Global economic tensions and trade policy uncertainties continue to create volatility in the crypto market, with SOL navigating these challenges better than many alternatives.

Solana token’s price rose more than 4% on Thursday, while the broader market gauge, CoinDesk 20, rose about 3%.

The $125-$127 range for SOL has emerged as a critical support zone that successfully rejected multiple downside attempts, while the $133.50-$133.60 area represents significant resistance, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.

Blockchain data shows over 32 million SOL (more than 5% of the total supply) accumulated at the $129.79 level, establishing it as a crucial pivot point for future price action.

Technical Analysis Highlights

SOL established a well-defined support zone between $125-127, which successfully rejected multiple downside attempts.

The price demonstrates strong resiliency, recovering 4.5% from its April 16th low of $123.64 to $135.57, establishing a clear uptrend.

Canada launched the first spot Solana ETFs in North America on April 16, issued by asset managers including 3iQ, Purpose, Evolve, and CI, boosting institutional interest.

Solana has reclaimed the top spot in DEX activity, surpassing Ethereum after a 16% gain over seven days, with total value locked (TVL) increasing by 12% to $7.08 billion.

Volume analysis shows particularly strong accumulation during the April 16th afternoon surge, with over 3 million units traded as the price broke through the $130 resistance level.

The Fibonacci retracement from the April 14th high ($136.01) to the April 16 low suggests the recent rally has reclaimed the critical 61.8% level.

In the final 100 minutes of trading, SOL experienced a significant downward correction, plummeting from $134.11 to $130.81, representing a 2.5% decline.

The sell-off intensified around 14:03-14:07, when volume spiked dramatically to over 92,000 units during a single-minute candle.

A strong resistance zone at $133.50-$133.60 rejected multiple recovery attempts.

A notable breakdown occurred at the $132.00 support level, triggering cascading liquidations.

Prices have now retraced beyond the 78.6% Fibonacci level, suggesting potential continuation toward the $125-127 support zone if bearish momentum persists.

Disclaimer: This article was generated with AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy. This article may include information from external sources, which are listed below when applicable.

External References:

«Solana’s Cost Basis Shifts Sharply: $129 Emerges as a Key Pivot Zone,» published April 16, 2025.​

NewsBTC, «Solana Retests Bearish Breakout Zone – $65 Target Still In Play?» published April 17, 2025.​

Cointelegraph, «Why Is Solana Price Up This Week?» published April 12, 2025.​

CryptoPotato, «Solana (SOL) Jumps by 7% Daily, Bitcoin (BTC) Eyes $85K Again (Market Watch),» published April 17, 2025.

Cointelegraph, «Solana Price Is Up 36% From Its Crypto Market Crash Lows — Is $180 SOL the Next Stop?» published April 16, 2025.​

Richard Kim, the founder of crypto casino Zero Edge, was arrested on Tuesday following allegations that he had gambled away investors’ funds.

According to an FBI complaint filed on Tuesday in the Southern District of New York, Kim «fraudulently induced investors to invest in Zero Edge, a cryptocurrency technology company he founded, and then misappropriated millions of dollars in those investors’ funds.»

The FBI said Kim lost «nearly all» of the $7 million he raised from investors and charged him with securities fraud and wire fraud. According to court records, Kim posted a secured bond of $250,000 and put up $100,000 in «cash or real property» to secure it.

CoinDesk was first to report on the Zero Edge incident in July of last year. In an interview at the time, Kim revealed to CoinDesk that he had gambled away more than $3.67 million of his investors’ funds through a series of high-risk leveraged crypto trades.

«The downfall began with a careless mistake — a phishing site that cost $80k,» Kim said in his own recollection of what went wrong, which he shared with CoinDesk in a written statement that he later published as a public apology. «This triggered my old demons, the need to ‘make it back’ to preserve my reputation.»

According to Kim, he «started down a negative spiral of leverage trading, raising more capital, and hiding the truth.»

After losing most of the $7 million he had raised for Zero Edge, Kim told CoinDesk he reported himself to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s public tip line.

«Part of my rationale in reaching out proactively to the SEC was to say, OK guys, I really f—d up. I lost this money. It was grossly negligent. But I didn’t intend to go run away with this money,» he told CoinDesk in an interview.

According to the FBI complaint, Kim’s previous accounts «misleadingly described where investors’ funds had gone, and why, and omitted to inform investors that certain funds had been transferred to Shuffle.com, the gambling website.»

Kim’s claim that he initially lost $80,000 to a phishing scam and never “mix[ed] personal and business funds,” according to the FBI, failed to account for the fact that he had also sent company funds to an online sportsbook and personal crypto investment accounts.

Kim did not immediately respond to a request for comment this week.

Kim’s arrest marks a striking fall from grace. A former executive of Galaxy, the crypto investment firm headed by Michael Novogratz, Kim also led elite trading desks at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Before that, he was an attorney with the prestigious law firm Cleary Gottlieb.

Galaxy was among the investors in Zero Edge who lost money as a result of Kim’s activities.

«Mr. Kim left Galaxy in March 2024 to start Zero Edge, a company in which Galaxy had an immaterial balance-sheet investment,» said Michael Wursthorn, Galaxy’s head of communications. «Upon learning of certain actions taken by Mr. Kim in his role at Zero Edge, we, along with other investors, reported his conduct to the authorities.»

Kim pitched Zero Edge as a first-of-its-kind crypto casino that would level the playing field for gamblers through improved transparency.

Zero Edge never launched, but Kim told CoinDesk last year that he was motivated to build it because of his history with gambling addiction and his frustration that the house frequently had an opaque and unfair edge over players.

