Coindesk

Lombard Finance, a Bitcoin infrastructure developer, has launched a software development kit (SDK) that allows wallets, exchanges, and other platforms to offer one-click bitcoin (BTC) staking.

The release aims to further bring BTC into the decentralized finance (DeFi) economy by tapping into the estimated $154 billion in bitcoin estimated to be sitting idle on centralized exchanges.

The new toolkit allows users to stake BTC to mint a liquid staking token called LBTC, which can be automatically deposited into Lombard’s DeFi Vault for a current annual yield of 3%, according to the protocol.

“Once viewed solely as a store of value, Bitcoin is now increasingly being integrated into DeFi, unlocking new earning opportunities for BTC holders,” said Lombard Finance co-founder Jacob Phillips, who added that the SDK removes “the complexity for both platforms and users.”

Leading cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Bybit have already integrated the SDK, with additional wallet integrations—including xVerse, Metamask, and Trust Wallet—also being supported. For these platforms, the integration offers new revenue streams and a way to keep users engaged through a new DeFi offering, Lombard says.

Bitcoin staking through Lombard’s system began seven months ago and has grown into a $4 billion market. Lombard’s DeFi Vault, powered by smart contract provider Veda, currently holds more than $200 million in total value locked.

The protocol expanded last month with the launch of its liquid-staking bitcoin token, LBTC, on the Sui blockchain.

XRP might be the next cryptocurrency to get a spot ETF listing in the U.S. after bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), analysts argued this week. However, the Deribit-listed options market,doesn’t share this optimism.

As of the time of writing, Deribit’s put options tied to XRP were pricier than calls across several timeframes, according to data source Amberdata. That’s a sign of persistent downside fears.

A put option provides insurance against price drops, and traders purchase the same when looking to hedge or profit from an expected price drop.

The bias for puts was evident from negative skews across the timeframes. Options skew measures the implied volatility premium (demand) for calls relative to puts.

XRP dived out of an ascending wedge early Wednesday, signaling a possible re-test of recent lows at around $1.6.

Earlier this week, analysts said that XRP has a relatively better order book depth, implying ease in trading large orders at stable prices, compared to Solana’s SOL and other tokens. This meant that the payments-focused coin used by Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions could be the next digital asset to get a spot ETF approval in the U.S.

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” announcement earlier this month drove the economic trade policy uncertainty index to a record high and sent investors away from risk assets, which include bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fanned the flames late Wednesday, saying the central bank sees unemployment rising with the economy likely to slow and inflation likely to go up as “some part of those tariffs come to be paid by the public.”

His comments weighed further on risk assets, bringing the Nasdaq down 1.17% and the S&P 500 dropping 2.24% before the closing bell. Still, bitcoin is up more than 1% in the last 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, which captures the broader market, added 1.8%, even though crypto is seen more as gauge of risk than a safe haven.

To Michael Brown, an analyst at Pepperstone, demand for “assets which provide shelter from political incoherence and trade uncertainty” is likely to keep growing, The Telegraph reported.

While bitcoin has outperformed the stock market — up 1% in the past month compared with the Nasdaq’s near 8% drop — institutional investors are piling into gold, the battle-tested safe haven.

The precious metal is up 11% over the last month and 27% this year to around $3,340 a troy ounce. Bank of America’s Global Fund Manager Survey shows that 49% of fund managers see “long gold” as Wall Street’s most crowded trade, with 42% of fund managers forecasting it to be the best-performing asset of the year.

UBS analysts wrote in a note that the “case for adding gold allocations has become more compelling than ever in this environment of escalating tariff uncertainty, weaker growth, higher inflation, geopolitical risks & diversification away from US assets & the US$,” Investopedia reported.

Gold fund flows have hit $80 billion so far this year, while SoSoValue data shows spot bitcoin ETFs saw $5.25 billion net inflows in January and net outflows since the uncertainty started. Month-to-date, over $900 million left these funds, after February and March saw $3.56 billion and $767 billion of net outflows, respectively. Stay alert!

