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Top Stories of The Week
Arthur Hayes loves tariffs as printed money pain is good for Bitcoin
BitMEX co-founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes says US President Donald Trump’s tariffs may rattle the global economy in some ways, but that same disruption could be exactly what Bitcoin needs to rally.
“Global imbalances will be corrected, and the pain papered over with printed money, which is good for BTC,” Hayes said in an April 3 X post.
His comments come just a day after it was announced that the Trump administration will hit all countries with a 10% tariff starting April 5, with some countries facing even larger rates, such as China facing a 34% tariff, the European Union 20%, and Japan 24%.
Hayes explained that tariffs positively impact Bitcoin’s price for several reasons. One of them, he said, is the “weakening” of the US Dollar Index (DXY), as overseas investors continue to sell off US stocks and “bring money home.”
SpaceX flight bankrolled by crypto investor launches first manned polar orbit
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has sent a crew of four private astronauts on the first manned space flight to orbit the Earth’s poles, in a mission bankrolled and led by a wealthy crypto investor.
Chun Wang, the Chinese-born Maltese entrepreneur who founded the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, paid for and is leading SpaceX’s “Fram2” mission, which is named after a 19th-century Norwegian Arctic exploration ship.
Wang and three others blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:46 am UTC on April 1, on a three-to-five-day orbit that will be the first human space mission to fly over the North and South poles.
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao to advise Kyrgyzstan on blockchain tech
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao will begin advising the Kyrgyz Republic on blockchain and crypto-related regulation and tech after signing a memorandum of understanding with the country’s foreign investment agency.
“I officially and unofficially advise a few governments on their crypto regulatory frameworks and blockchain solutions for gov efficiency, expanding blockchain to more than trading,” the crypto entrepreneur said in an April 3 X post, adding that he finds this work “extremely meaningful.”
His comments came in response to an earlier X post from Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov announcing that Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency had signed a memorandum with CZ to provide technical expertise and consulting services for the Central Asian country.
Fortnite doubles down on crypto joke with another secret ‘Dill Bits’ location
Online battle royale shooter Fortnite has just added a new secret “Dill Bits” server mine location to its latest map update — prompting a small spike in an otherwise obscure memecoin.
Videos on social media show a new “Dill Bit” server farm location in the game — made to look like a cryptocurrency mining operation. There are other locations on the map where it has appeared.
Solana-based memecoin Dill Bits, inspired by the Fortnite in-game currency, spiked 200% to $0.0005 on April 4 as the crypto community also took notice of the latest addition.
Fortnite introduced Dill Bits as an in-game currency in February as a jest toward crypto.
US lawmakers press SEC for info about Trump family-backed crypto firm
Two Democratic lawmakers in the US Senate and House of Representatives have called on acting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mark Uyeda to preserve information regarding World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm backed by President Donald Trump’s family.
In an April 2 letter, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters — ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee, respectively — asked Uyeda to provide information to Congress based on Trump’s ties to World Liberty Financial.
The two lawmakers suggested the SEC may be being influenced by the firm, and “this conflict of interest may be interfering with its mission to protect investors and maintain fair and orderly markets.”
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $83,767, Ether (ETH) at $1,810 and XRP at $2.12. The total market cap is at $2.68 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are EOS (EOS) at 38.10%, Pendle (PENDLE) at 17.97% and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) at 9.13%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Pi (PI) at 36.96%, Berachain (BERA) at 31.63% and Story (IP) at 25.72%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s…
Read More: Hodler’s Digest, March 30 – April 5 – Cointelegraph Magazine