Bitcoin's Reign: When Crypto Drama Makes Gold Look Like Glitter ✨🪙

What you absolutely want to pretend you understand:

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless you live under a rock in another timezone)

Bitcoin (BTC) is apparently the digital equivalent of your “safe space” blanket—even if some argue that’s just shaky logic akin to claiming your toaster is a dependable friend. While altcoins are performing their usual disappearing act, bitcoin’s dominance struts confidently on the blockchain catwalk.

The crypto kingdom has collectively decided to take a small nap—prices fell across the board in the last 24 hours, probably due to profit-taking or maybe just because everyone checked their portfolios and promptly regretted it.

Blame this chaos on the Trump administration’s latest chapter of Trade War: Confusion Edition. First, Trump hinted he’s keeping Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and suddenly bitcoin fancied a stroll toward $95,000. Then Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent piped up, demolishing hopes of tariff relief quicker than your Wi-Fi disconnects during a Zoom call.

Traders are left squinting at conflicting messages like it’s an abstract art piece—“Is it a bird? Is it a bear? Who knows?” Meanwhile, bitcoin shrugged off the confusion with only a modest 2% drop, while the broader crypto index sulked harder with a 3.75% tumble.

Institutional investors keep betting on BTC dominance, trading futures contracts at a 76% premium because, well, nothing screams confidence like paying extra for a coin everyone’s already obsessing over.

Options traders are also playing a curious game of “Let’s hope for $110,000 in June but sell calls if it dreams too big.” It’s like ordering a pizza but telling the delivery guy not to bring extra cheese. 🧀

Long-term holders, the stoic monks of crypto, continue stacking sats like they’re hoarding snacks for the apocalypse—unfazed by market theatrics.

Washington’s policy mood swings have gold dropping faster than your motivation on a Monday morning, from $3,500 to around $3,350 per ounce. All investors can do now is keep their eyes peeled and pretend to understand what comes next. 🧐

The Global Circus of Conferences:

CoinDesk’s Consensus is happening in Toronto from May 14-16. If you use the code DAYBOOK, you get 15% off and possibly some free swag (or at least a sense of belonging).

Day 3 of 3: Money20/20 Asia (Bangkok, where probably no one is thinking about money at 3 am)
Day 2 of 2: Blockchain Forum 2025 (Moscow, possibly served with vodka)
Day 2 of 3: Semafor’s World Economy Summit 2025 (Washington, suited for jargon enthusiasts)
April 24: Bitwise’s Investor Day (New York, investors pretending to understand the charts)
April 26: Crypto Vision Conference 2025 (Manila, where crypto dreams meet tropical sunsets)
April 26-27: Harvard Blockchain in Action Conference (Cambridge, where fancy words are thrown like confetti)
April 27: N Crypto Conference 2025 (Kyiv, crypto goes cultural)
April 27-30: Web Summit Rio 2025 (because why not Rio?)
April 28-29: Blockchain Disrupt 2025 (Dubai, where “disrupt” means adding more skyscrapers)
April 28-29: Staking Summit Dubai (stake all the things!)
April 29: El Salvador Digital Assets Summit (San Salvador, the country that put bitcoin on the map… literally)
April 29: IFGS 2025 (London, tea with a side of tokens)
April 30-May 1: TOKEN2049 (Dubai again, because they love their tokens)

Token Talk (Not Just Hot Air)

By Shaurya Malwa

Infrared, a platform on Berachain, decided to start handing out points like a frequent flyer program before launching its token. Because who doesn’t want free points that will someday metamorphose into money?
No points supply limit because math is a cruel mistress and why restrict joy?
Earn points for staking, liquidity providing, and probably for whispering sweet nothings to the blockchain nodes.
Infrared leads Berachain’s ecosystem with over $1.5 billion locked—money that’s currently taking a leisurely digital nap.
Points track in real-time and can convert to the native token. This is like rewarding users with points that will one day hopefully turn into actual treasure. 🤞

— Infrared (@InfraredFinance) April 23, 2025

Derivatives Positioning: The Cauldron of Speculation

Bitcoin CME options now flaunt $5 billion in open interest—the most since November, because nothing says optimism like piling bets on potential chaos.
Futures have bounced back to $12 billion but remain shy of December’s $22.7 billion peak, reflecting a market still nursing a hangover.
The basis on CME futures is tepid, humming under 10% annualized, signaling cautious optimism (or just confusion dressed up in finance lingo).
Offshore perpetual futures have cooled off, suggesting profit-taking is the lead act, with shorts reluctantly waiting backstage.
Altcoins NEAR, UNI, and PEPE have mischievously grown their futures interest—because who doesn’t want to pet the crypto doge and see if it bites?
On Deribit, call options dominate, and traders are selling puts, which basically means “Let’s cautiously hope for moonshots but keep an escape plan ready.”

