Cryptopolitan

Former Commissioner of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Christopher Giancarlo, announced his decision to leave the legal profession to work full-time as a corporate crypto and technology advisor. He initiated this action even as the SEC recently revealed a new policy exempting certain DeFi platforms from key registration requirements.

The SEC’s decision signals a continued push to shape its crypto regulatory framework independently of congressional action. Giancarlo, who previously earned the nickname “Crypto Dad” for his supportive stance on digital asset regulation during his tenure at the CFTC, most recently served as senior counsel at the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

In an X post, Giancarlo mentioned that, “From now on, I will focus on advising founders and builders in FinTech and Digital Assets, as well as their CEOs and boards. I will also engage in research and writing about public policy issues, along with continuing my involvement with non-profit initiatives like the Digital Dollar Project, the Mike Gill Memorial Society, and other charitable efforts.” 

At this point, it is worth noting that the former chair of the CFTC headed this independent US government agency from 2017-2019. His positive stance on crypto regulation was recognized at a time when federal officials were often indifferent or doubtful toward the sector.

Giancarlo proves to be a strong supporter of the crypto ecosystem 

Some of the achievements Giancarlo made during his time as the Chairman of the CFTC include heading the introduction of the first federally regulated Bitcoin futures markets. This move permitted CME Group and Cboe Futures Exchange to self-certify Bitcoin derivatives. Another accomplishment was the establishment of LabCFTC, the CFTC’s FinTech innovation hub that serves as a bridge between the regulatory agency and the emerging digital asset and technology sectors. 

Initially, Giancarlo became a member of the CFTC in 2014. At that moment, he served as a commissioner following his appointment by Barack Obama, who was president at the time. Ever since, reports have highlighted that he has been advocating for a Federal Reserve-issued ‘Digital Dollar’ to act as a digital version of the United States’ currency.

In the meantime, as the co-founder and executive chairman of the Digital Dollar Project, sources mentioned Giancarlo’s partnership with former CFTC colleague Daniel Gorfine.

Additionally, analysts conducted research and found that the former chair of the CFTC was a strong advocate of prediction markets. To support this claim, they noted that he assisted in drafting a legal brief in support of Crypto.com against Nevada gaming regulators. Moreover, he assumed an advisory role at Polymarket in 2022.

In response to these findings, sources such as the ABA Banking Journal acknowledged that Giancarlo’s work with the Digital Dollar Project has made him a leading voice for a US central bank digital currency. In his view, a well-structured digital dollar would promote American principles of privacy and free enterprise, serving as a vital counterweight to state-backed digital currencies from nations like China.

Nonetheless, banking institutions and policymakers earlier raised criticism against Giancarlo’s claim that the banking sector will be the primary beneficiary of cryptocurrency regulations. Based on their argument, strict regulations like those implemented on yield-bearing stablecoins could trigger mass withdrawals, potentially destabilizing traditional financial systems.

Even so, reports alleged that some Trump allies considered him for a “crypto czar” role, citing his efforts to establish clear rules for stablecoins and improve federal oversight of digital assets.

Meanwhile, sources with knowledge of the situation anonymously disclosed that Giancarlo decided to depart from big law to pursue investing, policy research, and writing, seeking to influence the future as an advisor and storyteller, operating outside traditional roles.

The SEC initiates a significant step in the crypto industry 

Concerning the SEC’s recent policy, reports stressed that under the new guidelines, DeFi user interfaces do not need to register as broker-dealers, provided they meet the necessary criteria. At this point, analysts noted that the agency classifies user interfaces as services developed by cryptocurrency firms that assist wallet holders in executing on-chain transactions.

Initially, the SEC asserted jurisdiction over DeFi interfaces, classifying them as regulated connections between crypto firms and DeFi users to marketplaces, a stance that changed after Donald Trump took office. Still, several crypto industry leaders argue that these interfaces differ from traditional Wall Street brokers like Charles Schwab and should not be regulated the same way.

Responding to the situation, Hester Peirce, an American lawyer who serves as a Commissioner on the SEC issued a statement noting that, “Crypto is pushing the Commission to face its challenges that have led it to broaden its interpretation of securities laws,” adding that, “Recent events show a mix of no-action letters and enforcement actions that have distorted the meaning of ‘broker’ beyond recognition.” 

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Trump’s Federal Reserve chairman nominee Kevin Warsh has on Monday filed the financial paperwork the Senate needs before his nomination can keep going, according to CNBC.

Reportedly, that filing had been holding things up, as a hearing that had been expected this week could not happen because the paperwork was not finished on time.

Kevin’s nomination is still uncertain as Senate process drags into Powell’s deadline

As you must know, Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair ends on May 15, and the Trump administration said last week it expects Kevin to be in place by then.

Cryptopolitan has previously reported that Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina (who also sits on the Senate Banking Committee) is determined to block the final approval of Kevin’s nomination until a federal criminal case tied to Jerome is settled.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has said she plans to keep pushing the case despite setbacks that have already hit it, but Trump wants a quick handoff at the Fed.

Stephen Miran, a Federal Reserve governor appointed by Trump, said the energy shock from the Iran war has not changed longer-run inflation expectations. Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, Stephen said, “There’s thus far no evidence that inflation expectations are higher.” He also said the labor market has been cooling little by little for about three years, which in his view makes a wage-price spiral unlikely.

Stephen also said price jumps tied to energy often hit fast and then fade, which can limit the wider inflation effect. He said, “We look forward a year from now, I see inflation running pretty close to our target.”

That is a much calmer view than the one shown in the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s March 17-18 meeting, which showed more officials getting worried that the Iran war could push inflation higher and force the Fed to think about rate hikes.

Miran is playing down the threat of inflation on the Fed’s mandate

At that March meeting, officials left the Fed’s benchmark rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%. Stephen broke with the group and pushed for a quarter-point cut instead. Since Donald Trump appointed him to the board last September, Stephen has been calling for faster cuts than the rest of the committee has wanted.

Stephen was also asked about a proposal that would let stablecoin issuers pay interest to users, an idea with support from parts of the Trump administration but some banking groups hate it because they think depositors could pull money out of banks and park it in dollar-linked crypto products instead.

Stephen did not sound worried when he said, “I don’t view it as such a big deal, to be honest.” He added that some money could leave banks for stablecoins, but he does not think the scale would be big enough to seriously matter for the economy.

Then came Jimmy Cramer’s take, which was all about rates, energy, and stocks. Jimmy said that if rates do not start climbing again, the next Fed under Kevin probably will not raise short-term rates and might even end up cutting them.

He argued that oil is still adding to inflation, but the country is not as exposed to that shock as it used to be. Cars are more fuel efficient now. Domestic natural gas is also much cheaper in the United States than it is in many other places. Jimmy put it this way: “Natural gas not oil is our secret weapon.”

Jimmy also said recent inflation tied to tariffs and energy may be treated by the Fed as temporary. He said, “The Fed will most likely asterisk these increases as all one-off price increases.”

For investors, Jimmy’s main point was that rates still matter more than geopolitics when it comes to stock prices. When rates rise, investors usually pay less for future earnings. That is how price-to-earnings multiple compression starts biting.

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Bitcoin jumped 6.5% past $75,000, while open interest climbed to $122.46 billion and liquidations surged to $497.40 million, showing traders are piling in fast.

Ether rose 8% to $2,350, XRP gained 4% to $1.40, and Solana added 6% to $86.30, pointing to a broad crypto move rather than a Bitcoin-only spike.

Crypto momentum is building with the RSI still at a neutral 57.74 and the Altcoin Season Index at 34, which suggests the rally is heating up but has not yet turned into full risk-on mania.

Trump’s war is now crashing straight into earnings season, and that puts Wall Street in a tight spot. Investors headed into the week asking one basic question: Can U.S. companies keep pumping out strong profits while the Middle East conflict keeps energy prices high and keeps traders on edge? That is the issue hanging over this stretch of reports, especially with the first big numbers coming from the banks.

So far, the outlook for profits has not broken. Estimates tracked by LSEG IBES through Friday showed overall S&P 500 earnings for the first quarter rising about 14% from the same period a year ago. If that holds, it would make six straight quarters of double-digit profit growth, the longest run since 2011.

That is why stocks have stayed supported even after a month of fighting tied to Iran. Investors still see a strong quarter and a strong year, but now they want hard proof in the numbers.

Markets brace for bank earnings while war, oil, and Bitcoin keep trading desks busy

Last week gave traders a break after the truce between the two sides helped risky assets bounce hard. The S&P 500 Index climbed more than 3.5%. An MSCI measure of emerging-market stocks jumped 7.4%. Bitcoin rose almost 10%, which mattered to a market crowd that has been chasing risk whenever war fears cool off even a little.

