Weekly: KelpDAO hack, pressure on Aave, and a new version about Satoshi’s identity

Last week, the market looked more alive than it had just a few weeks earlier. Bitcoin broke above $78,000 against the backdrop of the continued truce between the US and Iran, Ethereum also showed a stronger move, and along with that, old themes returned to the feed: risks in DeFi, the struggle around stablecoins, new questions about the role of AI, and another wave of discussions about who stood behind the creation of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin rose to  $78,000

During the period from April 20 to 26, Bitcoin was mostly moving upward and, amid news about the extension of the truce with Iran, managed to break the $78,000 level. Despite the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, experts already believe that the peak of uncertainty is behind us. The positive move was also supported by exchange-traded funds: during the week of April 20–24, BTC ETFs received another $823.7 million after $996.4 million the week before.

But the growth itself still does not look like a guarantee of a new strong trend. Wintermute suggested a move to $80,000 in the event of further de-escalation in the Middle East, while CryptoQuant reminded about the liquidity zone between $76,000 and $80,000, where the breakeven points for spot ETF buyers and short-term large holders converge. 

In addition, Santiment recorded that whales with balances from 10 to 10,000 BTC accumulated around 40,000 BTC over the last two weeks, while Coinbase believes that the market structure is recovering, although it is still too early to talk about a full reversal.

Big Bitcoin players are setting the tone again

Within the Bitcoin block itself, last week was also eventful. Strategy bought another 34,164 BTC at an average price of around $74,395, and this purchase once again triggered a wave of debate about the sustainability of its model. At the same time, Uzbekistan created a special green zone for mining, Besqala Mining Valley, with tax benefits until 2035, and the US Army, as it turned out, has already launched its own Bitcoin node, viewing the network primarily as a technology and a cybersecurity tool.

Another telling detail: Tesla continues to hold 11,509 BTC and recorded a $222 million unrealized loss from its crypto portfolio in the first quarter. So even against the backdrop of a stronger chart, the market does not create a sense of simplicity: some are buying aggressively, others are counting losses, and the state and large corporations are increasingly entering the space not only as investors, but also as institutional users of the technology.

Ethereum looks stronger fundamentally, but there is still no full comfort here

Ethereum also moved upward last week and on April 22 broke above $2,400, although it later pulled back and, at the time of preparing the weekly, was trading around $2,334. Over the week, ETH ETFs attracted $155.01 million after $275.83 million the week before, meaning institutional interest in the asset remains. At the same time, ETH’s own dynamics turned out weaker than Bitcoin’s because the market has not yet held the new level.

Fundamentally, the picture for Ethereum looks stronger. Vitalik Buterin at Hong Kong Web3 Festival once again outlined the network’s long-term positioning, and Etherealize even suggested a scenario of $250,000 per ETH if the asset truly starts competing with Bitcoin and gold for the status of base capital. 

The main argument here is that supply is tightening: the volume of ETH on exchanges has fallen to ten-year lows, and almost a third of the coins are already locked in staking. For the market, this is an important signal because the scarcity of the asset goes hand in hand with the discussion of its longer investment role.

Stablecoins are already putting pressure on banks and regulators

In the stablecoin block, several pieces of news came at once: the sector is entering a phase of a more serious redistribution of roles. Moody’s believes that even if interest payments on stablecoins are legalized, short-term pressure on banks will be limited. Meanwhile, future BIS head Pablo Hernández de Cos called for tougher global regulation and directly questioned whether stablecoins should be called money at all. In his view, they resemble securities or ETFs more. 

At the same time, the market is already using these instruments much more broadly. DoorDash is building payment infrastructure on stablecoins for more than 40 countries, Tether froze over $344 million in USDT in coordination with US authorities, and Pornhub abandoned USDT in favor of USDC. 