What to Watch

Crypto:

April 17: EigenLayer (EIGEN) activates slashing on Ethereum mainnet, enforcing penalties for operator misconduct.

April 18: Pepecoin (PEP), a layer-1, proof-of-work blockchain, undergoes its second halving, reducing block rewards to 15,625 PEP per block.

April 20, 11 p.m.: BNB Chain (BNB) — opBNB mainnet hardfork.

April 21: Coinbase Derivatives will list XRP futures pending approval by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

April 25, 1:00 p.m.: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force Roundtable on “Key Considerations for Crypto Custody“.

Macro

April 17, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Census Bureau releases March new residential construction data.

Housing Starts Est. 1.42M vs. Prev. 1.501M

Housing Starts MoM Prev. 11.2%

April 17, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Department of Labor releases unemployment insurance data for the week ended April 12.

Initial Jobless Claims Est. 225K vs. Prev. 223K

April 17, 7:30 p.m.: Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications releases March consumer price index (CPI) data.

Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 3.2% vs. Prev. 3%

Inflation Rate MoM Prev. -0.1%

Inflation Rate YoY Prev. 3.7%

Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)

April 22: Tesla (TSLA), post-market

April 30: Robinhood Markets (HOOD), post-market

Token Events

Governance votes & calls

GMX DAO is discussing the establishment of a GMX Reserve on Solana, which would involve bridging $500,000 in GMX to the Solana network and transfering the funds to the GMX-Solana Treasury.

Treasure DAO is discussing handing authority to the core contributor team to wind down and shutter Treasure Chain infrastructure on ZKsync and manage the primary MAGIC-ETH protocol-owned liquidity pool given the “crucial financial situation” of the protocol.

April 17, 11 a.m.: Starknet to host a governance call to discuss how to improve Cairo and the “overall dev experience.”

Unlocks

April 18: Official Trump (TRUMP) to unlock 20.25% of its circulating supply worth $314.23 million.

April 18: Fasttoken (FTN) to unlock 4.65% of its circulating supply worth $84.4 million.

April 18: Official Melania Meme (MELANIA) to unlock 6.73% of its circulating supply worth $10.72 million.

April 18: UXLINK (UXLINK) to unlock 11.09% of its circulating supply worth $16.52 million.

April 18: Immutable (IMX) to unlock 1.37% of its circulating supply worth $10.03 million.

April 22: Metars Genesis (MRS) to unlock 11.87% of its circulating supply worth $126.7 million.

Token Launches

April 17: VeThor (VTHO) to be listed on Bybit.

April 17: Babylon (BABY), AI Rig Complex (ARC), and Alchemist AI (ALCHI) to be listed on Kraken.

April 22: Hyperlane to airdrop its HYPER tokens.

Conferences:

CoinDesk’s Consensus is taking place in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.

Day 3 of 3: NexTech Week Tokyo

April 22-24: Money20/20 Asia (Bangkok)

April 23: Crypto Horizons 2025 (Dubai)

April 23-24: Blockchain Forum 2025 (Moscow)

April 24: Bitwise’s Investor Day for Bitcoin Standard Corporations (New York)

April 26: Crypto Vision Conference 2025 (Manilla)

April 26-27: Harvard Blockchain in Action Conference (Cambridge, Mass.)

April 27: N Crypto Conference 2025 (Kyiv)

April 27-30: Web Summit Rio 2025

April 28-29: Blockchain Disrupt 2025 (Dubai)

April 28-29: Staking Summit Dubai

April 29: El Salvador Digital Assets Summit 2025 (San Salvador, El Salvador)

April 29: IFGS 2025 (London)

Token Talk

By Shaurya Malwa

Raydium’s platform for introducing tokens, LaunchLab, went live late Wednesday.

It directly competes with Pump.fun, which recently pivoted away from Raydium and started its own exchange, PumpSwap, prompting Raydium to introduce a perceived competing platform.

