Crypto news, market trends, and Bitcoin back over $100K | Bitpanda Weekly Wrap

Key price movements

BTC: + 8.13%, € 92.499,89
ETH: + 34.94%, € 2.177,97
S&P 500: + 0.20%
Euro Stoxx 50: + 2.05%

Prices as of 10.30am, 9 May 2025

*TL;DR: Bitcoin is back at $100k thanks to cautious optimism reentering markets.*

No need to bury the lede on this one - Bitcoin reclaimed $100k this week.  After a strong week BTC hit the important psychological mark on Thursday afternoon for the first time since February. 

It’s been a bit of a perfect storm of macro factors that have piled up to deliver the result. Firstly, the Federal Reserve chose to hold rates steady for the third time in a row, citing slowing growth and a wait-and-see approach. While slow growth and uncertainty are famously bad for asset prices, avid readers of the Weekly Wrap will know that these aren’t new factors…and there’s more than a small glimmer of optimism on the horizon.

When it comes to tariff updates, most of the market’s attention is now on trade deals. China is the big one, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart in Switzerland this weekend. As part of the ramp up to the weekend talks the S&P spiked on Thursday after POTUS told investors to ‘buy stocks now’ .Are we expecting a quick result? No. But Trump is certainly bullish and progress is progress. 

In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with the British. This is the first (or FIRST, as Trump put it on his socials) trade deal signed by the US following the tariff announcement. While not quite as “full and comprehensive” as the headlines would have you believe, it is signed, and it is hopefully a glimpse of more deals to come. 

Explore the latest crypto prices, stock prices, and market trends.

Tech’s favourite relationship is on the rocks

*TL;DR: Apple is thinking about replacing Google with AI tools for search (and risking $20bn a year in the process).*

When your brand becomes the default word for the product - or better yet, the verb - you’ve basically won the marketing battle. If we say ‘Google it’, everyone knows what we mean, because Google has dominated the search market for years (sorry Jeeves). However, Apple thinks that those days might soon be over.

Apple and Alphabet shares tumbled Wednesday after Apple’s services chief Eddy Cue told a federal court that AI-powered search engines could soon replace traditional search (Google). Cue said Apple plans to integrate tools from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic into Safari, potentially giving users a better alternative right there in the browser.

The timing couldn’t be worse for Alphabet, which is already facing a major antitrust case over its search monopoly. At the heart of the lawsuit is Google’s practice of paying ‘companies’ (Apple) to remain the default search engine on their platforms. The deal is extremely lucrative for both sides: in 2022 alone, Google reportedly paid Apple $20 billion to stay front and centre on iPhones. Not a small amount to risk…

Cue admitted he’s “lost sleep” over the idea of losing Google’s revenue, but also confirmed that Google searches on Safari declined in April. Why? People prefer AI curating search results for them. It should also be noted that Google disputes this alleged drop. 

Alphabet shares dropped more than 7% on the day, while Apple shares slipped 2%, as investors digested the very real possibility of a high-profile tech breakup. 

It is a little poetic that Google beat out everyone’s favourite search butler (yes we’re still talking about Ask Jeeves), and now might be beaten in turn by a product much closer to a premium, tailored search butler. For now though, ‘Googling it’ remains the go-to approach for the average search user. 

Shelling out for BP

*TL;DR: Shell buying BP would create a European oil and gas megacorp capable of competing with the US. But in a deal of this size, it’s never that simple.*

A potential Shell–BP merger could reshape the global energy landscape and would mark one of the biggest deals in European corporate history. It would also create a European oil and gas giant capable of rivalling ExxonMobil in scale… no mean feat.

There’s a clear strategic upside: Shell would regain exposure to US shale and cement its dominance in liquefied natural gas, expanding its trading reach.

But (there’s always a but)...

The deal would likely require Shell to pay a 20% premium on BP’s £57 billion market cap while taking on BP’s impressive debt load and Macondo oil spill liabilities. Add potential regulatory pushback and complex divestments, and Shell may have to weigh short-term pain against long-term potential.

Signs of an ETH comeback?

*TL;DR: The Pectra update could make Ethereum faster, cheaper and more user-friendly – but as always, the devil’s in the details.*

Ethereum’s long-anticipated Pectra upgrade went live on Wednesday, marking the network’s biggest overhaul since the 2022 Merge. ETH loyalists finally saw signs of price rises, but even a strong few days have done little to recover the 45% losses seen so far this year. Still, with more than half of all smart contract activity happening on Ethereum, the potential of ETH remains compelling.

The upgrade bundled together 11 improvement proposals, streamlining wallet interactions and expanding the staking limit - a major change aimed at boosting network efficiency and flexibility. It’s a clear step forward in Ethereum’s long-term effort to become faster and more affordable, and opens the door to further innovation across the ecosystem.

But (yep, still a but)...

The rollout requires validators to update software, and any misstep could risk short-term network instability. Factor in coordination challenges and the ever-present risk of bugs, and Pectra is shaping up to be as ambitious as it is essential.

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