Oil went the other way. West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 13.4% through Friday. Brent settled around $95 a barrel after being near $112 in March.

The next trading stretch starts in full at 6 p.m. New York time on Sunday, when U.S. stocks, Treasuries, and oil reopen. Early trading in Sydney showed some caution. Safe-haven demand pushed the U.S. dollar higher against major peers.

Even with that, investors did not react to the latest breakdown in peace talks the way they did in the first days of the war. Japan’s Topix and South Korea’s Kospi cut their losses on Monday. Taiwan’s Taiex finished higher. European stocks were down less than 1%.

Some market strategists said traders may read JD Vance’s flight home as a pause in talks, not the end of them. Others said Iran still seemed open to more negotiations. Even people who think the blockade could bring risk back into markets still said the ugliest part of the war trade may already be over.

The calendar is packed. Monday brought Goldman Sachs earnings, LVMH sales, and U.S. existing home sales. Tuesday brings earnings from JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, along with sales from Kering and TotalEnergies, Japan industrial production, U.S. PPI, and the IMF world economic outlook. Wednesday brings Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Hermes sales.

Thursday brings Netflix earnings, China GDP, Chinese retail sales, Chinese industrial production, euro-area CPI, UK industrial production, U.S. initial jobless claims, U.S. industrial production, and the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington. Friday brings the euro-area trade balance.

Goldman posts strong numbers as equities and deal fees jump but fixed income stumbles

Goldman Sachs kicked things off Monday with first-quarter results that beat expectations, posting earnings of $17.55 per share, ahead of the $16.49 estimate from LSEG.

The bank’s revenue came in at $17.23 billion, above the expected $16.97 billion. Profit rose 19% from a year earlier to $5.63 billion, and total revenue surged by 14%.

Goldman said it pulled in its strongest quarter ever from equities trading, which helped drive the company’s second-highest quarterly revenue on record. Equities revenue rose 27% to $5.33 billion, about $420 million above the StreetAccount estimate.

Investment banking also came in strong, too, as fees rose 48% to $2.84 billion, about $340 million above expectations.

Revenue there fell 10% to $4.01 billion, which left it $910 million below the StreetAccount estimate. Goldman said results were hurt by “significantly lower” revenue in interest-rate products, mortgages, and credit.

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Ondo Finance has filed a no-action letter request with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking the regulator to confirm that a targeted expansion of its Ondo Global Markets (OGM) product will not trigger enforcement action. 

This is also coming the same day the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets published a staff statement establishing conditions under which crypto trading interfaces.

What is Ondo actually asking the SEC to do?

Ondo’s OGM products are tokenized notes that give non-US investors exposure to US-listed stocks and ETFs.

What Ondo is proposing is that, in limited circumstances, the relevant securities entitlements would also be represented in tokenized form on Ethereum Mainnet and held by custodian BitGo, to support recordkeeping and operational processes.

Ondo stated that the request “is meant to function as a recordkeeping innovation, not a rewrite of market structure.”

The firm submitted a detailed tokenized securities roadmap to the SEC’s crypto task force in December 2025, the same month the regulator closed its investigation into Ondo without any charges.

The investigation lasted roughly two years and started when the agency was led by Gary Gensler.

What does the SEC’s new guidance cover?

The Division of Trading and Markets directed its staff statement to a category it calls “Covered User Interfaces,” which refers to websites, browser extensions, and mobile applications that convert user-defined transaction parameters into blockchain-executable commands, typically as a front-end layer over decentralized trading protocols.

Operators of such interfaces, including decentralized exchange aggregators and self-custodial wallet interfaces, don’t need to register as broker-dealers, provided they meet an eleven-point compliance framework.

According to the staff statement, providers must refrain from soliciting specific transactions or offering investment recommendations, among others.

Providers are also required to make disclosures covering fees, any conflicts of interest, and cybersecurity policies.

The statement was also clear about what falls outside its protection.

Atkins’ SEC is not Gensler’s SEC

In 2025, Atkins stated that an entire generation of digital asset innovation was being developed offshore because American regulators failed to provide clear rules. He said, “the SEC will not stand idly by and watch innovations develop overseas while our capital markets remain stagnant.”

Under his “Project Crypto” initiative, the Commission has moved toward a proactive regulatory framework, rejecting the agency’s prior regulation-by-enforcement approach and directing staff to draft clear rules for the distribution, custody, and trading of crypto assets.

Today’s staff statement sits within a sequence of pre-emptive guidance actions which the SEC has released under the leadership of Atkins.

The qualifier is that Atkins himself has described the current run of staff-level pronouncements as “extremely temporary,” stating that Commission action via formal rulemaking is “both vital and necessary.”

Today’s guidance, like those before it, buys operational space for market participants without creating rules.

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On April 6, OpenAI published a 13-page document called “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First.” In this doc, the $852 billion company proposes a couple of ambitious initiatives, such as a Public Wealth Fund modeled on Alaska’s oil dividend program, which shares oil revenue with residents. It also proposes that the tax base should be shifted to capital gains and income, and envisions a 32-hour work week without reduction or loss of pay. 

The paper is very ambitious, calling for automatic safety nets with benefits for humans beyond what is currently available. It cited how political choices helped society navigate major technological transitions, such as the Industrial Revolution. 

OpenAI argued that two historical periods, the Progressive Era and the New Deal, modernized the social contract for a world reshaped by electricity and mass production. And the transition to superintelligence and automated systems demands something equally ambitious, which is a new industrial policy that ensures gains from AI are distributed broadly and not concentrated on a small number of investors or firms.

OpenAI summed everything up to three goals: share prosperity broadly, mitigate risks, and democratize access and agency. However, this reads as a company that transitioned from non-profit to a for-profit, telling Washington how to tax capital and regulate automated systems.

The five proposals that matter for crypto

OpenAI’s paper never directly mentions crypto; however, almost every major proposal in the document touches directly on the digital assets economy. And this is very important to crypto investors, as it could have implications at a magnitude that can only be compared to the SEC’s regulatory pivot over the past few years. 

To understand the implications of the proposals on crypto, we need to translate the company’s language into crypto terms. 

1. Capital gains tax shift

With the trajectory of AI, the concept of work and production will shift, and OpenAI argues that this will increase the capital gains and profit of organizations,  thereby reducing the reliance on payroll taxes. This means that the funding base for Social Security, Medicaid, etc, will be eroded. 

OpenAI proposes that the government rely more on taxes on capital gains and corporate income, adding that this “would help stabilize funding for essential programs while supporting workforce transitions in an AI-driven economy.”

The capital gains tax shift proposed by OpenAI has the most impact on crypto and the digital economy. According to the IRS, crypto is a property, not a currency; therefore, it is subject to capital gains tax. A policy built around increasing reliance on capital gains directly translates to a tax increase on every crypto investor. 

The timing of this is also auspicious, as of 2026, the IRS requires all crypto exchanges to file Form 1099-DA, reporting all gains from sales directly to the government. This essentially means that the government now has a comprehensive view of gains from all crypto and digital assets transactions. 

The proposed OpenAI tax infrastructure seems to be designed to extract revenue from the crypto asset class.

2. Automated labor taxes

On the surface, automated labor taxes don’t affect crypto. However, buried in the tax modernization section is a clause that changes the story. The clause in question is “exploring new approaches such as taxes related to automated labor.” 

No definitions were offered.

So, how does this affect crypto? The answer is the $95 billion in value locked throughout DeFi. The entire architecture of DeFi is based on automation. 

Automated Market Makers execute millions of trades daily without direct human decision-making. Smart contracts autonomously execute transactions whenever the right conditions are met. Yield farming, MEV bots, and AI trading agents are all part of a $1 billion revenue-generating system that requires little to no human oversight or labor.

If the concept of automated labor ever enters a congressional debate as a taxable category, then DeFi is at a direct risk, facing a more scrutinous vector compared to the SEC crackdown on crypto. This is because the conversation won’t be about securities or commodities, but rather about the tax infrastructure itself. 

DeFi advocates may argue that DeFi protocols create financial access for underserved populations; however, that is an argument for legitimacy and social good, not against taxation. 

The political logic behind the automated labor tax is that systems generating economic value without human labor should contribute to the social safety net of human workers. 

If Congress decides that automated systems should fund Social Security and Medicare, the crypto industry will discover that decentralization provides little to no structural protection against a determined taxing authority.

3. The Public Wealth Fund

Another important proposal OpenAI made is the creation of a Public Wealth Fund, which “provides every citizen—including those not invested in financial markets—with a stake in AI-driven economic growth.” 

