What are tariffs?
Tariffs are taxes placed on imported goods by a government or a supranational union. Occasionally, tariffs can be applied to exports as well. They generate government revenue and serve as a trade regulation tool, often to shield domestic industries.
Four main categories of tariffs are:
Ad valorem tariffs: These are calculated as a percentage of the good’s value. For instance, a 20% tax might be placed on $100 of goods.Specific tariffs: These are fixed fees based on the quantity of goods. For example, there might be a tariff of $5 per imported kilogram of sugar.Compound tariffs: These combine a specific duty and an ad valorem duty applied to the same imported goods. Both tariffs are calculated together to determine the total tax. For example, a country might place a tariff on imported wine at $5 per liter plus 10% of the
Trump firing Powell would be a ‘very bad precedent to set’ — Pompliano
Crypto entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano says that US President Donald Trump shouldn’t follow through on his recent threat to fire the head of the US Federal Reserve, saying it would set a dangerous precedent — especially considering the true motive behind it.
“I do not believe that the President of the United States should come in and unilaterally fire the Fed President,” Pompliano said in a video posted on X on April 18.
Firing over disagreement is a slippery slope, says Pompliano
Pompliano said, “Where you have a disagreement and then the firing, I think that’s not really the area that we want to go into.”
“The idea of firing the Fed chairman is a very bad precedent to set this way.”
It comes after Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to accuse Fed chair Jerome Powell of being too slow to cut
Lyn Alden lowers Bitcoin forecast after ‘tariff kerfuffle,’ eyes liquidity
Macroeconomist Lyn Alden expects Bitcoin to finish 2025 higher than its current price of around $85,000, though she says it would have been much higher if not for US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in February.
“Before all this tariff kerfuffle, I would have had a higher price target,” Alden told Natalie Brunell on the April 17 episode of Coin Stories. “My guess is that we end up higher at the end of the year than we are now, at least,” she added.
Bitcoin’s 24/7 trading bolsters volatility when TradFi “freaking out”
However, she said that a “massive liquidity unlock” could be the catalyst needed for Bitcoin (BTC) to reach more optimistic targets, similar to those before the tariffs were introduced.
For example, if the US bond market “broke” and the US Federal Reserve had to step in with measures like yield curve control
Firing Jerome Powell will crash financial markets — Sen. Elizabeth Warren
US Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that if President Donald Trump eventually moves to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, it could undermine investor confidence in the integrity of US capital markets and trigger a financial crash.
During an appearance on CNBC, the Massachusetts Senator said the President does not have the legal authority to remove Powell from his position. Moreover, removing Powell would weaken the financial infrastructure of the US, Warren added:
“If Chairman Powell can be fired by the President of the United States, it will crash the markets. The infrastructure that keeps this stock market strong and, therefore, a big part of our economy strong, and a big part of the world economy strong, is the idea that the big pieces move independently of politics.”
“If interest rates in the United States are subject to a president who just wants to wave his magic wand,
Canary Capital files for staked TRX ETF
United States asset manager Canary Capital has filed to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding the Tron blockchain network’s native token, TRX (TRX), regulatory filings show.
The fund intends to hold spot TRX and stake a portion of the tokens for added yield, the filing said.
According to CoinMarketCap, the TRX token has a total market capitalization of more than $22 billion. Staking TRX generates an annualized yield of approximately 4.5%, data from Stakingrewards.com shows.
The filing is the latest in an outpouring of submissions aimed at listing ETFs holding alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins.”
However, Canary’s proposed fund is relatively unique in requesting permission to stake its crypto holdings in its initial application. Other US ETFs, such as those holding the Ethereum network’s native token, Ether (ETH), have sought approval for
Aptos community proposal seeks to slash staking rewards by nearly 50%
An Aptos community member submitted a proposal on April 18 to slash staking rewards for the network’s native token, Aptos (APT), by nearly 50%
The proposal, submitted by a community member called MoonSheisty, aims at reducing reward yields from 7% to 3.79% in a three-month period, aligning Aptos staking rewards with other layer-1 blockchains and encouraging capital efficiency.
The proposal has sparked curiosity on X, but early comments on GitHub show some initial resistance.
A community member going by ElagabalxNode noted that reducing the staking reward without “compensatory mechanisms like a robust delegation program” could push smaller validators out of the network, thus weakening the Aptos blockchain’s decentralization and long-term resistance.
Related: Aptos to accelerate innovation with new tech, investment in India
The proposal addresses the validators’ role in the network, stating that Aptos should consider a community
MoonPay CEO calls on Congress to keep state authority over stablecoins
Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO of cryptocurrency payment firm MoonPay, is calling on US lawmakers to leave a path open to state-level regulators when passing legislation on stablecoins.
In an April 18 X post, Soto-Wright said he wanted Congress to “keep state-regulated issuers in the game” when it comes to stablecoin regulation, referencing efforts in the House of Representatives and Senate to create a federal regulatory framework. Lawmakers are considering whether to pass the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, in the Senate and the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy, or STABLE Act, in the House.
“While the cryptocurrency industry has called for federal legislation for years, it has been these state regulators who have provided and continue to provide regulatory clarity and supervision to ensure consumer protection and enable growth in the sector,” said Soto-Wright. “As federal legislation now
Tokenized stocks could top $1T in market cap — Execs
Tokenized stocks are on track to exceed $1 trillion in market capitalization in the coming years as adoption accelerates, two industry executives said at the TokenizeThis conference in New York.
The total addressable market for tokenized stocks — a type of tokenized real-world asset (RWA) — is difficult to project but is “definitely a bigger trillion-dollar market,” Arnab Naskar, STOKR’s CEO, said during an April 16 panel at the event.
In 2025, demand for the instruments has “exploded” from institutions ranging from Web3 wallets to neobanks to traditional financial services firms, according to Anna Wroblewska, Dinari’s Chief Business Officer.
“We’ve had an enormous influx of demand from a much broader scope of potential partners than you might even imagine […] it’s actually been really interesting,” Wroblewska said.
Tokenized stocks are still a small portion of the total RWA market. Source: RWA.xyz
Related: Tokenization can transform
Rare market volatility signal points to higher Bitcoin price in 6 to 12 months — Dan Tapiero
On April 7, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) posted a rare spike to 60, a level seen as a barometer of extreme market fear and uncertainty. According to Dan Tapiero, CEO of 10Tfund, the VIX has hit 60 only five times in the last 35 years, and data suggests a rebound for risk assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) in 6 to 12 months. CBOE Volatility Index. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The VIX, which is widely considered a “fear gauge,” reflects investor expectations of market turbulence based on S&P 500 options trading. As illustrated in the chart, extreme spikes were seen in 2008 and 2020, typically coinciding with market bottoms, where panic-driven sellers paved the way for generational market entries.
In light of that, Tapiero argued that the current spike is no different, with the worst of market fears likely “priced in,” setting
Crypto Biz: Is the US Fed prepping the money printer?
The US Federal Reserve under Jerome Powell has developed a reputation for dragging its feet on implementing important policy changes. However, a top central banker has assured that the Fed is “absolutely” ready to do whatever it takes to avoid a financial crisis, whether triggered by the US-led trade war or other adverse developments.
Although the long-awaited “Fed pivot” could still be months away, policymakers appear poised to gradually ease financial conditions, beginning last month when they reduced the redemption cap on Treasurys by 80%.
Fed policy exerts a gravitational pull on global markets through US dollar liquidity, which has a direct impact on Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader cryptocurrency markets. In fact, the Fed’s impact on crypto has only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Bitcoin has been highly correlated with liquidity — a fact that was reinforced by a