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

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

US SEC expected to deny spot Ether ETFs in May

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will most likely deny spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETF) in May, according to a new report. Reuters reported on April 24 that U.S. issuers and other firms expect the SEC to reject spot Ether ETF applications next month following meetings with the regulator in recent weeks, citing four people who participated in the meetings. The four persons, who asked to be anonymous due to the private nature of the discussions, said recent meetings between issuers and the SEC have been one-sided, and agency staff have not discussed substantive details about the proposed products. The sources compared the unsuccessful talks regarding Ether ETFs to detailed discussions between issuers and the agency in January, weeks before it approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. Before the historic approval, the SEC rejected spot BTC ETF filings for over a decade. It only changed its stance after Grayscale Investments won a court victory against the securities regulator in August 2023. Many analysts agree that the SEC is likely to further delay possible approval of Ether ETFs. “It seems more likely that approval will be delayed until later in 2024, or longer,” VettaFi ETF data analyst Todd Rosenbluth reportedly said, adding that the regulatory landscape is still too “cloudy.” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas previously estimated chances of the SEC approving a spot Ether ETF in May at around 35% in March. He also noted that he’d sourced “good intel” to suggest that the SEC may be giving the silent treatment to prospective fund issuers on purpose. Related: SEC lawyers resign after ‘gross abuse’ of power in crypto case — Report Balchunas also mentioned that SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s stance on Ether could also impact the decision process as Gensler has refused to give clarity on whether Ether was a security. While the U.S. is apparently set for another delay, some global jurisdictions have been moving forward with plans to start trading ETF products. On April 24, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) officially approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, including three BTC and three ETH ETFs by China Asset Management, Harvest Global Investments and Bosera. Following approval, Hong Kong’s crypto ETFs are expected to start trading on April 30. Magazine: ChainLinkGod was in High School when he started the account! X Hall of Flame

BNB Chain will enable native liquid staking on BSC

BNB Chain said it will enable native liquid staking on its BNB Smart Chain (BSC) as part of its shift to migrate the BNB Beacon Chain’s functions to BSC as the former is wound down. In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, BNB Chain noted that the BNB Beacon Chain will be completely shut down by June 2024. However, the company said it will transfer its features to the BSC before it closes. BNB Chain’s road map for transitioning from the Beacon Chain to the Smart Chain. Source: BNB Chain BNB Chain said that enabling liquid staking on BSC will allow ecosystem participants to secure the network while keeping the liquidity of their assets. While the organization did not give a specific date for the rollout of the liquid staking feature, BNB Chain said it will happen in April or May. The BNB Chain core development team told Cointelegraph that the move to BSC is the organization’s attempt to streamline the network. They said: “The implementation aligns with the sunset of the BNB Chain Fusion, streamlining the network, improving efficiency, reducing security risks and matching current technological demands.” The team added that the move is also a part of the company’s growth plans to make the BNB Chain “more attractive to users.” BNB Chain explained that with the feature, users can engage in decentralized finance activities without sacrificing the asset’s utility because they will have liquid staking tokens representing their staked crypto assets. The BNB Chain core development team also told Cointelegraph in a statement that holders can delegate their BNB (BNB) to a liquidity pool or directly to the validator. They said: “Liquidity staking not only rewards BNB stakers but also enhances security for the BNB Chain network. It offers BNB holders increased flexibility in staking their assets and more options for staking BNB.” The team explained that when BNB holders stake their tokens in the liquidity pool, they can receive liquidity provider tokens, which they can use in many activities within the ecosystem. Related: New crypto users shouldn’t ‘rush into DeFi’ — Security firms According to the development team, liquid staking and the maximum extractable value (MEV) optimization for the BNB Chain will be rolled out together. “Validators with MEV enabled will have the opportunity to boost their staking returns through MEV revenue, which will ultimately be factored into Liquidity Staking rewards,” the team added. Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more

Nigeria puts faith in new crypto-friendly regulator

Nigeria’s blockchain stakeholders have expressed hope and confidence in the newly appointed Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new SEC Chair’s pro-crypto background is seen as an added advantage for the local crypto industry. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Emomotimi Agama, the former managing director of the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI), as the new chair of the SEC. This appointment aims to regulate the capital market, enhance investor confidence, and promote economic development. In interviews with Cointelegraph, local crypto stakeholders shared their opinions about the new appointment. Nathaniel Luz, CEO of Flincap — an over-the-counter crypto exchange — expressed his excitement about the appointment, saying that the Director-General’s favorable views on crypto will likely bring positive changes to the crypto sector. Luz said that the community is looking forward to the new chair working together with startups to streamline their licensing process for operating crypto platforms in Nigeria. With the government issuing licenses for crypto organizations this year, Luz believes assisting numerous crypto startups in obtaining these licenses will ensure compliance and operational stability for exchanges in the country. Related: Nigeria’s central bank forced to deny claims of crypto account freeze Similarly, Lucky Uwakwe, chair of the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN) and founder of SaBi Exchange, described the appointment as a “wise decision,” considering the new Director-General’s wealth of experience in blockchain and the capital market. According to Luz, the new leader needs to clearly state that cryptocurrency is not prohibited in Nigeria. Given recent developments and uncertainties surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in the country, stakeholders are seeking a clear declaration from the leadership to confirm the legality of crypto activities. Luz said: “We expect that his administration will separate the baby from the bath water and show that the crypto industry has several exciting benefits for the country. We need to prove to the whole world that we are open for crypto business despite the issues that some exchanges might have experienced in the country.” In February, the Nigerian government used the country’s telecommunication providers to prevent local crypto users from accessing the websites of various crypto exchanges, such as Binance, OctaFX and others. Authorities then accused Binance of illegally moving $26 billion out of the country and invited the firm to send representatives to discuss the issue. Two Binance staff were subsequently detained and charged with five counts related to money laundering after meeting with Nigerian officials. One of them, Nadeem Anjarwalla, escaped custody and was tracked down in Kenya, where he faces extradition. Magazine: US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime

Tokenization’s next phase requires real-world data integration — Chainlink

Researchers from the blockchain oracle platform Chainlink believe asset managers have a “sizable” opportunity to jump into tokenization as financial asset infrastructures continue to go digital. In an industry report titled “Beyond Token Issuance,” blockchain oracle platform Chainlink explained where the opportunity lies and how interoperability and real-world data could unlock the value of tokenized assets. Industries and markets that could benefit from tokenization. Source: Chainlink The report laid down the potential benefits of tokenization for asset managers. This includes unlocking dormant capital, giving assets greater availability and creating novel revenue models. Apart from these, Chainlink said that asset managers could also create unified client portfolios, differentiate their service offerings, and improve their risk management as tokenization allows for more automated risk assessment. Within the report, Chainlink also argued that blockchains continued to evolve into an “integral component of the existing financial ecosystem.” In addition, the company highlighted that traditional and blockchain-based assets are already merging into a single financial ecosystem. The researchers believe this resulted from continued digitization, as blockchains offered superior infrastructure for asset storage and transactions. Related: New crypto users shouldn’t ‘rush into DeFi’ — Security firms Ryan Lovell, director of capital markets at Chainlink Labs, told Cointelegraph that tokenization has been in a research and development phase for several years. Lovell explained that institutions were bringing simple account balances on-chain and were trying to figure out the potential impact of tokenization for their businesses only at a basic level. Lovell said: “This was kind of like building a concept car without an engine or interior — just a basic shell of what the future will hold.” However, the executive believes that the next phase for tokenization will be more about building foundational infrastructure. This is necessary to make tokenized assets composable and programmable across traditional systems and private and public chains. Meanwhile, the Chainlink executive believes that enhancing tokens with real-world data and letting them become interoperable across blockchains and traditional systems could unlock powerful applications. Lovell said these use cases would feature more transparency, lower costs and more streamlined administrative processes than traditional finance infrastructure. “We’re actively working on several exciting initiatives at the moment to enable institutions to go beyond mere token issuance, manage tokenized assets throughout their entire lifecycle, and transact across the cross-chain economy,” Lovell added. Magazine: ChainLinkGod was in High School when he started the account! X Hall of Flame

EU enacts crypto regulations to combat money laundering

The European Parliament approved new regulations that establish formal due diligence obligations for cryptocurrency companies with the goal of combating money laundering. The new laws are aimed at improving “due diligence measures and identity checks” for customers, extending to entities such as crypto asset managers. These entities will also be required to report any suspicious activities to authorities. This new legislation, approved on April 24, will impact crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), like centralized crypto exchanges under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and various other entities, including gambling services. MiCA is a regulatory framework introduced by the European Union to oversee digital assets and their markets. It was enacted in June 2023 and will be fully enforceable by the end of the year. A new agency, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), has been designated to oversee and supervise the implementation of the new rule. AMLA’s office will be situated in Frankfurt, Germany. However, the law has not been formally adopted by the Council and has yet to be published in the EU Office Journal. Patrick Hansen, EU strategy and policy director at Circle, expressed anticipation for the vote’s outcome in a post on X. He mentioned that the package would proceed to be officially adopted by the Council of the EU and come into effect three years later. Related: EU watchdog warns handful of exchanges may dominate crypto market In another post, Hansen mentioned that these CASPs will be required to adhere to standard Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) procedures such as customer due diligence . He noted that this requirement is not novel, as all crypto exchanges and custodial wallet providers in the EU are already obligated to comply with these regulations under existing legislation. Hansen described the final version as a “positive result” for the crypto sector. He noted that earlier iterations of the proposed AMLR suggested a much stricter approach, which would have necessitated KYC on the self-custody originator/beneficiary. However, he credited industry efforts for advocating a risk-based approach with multiple options, ultimately leading to consensus. Last month, a majority of the European Parliament’s lead committees scrapped the 1,000-euro ($1,080) limit on cryptocurrency payments from self-hosted crypto wallets as part of new AML laws. Magazine: Cyprus keeps FTX Europe license suspended until September

2 on-chain metrics suggest Bitcoin at its ‘best moment to buy’

Bitcoin could be entering into an attractive buy zone according to two popular metrics used by cryptocurrency analysts to track on-chain trading activity. The market value to realized value (MVRV) and open interest (OI) weighted funding rate metrics could suggest Bitcoin (BTC) is at an attractive entry point for traders. “This is the best moment to buy Bitcoin,” pseudonymous trader Mister Crypto told his 94,100 X followers in an April 23 post on X. Bitcoin’s price is $64,230 at the time of publication. Source: CoinMarketCap Bitcoin’s OI weighted funding rate — which represents the cost of holding Bitcoin futures positions — breached positive territory on April 24 after 24-hours in the negative zone, posting 0.0093%, according to CoinGlass data. Despite the upswing, it is still significantly lower than the 0.0714% recorded at the beginning of April, a correction that analysts view as favorable for the market. “One of the healthiest market resets I have seen in a long time,” on-chain analyst Checkmate declared in an April 24 post. “Rates holding strong. Bitcoin ready for liftoff,” Crypto Banter host Kyle Doops added in an April 24 post. Related: $1M Bitcoin price still in play amid ‘macro liquidity surge’ — Arthur Hayes The higher funding rates signal increased interest in long trades, reflecting a more bullish sentiment in the market. The last time Bitcoin’s OI-weighted funding rate peaked significantly in early March, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $69,200 on the same day. Just a week later, on March 14, it surpassed that milestone again, climbing to $73,835, per CoinMarketCap data. However, founder of the Capriole Investments fund, Charles Edwards, told Cointelegraph that while funding rates are a good indicator “broadly speaking,” it no longer carries the same level of certainty as it did a few years ago. “2018 through 2020 and 2021, that sort of three-year window, it wasn’t talked about much. It wasn’t understood, and it was a hundred percent hit rate metric, where if it went negative, it was almost a hundred percent guaranteed; if you went long, you would make money.” Although now there are “so many more parties involved, it’s a bit more of a complex metric to consider,” according to Edwards. Bitcoin’s OI-weighted funding rate has declined significantly since the start of April. Source: CoinGlass Meanwhile, the MVRV indicator — which aims to identify when Bitcoin is over or undervalued relative to its fair value — also suggests Bitcoin has headed further into favorable buying conditions. At the time of publication, Bitcoin’s MVRV score is 2.32, down 6.45% since the start of April, according to LookIntoBitcoin data. An MVRV score above 3.5 suggests that the market is almost at its peak, whereas a score below one indicates that it has bottomed out. Bitcoin’s MVRV score has dropped 6.45% since the start of April. Source: LookIntoBitcoin Edwards pointed out that the current MVRV levels indicate “we’ve got quite a bit of leeway over the next year.” However, he explained that the current buying opportunity is far less lucrative compared to those available as recently as two years ago. “It’s not a deep value opportunity that it was a year ago or two years ago when it was way lower. But it’s also not screaming ‘overvaluation,’ which is four or five or six.” Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto 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.

‘Buy Bitcoin’ sign that photobombed Janet Yellen sells for $1M

A yellow notepad with “Buy Bitcoin” written on it, which was flashed behind then-United States Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen during a 2017 congressional hearing, has sold at auction for 16 Bitcoin (BTC) — over $1 million. The buyer, identified as “Justin” — also known as “Squirrekkywrath” — was the winning bidder on the Bitcoin auction platform Scarce City. The auction ran for a week, ending on April 24, just after 11:00 pm UTC. The sign was offered up by Christian Langalis, who wrote it out and flashed it to the camera after nabbing a seat behind Yellen at a televised House Financial Services Committee hearing in July 2017. Langalis was escorted out after photobombing Yellen, as signs are not allowed to be displayed during hearings. CNBC reported at the time that after the sign was flashed, Bitcoin traded 3.7% higher, reaching over $2,418. After Scarce City takes its 15% fee, Langalis is set to pocket around $875,000, or 13.6 BTC. In a statement under the listing, Langalis said it was “good to finally liberate this number from my sock drawer and offer it back to the Bitcoin public.” Related: $1M Bitcoin price still in play amid ‘macro liquidity surge’ — Arthur Hayes The listing notes the page with the handwritten sign “was removed from the notepad shortly after the hearing” but was since “reattached with clear archival wire.” The yellow legal pad also contains “an unseen rough draft” of the now-iconic scrawl, along with notes on the hearing monetary policy and Bitcoin. Langalis’ draft of the sign was part of the sale. Source: Scarce City In 2019, Langalis created and sold 21 replicas of the sign, which sold for an average price of 0.8 BTC, worth about $51,300 today. The listing claims the replicas are displayed in the offices of venture firms Paradigm, Blockchain Capital and Castle Island Ventures, along with the crypto think-tank Coin Center. Bloomberg reported that Langalis planned to use the money from the latest sale to help fund a Bitcoin software project. Magazine: Recursive inscriptions — Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Runes make up 68% of all Bitcoin transactions since launch

Runes, a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, has made up more than two-thirds of transactions on Bitcoin since it was launched following the network’s halving event on April 20. More than 2.38 million Runes transactions have been processed, accounting for 68% of all Bitcoin transactions made since it launched on April 20, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard shared by blockchain research firm Crypto Koryo. Ordinary peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) transactions, BRC-20s, Ordinals and Runes were included in the total transaction count. Share of Bitcoin transactions among various token standards. Source: Dune Analytics Runes had its biggest day on April 23 with more than 750,000 transactions, though the count more than halved the next day at 312,000 transactions. Much of the initial demand at block 840,000 came from memecoin and nonfungible token enthusiasts competing to inscribe and etch “rare satoshis” via the Runes protocol. As a result, Runes transactions contributed to nearly 70% of miner fees on the halving day. Since then, the daily figure fluctuated between 33% and 69%. However, industry pundits are also split on whether Runes will provide a sustainable revenue stream for Bitcoin miners, and there’s already a disparity between the numbers of Rune transactions and miner fees earned from Runes. The new protocol, launched by Ordinals inventor Casey Rodarmor, has been marketed as a more efficient way to create new tokens on the Bitcoin network when compared to the BRC-20 token standard, an Ordinals-based method for creating Bitcoin-based tokens. Related: Bitcoin fees crash after record daily average of $128 on halving day However, not everyone is happy with the amount of block space that has been taken up by Runes transactions in recent days. Among those critics is Nikita Zhavoronkov, a lead developer at blockchain search engine Blockchair, who believes Bitcoin has “completely ceased” becoming a peer-to-peer electronic cash system — what its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, originally envisioned. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

Biden’s 44.6% capital gains tax proposal likely a ‘nothing burger’

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

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF daily inflow hits $0 for the first time

BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has notched its first day of $0 in inflows since Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were introduced in the United States in January. Ever since its launch on Jan. 11, IBIT has consistently attracted investments worth millions of dollars daily, racking up nearly $15.5 billion in just 71 days. The inflow streak ended for BlackRock on April 24 after it recorded $0 of inflows. Bitcoin ETF inflow and outflow data. Source: Farside Most of the other Bitcoin ETF participants witnessed a dry spell as well. Of the 11 United States-registered Bitcoin ETFs, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) were the only two to record inflows of $5.6 million and $4.2 million, respectively. Additionally, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) continued to bleed. On April 24, GBTC recorded $130.4 millio in outflows. As a result, the spot Bitcoin ETFs realized a net outflow of $120.6 million on the day. While the lack of inflows is a first for IBIT, it’s not uncommon among other ETF participants. Fidelity’s FBTC, for example, has notched three days of $0 inflows in the last two weeks. To date, the Bitcoin ETF market in the U.S. has accumulated a net $12.3 billion in Bitcoin. However, GBTC outflows have offset some of the inflows notched by the remaining nine Bitcoin ETFs. As of Jan. 11, outflows from GBTC exceed $17 billion. Related: SEC pushes decision on Franklin Templeton spot Ether ETF Some of the Bitcoin ETF market participants are also in the process of applying for Ether (ETH) ETFs in the United States. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently delayed the approval decisions for several of them. “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. The SEC’s decision on whether to allow the conversion of Grayscale’s ETH Trust to a spot ETH exchange-traded product on NYSE Arca has been extended by 60 days to June 23. Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more

Crypto market stumbles amid arrest of Samourai Wallet founders

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and major altcoins briefly tumbled amid news of Samourai Wallet founders’ arrest by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on the backdrop of ongoing Middle East tensions and post-halving volatility. On April 24, Cointelegraph reported that cryptocurrency wallet Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill will each face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Within an hour of the DOJ announcement, Bitcoin’s price dropped 3.6%. Its price dipped below key support levels to $63,710 before recovering slightly to $64,546, per CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin’s price dropped by 3.6% following the DOJ announcement. Source: CoinMarketCap Meanwhile, Ether dropped 2.51% within the same time frame but failed to bounce back, declining further to $3,158. The largest altcoins also took a hit; meanwhile, PEPE (PEPE) saw a brief 6.4% drop, Shiba I (SHIB) experienced a 2.7% decline, and Dogecoin (DOGE) briefly dipped 3.2% following the announcement. The sharp price drops in the top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization triggered widespread liquidation of long positions. Market price drops across the board forced heavy long position liquidations. Source: CoinGlass In the last 12 hours, Bitcoin saw $33.08 million worth of long positions liquidated; Ether had $29.88 million, and approximately $23 million in long positions were liquidated across the rest of the crypto market, per CoinGlass data. The crypto market decline also comes in the backdrop of geopolitical tension further escalating in the Middle East. On April 24, the Israeli military struck approximately 40 locations linked to Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, according to local reports. The crypto community was already largely anticipating some short-term volatility following the Bitcoin halving event, which happened just days earlier on April 20. Pseudonymous crypto trader Rekt Capital told their 456,400 X followers on April 24 that they predict the next bull market peak not to occur until late 2025, approximately 546 days after the halving. Related: Bitcoin analysts agree that BTC has ‘a lot further to run’ The fluctuations came despite overall positive investor sentiment in the crypto market. According to the Fear & Greed Index, which measures crypto market sentiment, the “greed” score rose to 72 this week, a 15-point increase from last week. The crypto community criticized the recent arrests, fearing it could be another attempt by the U.S. government to crack down harshly on crypto. “These developers face up to 25 yrs in prison for writing code. The US is sending a message. No transaction will be private,” crypto analyst Ryan Adams stated in an April 24 post. Meanwhile, Fred Krueger claimed on the same day in an X post that the arrest was “not a good look for Bitcoin in general.” Crypto commentator Luke Mikic told his 26,800 X followers that this “attack by the US Government on Samourai wallet is bigger than most people think.” Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto 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.

