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  • ‘99% Invisible’ Host Roman Mars to Host New Podcast About American History (Exclusive)

    99% Invisible creator Roman Mars is hosting a new series about the objects that shaped the history of America. 

    The show, A History of the United States in 100 Objects, is produced by SiriusXM and BBC Studios, and will see Mars uncover the stories behind objects such as a gold coin from a shipwreck in 1857 that led to a financial panic, an antebellum schoolbook that became a tool for Black liberation and a small screw that shows how the U.S. created a hidden industrial empire.

    “The history of America can’t be captured in a single story,” Mars said. “So instead, we’re telling one hundred. By looking closely at the things we’ve made – and the things we’ve thrown away – we’re hoping to reveal a richer, more complicated picture of who we are.”

    In addition to the new show, Mars hosts 99% Invisible, a narrative podcast about unnoticed architecture and design, which has led to multiple spin-off series, including Articles of Interest and the 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker. SiriusXM acquired 99% Invisible in 2021..

    Throughout the new series, Mars will be joined by historians, journalists and podcasters, as well as individuals with personal connections to the stories being told. The lineup includes Radiolab founder Jad Abumrad; Dan Taberski, investigative journalist and host of Hysterical, Song Exploder creator Hrishikesh Hirway; former MythBuster Adam Savage; current Radiolab co-host Latif Nasser and more. 

    The first episode premieres May 19, with weekly episodes following in the “99% Invisible” feed on the SiriusXM app and wherever podcasts are available. 

  • Bitcoin Cracks 7-Month Ceiling. Can Bulls Push It Higher?

    Bitcoin Cracks 7-Month Ceiling. Can Bulls Push It Higher?

    In brief

    • Bitcoin jumped 2.7%, breaking the descending resistance line that had capped every rally since October.
    • Myriad traders have flipped bullish, giving BTC a 69% chance of hitting $84K next.
    • Traders, though, give a new Bitcoin all-time high only a 6.2% chance of happening before July.

    Bitcoin is surging today on a geopolitical trigger few predicted: Iran today announced the Strait of Hormuz (or Strait of Iran, as President Donald Trump now calls it) will remain fully open during the ongoing ceasefire. It sent oil prices tumbling and risk assets surging in tandem.

    Bitcoin climbed above $78,000 intraday on the news before pulling back slightly, while digital asset treasury stocks like Strategy surged more than 10% as BTC’s rise pushed its holdings back out of the red.

    The macro environment had been brutal for most of 2026 with Middle East tensions, inflation fears, a strong dollar, and tight liquidity keeping Bitcoin locked in a grinding descent from its October 2025 peak of $126,000.

    Bulls are praying that changes this week.

    Bitcoin: Breaking the pattern, but not out of danger

    Today’s candlestick on the Bitcoin charts is significant. Bitcoin opened at $75,172 and traders pushed the daily candle up to $77,205—a 2.7% gain on the session, with an intraday high of $78,384.

    That move, modest as it sounds, was key to solidifying the thesis that the descending resistance trendline that had been rejecting Bitcoin at every rally attempt since October 2025 has been, finally, invalidated. For seven months, that line was gravity. This has been the first week Bitcoin trades over that line since the bearish pattern began.

    Since the $126,000 all-time high, Bitcoin has traced a textbook descending channel—lower highs, lower lows, and a string of failed breakout attempts, each capped harder than the last. The yellow trendlines on the chart above show that, for months, Bitcoin registered a compression structure where each bounce got shallower, and each support got tested deeper.

    If the trend had continued uninterrupted, the math was pointing toward $50,000–$55,000 as the logical next support zone. That scenario is now delayed, if not cancelled.

    Indicators are also looking promising for bulls. The Exponential Moving Averages, which give traders a sense of the underlying trend based on smoothed price history, are still bearish with the 50-day EMA sitting below the 200-day EMA—a pattern that traders refer to as a death cross.

