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[INST] South Korea implements tougher rules for crypto exchange listings [/INST] South Korean financial authorities plan to release new guidelines imposing tighter regulations for token listings on centralized crypto exchanges by the end of April or, at the latest, early May. According to local media News 1, South Korean financial authorities will prohibit listing digital assets with hacking incidents on domestic exchanges unless the root cause is thoroughly determined. Additionally, foreign digital assets can be listed on domestic exchanges only if a white paper or technical manual is published for the South Korean market. However, tokens already listed on a licensed exchange for over two years may not need to meet these new criteria. The directives might also stipulate that exchanges must remove cryptocurrencies from their listings if the issuers fail to adequately disclose essential information, such as discrepancies between the actual circulation and the disclosed amount. The report further stated that the South Korean government is gathering opinions from local exchanges. Since the latter part of 2023, the Financial Supervisory Service has been formulating listing guidelines by soliciting feedback from stakeholders such as the Digital Asset Exchange Association. The Financial Services Commission is a government agency responsible for overseeing and regulating financial institutions and financial markets in South Korea. The South Korean government issued a new update to the Virtual Asset Users Protection Act in early February. The legislation imposes significant criminal punishment measures and fines for violations, including fixed-term imprisonment of more than one year or a fine of three to five times the amount of illegal profits. Related: Crypto.com expands in South Korea despite increasing regulatory scrutiny This legislation was prompted by a significant industry crisis involving Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, a South Korean citizen. Terra’s collapse in May 2022 resulted in losses of over $450 billion. The Gyeonggi Provincial Tax Justice Department — in the most densely populated province in South Korea — collected 6.2 billion won ($4.6 million) of non-declared taxes in 2023 after implementing a digital tracking system aimed at the crypto accounts of tax evaders. The Financial Intelligence Unit of South Korea disclosed that domestic digital asset exchanges flagged 49% more suspicious transactions in 2023 compared to 2022. On Feb. 14, the FIU outlined its 2024 work plan, highlighting critical data and strategic initiatives for regulating the crypto market. Magazine: Big Questions. How can Bitcoin payments stage a comeback?

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

[INST] How high can Bitcoin go? New BTC price prediction sees cycle top at $180K [/INST] Bitcoin (BTC) price could gain another 150% during the current bull market cycle, according to Laurent Benayoun, the CEO of Acheron Trading and quantitative trading strategies expert. Bitcoin price top at $180K? The executive anticipates a potential cycle top of $180,000 for BTC price, based on a combination of factors, including the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and the new supply reduction from the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Benayoun explained: “If we look at historical performance, with every cycle the multiple on the all-time is getting lower. So if we apply this reasoning it could be 2x to 3x what we saw in the previous cycles, so let's say around $120,000 to $180,000 per unit.” Improving financial policy in the United States will also contribute to Bitcoin’s price appreciation, according to Benayoun: “The market is pricing in a reduction in interest rates because they have been flatlining, so it’s reasonable to expect them to go down in the near future.” Other BTC price predictions Benayoun’s prediction is in line with several other recent forecasts. Bitfinex analysts, for instance, see price reaching $120,000 by the end of 2024, according to a research report shared with Cointelegraph: “Our analysis forecasts a conservative price objective of $100,000-$120,000 to be achieved by Q4 2024, and the cycle peak to be achieved sometime in 2025 in terms of total crypto market capitalization. The ETFs have introduced passive demand which means demand is coming from investors that is largely price agnostic.” Meanwhile, wealth management giant Bernstein expects Bitcoin to break out to around $150,000 following the halving by mid-2025. Related: Max pain $51K? Bitcoin options worth over $9.4B set to expire Friday More ambitious targets put Bitcoin price peaking at $337,000 in the bullish case. Willy Woo, Bitcoin analyst and managing partner at CMCC Crest, wrote in a March 11 X post: “BTC at 71k puts us *here* in visual of the upper and lower bound models. The upper bound right now is $337k. So this bull market is still early, equivalent to 20k of last cycle.” BTC price model. Source: Willy Woo on X What's more, seven-figure price targets are also emerging. One of the most well-known is from Ark Invest's Cathie Wood, who now sees a $1 million Bitcoin price as too conservative by 2030. “Our target is above that; it’s well above that, and with our new expectations for institutional involvement, the incremental price that we assume for institutions actually has more than doubled,” Wood said earlier this month. Bitcoin recaptured the $70,000 mark on March 25, for the first time in 10 days. BTC price is up over 6.3% on the weekly chart, trading around $70,800. 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.

[INST] Polkadot active addresses hit record 600K [/INST] The Polkadot blockchain has reached a new all-time high in active addresses on its network. Polkadot amassed over 600,000 active addresses on-chain by the end of March, according to data by DotLake, shared in an April 7 X post by Polkadot. “Activity continues to grow in the Polkadot ecosystem, where many apps use dedicated blockspace to prevent issues like network spam.” Polkadot: Active addresses chart. Source: Polkadot Over 41%, or 248,000 of the 605,000 addresses, are attributed to the cross-chain smart contract platform Moonbeam, while 191,000 addresses were created directly on Polkadot, according to DotLake data. The number of unique accounts with non-zero balances is also on the rise, surpassing 5.59 million accounts at the end of March, up from 5.53 million at the end of February. Number of unique accounts. Source: DotLake However, total transactions remain subdued on the network. Polkadot saw a total of 11.58 million monthly transactions in March, slightly up from 10.8 million in April but far below the 31.78 million transactions recorded in December 2023. Number of transactions. Source: DotLake Polkadot’s (DOT) token fell 3.3% in the 24 hours leading up to 12:38 pm UTC to trade at $8.95 as the 14th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. DOT is currently down 83% from its all-time high of $55 reached in November 2021, according to CoinMarketCap data. Related: Bitcoin mining profitability won’t necessarily fall after halving DED memecoin fails to deliver In an effort to capitalize on the current memecoin frenzy and bring more participants to the blockchain, the Polkadot community spun up its own memecoin, DOT is $DED (DED), which started trending on X on March 23. Investors holding Polkadot were eligible for 36 DED tokens for every 1 DOT held. Retail sentiment turned sour after the team reduced the initial airdrop allocation from 100% of the token supply to just 5% to create a longer financial runway for the memecoin, explained one of its pseudonymous developers, Giotto De Filippi, during a March 24 X Spaces. DED is currently worth a little over $0.001, with seemingly little interest following the airdrop distribution. The DOT/DED trading pair only amassed $20,536 in 24-hour trading volume, according to the liquidity pool on Hydradx. Related: Google sues alleged China crypto app racketeers: Report

[INST] Crypto miners face energy refusal, restriction in Canadian provinces [/INST] The Canadian province of Manitoba has extended a moratorium on new requests to the government-owned Manitoba Hydro agency for electrical service for cryptocurrency operations. British Columbia (BC) had a similar suspension of service in place and has chosen a different but also restrictive path forward. The Manitoba pause extension applies to crypto miners’ newrequests and “requests for electric service which have not resulted in the execution of an agreement to construct infrastructure.” In November 2022, the provincial government paused electrical connections to crypto-mining operations for 18 months. Now the pause will last through April 30, 2026. At that time, the province plans to prepare a long-term solution, it said in an announcement, adding: "Manitoba Hydro continues to expect unprecedented demand for electricity from new or expanding cryptocurrency operations. That demand has the potential to drastically increase our total electrical load.” In 2022, then-CEO of Manitoba Hydro Jay Grewal said, “If we connected every cryptocurrency operator who’s shown interest in the last 16 months, we’d increase our total electrical load by 4,600 megawatts.” The organization’s total capacity at the time was 6,100 megawatts. Source: HYDROVISION International Hydro-Québec proposed reducing electricity provision to crypto operations temporarily in November 2022. New Brunswick banned the provision of electricity to new crypto operations in November 2023. Related: Bitcoin miner Hut 8 takes stoush with Ontario power supplier to court In December 2022, British Columbia announced it would stop making connections to new crypto miners for 18 months. That decision impacted 21 projects. On April 11, the BC government said it had introduced amendments to its Utilities Commission Act to regulate electricity service to cryptocurrency miners. Provincial Energy Minister Josie Osborne said: “We’re working with BC Hydro to ensure we have the electricity we need […] and that includes regulating electricity service for energy-intensive cryptocurrency miners that create very few local jobs.” The new amendments would make it possible for the BC government to prohibit, restrict or regulate service to crypto miners. BC has some of the lowest commercial and industrial electricity rates in North America. Magazine: Crypto City: The ultimate guide to Vancouver

[INST] Tarantino reportedly wanted to create a metaverse for ‘The Movie Critic’ [/INST] Director Quentin Tarantino wanted to create a metaverse for his 10th film featuring actors and characters from his catalog, including a 16-year-old version of himself. According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, this Tarantino-verse would have been set within a fictional movie theatre. The young Tarantino would have acted as the metaverse’s usher, interacting with the filmmaker’s characters and the fictional actors who played them. The metaverse would have functioned as a fiction within a fiction, complete with the entire concept appearing in The Movie Critic as a film within a film set inside a movie theater. Unfortunately, Tarantino has gone on the record stating that The Movie Critic isn’t happening. This isn’t the first time Tarantino’s fabled 10th movie has fallen through the cracks. He’s long maintained that he would direct 10 films and then retire. One of the early projects slated to be his final piece was set in the Kill Bill universe and, according to Tarantino, would have featured the daughter of a character slain by the protagonist of the first two films returning to exact her revenge. Tarantino was also closely attached to a Star Trek film that was reportedly meant to be a gritty, adult-oriented take on the intellectual property. That project has been abandoned, however, reportedly because the director didn’t want to end his career on a big franchise film. It’s unclear whether the metaverse planned for The Movie Critic will persist. There’s still no confirmation as to what Tarantino’s 10th film will be, but it’s possible that the Tarantino-verse could exist outside of the silver screen. As Cointelegraph reported back in 2022, Tarantino has dabbled in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse before. He sold NFTs featuring “secrets” from his films, including uncut screenplay scenes from Pulp Fiction. He was subsequently sued by Miramax, which claimed it had ownership over the intellectual involved. Miramax also noted in the suit that it had been working on its own Tarantino-related NFTs. The two parties eventually agreed to a settlement. With a career spanning nearly 40 years and featuring everything from an acting cameo on the 1980s TV show Golden Girls as an Elvis impersonator to rewriting the Charles Manson murders in his alternate history tale Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, a Tarantino-verse for the fans could be an expansive and genre-encompassing experience.

[INST] Meta drops 15% on weak outlook and high AI and metaverse spending [/INST] Meta (META) shares dropped 15% in after-hours trading after a weak outlook for Q2 revenue and plans to “aggressively” ramp up spending in artificial intelligence (AI) this year — while its metaverse division is expected to continue to run at a loss. The tech giant’s financial chief, Susan Li, said in its April 24 Q1 results that its revenue guidance for the Q2 falls between $36.5 billion and $39 billion — below reported Wall Street expectations of $38.3 billion. Li expects expenses to rise to between $96 billion to $99 billion — up from $94 billion to $99 billion due to “higher infrastructure and legal costs.” She also bumped full-year 2024 capital expenditures to a top end of $40 billion from its prior $37 billion as it would “invest aggressively to support our ambitious AI research and product development.” Meta posted Q1 revenues of $36.46 billion — a 27% year-on-year (YOY) jump that surpassed Wall Street analysts’ Zacks estimate of $36.28 billion by 0.48%. Its earnings per share doubled YOY to $4.71, beating estimates of $4.32 per share. Its metaverse building Reality Labs lost $3.85 billion in Q1 — down from the nearly $4 billion it lost in Q1 2023; Meta expects these losses to increase YOY as it bankrolls the division’s product development. Highlighted are Reality Labs’ operating losses, which saw a quarter-on-quarter drop of 17.2%. Source: Meta “An increasing amount of our Reality Labs work is going toward serving our AI efforts,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg on an earnings call. He expected a “multi-year investment cycle” before Meta “fully scaled” its AI businesses. Related: UK watchdog worries about tech giants’ AI market control “Building the leading AI will also be a larger undertaking than the other experiences we’ve added to our apps and this is likely going to take several years,” Zuckerberg said. Meta shares slid 15.4% on April 24 to $417.22 following it closing the day down 0.5% at $493.50, according to Google Finance. Meta slid to a low of $402.98 before slightly recovering. Source: Google Finance Meta is, however, still up 42.5% year-to-date after hitting an all-time high of $527.34 earlier this month on April 5. On April 18, Meta launched its Llama 3 AI model, which it rolled out in its Meta AI chatbot, available across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The Meta AI chatbot is reported to have posted bizarre interactions, telling a Facebook group for New York mothers that it has a child. Meta AI claiming it has a child. Source: Aleksandra Korolova/X Meta, however, claimed human evaluators ranked Llama 3 higher than other models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5. Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

[INST] Solana devs target April 15 for failed TX fix — It’s ‘not a design flaw’ [/INST] 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. “It is important to make this distinction because implementation errors are usually trivial [while] design errors are generally serious and more fundamental,” Mumtaz explained to his 108,000 X followers on April 8. Data showed that over 75% of non-vote Solana transactions failed on April 4 amid the recent memecoin mania on the network, but that figure has since fallen to 64.8%. Mumtaz said the issue concerns the way in which Solana developers implemented “QUIC” — a Google-developed data transfer protocol that loops all nodes in on the current state of the network. But this implementation issue shouldn’t be seen as an overall design flaw, according to Mumtaz, using car design as an example to explain the situation. All cars have four tires and an engine, but “there are many implementations of the car design,” like BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, F1 and Tesla, he explained. If one BMW model is poor at steering, then “we don’t say that all cars are flawed” — instead, we say that specific model is broken and needs a fix, he added. Similarly, Solana’s implementation of QUIC has certain deficiencies and bugs in its current state, Mumtaz explained. “However, that doesn’t mean ‘Solana’ has a design flaw — it means it chose a buggy implementation for this part of its design.” In other words, Solana needs to change a tire rather than recreate an entirely new model or network in blockchain terms. Related: Trader turns $13K into $2M within 1 hour as memecoin frenzy continues Mumtaz also shared a comment by Solana researcher Richard Patel, who believes Firedancer’s implementation doesn’t suffer from the same issues: The fix will take place on April 15, should no additional issues come about in testing, Mumtaz noted. A reconfiguration of QUIC will likely take place on April 15 before it is replaced with a superior solution at a later date, Mumtaz told Cointelegraph. Solana’s network failures have prompted community concern, given Solana’s (SOL) token boasts a market cap of $79.9 billion, while an additional $4.6 billion in value is locked on the network, according to DefiLlama. Magazine: Memecoins make millionaires, Terraform and Do Kwon liable for fraud, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 31 – April 6

[INST] Fantom CEO defends Solana amid network woes [/INST] Fantom network creator Andre Cronje has expressed support for the Solana network amid recent transaction failures. Cronje is considered one of the most influential thought leaders in decentralized finance (DeFi). According to a post on X by Cronje, some critics view the ongoing congestion as Solana’s flaw, but it stems from the ecosystem’s rapid growth, which has increased demand for block space. Cronje stated that performance issues are technical challenges, not consensus mechanism flaws. According to Dune Analytics, amid a surge in activity driven by the recent memecoin craze on Solana, approximately 75% of non-vote transactions failed on April 4. Yet, proponents argue the data is widely misunderstood. Cronje referred to the Solana network as a victim of success. The uptick in transaction failures was followed by a recent uproar from Solana users on social media, who complained of failed transactions and a degraded user experience. Meanwhile, other members of the community supported Cronje’s stance, stating that people often laud blockchain technology for its underlying principles and capabilities. However, when increased demand leads to temporary user experience issues, they tend to react negatively despite craving higher usage. Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko expressed frustration, noting that addressing congestion bugs is more challenging than total liveness failure. While the latter requires identification and patching, congestion bugs entail a lengthy testing process and releasing updates, hindering rapid deployment. Related: Starknet explains reasons for 4-hour block outage This is not the first time Solana has gone down. Solana suffered a significant outage in early February. Downtime in block production on its mainnet halted the network’s block progression for over five hours. Since January 2022, Solana has seen around half a dozen significant outages and 15 partial or primary outage days. Solana-focused software development firm Anza released a postmortem report of the recent outage on Feb. 9. The report revealed that Solana’s Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation cache, which compiles all programs before executing a transaction, encountered a bug. Austin Federa, Solana Foundation’s strategy head told Cointelegraph of plans to replace the old loader system with a new one, set to deactivate upon update rollout. The price of Solana’s (SOL) token has fallen around 3% in the last week, stumbling slightly after a 45% rally in March. Its recent weekly drawdown has seen it fall back to being the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko data. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

[INST] Germany’s largest federal bank to offer crypto custody services: Report [/INST] 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

[INST] Bitcoin halving impact on altcoins [/INST] Bitcoin’s (BTC) growing dominance over the last 15 years signifies the importance of the mechanisms creator Satoshi Nakamoto devised to overcome the shortcomings of the fiat ecosystem — one of them being halving. Nakamoto invented the Bitcoin halving mechanism, which reduces the BTC rewards for mining over time to slow down the issuance of the limited 21 million BTC. The Bitcoin halving in 2024—like the previous three halving events—is set to leave a long-lasting impact on Bitcoin as well as the countless altcoin ecosystems it helped create over the years. Altcoins will react differently to the Bitcoin halving depending on various factors, including tokenomics, value proposition and its overall contribution toward financial freedom. The Bitcoin Halving 2024 will put five key dimensions of altcoins to the test — market sentiment, market price, technology stack, blockchain forks and allocation of reserves. Changing investor sentiment The Bitcoin market heavily influences the investment patterns of crypto investors. Given that the Bitcoin price has soared after every halving, investors are eyeing altcoins that have the potential to skyrocket post-halving. The Fear & Greed Index for Bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies based on the analysis of investors' online emotions and sentiments. Source: alternative.me Bitcoin’s stellar price appreciation and retention across 2024 have boosted investors’ confidence. As a result, current market sentiment suggests that many investors are anticipating an altcoin boom. Speaking to Cointelegraph, the BNB Chain core development team echoed the market sentiment, stating that “The Bitcoin halving is known for triggering shifts in market sentiment within the Web3 ecosystem.” Related: Is the Bitcoin halving the right time to invest in BTC? According to the BNB (BNB) developers, projects with solid fundamentals and innovative technologies attract more investors’ attention during Bitcoin halving events. Altcoin projects are prepping new incentive programs and campaigns to attract crypto opportunists. “On our end, we are seeing more initiatives aimed at fostering ecosystem growth and innovation,” the team added. Upgrades in technology stack Bitcoin halvings often serve as a catalyst for innovation and evolution within the broader Web3 technology stack. And for altcoins, this technological catch-up is made possible by consistent and prolonged support from the developer community. Advancements in the Bitcoin network serve as a blueprint for altcoin ecosystems as they cater to the rising public demand for faster transactions, improved utility, and price appreciation, among others. Source: Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Bitcoin ordinal NFTs Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, told Cointelegraph, "The Bitcoin halving underscores the exploding global interest in Web3. Across Aptos ecosystem and beyond, we are seeing near webscale utility potential for millions—and soon billions—of people in DeFi, gaming, and entertainment.” The core BNB developers underscored the importance of updating the underlying technology to address specific market needs and enhance a token’s utility and adoption. In-house initiatives and support programs targeted toward incentivisng builders “encourage technological advancements and ecosystem growth,” which ensure that the ecosystem is primed for long-term success. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Stefan Kimmel, CEO of the M2, revealed that the crypto exchange's strategy aligns with the upcoming halving that is set to permanently reduce the issuance of Bitcoin. Kimmel added: “Looking at the broader landscape, while halving garners attention, we are cognizant that it’s just a part of a larger narrative. The confluence of ETFs, quantitative easing, and halving will define the future contours of the market.” Similarly, aspiring future-ready projects must pick and choose the right upgrades in tune with Bitcoin halcving 2024. Altcoin price movement The altcoin ecosystem reciprocates the price movements in Bitcoin. However, some tokens will outperform others during the bull market. Investors monitor short-term volatility in altcoins around the time of Bitcoin halving, intending to add altcoins into their portfolio. The halving has historically impacted Bitcoin’s price dynamics, which has reverberated through the altcoin market. The team added: “Staying informed and identifying altcoins with strong fundamentals and promising growth trajectories remain paramount for profitable trades.” Additionally, changes in Bitcoin’s mining rewards and difficulty post-halving may indirectly affect altcoin mining profitability, influencing miners' behavior and potentially impacting altcoin prices. According to Kimmel, M2 plans to remain focused on delivering solid yield products and fostering cryptocurrency adoption and innovation, irrespective of these cyclical events. Related: ‘Bitcoin-only’ buy-and-hold investing outperforms altcoins over long term, analysis shows Consensus-based blockchain forks The changes accompanying Bitcoin halvings often bring forth particular challenges that require community members of altcoin ecosystems to vote on ‘make or break’ decisions. Diverging economic incentives for miners, farmers and stakers coupled with community disagreements and governance issues often result in soft and hard forks. Source: Peter Todd, Bitcoin developer Consensus-based blockchain forks may be a solution to address disagreements within the community. These forks can create new cryptocurrencies with modified protocols designed to meet the needs and preferences of specific factions within the community. On the other hand, some communities prefer working on the existing blockchain rather than building one from scratch. For example, BNB Chain core developers revealed they are working on BNB Beacon Chain Fusion, an upgrade dedicated to making the BNB Chain ecosystem more efficient. BNB Smart Chain (BSC) is also introducing a major upgrade, BEP 336, with the mainnet hard fork scheduled for June. Related: Generation Z and millennials choose crypto over stocks — Report Bitcoin reserves allocation Investors looking for greater return on investment (ROI) post-halving often reallocate some of their Bitcoin holdings into various altcoins. Diversification, as an investment strategy, increases one’s chances of higher returns and helps spread risk across different assets. On the flip side, altcoin projects have been found to increase their Bitcoin allocation in the treasury to minimize volatility. Explaining the intent, BNB Chain core devs added: “Altcoins with strong use cases, supportive communities, and promising growth prospects may attract a portion of Bitcoin reserves, contributing to increased liquidity and trading volume in the altcoin ecosystem.” Investors should take a ‘do your own research (DYOR)’ approach when delving into altcoin investments. Background checks about the founder and their team, audit reports, and market credibility are some factors to consider when researching new altcoin projects. Magazine: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

[INST] Winklevoss twins become co-owners of Bitcoin soccer club, inject $4.5M of BTC [/INST] Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have joined as co-owners of Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack’s Real Bedford Football Club (RBFC) after investing $4.5 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to support the club’s plans. The Winklevoss twins executed the investment and acquisition through their investment firm, Winklevoss Capital, according to a recent statement. The funding will be used to establish a Bitcoin treasury for the club, with McCormack telling Cointelegraph the treasury aims to safeguard the club “against long-term fiat debasement.” “The investment helps with the infrastructure. We need to grow this with our ambitions,” McCormack explained. Additionally, the funds will be allocated toward developing a new training center and ongoing support for girls’ and youth football. In 2021, McCormack acquired RBFC, which is based in his United Kingdom hometown of Bedford, with a population of just under 200,000. He holds ambitions for RBFC — which accepts Bitcoin for game day tickets, merchandise, sponsorships and beverages — to compete in the English Premier League alongside well-known U.K. clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea. Related: Gemini mulled forming a ‘juggernaut’ with Genesis before it went to smoke “We are a long way from the Premier League. As exciting as that is our ambition, I work on one league at a time,” McCormack stated. The Winklevoss twins share McCormack’s vision of bringing RBFC to the top league in the United Kingdom. “We’re not just investing in a football club, we’re investing in a dream to bring Premier League football to Bedford,” Cameron Winklevoss said. “We share in Peter’s deep conviction in Bitcoin and its ability to supercharge RBFC’s quest to make it into the Premier League,” Tyler Winklevoss added. This comes after it was recently reported that the Winklevoss twins donated $4.9 million to the crypto-focused Fairshake super political action committee to support crypto-friendly candidates in the upcoming United States elections. Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

[INST] Dmail co-founder says email must be decentralized and protect data sovereignty [/INST] The crypto market is hot, and prices have been in “up only” mode since the start of the year, but looking at the developments beyond Bitcoin and memecoins, the industry’s focus on decentralization remains intact, and for good reason. Just this week, multiple news outlets reported on a lawsuit against Meta claiming the tech giant allegedly gave Netflix access to Facebook users’ direct messages in exchange for Netflix agreeing to spend up to $150 million in ads in 2017. A separate incident, brought to light on March 30, involves United States telecom giant AT&T automatically resetting millions of customer account passwords after acknowledging a data seller published 73 million AT&T customer records from a data breach that occurred in 2019. As usual, the list of data breaches and instances of misuse of customer and user data goes on and on. Just do a quick Google search to see for yourself. On episode 33 of The Agenda podcast, hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung sit down with Dmail co-founder Daniel James to discuss why everyone needs everything to be decentralized, including email. Decentralize it! Spam, phishing emails, and the risk of having one’s personal data either deleted or sold are common concerns shared among email users, and James says that “blockchain really enhances security” as “there’s no central point of failure that hackers can target.” James added that Dmail prioritizes privacy by encrypting every email, which makes it “harder for attackers to compromise email accounts and intercept communications.” The decentralized nature of the service also gives users data sovereignty. “It’s a battle world. It’s a more moral world where you are not the product. You are actually gaining something from this platform. And that’s really what attracts most people into Web3 initially, is that you do have data sovereignty. For me, the foray into Web3 was mostly about Big Tech essentially becoming the arbiters of truth and really overstepping the mark, getting political and censoring certain things. To me, that’s not the job for Big Tech, regardless of your political affiliation. That should not be happening.” James explained that “email solves these kinds of problems, but it also brings something completely different to the table. It brings the Web3, the blockchain layer, and the possibilities are endless.” When asked how Dmail or any decentralized platform could supplant Gmail’s dominance, James suggested that the ultimate objective is not to replace Gmail but rather to “replicate” their “fantastic user experience and user interface” while circumventing the “ethical concerns.” Related: Google’s inclusion of Bitcoin wallet balances sparks privacy debate James said: “I think it’s a beautiful product, the way that it’s built. And if we can replicate the UI [user interface] and UX [user experience], that’s great. But there are ethical concerns. There is the fact that you can be bombarded with unsolicited emails. Your data is not your own. Your storage is not fully decentralized. The revenue streams are essentially the only trickle-down within the company itself. So, that’s a very good example of centralization. And so I think that with Gmail, the value proposition is altogether different. You own your own data, you own your own drive, everything is your own as well as the data autonomy.” To hear more — including James’ crypto origin story and future plans for Dmail — listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all: Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

[INST] Bitkraft launches $275M gaming fund, bringing total managed assets to $1B [/INST] Bitkraft Ventures, a global investment platform for gaming and media projects, recently announced the launch of a $275 million investment round. Once completed, the added projects will reportedly bring the company’s total assets under management to around $1 billion. The company’s previous rounds included investments in notable companies such as blockchain developer Jungle and Eve Online creator CCP. Its second funding round, dubbed Venture II, largely focused on Web3 and blockchain games. The latest round will go toward early-stage gaming projects. Dealstreet Asia also reported that at least 15% of the funds have been earmarked for projects in the Asian sector. Jens Hilgers, a founding partner at Bitkraft Ventures, told GamesBeat that the company was interested in the next generation of studios, developers and games. Per the article: “At Bitkraft Ventures, we are as committed to — and optimistic about — the future of the games industry as we were from the inception of Bitkraft in 2016. We’ve seen continued growth across all major game platforms, in metrics including user engagement, activity levels, and monetization. Newly formed game studios have seen substantial break out successes over the last years, and the advent of AI in game production further benefits new upstarts in the space.” While the gaming industry experienced a notable global decline in revenues in 2023, Web3 projects have seen a substantial recovery since the fourth quarter of 2023 — a bump many analysts credit to the Bitcoin bounce. Related: Bitcoin’s 2028 halving price target is $435K, historical data suggests In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Carlos Pereira, partner at BitKraft Ventures, said, “Web3 gaming has been a strong segment in the Q4 2023 recovery with positive launch activity, both recently and expected for 2024.” If this latest funding round, Bitkraft Ventures’ largest to date, is any indication, then the private market appears to have recovered. As for publicly traded gaming and media companies, Pereira told Cointelegraph that when capital wasn’t abundant for venture capital deals, it was to be expected that there would be some divergence between the public and private markets.

