Crypto Weekly Market Wrap April 27: Institutional Inflows, Regulation, Exploits, and Policy Updates

Last week, crypto markets moved through a busy mix of policy, security, treasury, and institutional developments. Bitcoin and Ethereum products drew fresh inflows, while major firms expanded holdings and lending products. At the same time, exploits, regulation, election spending, and stablecoin plans kept industry risk and policy in sharp focus. Let’s discuss major developments that made headlines last week.

U.S. Military Tests Bitcoin Nodes for Cybersecurity

United States Indo-Pacific Command Commander Samuel Paparo said on April 21 that the U.S. government runs a Bitcoin node for cybersecurity testing. The program does not involve Bitcoin mining, and officials treat Bitcoin as a computer science tool. The work remains experimental and focuses on cryptography, blockchain monitoring, and network security. Paparo also said stablecoin legislation under the GENIUS Act supports the dollar’s role in global finance.

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Crypto Groups Build Major Midterm Election Reserve

Crypto-linked political groups have reserved nearly $180 million ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. The funding level exceeds some major Republican super PAC reserves. Most of the money came from previous election-cycle balances, which gave the industry a large political base before the campaign season expands.

Fairshake holds most of the reserves, while Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz remain key donors. As a result, the crypto sector enters the election year with major spending capacity. The funding also shows how digital asset companies continue to target policy influence through organized political channels.

BitMine Expands Ether Holdings Near Five Million

Ethereum treasury firm BitMine added last week, 101,627 ETH, bringing its total holdings to 4,976,485 ETH. The position represents about 4.12% of Ethereum’s total supply. The company holds about $12.9 billion in total assets. Its portfolio includes $1.12 billion in cash, 199 BTC, Beast Industries equity, and an Eightco Holdings investment.

TOM LEE AND BITMINE JUST ADDED 101,627 $ETH THIS WEEK

Their largest weekly buy since December.

BMNR now controls 4.12% of total Ethereum supply.

Updated treasury:

🔹 199 $BTC
🔹 $1.12B cash
🔹 $107M Eightco ($ORBS)
🔹 $200M Beast Industries
🔹 4,976,485 $ETH (up from 4.87M)… pic.twitter.com/Cu5GwtqPJK

— BMNR Bullz (@BMNRBullz) April 20, 2026

Crypto Firms Push Senate Clarity Act Vote

More than 100 crypto companies and industry groups urged the Senate Banking Committee to advance the Clarity Act in an April 23 letter. Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, and Kraken joined the coalition. The group wants a federal framework for digital assets, rather than rules driven mainly through agency actions.

The letter warned against regulation by enforcement and listed six priorities. These included clearer SEC and CFTC roles, stronger protections for non-custodial developers, simpler disclosure rules and federal standards. The coalition argued that national rules could reduce fragmented state-level regulation across the crypto market.

Hong Kong Plans Wider Tokenized Asset Rules

Hong Kong officials said the government will push tokenization across more asset classes. At an event held on April 20, Deputy Secretary Chan Ho Lim said regulators are preparing frameworks for digital asset trading service providers and custody service providers. Authorities aim to submit the relevant bill to the Legislative Council in 2026.

The government also plans to institutionalize tokenized bond issuance. Meanwhile, the Securities and Futures Commission continues studying secondary market trading rules with industry participants. 

Strategy Buys More Bitcoin for Treasury

Strategy purchased 34,164 BTC for about $2.54 billion at an average price of $74,395, between April 13 and April 19. The company said Bitcoin has delivered a 9.5% yield since the start of 2026. As of April 19, Strategy held 815,061 BTC in total.

