Cryptopolitan

On April 8, after 40 days of unrelenting conflict, the United States and Iran agreed to a two week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan. This was the first real truce put into action since the war began on February 28 and markets worldwide reacted almost instantly. Bitcoin shot up past $72K while oil crashed by more than 10% to $94 a barrel. Data from Coinglass shows that over $600 million in crypto futures positions were wiped out with over $420 million accounting for shorts. Global markets saw a relief rally as well with major indices like the KOSPI going up by 6.87%, Nikkei up 5.39% and S&P futures up 2.57%. For a few hours, tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, but this turned out to be short lived. 

What looked like a turning point seemingly fell apart in a matter of hours. Shortly after the ceasefire came into effect, Israel launched what it described as its largest strikes on Lebanon, arguing that the deal does not apply there, as reported by PBS. In response, Iran’s Parliament Speaker announced that three clauses had already been violated and tightened control over the Strait again. The reality now is that this ceasefire is beginning to look a lot more like a pause rather than a resolution. The markets recognize this and as of this writing oil is back above $97 and Bitcoin is back to the low $71K region. 

What the Ceasefire Actually Says and Where It Contradicts Itself 

The ceasefire that the market priced in as a solid path to a resolution was riddled with contradictions and interpretations from the moment it was announced. On April 8, NBC news reported that Trump said that the U.S would “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” on the condition that the Strait of Hormuz reopens for commercial shipping. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the deal, declared it covers “everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere,” with follow up talks scheduled in Islamabad on Friday, April 10, as per Al Jazeera. 

Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future. To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) April 7, 2026

Within hours, Trump and Netanyahu said the opposite in that Lebanon is not included in the deal. Israel then acted on that interpretation, launching what it described as its most powerful strikes on Lebanon, including central Beirut, almost immediately after the ceasefire took effect. 

Iran’s response was swift by closing the Strait again after briefly allowing tanker traffic. The Washington Post reported that Iran accused the U.S. of violating the terms within the ceasefire and its Parliament Speaker stating that three clauses had already been “contravened.”

The bigger problem is that the core terms were never actually reconciled. Iran’s 10-point ceasefire proposal, per CNBC, asserts continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. On the other hand, Trump’s condition demands it be opened without any limitation including any tolls. These two positions are fundamentally incompatible and the two week truce basically papers over the gap rather than resolving it. Fortune noted that the ceasefire terms effectively leave Iran with ongoing leverage over the Strait. The problem here is that it’s not just about the ceasefire being fragile but it’s that the parties involved don’t agree on what it actually covers. 

How Markets Reacted: $72K, Then the Pullback 

What we saw on April 8 was a two-act story. In act one we saw markets rally as the news of the ceasefire filtered in. Bitcoin rose above $72K and reached a high of $72,800, a level not seen since March 18. Meanwhile, news of the Strait of Hormuz reopening sent WTI crude crashing by more than 10% to around $94-95 a barrel, the single largest oil drop since the conflict began. Global equity markets exploded as well with the KOSPI climbing +6.87%, Nikkei up +5.39%, Europe’s Stoxx600 up +3.55% and S&P 500 futures up +2.57%. Meanwhile, over $600 million in crypto leveraged positions were wiped out with over $430 million of them being short positions. Adding to the geopolitical trigger, we also saw a new institutional one come into the mix with Morgan Stanley launching MSBT, a first Bitcoin Spot ETF from a major U.S. bank, with a market-low 0.14% fee. MSBT drew in $34 million in day one inflows. 

Introducing the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), designed with transparent reporting and a 0.14% expense ratio, supported by a custody approach that brings together traditional considerations and crypto experience. Learn more about MSBT: https://t.co/BrUl0kV9dS

MSBT… pic.twitter.com/LLttR10rJf

— Morgan Stanley (@MorganStanley) April 8, 2026

Act two, however, started almost immediately. By April 9, as ceasefire violations came to the fore and Israel’s Lebanon strikes dominated headlines, BTC slipped below $71K briefly, ETH fell -2.6% and SOL dropped -3.1%. At the same time, oil coiled back up above $97. CoinDesk flagged that while the ceasefire lifted bitcoin, “animal spirits may not return just yet,” citing fragile positioning and the real risk the truce collapses before the Islamabad talks even begin on Friday. The rally was real but so was the fade. Markets priced a resolution on Wednesday and started unpricing it by Thursday morning.

The Oil-Inflation-Fed Chain: Why This Ceasefire Matters for Bitcoin 

Oil has been the transmission mechanism from the Iran war to bitcoin for the entire 40 days of this conflict. When the Strait of Hormuz closed on February 28, WTI crude surged from around $70 to above $110. That move fed directly into inflation expectations, which kept the Federal Reserve hawkish, which killed rate cut odds, which pressured risk assets across the board, bitcoin included. The ceasefire temporarily broke the chain. Oil at $94 cools inflation expectations. Cooler inflation expectations nudge rate cut odds higher. Higher rate cut odds turn the macro backdrop risk-on. That’s why bitcoin rose $6K in hours. It wasn’t just sentiment, it was the market mechanically repricing the Fed’s path.

The problem is the chain is only as strong as the ceasefire holding. If the Strait closes again on a sustained basis, oil snaps back above $100, the inflation picture worsens, and rate hike odds re-emerge. If the truce holds and extends, oil could drift back toward pre-war levels near $70, and bitcoin has significant room to run from current levels. CNBC has already flagged the ceasefire as “fragile” with no clear path to lasting peace, and the violations logged within the first 24 hours mean markets are essentially pricing this as a coin flip. The Fed’s next decision lands April 28-29, three weeks away. If the ceasefire survives long enough for the April CPI print in mid-May to reflect lower energy prices, that’s the setup for the Fed to signal easing. If it collapses before then, that window closes and the inflation chain resets from the top.

What to Watch: Islamabad Talks and the 48-Hour Test

The next 48 hours have a clear agenda. US and Iranian officials meet in Islamabad on Friday under Pakistani mediation, with Iran negotiating from its 10-point proposal, the same document that asserts continued Hormuz control that the US explicitly rejects. The talks will quickly reveal whether both sides are negotiating in good faith or using the two-week window to reposition. Lebanon is the immediate wildcard. If Iran formally designates Israel’s Beirut strikes as ceasefire violations, which its Parliament Speaker has already signaled, Tehran has a ready-made justification to exit the truce before the Islamabad talks conclude. The real signal to watch is whether sustained commercial tanker traffic resumes through the Strait. That’s the number that feeds into oil prices, which feeds into inflation expectations, which feeds into the Fed. Hormuz has opened and closed multiple times in the past 24 hours. Normalization means oil drops further. Continued restriction means oil rebounds past $100 and the macro chain resets.

For bitcoin specifically, the levels are clean. $72K was the ceasefire high. $69K is the pullback support. A break below $69K signals that markets have fully priced out the truce. A sustained move back above $72K requires two things to be true simultaneously: the ceasefire holds and Hormuz actually reopens. On the institutional side, watch whether the Morgan Stanley MSBT launch and the ceasefire rally combine to produce a second straight week of strong ETF inflows, after the $471 million recorded on April 6. If institutional buying continues through a period of active geopolitical de-escalation, that’s the most structurally bullish signal this market has seen since the war began and it would suggest that the 40-day drawdown from $82K may finally be behind us.

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Meta put out Muse Spark on Wednesday, the company’s first major artificial intelligence model in over a year under new AI chief Alexandr Wang.

Meta (NASDAQ: META) shares climbed as much as 9% after the announcement, erasing losses from late March as the social media company tries to catch up with AI leaders like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

The AI model, previously called Avocado, is available on Meta’s AI website and app now. Meta described it as the first product of a complete overhaul of the company’s AI efforts. According to Meta, Muse Spark handles the same work as the earlier Llama 4 Maverick model but uses less computing power to do it.