    This matters because traders read the death cross as a bearish structural signal: The short-term trend is still weaker than the long-term average, meaning the recovery hasn’t been deep or sustained enough to flip the larger trend. The death cross doesn’t mean Bitcoin falls from here. It means bulls still have a mountain to climb before this is officially a new uptrend.

    But it is the first time since January that the gap between both averages starts to compress.

    The Average Directional Index, or ADX, reads 18.1, which means the current bearish trend is weak. ADX measures trend strength, not direction. A reading below 25 typically tells traders that the market lacks conviction and prices can move, but there’s no real engine behind them yet. Considering the markets have been bearish for almost half the year, a weak ADX means this trend may either be fading away or traders are accumulating as much as possible in this zone.

    The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, is at 67.7, which means Bitcoin is overbought but still in a manageable zone. RSI measures the speed and magnitude of price changes on a scale of 0–100. Above 70 is traditionally considered overbought—territory where traders begin locking in profits. At 67.7, Bitcoin is close to that line but hasn’t crossed it yet, leaving some room for continuation before the technical pressure to sell intensifies.

    The vertical lines in the background in the Bitcoin chart above show the squeeze momentum indicator (which tells when prices compress before a major spike in either direction) has been released, with positive momentum.

    Predictions on Myriad

    On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt‘s parent company Dastan, traders are leaning bullish on Bitcoin’s next major move. Right now, Myriad traders are placing 69% odds on Bitcoin hitting $84K before dropping to $55K. The gap in favor of a Bitcoin pump is the widest it’s been since the market debuted back in early February.

    But the same crowd is sober about timelines. A separate Myriad market gives Bitcoin only a 6% chance of hitting a new all-time high before July.

    Overall, in an optimistic scenario, Bitcoin holds above the broken trendline (now acting as support around $74,000–$75,000), and the ADX begins climbing above 20–25. If bears take over again, a new rejection, combined with RSI rolling over from near-overbought levels, sends Bitcoin back to test the support area. A break below that turns the broken resistance back into resistance, invalidating the breakout.

    Disclaimer

    The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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  • Nearly $1 billion in bitcoin ETF inflows power bull case as Kelp hack fuels DeFi jitters

    Nearly $1 billion in bitcoin ETF inflows power bull case as Kelp hack fuels DeFi jitters

    Market dynamics continue to paint a bullish picture for bitcoin even as Iran-related developments and DeFi hacks dominate headlines.

    U.S.-listed spot ETFs pulled in $663 million on Friday, the most since Jan. 15. Total inflows reached $996 million last week, up from $786 million the week prior, according to data source SoSoValue. This points to strong institutional interest in the largest cryptocurrency.

    For a meaningful price rally to emerge, it’s a trend that needs to be sustained.

    “ETF flow regimes provide a secondary read: Sustained inflows signal structural demand, while intermittent flows indicate tactical positioning, with consistency mattering more than magnitude,” said Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, in an email.

    Bitcoin is trading just above $75,000 after hitting highs above $78,000 on Friday, according to CoinDesk data. The prices has largely held steady over the past 24 hours. Similar patterns are evident in ether (ETH), $XRP ($XRP), Solana ($SOL) and other major tokens.

    DeFi platform Aave’s AAVE token has dropped 1% to $90 as the protocol faces collateral damage from the weekend hack of KelpDAO. The DeFi dominance rate, which measures the share of DeFi coins in the total crypto market value, has held flat at around 3%.

    “The pressure on the leading cryptocurrency is linked to negative reactions in stock markets to news about Iran, which has reduced risk appetite. BTC has lagged significantly behind equities in recent days, building potential but not yet moving to realize it,” Alex Kuptsikevich, the chief market analyst at FxPro, said in an email.

    According to the latest reports, the U.S. attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship attempting to bypass restrictions on Iran’s ports.

