Recently read a bunch of market news and found several quite interesting trends I want to share with everyone.

First, on the regulatory front. The ten-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel has taken effect, and Trump’s side is again talking about the possibility of resuming talks between the US and Iran this weekend, which still provides some support for the macro environment. Additionally, Tennessee’s strategic Bitcoin reserve bill is scheduled for a Senate hearing on April 20th, which is beneficial for Bitcoin’s future policy status—leaving behind the legacy of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The US CFTC chairman was also asked about market forecasts and regulation of the crypto industry during a congressional hearing, indicating that regulators are paying increasing attention to this sector.

Project updates are a bit chaotic. NFT platform Foundation is planning to gradually cease operations due to incomplete sales transactions. Polish exchange Zonda has encountered issues, reportedly because the cold wallet private keys were not transferred, leading to withdrawal restrictions and about 4,500 BTC being stuck there. After the Drift Protocol theft incident, Tether is willing to provide up to $127.5 million to support user compensation, which is a positive development. Charles Schwab plans to open spot crypto trading services to retail clients within the next few weeks, which should be good news for the retail market. There’s also a rather alarming incident—someone bought a fake Ledger hardware wallet on a Chinese e-commerce platform, reminding everyone to buy only from official channels.

Some noteworthy opinions here. Coinbase CEO said that the proxy economy might surpass the human economy in scale, and the company is building infrastructure for this future. Cardano’s founder criticized Bitcoin’s quantum defense proposal BIP-361, claiming it’s essentially a hard fork and cannot protect assets of early Bitcoin holders, including Satoshi Nakamoto. Morgan Stanley’s digital asset head said cryptocurrencies are becoming part of the company’s daily operations. However, some analysts believe it’s still too early to call a Bitcoin bull market, as market funds continue to flow out.

Data here is quite sobering. Listed crypto mining companies sold over 32k BTC in Q1 2026, exceeding their total sales for all of 2025, setting a new record. Miners are indeed under triple pressure from rising hash rates, halving of block rewards, and economic headwinds. The total market cap of the crypto sector declined over 20% in Q1, dropping to $2.4 trillion. But good news: whales holding over 1,000 BTC increased their holdings by about 270k BTC in the past 30 days, the largest buying spree since 2013, indicating that big players are still optimistic.

Currently, BTC price is around $81.89k, with technical analysis pointing toward $90k, but that depends on external factors—such as the Iran-Iraq ceasefire holding, oil prices falling, and economic data improving. In short, the market is in a somewhat tangled state; institutions are gradually entering, but retail sentiment has not fully recovered. Interested friends can follow relevant asset trends on Gate.