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Crypto Market
Bitcoin opened the week at $78,000. The downtrend of Sunday, April 6, continued. On Monday morning, the price failed the $75,000 level.
Over the course of the day, the digital gold exchange rate fell nearly 10%. XRP lost about 21%, Dogecoin lost about 19%. The price of Ethereum did not hold the $1500 mark, having fallen in price by ~18%. The total capitalization of the crypto market fell by ~12.5% to $2.46 trillion. Bitcoin's dominance exceeded 60%.
The exchange rate soon recovered to $80,000 amid rumors of a planned 90-day pause by U.S. President Donald Trump before implementing duties.
On April 7, the volume of coins sold at a loss was 36,000 BTC (over $2.7 billion).
On the night of April 9, the exchange rate of the first cryptocurrency plunged to its lowest since the beginning of the year - below $75,000. The catalyst was the entry into force of Trump's "liberating" duties.
Washington imposed tariffs of 10% or higher on foreign goods. Against China, the index amounted to 104% after Beijing refused to "make a deal".
Ethereum fell in momentum to its lowest price since March 2023, below $1400. The ETH/BTC exchange rate plummeted to 0.01855. The last time such a low value was recorded was in December 2019.
Leading Swyftx analyst Pav Hundal estimated the fall in the cryptocurrency market since the beginning of February at $1.2 trillion.
Later that day, the price recovered to $78,000, but as a response to the US, Beijing increased duties on US goods from 34% to 84%. Against this backdrop, the digital gold exchange rate rolled back to $76,000.
By April 10, the price had jumped above $81,000 after the U.S. president announced a temporary reduction of duties for a number of countries while increasing tariffs on Chinese imports. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ indexes rose 9.52% and 12.16%, respectively.
The publication of data on the U.S. consumer price index caused bitcoin to briefly surge to $82,500. Quotes then plummeted to $81,000, cutting the daily growth rate to 4.3%.
During April 11-12, the bitcoin price continued its upward trend. After the announcement of the exemption of semiconductors and a number of technology goods from "reciprocal tariffs," the exchange rate exceeded $85,500 - a local high for the period of the new duties.
At the time of writing, the price is around $84,600, up 8.2% for the week.
For Ethereum, the week started at $1500 after falling from $1800 the previous weekend.
On April 9, the price hit a local high of $1675, but pulled back to $1500 over the next day.
Paul Atkins confirmed as SEC chairman
On April 9, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fifty-two senators were in favor, 44 House members voted against, and four did not participate in the proceedings.
President Donald Trump nominated Atkins to head the SEC in December 2024. Many crypto industry participants saw him as a suitable candidate given his experience in the industry.
Atkins served as SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and later founded the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients included cryptocurrency exchanges and DeFi projects.
Atkins' nomination was approved by the Senate Banking Committee in late March. Before the hearing, journalists found out that the potential head of the regulator owns stakes in three crypto companies: Securitize, Anchorage Digital and Off the Chain Capital.
During the debate, some Democratic senators criticized Atkins over ties to the collapsed FTX exchange.
Republican Senator Tim Scott expressed hope at the hearing that under Atkins, "the SEC will return to its core mission and ensure that our markets remain the envy of the world."
The agency's previous head, Gary Gensler, retired on Jan. 20 and returned as a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
The U.S. Department of Justice has abolished the cryptocrime task force
Media reported about the closure of the National Cryptocurrency Investigations Unit (NCET) by the US Department of Justice.
The decision was made as part of the implementation of President Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at simplifying the regulation of digital assets.
NCET was created in 2021 under Joe Biden's administration. The unit has handled major crypto investigations, including the case against the Tornado Cash mixer and the Mango Markets protocol hack. The group also prosecuted cases involving the theft of digital assets by North Korean hackers.
Under the new order, DOJ officials will no longer prosecute crypto exchanges, mixers and offline wallets. Instead, prosecutors will focus on fighting fraudsters using digital assets and those who cause real harm to investors.
