Bitcoin Hangs at a Delicate Threshold as Warsh Hearing Looms

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What to know:

  • Bitcoin stands above the fateful line of $75,000, like a stubborn guest in a provincial drawing room, and yet the air feels thick with the murmur that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire could snap and set all risk assets scrambling through the torn curtains of the market.
  • Markets also keep an amused eye on Kevin Warsh’s Senate confirmation hearing for the Fed chair, a scene that could tilt expectations for interest rates and the price of everything from bonds to bread.
  • After the weekend’s hack of KelpDAO that struck Aave’s ecosystem and sent its token down the stairs, DeFi and memecoin indexes are trying to recover their dignity with a flourish.

Bitcoin is trading with a hopeful tilt above the $75,000 mark, which CoinDesk has described as a stubborn threshold bulls must cross to claim the room.

Yet some voices urge caution, noting that prices must hold above that level through Wednesday, when the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is set to end.

“The ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday evening Washington time, and the market has to price two paths, extension and de-escalation versus renewed escalation and oil stress. That is why even with BTC strong, the tape can still gap fast. It is headline risk with a timer,” analysts at Marex said in an email to CoinDesk.

An escalation could push oil prices well above the March high of $119, potentially sending Asian and global equity markets into a tailspin. The question remains whether bitcoin, which held relatively steady around $70,000 during the March conflict, will remain resilient or come under pressure along with the broader market.

As of the time of writing, no delegation from Iran had departed for the talks in Pakistan. On Monday, President Donald Trump warned of a major escalation in the conflict if the ceasefire ends without a deal.

Also on analysts’ radar is Kevin Warsh’s nomination hearing for Federal Reserve chair, scheduled for Tuesday. Warsh has a reputation as an “inflation hawk” who opposed interest-rate cuts and quantitative easing following the 2008 crash.

So what he says during the session could move markets. “His remarks could act as a near-term catalyst, particularly if they reinforce expectations of policy easing,” digital assets trading firm QCP Capital said in a note.

Speaking of the broader market, major cryptocurrencies such as ether (ETH), solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP) have risen by less than 2% over the past 24 hours, underperforming bitcoin. Smaller tokens such as XLM and TON have risen by more than 5% each. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index is up over 3%.

Notably, the DeFi Select Index added 2%, which is surprising given the industry-wide fallout from the weekend hack of KelpDAO. That saw the attacker drain rsETH, a liquid restaking token widely used as collateral on several DeFi platforms.

Decentralized lender Aave has taken the biggest hit, with the total value of crypto assets locked on its platform falling to $16 billion, down nearly $10 billion since before the hack.

Aave’s native token, AAVE, has declined 18% to $93 since the hack. At the same time, open interest in futures tied to the token hit a record high of 3.59 million tokens. Increased demand for leveraged bets points to potential for more volatility ahead. Stay alert!

Today’s signal

The chart shows XRP’s daily price swings in candlestick format. The white line represents the average price over 100 days and the yellow line represents the prolonged bear market.

XRP remains below both the average and the trendline even as market leaders bitcoin and ether (ETH) have topped these levels on their respective price charts.

Until the price reclaims both the 100-day average and the downtrend line, momentum remains comparatively weak versus BTC and ETH, which have already established firmer bullish structures.

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2026-04-21 14:37