Morning Minute: Bitcoin Clears $79,000, Then Reverses

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As we speak’s high information:

• Crypto majors rally then reverse as oil issues mount; BTC -1% at $77,300
• The US Authorities discloses that it’s working a Bitcoin node
• Justin Solar sues WLFI to unfreeze his tokens
• Andre Cronje’s Flying Tulip introduces a “circuit breaker” for DeFi
• MegaETH will get tenth app launch with Xeet, TGE anticipated in Might

📈📉 Bitcoin Clears $79,000, Then Reverses

Bitcoin crossed $79,000 Wednesday morning, reaching its highest degree in 11 weeks after President Trump introduced he was extending the US-Iran ceasefire indefinitely.

The transfer got here after Iran refused to ship negotiators to a second spherical of talks in Islamabad, and Trump mentioned the extension would maintain till Tehran submits a “unified proposal” to finish the battle.

However the value motion was shortlived, with Bitcoin falling again to $77,300 in a single day as oil issues mount and the IEA Chief referred to as that “We face the largest power safety menace in historical past.”

Oil jumped one other 4% to $94/barrel and inventory futures have moved into the pink after making one other new ATH yesterday.

⚖️ Justin Solar Sues Trump’s World Liberty Monetary Over Frozen Tokens

Justin Solar filed a federal lawsuit in California on April 21 in opposition to World Liberty Monetary, the Trump family-backed DeFi venture, alleging fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.

The grievance facilities on a hidden blacklist operate that WLFI quietly added to its token sensible contract in August 2025 – and not using a governance vote or any disclosure to buyers. Solar alleges WLFI used that operate to freeze roughly 2.9 billion of his WLFI tokens in September 2025 after he moved roughly $9 million price of holdings, a switch he says was routine. On the time of the freeze, his stake was price over $100 million.

WLFI fired again publicly: “We have now the contracts. We have now the proof. We have now the reality. See you in courtroom.” Eric Trump went even additional, commenting on Justin Solar’s $6M banana buy. Properly, I’ll allow you to learn his feedback for your self 👇

🗳️ Kalshi Fines Congressional Candidates for Betting on Their Personal Races

Prediction market platform Kalshi announced Wednesday that it had fined and suspended three congressional candidates for “political insider buying and selling” – betting on their very own elections.

The three are Ezekiel Enriquez, a Republican who ran in Texas’ twenty first Congressional District major; Matt Klein, a Democrat working in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District major; and Mark Moran, who ran in Virginia’s Democratic Senate major earlier than switching to an unbiased marketing campaign.

Fines have been small, starting from $539 to $6,229.30. All three have been banned from the platform for 5 years. Two cooperated with Kalshi’s investigation although Moran didn’t.

Moran made clear the stunt was intentional. He wrote on X: “I traded $100 on myself, understanding this might occur… and the eye it will create to focus on how this firm is destroying younger males.” He mentioned as a senator he would “go after Kalshi and impose vital penalties – 25%, a vice tax – to pay down our nationwide debt.”

The plot thickens…

₿ The US Authorities Is Working a Bitcoin Node

Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), disclosed Wednesday that the US government is actively running a Bitcoin node and conducting operational community safety exams utilizing the Bitcoin protocol.

This adopted his Tuesday Senate Armed Providers Committee testimony, the place he instructed lawmakers that “Bitcoin exhibits unbelievable potential as a pc science instrument that, by way of the proof-of-work protocols, really imposes extra prices than simply the algorithmic securing of networks.” He described Bitcoin as “a peer-to-peer, zero-trust switch of worth” with “actually essential pc science purposes for cybersecurity.”

Notably, the framing tracks straight with the Jason Lowery thesis that proof-of-work can operate as a physical-cost cyberdefense layer, analogous to standard army deterrence. Paparo’s testimony marks the primary time a combatant commander has publicly characterised Bitcoin as a nationwide safety asset in congressional testimony.

💸 André Cronje’s Flying Tulip Brings Circuit Breakers to DeFi Lending

André Cronje, the developer behind Fantom, Yearn Finance, and Solidly, is addressing considered one of DeFi’s most urgent points together with his latest venture.