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

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

Banks could flood into stablecoins if new bill passes: S&P Global

A new stablecoin-focused bill introduced to the United States Senate could “encourage” U.S. banks to step into the stablecoin market, says global ratings firm S&P Global Ratings. In an April 23 research note, S&P shared that proposals outlined in the Payment Stablecoin Act — introduced to the Senate on April 17 — could encourage banks to get involved in issuing U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and potentially spell trouble for large non-U.S entities that issue stablecoins such as Tether. Describing stablecoins as a potential “key pillar of financial markets,” the ratings agency looked to BlackRock’s recently launched BUIDL fund as evidence for the “efficiencies and enhanced settlement security” of stablecoins in tokenizing assets and digital bonds. Notably, the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act proposed introducing a $10 billion issuance limit on non-bank stablecoin firms, banning “unbacked” algorithmic stablecoins, as well as requiring stablecoin issuers to hold one-to-one cash or cash-equivalent reserves. “Assuming the bill is approved, and that relevant banking regulation follows, the new rules may offer banks a competitive advantage by limiting institutions without a banking license to a maximum issuance of $10 billion,” it said. The ratings agency also noted that the introduction of a $10 billion issuance on non-bank firms could spell trouble for Tether which — with a market cap of $110 billion — is currently the largest U.S. Dollar-pegged stablecoin issuer on the market. Related: Crypto advocacy group claims stablecoin bill would ‘violate free speech rights’ Tether, the largest stablecoin by outstanding volume, is issued by a non-U.S. entity and therefore not a permitted payment stablecoin under the proposed bill,” S&P Global said. “This means that U.S. entities couldn’t hold or transact in Tether, which may reduce demand while boosting U.S.-issued stablecoins.” S&P noted that much of Tether’s transaction activity occurred primarily outside of the United States and was driven in large part by transactions in emerging markets, retail activity, and remittances. Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said passing a regulatory framework for stablecoins was “absolutely critical to maintaining the U.S. dollar’s dominance, promoting responsible innovation, protecting consumers, and cracking down on money laundering and illicit finance,” when introducing the bill last week. Not everyone was pleased with the proposals outlined in the bill, however. Crypto advocacy organization Coin Center expressed concerns with the bill, saying it would be “bad policy” to ban algorithmic stablecoins, and described it as an unconstitutional act under protections of the First Amendment. 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more

39% of Canada’s institutional investors have exposure to crypto: KPMG

Canada-based institutional investors significantly increased their crypto exposure last year compared to the last bull run, a survey from accounting firm KPMG has revealed. Nearly 40% of institutional investors reported having direct or indirect exposure to crypto assets in 2023 — up from 31% in KPMG’s 2021 study, the company according to an April 24 report. Source: KPMG KPMG received 65 responses, 31 of which identified as institutional investors with most managing more than $500 million in assets, while the remaining 34 were financial services organizations. The survey found that one-third of the institutional investors have allocated 10% or more of their portfolios to crypto assets — up from a fifth two years ago. Kunal Bhasin, a partner and leader at KPMG Canada’s Digital Assets practice said it “appears” the firms are looking to invest in alternative asset classes that act as a debasement hedge and a reliable store of value in the face of increasing inflation and rising debt in the United States. A large majority of investors cited a maturing market and improved custody infrastructure as key reasons behind investing in crypto assets while increased client demand for crypto asset services was cited as a key factor for financial firms expanding their offerings. Canada’s world-first approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in February 2021 helped local investors become “increasingly attracted” to the asset class, noted Kareem Sadek, another executive at KPMG’s Digital Assets practice. But the recent approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States marked a “milestone moment” for many market participants in Canada, Sadek added. Related: KPMG in Canada adds BTC and ETH to its treasury The report found that half of the institutional investors surveyed have crypto asset exposure through Canadian ETFs, close-ended trusts or other regulated products, while 58% have exposure through the stock market — such as Galaxy Digital on the Toronto Stock Exchange — up from 36% in 2021. More institutional investors are also receiving exposure through derivatives markets — now at 42% compared to 2021’s 14%. The only fall came from venture capital or hedge fund firms, falling to 25% from 2021’s 29%. Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more

Meta drops 15% on weak outlook and high AI and metaverse spending

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

Samourai Wallet mixer co-founders arrested on AML, licensing charges

The co-founders of cryptocurrency mixer Samourai Wallet have been arrested on charges of money laundering brought by the United States Justice Department (DOJ) and other agencies. Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill will each face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Rodriguez was arrested on the morning of April 24 in Pennsylvania, and Hill was arrested the same day in Portugal. According to a statement released by the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, the United States will seek Hill’s extradition. The company’s servers and domain were also seized in Iceland, and a warrant has been served to stop downloads of the company’s app from the Google Play Store. The app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Screenshot of the Samourai Wallet homepage. Source: doj.gov The U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation also took part in the investigation. According to the DOJ statement, Samourai Wallet: “Executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets, such as Silk Road and Hydra Market; a web-server intrusion; a spearphishing scheme; and schemes to defraud multiple decentralized finance protocols.” Samourai Wallet offered its Whirlpool crypto mixing service and Ricochet service, which created additional, unnecessary transactions to further muddy users’ crypto paths. They allegedly made $4.5 million from fees. Related: Arbitrum DAO votes on $1M fund for Tornado Cash devs’ legal defense The U.S. government has become increasingly aggressive toward crypto mixers. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned Blender.io in May 2022 after the Axie Infinity hack. The OFAC added addresses associated with the Tornado Cash mixer to its list of Specially Designated Nationals in October 2022, effectively banning U.S. residents from using the service. That decision survived a court challenge. The three co-founders of Tornado Cash had all come under arrest by August 2023. In October 2023, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed designating crypto mixers as a “primary money laundering concern” after the Hamas attack on Israel. Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers

Changpeng Zhao could serve time in the same facility as ‘crypto-anarchist’ Jim Bell

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has requested that a federal judge sentence him to probation after pleading guilty to violating money laundering laws. His legal team has filed several declarations in support of his recommendation, including one suggesting he could serve time at the Federal Detention Center (FDC) SeaTac, Washington. In an April 23 filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, Robert Palmquist said it was “highly probable” that, if given prison time, Zhao would serve his sentence at FDC SeaTac. Palmquist, who served as warden of the Washington facility from 2003 to 2009, described it as having “little natural light” with the prison understaffed, given the number of inmates. “If Mr. Zhao is incarcerated [...] his wealth and status as a public figure would expose him to a risk of threats to his physical and mental health, including but not limited to theft and extortion,” said Palmquist. “Mr. Zhao would encounter offenders of all security levels and potentially be prey to predators with high security designations due to his naivety concerning prison experiences and his financial resources.” FDC Seatac, based directly south of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and containing 794 inmates according to its website, has previously housed a Proud Boys member charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Jim Bell, a ‘crypto-anarchist.’ Bell, released in 2012, was charged with tax evasion in the 90s related to ‘Assassination Politics’: promoting anonymous payments for individuals to order the killing of government officials. Zhao’s lawyers filed several letters from friends, family members and business leaders supporting a lenient sentence for the former CEO. Under U.S. sentencing guidelines, a judge has the authority to put CZ in federal prison for up to 10 years, but there is a recommended sentence of 12 to 18 months for his specific charge. Prosecutors have requested three years in prison and a $50 million fine. Related: What to expect at Changpeng Zhao’s sentencing on April 30 After the conviction and sentencing of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, CZ will be one of the most high-profile figures in the crypto space to enter a federal courtroom and learn whether a judge will decide to grant probation or send him to prison. Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, facing seven securities and commodities fraud charges, will go to trial in January 2025. CZ has largely not publicly commented on the charges since his guilty plea as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between U.S. authorities and Binance in November 2023. In a letter to Judge Richard Jones dated Feb. 2, Zhao apologized for his “poor decisions” regarding Binance and said he was prepared to accept responsibility for his actions. The former Binance CEO is scheduled to return to court on April 30 for sentencing. Since November, he has been free to travel within parts of the U.S. on a $175 million bond. Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame

Manchester City to release digital collectibles through multi-year partnership with Quidd

The Premier League’s Manchester City Football Club has entered into a multi-year partnership with Animoca Brands subsidiary Quidd to develop and launch digital collectibles alongside new promotions and fan experiences. Quidd will create and launch “special edition” digital collectibles including cards that will unlock real-world experiences. Tom Boyle, Vice-President, Global Partnerships Marketing and Operations at City Football Group announced the partnership in a blog post adding: “We’re excited to help transform the traditional football pastime of cards and collectibles in a new digital age alongside Quidd, enabling us to further connect with our fans across the globe. We look forward to working together on creating new digital experiences and games for our fans to enjoy.” Related: Animoca Brands raises $5M for NFT marketplace, Quidd The inaugural product for the partnership will be a series of 200 bespoke digital player cards which will launch or purchase on May 2. The first 10,000 “Cityzens” (the colloquial term for Man City fans) to purchase packs will receive two exclusive “For the Fans” packs. Cityzens who unlock digital rewards through the Quidd packs will also have the opportunity to participate in real world events and purchase opportunities including official Manchester City merchandise and hospitality tickets as well as winning “money-can’t-buy experiences, including an exclusive opportunity to watch a first team training session at the City Football Academy.” Image source: Club News As Cointelegraph recently reported, Man City has been active in the NFT space as of late with the launch of its “Unseen City Shirts” NFT collection on the OKX blockchain on April 22. A limited number of Unseen City Shirts NFTs are tied to physical, limited-edition jerseys featuring hand painted artwork. The club also partnered with Sony in 2022 to build a virtual version of Etihad Stadium, Man City’s iconic home field, reportedly the first officially-licensed football stadium to be built in the metaverse. Meanwhile, other clubs are turning to cryptocurrency for their long-term futures. The Winklevoss twins recently bought into Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack’s Real Bedford Football Club, investing $4.5 million towards the club’s Bitcoin treasury. Evidently they’re bullish on both BTC and the club’s chances to one day make it to the Premier League.

Do Kwon appeals Montenegrin court decision, claiming ‘unfounded and illegal’ interpretation

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon’s legal saga continues with reports of his lawyers filing an appeal against a high court decision that pthe question of his extradition to the United States or South Korea to Montenegro’s justice minister. According to an April 23 report from Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti, Kwon’s legal team filed an appeal against an April 8 decision from the High Court in Podgorica, which would have allowed Justice Minister Andrej Milović to decide on the Terraform co-founder’s extradition. That high court decision came in response to Montenegro’s Supreme Court approving a request for a protection of legality after a lower court ruled Kwon could be extradited to South Korea. Kwon’s lawyers reportedly called the high court decision “unfounded and illegal” and a “bizarre” interpretation of the law. It’s unclear if the appeal will stay the question of Kwon’s extradition, which has been bouncing between lower and higher courts for months as his legal team files motions and appeals regarding procedure. Authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon in March 2023 for using falsified travel documents while attempting to leave the country. He reportedly remains free to travel within the country as courts determine who has the authority to grant extradition to the U.S. or South Korea, where Kwon would face criminal charges. Related: Terraform Labs was ‘built on lies’ — SEC at trial In the United States, a jury found Terraform and Kwon liable for fraud as part of a civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). After the verdict, the SEC said it planned to seek a $5.3 billion judgment, with $100 million in civil penalties for Kwon personally. The collapse of Terraform in 2022 contributed to a significant crypto market downturn that caused firms, including FTX, BlockFi and Celsius, to file for bankruptcy. The platform filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. in January 2024. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Magic Eden overtakes Blur, Yuga Labs offloads NFT games: Nifty Newsletter

In this week’s newsletter, nonfungible token (NFT) platform Magic Eden surpassed Blur in trading volume in March, and Yuga Labs is offloading two NFT games. In other news, find out how Manchester City football fans could get limited edition jerseys through NFTs and how a former Disney executive launched a Web3 game publishing company. And don’t forget this week’s Nifty News, featuring PayPal removing buyer and seller protections for NFTs. Magic Eden passed Blur as leading NFT marketplace in March: CoinGecko Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden recorded a 194.4% increase in monthly trading volume, surpassing the leading platform Blur in March. The NFT trading platform recorded $756.5 million in trading volume last month, while Blur recorded $530.4 million. According to a CoinGecko report, Magic Eden’s rise was partly due to its newly implemented Diamond reward program and its continued partnership with NFT company Yuga Labs. Magic Eden’s rise in March marked its sixth consecutive month when its trading volume increased. Continue reading Yuga Labs offloads two NFT games amid effort to “unshackle” BAYC team Yuga Labs, the creators of popular NFT collections Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), sold the intellectual property (IP) rights for two of its games: HV-MTL and Legends of Mara. According to Yuga Labs, the Web3 gaming studio Faraway acquired the IP. The move was seen as part of the company’s efforts to “unshackle” the team, giving it the ability to execute its vision, and is in line with previous statements from its CEO, Greg Solano. Continue reading Man City and OKX release limited-edition jerseys tied to rare NFTs Football club Manchester City launched a new NFT collection that allows fans to win limited-edition jerseys and matchday experiences. Through its partnership with crypto exchange OKX, Manchester City allows users to mint NFTs on OKX, which gives them a chance to win the jerseys depending on the NFT’s rarity. The jerseys feature hand-painted designs by artist Christian Jeffrey, incorporating the Lancashire rose and the Manchester worker bee. Continue reading Former Disney boss launches Web3 game publisher with Marvel, Star Wars talent A former Disney executive joined forces with a team of Hollywood and gaming professionals to launch a Web3 game publisher based in the United Arab Emirates. The company is called Galactic Entertainment Publishing, which represents the first arm of the Galactic Group. The company’s first project, PlanetQuest, has been in development since 2022. Loren Roosendaal, CEO of Galactic Entertainment and founder of PlanetQuest, said the game had already amassed 200,000 NFT holders before its launch. Continue reading Nifty News: PayPal removes NFT protections, Adidas NFT sneakers and more Payment services company PayPal will take down protections for NFT-related purchases starting May 20. The fintech firm published amendments to its Purchase Protection Program to remove the eligibility of NFT transactions. Meanwhile, Adidas partnered with Stepn to release limited edition NFT sneakers on the Solana network. Continue reading Thanks for reading this digest of the week’s most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively evolving space.

Here’s what happened in crypto today

Asset manager BlackRock has confirmed it did not play an active role in the tokenization of its $22 billion money market fund on Hedera, which caused a slight dip in the token’s price. Meanwhile, miners have seen a sharp decline in revenues in recent days and Nigeria’s central bank said it would issue a directive instructing banks and financial institutions to hand over details of users of several crypto exchanges and for the banks to block transactions. It later denied the story. BlackRock has ‘no commercial relationship’ with Hedera, HBAR sinks 32% BlackRock has confirmed it has “no commercial relationship” with Hedera and that it did not choose the Hedera Hashgraph to tokenize any BlackRock funds, including shares of its $22 billion money market fund. Hedera’s token (HBAR) rallied over 100% on Tuesday following the HBAR Foundation’s announcement on X stating that blockchain firms Archax and Ownera tokenized BlackRock’s ICS U.S. Treasury Fund on Hedera. $HBAR Recently Went Up 100% In A SINGLE Day Before Correcting After news that @BlackRock's ICS Money Market Fund would be tokenized on @hedera I had @Grodfather on, CEO/Co-Founder at @ArchaxEx (The people that tokenized BlackRock's MMF on Hedera to explain this all!) pic.twitter.com/wVp0J7n6jj — Jesus Martinez (@0xJesusMartinez) April 24, 2024 Some misinterpreted the post to suggest BlackRock played an active role in the tokenization effort, but a BlackRock spokesperson has confirmed to Cointelegraph that was not the case. “BlackRock has no commercial relationship with Hedera nor has BlackRock selected Hedera to tokenise any BlackRock funds.” “As we have in the past, BlackRock will communicate directly with the public on the evolution of our digital asset strategy,” the spokesperson added. As of the time of writing, HBAR has fallen 32.8% in the past 24 hours to $0.118 since it peaked at $0.176 at 5:00am UTC on April 24, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin mining profits get squeezed post-halving Faced with a high network hash rate and lower revenues, Bitcoin miners could be in for a rough couple of months as the market adjusted to the quadrennial halving. According to crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, miners’ hash price has declined from nearly 12 cents in early April to 7 cents post-halving. The hash price peaked at 19 cents on halving day, with mining revenue reaching $107 million. In Bitcoin mining, the hash price refers to mining revenues generated on a per tera-hash basis. Despite seeing lower revenues, CryptoQuant said overall market conditions remained stable. “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,” the firm said in a report. Nigeria’s central bank forced to deny claims of crypto account freeze The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been forced to deny a report saying it issued a directive requiring all banks and financial institutions to identify individuals or entities engaging in transactions with cryptocurrency exchanges and to ensure that such accounts are put on Post No Debit (PND) instruction for six months. A “Post No Debit” instruction is a directive issued by a bank or financial institution to restrict certain transactions on a customer’s account. When a PND instruction is in place, the account holder is prohibited from making debit transactions, meaning they cannot withdraw funds or make payments using the affected account. Confusion occurred when the central bank denied the story on X but then deleted the denial. Some hours later they claimed the allegations were indeed false. In December 2023, the central bank lifted a comprehensive ban on banks engaging with digital currencies allowing them to facilitate transactions for crypto exchanges. However, due to the swift devaluation of the naira and the subsequent inflation rate of 29.9%, the government shifted its attention to platforms offering cryptocurrency services. It disabled websites associated with crypto trading that had gained notoriety for setting informal valuations for the naira. 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. Additional reporting by Geraint Price, Sam Bourgi and Felix Ng.

Bitcoin miner profits get squeezed as hash price drops to lowest since October 2023

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

Tarantino reportedly wanted to create a metaverse for ‘The Movie Critic’

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.

Hong Kong Bitcoin, Ether ETF structures revealed ahead of April 30 launch

Hong Kong spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be remarkably different from their United States counterparts, with the city’s regulator having greenlit them for an April 30 launch. According to a report by one of the issuers, ChinaAMC, its spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs will track the performance of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s crypto indexes. Redemptions will be available in both fiat money and crypto funds. In addition, ChinaAMC’s crypto ETFs will be denominated in three currencies: the U.S. dollar, Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan. Investment asset manager BOCI-Prudential and crypto exchange OSL will act as the custodians for the ETFs. The aforementioned two firms will also custody spot Bitcoin and Ether ETF assets for issuer Harvest Global. BOCI and OSL "effectively solves problems such as excessive margin requirements, price premiums caused by missing short positions, and roll losses, thereby more accurately reflecting the real-time value of Bitcoin and Ethereum,” said Harvest Global staff in a statement. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based HashKey Capital will jointly launch its spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs with Bosera Asset Management. Regarding the future of the crypto ETFs, its staff wrote: “The approval of the virtual asset spot ETF and the innovative introduction of a currency-holding subscription mechanism (which allows investors to directly use Bitcoin and Ethereum to subscribe for corresponding ETF shares) are expected to further promote the development of the virtual asset market in Hong Kong and even Asia., attracting more global capital inflows.” On April 24, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas mentioned that Hong Kong Bitcoin ETF management fees will range from 0.3% to 0.99%. This is much higher than U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, where some issuers charge less than 0.25% per annum. “A potential fee war could break out in Hong Kong over these Bitcoin & Ethereum ETFs,” commented Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart. The structure of Hong Kong spot crypto ETFs (Source: Bloomberg) All three ETF issuers will create and redeem ETF shares on Hong Kong's regulated crypto exchanges, OSL and HashKey. Each day, investors will have until 11:00 am local time to redeem their shares for cash or until 4:00 pm for crypto withdrawals. BOCI Prudential will serve as the custodian for all issuers, while market makers include Vivienne Court, Virtu Financial and others. Related: Hong Kong approves first Bitcoin and Ether ETFs

US authorities arrest and charge new figure in OneCoin scheme — Who is William Morro?

Officials with the United States Justice Department have arrested and charged William Morro for bank fraud in connection with the OneCoin crypto scheme. According to April 23 filings in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Morro was responsible for transferring $35 million in funds connected to OneCoin from bank accounts in China to one in Hong Kong in 2016. The superseding indictment alleged that Morro moved more than $6 million from the Hong Kong account to a U.S. one he controlled as part of a scheme to defraud. Source: PACER Morro voluntarily surrendered to authorities and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He has been released on his own recognizance until a sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 1. Justice Department officials included an order of forfeiture related to the illicit assets in the OneCoin case. Reports suggested that Morro was connected to Gilbert Armenta, the boyfriend of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova. Armenta was sentenced to five years in prison in 2023 for his role in laundering roughly $300 million related to the OneCoin scheme. Morro is listed as a managing partner of the InterAmerican Group and a board member of AEE Power. What information prompted U.S. officials to bring a superseding indictment against Morro roughly eight years after his alleged fraudulent actions is unclear. The Justice Department has charged several individuals for their roles in the OneCoin scheme, including lawyer Mark Scott, former head of legal and compliance Irina Dilkinska, and co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood. Ignatova, also known as the ‘CryptoQueen,’ has been charged in the U.S. but remained at large at the time of publication. She is currently on the FBI’s list of the ten most wanted fugitives. Related: OneCoin: A deep dive into crypto’s most notorious Ponzi scheme According to the April 23 filings, Morro retained Mark Cohen and Jonathan Abernethy of the law firm Cohen and Gresser. Cohen famously represented Sam Bankman-Fried during his 2023 criminal trial, in which the former FTX CEO was convicted of seven felony counts and later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Founded in 2014, OneCoin was exposed as a fraudulent crypto scheme in 2015, defrauding investors out of roughly $4 billion. In Morro’s case, a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Chainlink debuts new protocol aimed at boosting cross-chain interoperability

Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) has entered general availability with the aim of fostering more cross-chain connectivity. The protocol lets developers permissionlessly use CCIP for cross-chain token transfers and arbitrary smart contract messaging across different blockchain networks. Developers will also be able to send and trigger function calls on smart contracts deployed on other blockchains, making cross-chain smart contracts more interoperable. CCIP’s mainnet general availability will enable a faster and easier implementation for developers, bolstering cross-chain connectivity, according to Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink. In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Nazarov wrote: “CCIP is now starting to become the standard for both capital markets blockchain transactions across banks, as well as the way that secure Web3 cross-chain value and data is moved across public chains.” Cross-chain bridges help users facilitate transactions between different blockchain networks. They represent some of the most significant points of vulnerability in crypto. Chainlink is among the largest firms working on cross-chain interoperability, which is among the most pressing shortcomings of the industry — since individual blockchain networks have no means to communicate with each other without interoperability solutions. At the beginning of April, Chainlink launched Transporter, a cross-chain messaging app for bridging tokens, aiming to foster more secure cross-chain crypto transfers with a beginner-friendly app interface. Chainlink’s Transporter is underpinned by CCIP, which is “the only cross-chain protocol that achieves level-5 security,” according to a Chainlink spokesperson. CCIP is available on nine blockchains, including Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Kroma, Optimism, Polygon and WEMIX, with plans to integrate more networks. CCIP aims to help financial institutions unlock the $500 trillion opportunity in tokenized assets, by offering better liquidity access for cross-chain assets, a Chainlink spokesperson told Cointelegraph: "CCIP is part of a larger Chainlink platform that enables financial institutions to fully unlock tokenized assets by helping them overcome their data, cross-chain, compliance, and synchronization needs. Related: ‘Money-hungry VCs’ are bad for token launches in the long term — Analyst Cross-chain interoperability remains a pressing industry concern Due to their technical complexity, cross-chain bridges represent some of the biggest points of vulnerability in today’s crypto protocols. Since 2016, over $5.85 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. 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 since 2016. Source: DefiLlama Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has criticized cross-chain infrastructure in the past. In a Reddit post from January 2022, Buterin shared his concerns about how 51% attacks on cross-chain bridges will become more prevalent in the future: “The more usage of cross-chain bridges and apps there is, the worse the problem becomes. No one will 51% attack Ethereum just to steal 100 Solana-WETH... But if there are 10 million ETH or SOL in the bridge, then the motivation to make an attack becomes much higher, and large pools may well coordinate to make the attack happen.” Related: Bitcoin outperforms Tesla stock for the first time since 2019

