The Weekly Wrap: Ceasefire in Lebanon, SEC Statement & Goldman Entering Bitcoin ETF Game

Listen to the Weekly Wrap on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It is a summary with the help of AI-voices. 

This Week’s Top Stories

“Ceasefire starts in Lebanon as Trump says Tehran deal is close.” – This week 

• The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is set to last for 10 days initially, but the US says it could be extended.
• US President Donald Trump repeatedly mentioned that a deal to end the war in Iran is very close, adding that talks may resume with Tehran in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, as early as this weekend.
• Earlier this week, the US started blockading ships entering and leaving Iranian ports on Monday after complaining that Tehran had not appeared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
• When it comes to the war and its connection to crypto, the Financial Times and other media outlets published reports last week saying that Iran demanded crypto fees for ships passing through Hormuz during the ceasefire.

“SEC clarifies certain DeFi user interfaces can operate without broker-dealer registration.” This week 

• On Monday, staff from the US Securities and Exchange Commission published a statement regarding broker-dealer registration for certain user interfaces utilized to prepare transactions in crypto asset securities. This includes DeFi front ends, wallet extensions, and mobile applications. The statement says that such trading interfaces may operate without broker-dealer registration if specific conditions are met.
• The guidance applies to self-custodial wallet interfaces and will remain effective for five years unless superseded by further SEC action.
• This essentially shows that the SEC can move crypto market structure without the approval or help of Congress and also indicates that the agency is already preparing to implement a CLARITY-like regime even though the Act is not yet law and still needs to be passed so that future administrations cannot simply reverse it again right away.
• It is likely that we will see progress regarding the CLARITY Act in Congress during the next couple of weeks, so let’s keep an eye on it.

“Institutional adoption is moving forward fast, with major players making big steps.” – This week 

• Goldman Sachs filed for its first Bitcoin ETF with the SEC this week. The bank aims to offer Bitcoin exposure plus income from options transactions through its new ETF, in a major step into the crypto space, even though it previously said that it would choose not to get involved at all.
• Goldman’s announcement came only a few days after Morgan Stanley launched its own Bitcoin spot ETF in the US, and it launched as its most successful first-day ETF in history.
• Charles Schwab, one of the largest brokerage firms in the US, launched crypto spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum, with plans to include additional cryptocurrencies in the future. Assets will be custodied by Schwab Premier Bank, with infrastructure and execution provided by Paxos.

Bitcoin just below $75K, total market cap up 6 percent since Monday

The broader crypto market space is in the green this week, with Bitcoin trading just below $75K, Ethereum above $2.3K, and Solana just below $90 at the time of writing. The total market capitalization is up roughly 6 percent since Monday, and DeFi coins are up particularly strongly this week, likely due to the SEC statement on broker-dealer registration. Aave is up more than 25 percent, Uniswap and Hyperliquid are up 10 percent, and other outliers include Arbitrum, which is up 20 percent this week, and Jupiter, which is up 14 percent. 

The US stock market continued its upward trajectory, and the S&P 500 reached a new all-time high this week, trading just shy of the 7,100 level and up more than 10 percent since the end of March. Light Crude Oil futures are down more than 14 percent since Monday, trading below $90 at the time of writing, while gold is trading just below $4.8K.

S&P 500 at ATHs, Bitcoin just below $75K: What now?

Bitcoin is up more than 20 percent against the S&P 500 since the beginning of February. Interestingly, however, the S&P 500 is trading at all-time highs, while Bitcoin is still trading 40 percent below its current ATH above $126K. Bitcoin is also up more than 20 percent against gold over the past 1.5 months and has shown incredible resilience amid the Iran war. This relative strength is something to keep in mind, especially as it came as rather surprising to many market participants. 

It seems like the selling pressure for Bitcoin and other crypto assets reached a peak during the past two months, as the market did not drop much further amid the war escalation. ETF flows are also showing a slowdown in selling and have switched to a rather mixed and even net positive environment, with last week’s inflows showing the largest buying interest since the beginning of the year. 