[INST] Meta announces VR education metaverse for ages 13 and up [/INST] Meta is bringing its enterprise level Quest services to the education sector, the social media giant announced on April 15. The company’s Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets have become “by far the most popular extended reality (XR) headsets on the market” according to Statista. The sector is expected to reach an installed user base of more than 34 million units by the end of 2024. If that prediction remains true, the VR sector will have demonstrated a compound annual growth rate of approximately 27.3% since 2020 when, according to Statista, the installed VR user base was about 14.2 million. In order to maintain its pole position, Meta recently unveiled a slew of products and services aimed at the enterprise metaverse market. As Cointelegraph recently reported, the pivot showed a shift away from individualized user experiences such as games and one-off immersive environments. The next leg in this pivot appears to be a greater push towards educational products and services. Per a blog post from Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg: "Later this year Meta will be launching a new product offering for Quest devices dedicated to education. … It will allow teachers, trainers and administrators to access a range of education-specific apps and features and make it possible for them to manage multiple Quest devices at once, without the need for each device in a classroom or training environment to be updated and prepared individually.” The new product’s name and details are to be revealed “in the coming months” with a full launch anticipated by the end of 2024. According to the blog post, it’ll be available in the Quest for Business market which includes most territories in Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States. Meta gave several examples of educational facilities already employing Quest headsets, including a life sciences course at the university of Glasgow that immerses students inside the human body, a criminal justice course at New Mexico State that places users at a virtual crime scene, and a business class at Stanford University that helps prepare students for interviews. Related: NASA created VR metaverse to prep astronauts for life on lunar space station

[INST] Make your code immutable to avoid jail, policy exec advises devs [/INST] Developers building decentralized applications (DApps) should ensure the backing smart contracts can’t ever be changed — that way, they’re less likely to be liable for scams occurring on the platforms, a policy executive claims. “From a regulatory standpoint, this is actually really important,” Coin Center research director Peter Van Valkenburgh said in an April 9 panel at the 2024 Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. He said Bitcoin developers looking to build DApps on the blockchain’s layer-2 networks who don’t want to “end up in jail” should ensure immutability is enforced into these smart contracts from the get-go. On the other hand, those who allow the smart contract to be switched on and off by a multisignature mechanism or via a governance vote are much more likely to be found liable should illegal activity occur on the platform. Choosing not to open-source the smart contracts isn’t a wise decision either, Van Valkenburgh added. “In that world, you have very hard questions of whether everybody who’s participating [is] liable for the activities of that smart contract [...] I don’t see those questions having good regulatory outcomes.” For Bitcoin developers, the Ethereum ecosystem will serve as an “interesting model for avoiding regulatory choke points by virtue of truly building something that [is] not controlled by any human discretion,” Van Valkenburgh explained. He added the recently dismissed Uniswap lawsuit demonstrated his point. The court ruled that an individual who drafts computer code should not be liable for a third party’s misuse of that platform. Related: Advocacy groups warn of ‘adverse repercussions’ for crypto in case against Tornado Cash co-founder The indictment of Tornado Cash’s founding developers, however, shows immutability-enforced contracts haven’t guaranteed developers freedom from prosecution. Alexey Pertsev, the crypto mixer’s developer, spent eight months behind bars in the Netherlands on suspicion of being involved in using the protocol for money laundering. Fellow Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty to United States charges of conspiring to operate a money transmitter or facilitate money laundering and sanctions evasion. The protocol’s other co-founder, Roman Semenov, is at large. Van Valkenburgh said there will be more clarity in the U.S. when Storm’s case is finalized. Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers

[INST] Ubisoft teases new blockchain game at Paris Blockchain Week [/INST] AAA game studio Ubisoft is edging closer to releasing its first blockchain-based game after releasing the first gameplay trailer for Champion Tactics Grimoria during Paris Blockchain Week. The tactical player-vs-player role-playing game’s lead developers gave Cointelegraph an exclusive playthrough at the conference. The RPG allows players to craft blockchain-based figurines with unique features and characteristics that can be combined into a team of three for the turn-based game. Source: ChampionsVerse Champions Tactics The game certainly has the polish and feel of a Ubisoft title, with high-end graphics and animations adding to the depth of gameplay. Players will need to learn what combinations of heroes best complement and counter other players’ picks. Ubisoft Strategic Innovation Lab vice president Nicolas Pouard said the studio had adopted a patient approach to building a blockchain-based title: “We started development last year on the first real game on blockchain. We felt it was too ambitious to start with a AAA title, so we’re testing the waters with Champions Tactics.” Pouard said the studio had adopted a different approach to other developers building blockchain games by starting with creating a universe around the assets and nonfungible tokens that form the core of the title. The game is centered around champion figurines with various skills and abilities. In the vein of DOTA, different champions combine well with certain classes and specs and counter the figurines chosen by opponents in turn-based matches. Ubisoft and Oasys, the gaming blockchain protocol on which the former has built the title, gave visitors in Paris a first-hand look at the gameplay. They also announced a new whitelist that will enable prospective players to begin crafting figurines for their champions roster. Pouard added Ubisoft was not necessarily interested in releasing a game that was driven by financial motivations, but to prove that the studio could release a quality Web3 game that gives players true ownership of digital assets. “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.” Oasys also announced a new integration with the omni-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero. This marks a significant step in the former’s 2024 Dragon Update, which focuses on enhancing interoperability across its gaming ecosystem. Magazine: ‘Web3 Gaming sucks’ says Ava, 2M Bitcoin Miner players make 13c: Web3 Gamer

[INST] Chainlink aims to bolster cross-chain security via Transporter [/INST] Chainlink’s newly launched cross-chain messaging app aims to solve the pressing security concerns around cross-chain crypto transfers, a Chainlink spokesperson told Cointelegraph: “Chainlink CCIP, which underpins Transporter, is the only cross-chain protocol that achieves level-5 security, a defense-in-depth design to give users true peace of mind." Chainlink announced the launch of Transporter, a cross-chain messaging app for bridging tokens, on April 11. Built on Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Transporter aims to foster more secure cross-chain crypto transfers with a beginner-friendly app interface. Cross-chain bridges help users facilitate transactions between different blockchain networks. They represent some of the most significant points of vulnerability in crypto. In 2022, Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge was drained for more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency, as one of the largest crypto exploits in history. The exploit targeted a private key multi-signature scheme, a security measure that ultimately proved inadequate. Transporter enables users to track their cross-chain transactions in real-time through Chainlink’s CCIP Explorer, without charging additional transaction fees beyond the CCIP service provider fee. It currently supports the Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and WEMIX blockchain networks. Related: Funds hacked in 2024 increased by 15.4% vs. the same period in 2023 — Immunefi Cross-chain vulnerabilities account for 50% of DeFi hacks Since 2016, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols have been hacked for a total of $5.85 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Cross-chain bridges account for over 48%, or $2.83 billion of the total value lost to exploits, according to DeFiLlama data. Total Value Hacked. Source: DeFiLlama Transporter aims to reduce these vulnerabilities by facilitating safer cross-chain transfers for both institutions and retail users: “Transferring crypto across chains has historically been a risky activity, with bridge hacks accounting for nearly 50% of all value hacked in Web3. Transporter leverages Chainlink CCIP’s unmatched levels of security, which include an independent Risk Management Network that continuously monitors and validates the behavior of every cross-chain transaction over CCIP.” While the amount of cross-chain exploits has fallen since the beginning of the year, hackers are still looking to exploit blockchain bridge vulnerabilities. At the beginning of January, Orbit Chain was hacked for $81 million worth of digital assets, due to a cross-chain bridge vulnerability. Related: Binance Labs shifts investment focus to Bitcoin DeFi

[INST] dYdX Chain halts production following scheduled network upgrade [/INST] Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol dYdX has announced it is investigating a recent halt in block production as the chain underwent a scheduled upgrade. On April 8 at 5:30 am UTC, dYdX published a status report stating the chain was proceeding with a scheduled protocol upgrade and that functionalities of the dYdX Chain may be disrupted. However, the chain did not resume block production after the scheduled maintenance. At the time of writing, the blockchain explorer platform Nodes Guru shows that the latest blocks produced by the dYdX mainnet were from the time of the scheduled upgrade, which was five hours prior. Blocks produced by the dYdX mainnet (GST timezone). Source: Nodes Guru DYdX also confirmed that the chain encountered an issue and said at 6:50 am UTC that its team was already debugging it. However, the team said the issue is still being investigated and might not be resolved until later. It wrote: “The issue continues to be investigated. It’s been agreed to reconvene with the validators around 15:00 UTC. This means that the devs won’t suggest a workaround or a fix until then so that the validators won’t get jailed for not being online when the chain restarts.” The protocol upgrade was proposed on Feb. 21. It included advancements such as order book features, risk and safety improvements and Cosmos-related enhancements. The outage comes after a recent development in dYdX when the community approved the staking of 20 million tokens. On April 6, the dYdX community voted to allow $61 million in treasury tokens to be staked on the liquid staking protocol called Stride. DYdX highlighted that the move follows the growth in trading activity within the protocol. “The rate of DYDX being staked to validators has plateaued and deposits to the exchange are growing at a tremendous pace,” it wrote. Related: dYdX founder blames v3 central components for ‘targeted attack,’ involves FBI The dYdX Chain also suffered a targeted attack in November 2023, which led to $9 million in losses. On Jan. 3, the protocol said it had already identified the attacker and was considering legal action. It also said it had improved its trading platform to enhance monitoring and alerts. Magazine: SBF gets 25 years in prison, Fidelity eyes ETH staking, and Coinbase’s court loss: Hodler’s Digest

[INST] Biden’s 44.6% capital gains tax proposal likely a ‘nothing burger’ [/INST] United States President Joe Biden’s proposal to increase the capital gains tax rate to 44.6% for certain people — the highest rate in U.S. history — will likely be a “nothing burger” for the average crypto investor. Matthew Walrath, founder of Crypto Tax Made Easy, told Cointelegraph that Biden’s latest tax promises probably wouldn’t affect most people in crypto, even if they did end up being signed into law. “For 99.9% of people, it’s a big, fat nothing burger because it’s essentially just a proposal.” The suggested tax rate — as well as an additional proposal to impose a 25% tax on unrealized gains — has garnered massive attention across social media despite the information being public for more than a month. The now widely referenced 44.6% figure was introduced in a March 11 Department of Treasury explanation document, which outlined that the figure would only come into effect if two separate proposals — one aimed at increasing the top ordinary tax rate and the other aimed at increasing the investment income tax rate — were approved. The proposal was suggested in a separate document from the budget. Source: Department of Treasury “The proposal essentially says they want to raise the long-term capital gains tax rate for people earning over $1 million a year to 44.6%,” said Walrath. “Really high-income earners could potentially — if this budget proposal goes through — face a much higher long-term capital gains tax rate. But for the most part, it’s unlikely that it’s going to affect the average crypto user.” Echoing Walrath’s position, pseudonymous crypto accountant SqueezeTaxes said the backlash toward the proposal was just another “headline catfish” before breaking down what the proposed policies mean for U.S. citizens. SqueezeTaxes explained that the proposals were centered around bringing the highest federal tax bracket to 39.6% and increasing the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) to a 5% rate. Combined, the figure evens out to 44.6%. “The average income earner will not be affected by this. Biden’s tax proposals are targeting high-income earners, at least $400,000 or more on one end, and $1 million or more on another end,” SqueezeTaxes told Cointelegraph. According to data from crypto payment firm TripleA, the annual income for the average crypto investor internationally stands at around $25,000. This figure, however, includes income data from countries with lower average incomes than the United States. Is Biden coming for unrealized gains? Notably, Biden’s Federal Budget proposal also included a 25% tax on unrealized gains for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. In an April 25 post to X, Bitcoin commentator Jason Williams described the 25% tax proposal as “insane,” adding that it could “singlehandedly crush the economy.” Related: IRS releases draft of 2025 digital asset reporting form for US taxpayers However, Biden’s proposed 25% tax targeting unrealized gains would only apply to individual taxpayers with more than $100 million in net assets, per a report from tax analysts at taxation advisory firm Grant Thornton. “It’s the same with the unrealized capital gains tax rate. It’s for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. If it were to go through, it’s not going to affect pretty much anybody on Crypto Twitter,” Walrath jested. Ultimately, Walrath said that Biden’s tax proposals could be seen as political “posturing” designed to curry favor with a lower-income voter base. “It’s more of a posturing political play. The Democratic Party has kind of made an enemy out of wealthy people, and that’s one of the ways that they play to a low-income, low-education base.” Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

[INST] Bored Ape NFT floor price hits lowest point in over two and a half years [/INST] The floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) nonfungible tokens (NFTs) has fallen over 90% from its peak, down to 11.1 Ether (ETH) — its lowest point since August 2021. BAYC is now approaching a sub-10-ETH floor price after a 50% fall since March 1 alone, according to NFT Price Floor. BAYC’s change in NFT floor price since August 2021. Source: NFT Price Floor The Yuga Labs-backed NFT project launched in April 2021 — meaning its NFT price floor is now where it was four months after it launched. The NFT collection’s fall from a peak of 128 Ether (ETH) set on May 1, 2022, is part of an industry-wide decline in popularity for digital art NFTs. However, it should be noted that a few BAYC NFTs have continued to sell significantly above their floor price, which is calculated by taking the lowest-priced NFT in a given collection. For example, BAYC #830 sold for 504.3 ETH ($1.92 million at the time) last month, while several other rare items have sold above 30 ETH in recent days. Top BAYC sales over the last 90 days. Source: NFT Price Floor The largest NFT collection by market cap, CryptoPunks, has also fallen from its peak floor price of 113.9 ETH, but only by 64%. Related: 5 ways to monetize your digital art with NFTs Meanwhile, industry commentators continue to ponder whether digital art NFTs can make a comeback. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Shi Khai Wei, co-founder and chief operating officer of LongHash Ventures, argued that digital art NFTs “were never meant to exist on their own as projects,” and teams behind them should consider merging them with other verticals in the blockchain industry to be made useful. “It is very hard to raise things without a clear vision of the brand and actual products behind it,” Wei explained. However, NFTs can also be a “superpower” for blockchain-based projects that already integrate in-game economies and offer NFT ownership, Wei added. “It is much easier if you already have a super clear vision. Here’s the game, here’s an infrastructure, here’s a chain, here’s a marketplace, and then you have your early adopter core community adopt [behind it].” Magazine: Digital artist OSF gives fans a pledge of ‘art until I die’: NFT Creator

[INST] Bitcoin miner profits get squeezed as hash price drops to lowest since October 2023 [/INST] After posting record-breaking earnings on the day of the Bitcoin halving, miners now face another reality: a high network hash rate and lower revenues pushing down profits. The average revenue a Bitcoin (BTC) miner earns per performed hash, known as the hash price, has reached its lowest level since October 2023. According to crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, the hash price for miners dropped from nearly $0.12 in early April to $0.07 post-halving, following a $0.19 peak on halving day. Bitcoin’s halving event slashed miners’ block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, while the sector’s operational costs remain steady. CryptoQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, estimated that the cost of mining with Antminer S19 XPs would increase from $40,000 to $80,000 following the halving. Bitcoin hash price. Source: CryptoQuant Related: Bitcoin halving will have to battle with ‘weak time of year’ — Coinbase Despite the reduction in rewards, the total network hash rate has remained stable since the halving event, suggesting that BTC mining is still profitable at Bitcoin’s current prices. Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows Bitcoin holding above the $64,000 mark since April 19. “Although it is still too early to see any long-term effects of the halving on the network hashrate, miners seem to be running operations at the same rate as before the halving,” CryptoQuant noted in a report. The total network hash rate held flat at 617 EH/s post-halving. On the day of the halving, transaction fees reached record levels relative to the total revenue generated by miners. Transaction fees represented 75% of total miner revenue on the halving day, which amounted to roughly $80 million. Since then, it has dropped to about 35% of total miner revenue. While the immediate effects show stability, the long-term impacts on the hash rate and overall miner activity could still change. In the past, post-halving periods have seen miners exit the market due to high operational costs. Factors like Bitcoin price movements and changes in electricity costs are likely to play crucial roles in the mining business. Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all — Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance

[INST] Railgun denies being used by North Korea as it nears $1B total volume [/INST] 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)

[INST] Mystery malware targets Call of Duty cheaters, stealing their Bitcoin [/INST] A new flood of mystery malware has reportedly been targeting video gamers and draining their Bitcoin (BTC) wallets as part of a new info stealer campaign, which also has been targeting cheaters. Malware information repository vx-underground said in a March 28 X post it was aware of a “currently unidentified Threat Actor” using malware to steal login and other credentials of those using pay-to-cheat video game software. The attacks target players, including those who buy cheating software, and have compromised over 4.9 million accounts for Activision Blizzard users and its game store Battle.net along with accounts for a game-focused trading site Elite PVPers and cheat software markets PhantomOverlay and UnknownCheats. “Impacted users have begun reporting being victims of crypto-draining — their Electrum BTC wallets have been drained. We do not have any information on the amount of money stolen,” vx-underground wrote. In a March 27 Telegram post, PhantomOverlay claimed the number of hacked accounts “are inflated” as over half of the logins in a database it viewed “are invalid garbage.” It added the malware “seems to be an entire network of free/cheap software” that has originated from “some latency program, VPN, or something that millions of gamers are using.” “It’s the largest infostealer malware campaign in gaming/cheating community history.” In a separate post, PhantomOverlay claimed it has “a pretty good idea of where the malware is coming from but the malware gang is aware of suspicions on them [and] has made it increasingly hard to prove anything.” Activision Blizzard had contacted the cheat-selling site and “will help us assist millions of infected users,” PhantomOverlay said. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Cointelegraph it was aware of claims that credentials “across the broader industry could be compromised from malware from downloading or using unauthorized software.” Related: Prisma Finance exploited in $10 million breach It said its servers “remain secure and uncompromised” and recommended users change their password if they want to ensure their accounts are protected. In its post, vx-underground wrote that PhantomOverlay was “alerted of fraudulent activity when user accounts began making unauthorized purchases.” PhantomOverlay contacted the alleged victim, and since then, more have been identified, it said. Magazine: Inside Pink Drainer — Security analyst defends his crypto scam franchise

[INST] Galaxy Digital reports $296M net income in 2023 after $1B loss in 2022 [/INST] Digital asset management firm Galaxy Digital has reported a net income of $296 million for 2023, marking a reversal in fortune after a disastrous 2022 with $1 billion in net loss. The change in fortune for the digital asset management firm comes amid a change in crypto market trends from bearish to bullish. The firm’s assets under management (AUM) 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. Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital’s founder and CEO, reported $302 million in net income for the fourth quarter of 2023, a 421% increase from the previous quarter. The firm also reported $18.7 million in mining revenue for Q4, recording a 31% increase from 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. “For the full year 2023, Galaxy mined 1,077 Bitcoin from our proprietary mining operations at an average marginal cost to mine of less than $8,000.” Galaxy Digital highlighted that the change in fortune came with the rising prices of major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). The company’s quarterly earning report highlighted that it had already made “approximately $300 million” in before-tax income, “driven primarily by the appreciation of digital asset prices and growth in our operating businesses.” Related: Is the Bitcoin halving the right time to invest in BTC? The asset manager reported successfully closing five deals in 2023 on investment banking while highlighting the challenging market conditions. The team completed a restructuring mandate with Prime Trust in the fourth quarter. The firm also reported realized revenue associated with advising online gaming platform Gamercraft on its seed financing round and serving as the exclusive financial adviser to Securitize on its acquisition of Onramp Invest. The firm reported mandates representing $2.2 billion in potential deal value. Magazine: ‘Am I sorry? No’ — 3AC founder. $6B BTC laundered for fast food worker: Asia Express

[INST] FTX co-CEO Salame's sentencing moved to end of May [/INST] Sentencing for former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame has been rescheduled for May 28, according to a filing in Southern New York District Court. It is unclear why his sentencing was postponed from the original date of May 1. Salame was one of the four FTX top managers to be charged by the United States government, along with Sam Bankman-Fried, in relation to the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. Salame was the only one of the four — which also included former Alameda Research head Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gray Wang and FTX top engineer Nishad Singh — who did not testify against Bankman-Fried. All of the four executives reportedly made plea deals with U.S. prosecutors. Salame is free on a $1 million bond. Like the other executives, Salame has pleaded guilty to federal charges relating to the FTX debacle. In addition, he faces charges of campaign finance violations connected with his girlfriend Michelle Bond’s unsuccessful bid to represent New York’s First District in the House of Representatives. Bond was defeated in the Republican primary. Source: Ryan Salame Both charges against Salame could reportedly result in sentences of up to five years in prison. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that he should not face campaign contribution violation charges because they were not part of his agreement on extradition from the Bahamas. Those charges were later folded into the conspiracy to commit fraud charges against him. Related: Is SBF secretly behind BALD? Crypto Twitter debates latest conspiracy Bankman-Fried claimed at trial, where he pleaded not guilty, that he did not discuss his political donations with Salame. All four executives charged with Bankman-Fried have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Salame’s role in the criminal activities at FTX remains somewhat ambiguous. He was reportedly not part of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle and was so shocked by the news of the exchange’s collapse that he became physically sick. However, Bahamian court records later showed that he informed the country’s Securities Commission of irregularities at the exchange in November 2022, leading to an investigation. Magazine: YouTuber declines ‘7 figure’ sponsorships after FTX scandal: Brian Jung, Hall of Flame

[INST] Sphere 3D’s legal issues escalate as Gryphon seeks to block $10M [/INST] The legal battle between Bitcoin miners Sphere 3D and Gryphon Digital Mining has gotten another chapter on March 25, as a new legal action seeks to block $10 million from a recent settlement. In a pre-motion letter filed by Gryphon in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the miner requests permission to file a motion for prejudgment attachment, seeking to secure $10 million in equity proceeds that Sphere recently received from a settlement related to Core Scientific’s bankruptcy exit. Gryphon wants to ensure that the funds are available to satisfy any judgment it may receive due to Sphere’s alleged breach of contract, which has damages amounting to at least $30 million. Sphere is accused of entering into at least four hosting agreements with other providers, violating the exclusivity clause of their agreement with Gryphon. Gryphon’s letter requesting permission to file a motion. Source: Hogan Lovells/Gryphon. Behind the pre-motion letter lies Sphere’s financial health. According to Gryphon’s letter based on Sphere’s annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has publicly acknowledged its potential for bankruptcy, suggesting it may not be able to satisfy future judgments. “Over the last four months, Sphere has revealed its growing financial troubles. On November 28, 2023, in a filing in the Core Bankruptcy Action, Sphere’s counsel acknowledged that the company was operating with a $200 million net loss and that recent losses had overtaken revenue by a two-to-one margin,” reads the letter. According to Sphere’s latest earnings report from March 13, the company’s net loss for 2023 was $23.4 million, compared to $192.8 million the previous year, as the crypto winter hit miners. The companies have been partners since August 2021 and even considered merging under the Gryphon brand. However, in April 2023, Sphere first sued Gryphon after an alleged spoofing attack led to the irregular transfer of Bitcoin. In January 2023, Gryphon CEO Rob Chang was allegedly scammed into sending 18 Bitcoin (BTC) to a spoofing attacker posing as Sphere 3D’s chief financial officer. A few days later, eight more BTC were sent to the same address. At the time, Gryphon claimed to be a victim of Sphere’s “gross negligence” that allowed activities from malicious actors. In addition to dismissing allegations related to the transfer of assets, Gryphon has filed claims against Sphere 3D for breach of contract, negligence, and defamation. The partnership was terminated in October 2023. Cointelegraph reached out to Sphere 3D, but did not receive an immediate response. Magazine: MakerDAO’s plan to bring back ‘DeFi summer’ — Rune Christensen

