Alternative News for You

by Millie Roberts on April 29, 2025 at 1:27 am

The officer who fatally shot Joel Cauchi the day of his attack at the Westfield Bondi Junction Shopping Centre has described her encounter on the second day of the coronial inquest.

by Caroline Horn on April 29, 2025 at 1:27 am

As sharks, rays, and other marine life continue to wash up on South Australian beaches, citizen scientists are urged to record the scale of the lingering marine algal bloom event.

by Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea on April 29, 2025 at 1:20 am

The Ethereum Foundation, which backs the development of the Ethereum blockchain, has overhauled its leadership structure to separate the responsibilities of its management team and board of directors.The board will act as the “security council to protect the heart and soul” of the foundation and set visions for Ethereum, while the new management will be focused on the strategic and operational execution of those visions, the Foundation said in an April 28 blog post.It added in an April 28 X post that Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak were appointed as co-executive directors on March 2 to deliver on those visions — which are centered around championing censorship resistance, open-source innovation, privacy and securityWang and Stańczak’s roles took effect on April 28 with the foundation setting a two-year term for Stańczak to address some of Ethereum’s biggest challenges. Stańczak’s new role will be balanced with his work as founder of Ethereum infrastructure firm Nethermind and a soon-to-be-announced Ethereum-focused venture capital firm.Source: Ethereum FoundationBastian Aue and Josh Stark are also a part of the management team, with Aue to focus on organizational strategy, hiring and training, and Stark to primarily be tasked with project execution, communications and marketing.The board consists of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum Foundation’s President Aya Miyaguchi, Swiss counsel Patrick Storchenegger, and Wang, who will bridge between the board and management team.Related: ‘Vitalik: An Ethereum Story’ is less about crypto and more about being humanButerin will continue providing technical and intellectual guidance on the Ethereum ecosystem, Miyaguchi will oversee the foundation’s vision while managing external relationships, and Storchenegger will keep handling legal and compliance matters.The board was responsible for selecting Wang and Stańczak as executive directors — a decision they acknowledged was unconventional — and they also have the power to terminate those positions.The Ethereum Foundation has adopted a more active role in the Ethereum ecosystem in recent months, following criticism from Synthetix founder Kain Warwick that the foundation “doesn’t care” about decentralized finance innovation.Others in the Ethereum community previously attributed the foundation’s lack of engagement and leadership to Ether’s (ETH) poor price performance relative to Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL).Ethereum Foundation’s main focus is scalingThe Foundation said its three main focus areas over the next 12 months would be to scale the Ethereum layer 1, scale blobs at the layer 2 level, and improve user experience.Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist and protocol support Sophia Gold have already pitched proposals to to address Ethereum’s scaling woes at the base layer under Ethereum Improvement Proposals-9678 and 9698. Both EIPs look to raise the gas limit, which should theoretically raise Ethereum’s transaction throughput by the same magnitude.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

on April 29, 2025 at 12:33 am

As sailors were towing the aircraft into place in the hangar bay of the USS Harry S Truman, they lost control and it went overboard.

by Katherine Spackman and Josh Mercer on April 29, 2025 at 12:22 am

With charging infrastructure scant and the capabilities of hybrid utes not fully tested, outback communities are likely to keep relying on diesel vehicles for some time, experts say.

by Cointelegraph by Nancy Lubale on April 29, 2025 at 12:15 am

Key takeaways:BONK price is up 73% since April 22, hitting a five-month high of $0.00002167.BONK’s open interest surged 290% to $43.2 million. Bonk (BONK), the second-largest Solana-based memecoin by market capitalization, is on track to continue the recovery it began on April 22. BONK has climbed approximately 73% from its April 22 low of around $0.00001247, bringing its price up to an intraday high of $0.00002167 on April 28.Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows BONK trading at $0.00001923, up 3% over the 24 hours and 60% over the last seven days.BONK/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewBONK’s trading volume has jumped 98% over the last 24 hours to $478 million, and its market capitalization also jumped, briefly touching $1.7 billion on April 28, before retracing to the current level of $1.5 billion.Let’s examine the factors that have fueled BONK's price momentum over the last week.Memecoins recover across the boardBONK’s rally over the last seven days mirrors the bullish price movements across the broader crypto market, including the memecoin sector. Most memecoins have posted double-digit gains over the last week. DOGE and Shiba Inu (SHIB), the leading memecoins, have jumped 3% and 5% over the last seven days. Official Trump (TRUMP), the memecoin associated with US President Donald Trump, has recorded 73% weekly gains, while Base’s Brett (BRETT) has rallied 83% over the same period. Performance of top-cap memecoins. Source: CoinMarketCapThis widespread rally has pushed the total memecoin market value to $55.51 billion, a 17.5% leap in the past week, as per CoinMarketCap data.Memecoin market cap and volume. Source: CoinMarketCapOver $7.96 billion in memecoin trading volume was recorded in the past seven days alone, representing an 85% weekly change. The resurgence is driven by investors once again embracing risk-on assets like memecoins.Increasing open interest backs BONK’s rallyThe surge in the price of Bonk over the last seven days comes after a significant jump in its open interest (OI). BONK’s total OI on all exchanges rose 290% from $11 million on April 22 to $43.2 million on April 26. Although this metric has since dropped to $28 million at the time of writing, it remains significantly higher than the OI seen since December 2024.Rising open interest reflects growing trader participation in BONK futures, indicating heightened speculative activity.BONK open interest across all exchanges. Source: CoinGlassData from CoinGlass shows increasing demand for leveraged long positions in BONK over the last few days, as indicated by the OI-weighted futures funding rate.BONK average perpetual contracts 8-hour funding rate. Source: CoinGlassIncreasing funding rates usually suggest that futures traders are bullish, expecting future price increases, which may indicate a continuation of the uptrend.BONK's social dominance remains high, suggesting high social activity. Santiment data shows BONK’s social dominance spiking from 0.091% to 0.572% between April 20 and April 26, driven by BONK’s ecosystem buzz. BONK social dominance and volume. Source: SantimentThis surge in chatter on social media platforms reflects rising retail and institutional interest, amplifying FOMO and driving demand.BONK breaks out of a multimonth downtrendOn April 13, BONK price broke out of a descending parallel channel, igniting strength that saw it flip the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) to support. The bulls will likely continue the rebound toward the significant resistance level at $0.00002410 (200-day SMA) in the short term. A daily candlestick close above this level, accompanied by high volume, could see BONK rise toward the Jan. 19 range high near $0.000040. This would represent a 104% increase from the current price.BONK/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe sharp rise in the relative strength index and its position at 71 in the overbought region reinforces the buyers’ dominance in the market. However, the overbought conditions could facilitate profit-taking, occasioning a slight correction before BONK continues its uptrend. “$BONK’s descending trendline got cleared,” declared popular analyst World of Charts in an April 28 post on X, “expecting 2x in the coming days.”Meanwhile, Crypto Joe spotted BONK breaking out of a bullish pennant in the 30-minute timeframe targeting $0.00002690.Source: Crypto JoeThis 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.

by Julius Dennis on April 29, 2025 at 12:13 am

An 18-year-old woman has been charged with one count of wilful damage after Mr Dutton's office was covered in red paint. 

on April 29, 2025 at 12:08 am

Kim Williams has denied interfering in editorial decision-making in order to secure airtime for an Australian comedian.

on April 28, 2025 at 11:53 pm

Queensland field-goal queen Lauren Brown, a firefighter by day and night, explains what pressure is and why she thrives in do-or-die State of Origin moments.

by Conor Duffy on April 28, 2025 at 11:36 pm

When a parent drops their child at their local Only About Children childcare centre in Sydney or Melbourne, they probably don't know the revenue will be cheered on the New York Stock Exchange, writes Conor Duffy.

by Cindy Wockner on April 28, 2025 at 11:32 pm

Millions of Australians might have already cast early ballots — but for others, working out who to support is proving more difficult, with some so disillusioned with politics that they're even tempted to deliberately vote informally.

by Charlie McLean and Mietta Adams on April 28, 2025 at 11:29 pm

The condition of Karijini National Park's spectacular gorges worries traditional owners and business operators as WA's tourism season looms.

by Cointelegraph by Nancy Lubale on April 28, 2025 at 11:24 pm

Key takeaways:Bitcoin gained 10% over the past week, but overhead resistance continues to obstruct a rally to $100,000.Bitcoin (BTC) displayed strength as the week opened on April 28, up 10% over the last seven days to trade at $95,500.Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Bitstamp shows that BTC price has been suppressed under $100,000 since early February, as shown in the chart below.BTC/USD weekly chart. Cointelegraph/TradingViewBitcoin lacks a $100K catalystThe BTC/USD pair rallied 30% from its $74,400 low reached on April 7 to trade above $95,000, a recovery fueled largely by easing US-China tariff tensions.Although the rally has been accompanied by $3.06 billion in spot ETF inflows, there are doubts whether that is enough to break Bitcoin out of consolidation. In its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers, trading firm QCP Capital argued that Bitcoin’s decoupling from equities last week strengthened its narrative as a “hedge against political instability and uncertain monetary policy.” This helped BTC to comfortably breach the $90,000, QCP Capital explained, adding that it would have also helped propel it higher.However, BTC pivoted midweek, decoupling from gold and rallying alongside US equities, mainly responding to macroeconomic factors.“This flip-flopping between safe-haven and risk-asset behaviour suggests that traditional correlation frameworks are becoming less instructive. Instead, market participants are now focused on the durability of BTC’s “up only” trend.”On April 25, the trading firm said that BTC price could continue its choppy price for a few more days, arguing that it lacked a “catalyst” to propel it toward $100,000.The investment firm said:“With macro risks temporarily subdued and trade tensions cooling, BTC is likely to consolidate in a narrow $90K–$94.5K range while awaiting a catalyst for a decisive push toward the elusive $100K mark.”Meanwhile, crypto analyst Tazman noted that a lack of “sustained demand and fresh capital” stands in the way of Bitcoin’s path to $100,000. Related: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26BTC buyers and sellers in a tug of warBitcoin holds above its yearly open at $93,340, which now serves as daily support. BTC/USD weekly chart. Cointelegraph/TradingViewIn an April 24 post on X, popular trader Mags underscored the importance of the current price range, saying that if it holds, it could target $106,000 next.Source: MagsThis 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.

on April 28, 2025 at 11:16 pm

Traffic was gridlocked, trains stopped working, people were stuck in lifts and nuclear power stations were automatically shut down as a blackout hit tens of millions of people across Spain and Portugal.

by Emma Hannigan and Danielle Mahe on April 28, 2025 at 11:09 pm

Australian Border Force officials allegedly found the cocaine inside a shipment that arrived in Brisbane from the US. 

