Today’s news while Tether pushes a strategic merger, the Fed’s hawkish stance stalls Bitcoin’s rebound, and Visa expands stablecoin settlements. BTC and ETH enter consolidation as spot ETFs see 3 days of net outflows. The crypto market faced mounting pressure today as multiple bearish factors weighed on sentiment. Bitcoin and Ethereum lost momentum after a brief rebound in recent sessions and slipped back into a low-volume consolidation phase. According to the latest onchain data and market pricing, Bitcoin (BTC) failed to break the key resistance at $78,000 and has retreated to the $76,000 to $77,000 range, with a daily decline of around 0.30%. Ethereum (ETH) showed weaker performance, falling 0.87% on the day and hovering near the $2,200 support level. A major point of concern remains the sharp capital outflows from spot ETFs. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a total net outflow of USD 138 million yesterday, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with USD 54.73 million in net outflows. Ethereum spot ETFs also saw USD 87.73 million in net outflows, extending a three-day streak of withdrawals across both major assets. Market sentiment has been heavily impacted by the Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance. This refers to policymakers signaling a preference for tight monetary conditions, including maintaining high interest rates and leaving room for further tightening if inflation persists. Such positioning has strengthened risk-off behavior and reduced overall buying interest, making it difficult for bullish momentum to sustain.

Crypto Markets Overview

Market sentiment and capital flows are currently locked in a tense standoff. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has declined to 29 in the “Fear” zone. This reflects pressure from macroeconomic uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical risks. From a trading perspective, total liquidations across the market reached USD 553 million over the past 24 hours. Long positions accounted for nearly two-thirds of this figure at USD 347 million, indicating a cascade of forced liquidations after prices broke below short-term technical support levels. On the macro side, the Federal Reserve continues to maintain a high interest rate environment between 3.5% and 3.75%. At the same time, concerns over rising oil prices driven by Middle East tensions have weakened Bitcoin’s appeal as a risk asset in the short term. Capital has increasingly rotated toward more defensive positioning. Despite this backdrop, the Meme sector posted a modest gain of 3.89%, highlighting pockets of speculative activity. However, if Bitcoin fails to reclaim and hold above the $79,000 market cost basis, the broader market may face a longer deleveraging cycle along with repeated tests of lower support zones.

Source: Alternative

Key News Highlights:

Tether Proposes Strategic Merger To Build Vertically Integrated Bitcoin Platform

Tether, the majority shareholder of Twenty One Capital, proposed a three-way strategic merger on Wednesday aimed at integrating Bitcoin payments, mining, and treasury operations into a unified platform. Under the proposal, Twenty One Capital would first merge with Bitcoin payments company Strike, followed by a second merger with mining firm Elektron Energy. The goal is to create a platform with recurring revenue streams and long-term Bitcoin accumulation capabilities. Tether stated that Strike’s global regulatory infrastructure and payment network would complement Elektron’s large-scale mining operations. This combination would shift the company from a passive Bitcoin treasury model to an operating entity with real business activities. Following the announcement, shares of Twenty One Capital (XXI) surged to $9.28 in after-hours trading, reflecting strong investor interest in this vertically integrated model. The company currently holds 43,514 BTC. If completed, the leadership structure would combine Jack Mallers’ product vision with Raphael Zagury’s capital markets expertise.

Bitcoin Recovery Stalls As Fed Holds Rates And Middle East Risks Persist

Bitcoin extended its decline after the release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes, briefly falling below $75,000. The Federal Reserve confirmed it would maintain interest rates at late-2025 levels, which reinforced market concerns about prolonged tight monetary conditions. Policymakers emphasized that inflation remains elevated and highlighted the impact of rising global energy prices linked to instability in the Middle East. This has made the Fed more cautious when evaluating the timing of potential rate cuts. Although Bitcoin attempted to rebound after the initial drop, it failed to reclaim the 20-day moving average at $75,664. Many technical analysts view this as a key signal of weakening momentum. Onchain data shows increasing profit-taking among short-term holders, while futures funding rates have turned negative, indicating that sellers are gaining control. If Bitcoin cannot reclaim the $79,000 market mean in the near term, price action may move toward the dense support zone between $65,000 and $70,000.

Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot Across Multiple Blockchains

Global payments leader Visa announced an expansion of its stablecoin settlement pilot to include additional blockchain networks such as Polygon, Base, Canton Network, Arc, and Tempo. This move highlights the growing integration of blockchain-based payment infrastructure into mainstream finance. Since its launch in 2023, the program has enabled partners to settle transactions using stablecoins instead of traditional banking rails. The initiative has now reached an annualized settlement run rate of approximately USD 7 billion, with quarter-over-quarter growth of around 50%. While still small relative to Visa’s core payments business, the company emphasized that blockchain technology offers continuous 24-hour settlement and improved efficiency for cross-border payments. With the GENIUS Act providing clearer regulatory guidelines for payment stablecoins in the United States, major players such as Visa and Mastercard are accelerating partnerships with crypto wallets and fintech firms. Their goal is to capture leadership in the settlement layer of a stablecoin market that has surpassed USD 320 billion in total value.

Trending Tokens:

• $OFC (OneFootball Club)

OneFootball Club $OFC officially launched across multiple major exchanges on April 9 2026 and quickly became a focal project within the SportsFi sector. As one of the largest football media platforms globally, OneFootball reports over 200 million monthly active fans, which provides a substantial native user base for its transition into Web3. The token issuance was strategically launched ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, with the goal of integrating the token deeply into fan engagement and digital asset distribution systems. The project has secured $300 million in funding from leading institutions including Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures, which reflects strong market recognition of its long term ecosystem expansion. By operating within the Base ecosystem, OneFootball Labs enables leagues, clubs, and players to adopt blockchain technology more efficiently for distribution and engagement. As the platform transitions from a traditional media model into a decentralized football economy, market participants are closely monitoring the utility and adoption of OneFootball Credits. The core narrative centers on transforming fan engagement into tokenized value, and this is expected to gain further traction as the World Cup approaches.

• $OPG (OpenGradient)

OpenGradient $OPG conducted its token generation event on April 21 2026 and rapidly sparked extensive discussion within the decentralized AI sector. The project is focused on building a native intelligence network that addresses the core issues of centralization and lack of verifiability in current AI models. OpenGradient has attracted backing from top tier venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz through its CSX program and Coinbase Ventures, with total funding reaching $8.5 million. Its technical vision emphasizes open source model hosting, secure execution, and agent based inference, supporting collaboration among millions of specialized AI agents. The narrative highlights that intelligence and compute ownership should belong to developers rather than a small number of closed labs, which aligns with the broader market pursuit of decentralized AGI. The network is deeply integrated within the BNB Chain ecosystem and provides a full stack infrastructure from compute resources to application deployment. As attention toward AI narratives continues to intensify, OpenGradient is increasingly viewed as a leading infrastructure project with both strong backing and a clear product roadmap. Market participants are closely observing how it can enable verifiable decentralized AI through on chain computation and inference.

• $GENIUS (Genius)

Genius is a cross chain trading terminal designed for professional DeFi users, supporting operations across more than ten major blockchains including Solana and Ethereum. The project has recently attracted attention due to its aggressive token burn mechanism, with approximately 4.6 percent of the total supply removed shortly after launch, which has strengthened market confidence. Genius has received investment support from YZi Labs and CMCC Global, and is advised by CZ Zhao, which highlights its strong industry backing. The core strength of the platform lies in its unified trading interface that supports privacy trading, leveraged strategies, and copy trading, significantly reducing the complexity of cross chain operations. Since its launch in 2023, the team has demonstrated strong execution capability by continuously delivering key features such as the Ghost terminal and actively incorporating community feedback. Its long term vision is to move beyond the meme driven cycle and establish an environment capable of large scale private trading without relying on zero knowledge proof generation. As the DeFi market becomes increasingly professionalized, Genius is positioning itself competitively within the DEX aggregator and trading infrastructure sector through its integrated terminal experience. Investors are closely watching its ability to address liquidity fragmentation and improve execution efficiency across chains.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this section is for informational purposes only and doesn't represent any investment advice or FameEX's official view.