US-Iran Talks Unlikely, Market Slumps Again: Bitcoin Briefly Dips Below $74,000, Oil Gaps Up on Open, US Stock Futures Fall Collectively

April 20th — Crypto markets slid again this morning amid fading prospects for the second round of U.S.-Iran talks. Per HTX market data, Bitcoin extended losses this morning, tumbling $2,000 in a short span to drop below $74,000; it’s currently trading at $74,162. Ethereum fell below $2,300 to hit $2,274. Total crypto market cap is down 2% over the past 24 hours, now at $2.589 trillion. Notable crypto token moves: - Yesterday, Musk agreed to make Asteroid the mascot of SpaceX. The Ethereum-based meme coin ASTEROID (set to launch as early as September 2024) saw its market cap peak at $194 million, now retracing to $127 million. It’s up just 14.7% in 24 hours, with trading volume at $78 million. - RAVE has fallen to $0.52, dropping another 82% in 24 hours. Three hours ago, the multisig address 0x53d7 linked to RAVE’s initial distribution sent ~23 million RAVE tokens (worth ~$23 million total) to two Bitget deposit addresses — that sent RAVE’s price tumbling 40% from $1 to $0.6. - Solana ecosystem updates: - Meme coin SPIKE is trading sideways with a ~$7 million market cap. - Meme coin unc has dropped nearly 30% in 24 hours, dragging its market cap to ~$5 million. Traditional market highlights (per Bitget data): - Spot gold dropped below $4,750/oz, marking a 1.76% intraday decline. - Brent crude futures surged over $7 to hit a high of $97.50/bbl. - WTI crude opened the week with a 5% gap up, reaching $91.35/bbl. - U.S. stock index futures all opened lower; Nasdaq futures are down 0.9%.