by Cointelegraph by Christopher Tepedino on April 28, 2025 at 10:41 pm

Wallet provider MetaMask is launching a crypto payments card that will allow users to spend self-custodied funds, offering crypto holders additional ways to use their tokens.The new card is backed by Mastercard and is being developed in partnership with CompoSecure and Baanx, according to the company. The product uses smart contracts to execute the IRL (In Real Life) transactions, with a processing speed under five seconds. It operates on the Linea network, a layer-2 scaling solution on Ethereum.The companies marketed the self-custodied crypto card as an alternative to the potential risks associated with centralized exchanges. In February, the second-largest crypto exchange by volume, Bybit, was hacked for $1.4 billion, an event that sparked widespread consternation in the crypto space.With the launch of its card, MetaMask is entering a competitive segment of the cryptocurrency market. Major exchanges like Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, and Crypto.com already offer crypto debit cards, some of which feature "crypto-back" rewards that allow users to earn digital assets on their purchases.MetaMask has struggled lately as interest in and participation in the Ethereum ecosystem have dried up. According to Dune Analytics, the wallet collected just $289,312 in fees for the week of April 14, much less than the $1.3 million in fees collected for the same period a year ago. Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin paymentsStablecoin, BTC payments growing use cases for cryptoPayments have emerged as one of the fastest-growing use cases for cryptocurrencies in 2025, offering a way to bring real-world utility to digital assets.Luxury brands like Dorsia have begun accepting various cryptocurrencies as payment, while messaging app Signal is reportedly exploring adopting Bitcoin for peer-to-peer transactions, and a bill in New York has been introduced to legalize the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for state payments.Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins

by Cointelegraph by Cointelegraph on April 28, 2025 at 10:24 pm

Today in crypto, lawmakers in Arizona have passed two bills that could allow the state to establish a crypto reserve. Coinbase announced the launch of its Bitcoin Yield Fund for institutional investors. Meanwhile, Bitget has issued legal letters to users it accuses of manipulating token contracts.Arizona legislature moves forward with Bitcoin reserve billsLawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives have voted to pass two bills that could allow the state to adopt a reserve using Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies.In a third reading on April 28 of the Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), a proposal to amend Arizona’s statutes to allow for a strategic BTC reserve, 31 members of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposed. A similar bill, SB1373, to establish a state-level digital assets reserve, passed with 37 lawmakers in favor and 19 voting nay.“This bill basically takes the approach that probably 15 other states are considering the same legislation nationwide that allows the treasurer to invest up to 10% into, probably mainly Bitcoin but other things as well,” said State Representative Jeff Weninger on SB1025. “I think this probably would start as a ‘may’ for the foreseeable future, but as things continue to pivot towards Bitcoin and these things, would have that already in place in the future.”Voting for SB1025 in the Arizona House of Representatives on April 28. Source: Arizona State LegislatureCoinbase to launch yield-bearing Bitcoin fund for institutionsCoinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is launching the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund on May 1, aiming to offer Bitcoin (BTC) exposure for institutional investors outside the US.The fund targets an annual net return of 4% to 8% on Bitcoin holdings, according to an April 28 blog post by Coinbase.“To address the growing institutional demand for bitcoin yield, Coinbase Asset Management is excited to introduce the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund (CBYF),” the company wrote.The fund is backed by multiple investors, including Aspen Digital, a digital asset manager based in Abu Dhabi and regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority.Coinbase introduces a Bitcoin yield-bearing fund. Source: CoinbaseThe yield will be generated through a cash-and-carry strategy, through the difference between spot Bitcoin prices and derivatives.Unlike Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), Bitcoin holders can’t generate passive income through staking — a gap the fund is aiming to fill, according to the announcement:“Bitcoin yield funds have emerged to address this limitation, but these funds generally require institutional allocators to take on significant investment and operational risk.”The new fund seeks to lower the investment and operational risks typically associated with Bitcoin yield products, which Coinbase says will better align with the risk appetite of institutional investors.Bitget sends legal letters to alleged VOXEL manipulatorsBitget’s lawyers have sent letters to eight account holders at the crypto exchange, accusing them of manipulating the price of perpetual futures contracts tied to the VOXEL token and pocketing $20 million in total.Bitget’s head of Chinese operations, Xie Jiayin, said in an April 27 X post that those behind the eight accounts will receive the legal letters in “quick succession,” and it will redistribute any recovered funds to its other users.Source: Xie JiayinVOXEL is the native utility token of Voxies, a free-to-play, 3D turn-based tactical RPG game built on the Ethereum blockchain.Bitget said on April 20 that it found “abnormal trading activity” on its VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract and paused accounts it suspected of market manipulation.The trading pair clocked over $12 billion in volume, dwarfing the metrics of the same contract on Binance. After the pause, Bitget rolled back the irregular trades to claw back the gains.Trump says federal income taxes will be “substantially reduced” or eliminatedUS President Trump said federal income taxes would be "substantially reduced" or eliminated altogether once the proposed trade tariffs take full effect.The US President said that the accompanying tax reduction will focus on those earning less than $200,000 per year."It will be a bonanza for America. The External Revenue Service is happening," Trump wrote in an April 27 Truth Social post.Source: Donald TrumpPresident Trump previously floated the idea of eliminating the federal income tax collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and replacing revenues from income taxes with tariffs collected on imported goods.The US President's April 27 Truth Social post revealed the first concrete details of the proposed plan since Trump and members of his cabinet began touting comprehensive tax reform in October 2024.

on April 28, 2025 at 10:14 pm

Nearly 16 months after rupturing her ACL, Sam Kerr remains sidelined and Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor says there's still no return date for the Matildas star.

by Daniel Ziffer on April 28, 2025 at 10:08 pm

The ASX has opened higher ahead of closely-watched inflation data due out tomorrow. The US commerce secretary says tariffs on some auto part imports will be reduced for cars made in America, easing the impact on automakers. Follow live.

by Esse Deves on April 28, 2025 at 10:01 pm

WA Police say it is "only a matter of time" before they find missing Pilbara father Zane Stevens, who disappeared on the outskirts of Broome in April 2024.

by Gianfranco Di Giovanni and Meena Shamaly on April 28, 2025 at 10:00 pm

Video game composer Masayoshi Soken shares how he makes his music part of the full gaming experience.

on April 28, 2025 at 9:51 pm

Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament is cancelled as a power outrage affects all of Spain.

by Cointelegraph by Alex O’Donnell on April 28, 2025 at 9:45 pm

Despite growing competition from emerging issuers, the stablecoin market remains largely dominated by a few key players. According to data from Web3 research firm Nansen, Tether’s USDt continues to lead among US dollar-pegged stablecoins, even as competition intensifies.As of April 25, Tether (USDT) has a roughly 66% market share among stablecoins, compared to around 28% for USDC (USDC), Nansen said in the April 25 report. Ethena’s USDe stablecoin ranks a distant third, touting a market share of just over 2%. Nansen expects Tether’s lead to endure even as rivals such as USDC clock faster growth rates. “With nearly 3x as many users as Uniswap and 50+% more transactions than the next app, Tether is by and far the largest use case of onchain activity,” Nansen said.“Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we inevitably believe this is a ‘winner-takes-most’ market dynamic,” the Web3 researcher added. Tether has 66% of stablecoin market share. Source: NansenTether is also the most profitable stablecoin issuer, clocking nearly $14 billion in 2024 profits. The company earns revenue by accepting US dollars to mint USDT and subsequently investing those dollars into highly liquid, yield-bearing instruments such as US Treasury bills. “Given the growth of USDT and USDC, the users are clearly expressing that they do not necessarily care about the yield as they are forgoing it to Tether and Circle -they simply want access to the most liquid and ‘stable’/ least-likely-to-depeg stablecoin out there,” Nansen said.USDC has seen faster growth than USDT since November. Source: NansenCompetitive landscapeAdoption of USDC has accelerated since November, when US President Donald Trump’s election victory ushered in a more favorable US regulatory environment for crypto, Nansen said. Circle’s US-regulated stablecoin has been “particularly attractive to institutions requiring regulatory clarity,” the report said. But USDC now faces “intensifying competition as major traditional financial institutions (i.e., Fidelity, PayPal, and banks) enter the market,” Nansen said, adding that stablecoins, including PayPal’s PYUSD and Ripple USD, are “rapidly gaining traction.” On April 25, payment processor Stripe tipped plans to create a new stablecoin product of its own after buying stablecoin platform Bridge last year. Despite its smaller market share, Ethena's yield-bearing USDe stablecoin remains “competitive on most fronts moving forward,” partly because of integrations across centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the report said.Since launching in 2024, Ethena’s stablecoin has generated an average annualized yield of approximately 19%, according to Ethena’s website. Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins

by Shauna Foley and Emma Simkin on April 28, 2025 at 9:39 pm

Three scent-detection dogs help to locate an elusive orchid that is "almost impossible to find with the naked eye", as part of efforts to protect the plant.

by Jessica Stewart on April 28, 2025 at 9:30 pm

With the sporting program for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympics yet to be decided, Softball Australia is urging organisers to include one of Australia's most successful team sports. 

by Keane Bourke on April 28, 2025 at 9:27 pm

The WA government's language has shifted dramatically in recent weeks over its move to mandate GPS tracking for serious, repeat family and domestic violence offenders, writes Keane Bourke.

by Cointelegraph by Turner Wright on April 28, 2025 at 9:14 pm

Lawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives passed two bills that could allow the state to adopt a reserve using Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies.In a third reading on April 28 of Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), a proposal to amend Arizona’s statutes to allow for a strategic BTC reserve, 31 members of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposed. A similar bill, SB1373, to establish a state-level digital assets reserve, passed with 37 lawmakers in favor and 19 voting nay.“This bill basically takes the approach that probably 15 other states are considering the same legislation nationwide that allows the treasurer to invest up to 10% into, probably mainly Bitcoin but other things as well,” said State Representative Jeff Weninger on SB1025. “I think this probably would start as a ‘may’ for the foreseeable future, but as things continue to pivot towards Bitcoin and these things, would have that already in place in the future.”Voting for SB1025 in the Arizona House of Representatives on April 28. Source: Arizona State LegislatureThe approvals bring the bills closer than any other state-level initiative in the US to getting a cryptocurrency or Bitcoin strategic reserve signed into law. Similar legislation proposed in New Hampshire passed the state’s House in April and is expected to head to the Senate for a full floor vote soon.Related: Bitcoin reserve backlash signals unrealistic industry expectationsArizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced on April 17 that she intended to veto any bill until lawmakers had a “serious, bipartisan funding solution that protects healthcare for Arizonans with disabilities.” However, with the passage of such legislation on April 24, the governor could be more open to signing SB1025 or SB1373 into law.Federal plans to establish a national crypto reserveThe state-level efforts to create Bitcoin reserves come amid a push from US President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers to do the same in the federal government. Trump signed an executive order in March with a proposal for a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile.”Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a crypto advocate, proposed that Congress pass legislation that could allow the US government to hold more than 1 million BTC, in part through crypto seized through civil or criminal forfeiture. Some lawmakers have suggested Lummis’s bill was an attempt by Congress to codify Trump’s executive order into law.Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

on April 28, 2025 at 9:12 pm

Rajasthan Royals' schoolboy batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi dishes out a lesson to the Gujarat Titans bowlers, blasting a 35-ball century, the IPL's second-fastest.

by Warwick Long on April 28, 2025 at 9:08 pm

An agreement being reached on fruit fly protocols means apples from the Australian mainland can now be exported to China. 

by Michael Workman on April 28, 2025 at 9:05 pm

A feature of every election, polling can be used in various ways which can influence and mislead voters. Here's how not to get fooled.

by Georgie Hewson, Courtney Gould, Joshua Boscaini, Jane Norman, and Pablo Viñales on April 28, 2025 at 8:44 pm

Peter Dutton's campaign stop in Nowra, in the ultra-marginal seat of Gilmore south of Sydney, is delayed by a group of anti-nuclear protesters. Follow live.