Market Moves: The Numbers Game

Bitcoin is shyly down 1.36% at $92,411.92 (24hrs: -1.76%)—still more stable than your average coffee order.
Ethereum takes a graceful dip: -2.94% at $1,743.77 (24hrs: -2.66%).
CoinDesk 20 falls 2.21%, as the market collectively sighs.
Ether CESR Staking Rate up slightly, because someone has to pretend they’re earning interest on patience.
BTC funding rate on Binance is a polite 0.0069%, fancy math for “meh.”

DXY slips slightly, gold tries to shine at $3,347.90/oz, silver contemplates life at $33.33/oz.
Global indexes mix happy and sad faces: Nikkei +0.49%, Hang Seng -0.74%, FTSE -0.3%, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.74%, DJIA +1.07%, Nasdaq +2.5% (wild card!), S&P 500 +1.67%, and many others in their usual chaotic dance.
U.S. 10-year Treasury rate nudges down, because bonds have their own drama.
E-mini futures prefer the floor, indicating traders are still on their caffeine breaks.

Bitcoin Stats: Geeky but Glamorous

BTC Dominance: 64.56% with a twitchy 0.22% change, like a caffeine-fueled squirrel.
Ethereum to Bitcoin ratio at 0.01884, down 1.72%, quietly sulking.
Hashrate cruising at 823 EH/s, enough to fry a small moon.
Hashprice sits at $48.61—miners still hoping for pocket change.
Total fees over 11.29 BTC, because even digital highways have toll booths.
CME Futures Open Interest: 140,610 BTC—seriously, do people sleep?
BTC in gold ounces: 27.8 (because weighing money in metal is still a thing).
Bitcoin vs gold market cap: 7.92%, Bitcoin flexing in the precious metals gym.

Technical Analysis: Where Charts Speak in Tongues

XRP is stubbornly marinating in a downtrend since January, probably enjoying the view.
The ominous Ichimoku cloud looms like a grumpy weather forecaster, threatening to ruin the party.
Support levels at $2 and $1.60, holding on like a cat on a curtain.
Resistance is a tough cloud and a descending trendline, because bulls apparently love a challenge.

Crypto Equities: The Rollercoaster Continues

MSTR finished Wednesday at $345.73, wobbling to $339.33 pre-market, like a caffeinated kangaroo. (+0.79%, -1.85%)
Coinbase Global jumped 2.53% but then slipped 1.53%, trading mood swings fit for an opera. ($194.80, $191.82)
Galaxy Digital Holdings sparkled at C$18.73, up 2.86%, probably due to pixie dust.
MARA, Riot, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, CoinShares Valkyrie, Semler Scientific, Exodus Movement all showing their own cocktail of gains and dips—markets behaving like teens at prom.

ETF Flows: The Money River

Spot BTC ETFs:

Daily net flow: a staggering $917 million (someone’s bullish, or just really thirsty)
Cumulative net flows: $37.68 billion
Total BTC holdings: about 1.13 million coins, enough to buy a small island (or a lifetime supply of internet jokes)

Spot ETH ETFs:

Daily net flow: -$23.9 million, because not every day is a party
Cumulative net flows: $2.25 billion
Total ETH holdings: roughly 3.33 million tokens, patiently waiting for their moment of glory

Overnight Flows:

Chart of the Day: Where Numbers Dream of Stardom

Spotlight on the dollar value of active or open ether options on Deribit, because ether likes to flaunt its popularity.
The $2,000 strike call is stealing the show with over $260 million in open interest.
Common wisdom says these strikes act as magnets—meaning ether might just defy gravity and hit that $2,000 mark soon (or it might not). 🎯