Strategy has acquired 34,164 BTC for ~$2.54 billion at ~$74,395 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 9.5% YTD 2026. As of 4/19/2026, we hodl 815,061 $BTC acquired for ~$61.56 billion at ~$75,527 per bitcoin. $MSTR $STRC https://t.co/ifGXjMeIZH

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) April 20, 2026

The firm reported an overall cost of about $61.56 billion, with an average cost of about $75,527 per bitcoin. Michael Saylor also said Strategy achieved a 6.2% Bitcoin yield in April’s first three weeks, reflecting 47,079 BTC in incremental gains.

Aave Faces Large Outflows After Incident

Aave recorded $15.1 billion in outflows across three and a half days. Deposits fell from $48.5 billion before the incident to about $30.7 billion. That decline removed around one-third of capital from the lending platform during a sharp confidence shock.

Other lending platforms saw mixed flows. Morpho deposits dropped from $11.7 billion to $10.2 billion. However, SparkLend’s TVL climbed from $1.9 billion to $3.2 billion. Some withdrawn Aave capital moved to Spark, including allocations from large investors and institutional wallets.

CoW DAO Proposes Domain Hijack Compensation

On April 23, CoW DAO proposed a discretionary grant program for users affected by the cow.fi domain hijacking incident. The April 14 attack used social engineering against Gandi and AWS Route 53. Attackers controlled the domain for about four and a half hours.

During that window, victims signed malicious transactions through a phishing site. Losses reached about 1.2 million USDC. The proposal would use the legal reserve fund for a one-time payout, with eligible users receiving up to full reimbursement of verified losses.

Ripple Sets XRP Ledger Quantum Roadmap

Ripple published a four-phase plan to prepare the XRP Ledger for post-quantum security by 2028. According to the statement on April 20, the plan responds to future risks from quantum computers against elliptic curve cryptography. Ripple said the threat is not immediate but requires early engineering work.

RIPPLE: $XRP LEDGER WILL BE QUANTUM RESISTANT BY 2028@Ripple is making its $XRP Ledger quantum-ready. These super-fast machines could one day break the codes that protect digital money today.

The company has a clear plan to complete the upgrades by 2028 across four phases in… pic.twitter.com/RsA5jY2uqb

— BSCN (@BSCNews) April 20, 2026

Phase 1 covers emergency Q-Day readiness, including a hard shift away from traditional signatures if needed. Phase 2 tests NIST-standardized algorithms on XRPL workloads. Phase 3 targets Devnet trials in late 2026, while Phase 4 proposes a 2028 amendment.

Coinbase Brings USDC Borrowing to Britain

Coinbase announced on April 20 the expansion of crypto-backed lending to the United Kingdom. Users can borrow up to $5 million in USDC against Bitcoin, Ether, and cbETH through Morpho on Base. The collateral moves on-chain into a Morpho smart contract until repayment occurs.

Users access the feature through the Coinbase app’s Borrow section. Morpho sends USDC to the Coinbase account within seconds, and users can convert funds to British pounds. Interest rates vary by market conditions, while liquidation alerts arrive through email and text messages.

United Kingdom Plans Unified Stablecoin Rules

On Tuesday, the UK Treasury announced plans to bring payments regulation into a single framework. The structure would regulate traditional payment services, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. The reforms were unveiled at Fintech Week in London as part of broader reforms to payments.

The framework would govern payment services involving the issuance of stablecoins in the future. It also extends the Financial Conduct Authority’s responsibilities for Open Banking. The Treasury also appointed Chris Woolard to support the tokenized wholesale financial markets.

DoorDash Tests Stablecoin Payout Flows

DoorDash is working with Tempo on stablecoin-powered payouts. The move brings crypto settlement rails into daily marketplace payment operations, according to the April 21 blog post. Tempo said DoorDash will begin with payout flows where faster and cheaper settlement offers value. Merchant payouts appear to form the first target.

