Crypto

Bitcoin (BTC) price dodged the chaotic volatility that crushed equities markets on the April 4 Wall Street open by holding above the $82,000 level.

US stocks notch record losses as analysts predict “long trade war”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed erratic moves on Bitcoin’s lower timeframes as the daily high near $84,700 evaporated as BTC price dropped by $2,500 at the start of the US trading session.

Fears over a prolonged US trade war and subsequent recession fueled market downside, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both falling another 3.5% after the open.

In ongoing market coverage, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter described the tariffs as the start of the “World War 3” of trade wars.”

BREAKING: President Trump just now, “WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

A long trade war is ahead of us. https://t.co/babI1cf5wi pic.twitter.com/6KCsHp0a8v

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) April 4, 2025

“Two-day losses in the S&P 500 surpass -8% for a total of -$3.5 trillion in market cap. This is the largest 2-day drop since the pandemic in 2020,” it reported.

The Nasdaq 100 made history the day prior, recording its biggest single-day points loss ever.

The latest US jobs data in the form of the March nonfarm payrolls print, which beat expectations, faded into insignificance with markets already panicking.

Market expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve nonetheless edged higher, with the odds for such a move coming at the Fed’s May meeting hitting 40%, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Bitcoin clings to support above $80,000

As Bitcoin managed to avoid a major collapse, market commentators sought confirmation of underlying BTC price strength.

Related: Bitcoin sellers ‘dry up’ as weekly exchange inflows near 2-year low

For popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital, longer-timeframe cues remained encouraging.

#BTC

Bitcoin is already recovering and on the cusp of filling this recently formed CME Gap$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/ZDvsF6ldCz pic.twitter.com/PSbAESmqnY

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) April 4, 2025

“Bitcoin is also potentially forming the very early signs of a brand new Exaggerated Bullish Divergence,” he continued, looking at relative strength index (RSI) behavior on the daily chart.

“Double bottom on the price action meanwhile the RSI develops Higher Lows. $82,400 needs to continue holding as support.”

Fellow trader Cas Abbe likewise observed comparatively resilient trading on Bitcoin amid the risk-asset rout.

“It didn’t hit a new low yesterday despite stock market having their worst day in 5 years,” he noted to X followers. 

“Historically, BTC always bottoms first before the stock market so expecting $76.5K was the bottom. Now, I’m waiting for a reclaim above $86.5K level for more upward continuation.”

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on BTC price bottom targets now including old all-time highs of $69,000 from 2021.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Earlier this week, Bitcoin mining giant Hut 8 revealed a partnership that includes two members of the Trump family — Donald Jr. and Eric — and its plans to launch a new mining venture, American Bitcoin. 

In an exclusive interview on Decentralize with Cointelegraph’s Byte-Sized Insight series, Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot shared new details about the venture’s vision, why the timing was right and how the company plans to scale.

The right team and the right time

“We’ve thought about splitting out our Bitcoin mining and energy infrastructure businesses for some time,” Genoot said. “Meeting Eric and Don Jr., and seeing their deep passion for Bitcoin and infrastructure, was the perfect catalyst.”

According to Genoot, the goal is clear: to build one of the world’s largest and most efficient Bitcoin mining platforms, rooted in American soil and aligned with pro-Bitcoin sentiment growing under President Donald Trump’s administration. “Eric told me, ‘I don’t want to get involved in anything that isn’t the biggest and the best,’” he said.

The move comes at a pivotal moment for US-based mining. With China out of the picture post-2021 crackdown, and Washington now openly exploring the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, America’s place in the global mining ecosystem is under transformation.

Still, size isn’t everything. Genoot emphasized that efficiency and cost-effectiveness are core to the strategy.

 “We don’t want to just be the biggest. We want to be the most efficient and cost-effective miner. If our cost basis isn’t low, we might as well just buy Bitcoin.”

Related: Bitcoin miner Hut 8 argues to toss ‘short and distort’ shareholder suit

Mining and accumulating BTC

American Bitcoin’s structure allows it to mine BTC at low cost, accumulate more when the market allows, and potentially expand into other Bitcoin ecosystem services. Hut 8 currently holds over 10,000 BTC on its balance sheet, worth up to $1 billion depending on market conditions. American Bitcoin aims to surpass that.

And the company isn’t just bullish on Bitcoin; it’s bullish on power consumption. Genoot pushed back on criticism that mining wastes energy: 

“Power consumption has only increased with every tech revolution. Cheap, excess energy is what drives Bitcoin mining — and a lot of that energy is renewable.”