The Solana ecosystem saw a surge in activity with LaunchLab’s debut, creating over 1,750 tokens shortly after it started up. The price of Raydium’s RAY token rose as much as 10% in the hours afterwards.

LaunchLab’s dynamic joint curve system offers linear, exponential and logarithmic curves — three types of pricing mechanisms that influence how token values change based on user trading — a shift from the fixed-slope pricing models used in memecoin launch platforms.

Integration with major Solana trading apps like Axiom, BullX and JupiterExchange enhances LaunchLab’s visibility, potentially driving broader adoption across the ecosystem.

Derivatives Positioning

Open interest in bitcoin futures on the CME reached 138,235 BTC, the highest level the month, as traders re-enter the basis trade. The annualized basis on the CME has climbed to 8%.

With just over a week remaining until the April options expiry on Deribit, the $100,000 strike remains the most dominant, holding over $315 million in notional open interest.

The futures perpetual funding rate turned negative again on Wednesday during Fed Chair Powell’s speech. Throughout the week, funding rates have oscillated between positive and negative, highlighting continued short-term uncertainty around bitcoin’s direction.

Market Movements:

BTC is unchanged from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $84,312 (24hrs: +0.4%)

ETH is up 1.26% at $1,593.44 (24hrs: +0.91%)

CoinDesk 20 is unchanged at 2,459.45 (24hrs: +1.36%)

Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 1bp bps at 3%

BTC funding rate is at 0.012% (4.3866% annualized) on Binance

DXY is up 0.11% at 99.49

Gold is up 0.35% at $3,338.30/oz

Silver is down 1.49% at $32.44/oz

Nikkei 225 closed +1.35% at 34,377.60

Hang Seng closed +1.61% at 21,395.14

FTSE is down 0.82% at 8,207.47

Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.56% at 4,938.69

DJIA closed on Wednesday -1.73% at 39,669.39

S&P 500 closed -2.24% at 5,275.70

Nasdaq closed -3.07% at 16,307.16

S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.16% at 24,106.80

S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.32% at 2,345.32

U.S. 10-year Treasury rate is up 3 bps at 4.31%

E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.9% at 5,353.25

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 1.02% at 18,573.25

E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.81% at 40,175.00

Bitcoin Stats:

BTC Dominance: 63.89 (-0.07%)

Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.01889 (0.64%)

Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 905 EH/s

Hashprice (spot): $43.9

Total Fees: 5.78 BTC / $482,907

CME Futures Open Interest: 138,235 BTC

BTC priced in gold: 25.4 oz

BTC vs gold market cap: 7.15%

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin has bounced cleanly off the golden pocket zone, with the 0.618 and 0.65 Fibonacci levels at $74,995 and $73,213 holding as support.

This area marked the first real retracement from the $109,396 high and has shown strong buyer interest.

The bounce also coincided with a breakout from the daily downtrend that has been in place since February — a key shift in structure worth noting.

BTC is now sitting just below the daily 50 and 200 exponential moving averages, which have begun to converge.

These levels often act as decision points, and with the price pressing right up against them, the next move should offer clearer direction. A clean break and hold above would give bulls more control, while a rejection could see prices head back toward the golden pocket.

The weekly 50 EMA — currently $78,071 — is also in play and adds to the confluence just below. As long as BTC holds above the broken trendline and continues to defend this cluster of support, short-term momentum remains constructive.

Crypto Equities

Strategy (MSTR): closed on Wednesday at $311.66 (+0.3%), up 0.98% at $314.70 in pre-market

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $172.21 (-1.91%), up 0.87% at $173.70

Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$15.58 (+0.84%)

MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $12.32 (-2.07%), up 0.81% at $12.42

Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $6.36 (-2.9%), up 0.31% at $6.38

Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $6.59 (-3.8%), up 1.67% at $6.70

CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $7.28 (+0.0%), up 0.27% at $7.30

CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $11.91 (-0.58%)

Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $31 (-9.88%)

Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $37.19 (-2.16%), up 2.18% at $38

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

Daily net flow: -$171.1 million

Cumulative net flows: $35.36 billion

Total BTC holdings ~ 1.10 million

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flow: -$12.1 million

Cumulative net flows: $2.26 billion

Total ETH holdings ~ 3.30 million

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Chart of the Day

Yesterday, the SOL/ETH ratio surged to a record high, closing at 0.0833 and highlighting sol’s continued strength relative to ether.

