How Strategy Pulled Ahead

Strategy held 189,150 BTC at the start of Q1 2024.

IBIT surpassed it by early Q2 with roughly 273,000 BTC compared to Strategy’s 214,400 BTC, a lead which IBIT consistently maintained until now.

Strategy pulled ahead by aggressively accumulating nearly 80,000 BTC in 2026 while Bitcoin fell over 50% from its October all-time high. 

The STRC Funding Engine

The perpetual preferred equity STRC has been Strategy’s key differentiator, providing a scalable source of capital that funded a significant portion of recent Bitcoin accumulation.

The stock pays monthly dividends and currently offers an annualized rate of 11.5%.

Strategy uses financial engineering including…

Read more on Benzinga

Bitcoin trades around $76,000 as sentiment remained neutral amid hopes of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension.

Bitcoin ETFs saw $238.4 million in net inflows on Monday, while Ethereum ETFs reported $67.8 million in net inflows.  

Meme coin market capitalization is up 5.8% over the past 24 hours at $38.4 billion.

Trader Commentary: 

Michael van de Poppe said Bitcoin is consolidating but still maintaining a clear upward trend, suggesting potential for further gains.

He added that a move toward $85,000 could take two to three weeks, noting that Bitcoin often lags movements in the Nasdaq Composite.

Ted Pillows noted Ethereum is trading around $2,300, with a CME gap above $2,400 that could be filled…

Read more on Benzinga

The Marketplace For AI Agents

Armstrong took to X to share the news about the launch of Agentic(.)market, deeming it a “discovery layer” for AI agents.

“For the agentic economy to overtake the human economy, agents need a way to discover services,” Armstrong stated.

Important Details To Know

The platform’s website calls it “the home for tracking adoption of agentic commerce.” It featured various services, spanning social media, travel, infrastructure, and cryptocurrency intelligence.

Users can get their agents added to the marketplace to access these services. Additionally, they could get their own services listed and add payment support. The only condition is that they should…

Read more on Benzinga

“We believe that AI should be privacy-centric,” CEO Brittany Kaiser said while speaking to Benzinga. “We are really declaring that making privacy-centric AI accessible should be a right.”

From Biotech To Blockchain To AI Infrastructure

Originally incorporated as Portage Biotech Inc., the company rebranded as AlphaTON Capital in September 2025, pivoting to a digital asset treasury strategy focused on the Telegram and The Open Network ecosystem. The latest rebrand to Alpha Compute marks the third and most consequential shift, one Kaiser says was always rooted in the same core mission of bringing privacy-centric tools to market.

The transition accelerated after Telegram introduced…

Read more on Benzinga

A leading cryptocurrency analyst spotlighted a sharp jump in Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) transaction volume over the past week.

Transaction Spike Preceded DOGE’s Rally

In an X post, Ali Martinez, citing supportive data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment, stated that nearly $800 million worth of DOGE was transacted on a single day on April 16.

The dramatic spike in on-chain volume preceded DOGE’s price hitting a one-month high of $0.10, though the memecoin has since pulled back sharply.

Is Whale Activity The Trigger?

The total transaction fees paid by users on the Dogecoin blockchain had also jumped to a one-month high on April 16, according to data from Token Terminal.

Interestingly,…

Read more on Benzinga

Grok Notes MSTR’s Influence On Bitcoin

When venture capitalist Jason Calacanis asked what Bitcoin’s price would be without Michael Saylor’s cryptocurrency treasury firm, Grok declined to provide an “exact” figure.

“But absent that consistent bid, we’d probably be $10,000–$20,000 lower based on volume and whale-effect analyses,” the AI chatbot said.

‘Narrative Of Institutional Adoption’

Grok stated that Strategy’s steady demand, coupled with the “narrative of institutional adoption,” created real upward pressure on Bitcoin. Without this backing, BTC’s current price would “likely be noticeably lower.”

When a user asked Grok to stick to the last four months, its…

Read more on Benzinga

Leading cryptocurrencies rose on Monday, while stocks ended lower amid mixed signals from President Donald Trump on the Iran conflict.

Crypto Market Rebounds

Bitcoin spiked to an intraday high of $76,575, bolstered by a 20% jump in 24-hour trading volume. Ethereum reclaimed $2,300, while XRP and Dogecoin also lifted.

Over $270 million was liquidated in the past 24 hours, predominantly in short positions, according to Coinglass data.

Open interest in Bitcoin futures rose 3.70% over the last 24 hours. However, whale and retail traders on Binance were bearish on BTC, evidenced by higher number of shorts vis-à-vis longs.

“Fear” sentiment prevailed in the market, according to the Crypto Fear &…

Read more on Benzinga

Bitcoin is holding above $75,000 as crypto markets hope for a positive resolution of U.S.-Iran talks on Tuesday.

Notable Statistics:

Coinglass data shows 138,626 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $390.5 million.       

SoSoValue data shows net inflows of $663.9 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Friday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $127.5 million.

In the past 24 hours, top gainers include Chiliz, edgeX and MemeCore.

Notable Developments:

Trader Notes:

Daan Crypto Trades said Bitcoin remains on track to post a double-digit gain this month, following a modestly positive performance in the previous month. He noted that this resilience comes despite ongoing…

Read more on Benzinga