The fund would be invested in “diversified, long-term assets that capture growth in both AI companies and the broader set of firms adopting and deploying AI”, with the returns going directly to the citizens. 

This is similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has been distributing dividends from oil wealth to residents since 1982. The Public Wealth Fund is not a new idea for OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. In 2021, in a paper titled “Moore’s Law for Everything” he proposed a similar fund, the “American Equity Fund”, which is going to be seeded by wealth tax on land and corporations.

Now, here’s where it becomes important for crypto: both the Public Wealth Fund and Bitcoin aim to include ordinary people in wealth generated by transformative technology. 

Bitcoin was built by people who doubted that governments and central banks could be trusted to manage monetary systems fairly. The entire premise of DeFi is that financial infrastructure can be self-executing and trustless. 

OpenAI’s proposal is built on the opposite premise, that a competent, honest government can manage trillions in assets and distribute the returns equitably. One framework requires trusting institutions, while the other was designed for people who don’t.

By proposing the centralized solution without acknowledging the decentralized alternative, OpenAI does something more subtle than arguing against crypto. It eliminates one vision from the conversation entirely. 

Policymakers following OpenAI’s lead will never have to defend a government fund against a Bitcoin alternative, because it was never considered in the first place.

4. Automatic safety net triggers

OpenAI also proposes automatic safety net triggers by defining a package of temporary and expanded safety nets, which include more flexible unemployment benefits, cash assistance, wage insurance, and training vouchers. This package is designed to automatically trigger once predefined thresholds are exceeded. 

Automatic safety net expansion means automatic government spending, which, if it doesn’t match revenue, could result in inflation. However, this produces an opportunity for Bitcoin. 

One of Bitcoin’s main value propositions is as an asset that can be used to hedge against inflation. In an ironic way, this section of OpenAI’s proposal validates Bitcoin’s thesis. 

The combination of AI-driven displacement, automatic benefit expansion, and a tax base that may not grow fast enough to keep pace is exactly the situation where a fixed-supply, censorship-resistant store of value becomes genuinely useful. 

OpenAI is making the macro case for Bitcoin without realizing it.

5. Energy infrastructure and distributed buildout

The paper calls for establishing “new public-private partnership models to finance and accelerate the expansion of energy infrastructure required to power AI.” 

This includes reducing the cost of capital for energy projects through targeted credits and flexible subsidies, removing market barriers to advanced transmission technologies, and granting a “narrow federal authority to accelerate the construction of interregional transmission when it is in the national interest.” 

The phrase “national interest” carries policy weight. Federal discretion over grid priority means the top level of government decides who gets power first, at what cost, and on what timeline. 

If AI data centers are classified as critical infrastructure, the government can fast-track transmission to major compute hubs. 

OpenAI is explicit that AI data centers should “pay their own way on energy so that households aren’t subsidizing them”. However, the energy buildout framework, with its subsidies, credits, and federal authority, will inevitably create winners and losers among large electricity consumers.

In the US, crypto miners use a lot of electricity. Data centers in Texas, Georgia, and the Pacific Northwest currently compete with other businesses for access to the grid and lower power prices. 

Whether an expanded grid is good for miners depends on whether it is spread out or focused on AI compute. The paper’s language favors concentration, which means that federal authority applies when transmission serves the “national interest.” 

In this case, the “national interest” is AI data center capacity. That is a risk for mining operations that they should not ignore.

Why crypto’s absence from the paper is the story

OpenAI released a 13-page paper talking about regulating automated systems and distributing technological wealth amid the transition to superintelligence. However, there was no single mention of crypto, blockchain, DeFi, or digital assets. 

This is not an oversight; OpenAI and AI in general operate in the same technological economy as digital assets. Its investors include the same institutional funds. The omission is a choice, and three implications follow from it.

“Automated labor” is a DeFi-shaped hole: The paper proposes taxing automated labor, but doesn’t define what constitutes automated labor. Smart contracts and other DeFi tools automate trades without human intervention, and legislators can take the liberty to define this as automated labor.
The crypto industry faces a future where its regulatory status is determined by whoever is loudest in the room. Right now, the loudest voices are OpenAI, traditional finance, and legacy technology companies, all of whom benefit from centralized solutions and have no incentive to advocate for decentralized alternatives.

Right to AI but silence on financial sovereignty: OpenAI advocates that access to AI should be considered as foundational for participation in the modern economy, like access to the internet and electricity, and mass efforts to increase global literacy. While this is commendable, the paper fails to address whether access to permissionless financial systems should be protected the same way.
Should people have the right to transact without institutional intermediaries? Should access to a financial system that cannot freeze your account or inflate your savings be treated as foundational? The financial rights and benefits discussed in this paper are mediated by a centralized manager, i.e. the government.

OpenAI is proposing a centralized answer to the same questions crypto exists to solve: OpenAI doesn’t make a direct argument against crypto, but it frames it in a different way. How can people benefit from technological disruptions in a way that makes decentralization seem wrong?
A peer-to-peer system that protects individual property rights can’t solve the problem of collective action, which includes making sure that all citizens share in AI wealth, managing systemic risk, and building national infrastructure.
Medicare doesn’t get money from permissionless money. Bitcoin can’t build power grids. A yield farming protocol does not retrain factory workers who have lost their jobs.
When you put it this way, crypto doesn’t seem dangerous; it seems pointless. OpenAI doesn’t have to win the fight. It only needs to outline the area.

What to watch

Capital gains tax legislation

Digital assets will be the first to be affected if the “payroll-to-capital-gains shift” becomes a serious topic of debate in Congress. 

Be on the lookout for any tax laws that use the terms “sustained capital gains,” “AI-driven returns,” or “capital-based revenues.” These words don’t only apply to cryptocurrencies, but they do describe the asset class. 

Long-term crypto holding strategies have been based on the long-term capital gains rates of 15% to 20% that are in effect now. A move toward much higher rates, like 28% or more for top earners, along with the Form 1099-DA reporting system that is already in place, would mean a direct and big tax increase for every holder who has assets that have gone up in value.

DeFi classification risk

The idea of “automated labor” gives regulators a new way to look at things that doesn’t involve the securities-versus-commodities debate at all. 

Right now, the fact that there is legal uncertainty about what DeFi has actually helped protect it. If regulators can’t agree on what it is, they can’t tax it consistently. 

The “automated labor” framing clears up that confusion in a way that is not good for DeFi: it doesn’t matter what tokens are, legally. The important thing is whether the system can do economic work without people. 

If the Treasury uses this language, the first major “automated labor tax” proposal for DeFi will be when the industry has to fight not only the SEC but also the full force of the tax code.

Public Wealth Fund inclusion

If a federal Public Wealth Fund ever happens, its investment mandate will tell you more about crypto’s status in the business world than any Congressional hearing. 

The paper says that the fund should put money into long-term, diversified assets that benefit from growth in both AI companies and the larger group of businesses that are using and adopting AI. 

How fund managers interpret that mandate to include digital assets will be a sign. The federal government has recognized crypto as a legitimate long-term asset class, which is what inclusion means. 

Exclusion means that it has been defined as a competing paradigm, or something that is outside the system, instead of a part of it. Pay close attention to the fund’s charter documents.

Energy priority

The federal government’s ability to speed up interregional transmission “when it is in the national interest” gives bureaucrats the power to make decisions that can have a big impact on the economics of mining. 

If AI data centers are seen as critical infrastructure and mining operations are seen as speculative or non-essential, the subsidy and permitting structure could be very bad for crypto. 

Texas is the state to keep an eye on because it has some of the biggest Bitcoin mining operations in the world and is the center of the battle between AI compute and cryptocurrency mining for grid access and pricing.

Inflation trigger 

Automatic safety net triggers put pressure on the economy. How Congress and the Federal Reserve react, either by raising taxes, tightening monetary policy, or accommodating, will determine whether that pressure leads to real inflation. 

If the system causes inflation to stay high, the idea that Bitcoin is a good store of value becomes much stronger.

For a long time, people who support Bitcoin have said that fiscal dominance, which is when central banks can’t tighten without causing political pain, is the only way modern monetary systems can end. 

If OpenAI’s plan were fully carried out, it would turn that argument from theory into practice.

The silence is the message

The paper from OpenAI is very well thought out. It takes the idea of broad-based prosperity seriously, uses historical examples carefully, and presents its ideas as a starting point rather than an end point. 

But the strategy is also the level of sophistication. OpenAI frames the problem as a collective action challenge by asking how we can make sure everyone benefits, manage systemic risk, and build national infrastructure. 

This makes decentralized solutions seem not wrong, but just not the point. Peer-to-peer systems can’t help with problems that require people to work together. The paper never has to make a case against crypto. It just didn’t go out of its way to give crypto a seat at the table.

