U.S. Treasury Secretary: First Trade Deal Could Be Reached as Early as This Week or Next Week

On April 28th, the Ethereum Foundation declared in a post that within the next year, it will center around two main aspects: core values and strategic goals. It will focus on technical superiority to propel the long-term success of the Ethereum ecosystem. The specific focuses are as follows: 1. Scaling the Ethereum mainnet (L1) through data sharding (Blobs); 2. Enhancing user experience (UX) and improving L2 interoperability as well as application layer development; 3. Promoting the improvement of developer experience (DevEx) and strengthening the exposure and support of applications and L2 projects on platforms like Devcon. In addition, the Ethereum Foundation will quicken the development of the path for developers, entrepreneurs, and institutions to build and utilize applications on Ethereum by leveraging the EF's knowledge and leadership to attract and foster a new generation of builders.

On April 28th, according to official information, BitGo has now attained the status of the first U.S.-qualified custodian to provide support for Solana's liquidity staking protocol, Marinade. Institutional clients are now able to stake Solana in a fully custodial and compliant manner and obtain staking rewards.

On April 28th, based on Coinglass data, the current mainstream CEX and DEX funding rates are showing a continuous divergence in the market, with both bullish and bearish sentiments present. The specific funding rates for major coins are presented in the attached image. BlockBeats Note: The funding rate is a fee set by cryptocurrency trading platforms to maintain the balance between the contract price and the underlying asset price. It is usually applicable to perpetual contracts and is a fund exchange mechanism between long and short traders. The trading platform does not charge this fee. It is used to adjust the cost or profit of traders holding contracts to keep the contract price close to the underlying asset price. When the funding rate is 0.01%, it represents the baseline rate. When the funding rate is greater than 0.01%, it indicates a generally bullish market sentiment. When the funding rate is less than 0.005%, it indicates a generally bearish market sentiment.

On April 28th, Glassnode presented the latest update on Bitcoin supply dynamics. It indicates that both first-time buyers and hodlers are continuously demonstrating strong participation, while profit takers are maintaining a moderate level of activity. This serves as a positive indication as it shows that the demand from newcomers and trend followers remains robust and no significant selling pressure has emerged, which is conducive to supporting the sustainability of the recent uptrend. Meanwhile, regarding Ethereum, the activity of first-time buyers has witnessed a significant rebound for the first time since February. Additionally, the momentum buyer activity over the past 7 days has been on the rise. However, the activity of profit takers is also increasing, which provides context for the recent slowdown in the recovery of the ETH price.

On April 28th, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) indicated that the most likely estimate is that the market size of stablecoins is projected to expand to a range of $500 billion to $750 billion in the forthcoming years. Supposing that 70% of this is assigned to U.S. Treasury securities and 30% is allocated to Treasury repurchase agreements, stablecoin issuers would ascend to the third-largest purchaser of U.S. Treasury securities.

On April 28th, the analysts of the financial website Forexlive stated that the US Dollar has once again reached a low point. US stocks are maintaining stability while the dollar remains weak. The decline of the dollar is accelerating, which is an ominous sign. The latest downward movement occurred as the Dallas Fed manufacturing index fell to its lowest level since May 2020. The report is filled with concerns about tariffs and uncertainties in the real economy. The market is weighing whether all this bad confidence data really does predict an economic slowdown. Each such data point weakens the case for bullishness, especially after the strong rebound of US stocks and the dollar last week. (FXStreet)