Bitcoin (BTC) rallied above $89,000 on April 22, its highest level since early March, buoyed by strong spot demand during US trading hours on April 21. The recovery, however, faced a serious challenge in breaking above $90,000 as sell-side liquidity blocked the way.BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin price faces stiff resistance on the upside

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price has been steadily moving toward the $89,000 level over the last six hours, leading to questions about whether the barrier at $90,00 will finally give in.

BTC/USD hourly chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

“BTC is closing in on the big $ 90 K-$91 K horizontal area which acted as the previous range low,” said popular trader Daan Crypto Trades in an April 22 post on X. 

The trader explained that the price had swept the $89,000 level as it was consolidating below it. Note that the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) is currently located just above this level, reinforcing its significance.

Daan Crypto Trades said that the price needs to overcome these barriers in order to confirm a breakout. 

“Quite a few resistances close by, but a few percentage moves and you’ll break through all of them, and the chart looks pretty great. Bulls know what to do.”BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades

Bitcoin price breaking $91-$92K is key — Analyst

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant’s head of Research, Julio Moreno, said that the traders’ onchain realized price between $91,000 and $92,000 is the real test for Bitcoin bulls. 

Related: Bitcoin risks 10%-15% BTC price dip after key rejection near $89K

According to Moreno, the traders’ realized price usually acts as resistance when the crypto market is bearish, which is the current situation of Bitcoin.

Source: Julio Moreno

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Mantra founder and CEO John Mullin has begun an $80 million burn of OM tokens to regain users’ trust following the token’s crash earlier in April. However, the question of the underlying reasons for the crash remains unanswered, blockchain investigators told Cointelegraph.

Unpacking Mantra’s OM crash would require a detailed forensic study rather than just basic blockchain analysis, said Natalie Newson, senior blockchain investigator at the blockchain security firm CertiK.

“A full forensic investigation, akin to what we saw post-FTX, would be needed to substantiate claims of calculated exploitation,” Newson told Cointelegraph, highlighting challenges of tracing over-the-counter (OTC) transactions.

Newson’s perspective on the OM crash came days after Mantra released its post-crash statement, asking centralized exchange partners to collaborate on further unpacking the incident.

Onchain activity versus opaque OTC deals

Addressing the OM token crash, Newson stressed the importance of distinguishing between public onchain activity and the “more opaque nature of OTC deals.”

Mantra CEO Mullin disclosed in an interview with Coffeezilla on April 15 that the Mantra team had “done a small amount of OTCs,” up to $30 million of OM tokens.

Mantra’s founder and CEO, John Mullin, in an interview with Coffeezilla. Source: YouTube

Unlike traceable transactions on centralized exchanges, OTC crypto transfers involve a method of buying and selling cryptocurrencies outside of exchanges, designed to enable deep liquidity and big trades while mitigating the volatility of prices.

“In this case, the accumulation of approximately 100 million OM by a whale appears to have been the result of secondary market transactions — not necessarily direct activity from Mantra insiders,” Newson said.

Analysis by Arkham or Nansen is not enough

As previously mentioned, Mullin denied allegations that the OM crash resulted from an insider token dump, claiming that blockchain analytics platform Arkham had “mislabelled” some wallets.

Newson said that data from Arkham and similar platforms like Nansen would be insufficient to confirm or deny insider involvement.

“To confirm coordinated insider behavior, it would likely require more than just basic wallet tracing on platforms like Arkham or Nansen,” Newson said, adding:

“Blockchain analytics tools can provide directional clues, but without access to offchain agreements and centralized exchange records, drawing definitive conclusions would be difficult.”

Newson is not alone in highlighting the complicated nature of tracing transactions in the OM token crash.

Related: Mantra OM token crash exposes ‘critical’ liquidity issues in crypto

“There are ways to get data from the node, but it does not seem to be easy to get a full history,” Whale Alert’s co-founder Frank Weert told Cointelegraph.

Mullin previously said that the team had been considering hiring a forensic auditor following the OM crash but had made no decision as of April 16.

Arkham did not respond to multiple Cointelegraph inquiries to comment on the Mantra incident.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

Bitcoin mining firm Bitdeer secured $60 million in loans to ramp up its Bitcoin ASIC manufacturing efforts as global mining competition intensifies amid record-breaking network hashrates.

According to its annual report, Bitdeer entered a loan agreement in April with affiliate firm Matrixport, a crypto financial services company founded by Bitdeer’s chairman, Jihan Wu.

The facility offers up to $200 million, backed by Bitdeer’s Sealminer hardware, with a floating interest rate of 9% plus market benchmarks. As of April 21, Bitdeer had drawn $43 million from the credit line.

Source: Bitdeer’s Annual Report

The latest funding adds to a $17 million unsecured loan obtained in January, alongside previous capital raises totaling $572.5 million via convertible notes in 2024. Bitdeer also issued over six million shares, raising nearly $119 million in equity markets this year.

Related: Top Bitcoin miners produced nearly $800M of BTC in Q1 2025

Bitdeer acquires 101 MW Alberta power project

In February 2025, Bitdeer acquired a fully licensed 101 megawatt (MW) gas-fired power project near Fox Creek, Alberta, for $21.7 million in cash, per the annual filing.

The site, with potential to scale up to 1 gigawatt, includes all necessary permits for construction and a 99 MW grid connection. The power plant is set to be developed with an EPC partner and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2026.

In March, the company also purchased 40 MW worth of liquid-cooled mining containers from Saiheat.

More recently, it was reported that Bitdeer is expanding its self-mining operations and investing in United States-based production. The shift came in response to cooling demand for its mining hardware from other miners.

“Our plan going forward is to prioritize our own self-mining,” Jeff LaBerge, Bitdeer’s head of capital markets and strategic initiatives, reportedly said. 

Additionally, on Feb. 28, 2025, Bitdeer launched a $20 million share repurchase program, effective through February 2026. To date, it has repurchased 1,056,500 Class A shares valued at about $12 million under this program.

Related: American Bitcoin’s ambition is to dominate mining — Hut 8 CEO

Bitcoin hashrate surges while miner revenues shrink

Bitdeer’s expansion comes as Bitcoin’s network computing power hit a record 1 sextillion hashes per second in early April, according to BitInfoCharts.

Bitcoin hashrate. Source: BitInfoCharts

A higher hashrate indicates that more miners (or more powerful machines) are competing to solve Bitcoin blocks. As competition rises, each individual miner’s chance of earning block rewards decreases, implying declining profitability.

Further hurting miner revenue are low transaction fees. As of now, the average Bitcoin transaction fee hovers around $1, down from over $16 per transfer in April last year, according to YCharts.

The low transaction fees and rising hashrate forced public miners to sell over 40% of their BTC production in March — the highest since late 2024.

Firms like Hive, Bitfarms and Ionic Digital reportedly sold more than 100% of their monthly output.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19