
Bitcoin climbs as risk sentiment improves, altcoins hit by exploit concerns
Bitcoin climbs to $76,500 amid improving risk sentiment, while altcoins face challenges after KelpDAO exploit.

Bitcoin (BTC) has reclaimed the $76,000 mark, while Stellar (XLM) surged by 7%. The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a notable uptick amid geopolitical tensions.
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The cryptocurrency market saw a renewed uptick over the past 24 hours, with many leading digital assets flashing in green.
Bitcoin (BTC) soared past $76,000, while popular altcoins such as Stellar (XLM), Toncoin (TON), and others ranked as the top daily performers.
The leading cryptocurrency has experienced heightened volatility over the past several days, driven mainly by geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the Middle East. Towards the end of the last business week, its price climbed to nearly $78,000 after US President Donald Trump announced that the Strait of Hormuz was open, while later he argued that Iran had agreed to halt its nuclear program.
However, the Asian country denied those claims, which, combined with the renewed attacks in the region, caused BTC to drop below $74,000 on Monday (April 20).
Over the past 24 hours, though, the asset started pumping again and currently trades at around $76,400 (per CoinGecko’s data). This represents a 2% daily increase and a significant 11% rise over two weeks.
BTC Price, Source: CoinGecko
It is important to note that its resurgence happened shortly after Strategy announced its latest major crypto purchase. The company, founded by Michael Saylor, scooped up 34,164 BTC for more than $2.5 billion and now holds a total of 815,061 BTC.
Following the coin’s latest revival, its market capitalization has spiked above $1.5 trillion, while its dominance over the altcoins stands at roughly 57.4%.
The altcoins have followed BTC’s footsteps, and many of them have posted much more impressive gains over the last 24 hours. The top performer is Stellar (XLM), whose valuation jumped by 7% to reach a monthly peak of $0.18.
Bitcoin's rise above $76,000 was influenced by geopolitical tensions and recent statements from US President Donald Trump regarding the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program.
Stellar (XLM) increased by 7% over the past 24 hours, contributing to the overall positive performance of the cryptocurrency market.
The cryptocurrency market is currently seeing many leading digital assets performing well, with Bitcoin and several altcoins, including Stellar, showing significant gains.

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Toncoin (TOM), Mantle (MNT), and MemeCore (M) have also registered solid increases of around 5-6%, while the well-known alts such as Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Solana (SOL) are up a mere 1-2% for the day. Rain (RAIN), DeXe (DEXE), and Pi Network (PI) stand on the opposite side, with losses of around 2-5%.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has risen by 2% in the last day to around $2.6 trillion.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview April 21; Source: QuantifyCrypto