Charles Schwab has launched a waitlist for "Schwab Crypto," a new account designed to let clients buy and sell bitcoin and ether directly, with a first-half 2026 target for launch. CEO Rick Wurster has said the rollout is expected to begin with a limited release in Q2 before expanding, while the product will not be available in New York and Louisiana at the start. Fees and custody details have not been disclosed, and the bank says crypto transfers in or out will not be supported at launch.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased by 3.87% at block height 943488, reversing a 7.76% decline from the prior epoch. The network hashrate has dropped to 961.55 EH/s—down 60.45 EH/s from a March 28 peak of 1,022 EH/s—while estimates suggest the next adjustment around April 19, 2026 could reduce difficulty by about 14.27%. Miner economics remain pressured with a $30.67 PH/s hashprice and fees at 0.56% of the block reward.

Ethereum is trading around the $2,000 psychological level after failing to reclaim $2,151, leaving the next move uncertain in the middle of a wider multi-year range. The weekly structure cited by analyst Minga maps key downside liquidity levels at $1,537 and $1,384, with a potential macro-bottom region outlined between $1,190 and $1,148.

Human.tech has announced an AI-agent wallet infrastructure called Agentic Wallet as a Protocol (WaaP) that converts wallet actions into natural-language interactions while keeping users as the final authority. The system uses cryptographic controls such as spending limits, time windows, approved addresses and step-up human approvals for higher-risk actions. The company says its Human Passport ecosystem has more than 3 million users, has secured over $500 million against Sybil attacks, and is backed by $3 billion in restaked ether.

Chainlink (LINK) has remained under $9 after slipping below $10 in early February, with the token still nearly 70% below its $25 cycle high. On April 3, on-chain analyst Darkfost said 14.7 million LINK—worth about $126 million—was transferred to Binance in a single day, a flow they cautioned could add sell-side pressure. LINK was around $8.7 at the time of writing, up 0.5% over 24 hours and about 1.5% over the past week.

Bitcoin’s retail participation appears to be fading, with “shrimp” (under 1 BTC) inflows dropping to record lows and keeping confidence around a $65k local bottom uncertain. Meanwhile, memecoin engagement remains muted, including a sharp fall in Solana active wallets from over 30 million at its mid-2025 peak to below 5 million. Against that backdrop, heavy institutional activity—led by BlackRock’s IBIT ETF trading $16-18 billion daily—supports a “buy the fear” setup that could underpin BTC if risk sentiment turns.

Traders on Polymarket and Kalshi have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to markets tied to the 2026 Iran conflict, including a contract pricing U.S. forces entering Iran by Dec. 31 at 90% with more than $115 million in volume. Other heavily watched contracts include a potential 7-day Strait of Hormuz closure on Kalshi with $7.3 million in volume and a leadership market giving Mojtaba Khamenei 64% odds to lead Iran through the end of 2026.

The IMF said in a report published Thursday that tokenized finance could make market stress unfold faster by removing traditional settlement delays that give regulators time to intervene. The paper warns that instant settlement, automated margining and feedback loops may strain crisis tools designed for business-day cycles, and it flags stablecoins as run-prone structures similar to money market funds.