Republican lawmakers blast Trump: One-third of South Korean billionaires own cryptocurrencies

Headline

▌US Republican lawmakers "turned against" Trump and blasted him: The president has no power to fire the Fed chairman

According to the Financial Times, John Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, slammed US President Trump's attack on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell on Sunday, saying that no president has the power to fire the Fed chairman. "I don't think the president, any president, has the power to remove the chairman of the Federal Reserve," Kennedy said on NBC. "I think the Fed should be independent." Trump has said he believes he has the power to fire Powell. He told reporters in the Oval Office last Thursday: "If I want him out, he'll be out soon, believe me." Kennedy defended the Fed's focus on controlling inflation on Sunday. He said: "My experience with Powell tells me that he has tiger blood. He will do what he thinks is right. He will not go down in history for allowing inflation to go crazy like a March hare. He will take the action he thinks must be taken."

▌Data: One-third of South Korea's wealthy hold cryptocurrencies

According to Cointelegraph, one-third of South Korea's wealthy now hold cryptocurrencies. "High net worth individuals' expectations for the growth of virtual assets indicate that the field is maturing." - Hana Financial Research Institute, "2025 South Korea Wealth Report"

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is 85,198.28 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.1%;

ETH's latest transaction price is 1,588.57 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.4%;

BNB's latest transaction price is 592.94 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +0.2%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 138.10 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.1%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.1552 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.3%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.08 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.3%。

Policy

▌El Salvador increased its holdings by 1 bitcoin, and its total holdings now reach 6153.18

According to the website of the Ministry of Finance of El Salvador, El Salvador increased its holdings by 1 bitcoin, and its total holdings now reach 6153.18, with a total value of approximately US$520 million.

Blockchain Application

▌Vitalik Buterin proposed to replace EVM with RISC-V to improve Ethereum scalability

According to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed on the Ethereum Magicians forum on April 20 to replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the open source instruction set architecture RISC-V to improve the efficiency of the execution layer. Buterin pointed out that this move can increase the efficiency of zero-knowledge proofs by 100 times while maintaining two-way compatibility with existing EVM contracts. The proposal aims to address Ethereum's long-term expansion bottlenecks in data availability, block production competitiveness, and ZK-EVM proofs.

Cryptocurrency

▌He Yi: Not involved in any project investment, the only project she is involved in is BNB

Binance co-founder issued a statement on social media saying that she is not involved in any project investment, communication, token listing or endorsement, and the only project she is involved in is BNB. She reminded the public to be wary of AI forged voice and video, and emphasized the need to independently verify information.

▌Analysis: Cryptocurrency Liquidity Funds Perform Poorly, Funds Turn to High-Quality Tokens

Cryptocurrency liquidity funds have performed poorly so far in 2025, with losses of up to 70%, which multiple investors have revealed to me (such data is usually only shared internally and among limited partners). After a difficult first quarter of 2025, liquidity fund investors are currently focusing on a small number of high-conviction investment projects. In this cycle, fundamentals rather than market trends are driving investment decisions. Most liquidity funds had strong performance at the beginning of the year, but their performance has been severely affected as financial markets (including cryptocurrencies) have been hit by broader turmoil, from tariff policies to macroeconomic uncertainty. "The first few weeks of the year were very strong, but starting in mid-January, the entire altcoin market began to collapse," said Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly. "Bitcoin is down about 10% this year, Solana (SOL) is down about 30%, Ethereum (ETH) is down about 50%, and many altcoins are in worse shape, making it difficult for funds to find safe havens." Jack Platts, founder of Hypersphere Ventures, said that most liquidity funds invested heavily in Solana in 2024, which dragged down their returns so far this year. Part of the losses are related to expectations. As Bitcoin becomes more accessible to institutional investors through ETFs, active fund managers are often explicitly asked not to hold Bitcoin. Cosmo Jiang, general partner of Pantera Capital, said that investors expect to gain exposure to assets other than Bitcoin and even Ethereum through liquidity funds.

▌Michael Saylor: More than 13,000 institutions and 814,000 retail accounts directly hold MSTR

Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), posted on social media that according to public data as of the first quarter of 2025, more than 13,000 institutions and 814,000 retail accounts directly hold MSTR. It is estimated that 55 million beneficiaries hold it indirectly through ETFs, mutual funds, pensions and insurance portfolios.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Spot gold broke through $3,350/ounce in early trading, approaching a record high

Spot gold broke through $3,350/ounce in early trading, approaching a record high, and rose 0.65% on the day.

▌The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in May is 86.1%

According to CME's "Fed Watch": The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in May is 86.1%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 13.9%. The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged by June is 39.6%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 52.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 7.5%.

▌Trump lists 8 non-tariff "cheating" methods, naming Japan and the EU

US President Trump listed 8 non-tariff "cheating" methods in trade on social platforms, including 1. Exchange rate manipulation, 2. Value-added tax as tariffs and export subsidies, 3. Below-cost dumping, 4. Export subsidies and other government subsidies, 5. Agricultural protective standards (such as the EU's ban on genetically modified corn), 6. Protective technology standards (such as Japan's bowling test), 7. Counterfeiting, piracy and intellectual property theft (annual losses exceed 1 trillion US dollars), 8. Transshipment to avoid taxes.

▌Trump expressed his insights on negotiations: Whoever has gold will dominate

US President Trump said on the social platform, "The golden rule of negotiation and success: those who own gold make the rules." In addition, he also said, "Businessmen who criticize tariffs are not good at business, but what they are really bad at is politics. They don't understand or realize that I am the best friend of American capitalism ever!"

Golden Encyclopedia

▌Compressed What is NFT?

Compressed NFTs are a type of non-fungible token (NFT) designed to reduce the cost of storing and transacting with NFTs on the Solana blockchain. Compressed NFTs offer several key advantages that stand out in the blockchain ecosystem. They are affordable and significantly reduce minting and storage costs, enabling creators and businesses to use blockchain technology without financial barriers. Additionally, cNFTs contribute to greener blockchain practices by reducing storage requirements and, therefore, energy usage. These attributes make cNFTs a potential game changer for scalable, environmentally friendly, and innovative applications.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for informational reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish correct investment concepts and be sure to raise your risk awareness.