Renzo’s ezETH depegs to $688 following end of airdrop farming window

Renzo Protocol’s restaked Ether token (EZETH) suffered a price depeg on April 24. The depegging incident saw the token’s price briefly fall to a low of $688 on Uniswap decentralized exchange, before recovering its price parity with Ether (ETH), according to Dexscreener data. The incident was likely caused by a wider sell-off, following the conclusion of Renzo Protocol’s season 1 airdrop, according to pseudonymous crypto analyst Tommy, who wrote in an April 24 X post: “Sell-off likely caused by the conclusion of Season 1 Airdrop, users want to get back $ETH to farm other [liquid restaking tokens] LRT/protocols.” Renzo is the second-largest liquid restaking protocol, with over $3.3 billion in total value locked (TVL), which rose 126% during the past month. Ether.fi is the largest liquid restaking protocol, with over $3.9 billion in TVL, according to DefiLlama. Similar depegging incidents are a growing pain for liquid restaking tokens (LRTs), according to the popular crypto analyst: “On the depeg, it is a risk that we need to recognize for all LRTs, even if withdrawal is enabled, the DEX pool can still depeg simply based on the temporary imbalance.” The depeg led to mass liquidations on leveraged protocols like Gearbox and Morpho Labs, with loopers, or users who repeatedly use LRTs as collateral to borrow ETH for leverage, suffering the biggest losses, according to the analyst. Renzo protocol has fostered increased interest after its incoming token (REZ) was added to the Binance launch pool on April 23, the same day the protocol announced its incoming airdrop. Renzo allocated 10% of its token allocation to the season 1 airdrop. Related: Hong Kong Bitcoin and Ether ETFs officially approved to start trading on April 30 Trader profits nearly $400,000 in two hours on ezETH depeg Crypto trader czsamsunsb.eth made a profit of 121.65 ETH, worth over $396,000, in just two hours after Renzo’s depegging incident, according to on-chain intelligence firm Lookonchain, that wrote in an April 24 X post: “czsamsunsb.eth made 121.65 $ETH in just 2 hours after $EZETH (Renzo Restaked ETH) depegged! He spent 4,099 $ETH to buy 4,221 $EZETH successfully, making 121.65 $ETH!” Czsamsunsb.eth trading history. Source: Lookonchain Related: ‘Money-hungry VCs’ are bad for token launches in the long term — Analyst

UK regulator scrutinizes Big Tech's role in AI industry

Regulators in the United Kingdom are keeping a watchful eye on the local artificial intelligence (AI) scene as Big Tech companies continue to dominate the space. On April 24, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it is in the process of collecting information from major market players to understand if the increasing collaboration between Amazon.com and AI developer Anthropic threatens local competition. In September 2023, Amazon announced an agreement to invest $4 billion into Anthropic in an effort to support its development of high-performing foundation models. Later, in March 2024, the web services giant said it fulfilled its $4-billion investment commitment, revealing a minority ownership stake in the company and the implementation of AWS as Anthropic’s cloud service provider. Now, both companies are facing a potential in-depth antitrust probe from U.K. regulators. This comes a week after the agency highlighted Big Tech’s “interconnected web” of deals and partnerships in the market. It also said it will be looking into a partnership between Microsoft and Mistral AI, one of Europe’s leading AI startups. This is in addition to an investigation by U.K. regulators over Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar collaboration with OpenAI, which was opened in December 2023. Related: Coca‑Cola pours $1.1B into generative AI experiment with Microsoft Joel Bamford, the executive director of mergers at the CMA, commented on the development: “We will assess, objectively and impartially, whether each of these 3 deals fall within UK merger rules and, if they do, whether they have any impact on competition in the UK.” However, back in January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called its deal with OpenAI “pro-competition,” saying that partnerships are an avenue to having competition in the AI space against some of the players who are completely already integrated. The scrutiny from the CMA comes after its findings revealed a pattern of Big Tech companies funneling money into AI companies that could allow them to shape markets, creating concern for competition. The agency said it is trying to avoid past mistakes that have led to the rise of a select number of dominating platforms. Nonetheless, companies like Microsoft and Google have been pouring billions of dollars into AI development in countries around the world, including, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Germany and France. Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

DeFi’s ‘unknown and unpredictable’ risks curb institutional use — Fireblocks VP

Institutional investors have a “growing interest” in decentralized finance (DeFi) but are held back by the risks of on-chain transactions, says a Fireblocks executive. The company aims to address these concerns by introducing new features to its platform. “For institutional investors navigating DeFi transactions, the risks are significant,” Fireblocks security and trust products vice president Shahar Madar told Cointelegraph. “They manage significantly more funds than the average consumer trader.” Madar added: “The risks of unknown and unpredictable DeFi engagements is something they have to consider within their risk portfolio, which is what essentially holds them back.” Despite the risks, Madar said institutional DeFi trading on Fireblocks rose 75% in the first quarter of 2024, reaching “nearly $4.5 billion.” With DeFi having $95 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama, it has “attracted attention from sophisticated attackers” said Madar. Around $336.3 million worth of crypto was stolen in hacks and scams in Q1, down from $437.5 million stolen in Q1 of 2023. Fireblocks added two new tools to its institutional DeFi suite: “Transaction Simulation,” which allows its users to see what a smart contract will do to a wallet before it is signed, and “DApp Protection,” which analyzes contracts for malicious elements and alerts users of “suspicious smart contracts.” For DeFi to attract institutions, Madar said it “must prioritize security, user-friendly interfaces, and effective risk management,” which he thinks could “transform perceptions of DeFi and the entire industry.” Related: Crypto sleuth warns of scammers behind DeFi protocol Institutions, for their part, are increasingly drawn to staking, restaking and tokenizing real-world assets, said Madar. He added that Fireblocks users are actively “swapping, lending, staking and bridging” on decentralized applications, including Uniswap, Aave, Curve, 1inch and Jupiter. Meanwhile, the interest of traditional finance players leans toward real-world asset tokenization and using DeFi’s infrastructure to “establish a safer financial ecosystem without counterparty risks.” Magazine: Synthetix founder Kain Warwick: It’s DeFi that’s wrong, not the market

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

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

Hong Kong Bitcoin and Ether ETFs officially approved to start trading on April 30

The first wave of spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been officially approved to start trading in Hong Kong on April 30. Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), announced the official approval of the first batch of spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs on April 24, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph. The first batch of approved Hong Kong-based ETFs also include China Asset Management’s (ChinaAMC) Bitcoin and Ether-based ETFs, which will start trading on April 30. The ETFs will offer retail and institutional investors a safer and more convenient way to invest in the underlying digital assets under a regulated framework, according to Thomas Zhu, head of digital assets and head of family office business at ChinaAMC. He wrote in the official announcement: “The in-kind feature also attracts coin holders by offering the ease of converting coins to fully regulated ETFs managed by professional fund managers and regulated custodians. With the growing adoption of ETFs in institutional asset allocation and retail trading in Hong Kong, we expect robust demand for our offerings.” Hong Kong will see the launch of three Bitcoin and three Ether-based spot Bitcoin ETFs on April 30, according to an April 2 List of ETFs launching in Hong Kong. Source: Bloomberg Related: Hong Kong approves first Bitcoin and Ether ETFs Unlike the cash-creation model of the United States spot Bitcoin ETFs, Hong Kong aims to offer in-kind creation models for ETFs that enable the creation of new ETF shares by using BTC and ETH. Hong Kong’s in-kind ETF creation model could be a significant opportunity to considerably increase assets under management (AUM) and trading volume for these products, according to a research note by Bloomberg ETF analyst Rebecca Sin, shared in a March 26 X post by Eric Balchunas: “Hong Kong is aiming for in-kind creation of the ETF, unlike the US, where the transaction is cash only — in the US, it’s cash in, Bitcoin ETF out, while Hong Kong aims for Bitcoin in, ETF out. This could be an opportunity for the market.” Hong Kong ETFs could see a potential fee war The launch of the first ETFs in Hong Kong could lead to issuers racing to offer the lowest fees to customers, according to an April 24 X post by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. He wrote: “A potential fee war could break out in Hong Kong over these Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Harvest coming in hot with a full fee waiver and the lowest fee at 0.3% after waiver.” The fees for the first ETFs are already lower than previously expected, which is a promising sign, according to Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, who wrote in an April 24 X post: “Fees are 30bps, 60bps, and 99bps which is on average lower than we thought, good sign.” Additional reporting by Helen Partz. Related: 'China is about to start bidding' — Will Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs spark the halving rally?

New crypto users shouldn’t ‘rush into DeFi’ — Security firms

While the prevalence of hacks within the crypto space might deter new users from jumping in, crypto security professionals say that there are ways for them to avoid the riskier parts of crypto. On Jan. 22, a market sizing report from Crypto.com showed that the crypto space reached about 580 million users in December 2023, increasing 34% since January 2023. Growth of cryptocurrency users throughout 2023. Source: Crypto.com With crypto onboarding more new users, Cointelegraph spoke with security professionals to get insights on what those new to crypto should do to keep their funds safe in the digital asset space. Luciano Ciattaglia, the director of services at cybersecurity company Hacken, said that new digital asset users should avoid decentralized finance (DeFi) or decentralized exchanges (DEXs) when starting their crypto journey. Ciattaglia said: “Don’t rush into DeFi or DEXs straight away. Most people use centralized exchanges or wallets for all their crypto investments, and that’s fine.” Ciattaglia added that when putting funds into a custodian, users “rely on their trustworthiness.” Because of this, the executive advised new users to choose exchanges that have a good track record in terms of security and funds availability. CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu shared similar sentiments. Gu also believes that new users who are interested in investing but are concerned about security should opt to use reputable exchanges and wallets. Gu said: “Consider investing in a hardware wallet for the highest level of security, as these devices store private keys offline and are highly resistant to network-connected hacking attempts.” Gu added that users should also educate themselves on the basic principles of crypto security before investing. This includes securing private key storage and using strong passwords. In addition, users should also enable multifactor authentication on all accounts related to their crypto activities. The security professional also highlighted that new crypto users should be wary about sharing their personal data online and be wary of phishing scams. Number of incidents and the amount lost in the first quarter of 2024. Source: CertiK On April 3, CertiK released a report highlighting a total of 83 crypto phishing incidents in the first quarter of 2024. Gu said that the sophistication and success of phishing attacks reached “alarming levels” in Q1. Related: Fiat ramps still the ‘biggest gateway’ to crypto — Exec Apart from these, Ciattaglia also highlighted that new users should make sure the projects they are investing in have security audits. According to the security professional, audited projects with active bug bounties are “less likely to rug pull.” Statistics on hacked projects and their security audits. Source: Hacken In its quarterly report, Hacken shared that 56% of hacked projects from January to March 2024 did not go through security audits. This meant that vulnerabilities were unresolved for a larger percentage of those companies. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Coca‑Cola pours $1.1B into generative AI experiment with Microsoft

The Coca-Cola Company has signed a five-year deal with Microsoft to develop and integrate artificial intelligence (AI) use cases across various business functions. Coca‑Cola committed $1.1 billion to the Microsoft Cloud for its generative AI and cloud capabilities. According to the announcement made on April 23, the duo will jointly experiment with Azure OpenAI Service and other technologies “to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions.” In addition, the companies will experiment with the Microsoft Copilot Microsoft 365 AI assistant to test its efficacy in improving workplace productivity. As part of the drive, Coca-Cola migrated all its applications to Microsoft Azure. Judson Althoff, the executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said: “Through our long-term partnership, we have made significant progress to accelerate system-wide AI Transformation across The Coca‑Cola Company and its network of independent bottlers worldwide.” Using Azure OpenAI Service, Coca-Cola is currently exploring the use of generative AI-powered digital assistants to improve performance metrics related to customer experiences, streamline operations, and improve efficiency, among other things. Coca-Cola’s AI partnership with Microsoft dates back to 2020, which started off as a $250 million agreement. “Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value,” said Neeraj Tolmare, senior vice president and global chief information officer for The Coca-Cola Company. Related: Microsoft pours $1.5B into UAE AI company, sets sights on global expansion On April 9, Microsoft AI executive vice president and CEO Mustafa Suleyman revealed the firm’s plans to make a “significant, long-term investment” in the United Kingdom as they start scouting potential candidates in the region. In a blog post, Suleyman said: “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.” 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 its AI teams across the globe and its partners like OpenAI. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

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

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

Australia joins 1,000+ Bitcoin ATM club alongside US, Canada

Australia, the third-largest hub for Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto ATMs, recorded a new milestone with 1,000 active crypto-fiat machines now in operation. As of April 24, Australia hosts an active network of 1,002 Bitcoin ATMs, making it the third country after the United States and Canada to achieve this feat. The nation represents 2.7% of the global Bitcoin ATM network. Crypto ATM distribution by continents and countries. Source: Coin ATM Radar According to Coin ATM Radar data, the U.S. hosted its first 1,000 crypto ATMs in November 2017, while Canada reached the same in January 2021. Currently, the U.S. is home to 82.8% of the global Bitcoin ATMs with 31,170 machines, and Canada represents 7.8% of the lot with 2,918 crypto ATMs. The total number of Bitcoin ATMs installed in Australia over time. Source: Coin ATM Radar Historically, Australia was an inactive market for crypto ATMs. However, adoption has increased exponentially since the end of 2022, owing to participation from private firms. In April 2023, Australia’s Bitcoin ATM count surpassed Asia’s, which includes major economies such as China, Japan, Singapore and India. At the current installation rate, Australia is well-positioned to surpass Europe, which has 4.3% (1,617 machines) of all active Bitcoin ATMs. Other countries with significant crypto ATMs include Spain (261 machines), El Salvador (215), Poland (211), Germany (194) and Hong Kong (157). Related: Crypto ATM firm says revenue unaffected by fluctuations in BTC price Cointelegraph recently reported that hackers who previously leaked El Salvador’s Bitcoin ATM database have released a part of the country’s state-operated Chivo Bitcoin wallet’s source code. “This time I bring you the code that is inside the Bitcoin Chivo Wallet ATMs in El Salvador, remember that it is a government wallet, and as you know, we do not sell, we publish everything for free for you,” the hacker group known as CiberInteligenciaSV wrote on a public forum. CiberInteligenciaSV publishing data on a public forum. Source: BreachForums Local cybersecurity project VenariX took to X on April 22 to warn the public about the upcoming leak. It referred to CiberInteligenciaSV’s Telegram channel, which posted about plans to release the source code. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Nigeria’s central bank forced to deny claims of crypto account freeze

Update 11:45 am UTC: The central bank is denying they have issued a directive. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been forced to deny a report saying it issued a directive requiring all banks and financial institutions to identify individuals or entities engaging in transactions with cryptocurrency exchanges and to ensure that such accounts are put on Post No Debit (PND) instruction for six months. A “Post No Debit” instruction is a directive issued by a bank or financial institution to restrict certain transactions on a customer’s account. When a PND instruction is in place, the account holder is prohibited from making debit transactions, meaning they cannot withdraw funds or make payments using the affected account. Confusion occurred when the central bank denied the story on X but then deleted the denial. Some hours later they claimed the allegations were indeed false. The bank said it would catch anyone it believes is buying and selling Tether (USDT) on the listed platforms illegally, especially those using peer-to-peer (P2P) methods. Central Bank of Nigeria circular ordering a restriction on crypto users’ accounts. Source: Central Bank of Nigeria The alleged circular also stated that regulated financial institutions engaged in crypto or facilitating payments for crypto exchanges are prohibited. However, this contradicts an earlier ban lifted in December 2023, allowing banks to facilitate transactions for crypto exchanges. The central bank lifted the ban nearly two years after enforcing a comprehensive ban on banks engaging with digital currencies. According to a statement by the CBN at the time, it recognized that the increasing global demand and adoption of crypto make it unjustifiable to maintain the stringent restrictions imposed on financial institutions in 2021. Related: Binance exec will remain in Nigerian custody until May 17 bail hearing: Report However, due to the swift devaluation of the naira and the subsequent inflation rate of 29.9%, the government shifted its attention to platforms offering cryptocurrency services. It disabled websites associated with crypto trading that had gained notoriety for setting informal valuations for the naira. Binance encountered significant scrutiny when the CBN raised concerns regarding “suspicious financial transactions” occurring through Binance Nigeria in 2023. CBN head Olayemi Cardoso said $26 billion had passed through Nigeria via Binance in 2023 from unidentified sources and users. Binance is facing further challenges in Nigeria, with its executive Tigran Gambaryan, who is based in the United States, being detained in the country. He’s facing five charges linked to money laundering following a meeting with Nigerian officials regarding Binance’s regulatory compliance. Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the executives who met with Nigerian officials about Binance’s regulatory issues, subsequently escaped custody and was tracked down to Kenya, where he faces extradition. Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame

Can crypto traders out-predict Wall Street on Coinbase Q1 earnings?

Coinbase is set to share its financial performance for the first quarter of 2024, sparking differing expectations between the crypto community and traditional investors over the anticipated figures. Speculation is mounting whether the crypto community predictions will be more accurate than the typical investment analyst ahead of Coinbase announcing its financial results on May 2. Researcher for crypto research company Messari, Kunal Goel, explained that over the last three quarters, his Coinbase revenue estimates “have handily beaten consensus analyst estimates.” “I estimate Coinbase will generate a whopping $1.5 billion in net revenue for Q1 2024 growing by 65% for the quarter. My estimate is much higher than consensus estimate of $1.2 billion for gross revenue,” he explained in a recent X post. Coinbase has now beaten consensus earnings-per-share (EPS) estimates for the past four quarters, as well as consensus revenue in each period, too, according to a recent report from Zack’s Equity Research. According to Tipranks, out of 24 consensus analysts covering Coinbase (COIN), nine recommended “buy,” 11 suggested “hold,” and three advised “sell.” Former CFO of Polygon Labs Young Ko believes it is “very likely” that Coinbase’s earnings will “blow out estimates.” Ko further explained in an April 24 post on X that several catalysts would only bolster the momentum prior to its earnings report being released on May 2. These include his hopes that Coinbase will announce a win in its lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and positive reports on its layer-2 Ethereum protocol Base revenue. At the time of publication, the share price of COIN stands at $236.43, marking a 4.67% increase for the day but reflecting a 15.47% decline over the past 30 days, as per Google Finance data. COIN's share price is currently $236.41. Source: Google Finance “Those of us tracking closely already know they will blow away Street estimates,” crypto commentator Snow stated in an April 22 post. “The combination of a massive Q1 beat + Q2 trading revs tracking *ahead* of Q1 will literally blow minds,” Snow added. Meanwhile, crypto commentator 0xCristian said in an April 16 post that the success of Coinbase’s layer-2 network Base will have a positive impact on its Q1 2024 earnings report. “It's about to beat Q4 earnings by a long mile and this will affect the price of the stock. Q1 seen massive volume for Base + Coinbase wallet. Pay attention,” he stated. Related: Coinbase partners with Lightspark for Bitcoin Lightning payments It is a common thought among the crypto community that revenue from Base could be the X factor for Coinbase this last quarter, a factor overlooked by much of Wall Street. On April 19, Cointelegraph reported that crypto analyst Will Clemente declared that “the street isn’t really pricing in the crypto native revenue that I think a lot of the crypto natives understand.” “I think Coinbase is the biggest kind of venture-style bet in public markets since maybe Tesla about five years ago,” Clemente added. Although Goel predicts that Coinbase will not “internalize” the revenue from Base for the past quarter: “However, I expect Coinbase not to internalize this revenue. I expect it may hold this revenue in an on-chain entity to be used only to fund future growth on Base,” he stated. According to data from investment research firm Fintel, Coinbase’s momentum score is 93.98, which is approximately 21.87 index points higher than Nvidia (NVDA), and 80.84 index points higher than Tesla (TSLA). Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis 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.

Binance founder should be jailed for 36 months, US prosecutors say

As the United States authorities are preparing to give a sentence to Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao on April 30, prosecutors have requested jail time for the former CEO. Binance founder Zhao should serve 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating laws against money laundering, U.S. prosecutors said in a court filing on April 23. “Given the magnitude of Zhao’s willful violation of U.S. law and its consequences, an above-guideline sentence of 36 months is warranted,” the prosecutors wrote in the filing to the U.S. district court for the Western District of Washington. “That sentence, together with the agreed $50 million fine, is sufficient but not greater than necessary to balance the relevant 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and achieve the goals of sentencing,” the filing added. Changpeng Zhao at the Viva Technology conference in Paris in 2022. Source: CNBC Zhao pleaded guilty to violating money laundering requirements in the U.S. and stepped down from the CEO position at Binance in November 2023. Zhao also subsequently faced a $50-million fine served directly to him, in addition to larger penalties to Binance. According to online reports, federal sentencing guidelines set a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for Zhao, who had agreed not to appeal against any stretch up to that length. He has been free in the U.S. on a $175-million bond. After CZ admitted to violating U.S. money laundering laws, he and Binance agreed to pay the U.S. government $4.3 billion in fines to end the criminal case. In return, Binance was allowed to continue operating while complying with U.S. laws. Related: Binance sued in Canada for securities law violations Despite stepping down from Binance, CZ remains involved in the cryptocurrency industry. In March, Zhao announced a new educational project devoted to crypto and blockchain, stressing that the initiative will have “no new tokens.” Named Giggle Academy, the project specifically targets a much younger population, or two- to three-year-olds, according to a CZ post on X on April 18. On April 24, CZ showcased the logo of his new educational project. “We wanted the Giggle Academy logo to show youth, fun, positive energy, and growth. We also want to show respect to our ‘Binance heritage,’” CZ wrote. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Wallets linked to Coinbase and Vitalik Buterin have millions ‘stuck’ in bridge contracts

Dozens of crypto whale wallets with assets ranging from six to seven figures are stuck on multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) bridge contracts. One of these whale wallets is linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who has over $1 million worth of assets stuck for over seven months, with other wallets having assets unclaimed for over two years. According to a report published by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, several notable whale addresses linked to prominent crypto individuals and entities have their funds stuck in the bridge contracts for as long as two years. DeFi bridge contracts are software protocols that allow the movement of assets and data between different blockchain networks, enabling interoperability within the DeFi ecosystem. However, not all DeFi bridges function the same. On the one hand, cross-chain bridges enable users to automatically obtain their assets on the other chain. On the other hand, traders using native bridges must retrieve their funds manually as there is no way for the smart contract to remind users to do so, which could result in situations where users forget their money. One wallet linked to “thomasg.eth” has had $800,000 stuck in Arbitrum Bridge for one year and 10 months. Another wallet, linked to Bofur Capital, with 27 wrapped Bitcoin worth $1.8 million, has been stuck for two years and three months. Similarly, another wallet linked to nonfungible token (NFT) user Mike Macdonald has about $117,000 in assets linked to CryptoPunks sales stuck on a bridge contract. Arkham suggested the account owner take a look, reminding them that if they “own the account that sent 5 CryptoPunks to, then you might also own the account that received the proceeds after they were sold.” Another wallet that received 50 Ether (ETH) from Vitalik.eth seems to have been forgotten for seven months despite holding nearly $1 million worth of ETH on the Optimism bridge. Another linked to Coinbase crypto exchange was also identified and contains $75,000 worth of assets stuck for nearly six months. Arkham suspects Coinbase tried bridging $75,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) to ETH and forgot about it. The assets are stuck in the Optimism bridge contract and waiting to be claimed. Arkham notified whales linked to the stuck and forgotten funds to retrieve them in case they had forgotten about them. It also reminded the community that these instances can occur due to the nature of cross-chain bridges.

