Weekly Recap: New SEC Chair, US Crypto Crime Unit Closure, and Miner Import Pricing Surge

Paul Atkins has been appointed as the head of the SEC, while the U.S. Department of Justice has shut down its unit dedicated to combating crypto crimes. Additionally, American miners have been overpaying for the import of their equipment, among other notable events from the past week.

Bitcoin began the week at $78,000, but the downward trend from Sunday, April 6, continued. By Monday morning, the price had dropped below $75,000.

Over the course of a day, the price of the digital gold fell nearly 10%. XRP lost about 21%, while Dogecoin decreased by approximately 19%. Ethereum could not maintain its position above $1,500, decreasing by roughly 18%. The total market capitalization for cryptocurrency declined by around 12.5%, resting at $2.46 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance climbed above 60%.

The price soon rebounded to $80,000, spurred by rumors of a planned 90-day pause on tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

On April 7, the volume of coins sold at a loss reached 36,000 BTC, translating to more than $2.7 billion.

By early April 9, Bitcoin’s price dropped to its lowest point since the start of the year, falling below $75,000. This decline was triggered by the activation of Trump’s «freeing» tariffs.

Washington imposed tariffs of 10% and above on imported goods, with China facing rates as high as 104% due to Beijing’s refusal to negotiate.

Ethereum’s price briefly fell to its lowest level since March 2023, dropping below $1,400. The ETH/BTC exchange rate fell to 0.01855, marking the lowest point since December 2019.

Leading analyst at Swyftx, Pav Hundal, estimated that the cryptocurrency market has lost $1.2 trillion since early February.

Later that day, the price climbed back to $78,000, but in response to U.S. actions, China increased tariffs on American goods from 34% to 84%. Amidst this uncertainty, Bitcoin’s price retreated to $76,000.

By April 10, the price surged above $81,000 following the President’s announcement of a temporary tariff reduction for some countries, while increasing tariffs on Chinese imports. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ indices rose by 9.52% and 12.16%, respectively.

The release of U.S. consumer price index data triggered a brief spike in Bitcoin to $82,500, but then it fell back to $81,000, reducing the daily growth rate to 4.3%.

Between April 11 and 12, Bitcoin maintained its upward trend. Following the announcement of exemptions for semiconductors and certain tech goods from reciprocal tariffs, the price increased, surpassing $85,500 — a local maximum during the new tariff period.

As of this writing, the price hovers around $84,400, marking an 8.2% increase for the week.

Ethereum started the week around $1,500 after dropping from $1,800 the previous weekend.

On April 9, the price peaked at $1,675 but then fell back to $1,500 the next day.

The following two days showed positive momentum, and by April 12, the second-largest cryptocurrency returned to $1,650.

Currently, Ethereum is priced at approximately $1,600, reflecting a weekly increase of 6.7%.

Over the past week, all other assets in the top 10 by market cap also saw gains, with the most significant increases in SOL (12.6%), TRX (5.4%), and XRP (4.3%).

On April 9, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Paul Atkins as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chair. The vote saw 52 senators supporting the nomination, while 44 opposed it and four abstained.

President Donald Trump nominated Atkins for the SEC position in December 2024. Many in the crypto industry view him as a suitable candidate due to his prior experience in the field.

Atkins served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and later founded a consulting firm, Patomak Global Partners, which has worked with various crypto exchanges and DeFi projects.

In late March, the Senate Banking Committee endorsed Atkins’ nomination. Ahead of the hearings, journalists uncovered that Atkins owned shares in three crypto companies: Securitize, Anchorage Digital, and Off the Chain Capital.

During discussions, some Democratic senators criticized Atkins for his connections to the fallen exchange FTX.

Republican Senator Tim Scott expressed hope that under Atkins, the SEC would return to its core mission and ensure that U.S. markets remain admired worldwide.

Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler resigned on January 20 and has since returned to academia as a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Media outlets reported that the DOJ had shut down the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET).

This decision aligns with an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at streamlining regulations for digital assets.

The NCET was established in 2021 under the Biden administration and was involved in significant crypto investigations, including cases against the mixer Tornado Cash and the hacking of the Mango Markets protocol. The group also managed cases related to digital asset theft by North Korean hackers.