Read more: Crypto Casino Founder Apologizes for Gambling Away Investor Funds

In today’s crypto for advisors, Todd Bendell from Amphibian Capital breaks down bitcoin yield products as a strategy to grow bitcoin holdings beyond price appreciation.

Then, Rich Rines, an initial Core DAO developer, provides guidance to Bitcoin developers in Ask an Expert.

Exclusive event alert for financial advisors: Join CoinDesk for Wealth Management Day on May 15th at Consensus Toronto. Registered wealth advisors are provided with their own day of networking and learning where they will acquire timely and actionable information about digital assets. Approved advisors receive a complimentary 3-day Platinum Pass ($1,750 value) to Consensus. Apply today.

– Sarah Morton

You’re reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets for financial advisors. Subscribe here to get it every Thursday.

The Next Frontier for Bitcoin Holders: Generating BTC-on-BTC Yield

Bitcoin was never meant to sit idle.

For over a decade, bitcoin has served as a digital store of value, a hedge against monetary debasement and more recently, a core allocation in institutional portfolios. As the asset matures and infrastructure improves, long-term holders are asking a new question: How do I put my bitcoin to work — without leaving the Bitcoin ecosystem?

The answer lies in a growing but underexplored category of strategies: BTC-on-BTC yield.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about lending your BTC on unregulated platforms or chasing high annual percentage yields (APYs) à la BlockFi. That playbook collapsed under the weight of counterparty risk and opacity. What’s emerged over the last two years is a more institutional alternative — diversified, risk-managed access to systematic arbitrage and quantitative strategies, all denominated in bitcoin.

Why BTC-native yield matters

For most assets, it’s a given that money should work for you. We don’t keep dollars under a mattress or tucked away on a thumb drive — we invest them. Yet in the bitcoin world, the dominant narrative has long been “hold and wait.”

That mindset made sense when bitcoin was fighting for legitimacy. But in today’s environment — where BTC is being adopted by sovereign wealth funds and traded on major exchanges — long-term holders need better tools.

BTC-on-BTC yield solves this. It aligns with the ethos of accumulating more BTC but does so through institutional-grade strategies that aim to generate returns in BTC, not just on BTC. That distinction matters.

Cold storage isn’t a strategy

There’s also a myth that simply holding bitcoin in cold storage is the safest option. The phrase “not your keys, not your coins” has become dogma — but it deserves a second look.

In reality, cold storage comes with its own risks: human error, hardware failure, loss of keys and in many cases, an inability to generate any yield whatsoever. Meanwhile, professional custodians — regulated, insured and audited — are now standard infrastructure providers in digital asset management.

For allocators managing material BTC positions, yield-generating custody isn’t a tradeoff. It’s an upgrade.

How these strategies work

Today’s BTC-native yield opportunities span a wide range — from delta-neutral basis trades and statistical arbitrage to DeFi yield farming and machine learning-driven quant execution — but all settled in BTC.

Returns are calculated and distributed in kind. The objective is simple: accumulate more BTC over time, without needing to rely solely on price appreciation.

By allocating across a diversified mix of strategies and managers, investors can pursue consistent BTC growth while mitigating single-strategy or single-manager risk.

Why BTC-on BTC yield is timely

Several forces are converging right now:

Volatility has returned. Major liquidation events — like the $10 billion flush in February — create dislocations that sophisticated funds can capitalize on.

Infrastructure is stronger than ever. Custody, execution and risk tools have matured significantly since the last cycle.

Institutional interest is real. ETFs have opened the floodgates — but most capital is still under-allocated and under-deployed.

In short, bitcoin is growing up. The question is whether the strategies around it will grow with it.

Rethinking HODLing

BTC-on-BTC yield and long-term holding aren’t mutually exclusive. Allocators can continue to hold core BTC positions while using active strategies to pursue steady accumulation.

That requires moving beyond cold storage maxims and exploring yield strategies that reflect the sophistication of today’s markets. With proper risk controls, BTC-native yield offers a pragmatic path to accumulate more BTC without abandoning its core principles.

The bottom line is that bitcoin doesn’t have to sit on the sidelines. It can move with the market — and grow with it.

For allocators thinking in decades, BTC-on-BTC yield opens the door to a more productive bitcoin strategy — one that matches conviction with action.

— Todd Bendell, Managing General Partner, Amphibian Capital

Ask an Expert

Q. What’s the best way to align early developer incentives with long-term protocol value?

A. The key is to reward real product-market fit and real users — not short-term speculation. That starts with building tight relationships and solving problems for real communities. From there, it’s about fostering an “eat what you kill” ecosystem, in which builders who ship products people actually use are rewarded with real economic upside — not just points, grants or temporary incentives. When developers are compensated based on the value they create for users, long-term alignment takes care of itself.

Q. When just starting out in crypto, how can developers filter for signal over noise?

A. Don’t just chase the hot thing — look for what will still matter in 5 to 10 years. That’s one of the key reasons Bitcoin remains a compelling foundation for builders. It has dedicated users, immense value and a clear product-market fit. Developers should focus on real usage and demand instead of short-term token price action. If you’re building something that keeps people engaged because it’s useful — not because it’s yield-farming season — you’re already filtering signal from noise.

Q. What lessons from Bitcoin’s design philosophy are still underutilized?

A. Bitcoin is dominant not because it does the most, but because it does one thing better than anyone else. Its product-market fit as digital gold is crypto’s most proven use case — and yet it’s still underrated. Too many forget that simplicity with real utility wins. Building around Bitcoin and extending its utility without compromising its foundation remains one of the most underrated opportunities in the space today.

— Rich Rines, an initial contributor, Core DAO

Keep Reading

CoinDesk’s Digital Assets Quarterly Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the crypto market’s performance.

Sweden is the latest country to explore using bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the end of its crypto “enforcement by prosecution” policies.