Tesla teases robotaxi ride-hailing app ahead of August reveal

Electric car manufacturer Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday unveiled new details of its long-awaited autonomous ride-hailing service — allowing riders to summon supposedly driverless vehicles via an Uber-like experience. During a first-quarter earnings presentation on April 23, the company gave a preview of what the ride-hailing app could look like, showing the ability for a rider to summon a vehicle, set the interior car temperature, track its location, and decide what music to play. Preview of the ride-hailing service within the Tesla app. Source: Tesla Tesla has long teased the mass rollout of robotaxis. In 2019, Musk said he was “very confident” that Tesla would begin operating robotaxis by 2020 — something that didn’t come to fruition. The program would let a Tesla owner rent out their vehicle for rides, with Tesla taking a cut of revenue and the rest going to the vehicle’s owner — each car was forecasted to make $30,000 in gross profit per car annually. During the latest earnings call, Musk clarified the program will work more like a “combination of Airbnb and Uber” where Tesla will operate the main fleet but there will be a number of cars owned by the end-user. “That end-user can add or subtract their car to the fleet whenever they want, and they can decide if they want to only let the car be used by friends and family or only by five-star users or by anyone,” Musk said. “At any time they could have the car come back to them and be exclusively theirs like an Airbnb,” he added. Related: Bitcoin outperforms Tesla stock for the first time since 2019 Musk hinted the initial fleet would be around 7 million vehicles but envisioned it could eventually be in the “tens of millions.” Tesla is slated to showcase its “purpose-built” robotaxi in August, which Musk has referred to as “Cybercab” in the latest earnings call. No, Tesla didn’t add more Bitcoin Meanwhile, the latest earnings report shows Tesla has not touched its Bitcoin (BTC) for the seventh straight quarter, contrary to recent speculation. Last month, observers noticed that Tesla’s Bitcoin wallet on Arkham Intelligence’s dashboard showed a balance of 11,509 BTC, 1,789 more than the widely reported holdings of 9,720 BTC — as listed on BitcoinTreasuries. Some speculated that it could mean that Tesla may have added more Bitcoin to its inventory in the quarter. However, Tesla’s latest balance sheet shows its net digital assets remain unchanged at $184 million. Tesla balance sheet as of 31 March 2024. Source: Tesla Telsa shares jumped 13% in after-hours trading despite Q1 earnings missing analyst expectations and the company notching one of its steepest drops in revenue — falling 9% to $21.3 billion. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

Hedera’s HBAR token pumps 96% on misinterpreted BlackRock announcement

Shares of a BlackRock money market fund have been tokenized on the Hedera blockchain sending the Hedera (HBAR) token on a 96% rally in the last 24 hours — but the world’s largest asset manager confirmed it has no relationship with Hedera despite many believing it was actively involved. The widely misinterpreted April 23 HBAR Foundation X post — an organization working with the Hedera community — shared that blockchain trading and infrastructure firms Archax and Ownera tokenized BlackRock’s ICS US Treasury Fund on its network. The video shared with the announcement seemed to suggest Ownera, Archax, and BlackRock were partnered on the venture and HBAR claimed it was “bringing the world’s largest asset manager on-chain.” A BlackRock spokesperson confirmed to Cointelegraph it “has no commercial relationship with Hedera nor has BlackRock selected Hedera to tokenize any BlackRock funds.” "As we have in the past, BlackRock will communicate directly with the public on the evolution of our digital asset strategy,” the spokesperson added. Some crypto influencers with large X followings shared a misinterpretation of the post — which had amassed over 1.6 million views and 2,700 reposts over the last 15 hours — believing it to mean BlackRock was responsible for the $22.3 billion fund’s move onto the blockchain or had partnered with Archax and Ownera. Cardano Ghost Fund DAO founder Chris O’Connor posted that BlackRock had “no involvement” with Hedera’s development and slammed the HBAR Foundation for the way it framed the announcement. “What did happen was a HBAR project through the secondary market tokenized shares of a BlackRock fund. Much like I can buy a Rolex take a pic and post it on my X account. Doesn’t mean Rolex ‘partnered’ with me.” Archax co-founder and CEO Graham Rodford replied to O’Connor, saying “it was indeed an Archax choice to put [BlackRocks fund] on Hedera” and added that “everyone involved was aware.” Related: Envision partners with HBAR and UN on new digitization platform for carbon markets HBAR’s 96% rally in the past day has pushed its price to $0.175 — a two-year high, according to CoinGecko. HBAR’s price over the last three months. Source: CoinGecko Despite the price pump, HBAR is still down over 69% from its September 2021 all-time high of $0.57. The announcement came as the Hedera Global Governing Council — which oversees the Hedera network — recently approved allocating 4.86 billion HBAR ($408 million at the time) for further network development. The funds are part of the HBAR Foundation’s plans to strengthen its user base in 2024, following 2023’s performance, which saw 33 billion transactions processed on the network, the foundation claims. Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions Update (April 24, 7:30 am UTC): This article has been updated to add an X post from Graham Rodford. Update (April 25, 12:55 am UTC): This article has been updated to add comment from BlackRock.

Will DOGE reach $1 this cycle? It's a 'crapshoot,' say analysts

With the rising number of memecoins entering the market, Dogecoin’s (DOGE) strong community could keep the cryptocurrency from fading into obscurity, but analysts are skeptical of traders' hopes that it could reach a price of one-dollar this cycle. A one-dollar price tag would represent a 36% increase from Dogecoin’s May 2021 all-time high of $0.73 and a 525% increase from today’s price of $0.16. DOGE has seen a 2.58% rise over the past 7-days. Source: CoinMarketCap Over the last week, DOGE posted a 2.58% gain — significantly less growth when compared to other large-cap memecoins within the same timeframe, per CoinMarketCap data. The next three largest memecoins by market capitalization all experienced notable upside price action in the last seven days, with PEPE (PEPE) up 43%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) up 17.42%, and Dogwifhat (WIF) gaining 14.43%. “DOGE is one of the most cyclical altcoins in the space,” pseudonymous trader Rekt Capital told Cointelegraph, adding that the rising popularity of other memecoins shouldn’t have a major impact on investor sentiment towards the largest memecoin. “Other meme coins launching doesn’t mean DOGE will suffer,” Rekt added. Pav Hundal, the lead analyst for Australian crypto exchange Swyftx offered a more skeptical position, saying that while DOGE has a “huge community of users,” any sharp spikes in price may lead to a significant sell-off from long-term holders. “A lot will depend on the decision-making of the millions of minnow investors who bought DOGE in 2021 and right now are sitting on paper losses,” Hundal told Cointelegraph, suggesting it’s uncertain whether the price will hit a dollar before the potential sell-off: “It’s a crapshoot. If most of these people decide to take quick profits during the cycle, you could start to see selling pressure ratchet up.” Hundal added that Dogecoin is not “seeing the deep books of the last cycle.” In the derivatives market alone it has seen a 56% drop in Open Interest (OI) since the beginning of April. OI in Doge— which measures the total value of all outstanding or unsettled DOGE futures contracts across exchanges — has declined from $2.15 billion on April 1 to its current level of $928.72 million, per CoinGlass data. Related: Is Dogecoin copying the 2020 fractal that sent DOGE price soaring 15,800%? Despite the decline in derivatives activity for the memecoin, Rekt Capital argued that the “cyclicality in DOGE’s chart,” suggests that Dogecoin will still “most probably” reach a price of one dollar this cycle. He reiterated that Dogecoin comes packed with “historical heritage” and has largely predictable cycles, which traders point out frequently on social media. Pseudonymous trader Blockchain Mane told his 15,300 X followers in an April 24 post that looking at past data, DOGE usually sees price growth during the month of May. Rekt also looked to potential social media posts from billionaire Elon Musk as a price catalyst, asserting that Musk is still “very interested in Dogecoin.” Since April 17, Musk has been interacting regularly with the well-known DOGE influencer DogeDesigner on X. In April 2023, Musk requested a United States judge to dismiss a $258 billion lawsuit brought against him by investors alleging he operated a pyramid scheme to promote Dogecoin. Although, Musk has recently hinted that his interest in crypto may have waned slightly. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about cryptocurrency. Hardly any at all,” Musk told Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood in an X space on Dec. 2023. Magazine: ChainLinkGod was in High School when he started the account! X Hall of Flame

Worldcoin will increase WLD supply by up to 19% in the next 6 months

Digital identity project Worldcoin will increase the supply of its WLD token by as much as 19% over the next six months through a swathe of private sales to non-United States institutions. In an April 23 blog post, Worldcoin shared that World Assets — a subsidiary of the Worldcoin Foundation in charge of token issuance — will sell up to 1.5 million WLD, about $8.2 million worth, every week through a series of “private placements to a select group of institutional trading firms” operating outside of the U.S. Worldcoin will be increasing the supply of its WLD token over the next six months. Source: Worldcoin “World Assets expects to sell between 0.5 million and 1.5 million WLD per week on average,” Worldcoin wrote. “The circulating supply of WLD will thus increase correspondingly.” An increase of up to 1.5 million WLD tokens per week for six months equates to a supply increase of 36 million new tokens hitting the market — currently worth around $197 million, per CoinGecko data. With a current circulating supply of 193 million WLD tokens, the private sales represent an 18.6% increase in the total available supply within the same time frame. Worldcoin noted it would negotiate with individual trading firms — especially those engaged in competition with each other — to execute private placements as close to “prevailing [WLD] market prices” as possible, to help minimize potential price impact on the token. At current prices, Worldcoin touts a market capitalization of $1 billion. However, this pales in comparison to its fully diluted value (FDV) of $54.5 billion — its total value if all tokens were circulating. Worldcoin is ranked as the 6th largest cryptocurrency by FDV. Source: Coingecko Related: Portuguese data regulator bans Worldcoin operations for 90 days Launched out of beta in July 2023, Worldcoin was founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, current Wolrdcoin CEO Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern who also serves as the CEO of biometrics research firm Mana. Worldcoin is a crypto-based digital identity project that markets itself as providing a solution to identity issues brought about by rapid developments in AI as well as ushering in a novel universal basic income model by way of its native WLD token. Worldcoin users register a unique identity with the company’s “World App” by scanning their irises at machines referred to by the company as “Orbs.” Once users verify themselves at an Orb, they are then able to op in to claim free WLD tokens — depending on the country they signed up in. Buoyed by a wider rally in the price of AI-linked crypto projects, Worldcoin soared 435% from a launch price of $2.17 on July 24 to a peak of $11.74 on March 10. Worldcoin grew more than 450% in six months. Source: CoinGecko However, its price has tumbled more than 53% from its all-time high in the last few weeks and is currently changing hands for $5.49. AI Eye: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed

Mt. Gox’s $9B overhang could ‘spook the market,’ pressure Bitcoin: K33

The potential return of more than $9 billion worth of Mt. Gox-era Bitcoin (BTC) over the next few weeks might “spook the market” and put negative price pressure on Bitcoin, according to K33 Research analysts. Earlier this week on Reddit, some creditors of the failed Mt. Gox crypto exchange reported seeing updates on their claims, with many interpreting it to mean that crypto payments could soon be coming. The updates included how much cryptocurrency and fiat were owed to creditors as well as completed repayment dates. The new updates could mean creditors might start seeing Bitcoin returned as soon as next month — assuming it follows a similar repayment schedule for fiat in March, K33 Research analysts Anders Helseth and Vetle Lunde wrote in an April 23 market note. Over $9.4 billion in Bitcoin and $72 million in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is owed to Mt. Gox’s 127,000 creditors, along with $445.8 million (69 billion Japanese yen). “Mt. Gox coins could become a relevant negative price contributor in the next weeks,” said Helseth and Lunde. While the release of Bitcoin may not necessarily equate to selling pressure, the “overhang” of 142,000 BTC and 143,000 BCH could still “spook the market,” they added. Bitcoin is currently trading at just over $66,700, though recent volatility has been attributed to changing tensions in the Middle East and the Bitcoin halving on April 20. Related: Mt. Gox trustee updates Bitcoin and fiat repayment timetable Mt. Gox creditors have been waiting on the return of their funds for more than 10 years after the exchange collapsed in February 2014 when it succumbed to a series of hacks that went unnoticed for years. In January, the Mt. Gox trustee began reaching out to creditors to confirm their identity and their crypto exchange accounts used to repay their owed Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Meanwhile, reports in December last year showed that some creditors had already started to receive Japanese yen repayments. More creditors reported receiving further fiat transfers in March, the K33 report noted. Mt. Gox has a final repayment deadline of Oct. 31, 2024, for base repayments, early lump-sum repayments and intermediate repayments, though this can still be subject to change. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Cosmos patches ‘critical’ IBC protocol bug, saving $126M

Cosmos developers have fixed a “critical” security bug in its Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol that put at least $126 million at risk, said a blockchain security firm that privately notified Cosmos of the issue. “We privately disclosed the vulnerability through the Cosmos HackerOne Bug Bounty program and the issue is now patched,” Asymmetric Research said on April 23. “No malicious exploitation took place and no funds were lost,” it added. The bug could have allowed a reentrancy attack, allowing a hacker to mint infinite tokens on IBC-connected chains such as Osmosis and other decentralized finance ecosystems on Cosmos. “We believe at least 126M+ in assets could have been stolen on Osmosis. However, rate limiting on Osmosis slows down the damage that could be caused.” Rate limits serve to prevent or at least mitigate attacks that attempt to overwhelm a system by controlling the rate at which requests are made. Asymmetric noted the bug has existed in ibc-go, a high-level programming language implementation of IBC, since it launched in 2021. However, the bug only recently became exploitable after Cosmos devs launched a new third-party application called IBC middleware, which allows tokens of the ICS20 interchain token standard to cross chains. Related: Cosmos Hub greenlights ATOM inflation cut for security boost “This issue demonstrates how easy it is to break trust assumptions and introduce new vulnerabilities by adding new features and functionality. It is also another example of the importance of defense-in-depth,” Asymmetric emphasized. “This vulnerability highlights the critical need for more research into cross-chain security risks to protect the multichain ecosystem better.” The bug was patched up by Cosmos dev Carlos Rodríguez about three weeks ago, a GitHub commit shows. Another “critical” security vulnerability was identified in the IBC protocol in October 2022, which impacted all IBC-connected chains but was patched before any potential exploit. Magazine: Are DAOs overhyped and unworkable? Lessons from the front lines

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

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

Binance exec will remain in Nigerian custody until May 17 bail hearing: Report

Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive detained in Nigeria since February, will reportedly remain in custody until a bail hearing on May 17. According to April 23 reports from local news outlets, Gambaryan will remain in Nigeria’s Kuje prison until at least May 17, when a judge will decide whether to grant the Binance executive bail. He initially traveled to Nigeria in February with fellow Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla to address claims the exchange manipulated the country’s fiat currency, the naira. Nigerian authorities detained both Binance executives as the crypto exchange announced that it intended to cease all naira transactions. Gambaryan was expected to return to court on April 19 following an initial postponement, and the question of bail was to be addressed on April 22. He has pleaded not guilty to tax evasion and money laundering charges brought by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, with a trial scheduled for May 2. Anjarwalla reportedly escaped Nigeria custody in March, using his Kenyan passport — he is both a British and Kenyan national — to fly out of Abuja. Reports from April 22 suggested that Kenya’s police arrested Anjarwalla and may extradite him to Nigeria to face criminal charges. Related: Nigeria launches first multilingual large language model in Africa Many have criticized the government’s charges as lacking merit, as Binance said Gambaryan had “no decision-making power” at the crypto firm. On March 30, Yuki Gambaryan, Tigran’s wife, launched a petition for the U.S. State Department, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian government and U.S. President Joe Biden to to return him to the United States. As of April 23, the petition had 3,960 signatures. In a separate case in the United States, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is expected to be sentenced on April 30 following his guilty plea for failure to maintain an Anti-Money Laundering program while leading the exchange. He could face up to 10 years in prison. Magazine: South Africa’s digital-nomad crypto hub: Cape Town, Crypto City Guide

‘I’ve moved on to other things’ — Satoshi Nakamoto’s final email revisited after 13 years

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin (BTC), decided to move on to other things 13 years ago, when they sent the last communication to Bitcoin’s first developers on April 23, 2011. Bitcoin core developer Mike Hearn previously revealed the final instructions as part of an email exchange with Nakamoto about the challenges and technical aspects of implementing Bitcoin functionalities to control spam using BTC as collateral: “I do hope your BitcoinJ continues to be developed into an alternative client. It gives Java devs something to work on, and it’s easier with a simpler foundation that doesn’t have to do everything.” Satoshi’s final message also adds a sense of passage: “I had a few other things on my mind (as always). [...] I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.” History of Crypto: Bitcoin — Satoshi Nakamoto’s response to the global financial crisis Nakamoto’s identity remains one of the tech world’s biggest mysteries since no conclusive evidence has been found, which makes the communication with Bitcoin's first adopters a rich source of information about the early days of the cryptocurrency. Source: Mike Hearn Various individuals have been speculated to be the original crypto inventor. One of the most controversial cases involved Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who claimed to be Nakamoto in 2016. Wright faced a lawsuit by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), with United Kingdom Judge James Mellor ruling that he did not create Bitcoin last March. Satoshi first introduced the world to Bitcoin with the publication of the Bitcoin white paper on Oct. 31, 2008, which was circulated among a mailing list of cryptographers. The paper outlined a method for using a peer-to-peer network to create a system of digital transactions without relying on trust or third-party involvement. Satoshi continued to work on Bitcoin software until 2010, when they handed over control to other developers. Since then, Bitcoin has grown to become a $1.3 trillion asset. Magazine: Big Questions: Did the NSA create Bitcoin?

Jack Dorsey’s Block announces development of ‘full Bitcoin mining system’

Payments firm Block, formerly known as Square, has announced plans to develop a Bitcoin (BTC) mining system in response to challenges faced by mining operators. In an April 23 blog post, Block said it had completed development of a three-nanometer chip used for BTC mining, which led to the firm announcing a “full Bitcoin mining system.” Block — then Square — CEO Jack Dorsey suggested a collaborative approach to decentralize Bitcoin mining in October 2021. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time talking to a wide variety of bitcoin miners to identify the challenges faced by mining operators,” said Block. “Building on these insights and pursuant to our goal of supporting mining decentralization, we plan to offer both a standalone mining chip as well as a full mining system of our own design.” Block completed a prototype design of a five-nanometre BTC mining chip in May 2023, claiming at the time the centralization of chip development in the hands of a few companies was harmful to the ecosystem. The firm called on the mining community to provide additional feedback for the system, asking for comments on challenges it faced in purchasing miners, maintenance, transparency and software issues. Related: Jack Dorsey wants to decentralize Bitcoin mining with new investment Intel announced in 2023 that it planned to end shipping for its Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) mining chips in April as part of cost-cutting measures. Such chips are often used for mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. The Bitcoin halving on April 19 cut the block reward for miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The event will likely shake up the market as miners compete for fewer rewards for the same work until the next halving, expected in another four years. Magazine: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises

Token airdrops targeted by farm accounts and ‘Sybil attacks’

Amid surging prices, many crypto projects have seen a rise in fake farm accounts, or “Sybil attacks,” named so after a book about a woman with many personalities. These fake accounts create artificial network activity to claim as many tokens as possible during airdrop events, which have become highly lucrative over the years. “We’ve recently taken action by banning approximately 2,000 users whom we suspect were farming Degen,” creators of the Degen memecoin project, which was built on the Farcaster social media protocol, wrote on X. “Taking part in Degen farming, such as coordinated posting or artificial engagement, could lead to bans.” The Degen airdrop is ongoing until Aug. 1 and will reward users who engage with or create quality content posted on Farcaster social channels. However, it appears that a sizable number of users began posting subpar content for the sole purpose of earning airdrop points. “Joining organized actions mainly to earn tokens and posting unrelated content in boosted channels” will result in bans, Degen wrote. Degen's warning to Sybil attackers. Source: Degen The memecoin project is far from the first protocol to suffer from Sybil attacks. On April 4, self-custody wallet Bitget Wallet said it would deduct airdrop points from users who use “emulators and cloud phones” to create artificial wallet referrals and downloads to farm BWB token rewards. “Upholding fairness and integrity for all participants is paramount to us, and we cannot turn a blind eye to any dishonest behavior that violates the rules of conduct for the event,” Bitget Wallet wrote. The Bitget Wallet airdrop has been ongoing for the past month and is scheduled to end on April 27. Users can earn rewards by referring friends, depositing tokens or performing decentralized finance (DeFi) swaps through the self-custody wallet. Despite identifying the problem, cracking down on Sybil attacks remain difficult. “To be certain that we do not inadvertently penalize honest users, we have identified and deducted points only for the top 50 users who boosted their referral points through illicit means,” explained Bitget Wallet. Earlier this year, prominent DeFi developer Banteg also raised an issue with the Ethereum layer-2 protocol Starknet and its airdrop. They claimed to have gone through all Starknet airdrops and “found 1854 people who have either renamed or deleted their account since the activity snapshot.” Banteg also identified an estimated 701,544 addresses that were allegedly linked to repeat or renamed GitHub accounts controlled by airdrop farmers. Despite such revelation, the airdrop farmers’ addresses were included in the Starknet airdrop anyway. Shortly after its launch, Starknet temporarily surpassed a fully diluted valuation of $20 billion. The airdrop is ongoing until June. In a report by Gamic HQ last August, researchers explained that to deploy a Sybil attack, airdrop farmers “leverage scripts or bots to create a massive number of fake accounts on a targeted platform” that proceed to automate tasks such as “generating random usernames and emails, filling out registration forms, and even verifying accounts with CAPTCHAs." Gamic HQ further wrote that Sybil attacks “amass a large portion of the airdropped tokens, leaving less for genuine users who might be more interested in using and supporting the project long-term.” As a result, a project’s reputation is damaged, its token supply inflates and price manipulation may occur as a result of excessive dumping by airdrop farmers after the event is over. However, the firm also noticed several positives as a result of the attacks. “The rise of Sybil attacks has pushed blockchain projects to develop more sophisticated methods for verifying user identities and ensuring fair airdrop distribution,” they claimed. “This ongoing battle will hopefully lead to a more robust and secure blockchain ecosystem in the long run.” Related: Blockchain data-availability protocol Avail announces 600M token airdrop

Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF draws $40M in largest single investment from advisers

Fidelity’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has achieved a new record as the largest single investment in a Bitcoin fund, attracting $40 million from two traditional United States financial advisers. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, financial advisers Legacy Wealth Management and United Capital Management of Kansas have each recently invested $20 million in shares of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), joining the fund’s top shareholders. Legacy Wealth Management oversees more than $359 million in assets under management, while United Capital Management of Kansas manages over $436 million. The figures are part of recent 13F form filings submitted by asset managers to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first quarter of 2024. Source: Eric Balchunas According to data from investment research firm Fintel, Bitcoin (BTC) represents 6% and 5% of the funds’ portfolios, respectively. Bloomberg’s Balchunas believes the figures indicate a growing adoption among traditional investors. “This is as Boomer as it gets,” he noted on X in reference to United Capital Management of Kansas. “Likely a wonderful sight for those hoping to see long-term adoption and an absolute nightmare for the RIA Skeptics Branch of the Underwhelmers Club,” he added. However, the recent disclosures have prompted some to express concerns regarding the limited mainstream participation in BTC ETFs. Jim Bianco, founder of macro research firm Bianco Research, described the first-quarter allocation data as a “disappointment.” “Unrealized gains are shrinking fast,” he added, referring to ETF investor gains versus current Bitcoin prices. Fidelity’s BTC fund is the second-largest Bitcoin ETF in terms of assets under management, with over $10 billion at the time of writing, just behind BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which holds more than $18 billion. Despite newcomers and growing adoption among traditional investors, Bitcoin ETFs are experiencing a slowdown in demand. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju noted on X that the demand for BTC funds has stagnated since its peak in March. On April 15, Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of $36.7 million. According to Farside Investors, only Grayscale and BlackRock recorded positive flows on April 12 and April 15, while all other funds saw outflows. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

SEC pushes decision on Franklin Templeton spot Ether ETF

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

Bitcoin outperforms Tesla stock for the first time since 2019

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

Tether vows to freeze assets after Venezuela looks to crypto to bypass oil sanctions

USDT-issuer Tether says it will freeze addresses linked to sanctioned entities following a report that Venezuela’s state-run oil company was using the stablecoin to bypass sanctions. A spokesperson from Tether told Cointelegraph that the company remains committed to stopping payments linked to Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned entities: "Tether respects the OFAC SDN list and is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly." This comes after an exclusive report from Reuters claimed that Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, has been using cryptocurrencies to facilitate its crude oil and fuel exports. The country is facing new oil sanctions reimposed by the United States. According to the report, the U.S. Treasury Department requires PDVSA customers and providers to wind down transactions by May 31 due to Venezuela’s failure to implement electoral reforms. Related: Tether’s USDT stablecoin goes live on TON blockchain The report, which cited anonymous sources, says the reimposed sanctions will make it harder for Venezuela to increase its oil product and export because companies will require U.S. authorizations to do business with the South American nation. The sources claim that PDVSA has been moving its oil sales to Tether (USDT) as a mitigating move to avoid funds being frozen in foreign bank accounts as new sanctions take effect. Reports in 2023 linked cryptocurrency payments to a corruption scandal at PDVSA involving the discovery of $21 billion of unaccounted receivables for oil exports. Related: Stablecoin competition crucial for regulatory engagement — Tether CEO Reuters’ sources also claim that PDVSA has reworked its spot oil deals in 2024 to a contract model that requires prepayment for exported cargo in USDT. The report also suggests that the Venezuelan state-run oil firm requires new customers looking to conduct oil transactions to hold cryptocurrency in a digital wallet. It’s understood that companies that looked to resume business with PDVSA following a six-month licensing approval from the U.S. in October 2023 had to resort to intermediaries to carry out the cryptocurrency payment requirements. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Father-son team says they’ve recovered $6M in lost crypto

When crypto users lose their private keys or get scammed out of their coins by a con artist, they usually cannot recover their funds. In most cases, their crypto is lost forever. But according to a father and son team that operates out of New Hampshire, all hope is not lost. They claim to have recovered more than $6 million worth of lost crypto throughout their careers. Chris and Charles Brooks run Crypto Asset Recovery, a service that helps crypto users recover lost wallets. They also provide scam tracking for victims of crypto theft. Charles and Chris Brooks. Source: Crypto Asset Recovery In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Chris, the father of co-founder Charles, said that about 70% of the duo’s clients come to them after losing their Bitcoin (BTC) wallet password. These users sometimes have no seed word backups, so if they lose their password, their wallets are difficult to recover without the help of a specialist. “The BIP39 recovery seed [generated by most modern wallets] was only proposed in 2013, and it didn’t start getting wide adoption until 2015. So, for folks who have older wallets, that’s not even an option for them,” he stated. Even if a wallet is fairly new, there is still a “handful of wallets where you have to go searching for your seed words if you want to back that up.” In these cases, if a user forgets their password, they lose access to their wallet since they don’t have any seed word backups they can use to restore it. Even so, Chris claimed that most of these wallets can still be recovered using software that guesses the password through brute force. Even if a user has a seed word backup, they may have made a mistake when copying it down. For example, they may have left one word out, or they may be getting an error when they attempt to enter the words. Chris said he could often recover these wallets as well by brute-forcing the missing word or the correct order of words. Charles said he recently helped a “Casascius coin” collector recover his lost wallet key. A Casascius coin is a physical coin that carries a Bitcoin private key inside of a film on its back side. The private key is only 26 to 36 characters long instead of the usual 51 characters. On the front side of the coin is the first eight characters of the Bitcoin address that corresponds to its key. According to Charles, the collector had accidentally ripped part of the coin’s film, causing “5 or 6 characters” to become illegible. Using the remaining characters and the snippet of the Bitcoin address from the front of the coin, Charles was able to use software to guess the missing characters to the private key. Related: Crypto’s Indiana Jones? Coinbase exec helps recover $322K of once-lost crypto The duo recently launched a scam tracking service for users who have their crypto stolen by con artists. In a case where a client was scammed, “we will take the transaction hashes of [the victim] sending funds to the scammer, [and] we will follow those funds into the scammer’s wallet,” Charles stated. After establishing the scammer’s address or “address cluster,” they will attempt to associate it “with a known entity, which is more often than not an exchange.” Once this entity is known, they will “compile a report and help the client report the case to law enforcement.” In contrast to crypto lost from a forgotten password, Charles cautioned that scammed funds are usually gone forever. The only sliver of hope of recovering them is by involving police and the courts, he explained: “We don’t see much likelihood in recovery of scam cases. Once the funds are in somebody else’s wallet, [...] you need to go hunt them down with police and gain access to their Ledger, or whatever is holding it, so we tell [clients] that there is a very low likelihood of recovery.” Even so, some crypto users may benefit from being able to trace stolen funds and provide a report to the police, he claimed. Charles stated that law enforcement is working on a few cases that the team has reported, but so far, none have concluded. The duo claimed they’ve recovered $6 million in crypto lost through forgotten passwords, missing seed words and other issues. “We’ve been pretty successful in recovering lost wallets,” Charlie stated. “We have right around a 45% or 46% success rate when somebody needs help with a cracked password, and so over time, that has built up.” Crypto users have lost billions of dollars from forgetting passwords and losing seed words over the years. According to an estimate from Chainalysis, over 20% of the Bitcoin supply is in wallets no longer under the control of any person.

El Salvador: Hackers leak code of state Bitcoin wallet

The saga of El Salvador’s state-operated Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, Chivo, continues to unfold as hackers expose more sensitive information related to the wallet. The hacker group known as CiberInteligenciaSV released part of the source code on the black hat hacking crime forum BreachForums on April 23. “This time I bring you the code that is inside the Bitcoin Chivo Wallet ATMs in El Salvador, remember that it is a government wallet, and as you know, we do not sell, we publish everything for free for you,” the hacker group wrote. Source: BreachForums The move follows a series of Chivo hack-related events, including the public exposure of personal data of 5.1 million Salvadorans — or almost the entire adult population of the country — which was reported in early April. Local cybersecurity project VenariX took to X on April 22 to warn the public about the upcoming leak. It referred to CiberInteligenciaSV’s Telegram channel, which posted about plans to release the source code. “Tonight we will publish part of the source code and VPN access that belongs to Chivo Wallet, for free as always, unless one of you nosy government people wants to talk,” CiberInteligenciaSV’s Telegram post reads. CiberInteligenciaSV also published the file Codigo.rar, which includes a compilation of code and VPN credentials from the Chivo Wallet ATM network. In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, with the government promoting Chivo as the official BTC wallet for citizens. The platform allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin, as well as store and withdraw BTC from ATMs. Related: El Salvador’s newest Hilton hotel to tap into tokenized debt on Bitcoin The Chivo wallet had a bumpy start, with users subsequently reporting multiple bugs and technical glitches. Despite reports of a personal data hack on Chivo surfacing in early April, the Salvadoran government has not addressed the issue. According to industry reports, El Salvador authorities have not released any official statement related to the hack, causing more confusion about the situation. Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

Blockchain Association and crypto activist group sue SEC over ‘Dealer Rule’

The Blockchain Association (BA) and the Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas (CFAT) revealed a new lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Northern District of Texas, according to a statement. On April 23, the BA announced the lawsuit in a move to challenge the SEC’s recent expansion of the “Dealer Rule,” which the industry groups argue stifles innovation in the U.S. digital asset market. The BA and CFAT argue that the SEC overstepped its authority by implementing a broad interpretation of the term “dealer” within the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In February the SEC adopted new rules which redefine “dealer” and “government securities dealer” and therefore require more crypto market participants to register, join a self-regulatory organization and comply with federal securities laws. This expansion, the lawsuit claims, creates a vague and burdensome regulatory environment for businesses involved in digital asset trading. The lawsuit alleges that the SEC failed to adequately address public concerns raised during a limited comment period and neglected to assess the potential negative impacts of the rule. Kristin Smith, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, said this the latest example of the SEC’s “blatant attempts to unlawfully regulate outside its authority.” “The Dealer Rule advances the SEC’s anti-digital asset crusade and unlawfully redefines the boundaries of its statutory authority granted to it by Congress, threatening to drive U.S. companies offshore and incite fear in American innovators.” Related: SEC’s Hester Peirce wants more decentralization in the financial system The lawsuit seeks a court order to overturn the Dealer Rule expansion based on violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The APA ensures fair and transparent rulemaking by requiring agencies to consider public feedback and provide clear guidelines. Smith said that they are seeking “declaratory judgment and injunctive relief” against the regulators to overturn the expansion of the rule and ultimately to prohibit its use against the industry “before more harm can be done by this rabid regulator.” The BA and CFAT represent a significant portion of the cryptocurrency industry, including leading investors, companies, and projects. Overall, their work advocates for a national policy framework within the U.S. that aims to foster local innovation and responsible development within the digital asset space. Magazine: Altseason on the horizon, SEC targets Uniswap, and BTC halving news: Hodler’s Digest, April 7-13

DAO Maker hack victims still await reimbursement 3 years later

The DAO Maker crypto fundraising platform, not to be confused with the MakerDAO stablecoin protocol, is attempting to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund new Web3 projects in 2024. However, victims of its August 2021 hack say the project never reimbursed them for the losses they suffered in the attack, even though its development team promised to make all victims whole again. Victims also claim that DAO Maker is liable for these losses, as the hack was allegedly the result of a private key compromise suffered due to its developers’ negligence. DAO Maker was first exploited in August 2021, when approximately $7 million of users’ funds were stolen. The development team later acknowledged that the exploit had occurred because of a private key hack. At the time, it agreed to partially compensate investors with an immediate airdrop of 500 USD Coin (USDC) per person. The remaining compensation was to be paid through an IOU token called “USDR.” This token would become redeemable for the protocol’s native coin, DAO, at prevailing prices within one year. However, victims of the hack told Cointelegraph that USDR redemptions were never allowed and that they still have not been compensated for their remaining losses. In addition, decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher SOMA Analytics has claimed that DAO Maker forced through a proposal with its governing body to cancel the reimbursement plan, using its large token supply to ensure the vote’s outcome. According to the researcher, the proposal was deleted after its passage, allegedly as part of an attempt by the team to remove evidence of its failure to reimburse victims. DAO Maker, based in Prague, is completely separate from and has no relation to the similarly named MakerDAO stablecoin protocol. DAO Maker gets hacked and offers compensation DAO Maker is a fundraising platform for technology startups, with a particular focus on raising money for Web3 protocols governed by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). According to its official website, the protocol signed on “more than 75,000 retail users interested in early-stage ventures” in 2020 and has “200,000+ KYC’ed users.” DAO Maker official website. Source: DAO Maker As per CoinMarketCap’s description of DAO Maker, the project offers several different systems for investors to participate in new token offerings. One is called a “Strong Holder Offering (SHO),” wherein investors purchase DAO tokens and use them to allocate “DAO Power” to a particular coin offering. The more DAO Power they allocate, the more likely they are to win a participation slot for a particular offering. If they win a slot, “their allocation will be automatically funded by their USD Coin (USDC) balance” and the investor will be allowed to use these funds to purchase coins in the offering, CoinMarketCap states. The description cites official DAO Maker documents that have since gone offline. Related: What is a crypto launchpad, and how does it work? In the 2021 hack, the SHO contract holding these USDC funds was exploited, and $7 million was stolen. In a Medium post on Aug. 12, 2021, the DAO Maker team acknowledged that the hack was caused by “malicious use of one of our wallets with access to admin privileges.” On Aug. 17, in a separate Medium post, the team announced a plan to compensate investors. The announcement was also shared on the team’s official Telegram channel. The team claimed it would airdrop 500 USDC immediately to each investor impacted by the hack. On Sept. 8, 2021, the remaining losses would be covered through an “IOU token” called USDR. One year later, on Aug. 8, 2022, each USDR token would be redeemable for $1 at a 1:1 ratio plus 10% interest denominated in DAO tokens. “Each USDR token is equal to 1.1 worth of DAO, 1 year after it is airdropped,” the announcement stated. As an example of how the redemption process would work, the plan considered a user who had lost $1,000 in the hack. This person would “receive 500 USDR tokens on September 8, 2021. [...] After 1 year, they can be redeemed for $550 worth of DAO tokens,” DAO Maker stated. Both Medium posts were later deleted, but archived versions are still available on the Wayback Machine. Victims claim USDR redemptions were never allowed DAO Maker investors told Cointelegraph that the project’s promise to redeem each USDR for $1.10 was never honored by the DAO Maker decentralized autonomous organization nor by its development team. One investor Cointelegraph spoke with, who used the username “Red Drac” on Telegram and spoke on the condition that their real name not be revealed, claimed they lost $2,000 from the hack. They said they deposited $2,000 in stablecoins to a “pre-deposit” contract. But when the August 2021 hack occurred, this contract was drained, and they lost all of it. Red Drac stated that after the compensation plan was announced, they received 500 USDT (USDT) — and that they also received 1,500 USDR at a later date. However, the USDR was never allowed to be redeemed for DAO as promised. According to Red Drac, they eventually discovered that a liquidity pool for USDR existed and that they could sell into this pool to cash out early. However, the tokens “were not in a 1:1 ratio to USDT.” Instead, the tokens were being sold at “something like 80%” of their par value. As a result, Red Drac did not sell their USDR into the pool, and these tokens are still sitting in their wallet today. He claimed that this USDR is nearly worthless now, as there is presently no way to exchange it for other cryptocurrencies. The previously existing liquidity pool was later shut down, leaving holders with no means to cash out. Red Drac acknowledged that they can use the tokens to gain DAO Power within the DAO Maker platform, but they claimed that the tokens “are not that much value because those allocations [don’t] guarantee me that I will actually earn something.” Telegram user Zztelecom told a similar story, claiming they received 500 USDR as compensation for their loss from the hack. Months later, the token began trading for $0.60 to $0.80 per coin. With such a high discount, they decided to buy roughly 10,000 coins, which they expected to be able to redeem for $10,000 worth of DAO once the tokens became redeemable. But the tokens never became redeemable and are now worthless on the secondary market. “The DAO Maker team decided to fool everyone,” Zztelecom said. “Trading stopped. [...] In the end, they said that each USDR = 1 DAO Power and we can participate in sales with their help, but we cannot send them to other wallets because DAO Power will be lost.” Related: DeFi protocol Unizen to provide ‘immediate reimbursement’ after $2.1M hack Claims of a DAO Maker cover-up In addition to these claims from victims, DeFi researcher SOMA Analytics claimed to have evidence that the team tried to cover up its abandonment of the USDR redemption process. The researcher published the work via a Notion workspace and is unaffiliated with the nutritional supplement blog of the same name. According to SOMA, the DAO Maker team created a proposal to abandon the redemption process for USDR. This proposal was allegedly passed by DAO Maker — but was then deleted from its Snapshot webpage. They claimed that the DAO Maker team likely used its own tokens to outvote the majority of tokenholders, ensuring the vote would turn out the way it wanted. It allegedly distributed tokens to new wallets in an attempt to obfuscate its role in the proposal’s passage. “Between October 3rd and October 5th, [2022], a unique USDR proposal surfaced on DAO Maker’s official Discord from some user named @Dante.eth,” the researcher stated. SOMA claimed that this proposal has since been deleted but was copied by other community members. According to this copied version, the mysterious user Dante.eth argued that redeeming USDR would have “a massive impact on the price of $DAO for everyone and the token price might never recover.” Purportedly for this reason, the user called for a vote that offered three options for the redemption process. The original proposal to redeem USDR for DAO at a 1:1 rate was not one of the options listed. Option 1 was for the decentralized autonomous organization to algorithmically sell DAO tokens and airdrop USDC to holders of USDR at a 1:1 rate. This would have allowed holders to be fully compensated, but with stablecoins instead of DAO tokens. Option 2 was to distribute DAO tokens from a Venture Yield partnership to USDR holders once a year. Option 3 was to redeem USDR at only 50% of its par value. The option to redeem at 50% of par value (Option 3) passed, with 61.72% of tokens being used to vote in favor of it. However, the researcher claimed these 61.72% of votes were cast by only six wallet accounts. The majority of accounts voted for Option 1, but these small holders reportedly did not possess enough tokens to outvote the six whales that voted for the 50% haircut. DAO Maker proposal vote count. Source: SOMA Analytics The hack victims acknowledged that the USDR token allows them to obtain DAO Power, which gives them a greater chance of participating in token offerings they are interested in. Yet despite the DAO vote for a 50% redemption, SOMA Analytics claimed that even this compensation was never distributed by the team. “From what I recall, there was never any claim portal, and people got simply nothing,” they stated in a message. Instead, according to their report, the team allegedly decided to make USDR unredeemable and allow holders to gain DAO power with it instead. The DAO Power that can be gained from the tokens is not transferable, making the token essentially worthless in the secondary market today. DAO Maker announcement regarding DAO Power for USDR holders. Source: SOMA Analytics According to SOMA Analytics, the six wallets that voted for the 50% haircut “were created just 10 days before the voting, received substantial amounts of DAO within the same two days (with funds possibly obfuscated through a CEX), and voted exclusively for Option 3.” In their view, this provided a strong indication that the wallets were created by some person or group that was holding a large percentage of the DAO token’s total supply, such as the protocol’s development team. It also indicated that whoever voted for the proposal did not want their identity to be known, as they went through the trouble of creating new wallets solely to participate in the vote. Cointelegraph could not independently confirm which wallets voted for the proposal, when they were created, or how they were funded, as the proposal has been deleted. Cointelegraph contacted the DAO Maker team for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. DAO Maker continues to provide fundraising services to Web3 startups. According to CoinMarketCap, the DAO token has a market cap of $153 million, making it among the top 400 cryptocurrencies. Related: DAO Maker founder builds game based on abandoned Logan Paul project in just 30 days

‘Money-hungry VCs’ are bad for token launches in the long term — Analyst

Profit-seeking venture capitalists (VCs) are bad for the long-term sustainability and price action of newly-launched cryptocurrencies. Despite bringing new liquidity for altcoin launches, VCs introduce significant sell pressure that damages the token’s long-term price action, according to popular crypto analyst Route 2 FI, who wrote in an April 22 Substack post: “Permissionless token listing and money-hungry VCs are bad for the individual token long term. Every year 100 new tokens launch. Diluting existing ones. It’s now April 2024, and inflows into altcoins seem way more selective and not enough to offset big unlocks.” One of the main issues with the current token launch trend is their initially high fully diluted valuation (FDV), which promises big airdrop allocations for early adopters but comes with large unlocking schedules for early VC investors. This mechanism will lead to a price decrease for most of these new tokens. According to Route 2 FI: “I think most new VC scam coins (high FDV coins) eventually will dump hard AF. And that you can use this to your advantage in pair trading or in situations where you want to hedge.” The total market capitalization of altcoins, excluding Bitcoin (BTC), stood at $1.05 trillion at the time of writing, up 38% year-to-date, from $760 billion at the beginning of 2024, according to TradingView data. Total altcoin market capitalization, year-to-date chart. Source: TradingView The issue with large VC unlocks is the lack of demand from crypto investors, which is unable to cover the large increase in a coin’s circulating supply and the selling pressure, wrote the pseudonymous analyst. “At some point, the supply will outnumber the demand and we will start spiraling downwards due to massive inflation. Early buyers will get trapped, which leads to bearish sentiment among the community, reduced TVL in the protocol, devs (if any) leaving for greener fields, and team members quitting.” Related: Europe’s largest banks are moving into crypto thanks to regulations — Bitpanda Is 2024 the end of crypto altseason? During previous market cycles, altcoins have historically pumped after Bitcoin’s rise to new highs, as profits from Bitcoin selling are rotated into other cryptocurrencies. Altcoin Hype Cycle. Source: Rekt Capital However, with over “300 decent projects,” there isn’t enough liquidity for all the top altcoins to rise together, which could be the end of the altcoin season trend. Route 2 FI said: “We hear a lot about altseason, but this time around I think things will be different… But ask yourself who is going to buy all these tokens. Unless institutions or retail are coming in masses, it will just be a forever PvP fight.” Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again?