[INST] TikTok parent company explores on-chain possibilities for Web3 gaming [/INST] BytePlus — the enterprise technology arm of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company — has announced a move into Web3 through a strategic partnership with Mysten Labs, the developers behind the Sui layer-1 blockchain. In a statement on April 17, BytePlus explained how it plans to use its existing knowledge and experience in data warehousing to empower the Sui ecosystem, with a particular focus on Web3 gaming and SocialFi projects. The partnership will see BytePlus integrate its cutting-edge solutions, including ByteHouse — a cloud-native data warehouse — with Sui’s full-node data. According to the announcement, a BytePlus integration could potentially boost Sui’s analytics capabilities by enabling infinite scalability and real-time data processing. Mysten Labs will benefit from the high-performance, low-maintenance nature of ByteHouse, which could ultimately accelerate data delivery for users on the Sui network. Evan Cheng, the co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, said the partnership could “revolutionize” data analytics in the Web3 sphere. "Integrating cutting-edge content recommendation and generation solutions into Sui signifies a leap toward enhancing user experience within Web3 game platforms and SocialFi projects.” Li Long, the general manager MEA of BytePlusAs, told Cointelegraph that the move comes after observing trends of the rise of new social and gaming platforms built on blockchain and web3. He said their aim is to "elevate the web3 social experience, build close knit communities and more immersive engagements." Related: Can blockchain revolutionize digital securities management for stock exchanges? This is not the first instance of ByteDance exploring Web3 technology. In 2019, it was reported that the company launched a joint venture with a state-owned Chinese media group to develop business arms directed at blockchain and AI. In June 2020, ByteDance sought out a virtual banking license in Singapore in an effort to enter the digital finance scene. Sui, on the other hand, is a newer layer-1 network introduced by Mysten Labs in March 2022. However, development in the ecosystem has greatly accelerated over the last few months with new partnerships. In February, the Sui Foundation partnered with a university in the United Arab Emirates to launch a blockchain academy. A month later, it was revealed that the Greek stock exchange, ATHEX, would deploy its new fundraising mechanism via the Sui blockchain ecosystem. Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions

[INST] Philippines SEC ‘can’t endorse’ ways to retrieve funds after Binance ban [/INST] In a local news report, Paolo Ong, the officer in charge of the SEC’s PhiliFintech Innovation Office, said that the SEC couldn’t endorse ways to retrieve funds after Binance is blocked by internet service providers (ISP) in the country. Ong said that the regulator has already given a three-month warning and extended the time before the ban is implemented to give investors enough time to remove their funds from the exchange. The official hoped that investors would have already transferred their funds to either a local exchange or their wallets within the specified time frame. When queried about the fate of users unable to withdraw their funds in time, Ong stated that they do not have any suggested means for users to reclaim their money. He said: “Unfortunately, we can’t endorse any method on how to take out their money now that the blocking order is out.“ On March 25, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to immediately block access to Binance. The NTC gave local ISPs five days to complete the order. Philippine NTC orders ISPs to block Binance immediately. Source: BitPinas When asked why the exchange is still somewhat accessible in the country even after the notice, Ong said they are still working to implement the ban fully. Cointelegraph checked and found that the Binance website was still accessible in the country at the time of writing. Related: SEC Philippines to investigate Binance over alleged illegal operations On June 8, 2022, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a press briefing in Manila that the exchange was seeking licenses in the country. However, Ong noted that the SEC received no applications from the exchange to formally register in the country. Ong said: “As far as the SEC is concerned, there is no official or formal application to register here in the Philippines.” The official also noted in the interview that the SEC had warned the public several times before they proceeded with a ban. In 2022, the SEC published a notice warning the public not to invest in Binance. The regulator said the exchange does not possess the authority or license to solicit investments in the country. Magazine: Memecoins make millionaires, Terraform and Do Kwon liable for fraud, and more: Hodler’s Digest

[INST] Bitcoin halving shows new users that ‘code is ultimately the law’ in crypto [/INST] As the Bitcoin halving marked another major milestone in the crypto space, leaders in the crypto community shared different perspectives on how the event would affect the different areas of crypto. On April 20, the Bitcoin network successfully went through the fourth halving event after the 840,000th block was mined. The occasion reduced mining rewards from 6.25 Bitcoin (BTC) per block to 3.125 BTC, worth about $200,000 at the time of writing. At the Token2049 event in Dubai, Cointelegraph spoke with community members to get their thoughts on the Bitcoin halving and its potential impact on the crypto space. Attendees of the recent Token2049 event in Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph Crypto space could grow tenfold Avalanche founder Emin Gün Sirer shared two different perspectives regarding the halving. From a technological standpoint, Gün Sirer argued that the halving was not great. He explained: “As a technologist at my core, I see Bitcoin halving as not a great thing. Why? Because it’s a discrete event. All of a sudden the rewards going to miners go down by half. And suddenly, the security budget of the Bitcoin system goes down by half.” The executive believes that the halving leads to “hundreds of millions” being paid to miners going down. Gün Sirer argued that this means less money secures the network. The Avalanche founder believes that the Bitcoin creator was still “alive,” the Bitcoin halving might change. He explained: “I think if Satoshi were alive today, he would change the way the halvening is happening, not from a discrete function, from a sudden point function to a more continuous function, so that the rewards go down more gradually.” While the executive thinks that the halving could improve from a tech perspective, Gün Sirer also recognized that the event has had a good effect on crypto. “This creates a lot of speculation, a lot of buying into the space, a lot of people taking a position in Bitcoin, which in general has been great for the rest of the space as well,” he added. Gün Sirer explained that it’s also great for renewed interest in crypto and predicted that the space is on its way to growing tenfold. “I see the crypto space growing by at least another factor of 10, if not more so. Bitcoin has a lot of growth ahead of it, in my view.” No immediate impact While Gün Sirer highlighted the potential long-term growth of the crypto space, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told Cointelegraph that the halving might not immediately affect the price. Ardoino explained: “I think the halving is something that is iconic, is something that is there, but not necessarily will affect immediately the Bitcoin price.” Even though the executive thinks the halving might not affect the BTC price, Ardoino remains bullish on the potential impact of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “I don’t expect it. Maybe it will happen, maybe it will not. But I think that the Bitcoin halving was priced already. What was not necessarily priced was the enormous interest in the Bitcoin ETF,” he added. Related: Here’s how crypto game Notcoin onboarded over 30M users — founder Ardoino explained that the biggest hedge funds didn’t tap into the Bitcoin ETF yet. When pension funds and other hedge funds start investing, the executive said, “We’ll see big moves.” Code is law in crypto With the ETFs bringing in new players to the crypto space, the halving shows how code works as the law in crypto, according to Justin Hyun, the director of investments at The Open Network (TON) Foundation. Hyun believes that those experiencing the Bitcoin halving for the first time will see how the crypto space works. He explained: “It’ll be a further validation of. The way that the code is ultimately the law in crypto, as in this thing that was pre-designed from the get-go, takes place without anybody having to push a button.” The executive hopes that when the larger community outside crypto sees this, they will become more curious about different networks and how they interact with the code and users. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

[INST] Digital asset inflows recover, but ETF activity is slowing down [/INST] Digital asset inflows into crypto investment products turned positive in the past week, with net inflows of $862 million compared to net outflows of $931 million a week prior. However, the popularity of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds seems to be cooling down. The daily trading volume of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has dropped to $5.4 billion, 36% less than its peak of $9.5 billion recorded in the first week of March. Bitcoin (BTC) topped the digital asset flows with $863 million in inflows aided by ETF demand, with spot BTC ETFs recording $1.8 billion in inflows compared to $965 million in outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Grayscale’s ETF continues to see massive outflows nearly three months on from the approval of the products in the United States on Jan. 11. Continuous outflows from GBTC have put significant selling pressure on BTC prices over the past three weeks. Grayscale Bitcoin holdings. Source: CoinGlass Market pundits had predicted that, over time, outflows from GBTC would slow down and dry up, leading to unprecedented demand for ETFs. However, the current investor trends indicate that the GBTC outflows are far from over, with GBTC still dominating ETF flows. The selling pressure from ETFs is visible on the BTC price as the world’s top cryptocurrency dropped by $4,000 over the past 24 hours, trading just above $66,000 at the time of writing. Many market analysts have called it a routine correction before the Bitcoin halving event scheduled for April 20. Crypto market sentiment turns bearish. Source: Marcel Knobloch The BTC price correction saw nearly $500 million in liquidations while the options market heated up with heavy put calls, suggesting a bearish trader sentiment. Related: Bitcoin exchanges’ BTC balances have dropped almost $10B in 2024 Ether (ETH) recorded its fourth consecutive week of outflows, with $19 million this past week. The altcoin market recorded a net inflow of $18.3 million last week, with Solana’s (SOL) token leading the charge with $6.1 million in inflows. The U.S. is the region with the largest outflows in the past week, with $897 million, while Europe and Canada combined saw $49 million in outflows. Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments — Trezor CEO

[INST] Crypto sleuth warns of scammers behind DeFi protocol [/INST] Pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT issued a warning about a group of scammers attempting to entrap more victims in a new fraud using millions of stolen funds. In a thread on X, ZachXBT disclosed the findings of an investigation over Leaper Finance, a lending protocol based on Blast. According to the analysis, the group is behind several rug pulls, including those that hit users of Magnate ($6.5 million), Kokomo ($4 million), Solfire ($4.8 million) and Lendora. “In the past they let the TVL grow to 7 figs before stealing all of users funds deposited to the protocol and falsify KYC documents + use low tier audit firms. They now have launched scams on Base, Solana, Scroll, Optimism, Arbitrum, Ethereum, Avalanche, etc,” noted ZachXBT. The group is also believed to be responsible for scams on Hash DAO, Glori Finance and ZebraDAO. Losses attributed to the group are estimated at over $20 million. A rug pull takes place when the developers of a blockchain-based protocol suddenly withdraw all of their funds from a liquidity pool or project wallet, essentially draining the funds invested by others. This usually happens without any warning, leaving investors with worthless tokens or assets. As part of the latest scam endeavor, the group reportedly funded a Leaper Finance address on the Blast network with nearly $1 million laundered from previous scams, adding further liquidity to lure victims. Shortly after Leaper Finance’s connection to the scams was revealed, the group replied to ZachXBT, harassing the investigator while announcing a “token launch.” “Nice work! My comrades here at Lazarus fear you yet admire you!” they said in reference to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. Leaper Finance and Glori Finance accounts on X have been deactivated, and the projects’ websites have also gone dark. According to a Feb. 29 research report by blockchain security firm Immunefi, over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency was lost to hacks and rug pulls within the first two months of 2024 across 32 individual incidents. Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

[INST] BitMEX co-founder must face suit over ‘God Access’ trading desk, judge rules [/INST] Crypto exchange BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo is set to face a class-action lawsuit from exchange users after a United States federal judge determined the suit sufficiently showed he was key to an alleged price manipulation plot. Delo, a British citizen, had asked to dismiss the suit last May, claiming U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over him, but New York District Court Judge Andrew Carter shot that down in an order signed on April 3 and published on April 8. “Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that Delo has purposely availed himself of the benefits of the forum — the United States,” Judge Carter wrote. The order — taking facts from the investor suit which Judge Carter “presumed to be true" — stated Delo “was central” to alleged manipulation efforts and “conceived of and designed” a liquidation system allowing BitMEX “to profit from the manipulation.” A group of BitMEX users filed the lawsuit in April 2020 against BitMEX and co-founders Delo, Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, claiming they had a trading desk with “God Access” to BitMEX customer accounts. The trio used customer information to determine which market moves would liquidate the highest number of users — which would net the exchange a profit — and would conduct trades to make that happen, the lawsuit claimed. Highlighted excerpt of Judge Carter’s order stating Delo used a Lamborghini to market BitMEX in New York. Source: PACER BitMEX revealed the desk in April 2018 after pressure from an independent analyst, the order said. The exchange claimed the desk had a neutral market-making role, but the suit alleges BitMEX continued trading against its customers on burner accounts. Along with designing BitMEX’s liquidation system, the judge wrote the lawsuit showed Delo’s role at the exchange meant he would approve “key financial and trading decisions,” including the operation of the trading desk. “Delo personally traded on the platform, benefitting from these same undisclosed advantages,” the order stated. Related: SushiSwap team treasury takeover looks likely despite heated debate On April 3, Judge Carter denied a motion to dismiss from BitMEX and its Seychelles-based parent firm, HDR Global Trading, finding the suit “sufficiently alleged” the trading desk operated from BitMEX’s office in Manhattan. Delo was sentenced to 30 months probation in June 2022 after pleading guilty that February to failing to maintain an Anti-Money Laundering program at BitMEX in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. Hayes and Reed also pleaded guilty alongside Delo. Hayes was given two years probation with six months of home confinement, while Reed was given 18 months probation. Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money? Update (April 21, 11:15 pm UTC): This article has been updated to clarify in the first and second paragraphs that Judge Carter's order used information from the investor lawsuit.

[INST] Magic Eden passed Blur as leading NFT marketplace in March: CoinGecko [/INST] Magic Eden, a Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, recorded its largest monthly trading volume in March, surpassing industry leader Blur. Its NFT trading volume spiked 194.4% in March to $756.5 million, while Blur marginally increased to $530.4 million, according to CoinGecko’s Q1 2024 report, published on April 17. CoinGecko said Magic Eden’s rise up the ranks was partly contributed by its new Diamond reward program and its continued partnership with Yuga Labs — at a time when the NFT studio cut ties with NFT marketplaces that weren’t supporting creator royalties. It marked the sixth consecutive month that Magic Eden increased its trading volume. NFT marketplaces by trading volume since October 2023. Source: CoinGecko March marked the first month Blur had been unseated as the leading NFT marketplace by trading volume since OKX’s NFT marketplace capitalized on a Bitcoin Ordinals craze last December. Prior to that, Blur had led trading volumes for 10 straight months after it surpassed OpenSea in February 2023. However, OKX has lost a large share of Bitcoin NFT trading volume since then to the likes of Magic Eden and UniSat, and as a result, its trading volume has tanked 73.3% since December to $180 million. Despite this, OKX still managed to rake in the third-largest NFT trading volume in Q1 2024, with Solana-based Tensor and OpenSea rounding out the top five. Meanwhile, NFT trading volumes across the top 10 marketplaces amounted to $4.7 billion in Q1 2024 — a 51.6% increase from Q4 2023. Despite the rise, the floor prices of top NFT collectibles such as Bored Ape Yacht Clubs and CryptoPunks have plummeted more than 91% and 64%, respectively, since reaching peaks in May 2022 and October 2021. Related: 5 ways to monetize your digital art with NFTs The enforcement of creator royalties has been a major issue between NFT marketplaces and studios of late. OpenSea, once the leading NFT marketplace, controversially sunset its on-chain royalty enforcement tool last August. Its CEO, Devin Finzer, said the tool hadn’t had the success it hoped and claimed its competitors, such as Blur, Dew and LooksRare, were circumventing it by integrating the Seaport Protocol to bypass OpenSea’s blacklist and therefore avoid creator fees. But OpenSea partially backtracked on this position earlier this month, enabling support for an ERC-721C programmable earnings standard. Magazine: NFTs are like nightclubs, crypto is a volatile religion: NFTStats, NFT Collector

[INST] Open-source Bitcoin education aims to spread global financial literacy [/INST] The El Salvador-based Bitcoin education initiative Mi Primer Bitcoin recently announced the launch of its updated Bitcoin Diploma program, with a new open-source approach. Mi Primer Bitcoin, or “My First Bitcoin,” began as a local education initiative in 2021 and coincided with El Salvador becoming the first country to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. This new update of the program was developed in collaboration with Bitcoin educators and enthusiasts from around the world to provide a comprehensive curriculum covering various aspects of Bitcoin, from its history to its technical workings and everyday applications. Most notably, the update made the program open-source in nature, meaning all materials, including the Student Workbook, are freely available on GitHub. According to the announcement, this is in the hope of encouraging collaboration and translation efforts worldwide. John Dennehy, founder and executive director of Mi Primer Bitcoin, emphasized the transformative potential of Bitcoin education. He highlighted how financial literacy in the Bitcoin era fosters creativity, innovation, and long-term planning. Related: Why the Bitcoin halving matters for the future of decentralized finance In a comment to Cointelegraph, Dennehy said that this curriculum update marks a “significant step” in the project’s mission to “empower the world through Bitcoin education.” “We always strive to improve the content with each new edition, but alongside that, we have also built out much better infrastructure to allow people to best use this in their local context — for example, translations had been ad hoc, now there is an organized infrastructure for communication and best practice guidelines.” He said the previous diploma was translated into nine languages over the course of a year, with 26 translations already underway for this one. The previous diploma has been taught to more than 25,000 students in El Salvador since the inception of the project and has led to several graduation ceremonies. Bitcoin Diploma graduation ceremony. Source: Mi Primer Bitcoin In September 2023, Mi Primer Bitcoin partnered with the Ministry of Education of El Salvador to include Bitcoin in the public school curriculum by 2024. Since its inception, Mi Primer Bitcoin has expanded its reach beyond El Salvador, collaborating with educational institutions and governments internationally. Last fall, Bitcoin Cuba also announced its upcoming collaboration with the program to bring Bitcoin education to local communities. Magazine: SBF gets 25 years in prison, Fidelity eyes ETH staking, and Coinbase’s court loss: Hodler’s Digest, March 24-30

[INST] Fraud victims want China to recover $4.3B worth of Bitcoin seized by UK police [/INST] The victims of an investment fraud scheme facilitated by an electronics company in China are looking to recover $4.3 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) bought with their money with the help of the United Kingdom government. A group representing the scam victims reportedly submitted a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China requesting it to negotiate with the U.K. government to recover the seized Bitcoin. The funds were taken through a $6.2-billion investment scheme conducted by Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology from 2014 to 2017. The group, which also contacted China’s Ministry of Public Security, said it collected almost 2,500 signatures from victims and plans to submit them to both ministries. The letter calls for the Chinese government to cooperate with the U.K. and provide evidence demonstrating their rightful ownership of the Bitcoin. The letter said: “We do not want, and will never accept, a situation where Bitcoins are confiscated by the UK and not returned to us.” The U.K. government has not said how it would deal with the Bitcoin seized in the case. U.K. authorities seized the cryptocurrency after former hospitality worker Jian Wen attempted to launder funds by buying a $30-million mansion with BTC. The purchase failed when Wen could not explain the source of the funds. Image of the property that Wen attempted to purchase. Source: Sky News This led to an investigation by the authorities, culminating in a raid on a house in 2021. At the time, police found 61,000 BTC in the property rented by Wen and her boss, Zhimin Qian, the suspected mastermind of the investment fraud scheme. Related: Couple mistakenly sent $10.5M by Crypto.com to face October plea hearing The BTC was worth $1.7 billion when it was seized in 2021 but is now worth about $4.3 billion as Bitcoin’s price has since risen. Wen initially claimed that the Bitcoin had been mined but eventually changed her story, saying it was a “love present” from Qian, who had fled the United Kingdom. Wen was charged with three counts of money laundering between October 2017 and January 2022. While she denied all the charges, Southwark Crown Court found Wen guilty of money laundering on March 20. Magazine: $308M crypto laundering scheme busted, Hashkey token, Hong Kong CBDC: Asia Express

[INST] Bitcoin briefly dips under $60K amid reports of worsening Middle East crisis [/INST] The price of Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dropped below its critical $60,000 support level again on Friday, falling 5.44% in just two hours amid escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East. On April 19, Bitcoin’s price briefly slumped down to $59,698 before quickly recovering to $61,352. It’s a crucial breakdown to note, given that if its price falls down to $59,000, then approximately $243 million in long positions will be liquidated, per CoinGlass data. Over the last four hours, $34.03 million in Bitcoin long positions have been liquidated, data shows. This comes amid Iranian state media reporting that explosions had been heard at Isfahan airport in central Iran, according to an April 19 ABC News report. Explosions were reportedly heard at Isfahan International Airport. Source: ABC News A similar situation occurred on April 13, when Bitcoin’s price experienced similar volatility after Iran launched an attack on Israel, plummeting 8.4%. At the time, the price decline wiped out over $130 million in market capitalization within minutes following news of the attack. Related: Crypto market ‘underestimates the long-term impact’ of Bitcoin halving: Bitwise Bitcoin holders may also be bracing for heightened volatility as the Bitcoin halving event, which slashes miners’ rewards in half every four years, approaches on April 20. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a major tool tracking the market sentiment in cryptocurrency markets, is down 13 points since last week’s greed index of 79. Bitcoin’s price broke its crucial $60,000 support level amid tensions in the Middle East. Source: CoinMarketCap Bitcoin’s price has been threading above the $60,000 mark over the past seven days but briefly fell from an opening of $63,814 on April 17, dropping as much as 7.5% to an intra-day low of $59,648, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro. Open Interest (OI) in Bitcoin has also experienced a slump over the past seven days, dropping approximately 17.6% to $28.06 billion. Meanwhile, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ether (ETH), also experienced a sharp decline, falling 5% below its critical $3,000 price level, briefly dipping to $2,876, before retesting its support level. The overall crypto market cap is $2.26 trillion, down 0.53% over the past 24 hours. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

[INST] GameFi airdrops are here to stay but won’t save a bad game: Execs [/INST] Despite lingering resistance from some gamers over “tokenomics,” gaming studios will most likely continue to use airdrops and other incentives to attract players, according to industry executives. “It’s a very easy way to get market share, said Kieran Warwick, founder of gaming studio Illuvium in an interview with Cointelegraph. However, games that fail to deliver on the fun, or gameplay aspect, are still doomed to fail, said Warwick. "The problem with that is if you’re using it as a marketing tool and you don’t have a good product to back it up, then your retention is abysmal." Shi Khai Wei, founder of venture capital firm LongHash Ventures, also stressed the importance of making the games fun. “Crypto is very good at acquiring users because of incentives — we have airdrops, play-to-earn mechanics and speculative elements, but to keep the players there, you need to have fun gameplay.” Axie Infinity was one of the best success stories among blockchain games thus far. However, a $650 million bridge hack, among other things, made it tough for its creator firm, Sky Mavis, to retain users after the last bear market. “Games that figure out sustainable economics, the right emission schedules, attracting the right kind of players and incentivizing the right kind of gameplay, those are the games that will survive,” said Wei. Not everyone is looking to make money Warwick acknowledged that token incentives will inevitably attract airdrop farmers rather than real gamers, but it's a necessary evil to grow the player base. “It also gets us the attention that we need from people who are gamers in the space,” he added. His comments come as Illuvium released 200,000 ILV tokens, worth approximately $25 million, for its six-month Play-to-Airdrop initiative last week. The airdrops will be collectible in Illuvium Arena, Overworld, Zero, and Beyond, which will launch on IMX — an Ethereum NFT-focused layer 2 — at the end of May. Meanwhile, Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games argues that while airdrops can play an important role in speeding up GameFi adoption, “not everyone is necessarily looking for a financial return.” “You could be buying an asset that gives you social status in the same way that you might be buying an expensive car or a watch or clothes.” GameFi standards still have a way to go Dizon and Warwick believe GameFi is still about 14-15 years behind where traditional games are now — but they expect that gap to close quickly. “The rate of innovation in blockchain is much faster than what you see in the traditional gaming space,” Warwick noted, as a lot of people in blockchain studios came from mainstream ones which built games with “millions and millions of players.” “So we’re not starting from scratch, but also at the same time, we are building IP which is the thing that takes the most amount of time — like having people fall in love with the storyline, with the universe that you’re creating and how the characters interact with each other.” “All of these elements can’t be created overnight,” he added. Related: ‘FOMO’ once drove GameFi funding, but VCs say it’s different this time Building IP can take anywhere between up to six or seven years, noted Warwick, adding that the leading gaming studios are about halfway through that process. Until then, we’re still waiting for that dominant GameFi project to push the sector forward like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush with traditional gaming in the early 2010s, says Dizon. Yield Guild Games is hoping it will see a future game of this caliber, having built a decentralized network of gaming guilds aimed at bringing blockchain games and gamers together within a single community. The future of gaming is all about User-Generated Content. The trend of Players making their own characters, their own levels and expanding their favorite games is not going to stop. Yet for the Digital Economy to take off, you need technologies that ensure the creators own that… pic.twitter.com/S9guU0IGG5 — Sebastien (@borgetsebastien) March 20, 2024 Wei, however, remains confident that the GameFi industry will finally see a AAA-standard game released in 2024. Magazine: Web3 Gamer: Games need bots? Illivium CEO admits ‘it’s tough,’ 42X upside

[INST] SushiSwap DAO backs transition to ‘Labs model’ in preliminary vote [/INST] 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

