$330M Bitcoin theft fuels XMR surge

April 28, 2025

Reading time: 5 minutes

Strategy adds $1.42B in Bitcoin, strengthens lead as largest corporate holder

Key points:

  • Strategy acquired 15,355 BTC between April 21–27, bringing total holdings to 553,555 BTC worth over $52 billion.

  • The company’s Bitcoin yield reached 13.7% year-to-date, with a 2025 target of 15%.

News - Michael Saylor’s Strategy continued expanding its Bitcoin empire last week, purchasing 15,355 BTC for $1.42 billion at an average price of $92,737. The acquisition raised the firm’s total Bitcoin holdings to 553,555 BTC, now valued at more than $52 billion, according to an April 28 filing.

Funded through common and preferred stock offerings, the purchase highlights Strategy’s aggressive approach to Bitcoin accumulation. At an average entry price of $68,459, the firm enjoys an unrealized gain of nearly $14.8 billion.

Saylor celebrated the milestone on X, emphasizing the company’s 13.7% BTC yield year-to-date and reaffirming a 15% target for 2025. He also reminded investors: "You can still buy BTC for less than $0.1 million."

Strategy faces rising competition - While Strategy strengthens its lead, competitors like 21 Capital are entering the scene, backed by heavyweight investors such as Cantor Fitzgerald and SoftBank. Some analysts argue that smaller firms may achieve higher Bitcoin-per-share growth, but Strategy counters this with its proprietary BTC Gain and BTC Dollar Gain metrics, focusing on overall balance sheet strength rather than per-share comparisons.

Bitcoin pioneer Max Keiser also weighed in, stating: "Corporations must 'Saylorize' or die," as the world moves closer to a Bitcoin standard.

Outlook - With Bitcoin hovering near $95,700 and bullish momentum building, Strategy’s aggressive accumulation strategy positions it as a dominant force amid growing competition.

Monero soars 50% after $330M Bitcoin theft sparks laundering frenzy

Key points:

  • Monero (XMR) surged over 50% after hackers laundered $330M in stolen Bitcoin through the privacy coin.

  • Limited liquidity from exchange delistings amplified XMR’s price rally to a 2025 daily volume record.

News - Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) skyrocketed by more than 50% on April 28 after a suspected $330 million Bitcoin theft triggered large-scale laundering through the network.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT flagged a suspicious transfer of 3,520 BTC from a potential victim’s wallet. Shortly after, the funds were swapped for Monero across six or more instant exchanges, sparking a sharp surge in XMR prices.

Data showed Monero jumping from $229 to an intraday high of $347, before cooling slightly to around $270 by press time. The event marked XMR’s biggest daily trading volume spike of the year, with activity climbing over 360% compared to the previous day.

Why Monero? - Monero’s strong privacy features — including obfuscating sender, receiver, and transaction amounts — have long made it a favored tool among bad actors seeking financial anonymity. However, major exchanges delisting Monero in recent months have reduced liquidity, making large transactions even more impactful on the price.

Despite concerns about privacy coins and crime, analytics firm Chainalysis notes that most criminal crypto activity still predominantly uses mainstream assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Still, Monero's association with the darknet and financial privacy continues to fuel its underground appeal.

Interestingly, ZachXBT dismissed speculation that North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind this particular attack, suggesting independent hackers were likely responsible.

Privacy coins stay resilient - Even as regulatory scrutiny increases, privacy coins like Monero are showing steady growth in 2025, outperforming broader altcoin sectors. According to Artemis, privacy tokens have posted a 17% sector gain this year.

With demand for financial anonymity unlikely to vanish, XMR’s latest rally underscores that the battle between privacy advocates and regulators is far from over.

Ethereum's TPS could skyrocket to 2,000 with bold new proposal

Key points:

  • EIP-9698 proposes a 100x gas limit increase over four years, potentially boosting Ethereum’s TPS to 2,000.

  • The proposal introduces predictable gas limit growth without requiring a hard fork, starting June 1 if approved.

News - Ethereum’s scaling ambitions took a major leap forward this week as Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist unveiled Ethereum Improvement Proposal 9698 (EIP-9698), aiming to significantly boost transaction capacity.

The proposal suggests gradually increasing the blockchain's gas limit 100-fold over four years — from 36 million to 3.6 billion units — through an automatic, deterministic schedule. If implemented, Ethereum’s transaction speed could theoretically soar to over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS), compared to today’s 15–20 TPS.

Feist emphasized that the current miner voting mechanism for gas limit changes lacks coordination, slowing Ethereum’s scalability. EIP-9698 instead proposes an exponential growth model, incrementally raising the gas limit at each Beacon Chain epoch without needing a network hard fork. Operators could still override the setting manually if needed.

The activation point is targeted for Beacon-chain epoch 369017, approximately June 1. If approved, the upgrade could future-proof Ethereum’s competitiveness against faster rivals like Solana and Avalanche — networks that currently boast much higher TPS.

How EIP-9698 could reshape Ethereum - Unlike traditional gas limit adjustments driven by operator voting, EIP-9698 would enforce a predictable and steady increase, reducing bottlenecks in scaling decisions. This systematic approach could better align with hardware advancements and client upgrades over time, giving validators and developers ample time to adapt.

