Tesla kept its entire 11,509 Bitcoin intact through the first quarter of 2026 despite a brutal crypto market selloff, the company reported in its earnings release today.

Bitcoin lost about 22% of its value during those three months, its steepest first-quarter drop in eight years, which pushed Tesla’s digital asset holdings from roughly $1 billion down to $786 million by the end of March.

The drop was caused by a mix of geopolitical tensions, a hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve, and overall risk-off sentiment, resulting in heavily negative investment product outflows in January and February.

By late April, Bitcoin had recovered much of its decline. The digital asset changed hands at $78,000, boosting Tesla’s holdings back to around $900 million.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker bought 43,200 Bitcoin for $1.5 billion in February 2021. In 2022, the company sold about 75% of its holdings near the lows. The remaining 11,509 coins have sat untouched since January 2025, a period that included Bitcoin’s surge past $126,000 in September 2025 and the subsequent drop through Q1 2026.

Tesla ranks eleventh among public companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets, well behind Strategy, which has made Bitcoin accumulation essentially its entire corporate identity.

Tesla Q1 revenue rises 16% to $22 billion as free cash flow surges

Tesla posted Q1 revenue of $22.38 billion, a 16% increase year-over-year, driven by growth in automotive revenue to $16.2 billion and strong expansion in services and Full Self-Driving subscriptions, which reached 1.28 million. Free cash flow rose to $1.4 billion, largely outperforming expectations, while net income increased modestly to $477 million.

Despite these gains, Tesla’s core EV business showed signs of weakness, with deliveries of 358,023 vehicles falling short of expectations even as production exceeded 408,000 units. This suggests softer demand and a growing reliance on pricing, services, and software to support revenue.

While performance has improved compared to last year, it lags behind the company’s last three quarters. Tesla is now entering a capital-intensive phase, planning $25 billion in spending on AI and robotics in 2026, with management signaling negative cash flow in the periods ahead.

Bitcoin just did something it hasn’t managed in months: it broke free.

After spending nearly three months pinned between $65K and $75K, BTC surged past $79K on Wednesday, riding a wave of geopolitical relief after President Trump extended the US ceasefire with Iran just hours before the two-week deal was set to expire. The timing was, as they say, not subtle.

What happened

The ceasefire extension removed what traders had been pricing in as an imminent risk. An expiring deal with Iran, left to lapse, would have injected fresh uncertainty into energy markets and the broader risk landscape. Instead, the renewal acted like a release valve.

Bitcoin climbed 4.3% in 24 hours and 6.6% over the past week, pushing to levels not seen since early February. Ethereum followed closely, gaining 4.2% to reach $2,400. Solana rose 3.1% to $89, and XRP held steady near $1.45.

Traditional markets moved in lockstep. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both posted gains Wednesday morning, confirming this wasn’t a crypto-specific phenomenon. Risk assets across the board got the green light.

Here’s the thing: Bitcoin had been stuck in that $65K-$75K range since early February. That’s roughly 10 weeks of sideways price action, the kind of extended consolidation that tends to resolve violently in one direction or the other. This time, it resolved upward.

The fear is still real

Despite the breakout, the market’s emotional state tells a more cautious story. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sits at 32, firmly in “Fear” territory. Last week it was at 23, which registers as “Extreme Fear.”

In English: traders are less terrified than they were seven days ago, but they’re not exactly popping champagne. A move from “Extreme Fear” to regular “Fear” is improvement in the same way that going from a house fire to a kitchen fire is improvement. Progress, sure. Calm, not quite.

That gap between price action and sentiment is worth watching. Historically, sustained rallies that begin while fear dominates tend to have legs. The logic is simple: when everyone is scared, fewer people are fully positioned. As the breakout continues, sidelined capital gets pulled in, creating a self-reinforcing move higher.

Of course, the inverse is also true. If the breakout fails and BTC slides back into its old range, the already-fearful market could tip into something uglier.

Why geopolitics moved crypto

There’s an ongoing debate about whether Bitcoin is a risk asset or a safe haven. Days like Wednesday make the answer pretty clear: it trades like a risk asset, at least on shorter timeframes.

When the ceasefire extension removed a source of geopolitical tension, Bitcoin rallied alongside equities. It didn’t rally in advance as a hedge against conflict, which is what you’d expect from digital gold. It rallied after the tension dissipated, which is what you’d expect from a high-beta version of the Nasdaq.

This isn’t a new dynamic, but it’s worth restating because the narrative shifts depending on who’s talking. Bitcoin can serve as a long-term store of value and simultaneously trade like a risk asset in the short term. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re just confusing.

