Welcome to The Daily Crypto Briefing! Hello crypto enthusiasts and welcome to today's edition of The Daily Crypto Briefing, your essential guide to what's moving the digital asset space right now. I'm your host, bringing you the most important crypto developments as the markets continue their dramatic shift. Bitcoin and gold are surging while traditional equities stumble – let's dive into what this means and more. In today's briefing, we'll cover Bitcoin's flight-to-safety rally, Solana briefly flipping Ethereum in staked value, the upcoming wave of crypto ETFs under the new SEC leadership, controversy surrounding Zora's token airdrop, tracking of North Korea's massive hack proceeds, and USDC's remarkable growth surge. First up, the markets are showing a classic flight to alternative stores of value. Bitcoin has jumped 2.4% while gold gained an impressive 3% in just 24 hours. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has tumbled over 3% in the same period. This divergence highlights Bitcoin's evolving role as a potential safe haven during market turbulence. Speaking of shifts in crypto dominance, Solana briefly overtook Ethereum in total staking market cap on April 20th, with over $53.9 billion worth of SOL locked by more than 500,000 wallet holders. This milestone was driven largely by SOL's explosive price performance, surging tenfold against ETH since mid-2023. However, some analysts point out that Solana's attractive 8.31% staking yield might be cannibalizing its own DeFi ecosystem. Ethereum still maintains superiority in DeFi with $50 billion in TVL compared to Solana's $8.85 billion, plus a massive validator lead with 1.06 million active validators versus Solana's 1,243. Turning to regulatory developments, incoming SEC Chair Paul Atkins will face a staggering workload with more than 70 crypto ETF applications awaiting review. These include proposals for Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, and even novelty tokens like the Official Melania meme coin. After last year's landmark approvals for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, analysts predict 2025 could bring the broadest wave of ETF approvals yet, with decisions on XRP and others expected by October unless delayed. In airdrop news, controversy is brewing around Zora's token launch set for April 23rd. The Coinbase-backed onchain social platform has attracted over 230,000 new traders in a single weekend following viral "content coin" mints. Critics allege insider trading, with one early buyer reportedly netting over $600,000 before public awareness spread. While Coinbase and Base network founder Jesse Pollack denied coordinating a stealth campaign, skeptics suggest the project used airdrop hype to boost token liquidity. On the security front, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou revealed some surprisingly good news about the largest crypto hack in history. Over two-thirds of the $1.4 billion stolen by North Korea's Lazarus Group remains traceable despite sophisticated laundering attempts. Approximately 68.6% of the stolen 500,000 ETH is still visible on-chain, while nearly 28% has "gone dark," and about 3.8% has been frozen through exchange cooperation. Finally, Circle's USDC stablecoin has shown remarkable growth, surging to nearly $61 billion in supply – a 38.6% increase since January. This outpaces rival USDT's more modest growth from $138 billion to $145 billion. The surge reflects mounting institutional preference for USDC as Circle eyes a potential IPO with greater regulatory clarity. That wraps up today's Daily Crypto Briefing. We're seeing fascinating shifts in market dynamics as Bitcoin strengthens its alternative asset credentials, competition between layer-1 blockchains intensifies, and regulatory clarity slowly emerges. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to stay informed in this rapidly evolving landscape. We'll be back tomorrow with more critical updates from the world of cryptocurrency. Until then, trade safely and stay curious.