This is Meta’s first AI release with Wang running things. Wang is a billionaire tech executive who came to Meta after the company invested $14.3 billion in his firm, Scale AI. Meta brought him on as chief AI officer and put him in charge of the Superintelligence Labs team.

Shift from open-source approach

Unlike Meta’s previous models, Muse Spark breaks from the company’s open-source tradition. The model is closed and proprietary, marking a sharp change from past strategy. The company will give private preview access to some partners through an API, but hasn’t committed to releasing the model publicly.

Meta says it hopes to open-source future versions.

The model’s release was delayed because early versions didn’t perform well enough in benchmark tests. Muse Spark failed to beat competing models from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. But Meta’s new comparison data shows Muse Spark now matches or beats rival AI systems in different performance measures. Independent testing shows the model does well on health-related questions but still needs work on coding tasks.

Meta expects to spend $135 billion on AI this year. That’s nearly double what it spent in 2025. The big spending comes after some problems in the AI race.

Meta’s Llama 4 model didn’t live up to expectations when it launched in 2025. The company abandoned development of its largest variant, codenamed Behemoth, which would have reached 2 trillion parameters.

After that setback, Meta bought a 49% non-voting stake in Wang’s Scale AI for about $14 billion last summer. Then Meta committed $600 billion toward AI infrastructure in the U.S. through 2028.

Job cuts follow Metaverse losses

The AI push meant cuts in other areas. Meta cut hundreds of jobs last year, including workers in its Reality Labs division. That division, which built the now-defunct Metaverse, lost $80 billion. Its Horizon Worlds platform, a social virtual reality system, had less than 200,000 monthly active users. The goal was 500,000.

Meta also announced a “Contemplating mode” for Muse Spark that will roll out gradually. This feature uses multiple reasoning agents working together to handle complex problems. The model includes what Meta calls natively multimodal reasoning with tool-use and visual capabilities.

Meta executives say Muse Spark is just the beginning, with more advanced models coming this year.

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DeFi yield has fallen to a much lower range in 2026, and was considered a sign of a maturing industry. However, the recent Drift Protocol hack raised the issue of technical risk and whether current yields offset the value of putting assets on-chain. 

DeFi yield has been sliding on most protocols, and the early days of high-return yield farming seem to be over. DeFi has become a more mature sector, where protocols rely on stablecoins and the predictable yield of tokenized bonds or money funds. 

Peak farming days often relied on new token issuance to offset risk, and traders would recoup their initial deposit within a short period. 

Santiago R., founder of Inversion, considers that on-chain yield should be much higher to offset the current technical risks. 

“I get asked constantly what is enough yield to come onchain. I think it’s at least 18% today. Anything below that is not worth the hassle or the risk,” explained Santiago R. in an X post. 

He does not give details on generating that yield, but points to smart contract risk, general exposure of holdings, and overall protocol risk. 

DeFi yield should be higher to offset technical risk

DeFi is still not anonymous and has often exposed whale wallets. Confidential usage is not as widespread yet. 

Overall, DeFi calculates risk and yield in financial terms, mostly linked to the volatile nature of crypto assets. Protocols do not account for general vulnerabilities, which have often led to dramatic losses. 

On-chain rates are also low due to the limited demand for assets. Low yield on deposited tokens does not mean the investment is low-risk, but that risk may not be priced correctly, noted Santiago R. He proposes higher yields, alongside selling insurance products against losses. 

DeFi yield slides in the past months

DeFi yields have fallen even below the levels of US T-bills, at 3.8% annualized. For some lending protocols, annualized yields start at virtually zero.

There are still high individual liquidity pair yields on DEX, which offset the risk of impermanent loss or a token rug pull. However, most of the Aave V3 and other lending vaults have much lower yields.

While individual vaults can still offer high hypothetical returns, overall yields have fallen to the lowest level since 2022.

Median DeFi yields have been sliding in the past year, and in some cases may be too low to offset locking assets on-chain. | Source: DeFiLlama.

There are also no more general periods of outsized yields, partially due to the more bearish outlook for the crypto market. High yields happen only during periods of hype, but the general enthusiasm ended with the first DeFi summer.

Especially for stablecoin liquidity pairs, yields are often under 0.5%. For Morpho, vault yield ranges from virtually zero to as much as 352% for the riskiest vaults. 

The recently exploited Drift Protocol offered relatively high yields of up to 16%, reflecting crypto risk partially. The protocol’s vaults were considered low-risk and mature, at least up to the $280M hack on April 1. 

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Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has developed a rule book globally on how to codify digital assets, i.e., how to create, disclose, and distribute digital assets, or crypto, such as fiat-referenced virtual assets, ARVAs, or what is known as tokenized assets, as well as others, within a fully licensed environment.

The Virtual Assets Issuance Rulebook is what VARA called the world’s first dedicated regulatory Guidance on Virtual Asset Issuance. As per the press release, the Guidance complements VARA’s Virtual Assets Issuance Rulebook, offering market participants a practical reference for understanding how the issuance regime applies across different categories of virtual assets and different types of issuers.

As per the rule book, “All Entities in the Emirate of Dubai that issue a Virtual Asset in the course of a business, must comply with this VA Issuance Rulebook, as may be amended by VARA from time to time.”

VARA adds that it will assign categorizations to the issuance of certain types of virtual assets depending on the nature of the issuance and/or underlying business model associated with the virtual asset. The regulator may impose additional specific or nuanced requirements on such issuances, which, unless otherwise stated, will apply in addition to the requirement for the issuer to obtain a license and/or thereafter obtain prior approval from VARA of the whitepaper.

Approved versus non-approved assets

Approved virtual assets include Fiat-Referenced Virtual Assets (“FRVAs”); a VARA-approved fiat currency, the value of which an FRVA purports to maintain a stable reference to; b. which is controlled by a central bank of any country(ies) or territory(ies) which are not subject to any sanctions in accordance with Federal AML-CFT Laws.

However, VARA does not recognize AED stablecoins as they need the regulatory approval of the Central Bank of the UAE, nor does it recognize CBDCs or tokenized bank deposits used for interbank settlements. Currencies of sanctioned countries are not allowed.

Additionally, FRVAs can only be used for the purchase and/or sale of assets in the VA ecosystem and may not be used as a means of payment for goods or services within the UAE.

Also allowed are ARVA, which represents, or purports to represent, a direct right of ownership of the Reference Assets, or tokenized assets, RWAs.

VARA reiterates that issuing Anonymity-Enhanced Cryptocurrencies and all VA Activity(ies) related to them are prohibited in the Emirate.

VARA also talks about Category 2 virtual assets, where no license is required, but distribution must be carried out through a licensed distributor; these include Category 1 VA issuance or exempt VAs.

Finally, there are virtual assets that don’t need any requirements, such as non-transferable virtual assets, redeemable closed-loop virtual assets, or assets that can be redeemed or exchanged for goods, services, discounts, or purchases.

Matthew White, Chief Executive Officer, VARA, said, “Clear issuance standards are fundamental to building resilient and transparent Virtual Asset markets. This Guidance provides practical clarity on how VARA’s framework applies across different issuance models, ensuring that innovation is supported by strong governance, robust disclosures, and accountable market practices.”

The Guidance reinforces VARA’s commitment to disclosure-led regulation, requiring issuers to provide comprehensive whitepapers and risk disclosure statements that are clear, accurate, and accessible to prospective users. These requirements are intended to enable informed decision-making and promote greater transparency across the ecosystem.

It also clarifies the respective responsibilities of issuers and licensed distributors, particularly in the context of Category 2 issuances, where distributors are required to conduct due diligence and ongoing validation of compliance with the Rulebook.