⚡️DOORDASH TO OFFER STABLECOIN PAYMENTS TO DRIVERS

DoorDash plans to roll out stablecoin payouts for drivers using Tempo, according to The Information. pic.twitter.com/LcPOMfDcVv

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) April 21, 2026

Kalshi Plans Crypto Perpetual Futures Expansion

Kalshi plans to enter crypto trading through perpetual futures, according to The Information. The move would place the prediction market company against U.S. exchanges and offshore platforms. The initial plan centers on perpetual contracts tied to tokens such as Bitcoin.

The report said Kalshi’s CFTC licenses support its push into the product category. Last month, it secured a license that allows margin trading. Therefore, the company could use its regulated structure to pursue crypto derivatives that remain limited for many U.S. traders.

SoFi Adds XRP Deposits Without Withdrawals

SoFi Crypto added support for XRP deposits on Tuesday, but users criticized the lack of external wallet transfers. Some clients argued that deposits without withdrawal limits direct ecosystem participation. One user compared the setup to a centralized spot product rather than full crypto access.

SoFi’s support page confirms that the platform does not currently permit transfers to outside wallets. However, a company spokesperson said withdrawals will become available soon. SoFi previously said it became the first nationally chartered bank to launch crypto trading in November.

Volo Protocol Freezes Vaults After Exploit

Sui-based Volo Protocol reported an exploit on April 22 that drained roughly $3.5 million from selected vaults. The attack affected WBTC, XAUm, and USDC vaults. The team notified the Sui Foundation and ecosystem partners, then froze vaults to limit further damage.

🔒 Security Incident Update – Volo Protocol

We want to address our community directly and transparently about a security incident that occurred earlier today. Rest assured, Volo is prepared to absorb any loss.

What happened:

An exploit resulted in the removal of approximately…

— Volo (@volo_sui) April 21, 2026

Volo said other vaults do not share the same vulnerability and remain safe. The protocol added that about $28 million in TVL across other vaults remains protected. It also pledged to absorb the loss and avoid passing it to users.

Justin Sun Sues World Liberty Financial

Justin Sun filed a lawsuit against Trump-linked World Liberty Financial in California federal court. According to the report on 22nd April, Sun said the team froze his WLFI tokens and removed his governance voting rights. Sun also alleged that the project threatened to burn the tokens permanently.

World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff rejected the claims and called the lawsuit meritless. He said the project acted to protect itself and users. The dispute now moves into court after Sun said the team refused to restore his tokens and voting rights.

Russia Advances Crypto Bill for Foreign Trade

Russia’s State Duma passed a crypto bill on Tuesday. The proposal gives the Bank of Russia authority to license and supervise market participants. It defines which exchanges, brokers, and financial institutions may support cryptocurrency circulation under the framework.

The bill recognizes cryptocurrency as property, although it blocks domestic payments for goods and services. However, it allows crypto in cross-border settlements. Lawmakers said the structure could help Russian companies settle with foreign counterparties while keeping the ruble as the national settlement unit.

GSR Launches Multi-Asset Crypto ETF

GSR launched its first exchange-traded fund on Nasdaq under the BESO ticker on April 22. The GSR Crypto Core3 ETF gives exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The fund will actively manage allocations and rebalance weekly while charging a 1% management fee.

NEW: @GSR_io is launching their first ETF! Ticker is $BESO. Its actively managed and will invest across Bitcoin, Ethereum & Solana. Fee is 1%. pic.twitter.com/Gr1n8KAVpq

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) April 22, 2026

The product will also seek staking rewards. GSR said the fund expands its asset management platform beyond market-making. The company framed the launch as part of its move toward broader capital markets services for crypto-native and traditional investors.

UK Regulator Targets Peer-To-Peer Crypto Trading

The UK Financial Conduct Authority carried out its first joint crackdown on illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading on Wednesday. The agency worked with HM Revenue & Customs and the South West Regional Organized Crime Unit. Officials visited eight premises across London.

The FCA issued cease-and-desist letters at each location and gathered evidence for criminal investigations. The regulator said no peer-to-peer crypto traders or platforms currently hold UK registration. It also warned that unregistered trading creates financial crime risks.