U.S. senators called the decision to abolish the unit a "grave mistake." A group of politicians, including Elizabeth Warren, Richard Durbin, Mazi Hirono, Sheldon Whitehouse, Christopher Coons and Richard Blumenthal, sent a letter to this effect to Attorney General Todd Blanch.
In their view, this creates a "systemic vulnerability in the digital asset sector" that "drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries" will exploit on a large scale. The main tool of this category of individuals are mixers, the lawmakers are confident.
The letter also refers to cryptocurrency projects of the family of US President Donald Trump, suggesting a "potential link" between them and the actions of the agency.
Senators demanded a briefing to explain DOJ decisions by May 1.
American states have come forward with bitcoin initiatives
Authorities in several American states have proposed their own initiatives to integrate bitcoin into the financial system.
The House of Representatives of the US state of North Carolina has introduced a bill that would allow cryptocurrencies to be used for transactions like paying taxes.
"Digital assets are recognized as a valid medium of exchange in North Carolina. A transaction cannot be rejected or its validity challenged simply because it uses cryptocurrencies," the document says.
The Digital Asset Freedom Act defines the criteria they must meet to be recognized as such:
- Market capitalization - at least $750 billion;
- daily trading volume - over $10 bln;
- trading on the open market for at least ten years;
- proven security and resistance to censorship.
The document emphasizes decentralization: digital assets should be launched honestly, without prior mining, insider distributions or centralized control, and should not depend on a single entity or a small group of stakeholders for operation and governance.
Specific examples of compliant cryptocurrency are not provided.
On April 10, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a bitcoin reserve (SBR) bill by a vote of 192 in favor and 179 against.
If approved by the Senate and governor, the document would allow the treasurer to direct up to 5% of general and other authorized funds to invest in precious metals and certain digital assets.
The bill also establishes procedures for holding them.
At the end of 2024, the AUM of New Hampshire's general fund was $3.6 billion.
The bill specifies that funds can only be invested in cryptocurrencies with a capitalization of over $500 billion. Currently, only digital gold meets this criterion.
New Hampshire became the fourth US state in which the SBR bill passed through one of the two houses of Congress.
Leading the race to adopt SBR among states is Arizona.
Also on April 10, the Florida House Insurance and Banking Committee unanimously passed the SBR bill. The document will have to pass three committees before it goes to the state House of Representatives.
Miners have been overpaying to import equipment into the US
As April 9 approached, major U.S. bitcoin miners rented charter flights to Southeast Asia for $2-3.5 million - 2-4 times the usual rates.
Cryptocurrency miners were eager to have time to import the ordered ASIC miners before U.S. President Donald Trump's "exemption" duties came into effect. The rush was specifically to get the equipment out, with factories working overtime to fulfill orders as much as possible.
On April 2, Trump announced new duties for trading partners. The 10% minimum for all countries began to take effect on April 5.
For a number of partners, the U.S. has imposed "reciprocal tariffs" since April 9. In particular, the rates for: Malaysia (24%), Thailand (36%), Indonesia (32%), Taiwan (32%), and for China it eventually rose to 104%.
The first three jurisdictions are home to the assembly plants of major miner manufacturers Bitmain, MicroBT, Canaan, Bitdeer and Auradine. Taiwan's TSMC supplies most of the chips underlying the installations.
In 2023, MicroBT opened production of miners in the United States. Bitmain made a similar move in January this year. However, these businesses only cover a small portion of the volumes needed.
In 2024, American miners imported equipment worth more than $2.3 billion. In the first quarter of this year, the figure exceeded $860 million. The country's share in the bitcoin hashreit is 35-40%.
Experts estimate that due to the duties, the prices of ASIC miners will increase by 22-36%.
According to the Hashrate Index, over the past 12 months, the cost of units with a power factor of up to 19 J/TH has decreased. An installation of Bitmain's latest Antminer S21 series costs around $3400.
