The upcoming launch of spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Hong Kong will not open up the market for investors in mainland China, according to Bloomberg data analyst Jack Wang.

Following Hong Kong’s approval of spot BTC and ETH ETFs, the three Chinese asset managers including China Asset Management, Harvest Global Investments and Bosera set the spot crypto ETFs through their Hong Kong subsidiaries on April 30.

Though the ETF issuers have close ties with mainland China, they will not be able to provide Bitcoin or Ether exposure to investors in that jurisdiction.

“Mainland Chinese citizens will not be able to participate in this,” Wang said on April 24 during a Bloomberg webinar devoted to Hong Kong’s approval of spot crypto ETFs.

He cited a statement from the Chinese State Council issued in September 2021, which indicated that any financial institution is not allowed to create accounts, transfer funds or provide clearing for any crypto-related transactions.

Source: Bloomberg

“So even for the futures-based crypto ETF listed in Hong Kong — I actually tried to set a trade — the brokers will just directly reject the trade,” Wang stated, adding that Chinese investors are not going to get in touch with this product at all in the short term.

He also expressed confidence that the launch of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong will have no positive impact on the regulatory environment in mainland China and will not open the crypto market to Chinese investors.

“I would say it's 100% not going to happen at least,” the analyst said.

According to Thomas Zhu, head of digital assets at Hong Kong-based China Asset Management — or China AMC — the legibility of mainland Chinese investors to acquire crypto ETFs in Hong Kong is dependent on the “enactment of forthcoming regulatory modifications.”

Related: Chinese ‘Crypto Dad’ faces government investigation

“As for other products, starting from 2014, the Mainland and Hong Kong regulators made a concerted effort to establish Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect. With these trading links, Mainland investors can directly trade eligible Hong Kong stocks and ETFs,” Zhu told Cointelegraph.

Amid growing optimism about the upcoming launch of spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart pointed out that Bitcoin ETFs in the United States have more assets than all ETFs in Hong Kong.

“The U.S. ETF market is almost $9 trillion in assets — that's trillion with a 'T'. The entire Hong Kong ETF market is around $50 billion. Mainland China ETFs are around $325 billion. We're talking literal orders of magnitude differences in size and impact,” Seyffart wrote in an X post on April 12.

Magazine: Woman accused of $6B scam, China loophole for Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs: Asia Express

Quantum computing may seem like science fiction, but it may come sooner than expected. 

On Jan. 11, 2024, the World Economic Forum identified artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing as emerging threats in a report exploring how quantum computing could threaten the existing tech landscape.

While computer scientists and developers agree that quantum computing will still take some years to develop, research in the field is very active.

In the public sector, all G7 countries are actively involved in quantum computing projects. In the private sector, seven of the top 10 tech companies are “either publicly competing for market dominance in involved in some capacity,” according to Quantum Resistant Ledger.

So when will quantum computing become potent enough to threaten contemporary cryptography systems, like those safeguarding cryptocurrencies?

According to a December 2023 report from Reuters, Tilo Kunz, executive vice president of cybersecurity firm Quantum Defen5e (QD5), told officials at the Defense Information Systems Agency that Q-day — the day quantum computing can break current security standards — could come as soon as 2025.

Major organizations in the finance world have noticed. In June 2023, the Bank for International Settlements started its “Project Leap,” which aims to develop quantum-proof payment systems with the Bank of France and Deutsche Bundesbank.

So, with ominous forecasts and central banks scrambling to safeguard payments, how can the blockchain and crypto industry prepare for Q-day? Is anyone prepared?

Why is quantum computing dangerous for blockchains?

David Chaum, a renowned computer scientist and founder of post-quantum resistant blockchain XX Network, explained to Cointelegraph how quantum computing can “vaporize” a blockchain.

Quantum computing could compromise the SHA-256 algorithm — the cryptographic hash function that serves as the primary wall of defense for securing access to blockchain-based assets like cryptocurrencies.

Subsequently, quantum computers could break the blockchain’s consensus by creating fake messages, which could jam the consensus protocol. Chaum said:

“Quantum computing could kill existing blockchains by forging the signatures of the nodes. You could take them down.”

They could also effortlessly crack private keys, making funds vulnerable to theft.

Vitalik Buterin’s proposal to defend Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum network, introduced a possible solution to blockchain’s quantum challenge.

On March 9, 2024, Buterin proposed a solution involving a hard fork, opening a debate on how to prepare the blockchain for a quantum emergency.

Buterin explained that quantum computers could crack an Ethereum account and reveal the private key by using the public key alone.

Recent: DeFi bull market confounds expectations with RWAs and ‘recursive airdrops’

As Buterin explained, the only Ethereum accounts safe from a quantum attack would be wallets that have never completed a transaction, as they wouldn’t have exposed their public key.

Of course, this is not a common practice among crypto holders, so nearly all wallets would be in jeopardy.

For Buterin, the technology required to make Ethereum immune to a quantum attack could be developed “tomorrow”:

“We are already well-positioned to make a pretty simple recovery fork to deal with such a situation.”

Buterin’s proposed solution is based on proving ownership of crypto assets or a wallet by applying a backup key as a fallback.

The concept was introduced in 2021 in the paper “W-OTS(+) up my Sleeve! A Hidden Secure Fallback for Cryptocurrency Wallets” by cryptographers Chaum, Mario Larangeira, Mario Yaksetig and William Carter, who proposed a key generation mechanism where users can generate a backup key, which is securely nested inside the secret key of a signature scheme.

In the event of a secret key leak, the backup key would generate proof of ownership and recuperate their funds in an updated quantum-resistant blockchain — essentially through a hard fork in the blockchain.

Therefore, if a quantum emergency emerges, users would download a new wallet software and prove their ownership with the fallback. Buterin mentioned how only a “few users would lose their funds” in this procedure.

The hypothetical hard fork would roll back the Ethereum network to the block where the large-scale theft occurred.

An illustrated diagram of Buterin’s theoretical Ethereum Improvement Proposal. Source: Ethereum Research The quantum solution’s effect on ETH price

Chaum claimed that Buterin’s solution isn’t perfect and could create some turbulence for Ethereum users.

As Chaum explained, if Ethereum does not implement a quantum resistance mechanism before a quantum attack, the emergency solution suggested by Buterin will force the chain to be reconstituted.