    Meanwhile, traders are actively building short positions, betting against a breakout. This could fuel a “short squeeze” if prices hold steady, forcing traders to cover bearish bets and potentially pushing spot prices higher. Stay alert!

    Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

    What’s trending

    • The $292 million Kelp exploit: how it happened, and what it means for DeFi (CoinDesk): Aave saw about a $6.6 billion drop in total value locked on the protocol as users yanked assets following the incident, raising “bank run” concerns. The token linked with the protocol fell about 15%.
    • Hack at Vercel sends crypto developers scrambling to lock down API keys (CoinDesk): The incident is drawing scrutiny because Vercel underpins front-end infrastructure for many crypto apps and is the primary steward of Next.js, one of the most widely used web development frameworks.
    • Hormuz traffic at standstill as U.S. vessel seizure widens risk (Bloomberg): Commercial traffic through the strait is at a virtual standstill after a brief reopening over the weekend ended with the first U.S. seizure of an Iranian vessel. A fragile truce is due to expire at the end of Tuesday.
    • Stocks are back at records, but bond investors haven’t joined the party (The Wall Street Journal): While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes are at all-time highs, worries about lasting damage to Middle East energy infrastructure have kept longer-dated oil futures well above their prewar levels.

    Today’s signal

    The chart shows weekly price swings in solana ($SOL), with each candle showing a full week of trading activity, including the opening, closing, high and low prices.

    One level stands out: $95.16, the low registered in April.

    $SOL has remained below that level for 11 consecutive weeks after dropping below it in early February. In technical analysis, a level that previously acted as “support,” a price floor where buying interest tends to emerge, often becomes “resistance” once it is broken. That means traders who previously bought around that level may now look to sell if prices revisit it, limiting upside momentum.

    The fact that $SOL has not yet climbed back points to a sustained bearish sentiment and potential for deeper losses. The next major support is seen directly at $50.

    A strong move above that level, backed by a surge in trading volumes, is needed to invalidate the bearish outlook.

  • ‘Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day,’ Starring Haley Bennett, Jack Whitehall and Lily Allen, to Open SXSW London Film Lineup

    ‘Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day,’ Starring Haley Bennett, Jack Whitehall and Lily Allen, to Open SXSW London Film Lineup

    Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, starring Haley Bennett, Jack Whitehall, Lily Allen, Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Sally Phillips, Misia Butler and Elyas M’Barek, will open the 2026 SXSW London film lineup, organizers unveiled on Monday.

    The rom-com from director Tina Ghavari and screenwriter Justine Waddell is an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel Night and Day. Talent so far confirmed to attend the film’s world premiere at SXSW London, which runs June 1-6, are Bennett, Whitehall, Phillips, Butler, Ghavari and Waddell. 

    Also set for the event is the darkly satirical Savage House, whose cast includes Richard E. Grant, Claire Foy, Bel Powley and Jack Farthing. 
     
    Joining these films will be an exclusive first-look screening of an Adult Swim animated series from Warner Bros. Animation, Get Jiro, based on the DC/Vertigo graphic novel from Anthony Bourdain. Executive produced by Brian Gatewood, Alessandro Tanaka, Jordan Blum, Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, and Sam Register, the show stars Brian Tee (A House of Dynamite). It is set in a not-too-distant future Los Angeles where master chefs rule the town and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurants. 
     
    SXSW London on Monday also unveiled six films, all making their U.K. premieres, selected for this year’s official competition. They are The Other Side of the Sun, directed by Tawfik Sabouni, Juan Pablo Sallato‘s The Red Hangar, Roya by director Mahnaz Mohammadi, Vladlena Sandu’s Memory, Remake from director Ross McElwee, and Only Rebels Win by director Danielle Arbid.

    Said Anna Bogutskaya, head of screen at SXSW London: “The films in our official competition embody what we are most excited about in contemporary cinema: no-holds-barred, deeply human and formally audacious films that provoke and challenge us to think wider, deeper and more empathetically.”