[INST] Weekend Wrap: Berachain raises $100M, Trump NFT sales dump and more [/INST] Berachain gets $100 million in Series B raise Layer-1 blockchain Berachain — which is yet to announce its mainnet — has raised a $100 million Series B funding round. Venture firms Framework Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital led the round, with contributions from Hack VC, Animoca Ventures and Polychain Capital, among others, Berachain said in an April 12 X post. It will use the money to expand in multiple regions, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, Bloomberg reported on April 12. Some of the contributors to Berachain’s Series B round. Source: Berachain/X Berachain’s investors backed the blockchain through a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) — where the investors gave money for a future Berachain token. The blockchain’s testnet has reportedly processed 100 million transactions, and it is aiming to launch its mainnet in the second quarter of this year, which has been created for compatibility with Ethereum-based applications. Anonymous Berachain co-founder “Smokey The Bera” said in a funding announcement seen by Bloomberg that the raise was “a major validation of our approach to building a blockchain that’s built on feedback from real users and developers.” Smokey the Bera onstage at Hong Kong’s Hack Summit on April 9. Source: Smokey The Bera/X In mid-March, Bloomberg reported that Berachain was raising a $69 million round at a valuation of $1 billion, citing people familiar. The firm didn’t share its new valuation. Trump NFT volumes drop 99% as criminal trial begins Trading of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) spruiked by former United States President Donald Trump has tanked 99% as his New York criminal trial begins. The 45,000-strong Trump Digital Trading Cards NFT collection — the first ever NFTs that Trump licensed his image to — was seeing hundreds of weekly sales in early February, then sank to just a handful of sales since early March, according to OpenSea. The collection hasn’t seen a sale since April 2. The second version of Trump’s NFTs has fared better, with 966 sales in the past 30 days compared to the original’s 16. The weekly trading volume (gray) and average price change (blue) of Trump’s original NFT collection over 90 days. Source: OpenSea Jury selection begins on Monday, April 15, for Trump’s trial — he’s facing 34 felony charges filed by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly faking business records to cover up a $130,000 payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty. Newsweek reported last month that the NFT collections were pulled from sale until the end of 2024, according to an OpenSea source that didn’t explain why. The former president doesn’t own or control the NFT collection but instead licenses his image to a company that does called NFT International, LLC. Ad giant Dentsu makes Azuki NFT anime series Advertising and creative giant Dentsu partnered with the Chiru Labs, the firm behind the NFT collection Azuki to make an anime series using characters from Azuki’s NFTs. On April 11, Dentsu said it would help make the three-part anime series called Enter The Garden, with episodes to be released throughout 2024. The first will drop on April 30, with a trailer for the episode released alongside the partnership announcement. Azuki is an NFT collection that features anime-style art characters — to which the holders own the intellectual property rights. Some have built businesses off their NFT, including a skateboard and a tea shop. The series will include cameo appearances of the characters and product placement of the businesses owned by NFT holders, Dentsu said. Dentsu’s head of anime operations Yusuke Nii said in the announcement that anime has grown into a “global phenomenon” and claimed the firm would “continue to pursue this partnership even further.” Bitcoin to ‘trend higher’ after weekend flash crash: Novogratz Bitcoin (BTC) will shake off its slump and is set to “trend higher” after a shaky trading weekend following Iran’s attack on Israel, says Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows Bitcoin dropped over 8% to a three-week low of $61,918 on April 13 after Iran launched hundreds of strikes against Israel for the first time, with Israel reporting one serious injury of a seven-year-old. “After the risk flush, [Bitcoin] will resume its trend higher, Novogratz wrote in an April 13 X post. The price drop saw around $964 million worth of liquidations in the 24 hours over April 13. “I pray cool heads prevail and this is not the start of a major regional conflict,” he added. Bitcoin has already started to gain, seeing a 1.5% bump in the past day to $65,407. Other news Nigeria traced local Binance executive Nadeem Arjarwalla to Kenya after he escaped custody and is taking steps to extradite him. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission could approve the first batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs on Monday, April 15, which market watchers say could spark another post-halving price rally. Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

[INST] Binance sued in Canada for securities law violations [/INST] Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been slapped with a new class-action lawsuit in Canada, with plaintiffs alleging that the firm has violated local securities laws. Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice published a certification motion on April 19 for a class-action lawsuit against Binance alleging that it sold crypto derivative products to retail investors without registration. According to plaintiffs represented by Christopher Lochan and Jeremy Leeder, Binance sold crypto derivatives products in violation of the Ontario Securities Act (OSA) and federal law. Source: Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice The lawsuit seeks damages and rescission of unlawful derivatives trades. The plaintiffs argued that tens of thousands of Canadian users of the Binance website invested in its cryptocurrency derivatives products. “It is noteworthy here that cryptocurrency derivatives traders include a great many retail investors,” the certification motion reads, adding that more than 50% of Canadian crypto owners have at least $5,000 in the market, according to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). Binance is a major global cryptocurrency exchange accounting for 58% of the total spot trading volumes among centralized exchanges as of March 2024. Apart from its leading position as a major spot crypto trading venue, Binance also operates the biggest derivatives market among other exchanges like Bybit and OKX. According to data from Bybit, the derivatives market for centralized exchanges (CEXs) is “almost entirely dominated” by Binance, OKX and Bybit. Trading volumes changes of Binance, OKX, Bybit and other platforms between October 2023 and March 2024. Source: Bybit The latest class action against Binance comes a few years after the crypto exchange announced in June 2021 plans to cease operations in Ontario after the OSC approached the firm with a warning. Related: SEC seeks $5.3B judgment against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon “As a result of its failure to adhere to this announced cessation of sales, in early 2022, the OSC notified the defendants of its intention to seek a cease trade order,” the new court document reads. Even after Binance announced departure from Canada in May 2023, local authorities have continued to crack down on the exchange. “The OSC’s investigation into the defendants is ongoing,” the court motion reads. Cointelegraph approached Binance for a comment regarding the class action lawsuit in Ontario but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Magazine: Bitcoin Halving will pump games, Shrapnel’s ‘simple’ secret revealed: Web3 Gamer

[INST] Ethereum boosts 8% amid ‘ultra-strong’ social and market activity [/INST] 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

[INST] Pi Network reaches 10M KYC’d users, but token is still not tradeable [/INST] The Pi Network app now has more than 10 million users who have verified their identities by completing the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, according to an April 16 announcement. The Pi team has promised that it will launch a mainnet and that its tokens will become tradeable if a series of milestones are reached, including after 15 million users pass KYC. With 10 million accounts already verified, the KYC goal will be reached when another five million users complete verification. Despite this achievement, business analytics platform AIMultiple has claimed that Pi may bring “no value to users” since it “can not yet exchange their Pi coins with fiat currency on exchanges.” Pi Network was launched in 2019 as a centralized app. Users produce Pi tokens by pushing a button from within the app each day, and Pi cannot presently be transferred to other users through a wallet. Pi Network official website. Source: Pi Network According to the announcement, 10 million users, called “Pioneers,” have completed identity verification through the app’s native identity verification solution, Pi KYC. This solution provides “a unique and proprietary approach that combines machine automation and crowdsourced, hyperlocal human verification to accomplish secure, accurate and efficient KYC,” the announcement claimed. Nicolas Kokkalis, co-founder and head of technology for Pi, stated that the achievement “proves that the industry doesn’t need to depend on fiat services to succeed.” He also claimed that the new KYC system will “allow other Web3 services involving ownerships of assets to achieve their identity verification needs through Pi.” In December 2023, the team announced plans to launch an “Open Network” or mainnet in 2024 if certain conditions are met. These conditions include that 100 Pi apps must have been developed in addition to the 15 million users passing KYC. In addition, the team must have completed all “technology, product, business and legal” work needed to launch the network, and there must not be an “unfavorable external environment” that would hinder the network’s success. The team has not yet announced a specific date for mainnet launch. AIMultiple analyst Cem Dilmegani claimed that Pi Network will probably not benefit users, stating, “[w]e don’t expect anyone except the founders to benefit from PI Network in a significant way.” That’s because it “works like a direct selling or affiliate marketing system, promising future rewards to users for bringing in new users.” Dilmegani claimed that the affiliate marketing system is used to drive traffic to the app, which is, in turn, used to sell advertising for the benefit of the app’s developer. “Founders are already benefitting from the app,” Dilmegani stated, as they “launched optional video ads at launch to monetize the active user base.” Dilmegani acknowledged that the Pi team could eventually launch a blockchain mainnet. However, he argued that this was unlikely because it would cause the token to rapidly fall in value as users sold into the market. “Then, the coin would not be valuable enough for people to keep on logging in to click,” which would potentially eliminate the value of the app to advertisers. Cointelegraph reached out to the Pi team for comment. In response, a representative acknowledged that Pi had taken an “unconventional and novel” approach to blockchain development, such as providing “an intermediate Enclosed Network period of mainnet” instead of launching an open network immediately. This novel approach was taken to “enable utilities building on the platform and KYC processing of millions of our community members, to help the community further build a robust network for the benefit of the whole community before we launch the Open Network.” The representative claimed that Pi has accomplished multiple goals since its launch, including the creation of “Pi mining mobile app, Pi Browser mobile app as the interface of the Web3 ecosystem, Node application, Testnet and Mainnet blockchains, Wallet, developer platform, a novel KYC solution” and more. The representative argued that not launching an open network right away was worth it, stating, “We believe anything worthwhile takes time and patience, and such components are essential for a healthy launch of the Open Network.” According to a March 3, 2021 report from Vietnamese media outlet vnExpress, Pi Network is the 22nd most downloaded iOS app in Vietnam. In May 2021, a Vietnamese news outlet reported that Pi had inadvertently leaked images of users’ identity cards to a hacker. However, a Pi Network spokesperson stated that the app handled KYC through a third-party and did not store this data on its servers, nor was there any evidence of a data leak. Related: Vietnam government warns about crypto trading risks as Pi gains in popularity.

[INST] Samsung secures $6.4B grant to expand Texas chip manufacturing: Report [/INST] Samsung will receive $6.4 billion worth of grants from the United States government to expand its chip manufacturing in Texas. The South Korean manufacturing conglomerate secured the grants in a broader effort to expand chip manufacturing in the United States. The funding will come from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which aims to boost chip production for the automotive, aerospace and defense industries. The aim is to bolster national security, unnamed administration officials told Reuters, according to an April 15 report. The grants will support two production facilities, including a research center and a packaging facility, while also allowing Samsung to expand its semiconductor manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “[These grants] will allow the U.S. to once again lead the world, not just in semiconductor design, which is where we do now lead, but also in manufacturing, advanced packaging, and research and development.” Samsung will reportedly invest another $45 billion in the expansion of its Texas chip manufacturing facility by the end of 2030. The news comes a month after reports of ChatGPT creator OpenAI planning to produce its own semiconductor chips for its artificial intelligence (AI) applications. OpenAI may be receiving funding from the United Arab Emirates state-backed group MGX. Related: 'China is about to start bidding' — Will Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs spark the halving rally? Chip shortage remains the most pressing concern for miners ahead of the Bitcoin (BTC) halving. Beyond the emergence of potential climate-focused regulation, chip shortages remain the biggest risk for Bitcoin mining firms ahead of this week’s upcoming Bitcoin halving. Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms outlined 12 continued risks for Bitcoin mining profitability in its 2023 annual report. The shortage of chip supply was among the most pressing concerns, which could impact its mining operations over the long term. According to the report: “The ongoing global supply chain crisis, coupled with increased demand for computer chips, has created a shortfall of semiconductors.” In 2023, U.S. Bitcoin miner CleanSpark cited potential “cryptocurrency hardware disruption” and possible difficulties obtaining new hardware in its 10-K filing. Mining Bitcoin at home — Is it time to start?. Source: Cointelegraph Related: 10 days until halving: Bitcoin mining profitability won’t necessarily fall

[INST] Bitcoin supply to run out on exchanges in 9 months — Bybit [/INST] Bitcoin supply on cryptocurrency exchanges will dry up in nine months thanks to the 50% supply issuance reduction of this week’s upcoming Bitcoin halving. Provided that demand from the United States Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues, Bitcoin’s post-halving supply dynamic will see exchange reserves run out of Bitcoin (BTC), according to an April 15 report by Bybit: “Bitcoin reserves in all centralized exchanges have been depleting faster. With only 2 million Bitcoins left, if we assume a daily inflow of $500 million to Bitcoin Spot ETFs, the equivalent of around 7,142 bitcoins will leave exchange reserves daily, suggesting that it will only take nine months to consume all of the remaining reserves.” Bitcoin reserves on centralized exchanges fell to a near three-year low of 1.94 million BTC on April 16, according to CryptoQuant data. Bitcoin: Exchange reserves on all exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant The report comes amid a wider market slump that saw Bitcoin fall over 10% during the past week to $62,924 as of 1:36 pm UTC, according to CoinMarketCap. Bybit, the world’s third-largest exchange, expects Bitcoin prices to start recovering from the current correction, according to the report: “With this in mind, it’s unsurprising that Bitcoin’s price may continue to climb before the halving, or even afterward, as the supply squeeze propels the price to another new record.” Related: Korean won becomes world’s most traded fiat for crypto traders: Report Institutional interest in Bitcoin is on the rise Weekly inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs have been slowing down since March. Last week saw over $199 million worth of net inflows into the ETFs, down from $2.58 billion in the week beginning March 11, according to Dune Analytics. Bitcoin ETFs weekly net flows. Source: Dune Despite the recent slump, the spot Bitcoin ETFs have amassed over 841,000 BTC worth $52.9 billion, with over $12.7 billion net flows since launch, according to Dune. Bitcoin investor allocation has also risen since September 2023. Institutions are allocating an average of 40% of total assets to BTC, while retail investors average a Bitcoin allocation of 24%, according to Bybit’s asset allocation report from Feb. 24. Bybit noted that both crypto-native firms and traditional institutions are gaining increasing exposure to Bitcoin via ETFs or proxy stocks such as MicroStrategy. The exchange expects more institutions to follow suit: “We believe that not all institutions have been able to gain exposure since the approval of Bitcoin Spot ETFs in January 2024, as their investment mandates restrict them from investing in new products that have been in the market for only a few months.“ Related: Bitcoin halving will lead to more sustainable BTC mining: Report

[INST] Shiba Inu memecoin raises $12M from institutional investors [/INST] 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

[INST] CFTC commissioner warns against infringing on SEC’s authority in KuCoin case [/INST] Caroline Pham, a commissioner with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has suggested that a recent “aggressive” crypto enforcement action could put the regulator at odds with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a March 29 statement, Pham said the CFTC appeared to have exerted authority over certain securities in its enforcement case against cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin. The commission charged the firm “with multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations” on March 26, parallel to criminal charges from the U.S. Justice Department. “The CFTC’s approach may infringe upon the SEC’s authority and undermine decades of robust investor protection laws by conflating a financial instrument with a financial activity, disrupting the foundations of securities markets,” said Pham. “Owning shares is not the same thing as trading derivatives.” Related: KuCoin says user assets are unaffected by US SDNY indictment Pham’s statement echoed concerns from many U.S. lawmakers and regulators about the role the CFTC and SEC should play over cryptocurrencies and how they are judged as commodities or securities. Officials representing both regulators have been at odds over Ether (ETH) recently as crypto firm Prometheum announced it planned to offer custody services as a security. The KuCoin complaint from the CFTC suggested that Ether was a commodity. However, legal experts said the SEC potentially labeling ETH as a security could impact the commission’s decision on several spot Ether exchange-traded fund applications in the pipeline. Magazine: KuCoin’s desperate $10M airdrop, 1 tweet raises $37M for memecoin: Asia Express

[INST] Pro-XRP lawyer requests to be amicus curiae for Coinbase customers [/INST] Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton has upheld his pledge to support customers of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase by requesting to serve as a friend of the court in the exchange’s legal battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In an April 19 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Deaton requested to represent 4,701 Coinbase customers by appearing as amicus counsel in the ongoing lawsuit that commenced in June 2023. “I am admitted or otherwise authorized to practice in this court and I appear in this case as counsel for 4,701 Coinbase Customers,” the filing stated. During an April 18 podcast interview with Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, Deaton suggested that his motivation for supporting the Coinbase customers was to protect everyday individuals aiming to “build a little wealth” in their lives. “This isn’t about crypto, this is about freedom. This is about upward mobility, this is about people who want a fighting chance, people who want to build a little wealth. They are not looking to get rich, they’re not crypto bros,” he declared. This comes after Coinbase filed an interlocutory appeal in its lawsuit against the SEC only days after the court denied its motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit. The interlocutory appeal revolves around the “controlling question” whether an investment contract requires “something contractual," according to Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal. Related: Coinbase shares slump, but Base revenue signals it’s undervalued — Analyst Deaton has filed several amicus counsel requests over the past few years in support of the crypto community. In September 2023, he submitted his notice of appearance as a friend of the court in the LBRY v SEC lawsuit. Most notably though, was in 2021 when Deaton filed an amicus brief on behalf of over 6,000 XRP (XRP) holders in the lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple Labs. In more recent news, Deaton has been campaigning for a Senate position, aiming to secure the seat currently held by crypto skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren. On April 15, Cointelegraph reported that Deaton outraised Senator Warren over the first quarter of this year for his bid to seize her Senate spot — bankrolling $1.36 million compared to Warren’s $1.09 million. It comes just over a month after Deaton told his 324,100 X followers that he invested $500,000 of his own money into the Senate campaign. However, he called on his followers to help raise an additional $500,000. Magazine: China and the crypto ETFs, Thai NFT music fest, KuCoin’s 1.3M new bots: Asia Express

[INST] IRS releases draft of 2025 digital asset reporting form for US taxpayers [/INST] The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the country’s tax service, has released a draft of its new Form 1099-DA “Digital Asset Proceeds from Broker Transactions” for reporting income from digital asset transactions. The form is expected to come into use in 2025 for reporting in 2026. A broker will prepare Form 1099-DA for every customer who sells or exchanges digital assets. Brokers include kiosk operators, digital asset payment processors, hosted wallet providers, unhosted wallet providers and others, per the form. Copies of the 1099-DA will be sent to customers and the IRS, which will use them for verification purposes. The 2025 draft 1099-DA IRS reporting form. Source: IRS.gov The form asks for token codes, wallet addresses, and blockchain transaction locations. Under the rule proposed in August 2023, cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens and stablecoins are reportable. The rule stated: “With third party information reporting that specifically identifies digital asset transactions, the IRS could more easily identify taxpayers with digital asset transactions that are otherwise difficult to discover.” The crypto community weighed in on the proposed reporting requirements after they were announced. The Blockchain Association said the rule contains “fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of digital assets and decentralized technology.” Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the proposed rules would set a “dangerous precedent for surveillance of the everyday financial activities of consumers by requiring nearly every digital asset transaction — even the purchase of a cup of coffee — to be reported.” Commenters were no happier with the reporting rules for 2024. Related: Study claims 99.5% of crypto investors did not pay taxes in 2022 Tax experts have also posted their comments on the web. According to crypto tax and accounting service Ledgible, reporting decentralized finance, where there may not be an intermediary to fulfill the reporting requirements, will be especially challenged by the new rule. It could also significantly increase brokers’ administrative burden, as many process very large numbers of transactions. Source: Peter Van Valkenburgh In addition, brokers will be forced to exchange information on digital asset transfers to determine the cost basis (initial value or purchase price) accurately, according to Gordon Law. They have no mechanism in place for such data sharing. Furthermore, there is no way to differentiate between self-transfers and taxable transfers if a crypto owner transfers assets between exchanges. Taxpayers who underreported their crypto income in previous years may be caught when they report their taxes in 2025. Users of foreign exchanges that formally do not serve U.S. citizens will not submit the form, but the IRS may be able to detect the offshore activity if the taxpayer transfers assets to a U.S. exchange. The IRS is continuing to accept comments on the draft form. Magazine: Crazy outcomes when current laws applied to NFTs and the metaverse

[INST] Australia poised for ‘inflection point’ of crypto demand — Kraken Aus MD [/INST] Australia’s crypto industry is in a good spot to benefit from a global “inflection point” for crypto demand as long as its lawmakers make the right decisions, according to a Kraken Australia executive. Speaking to Cointelegraph on the sidelines of the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Miller looked to the influx of fresh capital into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stablecoin adoption and BlackRock’s recent move to launch a $100 million tokenization fund on Ethereum as reasons to take a bullish outlook on crypto in the coming months. “We are now at a positive inflection point when it comes to demand. It feels like we’re well and truly back in a positive place for crypto,” said Miller. “It’s all just proof that this is the financial services infrastructure of the future.” Miller noted that while institutional demand for crypto had soared in the United States — with fund managers such as Fidelity and BlackRock instructing their clients to invest in Bitcoin — this was yet to make its way to Australia. “We’re definitely not seeing that level of action in Australia, but it’s certainly a stepping stone toward that,” he said. However, Miller explained there had still been a drastic uptick in interest from retail investors and crypto-related businesses in the country. “We‘re still seeing quite an increase in adoption here. People are starting to invest again, and many are building new businesses around crypto as well,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of these businesses come to us specifically because they’re after liquidity,” added Miller. Miller noted that many of the new Australian crypto businesses were focused largely on stablecoins, which he — like many others — described as the crypto industry’s “killer app.” Related: Avalanche and Chainlink collaborate on Australasian on-chain asset settlement To Miller, the biggest roadblock to domestic crypto adoption stems from the lack of regulatory clarity and relatively slow progress in legislation. “It’s very hard to take risk and invest in the crypto space in Australia because there’s just that lack of certainty.” However, Miller said his firm’s engagement with Australian policymakers had been largely positive so far, and now the main target was ensuring that sensible laws were put in place by the government. “All of our engagement with [Australian] Treasury has been positive. Our next challenge is to kind of get the government to prioritize legislation. It’s very hard to do that, but I think we’re getting closer,” he said. In October 2023, the Department of the Treasury released a consultation paper that proposed mandating crypto exchanges to apply for a financial services license from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). On March 21, ASIC head Alan Kirkland said the regulator would focus on solving the “regulatory trilemma” — consumer protection, market integrity and encouraging financial innovation — when releasing the next round of regulatory reforms for the sector in the coming months. Miller stressed that good legislation would need to take into account the international nature of crypto, and any attempts to make laws too specific to Australia could accidentally “overengineer localization.” “You really don’t want to pull this fourth-dimensional money into three-dimensional space-time. At the end of the day, you want to keep it in its plane and then make sure the regulations actually mitigate the real risks,” he said. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

[INST] Solana open interest sheds nearly $440M as price slumps 11% [/INST] Solana open interest (OI) and its price have declined in the past 24 hours, mirroring a broader decline across the cryptocurrency market. However, traders are remaining optimistic, viewing it as a “good opportunity.” On April 14, OI in Solana’s (SOL) stood at $1.62 billion, approximately 21% down from the previous day, according to CoinGlass data. OI measures the total value of all outstanding or unsettled Solana futures contracts across exchanges. At the time of publication, Solana’s price is $136.54, down 11% over the past 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap data. Solana futures open interest reached its peak for the year at the beginning of this month. Source: CoinGlass The sudden drop in Solana’s price erased $36.55 million worth of traders’ long positions, potentially disappointing those anticipating a price spike leading up to the Bitcoin halving on April 20. The remaining top 10 cryptocurrencies have seen a comparable decline, with XRP (XRP) experiencing the most significant drop of 12.12% over the past 24 hours. Dogecoin (DOGE) followed closely with a 10.86% decrease, while Cardano’s (ADA) trailed slightly behind at 10.20%. It’s uncertain how long this downturn will last, yet traders maintain a fairly positive outlook for the overall altcoin market. The marketwide price decline prompted prominent trader GCR Classic to break their silence on X after over a year, advising his 273,500 followers on April 14 that the current moment presents a “good opportunity to scale into high conviction tokens.” Meanwhile, in an April 13 X post, crypto entrepreneur Kyle Chasse told his followers that they will “probably see altcoins up like 20-30% by Monday.” Although on-chain analysis firm Glassnode suggests that might not be the case. It highlighted that Bitcoin drawdowns have been much worse in previous “euphoria phases,” which many traders use as an indicator for the rest of the market. In an April 12 post on X, it explained that during previous euphoria phases, price retracements have often exceeded 25%. However, in the current market, there have only been two recent drawdowns of around 10% since surpassing all-time highs on March 5. Related: Solana memecoin frenzy raises questions about crypto utility, reputation This comes amid multiple network issues with Solana in recent times. On April 9, Cointelegraph reported that intermittent congestion on the Solana blockchain forced several crypto projects to postpone their launches. Solana developers say they are working on a fix by April 15. Users of the Solana blockchain reported increasing issues around network congestion and transaction errors over several weeks. New projects, especially those planning token launches, decided to hold off until the technical difficulties were resolved. Magazine: Altseason on the horizon, SEC targets Uniswap, and BTC halving news: Hodler’s Digest, April 7-13 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.

[INST] Korean won becomes world’s most traded fiat for crypto traders: Report [/INST] The South Korean won became the world’s most-traded fiat currency against cryptocurrencies in the first quarter of 2024. The won accounted for over $456 billion worth of trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges, topping the $455 billion in U.S. dollar volume, according to an April 15 research report by Kaiko. Fiat Trade Volume Q1, 2024. Source: Kaiko The research firm attributes the rising dominance of the won to the “fee war” between Korean crypto exchanges. The report noted: “The improving macroeconomic environment and fierce competition among Korean exchanges has boosted trade volume on Korean markets which hit its highest level in more than two years in early March. In Q1 2024, the South Korean Won surpassed the US Dollar in terms of cumulative trade volume.” In comparison, Euro-denominated trading pairs only amassed $59 billion worth of cumulative volume, placing in the third place for the first quarter of 2024. Related: Bitcoin halving will lead to more sustainable BTC mining: Report Crypto fee war among South Korean exchanges intensifies, but Upbit remains the top exchange As the region’s leading crypto exchange, Upbit has dominated over 82% of South Korea’s crypto market share since 2021. However, the recent bull run intensified the competition among rival exchanges, with both Bithumb and Korbit exchanges launching zero-fee campaigns in late 2023. While Korbit’s market share remained below 1%, Bithumb’s market share tripled in the months after the introduction of zero-fee policy trading in October 2023. Yet, the aggressive zero-fee policy led to a large revenue drop for Bithumb, according to Kaiko: “Despite its aggressive zero-fee strategy and the resulting surge in trade volume, Bithumb’s annual revenue dropped by 60% in 2023. The significant decline in revenue may have prompted the exchange to discontinue its zero-fee campaign on Feb. 5, just five months after its launch.” Market Share Volume, South Korean Exchanges. Source: Kaiko The research firm also noted that volumes for the Korean Won declined in early April, expecting a significant rebound with the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s financial regulator has reportedly approved three spot Bitcoin ETFs, which are expected to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in approximately two weeks. Related: ETH price nears 3-year lows vs. Bitcoin — Will an Ethereum ETF stem the tide?