by Daniela Pizzirani on April 28, 2025 at 8:33 pm

Political texts from parties are frustrating voters on social media in the week leading up to the election, but they are completely legal.

by Cointelegraph by Big Smokey on April 28, 2025 at 8:30 pm

Key takeaways: A week full of US macroeconomic reports could impact Bitcoin traders’ sentiment. Bitcoin’s rally could stall if there’s a sharp reduction in spot buy volumes.If PCE, the ISM PMI, and jobs data align with market expectations, BTC could rally. Bitcoin (BTC) price could face a period of range-bound trading after managing a 10.37% rally over the past 7 days. Robust spot purchasing demand from Strategy, the spot BTC ETFs, and announcements from 21Shares and Coinbase played a role in Bitcoin’s rally to $95,700. With the exception of the April 28 announcement of a $1.42 billion BTC purchase from Strategy, a quiet week on the crypto news front could translate to a reduction in spot demand and lower support tests from Bitcoin price. This week is also event-filled on the macroeconomic data reporting side. On April 29, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report will be published, and the data could provide insight into how the US-led trade war and tariffs are being digested by the labor market. Job openings, hires, and separation rates, seasonally adjusted (JOLTS). Source: BLS.govOn Friday, May 2, the jobs report will publish, and given the recent tariff-induced volatility, it's possible that the data could show a “real big pause in the economy.”  The Core PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) forecast will be released on April 30, and the data will give a clear view of any significant shifts in US inflation. US Core PCE Price Index (MoM). Source: Investing.comThe United States ISM Manufacturing PMI data is released on May 1. Recently, the data reflects the fear businesses have experienced due to the US-led tariff war as they put their business planning on hold to see how things play out. Markets could react negatively if the report shows further deterioration in the ISM PMI. US ISM Manufacturing PMI. Source: MacroMicro.meRelated: Bitcoin price cools off amid worrying macroeconomic data — Will $95K hold this week? Depending on the market context, traders tend to cut or add to risk during weeks chock-full of macroeconomic data. Given the downside market volatility seen throughout April, it seems more likely that traders will take the more cautious approach, reinforcing the earlier stated view that Bitcoin price could consolidate throughout the week. At the time of writing, Bitcoin price trades slightly below $95,000, and since reaching the level on April 25, BTC has carved out a tight range between $93,000 to $95,500.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.

by Cointelegraph by Christopher Tepedino on April 28, 2025 at 8:10 pm

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have spiked in value amid the global trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariffs.Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) reached all-time highs on April 22, with Tether Gold touching $3,529 and Paxos Gold recording a peak of $3,520, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Two other gold-backed cryptocurrencies — Quorium (QGOLD) and Kinesis Gold (KAU) — have seen rises of 8.5% and 7.6%, respectively, in the past 30 days. All four tokens are up 40% or more in the past 12 months, CoinGecko data shows.Related: Tether clocks $13B in 2024 profits, US bond holdings hit all-time highsAccording to a report by Tether, the increased demand for XAUT is due to macroeconomic factors, such as escalating global economic uncertainty, geopolitical conflicts, and a rising demand for inflation-resistant assets.Since US President Trump’s renewed trade war, gold has increased significantly in value. On April 2, Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when the tariffs were announced, the price of one ounce of gold was $3,115. At the time of this writing, on April 28, the ounce price is at $3,335, representing a 7% jump in less than 30 days.Gold price in USD over one month. Source: GoldPrice.orgGold, often seen as a hedge against inflation, usually attracts investors during times of economic uncertainty. In similar lines, Bitcoin (BTC), often referred to as “digital gold,” has soared 14% during the same period.Growing RWA marketReal-world asset (RWA) tokenization — products that bring assets like precious metals, bonds, and real estate onto the blockchain — is a growing market. According to RWA.xyz, the tokenized RWA market capitalization (excluding stablecoins) stands at $21.6 billion, up 8.6% over the past 30 days.Tether Gold and Paxos Gold are examples of RWA tokenization. Each coin in both products is reportedly backed by one troy ounce of actual gold. Tether is said to store its gold reserves in Switzerland, while Paxos keeps its gold in London. Tokenized gold has been a strong crypto use case in 2025, reaching a two-year high in trading volume on April 10.Tokenizing gold has a few advantages over more common investment instruments that provide exposure to gold. For instance, settlements through these funds are instant, enabling quick trading. In addition, some tokenized gold tokens can be used to purchase goods and services, while traditional instruments can usually be redeemed only for fiat currency.Related: Tether launches gold-backed, US dollar stablecoin Alloy

by Cointelegraph by Turner Wright on April 28, 2025 at 7:55 pm

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators. “In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”April 25 letter from Sens. Warren and Schiff to OGE. Source: Sen. SchiffThe letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”Related: Trump’s WLFI crypto investments aren’t paying offThough ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren does not have the authority to direct Congress’s agenda with Democrats in the minority. Two Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already called for Trump’s impeachment over his memecoin dinner.Warren added:“The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain.”At the time of publication, it was unclear who among the top TRUMP memecoin holders would attend the dinner, scheduled to be held on May 22 at Trump’s golf club in Washington, DC. Speculation and analysis of users suggested that Trump supporters, including Tron founder Justin Sun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others, could attend, though none had been confirmed as of April 28.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

by Cointelegraph by Biraajmaan Tamuly on April 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Key Takeaways:Bitcoin’s year-over-year return and realized price metric signal strong long-term support from holders and suggest that BTC is currently undervalued. Standard Chartered estimates a Bitcoin price target in the $110,000–$120,000 zone by Q2 2025.Positive funding rates point to a potential long squeeze to $90,500.Bitcoin’s (BTC) weekly close near $94,000 delivered an impressive year-over-year total return of 53.61%. Since the last halving in 2024, the market has shifted from the early 2024 euphoric phase to a "mature bull trend" based on onchain growth, rather than speculative frenzy. Bitcoin fundamentals triumph over fear and speculationBitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. pointed out that the year-on-year (YoY) realized price, a measure of the average price at which BTC was last moved, has surged 61.82%, outperforming the YoY market value to realized value’s (MVRV) decline of 8.98%. This indicates long-term holders are raising the base price faster than speculative price increases, a healthy signal for the cycle. The negative MVRV suggests that Bitcoin is trading below its fundamental value compared to a year ago, a pattern that precedes significant rallies. This compression of value leaves room for further upside, with analysts eyeing new highs above $110,000 if demand accelerates.Bitcoin valuation and price comparison chart. Source: Axel Adler Jr. Similarly, Bitcoin’s realized price by cohort shows a cooling speculative premium, as one-month holders’ cost basis is 5% below the six-month cohort. The current market resembles past accumulation phases, leaving only five to six weeks until the average 180-day point when momentum often accelerates.Bitcoin realized price of different cohorts. Source: Axel Adler Jr. This bullish timeline parallels Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick's prediction that Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high of $120,000 in Q2 2025, driven by strategic reallocation from US assets. Kendrick noted that a high US Treasury term premium, correlating with BTC’s price, and time-of-day trading patterns indicate US investors are seeking non-US assets since President Donald Trump’s trade war began on April 2.Bitcoin price movement between time zones. Source: X.comRelated: Bitcoin could hit $210K in 2025, says Presto research headBitcoin futures market hints at “long squeeze” below $91,000Bitcoin’s funding rate has turned positive, signaling a dominance of long positions as traders bet on price rises above $90,000. Between April 24 and April 25, Bitcoin’s funding rate briefly turned negative, sparking discussions of a potential long squeeze that could push prices toward $97,000. However, the market dynamics shifted with the funding rate flipping positive, which could lead to a long squeeze. Bitcoin funding rate. Source: CryptoQuantA Long squeeze is a market event where a sudden price drop forces over-leveraged long traders to sell, amplifying the decline through mass liquidations.Bitcoin prices have dropped 1.58% after the New York market session opened on April 28, and BTC might drop as low as $90,500 over the next few days.As illustrated in the chart, bullish momentum is beginning to fade, and BTC could re-test the fair-value gap (FVG) between $90,500 and 88,750 on the 4-hour chart. The price also formed a bearish divergence with the relative strength index (RSI) after the price failed to hold a position above $95,000. Bitcoin 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThis 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.