    SXSW also added to its industry speakers and panel lineup on Monday. New sessions include “Toy Meets Tech: The New Technologies of Toy Story 5” with Thomas Jordan (Toy Story 5 VFX supervisor), “BookTok to Screen: Making Hits Out of Views” with Tara Erer, head of originals, U.K. & Europe at Prime Video, and Hannah Griffiths, head of adaptations at Banijay, “The Beyond the Audition: Casting Directors” with casting directors Sophie Holland (The Witcher, Wednesday) and BAFTA winner Lucy Pardee (Aftersun, Die My Love), “Responsibilities of Creative Leadership” with Mia Bays of the BFI Filmmaking Fund and Nadia Fall of The Young Vic, and “Big Stories, No Borders” with Samuel Kissous of Pernel Media and Claire Mundell of Synchronicity Films.

    SXSW is majority-controlled by THR parent company PMC.

  • ‘Technofascism’: Critics accuse Palantir of pushing AI war doctrine

    ‘Technofascism’: Critics accuse Palantir of pushing AI war doctrine

    Palantir CEO Alexander Karp’s book The Technological Republic advocates for Western ‘hard power … built on software’.

    A book coauthored by a cofounder of Palantir, a leading defence and intelligence software firm in the United States, has prompted outcry from detractors who say it lays out a “manifesto” for the weaponisation of artificial intelligence by the US and its allies.

    Palantir, which has multibillion-dollar contracts with multiple US government agencies, including the US Army, and partnerships with the Israeli military, recently summarised the key arguments of The Technological Republic – written by the company’s chief executive, Alexander Karp, and Nicholas W Zamiska, the head of its corporate affairs – in a post on X.

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    The book argues that leading US tech firms have a “moral debt” to the United States, which needs “hard power” fuelled by cutting-edge software to maintain global dominance.

    “If a US Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software,” Palantir wrote in the summary of the book.

    It also contends that future deterrence will be based on AI, not nuclear power, and that US adversaries will not hesitate to build AI weapons. “The question is not whether AI weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose,” the company said in its summary.

    The framing drew sharp criticism from academics and commentators.

    Mark Coeckelbergh, a Belgian philosopher of technology who teaches at the University of Vienna, described the message as an “example of technofascism”.

    Greek economist and former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Palantir had effectively signalled a willingness “to add to nuclear Armageddon the AI-driven threat to humanity’s existence”.

    “AI-powered killer robots are coming,” wrote Varoufakis on X.

    ‘Destructive clash-of-civilisations crusade’

    Palantir’s summary of the book also argues the US and its Western partners should resist “a vacant and hollow pluralism”, claiming “some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional”.

    Entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator Arnaud Bertrand said the message reveals a dangerous “ideological agenda”.

    “They’re effectively saying ‘our tools aren’t meant to serve your foreign policy. They’re meant to enforce ours,” said Bertrand in a post on X.

    Bertrand also pointed to the book’s argument that “the postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone”, an allusion to the two states’ historically restrained defence postures resulting from the second world war.

    He said Palantir’s motivation to “overturn the security architecture of two continents” is both commercial and ideological.

    “A remilitarised Germany and Japan are massive new defense-software markets,” said Bertrand. “But the more troubling answer is that [it] fits into the ideological project the rest of the manifesto lays out – a civilisational contest requires a consolidated Western bloc, and pacifist members are a liability in such a contest.”

    On top of its ties to the US government, Palantir contracts with numerous foreign government agencies, including Israel’s military, to which it has provided technology during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

    In a statement to Al Jazeera earlier this year, Palantir UK reiterated the company’s support for Israel, and the country’s broader alliance with “the West”.

    Bertrand said: “Every government still running Palantir software in its intelligence, security, or public-service infrastructure needs to start ripping it out, now!”

    “Lest they want to be embarked on the delusional and deeply destructive clash-of-civilizations crusade Palantir has now openly committed itself to.”

