"Sam Bankman-Fried has entered into an agreement with a group of FTX clients who have agreed to drop a class action lawsuit against him in exchange for assistance in pursuing the celebrity promoters of the collapsed exchange. If the agreement is approved by the court, Bankman-Fried will be released from current and future civil liability related to With the collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried is committed to providing plaintiffs' attorneys with information, including evidence and documents, to assist in the recovery of victims' rights and to support their legal efforts against a number of celebrity promoters and venture capital firms that have backed FTX."

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is exploring the possibility of switching to a 24-hour operation, similar to how cryptocurrency exchanges operate. It became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic as cryptocurrency trading intensified and retail investor interest soared.

Billionaire Steve Cohen-backed startup 24 Exchange is awaiting a ruling from the SEC on whether it can launch its first 24-hour exchange.

In a NYSE survey, market participants express their views on the prospect of 24-hour trading, protecting investors from price fluctuations and organizing night-time operations. An SEC decision on 24 Exchange's filing is expected within months.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem, based on Ethereum and represented by the second-largest dog token SHIB, raised $12 million in a token sale round to build its privacy-focused blockchain network. Investors include: Comma 3 Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Cypher Capital, Shima Capital, Hercules Ventures, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Polygon Ventures and others. The transaction was completed by Shiba Inu Mint S.A., a company registered in Panama.

Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 has a more diverse business model after merging with US Bitcoin Corporation last year.

Brokerage Benchmark has initiated coverage on Hut 8 with a Buy rating and a $12 price target.

Hut 8 has 9,102 bitcoins in its account, which provides the company with a significant financial reserve.

The value of the company's cryptocurrency assets is estimated at approximately $592 million, which is about 82% of its market capitalization.

After the merger, Hut 8 management focused on reducing Bitcoin mining costs and increasing cash flow.

Cryptocurrency casino ZKasino, which collected more than $33 million in Ether from more than 10,000 users, transferred funds to the Lido staking platform, causing discontent among investors. ZKasino initially stated that the collected ether would be returned, but later reported that it had been converted into the native ZKAS token. Information about refunds has been removed from the site. ZKasino has not yet responded to the criticism.

Blockchain developer Celo proposed using Optimism's OP Stack to migrate to the planned second layer network based on Ethereum. The proposal will be discussed at several community calls, and then it will be put to a vote among CELO project token holders. Celo's developer, cLabs, reviewed technical proposals from various second-tier teams to select the most suitable for the new blockchain.

Tokens associated with Bitcoin's second layer solutions have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) after mining rewards were reduced. STX, a Stacks network token, rose 20% to $2.87. Bitcoin added just 4.7% to $66,300. Other layer 2 tokens such as Elastos' ELA and SatoshiVM's SAVM are up 11% and 5% respectively.

Grayscale plans to release a version of its fund with a fee of 0.15%, which will be the lowest rate of all. The existing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has a 1.5% fee. When implementing Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), the company will transfer 10% of assets from GBTC to BTC Trust.

Woo X became the first cryptocurrency exchange to offer retail clients the opportunity to invest in tokenized US Treasury bills. The product unveiled on Monday is called RWA Earn Vaults and was created in partnership with London-based tokenization platform OpenTrade.

Broker Bernstein notes that total miner income is now roughly three times its pre-halving level, averaging around 19 BTC per block. This is due to an increase in network fees, which indicates the interest of developers in Bitcoin. Bernstein predicts that 15% of miner revenue will come from network transaction fees on a sustainable basis. The launch of the Runes protocol caused a surge in network fees on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Nigerian authorities have found the fugitive executive director of the Binance crypto exchange, Nadeem Anjarwalla, in Kenya. He is accused of exchange rate manipulation, tax evasion and money laundering. Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan national, is facing extradition to Nigeria. Another Binance executive, Tigran Ghambaryan, is still in Nigeria and denies money laundering charges.

Thai authorities have decided to block “unauthorized” cryptocurrency platforms in order to improve the effectiveness of the fight against online crime. Specific platforms are not named, but users are encouraged to quickly withdraw their assets. The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) promises to give users time to manage their accounts before being blocked.

Bitcoin Layer 2 top tier coins are up 5-20% since the halving, outperforming BTC. This happened against the backdrop of an increase in transaction fees on the Bitcoin blockchain caused by the launch of the Runes protocol. Tokens associated with Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions have outperformed Bitcoin since the mining rewards on the Bitcoin blockchain were halved.

STX, the native token of leading network Bitcoin Layer 2 Stacks, rose nearly 20% to $2.87. Other Layer 2 coins such as Elastos’ ELA token and SatoshiVM’s SAVM rose 11% and 5% respectively.

Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions are projects that solve scalability and transaction speed issues on the Bitcoin blockchain. They are built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and provide scalability by processing transactions off the main chain.

Bitcoin started the week strong, with transaction fees dropping significantly following the halving. Medium transactions now cost $8.48, and high priority transactions now cost $9.32.