By 2029, if the plan stays on track, Ethereum could process thousands of transactions per second without needing abrupt interventions or emergency hard forks, marking a major milestone in its roadmap to mass adoption.

Why it matters - The exponential gas limit increase plan, coupled with recent scaling upgrades like Dencun and the upcoming Fusaka hard fork, could make Ethereum far more efficient while preserving decentralization. However, concerns remain over potential node strain and infrastructure readiness, requiring careful monitoring as the network evolves.

EIP-9698 now awaits review by core developers and client maintainers, with community discussions already underway.

Nexo returns to U.S. market amid renewed optimism

Key points:

  • Nexo makes a comeback: Crypto lender Nexo is returning to the U.S. market after a two-year hiatus, citing a more favorable regulatory environment.

  • Trump Jr.'s endorsement: Donald Trump Jr. and Nexo’s leadership emphasize the importance of crypto innovation and supportive regulations.

News - Cryptocurrency services platform Nexo announced its return to the U.S. on April 28, two years after regulatory hurdles forced its exit. The event marking Nexo’s reentry featured Donald Trump Jr., who declared, “Crypto is the future of finance,” and stressed the importance of establishing a regulatory framework that nurtures crypto growth.

Nexo had previously exited the U.S. market at the end of 2022, citing the lack of regulatory clarity. In early 2023, the company settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for $45 million over its interest-earning product, eventually shutting down the offering for U.S. users.

A changed regulatory landscape - Under the Trump administration’s renewed focus on fostering innovation, the SEC has shifted leadership, appointing Paul Atkins as chair. This change has sparked optimism within the crypto community. Prominent figures like Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), and Exodus CFO James Gernetzke welcomed the move, suggesting it would pave the way for more productive regulatory engagement.

Nexo’s full-service relaunch - With $11 billion in assets under management, Nexo announced it will now offer a full suite of services to U.S. retail and institutional clients. These include high-yield savings products, asset-backed credit lines, and advanced trading solutions. Co-founder Antoni Trenchev credited the Trump administration’s leadership for creating an environment where “pioneers are celebrated, not stifled.”

Nexo declined to provide additional comments about its return but highlighted its renewed optimism for operating in the U.S. under the new administration.

Did you know?

  • Hong Kong’s first spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs launched in April 2024, making it the first Asian market to offer regulated spot crypto ETFs. The move marked a major step in integrating digital assets into traditional finance and attracting institutional investors to the region.

  • Bitcoin mining’s global hash rate recently surpassed 700 EH/s (exahashes per second), setting a new all-time high in 2025. This surge reflects the growing security and decentralization of the Bitcoin network, even as energy efficiency becomes a bigger focus for miners.

  • The crypto gaming sector is projected to surpass $100 billion by 2030, according to a report published in March 2025. Driven by Play-to-Earn models, NFT integration, and growing mainstream acceptance, crypto-based gaming continues to gain traction as a serious sub-sector of both blockchain and the broader gaming industry.

Top 3 coins of the day

Monero (XMR)

Key points:

  • At press time, XMR was trading at $273, reflecting a 16.47% increase over the last 24 hours.

  • It was one of the top gainers and trending cryptocurrencies according to CoinMarketCap.

What you should know:

Monero recorded a sharp breakout after trading mostly sideways for weeks. The price surged past key resistance levels, driven in part by news of millions of dollars being funneled into XMR by a suspected hacker seeking privacy. The Awesome Oscillator registered strong green momentum bars above the zero line, highlighting intensifying bullish pressure, while the Parabolic SAR indicators flipped bullish, placing the dots below the candlesticks. Moreover, the rise in daily trading volume further validated the strength of the ongoing rally. If bulls maintain control, XMR could attempt a push toward the $300 mark, with $260 likely to act as near-term support on any pullbacks.

XRP (XRP)

Key points:

  • At press time, XRP was trading at $2.31, reflecting a 2.83% increase over the last 24 hours.

  • It was one of the trending cryptocurrencies as per CoinMarketCap.

What you should know:

XRP extended its recent gains, fueled by bullish sentiment surrounding the SEC's approval of ProShares' XRP futures ETFs. The MACD line crossed above the signal line, reinforcing the bullish momentum, while the Bollinger Bands expanded, indicating a potential increase in volatility. Daily trading volumes also rose slightly, supporting the continuation of the current uptrend. If XRP sustains its momentum, traders should monitor the $2.40–$2.45 zone as a key resistance area. Meanwhile, support appears to lie near $2.20 based on the midline of the Bollinger Bands, providing a buffer in case of pullbacks.

Uniswap (UNI)

Key points:

  • At press time, UNI was trading at $5.55, reflecting a 1.07% increase over the last 24 hours.

  • It was one of the trending cryptocurrencies according to CoinMarketCap.

What you should know:

Uniswap’s price maintained a modest uptrend after a recent breakout but showed signs of slowing momentum. The 9-day SMA remained slightly above the current price, signaling a potential shift back to short-term consolidation if buying pressure weakens. Meanwhile, the RSI hovered around 47.55, indicating a neutral position with neither strong overbought nor oversold signals. If bulls regain control, a move above the $5.65 resistance zone could reignite upside potential. On the flip side, failure to hold above the $5.30–$5.40 support region might expose UNI to further corrective pressure.

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