Bitcoin Surges Past $67,000

April 4 (NBC News) — In a brief phone interview, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. fighter jet crash would not impact U.S.-Iran negotiations. Trump declined to discuss specifics of the ongoing search and rescue operation after the jet went down in Iran, but expressed frustration with certain reports about the incident, noting it was a clearly tense, sensitive military operation. When asked if the day’s events would affect talks with Iran, Trump replied, “No, not at all. No, this is war, and we are in combat.” Earlier on April 3, Iran’s military public affairs arm announced its national integrated air defense network had successfully downed a U.S. A-10 attack jet via tracking and monitoring in the southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran labeled the aircraft part of “aggressive enemy forces.” U.S. officials confirmed later that day an A-10 “Warthog” attack jet crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, and the pilot was rescued. (Source: Golden Finance)

April 4th — Per EmberCN monitoring, Chainlink’s quarterly token unlock wrapped up roughly one hour ago. A total of ~19 million LINK (valued at ~$165 million) was unlocked and transferred from three non-circulating supply addresses. On-chain data shows ~14.375 million LINK (~$125 million) was sent to Binance, while ~4.625 million LINK (~$40.1 million) went to the multi-signature address 0xD50...8Af. Notably, Chainlink typically unlocks 10 million to 20 million LINK from its non-circulating supply each quarter, with most tokens flowing to Binance and a small portion to the aforementioned multi-sig address. These funds are then used for the LINK staking reward distribution contract to allocate yields to staking users.

April 4: Per EmberCN monitoring, FTX/Alameda sold 6.94 million DRIFT tokens (valued at $320,000) via Wintermute six hours earlier—following a $285 million exploit on Drift Protocol. Alameda, an investor in Drift Protocol, received 8.33 million DRIFT through vesting one year ago, when the tokens were worth $6.22 million. By the day of the sale, their value had shrunk to $380,000.

As of April 4th, CME’s FedWatch Tool shows the probability the Federal Reserve will hike rates by 25 basis points at its April meeting stands at 0.5%, with the odds of holding rates steady at 99.5%.

April 4: A U.S. judge has denied a rehearing of a ruling involving Fed Chair Powell’s probe. (CNBC)

April 4th — EY-Parthenon Senior Economist Lydia Boussour noted Wednesday that while U.S. March employment data showed a strong rebound, the labor market remains fragile. Against a backdrop of policy uncertainty, businesses are growing more cautious: hiring intentions are cooling, and firms are increasingly prioritizing protecting profit margins by boosting productivity rather than expanding headcount. “Looking ahead, we anticipate the U.S. labor market will be largely frozen in 2026 — marked by selective hiring, muted wage growth, and strategic workforce adjustments amid a historically tight labor supply environment.” Boussour projects job growth will run slightly below the breakeven level, pushing the unemployment rate to gradually rise to around 4.7%. “With the Middle East conflict ongoing, downside risks remain dominant — and there’s a 40% probability of a U.S. economic recession,” she added. (Source: FX678)