Trump: If Iran does not yield, the "Ace card" is a naval blockade

On April 12, it was confirmed that Elon Musk’s social app XChat will officially launch on the App Store on April 17. Musk has previously noted that XChat is designed to replace Twitter’s old direct message (DM) system, with the platform offering full end-to-end encryption for text, file sharing, audio, and video calls.

April 12th, Cointelegraph reported that macro investor Jordi Visser said key levels signaling a potential trend reversal for Bitcoin and Ethereum are within reach—even as many in the crypto industry increasingly believe the market has entered a bear cycle. “If Bitcoin breaks $76,000 and Ethereum breaks $2,400 simultaneously, I think that’ll mark the start of a sustainable uptrend this year,” he noted. “I don’t see an economic recession coming.” Visser also added: “I expect inflation to stay high, and people will need to find profit-generating assets in a world where the S&P 500 isn’t gaining.” Right now, the Kalshi prediction market puts the 2026 U.S. recession probability at 24%—down 10 percentage points from the past 30 days. Visser’s outlook contrasts with growing pessimism in crypto: Some even anticipate Bitcoin dropping below its Feb. 6 year-to-date low of $60,000. Veteran trader Peter Brandt said on March 31 that Bitcoin may retest that level in September or October late

April 12 – Israeli media reported on April 12 that following the failure of U.S.-Iran negotiations to reach an agreement, Israel assesses the U.S.-Iran ceasefire may be extended to allow both sides to continue engagement. (Xinhua News Agency)

April 12 – After 21 hours of U.S.-Iran talks, no agreement was reached as key differences over nuclear issues persist, per a summary of the negotiations. ### Negotiation Details The talks spanned 21 hours, running from Saturday into early Sunday local time, with roughly five rounds of discussions and written view exchanges after each round, Al Jazeera reported. U.S. media noted the American team held at least six phone calls with Trump and consulted multiple U.S. officials. Iran said the sides covered topics including the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear issues, war reparations, sanctions relief, and ending conflicts against Iran and in the broader Middle East. ### U.S. Statement on Talks’ End U.S. official Sullivan said no deal was struck, citing significant remaining differences. The core issue, he added, was Iran’s lack of a clear commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons development. A “final proposal” has been left for Iran to respond to. Sullivan departed for Washington immedia

On April 12, MiniMax announced the official open-source release of its M2.7 model. The model has achieved state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance on benchmarks including SWE-Pro (56.22%) and Terminal Bench 2 (57.0%). Users can now access M2.7 via Hugging Face. MiniMax M2.7 marks the company’s first model to actively engage in its own evolutionary process. It can build a sophisticated agent framework, leverage agent teams, deploy complex skills, and use dynamic tool search capabilities to tackle highly complex productivity tasks.

April 12 – Per a Forbes report, U.S. Vice President Pence confirmed no agreement was reached after 21 hours of negotiations, citing Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning its nuclear program. Trump had previously warned of “total destruction” for Iran if talks collapsed. The Iran conflict has driven weeks of crypto market volatility, amplified by tariff unrest—Bitcoin dropped below $70k earlier this month. Ahead of talks, crypto analysts noted: Bitcoin could hit $80k if a deal is struck, or slide to $65k if negotiations break down. On the bullish front: On-chain wallet data shows the largest Bitcoin whale has been steadily buying amid peak geopolitical tensions, not selling. The reasoning: Escalating conflict could disrupt Persian Gulf oil supplies, pushing oil prices higher, reigniting inflation, and prompting the Fed to delay rate cuts—scenarios where scarce assets like Bitcoin and gold typically outperform. Bearish take: Gold trader and long-time Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schif