BTC mining difficulty increases by 3.87%. BitMine added over 71k ETH last week.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin mining difficulty increases 3.87% to 138.97 T

On April 3, according to data from CloverPool, the Bitcoin network completed a new round of difficulty adjustment, with the difficulty value rising by 3.87% to 138.97 T. The current Bitcoin network hashrate is 986.02 EH/s, and the next difficulty adjustment is expected to occur in about 14 days.

Bitmine buys 45,000 ETH through BitGo

On April 1, according to monitoring by Onchain Lens, Bitmine purchased 45,000 ETH via BitGo, worth approximately $95.3 million.

Bitcoin drops 23.8% in 2026 Q1, posting the worst start since 2018

On April 1, according to data from Yahoo Finance, Bitcoin closed on Tuesday at $66,619, while the opening price on January 1, 2026 was $87,508. The quarterly decline was the largest since Q1 2018, when Bitcoin fell from $14,112 to $6,973, a drop of 50%.
This quarter’s 24% decline for Bitcoin has also continued the notable slide in Q4 2025, when its price slid from $114,057 down 23% to $87,508. This means that over the past six months, this world’s largest cryptocurrency has wiped out about 41.6% of its market value.
The entire crypto market has also retreated further from its historical highs in October 2025 amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, dampening investor sentiment toward both crypto and traditional stock markets. In addition to macroeconomic uncertainty, analysts also pointed to the negative impact on Bitcoin’s price from a reversal in inflows to U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
According to SoSoValue data, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $496.5 million in the first quarter. Outflows totaled $1.8 billion in the first two months, while inflows of $138.97T in March partially offset earlier outflows.

Satoshi talked about quantum risk in 2010: a smooth transition can be achieved via progressive upgrades to signature algorithms

In 2010, Satoshi responded on the Bitcointalk forum to the risk of quantum cracking Bitcoin and proposed that a smooth transition could be achieved through progressive upgrades to signature algorithms.

U.S. Department of Labor proposes allowing Bitcoin investment in 401(k) plans

On March 31, Bitcoin Magazine posted on social media stating that the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a rule allowing Bitcoin investment in 401(k) plans.

Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin position last week

Strategy disclosed in its latest regulatory filing that, as of the week ending March 29, 2026, the company did not buy any new Bitcoin, and its holdings remained at 762,099 BTC; based on the market value at the time, this batch of Bitcoin was worth more than $51.5 billion.

American Bitcoin: BTC holdings have surpassed 7,000 coins

On March 30, American Bitcoin (Nasdaq code: ABTC), a Bitcoin mining company supported by the Trump family, posted its BTC reserve data, stating that its current holdings have surpassed 7,000 BTC. It said that since listing on Nasdaq, the company’s BTC reserve size has grown by about 3x.
Ranking by global listed companies’ BTC reserve size, American Bitcoin currently ranks 16th.

Ethereum

Ethereum Foundation re-stakes about $46.64 million worth of ETH, total staked amount reaches $96.59 million

According to Arkham monitoring, the Ethereum Foundation has just re-staked about $46.64 million worth of ETH, bringing its total staked amount to $96.59 million. Arkham said, “The Ethereum Foundation has stopped selling ETH and started staking.”

Vitalik packages and sells the Meme tokens sent to him again, getting 14.5 ETH in return

On April 1, according to monitoring by Onchain Lens, Vitalik started selling the gifted Meme tokens again at a price of 14.5 ETH (worth $30k). He also sent 70k USDC and 44 ETH to Railgun to conduct a private transfer of funds.

BitMine added more than 71k ETH last week, bringing total holdings to over 4.73 million ETH

As of March 29, U.S. Eastern Time, BitMine’s total holdings of crypto + cash + “lunar plan” totalled $10.7 billion. BitMine holds 4,732,082 ETH (up 71,179 ETH week over week), and the Ethereum held by Bitmine accounts for 3.92% of Ethereum’s total supply (120.7 million ETH). In addition, it also holds 197 BTC worth $200 million of Beast Industries shares, $102 million worth of shares in Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq code: ORBS), and $961 million in unsecured cash.
As of March 29, 2026, the total amount of ETH staked by Bitmine was 3,142,643 ETH (calculated at $2,005 per ETH, for a total value of $6.3 billion).