Ether’s weakness also showed in the the ETH/BTC ratio, which slipped to 0.0187, its lowest level since Jan. 6, 2020.

While You Were Sleeping

SOL Jumps 6%, Bitcoin Clings to $84K on Dampened Rate Cut Hopes (CoinDesk): Bitcoin will likely stay between $80,000 and $90,000 as traders await clarity on tariff talks and delayed Fed rate cuts, said BTSE COO Jeff Mei.

Meloni, Europe’s Trump Whisperer, to Try Her Hand on Tariffs (The Wall Street Journal): Italy’s prime minister is expected to press Trump today on the EU’s “zero-for-zero” proposal, which would eliminate tariffs on industrial goods if both sides agree.

Nvidia Chief Jensen Huang Flies Into Beijing for Talks (Financial Times): The visit follows a U.S. decision requiring a license to export Nvidia’s H20 chip to China, prompting the company to warn of a $5.5 billion earnings hit.

China Stocks Face Risk of $800 Billion U.S. Outflows, Goldman Says (Bloomberg): In a full financial decoupling, U.S. investors could dump $800 billion of Chinese stocks while Chinese investors might offload $370 billion of U.S. equities and $1.3 trillion in bonds.

Bitcoin, the Haven Crypto Bulls Hoped for, Is More a Barometer of Risk: Godbole (CoinDesk): Bitcoin, rather than behaving as a digital gold, has solidified as a proxy for risk, validating FX market participants who track it as a gauge of speculative sentiment.

Quantum Computing Group Offers 1 BTC to Whoever Breaks Bitcoin’s Cryptographic Key (CoinDesk): A competition is offering one bitcoin to the first person or team to break elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) using Shor’s algorithm on a quantum computer.

In the Ether

The “Minsky Moment” is here, according to Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, in a recent interview on CNBC. Novogratz noted that tariffs are playing a key role in reshaping the global security apparatus, while President Trump’s return to the political scene is introducing fresh uncertainty into the markets.

Although equities are down roughly 10% year-to-date, Novogratz believes that’s insufficient given the scale of the global economic shifts underway. “We’re clearly in a risk-off environment,” Novogratz said.

Novogratz explained that bitcoin (BTC) typically performs well amid macroeconomic uncertainty unless risk appetite completely evaporates. He outlined two major narratives driving bitcoin: the macro story, reflected in gold’s recent rally, capital flowing out of the U.S. dollar into perceived safe havens; and the adoption story, which remains in its early stages. While institutional and retail adoption is still developing, Novogratz observed that bitcoin is beginning to trade more independently of U.S. equities.

Novogratz also warned that the U.S. is starting to behave like an emerging market, a shift not seen in decades. Interest rates are rising while the U.S. dollar weakens an unusual and concerning combination. While, bitcoin and gold are report cards on financial stewardship, Novogratz remarked.

Novogratz referenced economist Hyman Minsky and said the U.S. could be approaching a “Minsky Moment,” where deficits and debt levels finally matter. While sovereign nations have long been able to run large deficits without market backlash, that grace period may be ending.

According to Novogratz, markets are signaling that the Trump-led policy push is too aggressive and unsustainable. Novogratz pointed to the enormous impact of even modest treasury yield increases on the $35 trillion national debt—saying that a 25 or 50 basis point hike has massive implications, potentially costing more on an annualized basis than major savings programs like the Department of Government Efficiency.

Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Auradine, a maker of computing equipment for bitcoin (BTC) mining and AI applications, said it raised $153 million in a Series C funding round.

