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EigenLayer on the brink of potential yield crisis

EigenLayer, the largest restaking protocol on Ethereum by total value locked (TVL), could be facing a “major” yield crisis, according to industry watchers. Due to EigenLayer’s rapid growth in TVL, the protocol may be outgrowing its Actively Validated Services (AVS), which could lead to a major yield reduction, according to Chudnov, a pseudonymous builder at 3Jane derivatives exchange. He wrote in an April 22 X post: “EigenLayer has >$15B in TVL but AVSs will actually need less than *10%* of that for security, which means yields may fall off a cliff.” EigenLayer removed the limits on all liquid staking tokens (LSTs) on April 16, according to an X announcement. EigenLayer launched on mainnet on April 10. When a user stakes an LST via EigenLayer, it is automatically delegated to a node operator, which uses the deposits to secure an AVS on EigenLayer while receiving staking rewards. Part of the staking rewards are passed on to the user. Yet Actively Validated Services on the protocol require much less staked Ether (ETH) for security, which could lead to issues in the future, according to Chudnov: “The problem is that none of the AVSs will come close to needing $1.5B in security let alone $15B. The whole point of Proof-of-Stake is that the value of the stake is higher than the potential profit earned from a validator behaving dishonestly.” Cointelegraph has approached EigenLayer for comment. EigenLayer is the second-largest protocol on Ethereum after liquid staking protocol Lido. EigenLayer’s TVL rose over 16% during the past month to the current $14.15 billion, according to DefiLlama. Related: EigenLayer becomes 4th largest restaking protocol, nears $7 billion TVL The issue could worsen as altcoin prices decline since AVSs won’t be incentivized to hold the excess on-chain capital. The first solution could be a series of token launches to increase the security budget requirements, which could temporarily be “kicking the can down the road.” However, intertwining EigenLayer into the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem and creating more utility for LSTs could offer a permanent fix. According to Chudnov: “If [the EigenLayer] ecosystem can more deeply entrench itself in the DeFi ecosystem via [Liquid restaking tokens] and financial primitives on top then this is a much more guardable moat and gives AVS’s more time to figure things out at a fraction of the cost.” Solana: Expectation Versus Reality. Source: Cointelegraph Related: The 2024 Bitcoin halving is the “most bullish” setup for BTC price

EigenLayer, the largest restaking protocol on Ethereum by total value locked (TVL), could be facing a “major” yield crisis, according to industry watchers. When a user stakes an LST via EigenLayer, it is automatically delegated to a node operator, which uses the deposits to secure an AVS on EigenLayer while receiving staking rewards. The whole point of Proof-of-Stake is that the value of the stake is higher than the potential profit earned from a validator behaving dishonestly.”Cointelegraph has approached EigenLayer for comment. EigenLayer is the second-largest protocol on Ethereum after liquid staking protocol Lido. Related: EigenLayer becomes 4th largest restaking protocol, nears $7 billion TVLThe issue could worsen as altcoin prices decline since AVSs won’t be incentivized to hold the excess on-chain capital.

Bitcoin outperforms Tesla stock for the first time since 2019

Bitcoin's (BTC) price has finally outperformed Tesla's (TSLA) stock over the past five years in percentage terms. The electronic vehicle manufacturer has also missed out on a potential $1.27 billion in profit after selling a big chunk of its BTC holdings in 2022. BTC overtakes TSLA in long-term gains Over the past five years, Bitcoin's price has risen over 1,180%, while Tesla's stock price has risen over 806%, according to TradingView data. Looking at smaller time horizons, Bitcoin’s returns have outperformed TSLA over the past year, in particular. Bitcoin rose 139% while Tesla fell over 11% over the past 12 months, while year-to-date BTC is up 49% while Tesla’s stock price is down 42%. Such a stellar year so far for BTC has made it the world’s ninth-largest asset with a $1.3 trillion market capitalization, larger than Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathway, Visa, or JPMorgan Chase. In comparison, Tesla is the world’s 21st largest asset, with a $455 billion market capitalization, according to Companiesmarketcap. World’s 10 largest assets by market capitalization. Source: Companiesmarketcap Tesla was among the first publicly traded companies to invest in Bitcoin back in February 2021, when the company bought over $1.5 billion worth of BTC, around the $36,000 mark. However, Tesla sold around 10% of its holdings in March 2021. Then, the company sold approximately 75% of its Bitcoin reserves in the second quarter of 2022. Had Tesla not sold, it would have made over $1.27 billion in profit, up over 84% on its initial investment, at current price levels. Tesla BTC Balance. Source: Arkham Intelligence Tesla currently holds 11,509 BTC worth over $766 million with Coinbase Prime Custody, according to Arkham Intelligence. Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again? Bitcoin ETFs are the main reason why BTC is winning The approval of the ten United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was the main reason behind BTC price rising 60% so far this year, according to Andrey Stoychev, the head of prime brokerage at Nexo. He told Cointelegraph: “U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs’ role in elevating Bitcoin to a genuine asset class has been invaluable, with pleasing trading volumes and capital flows since launch.” The ten Bitcoin ETFs amassed over 835,000 BTC in cumulative on-chain holdings, worth over $55.1 billion, according to Dune. Related: New Bitcoin whales, ETFs are up only 1.6% in unrealized profit — Is the BTC bottom in? This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin's (BTC) price has finally outperformed Tesla's (TSLA) stock over the past five years in percentage terms. Bitcoin rose 139% while Tesla fell over 11% over the past 12 months, while year-to-date BTC is up 49% while Tesla’s stock price is down 42%. Tesla BTC Balance. Source: Arkham IntelligenceTesla currently holds 11,509 BTC worth over $766 million with Coinbase Prime Custody, according to Arkham Intelligence. Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again?

Shiba Inu memecoin raises $12M from institutional investors

Canine memecoin project Shiba Inu (SHIB) has raised $12 million from a private token sale of its not-yet-released TREAT utility and governance token. According to the April 22 announcement, investors include Comma 3 Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Cypher Capital, Shima Capital, Hercules Ventures, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Stake Capital, Illuminati Digital Capital, Primal Capital, Mechanism Capital, DWF Ventures and Spirit Dao. All investors participating in the private token sale were outside the United States. The participation of venture capital firms and their partners will help the Shiba Inu project expand its network and “increase what Shiba Inu can truly be capable of for our community,” commented Shytoshi Kusama, the anonymous core developer of Shiba Inu. Kusama has maintained a low profile this year, with user reports of his sightings in New York, Japan and the Maldives. However, Kusama claims that he is on vacation to enjoy himself “just like everyone else.” That said, the core developer resurfaced on Telegram on April 21. "I have put my heart in soul to build this, and you are a worthless fudder who is not deserving of the breath God gave you,” wrote Kusama in response to a user’s critique. Shiba Inu staff explained that “TREAT is the final unreleased token by the popular meme brand that will unlock Shiba Inu’s newly announced blockchain featuring Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE).” Two months prior, Shiba Inu partnered with Zama.ai to deploy the FHE technology, which forms the basis of the protocol’s novel privacy layer, Tre. The fund will be used by Shiba Inu’s Panamian entity, Shiba Inu Mint S.A., to build the Treat platform. The project noted that possible applications of the technology include encrypted lending platforms, tokenized asset exchanges and encrypted machine learning models. Shiba Inu has been a top-performing memecoin, with a gain of 164% over the past year. Last December, the protocol introduced .shib domains for its tokenholders. Meanwhile, Shibarium, its layer-2 scaling solution, has surpassed over 1 million users since its inception. Related: Shibarium denies bridge issues, calls it FUD

Canine memecoin project Shiba Inu (SHIB) has raised $12 million from a private token sale of its not-yet-released TREAT utility and governance token. According to the April 22 announcement, investors include Comma 3 Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Cypher Capital, Shima Capital, Hercules Ventures, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Stake Capital, Illuminati Digital Capital, Primal Capital, Mechanism Capital, DWF Ventures and Spirit Dao. The participation of venture capital firms and their partners will help the Shiba Inu project expand its network and “increase what Shiba Inu can truly be capable of for our community,” commented Shytoshi Kusama, the anonymous core developer of Shiba Inu. The fund will be used by Shiba Inu’s Panamian entity, Shiba Inu Mint S.A., to build the Treat platform. Shiba Inu has been a top-performing memecoin, with a gain of 164% over the past year.

Germany’s largest federal bank to offer crypto custody services: Report

Update April 15, 11:30 am UTC: This article has been updated to include quotes from Bitpanda. Germany’s largest federal bank, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, will start offering cryptocurrency custody solutions in the second half of 2024. The bank will start offering crypto custody services to institutional clients in partnership with the Austria-based Bitpanda cryptocurrency exchange. The German federal bank has been seeing increasing corporate demand for digital asset custody, Jürgen Harengel, managing director of corporate banking at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, told Bloomberg: “The demand from our corporate customers for digital assets is increasing.” The Landesbank Baden-Württemberg will tap Bitpanda’s institutional custody solution for its offering. Bitpanda Custody is a crypto custody platform with decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities, registered with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to Bitpanda’s homepage. The partnership will be enable the bank to tap into Bitpanda's digital asset platform, custody services and relevant licenses, Gonzalo Lamas, the head of global communication at Bitpanda, told Cointelegraph: “As part of this cooperation, LBBW leverages our “Investment-as-a-Service” infrastructure and services, which is used to source and provide custody services for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets. The collaboration aims to enhance LBBW's digital asset offerings, ensuring high security and innovative solutions for corporate clients.” Related: 'China is about to start bidding' — Will Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs spark the halving rally? German banks prepare for MiCA regulations by the end of 2024 The Landesbank Baden-Württemberg isn’t the only German bank mulling crypto services. Deutsche Bank has also been working on digital asset custody services since September 2023, tapping Swiss crypto startup Taurus for crypto custody and tokenization services. In February, DZ Bank, Germany’s second-largest bank, announced its plans to launch a crypto trading pilot later in 2024. The bank unveiled its digital asset custody platform in November 2023 The banks in Europe’s largest economy are preparing for the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation that will take full effect in December 2024 as the first comprehensive legal framework for the crypto industry. Crypto exchanges will then become fully regulated entities from the end of 2024, Vyara Savova, senior policy lead at the European Crypto Initiative, told Cointelegraph: “2024 is the year of MiCA, and the whole EU will now have a comprehensive legal framework for crypto-assets, crypto-asset services, and crypto-asset service providers (also known as CASPs). Crypto exchanges are a type of CASP under MiCA and will become fully regulated in December 2024.” The MiCA bill is still being finalized. The second consultation package for reverse solicitation guidelines under MiCA is set to end on April 29. The outcome of the consultation will be influential for MiCA’s final implementation in December, according to Savova: “[The consultation will determine] how exchanges and other CASPs from countries outside of the EU might provide services to EU citizens without a license and how these services should be marketed in Europe. The outcomes of this consultation will be critical for MiCA’s implementation in December.” Related: With 10 days to the halving, analysts predict $150K Bitcoin top

Germany’s largest federal bank, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, will start offering cryptocurrency custody solutions in the second half of 2024. The bank will start offering crypto custody services to institutional clients in partnership with the Austria-based Bitpanda cryptocurrency exchange. Bitpanda Custody is a crypto custody platform with decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities, registered with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to Bitpanda’s homepage. German banks prepare for MiCA regulations by the end of 2024The Landesbank Baden-Württemberg isn’t the only German bank mulling crypto services. Deutsche Bank has also been working on digital asset custody services since September 2023, tapping Swiss crypto startup Taurus for crypto custody and tokenization services.

Bitcoin’s 2028 halving price target is $435K, historical data suggests

The Bitcoin price (BTC) rallied approximately 650% since the last Bitcoin halving in 2020. If history repeats, Bitcoin could reach the $435,000 price level before the 2028 halving. Is BTC price headed to $435,000 by the 2028 halving? The Bitcoin price has risen around 658% since the last Bitcoin halving in 2020, according to TradingView data, and is currently trading around the $66,000 mark. BTC/USD percentage increase, one-week chart. Source: TradingView The 2024 Bitcoin halving will happen in less than three weeks. If historical chart patterns were to repeat, Bitcoin’s current $66,000 price would reach $434,280 per coin by the 2028 halving if it performs similarly to the current cycle. Nonetheless, Bitcoin’s post-halving rallies have seen diminishing returns throughout the years. Until the first halving in 2012, Bitcoin increased from having virtually no value to $12.50 — an over 12,400% increase. Bitcoin price jumped 5,200% to $650 by the 2016 halving and 1,200% to $8,500 by the 2020 halving. Related: How high can Bitcoin go? New BTC price prediction sees cycle top at $180K Thus, Bitcoin’s average price rallies fell by 45% each cycle to the current 658%. If this diminishing returns trend repeats, Bitcoin will deliver a 360% rally during the next cycle, resulting in a roughly $303,600 BTC price at the 2028 halving. Bitcoin halving or ETFs having a bigger impact? Bitcoin’s recent price surge is unrelated to the upcoming halving and mainly attributed to the inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), argues Hao Yang, head of financial products at Bybit, who told Cointelegraph: “Considering [the] halving and price trends from a very rigorous quantitative point of view, there is no evidence supporting a positive correlation between the halving event and BTC price. But history can be interpreted in many different ways. I certainly hope for $435,000 by 2028 but won’t put too much into it.” A six-figure BTC price appears even more possible if Bitcoin ETFs overtake gold ETFs, which is something that could happen in the next two years, according to a Feb. 26 research report from Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. BTC and gold price chart, five years. Source: TradingView Additionally, Bitcoin ETFs are growing at a much quicker pace than gold ETFs did when they first appeared in 2004. In fact, Bitcoin is “speedrunning” gold’s price fivefold, says Sam Wouters, the head of contact at River, who wrote in a March 29 X post: “Bitcoin is basically just 5x speedrunning gold’s trajectory. The last 10 years of Bitcoin look a bit like a squished version of gold’s last 50. No wonder some people get salty.” This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The Bitcoin price (BTC) rallied approximately 650% since the last Bitcoin halving in 2020. Is BTC price headed to $435,000 by the 2028 halving? The Bitcoin price has risen around 658% since the last Bitcoin halving in 2020, according to TradingView data, and is currently trading around the $66,000 mark. If historical chart patterns were to repeat, Bitcoin’s current $66,000 price would reach $434,280 per coin by the 2028 halving if it performs similarly to the current cycle. Bitcoin price jumped 5,200% to $650 by the 2016 halving and 1,200% to $8,500 by the 2020 halving.

Crypto Biz: Exchanges face new legal issues, Goldman Sachs’ clients eye crypto, and more

Crypto exchanges are facing a new wave of regulatory hurdles worldwide, with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) indicting KuCoin and its founders on March 26 for allegedly operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The charges coincide with a civil enforcement case by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), alleging multiple violations by the exchange. The DOJ claims KuCoin handled over $5 billion in suspicious and criminal funds. Staying in the United States, another setback hit Coinbase on March 27. District Judge Katherine Failla denied the exchange’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that similar transactions have previously been considered securities transactions. Coinbase sought an order to drop the case, challenging the SEC’s authority over crypto exchanges. In the Philippines, the financial regulator decided to block local users’ access to Binance on March 25, citing concerns over the firm’s unlicensed operations in the country. According to the agency, the exchange offered leveraged trading services and crypto savings accounts to local users without licenses. Meanwhile, in Russia, Binance’s successor, CommEx, has officially announced that it is shutting down operations and has halted deposits. The company acquired Binance’s Russian business for an undisclosed amount in September 2023. Along with the exchanges’ challenges, this week’s Crypto Biz explores BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, Goldman Sachs’ clients returning to crypto, SWIFT’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials, and Mastercard’s forecasts for remittances in Latin America. BlackRock’s ETF could flip GBTC in Bitcoin holdings within three weeks BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF is on track to surpass the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holdings in about three weeks, given the current rate of inflows and outflows. As of March 22, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF held 238,500 Bitcoin (BTC) on its books, worth nearly $15.5 billion at current prices, with daily inflows averaging 4,120 BTC. In contrast, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust has 350,252 BTC worth $23 billion but is experiencing average daily outflows of $277 million or 4,140 BTC. In another ETF headline, asset manager Hashdex has officially joined the spot Bitcoin ETF market after completing the conversion of its futures ETF to hold spot Bitcoin. Hashdex renamed and converted its Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF to the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF with the ticker “DEFI.” Galaxy Digital reports $296 million net income in 2023 after $1 billion loss in 2022 Digital asset management firm Galaxy Digital has reported a net income of $296 million for 2023, marking a reversal after ending 2022 with a $1 billion net loss. The performance shift is due to the rising prices of major cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. The firm’s assets under management grew from $1.7 billion to $5.1 billion in 2023 and nearly doubled in the first two months of 2024, reaching $10.1 billion by the end of February. The firm also reported $18.7 million in mining revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, a 31% increase over the previous quarter. “Our average marginal cost to mine in the fourth quarter increased relative to prior quarters due to fewer opportunities to economically curtail our mining operations and a higher network hash rate,” the company said in its statement. Goldman Sachs hedge fund clients are piling back into crypto Goldman Sachs’ clients have started to jump back into crypto, with renewed appetite stemming from the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Max Minton, head of digital assets for Goldman Asia Pacific, told Bloomberg that many of his firm’s largest clients had recently become active or were “exploring getting active” in the crypto sector. Goldman’s options and futures offerings are the primary source of fresh demand, with hedge funds being the most involved among its clients, according to Minton. Goldman’s clients use their derivatives primarily to gain exposure to crypto volatility and to make long-term predictions about prices, said the executive, adding that Bitcoin-related products stood as the most popular investment vehicles among active clients. SWIFT declares second sandbox connector tests a success for CBDC and more The SWIFT messaging network has released the results of the second phase of sandbox testing for its CBDC interlinking solution, which it calls a connector. The project looked at four use cases, not all of which involved CBDC, according to the report it released on the test results. It experimented with digital trading with atomic (instantaneous) settlement using smart contracts. It connected tokenization platforms to facilitate atomic delivery versus payment and worked with financial infrastructure firm CLS Group to show the connector’s capability of connecting existing foreign exchange infrastructures using CBDC. SWIFT now plans to further develop the beta version of its connector. Before you go: Mastercard has released a white paper on remittances in Latin America, noting that remittance rates are growing faster than the global average in the region. Digital remittances are expected to be worth $20 billion by 2026. Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

Along with the exchanges’ challenges, this week’s Crypto Biz explores BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, Goldman Sachs’ clients returning to crypto, SWIFT’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials, and Mastercard’s forecasts for remittances in Latin America. BlackRock’s ETF could flip GBTC in Bitcoin holdings within three weeksBlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF is on track to surpass the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) holdings in about three weeks, given the current rate of inflows and outflows. In another ETF headline, asset manager Hashdex has officially joined the spot Bitcoin ETF market after completing the conversion of its futures ETF to hold spot Bitcoin. Goldman Sachs hedge fund clients are piling back into cryptoGoldman Sachs’ clients have started to jump back into crypto, with renewed appetite stemming from the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

Unharmonized regulation threatens stablecoin usability — BIS report

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that despite their promise, the use of stablecoins is hindered by international regulatory fragmentation, in a survey of 11 jurisdictions. The publication said the need for stablecoin regulation is “urgent,” but diversity in regulation poses risks for their integration into the international financial system. Most regulatory approaches are similar in their authorization of issuers, reserve requirements, risk management and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures, the report noted. Differences in the structuring of stablecoin issuances can cause them to be regulated under banking, securities, commodities or payment system frameworks, however. Licensing regimes across jurisdictions. Source: Bank for International Settlements There are also differences in the details of regulations, redemption policies and the definition of a stablecoin. For example, some jurisdictions regulate algorithmic stablecoins, which are not pegged to external assets, identically to fiat-pegged stablecoins, but the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore regulate them separately, and jurisdictions in the United Arab Emirates ban them altogether. The report said: “Differences appear to be largely driven by the variety of stablecoin design features, perceived risks associated with their issuance and the nature of the issuing entity. […] The resulting fragmentation may pose significant challenges for an integrated financial system.” Reserves may have to be segregated in different ways, placed in the hands of custodians subject to differing requirements or, in the case of the U.K., placed in a statutory trust. Audit and liquidity requirements also vary greatly. Related: ‘Primitive’ stablecoin lacks mechanisms that maintain fiat stability: BIS report Technological and cybersecurity requirements tend to be more uniform. The interaction of stablecoins with central bank digital currency, tokenized deposits and other digital assets needs to be explored more thoroughly. Source: Bank for International Settlements The report follows BIS recommendations on stablecoin regulation released in February. BIS urged governments to cooperate and address disclosure, risk management, redemption and other issues. Numerous international bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund, Financial Stability Board, Financial Action Task Force, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and International Organization of Securities Commissions, also have policies on stablecoins that they hope to advance. Magazine: The DeFi bots pumping Solana’s stablecoin volume

The publication said the need for stablecoin regulation is “urgent,” but diversity in regulation poses risks for their integration into the international financial system. Most regulatory approaches are similar in their authorization of issuers, reserve requirements, risk management and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures, the report noted. Source: Bank for International SettlementsThere are also differences in the details of regulations, redemption policies and the definition of a stablecoin. Related: ‘Primitive’ stablecoin lacks mechanisms that maintain fiat stability: BIS reportTechnological and cybersecurity requirements tend to be more uniform. Source: Bank for International SettlementsThe report follows BIS recommendations on stablecoin regulation released in February.