by Cointelegraph by Rakesh Upadhyay on April 28, 2025 at 6:35 pm

Key points:Bitcoin continues to face resistance at $95,000, but the possibility of an upside breakout remains high.Solid spot Bitcoin ETF inflows do not always signal a short-term top.Select altcoins are showing early signs of a short-term trend change.Bitcoin (BTC) pierced the $95,000 resistance on April 28, but the bulls are struggling to sustain the higher levels. This suggests that the bears have not given up and are trying to defend the level. A minor positive in favor of the bulls is that they have not ceded much ground to the bears. That improves the prospects of a move toward $100,000.Another positive is that institutional demand seems to be back, as seen from the solid $3.06 billion in net inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds last week. Although some instances of high spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have led to short-term price tops, that has not always been the case. Hence, the high Bitcoin ETF inflows alone cannot be considered a reason to turn negative.Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360Hedge fund founder Dan Tapiero said in a post on X that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to ignore the macro data signaling a rapid slowdown ahead. He expects increasing market liquidity to catapult Bitcoin to $180,000 before the summer of 2026.What are the essential levels to watch out for in Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.S&P 500 Index price predictionThe S&P 500 Index (SPX) made a strong comeback last week and rose above the 20-day exponential moving average (5,415).SPX daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe index could reach the 50-day simple moving average (5,623), which is likely to act as a minor hurdle. If buyers overcome it, the recovery could extend to 5,800. Sellers are expected to mount a strong defense at the 5,800 level. Time is running out for the bears. If they want to make a comeback, they will have to swiftly pull the price back below the 20-day EMA. If they do that, the index could descend to 5,300 and then to 5,119.US Dollar Index price predictionThe US Dollar Index (DXY) plunged below the 99 level on April 21, but the bears could not maintain the lower levels. DXY daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewHowever, a minor positive in favor of the bears is that they have not allowed the price to rise above the 100.27 overhead resistance. That suggests demand dries up at higher levels. The downsloping moving averages and the relative strength index (RSI) in the negative zone indicate that the bears have an edge. If the price skids below 99, the index may retest the 97.92 level.The bulls will have to push and maintain the price above the 20-day EMA (100.76) to indicate that the selling pressure is reducing. The index may then surge toward the 50-day SMA (103.43).Bitcoin price predictionBitcoin continues to face stiff resistance at $95,000, but the tight consolidation near the crucial level increases the likelihood of a break above it.BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe upsloping 20-day EMA ($89,093) and the RSI near the overbought zone indicate that the bulls are in control. A close above $95,000 could open the gates for a rally to $100,000. Sellers are expected to vigorously defend the $100,000 level, but on the way down, buyers will try to arrest the decline at $95,000.This optimistic view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns down and plunges below the 20-day EMA. That could sink the BTC/USDT pair to the 50-day SMA ($85,085).Ether price predictionEther (ETH) closed above the 50-day SMA ($1,792) on April 26, but the bulls could not maintain the momentum.ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe 20-day EMA ($1,719) is the vital support to watch out for on the downside. If the price bounces off the 20-day EMA with strength, the bulls will try to push the ETH/USDT pair toward the breakdown level of $2,111. Sellers are expected to defend the $2,111 level with all their might because a break above it may catapult the pair to $2,550. On the downside, a break and close below the 20-day EMA suggests that the bears remain in control. The ETH/USDT pair may then descend to $1,537.XRP price predictionXRP (XRP) turned up from the 20-day EMA ($2.15) on April 27, signaling a positive sentiment.XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe XRP/USDT pair could reach the resistance line, which is a crucial level to watch out for. A break and close above the resistance line indicates a potential trend change. The pair could then rally to $3.On the contrary, if the price turns down sharply from the resistance line and breaks below the moving averages, it suggests that the bears are aggressively defending the level. That could keep the pair stuck between the resistance line and $2 for a few more days.BNB price predictionBuyers have managed to keep BNB (BNB) above the moving averages but are struggling to start a strong rebound.BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe flattish 20-day EMA ($597) and the RSI just above the midpoint do not give a clear advantage either to the bulls or the bears. Buyers will have to push the price above $620 to gain the upper hand. That could open the doors for a rally to $644 and subsequently to $680.Alternatively, a break and close below the moving averages will strengthen the bears. The BNB/USDT pair may drop to $576 and then to $566, where the buyers are expected to step in.Solana price predictionSolana (SOL) is facing resistance in the $148 to $153 zone, but a positive sign is that the bulls have not given up much ground.SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe upsloping 20-day EMA ($139) and the RSI in the positive territory indicate the path of least resistance is to the upside. A break and close above $153 clears the path for a rally to $180.Sellers will have to pull the price below the 20-day EMA to weaken the bullish momentum. The SOL/USDT pair may then slump to the 50-day SMA ($130), suggesting a range formation in the near term.Related: Bitcoin could hit $210K in 2025, says Presto research headDogecoin price predictionDogecoin (DOGE) has dropped to the moving averages, signaling that the range-bound action may continue for a while.  DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewIf the price rebounds off the moving averages with strength, the bulls will attempt to kick the DOGE/USDT pair above the $0.21 resistance. If they can pull it off, the pair will complete a double-bottom pattern, which has a target objective of $0.28.Instead, if the price turns down from $0.21, it suggests that the pair may extend its stay inside the range. The bears will gain the upper hand if they sink the price below the $0.14 support.Cardano price predictionCardano (ADA) has remained above the moving averages, indicating that the bulls are buying the dips.ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe moving averages are about to complete a bullish crossover, and the RSI is in the positive zone, indicating a slight advantage for the bulls. There is minor resistance at $0.75, but if the level is crossed, the ADA/USDT pair could surge to $0.83. The first sign of weakness will be a break and close below the moving averages. That suggests the bears remain sellers on rallies. The pair could then drop to $0.58, which is likely to act as support.Sui price predictionSui (SUI) has been trading just below the $3.90 resistance, indicating that the bulls have kept up the pressure.SUI/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThat increases the likelihood of a rally above the overhead resistance. If that happens, the SUI/USDT pair could start the next leg of the uptrend to $4.25 and later to $5.Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the overhead resistance and breaks below $3.35, it signals that the bulls are booking profits. That could pull the price to the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of $3.14 and then to the 20-day EMA ($2.77), which is likely to attract buyers.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.

by Cointelegraph by Biraajmaan Tamuly on April 28, 2025 at 6:00 pm

Key takeaways: US Treasury funds saw $19 billion inflows, the highest since March 2023, as the 30-year yield fell 30 basis points.Foreign central banks cut US Treasury holdings to 23%, a 22-year low, as gold reserves hit 18%.Bitcoin soared in 2020 from $9,000 to $60,000 amid similar trends, hinting at a similar outcome in 2025. The global financial tides are shifting significantly, and Bitcoin (BTC) price could greatly benefit from it. Recent data indicates that US Treasury funds saw $19 billion in net inflows last week, exceeding the 2020 pandemic peak of $14 billion, with the 4-week moving average rising to $7 billion—the highest since March 2023.US Treasurys inflow chart. Source: X.comThe 30-year US Treasury yield fell by 30 basis points from its April peak, indicating a rise in bond prices as investors are willing to accept lower returns in exchange for the safety of these bonds. This surge in demand for Treasurys as a safe-haven asset boosts market liquidity and stability while lowering US borrowing costs.However, foreign central banks have pivoted, cutting Treasury holdings to 23% of US government debt, a 22-year low. This suggests that while private investors were possibly driving inflows, foreign central banks are stepping back, possibly due to the ongoing tariff dispute with the US. Foreign central banks’ gold and treasury holdings. Source: X.comAt the same time, gold’s share of global reserves has surged to 18%, a 26-year high, up 8% since 2015, with China doubling its gold reserves to 7.1% since 2023. This global de-dollarization trend mirrors a pattern that favors Bitcoin. During the 2020 pandemic, when US Treasury inflows spiked amid COVID-19 uncertainty, Bitcoin soared from $9,000 to nearly $60,000 by early 2021, with gold’s share of global reserves rising by 14.5% in 18 months. The current environment, marked by a stabilizing bond market and a central bank’s gold rush, implies a similar trigger for Bitcoin’s next bullish move. In 2023, when US Treasury yields rose amid recession fears, Bitcoin gained 47% in a month while the Nasdaq dropped 8.7%. With yields easing and central banks signaling a lack of faith in the US dollar, Bitcoin’s appeal as a global store of value improves.However, Bitcoin’s bullish narrative could falter if global markets enter a recession in 2025. This is due to investors’ decision to prioritize liquidity and traditional safe-haven assets like cash or US Treasurys during economic downturns, as noted last week, over speculative assets like Bitcoin.Related: Bitcoin upside could stop at $100K despite $3B in ETF inflowsGoogle searches for “Bitcoin” at long-term lows, says Bitwise CEOAnonymous global markets researcher Capital Flows noted that macroeconomic liquidity and positioning factors drive Bitcoin’s bullish price trajectory. The analyst highlighted BTC’s impulse strength in a directional probability skew chart, suggesting that it is poised for an upward movement.Total macroeconomic positioning in Bitcoin. Source: X.comThis aligned with Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley’s observation that Google searches for "Bitcoin" are near long-term lows, suggesting the rally is fueled by institutions, advisers, corporations, and nations rather than retail investors. The lack of retail-driven search interest contrasts with historical trends where Bitcoin search volume strongly correlated with its price in the previous cycle (r=91%, per SEMrush data), indicating a shift in market dynamics where institutional adoption is fueling demand.Related: Bitcoin ‘power law’ model forecasts $200K BTC price in 2025This 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.

by Cointelegraph by Alex O’Donnell on April 28, 2025 at 5:49 pm

The hacker behind the $5.8 million recent Loopscale exploit is in talks to return the stolen funds in exchange for a bounty, the Solana-based protocol said. The exploiter pilfered approximately 5.7 million USDC (USDC) and 1,200 Solana (SOL) tokens from two of Loopscale’s yield vaults on April 26, prompting the decentralized finance protocol to temporarily pause its lending markets. The following day, the hacker sent a message on the Etherscan blockchain scanner “indicat[ing] a willingness to return the exploited funds in exchange for a bounty,” Loopscale said in an April 27 X post. “We are agreeable to collaborating with you to reach a white hat agreement. However, we would like to negotiate the bounty percentage; our expectation is 20%,” the hacker said. “To demonstrate our commitment to a cooperative approach, we will immediately return the 5,000 wSOL funds following the transmission of this message,” they added.Negotiations are ongoing for the remaining funds, according to the public messaging exchange on Etherscan. Messages exchanged with the Loopscale hacker. Source: EtherscanRelated: Solana's Loopscale pauses lending after $5.8M hackThe exploitWeb3 protocols frequently offer bounties to hackers in exchange for returning lost funds. However, only a small portion of the more than $1.6 billion in crypto stolen during the first quarter of 2025 has been successfully recovered. The Loopscale exploit only impacted the protocol’s USDC and SOL vaults, with losses representing around 12% of its total value locked (TVL),  Loopscale co-founder Mary Gooneratne said in an April 26 X post. Source: LoopscaleIn the aftermath of the attack, Loopscale temporarily halted lending but has since “re-enabled loan repayments, top-ups, and loop closing,” it said in an X post. “All other app functions (including Vault withdrawals) are still temporarily restricted while we investigate and ensure mitigation of this exploit,” Loopscale said.Launched on April 10, Loopscale is a DeFi lending protocol that aims to improve capital efficiency by directly matching lenders and borrowers.Additionally, Loopscale facilitates specialized lending markets, such as “structured credit, receivables financing, and undercollateralized lending,” it said in an April announcement shared with Cointelegraph.Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

by Cointelegraph by Marcel Pechman on April 28, 2025 at 5:35 pm

Key Takeaways:Bitcoin price dropped alongside falling Treasury yields, signaling investors’ flight to safer assets.Strategy’s $4.28B Bitcoin purchases and stock market strength have supported BTC above $90,000.A true breakout toward $100,000 will require Bitcoin to decouple from equities and stronger liquidity signals.Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sharp $2,000 correction to $93,500 on April 28. This price movement closely tracked the decline in US Treasury yields, suggesting that traders were seeking the relative safety of more secure assets.While Bitcoin traders are moderately satisfied with the 6% gains achieved over the past week, there is ongoing uncertainty as to why BTC has been unable to maintain levels above $95,000.US 5-year Treasury yield  (left) vs Bitcoin/USD, 15 min. Source: TradingView / CointelegraphThe abrupt correction in Bitcoin’s price after reaching $95,500 mirrored the intraday performance of US Treasury yields. A decrease in yields indicates that investors are willing to accept lower returns for holding bonds, which signals increased demand for safer investments. This pattern suggests a sudden decline in risk appetite across major financial markets.China’s tariff cuts fueled optimism, but US trade concerns reversed sentimentInvestors’ optimism increased over the weekend as news that China had quietly reduced tariffs to zero on selected US semiconductor and circuit board imports was reported by Newsweek on April 25. Notably, the US Russell 2000 small-cap index maintained positive momentum on April 28, remaining near its highest level in over three weeks. However, this sentiment reversed following an interview with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on CNBC, in which he placed the responsibility for a trade agreement on China.US Russell 2000 futures (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD, 1h. Source: TradingView / CointelegraphAlthough recession risks have increased amid escalating trade tensions, many US companies are currently reporting strong first-quarter results. According to a FactSet report, 73% of these companies have posted earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.Bitcoin’s repeated failure to sustain levels above $95,000 appears to be linked to broader macroeconomic concerns. Additionally, the cryptocurrency’s inability to decouple from stock market trends indicates that investors are not yet convinced of Bitcoin’s effectiveness as a hedge during potential economic downturns.There are also concerns that much of the recent bullish momentum, which has kept Bitcoin’s price above $90,000, has been driven by $4.28 billion in BTC acquisitions by Strategy since mid-March. Furthermore, 97% of the previously approved common share issuance has already been utilized, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of Michael Saylor’s accumulation strategy.Bitcoin struggles as strong stock earnings contrast with macroeconomic concernsWhile the stock market is benefiting from a robust earnings season, Bitcoin’s price is being weighed down by perceptions of deteriorating macroeconomic conditions.US existing home sales in March recorded their largest monthly decline in over two years, falling 5.9% compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, China has outlined plans to support employment and assist exporters after factories reduced production due to weak consumer demand, according to CNBC.Related: Crypto ETPs hit 3rd-largest inflows on record at $3.4B — CoinSharesGiven the current global economic uncertainty, a sustained rally in BTC above $100,000 will require more than a single week of strong inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), particularly as this coincides with significant buying activity from Strategy.For investors to have confidence in a new Bitcoin all-time high in 2025, the cryptocurrency must demonstrate a clearer divergence from US stock market trends and provide further evidence that central banks will inject liquidity to prevent a crisis. At present, traders are focused on the trajectory of US interest rates and the possibility of a reversal in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, which could end a period of monetary tightening that has lasted for more than two years.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

