Hedging Whale Executes Time-based Order to Sell 63,000 HYPE Spot, Holding $25 Million Short Position in Contract Unwound

April 16 (Reuters) — U.S. and Iranian negotiators have scaled back ambitions for a comprehensive peace deal, now targeting a temporary memorandum to prevent a slide into conflict, two Iranian sources told Reuters. A fruitless round of talks in Islamabad over the weekend left deep divisions unresolved on nuclear issues—including the destination of enriched uranium stocks and the timeline for halting nuclear work—hampering progress, the sources said. A senior Iranian official noted the two sides have narrowed differences on issues like Strait of Hormuz management. Iran is pushing for the memorandum to include U.S. unfreezing of some funds in exchange for allowing more ships to transit the strait. A source briefed on Tehran’s position said Iran’s proposal calls for free, threat-free transit through the Oman side of the strait for ships if a lasting agreement is reached. However, sharp divisions persist—including the fate of highly enriched uranium stocks and the timeline for halt

April 16 — U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ended April 11 totaled 207,000, coming in below the expected 215,000. The prior week’s reading was revised down from 219,000 to 218,000. Per CME’s FedWatch Tool, after today’s claims release, the probability the Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady at its April meeting stands at 99.5%, with just a 0.5% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike.

On April 16, data from HTX shows DRIFT has surged over 15% in the short term, currently trading at $0.0526. Earlier reports note Drift announced its Drift Protocol has secured support from Tether and other partners. Tether plans to contribute $127.5 million, while other partners intend to put in $20 million—jointly backing user recovery efforts following the April 1 exploit.

April 16: Drift Protocol announced it has secured backing from Tether and other partners to support recovery efforts for users affected by its April 1 exploit. Tether is committing $127.5 million, while other partners are contributing $20 million as part of the support package. This includes a $100 million revenue-based lending credit line, ecosystem grants, and loans for liquidity providers. Drift will establish a dedicated user recovery pool to gradually address $295 million in outstanding user losses as transaction fees accrue. It will also distribute separate transferable recovery tokens to affected users, representing claims on the recovery pool. Additionally, Drift is rebooting its protocol, has engaged auditors Ottersec and Asymmetric, and is migrating its settlement layer from USDC to USDT. The April 1 exploit resulted in approximately $295 million in stolen assets, but the insurance fund remains unaffected.

On April 16th, data from HTX shows ORDI continued to surge—briefly topping $7—before settling at $6.889, with a 24-hour price jump of 151%. Over the past 12 hours, $11.91 million worth of RAVE contract positions were liquidated across the network: $9.47 million in long positions and $2.44 million in shorts. The liquidation volume outpaced that of Bitcoin and Ethereum, leading all assets on the network.

On April 16 (local time), U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated during a press conference that the U.S. Treasury is launching an operation codenamed "Economic Fury" to apply maximum economic pressure on Iran. (CCTV)