Prisma Finance exploited in $10 million breach

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Prisma Finance was exploited for around $10 million worth of cryptocurrencies on March 28. On-chain security alert provider Cyvers were the first to detect the anomaly, according to a March 28 X post: “Our system has detected multiple suspicious transactions with @PrismaFi and still ongoing! Total loss so far is around $9M. The attacker has been funded by @FixedFloat! Our system has detected the malicious contract 2 min earlier than hack transactions!” Shortly after the initial alert, Cyvers detected another $1 million fraudulent transactions, bringing the total amount of exploited funds near $10 million. Prisma Finance said that its core engineers and contributors will pause the protocol and investigate, according to a March 28 X post. Prisma is a decentralized liquid staking token protocol with over $222 million in total value locked (TVL) according to DefiLlama. Related: Funds hacked in 2024 increased by 15.4% vs. the same period in 2023 — Immunefi Hacked funds surpass $11.6 million Following the initial exploit, the attacker has already started swapping the stolen funds to Ether, according to Cyvers. The attack is still ongoing, according to on-chain security firm PeckShield, which wrote in a March 28 X post at 12:28 p.m. UTC: “The attack is ongoing, with the total loss now increased to ~3,257.7 $ETH (worth ~$11.6 million). To vault owners, please follow up on notifications from the official source and be cautious about scams.” Peckshield Alert. Source: PeckShield As shown by PeckShield’s above image, other scammers are trying to benefit from the exploit. Under the official Prisma Finance announcement, a scam Prisma Finance account with a golden badge is trying to redirect users to a suspicious link. On closer inspection, it can be seen that the fraudulent account has no connection to Prisma Finance. Crypto hacks continue to erode the legitimacy of the industry. Over $200 million worth of crypto has been lost to hacks and rug pulls in 2024 across 32 individual incidents up to Feb. 29, according to blockchain security firm Immunefi. The over $200 million loss represents a 15.4% increase compared to January and February 2023, when $173 million of digital assets were stolen. A total of $1.8 billion was lost to crypto hacks and scammers in 2023, of which 17% can be attributed to the North Korean Lazarus Group, according to a Dec. 28 report by Immunefi. Related: Max pain $51K? Bitcoin options worth over $9.4B set to expire Friday

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Prisma Finance was exploited for around $10 million worth of cryptocurrencies on March 28. Prisma Finance said that its core engineers and contributors will pause the protocol and investigate, according to a March 28 X post. Prisma is a decentralized liquid staking token protocol with over $222 million in total value locked (TVL) according to DefiLlama. Under the official Prisma Finance announcement, a scam Prisma Finance account with a golden badge is trying to redirect users to a suspicious link. On closer inspection, it can be seen that the fraudulent account has no connection to Prisma Finance.

Bhutan’s DHI to offset halving effects with Bitcoin mining upgrade

The Kingdom of Bhutan’s sovereign investment arm and its Bitcoin (BTC) mining partner, Bitdeer Technologies, will increase their BTC mining capacity to offset the potential impact of the mining rewards reduction after the Bitcoin halving. Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the investment arm of the royal government of Bhutan, and the Nasdaq-listed Bitdeer reportedly announced that they will invest in increasing their mining project’s capacity sixfold ahead of the halving. Bitcoin mining profitability chart for the first quarter of 2024. Source: BitInfoCharts Bitdeer’s chief business officer said the planned upgrades will raise Bhutan’s mining capacity by 500 megawatts by the first half of 2025. This would increase the Himalayan kingdom’s total mining capacity to 600 megawatts. The funds needed to introduce new hardware for the upgrade will be taken from the $500 million fund the duo announced last year. On May 3, 2023, the two entities announced the creation of a closed-end fund valued at $500 million. Bitdeer chairman Jihan Wu said at the time their company would work with DHI to use Bhutan’s zero-emission energy to support blockchain technologies. Wu said that the fund would help develop international stakeholder networks that could help Bhutan’s technology sector. Bhutan’s DHI, which manages over $2.9 billion in assets, had quietly grown a crypto portfolio before it was brought to light in the bankruptcy proceedings of crypto firms Celsius and BlockFi. A Forbes report highlighted that the DHI placed millions in crypto and was a customer of the two bankrupt companies. Local reports also highlighted that Bhutan has been using hydropower to mine BTC since 2019 when the price was around $5,000. Related: Once unprofitable BTC miners are turning their machines back on — Analyst While the two companies are preparing to offset potential losses after the Bitcoin halving, others believe that the halving of BTC rewards would not affect profitability. Laurent Benayoun, the CEO of liquidity firm Acheron Trading, said that the mining rewards are going to be “compensated by an increase in network fees.” BNB Chain senior solution architect Jimmy Zhao believes that Bitcoin-based nonfungible tokens could also help with miner profitability after the Bitcoin halving. As of February 2024, crypto asset manager Grayscale estimated that Bitcoin Ordinals generated over $200 million in transaction fees for miners. Magazine: Bitcoin hits new highs, SEC delays options decision, and stablecoin bill looms: Hodler’s Digest

The Kingdom of Bhutan’s sovereign investment arm and its Bitcoin (BTC) mining partner, Bitdeer Technologies, will increase their BTC mining capacity to offset the potential impact of the mining rewards reduction after the Bitcoin halving. Bitcoin mining profitability chart for the first quarter of 2024. Source: BitInfoChartsBitdeer’s chief business officer said the planned upgrades will raise Bhutan’s mining capacity by 500 megawatts by the first half of 2025. This would increase the Himalayan kingdom’s total mining capacity to 600 megawatts. Wu said that the fund would help develop international stakeholder networks that could help Bhutan’s technology sector.

Wormhole bridge hacker from 2022 was briefly eligible for the recent airdrop

The hacker behind the infamous $320-million exploit of the Wormhole bridge in 2022 was initially deemed eligible for an airdrop that would have seen them claim $50,000 in newly launched W tokens. In an April 4 post to X, pseudonymous researcher Pland claimed that the Wormhole team had forgotten to exclude a number of wallet addresses affiliated with an exploit that saw hackers steal $321 million in crypto from the cross-chain bridge in 2022. According to data from Solana-based airdrop checker Airdrop.link later cited by Degen News in an April 4 post to X, a total of four wallet addresses connected with the exploit were temporarily able to claim Wormhole’s airdrop. If the hacker had elected to claim their airdrops, they would have been eligible for roughly 31,642 Wormhole (W) tokens worth around $50,000 at current prices. Cointelegraph independently checked the wallet addresses on Airdrop.link; however, we found that they were no longer eligible, suggesting that the Wormhole team may have already plugged the gap. Cointelegraph contacted Wormhole but did not receive a response by the time of publication. All four of the eligible wallet addresses were flagged as being linked to the 2022 Wormhole exploit by Solana block explorer Solana.fm. Related: Wormhole crosses 1B in cross-chain messages ahead of token launch The Wormhole bridge was exploited for a staggering $321 million in February of 2022, rendering it one of the largest hacks in the history of the crypto industry. However, in February 2023, Web3 infrastructure firm Jump Crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Oasis.app conducted a “counter exploit” on the Wormhole protocol hacker. The two firms managed to successfully claw back a total of $225 million in digital assets from the wormhole exploiter and subsequently returned them to safe wallets. On April 3, Wormhole announced that it would be airdropping more than 675 million — worth roughly $850 million at current prices — of its new Wormhole (W) tokens to eligible users. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

The hacker behind the infamous $320-million exploit of the Wormhole bridge in 2022 was initially deemed eligible for an airdrop that would have seen them claim $50,000 in newly launched W tokens. If the hacker had elected to claim their airdrops, they would have been eligible for roughly 31,642 Wormhole (W) tokens worth around $50,000 at current prices. Cointelegraph independently checked the wallet addresses on Airdrop.link; however, we found that they were no longer eligible, suggesting that the Wormhole team may have already plugged the gap. All four of the eligible wallet addresses were flagged as being linked to the 2022 Wormhole exploit by Solana block explorer Solana.fm. On April 3, Wormhole announced that it would be airdropping more than 675 million — worth roughly $850 million at current prices — of its new Wormhole (W) tokens to eligible users.

Vietnamese tech company to build $200M AI factory with Nvidia

The Vietnamese IT company FPT and Nvidia, a global leader in semiconductor chip production, said they would be collaborating to finance and build a $200 million artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Vietnam. In a joint statement on April 23, the companies said their initiative aims to create a “one-stop shop” for all things AI and cloud computing in Vietnam. Its targets include AI products, GPU infrastructure, tech experts and domain expertise for local clients. FPT plans to invest funds in the AI factory, which will serve as a “sovereign cloud,” while Nvidia will supply its latest tech. This will include its AI enterprise software and frameworks, along with Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs. According to the statement, FPT aims to establish Vietnam as an “AI hub of the world” and turn the country into an AI nation while accelerating the adoption of AI applications in neighboring countries such as Japan and Korea. Keith Strier, the vice president for Worldwide AI for Nvidia, said that AI has the potential to “improve lives and strengthen the economies of every nation” through accelerating innovation in various fields such as healthcare, agriculture, climate and manufacturing. The factory will provide cloud GPU services to corporate customers of FPT to accelerate the capabilities and speed of AI applications, as well as offer end-to-end generative AI services. Related: Vietnamese Web3 coalition Ninety Eight launches $25M ecosystem fund Additionally, Nvidia’s programs will be incorporated into the educational curriculum and activities, training programs, and lab facilities at universities and high schools around the country. The statement said that over the ne at least 30,000 students will be reached by the initiative. In December 2023, the CEO of Nvidia announced that the company had plans to expand partnerships in Vietnam with the intention of attracting local talent in the AI industry. Before that, in September 2023, the United States and Vietnam entered into business agreements and partnerships worth billions of dollars to further AI-related cooperation, focusing on strengthening the semiconductor supply chain. During this meeting, heads of major tech companies working in the AI space were present, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Google. Magazine: AI didn’t kill the metaverse, it will build it — Alien Worlds, Bittensor vs Eric Wall: AI Eye

The Vietnamese IT company FPT and Nvidia, a global leader in semiconductor chip production, said they would be collaborating to finance and build a $200 million artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Vietnam. Its targets include AI products, GPU infrastructure, tech experts and domain expertise for local clients. FPT plans to invest funds in the AI factory, which will serve as a “sovereign cloud,” while Nvidia will supply its latest tech. During this meeting, heads of major tech companies working in the AI space were present, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Google. Magazine: AI didn’t kill the metaverse, it will build it — Alien Worlds, Bittensor vs Eric Wall: AI Eye

Charles Hoskinson points to 2 major upgrades amid Cardano ‘dunking’

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has his eye on two major upgrades — at least one of which is slated for this year — for the Cardano network amid a recent flood of criticism over its native token and ecosystem. “We are holding all the cards as an ecosystem,” Hoskinson said in an April 7 post on X in response to recent pessimism about the blockchain. “We have the best path for scalability, governance, and innovation. We also have the best community,” he added in response to “all the dunking on Cardano.” Hoskinson’s optimism was fueled mainly by the upcoming Chang hard fork, seen as one of the network’s biggest hard forks since the 2022 Vasil upgrade and slated for the second quarter of this year. Cardano governance roles. Source: Essential Cardano Chang is the first hard fork of the Voltaire era of Cardano’s roadmap, which will introduce the concept of community-run governance to the blockchain by enabling on-chain community consensus and allowing Cardano’s ADA (ADA) holders to use their tokens to vote on proposals. It’s seen as enabling the network to become fully decentralized by introducing community governance. “Chang is coming soon as measured by progress on SanchoNet.” Throughout the rest of this year, the transition will introduce Delegate Representatives (DReps), involve a Cardano Constitution Convention event, and a Cardano community vote to ratify the first draft of the Cardano Constitution. “Ouroboros Leios is the biggest step forward toward solving the blockchain trilemma ever,” Hoskinson added. Ouroboros Leios is a new version of the proof-of-stake consensus model designed to increase throughput, scalability and transaction speed on Cardano while maintaining the current level of decentralization. Hoskinson’s comments came in response to an April 7 video from Ben Armstrong — aka BitBoy — who was contemplating whether Cardano was “dead.” He compared Cardano to Solana, Sui and Toncoin, which were “blowing up” and “killing it” in terms of users, activity and price action, whereas the numbers for Cardano were “not fantastic.” Hoskinson argued that the crypto industry has a problem with short-term narratives. “The problem with our industry is that we let short-term narratives and carnival barkers dominate the conversation. AI has the same issue.” Related: Cardano refutes rumors it abandoned its scaling project Hydra “Most hate for Cardano is emotional,” commented zenGate Global founder and CEO Daniel Friedman on X on April 8. “My decision to build on Cardano and Ergo was a business and architecture decision. Not an emotional tantrum,” he added. Crypto Capital Venture founder and Cardano advocate Dan Gambardello suggested that the FUD was because ADA’s price was not back above $1. “Even Cardano people who say they don’t care about price, care about price. If price was up, you wouldn’t see these comments.” ADA prices have been lackluster this year and have actually dipped slightly since the beginning of 2024. The coin was trading down 10% over the past seven days at $0.584 at the time of writing. It is also down 81% from its September 2021 all-time high of $3.09, according to CoinGecko. Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has his eye on two major upgrades — at least one of which is slated for this year — for the Cardano network amid a recent flood of criticism over its native token and ecosystem. Cardano governance roles. It’s seen as enabling the network to become fully decentralized by introducing community governance. “Chang is coming soon as measured by progress on SanchoNet.”Throughout the rest of this year, the transition will introduce Delegate Representatives (DReps), involve a Cardano Constitution Convention event, and a Cardano community vote to ratify the first draft of the Cardano Constitution. Crypto Capital Venture founder and Cardano advocate Dan Gambardello suggested that the FUD was because ADA’s price was not back above $1.

Goldbugs renew mocking Bitcoin as the yellow metal hits all-time high

Spot gold prices have reached an all-time high, resulting in a resurgence of Bitcoin (BTC) derision from the precious yellow metal’s investors. Gold hit an all-time high of $2,304 per ounce on April 3, according to the American Hartford Gold Group, posting an 11.5% year-to-date gain for the usually slow-moving asset. Gold started gaining momentum in mid-February, rising from around $2,000 per ounce to over $2,200 in late March, having held up well alongside other safe-haven assets due to growing global tensions, uncertainty over possible interest-rate cuts and de-dollarization, Hartford Funds investment strategist Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson told MarketWatch on April 3. Gold’s price in U.S. dollars since Jan. 1. Source: American Hartford Gold Group Bitcoin is sometimes referred to as “digital gold,” but the real gold’s price peak sparked renewed mockery from goldbugs and Bitcoin belittlers. Gold bull and Bitcoin detractor Peter Schiff said in an April 3 X post that so far, in the second quarter of 2024, Bitcoin is down 7%, while silver and gold are up 8.7% and 3.4%, respectively, claiming, “The results speak for themselves.” However, the second quarter began three days ago at the time of Schiff’s post, and BTC has gained 55% this year, eclipsing gold’s gains over the same time by a factor of five. In a follow-up post, Schiff claimed it might be the “last chance to sell your Bitcoin and buy some gold and silver at favorable prices.” “If you fail to act, have fun staying poor,” he claimed. The irony was not lost on some of the respondents. Crypto trader “Quasar” said that they didn’t “have another 60 years to wait for gold to go up another $1,500.” Related: Bitcoin and gold broke new price records on the same day ByteTree analyst and researcher Charlie Morris also took a swipe at Bitcoin in an April 3 X post, commenting that gold has reached its all-time high “without electricity consumption,” referring to Bitcoin’s power-intensive mining process. FOLLOW BITCOIN HALVING COVERAGE IN FULL HERE However, environmentalist and Bitcoin ESG researcher Daniel Batten was quick to point out that the energy required for gold extraction is mostly from fossil fuels, adding: “[Gold] has a much higher environmental impact and emission intensity than bitcoin mining, which is fully electrified, and does not leave mercury or arsenic in the local land and water supply.” Swan co-founder Brady Swenson added, “How can you be a gold bug and not understand the gold mining process[?] I visited a gold mine once, it was apocalyptic.” Meanwhile, the 14 leading gold-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had lost $2.4 billion from the start of the year to mid-February, in contrast to spot Bitcoin funds, which had seen $3.89 billion in inflows over the same period. Magazine: 6 Questions for Illuvium founder Kieran Warwick

Spot gold prices have reached an all-time high, resulting in a resurgence of Bitcoin (BTC) derision from the precious yellow metal’s investors. Gold hit an all-time high of $2,304 per ounce on April 3, according to the American Hartford Gold Group, posting an 11.5% year-to-date gain for the usually slow-moving asset. Gold’s price in U.S. dollars since Jan. 1. Source: American Hartford Gold GroupBitcoin is sometimes referred to as “digital gold,” but the real gold’s price peak sparked renewed mockery from goldbugs and Bitcoin belittlers. I visited a gold mine once, it was apocalyptic.”Meanwhile, the 14 leading gold-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had lost $2.4 billion from the start of the year to mid-February, in contrast to spot Bitcoin funds, which had seen $3.89 billion in inflows over the same period.