The Silicon Valley, California-based company also formed a new business group, AuraLinks AI, focused on open-standards to address cooling requirements of next-generation AI data centers.

AI data centers and BTC mining share similarities in their operational requirements. Given the proliferation of AI in mainstream use in recent years, the subject of data centers is now commonplace in public discourse. This is significant for the cryptocurrency industry because most things that relate to AI data centers could also be applied to bitcoin mining.

“Our dual focus on Bitcoin and AI infrastructure places Auradine at the intersection of pivotal technologies that will reshape computing and energy utilization for decades to come,” CEO Rajiv Khemani said in a statement.

The funding round, which took Auradine’s total backing to $300 million, was led by StepStone Group and included another contribution from bitcoin miner MARA, as well as Maverick Silicon, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Qualcomm Ventures, among others.

President Donald Trump’s trade war has introduced significant volatility to financial markets since March, prompting investors to chase assets they believe provide a hedge in this turbulent environment.

What’s clear: Bitcoin (BTC) is not one of them, much to the dismay of bullish investors who have long thought of the largest cryptocurrency as digital gold either as a store of value or a haven investment. The reality is that since the onset of the trade war, bitcoin has become more closely correlated with the Aussie dollar-yen pair (AUD/JPY), the foreign exchange market’s risk barometer.

Data from TradingView show the 90-day correlation coefficient between bitcoin and the AUD/JPY pair flipped positive in late February and has since hit the highest since November 2021. The tit-for-tat tariff war between the two nations has led to a staggering 245% cumulative levy on Chinese imports to the U.S., leading to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterating stagflation risks on Wednesday.

The correlation of 0.80 — the maximum value is 1 — is considered strong, implying that the two variables, BTC and AUD/JPY, are closely related in their movements in the same direction.

In contrast, bitcoin’s 90-day correlation with gold flipped negative in late February and has since dropped to -0.80, just above the minimum -1. It means the two are closely related in their movements, but in opposite directions.

BTC, a proxy for risk

The Australian dollar, being China-sensitive and the home currency of a commodity-exporting nation, is seen as a risk currency. The yen is a safe haven because Japan has been a net international creditor for decades with near-zero interest rates.

When global markets are optimistic and commodity demand rises, the AUD typically appreciates, reflecting a higher risk appetite among investors and the yen drops. The opposite holds true when they become risk-averse.

Traders, therefore, monitor AUD/JPY as a risk indicator, viewing uptrends as positive signs for risk assets like stocks, and vice versa. Bitcoin, which was already emerging in a comparable role, has strengthened its position. The correlation data indicates that BTC is now as much a proxy for risk sentiment as AUD/JPY.

Wednesday’s price action between bitcoin (BTC) and U.S. equities caught investors’ attention highlighting early signs of a fading correlation between the two.

In a typical diversified portfolio, assets are expected to show little to no correlation. For example, gold has continued to hit all-time highs, setting 12 new daily records this year, demonstrating a clear dislocation from U.S. equities.

While bitcoin has often been labeled a leveraged play on the Nasdaq 100, recent trend suggest that relationship may be weakening.

Take BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which trades only during regular U.S. market hours. On Wednesday, it closed up 0.46%, even as the Nasdaq 100 plunged more than 3% , down as much as 4.5% at one point, which would’ve marked its fifth-largest point decline in history.

Strategy (MSTR), a bitcoin-levered play included in the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) finished the day up 0.30%, even as all of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks closed in the red, underscoring the growing divergence.

Throughout the day, the correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq fluctuated. For instance, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell was speaking, both assets dropped in tandem. However, bitcoin later rebounded above $84,000, while the Nasdaq continued to hit new intraday lows before recovering into the close.

Powell’s comments leaned more hawkish than expected, citing inflation concerns driven by tariff uncertainty and increases, labeling them an “evolving risk.” Short-term inflation expectations have also moved higher.

Markets were especially unsettled by Powell’s response to the question: Is there a Fed put for the stock market? Is there a Fed put for the stock market? Powell’s reply: “I’m going to say no.”

