![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9a13-c470-7c2d-80a8-b432a662c83a.png\")
A Texas man found guilty of helping orchestrate a cryptocurrency scam project that defrauded $20 million from nearly 1,000 investors has been sentenced to 23 years behind bars by a US judge on Tuesday.
US District Judge LaShonda Hunt sentenced Robert Dunlap, who served as a trustee of the project that sold the fictional token Meta-1 Coin, to prison and ordered him to pay restitution to victims of the fraud, according to the Illinois US Attorney's office.
Assistant US attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini said in the government’s sentencing memorandum that Dunlap was “unrepentant” and that his lies grew “over the years.”
“Would-be criminals planning to engage in similar conduct need to know that such actions will be met with a serious repercussion that includes loss of one’s liberty for an extended period of time,” they added.
Regulators and authorities are turning up the heat on crypto scammers. In March, a man accused of hacking defunct DeFi platform Uranium Finance was charged with one count of computer fraud and one count of money laundering.
A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted Dunlap in November on two counts of mail fraud, each carrying a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
He was accused of conspiring with others to market and sell Meta-1 Coin through a Meta-1 Coin Trust from 2018 to 2023, making false and misleading statements to investors, including that the token was backed by a $1 billion art collection made up of works by Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh and $44 billion in gold.
Related: There’s more to crypto crime than meets the eye: What you need to know
Dunlap and his co-conspirators used automated trading bots to artificially inflate the market price and trading volume of the Meta-1 Coin on the Meta Exchange, a website Dunlap created, according to authorities.
In March 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered an asset freeze and other emergency relief orders to stop Dunlap, another alleged accomplice, Nicole Bowdler and former Washington state Senator David Schmidt from marketing and selling Meta-1 Coin.
The defendants allegedly told investors that Meta-1 Coin was risk-free and could offer returns of up to 224,923%. Instead, the coins were never distributed and the funds were used to cover personal expenses and buy luxury cars, including a Ferrari, according to the SEC.
Magazine: Forget stablecoin yield, how does the CLARITY Act treat DeFi?
", "description": "Robert Dunlap, a key figure in the $20 million Meta-1 Coin fraud, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty on two counts of mail fraud in November.", "published": "2026-04-17T07:25:14+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "law" }, { "slug": "business" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "court" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "meta-1-coin-fraud-robert-dunlap-23-years-sentence", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262332" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Crypto in sustained winter as CEX volumes drop 39% in Q1: CoinGecko", "leadText": "March was the “weakest month\" with $800 billion in centralized crypto exchange trading volume, the lowest since November 2023.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "The cryptocurrency market has entered a “sustained crypto winter,” according to CoinGecko, as spot trading volumes on centralized crypto exchanges rapidly fell over the first quarter of 2026.
Crypto market capitalization fell by more than 20% during the first quarter as “bearish momentum from late 2025 collided with global geopolitical instability,” CoinGecko said in a report on Thursday.
That caused the top 10 centralized exchanges by spot volume to record a 39% decrease in trading volume over the quarter ended in March, dropping to $2.7 trillion from $4.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The drop comes as the crypto market has struggled to maintain positive momentum after Bitcoin (BTC) hit a record high of more than $126,000 six months ago, as the wider market reacted to fears of an economic slowdown and uncertainty over the fallout from US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9a0f-13d0-7a4b-b254-4b0e30f79b7f.png\")
March was the “weakest month,” according to CoinGecko, with $800 billion in trading volume, the lowest since November 2023.
CoinGecko said that the contraction in crypto markets was worsened by Kevin Warsh’s nomination as US Federal Reserve chair, which signaled “a potential hawkish shift in US monetary policy.”
Related: Three things Bitcoin must do to hold highs above $76K: Analysts
It added that daily trading activity across the crypto market saw “a significant decline” over the first quarter, with average daily trading volumes at $117.8 billion, a drop of 27% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.
All of the top 10 spot centralized exchanges recorded declining volumes in the first quarter, CoinGecko said, with HTX, formerly Huobi, seeing “the biggest slump” quarter-on-quarter as volumes dipped 55% to $133.6 billion.
It said that Bitcoin fell 22% over the first quarter, “continuing to underperform all assets, despite US equity indexes such as NASDAQ and S&P 500 falling -7.1% and -4.8% respectively, their worst quarterly returns since 2022.”
Big Questions: Should you sell your Bitcoin for nickels for a 43% profit?
", "description": "CoinGecko says a 40% decline in crypto exchange trading volumes, capped by a two-and-a-half-year monthly volume low in March, shows the crypto market is in a sustained winter lull.", "published": "2026-04-17T07:16:48+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" }, { "slug": "coingecko" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "crypto-sustained-winter-q1-cex-volumes-drop-coingecko", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262327" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Cybersecurity researcher uncovers fake Ledger sold on Chinese marketplace", "leadText": "The researcher said they examined the fake Ledger device’s firmware and found signs pointing to a Chinese semiconductor company named Espressif Systems.", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "A Brazilian security researcher has warned others of the latest counterfeit Ledger device scam aimed at stealing users’ crypto.
Posting as “Past_Computer2901” on the “ledgerwallet” Reddit channel on Thursday, the security researcher said they purchased what they thought was a legitimate Ledger device for personal use, but soon realized after it arrived that it was a sophisticated counterfeit aimed at stealing user funds.
“This isn't meant to cause panic, but rather to serve as a serious warning — I’m honestly still a bit shaken by the sheer scale of this operation,” they said.
Scammers are adopting increasingly sophisticated strategies to target users opting for self-custody, from supply chain attacks to social engineering and approval scams.
Earlier this month, more than 50 victims were tricked into revealing their seed phrases on a fake Ledger Live app that made its way to the Apple App Store via a bait-and-switch strategy. The victims lost a combined $9.5 million before Apple took down the malicious app.
The researcher said he bought the Ledger Nano S Plus from a Chinese marketplace, which was priced the same as the official Ledger store. The packaging and the listing also appeared legitimate at first.
However, when they connected the device to the genuine Ledger Live app — which was luckily already installed on their computer — it failed Ledger’s built-in “Genuine Check.”
This prompted them to pull apart the device, discovering modified hardware and firmware designed to capture and expose sensitive wallet data.
The security researcher said the scammers target first-time Ledger users, as the QR code that comes in the box would normally direct users to download a malicious version of the Ledger Live app that would show a fake \"Genuine Check.”
Users continuing to follow the prompts will eventually allow scammers to obtain a user’s seed phrases and drain funds at any time.
![\"China,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d99fd-6d25-7bab-92d8-73e44f35d5f6.png\")
“Stay safe out there. Only download Ledger Live from ledger.com. Only buy hardware from ledger.com,” the security researcher said.
“If your device fails the Genuine Check — stop using it immediately.”
After pulling apart the device, they discovered clear signs of tampering, including scraped chip markings and a WiFi and Bluetooth antenna embedded inside the unit.
Legitimate Ledger hardware products are designed to keep private keys fully offline.
Related: Musician loses $420K Bitcoin ‘retirement fund’ via fake Ledger app
The security researcher then looked into the firmware, putting the “chip into boot mode,” which initially identified the device as a Nano S Plus 7704 with an attached serial number.
However, once the boot sequence completed, another manufacturer’s name showed up: Espressif Systems, a publicly listed Chinese semiconductor company based in Shanghai.
Cointelegraph reached out to Espressif for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.
Magazine: What’s a ‘Network State’ and are there real-life examples? Big Questions
", "description": "A security researcher said they bought a fake Ledger device from a Chinese marketplace that had modified hardware and firmware designed to steal crypto.", "published": "2026-04-17T07:02:05+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "china" }, { "slug": "ledger" }, { "slug": "hardware-wallet" }, { "slug": "cybersecurity" }, { "slug": "hacks" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "fake-ledger-device-sold-chinese-market-place", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262317" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Ethereum Foundation-funded program exposes 100 DPRK workers in crypto", "leadText": "The Ketman Project, funded by an Ethereum Foundation stipend, identified 100 North Korean IT workers and alerted about 53 projects employing DPRK operatives.", "author": { "slug": "brian-quarmby" }, "bodyText": "The Ethereum Foundation said it funded a six-month project that exposed 100 North Korean operatives who had infiltrated Web3 companies under fake identities.
The foundation on Thursday shared a recap of its ETH Rangers program, which was launched in late 2024 to provide \"stipends for individuals doing public goods security work\" within the ecosystem.
One of the recipients used the capital to build the Ketman Project to focus on investigating “fake developers” embedded within crypto, particularly operatives from North Korea.
During the six-month stipend period, the Ketman Project identified \"100 different DPRK IT workers operating within Web3 organizations\" and reached out to about 53 projects to alert them about having potentially employed active DPRK operatives.
\"This work directly addresses one of the most pressing operational security threats facing the Ethereum ecosystem today,\" the Ethereum Foundation said.
North Korean operatives have been plaguing the crypto sector, leading to billions worth of crypto stolen over the years. One of the highest-profile hacking groups from North Korea is known as the Lazarus Group.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d99c9-5b3b-7a4d-a1d5-5d492bd72845.png\")
The Ethereum Foundation did not go into detail about how the Ketman Project was able to identify the DPRK operatives. However, the project's website has an extensive range of articles explaining the types of \"tactics, behaviors and operational patterns\" the operatives deploy.
Related: CIA to integrate AI ‘co-workers’ to process intelligence, catch spies
They include technical red flags such as reusing avatars and profile metadata across multiple GitHub accounts, exposing unlinked email addresses during accidental screen sharing, and displaying default language settings, such as Russian, that contradict their claimed nationality.
Alongside identifying North Korean operatives, the Ketman Project also developed an open-source detection tool to identify suspicious GitHub activity and co-authored an industry-standard framework for identifying DPRK IT workers in partnership with blockchain-focused nonprofit organization the Security Alliance.
Magazine: Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work
", "description": "The Ethereum Foundation’s ETH Rangers program supported a six-month investigation into North Korean operatives using fake identities to infiltrate Web3 companies.", "published": "2026-04-17T06:20:39+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "ethereum" }, { "slug": "cybercrime" }, { "slug": "north-korea" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "eth-rangers-program-exposed-100-north-korean-operatives-infiltrating-web3", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262312" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "At least a dozen crypto entities attacked since Drift Protocol hack", "leadText": "Rhea Finance and the Russia-linked Grinex exchange were hacked for a combined $21 million over the past two days.", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "At least 12 DeFi protocols and crypto businesses have been attacked in just over two weeks since the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.
Attacks aimed at crypto protocols or companies since the start of April include CoW Swap, Hyperbridge, Bybit, Dango, Silo Finance, BSC TMM, Aethir, MONA, Zerion and, most recently, Rhea Finance and the Grinex exchange.
The Drift Protocol was hit with one of the largest exploits this year on April 1, losing around $280 million in a long-running social engineering attack suspected to involve North Korean-affiliated actors.
The attacks also come amid growing concerns this month that advancing AI models, such as Anthropic’s Claude Mythos and equivalent models, could eventually make it even easier for cyberattackers in the future.
DeFi protocol Rhea Finance reported on Thursday that an attacker “leveraged a vulnerability in Rhea’s Margin Trading feature to execute a coordinated pool manipulation attack,” impacting the Rhea Lend smart contract.
![\"Hackers,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d99c9-d9ce-7975-842d-b9d7afbf3c08.jpg\")
Around $7.6 million was extracted, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.
“The attacker created fake token contracts and added liquidity in fresh pools, likely misleading the oracle and validation layer,” it explained.
Meanwhile, the Russia-linked Grinex exchange suspended operations after a $13.7 million hack on Thursday, blaming “unfriendly states” for the incursion.
Related: Stablecoin issuer Circle faces lawsuit over $280M Drift Protocol hack
Another attack this month was aimed at the Binance Smart Chain TMM/USDT liquidity pool, which suffered a reserve manipulation attack, resulting in the loss of around $1.67 million in early April, R3ACH Network analyst Jussy said on Thursday.
It followed just days after bridge aggregator Dango lost $410,000 from a smart contract bug on April 13.
In the same month, lending protocol Silo Finance lost $392,000 on April 3 from a misconfigured oracle exploit and decentralized GPU cloud computing platform Aethir lost $423,000 in an access control exploit on April 9.
The Drift Protocol and Zerion wallet exploits were two examples of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-affiliated groups using AI and social engineering to infiltrate crypto companies to steal credentials and funds.
Malicious actors pilfered over $168.6 million in cryptocurrency from 34 DeFi protocols in the first quarter of 2026, according to data from DefiLlama.
Magazine: Forget stablecoin yield, how does the CLARITY Act treat DeFi?
", "description": "A wave of crypto hacks and attacks followed the Drift exploit, hitting at least 12 entities, including Rhea Finance and Grinex, this week.", "published": "2026-04-17T06:08:27+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "hackers" }, { "slug": "hacks" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "12-crypto-protocol-entities-attacked-since-drift-exploit", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262307" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Zanzibar police probe crypto exec Joe McCann after fiancée’s death", "leadText": "Zanzibar police are reportedly holding Asymmetric founder Joe McCann for questioning after the death of his fiancée, Ashly Robinson.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "Police in Zanzibar are reportedly holding Joe McCann, a crypto trader and the founder of the crypto fund Asymmetric, for questioning after his fiancée died while the pair were on vacation.
McCann’s fiancée, Ashly Robinson, 31, died in hospital on April 9 after she was found a day earlier by staff at a hotel where the couple was staying, NBC News reported Thursday, citing a statement from Tanzanian police.
Police ruled Robinson’s death a suicide but said they are still questioning McCann. CBS News reported that police are holding McCann’s passport until autopsy results are complete.
Police said hotel staff told them the pair had a “misunderstanding” and had been separated, with McCann moved to a different room.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9966-bcea-7872-9ed7-d66fffd7b2c4.jpg\")
A hotel staffer reportedly later found Robinson unresponsive in her room with a belt around her neck and alerted management, where she was taken to the hospital.
Robinson’s family has disputed that account, with her sister, Alyssa Endres, telling NBC that “none of this makes sense” and that Robinson was happy after celebrating her birthday and engagement to McCann, which happened only days before her death.
Related: South Korean man indicted in alleged pesticide poisoning tied to crypto losses
McCann is the founder of the crypto venture and hedge fund Asymmetric, which changed its trading strategy in July after backlash from investors due to underperformance amid a prolonged period of crypto market volatility.
A plan to take a Solana (SOL) treasury company, which McCann would lead, public in a merger deal was reportedly called off in August for unknown reasons. It came just weeks after McCann said his fund had lost 80% so far that year.
McCann could not be reached for comment.
Magazine: Meet the onchain crypto detectives fighting crime better than the cops
", "description": "Joe McCann, the founder of the crypto venture fund Asymmetric, is being held for questioning by Zanzibar police following the death of his fiancée Ashly Robinson.", "published": "2026-04-17T04:22:45+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "tanzania" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "zanzibar-police-probe-crypto-exec-joe-mccann-after-fiancee-death", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262302" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Russia-linked crypto exchange Grinex halts trading after $14M hack", "leadText": "Grinex has been accused by US authorities of assisting Russia and other entities in evading sanctions and laundering funds for Russia-linked hackers.", "author": { "slug": "stephen-katte" }, "bodyText": "Sanctioned crypto exchange Grinex said it has suspended trading after losing more than 1 billion Russian rubles ($13.7 million) to an attack bearing signs of involvement by foreign intelligence agencies.
The exchange, which is registered in Kyrgyzstan but has been linked to Russia’s crypto ecosystem and alleged sanctions evasion, said on Thursday that the funds were taken from 54 addresses and that the digital footprint and nature of the attack indicate an “unprecedented level of resources and technology available only to entities of hostile states.”
“Due to the attack, the Grinex exchange has been forced to suspend operations. All available information has been transferred to law enforcement agencies. A criminal complaint has been filed at the location of the infrastructure,” it added.
Grinex had been widely seen as the successor to the similarly sanctioned Garantex exchange. Both have been accused by US authorities of assisting Russia and other entities in evading sanctions and laundering funds for Russia-linked hackers.
Elliptic founder Tom Robinson has accused it of being the primary platform for trading A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin linked to sanctions evasion.
A Grinex spokesperson told Cointelegraph last year that it strongly condemns any form of illegal activity, including sanctions evasion and money laundering.
Grinex may not have been the only exchange targeted. Blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs said on Thursday that two wallets from TokenSpot, a Kyrgyzstan-based exchange with on-chain links to Grinex, sent around $5,000 to the same consolidation address used by the Grinex attacker.
TokenSpot’s Telegram channel announced technical work and a brief platform outage on April 15, followed the next day by an announcement that it had resumed full operations.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d995a-b2c2-7c33-8536-ad1bfeb8f108.png\")
At the same time, TRM Labs said it has identified 16 additional addresses linked to the incident in addition to those Grinex publicly disclosed. The consolidation address where all the funds have been sent contains 45.9 million TRON (TRX), worth nearly $15 million.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said it tracked about $15 million in USDt (USDT) leaving Grinex accounts. The funds were then sent to accounts on the Tron or Ethereum blockchains.
Related: Ukraine arrests FBI-wanted cybercrime suspect, seizes $11M in assets
“This USDT was then converted to another asset, either TRX or ETH. By doing so, the thief avoided the risk of the stolen USDT being frozen by Tether,” the company said.
This is not the first time an exchange accused of helping entities evade US sanctions has been targeted. Iran-based exchange Nobitex had $81 million drained in June 2025, with a pro-Israel hacker group claiming responsibility.
Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO
", "description": "Sanctioned crypto exchange Grinex has halted trading after $14 million in USDT was drained from 54 wallets; however, blockchain analyst firms say the total might be higher.", "published": "2026-04-17T04:20:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "russia" }, { "slug": "business" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "grinex-hack-14m-crypto-exchange-suspends-trading", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262297" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Ex-Treasury chief warns of US bond crash, calls for contingency plan", "leadText": "“When we hit it, it will be vicious, so we have to prepare for that eventuality,” said former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on a potential US Treasury market crisis.", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has urged US authorities to prepare a contingency plan for a potential future collapse in demand for US Treasurys, warning that the fallout would be “vicious.”
“We need an emergency break-the-glass plan, which is targeted and short-term, on the shelf, so it’s ready to go when we hit the wall,” Paulson told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday.
“People say, when are you going to hit the wall? I obviously don’t know, it’s impossible to know. When we hit it, it will be vicious, so we have to prepare for that eventuality.”