BlackRock has ‘no commercial relationship’ with Hedera, HBAR sinks 32%

BlackRock has confirmed it has “no commercial relationship” with Hedera and that it did not choose the Hedera Hashgraph to tokenize any BlackRock funds, including shares of its $22 billion money market fund. Hedera’s (HBAR) token rallied over 100% on Tuesday following the HBAR Foundation’s announcement on X stating that blockchain firms Archax and Ownera tokenized BlackRock’s ICS U.S. Treasury Fund on Hedera. Some misinterpreted the post to suggest BlackRock played an active role in the tokenization effort, but a BlackRock spokesperson has confirmed to Cointelegraph that’s not the case. “BlackRock has no commercial relationship with Hedera nor has BlackRock selected Hedera to tokenise any BlackRock funds.” As of the time of writing, HBAR has fallen 32.8% in the past 24 hours to $0.118 since it peaked at $0.176 at 5:00 am UTC on April 24, according to CoinGecko. “As we have in the past, BlackRock will communicate directly with the public on the evolution of our digital asset strategy,” the spokesperson added. HBAR Foundation’s announcement has amassed over 2.9 million views and 3,200 reposts since it was posted a little over 36 hours ago — though some cryptocurrency influencers misinterpreted the message. “BLACKROCK JUST TOKENIZED ONE OF THEIR MONEY MARKET FUNDS ON HEDERA,” said Mason Versluis to his 189,000 X followers. Archax CEO Graham Rodford also clarified later on X that it was his firm’s choice to put shares of BlackRock’s money market fund on Hedera but said BlackRock was “aware” that Archax was tokenizing shares of the fund. Rodford further explained the nuance during an interview with crypto YouTuber Jesus Martinez. “What we saw on Twitter was kind of pretty much close to the truth [...] Archax had clients that wanted to invest in the BlackRock money market fund. When they expressed an interest we opened an account at BlackRock so that we could,” explained Roford. "With most of the investments we make, we want to tokenize them, we told them [BlackRock] we were going to and then just out of the good relationship with them we said 'hey we're putting out a press release, you guys happy to check it?' — so they checked it and gave their views on it," he explained. “Some kind of went a bit off track, saying ‘hey, BlackRock did this, BlackRock did that, BlackRock were involved’ […] but Archax has been leading the project.” Cointelegraph reached out to HBAR Foundation on April 24 but didn’t receive a response. Related: Hedera network approves $408M of HBAR for ecosystem growth Despite the short-lived price pump, HBAR is still down over 78% from its September 2021 all-time high of $0.57, according to CoinGecko. HBAR’s change in price over the last month. Source: CoinGecko Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions Update (April 25 at 3:45 am UTC): Added a further explanation from Archax CEO Graham Rodford taken from an interview with Jesus Martinez.

BlackRock has confirmed it has “no commercial relationship” with Hedera and that it did not choose the Hedera Hashgraph to tokenize any BlackRock funds, including shares of its $22 billion money market fund. Hedera’s (HBAR) token rallied over 100% on Tuesday following the HBAR Foundation’s announcement on X stating that blockchain firms Archax and Ownera tokenized BlackRock’s ICS U.S. Treasury Fund on Hedera. “BlackRock has no commercial relationship with Hedera nor has BlackRock selected Hedera to tokenise any BlackRock funds.”As of the time of writing, HBAR has fallen 32.8% in the past 24 hours to $0.118 since it peaked at $0.176 at 5:00 am UTC on April 24, according to CoinGecko. “BLACKROCK JUST TOKENIZED ONE OF THEIR MONEY MARKET FUNDS ON HEDERA,” said Mason Versluis to his 189,000 X followers. “What we saw on Twitter was kind of pretty much close to the truth [...] Archax had clients that wanted to invest in the BlackRock money market fund.

‘Unsustainable’ deficit, inflation mean more demand for Bitcoin: Grayscale

Store of value assets, such as Bitcoin (BTC), will continue to be a hot commodity as the United States government continues to overspend and keep interest rates high, according to Grayscale’s managing director of research, Zach Pandl. “We expect persistent inflation and unsustainable budget deficits to contribute to continued demand for store of value assets, like Bitcoin,” Pandl told Cointelegraph. Pandl argued that, given the current high inflation, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to reduce interest rates anytime soon. However, upcoming events like Bitcoin halving, scheduled for April 20, rising economic growth and more crypto adoption will fuel Bitcoin’s price. “The Fed won’t be able to cut rates for a while with core inflation this high, but booming nominal growth, the Bitcoin halving and adoption trends like tokenization should create a supportive environment for crypto markets.” The inflation in March rose 0.4% month-on-month and 3.5% year-over-year, versus 0.3% monthly increase and 3.4% year-over-year estimates from the Dow Jones economists survey show. The outcome has left many disappointed, as commentators resonated with Pandl’s concerns that persistent high inflation rates will hinder the Fed from lowering interest rates in the near future. Ernst & Young chief economist Greg Daco told Yahoo Finance that the higher inflation rates put more pressure on “policymakers to sustain a higher-for-longer monetary policy stance.” Pandl, however, also said that while an increase in the real interest rate is a “short-term negative for crypto,” there will be continued demand for store-of-value assets over the longer term. From a macro perspective, the 10-year real interest rate soared by 19% from the previous month to 1.934, up from February’s 1.616, which might be a catalyst for prompting investors to gravitate toward less volatile assets, such as bonds and term deposits. There have been several instances over the years when the 10-year real interest rate experienced a major monthly spike, and Bitcoin’s price significantly dropped in correlation. The 10-year real interest rate. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis The 10-year real interest rate surged by 52.35% from December 2017 to January 2018, rising from 0.573 to 0.873, per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data. Similarly, Bitcoin’s price fell sharply during this period, from approximately $12,839 at the end of December 2017 to $9,240 by the end of January 2018, representing a 28% decline. Related: Bitcoin whales ‘buy the dip’ post-CPI as BTC price gains 3.6% Following the release of the most recent CPI information, Bitcoin experienced a minor downward shift in its price, mirroring a similar sentiment from investors. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that BTC’s price dropped as much as 2.5% on April 10 to an intra-day low of $67,463 on Coinbase. At the time of publication, Bitcoin’s price stands at $70,640, per CoinMarketCap data. In an April 11 post on X, crypto analyst Matthew Hyland identified the formation of an ascending triangle on Bitcoin’s price chart, noting that Bitcoin has established a new resistance level above $71,500, reaching $72,329 on April 8. Magazine: Synthetix founder: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

“We expect persistent inflation and unsustainable budget deficits to contribute to continued demand for store of value assets, like Bitcoin,” Pandl told Cointelegraph. Pandl argued that, given the current high inflation, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to reduce interest rates anytime soon. However, upcoming events like Bitcoin halving, scheduled for April 20, rising economic growth and more crypto adoption will fuel Bitcoin’s price. The outcome has left many disappointed, as commentators resonated with Pandl’s concerns that persistent high inflation rates will hinder the Fed from lowering interest rates in the near future. The 10-year real interest rate.

Ethereum’s next hard fork could make lost private keys a thing of the past

Ethereum users may no longer need to worry about losing their seed phrases ever again after the Pectra hard fork — thanks to a new “social recovery” feature part of the planned Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 upgrade. EIP-3074 was confirmed as a new addition to the Pectra hard fork by Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko in an April 11 X post. The upgrade will see a “supercharging” of ordinary Ethereum wallets (externally owned accounts) with several new smart contracts capabilities, including the ability to recover assets, Ethereum Foundation researcher “Domothy” explained in a March 25 blog post. However, to leverage the social recovery tool, users must first have transferred ownership of their assets to an invoker contract via a digital signature, which will perform future transactions and function calls on the user’s behalf. While ownership is delegated, the message in the digital signature will enable the user to retrieve their assets if they lose or forget their seed phrase. The feature will be made possible by the implementation of the “AUTH” and “AUTHCALL” opcodes, cryptocurrency commentator Cygaar explained in an April 11 X post. AUTH will take a user’s signature and intended action and verify it was signed properly. AUTHCALL will then call the target contract to carry out the transaction but will assign the user as the caller instead of the invoker contract. Domothy, however, shared concerns that funds could be drained if users delegate their assets to a malicious invoker contract, though he also expects a few formally verified and fully audited invoker contracts to become available after the Pectra upgrade. It has been estimated that billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency have been lost over the years due to users forgetting or losing their private keys. Related: Key elements to watch on the Ethereum network roadmap Meanwhile, another key advantage of EIP-3074 is that users won’t need any Ether (ETH) in their wallet to send transactions, as the entity behind the invoker contract can pay for that upfront. “This could be huge for gaining mass retail adoption,” Cygaar noted. It will also enable multiple actions to be taken in one transaction. “Right now in order to swap tokens on Uniswap, you have to first approve Uniswap to use your tokens, and then run the actual swap. Not great.” “[But] with 3074, these two actions can be batched into a single tx,” Cygaar added. The Pectra hard fork is reportedly expected to occur in late 2024 or early 2025. Magazine: ‘Account abstraction’ supercharges Ethereum wallets: Dummies guide

Ethereum users may no longer need to worry about losing their seed phrases ever again after the Pectra hard fork — thanks to a new “social recovery” feature part of the planned Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 upgrade. EIP-3074 was confirmed as a new addition to the Pectra hard fork by Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko in an April 11 X post. AUTH will take a user’s signature and intended action and verify it was signed properly. AUTHCALL will then call the target contract to carry out the transaction but will assign the user as the caller instead of the invoker contract. The Pectra hard fork is reportedly expected to occur in late 2024 or early 2025.

Base sets record high DEX volume day, surpassing $1B

Coinbase Ethereum layer-2 network Base has shattered its trading volume record within a 24-hour on decentralized exchanges (DEX), jumping approximately 25% compared to the previous day and surpassing the $1 billion mark. On March 30, Base recorded $1.21 billion in DEX trading volume, up 25% from the previous day’s $959.63 million, according to Dune data. Most of the trading activity occurred on Uniswap, which accounted for 64.3% of the volume, followed by Aerodrome Finance at 9.7% and SharkSwap at 7.8%. DEX volume (%) across exchanges. Source: Dune Daily active users (DAU) also saw a spike of around 12.4%, climbing from 153,000 to 172,000. Over the past six weeks, there has been an average of 667,765 weekly active users. There is speculation within the crypto community that the growing network could become the next hub for memecoins. Crypto trader Wizard of SoHo told his 97,000 X followers that Base reminds him of an “early Solana,” predicting “several billion dollar memecoins on Base.” Meanwhile, Base contributor Jesse Pollak polled his 73,200 followers, asking how long until Base becomes the “largest non-Ethereum on-chain economy.” Of the respondents, 49.4% responded with “3 months,” while another 28.6% predicted “within 12 months.” DEX volume, base DEX metrics. Source: Dune At the time of publication, there are currently no tokens on the network with a market capitalization at or above $1 billion. Degen (DEGEN) and Brett (BRETT) are among the largest Base memecoins, boasting market caps of $709.9 million and $654.6 million, respectively, according to CoinGecko. Only a week prior, on March 25, Cointelegraph noted that DEGEN’s market cap stood at $143.4 million, marking an almost five-fold increase in the span of seven days. Related: Ethereum Dencun upgrade lowers transaction fees for L2s On March 27, Cointelegraph reported that Coinbase will start moving more of its customer and corporate USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin accounts to Base. Coinbase vice president Max Branzburg stated in a post on social media that the move would allow the crypto exchange to “manage and secure customer funds with lower fees and faster settlement times.” The change will only affect Coinbase.com accounts, not Coinbase Wallet, as those users are responsible for their own private keys. Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all: Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance

Coinbase Ethereum layer-2 network Base has shattered its trading volume record within a 24-hour on decentralized exchanges (DEX), jumping approximately 25% compared to the previous day and surpassing the $1 billion mark. On March 30, Base recorded $1.21 billion in DEX trading volume, up 25% from the previous day’s $959.63 million, according to Dune data. Most of the trading activity occurred on Uniswap, which accounted for 64.3% of the volume, followed by Aerodrome Finance at 9.7% and SharkSwap at 7.8%. DEX volume (%) across exchanges. Degen (DEGEN) and Brett (BRETT) are among the largest Base memecoins, boasting market caps of $709.9 million and $654.6 million, respectively, according to CoinGecko.

dYdX community approves 20M token stake as network activity soars

The dYdX community approved staking 20 million DYDX tokens to strengthen security as the decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) experiences a surge in activity. The proposal passed on April 6 with 91.7% of votes in favor, allowing tokens from the community treasury worth over $61 million at current prices to be staked with liquid staking protocol Stride. According to dYdX, the move is a response to the growing trading activity on the protocol: “The rate of DYDX being staked to validators has plateaued and deposits to the exchange are growing at a tremendous pace. Over $140M USDC is held in dYdX v4, of which roughly $100M arrived in the past week.” Staking is the process of locking cryptocurrency to support a blockchain network’s operations, like processing transactions or validating new blocks. Participants, or “stakers,” commit their tokens as stakes in the network. In return for their service and the risks—such as potential token value fluctuation — stakers receive rewards, often in the form of additional tokens. Staking proposal result. Source: Mintscan By staking its native tokens, the DEX is seeking to shield its network from a possible control attack, similar to a 51% attack. This type of attack happens when a malicious entity gains control over a significant amount of a blockchain’s hashing power, enabling the network to be manipulated. Decentralizing voting power prevents such attacks from occurring. dYdX noted that its network architecture enables a scenario where an attacker, with just one-third of the voting power, could pause on-chain operations. Additionally, possessing two-thirds of the voting power could allow such actors to potentially misuse the funds of users and the community within the dYdX Chain. “Since the voting power today is $456M, a malicious actor must contribute at least $912M in staked DYDX to take control of the protocol, which would allow them to exploit user deposits and community assets. This sounds like a lot today, but it isn’t such a high barrier when we factor in that only 11.5% of the total supply of DYDX are staked.” Staking rewards on dYdX accrue in the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) and are generated from the fees users pay to trade on the protocol. Stride’s mechanism allows DYDX stakes to increase automatically over time as rewards are recompounded. For the staking service, the dYdX community will pay a 7.5% fee on the staked position. Data from DefiLlama shows dYdX total value locked on-chain at $504.48 at the time of writing. The network generated over $48.59 million in fees over the past twelve months. Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

The dYdX community approved staking 20 million DYDX tokens to strengthen security as the decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) experiences a surge in activity. Decentralizing voting power prevents such attacks from occurring. dYdX noted that its network architecture enables a scenario where an attacker, with just one-third of the voting power, could pause on-chain operations. Additionally, possessing two-thirds of the voting power could allow such actors to potentially misuse the funds of users and the community within the dYdX Chain. For the staking service, the dYdX community will pay a 7.5% fee on the staked position.

Binance Labs shifts focus to Bitcoin DeFi, MarginFi sees $200M of outflows: Finance Redefined

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week. Like Ethereum’s peak era in 2017, Solana is facing a similar hurdle in network congestion that has lasted almost a week, leading to a high transaction failure rate. Solana developers have now set April 15 as their target date to resolve the issue, calling it a bug rather than a design flaw. Binance Labs has shifted its DeFi focus toward Bitcoin by investing in Bitcoin-native restaking protocol BounceBit. In other news, withdrawals from the Solana-based DeFi protocol MarginFi grew over $190 million amid an apparent management meltdown and claims from competitors that it hasn’t met its promises. Solana devs target April 15 for failed TX fix — It’s “not a design flaw” Solana developers are targeting April 15 to implement a fix for an “implementation bug” that recently caused the transaction failure rate on Solana to skyrocket. “Solana’s current issue is not a design flaw; it’s an implementation bug,” stressed Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of Helius Labs, a blockchain infrastructure firm that provides back-end support exclusively to the Solana network. Continue reading Arkham accuses competitors of spreading “false rumors” amid token sell-off Blockchain analytics firm Arkham has accused its fellow competitors of “spreading false rumors” to create fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) after questions arose regarding the firm’s transfer of its native ARKM tokens. Although Arkham did not name the dissenting competitors, just a few days prior, a post published by fellow blockchain analytics firm Nansen claimed that Arkham “moved over 25.2m ARKM ($56 million) over the past two days” to unlabeled wallets and cryptocurrency exchange Binance. “Let’s take a look at what’s going on because they won’t show you,” wrote Nansen, noting that the ARKM was sent to different Binance addresses with no prior activity and to a fresh wallet address. Continue reading Binance Labs shifts investment focus to Bitcoin DeFi Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has invested in Bitcoin-native restaking protocol BounceBit. BounceBit merges centralized finance and DeFi features to create more utility for Bitcoin (BTC), wrote co-founder of Binance and head of Binance Labs, Continue reading MarginFi outflows $190 million as CEO rage-quits amid token controversy Nearly $200 million of user funds have exited Solana-based lending protocol MarginFi over the last two days amid an abrupt resignation of the platform’s CEO, which was followed by accusations of wrongdoing by its competitors. On April 10, the now-former CEO of MarginFi, Edgar Pavlovsky, suddenly announced he had resigned from MarginFi, citing disputes arising from both within his firm and outside of it. Continue reading DeFi market overview Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bullish week, with most trading in the green on the weekly charts. The total value locked in DeFi protocols rose above $100 billion. Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week. Binance Labs has shifted its DeFi focus toward Bitcoin by investing in Bitcoin-native restaking protocol BounceBit. In other news, withdrawals from the Solana-based DeFi protocol MarginFi grew over $190 million amid an apparent management meltdown and claims from competitors that it hasn’t met its promises. Continue readingBinance Labs shifts investment focus to Bitcoin DeFiBinance Labs, the venture capital arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has invested in Bitcoin-native restaking protocol BounceBit. On April 10, the now-former CEO of MarginFi, Edgar Pavlovsky, suddenly announced he had resigned from MarginFi, citing disputes arising from both within his firm and outside of it.

