Crypto Weekly 4/19/26
Bitcoin Hits a Two-Month High as Iran Reopens the Strait of Hormuz, a $290M DeFi Hack Triggers $6.2B in Withdrawal Panic on Aave, and the NYSE Goes All-In on 24/7 Blockchain Trading
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.61T): +4% / -14%
- BTC ($74,883): +5% / -14%
- ETH ($2,299): +4% / -23%
- SOL ($85): +4% / -32%
- UNI ($3.27): +8% / -42%
- OP ($0.12): +14% / -54%
- COIN ($206): +23% / -9%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($187B): +1% / 0%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($78B): 0% / +3%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 57% / 11%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin hit a two-month high, rising along with other risk assets after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” to commercial vessels following a cease-fire in Lebanon. Link. Link.
- Cross-chain bridge Layer Zero was hacked over the weekend, draining $293 million in restaked ETH issued by Kelp DAO, the largest hack of 2026. Multiple protocols including Aave froze lending markets to prevent the stolen funds from being borrowed against and leaving protocols with bad debt. Link. Link.
- The NYSE is planning a 24/7 trading platform for blockchain-based securities, and is likely to use blockchain for core operations such as clearing, settlement, capital formation, and data distribution. Link.
- Brokerage giant Charles Schwab said it would soon allow customers to trade bitcoin and ether on its platform. Link.
- Companies that built billion-dollar businesses mining Bitcoin are on track to generate 70% of their revenue from AI by the end of the year. Link.
- A California judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against Caitlyn Jenner for her memecoin $JENNER. The judge ruled that the memecoin was not a security because there was no common enterprise. Link.
- Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, said its CEO and founder Greg Solano would become Chairman of the Board while Michael Figge takes over the CEO role. Link.
- World, the proof of human protocol co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, announced new integrations with Tinder and Zoom to help prevent deep-fakes as well as anti-bot concert ticketing tools as part of an overall protocol upgrade. Link.
- Circle is rolling out a cross-chain bridge that sends native USDC across blockchains, a more secure alternative to the common pattern of locking USDC on the origin chain and minting a synthetic version on the destination. The synthetic-token model has been behind some of crypto's largest exploits, including the Ronin and Wormhole hacks in 2022, which together accounted for nearly $1B in stolen funds. Link.
- Pakistan lifted an 8-year ban on banks retaining crypto companies as clients, though it still bars them from holding crypto on behalf of customers. Link.
- ENS gateway eth.limo was briefly hijacked at its domain registrar EasyDNS via a social engineering attack. Link.
- Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy reported a $14.5 billion unrealized loss in Q1 as the price of bitcoin fell more than 20% in the first quarter. Link.
- Decentralized prediction markets platform Polymarket is in talks to raise $400 million in new funding at a $15 billion valuation. Link.