The US Treasury market acts as the bedrock of the global financial system, serving as a “risk-free” benchmark with other assets, such as corporate bonds, mortgages, and stocks, being priced relative to Treasurys. Instability could cause ripple effects in the global economy.
For years, economists have warned of a potential “doom loop” where investors start demanding higher yields on Treasurys due to risks tied to the government’s burgeoning debts, which are currently more than $39 trillion.
This could cause an increase in interest payments, currently 4.3% on 10-year notes, which would widen the deficit. But if the Treasury cannot raise what it needs to pay interest, many assume the Federal Reserve would become the principal buyer, Bloomberg reported.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d994e-2b93-70f6-aa41-66facbb8e952.jpg\")
There could be several potential impacts on crypto markets if the $31 trillion US Treasury market were to melt down.
A Treasury market crisis could potentially trigger a flight to alternative stores of value such as Bitcoin (BTC) or gold. This may happen if the Fed is forced to monetize debt, stoking inflation fears and undermining confidence in the dollar.
However, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, Tether, is predominantly backed by Treasurys, with 63% of its total reserves comprising US Treasury bills and 10% overnight reverse repurchase agreements, according to the Tether transparency report.
Related: Ethereum stablecoin supply hits $180B all-time high: Token Terminal
Research lead at the Bitrue trading platform, Andri Fauzan Adziima, told Cointelegraph that this remains a “watch-list macro tail risk,” but if it happens, there could be short-term pain via “spiking yields, tighter global liquidity, and risk-off selling that hits BTC and altcoins hard while amplifying stablecoin risks.”
“Tether alone holds over $120 billion in Treasurys, making it vulnerable to redemption runs or depegs if confidence erodes and it faces fire-sale pressure.”
However, in the longer-term, it might “accelerate a flight to non-sovereign stores of value, positioning Bitcoin as ‘digital gold’ amid eroding trust in US debt/dollar dominance,”
It is potentially bullish if the crisis highlights fiat vulnerabilities without an immediate systemic meltdown, he said.
The US Treasury conducted its largest single debt buyback on Thursday, accepting $15 billion worth of older securities maturing from 2026 to 2028.
Such buybacks enhance Treasury market liquidity by retiring less-traded bonds and providing liquidity and cash to holders who may redeploy it elsewhere in the financial system.
Magazine: Forget stablecoin yield, how does the CLARITY Act treat DeFi?
", "description": "Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned of a potential Treasury market collapse and urged an emergency plan as US debt surpassed $39 trillion.", "published": "2026-04-17T03:49:54+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "investments" }, { "slug": "economy" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "bonds" } ], "slug": "ex-treasury-chief-warns-us-treasurys-crash-calls-emergency-debt-plan", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262292" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Three things Bitcoin must do to hold highs above $76K: Analysts", "leadText": "Analysts say reclaiming $76,000, sustained spot market buy volume and consistent inflows to the Bitcoin ETFs are the necessary components required for a rally to new highs.", "author": { "slug": "nancy-lubale" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) struggles to reclaim price highs above $76,000, but analysts say that the uptrend may continue if key conditions are met.
Bitcoin’s 8% climb over the last three days saw it reclaim key levels, including the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $71,000.
“$76K is the level that decides everything,” analyst Crypto Patel said in a Wednesday post on X, adding:
“We need a proper HTF candle close above this zone to trust the move.”
Related: Bitcoin falls to lower support as analysts say markets are ignoring key Iran issue
The analyst further explained that a high-time frame close above $76,000 would open the path toward the $84,000-$96,000 zone, where investors acquired more than 2 million BTC over the last six months, according to Glassnode’s cost basis distribution heatmap.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d91c9-e1fc-7978-9122-f430d0a053f5.jpg\")
Echoing this view, trading resource Material Indicators said that “there are multiple levels of technical resistance stacked” between the spot price and a “bonafide $BTC bull market breakout.”
These include the yearly open at $87,500 and the 50-week moving average at $97,000, which must be reclaimed to confirm that the “$BTC bull market has returned,” Material Indicators said in a follow-up post.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d91c9-e5b6-72c4-9c89-baf5ea85361c.png\")
The trading resource further pointed out that the relative strength index must close and hold above the 41 level in the weekly time frame.
Previous occurrences in 2023, 2020 and 2019 have led to 660%, 1,600% and 316% BTC price rallies, respectively.
“Obviously, we are not there yet,” Materials indicators said in a video posted on X, adding:
“Those are the macro things that need to happen to say a validated bull market is on.”
For analyst Rekt Capital, the BTC/USD pair needs to achieve a weekly close above $72,800 to “confirm a breakout.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d91c9-ea7b-7e50-be8f-bba70f70ba90.png\")
As Cointelegraph reported, the bulls must decisively break above the $76,000-$80,000 range to confirm a trend change.
The bull score index, a measure of Bitcoin’s overall market health that combines fundamental and technical metrics, indicates a significant improvement in market conditions following BTC’s latest move to $76,000.
The metric increased to 40 on April 15, the highest since late October 2025. This reading remains within neutral territory, reflecting a gradual recovery after a period of relatively weak momentum.
While the bull score index improvement to 40 “reflects relative stability in the market,” it must rise to an area of “strong optimism (above 60), which typically indicates strong bullish conditions,” CryptoQuant analyst Arab Chain said in a Quicktake post, adding:
“If the indicator continues to improve gradually, it may signal a potential return of upward momentum, especially if higher levels are reclaimed in the coming period.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d91c9-f04a-72ef-a6b3-db0257425926.png\")
Meanwhile, demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs remains intermittent, with these investment products recording alternating inflows and outflows after every few days.
Although the $451 million in net inflows recorded on Tuesday pointed to a return in demand from US investors, persistent positive flows are required to propel BTC price higher.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d91c9-f71c-7aa4-9298-680902eebc68.png\")
As Cointelegraph reported, onchain activity is showing “bull market behavior,” with Bitcoin’s daily transaction count reaching 17-month highs, further reinforcing BTC’s upside potential.
Circle Internet Group is facing a class action lawsuit led by a Drift Protocol investor claiming it failed to freeze funds stolen in a $280 million exploit of the protocol on April 1.
The lawsuit was filed by Drift investor Joshua McCollum on behalf of over 100 members in a US district court in Massachusetts on Wednesday, which accused Circle of allowing the attackers to transfer about $230 million worth of USDC (USDC) from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) over several hours without intervention.
“Circle permitted this criminal use of its technology and services,” attorneys representing McCollum wrote, adding: “These losses would not have occurred, or would have been substantially reduced, had Circle taken timely action.”
The suit accuses Circle of aiding and abetting conversion as well as negligence. Mira Gibb, the law firm representing McCollum and other Drift investors, is seeking damages, with the final amount to be determined at trial.
The case touches on a legal grey area around crypto companies that retain control over user funds. While such companies may have the technical ability to intervene or freeze assets, they often cite regulatory constraints or the lack of immediate legal authority as reasons for inaction — leaving accountability unclear as exploits unfold in real-time.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d98fa-3dc8-75a2-bc4c-f4d3f8f7b93d.png\")
McCollum’s lawyers pointed out that Circle froze 16 USDC wallets in connection with a sealed US civil case about a week before the Drift incident to argue that Circle had the technical capacity to do the same.
Cointelegraph reached out to Circle for comment, but didn’t receive an immediate response.
Crypto analytics firm Elliptic suspected the exploit was committed by North Korean state-backed hackers, who made over 100 transactions via Circle’s bridging technology during US working hours, where the stablecoin company is based.
Related: Ukraine arrests FBI-wanted cybercrime suspect, seizes $11M in assets
The funds were converted into Ether (ETH) and sent through the Tornado Cash privacy protocol to launder the proceeds and obscure the trail.
While Circle faced backlash for the inaction, ARK Invest’s director of research for digital assets, Lorenzo Valente, argued on Thursday that it made the right decision, arguing that freezing funds without a legal order opens the door for arbitrary discretion.
“Every future freeze is now a judgment call. Every non-freeze is a political statement. Why freeze the Drift hacker but not that sketchy Nigerian fraud wallet? Why this protester but not that one?”
While Valente sided with Circle’s decision, he speculated that the stolen funds will likely fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons program:
“Whether Circle got it right comes down to how much you weigh rule-of-law principles vs concrete harm. Reasonable people disagree.”
Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?
", "description": "Stablecoin issuer Circle has been hit with a class action over $230 million worth of USDC tied to the Drift Protocol hack on April 1.", "published": "2026-04-17T02:35:22+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "law" }, { "slug": "circle" }, { "slug": "hackers" }, { "slug": "court" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "solana" } ], "slug": "circle-faces-class-action-lawsuit-after-drift-protocol-hack", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262282" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin eyes $90K as whales absorb 20x daily BTC supply in 30 days", "leadText": "Bitcoin price has entered the breakout stage of a classic bullish reversal pattern and is now eyeing a run toward $90,000.", "author": { "slug": "yashu-gola" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) appears on track to hit $90,000 in the coming weeks as whales have accumulated about 20 times the cryptocurrency’s daily new supply in the past weeks.
Key takeaways:
Whales bought roughly 270,000 BTC in the past 30 days.
BTC broke out of its symmetrical pattern setup with a measured target at around $92,220.
Whales, entities that hold over 1,000 BTC, have added roughly 270,000 coins to their wallets in the past 30 days, marking their largest buying spree since 2013, according to onchain data resource CryptoQuant.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d972c-dc2a-75dc-aba7-8b13a4070a91.jpeg\")
Part of that whale accumulation came from Strategy. The company’s recent filings show that it bought about 42,166 BTC between March and April, accounting for roughly 16% of the 270,000 BTC added by whale wallets over the same period.
US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs also recorded more than $200 million in net inflows during that stretch. Still, those inflows remain modest compared with earlier phases of the cycle, pointing to cautious re-engagement by Wall Street traders.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9747-70c1-7c43-919a-d10360088fbd.png\")
The accumulation came even as Bitcoin whipsawed sharply in recent weeks, including a roughly 15% drawdown before fully recovering those losses, with easing US–Iran tensions helping drive the rebound in risk appetite.
Related: Bitcoin traders cash out 63K BTC profit as price rallied above $76K: Will the market rebound?
From a technical perspective, Bitcoin has entered the breakout stage of its prevailing symmetrical triangle pattern.
Triangle patterns can break in either direction regardless of the prevailing trend, with the resulting move often matching the formation’s maximum height.
In Bitcoin’s case, price has broken to the upside after moving above the triangle’s upper trendline, opening the door for a potential rally toward the measured target near $92,220 by April or May.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d975b-945a-75ed-9a8a-156de4f89ab8.png\")
Bitcoin’s price must break decisively above its 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA, the blue line) at around $83,000 to reach the triangle target. This EMA was instrumental in limiting BTC’s attempts at an upside breakout in January.
Earlier, Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and founder of Coin Bureau, said Bitcoin could push toward $90,000 if the current US–Iran ceasefire holds, oil prices fall toward $80, and softer economic data helps ease stagflation fears.
", "description": "Bitcoin’s market structure now favors a long-term rally to $90,000. Is the bull market back on?", "published": "2026-04-17T01:00:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-analysis" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-eyes-dollar90k-as-whales-absorb-20x-daily-btc-supply-in-30-days", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Price Analysis" } ] }, "id": "262262" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin liquidations top $283M after short squeeze sends BTC price above $75K", "leadText": "Bitcoin consolidates between $73,000 and $75,000 as liquidations trigger a short squeeze, but weak spot demand keeps the upside momentum in check.", "author": { "slug": "biraajmaan-tamuly" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) traded between $75,000 and $73,000 over a three-hour period during the New York market open on Thursday, and the abrupt downside move liquidated $283 million in futures positions. The resulting short squeeze pushed BTC back toward $75,000, but sustaining the rebound will require steady buying volume in the spot market.
A sharp move lower to $73,200 from $75,400 triggered a wave of long liquidations across the futures markets, totaling to $166 million, according to market commentator CryptoReviewing.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d976d-9a89-71f5-8598-aac6c5fee348.png\")
The price then reversed quickly, pushing back toward $75,000 and liquidating roughly $117 million in short positions, highlighting a rapid two-sided squeeze within the same trading window.
The move tracked closely with liquidation spikes, which forced closures of short positions. The funding rates turned positive to +0.0005 shortly after the bounce, signaling that bearish positioning had built up before unwinding.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d976e-2140-734c-bc4b-75260303f38f.png\")
This indicates that upside momentum came from shorts covering rather than new long exposure. The rally cleared nearby liquidity pockets and pushed the price back toward the session's mid-range.
The spot cumulative volume delta (CVD), which tracks net buying and selling in spot markets, continued to trend lower during the recovery. The divergence points to weaker spot participation even as Bitcoin holds above $74,000.
For a move above the $76,000 range highs, spot demand needs to strengthen alongside derivatives activity, aligning both sides of the market behind the price.
Related: Bitcoin rebounds near $74.5K as US stocks chase after new all-time highs
Bitcoin continues to move between defined liquidity clusters, with the price gravitating around key levels. According to analyst KriptoHolder, the $76,000–$78,000 range contains a concentrated supply zone with $2.81 billion in short-leveraged liquidity, while $74,000 serves as an equilibrium area.
Long-leveraged liquidity of $2.5 billion is below $72,000, forming a potential price magnet if the upper levels fail to clear.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9775-0bdf-76f5-941d-c1f976369994.jpg\")
Meanwhile, the short-term trader behavior also reflects recurring intraday patterns. Bitcoin trader Killa noted that eight of the past 11 Thursdays recorded more downside than upside. Thursday’s session has already seen a near 2% decline from the daily open, offering intraday opportunities within that pattern.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9777-62d8-76c7-93cb-83fc5966ffa7.png\")
Related: Bitcoin bull run ‘still too early’ to call as demand lags exiting capital: Analyst
", "description": "Bitcoin’s rebound to $75,000 followed a $283 million short liquidation, but softening spot-market demand could slow the rally's pace.", "published": "2026-04-17T00:30:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-liquidations-top-dollar283m-after-short-squeeze-sends-btc-price-above-dollar75k", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Price Analysis" } ] }, "id": "262247" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin funding rate stays negative even as BTC price trades above $75K: What gives?", "leadText": "Bitcoin’s futures funding rate has remained negative even as BTC bounced back above $75,000. Should traders be worried?", "author": { "slug": "marcel-pechman" }, "bodyText": "Key takeaways:
Negative Bitcoin futures funding rates signal bear-market losses and forced liquidations rather than a shift in sentiment.
Institutional inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and corporate accumulation suggest that spot demand remains solid.
Bitcoin (BTC) sold off in early trading hours at the US stock market open, briefly losing the $75,000 level before rebounding. This unexpected price swing triggered $120 million in liquidations of leveraged long (buy) BTC futures positions. During this ordeal, the Bitcoin funding rate has remained negative, which could hint at further downside and a potential advantage to the bears.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9800-17bc-7109-9afd-bccf5823809f.png\")
The negative funding rate has been the norm since Monday, indicating a lack of demand for bullish leverage. Negative rates mean shorts (sellers) are the ones paying to keep their positions open. Under neutral conditions, the indicator should range between 5% and 10% to compensate for the cost of capital and exchange risks. At first sight, a 20% rate indicates conviction, but that is not the whole story.
The perpetual contract funding rates are calculated every eight hours on most exchanges. Temporary spikes to 20%, either positive or negative, are not particularly concerning for most traders, as they amount to a 0.05% daily fee. In essence, even if the position has extremely high leverage, such as 20x, the cost is 1%. Unless this issue persists for much longer, it is hardly a burden.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9800-1a91-77d0-90b2-515996953542.png\")
Bitcoin bearish positions have been forcefully liquidated for $365 million since Monday, which has naturally eroded collateral on short positions. Traders could have opted to sit tight rather than rush to add margin, anticipating that funding rates would adjust on their own. Thus, the negative funding rate reflects losses from bears rather than conviction.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9800-1e02-78ec-8fce-940ac6dc9b49.png\")
Bitcoin’s intraday moves have largely tracked the S&P 500 index for the past couple of weeks. The US stock market jumped to an all-time high on Thursday while Bitcoin remains distant from its $126,200 peak. Consecutive failures to re-establish the $76,000 level partially explain the lack of enthusiasm in BTC derivatives markets. Still, the latest round of US economic data is supportive for risk markets, including Bitcoin.
US industrial production decreased by 0.5% in March from the previous month, according to data released by the Federal Reserve on Thursday. Consumer durable goods were the negative highlight, with automotive production down 2.8%. In parallel, the continuing jobless claims increased 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.818 million during the week ended April 4.
While counterintuitive, the S&P 500 benefited from the increased economic recession, which forced the government to accelerate stimulus measures. The upward pressure on inflation, which has also been fueled by the surge in oil prices, reduces incentives to hold fixed-income investments.
Related: Bitcoin bull run ‘still too early’ to call as demand lags exiting capital–Analyst
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9800-213b-7973-bb4c-3ce6158cab9f.png\")
The Bitcoin options market data provides no signs of excessive demand for downside price protection. The premium paid on put (sell) options on Deribit has lagged behind the equivalent call (buy) instruments over the past week. The $921 million in net inflows into US-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs over five days, along with continued accumulation from Strategy (MSTR US), boosted investors’ confidence.
At the moment, Bitcoin’s negative funding rate does not raise alarms, especially since institutional investor demand remains strong in BTC’s spot markets.
Today in crypto, the Ethereum Foundation shared details of the Ketman Project that it funded, which identified 100 North Korean operatives working in the crypto space. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the vacancies of four other commissioners at the agency won’t slow the regulator’s rulemaking and Jean-Didier Berger said at Paris Blockchain Week that France is preparing new steps to protect crypto holders as wrench attacks and kidnappings continue to mount in the country.
The Ethereum Foundation said it funded a six-month project that exposed 100 North Korean operatives who had infiltrated Web3 companies under fake identities.
The foundation on Thursday shared a recap of its ETH Rangers program, which was launched in late 2024 to provide \"stipends for individuals doing public goods security work\" within the ecosystem.
One of the recipients used the capital to build the Ketman Project to focus on investigating “fake developers” embedded within crypto, particularly operatives from the North Korea.
During the six-month stipend period, the Ketman Project identified \"100 different DPRK IT workers operating within Web3 organizations\" and reached out to about 53 projects to alert them about having potentially employed active DPRK operatives.