  • WHCA Urged to ‘Demonstrate Opposition’ to Trump at Annual Dinner

    WHCA Urged to ‘Demonstrate Opposition’ to Trump at Annual Dinner

    Some people want Washington’s annual “nerd prom” to feature a little more backbone.

    A bevy of journalism advocacy organizations and former journalists such as Sam Donaldson, Lynn Sherr and Linda Douglass urged the White House Correspondents Association to “demonstrate opposition” when President Donald Trump makes his first appearance at the group’s annual dinner, which takes place Saturday, April 25.

    “The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it. President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press render his presence at such an event a
    profound contradiction of its purpose,” reads a letter addressed to WHCA member and board of directors.,

    The signatories include the Society of Professional Journalists; the National Association of Black Journalists; the National Press Photographers Association; the Freedom of the Press Association;. the Coalition for Women in Journalism; and the Radio Television Digital News Association.

    The Trump administration and the media covering it enjoy a strained relationship at best. The group’s letter cited a bevy of efforts to undermine the press, including banning the Associated Press from White House pool reporting and taking office space away from credible press outlets covering the Pentagon. Many of these efforts have ended up being litigated in court.

    The schism between President Trump and the media has been years in the making. During his first term, he declined to attend the WHCA event, a longtime happening on the D.C. calendar, and the organization has in recent years retreated from business as usual, which calls for a comedian to deliver a few hot takes about the current occupant of the Oval Office. Last year, the WHCA pulled an invite to comic Amber Ruffin, who was scheduled to be featured at the annual dinner. Plans for 2026 call for a demonstration by a mentalist instead of a comic’s routine.

    The WHCA has faced difficulties in figuring out how to respond to Trump, who only likes one kind of criticism: none. During Trump’s first term, the WHCA undermined its invited comedian, Michelle Wolf, who led a blistering routine at the 2018 dinner.  “I think she’s very resourceful, like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye,” said Wolf of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, who attended the event. “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies,” the comedian said, echoing the popular Maybelline advertising slogan. Within a day, the WHCA issued a statement saying that Wolf’s performance “was not in the spirit” of the group’s mission to call attention to the value of a free press as well as great journalism.

    Some journalists attending this year’s dinner have unveiled plans to wear pocket handkerchiefs or lapel pins with the words of the First Amendment. But the backers urged the WHCA to “take stronger action by issuing — from the podium — a forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those
    who threaten that freedom, followed by a standing toast to the First Amendment and a pledge to continue upholding such a critical cornerstone of our democracy.” The letter continued: ” Speak forcefully, in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country’s long tradition of an independent, strong, and free press. We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue and that the Association will not normalize this behavior but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates.”

    Whether anyone takes the group up on its counsel won’t be known, most likely, until Saturday night.

  • Laura Poitras Backs Push Against Paramount-Warner Deal, Warns of U.S. Doc Funding Crisis

    Laura Poitras Backs Push Against Paramount-Warner Deal, Warns of U.S. Doc Funding Crisis

    Opening the industry section of Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel, with her latest Netflix-produced feature “Cover-Up” serving as the festival’s opening film, Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras pointed to a documentary sector that is not only under pressure but increasingly mobilized – including around opposition to the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal.

    Citing an open letter signed by more than 1,000 industry professionals, she said: “There’s recently been a letter calling to block the merger – I know behind the scenes a lot of documentary filmmakers were involved in that, there’s that kind of engagement.”

    More broadly, she described a sector defined as much by solidarity as by strain, noting, “It’s no secret that this is a really dire time in the documentary landscape, if we’re talking about funding and distribution, but I also think it’s a time documentary filmmakers are actually showing up for each other and doing risk-taking work that is filling gaps where some of our institutions are failing us.”

    Signed by directors including Alex Gibney and Davis Guggenheim, alongside Hollywood figures such as Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart and Jane Fonda, the letter has drawn significant backing across the industry.

