Key points:

Bitcoin has beaten out three key resistance levels in a single weekly candle.

The weekly close defended the 2025 yearly open, but a subsequent dip below it is making analysis question the strength of the BTC price breakout.

BTC/USD remains in a “critical zone” pending fresh support confirmations.

Bitcoin (BTC) has broken through three key resistance levels in a week, but its biggest reclaim battle continues.

Analysis from sources including popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital underscores BTC price acting in a critical area for bulls.

Bitcoin breaks through “triple resistance”

Bitcoin’s latest weekly candle saw a reclaim of a full three resistance lines, Rekt Capital reveals.

In addition to horizontal weekly resistance, BTC/USD broke beyond a multimonth downtrend previously discussed by Cointelegraph, as well as the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA).

“Bitcoin broke them all last week,” Rekt Capital commented in a post on X while uploading an illustrative chart.

“Bitcoin broke the Triple Resistance.”BTC/USD 1-week chart with 21, 50 EMA. Source: Rekt Capital/X

Another post highlights Bitcoin leaving both the 21-week and 50-week EMAs behind, with these traditionally offering bull market support.

“Bitcoin has repeated mid-2021 price history with a breakout from its range formed by the two Bull Market EMAs,” Rekt Capital summarized.

BTC/USD 1-week chart with 21, 50 EMA comparison. Source: Rekt Capital/X

BTC price weakness worries linger

For some, however, the real test for the current BTC price rebound lies elsewhere.

Related: A ‘local top’ and $88K retest? 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

In his latest YouTube video analysis on April 28, Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, drew attention to Bitcoin’s ongoing battle to reclaim the 2025 yearly open.

At around $93,500, this level forms the key focus moving forward, with a brief dip below it after the weekly close leaving Alan concerned.

“It’s one of the reasons why I think we could see more downside volatility,” he said while acknowledging the potential benefits of a fresh support retest.

Alan added that he hoped the 21-week simple moving average (SMA) would hold, but that price was in a “critical zone.”

Short-term BTC price magnets also include $94,000 thanks to a wall of bids in place on the Binance futures order book.

The buy liquidity was flagged and uploaded to X by monitoring resource CoinGlass on April 29.

Binance Bitcoin futures liquidity data. Source: CoinGlass/X

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.

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, faces a 20-year prison sentence as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks a severe penalty for his role in a multibillion-dollar fraud.

The DOJ on April 28 filed the government’s sentencing memorandum against Mashinsky, recommending a 20-year prison sentence for his fraudulent actions, which led to billions of dollars in losses for Celsius customers.

The 97-page memo mentioned that Celsius users were unable to access approximately $4.7 billion in crypto assets after the platform halted withdrawals on June 12, 2022.

“The Court should sentence Alexander Mashinsky to twenty years’ imprisonment as just punishment for his years-long campaign of lies and self-dealing that left in its wake billions in losses and thousands of victimized customers,” the DOJ stated.

Mashinsky’s personal benefit was $48 million

In addition to the investor losses, the DOJ noted that Mashinsky has personally profited from the fraudulent schemes in his role.

As part of his guilty plea in December 2024, Mashinsky admitted that he was the leader of the criminal activity at Celsius, that his crimes resulted in losses in excess of $550 million, and that he personally benefited more than $48 million, the DOJ said.

An excerpt from the government’s sentencing memorandum against Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky. Source: CourtListener

The DOJ highlighted that Mashinsky’s guilty plea showed that his crimes were “not the product of negligence, naivete, or bad luck,” but rather the result of “deliberate, calculated decisions to lie, deceive, and steal in pursuit of personal fortune.”

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

DeFi protocol Loopscale has recovered nearly half of the funds stolen during a major exploit over the weekend, as white hat negotiations with the attacker show signs of progress.

In an April 29 update posted to X, Loopscale confirmed that approximately 19,463 Wrapped SOL (WSOL) (worth roughly $2.88 million) have been returned to its wallets since April 28.

The first two returns included 10,000 WSOL (~$1.48 million) and 4,463 WSOL (~$660,000), following an earlier recovery of 5,000 WSOL (~$740,000).

“Our pursuit of an amicable resolution regarding Saturday’s incident continues to make progress,” the team wrote.

Loopscale updating community on negotiations progress. Source: Loopscale

Related: DeFi platform KiloEx to compensate users impacted by $7.5M hack

Loopscale offers 10% bounty for return of funds

On April 27, Loopscale’s team said it had sent an onchain message to the exploiter, offering them a 10% bounty and a full release of liability in exchange for the return of 90% of the stolen funds.

The team warned that if no agreement were reached within 24 hours, it would contact law enforcement.

At 3:52 pm Eastern Time on April 28, Loopscale announced it had received a response from the exploiter, who indicated willingness to negotiate a return in exchange for a bounty.

The exploit occurred on April 26, when manipulation of Loopscale’s RateX PT token pricing functions led to the theft of approximately $5.7 million in USDC (USDC) and 1,200 Solana (SOL) from its USDC and SOL vaults.

The stolen amount represented about 12% of the platform’s total funds and impacted only vault depositors, not borrowers or loopers.

While recoveries are not very common in decentralized finance, there have been more instances of successful fund returns as of late.

Related: WazirX confirms restart on track as it awaits sanction hearing in May

On April 27, Ethereum-based lending protocol Term Finance said it had recovered $1 million of the $1.6 million lost in an incident involving a misconfigured oracle on its Treehouse (tETH) market.

The team said 223 Ether (ETH) was recaptured internally, and another 333 ETH was recovered through negotiations.

Term Finance explaining their recovery progress. Source: Term Finance

In the first quarter of 2025, hackers stole more than $1.6 billion worth of crypto from exchanges and onchain smart contracts, blockchain security firm PeckShield said in an April report. 

More than 90% of those losses are attributable to a $1.5 billion attack on Bybit, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, by North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus Group.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26