\"This work directly addresses one of the most pressing operational security threats facing the Ethereum ecosystem today,\" the Ethereum Foundation said.
The chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, said he would not wait for the appointment of additional commissioners to lead the regulatory agency before moving ahead on rulemaking potentially related to digital assets and prediction markets.
In a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, Selig responded to questions from ranking member Angie Craig, who called out the lack of leadership at the CFTC, which normally has a bipartisan panel of five commissioners. The Minnesota representative asked the chair to commit to not finalizing regulations while he is the only commissioner.
“In the interim, we cannot, for the sake of the American people, slow down in our rulemaking,” said Selig. “It’s very important that we get investor protections, consumer protections and safeguards for our markets. And so, I cannot, unfortunately, commit to not do my job that I was appointed to do by the president.”
Selig, who has served as the CFTC’s sole commissioner and chair since December, has come under scrutiny from many lawmakers for unilaterally leading the agency on rules favoring crypto and prediction markets with no bipartisan group of commissioners. As of Thursday, President Donald Trump had not publicly announced any nominations to staff the agency nor signaled he intended to do so.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9734-4829-7307-be2c-3c159ba679e3.png\")
Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the interior minister of France, said authorities are taking measures to protect cryptocurrency investors from the growing threat of crypto kidnappings and wrench attacks in the country.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Berger said his office has taken “preventative measures” against crypto wrench attacks, including launching a prevention platform that has drawn thousands of sign-ups. He added that he was working with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on what he described as a more serious plan in the coming weeks.
His comments come days after another reported crypto-linked abduction in France this week, where a mother and her 11-year-old child were reportedly kidnapped in Burgundy on Monday by four suspects who demanded a 400,000 euro ($471,000) ransom from the father, a crypto entrepreneur. Authorities caught the suspects and freed the victims on Tuesday morning, reported news outlet France24, citing the Paris prosecutor’s office.
France has become one of the most prominent centers for so-called wrench attacks, in which victims are threatened or assaulted to force the transfer of digital assets, and the government is now under growing pressure to respond.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d95c2-aa70-7ba9-add4-7af30b372811.png\")
Josh Stark, a key researcher and project manager at the Ethereum Foundation, the non-profit organization that stewards development of the Ethereum ecosystem, said Thursday that he is departing the organization after five years.
Stark did not provide a specific reason for his departure and said in a post on X that he has “no plans for the future.” Instead, he will take some personal time to focus on family and friends. He said:
“The Ethereum ecosystem has reliably done things the world told us were impossible. It is easy to forget how much real fear and doubt there was that Ethereum would never launch, that decentralized finance (DeFi) would never work, or that Proof of Stake would never ship.”
He is one of four people listed as “Management” on an organizational chart which shows nearly all of the Foundation’s staff reporting in. Cointelegraph reached out to Stark about his departure, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
![\"Ethereum](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d980d-0323-74e2-8afc-b89cf3fd3b00.png\")
The departure of Stark from the Ethereum Foundation represents the most high-profile exit from the organization since Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced sweeping leadership changes and a new direction for the Foundation in 2025. A day earlier, another Foundation contributor, Trent Van Epps, announced that he resigned last week.
Related: Ethereum Foundation nearly reaches 70,000 staked ETH goal
In January 2025, co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced sweeping changes to the Ethereum Foundation in response to growing criticism from the Ethereum community over the long-term direction of the ecosystem.
Bringing in “fresh” talent to the organization, greater decentralization and developing the protocol for faster transaction throughput and increased transaction speeds were among some of the goals Buterin listed for the changes.
However, the revamped Ethereum Foundation would not engage in ideological disputes, lobby US lawmakers in Washington or represent “vested interests,” Buterin added.
“These things aren't what EF does, and this isn't going to change. People seeking a different vision are welcome to start their own orgs,” he said.
![\"Ethereum](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d980e-509c-787c-8906-8a63626772d9.png\")
The Ethereum Foundation officially announced new leadership in March 2025, adding Hsiao-Wei Wang, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, and Tomasz Stańczak, CEO of Nethermind, an Ethereum execution client, as co-directors of the organization.
Stańczak stepped down from his role in February 2026, while Wang remains a member of the Ethereum Foundation’s management board, according to its organizational chart.
Magazine: Back to Ethereum: How Synthetix, Ronin and Celo saw the light
", "description": "A key researcher and figure in the Ethereum community has announced that he is departing the Ethereum Foundation after five years at the organization.", "published": "2026-04-16T22:20:50+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "altcoin" }, { "slug": "ethereum-2-0" } ], "slug": "key-ethereum-developer-josh-stark-leaves-the-ethereum-foundation", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262222" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "After Kalshi appeal, prediction markets fight could head to US Supreme Court", "leadText": "An appellate court is expected to reach a decision after hearing arguments from Kalshi and lawyers representing the state of Nevada.", "author": { "slug": "turner-wright" }, "bodyText": "Some legal experts speculated that the state vs. federal jurisdiction battle over regulating prediction markets companies could soon be headed to the United States Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments from lawyers representing prediction markets platform Kalshi and Nevada authorities over the state's ban on the prediction markets' event contracts. The appeal was over a lower court decision preventing Kalshi from offering certain event-based contracts in Nevada, based on claims that the company needed a gaming license.
![\"Law,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d97c3-c772-7efd-9d2b-1883607450d3.png\")
The appellate judge overseeing Thursday’s oral arguments and the lawyer for Kalshi acknowledged that there had been several state-level enforcement actions against the company and other prediction market platforms, including criminal charges filed in Arizona. However, last week a federal court blocked Arizona authorities from enforcing the state’s gambling laws on Kalshi’s event contracts.
“I think the body of case law does demonstrate that what we really need to avoid here is having a state and a federal court considering exactly the same issue at exactly the same time and potentially reaching different outcomes,” said Colleen Sinzdak, representing Kalshi.
Related: CFTC probes oil futures trades tied to Trump's moves in Iran: Report
Central to Kalshi’s argument was that the platform’s event contracts were “swaps” falling under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than state gaming authorities. CFTC Chair Michael Selig has backed this position in the case of Crypto.com’s prediction markets against Nevada authorities.
The appellate court did not immediately announce a decision following oral arguments. Any ruling could affect how state courts treat prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket as policymakers come to terms with the growing market, expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030.
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, whose company was not a party to the Kalshi proceedings but has a stake in the prediction markets fight, speculated that the case could go the US Supreme Court.
“The questions at oral argument are an unreliable signal in predicting the leanings of a court,” said Grewal in a Thursday X post following the oral arguments. “Either way, I stand by my longstanding prediction — the Supreme Court will resolve whether sports [contracts] on [Designated Contract Markets] are swaps subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC.”
The US Supreme Court gave states the authority to regulate sports gambling in its 2018 decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
HIVE Digital Technologies said it plans to raise $75 million through a private offering of 0% exchangeable senior notes due 2031, with proceeds expected to fund GPU purchases, data center development and other capital investments.
According to Thursday’s announcement, the notes will be issued by a wholly owned subsidiary and offered to qualified institutional buyers, with an option to raise an additional $15 million. Final terms, including the exchange rate, will be set at pricing.
The notes will be exchangeable under certain conditions, with HIVE able to settle conversions in cash, common shares or a combination of both. They will not bear regular interest, will not accrete and are unsecured obligations of the issuer, fully guaranteed by HIVE.
HIVE’s Nasdaq-traded shares (HIVE) sank 11.5% on Thursday while industry tracker CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) fell 1.5%, per Yahoo Finance data. HIVE is the seventh-largest holding in that exchange-traded fund, at 4.89% weight.
Proceeds will be directed to the company’s subsidiaries for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures tied to graphics processing units and data center expansion. HIVE also said it plans to enter capped call transactions with financial counterparties to limit potential dilution from future conversions.
Separately, the company said it has received conditional approval to list its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with trading expected to begin later this month, subject to meeting listing requirements.
HIVE was among the first Bitcoin miners to pivot into high-performance computing in 2022, a shift that is now beginning to show up in its financial results. In its third quarter, the company reported $93.1 million in revenue, up 219% year over year, despite weaker Bitcoin prices and rising network difficulty.
In February, HIVE signed a two-year, $30 million agreement to deploy 504 Nvidia B200 GPUs for enterprise AI cloud services.
Related: Public crypto miners sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than all of 2025: Report
The fundraising comes as publicly traded Bitcoin miners continue to expand into high-performance computing and AI workloads.
Companies including MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, Bitdeer Technologies, TeraWulf, Hut 8, CleanSpark and IREN have all made moves into AI and high-performance computing, leveraging existing access to power and data center infrastructure.
In January, CleanSpark agreed to buy 447 acres in Texas to build a 300-megawatt AI-focused data center, with plans to expand to 600 MW, while in February, MARA acquired a majority stake in French computing infrastructure company Exaion as part of its push into AI and cloud services.
Meanwhile, CoreWeave, which began as a crypto mining operator and pivoted toward high-performance computing as early as 2019, has grown into a major provider of AI cloud infrastructure.
On Wednesday, the company announced a $6 billion agreement with Jane Street to provide AI computing capacity across its data centers, alongside a $1 billion equity investment from the firm, days after signing a multi-year deal with Anthropic to support its Claude large language models.
The shift is also extending beyond traditional miners. On Thursday, renewable-powered data center developer Soluna Holdings moved to consolidate ownership of its Texas-based campus, positioning the site for a transition toward AI-focused computing.
![\"Bitcoin](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d97c5-d43f-72b3-b1ba-770bf2c4f8da.png\")
Magazine: Forget stablecoin yield, how does the CLARITY Act treat DeFi?
", "description": "HIVE Digital plans a $75M notes offering to expand GPU capacity and data centers, as Bitcoin miners shift toward AI and high-performance computing.", "published": "2026-04-16T21:32:56+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin-mining" }, { "slug": "ai" }, { "slug": "cloud-services" }, { "slug": "gpu" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "hive-plans-75m-raise-to-fund-ai-infrastructure-push", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262212" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Public crypto miners sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than all of 2025: Report", "leadText": "Mining companies are now split between those liquidating Bitcoin to cover operating expenses and those holding their BTC in reserve to fuel future growth.", "author": { "slug": "vince-quill" }, "bodyText": "Publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than in all four quarters of 2025, as business conditions tighten for the mining industry.
Publicly listed BTC miners, including MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer, have collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, according to TheEnergyMag.
The Q1 sales surpassed the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 during the crypto bear market triggered by the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem, setting a “new record” for BTC miner sales in a single quarter, TheMinerMag said.
![\"Mining,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977a-d7a9-73f6-a125-1c09a24a10b3.png\")
The sales come as hashprice, that is, the computing cost and a critical metric for miner profitability, sits at record low levels under $35 per petahash/second per day (PH/s), according to data from Hashrate Index.
That $35 PH/s level is the breakeven for many Bitcoin miners, particularly those running older mining machines, and the current hashprice of about $33 PH/s per day places about 20% of the mining industry in unprofitable territory.
![\"Mining,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977c-6e07-71c0-aa51-e7b6d23b80b0.png\")
The heavy BTC sales come as the mining industry struggles with increased competition represented by a rising hashrate, the total computing power expended by miners to secure the network, reduced block rewards and macroeconomic headwinds.
Related: Bitcoin miners face a tougher road to the 2028 halving
The Bitcoin Miner Reserve, a metric tracking all the BTC held by miners, has been gradually decreasing since 2023, according to CryptoQuant.
Bitcoin miners collectively held over 1.86 million BTC at the end of 2023, but only hold about 1.8 million BTC at the time of publication.
![\"Mining,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977e-ce7e-7026-a9fb-28b84b297efb.png\")
Miners periodically sell portions of their BTC to cover operating expenses, but a combination of lower crypto prices and rising energy costs has forced some miners to offload coins they would have held in their corporate treasuries.
“We expect further capitulation among higher-cost operators in H1 2026 unless BTC’s price recovers materially,” asset manager CoinShares said in its Q1 2026 Bitcoin Mining Report.
Standing in sharp contrast to the miners’ selling are Bitcoin treasury companies, like Strategy, which has been a regular buyer of the biggest crypto.
Michael Saylor, the co-founder of the biggest Bitcoin treasury company, earlier this week signaled that Strategy is acquiring more BTC, as the price retreated from the local high of over $73,000 reached this week.
“Think bigger,” Saylor said on Sunday, while sharing the chart of Strategy’s BTC purchase history that has become synonymous with imminent BTC acquisitions.
Magazine: Bitcoin mining industry ‘going to be dead in 2 years’: Bit Digital CEO
Market analysts said Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest rally to $76,000 was a “clear momentum shift,” confirming a short-term uptrend for BTC price.
Bitcoin’s short-term holder (STH) supply in profit, a measure of the share of recently acquired coins currently held at an unrealized gain, suggests that BTC/USD has not exhausted its bear market rally, data from Glassnode shows.
Local tops in bear market rallies have historically formed when this metric approaches its statistical mean of 54.2%, a threshold where the concentration of profitable STHs becomes sufficient to trigger meaningful distribution.
Currently at 43.2%, the STH supply in profit remains “meaningfully below that threshold, suggesting the present rally has not yet reached the zone of typical exhaustion,” Glassnode said in its latest Week Onchain newsletter, adding:
“This leaves slight room for further upside toward the True Market Mean, while also providing a quantitative level to monitor as price advances.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9704-2889-74f8-b25c-a92ce83469b4.png\")
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has remained in “deep under extension territory” relative to its 50-week simple moving average (SMA), analyst McKenna said in a recent post on X.
Related: Bitcoin traders cash out 63K BTC profit as price rallied above $76K: Will the market rebound?
When markets deviate either to the upside or downside, they usually revert back to their mean.
Combined with “clear momentum shifts and bullish trending signals firing then I would be inclined to be directionally bullish here, the analyst said, adding:
“BTC breaking above $74K and holding this level on a HTF is the final trigger I want to see to be confident in mid to high 80s over the coming weeks.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9704-3049-7e29-914d-47686c6518e3.jpg\")
Fellow analyst Bitcoin Archive focused on the falling US dollar index, saying that it provides a “massive tailwind for the next leg up” for Bitcoin.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9704-3ee3-782c-a723-b2f333f5a24a.png\")
As Cointelegraph reported, several metrics support Bitcoin’s potential to rise higher, including increasing network activity and a strengthening technical setup.
Bitcoin’s 41% drawdown from its $126,000 all-time high has seen the BTC/USD pair drop below key pricing levels, including the active realized price at $85,100, the STH cost basis at $80,950 and the true market mean currently at $78,140.
At $74,000, Bitcoin is 5.2% below the true market mean, a metric tracking the cost basis of active BTC supply.
While the price is yet to “test and stabilize above this key threshold, the probability of a spike toward and potentially above it remains considerable in the mid-term,” Glassnode added.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9704-4a92-7392-b521-7f0ca56dbf33.png\")
The importance of this resistance level is reinforced by cost basis distribution. The heatmap below shows that over 200,000 BTC were acquired for around $78,000.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9704-586b-742e-99b4-5055a35ba1e5.png\")
On the downside, the first major support is at $72,000, where the 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) appear to converge. It is also where investors bought approximately 220,000 BTC.
Lower than that, the $65,000-$70,000 demand zone is a key area to watch. This price band has historically served as a vital support level, as seen between October and November 2024, providing a launching pad for the October 2024-January 2025 rally.
As Cointelegraph reported, a drop below the $70,000 would suggest the bears are back in control, increasing the prospects of a drop toward $60,000.
The chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, said he would not wait for the appointment of additional commissioners to lead the regulatory agency before moving ahead on rulemaking potentially related to digital assets and prediction markets.
In a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, Selig responded to questions from ranking member Angie Craig, who called out the lack of leadership at the CFTC, which normally has a bipartisan panel of five commissioners. The Minnesota representative asked the chair to commit to not finalizing regulations while he is the only commissioner.
“In the interim, we cannot, for the sake of the American people, slow down in our rulemaking,” said Selig. “It’s very important that we get investor protections, consumer protections and safeguards for our markets. And so, I cannot, unfortunately, commit to not do my job that I was appointed to do by the president.”
Selig, who has served as the CFTC’s sole commissioner and chair since December, has come under scrutiny from many lawmakers for unilaterally leading the agency on rules favoring crypto and prediction markets with no bipartisan group of commissioners. As of Thursday, President Donald Trump had not publicly announced any nominations to staff the agency nor signaled he intended to do so.
“We’re going to do more through rulemaking,” said Selig in response to a question on the CFTC’s leadership from Representative Don Davis. “We can’t have the staff deciding on discretion what the rules are.”
Related: CFTC probes oil futures trades tied to Trump's moves in Iran: Report
The CFTC chair proposed rulemaking in March that could amend or issue new regulations over event contracts on prediction markets. Selig has been outspoken about claiming that the agency has “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets as the companies behind some platforms face state-level lawsuits related to sports betting laws and proposed legislation to crack down on insider trading.
Gaming authorities in several US states have filed lawsuits against prediction market companies like Kalshi and Polymarket, alleging the platforms offered sports betting in violation of state laws.
New Mexico Representative Gabe Vasquez questioned Selig at Thursday’s hearing with a visual aid showing that bets on event contracts and through state-level gaming “aren’t much of a difference, yet they are regulated completely differently.” He accused the CFTC of using “loopholes” to bypass state laws and requirements for prediction markets, causing some jurisdictions to miss out on revenue.
“The CFTC was not created or intended to regulate sports gambling,” said Vasquez, adding:
“Are we regulating real economic risk, or are we allowing prediction markets to steal billions of dollars in an unregulated free-for-all, with no consumer protection as Congress and the CFTC turns a blind eye?”
Companies like Kalshi have argued that they are under the sole jurisdiction of the CFTC. This argument led the company to court wins in Arizona and New Jersey, where this month judges blocked state officials from taking action against Kalshi.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
", "description": "CFTC Chair Michael Selig face questioning from lawmakers in the House Agriculture Committee on prediction markets and the agency's leadership.", "published": "2026-04-16T18:52:47+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "government" }, { "slug": "cftc" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "commodities-investment" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "prediction-markets" } ], "slug": "cftc-chair-rulemaking-bipartisan-leadership", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262182" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Charles Schwab to roll out spot Bitcoin, Ether trading for retail clients", "leadText": "Schwab will introduce direct trading in the two biggest cryptos through a dedicated account, its first move into spot trading as it expands its digital asset offerings.", "author": { "slug": "nate-kostar" }, "bodyText": "Charles Schwab, one of the largest US brokerage firms, will roll out spot cryptocurrency trading for retail clients in the coming weeks, starting with Bitcoin and Ether, through a dedicated account linked to its brokerage platform.