Ruben Bombardi, General Counsel, VARA, added, “Trust is built through clarity, and clarity begins with disclosure. By strengthening the standards around how virtual assets are issued and communicated to the market, this Guidance reinforces Dubai’s position as a jurisdiction that enables responsible innovation while safeguarding market integrity.”

The Guidance further outlines expectations relating to governance, ongoing disclosure obligations, and the treatment of Asset-Referenced Virtual Assets, including requirements around Reserve Assets, redemption rights, and legal structuring.

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USDT on TRON remains one of the most actively used stablecoins. The asset is often used for illegal purposes, as in the recently revealed $1.6B Ponzi scheme. 

Blocksec research discovered a $1.6B Ponzi scheme that moved funds through USDT on TRON. On-chain research tracked several tiers of connected wallets, all linked to a platform presenting as a Hong Kong health technology group. 

Over the past 16 months, Blocksec intercepted $1.6M in traffic using USDT on TRON, though some of the funds may be internally recycled. The wallets performed different functions, including funds collection, intermediate addresses, payout channels, and a shared exchange liquidation point.

How USDT on TRON was used for a Ponzi scheme

The ability to draw in funds came from a legitimate sounding company, Verily HK. The firm presented itself as an investment platform for health tech. The platform’s name resembles Alphabet subsidiary Verily Life Sciences, which produces AI-driven healthcare and medical devices. 

VerilyHK tried to spoof the business model, claiming AI health tech, big data analytics, and medical devices as its main source of business.

A victim brought attention to the company, revealing the deposit and payout address, allowing Blocksec to track the movement of funds to connected wallets. 

VerilyHK was active between October 2024 and February 2026. The company used a rotation of at least 15 collection addresses, divided into eight distinct generations and shifting over the 16-month period.

Over time, the addresses saw a growing turnover, handling hundreds of millions of dollars per month. The final generation of wallets moved $900M in under four months, for a total of $1.6B. Not all of the turnover signifies direct funds taken from users, as some of the transfers may be internal transactions.

USDT on TRON sent to Huione-related addresses

On-chain data reveals funds flowed between the Ponzi hub and addresses linked to Huione Group. The Cambodian escrow service has been linked to multiple exploits and hacks. In this case, the hub may have handled around $4.6M. Additional deposits of $4.2K and E1.5M were made directly to two Huione Group addresses. 

The Huione Group wallets may have been used as a laundering channel, coinciding with previous discoveries that Huione was a critical node in the money laundering process. 

The scheme was not noticed until clients reported losses. However, the mapping of wallets may help in future investigations, especially linked to USDT on TRON.

USDT on TRON expanded to a supply of over 86B tokens, with more than 73M holding wallets. The TRON version has been linked to illegal usage, but only a fraction of the addresses have been frozen.

USDT on TRON increased its transaction count and total value in the past years, though revealing another cluster of wallets linked to illegal fund laundering and fake investment promises. | Source: Dune Analytics.

The token usually handles around 34M transactions per day, near an all-time high. Around 15K transactions are for $1M or over, making up the bulk of daily fund transfers. USDT on TRON is the second busiest stablecoin, following the BNB version. The token shows sustainable growth, but may be facilitating illegal crypto usage due to still limited oversight. 

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The White House released a report that labeled stablecoins as low risk, but several major U.S. banks disagree, saying the digital coins could pose challenges to funding and financial stability.

According to the report, banning stablecoins from paying yield will have very little effect on bank deposits or lending, but banks say the document doesn’t address the impact of the decision on smaller financial firms. 

The analysis highlights that restricting stablecoin yields would increase bank lending by just about $2.1 billion, or roughly 0.02% of the $12 trillion loan market. However, lending organizations have rejected these conclusions, warning that the report fails to fully capture the long-term structural risks posed by rapidly growing digital assets.

The concerns come as stablecoins, digital tokens typically pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, continue to scale rapidly. Industry data shows they already process tens of trillions of dollars in annual transactions, underscoring their growing role in global payments.

Banks say stablecoins can weaken funding

Traditional financial institutions say small lenders depend mostly on deposits from local customers to make loans, so they will feel the pressure quickly when people move deposits into stablecoins. And since they do not have many ways to recover money as large banks do, small ones will struggle to make more loans, leading to liquidity stress.

Similarly, banks use small deposits to fund local loans to families and small businesses, so even when stablecoin money returns to the banking system, it may come in large deposits that force financial institutions to change their lending laws.

On top of that, loans can become more expensive for local customers because financial institutions will have to charge higher interest rates if they lose local deposits to cover the cost of borrowing money from other sources.

Moreover, traditional financial firms would have to limit lending, sell assets quickly, or take expensive loans to stay liquid, as sudden massive withdrawals would make it difficult to meet customers’ needs, creating short-term risks.

According to these financial institutions, small banks could face cycles of deposit outflows that make it difficult for the community to access credit, as the rapid growth of stablecoins today increases the likelihood that deposits will be out sooner rather than later.

At the same time, lenders could face financial stress if people move large amounts of money into stablecoins because while bank deposits are insured up to a certain amount, stablecoins aren’t.

The message is clear. Ignoring these risks could undermine the economy’s financial stability, so lawmakers should revise their report and recognize that the situation may go unnoticed at first but could worsen quickly. 

Lawmakers and regulators must set clear stablecoin rules

Traditional financial firms want lawmakers and regulators to work on setting clear rules for stablecoins because long-term stability in their systems depends on them. Economists at the White House estimate that bank lending would increase by about $2.1 billion if lawmakers ban stablecoin yields. Community banks would see a smaller gain of $500 million, indicating just how small the margins are.

The economists also say stopping stablecoin yields would hurt users more than it would financial institutions, with an estimate of about $800 million every year. While banks agree that the effects on total lending are small, they still worry that losing small deposits will change how credit works over time. 

On the other hand, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, said stablecoins allow users to earn rewards safely and offer banks new opportunities if the rules are clear.

Senators Thom Tillis, Bill Hagerty, and Cynthia Lummis asked the White House to provide a report to guide discussions, as both banks and crypto firms recognize the value of clear rules but still need to agree on the details.

Lenders want lawmakers to extend the rules to reserves because stablecoins need to be able to cover withdrawals, just like banks keep deposits ready for the same purpose. They also want stress tests done to ensure stablecoins can handle large withdrawals or market changes without major issues.

Similarly, these financial institutions want transparency, with stablecoin issuers reporting their holdings, risks, and deposit usage to help everyone, including users, understand the risks involved.

Banks say policymakers must act quickly because stablecoins are growing, and if more deposits leave financial institutions, it could cost them more money over time and affect credit in society.

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Alibaba and China Telecom announced Tuesday they’re building a computing facility in southern China that will use chips designed by the e-commerce company. It’s part of China’s broader push to develop its own tech infrastructure.

The center will have 10,000 Zhenwu semiconductors that Alibaba built for AI work. The chips can run AI systems with hundreds of billions of parameters. China Telecom will own and operate the place.

That’s big. It shows Chinese tech companies are getting serious about making their own chip designs, especially as Beijing wants less dependence on foreign technology.

Washington has spent the last few years blocking China from buying certain semiconductor equipment and chips. That includes AI processors from Nvidia. The restrictions have basically forced Chinese companies to work faster on building their own alternatives.

Alibaba makes its chips through a unit called T-head. The Hangzhou-based company is also one of China’s biggest cloud computing players. It designs chips, runs data centers, and builds AI models that get sold through its cloud business. Cloud has been growing faster than most of its other divisions.