The broader context matters too. Trump’s diplomatic posture toward Iran has been a source of market anxiety for weeks. The original two-week ceasefire was itself a surprise, and the extension doubles down on a de-escalation path that few observers expected. For markets that had been pricing in at least some probability of escalation, the reversal of that risk premium shows up directly in asset prices.

DeFi, interestingly, hasn’t participated in the rally with the same enthusiasm. The top-performing category over seven days shows essentially flat returns, according to CoinGecko data. That suggests the current move is being driven by macro flows and spot Bitcoin demand rather than a broad-based rotation back into risk across all of crypto.

What this means for investors

The breakout above $75K is technically significant. That level served as the ceiling of Bitcoin’s range for weeks. Clearing it and pushing to $79K turns former resistance into potential support.

Look, breakouts from extended ranges are one of the more reliable patterns in technical analysis. They aren’t guaranteed, but the longer an asset consolidates, the more energy tends to build. Three months of compression followed by a clean move higher is the kind of setup that trend followers pay attention to.

The risk is that this rally is entirely geopolitically driven. If the Iran situation deteriorates, or if another macro shock emerges, the breakout could reverse quickly. Bitcoin’s correlation with traditional risk assets means it’s vulnerable to the same forces that move equities: interest rate expectations, trade policy, and yes, Middle Eastern diplomacy.

Ethereum’s move to $2,400 is notable but less dramatic in context. ETH has underperformed BTC for most of 2025, and a 4.2% daily gain doesn’t change that broader trend. Solana and XRP gains were similarly modest relative to Bitcoin’s breakout.

The Fear and Greed Index at 32 suggests there’s room for sentiment to improve, which could fuel further upside. But it also means the market is fragile. Fearful markets can turn on a dime if the catalyst for optimism evaporates.

Bottom line: A diplomatic extension that almost didn’t happen gave Bitcoin the push it needed to escape a months-long trading range. The breakout to $79K is the most consequential price move since early February, but with fear still dominating sentiment and the rally tied to a geopolitical catalyst that could shift at any moment, this is a market that’s moving on borrowed confidence. The next few days will reveal whether this is the start of a new trend or just a brief vacation from consolidation.

TLDR:

ETH net taker volume turned positive at +$102M, snapping months of consistent sell-side dominance.

Sell pressure peaked at -$568M when Ethereum set its all-time high just below $5,000 this cycle.

Comparable buying pressure was last recorded in 2022 when ETH traded near the $1,000 price level.

Since March, buy-side volumes have steadily grown, pointing to a possible shift in market positioning.

ETH derivatives sentiment has undergone a notable change in recent weeks. After prolonged and consistent selling pressure throughout this market cycle, buy-side volumes are finally gaining ground.

Data from derivatives exchanges shows that net taker volume has turned positive, recording +$102 million in a single day.

This marks a clear departure from the heavy sell-side dominance seen at previous ETH price peaks. Analysts are now watching whether this shift holds and supports a broader recovery for Ethereum.

Heavy Sell Pressure Shaped ETH Derivatives Throughout This Cycle

For most of this cycle, Ethereum has faced unusual and persistent selling pressure in derivatives markets. Net taker volume, which tracks the difference between buy and sell market orders on derivatives exchanges, remained almost consistently negative. This pattern became particularly visible during key price events in late 2024.

When ETH attempted to break above $4,000 in December 2024, net taker volume fell sharply to -$511 million. The sell pressure became even more extreme when Ethereum later reached an all-time high just below $5,000. At that point, sell-side dominance hit a cycle high of -$568 million in net taker volume.

Source: Cryptoquant

On-chain analyst Darkfost drew attention to this persistent trend in a recent post on Cryptoquant. The data showed that buyers repeatedly failed to absorb supply at key price levels throughout this cycle.

Sellers consistently overpowered buying activity, pushing net taker volume deep into negative territory during each rally.

That ongoing imbalance prevented Ethereum from sustaining breakouts, even during brief moments of upside price action.

Buy-Side Volume Climbs to Levels Not Seen Since the 2022 Bear Market

Since March, the dynamic in ETH derivatives markets has changed considerably. This change followed months of negative readings that characterized Ethereum’s derivatives activity.

Buy-side volumes have taken control, with net taker volume recording +$102 million in a single day. The last time Ethereum recorded comparable buying pressure was back in the 2022 bear market.

At that time, ETH was trading near the $1,000 area when similar buy-side activity appeared in the market. Market observers note this comparison carries weight given the scale of the current buying activity.

The return of strong buying interest at current price points to a change in how derivatives traders are positioned.

