Gate Ventures This Week's Cryptocurrency Market Update (April 7, 2026)

Summary

• The S&P 500 rose 3.18%, and the Nasdaq gained 4.14% in the shortened week over the holiday, benefiting from hopes that geopolitical tensions with Iran may ease and from dovish signals from Powell. However, Q1 2026 is still the worst quarter among the past four quarters: the S&P 500 is down 4.6% year-to-date.

• March nonfarm payrolls increased by 178,000, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%. The resilience of the labor market makes the Fed’s rate-cut decision more complex, while ongoing geopolitical uncertainty continues to weigh on the outlook.

• WTI crude oil rose 11.41% this week, up 93% year-to-date, as Oman pushed forward the creation of a monitoring agreement. In the absence of a clear resolution timeline, energy-inflation risks remain on the rise.

• The crypto market rebounded last week: BTC rose 4.6%, and ETH rose 6.4%, but market sentiment remains firmly stuck in extreme fear (11).

• Memecore became the top-performing asset with a 20.3% gain; its latest hard fork boosted market sentiment around lower fees and faster transactions.

• Circle entered the wrapped Bitcoin market by launching cirBTC, as competition for institutional-grade BTC infrastructure continues to heat up.

• Large tech companies back the x402 Foundation, giving institutional support to agentic AI payment rails.

• Better Money raised $10 million to build a stablecoin clearinghouse, because fragmentation across issuers and across chains is becoming an expanding bottleneck.

Macro Overview

Strong employment data eases recession worries; U.S. stocks logged their best week of 2026 so far— the odds of “higher for longer” remain persistent

U.S. stocks rebounded strongly in the shortened week over the holiday, ending five consecutive weeks of declines. The S&P 500 rose 3.18% this week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.85%, and the Nasdaq Composite delivered standout performance, up 4.14%, driven by strength in large-cap technology stocks. This rebound was driven by three factors: declining U.S. Treasury yields, quarter-end and month-end rebalancing fund flows, and optimistic sentiment that the possible Iran–U.S. conflict may ease. The U.S. said it would be willing to end hostilities if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, and Iran also said it is prepared to end the war—triggering a two-day rebound during the week. Despite the gains this week, the S&P 500 is still down 4.6% in Q1 2026, the Nasdaq is down 7.1% year-to-date, and the Dow is down 3.6% this quarter, marking the first quarterly decline in four quarters. In just March, the S&P 500 fell 5.1%, its worst single-month performance since 2022, highlighting the cumulative shocks from geopolitical and energy factors.

The March jobs report came in far above expectations: nonfarm payrolls increased by 178,000, well above the market’s widely expected 59,000 to 70,000, reversing the 133,000 job decline from February revisions. Private-sector employment rose by 186,000, significantly above the expected 70,000. The unemployment rate fell from 4.4% to 4.3%, but part of the decline was due to some workers leaving the labor market rather than net job gains. The employment rebound has been attributed to an end to healthcare-industry strikes and to the retreat of the cold weather that had suppressed February data. The unexpectedly strong labor data presents a strategic paradox for the Federal Reserve. Current employment data indicates the system has resilience, but it does not reflect the subsequent economic disruptions triggered by a potential U.S.–Iran war. This lagged strength weakens the rationale for immediate monetary easing. As investors reprice a “higher for longer” environment shrouded by geopolitical volatility, initial market optimism has gradually faded.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a clearly calming message to markets last week, saying the Fed is inclined to “ignore” the rise in short-term oil prices, viewing it as a temporary supply shock rather than persistent inflationary pressure. He acknowledged that if oil-price-driven inflation becomes entrenched, “patience is limited,” but emphasized that the Fed will continue to rely on the data. The minutes of the March 18 FOMC meeting will be released next week, providing further insight into discussions by the committee. Major Wall Street firms, including Morgan Stanley, maintained their forecast for two rate cuts in 2026, targeting a terminal rate of 3.00%–3.25%.