CEO Eddie Wu said Tuesday he’ll head up a new technology committee. Zhou Jingren, the company’s chief AI architect, will be on it. So will Li Feifei, who runs technology for Alibaba Cloud, and Wu Zeming, the group’s chief technology officer.

China’s been building more large-scale data centers with domestic tech. Last month, a computing system using Huawei’s Ascend 910C AI chips went live.

U.S. tech giants are expected to drop around $700 billion this year on AI infrastructure. Chinese companies are taking a different route. They’re spending less and focusing on AI applications they think will actually make money and deliver returns.

The data center is in Shaoguan, which is in Guangdong province. China Telecom and Alibaba said they’re planning to expand it to 100,000 chips. The computing power could be used for healthcare, advanced materials, and other industries. Alibaba’s stock (NYSE: BABA) was up 4.68 percent on Wednesday.

Chinese chip companies have been posting record revenues

SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor both hit sales highs in 2025. AI demand and U.S. export restrictions that push China to build domestic tech faster have fueled the growth.

SMIC, China’s biggest chipmaker, grew revenue 16 percent to $9.3 billion. Analysts think it’ll hit $11 billion in 2026. Hua Hong had its best fourth quarter ever with sales of $659.9 million and expects steady growth into early 2026.

Smaller Chinese firms also reported record numbers last year. ChangXin Memory Technologies, which is privately held, saw revenue jump 130 percent to $8 billion. Moore Threads Technology Co., a GPU design company, saw its 2025 revenue rise somewhere between 231 and 247 percent.

The homegrown approach is paying off in the Chinese market. Nvidia, the California company that’s now the world’s most valuable, used to dominate AI chip sales in China. Not anymore.

Chinese GPU and AI accelerator makers grabbed 41 percent of the local market in 2025, shipping 1.65 million cards. Nvidia still leads with 55 percent and 2.2 million cards, but that’s a big drop from where it was before.

It’s been a rough year so far for Nvidia

Uber is expanding its deal with Amazon Web Services to run more of its platform on Amazon’s own AI and compute chips. That includes more use of Graviton, AWS’s Arm-based processors, and a trial of Trainium, its AI training chip that’s positioned as a Nvidia competitor.

It’s a shift in Uber’s cloud strategy. The company had said it would move infrastructure to Google Cloud and Oracle in 2023, but now it’s leaning more on AWS, especially for AI workloads. Amazon is using its custom silicon to win over big customers who want alternatives to traditional chip providers.

The deal shows how intense the competition is in AI infrastructure. AWS is using its own hardware to win enterprise business. Uber joins Anthropic, OpenAI, and Apple in using more AWS chips as AI compute demand keeps growing.

Even with record results and strong forecasts, Nvidia’s stock (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been stuck in place for over eight months. There’s no single reason holding back the AI chipmaker. It’s more like a bunch of things at once.

Geopolitics, inflation that won’t quit, and questions about AI’s future have all weighed on Nvidia’s stock. Some experienced investors are starting to lose confidence.

Hedge funds are getting in on it, too. They sold stocks last month at the fastest rate in 13 years, according to Goldman Sachs data. Nvidia was one of the big tech names that got hit. Fund managers also shorted U.S. exchange-traded funds, which is a pretty bearish sign that they think stock prices will drop. Historically, moves like that don’t look good for the market.

However, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya just raised the firm’s global semiconductor forecast for 2026 to $1.3 trillion. That’s $300 billion higher than what the bank predicted just four months ago.

Arya said Nvidia and Broadcom are still the main drivers behind AI spending.

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Changpeng Zhao (CZ) released his autobiography, and one thing stood out to parts of the crypto community; it wasn’t very “crypto.” It had no NFT tie-in, no token-gated access, and no on-chain experiment, but just Amazon.

This decision caught the attention of Colin Wu, and he questioned why one of crypto’s biggest figures would choose such a traditional route. He argued that the book could have supported crypto payments or included a soulbound NFT for buyers at the very least. Wu feels there could be something that would align more closely with Web3 principles.

CZ defends Amazon launch

Wu, in an X post, pointed to Vitalik Buterin’s 2022 book Proof of Stake. Its launch took a very different path. Its release allowed readers to donate Ether to receive a digital copy, paired with an NFT. However, the proceeds (including royalties) from the sales went toward Gitcoin Grants. This became an early example of how publishing could fit in with crypto-linked distribution.

In that context, CZ’s approach felt unusually conservative. Meanwhile, Zhao had dismissed the idea that there was anything deeper behind the choice.

“It’s not that complicated,” he wrote. “You don’t have to raise a cow just to drink milk.” He added that he has always bought books on Amazon. He implied that building a custom crypto-based distribution system just for one release didn’t make much sense. CZ mentioned that he hopes people outside the crypto industry could easily buy and read it. Looks like the goal was accessibility.

没那么复杂。喝牛奶不一定要养奶牛。我一直在亚马逊买书。电商不是我们的专长。为了一本书自己搞个买书的功能好像有点麻烦。另外希望非加密行业的也能容易买到。

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) April 8, 2026

In another post, Wu went in with the idea of a traditional launch as a crypto looped release could introduce many complications. He stated that CZ might want to use a more prudent, safer issuance method that avoids all sorts of tax issues.

CZ’s book exposes his legal fights

According to Wu, CZ’s book offers a more personal and at times blunt look at his journey. He described it as filled with strong opinions. It feels like Binance founder hates Zhou Wei (former CFO), Lao Xu, SBF, media, and lawyers. However, he praised He Yi and Heina while he barely mentioned Sun Ge at all.

The legal chapters turn out to be major points in the book. CZ said that when he was under investigation by the US government, he hired countless lawyers, which cost a fortune. Those lawyers started fighting among themselves. 

At one point, he said, one lawyer even told him that the more fines they paid, the better. This is how they ended up paying billions of dollars in fines. In the end, the judge pointed out that they have paid so many fines, which proves that crimes must be extremely serious. This left CZ absolutely floored.

CZ has described his time in custody in stark detail. Wu noted that Zhao explained that the prison was noisy from morning till night, which made it impossible for him to sleep at all. He went on to add that in the final 14 days, CZ was suddenly transferred to a detention center and thought he was going to be held indefinitely.

According to Wu’s retelling, the detention center had only 24-hour unflinching white incandescent lights. Zhao relied on silently calculating Bitcoin’s hash algorithm in his mind to stay sane.

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty to US money laundering violations. The company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement. However, he later received a pardon from Donald Trump. This move still remains debatable in the political view.

Since then, the global crypto industry has seen many ups and downs. The cumulative digital assets market cap hovers around $2.41 trillion. Bitcoin price jumped by more than 6% over the last 7 days. BTC is trading around $71,000 at the press time.

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Stablecoins have become more than just a niche crypto tool and are beginning to rival traditional payment giants. According to a new report from Chainalysis, the blockchain-based stable asset could handle more transaction volume than both Visa and Mastercard combined by 2035.

New research by the blockchain analytics platform forecasts that the transaction volume of price-pegged cryptocurrencies could reach as much as $1.5 quadrillion by 2035, driven by the broad adoption of on‑chain payment rails and changing generational preferences toward digital money. If current trends continue, on‑chain stablecoin transactions could match or exceed Visa and Mastercard’s off‑chain transaction counts sometime between now and 2035, a milestone indicating a fundamental shift in global payment infrastructure.

While much of the growth remains future‑oriented, recent data highlight the rapid expansion of stablecoin use today. In 2025, global stablecoin transaction volumes soared past $33 trillion, surpassing the combined throughput of Visa and Mastercard, according to several industry reports and analytics sources.

Even if substantial advances aren’t made, the current rate of growth over the current time frame alone will drive adjusted stablecoin value to around $719 trillion annually, and even then, just not significantly faster. If significant economic and technological trends materialize, this could more than double, and stablecoins will surpass card networks as the clear leader in use.