The cryptographer explained that a new chain with quantum-resistant measures built into its core would need to be built. Once that is achieved, the assets may be moved to a new wallet in the new chain.

During this process, the Ethereum blockchain would need to be paused for an unknown time until it’s restored to a new quantum-resistant blockchain. Chaum said that this procedure could take years.

He said that the consequences of the sudden halt of one of the most active blockchains should not be underestimated, stating that it could be catastrophic.

“There would be a big time gap. I’m not sure that the price of Ether would survive that gap.”

John Woods, chief technology officer at the Algorand Foundation, told Cointelegraph that, while he believes Buterin is “hyper-competent,” he feels Ethereum could take a step further: “It’s evident that this post represents an emergency plan of action and not an elegant transition into a post-quantum cryptography era for Ethereum.”

Recent: SEC targets Uniswap Labs, raising concerns over open-source code liability

Algorand implemented a post-quantum mechanism using “Falcon” signatures, one of the three signing algorithms the National Institute of Standards and Technology selected for standardization.

Woods encouraged Ethereum to adopt Falcon to foster interoperability as its implementation “is not limited to Algorand and holds potential for adoption by various other distributed ledger technologies, blockchains and related systems.”

Ethereum seems to have established an emergency protocol to survive if a quantum emergency is detected.

However, the emergency solution has serious caveats, which should make the Ethereum developer community focus firmly on developing quantum-resistant measures before Q-day arrives.

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and police have received expanded authority to “seize, freeze, and destroy” cryptocurrency used by criminals. As a result of these new rules, police in the country will no longer be required to make an arrest before seizing crypto holdings.

According to a press release from the U.K. Home Office, the police can also seize items like passwords or memory sticks that could aid investigations. U.K. law enforcement will also be able to eliminate a crypto asset if returning it to circulation is deemed detrimental to the public good.

Part of the new laws, which will come into effect from April 26, state that the police can also transfer seized illicit cryptocurrency to wallets under their control and crime victims can apply to reclaim funds from their crypto accounts.

U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly said that criminals must not profit from illegal activities. Cleverly cited crypto fundraising by groups as the rationale behind the new police powers.

“These reforms will also enhance our national security. Terrorist organisations like Daesh are known to raise funds through crypto transactions and these updated powers will enable our agencies to more easily strip them of their assets.”

The new regulations were implemented following the passage of a crime bill by the U.K. Parliament last year, which facilitated the rapid seizure of cryptocurrency.

Related: UK to propose clearer crypto regulations by July

The U.K. press release highlighted privacy coins as being “detrimental to the public good.” While most cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) employ public ledgers that offer pseudo-anonymity to users, privacy coins provide a much higher level of anonymity.

However, it's noted that even with wallet addresses being anonymous, once associated with an individual's identity through procedures like Know Your Customer (KYC), all transactions made by that wallet can be traced and identified.

The announcement while noting that cryptocurrencies and NFTs are used by drug dealers and fraudsters as evidenced by different investigations stated that the new changes aim to prevent criminals from exploiting crypto for illicit purposes while also fostering its potential to drive economic growth legitimately.

The announcement acknowledged that drug dealers and fraudsters have used cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), as evidenced by various investigations.

However, it stated that the new changes are intended to prevent criminals from exploiting crypto for illicit purposes while also promoting its potential to legitimately drive economic growth.

In recent days, governments and law enforcement globally, not just in the U.K., have intensified efforts against crypto privacy initiatives.

Earlier this week, U.S. authorities apprehended the founders of Bitcoin mixer Samourai Wallet on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers

Bitcoin transactions reached a new all-time high of 926,842 transactions, just three days after the Bitcoin halving.

Bitcoin (BTC) amassed over 926,000 daily transactions on April 23, surpassing the previous high of over 731,000 transactions reached in December 2023, according to Glassnode data.

Bitcoin: Number of transactions, all-time chart. Source: Glassnode

The record daily transaction count occurred three days after the Bitcoin halving on April 20, which coincided with the launch of Bitcoin Runes, a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network.

Runes make up the lion’s share of transactions on Bitcoin, accounting for 68% of all Bitcoin transactions. Investors have executed a total of 3.6 million Runes-related transactions, according to Dune.

Runes, share of transactions. Source: Dune

While Runes may not remain the dominant token standard of the Bitcoin network, they are a testament to the value of block space on Bitcoin, according to Nazar Khan, the co-founder and CEO of TeraWulf.

Khan told Cointelegraph in an interview:

"Runes and Ordinals are demonstrating the value of block space... The Bitcoin network is the most decentralized, secure, and robust network that exists, so there will be use cases and value derived from that block space."

Related: Runes are offering a significant lifeline for Bitcoin miners — TeraWulf CEO

Despite the record transaction count, the Bitcoin price remains subdued, just above the $64,000 mark. The world’s first cryptocurrency fell over 9% on the monthly chart, according to CoinMarketCap data.

BTC/USDT/ 1-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Related: Crypto mixing is 'not a crime,' says CryptoQuant CEO

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

While the hype surrounding the metaverse seems to have dwindled, some continue to believe in its use cases and potential for the future. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Web3 professionals who argued that there are undeniable use cases for the metaverse in various industries like gaming, real estate and tourism.

NASA training astronauts in the metaverse. Source: NASA 

Clement Chia, the co-founder of the Web3 entertainment group Imaginary Ones, said major brands could integrate real-world products on new technologies like the metaverse.

Chia shared that throughout their company’s journey, they were able to integrate brands like Hugo Boss and Samsung within its “Imaginary” ecosystem. Chia said:

“Users can now truly own their digital assets, thanks to blockchain technology which ensures transparency. Tokenization represents an evolution in the digital world, as it allows programming through smart contracts, opening up endless possibilities.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Huber, the CEO of metaverse-as-a-service company Landvault and social finance firm Matera, told Cointelegraph that their firm witnessed metaverse applications in tourism, real estate and sports.

Huber highlighted that organizations within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) areas have been using the metaverse as a tool for “destination marketing.” Huber explained:

“The metaverse can be a great way for governments, organizations, and brands to showcase the region to a wider audience through virtual tours, historical showcases and events.”

Similarly, Huber said that the metaverse has been used to present real estate to potential buyers across the globe. “Digital twin technology and virtual reality allow people from all around the world to view properties from the comfort of their own homes.”