Ethereum Foundation stakes ETH worth $46.2 million

On March 30, Arkham monitoring showed that the Ethereum Foundation has just staked ETH worth $46.2 million, which is the highest number of ETH staked in the Ethereum Foundation’s history.

Other projects

Schwab Financial plans to launch the “Schwab Crypto” crypto trading account

On April 4, Schwab Financial announced it will launch the “Schwab Crypto” crypto trading account, which will support users trading Bitcoin and Ethereum directly. The account is provided and supported by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB’s in-house system, and will be available nationwide except for New York State and Louisiana.
Schwab Financial previously said it would provide trading services for Bitcoin and Ethereum in early 2026.

MIIT: Exploring innovative businesses such as “compute power banks” and “compute power supermarkets”

On April 2, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on launching a special campaign for inclusive compute power to empower the development of SMEs. It mentions innovating compute power service inclusive models. Improve China’s compute power platform SME sections, the compute power resource matchmaking section of the China SME services website, and the national compute power internet service node sections (collectively referred to as the SME platform sections). Promote precise matching between SME demand and compute power supply, and roll out flexible payment models such as paying by “card hours,” “core hours,” and Token-based billing. Explore innovative businesses such as “compute power banks” and “compute power supermarkets,” support SMEs in depositing idle compute power resources, and enable flexible use through cross-regional and cross-cycle scheduling. Implement an AI SME entrepreneurship support program, encouraging local authorities to provide subsidies in the form of “compute power vouchers,” “storage power vouchers,” and “transport power vouchers” to SMEs aligned with industrial orientation via the SME platform sections, simplifying the acquisition and usage process.

YZi Labs announces a strategic additional investment in Predict.fun

On April 2, YZi Labs announced that, after the second quarter of EASY Residency, it would make a strategic follow-on investment in Predict.fun. Other participating parties include Susquehanna Crypto, a globally leading digital asset trading firm. Since Predict.fun graduated from the EASY Residency incubated project by YZi Labs, it has grown rapidly; the cumulative matched orders have exceeded 4 million, and trading volume has surpassed $1.8 billion.

Solana ecosystem Drift Protocol attacked, losses at least $200 million

On April 2, a security incident occurred on the Solana-based derivatives trading platform Drift Protocol. On-chain data shows losses of at least approximately $200 million, with some estimates nearing $270 million.
The project team said it has detected abnormal activity and is investigating. It reminded users not to deposit funds into the protocol for now, emphasizing that “this is not an April Fools’ Day prank.”
The attack involved multiple liquidity pools, including JLP Delta Neutral, SOL Super Staking, and BTC Super Staking. A single transfer of about 41.7 million JLP tokens was worth approximately $155 million; in addition, assets such as SOL, USDC, cbBTC, and wBTC were also withdrawn.
According to statistics, this incident may become one of the largest DeFi attacks in the Solana ecosystem since the Wormhole bridge exploit.

Drift adjusted the multisig mechanism a week before the stolen attack, and did not set a timelock

On April 2, Yu Xian wrote an analysis of the Drift theft incident stating that a week before the attack, Drift adjusted the multisig mechanism to “2/5” (1 old signer + 4 new signers) and did not set a time lock (timelock). The attacker then gained admin privileges, forged CVT tokens, manipulated the oracle, shut down the security mechanisms, and transferred high-value assets from the liquidity pools.

Alipay releases payment integration Skill

On March 31, Alipay released China’s first “payment integration Skill,” deeply packaging core payment capabilities into standardized components. In addition, Alipay also upgraded its “sandbox environment,” enabling developers to complete end-to-end payment testing without real funds and without formally enabling a payment product. (Yicai)