by Cointelegraph by Turner Wright on April 28, 2025 at 4:40 pm

Update (April 29 at 12:40 am UTC): This article has been updated to include information on Elon Musk’s and Brian Armstrong’s citizenships.Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine Canada’s next prime minister appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race to become the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.Polymarket chances favor the Liberal Party’s Mark Carney over the Conservative Party’s Pierre Poilievre to be the next Canadian prime minister. Source: PolymarketThe odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a sharp change in the two candidates’ prospects since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March.The election is not really focused on cryptoIn contrast to the 2024 US election, in which Trump often made statements suggesting he would enact policies favorable to the crypto industry, neither Carney nor Poilievre seemed to have made digital assets central to their campaigns.Similar to Trump, Poilievre made a social media post in 2022 suggesting he would make Canada the “blockchain capital of the world” if elected leader of his party. This statement was made months before Trump began claiming he would make the US the “crypto capital of the world.” However, the Conservative candidate has largely stayed silent on digital assets since 2022 following the market downturn spurred by the collapses of Terra and FTX.Tesla CEO Elon Musk — also a Trump adviser — and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made social media posts in January suggesting support for Poilievre. Musk is a Canadian citizen through his mother and is likely eligible to vote in the election. He also holds South African citizenship by birth and is a naturalized US citizen.Related: Why Pierre Poilievre may not be Canada’s crypto saviorIn contrast, Carney was critical of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies while serving as governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020, calling them “poor short-term stores of value.” After leaving the bank, he gave a speech with the Bank for International Settlements supporting a central bank currency (CBDC).Despite the prime minister’s Liberal Party credentials and its association with Trudeau’s efforts to crack down on truckers blocking streets and disrupting travel in a 2022 protest, polls show Carney is favored to defeat Poilievre. Polls suggested the prime minister’s opposition to Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada using “economic force” played a role in boosting Carney’s chances.The results of the snap Canadian election are expected to be announced by April 30.Magazine: Your guide to crypto in Toronto: Crypto City

by Cointelegraph by Marie Poteriaieva on April 28, 2025 at 3:57 pm

What to know:Altcoins have lagged Bitcoin year-to-date, but BNB price shows relative resilience, trading only 10% lower than the previous cycle’s all-time high.BNB Chain shows a robust activity, consistently ranking third in daily transactions, active addresses, and TVL, while leading in the number of DApps.The blockchain’s weakest point is its revenue, which still lags compared to competitors.Altcoin price action has been underwhelming for much of the 2023-2026 cycle, pushing many crypto traders to focus primarily on Bitcoin. However, with moderate optimism returning to the markets, a closer look reveals that not all altcoins are struggling. In fact, the total altcoin market cap remains solidly above $1 trillion — $1.17 trillion, to be exact — and its 9% surge over the past week offers a glimmer of hope.Among the major altcoins, BNB Chain (BNB) stands out for its relative strength and stability. Currently ranked as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind BTC, ETH, USDT, and XRP, BNB is valued at around $89 billion. Some analysts see it as one of the most resilient altcoins in the current cycle.As João Wedson, the founder of Alphractal, pointed out, using data from the cryptocurrency drawdown heatmap:“While most altcoins have suffered drops of up to -98.5% from their all-time highs, BNB stands out alongside BTC as one of the least affected cryptocurrencies — and more impressively, it's one of the few that has reached a new all-time high this cycle.”Price drawdown heatmap by crypto. Source: Joao Wedson, CryptoQuantFor Wedson, this resilience isn't just about price action — it’s also backed by solid foundations, such as BNB Chain’s well-developed ecosystem and BNB’s rising role in DeFi. He calls BNB “one of the rare altcoins with real utility, strong fundamentals, and growing adoption, making it the strongest-performing altcoin alongside BTC.”Is BNB really the most resilient altcoin?Looking solely at price performance among top smart contract platforms’ coins tells a more nuanced story. BNB has indeed reached a new all-time high during this cycle, but so have XRP (XRP), TRX (TRX), and SOL (SOL) — though in Solana's case, the new high barely surpassed its 2021 peak by just 1%.When comparing current prices to their previous cycle highs (mostly from May or November 2021), BNB is now down only about 10%. That’s significantly better than ETH (ETH), which is down 63%, and Solana, down 40%. However, XRP (+19%) and TRX (+49%) have performed even better.BNB/USD, ETH/USD, XRP/USD, SOL/USD, TRX/USD 1-day chart. Source: Marie Poteriaieva, TradingViewOne of BNB’s monetary advantages lies in its low dilution risk. According to Messari’s Market Cap/Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) ratio, 96.51% of BNB’s supply is already in circulation. That’s in line with Ethereum (99.93%) and TRX (99.96%), indicating a relatively low risk of future token inflation. In contrast, Solana (86.33%) and especially XRP (58.33%) could face significant future dilution.While BNB’s price performance has been relatively strong, it alone doesn't entirely justify its reputation for resilience; fundamentals offer deeper insight.BNB Chain activity drives the altcoin’s valueBeyond speculation, BNB’s value is defined by its use in BNB Chain — an umbrella term now used to define both BNB Smart Chain (the original blockchain) and the Beacon Chain (used for governance and staking). BNB Chain specializes in gaming, DeFi, launchpads, and other large-scale consumer DApps. More recently, it also got into the memecoins game, soaking up some of Solana’s volume. Being the key altcoin on the leading centralized exchange also helps.According to Messari, BNB Chain processes around 4 million daily transactions on average, ahead of Ethereum (1 million), XRP Ledger (1.8 million), but behind Tron (5.5 million) and far behind Solana (54 million non-vote transactions daily). In terms of daily active addresses, BNB Chain also performs well with about 1.1 million, beating Ethereum (384,800) and XRP Ledger (55,600), but trailing Tron (2.4 million) and Solana (3.7 million).Where BNB Chain really shines is in the number of DApps. According to DappRadar, BNB Chain supports 5,686 DApps — more than Ethereum (4,987), with Polygon (2,402) trailing in third. This reinforces Wedson’s assertion of a “massive” BNB ecosystem and places BNB Chain in a strong position to lead the charge once Web3 fully matures. BNB Chain also ranks 3rd in total value locked (TVL) in DeFi, with $5.8 billion, behind Ethereum ($50.5 billion) and Solana ($8 billion), according to DefiLlama. The blockchain seems to pay special attention to developing its DeFi activity. On March 24, its DEX trading volume even managed to briefly outpace all other blockchains, hitting a weekly total of $14.3 billion.Related: ‘Vitalik: An Ethereum Story’ is less about crypto and more about being humanBNB Chain revenue has room for growthBlockchain revenue plays a crucial role in its long-term sustainability and growth. It is commonly assessed through the total transaction fees generated.In 2024, Ethereum led the pack with $2.5 billion in fees, followed by Tron ($2.1 billion), Bitcoin ($923 million), and Solana ($751 million), according to CoinGecko. BNB Chain closed the top 5 with $194 million. Since XRP has little utility, its blockchain’s revenues were only $1.1 million.So far in 2025, the revenue rankings are shifting, but BNB Chain remains 5th. In the past 30 days, Tron has taken the lead with $272 million in fees, followed by Solana ($34.7 million), Ethereum ($20.8 million), and BNB Chain ($17.1 million), per Messari data. Overall, while BNB may not always top the charts across every metric, it consistently holds a respectable third place among the leading smart contract platforms. Its healthy activity metrics contribute to maintaining relative price stability within the sector. The blockchain’s revenue remains its weakest point compared to competitors. However, if the promise of Web3 is realized and adoption accelerates, BNB Chain’s dominance in the DApp space could become its biggest strength.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.

by Cointelegraph by Steven Smith on April 28, 2025 at 3:00 pm

Opinion by: Steven Smith, head of protocol and applied research, Tools for HumanityBlockchains were designed as systems of trust that are transparent, decentralized and accessible. The age of AI has, however, introduced significant new challenges. Nearly half of all internet traffic is generated by bots, with up to 80% of blockchain transactions now automated and AI agents accounting for most onchain activity. While some bots serve legitimate and helpful purposes, others — like those used for airdrop farming and fake account creation — clog networks, drive up fees, and monopolize space and resources. It’s up to humans to protect the blockchains we know and love, ensuring that people aren’t unfairly disadvantaged by automated systems, insulated from the effect of maximal extractable value attacks and exploits, and free from the need to pay significant gas fees to be included in a block.The bot takeover is already hereAI bots are becoming more integral to networks and capable of more sophisticated exploits, dominating trading volumes, driving up gas fees, and manipulating decentralized finance (DeFi) markets. In some cases, networks have seen failure rates surge past 75% due to bot-induced congestion. Even Ethereum’s mempool is increasingly flooded with automated transactions, forcing human users to compete for scarce block space.The problem extends beyond blockchain networks — it’s affecting the entire economy. AI-powered bots are set to disrupt traditional banking and financial services, threatening the very foundations of how money is managed and transactions are conducted. It’s only a matter of time before bad actors begin deploying new AI-driven fraud tools at scale, creating an unprecedented security nightmare for financial institutions, businesses and users alike. This has already begun. AI-driven botnets fueled a 55% surge in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the banking and financial services industry during 2024. If action isn’t taken, humans risk ceding control of both decentralized and traditional financial systems to automated systems optimized for speed and scale — not fairness or accessibility. Scalability alone won’t solve this problemSo far, the response to these issues has focused on scalability. Layer-2 solutions, rollups and high-performance execution clients make transactions faster and cheaper. Scaling without a focus on human users, however, leads to unintended consequences. Lower fees mean attackers can cause much grief for little cost, and bots can flood networks more easily. Meanwhile, faster transactions mean AI traders can outcompete human investors even faster.Recent: Don't be afraid of quantum computersThis has played out repeatedly already. A spam attack on Zcash severely disrupted its blockchain. During its token launch, Manta Network suffered a DDoS attack, slowing withdrawals and frustrating users. On Ethereum, bots have been used to manipulate gas prices during high-traffic periods, resulting in delayed transactions and higher transaction fees for real humans.While scalability is critical, it’s equally important to prioritize another fundamental element of blockchain design: proof-of-human.Proof-of-human infrastructureProof-of-human infrastructure is a mechanism that digitally verifies a person’s humanness and uniqueness. This is key to keeping control of blockchain systems in human hands, giving real people the power to ensure blockchains don’t become automated playgrounds for bots — especially as AI agents continue to scale. Proof-of-human systems ensure blockchain architecture evolves with a human-first approach. Networks should allocate guaranteed block space for verified human users, ensuring that automated trading bots don’t push out essential transactions. Introducing gas subsidies for human users can also prevent them from being priced out during periods of extreme network congestion. Optimized execution clients can enhance efficiency while implementing safeguards against bot-driven spam. Blockchain architecture has made remarkable strides in scalability, interoperability and security. We also still need to ensure positive experiences for humans. As an industry, it’s fundamental to provide the ability to distinguish between real people and bots online to ensure the sector can continue to grow in the long run. The choice is ours. We can allow unproductive bots to take over our networks, pushing out human users and undermining the core promise of decentralization. Or, we can implement the necessary parameters to keep blockchains human-centric and ensure greater control over productive bots, ensuring fairer access, security and sustainability.Now is the time to act. The future of blockchain and bringing more humans onchain depend on it.Opinion by: Steven Smith, head of protocol and applied research, Tools for Humanity. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

by Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski on April 28, 2025 at 1:45 pm

