Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: The SEC Chairman position has officially been filled and it’s extremely bullish for crypto, Charles Schwab is one step closer to trading crypto, corporations are buying bitcoin at a record pace, Lazarus Group has made a lot of money from untraceable Bybit funds, Circle is taking on Visa and Mastercard, Crypto markets are staying strong, and much more.

Happy Tuesday, Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

As of 4/21/2025. Data per CoinMarketCap.

  • Bitcoin jumped to around $87,600, its highest since early April, and is currently up nearly +3% at one point during the day

    • Altcoins had mixed movements: Solana slipped, Dogecoin rose, and XRP held steady

    • Market analysts point to a shift toward decentralized assets like Bitcoin and gold amid growing distrust in traditional financial systems.

  • Gold during the day hit a new all-time high of $3,442 per ounce, as investors sought safer assets

    • ~ after hours it rose above $3,500 for the first time ever and hit an new all time high of 3,504.20

  • Stock markets tumbled, with the S&P 500 down 2.8% and the Nasdaq falling 3%, as investors reacted to political pressure on the Fed

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • The SEC Chairman role has officially been filled by a crypto advocate (TB)

  • Shocking report shows crypto casinos takings surpass $80B for 2024 despite many being illegal (FT)

  • Gold ETFs hit record highs with $8B ETF inflow alongside Bitcoin surge (DF)

  • Vitalik plans to 100x Ethereum by replacing EVMs (BW)

  • Charles Schwab CEO says spot crypto trading will 'likely' launch within 12 months (TB)

  • President Trump sends market sliding after calling Fed Chair Powell “Mr. Too Late, a major loser” in reference to rate cuts – see full statement here

  • MANTRA founder will burn $82M worth of his OM tokens to 'rebuild trust' following $5B crash (TB)

  • Callisto Research published a new short report on on BTC mining company Bitdeer Technologies (BTDR) – read short report here
    Circle is building a competitive remittance product to take down Visa and MasterCard (BL)

  • Satoshi Nakamoto has officially been outbought with Blackrock x Strategy bitcoin ownership (DF)

  • Michael Saylor’s Strategy now owns 2.7%+ of bitcoin supply with another $555M purchase yesterday (BL)

  • Metaplanet nears 5,000 BTC holdings with $28M buy (DT)

  • The European Central Bank is accelerating plans to launch a digital euro (DF)

  • Uniswap Layer 2 solution Unichain becomes 5th largest L2 from liquidity incentive launch (DF)

  • $5.4M Fort Lauderdale property to be first tokenized property of $1B+ plan under Blocksquare and Vera Capital partnership (DF)

  • ETH ETF outflows pass $1B in 2 months and hit record-low holdings (TB)

M&A Announcements

  • Web3 payment company Kado Software acquired by Swapped.com for undisclosed amount (BW)

Venture Capital

  • GSR helps consumer product firm Upexi create a SOL treasury with a $100M private investment (TB)

  • UFLY Labs announces strategic investment into bitcoin liquidity solution Solv Protocol (CR)

Launches

  • XRP futures added to Coinbase derivatives offerings (CT)

  • Community bashes Coinbase Ventures backed Zora ahead of Wednesday’s airdrop (BL)

Regulation

  • The SEC has to make a decision on 70+ crypto ETFs this year (CT)

  • A hearing Wednesday could determine a $500M annual purchase for the state of Texas (DF)

  • Crypto tax rate set at 25% in Slovenia starting in 2026 (CD)

  • South Korea Central Bank wants to take active role in stablecoin legislation (TB)

Cybersecurity

  • Bybit continues massive hack bounty as a reported ⅔ of hacked funds are still traceable (DT)

  • Lazarus Group shares in mid 9-figure success with untraceable funds from Bybit hack (CD)

  • Bitget publicly shares market manipulation discovery (BG)

Extra Reads

  • There’s no question that our nation’s debt in many people’s eyes is a ‘Runaway Train’ with no signs of stopping

Here is a breakdown tax strategies an overall look at the potential taxation landscape Bitcoin holders could have to deal with in 2025

Chart of the Day

Gold hits new all-time high of $3.3k per ounce as Bitcoin rebounds to $88k

Is the Bitcoin decoupling real?

Meme Dump

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