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

Bitcoin

$78,138.72

󰢸

0.09%

Ethereum

$2,351.54

󰍾

1.78%

Tether

$1.00

󰢸

0.02%

XRP

$1.42

󰍾

2.17%

BNB

$636.84

󰍾

0.92%

USDC

$1.00

󰍲

0.00%

See the latest prices

MARKET BYTES

Crypto markets rise on hopes of reduced tensions in Iran

All major cryptocurrencies were up this week, as markets anticipated an ease in tensions in the Iran conflict. Bitcoin, which approached $76,000 on Tuesday, finally clawed back all of the losses from the early February crash that saw prices dip to $60,000. Ether was up even more, climbing to $2,360, a 14% gain for the week. SOL, DOGE, and XRP all also saw gains. BTC fell slightly on Wednesday, hovering around $74,000.

“Bitcoin is following the rally in broader risk assets,” one market watcher told Bloomberg. “Even though a blockade [of the Straight of Hormuz] was initiated, the market took it as a positive that Trump effectively extended the timeline to make a deal and that he is reportedly seeking another round of talks.”

Since the start of the conflict, BTC has outperformed most other asset classes. “It is up more than 10% since Feb. 27, while gold has fallen nearly 10%. The S&P 500 index is roughly flat for the same period,” Bloomberg noted.

Here’s more news you should know.

Crypto ETFs surged to best week since January

Crypto investment funds tallied $1.1 billion in new capital last week, according to CoinShares’ latest report, the best week since early January. 

“This likely reflects a rebound in risk appetite following tentative ceasefire developments in Iran, alongside support from softer-than-expected U.S. spending and CPI data,” noted James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares.

BTC funds accounted for $871 million of the net inflows, while Ethereum products reversed three straight weeks of outflows with $196.5 million in new capital. Morgan Stanley’s new low-fee spot BTC ETF also scored around $62 million in first-week investment following its Wednesday launch.

According to Morgan Stanley’s head of digital assets, the Wall Street giant is “not going to stop at bitcoin,” and has plans to launch ETH and SOL ETFs alongside other crypto investment products.

Crypto treasury giants double down on BTC and ETH

The two biggest crypto treasury companies just made their biggest purchases in months.

The BTC accumulation giant Strategy bought 13,927 BTC for $1 billion last week — for total holdings of 780,897 BTC, worth around $54.5 billion. 

Strategy’s ETH counterpart, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, added 71,524 ETH valued around $157 million, in its biggest purchase since December. The company now holds more than 4% of ETH’s circulating supply, approaching its goal of a 5% stake.

“BitMine has maintained the increased pace of ETH buys in each of the past four weeks, as our base case ETH is in the final stages of the 'mini-crypto winter,’” BitMine chairman Tom Lee said in a statement.

STABLECOIN SPOTLIGHT

Banks and blockchains are betting big on stablecoin payments

Even though volatility has shaken crypto markets this year, stablecoins continue to grow as one of crypto’s leading use-cases, with steadily increasing adoption by banks, merchants, and even AI agents. 

The total market cap for stablecoins — which are tokens pegged to the price of a reserve asset, typically the dollar — is sitting near an all-time high of $318 billion.

Here’s the latest on what’s driving stablecoin adoption.

Stablecoin payment volumes could surpass those of Visa and Mastercard

A new report from Chainalysis found that stablecoin adoption is set to grow exponentially over the next decade, from around $28 trillion in “real economic activity” in 2025, to as high as $1.5 quadrillion by 2035. 

The report found two key reasons driving the projected growth. First, is the $100 trillion in wealth that is expected to move from older generations to millennials and Gen Z in the coming years. With younger generations more comfortable transacting with digital assets and the crypto-native population expected to be a majority by 2028, much more of the next generation’s wealth could move onchain, which could add a potential $508 trillion in annual stablecoin transactions by 2035.

Second, as stablecoins become increasingly integrated in merchant payment systems, the friction of using crypto will fade and it will feel like any other transaction. Additionally, AI transactions may also drive stablecoin growth. Put together, stablecoin payments could rival the total payments volumes of Visa and Mastercard as soon as 2031.

“Stablecoin-linked cards will compete directly with legacy payment infrastructure,” the report said. “For incumbents like Visa and Mastercard, this isn’t a distant threat. It’s a countdown.”