    The question of funding surfaced sharply following a clip from “My Country, My Country,” the first of Poitras’ 9/11 trilogy, set in Iraq, which was backed by U.S. public television. Asked whether such a project on the current war in Iran could still be financed today, the answer was a clear ‘No.’

    “Our public funding is now being completely decimated. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ITVS – one of the organizations that have been key in supporting first-time filmmakers – to lose that is completely devastating, both for funding and for distribution,” she said, referring to a U.S Congress vote last summer to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which led to the shutdown of key grant programs, reducing support for independent and politically engaged films.

    Even beyond public support, she suggested, the space for politically sensitive work has narrowed across the board: “It’s going to be hard if you’re trying to go to a corporation,” she said, before adding that pitching such material to major platforms also has its limits. “I haven’t tried, but I think it’s going to be hard for a filmmaker to go to Netflix or HBO and say, ‘I want to make a film about the U.S. government’s regime change strategies in Venezuela and Iran.’”

    Much of the focus of the conversation centered on Poitras’ long-standing interest in power and surveillance. Recalling the origins of her Oscar-winning film “Citizenfour,” about U.S. national security whistleblower Edward Snowden, she described trying to address a subject that, at the time, struggled to register with the public.

    “I was very interested in how to make a film about [state] surveillance in a society that didn’t really seem to give a shit about surveillance.” Around 2010, she added, “people were in love with the internet, their phones, Facebook,” even as she felt, “Wow, this feels really scary and dangerous,” referring to the “long relationship between state power and surveillance.”

    Acknowledging that it was “a very hard film to make – very hard to translate into cinematic language because it’s abstract,” Poitras turned directly to the audience: “How many people are worried about being surveilled?” she asked, before following with, “How many of you have engaged in political protests?,” drawing a direct line between fear of surveillance and political action.

    Addressing Snowden’s exile to Moscow in 2013, Poitras was keen to underline what she described as a “full-throated effort” by the U.S. to prevent him from being granted asylum in Europe. “His passport was rescinded. He was trying to go someplace else. And he did try to get asylum in every European country. And every European country was pressured by the United States not to give him asylum,” she said.

    While Poitras declined to discuss current projects, she returned repeatedly to what she described as a recurrent political pattern in U.S. political history – one that underpins “Cover-Up” – which she describes as “cycles of power and cycles of impunity”: “You have exposure of wrongdoing followed by denials and cover-ups, and ultimately impunity – nobody’s held accountable.”

    In a Q&A with the industry audience, Poitras closed by defending freedom of expression at a time of increasing pressure on U.S. institutions. “I fully believe that we have the right to freedom of expression – and to use it,” she said, criticizing universities for “capitulating to pressure” and, in particular, their “silencing” of student protests over the situation in Gaza and Palestine. Calling the situation “shameful,” she added that the response must be to “use these rights that we have to resist and talk about the world that we live in.”

    VdR-Industry runs alongside Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland until April 22.

  • Bitcoin drops from recent highs as traders watch CME gap, DeFi hack fallout

    Bitcoin drops from recent highs as traders watch CME gap, DeFi hack fallout

    The crypto market is trading back in familiar territory following a short-lived spike to its highest point since early February on Friday.

    Bitcoin is trading a hair under $75,000 while ether ($ETH) is at $2,300, both significantly lower than Friday’s highs of $78,300 and $2,460.

    One reason for traders to be bullish is that the bitcoin futures market on the CME, a venue favored by institutions, closed at $77,540 on Friday and opened at $74,600 to create “CME gap” that spans 3.8% to the upside. A similar gap occurred last week and was filled before the end of the day on Monday.

    The first steps have been taken: Bitcoin’s gained 1.5% since midnight UTC, suggesting sentiment is warming following a volatile weekend.

    The market tumbled over the weekend as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz came to a halt after opening on Friday. The renewed closure led to a jump in the price of crude oil from $78 to $88 per barrel.