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

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

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

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

Crypto.com’s South Korea launch hit by regulatory roadblock

Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com decided to postpone its South Korea launch after regulators pointed out money laundering anomalies in the platform’s data. South Korean authorities found Anti-Money Laundering (AML)-related problems in the data submitted by Crypto.com and launched an “emergency on-site inspection” to monitor the crypto exchange’s activities. An official representing the Financial Services Commission (FSC) told local media Segye Ilbo: “We found concerns related to the prevention of money laundering activities in the submitted materials.” The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which operates under the South Korean FSC, launched an emergency on-site inspection on April 23, just six days before the exchange’s planned launch in the region. Crypto.com previously obtained a domestic virtual asset business license (VASP) in South Korea after acquiring a local crypto exchange named OKBit. The company later confirmed that it would delay the upcoming launch due on April 29 and work with the regulators to explain the AML measures it has set in place. “Korea is a difficult market for international exchanges to enter, but we are committed to working with regulators to advance the industry responsibly for Koreans.” “We will postpone our launch and take this opportunity to make sure Korean regulators understand our thorough policies, procedures, systems and controls,” the Crypto.com spokesperson added. Related: Upbit suspends crypto transactions exceeding 1 million won South Korean financial authorities have also planned to prohibit listing digital assets with hacking incidents on domestic exchanges unless the root cause is thoroughly determined through new guidelines in the near future. The upcoming regulations will also require all foreign digital assets to publish a white paper or technical manual for the South Korean market before being listed. However, tokens listed on a licensed exchange for over two years may not need to meet these new criteria. Token issuers that fail to adequately disclose essential information will be subject to getting delisted from 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. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Finland's households turn to Bitcoin mining to heat homes

A new project in Finland is turning energy from mining Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency into energy to heat homes during the cold Finnish winter. Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm Hashlabs Mining has introduced a pioneering project enabling heat generation using specially designed Bitcoin mining devices. The project combines heat production from the hydro-cooled ASIC mining device — a WhatsMiner M63S — with the Finnish district heating system, where the heat is transferred from a centralized source through a network of insulated pipes to multiple buildings. The new project is designed to allow households to benefit from industrial BTC mining. “With the help of industrial consumers like Bitcoin miners, Finland can increasingly use its massive nuclear power plant to produce heat,” Hashlabs Mining co-founder Jaran Mellerud said in a post on X on April 23. A local partner of Hashlabs has already integrated two Bitcoin mines with district heating facilities and is currently integrating a third one, Mellerud said. In the project, Hashlabs specifically utilizes the hot water generated from WhatsMiner M63S mining, which reaches a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius. “The best provider of reliable, high-temperature water for district heating is Bitcoin mining,” the Hashlabs founder stated. WhatsMiner-generated hot water is set to replace the heat generated in plants utilizing fuels like biomass and other carbon-neutral heat sources, as well as peat, hard coal and others. As of 2019, most of Finland’s district heat was produced with wood fuels, accounting for 35%, and hard coal with 18%, according to data from Statistics Finland. Peat ranked the third most important energy source in district heat production in 2019, with 15% produced with peat. Related: Bitcoin halving will lead to more sustainable BTC mining: Report The concept of using the energy coming from Bitcoin mining for heating has been gaining momentum in the past few years, with savvy Bitcoin miners finding many ways to make Bitcoin more environmentally-friendly and sustainable. As previously mentioned by Cointelegraph, some miners found ways to use Bitcoin mining-created heat to warm swimming pools, dehydrate meat to make beef jerky or even dry out timber. In June 2023, a bathhouse in New York told its customers that it was using the byproduct heat from Bitcoin mining rigs as the energy to run its facilities. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Ripple contests $2B SEC fine, says penalty shouldn’t exceed $10M

Cross-border payment protocol Ripple contested the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request to impose a $2 billion fine against the blockchain company, saying the penalty should not exceed $10 million. In a new filing, Ripple Labs opposed the SEC’s request to a federal judge to impose the almost $2 billion fine on the company. Ripple urged the court to deny the SEC’s requests for an injunction, disgorgement and pre-judgment interest. Ripple also said the court should issue a more reasonable civil penalty, which should not be more than $10 million. The filing said: “Ripple has every intent of adhering to that guidance in the future and every incentive to do so. The SEC’s Draconian remedial requests are ungrounded in law or principle. This Court should reject them in their entirety.” The filing highlighted that the SEC asked the court to ask Ripple to pay $876 million in disgorgement, $198 million in pre-judgment interest and another $876 million in civil penalties. In total, the amount reached almost $2 billion. Ripple revealed the requested fine amount almost a month ago. On March 25, Ripple Labs chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty revealed that the SEC asked a federal judge to impose such fines on the blockchain company. The lawyer said the SEC remains bent on punishing and intimidating Ripple and the crypto industry. Within the new filing, Ripple described the fine as “unreasonable” and said that $10 million is the actual amount that reflects a portion of their actual revenues. Ripple redacted the actual percentage shared in the document. Related: Pro-XRP lawyer requests to be amicus curiae for Coinbase customers The filing also highlighted that such an amount “would be proportionate in both percentage and dollar amount to comparable digital-asset cases where there was no culpable mental state and no substantial harm or risk of harm to others.” On X, Alderoty suggested that the SEC’s actions and ask for the fine are proof of its “ongoing intimidation against all of crypto” in the United States. The Ripple lawyer said the case had no allegations or findings of recklessness or fraud. In addition, the legal officer believes that Ripple won on “significant” issues and hoped that the judge would fairly approach the final remedies phase of the case. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Philippines SEC orders Apple and Google to remove Binance from app stores

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered both Google and Apple to remove the Binance app from their respective app stores for users in the Philippines. According to a press release from the SEC on April 23, it is working with the Big Tech companies on the removal of “applications operated by cryptocurrency giant Binance.” It said the companies received separate letters on April 19 regarding removing the apps in the local marketplaces. “The SEC has identified [Binance] and concluded that the public’s continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos.” Emilio B. Aquino, chair of the SEC, said that selling or offering unregistered securities to locals and operating as an “unregistered broker” is in violation of the country’s securities regulations. He said that by removing Binance applications from digital app marketplaces, these companies would help “prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country,” saying that otherwise, this could have “detrimental” effects on the local economy. This move comes shortly after the SEC and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) blocked access to Binance websites on March 25. Related: Binance’s $1B emergency ‘SAFU’ fund now makes up 3% of UDSC supply The SEC has been actively warning the public against using Binance for investing since November 2023. It says the crypto exchange, which is one of the world’s largest, has yet to secure a license to solicit investments from the public nor to operate an exchange to buy and sell securities. On April 8, following the enforcement of its official ban on Binance, an SEC official reiterated that they had already provided users with a three-month period, along with an extension, to facilitate the withdrawal of their funds from the exchange. After this period, the SEC said they “cannot endorse” any methods for retrieving funds. The move to block Binance follows a crackdown from the SEC and the NTC on Feb. 21, through which they moved to block and ban unlicensed crypto trading platforms in the country. At that time Binance was unaffected. Binance has been involved in other regulatory-related debacles around the world, most recently in a new class-action lawsuit in Canada on April 23, following allegations that it violated local securities laws. However, on the flip side, the cryptocurrency exchange announced on April 18 that it would return to India after paying a $2 million fine for previous non-compliance with local regulations. On the same day, it was reported that Binance received its crypto licence in Dubai, also known as the coveted Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), after its co-founder Changpeng Zhao gave up his voting power in the exchange’s local entity. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Nifty News: PayPal removes NFT protections, Adidas NFT sneakers and more

PayPal removes protections for NFT buyers and sellers Multinational payment services firm PayPal is silently taking down protections for purchases related to nonfungible tokens (NFTs). On May 20, amended policies will take effect, removing buyer and seller protection coverages for NFT purchases. In its upcoming policies page, PayPal said that it has revised its Purchase Protection Program to exclude NFTs from eligibility. Excerpt from PayPal’s revisions on NFT protections. Source: PayPal Apart from this, the company also highlighted that it’s also changing its Seller Protection Program to exclude NFT transactions worth $10,000.01 or above. This means that PayPal’s guarantee will no longer cover NFT sales over $10,000 against false claims, chargebacks, or scams that could lead to monetary losses. Adidas and Stepn release NFT sneakers Move-to-earn game Stepn announced that it partnered with popular shoe retailer Adidas to release co-branded sneaker NFTs on the Solana network. Stepn said in the announcement that the collaboration is “long-term” and aims to provide their community with a full experience through multiple activations. According to Stepn, the collaboration aims to offer digital assets that promote healthier and more active lifestyles. The sneakers will cost about 10,000 GMT tokens (the project's native coin), worth about $2,500, according to coin information website CoinGecko. Related: Nifty News: LA’s Bored Ape lovers go hungry, Bitcoiners sell $500 Game Boy dupe and more Louis Vuitton drops $8,400 phygital varsity jacket Fashion brand Louis Vuitton announced the drop of a varsity jacket worth around $8,400, which will have both the physical garment and a corresponding digital collectible NFT. The jacket is designed by the American record producer and singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and is a part of the fashion brand’s ongoing Via NFT project. Digital representation of the limited edition varsity jacket released by Louis Vuitton. Source: Louis Vuitton The jacket is made from suede buckskin and bears an embroidered logo of the brand. Users can purchase the jacket through a token-gated site and will receive its physical version later in November or December. The jacket is the third product released by the fashion brand exclusively to its Via NFT holders. The first product was a bag worth about $9,000. This was followed by a $6,400 digital mini trunk that was also sold exclusively to token holders. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Scammers eye Toncoin as Telegram-TON partnership grabs headlines

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

Binance sued in Canada for securities law violations

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

Binance Labs-backed Velvet Capital repels potential phishing attack

Decentralized finance (DeFi) asset management protocol Velvet Capital deactivated its website temporarily to prevent a phishing attempt. Crypto community members on X reported unusual activity on Velvet Capital’s trading platform on April 23. Some users trying to connect to the front-end were prompted to approve their wallet access to the protocol. Internal investigations led Velvet Capital to issue a cybersecurity alert, advising investors to deny all wallet connect requests from the application until further notice. Velvet Capital issues alert against a possible website compromise. Source: Velvet Capital Velvet Capital deactivated the application to minimize any further losses for investors. Velvet Capital takes down comprimized website for further investigation. Source: v2.velvet.capital Velvet Capital founder Vasily Nikonov announced the website closure on Telegram: “ATTN, don’t interact with the Velvet website, we’re closing it for maintenance and investigating the issue, we will issue a post-mortem once the issue is solved.” Nikonov advised any affected users to open a ticket on Discord and share the transaction details with the Velvet Capital team for remediation. He added: “Rest assured that the smart contracts are not impacted and funds on Velvet are not affected, we’re investigating the front-end issue that some of the users faced this morning and will share the results asap.” Nikonov told Cointelegraph that after investigating the issue and adding precautionary security measures, the site was re-opened, and that no users reported any loss of funds. Blockchain investigation firms Blockaid and Scam Sniffer had confirmed the incident before Velvet Capital’s official announcement. Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Bitcoin miners spreading sales dulled post-halving price drop: Bitfinex

Bitcoin (BTC) miners were selling their reserves ahead of the halving and the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States may have “spread out the potential selling pressure,” which helped avoid a sharp price drop alongside the event, said Bitfinex. “It appears that miners have executed their selling in advance, which has turned out to be advantageous for the market in the short term,” the crypto exchange wrote in its April 22 weekly market report. It cited CryptoQuant data showing that in March, a daily average of 374 BTC was sent by miners to exchanges — an over 70% fall from February’s 1,300 BTC daily average, equivalent to $86.4 million. “We assume miners were already selling their BTC holdings or collateralizing them to upgrade their machinery and infrastructure,” Bitfinex wrote. Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows Bitcoin rising around 4.5% to $66,597 since the April 20 halving, continuing an upswing that started on April 17 after it hit a more than 40-day low of under $60,000. Bitcoin’s seven-day price (vertical line denotes the halving). Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Miners usually see their revenues decrease after halvings, the report explained; this time, their rewards were cut to 3.125 BTC per block mined, roughly $208,000 at current prices. In past halvings, miners have exerted “significant selling pressure,” aiming to maximize earnings before their revenue stream is essentially slashed by 50% — which in turn potentially leads to short-term “increased volatility and price declines,” Bitfinex added. But rising prices and expanding mining operations typically follow to “compensate for the reduced rewards,” and the negative market effects “are often temporary, as market dynamics adjust,” it wrote. Bitcoin ETFs help dampen halving impact Institutional demand for the new United States spot Bitcoin ETFs may have also lessened a potential price stumble caused by Bitcoin’s new reward schedule, Bitfinex added. The ETFs’ “large-scale” flows — reaching $192 million in Bitcoin investment product outflows last week — can “significantly sway market sentiment and pricing” and are often detached from “the usual supply-demand framework,” it added. “The added dynamic of the halving-induced ‘supply shock,’ the combination of ETF demand and constrained supply could drive further price appreciation for BTC.” The crypto exchange noted that ETF flows have slowed since their January launch and sometimes have seen net outflows but still had “strong interest.” Related: Bitcoin ‘no longer cheap’ — Fidelity revises medium-term outlook for BTC The amount of Bitcoin the ETF issuers purchased for their funds has also outpaced new BTC creation since launch, which Bitfinex expects will significantly tighten. Bitfinex estimated, based on issuance trends, that as low as $30 million worth of Bitcoin could be supplied to the market per day post-halving, while the average daily net inflows to ETFs “dwarf that number at over $150 million,” it wrote. The ETFs’ total demand has outstripped supply by over 150,000 BTC so far, Bitfinex wrote. “We expect this trend to continue in the coming months.” Magazine: Big Questions: How can Bitcoin payments stage a comeback?

X payments details released: App to become your bank account

X users will one day be able to use the platform to send money to other users, purchase goods from stores, and even earn interest on the money in their accounts as one would do with a bank account, said the head of payments at X. In an April 22 post, X payments chief information security officer Christopher Stanley said the payment capabilities of X would go beyond “just tipping” and expand to include an in-app wallet capable of storing and sending money to any other X users. “Think Venmo at first. Then, as things evolve, you can gain interest, buy products, eventually use it to buy things in stores (think Apple Pay),” said Stanley. Stanley added that the “end goal” of payments on X was to create a fully functioning financial ecosystem where users never have to withdraw funds to conduct typical transactions. “The end goal is if you ever have any incentive to take money out of our system, then we have failed, you shouldn’t ever need to take money out because you should be able to do anything you need on our platform.” Stanley’s comments come just three days after X secured a money transmitter license in the state of Tenessee on April 19. With the latest license secured, X has now received money-transmitting licenses in 25 states in the United States, according to the Nationwide Multi-State Licensing System (NMLS). X has been approved for money transmitter licenses in 25 states. Source: NMLS On Dec. 21, 2023, X’s executive chairman, Elon Musk, told ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood that he plans to launch in-app payment services on X midway through 2024. Related: X launches dedicated payments account, crypto community speculates At the time, he said he’d hoped to launch financial services on the app sooner but had been “weighed down” by bureaucratic processes. Several commentators have shared that X’s upcoming payments feature will initially only offer support for fiat currencies; however, Musk has reportedly instructed developers at X to build the platform’s payments system in such a way that crypto functionality can be added in the future. Despite Musk showing a high level of enthusiasm for cryptocurrency in the past, with Tesla still holding 9,720 Bitcoin (BTC) on its books and Dogecoin (DOGE) being an accepted currency in the electric car company’s merchandise store, Musk has splashed cold water on any hopes of crypto integration on X. In December, he told Wood that he spends “hardly any time” thinking about cryptocurrency. Since then, he has not made any statements confirming that crypto would be used for X payments. Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

DeFi whales have millions ‘forgotten’ in bridge contracts: Arkham

Several identified crypto addresses have millions of dollars either “stuck” or “forgotten” about in at least two large bridge contracts, according to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham. “There are dozens of accounts with 6-7 figures stuck in bridge contracts, forgotten about,” said Arkham in an April 22 X post., including wallets connected to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, crypto exchange Coinbase, and several DeFi whales. The firm attached two screenshots of fund transfers to and from the Arbitrum and Optimism bridges to support their case. Arkham noted a wallet that received 50 Ether (ETH) from Buterin has had $1.05 million stuck in the Optimism bridge for seven months now. If the address is owned by Buterin, it would represent a small fraction of his $789 million cryptocurrency portfolio, according to Arkham’s data. Another wallet linked to Bofur Capital, which shares the same name as a Celsius creditor, has $1.8 million in wrapped-Bitcoin (WBTC) stuck in the Arbitrum bridge, which hasn’t moved in 27 months, while Thomasg.eth — the pseudonymous founder behind decentralized air transportation solution Arrow — has $800,000 in Ether stuck in the Arbitrum bridge. Furthermore, Coinbase tried to bridge $75,000 in USD Coin (USDC) to Ethereum six months ago via the Optimism bridge, but it hasn’t been claimed on Ethereum’s base layer yet, Arkham said. Related: Wormhole bridge hacker from 2022 was briefly eligible for the recent airdrop There is, however, also a possibility that the owners behind these wallets still have complete control of the funds and have voluntarily chosen to park the funds there for the time being. Cross-chain bridges play an important part in modular blockchain networks like Ethereum, which prioritizes data availability and security on the base layer and offloads transaction responsibilities to layer 2s. However, bridges have become a honeypot site for hackers, as they are often automated by potentially vulnerable smart contracts or a highly centralized validator set. For example, the $650 million Ronin bridge hack orchestrated by North Korea’s state-backed Lazarus Group came after it obtained access to five of the nine private keys held by transaction validators in March 2022. Magazine: ‘SEAL 911’ team of white hats formed to fight crypto hacks in real time

PayPal proposes ‘cryptoeconomic’ rewards for sustainable Bitcoin miners

International payments giant PayPal has proposed to make sustainable Bitcoin (BTC) mining more economically attractive by rewarding miners through incentives layered on top of the Bitcoin network. PayPal’s Blockchain Research Group, in collaboration with Energy Web and DMG Blockchain Solutions, has proposed using “cryptoeconomic incentives” to encourage Bitcoin miners to use low-carbon energy sources, according to an April 22 blog post. The firm hopes that the experimental incentive contributes to further discussion and innovation around Bitcoin and is seeking industry feedback on potential improvements. Under the proposal, “green miners” that use sustainable energy sources would be accredited with special “green keys,” which are associated with their public keys. Bitcoin transactions would be preferentially routed to these green miners by attaching lower fees but with an additional locked BTC reward in a multisig payout address that only the green miners can claim. “Green miners will be incentivized to mine these transactions since they will be the only ones eligible for the additional ‘locked’ BTC reward,” it explained. This incentivizes rational profit-driven miners to operate with low-carbon sources to get the extra BTC rewards. Green miner transactions. Source: PayPal Blockchain Research Group According to the paper, the proposed solution will leverage Energy Web’s “Green Proofs for Bitcoin” platform for miners to get certified based on their clean energy and grid impact scores. The green miners can register and share their green keys on the platform as participants of the incentive program. PayPal BRG said that it has successfully tested the proposed solution with Bitcoin miner DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. During the test, it broadcasted multiple low-fee transactions to observe effectiveness under different levels of on-chain transaction volume. Depending on transaction volume, “these transactions would either take a long time to confirm or eventually be dropped by the network,” it observed before adding, “This would increase the chances for green miners to pick up these transactions.” Related: Biden is asking Congress to kill the American Bitcoin mining industry An alternative approach would involve exploring private channels such as the Lightning Network or smart contracts, but there would be trade-offs such as more complex implementation, it added. “The solution outlined here aims to achieve a good degree of decentralization, ease of implementation and trust independence while distributing incentives,” PayPal BRG concluded. Cointelegraph contacted PayPal for further details on potential implementation but did not receive an immediate response. Magazine: Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC price prediction dilemma: X Hall of Flame

Bitcoin ‘no longer cheap’ — Fidelity revises medium-term outlook for BTC

Fidelity Digital Assets has revised its medium-term outlook for Bitcoin (BTC) from “positive” to “neutral” following the first quarter, citing several metrics that suggest Bitcoin is no longer considered “cheap” amid a potential build up of sell pressure. In its latest Signals report released on April 22, Fidelity Digital Assets cited the Bitcoin Yardstick, or Hashrate Yardstick, which works in the same way as the Price-to-earnings ratio is used in stocks, except in this case, it is used to determine if Bitcoin is undervalued. Fidelity noted that the Yardstick remained between a negative one and zero deviations from the mean of 51% in the first quarter, meaning there were “zero days on Q1 where Bitcoin was considered 'cheap.'” This would suggest that Bitcoin is now trading at “fair value,” said Fidelity, which has now revised its medium-term outlook for Bitcoin to neutral. Other metrics it cited that added to its neutral outlook was the fact that long-term holders are adding to sell pressure, while 99% of addresses are in profit, which “could incentivize selling.” Other on-chain metrics backing up the firm’s revision to a neutral outlook in the mid-term included the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) ratio and the MVRV Z-Score, which is used to assess when BTC is over or undervalued relative to its “fair value.” Fidelity highlights the reasons behind its neutral outlook. Source: Fidelity Digital Assets The investment firm, however, has maintained its positive short-term outlook for Bitcoin, saying there was “some potential for short-term profit-taking” at the end of Q1, 2024, but added there were “no extreme indicators that are commonly seen during bull market peaks.” The company cited price levels remaining above a “golden cross” on the Bitcoin chart with the asset trading above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages throughout Q1, indicating bullish momentum. “We believe on-chain indicators are now clearly above the lows or extreme bottoms previously observed,” said the firm’s director of research Chris Kuiper in a post on X on April 23. The report also referred to Bitcoin’s realized price, a metric that aims to capture the average cost basis of all current coin holders. The realized price was around $28,000 at the close of Q1, and has maintained a position of support since mid-January. BTC price against SMAs and RP. Source: Glassnode/Fidelity Additionally, on-chain data showed continued accumulation by smaller investors, with the number of addresses holding greater than or equal to $1,000 worth of BTC growing by 20% since the beginning of the year and hitting new all-time highs. Exchange balances have also continued declining as more investors moved to self-custody, reducing selling pressure, it noted. Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again? Kuiper said that “we are nowhere near the historical extreme highs,” before adding that “this leaves us in a middle-ground or halfway point” of the market cycle. “Historically, a disproportionate amount of price gains occur in the latter half of the cycle.” Bitcoin has remained range-bound since the end of February, oscillating between resistance at $72,000 and support at $60,000. However, it has gained 5% since the weekend halving event and is currently changing hands for a ten-day high of $66,863, according to Cointelegraph data. Magazine: Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC price prediction dilemma: X Hall of Flame