One of the leading factors behind this projection is a huge intergenerational transfer of wealth in the near future. Some analysts predict that an additional $100 trillion will flow from older generations to Millennials and Gen Z. According to survey data cited in the report, nearly half of Millennials and Gen Z already own or hold crypto.

Since this generation inherits wealth, they might favor faster, more flexible payment systems such as stablecoins. Chainalysis projects that the same trend could generate roughly $508 trillion in overall stablecoin transaction volume by 2035. This shift isn’t just about the investment preferences. For many younger end-users, instant payments, mobile-first tooling, and international accessibility play into their expectations.

As the activity moves online, these things become more valuable. The report argues that this generational shift could redefine global money flows.

Rather than banks and card networks, consumers and companies could increasingly turn to blockchain-derived payment rails. That shift could severely undermine the dominance of legacy payment systems.

Point-of-sale adoption and corporate deals accelerate stablecoin growth

Another major catalyst is the growing acceptance of the price-pegged cryptocurrencies in everyday commerce. Point-of-sale integration alone could contribute as much as $232 trillion to the economy by 2035.

But as merchants have begun managing stablecoins directly, they’re turning them into practical tools rather than merely trading instruments. So, bulk financial companies are preparing for this. Now that Stripe recently purchased Bridge for $1.1 billion, Mastercard said it would be acquiring BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.

These actions demonstrate that traditional payment institutions view stable digital assets as part of future structures and systems rather than a fad. Regulatory changes are also driving adoption.

Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act last summer, as proof that policymakers began to take stablecoins more seriously, the report calls out as a case in point.

Clearer rules could give companies a reason to develop products and services in stablecoins, reducing uncertainty. This combination of both corporate investment and regulatory clarity brings stablecoins closer to mainstream use.

Payment companies won’t wait until 2035. Instead, they’re currently designing systems that could be applied to the larger-scale delivery of stablecoin payments.

Faster, cheaper payments are challenging traditional networks

There’s also a powerful economic case for stablecoins. In contrast to conventional payment rails, which involve multiple intermediaries and batch processing, stablecoins settle almost immediately.

They work 24/7 and cross borders without the delays of correspondent banking. Such benefits can lower payment charges and settlement times and ease reconciling. They are embedded in software to seamlessly integrate stablecoin payments into a business or system, automate workflows, and move funds from one place to another without waiting days or weeks for settlement.

That is already driving adoption across remittances, business-to-business payments, and treasury management. The current data shows how fast the market is growing at a moment’s notice.

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XRP is growing stronger and more in demand as most of its supply remains safe, and big investors buy millions of tokens each day. According to a new review, several Ripple token accounts holding around 2.4 billion XRP remain “quantum safe” because their public keys have never been exposed on‑chain, making them inherently less vulnerable to theoretical quantum attacks. 

Adding to this narrative, reputable asset manager Grayscale highlighted XRPL’s proactive steps toward post‑quantum security in a recent industry report. Developers have been testing ML‑DSA, a post‑quantum signature algorithm, in XRPL’s AlphaNet test environment and are exploring upgrades to enable key rotation and quantum‑resistant transactions without disrupting the live network.

XRP keeps most of its supply safe from quantum risk.

300,000 XRP accounts are safe from possible quantum attacks because, despite holding 2.4 billion Ripple tokens, they have never made a single transaction, so their public keys remain unknown.

Quantum attacks need a visible public key to work, but when the key remains hidden, hackers have nothing to go with, so these untouched XRP accounts don’t need extra tools or upgrades to stay protected.

According to data, only about 0.03% of the total Ripple’s token supply is exposed, so the network faces minimal risk. At the same time, vulnerable whales on the network are almost nonexistent: only two dormant whale accounts have exposed public keys, holding a mere 21 million XRP, which is a fraction of the total supply.

Compared to Bitcoin, the pressure on Ripple’s token is too small because many large BTC wallets have been inactive for years and still use older formats that expose public keys, creating long-term risk for holders.

Furthermore, XRP accounts are less likely to be exposed in the long term because most are active, allowing users to rotate or change keys when risks arise.

On top of that, the XRP ledger already supports key rotation, so users won’t lose access to their funds or change how they use the network whenever they change their signing keys. 

The XRP network remains stable because, out of the 7.7 million accounts, only 1.1 million are dormant, with most holding between 10 and 20 XRP, so there’s really no risk involved.

Ripple’s token has secured a safe spot in a future where quantum technology will become more powerful, thanks to its hidden keys, more active users, low exposure, and flexible tools like key rotation.

XRPL builds quantum-safe systems while whales buy more Ripple’s token

Despite the low risk to the XRP network, developers are still building tools to protect it in a future where quantum computing could become more advanced and threaten digital security.

Measures such as key rotation allow users to rotate their signing keys without changing their wallet addresses. When combined with hybrid cryptography (integrating traditional cryptography with post-quantum cryptography), the network can begin testing new quantum-resistant signatures and safely transition without leaving security gaps.

In fact, XRP’s developer test network, AlphaNet, uses NIST-approved ML-DSA to safely handle transactions, accounts, and consensus operations in ways that resist attacks from advanced quantum computers.

AlphaNe now supports quantum accounts for safely storing funds, quantum transactions to prevent unauthorized access, and quantum consensus to ensure validators communicate securely, even if quantum computers exist.

However, transactions with quantum-resistant signatures take up more space, require more storage, and process more slowly than before because they are nearly 40 times larger than the old signatures. However, engineers expect the pace to increase over time and even catch up to the old models.

Meanwhile, whales have started buying more than 11 million XRP every day after seeing the network taking proactive steps to improve security. As prices stabilize and selling pressure continues to decline, large investors are moving more of Ripple’s token from exchanges into private wallets.

The current price of XRP is around $1.37, and its market capitalization is about $84 billion. Trading volume has also risen sharply, showing just how confident investors have become in the network.

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Iran is telling ships that under terms passed through mediators, it plans to let only about 12 ships cross the Strait of Hormuz each day during the two week ceasefire agreed with Trump.

Pakistani mediators said ships must coordinate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, before they pass.

Cryptopolitan had earlier reported that shipbrokers and mediators said toll terms must be settled in advance, not after arrival, and the money must be paid in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan.

Iran forces ships to seek formal approval before entering Hormuz

During the war, which was started by US and Israel unprovoked, Iran took practical control of the waterway by striking ships that tried to pass without permission.

Media outlets linked to Iran added even more tension to the picture. Press TV said the Strait of Hormuz had been closed. Earlier, the state news agency Fars said oil tanker traffic through the strait had been halted while Israel kept attacking Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, accused the U.S. on Wednesday of breaking the two week deal. In a statement posted on social media, he said, “The deep historical distrust we hold toward the United States stems from its repeated violations of all forms of commitments, a pattern that has regrettably been repeated once again.”

On Wednesday, only four ships were allowed through, S&P Global Market Intelligence said, which was the lowest daily count so far in April.

Wall Street keeps betting Trump will pull back before the worst case hits

While shipping companies dealt with tolls, permits, and restricted passage, traders on Wall Street kept trading a different idea, one famously called the TACO trade, short for Trump Always Chickens Out.

That belief showed up clearly before Trump paused planned strikes on Iran just minutes before an 8 p.m. ET deadline, and crypto + stocks surged, while oil crashed.

Earlier that Tuesday, Trump had warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

But traders had already been leaning that way before the pause became official, seeing as the S&P 500 had just posted its first weekly gain in six weeks, rising 3.4%. Barclays said S&P 500 options showed only a modest risk premium into the deadline.

Adam Kobeissi wrote in an X post, “Systematic investors are operating in what may be the most profitable market conditions in history right now.”