According to a Thursday announcement, the offering will allow clients to trade and view crypto alongside stocks and other assets across Schwab’s web, mobile and Thinkorswim platforms, with custody held by its banking unit and execution handled through a partnership with Paxos, a federally regulated trust company.
Schwab reported $12.22 trillion in total client assets as of February 2026, according to its latest filings, and operates as a brokerage providing trading, banking and wealth management services.
At launch, the service will support trading in the two biggest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), at a fee of 75 basis points per transaction, with plans to add more cryptocurrencies and enable deposits and withdrawals over time.
At 75 bps, or 0.75%, Schwab’s fee places it above exchanges such as Kraken, where fees start around 0.25% to 0.40% and decline with volume, while broadly in line with Coinbase, where fees start at about 0.40% to 0.60% for lower-volume traders, according to information on those exchanges’ websites.
Clients will access the service through a separate crypto account, with assets held by Schwab’s banking subsidiary under a custodial model. The rollout will begin in phases over the coming weeks, initially limited to eligible US retail clients except residents of New York and Louisiana.
Schwab said the move expands its existing crypto offerings, which include exchange-traded products, futures and funds tied to digital assets. The company said its clients currently hold about 20% of spot crypto exchange-traded products, based on internal estimates.
Related: Binance adds spot trading guardrails to limit abnormal executions
Traditional financial companies are expanding their crypto offerings across trading, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and structured products.
On April 8, Morgan Stanley launched a spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) that recorded $30.6 million in inflows on its first day of NYSE Arca trading, marking its entry into the market for regulated crypto investment products. The fund website showed total net assets at $87.6 million as of Wednesday.
Also in April, Goldman Sachs filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin-linked ETF designed to generate income through options strategies, offering indirect exposure to Bitcoin while aiming to limit volatility.
As traditional financial firms expand into crypto, crypto-native companies are moving in the opposite direction, pushing into traditional markets through tokenized equities.
In December, Coinbase introduced trading for equities and ETFs, while in February Kraken launched tokenized equity perpetual futures, offering leveraged exposure to US stocks, indexes and commodities.
Magazine: Forget stablecoin yield, how does the CLARITY Act treat DeFi?
", "description": "Charles Schwab plans to launch spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for retail clients, expanding into direct crypto access alongside its existing investment offerings.", "published": "2026-04-16T18:18:01+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "coinbase" }, { "slug": "kraken" }, { "slug": "goldman-sachs" }, { "slug": "ethereum" }, { "slug": "morgan-stanley" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "charles-schwab-to-roll-out-spot-bitcoin-ether-trading-for-retail-clients", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262167" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin bull run ‘still too early’ to call as demand lags exiting capital: Analyst", "leadText": "Bitcoin trades below the profitability threshold for active holders, with early signs of BTC demand offering limited price support for now.", "author": { "slug": "biraajmaan-tamuly" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) hit range highs above $76,000 on Wednesday, but Glassnode analysts say data suggest that calling for the start of a new bull market is premature.
New capital inflows have stayed weak, with Bitcoin’s growth rate remaining negative across all 105 trading days in 2026, highlighting a gap between stable price action and limited new demand.
Glassnode analyst CryptoViz.art uses the true market mean (TMM) to estimate the average cost basis of active BTC investors. The metric divides investor capitalization by liveliness-adjusted circulating supply, filtering out inactive coins and the lost supply.
Bitcoin crossed below this level on Jan. 31 and has stayed there for 75 days. The move placed the average active holder in a loss position, with a peak drawdown of 20% and a current gap of about 5% below the entry level.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96b4-7329-7086-b1b1-4fa3950b9c79.jpg\")
Historical comparisons show 10 similar breaks since 2016, with durations ranging from two days to over 11 months. The deepest drawdowns reached 57% during the 2018–2019 and 2022–2023 cycles, while the March 2020 event saw a 40% decline over 49 days. The analyst added,
“That said, 75 days is still early. The 2018 and 2022 episodes didn't bottom until months 5-9. The signal isn't \"all clear\" — it's watch closely.”
Reclaiming the TMM, currently at $78,013, is key for active investors to return to profit, and it has aligned with momentum resets in earlier cycles.
Related: Adam Back says Bitcoin’s post-quantum shift may reveal true Satoshi stash
Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. points to a steady outflow of capital from the BTC market. The 365-day growth rate of market cap relative to realized cap has remained negative for all 105 trading days in 2026, with the latest reading at -0.000652.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96af-87a8-7f03-8d12-945b9fe962dd.png\")
In simple terms, the market is not attracting enough new money to support higher prices.
The 30-day realized cap change shows the same trend. Only seven days saw positive inflows this year, all during a brief period in mid-January. Since Jan. 23, the metric has stayed negative, though it has improved slightly to -0.32% from early April lows near -0.54%.
Realized cap has also dropped to $1.08 trillion from $1.12 trillion since the start of the year, a 3.23% decline.
Adler Jr. said the recent improvement signals a slowdown in BTC outflows, not a bullish reversal. A meaningful shift would require both metrics to turn positive and hold above zero for a sustained period.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96b0-58d2-7bca-806e-2214495e5a9c.png\")
Related: Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin fund overtakes WisdomTree after 6 trading days
", "description": "Bitcoin trades below active investors' cost basis amid persistent capital outflows. Can bulls keep the market in their grip?", "published": "2026-04-16T17:55:36+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-analysis" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-bull-run-still-too-early-to-call-as-demand-lags-exiting-capital-analyst", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Market Update" } ] }, "id": "262162" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin rebounds near $74.5K as US stocks chase after new all-time highs", "leadText": "Bitcoin attempted to recover the $75,000 level as US stocks chase after a second day of fresh all-time highs. Is the bull market back on?", "author": { "slug": "william-suberg" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) treaded water at Thursday’s Wall Street open as the S&P 500 reached new all-time highs.
Key points:
Bitcoin stays locked on $74,000 after its local highs preceded a new record for the S&P 500.
Analysis warns that the US midterm elections may impact the stock rally.
Bitcoin could follow the Nasdaq 100 higher, a trader suggests.
Data from TradingView showed $74,000 continuing to form an intraday BTC price focus.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d4-0056-7663-8da9-a433868ebac0.png\")
US jobless claims came in marginally below expectations at 207,000 versus 213,000, pointing to the labor market withstanding current geopolitical and inflation pressures.
These followed a new record for the S&P 500, which crossed 7,000 points for the first time in history after Bitcoin hit two-month highs.
Commenting, trading resource Mosaic Asset Company noted that the S&P had advanced by nearly 11% in the past 11 trading sessions.
“It ranks as the fifth quickest recovery to record highs following a deep pullback,” it wrote in its latest “Mosaic Chart Alerts” update.
“The S&P closed firmly above the 7,000 level for the first time in history despite the ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East that sparked a 9% drawdown in the index into late March.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d3-6978-7428-a83a-56cfbe481700.png\")
Gold dipped to intraday lows and WTI crude oil eyed $94 per barrel as markets awaited further cues over the US-Iran war.
QCP, meanwhile, warned that seasonal trends could still end the stock rally as the US entered midterm elections. The S&P 500, it noted, “tends to find its peak about now ahead of mid-term elections, and then recovering during the final quarter of the year.”
“I would not base any investment decision or outlook based on seasonals alone, which is why I’m also watching confirmation from breadth,” it cautioned.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d2-7fe6-79dc-b0de-e6c40ead5792.jpg\")
With BTC price action finding resistance near its range highs, market participants eyed exchange order-book liquidity for clues as to where the next showdown could come.
Related: Bitcoin can grow 'probably a lot bigger' than $30T+ gold market — Analysis
“The price bucket at $72.2K - 72.4K has a large amount of open interest that has slowly accumulated,” Shubh Varma, CEO of crypto data platform Hyblock, told Cointelegraph on the day.
“We've seen this level where traders are often active, entering and exiting. Most recently, about $100 million longs and shorts opened here, bringing the total close to $400 million at that price bucket, over the last seven days (on Binance stablecoin perps).”
Varma added that this could form “an area to watch as potential support if price revisits it, as many of these longs and shorts may exit at breakeven ‘psychological’ level.\"
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d1-7190-7f99-ba12-fce72ea7417b.jpg\")
Continuing the stocks theme, crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe flagged Bitcoin’s relationship with the Nasdaq-100 index as a cause for optimism going forward.
“Bitcoin is about to follow Nasdaq,” he told X followers.
“The reason for this is quite simple: the correlation has been significantly strong most of the time. This period? The weakest correlation in the past 10 years.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d0-3ab8-75eb-acf7-ab3ab68cc732.jpeg\")
Van de Poppe eyed a “tremendous opportunity” for Bitcoin buyers, having recently seen a similar bullish setup in Bitcoin versus gold.
Crypto exchange Zonda said a cold wallet holding around 4,500 Bitcoin is currently inaccessible as the platform faces concerns over delayed withdrawals.
Zonda CEO Przemysław Kral posted a video statement on Thursday disclosing the exchange’s wallet address, saying the private keys to the wallet were never handed over.
In the statement, Kral denied accusations of misappropriating funds, saying the private keys were intended to be handed over by Zonda founder and former CEO Sylwester Suszek, who has been missing since 2022.
“So for all those who claim that I had anything to do with Sylwester's disappearance, this is the prime argument that I care the most about Sylwester being found,” Kral said.
The disclosure follows weeks of controversy around the exchange after local reports suggested a probe into Zonda by Polish authorities, followed by an analysis by blockchain platform Recoveris, which alleged Zonda could have been insolvent based on a sharp drop in the exchange's hot wallet balances.
Kral’s public disclosure of the wallet marks the first time that Zonda has disclosed the address amid the controversy.
The address cited by the CEO holds 4,503 Bitcoin (BTC) currently worth about $334 million, with the last transaction recorded in November 2025 as of the time of publication.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96df-bc81-711b-a0e1-9ec435c3f283.png\")
The CEO previously denied insolvency claims following the hot wallet investigation by Recoveris on April 6, insisting that Zonda remained fully solvent with more than 4,500 BTC in holdings.
In the video, Kral said that much of Zonda’s recent withdrawal pressure was driven by an abnormal spike in withdrawal requests, which he linked to negative media coverage.
He said Zonda normally processed around 100,000 withdrawal requests per year but saw more than 25,000 requests within hours and days around April 6.
Kral said the company plans to take legal action over what he described as false claims surrounding the exchange and promised to fulfill obligations to customers amid withdrawal concerns.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96df-be7b-75a7-b7af-2b871d33f90f.png\")
Polish lawmaker Tomasz Mentzen said on X that Zonda may have lost access to its cold wallet following the disappearance of former CEO Suszek. Kral did not explicitly say the funds were lost, but said the private keys to the wallet were never transferred during the company handover.
Suszek has reportedly been missing since March 2022, with reporting referencing alleged criminal ties among certain shareholders of Zonda, formerly BitBay.
Related: French minister says new measures are coming after crypto kidnappings
The exchange was founded in Poland in 2014 and rebranded as Zonda in 2021. Kral told Cointelegraph in February that the company registered in Estonia amid regulatory uncertainty in Poland, citing delays in implementing the European Union-wide Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
The issue has drawn the exchange into a broader political debate, adding pressure on regulators and increasing scrutiny of Poland’s crypto sector.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
Stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind USDt (USDT), said Thursday it will back a $150 million recovery program for the Drift Protocol decentralized exchange (DEX) following an exploit of the platform in April.
The recovery plan for the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit includes $127.5 million from Tether, with the rest coming from undisclosed partners, according to Tether’s announcement. Tether said:
“Rather than relying on upfront capital alone, the structure links funding and recovery to ongoing trading activity on the Drift platform, allowing user balances to be restored as the exchange returns to normal operations.”
The Drift Protocol platform will “contribute directly” to the ongoing recovery of user funds as the platform resumes normal trading activity.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96d1-818a-74b0-9b08-daa9610bce35.png\")
Drift will also transition its settlement asset from Circle's USDC (USDC) dollar-pegged stablecoin to Tether’s USDt as part of the platform’s relaunch.
Cointelegraph reached out to Tether but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The recovery program highlights a growing trend of crypto industry companies collaborating to restore user funds and help platforms resume normal operations after major hacks or cybersecurity attacks that cause hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
Related: Drift sends onchain message to wallets tied to $280M exploit
Crypto industry executives, cybersecurity researchers and blockchain security firms criticized Circle for not freezing the USDC wallets linked to the Drift Protocol exploiter, despite having a window of several hours to intervene.
The exploiter used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), a native bridge that allows tokens to be transferred to other blockchain networks, to transfer over $232 million USDC from the Solana network to the Ethereum network, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.
![\"Cybercrime,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d96c9-32c5-7d53-a862-30998408dbf2.png\")
The funds were transferred in more than 100 transactions, he said, adding, “Despite the attacker laundering funds over six consecutive hours across Circle's own native bridge, no USDC was frozen. The attacker has been linked to North Korea by Elliptic.”
Circle’s stock sank by about 10% on April 9, following criticism over the company’s failure to freeze the funds from the hack and downgraded forecasts from market analysts. The NYSE-traded shares have since clawed back that decline, increasing about 20% as of yesterday’s close, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?
", "description": "Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced that it will lead a $150 million recovery program for the Drift Protocol, which suffered a $280 million exploit.", "published": "2026-04-16T16:20:03+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cybercrime" }, { "slug": "tether" }, { "slug": "hacks" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "tether-150m-recovery-drift-protocol", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262137" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "UAE investors buy AI dip, keep crypto exposure despite conflict", "leadText": "UAE investors are buying the AI and tech dip, keeping exposure to software, chips and crypto as the Iran conflict stress-tests the Gulf’s bid to be a global tech hub.", "author": { "slug": "christina-comben" }, "bodyText": "United Arab Emirates investors are leaning into the artificial intelligence sell-off rather than running from it, despite the regional conflict testing the Gulf’s ambitions to become a global hub for AI and digital assets.
New eToro data shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday show users in the UAE boosted holdings of software and AI infrastructure names whose share prices fell sharply in the first quarter, suggesting they used the downturn to “buy the dip” rather than broadly de-risk.
The pattern suggests UAE investors are staying exposed to long-term AI and digital-infrastructure themes even as the conflict raises fresh risks for data centers, logistics and cross-border technology build-outs in the Gulf. An April 13 report from Deutsche Bank said the shock is more likely to sharpen rather than derail demand for AI, cybersecurity and sovereign digital infrastructure in the region.
Related: Bitcoin falls to lower support as analysts say markets are ignoring key Iran issue
Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro, told Cointelegraph that UAE investors became more selective over where they took risk in Q1, and investor behavior was driven by long-term themes rather than a risk-off mindset.
He said the clearest signal was across AI infrastructure and software names, pointing to ServiceNow (+125%), Super Micro Computer (+65%), Adobe (+54%) and Oracle (+38%), which all saw significant increases despite market pressure.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9643-e867-769e-8ea4-4afd60f4fcea.png\")
On the crypto side, he said that Strategy Inc. remained the eighth-most-held stock, indicating continued exposure to crypto-linked equities.
The resilience comes as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran has exposed new risks for Gulf tech infrastructure. Deutsche Bank cited reported strikes on Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain and threats against the planned 1GW Stargate campus in Abu Dhabi.
Gilbert said the conflict was driving volatility, with sharp oil price swings that can ultimately affect tech valuations. Maintaining core exposure to diversified mega-cap tech while rotating within the sector suggests a more nuanced, risk-aware approach, he said.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d964f-0936-7199-bd40-dd85a2dafd55.png\")
Deutsche also highlighted that the Gulf, and the UAE in particular, is unlikely to abandon the AI race. The region benefits from cheap energy, an unusually dense pipeline of data center projects, and sovereign wealth funds that control about $5 trillion worldwide in 2025, with Abu Dhabi vehicles among the most aggressive backers of global AI deals, the report said.
On the ground in Dubai, crypto players say the conflict has slowed but not derailed the city’s hub ambitions. HashKey MENA’s managing director, Ben El-Baz, told Cointelegraph that operations remained “broadly functional,” helped by cloud-based trading and custody systems less dependent on a physical location, even though remote work and travel disruptions were unavoidable.
Related: BTC recovery fragile, Iran war fallout to ‘dominate’ markets in 2026: Analyst
Other companies, including Binance, also continued normal operations, despite reports to the contrary. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph employees were given the option of temporary relocation as a precautionary measure, but the “vast majority” chose to remain, while major conferences such as Token2049 were postponed.
Dubai-based investment firm, Ento Capital, says the conflict is “refining” rather than derailing the GCC story. Senior executive officer Hayssam El Masri told Cointelegraph that investors have shifted from “confidence-driven to risk aware,” but are generally not exiting the region. War-tested resilience and ongoing investment in AI, cloud and crypto infrastructure may ultimately strengthen the GCC’s long-term positioning, he said.
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has continued to roll out its activity-based framework throughout the turmoil, including detailed guidance on token issuance and formal rules for crypto derivatives.
Sean McHugh, VARA’s head of market assurance, told Cointelegraph that in periods of stress, serious market participants do not seek “the lightest-touch jurisdiction, they look for the clearest one,” adding that Dubai’s combination of transparent licensing, visible supervision and active enforcement is meant to persuade institutions to treat the emirate as a strategic base rather than an opportunistic punt.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
In the United States, victims of the $4 billion crypto Ponzi scam OneCoin are finally receiving compensation.
On April 13, the US Department of Justice said that $40 million in assets are available to anyone who purchased OneCoin between 2014 and 2019 and experienced a net loss.
This program marks a milestone for OneCoin victims, most of whom had no recourse to get back what they lost, until now. Victims in the UK attempted a class action suit in 2024, but it fell apart when litigation funding was terminated.
Few crypto schemes were as prominent as OneCoin, in terms of scale and the international intrigue that followed. Founders and associates have been imprisoned or killed, while the ringleader is still on the lam.
The Wild West of early crypto was often defined by schemes and eccentric characters, the effects of which, in the case of OneCoin, are still felt today.
In 2014, cryptocurrency was still a niche internet phenomenon. The Bitcoin white paper was only six years old, and general knowledge of cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech was limited. Still, interest in the new asset class was rising among retail investors.
