MicroStrategy's STRC perpetual preferred stock has financed bitcoin buying at a pace far beyond the U.S. spot ETF market in 2026. Data cited from bitcointreasuries.net show STRC-linked purchases of about 77,000 BTC year to date, versus roughly 8,000 BTC of net spot Bitcoin ETF buying over the same period. Bitcoin financial services firm River highlighted the discrepancy, saying STRC has accumulated 10 times more BTC than all ETFs combined so far this year. STRC is Strategy's Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock and trades near its $100 par value on Nasdaq. It pays a variable annual dividend currently set at 11.5%, distributed monthly in cash. The structure is designed to fund bitcoin purchases: when STRC trades at or above par, the company can issue additional shares and direct the proceeds into BTC. The approach is positioned as a way to avoid diluting MSTR common stock while converting demand from credit-oriented investors into bitcoin held on the balance sheet. In the week ended April 19, MicroStrategy bought 34,164 BTC for $2.54 billion, lifting total holdings to 815,061 bitcoin. That level exceeds BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which holds about 806,178 BTC. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are still seeing inflows, but the scale remains modest by comparison. Farside Investors data show $238 million of net inflows on April 20, the fifth straight day of positive flows. Even so, the cumulative net new bitcoin absorbed by ETFs this year remains a small fraction of what STRC has funded. If MicroStrategy keeps issuing STRC at the current pace, bitcointreasuries.net projections indicate the firm could surpass 1 million BTC by late 2026.

Bitcoin's ($BTC) liquid supply on centralized exchanges continues to contract, according to CryptoQuant. Analyst Sunnymom cites 2023 and 2024 as the inflection point when exchange reserves began depleting more rapidly. Institutional demand is also building. BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF now manages billions of dollars in assets, with inflows showing little sign of slowing. Strategy has accumulated about 4% of Bitcoin's total supply, funded by aggressive debt-backed purchases. Traditional finance firms are expanding access and launching new products. Morgan Stanley attracted $100 million on the first day of its low-fee Bitcoin ETF. Charles Schwab has enabled direct Bitcoin trading for its 46 million clients. Goldman Sachs has filed for a Bitcoin Covered Call Yield ETF.

Xinhuo Group said it has completed the acquisition of Li Lin's family office, Avenir Group, taking over an approximately 20-member investment team, related trading systems and Avenir's long-running Bitcoin strategy capabilities. The deal is intended to strengthen Xinhuo's private banking-grade digital asset custody offering. Bloomberg reported on April 22 that Hong Kong-listed Sunfire Group (1611.HK), formerly Sunfire Technology, acquired Avenir's investment team and trading infrastructure and will integrate its long-term BTC strategy into Sunfire's digital asset custody and wealth management business. Weng Xiaoqi, executive director and CEO of Xinhuo Group, said the incoming team will bolster the firm's investment research backbone for its private banking-grade custody platform, supporting expansion among high-net-worth and institutional clients. The company targets more than $1 billion in assets under management for its private banking-grade digital asset management business within two years. Avenir, which originated from Li Lin's family office, has developed into a diversified investment group. As of Dec. 31, 2025, it held more than $900 million in Bitcoin ETFs, ranking among industry leaders. Xinhuo Technology rebranded as Xinhuo Group in March, as part of a broader brand and business upgrade. Weng said the team joining Xinhuo covers the full cycle of investment research, execution and risk management, with a core focus on the "Alpha BTC" strategy. The approach seeks to enhance returns through options, aiming to outperform a simple long-term Bitcoin holding strategy and provide more competitive asset management solutions. According to the company, the strategy delivered annualized returns of about 5% to 7% during research periods, remaining steady through extended market drawdowns with peak-to-trough declines of around 1%. Jacob Zhong, managing partner for strategic investment and partnerships at Avenir, said the integration combines the strengths of both sides and will support Xinhuo's strategic upgrade in building industry-leading digital asset solutions. Xinhuo said it will host the "Bitfire Day・2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit" on April 23 at the main stage of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center's Web3 Carnival, where it plans to disclose details of the "Alpha BTC" service and announce its full acquisition plan and forward roadmap.

Bitcoin climbed above $78,000, while the Fear & Greed Index improved, exiting the 'extreme fear' zone.