Next week’s agenda will be dominated by inflation data, which will directly test the effectiveness of Powell’s “ignore” theory. The March CPI to be released on Friday is the key data point: markets expect +0.9% month over month and +3.4% year over year, the highest annual growth rate since April 2024, mainly driven by rising oil prices. If the data comes in above expectations, it may force markets to reprice Fed policy in a more hawkish manner. The February core PCE data to be released on Thursday may be lagged, but it still provides a benchmark for the inflation gauge preferred by the Fed. On the geopolitical front, the mediation agreement between Iran and Oman remains a key variable. If the Strait of Hormuz reopens with substantial progress, oil prices would fall sharply and risk assets would rise; if talks break down, Brent crude could rebound to above $120. Overall, the market is heading into a pivotal week: inflation data and geopolitical news will jointly drive market direction. (1)

U.S. Dollar Index (DXY)

The U.S. Dollar Index rose to 100.185, driven by “safe-haven” buying and strong labor data. Although geopolitical tensions eased somewhat midweek, the 178,000 nonfarm payrolls figure is forcing markets to price in a “higher for longer” Fed stance. This split between U.S. economic resilience and global instability continues to support the dollar’s strength. (2)

U.S. 10-Year and 30-Year Treasury Yields

Despite the strong employment data, yields remain on a downward trend, because Powell’s stance that the Fed will “ignore” the oil-price shock is soothing bond investors. The yield decline reflects quarter-end rebalancing fund flows and technical buying after recent selling. Right now, investors are focusing more on the potential easing of the Iran–U.S. conflict than on the strong but lagged labor-market performance shown in March data. (3)

Gold

Gold prices broke above 4,670, hitting a new high, as a hedge against Middle East war risks and new trade tariffs. Despite a stronger dollar, gold’s rise still reflects deep concerns in the market that inflation could become entrenched if tensions around the Strait of Hormuz continue—sustaining a historical geopolitical risk premium. (4)

Crypto Market Overview

Mainstream Assets

BTC Price

ETH Price

ETH/BTC Ratio

BTC rose 4.6% last week, while ETH outperformed, up 6.4%. Spot BTC ETFs recorded $22.30 million in net inflows, while spot ETH ETFs recorded $42.20 million in net outflows. (5)

The ETH/BTC ratio rose 1.7% this week, while overall market sentiment remains mired in extreme fear at 11. (6)

Total Market Cap

Total crypto market cap

Crypto market cap excluding BTC and ETH

Crypto total market cap excluding the top 10 tokens by dominance

Total crypto market cap rose 3.5% last week, while the market cap excluding BTC and ETH rose 0.4%. The total market cap excluding the top 10 tokens by dominance also rose 1.5%, suggesting that the broader altcoin market saw only a relatively mild rebound.

Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Source: Coinmarketcap and Gate Ventures, as of 30th Mar 2026

Among the top 30 assets, prices fell on average by about 0.1%, with Memecore, Zcash, and LEO leading the gains.

Memecore led the market with a 20.3% jump, driven by positive momentum following its latest hard fork. The upgrade introduced lower gas fees and faster transaction speeds, seemingly impacting market sentiment immediately. (7)

Crypto Industry Key Focus Updates

Chinese regulators push banks to adopt blockchain-based lending infrastructure as data-sharing reform accelerates

China’s State Taxation Administration and the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly urged banks and local governments to integrate blockchain and privacy computing technologies into the “tax–bank interaction” framework, to improve small and medium-sized enterprises’ access to credit. The policy directive emphasizes standardized tax data sharing among regulators, financial institutions, and enterprises to reduce information asymmetry, improve credit approval efficiency, and expand financing supply for compliant taxpayers. This move aligns with China’s broader national data infrastructure strategy, and after the 2025 roadmap proposed the goal of deploying blockchain nationwide by 2029, it is expected to allocate RMB 400 billion (US$580 million) per year to blockchain-based data systems. (8)

Circle enters the wrapped Bitcoin market with cirBTC, institutional-grade BTC infrastructure race heats up

Circle is expanding from stablecoins into the Bitcoin infrastructure space, launching cirBTC— a 1:1 Bitcoin-collateralized wrapped asset designed for institutional users, including OTC desks, market makers, and lending protocols. The product will first be launched on Ethereum, and will also be made available via Circle’s Arc network and Circle Mint, enabling companies to directly compete with BitGo’s WBTC and Coinbase’s cbBTC, as institutions seek a safer, more neutral way to deploy Bitcoin in DeFi. (9)