The Landvault CEO also said the firm has worked with many sports teams to create metaverse experiences.

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

Blockchain technology on the metaverse

The executives had differing opinions when asked about blockchain technology’s role in the metaverse. Chia argued that just adding blockchain on top of the metaverse doesn’t solve its “purpose” problems. He said:

“Simply adding blockchain technology on top of it doesn’t naturally solve the problem. We should focus on building great products that create emotional connections with users.”

The executive believes that the metaverse needs to have its purpose. “People should be able to find meaning and a sense of belonging within it,” he added.

On the other hand, Huber believes that while the metaverse would still be “powerful” without blockchain, the executive said that integrating blockchain technology key benefits to metaverses.

This includes transparency through immutable records, unique digital assets like nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and monetization models that give creators and developers new ways to generate revenue.

Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more

Synthesia, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup supported by Nvidia, has introduced a new upgrade enabling AI avatars to convey human emotions and movements.

On April 25, the company revealed its “Expressive Avatars,” which aim to express emotion based on text instruction for corporate presentations, marketing and training purposes.

  This is it. This changes everything. For the first time in history, #AIavatars are able to understand what they're saying.Powered by our new AI avatar model, EXPRESS-1, they can detect sentiment of a script and perform all the subtle nuances of human communication.The… pic.twitter.com/uj3WIjcGlm

— Synthesia (@synthesiaIO) April 25, 2024

While generative AI has often been praised for its ability to create realistic moving images, such is the case with OpenAI’s Sora video generator.

However, AI is not without its flaws, especially when portraying humans, who are often shown with distorted hands or limbs, collaged backgrounds, or lips out of synch with speech.

Synthesia aims to correct this in its latest version, which was developed on actual humans reading scripts in their studio. This was done to help bots capture lip tracking and be more accurate in their emotive expressions.

Victor Ribarbelli, the CEO and co-founder of Synthesia, said in a video that the missing piece has been that, unlike humans, “avatars don’t understand what they’re saying” which previously led to the lack of facial response to emotions.

In the studio, they were trained to respond to simple prompts like, “I am happy. I am sad. I am frustrated” by conveying the correct facial expressions and tone associated with the given emotion.

Source: Synthesia

The new avatars are also available in more than 130 languages, can provide their own closed captions and even clone users’ own voices. 

Related: Sam Altman pushes ChatGPT mass adoption among Fortune 500 companies: Report

However, among the example models of avatars on Synthesia’s website speaking in languages other than English such as French, German and Spanish, the English language model is the most advanced and human-like, according to a Cointelegraph test of the model.

The startup reportedly has at least half of the Fortune 100 companies listed as clients and provides services to over 55,000 enterprises. This includes leaders in various industries such as Zoom, Xerox, Microsoft and Reuters, among others. 

Synthesia is a United Kingdom-based company founded in 2017. On the heels of the AI boom over the last year, it has reached a valuation of nearly $1 billion with major backers like Nvidia — who currently dominate AI semiconductor chip development.

Due to its more narrowed approach —creating human-like avatars for business use — Synthesia has been side-stepping some of the hype and fierce competition seen between competing chatbot models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbot.

Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

Crypto mixing services are not a crime, wrote Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, in response to the recent arrest of the Samourai Wallet founders.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has arrested pioneers in Bitcoin privacy, according to Ki, who wrote in an April 25 X post:

“Privacy stands as a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing itself is not a crime. Even crypto exchanges use mixing to safeguard user privacy. It's like punishing the inventor of the knife instead of the one who uses it.”

On April 24, Cointelegraph reported that cryptocurrency wallet Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill will each face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

The arrest caused widespread concerns in the crypto community, as participants feared that it could signal another U.S. government attempt to crack down on the industry.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden called the arrests an attack on financial privacy, in an April 24 X post:

“The Department of 'Justice' has once again criminalized the developers of an app that restores financial privacy. The way to fix this is to make money private by default. Privacy must never be 'exceptional,' or they will make it criminal.”

The DOJ alleged that Samourai Wallet “executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets.”

Others also perceived the enforcement action as a crackdown on financial privacy from the DOJ, including crypto analyst Ryan Adams, who stated in an April 24 X post:

“These developers face up to 25 years in prison for writing code. The US is sending a message. No transaction will be private.”

This isn’t the first time that authorities are cracking down on privacy-preserving technologies like cryptocurrency mixers.

In August 2023, the U.S. DOJ charged the developers of crypto mixer Tornado Cash with money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transfer business.

The three developers, including Alexey Pertsev, were arrested in August 2022, days after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash for allegedly being used by the North Korean Lazarus Group to launder over a billion dollars worth of crypto.

Tornado Cash fallout: What does it mean for Ethereum? Source: Cointelegraph

Related: Runes are offering a significant lifeline for Bitcoin miners — TeraWulf CEO

A memecoin trader cashed out millions in profits from several positions on meme-themed tokens in Solana (SOL). 

On April 26, blockchain analysis firm Lookonchain flagged the movements of a trader with the Solana Name Service account called “paulo.sol.” The crypto wallet realized profits on meme tokens like Dogwifhat (WIF), Jeo Boden (BODEN) and Bonk (BONK).

The trader got into BONK as early as Nov. 11, 2023. The user noticed that the memecoin was rising and bought tokens. The trader then performed swing trades, buying at lows and selling at highs. In total, the trader made about $6.28 million trading BONK.

Bonk buys and sells from the crypto wallet called paulo.sol. Source: Dexscreener (via Lookonchain)

Meanwhile, the trader also noticed WIF and BODEN. When the tokens first went online, the Solana memecoin holder did not immediately jump into them.

However, the trader started buying heavily when they showed upward swings for the first time. The trader started buying WIF on Dec. 4, 2023 and started trading BODEN on March 6. In total, the trader realized $9.51 million in profits from WIF trades and $7.04 million on BODEN.

Overall, the trader realized over $22.83 million from flipping Solana-based meme tokens. While the trader already secured millions in profits, the crypto user still holds $7.6 million in BODEN tokens and $5.7 million in WIF at the time of writing.

Apart from these memecoin holdings, the trader has also started to put money on other memecoins. The crypto wallet started buying tokens called PUPS and POPCAT.

The trader spent $1.77 million on POPCAT and almost $6 million on PUPS, becoming its largest holder on Solana.