The more difficult question is the one the paper doesn’t ask: what if people don’t trust the institutions that are supposed to do this job? 

The whitepaper for Bitcoin came out in 2008, right after banks went bankrupt, and the public had to pay for it. That lack of trust is still there. 

OpenAI’s plan is based on the idea that the government is good at what it does and that institutions are honest. Crypto is an alternative system where you won’t have to make that bet. 

OpenAI makes sure that policymakers will never have to defend the centralized answer against a decentralized competitor by only showing Congress one vision and not acknowledging that there is another one.

Criticism alone won’t be enough for crypto to have a say in the next ten years. The industry needs another document that covers all of the issues, such as displaced workers, energy infrastructure, access for underserved communities, and safety net funding. 

At this time, one side of the argument has a 13-page policy paper, a workshop in Washington, research fellowships, and interest from Congress. The other one has a market cap and a whitepaper from 2008. That is a head start that will take a lot of effort to make up.

OpenAI’s new revenue chief is betting on Amazon to grow the company’s business with corporate clients, even as she acknowledged that the long-running deal with Microsoft has held the AI firm back.

Denise Dresser, who recently took on the top revenue role at OpenAI, sent a note to employees on Sunday laying out her strategy for winning more business clients.

At the center of that strategy is a new alliance with Amazon and a candid admission that the company’s ties to Microsoft have come at a cost.

“Our Microsoft partnership has been foundational to our success. But it has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are, for many that’s Bedrock,” Dresser wrote in the memo, which was obtained by CNBC.

Amazon Web Services runs a platform called Bedrock that gives businesses access to a wide range of AI models, including those made by OpenAI.

Amazon said in late February that it plans to put up to $50 billion into OpenAI as part of a broader deal between the two companies. Since that announcement, Dresser said the number of businesses reaching out about the Amazon offering has been “staggering.”

Microsoft makes its own moves

Microsoft is OpenAI’s longest-standing major investor, having invested over $13 billion since 2019. However, the relationship has become more complex.

In its yearly report to regulators, Microsoft included OpenAI along with Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta as competitors around the middle of 2024.

For its part, OpenAI has discreetly begun utilizing other cloud providers, such as CoreWeave, Google, and Oracle, for processing power.

Additionally, Microsoft is taking steps to reduce its reliance on OpenAI.

The company’s proprietary AI tools, MAI-Transcribe-1, MAI-Voice-1, and MAI-Image-2, were made available via its Azure AI Foundry platform in mid-April.

To lower the cost of operating large-scale AI, Microsoft is also investing $10 billion in developing AI systems in nations like Japan and Thailand using its own proprietary chips, the Maya 200 and Cobalt 200.

All of this comes just ahead of a major moment for Microsoft. The company is set to report its fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings on April 29.

Analysts expect Microsoft to post adjusted earnings per share of $4.04, a 16.8% increase from the same period last year.

But investors are paying close attention to how fast Azure, Microsoft’s cloud business, is growing. It recently slowed to a 39% year-over-year pace.

Analysts at Bernstein said that while a record $37.5 billion in capital spending is partly going toward building internal AI models, some of that investment is generating solid returns through software services.

OpenAI takes aim at Anthropic

On OpenAI’s side, the pressure to grow its corporate business is real.

Dresser said that enterprise clients now account for 40% of OpenAI’s total revenue and that the company expects that share to match its consumer business by year’s end.

One rival standing in the way is Anthropic, whose Claude model has built a strong foothold among corporate customers.

Dresser took a shot at Anthropic’s reported numbers, claiming that the company’s stated revenue run rate of $30 billion is overstated by about $8 billion because of how it counts revenue from money it shares with Amazon and Google.

“We report Microsoft rev share net, which is more in line with standards we would be held to as a public company,” she wrote.

As April 29 draws closer, observers of Microsoft will be monitoring for indications that Azure AI is accelerating, that its Copilot tools are producing actual revenue, and for any updates on the direction of its capital expenditures.

Microsoft and OpenAI both assert that their collaboration is still crucial.

However, the actions taken by each business reveal a different picture, one in which both parties are discreetly preparing to stand alone. In reality, this reflects smart strategic hedging rather than an impending breakup.

Both companies are simply reducing single points of failure in a hyper-competitive market while keeping the core partnership intact for now.

 

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SpaceX is holding onto 8,285 bitcoins valued at $603 million even as the company reported a nearly $5 billion loss for 2025, new data shows.

The aerospace firm keeps its digital currency in Coinbase Prime custody and has not sold any despite the financial hit, according to the data from Arkham Intelligence and The Information report published Friday. The loss is a complete turnaround from the previous year when SpaceX made about $8 billion in profit on sales between $15 billion and $16 billion.

The company’s bitcoin balance stayed steady since the middle of 2024 after hitting a peak value above $1.6 billion during October 2025 when bitcoin reached record highs. SpaceX now ranks as the fourth-biggest known corporate bitcoin owner, trailing only Strategy, Marathon Digital, and Riot Platforms.

SpaceX filed for an initial public offering last month that will require the company to reveal its bitcoin holdings in public documents for the first time. This could force the company to make accounting choices under new FASB rules that started in late 2025.

SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said the mov e shows how companies will treat bitcoin going forward. “Everyone will soon have Bitcoin on their corporate balance sheet,” he said, calling SpaceX the ultimate example of keeping bitcoin as a company reserve asset.

One company drives corporate Bitcoin buying

Public and private companies added 47,435 bitcoins to their holdings in March, worth around $3.2 billion at month-end prices. But nearly all those purchases came from one buyer.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought 44,377 bitcoins in March alone, including 22,337 bitcoins on March 16 funded by $1.57 billion from selling STRC preferred shares and MSTR common stock. The company now controls two-thirds of all bitcoin held by public companies, with total holdings around 762,000 bitcoins.

Beyond Strategy, corporate interest in bitcoin appears to be cooling. Public companies bought aggressively last summer, but purchases have fallen and sales have picked up since October. Only 16 companies bought bitcoin in March.

Ryan Strauss from the Bitcoin Consulting Group said the numbers show “how structurally dependent headline holdings growth is on Strategy.” He added that removing Strategy from the totals reveals “clear deceleration” and “a broad cooling in corporate conviction.”

Kraken gets direct Fed access

Kraken received approval for a Federal Reserve master account as reported by Cryptopolitan previously, allowing the crypto exchange to hold balances at the Fed and settle U.S. dollar transactions on Fedwire without using traditional banks. The company’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi told Fortune that Kraken went through Wyoming to get a Special Purpose Depository Institution charter.

The Independent Community Bankers of America and 42 state banking associations opposed the decision. Representative Maxine Waters asked the Kansas City Fed to explain its legal authority for approving the account.

The approval comes as institutional money flows back into bitcoin. Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracted $789 million last week, the highest weekly amount since February. Morgan Stanley launched its own bitcoin ETF on April 8, charging 0.14% and giving its 16,000 wealth advisors access to bitcoin for $6.2 trillion in client assets.

Charles Schwab, serving 39 million brokerage clients, published a framework showing aggressive portfolios could hold up to 8.8% in bitcoin.

Wall Street analysts have year-end 2026 price targets ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 for bitcoin. However, TD Cowen cut its Strategy price target by 20.5% to $350, and some traders predict bitcoin could drop below $50,000 by November 2026.

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Numerous security issues and growing international tensions have put the crypto industry on edge.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the world are attempting to recover digital assets worth billions of dollars that have been stolen, while a major exchange is fighting an internal extortion effort.

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based in San Francisco, has admitted that two of its support staff members were found to have obtained customer data without authorization, and that a criminal group then tried to use that information to shut down the company.

The attackers threatened to broadcast the films to news outlets and share them on social media if the exchange failed to provide money.

In a post on X, Nick Percoco, Chief Security Officer at Kraken, discussed the matter and described how both incidents were found and dealt with.

The first was discovered in February 2025 when a support team member’s access was promptly terminated after the company received a tip regarding a film that was making the rounds on a criminal online forum.

Another employee was fired after a second video appeared more recently.

Regarding the degree of exposure, Percoco stated on X:

“Across both incidents, only a very small number of client accounts were potentially viewed, approximately 2,000 in total (0.02% of clients).”

He also added

“Systems were never breached; funds were never at risk; we will not pay these criminals; we will not ever negotiate with bad actors.”

Kraken stated that in order to find the culprits, it is collaborating with cybersecurity experts and federal law enforcement in a number of nations.

The business reported that this type of operation, in which thieves attempt to recruit or coerce workers at telecoms, gaming platforms, and cryptocurrency companies, is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the sector.