Darkfost noted in the post: “Since March, buy-side volumes have finally taken control, with +$102 million recorded today.”

The analyst added that buyers absorbing supply and chasing upside could signal the early stages of a recovery for Ethereum. The data stands in sharp contrast to the aggressive sell-side behavior that defined much of this cycle.

Key Takeaways:

Soluna Holdings and Blockware signed a 4th expansion deal, adding 3.3 MW at Project Dorothy 1B in West Texas. Blockware now holds over 17 MW across Soluna sites, making it the first customer at Dorothy 1B. Soluna plans to develop Project Dorothy 3 at the Briscoe Wind Farm campus as buildout continues.

West Texas Wind-Powered Bitcoin Mining Site Gets First Customer in Blockware-Soluna Deal

The new agreement brings Blockware’s total deployed capacity across all Soluna sites to more than 17 MW. It also marks the first customer signed at Dorothy 1B, a 25 MW facility co-located with the Briscoe Wind Farm.

Soluna’s announcement said it acquired the Briscoe Wind Farm in a $53 million deal, giving the company direct control over energy production at its Project Dorothy campus. The setup runs power from the wind farm straight into the data center, cutting out grid dependence.

Deployment for the latest expansion began in March 2026. The project falls in line with Soluna’s behind-the-meter model, which channels surplus renewable energy into bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) computing workloads.

“We’re excited to expand our partnership with Blockware for the fourth time and bring them to a new site,” said John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna.

Belizaire added:

“As we scale, we remain focused on delivering reliable, renewable-powered infrastructure for AI and bitcoin mining.”

The partnership between the two companies has grown steadily. In February 2026, Soluna added 6 MW for Blockware at its Dorothy 1A site, also located in West Texas. Each expansion has built on the previous agreement rather than replacing it.

Mason Jappa, CEO of Blockware, detailed that the company’s growth has aligned with Soluna’s ability to bring new sites online. “Their ability to launch new sites allows us to deepen our partnership and scale alongside them,” Jappa remarked.

Soluna, listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SLNH, develops green data centers for computing-heavy applications. The Albany, N.Y.-based company has positioned its West Texas campus as a multi-site operation tied to the same renewable energy source.

On Tuesday, around 10:24 a.m. Eastern time, Soluna shares were up 3.2% and over the last five trading sessions, the stock has risen more than 29%. SLNH has seen a massive 100% gain over the last 30 days of trading on Nasdaq as well. At press time a SLNH share is exchanging hands for $1.43 per unit.

With Dorothy 1B now operational for its first customer, Soluna has also announced plans to develop Project Dorothy 3 at the Briscoe campus. The company did not provide a timeline but stated further details will follow as development progresses.

The expansion adds to a growing list of bitcoin mining operators seeking direct access to low-cost, renewable energy. Behind-the-meter setups at wind and solar sites have drawn interest from miners looking to reduce power costs and improve operational stability.

Blockware operates as a bitcoin mining infrastructure provider, working with miners who need reliable hosted capacity. The company has expanded its footprint at Soluna sites across multiple contracts since the partnership began.

Key Takeaways:

Filing: Sun sued World Liberty Financial in California federal court, charging breach of contract, fraud, and conversion over frozen WLFI holdings.
Token freeze details: WLFI froze 540 million of Sun’s unlocked tokens and 2.4 billion locked tokens – holdings that dropped from over $107 million at the September 2025 freeze to an estimated $43–60 million by April 2026.
Governance dispute: Sun alleges WLFI excluded him from governance activities and that the blacklist function enabling the freeze was never disclosed to investors.
Market impact: WLFI fell 15% to a record low after Sun publicly accused the project of embedding an undisclosed backdoor on April 12, 2026.
Sun’s exposure: Sun invested approximately $75 million directly into WLFI – the project’s largest known outside investor – with total exposure to Trump-affiliated crypto ventures reaching $175 million.
Key watch item: The California court’s ruling on Sun’s motion for immediate token unfreezing will be the first hard signal on whether the blacklist function survives legal scrutiny.

Key Takeaways:

0G Foundation and Alibaba Cloud launched onchain access to Qwen LLMs for AI agents on April 21, 2026. The move shifts AI from APIs to tokenized systems, enabling Qwen3.6 to reach emerging autonomous platforms. Developers can now use 0G’s verifiable data layer to build 100% auditable, multi-step agentic workflows.

Bridging the Gap Between AI and Blockchain

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents can now directly access top-tier large language models onchain for the first time, following a new collaboration between 0G Foundation and Alibaba Cloud, the digital and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. The partnership enables blockchain-based access to Alibaba’s Qwen, one of the most widely adopted large language model (LLM) families.

