Strategy CEO Le Explains Why BTC Price Doesn’t Matter; XRP Targets $1.9 as SuperTrend Flips Bullish, Analyst Signals; $292 Million DeFi Hacker Escapes to Bitcoin – Morning Crypto Report

TL;DR

• Strategy’s BTC pivot: CEO Phong Le shifts focus to “accretiveness” (BTC/share yield), ignoring short-term price as the firm officially surpasses BlackRock’s IBIT.
• XRP breakout targets: Technical analysts confirm a bullish SuperTrend flip as a daily close above $1.55 targets $1.90, supported by 360 million XRP whale accumulation.
• DeFi exploits & recovery: Arbitrum’s Security Council froze $71 million in ETH from the $292 million KelpDAO hack, though attackers laundered $176 million into Bitcoin.
• Crypto market outlook: BTC remains stable near $76,000 as the market eyes tomorrow’s (April 22) geopolitical ceasefire deadline and the April 29 Fed rate decision.

Don’t look at Bitcoin purchase price, Strategy CEO Le explains

With Bitcoin staying above $75,527, Strategy CEO Phong Le surprisingly stated that the current price of BTC isn’t as important to his company’s success as it used to be.

Although the market goes up and down, and our investments are currently up a small 1.57%, our overall strategy has changed significantly. We now focus on whether each purchase adds long-term value, rather than just looking at immediate Bitcoin profits.

Le believes the key to evaluating any Bitcoin purchase is whether it increases the amount of Bitcoin held per share. Currently, most acquisitions, including the recent purchase of 34,164 BTC, look positive based on this measure.

The company now owns more than 815,000 Bitcoin, exceeding the holdings of BlackRock’s IBIT fund. They initially purchased this Bitcoin at an average price of $75,528, and its value has increased by 9.5% so far this year.

People who are optimistic about MicroStrategy see it as more than just a way to invest in Bitcoin; they view it as a system for creating limited, valuable digital assets. According to Chairman Michael Saylor, the risk of forced selling due to price drops has been significantly reduced to around $8,000 per coin, meaning recent price swings are now considered relatively unimportant.

Despite Strategy’s strong market position, some experts are starting to question its tactics. They argue that while the company’s buying activity may temporarily increase prices, it ultimately harms the overall health of the system. Here are some of the main concerns:

• Accumulation of massive supply in one entity contradicts Bitcoin’s decentralization principle.
• The model works perfectly in a rising market, creating a positive feedback loop, but becomes more fragile due to excessive leverage.
• The main risk is not whether the price falls, but the damage caused by forced unwinding of such leverage if the cycle reverses.

XRP on the verge of SuperTrend reversal: Whales bet on break above $1.55

Although the CEO of Strategy doesn’t pay attention to Bitcoin’s price, things are changing with XRP. After a long period of being stuck, XRP appears to be gearing up for a price increase, based on technical analysis and the actions of large XRP holders. Analyst Ali Martinez points out that even with global uncertainties keeping the market calm overall, XRP itself is showing signs of an upcoming rally.

The SuperTrend indicator recently flipped to green on the daily chart – something it hasn’t done since January. This often suggests that sellers are losing control, and prices may start to rise. A symmetrical triangle pattern has also appeared, which frequently leads to a significant price jump, potentially up to 35%.

XRP needs to close a day above $1.55 to confirm a positive trend. If it does, the next price target to watch is $1.90. This optimistic outlook stays in play as long as the price remains above $1.30.

What’s really standing out right now is the activity of large XRP holders, often called ‘whales.’ While this hasn’t caused a sudden price jump yet, data from Santiment indicates these whales have bought around 360 million XRP in the last week.

Investors are watching the U.S. Senate’s vote on the CLARITY Act. If the bill recognizes XRP as a commodity, it could significantly boost its price and help it reach predicted levels.

KelpDAO hacker moves into Bitcoin as Arbitrum sets historic “block”

The recent $292 million hack of KelpDAO, the biggest DeFi hack so far this year, is now a back-and-forth between the hacker and those trying to protect the system. The attacker is cleverly hiding their activity by moving funds across different blockchains, and the Arbitrum network is putting its emergency response plans – which were previously just ideas – into action.

Following the LayerZero bridge hack, experts at Certik and PeckShield connected the attacker to the Lazarus Group. They then began moving the stolen funds into Bitcoin, but instead of sending the money directly – which would be easy to trace – they used services like THORChain, ChainFlip, and BitTorrent. They quickly swapped different cryptocurrencies, breaking up the transactions and converting ETH into BTC. So far, around $176 million has been moved to the Bitcoin network.

A key moment occurred when Arbitrum’s Security Council took an unprecedented step: they directly changed the blockchain’s data using a special type of transaction. This allowed them to freeze $71 million worth of ETH (30,766 ETH). Rather than reversing the blockchain—which would have weakened its decentralized nature—the team moved the funds to a safe holding account. Now, a vote by the DAO will decide what happens to the recovered $71 million.

A security weakness in one part of the LayerZero system has led to widespread checks of similar systems. As a result, over $13 billion in assets have been withdrawn from liquid restaking platforms in the last two days.

This event highlights how decentralized finance is growing up, even when facing challenges. The attacker’s actions confirmed Bitcoin is still the go-to place for moving stolen money, but Arbitrum showed that communities are developing ways to recover some of their losses.

Crypto market outlook: Bitcoin macro stability vs DeFi disruption

Despite ongoing global uncertainty, the cryptocurrency market is proving to be surprisingly stable. Bitcoin is currently maintaining its value above $75,000, but other cryptocurrencies, known as altcoins, are facing difficulties following recent security breaches in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

Key checkpoints:

• Ceasefire deadline on April 22: Progress could reduce energy prices and inflation, opening the path for rate cuts.
• Federal Reserve meeting April 29: Current expectations point to holding rates at 3.50%-3.75%, with signals watched for a possible single cut in 2025.
• Bitcoin trades in the $76,000–$76,500 range. 30-day volatility has dropped to 42%, making it more stable than many traditional assets.
• SEC liberalization under Paul Atkins introduced conditional exemptions for DeFi interfaces and crypto wallets, reducing regulatory pressure. This was also highlighted by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
• Ripple announced plans to protect the XRP Ledger from quantum threats by 2028.

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2026-04-21 15:49