Brent crude jumped 5.4% on Apr. 21 to settle at $99.89 after briefly touching $102.16, as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained heavily disrupted. Reports said just three vessels transited the strait over the prior 24 hours, far below the pre-conflict norm of roughly 140 per day. International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol described the situation as the largest energy crisis in history. The IEA coordinated a record 400 million-barrel release from strategic reserves in March. The inflation pass-through is already visible in U.S. data. March retail sales beat forecasts, helped by a 15.5% jump in gasoline station receipts tied to war-driven fuel prices. Markets have responded by pushing out expectations for Federal Reserve easing. In late February, fed funds futures implied two 25-basis-point cuts by December. By Apr. 21, contracts reflected only a 30% chance of a single 25 bp cut for the full year. Rates and the dollar moved higher alongside oil on Apr. 21. The 10-year Treasury yield ended at 4.313% and the 2-year at 3.802%, both higher on the session, while the dollar strengthened. Bitcoin failed to rally in that setup, and even traditional inflation hedges struggled, with gold falling 2% as tighter real financing conditions and dollar strength dominated. Deutsche Bank underscored the risk on an Apr. 17 call, arguing the Fed could keep rates unchanged through 2026 if oil-driven inflation persists. A recent ceasefire-driven move highlighted the same macro linkage in reverse. After a ceasefire development on Apr. 7, Brent slid to $92.55 on Apr. 8, yields fell, traders rebuilt roughly 50% odds of a year-end Fed cut, and Bitcoin rose 2.95% to $72,738.16. Bitcoin recovered toward the upper-$70,000s, trading around $78,000 on Apr. 22, leaving investors focused on whether it can hold that level as oil and yields remain elevated. Two setups for the week ahead 1) Macro pressure dominates: If Brent holds above $100 and the 2-year yield rises from around 3.80%, markets are likely to price stickier inflation, fewer cuts, and tighter liquidity. Bitcoin could drift lower and retest support in the mid-$70,000s, reinforcing the view that it is behaving like a high-beta proxy for rate expectations. 2) Relative strength emerges: If Brent stays near $100 without accelerating, Hormuz disruption persists, and yields remain high, a Bitcoin market that stays flat or firms around $78,000—while equities and gold remain pressured—would signal resilience against a textbook macro headwind. Key levels to watch this week are Brent crude, the 2-year Treasury yield, and Bitcoin's ability to hold the upper-$70,000s.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT urged users to avoid Bitcoin Depot's Bitcoin ATMs, pointing to a recent case in which an elderly U.S. fraud victim was allowed to swap $25,000 in cash for BTC at what he described as an excessive rate. According to ZachXBT, the customer was quoted $108,000 per bitcoin while BTC was trading near $75,000. The transaction reportedly delivered 0.232 BTC, valued at about $17,500 based on the prevailing market price. He also said Bitcoin Depot was recently exploited for a $3.26 million loss—roughly 54 BTC—that allegedly went unnoticed for several days.