    This weighed on risk assets, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures both down by 0.59% since midnight.

    Derivatives positioning

    • Marketwide, crypto open interest (OI) held steady near $120 billion over the past 24 hours. Trading volume, in contrast, jumped 30%, suggesting a surge in activity without a corresponding increase in new positions. That potentially points to increased turnover, short-term positioning or traders rotating risk rather than deploying fresh capital.
    • OI in solana (SOL), bitcoin , ether ($ETH) and $XRP ($XRP) held largely steady. OI in HYPE futures declined by 3% alongside as the price fell, pointing to capital outflows. Elsewhere, OI in AVAX and SP 500 perpetuals rose by 6% to 10%, respectively.
    • OI in $AAVE futures surged to a record high of 3.46 million tokens as collateral damage from the weekend exploit of KelpDAO led to rapid withdrawals of from the Aave lending platform.
    • Funding rates tied to $BTC, $ETH and several other tokens flipped negative, indicating a bias for short positions that would benefit from a price drop in these tokens.
    • $BTC and $ETH options on Deribit continue to trade pricier than calls in a sign of lingering downside concern.
    • Block flows featured bias for $BTC call spreads, which are directional bets, and ether straddles, a volatility play.

    Token talk

    • The altcoin sector was rocked by a $292 million exploit of Kelp DAO’s rsETH token over the weekend, leading to contagion risks across the DeFi market.
    • Total value locked (TVL) on Aave dropped from $26.5 billion to $17.5 billion as a result, with the exploit sparking fears of bad debt hitting Aave’s WETH pool, triggering heavy withdrawals and a liquidity crunch.
    • Aave’s token, $AAVE, rose 2.2% on Monday after tumbling 22% on Saturday.
    • The bitcoin-dominant CoinDesk 20 (CD20) Index advanced 1% on Monday, outperforming the altcoin-weighted CoinDesk 80 (CD80) and the DeFi Select Index (DFX), which are up by 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.
    • One particularly volatile token is celestia (TIA), which remains 3.9% down over the past 24 hours even after surging by more than 4% since midnight.
    • CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator is at 36/100, demonstrating investor preference for bitcoin following Friday’s short-lived breakout.
  • Expert Analyst Delves Deep into Bitcoin: “Both Rises and Falls Aren’t What They Used to Be!”

    Expert Analyst Delves Deep into Bitcoin: “Both Rises and Falls Aren’t What They Used to Be!”

    Although the price of Bitcoin ($BTC) increases numerically in each cycle, its actual upward momentum and potential are decreasing.

    Galaxy Digital research head Alex Thorn argues that the current Bitcoin market cycle is dramatically weaker compared to the previous three cycles.

    At this point, Thorn compared the price movements since the Bitcoin halving in April 2024 to the 2012, 2016, and 2020 cycles.

    The study concluded that volatility has significantly decreased in the current cycle and the upside potential is lower.

    Although Bitcoin reached its all-time high of over $125,000 on October 5, 2025, it only managed to surpass 97% of its 2024 halving price of approximately $63,000. According to the analyst, this indicates that the peak of the cycle so far has been significantly calmer compared to other cycles.

    This increase is quite small compared to other cycles. According to historical data, in the 2012 halving cycle, the $BTC price increased by approximately 9,294%, rising to $1,163. In 2016, it approached $19,891 with an increase of approximately 2,950%, and finally, in the 2020 cycle, a gain of approximately 761% was observed.

    According to the analyst, the decreasing volatility with each new $BTC halving cycle indicates that traditional market dynamics are changing and that the price is becoming more influenced by factors other than the four-year halving cycle theory.

    While bull cycles in Bitcoin are becoming less frequent, Fidelity analysts also note that with decreasing volatility, Bitcoin declines are becoming less severe.