The move shifts AI infrastructure from centralized, API-based systems to programmable, tokenized access designed for autonomous agents. AI agents have gained traction across industries, yet their effectiveness has been limited by the difficulty of integrating leading models into agent-driven environments at scale. Most LLMs remain gated behind centralized APIs requiring account setup, fiat billing and manual configuration, creating friction for autonomous systems.

Through the collaboration, 0G allows developers to embed Qwen access directly into its infrastructure via token-based mechanisms. This removes the need for traditional account management and enables programmatic, on-demand access to AI compute. Agents operating on 0G can query Qwen to generate responses, process information, or execute tasks in real time.

“At a high level, inference runs on Qwen, and verification runs on 0G — forming a more complete foundation of compute and trust for autonomous AI systems,” said Michael Heinrich, CEO and co-founder of 0G Labs. “0G’s integration with Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen marks a milestone where top-tier intelligence meets trusted infrastructure.”

Qwen, developed by Alibaba, has become one of the most widely downloaded model families, supporting multimodal and enterprise use cases. Its latest release, Qwen3.6, has demonstrated strong performance across multiple benchmarks, reinforcing its position among leading AI systems.

The collaboration underscores the growing importance of accessibility and distribution in the AI ecosystem. By enabling decentralized, tokenized access, Qwen’s reach extends beyond traditional enterprise environments into emerging autonomous systems.

Developers can now build agent-driven workflows that leverage Qwen for natural language understanding, automated decision-making and multi-step reasoning. Combined with 0G’s verifiable compute and data layer, the system enhances trust and auditability — key requirements for large-scale autonomous AI adoption.

Justin Sun says WLFI froze 2.94 billion tokens and removed voting rights.
Lawsuit filed after failed attempts to resolve the dispute privately.
WLFI has introduced a Governance proposal that may lock tokens for non-consenting holders.

Justin Sun has filed a lawsuit in a California federal court against World Liberty Financial (WLFI), alleging that the project froze his holdings of 2.94 billion WLFI tokens and stripped him of key investor rights without justification.

The move escalates a growing dispute between one of crypto’s most recognisable entrepreneurs and a project that has positioned itself around decentralised governance and early-stage token distribution.

In his public statement, Sun confirmed that he is seeking legal protection of his rights as a WLFI token holder.

Sun also emphasised that the lawsuit does not change his political stance or his support for the Trump administration’s pro-crypto direction. According to him, the dispute is strictly about investor treatment and token governance, not politics.

Frozen tokens and removed voting rights

At the centre of the case is Sun’s claim that WLFI froze all 2.94 billion of his tokens (540 million of unlocked tokens and 2.4 billion locked tokens). He argues that this action made it impossible for him to transfer, sell, or otherwise use his holdings.

The value of the holdings has dropped from over $107 million at the September 2025, when they were frozen, to around $43–$60 million by April 2026.

Sun also alleges that WLFI removed his governance voting rights tied to those tokens. This means he was unable to participate in key decisions affecting the protocol, including recent governance changes introduced by the project team.

Sun further claims that WLFI went beyond freezing his position and threatened to permanently destroy part of his holdings through token “burning.”

According to his statement, these actions were taken without clear justification and without providing him a fair opportunity to respond.

He also says he attempted to resolve the issue privately with WLFI before taking legal action. However, he claims the project team refused to restore access to his tokens or reinstate his governance rights, leaving him with no option but to proceed to court.

Sun has described his position as straightforward: he wants to be treated the same as other early investors who received WLFI tokens, without special privileges and without restrictions that are not applied equally.

Justin Sun also disagrees with WLFI’s Governance proposal

The legal conflict comes alongside disagreement over a WLFI governance proposal released on April 15.

Sun has openly opposed the proposal, arguing that it introduces conditions that could lock users’ tokens indefinitely if they do not actively accept new terms.

The proposal reportedly includes a requirement for 10% of advisor tokens to be permanently burned. It also introduces a structure for early purchaser tokens involving a two-year cliff followed by a two-year vesting schedule.

Under the same framework, users who do not explicitly accept the new terms could have their tokens locked indefinitely.

Sun has raised concerns that this creates an uneven system where investor rights depend on active consent after the fact. He also pointed out a structural conflict in his own situation.

Because his tokens are currently frozen, he says he cannot vote either in favour of or against the proposal, despite being directly affected by it.

This has added another layer to the dispute, as governance participation is typically considered a core function in token-based systems.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) position

WLFI has pushed back against Sun’s claims, arguing that token restrictions were applied due to internal concerns related to security and compliance.