Under the new directive, DOJ staff will no longer pursue actions against crypto exchanges, mixers, and offline wallets. Instead, the department’s focus will shift towards addressing fraud involving digital assets and targeting those causing real harm to investors.

U.S. senators have described the decision to dismantle the enforcement unit as a «serious mistake.» A group of politicians, including Elizabeth Warren and Richard Durbin, sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanch about their concerns, stating that this creates a «systemic vulnerability in the digital asset sector,» which could be exploited by drug traffickers, terrorists, fraudsters, and adversaries.

In their letter, they also referenced cryptocurrency projects associated with President Trump’s family, suggesting a «potential link» between these projects and the department’s actions.

Senators demanded a briefing on the DOJ’s decisions by May 1.

Authorities from several U.S. states have introduced their initiatives to integrate Bitcoin into the financial system.

The House of Representatives in North Carolina presented a bill allowing cryptocurrencies to be used for transactions such as tax payments.

“Digital assets are recognized as valid means of exchange in North Carolina. No transaction can be rejected or challenged based solely on the use of cryptocurrencies,” the document states.

The Digital Asset Freedom Act specifies criteria that assets must meet to achieve such status, emphasizing decentralization; digital assets should launch fairly, without pre-mining, insider distributions, or centralized control, and should not be dependent on a single entity or a small group for governance and operation.

However, the document does not specify particular cryptocurrencies that would meet these standards.

On April 10, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a Bitcoin Reserve bill (SBR) with a vote of 192 in favor and 179 against.

If approved by the Senate and Governor, the bill will allow the treasurer to invest up to 5% of general and other authorized fund assets in precious metals and certain digital assets.

The bill also establishes guidelines for asset storage.

As of the end of 2024, New Hampshire’s general fund AUM was $3.6 billion.

The legislation clarifies that funds can only be invested in cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization exceeding $500 billion. Currently, only Bitcoin meets this criterion.

New Hampshire has become the fourth U.S. state to pass the SBR bill through one of its legislative chambers, with Arizona leading the charge among states.

Also on April 10, the Florida House of Representatives Insurance and Banking Committee unanimously approved the SBR bill. It will go through three committees before reaching the House floor.

As April 9 approached, major American Bitcoin miners were chartering flights in Southeast Asia at rates ranging from $2 to $3.5 million — 2 to 4 times higher than normal rates.

Miners were racing to import their ordered ASIC miners before Trump’s «freeing» tariffs took effect. The surge was particularly driven by the urgency to export the equipment, pushing factories to operate overtime to fulfill orders.

On April 2, Trump announced new tariffs for trade partners, starting at 10% for all countries from April 5.

Starting April 9, «reciprocal tariffs» were introduced for several U.S. partners, with rates raised for Malaysia (24%), Thailand (36%), Indonesia (32%), Taiwan (32%), and for China, ultimately reaching 104%.

These three jurisdictions host assembly plants for major miner manufacturers: Bitmain, MicroBT, Canaan, Bitdeer, and Auradine. Taiwan’s TSMC supplies most of the chips used in these setups.

In 2023, MicroBT opened a miner production facility in the U.S., and Bitmain took a similar step in January. However, these facilities cover only a small fraction of the required volumes.

In 2024, American miners imported equipment worth more than $2.3 billion, with over $860 million in the first quarter of the year. The U.S. accounts for 35–40% of Bitcoin’s hash rate.

Experts estimate that due to tariffs, prices for ASIC miners will rise by 22–36%.

According to the Hashrate Index, prices for units with an energy consumption ratio of up to 19 J/TH have decreased over the past year, with the latest Antminer S21 from Bitmain costing around $3,400.

In a recent interview with BestChange creator Denis Malkov, it was revealed which coins are most popular among exchange users, whether the service reports to authorities, and how to operate within Russia’s current advertising ban on cryptocurrencies.

The incident with Hyperliquid was chronicled, highlighting industry leaders’ responses, the «convenient» actions of competitors, and the forced protective measures taken by the project’s management, all of which raised questions about the principles of decentralization.

HAPI’s cryptocurrency security expert Irakli Dizenko discussed the Bybit hack, expectations for regulation in the DeFi sector, and overall attack trends.

Lastly, a traditional digest gathered the key events in cybersecurity from the past week.