Tiger Research says Bitcoin's long-term upside case remains intact and reiterates a 12-month target of $143,000, even as macro support cools and network fundamentals lose some momentum. The firm notes global liquidity is still expanding, institutional flows have begun to turn, and on-chain indicators have moved out of Q1's panic zone. At the same time, an oil-driven inflation shock tied to the Iran conflict has reduced the Federal Reserve's room to cut rates as quickly as markets had expected. Macro conditions: supportive, but slower Global M2 has climbed to a record $13.44 trillion, yet Bitcoin has fallen about 27% since Tiger Research's Q1 report, with early-April prices averaging roughly $70,500. The report attributes the gap between rising liquidity and falling prices to where that liquidity is coming from. More than 60% of M2 growth across China, the U.S., the eurozone and Japan over the past year is said to have come from China, driven by the People's Bank of China's reserve-requirement cuts and a shift to a more dovish stance in Q1. The U.S. accounts for about 10% of the increase. Tiger Research argues that Chinese liquidity has limited pathways into Bitcoin due to domestic crypto trading restrictions. Indirect channels via Hong Kong and Singapore are seen as serving mainly institutional allocations, meaning the portion of global liquidity that actually reaches the Bitcoin market is shrinking. Iran conflict complicates the Fed's easing path With U.S. dollar liquidity still the dominant driver for Bitcoin, the report flags the Iran conflict as a key headwind. After U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, pushing Brent crude to $118 per barrel in mid-March and lifting Dubai crude to a record $166. The surge fed into U.S. inflation, with March CPI rising to 3.3% from 2.4% in February, the highest level in two years. Tiger Research says this squeezed the Fed's flexibility, and the March dot plot cut expected 2026 rate cuts to one. By mid-April, parts of the Strait of Hormuz had reopened, oil fell back to around $90, and core CPI held at 2.6%, suggesting the shock has not fully spread through the broader economy. The report also notes that President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair at the end of January and that Senate confirmation hearings are in progress. Powell's term ends May 15, and Tiger Research expects a dovish bias to persist even if the total number of cuts is reduced. Institutional flows: early signs of a turn Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted their worst monthly outflows since launch in November 2025 and recorded five straight months of net outflows. Tiger Research says the trend shifted in March, when monthly net flows turned positive. By mid-April, year-to-date net flows were positive again and total AUM had rebounded to $96.5 billion. On the corporate side, accumulation is accelerating among existing participants. Strategy bought 34,164 BTC for $2.54 billion during April 13–19, lifting total holdings to 815,061 BTC. The report adds that the number of companies joining the buying trend has not expanded meaningfully. Macro score cut to +20% Tiger Research says structural supports—liquidity expansion, an easing bias in policy, improving institutional flows and progress on the U.S. CLARITY Act—remain in place. Oil shocks and a slower pace of Fed cuts offset part of that support, leading the firm to revise its Q2 macro indicator down by 5 percentage points from Q1 to +20%. On-chain: from undervaluation toward early equilibrium Key on-chain indicators including MVRV-Z, NUPL and aSOPR have moved out of Q1 panic territory and into what the report describes as an early recovery zone. Tiger Research does not expect the type of sharp rally often seen in panic rebounds, but says historical data shows average one-year returns from this zone have remained in double digits, keeping risk-reward attractive. The report highlights that the short-term holder (STH) cost basis is falling, consistent with speculative capital exiting while new buyers accumulate at lower prices. This, it argues, lines up with the return of ETF inflows and large purchases by Strategy, reinforcing the view that institutions are averaging in during discount phases. Two price levels are framed as pivotal. The key downside risk is $54,000, described as the network-wide average cost basis; a break below it would place the network in an unrealized loss position and could act as an extreme-case bottom. The strongest resistance is $78,000, the average entry cost of long-term holders. With Bitcoin around $70,500, the market sits about 13% below that level. Tiger Research says a clean break above $78,000 would be a primary signal of a short-term trend reversal. Usage data: transactions up, participation down In the first half of April, daily average transactions reached 564,000, up 37.9% year over year. The report cautions that underlying activity looks weaker: active addresses fell to 428,000 (down 13.2% year over year and 4.2% quarter over quarter) and average transaction size dropped to 1.19 BTC from 1.80 BTC in the prior quarter, a 34.1% decline. Tiger Research interprets this as repeated small transfers by a limited user set, with much of the volume likely tied to mechanical flows such as exchange deposits rather than broad-based economic use. BTCFi thesis weakens; fundamentals reset to 10% Tiger Research had held fundamental metrics at 0% in Q1 on expectations of BTCFi expansion. Entering Q2, it says that case has weakened. Citing The Block's "2026 Digital Assets Outlook," the report notes Bitcoin L2 TVL is down 74% year to date, while total BTCFi TVL has slipped 10% and represents just 0.46% of Bitcoin's total supply (91,332 BTC). While Babylon and Lombard have grown, the broader ecosystem has contracted. As a result, the firm revises Q2 fundamentals to a baseline of 10%. Target reiterated: $143,000 and roughly 2x upside Using a TVM framework, Tiger Research sets a neutral baseline of $132,500 based on the early-April 2026 average price. Applying a 10% fundamental adjustment and a +20% macro adjustment yields a 12-month target of $143,000. That is about 23% below the Q1 target of $185,500, but the firm says the pullback in spot prices has increased the upside from current levels. On its average-price calculation, upside expands from +93% in Q1 to +103% in Q2. Tiger Research stresses that the downward revision reflects slower momentum, not a bearish shift, arguing that the macro trend and on-chain structure still support a long-term bull market. It highlights three short-term conditions to watch: a decisive move above the $78,000 global mid-term equilibrium level, continued ETF net inflows, and a Fed policy shift enabled by easing geopolitical risk. If all three align, the firm says the $143,000 target remains within reach.

Bitcoin climbed above $78,000 after former U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire between the United States and Iran would be extended.

BlockBeats reports that Strategy said in its latest Monday filing that it holds 815,061 BTC worth about $61.363 billion, acquired at an average cost of $75,527 per coin. With Bitcoin breaking above $78,000 on April 22 and last trading around $77,902, the company's bitcoin holdings have turned profitable, showing an unrealized gain of roughly $1.935 billion.