From August to December 2014, Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood founded OneCoin. Initial promotions began in Europe, and soon entities popped up in Bulgaria, Dubai and Belize.
OneCoin’s structure was convoluted. Investors needed to buy packages of tokens that would allow them to “mine” OneCoin. There were several different price entry points for packages, with almost no upper limit. The most expensive, according to CoinMarketCap, was 225,000 euros.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d966f-d6b7-74e8-95d5-d4b8c5a10909.png\")
Promoters, meanwhile, could earn commissions by bringing new investors into the program. This allowed the project to expand rapidly.
While marketed as a cryptocurrency, it was not decentralized. The coin itself was hosted on the centralized servers of OneCoin Ltd. The coins were not available for public trading and owners could only trade nominal amounts in a closed system.
The project seemed fairly suspect from the outset, but fear of missing out, as well as the massive audiences drawn by Ignatova at seemingly above-board conferences, were enough to convince many.
Throughout 2015, the project grew across the globe in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Repeating the familiar MLM playbook, promoters emphasized urgency, and the immediacy of an impending explosion in value and crypto adoption.
Regulators began to catch on by late 2015. Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission issued a warning about OneCoin, after which the company ceased all operations in the country.
By 2016, several other national financial regulators also had OneCoin on their lists. By year’s end, Norway, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden and Latvia were all investigating the project. The Hungarian central bank called it a pyramid scheme.
In December, Italian authorities defined OneCoin as an illegal pyramid scheme and demanded it cease activities in the country. China began investigating the project and even arrested some investors.
Regulation efforts ramped up again in 2017. Germany, Thailand, Belize and Vietnam all issued cease-and-desist orders or declared OneCoin illegal. In India, undercover police arrested 18 organizers of a OneCoin event that attempted to bring in new investors. Indian authorities went so far as to charge Ignatova herself in July.
By the year’s end, things had reached a breaking point. Investors were concerned about delays in a supposed exchange that would allow them to cash out their coins. This was supposedly going to be addressed at an October meeting of OneCoin organizers in Lisbon, Portugal.
But Ignatova didn’t show. According to a BBC investigation, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens, Greece on Oct. 25, 2017. No one has seen her since.
In early 2018, investigators moved in on the project. At the request of prosecutors in Germany, Bulgarian police raided the OneCoin offices in Sofia. The raid, which according to the Sofia Globe also included German police and Europol, seized servers and material evidence.
In July, co-founder Greenwood was arrested on charges of money laundering and fraud in Thailand, where he would await extradition back to the United States.
Ignatova’s own lawyer, Mark S. Scott, was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud due to his connections and activities at OneCoin. He would be disbarred a few years later.
OneCoin stayed in the headlines for the next couple of years as developments continued to unfold. In July 2020, two project promoters, Oscar Brito Ibarra and Ignacio Ibarra, were kidnapped and murdered in Mexico. Local media reported that local cartels, which were increasingly becoming interested in cryptocurrencies, could have been involved.
In 2020, entertainment media in Hollywood reported that Kate Winslet would star in a movie about OneCoin. To date, it hasn’t started production.
While Greenwood’s case proceeded in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation put Ignatova on its Ten Most Wanted fugitives list in June 2023.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d966e-f929-78e3-a222-c3f7d1cc365b.png\")
In September, Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million in damages. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering. His sentence was a marked reduction from the initial 60 years sought by the prosecution.
In 2024, the DoJ arrested and charged William Morro for bank fraud in connection with OneCoin. Morro moved some $35 million in OneCoin funds between banks in China and Hong Kong, and $6 million between Hong Kong and the US. Morro surrendered himself to authorities and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
In the latest news, the DoJ announced on Monday that $40 million in assets are available to compensate investors who bought OneCoin between 2014 and 2019 and recorded a net loss.
By the time everything was said and done, some 3.5 million people had lost money to the crypto scheme. Authorities estimate that organizers ultimately made away with $4 billion in user funds.
Ignatova remains at large and on the Ten Most Wanted list. The FBI is offering a $5 million reward for info leading to her arrest and/or conviction.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
Australia could generate A$24 billion, or about $17 billion, annually from digital assets and tokenized finance. But that opportunity depends on whether policymakers establish clear and supportive regulatory frameworks.
Tokenization could transform financial markets by improving liquidity, automating settlement processes and expanding investor access to assets such as foreign exchange, equities, government debt and investment funds.
Tokenized money, including CBDCs and stablecoins, could significantly reduce the cost and time of cross-border payments by minimizing reliance on traditional banking networks.
Regulatory uncertainty remains the biggest barrier to growth, as financial institutions hesitate to commit capital without clear rules on licensing, custody standards and compliance for digital asset businesses.
Australia is widely regarded as one of the most technologically advanced financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region. However, in the area of digital assets and tokenized finance, the country faces a critical choice.
The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) and the Digital Economy Council of Australia published a report titled “Unlocking Australia’s $24b Digital Finance Opportunity.” It warns that the country will capture only a small portion of these gains unless its regulatory framework is updated swiftly.
The report emphasizes that tokenized markets and digital finance could deliver around A$24 billion (approximately US$17 billion) in annual economic benefits for Australia, provided lawmakers move forward with regulation.
The DFCRC analysis indicates that tokenization and digital asset infrastructure could significantly improve several parts of Australia’s financial system. These improvements are expected to create economic value by making markets more efficient, increasing liquidity and allowing more investors to participate.
The report highlights three main sources of value that together represent an estimated A$24 billion opportunity.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d966d-3f1b-733f-b92e-d0f02bb9d2f9.jpg\")
Tokenized financial markets are likely to deliver significant economic benefits. By recording traditional securities such as shares or bonds on blockchain-based systems, markets can automate settlement processes, lower operational costs and open participation to a wider range of investors.
Tokenized infrastructure can also bring greater transparency and efficiency to assets including:
foreign exchange
investment funds
public equities
government debt
Improved liquidity and easier access for investors can lead to higher trading volumes and less friction throughout the financial system.
Tokenized forms of money such as stablecoins, bank deposit tokens and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could make both domestic and international payments faster and cheaper.
At present, many cross-border payments depend on correspondent banking networks, which are often slow and costly. Tokenized payment systems could enable near-instant transfers between institutions, shortening settlement times and reducing fees.
Tokenization allows financial assets to become more programmable and easier to use in digital financial services. Smart contracts can automatically manage tasks such as margin calls, collateral handling and settlement, which are currently manual and time-intensive processes.
According to the DFCRC report, almost half of the gains related to assets could come from enabling new activities on tokenized infrastructure, including collateralized lending, repo markets and invoice financing.
Did you know? Australia was among the earliest countries to explore blockchain for financial market infrastructure. In 2017, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) began a project to replace its decades-old clearing system with blockchain technology before later reconsidering the plan.
While digital asset markets show great promise, the DFCRC report identifies regulatory uncertainty as the main factor holding back growth in Australia.
Large financial institutions generally avoid investing significant capital in new technologies until clear legal frameworks are established. Without specific rules on licensing, asset custody and compliance, many firms are hesitant to launch major tokenized products.
Key structural challenges include:
Vague licensing: It is currently unclear how digital asset businesses should obtain official permits.
Poor collaboration: There is a lack of communication between regulatory bodies and the industry.
Limited trials: A shortage of large-scale pilot programs limits practical testing.
Legal ambiguity: The status of tokenized financial products remains undefined.
These issues hinder progress even when the necessary technology is already available. Institutional investors need a well-defined regulatory foundation to enter the market with confidence.
Continued delays in modernizing Australia’s regulatory framework could severely erode the country’s potential gains from digital finance.
If policy stagnation persists, Australia may capture only around A$1 billion (approximately US$710 million) from digital assets and tokenized finance by 2030. This figure represents only a small fraction of the A$24 billion in potential benefits that could be realized under a more supportive and predictable regulatory environment.
This massive shortfall highlights how regulatory hurdles can alter the future path of financial innovation. In the absence of clear, enabling policy settings, several damaging consequences could follow:
Pilot programs find it difficult to scale into live, production-grade systems.
Institutional capital stays on the sidelines, unwilling to take meaningful risks.
Cutting-edge innovation and talent increasingly relocate to jurisdictions offering regulatory clarity and predictability.
Australia’s domestic financial infrastructure modernizes more slowly than that of global peers.
Ultimately, prolonged regulatory uncertainty does not merely slow progress but may actively divert economic value and opportunity to other countries that have established favorable frameworks for digital finance.
Did you know? Australia hosts one of the densest networks of crypto ATMs in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also one of the largest markets for crypto kiosks outside North America.
Australia has made initial strides toward establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets. However, industry stakeholders stress that more needs to be done to unlock meaningful institutional participation:
Clear licensing regimes for digital asset platforms: Trading venues, exchanges and other digital asset service providers urgently need well-defined licensing pathways. These include precise rules on permissible activities, operational requirements, capital standards and ongoing compliance obligations.
Modern, fit-for-purpose custody rules: Digital assets introduce distinct risks around security, segregation and operational resilience. Regulators should set clear, risk-based custody standards that safeguard client assets.
A coherent framework for stablecoins: Stablecoins are widely viewed as foundational infrastructure for tokenized markets and efficient on-chain payments. Industry participants are calling for clarity on issuance, reserves, redemption rights, supervision and cross-border rules to remove legal and operational uncertainty.
Balanced and proportionate consumer and investor protections: Strong safeguards against fraud, misconduct and loss are essential. But they must be designed carefully to avoid stifling legitimate innovation.
When addressed together, these regulatory building blocks would provide the clarity financial institutions need before committing significant capital and infrastructure to tokenized finance in Australia.
The DFCRC report recommends creating regulatory sandboxes tailored specifically for tokenized financial markets.
These sandboxes allow companies to test new financial technologies under close regulatory oversight before obtaining a full license. This approach lets regulators see how the innovations perform in practice while keeping risks under control.
Australia already has an Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox (ERS) managed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). It permits eligible firms to trial certain financial services for a limited period without holding a full financial services license.
However, industry groups argue that more specialized sandboxes would speed up testing and development in key areas such as tokenized securities and digital settlement systems.
Targeted sandboxes would also improve dialogue between regulators and the industry, enabling policymakers to shape better rules based on actual testing outcomes.
The DFCRC report proposes that tokenized government bonds and a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could form essential infrastructure for digital financial markets.
Government bonds are already widely used as collateral in financial markets. Tokenizing them would allow for automated collateral management, faster settlement and improved transparency.
A CBDC designed for use by financial institutions rather than the general public could provide secure final settlement for tokenized assets. Together with stablecoins and bank deposit tokens, it would help build a flexible and efficient system for digital financial transactions.
These tools would create the reliable settlement infrastructure institutional markets need to operate at scale.
Did you know? Australia’s central bank was among the first to experiment with central bank digital currency trials. Earlier projects explored how a wholesale CBDC could help automate bond settlement and other complex financial transactions between institutions.
Australia is already exploring these concepts through initiatives such as Project Acacia. This collaboration examines how digital money could work in tokenized wholesale markets.
The project tests how different forms of digital settlement, including CBDCs and stablecoins, can support financial market infrastructure.
Pilot programs like these can play an important role. They allow policymakers and financial institutions to test technical designs, operational risks and regulatory issues before moving to large-scale systems.
Real-world experimentation helps regulators create rules based on practical experience rather than theory alone.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d966d-ed8b-7632-b1ec-111420d99a50.jpg\")
A central finding of the DFCRC report is that technology alone is not enough to create new financial markets.
For institutions to adopt tokenized finance, the following are required:
clear legal frameworks
reliable settlement infrastructure
proper custody standards
effective risk management protocols
appropriate regulatory oversight
Together, these elements build the trust financial institutions need to commit to new technologies.
Without that trust, tokenized finance is likely to remain confined to small pilot projects rather than becoming part of mainstream financial systems.
The global competition to develop digital asset infrastructure is accelerating. Many jurisdictions are already building regulatory frameworks for tokenized securities, stablecoins and digital payment systems.
If Australia delays, it risks losing talent, investment and innovation to countries that provide regulatory clarity sooner.
In this sense, digital asset regulation is not just a financial policy issue. It is also a question of competitiveness for Australia’s broader economy.
Countries that put credible frameworks for digital finance in place are better positioned to attract capital and technology firms seeking stable regulatory settings.
", "description": "Australia could unlock an A$24B crypto and tokenization opportunity, but only if clear regulations, licensing rules and digital finance infrastructure are put in place.", "published": "2026-04-16T14:26:21+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "australia" }, { "slug": "economics" }, { "slug": "adoption" }, { "slug": "digital-currency" }, { "slug": "economy" }, { "slug": "digital" }, { "slug": "commonwealth-bank-of-australia" }, { "slug": "digital-asset-holdings" }, { "slug": "national-australia-bank" }, { "slug": "digital-asset" }, { "slug": "digital-asset-management" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "how-to" } ], "slug": "australia-tokenized-finance-regulatory-framework", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "How to" } ] }, "id": "262112" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Naver-Dunamu filing sets IPO committee, listing timeline for fintech group", "leadText": "The corrected filing details timeline, caveats and conditions tied to a potential Naver Financial IPO after the Dunamu share swap deal.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "South Korean tech company Naver and Upbit operator Dunamu said in a corrected filing that their planned share swap includes forming an initial public offering (IPO) committee for Naver Financial within one year of closing, outlining a path toward a future listing.
The disclosure, outlined in the corrected filing on Wednesday, said the companies would pursue a listing within five years, with a possible two-year extension. Naver said it plans to secure voting rights in Naver Financial so the fintech unit remains a consolidated subsidiary after the deal.
The filing suggests the deal goes beyond a simple ownership change, outlining a structure that could eventually bring Upbit’s parent under a listed fintech group. The move indicates Naver and Dunamu are positioning any future South Korea listing at the fintech-parent level rather than through a standalone listing of Upbit’s parent.
However, Dunamu said no specific decisions have been made on whether to proceed with the IPO or on its timing or structure. It added that the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals that could still delay or derail the transaction.
Naver Financial’s plans to acquire Dunamu were first reported in September 2025 by local outlets including Yonhap and Chosun, which said the company was preparing a share swap to bring the Upbit operator under its umbrella. Naver later confirmed the transaction in a November regulatory filing, outlining a roughly $10.3 billion all-stock deal.
The filing said Naver, Dunamu and related parties entered into an investor agreement tied to the share swap, under which they agreed to use their “best efforts” to pursue a future listing of Naver Financial after the transaction closes.
The agreement forms the basis for post-deal restructuring, including preparations for a potential IPO.
Related: South Korea orders crypto exchanges to verify holdings every 5 minutes
The filing described the listing plan as conditional, noting that key elements, including timing, structure and execution, will depend on market conditions and regulatory developments. It added that more detailed plans would be disclosed if and when formal decisions are made.
The updated disclosure follows a roughly three-month delay to the Naver and Dunamu share swap deal timeline.
It also comes as Dunamu reported weaker operating performance in 2025, with revenue falling about 10% year-on-year to 1.56 trillion won ($1.2 billion) and operating profit dropping 26.7% to 869.3 billion won, which the company attributed to reduced crypto trading volumes during a broader market slowdown.
Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO
Ukrainian authorities have arrested a member of an international cybercrime network wanted by the FBI over allegations of fraud and money laundering tied to losses exceeding $100 million across the United States and Europe.
The suspect was arrested in the Transcarpathia region during a joint operation involving the National Police of Ukraine and other internal security units, Ukraine police said on Thursday. Officials said the man had been wanted internationally for some time and was eventually found in Uzhhorod, where he was living under a fake identity using forged documents.
“He issued fictitious documents about his own death and continued to live in Ukraine as a “new” person, using false documents,” prosecutors said, adding that he laundered illicit proceeds through property acquisitions, often using relatives as intermediaries to disguise ownership and financial flows.
The suspect was part of a wider cyber syndicate that deployed malicious software to harvest personal data and corporate records, later using that information to extort victims by demanding payments in exchange for silence or the return of stolen material, per the announcement. The scheme targeted individuals and institutions in both the US and Europe.
Related: Paying Iran in crypto could put shippers at sanctions risk: Chainalysis
During the investigation, authorities seized assets worth approximately $11 million, including cash, real estate, vehicles and cryptocurrency valued at around $3 million.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9634-20d9-722a-86b8-163f0e6dfeba.jpg\")
Officials also flagged discrepancies between declared income and assets held by the suspect associates, pointing to tens of millions of Ukrainian hryvnias in unexplained wealth accumulation. Investigators say the financial trail helped reconstruct parts of the laundering network and confirm the scale of the operation. They also identified two additional accomplices linked to the laundering operation.
The suspect faces charges under Ukrainian criminal code provisions covering document forgery and money laundering. His alleged accomplices have also been charged and remain in custody.
Related: Ukraine blocks Polymarket, classifies prediction markets as gambling
Earlier this year, Ukraine, the United States and Germany uncovered another transnational hacking group responsible for blocking the systems of at least 11 American corporations and demanding ransom payments in cryptocurrency. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the attacks caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage, with the group consisting of more than 20 members, including seven based in Ukraine.
Authorities carried out searches at the homes of two Ukrainian suspects, seizing computers, phones, cash and documents. One suspect was also linked to the spread of BlackBasta malware.
Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ would be Saylor’s liquidation — Santiment founder
", "description": "Ukraine arrests a suspect in a $100 million cybercrime ring targeting the US and Europe, seizing $11 million in assets including $3 million in cryptocurrency.", "published": "2026-04-16T14:00:51+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "ukraine" }, { "slug": "europe" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "hacks" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "ukraine-arrests-suspect-100m-cybercrime-ring-11m-seized-crypto", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262097" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "AllUnity takes MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin EURAU further into DeFi", "leadText": "AllUnity says it is expanding EURAU stablecoin liquidity pools across major DEXs such as Uniswap and Raydium, with trading pairs against USDT and USDT0.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "AllUnity, a regulated European stablecoin issuer, is expanding its euro-pegged stablecoin, EURAU, across major decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
The company announced Thursday that its EURAU stablecoin is entering liquidity pools across major DEXs, including Uniswap, currently the largest decentralized exchange by trading volumes.
The rollout includes two EURAU trading pairs, one against Tether USDt (USDT) on Ethereum, and another against USDT0 — an omnichain version of USDT — on the Tempo blockchain. It also includes the EURAU/USDT pair on Solana via the Raydium DEX.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9618-1cbc-7fc9-8cf6-22cc57aadc67.png\")
AllUnity’s DEX push comes as uncertainty persists over how far decentralized finance (DeFi) falls within the scope of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) regime.