Related: Solana memecoin craze continues with Biden parody token reaching $250M market cap

Community members praised the trader because of the impressive moves. One X user said the trader was not lucky but had “more conviction” than others.

Another user said that the trader had “diamond” hands, a term used to describe crypto traders that can hold tokens even under pressure.

This trader is one of the many who have reaped profits from the Solana memecoin craze. On Dec. 29, a trader hit a $2 million jackpot after putting only $62 on a SOL-based meme token. On April 3, another turned $13,000 into $2 million in just one hour as the memecoin frenzy continued.

Magazine: Woman accused of $6B scam, China loophole for Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs: Asia Express

The rise in transaction fees from Bitcoin Runes — a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network — is offering a significant revenue boost for Bitcoin miners, according to Nazar Khan, the co-founder and CEO of TeraWulf.

Khan told Cointelegraph in an exclusive:

“Runes significantly increased the transaction fees, so if anything, there was an increase in the hash price in the first 24-30 hours [after halving]. Since then, we’ve seen transaction fees come down, but compared to the average fees in 2023, they’re still pretty high.”

As the rest of the Bitcoin block reward is fixed issuance, the transaction fees are the “wild card” for Bitcoin (BTC) miners, explained Khan.

Nazar Khan, interview with Cointelegraph. Source: Cointelegraph

The boost in transaction fees represents a significant financial lifeline for miners after the Bitcoin halving reduced block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

Total Bitcoin transaction fees stood at 105 Bitcoin on April 25, down from its peak of 1,257 on April 20 — the day of the Bitcoin halving — according to Cryptoquant data. Yet, transaction fees remained higher compared to most of 2023.

Bitcoin Miner Fees (Total). Source: Cryptoquant

Related: ‘Real opportunity’ for Bitcoin Runes will come after first wave of investor hype

On average, transaction fees made up 30% of the Bitcoin block rewards since the halving, which is almost an additional BTC for miners, on top of the existing block rewards, said Khan:

“If you think about the 30% [average transaction fee] where it's been the last few days, that's almost one BTC, on top of the 3.125 BTC that are being issued as block rewards. So it is very significant…”

Transaction fees comprised an average of 10% of Bitcoin block rewards in 2023. Terawulf assumed an average post-halving Bitcoin production cost of $37,000 per BTC, assuming a 10% average transaction fee.

But with higher average transaction fees, TeraWulf’s Bitcoin production cost will likely fall lower, contributing to its profitability, according to Khan:

“To the extent that transaction fees are higher than that, we will recognize a lower production cost. So even with 10% transaction fees, we will be very profitable, even post-halving.”

TerraWulf is the eighth-largest Bitcoin mining firm, with an over $750 million market capitalization, according to Companies Market Cap. The company is planning further expansions despite the halving of block rewards.

Top Bitcoin mining firms. Source: Companiesmarketcap

Related: BRC-20 tokens bleed ahead of Bitcoin halving as trader focus shifts to Runes

Big Tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, unveiled their second-quarter earnings reports, which showcased an impressive growth fueled by their strategic investments in artificial intelligence (AI). 

The recent earnings reports released on April 25 painted a clear picture that the AI market is still booming and has played a significant role in driving growth while boosting product and financial performance.

Microsoft’s momentum

Microsoft revealed a 17% increase in revenue, soaring to $61.9 billion up from $52.9 billion in the previous year. Additionally, the company saw a 20% surge in profits, reaching $21.9 billion, in both instances outperforming analysts' forecasts. 

A significant contributor to this growth was the company’s robust integration of AI into its offerings, particularly evident in its cloud computing product Azure, which experienced a 31% growth.

Azure's generative AI services played a pivotal role in driving this expansion, attracting 53,000 customers, a third of whom were new to the platform. In many of its recent deals, Microsoft has incorporated Azure usage for partnering companies.

One example from April 16, is a $1.5 billion deal with the Abu Dhabi-based AI tech holding company G42, which will have the company run its AI applications and services using Azure.

Amy Hood, the chief financial officer of Microsoft, commented on the uptick saying:

“Near-term AI demand is a bit higher than our available capacity.”

To meet this demand, the company is ramping up investments in data centers and other AI infrastructure, anticipating a “material” increase in capital expenditures. Microsoft's cloud revenue stood at $35.1 billion for the quarter, resulting in a 23% growth year-over-year. 

Related: Mistral AI startup launches LLM to take on ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude

In January of this year, Microsoft released the pro-version of its AI assistant Copilot, which included custom GPTs and office tools. The company has also been actively involved in investing in AI infrastructure around the world.

Its $13 billion deal with leading AI developer OpenAI was also mentioned as an important touchpoint for its success. 

Alphabet's AI integrations

Similarly, Alphabet reported increased figures, with quarterly sales reaching $80.5 billion, a 15% increase from the previous year and profit surging by 36% to $23.7 billion. Again, both instances exceeded expectations.

Google's integration of AI across its product ecosystem, from search engines to YouTube and Google Docs, was highlighted as a major driver of its success, along with its significant investment of $11.9 billion in AI research and development during the first three months of the year.

During the call, Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the company's focus on leveraging AI to enhance the search experience while optimizing advertising revenue.

“We're being measured in how we do this focusing on areas where Gen AI can improve the search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”

The company also announced its first-ever dividend of 20 cents per share to be paid in June. Additionally, it authorized a $70 billion share repurchase program, demonstrating confidence in its future.

Google has encountered challenges in the field of AI, such as the recent scandal involving its AI chatbot Gemini, which internet users criticized for presenting “woke” content and historically inaccurate imagery. As a result, the company issued an apology.

However, during the call Pichai remained optimistic and expressed confidence in Google's infrastructure, claiming it’s “the best for the AI era” due to years of investment.

The contrasting strategies between Microsoft, Google, and Meta, formerly Facebook, are evident in their approaches to AI investment.

While Microsoft and Google have prioritized AI integration to drive growth, it contrasts with Meta whose shares dropped 15% this week after it announced plans to spend almost $100 billion this year to “invest aggressively” in its AI products.

Magazine: How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed: AI Eye

A crackdown on individuals buying and selling child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using cryptocurrencies is underway in the United States.

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bill Cassidy want to ensure that federal agencies are fully equipped to track down crypto transactions linked to the sale of child abuse content.