[INST] How blockchain-based voting can restore trust in the electoral process [/INST] 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

[INST] IMF recommends stablecoins and CBDCs to boost Pacific Islands’ economies [/INST] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that digital money, both private and public, could help the world’s most remote and dispersed nations in the Pacific Ocean to raise financial inclusion and the quality of financial services. On March 25, the IMF published a report on the potential role of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on the economies of the Pacific Islands countries. In a 58-page text, the IMF’s senior economic experts highlighted the challenges faced by the dozens of countries and microstates located in a Pacific Islands area: “Limited and unequal access to financial services contributes to persistent poverty and inequality. The countries also are highly dependent on remittance flows, which makes them disproportionately impacted by diminishing correspondent banking relationships.” The IMF believes these nations can benefit from the digital money revolution by developing payment systems, expanding financial inclusion and mitigating the loss of correspondent banking relationships. Related: Global policymakers are still pushing CBDCs despite their failures While the report predictably focuses on CBDCs, a cause heavily advocated by the IMF, it also mentions private stablecoins backed by foreign currencies. The IMF discourages smaller Pacific Island countries (PICs) from issuing their own sovereign stablecoins due to the lack of oversight capacities. However, the only private stablecoin explicitly mentioned in the report is Tether (USDT). Overall, the report states that the best option for PICs with existent national currency and mature banks is a two-tier CBDC, whereby the central bank issues but delegates the operation to private intermediaries. As for others: “Foreign currency–based stablecoins could be a realistic alternative for countries without their own currencies, though only with robust regulation and supervision.” As the summary of current PICs’ financial systems shows, none of them officially uses private crypto or stablecoins, while only several — Fiji, Palau, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu — are exploring a CBDC. The IMF remains one of the leading international advocates for implementing CBDCs. In November 2023, its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, urged the public sector to “keep preparing to deploy” CBDCs. She believes CBDCs can replace cash and co-exist with “private money,” being its “safe and low-cost alternative.” Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

[INST] NASA created VR metaverse to prep astronauts for life on lunar space station [/INST] While most of us spend our time in the metaverse trading assets or bopping around in virtual realities on legless avatars, astronauts working with NASA and SpaceX are using it to prepare for life aboard a lunar space station that hasn’t been built yet. The first humans to make their homes in deep space, according to NASA, will be the team tasked with operating a space station currently under development called “Gateway.” NASA, in a recent blog post, described Gateway as a “next-generation science lab, solar-powered spaceship, and home-away-from home” for international astronauts. Astronauts have traditionally prepared for new missions through the use of physical and computer-based simulators. But the dawn of modern virtual reality headsets and advanced spatial computing technologies has made it possible for those planning to occupy deep space to gain the necessary skills to work and survive in an immersive 3-D environment. Source: NASA The United States says Gateway will make its off-Earth debut no sooner than 2025 when its critical power and propulsion systems are set up in orbit around the Moon. Its mission goes far beyond its humble beginnings in Earth’s backyard. According to NASA, Gateway is being set up as a staging point for the Artemis program, a U.S.-based initiative to build a crewed base on the Moon as the next step in humanity’s quest to put a human on Mars. According to NASA: “Gateway is a vital component of the NASA-led Artemis missions to return to the Moon and chart a path for the first human missions to Mars. The small space station will be a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the Moon and providing essential support for lunar surface missions, a destination for science, and a staging point for further deep space exploration.” The astronauts tasked with maintaining and operating Gateway will face the daunting task of being the world’s first orbital space station crew to live and work in deep space — at a maximum distance of approximately 386,243 kilometers from the Earth. For comparison, astronauts aboard the International Space Station, which launched in 1998, operate at an average distance from Earth of about 400 kilometers. Related: Lunar colony ‘unlikely’ by 2030, but that’s not the point — MoonDAO

[INST] Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital raising $100M to fund crypto startups: Report [/INST] Mike Novogratz’s crypto conglomerate Galaxy Digital is reportedly in the starting stages of raising a $100 million venture fund targeting early-stage crypto startups, with most of the cash set to come from other investors. Its venture arm, Galaxy Ventures, typically used company money for investments but decided to open up its new Galaxy Ventures Fund I to other venture capitalists last year, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, per an April 4 report. The minimum investment it’ll make into startups is $1 million, the person added. The fund would allow Galaxy to “continue fueling the digital asset ecosystem by backing promising early-stage companies,” Galaxy told Bloomberg. Galaxy Ventures’ investments in crypto startups include a $2.7 million February round it led for Citrea, a project aiming to bring zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups) to Bitcoin. Galaxy has raised and contributed to other funds. Its most recent contribution was to a $75 million fund to VC firm 1kx targeting crypto-based consumer apps. The reported fund comes amid a resurgence of venture money returning to crypto after a flat crypto market last year. Crypto VC funding jumped over 50% month-on-month in March to $1.16 billion split across 180 publicly announced investments — the highest monthly figure since April 2022. Crypto VC funding by month since March 2022: orange is the USD amount raised and the gray line is the number of deals. Source: RootData Para is also reportedly attempting to raise up to $850 million for a fund. Hack VC is similarly putting together $150 million to back crypto startups and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has put aside $30 million for a Web3 gaming-focused fund. Related: Paradigm’s funding takes Farcaster’s dev to unicorn status The venture money rush comes as the January-approved United States spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have sent the cryptocurrency’s price on a rally, gaining around 50% year-to-date. Bitcoin has brought the rest of the crypto market with it. The total crypto market capitalization at the start of the year was around $1.7 trillion, it now stands at $2.61 trillion — edging back to its all-time high of $3 trillion, per CoinGecko. Magazine: The secret of pitching to male VCs: Helping female crypto founders blast off

[INST] DEX adoption needs greater capital efficiency — PancakeSwap product lead [/INST] Decentralized finance (DeFi) needs greater capital efficiency to increase the market share of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), according to PancakeSwap. Chef Momo, the pseudonymous product manager of the DEX, told Cointelegraph: “Such initiatives promoting capital efficiency and composability will be pivotal in expanding the market share of DEXs.” PancakeSwap is a popular multichain DEX that launched concentrated liquidity automated market maker (CLAMM) options trading on Arbitrum on April 8 by merging the DEX platform with Stryke’s options trading protocol. CLAMM options will introduce a new approach for building on-chain liquidity in DeFi, based on supply and demand mechanics, according to Chef Momo: “The scarcity of options liquidity persists as a significant challenge not only in DeFi but CeFi [centralized finance] as well. DEXs serve as the fundamental liquidity infrastructure in DeFi. Leveraging this liquidity for option writing presents a substantial opportunity for bolstering on-chain options liquidity.” The new options are live for the ARB/USDC, ETH/USDC, and wBTC/USDC trading pairs. CLAMM options aim to offer more intricate options trading features for crypto investors along with new opportunities for liquidity providers. According to Chef Momo: “Liquidity Providers can capitalize on their existing liquidity in v3 pools on PancakeSwap to write options and earn premiums boosting their overall returns.” PancakeSwap is currently the 10th-largest DEX, with a 3.37% market share on PancakeSwap V2 and a 2.92% market share on PancakeSwap v3, according to CoinMarketCap data. Top DEXs by market share. Source: CoinMarketCap Related: Paradigm leads $225M funding round for new ‘Solana killer’ L1 DeFi needs greater capital efficiency Initiatives similar to CLAMM that promote greater capital efficiency and composability in DeFi will be pivotal in growing the market share of DEXs, according to Chef Momo. “In TradFi, the options markets dominate the derivatives sector, but its presence in crypto is minimal, presenting considerable growth opportunities. Options bring significant value to DeFi, including hedging investment portfolios and generating income.” DEXs are far outpaced by their centralized counterparts. Binance, the world’s largest CEX, currently boasts a daily trading volume of $26.4 billion. In comparison, Uniswap only boasts $1.44 billion in 24-hour trading volume as the world’s largest DEX, according to CoinMarketCap. Looking at individual traders, Binance averages over 21 million weekly visits, while Uniswap, the largest DEX, was only used by 733,930 unique active wallets during the past week, according to DappRadar. Uniswap’s weekly volume of $25.5 billion is still short of Binance’s daily trading volume. Related: 10 days until halving: Bitcoin mining profitability won’t necessarily fall

[INST] PAXG hit new high amid Middle East tensions, raising questions about Bitcoin [/INST] The gold-backed digital asset from Paxos spiked to an all-time high over the weekend amid a backdrop of rising tensions in the Middle East, leading to some questioning Bitcoin’s (BTC) value as a geopolitical hedge. The PAXG gold-backed crypto token hit $2,855 on April 13 as Bitcoin prices conversely tanked $5,000 in a matter of hours from over $67,500 to bottom out at around $62,700 in a 7.5% daily rout, according to data from CoinGecko. “Bitcoin may be many things, but it is not a geopolitical hedge,” commented Bob Elliott, co-founder and CEO of Unlimited Funds and former executive of Bridgewater, in a post on X. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East were ramped up over the weekend following an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israeli targets. The former Bridgewater Associates research head added that this weekend was another good empirical test as BTC traded with a “near-perfect negative correlation over the last day to PAXG.” “If anything, it’s becoming an even worse hedge over time,” he exclaimed. BTC and PAXG prices. Source: Bob Elliott The PAXG token could not sustain momentum, however, and retreated to its previous spot gold-linked price level of around $2,376 at the time of writing. The asset has made slow and steady progress since the beginning of March, rising 20% in tandem with prices of the underlying precious yellow metal, which hit a peak of $2,400 per ounce last week. However, some noted that the Paxos token has very little liquidity, with just $36 million daily volume compared to major high-cap crypto assets that trade in the billions. Glassnode on-chain analyst “Checkmatey” commented that those who “posted about the price of an illiquid gold token trading higher today as a dunk on Bitcoin are an unserious market commentator.” Meanwhile, Elliot observed that Bitcoin exhibited similar market action last year when it traded down in the period following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, while gold traded up. “These correlations look to be getting more negative over time,” added Elliott, who cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “BTC largely traded randomly in a relatively tight range in the lead-up and following the invasion,” he added. Gold prices jumped 12% during February and March that year. Analyst Willy Woo also referred to price action during the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, adding that Bitcoin “recovery happens within days.” Related: Bitcoin nosedives as political tensions escalate in the Middle East Elliott concluded that from a geopolitical perspective, Bitcoin is not a store of value asset, and its broader use may link it more closely to aggregate financial assets. “Along the geopolitical dimension, its pretty conclusive BTC is not ‘digital gold.’” At the time of writing, Bitcoin had already started its recovery from the weekend dump, topping $65,800 in early trading on April 15. Magazine: Altseason on the horizon, SEC targets Uniswap, and BTC halving news: Hodler’s Digest, April 7–13

[INST] Nigeria launches first multilingual large language model in Africa [/INST] Through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, the Nigerian government has launched Nigeria’s first multilingual large language model (LLM) as the country pushes forward to take a leadership position in artificial intelligence (AI) development in Africa. Nigeria’s Communications Minister, Dr. Bosun Tijani, announced on Friday, April 19, that the LLM launch stemmed from a four-day AI workshop held earlier that week in the country’s capital, Abuja. According to Tijani, the launch of the AI tool was facilitated by a collaboration involving Nigerian AI firm Awarritech, global tech company DataDotOrg, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Centre for AI and Robotics (NCAIR). The Minister stated, “The LLM will be trained in five low-resource languages and accented English to ensure stronger language representation in existing data sets for the development of artificial intelligence solutions. The project will also be supported by over 7,000 fellows from the 3MTT Nigeria program,” Tijani added that following four days of collaborative work involving over 120 artificial intelligence experts, Nigeria produced an initial draft of its National AI Strategy and unveiled notable advancements and collaborations aimed at propelling the country’s AI development forward. He mentioned that among the announcements was a collaboration between 21st Century Technologies, Galaxy Backbone, and NCAIR Nigeria to expedite the progress of artificial intelligence projects crucial to the nation. 21st Century Technology will be funding the purchase of GPUs to enhance national computing capacity. These resources will aid local researchers, startups, and government entities in AI projects housed at the GBB Data Centre in the FCT. Related: Meta launches ‘most capable openly available LLM to date,’ rivaling GPT and Claude During the workshop, the Minister announced the relaunch of NCAIR, a dedicated entity created to promote research and development in AI, robotics, UAV, and Internet of Things (IoT) and their practical applications in Nigeria’s key sectors. He stated that the enhanced capacity at NCAIR would enable it to more effectively carry out its role as a digital innovation and research center. Tijani revealed that the National AI Strategy has received $3.5 million in seed funding from interested partners. Foreign and local partners support the funding, including UNDP, UNESCO, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Luminate, Lagos Business School, Data Science Nigeria, NITDA, and other agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy. It includes $1.5 million in direct funding and an additional $2 million invested by 21st Century Technologies into the pilot program. Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

[INST] Reversing layoffs of 2022? Crypto exchanges are adding staff members [/INST] Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek reportedly said the exchange has been adding people to its staff in a move that could increase the number of employees by roughly 1,400. According to an April 16 Bloomberg report, Crypto.com, Binance, Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken have been hiring team members as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) rally ahead of the blockchain’s halving. Many major crypto and technology companies announced significant layoffs in 2022 and early 2023 amid a market downturn, resulting in firms including FTX, Celsius, BlockFi, and others filing for bankruptcy. Marszalek reportedly said Crypto.com had already hired 700 staff members since November 2023 and planned to onboard another 700 for customer service and corporate positions. The CEO said the addition of the staff was aimed at “slowly, thoughtfully, and strategically” supporting plans to increase its number of registered users. According to data from Layoffs.fyi surveying ​​255 companies in the tech industry, there were 7,322 layoffs in March 2024 — a more than 80% decrease compared with 37,963 layoffs in March 2023. Related: Coinbase to cut another 20% of its workforce in second wave of layoffs At the time of publication, Coinbase listed 215 open positions on its website. Kraken listed 81, Gemini listed 80, and Binance listed 347. Many crypto firms reduced their headcounts by up to 20% in 2023 amid regulatory scrutiny and falling token prices. Some of these changes seem to be on their way to reversing amid an all-time high BTC price and approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in 2024. However, many firms in the U.S. still face civil lawsuits brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory concerns at the state and federal levels. Magazine: ‘AI has killed the industry’: EasyTranslate boss on adapting to change

[INST] Web3 developer Community Labs pledges $35M for Arweave ecosystem accelerator [/INST] Community Labs, a company specializing in Web3 software development, is set to launch a 10-week incubator program called AO Ventures focusing on the Arweave ecosystem, with an initial investment of $35 million. The program, scheduled to begin on April 23, aims to support projects within the decentralized storage network by providing access to funding, mentorship and technical workshops. This initiative is backed by venture capitalists such as Factor and Distributed Global, among others. It offers selected Web3 entrepreneurs the opportunity to engage with industry veterans and potentially pitch their projects to prominent VCs after the program concludes. Source: AO Ventures A notable aspect of the program is its inclusivity, as participation is open to all projects that utilize the AO Computer, a decentralized computing service leveraging the Arweave blockchain. The AO Computer is highlighted for its ability to address common vulnerabilities found in centralized systems, such as data breaches and censorship, by facilitating parallel processing. This feature enables the support of numerous processes running simultaneously, enhancing scalability. Furthermore, it allows interaction with the Arweave network to power decentralized applications across various sectors, including artificial intelligence and gaming. Arweave’s token, AR, has gained over 250% in the past year as part of the ongoing bull market, although the token is still well below its 2021 all-time highs. Last December, an unofficial Arweave forking plan drew controversy after its prominent layer-2 network Irys proposed to “drop the data set and reset the token supply.” The network stores a wide range of data, from web pages to gaming data and nonfungible token (NFT) metadata, totaling approximately 57.64 pebibytes (about 64.9 million gigabytes). Arweave is the brainchild of Sam Williams and William Jones from the University of Kent, who wanted to tackle the issue of data being removed from the internet, known as data impermanence, so that information, websites and applications are available for an indefinite period of time. It uses a unique blockchain variant called Blockweave, whose interwoven structure provides much greater scalability and efficient storage options than traditional blockchains, making it ideal for storing large volumes of data. Related: NFTs, gaming and storage: The key to Filecoin and Arweave accruing value?

[INST] Uniswap price tanks 10% as team vows to fight SEC threat [/INST] Uniswap (UNI), the token for the decentralized exchange of the same name, sunk to a six-week low after Uniswap said it received a proposed lawsuit notice from United States regulators — which it is “ready to fight.” UNI dropped 10% from $11.21 to $10 in the hour after Uniswap said it received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission, a notification that the regulator is planning enforcement action. UNI is currently trading at $9.66, its lowest point since late February, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro. TradingView data shows UNI’s price drop putting it at a 47-day low. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro “I’m not surprised. Just annoyed, disappointed, and ready to fight,” the New York-based Uniswap Labs founder Hayden Adams wrote in an April 10 X post. “This fight will take years [and] may go all the way to the Supreme Court.” Uniswap didn’t share the exact contents of the Wells notice, but in a blog post regarding the notice, it claimed UNI wasn’t a security, and it doesn’t meet the U.S. legal definitions of securities exchange or broker. An SEC spokesperson told Cointelegraph it doesn’t comment on “the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.” Consensys senior counsel and regulatory matters director Bill Hughes wrote on X clarifying that SEC staff have to first get the lawsuit approved by the agency’s five commissioners, including Chair Gary Gensler. “We all know that the Chair wants to sue them, and two commissioners are NOT going to disagree, and two will disagree,” Hughes wrote. “So a suit is a foregone conclusion, but there isn’t a suit yet.” He urged those “freaked out” to “take a breath and calm down” as it was “extremely doubtful” the SEC would target UNI holders or protocol users. Former SEC Internet Enforcement Chief John Reed Stark wrote on X that a Wells notice gives the recipient an opportunity to argue why the commissioners should decline a recommended lawsuit. He said the notice to Uniswap was “not surprising” and is “always amazed” when Wells notice recipients “fight back by throwing stones at the SEC with obnoxious/insulting PR campaigns, like the one Uniswap seems to have begun.” “Any SEC lawyer will agree that responding to a Wells by berating the SEC, calling them names, etc. is a weak, risky and losing strategy.” Stark claimed Uniswap was recanting a “tired, anemic, old and failed monologue” by alleging the SEC is abusing its power and “lambasting the SEC’s ‘anti-innovative enforcement paradigm.’” “Expect the SEC Enforcement staff to lean in and file a voluminous and robust federal complaint, which will inevitably survive the usual motion to dismiss, prevail against the typical motion for summary judgement and win on just about every other litigated issue that follows,” he said. Related: Make your code immutable to avoid jail, policy exec advises devs Former Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro wrote on X that his hunch is the SEC “will win on securities issues with UNI” but will lose if it claims Uniswap is a securities exchange. Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, which is being sued by the SEC, agreed with Shapiro and wrote if the SEC claims Uniswap is a broker, he believes it wouldn’t be able to argue its claim. He pointed to a judge’s decision last month in the SEC’s suit against Coinbase, which determined the SEC failed to allege Coinbase conducted brokerage activity through its decentralized Coinbase Wallet. Magazine: Crypto regulation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

[INST] Solana's mainnet beta update v1.17.31 aims to resolve congestion issues [/INST] Solana developers have released a mainnet beta update, v1.17.31, to deal with the ongoing network congestion on the Solana blockchain. The update was released on April 12, and now, after three days of testing, it is being recommended for general use by mainnet beta validators. This patch contains enhancements that will help with some of the ongoing network congestion and will be followed by further enhancements in v1.18. The current version will help improve the network congestion and issues with the open interest jump. Some of the key upgrades include: Show staked vs. non-staked packets sent down/throttled Quic: use smallvec to aggregate chunks, save 1 alloc per packet BankingStage Forwarding Filter Tighten the minimal streams per 100ms for staked node Treat super low staked as unstaked in streamer QOS Default staked client in LocalCluster Solana developer Anza asked validators to upgrade the latest patch only when there’s less than a 5% delinquent stake. Delinquency on Solana refers to inactive validators, and the percentage refers to the total stake for offline validators. Thus, validators are requested to install the updates only when there are less than 5% inactive validator stakes on the network. Related: Over $1B in US Treasurys have now been tokenized on-chain Amid a growing network activity and memecoin frenzy, Solana network faced congestion issues for nearly a week with a transaction failure rate as high as 75%. While developers were working on the fix, a co-founder of Solana noted that the ongoing network congestion issues were merely a bug rather than a network issue. The Solana Foundation attributed current network congestion problems to various factors, including a large demand for Solana block space and a delayed implementation of patches to tackle network-related issues. Solana Foundation strategy lead Austin Federa told Cointelegraph that developers had been working non-stop to fix the issue, but the network demand has outpaced the timely developer intervention. Federa added that engineers had “not been sleeping much” as they readied patches and tested features before they hit mainnet. However, Solana devs have developed a series of patches to tackle the ongoing issue, with the first released for developers on April 15. Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments — Trezor CEO

[INST] Spot Bitcoin ETFs regain traction, posting $418M net inflows [/INST] 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

[INST] Binance exec remains in jail as bail appeal fails again [/INST] A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria has once again postponed the bail application hearing for Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who remains in custody at the Kuje correctional center. Originally set for April 18, the court has rescheduled the hearing for April 22, according to local news agency Nairametrics. During the court session, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told the court that Gambaryan’s lawyer submitted an additional affidavit to his bail application on April 16. Senior counsel E. Iheanacho highlighted new points raised by the defense, requiring time for a proper response in the pursuit of justice. The judge presiding over the case, Justice Emeka Nwite, agreed to postpone the proceedings. However, Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, emphasized that his client has been held in federal government custody for over 14 days. He criticized the prosecution for failing to file a response to the additional affidavit submitted with his bail application. Tigran Gambaryan leaving the court as his bail hearing adjourned at the federal high court in Abuja, Nigeria on April 18. Source: Nairametrics The trial judge remanded the Binance executive after he pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges by the EFCC. The agency accused Binance, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla of concealing the source of $35.4 million revenue in Nigeria, alleging it was the proceeds of unlawful activity. Following the court’s acceptance of the EFCC’s arraignment of the defendants, Mordi requested the court to provide his client bail under lenient conditions. Related: Nigeria’s crypto reputation will prevail despite recent setbacks — Exchange exec The court allowed the EFCC to hold the Binance executives for 14 days and ordered Binance to give the government access to data and details of Nigerian traders using its platform. Binance and its executives are dealing with two distinct lawsuits: one from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) related to tax evasion and another from the EFCC accusing them of money laundering and foreign exchange violations. However, Gambaryan is also suing the government for violating his fundamental human rights. Gambaryan’s motion claims that his detention in Nigeria and the confiscation of his passport violates the country’s constitution, which guarantees an individual’s right to personal liberty. On Feb. 28, Nigerian officials arrested the two high-ranking Binance executives — Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan overseeing operations in Africa; and Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American — during a visit to Nigeria. The arrest came after the federal government banned cryptocurrency channels as part of a campaign to curb currency speculation. However, Anjarwalla escaped detention using a fake passport. Magazine: US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime

[INST] SEC defers decision on Bitwise, Grayscale Bitcoin ETF options [/INST] The United States securities regulator has delayed its decision on whether to allow the New York Stock Exchange to offer options trading on spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs. According to the April 8 filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s pushback will impact options trading on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and any other trust that holds Bitcoin on the NYSE. “The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change,” the securities regulator said. The next deadline for the SEC to either approve, deny or delay the proposed rule change on the NYSE is on May 29. The securities regulator reached the same outcome for Nasdaq last month, which requested options trading on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Options are derivative products that provide traders leverage and let them make directional bets on the market. If a trader thought Bitcoin’s price would rise, they could pay a premium, buy a “call option,” and agree to buy 1 BTC at today’s price in a month’s time while putting down less money than would be needed to buy 1 BTC. If Bitcoin rises over the month, the trader could use their option, buy Bitcoin at the lower price, and maybe sell it for a profit. If it sinks, they’d likely just let the contract expire and forfeit the premium paid. Related: Despite 23% gains, Bitcoin options traders still not bullish Grayscale’s CEO, Michael Sonnenshein, is one of two people who wrote to the SEC requesting the rule change to be approved. In a Feb. 28 letter, Sonnenshein argued there’s no reason to knockback options trading on the spot Bitcoin ETFs as the SEC has already approved Bitcoin futures ETFs and spot Bitcoin ETFs on the NYSE. “The natural next step is the approval of options on spot Bitcoin ETPs.” The approval of options for spot Bitcoin ETFs would also “contribute to a robust and healthy market,” Sonnenshein also said in a Feb. 5 X post. NYSE filed a 19b-4 form proposing options trading on Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 12, while Nasdaq and Cboe made their own proposals on Jan. 19 — nine days after the SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs on several stock exchanges. Magazine: Wolf Of All Streets worries about a world where Bitcoin hits $1M: Hall of Flame

[INST] Microsoft AI to make long-term investments in the UK — CEO [/INST] Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) arm is making a long-term bet on the United Kingdom as it launches its new AI hub in London. In a blog post, Microsoft AI executive vice president and CEO Mustafa Suleyman said the company plans to invest long-term in the region. He wrote: “There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the U.K., and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers into this new AI hub.” The executive said the company will actively hire “passionate innovators” who want to contribute to their goals in the coming weeks and months. Suleyman said these individuals will work on the “most interesting and challenging AI questions” of our time. On March 19, Microsoft AI hired Suleyman to lead its AI initiatives as its CEO and executive vice president. Suleyman co-founded the artificial intelligence startup DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014. Suleyman’s statements came as he announced the creation of an AI hub in the United Kingdom. The hub’s goal is to advance AI language models and their infrastructure. In addition, it would also create tooling for foundation models and collaborate with their AI teams across the globe and its partners like OpenAI. Community members met the move with enthusiasm. On X, Neil Cameron described the development as a “huge win for the ecosystem” in the United Kingdom. Tom Tugendhat, a member of the U.K. parliament, said that it’s a vote of confidence in the U.K. as a global hub for AI. Related: First VR developer integrates with OpenAI, setting stage for no-code VR development United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has shown positive interest in AI and sees it as one of the pieces that would contribute to his legacy. On Oct. 26, 2023, Sunak delivered a speech expressing his belief in the potential of AI technology. He said: “I genuinely believe that technologies like AI will bring a transformation as far-reaching as the industrial revolution, the coming of electricity, or the birth of the internet.” Apart from the U.K., Canada is also getting a boost to its AI sector. On April 7, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a $1.76 billion budget to boost the country’s AI sector and maintain its competitiveness on the global stage. Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

