume also surged 30.14%.”

$1.1 billion

The amount that has been withdrawn from spot Ethereum ETFs over the past seven weeks. After a nearly two-month-long outflow streak, the Ethereum ETFs now have just $4.57 billion in assets under management, a record low since their launch last summer.

$95 million

Amount (from a total $100 million fundraise) that Nasdaq-listed, consumer products firm Upexi plans to use for “the establishment of the Company’s Solana treasury operations and accumulation of Solana.” Applying Strategy’s Bitcoin playbook, but for Solana, Upexi is the second public company to begin stacking SOL.

330 BTC

Amount of bitcoin that Japanese firm Metaplanet said it added to its corporate treasury on Monday, its third BTC purchase of the month. With a total of 4,855 BTC (worth roughly $428 million), Metaplanet is currently the 10th largest corporate bitcoin holder. In first place? It’s still Strategy, with a total of 534,741 BTC, worth about $47 billion.

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