Key Points
- Bitcoin briefly outperformed U.S. equities amid tensions between the Federal Reserve and President Trump.
- Stablecoin giant Circle unveils a new cross-border payment network to rival SWIFT and Ripple.
Bitcoin’s performance against the U.S. equities was a significant topic in recent crypto news.
Following the announcement of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in early April, Bitcoin’s performance, like U.S. stocks, was subdued. However, Bitcoin rallied to an April high of $88.8K just before the start of Tuesday’s U.S. market trading session.
Gold Hits Record High
Gold also reached a record high of $3.5K per ounce, which analysts attributed to a flight to ‘safe haven’ amid President Donald Trump’s threats to the independence of the Federal Reserve.
Crypto trading firm QCP Capital noted, “The move underscores a broader flight from U.S. equities, Treasuries, and the dollar, as concerns around Federal Reserve independence escalate.”
President Trump criticized Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for being ‘too late’ to cut interest rates and threatened to remove him before his term ends next year. The market’s reaction to Trump’s comments was swift and negative for the U.S. dollar and stocks, but Bitcoin and gold saw significant increases.
Circle Unveils New Payment Network
Circle, a stablecoin giant, introduced a new cross-border payment network (CPN) to compete with SWIFT, Mastercard, and Ripple. The current platforms, like SWIFT, can take up to three days and charge 6% fees on the transferable amount. Circle stated, “With CPN, banks and payment providers can move money at internet-speed using fully reserved digital dollars and euros.”
Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island and former Fidelity crypto analyst, noted that the move would be an ‘equivalent of SWIFT.’ It’s still unclear how this will affect Ripple, which also relies on cross-border payments.
Ripple’s XRP could face another regulatory hurdle following a recent complaint by the Oregon Attorney General (AG) against Coinbase. The suit claimed that XRP, Solana [SOL], and 29 other tokens have been traded on the platform as unregistered ‘crypto securities.’ However, Coinbase dismissed the complaint, citing several omissions, including Judge Analisa Torres’ decision on XRP that only sales to institutional investors constituted a ‘security.’
On Monday, pro-crypto Paul Atkins was sworn in as the 34th SEC chairman. This followed a U.S. Senate confirmation on 9 April 2025 and a hearing where he promised a ‘rational’ crypto regulation. After his swearing-in, Nate Geraci of ETF Store predicted that pending applications, including staking on Ethereum (ETH) ETFs, would be expedited.