Global crackdown on crypto theft gains ground

Globally, law enforcement is making strides against bitcoin theft. Large-scale cryptocurrency fraud was the target of Operation Atlantic, a coordinated effort by US, UK, and Canadian agencies.

Over $45 million in stolen money was found during the operation, and about $12 million of it was frozen.

The week-long effort focused on a tactic known as approval phishing, which is used in so-called “pig butchering” scams.

In these schemes, victims are manipulated into handing over full control of their crypto wallets to scammers.

Investigators identified more than 20,000 compromised wallet addresses spread across 30 countries and took down over 120 fake websites used in the scams.

Separately, the US government announced the seizure of more than $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to a criminal network based in Cambodia.

Geopolitical tensions drag Bitcoin below $70,000

Even if those victories are noteworthy, events outside of the cryptocurrency space have been hurting the overall market.

Following the collapse of peace talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, Bitcoin plunged below $70,000. Investors were alarmed by the breakdown, which led to a sell-off that destroyed almost $350 million in long bets.

Tensions rose further when President Donald Trump threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a move that sent Bitcoin down 3% in just two hours.

Adding to the pressure, the US Consumer Price Index climbed to 3.3% in March.

Some analysts warn that if the conflict deepens, inflation could hit 4%, which would likely push the Federal Reserve to hold off on cutting interest rates.

Oil prices have also climbed to $84 per barrel, adding to the gloomy outlook. A recovery in crypto markets, experts say, will depend on a ceasefire, oil prices falling back below $80, and better economic figures coming through.

For now, big investors are sitting on their hands, with money flowing into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds largely stalled.

The combination of high-stakes geopolitics and insider exploitation shows that the biggest weaknesses in cryptocurrency are still human-centric rather than solely algorithmic.

Bitcoin’s price stability is now linked to both network security and international diplomacy as it increasingly resembles traditional macro assets.

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Saudi Arabia’s cryptocurrency market is estimated to hit nearly $50 billion USD by 2034. It was last valued at nearly $25 billion USD in 2025.

The valuation of Saudi Arabia’s cryptocurrency market is projected to nearly double over the next 8 years, according to a report by IMARC Group. Between 2026 and 2034, the firm expects the Saudi Arabian crypto market size to grow at a CAGR of 7.51% from $24.9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47.8 billion by 2034.

This rapid expansion reflects a larger shift towards digital assets, blockchain technology, and fintech adoption within the Kingdom. Increased institutional investment, rising youth interest in cryptocurrencies, and the emergence of DeFi and blockchain solutions in numerous industries have also contributed to this trend.

Regardless, as this growth accelerates, it is clear that Saudi Arabia is quickly positioning itself to become a global hub for cryptocurrency innovation.

A movement driven by a changing world financial order

At the heart of Saudi Arabia’s cryptocurrency market expansion is Vision 2030. This is a long-term plan for the Kingdom to transform its economy by diversifying away from its current reliance on oil. This initiative was launched by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2016 to modernize both the Saudi Arabian economy and society.

Cryptocurrency innovation has naturally begun to play a large role in this transformative movement. Saudi Arabia’s progressive approach to digital assets and blockchain technology has created a very welcoming environment for different financial institutions involved or interested in the crypto industry.

This new economic environment, fostered by Vision 2030, has created ideal conditions for these different businesses and start-ups to set up shop and grow within the country. This movement has also attracted significant foreign investment into cryptocurrency projects based in Saudi Arabia.

Outside of this, major financial institutions in the kingdom have begun diversifying their portfolios by exploring digital assets and blockchain technology. The ability to operate with minimal regulatory barriers makes Saudi Arabia an attractive destination for businesses in the crypto industry.

The Saudi Arabian Central Bank also joined the mBridge (Multiple CBDC Bridge) project in June 2024, in collaboration with countries such as the UAE, Thailand, and China. This project aims to create a shared platform where countries can use CBDCs to transact directly with each other, settling payments near-instantly on the blockchain. It improves the efficiency of financial transactions between nations and can be seen as a way for participating nations to reduce reliance on U.S.-Dollar-Dominated systems.

A further look into Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding crypto market

Under Vision 2030, the Saudi Arabian government now supports various blockchain initiatives in the country, which has greatly increased adoption of the technology. A number of different industries beyond finance have implemented blockchain technology in their business operations, notably supply chain management companies. Vision 2030 also encourages cashless transactions, which has naturally created a lane for cryptocurrency payments to be used in everyday transactions.

Recent reports from the Saudi Press Agency indicate that nearly 70% of Saudi Arabia’s population is under 35. The large younger demographic has been shown to naturally be more inclined to experiment with new technologies, adding another driving factor to the expansion of the country’s cryptocurrency market.

Additionally, the integration of cryptocurrency and gaming has become highly popular with younger demographics in Saudi Arabia. Vision 2030 emphasized government investment in online gaming and eSports. Play-to-earn models and in-game crypto transactions are rapidly growing in popularity amongst the country’s dominant younger demographic.

 

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Coinone exchange has received a three-month partial suspension from South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for violating anti-money laundering regulations. 

Another regulatory body in the country, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is simultaneously cracking down on automated trading programs that are being used to manipulate markets and investors. 

The FIU sanctions Coinone

South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) confirmed a sanctions notice against the local exchange Coinone. The FIU imposed a three-month partial business suspension on the exchange starting April 29, alongside a fine of 5.2 billion won (approximately $3.49 million). 

The sanctions are due to an on-site inspection that was conducted between April and May 2025. The FIU identified that Coinone facilitated approximately 10,113 virtual asset transfer transactions with 16 overseas operators that were not registered or reported under the Specific Financial Information Act (Special Fund Act). 

Furthermore, the exchange was found guilty of systemic lapses in customer verification. The total violations amount to roughly 70,000 cases, including 40,000 instances of improper ID verification and 30,000 failures to restrict transactions for unverified users. 

During Coinone’s three-month suspension, new customers will be prohibited from depositing or withdrawing virtual assets. However, existing customers can continue trading and using fiat (KRW) services normally. 

The FIU also issued an official reprimand to Coinone CEO Cha Myung-hoon.

In response, Coinone stated that it is “strictly aware” of the decision and is pursuing improvements to address the deficiencies pointed out. The exchange added that it has not yet decided whether to file an administrative lawsuit against the FIU, stating it will “carefully review it through the board of directors.”

The sanction against Coinone is similar to the 6-month partial suspension that was imposed on its rival Bithumb in March for AML violations. The National Assembly passed amendments to the AML laws in January, expanding background checks to major shareholders of exchanges to prevent financial crimes.

Can South Korean users use API trading programs?

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) revealed that it has launched a targeted investigation into unfair trading practices involving automated trading programs or application programming interfaces (APIs). 

APIs reportedly account for roughly 30% of all transaction volumes in the Korean virtual asset market currently, but authorities suspect they are being weaponized to defraud retail investors. 

The FSS shared specific cases of manipulation to warn the public, such as the “painting the tape” scheme, where a suspect used an API to repeatedly buy and sell small amounts between 5,000 to 10,000 won ($3.50 to $7.00) to create an illusion of high trading volume. 

Simultaneously, they manually placed high-priced buy orders to drive up the price, and once general investors followed the trend, the suspect sold their holdings for a profit.

Another suspect, Suspect B, used the API to automate high-priced purchases to push the market price to a pre-set target, allowing them to sell at inflated levels. 

The FSS has also warned about “spoofing” tactics where users place large fake orders via APIs and cancel them immediately to trick the market about supply and demand. 

The FSS has warned general investors to be wary of coins that see sudden, short-term spikes in volume and price without news. They also warned API users against sharing “high-frequency single-share sales codes” on social media, as regulators view these as abnormal orders. 

“If an excessive repeated sales account is confirmed, we will promptly conduct a planned investigation and take strict measures,” the FSS warned.

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Strategy acquired another 13,927 BTC, sticking to its recent approach of large-scale buying. The new purchase, valued at $1B, follows another week of successful STRC preferred stock sales. 

Strategy continued its weekly purchases, adding 13,927 more BTC at an average price of $71,902 per BTC. 

Strategy has acquired 13,927 BTC for ~$1.00 billion at ~$71,902 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 5.6% YTD 2026. As of 4/12/2026, we hodl 780,897 $BTC acquired for ~$59.02 billion at ~$75,577 per bitcoin. $MSTR $STRChttps://t.co/7y8pwgdTdk

— Strategy (@Strategy) April 13, 2026

The recent purchase still leaves Strategy holdings underwater, but the bear market has not stopped the company from making large-scale purchases. 

Strategy remains among the few playbook companies to keep adding BTC rapidly and without pause. 