[INST] Indonesia to implement regulatory sandbox for crypto assets [/INST] The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) said that local financial services institutions offering new products and services must be included in the regulatory sandbox or leave room for testing upcoming innovations, including crypto asset products. According to a report by local Indonesian media outlet DetikFinance, once regulated and supervised, crypto assets will also need to go through a regulatory sandbox in the future. This means crypto firms in the sandbox stage will have to be evaluated by the regulator before being approved to operate in the country. Regulatory sandboxes are typically tools for businesses to test and experiment with new innovative products or services for a limited period. Hasan Fawzi, the head of the country’s supervision of the financial sector technology innovation, digital financial assets and crypto assets, said that crypto assets have been included in the regulatory sandbox in an effort to eradicate fraudulent investments. “I think this is our spirit at OJK, especially in consumer protection and education. We really hope that all of our regulatory mechanisms will be present and have a direct impact on preventing fraudulent investments.” Related: SBI expands Ripple remittance tech to banks in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines As a part of this announcement, the OJK will take over regulation of the crypto industry starting in January 2025. Currently, it is under the jurisdiction of the country’s commodities agency, known as Bappebti. Indonesia classifies crypto assets as commodities, though when moved to OJK’s governance, it is speculated that they may be reconsidered as financial instruments. The crypto landscape in Indonesia has been heating up over the last year, with a pro-crypto candidate elected vice president in the most recent presidential elections. During his election campaign, Gibran Rakabuming Raka vowed to prepare blockchain, crypto, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity experts that would encourage local youth in the digital space. In 2023, the country launched its landmark national crypto exchange — the Indonesian Crypto Asset Futures Exchange — monitored by local regulators. It serves as the country’s sole platform for the legal exchange of digital assets. It has also begun conducting blockchain trials in public services. Earlier in March, Indonesian officials were reportedly considering changes to its dual taxation on crypto, urging a reevaluation of the country’s current 0.1% capital gains tax and 0.11% VAT on crypto transactions. Magazine: Owner of seven-trait CryptoPunk Seedphrase partners with Sotheby’s: NFT Collector

[INST] $2.7T general insurance industry meets tokenized RWAs: Nayms joins Cointelegraph Accelerator [/INST] Cointelegraph has announced that Nayms, an on-chain insurance marketplace that matches brokers and underwriters with crypto capital providers, has joined the Cointelegraph Accelerator program. The insurance industry is a major market that can benefit from the blockchain revolution. Faced with many challenges, including costs, discerning customers and fraud, the insurance sector has immense potential for a blockchain-powered disruption. Blockchain’s potential to revolutionize insurance According to reports, blockchain can pave the way for a $32.9 billion market for the insurance world by 2031. The distributed and transparent nature of the technology enables a comprehensive, secure and interoperable repository of insurance-related information. This is where the idea of a blockchain-based digital insurance marketplace came to life in Nayms. Nayms facilitates the connection between capital providers and brokers by utilizing segregated accounts established by third-party Sponsors to tailor specific insurance solutions. Sponsors submit detailed business plans, which, upon approval, lead to the issuance of participation tokens. Participation tokens represent a contractual interest in the assets and liabilities of a segregated account and are sold only in Nayms’ matching market, allowing investors to fund the accounts with crypto. The capital raised supports the underwriting of blockchain-specific risks, with insurance contracts crafted using Nayms’ Policy Builder. Nayms oversees the management of claims against these accounts, including via designated third-party administrators, ensuring adherence to underwriting guidelines and policy wordings. Nayms streamlines the process, securely linking capital providers to insurance risks via smart contracts, which automate transactions while maintaining transparency and compliance. Tokenization to democratize insurance Tokenization facilitates easy entry and exit for investors, increasing liquidity and enabling a broader base of participants to share in the risk and rewards. Additionally, Nayms targets blockchain-specific risks, such as those associated with cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and DeFi smart contracts, which represent billions in uninsured value. Offering crypto-based policies minimizes currency risk for blockchain and crypto businesses while providing traditional coverage types like directors and officers against governance-related liabilities and errors and omissions insurance for professional mistakes. Nayms operates under the regulatory framework of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), the financial watchdog in Bermuda, which was one of the first places to implement a regulatory framework for digital assets. Nayms holds both a Class F license under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018 and a Class IIGB license under the Insurance Act 1978. Registered as a segregated accounts company, Nayms utilizes the legal structure to issue segregated accounts for different risk pools — each insulated from others — allowing for precise risk management and operational efficiency. The platform integrates the NAYM governance token to align incentives among marketplace participants, enhancing the ecosystem’s functionality by linking rewards to marketplace performance through staking. While the token incentivizes participation and governance within the platform, it’s distinct from participation tokens used for capitalization in insurance operations. NAYM token offers benefits like staking and voting on governance issues related to the Nayms Liquidity Facility (NLF), which provides primary capital to and liquidity for the secondary market on the Nayms marketplace. The model allows Nayms to blend decentralized finance (DeFi) elements with traditional regulatory compliance, ensuring a secure and innovative insurance marketplace. Using blockchain tokenization, Nayms is working with over 20 partners and a global team with the aim of bringing liquidity to insurance as an asset class, enabling over $1 trillion of alternative capital in digital assets to access this risk.

[INST] South African exchange VALR wins dual crypto licenses [/INST] South African cryptocurrency exchange VALR has been granted new crypto asset service provider (CASP) licenses from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) following new requirements for industry firms. VALR — which secured $55 million of equity funding from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures and others — received Category I and II CASP licenses from the FSCA. This makes VALR one of the first cryptocurrency companies in the country to receive both licenses. Speaking to Cointelegraph, VALR co-founder and CEO Farzam Ehsani said securing a CASP license from the FSCA was a significant milestone for the exchange. The company has been actively working with South African regulators to draft and implement a regulatory regime that fosters the growth of the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector while ensuring investor protection. Related: South Africa to mandate crypto exchange licenses by end of 2023: Report “Our license underscores our unwavering dedication to compliance, security, and providing a trustworthy platform for the crypto community. We welcome this regulatory milestone for South Africa and applaud the regulators for taking this important step for the nation,” Ehsani said. The FSCA opened license applications in June 2023, giving crypto asset service providers six months to apply for a license to comply with South African regulations. Companies had until Nov. 2023 to apply and would be regulated under the country’s Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Ehsani also explained the difference between the two categories of licenses. A CAT I license is the standard financial service provider (FSP) license required for a CASP in South Africa to provide advice or exchange services to its customers. “A CAT II license, or discretionary mandate license, enables customers to give VALR and other licensed CAT II FSPs a mandate to use its discretion to structure the customer’s portfolio for example. This allows VALR to explore exciting product categories such as bundled offerings,” Ehsani said. The act aims to protect customers and investors and enable regulators to take enforcement action for compliance failures. South Africa became the first African country to formally license cryptocurrency exchanges through regulatory frameworks that have been in development since 2021. Related: South Africa begins licensing crypto exchanges as applications pile up As previously reported, the FSCA approved 59 license applications from cryptocurrency platforms in March 2024. At the time of the initial Reuters report, the FSCA was processing 262 licensing applications from crypto exchanges out of 355 applicants. In January 2023, South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board also updated its requirements to address the rising popularity of cryptocurrency investing. The rule changes were aimed at protecting consumers from unethical advertising. A new clause in Section III of the country’s advertising code requires companies and individuals in South Africa to abide by certain advertising standards regarding the provision of cryptocurrency products and services. Adverts, including cryptocurrency offerings, must “expressly and clearly” state that investments may result in the loss of capital “as the value is variable and can go up as well as down.“ Advertising for particular services and products must be “easily understandable” for intended audiences. Adverts must also give balanced messages around returns, features, benefits and risks associated with the associated product or service. Social media influencers also have to abide by the amended rules. Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

[INST] Crypto liquidity firm GSR secures MPI license in Singapore [/INST] Crypto trading firm and liquidity provider GSR Markets received its full major payment institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). On April 4, GSR reportedly secured the license after receiving an in-principle approval in October 2023. GSR Singapore CEO Xin Song claimed that GSR is the first of its kind to receive the MPI license in the country. MPI-licensed companies in Singapore are authorized to conduct multiple payment services and exceed volume limitations for payment firms. Major payment institution license benefits in Singapore. Source: MAS Licensed companies can exceed the 3 million Singapore dollars ($2.2 million) volume limit for a payment service and the monthly limit of 6 million SG$ ($4.4 million) for two or more payment services. In the case of GSR, the license would allow the company to conduct its over-the-counter (OTC) spot and market-making services under the purview of Singapore’s central bank. The company was founded in the United States in 2013 and facilitates OTC crypto trading, derivatives, market making and venture capital investments. It also holds money service business licenses across several states in the United States. Singapore’s regulatory efforts allow financial institutions to explore blockchain-based technologies to position the country as a digital asset hub. As a result, many crypto companies targeting the region have pushed to acquire the MPI license to offer their services within the country. In 2023, Crypto.com, Coinbase and Ripple received formal approval for their MPI licenses in Singapore. Crypto.com obtained its license in June, while Ripple and Coinbase received an official nod in October. In 2024, crypto exchange OKX and crypto custodian BitGo received in-principle approvals for the MPI license in Singapore. BitGo received the initial nod in January, while OKX received its initial approval in March. Related: Singapore police recommend hardware wallets against crypto drainers While Singapore supports crypto innovation, the country is cracking down on retail speculation and is extending the scope of its laws. After receiving feedback on its proposed digital payment token (DPT) regulations, MAS laid down measures to discourage retail investors from speculating in crypto investments. On Nov. 24, MAS published five ways for DPT service providers to discourage retail clients from engaging in price speculation. More recently, Singapore’s central bank expanded the scope of its Payment Services Act. On April 2, MAS said that it had brought several activities under the scope of the Payment Services Act. This includes custodial services for DPTs, facilitating token transfers and exchange and cross-border fund transfers. Magazine: KuCoin’s desperate $10M airdrop, 1 tweet raises $37M for memecoin: Asia Express

[INST] US gov’t among states with largest Bitcoin holdings — Arkham [/INST] The United States government is one of the biggest cryptocurrency holders alongside other global states like the United Kingdom and Germany, according to data from Arkham. Arkham, a crypto intelligence platform focused on deanonymizing entities on the blockchain network, has introduced a dashboard featuring the governments with the largest crypto holdings. Announcing the news on April 12, Arkham said that the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany are “some of the largest countries” in terms of crypto holdings. With the new Arkham tracking tool, individuals can observe the real-time balance and transaction history for cryptocurrencies held by governments. According to the data, the U.S. government is the biggest Bitcoin (BTC) whale among global states tracked by Arkham, holding as much as 212,847 BTC at the time of writing, worth around $15 billion based on the current prices. In addition to BTC, the U.S. government also holds around $200 million in other cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH), as well as major stablecoins like USDC (USDC) and Tether (USDT). Top governments by Bitcoin holdings. Source: Arkham The U.K. government, ranked second, holds 61,245 BTC at the time of writing, worth around $4.5 billion, according to Arkham’s data. The German government owns 49,858 BTC, equivalent to roughly $3.5 billion at the time of writing. The government of El Salvador — the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021 — holds significantly less BTC than other countries tracked by Arkham. According to the data, the Salvadoran government holds 5,717 BTC, worth $405 million at the time of writing. Related: Queensland law enforcement agency calls for more powers to seize crypto The release of Arkham’s dashboard of top governments by Bitcoin holdings marks an important milestone in transparency of cryptocurrency assets owned by whales like country states. At the same time, it has been a while since the public found out about massive BTC holdings by the United States government. The dashboard also points to the fact that the U.S. continued to accumulate Bitcoin in the past few years. Since early 2023, the U.S. government has added at least 5,000 BTC, based on Arkham’s data and previous reports. A significant part of the U.S. government Bitcoin holdings comes from confiscations related to darkweb market Silk Road, its hacker Jimmy Zhong, as well as the hackers of crypto exchange Bitfinex. Magazine: Synthetix founder: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

[INST] BlackRock smashes $10.5T record in Q1 managed assets [/INST] Major Bitcoin (BTC) investor BlackRock continues to build momentum, posting another successful quarter of income and managed assets. BlackRock issued its financial results for the first quarter of 2024 on April 12, reporting a record $10.5 trillion in assets under management (AUM), up $1.4 trillion from 2023. The company’s diluted earnings per share surged from $7.9 million in Q1 2023 to $9.81 million in Q1 2024. The increase reflects higher non-operating income and a lower effective tax rate in the current quarter, the firm noted. Net income increased from $1.2 billion in Q1 2023 to roughly $1.5 billion in Q1 2024. In the report, BlackRock also mentioned that the company issued $3 billion of debt to fund a portion of the cash consideration for the planned acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investment fund focused on equity and selected debt investments. BlackRock previously announced an agreement to acquire GIP as part of its Q4 2023 report, targeting the creation of a new infrastructure investment platform. BlackRock’s record-breaking AUM came amid the company handling $76 billion of quarterly long-term net inflows, which already accounts for nearly 40% of full-year 2023 levels. “BlackRock’s momentum continues to build, with accelerating client activity and line of sight into the funding of significant wealth, institutional, and Aladdin mandates,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said. The CEO mentioned that BlackRock sees significant growth potential in infrastructure, technology, retirement and whole portfolio solutions, adding: “Clients are turning to BlackRock to unlock the full potential of their portfolios, reflected in industry-leading total net inflows of $236 billion over the last twelve months.” BlackRock is a major player in the cryptocurrency industry, operating one of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Related: Circle enables USDC transfers for BlackRock’s first tokenized fund As of April 10, IBIT has accumulated 266,580 BTC worth $18.5 billion since it started trading in January 2024. Fink is known in the crypto community as a major Bitcoin bull and industry advocate. In March 2024, Fink reiterated that he was very bullish on the long-term success of Bitcoin in the context of the rapid growth of IBIT. “IBIT is the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs. Nothing has gained assets as fast as IBIT in the history of ETFs,” the CEO stated. Magazine: Ghostface Killah Ordinals drop today, Women & Weapons… violent? NFT Collector

[INST] BlackRock, Grayscale have to wait for SEC’s spot ETH ETF decisions [/INST] 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

[INST] Blockchain for Good Alliance launches at Blockchain Life Dubai [/INST] The Blockchain for Good Alliance (BGA) announced its official launch on April 15, at the Blockchain Life Dubai event. Describing itself as a “collaborative network of organizations, projects, and individuals committed to leveraging blockchain technology to solve global social, environmental, and economic challenges,” the BGA has partnered with blockchain-based organizations of nearly every stripe. These include Bybit Web3, Solana Foundation, Aptos, Moledao, Harvard Blockchain Club, ICP.Hub UAE, American University of Sharjah (AUS), Coineasy, Libera, Edu3Labs, Alchemy Pay, Bu Zhi DAO and XueDAO. The newly launched organization will work as an incubator for blockchain tech, according to its website. It’ll provide networking opportunities connecting builders with mentors, resources, and events. A spokesperson named Abbie, a representative of the Harvard Blockchain Club, said in a statement that: "We are thrilled to be a part of the Blockchain for Good Alliance (BGA) launch. Through our commitment to exploring university initiatives such as establishing a blockchain publication repository and supporting BGA's impactful projects, we aim to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within our academic community.” Blockchain social platform Moledao, a BGA partner, described the alliance as a path towards mass adoption in a YouTube video posted on April 14. The concept of “blockchain for good” was recently studied by Italian researcher Silvia Semenzin, at the GRASIA Research Group, Institute of Knowledge Technology, Complutense University of Madrid, in a research article posted to Sage Journals. According to Semenzin, many initiatives to “do good” through the use of blockchain technology are either motivated by profit seeking or largely ignorant to the realities of disparate class financial relativities. The Blockchain for Good Alliance will operate as a non-profit, something that should largely assuage the typical concerns associated with tech-based endeavors to do good. Related: Over half of U.S. charities now accept cryptocurrency donations Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation, said in a statement that this collaboration “enhances our commitment to harnessing blockchain for global benefit.” She added that the platform would drive “impactful change,” by joining the partners together: “This has opened doors for innovative public infrastructure projects such as Helium and Hivemapper, where users not only contribute but also earn from their participation. Moreover, Solana's technology facilitates accessible cross-border remittances and new financial products, making it a pivotal player in creating a more inclusive financial system.”

[INST] US senators introduce new stablecoin bill [/INST] United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis have introduced legislation establishing a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. In an April 17 announcement, the two U.S. Senators said they had introduced the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, a bill the lawmakers had been drafting for months and expected to make public in 2024. According to Gillibrand and Lummis, the legislation prohibited “unbacked, algorithmic stablecoins” — likely a nod at TerraUSD (UST) depegging from the U.S. dollar in 2022 — required one-to-one reserves for issuers, created state and federal regulatory regimes for firms and prevented illicit uses of stablecoins. “Passing a regulatory framework for stablecoins is absolutely critical to maintaining the U.S. dollar’s dominance, promoting responsible innovation, protecting consumers and cracking down on money laundering and illicit finance,” said Senator Gillibrand. “To draft the strongest bill possible, our offices worked closely with the relevant federal and state agencies and I’m confident this legislation can earn the necessary support in the Senate and the House.” According to the text of the 179-page bill, state non-depository trust companies would be allowed to issue up to $10 billion in payment stablecoins, with authorized institutions able to issue stablecoins “up to any amount” under a limited-purpose state charter. The legislation also aimed to uphold the current system of state and federal charters and established rules on custody for non-depository trust companies. “Proper custody practices for issuers are essential, especially in light of FTX,” said a one-page document explaining the bill. In October 2023, Senator Lummis called for the Justice Department to take action against stablecoin issuer Tether for allegedly facilitating funds Hamas used following the terrorist group’s attack on Israel. She has previously worked with Senator Gillibrand to introduce crypto-focused legislation, including one bill to establish a comprehensive framework clarifying the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission in regulating digital assets. Related: Is a US stablecoin bill just around the corner? Law Decoded Lummis and Gillibrand had been teasing the legislation amid concerns from many lawmakers and industry leaders about establishing guardrails for stablecoin issuers in the United States. The House of Representatives took one such bill, the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, out of committee in July 2023. Though the legislation appears to be ready for a full floor vote, it has seen little if any, movement in months. Senator Sherrod Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, reportedly said on April 16 that a stablecoin bill would be one of his goals in the legislative session, provided his concerns were addressed. He did not specifically mention Lummis’ or Gillibrand’s efforts at the time. Magazine: Lawmakers’ fear and doubt drives proposed crypto regulations in US

[INST] Is Bitcoin’s pre-halving retrace over? 52K BTC accumulated on Sunday alone [/INST] Bitcoin’s (BTC) pre-halving retrace may already be over following one of the largest accumulation days in years, which saw Bitcoin reclaiming the $71,000 price level. On March 25, blockchain analytics firm Santiment reported that Bitcoin just “caught traders off guard” with a rebound as “key stakeholders” had a huge accumulation day over the weekend. Wallets, which it terms “sharks” and “whales,” holding between 10 and 10,000 coins accumulated 51,959 BTC on March 24, worth around $3.4 billion at the time, the firm revealed. It added that this equates to 0.263% of the entire currently available supply being accumulated in one day. As the Bitcoin halving approaches, three weeks away on or around April 19, “it would be unsurprising to see these wallets continue to grow, resulting in a positive impact on crypto-wide market caps,” it noted. Source: Santiment Crypto analysts were concerned about a more sizeable pre-halving retrace, assuming that history would rhyme with previous market cycles. However, BTC only fell around 17% from its March 14 all-time high of $73,738, dipping to $61,494 on March 20, according to CoinGecko. Technical analyst Rekt Capital said that if this ends up being the end of the pre-halving retrace, Bitcoin will have almost equaled the 2020 pre-halving retrace. “Bitcoin pulled back -18% in this cycle whereas BTC retraced just over -19% in 2020,” he noted. The analyst had previously predicted that this pre-halving retrace “would more likely be on the shallower side than on the deeper side” and could also be much shorter than has otherwise been the case historically. Related: Trading Bitcoin’s halving: 3 traders share their thoughts Reporting on market volatility and last week’s dip on March 25, crypto research firm Kaiko revealed that after an analysis of buy and sell orders, “selling intensified following the U.S. market close.” It concluded that “liquidity in the cryptocurrency market is not only fragmented across exchanges but also across trading pairs.” BTC was trading up 5.2% on the day at $70,252 at the time of writing after hitting an intraday high of $71,000 in late trading on March 25. Magazine: ‘Am I sorry? No’ — 3AC founder. $6B BTC laundered for fast food worker: Asia Express

[INST] Dogwifhat en route to $10? WIF is now the third-biggest memecoin as whales hold tight [/INST] Dogwifhat (WIF), a Solana-based memecoin, became the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization on March 29, surpassing Pepe (PEPE). WIF price surpasses $4, largest whale not selling The price of Dogwifhat hit a new all-time high of $4.64 on March 30 before retracing to its current $4.32 mark as of 2:00 pm UTC, according to CoinMarketCap data. WIF/USDT, 1-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap Following an over 87% weekly rally, Dogwifhat became the third-largest memecoin with a $4.3 billion market cap, surpassing Pepe (PEPE), which has a market cap of $3.4 billion. This makes WIF the 31st-largest cryptocurrency. Top memecoins by market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap Despite WIF rising over 431% during the past month, the largest holder is still not selling. The wallet is holding a total of $139.5 million worth of WIF tokens, bought at an average price of $0.32, with a current unrealized profit of $127.3 million, according to Coinstats. Largest WIF holder address. Source: Coinstats Dogwifhat’s price hit its previous peak of $3 on March 14 after fans raised over $700,000 to advertise the token’s logo on the Las Vegas sphere. WIF’s price rose 25% immediately after the crowdfunding effort was announced. Related: How high can Bitcoin go? New BTC price prediction sees cycle top at $180K Can WIF price rally to $10? Shortly before hitting the $3 mark for the first time, Arthur Hayes predicted that the Solana-based memecoin would rally to the $10 mark. Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX and current chief investment officer at Maelstrom, wrote in a March 14 X post: “The hat stays on while I count to $10.” Dogwifhat is not the first dog-themed memecoin to reach multibillion-dollar valuations despite being based on an internet meme. Dogecoin (DOGE) reached a record $75.2 billion market capitalization in May 2021 and is currently worth $30.2 billion. Dogwifhat price would be $30.8 per token to match DOGE’s market cap, an eightfold increase, which isn’t uncommon in the memecoin world. During the 2021 bull market, Dogecoin price rose over 892% in the month leading up to its all-time high, from $0.07433 on April 12, 2021, to $0.7376 on May 6. DOGE/USDT, 1-week chart. Source: CoinMarketCap 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.