North Korean Lazarus hacker group using LinkedIn to target and steal assets: Report

The North Korean hacker group Lazarus is using LinkedIn to target vulnerable users and steal their assets via targeted malware attacks. The incident came to light after blockchain security analytics firm SlowMist revealed that Lazarus group hackers are pretending to look for jobs as blockchain developers in the cryptocurrency industry through LinkedIn. SlowMist claimed hackers steal confidential employee credentials after inviting access to their repository to run relevant code. The code snippets the hacker runs contain malicious code that steals confidential information and assets. Using LinkedIn for targeted attacks is not a new method, and the North Korean hacker group used a similar tactic in December 2023, posing as a fake Meta recruiter. After contacting victims via LinkedIn, the fake recruiter requested that the targeted “applicants” download two coding challenges as part of the hiring procedure. These two coding files contained malware, and when they were run on a work computer, they released a Trojan that allowed remote access. Lazarus has stolen over $3 billion in crypto assets. It is among the most notorious and organized hacking groups that first surfaced in 2009 and continues to target crypto firms despite numerous sanctions against it. Lazarus is known for using innovative ways to target and steal funds. In August 2023, the group used fake job interviews to steal $37 million from crypto payment firm CoinPaid. The hackers attempted to infiltrate CoinsPaid infrastructure by targeting individuals through fake high-salary job offers. Related: US Treasury sanctions crypto mixer Sinbad, alleging North Korea ties The group has been behind some of the biggest heists in the crypto industry. The 2022 Ronin Bridge hack is its biggest, with $625 million stolen. The hacker group often uses crypto mixing services to launder its stolen funds back to North Korea, which, according to many reports, are used to fund the country’s military operations. Although crypto firms are often the target of hacker groups, the decentralized nature of blockchain makes it difficult for them to move their funds. Once identified, they are often tracked and blocked with the help of crypto platforms. In February 2023, Huobi and Binance froze $1.4 million worth of crypto assets linked to North Korea. Similarly, $63 million worth of assets linked to the Harmony Bridge hack was also frozen by crypto exchanges. Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

The North Korean hacker group Lazarus is using LinkedIn to target vulnerable users and steal their assets via targeted malware attacks. Using LinkedIn for targeted attacks is not a new method, and the North Korean hacker group used a similar tactic in December 2023, posing as a fake Meta recruiter. Lazarus has stolen over $3 billion in crypto assets. It is among the most notorious and organized hacking groups that first surfaced in 2009 and continues to target crypto firms despite numerous sanctions against it. In August 2023, the group used fake job interviews to steal $37 million from crypto payment firm CoinPaid.

Linux on Bitcoin? Open-source framework BitVMX envisions BTC-powered programs

Bitcoin researchers are polishing a new open-source framework called BitVMX, which promises to allow complex applications and functions to be built and executed securely on Bitcoin’s base layer. BitVMX, inspired by Robin Linus’s BitVM project, is backed by RootstockLabs, the development firm behind the Bitcoin layer-2 protocol Rootstock. The project aims to create an open-source, peer-reviewed, sidechain-agnostic framework for developing Bitcoin-based programs. Cointelegraph spoke exclusively to RootstockLabs chief scientist Sergio Demian Lerner to unpack details of the BitVMX project and its potential impact on the Bitcoin ecosystem. The project is set to be officially unveiled at the Bitcoin++ Austin conference along with the publication of its white paper. Lerner’s research into the mining patterns employed by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto has been widely cited by news outlets and researchers. Source: Bitslog Lerner is best known for his research exploring patterns to identify what hardware Satoshi Nakamoto used to mine in the early days of Bitcoin, which Cointelegraph Magazine covered in 2021. BitVMX wants to power programs on Bitcoin On a technical level, BitVMX allows funds to be locked in an unspent transaction output (UTXO) with a spend condition that depends on the result of a program’s execution. Lerner said a program must be defined when the UTXO is created, but the program input does not need to be. The scientist said the possibilities of the framework are broad and have the potential to power a variety of applications and functions: “The incredible thing about BitVMX is that it essentially allows developers to run anything on Bitcoin, even Linux.” Lerner said that BitVMX could power bridges to Bitcoin that allow the unilateral flow of BTC between the main chain and sidechains like Rootstock, where it can then be used to interact with decentralized applications (DApps) and other smart contracts. Related: Bitcoin needs DeFi, consumer apps for mass adoption — L2 devs Another use case would be building aggregator oracles that collect and verify data from various sources and store them on the Bitcoin network in an automated and decentralized way. BitVMX will also support Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) and Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge (zk-STARK) verifiers directly on Bitcoin. This promises to open up new applications such as zero-knowledge contingent payments and autonomous bug bounty programs. Bitcoin L2 criticisms The Bitcoin community has been vocal about the increased affinity marketing ploys by startups promoting Bitcoin L2s that claim to operate natively on-chain. Lerner stressed that BitVMX is not associated with any token sale and that the framework allows the creation of secure and more decentralized bridges that don’t rely on collateralization in foreign tokens. Bitcoin layer-2 protocols ranked by the total amount of Bitcoin locked in various protocols. Lightning’s peer-to-peer protocol still has the most BTC locked in payment channels. Source: Bitcoin Frontier Fund The computer scientist also said that Rootstock Labs believes in simple criteria to define what constitutes a Bitcoin L2: “It must use BTC as its native asset and as a settlement mechanism to enforce transactions and demonstrate a functional dependence on Bitcoin. Everything else is just affinity marketing.” Lerner added that duplicitous projects claiming to be built on Bitcoin have marred every bull market. He adds that users should stick to battle-tested solutions like the Lightning Network, Liquid and Rootstock rather than “risking their sats on untested or unknown solutions with deep pockets and shiny marketing campaigns.” Shifting the narrative for Bitcoin’s functionality The BitVMX project openly credits the foundational work of Robin Linus’ BitVM framework. It looks to build on the theoretical approach of BitVM, which uses a complex combinatorial logic circuit approach relying on large Merkle trees for gate-level verification. Instead, BitVMX touts a streamlined approach by executing central processing unit instructions directly using Bitcoin script opcodes. Lerner says this makes it better suited for real-world applications and unlocks use cases such as running sidechain light clients and verifying using zk-SNARKs. The chief scientist explained that the framework brings disputable computation to Bitcoin in an “efficient and secure way,” which enables a range of new use cases. Lerner briefly unpacked the paradigm of disputable computation. No computation is performed on-chain if all parties agree on a computation result. However, if a party disagrees, an on-chain interaction begins to solve the dispute formally and efficiently. The worst-case scenario leads to a single disputed gate, wire or computation step being verified on-chain. Related: Bitcoin L2 tokens surge double digits as BTC notches 25-month high Lerner envisions BitVMX inspiring a new wave of Bitcoin builders by broadening the network’s functionality. He highlighted the framework enabling more complex spending constraints for Bitcoin’s base layer. The computer scientist added that Bitcoin’s scripting language lacks key opcodes that could make BitVMX cheaper and more efficient. “It will no longer be a question of should Bitcoin be able to do X?, but “how efficiently can Bitcoin do X,” Lerner said. A shifting narrative could also accelerate changes to Bitcoin and the potential to bring back opcodes, including OP_MUL or OP_CAT. Magazine: The value of a legacy: Hunting down Satoshi’s Bitcoin

Bitcoin researchers are polishing a new open-source framework called BitVMX, which promises to allow complex applications and functions to be built and executed securely on Bitcoin’s base layer. BitVMX, inspired by Robin Linus’s BitVM project, is backed by RootstockLabs, the development firm behind the Bitcoin layer-2 protocol Rootstock. Cointelegraph spoke exclusively to RootstockLabs chief scientist Sergio Demian Lerner to unpack details of the BitVMX project and its potential impact on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin L2 criticismsThe Bitcoin community has been vocal about the increased affinity marketing ploys by startups promoting Bitcoin L2s that claim to operate natively on-chain. Related: Bitcoin L2 tokens surge double digits as BTC notches 25-month highLerner envisions BitVMX inspiring a new wave of Bitcoin builders by broadening the network’s functionality.

Paris Blockchain Week recap: Optimism abounded as the Bitcoin halving approaches

Paris Blockchain Week, a three-day insider event featuring panels, discussions, and presentations from a diverse group of global industry leaders, has now concluded its fifth annual gathering. Cointelegraph was on site to capture the highlights, and there were plenty. As we turn the page in our calendars and begin preparing for the next big event — the Bitcoin halving predicted to occur on or about April 20 — here’s a recap of what you missed in France at Blockchain Week. BTC to hit $250K? Venture capitalist and Tim Draper, whose list of unicorn investments includes such noteworthy companies as Tesla, Baidu, Coinbase, and Twitch, believes Bitcoin could thrash its current all-time-high price of around $72K per coin by the end of the year. “If I had to predict, maybe we could see $250,000 by the end of the year; I mean, it’s looking pretty good,” Draper told Cointelegraph in an interview. Crypto market to hit $100T? If Draper’s cool quarter-million prediction for BTC isn’t bombastic enough, eToro CEO Yoni Assia told Cointelegraph they believed the global cryptocurrency market would reach a capitalization of $100 trillion over the next decade. For comparison, gold, the precious metal, has a global market cap of about $16.18 trillion as of the time of this article’s publication. But that might not be the most interesting prediction Assia gave us. They also told us that “the crypto community will be the first to identify singularity,” a hypothetical point in future human history where an artificial intelligence (AI) entity becomes effectively more capable (or intelligent) than any human, “because it’s very hard to define what consciousness is.” Binance turns the page Many companies wouldn’t face having to pay a $4.3 billion settlement to the U.S. government with optimism and aplomb, but Binance has moved on. According to Binance executive Catherine Chen, the company is looking forward to the challenges it faces in the wake of the settlement. During a panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph’s editor-at-large Kristina Cornèr, Chen said the monitoring restrictions placed on the company would ultimately prove to be a net positive for the industry: “It is a challenge, but it’s a welcome challenge, and we fully embrace it because we know that that would be great for the market.” Chen on stage at Paris Blockchain Week discussing Binance’s settlement. Source: Paris Blockchain Week ETF inflows uneven Around 90% of Bitcoin ETF inflows are still retail according to Jan van Eck, CEO of American investment management firm VanEck. The traditional banking and institutional investment sectors have, so far, been seemingly reluctant to dive into the BTC ETF market. Jan van Eck on stage at Paris Blockchain Week. Source: Gareth Jenkinson “You’ve had some Bitcoin whales, and some other institutions move some assets in, but they were already exposed to Bitcoin,” van Eck told Cointelegraph, adding that the end of April might see some further inclusion by non-traditional investors. Dubai to ease burdens for small investors Matthew White, CEO of Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) told Cointelegraph that the new system, if implemented, would place the bulk of the regulatory financial burdens on the largest players: “The cost of compliance is borne by the larger systemic players, and this allows the smaller players to come into the ecosystem, be regulated, but also not have to suffer the same sort of level of costs of compliance that we’ve got.” VARA CEO Matthew White discussing regulations at the Paris Blockchain Week stage. Source: Paris Blockchain Week Ubisoft teases new game AAA gaming giant Ubisoft, the publisher behind Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and numerous other gaming franchises, took the stage to discuss its newest web3 title, a blockchain-based competitive PVP turn-based role-playing game called “Champions Tactics.” “We must understand the market and how we launch this kind of game,” he said. “That’s really what we want to achieve here. We want to give the players the power to populate the game with figurines and understand what it means to own your gaming assets.” Ultimately, Paris Blockchain Week turned out to be another optimistic gathering of like-minded entrepreneurs and professionals highlighting the challenges, opportunities, and triumphs in our industry.

Paris Blockchain Week, a three-day insider event featuring panels, discussions, and presentations from a diverse group of global industry leaders, has now concluded its fifth annual gathering. As we turn the page in our calendars and begin preparing for the next big event — the Bitcoin halving predicted to occur on or about April 20 — here’s a recap of what you missed in France at Blockchain Week. “If I had to predict, maybe we could see $250,000 by the end of the year; I mean, it’s looking pretty good,” Draper told Cointelegraph in an interview. Source: Paris Blockchain WeekETF inflows unevenAround 90% of Bitcoin ETF inflows are still retail according to Jan van Eck, CEO of American investment management firm VanEck. Jan van Eck on stage at Paris Blockchain Week.

How acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer got to write a crypto theme song

Hans Zimmer, the iconic movie composer, can now add the wild world of crypto to his expansive list of compositions after collaborating with Tron to create a theme song for Web3. On April 16, the Tron blockchain announced that it would have its own anthem, composed by Zimmer, brought to life through a lengthy collaboration and exchange of ideas and Web3 values with founder Justin Sun. The track, titled “The Tron Anthem — a song for the Web3 generation,” has classic Zimmer touches. It’s a musical world of epic and dramatic proportions that blends electronic music with traditional orchestral arrangements. Zimmer has composed music for some of the biggest contemporary blockbusters, including Interstellar, Dune, The Dark Knight and Gladiator. But what exactly does it take to compose an anthem for a living and evolving digital community? Cointelegraph talked to Sun about creating music with Zimmer that reflected the values of the Web3 space and received an exclusive quote from the composer about his vision. According to the announcement, this theme song has been in the works since the beginning of 2022, when the Tron founder and Zimmer opened discussions for the project. Sun said that a joint endeavor of leveraging music as a “catalyst for communication and collaboration” was at the heart of the talks. “Hans’ unparalleled creativity and influence make him a natural ally in our quest to harness the power of music to not only showcase who we are but also to attract diverse talents and capabilities to the Web3 ecosystem.” Related: Hollywood union deal with music giants guards against AI use Sun said the overall mission was to help foster mutual understanding within the Web3 community, catalyze industry-wide collaboration, and propel the community toward an innovative future. Music as a medium to showcase ideas, and represent themes or communities is one of the most accessible ways to bring in audiences. “Blockchain technology has unlocked a new frontier of digital collaboration, transcending geographical boundaries, time zones, languages and cultures,” Sun said. “In pursuit of these goals, we recognize the transformative power of music. It serves as a universal language capable of bridging gaps and fostering connection.” In an exclusive quote for Cointelegraph, Zimmer described a sense of what Web3 can invoke and how we can even approach it: “Everything that the Western world certainly is built on is a legacy code of the Industrial Revolution. Our education systems are built around that, our government is built around that etc. And once the internet happened, I don’t think we really knew how to use it. I think we need to free ourselves from those philosophies and those restrictions.” This is not the first instance of music being used as an instrument to unite communities and foster inclusivity in the Web3 space. In the past, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been used as a form of micro-philanthropy to open up new funding avenues to classical musicians outside the limiting legacy institutions. Web3 has also been able to bridge genres together through new musical collaborations through NFTs and metaverse performances, in addition to creating new means of connecting musicians to their communities. The musical collaboration is yet another connection between the worlds of music and Web3 and points toward a more mainstream understanding of the importance of the emerging decentralized space. Magazine: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

Hans Zimmer, the iconic movie composer, can now add the wild world of crypto to his expansive list of compositions after collaborating with Tron to create a theme song for Web3. The track, titled “The Tron Anthem — a song for the Web3 generation,” has classic Zimmer touches. It’s a musical world of epic and dramatic proportions that blends electronic music with traditional orchestral arrangements. Zimmer has composed music for some of the biggest contemporary blockbusters, including Interstellar, Dune, The Dark Knight and Gladiator. According to the announcement, this theme song has been in the works since the beginning of 2022, when the Tron founder and Zimmer opened discussions for the project.

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark plunges 10% after $800M share offering

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark plunged 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the firm amended its at-the-market (ATM) offering agreement to sell up to $800 million of its stock. CleanSpark initially inked a deal for a $500 million ATM offering with New York investment banking firm H.C. Wainwright & Co on Jan. 5, 2024, where CleanSpark said it may, from time to time, offer and sell shares of its common stock at $0.001 per share, a March 28 SEC filing reveals. CleanSpark’s at the market agreement with H.C. Wainwright & Co. LLC. Source: SEC Primary stock dilution is a common strategy for publicly-listed companies to raise additional capital. CleanSpark isn’t the only Bitcoin miner to enter into an ATM agreement for this reason either — with Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings, both entering into $750 million ATM agreements last August and October. With a market capitalization of $4.2 billion, a $800 million stock offering would effectively dilute CLSK shares by 19%. CLSK started the trading day at $23.20 but is now down 16% to $19.1 in after-hours — which included an 8.2% fall during trading hours, according to Google Finance. CleanSpark’s change in stock price over the last trading day. Source: Google Finance Despite the stock plunge, CLSK is up 95% in 2024 and 685% over the last 12 months. Related: Bitcoin halving ‘blood bath’ could push US miners offshore CleanSpark is one of many Bitcoin miners preparing for the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, expected to occur on April 20, which will see Bitcoin mining rewards reduced from 6.25 BTC ($441,000) to 3.125 BTC ($220,500). The firm boasts the lowest cost production to mine one Bitcoin post-halving at $26,900, a Jan. 12 CoinShares research report found. On Feb. 6, Cleanspark said it expects its hash rate to double in the first half of 2024 on the back of a recent agreement to purchase four new mining facilities in Mississippi, worth $19.8 million, which produced an immediate 2.4 exahashes per second (EH/s) for the firm. It also agreed to buy an additional mining facility in Dalton, Georgia, for $6.9 million, which will produce 0.8 EH/s. However, that facility is under construction and won’t be ready until April 2024. Cointelegraph reached out to CleanSpark for comment but didn't receive a response by the time of publication. Magazine: This is your brain on crypto — Substance abuse grows among crypto traders

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark plunged 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the firm amended its at-the-market (ATM) offering agreement to sell up to $800 million of its stock. CleanSpark isn’t the only Bitcoin miner to enter into an ATM agreement for this reason either — with Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings, both entering into $750 million ATM agreements last August and October. With a market capitalization of $4.2 billion, a $800 million stock offering would effectively dilute CLSK shares by 19%. Related: Bitcoin halving ‘blood bath’ could push US miners offshoreCleanSpark is one of many Bitcoin miners preparing for the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, expected to occur on April 20, which will see Bitcoin mining rewards reduced from 6.25 BTC ($441,000) to 3.125 BTC ($220,500). The firm boasts the lowest cost production to mine one Bitcoin post-halving at $26,900, a Jan. 12 CoinShares research report found.

Binance forms board of directors for the first time

Binance Holdings, which operates the cryptocurrency exchange of the same name, has formed a seven-person board of directors filled with company executives and independent members. According to Binance’s website, the firm’s board of directors is now chaired by Gabriel Abed, the former ambassador of Barbados to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Other members included Binance CEO Richard Teng, Binance co-founder Heina Chen, Bayview Acquisition Corp CEO Xin Wang, Gojo & Company managing partner Arnaud Ventura, Roger Wang and Rock He. “We are pleased to share that Binance has established a new Board of Directors,” a spokesperson told Cointelegraph. “The Board consists of seven total Directors, three of whom are Independent Directors. We are proud to have some of the world’s strongest Web3 leaders advising our company as we enter our next chapter.” The formation of the board is likely one of the most significant changes to Binance’s leadership since Teng moved from his position as head of regional markets to become CEO in November 2023. Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao resigned as CEO at roughly the same time as part of a settlement agreement with United States authorities. As part of the deal with the U.S. Justice Department, Treasury Department, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties, and CZ pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his failure to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering program at the crypto exchange. Zhao is expected to be sentenced on April 30, and Binance still faces enforcement action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Related: Binance is now ‘totally different’: Interview with CEO Richard Teng Founded in China in 2017, Binance became one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world under Zhao, who largely kept the firm’s operations and personnel decentralized. The firm runs out of the UAE for its Middle East and North Africa operations and in France for its European business. Binance’s agreement with U.S. authorities required the firm to form a board of directors with independent members and compliance and audit committees. Teng said in December 2023 that he intended to report to the board. Magazine: Fake news crypto panic, Binance gains users as market share falls? Asia Express Update (April 1 at 9:41 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Binance.

