'Epic sat' after fourth Bitcoin Halving sold for $2.13 million dollar

The 'epic sat' refers to the first Bitcoin cent (sat; named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the presumed pseudonymous of the person or group who created Bitcoin) of the first block added to the blockchain following the Bitcoin Halving on April 20. Each block now yields 3.125 BTC (or 312,500,000 satoshi) to the miner who successfully seals the block. Halving occurs approximately every four years, so after 28 Halvings this 'block reward' will decrease to 0 (as the Bitcoin Protocol does not issue fractional satoshis). This means only 28 more 'epic sats' will be added! Given Bitcoin’s reputation for digital scarcity, this is an extremely rare event.

Ethereum Spot ETF appears on DTCC website

On April 28, Franklin Templeton's Ethereum Spot ETF ticker appeared on DTCC's website, a key preliminary step before an ETF (exchange-traded fund) can be traded on the market. Although it's unclear whether the US SEC will also approve an Ethereum Spot ETF, this development suggests that approval might be forthcoming. In August 2023, the ticker of BlackRock Bitcoin ETF also suddenly appeared on DTCC's website, but it went unnoticed until late October, which then led to a surge in prices. By January 2024, the Bitcoin Spot ETF finally received approval. Does the appearance of the Ethereum Spot ETF on the DTCC's website indicate that similar progress is being made this year, or are we merely witnessing a classic case of misplaced optimism?"

Market capitalisation of stablecoins continues to rise

Since October 2023, the total market capitalisation of the stablecoin sector has increased dramatically. Market capitalization, or 'market cap,' represents the total value of all outstanding stablecoins and is an important measure of the overall crypto market. In simple terms, a higher market cap indicates a larger market size, with more and/or bigger participants. So far in 2024, the total value has grown from $130.33 billion to $159.89 billion — an increase of almost 23%! This tremendous growth is nearing an all-time high, which was previously set at over $188 billion in the spring of 2022, during the end of the last bull market.

Stripe makes crypto payments possible again, and better

Stripe, a payments giant similar to Mollie and Adyen but based in the US, is making a comeback in the crypto sector. The company had previously halted crypto payment services in 2018 due to Bitcoin's volatility and slow transaction speeds. However, in 2022, Stripe announced a new project aimed at enabling payments from cryptocurrencies to traditional 'fiat' currencies, signaling a potential re-entry into the crypto market.

Stripe plans to re-enter the crypto space by supporting payments in the stablecoin USDC on blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Avalanche, aiming to improve transaction speeds and reduce costs.

Bitcoin's first red closing since August 2023

For the first time since August 2023, Bitcoin ended the month with a loss. Although the overall crypto market experienced a brief slowdown in Januari, both February and March saw significant gains. This surge was fueled by the positive impact of BTC ETF launches in the US and the Bitcoin 'Halving' event on April 20.

Many analysts believe this slowdown is just a brief pause following a period of rapid growth, which led to excesses including renewed interest in memecoins. Additionally, the crypto market often shows seasonal price swings, with spring and summer usually being less eventful than the more volatile autumn and winter months.