The Mizuho trading desk wrote, “It’s probably a mix of complacency and confidence. Investors aren’t ignoring the risks, but they’re clearly leaning on history.”

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Nikon has announced it will be providing its tech for a new mission project to the International Space Station to research the effect of microgravity in drug discovery, life science, and potentially elucidate the reason why humans age on Earth. 

In a report on Wednesday, Nikon said its live cell observation system, known as Nikon Experimentation Microscope in Orbit (NEMO), was selected to launch on the ISS aboard NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 24 mission this Friday. 

NEMO was developed by Nikon and its U.S.-based subsidiary Nikon Instruments Inc. (NII). It comprises Nikon’s live cell observation microscope and an automated cell culture incubator from BioServe Space Technologies. 

The launch of NEMO on the ISS could mark a big breakthrough in life science research. It was even signed off by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), according to the announcement.

Why NEMO’s ISS launch matters for life science research

NEMO is going to help researchers understand the effects of microgravity on life sciences and drug discovery right on the ISS. 

Microgravity has been found to act as an accelerator for certain biological processes that resemble aging or age-related diseases on Earth. In space, astronauts can lose 1–2% bone mineral density per month. There are also reports that a short spaceflight of 7 days can increase epigenetic acceleration by up to 1.91 years, although reversal upon return to Earth.

Hence, the mission is an important one that could help scientists observe better how microgravity affects cell behavior, tissue responses, drug interactions, and potentially accelerate insights into aging processes that are hard to obtain on the ground.

According to Nikon, there are actually two focuses with the microgravity research. Understanding its effects on biological tissues will not only elucidate the causes of diseases and aging in living organisms but also accelerate human extraterrestrial activities. 

All of these observations, which will be done using MPS or Microphysiological Systems, will be conducted using NEMO, Nikon said in the announcement. MPS are advanced 3D cell culture models capable of closely modeling tissue changes more accurately than simple cell cultures.

So, you have a better cell culture model and a high-precision live-cell observation system in space, which only translates to a highly controlled study of cells and tissues under microgravity that is difficult to replicate on Earth.

NASA is taking 11,000 pounds of science to space

The Northrop Grumman CRS-24 mission is currently targeting liftoff this Friday, April 11th, and will deliver up to 11,000 pounds of science and supplies to the space station, which include Nikon’s NEMO. 

The mission will debut several other scientific research projects, including a new module for the Cold Atom Lab to improve computing and advance quantum science. There will also be an investigation, dubbed Nanoracks-ITS, to understand how solar activity and space weather affect radio signals, such as GPS and radar, sent from Earth. 

Gut microbiome. Source: NASA

Another separate investigation will uncover how spaceflight can alter the relationship between organisms and their gut microbiome to help identify ways to keep astronauts healthy for future Moon and Mars missions.

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Polygon Labs is in advanced talks to raise up to $100 million to fund a dedicated stablecoin payments business, according to a report by The Information. This development is coming around the same time the network is making serious advancements in its payments features, the latest being its third mainnet upgrade in four months.

For much of the past two years, Polygon’s network economy has had one major catalyst: Polymarket.

Polymarket accounted for over half the transactions on Polygon and 67% of its gas fees in March 2026, making it far and away the largest platform operating on the L2 network. However, the divorce between Polygon and Polymarket is imminent after Polymarket suffered downtime in December 2025 following a Polygon network outage.

Not long after the incident, a team member from Polymarket confirmed that the company was building its own proprietary Ethereum Layer 2 network, internally referred to as POLY.

For a platform that had grown into one of the most liquid prediction markets in the world, dependence on a general-purpose chain it could not control had become a liability.

Polymarket announced on April 6 what it called its biggest infrastructure change to date: a rebuilt trading engine, upgraded smart contracts, and the launch of Polymarket USD, a new collateral token backed one-to-one by Circle’s USDC, replacing the bridged USDC.e it had long relied upon.

So, Polymarket’s L2 going live is not a matter of if but when.

What is Polygon ahead of Polymarket’s exit?

In January, Polygon signed definitive agreements to acquire Coinme, one of the first licensed digital currency exchanges in the United States, and Sequence, a smart wallet and cross-chain infrastructure provider, in a combined deal worth more than $250 million.

Together, the acquisitions form the backbone of what Polygon is calling the Open Money Stack, a vertically integrated platform designed to move stablecoins from fiat bank accounts through to on-chain settlement via a single API.

Coinme brings regulated fiat on- and off-ramps operating across 48 US states under money-transmitter licenses, along with more than one million existing users.

Sequence adds enterprise smart wallets and a one-click cross-chain orchestration engine. Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal described the combined strategy as a “reverse Stripe,” a reference to the payments giant’s own acquisition-led push into stablecoin infrastructure.

Polygon Foundation founder Sandeep Nailwal reportedly said, “Polygon Labs is becoming a full-blown fintech company.”

The fresh $100 million raise, if completed, would add more weight to that bet.

The Giugliano hardfork, activated on Polygon’s mainnet at block 85,268,500 today, Wednesday, April 8, is the technical complement to that commercial strategy.

Can Polygon win as a payments layer for everyone else?

The commercial landscape gives Polygon reason for both confidence and caution. Its on-chain stablecoin supply is currently around $3.4 billion, suggesting that demand for its settlement rails remains substantial even as its most prominent application prepares to exit. Shift4 Payments, Revolut, Mastercard, Stripe, and Flutterwave are among the enterprises currently using the network.

The US GENIUS Act of 2025 has handed regulated infrastructure providers like Polygon a clearer path to market. Coinme’s money-transmitter licenses and compliance infrastructure are now a strategic asset rather than a regulatory footnote.

However, the competitive pressure is real and continues to build up. Stripe and Paradigm have built Tempo, a Layer-1 blockchain focused on stablecoin-native payments, signaling its intent to own the full stack from settlement to custody.

The pace of acquisitions, protocol upgrades, and fundraising activity that Polygon has embarked on points to the organization deciding with some urgency that its future lies in being the payments chain for everyone instead of the home chain for one, in this case, Polymarket.

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Aave’s token traded into green territory today as two institutional papers reviewed the protocol favorably this month. 

On one hand, Zach Pandl, the Head of Research at Grayscale, shared his thoughts about whether Aave could become a household name. On the other hand, the Bank of Canada, in what was its first formal central bank study of the protocol, called DeFi lending with proper governance “operationally viable.”

AAVE currently trades around $93.4, after peaking near $96.5 during the day. The token has spent most of 2026 under pressure, with other first-quarter governance crises that resulted in the departures of BGD Labs and Aave Chan Initiative (ACI).

Aave has reversed a negative price trend today. Source: CoinMarketCap

Grayscale sees Aave becoming a household name 

Grayscale’s sentiments about Aave have been fairly public for over a year. In October 2024, Grayscale launched the Grayscale Aave Trust, with its Head of Product and Research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, describing the protocol as having “the potential to revolutionize traditional finance.”

Additionally, in February 2026, Grayscale filed with the SEC to convert its trust into a spot-traded ETF targeting an NYSE Arca listing. This move was similar to the same paths they took with Bitcoin and Ethereum, and would open AAVE exposure to a far wider base of regulated investors if it is approved.

Grayscale’s latest research post formalizes the investment thesis. 

In its 2026 Digital Asset Outlook report, Grayscale had initially highlighted Aave as one of the primary beneficiaries of a DeFi acceleration it expects to happen through the year. It was a trend that, according to the outlook, it expects “core DeFi protocols to benefit, including lending platforms like AAVE.”

The post also argued that the protocol’s combination of TVL dominance, fee generation, institutional integrations, and regulatory clarity positions it not just as a DeFi leader but as a mainstream financial brand in the making. 