Polygon is looking to raise up to $100 million for a new payments venture

Polygon Labs, which operates the infrastructure behind the Polygon blockchain, is in talks to raise between $50 million and $100 million to support the buildout of its “Open Money Stack,” a stablecoin powered payments platform.

Polygon has become one of the leading layer-2 networks for stablecoin growth, with the network’s stablecoin market cap recently reaching a record $3.66 billion and surpassing 178 million total transactions in March, more than 22% of the global market.

Amid a broader crypto market decline, analysts say Polygon is looking to diversify its business using stablecoins, after having already acquired a crypto exchange and a wallet infrastructure firm this year.

The prediction market Polymarket, which accounts for half of Polygon’s trading volume, has been a main driver of Polygon’s growth, alongside partnerships with firms like Revolut, which announced it has processed $1.2 billion in cumulative payments volume using the blockchain. Via Revolut, for example, users can send cross-border payments on Polygon and deposit from bank accounts directly to Polygon wallets.

International stablecoin adoption is ramping up

The stablecoin market is currently dominated by USD-denominated tokens. But increasingly, financial institutions abroad are moving forward with launching tokens in local currencies. 

In Hong Kong, Standard Chartered and HSBC just received the first licenses to launch stablecoins backed by the Hong Kong dollar. The tokens are expected to launch this year, with uses including cross-border transactions and local payments. 

In Switzerland, six banks, including UBS, are collaborating on testing a Swiss franc-pegged stablecoin as part of a “sandbox,” aimed at exploring how to connect blockchain applications to the Swiss currency. 

And in the Netherlands, ClearBank — which boasts more than 270 institutional clients at $13 billion in assets — announced it was the first Dutch credit institution that’s been cleared to provide crypto services as part of MiCA, the European Union’s crypto regulation framework. Its clients will have access to USDC and EURC (a Euro-backed stablecoin).

Jurisdictions are increasingly moving to launch stablecoins backed by local currencies, to bolster their own domestic digital asset markets.

“If we don’t have a euro onchain with depth of liquidity, then the only alternative is the U.S. dollar,” Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of European stablecoin project Qivalis told CoinDesk. “That’s a real risk to Europe’s financial and digital sovereignty.”

PREDICTION MARKETS

What traders think might happen next with the U.S. economy

Geopolitical turmoil has increased volatility throughout the global economy in recent weeks, leading some analysts to cut growth forecasts even as markets are rallying again this week on optimism for reduced tensions. With all these mixed signals, what do traders think Q1’s economic data will reflect — and where do they think gas price and inflation are headed in April?

 Here’s what they’re saying as of Wednesday around 11 a.m. PDT.

Average U.S. gas prices at the end of April?

45%, Above $4.10

What markets say: Traders have placed nearly $2 million on predictions for the average price U.S. gas will hit by April 30. While traders are placing a 68% probability on average gas prices remaining above $4.00, they believe there is just a 26% chance that the average will surpass $4.20 by the end of the month. 

What analysts say: With the average national gas price already above $4.10, analysts believe it's possible for that to remain the case through the end of April. “There is a saying that pump prices rise like a rocket and fall like a feather, and that holds,” said David Doherty, head of natural resources research at BloombergNEF. “It takes about three weeks for crude price rises to be fully felt in the price of gasoline prices, and it can take as much time for them to decline.” 

U.S. GDP Growth in Q1?

69%, Above 1.5%

What markets say: Traders have placed more than $1.2 million in predictions on U.S. GDP growth for Q1, which will be released in a report at the end of April. While they put a high probability on GDP growth being greater than 1.5%, traders see a 50% likelihood of growth surpassing 2%, and a 31% probability it was higher than 2.5%. 

What analysts say: “The PMI survey data show the U.S. economy buckling under the strain of rising prices and intensifying uncertainty, as the war in the Middle East exacerbates existing concerns regarding other policy decisions in recent months, notably with respect to tariffs,” says Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Inflation in April 2026?

82%, Above 3.5%

What markets say: Traders strongly believe that inflation — determined by the Consumer Price Index — for the month of April will be higher than 3.4% year over year. But how much higher will it go? Traders see a 54% probability of inflation surpassing 3.6%, a 29% probability of it surpassing 3.7%, and just a 13% chance of it being higher than 3.8%. 

What analysts say: “It’s going to get a lot worse before there’s any relief,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Even if the war on Iran ends in two weeks, and there’s magically an agreement, inflation will continue to rise for months to come.”

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