Update (April 28, 10:26 pm UTC): This article has been updated to add commentary from Tim Beiko that the EOF upgrade was removed from the Fusaka upgrade.Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork is expected to take place in the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to an Ethereum Foundation official.In an April 28 X post, Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Tomasz Kajetan Stańczak said that the organization is aiming to deploy the Fusaka Ethereum network upgrade in Q3 or Q4 2025. Still, the exact rollout schedule has not been decided yet.Stańczak said a controversial implementation of the EVM object format (EOF) upgrade for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) was expected to be a part of the Fusaka network upgrade, which Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko later ruled out.“EOF was removed from the Fusaka network upgrade today,” Beiko said in an April 28 X post, outlining in a GitHub post that Ethereum developers decided there was technical uncertainty about its impact and risked delaying the Fusaka rollout.Source: Tomasz Kajetan StańczakThe EVM is the software that runs Ethereum smart contracts. EOF would implement a series of protocol changes, known as Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs), with profound implications for how it operates. EOF introduces an extensible and versioned container format for the smart contract bytecode that is verified once at deployment, separating code and data for efficiency gains.Related: Researcher proposes scaling Ethereum gas limit by 100x over 4 yearsWrap, stamp once, sendBytecode is a low-level, compact set of instructions. Solidity smart contracts must be compiled into bytecode before the EVM can execute them.EOF defines a container module for smart contract bytecode, replacing today’s free-form bytecode blobs with a better-defined structure. These objects would be composed of:A header starting with the 0xEF00 hexadecimal value, followed by a one-byte version number to ensure upgradability.A section table, providing metadata about the contents of the container. Each entry comprises one byte setting for the kind of entry and two bytes for the entry’s size.Sections with the actual content, with at least one code section and any necessary data sections — more types of sections could be added through future EIPs.This structure streamlines EVM operation, allowing for higher efficiency and lower processing overhead. This upgrade would result in a cleaner developer environment and easier-to-understand deployed smart contracts.Don’t JUMP, RJUMP instead!EIP-4200, one of the EOF EIPs, provides an alternative to the JUMP and JUMPI instructions, which allow the program to move execution to any arbitrary byte offset. This kind of execution chain leads to hard-to-spot bugs (the JUMP value being wrong in some instances may not be easy to predict) and makes it easy to hide malware in data blobs and move the execution pointer there.This practice is known as dynamic jump, and EIP-4750 (under review) proposes disallowing dynamic JUMP/JUMPI inside EOF smart contracts, rejecting them entirely during a later phase of EOF deployment. In its current form, this EIP replaces them with call function (CALLF) and return from function (RETF) function calls. Those new instructions would ensure that destinations are hardcoded into the bytecode, but legacy pre-EOF smart contracts would be unaffected.Developers who opt to use JUMP or JUMPI after the upgrade will have their bytecode go through deploy-time validation, which ensures that they can never jump into data or the middle of another instruction. This verification would take place via EIP-3670’s code-validation rules, plus the jump table (EIP-3690), so every destination is checked.As an alternative to those functions, EOF implements RJUMP and RJUMPI instead, which require the destination to be hardcoded in the bytecode. Still, not everyone is on board with EOF implementation.Related: Ethereum community members propose new fee structure for the app layerEOF has its hatersEOF is the implementation of 12 EIPs with profound implications for how smart contract developers work. Its supporters argue that it is efficient, more elegant, and allows for easier upgrades down the line.Still, its detractors argue that it is over-engineered and introduces further complexity into an already complex system such as Ethereum. Ethereum developer Pascal Caversaccio lamented in a March 13 Ethereum Magicians post that “EOF is extremely complex,” as it adds two new semantics and removes and adds over a dozen opcodes. Also, he argued that it is not necessary.He said all the benefits could be introduced in “more piecemeal, less invasive updates.” He added that the legacy EVM would also need to be maintained, “probably indefinitely.”Caversaccio also explained that EOF would require a tooling upgrade, which risks introducing new vulnerabilities due to its large attack surface. Also, he said, “EVM contracts get much more complicated due to headers,” while currently empty contracts weigh just 15 bytes. Another developer raised a separate point in the thread:“Perhaps as a meta point, there seems to be disagreement about whether major EVM changes are desirable in general. A stable VM, on which people can invest in building up excellent tooling and apps with confidence, is much more valuable.“Caversaccio appears to be in good company in his opposition to EOF. A dedicated poll on the Ethereum polling platform ETHPulse shows that 39 voters holding a total of nearly 17,745 Ether (ETH) are opposed to the upgrade. Only seven holders of under 300 ETH voted in favor.Ethereum EOF implementation approval pool. Source: ETHPulseMagazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

by Cointelegraph by Amin Haqshanas on April 28, 2025 at 1:10 pm

Peter Chung, head of research at quantitative trading firm Presto, has repeated his prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach $210,000 by the end of 2025.In an April 28 interview with CNBC, Chung cited institutional adoption and global liquidity expansion as the primary drivers behind his long-term bullish outlook.The analyst acknowledged that market conditions this year haven’t been as expected, specifically the challenging macroeconomic environment and market reaction.However, he described the recent corrections as a “healthy” adjustment, suggesting they have laid a stronger foundation for Bitcoin’s progression toward becoming a mainstream financial asset.“In hindsight, I think it was actually a healthy correction which has paved the way for the further re-rating of Bitcoin as a mainstream asset,” he said.Related: Bitcoin trades at ‘40% discount’ as spot BTC ETF buying soars to $3B in one weekBitcoin’s dual role Chung also discussed Bitcoin’s dual nature, describing it as both a “risk-on asset” and “digital gold.”He said that Bitcoin typically behaves like a high-risk asset driven by user adoption and network effects.However, during periods of financial instability, such as the 2022 outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse, Bitcoin tends to act as a safe-haven asset, similar to gold.“These moments are rare,” Chung explained, “[They] only happened when the market has doubts about the stability of the US dollar-dominated financial system.”While Bitcoin has lagged behind gold during recent market turbulence, Chung suggested BTC could “catch up” and potentially outperform traditional safe-haven assets by year’s end.Chung also reaffirmed Presto’s target for Ether (ETH), maintaining its valuation model based on the ETH-to-BTC ratio, reflecting confidence in Ethereum’s ongoing network improvements.Related: New Bitcoin price all-time highs could occur in MayBitcoin hits $94,000 as institutional adoption expandsEchoing Chung’s view, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said in a recent post on X that Bitcoin’s surge to $94,000 has occurred with minimal retail participation, noting that Google searches for “Bitcoin” remain near long-term lows.According to Horsley, the current rally is being driven by institutional investors, financial advisers, corporations, and even nation-states.“The types of investors buying Bitcoin is expanding,” Horsley said.Hunter Horsley pointing out growing Bitcoin adoption among institutions. Source: Hunter HorsleyCorporate Bitcoin treasuries already hold nearly $65 billion worth of BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET.On April 22, analysts from Standard Chartered and Intellectia AI said institutional Bitcoin demand from exchange-traded funds and traders seeking to hedge against macroeconomic risk could cause Bitcoin’s price to more than double this year.Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

