ARP's Crypto Digest

General Digital Asset Market View:

Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. saw strong net inflows over the week, with BlackRock (IBIT) driving much of the activity. On April 22, total inflows hit $936.5M, followed by $917M on April 23 — both led by BlackRock. April 28 recorded $591.2M in net inflows, with IBIT contributing a substantial $581M. The momentum extended into April 29 with $172.8M in net inflows, before breaking on April 30 with net outflows of $56.3M, despite a $266.8M purchase from BlackRock. Inflows resumed on May 1 and 2, reaching $422.5M and $674.9M respectively, once again dominated by BlackRock. These consistent and aggressive inflows — marking 14 consecutive positive days for BlackRock.

Macro:

Monetary policy decisions from the Fed and the BoE are among the key events next week. From a high frequency data perspective, trade figures from the US, Europe and China are due.

More Crypto:

The stablecoin market surged by $4.58B in just one week, nearing the $240B mark.

It’s one of the strongest growth spurts in months, signaling renewed demand for stable assets.

The crypto market climbed +10.2% over the past week, with Bitcoin accounting for just +7.6% of that gain.

Social media interest in “altcoin,” “altcoins,” and “altseason” is surging again, though historically, the best alt entries come when the crowd is least interested.

Bitcoin is gradually decoupling from major stock indices.

Its correlation with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq has declined noticeably since early 2024, hinting at a more independent market cycle.

What Happened This Week:

• Trump Tower Dubai to accept crypto payments.

• Circle’s USDC approved as a money services provider in Abu Dhabi.

• MicroStrategy buys 3,459 BTC for $285.8M at ~$82,618 each.

• Mastercard announces end-to-end global stablecoin acceptance.

• SEC ends investigation into PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin without enforcement.

What to Look Out For:

• UK proposes draft crypto rules covering trading platforms and stablecoin issuance as regulated activities.

• Arizona House passes Bitcoin Reserve Bill SB 1373, heads to Governor.

• Truth Social explores launch of utility token and digital wallet for subscriptions and rewards: shareholder letter.

• Libre plans to tokenize $500M Telegram bonds on TON in real-world asset push.

What we enjoyed reading and listening to:

• Tariff Confusion, Crypto Conviction? — Link

• It’s Too Late: The Changes Are Coming — Link

• Deep Dive: A Primer on Stablecoins — Link

• Stablecoin B2B Payment is all about Workflows, not Payment itself — Link

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