The project maintains that its governance mechanisms include administrative controls that can be used to protect the platform and its participants.

The disagreement highlights a broader tension in crypto governance systems, particularly in projects that market themselves as decentralised while still retaining centralised control features such as token freezing or administrative overrides.

Sun’s lawsuit places the focus on whether such controls were properly disclosed and whether they can be applied to large early investors without clear procedural safeguards.

With 2.94 billion tokens at the centre of the dispute, the outcome could influence how governance authority and investor rights are interpreted in similar token-based ecosystems going forward.

Fraudulent actors posing as Iranian authorities have reportedly sent messages to shipping companies whose vessels remain stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding payment in cryptocurrency for safe passage.

On Monday, maritime risk company Marisks issued a warning saying unknown groups had contacted shipowners claiming to represent Iranian security services and requesting transit “fees” in Bitcoin (BTC) or USDt (USDT) in exchange for clearance through the strait, according to Reuters.

“These specific messages are a scam,” Marisks reportedly said, adding that they do not originate from Iranian authorities. Tehran has not publicly commented on the claims.

The alerts come as the strategic waterway remains largely closed following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy flows, previously handled around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports before hostilities escalated in the region.

Earlier this month, reports said Iran was considering charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz a tariff payable in Bitcoin, with empty tankers allowed free passage while others could be charged around $1 per barrel of oil.

Related: Iran views BTC as strategic asset, but USDt still dominates oil tolls: BPI

Crypto “transit fee” scam demands verification docs

The reported scam messages instruct recipients to submit documentation for verification before being assigned a “fee” payable in cryptocurrency, after which safe transit would allegedly be granted at a pre-agreed time.

In one example cited by Marisks, the message stated that Iranian security services would assess eligibility before determining payment in BTC or USDt, framing crypto transfers as a condition for unimpeded passage.

The company also suggested that at least one vessel recently targeted by gunfire while attempting to exit the strait may have received such fraudulent instructions, though the information has not been independently verified.

Cointelegraph reached out to Marisks for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Related: Bitcoin community weighs in on reports of Iran’s crypto toll for oil ships

Crypto payments to Iran could trigger sanctions risks: Chainalysis

Shipping companies considering paying transit fees in cryptocurrency to Iran could face serious sanctions exposure, according to Chainalysis senior intelligence analyst Kaitlin Martin.

She told Cointelegraph that any payments linked to Iranian-controlled waterways could be treated as “material support,” potentially violating US and international sanctions targeting entities such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

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An attempt to bridge 19.6 WBTC away was intercepted and blocked by the protocol, thereby removing the assets from the attacker’s control.

Volo Protocol, a liquid staking platform built on the Sui network, reported a security breach that led to the loss of approximately $3.5 million from its vaults, according to an official update shared by the team.

The exploit impacted three vaults holding assets in WBTC, XAUm, and USDC.

Recovery Efforts Intensify

In an official update, the protocol said it detected the attack and responded immediately by notifying the Sui Foundation and other ecosystem partners, while also freezing the affected vaults to prevent further losses. As part of its control measures, all vaults have been temporarily frozen pending a full investigation and remediation process.

Volo stated that the vulnerability was isolated to the three compromised vaults and confirmed that the remaining vaults, which account for around $28 million in total value locked, are not affected and remain secure with no shared attack vector. The team also said it is working with on-chain investigators and partners to recover the stolen funds and will release a detailed post-mortem once the investigation is complete.

In subsequent updates, Volo reported freezing roughly $500,000 worth of assets linked to the exploit. In a separate development, the protocol said it had successfully blocked an attacker’s attempt to bridge 19.6 WBTC out of the hacker’s control.

Volo added that it is coordinating with ecosystem participants to determine the appropriate process to return the intercepted assets. The protocol stated it is prepared to absorb the financial loss and aims to avoid passing the impact on to users.

“We are in damage control mode now, but once that’s done, we will work out a remediation plan, and a full breakdown will be shared shortly.”

April DeFi Exploit Wave

A series of major exploits hit DeFi platforms in April. For instance, attackers drained about $285 million from the Solana-based Drift Protocol in roughly 12 minutes, and most of the funds were bridged to Ethereum shortly after. On-chain activity linked to the attack had begun as early as March 11.

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In a separate incident, NEAR protocol’s Rhea Finance lost an estimated $7.6 million after an oracle manipulation exploit. Meanwhile, KelpDAO suffered the largest DeFi hack of the year, with attackers stealing around $292 million from its cross-chain bridge built on LayerZero Labs infrastructure.