by Cointelegraph by Andrew Singer on April 28, 2025 at 1:00 pm

When Donald Trump was running for president, he pledged to build 10 new US cities, dubbed “freedom cities,” from scratch, designed to improve the quality of life for Americans. These new high-tech communities were to be created on public land, and they were going to be free of the “nightmare of red tape,” including lengthy environmental reviews, that had hampered the development of affordable housing in many parts of the US.Freedom cities aren’t really a new idea. They are a rebranding of charter cities, which have been around since the late 1800s. Still, Trump’s proposal won the gung-ho support of many of Silicon Valley’s tech bros, whose backing helped tilt the last US presidential election in his direction, and many of whom — e.g., the PayPal mafia consisting of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan — were also enthusiastic early supporters of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In mid-March, the new administration made some tentative moves to make freedom cities a reality. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a Joint Task Force on using underutilized federal land suitable for housing.“America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it happen by making federal land available to build affordable housing stock,” they wrote in The Wall Street Journal.How serious is one to take this idea of new, free-floating cities to be built on federally owned land? The administration says freedom cities are needed to help quell the national housing crisis. But others suggest that building new communities free from many state and federal laws and rules, like the Clean Water Act or the Endangered Species Act, is to create places that are, in effect, outside of the law — “where the rules are suspended and don’t apply anymore to certain people.” And if so, what does that mean for the rest of the country?“These are not normal times”“In normal times, I might say the idea that the US federal government would spearhead a program to build any number of master-planned cities is rather preposterous,” Max Woodworth, an associate professor in the geography department at Ohio State University, told Cointelegraph, adding: “But these are not normal times, and the current administration seems open to things that might previously have been dismissed, fairly or unfairly, as impossible or misguided.”Freedom cities have their critics. They have been called a “devious scam,” aimed at bringing back “the bad old ‘company towns’ of yesteryear with a fresh coat of modern cryptofascist varnish.” Indeed, company “scrip” was the medium of exchange in towns like Pullman, Illinois, built by George Pullman, owner of the Pullman Palace Car Company, in the late 19th century, whereas today “cryptocurrency is a key component of freedom cities,” the New Republic reported. The history of chartered cities is checkered at best, commented Woodworth, and looking ahead much will depend on how they are designed and managed. “Over the years, there have been ‘new city’ plans intended to manifest fascist, communist, social-democratic, libertarian and post-colonial political agendas. For better and worse, urban space is very commonly used as a laboratory for different overt political projects.” But maybe these are mischaracterizations. “Anyone who thinks Freedom Cities would be lawless should read fewer comic books and more copies of The Wall Street Journal,” Tom Bell, a professor at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law, told Cointelegraph. “Building cities takes money, and investors don’t like lawlessness.” He added:“That is not to say that all the usual regulations would apply in Freedom Cities; investors don’t like red tape, either. The goal is not getting rid of all regulation but rather finding new and better ways to guide investment, construction and business.”Bell, who has been working with others to develop a Freedom Cities Act, would require a city’s board to favor developers’ applications that achieve the same outcomes as applicable current federal regulations, “but through alternative and more efficient enforcement regimes.” Part of the Freedom Cities Act, outlining self-governance. Source: Tom BellJeffrey Mason, head of policy at the Charter Cities Institute, also supports enabling federal legislation for freedom cities. “We’ve proposed that a process be created by which freedom cities could propose the waiving or other modification of highly burdensome regulations in sectors of strategic importance or in frontier technologies, much like the regulatory sandboxes adopted by various states in recent years,” he told Cointelegraph.Others see a model along the lines of New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, the former military installation that was later transformed into an industrial park. It now houses more than 300 businesses and has become a model for other such projects in the US, writes Mark Lutter and Nick Allen. “The second Trump administration has opened the door to Freedom Cities. They can play an important role in American revitalization.” Related: Is Elon Musk plotting the mother of all blockchains?Indeed, the recent joint announcement by the Departments of the Interior and of Housing and Urban Development “suggests that the administration is actively thinking about how a very small share of federal land could be used to build more housing, and possibly entirely new cities,” added Mason.It’s in the detailsBut more clarity may still be needed. “At this point the idea of freedom cities being bandied about is so vague that it’s impossible to have clear conceptions or misconceptions of them in the first place,” said Woodworth. The devil could be in the details. “There seems to be some excitement around freedom cities among libertarian-leaning intellectuals and investors whose ideal freedom city would be places that are very business-friendly,” said Woodworth.Again, this does not mean that “anything goes.” But it’s not hard to imagine a tax and regulatory regime at work in the jurisdiction of the freedom city that is favorable to corporate interests, said Woodworth. “Indeed, the impetus for freedom cities seems to be precisely to create exceptional conditions that make an end run around the regulatory thicket that frustrates a lot of people, including in the crypto business.” Why do crypto bros like freedom cities?How does one, in fact, explain the strong interest in freedom cities among some of the cryptocurrency community’s high-profile partisans? “The crypto community has been interested in new cities, charter cities and other innovative governance mechanisms for a long time,” Mason told Cointelegraph.“I think the common interest in decentralization drives a large part of this, but I also think the crypto community is passionate about innovation and building new things, so there’s natural alignment.”New vistas of innovation may tantalize both groups, “and they sense that existing institutional structures rooted in a 20th-century world hamper its potential,” opined Woodworth. “New cities, theoretically at least, might offer the prospect of designing a setting that can unleash the sector to discover where it can go in terms of innovation and new applications.”Bell added, “The crypto community doubtless sees in freedom cities the promise of a regulatory regime that at least is not overtly hostile to fintech innovation and that perhaps even welcomes it. There are lots of bold new ideas floating around the crypto space. Freedom Cities might offer a chance to put the best of them to work.”Bell would like to see quicker progress, though. He noted that Trump proposed the creation of 10 freedom cities in March 2023 while running for office, but “since then, so far as outward signs go, the administration has not followed up on the president’s promise.”Various parties eager to see freedom cities created have been urging Congressional members to enact the necessary legislation, he added. So far, “that effort has yet to bear fruit.”Two case studies: California Forever and Próspera In any event, the challenges of building a 21st-century city from scratch in the United States shouldn’t be underestimated, as those Silicon Valley billionaires who invested in the troubled California Forever real estate enterprise could probably attest.California Forever intended to develop new industries, novel sources of clean energy and safe, walkable neighborhoods with affordable homes in an underpopulated part of California, 60 miles north of San Francisco.Designed as an eco-friendly, walk-only community that would house up to 400,000 souls on previous farmland, it’s instead become a cautionary tale illustrating “the cultural and regulatory barriers to building today,” write Mark Lutter, founder and executive director of the Charter Cities Institute, and Nick Allen, president of the Frontier Foundation. The project has been “on hold” for two years pending an environmental study of its plan.California Forever hoped to build a city in Solano County. Source: California ForeverThe project’s backers made some missteps, to be sure. They purchased $900 million of farmland in sparsely populated Solano County without revealing anything about the identities of the enterprise’s backers or plans for a new city. When details finally did emerge, community relations soured. They frayed further when the project’s backers filed a $500-million antitrust lawsuit saying that farmers who had refused to sell their land to them were colluding to raise prices, The New York Times reported.Related: US gov’t actions give clue about upcoming crypto regulationOn the positive side, the project underscored that San Francisco is not building enough housing units, which has caused a huge spike in rents there and is driving away local residents. Something similar, if less extreme, is happening in other US cities today, a key reason why the Trump administration’s freedom cities initiative is gaining attention. Próspera’s island “paradise”By comparison, the overseas-based Próspera chartered-city project avoided many of those same regulatory and zoning problems that vexed California Forever thanks to a welcoming Honduras government — at least initially. The owners of Próspera, a Delaware Registered Company, persuaded Honduras to give them a 50-year lease and permission to build a startup city on the the island of Roatán with a regulatory system designed for entrepreneurs “to build better, cheaper, and faster than anywhere else in the world,” according to the for-profit company’s website.Próspera has raised $120 million in investments since its founding in 2017, including from venture-capital funds backed by tech billionaires Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen, among others.It operates in a special economic development zone within Honduras, but it has its own government, is modestly taxed, and has a flexible regulatory structure largely of its own devising. Disputes are settled by the Próspera arbitration center. Indeed, the new city’s court system reportedly makes use of retired Arizona judges who operate totally online.The island of Próspera. Source: PrósperaPróspera has been able to persuade Western-based companies to set up new businesses within its zone, including experimental medical facilities, “which run clinical trials unburdened by F.D.A. standards,” according to The New York Times.To say that the Honduras-based startup city is crypto-aligned might be an understatement. In January 2025, Próspera received a strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures “to expand economic freedom globally.” In February, it hosted a “crypto cities summit.” The island has a Bitcoin Center, which instructs visitors in crypto’s whys and wherefores. Indeed, Próspera calls itself “one of the most Bitcoin-friendly jurisdictions in the world,” and it invites visitors to “connect with fellow Bitcoiners, tour Próspera, and relax in paradise.”Recently, however, the charter city may have lost its way. Próspera has a $11-billion claim against the State of Honduras that still awaits a ruling from an international arbitration tribunal, and some of its one-time supporters have become disenchanted. “It’s like a gated community. They’re just trying to isolate themselves and do what’s best for them,” Paul Romer, a Nobel-winning economist and former supporter, told Bloomberg recently. In short, developing a charter city isn’t always a breeze — not even in paradise.Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research

by Cointelegraph by Helen Partz on April 28, 2025 at 12:36 pm

Michael Saylor’s Strategy added to its massive Bitcoin stash last week as the cryptocurrency surged above $90,000.In an April 28 announcement, Strategy reported acquiring 15,355 Bitcoin (BTC) between April 21 and 27.The latest purchases cost Strategy $1.42 billion at an average price of $92,737 per BTC, increasing the company’s aggregate BTC holdings by roughly 3% to a total of 535,555 BTC worth more than $50 billion.An excerpt from Strategy’s Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: StrategyStrategy’s latest buy is its largest since late March, when the firm bagged 22,048 Bitcoin for $1.92 billion at an average price of $86,969 per BTC.Strategy’s Bitcoin yield is at 13.7%Announcing the purchase on X, Strategy co-founder Saylor said the firm has achieved the BTC yield of 13.7% year-to-date.“As of April 27, we hodl 553,555 BTC acquired for approximately $37.90 billion at $68,459 per Bitcoin,” Saylor noted.Source: Michael SaylorStrategy’s BTC yield — an indicator representing the percentage change of the ratio between its BTC holdings and assumed diluted shares — amounted to 74% in 2024.The company expects to reach a BTC yield target of 15% in 2025.“You can still buy BTC for less than $0.1 million”Strategy’s Bitcoin purchase came as the cryptocurrency caught significant bullish action last week, surging 8% from around $87,000 to nearly $94,000 in the period from April 21–27, according to data from CoinGecko.Bitcoin traded at $95,442 at the time of writing, slightly above its price on Jan. 1, but still lower than its all-time high price above $109,000 seen on Jan. 21.As Strategy beefed up its Bitcoin stash alongside a BTC rally, Saylor continued posting bullish messages to the community on social media.Related: Over 13K institutions exposed to Strategy as Saylor hints at BTC buy“You can still buy BTC for less than $0.1 million,” Saylor wrote on April 25.In another X post preceding the purchase announcement, Saylor said: “Stay humble. Stack sats [satoshis].” He linked the message to a screenshot of Strategy’s portfolio tracker reflecting the company’s BTC purchases on the timeline of the price chart.Source: Michael SaylorThe news comes as Strategy is inching toward a $100 billion market capitalization, with MSTR shares surging roughly 23% YTD and trading at $368.7 at the time of publication, according to data from TradingView.Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26

