Gate Research: Institutional capital continues to move into BTC-related products, as Gate Pre-IPOs debuts its first project—SpaceX.

Market Commentary

• BTC Market — Bitcoin spot is trading in a tight range near $74,600, with a 24-hour rise of approximately +0.16%. Compared to last period’s sharp volatility, the current trend is more consolidative: Over the past 24 hours, the derivatives market still saw global liquidations in the hundreds of millions (USD), with long and short liquidations nearly balanced. Short-term activity is mainly characterized by two-way strategies and leveraged position clearing. Meanwhile, ongoing net inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs and large institutional on-chain transfers to custody addresses continue to drive structural demand and market focus.

• ETH Market — Ethereum spot is around $2,354, up about +0.91% in the past 24 hours; the 7-day cumulative gain is roughly +8.1%, showing stronger momentum than Bitcoin. On the technical side, the hourly RSI is about 59, indicating a moderately bullish, not overbought, zone. The ETH/BTC ratio is showing signs of short-term recovery. Watch for resistance in the $2,350–$2,400 range, with key support at the $2,300 level and recent lows.

• Altcoins — The overall crypto market showed moderate strength over the past 24 hours, with the Fear & Greed Index at 55 (neutral), signaling a clear recovery in risk appetite from previous extreme fear. The Altcoin Season Index is at 35, not yet indicating a classic altcoin-led rally. Major assets also posted positive returns, but intraday volatility remained limited.

• Stablecoins — Total stablecoin supply is about $320 billion, with on-chain USD liquidity “reservoirs” remaining elevated, providing deep settlement layers for both spot and derivatives markets.

• Gas Fee — Ethereum mainnet Gas remains at historic lows, below 0.1 Gwei, keeping on-chain transaction costs extremely low. Most volatility is driven by short-term trading hotspots.

Hot Tokens

In the past 24 hours, the altcoin market broadly mirrored the trend of major coins with a structural rally: about 34.74% of tokens declined, while 61.07% posted gains. The DeSci (Decentralized Science) sector stood out with an average gain of 45.5%; some projects, like BIO (BIO), surged over 98.11%. The current Fear & Greed Index stands at 55, within the neutral range.

BIO Bio Protocol (98.11%, Circulating Market Cap $79.75 million)

Gate market data shows BIO token is trading at $0.03895, up 98.11% in 24 hours. Bio Protocol is a Decentralized Science (DeSci) platform using blockchain technology to transform biotech research funding and development models.

The DeSci sector rallied broadly today, with BIO, as a leading project, attracting strong capital inflows. The project’s recently released 2026 roadmap aims to directly fund longevity research and drug development through a DAO model, drawing significant attention from both institutions and the community.

ENJ Enjin Coin (54.24%, Circulating Market Cap $134 million)

Gate market data shows ENJ token is trading at $0.09307, up 54.24% in 24 hours. Enjin Coin is a blockchain platform focused on gaming and NFT ecosystems, providing developers with tools to create and manage virtual assets.

ENJ saw a sharp rebound today after previously being heavily undervalued. The project recently announced deep partnerships with several major Web3 gaming companies, and its migration to a proprietary blockchain has significantly boosted ecosystem activity, triggering a short squeeze and renewed capital inflows.

ST Stride (91.77%, Circulating Market Cap $76 million)

Gate market data shows ST token is trading at $0.07671, up 91.77% in 24 hours. Stride is a leading Liquid Staking Derivative (LSD) protocol in the Cosmos ecosystem, allowing users to earn staking returns while maintaining asset liquidity.

ST’s recent momentum is driven by its Q3 FY2026 earnings outlook and liquidity integration agreements with several major public blockchains. The market remains optimistic about its growth prospects.

Highlight Data

Gate Pre-IPOs Launches SpaceX (SPCX), Supports USDT/GUSD Subscriptions and 100% Unlock Distribution

Gate, a global leader in digital asset trading, has announced the upcoming subscription of its first Pre-IPOs project, SpaceX (SPCX). Pre-IPOs is Gate’s digital subscription mechanism for early access to premium projects before public listing, enabling users to position in and track target enterprise value ahead of IPOs, without complex account setups or high capital thresholds—capturing pre- and post-IPO market opportunities. The SPCX asset voucher is a Mirror Note representing SpaceX’s market value before and after its IPO, classified as a "Contingent Payout Note." The total subscription is 33,900 SPCX, valued at approximately $20.001 million, with each SPCX priced at $590, implying a $1.4 trillion valuation.

As crypto platforms continue to evolve toward multi-asset, multi-market integration, Gate’s launch of Pre-IPOs and SPCX is a pioneering step in product innovation and further strengthens its leadership in bridging crypto and traditional capital markets. The platform will continue to expand its range of premium assets and product formats, advancing the industry toward greater openness and efficiency.

White House Accelerates Push for Crypto Market Structure Bill Ahead of Midterm Elections

According to The Hill, the White House is urgently advancing the crypto market structure bill to resolve disputes between the banking and crypto industries that have stalled Senate negotiations since January. Treasury Secretary Besant, White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt, and former AI and crypto head David Sacks have all publicly called for the legislation, and the Council of Economic Advisers has issued reports countering the banking sector’s concerns. Market analysts believe that if Congress is going to act, now is the window.

The White House’s legislative push under election pressure is one of the most significant regulatory signals for the crypto industry in recent years. If passed, the bill would provide a clear legal framework for compliant crypto trading, custody, and issuance, significantly lowering institutional compliance risks and encouraging more traditional financial institutions to enter the crypto market—supporting long-term market valuations.