[INST] ‘Penny hasn’t dropped’ for Australia’s next crypto unicorns — Coinbase APAC MD [/INST] Australia is primed for its next wave of crypto “unicorns” — startups with a billion-dollar valuation — but not until there is more regulatory clarity around crypto, according to Coinbase’s APAC managing director John O’Loghlen. “I don’t think the penny’s dropped in Canberra or on the high street in terms of just how much great human capital there is in Australia,” O’Loghlen told Cointelegraph — referring to policymakers and large institutional players. “It’s really important that we get this clarity in legislation around digital assets so that the sector can be properly funded and give the VC community and other investors certainty around it so that we can keep building the next Illuvium or Immutable.” While O’Logheln acknowledged there while there had been some regulatory advancements — including the Treasury’s October 2023 consultation paper and an informal regulatory meeting with policymakers at the Blockchain APAC Summit in March — he says it’s still lagging behind a huge uptick in retail and institutional demand for crypto. According to a 2024 investor survey from Australian crypto exchange Independent Reserve, approximately 27.5% of all Australians — 7.15 million people — now own cryptocurrency. The survey found that 35% of all Australian crypto investors put around $500 per month into digital assets. 27.5% of Australians currently own crypto. Source: Independent Reserve O’Loghlen also pointed to the growing demand for the utility of stablecoins, digital remittances, and a swathe of other capital-efficient applications of crypto in the Australian fintech industry as prime breeding grounds for the next multi-billion crypto company. “Some of these companies are really going to be next Canva, the next Xero, the next Atlassian, or the next Afterpay,” he said, naming several multibillion-dollar valuation companies in Australia. O’Loghlen also sees a significant increase in demand for crypto products on the retail side — with two main sectors piquing his attention. The first is from an increase in interest in self-managed retirement funds divesting into crypto, which O’Loghlen said were considerable, despite being small relative to the size of their portfolio. “Even if it's [0.5%] or 1% allocation, when that audience invests, the size of that investment is a considerable multiple of the [younger] cohorts, because their assets under management are significantly sized.” The next most interesting cohort of investors coming into the market is what O’Loghlen called “HENRYs” — an internal acronym that stands for “High Earners Not Rich Yet.” “These are working professionals who don’t have a whole lot of debt, don’t have a don’t have a large mortgage — they’ve got good earning potential and they’re really taking time to educate themselves on crypto,” he said. Related: Australians wouldn’t value retail CBDC for its privacy or safety, RBA finds Looking ahead, O’Loghlen revealed that Coinbase would be looking to expand its Stand with Crypto campaign to Australia later this year. He said Coinbase plans to fly in members of its senior leadership to host several events to better help regulators and policymakers understand the potential upsides to cryptocurrency in the country. “It’s important that people in Canberra — government representatives and policymakers — can see the real use cases for entrepreneurs and founders who are saving money and getting utility out of crypto,” he said. O’Loghlen’s comments echo those of Kraken Australia’s MD Johnathon Miller, who told Cointelegraph that current market conditions mark an “inflection point” for crypto in Australia. Magazine: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

[INST] Coinbase secures restricted dealer license in Canada [/INST] Update April 4, 14:00UTC: This article has been updated to include quotes from Coinbase. The United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has secured restricted dealer licenses in Canada, doubling down on global expansion amid regulatory crackdown at home. Coinbase has obtained a new license in Canada, becoming registered in Ontario as a restricted dealer under the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the firm officially announced on April 3. The new authorization officially established Coinbase as a legally operating cryptocurrency firm in Canada. "The registration is the culmination of months of hard work, starting in March 2023 when we signed an Enhanced Pre-Registration Undertaking that signified our dedication to regulatory compliance and operational excellence," the announcement notes According to CSA’s national registration data, there are two Coinbase-related entities registered in Canada, including Coinbase Incorporated, which is registered as a restricted dealer. The other one, Coinbase Canada, is registered as an international dealer. Coinbase Canada and Coinbase Inc national registration data. Source: CSA According to CSA, restricted dealer registration is “a special kind of dealing registration used for firms that do not quite fit under any other category.” Regulators establish individual requirements for firms with this status. International dealers are not allowed to trade with Canadian customers in equity or debt securities of Canadian issuers other than government issuers, according to legal intelligence source JD Supra. Coinbase’s new license in Canada is not the first big move by the crypto exchange in the country. The exchange officially launched in Canada in August 2023 and subsequently expanded its services to Canadians through a partnership with the local financial services firm Peoples Trust Company. Related: Coinbase Wallet triumph over SEC allegations is a ‘giant win’ for DeFi As of April 2024, Coinbase has a tech hub located in Canada with nearly 200 full-time local employees, the company said in the new announcement. Some rival exchanges like Kraken have been taking steps to receive registered dealer registration in Canada. Kraken filed in March 2023 a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada seeking restricted dealer status as well. The move aimed to help Kraken comply with the CSA’s new guidance for crypto asset trading platforms issued in February 2023. According to the new requirements, local crypto trading platforms should comply with stricter custody standards, restrictions on the use of leverage and a ban on trading stablecoins without prior written consent from the CSA. Magazine: SBF gets 25 years in prison, Fidelity eyes ETH staking, and Coinbase’s court loss: Hodler’s Digest, March 24-30

[INST] Aave launches proposal to counter MakerDAO DAI expansion risk [/INST] Lending protocol Aave launched a new Aave Risk Framework Committee (ARFC) proposal to adjust the risk parameters of the Dai (DAI) stablecoin. The Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) team put forward the proposal, suggesting that DAI’s loan-to-value ratio (LTV) be adjusted to 0% on all Aave deployments. Part of the proposal released on April 2 suggests that sDAI incentives be removed from the Merit program, effective from Merit Round 2 and beyond. This action aims to counteract MakerDAO’s recent aggressive D3M plan, which rapidly expanded the DAI credit line from zero to an estimated 600 million DAI within a month, potentially reaching 1 billion DAI soon. The proposal seeks to reduce potential risks while minimally impacting users, given that just a fraction of DAI deposits serve as collateral on Aave, and users can readily switch to USD Coin (USDC) or Tether (USDT) as alternative collateral options. Mark Zeller, founder of the Aave Chan Initiative, proposes changes to th Source: Aave The proposal provides an example of risky minting practices on a smaller scale, such as with Angle’s AgEUR (EURA), which was minted into EULER and was hacked within a week. Angle, an overcollateralized stablecoin protocol, and AgEUR, a decentralized euro stablecoin, exemplify the dangers of DAI’s stablecoin depegging when utilized as loan collateral on AAVE. Decentralized finance protocol MakerDAO has started preparing to launch its highly anticipated “Endgame” transformation, which will focus the platform “toward scalable resilience and sustainable user growth,” according to co-founder Rune Christensen. In forum posts dated March 12, Christensen announced the commencement of “launch season” for the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, outlining a five-phase plan. Phase 1, scheduled for mid-2024, involves engaging an external marketing firm to rebrand the operation into a more straightforward and enjoyable concept. Related: Floki Inu roadmap reveals plans for regulated bank accounts The ultimate goal of the Endgame is to scale the protocol’s decentralized stablecoin, DAI, from its current $4.5-billion market capitalization to “100 billion and beyond,” on par with rival Tether’s USDT. MakerDAO will redenominate each Maker (MKR) token into 24,000 NewGovTokens. Additionally, NewStable tokenholders not residing in the United States can also farm 600 million NewGovTokens annually. On March 6, Eigenlayer flipped lending giant Aave to become the second-largest DeFi protocol, commanding $11.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), per DefiLlama — second only to Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido. Aave, meanwhile, has over 5,700 daily active users, while Lido has under 430, according to Token Terminal data. Magazine: ‘Crypto is inevitable’ so we went ‘all in’ — Meet Vance Spencer, permabull

[INST] Bitget exchange volume topped $1.6T in Q1 [/INST] Futures and spot volume on crypto exchange Bitget topped $1.4 trillion and $160 billion in the first quarter, growing substantially from the $658 billion in futures trading volume and $59 billion in spot trading volume, respectively, in Q1 of 2023. According to its Q1 2024 report released on April 11, the exchange now has more than 25 million users through its trading platform and Web3 wallet. “Q1 2024 has been notable for several key developments in crypto,” the exchange wrote, adding: “February saw a robust market recovery, with Bitcoin soaring to unprecedented heights. Together with the buzz around Solana and advancements in the AI [artificial intelligence] sector, this underscored the market’s dynamic nature.” During the quarter, the exchange listed 186 new tokens, with Solana memecoin Dogwifhat (WIF) and rollup utility token Altlayer (ALT) witnessing gains of over 1,000% post-listing. Bitget’s spot and futures trading volume 2023–2024 At the same time, the exchange’s native token, BGB, surged to an all-time high of $1.38 and a gain of over 400% year-over-year. The exchange is currently valued at $2.6 billion per its BGB market cap. By Q2, Bitget plans to roll out an additional BWB token as the native coin of its Web3 wallet. An airdrop for the event is currently ongoing. According to research from CCData, the exchange’s derivatives market share grew by nearly 2.5% in March, the highest among all centralized exchanges. “Among the top 12 derivatives exchanges, Binance leads with a market share of 47.0% of total volumes in March,” researchers wrote. This was followed by OKX with a market share of 21.8% and Bitget with a dominance of 12.8%.” Simultaneously, the open interest of futures and derivatives on Binance, OKX and Bitget grew by 37.8%, 34.7% and 104%, respectively, in March 2024. CCData researchers noted: “Across the three exchanges analyzed, funding rates increased significantly to new highs before falling to levels at the beginning of the month, as the market sentiment remained positive with Bitcoin nearing its all-time high. The funding rate on the exchanges was positive throughout the month, increasing steadily, highlighting the leverage in the market.” On Jan. 16, Cointelegraph reported that Bitget pledged $10 million to help kickstart women-led startups in the Web3 and blockchain industry. At the time, Bitget staff said that the move was to “elevate blockchain knowledge and open up funding avenues for women” after noting that women-led crypto startups received less than 7% of overall venture funding. Related: Bitget surpasses 20M users as wallet integration spurs trading volumes

[INST] Biden signs ‘terrifying’ bill giving US agencies more spying power [/INST] United States President Joe Biden has signed off on a controversial bill that expands the surveillance powers granted to U.S. government agencies, which critics worry could severely impact the privacy of American citizens. On April 20, the U.S. Senate voted 60–34 in favor of passing legislation that reauthorizes, extends and amends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for an additional two years. President Biden signed it into law a day later. Champions of the bill, including President Biden and a swathe of members from both sides of the aisle, said the bill was essential in aiding counter-terrorism efforts and preserving the national security interests of the United States. “Allowing FISA to expire would have been dangerous. It’s an important part of our national security toolkit and helps law enforcement stop terrorist attacks, drug trafficking, and violent extremism,” said Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor. The bill’s critics, however, said that the reauthorization and amendment of FISA would usher in a new era of surveillance and vastly expand spying powers afforded to government agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In an April 20 post to X, Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, lashed out at members who voted in favor of the bill, saying they had “sold out American civil liberties.” “The provision effectively grants the NSA access to the communications equipment of almost any U.S. business, plus huge numbers of organizations and individuals. It’s a gift to any president who may wish to spy on political enemies, journalists, ideological opponents,” wrote Goitein. “This is a shameful moment in the history of the United States Congress.” Related: NSA ’just days from taking over the internet’ warns Edward Snowden Currently, U.S. agencies such as the NSA can force internet service providers such as Google and Verizon to hand over sensitive data concerning their targets. Now that the bill has been signed into law by President Biden, the U.S. government will be able to go far beyond its current scope of surveillance and force a swathe of companies and individuals providing internet-related services to assist with surveillance. The bill initially received strong pushback from privacy-conscious Republicans and Democrats alike but was passed through the House of Representatives on April 13. An amendment to the bill — requesting that the security agencies require a warrant for all internet-based surveillance — was also shot down by a slim margin in the House. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said the reauthorization of FISA section 702 meant that America had “lost something important” and described the legislation as being unconstitutional. On April 13, Senator Ron Wyden described the bill as one of the most “dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.” Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all — Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance

[INST] Crypto.com gets green light to trade in Dubai [/INST] Crypto.com’s Dubai-based entity, CRO DAX Middle East FZE, has secured full operational approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), making it the first crypto exchange to be allowed to operate with fiat currency in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the April 9 announcement, the operational approval granted by VARA follows Crypto.com’s successful fulfillment of pre-operational conditions outlined in the virtual asset service provider license awarded to CRO DAX Middle East FZE in November 2023. Crypto.com said its next step is to introduce its exchange for institutional investors. It will cater to institutional clients and qualified retail investors with services including spot trading, staking brokerage and over-the-counter (OTC) offerings around settlements for selected markets. Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer at Crypto.com, told Cointelegraph: “Being the first global crypto operator operational with fiat in the UAE is a significant milestone and reflects our dedication to working closely with regulators to advance the industry responsibly.” He also said that launching its institutional services exchange will be “fundamental” to the company’s continued growth in the region. Related: Crypto.com says big money Formula 1, UFC deals paying off as user base expands Stuart Isted, general manager of Crypto.com’s Middle East and Africa branch, echoed Anziani’s sentiments, emphasizing the company’s dedication to collaborating with VARA to advance the crypto industry “responsibly.” Crypto.com was founded in Hong Kong in 2016 and operates out of Singapore. However, it has been expanding its global reach over the past year. In February, Anziani spoke with Cointelegraph about how Europe’s implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) could expedite the expansion efforts of major cryptocurrency exchanges across Europe. The legislation comes into effect this year. Later that month, it was announced that Crypto.com paired up with Latin America’s biggest investment bank to promote BTG Pactual’s BTG Dol stablecoin by pairing it with digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) on its trading platform. On April 2, it announced that it would launch its cryptocurrency trading app to South Korean retail investors on April 29. The exchange has also faced scrutiny from regulators after the Dutch central bank revealed that it fined Crypto.com for registration violations. The exchange filed an objection to the fine but went on to register and continue operating in The Netherlands. Magazine: Memecoins make millionaires, Terraform and Do Kwon liable for fraud, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 31 – April 6

[INST] Bybit crypto exchange launches trading platform in the Netherlands [/INST] Bybit, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volumes, is expanding operations in Europe after facing regulatory scrutiny in Hong Kong. On March 28, Bybit officially announced the launch of its digital asset platform, Bybit.nl, in the Netherlands. The new local trading platform is regulated in the country and designed to provide Dutch users access to cryptocurrency trading and education resources. Dutch users can immediately deposit, withdraw, trade and use staking through Bybit card on Bybit.nl, a spokesperson for Bybit told Cointelegraph. The launch of Bybit.nl is enabled through collaboration with Satos, one of the oldest Bitcoin (BTC)-focused companies in the Netherlands. Through the partnership, Bybit’s Dutch users can deposit and withdraw fiat currency and trade over 300 pairs. "Through a strategic partnership with Satos, a licensed virtual asset service provider recognized by De Nederlandsche Bank, Bybit is allowed to provide crypto services in compliant with local regulatory requirements," the Bybit spokesperson stated. The initial partnership was signed in June 2023. Bybit’s launch in the Netherlands aims to further the company’s commitment to serving users while upholding regulatory compliance, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said. He added: “Through our partnership with Satos, we aim to provide Dutch users with a secure and seamless trading experience, backed by industry-leading security measures and unparalleled support.” According to some local reports, Bybit was discontinuing some of its services in February 2024. The exchange specifically shut down derivatives services in the Netherlands in compliance with guidelines by the Dutch central bank. “The first changes to the new regulations will be effective from March 5,” Cryptotag’s head of communications Indy Rottier wrote in a LinkedIn post on Feb. 20. According to Rottier, other major global exchanges like Binance and Gemini were forced to terminate their operations in the Netherlands to comply with local laws in 2023. Related: Philippines to block Binance exchange The news comes a few weeks after Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a public warning against Bybit on March 14. The regulator elaborated that Bybit offered crypto-related products in a number of jurisdictions without holding a license. “The SFC is concerned that these products have also been offered to Hong Kong investors and wishes to make it clear that no entity in the Bybit group is licensed by or registered with the SFC to conduct any ‘regulated activity’ in Hong Kong,” said the regulator. Established in 2018, Bybit is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. According to data from Kaiko, Bybit’s daily spot trading volume peaked at $4.3 billion on March 4, ranking the second biggest exchange after Binance, which reached nearly $24 billion in volumes on that day. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

[INST] Crypto exchange insurance funds surge more than $1B amid bull market [/INST] The top crypto exchange insurance funds have surged in value by more than $1 billion amid the ongoing crypto bull market. As of April 3, the Bitcoin (BTC), BNB (BNB), Tether (USDT) and TrueUSD (TUSD) balances constituting crypto exchange Binance’s Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) surpassed $2.03 billion, compared to their initial balance of $1 billion in January 2022. Similarly, crypto exchange Bitget’s initial $300 million protection fund, launched in November 2022, has since surged to $612 million due to the appreciation of its Bitcoin holdings. In the past year alone, Bitcoin has gained 136% and BNB 79.36% as part of a crypto bull run. While most exchanges have some form of insurance protection for users, only Binance and Bitget have since disclosed their on-chain addresses. In 2019, crypto exchange Huobi, now HTX, announced a 20,000 BTC ($1.32 billion) reserve in an independent address “to cope with extreme security accidents.” It is unclear if the exchange held the balance until now. In addition, the HTX group of companies suffered several exploits last year to the tune of millions of dollars lost. Meanwhile, crypto exchange OKX has a $700 million “Risk Shield” program for user protection, although it is unclear if the amount comprises tokens, stablecoins, fiat funds or all three. Some exchanges, such as Coinbase, only offer insurance based on customers' geographical location and whether their funds are in fiat or crypto. Exchanges may choose not to disclose the on-chain addresses of their holdings for various reasons, such as fear of cybersecurity attacks or, in the case of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, deception. Last October, former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang told law enforcement officials that the exchange’s so-called $100 million insurance fund in 2021 was fabricated and never contained any of the exchanges’ FTX Token (FTT). FTX’s insurance fund was designed to protect user losses in case of huge, sudden market movements, and its value was often touted on its website and social media. Likewise, on-chain addresses only reveal part of the story and do not contain information such as an exchange’s off-chain liabilities. Some jurisdictions, such as Hong Kong, have since mandated that crypto exchanges provide insurance for users that covers up to 50% of their fiat and crypto assets. Related: HashKey signs MOU for crypto exchange insurance

[INST] Firm behind world’s fastest Bitcoin miner raises another $80M [/INST] Auradine, a tech startup specializing in web infrastructure and cryptocurrency mining hardware and software solutions, announced the successful completion of a Series B funding round worth $80 million on April 10. Funding was joined by previous investors Celesta Capital, Mayfield Fund, and Marathon Digital and new investors StepStone Group, Top Tier Capital Partners, MVP Ventures, and Maverick Capital. Its previous funding round, completed in May 2023, was led by Celesta Capital and Mayfield. This Series B round was overbooked, according to a press release, and nearly equaled its Series A funding of $81 million. According to Auradine, the company also reached a milestone of $200 million in bookings. It’s unclear exactly what valuation the funds were raised at. Rajiv Khemani, co-founder and CEO of Auradine, said in a statement that the funds would be used to increase production further: “We are very proud of the advancements that our team has made in bringing innovative, energy-efficient, and secure products to our customers. The strong orders and pipeline reflect the confidence our customers have in us. With this new funding, we will ramp up production capacity and accelerate investments in our product roadmaps.” Auradine’s products and services reportedly run the gamut from web infrastructure support for privacy, security, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications all the way to its “Teraflux” line of Bitcoin (BTC) miners purported to be the “world’s fastest and most energy efficient.” Per company literature, Auradine’s AI3680 model miners are “capable of achieving an output of 0 to 375 TH/s, with an optimal efficiency of 15 J/TH.” For reference, Bitmain’s Antminer S21 Hydro, among the fastest miners currently in production, is rated at 335 TH/s. Related: Bitcoin miners may ‘fear’ the halving, but they cherish it too Auradine plans to ship two “Teraflux” ASIC miners in Q2 2024. The first is an air-cooled miner dubbed model AT2880 that is capable of achieving an output of 0 to 260 TH/s, with an optimal efficiency of 16 J/TH. The second is the aforementioned AI3680. According to the press release, over 30 “leading data-center-scale miners” have received Teraflux products so far.

[INST] Yuga Labs offloads 2 NFT games amid effort to ‘unshackle’ BAYC team [/INST] Yuga Labs, the firm behind NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has offloaded the intellectual property (IP) for two of its games, HV-MTL and Legends of the Mara, in line with a previously announced effort to refocus the organization. In an April 17 post to X, Yuga Labs announced that Web3 gaming studio Faraway had acquired the IP, adding that its chief gaming officer Spencer Tucker would join Faraway as the new chief product officer in a bid to ensure continuity between the games at the new firm. HV-MTL is a nonfungible token (NFT)-oriented “mech” game where players manage and level up their NFTs as well as local environments. Meanwhile, Legends of the Mara is an adventure game that functions as part of the Otherside metaverse, which was launched on April 30, 2022. Yuga Labs and Faraway have worked closely together for some time, with Faraway previously developing a Mutant Ape Yacht Club-themed game called Serum City. Yuga’s move to hand over its gaming IP to Faraway reflects a broader move to “unshackle” the team. It was introduced when co-founder Greg Solano rejoined Yuga and replaced Daniel Allegre as the company’s CEO in February this year. “We want to unshackle the BAYC team at Yuga as much as possible to execute against its vision. More focus, more agility,” Greg Solano wrote in a Feb. 22 post to X that announced his return to the organization. Related: Bored Ape NFT floor price hits lowest point in over two and a half years Wednesday’s announcement comes as NFTs experience a broader downtrend across the market, with its flagship BAYC collection being among the hardest hit of top NFT collections. As of the time of publication, the floor price of the BAYC collection stands at 11.7 Ether (ETH) — worth $35,400 at current prices. The floor price is down a staggering 92% from its all-time of 153.7 ETH, notched on May 1, 2022. Bored Ape Yacht Club floor price. Source: CoinGecko Earlier this year, Yuga Labs sparked outrage among holders and members of the NFT community on Jan. 7 when it announced it would be acquiring the controversial Moonbirds collection and bringing on the project’s creator, Kevin Rose, as an adviser. Magazine: The real risks to Ethena’s stablecoin model (are not the ones you think)

[INST] Billionaire’s suit over scam crypto ads on Meta dismissed in Australia [/INST] A suit filed by Australian mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest against Meta has been dropped by the District Court of Western Australia. Forrest claimed that scam crypto ads on Meta platforms bearing his image led to big losses for innocent people. Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence. Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metals and the second-richest person in Australia, personally filed criminal charges against Meta in February 2022 under Commonwealth Criminal Code Anti-Money Laundering sections, claiming the social media giant “knowingly profits from this cycle of illegal ads” and failed to remove them. He had to receive the Australian attorney general’s approval to file the suit. In an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019, Forrest demanded that Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms, take down fraudulent ads and prevent his image from being misused. Related: Fake Bitcoin Investment Platform From ‘Elon Musk’ Promises 4,000% ROI Meta pleaded not guilty to the charges in December 2023. A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed to Reuters that the suit had been dropped for lack of evidence but did not elaborate further. In a statement provided to The Guardian, Forrest said: “It shows that Facebook is beyond the laws of Australia, that hardworking Australians are not protected, and that scams will continue to run rampant with no recourse for those who are duped by increasingly sophisticated technology on social media platforms that take no responsibility.” A Meta spokesperson told Reuters, “Meta doesn’t want scams on its platforms and we will continue to work tirelessly to prevent them and protect our users.” A scam ad showing Andrew Forrest. Source: Crikey Forrest filed a civil suit against Meta in California Northern District Court in June 2022, citing six counts and claiming that “Facebook’s self-help advertising interface materially helped scammers develop” ads. Meta filed a motion to dismiss that case in January. Source: Dylan Lindgren Scams using Forrest’s image have continued to appear since the billionaire took action against Meta. Cybertrace found deep-fake images of Forrest in ads on Facebook in February. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, sued two people in China on April 4, claiming they were behind scam apps that had been downloaded from the platform over 100,000 times. Magazine: Wealthy, isolated, and incredible beaches: Perth Crypto City Guide

[INST] Crypto traders bet $2.4M on spot Ether ETF decision [/INST] Crypto gamblers are placing bets on whether spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before May 31. Polygon-based crypto gambling site Polymarket shows that traders have placed “Yes” or “No” bets on whether a spot Ether (ETH) ETF application will be approved before May ends. Over $2.4 million worth of bets have been placed, with about 81% pessimistic about the chances of a spot Ether ETF approval before the deadline. Spot Ether ETF approval’s betting market. Source: Polymarket Crypto traders buy yes or no shares depending on their predictions of how they expect things to go. The share’s value represents the odds of the bet and changes similarly to how the crypto market goes. At the moment, the cost of a Yes share is $0.19, while No is worth $0.81, meaning fewer gamblers believe in the chances of spot ETH ETFs being approved by the end of May. The top trader for Yes holds about $84,000 worth of shares, while the top holder for No has around $127,000 in No shares. If the SEC approves a spot Ether ETF before the betting market’s deadline of May 31, 2024, at 11:59 pm Eastern Time, the market will resolve, meaning that holders of Yes shares can cash out their earnings. However, the opposite also applies if there are no approvals before the deadline. Related: Bitwise files with SEC for spot Ether ETF listing This is not the first time crypto traders gambled on ETF approval results. On Jan. 5, Reddit users criticized Polymarket gamblers for betting on whether spot Bitcoin ETFs would be approved by the SEC before Jan. 15. One Reddit user described the betting as stupid and said it was like putting up dollars to win dimes. Meanwhile, another joked that they were about to lose their kid’s college fund to place a bet. The overall bets on the ETF outcomes have reached at least $12 million on the predictions market. The SEC eventually approved the trading and listing of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 10. Investment management company Grayscale has expressed confidence in a positive decision by the SEC for spot Ether ETFs by May. On March 25, Grayscale chief legal officer Craig Salm said that the SEC’s perceived “lack of engagement” with applicants does not indicate whether an ETF will be approved or not. Magazine: KuCoin’s desperate $10M airdrop, 1 tweet raises $37M for memecoin: Asia Express

[INST] Hashdex’s new spot Bitcoin ETF to begin US trading on Wednesday [/INST] Asset manager Hashdex is officially joining the spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) market in the United States after completing the conversion of its futures ETF to hold spot Bitcoin. In a March 26 announcement, Hashdex said it has renamed and converted its Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF to the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF with the ticker “DEFI.” “DEFI’s renaming corresponds to DEFI’s completion of the conversion of its investment strategy to allow the Fund to provide spot Bitcoin holdings and its tracking of a new benchmark index effective March 27, 2024,” it said. The newly converted fund will invest at least 95% of its assets into spot Bitcoin, while up to 5% of the remaining assets will go into CME-traded Bitcoin futures contracts and cash and cash equivalents, according to the firm. “Since our founding in 2018, Hashdex has strongly believed that Bitcoin is a generational opportunity," said Hashdex co-founder and CEO Marcelo Sampaio. “We’re excited to invite all investors — whether it be those who already have full conviction in Bitcoin, those who are considering an allocation for the first time, or anyone in between — to join us in our long-term journey of making digital assets accessible,” added Samir Kerbage, Hashdex’s chief investment officer. Related: SEC pushes Hashdex, ARK 21Shares Ether ETFs as approval hope dwindles Founded in 2018, Hashdex first joined the U.S. race for an approved spot in Bitcoin ETF in August 2023. Unlike others that depend on a Coinbase surveillance sharing agreement, Hashdex’s fund acquires spot Bitcoin from physical exchanges within the CME market. Hashdex is already several months late to a competitive spot Bitcoin ETF market. According to data from Farside Investors, spot Bitcoin ETF cumulative inflow — excluding Grayscale’s ETF — is now at nearly $25.5 billion, though 80% of that figure is made up by BlackRock and Fidelity’s ETFs. A prospectus filed by Hashdex indicates its ETF charges a 0.90% a year management fee, which would sit on the higher end of fees charged by ETF issuers which average around 0.30%, but still under the 1.5% a year fee charged by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

[INST] Coinbase shares slump, but Base revenue signals it’s undervalued — Analyst [/INST] Coinbase (COIN) shares have plummeted 16% over the past five days, mirroring broader volatility in the crypto and stock markets, though one analyst suggests that investors may not be seeing the potential buying opportunity. “The street isn’t really pricing in the crypto native revenue that I think a lot of the crypto natives understand,” crypto analyst Will Clemente said in a recent Unchained Crypto podcast. “I think Coinbase is the biggest kind of venture-style bet in public markets since maybe Tesla about five years ago,” Clemente added. Clemente claimed that traditional investors still view Coinbase “purely as an exchange” despite it making many changes to its business structure over the past 12 months. “Throughout the bear market, they made a lot of strategic pivots to shift toward what I’m calling a crypto super app,” he declared. In particular, he noted Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, which now has a total value locked (TVL) of $5.35 billion and oversees 30.81 daily transactions per second. “Over the last 30 days, Base has done $30 million of top-line revenue for Coinbase just based on the sequencer fees, which annualizes out to like $360 million a year,” he explained while suggesting that traditional investors are overlooking the significant activity taking place on-chain. “The street doesn’t even know what Base is, and they’re definitely not extrapolating out the potential of a ton of activity taking place there and the sequencer fees that Coinbase may benefit from that.” At the time of publication, COIN is currently trading at $218.08, down almost 16% over the past five days, per Google Finance data. COIN has plummeted 15.96% over the past five days. Source: Google Finance Coinbase is expected to release its earnings report for the first quarter of 2024 in the next few weeks. Over the past five days, the S&P 500 is down 3.12%, while Bitcoin (BTC) has declined approximately 4.67%. Meanwhile, more downside is expected for both markets as geopolitical tensions escalate in the Middle East after there were reports of explosions at Isfahan airport in central Iran. Related: Coinbase cleared in lawsuit over crypto transactions The news comes amid Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continuing its selling spree of COIN. On April 15, it was reported that ARK sold 3,689 COIN shares worth approximately $824,000. It was only a month ago that ARK sold off a staggering amount of the stock amid its price seeing a year-to-date increase at the time of approximately 54%. On March 21, Cointelegraph reported that ARK sold 199,526 Coinbase shares from its exchange-traded funds. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

