Cryptopolitan

The cryptocurrency market is under renewed pressure amid two key developments. One is Kevin Warsh’s April 16 nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, and the other is traders scaling back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. The nomination process is taking place alongside an ongoing federal investigation into the central bank.

At the same time, sources noted that several traders are scaling back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts amid surprising jobs data. Following this situation, reports from Polymarket illustrated a 1% likelihood for a rate cut at the April meeting. Responding to this percentage, analysts reasoned that significant policy shifts will not occur until Warsh officially takes over the Fed.

June’s odds are 11%, whereas July’s expectations have fallen 36%, to a level of 21%. On the other hand, September’s probability dropped 14 points to 43%, while October sits at 55%. Meanwhile, December saw a 21-point decline to 63%, indicating that future meetings will show a marginal improvement, yet the broader downward trend continues.

Uncertainty surrounding the Fed’s decision on interest rate policy sparks concerns 

Crypto traders are experiencing heightened tension over the ultimate fate of digital assets like Bitcoin amid growing market uncertainty. One contributing factor to this situation is the US Federal Reserve’s intentions to hold interest rates steady. This plan was discovered shortly after reports highlighted the significant surge of US Treasury yields on April 3 during a short holiday session. Even so, futures indicate virtually no chance of a Fed rate cut this year.

Before the potential US-Iran conflict that spiked global oil prices by over 50%, reports noted that investors anticipated that Warsh’s confirmation as Fed chair this year would pivot the central bank toward lowering interest rates. Interestingly, since resuming office, Trump has exerted heightened pressure on Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States, to lower rates.

In light of the current circumstances, Alberto Musalem, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, remarked that inflation risks from the Middle East conflict do not warrant an immediate shift in the central bank’s interest rate policy.

Musalem calls on the Fed to hold its interest rates steady 

During a  speech prepared for an event at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Musalem stated that, “Policy is well positioned to handle risks related to our two main goals, and I think the current policy rate will stay appropriate for a while.” Afterward, he warned that the Fed’s usual tendency to overlook supply-driven inflation as temporary might not apply in this situation.

To break this point down for better understanding, Musalem noted that, “History shows we should be cautious, especially when inflation consistently exceeds our target,”  further adding that,

“Supply shocks could have a lasting effect on inflation and expectations about inflation, particularly because it’s hard to tell how much of the underlying inflation comes from temporary supply issues versus ongoing demand pressures.” 

During their recent meeting and subsequent comments, Fed officials have not indicated any immediate need to change interest rate policies. At their last meeting, they anticipated one rate cut this year as financial markets fluctuated between hopes of hikes and cuts based on inflation forecasts. 

In the meantime, the Fed’s recent meeting and subsequent comments indicate that it has not signaled an urgent need to alter interest rate policy. At their last meeting, they expected one rate cut this year, as financial markets oscillated between fears of hikes and hopes of cuts, driven by inflation forecasts.

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Big tech companies are running into serious problems as they rush to build the massive computer facilities needed for artificial intelligence, with projects getting canceled, workers losing jobs, and some firms even proposing to move operations into space.

OpenAI’s plan to build a major facility in Britain has ground to a halt months after the company made a big announcement.

The ChatGPT maker said last September it would work with British firm Nscale to set up operations at Cobalt Park in Tyneside, with plans to install roughly 8,000 Nvidia computing chips by early 2026. The facility still hasn’t opened, and OpenAI won’t say when it might start running.

The British project is part of Stargate, a $500 billion program that OpenAI boss Sam Altman revealed in January 2025 during a press event at the White House with Donald Trump. Altman said at the time that building facilities in Britain was part of a “shared vision that with the right infrastructure in place, AI can expand opportunity for people and businesses across the UK.” The company even brought on George Osborne, who used to run Britain’s treasury department, to handle international growth.

But in the United States, discussions with investors like SoftBank have been moving slowly. OpenAI also scrapped plans to expand a Texas site it was developing with Oracle, according to Bloomberg.

Oracle itself is facing a financial squeeze from its own push into AI infrastructure. The company shocked employees on March 31 by sending out termination emails at 6 a.m. The message told workers, “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day.”

Estimates of the job cuts range from 10,000 to 30,000 people. The higher number would represent nearly 19% of Oracle’s 162,000 employees. Nina Lewis, who worked in security for 34 years, wrote on LinkedIn that she was among “the 30,000 or so laid off today. Quite a shock.” She noted that “It seems layoffs follow an algorithm of high level individual contributors and mid-level managers – especially those with outstanding stock options.”

The cuts came even though Oracle reported a 95% jump in profits last quarter, bringing in just over $6 billion. However, the company’s stock price has fallen hard, closing at $147.11 on the day of the layoffs, down about 55% from its peak of $326.90 last September.

Oracle signed a $300 billion deal with OpenAI last year to provide computing infrastructure. But the company’s borrowing costs have doubled as banks pull back from financing its expansion plans. One analysis suggests cutting 20,000 to 30,000 positions could save Oracle up to $10 billion.

The problems aren’t limited to a few companies

Research group Sightline Climate found that between 30% and 50% of large AI facilities planned for the United States this year will face delays or get scrapped entirely. The group looked at 140 building projects representing at least 16 gigawatts of capacity scheduled to open by the end of 2026, but only around 5 gigawatts are actually being built right now.