Big Tech backs the x402 Foundation, advancing institutional support for agentic AI payment rails

Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services are major backers of the newly established x402 Foundation. The foundation is established under the Linux Foundation and aims to govern and standardize the x402 protocol to enable AI-native payments across cross-crypto and cross-fiat rails. This initiative gives x402 a neutral, open-source home and shows that industry support for agentic payments is strengthening—because AI agents increasingly transact online for APIs, data, and digital services, even though on-chain activity for the protocol has recently cooled significantly versus its highs at the end of 2025. (10)

Key Venture Investment & Financing Updates

Better Money raises $10M to build a stablecoin clearinghouse, as fragmentation across issuers and chains becomes a scaling bottleneck

The Better Money has raised $10 million, led by a16z crypto, aiming to build a stablecoin clearinghouse to unify fragmented stablecoin liquidity flows across issuers, chains, and payment platforms. The infrastructure is designed to allow developers and issuers to integrate only once, enabling supported stablecoins to be traded at par across networks, positioning the clearinghouse as a coordination layer similar to traditional fiat settlement rails (such as ACH and Fedwire). This move highlights that as stablecoins expand to become a global payments layer, industry focus on interoperable infrastructure is increasing. (11)

Pixie Chess raises $5.2M seed, as onchain game studios keep experimenting with crypto-native game design

Pixie Chess is a Web3 game that blends chess, collectible card game mechanics, and crypto-culture elements inspired by NounsDAO, and has completed a $5.2 million seed round led by Paradigm, with other supporters including Seed Club and a group of angel investors. The project is incubated through Paradigm EIR. (12)

Kulipa raises $6.2M seed, as stablecoin card issuance infrastructure gains attention with more fintech companies and wallets adopting

Kulipa is a stablecoin card issuance infrastructure platform that has completed a $6.2 million seed round led by Flourish Ventures and 1kx, aiming to expand its white-label card issuance services and with a particular focus on entering the U.S. market. The company helps fintechs and crypto wallets launch stablecoin payment cards without directly managing processing, fraud, pre-funding, or settlement, positioning itself as a middle layer to lower operational barriers for consumer payments tied to stablecoins. This funding underscores that demand is rising for infrastructure that can connect stablecoin balances to everyday card payments via more compliant, more scalable enterprise distribution. (13)

Venture Capital Market Data

The number of trades completed in the prior week was 6, with 3 deals each in the Infrastructure (Infra) and Social sectors.

Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 7th Apr 2026

The total disclosed funding amount in the prior week was $30.40 million, including 1 deal with an undisclosed funding amount. The highest funding came from the Infrastructure sector, at $24.20 million. The deal with the highest funding: The Better Money ($10 million).

Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 7th Apr 2026

The weekly total funding amount for the first week of April 2026 fell to $30.40 million, a 96% decline from the prior week.

About Gate Ventures

Gate Ventures is Gate’s venture capital arm, focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, ecosystems, and applications. It aims to reshape the world in the Web 3.0 era. Gate Ventures works with industry leaders worldwide to empower teams and startups with innovative thinking and capabilities, redefining how society and finance interact.

For more information, please visit: Official site | X | Telegram | LinkedIn | Medium

Reference:

1. Trading Economic Ahead Economic Preview,

2. DXY Index, TradingView,

3. US 10 Year Bond Yield, TradingView,

4. Gold Price, TradingView,

5. BTC & ETH ETF Inflow,

6. BTC Greed and Fear Index,

7. Memecore hardfork,

8. China’s regulators push banks to adopt blockchain-based lending infrastructure as data-sharing reform accelerates,

9. Circle enters wrapped Bitcoin market with cirBTC as institutional BTC infrastructure race heats up,

10. Big Tech backs x402 Foundation as push for agentic AI payment rails gains institutional support,

11. Better Money raises $10M to build stablecoin clearinghouse as fragmentation across issuers and chains becomes a scaling bottleneck,

12. Pixie Chess raises $5.2M seed as onchain game studios continue experimenting with crypto-native game design,

13. Kulipa raises $6.2M seed as stablecoin card issuance infrastructure gains traction with fintechs and wallets,