Cryptopolitan

ASML raised its 2026 sales forecast on Wednesday after the Dutch chip equipment company beat first quarter estimates on both revenue and profit.

ASML said it now expects 2026 net sales of 36 billion euros to 40 billion euros, up from its earlier view of 34 billion euros to 39 billion euros. In the first quarter, ASML posted 8.8 billion euros in net sales, above the 8.5 billion euros expected by LSEG.

Net profit came in at 2.8 billion euros, ahead of the 2.5 billion euros analysts expected. ASML had earlier said first quarter sales would likely land between 8.2 billion euros and 8.9 billion euros.

ASML’s CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a press release, “The semiconductor industry’s growth outlook continues to solidify, driven by ongoing AI-related infrastructure investments.” He also said, “Demand for chips is outpacing supply. In response, our customers are accelerating their capacity expansion plans for 2026 and beyond, supported by long-term agreements with their customers.” ASML shares were flat in early trading in Europe. This was also the first quarter in which ASML did not publish order numbers, a figure investors usually watch closely.

Christophe said on Wednesday that the company’s order intake “continues to be very strong.” ASML is widely watched because it builds the machines used to make the most advanced semiconductors.

TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix push ASML demand higher

The chip market has maintained its high demand over the past year. The world’s largest chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which is also one of ASML’s biggest customers, reported record first quarter revenue last week as demand for AI chips stayed strong.

Memory is also still tight. A shortage of memory chips has pushed prices for that part of the market to very high levels. Those chips are critical for AI systems and data centers, so manufacturers are now preparing to add more output.

South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix are planning to raise production capacity, and that means more need for ASML machines.

Another signal came from Germany through chip systems maker Aixtron, raising its 2026 revenue guidance on Tuesday after stronger demand for optoelectronics equipment. The company now expects yearly revenue of about 560 million euros, plus or minus 30 million euros, when its earlier forecast was 520 million euros with the same margin on either side.

Aixtron’s CEO Felix Grawert said, “The significantly stronger-than-expected demand from the optoelectronics sector in the first quarter is a very encouraging development,” and added that the company expects that trend to continue.

Aixtron’s stock, already up by over 100% so far in 2026, surged by yet another 13% on Wednesday and led gains on Europe’s Stoxx 600. Analysts at J.P. Morgan pointed to strong quarterly orders tied to momentum in optoelectronics, which is used in products such as LEDs, lasers, and solar cells.

Meta and Broadcom extend their AI chip plans through 2029

The buildout is not stopping at foundries and memory makers. Meta and Broadcom said on Tuesday that they are extending their partnership on Meta’s custom in-house AI accelerators through 2029.

At the same time, Meta said Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan told the company last week that he will not stand for reelection to Meta’s board. Hock joined the board in 2024.

Meta said it has committed to an initial deployment of 1 gigawatt of its Training and Inference Accelerators, and the deal is expected to grow into multiple gigawatts of chips based on Broadcom technology. Broadcom said the MTIA chips will be the first AI silicon built on a 2-nanometer process.

In a statement, Mark Zuckerberg said, “Meta is partnering with Broadcom across chip design, packaging, and networking to build out the massive computing foundation we need to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.”

Broadcom shares rose 3% in extended trading after the news, while Meta stock was flat. On Broadcom’s March earnings call, Hock said, “Now, contrary to recent analyst reports, Meta’s custom accelerator, MTIA roadmap is alive and well. We’re shipping now and, in fact, for the next generation XPUs, we will scale to multiple gigawatts in 2027 and beyond.”

Meta unveiled four new versions of its MTIA chips in March. It first introduced the custom silicon in 2023, after similar efforts by Google and Amazon.

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Anthropic is being pulled in two directions. On one side, venture capital firms are circling the Claude maker with investment offers that value the company at as much as $800 billion, according to a Tuesday report from Business Insider.

That figure is more than double Anthropic’s current valuation. The company closed a funding round in February led by GIC and Coatue at a valuation of $380 billion. Last month, OpenAI closed a round at $852 billion.

Another signal is coming from secondary markets. On Caplight, where investors trade shares of private companies, Anthropic is valued at $688 billion, up 75% in three months. That jump tracks the company’s growth around Claude Code, its AI coding product.

Last week, Anthropic said its annualized revenue run rate had climbed to $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of last year. It also said more than 1,000 enterprise customers are now spending over $1 million a year, and that count has doubled in less than two months.

Venture firms push Anthropic toward an $800 billion price tag

The new valuation talk is hitting as Anthropic gets even more attention for a new model called Claude Mythos. The model came out last week and drew attention inside security circles because it can uncover serious software flaws that human researchers had not found.

Even with President Donald Trump’s ban on federal use of Anthropic technology, officials across Washington are still dealing with the company.

Staff from at least two large federal agencies recently contacted Anthropic about using Mythos in cyber defense work, according to a former senior U.S. technology official with direct knowledge of the talks.

The Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation is also actively testing Mythos, according to a Politico report that cites four people familiar with the matter.

Those people allegedly included one current cybersecurity official, one former cybersecurity official, a former Trump administration official, and a former senior national security official. The center evaluates U.S. and foreign AI models for risks and opportunities.

On Capitol Hill, staff on at least three congressional committees have either held or requested briefings from Anthropic over the past week to learn more about Mythos and its cyber scanning abilities, according to three congressional aides working on AI policy.

Federal agencies keep testing Anthropic despite Trump’s Pentagon ban

The clash started in late February, when Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology after CEO Dario Amodei opposed letting the Pentagon use its models for autonomous lethal attacks or mass surveillance against Americans. Last month, Hegseth formally labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk.

That move was unusual for a U.S. company and effectively blocks its AI models from use on Defense Department contracts. Even so, parts of the federal government appear to be moving around that order as interest in Mythos grows.

The same tension showed up on Wall Street. On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said AI tools may help defend companies someday, but right now, they are opening more weak spots. He said JPMorgan is testing Anthropic’s Mythos preview as part of the bank’s push to use AI without giving attackers an edge. “AI’s made it worse, it’s made it harder,” Jamie said on the bank’s earnings call. “It does create additional vulnerabilities, and maybe down the road, better ways to strengthen yourself too.”

Asked later about Mythos, Jamie pointed to Anthropic’s warning that the model had already found thousands of vulnerabilities in corporate software. “It shows a lot more vulnerabilities need to be fixed,” he said.

Jamie added that JPMorgan, the world’s largest bank by market value, spends heavily on cybersecurity, keeps top experts on staff, and stays in constant contact with government agencies. Still, he said, banks remain connected to exchanges and other outside systems that add more layers of risk.

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Kraken has taken its next big step toward Wall Street after confidentially filing for an IPO late last year, with the crypto exchange now targeting a public listing by Q3.

Back in April, an investment round valued Kraken at $13.3 billion, which was lower than its $20 billion high in late 2025.

On Tuesday at the Semafor World Economy event in Washington, DC, co-CEO Arjun Sethi said fears that AI will badly damage SaaS companies are too extreme, and he doesn’t agree with them.

Kraken opens up advanced trading tools for regular investors

Arjun said Kraken wants users to get access to the same kind of trading options that major institutions already use. He said, “What they want at the end of the day is what Citadel and Jane Street have, or JPMorgan has, and they want it accessible to them.”

He then added, “That’s our mission: How do we make all these products open? We want to be able to help enable what you want to do with your own capital.”

Meanwhile, Deutsche Börse AG agreed to invest $200 million in Payward Inc., the parent company of Kraken, by buying existing shares. The deal gives the German exchange operator a 1.5% fully diluted stake. It is expected to close in the second quarter, pending regulatory approval. The identity of the seller was not disclosed.

The transaction also put a new number on Kraken’s value. Based on Bloomberg calculations, the company is worth about $13.3 billion in this deal. That is below the $20 billion valuation tied to a November share sale, but it still places Kraken among the biggest companies in crypto as it works toward going public as soon as this year.

The Deutsche Börse investment followed a partnership the two companies announced in December. It also came as more old-school financial companies increased their bets on digital assets. Earlier this year, Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, invested about $200 million in crypto exchange OKX. That shows how major market operators are now putting real money into crypto platforms instead of treating the sector like a sideshow.

Thomas Book, a member of Deutsche Börse’s management board, said, “It’s a perfect partner for us to further accelerate on this path of creating a fully hybrid market infrastructure.” He also said, “Irrespective of what is now the form of an asset whether it’s tokenized or fully digital we want to create one integrated value chain.”

Kraken has direct access to Fedwire after cutting out partner banks

Back in March, Kraken received a limited purpose account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. That made it the first digital asset bank with direct access to the US central bank’s payment infrastructure. The account lets Kraken move money on rails that have usually been reserved for licensed banks.

That matters because crypto companies and fintech companies have usually needed partner banks for this kind of access. Those banking partners also tend to handle important compliance systems such as anti-money laundering monitoring. With this approval, Kraken can now settle directly on Fedwire without using an intermediary bank. The company said Kraken Financial will roll this out in phases, starting with support for institutional client activity.

The approval also landed during a broader fight. Crypto companies seeking access under US banking rules have faced pushback from lenders, which argue that crypto and fintech groups should not get direct entry to payment systems like Fedwire. That has turned into a bigger battle over who controls access to the core of the US payments system.

Kraken operates under a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution charter, also known as an SPDI, which was introduced in 2019 for the digital asset industry.

SPDIs are full-reserve banks that take deposits and can handle custody, asset servicing, and asset management.

In 2022, the Federal Reserve Board created a tiered framework for reviewing master account applications. Kraken Financial is listed as a Tier 3 applicant, which faces the strictest level of review.

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Quantum stocks have been rallying because traders just got a new reason to believe this sector may get useful faster than expected after Nvidia released a new open-source AI package built for quantum systems.

That news hit Asian markets first and in South Korea, Axgate and ICTK briefly surged enough to hit the daily 30% ceiling, according to data from TradingView.

In China, GuoChuang Software and QuantumCTek jumped more than 8%. In Japan, Fixstars also surged by like 8%.

What does Nvidia plan to do with its new AI model?

Nvidia’s new Ising model arrived late Tuesday in Asia, and by Wednesday the buying had spread across the region. The wider tech sector was already getting a lift because signs of revived peace talks between the US and Iran improved risk appetite.

That gave quantum names even more fuel. The same mood showed up in the United States. Shortly after 10 a.m., D-Wave Quantum was up 10.3%, IonQ had gained 13.3%, and Rigetti Computing had climbed 8.9%.

Nvidia said its new NVIDIA Ising family is built to help with quantum error correction and calibration. Those are two of the biggest headaches in the industry.

The company said the models can run the decoding step used in quantum error correction up to 2.5 times faster while delivering three times better accuracy. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s founder and chief executive, said, “AI is essential to making quantum computing practical.”

Jensen also said, “With Ising, AI becomes the control plane, the operating system of quantum machines, transforming fragile qubits to scalable and reliable quantum-GPU systems.”

The Ising family has two main parts. Ising Calibration is a vision-language model that automates continuous calibration. Nvidia said that cuts the process from days to hours.

Ising Decoding comes in two versions inside a 3D convolutional neural network setup. One version is tuned for speed. The other is tuned for accuracy. Nvidia also said the tools are already being used.

Ising Calibration has been adopted by Atom Computing, IonQ, IQM Quantum Computers, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Ising Decoding is being deployed by Cornell University, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of Chicago.

“Ising models run the world’s best quantum processor calibration and enable researchers to tackle much larger, more complex problems with quantum computers by delivering up to 2.5x faster performance and 3x higher accuracy for the decoding process needed for quantum error correction,” said Nvidia in its press release.

Investors are rushing into quantum market

Stratistics Market Research Consulting predicts that the global quantum computing market will grow from almost $1.7 billion to more than $11 billion by 2030.

According to Stratistics, “Quantum computers have the capability to solve difficult technical problems exponentially faster than classical computers, which raises issues about data encryption methods becoming obsolete. This could compromise sensitive information like personal data or classified government intelligence.”

Europe is expected to see the fastest advancement in quantum computing over the next decade or so due to rising patent activity and stronger efforts to turn research into business, per the report.

Théau Peronnin, founder of Alice & Bob, had earlier said:

“Physicists used to doubt it was possible to leverage the weird behaviour of particles in the quantum, but they don’t anymore. Now we know they work, and in a few years we will have reliable quantum computers that we can hook up to High Performance Computers (HPCs) in data centres to exponentially increase their computing power.”

Stratistics’ report named Accenture, Amazon Web Services, D-WaveSystem, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rigetti, and Zapata Computing as being on top of quantum advancements.

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A new report from Grayscale Investments suggests that a historic generational transfer of wealth could become one of the strongest long-term catalysts for cryptocurrency adoption and market expansion.

The firm estimates that roughly $110 trillion in assets, currently concentrated among older generations, will gradually shift to younger investors over the coming decades. By the end of last year, Baby Boomers alone controlled about $90 trillion in US wealth, with the total rising to around $110 trillion when combined with the Silent Generation.

As this capital changes hands, Grayscale expects a meaningful shift in investment preferences. Younger investors have consistently shown greater openness to digital assets, raising the likelihood that a portion of inherited wealth will flow into cryptocurrencies.

Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, a crypto-focused asset manager, contended, “We believe that the upcoming generational wealth transfer may have structural implications for crypto. As assets change hands, portfolios could shift to incorporate a higher share of crypto assets, creating a tailwind for valuations.”

Analysts say more younger generations are likely to invest in crypto

Younger heirs, unlike older generations, who mainly trust traditional platforms and assets, have much higher trust in crypto platforms. A Coinbase survey showed that 45% of Gen Z and Millennials hold crypto, compared with only 18% of Gen X and Baby Boomers. Of the 18%, 8% of Americans aged 50+ have ever interacted with crypto. That means, according to Grayscale, if only a modest 2% of wealth was transferred to younger investors, it could add about $2.2 trillion in demand for crypto assets. This generational divide in investment preferences could reshape capital allocation trends as wealth changes hands.

Such a scenario would not only support higher valuations but could also deepen liquidity, accelerate institutional participation, and strengthen crypto’s position within diversified investment portfolios.

Cerulli Associates and Merrill Lynch also estimate that nearly $124 trillion will change hands by 2048, including a $15 trillion boost for Gen Z, $46 trillion for millennials, and $39 trillion for Gen X. The $110 trillion figure from Grayscale fits into this estimate, and many more analysts believe the wealth shift could benefit crypto, as younger generations are far more inclined to invest in digital assets.

In another report, Grayscale noted that Bitcoin is increasingly behaving less like a safe haven and more like a high-risk growth asset. Pandl noted that Bitcoin’s fundamentals support its long-term value, but its recent market activity suggests it may not be reflecting that value at the moment.

Pandl suggested that not rising to that safe-haven expectation is more proof of its still-evolving nature than a symptom of any deficiency. He added that, since gold has been part of the financial system for more years than Bitcoin has, it would have been overly optimistic to expect the token to conquer gold so quickly.

Since 2024, Bitcoin has moved in near lockstep with software stocks, even as the existential AI threats trigger intense selling across the tech sector. In October 2025, the asset fell from its high above $126,000, a decline that began with a liquidation of holdings.

Grayscale’s Pandl says BTC may reach its potential in time

While Bitcoin hasn’t reached full monetary status yet, Pandl argued that the value gap is key to its investment appeal, suggesting it may achieve that role as AI, autonomous agents, and tokenization digitize the global economy.

Meanwhile, market maker Wintermute believes that for BTC to reclaim its momentum, it should earn a steady stream of ETF money or a “main street” retail push; otherwise, it will be stuck in the shadow of the booming tech sector. 

Grayscale also shared that overall crypto growth will be fueled by macroeconomic trends and the adoption of innovative public blockchain technologies. It detailed that, “Demand has been associated with factors such as modern macroeconomic imbalances, including high public sector debt.” 

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Pump.fun accelerated its Pumpcade arc after completing a $5m funding round. The PUMPCADE token reacted with a record rally, going vertical with a 100% gain in the past week. 

Pumpcade is Pump.fun’s bid on the prediction market, seeking new potential for liquidity and retail activity. Pumpcade is also reviving small-scale fundraising with its latest oversubscribed round for $5M. This time, the platform added support from Jump Crypto and Foundation Capital to expand its prediction market. 

We’re proud to announce that we have closed another oversubscribed funding round for $5M

We’re bringing on @jump_ for their expertise in revolutionary decentralized technology and are excited to have @foundationcap double down on fast paced instantly resolved markets

Pumpcade. pic.twitter.com/4bPWErU8NP

— PUMPCADE (@pumpcade) April 14, 2026

As a result, the project is valued at $44M, based on a $1M pre-seed round and the latest seed round, also backed by Pump.fun and angel investor radiosolace. Jump Crypto is the first Tier 2 VC fund to support the new project. For now, Pumpcade has not performed a public presale or IDO, instead relying on the token hype to boost value.

Following the latest token expansion, Pumpcade achieved a market cap of over $46M, with the potential to grow more with time. The relatively new token is just building up its mindshare, growing by over 1,000% in the past few days. 

Pumpcade aims to evolve prediction markets

Pumpcade appeared just as other first movers showed peak volumes. The new platform has taken note of the development of prediction markets and aims to avoid the most notable pitfalls of manipulated markets. 

Pumpcade aims for fast market resolution, removing the friction of complicated predictions. For that reason, the platform will grow the list of markets more slowly, for now not allowing prediction pairs about mentions or other resolutions that may require complex arbitrage. 

In order for @pumpcade to instantly resolve markets we MUST have guardrails

You can’t create a market on anything you want. We offer supported markets (that can grow infinitely over time) that you configure.

No markets that are very easily manipulated, such as mentions.

— Pop Punk (@PopPunkOnChain) April 11, 2026

The prediction market aims to create a more fun and distinctive app in comparison to the currently available platforms. For now, the actual app is in the testing stage, with open beta coming soon. 

The main goal for Pump.fun and Pumpcade is to transfer traders from ‘the trenches’ and make them use both platforms. Unlike Polymarket, Pumpcade will push toward fast resolutions, with 1-30 minutes for most prediction pairs. This fast pace mimics the meme token trenches and may prevent the inclusion of insiders or manipulating whales. 

To achieve those fast outcomes, Pumpcade will only allow pairs with verifiable data, which can resolve without conflict or unreliable oracle services. 

Pumpcade may also end up providing a reliable resolution engine for provable data, available through API. As a result, the platform may go beyond a prediction market and offer infrastructure to other prediction apps. 

Is PUMPCADE a reliable token? 

PUMPCADE is still mostly traded on PumpSwap and LBank, with no major listings or futures markets. The initial price discovery may be dependent on DEX liquidity, with the risk of early whales depressing the price. 

PUMPCADE started a vertical rally after the recent $5M seed round for the new prediction market. | Source: CoinGecko.

Despite the attention for PUMPCADE, the earlier PUMP token remained near its all-time lows, sinking slightly to $0.0018. The new token sparks interest because of its rapid climb. 

The token is held by early whales, but has over 118K owners, a significant distribution for an asset that launched just months ago.

PUMPCADE may get a boost based on the platform’s activity, especially if it does attract traders from the trenches. To date, Pump.fun has attempted retail distribution with appealing apps and easy access, becoming one of the most successful products on Solana. 

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A major global financial firm, Goldman Sachs, has submitted a Bitcoin-linked ETF proposal to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to generate yield while mitigating exposure to the digital asset’s volatility. This move was reported shortly after sources noted that Bitcoin’s price had surged above $74,000.

Nonetheless, Wall Street analysts have raised concerns about this rise, alleging that the recent surge is merely a short-term rally amid the current crypto downturn, given that the token is still trading approximately 40% below its October peak.

In the meantime, a preliminary prospectus dated April 14 noted that the proposed Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF aims to deliver current income and capital growth through a portfolio focused on spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) and related options, rather than direct BTC ownership.

Goldman Sachs seeks to remain competitive in the cryptocurrency market 

Regarding Goldman Sachs’s recent Bitcoin Income ETF proposal, sources with knowledge of the situation anonymously revealed that the fund’s strategy involves selling call options on Bitcoin-linked ETPs to generate income. This strategy can generate premium income; however, it might act as a barrier to potential gains during bullish trends.

At this time, a report stated that the actively managed fund will have an 80% minimum allocation to Bitcoin-related assets and may hold up to 25% of its investments through a Cayman Islands subsidiary, citing information from the filing.

Notably, the fund will actively manage its Bitcoin exposure (40%–100%) by selling call options to make substantial adjustments to the strategy based on market conditions. Moreover, it might distribute a significant portion of its returns as income or capital repayment.

Meanwhile, the fund aims to achieve exposure through a combination of spot Bitcoin ETPs and derivatives, combining direct ownership with options strategies. Several analysts shared their views regarding this approach. According to them, the strategy is suitable for stable or moderately surging markets but vulnerable to underperformance during periods of high growth due to its limited upside potential.

While debates regarding Goldman Sachs’s proposal continued to heat up, ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared a post on X. In the post, Balchunas characterized this product as “Boomer Candy,” elaborating that it would attract income-focused investors who prefer lower volatility to high-upside risk.

In another update, David Solomon, the Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, notified analysts about its recent completion of the Innovator Capital Management purchase. Innovator Capital Management is a leading, pioneering ETF sponsor recognized for creating defined outcome exchange-traded funds. 

Regarding this move, Solomon noted that the addition of Innovator’s 170 ETFs secures Goldman a spot among the top 10 global active ETF providers during the first-quarter earnings call.

At this point, sources stressed that Goldman Sachs already holds a significant position in spot BTC ETFs, with filings revealing over $1 billion invested across various funds, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund. 

Therefore, by establishing its own Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, Goldman could transition from merely acting as a custodian for third-party products to offering clients their own specialized, income-generating Bitcoin investment.

Uncertainties surrounding Bitcoin’s fate spark concerns among individuals 

Regarding Bitcoin’s recent price surge, analysts noted that the rise was driven by derivative traders closing out short positions rather than genuine underlying demand.

To break this statement down for better understanding, they elaborated that this situation implies that traders betting on falling prices were forced to cover their positions, temporarily driving up Bitcoin’s price. On the other hand, spot trading volumes on cryptocurrency exchanges remain at multi-year lows.

At this point, Ed Engel from Compass Point stated, “This situation indicates weak underlying demand and makes us cautious about BTC prices in the near future.” Notably, BTC’s price has traded between $64,000 and $74,000 over the past two months. 

Responding to this finding, Engel mentioned that, “This trading range is similar to past crypto downturns, and we find it hard to see BTC surpassing $78k without a major event.” Following his statement, sources noted that the analyst sees a high probability of a return to the $54,000-$78,000 range. 

At this moment, Sean Farrell, the Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, also considered the upward trend temporary but maintained a bullish outlook for further gains, shortly after digital asset firm Strategy raised over $1 billion to purchase Bitcoin last week.

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The leading prediction market, Polymarket, continues to declare its stance on insider trading, taking action against startups and builders that are suspected of directing volume to its platform based on copytrading of suspected insider information. 

Both leaders in the booming prediction market sector, Polymarket and Kalshi, are expected to continue to attack insider trading, as both platforms recognize how high the stakes have become. 

No more insider trading debate on Polymarket 

Does insider trading make markets better reflect real-life odds? 

Polymarket’s recent moves are signaling its stance on the matter. The platform has reportedly updated its market integrity rules to eliminate insider trading and market manipulation, not just on its DeFi end, but also on its exchange.  

The new terms make it a violation of trust to trade on confidential information, especially those that violate a duty of trust. That means no tipping off friends with non-public info and not allowing elected officials or government insiders to bet on events they are capable of influencing. 

Any found in violation will face wallet bans, be referred to law enforcement, fines, suspensions, or even outright termination. Neal Kumar, Polymarket’s CLO, said while discussing the matter: “Markets thrive on clarity. These enhancements make expectations abundantly clear for every participant.” 

Why Polymarket is drawing a bright red line now

The timing of all these announcements raises eyebrows as Polymarket has drawn unwanted attention because it, and even Kalshi at some point, faced criticism due to suspiciously timed trades. 

For example, at the beginning of the year, somebody spent $32,000 on Polymarket betting on Venezuela’s Maduro getting ousted just hours before US forces moved. They walked away with over $400,000 in the process. Such acute maneuvering was enough to make people suspect insider trading. 

There is also heat coming from Capitol Hill regarding the topic. Congressman Ritchie Torres is sponsoring the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, and it already has over 40 Democratic co-sponsors with the aim of making it illegal to trade based on material non-public government information. 

Polymarket is not only drawing a line, but it is also switching from passivity on the topic to aggressive enforcement. It is cracking down as well on startups and builders that have been leveraging its liquidity and data to promote copytrading based on suspected insider edge. 

The stakes are at their highest after Kalshi’s Masters masterclass 

While Polymarket was busy rewriting its playbook, its rival Kalshi was busy showing off new achievements that make it easy to understand why every platform is suddenly trying to stay on the good side of regulation. 

On Tuesday, Kalshi took to X with a tweet boasting about its “Masters crushing records.” The post came attached with an image that really put the feat into perspective.

It revealed there had been half a billion dollars in trading volume on the prestigious golf tournament hosted every year in Augusta, Gerogia across player props, winner markets and side bets. It attracted all manner of degens from retail players to hedge fund junkies, making the weekend an unforgettable one of speculation. 

It is not Kalshi’s first time posting such gains. Its Super Bowl volume was already nothing to sneeze at, but this Masters aachievements ends a clear message; prediction markets are here to stay.

They now command more attention and political clout, contributing to heightened scrutiny, especially regarding things like insider trading. 

Kalshi has always tried to tow the line of integrity; it is famous for suspending a MrBeast video editor for trading on non-public information, fining and banning a California gubernatorial candidate for betting on his own race. It even refused to pay out a market linked to the demise of Iran’s Supreme Leader, choosing instead to return fees and settle at the last traded price. 

Now that Polymarket is also on board with the effort, insider trading is sure to reduce, or so the experts theorize. 

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What started on February 28 as a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran has already burned through billions of dollars in American taxpayer money, and the meter is still running.

If you trust the Trump administration, the official number from them for the first six days came in at $11.3 billion. But a Harvard Kennedy School analysis says the real cost is already much higher and is inching towards $1 trillion, leaving America’s taxpayers to carry the burden.

A temporary ceasefire announced on April 8 is still holding by a thread, but there is no lasting settlement, as Cryptopolitan previously reported that weekend peace talks with JD Vance, Jared Kushner, and Iranian counterparts failed.

Harvard proves that the real war cost is much higher than the Trump administration is saying

Linda Bilmes, a public policy professor at Harvard, said in an internal interview, “I am certain we will reach $1 trillion for the Iran war.” Her research was published two days before the ceasefire announcement on April 8. She said this operation could leave serious damage to the U.S. national debt for years, not just during the shooting.

Linda put the short-term cost at about $2 billion a day over 40 days of live conflict, an estimate she says covers munitions, troop activity, and damage to military assets. One of the examples she cited was the loss of three F-15 fighter jets after friendly fire from Kuwait, because replacing aircraft, weapons, and other equipment now costs far more than older accounting values suggest.

Linda argued that the military often counts equipment using historical inventory values instead of the price needed to replace that same gear today, calling the official numbers wrong and

That matters for America because the war bill does not stop with the first week of combat. It keeps building through replacement spending, future debt service, and the long tail that follows any major military campaign.

Ken Griffin and the IMF agree that a global recession is coming

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said the global economy could slide toward recession if the U.S.-Israel war with Iran drags on and energy prices stay high. In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF laid out a worst-case scenario in which oil, gas, and food prices jump and remain high this year and next, with global growth falling below 2% in 2026.

The IMF said, “This would mean a close call for a global recession, which has happened only four times since 1980,” with the latest one coming during the COVID pandemic.

The fund also said, “Once again, the global economy is threatened with being thrown off course, this time by the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the end of February 2026.” In the worst-case scenario, the IMF said oil could average $110 a barrel this year and reach $125 in 2027. It also said inflation could rise to 6% next year, a level that could force central banks to raise interest rates again.

Kenny Griffin, CEO of Citadel, gave a similar warning on Tuesday at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, D.C. Griffin said, “Let’s assume [the strait is] shut down for the next six to 12 months, the world’s going to end up in a recession. There’s no way to avoid that.”

He added that the shock would push more countries toward wind, solar, and nuclear power. He also said the damage could have been worse if the United States had waited longer and allowed Iran’s military capacity to grow further.

Kenny also believes that:- “The moral standard for what has happened in Iran over the course of the last 50 days … we did not position this issue with the world through the right talking points, nor did we bring our allies on board with us. And I think that was a mistake.”

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s chief economist, also predicts that a long conflict would drive up inflation, raise unemployment, and deepen food insecurity in some countries. Gourinchas said that even if the war ended now, the oil supply hit would still be as serious as the 1970s oil crisis, when Arab oil producers embargoed the U.S. and other countries backing Israel during the Yom Kippur war.

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CoW Swap reported frontend problems and a DNS hijacking. The protocol called all traders to revoke permissions and avoid losing assets from connected wallets. 

CoW Swap, one of the leading DEX trading routing protocols, reported frontend problems. Later, the issue turned out to be a malicious DNS hijacking, allowing bad actors to exploit trader wallets. 

The protocol team discovered a DNS hijacking from 14:54 UTC, with the attack lasting over 90 minutes. The backend and APIs were not affected, but the entire routing app was paused. 

CoW Swap advised all traders to stop using the main site until further notice. 

🚨🚨

UPDATE: CoW Swap experienced a DNS hijacking at 14:54 UTC (approximately 90 minutes ago).

The CoW Protocol backend and APIs were not impacted, but we have paused them temporarily as a precaution.

We are now actively working to resolve the situation. Please continue to…

— CoW DAO (@CoWSwap) April 14, 2026

DNS hijacking is extremely risky for Web3, as the attack can go unnoticed and drain connected wallets. The CoW Swap frontend is one of the trusted links to DEX trading, which could steal funds even without a backend exploit. 

Within three hours of the attack, the compromised site led to $1M in stolen funds. One of the flagged addresses managed to intercept 219 ETH from a trader’s wallet. The exact size of the exploit depends on how many more wallets interact with the protocol, and if permission has exposed a whale wallet.

How does a DNS attack affect CoW Swap users? 

The CoW Swap official address was compromised at the domain level, affecting anyone who used the site as an entry point. 

Swap.cow dot fi could be redirecting users to a malicious site, which can then be used to extract wallet credentials, permissions, or even seed phrases from users. The site could have been compromised at a deeper level, allowing it to redirect traffic to a malicious web server. 

Users still see the official address, which looks legitimate. The Cow Swap contracts are not affected, and the APIs are still usable in theory, but the protocol team warned against using the app until it is deemed safe. 

For recent interactions, the best action is to revoke all permissions made through the site, using services like Revoke Cash. Traders can use the service to check the list of wallet permissions and disconnect all unknown connections or CoW Protocol permissions. 

Cow Protocol attack reveals another Web3 weakness

Cow Swap has been one of the main hubs for Web3 trading. The router handled around $3.8B in volumes for March and around $1.22B in April to date. Weekly volumes have established a baseline of around $700M. 

The protocol is the most active router for the best DEX pricing, used widely on EVM-compatible chains. Cow Protocol is active on Ethereum, Gnosis, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Avalanche, and Lens Network. In recent months, CoW Protocol has been more widely used for BNB Chain trading. 

CoW Protocol emerged as the leading DEX aggregator, after a recent growth of activity on BNB Chain. | Source: Dune Analytics

The recent DNS attack follows a series of Web3 attempts, often resulting in significant losses. The case gained additional attention after the recent Drift Protocol hack. Web3 attacks are becoming more common, leaving analysts to suspect the involvement of AI in monitoring weaknesses.

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Stablecoin tax treatment in the U.S. is at the center of a new legislative push to exempt qualifying daily transactions involving regulated payment stablecoins from tax.

The latest version of the PARITY Act would stop gain or loss recognition on certain stablecoin sales unless a taxpayer’s basis falls below 99% of the token’s redemption value, marking a direct attempt to treat routine stablecoin spending more like cash payments. The proposal also revises rules on staking rewards and digital asset wash sales, while lawmakers in Washington continue to debate broader crypto legislation.

Stablecoin payments provision removes small transaction tax burden

The bill is grounded on the past discussion drafts issued in December 2025 and on March 26, 2026. The earlier proposal recommended a $200 limit on payments made with regulated payment stablecoins, as in the de minimis section.

That structure was altered in the March 2026 draft. Instead of using a de minimis criterion, the text states that no gain or loss would be recognized on the sale of a regulated payment stablecoin unless the taxpayer’s basis in that stablecoin is less than 99% of its redemption value.

Another standard eliminated by the draft was the previous $200 standard. In addition, it created a deemed basis of $1 for exchanges, which the text treats separately from the stablecoin’s sales. That development solves one of the long-term problems of crypto users. The current tax treatment states that any payment made using USDC or USDT can result in a taxable event, even when the change in value is minimal.

Meanwhile, the bill creates a distinction between passive staking and other activities, such as trading. It would also enable taxpayers to decide when to record staking rewards, upon receipt or after a deferral period of not more than 5 years, as indicated in the material. To qualify under the proposed stablecoin treatment, the asset must be regulated under the GENIUS Act and remain within 1% of its $1 peg.

Stablecoin debate comes alongside ongoing crypto policy pressure

The tax proposal comes following pressure on other digital asset legislation, including the CLARITY Act. Senator Cynthia Lummis recently pointed out that the bill could remain stalled until 2030 if the Senate fails to act before the 2026 election cycle.

At the same time, as reported by Cryptopolitan, the Trump White House has pushed back on concerns over stablecoin yield provisions. A Council of Economic Advisors report dated April 8 said the effect on bank lending would be limited, estimating a 0.02% increase, or about $2.1 billion.

The same report said community banks would face about $500 million in additional obligations, equal to a 0.026% increase over current lending activity. It concluded that banning yield would provide little protection for bank lending while giving up consumer benefits tied to competitive returns on stablecoin holdings.

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A Las Vegas online casino company has struck a deal with Crypto.com to offer prediction market contracts in the U.S., entering what could become a trillion-dollar industry.

High Roller Technologies (NYSE: ROLR) is the company behind the High Roller and Fruta casino brands. It has signed an agreement with Crypto.com’s derivatives arm, known as CDNA. U.S. customers will be able to trade event-based contracts across finance, sports, and entertainment.

It’s the company’s first move into prediction markets, a space that’s been attracting serious money. Analysts have floated projections of $1 trillion or more in annual U.S. trading volume if the market matures, with global figures potentially higher.

Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek cited High Roller’s existing platform as the draw. “Together, we believe we can expand access to regulated event contracts in the United States through a differentiated and highly scalable offering,” he said. High Roller CEO Seth Young said the company has spent months preparing for the launch.

Partnership creates new revenue channels

The arrangement designates Crypto.com and its affiliates as prediction contract suppliers across High Roller’s U.S. distribution network. High Roller (NYSE: ROLR) plans to operate through the structure, which is expected to generate additional revenue streams for the company.

CDNA is already registered with the CFTC as both a designated contract market and a derivatives clearing organization. High Roller plans to register as a CFTC Introducing Broker and connect with Crypto.com’s CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant.

Rivals attracting billions in investment

The news comes during a frenzy of investment in the prediction market space. Rival platform Kalshi just hit a $22 billion valuation after raising roughly $1 billion, led by Coatue Management, double its December valuation, which drew backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Ark Invest, and Paradigm.

The company’s rise accelerated after winning a court fight with the CFTC in May 2025 that cleared it to offer election contracts, taking it from $2 billion to $22 billion in under a year.

Polymarket closed a $1.6 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE’s parent company, fulfilling a commitment ICE first made in October 2025 when it valued Polymarket at $9 billion. ICE also plans to buy up to $40 million in Polymarket securities from existing holders.

The initial ICE commitment reached as high as $2 billion, with $1 billion deployed upfront. The additional $600 million brings ICE’s total obligation to completion.

High Roller (NYSE: ROLR) raised about $25 million in January through a direct share offering, selling roughly 1.9 million shares at $13.21 apiece. The placement, handled by ThinkEquity, closed on January 21. Proceeds are going toward marketing, expansion, product development, and operations.

On April 1, the NYSE American confirmed the company had resolved a prior stockholders’ equity deficiency, having demonstrated compliance for two consecutive quarters. The compliance indicator on its ticker was removed that morning. The company remains under standard listing oversight going forward.

High Roller’s platform hosts more than 6,000 games from over 90 providers.

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If the war in Iran drags on, this will have a “serious impact” on the economy, especially in Europe, according to the head of a major regional development bank.

The warning comes amid preparations to ease state aid rules in the EU as a measure to help members deal with the energy crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

EBRD chief expects economic shock if the war continues

The military clash in the Persian Gulf is surely going to curb growth and push inflation up, but the economic consequences of a prolonged war will be even “more serious.”

That’s according to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Odile Renaud-Basso, who commented on the matter for Euronews.

She also warned about a “much more serious economic impact” on the European Union, in case the U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran drags on or escalates.

Her statements came after negotiations over the weekend between U.S. and Iranian officials failed to produce an agreement to end it.

Another round of talks may still take place before the two-week ceasefire expires on April 21, according to multiple media reports.

If these collapse, too, Renaud-Basso expects “wider and more significant” economic repercussions in the countries where the EBRD operates.

Founded in the early 1990’s to back the transition of former Eastern Bloc nations to a market economy, the bank now provides support in over 30 countries on three continents, including Asia and Africa.

The observed economic impacts are “directly related” to the surging energy rates, its head also told the European broadcaster.

The conflict, which started at the end of February, effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which accounted for about 20% of global oil and gas shipments.

Halted supplies through the waterway and strikes on energy infrastructure in Iran and the region sent fuel prices soaring in the following weeks, prompting states to intervene through subsidies and taxes.

$100 per barrel of oil to bump inflation by 1.5%

The EBRD estimates that if oil hovers around $100 per barrel, growth will shrink by 0.4% and inflation will rise by 1.5% in the countries where it’s active. Renaud-Basso elaborated:

“If the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked for a very long period of time, if there is more destruction of production capacities in the Gulf … then the economic impact is likely to be much more serious.”

Speaking for the Europe Today program on Monday, she also highlighted that the challenge for the EU will be even bigger as governments in the bloc are “much more limited” in fiscal terms.

That prevents them from taking measures to “counterweigh increases in energy prices” resulting from the Iran crisis, as they did during the COVID pandemic in 2019 or in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

The EBRD wants to allocate €5 billion for investments in nations from the region most affected by the conflict, from Egypt to Armenia, and is ready to support all other economies where it’s present.

EU to ease state aid rules amid rising energy costs

Meanwhile, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed that the EU will propose easing state aid rules by the end of the month.

She made the announcement on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat on Sunday to block the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of the negotiations with Iran.

Brussels’ move is part of a series of measures meant to help member states deal with the energy crisis sparked by the Gulf war, Politico’s European edition noted in a report.

The European Union’s energy bill has increased by €22 billion since the beginning of the war, von der Leyen also remarked in her statement.

Filling up gas storage facilities and adopting temporary tax cuts and demand measures are included in a special toolkit to be presented next week.

The bloc also intends to upgrade and expand its electricity network as a long-term solution to reduce dependence on expensive fossil fuel imports.

The plan also includes amending electricity taxes and grid charges, as well as updating the Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) as another response to the Iran war.

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Russia is reportedly heading for another gigantic oil tax payday in April as the Middle Eastern war Trump and Israel started drives crude prices higher globally and pulls more demand toward Russian barrels.

In the first 13 days of April, it averaged $106.30 a barrel, a 42% jump from March, based on Argus Media data used by Moscow to calculate oil taxes.

Now, of course, the main trigger is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has slowed Middle East energy flows, shaken markets, and forced refiners to look elsewhere. Russia has been one of the financial winners from that scramble.

The supply shock has shifted trade flows and raised the value of available barrels. That has sent Urals (the export blend sold from Russia’s western ports) far above the level built into the budget. For Moscow, that means a stronger tax base as spending climbs.

Russia’s 2026 budget was built on $59 a barrel for Urals, and President Vladimir Putin had already raised spending last month; this surge gives it more room. If the average price seen so far in April holds, and if the exchange rate stays near current levels, Urals could hit about 8,300 rubles. That would be the highest monthly level since March 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Talks cool futures prices while the IEA warns demand and supply are taking hits

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. and Iran could meet for another round of peace talks after negotiations failed last weekend.

In a Fox News interview, JD said, “Whether we have further conversations, whether we ultimately get to a deal, I really think the ball is in the Iranian court, because we put a lot on the table.” After that, U.S. crude futures for May delivery were down 6% at $93.07 a barrel as of press time, while Brent for June delivery was down nearly 4% at $95.58.

The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that the oil shock tied to the Iran war will hit demand this year as consumers react to higher fuel costs.

It now expects demand to contract by 1.5 million barrels per day in the second quarter, the biggest drop since the Covid-19 pandemic. For the full year, the agency expects demand to fall by 80,000 barrels per day. That is a sharp swing from its earlier forecast for 640,000 barrels per day of growth.

The agency also said global observed oil inventories fell by 85 million barrels in March. Stocks outside the Middle East Gulf dropped by 205 million barrels, or 6.6 million barrels per day, as flows through the Strait of Hormuz were choked off.

Floating storage of crude and oil products in the Middle East rose by 100 million barrels. Onshore crude stocks in the region rose by 20 million barrels. China added 40 million barrels of crude to storage.

The IEA said oil posted its biggest monthly gain ever in March, spot crude and differentials rose faster than futures, and North Sea Dated traded near $130 a barrel, about $60 above pre-conflict levels. It also said Russia may struggle to raise production above early first-quarter levels because of damage to port and energy infrastructure.

The agency added, “We recognize that this scenario could prove too optimistic,” and warned that a longer conflict could bring disruption in the months ahead.

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Video game maker Rockstar Games faced another security breach this week, marking the second major incident the company has faced since 2022. The hacker collective ShinyHunters set a Monday deadline for payment negotiations after breaking into company files through an outside vendor’s systems.

“This is a final warning to reach out by 14 Apr 2026 before we leak, along with several annoying (digital) problems that’ll come your way,” the hackers wrote. “Make the right decision, don’t be the next headline.”

ShinyHunters compromised servers run by Anodot, a business monitoring software company, affecting at least a dozen companies when the breach started on April 4. The hackers stole authentication tokens that let them access customer data from cloud storage systems.

Rockstar downplayed the severity

“We can confirm that a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed in connection with a third-party data breach,” a company representative said, adding the incident has no impact on the organization or players. The studio confirmed it would not pay the ransom.

Take-Two Interactive, which owns Rockstar, saw its shares fall more than 6% during pre-market trading before recovering. Files later surfaced on the dark web, mostly containing user spending patterns rather than game details.

ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Microsoft, Cisco, and Ticketmaster. Security researchers link the group to the Com, a network of English-speaking hackers aged 16 to 25.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise ranks among the most successful video game series ever created. Developed at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Grand Theft Auto V and its online component have brought in more than $8 billion since launching in 2013.

Second major breach since 2022

In 2022, teenage hacker Arion Kurtaj posted 90 minutes of early Grand Theft Auto VI footage after breaking into Rockstar’s internal Slack system. Kurtaj, part of the Lapsus$ hacking group, received an indefinite hospital order in 2023. Rockstar spent $5 million and thousands of employee hours recovering.

Rockstar recently fired more than 30 workers in the United Kingdom and internationally, claiming they shared confidential information publicly. As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, terminated employees said they were being punished for union organizing efforts.

Grand Theft Auto VI carries enormous stakes, with development costs estimated at nearly $2 billion after nearly 10 years of work. Originally scheduled for autumn 2025, the game launches November 19 this year.

Take-Two delivered strong results in early February, with net bookings climbing 28% to $1.76 billion in the fiscal third quarter. The company raised its fiscal 2026 guidance to between $6.65 billion and $6.7 billion. Recurring consumer spending grew 23% and made up 76% of net bookings.

Company leadership projects record net bookings for fiscal 2027 with the Grand Theft Auto VI release. The next earnings report is scheduled for May 15, 2026.

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Scott Bessent said the Federal Reserve does not need to hurry into rate cuts, even if lower rates may still come later.

Speaking Monday at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC, the US Treasury Secretary said the war in Iran has added too much uncertainty for the central bank to act fast. Bessent said, “Do I think rates should be lowered? Eventually. I think now that we have to wait and see.”

Scott said the economy looked strong before the shock hit. He said, “But I think as we went into January [and] came out of January and February, the economy was very strong.” That came as Donald Trump kept pushing the Fed to cut borrowing costs. Bessent said the Fed is “doing the right thing by sitting and watching” while the Iran conflict unfolds.

Scott says the Fed should sit tight while oil drives faster inflation

Scott said he does not think the jump in prices will stick in people’s minds. New government data released Friday showed inflation in March rose three times faster than it did in February, helped by higher oil and gas costs.

Inflation excluding food and energy rose less than forecasters expected. He said, “If ever there was ‘Team Transitory,’ it’s this.” He said, “I don’t believe this is going to get embedded into inflation expectations.”

Asked if the war in Iran will be good or bad for the US economy, Scott did not give a verdict. He said, “I think we will look back and say, I don’t know the number of days, whether it’s 50 or 100 or more, for 50 years of stability.”

In February, Scott said he thought the economy could grow more than 4% this year. Asked if he still believed that, he answered, “Obviously, we’re going to have some make-up to do.”

Scott defends Kevin Warsh as wealth filings and Senate politics slow the process

Scott spoke about Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair. Bessent said, “My criterion is who has an open mind.” He said, “With the Fed, you expect a monetary policy board, but you never think there’s this sprawling organization up there.”

Scott added that Kevin plans to review how the reserve banks work. He said, “He’s going to do a serious look at how the reserve banks interact. I think the reserve banks [are] a management disaster, because something like 50% of the people in each reserve bank do not report to the president.”

On Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who opposes Kevin over the Trump administration’s investigation into Powell, Scott said, “We’ll have to see what Senator Tillis needs to do.”

Financial disclosure forms show Kevin is much richer than recent Fed chairs. His filings list holdings of about $131 million to $209 million, plus hundreds of millions more in assets held by his wife, Jane Lauder. Powell’s filing for 2025 showed wealth between $19 million and $75 million.

Kevin also reported $10 million in income from advising investor Stanley Druckenmiller, a role he has jokingly called his “day job.” He made about $3 million more from Stanford University, where he is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and several Wall Street firms.

The filings list roughly 1,800 assets. Many are only partly described because of “pre-existing confidentiality obligations,” which kept him from naming the holdings. Kevin said he would divest those assets if confirmed.

Earlier in his career, Kevin served as a Fed governor under Ben Bernanke. When Bernanke left in 2014, his filings showed assets of no more than $2.3 million, mostly in retirement funds. Kevin’s paperwork puts him one step closer to a Senate hearing after a plan for this week was delayed by a paperwork holdup.

The earliest hearing is next week. Tillis, who also sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has said he will block final approval until the federal criminal probe into Powell is resolved, so a full Senate vote is still unclear.

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In New York, the founder of Believe is facing serious legal trouble over an alleged rug-pulling scheme, while federal authorities are opening a compensation process for victims of the OneCoin scam.

The Southern District of New York is reviewing both cases, but it is currently unknown if victims in the Pasternak case will receive compensation.

Believe founder facing charges over alleged rug pull

The founder of the Solana-based platform Believe, Ben Pasternak, a 26-year-old Australian entrepreneur who was once on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for his plant-based chicken company, is now facing an indictment in a New York court for an alleged “rug pull.”

A rug pull is a popular crypto scam that occurs when developers hype a new token to attract investors, inflate its price, and then suddenly pull the metaphorical rug out from under users’ feet, abandoning the project or draining funds, leaving investors with worthless cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors and civil lawsuits allege that Pasternak’s platform, Believe, previously called Clout, engaged in a deceptive cycle of rug pulling.

Pasternak launched a token called $PASTERNAK, which was later rebranded as $LAUNCHCOIN, with heavy promotion. The token’s value spiked rapidly, attracting retail investors only to suffer a “catastrophic decline.”

Investors were allegedly told to hold onto their losing tokens and then told to migrate to a new token called $BELIEVE.

The civil complaint claims that the platform processed over $6 billion in trades and extracted roughly $54 million in fees while investors suffered massive losses. The case is currently under review in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Cryptopolitan has covered the district’s prosecutors’ mean streak in aggressively pursuing convictions in crypto-related cases, including the extensively chronicled Tornado Cash trial.

DOJ’s compensation program for OneCoin fraud victims

While many crypto investigations end with criminals being convicted, the victims are often left empty-handed. However, in a recent case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that more than $40 million in forfeited assets are now available for victim compensation.

Through the Asset Forfeiture Program, the DOJ has returned more than $12.5 billion to victims. The program is led by the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section (MNF).

The money was recovered from the creators of OneCoin, a fraudulent cryptocurrency marketed as a “Bitcoin killer” that operated out of Sofia, Bulgaria, between 2014 and 2019. The scheme defrauded an estimated 3.5 million people out of over $4 billion.

Victims who purchased the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency during the scheme’s active years may be eligible for a refund. However, the deadline to file a petition for compensation is June 30, 2026.

The case against OneCoin remains active in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which is a federal court known for its aggressive pursuit of financial fraud. The company’s co-founder, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other co-founder, Ruja Ignatova, known as the Cryptoqueen, remains on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list.

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In New York, the founder of Believe is facing serious legal trouble over an alleged rug-pulling scheme, while federal authorities are opening a compensation process for victims of the OneCoin scam.

The Southern District of New York is reviewing both cases, but it is currently unknown if victims in the Pasternak case will receive compensation.

Believe founder facing charges over alleged rug pull

The founder of the Solana-based platform Believe, Ben Pasternak, a 26-year-old Australian entrepreneur who was once on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for his plant-based chicken company, is now facing an indictment in a New York court for an alleged “rug pull.”

A rug pull is a popular crypto scam that occurs when developers hype a new token to attract investors, inflate its price, and then suddenly pull the metaphorical rug out from under users’ feet, abandoning the project or draining funds, leaving investors with worthless cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors and civil lawsuits allege that Pasternak’s platform, Believe, previously called Clout, engaged in a deceptive cycle of rug pulling.

Pasternak launched a token called $PASTERNAK, which was later rebranded as $LAUNCHCOIN, with heavy promotion. The token’s value spiked rapidly, attracting retail investors only to suffer a “catastrophic decline.”

Investors were allegedly told to hold onto their losing tokens and then told to migrate to a new token called $BELIEVE.

The civil complaint claims that the platform processed over $6 billion in trades and extracted roughly $54 million in fees while investors suffered massive losses. The case is currently under review in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Cryptopolitan has covered the district’s prosecutors’ mean streak in aggressively pursuing convictions in crypto-related cases, including the extensively chronicled Tornado Cash trial.

DOJ’s compensation program for OneCoin fraud victims

While many crypto investigations end with criminals being convicted, the victims are often left empty-handed. However, in a recent case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that more than $40 million in forfeited assets are now available for victim compensation.

Through the Asset Forfeiture Program, the DOJ has returned more than $12.5 billion to victims. The program is led by the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section (MNF).

The money was recovered from the creators of OneCoin, a fraudulent cryptocurrency marketed as a “Bitcoin killer” that operated out of Sofia, Bulgaria, between 2014 and 2019. The scheme defrauded an estimated 3.5 million people out of over $4 billion.

Victims who purchased the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency during the scheme’s active years may be eligible for a refund. However, the deadline to file a petition for compensation is June 30, 2026.

The case against OneCoin remains active in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which is a federal court known for its aggressive pursuit of financial fraud. The company’s co-founder, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other co-founder, Ruja Ignatova, known as the Cryptoqueen, remains on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list.

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Tether, Inc. announced the launch of its native multi-asset wallet. Tether.wallet will carry multi-chain USDT, as well as BTC and tokenized gold. 

Tether announced the launch of its native Tether.wallet, a self-custodial app to bring USDT even closer to end users. While USDT is supported by most major wallets, a self-custodial native tool may be well-suited for users relying on Tether for remittances. 

570 million people trust Tether. Now, we’re putting that global infrastructure directly into your hands. 🌐 Meet Tether Wallet: the fully self-custodial app designed for everyday life.

▪️Universal: 💸 USD₮, USA₮, XAU₮, & Bitcoin (On-chain + Lightning⚡).

▪️Simple: Send to… pic.twitter.com/TfeWRT0VOl

— tether wallet (@tetherwallet) April 14, 2026

Tether estimates its stablecoin is used by around 570M users globally, with adoption increasing across both emerging and developed markets. Tens of millions of new wallets are added each quarter. To compare, MetaMask retains around 100M users. 

Tether introduces wallet to deepen global adoption

The new app has the potential to become one of the leading wallets, acting as a direct hub for the multi-chain version of USDT.

Despite its influence, USDT operated without a native payment app, serving only through third-party services for the digital economy, including DEXes, centralized trading, liquidity pools, and lending. 

The stablecoin is used in over 160 national markets. The multi-chain USDT version is the most widely used asset for global dollarization, and has organically created one of the densest and far-reaching money networks. 

The wallet completes the growing open financial system with a product designed for everyday use. The wallet will carry the most essential assets, USDT, USAT, tokenized gold XAUT, as well as BTC. The wallet’s main goal is to offer multi-chain versions and simplify the usage of digital assets. Users will also have a human-readable identifier name to avoid copy-pasting long addresses.

At the same time, the wallet will be entirely self-custodial, and users will sign their transactions locally, in full control of their private keys. 

The wallet will allow paying transaction fees in USDT, eliminating the need to hold native tokens across multiple chains. This will differentiate Tether.wallet from other apps that may require purchasing multiple gas tokens. The need to only host USDT and use multiple chains may remove one of the major friction points in DeFi, trading, and general transfers to other chains, without the need to risk losing assets to bridging, errors, or smart contracts. 

Tether active addresses peaked in March

Tether’s adoption is evident in the daily active addresses. Daily activity peaked in March with over 334K daily active wallets. 

As usual, USDT is most widely used on Ethereum and TRON, supplying liquidity to global markets. 

The wallet’s launch also arrives at a time when scams and hacks abound. Tether has been known for being relatively fast in freezing assets. 

The new wallet will offer self-custody, but will integrate another security layer to drive global regulated adoption. The wallet will operate under the jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands. As with other USDT trading tools, fiat redemptions are only for KYC-verified users, while others can use USDT on decentralized platforms. 

The wallet may also be used to screen addresses, restrict access, and trace funds obtained fraudulently. 

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