10 #Bitcoin ETFs outflows 4,964 $BTC(-$458.3M) and 9 #Ethereum ETFs outflows 4,701 $ETH(-$15.21M) yesterday.

On April 16, per Onchain Lens data, Matrixport fully exited its final 25,000 ETH long position (20x leverage), netting ~$17.32M in profit after a ~65-day hold.

On April 16, The Block reported that Cantor Fitzgerald—a Wall Street firm formerly owned by current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—donated $10 million to a super PAC backing a crypto-friendly candidate during the heated U.S. election season. Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show the contribution was made to “Fellowship PAC” in February. Cantor Fitzgerald is now led by Lutnick’s sons. Since 2021, Cantor Fitzgerald has maintained close ties with Tether, having begun serving as custodian of Tether’s reserve assets that year. During Lutnick’s Senate confirmation hearing last year, lawmakers also questioned him about these relationships and his influence on the broader crypto industry.

April 16 — The top U.S. derivatives regulator is investigating crude oil futures trades with “highly precise timing” that occurred just before recent shifts in former President Trump’s Iran war policy, Bloomberg reported. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is leading the probe into trades on CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) platforms, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is not public. Both trading platforms have been asked to submit relevant trade data to the regulator to assist with the investigation.

April 16 — Official sources confirm that AO, a scalable blockchain network built on Arweave, has launched its **Network Availability Staking Alpha (NASA)** test program. A key milestone for the AO ecosystem, the initiative aims to boost the availability and reliability of its decentralized data network through a staking mechanism. Currently in the Alpha stage, users can participate in network availability validation and earn rewards by providing data services to Arweave gateways and staking AO tokens. In the initial pilot, AO’s "Availability Staking" rule requires node operators to stake 25 AO coins to join the network—where they compete to deliver fast, stable responses to user requests. The system will distribute rewards from a monthly pool of 1,000 AO tokens based on node performance in data services. Powered by the next-gen HyperBEAM architecture, the program enables gateways and routing services to achieve higher verifiability and trustlessness while cutting operating cos

**Fed’s Mester: High Oil Prices May Lift Core Inflation, Justify Steady Rates Temporarily** April 16, Federal Reserve official Mester said Wednesday high oil prices could push remaining core inflation this year nearly a percentage point above the Fed’s 2% target, signaling the central bank may need to hold interest rates steady. “We’re likely to see some pass-through of oil prices to core inflation,” Mester noted, adding key inflation measures will end the year “a bit below 3%, perhaps around 3%” with further upside risks. The Fed may keep its policy rate in the current 3.50%-3.75% range “for some time” while monitoring inflation, employment and economic data in coming months—a view shared by many colleagues. Last year’s tariff hikes are likely to fade gradually this quarter, and housing inflation is easing. However, rising oil prices have kept inflation elevated across service industries; Mester said he would be open to rate hikes if inflation rises and boosts expectations.

April 16: Per HTX market data, Bitcoin extended its rally after Federal Reserve official Mester noted rates should remain unchanged for some time. It’s currently trading at $74,709, up 0.89% over the past 24 hours. Total network liquidations hit $260 million in the same period, with $110 million in long liquidations and $150 million in short liquidations. Per Bitget data, U.S. equities closed Wednesday with the Dow Jones falling 0.15%, the S&P 500 rising 0.8%, and the Nasdaq climbing 1.59%—the latter two notching fresh all-time highs. Crude oil futures pulled back, with WTI and Brent crude trading lower intraday.