With the protocol generating $141.8 million in revenue by 2025, and commanding up to 60% of the DeFi lending market by TVL, Aave’s fundamentals seem to be evidence of that theory.

Why is the Bank of Canada bullish on Aave? 

The Bank of Canada’s DeFi Lending: Returns, Leverage and Liquidation Risk paper, written by Jonathan Chiu and Furkan Danisman, was released as something unusual: an in-depth central bank study of a DeFi protocol using transaction data. 

According to the paper, protocol earnings were concentrated in just a few tokens, with WETH, USDT, and USDC driving approximately 83% of Aave’s total earnings. 

Apparently, highly active and wealthy users making up approximately 2% of the platform were also involved in risky margin trading. Because these traders leverage heavily to improve their trades, they get liquidated twice as fast as everyday traders, which in turn causes major liquidation waves during market downturns. 

It is not unusual for borrowers to face between 10 to 30% in lost collateral when liquidations occur, with the ten largest liquidation waves accounting for over 80% of total liquidated volume. 

Nonetheless, the paper acknowledged that despite these risks and the platform’s issues with capital efficiency, liquidation risk, and systemic fragility, they believe that nothing is wrong with the core technology and that it only needs better rules and management to effectively handle such extreme events.

It must be noted, however, that the Bank of Canada’s paper studied V3, not V4, which launched on Ethereum on March 30, 2026. 

The transition to V4 has singlehandedly become the most contentious issue in Aave’s recent history. If Aave manages to solidify its governance and V4 delivers, then Grayscale’s household name thesis might hold.

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Anthropic has on Wednesday launched Claude Mythos Preview, a new cyber AI model, but the public cannot use it.

Speaking via a blog post, the company said, “AI models have reached a level of coding capability where they can surpass all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities.”

The AI company said it has estimated global cybercrime costs at around $500 billion a year.

According to Anthropic, its launch group for Mythos Preview includes Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorgan Chase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Palo Alto Networks.

More than 40 other organizations that build or maintain critical software also got access. Anthropic said it will provide up to $100 million in usage credits and $4 million in direct support for open source security groups.

In its press release, Anthropic claims that Mythos Preview has allegedly found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities across every major operating system and every major web browser.

One example was a 27-year-old flaw in OpenBSD that could let an attacker remotely crash a machine just by connecting to it. Another was a 16-year-old flaw in FFmpeg hiding in code that automated tools had hit five million times without catching the issue.

The model also found and chained several flaws in the Linux kernel so an attacker could move from ordinary user access to full control of a machine.

Anthropic said for other bugs, it plans to publish cryptographic hashes now and will reveal more once fixes are in place, as the model found nearly all of those vulnerabilities and built many related exploits on its own.

On CyberGym, Mythos Preview scored 83.1% on vulnerability reproduction, compared with 66.6% for Claude Opus 4.6. VentureBeat separately reported 93.9% on SWE-bench Verified, versus 80.8% for Opus 4.6.

Anthropic then explained that recent frontier systems have cut the cost, effort, and skill needed to find and exploit security holes.

Glasswing gives partners a head start in a faster cyber fight

Under Project Glasswing, partners will use Mythos Preview for defensive work on internal systems and open source code.

Anthropic said the work will include local vulnerability detection, black box testing of binaries, endpoint security, and penetration testing.

After the research preview, participants will be able to access the model through the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry at $25 per million input tokens and $125 per million output tokens.

The company also said it gave $2.5 million to Alpha-Omega and OpenSSF through the Linux Foundation, plus $1.5 million to the Apache Software Foundation.

AWS said it analyzes more than 400 trillion network flows a day, Microsoft said the model showed gains on CTI-REALM, CrowdStrike said the gap between finding a flaw and exploiting it has collapsed, and Google said it will make the model available through Vertex AI, while Palo Alto Networks said defenders need these tools before attackers get them.

The New York Times reported that late last year, Anthropic said state-backed Chinese hackers used its AI in an effort to target about 30 companies and government agencies, with human operators doing only 10% to 20% of the work.

The report also said attackers are already using AI to draft phishing emails, write ransom notes, sort stolen data, and speed up breach sales.

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Currenc Group (Nasdaq:CURR) has partnered with Securitize to tokenize its shares on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. The company has also partnered with Animoca Brands to bridge on-chain finance and traditional trading infrastructure.

Currenc Group has picked Securitize as one of the top platforms for asset tokenization. The decision closes the circle for a crossover between a Nasdaq-listed company and Web3 projects. 

We’ve partnered with Currenc Group (Nasdaq: CURR) to tokenize their shares on Ethereum and Solana. pic.twitter.com/LnajAodSSJ

— Securitize (@Securitize) April 8, 2026

Currenc Group partnered with Animoca Brands in a reverse merger, thus giving the Web3 company exposure to a top-tier stock exchange, after its shares were delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in 2020. With the new tokenization partnership, Currenc Group also aims to give global access to its on-chain tokens. 

Currenc Group combines fintech and cross-border payments, e-wallet infrastructure, and AI analytics tools, adding the Web3 influence of Animoca Brands. 

Can Currenc Group revive demand for DAT company shares? 

Currec Group and Animoca Brands offer a stock with exposure to over 600 Web3 projects that have survived over multiple crypto seasons. CURR thus represents a digital asset conglomerate, surpassing the exposure of digital asset companies. 

CURR tokens may be returned to crypto-native traders, offering them exposure to another Nasdaq-listed asset. 

Recently, tokenized equities saw increased trading volumes as interest shifted from crypto tokens to equities. CURR is also riding the trend toward an equity structure rather than issuing native tokens, which have lost their appeal to crypto-native traders. 

CURR has the advantage of access to NASDAQ liquidity and to the Animoca Brands portfolio of companies. The fund has made 474 investments, with an average of 4 additional investments in the past few months. 

The main obstacle is the unrealized loss on Animoca Brands projects, which stands at 28.1% on average. As a result, CURR traded at around $2.97, down from a peak above $11 before the merger. 

CURR expanded in 2026, sparking hopes of a recovery of interest for Web3 and the Animoca Brands portfolio of digital assets. | Source: Google Finance

However, CURR has also shown signs of revival, with shares rising by over 52% to date in 2026. 

CURR shares can be open to DeFi integration

Securitize opens other opportunities for CURR shares. Securitize allows 24/7 trading of its assets, lower settlement costs, fractional ownership, and DeFi integration as collateral. 

‘With Currenc, we are continuing to show what issuer-led tokenization can look like when the token represents the real security and the company is actively involved in the process,’ said Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder and CEO of Securitize.

Existing CURR owners can also tokenize their shares. CURR will become available for international on-chain trading, with expanded ownership opportunities in crypto lending. 

The addition of CURR is also a move toward Securitize’s expansion. The platform has tokenized 21 assets, with a notional value of $3.86B. Ethereum carries 12 of the assets, with three on Solana. 

Most of the value tokenized by Securitize, around $2.4B, is U.S. Treasury debt. Tokenized stocks usually belong to crypto companies and projects that went public and were seeking additional representation on crypto markets.

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South Korean authorities have implemented a standard rule for all exchanges that restricts users from easily bypassing withdrawal delays, especially in cases where they are linked to fraud. 

A loss of 170.5 billion won was recorded between June and September of 2025 due to criminals exploiting the differing exception requirements of various exchange platforms. 

South Korean exchanges can no longer make their own rules 

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on April 8 that they are implementing an “enhanced virtual asset withdrawal delay system.”

The previous withdrawal delay system, which was designed to hold new users’ funds for 24-72 hours, allowed for “exceptions.” However, each exchange had different standards for granting these exceptions. 