In this effort to bring an end to CSAM, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were asked to reveal their current technical capacity.

The senators cited a Chainalysis study from January 2024, which suggested an increase in the use of cryptocurrency in the illicit trade of CSAM. In the study.

Chainalysis found that sellers of child abuse materials are using “mixers” and “privacy coins” like Monero (XMR) to launder their profits and evade law enforcement.

CSAM vendors’ usage of instant exchangers that allow for Monero conversion has increased significantly over the last few years. Source: Chainalysis.

Writing to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. senators asked for the DOJ’s and DHS’s current capabilities to identify and prosecute these crimes.

“Existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules and law enforcement methods face challenges in effectively detecting and preventing these crimes.”

The letter contained six questions, three of which were aimed at gauging the federal agencies’ independent findings on cryptocurrency’s link to CSAM. The rest were to identify the need for new tools to identify and prosecute sellers and buyers.

The senators requested a response to the questions by May 10.

Related: Crypto users fooled by fake Elizabeth Warren letter proposing crypto tax

The DOJ’s current technical capacity to examine crypto transactions led to the indictment of cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and two of its founders.

On March 26, the DOJ charged KuCoin and its two founders with “conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business” and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA.

“In failing to implement even basic Anti-Money Laundering policies, the defendants allowed KuCoin to operate in the shadows of the financial markets and be used as a haven for illicit money laundering.”

According to the Justice Department, KuCoin received more than $5 billion and sent more than $4 billion of “suspicious and criminal funds.”

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Bitcoin (BTC) could see a “re-acceleration” of its bull market thanks to new United States economic shifts.

That is the latest macro forecast by Arthur Hayes, former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX.

Hayes on crypto bull market: "Forget about the Fed" 

Bitcoin and altcoins have little hope in the Federal Reserve dropping interest rates soon to attract more liquidity into the economy.

As Cointelegraph reported, the odds of this happening sooner rather than later are becoming slimmer with each macro data print.

For Hayes, however, the Fed is no longer the U.S. yardstick worth watching — instead, it is Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

On April 29, the U.S. Treasury will release the quarterly refunding documentation, which sets out how the government will effectively manage liquidity.

On the radar are two key liquidity sources: the Treasury General Account (TGA) and so-called Reverse Purchase Agreements (RRPs).

“As expected tax receipts added roughly $200bn to TGA,” Hayes wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on April 26.

“Forget about the May Fed meeting the 2Q24 refunding annc comes out next week.”

TGA vs. RRP liquidity chart. Source: Arthur Hayes/X

Draining either the TGA or money from the pool of RRPs allows for money to reenter the economy — a key stimulus for risk-asset performance, and specifically crypto upside.

Hayes argues that the focus is thus on Yellen as part of a theory, which calls for U.S. dollar printing to only accelerate toward the upcoming Presidential Election and afterward.

A $1 trillion TGA drain, $400 million in RRPs or a combination of both is on the table, potentially totaling a $1.4 trillion liquidity injection.

“The Fed is irrelevant, Yellen is a bad bitch, you best respect her,” Hayes concluded.

“If any of these three options happen, expect a rally in stonks and most importantly a re-acceleration of the crypto bull market.”

Bitcoin ETFs see "overdue" slowdown

Other players see the knock-on effect of Bitcoin’s mainstream entry becoming a positive feedback loop for price.

Related: BTC halving to fuel ‘raging firesale of crypto assets’ — Arthur Hayes

The U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remain far from their full captive audience — despite marking the most successful ETF debut in history.

Commenting on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest product by assets under management excluding the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas dismissed a recent cooling of inflows as cause for concern.

“While $IBIT's daily inflow streak is over at 71 days, it is not done setting records. Here's a look at ETFs all time by assets after first 72 days on market,” he wrote alongside Bloomberg data.

“The league of own-ness of IBIT, FBTC et al shows how overheated it all was, a breather was overdue tbh.”

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF AUM chart. Source: Eric Balchunas/X

He added that “out of all the 10,698 registered funds in the U.S. (incl ETFs, mutual funds, CEFs) $IBIT currently ranks 2nd in YTD flows.”

While overall allocations remain small thus far, Cathie Wood, CEO of one spot Bitcoin ETF provider, ARK Invest, sees the trend gathering speed.

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.

What are crypto-to-crypto swaps?

Crypto-to-crypto swaps are the direct exchange of one cryptocurrency for another at the prevailing market rate. Unlike traditional exchanges, which would require fiat currency deposits and a longer process, crypto-to-crypto swaps facilitate the exchange seamlessly.

Swaps play a major role in enhancing the liquidity and efficiency of cryptocurrencies. The feature enables users to barter their cryptocurrencies with other coins in their wallets, enhancing the efficiency of the ecosystem as a whole and reducing the risk of censorship or control. 

Thanks to swaps, users can diversify their crypto holdings, take advantage of new investment opportunities and easily swap between cryptocurrencies without depositing fiat.

Is crypto swapping better than trading?

In the realm of cryptocurrencies, newbies may regard the terms “swap” and “trade” as the same. However, though the outcome might be similar, the process is different.

In crypto trading, transactions are executed based on an order book, limiting trades to pairs available on the exchange. Typically, trading involves exchanging crypto for fiat currency first and then using that fiat to purchase another coin. This process will entail the trader paying a commission at every step: first, selling a cryptocurrency and second, buying another coin.

Swapping, on the other hand, allows for seamless exchange between cryptocurrencies. The process occurs in one go, eliminating the need to convert crypto to fiat initially and, after that, buying another cryptocurrency. Swapping offers greater flexibility, enabling users to immediately exchange one asset for another.

How do crypto-to-crypto swaps function?

Crypto-to-crypto swaps can be executed on centralized exchanges (CEXs) or decentralized exchanges (DEXs). However, under the hood, the mechanism is different.

On CEXs, which act as intermediaries, users interact with the liquidity pool, and exchanges charge fees for facilitating swaps. On Coinbase, for instance, the user interacts with its order book when swapping. When they place a swap order, Coinbase matches their request with available liquidity from its internal pool, essentially acting as the counterparty to the trade. Fees are typically fixed and transparent but are higher than DEXs for facilitating swaps.