CLARITY Act is stalling again

In the regulatory block, the main problem has not changed: there is still no consensus between the banking and crypto sectors. Senator Thom Tillis does not expect consideration of the CLARITY Act in April precisely because of the dispute around paying rewards simply for holding stablecoins. At the same time, major crypto players are pressuring the Senate and consider the bill critically important. So the market is once again receiving a familiar signal: everyone talks about the need for rules, but in practice they still cannot reach an agreement.

Against this backdrop, attention is also being paid separately to US macro policy. Kevin Warsh, who is being named as Trump’s candidate for the post of Fed chair, promised in the Senate to act independently of the president’s wishes, while the US Department of Justice closed its investigation into Jerome Powell. 

For the crypto market, this is not a direct профильная topic, but it is important because it changes the backdrop against which decisions will be made both on rates and on the regulatory architecture in general. At the same time, within the 20th package of sanctions, the EU directly banned crypto operations with Russian services, once again showing that geopolitics is reaching ever deeper into digital assets as well.

KelpDAO and Aave reminded everyone how fragile DeFi remains

The most painful story of the week was the attack on KelpDAO. At the end of the previous week, the restaking protocol lost $293 million, and the problem quickly went beyond a single project because the attacker issued a large volume of unbacked rsETH and used it as collateral in Aave. Because of the bad debt, Aave had to freeze part of its markets, and capital began flowing out of the protocol, with Justin Sun in particular withdrawing around $400 million. 

Part of the losses were contained thanks to the freezing of assets on the Arbitrum network, after which ecosystem projects launched the DeFi United initiative to cover the bad debt and prevent the situation from finishing off Aave.

Vercel reported the compromise of part of its environments, creating risk for many DeFi projects that keep their front end on its infrastructure. Volo Protocol reported a $3.5 million hack, and April 2026 has already been called the worst month in DeFi history by attack losses: around $630 million in just two weeks, and almost $800 million since the beginning of the year. 

Satoshi, Justin Sun, and noise in the info field

The authors of the film Finding Satoshi added another version this week about the identity of Bitcoin’s creator. Based on the results of a four-year investigation, they concluded that under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto there could have been a duo of the now deceased Hal Finney and Len Sassaman. This is not the first attempt to name specific people, but such stories consistently return at the moment when the industry once again needs a strong story.

At the same time, Justin Sun filed a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial over the freezing of his WLFI tokens. Sun himself said that he tried to settle the conflict without going to court, but the project’s team refused to unfreeze the assets. WLFI responded that he was simply diverting attention from his own violations. 

The market does not like such stories because they once again show how quickly conflicts between major players spill into the public space and drag reputational risks for all sides along with them.

AI is already operating not in the background, but inside the market system

In the AI block, last week was also dense. Coinbase is testing two AI agents in Slack styled after former top managers of the company, the ECB has already introduced AI for inflation forecasting, SpaceX is exploring a possible acquisition of Cursor for $60 billion, Amazon is ready to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, and in the US an investigation was launched against OpenAI over the potential role of ChatGPT in a mass shooting. Separately, OpenAI presented GPT-5.5, betting on a more practical format of interaction with the model.

The most troubling story here was the Mythos model from Anthropic. According to Bloomberg, the restricted system for finding critical vulnerabilities in browsers and operating systems ended up in the hands of outside parties through the credentials of a contractor’s employee. 

The story is interesting because the market is increasingly perceiving AI not only as a growth driver, but also as a risk factor: for cybersecurity, infrastructure, and the reputation of major players.

Kursoff’s opinion

Last week the market really did look stronger, but that strength did not look simple. Bitcoin is growing, although near $80,000 a zone is already forming where those who have been sitting in losses for a long time may start exiting more actively. 

The market is coming back to life again, but under the layer of positive charts there is still too much tension to relax. That is why now it is worth looking not only at price growth, but also at where exactly systemic risk is accumulating: in protocols, in regulation, in stablecoins, in AI, or in the behavior of major players. In weeks like this, that often gives much more than the candle on the chart itself.