Binance Holdings, which operates the cryptocurrency exchange of the same name, has formed a seven-person board of directors filled with company executives and independent members. Other members included Binance CEO Richard Teng, Binance co-founder Heina Chen, Bayview Acquisition Corp CEO Xin Wang, Gojo & Company managing partner Arnaud Ventura, Roger Wang and Rock He. “We are pleased to share that Binance has established a new Board of Directors,” a spokesperson told Cointelegraph. “The Board consists of seven total Directors, three of whom are Independent Directors. Binance’s agreement with U.S. authorities required the firm to form a board of directors with independent members and compliance and audit committees.

Dogecoiners clone hyped Bitcoin Ordinals ‘Runestone’ airdrop

Dogecoin blockchain natives have just finished handing out its own “Runestone” airdrop inspired by the nonfungible token (NFT)-like giveaway done through Bitcoin Ordinals last month. Finishing up on April 2, a total of 30,272 of the inventively titled “Doge Runestone” Doginals — Dogecoin’s name for its Ordinals — were handed out to wallets that held at least one Doginal from a list of collections outlined by Robo AI, the airdrop’s organizer. The Doge Runestones are now trading at a floor price of 185 Dogecoin (DOGE), worth about $32, and have seen a 24-hour volume of just over $2,000, according to data from the Ordinals Wallet marketplace. Doge Runestones, which are all the same, resemble a golden rock etched with the DOGE logo. Source: Ordinals Wallet The airdrop copied the buzzy Bitcoin Ordinals-based Runestone airdrop in March, where a community-run effort handed out over 112,000 Runestones to the protocol’s early adopters. Bitcoin Ordinals are NFT-esque assets such as images or documents that are embedded into sats — the smallest unit of Bitcoin (BTC). Dogecoin is a fork of a fork of Bitcoin — which is why it’s able to have Ordinals — and its Doginals protocol was launched by an anonymous developer in February last year, a month after Bitcoin Ordinals. The protocol also opened up the possibility for the launch of the DRC-20 token standard in early May 2023, taking its namesake from Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard and Bitcoin’s similar BRC-20 standard. Related: ‘No such thing as spam’ — OKX exec on Bitcoin Ordinals There are 149 Doginal collections and nearly 68,000 DRC-20 tokens with a combined market capitalization of $120 million, according to Doginal Explorer data. The 1993 classic shooter game Doom has also been inscribed on the Dogecoin blockchain as a Doginal — a continuing meme of video game porters that have run Doom on random hardware such as washing machines and toothbrushes. Doom on Dogecoin. Source: Dogecoin Ordinals The Doge Runestone airdrop didn’t seem to positively affect DOGE, which is trading at $0.1718 — down 2% in the past day and 20% on the week, per Cointelegraph Markets Pro. Magazine: Real-life Doge at 18 — Meme that’s going to the moon

Dogecoin blockchain natives have just finished handing out its own “Runestone” airdrop inspired by the nonfungible token (NFT)-like giveaway done through Bitcoin Ordinals last month. Doge Runestones, which are all the same, resemble a golden rock etched with the DOGE logo. Source: Ordinals WalletThe airdrop copied the buzzy Bitcoin Ordinals-based Runestone airdrop in March, where a community-run effort handed out over 112,000 Runestones to the protocol’s early adopters. Bitcoin Ordinals are NFT-esque assets such as images or documents that are embedded into sats — the smallest unit of Bitcoin (BTC). Dogecoin is a fork of a fork of Bitcoin — which is why it’s able to have Ordinals — and its Doginals protocol was launched by an anonymous developer in February last year, a month after Bitcoin Ordinals.

Circle enables USDC transfers for BlackRock’s first tokenized fund

Circle, the issuer of major stablecoin USDC (USDC), has enabled transfers of BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) shares to its stablecoin. Circle officially announced on April 11 a new smart contract functionality that would allow BUIDL holders to transfer their shares to Circle for USDC. Circle’s smart contract functionality enables the frictionless transfer of BUIDL shares in exchange for USDC to Circle on the secondary market. According to the announcement, the smart contract will enable “near-instant” BUIDL off-ramp that serves investors 24/7. Launched by BlackRock in March 2024, BUIDL is a tokenized fund that operates on the Ethereum blockchain to offer U.S. dollar yields through tokenization. BUIDL allows investors to purchase tokens representing shares in the fund, which invests in assets like U.S. Treasury bills. The fund is referred to as the “digital liquidity fund” because it is digitized in the form of tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and operates as an ERC-20 token called BUIDL. The new investment tool is the first tokenized fund introduced by BlackRock, which is also the operator of the fastest-growing spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. According to Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, tokenization of real-world assets is a rapidly emerging product category. “Tokenizing assets is but one important dimension of solving investor pain points. USDC enables investors to move out of tokenized assets at speed, lowering costs and removing friction,” Allaire stated. Related: Binance follows Circle and drops USDC support on Tron BlackRock is one of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency industry, operating the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) spot Bitcoin ETF, which holds 266,580 BTC, worth $18.5 billion as of April 10. IBIT was among the first spot Bitcoin ETFs to launch in January 2024 following historic approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BlackRock’s latest collaboration with Circle follows years of cooperation in the crypto industry. In 2022, Circle started investing in the Circle Reserve Fund to manage a portion of the USDC reserves in cooperation with BlackRock. The firm expected its composition to continue to be around 20% cash and 80% short duration U.S. Treasuries. The Circle Reserve Fund is a registered Rule 2a-7 government money market fund managed by BlackRock Advisors, and its portfolio consists of cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries. Magazine: Synthetix founder: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

Circle, the issuer of major stablecoin USDC (USDC), has enabled transfers of BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) shares to its stablecoin. Circle officially announced on April 11 a new smart contract functionality that would allow BUIDL holders to transfer their shares to Circle for USDC. Circle’s smart contract functionality enables the frictionless transfer of BUIDL shares in exchange for USDC to Circle on the secondary market. USDC enables investors to move out of tokenized assets at speed, lowering costs and removing friction,” Allaire stated. In 2022, Circle started investing in the Circle Reserve Fund to manage a portion of the USDC reserves in cooperation with BlackRock.

SEC pushes decision on Franklin Templeton spot Ether ETF

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed a potential decision of an application for a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Franklin Templeton. In an April 23 notice, the SEC said it had designated a longer period to approve or disapprove a proposed rule change allowing the Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade shares of the Franklin Ethereum Trust. The commission will have until June 11 to reassess its decision on the spot ETH ETF — an additional 45 days. Many analysts have speculated that the SEC will reach a final decision on whether to approve or deny a spot Ether ETF for listing and trading on U.S. exchanges in May, during deadlines for applications from several asset managers. In March, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested that the current round of Ether ETF applications would “ultimately be denied.” Related: Ether ETFs may be delayed, as institutions are unprepared — Web3 exec In January, the SEC began allowing U.S. exchanges to list and trade shares of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs — a landmark decision that will likely continue to affect how financial institutions handle cryptocurrencies. Though some speculated at the time that the commission was likely to follow suit with a spot ETH ETF, reports have suggested that it may be attempting to classify Ether as a security. Franklin Templeton’s spot BTC ETF was in the first round of approvals by the SEC. As of December 2020, the firm reported it had more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed a potential decision of an application for a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Franklin Templeton. The commission will have until June 11 to reassess its decision on the spot ETH ETF — an additional 45 days. Many analysts have speculated that the SEC will reach a final decision on whether to approve or deny a spot Ether ETF for listing and trading on U.S. exchanges in May, during deadlines for applications from several asset managers. Though some speculated at the time that the commission was likely to follow suit with a spot ETH ETF, reports have suggested that it may be attempting to classify Ether as a security. Franklin Templeton’s spot BTC ETF was in the first round of approvals by the SEC.

Prisma Finance $11.6M hacker claims it was a ‘whitehat rescue’

The hacker behind the $11.6 million exploit of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Prisma Finance is claiming it was a “whitehat rescue” and is enquiring about returning the funds, according to on-chain messages. “Hi, this is a whitehat rescue, who can I contact to refund,” the exploiter said on March 28, around 6 hours after the attack. The message came from the address “0x2d4…7507a” — which was earlier identified as being one of three addresses linked to the attack. “Please contact us at negotiations@prismafinance.com,” the DeFi firm said in response about two hours later. On-chain messages were sent between Prisma Finance and the hacker. Source: Etherscan A white hat hacker refers to a person who uses their hacking ability to find security vulnerabilities in software code. In the broader cybersecurity world, these security experts often notify the creator of the attack vector rather than exploiting it themselves. However, in the cryptocurrency industry, it is more common for hackers to exploit the protocol and then ask for a white hat bounty in exchange for immunity, though there have also been cases where they’ve returned funds without asking for any reward. The first batch of malicious transactions occurred at 11:29 am UTC on March 28. Prisma Finance is still investigating the root cause of the attack. Blockchain security firm PeckShield estimated about $11.6 million was stolen and sent to three separate addresses. The hacker then started swapping the stolen funds to Ether (ETH), according to blockchain security firm Cyvers. PeckShield later observed about 200 Ether was transferred to OFAC-sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. Prisma Finance engineers have since halted the DeFi protocol. Prior to the exploit, Prisma Finance had about $220 million in total value locked on its protocol, but that figure has plummeted to $115 million, according to DeFiLlama. Total value locked on Prisma Finance. Source: DefiLlama. Meanwhile, the Prisma Governance Token (PRISMA) plummeted 30% to $0.244 on the news but has since rebounded to $0.289, according to CoinGecko. Cointelegraph reached out to Prisma Finance for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Related: Ethical hacker retrieves $5.4M for Curve Finance amid exploit Cryptocurrency hacks continue to hamstring the developments in the DeFi industry. Over $200 million worth of cryptocurrencies have been lost to hacks and rug pulls across 32 individual incidents over the first two months of 2024, according to Web3 security firm Immunefi. A total of $1.8 billion was lost to cryptocurrency hacks and scammers in 2023, of which 17% have been attributed to the North Korean Lazarus Group, according to a Dec. 28 report by Immunefi. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

The hacker behind the $11.6 million exploit of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Prisma Finance is claiming it was a “whitehat rescue” and is enquiring about returning the funds, according to on-chain messages. On-chain messages were sent between Prisma Finance and the hacker. Prisma Finance is still investigating the root cause of the attack. Total value locked on Prisma Finance. Cointelegraph reached out to Prisma Finance for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

‘Disable iMessages’ ASAP to avoid crypto zero-day exploit: Trust Wallet

Crypto wallet provider Trust Wallet is urging Apple users to disable iMessage, citing “credible intel” of a zero-day exploit that could allow hackers to take control of users’ phones. “Alert for iOS users: We have credible intel regarding a high-risk zero-day exploit targeting iMessage on the Dark Web,” the firm posted to X at 7:53 pm UTC on April 16. The firm stressed the zero-day exploit can infiltrate and take control of iPhone users without clicking a link and that high-value account holders are most at threat. A zero-day exploit is a cyberattack vector that takes advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware. Trust Wallet stressed that all crypto wallets held on an iPhone with iMessage switched on are at risk. The firm’s CEO, Eowyn Chen, shared a screenshot of which she claims to be a potential zero-day exploit, showing an asking price of $2 million for the exploit. However, the so-called threat was met with skepticism from several industry pundits. “If this is your ‘credible intel’ it’s embarrassing. You don’t have evidence of a iOS exploit you have a screenshot of a guy claiming to have an exploit,” pseudonymous blockchain researcher Beau said in response to Chen’s screenshot. Asked whether it’s better to be “safe than sorry,” Beau stressed Trust Wallet’s alert could cause panic-induced harm. More than 1.2 million X users viewed Trust Wallet’s alert on X over the first four hours. Another skeptical comment from crypto analyst Foobar later led the firm into revealing its intel was sourced from its “security team and partners” that constantly check for threats. Cointelegraph reached out to Apple but didn’t receive an immediate response. Related: WinRAR patches zero-day bug that targeted stock and crypto traders It comes as Apple released emergency security updates to fix two iOS zero-day vulnerabilities that were exploited in attacks on iPhones last month. Apple’s iMessage application has also been used as an attack vector for hackers in previous events, according to security researchers at Kaspersky. Meanwhile, more than 280 blockchain networks are at risk of zero-day exploits that could put at least $25 billion worth of crypto at risk, cybersecurity firm Halborn claimed last month. Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably

Crypto wallet provider Trust Wallet is urging Apple users to disable iMessage, citing “credible intel” of a zero-day exploit that could allow hackers to take control of users’ phones. A zero-day exploit is a cyberattack vector that takes advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware. Trust Wallet stressed that all crypto wallets held on an iPhone with iMessage switched on are at risk. The firm’s CEO, Eowyn Chen, shared a screenshot of which she claims to be a potential zero-day exploit, showing an asking price of $2 million for the exploit. More than 1.2 million X users viewed Trust Wallet’s alert on X over the first four hours.

Paraguay’s proposed Bitcoin mining ban could cost $200M a year

The Paraguayan economy could lose more than $200 million annually if the country’s lawmakers pass a recently introduced bill to ban crypto mining in the country. Lawmakers introduced the draft bill on April 4, claiming illegal cryptocurrency mines steal power and disrupt the country’s electricity supply. If passed, the ban would last 180 days or until new laws are enacted and the national power grid operator can ensure it can supply sufficient energy. But a ban on lawful miners operating in the region could prove costly for the South American country, according to Hashlabs Mining co-founder and chief mining strategist Jaran Mellerud, who recently spoke with Cointelegraph: Banning Bitcoin mining could cost Paraguay more than $200 million a year, assuming the country has 500 megawatts of legal miners paying $0.05 per kilowatt-hour in operating expenses.” Markets of this size aren’t common in Paraguay either, which boasts a rather small population of 6.8 million people and the 94th-largest gross domestic product in the world at $41.7 billion, according to Worldometer, citing 2022 data. Bitcoin (BTC) mining has provided a “significant, positive contribution to Paraguay’s trade balance” until this point, Mellerud argued. Bitcoin mining firms currently need to register and receive authorization from the Paraguayan Ministry of Industry and Commerce. If passed, the bill may impact one of the industry’s largest players, Marathon Digital Holdings, which started deploying 27 megawatts around the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant last November. The Itaipu Dam has become a popular site for miners to set up, as it supplies all of Paraguay’s local electricity needs and leaves a large amount of excess electricity to tap into. This excess electricity has historically been exported to Brazil at low prices. However, Mellerud noted that a wave of Bitcoin miners has swooped in at slightly higher prices in recent months. But lawmakers say there have been 50 cases of interrupted power supply linked to cryptocurrency miners illegally tapping into these electricity sources since February alone. The country’s National Electricity Administration estimates each cryptocurrency mining operation has caused damages and losses up to $94,900. Total annual losses in the Alto Paraná area — where the Itaipu power plant is based — could be up to $60 million. “Illegal operations can be harmful to the grid if it draws too much electricity from low voltage lines,” Mellerud acknowledged. Related: Bitcoin’s halving won’t see a 600% return this year — so adjust your strategy A similar situation played out in Kazakhstan a few years ago, ultimately leading to the Kazakh government cracking down on the industry and kicking illegal mining operators out of the country. Mellerud previously told Cointelegraph that Paraguay and Argentina would take in an influx of United States-based miners looking to expand or even migrate to the energy-rich nations due to lower electricity costs. The controversy in Paraguay comes as Bitcoin miners prepare for the upcoming Bitcoin halving event expected to take place on April 20, which will slice miner rewards from 6.25 Bitcoin (BTC) ($434,000) to 3.125 BTC ($217,000). Magazine: Wolf Of All Streets worries about a world where Bitcoin hits $1M: Hall of Flame

Lawmakers introduced the draft bill on April 4, claiming illegal cryptocurrency mines steal power and disrupt the country’s electricity supply. Bitcoin (BTC) mining has provided a “significant, positive contribution to Paraguay’s trade balance” until this point, Mellerud argued. Bitcoin mining firms currently need to register and receive authorization from the Paraguayan Ministry of Industry and Commerce. However, Mellerud noted that a wave of Bitcoin miners has swooped in at slightly higher prices in recent months. The controversy in Paraguay comes as Bitcoin miners prepare for the upcoming Bitcoin halving event expected to take place on April 20, which will slice miner rewards from 6.25 Bitcoin (BTC) ($434,000) to 3.125 BTC ($217,000).

OpenAI makes ChatGPT ‘less verbose,’ blurring writer-AI distinction

OpenAI has unveiled an upgraded version of GPT-4 Turbo, one of the models that power the conversational ChatGPT experience. This upgraded version enables the artificial intelligence (AI) tool to engage in more natural conversations. This updated version is now available to premium users subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, Team or Enterprise plans. OpenAI said that the latest model, “gpt-4-turbo-2024-04-09,” boasts writing, math, logical reasoning and coding enhancements, along with an updated knowledge base. The latest upgrade was trained on publicly accessible data up to December 2023. The previous version could only draw on material up to April 2023. OpenAI wrote in a post on X: “When writing with ChatGPT [with the new GPT-4 Turbo], responses will be more direct, less verbose and use more conversational language.” However, this update could worsen the ongoing challenge of writers sounding like AI despite having written the articles themselves. On April 7, Paul Graham, co-founder of influential startup accelerator Y Combinator, concluded that an email including the word “delve” must have been written with the help of AI. Graham argued that the word wasn’t commonly used in everyday conversation, but many Africans — mostly Nigerians — countered, saying they used the word often. The conversation has since shifted to the fact that people from different parts of the world use the English vocabulary in diverse ways. Graham’s post also implies that writers who speak English as a second language could lose their jobs because their work could be deemed too similar to AI-generated content. Related: OpenAI set off an arms race and our security is the casualty The update follows the April 10 launch of new models in OpenAI’s API, including GPT-4 Turbo with Vision, incorporating image understanding features. According to documentation on its website, the AI developer OpenAI quietly updated the training data set for its GPT-4 Turbo to be relevant from December 2023. The update was implemented with the intention of reducing what developers call “laziness” in a model in which it doesn’t complete tasks asked of it. OpenAI has also eliminated the requirement for users to create an account to access its widely used generative AI tool, ChatGPT-3.5. The company announced on April 1 that it would no longer require ChatGPT users to sign up to make it “easier to experience the potential of AI.” However, users without accounts cannot store their history of previous interactions. Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all: Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance

OpenAI has unveiled an upgraded version of GPT-4 Turbo, one of the models that power the conversational ChatGPT experience. This updated version is now available to premium users subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, Team or Enterprise plans. OpenAI said that the latest model, “gpt-4-turbo-2024-04-09,” boasts writing, math, logical reasoning and coding enhancements, along with an updated knowledge base. According to documentation on its website, the AI developer OpenAI quietly updated the training data set for its GPT-4 Turbo to be relevant from December 2023. OpenAI has also eliminated the requirement for users to create an account to access its widely used generative AI tool, ChatGPT-3.5.