After the halving, these fees jumped to $146 and $170, respectively. The hashprice index also fell from $182.98 to $81 per hash/day.

While Bitcoin miners expected a significant reduction in revenues after the halving, Casey Rodarmore's Runes protocol, created to create fungible tokens on Bitcoin, was supposed to be an antidote. However, prices for the NFT Runes collection have dropped by almost 50% in the last 24 hours.

The Bitcoin halving that occurred last week resulted in record transaction fees and earnings for miners. The reason was the launch of the new Runes protocol by Casey Rodarmore, which caused a massive network congestion. The average Bitcoin transaction fee on April 20 was a record $127.97. Total miner income, including block rewards and transaction fees, reached a record $107.8 million in one day.

Bitcoin ETF provider Grayscale has introduced a new product, the Bitcoin Mini Trust, with a more competitive fee of 0.15%.

Grayscale plans to contribute approximately 10% of GBTC's assets to the Mini Fund, which equates to approximately 63,204 Bitcoin.

BTC Trust shares will be automatically issued and distributed to GBTC shareholders.

The creation of the Bitcoin Mini Trust is a non-tax event for existing GBTC shareholders, so they are not expected to pay capital gains tax to automatically rollover into the new fund.

Grayscale's current assets under management are about $19.6 billion, while its closest competitor, BlackRock's IBIT fund, has grown to just over $17.5 billion.

The launch of a new project by renowned Bitcoin developer Casey Rodamore has attracted attention even among seasoned blockchain developers. His new creation, Runes, allows people to “etch” and mint tokens on the blockchain. Runes functions more like the meme coins that have recently rocked cryptocurrency markets. The first Runes project was Rodamore's own project UNCOMMON•GOODS. There are already hundreds of Runes projects currently being minted and looking for potential buyers."

Bitcoin {{BTC}} stabilized around $63,700 after the fourth halving, an event that changes the economics for the miners who support the Bitcoin ecosystem.

BTC has remained virtually unchanged since Bitcoin's 840,000th block was mined early Saturday UTC. Bitcoin fell to $59,685 on Friday before rebounding above $65,000.

Halvings have historically preceded Bitcoin price rallies, most recently in May 2020, when the price increased from $9,500 to $65,000 over the next year.

This time around, however, Bitcoin has already begun a strong rally to all-time highs, rising from $15,500 at the end of 2022 to $73,680, thanks to optimism around the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US and subsequent enthusiasm since trading began in January.

On Thursday, JPMorgan said it expects Bitcoin to fall after the halving as it remains in "overbought conditions" based on high levels of open interest in Bitcoin futures. Goldman Sachs added that for Bitcoin to replicate the success of previous cycles following halving events, macro conditions must support risky investments.

Since February 28, Bitcoin has traded between $59,600 and $73,860, the upper limit of which is protected this week amid the growing conflict in Israel that has impacted all capital markets.

The April 12 sell-off from $71,000 to $60,000 wiped out $4 billion of open interest in the Bitcoin market, according to Coinalyze. The total across all exchanges except CME is $16.1 billion.

The fourth ever Bitcoin halving event occurred at 00:09 UTC on Saturday, when the 840,000th block was added to the Bitcoin blockchain. Halving cuts the reward that Bitcoin miners receive for adding new blocks by 50% every 210,000 blocks. The reward dropped to 3.125 BTC. This event is perceived as significant in the crypto community, as it symbolizes the original concept of Bitcoin as an autonomous, decentralized financial network.

An Indian national, Chirag Tomar, pleaded guilty to creating a fake Coinbase website to steal login credentials and more than $9.5 million worth of cryptocurrency. Tomar was arrested on December 20, 2023 at the Atlanta Airport.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

According to court documents, Tomar and his accomplices created a fake version of the Coinbase Pro website to trick customers into obtaining their usernames and passwords. From June 2021 to October 2022, Tomar made internet searches such as "fake Coinbase page", "Coinbase scam", "US scam" and "how to withdraw money from Coinbase without OTP".

Tomar used the money from the scam to finance a luxurious lifestyle, including buying Rolex and Audemars Piguet watches, luxury cars and trips to London, Dubai and Thailand.

Tomar has not yet been sentenced.

The Human Rights Foundation announced an award to deceased scientist and privacy advocate Hal Finney, who contributed to the creation of Bitcoin 15 years ago. His widow, Fran Finney, accepted the first Finney Freedom Award, which included a physical award and a cash prize of 1 Bitcoin. The foundation has allocated an additional 32 bitcoins for future rewards. New honorees will be named every 4 years, starting on January 10, known as “Bitcoin Launch Day.”

Crypto market whales increased their investments in Bitcoin as its price dipped below $60,000 on Friday. Analytics firm IntoTheBlock reports that addresses holding at least 0.1% of the total supply added 19,760 BTC worth more than $1.2 billion. This helped Bitcoin recover to $65,000, establishing $60,000 as a key support level.