The ratio between bitcoin's daily trading volumes in spot and derivatives markets has reached an 11-month low, signaling renewed speculative activity in the crypto market. The decline comes amid a 70% year-to-date rise in bitcoin's price and indicates improved risk appetite in the crypto market and potential for price volatility. The slide has been quite sharp since bitcoin first ran into crucial resistance above $28,500 on March 21, with speculators piling into bitcoin at a faster rate relative to retail investors and long-term holders. The spot market is usually equated with long-term investors, while derivatives are considered a proxy for sophisticated traders and speculators who make risky leveraged bets to magnify returns.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw renewed momentum and headed back towards $29,000 on April 5, with data showing whale orders guiding price action. Binance order book data showed large-volume "whale" traders buying, potentially pushing the market higher in the short term. However, some analysts warned that the same traders could be artificially pushing the market higher to sell closer to $30,000. Meanwhile, largest altcoin Ether (ETH) looked primed for an attack on $2,000, having gained nearly 5% in the past 24 hours. Trading suite Decentrader noted that funding rates had already been hinting at the upside to come for ETH/USD, and analysts were optimistic about altcoins in general.

March proved to be a tumultuous month for the crypto industry, given the increasing collective scrutiny from regulators that many in the industry have dubbed ‘Operation Choke Point’.

Bitcoin recently soared to almost $29,000 after a brief dip following news of Interpol issuing a Red Notice on Binance's CEO, which turned out to be fake. Despite failing to continue upwards and challenge $29,000, bitcoin is still up 2% on the day amid bullish on-chain signs and sits north of $28,500. Ethereum is up almost 6%, charting an eight-month high above $1,900, ahead of the long-anticipated Shanghai upgrade. XRP has also surged by 5.3%, while Avalanche and Uniswap are notable gainers from the top 20 altcoins, having surged by over 6%. The total crypto market cap has added around $30 billion in a day and is above $1.2 trillion on CMC.

Bitcoin rose by 1.36% to over $28,000 in the last 24 hours, while Ether gained 3.35% to reach $1,870.

Paxful, the peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace popular in countries like Nigeria and Kenya, has suspended operations. But Paxful co-founder, Ray Youssef, is already trying to rally support for a new platform called Civilization Kit (Civ Kit) – a decentralized peer-to-peer bitcoin trading application, built on the Jack Dorsey-backed decentralized social media protocol, Nostr.

The latest banking crisis could lead to “the first-ever extended duration bull market” for Bitcoin (BTC), according to Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten.

One of the leading crypto mining firms – Marathon Digital – mined a record 2,195 BTC during the year’s first quarter and increased its holdings to 11,466 bitcoin (equivalent to over $321 million at current prices).

John Deaton, the lawyer who represents hundreds of XRP token holders in the ongoing Ripple lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said there was no truth to the perceived notion of Bitcoin and digital assets being a threat to the US financial system and the US Dollar. He spoke at a public hearing at the Maine Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. He also touched upon the impact of the banking crisis and the global implications it had.