While DeFi is generally considered outside the scope of the framework, the European Central Bank last month questioned whether decentralized autonomous organizations are decentralized enough to remain outside MiCA’s regulatory perimeter.
AllUnity operates as a MiCA-compliant stablecoin issuer after obtaining an Electronic Money Institution license from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in July 2025.
AllUnity launched EURAU on July 31, 2025. The token remains small by market capitalization compared with the largest euro stablecoins.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9618-1ef6-7de7-b68f-7ec82b42dc5f.png\")
AllUnity has been expanding the presence of its EURAU stablecoin across exchanges, with listings on centralized exchanges (CEXs) such as Bullish as well as decentralized ones like Aerodrome. Aerodrome became the first DEX integration for EURAU in December 2025.
The MiCA framework, which entered into full force in late 2024, has often been seen as a tool to address the dominance of stablecoins pegged to the US dollar.
Some major issuers, including Tether, have openly criticized the framework and declined to seek compliance in the EU, citing concerns over its requirements, which led to some compliant exchanges delisting its USDT stablecoin.
Some banking officials have since said MiCA may not be sufficient to address the dominance of US dollar-pegged stablecoins, which still account for 97% of the $316 billion market globally, according to CoinGecko.
Related: Bank of France calls for tougher MiCA limits on stablecoin payments
As AllUnity’s DEX push also involves major US dollar stablecoins, it remains unclear how regulators will respond to these developments.
“Expanding EURAU liquidity across DEXs is an important step in building a robust and accessible euro liquidity layer,” AllUnity’s executive Rupertus Rothenhäuser said, adding:
“We’re enabling seamless euro — dollar trading, empowering institutions and liquidity providers to participate in deep, efficient markets.”
Cointelegraph contacted AllUnity for comment regarding potential conflicts with the EU regulation but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
", "description": "AllUnity is expanding its MiCA-compliant EURAU stablecoin into liquidity pools on DEXs such as Uniswap and Raydium amid ongoing regulatory uncertainty over DeFi.", "published": "2026-04-16T13:47:29+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "euro" }, { "slug": "tether" }, { "slug": "decentralized-exchange" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "uniswap" }, { "slug": "dex" }, { "slug": "mica" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "allunity-mica-regulated-euro-stablecoin-eurau-defi", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262092" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Adam Back says Bitcoin’s post-quantum shift may reveal true Satoshi stash", "leadText": "Back said at Paris Blockchain Week that Bitcoin’s post-quantum shift may reveal the true size of the stash held by Satoshi Nakamoto, estimated at between 500,000 and 1 million BTC.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "Blockstream CEO Adam Back said Thursday that a future post-quantum migration of Bitcoin could help clarify how many coins linked to Satoshi Nakamoto remain accessible, because any owner wanting to protect vulnerable holdings would need to move them to a new address format.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Back said such a migration would likely give users ample time to move funds and argued that coins left unmoved after that process could reasonably be treated as lost.
“This migration to post-quantum address format may tell us how many of those coins [Satoshi] still has,” said Back, adding that the pseudonymous creator has an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Bitcoin (BTC).
Satoshi’s Bitcoin stash has ignited heated debate among Bitcoin holders concerned by the quantum computing threat. On Wednesday, Jameson Lopp and five co-authors published a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal aimed at restricting the future movement of coins held in quantum-vulnerable address formats, including older coins whose public keys have already been exposed.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d95fe-f30d-79ee-8937-397e156bd3c0.png\")
Blockchain data platform Arkham estimates that Nakamoto-linked wallets hold 1.09 million Bitcoin, currently valued at $81.6 billion.
Related: Bernstein says Bitcoin market already priced in quantum risk
Back said Bitcoin developers and holders still have substantial time to prepare, arguing that a quantum breakthrough capable of threatening Bitcoin signatures is at least 20 years away.
He argued that today’s quantum computers are “less powerful than a $5 calculator” and that some of their issues become more pressing as these systems scale, such as their energy consumption.
Back said that runway should give developers and users ample time to develop a post-quantum path and migrate to a new quantum-resistant standard underpinned by hash-based signatures.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d95fe-f512-7ace-af84-8f9c2f04b722.png\")
In December 2025, Back’s Blockstream Research released a paper proposing a hash-based signature scheme that offers a “promising path for securing Bitcoin in a post-quantum world,” as a quantum-safe replacement for the ECDSA and Schnorr signatures. Under the proposal, security would rely solely on hash function assumptions, similar to the ones currently used in Bitcoin’s network design.
The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) uses elliptic-curve cryptography to verify the authenticity and integrity of a message. Schnorr signatures are another signature scheme praised for enhancing privacy and reducing data size, due to their ability to combine multiple signatures into one.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat — Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)
", "description": "Bitcoin’s migration to post-quantum wallet standards may reveal the true size of the mysterious stash held by Satoshi Nakamoto, according to Adam Back.", "published": "2026-04-16T13:23:08+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "satoshi-nakamoto" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-wallet" }, { "slug": "developers" }, { "slug": "quantum-computing" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-adoption" }, { "slug": "paris-blockchain-week" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-post-quantum-migration-reveal-satoshi-coins-adam-back", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262087" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Europe’s Bitcoin treasury playbook won’t be a copy of Strategy: PBW 2026", "leadText": "Executives at Paris Blockchain Week said European firms interested in Bitcoin treasury strategies are working around shallower capital markets and tighter constraints than in the US.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "European companies exploring Bitcoin treasury strategies are unlikely to replicate the playbook pioneered by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, according to industry executives, who pointed to structural differences between US and European capital markets.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2026, Thomas Vogel, a partner in the Paris and Frankfurt offices of Latham & Watkins, said the constraints on issuing financial instruments in Europe differ significantly from those in the US, making a direct replication of the model difficult.
“If you issue convertibles in the US, the constraints are not the same as when you issue them out of a French balance sheet or a balance sheet in Europe,” Vogel said, pointing to differences in market depth, regulation and investor behavior.
Alexandre Laizet, who leads Bitcoin (BTC) strategy at France-based treasury firm Capital B, said European firms are instead looking to local market infrastructure, including French public markets and Luxembourg-based structures, to raise capital tied to Bitcoin exposure.
The remarks suggest Europe’s Bitcoin treasury model is likely to evolve as a local adaptation rather than a direct copy of Strategy’s US playbook.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9602-60e9-7130-8c9d-7cfbb2cac3b1.jpg\")
A growing number of European public companies now hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, but the market remains fragmented across small and mid-cap names.
According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, Germany-based Bitcoin Group SE held 3,605 BTC worth about $268 million at the time of writing, though it has not disclosed its average cost or profit and loss.
Related: EU adviser says ‘MiCA 2’ is likely as crypto market matures: PBW 2026
Capital B held 2,925 BTC at an average cost of $99,932 per Bitcoin, reflecting a roughly 25.6% unrealized loss. In contrast, Sequans Communications, also based in France, held 2,139 BTC, with cost and performance data not disclosed.
Other European names show similar pressure from recent price moves. Netherlands-based Treasury held 1,111 BTC at an average cost of $111,857, representing about a 33.5% unrealized loss, while Sweden’s H100 Group held 1,051 BTC at an average cost of $114,615, with an unrealized loss of around 35.1%
The gap in scale remains significant compared with the US. On Monday, Strategy acquired 13,927 Bitcoin for about $1 billion in a single week, bringing its total holdings to 780,897 BTC.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "At Paris Blockchain Week, executives pointed to French markets and Luxembourg structures as alternatives to US-style Bitcoin funding models.", "published": "2026-04-16T12:55:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "europe" }, { "slug": "paris" }, { "slug": "community" }, { "slug": "microstrategy" }, { "slug": "paris-blockchain-week" } ], "slug": "europe-bitcoin-treasury-model-not-copy-strategy-pbw", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262082" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Circle CEO sees ‘tremendous opportunity’ for yuan stablecoin despite China curbs", "leadText": "Circle’s Jeremy Allaire sees “tremendous” room for a yuan stablecoin, despite China banning most private yuan tokens and pushing its CBDC to challenge US dollar stablecoins.", "author": { "slug": "christina-comben" }, "bodyText": "Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says there is “tremendous opportunity” for a yuan-backed stablecoin, despite Beijing’s formal moves against most private renminbi-linked stablecoins and commitment to its own digital yuan.
Speaking to Reuters in Hong Kong on Thursday, Allaire framed stablecoins as a way for China to “export” its currency by making global payments easier, as digital money becomes more tightly woven into trade and finance, and said the country could roll out a yuan-backed stablecoin within three to five years.
Geopolitical rivalry over money is increasingly being waged in code as much as in central bank policy, and Allaire’s comments sharpen a deeper question: Can governments that clamp down on private digital currencies afford to shun them if they want to compete globally?
China’s crackdown contrasts with growing demand for stablecoins as cross-border payment tools, raising questions about how the yuan will evolve in a tokenized financial system.
In February, the People’s Bank of China and seven other agencies said unauthorized offshore issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins would be treated as illegal financial activity and said tokenization of domestic real-world assets would face stricter vetting.
Officials framed the move as necessary to protect financial stability, curb capital flight and safeguard monetary sovereignty as Beijing pushes its central bank digital currency, the e-CNY. The decision slams the door on most offshore RMB stablecoins just months after reports that China was studying yuan-backed tokens as a way to boost global usage of its currency.
Related: China’s interest-bearing digital yuan piles pressure on US stablecoin rules
Allaire’s remarks come as stablecoins are pulled deeper into geopolitics. Circle’s US dollar-backed USDC grew 72% year-on-year in circulation to $75.3 billion by the end of 2025. Allaire told Reuters that “several billion dollars” in additional USDC transactions followed the outbreak of the US-Iran war as users sought portable digital dollars in a crisis.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d95de-ecb8-7747-a6cc-261fd0fdb5a9.png\")
Outlier Ventures said in a 2025 market report that US dollar-backed stablecoins accounted for 99.8% of all fiat-denominated stablecoins, underlining how heavily the market still relies on digital dollars rather than other national currency-pegged tokens.
China, by contrast, is pursuing a CBDC-first strategy. Authorities have repeatedly reaffirmed their 2021 ban on crypto trading and mining. In November 2025, the central bank warned it would intensify its crackdown on stablecoins, leading to February’s notice banning RMB-linked stablecoin issuance and most RWA tokenization without prior approval, as Beijing promotes the e-CNY as its preferred model for digital yuan adoption.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says there is “tremendous opportunity” for a yuan‑backed stablecoin within five years, even as China curbs most private yuan stablecoins.", "published": "2026-04-16T12:22:05+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "hong-kong" }, { "slug": "china" }, { "slug": "circle" }, { "slug": "yuan" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "cbdc" }, { "slug": "usd-coin" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "circle-allaire-sees-tremendous-opportunity-yuan-stablecoin", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262067" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "French minister says new measures are coming after crypto kidnappings", "leadText": "Jean-Didier Berger said at Paris Blockchain Week that France is preparing new steps to protect crypto holders as wrench attacks and kidnappings keep mounting.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the interior minister of France, said authorities are taking measures to protect cryptocurrency investors from the growing threat of crypto kidnappings and wrench attacks in the country.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Berger said his office has taken “preventative measures” against crypto wrench attacks, including launching a prevention platform that has drawn thousands of sign-ups. He added that he was working with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on what he described as a more serious plan in the coming weeks.
His comments come days after another reported crypto-linked abduction in France this week, where a mother and her 11-year-old child were reportedly kidnapped in Burgundy on Monday by four suspects who demanded a 400,000 euro ($471,000) ransom from the father, a crypto entrepreneur. Authorities caught the suspects and freed the victims on Tuesday morning, reported news outlet France24, citing the Paris prosecutor’s office.
France has become one of the most prominent centers for so-called wrench attacks, in which victims are threatened or assaulted to force the transfer of digital assets, and the government is now under growing pressure to respond.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 41 reported crypto-related kidnappings in France, meaning that on average, a similar attack occurred once every 2.5 days in 2026, reported local news outlet RTL on Wednesday.
Wrench attacks increased by 75% in 2025 to 72 verified cases worldwide, according to cybersecurity platform CertiK. France saw the most incidents during 2025, with 19 confirmed wrench attacks, while Europe accounted for roughly 40% of global incidents.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d95c2-ac90-700b-be54-469c41aa7fd3.png\")
In another incident, a French couple in their late 50s was robbed of $1 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) by criminals posing as police officers, Cointelegraph reported on March 10.
Related: Suspected insider wallets rack up $1.2M betting on ZachXBT’s Axiom exposé
A month earlier, in February, French police arrested six people over the kidnapping of a magistrate and her mother in a crypto-linked ransom attack targeting the magistrate’s partner, a crypto entrepreneur.
Magazine: Coinbase hack shows the law probably won’t protect you — Here’s why
", "description": "French authorities are working to implement new measures to fight the rise of crypto ransom attacks and kidnappings after 41 reported cases in the country in 2026.", "published": "2026-04-16T11:53:04+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "france" }, { "slug": "cybercrime" }, { "slug": "crimes" }, { "slug": "ransom" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" }, { "slug": "paris-blockchain-week" } ], "slug": "french-minister-measures-crypto-wrench-attacks-kidnappings", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262057" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Study finds almost no crypto protocols disclose market-maker terms", "leadText": "A review of over 150 crypto protocols finds fewer than 1% disclose market-making arrangements, revealing a major transparency gap in token trading structures.", "author": { "slug": "amin-haqshanas" }, "bodyText": "A review of more than 150 major crypto protocols shows that disclosure of market-making arrangements is almost nonexistent, despite their central role in token trading.
The research, conducted by crypto advisory company Novora, found that fewer than 1% of protocols disclose any terms related to market makers. Across the full dataset, only one protocol, decentralized liquidity platform Meteora, was found to have publicly disclosed details of its market-making arrangements, citing the project’s 2025 Annual Token Holder Report.
The study covered leading sectors, including decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, perpetual futures, layer-1 and layer-2 networks, bridges and centralized exchange tokens, with protocols ranging in size from roughly $40 million to $45 billion in fully diluted valuation.
Novora said the protocols were assessed using a binary transparency framework covering disclosure practices and third-party data coverage, with checks against public sources including Artemis, Token Terminal, Dune, DefiLlama and Blockworks Research.
“This is the single most consequential transparency gap in the industry,” Novora founder Connor King wrote on X, saying that such material agreements are routinely disclosed in traditional markets. “In crypto, every market participant operates without this information,” he added.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9595-b630-7280-b69d-b62e5169ce3f.PNG\")
Related: Polymarket expands into equities and commodities with Pyth price feeds
The finding points to a broader investor relations (IR) gap in crypto. Novora said 91% of the protocols it reviewed generated trackable revenue, but only 18% published quarterly updates and just 8% issued token holder reports, suggesting the data exists but is rarely packaged into structured investor communication.
At the same time, third-party analytics infrastructure has matured, with coverage rates exceeding 85% across major platforms, suggesting the underlying data is widely accessible but rarely formalized in reporting.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9596-8f52-7c10-a33c-8625dc696ea0.PNG\")
Sector-level breakdowns show uneven transparency. Perpetual futures protocols and decentralized exchanges tend to lead on disclosure and value accrual mechanisms, while L1 and infrastructure projects lag despite larger market capitalizations.
Related: US crypto wash trading case reaches court as 3 extradited, 10 charged
Opaque market-maker arrangements have long fueled scrutiny in crypto, especially around token loan structures that critics say can create incentives to dump borrowed tokens into the market. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has even previously charged so-called crypto market makers with price manipulation.
As Cointelegraph reported, some market-maker arrangements are poorly structured and can quickly turn harmful. One widely used arrangement, the “loan option model,” involves projects lending tokens to market makers who then deploy them for liquidity provision and trading activity, often tied to listing agreements.
In practice, critics say this structure can create strong incentives to sell borrowed tokens into the market, triggering price declines that benefit the market maker while leaving early-stage projects with weakened liquidity and damaged token performance.
Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ would be Saylor’s liquidation — Santiment founder
", "description": "A Novora study of 150 crypto protocols shows less than 1% disclose market-maker terms, with Meteora as the only exception, underscoring a major transparency gap in token markets.", "published": "2026-04-16T10:58:54+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "transparency" }, { "slug": "tokens" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "layer2" } ], "slug": "crypto-market-maker-disclosure-study-novora-report", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262037" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "South Korea to pilot tokenized deposits for government spending", "leadText": "The sandbox will test preset spending limits, timing controls and category restrictions for public sector expense payments.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) is preparing to test blockchain-based payments for certain government expenses under a regulatory sandbox exploring distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based financial infrastructure.
The ministry said on Thursday that it selected a pilot project that will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout targeting the fourth quarter of 2026. The program will initially launch in Sejong City and will test predefined spending conditions, including limits on timing and usage categories.
Tokenized deposits are digital representations of traditional bank deposits on blockchain or other DLT infrastructure. Unlike many stablecoins, they remain bank liabilities and are designed to operate within the existing financial system.
The pilot would move South Korea’s deposit-token experiment beyond subsidies and into day-to-day public spending, offering an early test of whether programmable bank-backed money can make government payments more traceable and harder to misuse.
As part of the sandbox, the ministry will work with participating institutions to define the scope of the trial, with plans to expand the model and consider related legal and regulatory changes based on the results, according to the MOEF announcement.
The initiative will focus on government operational expenses, which are currently processed through government-issued credit and debit cards managed through post-use reporting, the ministry said.
Related: South Korea says API crypto trading now makes up 30% of market: Report
Under the pilot, spending parameters such as time windows and permitted categories will be predefined, allowing authorities to test whether tokenized deposits can improve oversight and reduce misuse of funds.
The sandbox approval also enables the use of tokenized deposits for fund execution despite existing rules that require such expenses to be processed through government cards.
According to the ministry, the trial will serve as a basis for evaluating new payment and settlement methods, with potential implications for broader fiscal operations if the model proves viable.
Related: Bank of Korea floats crypto ‘circuit breakers’ after Bithumb blunder
The move follows South Korea’s earlier decision to use tokenized deposits for electric vehicle charging infrastructure subsidies, a pilot announced on March 19 with the Environment Ministry and Bank of Korea.
