Here's a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Friday (April 24) as of 8:00 p.m. UTC.
Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrencymarket news
Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$77,638.02, down by 0.2 percent over the last 24 hours.
Chart via TradingView.
Bitcoin price performance, April 24, 2026.
Simon-Peter Massabni, head of business development at XS.com, portrayed cautious optimism regarding Bitcoin's evolution into a more mature and complex asset class, while acknowledging structural risks.
“From my perspective, Bitcoin’s resilience despite escalating tensions in the Middle East is not merely a coincidental occurrence, but rather the result of overlapping structural factors related to shifting demand dynamics, the evolution of its investor base, and changes in the global monetary environment,” he said via email.
“I believe Bitcoin is currently at a critical crossroads. If it manages to hold its current support levels and institutional inflows alongside positive liquidity conditions persist, we may indeed be witnessing the formation of a long-term bottom that could pave the way for a new bullish cycle. However, a correction scenario cannot be ruled out, especially in the event of unexpected monetary tightening or broader geopolitical escalation that impacts global risk appetite.”
Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget, said that the current shift in crypto market structure signals a more sustainable recovery phase for the digital asset:
“The BIS warning on crypto exchanges functioning more like shadow banks reflects growing attention on where risk is accumulating across digital asset markets. The main concentration remains in lending activity, yield products, and dominant collateral pools such as stablecoins and staked ETH, where stress can move quickly across protocols when liquidity tightens. As institutional capital returns, the market is increasingly separating between platforms that can absorb risk through transparent custody and collateral controls, and those still exposed to concentrated liquidity dependencies”.
Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,321.97, trading flat over the last 24 hours.
Altcoin price update
- XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.44, up by 0.5 percent over 24 hours.
- Solana (SOL) was trading at US$86.34, trading one percent higher over the past 24 hours.
Today's crypto news to know
100+ crypto firms pressure Senate to advance CLARITY Act
A massive coalition of over a hundred cryptocurrency powerhouses and venture capital giants has formally demanded that the US Senate stop dragging its feet on crypto regulatory reform.
In a letter dispatched to the Senate Banking Committee this April, the group urged lawmakers to immediately advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act.
The unified front, which includes industry titans like Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple, argues that relying on federal agencies to establish policy through aggressive lawsuits is actively destabilizing American business operations.
If passed, the legislation would fundamentally reshape the regulatory landscape by drawing a clear, statutory line between digital commodities and investment contracts.
This would effectively resolve the ongoing turf war between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by strictly defining their respective oversight jurisdictions.
Despite easily clearing the House of Representatives, the bill has languished in the Senate.
To break the stalemate, the coalition outlined six critical priorities, including protecting decentralized software developers, establishing uniform federal standards, and creating disclosure rules that tech companies can realistically follow.
Anthropic eclipses OpenAI with US$1 trillion secondary valuation
Anthropic officially overtook OpenAI on secondary trading platforms, as its private shares are currently trading at an implied valuation of roughly US$1 trillion, dwarfing OpenAI's US$880 billion price tag.
This explosive growth represents a massive premium over Anthropic's recent US$380 billion valuation secured during its Series G funding round in February 2026.
The company's annualized revenue run rate skyrocketed 233 percent to hit $30 billion by the end of March.
Investor appetite has also been significantly stoked by widespread enterprise adoption of Claude Code and a fresh US$25 billion capital injection from Amazon.
US soldier indicted for using classified intel to rig Polymarket bets
The Department of Justice has indicted a US Army soldier for allegedly leveraging highly classified military intelligence to execute a massive insider trading scheme on the crypto prediction platform Polymarket.
According to unsealed court documents, 38-year-old Gannon Ken Van Dyke weaponized his inside knowledge of a covert mission aimed at capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to secure a guaranteed payout.
Operating under the pseudonym "Burdensome-Mix," the Fort Bragg-based soldier strategically placed thirteen consecutive wagers in the days leading up to the successful early January raid known as "Operation Absolute Resolve."
By betting heavily on contracts predicting Maduro's ouster and the presence of American forces in Venezuela, Van Dyke managed to flip a US$33,000 initial stake into a staggering US$410,000 profit.
Once the operation made global headlines, the soldier quickly attempted to cover his digital tracks by funneling the illicit proceeds into an offshore cryptocurrency vault. Furthermore, investigators claim he changed his exchange registration to an untraceable alias and explicitly requested that Polymarket permanently delete his user account.
He is now facing five severe federal charges, including wire fraud and multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.
Morgan Stanley starts fund for stablecoin reserves
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Investment Management has introduced a new government money market fund designed for stablecoin reserves. The fund holds US treasury bills and government-backed loans to meet upcoming Federal Reserve requirements. The move is part of a series of digital asset products the firm has released recently in an effort to become a primary regulated bank for stablecoin companies, representing a significant shift for the company.
Succinct Labs launches ZCAM app
Succinct Labs, a cryptography company focused on making zero-knowledge proofs accessible for developers, has launched ZCAM, an iPhone app that cryptographically signs photos and videos to prove authenticity amid rising fakes generated using artificial intelligence.
The app embeds this signed proof into the file using the C2PA standard, a widely accepted format for media authenticity. A free checker tool will recompute the hash from the pixels and match it against the signature to verify. The app and SDK are now available, targeting sectors like insurance, journalism and legal evidence.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