The “Fed put” is a long-held market theory suggesting the Fed will step in to stabilize markets during sharp downturns, a safety net that bitcoin, as a bearer asset, inherently lacks. The open question now: Was Powell bluffing, or is the Fed truly stepping away from its role as market backstop?

Project Eleven, a quantum computing research and advocacy firm, has launched the Q-Day Prize, a global competition offering 1 bitcoin (BTC) to the first team able to break an elliptic curve cryptographic (ECC) key, the cryptography which secures the Bitcoin network, using Shor’s algorithm on a quantum computer.

Shor’s algorithm is a quantum computing method that efficiently factors large numbers into their prime components, theoretically allowing quantum computers to break cryptographic algorithms like RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography used in Bitcoin and other blockchain networks.

The contest comes as quantum computing advancements mean that a workable quantum computer might only be years away. Project Elevent has also identified more than 10 million bitcoin addresses with non-zero balances potentially at risk of quantum attacks.

The Bitcoin community is aware of the quantum computing threat and is working on solutions.

As CoinDesk previously reported, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), titled Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol (QRAMP), was introduced in early April, which suggests enforcing a network-wide migration to post-quantum cryptography to safeguard Bitcoin wallets. This would require a hard fork, however, and getting that sort of consensus would be an uphill battle.

Quantum startup BTQ has also proposed its own solution: a quantum-based alternative to Bitcoin’s Proof of Work called Coarse-Grained Boson Sampling (CGBS).

CGBS works by using quantum computing to generate unique patterns of photons (light particles called bosons), replacing traditional mining puzzles with quantum-based sampling tasks for validation. But this also requires a hard fork, and the appetite for such a change isn’t yet known.

Crypto markets steadily rose in Asian morning hours Thursday after a sell-off the night before as Fed chair Jerome Powell dashed hopes of early rate cuts as global markets reel from the impact of newly-levied U.S. tariffs.

Bitcoin (BTC) added 2% in the past 24 hours, data from CoinGecko shows, touching nearly $84,500. Ether (ETH), XRP, dogecoin (DOGE) and BNB Chain’s BNB added between 1%-3%, with Solana’s SOL leading at 6%.

Down the pecking order, Hyperliquid’s HYPE surged 8.5% to lead gains among midcaps on no immediate catalyst. Celestia’s TIA dumped 4% to lead losses, as selling pressure on tokens with a long unlock schedule is increasing following Mantra DAO’s nosedive earlier this week.

Powell mentioned that the Fed needed more time to see the effects of tariffs play out in the global economy. The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth, hinting at “stagflation” — a throwback to a sizable portion of the 1970s when the U.S. experienced weak economic activity alongside double-digit inflation.

“Traders had been hoping for the Fed to come in with early rate cuts to bolster markets, but it looks like that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. “In the short term, we expect Bitcoin to continue to trade in the $80,000 – $90,000 range until we see more clarity on tariff negotiations and rate cuts.”

Elsewhere, Augustine Fan, head of insights at SignalPlus, said that Powell’s remarks disappointed doves by stressing their focus on protecting against tariff-driven price hikes from driving a long-term rise in inflation expectations.

“Crypto traded water for the most part, though technicals remain more constructive in the near term as long as BTC can hold above 81k, with markets focused on details on Trump’s 1st trade deal when it arrives, as well as the corporate earnings season kicking into high gear starting next week,” Fan said.

Meanwhile, here’s the technical analysis and patterns spotted by machines in the market today.

SOL Price Analysis

SOL experienced a 14.5% price surge from $119.58 to $136.01 between April 11-14, followed by a notable correction.

The overall range of $16.42 represents a 13.7% volatility span.

After reaching peak volume during the April 12-13 rally, momentum indicators show weakening buying pressure.

SOL has established a descending resistance trendline from the $136 high.

Support has formed around $126-$127, with the 50-hour moving average acting as dynamic resistance.