Looking ahead, Hut 8’s mining spinoff has big ambitions. “Our focus is scaling. Our focus is taking this company public on a US exchange,” Genoot said. “You’ll hear more from us soon.”

Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! 

Got thoughts? Join the conversation on X or email us at [email protected].

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Solana whales have offloaded their tokens to cash in on gains from a staking play that began four years ago. 

In April 2021, four whale addresses staked 1.79 million Solana (SOL) tokens, then worth about $37.7 million. The stake was unlocked on April 4, in what Arkham Intelligence called “the largest single-day unlock of staked SOL.” The firm noted that the next similar unlock is not expected until 2028.

At the time of the unlock, the tokens were valued at roughly $206 million, representing a 446% gain from the initial staking period.

Solana whales sold nearly $50 million

After the tokens were unlocked, the whales started to dump their holdings. Arkham data shows that over 420,000 SOL tokens, worth about $50 million, had been unstaked by the four Solana wallets at the time of writing. 

Following the unlock, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain said the whales had started offloading their funds. One wallet address dumped nearly 260,000 SOL tokens worth over $30 million. Three other wallets sold about $16 million in SOL. 

Arkham data shows that the four wallets still hold about 1.38 million SOL tokens worth roughly $160 million. 

The SOL unlock follows a significant decrease in SOL token prices since April 2. CoinGecko data shows that on April 2, SOL hit a high of $131.11. At the time of writing, Solana was trading at $114.66, a 12% decrease in two days. 

Related: Babylon users unstake $21M in Bitcoin following token airdrop

FTX wallets unstaked $431 million in SOL

The unstaking event by four whale wallets follows another large unlock, by bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research. 

On March 4, FTX and Alameda wallets unstaked over 3 million Solana tokens worth about $431 million. The event was FTX’s largest SOL unlock since it started selling its tokens in November 2023. 

Data from the analysis platform Spot On Chain shows that since November 2023, the bankrupt crypto exchange has unstaked 7.83 million SOL tokens. The assets were sold for $986 million at an average price of $125.80 per SOL.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set

Despite a $30 billion surge in stablecoin supply to new record levels, cryptocurrency investors remained cautious as they awaited market stability amid US tariff fears.

The total stablecoin supply rose by more than $30 billion in the first quarter of 2025, even as the overall crypto market capitalization fell 19%, according to a new report by crypto intelligence platform IntoTheBlock.

“The correlation between crypto and stocks climbed as macro expectations quickly shifted from “golden era” optimism to tariff-led doom and gloom,” according to IntoTheBlock’s quarterly report, shared with Cointelegraph.

The stablecoin supply’s growth reflects a “cautious stance, with investors holding stablecoins as a hedge, likely waiting for market stability or better entry points,” according to Juan Pellicer, senior research analyst at IntoTheBlock crypto intelligence platform.

Related: Stablecoin rules needed in US before crypto tax reform, experts say

Industry leaders have predicted that the stablecoin supply may surpass $1 trillion in 2025, potentially acting as a significant crypto market catalyst.

“We’re in a stablecoin adoption upswell that’s likely to increase dramatically this year,” CoinFund’s David Pakman said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X on March 27. “We could go from $225 billion stablecoins to $1 trillion just this calendar year.”

The stablecoin supply surpassed the $219 billion record high on March 15. Analysts see the growing stablecoin supply as a signal for the continuation of the bull cycle.

Related: Stablecoins, tokenized assets gain as Trump tariffs loom

Stablecoin activity soars on Ethereum

During the first quarter of the year, the Ethereum network saw over $3 trillion worth of stablecoin transactions on the mainnet, excluding layer-2 networks.

The number of unique addresses using stablecoins on Ethereum mainnet also surpassed the record 200,000 mark for the first time in March.

Despite the growing blockchain activity, the price of Ether (ETH) fell by over 45% during the first quarter of 2025, Cointelegraph Markets Pro data shows.

The decline in ETH is linked to a combination of broader macroeconomic concerns and Ethereum-specific pressures, such as increased competition from networks like Solana and the rise of layer-2 protocols.

“Some analysts argue that layer-2 solutions dilute ETH’s value by shifting activity off the main chain, but this overlooks how L2s still rely on Ethereum for security and pay fees, contributing to its ecosystem,” Pellicer said.

He added that the decline in ETH is more likely due to market sentiment and uncertainty about Ethereum’s ability to capture value from its broader ecosystem.

Still, other analysts see a silver lining to the tariff-related investor concerns. Nansen analysts predicted a 70% chance for crypto markets to bottom by June 2025 as tariff negotiations advance.

Magazine: Bitcoin $500K prediction, spot Ether ETF ‘staking issue’— Thomas Fahrer, X Hall of Flame