Bitcoin Plays Peacetime Poker at $72K While Zcash Hijacks the Rocket

Bitcoin refused to bulge from its $72,000 throne on Thursday, holding firm near its three-week high like a degen who just won't fold at the poker table—even when the geopolitical pot gets sketchy. $BTC was fetching $72,285, up 1.5% over the past 24 hours and clocking a solid 8% weekly gain, per CoinGecko. Ethereum mustered a humble 0.6% rise to $2,210, also up 7.2% on the week. XRP ticked up 0.6% to $1.36, BNB edged up a lazy 0.2% to $607.25, and Solana climbed 2% to $84, posting 6.6% weekly gains like it actually cares about performing.

The rally came after a ceasefire-fueled short squeeze sent $BTC to its highest mark since mid-March—because nothing gets bulls excited like the prospect of fewer missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump dropped a Truth Social gem Thursday, promising U.S. military assets would stay camped around Iran until the ceasefire is "fully complied with," with the subtle threat that things could go sideways if they don't play nice. Meanwhile, Iran kept flexing in the Strait of Hormuz, restricting traffic and proposing a cheeky $1-per-barrel toll on oil tankers, prompting the EU and U.S. to collectively roll their eyes.

Total crypto market cap sat at roughly $2.53 trillion, per CoinGecko—up from $2.43 trillion at the week's start. That's a cool hundred billion in generational wealth creation, or roughly the cost of a modest yacht for someone who definitely won't buy one.

Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, MSBT, finally entered the chat on Wednesday, trading on NYSE Arca as planned. The fund pulled in $30.6 million in net inflows on day one—not bad for the new kid on the block. It also carries a 0.14% expense ratio, making it the cheapest spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S., absolutely bodging BlackRock's IBIT at 0.25% and Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust at 0.15%. Nothing says "we're serious" like undercutting fees by basis points.

Despite MSBT's decent debut, the broader U.S. spot $BTC ETF complex hemorrhage $124 million in net outflows on Wednesday, excluding MSBT, per SoSoValue. Total AUM across U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs stood at $91.9 billion, or about 6.43% of Bitcoin's overall market cap—just in case you needed a reminder that ETFs own a nontrivial slice of the orange coin. The outflows came right after a $471 million single-day inflow on April 6, when spot Bitcoin ETFs had their strongest daily inflows since February, because nothing says "consistent" like volatility in a volatile market.

Zcash decided it was time to have a moment. $ZEC surged another 15% to $371 on Thursday, absolutely destroying the broader market like the relative who shows up to family dinner in a Lambo. The token has gained over 65% in the past 30 days, riding a risk-on rotation, a pending decision on the Grayscale spot $ZEC ETF, and Foundry's institutional mining pool launch like it found the cheat codes.

On the losing end, World Liberty Financial's $WLFI token got absolutely rekt, tumbling roughly 10% to an all-time low of $0.0885. On-chain data showed $WLFI deposited 5 billion of its own tokens as collateral to borrow stablecoins—because when you're down, leverage is the answer to questions nobody asked.

The two-week ceasefire window expires around April 21, with peace talks slated to start Friday in Islamabad. Whether this rally sticks around depends on whether the truce holds—or collapses spectacularly. Fed minutes released Wednesday showed officials think inflation might sluggishly waltz toward 2%, while oil risks loom overhead. Policymakers signaled room for either hikes or cuts depending on conditions—a hawkish whisper that adds yet another headwind for risk assets already wrestling with geopolitical chaos. Fun times ahead.