Strategy relies on STRC to expand the treasury

The recent raise of over $1B is unique, as it is the first one to rely entirely on STRC issuance, with no added MSTR minting. Usually, Strategy supplemented its preferred stock with more MSTR dilution. 

This time, Strategy sold enough STRC to fund its entire weekly purchase, as demand for preferred stock increased. STRC has been trading around the $100 target price for two months now, allowing Strategy to perform regular raises. The current interest rate for STRC is at 11.5%. 

The recent BTC expansion increased Strategy’s mNAV metric to 1.12, a healthier ratio. However, the company is now saddled with $1.2B in annual dividends, growing each time more STRC is sold. Strategy has spent over $59B to build its treasury, which is now valued at around $55.3B, as BTC traded below $71,000.

Michael Saylor still sees BTC as a long-term treasury bet

Strategy’s Executive Chairman, Michael Saylor, commented on signs that BTC adoption has stalled. Saylor explained that the initial BTC rally was boosted by equities and that the current period is driven by digital credit. 

Saylor stated he maxed out bonds but is now purely in the fixed-income stage, with greater legs to convert more fiat to BTC.

LIVE NOW – Michael Salor’s Master Plan: "Fix the Money, Fix the World."

Bitcoin to $21M. Strategy as a digital credit machine. An “8% bank account” for a billion people.

Michael @saylor joins Bankless for the first time to unpack:

– Bitcoin becomes digital capital
– Strategy’s… pic.twitter.com/SPG0ZPZQHl

— Bankless (@Bankless) April 13, 2026

Saylor also mentioned the BTC treasury is a less volatile asset, which may continue to attract STRC buyers. He also believes capital for BTC may come from too-big-to-fail banks. 

According to Saylor, the playbook may remain viable if BTC appreciates by just 2.02% annually. Even a relatively small bull market may put all of Strategy’s treasury in the green and invite more buying. 

Following the latest large purchase, Strategy’s common stock MSTR recovered above $130, its highest level for the past week. For now, despite Strategy’s buying up spare BTC supply, the company has not managed to spark a BTC rally, even as it claims to have entered a new type of financing cycle.

As of April, only Strive, Inc. follows the digital credit playbook with its SATA preferred stock, which offers an annualized yield of 13%. For now, preferred shares with high yields are performing as needed, but pressure from skeptics and short sellers can force companies to raise yields and make their playbook less viable. 

 

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American musician Garrett Dutton, also known as G. Love of G. Love & Special Sauce, has had all his Bitcoin stolen in a hack. According to reports, he has lost 5.92 BTC worth roughly $424,000 from his retirement savings. 

How? He entered his seed phrase into a fake Ledger Live app from Apple’s Mac App Store while setting up a new computer. “All my BTC gone in an instant,” he lamented on X.

G Love hacked in a fake Ledger app scam

According to G Love, the malicious app he downloaded prompted him to enter his 24-word seed phrase. Shortly after, hackers drained all his BTC. Garrett Dutton has since confirmed that only his Bitcoin holdings were affected, not anything else. 

According to on-chain detective ZachXBT, the stolen BTC was laundered through KuCoin. One X user asked ZachXBT about the possibility of recovering the stolen BTC, to which ZachXBT expressed uncertainty. 

He states, “Kucoin has an ongoing problem with illicit services abusing broker/personal accounts, which compliance does nothing to regulate. Given its numerous deposit addresses, it’s likely one of those instant exchanges.”

ZachXBT traces stolen Bitcoin to KuCoin.

According to ZachXBT, this is evidenced by the loss of an important Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license from the European Union that the exchange obtained only three months prior, and lost in February 2026.

Some investors have called G Love a liar, and some a not-so-wise trader. This is considering Ledger’s stance on its wallets. According to the firm, its wallet is only available through Ledger.com. In addition, the wallet is not listed on any app store. To that end, any Ledger app on any consumer store is a fake.

All notices requesting that traders upgrade or install a new version of Ledger Live or Trezor Suite must be considered a scam unless proven otherwise.

The hack has triggered urgent warnings from Beau, the head of security for the popular NFT project Pudgy Penguins. He asserts, “You will NEVER need to enter your hardware wallet seedphrase on an internet-connected device (laptop, phone, smart fridge, etc.). If you’re restoring a wallet, always do so by entering your seed phrase on a hardware wallet device directly.”

According to him, crypto fake apps are often distributed by email, fake ads, and snail mail. 

Ledger CEO issues a warning on AI coding agents getting hacked

According to Ledger, AI coding agents are now being hacked through the very tools they rely on. Data shows that private keys and seed phrases have been exposed at the software layer.

In the newest edition of their podcast entitled “AI Agent With a Wallet. What Could Go Wrong?”, Ledger engineers explain how it won’t be long before AI agents are entrusted with managing the money for the sake of their owners.

The conversation is based on Ledger’s involvement in the recent Circle USDC OpenClaw Hackathon, which took place on Moltbook, a website designed as a social networking platform for AI agents. 

Ledger’s engineering team, with Kio Matias (Head of Product) and engineer Philip Barald included, highlighted that this technology makes the human no longer a permanent operator but rather an “architect.”

Recently, researchers discovered 26 third-party AI LLM routers that secretly inject malicious tool calls and steal credentials. 

26 third-party AI LLM routers now injecting malicious tool calls and stealing credentials. 

Despite having plaintext access to all in-flight JSON payloads, none of these routers use any form of cryptography to ensure message integrity from client to upstream model server.

These attacks are classified into two fundamental categories: payload injection (AC-1) and secret exfiltration (AC-2). This is in addition to two adaptive evasion attack types: dependency-targeted injection (AC-1.a) and conditional delivery (AC-1.b). 

The 28 paid routers are from Taobao, Xianyu, and Shopify-based marketplaces, and 400 free routers were found online through public channels. 

Researchers have found that seemingly legitimate APIs attack at the surface: a leaked OpenAI credential was responsible for 100 million GPT-5.4 tokens and 7 Codex queries, and poorly configured decoys generated 2 billion billed tokens, 99 credentials across 440 Codex queries, and 401 autonomous YOLO queries.

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South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has made a request to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to ensure fairness when reviewing who qualifies for basic pension. 

Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea (BoK) is pushing for strict new safety rules, including the introduction of “circuit breakers” for the crypto industry following the February Bithumb incident.

BAI demands fair pension payments 

South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has officially requested that the Ministry of Health and Welfare amend its laws to allow virtual assets to be included in the property calculation for the country’s basic pension review.

The BAI released its report on the Actual Status of Monitoring the Operation and Management of the Senior Welfare System. In it, the agency explained that digital assets have clear economic value and that, because the Basic Pension Act does not list them as property, people who own large amounts of digital assets might still qualify for basic pension payments. 

The basic pension is a government subsidy provided to low-income elderly people in South Korea. The BAI argued that digital assets should be treated like any other asset. 

“Even if digital assets are a new form of financial assets that are different from existing financial assets, there is no reason to look at their property value differently,” the audit report stated.

Officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare agreed with this finding, stating that it is necessary to prevent the payment of basic pensions to relatively high-income earners who do not fall under the lowest 70% of income brackets. 

Currently, there are no legal means for authorities to request information on digital asset holdings from exchanges, prompting the BAI to request that the Ministry revise the law to create a system where this data can be requested and verified.

Strict rules introduced, following Bithumb’s incident

Today, the Bank of Korea released its annual payment and settlement report. The report reviewed the February incident in which a Bithumb employee mistakenly paid out 620,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth about $42 billion at the time, to customers as a prize, instead of 620,000 won (approximately $460).

The BoK identified a lack of internal controls as the main cause. Employees could pay out Bitcoin without approval from a superior or confirmation from the monitoring department. The exchange also only checked its internal ledger against the actual blockchain balance once a day. 

Cryptopolitan previously reported that a 5-minute reconciliation system to confirm that the balance on an exchange’s ledger is the same as the balance in its wallets is underway. 

The central bank is now requiring crypto exchanges to implement a double-verification system that automatically detects input errors. The BoK also wants IT systems that can check internal and blockchain balances in real-time to block erroneous payments caused by human error. 

The BoK also suggested that lawmakers consider introducing “circuit breakers” for crypto exchanges, similar to those on the Korean stock exchange (KRX) that halt trading when sudden price fluctuations or large, abnormal mass orders occur. 

Beyond introducing stricter regulations, the Bank of Korea is moving forward with plans to build a digital currency ecosystem. 

Shin Hyun-song, the nominee for the Governor of the Bank of Korea, submitted a written response to the National Assembly stating that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and commercial bank deposit tokens should be the core of the digital currency ecosystem.

