Token Metrics Daily Pulse
Daily Pulse is your morning crypto briefing, summarizing key overnight changes, their significance, and upcoming alerts. No predictions or hype—just 10 essential points, verified and sourced. New episodes daily. Subscribe at tokenmetrics.com.
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Bitcoin clears $78K. Short sellers just got wrecked.
Bitcoin clears $78K for the first time in weeks. $418 million in liquidations in 24 hours. ETH up 4%, SOL up 4%. The short squeeze the bears didn't see coming.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• $418 million in crypto liquidations in 24 hours as Bitcoin tests $78K resistance and short sellers get caught offside.<br />• Lazarus Group has a new attack vector: a macOS-targeting exploit called Mach-O Man, and they're using LayerZero and other bridges to launder the proceeds.<br />• Aave's TVL is sliding, with capital rotating to Spark and Lido — and USDC is becoming the default parking spot for DeFi cash sitting on the sideline...
Scammers charging Bitcoin tolls in the Strait of Hormuz
Scammers posed as Iranian officials. They demanded Bitcoin to let ships pass Hormuz. At least one vessel paid. Strategy just bought 34,000 BTC more. The market barely flinched.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• Fraudsters impersonating Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials demanded Bitcoin and USDT from cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz — and at least one vessel appears to have paid.<br />• Arbitrum's Security Council froze $71.5 million in ETH tied to the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit — but the attacker had already moved $175 million across chains before the freeze landed.<br />• Strategy bought 34,000 BTC in its latest purchase while Bitmine crossed 4% of total ETH...
Crypto funds just absorbed $1.4B in a week
Crypto funds pulled in $1.4 billion last week. BTC is flat at $75K. ETH can't hold $2,500. Money is entering. Prices aren't moving. Something has to give.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• Crypto funds absorbed $1.4 billion last week as Bitcoin cleared its two-month trading range.<br />• Aave V3 TVL dropped significantly after the Kelp DAO rsETH bridge exploit, exposing structural risk from liquid restaking tokens as collateral.<br />• Polymarket is reportedly in talks to raise $400 million at a $15 billion valuation.<br /><br /><br />📰 Read the full Daily Pulse: https://pulse.tokenmetrics.com/p/crypto-funds-just-absorbed-1-4b-in-a-week-apr-20-2026-ggzn?utm_source=spreaker&utm_mediu...
65% of institutions now call crypto essential
65% of institutional investors call crypto a vital diversifier. BTC sits at $75K and sliding. Memes up 33% in a week. Conviction is rising while prices drift lower.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• A Nomura study finds 65% of institutional investors now view crypto as a vital portfolio diversifier — the highest reading the firm has recorded.<br />• Kelp DAO's rsETH bridge was exploited for $292 million — 2026's largest crypto hack — with wrapped ETH stranded across 20 chains in a LayerZero-based attack.<br />• Alcoa is selling its dormant Massena, New York smelter to NYDIG for Bitcoin mining and AI data center operations — a former industrial site convertin...
DeFi's biggest 2026 hack just hit $292M
Kelp DAO just lost $292 million in a bridge exploit. rsETH stranded across 20 chains. BTC slides to $76K. DeFi's security problem isn't getting smaller.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• The Kelp DAO exploit exposed a layered attack surface: restaked ETH on EigenLayer, a LayerZero-based bridge, and 20 destination chains — all failing together in a single coordinated hit that the restaking narrative wasn't prepared to absorb.<br />• Bitcoin broke through seven months of resistance this week before sliding back toward $76K — and the narrative battle between bulls and bears is now fully open.<br />• Solana futures open interest rose 20% this week as SOL briefl...
Kraken just spent $550M to buy a derivatives exchange
Kraken drops $550 million on a derivatives exchange. BTC sits at $76K with a sell wall overhead. Negative funding rates hit their highest of the year. Someone's positioning for the next move — question is which direction.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• Kraken's parent Payward is acquiring derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million in cash and stock — the biggest exchange acquisition in years.<br />• Negative funding rates hit their highest level of 2026 as BTC tests $76K — shorts are the most crowded they've been all year.<br />• Glassnode's RHODL ratio is signaling the Bitcoin bottom may already be in — a metric that has historically c...
BTC funding rates most negative since 2023
BTC funding rates just hit their most negative since 2023. Price sits at $74K. Short-term holders are hunting exits. Historically, this is where bottoms form — not where they break.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• Bitcoin funding rates just hit their most negative reading since 2023 — and history says that's actually a bullish setup.<br />• Drift Protocol just raised $148 million from Tether and partners — days after a massive exploit — and is replacing USDC with USDT as its primary stablecoin.<br />• Bitcoin developers are proposing BIP-361 — a plan to freeze wallets that are vulnerable to quantum computing attacks.<br /><br /><br />📰 Read the full Daily Pulse: h...
BTC stalled at $75K. The IMF just explained why.
BTC hit $75K yesterday. Today it's back at $74K. The IMF just cut global growth forecasts. Memes are up 12% this week. The market is sending three different signals at once.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• BTC touched $75K for the first time since February — then immediately pulled back. $411 million in ETF inflows followed. Analysts are calling for caution.<br />• The IMF just issued a global debt warning that directly reprices the macro backdrop for Bitcoin — and not in the way bulls want.<br />• World Liberty Financial — the Trump-backed DeFi project — is proposing to unlock $6.2 billion in tokens. Yes, billion.<br /><br /><br...
ETH just had its best day in months. BTC hit $75K.
ETH up 8% in a day. BTC touched $75K for the first time since February. Total market cap back above $2.6 trillion. But ETF flows were negative $291 million last week. Someone's buying — and it's not the funds.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• Bitcoin crossed $75K for the first time since early February — even as spot ETFs posted $291 million in net outflows last week.<br />• The SEC staff exempted crypto interface providers — wallets, front-ends, aggregators — from mandatory broker registration.<br />• Deutsche Börse is acquiring a stake in Kraken for $200 million — one of the largest traditional finance investments in a crypto exchange ever.<br /><br />...
SEC just gave crypto wallets a free pass
The SEC just said crypto wallet software isn't a broker. Three years of developer fear, gone in one staff bulletin. BTC sits at $72K. Crypto funds just had their best week since January. Someone should've bet on this.<br /><br />Today's key developments:<br />• The SEC just ruled that software enabling crypto wallet transactions doesn't qualify as a broker — exempting non-custodial interfaces from mandatory registration requirements.<br />• Crypto funds posted their best week of inflows since January, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF products seeing surging investment.<br />• Kraken disclosed it was targeted in an extortion attempt — an attacker claimed to have cl...