    At this point, according to Zack Wainwright, research analyst at Fidelity Digital Assets, declines in previous Bitcoin bear markets ranged from 80% to 90%. However, in the latest cycle, Bitcoin’s drop from its all-time high of $125,000 to $60,000 represents a decline of approximately 50%.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Second round in Islamabad: Who are the main US-Iran negotiators?

    Second round in Islamabad: Who are the main US-Iran negotiators?

    Fresh talks between the US and Iran are uncertain. But these are the key figures who have driven negotiations so far.

    Published On 20 Apr 2026

    Negotiators from the United States are expected to arrive in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, for a second round of talks with Iran aimed at extending a two-week ceasefire that is set to expire on Wednesday.

    The diplomatic efforts are unfolding amid sharp military escalation, hours after the US Navy intercepted and captured the Touska, a 294m (965 feet) long Iranian-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Oman.

    The negotiations follow a period of heightened rhetoric, with US President Donald Trump threatening to destroy Iran and wipe out power plants and civilian infrastructure if a deal is not reached. Tehran has labelled the ship’s seizure “piracy” and has expressed uncertainty regarding its participation in the sessions while the naval blockade remains.

    The current diplomatic track predates the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28. While some figures at the table led indirect talks before the conflict, another key Iranian negotiator has been permanently silenced.

    The absent negotiator

    Just weeks before the war broke out, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was engaged in indirect negotiations with Washington, mediated by Oman. Born in 1958, Larijani was widely viewed as the pragmatic face of the Iranian establishment. A mathematician and philosopher who wrote his university thesis on Immanuel Kant, he served as the country’s chief nuclear negotiator and was a bridge between the security apparatus and the political establishment. He was killed in an Israeli air attack in early March, removing one of Tehran’s most experienced strategic minds from the current diplomatic equation.

    The US delegation

    • JD Vance: The 41-year-old US vice president has been tapped to lead the American delegation, having previously led the first round of talks in Islamabad on April 11. Born in August 1984, Vance is a former Marine and Yale Law School graduate who served in Iraq before entering politics. Once a fierce critic of US President Donald Trump, he has evolved into a staunch loyalist known for his unwavering support for Israel and his advocacy for an “America First” foreign policy.
    • Jared Kushner: Trump’s 45-year-old son-in-law currently holds no official government title but remains a highly influential, unofficial player in US foreign policy. Kushner, who built his wealth in real estate, co-led indirect negotiations with Iran in Oman early in 2026, just before the conflict erupted. He previously served as a senior adviser in the White House, where he was a primary architect of the Abraham Accords and recently participated in ceasefire negotiations for Gaza.
    • Steve Witkoff: The 69-year-old US Special Envoy to the Middle East is a New York real estate investor and a long-time golfing companion of Trump. Witkoff partnered with Kushner to spearhead the pre-war backchannel talks with Tehran, giving him crucial prior experience with the Iranian delegation. He has been described by Trump as an “unrelenting voice for peace”.

    The Iranian delegation

    • Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: Iran’s 64-year-old parliament speaker led Tehran’s team during the first round of talks and is a conservative political heavyweight. Born in August 1961, Ghalibaf has a deep military and security background, having served as the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Air Force, national police chief and mayor of Tehran.
    • Abbas Araghchi: Iran’s 63-year-old foreign minister is a veteran pragmatist and academic holding a doctorate from the United Kingdom’s University of Kent. Born in December 1962, Araghchi is best known as the chief negotiator who successfully navigated the complex technical talks leading to the 2015 landmark nuclear deal. He has served under both reformist and conservative administrations, establishing a reputation as one of Tehran’s most skilled diplomats.

    As the Wednesday deadline nears, the prospect of a lasting agreement remains deeply uncertain. Millions of people, in the Gulf and beyond, are watching how the talks play out. They also fear the escalation that could follow if Iran and the US do not reach a peace deal, and how the prospects of a prolonged conflict directly impacts their daily lives.