[INST] Crypto users propose dropping lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried to pursue FTX influencers [/INST] A group of cryptocurrency users has reached an agreement with former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried as part of a class-action lawsuit filed in Florida. In an April 19 filing in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, plaintiffs who sued FTX influencers in 2022 announced they had reached a settlement with Bankman-Fried. According to the filing, the plaintiffs recognized the expense and length of proceedings should they continue to pursue judgment against SBF, opting to use some of the information presented at his criminal trial to continue their case against FTX promoters. “[Bankman-Fried] has knowledge and other information that Class Representatives and Class Counsel believe will be valuable to Class Representatives’ cases against other defendants in the FTX MDL [multidistrict litigation], particularly relating to the underlying actions and their connection to Miami, Florida, where FTX’s U.S. headquarters were based, as well as each MDL Defendants’ knowledge of and assistance with the actions and connections to other states in which jurisdictions over those Defendants is asserted,” said the April 19 filing. Source: PACER Subject to court approval, the settlement would resolve the lawsuit between SBF and crypto users seeking recourse for losses during the fall of FTX. The filing suggested that the plaintiffs proposed the settlement on March 28 — the day a judge sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for his conviction on felony felony charges. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit proposed that Bankman-Fried assist in prosecuting FTX influencers and aid in victim recovery through documents and testimony provided during his criminal trial. The lawyers specifically cited information related to celebrities and companies responsible for endorsing the crypto exchange before its downfall, including sports stars Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry and Shaquille O’Neal. Related: Crypto lawyer wants to depose Changpeng Zhao for civil case The lawsuit, first filed in November 2022, shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy, was consolidated into its present form in June 2023. The Moskowitz Law Firm, behind many crypto-based class-action lawsuits, represented the plaintiffs. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed notice to appeal the former FTX CEO’s conviction and sentence on April 11. They also requested SBF remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn rather than a federal prison in the San Francisco Bay Area to assist in his defense. Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame

[INST] Phishing scam thefts on Base are up 1,900% from January — Scam Sniffer [/INST] Ethereum layer 2 Base has seen an 18-fold increase in cryptocurrency funds stolen from phishing scams in March compared to January figures, recent data shows. Approximately $3.35 million was stolen from phishing scammers on Base in March alone, according to blockchain anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer. It marks a 334% month-on-month increase from February’s tally of $773,900 and a massive 1,880% spike compared to January, when Base only lost $169,000 from phishing scams, according to monthly Dune Analytics data compiled by Scam Sniffer. Binance’s BNB Smart Chain observed a similar surge in phishing scams in March, Scam Sniffer noted in an April 2 X post. Approximately $71.5 million was lost to phishing scammers across all chains from 77,529 victims — beating out January and February’s tallies of $58.3 million and $46.8 million, respectively. Source: Scam Sniffer Scam Sniffer told Cointelegraph it expects even more phishing attacks on Base this month as assets and active users on the chain continues to increase. Scam Sniffer noted that phishing links from fake X accounts remain a “primary tactic,” detecting over 1,500 incidents in March. The rise in Base phishing scams comes amid a recent memecoin craze on the Coinbase-backed chain. It has helped push Base’s total value locked above $3.2 billion — marking a 370% increase so far in 2024, according to L2Beat. Cointelegraph reached out to Scam Sniffer for comment. Phishing scams may be up, but hacks are down The surge comes despite crypto hack thefts falling 48% to $187.2 million in March, according to an April 1 X post from blockchain security firm PeckShield. Related: Crypto hacking losses decline in Q1 2024 — Immunefi The figure took into account the $98.8 million that was recovered over the month. Almost all of those recoveries came from the $97million Munchibles exploit. Cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT was among those onboarded as a custodian to recover the stolen funds. Total losses from hacks in March. Source: PeckShield Meanwhile, Curio’s MakerDAO-based smart contract lost $40 million, according to updated figures from PeckShield and Prisma Finance fell victim to an $11.6-million hack. The firm is currently negotiating with the hacker on-chain to return those funds. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

[INST] Bitcoin Cash open interest surges past $700M ahead of BCH halving [/INST] Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently trading at $574.84, having jumped 9.06% over the past 24 hours as the second-ever BCH halving event is set to take place next week. Traders appear to be heavily securing their positions in anticipation of the BCH halving, which is scheduled for April 4, according to NiceHash data. On March 28, $190,140 was liquidated in short positions and $211,870 in long positions. On the same day, open interest (OI) in Bitcoin Cash futures perpetual contracts reached all-time highs of $708.75 million, spiking 18.26% in 24 hours and 165% over the past 7 days, as per CoinGlass data. Bitcoin Cash open interest surged to record highs ahead of the halving next week. Source: CoinGlass The last instance nearing this level was in May 2021, with OI reaching $684.12 million, coinciding with BCH reaching its highest price in the past five years at $1,399. This is in contrast to the same date in 2020, where futures open interest stood at $63.29 , just before the first-ever BCH halving on April 8, 2020. At the time, miner rewards halved from 12.5 BCH to 6.25 BCH. However, miners seem to be taking this as a cue to increase their mining efforts ahead of the upcoming halving. A user on X, “DavidShares,” told his 17,900 followers that the Bitcoin Cash hash rate has doubled in the past week. Hash rate is the measure of the total computational power used for mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, measured by the number of hashes generated. Related: Bitcoin gears up for a ‘massive’ short squeeze, price could go ‘vertical’ However, while Bitcoin approaches its fourth halving on April 21 amid record highs, Bitcoin Cash remains significantly below its all-time high of $4,355, which it reached in December 2017, as per CoinMarketCap data. BCH halving occurs slightly earlier than Bitcoin halving due to Bitcoin Cash temporarily using a different algorithm to adjust its mining difficulty back in 2017, therefore speeding up the block creation time. The Bitcoin halving is scheduled for April 21. Magazine: Creating ‘good’ AGI that won’t kill us all: Crypto’s Artificial Superintelligence Alliance

[INST] Elizabeth Warren supports enhanced US sanction options for stablecoins [/INST] United States Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen commenting on Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on April 9. She pursued the same line of thought as she did during the hearing — Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). Warren expressed her support in the letter for the legislative adoption of more comprehensive AML/CFT measures for stablecoins. Adeyemo appeared at the Senate hearing to discuss Treasury proposals for expanding its sanctions powers to blockchain validator node operators, among other measures. The Treasury listed its enhanced enforcement goals in response to gaps in current regulation in a document Warren calls a “letter to Congress” dated November 2023. Warren wrote: “Those authorities must be adopted into any legislation Congress advances to create a new regulatory framework around the $157 billion stablecoin market.” Warren was apparently not referring to the stablecoin bill introduced in the Senate by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis on April 17, the day after the date of her letter. The 179-page Lummis-Gillibrand bill makes almost no mention of AML/CFT. Related: Elections may swing Senate Banking Committee toward crypto, Sen. Lummis says Rather, it seems Warren had in mind a bill that is expected to come out of the House of Representatives from Finance Committee Chair Patrick McHenry and ranking member Maxine Waters. Warren sent them a letter on April 8 voicing much of the same concerns as in her letter to Yellen. Warren concluded her letter to the treasury secretary by saying: “Stablecoin legislation […] must include the full suite of AML tools that Treasury requested in its November 2023 letter to Congress as necessary to effectively combat that threat [of terrorism financing].” Digital Chamber Senior Policy Associate Taylor Barr commented on X, possibly with the Lummis-Gillibrand bill in mind: “Would love Sen. Warren’s take on the new bill’s increased consumer protection language, added receivership text, or the Fed/OCC’s enforcement power. All this is conveniently left out of her talking points...” Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

[INST] Crypto game Munchables on Blast exploited for $63M [/INST] A nonfungible token (NFT) game called Munchables, built on Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Blast, has suffered a $62-million exploit. Munchables announced it had been compromised in a March 26 X post at 9:33 pm UTC and said it was tracking the exploiter’s movements and “attempting to stop the transactions.” Blockchain analyst ZachXBT responded to the post with the wallet address of the alleged attacker, which currently touts a balance of $62.45 million in Ether (ETH), per Blastscan data. The wallet address of the exploiter shows that it interacted with the Munchables protocol at 9:26 am UTC, extracting a total of 17,413 ETH, per DeBank data. The exploiter’s address with over 17,400 ETH incoming from Munchables. Source: DeBank The exploiter’s wallet address then transferred $10,700 worth of ETH through the Orbiter Bridge, transferring the Blast ETH back into native ETH. At 10:05 pm UTC, the wallet sent an additional 1 ETH to a fresh wallet address. ZachXBT claimed the exploit stemmed from the Munchables team hiring a North Korean developer known by the alias “Werewolves0943.” In a March 27 X post, Solidity developer 0xQuit claimed that the Munchables attack had been planned from the outset, with one of the developers upgrading the Lock contract — which is meant to lock tokens in for a specified time — with a new implementation shortly before launch. “There were appropriate checks to ensure you couldn’t withdraw more than you deposited. But before upgrading, the attacker was able to assign himself a deposited balance of 1,000,000 Ether,” 0xQuit explained. “[The] scammer used manual manipulation of storage slots to assign himself an enormous Ether balance before changing the contract implementation to one that appears legit. Then he simply withdrew that balance once TVL was juicy enough,” added 0xQuit. Munchables is a Blast-based GameFi app revolving around NFT-based creatures. The Munchables protocol allows players to stake Blast ETH and Blast USD to farm Blast points and unlock added in-game perks. Related: Blast launches Ethereum L2 mainnet unlocking $2.3B in staked crypto Several X users, including pseudonymous metaverse adviser Cygaar, have called on the Blast team to intervene by forcibly rolling back the chain to before the exploit occurred. “An invalid state root would need to be forced by the Blast team which would erase the hacked transaction. The chain might need to halt completely to do this,” added Cygaar. “It wouldn’t set a good precedent for future exploits/issues, but it is possible.” Others pushed back against calls for centralized intervention, as it runs against the ethos of decentralized networks — Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran argued that it would be “on brand” for Blast to intervene. “Given that, it doesn’t seem off-brand for them to intervene in defense of user experience. Optimism is ethos alignment, but Blast is gamified social user experience,” Cochran wrote, adding: “While I’m strongly against this action on any other chain, I don’t take Blast as a brand of ‘serious decentralization chain’ but instead as a place for games, experiments, degenry, etc.” Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins

[INST] Arrested Binance exec pleads not guilty to charges in Nigeria [/INST] According to local reports, detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan has pleaded not guilty to four money laundering charges in Nigeria. After being arrested in Nigeria in late February, Gambaryan proclaimed his innocence in a courtroom on April 8, local news agency Peoples Gazette reported. At the hearing, Gambaryan reiterated that he should not be held responsible for Binance’s activities in Nigeria because he does not have decision-making authority in the company’s business operations. Gambaryan’s lawyer, Chukwuka Ikuazom, also contested that his client, even though served with charges of his escaped colleague, could not enter a plea on his behalf. Judge Emeka Nwite rejected Gambaryan’s defense argument and ruled that he acted as Binance’s representative in past trips to Nigeria, citing local laws. “A person who has no physical presence in Nigeria but has a physical agent in Nigeria can be duly served through that agent,” the Judge reportedly stated. Tigran Gambaryan sits as he waits to face prosecution for tax evasion and money laundering at the federal high court in Abuja, Nigeria on April 4. Source: Technext24 As previously reported, Gambaryan’s case was adjourned until April 19 last week. As per the new reports, Gambaryan’s hearing on bail consideration is now adjourned until April 18. Some publications also reported that hearings on the substantive charge will begin on May 2. Related: Philippines SEC ‘can’t endorse’ ways to retrieve funds after Binance ban According to the Peoples Gazette, Judge Nwite ordered that Gambaryan be remanded at Kuje prison in Abuja until the case is settled. Gambaryan’s attorney reportedly asked the court to return the defendant to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). However, a counsel for the EFCC disputed the suggestion, saying that people accused of similar offenses as Gambaryan are always sent to the Kuje facility pending the court’s decision. While Gambaryan remains in custody, Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, escaped and fled Nigeria in March. Escaped Binance Africa regional manager Nadeem Anjarwalla. Source: The Source Magazine The EFCC’s charges against Gambaryan and Anjarwalla underscore a broader investigation into Binance’s activities in Nigeria. According to local authorities, the exchange allegedly manipulated and crashed the local fiat currency, the Nigerian naira. Additionally, both Gambaryan and Anjarwalla are accused of tax fraud. Magazine: SBF gets 25 years in prison, Fidelity eyes ETH staking, and Coinbase’s court loss: Hodler’s Digest, March 24-30

[INST] AMPL depositors complain of frozen funds on Aave [/INST] Depositors of Ampleforth’s AMPL stablecoin are complaining of frozen funds on popular decentralized finance (DeFi) borrowing and lending protocol Aave due to a lending pool shortfall. The issue, which has left AMPL depositors unable to withdraw their assets from Aave, has persisted since December 2023. Other DeFi pools on Aave are not affected by the problem. AMPL is a stablecoin designed to track the 2019 value of the U.S. dollar adjusted for inflation. The protocol increases or decreases the number of tokens available based on whether its price matches its dollar target. In November 2022, Aave became the victim of an alleged market manipulation attack against its Curve (CRV) pool. The attack failed to net any profits for the attacker, but it led to $1.6 million of bad debt for the protocol. In response, AaveDAO voted on Nov. 2, 2022 to freeze deposits and borrows for 17 different tokens, including AMPL. The freezing did not prevent old depositors from withdrawing at that time, only blocking new deposits and borrows. However, in a December 2023 post on the AaveDAO forums, Bored Ghost Developing Labs (BGD Labs), a development team contributing to the Aave protocol, claimed to have discovered an additional problem preventing withdrawals. According to it, a bug in the pool contract had allowed it to be drained of funds, which meant there was no longer enough liquidity to process withdrawals. In response to the issue, an Ampleforth representative suggested that AaveDAO should purchase AMPL tokens and distribute them to users as compensation, but Aave developers have countered with their own proposal to pay out stablecoins instead of AMPL. Aave developers have also asked the Ampleforth team to provide 40% of the compensation package from its own funds. At the time of publication, the Ampleforth team has not confirmed whether it will provide these funds, but it has stated it will continue to offer support to help resolve the problem. On March 31, BGD Labs proposed paying depositors $300,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC). It claimed this was merely an initial distribution and that the remaining amount could potentially be paid out after further debate. Despite not completely resolving the debate, the proposal passed on April 5, with over 99.9% of votes in favor. BGD Labs’ proposal for $300,000 in compensation. Source: AaveDAO, Snapshot Related: Aave purchases 2.7M CRV to clear bad debt following failed Eisenberg attack Aave developers discover liquidity problems for AMPL According to Aave’s GitHub documents, when tokenholders deposit funds into the lending pool, they should receive an equivalent amount of “aTokens” in exchange. These aTokens essentially function as deposit receipts. As the pool receives interest payments, depositors should receive additional aTokens representing their share of these interest payments. However, BGD Labs claimed that the AMPL pool contract is not working as intended: It has a flaw that is causing it to pay out more AMPL aTokens (aAMPL) than the amount of underlying AMPL available. As a result, there is not enough AMPL in the pool to allow depositors to withdraw. BGD Labs stated: “The aToken supply of the asset appeared to be way more than it should, bigger than the sum of the variable debt plus available liquidity. [...] The aAMPL supply is currently not representative of the claims over AMPL underlying. [...] As the utilisation is 100%, no withdrawals can be executed, only repayments and liquidations.” BGD Labs claimed that Ampleforth developers designed and wrote the contract, not AaveDAO contractors. It claimed to have reached out to the Ampleforth team and asked it to determine how much AMPL was owed to each depositor. BGD Labs asked depositors to be patient while the Ampleforth team attempted to come up with a solution to the problem. Ampleforth proposes token buyback by Aave collector On Jan. 31, Ampleforth developer Ahmed Naguib Aly, known simply as “Naguib” on the Aave governance forum, said the team was aware of the problem and working to solve it. “We have been coordinating with [AaveDAO risk managers] Chaos labs and Gauntlet to get to an effective resolution,” he wrote. On March 8, Naguib gave a detailed assessment of the problem and proposed a solution. According to him, the pool was facing a shortfall because some depositors had withdrawn before the excessive interest payments were detected. As a result, these early withdrawals had drained the pool of funds: “More interest was credited to depositors than was charged from borrowers. This discrepancy has led to situations where some depositors were able to withdraw more than what should have been possible under normal circumstances. As a direct consequence, we’re now facing a liquidity shortfall, preventing current depositors from withdrawing their funds.” According to Naguib, Ampleforth was unable to determine the proper amount of AMPL that should be paid out to each depositor at that time. However, he expected the team to determine these values by March 22. Naguib noted that the Aave protocol owns some tokens within its “Aave collector” contract. Once the correct amounts of AMPL owed to each depositor became known, these tokens could be used to reimburse users, he suggested. An “upper bound” of 715,335 AMPL (approximately $1.3 million at the March 8 price) would be needed to fully compensate users. Naguib proposed that AaveDAO purchase AMPL on the open market using these reserves, which should then be distributed to depositors through a contract to be built in the future. On March 17, Naguib withdrew his proposal, stating BGD Labs had disagreed with it. “BGD labs reached out to us that they don’t find the proposal to swap AMPLs and release it to holders to be an effective method to resolve the situation and they want to propose a different resolution,” he stated. Aave developers propose stablecoin compensation On March 21, BGD Labs and Aave risk management consultant Chaos Labs introduced a joint proposal to compensate depositors. The two teams estimated the shortfall at 533,973 AMPL (approximately $1 million at the March 21 price). According to them, this amount of AMPL represented over 30% of the circulating supply. Buying this much AMPL would “be inefficient, given its relatively illiquid status and effectively altering the underlying economics of the asset.” Instead, they proposed that depositors should be compensated based on the average U.S. dollar value of AMPL over the four-month period that has passed since the Nov. 22 freeze. This would equate to $1.198 per AMPL or $639,700 total, which could be paid out in stablecoins such as USDC. Chaos Labs and BGD Labs also suggested that Ampleforth should provide 40% of the funds to compensate depositors, with AaveDAO footing the bill for the other 60%: “Considering that the problem is on a contract of Aave, but that the implementation was done by the Ampleforth team, we propose a 60% (Aave) 40% (Ampleforth) split on the total to be deposited on the smart contract for the distribution.” This new proposal was criticized by many of the forum participants. Some critics claimed that it was unfair for depositors to receive stablecoins as compensation. “Aspects of the proposed resolution include paying aAMPL holders a below market rate amount of USDC instead of actual AMPL,” user Fiddlekins stated in a post. This is unreasonable, they claimed, because “repaying them [depositors] in USDC just transfers the burden of price impact to them if they wish to then rebuy AMPL with it, and denies them the ability to sell the asset they should have for its current elevated price if they don’t.” Fiddlekins mentioned that AaveDAO sold 283,500 aAMPL of its reserves on Jan. 23, receiving $363,000 in exchange, which the user considered to be inconsistent with the view that AMPL is too high of a price to buy back. “Put bluntly: the DAO seems happy to sell low but not to buy high, and argues that lenders should bear the brunt of that,” they said. Other critics took issue with the idea of a 60%/40% funding split between AaveDAO and Ampleforth. “Why would Forth DAO pay out it if there are issues on AAVE’s smart contract?” RomanPope asked. In response, QuantumEvolver argued that both sides were to blame. “The AMPL developers made a mistake in the smart contract from start, and they still cannot determine what exactly the mistake was. And AAVE is also responsible since they should have audited the smart contract before integrating it into the AAVE platform to make sure it would work fine.” Related: Aave deploys DeFi protocol on BNB Chain BGD Labs proposes $300,000 compensation plan On March 31, BGD Labs made a new proposal: AaveDAO would pay out $300,000 in stablecoins to depositors, which it would obtain from its reserves held in the Aave collector contract. It said the proposal was necessary because “we don’t have any type of news from the Ampleforth team.” If Ampleforth wants to contribute to the compensation plan at a later date, “we expect communication in this forum,” BGD Labs stated, adding that such a contribution “technically will be perfectly doable.” The proposal was confirmed by a vote of over 99% on April 5. In its post revealing the proposal, BGD Labs claimed that the amount owed to depositors “will be more than 300’000 USD,” implying that even after passage, at least one more distribution will be needed to make depositors whole. Ampleforth’s response On April 7, Naguib posted a statement that attempted to explain Ampleforth’s position on the matter. He claimed the team became aware of the incorrect interest payments in May 2022. However, at that time, “the discrepancy was small, well below the AMPL reserve balance.” Aave was also planning to transition to Aave version 3 at the time, and the two teams agreed that the pool should be frozen until this transition was completed. According to Naguib, they also agreed that AaveDAO should use its AMPL reserves to cover any shortfalls if it becomes insolvent before all depositors withdraw. After this discussion, deposits and borrows were frozen for the AMPL pool on Nov. 22, 2022. But on Nov. 25, deposits were reenabled, leading to a greater shortfall for the pool over time. Then, AaveDAO sold its AMPL reserves on Jan. 23, 2023, which made covering the shortfall much more difficult for AaveDAO. According to Naguib, Ampleforth was initially unaware of both of these events. When the Ampleforth team became aware that the shortfall had grown much larger, it suggested what it saw as a “simple and non-controversial resolution,” which was “to pick a date before the discrepancy started growing exponentially, and assume lenders were holding AMPL since that point.” This calculation would have allowed a compensation package to be produced quickly, and it could have been covered by some combination of AaveDAO reserves and Ampleforth funds. Naguib claimed that this proposal was made privately to the BGD Labs team. BGD Labs reportedly rejected Ampleforth’s suggestion and instead asked it to calculate the amount owed based on off-chain simulations of AAVE platform behavior. This simulation process took longer but eventually led to the Ampleforth team’s March 8 proposal for AaveDAO to buy back AMPL to repay depositors. Naguib stated that the Ampleforth team “will continue offering the necessary support for investigation and for BGD Labs in reaching a proposal that satisfies the community,” but also argued that BGD Labs should “take the lead to a resolution,” as the team believes “they [BGD Labs] are best positioned to perform this work.”

[INST] Lower ETF demand, unrealized gains may weigh on BTC selling pressure post-halving [/INST] A slowdown of inflows to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) combined with a high volume of unrealized gains from traders could lead to bearish pressure on the Bitcoin price after the upcoming halving event. According to Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, unrealized profits from Bitcoin’s recent rally are driving up selling pressure. An eventual slowdown of inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months could result in further pressure on Bitcoin (BTC) prices. CryptoQuant’s net unrealized profit and oss (NUPL) indicator supports the analysis. The indicator’s warning sign is the 0.7 mark, indicating that Bitcoin investors may be ready to take profits, further driving prices down and increasing selling pressure. On March 17, the NUPL indicator reached 0.606, up 0.41% from the previous 24 hours, despite recent BTC price corrections. “For a bearish outlook for price: 1. Slowdown in ETF Bitcoin purchases and 2. Getting into the halving at a high level of unrealized profits for traders, as highly likely traders would sell to take profits,” Moreno said about possible price-depressing events. NUPL indicator. Source: CryptoQuant The Bitcoin ETFs recorded one of their lowest net inflow days on March 14, with just $132 million in net activity, their lowest level in eight trading sessions and an 80% decline from the previous days. A possible downward trend, however, may not be as severe as previous bear markets, as institutional investors typically engage in portfolio rebalancing strategies, which could temper volatility rather than increase it, James Butterfill, head of Research at CoinShares, told Cointelegraph. “Volatility in the last bull market in 2021 was 120%. It is now only 45%, and prices have risen above all-time highs. We believe this is due to the dampening effect of portfolio rebalancing,” he said. Bitcoin ETFs have so far been in high demand. The cumulative net inflows into the crypto products surpassed the $12 billion mark on March 15, while industry insiders anticipate further demand as brokerage firms speed up due diligence to offer clients Bitcoin ETFs. Miners brace for impact Capital flowing through Bitcoin ETFs is counteracting the negative price effects of miners sales ahead of the halving — Bitcoin’s deflationary mechanism. The halving cuts the reward for mining new blocks by 50%, thus reducing the rate at which new Bitcoin are generated. This year’s reduction will slash Bitcoin miner rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. The cost of mining, however, remains the same or may even increase as miners usually improve operations to remain profitable after the event. CoinShares anticipates the average cost of production post-halving for crypto miners to be at $37,856. “Looking at price performance of the miners year to date highlights investor concerns for the miners around the halving, but I believe many are being tarred with the same brush, so to speak, as average costs to mine Bitcoin vary greatly, but those with higher costs to seem to have been hit harder,” said Butterfill. Miners cost production per Bitcoin post-halving. Source: CoinShares. Historically, miners have sold more of their BTC reserves before the halving to maximize profits, and 2024 is no exception. Data from CryptoQuant shows miner reserves at their lowest level in two years, with 1.81 million Bitcoin held by miners on March 15. The Bitcoin halving takes place every four years, with the next expected to happen around April 19, 2024. Magazine: This is your brain on crypto — Substance abuse grows among crypto traders