At the time, MOEF said it aimed to convert one-quarter of treasury fund execution to digital currency by 2030, suggesting the new operational-spending pilot is part of a broader effort to expand tokenized payment rails in public finance.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "South Korea plans a Sejong pilot in Q4 2026 as officials weigh broader legal changes tied to tokenized public fund disbursement.", "published": "2026-04-16T09:50:58+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "asia" }, { "slug": "government" }, { "slug": "south-korea" }, { "slug": "tokens" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "rwa-tokenization" } ], "slug": "south-korea-pilot-tokenized-deposits-government-spending", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "262007" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "US should scrap crypto capital gains tax to fuel currency competition: Cato", "leadText": "Crypto users in the US are required to pay capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies, stifling their usefulness as a currency, argued a Washington DC-based think tank.", "author": { "slug": "stephen-katte" }, "bodyText": "Cato Institute, a US-based think tank, argued that the government should remove capital gains taxes on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to open the door for more currency competition.
The capital gains tax (CGT) is discouraging the use of alternative currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as it incentivizes long-term holding and adds extra burdens to reporting requirements, Nicholas Anthony, a policy scholar and research fellow at the Cato Institute, said in a report on Wednesday.
He said the simplest option is to end capital gains taxes completely; however, another option could be removing them on crypto and foreign currency use to “take the government’s thumb off the scale and let competition be the true decider of the best money.”
“Bitcoiners know the frustration of tax season all too well. It’s never been easier to use Bitcoin as money,” he said. “Yet, at the same time, the tax code puts an incredible burden on law-abiding citizens. Something as simple as buying a cup of coffee every day with Bitcoin can result in more than 100 pages of tax filings.”
The Cato Institute is a US public policy think tank that tries to influence policy through research and reports. Its members have testified before lawmakers advocating for crypto in the past.
\n\n\nImagine every swipe of your card turning into a tax form.
— Nick Anthony (@EconWithNick) April 15, 2026
That’s what happens when spending Bitcoin.
If you buy a coffee with Bitcoin, the government makes you pay capital gains taxes on top of sales taxes.
Spending Bitcoin daily can turn into 70 pages in tax filings. pic.twitter.com/4At19JCFey
Using crypto to pay for goods and services can trigger a taxable event in some cases because it falls into the same broad category as stocks, real estate, and other capital assets, according to investment management firm VanEck.
Anthony argued another solution could be to remove CGT just for purchases of goods or services, but also warns it “risks creating its own compliance nightmare if people are required to prove the transactions. That’s better than being taxed, but the process would still be taxing.”
He also pointed to a de minimis tax as another possible avenue, where CGT is not triggered unless a specific threshold is met.
Related: Iran conflict hints Bitcoin’s addressable market could exceed gold: Bitwise
“The only thing worse than getting robbed would be having the robber demand endless forms about the money they are taking from you. Taxes are no different,” Anthony said.
“Congress should simplify the tax code so the average American can do what’s required with ease. Doing so would go a long way toward easing Americans’ stress each tax season and creating a more competitive economy.”
A 2025 National Cryptocurrency Association survey found that 39% of US crypto holders reported using crypto to purchase goods and services.
Meanwhile, the academic publishing company Springer Nature identified about 11,000 merchants worldwide using BTC Map data that currently accept Bitcoin as payment.
Magazine: Bitcoin quantum-safe without upgrade? CZ’s 2031 crypto vision: Hodler’s Digest
", "description": "A Cato Institute scholar says the US should eliminate capital gains taxes on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to encourage currency competition and foster a more competitive economy.", "published": "2026-04-16T07:30:37+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "taxes" }, { "slug": "business" }, { "slug": "adoption" }, { "slug": "united-states" } ], "slug": "congress-remove-bitcoin-capital-gains-tax-currency-competition-cato", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261992" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Trump’s World Liberty under fire for ‘absurd’ token unlock plan", "leadText": "Major World Liberty Financial investor Justin Sun called a plan to lock tokens for up to four years “the most absurd governance scams I have ever seen.”", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "The Trump family’s crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, is facing backlash over a new proposal to lock up tokens purchased by early investors for up to four years, or in some cases, indefinitely.
World Liberty posted the proposal to its governance forum on Wednesday, which outlined that early investors would have their World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens locked for a further two years before their tokens would be released in batches over the following two years.
According to the proposal, tokenholders who do not accept the new unlock schedule would “continue to have their tokens locked indefinitely.”
The proposal saw wide opposition, with crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, one of the platform’s advisers and its biggest investor, posting to X on Wednesday that the plan was “one of the most absurd governance scams I have ever seen.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d94d5-aaf5-7817-8bc2-0722cc1236cd.png\")
Sun, who said he holds a 4% stake in World Liberty that is currently frozen, has recently made a series of public criticisms against the platform, taking issue with a separate proposal and accusing it of having controls to blacklist wallets, which World Liberty denied.
Other critics of the proposal included Simon Dedic, the founder of venture firm Moonrock Capital, who posted to X that early WLFI investors “who thought they were sitting on solid profits just got rugged.”
“This essentially gives them another shot at squeezing the same lemon they’ve been inflating with hot air for the past two years. Which, what a surprise, lines up perfectly with the remainder of [Donald Trump’s] term,” he added.
World Liberty Financial did not respond to questions about the backlash, but spokesman David Wachsman told Cointelegraph in an emailed statement that the proposal “was designed to further align all the participants in the WLFI ecosystem for the long run.”
Related: WLFI may drop 20% as World Liberty Financial faces 'LUNA 2.0' allegations
Sun’s specific criticisms centered on the plan to indefinitely lock the tokens of those who disagreed with the proposal, accusing the platform of “coercion.”
He also took issue with being “forced out of this voting process” due to World Liberty’s freeze of his tokens and claimed that a “large number of holders with significant voting rights are in the same position.”
Wachsman added that voting on the proposal would begin soon and would run for a week.
The price of the WLFI token has traded flat at 8 cents over the past 24 hours but is down by more than 40% so far this year, alongside a wider retraction in the crypto and share markets.
WLFI has fallen more than 75% since its all-time high of 33 cents on Sept. 1, the token's first day of public trading after holders voted to allow trading on the originally non-tradable token.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
", "description": "Investors in the Trump-founded World Liberty Financial have criticized the platform over a proposal to lock up early investor tokens for up to an additional four years.", "published": "2026-04-16T07:04:51+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "donald-trump" }, { "slug": "tokens" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "trump-world-liberty-under-fire-token-unlock-plan", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261987" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin fund overtakes WisdomTree after 6 trading days", "leadText": "The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust is also within striking distance of overtaking three other US spot Bitcoin ETFs that launched in January 2024.", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "Morgan Stanley’s new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has just surpassed the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (WBTC) in total net inflows, despite launching just over a week ago.
The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) added $19.3 million of investor inflows on Wednesday, bringing its total net inflow to $103 million.
The figure has now passed WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund’s (WBTC) total net inflow of $86 million, which it had been accumulating since launching in January 2024, Farside Investors data shows.
More asset managers are looking to push into the growing Bitcoin ETF space. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs, a former crypto critic, filed with the SEC to launch its own Bitcoin-linked ETF.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d94d8-c524-7a5c-a959-d706e2c218cb.png\")
The Morgan Stanley spot Bitcoin ETF product launched on April 8 at a market-low fee of 0.14%, undercutting the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC) by one basis point.
It joined 11 other spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) — the current market leader with $64.3 billion in net inflows and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund at $10.9 billion.
MSBT’s other competitors include Bitcoin ETFs issued by Bitwise, ARK 21Shares and Grayscale.
Continuing momentum could also see Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF surpass Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), Valkyrie Bitcoin ETF (BRRR) and the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), which have accumulated net inflows of $245 million, $326 million and $375 million, respectively.
A Bloomberg report from April 2 found that the average lifespan of ETFs fell from 4.66 years in 2024 to about 3.5 years in 2025.
Over 40 ETFs have also been liquidated in the first two months of 2026, though none of those include any notable crypto ETFs.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs could eventually be larger than gold ETFs: Analyst
The ETFs that were liquidated across the first two months of 2026 had an average lifespan of 21 months, half that of the ETFs that were liquidated in 2025.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart predicted in December that many crypto exchange-traded products would be liquidated by the end of 2027 due to a lack of demand.
At the time, over 126 ETP applications were awaiting an outcome from the SEC.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust’s inflow of $19.3 million on Thursday pushed it past the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund by total net flows despite launching just six trading days ago.", "published": "2026-04-16T07:02:21+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bloomberg" }, { "slug": "morgan-stanley" }, { "slug": "data" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-etf" }, { "slug": "etf" } ], "slug": "morgan-stanley-bitcoin-etf-sees-sixth-straight-inflow", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261982" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "China already has compute to train its own Mythos-like AI: Nvidia CEO", "leadText": "The amount of capacity and the type of compute it was trained on is “abundantly available in China,” said the Nvidia CEO.", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang warned that China already has the computing power and data center capacity necessary to train an AI model at the same level as Anthropic’s AI model Claude Mythos, which could threaten global cybersecurity.
Huang was asked in an interview on the Dwarkesh Patel podcast on Wednesday whether the Chinese government’s access to chips to train a model like Claude Mythos — which has cyberoffensive capabilities — could be a threat to US national security.
Mythos was trained on a “fairly mundane capacity,” Huang said.
“The amount of capacity and the type of compute it was trained on is abundantly available in China, so you just have to first realize that chips exist in China.”
Anthropic limited access to its new AI model in April after it identified thousands of software vulnerabilities across major operating systems and browsers, raising concerns about potential misuse in cyberattacks. A Chinese-made AI model with the same capability could wreak havoc if misused.
Huang said that the amount of compute China has is “enormous.”
“They have datacenters that are sitting completely empty, fully powered. You know, they have ghost cities, they have ghost datacenters too. They have so much infrastructure capacity. If they wanted to, they [could] just gang up more chips.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d94c2-c8c6-7063-918e-994e888b155e.jpg\")
Huang added that China manufactures 60% of the world’s mainstream chips, has some of the best computer scientists, has 50% of the world’s AI researchers and an abundance of energy.
“Victimizing them, turning them into an enemy, likely isn’t the best answer,” he said. “They are an adversary.”
“We want the United States to win. But I think having a dialogue and having research dialogue is probably the safest thing to do.”
Related: Anthropic limits access to AI model over cyberattack concerns
On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed Mythos as a revolutionary step that will keep America ahead of China in the AI race. “This Anthropic Mythos model was a step function change in abilities, learning capabilities,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
Anthropic released findings on Claude Mythos Preview on April 7, sparking concern that the model could be used in cyberattacks due to its ability to discover and potentially exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. The company also claimed that 99% of the vulnerabilities the model discovered have not been patched yet.
Meanwhile, the AI Security Institute (AISI) evaluated Mythos on Monday, finding that the AI model could “execute multi-stage attacks on vulnerable networks and discover and exploit vulnerabilities autonomously,” tasks that would take human professionals days of work.
AI-boosted hacks with Mythos could also have dire consequences for banks, which often use decades-old software, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Last year, Anthropic reported in November that a “Chinese state-sponsored group” manipulated its Claude Code tool in an attempt to infiltrate about 30 global targets and succeeded in a small number of cases.
Magazine: How AI just dramatically sped up the quantum risk for Bitcoin
", "description": "Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says China has the computing power and empty data centers needed to build AI models like Anthropic’s Claude Mythos.", "published": "2026-04-16T06:53:02+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "nvidia" }, { "slug": "china" }, { "slug": "ai" }, { "slug": "cybersecurity" }, { "slug": "ai-and-hi-tech" } ], "slug": "china-has-compute-train-its-own-mythos-ai-nvidia-ceo", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261977" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Tech stocks push Nasdaq, S&P 500 to record highs as Bitcoin taps $75K ", "leadText": "Tech stocks helped drive the Nasdaq to 24,016 and the S&P 500 to 7,022 as Bitcoin climbed nearly 10% over the past two weeks. ", "author": { "slug": "brian-quarmby" }, "bodyText": "US equities and tech stocks gained on Wednesday as investors looked optimistically to a de-escalation of the US-Iran war, while the price of Bitcoin tapped $75,000 amid broader positive momentum across the crypto market.
According to data from Yahoo Finance, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hit a new all-time high of 24,016.02 on Wednesday, closing the trading day with a 1.59% gain, while the S&P 500 tagged its own record high of 7,022.95 after notching a slight gain of 0.8%.
The indexes' performance on the day was led by a 2.08% gain in tech stocks overall. Meanwhile, Bitcoin hit $75,229 on Wednesday, rising 1.07% over the past 24 hours and continuing recent positive momentum that has seen BTC climb nearly 10% over the past two weeks.
The tech and crypto gains come amid suggestions from the White House that US-Iran conflict may be coming to an end. President Donald Trump told Fox Business on Wednesday that he views the war as \"very close to being over.\"
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9494-25a0-77e1-9612-9def397ff521.png\")
Trump, however, indicated that this still depends on whether a deal can be struck between the two nations.
\"If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished,\" he said, adding, \"We'll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.\"
Related: Ether open interest sees 26% increase as markets rally: Are traders into ETH again?
Commenting on the S&P 500’s recent gains, Fundstrat's chief investment officer, Tom Lee, said there's more room for growth in the near term, arguing that some investors remain parked on the sidelines as they wait to see how the conflict develops.
Speaking with CNBC's \"Closing Bell\" on Wednesday, Lee argued that the US stock market and economy have been performing well enough despite the Middle East conflict, and added in a post on X that \"stocks bottom on bad news,” not good news.
However, Lee said he expects the next leg of the rally to be led by crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ether, along with the Magnificent Seven tech stocks and the broader software sector.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "The Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed at record highs on Wednesday as tech stocks rallied, while Bitcoin climbed above $75,200 as the White House signaled the US-Iran conflict may be ending.", "published": "2026-04-16T05:54:52+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "us-government" }, { "slug": "stocks" }, { "slug": "donald-trump" } ], "slug": "tech-stocks-push-nasdaq-sp500-record-highs-as-bitcoin-taps-75k", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261967" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "CFTC probes oil futures trades tied to Trump's moves in Iran: Report", "leadText": "The CFTC is investigating trades that took place before the US delayed strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure on March 23 and agreed to a ceasefire with Iran on April 7.", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reportedly investigating suspicious oil trades that were placed ahead of certain announcements made by the Trump administration relating to the Iran war.
According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, the CFTC’s probe focuses on trading activity on CME Group’s NYMEX and the Intercontinental Exchange’s futures platforms.
The regulator is also requesting “Tag 50” identity data from exchanges to assist with the investigation. Tag 50 data is widely used for auditing and regulatory compliance checks.
The investigation into the futures trading platforms comes in parallel with the rising scrutiny of insider trading in prediction markets.
Bloomberg said the CFTC is reviewing at least two instances over a two-week period in which oil trading volumes surged shortly before the Trump administration made announcements related to the Iran war.
The first of those occurred on March 23, when billions of dollars in futures traded about 15 minutes before US President Donald Trump postponed plans to strike Iranian energy infrastructure.
The second instance occurred around two weeks later, on April 7, when Trump announced a two-week ceasefire on Iran, Bloomberg said.
The trading spikes contributed to falling oil prices and rising equity prices.
“There’s enormous appetite to pursue cases like this,” said Brian Young, a partner at law firm Jones Day who previously served as director of the CFTC’s enforcement division.
“After all, prices at the pump closely correlate to oil futures contracts, so we’re talking about American pocketbooks at stake here.”
On March 31, the CFTC’s current enforcement director, David Miller, warned that they are keeping a close eye on prediction market insider traders and that they will face action when caught.
“There’s a myth in mainstream media and social media that insider trading doesn’t apply in the prediction markets … That is wrong.”
Related: Kalshi to create ‘portal for parents‘ on prediction markets: Report
Mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers on prediction markets has also seen both Kalshi and Polymarket introducing new rules to stamp out insider trading.
The Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026 was also introduced in late March to curb insider trading by government officials.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
", "description": "The US commodities regulator is investigating suspicious oil futures trades that were made ahead of two US announcements regarding the war in Iran.", "published": "2026-04-16T05:38:03+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "cftc" }, { "slug": "futures" }, { "slug": "trading" }, { "slug": "oil-and-gas" }, { "slug": "industry" }, { "slug": "polymarket" }, { "slug": "kalshi" }, { "slug": "prediction-markets" } ], "slug": "cftc-probes-oil-futures-trades-ahead-trump-iran-moves", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261962" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "BitMEX pitches ‘canary fund’ alternative to Bitcoin quantum coin freeze", "leadText": "It may be appropriate to attempt to mitigate the extent of the freeze as much as possible, even at the cost of greater complexity, said BitMEX.", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "BitMEX Research has proposed an alternative to freezing quantum-vulnerable dormant Bitcoins, advocating a wait-and-see approach and a “canary fund” with a quantum bounty instead.
BitMEX Research proposed a soft fork on Thursday that would only activate a full freeze of vulnerable coins if it is “proven that a quantum computer capable of stealing Bitcoins actually exists.”
The system uses a “canary approach,” creating a special Bitcoin (BTC) address using a “Nothing-Up-My-Sleeve Number” (NUMS). This is a cryptographic proof in which the private key is unknown, but it is a valid address that could theoretically be spent by a powerful enough quantum computer.
Users can donate BTC to this address as a bounty, incentivizing any quantum-capable actor to “ring the alarm” by spending from it. Only if someone spends from this canary address does the freeze automatically activate, as it proves the quantum threat is real.
The solution provides an alternative mechanism to the BIP-361 proposal on Tuesday that suggested freezing dormant, quantum-vulnerable Bitcoin to prevent it from being stolen by bad actors in the future.
BIP-361 drew significant community pushback, with some comments calling it “authoritarian” and “confiscatory.”
BitMEX’s proposed “canary watch state” would still allow old coins to be spent, provided malicious actors using quantum computers do not attempt to steal from the “canary fund.”
Investors participating in the canary fund can use multisignatures and withdraw their BTC at any time, it explained.
There is also a safety window where quantum-vulnerable transactions could still be allowed after the five-year mark proposed in BIP-361, but with outputs locked for a period.
Related: Bitcoiners propose freezing quantum-vulnerable coins in BIP-361
“While this approach adds complexity and risk, given how controversial any coin freeze is, mitigating the impact of the freeze using this type of system may be worth consideration.”
Meanwhile, BIP-361 co-author Jameson Lopp has said his Bitcoin improvement proposal was more of a “rough idea for a contingency plan” than something ready to be proposed for activation.