GameFi airdrops are here to stay but won’t save a bad game: Execs

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

Hut 8 ‘self-mining plans’ make it competitive post-halving: Benchmark

United States Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hut 8’s plans to expand its self-mining operations and its scope of diversified revenue streams will make it more competitive in a post-halving world, according to investing banking firm Benchmark. In an April 22 research note viewed by Cointelegraph, Benchmark senior analyst Mark Palmer explained that the “new HUT” — a firm borne out of a merger between the “old HUT” and US Bitcoin Corporation — boasted a “diversified business model” with multiple revenue streams. Benchmark initiated coverage of Hut 8 stock and set a $12 price target — a near 30% increase from its current share price of $9.22, per TradingView data. Hut 8 is currently trading for just above $9.Source: TradingView Hut 8’s current self-mining hash rate of 5.4 exahash per second (EH/S) remains far below that of self-mining category leader Marathon Digital which has a deployed rate of 27.8 EH/s, but despite this, Palmer said he expects this gap to close over time. “Hut trades at a discount to its Bitcoin mining peers that we expect to shrink as the company executes on its self-mining expansion plans.” Palmer looked to Hut 8’s multiple revenue streams, which include self-mining, cloud computing, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence services, as justification for his price target. Related: Biden is asking Congress to kill the American Bitcoin mining industry “We believe the diversity of Hut 8’s platform will benefit it over the long-term, as its revenue streams outside of self-mining position it to weather severe downturns in Bitcoin’s price better than most of its listed peers, in our view,” Palmer said. Additionally, Palmer explained that Hut 8 touts an enterprise value-to-revenue multiple of 2.6 which is slightly below that of the 3.1 average of its publicly traded Bitcoin mining peers including, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and several others. Hut 8’s EV/Revenue multiple is slightly below that of its peers. Source: Benchmark While Palmer conceded that Hut 8 still needs to upgrade its hash rate he said its 9,102 Bitcoin held on reserve provided it with a “sizable liquidity cushion” as well as an ability to capture upside moves if the price of BTC were to rally significantly in the coming months. On Feb. 7, Hut 8 announced a leadership shakeup, with former CEO Jamie Leverton being replaced by Asher Genoot, the then-president and sitting member of the company’s board of directors. The management re-structure came just weeks after short-selling firm JCapital published a report claiming that Hut 8 was in “legal trouble” and warned investors in the Florida-based Bitcoin miner of “upcoming pump and dump.” Hut 8 slammed the share seller report as a “deliberate attempt to spread misinformation,” claiming it was filled with inaccurate information and misrepresented data. Magazine: The real risks to Ethena’s stablecoin model (are not the ones you think)

US crypto stocks rally on first trading day after Bitcoin halving

United States crypto-related stocks posted gains on Monday alongside a broader market upturn just days after the Bitcoin (BTC) halving — with some notching double-digit percentage gains. The country’s five largest public-traded Bitcoin miners by market capitalization, Marathon Digital (MARA), CleanSpark (CLSK), Riot Platforms (RIOT) Cipher Mining (CIFR), and Hut 8 (HUT) all gained over the April 22 trading day and have continued to gain in after-hours trading, per Google Finance. Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) was the day’s biggest crypto-related gainer with a 35.3% bump to $3.64, extending 4% after-hours to nearly $3.80. Riot followed with an over 23% jump to $11.24 and a 3.2% after-the-bell rally to $11.60. The top 10 U.S. crypto mining stocks in order of their April 22 gains. Source: CompaniesMarketCap Overall, U.S. crypto miners saw price gains on the day extending their rallies from Friday, April 19. The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) — which holds mining stocks and some chipmakers including Nvidia (NVDA) — posted an 11% gain and a 3% rise after hours to $16.69. The crypto stock price jumps come despite their Bitcoin mining rewards being halved to 3.125 BTC per block after the halving on Saturday, April 20 just after midnight UTC — April 19 at 8:09 pm in New York. It coincides with a broader U.S. market gain as the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500, respectively, saw a 1.1% and 0.8% jump on the day after last week’s stretch of losses — which has been attributed to diminished tensions in the Middle East and incoming earnings reports from major tech firms. Related: Bitcoin ETF demand turns negative around BTC halving CIBC Private Wealth investment chief David Donabedian however told Barron’s on April 22 that the market dampened on high inflation rates, hiking bond yields, and speculation on the Federal Reserve’s expected rate cuts. He added nearly half of the country’s largest companies will share their first-quarter earnings this week which could also add to market volatility. Bitcoin’s price has risen 4.5% to $66,810 since the halving, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro. Ahead of the event, market commentators predicted mixed results for the cryptocurrency’s price after the halving had taken place. Bitcoin’s price in the last week with the white vertical line denoting the time of its halving. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Meanwhile, crypto exchange Coinbase had a 7% gain to $225.86 with a slight 0.8% bump after-hours as did the Bitcoin-buying software firm MicroStrategy (MSTR) — seeing a 12.7% daily gain extending 2.5% after-hours to $1,357. Web3 Gamer: Bitcoin Halving will pump games, Shrapnel’s ‘simple’ secret revealed

NYSE gauges interest in 24/7 stock trading like crypto: Report

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is reportedly getting a gauge on whether traders would embrace 24-hour stock trading, similar to how cryptocurrency markets operate. To test market sentiment, NYSE’s data analytics team put out a survey asking market participants whether they would support 24/7 or 24-hour weekday trading and if so, what systems should be put in place to protect traders from overnight price swings, according to an April 22 report from the Financial Times. NYSE — along with the Nasdaq and Chicago Board Options Exchange — currently trade Monday to Friday between 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Eastern Time. In the United States, assets such as cryptocurrencies, United States Treasurys, foreign exchange and leading stock index futures can already be traded 24/7, while some brokerages offer Robinhood and Interactive Brokers are such platforms, offering 24-hour weekday access to U.S. stocks by facilitating a “dark pool” trading venue allowing international retail investors to trade shares during their daytime hours. However, last week, reports emerged that Robinhood halted its 24-hour trading services following increased tensions between Israel and Iran, raising investor concerns about the sustainability of around-the-clock trading. Managing liquidity in a 24/7 trading arena has al proven a tough task for trading platforms in the cryptocurrency industry. It often creates a “mismatch between the operating hours of traditional financial institutions and the needs of large crypto traders and market makers,” noted cryptocurrency research firm Kaiko. Sleepless nights are a common complaint for traders when the market becomes extremely volatile too. While results of NYSE's poll haven’t been released, Skylands Capital senior trader Tom Hearden posted a poll of his own asking his 19,300 X followers whether they would support NYSE moving to 24/7 trading hours — with over 70% of the 1,459 respondents voting “No.” NYSE’s poll comes as startup firm 24X National Exchange is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch the first round-the-clock exchange in the country. Related: Stocks and crypto at the edge of ‘significant’ correction: 10x Research The SEC still has “months” to review the requested rule change, while other stakeholders involved are already looking at pertinent issues, such as who should bear costs and the role of clearing houses, FT said, citing two sources familiar with the matter. “I have no idea how much volume they’re going to be doing in the middle of the night. But it’s really not up to the SEC to decide whether it’s commercially viable or not,” said James Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University to FT. “I’m in favour of letting the market decide. If it succeeds, we’re all better off and if it doesn’t, well, the exchange’s investors lost.” It marks the second attempt at SEC approval after the firm withdrew a proposal in March 2023, citing operations and technical issues. Magazine: Jameson Lopp: Skeptical of spot Ether ETFs, BTC price prediction dilemma: X Hall of Flame

Crypto miners face energy refusal, restriction in Canadian provinces

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

SEC seeks $5.3B judgment against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a motion requesting billions of dollars in disgorgement and civil penalties against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon following a verdict in its civil case. In an April 19 filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC requested Kwon and Terraform pay roughly $4.7 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest after the civil case ruling, as well as a combined $520 million in civil penalties — $420 million from Terraform and $100 million from Kwon. The commission, Terraform and Kwon filed their briefs for potential remedies in the civil case simultaneously, with the crypto firm suggesting a maximum civil penalty of $3.5 million and Kwon proposing only $800,000. In addition to the monetary judgment, the SEC proposed barring Kwon from serving as an officer or director of a securities issuer and providing complete details of his accounts and assets. If approved, Terraform would also have a “conduct-based injunction” imposed on the firm to prevent “engaging in essentially the same behavior that led to the massive fraud.” The proposed remedies and civil judgment have yet to be ruled on by a judge. “Defendants have not shown remorse for their conduct, nor can there be any doubt that they are in position where additional violations are not only possible but likely are already occurring,” said the SEC filing. “The Court should send an unequivocal message that this sort of brazen misconduct, and Defendants’ misbegotten attempt to excuse their behavior by crafting new rules and standards of behavior for crypto markets in contravention of the federal securities laws [...] will not be tolerated.” On April 5, a jury found Terraform and Kwon liable for defrauding investors regarding statements over the offer and sale of TerraUSD (UST), Luna (LUNA) and wLUNA. A Terraform spokesperson said at the time that the firm was “carefully weighing [its] options and next steps.” Cointelegraph reached out to Terraform regarding the April 19 filing but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Related: Terraform Labs was ‘built on lies’ — SEC at trial The SEC trial went forward without the presence of Kwon, who is currently embroiled in court proceedings in Montenegro. The Terraform co-founder was arrested in March 2023 for using falsified travel documents while attempting to leave the country. Though later released and allowed to travel within Montenegro, the question of Kwon’s extradition to either the U.S. or South Korea remained unanswered at the time of publication. He faces potential criminal charges in both countries. Magazine: The real risks to Ethena’s stablecoin model (are not the ones you think)

SEC lawyers resign after ‘gross abuse’ of power in crypto case — Report

Two lawyers for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have reportedly resigned after a district court sanctioned the agency for “gross abuse” of power and acting in “bad faith” in a crypto case. According to an April 22 Bloomberg report, Michael Welsh and Joseph Watkins, lead attorneys in the case against crypto platform DEBT Box, resigned earlier this month. Sources familiar with the matter say the lawyers were warned they would be terminated if they stayed. The lawyers were both relatively new to the agency, as indicated by their LinkedIn profiles. Welsh served as a trial attorney at the SEC from December 2022, while Watkins acted as an attorney at the Division of Enforcement beginning in January 2023. The pair’s resignation follows a court decision from Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby, the federal judge hearing the case in Salt Lake City, Utah. In March, Judge Shelby sanctioned the SEC for false statements and misrepresentations in its case against Digital Licensing Inc., known as DEBT Box. Judge Shelby said in the March 18 filing that “the Commission’s above-discussed conduct constitutes a gross abuse of the power entrusted to it by Congress and substantially undermined the integrity of these proceedings and the judicial process.” In August 2023, the SEC obtained an emergency relief to halt the Utah-based company, temporarily freezing its assets and obtaining restraining orders against DEBT Box’s principals under claims of a $50-million crypto fraud scheme. Judge Shelby further stated that the evidence put forward “lacked any basis” but was nonetheless presented in “deliberately false and misleading ways.” “Welsh knew his statement from the TRO hearing was incorrect. Rather than correcting the misstatement, he and the Commission attempted to subtly shift the language to gloss over and perpetuate the misconduct.” The crypto industry has been vocal in its criticisms of the SEC’s approach under Chair Gary Gensler, particularly concerning the agency’s “regulation by enforcement” strategy. Some critics argue that this approach has increased regulatory uncertainty in the industry, stifling innovation and undermining U.S. competitiveness in the digital asset space. High-profile enforcement actions against crypto platforms include lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance, and the agency’s forthcoming action over the decentralized finance platform Uniswap. Magazine: Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

Lummis-Gillibrand bill will ban algorithmic stablecoins: Law Decoded

United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis have introduced legislation establishing a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The legislation aims to prohibit “unbacked, algorithmic stablecoins”— likely a nod to TerraUSD (UST) depegging from the U.S. dollar in 2022 — and requires issuers to maintain one-to-one reserves. It will also “create federal and state regulatory regimes for stablecoin issuers that preserves the dual banking system.” 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. Advocacy group Coin Center has expressed concerns about the bill, claiming it would be “bad policy” and unconstitutional for its proposed prohibition on algorithmic stablecoins. The group argued that banning algorithmic stablecoins targets code, which could be an unconstitutional act under the protections of the First Amendment. Coin Center suggested that the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act — a bill set for a full floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives — had a “not unreasonable” approach to algorithmic stablecoins by proposing a two-year moratorium rather than an outright ban. Canada transits to international crypto tax reporting standard Canada expects to apply the international Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) for taxation by 2026. The country is getting an early start on the new standard, expected to be observed by 47 countries by 2027. The CARF would impose new reporting requirements on crypto asset service providers (CASPs), such as cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto asset brokers and dealers and crypto-asset automated teller machine operators, whether they are individuals or business entities. CASPs would be required to report transactions between crypto assets and fiat and crypto assets for other crypto assets to the Canada Revenue Agency. Crypto asset transfers carried out by CASPs, including payment processing where the value exceeds $50,000, would also need to be reported. Continue reading Arkansas wants to restrict crypto mining An Arkansas Senate committee has passed two bills that could restrict cryptocurrency mining within the state. The bills lay the groundwork for further discussions. In a Senate hearing on April 17, lawmakers sought to address general concerns such as noise reduction, foreign ownership and the proximity of crypto mines to residential areas. The committee will continue to discuss the issue and hear more public comments. The discussion of whether and how much crypto mines should be regulated at the state level arose from the Arkansas Data Centers Act, which limited local government’s ability to regulate crypto mines. Continue reading Binance returns to India, gets Dubai license Binance crypto exchange is set to return to India after a four-month ban after paying a $2 million fine for noncompliance. It will be the second overseas exchange after KuCoin to mark a return to the country after India’s financial regulatory body blocked access to crypto exchanges for noncompliance. Binance reportedly accounted for more than 90% of Indian crypto trading volume before its ban in January. The company has also received its Dubai Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license after co-founder Changpeng Zhao gave up his voting power in the exchange’s local entity. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s final requirement for granting the VASP license was for Zhao to give up his voting power in Binance FZE, the Dubai-based unit of the exchange, according to unnamed people familiar with the matter. While Binance’s current CEO, Richard Teng, confirmed receiving the license, he said that Zhao giving up his voting power was “pure speculation.” Continue reading

Crypto users fooled by fake Elizabeth Warren letter proposing crypto tax

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

Stablecoin, retail CBDC sandboxes are on South African payments roadmap

The South African Reserve Bank has released a digital payments roadmap toward the goals of its Vision 2025, published six years ago. Adoption of digital payment technologies in the country has been “sluggish,” the report said. It looked at ways to catch up to the vision, including plans for cryptocurrency and central bank digital currency (CBDC). South Africa’s financial services sector, especially banking, is well-developed. Despite advances in digital payment technology, South Africans with lower and middle living standards remain disproportionately dependent on cash, the report found. User costs, low financial literacy, limited accessibility and lack of trust hinder progress, however. The roadmap looked at high-level plans to increase accessibility of financial technology, modernize payment infrastructure and remove barriers to use. The scope of the plans is strictly domestic. Related: South Africa adds new cryptocurrency standards to advertising code In South Africa, crypto assets are not legal tender, but are not banned. Local online and brick-and-mortar retailer Pick n Pay accepts payment in Bitcoin at over 1,600 locations, for example. The SARB is looking to international best practices for regulation and open to greater use of distributed ledger technology: “In the interim [before regulations are in place], the SARB is open to allowing eligible stablecoins used for domestic payments to be tested in the regulatory sandbox.” The SARB said the sandbox would have a two-year timeline. Cryptocurrency is being integrated into the South African financial system through the licensing of exchanges as well. CBDC will get similar treatment. The SARB launched a study of retail CBDC in 2021. CBDC has the potential for greater cost effectiveness and real-time online and offline peer-to-peer digital payments. The roadmap suggested continuing exploration of both retail and wholesale CBDC for two years. Source: SA Reserve Bank Tokenization faces regulatory barriers in South Africa. The SARB noted the benefits of tokenization, especially its enhanced security. However: “Existing regulations may not be specific or enabling for tokenised use cases, which may result in unregulated or the underregulation of payment activities that introduce risks in the payment ecosystem.” Meanwhile, the SARB is monitoring the growth of the technology, it said. Magazine: South Africa’s digital-nomad crypto hub: Cape Town, Crypto City Guide

Crypto investment products see outflows for second consecutive week — CoinShares

Investments in digital asset funds have declined for the second consecutive week, with $206 million in withdrawals between April 15-19, according to data from digital asset investment firm CoinShares. Bitcoin (BTC) funds led outflows over the past week, with $192 million exiting the market ahead of the halving event. Ether (ETH) investment products also experienced outflows of $34 million, marking their sixth consecutive week of negative flow. Investment in blockchain equities has also been declining, with the sector recording its 11th consecutive week of outflows, totaling $9 million. Digital Assets Outflows. Source: CoinShares According to CoinShares, the downtrend is likely a result of investors’ concerns about rising interest rates in the United States, which can make less risky financial instruments more attractive compared to volatile assets such as cryptocurrencies. The Federal Reserve anticipated easing its monetary policy in mid-2024 if economic conditions aligned, but recent inflation data have dampened those hopes. The annual Consumer Price Index in March increased by 3.5%, exceeding expectations for the third consecutive month and indicating that lower rates may not become a reality until 2025. The federal funds rate currently sits between 5.25% and 5.50%. “The data suggests appetite from ETP/ETF investors continues to wane, likely off the back of expectations that the FED is likely to keep interest rates at these high levels for longer than expected.” Trading volume for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) declined slightly to $18 billion over the week. Bitcoin fund outflows, however, were not seen as an opportunity to short the cryptocurrency. According to CoinShares, the trend indicates that while investors are stepping away from volatility, they are not necessarily expecting Bitcoin price to crash anytime soon. “These volumes represent a lower percentage of total Bitcoin volumes (which continue to rise) at 28%, compared to 55% a month ago,” the report said. Inflows into Bitcoin ETFs have significantly slowed since their peak in March. Meanwhile, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest ETF in terms of assets managed, maintained a steady level of investor interest this month, drawing $1.4 billion in positive flows as of April 19. Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base meme coins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

Hong Kong officials recommend city’s crypto industry self-regulate

The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA) has recommended the city's crypto firms set up a self-regulatory committee and monitor one another for compliance. “The Hong Kong financial market industry is too focused on supervision,” said the HKSFPA in an April 22 recommendation letter, “but there is no organization to maintain the overall development of the industry." The administrative body then noted the need for Hong Kong to stay competitive in the global securities market and “consolidate its status as an international financial center.” In outlining the next steps, the HKSFPA recommended the city’s regulator, the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC), establish "statutory self-regulating” and autonomous bodies that would instead delegate licensing powers to industry players: "In the case of Hong Kong, the Commission recommends that the Securities and Futures Commission still retains the power to supervise market conduct, but splits the licensing power to solely the securities industry, A self-regulatory institution composed of the futures industry, asset management industry and virtual asset industry." As per a similar recommendation letter last August, the HKSFPA spoke of a “balanced supervision and development" that prevents the Hong Kong virtual assets industry "from going to the extreme direction of supervision." Hong Kong Monetary Authority, one of the city's financial regulators (Wikipedia Commons) That said, self-regulation doesn't always come with a balanced risk-reward dynamic. For one, Lithuania is tightening its crypto regulations starting in 2025 after reports of compliance failures and embezzlement. The Baltic nation has issued licenses to more than 580 crypto firms and currently maintains little oversight from its licensees. However, Hong Kong regulators have been much more tolerant of virtual asset firms than their counterparts in other parts of the world. On April 15, the SFC approved spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds for issuers, including Harvest Fund Management, Bosera Asset Management, and China Asset Management (ChinaAMC). Last year, the regulator issued official virtual asset licenses to crypto exchanges Hashkey and OSL. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not yet approved a spot Ether ETF or offered specific licenses for crypto exchanges to register. In addition, the outlook for their approvals currently remains grim. Related: Hong Kong investment firm Victory Securities reveals Bitcoin and Ether ETF fees

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

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

Shiba Inu memecoin raises $12M from institutional investors

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

Bitcoin ETF demand turns negative around BTC halving

Demand for the newest Bitcoin investment products is slowing down as the world’s first cryptocurrency went through its fourth “halving” event. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) became a benchmark for institutional investments in Bitcoin (BTC) after launching in January 2024. The 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs approved by United States regulators in January collectively managed over $13 billion in inflows within a couple of months of launching. Gold ETFs took years to accomplish the same feat. At their peak, spot BTC ETFs saw up to $1 billion in daily net inflows — the result of institutional investors reallocating investments from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to the new ETFs. The Bitcoin halving is considered an important event in the Bitcoin timeline, which occurs roughly every four years and reduces the block reward for miners by half. Thus, the amount of new BTC added to the market daily is reduced by half. The halving has now reduced the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Reduced rewards and high demand for BTC via ETFs led many market pundits to predict a supply shock after the April 20 halving. However, after weeks of consecutive net positive inflows to Bitcoin ETFs, demand for the products appears to be slowing down. Are geopolitics to blame for BTC ETF outflows? While many market analysts predicted that GBTC outflows would soon dry up as institutions ran out of GBTC shares to sell, inflows to ETFs have now turned negative. Ahead of the Bitcoin halving, spot BTC ETFs recorded several consecutive days of net outflows ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars. However, despite the current downturn, Jag Kooner, head of derivatives at Bitfinex, believes the demand for ETF will catch up after the halving. “The reduction in inflows and significant outflows is not correlated to the halving event but rather to the current SPX and Nasdaq decline and geopolitical tensions. Bitcoin ETFs are an ‘alternate investment’ or a smaller part of large TradFi [traditional finance] investment portfolios. The current situation is likely a product of rebalancing risk on those portfolios and reducing exposure to high-risk assets,” he said. Recent: Bitcoin halving puts focus on crypto education initiatives Kooner added that BTC’s impressive rally since January 2024 was thanks not only to ETF approvals but also to market participants speculating on the impact of spot ETFs on the Bitcoin price. Thus, “we expect a stabilization of flows to result in a return of speculation on a bullish tipping of flows while we return to bullish trending market conditions.” Bitcoin supply shock theory takes a backseat The first three months of spot BTC ETF inflows ranged from three to 10 times the daily mining supply of 900 BTC. The high ETF demand and heavy buying from institutional giants such as MicroStrategy led many market analysts to predict a post-halving supply shock. A Bybit report predicted that BTC reserves on exchanges could dry up within nine months of the BTC halving, while other analysts predicted a six-month time frame. According to data shared by crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, BTC supply on centralized exchanges fell to a three-year low of 1.94 million BTC by April 16. Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, made a similar prediction, saying BTC could face a severe supply shock “within six months” of the halving. But, by the third week of April, ETF demand has slowed to consecutive net daily outflows. The demand for ETFs stagnated at the end of March when BTC saw its first week of net outflows. Bitcoin ETF historical netflow. Source: CryptoQuant Young stated that the demand for ETFs may rebound if the BTC price approaches critical support levels where new whales — mainly ETF buyers — have a $56,000 on-chain cost basis. The cost basis of an investment is the total amount initially invested plus any commissions or fees involved in the purchase. Kooner added that people often ignore the long-term holders with a significant amount of supply. He said that there could also be a major distribution from long-term holders during the later stages of the current cycle, explaining: “The demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs is unprecedented by all accounts, but a single metric cannot measure demand for BTC itself. However, the market decline is evidence enough that the demand doesn’t currently outstrip BTC supply on an absolute basis.” While ETF demand has slowed, open interest in BTC options has increased, implying that buy-and-hold investors are waiting on the sidelines while volatility-focused investors are taking their place. Josef Tětek, Bitcoin ambassador at hardware wallet maker Trezor, told Cointelegraph that ETFs don’t necessarily signify institutional demand. Recent: Memecoin sector’s continued growth hinges on long-term utility Under U.S. regulation, ETFs are available to both institutions and retail investors. Thus, It’s impossible to speculate on the impact and relative influence of various demand drivers in the short term. “Taking a longer-term view and turning away from U.S. markets, there is rising demand for Bitcoin in countries across the globe as fiat currencies fail as a reliable store of value and even in some countries as a viable medium of exchange.” The post-halving supply shock notion was prevalent for most of February and March owing to heavy inflows into the spot ETFs despite GBTC outflows and new BTC price highs. However, just days before the halving, the ETF flows turned passive, and the BTC price also slid nearly 10% from all-time highs, prompting many to reconsider their supply shock theory in the short term. However, some experts are optimistic that BTC ETF demand will reach new highs as market conditions improve after the halving.