“I basically agree with the introduction of domestic won stable coins,” candidate Shin wrote. He went on to say that “maintaining trust in currency is still the most important.” 

Shin stated that, unlike the United States or Europe, South Korea is not a base currency. Therefore, compliance with regulations like customer confirmation and anti-money laundering is very important. He suggested that in the initial stages of issuing a won stablecoin, only a consortium of banks should be allowed before access is gradually expanded.

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London, United Kingdom, April 13, 2026 — Uquid, the leading global digital commerce infrastructure powered by stablecoin rails, today announced the launch of Uquid Tickets on the TRON network, designating TRON as the exclusive primary blockchain for purchasing verified event tickets with digital assets. The platform enables users to buy tickets for football matches, international tournaments, concerts, festivals, and live events worldwide using TRC-20 USDT and other digital assets on TRON.

The launch addresses a structural gap in the live events market, which is projected to surpass $900 billion by 2030, yet remains burdened by high fees, slow settlement, and fraud risk. TRON’s blockchain-based payment infrastructure offers immutable, verifiable transactions that settle in seconds, providing both ticketing operators and buyers with greater transparency and efficiency.

Uquid Tickets builds on TRON’s proven dominance within the Uquid ecosystem. According to Uquid’s Crypto Shopping Report 2025, TRON processed 48% of all crypto shopping transactions on the platform, up from 42.5% in 2024, peaking at 54% in the first half of the year. USDT on TRON accounted for 54% to 60% of all stablecoin transaction volume on the platform, with physical goods orders rising 64% year-on-year in Q3 2025, reinforcing TRON’s position as the leading network for everyday real-world crypto payments.

“TRON has consistently powered nearly half of our entire 2025 shopping volume and dominates stablecoin activity on our platform,” said Baobie Vo, Head of Business Development at Uquid. “Launching Uquid Tickets exclusively optimized for the TRON network was the obvious next step. We’re excited to give TRON users unmatched speed and near-zero fees to turn their crypto into unforgettable real-life experiences faster and cheaper than on any other chain.”

Tickets are delivered instantly upon blockchain confirmation, leveraging TRON’s high-speed block confirmation and throughput of up to 2,000 transactions per second. The integration also opens a direct spending pathway for stablecoin holders across emerging markets, where TRON commands its highest regional shares on the Uquid platform: 45% in Latin America, 35% in Africa, and 25% in Asia.

“Uquid Tickets highlights how TRON’s infrastructure enables seamless, real-world utility,” said Sam Elfarra, Community Spokesperson for the TRON DAO. “It brings users closer to spending digital assets on experiences that matter, with the efficiency and scale TRON is known for.”

Get Started on Uquid Tickets:

Browse: Visit Uquid Tickets to explore global events.

Select & Pay: Choose an event and seats, then purchase with USDT on TRON or other supported tokens. No account registration is required; users just have to connect their wallet and confirm payment to receive their verified ticket within seconds.

Receive Instantly: Verified tickets are delivered instantly upon on-chain confirmation. 

As Uquid and TRON continue to develop agentic payment capabilities, the Uquid Tickets platform is creating a strong foundation for AI-assisted and automated ticket purchasing. This integration enables smart, hands-free experiences such as automated ticket buying based on budget, and smart tracking for favorite teams, artists, and events. By combining TRON’s scalable infrastructure with AI intelligence, Uquid is making event ticketing simpler, faster, and more personalized than ever.

About Uquid

Uquid is a decentralized Web3 shopping and payment infrastructure enabling users to spend 100+ cryptocurrencies on millions of digital and physical products, services, and now live events. It bridges digital assets with real-world utility across leading blockchains.

Media Contact

Maeve Vu

pr@uquid.com

About TRON DAO

TRON DAO is a community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and dApps.

Founded in September 2017 by H.E. Justin Sun, the TRON blockchain has experienced significant growth since its MainNet launch in May 2018. Until recently, TRON hosted the largest circulating supply of USD Tether (USDT) stablecoin, which currently exceeds $86 billion. As of April 2026, the TRON blockchain has recorded over 374 million in total user accounts, more than 13 billion in total transactions, and over $26 billion in total value locked (TVL), based on TRONSCAN. Recognized as the global settlement layer for stablecoin transactions and everyday purchases with proven success, TRON is “Moving Trillions, Empowering Billions.”

TRONNetwork | TRONDAO | X | YouTube | Telegram | Discord | Reddit | GitHub | Medium | Forum

Media Contact

Yeweon Park

press@tron.network

The crypto funding landscape entered a new paradoxical phase, with the number of venture capital firms leading capital-raising rounds dropping sharply from pre-2022 peaks, even as the dollars raised have steadily recovered from the depths of 2022, when major events shocked the markets and sent institutional-grade backers and participants running for the hills. 

According to funding data referenced by Tom Dunleavy, head of venture at Varys Capital, the balance of power has tilted heavily toward crypto venture capital firms, with investors now having their pick of the field, the polar opposite of the 2021-2022 period when firms had to actively court projects to accept their funds instead of the other offers on the table. 

However, despite the reduced level of activity, the deals being closed are now bigger, with the firms that have proven the viability of their business models still getting the big bucks, as Cryptopolitan previously reported.

The venture capital landscape has moved on from 2022 FOMO

John Nahas, who is listed as Chief Business Officer at Ava Labs, backed up Dunleavy, noting that only 377 unique investors were involved in deals over the last quarter (about 90 days), compared to nearly 5,500 participants for the whole of 2022. 

While the comparison puts one quarter against four, the numbers show that the roster has shrunk several sizes. The slowest month of 2022, December, still featured 361 unique investors, compared to the 414 in the 2026 data to date. 

For Dunleavy, the biggest thing is how “VCs basically have the pick of the deal they want,” compared to pre-2022, when they had to be constantly “networking/writing/podcasting/going on spaces/” to convince projects to say yes to their checks. 

Now, “most firms are either out of money or are having difficulties raising funds. Those who have money are no longer funding dreams; instead, they reserve their backing for funding Series A and other advanced rounds where projects have proven the viability of their products.

In that regard, pre-seed funding rounds have seen a steady decline over the last three years, accounting for 8.55% of deals to just 6.61% in the past year. 

Also, now that firms no longer have money burning holes in their pockets, the scrutiny has increased. According to Dunleavy, “Deals that used to close in 2-3 weeks now close in 2-3 months,” as VCs now have “more time to do DD.”

Why did the music stop?

The high-profile crashes of FTX and Terra Luna in 2022 prompted predictable overcorrections as market participants reassessed their risk profiles, prompting institutions and retail to pull out, as JP Richardson, CEO of Exodus (NYSE: EXOD), pointed out on X over the weekend. 

Big backers reserve funding dollars for high-performers

With 2022 as an inflection point, crypto funding stats endured lean years in 2023 and 2024 before staging a resurgence in 2025. In March 2025, firms raised $5.6 billion across 142 funding rounds, according to CryptoRank data. Funding rounds for the 2025 year peaked at 145 in February, while 2026’s 100-round peak came in March. 

Crypto fundraising is staging a recovery since 2025. Source: CryptoRank

According to Cryptopolitan, total funding in 2025 ranged between $40-50 billion, up from $9.33-13.5 billion in 2024. 

Research by Galaxy Digital confirms that funds are now being directed to proven projects, noting: “big dollars going to bigger, later-stage companies.” 

The 57% of capital that went to later-stage companies in 2025 was the largest on record, and that trend has persisted into 2026. 

Crypto VC capital is now reserved for later-stage companies. Source: Galaxy Research

As Cryptopolitan reported, VC funding staged a comeback in March, with Coinbase Ventures and Animoca Brands leading after consecutive slower months to start the year. Predictably, a healthy chunk of the activity went to late-stage projects in undisclosed rounds.  

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Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, warned that USDC will not be frozen outside legal cases. The decision comes amid warnings that Circle could be more active in preventing hacking losses. 

Circle will not freeze USDC without a court order, stated CEO Jeremy Allaire at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. Circle still aims to remain among the most influential stablecoin issuers, but its position has exposed it to potential responsibility in the case of hacks. 

Since USDC is highly liquid and distributed in multiple pairs and lending vaults, it is often withdrawn in attacks and exploits. 

Circle has previously frozen multiple wallets, but only after a court order, as in the case of LIBRA tokens. Freezing or holding USDC now depends on specialized protocols that block withdrawals under their internal rules or smart contracts. 

Circle left Drift Protocol hack and swaps to continue

The news that USDC was freezeable sparked mixed reactions in the crypto community. Overall, the ability to claw back funds from hacks was seen as a positive development. Even censorship-free USDT tokens applied limited freezes. 

