US President Donald Trump is inching toward a major announcement in the coming days as trade negotiations reach a crescendo. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is in talks with 17 key trade partners, hinting at a seismic announcement capable of jolting the crypto market.
Donald Trump Negotiates With Key Trade Partners Amid Global Tariff Warfare
As tariffs heat up, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US is in talks with 17 out of 18 key trade partners. According to an X post by the pseudonymous Walter Bloomberg, the discussions revolve around Trump tariffs and fresh concessions being offered by US trade partners.
Bessent testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, confirming ongoing discussions. Per Bessent, the lone nation not engaged in trade negotiations with Donald Trump is China, noting that a major announcement is in the offing.
“I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” said Bessent.
Already, India has offered big concessions in the trade war with the US, providing a template for incoming trade deals.
Details of the announcements are under wraps, but a consensus is that the US will lower tariffs on key imports. A previous Coingape report anticipates a UK-US pact to lower steel and car export tariffs this week.
Crypto Markets Prepare For Seismic Announcement
Scott Bessent’s disclosure of an incoming ‘major announcement’ by Donald Trump has whipped the crypto markets into a frenzy. However, in the minutes following the disclosures, Bitcoin’s daily trading volume rose to $23 billion while prices gained a modest 1% as investors brace for impact.
While investors have their eyes peeled on trade negotiations, emerging reports indicate an incoming “earth-shattering” announcement by President Trump.
“It’s not about trade. It’s about something else,” wrote financial commentary platform The Kobeissi Letter. “A positive development for this country.”
This comes barely hours after India launched a volley of missiles into Pakistan, sparking concerns of a potential crypto crash. Pseudonymous cryptoanalyst Crypto TA King warns that an all-out military conflict between the two nations will adversely affect crypto prices.
As the spectre of bearishness hangs around the market, key declarations by Donald Trump can prop up cryptocurrency prices. Opening discussions with China is a potential needle-moving event, capable of triggering a cryptocurrency rally for the broader market.
Renowned economist Peter Schiff has raised an issue between Donald Trump’s tariffs and the president’s plan to make the US a Bitcoin superpower. Schiff believes that Trump is unlikely to achieve his goals with the tariffs while making the US a BTC superpower, as they both contradict each other.
Peter Schiff Explains How Trump’s Tariffs and Bitcoin Plans Contradict
In an X post, Peter Schiff stated that Donald Trump’s goals of solving the problems leading to the US’s huge trade deficits and making the country a Bitcoin superpower are at odds with one another.
The economist explained that the more the US diverts its scarce resources to crypto, the more it will depend on the rest of the world to produce the stuff that Americans need. Peter Schiff, who is a Bitcoin skeptic, has on several occasions criticized Trump’s tariffs and his Bitcoin plans.
He believes that the tariffs will only harm the US and lead to higher inflation or recession. The economist also believes that plans like the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve are a waste of resources. Schiff even urged former President Joe Biden to sell the US’s Bitcoin holdings before Trump took office earlier this year.
With Trump not backing down on his tariff plans, Schiff predicts that the Fed will likely cave and move to cut interest rates instead of raising them to help curb inflation. He predicts a Gold rally to new highs if that eventually happens.
The Bitcoin Criticism Continues
As a follow-up to his original post, Peter Schiff again criticized Bitcoin and Trump’s Strategic BTC Reserve plans. He stated that the flagship cryptocurrency does not create any value for the US. Instead, he claims resources are just wasted as money moves from Bitcoin buyers to sellers.
Meanwhile, Peter Schiff also commented on Gold’s correction towards the end of this week while the Bitcoin price surged past the $95,000 mark. He stated that this was just a counter-trend move, which happens from time to time. He urged market participants not to read anything more into it.
Welcome to the US Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see why Standard Chartered thinks XRP could soon leapfrog Ethereum, how Tether’s institutional pivot might reshape the stablecoin market, and how players like BlackRock, Galaxy Digital, and the Federal Reserve could shape crypto’s next chapter.
Standard Chartered says XRP Set to Outperform, Could Overtake Ethereum by 2028
As global trade tensions intensify, Standard Chartered sees a silver lining for crypto investors, urging them to focus on long-term winners poised to benefit from the disruption.
“Tariff noise creates the opportunity to look for long-term value/pick winners in Digital Assets for the next leg higher. Today we add XRP to that list of winners (BTC and AVAX other identified winners, ETH identified loser). XRP’s core use is as a cross-border and cross-currency payments platform. That part of Digital Assets is undergoing a shift higher in volumes, something we see continuing. By the end of 2028 we see XRP’s market cap overtaking Ethereum’s. That will make XRP the second largest (non-stablecoin) Digital Asset at that time. Keep looking for winners and HODLing those you already own”, Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Asset Research, in an email to BeInCrypto.
Kendrick also pointed to Bitcoin’s resilience as a signal of what’s to come for the broader crypto market.
“Tariff mess will be over soon, and Bitcoin’s solid performance during the noise tells us a leg higher for the asset class will follow” he said.
He also points out important points about the recent performance of XRP:
“XRP price rose 6x in the two months following Trump’s election victory, the strongest performance among the top 15 digital assets by market cap. This reflected market expectations that the SEC would drop its appeal of a court ruling concerning Ripple, as well as the potential for XRP ETFs to be approved under new SEC leadership.”