by Cointelegraph by SK Arora on April 28, 2025 at 12:30 pm

sUSD depeg, explained: Why Synthetix’s stablecoin fell below $0.70 In a significant and concerning event in the cryptocurrency space, sUSD, the native stablecoin of the Synthetix protocol, saw its value plummet to $0.68 on April 18, 2025. This drop represents a dramatic 31% deviation from its intended peg of 1:1 with the US dollar, a threshold that is fundamental to the concept of stablecoins. As the name implies, stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable price, which is crucial for their role as a reliable store of value within decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.For stablecoins like sUSD, maintaining this price stability is essential for ensuring confidence in their usage. However, the steep drop in sUSD’s value sent shockwaves through the crypto community, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty. The question arises: How did this once-stable digital asset fall below its peg, and why does this matter to the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem?SUSD depeg was triggered by a protocol shift (SIP-420) that lowered collateralization and disrupted peg-stabilizing incentives. Combined with Synthetix’s (SNX) price drops and liquidity outflows, confidence in sUSD weakened.Understanding SIP-420 and its impactSIP-420 introduces a protocol-owned debt pool in Synthetix, allowing SNX stakers to delegate their debt positions to a shared pool with a lower issuance ratio. This shift boosts capital efficiency, simplifies staking, and enhances yield opportunities while discouraging solo staking by raising its collateralization ratio to 1,000%.Before SIP-420, users who minted sUSD had to over-collateralize with SNX tokens, maintaining a 750% collateral ratio. This high requirement ensured stability but limited efficiency. SIP-420 aimed to improve capital efficiency by reducing the collateral ratio to 200% and introducing a shared debt pool. This meant that instead of individual users being responsible for their own debt, the risk was distributed across the protocol.While this change made it easier to mint sUSD, it also removed the personal incentive for users to buy back sUSD when its price dropped below $1. Previously, users would repurchase sUSD at a discount to repay their debts, helping to restore its value. With the shared debt model, this self-correcting mechanism weakened.Consequences of the changeThe combination of increased sUSD supply and reduced individual incentives led to a surplus of sUSD in the market. At times, sUSD comprised over 75% of major liquidity pools, indicating that many users were offloading it at a loss. This oversupply, coupled with declining SNX prices, further destabilized sUSD’s value. ​But this is not the first time Synthetix has experienced volatility. The protocol, known for its decentralized synthetic asset platform, has seen fluctuations during past market cycles, but this recent depeg is one of the most severe in the history of the crypto industry. For instance, Synthetix has faced volatility before — during the 2020 market crash, mid-2021 DeFi corrections, and post-UST collapse in 2022 — each time exposing vulnerabilities in liquidity and oracle systems. A 2019 oracle exploit also highlighted structural fragility.The significance of sUSD’s depeg extends beyond this individual asset and reveals broader issues in the mechanisms supporting crypto-collateralized stablecoins. What is sUSD, and how does it work? sUSD is a crypto-collateralized stablecoin that operates on the Ethereum blockchain, designed to offer stability in a highly volatile crypto market. Unlike fiat-backed stablecoins such as USDC (USDC) or Tether’s USDt (USDT), which are pegged to the US dollar through reserves held in banks, sUSD is backed by a cryptocurrency — specifically, SNX, the native token of the Synthetix protocol.Minting sUSD:The process for minting sUSD involves staking SNX tokens into the protocol. In return, users receive sUSD tokens, which can be used within the Synthetix ecosystem or traded on the open market. To ensure that the sUSD token maintains its value, it is over-collateralized, meaning users must stake more SNX than the value of the sUSD minted. Historical collateralization ratio (C-Ratio):Historically, the collateralization ratio has been set around 750%, meaning that for every $1 of sUSD minted, users need to stake $7.50 worth of SNX tokens.The high collateralization ratio ensures a buffer against the price volatility of SNX, which is critical for the system’s stability. In an effort to improve capital efficiency, Synthetix introduced SIP-420, which brought significant changes:The required C-Ratio was lowered from 750% to 200%, allowing users to mint more sUSD with less SNX.Previously, each user was responsible for their own debt.With SIP-420, debt is now shared across a collective pool, meaning individual users are less directly impacted by their own actions.As a result of these changes, combined with market factors like declining SNX prices, sUSD has struggled to maintain its $1 peg, trading as low as $0.66 in April 2025. The Synthetix team is actively working on solutions to stabilize sUSD, including introducing new incentive mechanisms and exploring ways to enhance liquidity.Did you know? Synthetix uses a dynamic C-Ratio to manage system stability. Your active debt shifts with trader performance; profits increase debt, and losses reduce it. Through delta-neutral mechanisms in perpetual futures, liquidity providers absorb imbalances until opposing trades restore balance. It’s a system of shared, fluctuating risk. Is sUSD an algorithmic stablecoin? One of the common misconceptions surrounding sUSD is its classification as an algorithmic stablecoin. To clarify, sUSD is not algorithmic — it is crypto-collateralized. The key distinction is important because algorithmic stablecoins, such as the now-infamous TerraUSD (UST), rely on algorithms and smart contracts to manage supply and demand in an attempt to maintain their peg, often without actual collateral backing. In contrast, sUSD relies on the value of the underlying collateral (SNX tokens) to maintain its price.The sUSD peg is not fixed in the same way that fiat-backed stablecoins like USDC are. The Synthetix system allows for some natural fluctuation in the peg. While sUSD aims to stay close to $1, it’s not fixed — instead, the protocol relies on smart, built-in mechanisms to help restore the peg over time when it drifts. Here are the key mechanisms post-SIP-420:​Lower collateralization ratio (200%): As mentioned, the required backing for minting sUSD was reduced, allowing more sUSD to enter circulation with less SNX. This increases capital efficiency but also heightens the risk of depegging.Shared debt pool: Instead of individual debt responsibility, all stakers now share a collective debt pool, weakening natural peg-restoring behavior.sUSD lockup incentives (420 Pool): To reduce circulating sUSD and help restore the peg, users are incentivized to lock their sUSD for 12 months in exchange for a share of protocol rewards (e.g., 5 million SNX).Liquidity incentives: The protocol offers high-yield incentives to liquidity providers who support sUSD trading pairs, helping absorb excess supply and improve price stability.External yield strategies: The protocol plans to use minted sUSD in external protocols (e.g., Ethena) to generate yield, which can help offset systemic risk and reinforce stability mechanisms.These restoration mechanisms primarily function through incentives. For example, if sUSD is trading below $1, users who have staked SNX may be incentivized to buy discounted sUSD to pay off their debts at a reduced cost. This type of system relies heavily on market dynamics and the incentives of participants to help stabilize the peg.Did you know? The C-Ratio is calculated using the formula: C-Ratio (%) = (Total SNX value in USD / active debt in USD) × 100. It changes as the price of SNX or your debt share fluctuates — crucial for minting synths and avoiding penalties. Synthetix’s recovery plan: How it aims to restabilize sUSD Synthetix has formulated a comprehensive three-phase recovery plan aimed at restoring the stablecoin’s peg to the US dollar and ensuring its long-term stability. Synthetix founder Kain Warwick recently published a post on Mirror proposing a solution to fix the sUSD stablecoin. His plan outlines how the community can work together to restore the peg and strengthen the system.1. Bring back good incentives (the “carrot”)Users who lock up sUSD will earn SNX rewards, helping reduce the amount of sUSD in the market.Two new yield-earning pools (one for sUSD and one for USDC) will let anyone supply stablecoins and earn interest — no SNX required.2. Add gentle pressure (the “stick”)SNX stakers now have to hold a small percentage of their debt in sUSD to keep earning benefits.If the sUSD peg drops more, the required sUSD holding goes up — more pressure to help fix the peg.According to Warwick, this plan restores the natural loop: When sUSD is cheap, people are motivated to buy it and close their debt, pushing the price back up. Kain estimates it might take less than $5 million in buying pressure to restore the peg — totally doable if enough people participate.Once incentives are realigned and sUSD regains its peg, Synthetix will roll out major upgrades: retiring legacy systems, launching Perps v4 on Ethereum with faster trading and multi-collateral support, introducing snaxChain for high-speed synthetic markets, and minting 170 million SNX to fuel ecosystem growth through new liquidity and trading incentives. The sUSD shake-up: Key risks crypto investors can’t ignore The recent sUSD depeg is a stark reminder of the inherent risks that come with crypto-collateralized stablecoins. While stablecoins are designed to offer price stability, their reliance on external factors, such as market conditions and the underlying collateral, means that they are not immune to volatility. Crypto-collateralized stablecoins like sUSD face heightened risk due to their reliance on volatile assets like SNX. Market sentiment, external events, and major protocol changes can quickly disrupt stability, making depegging more likely — especially in the fast-moving, ever-evolving world of DeFi.Here are some of the critical risks that crypto investors should be aware of:Dependence on collateral value: The stability of sUSD is directly tied to the price of SNX. If SNX falls in value, sUSD becomes vulnerable to under-collateralization, threatening its peg and causing it to lose value.Protocol design risks: Changes in the protocol, such as the introduction of SIP-420, can have unintended consequences. Misalignments in incentives or poorly executed upgrades can disrupt the balance that keeps the system stable.Market sentiment: Stablecoins operate on trust, and if users lose confidence in a stablecoin’s ability to maintain its peg, its value can rapidly drop, even if the protocol is sound in design.Incentive misalignment: The removal of individual incentives, such as those seen with the 420 Pool, can weaken the protocol’s ability to keep the peg intact, as it reduces the motivation for users to stabilize the system.Lack of redundancy: Stablecoins should have robust fallback strategies to mitigate risks from single points of failure. A failure in one mechanism, like a protocol upgrade or design flaw, can quickly spiral into a full-blown crisis.To protect themselves, users should diversify their stablecoin exposure, closely monitor protocol changes, and avoid over-reliance on crypto-collateralized assets like sUSD. Staying informed about governance updates and market sentiment is key, as sudden shifts can trigger depegging. Users can also reduce risk by using stablecoins with stronger collateral backing or built-in redundancies and by regularly reviewing DeFi positions for signs of under-collateralization or systemic instability.

by Cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai on April 28, 2025 at 12:16 pm

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is launching the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund on May 1, aiming to offer Bitcoin (BTC) exposure for institutional investors outside the US.The fund targets an annual net return of 4% to 8% on Bitcoin holdings, according to an April 28 blog post by Coinbase.“To address the growing institutional demand for bitcoin yield, Coinbase Asset Management is excited to introduce the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund (CBYF),” the company wrote.The fund is backed by multiple investors, including Aspen Digital, a digital asset manager based in Abu Dhabi and regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Coinbase introduces a Bitcoin yield-bearing fund. Source: CoinbaseRelated: Michael Saylor hints at Bitcoin purchase as whales stack aggressivelyThe yield will be generated through a cash-and-carry strategy, through the difference between spot Bitcoin prices and derivatives.Unlike Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL), Bitcoin holders can’t generate passive income through staking — a gap the fund is aiming to fill, according to the announcement:“Bitcoin yield funds have emerged to address this limitation, but these funds generally require institutional allocators to take on significant investment and operational risk.”The new fund seeks to lower the investment and operational risks typically associated with Bitcoin yield products, which Coinbase says will better align with the risk appetite of institutional investors.Related: Stacks Asia expands Bitcoin initiatives with Abu Dhabi partnershipBitcoin momentum mainly driven by institutional interestCoinbase cited growing institutional crypto adoption as the reason behind the launch of the funds, which may have been the reason behind Bitcoin’s significant price recovery over the past week.Bitcoin rose by more than 9% in the week leading up to April 28, bolstered by exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, which recorded their second-highest week of inflows at over $3 billion, Farside Investors data shows.Bitcoin ETF Flow, USD, million. Source: Farside InvestorsBitcoin’s recovery to $94,000 was mainly supported by growing “ETF inflows and corporate buying,” amid lagging retail interest, Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, told Cointelegraph, adding:“Retail interest may surge if Bitcoin breaks $100,000, fueled by media hype and FOMO. Monitor the $94,000–$95,000 resistance for potential retail re-engagement.”On April 21, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted that this might be the “last chance” to buy Bitcoin below $100,000, as the incoming US Treasury buybacks may signal the next significant catalyst for Bitcoin price.Magazine: Bitcoin’s odds of June highs, SOL’s $485M outflows, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 2 – 8

by Cointelegraph by Ezra Reguerra on April 28, 2025 at 11:40 am

Wallet interoperability still remains the vision for Web3 gaming, according to Arthur Madrid, the co-founder and CEO of the decentralized metaverse and gaming platform The Sandbox. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Crypto Polo event in Dubai, Madrid and his fellow The Sandbox co-founder and chief operating officer, Sebastien Borget, told Cointelegraph that Web3 gaming interoperability remains the goal for The Sandbox. Madrid said: “So, the vision is still kind of obvious for us. It’s like you need to be able to play any games using one wallet that will enable you to combine the utilities of all that you collected and all what you earned.”The Sandbox CEO said that one of the main narratives they’ve seen in the last couple of months is that players can move from one game to another using a single wallet. The executive told Cointelegraph that players accessing games with one wallet and using their items on different platforms remains an exciting topic for Web3 gaming enthusiasts. The Sandbox co-founders at the Crypto Polo event in Dubai. Source: CointelegraphWeb3 gaming still “booming” as tools become accessibleMadrid added that despite a market slowdown, the Web3 gaming space is still booming. The executive told Cointelegraph that the tools and infrastructure needed to create new games have become more accessible. “I can feel that the tools you need to create games are becoming more accessible. If you look the number of games that have been created on gaming platforms over the last two years, it's still booming,” Madrid told Cointelegraph. The executive also said that a new generation of programmers and programming tools is working on new types of gameplay. Madrid added that the space needs only one good game that could serve as the catalyst for the broader adoption of Web3 technology in gaming. “The thing is, you always need this moment where one game is making a difference. You have this moment of rebirth,” Madrid said. Related: Nike sued for $5 million over its shutdown of NFT platform RTFKTThe Sandbox co-founder highlights a shift in NFT utilityBorget told Cointelegraph that the non-fungible token (NFT) space is now seeing a shift in focus. The executive said that their team is seeing more maturity in the industry as it shifted from using NFTs to do fundraising and just profile pictures to better use cases. Borget said this was driven by consumers demanding more use for their digital assets. The executive said that creators and developers must focus on adding more value to their NFTs to keep up with this demand. “At The Sandbox, we still continue to see more demand for our virtual land, avatars and other NFT collections, such as Jurassic World, because they can be used across the game right away,” Borget said.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race