Apple Pay is the benchmark as crypto mobile payments push for adoption

Cryptocurrency payment platforms are slowly being onboarded to major e-commerce platforms and retail stores, but their user experience and performance don’t quite match that of Apple Pay. Stijn Paumen, CEO of growing crypto payments platform Helio, paints a picture of a sector still in its infancy during a one-on-one interview with Cointelegraph. The CEO and founder said that while Bitcoin and Ethereum are pioneering decentralized blockchain protocols, the base layer of both chains cannot compete with the performance and functionality of traditional financial infrastructure. “I think the benchmark is Apple Pay. How are you going to beat Apple Pay, where I can just tap my phone and I’ve paid within three seconds,” Paumen explains. Gareth Jenkinson (l) in conversation with Stijn Paumen. Helio operates out of London with a team of 15 people. The advent of newer blockchain networks is beginning to bridge the gap, but not without teething issues, as Paumen said: “Now with the second generation of blockchains like Solana, even though there’s a lot of talk about congestion, we actually have the engineering resources to figure it out.” Helio was founded by Paumen and chief technology officer Jim Walker in March 2022. The pair had previously exited a successful startup and shifted into the crypto sector. Paumen says they were excited by the prospect of Solana’s high TPS and fast finality as the basis of building a new crypto payment platform. “Ever since someone paid 10,000 BTC for a pizza, crypto payments became a thing. But the user experience sucked. You had 20-minute payment times or payments not being processed at all,” Paumen said. Related: How Solana developers are tackling network congestion challenges Helio’s platform allows merchants and e-commerce sites of all sizes to set up and accept cryptocurrency payments. According to Paumen, the platform facilitates $30 million in monthly payments but still mainly caters to the Web3 space on both the user and merchant fronts. It has also made waves in the Solana ecosystem, facilitating the sale of some 80,000 Solana mobile phones through its payment plugin. Helio's high-profile integrations include managing the Solana Pay plugin on Shopify and its WooCommerce plugin. Helio has been operating the Solana Pay plugin on Shopify since December 2023. Source: Helio The platform supports Bitcoin (BTC), Solana (SOL), Solana-based USD Coin (USDC) and SPL tokens as well as Ethereum-based payments. Helio also facilitates ticket sales for the annual Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC), which connects to their Bizzabo event software. Related: Boba Guys, Shopify users showcase adoption of Web3 tools — Solana Breakpoint Paumen believes that Web3 payments potentially challenging mainstream industry players remains an ecosystem challenge. “If you have a Phantom wallet and you know how to use it, you can pay on a Helio checkout with a single tap as fast as Apple Pay. But you need to assume that you're a crypto-fluent user, and that's a very small percentage,” Paumen admits. Progress will likely be gradual, as more crypto-curious users begin to use Web3 wallet and make payments in their token of choice. Paumen also says that the onboarding user experience needs to improve to be accessible to a wide demographic of users. Helio's platform allows merchants to accept a variety of cryptocurrencies as payment for goods and services. Source: Helio “We talk about this concept of crypto granny internally. What we mean is, when crypto granny buys a Bored Ape hoodie for her grandson, she needs to be able to do that without owning crypto, without even knowing what blockchain is,” Paumen added. Helio’s CEO concluded by saying that the future could see the likes of Apple Pay potentially settling payments on their own blockchain. However, he said he firmly believes in the idea of a decentralized way to send money worldwide “without intermediaries, with fast or instant settlement with low fees.” “I think it’s just a really powerful technology. We’re still early. The fact that Visa is partnering with Solana is a great signal, though.” While onboarding major e-commerce platforms is the lowest-hanging fruit for mass adoption, Paumen believes that streaming platforms like Vimeo and even OnlyFans also present an excellent platform for the utility of crypto payments. Magazine: Big Questions: How can Bitcoin payments stage a comeback?

Mt. Gox trustee updates Bitcoin and fiat repayment timetable

Users of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox received another optimistic signal regarding compensation for hacked funds, with Mt. Gox trustee updating some crucial repayment data. Multiple Mt. Gox creditors have reported that their Mt. Gox claims accounts were updated with information about Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and fiat repayment, with many suggesting that cryptocurrency repayments are coming soon. Some of the first such reports surfaced on the Mt. Gox insolvency subreddit in mid-April, with users reporting the addition of amounts to be paid in the repayment data table on their accounts. According to a screenshot shared by one creditor, the Mt. Gox claims accounts now show a table with repayment status and other entries, such as the amount of completed repayment and the amount of incomplete repayment. Source: Mt. Gox insolvency hub According to multiple posts on the Mt. Gox insolvency hub on Reddit, some creditors have already received fiat currency in their bank accounts. “Money received as USD into an HSBC currency account and looks like zero fees,” one Mt. Gox creditor wrote on April 22, adding that the payment came more than a month after the first table update appeared on the claims account. “Table had been updated March 15 first then April 8 second then April 18 when BTC lines arrived,” the Redditor stated. The latest additions of Bitcoin on the accounts in the Mt. Gox rehabilitation claims system is a major move for Mt. Gox creditors signaling disbursement of crypto or fiat will happen, one Mt. Gox creditor told Cointelegraph. Related: Bankrupt Voyager platform secures $484M for creditor repayments “In comparison, last December Japanese claimants received notes on their page and within two weeks they saw fiat in their accounts via PayPal and private banks,” the creditor said, adding: “Let’s hope the crypto remittance echoes that of its fiat predecessor.” Founded in 2010, the now-defunct Mt. Gox was once the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world, estimated to account for 70% of all BTC transactions before implosion. The platform lost 850,000 BTC to a security breach in 2014. Mt. Gox is expected to repay its creditors 142,000 Bitcoin and 143,000 in the forked cryptocurrency Bitcoin Cash in addition to 69 billion Japanese yen ($510 million) by October 2024. The latest table updates followed the completion of identity verification of Mt. Gox creditors and their crypto exchange accounts that would be used to repay Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in January 2024. Some available platforms include Bitstamp, Kraken, Bitbank, BitGo and SBI VC Trade. Magazine: Bitcoin Halving will pump games, Shrapnel’s ‘simple’ secret revealed: Web3 Gamer

Woo X exchange launches world’s first tokenized T-bills for retail

Woo X cryptocurrency exchange has launched tokenized United States Treasury Bills (T-Bills), claiming to be the first protocol to offer tokenized T-Bills for retail investors. Woo X launched its real-world–asset (RWA) tokenization vaults, RWA Earn Vaults, enabling users to earn yield by holding Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), according to an April 22 X post: “With the RWA Earn Vaults, all @WOO_X users can now earn stable, predictable yield on their USDC holdings backed by U.S. Treasury Bills without having to jump through any extra hoops.” Backed solely by U.S. T-bills, RWA Earn Vaults offer between 4.5% and 4.7% annual percentage rate (APR) to USDC holders. According to the announcement: “User subscriptions accumulate real yields, fully backed by U.S. Treasury Bills, with current APRs for 7-day and 28-day terms at ~4.5% and ~4.75% respectively.” Related: Hashing It Out: Are RWAs the future of crypto? The yield-earning product was launched in partnership with OpenTrade, a London-headquartered tokenization platform backed by Circle. Circle is the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, which has a $34 billion market cap, behind Tether’s (USDT) with an over $109 billion market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data. Related: USDT aims to offer a lifeline to inflation-stricken nations: Tether CEO RWAs were the second most profitable crypto narrative in Q1 2024 RWAs were the second most profitable narrative in the crypto space during the first quarter of 2024, according to a recent report by CoinGecko. CoinGecko analyst Lim Yu Qian said: “The memecoin narrative was 4.6 times more profitable than the next best-performing crypto narrative of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and 33.3 times more profitable than the layer 2 narratives with the lowest returns in Q1 this year.” Showcasing the growing institutional interest in the RWA sector, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, launched a USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund on March 20, tickered “BUIDL,” worth over $298 million at the time of writing, according to Etherscan. Over $1 billion worth of U.S. Treasurys have been tokenized through 17 tokenization products by March 28, which rose to $1.15 billion by April 22, according to Dune data. Tokenized government securities. Source: Dune Franklin Templeton’s Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) remains the largest treasury tokenization fund, worth over $390 million at the time of writing, according to Dune. How tokenization will transform traditional finance | Interview with FTX US president Brett Harrison. Source: Cointelegraph Related: EigenLayer on the brink of potential yield crisis

Bitcoin halving shows new users that ‘code is ultimately the law’ in crypto

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

Thailand will block unlicensed crypto exchanges ‘to solve online crimes’

Thai authorities will block unlicensed crypto exchanges from operating in the country to prevent money laundering and other online crimes. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will submit a list of unlicensed crypto exchanges to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. The order was made public by Thai SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon after the Technology Crime Prevention and Suppression Committee meeting on April 19. Thailand’s decision to block unlicensed firms was inspired by India and the Philippines, which recently banned all off-shore exchanges that failed to comply with local regulations. To minimize the impact on the public, the Thai SEC urged crypto investors to withdraw their funds from unregistered platforms before the ban takes effect. A translation of the SEC announcement read: “The SEC would like to warn the public and investors to be careful of using services with unlicensed digital asset business operators because they will not be protected by law. There is also the risk of being deceived (scam) and being (associated with) money laundering.” The Thai SEC urged investors to check the license registrations of the platforms with the SEC Check First application before making any investments. A quick search of “Binance” shows that the crypto exchange has yet to register and will need to close down when the ban takes effect. Thailand’s SEC Check First application shows the license status of Binance. Source: Thai SEC Other popular offshore crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, KuCoin, Kraken and OKX do not operate legally in Thailand, according to government data. Related: Apple India blocks Binance, 9 other crypto exchanges weeks after FIU notice Regulatory pressure in Europe could lead to a ban on non-decentralized protocols. According to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) — the new regulatory framework governing digital assets within the region — the European Commission is required to prepare a report by Dec. 30, evaluating the decentralized finance (DeFi) market and the feasibility of specific regulations for the sector. Among many crypto entrepreneurs, MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen noted that the rules could place some DeFi interfaces, such as decentralized exchanges, under licensing requirements. “This would make DeFi frontends on normal internet domains, as we know them today, impossible. Only fully decentralized, local, downloaded frontends or full-KYC online frontends would be possible. Sad,” he wrote on X. Magazine: a16z snubs crypto, Mango Markets exploiter found guilty and Worldcoin L2: Hodler’s Digest, April 14-20

EigenLayer on the brink of potential yield crisis

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

RFK Jr. wants to put the entire US budget on a blockchain

United States presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to put the entire U.S. budget on the blockchain. During a Michigan rally on April 21, he proposed the idea and said the move would allow every American to look at “every budget item anytime they want, 24 hours a day.” “We’re gonna have 300 million eyeballs on our budget, and if somebody is spending $16,000 for a toilet seat, everybody’s gonna know about it.” NEW: RFK Jr. says “I’m gonna put the entire US budget on blockchain” “Every American can look at every budget item in the entire budget, anytime they want, 24 hours a day.” “We’re gonna have 300 million eyeballs on our budget!” pic.twitter.com/TBpkcXt5i1 — Radar (@RadarHits) April 22, 2024 Kennedy’s plan would allow for more transparency and accountability, allowing taxpayers to see where their tax dollars are spent. The blockchain proposal was lauded by many crypto advocates on social media, where people claimed it would be revolutionary and end corruption. One user wrote that transparent public accounting might be the best use case for blockchain tech besides the supply chain: “checks and balances in our government doesn’t work if the branches are in on the corruption together (president and congress particularly) it’s time the people hold them accountable.” Some, however, have criticized the plan, claiming Kennedy is advocating for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) via his blockchain plan. However, in the past, Kennedy has vowed to end U.S. efforts to move toward a CBDC, claiming it infringes on privacy. Related: Bitcoin price hits all-time highs across Argentina, Nigeria and Turkey Kennedy is running as an independent candidate in the upcoming U.S. presidential election after ending his bid to be the Democratic Party nominee in October 2023. He is a strong advocate for Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain and has been among the few presidential candidates who have endorsed Bitcoin and decentralized technology. He is also the first presidential candidate to accept Bitcoin for campaign donations. Kennedy also revealed his plans to back the U.S. dollar with Bitcoin if elected president. In recent years, more politicians have advocated against centralized government systems — particularly financial ones — as decentralized financial alternatives have grown in popularity. In December 2023, Bitcoin-friendly candidate Javier Milei won the Argentine presidential election on the back of a campaign promising to slash the size of government. Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

Man City and OKX release limited-edition jerseys tied to rare NFTs

Premier League football club Manchester City is launching a new nonfungible token (NFT) collection that will allow fans to win a limited number of unique jerseys and matchday experiences. The “Unseen City Shirts” campaign is the latest move in a long-term partnership with cryptocurrency exchange OKX. Users can mint the digital collectibles on the OKX app, which offers a chance to win redesigned, commemorative football shirts depending on the rarity of the NFT. Man City stars Sergio Gómez, Erling Haaland and Jérémy Doku model the limited edition “The Roses and the Bees” jerseys, which feature hand-painted elements by artist Christian Jeffery. Source: Manchester City Cointelegraph spoke exclusively with OKX global chief marketing officer Haider Rafique and Man City chief marketing and fan experience officer Nuria Tarré to discuss the details of the new campaign. The limited collection jerseys feature designs incorporating the Lancashire rose and the Manchester worker bee, hand-painted by artist Christian Jeffery. Rafique explains that the rarity of the NFTs is determined algorithmically. Five ultra-rare NFTs will give access to a play-on-pitch experience, two tickets to a Manchester City match and a limited-edition City shirt. “The Roses and the Bees” NFT jersey as seen on OKX Marketplace. Source: OKX A further five rare NFTs include a stadium tour experience, a hospitality ticket and a “The Roses and the Bees” design jersey. OKX users can mint the NFTs at no cost on the OKX Marketplace. Nuria said that the NFT launch is part of the Premier League club’s strategy to attract audiences that are “more tech-savvy, open to new innovations and technology.” Digital ownership is another dimension that Man City is interested in bringing to its fans. Tarré explained: “We think it’s important that you can own this piece digitally. I think that’s one of the beauties of Web3 — it changes the ownership process.” Man City’s chief marketing officer said the club will continue to explore the possibilities of Web3, both through its partnership with OKX and other avenues. Tarré said the club has actively experimented with new technology in Web2 and metaverse environments. Man City ventured into the world of Roblox in late 2022, with Tarré describing Web3 environments as the most progressing and exciting: “Technology keeps on evolving and applications keep on evolving. You can add layers of sophistication, creation and co-creation. We’re definitely willing to explore further.” In recent years, Rafique has actively driven OKX’s high-profile sports partnerships with Manchester City and Formula 1 team McLaren. The exchange has been exploring different marketing initiatives to tap into the fan bases of these sporting brands. The OKX CMO explained that the past three years have been spent laying foundational work to provide utility to sports fans and Web3 users. Starting with basic NFTs attached to physical goods aims to provide the platform to create more utility-based ecosystems. Rafique said: “I don’t think it’s a lack of intention. I think it’s a lack of product and technology infrastructure, which will come as the industry progresses and as our partnership progresses.” OKX first partnered with Man City in March 2022 before expanding its sponsorship by becoming the club’s official training kit partner for the 2022–2023 season. OKX then sealed a new deal to become City’s official sleeve partner in a new multiyear agreement in June 2023. Magazine: Crypto scoring big with European football

Bitcoin mining revenue peaked at $107M on BTC halving day

Revenue earned from Bitcoin (BTC) mining exceeded the $100 million mark for the first time, recording an all-time high daily earnings on Bitcoin halving day, 2024. On April 20, Bitcoin miners earned a total of $107.7 million in mining rewards and transaction fees as community members willingly paid exorbitant fees to get their transactions recorded on the 840,000th Bitcoin block. Total value in U.S. dollars of block rewards and transaction fees paid to miners. Source: blockchain.com Investors wanting to be a part of Bitcoin’s history spent 37.7 BTC (worth $2.4 million) in fees alone to nab their share of limited space on the Bitcoin block, which triggered the fourth halving event. The block included 3,050 transactions, meaning the average user paid a little under $800. Users spent $2.4 million in fees to inscribe runes and rare satoshis on the first halving block. Source: Mempool.space The record-breaking fees were attributed to the race to inscribe and etch rare satoshis on the halving block. Much of the activity stemmed from a frenzy of activity on Bitcoin Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor’s new Runes Protocol, which went live at the same time as the halving. The previous all-time high revenue for Bitcoin miners was $78.7 million on March 11, when the Bitcoin price broke a new high of $71,415. However, the jump in revenue was directly correlated with Bitcoin’s market price as miners get rewarded in BTC in exchange for confirming transactions over the blockchain. The Bitcoin halving event on April 20 slashed mining rewards in half for the fourth time, reducing them to 3.125 BTC for every block mined until the next halving reduces them even further. Related: Where will Bitcoin’s price be at the next halving in 2028? With declining hype around Bitcoin halving, the average fees paid on Bitcoin have fallen sharply just a day after reaching a record average of $128 on April 20. Average daily transaction fee on Bitcoin over the last five years. Source: YCharts As of April 21, Bitcoin transaction fees have fallen to an average of $8–$10 for medium-priority transactions, according to mempool.space. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

Fiat ramps still the ‘biggest gateway’ to crypto — Exec

Despite a shift in volume in fiat on- and off-ramps, they remain the biggest gateway for leading Web2 users into crypto, according to Aviessa Khoo, executive director at crypto ramp solutions provider Mercuryo. At the recent Token2049 event in Dubai, Khoo told Cointelegraph that between 2017 and 2022, there were more transaction volumes for their on-ramp solutions as they were coming from centralized exchanges. The executive explained that, more recently, their crypto volumes have been diverted into noncustodial wallets, which suggests that users are buying and holding on to their assets. Main stage of the recent Token2049 event in Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph Even though ramp solutions have seen a shift, Khoo still believes that it’s an important tool that can help non-crypto natives get into the world of Web3. She said: “On-ramp is definitely still the biggest gateway to onboard Web2 users into Web3, bridging these non-crypto users into Web3. If you talk about fiat on-ramp, the infrastructure is good for non-crypto native people.” However, Khoo also recognized that crypto-native users may not be as thrilled about using on-ramp solutions because of the higher fees when paying with Visa or Mastercard debit cards. Khoo explained that these users prefer peer-to-peer (P2P) solutions. “There’s still a lot of crypto native people who will go to P2P or just any other offline, on-ramp solutions, which are cheaper, maybe higher risk,” Khoo added. When asked what improvements the crypto space should implement to attract more users, the executive shared that user experience is still crucial to adoption. She explained: “Because I’m from the payment infrastructure side, I think user experience is very important. And this is something that all the product managers that I have been working with are the most concerned on.” Khoo also shared her interaction with an investor with a Bitcoin wallet from around 2017 who could not remember their password. “These are like investors, but they are non-crypto natives,” she explained. “If you ask me how are we able to onboard all these users easily to boost the conversion rate of Web2 users into Web3, I definitely think that UX plays the most important part,” Khoo added. Related: Here’s how crypto game Notcoin onboarded over 30M users — Founder Apart from Khoo, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov spoke about user experience at Token2049. Nazarov said that the current user experience in the crypto space is “nowhere near what it needs to be.” The executive believes that there’s still a lot to be done in that regard and explained that crypto must still improve its usability to achieve mainstream adoption. Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto