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At Cryptopolitan, we research, analyze, and deliver news—daily.
From breaking updates to in-depth analysis, educational guides, and market insights, we’re here to keep you informed with neutral and authentic news.
Thank you for trusting us to be your go-to source!
At Cryptopolitan, we research, analyze, and deliver news—daily.
From breaking updates to in-depth analysis, educational guides, and market insights, we’re here to keep you informed with neutral and authentic news.
Thank you for trusting us to be your go-to source!
From breaking updates to in-depth analysis, educational guides, and market insights, we’re here to keep you informed with neutral and authentic news.
Thank you for trusting us to be your go-to source!
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Analysts prepare to measure China's local chip industry with DeepSeek's April model launchDeepSeek is hiring workers in Inner Mongolia for its late April launch, its first big release built to run on Huawei processors instead of American ones.
The firm also posted openings for server maintenance engineers and delivery managers in Ulanqab, a city in Inner Mongolia. The Hangzhou company hasn’t advertised on-site jobs for its computing infrastructure before.
The V4 set for late April uses a Mixture-of-Experts design with about 1 trillion parameters total, though just 32 to 37 billion work on any task. That keeps costs down as the model gets bigger.
“If they have successfully trained V4 entirely on Huawei silicon, it signals a material shift in the geopolitical tech landscape,” said Stephen Wu from Carthage Capital.
The release has been pushed back twice from February.
Silicon Valley rivals unite against Chinese firms
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google said April 6 they’d share intelligence to stop Chinese companies from copying their models. The three competitors are working together through the Frontier Model Forum, an industry group from 2023.
Anthropic tracked 16 million exchanges from three Chinese firms across about 24,000 fake accounts. The companies allegedly used adversarial distillation, flooding ChatGPT and Claude with queries, then training their models on the responses.
OpenAI accused DeepSeek of copying its models “through new, obfuscated methods” in a February 12 memo to the House Select Committee on China.
The restrictions that started in 2022 to slow China’s AI development first led to chip output dropping 9.8% in 2022. However, those export controls on advanced chips seem to now be backfiring.
Domestic chips projected to reach 50% market share
Things are shifting. TrendForce projects domestic chips will reach 50% of China’s AI chip market in 2026. Chinese semiconductor equipment went from 25% to 35% of the home market between 2024 and 2025, beating the Made in China 2025 target of 30%.
China has put about $150 billion into chip development. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act authorized $52.7 billion.
The switch to Huawei chips has not been without delays. As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, DeepSeek was expected to use banned Nvidia chips without revealing any technical signs.
Moving away from Nvidia takes “substantial re-engineering,” according to Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research. “That transition can slow development cycles and introduce performance trade-offs, especially for V4, a model expected to be state-of-the-art,” he said.
DeepSeek first gained prominence in January 2024 with R1, a reasoning model President Trump called a “wake-up call” for American companies. The company’s cheap tools are used widely in China and places like Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
Analysts prepare to measure China's local chip industry with DeepSeek's April model launch
DeepSeek is hiring workers in Inner Mongolia for its late April launch, its first big release built to run on Huawei processors instead of American ones.
The firm also posted openings for server maintenance engineers and delivery managers in Ulanqab, a city in Inner Mongolia. The Hangzhou company hasn’t advertised on-site jobs for its computing infrastructure before.
The V4 set for late April uses a Mixture-of-Experts design with about 1 trillion parameters total, though just 32 to 37 billion work on any task. That keeps costs down as the model gets bigger.
“If they have successfully trained V4 entirely on Huawei silicon, it signals a material shift in the geopolitical tech landscape,” said Stephen Wu from Carthage Capital.
The release has been pushed back twice from February.
Silicon Valley rivals unite against Chinese firms
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google said April 6 they’d share intelligence to stop Chinese companies from copying their models. The three competitors are working together through the Frontier Model Forum, an industry group from 2023.
Anthropic tracked 16 million exchanges from three Chinese firms across about 24,000 fake accounts. The companies allegedly used adversarial distillation, flooding ChatGPT and Claude with queries, then training their models on the responses.
OpenAI accused DeepSeek of copying its models “through new, obfuscated methods” in a February 12 memo to the House Select Committee on China.
The restrictions that started in 2022 to slow China’s AI development first led to chip output dropping 9.8% in 2022. However, those export controls on advanced chips seem to now be backfiring.
Domestic chips projected to reach 50% market share
Things are shifting. TrendForce projects domestic chips will reach 50% of China’s AI chip market in 2026. Chinese semiconductor equipment went from 25% to 35% of the home market between 2024 and 2025, beating the Made in China 2025 target of 30%.
China has put about $150 billion into chip development. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act authorized $52.7 billion.
The switch to Huawei chips has not been without delays. As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, DeepSeek was expected to use banned Nvidia chips without revealing any technical signs.
Moving away from Nvidia takes “substantial re-engineering,” according to Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research. “That transition can slow development cycles and introduce performance trade-offs, especially for V4, a model expected to be state-of-the-art,” he said.
DeepSeek first gained prominence in January 2024 with R1, a reasoning model President Trump called a “wake-up call” for American companies. The company’s cheap tools are used widely in China and places like Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
The firm also posted openings for server maintenance engineers and delivery managers in Ulanqab, a city in Inner Mongolia. The Hangzhou company hasn’t advertised on-site jobs for its computing infrastructure before.
The V4 set for late April uses a Mixture-of-Experts design with about 1 trillion parameters total, though just 32 to 37 billion work on any task. That keeps costs down as the model gets bigger.
“If they have successfully trained V4 entirely on Huawei silicon, it signals a material shift in the geopolitical tech landscape,” said Stephen Wu from Carthage Capital.
The release has been pushed back twice from February.
Silicon Valley rivals unite against Chinese firms
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google said April 6 they’d share intelligence to stop Chinese companies from copying their models. The three competitors are working together through the Frontier Model Forum, an industry group from 2023.
Anthropic tracked 16 million exchanges from three Chinese firms across about 24,000 fake accounts. The companies allegedly used adversarial distillation, flooding ChatGPT and Claude with queries, then training their models on the responses.
OpenAI accused DeepSeek of copying its models “through new, obfuscated methods” in a February 12 memo to the House Select Committee on China.
The restrictions that started in 2022 to slow China’s AI development first led to chip output dropping 9.8% in 2022. However, those export controls on advanced chips seem to now be backfiring.
Domestic chips projected to reach 50% market share
Things are shifting. TrendForce projects domestic chips will reach 50% of China’s AI chip market in 2026. Chinese semiconductor equipment went from 25% to 35% of the home market between 2024 and 2025, beating the Made in China 2025 target of 30%.
China has put about $150 billion into chip development. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act authorized $52.7 billion.
The switch to Huawei chips has not been without delays. As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, DeepSeek was expected to use banned Nvidia chips without revealing any technical signs.
Moving away from Nvidia takes “substantial re-engineering,” according to Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research. “That transition can slow development cycles and introduce performance trade-offs, especially for V4, a model expected to be state-of-the-art,” he said.
DeepSeek first gained prominence in January 2024 with R1, a reasoning model President Trump called a “wake-up call” for American companies. The company’s cheap tools are used widely in China and places like Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
188
DeFi on Ripple gains pace as XRP holders tout new yield opportunitiesXRP investors are increasingly targeting annual passive returns of up to 10% as new financial infrastructure and decentralized finance (DeFi) tools expand yield-generating opportunities.
XRP advocate Kevin Cage suggested that upcoming financial frameworks could yield returns of 5% to 10% over time. He acknowledged that, at the moment, there aren’t many ways to earn interest on the token, so most people are just sitting on their bags. However, he is convinced things are about to change with the rollout of new DeFi platforms, institutional setups, and cross-chain tech.
He shared on X: “In the next few years, we’ll likely be able to earn 5-10% on our crypto in multiple ways. We know that XRP isn’t a Proof-of-Stake coin. But yield is coming through the new infrastructure being built.”
A growing ecosystem of third-party platforms is bridging this gap by offering “staking-like” services, including lending, liquidity provision, and yield farming.
Crypto lending platforms could bring in between 3% and 8% in returns, according to Cage
Cage noted that XRP holders will soon have multiple ways to generate passive income on their tokens. He estimated that standard crypto lending platforms could yield between 3% and 8%, while more structured institutional products could push annual returns to 5% to 12%.
He also noted that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are playing a larger role and could deliver returns between 4% and 10%. Cage added that cross-chain strategies will soon help XRP holders to gain yield across multiple blockchains.
He also envisioned a future where financial apps, exchanges, and wallets offer built-in, automated yield accounts. Cage noted that this development will make it incredibly easy for XRP holders to start earning passive income.
In response to Cage’s insights, one commenter remarked in support, “Definitely excited for Collateral. That’s the new financial system. Within institutional custody, holders can likely earn an average of 5%, as institutions holding the asset also seek yield from collateral holdings. They want yield, not your token.”
However, one user on X, though agreeing with Cage’s direction, cautioned that future gains from the token will depend on its utility rather than the asset itself, stressing that every yield comes with risk. He contended, “Yield will come. Just not without trade-offs.”
XRP is already increasing its utility and application
Chief Strategy Officer at Ēnosys Global, Darren Williams, also in response to Cage’s post, noted that XRP is already being used as FXRP in a CDP on Enosys Loans via Flare Network, backing roughly $9 million in debt.
The Flare blockchain unlocked active lending and borrowing markets for XRP-linked assets through an integration with Morpho. The development team announced that this update allows users to lend and borrow FXRP, Flare’s native, asset-backed version of XRP. Holders of FXRP can now deposit their tokens to earn interest or use them as collateral to secure loans in other digital assets, including stablecoins.
Flare Network also partnered with Xaman Wallet to simplify access, enabling XRP holders to tap into DeFi directly from their wallets. With the integration, holders can earn yield via self-custody, aligning it with capabilities already seen on Ethereum and Solana.
The setup also allows investors to deposit XRP into Upshift’s earnXRP vault directly from the Xaman wallet interface. The system proceeds to mint FXRP on Flare and channel it into curated yield strategies managed by Clearstar, routing the profits back to the user. Remarkably, holders can access this without downloading new software, buying native gas tokens, or managing a separate set of private keys.
Additionally, entities such as Axelar and Hex Trust have deployed decentralized finance frameworks engineered specifically for XRP market participants, thereby expanding the operational utility of their holdings.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
DeFi on Ripple gains pace as XRP holders tout new yield opportunities
XRP investors are increasingly targeting annual passive returns of up to 10% as new financial infrastructure and decentralized finance (DeFi) tools expand yield-generating opportunities.
XRP advocate Kevin Cage suggested that upcoming financial frameworks could yield returns of 5% to 10% over time. He acknowledged that, at the moment, there aren’t many ways to earn interest on the token, so most people are just sitting on their bags. However, he is convinced things are about to change with the rollout of new DeFi platforms, institutional setups, and cross-chain tech.
He shared on X: “In the next few years, we’ll likely be able to earn 5-10% on our crypto in multiple ways. We know that XRP isn’t a Proof-of-Stake coin. But yield is coming through the new infrastructure being built.”
A growing ecosystem of third-party platforms is bridging this gap by offering “staking-like” services, including lending, liquidity provision, and yield farming.
Crypto lending platforms could bring in between 3% and 8% in returns, according to Cage
Cage noted that XRP holders will soon have multiple ways to generate passive income on their tokens. He estimated that standard crypto lending platforms could yield between 3% and 8%, while more structured institutional products could push annual returns to 5% to 12%.
He also noted that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are playing a larger role and could deliver returns between 4% and 10%. Cage added that cross-chain strategies will soon help XRP holders to gain yield across multiple blockchains.
He also envisioned a future where financial apps, exchanges, and wallets offer built-in, automated yield accounts. Cage noted that this development will make it incredibly easy for XRP holders to start earning passive income.
In response to Cage’s insights, one commenter remarked in support, “Definitely excited for Collateral. That’s the new financial system. Within institutional custody, holders can likely earn an average of 5%, as institutions holding the asset also seek yield from collateral holdings. They want yield, not your token.”
However, one user on X, though agreeing with Cage’s direction, cautioned that future gains from the token will depend on its utility rather than the asset itself, stressing that every yield comes with risk. He contended, “Yield will come. Just not without trade-offs.”
XRP is already increasing its utility and application
Chief Strategy Officer at Ēnosys Global, Darren Williams, also in response to Cage’s post, noted that XRP is already being used as FXRP in a CDP on Enosys Loans via Flare Network, backing roughly $9 million in debt.
The Flare blockchain unlocked active lending and borrowing markets for XRP-linked assets through an integration with Morpho. The development team announced that this update allows users to lend and borrow FXRP, Flare’s native, asset-backed version of XRP. Holders of FXRP can now deposit their tokens to earn interest or use them as collateral to secure loans in other digital assets, including stablecoins.
Flare Network also partnered with Xaman Wallet to simplify access, enabling XRP holders to tap into DeFi directly from their wallets. With the integration, holders can earn yield via self-custody, aligning it with capabilities already seen on Ethereum and Solana.
The setup also allows investors to deposit XRP into Upshift’s earnXRP vault directly from the Xaman wallet interface. The system proceeds to mint FXRP on Flare and channel it into curated yield strategies managed by Clearstar, routing the profits back to the user. Remarkably, holders can access this without downloading new software, buying native gas tokens, or managing a separate set of private keys.
Additionally, entities such as Axelar and Hex Trust have deployed decentralized finance frameworks engineered specifically for XRP market participants, thereby expanding the operational utility of their holdings.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
XRP advocate Kevin Cage suggested that upcoming financial frameworks could yield returns of 5% to 10% over time. He acknowledged that, at the moment, there aren’t many ways to earn interest on the token, so most people are just sitting on their bags. However, he is convinced things are about to change with the rollout of new DeFi platforms, institutional setups, and cross-chain tech.
He shared on X: “In the next few years, we’ll likely be able to earn 5-10% on our crypto in multiple ways. We know that XRP isn’t a Proof-of-Stake coin. But yield is coming through the new infrastructure being built.”
A growing ecosystem of third-party platforms is bridging this gap by offering “staking-like” services, including lending, liquidity provision, and yield farming.
Crypto lending platforms could bring in between 3% and 8% in returns, according to Cage
Cage noted that XRP holders will soon have multiple ways to generate passive income on their tokens. He estimated that standard crypto lending platforms could yield between 3% and 8%, while more structured institutional products could push annual returns to 5% to 12%.
He also noted that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are playing a larger role and could deliver returns between 4% and 10%. Cage added that cross-chain strategies will soon help XRP holders to gain yield across multiple blockchains.
He also envisioned a future where financial apps, exchanges, and wallets offer built-in, automated yield accounts. Cage noted that this development will make it incredibly easy for XRP holders to start earning passive income.
In response to Cage’s insights, one commenter remarked in support, “Definitely excited for Collateral. That’s the new financial system. Within institutional custody, holders can likely earn an average of 5%, as institutions holding the asset also seek yield from collateral holdings. They want yield, not your token.”
However, one user on X, though agreeing with Cage’s direction, cautioned that future gains from the token will depend on its utility rather than the asset itself, stressing that every yield comes with risk. He contended, “Yield will come. Just not without trade-offs.”
XRP is already increasing its utility and application
Chief Strategy Officer at Ēnosys Global, Darren Williams, also in response to Cage’s post, noted that XRP is already being used as FXRP in a CDP on Enosys Loans via Flare Network, backing roughly $9 million in debt.
The Flare blockchain unlocked active lending and borrowing markets for XRP-linked assets through an integration with Morpho. The development team announced that this update allows users to lend and borrow FXRP, Flare’s native, asset-backed version of XRP. Holders of FXRP can now deposit their tokens to earn interest or use them as collateral to secure loans in other digital assets, including stablecoins.
Flare Network also partnered with Xaman Wallet to simplify access, enabling XRP holders to tap into DeFi directly from their wallets. With the integration, holders can earn yield via self-custody, aligning it with capabilities already seen on Ethereum and Solana.
The setup also allows investors to deposit XRP into Upshift’s earnXRP vault directly from the Xaman wallet interface. The system proceeds to mint FXRP on Flare and channel it into curated yield strategies managed by Clearstar, routing the profits back to the user. Remarkably, holders can access this without downloading new software, buying native gas tokens, or managing a separate set of private keys.
Additionally, entities such as Axelar and Hex Trust have deployed decentralized finance frameworks engineered specifically for XRP market participants, thereby expanding the operational utility of their holdings.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
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Life Biosciences is starting a clinical trial of its cellular reprogramming therapy in humansScientists at Life Biosciences are preparing to begin testing partial reprogramming in people. It will mark the first time such therapy, which can reset the biological age of cells, is being introduced in humans.
Life Biosciences’ approach is partly based on the Yamanaka factors, a set of four transcription factors, namely Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, which can reprogram an adult cell into an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell that can virtually become any cell type in the body.
The Yamanaka factors worked well in mice, but there were concerns about their unknown potential in the body, especially with the c-Myc factor, which is particularly powerful and can trigger cancer.
Life Biosciences to begin trial for cellular reprogramming on humans
In the quest to experiment with safer ways to apply the Yamanka factors, Yuancheng Ryan Lu, a student of Harvard’s Dr. David Sinclair, the founder of Life Biosciences, successfully regenerated eye cells in mice by introducing just three of the factors, excluding the c-Myc factor.
Story @nature about the challenge of discovering safe epigenetic reprogramming to reverse biological age, by my student Yuancheng Lu and now in clinical trials🤞Here’s that moment: https://t.co/NFXUtXDfYB pic.twitter.com/ssYTkffGvl
— David Sinclair (@davidasinclair) April 11, 2026
Lu’s positive study in the mice forms the basis for Life Biosciences’ clinical trial targeting people with eye conditions due to aging. It will be the world’s first human trial, according to a recent report by Nature.
The trial begins later this year and would treat up to 12 people with glaucoma. According to the report, the scientists will use a virus to introduce the three Yamanaka factors into one eye in patients whose retinal nerve has been damaged due to glaucoma.
The team also plans to treat another 6 with NAION, which is reportedly the most common cause of sudden optic nerve-related vision loss in people over age 50. The patients will be followed up for five years, says Life Biosciences chief scientific officer, Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson.
Are we on the cusp of reversing aging?
The method of introducing three Yamanka factors, without c-Myc, is already proven to work well in animal studies. Sharon mentioned that similar studies in monkeys were successful, with no sign of cancer or other harmful effects. Other scientists have been able to replicate the procedure with similar positive results.
However, the procedure is still not without some concerns. The c-Myc factor, which is being removed for a safer rejuvenation effect, is a well-known oncogene that can promote rapid cell division, which may be needed for some partially reprogrammed cells, said Vittorio Sebastiano, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine
Nevertheless, the clinical trial could mark a big breakthrough in rejuvenating old cells and potentially reversing human aging.
Many tech founders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, are pro-longevity. In March, Brian, whose biotech firm NewLimit is also focused on epigenetic reprogramming, believes that getting old will soon become optional, Cryptopolitan reported.
Getting old shouldn't be viewed as inevitable, just because it happens to everyone. It's a disease that kills over 100,000 people a day, and hopefully it will be optional in the future.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 17, 2026
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
Life Biosciences is starting a clinical trial of its cellular reprogramming therapy in humans
Scientists at Life Biosciences are preparing to begin testing partial reprogramming in people. It will mark the first time such therapy, which can reset the biological age of cells, is being introduced in humans.
Life Biosciences’ approach is partly based on the Yamanaka factors, a set of four transcription factors, namely Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, which can reprogram an adult cell into an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell that can virtually become any cell type in the body.
The Yamanaka factors worked well in mice, but there were concerns about their unknown potential in the body, especially with the c-Myc factor, which is particularly powerful and can trigger cancer.
Life Biosciences to begin trial for cellular reprogramming on humans
In the quest to experiment with safer ways to apply the Yamanka factors, Yuancheng Ryan Lu, a student of Harvard’s Dr. David Sinclair, the founder of Life Biosciences, successfully regenerated eye cells in mice by introducing just three of the factors, excluding the c-Myc factor.
Story @nature about the challenge of discovering safe epigenetic reprogramming to reverse biological age, by my student Yuancheng Lu and now in clinical trials🤞Here’s that moment: https://t.co/NFXUtXDfYB pic.twitter.com/ssYTkffGvl
— David Sinclair (@davidasinclair) April 11, 2026
Lu’s positive study in the mice forms the basis for Life Biosciences’ clinical trial targeting people with eye conditions due to aging. It will be the world’s first human trial, according to a recent report by Nature.
The trial begins later this year and would treat up to 12 people with glaucoma. According to the report, the scientists will use a virus to introduce the three Yamanaka factors into one eye in patients whose retinal nerve has been damaged due to glaucoma.
The team also plans to treat another 6 with NAION, which is reportedly the most common cause of sudden optic nerve-related vision loss in people over age 50. The patients will be followed up for five years, says Life Biosciences chief scientific officer, Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson.
Are we on the cusp of reversing aging?
The method of introducing three Yamanka factors, without c-Myc, is already proven to work well in animal studies. Sharon mentioned that similar studies in monkeys were successful, with no sign of cancer or other harmful effects. Other scientists have been able to replicate the procedure with similar positive results.
However, the procedure is still not without some concerns. The c-Myc factor, which is being removed for a safer rejuvenation effect, is a well-known oncogene that can promote rapid cell division, which may be needed for some partially reprogrammed cells, said Vittorio Sebastiano, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine
Nevertheless, the clinical trial could mark a big breakthrough in rejuvenating old cells and potentially reversing human aging.
Many tech founders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, are pro-longevity. In March, Brian, whose biotech firm NewLimit is also focused on epigenetic reprogramming, believes that getting old will soon become optional, Cryptopolitan reported.
Getting old shouldn't be viewed as inevitable, just because it happens to everyone. It's a disease that kills over 100,000 people a day, and hopefully it will be optional in the future.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 17, 2026
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
Life Biosciences’ approach is partly based on the Yamanaka factors, a set of four transcription factors, namely Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, which can reprogram an adult cell into an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell that can virtually become any cell type in the body.
The Yamanaka factors worked well in mice, but there were concerns about their unknown potential in the body, especially with the c-Myc factor, which is particularly powerful and can trigger cancer.
Life Biosciences to begin trial for cellular reprogramming on humans
In the quest to experiment with safer ways to apply the Yamanka factors, Yuancheng Ryan Lu, a student of Harvard’s Dr. David Sinclair, the founder of Life Biosciences, successfully regenerated eye cells in mice by introducing just three of the factors, excluding the c-Myc factor.
Story @nature about the challenge of discovering safe epigenetic reprogramming to reverse biological age, by my student Yuancheng Lu and now in clinical trials🤞Here’s that moment: https://t.co/NFXUtXDfYB pic.twitter.com/ssYTkffGvl
— David Sinclair (@davidasinclair) April 11, 2026
Lu’s positive study in the mice forms the basis for Life Biosciences’ clinical trial targeting people with eye conditions due to aging. It will be the world’s first human trial, according to a recent report by Nature.
The trial begins later this year and would treat up to 12 people with glaucoma. According to the report, the scientists will use a virus to introduce the three Yamanaka factors into one eye in patients whose retinal nerve has been damaged due to glaucoma.
The team also plans to treat another 6 with NAION, which is reportedly the most common cause of sudden optic nerve-related vision loss in people over age 50. The patients will be followed up for five years, says Life Biosciences chief scientific officer, Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson.
Are we on the cusp of reversing aging?
The method of introducing three Yamanka factors, without c-Myc, is already proven to work well in animal studies. Sharon mentioned that similar studies in monkeys were successful, with no sign of cancer or other harmful effects. Other scientists have been able to replicate the procedure with similar positive results.
However, the procedure is still not without some concerns. The c-Myc factor, which is being removed for a safer rejuvenation effect, is a well-known oncogene that can promote rapid cell division, which may be needed for some partially reprogrammed cells, said Vittorio Sebastiano, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine
Nevertheless, the clinical trial could mark a big breakthrough in rejuvenating old cells and potentially reversing human aging.
Many tech founders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, are pro-longevity. In March, Brian, whose biotech firm NewLimit is also focused on epigenetic reprogramming, believes that getting old will soon become optional, Cryptopolitan reported.
Getting old shouldn't be viewed as inevitable, just because it happens to everyone. It's a disease that kills over 100,000 people a day, and hopefully it will be optional in the future.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 17, 2026
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
218
Steep sell-off in Trump-linked crypto assets raises fresh scrutiny on digital asset spaceA steep sell-off in Trump-linked crypto assets is raising fresh scrutiny across the digital asset space, especially after the TRUMP token suffered a staggering 90% collapse.
The concern intensified after data from CoinGecko showed that the Official Trump ($TRUMP) token, a Solana-based meme cryptocurrency backed by the US President, fell to a record low of approximately $2.73 last month and is currently trading at $2.83, down 0.75% in the past 24 hours.
Moreover, as earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, the Trump-backed WLFI token has decreased by more than 19% this week, primarily due to complications arising from its multi-million-dollar self-collateralized loans on the Dolomite platform.
The WLFI token dropped nearly 75% from its September 2025 peak of about $0.31, while the TRUMP meme coin has plunged by roughly 90% since hitting a high of more than $73 in January 2025.
Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem significantly heightens public anxiety
Concerning the recent token price declines, Professor Tonya Evans, the Founder and CEO of Advantage Evans Global Regulatory Strategies, stated that, “We thought Sam Bankman-Fried or Gary Gensler were the worst things for the crypto industry, and they were terrible. But it turns out it was someone who surrounds himself with yes-men, takes every bit of value for himself, and quickly bankrupts companies and casinos without facing any consequences.”
Democratic lawmakers serving in the United States Senate, including Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff, also expressed concerns about Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem.
Their concerns intensified after he released a public statement about an upcoming gala for token holders scheduled for April 25. According to them, the president misused his influence by providing token holders with exclusive access to him.
In an attempt to discover the truth, the three senators wrote a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the introduction of the Trump meme coin, requesting further clarification concerning the objective of the upcoming gala.
In the meantime, Ross Gerber, the co-founder, President, and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, earlier issued a statement expressing his belief that introducing these coins around the inauguration period, followed by a sharp rise in meme tokens, diminished investor engagement in the sector.
Gerber explained that, “celebrity-backed meme coins often turn out to be scams or appear like one; either way, regular investors end up losing money while celebrities profit.” According to him, people, deceived by these scams, ultimately suffer losses, as their funds are stolen rather than merely lost.
Gerber deemed this situation a critical challenge in the sector. He noted that losing money on meme coins often drives people away from crypto for good. Additionally, he stressed that the Trump administration’s lenient regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies diminishes their appeal to everyday investors.
Upcoming gala for token holders sparks heated debate
Earlier, analysts observed a rapid price increase in $TRUMP Coin following the announcement of a new project event featuring a keynote address from Trump. This gathering, a Conference & Gala Luncheon, is scheduled to take place at Mar-a-Lago on April 25 this year.
The event is aimed at top TRUMP token holders and will follow the same approach as the private dinner the project hosted last year. Moreover, the organizers behind this occasion hinted that invitations to the luncheon are limited to the top 297 qualifying token holders.
In addition to the main attendees, the event will feature 18 high-profile participants, dubbed “Superstars,” including Donald Trump, who is expected to attend. The development drew inquiries from reporters seeking further details from the organizers.
In response, organizers said the event is designed to deliver exclusive, curated experiences to a select group of participants. As part of these perks, 29 chosen attendees will receive VIP access, including a private tour of the Mar-a-Lago estate.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.
Steep sell-off in Trump-linked crypto assets raises fresh scrutiny on digital asset space
A steep sell-off in Trump-linked crypto assets is raising fresh scrutiny across the digital asset space, especially after the TRUMP token suffered a staggering 90% collapse.
The concern intensified after data from CoinGecko showed that the Official Trump ($TRUMP) token, a Solana-based meme cryptocurrency backed by the US President, fell to a record low of approximately $2.73 last month and is currently trading at $2.83, down 0.75% in the past 24 hours.
Moreover, as earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, the Trump-backed WLFI token has decreased by more than 19% this week, primarily due to complications arising from its multi-million-dollar self-collateralized loans on the Dolomite platform.
The WLFI token dropped nearly 75% from its September 2025 peak of about $0.31, while the TRUMP meme coin has plunged by roughly 90% since hitting a high of more than $73 in January 2025.
Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem significantly heightens public anxiety
Concerning the recent token price declines, Professor Tonya Evans, the Founder and CEO of Advantage Evans Global Regulatory Strategies, stated that, “We thought Sam Bankman-Fried or Gary Gensler were the worst things for the crypto industry, and they were terrible. But it turns out it was someone who surrounds himself with yes-men, takes every bit of value for himself, and quickly bankrupts companies and casinos without facing any consequences.”
Democratic lawmakers serving in the United States Senate, including Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff, also expressed concerns about Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem.
Their concerns intensified after he released a public statement about an upcoming gala for token holders scheduled for April 25. According to them, the president misused his influence by providing token holders with exclusive access to him.
In an attempt to discover the truth, the three senators wrote a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the introduction of the Trump meme coin, requesting further clarification concerning the objective of the upcoming gala.
In the meantime, Ross Gerber, the co-founder, President, and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, earlier issued a statement expressing his belief that introducing these coins around the inauguration period, followed by a sharp rise in meme tokens, diminished investor engagement in the sector.
Gerber explained that, “celebrity-backed meme coins often turn out to be scams or appear like one; either way, regular investors end up losing money while celebrities profit.” According to him, people, deceived by these scams, ultimately suffer losses, as their funds are stolen rather than merely lost.
Gerber deemed this situation a critical challenge in the sector. He noted that losing money on meme coins often drives people away from crypto for good. Additionally, he stressed that the Trump administration’s lenient regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies diminishes their appeal to everyday investors.
Upcoming gala for token holders sparks heated debate
Earlier, analysts observed a rapid price increase in $TRUMP Coin following the announcement of a new project event featuring a keynote address from Trump. This gathering, a Conference & Gala Luncheon, is scheduled to take place at Mar-a-Lago on April 25 this year.
The event is aimed at top TRUMP token holders and will follow the same approach as the private dinner the project hosted last year. Moreover, the organizers behind this occasion hinted that invitations to the luncheon are limited to the top 297 qualifying token holders.
In addition to the main attendees, the event will feature 18 high-profile participants, dubbed “Superstars,” including Donald Trump, who is expected to attend. The development drew inquiries from reporters seeking further details from the organizers.
In response, organizers said the event is designed to deliver exclusive, curated experiences to a select group of participants. As part of these perks, 29 chosen attendees will receive VIP access, including a private tour of the Mar-a-Lago estate.
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The concern intensified after data from CoinGecko showed that the Official Trump ($TRUMP) token, a Solana-based meme cryptocurrency backed by the US President, fell to a record low of approximately $2.73 last month and is currently trading at $2.83, down 0.75% in the past 24 hours.
Moreover, as earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, the Trump-backed WLFI token has decreased by more than 19% this week, primarily due to complications arising from its multi-million-dollar self-collateralized loans on the Dolomite platform.
The WLFI token dropped nearly 75% from its September 2025 peak of about $0.31, while the TRUMP meme coin has plunged by roughly 90% since hitting a high of more than $73 in January 2025.
Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem significantly heightens public anxiety
Concerning the recent token price declines, Professor Tonya Evans, the Founder and CEO of Advantage Evans Global Regulatory Strategies, stated that, “We thought Sam Bankman-Fried or Gary Gensler were the worst things for the crypto industry, and they were terrible. But it turns out it was someone who surrounds himself with yes-men, takes every bit of value for himself, and quickly bankrupts companies and casinos without facing any consequences.”
Democratic lawmakers serving in the United States Senate, including Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff, also expressed concerns about Trump’s involvement in the crypto ecosystem.
Their concerns intensified after he released a public statement about an upcoming gala for token holders scheduled for April 25. According to them, the president misused his influence by providing token holders with exclusive access to him.
In an attempt to discover the truth, the three senators wrote a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the introduction of the Trump meme coin, requesting further clarification concerning the objective of the upcoming gala.
In the meantime, Ross Gerber, the co-founder, President, and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, earlier issued a statement expressing his belief that introducing these coins around the inauguration period, followed by a sharp rise in meme tokens, diminished investor engagement in the sector.
Gerber explained that, “celebrity-backed meme coins often turn out to be scams or appear like one; either way, regular investors end up losing money while celebrities profit.” According to him, people, deceived by these scams, ultimately suffer losses, as their funds are stolen rather than merely lost.
Gerber deemed this situation a critical challenge in the sector. He noted that losing money on meme coins often drives people away from crypto for good. Additionally, he stressed that the Trump administration’s lenient regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies diminishes their appeal to everyday investors.
Upcoming gala for token holders sparks heated debate
Earlier, analysts observed a rapid price increase in $TRUMP Coin following the announcement of a new project event featuring a keynote address from Trump. This gathering, a Conference & Gala Luncheon, is scheduled to take place at Mar-a-Lago on April 25 this year.
The event is aimed at top TRUMP token holders and will follow the same approach as the private dinner the project hosted last year. Moreover, the organizers behind this occasion hinted that invitations to the luncheon are limited to the top 297 qualifying token holders.
In addition to the main attendees, the event will feature 18 high-profile participants, dubbed “Superstars,” including Donald Trump, who is expected to attend. The development drew inquiries from reporters seeking further details from the organizers.
In response, organizers said the event is designed to deliver exclusive, curated experiences to a select group of participants. As part of these perks, 29 chosen attendees will receive VIP access, including a private tour of the Mar-a-Lago estate.
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Speculations are that the Trump family is looking to distance itself from WLFWorld Liberty Financial has come under heavy scrutiny, with many throwing the word “scam” on Crypto Twitter, over its recent WLFI Markets lending position and the sudden disappearance of the Trump family from the WLF team member page.
Speculations are that the Trump family is attempting to distance itself from World Liberty Financial. But the team is claiming otherwise.
The crypto project was launched in the fall of 2024, with the U.S. President and his sons, Eric, Trump Jr., and Barron, displayed on the team member page as co-founders, including Chase Herro, Zak Folkman, and the Witkoff family.
World Liberty was touted as a financial platform that would bridge the gap between traditional banking and decentralized finance. In March 2025, the team completed a third phase of WLFI token sale, raising a total of $550 million, according to reports. WLFI, which only became tradable in September 2025, doubles as the governance token of the platform.
After the presale, however, it was observed that the positions of the Trump family were reduced to “Web3 Ambassador.” And now? The team member page on the website has been removed, with some speculating that the Trumps are trying to distance themselves from the project.
Just at the bottom of the page, there is now a disclosure that Trump and his sons do not hold any formal operational role in World Liberty Financial, despite their known affiliation with the crypto project.
“None of Donald J. Trump, his family members or any director, officer or employee of Trump Organization or of DT Marks LLC is an officer, director or employee of, WLF Holdco LLC or World Liberty Financial LLC,” it reads.
To add weight to these claims, speculators also pointed to Eric Trump deleting several WLFI-related posts on Twitter earlier this year, as Cryptopolitan reported.
Eric Trump, co-founder of WLFI, deleted several WLFI-related posts on X. Following the move, WLFI briefly fell more than 8%, while the USD stablecoin USD1 temporarily depegged to 0.9802 USDT. https://t.co/5W4apuqsb3 pic.twitter.com/7dUMJPApEh
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 23, 2026
“This is clearly FUD,” says Zach Witkoff
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff dismissed these observations as FUD, saying both Donald and Eric Trump are still engaged with the project, and even tweet about the project weekly. Regarding the missing team page, Zach mentioned that the website was redesigned months ago. “This is clearly FUD,” he said.
Hey @Eljaboom we redesigned the website months ago. Don and Eric tweet about the project weekly and even have @worldlibertyfi in their twitter bios. This is clearly FUD.
— Zach Witkoff (@ZachWitkoff) April 11, 2026
Eric Trump’s Twitter bio says he’s an advocate for World Liberty Financial, while Donald Trump Jr.’s still says he’s a co-founder.
Although the Trump family is not directly involved in the management of World Liberty, according to the webpage, they own a significant 38% stake in the WLF Holdco LLC, through DT Marks DEFI LLC. WLF Holdco LLC holds all of the rights to net protocol revenues from the WLF protocol. Previously, in March 2025, the stake was as high as 60%, according to Reuters.
DT Marks DEFI LLC also holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, and is entitled to receive 75% of the net revenue from the WLFI token sale, including interest earned on the reserve assets backing USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.
WLF loan deal sparks fresh controversy
Another point of controversy on World Liberty Financial stems from its recent stablecoin loan deal on DeFi protocol Dolomite, whose co-founder advises WLF, which saw WLFI token decline by 10%, Cryptopolitan reported on Friday.
The WLF team deposited 5 billion WLFI tokens, worth $440 million, to borrow $75 million worth of USD1, although Arkham reports it was $150 million USDC. Part of the concern was that the World Liberty Financial team used its own tokens as collateral to drain Dolomite’s lending pool, so much so that many depositors were not able to withdraw.
To defuse concerns, the team said being an anchor borrower allows them to generate yield that makes WLFI Markets compelling for everyone else. “No, we are nowhere near liquidation — and frankly, even if markets moved dramatically against us, we’d simply supply more collateral,” they wrote.
The last line was particularly concerning for many people, who argued that deploying more volatile governance tokens as collateral could have more detrimental consequences, with some recalling past incidents with Terraforms Lab and FTX.
Even more retarded, instead of repaying stablecoin debt, they would deposit more WLFI as collateral.
Sure, liquidation price decreases but it makes the problem worse, not better in the longer termhttps://t.co/h3YdBMY2ha
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
WLFI currently trades at $0.07989, a 1.4% decline in the last 24 hours. The token is down over 44% YTD.
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Speculations are that the Trump family is looking to distance itself from WLF
World Liberty Financial has come under heavy scrutiny, with many throwing the word “scam” on Crypto Twitter, over its recent WLFI Markets lending position and the sudden disappearance of the Trump family from the WLF team member page.
Speculations are that the Trump family is attempting to distance itself from World Liberty Financial. But the team is claiming otherwise.
The crypto project was launched in the fall of 2024, with the U.S. President and his sons, Eric, Trump Jr., and Barron, displayed on the team member page as co-founders, including Chase Herro, Zak Folkman, and the Witkoff family.
World Liberty was touted as a financial platform that would bridge the gap between traditional banking and decentralized finance. In March 2025, the team completed a third phase of WLFI token sale, raising a total of $550 million, according to reports. WLFI, which only became tradable in September 2025, doubles as the governance token of the platform.
After the presale, however, it was observed that the positions of the Trump family were reduced to “Web3 Ambassador.” And now? The team member page on the website has been removed, with some speculating that the Trumps are trying to distance themselves from the project.
Just at the bottom of the page, there is now a disclosure that Trump and his sons do not hold any formal operational role in World Liberty Financial, despite their known affiliation with the crypto project.
“None of Donald J. Trump, his family members or any director, officer or employee of Trump Organization or of DT Marks LLC is an officer, director or employee of, WLF Holdco LLC or World Liberty Financial LLC,” it reads.
To add weight to these claims, speculators also pointed to Eric Trump deleting several WLFI-related posts on Twitter earlier this year, as Cryptopolitan reported.
Eric Trump, co-founder of WLFI, deleted several WLFI-related posts on X. Following the move, WLFI briefly fell more than 8%, while the USD stablecoin USD1 temporarily depegged to 0.9802 USDT. https://t.co/5W4apuqsb3 pic.twitter.com/7dUMJPApEh
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 23, 2026
“This is clearly FUD,” says Zach Witkoff
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff dismissed these observations as FUD, saying both Donald and Eric Trump are still engaged with the project, and even tweet about the project weekly. Regarding the missing team page, Zach mentioned that the website was redesigned months ago. “This is clearly FUD,” he said.
Hey @Eljaboom we redesigned the website months ago. Don and Eric tweet about the project weekly and even have @worldlibertyfi in their twitter bios. This is clearly FUD.
— Zach Witkoff (@ZachWitkoff) April 11, 2026
Eric Trump’s Twitter bio says he’s an advocate for World Liberty Financial, while Donald Trump Jr.’s still says he’s a co-founder.
Although the Trump family is not directly involved in the management of World Liberty, according to the webpage, they own a significant 38% stake in the WLF Holdco LLC, through DT Marks DEFI LLC. WLF Holdco LLC holds all of the rights to net protocol revenues from the WLF protocol. Previously, in March 2025, the stake was as high as 60%, according to Reuters.
DT Marks DEFI LLC also holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, and is entitled to receive 75% of the net revenue from the WLFI token sale, including interest earned on the reserve assets backing USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.
WLF loan deal sparks fresh controversy
Another point of controversy on World Liberty Financial stems from its recent stablecoin loan deal on DeFi protocol Dolomite, whose co-founder advises WLF, which saw WLFI token decline by 10%, Cryptopolitan reported on Friday.
The WLF team deposited 5 billion WLFI tokens, worth $440 million, to borrow $75 million worth of USD1, although Arkham reports it was $150 million USDC. Part of the concern was that the World Liberty Financial team used its own tokens as collateral to drain Dolomite’s lending pool, so much so that many depositors were not able to withdraw.
To defuse concerns, the team said being an anchor borrower allows them to generate yield that makes WLFI Markets compelling for everyone else. “No, we are nowhere near liquidation — and frankly, even if markets moved dramatically against us, we’d simply supply more collateral,” they wrote.
The last line was particularly concerning for many people, who argued that deploying more volatile governance tokens as collateral could have more detrimental consequences, with some recalling past incidents with Terraforms Lab and FTX.
Even more retarded, instead of repaying stablecoin debt, they would deposit more WLFI as collateral.
Sure, liquidation price decreases but it makes the problem worse, not better in the longer termhttps://t.co/h3YdBMY2ha
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
WLFI currently trades at $0.07989, a 1.4% decline in the last 24 hours. The token is down over 44% YTD.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.
Speculations are that the Trump family is attempting to distance itself from World Liberty Financial. But the team is claiming otherwise.
The crypto project was launched in the fall of 2024, with the U.S. President and his sons, Eric, Trump Jr., and Barron, displayed on the team member page as co-founders, including Chase Herro, Zak Folkman, and the Witkoff family.
World Liberty was touted as a financial platform that would bridge the gap between traditional banking and decentralized finance. In March 2025, the team completed a third phase of WLFI token sale, raising a total of $550 million, according to reports. WLFI, which only became tradable in September 2025, doubles as the governance token of the platform.
After the presale, however, it was observed that the positions of the Trump family were reduced to “Web3 Ambassador.” And now? The team member page on the website has been removed, with some speculating that the Trumps are trying to distance themselves from the project.
Just at the bottom of the page, there is now a disclosure that Trump and his sons do not hold any formal operational role in World Liberty Financial, despite their known affiliation with the crypto project.
“None of Donald J. Trump, his family members or any director, officer or employee of Trump Organization or of DT Marks LLC is an officer, director or employee of, WLF Holdco LLC or World Liberty Financial LLC,” it reads.
To add weight to these claims, speculators also pointed to Eric Trump deleting several WLFI-related posts on Twitter earlier this year, as Cryptopolitan reported.
Eric Trump, co-founder of WLFI, deleted several WLFI-related posts on X. Following the move, WLFI briefly fell more than 8%, while the USD stablecoin USD1 temporarily depegged to 0.9802 USDT. https://t.co/5W4apuqsb3 pic.twitter.com/7dUMJPApEh
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 23, 2026
“This is clearly FUD,” says Zach Witkoff
World Liberty Financial CEO Zach Witkoff dismissed these observations as FUD, saying both Donald and Eric Trump are still engaged with the project, and even tweet about the project weekly. Regarding the missing team page, Zach mentioned that the website was redesigned months ago. “This is clearly FUD,” he said.
Hey @Eljaboom we redesigned the website months ago. Don and Eric tweet about the project weekly and even have @worldlibertyfi in their twitter bios. This is clearly FUD.
— Zach Witkoff (@ZachWitkoff) April 11, 2026
Eric Trump’s Twitter bio says he’s an advocate for World Liberty Financial, while Donald Trump Jr.’s still says he’s a co-founder.
Although the Trump family is not directly involved in the management of World Liberty, according to the webpage, they own a significant 38% stake in the WLF Holdco LLC, through DT Marks DEFI LLC. WLF Holdco LLC holds all of the rights to net protocol revenues from the WLF protocol. Previously, in March 2025, the stake was as high as 60%, according to Reuters.
DT Marks DEFI LLC also holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens, and is entitled to receive 75% of the net revenue from the WLFI token sale, including interest earned on the reserve assets backing USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.
WLF loan deal sparks fresh controversy
Another point of controversy on World Liberty Financial stems from its recent stablecoin loan deal on DeFi protocol Dolomite, whose co-founder advises WLF, which saw WLFI token decline by 10%, Cryptopolitan reported on Friday.
The WLF team deposited 5 billion WLFI tokens, worth $440 million, to borrow $75 million worth of USD1, although Arkham reports it was $150 million USDC. Part of the concern was that the World Liberty Financial team used its own tokens as collateral to drain Dolomite’s lending pool, so much so that many depositors were not able to withdraw.
To defuse concerns, the team said being an anchor borrower allows them to generate yield that makes WLFI Markets compelling for everyone else. “No, we are nowhere near liquidation — and frankly, even if markets moved dramatically against us, we’d simply supply more collateral,” they wrote.
The last line was particularly concerning for many people, who argued that deploying more volatile governance tokens as collateral could have more detrimental consequences, with some recalling past incidents with Terraforms Lab and FTX.
Even more retarded, instead of repaying stablecoin debt, they would deposit more WLFI as collateral.
Sure, liquidation price decreases but it makes the problem worse, not better in the longer termhttps://t.co/h3YdBMY2ha
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
WLFI currently trades at $0.07989, a 1.4% decline in the last 24 hours. The token is down over 44% YTD.
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Scott Bessent urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act quicklyTrump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used a Wall Street Journal op-ed to press Congress to pass the Clarity Act, saying the United States cannot keep dragging its feet while the crypto market keeps getting bigger.
Scott warned Congress that this position is not guaranteed to last. “Over the past year, the global market capitalization of digital assets fluctuated between $2 trillion and $3 trillion. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans owns some form of digital asset. Major financial institutions have launched or sought approval for crypto-related products,” said Scott.
Bessent says Congress must end the confusion around crypto rules
Scott said the government has made one major step already; the Genius Act which Trump signed last year.
Still, he said the general crypto market remains stuck in a legal gray area. Outside stablecoins, Scott said there is still no clear framework for crypto markets in the United States.
Then he took a jab at the Biden administration’s SEC, which was led by crypto public enemy #1, Gary Gensler, who Scott said made overlapping and sometimes conflicting claims.
That left developers, exchanges, and investors without solid guidance on what rules applied, who had authority, and how companies were supposed to operate.
Scott said all of that uncertainty was what led to a huge share of crypto development going overseas, like Abu Dhabi and Singapore, which offered clearer rules, helping companies know how to register, what standards they had to meet, and what path they needed to follow to stay compliant. In the United States, he said, the legal risk often outweighed the benefit of staying.
In a post on X, Scott had also said, “Senate time is precious, and now is the time to act.”
Bessent lays out how the Clarity Act would pull crypto business back home
Scott said the answer is durable law, not more confusion, and the Clarity Act would split regulatory authority more clearly, create registration paths for trading platforms and intermediaries, and spell out when a crypto counts as a security and when it does not.
He also said the GENIUS Act cannot do the full job on its own, what with stablecoins now getting a legal footing. Scott said the next fight is over the infrastructure they support, which is tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges, and new ways for businesses to raise money.
He said the question is whether that activity, along with the jobs and tax revenue tied to it, gets built inside the United States or somewhere else.
To close out his Op-ed, Scott said the bill would also protect software developers so the technology behind digital finance stays open, secure, and built in the United States. He added that: “Congress will ensure that the next generation of financial innovation is built on American rails, backed by American institutions, and denominated in American dollars.”
In the past, Scott had told crypto entrepreneurs on X to “start your companies here. Launch your protocols here. And hire your workers here.”
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Scott Bessent urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act quickly
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used a Wall Street Journal op-ed to press Congress to pass the Clarity Act, saying the United States cannot keep dragging its feet while the crypto market keeps getting bigger.
Scott warned Congress that this position is not guaranteed to last. “Over the past year, the global market capitalization of digital assets fluctuated between $2 trillion and $3 trillion. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans owns some form of digital asset. Major financial institutions have launched or sought approval for crypto-related products,” said Scott.
Bessent says Congress must end the confusion around crypto rules
Scott said the government has made one major step already; the Genius Act which Trump signed last year.
Still, he said the general crypto market remains stuck in a legal gray area. Outside stablecoins, Scott said there is still no clear framework for crypto markets in the United States.
Then he took a jab at the Biden administration’s SEC, which was led by crypto public enemy #1, Gary Gensler, who Scott said made overlapping and sometimes conflicting claims.
That left developers, exchanges, and investors without solid guidance on what rules applied, who had authority, and how companies were supposed to operate.
Scott said all of that uncertainty was what led to a huge share of crypto development going overseas, like Abu Dhabi and Singapore, which offered clearer rules, helping companies know how to register, what standards they had to meet, and what path they needed to follow to stay compliant. In the United States, he said, the legal risk often outweighed the benefit of staying.
In a post on X, Scott had also said, “Senate time is precious, and now is the time to act.”
Bessent lays out how the Clarity Act would pull crypto business back home
Scott said the answer is durable law, not more confusion, and the Clarity Act would split regulatory authority more clearly, create registration paths for trading platforms and intermediaries, and spell out when a crypto counts as a security and when it does not.
He also said the GENIUS Act cannot do the full job on its own, what with stablecoins now getting a legal footing. Scott said the next fight is over the infrastructure they support, which is tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges, and new ways for businesses to raise money.
He said the question is whether that activity, along with the jobs and tax revenue tied to it, gets built inside the United States or somewhere else.
To close out his Op-ed, Scott said the bill would also protect software developers so the technology behind digital finance stays open, secure, and built in the United States. He added that: “Congress will ensure that the next generation of financial innovation is built on American rails, backed by American institutions, and denominated in American dollars.”
In the past, Scott had told crypto entrepreneurs on X to “start your companies here. Launch your protocols here. And hire your workers here.”
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
Scott warned Congress that this position is not guaranteed to last. “Over the past year, the global market capitalization of digital assets fluctuated between $2 trillion and $3 trillion. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans owns some form of digital asset. Major financial institutions have launched or sought approval for crypto-related products,” said Scott.
Bessent says Congress must end the confusion around crypto rules
Scott said the government has made one major step already; the Genius Act which Trump signed last year.
Still, he said the general crypto market remains stuck in a legal gray area. Outside stablecoins, Scott said there is still no clear framework for crypto markets in the United States.
Then he took a jab at the Biden administration’s SEC, which was led by crypto public enemy #1, Gary Gensler, who Scott said made overlapping and sometimes conflicting claims.
That left developers, exchanges, and investors without solid guidance on what rules applied, who had authority, and how companies were supposed to operate.
Scott said all of that uncertainty was what led to a huge share of crypto development going overseas, like Abu Dhabi and Singapore, which offered clearer rules, helping companies know how to register, what standards they had to meet, and what path they needed to follow to stay compliant. In the United States, he said, the legal risk often outweighed the benefit of staying.
In a post on X, Scott had also said, “Senate time is precious, and now is the time to act.”
Bessent lays out how the Clarity Act would pull crypto business back home
Scott said the answer is durable law, not more confusion, and the Clarity Act would split regulatory authority more clearly, create registration paths for trading platforms and intermediaries, and spell out when a crypto counts as a security and when it does not.
He also said the GENIUS Act cannot do the full job on its own, what with stablecoins now getting a legal footing. Scott said the next fight is over the infrastructure they support, which is tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges, and new ways for businesses to raise money.
He said the question is whether that activity, along with the jobs and tax revenue tied to it, gets built inside the United States or somewhere else.
To close out his Op-ed, Scott said the bill would also protect software developers so the technology behind digital finance stays open, secure, and built in the United States. He added that: “Congress will ensure that the next generation of financial innovation is built on American rails, backed by American institutions, and denominated in American dollars.”
In the past, Scott had told crypto entrepreneurs on X to “start your companies here. Launch your protocols here. And hire your workers here.”
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
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Circle is dominating Europe’s stablecoin market via EURCEurope’s stablecoin market seems to be now controlled by Circle, and not everyone is comfortable with that. The issuer of USDC is quietly becoming the dominant player in euro-denominated stablecoins through EURC. This shift triggered criticism from parts of the crypto community. Some of them see it less as a product win and more as a policy-driven outcome.
DeFi analyst Ignas called it out bluntly. He looks at Circle’s dominance as “a European fail.” In his view, Europe has repeatedly missed key technology waves. This includes Big Tech, cloud, and AI. However, it is now falling behind in the stablecoin sector.
The global crypto market witnessed a minor recovery rally. Its cumulative cap now stands around $2.47 trillion. Bitcoin price has jumped by more than 8% over the last 7 days. The stablecoin market is picking up and hovers around a $320 billion cap. Circle is the second biggest stablecoin in the race, with a cap of more than $78 billion.
Circle captures Europe?
Ignas is a post highlighted that EURC is not even a core focus for Circle. ECB plans a digital EUR by 2029, but it will be proposing a 3,000 EUR holding limit per wallet. He sees this plan designed to fail. By then, Circle’s network effects get locked in. It seems that the euro stablecoin remains a much smaller piece of the business.
The USDC issuer has managed to capture a good share of the European market. There are several native stablecoin projects that exist in the region. The tally includes Qivalis, EURe, EURI, EURA, and more. They are still small in comparison to the major players. This is mainly due to a lack of funding and incentives for adoption.
He compared EURC, which holds a market cap of $460 million, with USDC. He called it a side project for an American company. Ignas claimed the Circle didn’t win on its product. They lobbied for the rules that gave them the market, he added. Dante Disparte (Circle policy chief) was lobbying for MiCA as “GDPR for crypto” since 2022.
3/ And Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Dante Disparte just addressed the House of Lords pushing for a UK law that combines MiCA + the US GENIUS Act.
I was just reading his FT opinion letter and it finally clicked with me.
They lobby for the rules that… pic.twitter.com/t4ezKWieD9
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
DeFi analysts stated that Circle hosted “Navigating MiCA” sessions with Stefan Berger. When MiCA came into law, Circle was the only top 10 stablecoin issuer ready with a license. Meanwhile, Tether’s EURT was out and reportedly delisted from CEXs.
He mentioned that ‘Luckily’ Circle had a French EMI license to get all the European market share. They grew from 17% to 60% share in 12 months without competing. Ignas believes that Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Circle under fire over hacks
The European Central Bank has been exploring a digital euro, but proposals under discussion include limits on wallet holdings and transfers. Ignas argued that such constraints could hinder adoption, especially if private-sector alternatives continue to build network effects in the meantime.
The company has called on EU authorities to loosen aspects of the bloc’s distributed ledger framework. It is particularly around settlement rules. They currently restrict how stablecoins can be used in capital markets. However, the USDC issuer insists that existing requirements are slowing adoption.
Circle landed under scrutiny over security and its incident response. This comes after the recent exploit of Solana-based Drift Protocol. It got looted of $285 million in a massive hack. Attackers moved $71 million in USDC as part of the exploit.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT questioned whether Circle could have acted more quickly. He pointed out that the company could have frozen addresses linked to suspicious activity. It mentioned that the damages have receahed $420 million over the last few years across 15 different cases.
PeckShield reported that the hackers converted most of the rest of the stolen assets to USDC. The hacker used Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol, CCTP. They bridge about $232 million in USDC from Solana to Ethereum after the Drift hack.
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Circle is dominating Europe’s stablecoin market via EURC
Europe’s stablecoin market seems to be now controlled by Circle, and not everyone is comfortable with that. The issuer of USDC is quietly becoming the dominant player in euro-denominated stablecoins through EURC. This shift triggered criticism from parts of the crypto community. Some of them see it less as a product win and more as a policy-driven outcome.
DeFi analyst Ignas called it out bluntly. He looks at Circle’s dominance as “a European fail.” In his view, Europe has repeatedly missed key technology waves. This includes Big Tech, cloud, and AI. However, it is now falling behind in the stablecoin sector.
The global crypto market witnessed a minor recovery rally. Its cumulative cap now stands around $2.47 trillion. Bitcoin price has jumped by more than 8% over the last 7 days. The stablecoin market is picking up and hovers around a $320 billion cap. Circle is the second biggest stablecoin in the race, with a cap of more than $78 billion.
Circle captures Europe?
Ignas is a post highlighted that EURC is not even a core focus for Circle. ECB plans a digital EUR by 2029, but it will be proposing a 3,000 EUR holding limit per wallet. He sees this plan designed to fail. By then, Circle’s network effects get locked in. It seems that the euro stablecoin remains a much smaller piece of the business.
The USDC issuer has managed to capture a good share of the European market. There are several native stablecoin projects that exist in the region. The tally includes Qivalis, EURe, EURI, EURA, and more. They are still small in comparison to the major players. This is mainly due to a lack of funding and incentives for adoption.
He compared EURC, which holds a market cap of $460 million, with USDC. He called it a side project for an American company. Ignas claimed the Circle didn’t win on its product. They lobbied for the rules that gave them the market, he added. Dante Disparte (Circle policy chief) was lobbying for MiCA as “GDPR for crypto” since 2022.
3/ And Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Dante Disparte just addressed the House of Lords pushing for a UK law that combines MiCA + the US GENIUS Act.
I was just reading his FT opinion letter and it finally clicked with me.
They lobby for the rules that… pic.twitter.com/t4ezKWieD9
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
DeFi analysts stated that Circle hosted “Navigating MiCA” sessions with Stefan Berger. When MiCA came into law, Circle was the only top 10 stablecoin issuer ready with a license. Meanwhile, Tether’s EURT was out and reportedly delisted from CEXs.
He mentioned that ‘Luckily’ Circle had a French EMI license to get all the European market share. They grew from 17% to 60% share in 12 months without competing. Ignas believes that Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Circle under fire over hacks
The European Central Bank has been exploring a digital euro, but proposals under discussion include limits on wallet holdings and transfers. Ignas argued that such constraints could hinder adoption, especially if private-sector alternatives continue to build network effects in the meantime.
The company has called on EU authorities to loosen aspects of the bloc’s distributed ledger framework. It is particularly around settlement rules. They currently restrict how stablecoins can be used in capital markets. However, the USDC issuer insists that existing requirements are slowing adoption.
Circle landed under scrutiny over security and its incident response. This comes after the recent exploit of Solana-based Drift Protocol. It got looted of $285 million in a massive hack. Attackers moved $71 million in USDC as part of the exploit.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT questioned whether Circle could have acted more quickly. He pointed out that the company could have frozen addresses linked to suspicious activity. It mentioned that the damages have receahed $420 million over the last few years across 15 different cases.
PeckShield reported that the hackers converted most of the rest of the stolen assets to USDC. The hacker used Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol, CCTP. They bridge about $232 million in USDC from Solana to Ethereum after the Drift hack.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
DeFi analyst Ignas called it out bluntly. He looks at Circle’s dominance as “a European fail.” In his view, Europe has repeatedly missed key technology waves. This includes Big Tech, cloud, and AI. However, it is now falling behind in the stablecoin sector.
The global crypto market witnessed a minor recovery rally. Its cumulative cap now stands around $2.47 trillion. Bitcoin price has jumped by more than 8% over the last 7 days. The stablecoin market is picking up and hovers around a $320 billion cap. Circle is the second biggest stablecoin in the race, with a cap of more than $78 billion.
Circle captures Europe?
Ignas is a post highlighted that EURC is not even a core focus for Circle. ECB plans a digital EUR by 2029, but it will be proposing a 3,000 EUR holding limit per wallet. He sees this plan designed to fail. By then, Circle’s network effects get locked in. It seems that the euro stablecoin remains a much smaller piece of the business.
The USDC issuer has managed to capture a good share of the European market. There are several native stablecoin projects that exist in the region. The tally includes Qivalis, EURe, EURI, EURA, and more. They are still small in comparison to the major players. This is mainly due to a lack of funding and incentives for adoption.
He compared EURC, which holds a market cap of $460 million, with USDC. He called it a side project for an American company. Ignas claimed the Circle didn’t win on its product. They lobbied for the rules that gave them the market, he added. Dante Disparte (Circle policy chief) was lobbying for MiCA as “GDPR for crypto” since 2022.
3/ And Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Dante Disparte just addressed the House of Lords pushing for a UK law that combines MiCA + the US GENIUS Act.
I was just reading his FT opinion letter and it finally clicked with me.
They lobby for the rules that… pic.twitter.com/t4ezKWieD9
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) April 10, 2026
DeFi analysts stated that Circle hosted “Navigating MiCA” sessions with Stefan Berger. When MiCA came into law, Circle was the only top 10 stablecoin issuer ready with a license. Meanwhile, Tether’s EURT was out and reportedly delisted from CEXs.
He mentioned that ‘Luckily’ Circle had a French EMI license to get all the European market share. They grew from 17% to 60% share in 12 months without competing. Ignas believes that Circle is now running the exact same playbook in the UK.
Circle under fire over hacks
The European Central Bank has been exploring a digital euro, but proposals under discussion include limits on wallet holdings and transfers. Ignas argued that such constraints could hinder adoption, especially if private-sector alternatives continue to build network effects in the meantime.
The company has called on EU authorities to loosen aspects of the bloc’s distributed ledger framework. It is particularly around settlement rules. They currently restrict how stablecoins can be used in capital markets. However, the USDC issuer insists that existing requirements are slowing adoption.
Circle landed under scrutiny over security and its incident response. This comes after the recent exploit of Solana-based Drift Protocol. It got looted of $285 million in a massive hack. Attackers moved $71 million in USDC as part of the exploit.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT questioned whether Circle could have acted more quickly. He pointed out that the company could have frozen addresses linked to suspicious activity. It mentioned that the damages have receahed $420 million over the last few years across 15 different cases.
PeckShield reported that the hackers converted most of the rest of the stolen assets to USDC. The hacker used Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol, CCTP. They bridge about $232 million in USDC from Solana to Ethereum after the Drift hack.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
326
CFTC expands crypto team after court blocks prediction market banThe US Commodity Futures Trading Commission revealed the first lineup of its Innovation Task Force (ITF), now headed by Michael Pascualaqua, a senior adviser to Acting Chairman Mike Selig.
The team now features blockchain lawyers who worked at leading law firms, a prediction markets consultant, and seasoned legal professionals from within the CFTC.
The move comes amid escalating jurisdictional battles over platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow users to trade contracts on real-world outcomes ranging from elections to sports. The CFTC has argued that such products fall under federal derivatives law, not state gambling statutes, a position that has gained traction in recent court rulings.
As recently reported by Cryptopolitan, a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizona from pursuing a criminal case against prediction market operator Kalshi, siding with arguments that federal law preempts state enforcement actions in the sector. The ruling effectively paused state-level prosecution while reinforcing the CFTC’s authority over federally registered event contracts.
The CFTC welcomes five members to its Innovation Task Force
The CFTC innovation task force now includes Hank Balaban, a former Latham & Watkins crypto attorney; Eugene Gonzalez IV, a former Sidley blockchain lawyer; prediction market expert Sam Canavos; and the agency’s own Mark Fajfar and Dina Moussa. Fajfar is currently a legal veteran, while Moussa is special counsel in the Market Participants Division at the CFTC.
According to the commission, the task force will now assist it in drafting clear compliance guidelines tailored specifically for innovators working with smart contracts, AI, and prediction markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig remarked, “The Innovation Task Force brings together a leading team that exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to deliver clear rules of the road for American innovators.”
Pascualaqua also expressed enthusiasm about leading a team that perfectly bridges seasoned regulatory know-how with outside corporate experience from massive law firms.
So far, the US SEC and CFTC have been working together to actively co-manage crypto oversight. In March, their efforts culminated in a joint release that explicitly outlines how digital tokens and transactions fit into federal securities laws. Recently, SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated that the two agencies are prepared to implement the CLARITY Act together and urged lawmakers to approve the legislation.
Meanwhile, the CFTC also unveiled a new dedicated tracker that catalogs the agency’s milestones in promoting regulatory clarity and tech adoption. The agency’s website names three central innovation areas it is targeting: crypto and blockchain, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and contracts and prediction markets.
Judge Liburdi blocked the Arizona-Kalshi case at the CFTC’s request
The CFTC earned a victory in the Arizona case against prediction platforms. Federal Judge Michael Liburdi ruled in favor of the commission and issued a temporary restraining order.
State prosecutors had formally charged Kalshi with 20 counts of unlawful wagering and election betting in a major crackdown last month. They contended that Kalshi is running an unlicensed betting site and requires a gambling license to operate.
However, the CFTC later went on the offensive, filing lawsuits against Arizona and two other states to stop them from enforcing local gambling laws against prediction markets.
Nonetheless, Arizona pushed back, arguing that prediction markets are just disguised sportsbooks that shouldn’t be federally protected, but the judge’s order successfully put the brakes on Monday’s criminal hearing.
In a public reaction on X, Kalshi’s legal counsel Robert J. DeNault welcomed Judge Liburdi’s order, calling the pause on the case “a step in the right direction.”
Selig also noted, “Arizona’s decision to weaponize state criminal law against companies that comply with federal law sets a dangerous precedent, and the court’s order today sends a clear message that intimidation is not an acceptable tactic to circumvent federal law.”
Nevertheless, aside from Arizona, states like Nevada and New Jersey have actively claimed that political and sports wagers on prediction platforms are illegal. At the same time, federal lawmakers have begun drafting bills to place hard boundaries around the industry.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
CFTC expands crypto team after court blocks prediction market ban
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission revealed the first lineup of its Innovation Task Force (ITF), now headed by Michael Pascualaqua, a senior adviser to Acting Chairman Mike Selig.
The team now features blockchain lawyers who worked at leading law firms, a prediction markets consultant, and seasoned legal professionals from within the CFTC.
The move comes amid escalating jurisdictional battles over platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow users to trade contracts on real-world outcomes ranging from elections to sports. The CFTC has argued that such products fall under federal derivatives law, not state gambling statutes, a position that has gained traction in recent court rulings.
As recently reported by Cryptopolitan, a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizona from pursuing a criminal case against prediction market operator Kalshi, siding with arguments that federal law preempts state enforcement actions in the sector. The ruling effectively paused state-level prosecution while reinforcing the CFTC’s authority over federally registered event contracts.
The CFTC welcomes five members to its Innovation Task Force
The CFTC innovation task force now includes Hank Balaban, a former Latham & Watkins crypto attorney; Eugene Gonzalez IV, a former Sidley blockchain lawyer; prediction market expert Sam Canavos; and the agency’s own Mark Fajfar and Dina Moussa. Fajfar is currently a legal veteran, while Moussa is special counsel in the Market Participants Division at the CFTC.
According to the commission, the task force will now assist it in drafting clear compliance guidelines tailored specifically for innovators working with smart contracts, AI, and prediction markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig remarked, “The Innovation Task Force brings together a leading team that exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to deliver clear rules of the road for American innovators.”
Pascualaqua also expressed enthusiasm about leading a team that perfectly bridges seasoned regulatory know-how with outside corporate experience from massive law firms.
So far, the US SEC and CFTC have been working together to actively co-manage crypto oversight. In March, their efforts culminated in a joint release that explicitly outlines how digital tokens and transactions fit into federal securities laws. Recently, SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated that the two agencies are prepared to implement the CLARITY Act together and urged lawmakers to approve the legislation.
Meanwhile, the CFTC also unveiled a new dedicated tracker that catalogs the agency’s milestones in promoting regulatory clarity and tech adoption. The agency’s website names three central innovation areas it is targeting: crypto and blockchain, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and contracts and prediction markets.
Judge Liburdi blocked the Arizona-Kalshi case at the CFTC’s request
The CFTC earned a victory in the Arizona case against prediction platforms. Federal Judge Michael Liburdi ruled in favor of the commission and issued a temporary restraining order.
State prosecutors had formally charged Kalshi with 20 counts of unlawful wagering and election betting in a major crackdown last month. They contended that Kalshi is running an unlicensed betting site and requires a gambling license to operate.
However, the CFTC later went on the offensive, filing lawsuits against Arizona and two other states to stop them from enforcing local gambling laws against prediction markets.
Nonetheless, Arizona pushed back, arguing that prediction markets are just disguised sportsbooks that shouldn’t be federally protected, but the judge’s order successfully put the brakes on Monday’s criminal hearing.
In a public reaction on X, Kalshi’s legal counsel Robert J. DeNault welcomed Judge Liburdi’s order, calling the pause on the case “a step in the right direction.”
Selig also noted, “Arizona’s decision to weaponize state criminal law against companies that comply with federal law sets a dangerous precedent, and the court’s order today sends a clear message that intimidation is not an acceptable tactic to circumvent federal law.”
Nevertheless, aside from Arizona, states like Nevada and New Jersey have actively claimed that political and sports wagers on prediction platforms are illegal. At the same time, federal lawmakers have begun drafting bills to place hard boundaries around the industry.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
The team now features blockchain lawyers who worked at leading law firms, a prediction markets consultant, and seasoned legal professionals from within the CFTC.
The move comes amid escalating jurisdictional battles over platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow users to trade contracts on real-world outcomes ranging from elections to sports. The CFTC has argued that such products fall under federal derivatives law, not state gambling statutes, a position that has gained traction in recent court rulings.
As recently reported by Cryptopolitan, a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizona from pursuing a criminal case against prediction market operator Kalshi, siding with arguments that federal law preempts state enforcement actions in the sector. The ruling effectively paused state-level prosecution while reinforcing the CFTC’s authority over federally registered event contracts.
The CFTC welcomes five members to its Innovation Task Force
The CFTC innovation task force now includes Hank Balaban, a former Latham & Watkins crypto attorney; Eugene Gonzalez IV, a former Sidley blockchain lawyer; prediction market expert Sam Canavos; and the agency’s own Mark Fajfar and Dina Moussa. Fajfar is currently a legal veteran, while Moussa is special counsel in the Market Participants Division at the CFTC.
According to the commission, the task force will now assist it in drafting clear compliance guidelines tailored specifically for innovators working with smart contracts, AI, and prediction markets. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig remarked, “The Innovation Task Force brings together a leading team that exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to deliver clear rules of the road for American innovators.”
Pascualaqua also expressed enthusiasm about leading a team that perfectly bridges seasoned regulatory know-how with outside corporate experience from massive law firms.
So far, the US SEC and CFTC have been working together to actively co-manage crypto oversight. In March, their efforts culminated in a joint release that explicitly outlines how digital tokens and transactions fit into federal securities laws. Recently, SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated that the two agencies are prepared to implement the CLARITY Act together and urged lawmakers to approve the legislation.
Meanwhile, the CFTC also unveiled a new dedicated tracker that catalogs the agency’s milestones in promoting regulatory clarity and tech adoption. The agency’s website names three central innovation areas it is targeting: crypto and blockchain, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and contracts and prediction markets.
Judge Liburdi blocked the Arizona-Kalshi case at the CFTC’s request
The CFTC earned a victory in the Arizona case against prediction platforms. Federal Judge Michael Liburdi ruled in favor of the commission and issued a temporary restraining order.
State prosecutors had formally charged Kalshi with 20 counts of unlawful wagering and election betting in a major crackdown last month. They contended that Kalshi is running an unlicensed betting site and requires a gambling license to operate.
However, the CFTC later went on the offensive, filing lawsuits against Arizona and two other states to stop them from enforcing local gambling laws against prediction markets.
Nonetheless, Arizona pushed back, arguing that prediction markets are just disguised sportsbooks that shouldn’t be federally protected, but the judge’s order successfully put the brakes on Monday’s criminal hearing.
In a public reaction on X, Kalshi’s legal counsel Robert J. DeNault welcomed Judge Liburdi’s order, calling the pause on the case “a step in the right direction.”
Selig also noted, “Arizona’s decision to weaponize state criminal law against companies that comply with federal law sets a dangerous precedent, and the court’s order today sends a clear message that intimidation is not an acceptable tactic to circumvent federal law.”
Nevertheless, aside from Arizona, states like Nevada and New Jersey have actively claimed that political and sports wagers on prediction platforms are illegal. At the same time, federal lawmakers have begun drafting bills to place hard boundaries around the industry.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
235
CLARITY Act risks 4-year delay, says Lummis amid Senate inactionUS Senator Cynthia Lummis is warning that the long-anticipated CLARITY Act could be delayed for years if the Senate fails to act before the 2026 election cycle, raising pressure on lawmakers to finalize a landmark crypto market structure bill.
Lummis, a leading Republican voice on digital asset policy, has cautioned that failure to advance the legislation during the current congressional window could push comprehensive crypto regulation into a prolonged stall lasting up to four years, effectively freezing reform efforts until the next political cycle.
Over the past few weeks, several officials have also advocated for a similar urgency in the bill’s deliberations and passing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that establishing federal regulations for digital assets is key to attracting and retaining crypto investors in the US.
The Senator’s warning comes as negotiations over the bill continue to intensify in Washington, with key disagreements still centered on regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as provisions governing stablecoin rewards and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity.
Senator Lummis’ post elicited multiple reactions
On X, Senator Lummis wrote, “This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future.”
Her post naturally provoked different reactions from the crypto community. Some X users were confused about why things might be frozen for four years, others questioned what the actual holdup on the bill is, while others resorted to blaming banks and their lobbyists for pushing back negotiations.
One commenter even expressed disappointment with the bill’s approval delay, saying, “The whole world is adopting crypto, digital currencies, we are behind on this one big time.”
Another supporter of the legislation noted, “When the US sets the rules, the whole world adjusts. Clarity Act isn’t just an American story; it’s the global crypto framework in disguise.”
Ideally, Lummis’ warning feels even more urgent, given that she admitted a few months ago that she isn’t running for reelection. She noted that another demanding six-year stint is just too much to take on physically and mentally.
Previously, some analysts had also warned that if Congress doesn’t act soon, the bill could easily be dead in the water until at least 2027, as everyone’s focus shifts to the upcoming midterm elections. Nonetheless, bettors on prediction markets think there is a 56% chance that Trump will sign the CLARITY Act into law by the end of this year.
Before Lummis raised her concerns, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several of President Donald Trump’s close advisors were already making the case that Congress needs to act right away. According to Bessent, the lack of clear regulations in the US has already pushed much of the crypto innovation overseas to business-friendly hubs like Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The White House CEA says the CLARITY Act may not be that harmful to banks as they claim
The major dispute over the CLARITY Act is over its provisions on stablecoin rewards. The bill aims to ban passive yield or interest paid solely for holding stablecoins, but permits activity-based rewards.
Traditional financial institutions still contend that offering yield on stablecoins will drain bank deposits and hurt lending capacity, a claim the crypto industry refutes, pointing to a distinct lack of supporting evidence. A recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, however, suggested that a ban on stablecoins yields would do very little to curb deposit flight, suggesting that the banking industry’s alarm may be exaggerated.
The report showed that eliminating the yield would boost bank lending by only $2.1 billion, or just 0.02% of all loans. On top of that, it would cause about an $800 million net loss, meaning regular consumers would end up paying more than the banking system actually gains. It noted that even community bank lending would only increase by $129 billion, a 6.7% increase.
As earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, also argued that stablecoin yield could open the door for big and small banks to use this tech for processing payments and offering new services.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
CLARITY Act risks 4-year delay, says Lummis amid Senate inaction
US Senator Cynthia Lummis is warning that the long-anticipated CLARITY Act could be delayed for years if the Senate fails to act before the 2026 election cycle, raising pressure on lawmakers to finalize a landmark crypto market structure bill.
Lummis, a leading Republican voice on digital asset policy, has cautioned that failure to advance the legislation during the current congressional window could push comprehensive crypto regulation into a prolonged stall lasting up to four years, effectively freezing reform efforts until the next political cycle.
Over the past few weeks, several officials have also advocated for a similar urgency in the bill’s deliberations and passing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that establishing federal regulations for digital assets is key to attracting and retaining crypto investors in the US.
The Senator’s warning comes as negotiations over the bill continue to intensify in Washington, with key disagreements still centered on regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as provisions governing stablecoin rewards and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity.
Senator Lummis’ post elicited multiple reactions
On X, Senator Lummis wrote, “This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future.”
Her post naturally provoked different reactions from the crypto community. Some X users were confused about why things might be frozen for four years, others questioned what the actual holdup on the bill is, while others resorted to blaming banks and their lobbyists for pushing back negotiations.
One commenter even expressed disappointment with the bill’s approval delay, saying, “The whole world is adopting crypto, digital currencies, we are behind on this one big time.”
Another supporter of the legislation noted, “When the US sets the rules, the whole world adjusts. Clarity Act isn’t just an American story; it’s the global crypto framework in disguise.”
Ideally, Lummis’ warning feels even more urgent, given that she admitted a few months ago that she isn’t running for reelection. She noted that another demanding six-year stint is just too much to take on physically and mentally.
Previously, some analysts had also warned that if Congress doesn’t act soon, the bill could easily be dead in the water until at least 2027, as everyone’s focus shifts to the upcoming midterm elections. Nonetheless, bettors on prediction markets think there is a 56% chance that Trump will sign the CLARITY Act into law by the end of this year.
Before Lummis raised her concerns, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several of President Donald Trump’s close advisors were already making the case that Congress needs to act right away. According to Bessent, the lack of clear regulations in the US has already pushed much of the crypto innovation overseas to business-friendly hubs like Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The White House CEA says the CLARITY Act may not be that harmful to banks as they claim
The major dispute over the CLARITY Act is over its provisions on stablecoin rewards. The bill aims to ban passive yield or interest paid solely for holding stablecoins, but permits activity-based rewards.
Traditional financial institutions still contend that offering yield on stablecoins will drain bank deposits and hurt lending capacity, a claim the crypto industry refutes, pointing to a distinct lack of supporting evidence. A recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, however, suggested that a ban on stablecoins yields would do very little to curb deposit flight, suggesting that the banking industry’s alarm may be exaggerated.
The report showed that eliminating the yield would boost bank lending by only $2.1 billion, or just 0.02% of all loans. On top of that, it would cause about an $800 million net loss, meaning regular consumers would end up paying more than the banking system actually gains. It noted that even community bank lending would only increase by $129 billion, a 6.7% increase.
As earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, also argued that stablecoin yield could open the door for big and small banks to use this tech for processing payments and offering new services.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
Lummis, a leading Republican voice on digital asset policy, has cautioned that failure to advance the legislation during the current congressional window could push comprehensive crypto regulation into a prolonged stall lasting up to four years, effectively freezing reform efforts until the next political cycle.
Over the past few weeks, several officials have also advocated for a similar urgency in the bill’s deliberations and passing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that establishing federal regulations for digital assets is key to attracting and retaining crypto investors in the US.
The Senator’s warning comes as negotiations over the bill continue to intensify in Washington, with key disagreements still centered on regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as provisions governing stablecoin rewards and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity.
Senator Lummis’ post elicited multiple reactions
On X, Senator Lummis wrote, “This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future.”
Her post naturally provoked different reactions from the crypto community. Some X users were confused about why things might be frozen for four years, others questioned what the actual holdup on the bill is, while others resorted to blaming banks and their lobbyists for pushing back negotiations.
One commenter even expressed disappointment with the bill’s approval delay, saying, “The whole world is adopting crypto, digital currencies, we are behind on this one big time.”
Another supporter of the legislation noted, “When the US sets the rules, the whole world adjusts. Clarity Act isn’t just an American story; it’s the global crypto framework in disguise.”
Ideally, Lummis’ warning feels even more urgent, given that she admitted a few months ago that she isn’t running for reelection. She noted that another demanding six-year stint is just too much to take on physically and mentally.
Previously, some analysts had also warned that if Congress doesn’t act soon, the bill could easily be dead in the water until at least 2027, as everyone’s focus shifts to the upcoming midterm elections. Nonetheless, bettors on prediction markets think there is a 56% chance that Trump will sign the CLARITY Act into law by the end of this year.
Before Lummis raised her concerns, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several of President Donald Trump’s close advisors were already making the case that Congress needs to act right away. According to Bessent, the lack of clear regulations in the US has already pushed much of the crypto innovation overseas to business-friendly hubs like Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
The White House CEA says the CLARITY Act may not be that harmful to banks as they claim
The major dispute over the CLARITY Act is over its provisions on stablecoin rewards. The bill aims to ban passive yield or interest paid solely for holding stablecoins, but permits activity-based rewards.
Traditional financial institutions still contend that offering yield on stablecoins will drain bank deposits and hurt lending capacity, a claim the crypto industry refutes, pointing to a distinct lack of supporting evidence. A recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, however, suggested that a ban on stablecoins yields would do very little to curb deposit flight, suggesting that the banking industry’s alarm may be exaggerated.
The report showed that eliminating the yield would boost bank lending by only $2.1 billion, or just 0.02% of all loans. On top of that, it would cause about an $800 million net loss, meaning regular consumers would end up paying more than the banking system actually gains. It noted that even community bank lending would only increase by $129 billion, a 6.7% increase.
As earlier reported by Cryptopolitan, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, also argued that stablecoin yield could open the door for big and small banks to use this tech for processing payments and offering new services.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
229
Taiwan plans a $629 million funding program to create more local startupsTaiwan’s robotics industry has gotten a makeover with the official opening of a National Center and a $629 million funding plan to spin up more local robot companies on the island.
President Lai Ching-te on Friday formally launched the National Center for AI Robotics (NCAIR), as part of its “Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan” to promote AI use and provide the country with the momentum needed to compete globally. The National Center will operate under Taiwan’s National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR), according to reports.
Taiwan wants to more robotics startups
At the opening ceremony, President Lai said that robots are a primary focus for the center. NCAIR is specifically tasked with overseeing the development, testing, and training of domestic robots and talents.
The Taiwanese government also plans to launch a NT$20 billion (US$629 million) funding program later this year. The fund will go toward the creation of at least three new robotics startups from 2026 to 2029, according to National Applied Research Laboratories President Tsai Hung-yin.
Taiwan recently began efforts to jump-start its robotics industry. Last year, the government announced a similar funding program, where it intended to provide NT$10 billion (US$331.25 million) of subsidies to Taiwanese robotics companies over four years.
However, the program was mostly part of a five-year initiative to stimulate robotics development in a bid to address impending labor woes.
Like China, Taiwan is faced with a declining and aging population, which officials fear could drag the country’s economy and its ability to care for elderly people. The government looks to robots as a promising option to shore up its workforce demand in the near future.
The priority then was to make robots for the healthcare, restaurant, and hospitality sectors within two years, according to NSTC Minister Wu Cheng-wen. With the newly launched National Center, however, home care robots are the main focus. But the center will also seek to make robots that can take up high-risk jobs, said NCAIR Director Su Wen-yu.
Taiwan ranks among the top 10 automated economies
Taiwan already ranks among the top 10 countries by robot density, or the “number of robots used in a country to its economic size, as measured by its workforce,” according to a 2024 insight recently released by IFR.
Also referred to as Chinese Taipei, Taiwan has a record 302 robots per 10,000 employees, the fourth-largest in Asia and ninth globally.
Robot density graph. Source: IFR.
The Republic of Korea leads the robot density count globally with a reported 1,220 robots per 10,000 employees. Singapore follows with 818 units, Germany with 449, and Japan with 446. The United States has 307 robots per 10,000 employees, the eighth-largest in the world.
China didn’t make the list. Despite having 2 million operational units of robots, the largest around the world, the country ranks 22nd in global robot density, with only 166 units. That’s due to its large population. “As a large country with a huge manufacturing workforce, China requires a significant operational stock […] in order to achieve high robot density,” IFR explained.
However, it’s worth noting that China’s 166 robot density represents a 17% increase YoY, the biggest growth amongst the countries.
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Taiwan plans a $629 million funding program to create more local startups
Taiwan’s robotics industry has gotten a makeover with the official opening of a National Center and a $629 million funding plan to spin up more local robot companies on the island.
President Lai Ching-te on Friday formally launched the National Center for AI Robotics (NCAIR), as part of its “Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan” to promote AI use and provide the country with the momentum needed to compete globally. The National Center will operate under Taiwan’s National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR), according to reports.
Taiwan wants to more robotics startups
At the opening ceremony, President Lai said that robots are a primary focus for the center. NCAIR is specifically tasked with overseeing the development, testing, and training of domestic robots and talents.
The Taiwanese government also plans to launch a NT$20 billion (US$629 million) funding program later this year. The fund will go toward the creation of at least three new robotics startups from 2026 to 2029, according to National Applied Research Laboratories President Tsai Hung-yin.
Taiwan recently began efforts to jump-start its robotics industry. Last year, the government announced a similar funding program, where it intended to provide NT$10 billion (US$331.25 million) of subsidies to Taiwanese robotics companies over four years.
However, the program was mostly part of a five-year initiative to stimulate robotics development in a bid to address impending labor woes.
Like China, Taiwan is faced with a declining and aging population, which officials fear could drag the country’s economy and its ability to care for elderly people. The government looks to robots as a promising option to shore up its workforce demand in the near future.
The priority then was to make robots for the healthcare, restaurant, and hospitality sectors within two years, according to NSTC Minister Wu Cheng-wen. With the newly launched National Center, however, home care robots are the main focus. But the center will also seek to make robots that can take up high-risk jobs, said NCAIR Director Su Wen-yu.
Taiwan ranks among the top 10 automated economies
Taiwan already ranks among the top 10 countries by robot density, or the “number of robots used in a country to its economic size, as measured by its workforce,” according to a 2024 insight recently released by IFR.
Also referred to as Chinese Taipei, Taiwan has a record 302 robots per 10,000 employees, the fourth-largest in Asia and ninth globally.
Robot density graph. Source: IFR.
The Republic of Korea leads the robot density count globally with a reported 1,220 robots per 10,000 employees. Singapore follows with 818 units, Germany with 449, and Japan with 446. The United States has 307 robots per 10,000 employees, the eighth-largest in the world.
China didn’t make the list. Despite having 2 million operational units of robots, the largest around the world, the country ranks 22nd in global robot density, with only 166 units. That’s due to its large population. “As a large country with a huge manufacturing workforce, China requires a significant operational stock […] in order to achieve high robot density,” IFR explained.
However, it’s worth noting that China’s 166 robot density represents a 17% increase YoY, the biggest growth amongst the countries.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.
President Lai Ching-te on Friday formally launched the National Center for AI Robotics (NCAIR), as part of its “Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan” to promote AI use and provide the country with the momentum needed to compete globally. The National Center will operate under Taiwan’s National Institutes of Applied Research (NIAR), according to reports.
Taiwan wants to more robotics startups
At the opening ceremony, President Lai said that robots are a primary focus for the center. NCAIR is specifically tasked with overseeing the development, testing, and training of domestic robots and talents.
The Taiwanese government also plans to launch a NT$20 billion (US$629 million) funding program later this year. The fund will go toward the creation of at least three new robotics startups from 2026 to 2029, according to National Applied Research Laboratories President Tsai Hung-yin.
Taiwan recently began efforts to jump-start its robotics industry. Last year, the government announced a similar funding program, where it intended to provide NT$10 billion (US$331.25 million) of subsidies to Taiwanese robotics companies over four years.
However, the program was mostly part of a five-year initiative to stimulate robotics development in a bid to address impending labor woes.
Like China, Taiwan is faced with a declining and aging population, which officials fear could drag the country’s economy and its ability to care for elderly people. The government looks to robots as a promising option to shore up its workforce demand in the near future.
The priority then was to make robots for the healthcare, restaurant, and hospitality sectors within two years, according to NSTC Minister Wu Cheng-wen. With the newly launched National Center, however, home care robots are the main focus. But the center will also seek to make robots that can take up high-risk jobs, said NCAIR Director Su Wen-yu.
Taiwan ranks among the top 10 automated economies
Taiwan already ranks among the top 10 countries by robot density, or the “number of robots used in a country to its economic size, as measured by its workforce,” according to a 2024 insight recently released by IFR.
Also referred to as Chinese Taipei, Taiwan has a record 302 robots per 10,000 employees, the fourth-largest in Asia and ninth globally.
Robot density graph. Source: IFR.
The Republic of Korea leads the robot density count globally with a reported 1,220 robots per 10,000 employees. Singapore follows with 818 units, Germany with 449, and Japan with 446. The United States has 307 robots per 10,000 employees, the eighth-largest in the world.
China didn’t make the list. Despite having 2 million operational units of robots, the largest around the world, the country ranks 22nd in global robot density, with only 166 units. That’s due to its large population. “As a large country with a huge manufacturing workforce, China requires a significant operational stock […] in order to achieve high robot density,” IFR explained.
However, it’s worth noting that China’s 166 robot density represents a 17% increase YoY, the biggest growth amongst the countries.
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436
Trump and Wall Street gang up on Mike Burry over latest bearish prediction on PalantirMichael Burry is still standing against Palantir, even after Trump stepped in and gave the stock a public boost. The fight got louder on Friday when Michael said he still holds long-dated put options on Palantir and is not closing the trade.
He said he first started betting against Palantir in the fall of 2025 and has kept rolling the position forward. His latest post showed he now holds June 17, 2027 $50 puts and December 19, 2026 $100 puts.
Michael wrote, “I now own the June 17 2027 Strike Price 50 Puts and the December 19, 2026 Strike Price 100 Puts. I am not selling these today.”
That post landed after Trump praised Palantir on Truth Social and helped the stock bounce from its low point during the day. Trump wrote, “Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!! President DJT”
The post gave Palantir some relief, but it did not erase the damage. The stock still ended the week down 13.7%. It is also down about 28% so far in 2026. Michael answered Trump’s post with a jab at Alex Karp, saying, “Karp calling his panic attack hotline.”
Burry keeps the Palantir short alive while Trump tries to stop the slide
Michael pointed out that Palantir’s stock has been getting weaker since it reached a high near $200 last year. He also said Palantir is still “wildly overvalued.” He thinks the business is worth less than half of where the shares trade now. On Friday, Palantir closed at $128.06.
“Trump’s post rallied the stock after the stock had fallen 18% the last three days. The stock may catch a wind here. It has been selling off with software stocks. As mentioned, I continue to hold the puts, as I believe the fundamental value of this company is well under $50/share,” said Michael.
Some traders think Palantir could benefit from Trump’s war in Iran because the company does so much work with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.
At the same time, Alex Karp has kept regular contact with the administration, even though there had been tension before.
Alex has spent years speaking loudly in support of the U.S. military and the idea of giving warfighters better tools. That part is not new. What changed is his relationship with Trump’s administration.
Alex had criticized Trump in the past and had donated to Joe Biden’s campaign before. Now he has backed the new administration and its policies, and Palantir has picked up new government contracts and has gone deeper into Pentagon work.
Wall Street pushes back as Palantir faces Anthropic, Pentagon, and political heat
Meanwhile, Wall Street is making it clear that it disagrees with Michael. Dan Ives at Wedbush pushed back hard and said the idea that Anthropic is taking Palantir’s place is wrong.
“We believe the take that Anthropic is eating PLTR’s lunch, (amplified by Michael Burry’s now-deleted post on X earlier today), is the wrong take and fictional narrative (in our view) as Palantir is at the epicenter of leaders in the AI Revolution. Core AI winner and tech leader.”
Dan also said in an interview, “And I think that’s it’s this ghost narrative that you’re fighting. Some will be disintermediated, but the reality is that I think it’s the most disconnected trade that I’ve seen in tech since covering it in the late 90s.”
Alex has strongly backed Israel post-Oct. 7. He previously told CNBC that some employees left over his decision to become pro-Israel.
Then there was the episode with Lisa Gordon, the company’s communications chief. In October last year, Lisa said Palantir’s political turn toward the Trump administration was “concerning” during an interview at an event hosted by The Information. The video was then quickly removed from The Information’s YouTube and social media pages, which is certainly interesting to say the least.
There is also the Anthropic issue. Palantir uses Anthropic models, along with models from other AI labs, on its platform. But Anthropic was blacklisted by the Department of Defense after concerns were raised about autonomous weapons and government surveillance. Alex said last month that Palantir would “phase out” Anthropic’s models, but that has still not happened.
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Trump and Wall Street gang up on Mike Burry over latest bearish prediction on Palantir
Michael Burry is still standing against Palantir, even after Trump stepped in and gave the stock a public boost. The fight got louder on Friday when Michael said he still holds long-dated put options on Palantir and is not closing the trade.
He said he first started betting against Palantir in the fall of 2025 and has kept rolling the position forward. His latest post showed he now holds June 17, 2027 $50 puts and December 19, 2026 $100 puts.
Michael wrote, “I now own the June 17 2027 Strike Price 50 Puts and the December 19, 2026 Strike Price 100 Puts. I am not selling these today.”
That post landed after Trump praised Palantir on Truth Social and helped the stock bounce from its low point during the day. Trump wrote, “Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!! President DJT”
The post gave Palantir some relief, but it did not erase the damage. The stock still ended the week down 13.7%. It is also down about 28% so far in 2026. Michael answered Trump’s post with a jab at Alex Karp, saying, “Karp calling his panic attack hotline.”
Burry keeps the Palantir short alive while Trump tries to stop the slide
Michael pointed out that Palantir’s stock has been getting weaker since it reached a high near $200 last year. He also said Palantir is still “wildly overvalued.” He thinks the business is worth less than half of where the shares trade now. On Friday, Palantir closed at $128.06.
“Trump’s post rallied the stock after the stock had fallen 18% the last three days. The stock may catch a wind here. It has been selling off with software stocks. As mentioned, I continue to hold the puts, as I believe the fundamental value of this company is well under $50/share,” said Michael.
Some traders think Palantir could benefit from Trump’s war in Iran because the company does so much work with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.
At the same time, Alex Karp has kept regular contact with the administration, even though there had been tension before.
Alex has spent years speaking loudly in support of the U.S. military and the idea of giving warfighters better tools. That part is not new. What changed is his relationship with Trump’s administration.
Alex had criticized Trump in the past and had donated to Joe Biden’s campaign before. Now he has backed the new administration and its policies, and Palantir has picked up new government contracts and has gone deeper into Pentagon work.
Wall Street pushes back as Palantir faces Anthropic, Pentagon, and political heat
Meanwhile, Wall Street is making it clear that it disagrees with Michael. Dan Ives at Wedbush pushed back hard and said the idea that Anthropic is taking Palantir’s place is wrong.
“We believe the take that Anthropic is eating PLTR’s lunch, (amplified by Michael Burry’s now-deleted post on X earlier today), is the wrong take and fictional narrative (in our view) as Palantir is at the epicenter of leaders in the AI Revolution. Core AI winner and tech leader.”
Dan also said in an interview, “And I think that’s it’s this ghost narrative that you’re fighting. Some will be disintermediated, but the reality is that I think it’s the most disconnected trade that I’ve seen in tech since covering it in the late 90s.”
Alex has strongly backed Israel post-Oct. 7. He previously told CNBC that some employees left over his decision to become pro-Israel.
Then there was the episode with Lisa Gordon, the company’s communications chief. In October last year, Lisa said Palantir’s political turn toward the Trump administration was “concerning” during an interview at an event hosted by The Information. The video was then quickly removed from The Information’s YouTube and social media pages, which is certainly interesting to say the least.
There is also the Anthropic issue. Palantir uses Anthropic models, along with models from other AI labs, on its platform. But Anthropic was blacklisted by the Department of Defense after concerns were raised about autonomous weapons and government surveillance. Alex said last month that Palantir would “phase out” Anthropic’s models, but that has still not happened.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
He said he first started betting against Palantir in the fall of 2025 and has kept rolling the position forward. His latest post showed he now holds June 17, 2027 $50 puts and December 19, 2026 $100 puts.
Michael wrote, “I now own the June 17 2027 Strike Price 50 Puts and the December 19, 2026 Strike Price 100 Puts. I am not selling these today.”
That post landed after Trump praised Palantir on Truth Social and helped the stock bounce from its low point during the day. Trump wrote, “Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!! President DJT”
The post gave Palantir some relief, but it did not erase the damage. The stock still ended the week down 13.7%. It is also down about 28% so far in 2026. Michael answered Trump’s post with a jab at Alex Karp, saying, “Karp calling his panic attack hotline.”
Burry keeps the Palantir short alive while Trump tries to stop the slide
Michael pointed out that Palantir’s stock has been getting weaker since it reached a high near $200 last year. He also said Palantir is still “wildly overvalued.” He thinks the business is worth less than half of where the shares trade now. On Friday, Palantir closed at $128.06.
“Trump’s post rallied the stock after the stock had fallen 18% the last three days. The stock may catch a wind here. It has been selling off with software stocks. As mentioned, I continue to hold the puts, as I believe the fundamental value of this company is well under $50/share,” said Michael.
Some traders think Palantir could benefit from Trump’s war in Iran because the company does so much work with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.
At the same time, Alex Karp has kept regular contact with the administration, even though there had been tension before.
Alex has spent years speaking loudly in support of the U.S. military and the idea of giving warfighters better tools. That part is not new. What changed is his relationship with Trump’s administration.
Alex had criticized Trump in the past and had donated to Joe Biden’s campaign before. Now he has backed the new administration and its policies, and Palantir has picked up new government contracts and has gone deeper into Pentagon work.
Wall Street pushes back as Palantir faces Anthropic, Pentagon, and political heat
Meanwhile, Wall Street is making it clear that it disagrees with Michael. Dan Ives at Wedbush pushed back hard and said the idea that Anthropic is taking Palantir’s place is wrong.
“We believe the take that Anthropic is eating PLTR’s lunch, (amplified by Michael Burry’s now-deleted post on X earlier today), is the wrong take and fictional narrative (in our view) as Palantir is at the epicenter of leaders in the AI Revolution. Core AI winner and tech leader.”
Dan also said in an interview, “And I think that’s it’s this ghost narrative that you’re fighting. Some will be disintermediated, but the reality is that I think it’s the most disconnected trade that I’ve seen in tech since covering it in the late 90s.”
Alex has strongly backed Israel post-Oct. 7. He previously told CNBC that some employees left over his decision to become pro-Israel.
Then there was the episode with Lisa Gordon, the company’s communications chief. In October last year, Lisa said Palantir’s political turn toward the Trump administration was “concerning” during an interview at an event hosted by The Information. The video was then quickly removed from The Information’s YouTube and social media pages, which is certainly interesting to say the least.
There is also the Anthropic issue. Palantir uses Anthropic models, along with models from other AI labs, on its platform. But Anthropic was blacklisted by the Department of Defense after concerns were raised about autonomous weapons and government surveillance. Alex said last month that Palantir would “phase out” Anthropic’s models, but that has still not happened.
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2
336
US government transfers seized BTC to Coinbase as $22B Bitcoin stockpile expandsThe US government has decided to transfer Bitcoin funds to a Coinbase Prime address following the seizure of funds from Glenn Olivio. This move has consequently increased the government’s total holding to around 328,000 BTC, which is worth more than $22 billion, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.
Regarding this report, sources familiar with the situation disclosed that the US government moved approximately 2.438 BTC, valued at $177,000, confiscated from Olivio, in two separate transfers sent to a similar Coinbase account starting with 3EMqu.
Similar movements have been recorded in past cases, including funds associated with Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road.
The US expresses a strong commitment to boost its Bitcoin stockpile
Last month, the US government successfully made its first on-chain transaction in 2026, transferring approximately 0.33 BTC, valued at around $23,000, linked to a wallet titled “Miguel Villanueva Seized Funds.”
Following the three separate transfers, reliable sources noted that the first transaction consisted of about 0.05678428 BTC, the Second around 0.24020319 BTC, and the third approximately 0.03782683 BTC, bringing the total to 0.3348143 BTC, valued at around $22,876.55 at today’s price.
Nonetheless, reports highlighted that publicly available government statements and court documents failed to disclose further information about Villanueva or the main reason for the seizure.
This report was made public shortly after blockchain investigator ZachXBT, popular for his independent forensic investigations into cryptocurrency fraud, scams, and thefts, alleged that $40 million in cryptocurrency was removed from government-controlled seizure wallets. According to his findings, a manager of government digital forfeitures was connected to the person responsible.
At this moment, the US government had roughly 328,371.99 BTC, worth $22.45 billion, in its Bitcoin stockpile, according to Arkham data. Notably, the government had previously moved about 57.55 BTC to Coinbase Prime on November 3, 2025, before initiating this Villanueva Bitcoin transfer.
Interestingly, a larger transfer was executed on October 14 of last year, resulting in the seizure of 1,320.24 BTC linked to the “Potapenko/Turogin Forfeited Funds” wallets.
This discovery prompted several analysts to weigh in on the topic. They stressed that the recent Bitcoin transfer conducted by the US government represented US President Donald Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), which he established through an executive order in 2025, that served as a pledge that federal authorities would never sell bitcoin.
In the meantime, reports noted a high likelihood that Glenn Olivio’s Bitcoin was linked to Glenn Bradford Olivio, who was arrested alongside co-conspirator Dana Rene Light in May 2025.
Both individuals face charges for plotting to possess and distribute a substance or mixture containing a detectable amount of anabolic steroids. This comprises synthetic testosterone and various anabolic-androgenic steroids such as Trenbolone and Nandrolone, based on information retrieved from court documents.
As a result, the two are facing five charges, including conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, money laundering conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and two counts of drug possession. For the time being, their personal details remain private.
The last update on this case was made in June last year. The government included a forfeiture notice in the indictment, a common step in seizing cryptocurrencies allegedly tied to criminal activity.
The US seeks to solidify its position as a leader in the crypto ecosystem
Regarding the current situation concerning the US government’s regulatory approach to Bitcoin and the recent Bitcoin seizure reports, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, emphasized that the administration would halt all sales of seized Bitcoin, opting instead to add it to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
He made these remarks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he told journalist Christine Lee that this plan represents a broader initiative to drive digital asset innovation in the United States while ensuring proper federal custody and control over forfeited cryptocurrencies.
Notably, the statement reflects concerns about the government’s handling of Bitcoin seized from both the New York-based Tornado Cash developers and the Samourai Wallet developers.
Afterward, Bessent clarified that seized BTC would be retained by the federal government following legal proceedings, rather than auctioned off as in the past, without commenting on ongoing legal issues.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
US government transfers seized BTC to Coinbase as $22B Bitcoin stockpile expands
The US government has decided to transfer Bitcoin funds to a Coinbase Prime address following the seizure of funds from Glenn Olivio. This move has consequently increased the government’s total holding to around 328,000 BTC, which is worth more than $22 billion, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.
Regarding this report, sources familiar with the situation disclosed that the US government moved approximately 2.438 BTC, valued at $177,000, confiscated from Olivio, in two separate transfers sent to a similar Coinbase account starting with 3EMqu.
Similar movements have been recorded in past cases, including funds associated with Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road.
The US expresses a strong commitment to boost its Bitcoin stockpile
Last month, the US government successfully made its first on-chain transaction in 2026, transferring approximately 0.33 BTC, valued at around $23,000, linked to a wallet titled “Miguel Villanueva Seized Funds.”
Following the three separate transfers, reliable sources noted that the first transaction consisted of about 0.05678428 BTC, the Second around 0.24020319 BTC, and the third approximately 0.03782683 BTC, bringing the total to 0.3348143 BTC, valued at around $22,876.55 at today’s price.
Nonetheless, reports highlighted that publicly available government statements and court documents failed to disclose further information about Villanueva or the main reason for the seizure.
This report was made public shortly after blockchain investigator ZachXBT, popular for his independent forensic investigations into cryptocurrency fraud, scams, and thefts, alleged that $40 million in cryptocurrency was removed from government-controlled seizure wallets. According to his findings, a manager of government digital forfeitures was connected to the person responsible.
At this moment, the US government had roughly 328,371.99 BTC, worth $22.45 billion, in its Bitcoin stockpile, according to Arkham data. Notably, the government had previously moved about 57.55 BTC to Coinbase Prime on November 3, 2025, before initiating this Villanueva Bitcoin transfer.
Interestingly, a larger transfer was executed on October 14 of last year, resulting in the seizure of 1,320.24 BTC linked to the “Potapenko/Turogin Forfeited Funds” wallets.
This discovery prompted several analysts to weigh in on the topic. They stressed that the recent Bitcoin transfer conducted by the US government represented US President Donald Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), which he established through an executive order in 2025, that served as a pledge that federal authorities would never sell bitcoin.
In the meantime, reports noted a high likelihood that Glenn Olivio’s Bitcoin was linked to Glenn Bradford Olivio, who was arrested alongside co-conspirator Dana Rene Light in May 2025.
Both individuals face charges for plotting to possess and distribute a substance or mixture containing a detectable amount of anabolic steroids. This comprises synthetic testosterone and various anabolic-androgenic steroids such as Trenbolone and Nandrolone, based on information retrieved from court documents.
As a result, the two are facing five charges, including conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, money laundering conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and two counts of drug possession. For the time being, their personal details remain private.
The last update on this case was made in June last year. The government included a forfeiture notice in the indictment, a common step in seizing cryptocurrencies allegedly tied to criminal activity.
The US seeks to solidify its position as a leader in the crypto ecosystem
Regarding the current situation concerning the US government’s regulatory approach to Bitcoin and the recent Bitcoin seizure reports, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, emphasized that the administration would halt all sales of seized Bitcoin, opting instead to add it to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
He made these remarks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he told journalist Christine Lee that this plan represents a broader initiative to drive digital asset innovation in the United States while ensuring proper federal custody and control over forfeited cryptocurrencies.
Notably, the statement reflects concerns about the government’s handling of Bitcoin seized from both the New York-based Tornado Cash developers and the Samourai Wallet developers.
Afterward, Bessent clarified that seized BTC would be retained by the federal government following legal proceedings, rather than auctioned off as in the past, without commenting on ongoing legal issues.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
Regarding this report, sources familiar with the situation disclosed that the US government moved approximately 2.438 BTC, valued at $177,000, confiscated from Olivio, in two separate transfers sent to a similar Coinbase account starting with 3EMqu.
Similar movements have been recorded in past cases, including funds associated with Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road.
The US expresses a strong commitment to boost its Bitcoin stockpile
Last month, the US government successfully made its first on-chain transaction in 2026, transferring approximately 0.33 BTC, valued at around $23,000, linked to a wallet titled “Miguel Villanueva Seized Funds.”
Following the three separate transfers, reliable sources noted that the first transaction consisted of about 0.05678428 BTC, the Second around 0.24020319 BTC, and the third approximately 0.03782683 BTC, bringing the total to 0.3348143 BTC, valued at around $22,876.55 at today’s price.
Nonetheless, reports highlighted that publicly available government statements and court documents failed to disclose further information about Villanueva or the main reason for the seizure.
This report was made public shortly after blockchain investigator ZachXBT, popular for his independent forensic investigations into cryptocurrency fraud, scams, and thefts, alleged that $40 million in cryptocurrency was removed from government-controlled seizure wallets. According to his findings, a manager of government digital forfeitures was connected to the person responsible.
At this moment, the US government had roughly 328,371.99 BTC, worth $22.45 billion, in its Bitcoin stockpile, according to Arkham data. Notably, the government had previously moved about 57.55 BTC to Coinbase Prime on November 3, 2025, before initiating this Villanueva Bitcoin transfer.
Interestingly, a larger transfer was executed on October 14 of last year, resulting in the seizure of 1,320.24 BTC linked to the “Potapenko/Turogin Forfeited Funds” wallets.
This discovery prompted several analysts to weigh in on the topic. They stressed that the recent Bitcoin transfer conducted by the US government represented US President Donald Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), which he established through an executive order in 2025, that served as a pledge that federal authorities would never sell bitcoin.
In the meantime, reports noted a high likelihood that Glenn Olivio’s Bitcoin was linked to Glenn Bradford Olivio, who was arrested alongside co-conspirator Dana Rene Light in May 2025.
Both individuals face charges for plotting to possess and distribute a substance or mixture containing a detectable amount of anabolic steroids. This comprises synthetic testosterone and various anabolic-androgenic steroids such as Trenbolone and Nandrolone, based on information retrieved from court documents.
As a result, the two are facing five charges, including conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, money laundering conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and two counts of drug possession. For the time being, their personal details remain private.
The last update on this case was made in June last year. The government included a forfeiture notice in the indictment, a common step in seizing cryptocurrencies allegedly tied to criminal activity.
The US seeks to solidify its position as a leader in the crypto ecosystem
Regarding the current situation concerning the US government’s regulatory approach to Bitcoin and the recent Bitcoin seizure reports, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, emphasized that the administration would halt all sales of seized Bitcoin, opting instead to add it to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
He made these remarks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he told journalist Christine Lee that this plan represents a broader initiative to drive digital asset innovation in the United States while ensuring proper federal custody and control over forfeited cryptocurrencies.
Notably, the statement reflects concerns about the government’s handling of Bitcoin seized from both the New York-based Tornado Cash developers and the Samourai Wallet developers.
Afterward, Bessent clarified that seized BTC would be retained by the federal government following legal proceedings, rather than auctioned off as in the past, without commenting on ongoing legal issues.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
1
215
Alibaba just conquered AI video rankings anonymouslyA powerful artificial intelligence video creator that appeared without warning on international testing platforms has turned out to be the work of Chinese technology company Alibaba, giving the firm a major boost in the competitive AI race.
The tool, called HappyHorse-1.0, showed up on the Artificial Analysis benchmarking website around April 7 without any company name attached. It quickly rose to first place in rankings for creating videos from text descriptions and turning still images into moving clips.
On Friday, the people behind HappyHorse set up a new account on X and said the project came from Alibaba’s ATH AI Innovation Unit. They added that work on the system continues. Alibaba confirmed the annoucement after reposting from its main account.
Alibaba shares rise after ownership reveal
Alibaba’s shares in Hong Kong went up 2.12 percent on Friday after the news came out. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, the stock had jumped 6.75 percent when technology shares broadly gained ground after tensions between the United States and Iran cooled down. Some market watchers had already been wondering if Alibaba was connected to the unnamed model.
The company has been working hard to grow its AI products as Chinese firms compete fiercely in this space. It already has the Qwen large language model and a chatbot application.
While Alibaba released other AI systems before that could make videos, none created as much excitement or scored as well as HappyHorse did in just a few days.
This new tool could make Alibaba stronger in video creation, especially since other companies have hit problems. OpenAI recently shut down its Sora video app, saying it wanted to concentrate on coding tools, business customers, and general artificial intelligence work because computing costs were too high.
OpenAI stepping back might help Chinese competitors, but ByteDance had to stop rolling out its popular Seedance 2.0 after Hollywood studios and streaming services accused it of copyright violations.
Alibaba’s chief executive Eddie Wu has made AI development the top goal for the company’s many different businesses, which also cover computer chip design and data centers.
The company has already built its AI models into online shopping, advertising, and entertainment products, and might plan to do the same with HappyHorse.
HappyHorse-1.0 launched in an odd way
There was no big event, no technical explanation, and no company backing. It just appeared anonymously on the Artificial Analysis Video Arena rankings and climbed to the top.
HappyHorse, topped the rankings in text to video, image to video, and text to video with audio categories. It ranked second only in one category: image to video with audio, where Seedance 2.0 holds the lead.
Artificial Analysis uses blind tests where real people worldwide compare videos without knowing which model made them. Results get combined using an Elo rating system like chess rankings. This method is seen as more honest than when companies report their own scores, though new models’ scores can bounce around more because fewer people have tested them. A difference of about 60 points usually means one model wins consistently.
On X, people disagree about HappyHorse. Some doubt it, saying it falls short of Seedance 2.0 in showing character details and smooth movement. Others see promise, hoping it can fix the problem of keeping quality steady across multiple video shots.
Alibaba’s earlier Wan video creator ranked only around 20th on Artificial Analysis, so HappyHorse reaching the top shows a big jump in Alibaba’s video AI abilities. The company says 2026 is important for speeding up AI work.
Video creation is one of the toughest areas where AI developers compete and one of the few that makes money. With OpenAI leaving last month, Chinese companies have more room to grow. Most top products on Artificial Analysis now come from Chinese firms.
Alibaba ATH says HappyHorse is part of exploring new ways to interact in the AI age and more products will come. Opening the programming interface will let outside developers use the model and test how well it works commercially.
China is also pushing hard towards AI chip independance. As reported by Cryptopolitan on Tuesday, Alibaba and China Telecom said they are building a computing center in southern China using chips Alibaba designed. The facility will have 10,000 Zhenwu semiconductors made for AI work that can run systems with hundreds of billions of parameters. China Telecom will own and run the location.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
Alibaba just conquered AI video rankings anonymously
A powerful artificial intelligence video creator that appeared without warning on international testing platforms has turned out to be the work of Chinese technology company Alibaba, giving the firm a major boost in the competitive AI race.
The tool, called HappyHorse-1.0, showed up on the Artificial Analysis benchmarking website around April 7 without any company name attached. It quickly rose to first place in rankings for creating videos from text descriptions and turning still images into moving clips.
On Friday, the people behind HappyHorse set up a new account on X and said the project came from Alibaba’s ATH AI Innovation Unit. They added that work on the system continues. Alibaba confirmed the annoucement after reposting from its main account.
Alibaba shares rise after ownership reveal
Alibaba’s shares in Hong Kong went up 2.12 percent on Friday after the news came out. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, the stock had jumped 6.75 percent when technology shares broadly gained ground after tensions between the United States and Iran cooled down. Some market watchers had already been wondering if Alibaba was connected to the unnamed model.
The company has been working hard to grow its AI products as Chinese firms compete fiercely in this space. It already has the Qwen large language model and a chatbot application.
While Alibaba released other AI systems before that could make videos, none created as much excitement or scored as well as HappyHorse did in just a few days.
This new tool could make Alibaba stronger in video creation, especially since other companies have hit problems. OpenAI recently shut down its Sora video app, saying it wanted to concentrate on coding tools, business customers, and general artificial intelligence work because computing costs were too high.
OpenAI stepping back might help Chinese competitors, but ByteDance had to stop rolling out its popular Seedance 2.0 after Hollywood studios and streaming services accused it of copyright violations.
Alibaba’s chief executive Eddie Wu has made AI development the top goal for the company’s many different businesses, which also cover computer chip design and data centers.
The company has already built its AI models into online shopping, advertising, and entertainment products, and might plan to do the same with HappyHorse.
HappyHorse-1.0 launched in an odd way
There was no big event, no technical explanation, and no company backing. It just appeared anonymously on the Artificial Analysis Video Arena rankings and climbed to the top.
HappyHorse, topped the rankings in text to video, image to video, and text to video with audio categories. It ranked second only in one category: image to video with audio, where Seedance 2.0 holds the lead.
Artificial Analysis uses blind tests where real people worldwide compare videos without knowing which model made them. Results get combined using an Elo rating system like chess rankings. This method is seen as more honest than when companies report their own scores, though new models’ scores can bounce around more because fewer people have tested them. A difference of about 60 points usually means one model wins consistently.
On X, people disagree about HappyHorse. Some doubt it, saying it falls short of Seedance 2.0 in showing character details and smooth movement. Others see promise, hoping it can fix the problem of keeping quality steady across multiple video shots.
Alibaba’s earlier Wan video creator ranked only around 20th on Artificial Analysis, so HappyHorse reaching the top shows a big jump in Alibaba’s video AI abilities. The company says 2026 is important for speeding up AI work.
Video creation is one of the toughest areas where AI developers compete and one of the few that makes money. With OpenAI leaving last month, Chinese companies have more room to grow. Most top products on Artificial Analysis now come from Chinese firms.
Alibaba ATH says HappyHorse is part of exploring new ways to interact in the AI age and more products will come. Opening the programming interface will let outside developers use the model and test how well it works commercially.
China is also pushing hard towards AI chip independance. As reported by Cryptopolitan on Tuesday, Alibaba and China Telecom said they are building a computing center in southern China using chips Alibaba designed. The facility will have 10,000 Zhenwu semiconductors made for AI work that can run systems with hundreds of billions of parameters. China Telecom will own and run the location.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
The tool, called HappyHorse-1.0, showed up on the Artificial Analysis benchmarking website around April 7 without any company name attached. It quickly rose to first place in rankings for creating videos from text descriptions and turning still images into moving clips.
On Friday, the people behind HappyHorse set up a new account on X and said the project came from Alibaba’s ATH AI Innovation Unit. They added that work on the system continues. Alibaba confirmed the annoucement after reposting from its main account.
Alibaba shares rise after ownership reveal
Alibaba’s shares in Hong Kong went up 2.12 percent on Friday after the news came out. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, the stock had jumped 6.75 percent when technology shares broadly gained ground after tensions between the United States and Iran cooled down. Some market watchers had already been wondering if Alibaba was connected to the unnamed model.
The company has been working hard to grow its AI products as Chinese firms compete fiercely in this space. It already has the Qwen large language model and a chatbot application.
While Alibaba released other AI systems before that could make videos, none created as much excitement or scored as well as HappyHorse did in just a few days.
This new tool could make Alibaba stronger in video creation, especially since other companies have hit problems. OpenAI recently shut down its Sora video app, saying it wanted to concentrate on coding tools, business customers, and general artificial intelligence work because computing costs were too high.
OpenAI stepping back might help Chinese competitors, but ByteDance had to stop rolling out its popular Seedance 2.0 after Hollywood studios and streaming services accused it of copyright violations.
Alibaba’s chief executive Eddie Wu has made AI development the top goal for the company’s many different businesses, which also cover computer chip design and data centers.
The company has already built its AI models into online shopping, advertising, and entertainment products, and might plan to do the same with HappyHorse.
HappyHorse-1.0 launched in an odd way
There was no big event, no technical explanation, and no company backing. It just appeared anonymously on the Artificial Analysis Video Arena rankings and climbed to the top.
HappyHorse, topped the rankings in text to video, image to video, and text to video with audio categories. It ranked second only in one category: image to video with audio, where Seedance 2.0 holds the lead.
Artificial Analysis uses blind tests where real people worldwide compare videos without knowing which model made them. Results get combined using an Elo rating system like chess rankings. This method is seen as more honest than when companies report their own scores, though new models’ scores can bounce around more because fewer people have tested them. A difference of about 60 points usually means one model wins consistently.
On X, people disagree about HappyHorse. Some doubt it, saying it falls short of Seedance 2.0 in showing character details and smooth movement. Others see promise, hoping it can fix the problem of keeping quality steady across multiple video shots.
Alibaba’s earlier Wan video creator ranked only around 20th on Artificial Analysis, so HappyHorse reaching the top shows a big jump in Alibaba’s video AI abilities. The company says 2026 is important for speeding up AI work.
Video creation is one of the toughest areas where AI developers compete and one of the few that makes money. With OpenAI leaving last month, Chinese companies have more room to grow. Most top products on Artificial Analysis now come from Chinese firms.
Alibaba ATH says HappyHorse is part of exploring new ways to interact in the AI age and more products will come. Opening the programming interface will let outside developers use the model and test how well it works commercially.
China is also pushing hard towards AI chip independance. As reported by Cryptopolitan on Tuesday, Alibaba and China Telecom said they are building a computing center in southern China using chips Alibaba designed. The facility will have 10,000 Zhenwu semiconductors made for AI work that can run systems with hundreds of billions of parameters. China Telecom will own and run the location.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.
255
Attempts to completely restrict Telegram intensify in RussiaReports of Telegram outages are mounting in Russia, with difficulties using the messenger reaching rarely seen levels, according to service status tracking websites.
Russian authorities have been slowing down traffic to the platform since February, but attempts to completely restrict access to the app escalated in late March and April.
Telegram down across Russia before the weekend
Russia is now trying to fully block the popular messaging service Telegram on its territory, local and regional media reported Friday.
“Anomalies” affecting access reached 95% on the morning of April 10, jumping from 79% on Thursday, the independent Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo found out first.
Referring to data from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), a global platform monitoring online censorship, it noted in a post:
“This is the highest anomaly rate ever recorded since the new restrictions on the messaging app began in Russia on March 20.”
Russia’s telecom watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKN), started throttling Telegram in early February, citing non-compliance with requests to remove prohibited information.
Attempts to interrupt traffic started the following month, ahead of a reported April 1 deadline for the messenger to meet Moscow’s requirements regarding content moderation.
Since then, they have intensified periodically, usually towards the end of the working week, Agentstvo pointed out and commented:
“These figures may indicate that Pavel Durov’s messaging app is already being blocked more severely than WhatsApp and Signal.”
“For comparison, the officially blocked Signal and the effectively blocked WhatsApp on Friday morning had an anomaly rate of 89%,” the outlet added.
Long before the current crackdown, Russian regulators had already banned Signal, Discord, and Viber by the end of 2024.
Besides going after Telegram, the RKN practically banned WhatsApp when it deleted its domain this past February. Each had over 90 million users in Russia.
Voice calls through both were limited in August 2025, with Roskmonadzor claiming they had become a favorite tool for fraudsters, extremists, and cybercriminals.
User reports of outages on sites like Downdetector also rose sharply overnight between Thursday and Friday, the report further detailed.
Detector404.ru has registered over 5,000 complaints in 24 hours, as of the time of writing. Reports have also increased on another Russia-focused tracker, Сбой.рф, with over half of them coming from the capital Moscow and Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
Putin hits Telegram ahead of unpopular decisions, says Zelenskyy
Discussing the blocking of Telegram in Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the ban to Moscow preparing to make “unpopular decisions.” In a post on Friday, he suggested:
“Perhaps this is the end of the war in one format or another. Or, conversely, an escalation.”
In the first case, he pondered, the Kremlin would have to deal with part of the Russian society that has been radicalized by propaganda and is not ready for an end to the war.
And the second means even greater mobilization, this time sending people from the large cities to the front, Zelenskyy commented at a press conference, quoted by Ukrainian media.
“In my opinion, these are two main scenarios, but, of course, there may be other motivations. And soon we will see which of the scenarios Putin chose,” he concluded.
Telegram has been under pressure over content moderation lately, not just in Russia, but also in Ukraine, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.
The messenger is widely used by soldiers on both sides in the conflict. Moscow and Kyiv have now committed to a truce for the Orthodox Easter this weekend.
Reacting to the RKN’s crackdown on Telegram, founder Pavel Durov recently urged Russians for “digital resistance,” highlighting that 65 million of them still use it, bypassing the blockade via VPNs.
His call came after a recent report revealed that Russian authorities have foiled a number of protests in defense of the messenger in various parts of the vast country.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
Attempts to completely restrict Telegram intensify in Russia
Reports of Telegram outages are mounting in Russia, with difficulties using the messenger reaching rarely seen levels, according to service status tracking websites.
Russian authorities have been slowing down traffic to the platform since February, but attempts to completely restrict access to the app escalated in late March and April.
Telegram down across Russia before the weekend
Russia is now trying to fully block the popular messaging service Telegram on its territory, local and regional media reported Friday.
“Anomalies” affecting access reached 95% on the morning of April 10, jumping from 79% on Thursday, the independent Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo found out first.
Referring to data from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), a global platform monitoring online censorship, it noted in a post:
“This is the highest anomaly rate ever recorded since the new restrictions on the messaging app began in Russia on March 20.”
Russia’s telecom watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKN), started throttling Telegram in early February, citing non-compliance with requests to remove prohibited information.
Attempts to interrupt traffic started the following month, ahead of a reported April 1 deadline for the messenger to meet Moscow’s requirements regarding content moderation.
Since then, they have intensified periodically, usually towards the end of the working week, Agentstvo pointed out and commented:
“These figures may indicate that Pavel Durov’s messaging app is already being blocked more severely than WhatsApp and Signal.”
“For comparison, the officially blocked Signal and the effectively blocked WhatsApp on Friday morning had an anomaly rate of 89%,” the outlet added.
Long before the current crackdown, Russian regulators had already banned Signal, Discord, and Viber by the end of 2024.
Besides going after Telegram, the RKN practically banned WhatsApp when it deleted its domain this past February. Each had over 90 million users in Russia.
Voice calls through both were limited in August 2025, with Roskmonadzor claiming they had become a favorite tool for fraudsters, extremists, and cybercriminals.
User reports of outages on sites like Downdetector also rose sharply overnight between Thursday and Friday, the report further detailed.
Detector404.ru has registered over 5,000 complaints in 24 hours, as of the time of writing. Reports have also increased on another Russia-focused tracker, Сбой.рф, with over half of them coming from the capital Moscow and Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
Putin hits Telegram ahead of unpopular decisions, says Zelenskyy
Discussing the blocking of Telegram in Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the ban to Moscow preparing to make “unpopular decisions.” In a post on Friday, he suggested:
“Perhaps this is the end of the war in one format or another. Or, conversely, an escalation.”
In the first case, he pondered, the Kremlin would have to deal with part of the Russian society that has been radicalized by propaganda and is not ready for an end to the war.
And the second means even greater mobilization, this time sending people from the large cities to the front, Zelenskyy commented at a press conference, quoted by Ukrainian media.
“In my opinion, these are two main scenarios, but, of course, there may be other motivations. And soon we will see which of the scenarios Putin chose,” he concluded.
Telegram has been under pressure over content moderation lately, not just in Russia, but also in Ukraine, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.
The messenger is widely used by soldiers on both sides in the conflict. Moscow and Kyiv have now committed to a truce for the Orthodox Easter this weekend.
Reacting to the RKN’s crackdown on Telegram, founder Pavel Durov recently urged Russians for “digital resistance,” highlighting that 65 million of them still use it, bypassing the blockade via VPNs.
His call came after a recent report revealed that Russian authorities have foiled a number of protests in defense of the messenger in various parts of the vast country.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
Russian authorities have been slowing down traffic to the platform since February, but attempts to completely restrict access to the app escalated in late March and April.
Telegram down across Russia before the weekend
Russia is now trying to fully block the popular messaging service Telegram on its territory, local and regional media reported Friday.
“Anomalies” affecting access reached 95% on the morning of April 10, jumping from 79% on Thursday, the independent Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo found out first.
Referring to data from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), a global platform monitoring online censorship, it noted in a post:
“This is the highest anomaly rate ever recorded since the new restrictions on the messaging app began in Russia on March 20.”
Russia’s telecom watchdog, Roskomnadzor (RKN), started throttling Telegram in early February, citing non-compliance with requests to remove prohibited information.
Attempts to interrupt traffic started the following month, ahead of a reported April 1 deadline for the messenger to meet Moscow’s requirements regarding content moderation.
Since then, they have intensified periodically, usually towards the end of the working week, Agentstvo pointed out and commented:
“These figures may indicate that Pavel Durov’s messaging app is already being blocked more severely than WhatsApp and Signal.”
“For comparison, the officially blocked Signal and the effectively blocked WhatsApp on Friday morning had an anomaly rate of 89%,” the outlet added.
Long before the current crackdown, Russian regulators had already banned Signal, Discord, and Viber by the end of 2024.
Besides going after Telegram, the RKN practically banned WhatsApp when it deleted its domain this past February. Each had over 90 million users in Russia.
Voice calls through both were limited in August 2025, with Roskmonadzor claiming they had become a favorite tool for fraudsters, extremists, and cybercriminals.
User reports of outages on sites like Downdetector also rose sharply overnight between Thursday and Friday, the report further detailed.
Detector404.ru has registered over 5,000 complaints in 24 hours, as of the time of writing. Reports have also increased on another Russia-focused tracker, Сбой.рф, with over half of them coming from the capital Moscow and Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
Putin hits Telegram ahead of unpopular decisions, says Zelenskyy
Discussing the blocking of Telegram in Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the ban to Moscow preparing to make “unpopular decisions.” In a post on Friday, he suggested:
“Perhaps this is the end of the war in one format or another. Or, conversely, an escalation.”
In the first case, he pondered, the Kremlin would have to deal with part of the Russian society that has been radicalized by propaganda and is not ready for an end to the war.
And the second means even greater mobilization, this time sending people from the large cities to the front, Zelenskyy commented at a press conference, quoted by Ukrainian media.
“In my opinion, these are two main scenarios, but, of course, there may be other motivations. And soon we will see which of the scenarios Putin chose,” he concluded.
Telegram has been under pressure over content moderation lately, not just in Russia, but also in Ukraine, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.
The messenger is widely used by soldiers on both sides in the conflict. Moscow and Kyiv have now committed to a truce for the Orthodox Easter this weekend.
Reacting to the RKN’s crackdown on Telegram, founder Pavel Durov recently urged Russians for “digital resistance,” highlighting that 65 million of them still use it, bypassing the blockade via VPNs.
His call came after a recent report revealed that Russian authorities have foiled a number of protests in defense of the messenger in various parts of the vast country.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
1
364
France is pushing to tighten EU crypto rules, targeting non-euro stablecoinsWhile significant investors pour money into a new regulated cryptocurrency market springing up in Vietnam, France is trying to tighten regulations on foreign-backed digital currencies.
Stablecoins are digital tokens whose value is linked to actual currencies, particularly those that are not backed by the euro. A senior Bank of France official has urged European regulators to impose more restrictions on stablecoins.
The drive comes as European officials become increasingly concerned about the increasing use of digital currencies backed by dollars in daily transactions.
Denis Beau, the Bank of France official leading the charge, said that the existing European crypto rulebook, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework or MiCA, does not go far enough.
In an official report, Beau wrote: “we are pressing for a strengthening of MiCA, particularly to restrict the use of stablecoins for everyday payments, all-the-more when they are backed by a currency other than the euro.”
The Bank of France has been building this case for some time.
As cryptopolitan reported earlier in 2025, the Bank of France had already urged the European Securities and Markets Authority, known as ESMA, to gain direct oversight powers over large crypto issuers.
It also pushed for stricter rules on what is called multi-issuance, when the same stablecoin is issued across several platforms, warning that current rules leave Europe open to regulatory loopholes and too dependent on dollar-backed tokens.
Beau’s report also noted that stablecoins issued by banks or licensed electronic money institutions carry less financial risk than those put out by firms with no banking background.
A rule requiring individuals to report cryptocurrencies held in private digital wallets if the total value exceeds 5,000 euros was passed by the nation’s National Assembly.
Although the initiative has not yet become a full law, it shows that France intends to monitor its citizens’ use and storage of digital assets more closely.
Vietnam opens up for business
While Europe tightens its grip, the picture looks very different on the other side of the world.
On April 10, Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange JSC, known as CAEX, announced that two major investment firms, OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital, have agreed to back the company financially and become strategic partners.
The two firms will contribute funds in April to help CAEX meet a minimum capital requirement of 10 trillion Vietnamese dong, which works out to around $380 million.
That figure is the entry bar set by Vietnam’s government for any exchange looking to join its new pilot program for regulated crypto trading.
This five-year trial program was started by Vietnam in an effort to move local traders from unregulated offshore platforms to venues under government supervision that are licensed. An exchange must reach the 10 trillion dong barrier in order to be eligible, and institutional investors like banks or securities firms must provide at least 65% of the necessary capital.
Five domestic companies, CAEX, associated with VPBank; TCEX, associated with Techcombank; and LPEX, associated with LPBank, passed an early assessment stage.
Netero Dai, vice president of OKX Global Markets, said: “Vietnam is one of the most dynamic markets for digital assets, with strong user adoption and a clear move towards a regulated framework. Our partnership with CAEX reflects our mission to create a safe, trusted environment for people to transact with crypto.”
Two regions, two very different bets
Later in 2026, Vietnam intends to impose a tax of about 0.1 percent on cryptocurrency transactions and legally recognize digital assets in legislation.
This divergence underscores Europe’s defensive approach to protect monetary sovereignty versus Asia’s pragmatic push for regulated growth and adoption.
While France tightens MiCA to limit non-euro stablecoins in daily payments, Vietnam and similar Asian hubs are attracting capital and infrastructure through clear licensing and institutional partnerships.
The result is an emerging crypto decoupling, where stablecoins increasingly function as independent payment infrastructure rather than purely speculative assets tied to market cycles.
Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank
France is pushing to tighten EU crypto rules, targeting non-euro stablecoins
While significant investors pour money into a new regulated cryptocurrency market springing up in Vietnam, France is trying to tighten regulations on foreign-backed digital currencies.
Stablecoins are digital tokens whose value is linked to actual currencies, particularly those that are not backed by the euro. A senior Bank of France official has urged European regulators to impose more restrictions on stablecoins.
The drive comes as European officials become increasingly concerned about the increasing use of digital currencies backed by dollars in daily transactions.
Denis Beau, the Bank of France official leading the charge, said that the existing European crypto rulebook, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework or MiCA, does not go far enough.
In an official report, Beau wrote: “we are pressing for a strengthening of MiCA, particularly to restrict the use of stablecoins for everyday payments, all-the-more when they are backed by a currency other than the euro.”
The Bank of France has been building this case for some time.
As cryptopolitan reported earlier in 2025, the Bank of France had already urged the European Securities and Markets Authority, known as ESMA, to gain direct oversight powers over large crypto issuers.
It also pushed for stricter rules on what is called multi-issuance, when the same stablecoin is issued across several platforms, warning that current rules leave Europe open to regulatory loopholes and too dependent on dollar-backed tokens.
Beau’s report also noted that stablecoins issued by banks or licensed electronic money institutions carry less financial risk than those put out by firms with no banking background.
A rule requiring individuals to report cryptocurrencies held in private digital wallets if the total value exceeds 5,000 euros was passed by the nation’s National Assembly.
Although the initiative has not yet become a full law, it shows that France intends to monitor its citizens’ use and storage of digital assets more closely.
Vietnam opens up for business
While Europe tightens its grip, the picture looks very different on the other side of the world.
On April 10, Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange JSC, known as CAEX, announced that two major investment firms, OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital, have agreed to back the company financially and become strategic partners.
The two firms will contribute funds in April to help CAEX meet a minimum capital requirement of 10 trillion Vietnamese dong, which works out to around $380 million.
That figure is the entry bar set by Vietnam’s government for any exchange looking to join its new pilot program for regulated crypto trading.
This five-year trial program was started by Vietnam in an effort to move local traders from unregulated offshore platforms to venues under government supervision that are licensed. An exchange must reach the 10 trillion dong barrier in order to be eligible, and institutional investors like banks or securities firms must provide at least 65% of the necessary capital.
Five domestic companies, CAEX, associated with VPBank; TCEX, associated with Techcombank; and LPEX, associated with LPBank, passed an early assessment stage.
Netero Dai, vice president of OKX Global Markets, said: “Vietnam is one of the most dynamic markets for digital assets, with strong user adoption and a clear move towards a regulated framework. Our partnership with CAEX reflects our mission to create a safe, trusted environment for people to transact with crypto.”
Two regions, two very different bets
Later in 2026, Vietnam intends to impose a tax of about 0.1 percent on cryptocurrency transactions and legally recognize digital assets in legislation.
This divergence underscores Europe’s defensive approach to protect monetary sovereignty versus Asia’s pragmatic push for regulated growth and adoption.
While France tightens MiCA to limit non-euro stablecoins in daily payments, Vietnam and similar Asian hubs are attracting capital and infrastructure through clear licensing and institutional partnerships.
The result is an emerging crypto decoupling, where stablecoins increasingly function as independent payment infrastructure rather than purely speculative assets tied to market cycles.
Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank
Stablecoins are digital tokens whose value is linked to actual currencies, particularly those that are not backed by the euro. A senior Bank of France official has urged European regulators to impose more restrictions on stablecoins.
The drive comes as European officials become increasingly concerned about the increasing use of digital currencies backed by dollars in daily transactions.
Denis Beau, the Bank of France official leading the charge, said that the existing European crypto rulebook, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework or MiCA, does not go far enough.
In an official report, Beau wrote: “we are pressing for a strengthening of MiCA, particularly to restrict the use of stablecoins for everyday payments, all-the-more when they are backed by a currency other than the euro.”
The Bank of France has been building this case for some time.
As cryptopolitan reported earlier in 2025, the Bank of France had already urged the European Securities and Markets Authority, known as ESMA, to gain direct oversight powers over large crypto issuers.
It also pushed for stricter rules on what is called multi-issuance, when the same stablecoin is issued across several platforms, warning that current rules leave Europe open to regulatory loopholes and too dependent on dollar-backed tokens.
Beau’s report also noted that stablecoins issued by banks or licensed electronic money institutions carry less financial risk than those put out by firms with no banking background.
A rule requiring individuals to report cryptocurrencies held in private digital wallets if the total value exceeds 5,000 euros was passed by the nation’s National Assembly.
Although the initiative has not yet become a full law, it shows that France intends to monitor its citizens’ use and storage of digital assets more closely.
Vietnam opens up for business
While Europe tightens its grip, the picture looks very different on the other side of the world.
On April 10, Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange JSC, known as CAEX, announced that two major investment firms, OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital, have agreed to back the company financially and become strategic partners.
The two firms will contribute funds in April to help CAEX meet a minimum capital requirement of 10 trillion Vietnamese dong, which works out to around $380 million.
That figure is the entry bar set by Vietnam’s government for any exchange looking to join its new pilot program for regulated crypto trading.
This five-year trial program was started by Vietnam in an effort to move local traders from unregulated offshore platforms to venues under government supervision that are licensed. An exchange must reach the 10 trillion dong barrier in order to be eligible, and institutional investors like banks or securities firms must provide at least 65% of the necessary capital.
Five domestic companies, CAEX, associated with VPBank; TCEX, associated with Techcombank; and LPEX, associated with LPBank, passed an early assessment stage.
Netero Dai, vice president of OKX Global Markets, said: “Vietnam is one of the most dynamic markets for digital assets, with strong user adoption and a clear move towards a regulated framework. Our partnership with CAEX reflects our mission to create a safe, trusted environment for people to transact with crypto.”
Two regions, two very different bets
Later in 2026, Vietnam intends to impose a tax of about 0.1 percent on cryptocurrency transactions and legally recognize digital assets in legislation.
This divergence underscores Europe’s defensive approach to protect monetary sovereignty versus Asia’s pragmatic push for regulated growth and adoption.
While France tightens MiCA to limit non-euro stablecoins in daily payments, Vietnam and similar Asian hubs are attracting capital and infrastructure through clear licensing and institutional partnerships.
The result is an emerging crypto decoupling, where stablecoins increasingly function as independent payment infrastructure rather than purely speculative assets tied to market cycles.
Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank
111
Strait of Hormuz transit falls to a trickleAs the near-blockage of the Strait of Hormuz drives the price of physical oil to very high levels, traders, governments, and shipping firms are finding it difficult to react to the intense strain on the world’s oil markets.
Analysts say the price of dated Brent crude has hit a record $144, showing how scarce actual oil supplies have become. Meanwhile, Brent futures for June were trading much lower at $96.51 per barrel on Friday morning.
Experts explain that this large gap between the two prices shows that the shortage of oil is far worse than what the financial market prices suggest.
Martijn Rats of Morgan Stanley clarified that whereas ICE Brent futures are merely financial contracts, Dated Brent displays the actual price of oil that is currently ready to ship.
Dynamix Corporation III’s founder and CEO, Andrejka Bernatova, stated that the $144 pricing should be viewed as a warning rather than an exception.
“Dated Brent at $144 is not just a price record. It’s the physical market telling you that real barrels are becoming scarce,” she said. “The Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely blocked. Until those flows are actually moving again, the $144 print is less of a historical anomaly and more of a preview.”
Strait of Hormuz transit falls to a trickle
Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments typically pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow canal that links the Persian Gulf to the larger ocean.
The strait handled between 120 and 140 vessel transits every day prior to the start of attacks on February 28. That number has fallen dramatically.
According to shipping intelligence firms Kpler and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, only five vessels crossed on Wednesday and seven on Thursday.
More than 600 ships, including 325 tankers, are currently stranded in the Gulf. Even if a ceasefire holds, analysts expect the strait to handle no more than 10 to 15 safe passages per day.
Tensions between the United States and Iran are adding to the uncertainty. Iran has insisted that all vessels passing through must coordinate with its naval forces.
President Donald Trump has said Iran is not holding up its end of the “safe passage” agreement reached in the ceasefire, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has countered that the U.S. is the one failing to honor the deal. Further talks aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire are scheduled to take place in Islamabad.
Countries move to secure alternative supply lines
Faced with an unstable spot market, countries are moving quickly to lock in alternative supply arrangements.
Singapore and Australia said Friday they are working toward a formal, legally binding agreement on energy and critical supplies.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to speed up negotiations covering those sectors.
The two nations have a close energy relationship. Australia supplies more than one-third of Singapore’s LNG, while Singapore provides 26% of Australia’s refined fuel imports.
According to Wong, in order to better control risk and explore longer-term supply agreements, Singapore has combined its gas purchases under a single organization.
Japan is also taking measures to reduce the pressure.
Plans to release more oil from national reserves in May of next year, roughly 20 days’ worth of domestic consumption, were revealed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Last month, a comparable release was made.
Additionally, Japan is attempting to get oil via routes that completely avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The nation has enough oil on hand to last 230 days as of April 6, with government stocks alone providing 143 days.
Shipping industry leaders still don’t believe the situation will improve soon, even though U.S. Vice President JD Vance says the strait could slowly reopen.
Janiv Shah from Rystad Energy warned that tanker prices will likely stay high and oil supply will remain limited for a while. He added that even if countries make progress in talks, it doesn’t always lead to real, on-the-ground improvements.
Your keys, your card. Spend without giving up custody and earn 8%+ yield on your balance with Ether.fi Cash.
Strait of Hormuz transit falls to a trickle
As the near-blockage of the Strait of Hormuz drives the price of physical oil to very high levels, traders, governments, and shipping firms are finding it difficult to react to the intense strain on the world’s oil markets.
Analysts say the price of dated Brent crude has hit a record $144, showing how scarce actual oil supplies have become. Meanwhile, Brent futures for June were trading much lower at $96.51 per barrel on Friday morning.
Experts explain that this large gap between the two prices shows that the shortage of oil is far worse than what the financial market prices suggest.
Martijn Rats of Morgan Stanley clarified that whereas ICE Brent futures are merely financial contracts, Dated Brent displays the actual price of oil that is currently ready to ship.
Dynamix Corporation III’s founder and CEO, Andrejka Bernatova, stated that the $144 pricing should be viewed as a warning rather than an exception.
“Dated Brent at $144 is not just a price record. It’s the physical market telling you that real barrels are becoming scarce,” she said. “The Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely blocked. Until those flows are actually moving again, the $144 print is less of a historical anomaly and more of a preview.”
Strait of Hormuz transit falls to a trickle
Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments typically pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow canal that links the Persian Gulf to the larger ocean.
The strait handled between 120 and 140 vessel transits every day prior to the start of attacks on February 28. That number has fallen dramatically.
According to shipping intelligence firms Kpler and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, only five vessels crossed on Wednesday and seven on Thursday.
More than 600 ships, including 325 tankers, are currently stranded in the Gulf. Even if a ceasefire holds, analysts expect the strait to handle no more than 10 to 15 safe passages per day.
Tensions between the United States and Iran are adding to the uncertainty. Iran has insisted that all vessels passing through must coordinate with its naval forces.
President Donald Trump has said Iran is not holding up its end of the “safe passage” agreement reached in the ceasefire, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has countered that the U.S. is the one failing to honor the deal. Further talks aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire are scheduled to take place in Islamabad.
Countries move to secure alternative supply lines
Faced with an unstable spot market, countries are moving quickly to lock in alternative supply arrangements.
Singapore and Australia said Friday they are working toward a formal, legally binding agreement on energy and critical supplies.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to speed up negotiations covering those sectors.
The two nations have a close energy relationship. Australia supplies more than one-third of Singapore’s LNG, while Singapore provides 26% of Australia’s refined fuel imports.
According to Wong, in order to better control risk and explore longer-term supply agreements, Singapore has combined its gas purchases under a single organization.
Japan is also taking measures to reduce the pressure.
Plans to release more oil from national reserves in May of next year, roughly 20 days’ worth of domestic consumption, were revealed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Last month, a comparable release was made.
Additionally, Japan is attempting to get oil via routes that completely avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The nation has enough oil on hand to last 230 days as of April 6, with government stocks alone providing 143 days.
Shipping industry leaders still don’t believe the situation will improve soon, even though U.S. Vice President JD Vance says the strait could slowly reopen.
Janiv Shah from Rystad Energy warned that tanker prices will likely stay high and oil supply will remain limited for a while. He added that even if countries make progress in talks, it doesn’t always lead to real, on-the-ground improvements.
Your keys, your card. Spend without giving up custody and earn 8%+ yield on your balance with Ether.fi Cash.
Analysts say the price of dated Brent crude has hit a record $144, showing how scarce actual oil supplies have become. Meanwhile, Brent futures for June were trading much lower at $96.51 per barrel on Friday morning.
Experts explain that this large gap between the two prices shows that the shortage of oil is far worse than what the financial market prices suggest.
Martijn Rats of Morgan Stanley clarified that whereas ICE Brent futures are merely financial contracts, Dated Brent displays the actual price of oil that is currently ready to ship.
Dynamix Corporation III’s founder and CEO, Andrejka Bernatova, stated that the $144 pricing should be viewed as a warning rather than an exception.
“Dated Brent at $144 is not just a price record. It’s the physical market telling you that real barrels are becoming scarce,” she said. “The Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely blocked. Until those flows are actually moving again, the $144 print is less of a historical anomaly and more of a preview.”
Strait of Hormuz transit falls to a trickle
Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments typically pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow canal that links the Persian Gulf to the larger ocean.
The strait handled between 120 and 140 vessel transits every day prior to the start of attacks on February 28. That number has fallen dramatically.
According to shipping intelligence firms Kpler and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, only five vessels crossed on Wednesday and seven on Thursday.
More than 600 ships, including 325 tankers, are currently stranded in the Gulf. Even if a ceasefire holds, analysts expect the strait to handle no more than 10 to 15 safe passages per day.
Tensions between the United States and Iran are adding to the uncertainty. Iran has insisted that all vessels passing through must coordinate with its naval forces.
President Donald Trump has said Iran is not holding up its end of the “safe passage” agreement reached in the ceasefire, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has countered that the U.S. is the one failing to honor the deal. Further talks aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire are scheduled to take place in Islamabad.
Countries move to secure alternative supply lines
Faced with an unstable spot market, countries are moving quickly to lock in alternative supply arrangements.
Singapore and Australia said Friday they are working toward a formal, legally binding agreement on energy and critical supplies.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to speed up negotiations covering those sectors.
The two nations have a close energy relationship. Australia supplies more than one-third of Singapore’s LNG, while Singapore provides 26% of Australia’s refined fuel imports.
According to Wong, in order to better control risk and explore longer-term supply agreements, Singapore has combined its gas purchases under a single organization.
Japan is also taking measures to reduce the pressure.
Plans to release more oil from national reserves in May of next year, roughly 20 days’ worth of domestic consumption, were revealed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Last month, a comparable release was made.
Additionally, Japan is attempting to get oil via routes that completely avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The nation has enough oil on hand to last 230 days as of April 6, with government stocks alone providing 143 days.
Shipping industry leaders still don’t believe the situation will improve soon, even though U.S. Vice President JD Vance says the strait could slowly reopen.
Janiv Shah from Rystad Energy warned that tanker prices will likely stay high and oil supply will remain limited for a while. He added that even if countries make progress in talks, it doesn’t always lead to real, on-the-ground improvements.
Your keys, your card. Spend without giving up custody and earn 8%+ yield on your balance with Ether.fi Cash.
536
Article
Strive's ASST shares received renewed interest after a recent 'buy' recommendationStrive, Inc. points to a revival for BTC treasury companies. Recently, the ASST common stock received a ‘buy’ rating from TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza.
Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASST), one of the leading BTC treasury companies, is pointing to a revival of interest in treasury company stocks. Attention to Strive increased after the latest addition of 113 BTC to its treasury.
The main source of interest was the ASST common stock and its potential for a significant recovery. ASST traded at $10.57, after a recent short-term recovery. The DAT company stock is down from a peak of over $260 in the summer of 2025, when treasury companies got a significant boost and were still a novelty.
Strive, Inc. trades near its one-year lows, but may see a recovery on renewed interest in DAT company stocks. | Source: Google Finance
ASST also rallied following a temporary relief for the stock market, while awaiting its own recovery. Strive expects to release its Q1 report on May 15, giving more clarity on the effect of its treasury.
Strive seen as capable of a market recovery
Despite the long-term drawdown caused by the BTC bear market, ASST is seen as capable of a breakout. Recently, TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza gave a cautious ‘buy’ recommendation for ASST, with a price target of $26.
Strive is a Bitcoin playbook company, using raises and preferred stock to build up its treasury. As of April 2026, Strive held 13,741 BTC, with an unknown average price. A recovery of ASST may boost the ability of Strive to add more BTC. Traditionally, Strive uses OTC deals to source BTC, though its fundraising is public.
Another boost to Strive is the recent filing by Fidelity for a large-scale beneficial ownership of ASST shares. In a 13G filing, FMR LLC revealed it expanded its share to 12.1% of the total ASST supply. The high share of ownership may mean trust on the side of Fidelity, which has supported other digital asset projects. Currently, ASST has a relatively low short open interest, so Fidelity’s buying is not seen as a backing for an eventual short position.
The activity and hype around Strive, a top 10 BTC treasury company, may revive the sector and increase interest in ASST shares.
Strive aims to expand the role of SATA
Strive has recently attempted to expand the role of its SATA preferred shares. SATA is the second most actively traded preferred stock from a DAT company after Strategy’s STRC.
For now, SATA has only $17M in monthly volumes, but Strive aims for a more predictable price range. SATA is mostly attractive for its 13.03% effective annualized yield.
As Cryptopolitan reported earlier, Strive has improved its balance and retired most of its debt. The company has completed the merger with Semler Scientific and may expand its appeal to investors for both ASST and SATA.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
Strive's ASST shares received renewed interest after a recent 'buy' recommendation
Strive, Inc. points to a revival for BTC treasury companies. Recently, the ASST common stock received a ‘buy’ rating from TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza.
Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASST), one of the leading BTC treasury companies, is pointing to a revival of interest in treasury company stocks. Attention to Strive increased after the latest addition of 113 BTC to its treasury.
The main source of interest was the ASST common stock and its potential for a significant recovery. ASST traded at $10.57, after a recent short-term recovery. The DAT company stock is down from a peak of over $260 in the summer of 2025, when treasury companies got a significant boost and were still a novelty.
Strive, Inc. trades near its one-year lows, but may see a recovery on renewed interest in DAT company stocks. | Source: Google Finance
ASST also rallied following a temporary relief for the stock market, while awaiting its own recovery. Strive expects to release its Q1 report on May 15, giving more clarity on the effect of its treasury.
Strive seen as capable of a market recovery
Despite the long-term drawdown caused by the BTC bear market, ASST is seen as capable of a breakout. Recently, TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza gave a cautious ‘buy’ recommendation for ASST, with a price target of $26.
Strive is a Bitcoin playbook company, using raises and preferred stock to build up its treasury. As of April 2026, Strive held 13,741 BTC, with an unknown average price. A recovery of ASST may boost the ability of Strive to add more BTC. Traditionally, Strive uses OTC deals to source BTC, though its fundraising is public.
Another boost to Strive is the recent filing by Fidelity for a large-scale beneficial ownership of ASST shares. In a 13G filing, FMR LLC revealed it expanded its share to 12.1% of the total ASST supply. The high share of ownership may mean trust on the side of Fidelity, which has supported other digital asset projects. Currently, ASST has a relatively low short open interest, so Fidelity’s buying is not seen as a backing for an eventual short position.
The activity and hype around Strive, a top 10 BTC treasury company, may revive the sector and increase interest in ASST shares.
Strive aims to expand the role of SATA
Strive has recently attempted to expand the role of its SATA preferred shares. SATA is the second most actively traded preferred stock from a DAT company after Strategy’s STRC.
For now, SATA has only $17M in monthly volumes, but Strive aims for a more predictable price range. SATA is mostly attractive for its 13.03% effective annualized yield.
As Cryptopolitan reported earlier, Strive has improved its balance and retired most of its debt. The company has completed the merger with Semler Scientific and may expand its appeal to investors for both ASST and SATA.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASST), one of the leading BTC treasury companies, is pointing to a revival of interest in treasury company stocks. Attention to Strive increased after the latest addition of 113 BTC to its treasury.
The main source of interest was the ASST common stock and its potential for a significant recovery. ASST traded at $10.57, after a recent short-term recovery. The DAT company stock is down from a peak of over $260 in the summer of 2025, when treasury companies got a significant boost and were still a novelty.
Strive, Inc. trades near its one-year lows, but may see a recovery on renewed interest in DAT company stocks. | Source: Google Finance
ASST also rallied following a temporary relief for the stock market, while awaiting its own recovery. Strive expects to release its Q1 report on May 15, giving more clarity on the effect of its treasury.
Strive seen as capable of a market recovery
Despite the long-term drawdown caused by the BTC bear market, ASST is seen as capable of a breakout. Recently, TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza gave a cautious ‘buy’ recommendation for ASST, with a price target of $26.
Strive is a Bitcoin playbook company, using raises and preferred stock to build up its treasury. As of April 2026, Strive held 13,741 BTC, with an unknown average price. A recovery of ASST may boost the ability of Strive to add more BTC. Traditionally, Strive uses OTC deals to source BTC, though its fundraising is public.
Another boost to Strive is the recent filing by Fidelity for a large-scale beneficial ownership of ASST shares. In a 13G filing, FMR LLC revealed it expanded its share to 12.1% of the total ASST supply. The high share of ownership may mean trust on the side of Fidelity, which has supported other digital asset projects. Currently, ASST has a relatively low short open interest, so Fidelity’s buying is not seen as a backing for an eventual short position.
The activity and hype around Strive, a top 10 BTC treasury company, may revive the sector and increase interest in ASST shares.
Strive aims to expand the role of SATA
Strive has recently attempted to expand the role of its SATA preferred shares. SATA is the second most actively traded preferred stock from a DAT company after Strategy’s STRC.
For now, SATA has only $17M in monthly volumes, but Strive aims for a more predictable price range. SATA is mostly attractive for its 13.03% effective annualized yield.
As Cryptopolitan reported earlier, Strive has improved its balance and retired most of its debt. The company has completed the merger with Semler Scientific and may expand its appeal to investors for both ASST and SATA.
There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.
1
204
WLFI drops over 10% after the team defended a $75 million stablecoin loan dealTrump‑backed WLFI token dropped over 10% after the team defended a $75 million stablecoin loan deal that relied on WLFI as collateral, emptying Dolomite’s lending pool. The move is drawing scrutiny over both the price impact and the ethics of borrowing from a platform tied to its own advisor.
The World Liberty Financial team said it supplied 5 billion WLFI tokens, nominally valued at $440 million, as collateral and borrowed stablecoins to act as an anchor borrower on WLFI Markets. It also argued that there is “no liquidation risk” because it would simply supply more collateral. However, the deal left DeFi lending protocol Dolomite potentially exposed to bad debt because any instance of forced liquidation would probably crash WLFI’s thinly traded price.
Notably, the executed series of transactions raised questions about circular token economics, concentrated risk to other depositors, and insider access. On-chain records from Arkham and Etherscan show that transactions began on February 8. The company’s treasury deposited nearly $14 million in its USD1 stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar, into Dolomite as collateral to borrow 11.4 million USDC.
WLFI token continues to face downside pressure
Let's talk about the FUD going around our WLFI Markets lending position.
It's wrong. Here's what's actually happening — and why the real story is a lot more interesting.
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) April 9, 2026
As the situation escalates, the center of the issue is that WLFI is likely to face continued downside pressure unless key resistance levels are reclaimed. However, ongoing distribution, bearish indicators, and negative sentiment show that sellers remain in control.
Meanwhile, whether the anchor borrower strategy generates sustainable yield or concentrates system risk in a single insider position also remains another central question for depositors still locked in the pool. The borrowing pushed Dolomite’s USD1 pool utilization above 93%, making timely withdrawals difficult for ordinary depositors.
On the other hand, this issue arises alongside separate scrutiny after an investigation found that WLFI had integrated its USD1 stablecoin with a Southeast Asia blockchain project linked to a founder sanctioned by UK and U.S. authorities. The investigations also uncovered that WLFI’s advisor, Corey Caplan, is a co-founder at Dolomite.
Notably, a related-party transaction of this scale in traditional finance typically requires disclosure and independent board approval. However, WLFI has dismissed market concerns about its collateral position in Dolomite as FUD, despite the token losing nearly 17% weekly and up to 16% monthly.
WLFI transfers over $40M to Coinbase Prime
On-chain data also shows that the WLFI project sent more than $40 million of the $75 million loan directly to Coinbase Prime. The $40 million will typically be used for institutional OTC conversions. However, $15 million was subsequently repaid.
Meanwhile, Arkham’s data previously showed that WLFI moved 11.45 million USDC to a deposit address linked to Coinbase Prime. The project further sent another 12.5 million USD1 directly from its treasury to a separate Coinbase Prime deposit address. However, that 12.5 million USD1 was not part of the loan borrowed from Dolomite. That means WLFI sent its own stablecoin straight to a fiat off-ramp.
The World Liberty Finance treasury also previously deposited 890 million WLFI tokens into Dolomite and received a loan of 20 million USD1 against it. Another 1.1 billion WLFI followed almost a month later, bringing the total WLFI tokens sitting in Dolomite as collateral to 1.99 billion WLFI tokens. The project’s treasury received approximately 31.4 million in stablecoins from Dolomite across both instances.
Activity escalated in April through a different route when the treasury sent 2 billion WLFI to a Gnosis Safe proxy wallet address. It sent an additional 1 billion WLFI five days later.
However, neither transfer went directly to Dolomite, and on-chain data does not yet show where those tokens ended up. As of publication, the 3 billion WLFI tokens are worth approximately $266 million at the current price of $0.08195 per WLFI.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
WLFI drops over 10% after the team defended a $75 million stablecoin loan deal
Trump‑backed WLFI token dropped over 10% after the team defended a $75 million stablecoin loan deal that relied on WLFI as collateral, emptying Dolomite’s lending pool. The move is drawing scrutiny over both the price impact and the ethics of borrowing from a platform tied to its own advisor.
The World Liberty Financial team said it supplied 5 billion WLFI tokens, nominally valued at $440 million, as collateral and borrowed stablecoins to act as an anchor borrower on WLFI Markets. It also argued that there is “no liquidation risk” because it would simply supply more collateral. However, the deal left DeFi lending protocol Dolomite potentially exposed to bad debt because any instance of forced liquidation would probably crash WLFI’s thinly traded price.
Notably, the executed series of transactions raised questions about circular token economics, concentrated risk to other depositors, and insider access. On-chain records from Arkham and Etherscan show that transactions began on February 8. The company’s treasury deposited nearly $14 million in its USD1 stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar, into Dolomite as collateral to borrow 11.4 million USDC.
WLFI token continues to face downside pressure
Let's talk about the FUD going around our WLFI Markets lending position.
It's wrong. Here's what's actually happening — and why the real story is a lot more interesting.
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) April 9, 2026
As the situation escalates, the center of the issue is that WLFI is likely to face continued downside pressure unless key resistance levels are reclaimed. However, ongoing distribution, bearish indicators, and negative sentiment show that sellers remain in control.
Meanwhile, whether the anchor borrower strategy generates sustainable yield or concentrates system risk in a single insider position also remains another central question for depositors still locked in the pool. The borrowing pushed Dolomite’s USD1 pool utilization above 93%, making timely withdrawals difficult for ordinary depositors.
On the other hand, this issue arises alongside separate scrutiny after an investigation found that WLFI had integrated its USD1 stablecoin with a Southeast Asia blockchain project linked to a founder sanctioned by UK and U.S. authorities. The investigations also uncovered that WLFI’s advisor, Corey Caplan, is a co-founder at Dolomite.
Notably, a related-party transaction of this scale in traditional finance typically requires disclosure and independent board approval. However, WLFI has dismissed market concerns about its collateral position in Dolomite as FUD, despite the token losing nearly 17% weekly and up to 16% monthly.
WLFI transfers over $40M to Coinbase Prime
On-chain data also shows that the WLFI project sent more than $40 million of the $75 million loan directly to Coinbase Prime. The $40 million will typically be used for institutional OTC conversions. However, $15 million was subsequently repaid.
Meanwhile, Arkham’s data previously showed that WLFI moved 11.45 million USDC to a deposit address linked to Coinbase Prime. The project further sent another 12.5 million USD1 directly from its treasury to a separate Coinbase Prime deposit address. However, that 12.5 million USD1 was not part of the loan borrowed from Dolomite. That means WLFI sent its own stablecoin straight to a fiat off-ramp.
The World Liberty Finance treasury also previously deposited 890 million WLFI tokens into Dolomite and received a loan of 20 million USD1 against it. Another 1.1 billion WLFI followed almost a month later, bringing the total WLFI tokens sitting in Dolomite as collateral to 1.99 billion WLFI tokens. The project’s treasury received approximately 31.4 million in stablecoins from Dolomite across both instances.
Activity escalated in April through a different route when the treasury sent 2 billion WLFI to a Gnosis Safe proxy wallet address. It sent an additional 1 billion WLFI five days later.
However, neither transfer went directly to Dolomite, and on-chain data does not yet show where those tokens ended up. As of publication, the 3 billion WLFI tokens are worth approximately $266 million at the current price of $0.08195 per WLFI.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
The World Liberty Financial team said it supplied 5 billion WLFI tokens, nominally valued at $440 million, as collateral and borrowed stablecoins to act as an anchor borrower on WLFI Markets. It also argued that there is “no liquidation risk” because it would simply supply more collateral. However, the deal left DeFi lending protocol Dolomite potentially exposed to bad debt because any instance of forced liquidation would probably crash WLFI’s thinly traded price.
Notably, the executed series of transactions raised questions about circular token economics, concentrated risk to other depositors, and insider access. On-chain records from Arkham and Etherscan show that transactions began on February 8. The company’s treasury deposited nearly $14 million in its USD1 stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar, into Dolomite as collateral to borrow 11.4 million USDC.
WLFI token continues to face downside pressure
Let's talk about the FUD going around our WLFI Markets lending position.
It's wrong. Here's what's actually happening — and why the real story is a lot more interesting.
— WLFI (@worldlibertyfi) April 9, 2026
As the situation escalates, the center of the issue is that WLFI is likely to face continued downside pressure unless key resistance levels are reclaimed. However, ongoing distribution, bearish indicators, and negative sentiment show that sellers remain in control.
Meanwhile, whether the anchor borrower strategy generates sustainable yield or concentrates system risk in a single insider position also remains another central question for depositors still locked in the pool. The borrowing pushed Dolomite’s USD1 pool utilization above 93%, making timely withdrawals difficult for ordinary depositors.
On the other hand, this issue arises alongside separate scrutiny after an investigation found that WLFI had integrated its USD1 stablecoin with a Southeast Asia blockchain project linked to a founder sanctioned by UK and U.S. authorities. The investigations also uncovered that WLFI’s advisor, Corey Caplan, is a co-founder at Dolomite.
Notably, a related-party transaction of this scale in traditional finance typically requires disclosure and independent board approval. However, WLFI has dismissed market concerns about its collateral position in Dolomite as FUD, despite the token losing nearly 17% weekly and up to 16% monthly.
WLFI transfers over $40M to Coinbase Prime
On-chain data also shows that the WLFI project sent more than $40 million of the $75 million loan directly to Coinbase Prime. The $40 million will typically be used for institutional OTC conversions. However, $15 million was subsequently repaid.
Meanwhile, Arkham’s data previously showed that WLFI moved 11.45 million USDC to a deposit address linked to Coinbase Prime. The project further sent another 12.5 million USD1 directly from its treasury to a separate Coinbase Prime deposit address. However, that 12.5 million USD1 was not part of the loan borrowed from Dolomite. That means WLFI sent its own stablecoin straight to a fiat off-ramp.
The World Liberty Finance treasury also previously deposited 890 million WLFI tokens into Dolomite and received a loan of 20 million USD1 against it. Another 1.1 billion WLFI followed almost a month later, bringing the total WLFI tokens sitting in Dolomite as collateral to 1.99 billion WLFI tokens. The project’s treasury received approximately 31.4 million in stablecoins from Dolomite across both instances.
Activity escalated in April through a different route when the treasury sent 2 billion WLFI to a Gnosis Safe proxy wallet address. It sent an additional 1 billion WLFI five days later.
However, neither transfer went directly to Dolomite, and on-chain data does not yet show where those tokens ended up. As of publication, the 3 billion WLFI tokens are worth approximately $266 million at the current price of $0.08195 per WLFI.
The crypto card with no spending limits. Get 3% cashback and instant mobile payments. Claim your Ether.fi card.
656
OpenAI sent investors a memo claiming it has 1.9 gigawatts of computing capacity versus Anthropic...Two AI rivals are fighting over who has more computing muscle as they prepare to sell shares to the public. OpenAI told its investors this week that it has more data center capacity than Anthropic, while Anthropic fired back with news about major deals and fast-growing sales numbers.
OpenAI shared a document with investors saying it currently has 1.9 gigawatts of computing capacity for 2025, which is three times what it had last year. The company said Anthropic has 1.4 gigawatts. OpenAI expects to reach somewhere in the low-double-digit gigawatts within twelve months and hit 30 gigawatts by 2030. The company predicted Anthropic would max out between seven and eight gigawatts before 2027 ends.
OpenAI’s document, which CNBC wrote about, argued that bigger infrastructure spending creates a cycle where better technology leads to lower costs, which then pays for improvements that bring in more customers.
The company also pointed to comments from Anthropic’s chief executive Dario Amodei, who last year said some competitors were “YOLO-ing” while his company took a careful approach. OpenAI suggested that caution was a mistake.
Anthropic responded by pointing reporters to statements from its chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, about a deal announced with Google and Broadcom earlier this week. That partnership will give Anthropic roughly 3.5 gigawatts of computing power starting in 2027. Rao said the company is making its biggest computing commitment yet to keep up with growth.
CoreWeave agreement adds more capacity
On Friday, Anthropic announced another deal with CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure company, to get more computing capacity later this year. CoreWeave’s stock went up more than 5% before markets opened. The company has signed similar deals recently, including an $11.9 billion agreement with OpenAI last year, a $6.3 billion order with Nvidia in September, and a $21 billion deal with Meta on Thursday.
Anthropic also shared that its revenue has jumped to $30 billion per year, up from around $9 billion at the end of 2025. The company said more than 1,000 businesses now spend over $1 million each year on its services, double the 500 it reported in February. The company expects to reach positive cash flow by 2027.
Meanwhile, Anthropic has gained ground in business sales, as reported by Cryptopolitan previously. Its share of enterprise spending on artificial intelligence in the United States climbed to 40%, while OpenAI’s dropped from 50% to 27% during the same time. OpenAI has responded by focusing more on business customers and coding tools.
OpenAI has bigger plans for spending
OpenAI wants to put about $600 billion into chips and data centers through 2030, partly funded by a $122 billion fundraise. The company expects to lose $14 billion in 2026 and won’t break even until 2030.
Anthropic committed $50 billion to building computing infrastructure in the United States last November. The company runs its Claude models on different types of chips from Amazon, Google, and Nvidia, making it available on all three major cloud platforms.
The timing of OpenAI’s memo may raise questions as both companies prepare to go public. While OpenAI highlighted its larger infrastructure footprint, Anthropic is bringing in more money and spending far less to do it. Public market investors typically favor companies that can show a clear path to making a profit.
Anthropic projects it will reach that milestone by 2027, three years ahead of OpenAI’s 2030 target. The memo arrived just as Anthropic reported rapid growth in business customers, suggesting the competition between the two companies is heating up ahead of their stock market debuts.
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OpenAI sent investors a memo claiming it has 1.9 gigawatts of computing capacity versus Anthropic...
Two AI rivals are fighting over who has more computing muscle as they prepare to sell shares to the public. OpenAI told its investors this week that it has more data center capacity than Anthropic, while Anthropic fired back with news about major deals and fast-growing sales numbers.
OpenAI shared a document with investors saying it currently has 1.9 gigawatts of computing capacity for 2025, which is three times what it had last year. The company said Anthropic has 1.4 gigawatts. OpenAI expects to reach somewhere in the low-double-digit gigawatts within twelve months and hit 30 gigawatts by 2030. The company predicted Anthropic would max out between seven and eight gigawatts before 2027 ends.
OpenAI’s document, which CNBC wrote about, argued that bigger infrastructure spending creates a cycle where better technology leads to lower costs, which then pays for improvements that bring in more customers.
The company also pointed to comments from Anthropic’s chief executive Dario Amodei, who last year said some competitors were “YOLO-ing” while his company took a careful approach. OpenAI suggested that caution was a mistake.
Anthropic responded by pointing reporters to statements from its chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, about a deal announced with Google and Broadcom earlier this week. That partnership will give Anthropic roughly 3.5 gigawatts of computing power starting in 2027. Rao said the company is making its biggest computing commitment yet to keep up with growth.
CoreWeave agreement adds more capacity
On Friday, Anthropic announced another deal with CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure company, to get more computing capacity later this year. CoreWeave’s stock went up more than 5% before markets opened. The company has signed similar deals recently, including an $11.9 billion agreement with OpenAI last year, a $6.3 billion order with Nvidia in September, and a $21 billion deal with Meta on Thursday.
Anthropic also shared that its revenue has jumped to $30 billion per year, up from around $9 billion at the end of 2025. The company said more than 1,000 businesses now spend over $1 million each year on its services, double the 500 it reported in February. The company expects to reach positive cash flow by 2027.
Meanwhile, Anthropic has gained ground in business sales, as reported by Cryptopolitan previously. Its share of enterprise spending on artificial intelligence in the United States climbed to 40%, while OpenAI’s dropped from 50% to 27% during the same time. OpenAI has responded by focusing more on business customers and coding tools.
OpenAI has bigger plans for spending
OpenAI wants to put about $600 billion into chips and data centers through 2030, partly funded by a $122 billion fundraise. The company expects to lose $14 billion in 2026 and won’t break even until 2030.
Anthropic committed $50 billion to building computing infrastructure in the United States last November. The company runs its Claude models on different types of chips from Amazon, Google, and Nvidia, making it available on all three major cloud platforms.
The timing of OpenAI’s memo may raise questions as both companies prepare to go public. While OpenAI highlighted its larger infrastructure footprint, Anthropic is bringing in more money and spending far less to do it. Public market investors typically favor companies that can show a clear path to making a profit.
Anthropic projects it will reach that milestone by 2027, three years ahead of OpenAI’s 2030 target. The memo arrived just as Anthropic reported rapid growth in business customers, suggesting the competition between the two companies is heating up ahead of their stock market debuts.
Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank
OpenAI shared a document with investors saying it currently has 1.9 gigawatts of computing capacity for 2025, which is three times what it had last year. The company said Anthropic has 1.4 gigawatts. OpenAI expects to reach somewhere in the low-double-digit gigawatts within twelve months and hit 30 gigawatts by 2030. The company predicted Anthropic would max out between seven and eight gigawatts before 2027 ends.
OpenAI’s document, which CNBC wrote about, argued that bigger infrastructure spending creates a cycle where better technology leads to lower costs, which then pays for improvements that bring in more customers.
The company also pointed to comments from Anthropic’s chief executive Dario Amodei, who last year said some competitors were “YOLO-ing” while his company took a careful approach. OpenAI suggested that caution was a mistake.
Anthropic responded by pointing reporters to statements from its chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, about a deal announced with Google and Broadcom earlier this week. That partnership will give Anthropic roughly 3.5 gigawatts of computing power starting in 2027. Rao said the company is making its biggest computing commitment yet to keep up with growth.
CoreWeave agreement adds more capacity
On Friday, Anthropic announced another deal with CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure company, to get more computing capacity later this year. CoreWeave’s stock went up more than 5% before markets opened. The company has signed similar deals recently, including an $11.9 billion agreement with OpenAI last year, a $6.3 billion order with Nvidia in September, and a $21 billion deal with Meta on Thursday.
Anthropic also shared that its revenue has jumped to $30 billion per year, up from around $9 billion at the end of 2025. The company said more than 1,000 businesses now spend over $1 million each year on its services, double the 500 it reported in February. The company expects to reach positive cash flow by 2027.
Meanwhile, Anthropic has gained ground in business sales, as reported by Cryptopolitan previously. Its share of enterprise spending on artificial intelligence in the United States climbed to 40%, while OpenAI’s dropped from 50% to 27% during the same time. OpenAI has responded by focusing more on business customers and coding tools.
OpenAI has bigger plans for spending
OpenAI wants to put about $600 billion into chips and data centers through 2030, partly funded by a $122 billion fundraise. The company expects to lose $14 billion in 2026 and won’t break even until 2030.
Anthropic committed $50 billion to building computing infrastructure in the United States last November. The company runs its Claude models on different types of chips from Amazon, Google, and Nvidia, making it available on all three major cloud platforms.
The timing of OpenAI’s memo may raise questions as both companies prepare to go public. While OpenAI highlighted its larger infrastructure footprint, Anthropic is bringing in more money and spending far less to do it. Public market investors typically favor companies that can show a clear path to making a profit.
Anthropic projects it will reach that milestone by 2027, three years ahead of OpenAI’s 2030 target. The memo arrived just as Anthropic reported rapid growth in business customers, suggesting the competition between the two companies is heating up ahead of their stock market debuts.
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