With the S&P 500 and the US stock market at ATHs, it remains to be seen how high Bitcoin can trade or whether the latest relative strength will end up being a bull trap before a move lower. The recent discussions about the quantum threat and increasing concerns about the impact on Bitcoin, and about how well the community can align on this over the coming years, seem to have emerged at the temporary bottom for Bitcoin around $65K during the past few weeks. Any further positive developments regarding quantum readiness and Bitcoin Core developers aligning on a plan forward could likely act as a positive catalyst for a move higher.

BIP-361, active Bitcoin whales & Long Term Hodlers Increasing 

Jameson Lopp and other Bitcoin Core developers and researchers proposed BIP-361 this week. The proposal includes a phased migration to quantum-resistant Bitcoin addresses by sunsetting legacy signatures. It suggests that Bitcoin holders must move vulnerable coins to new addresses or risk a permanent freeze after roughly five years of not migrating. We all know that the Bitcoin community will need to find a solution for all potentially lost Bitcoin wallets, including the Satoshi wallets, and the recent proposal sparked a new discussion on this, as it is more of an ideological topic than a purely technical one. It’s good to see progress and activity among Core developers, as recent publications from Google moved the potential quantum year forward and forced developers to potentially speed up their activities. 

In other news, data from CryptoQuant shows that over the past 30 days, Bitcoin whales accumulated more than 270,000 BTC in their largest buying spree since 2013. Data from Capriole founder Charles Edwards also indicates that long-term holders are stepping back into Bitcoin, with the amount of hodlers who have not moved their BTC in the last two years steadily increasing over the past few months.

Largest inflows since January & Strategy and BitMine with big buys 

Last week, digital asset investment products saw net inflows of $1.1 billion, the strongest since January. Bitcoin led the inflows with almost $900 million, followed by Ethereum with almost $200 million. 

Not only were ETF buyers active last week, but Strategy also announced that it bought almost 14K BTC last week for approximately $1 billion at an average price of $72K. It seems like the days of Saylor buying the top and BTC instantly dumping after the announcement have passed, at least temporarily. Strategy was not the only active DAT last week. BitMine announced the largest ETH accumulation since December last year, buying an additional 71.5K Ether and bringing its total holdings to 4.875 million ETH, inching closer to its goal of holding 5 percent of the total Ethereum supply.

Crypto remains in extreme fear, while stock markets are greedy again 

The crypto market remains in extreme fear territory, but sentiment has increased slightly, and participants are a little more optimistic than they were during the past few weeks. But compared to the stock market, crypto sentiment remains very muted, and traders continue to feel the pain, which is understandable: the stock market is back at all-time highs, and most cryptocurrencies are still down more than 50 percent from their highs, with some exceptions, of course.

• Bitwise has filed a second amendment for its Hyperliquid ETF, setting the ticker to BHYP and the fee at 67 bps. – Link 
• Deutsche Börse, Germany's largest exchange group, will invest $200 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, acquiring approximately 1.5% of the company on a fully diluted basis. – Link
• 21Shares updated its filing with the U.S. SEC; the proposed 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF will use the ticker THYP and is anticipated to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. – Link
• Six, the operator of the Swiss & Spanish National Exchanges adopts Chainlink to bring its equities data onchain. – Link

Stocks at ATHs – Stocks at ATHs: Will crypto follow? 

The S&P 500 is trading at new all-time highs, and Bitcoin and the broader crypto markets are also up this week, remaining, however, well below their all-time highs. While Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies have traded to the upside for the past two weeks, the question arises: how long can this uptrend persist? As long as the situation in Iran stays on its current track, with ceasefires and a potential end to the conflict, oil trading lower, and the US stock market not reversing this recent upward move, the crypto market could continue to trade higher over the next few weeks. On the downside, the $70-72K region could act as support; a loss of $70K would likely convince market participants that new lows remain on the table. To the upside, the $80K level is on many traders' minds and appears to be expected to act as resistance should prices reach that level. 

Below, you can find some of the key data releases and events to watch out for next week. 

Tuesday, 21 April 2026 

USA – Retail Sales, Core Retail Sales 

Thursday, 23 April 2026 

USA – Initial Jobless Claims 

Friday, 24 April 2026 

Japan – National CPI and Core CPI