“I know folks don’t like it. I don’t like it myself. I wrote it because I like the alternative even less,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
He told Cointelegraph that it was a “rough sketch” to approach the issue of a “looming circulating supply shock” if quantum computing advances to the point that a post-quantum signature scheme achieves consensus for being added to Bitcoin.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9463-b3f0-764c-825d-a6f50b73b92b.jpg\")
Magazine: Nobody knows if quantum-secure cryptography will even work
", "description": "BitMEX Research proposed a quantum canary fund for Bitcoin that triggers a coin freeze only if a quantum threat is proven real.", "published": "2026-04-16T04:56:48+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitmex" }, { "slug": "quantum-computing" } ], "slug": "bitmex-pitches-bitcoin-canary-fund-instead-of-quantum-coin-freeze", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261952" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin hits ‘near-term selling pressure’ after rally to $76K: CryptoQuant", "leadText": "CryptoQuant says Bitcoin could be reaching a temporary ceiling after hitting a multi-month top of $76,000 on Wednesday, with investors moving Bitcoin in bulk to exchanges.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin deposits to crypto exchanges surged on Tuesday as it rallied above $76,000, suggesting it is hitting “near-term selling pressure” as investors move their coins into a position for sale, according to CryptoQuant.
In a report on Wednesday, CryptoQuant said the size and rate of Bitcoin (BTC) inflows to exchanges have increased since the rally, with hourly inflows spiking to 11,000 BTC, the highest since December.
CryptoQuant said it is a “historically reliable warning signal of near-term selling pressure, as holders move coins to exchanges in preparation for potential distribution at key resistance zones.”
It added that the average deposit size also increased to 2.25 BTC, the highest since July 2024, and similar to January, when average deposits peaked at 2 BTC before the price nearly halved from $100,000 to $60,000.
Crypto investors have been hoping for a Bitcoin rally as the war in Iran appears to be de-escalating. However, a large shift of Bitcoin into crypto exchanges could suggest any rally would be short-lived.
TradingView shows Bitcoin hit $76,052 on Coinbase on Tuesday, securing its highest price since early February.
However, CryptoQuant said that as Bitcoin nears its $76,800 realized price, it will act “as a ceiling for relief rallies,” and traders who are nearing breakeven on their holdings will be “incentivized to sell, capping further upside.”
It added that Bitcoin’s rally in January was capped as it hit its realized price at the time, which caused prices to reverse, and “the same dynamic may repeat if selling pressure builds from current levels.”
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9458-6242-7099-9d80-abd26c27466f.png\")
Related: Ether open interest sees 26% increase as markets rally: Are traders into ETH again?
However, CryptoQuant said that profit-taking is “still in its early stages” as daily realized profits hover at $500 million, below the threshold of $1 billion that has “historically coincided with, or slightly preceded, local price tops.”
Daily realized profits could move above the $1 billion mark if Bitcoin rallies above $76,000 or moves toward the $76,800 realized price, CryptoQuant said, adding that could bring greater selling pressure and increase the likelihood of a stall or reversal.
Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author
", "description": "Bitcoin could soon meet resistance as inflows to exchanges surge while Bitcoin hit a multi-month high of $76,000.", "published": "2026-04-16T04:42:37+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-near-term-selling-pressure-after-rally-76k-cryptoquant", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261947" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin should prepare now, even if quantum is 'lab experiment,’ Adam Back says", "leadText": "Back said the safest approach is to build optional upgrades that would allow Bitcoin to migrate to quantum-resistant cryptography once it's needed.", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "Blockstream CEO Adam Back, an early pioneer of the crypto movement, said Bitcoiners should be looking at building quantum-resistant solutions now, even if the threat is still decades away.
“Quantum computing still has a lot to prove. Current systems are essentially lab experiments. I’ve followed the field for over 25 years, and progress has been incremental,” Back said at Paris Blockchain Week on Tuesday.
“That said, Bitcoin should prepare,” Back said, adding that the “safest approach” is to build optional upgrades that allow migration to quantum-resistant cryptography if needed.
Concerns that quantum computers could eventually break blockchain cryptography have fueled industry-wide fear that bad actors could use it to break into crypto wallets, plunging the market into chaos.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d93cf-f414-78ff-a9c2-67cd0427516f.png\")
Back said in November that the quantum threat is still 20 to 40 years away, while explaining to Bloomberg earlier this month that today’s quantum computers are slower than calculators.
Despite this, his Bitcoin development company, Blockstream, has a dedicated quantum team researching potential threat vectors to the Bitcoin network.
Part of that work has involved implementing hash-based signatures on Blockstream’s Bitcoin layer-2 Liquid Network, Back said at Paris Blockchain Week.
“Preparation is key. Making changes in a controlled way is far safer than reacting in a crisis.”
He added that the Taproot protocol could also support alternative signature schemes on the Bitcoin network without affecting current users.
Still, last month, Google and California Institute of Technology researchers said functional quantum computers could come sooner than expected and that far less computing power is needed to break cryptography than previously thought.
Google went as far as to say that quantum computers could potentially break Bitcoin’s cryptography as quickly as nine minutes, allowing hackers to perform an “on-spend” attack.
Asked what would happen if the quantum threat arrives sooner than anticipated, Back said Bitcoin developers would “act quickly.”
“We’ve seen that before — bugs have been identified and fixed within hours. When something becomes urgent, it focuses attention and drives consensus.”
On Tuesday, Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five other crypto security researchers introduced a proposal to freeze quantum-vulnerable Bitcoin — including Satoshi Nakamoto’s $81.9 billion stash — to prevent them from being stolen once quantum computers become functional.
Related: Bitcoiners propose freezing quantum-vulnerable coins in BIP-361
The proposal drew sharp criticism from several members of the Bitcoin community, including developer and researcher Mark Erhardt, who described it as “authoritarian and confiscatory.”
Phil Geiger, head of business development at Metaplanet, said: “We have to steal people’s money to prevent their money from being stolen.”
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "Bitcoin OG Adam Back says quantum computing has a “lot to prove” before becoming a legitimate threat to Bitcoin, though Bitcoiners should still prepare for it now.", "published": "2026-04-16T02:14:54+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "conference" }, { "slug": "adam-back" }, { "slug": "quantum-computing" }, { "slug": "paris-blockchain-week" } ], "slug": "bitcoiners-should-prepare-quantum-now-adam-back", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261942" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Ether open interest sees 26% increase as markets rally: Are traders into ETH again?", "leadText": "Institutional investors are buying Ether again, but a handful of factors could slow market momentum and negatively impact ETH’s rally.", "author": { "slug": "marcel-pechman" }, "bodyText": "Key takeaways:
Institutional ETH accumulation remains robust as Ether ETFs and Bitmine Immersion lead a healthy, spot-driven recovery.
Lackluster DApp revenue and negative ETH funding rates suggest that traders are skeptical of the rally.
Ether (ETH) price managed to sustain above $2,300 on Wednesday, distancing itself from the $1,940 lows seen on March 29. The recent rally has caused ETH futures open interest to reach $25.4 billion, indicating increased demand for leveraged positions. The movement suggests a potential turn in momentum for ETH bulls after 10 weeks of failed attempts to reclaim the $2,400 level.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92fc-54ab-79a8-9d1e-68bc1f7e981a.png\")
To determine whether the shift in positioning is driven by bulls, one must assess the ETH futures funding rate. The ETH perpetual futures funding rate has failed to hold above 5% since Friday, indicating a lack of confidence among bulls.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92fc-57ff-737e-a4cc-97d1a6df9544.png\")
The metric has dipped below 0% multiple times, indicating excess demand for bearish leveraged positions. Under neutral conditions, the indicator should range between 5% and 10% to compensate for the cost of capital.
Still, one could argue that such data reinforces that Ether’s recent rally to $2,350 has been sustained by spot demand.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92fc-5a51-7528-ad23-daf8a90fcfdf.png\")
US-listed Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) accumulated $248 million in net inflows over the past 10 days, validating the thesis of healthy spot-driven Ether bullish momentum. In parallel, the digital asset treasury company Bitmine Immersion (BMNR US) announced the acquisition of $312 million worth of ETH. Bitmine now holds 4.87 million ETH, equivalent to $11.46 billion.
While institutional accumulation is generally a positive sign, Bitmine’s ETH holdings are trading 13% below their acquisition cost, according to CoinGecko data. Similarly, US-listed Ether ETF assets under management stood at $13.7 billion on Wednesday, down from $20.5 billion three months prior. Ether’s failure to reclaim $2,400 also happened as the S&P 500 index jumped to a new all-time high on Wednesday.
Part of investors’ reduced appetite for cryptocurrencies can be pinned to the declining activity in decentralized applications (DApps). Almost every corner of the cryptocurrency industry has been negatively impacted by the 2026 bear market, including memecoin token launch platforms, synthetic derivatives trading, collateralized lending, digital collectibles, decentralized exchanges and cross chain bridges.
The few positive highlights, including prediction markets and real-world assets, had no impact on Ethereum network activity. Investors are starting to question whether ETH is well-positioned to capture an eventual surge in demand for DApps, given the emergence of competing blockchains focused on solving specific issues, such as Hyperliquid and Plasma.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92fc-5c48-7b40-92dc-d047a67aa7d1.png\")
Related: ETH/BTC ratio hits 10-week high as Ether outpaces Bitcoin–Are new price highs next?
Ethereum’s weekly DApps revenue has plummeted to $11 million per week, down from $24 million in early February. The primary reason for investors to accumulate ETH is the expectation of higher onchain processing demand and the subsequent burn mechanism, which creates incentives for long-term holding.
Despite the increased demand for ETH futures, derivatives metrics failed to flip bullish. Among the potential causes are the losses in Ethereum strategic reserve companies and increased competition in the DApps industry.
The latest filing by the crypto-aligned political action committee (PAC) headed by stablecoin issuer Tether’s head of government affairs shows $11 million in contributions from financial institutions.
In a Wednesday filing with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Fellowship PAC revealed it had received $10 million from financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and $1 million from Anchor Labs, the company behind the crypto bank Anchorage Digital. The January 2026 contributions came amid $3 million in spending by the PAC for “issue advocacy advertising” with the Nxum Group, a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser and Tether US CEO Bo Hines.
![](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92f2-9549-7c7b-8e9f-14ccd02661cc.png\")
Despite the significant contributions from Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage, Fellowship initially claimed to have “over $100 million” from undisclosed backers aligned with the crypto industry at its launch in September. FEC filings showed no receipts over $200 between Aug. 7, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2025, but did not necessarily include any contributions after March 31.
The 2024 US election season saw crypto-backed PACs spend hundreds of millions of dollars on media to support candidates they considered “pro-crypto” and to oppose those marked as “anti-crypto” by many in the industry. With party control of the US Congress hanging in the balance this year, PAC spending like Fellowship’s signals that the crypto industry could try to repeat their successes of 2024.
Related: US midterm election mirrors 2024 as crypto PACs move into Ohio races
In addition to its $3 million in advertising costs, the PAC reported in April that it had spent $1.5 million in media buys supporting Republican candidates in Georgia's 14th Congressional District and candidates in US Senate races in Nebraska and Kentucky. Those three US states are scheduled to hold party primaries in May.
Mitchell Nobel, listed as the PAC’s treasurer, has also been Cantor Fitzgerald's director of digital asset strategy and policy since August 2025, roughly the same time Fellowship filed its statement of organization with the FEC.
Anchorage announced in March that it would be joining Chainlink to support the launch of the Blockchain Leadership Fund, a hybrid PAC that allows contributions directly to candidates as well as independent expenditures. An Anchorage spokesperson told Cointelegraph at the time that the company would make a “meaningful contribution” to be disclosed with the FEC, but no filing was public as of Wednesday.
Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt
", "description": "The PAC that claimed to have “over $100 million” at its launch in September disclosed $11 million in combined contributions from Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital.", "published": "2026-04-15T22:52:26+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "politics" }, { "slug": "banks" }, { "slug": "funding" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "elections" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "crypto-pac-fellowship-discloses-11m-from-cantor-fitzgerald-and-anchorage-digital", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261937" }, { "category": { "slug": "market-analysis" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin traders cash out 63K BTC profit as price rallied above $76K: Will the market rebound?", "leadText": "Short-term Bitcoin traders took profit on 63,000 BTC over the past 24-hours. Will profit-taking continue to stall the rally?", "author": { "slug": "biraajmaan-tamuly" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin’s (BTC) rally stalled above $76,000 stalled on Tuesday after short-term profit-taking by traders reached its highest level in 2026.
The activity coincided with continued accumulation by long-term holders, and this opposing interaction between the two cohorts may continue to impact Bitcoin’s attempts to break into the $80,000 range.
New Bitcoin short-term holders moved their holdings as BTC in profit sent to exchanges reached 63,000 BTC on April 14, the highest level in 2026, since the 44,800 spike on Jan. 14.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9173-4544-756c-8765-1690c24adfab.png\")
Onchain data shows that the one-day-to-one-week cohort moved nearly 2,000 BTC back to Binance during the same time. This implied that freshly acquired coins are rotating into sell-side liquidity as BTC traded near $76,000.
Crypto analyst Amr Taha flagged this as the first clear wave of profit-taking after the retest of the monthly highs. The activity aligns with cautious distribution, in which newer participants seek to secure gains at key resistance levels during a bear market.
Taha noted that this indicates a natural cooling phase in momentum.
Meanwhile, BTC whale behavior shows a different pattern. Market analyst CW noted a single-day inflow of over 71,000 BTC into accumulation addresses, the largest bullish inflow since early 2022. The large holders appear to be absorbing available supply from the short-term sellers.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9175-cac5-79bb-aaa1-59f543f08140.jpg\")
The relationship between these flows points to a transfer of coins from weaker hands to stronger ones, which may stabilize the price while limiting an immediate rally.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs post $412M in inflows as Goldman Sachs files for BTC ETF
After forming equal highs near $76,000, BTC’s price rejected near the 100-day exponential moving average (EMA), marking the first test of this trend since Jan. 14. The momentum slowed after the rejection, with price slipping to $73,500.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d917b-54de-7a69-8cb8-07b23411fdb8.png\")
However, on the lower time frame, the bullish trend remains intact.
On the one-hour chart, internal liquidity levels are resting around $73,000 and $72,000. These zones may attract bid orders that may get filled before a trend continuation.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d917b-f12f-781b-b22e-30cd3e9c7415.png\")
The liquidation heatmap provides additional context, with $1.4 billion in cumulative long liquidations clustered around $73,000. That figure rises to $3.5 billion in long positions at risk near $70,500.
At the opposite end, a move toward $80,000 would expose $2 billion in leveraged short positions. The spread between the long and short liquidation zones suggests BTC may retest the $72,000 to $70,000 range before moving higher.
![\"Cryptocurrencies,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d9177-0f9e-7b02-8941-d69529c3da31.png\")
Related: Bitcoin shows ‘bull market behavior’ as chart pattern targets $90K
", "description": "Bitcoin briefly reversed course at $76,000 as short-term holders closed their in-the-money positions. As the market absorbs the supply, data predicts a quick rebound.", "published": "2026-04-15T22:17:06+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "binance" }, { "slug": "price-analysis" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" }, { "slug": "whale" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-traders-cash-out-63k-btc-profits-as-price-rallied-above-dollar76k", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Price Analysis" } ] }, "id": "261927" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitnomial launches Injective futures in US, with eyes on ETF eligibility", "leadText": "The contracts mark Injective’s first entry into US-regulated derivatives markets and could help support a spot ETF following a filing from Canary Capital.", "author": { "slug": "nate-kostar" }, "bodyText": "Chicago-based crypto exchange Bitnomial has launched monthly futures contracts tied to Injective, marking the first US-regulated derivatives product for the Web3 financial ecosystem’s native token.
According to Wednesday’s announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the contracts settle in INJ (INJ) with monthly expiries, allowing traders to gain price exposure without holding the underlying asset, and can be margined in crypto or US dollars through Bitnomial’s clearinghouse.
The listing also starts a six-month track record that could support a spot exchange-traded fund under US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) listing rules. In July, Canary Capital filed for a staked INJ ETF, with Cboe BZX Exchange submitting a corresponding rule change to the SEC.
Institutional clients can access the futures immediately, with retail trading expected to follow via Bitnomial’s Botanical platform in the coming weeks. The company said it also plans to add perpetual futures and options tied to INJ.
![\"Coinbase,](\"https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d92ec-847b-7726-a435-5778ed670400.png\")
Injective runs on a Layer 1 blockchain built for financial applications, with an onchain order book and cross-chain connectivity to networks including Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).
Bitnomial is a derivatives exchange that operates a trading venue, clearinghouse and brokerage for crypto futures and options that is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In January, the exchange launched monthly futures contracts tied to Aptos (APT) marking the first US-regulated derivatives product for the alt coin.
Related: Injective community passes governance vote to slash INJ token supply
US-regulated crypto futures remain largely concentrated in major assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), with Bitnomial among the few venues listing derivatives tied to altcoins. Expanding those offerings has required navigating a shifting and often uncertain regulatory environment.
In August 2024, Bitnomial moved to list XRP (XRP) futures through CFTC self-certification, but the SEC challenged the plan, arguing the contracts could require securities exchange registration.
After filing a lawsuit in October 2025, Bitnomial dropped the case in March and later that month launched regulated XRP futures for US users, citing evolving SEC policy.
Other platforms have taken a more gradual approach. Coinbase launched CFTC-regulated futures tied to Bitcoin and Ether for institutional clients in June 2023, later expanding access with retail-sized contracts in May 2025 and introducing 24/7 trading to provide round-the-clock market access for US participants.
Also in May, Kraken acquired futures platform NinjaTrader for about $1.5 billion, gaining a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant and expanding its reach into regulated derivatives markets.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
", "description": "Bitnomial launches US-regulated Injective futures, starting a six-month track record that could support a spot ETF as altcoin derivatives expand.", "published": "2026-04-15T22:13:03+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "coinbase" }, { "slug": "kraken" }, { "slug": "derivatives" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-futures" }, { "slug": "injective" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "injective-futures-go-live-on-cftc-regulated-us-exchange-opening-etf-pathway", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "261922" } ] } } }, "extensions": { "state": "[{\"name\":\"top_promo_post_rotation_state\",\"value\":{\"selectedTopPromoPostId\":null},\"expiresAt\":1776500404}]" } }