DEX swaps are peer-to-peer (P2P). Automated smart contracts manage liquidity pools — provided by users — eliminating the need for an intermediary in the exchange process. This usually means lower fees but may have slippage risks if liquidity is low. Uniswap, for example, uses liquidity pools composed of cryptocurrency pairs contributed by users. 

Smart contracts in DEXs execute swaps based on the ratio of assets within the pool. The user contributes one asset and receives the equivalent amount of the other instead of direct trades. Fees are paid to liquidity providers and are usually lower than those on centralized exchanges, but users need to consider slippage.

Users connect their wallets to the DEX platform, select the desired assets and quantities and authorize the transaction. Smart contracts facilitate the exchange by automatically executing the trade based on predetermined parameters, such as price and volume.

In both CEXs and DEXs, the swap process involves determining the cryptocurrency pairs, specifying the amount to exchange and confirming the transaction. Once executed, the swapped cryptocurrencies are transferred to the user’s wallet or managed within the exchange’s infrastructure.

Factors to consider before swapping

Before swapping, consider aspects such as security, liquidity, slippage, transaction fees, network congestion, regulatory considerations and jurisdictional differences.

Before a user proceeds with swapping, it is important to consider a few factors to ensure a seamless process:

Security

Assess the security measures of the platform. When using a CEX, users should consider the security certifications of the platform and whether it uses cold storage for the assets it holds. If the user wants to execute swapping in a DEX, they should factor in the security audit of the DEX and its track record.

Liquidity and slippage

Users need to evaluate the liquidity of the assets they are swapping to avoid substantial price fluctuations during the transaction, which may result in slippage.

Transaction fees and network congestion

Network congestion has a role in determining the cost and speed of the swap. Research the fees charged by the platform and consider the current state of the blockchain network to prevent any delays or increased costs.

Regulatory considerations and jurisdictional differences

Regulatory considerations and jurisdictional differences are aspects that a user should not overlook. The user needs to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations governing cryptocurrency transactions in their location.

What are the risks and challenges in crypto-to-crypto swapping?

Anyone doing crypto swapping needs to factor in possibilities like price volatility, liquidity risks, counterparty risks, regulatory risks and market manipulation.

Crypto swapping has its own set of risks and challenges: 

Price volatility

Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile, with rapid and unpredictable fluctuations. This volatility can affect the value of the assets to undergo swapping, leading to large gains or losses within a short period.

Liquidity risks

Liquidity refers to the ease with which a crypto asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price. If a cryptocurrency has lower liquidity, the number of buyers or sellers at a given time may be insufficient, leading to delays or unfavorable prices during the swapping process.

Counterparty risk

When swapping cryptocurrencies on CEXs, users rely on the exchange to facilitate the transaction. There is a possibility that the exchange could face technical issues, become insolvent or engage in fraudulent activities.

Regulatory risks

The regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies is still evolving and differs widely across different jurisdictions. Regulation changes could impact the legality or operational aspects of crypto-swapping platforms.

Market manipulation

In less regulated markets, there is a risk of market manipulation, where large traders or groups of traders artificially inflate or deflate prices to exploit other market participants. This may lead to unexpected outcomes for users engaging in crypto swapping.

The SlowMist security team has uncovered a novel cryptocurrency scam that exploits altered Ethereum nodes' remote procedure call (RPC) function. This type of fraud commonly targets physical offline transactions, employing Tether (USDT) as the preferred payment method.

According to SlowMist findings, the scam starts with convincing the victim to download the legitimate imToken wallet and gain trust by transferring a small amount of 1 USDT and Ether (ETH) as bait.

Subsequently, the scammer directs the victim to change their ETH RPC URL to a node controlled by the scammer (https://rpc.tenderly.co/fork/34ce4192-e929-4e48-a02b-d96180f9f748).

The scammer modifies the node using Tenderly’s fork feature, which falsifies the user’s USDT balance to make it appear that the scammer has deposited funds into the user’s wallet. When users view the balance, they mistakenly believe the funds are legitimate.

Analysis of a victim’s wallet address (0x9a7…Ce4) shows that the victim’s address received a small amount of 1 USDT and 0.002 ETH from another address (0x4df…54b)  Source: SlowMist

However, upon attempting to transfer out the miner’s fees to cash out the USDT, they realize they have been deceived. By this point, the scammer has disappeared without a trace.

In addition to modifying displayed balances, the fork feature can alter contract information, presenting an even more significant threat to users.

SlowMist Technology’s report stated that this type of scam exploits users’ trust and negligence, resulting in asset losses. The SlowMist security team reminds users to remain vigilant when trading and avoid using untrusted RPC nodes.

A remote procedure call lets a program run code on one computer on a remote server, mimicking local execution. In blockchain like Ethereum, RPC interacts with nodes, querying balances, sending transactions, or interacting with smart contracts.

Related: Bitcoin-hating European Central Bank isn't doing much to stop scammers

According to SlowMist, a user can adjust balance values using Tenderly’s custom JSON-RPC to control account balances within Tenderly Forks. This feature enables modifying account balances by setting specific values or increasing them as desired.

However, to establish a specific balance, use the code snippet “ether4s.utils.hexvalue(aBignumberish)” to convert the big number value into a suitable format without leading zeros. This snippet sets the balance value to 100 ETH for one or more addresses through the tenderly_setBalance custom RPC endpoint.

A similar scam circulated on Telegram, allowing the attacker to drain a victim’s crypto wallet without the victim needing to confirm a transaction. While the method does not require users to approve a transaction, it appears to require tricking the user into signing a message.

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More than half a billion dollars worth of Ether (ETH) long positions could face liquidation if Ether experiences the same price volatility as it did last weekend. 

This comes amid mounting concerns that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might reject an Ether spot ETF next month.

At the time of publication, Ether is currently trading at $3,134, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Ether's price has hovered between $3,705 and $2,915 over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap

Over the past few weekends, Ether has experienced short bursts of volatility in its price, followed by quickly recovering to key support levels.

On April 20, the price briefly dipped by 2.25% to $3,036. The previous Saturday, April 13, it fell nearly 9% to $2,950 before recovering to $3,075.

If it happens again this weekend, a significant amount of liquidations will be at risk. A similar drop of just 2.25% at its current price will lead to $510 million in long liquidations, as per CoinGlass data.

Meanwhile, a sharper decline similar to the 9% drop seen the previous weekend would result in $853 million being wiped in long liquidations.