Turkish Misyon Bank moves into Bitcoin with Taurus

Update March 27: The article was updated to reflect that Misyon Bank and Taurus' collaboration will enable custody of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether in the first phase of implementation. Misyon Bank — an investment banking firm and one of the first neobanks in Turkey — is moving into digital asset custody and tokenization with Swiss cryptocurrency custody provider, Taurus. The Turkish neobank signed a partnership agreement with Taurus to implement its technology in order to provide crypto custody and tokenization services at Misyon Bank. The custody service will support Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Avalanche (AVA) in the first phase, a spokesperson for the Misyon Bank told Cointelegraph. “We plan to extend our coverage by including the other essential cryptocurrencies provided by Taurus for our clients in the following phases,” the representative noted, adding that crypto support is enabled in addition to tokenization of real world assets. Announcing the news on March 26, Misyon mentioned that the collaboration is structured through its wholly-owned subsidiary MisyonTech. Misyon will deploy multiple Taurus-developed solutions, including the custody platform Taurus Protect, the tokenization tool Taurus Capital and the blockchain node infrastructure Taurus Explorer. Taurus is known for providing its custody service to major European banks, including the Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander and global investment bank Credit Suisse. The latter is also a major Taurus investor, leading a $65 million Series B raise for the firm in February 2023. According to Misyon Bank CEO Önder Halisdemir, the partnership with Taurus is a significant step forward in its plan to make Turkey the “Switzerland of its region.” “With this collaboration, Turkish assets will be made accessible to investors worldwide through tokenization,” Halisdemir noted. He added that local solutions for digital assets will be designed with the contributions of Istanbul Technical University and KPMG. The exec stated: “With the completion of the local regulatory framework for digital asset custody services, our efforts will make Turkey a center of excellence and attraction in its region regarding custody services and tokenization.” Misyon and Taurus didn’t mention whether the collaboration targets the addition of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) on the Misyon platform directly. Related: OKX announces launch of Turkish platform Turkey has emerged as one of major crypto economies in the world, ranking fourth in terms of crypto transaction volumes, or $170 billion in 2023, according to data from Chainalysis. The country is just behind the United States, India and the United Kingdom. According to Misyon Bank and Taurus, the newly signed partnership opens the door for a wave of institutional activity in the region. “We have been impressed by Misyon and MisyonTech team of experts, and we are confident that through this significant collaboration, Turkey could establish a prominent position within the region in digital asset custody and tokenization,” Taurus co-founder Lamine Brahimi said. Magazine: Asia Express: $383M for HK crypto hub, APAC exchanges expand, Digital Yuan bridge

Update March 27: The article was updated to reflect that Misyon Bank and Taurus' collaboration will enable custody of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether in the first phase of implementation. The Turkish neobank signed a partnership agreement with Taurus to implement its technology in order to provide crypto custody and tokenization services at Misyon Bank. The custody service will support Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Avalanche (AVA) in the first phase, a spokesperson for the Misyon Bank told Cointelegraph. Misyon will deploy multiple Taurus-developed solutions, including the custody platform Taurus Protect, the tokenization tool Taurus Capital and the blockchain node infrastructure Taurus Explorer. According to Misyon Bank and Taurus, the newly signed partnership opens the door for a wave of institutional activity in the region.

Coinbase to move customer and corporate USDC balances to Base

Coinbase will start moving more of its customer and corporate USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin accounts to Base — its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain launched a little over seven months ago. Coinbase vice president Max Branzburg posted to X on March 26 claiming the move would allow the crypto exchange to “manage and secure customer funds with lower fees and faster settlement times.” The change only impacts Coinbase.com accounts — not Coinbase Wallet, as those users are responsible for their own private keys. Currently, Coinbase.com user tokens are custodied by Coinbase in a wallet secured by multiparty computation. Branzburg stressed that Coinbase always holds customer assets 1:1 and doesn’t lend funds out unless instructed. Coinbase’s move on-chain will carve a path toward a future on-chain financial system, explained David Hoffman, a co-host on the Ethereum-focused show Bankless in a March 26 X post. Bankless co-host, Ryan Sean Adams, believed the move would also set a precedent for cryptocurrency exchanges and banks to follow suit. “Every asset is a future token [...] Every bank is a future chain," Sean Adams added. Not everyone is on board with the move, though. X user “callmeKappa.algo” suggested Base is too centralized in its current state. Related: Base TVL doubles in a month as pundits tip memecoins to drive adoption Coinbase is currently the sole sequencer of Base, according to L2BEAT data — meaning the chain is fully controlled by the exchange. However, the firm has iterated its intention to progressively decentralize Base over time. Base was launched as an Ethereum scaling solution on Aug. 9, 2023. It uses optimistic rollups to store transaction data off-chain and submit transactions to Ethereum’s base layer. Coinbase also open-sourced Base's code in October to increase transparency and accountability while simultaneously allowing public contributions to the project. It is currently the fourth largest Ethereum layer 2 by total value locked at $2.63 billion, trailing only Arbitrum, Optimism and Blast, according to L2BEAT. Base notched an all-time high of 2 million daily transactions on March 16 as figures for daily new users also continue to rise. Magazine: ‘Am I sorry? No’ — 3AC founder. $6B BTC laundered for fast food worker: Asia Express

Coinbase will start moving more of its customer and corporate USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin accounts to Base — its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain launched a little over seven months ago. Currently, Coinbase.com user tokens are custodied by Coinbase in a wallet secured by multiparty computation. Branzburg stressed that Coinbase always holds customer assets 1:1 and doesn’t lend funds out unless instructed. X user “callmeKappa.algo” suggested Base is too centralized in its current state. Coinbase also open-sourced Base's code in October to increase transparency and accountability while simultaneously allowing public contributions to the project.

Crypto users fooled by fake Elizabeth Warren letter proposing crypto tax

Many social media users appeared to be fooled by an anti-crypto policy proposed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. The problem is the letter containing the proposal was fake. On April 21, many on Crypto Twitter erupted in dismay at a seemingly real letter from Senator Warren to United States President Joe Biden. The letter — which misspelled the senator’s first name — proposed a 1% wealth tax on crypto holdings exceeding $500,000. The letter called for President Biden to support crypto-related legislation from Senator Warren as part of efforts to address issues in the U.S. financial system. Even after many on social media pointed out discrepancies between the letter and reality, some crypto users seemed to refuse to acknowledge the truth. “Could be [not true] but she’s the type to ask that,” said DonCryptoDraper. No such letter appeared on Senator Warren’s website at the time of publication. Cointelegraph reached out to her office for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Related: Elizabeth Warren supports enhanced US sanction options for stablecoins The Massachusetts senator is one of the more vocal anti-crypto voices in Congress, often associating digital assets with illicit activities, including the financing of terrorism. One of her proposed bills, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, has been critized by many crypto advocates and lawmakers for being ineffective in stopping illicit financing. Warren is up for reelection in November and will likely face off against Republican candidate and crypto lawyer John Deaton. He raised roughly $1.36 million for his campaign — $1 million from his own pockets — in the first quarter of 2024 compared to Warren’s $1.09 million. Deaton has also requested to serve as a friend of the court in Coinbase’s civil lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Magazine: Opinion: GOP crypto maxis almost as bad as Dems’ ‘anti-crypto army’

Many social media users appeared to be fooled by an anti-crypto policy proposed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. On April 21, many on Crypto Twitter erupted in dismay at a seemingly real letter from Senator Warren to United States President Joe Biden. The letter — which misspelled the senator’s first name — proposed a 1% wealth tax on crypto holdings exceeding $500,000. The letter called for President Biden to support crypto-related legislation from Senator Warren as part of efforts to address issues in the U.S. financial system. Even after many on social media pointed out discrepancies between the letter and reality, some crypto users seemed to refuse to acknowledge the truth.

SushiSwap DAO backs transition to ‘Labs model’ in preliminary vote

Decentralized exchange SushiSwap has received a positive sign to move forward with a hotly debated plan for a less decentralized business model. According to a signal vote completed on April 10, more than 62% of voters supported the exchange’s proposal to transition to a so-called “Labs model.” SushiSwap introduced the proposal on March 26, leading to significant debate within its community. According to the plan, the exchange seeks to establish Sushi Labs, an autonomous administrative, technical and operational company that would manage the Sushi ecosystem. Tokenholders would still decide on treasury allocations, but without getting into operational details. The Labs would receive 25 million SUSHI (SUSHI) tokens, worth nearly $39 million at current prices. In addition, Sushi Labs will be designated as the exclusive recipient of any future airdrops from affiliated protocols and partners. “We request that Sushi DAO award a grant of 25 million Sushi tokens to Sushi Labs, including assets from the Arbitrum airdrop, business development, and partner grants, Kanpai 2.0, Sushi 2.0, rewards, stablecoins, and ‘Sushi House’ funds.” The next steps for Sushi’s community include voting on the implementation proposal by April 17. Nearly 7 million tokens support it, representing a 92% approval rate at the time of writing. A signal vote is an initial step to gauge the community’s interest or opinion on a proposal without implementing any changes. An implementation vote, on the other hand, is a subsequent step where the community decides if the proposal should be executed. Sushi’ community reacts On Sushi’s governance forum, several community members expressed their opposition to the proposed plan, voicing concerns regarding the treasury’s financial stability and allegations of voting power manipulation. “I think it would be important to have a sizable amount of all revenues, airdrops included, going directly the the DAO treasury. This would not interfere with hiring, firing, or other operations [...] Treasury should not be ignored. [...] I suggest a split of revenues between treasury and operations,” noted community member Nick Rishwain in the proposal’s thread. Another member of the SushiSwap community, Naïm Boubziz, claimed on X that the move was a hostile takeover. According to Boubziz, the core development team created new wallets prior to the vote in order to increase their voting power. “It appears that Sushi DAO is at the end of its journey,” said another member on the governance forum. Sushi “head chef” Jared Grey has responded to the criticism. “After consulting our legal counsel, I directed the operations team to execute the YAY vote with the OPs wallet and its holdings due to the threat of a hostile takeover,” he said on X in response to allegations of manipulation. Grey also noted that the Labs model will help Sushi recover lost market share: “Much of the current product development roadmap’s limitations and delays stem from the DAO’s outsized ambition, unrealistic expectations, and budget constraints endorsed through snapshot votes from when Sushi’s resources were multitudes greater.” SushiSwap’s revenue has been declining since 2022 despite the current bull market. According to DefiLlama data, the decentralized exchange generated $11.65 million in fees and $1.5 million in revenue in March 2023, compared to $3.5 million in fees and $531,640 in revenue last month. Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

Decentralized exchange SushiSwap has received a positive sign to move forward with a hotly debated plan for a less decentralized business model. According to the plan, the exchange seeks to establish Sushi Labs, an autonomous administrative, technical and operational company that would manage the Sushi ecosystem. The Labs would receive 25 million SUSHI (SUSHI) tokens, worth nearly $39 million at current prices. In addition, Sushi Labs will be designated as the exclusive recipient of any future airdrops from affiliated protocols and partners. Nearly 7 million tokens support it, representing a 92% approval rate at the time of writing.

Scammers eye Toncoin as Telegram-TON partnership grabs headlines

Telegram’s public support for The Open Network (TON) blockchain and its intention to incorporate its native Toncoin token have led to scammers targeting unsuspecting tokenholders to exploit them. Information shared with Cointelegraph from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky outlines a cryptocurrency scam that has been attempting to steal Toncoin (TON) from Telegram users worldwide. According to experts at Kaspersky, the scam has been operating since at least November 2023 as interest and investments in TON surged. Scammers have been promoting an elaborate referral scheme that ultimately aims to steal TON tokens from users. Related: Telegram commits to TON blockchain, plans to support tokenized emojis and stickers NFTs Potential targets receive a link from friends or contacts to participate in an “exclusive earning program.” The scammers then begin prompting victims to join an unofficial Telegram bot purportedly designed to store cryptocurrency and to link their Web3 wallet to the bot’s system. At the same time, the fraudsters instruct users to purchase Toncoin through legitimate channels like the official Telegram bot, peer-to-peer (P2P) markets or cryptocurrency exchanges, which adds an element of credibility and a false sense of security. The signup page for users to purchase boosters that offer varying returns for TON deposits. Source: Kaspersky Victims are then coerced into purchasing “boosters” using a separate bot. The scammers claim that users must complete this action to start earning. This is the point at which scammers make their money. After purchasing a booster, the user irrevocably loses control of their cryptocurrency. “The costs of ‘boosters’ — labeled by the scammers as ‘bike,’ ‘car,’ ‘train,’ ‘plane,’ or ‘rocket’ — vary from 5 to 500 Toncoins,” Kaspersky’s experts explained. The scheme’s booster tier with commissions offering returns typical of a pyramid scheme. Source: Kaspersky Users lose anywhere between $2 and $2,700 through the targeted pyramid scheme. After convincing users to purchase fake boosters, the scammers also tout a referral program that requires victims to create private Telegram groups with friends and contacts. Related: New Telegram mini-apps will be so convenient users won’t know it’s crypto The scammers provide a referral link that comes with its own video instructions for users in both Russian and English. Users are required to have five successful referrals in order to start earning through the fraudulent scheme. The scammers promise earnings from two sources, including a fixed payment of 25 TON for each invited friend and commission based on the booster tariff purchased by your referrals. “It turns out to be a classic pyramid scheme, in which each participant is a partner rather than a freeloader. Sadly, nobody profits except the scammers, and all ‘partners’ lose their investments,” Kaspersky’s analysts explained. Cointelegraph has requested additional information from Kaspersky regarding the number of users who have been affected and the total amount of funds that have been lost. This article will be updated accordingly. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Information shared with Cointelegraph from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky outlines a cryptocurrency scam that has been attempting to steal Toncoin (TON) from Telegram users worldwide. Scammers have been promoting an elaborate referral scheme that ultimately aims to steal TON tokens from users. The scheme’s booster tier with commissions offering returns typical of a pyramid scheme. Source: KasperskyUsers lose anywhere between $2 and $2,700 through the targeted pyramid scheme. “It turns out to be a classic pyramid scheme, in which each participant is a partner rather than a freeloader.

Ethereum boosts 8% amid ‘ultra-strong’ social and market activity

Ether (ETH) accelerated 8% in spot crypto markets on Monday amid an uptick in social sentiment and optimism among derivatives traders. Ether prices have gained around 8% over the past 24 hours, with the asset hitting an intraday high of $3,722 on April 9, outpacing Bitcoin (BTC) and most of its closest peers, according to CoinGecko. It is the highest price ETH has reached since March 16, just over three weeks ago. The asset is now 9% away from its 2024 high of $4,070 and 24% down from its 2021 all-time high of $4,878. Comparatively, Bitcoin prices have moved 3% over the past day reaching $71,395 at the time of writing. Ethereum’s momentum may have been spurred by several factors, including “ultra-strong” social and market activity, according to social intelligence firm Lunar Crush. “Social activity continues to accelerate, joined by both strong price action and market volume,” it noted in a post on X on April 8. Ethereum social activity and price. Source: Lunar Crush Meanwhile, Ethereum derivatives markets are also hinting at bullish sentiment for the asset for the rest of this month. There is currently around $600 million in open interest (OI) at the $4,000 strike price and $378 million at strike prices of $3,700 and $5,000, according to crypto futures exchange Deribit. This shows an upside bias and bullish sentiment for the end-of-the-month options expiry on April 26, when around 900,000 Ethereum contracts expire with a notional value of $3.8 billion. Ethereum OI by strike price. Source: Deribit Not everyone is so bullish, however. Crypto author and educator Vijay Boyapati opined in a post on X on April 8 that the premise of Ethereum spot ETF approvals is driving momentum, but it could be short-lived if they get rejected. “All the hot money that flowed into ETH because of ETF hopium is going to go back into Bitcoin once the Ethereum ETFs are all rejected…” Related: Key Ethereum price metric targets $5.4K ETH in 2024 On April 9, on-chain analytics firm Santiment observed that “powered by Ethereum’s rise to start the week,” ERC-20 assets have been “well ahead of the markets on average,” the sector has grown by 8.1% in the past week. Meanwhile, Toncoin (TON) has flipped Cardano (ADA) to take the tenth spot by market capitalization following an 18.5% daily gain to hit an all-time high of $6.50 on April 9. Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

Ether (ETH) accelerated 8% in spot crypto markets on Monday amid an uptick in social sentiment and optimism among derivatives traders. It is the highest price ETH has reached since March 16, just over three weeks ago. Ethereum’s momentum may have been spurred by several factors, including “ultra-strong” social and market activity, according to social intelligence firm Lunar Crush. Ethereum social activity and price. Ethereum OI by strike price.

Railgun denies being used by North Korea as it nears $1B total volume

Crypto privacy protocol Railgun has denied being used by North Korea and other United States-sanctioned entities to launder cryptocurrency, arguing its zero knowledge-based tech prevents this and the accusations have “no evidence.” It comes as the Railgun platform’s total volume nears the $1 billion mark, boosted by a recent X post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praising and defending the privacy protocol. Railgun, founded in January 2021, uses zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to shield wallet balances, transaction history and transaction details allowing users to use decentralized apps (DApps) on Ethereum or other supported chains while remaining private. Blockchain security firm Elliptic once labeled Railgun a “prime alternative to Tornado Cash” after the U.S. government imposed sanctions against the crypto mixer. In January 2023, the FBI stated that North Korean cyber attackers used Railgun to launder more than $60 million worth of Ether (ETH) from the 2022 Harmony Bridge heist. In an X post responding to crypto reporter Colin Wu, Railgun denied that Lazarus had used the privacy protocol, calling it “false reporting.” “Firstly, that group is blocked from using the RAILGUN system by the “Private Proofs of Innocence” system, which went live over a year ago,” Railgun wrote on X. “Secondly, it was a mistaken, false allegation in the first place,” it added. Private Proofs of Innocence — also known as Private POI — was launched by Railgun’s researchers and contributors in January 2023. It uses cryptographic assurance to ensure that funds entering the Railgun smart contract are not from a known list of undesirable transactions or actors by requiring users to create a ZK-proof that their funds are not part of a pre-set list of transactions and wallets. Related: Advocacy groups warn of ‘adverse repercussions’ for crypto in case against Tornado Cash co-founder Buterin has also since defended Railgun arguing that “privacy is normal” and that the privacy pools protocol makes it “much harder for bad actors to join the pool.” Railgun hit $962.8 million in total volume, while its total value locked on Ethereum — where most of the protocol’s activity is — also crossed over $25 million, according to Dune Analytics data. Its token Railgun (RAIL) also rallied on April 15 after it was reported that Buterin had sent 100 ETH worth $325,000 to Railgun earlier that day. The token is now trading at $1.18 and is up 86.3% over the past seven days. Magazine: The real risks to Ethena’s stablecoin model (are not the ones you think)

Crypto privacy protocol Railgun has denied being used by North Korea and other United States-sanctioned entities to launder cryptocurrency, arguing its zero knowledge-based tech prevents this and the accusations have “no evidence.”It comes as the Railgun platform’s total volume nears the $1 billion mark, boosted by a recent X post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praising and defending the privacy protocol. Blockchain security firm Elliptic once labeled Railgun a “prime alternative to Tornado Cash” after the U.S. government imposed sanctions against the crypto mixer. In January 2023, the FBI stated that North Korean cyber attackers used Railgun to launder more than $60 million worth of Ether (ETH) from the 2022 Harmony Bridge heist. Private Proofs of Innocence — also known as Private POI — was launched by Railgun’s researchers and contributors in January 2023. Its token Railgun (RAIL) also rallied on April 15 after it was reported that Buterin had sent 100 ETH worth $325,000 to Railgun earlier that day.

