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🟥 Crypto Market Crashes Hard. BTC Hits New 2026 Low
In just the past 12 hours, $BTC ( ▼ 16.03% ) dropped sharply from $88K down to $81,200 across major exchanges. Not only the lowest level of 2026, but also the weakest since mid-Nov 2025.
The crash didn’t stop with BTC. Altcoins tanked across the board, with many major names falling back to 3-month lows. It’s been a brutal red wave.
Over $1.5B in derivatives positions were liquidated in the last 12 hours. Yep, the longs got wiped 🔻
Here’s what we got for you today:
👀 Govt nap time? Risk hits 80%
⭐ Overnight crash: Gold back, BTC didn’t
⭐ Trump to announce new Fed Chair
🔥 Burning hot takes for the road
You’ve got a major Fed meeting. Earnings from Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and Tesla. And now a government shutdown threat just spiked to 80%. In this week’s breakdown, I’ll explain:
What’s actually moving markets this week (hint: not just charts)
Why the Fed’s press conference matters more than the rate itself
The shutdown twist: it may actually be bullish for crypto
What the Senate vote on Thursday could trigger
After breaking down the market chaos this week, I kept circling back to one player: Microsoft. If the first post was about macro impact, this one is about who’s playing it right 👇
The Real Reason Microsoft Wants The Whole AI Stadium. Satya Nadella is determined to break free from his dependence on OpenAI. He is quietly building his own empire to gain complete control of the entire game
🟥 OVERNIGHT MELTDOWN: GOLD UP, BUT BTC DOESN’T
Last night’s market shock sent everything into chaos, but not everything bounced back the same way.
$BTC ( ▼ 16.03% ) dropped over 6% during the U.S. session and early Asia open. And no bounce!
Unlike gold or even tech stocks, Bitcoin didn’t recover.
No “digital gold” bounce. No V-shaped rally...
1. What caused the crash?
U.S.–Iran tension exploded: Trump threatened military strikes if nuclear talks fall apart (he posted straight to Truth Social)
Middle East countries tried to calm things down, but talks stalled and U.S. forces kept showing up
There's also the looming U.S. government shutdown, just to spice things up.
Basically, fear everywhere. But crypto didn’t benefit.
2. Gold flexed. Why Bitcoin lagged behind?
Gold crashed 7% in one hour, touching $5,250, but then pulled off a V-shaped recovery, closing back above $5,400.
According to Kobeissi Letter, gold saw a historic $5.5 trillion market cap swing, biggest one-day move ever.
Silver? It's up nearly 4x since April’s tax-cut rally, now over $118/ounce
Gold? Up 25% this month, almost double since Trump’s second term began
Meanwhile, U.S. stocks did okay:
Nasdaq dipped just 0.7%
Meta surged +10% on strong earnings
Microsoft fell -10% over AI investment cost fears
Dow Jones closed slightly up.
Analysts say this isn’t just a flash crash. It may reflect a deeper trust issue. Faith in institutions is fading but instead of flowing into Bitcoin, capital’s going to gold bunkers.
Central banks are buying gold like crazy, trying to get less tied to U.S. debt. Retail is piling into metals too.
3. What could happen next week?
If demand doesn’t return, Bitcoin might stay weak. The only real supports right now are ETF inflows picking up + Retail investors coming back in.
Otherwise, a fresh wave of liquidations could hit. Right now, Bitcoin feels kinda… out of sync.
It’s not reacting to fear, not benefiting from volatility, not leading the narrative.
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🔥 TRUMP SET TO NAME NEW FED CHAIR. WARSH FAVORED!
Trump just confirmed he’ll announce his pick for the next Fed Chair, and all signs are pointing to Kevin Warsh.
He teased that it’ll be “someone well-known in finance”, even hinting that this person should’ve gotten the job years ago. That was all the market needed to hear.
1. Warsh Surges Ahead in Prediction Markets
After Warsh visited the White House Thursday, prediction markets exploded:
Polymarket: Warsh at 93%, $289M traded
Kalshi: 86% odds, $74M volume
Just a day earlier, BlackRock CIO Rick Rieder was still the frontrunner
Source: Polymarket
Even economist Justin Wolfers summed it up best: “Just seeing Warsh at the White House was enough to shift the market.”
2. Warsh’s Policy Stance: Loose Rates, Tight Balance Sheet
Warsh served as Fed Governor from 2006-2011 and has a very specific view:
Believes AI-driven productivity will bring down inflation → supports aggressive rate cuts
But says Fed's balance sheet is too big → wants to shrink it hard
Not everyone agrees with him. Economist Joseph Brusuelas said Warsh leans too much into tightening and didn’t exactly shine during the 2008 crisis.
3. Crypto Impact? It's Complicated
Warsh has criticized Quantitative Easing (QE), and if QE goes away, crypto loses one of its biggest growth engines.
The Fed’s balance sheet is still $6.5 trillion (was $8.9T in 2022), and crypto often rides the QE wave. His views on crypto are... complicated:
He invested in stablecoin project Basis (2018)
He’s a current advisor at Bitwise since 2021
But in 2022, he wrote a WSJ op-ed calling crypto “just software, not money”
→ prefers a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) instead
That’s directly opposite Trump’s recent pro-Bitcoin stance.
4. Confirmation Isn’t Locked In Yet
Even if Trump picks Warsh, he might not get through the Senate. Current odds from Polymarket:
39% chance Warsh gets exactly 52 votes
20% chance he’s outright rejected
That’s because Senator Thom Tillis (R) has pledged to block any Fed nominee until the DOJ finishes investigating Jerome Powell. Reminder:
Powell’s term as Chair ends May 15, 2026
He remains a Fed Governor until Jan 2028
👉 Fun fact: Trump almost chose Warsh in 2018, but went with Powell instead. He’s openly said he regrets it.
5. What This Means for Us?
He’ll probably cut rates to help growth but won’t pump the system with easy money like before. That’s not great news for crypto short-term.
And even though Warsh has touched crypto through Bitwise and Basis, he’s not a fan of “private currencies”, and would rather see a government-backed digital dollar.
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🔥 BURNING HOT TAKES FOR THE ROAD
The White House is hosting emergency talks with banks & crypto firms to fix the stablecoin drama. Even Coinbase bailed from the Senate. Read more
Remember The DAO hack in 2016? Ethereum just turned its leftover $ETH ( ▼ 25.07% ) into a $220M fund. Vitalik is helping run it. Read more
Tether’s stacking 1-2 tons of gold per week, already hit 140 tons. They’re building a “gold central bank”. Is this Plan B after USD? Read more
Vitalik Buterin casually made $70K on Polymarket last year. His edge is a contrarian “anti-insanity mode” strategy like “USD goes to zero.” Read more
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