Ether's price has little wiggle room without risking a significant amount of liquidations. Source: CoinGlass

The high volume of potential liquidations comes as Ethereum is experiencing broader uncertainties regarding the status of its spot ETF, along with other legal challenges.

Related: Ethereum price data points to strong resistance at $3.5K

On April 24, Cointelegraph reported that U.S. issuers and other firms expect the SEC to reject spot Ether ETF applications next month following meetings with the regulator in recent weeks, citing four people who participated in the meetings.

The four persons claimed that recent meetings between issuers and the SEC have been one-sided, and agency staff have not discussed substantive details about the proposed products.

Meanwhile, it has beenrevealed on Thursday that software development company Consensys filed a lawsuit against the SEC and its five commissioners over claims they plan “to regulate ETH as a security.”

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The United States securities regulator filed a lawsuit against Geosyn Mining and its co-founders alleging they defrauded investors out of $5.6 million by lying about the amount of crypto mining rigs it operated while using customer money for personal expenses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s April 24 lawsuit in a Fort Worth, Texas federal court claimed Geosyn, its CEO Caleb Joseph Ward, and former operating chief Jeremy George McNutt defrauded around 64 investors through service agreements sold as securities between November 2021 and December 2022.

The SEC alleged the agreements to buy and run crypto miners on customers’ behalf for a fee “falsely claimed” Geosyn had contracts with electricity providers for cheap energy but in reality, the costs were “as high as 40-50% above” the rates it told customers.

Ward and McNutt also lied to investors about Geosyn’s operations, the SEC claimed. It alleged of the 1,400 mining rigs Geosyn entered into service agreements to purchase it failed to buy 400 of them and “never brought most of the purchased mining machines online.”

Geosyn’s agreements told investors they could choose what crypto to mine, the suit claimed, but the firm rejected requests to mine anything other than Bitcoin (BTC).

Ward (left) and McNutt (right) at Geosyn’s facility in Springtown, Texas in 2022. Source: Geosyn Mining

The SEC said the firm made BTC payouts to investors to make them “believe that their mining machines were operational and profitable when they were not” and created “bogus documents” with “fabricated mining production rates and profits.”

It earned $320,000 from mining BTC but gave around $354,500 worth to investors, the SEC alleged. To make up the difference, McNutt purchased Bitcoin and sent it to Ward to pass on to investors, the regulator said.

SEC also claims Ward and McNutt misappropriated around $1.2 million in investor funds for personal use such as meals, nightclubs, vacations, guns, watches and legal fees, including a case where McNutt allegedly used the firm’s credit card on a $20,000 “Las Vegas nightclub wedding celebration” for Ward and a $49,000 family trip to Disney World.

It claimed Ward and McNutt used other $22,000 of investor funds on a breathalyzer device and other expenses relating to McNutt and a Geosyn employee’s alleged separate arrests and convictions for drunk driving during a June 2022 crypto conference.

Highlighted excerpt of the SEC’s claims relating to the alleged drunk driving incident. Source: SEC

By the end of 2022 new investor funds dried up and Geosyn had less than $1,900 in the bank — “unable to make a profit because it did not have the favorable electricity contracts that Defendants touted to investors” the SEC said.

Related: FBI warning against crypto money transmitters ‘appears’ to be aimed at mixers

It added in October 2022, McNutt left and gave up ownership. Ward allegedly contacted the authorities to report McNutt for embezzlement “without disclosing his own misappropriations,” the SEC said.

With Geosyn in “dire financial straits,” in early 2023 Ward emailed investors “IOU” notes for their owed Bitcoin and that June said it would file for bankruptcy which never happened, according to the SEC.

The regulator asked for a permanent injunction, the repayment of the alleged misappropriations and for penalties to be leveled against the trio.

Geosyn, Ward and McNutt could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Pre-order holders of Solana’s ‘Chapter 2’ mobile phone had a brief chance to profit from the yet-to-be-released mobile phone — after memecoins airdropped to buyers briefly exceeded the cost of the phone. 

In April, the teams behind two cat-themed memecoin projects: Cat in a dog’s world (MEW) and Maneki (MANEKI) airdropped tokens to the wallets of crypto users who pre-ordered the new Chapter 2 device — which initially cost $450 upfront.

Source: Solana Floor

On April 1, the team behind MEW airdropped 37,600 of its tokens to each holder. At its peak post-airdrop price of $0.0089, this allocation was worth $334, per CoinGecko data.  

Similarly, a total of 5,199 MANEKI was airdropped to each holder on April 24, which also hit a peak price of $0.269 on April 25.

Combined with other memecoin projects, including Wuffi (WUFFI), which airdropped 114,000 tokens to Chapter 2 wallets, the combined airdrops would have garnered holders $480 — allowing them to pay off the device and even make another $30 in profit, according to airdrop value checker twoloot.com,

The memecoins have since dropped in value, however, with MEW now only worth $220 at current prices while MANEKI has fallen to $124.

When pre-ordering Chapter 2 devices, buyers were required to connect a Solana wallet address, meaning that the airdropped tokens were available to holders before the phone arrived.

Related: BONK, POPCAT and Solana memecoins stay green even as Bitcoin price drops

Owners of Solana’s first mobile device, the ‘Saga,’ also received the same amount of Maneki in their respective wallets.

The original Solana Saga was released in May last year to little fanfare, with many reviews detailing technical issues and usability concerns with the devices.

However, the phones began flying off the shelves in December when degens figured cottoned on to a bizarre arbitrage opportunity presented by a memecoin rally for Bonk (BONK).

Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15 last year, the price of BONK surged more than 1,100%. At peak prices, the value of the 30,000 BONK airdrop was more than $1,150 — $551 more than the original $599 price tag attached to the Saga phone.

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Digital asset investment manager Pantera Capital is reportedly looking to raise more than $1 billion for a new fund that offers investors exposure to a “full spectrum” of blockchain-based assets.

Slated for an April 2025 launch, the Pantera Fund V is set to serve as the firm’s ‘all-in-one’ fund, a slight change of tune from its existing Liquid Token Fund, Early Stage Token Fund, Bitcoin Fund and Venture Funds — which offer a more specific investment focus.

The fund requires a minimum $1 million allocation from qualified investors. The first close is scheduled for April 1, 2025. Limited partners will need to contribute a minimum of $25 million, according to an April 25 report from Bloomberg.