In the case of Drift Protocol, some of the exploit addresses were identified within the first hours of the hack, but Circle did nothing to freeze the funds. Immediate swaps through DeFi allowed the exploiter to disguise some of the funds. 

The Drift Protocol exploiter began spending portions of the available USDC to buy ETH, which could then be mixed to make tracing nearly impossible. 

Token freezes slowed down in 2026

Compared to previous years, token freezes declined in 2025 and early 2026. In the past quarter, most attacks targeted DeFi protocols, which operate under much weaker oversight. 

In some Web3 cases, Circle only blacklisted and froze addresses months after the exploit, after the funds were moved and laundered. 

Circle freezes peaked in 2025, but overall, the stablecoin issuer has been more reluctant to freeze funds compared to Tether. | Source: Dune Analytics

To date, USDC has frozen only 602 addresses, totaling 2,886 wallets for Tether’s USDT. In 2026, Circle froze 122 addresses, with 109 in February alone. Analysts noted that Circle’s indecision and long wait times may make USDC even more appealing to hackers. 

The solution to Circle refusing to freeze funds for anything other than a court order is not to carve out a bunch of exceptions, it’s to create a Chancery court that moves at the speed of the internet

— nic carter (@nic_carter) April 13, 2026

Scanning for suspicious addresses is not automated or facilitated by AI; it depends on ad hoc systems for notification and decision-making. As a result, researcher ZachXBT noted crypto has lost up to $420M in USDC since 2022 for failing to act when directed to known exploit addresses. 

USDC is not only stolen in major hacks. As more wallets adopt the stablecoin, they also become victims of address poisoning and dusting. USDC is among the tokens most often targeted for exploits due to its high adoption rate and liquidity through both DeFi and centralized exchanges.

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United Kingdom Member of Parliament Nigel Farage has added £2 million ($2.7 million) in Bitcoin to his wealth portfolio. According to reports, he made the purchase through Stack, a listed UK Bitcoin treasury firm. 

Per the April 13 announcement, Nigel Farage has become the first-ever MP and the first-ever UK political party leader to invest in Bitcoin for trade.

Nigel Farage goes heavy on Bitcoin

Farage’s Bitcoin purchase has been termed a landmark moment for BTC in the politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Praised by many, critics have also weighed in with questions about how politicians are investing in crypto coins and the effects it now has on normal day traders.

BREAKING: Nigel Farage has purchased £2m of Bitcoin for Stack BTC – becoming the first sitting MP and the first UK political party leader in history to publicly buy Bitcoin.

A landmark moment for Bitcoin in British politics.$STAK @Nigel_Farage @blockchain @kwasi_stackbtc… pic.twitter.com/O614kKe5TN

— Stack BTC (@stackbtc_) April 13, 2026

On the other hand, Frage has quite a relationship with Stack BTC. At the start of 2026, Nigel Farage made heavy investments in the Bitcoin company. According to reports, he invested £215,000, around $288,500, through his company, Thorn In The Side Ltd. 

With that purchase, Farage secured roughly 6% ownership in the Aquis-listed Bitcoin treasury firm chaired by former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

In the video released by Stack, the company hints at upcoming Bitcoin purchases, adding that the Farage BTC buy is but “the beginning of a great journey.”

In a different X post, Stack announced the purchase of 37 Bitcoins for £2 million, bringing total Bitcoin holdings to 68. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is presently trading at $70,963. At that price, Stack’s total BTC holdings stand at approximately $4.825 million.

Farage accused of playing Trump games with crypto

Today’s purchase has only amplified Farage’s behavioral tendencies that investors now tie to POTUS Donald J. Trump. 

Nigel Farage also receives crypto donations. Reports have it that Ben Delo, BitMEX’s co-founder, donated 4 million pounds (approximately $5.1 million) to Farage’s Reform UK party.

Farage acknowledges support from Ben Delo. Source: Nigel Farage via X

As reported by Cryptopolitan, Farage is already working on the deregulation of the crypto industry, hoping to breathe new life into the UK crypto industry should his party come to power. For Farage, the UK financial services industry has become anemic since its management by both the Conservatives and Labour parties.

According to the Electoral Commission’s guidelines, crypto donations are not illegal under electoral law, though they should be classified as non-cash donations and evaluated in pounds. In addition, parties have to confirm the donor’s identity, especially if the donation exceeds 500 pounds.

Secondly, the Reform UK party received a £9M ($12 million) donation from Christopher Harborne, a crypto investor. The Trump playbook has roots. According to Reuters, Farage is a friend of United States President Donald Trump.

Two-thirds of Reform’s funds in the last year have come from Harborne. He has stated in court filings that he owns 12% of Bitfinex, a crypto exchange that is a subsidiary of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer.

Christopher Harborne had previously been one of the biggest individual donors in politics, donating over £10 million in installments to Farage’s Brexit Party for their 2019 campaign.

Nigel Farage also received £28,000 (around $37,609) from Harborne to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Nigel Farage’s crypto investments are “a scandal hiding in plain sight”

It has been reported that Farage’s political campaign is now starting to resemble a giveaway show, offering massive financial gains for everyone.

As long as investors become convinced that Nigel Farage will eventually take control of No 10 Downing Street – and that a Reform government will work to promote his crypto stakeholders – the positive outcome becomes self-fulfilling. 

This is not only an investment in Bitcoin; it is an investment in political influence and power. Should this new era of Bitcoin materialize in the United Kingdom, Stack BTC is well-positioned for strong business.

While Trump’s playbook may prove successful in the US, Farage sells Reform UK as a way to circumvent elites, support technological innovations, and give power back to “the people”.

To many investors, Trump has not held his end of the bargain, neither will Farage.

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Connex and Arbitrum top token unlocks in $221M week, with the sum coming from a combination of one-time cliff unlocks and linear vesting programs.

RAIN alone contributes more than a third of this week’s total, making it the biggest contribution from the linear unlocks category. There are also multiple other tokens involved in the linear unlock schedule, such as Solana, TRUMP, and Dogecoin.

Connex, Arbitrum lead $221M in token unlocks this week

For single one-time cliff unlocks, Connex (CONX) is the most valuable token with a total value of $15.95 million. The unlock comprises 1.32 million tokens and 1.52% of the project’s adjusted released supply. This is the largest value of all cliff unlocks that are due for release during the period from April 13th to April 20th.

Token unlock data. Source: Tokenomist

The second largest cliff unlock is ARB, with a total amount of 96 million tokens having a total valuation of $10.65 million, representing 1.81% of its adjusted released supply.

De.Fi (DBR) will have the biggest proportionate cliff release of 618.33 million tokens with a valuation of $9.08 million. The smallest one-time cliff release in terms of value is Yeezy (YZY), with a total of 20.83 million tokens and a valuation of $6.36 million.

RAIN and SOL lead linear unlocks

In the linear category, RAIN tops the list of token outflows, valued at $75.67 million per week. The total number of tokens released is 9.50 billion, representing 1.99% of the circulating supply of RAIN.

Solana (SOL) comes in second place in the linear unlock category, valued at $38.22 million from 467,970 tokens. The percentage of the circulating supply is 0.08%. CC ranks third in the linear unlock category, releasing 191.71 million tokens, worth $28.06 million.

TRUMP enters the week with a linear unlock of 6.33 million tokens valued at $17.72 million, or 2.72% of its circulating supply. This is the highest percentage of any linear unlock this week.

Worldcoin (WLD) schedules the release of 37.23 million tokens worth $10.78 million and is 1.14% of circulating supply. Dogecoin (DOGE) adds $8.66 million through a release of 95.06 million tokens, equal to 0.06% of its circulating supply.

Less popular token unlocks

Apart from the ones listed above, there are some other not-so-prominent token unlock events scheduled within the time frame. REVOX (REX) will unlock the next 34.38 million tokens, which is equal to 1.15% of the total locked tokens of the project. The unlock percentage of REVOX is 68.44%.

The next token unlock event of Blast Royale (NOOB) involves 16.94 million NOOB tokens, while the circulating supply is 512 million NOOB. Unlock percentage of Blast Royale (NOOB) is 80.41%. There is another token unlock event for Chainbase (C) where 11.45 million C tokens worth $767,589.48 will be released.

Bubble (BUBBLE) has its next unlock planned for 296.08 million BUBBLE. The circulating supply of Bubble is 3.86 billion BUBBLE, and the unlock percentage achieved so far is 73.02%. Cherry AI (AIBOT) plans to unlock 19.9 million AIBOT tokens as its next unlock event.

Unlock progress for Cherry AI is 36.08%. In summary, the coming events for the week cover projects of various sizes and different token types. The total amount exceeds $221 million, and both cliff and linear unlocking events are included from April 13 to April 20.

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