Some exchanges allowed users to skip the delay if they simply met a minimum number of transaction days or deposit/withdrawal counts, allowing fraudsters to move stolen funds off platforms within minutes after manipulating their trading history to match the exchange’s specific criteria. 

The process often took less than an hour, making it impossible for banks or police to freeze the assets.

According to official data, between June and September of last year, 59% of fraudulent activities (1,490 out of 2,526) occurred in accounts that were exempt from withdrawal delays. In terms of financial damage, 170.5 billion won, representing 75.5% of the total 225.7 billion won lost, was withdrawn without any friction through these exempted accounts.

Now, to qualify for an immediate withdrawal, a user must pass a strict evaluation that mandatorily includes factors such as transaction frequency, transaction period, and deposit/withdrawal amounts. 

Specific “non-exception” requirements have also been codified to prevent loopholes.

Which users will be able to withdraw crypto quickly?

The FSC has stated they will “minimize consumer inconvenience by allowing withdrawal delay exceptions if immediate withdrawal is required for reasons unrelated to voice phishing, such as liquidation.”

Simulations run by the authorities applying the new standard show that the number of customers who will get access to withdrawal delay exceptions is expected to be “significantly reduced to less than 1% of existing customers.” 

Furthermore, for the tiny fraction of users who do qualify for an exception, follow-up management will be extremely strict. Exchanges are now required to conduct enhanced customer verification (KYC) procedures on these accounts at least once a year, including checking the source of funds. 

A separate intensive monitoring system is also being established to collect and analyze data on virtual asset withdrawals and detect abnormal transactions. 

South Korean authorities have been tightening legislation for the crypto industry. Cryptopolitan recently reported that the FSC mandated that all five major virtual asset exchanges compare their ledgers and wallet balances every 5 minutes. This measure was prompted by the recent Bithumb Bitcoin overpayment incident. 

The FSC has vowed to continue monitoring the effects of the new system, stating that it will “regularly reconsider the adequacy of the standards to prevent new bypass methods from occurring.”

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Tax authorities in France will be going after cryptocurrency investors under a new law that obliges them to declare any wallet holding a few thousand euros’ worth of coins.

The upcoming legislation, which has just overcome a parliamentary hurdle in Paris, is expected to increase state surveillance over the digital assets of the French people.

France to boost monitoring of crypto holdings

France’s National Assembly has backed a bill “on the fight against social and tax fraud,” which concerns taxpayers, particularly cryptocurrency owners.

The draft law was approved by the lower house of parliament on first reading this Tuesday, local media reported, citing the chamber’s announcement.

The legislation introduces a new obligation for crypto investors: to declare each self-hosted wallet that holds €5,000 worth of digital coins (nearly $5,900 at the time of writing).

This particular provision is meant to reduce the opacity of digital financial flows, which have been harder to trace than fiat transfers through traditional bank accounts, the Journal du Coin noted.

By adding it to the legal document, the government hopes to tap into wealth that has been escaping detection until now, the crypto news outlet wrote in an article on Wednesday.

The move comes after a successful 2025 for the French tax authority, which increased reported amounts by €249 million and collected over €17 billion in taxes and penalties.

This was achieved by improving the monitoring of citizens’ assets, and crypto will now be integrated into the agency’s surveillance mechanisms, boosting its investigative capabilities.

When is the end of crypto anonymity coming?

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts will have some time before the legislation begins to end the anonymity of their holdings in France.

After passing the Assembly, the bill must be reviewed in the Senate, too, and given the nod by a joint committee, possibly in May, before it’s finally adopted.

Its implementation will also depend on the introduction of bylaws that will specify the mechanisms and procedures for monitoring and auditing.

Thus, the reporting obligation for non-custodial wallets and the respective surveillance mechanism are more likely to be enforced towards the end of this year or in early 2027.

France is tightening tax enforcement

French authorities have been taking steps to improve tax collection. The implementation of electronic invoicing, aimed at curbing VAT fraud, is one such example.

“The 2025 results already show a 148% increase in the results of tax credit refund audits, a sign of an overall tightening of enforcement action,” Journal du Coin pointed out.

The addition of cryptocurrencies to the list of assets subject to audit gives the French finance ministry another tool to combat fraud networks, the report highlighted, adding:

“Taxpayers will have to anticipate increased transparency regarding their digital assets, under threat of sanctions comparable to those for undeclared work or unreported foreign bank accounts.”

France has been moving in that direction for at least a couple of years, and the update of its tax legislation to account for new financial technologies was expected.

After audits powered by artificial intelligence proved their effectiveness last year, the integration of new detection tools targeting crypto holdings is likely to be swift and smooth.

Under the new legal framework, digital currency wallets will be included in France’s annual tax audit. Pressure on crypto owners to declare all their holdings to the state has been increasing in other jurisdictions as well. A recently proposed bill requires all Russian residents to report their offshore crypto wallets to the country’s tax authority.

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Iran wants oil tankers to pay a steep new fee to cross the Strait of Hormuz after last night’s ceasefire announcement, with the bill set at $2 million per fully loaded supertanker.

The Iranians are demanding that the $2 million be paid in Bitcoin, and sometimes Chinese yuan, but mostly it’s going to be crypto.

Hamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, allegedly told the Financial Times that Iran wants to monitor everything entering and leaving the strait during this period.

Iran ceasefire in unclear limbo as many ships keep waiting for approval

Hosseini said vessels would go through a review process in which, first, an email request arrives, Iran finishes its assessment, and then the vessel gets only seconds to make payment in Bitcoin, which, of course, is already a major piece of Iran’s $7.8 billion crypto ecosystem.

“Everything can pass, but the procedure for each vessel will take time, and Iran is in no hurry,” Hosseini added.

On Wednesday, tankers in the Persian Gulf got a radio warning saying they could be hit by military force if they tried to pass without prior permission from Iranian authorities. The warning said, “If any vessels attempt to transit without permission, [they] will be destroyed.”

At the same time, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz had been halted.

Iran also vowed to abandon the ceasefire deal and resume attacks if Israel continues to strike Lebanon, and it is preparing possible responses.

Reacting to the ceasefire talks, Foreign Minister Professor Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on X:

“What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us.”

Oil tankers stranded as traders expect slow release amid uncertainty

Meanwhile, in Hungary on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance called the Iran ceasefire a “fragile truce,” and said Iran’s foreign minister had reacted well, but others inside the country had been “lying” about the deal.

Vance said, “This is why I say this is a fragile truce.” He added, “You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck.”

JD also said the U.S. had “clear military, diplomatic and, maybe most importantly, we have extraordinary economic leverage” over Iran. While campaigning for Viktor Orbán’s reelection in Hungary, he said the president had given Iran an ultimatum: “Open up the streets, stop trying to hold the world’s economy hostage, and we’ll engage in a ceasefire.” He then said, “That’s exactly the agreement that we came to last night.”

Out on the water, Kpler said about 175 million barrels of oil and petroleum products are loaded on 187 tankers in the Persian Gulf, with 300 to 400 vessels waiting to leave once it becomes safe, calling the area a “parking lot.”

Cryptopolitan expects the next few days may look like the last two weeks, with only a limited number of Iran-approved vessels allowed through a specific route.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to claim that “The strait is open,” and urges countries to simply send their ships through.

Trump’s Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, when asked if it was open at this moment, also said, “I believe so, based on the diplomatic negotiation.” Then came ship tracking data.

MarineTraffic said on X early Wednesday that two vessels, the Greek-owned NJ Earth and the Liberia-flagged Daytona Beach, passed through overnight.

But both were bulk carriers, not oil tankers, meaning they carry dry cargo, not crude. So those sailings did not prove that tanker traffic had truly restarted after the ceasefire, according to Kpler.

Trump, for his part, said this morning: “A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!”

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