Bitcoin Surges Beyond $81,000

On April 18th, based on CoinGecko data, AERGO is currently priced at $0.2524, showing a 24-hour increase of 107.8%. The 24-hour spot trading volume across all exchanges is $1.49 billion, and the market capitalization is currently $122 million. Currently, there is a price difference between the AERGO perpetual contract and the spot price on various CEXs. The contract price on Binance is $0.212, while the spot price on major CEXs is around $0.2439, resulting in a spot premium of approximately 12.035% over the contract price. In addition, according to Coinglass data, the funding rates for AERGO on mainstream CEXs are extremely negative. The total open interest of contracts across all exchanges is $71.6519 million, representing a 46.08% increase compared to the previous period, and the 24-hour total contract trading volume has reached $2.143 billion.

On April 18th, according to the sources mentioned by Coindesk, the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is making preparations for a US listing. In the past few months, it has laid off hundreds of people in various business areas in order to streamline its operations. A source indicated that since Arjun Sethi assumed the role of co-CEO, hundreds of people have resigned. It was noted that in addition to the 15% reduction in the workforce at the end of last year, the company plans to continue with the layoffs. "They are actively reducing staff in all functional departments, and this is an ongoing process. This is to enhance Kraken's Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA)," the source said.

On April 18th, a16z crypto's General Partner Ali Yahya posted on social media that the firm has set aside an additional $55 million to purchase LayerZero's ZRO token, with a 3-year lock-up period. Ali Yahya also pointed out that the global financial system is constantly in a state of evolution and he is excited to witness the protocol enabling a multitude of new businesses and complex workflows to move onto the blockchain. It should be noted that this announcement is not to be regarded as investment advice or an investment service advertisement.

On April 18th, the founder and CEO of Grayscale's parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Barry Silbert, stated in an interview with Raoul Pal on the podcast "Journey Man" that the best thing he has accomplished in terms of returns is holding Bitcoin rather than investing in crypto startups. Barry Silbert mentioned that when he discovered Bitcoin in 2011, the price of each Bitcoin was approximately between 7 and 8 dollars. As the price of Bitcoin began to ascend, he redirected his attention towards investing in emerging cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase and used Bitcoin to finance these undertakings. Nevertheless, in retrospect, simply holding Bitcoin proved to be superior to any other action.

On April 18th, according to Cointelegraph's report, the cryptocurrency exchange eXch declared that it would stop its operations on May 1st. Prior reports indicated that the platform was employed to launder a portion of the stolen funds from the Bybit exchange. In an announcement on April 17th, eXch stated that the majority of its management team voted to "cease operations and exit" in response to the allegations that the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group used the platform to launder approximately $35 million, which originated from the $1.4 billion hack of Bybit. The exchange claimed to have become a target of a "Transatlantic Joint Law Enforcement Operation" aiming to shut down its operations and potentially bring criminal charges. The exchange initially refuted the accusations of the Blockchain analysis firm regarding helping the Lazarus Group launder money but admitted to handling a "minimal portion of funds" from the February hack incident.

On March 2025, the Google search popularity of "Bitcoin" reached 34, which is the highest level in 2025 so far. The search popularity in January and February was 31 and 27 respectively. This indicates a 26% month-on-month increase in the search volume for "Bitcoin" and shows a reversal in the trend of this metric that has been declining since November 2024. Similarly, in March, the search popularity for "Ethereum" on Google also reached the highest level in 2025 so far, reaching 19, which is a slight increase from the previous month's 16. Analysts believe that although it is still far from the previous cycle highs, the increase in Google searches for Bitcoin and Ethereum in March may reflect the renewed curiosity of retail investors. It performs better than the year-to-date trend. One possible reason for the rise in Bitcoin interest in March may be the newly announced U.S. tariffs. This may have rekindled the long-standing narratives of "digital gold" and "store of value" associated wi