- HODL FM Newsletter
- Posts
- $100M disclosure, X’s big move, and markets at ATH - This Week in Crypto
$100M disclosure, X’s big move, and markets at ATH - This Week in Crypto
This week the news cycle had something for everyone: power, politics, protocol drama, and green candles. Here's everything you need to know before the weekend.
Hodl Fm
April 17, 2026
Sponsored by
Stop Losing Your Money. It's time to upgrade your trading platform.
Your current trading platform is probably letting you down
Limited assets (no international stocks, no commodities, no pre-IPO companies)
Limited ability to short
Limited access to leverage
Limited trading hours
Liquid is one of the fastest growing trading platforms, allowing users to trade stocks, commodities, FX, and more 24/7/365 from their phone and computer.
Trading on Liquid is as simple as:
Pick an asset
Pick long or short
Pick your position size and leverage
Place your trade
The best part is that Liquid markets never close. So no matter what is going on in the world, you are able to keep your portfolio positioned properly.
YOUR DOSE OF CRYPTO WISDOM AND ENTERTAINMENT
Happy Friday, hodlers.
The man who might run the Federal Reserve owns Solana. The world's biggest social network just put a price chart next to every ticker symbol. Trump's DeFi project is fighting one of crypto's biggest personalities in public. And the stock market, still digesting war, oil shocks, and recession whispers, just hit all-time highs anyway.
This was not a slow week. Let's get into it.
📰 THIS WEEK’S HOT NEWS
Trump's Fed pick just disclosed over $100M in assets
Kevin Warsh, Trump's nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair, filed a 69-page disclosure this week revealing a sprawling financial empire: over $100M in a Druckenmiller-linked fund, consulting fees from Cerberus and Brevan Howard, and stakes in DeFi protocols like Compound and dYdX, plus positions in Solana, Optimism, and a web of Web3 infrastructure plays. He's pledged to divest most of it, but untangling venture stakes with lock-up periods won't be quick. His Senate hearing is set for April 21, with Powell's chair term expiring May 15. The clock is ticking.
X rolls out smart cashtags with live price charts
Elon Musk's everything-app ambitions took a concrete step forward this week. X introduced a "Cashtags" feature that lets users type a ticker like $BTC and get a dedicated feed with a live price chart, real-time discussion threads, and automatic asset matching. Canadian users also got something extra: a pilot trading integration with Wealthsimple, putting a "trade" button right on cashtag pages. X isn't becoming a broker — it's becoming the layer on top of one. Currently iOS-only in the US and Canada, with web and Android versions in the pipeline. Crypto attention incoming.
Justin Sun vs. World Liberty Financial
The WLFI governance saga escalated this week after Justin Sun went public calling the project's latest proposal "world tyranny, not world free finance." At issue: a plan that locks tokens for two years, followed by a two-year gradual release — with holders who don't accept facing indefinite lock-ups. Sun, who controls roughly 4% of voting power, claims his own tokens are frozen and that an anonymous multisig controls the smart contracts. Earlier votes showed 99.12% approval with 76% of voting power held by just 10 wallets. WLFI is down over 75% from its all-time high of $0.33 and the project is hinting at legal countermeasures. This one is messy.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs
Both major indexes closed at all-time highs on Wednesday, S&P 500 at 7,022.95 and Nasdaq at 24,016.02, completing a V-shaped recovery from the US-Iran war shock that hit earlier this year. The Nasdaq has now risen more than 15% since late March, its best stretch since 2022. The catalyst? Hope for a peace deal, easing oil prices, strong bank earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, and a massive wave of algorithmic buying, CTAs alone poured $19 billion into equities last week.
📈 TOP GAINERS & LOSERS
Top gainers
RaveDAO (RAVE) - jumped by 1368.88% to $18.61 this week;
MemeCore (M) - surged 41.99% during that time to reach a price of $3.73;
Celestia (TIA) - The price went up 32.81% to $0.40.
Top losers
Dash (DASH) - end week price of $36.80, falling this week for 13.02%;
Zcash (ZEC) - lost 11.58% to end the week at a price of $332.30.
Midnight (NIGHT) - finished the week down 8.04%, at $0.03749;
📘 EDUCATIONAL PICK — LEARN & LEVEL UP
🐦 TWEETS OF THE WEEK
FOLLOW OUR SOCIAL MEDIA:
X - Where Crypto Meets Comedy;
TikTok - Investigating the Wacky World of Crypto;
СoinMarketCap - The Wildest Ride in the Crypto Market;
YouTube - Your Gateway to the World of Crypto.
Disclaimer: We're here to entertain, not to be your financial guru. This newsletter is purely for educational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or a magical fortune-telling session. So, grab your popcorn, enjoy the read, but remember to use your own wits and conduct thorough research before making any money moves. Stay curious, my friend!