Startup equity, early-stage tokens, and liquid tokens are among the asset types that would be included in the Pantera Fund V, according to Pantera’s website.

Panteramaintains a total of $5.2 billion in assets under management across its four existing funds.

A $1 billion raise would be the largest for the cryptocurrency industry since May 2022, when Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz raised a record-setting $4.5 billion.

VC firm Paradigm is also reportedly negotiating a raise of up to $850 million for a new cryptocurrency fund, which — combined with Pantera — could signal that more institutional capital is coming back into the sector following a market rebound in 2023.

Cointelegraph contacted Pantera for comment but did not receive a response the time of publication. 

Last week, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced it raised $7.2 billion to invest in several technology-focused sectors, including GameFi and artificial intelligence. However, its $4.5 billion cryptocurrency-focused fund did not receive any additional capital.

Meanwhile, Pantera has doubled down on GameFi platform InfiniGods, exclusively taking its $8 million Series A round on April 25, the firm revealed in a statement.

Source: Pantera Capital

Related: ‘FOMO’ once drove GameFi funding, but VCs say it’s different this time

Over $3.5 billion in funds have poured into the cryptocurrency industry, raised across 604 funding rounds so far in 2024. If the current trend continues, this year's funding is on track to clear the $9.3 billion raised in 2023 by a considerable margin, according to RootData.

Despite the recent uptick, venture capital funding is still far off previous highs in 2021 and 2022, which saw a respective $31.2 billion and $29.3 billion raised. 

Cryptocurrency fundraising between Jan. 2020 and April 2024. Source: RootData

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A total of $1.3 billion of USD Coin (USDC) in transfers from apparent whale addresses to cryptocu Coinbase on Thursday could potentially be a “giant buy signal” for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), according to market observers. 

“USDC moving onto exchanges is a giant buy signal, as the saying goes on the internet ‘money printer go brr,’” crypto trader Blockchain Mane told Cointelegraph.

The five transfers totaling $1.3 billion — with the amounts ranging from $150 million to $350 million — were made to Coinbase on April 25 at 08:15 UTC, according to Etherscan data.

Five large amounts of USDC were transferred to Coinbase at the same time. Source: WhaleBot Alerts

Traders often view large stablecoin deposits on exchanges as a bullish sign, indicating possible large buy orders in the near future, while significant crypto deposits on exchanges can signal a potential sell-off, making traders wary of a downturn.

“If this is indeed a whale buying and at current prices then yes, it can have a big impact on the price of the asset they are buying, which at that level is almost certainly only Bitcoin and Ethereum,” crypto commentator Lark Davis aka “The Crypto Lark” told Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin is trading at $64,389 at the time of publication. Source: CoinMarketCap

However, crypto analysts agreed that whale movements are never a guaranteed indicator for the crypto market.

“A lot of attention gets paid to whale movements, but we never really know what they are doing,” Davis said.

“$1.3B is a good amount of capital but it depends on where this is getting deployed,” crypto trader and YouTuber Brian Jung added.

Related: Where will Bitcoin's price be at the next halving in 2028?

Davis also pointed out that whales might place limit orders instead of instantly buying the assets, which will instead create stronger support levels for the cryptocurrencies they invest in.

“A limit order will go in, creating a buy wall that will act as a layer of price support for the assets,” Davis explained.

However he warned it is “never definitive” how these large transfers will impact the market.

Meanwhile, Jung argued that the market could “shift positively” if a significant amount of funds were to go into a single crypto token as “we would see additional liquidity help move the price of other cryptos up.”

Although he is doubtful an investor would see the benefit of doing so, due to overexposure risks.

“If this amount were deployed into a single altcoin with a $100M market cap, it would absolutely spike the price, but I can’t imagine any whale in their right mind doing this as it would make it nearly impossible for them to be profitable by doing so.”

“If it was used to buy Bitcoin, it wouldn’t have a similar effect,” Jung added.

The large movement of funds happened despite the crypto market sentiment slightly declining, according to the Fear and Greed Index.

The Greed score dropped from 64.04 to a neutral level of 59.78 over the past 24 hours, suggesting a shift in traders’ focus away from accumulation.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s recent warning to Americans from using unregistered cryptocurrency money-transmitting services might be aimed at smart-contract-driven privacy tools, according to a crypto lawyer.

In an April 25 public service announcement, the FBI urged Americans only to use registered Cryptocurrency Money Services Businesses that comply with existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.

The FBI warned Americans against using unlicensed money-transmitting services. Source: FBI

In its announcement, the FBI wrote that it had recently conducted law enforcement operations against cryptocurrency services that were not licensed in “accordance with federal law,” adding that anyone using unlicensed services could “encounter financial disruptions” during law enforcement actions, particularly if the money is intermingled with illegally obtained funds.

Michael Balcina the Digital Asset Partner at Piper Alderman lawyers told Cointelegraph that the FBI’s announcement seemed to be directed at warning users against using crypto mixing services but noted that the “broad” warning missed much of the finer details.

“While this appears an attempt to warn consumers away from smart-contract driven privacy tools like Samouri or Tornado Cash, it’s a very broad warning which misses a great deal of nuance in how decentralized systems operate.”

“The sooner fit-for-purpose regulation and clear guidance for cryptocurrency replaces regulation by enforcement, the better the outcomes for consumers will be,” Bacina added.

On April 25, the co-founders of Bitcoin wallet and crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet were arrested on charges of money laundering.

Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Hill were charged with money laundering and operating an unlicenced money-transmitting business, and currently face a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

Several other commentators on X also noted the hazy definition of what could potentially be considered an MSB and questioned what it could mean for crypto service providers.

Related: Crypto market stumbles amid arrest of Samourai Wallet founders

Describing the FBI’s announcement as “eerie,” Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams, drew attention to what kind of services would technically fall under the designation of an MSB in an April 25 post to X. 

“Oh and is your code or wallet a MSB? maybe, maybe not — but we're arresting privacy devs right now & calling them MSBs so…”

These developments come amid a broader escalation of legal tensions between crypto firms and regulators in the United States.

On April 25, Ethereum development firm Consensys sued the SEC, alleging the regulator had orchestrated a campaign to “seize control over the future of cryptocurrency” with enforcement actions aimed at deeming Ether (ETH) as a security.

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