Trump’s Tariff Pause & Major Altcoin Collapses By 90%

Join Matt and Simon as they discuss the state of the crypto market, highlighting Bitcoin's recent surge towards all-time highs and the overall bullish sentiment. They also delve into the implications of stablecoin regulation, altcoin updates, and more.Key Takeaways Bitcoin (BTC) has rallied towards all-time highs amid easing macro uncertainty. This week, BTC posted a record weekly and daily close.Altcoins are generally rising in dollar terms, but some are outperforming others significantly.Stablecoin regulation in the U.S. is looking more likely to happen after a milestone was achieved earlier this week.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:18 US Economy and Fiscal Issues10:02 Stablecoin and Crypto Tools22:03 Pump Fund and Meme Coins 26:10 Future of Bitcoin

Join Matt and Simon as they discuss the state of the crypto market, Bitcoin’s latest price action, and which altcoins are outperforming. They also cover stablecoin adoption by major payment networks, FIFA launching its own blockchain, altcoin updates, and more.Key Takeaways Bitcoin (BTC) has increased for four consecutive weeks and is holding above a key long-term support level, increasing its likelihood of breaking higher in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, BTC dominance hit another four-year high of 64.9% during the week.Altcoins such as Solana (SOL), Sui (SUI) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) continue to break away from the rest of the market. Should BTC climb higher in the near term, these altcoins are best positioned to keep outperforming, in our opinion, as opposed to altcoins that lagged in recent times.The main macro event this week is the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy update. While interest rates are widely expected to remain steady, investors will closely monitor Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s conference for any indications that the Fed’s stance is changing.Stablecoin adoption continues to accelerate following a partnership between Visa and Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider recently acquired by Stripe. The announcement came days after Mastercard announced its latest push into stablecoins.Altcoin updates discussed in this episode include Ethereum’s ‘Pectra’ upgrade happening this week—its first major upgrade in over a year—and Hyperliquid adding HYPE staking tiers.Timestamps:00:00 Bitcoin's Resilience and Market Dynamics03:12 Federal Reserve's Impact on Crypto Markets06:06 Stablecoin Adoption and Major Partnerships09:06 Apple's App Store Changes and Crypto Opportunities12:08 Sui's Basecamp Conference Insights14:49 Ethereum's Upcoming Upgrade and Market Sentiment17:52 FIFA's Blockchain Shift and Industry Trends21:01 Overrated and Underrated in Crypto

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Join Matt and Simon as they discuss the recent gains in the crypto market, highlighting Bitcoin's rise to a nine-week high and the performance of various sectors, including AI and memecoins.Key TakeawaysBitcoin rebounded to $95,500, its highest level since February, and the overall crypto market cap returned to above $3T for the first time since early March.U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their biggest week of net inflows in five months, and the second-highest of all time.Mastercard is expanding support for stablecoin payments, working with Circle, Nuvei and Paxos to enable direct merchant settlement. This will allow over 150M merchants across the Mastercard network will now have the option to receive payments in stablecoins, regardless of how a customer pays.Arizona lawmakers passed a bill allowing the state treasurer and retirement system to invest up to 10% of available funds in digital assets, specifically bitcoin, sending it to the governor’s desk for approval. If approved, the state would be the first in the U.S. to require public funds to invest in Bitcoin.Token2049 Dubai, one of the largest crypto conferences globally, kicks off this week. Expect many announcements and altcoin updates.Timestamps:00:00 Intro & Crypto Market Overview03:57 Economic Indicators & Their Impact on Crypto08:02 Bitcoin Demand & Institutional Strategies11:56 Mastercard's Stablecoin Expansion15:47 Arizona Bitcoin Reserve Bill19:56 Altcoin Updates & Market Reactions24:00 Regulatory Changes & Future Outlook

Matt and Simon discuss the crypto rally and whether it can be sustained. In doing so, they touch on the tariff war and various macro factors they are monitoring to help them with their investment decisions.Key TakeawaysThe crypto market continued climbing last week, with varied performance across major altcoins such as ETH (-3%) and SOL (+7%).Gold hit fresh record highs for the 55th time in the past year, while the U.S. dollar weakened to a three-year low.Short term, news surrounding tariff negotiations will likely keep to drive markets and investor sentiment.Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin proposed a major upgrade that would “greatly improve the efficiency of the Ethereum execution layer.”Activity on Solana has rebounded along with SOL’s price, with real economic value (REV) hitting its highest level since February 21.

Join Matt and Simon as they discuss how Bitcoin and crypto markets are reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcements. They also cover the continued growth in demand for Bitcoin by companies looking to diversify their reserve assets, a key hire for the Solana ecosystem, and more.Key takeaways:On April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs that were bigger and more far-reaching than expected. In response, the crypto market sold off heavily along with other risk assets.Bitcoin dominance rose to four-year highs of 64% amid this heightened market volatility.In terms of what happens next, expect to gain valuable insight from monitoring the language of Trump and key cabinet members, such as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.Similarly, it will be important to monitor the U.S. and China—the world’s two largest economies—for any indication of their willingness to negotiate. Given that both leaders adopt strong leadership styles, it may be a number of weeks or months before meaningful negotiation discussions start.Elsewhere, GameStop raised nearly $1.5 billion to invest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset. If it were to fully deploy this amount today, GameStop would be the world’s fourth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin.

Join Matt and Simon as they discuss the current state of the crypto market, focusing on the impact of upcoming tariff announcements on April 2 and the evolving landscape of stablecoins.Key Takeaways:The crypto market finished the week lower as investors continued to de-risk in anticipation of April 2, when U.S. President Donald Trump will announce a slew of tariff updates.ETH had its second-worst Q1 on record (-45.5%), while BTC fell by 12%.Fidelity, one of the world’s largest asset managers, is reportedly in advanced stages of developing its own stablecoin. It follows recent reports that the asset manager is preparing to launch an onchain product for its U.S. dollar money market fund.The U.S. state of Wyoming is aiming to launch its long-planned stablecoin by July, Governor Mark Gordon said last week. It comes as various financial institutions and fintech companies are reportedly planning to enter the stablecoin market. Ultimately, greater stablecoin adoption can drive increased onchain activity.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:55 Market Update & Q1 Performance02:45 Macro Uncertainty & De-Risking04:53 How Much Worse Can It Get?07:15 Tariff Announcements on April 211:25 GameStop Buying Bitcoin15:10 Strategy Buys More Bitcoin16:27 Stablecoin Adoption (Wyoming Government, Fidelity)22:29 No Notable Altcoin Updates23:32 What's Ahead24:10 Less Barriers For Banks To Expand Into Crypto25:22 Tornado Cash27:00 Outro

Join Matt and Simon as they discuss the crypto market’s rebound after multiple weeks of declines, driven by optimism surrounding potential changes in tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump. They also cover continued growth in real-world assets, altcoin updates, and more.Key Takeaways:Crypto prices rebounded as investors became more hopeful after an update from the Federal Reserve and comments from U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that tariff announcements on April 2 could be softer than thought.Expect heightened volatility in the next week as investors react to any changes in expectations about tariffs.Fidelity, one of the world’s largest asset managers, looks set to launch an onchain product for its U.S. dollar money market fund. The product will go live on Ethereum mainnet and may expand to additional blockchains. It comes as the total value of real-world assets (RWAs) continues to break all-time highs, surpassing $19B last week, as per RWA.xyz.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:24 Tariff & Market Impact04:18 Federal Reserve Updates07:49 Ethereum & Real Assets19:34 Token Buybacks & Volatility