Flying Tulip, Cronje’s new AMM and lending protocol, has launched a programmatic circuit breaker module designed to rate-limit capital outflows throughout irregular withdrawal occasions.

The circuit breaker works by monitoring outflow velocity in actual time. When withdrawals exceed an outlined threshold, whether or not triggered by a wise contract exploit, oracle failure, or a big coordinated place unwind, the system routinely throttles the speed at which capital can exit the protocol.

Cronje has been vocal for years about DeFi’s want for TradFi-style danger infrastructure with out TradFi’s centralization trade-offs. Circuit breakers are normal in fairness markets (the NYSE halts buying and selling when the S&P drops 7%, 13%, or 20% in a session) however have been largely absent from DeFi as a result of they require both centralized admin keys or advanced governance coordination to set off. Flying Tulip’s implementation is absolutely programmatic, with no admin override, which implies it operates the identical manner no matter who’s watching.

In fact the timing is notable after final week’s $292M KelpDAO exploit and accelerating points with Defi protocols being hacked. Maybe a DeFi-wide circuit breaker would ease the ache…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are pink as oil issues rise; BTC -1% at $77.7k; ETH -3% at $2,330; SOL -3% at $86; HYPE even at $41.10
• Steady (+18%), DEXE (+8%), and M (+7%) led high movers
• Oil +4% at $94; Gold -1% at $4,700
• Inventory futures are pink after making one other new ATH yesterday
• GSR launched the primary actively managed multi-asset crypto ETF within the US on Wednesdaythe GSR Crypto Core3 ETF (BESO) on Nasdaqproviding publicity to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana with weekly rebalancing and staking rewards on ETH and SOL holdings
• Russia’s State Duma handed the primary studying of its long-awaited crypto invoice Wednesday, recognizing cryptocurrency as property and permitting its use in foreign trade settlementsexplicitly as a mechanism to bypass Western sanctions; home use of crypto for funds stays banned, with the ruble staying the only real authorized tender inside Russia
• Robinhood Ventures Fund I (NYSE: RVI) closed a $75 million investment in OpenAI common stock on April 17making it one of many fund’s largest positions to this point
• OpenAI launched workspace agents in ChatGPT Wednesdaychanging customized GPTs with a extra highly effective team-oriented successor powered by Codex; workspace brokers can deal with advanced, long-running duties like getting ready stories, writing code, and responding to messages, whereas working inside organization-set permissions and role-based entry controls

Company Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were pink on the day; DOGE -2%, SHIB -2%, PEPE -4%, TRUMP -5%, BONK -3%, PENGU -3%, SPX -3%, FARTCOIN -6%
• uncraft (+100x), Burnie (+77%) and Noob (+180%) led notable movers
• Pumpcade rebounded 30% to $25M

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

• Second Cronje’s Flying Tulip venture introduced a “circuit breaker” for DeFi utilizing a programmatic module to restrict outflows in excessive situations
• MegaETH had its tenth app launch with Xeet, that means that the MEGA TGE ought to certainly occur quickly
• Axie Infinity’s Ronin blockchain set May 12 as the date for its migration from Ethereum sidechain to full Layer-2 community on the OP Stack; the shift cuts RON token inflation from over 20% to beneath 1% and jumps market Treasury charges 2.5x from 0.5% to 1.25%
• Imagine App founder Ben Pasternak was arrested for assault and strangulation

🚚 What is occurring in NFTs?

• NFT leaders have been largely inexperienced once more; Punks +3% at 28.9ETH, Pudgy +5% at 4.69 ETH, BAYC -5% at 8.64 ETH; Hypurr’s -3% at 375 HYPE
• Azuki (+19%), Elementals (+33%) and Doodles (+17%) led notable movers; Meebits additionally up 14%
• Nouns jumped 160% after the founder introduced that the 1 Noun/per day streak had lastly been damaged after 1,700+ days
• An 8-Punk sweep kicked off a giant day of Punk motion that led to 16 general gross sales, probably the most in weeks