Recent price action suggests consolidation after the rally, with lower highs indicating potential further downside if the $125.67 support breaks.

XRP Price Analysis

Recent volatility suggests XRP may be coiling for a significant move as it tests critical support levels following dramatic price swings.

XRP experienced a dramatic price surge on April 12-13, climbing from $2.00 to a peak of $2.24 (11.7% range), driven by exceptional volume exceeding 240M during the breakout hour.

The rally established strong resistance at $2.18-$2.24, while forming support at $2.08-$2.10.

Recent price action shows a bearish reversal pattern with declining momentum as XRP retraced to $2.09, settling into a consolidation phase.

The 48-hour Fibonacci retracement indicates the price has pulled back to the 61.8% level, suggesting potential stabilization, though declining volumes and the failure to hold above $2.15 signal caution for bulls in the near term.

ETH Price Analysis

Ether experienced significant price volatility with a 7.8% overall range ($119.72) between $1,546.87 and $1,666.50.

The 48-hour analysis reveals a bearish reversal pattern as ETH failed to sustain momentum after reaching $1,690.16, subsequently forming a double top before declining sharply.

Volume analysis shows heightened trading activity during downward movements, particularly during the April 14th selloff where volume exceeded 500,000 units, indicating strong selling pressure.

The 50-hour moving average around $1,625 now serves as immediate resistance, with key support established at $1,585-$1,590.

Token debuts remain a contentious issue, often criticized for their poor execution that allows individuals, supposedly armed with insider information about impending launches, to profit through front-running campaigns.

The latest example is the “Base is for everyone” token announced by Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 solution Base on Wednesday. Three crypto wallets bought tokens ahead of the official announcement on X, resulting in significant profits, according to blockchain sleuth Lookonchain.

At around 19:30 UTC on Wednesday, Base announced the debut of its token minted via Zora, an on-chain social network, empowering creativity by turning any content posted on its network into tradable coins. The token quickly rose to a market capitalization of over $15 million, bringing significant gains to at least three crypto addresses that acquired coins before the official announcement on X.

“3 wallets bought a large amount of “Base is for everyone” before @base posted and sold them, making a profit of ~$666K,” Lookonchain said on X.

The wallet address 0x0992 invested 1.5 ether (ETH), to purchase 256.39 million units of the token at 12:30 PM UTC and sold the entire coin stash for 108 ETH following the official announcement, pocketing a profit of $168,000 in just over an hour. Wallet address 0x5D9D invested 1 ETH ($1,580) and walked away with $266,000 profit, and another address, labelled 0xBD31, made $231,800.

The token’s market capitalization tanked to less than $2 million after that as Base announced another coin for its FarCon poster, sucking out liquidity from the Base is for Everyone token and leaving entrants in the latter with a large loss.

However, valuations have recovered since then, with the market capitalization of Base is for everyone topping the $18 mark as of writing, per data source DEX Screener. Base creator Jesse greenlighted the token, saying, “The goal is to “normalize putting all content on-chain.”

Base only posted on Zora

Coinbase clarified that the Base is for everyone coin is not the official cryptocurrency of Base and the layer 2 did not directly sell these. “Base posted on Zora, which automatically tokenizes content,” Coinbase’s spokesperson told CoinDesk.

The legal disclaimer on Zora suggested the same, with Base also clarifying its position on X, saying, it shall never sell these tokens.

“To be clear, Base will never sell these tokens, and ​​these are not official network tokens for Base, Coinbase, or any other related product. The content we share is creative, and we’re going to keep bringing culture on-chain,” Base said.

Negative wealth effect

The rapid boom-bust cycles in these smaller tokens often create a net negative wealth effect, allowing a select few to profit significantly while the majority face losses. This often leads to liquidity drain from the broader digital assets market.

The larger the boom-and-bust cycles associated with these coins, the stronger the negative wealth effect.

For instance, this year’s debut of LIBRA and TRUMP tokens destroyed millions in investor wealth, marking a major price top in bitcoin and the broader crypto market.