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Billionaire investor would ‘not be surprised’ if Trump postpones tariffs
Crypto-friendly billionaire investor Bill Ackman is considering the possibility that US President Donald Trump may pause the implementation of his controversial proposed tariffs on April 7.
“One would have to imagine that President Donald Trump’s phone has been ringing off the hook. The practical reality is that there is insufficient time for him to make deals before the tariffs are scheduled to take effect,” Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, said in an April 5 X post.
Trump may postpone tariffs to make more deals, says Ackman
“I would, therefore, not be surprised to wake up Monday with an announcement from the President that he was postponing the implementation of the tariffs to give him time to make deals,” Ackman added.
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries, which took effect on April 5. Harsher reciprocal tariffs on trading partners with which the US has the largest trade deficits are scheduled to kick in on April 9.
Ackman — who famously said “crypto is here to stay” after the FTX collapse in November 2022 — said Trump captured the attention of the world and US trading partners, backing the tariffs as necessary after what he called an “unfair tariff regime” that hurt US workers and economy “over many decades.”
Following Trump’s announcement on April 2, the US stock market shed more value during the April 4 trading session than the entire crypto market is currently worth. The fact that crypto held up better than the US stock market caught the attention of both crypto industry supporters and skeptics.
Source: Cameron Winklevoss
Prominent crypto voices such as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss also recently showed their support for Trump’s tariffs.
Related: Trump tariffs squeeze already struggling Bitcoin miners — Braiins exec
Ackman said a pause would be a logical move by Trump — not just to allow time for closing potential deals but also to give companies of all sizes “time to prepare for changes.” He added:
“The risk of not doing so is that the massive increase in uncertainty drives the economy into a recession, potentially a severe one.”
Ackman said April 7 will be “one of the more interesting days” in US economic history.
Magazine: New ‘MemeStrategy’ Bitcoin firm by 9GAG, jailed CEO’s $3.5M bonus: Asia Express
Transaction costs on the Ethereum network have dropped to the lowest level in five years as the amount of activity on the blockchain is in a lull, according to the onchain analytics platform Santiment. Ethereum network fees are now around $0.168 per transaction and the reduction in fees coincides with fewer people sending Ether (ETH) and interacting with smart contracts, Santiment marketing director Brian Quinlivan said in an April 17 blog post. “When many people are using Ethereum, users bid higher fees to get their transactions confirmed faster This drives the average costs up,” Quinlivan said. “When fewer people are transacting, like we see now, users don’t need to bid much. As a result, the average fee drops,” he explained. “It’s essentially a supply and demand system.” Quinlivan said that, from a trading perspective, low fees can preclude a price rebound, Still, he added that traders appear to be patiently waiting for the global economic uncertainty to pass before scaling up their usual frequency of Ether and altcoin transactions. Traditional and crypto markets tanked after US President Trump’s sweeping tariffs were announced on April 2. Many assets haven’t recovered to the same level as before their unveiling, despite tariff exemptions and a 90-day pause for most countries. ETH has fallen over 12.5% in the past 14 days and has traded flat over the past 24 hours, hovering just under $1,600, according to CoinGecko. “We can visibly see the increased sensitivity toward Ethereum discussions and tariff/economy news as prices have really threatened long-time support levels,” Quinlivan said. “The more the retail community leans away from an asset, especially one with still thriving development, the higher the likelihood of an eventual surprise rebound with little resistance,” he added. After delays due to configuration issues and an unknown attacker causing headaches during the Holesky and Sepolia testnet activations, the Pectra upgrade for the Ethereum network is now scheduled to go live on the mainnet on May 7. Phase one is expected to double the layer-2 blob capacity from three to six, reduce transaction fees and network congestion and allow fees to be paid in stablecoins like USDC (USDC) and DAI (DAI). Related: Ethereum devs prepare final Pectra test before mainnet launch The maximum staking limit will also be increased from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. The second phase of Pectra is expected in late 2025 or early 2026 and will introduce a new data structure to enhance data storage efficiency and a system that improves scalability by enabling nodes to verify transaction data without storing the entire data set. The Pectra fork follows the network’s Dencun upgrade in March 2024, which slashed transaction fees for layer-2 networks and improved the economics of Ethereum rollups. Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation Solana’s native token SOL (SOL) failed to maintain its bullish momentum after reaching the $134 level on April 14, but an assortment of data points suggest that the altcoin’s rally is not over. SOL price is currently 57% down from its all-time high, partially due to a sharp decline in its DApps activity, but some analysts cite the growth in deposits on the Solana network as a catalyst for sustained price upside in the short term. Solana has established itself as the second-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), with $6.9 billion. After gaining 12% over the seven days ending April 16, Solana has pulled ahead of competitors such as Tron, Base, and Berachain. Positive signs include a 30% increase in deposits on Sanctum, a liquid staking application, and 20% growth on Jito and Jupiter. One could argue that Solana’s TVL roughly matches the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem in deposits. However, this comparison overlooks Solana’s strong position in decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes. For example, in the seven days ending April 16, trading activity on Solana DApps totaled $15.8 billion, exceeding the combined volume of Ethereum scaling solutions by more than 50% during the same period. Solana reclaimed the top spot in DEX activity, surpassing Ethereum after a 16% gain over seven days. This was supported by a 44% increase in volume on Pump-fun and a 28% rise on Raydium. In contrast, volumes declined on the three largest Ethereum DApps—Uniswap, Fluid, and Curve Finance. A similar trend occurred on BNB Chain, where PancakeSwap, Four-Meme, and DODO saw reduced volumes compared to the previous week. It would be unfair to measure Solana’s growth only by DEX performance, as other DApps handle much smaller volumes. For example, Ondo Finance tokenized a total of $250 million worth of assets on the Solana network. Meanwhile, Exponent, a yield farm protocol, doubled its TVL over the past 30 days. Similarly, the yield aggregator platform Synatra experienced a 43% jump in TVL during the past week. Analysts are confident that a Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) will be approved in the United States in 2025. However, expectations for significant inflows are limited due to a general lack of interest from institutional investors and the recent poor performance of similar Ethereum ETF instruments. If the spot ETF is approved, it could strengthen Solana’s presence—especially if the US government’s Digital Asset Stockpile plans come to fruition. Related: Real estate fintech Janover doubles Solana holdings with $10.5M buy Investors are eagerly awaiting the full audit of US federal agencies’ crypto holdings, initially expected by April 7. However, after missing this deadline, some journalists suggest that the executive order signed on March 7 did not require the findings to be made public. Regardless of whether SOL appears on that list, there are currently no plans from the government to acquire cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC). Currently, there are few catalysts to justify a rally to $180, a level last seen 45 days ago on March 2. Without external factors causing a large influx of new participants into the crypto ecosystem, the increase in TVL and DEX market share alone is unlikely to push SOL’s price to outperform the broader market. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. Local governments in China are reportedly seeking ways to offload seized crypto while facing challenges due to the country’s ban on crypto trading and exchanges. The lack of rules around how authorities should handle seized crypto has spawned “inconsistent and opaque approaches” that some fear could foster corruption, lawyers told Reuters for an April 16 report. Chinese local governments are using private companies to sell seized cryptocurrencies in offshore markets in exchange for cash to replenish public coffers, Reuters reported, citing transaction and court documents. The local governments reportedly held approximately 15,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $1.4 billion at the end of 2023, and the sales have been a significant source of income. China holds an estimated 194,000 BTC worth approximately $16 billion and is the second largest nation Bitcoin holder behind the US, according to Bitbo. Zhongnan University of Economics and Law professor Chen Shi told Reuters that these sales are a “makeshift solution that, strictly speaking, is not fully in line with China’s current ban on crypto trading.” Countries and governments that hold BTC. Source: Bitbo The issue has been exacerbated by a rise in crypto-related crime in China, ranging from online fraud to money laundering to illegal gambling. Additionally, the state sued more than 3,000 people involved in crypto-related money laundering in 2024. Shenzhen-based lawyer Guo Zhihao opined that the central bank is better positioned to deal with seized digital assets and should either sell them overseas or build a crypto reserve. Ru Haiyang, co-CEO at Hong Kong crypto exchange HashKey, echoed the suggestion saying that China may want to keep forfeited Bitcoin as a strategic reserve as US President Donald Trump is doing. Related: Bitcoin rebounds as traders spot China ‘weaker yuan’ chart, but US trade war caps $80K BTC rally Creating a crypto sovereign fund in Hong Kong, where crypto trading is legal, has also been proposed. This issue has gained attention amid rising US-China trade tensions and Trump’s plans to regulate stablecoins and foster growth and innovation in the crypto industry. Several industry observers have suggested that China’s tariff response could result in a devaluation of the local currency, which may result in a flight to crypto. Magazine: Illegal arcade disguised as … a fake Bitcoin mine? 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