Coindesk

Bitcoin (BTC) was inching towards 85,000 during European trading hours on Tuesday as traders largely await the impact of U.S. tariffs slated for Wednesday.Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) rose over 7% to lead muted gains among majors, with ether (ETH), XRP, Solana’s SOL and BNB Chain’s BNB were up nearly 5%.Overall market capitalization decreased 3%, CoinGecko data shows, with the broad-based CoinDesk 20 bumped 3% in the past 24 hours.The movements come amid a broader risk-off mood gripping markets, with U.S. equities stumbling — the S&P 500 logged a 3% drop last week, its worst since September 2023, and a rush to safe-haven asset gold, which surged to fresh highs early Tuesday.The looming tariffs, paired with a flurry of U.S....

A large bitcoin (BTC) options bet crossed the tape on Deribit as the first quarter drew to a close on Monday, revealing bearish sentiment from the trader behind the move.The so-called block trade carried a premium of more than $1 million for 1,180 contracts of the $70,000 put option expiring April 25, according to data tracked by Amberdata.A put option gives the purchaser the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price at a later date. A put buyer is essentially bearish on the market, in this case, anticipating a price drop to below $70,000 from the current $84,000.A block trade is a large, privately negotiated transaction executed outside the public market, typically by institutions,...

Japanese hotel company Metaplanet (3350) has purchased an additional 696 BTC ($58.5 million), taking its total stash to 4,046 BTC. Metaplanet purchased the bitcoin for an average purchase price of nearly 14.6 million yen ($97,500) for a total spend of 10.15 billion yen.The company's total BTC holdings were bought for an average price of around $86,500.57 per coin.Metaplanet financed its purchases in Q1 through the sale of cash secured BTC put options - futures contracts which bet on the price of the underlying asset going down.These options were written at the beginning of the quarter, when BTC was scaling all-time highs above $100,000. Metaplanet said it earned 770.3 million yen in revenue using this method."Relative to direct spot purchase at...

Last month, Ethereum reclaimed its title as the leading smart contract blockchain for decentralized exchange (DEX) trading, as the market swoon dampened activity on Solana, the go-to platform for memecoin traders.Ethereum-based DEXes registered an industry-leading cumulative trading volume of $64.616 billion in March, beating Solana's tally of $52.62 billion by 22%, according to data source DefiLama. That's the first time since September that Ethereum topped the charts, pushing Solana to the number two spot.The change in leadership happened as the total crypto market capitalization fell 4.2% to $2.63 trillion, extending February's 20% loss, as macroeconomic uncertainty and disappointment over the lack of fresh BTC purchases in the U.S. strategic reserve saw bitcoin slip below $80,000.The bearish market sentiment dampened speculation...

In all likelihood, the move by the Sei Foundation – the organization behind layer1 blockchain Sei – to buy bankrupt genetic data company 23andMe is a long-shot at best, and potentially just a publicity stunt. But, it remains an incredibly exciting idea that has got a lot of people thinking.Were such a deal to go through, we would see a Web3 company rescue a Web2 company, which would have enormous ramifications in and of itself. Web2 tech giants are already being challenged in the area of AI by much smaller, nimble, and more flexible companies. However, the purchase of what was once one of Silicon Valley’s shiniest stars by a blockchain upstart would be a total paradigm shift.Beyond that, a...