Bitcoin to attract $1T from institutions amid ‘raging bull market’ — Bitwise exec

Bitwise chief investment officer Matthew Hougan said institutional investors would likely inject as much as $1 trillion into Bitcoin (BTC) through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as they slowly move into crypto. In a memo sent to investment professionals, Hougan addressed concerns over Bitcoin’s price volatility. As the asset bounces between $60,000 and $70,000, the executive said the best approach would be to “keep calm and take the long view.” While the price seems unstable in the short term, Hougan noted many key events to look forward to in the coming months and years. These include the Bitcoin halving and the spot Bitcoin ETFs getting approved on national account platforms like Morgan Stanley or Wells Fargo. Furthermore, the executive highlighted that the space has to wait for investment committees and consultants still conducting their formal due diligence on Bitcoin. This is a necessary step they have to take before investing in the asset. Related: Bitcoin Halving: Latest News and Full Coverage by Cointelegraph Hougan said that while the space waits for these key events, the BTC price would likely “chop sideways” whenever there are small changes in sentiment; however, the investment officer believes things would be different long-term. Hougan wrote: “But long-term, we believe Bitcoin is in a raging bull market. Not only is it up nearly 300% in the past 15 months, but there are strong reasons to think that will continue.” According to Hougan, the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in January opened crypto to investment professionals in a major way. Related: 3 theories why the SEC may be eyeing down Ethereum: Crypto lawyer He also believes that investment professionals who control trillions of dollars are just starting to move into crypto. Hougan highlighted that onboarding more professional investors would “take years, not months.” The executive also said that the $12 billion flowing into ETFs since their launch is exciting and is “the most successful ETF launch of all time.” However, he believes that once global wealth managers begin to allocate 1% of their portfolio into Bitcoin, this would mean $1 trillion in inflows into the space. “A 1% allocation across the board would mean ~$1 trillion of inflows into the space. Against this, $12 billion is barely a down payment,” he added. Magazine: Ether ETFs face Senate opposition, Wright is not Satoshi, and Dencun goes live: Hodler’s Digest, March 10–16

Bitwise chief investment officer Matthew Hougan said institutional investors would likely inject as much as $1 trillion into Bitcoin (BTC) through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as they slowly move into crypto. In a memo sent to investment professionals, Hougan addressed concerns over Bitcoin’s price volatility. These include the Bitcoin halving and the spot Bitcoin ETFs getting approved on national account platforms like Morgan Stanley or Wells Fargo. Furthermore, the executive highlighted that the space has to wait for investment committees and consultants still conducting their formal due diligence on Bitcoin. Hougan wrote:“But long-term, we believe Bitcoin is in a raging bull market.

Ethereum on track for $1B annual profit as DeFi drives Q1 revenue

Blockchain network Ethereum is on the path to $1 billion in annualized profits after it netted income of $365 million in Q1, coming alongside a year-on-year quarterly revenue growth of 155%. The network’s 2024 first-quarter income is a nearly 200% bump from the $123 million profit in Q4 2023, according to an April 17 report from The DeFi Report analyst Michael Nadeau. Ethereum’s fee revenue — earned through users paying for transactions — hit $1.17 billion, up 155% from Q1 2023 and an 80% increase from the prior quarter. Ethereum’s yearly profit and loss since launching in 2015. Source: The DeFi Report Increased network activity “primarily driven by a surge in DeFi activity during the quarter” was the cause of the revenue bump, Nadeau said. The activity surge has seen average daily transactions on the blockchain in 2024 already surpass last year’s figures and are closing in on the results from Ethereum’s peak in 2021. Ethereum's average daily transactions per year (blue) and Ether burned (pink). Source: The DeFi Report Over 1.15 million average daily transactions have taken place in 2024, slightly up from the 1.05 million last year and just shy of the 1.25 million recorded in 2021. Ethereum was launched in 2015 but only had its first profitable year in 2023 — earning $623 million — despite its revenues that year being 75% lower than its peak $9.9 billion 2021 revenues. “This is largely due to the move to proof-of-stake consensus in September of ‘22 — in which token incentives paid to miners (now validators) dropped roughly 80%,” Nadeau explained. He added Ethereum’s fees have grown at a rate of 58% since 2017. “Crypto will outperform everything else” in the years ahead Nadeau gave his market predictions for the coming years and concluded that “crypto will outperform everything else.” He expected rising liquidity conditions for the “next few years” as the United States has a large amount of debt needing refinancing this year and the market had priced in three rate cuts this year from the Federal Reserve. “This should provide a tailwind for risk assets such as tech stocks and quality crypto.” The U.S. spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, the Bitcoin halving and what Nadeau called “the innovation cycle” were three additional catalysts “pointing to a bullish setup for the next few years.” Related: Bitcoin fees top Ethereum for 3 days in a row as halving approaches The Bitcoin ETFs will serve as a “gateway drug” for increased interest in cryptocurrencies as they enable broad access and the halving — slated for April 20 — “has historically led to a bull run in the year after.” The “innovation cycle” will also draw in new venture funding and renew retail interest in crypto as it matures, Nadeau believed. He claimed Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are “quite correlated” — Bitcoin outperforms early in the bull market as it is the most recognizable cryptocurrency while ETH and altcoins tend to outperform it in the later stages of the cycle. “It’s noteworthy that altcoins actually rallied so much in the last two cycles that they outperformed Bitcoin across the full length of both cycles,” Nadeau added. He believed this would continue but only with altcoins “that have clear product market fit.” Magazine: Joe Lubin — The truth about ETH founders split and ‘Crypto Google’

Blockchain network Ethereum is on the path to $1 billion in annualized profits after it netted income of $365 million in Q1, coming alongside a year-on-year quarterly revenue growth of 155%. The network’s 2024 first-quarter income is a nearly 200% bump from the $123 million profit in Q4 2023, according to an April 17 report from The DeFi Report analyst Michael Nadeau. Ethereum’s fee revenue — earned through users paying for transactions — hit $1.17 billion, up 155% from Q1 2023 and an 80% increase from the prior quarter. Source: The DeFi ReportIncreased network activity “primarily driven by a surge in DeFi activity during the quarter” was the cause of the revenue bump, Nadeau said. He believed this would continue but only with altcoins “that have clear product market fit.”Magazine: Joe Lubin — The truth about ETH founders split and ‘Crypto Google’

Bitcoin FilmFest: Lights, camera, halving as Bitcoin cinema hits Warsaw

Bitcoiners from around the world descended upon Poland’s capital, Warsaw, from April 18 to 21 for a weekend of films, networking, group activities and the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving. The second edition of the family-friendly Bitcoin FilmFest hosted several film premieres and screenings, including a biopic of Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian school of economics and “grandfather of Bitcoin;” Gods of Their Own Religion, a dystopian story in the not-too-distant future about a city living under the jackboot of a technocratic empire; Dirty Coin, which addresses the widespread misconceptions about Bitcoin (BTC) and its reputation as a “dirty coin” due to its energy consumption and alleged role in facilitating illegal activities — and several others. Bitcoin FilmFest saw the iconic Kinoteka venue transformed into a Bitcoin-themed theater. Source: Cointelegraph The festival took place in Warsaw’s famous Palace of Culture and Science, a stunning display of Stalinist-Gothic architecture known locally as “Stalin’s Palace.” The building is a reminder of the troubled history of Poland, which spent over 50 years under repressive communist rule. The palace symbolizes soviet grandeur and propaganda — built in the middle of devastated post-World War II Warsaw when residents faced unimaginable struggles. It’s a true product of statism, and it is fitting, then, that it should host an event focused on educating about Bitcoin and building a decentralized economy outside of the government-controlled fiat system. The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. Source: Cointelegraph The festival also featured the documentary My Trust in You is Broken, which highlights the dangers of trusted third parties and chronicles the story of decentralization, focusing on Nicolas Dorier’s contribution to the Bitcoin ecosystem. His innovation, the BTCPay Server, played a major role in progressing Bitcoin acceptance worldwide. There were also short films and mini-documentaries, such as Lekker Feeling, which is set in Mossel Bay, South Africa, where an organization called Bitcoin Ekasi partnered with a local surfing group to create new opportunities with Bitcoin. Bitcoin FilmFest co-founder Tomek Kolodziejczuk told Cointelegraph that the event has evolved into much more than just movies about Bitcoin: “Most Bitcoiners say The Matrix is a Bitcoiner movie. But then, what is a Bitcoiner movie? That’s a big debate, right? Is it just a film that includes Bitcoin, or maybe a film that has nothing to do with Bitcoin but was crowdfunded with Bitcoin? Or maybe it’s a film that somehow aligns with Bitcoin’s values of decentralization, autonomy and independence, like maybe a movie that is anti-system, right?” The event had several satellite meetups, networking gatherings and leisure activities for all — including children. Each morning, the festival hosted an “Amondo morning,” which included a cinema meetup for kids and young people. On April 21 was “Cartoonfest,” a series of short kid’s films and cartoons with narratives about Bitcoin and sound economics. Buying flats with sats One such satellite event was “Sats4Flats,” a private event for Bitcoin and real estate professionals that included a discussion on Bitcoin, real estate and tokenization. Participants also shared real estate investment opportunities and brainstormed how to make purchases using Bitcoin. An example of an apartment for sale advertised by Sats4Flats, with its price in BTC. Source: Sats4Flats The Sats4Flats event also saw the launch of a new Bitcoin real estate community in Poland, with several presentations from special guests. Sats4Flats founder Maciej Kordala introduced the new initiative, which he said aims to attract the interest of investors and developers in the traditional Polish real estate market. Tick tock, next block One of the highlights of the weekend was the Bitcoin halving — an event occurring every four years that halves the block reward for Bitcoin miners, hard-coding Bitcoin as a scarce and ultimately deflationary asset. The festival included a “European Halving Party,” which saw attendees celebrate the halving in the wee hours of the morning on April 20. Related: Bitcoin halving 2024 — Done and dusted! This year’s halving came at a time of euphoric optimism in the Bitcoin community, which has seen some big wins in recent months. In January, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the country, which was followed soon after by a new all-time high of over $73,000 for Bitcoin. All of this is happening in the context of an increasingly tense and uncertain macro climate. The event coincided with the Bitcoin halving and included a European Halving Party. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoiners who spoke to Cointelegraph at the event shared their beliefs that the current system is broken. One attendee shared the story of how Bitcoin has enabled him to build wealth in a “broken system that no longer works for the average person.” This was a common theme at the event. Kolodziejczuk told Cointelegraph, “It makes people ask the question: Is something wrong with the system? And then this question brings them to question the fiat structures and fiat system and then to Bitcoin.” Kolodziejczuk said the long-term plan is to keep growing and building a culture around Bitcoin. He added that they plan to keep the event in Warsaw and that there’s still a lot of untapped potential, particularly in the traditional film industry. The Bitcoin FilmFest team is “trying to build this bridge to more Hollywood or legacy filmmakers who are getting orange-pilled, with more networking between producers, investors and actors,” Kolodziejczuk said, adding: “With each next edition, it will be more for filmmakers who are interested in Bitcoin. This is the boiling pot of what fosters the growth of Bitcoin cinema that happens in Warsaw, and let’s continue. It’s just the second edition, right? But the plan is definitely long-term.” Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

Bitcoiners from around the world descended upon Poland’s capital, Warsaw, from April 18 to 21 for a weekend of films, networking, group activities and the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving. Buying flats with satsOne such satellite event was “Sats4Flats,” a private event for Bitcoin and real estate professionals that included a discussion on Bitcoin, real estate and tokenization. Source: Sats4FlatsThe Sats4Flats event also saw the launch of a new Bitcoin real estate community in Poland, with several presentations from special guests. Related: Bitcoin halving 2024 — Done and dusted! The event coincided with the Bitcoin halving and included a European Halving Party.

Stocks and crypto at the edge of ‘significant’ correction: 10x Research

The stock and cryptocurrency markets could be “ahead of a crucial tipping point” heading for a significant price correction, according to Markus Thielen, the founder of 10x Research. “We sold everything last night,” wrote Thielen, citing persistent inflation, decreasing rate cuts and a rising bond yield as the reasons behind his bearish outlook. In an April 16 research note, the founder wrote: “The primary trigger is the unexpected and persistent inflation. With the bond market now projecting less than three cuts and 10-year Treasury Yields surpassing 4.50%, we may have arrived at a crucial tipping point for risk assets.” The bearish research note comes after Bitcoin’s (BTC) price fell over 9.3% during the week to trade above the $63,400 level as of 9:15 am UTC, according to CoinMarketCap data. The reason behind Bitcoin’s decline could be the falling expectations for an incoming interest rate cut, according to the research note: “Most of this 2023/2024 bitcoin rally is driven by expectations that interest rates would be cut, and this narrative is being seriously challenged now.” Traders are currently expecting rates to remain unchanged — 99% of market participants expect the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at the current 5.25%–5.50%, up from 93.6% a month ago, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Target interest rate expectation. Source: CME Thielen added that the company sold all its tech stocks at the open during Monday’s trading session: “We only hold a few high-conviction crypto coins. Overall, we are bearish risk assets.” Related: ETH price nears 3-year lows vs. Bitcoin — Will an Ethereum ETF stem the tide? Is Bitcoin price overheated? A key technical indicator suggests that Bitcoin price may be “overbought.” On the weekly chart, Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) is currently at 67, suggesting that the asset may be overheated. Yet Bitcoin’s RSI has cooled significantly from its 2024 high of 88, hit on March 24, according to TradingView. BTC/USD, 1-week chart. Source: TradingView The RSI is a popular momentum indicator used to measure whether an asset is oversold or overbought based on the magnitude of recent price changes. Investor focus has shifted to the upcoming Bitcoin halving, prompting long-term holders to start selling and moving assets off exchanges. As long as short-term holders absorb the supply, Bitcoin price could see a recovery, according to a Bitfinex research report shared with Cointelegraph: “There has been a shift in the makeup of the Bitcoin investor base, with new entrants (Short-Term Holders) absorbing the supply sold by Long-Term Holders (LTHs). This is evidenced by the rising Market Value to Realized Value ratio for STHs, albeit it is still below peak levels seen in previous cycles. If this dynamic of STHs absorbing LTH sell downs persists, then it could indicate room for further price growth.” Related: ‘China is about to start bidding’ — Will Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs spark the halving rally?

The stock and cryptocurrency markets could be “ahead of a crucial tipping point” heading for a significant price correction, according to Markus Thielen, the founder of 10x Research. In an April 16 research note, the founder wrote:“The primary trigger is the unexpected and persistent inflation. Source: CMEThielen added that the company sold all its tech stocks at the open during Monday’s trading session:“We only hold a few high-conviction crypto coins. Is Bitcoin price overheated? Yet Bitcoin’s RSI has cooled significantly from its 2024 high of 88, hit on March 24, according to TradingView.

ETH to spike post halving, ETF denial would not ‘be bearish’ — Analysts

Crypto analysts are betting that Ether’s (ETH) price could see a significant upswing within months after the Bitcoin halving despite being down 11.39% over the past 30 days, based on historical data. One researcher also thinks that a potential exchange-traded fund (ETF) denial won’t necessarily lower prices. “If the ETF is denied, it will not be that bearish, as the market is not pricing in it yet, and we still have Bitcoin ETFs as the entrance for traditional funds,” Hashkey Capital head of Research Jupiter Zheng told Cointelegraph. However, Zheng believes if a spot Ether ETF is approved with staking, it will be “really bullish.” He explained that an approval could trigger a surge in short liquidations, potentially driving up the price further. The steep decline in Ether’s price this week has led to $39.13 million in long positions being liquidated over the past 24 hours, as per CoinGlass data. ETH has seen $16.10 million in short liquidations and $39.13 million in long liquidations over the past 24 hours. Source: CoinGlass Additionally, short positions totaling $15.66 million were also liquidated within the same time period. At its current price of $3,293, just a 1.5% drop to $3,250 will see $70.96 million in liquidations. Although he forecasts that it will not have a large impact on ETH futures open interest, as the market is “not betting hard on it.” There is currently $12.89 billion in Ether futures open interest (OI). Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is approximately 2.5x larger in OI at $31.744 billion. Clear pattern identified on Ether’s price chart Meanwhile, popular trader Jelle has observed a trend in Ether’s price chart leading up to the Bitcoin halving on April 20, which he said is reminiscent of the pattern before the previous Bitcoin halving. “The last Bitcoin halving was ETH’s sign to start running hard,” crypto trader Jelle stated. The last Bitcoin halving happened on May 11, 2020, which saw Ether’s price sitting around $210. By Aug. 14, just three months later, ETH had surged to $433, marking a 106% price increase, per CoinMarketCap data. Jelle identified a clear ascending triangle forming on Ether’s price chart since June 2023, seen on a zoomed-out view from May 2020, signaling a potential surge ahead. Meanwhile, Zheng forecasted that the “ETH season is yet to come.” Related: SEC calls for comments on Fidelity, Grayscale and Bitwise spot Ether ETF applications However, recent reports suggest that there is less optimism about the approval of spot Ether ETFs following the United States Securities and Exchange Commission investigating the Ethereum Foundation. On March 20, Cointelegraph reported that the SEC issued several subpoenas to companies that have worked with the Ethereum Foundation. Sources familiar with the matter said the commission had launched a campaign to classify ETH as a security in 2022. Magazine: Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC price prediction dilemma: X Hall of Flame This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Crypto analysts are betting that Ether’s (ETH) price could see a significant upswing within months after the Bitcoin halving despite being down 11.39% over the past 30 days, based on historical data. Clear pattern identified on Ether’s price chartMeanwhile, popular trader Jelle has observed a trend in Ether’s price chart leading up to the Bitcoin halving on April 20, which he said is reminiscent of the pattern before the previous Bitcoin halving. “The last Bitcoin halving was ETH’s sign to start running hard,” crypto trader Jelle stated. The last Bitcoin halving happened on May 11, 2020, which saw Ether’s price sitting around $210. Magazine: Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC price prediction dilemma: X Hall of FlameThis article does not contain investment advice or recommendations.