Bitwise AVAX Spot ETF Debuts With $400,000 Traded in First 90 Minutes

On April 15, Bitwise launched the spot Avalanche ETF (ticker: BAVA), which directly holds and stakes AVAX tokens, offering an average staking yield of about 5.4% while maintaining liquidity. The ETF saw $400,000 in trading volume in the first 90 minutes, beating market expectations and marking a further expansion of spot crypto ETFs into major public blockchain assets.

The Bitwise AVAX spot ETF, following BTC and ETH ETFs, is a milestone in expanding spot crypto ETF offerings to Layer 1 blockchain assets. Its built-in staking yield (about 5.4%) is a major innovation, combining compliant holdings with on-chain returns, and is likely to attract institutional investors seeking stable yields. This launch further validates market demand for diversified crypto ETFs and sets a reference for future ETF applications for other blockchain assets.

This Week’s Focus

IRS Implements Mandatory Digital Asset Broker Cost Basis Reporting

Effective April 15, the IRS is enforcing mandatory cost basis reporting for digital asset brokers. Relevant entities must provide 1099-DA and similar disclosures to both the IRS and taxpayers, aligning with traditional financial broker reporting standards. There are also provisions for terminating business relationships with uncooperative clients and strengthening compliance and enforcement through on-chain audits. This is an upgrade to tax and compliance infrastructure, with immediate effects on data reporting and filing for centralized exchanges, custodians, brokers, and their users.

Greater transparency and auditability are reducing opportunities for tax evasion and underreporting, possibly enhancing compliant platforms’ competitiveness. However, this may also drive some trading and capital flows to alternative channels or self-custody, depending on implementation details, coverage, and market reaction.

Institutional Bitcoin Allocation and Treasury Narrative: Morgan Stanley MSBT First-Week Inflows and Strategy’s Large-Scale Bitcoin Purchases

Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) saw significant Bitcoin inflows in its first week, with on-chain tracking platforms disclosing traceable addresses and increasing market focus on ETF subscription and custody flows. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor’s Strategy raised capital through perpetual preferred stock STRC, reportedly enabling potential purchases of tens of thousands of Bitcoins, and updated its total Bitcoin holdings. These developments highlight the ongoing trend of traditional finance and public company treasury tools absorbing and locking Bitcoin liquidity.

For BTC, this strengthens sentiment and mid-term demand expectations, reinforcing the outlook for sustained institutional entry. However, if execution pace, funding costs, or market corrections prompt reassessment of financing structures, volatility could increase. While a single ETF or financing event may not dictate the market trend, their impact on capital flows and narrative trading warrants close monitoring.

On-Chain Security and Compliance: Polkadot Bridge Attack Funds Moved to Tornado Cash

On-chain analytics show that attackers involved in the Polkadot bridge incident transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen funds to the mixer protocol Tornado Cash, attempting to break the trace and complicate recovery. This again raises concerns about DeFi security, bridge asset risk premiums, and ongoing debates over privacy mixers and AML risk controls.

For the crypto market as a whole, limited losses rarely cause systemic shocks, but if they trigger risk control upgrades at exchanges, regulatory scrutiny, or chain reactions in related infrastructure, the impact could spread. Cross-chain and bridge security incidents remain a high-frequency risk source, requiring ongoing monitoring of bridge assets, LP changes, and abnormal transfers.

Funding Weekly

According to RootData, from April 9, 2026 to April 16, 2026, approximately 12 crypto and related funding or strategic investment events were disclosed, covering sectors such as exchanges and IPO preparation, stablecoins and on-chain financial infrastructure, RWA tokenization, and prediction market infrastructure. Below are representative projects by deal size.

Payward (Kraken Parent Company)

On April 14, Deutsche Börse Group disclosed a strategic investment of about $200 million in Payward, acquiring approximately 1.5% equity and implying a $13.3 billion valuation. The deal is widely seen as bringing in a strategic shareholder with clearing, trading, and compliance network capabilities, in the context of Kraken’s IPO preparation and traditional finance collaboration—strengthening institutional services, compliance, and global expansion.

Stablecoin Development Corporation (SDEV)

On April 15, SDEV announced $134 million in funding, with participation from Tether’s investment arm and investors such as Framework Ventures. The project focuses on providing public market investment channels for the stablecoin economy and advancing digital asset infrastructure and use cases related to stablecoins and DeFi (payments, transfers, cross-platform capital movement, etc.).

Superstate

On April 13, Invesco affiliate Invesco Private Capital Inc. announced a strategic investment in Superstate as part of its $82.5 million Series B. The company also emphasized deepening cooperation with Invesco in tokenized funds and related areas. Superstate focuses on compliant on-chain securities issuance, tokenization, and bringing traditional assets on-chain, with funding to accelerate compliant product and technology stack development.

Next Week’s Watch

Token Unlocks

Tokenomist data shows that over the next 7 days (April 17, 2026–April 23, 2026), the market will see a series of large unlocks totaling about $164.6 million across roughly 32 events. The top 3 unlocks are:

• ZRO will unlock about $50.39 million in tokens, accounting for 10.2% of circulating supply.
• SUI will unlock about $37.31 million in tokens, accounting for 17.6% of circulating supply.
• ARB will unlock about $10.64 million in tokens, accounting for 1.5% of circulating supply.

References

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories
• DefiLlama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
• Etherscan, https://etherscan.io/gastracker
• Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
• Tokenomist, https://tokenomist.ai/
• The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/397332/deutsche-borse-invests-200-million-in-kraken-parent-payward
• Superstate, https://superstate.com/newsroom/superstate-raises-82.5m-series-b-financing

Gate Research is a comprehensive blockchain and cryptocurrency research platform, offering readers in-depth content including technical analysis, market insights, industry research, trend forecasts, and macroeconomic policy analysis.

Disclaimer Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risk. Users are strongly advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of any assets and products before making investment decisions. Gate assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from such investment decisions.