But Kendrick believes the fundamentals — not just politics — are driving XRP’s momentum.
“We think these gains are sustainable, not just because of recent leadership changes at the SEC but also because XRP is uniquely positioned at the heart of one of the fastest-growing uses for digital assets – facilitation of cross-border and cross-currency payments. In this way, XRPL is similar to the main use case for stablecoins such as Tether: blockchain-enabled financial transactions that have traditionally been done through traditional financial (TradFi) institutions. This stablecoin use has grown 50% annually over the past two years, and we expect stablecoin transactions to increase 10x over the next four years. We think this bodes well for XRPL’s throughput growth, given the similar use cases for stablecoins and XRPL.”
Tether’s Big Play: Institutional-Grade Stablecoin Targets US Market
Charles Wayn, co-founder of decentralized Web3 super-app Galxe, told BeInCrypto that:
“The news that Tether is planning to launch an institutional-grade stablecoin for the US market is fantastic for the crypto industry. Tether pioneered stablecoins with its first launch over a decade ago in 2014, and its flagship product — USDT — is now the third largest cryptocurrency in the world. Unlike its rival, USDC, USDT has never been formally audited, leading to frequent questions over its balance sheet. Nonetheless, it remains the industry’s favored stablecoin, shown by its market cap of over $144 billion, which is well over double the size of USDC’s $60 billion.”
Wayn believes this move, along with Tether’s push for transparency, positions the company as a future leader in institutional crypto adoption.
“As such, this move, combined with other recent news that Tether is seeking a full audit from a Big Four accounting firm, shows that the company is not only willing to be compliant but also be a leader in institutional adoption. While USDT sadly did not pass the EU’s directive on stablecoins under MiCA, this new product will likely be designed to pass new legislation coming from the US.”
He adds that institutional momentum — fueled by players like BlackRock — reinforces why now is a pivotal moment for stablecoins and broader market stability.
“As such, there is little doubt that USDT will work hard to launch its new product in good time. As we see huge institutions like BlackRock further entering the market with another $66 million purchase of Bitcoin last week, along with the rapid growth of its RWA BUIDL fund, institutional adoption is now taking off rapidly.”
Crypto Chart of the Day
Total Stablecoin Market Cap and BTC Price. Source: Coinglass.
Stablecoins total market cap is currently close to its all-time highs, above $210 billion.
Byte-Sized Alpha
– Analysts warn that a return to Quantitative Easing in 2025 could ignite a massive crypto rally, potentially pushing Bitcoin toward $1 million and sparking a surge in altcoins.
– Zero inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and declining futures interest hint at fading investor confidence, though rising put contracts and positive funding rates point to cautious optimism.
– Galaxy Digital secures SEC approval to reorganize and move toward a May 2025 Nasdaq listing, signaling renewed confidence in crypto amid improving US policy support.
– Binance Research shows that during tariffs, RWA tokens outperform Bitcoin, as rising macro pressures weaken BTC’s role as a diversification asset.
– MicroStrategy’s pause in Bitcoin buying last week, amid $5.91 billion in unrealized losses, signals growing caution and raises questions about liquidity, debt, and broader institutional confidence.
Wunder.Social, a British startup, scooped up $50 million to tackle the social media mess with blockchain. Rollman Management took point on the funding, the largest for a UK platform in 2025, with a pack of other investors riding along. The plan’s to kill off bots, dial down the nonsense, and toss users a cut of ad revenue via a token launch in April 2025. They’re aiming at a $200 billion industry, and they’ve got a hefty stack of cash to play with.
CEO Jay Boisvert isn’t subtle—he says social media’s a disaster zone: fake profiles, zero trust, and endless noise. His solution’s blockchain, locking in real identities and splitting the profits with the crowd. He’s framing it as a full overhaul, not some half-baked patch, insisting it’ll restore real conversation online. It’s a tall order, and startups have a habit of overselling these grand fixes.
This is happening at a time when apart from bots, top AI trading bots are also gaining mass popularity at a global level.
Victor Rollman, the money man at Rollman Management, labels it a “movement,” not just another app. With $50 million in the pot, they’ve got the fuel to either make waves or sink fast. They’ve brought in Ryan Martin, who ran marketing at TikTok, as CMO to push the story. Martin says the sector’s desperate for something new. Sure, but desperation doesn’t mean this’ll work—he didn’t reinvent TikTok, just cashed its checks.
More details here
The crypto piece is the kicker. A Token Generation Event in April ties user rewards to what they’re calling “ecosystem growth,” whatever that turns out to mean. It’s a $50 million bet that people will bite—and that Wunder can pull it off without tripping over itself. Social media’s a goldmine; if they carve out a niche, they might have something. If they don’t, it’s a pricey lesson in blockchain hype.
This isn’t uncharted territory—others have swung at rebooting social platforms and hit the wall. Wunder’s got the funding, a slick pitch, and a deadline. They’re leaning hard on the blockchain angle, which sounds good in a press release but gets murky in practice. Investors are sold; the proof’s in execution. Come April, we’ll know if it’s a contender or just another overfunded dreamer. Until then, it’s all talk—and $50 million’s worth of it.
Conclusion
Wunder.Social has the cash, the crew, and a bold plan to fix social media’s chaos with blockchain. Whether it’s a revolution or just another expensive experiment hinges on April’s token launch. For now, it’s big talk—and a bigger bet.