Solana struggles: Record 75% of user txs are failing... or are they?

Roughly three-quarters of all transactions on the Solana network have been failing amid a deluge of activity brought by the recent memecoin mania on Solana; however, proponents say the data is being widely misinterpreted. Dune Analytics data shows that on April 4, just over 75% of all “non-vote” Solana transactions failed, the highest failure rate on record. 75.4% of non-vote transactions on Solana have failed. Source: Dune Analytics The uptick has been paralleled by a recent uproar from Solana users on social media, complaining of failed transactions and degraded user experience. In an April 4 post to X, pseudonymous trader Altcoin Sherpa said that while he still believed Solana would cement itself as the blockchain network for retail adoption, he noted that the current user experience was currently less than ideal. “As much as I think that SOL is the chain for retail this cycle — the experience is f---ing brutal lately.” Or maybe it’s bot spam However, in an April 4 post to X, vocal Solana proponent and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz took issue with the claim that 75% of transactions were failing, noting that the vast majority of failed non-vote transactions were simply “bot spam.” Related: Solana activity flips Ethereum amid memecoin craze, even as txs fail “This is usually not a big problem for users because your wallet will simulate the [transaction] and let you know that it will not work beforehand anyway,” he said. Mumtaz claimed that the failed transactions chart was “not a good way of assessing user impact as most users don’t make it there to begin [with].” “About 95% of that entire chart is just bots failing arbitrage attempts,” he added. Additionally, Mumtaz explained that because much of this spam activity occurs before the scheduling process, increasing transaction priority fees won’t help and that “increasing it above a certain median” will see users “waste money.” He added that it was unlikely that the upcoming 1.18 Solana network upgrade would fix these issues, hinting that user experience on Solana could remain degraded for some time. “Networking patches are what’s required, and those are rolling out soon.” Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko took to social media to express his frustration at the process of improving congestion bugs on the network. “Dealing with congestion bugs sucks so much more than total liveness failure. The latter is one and done, bug is identified and patched and chain continues. The former has to go through the full release and test pipeline. Shipping fast is impossible,” wrote Yakovenko in an April 5 post to X. The price of Solana’s SOL (SOL) has fallen around 3% in the last week, stumbling slightly after a 45% rally in the last month. Its recent weekly drawdown has seen it fall back to being the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, per CoinGecko data. SOL currently commands a total value of $81 billion, trailing behind Binance’s BNB (BNB) at $89 billion. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

Roughly three-quarters of all transactions on the Solana network have been failing amid a deluge of activity brought by the recent memecoin mania on Solana; however, proponents say the data is being widely misinterpreted. Dune Analytics data shows that on April 4, just over 75% of all “non-vote” Solana transactions failed, the highest failure rate on record. 75.4% of non-vote transactions on Solana have failed. Source: Dune AnalyticsThe uptick has been paralleled by a recent uproar from Solana users on social media, complaining of failed transactions and degraded user experience. The price of Solana’s SOL (SOL) has fallen around 3% in the last week, stumbling slightly after a 45% rally in the last month.

Binance exec arrested in Kenya, could face extradition to Nigeria: Report

Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British and Kenyan national who works at cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has reportedly been detained in Kenya after fleeing Nigeria in March. According to several Kenyan news outlet reports from April 22, local police arrested Anjarwalla and may extradite the Binance executive to Nigeria to face criminal charges. Anjarwalla reportedly escaped custody in Nigeria on March 22 after he was taken to a mosque for prayers, fleeing the country using his Kenyan passport. Cointelegraph was unable to confirm reports of Anjarwalla’s arrest in Kenya. He initially traveled to Nigeria in February with fellow Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan following claims the exchange manipulated the country’s fiat currency, the naira. Authorities detained both men after Binance announced that it intended to cease all naira transactions. It’s unclear how Anjarwalla escaped Nigeria. Reports have suggested that he was able to board a plane out of Abuja — Nigeria’s capital — using his Kenyan passport, as authorities confiscated only his U.K. travel documents. Related: Binance exec remains in jail as bail appeal fails again Nigerian officials have moved forward with charges against the exchange and Gambaryan in Anjarwalla’s absence. The Binance executive has pleaded not guilty to tax evasion and money laundering charges, with the case returning to court on April 19 after a brief adjournment. Gambaryan’s wife has also launched a petition to return him to the United States, claiming he was “an innocent man, a pawn in someone else’s game.” Binance claimed he had “no decision-making power in the company” and requested that he not be held responsible for the exchange’s activities in Nigeria. Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, is expected to be sentenced in the U.S. on April 30 in a separate case after pleading guilty to one felony charge. He could face up to 10 years in prison. Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame

Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British and Kenyan national who works at cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has reportedly been detained in Kenya after fleeing Nigeria in March. According to several Kenyan news outlet reports from April 22, local police arrested Anjarwalla and may extradite the Binance executive to Nigeria to face criminal charges. Anjarwalla reportedly escaped custody in Nigeria on March 22 after he was taken to a mosque for prayers, fleeing the country using his Kenyan passport. He initially traveled to Nigeria in February with fellow Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan following claims the exchange manipulated the country’s fiat currency, the naira. The Binance executive has pleaded not guilty to tax evasion and money laundering charges, with the case returning to court on April 19 after a brief adjournment.

$7.5B AI crypto token merger scheduled for community vote on April 2

A token merger to the tune of $7.5 billion consisting of artificial intelligence (AI) protocols SingularityNet, Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol is scheduled for a community vote of approval on April 2. According to the March 27 announcement, there will be three separate community votes for each individual protocol, with completion of all voting scheduled for April 16. If the union is approved, SingularityNet’s AGIX token, Fetch.ai’s FET (FET) token and Ocean Protocol’s OCEAN token will be replaced with the new Artificial Superintelligence Alliance’s ASI token. As of March 26, the merged token would have a fully diluted market capitalization of $7.6 billion across 2.631 billion tokens. The three tokens’ current combined market cap is around $5.3 billion. “If approved, it will then be possible to swap $FET for Artificial Superintelligence token at a rate of 1:1," the teams wrote. “For example, if you hold 100 $FET, you will be able to swap it for 100 $ASI.” FET will be the reserve currency of ASI, while users will be able to convert OCEAN and AGIX into ASI at a new fixed rate. An additional 1.48 billion ASI tokens will be minted, with 867 million ASI allocated to AGIX holders and 611 million ASI allocated to OCEAN tokenholders. Therefore, Singularity and Ocean tokenholders will “receive 0.433226 $ASI per $OCEAN and 0.433350 $ASI per $AGIX” as a result of the merger. As per Fetch.ai: “If you have $OCEAN and $AGIX tokens on an exchange, no action is needed. We will work with each exchange to ensure a smooth conversion and your holdings will automatically be converted to $ASI tokens directly by the exchange. You won’t see $OCEAN or $AGIX on the exchange — but don’t panic! Your tokens are there, just look for the $ASI symbol.” In addition, the swap mechanism will be available indefinitely for OCEAN and AGIX users holding tokens on self-custody wallets to convert their balance. Announced the same day, the novel Superintelligence Alliance will share the common goal of developing blockchain-based decentralized AI protocols, which can’t be controlled by centralized parties or large stakeholders. Related: Fetch.ai announces GPU rewards for tokenholders after $100M infrastructure investment

A token merger to the tune of $7.5 billion consisting of artificial intelligence (AI) protocols SingularityNet, Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol is scheduled for a community vote of approval on April 2. If the union is approved, SingularityNet’s AGIX token, Fetch.ai’s FET (FET) token and Ocean Protocol’s OCEAN token will be replaced with the new Artificial Superintelligence Alliance’s ASI token. As of March 26, the merged token would have a fully diluted market capitalization of $7.6 billion across 2.631 billion tokens. “If approved, it will then be possible to swap $FET for Artificial Superintelligence token at a rate of 1:1," the teams wrote. Therefore, Singularity and Ocean tokenholders will “receive 0.433226 $ASI per $OCEAN and 0.433350 $ASI per $AGIX” as a result of the merger.

Frax Finance dives into DeFi liquidity with $250M USDe allocation

Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Frax Finance has recently passed a community governance proposal that greenlights a $250 million allocation of Ethena Labs’ USDe to a new liquidity pool. As part of Frax’s Singularity Roadmap, the proposal enables the creation of an automated market operation (AMO) that will allow the minting of new FRAX tokens backed by overcollateralized debt. The proposal was approved on April 5. The proposal will create one of the deepest liquidity pools in the DeFi space and enable Frax to diversify its backing yield, according to Ethena Labs, which wrote in an April 8 X post: “As of yesterday, FRAX has begun adding USDe POL which will create one of the deepest pools of dollar liquidity on-chain, and enable FRAX to diversify their source of backing yield.” According to Curve Finance data, the new Curve-based liquidity pool held $44.9 million worth of liquidity as of 10:45 am UTC, with $30.6 million worth of FRAX coins and $14.6 million worth of the USDe synthetic dollar. FRAX/USDe liquidity pool. Source: Curve Finance Related: Largest Ethena airdrop recipient gets nearly $2M Ethena Labs surpasses $2 billion in TVL Ethena Labs surpassed the $2 billion mark in total value locked (TVL) on April 6, less than two months after USDe was launched on the mainnet on Feb. 19, according to DefiLlama data. According to its homepage, the protocol is currently offering a 37.1% annual percentage yield (APY) on USDe to over 125,300 investors. Ethena Labs made headlines last week after it announced it was adding Bitcoin backing to its USDe synthetic dollar in an effort to further scale from its current $2 billion supply. Ethena Labs became the highest-earning decentralized application in crypto on March 8 when it offered a 67% APY on USDe, prompting widespread community concerns about the protocol’s financial sustainability. Following its success, Ethena also caught the attention of large investment funds, becoming the highest-conviction bet for Delphi Ventures for the current cycle. USDe could become the largest dollar-backed asset after Tether’s (USDT) and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), according to José Maria Macedo, the CEO of Delphi Labs and the founding partner of crypto investment firm Delphi Ventures, who wrote in an April 2 post: “sUSDe will offer the highest dollar yield in crypto at scale. USDe will become the largest stablecoin outside of USDC/USDT in 2024. Ethena will become the highest revenue-generating project in all of crypto.” Related: Ethena Labs founder clarifies USDe stability amid high yield worries

Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Frax Finance has recently passed a community governance proposal that greenlights a $250 million allocation of Ethena Labs’ USDe to a new liquidity pool. According to its homepage, the protocol is currently offering a 37.1% annual percentage yield (APY) on USDe to over 125,300 investors. Ethena Labs made headlines last week after it announced it was adding Bitcoin backing to its USDe synthetic dollar in an effort to further scale from its current $2 billion supply. Ethena Labs became the highest-earning decentralized application in crypto on March 8 when it offered a 67% APY on USDe, prompting widespread community concerns about the protocol’s financial sustainability. Ethena will become the highest revenue-generating project in all of crypto.”Related: Ethena Labs founder clarifies USDe stability amid high yield worries

How blockchain-based voting can restore trust in the electoral process

Blockchain-based voting systems could foster more transparency and public trust in the election process, according to Brian Rose, an independent mayoral candidate in London and the host of the London Real podcast. Rose told Cointelegraph in an exclusive: “Wouldn't we all sleep better at night if the voting system was on the blockchain and you could really prove that identity and you could actually prove that vote and there would be an immutable record? This is the future and I think it takes someone like me who comes from a business background who's intimately involved in the blockchain.” Public trust in the election processes and political parties has taken a significant hit in recent years. In 2023, only 12% of the public in the United Kingdom said they trusted political parties, down from 20% in 2022, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published in March 2024. Levels of trust in public institutions, UK, 2023, Source: Office for National Statistics Rose clarified that he still maintains confidence in the United Kingdom’s election system, but sees great public benefits from introducing blockchain-based voting: “I’m not implying that the U.K. voting system is not true, but the problem is that when humans are involved, sometimes things don’t go as planned. So we want to put voting on the blockchain.” Beyond introducing an on-chain voting system, Rose also aims to make London more crypto innovation-friendly, to restore its status as a leading global financial center. He said: “[London] is not pro-crypto, whereas it used to be the greatest financial center in the world.” Brian Rose, Interview with Cointelegraph. Source: Cointelegraph The former Wall Street banker said that financial education is severely lacking in the country, which is why he aims to create a new London cryptocurrency and a financial education platform to empower citizens. “Financial education is king. But the only way to do it is to do it now with blockchain… I also want to create the London coin and get it into the hands of every man, woman, and child in this city to finally create a system for financial education.” While the details of the London token are still being finalized, Rose said that it will function as a regular cryptocurrency with price fluctuations and that it could potentially be launched on the Polygon or Avalanche blockchain. Rose plans to offer day-to-day utilities for the London crypto, including staking, payment of public transport, taxes, and other public services. Related: Hong Kong Bitcoin and Ether ETFs officially approved to start trading on April 30 Financial institutions would pay a 1% financial education tax for London coin The independent mayoral candidate is planning to issue the London token to around 10 million people living in the Greater London area, to incentivize users to learn about the intricacies of blockchain and crypto. To subsidize the costs, large financial institutions headquartered in London would be required to pay a 1% tax: “We're going to give a 1% one-off financial education tax to any institution that has a global headquarters here behind me in the city of London that will be a liquidity pool that gets injected into The London coin.” Rose said he invested over $10 million into 40 different Web3 companies, which is part of the reason he is so confident about the potential of blockchain technology. Related: Bitcoin outperforms Tesla stock for the first time since 2019

Blockchain-based voting systems could foster more transparency and public trust in the election process, according to Brian Rose, an independent mayoral candidate in London and the host of the London Real podcast. So we want to put voting on the blockchain.”Beyond introducing an on-chain voting system, Rose also aims to make London more crypto innovation-friendly, to restore its status as a leading global financial center. Source: CointelegraphThe former Wall Street banker said that financial education is severely lacking in the country, which is why he aims to create a new London cryptocurrency and a financial education platform to empower citizens. “Financial education is king. Rose plans to offer day-to-day utilities for the London crypto, including staking, payment of public transport, taxes, and other public services.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs regain traction, posting $418M net inflows

Fresh capital is flowing back into United States spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following a five-day span of consecutive net outflows. Led by strong inflows into BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s funds, the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a combined net inflow of $418 million on March 26, according to Farside Investors data. Bitcoin ETF flows (USD). Source: Farside Investors Fidelity’s fund generated its largest daily inflow since March 13, notching $279.1 million on March 26 — as the investment giant snapped up an additional 4,000 BTC. This marked the second consecutive day the fund has seen inflows exceeding $260 million. Fidelity FBTC flows. Source: HODL15Capital Additionally, BlackRock’s fund attracted inflows of $162.2 million. However, its daily inflows remain low compared to inflows earlier this month, which averaged over $300 million per day. Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF fund had its best day since March 12, notching $73.6 million in inflows, while Invesco Galaxy, Franklin Templeton and Valkyrie all saw more than $26 million worth of inflows across their respective funds. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) continued to bleed — notching a daily outflow of $212 million; however, it was not enough to outweigh the net inflows of its competitors. Since converting from a trust to an ETF on Jan. 11, Grayscale has shed a whopping 277,393 BTC worth roughly $19.5 billion at current prices. Related: Hashdex’s new spot Bitcoin ETF to begin US trading on Wednesday In a March 26 post to X, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted the presence of Bitcoin ETFs in a chart of the largest 30 asset funds in their first 50 days of trading. Four Bitcoin ETFs made the list of global funds with BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC “in a league of their own,” he exclaimed. Balchunas noted that even the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) — currently the 18th-largest Bitcoin ETF by assets under management — was larger than the world’s largest SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund. Crypto asset management firm Hashdex claimed its place as the 11th spot Bitcoin ETF issuer in the U.S. on March 26 after announcing the conversion of its futures fund to a spot product, which now trades under the ticker DEFI. Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments: Trezor CEO

Fresh capital is flowing back into United States spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following a five-day span of consecutive net outflows. Led by strong inflows into BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s funds, the 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a combined net inflow of $418 million on March 26, according to Farside Investors data. Bitcoin ETF flows (USD). Balchunas noted that even the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) — currently the 18th-largest Bitcoin ETF by assets under management — was larger than the world’s largest SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund. Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments: Trezor CEO

BlackRock, Grayscale have to wait for SEC’s spot ETH ETF decisions

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will delay its decisions on the BlackRock and Grayscale applications for spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The SEC released notices of the delay in the Grayscale decision and the amending of the BlackRock application just hours after the agency pushed back its decision on Franklin Templeton’s proposed spot ETH ETF. The SEC decision on converting digital asset manager Grayscale’s ETH Trust to a spot ETH exchange-traded product on NYSE Arca was due on April 24, but will now be extended 60 days to June 23. “The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1,” the agency wrote in its notice on April 23. It published the notice of Grayscale’s amendment filing on April 2. The amendment strengthened Grayscale’s arguments, but did not materially change its proposal. Related: Ether ETFs will ‘probably be rejected’ in May — VanEck CEO The SEC is now expected to make a decision on the Franklin Templeton application by June 11. Also on April 23, Grayscale filed an S-3 form, which is similar to the S-1 but shorter, for a Grayscale ETH Trust and an S-1 for a Grayscale ETH Mini Trust. SEC notice of filing of BlackRock amendment. Source: sec.gov BlackRock filed an S-1 application for a spot ETH ETF in November. The decision on the BlackRock application was delayed in March. Later that month, the SEC pushed back decisions on Hashdex and ARK 21 spot ETH ETF applications by two months to late May. BlackRock filed the amendment to the application on April 19. The April 23 SEC notice details the changes found in the amendment, which mainly concern the creation and redemption of shares. It also extends the comment period on the proposal for 21 days after its publication in the Federal Register. No new deadline for an SEC decision on it was specified. Source: Eleanor Terrett Observers say the SEC is unengaged with spot ETH ETF applications, which many interpret to be a sign of looming rejection. Grayscale won a victory over the SEC in August when an appeals court partially overturned the SEC's rejection of its application to convert its over-the-counter Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a listed Bitcoin (BTC) ETF. Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments: Trezor CEO

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will delay its decisions on the BlackRock and Grayscale applications for spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The SEC released notices of the delay in the Grayscale decision and the amending of the BlackRock application just hours after the agency pushed back its decision on Franklin Templeton’s proposed spot ETH ETF. Also on April 23, Grayscale filed an S-3 form, which is similar to the S-1 but shorter, for a Grayscale ETH Trust and an S-1 for a Grayscale ETH Mini Trust. Later that month, the SEC pushed back decisions on Hashdex and ARK 21 spot ETH ETF applications by two months to late May. Source: Eleanor TerrettObservers say the SEC is unengaged with spot ETH ETF applications, which many interpret to be a sign of looming rejection.