Uzbekistan Opens Crypto Mining Zone

Uzbekistan will launch Besqala Mining Valley in Karakalpakstan, according to the April 2o announcement. The special crypto mining zone offers income tax exemptions until 2035. Mining firms in the zone may use renewable energy sources. However, only legal entities registered and operating in Karakalpakstan qualify for residency.

Blockchain Capital Seeks New Fund Capital

According to a Wednesday report, Blockchain Capital is raising $700 million across two new funds. The firm seeks money for growth and early-stage investment vehicles. The company manages about $2 billion in fee-bearing assets. It has backed Coinbase, Circle, Polymarket, Tether, and other crypto companies.

BLOCKCHAIN CAPITAL TARGETS $700M NEW CRYPTO FUNDS

Blockchain Capital is reportedly raising $700 million for two new investment funds.

The firm is splitting capital between early stage and growth focused strategies.

According to Bloomberg, the early fund will back experimental… pic.twitter.com/SxX7Wl6o67

— BSCN (@BSCNews) April 23, 2026

Metaplanet Issues Bonds for Bitcoin Purchases

Metaplanet announced on Friday that it is issuing 8 billion yen in zero-interest bonds. The company plans to use the proceeds for future Bitcoin purchases. EVO Fund fully subscribed to the bond issuance. Metaplanet held 40,177 BTC as of March 31 after buying 5,075 BTC in Q1.

Morgan Stanley Launches Stablecoin Reserve Fund

Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a money market fund for stablecoin reserves on Thursday. The fund aligns with requirements under the GENIUS Act. The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio invests in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury securities, and overnight repurchase agreements. It targets capital preservation and daily liquidity.

DeFi Protocols Seek Frozen Arbitrum ETH

On April 25, Aave, Kelp DAO, LayerZero, EtherFi, and Compound asked Arbitrum DAO to release frozen ETH. The request covers 30,765.67 ETH, worth about $71 million. The funds would go to DeFi United through a Gnosis Safe. The proposal aims to support rsETH recovery after the Kelp DAO exploit.

Digital Asset Investment Products Market Overview

Digital asset funds drew $1.2 billion last week, marking a fourth straight week of inflows, as per the CoinShares report. The move came as Bitcoin traded above $76,000 for the first time since February’s correction. Total assets under management rose to $155 billion, the highest level since February 1.

CoinShares: Digital Asset Inflows Hit $1.2B, Fourth Straight Week of Gains

Digital asset investment products saw $1.2 billion in inflows last week, with total AuM rising to $155 billion. Bitcoin led with $933 million in inflows, while Ethereum recorded $192 million for a third… pic.twitter.com/ao3Mz8sB8c

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 27, 2026

Bitcoin led the market with $933 million in inflows, lifting year-to-date flows to $4 billion. Ethereum followed with $192 million, keeping its weekly total above $190 million for a third week. XRP also returned to inflows after one week of withdrawals.

The United States accounted for $1.1 billion, while Germany added $61.7 million. Switzerland recovered with $35.2 million, and Canada posted $15 million. Meanwhile, blockchain equity ETFs attracted $617 million over three weeks.

Bitcoin Price Performance

Bitcoin recorded a strong performance last week, following the broader market rebound. BTC traded in a range-bound between $75K and $80K, recording a surge of more than 3%. Moreover, its market capitalization and trading volume stand at $1.55 trillion and $32 billion, respectively.

Looking at the technical perspective, BTC has formed an ascending pattern on the weekly chart. Since bouncing successfully from the key support around the $65K, BTC is pushing for the resistance around $80K. A successful break above this point would lead to a rally toward the $90K level. 

Meanwhile, indicators such as the Relative Strength Index and Moving Average Convergence Divergence support the continuation of the rally. The RSI is hovering around 46 levels in the neutral region, while the MACD line has climbed above the signal line.

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