Bitcoin and DeFi protocols have surged in market capitalization in the first quarter of 2023, according to the first quarterly Crypto Industry Report by CoinGecko. BTC emerged as the best-performing asset of Q1, with gains of 72.4%, outperforming the NASDAQ index and gold. DeFi rose by $29.6 billion in value, with liquid staking governance tokens seeing a 210% increase in market cap since the start of the year. The top 15 stablecoins saw their market cap drop by $6.2 billion, with Tether strengthening its position as the largest stablecoin by market cap. NFT trading volume has surged by 68% from Q4 2022 to $4.5 billion.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $30,000 on April 18, erasing intraday losses and delivering daily gains of over 3%. The increase followed concerns over $30,000 support remaining as resistance. Before crossing the $30,000 mark, Binance order book activity was the focus for monitoring resource Material Indicators, which identified bid liquidity moving closer to spot price. The largest class of high-volume traders, or "mega whales," was responsible for the upward momentum. Further volatility was a possibility on lower timeframes ahead of the Wall Street open, with $16 million of BTC short liquidations on the day. Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, was optimistic, stating that a retest at $29.7K would suit continuation towards new highs and towards $40K.

Ethereum's Ether (ETH) has experienced a significant price recovery against Bitcoin (BTC) after hitting a six-month low last week. The ETH/BTC pair reached 0.0709 BTC on April 18, up by approximately 15% from its local bottom of 0.0602 BTC six days prior. Ethereum's Shapella upgrade, which enables Ether stakers to withdraw their rewards from the proof-of-stake smart contract, may have boosted ETH's appeal compared to BTC. Stakers have withdrawn 574,700 ETH worth about $1.21 billion since the upgrade on April 12. However, institutional investors have shown more interest in Bitcoin than Ether in the past week, with Bitcoin-based investment vehicles witnessing $103.8 million in inflows versus Ethereum funds' $300,000. Ethereum's price is also at risk of a potential bearish reversal move due to its overbought daily relative strength index (RSI). The article does not provide investment advice and encourages readers to conduct their own research before making any decisions.

Bitcoin remained above $29,000 but dropped 0.23% to $29,787 on Tuesday amid renewed regulatory concerns. The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged crypto exchange Bittrex for breaching securities laws, while other crypto firms including Kraken, Coinbase, Paxos, and Binance have also been targeted by US regulators this year. Ethereum rose 0.48% to $2,101 after a blockchain upgrade, while Dogecoin and Solana fell on the day but rose on the week. The total crypto market capitalization gained 0.17% to $1.27 trillion, while the Forkast 500 NFT index rose 0.64%. Most Asian equity markets fell on Tuesday, except China and Japan, while US stock futures gained. European bourses rose to a year-high, led by Germany's DAX 40. Gold inched up 0.39% to steady around $2,002 an ounce.

Bitcoin has posted the strongest price performance since the market all-time-high, with several on-chain indicators signalling strength in support. In this edition, we assess whether the Bitcoin Bear may be behind us, and if a robust recovery is underway.

Bitcoin's reserve risk multiple, a historically reliable but lesser-known price indicator, has turned positive for the first time since October 2021, according to blockchain analytics firm Glassnode. The reserve risk multiple is a long-term cyclical indicator that compares the incentive to sell at the market price to long-term holders resisting the temptation to liquidate. The previous crossovers above zero have led to significant price rallies, and the latest positive crossover suggests that bitcoin's recent rally to ten-month highs above $30,000 may be only the first milestone in its upward journey. The bullish implication is consistent with bitcoin's tendency to experience outsized rallies in the months leading up to mining reward halvings, and the fourth reward halving is due in April next year.

TBD, a bitcoin developer-focused entity owned by Jack Dorsey’s Block, has partnered with Yellow Card, an Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange platform, to launch a fiat on and off-ramp that enables payments in 16 African countries through Bitcoin rails. The new platform aims to make cross-border payments more affordable, accessible, and compliant. The partnership allows users to send US dollars or BTC and for recipients to receive the local currency equivalent. For recipients living in countries with hyperinflation, the platform can be used as a place to store BTC or stablecoins. Yellow Card's CEO, Chris Maurice, stated that the international payments space, especially in Africa, is in dire need of innovative solutions, and this is the culmination of the vision behind Block’s initial investment in Yellow Card in 2021. The partnership is expected to advance Block's empowerment via breaking down the barriers to financial access across the Global South.

Bitcoin (BTC) made a strong move above $30,000 last week but has faced some selling pressure since then, currently trading at $29,560 and a market cap of $571 billion. However, crypto market analyst Ali Martinez points out one on-chain indicator, the Bitcoin Reserve Risk, which hints at strong bullish momentum for Bitcoin going ahead. Based on the purchases by Ethereum addresses, Martinez also wrote about the strong support and resistance levels for Bitcoin. On-chain data provider Glassnode notes that over 23.3% of the supply held outside exchanges owned by long-term holders are underwater on their position, showing similarities to early 2016 and early 2019. Additionally, 6.2M BTC have returned to profit (32.3% of supply), with the incentive to spend and sell Bitcoins with every price rise growing further. Glassnode also points out another interesting metric dubbed NUPL, which measures how the Bitcoin market cap is currently positioned against the unrealized profit, suggesting that the market is at a very neutral level. (coingape)

According to a CoinShares report, digital asset management product inflows hit $114 million last week, with Bitcoin continuing its bullish streak. However, short Bitcoin also witnessed significant inflows of $14.6 million last week. Altcoins showed little activity despite the successful launch of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade, with Ether inflows constricted to just $0.3 million last week. Inflows for blockchain equities have soared to levels not seen since the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX, with inflows of $5.8 million last week, bringing total assets under management close to $2 billion. The US dominated the chart with $58 million in the past week, followed by Germany with $35.4 million, Canada with $17.2 million, and Switzerland with $6.6 million. ProShares had the most significant inflow of $57.3 million. (cryptopotato)

Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, has integrated Bitcoin’s Lightning Network into his corporate email address. This allows anyone to use the email address, [email protected], to send bitcoin to the billionaire using The Lightning Address protocol.