Last year saw similar issues, with 26% of announced capacity getting delayed and another 10% pushed back to later dates. For 2027, plans call for more than 25 gigawatts, but less than 10 gigawatts is currently under construction.

Power supply is the biggest problem. Global electricity use by these facilities hit roughly 415 terawatt-hours in 2024, and the International Energy Agency thinks it could top 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2026. In Virginia, these facilities already consume 26% of all electricity. Ireland could reach 32% by the end of this year.

Getting basic equipment like batteries and transformers has also become difficult, according to Bloomberg.

Some companies are proposing wild solutions

SpaceX filed paperwork on January 30 asking to launch up to one million satellites to create what it called a constellation with “unprecedented computing capacity to power advanced artificial intelligence models.” Seven weeks later, Blue Origin filed for 51,600 satellites in its Project Sunrise.

Starcloud, a startup, raised $170 million in March at a $1.1 billion value and filed for permission to launch 88,000 satellites. Aethero, another new company, raised $8.4 million for similar work.

But scientists say the physics don’t work. Getting rid of heat in space requires about 1,200 square meters of radiator for every megawatt of power. Radiation damages chips.

Communication delays make training AI models nearly impossible. IEEE Spectrum calculated a one-gigawatt space facility would cost upward of $50 billion, roughly three times what a similar ground facility would cost.

Even Altman has called the idea “ridiculous” for this decade, pointing out that launch costs relative to regular power costs “simply does not work yet.”

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As Bitcoin enters a new era of institutional adoption, Michael Saylor is raising concerns about internal risks. Now that Bitcoin is recognized as digital capital, the issue is not so much whether it will survive as how it will change.

Saylor says that as more institutions come on board, the biggest threat may come from within the ecosystem itself, especially if decisions are made that could weaken Bitcoin’s original design and purpose.

For years, Bitcoin had to fight for legitimacy with critics questioning its real value, governments worried about regulation, and traditional investors remained distant. Today, that’s changed, with big financial institutions, asset managers, and even banks involved in Bitcoin.

Saylor says this marks the end of the “four-year cycle” narrative traders had grown accustomed to. In the past, Bitcoin’s price movements were closely tied to halvings and the decrease in the number of new coins introduced to the market. These cycles followed a predictable boom-and-bust pattern.

Now, things are different. Bitcoin’s price is increasingly influenced by capital flows—how much money is entering or leaving the market. Institutional investors bring large amounts of capital, and their decisions are often influenced by macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, inflation, and global liquidity.

This shift means Bitcoin is no longer just a speculative asset driven by retail enthusiasm. It is becoming part of the broader financial system, shaped by the same forces that influence stocks, bonds, and other assets.

Institutional money is reshaping Bitcoin’s future

The entry of institutions has brought both stability and complexity. On one hand, institutional adoption has increased trust in Bitcoin. It is now easier for large investors to access Bitcoin through regulated products, custodial services, and financial platforms.

On the other hand, this new wave of adoption changes how Bitcoin grows. Instead of being driven mainly by grassroots demand, its trajectory is now linked to banking systems, credit markets, and global investment strategies.

Saylor highlights that bank credit and digital financial infrastructure will play a key role in Bitcoin’s expansion. As more financial institutions integrate Bitcoin into their services, access will grow, but so will influence from traditional finance. 

This raises an important question: can Bitcoin remain true to its original principles while becoming part of the system it was designed to challenge?

The real danger now comes from within

According to Saylor, the biggest risk facing Bitcoin today is not regulation or external attacks. Instead, it is the possibility of “bad ideas” emerging from within the community, especially ideas that could lead to harmful changes to the Bitcoin protocol.

Moreover, Saylor warns about what he calls “iatrogenic” risks. This term, often used in medicine, refers to harm caused by the treatment itself. In Bitcoin’s case, it means well-intentioned changes that end up weakening the network.

As institutions become more involved, there may be calls to modify Bitcoin to better align with traditional finance. This could include changes to improve transaction speed, add compliance features, or integrate with banking systems.

While these ideas might seem beneficial in the short term, they could undermine Bitcoin’s core strengths, its simplicity, security, and decentralization.

Bitcoin’s design has remained largely unchanged for a reason. Its stability is part of what makes it trustworthy. Major changes to the protocol could introduce new vulnerabilities or shift control toward a smaller group of powerful players.

Saylor emphasizes that protecting Bitcoin now requires discipline. The community must resist the urge to constantly “improve” the system in ways that compromise its foundation.

As more money flows into Bitcoin, the stakes become higher. The network must balance adoption with preservation, ensuring that it remains open, secure, and decentralized.

In Saylor’s view, Bitcoin’s future will depend not just on how much capital it attracts, but on how well it protects its core ideas. Winning the first battle was about survival.

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Elon Musk’s X is now locking user accounts the second they post about cryptocurrency for the first time. Users have to verify their identity before they can post again.

The company says it’s going after hackers who break into accounts and use them to push fake investment schemes. Nikita Bier runs product development at X. He said the system triggers whenever an account mentions crypto for the first time ever.

The change “should kill 99% of the incentive” for criminals stealing accounts, according to Bier. He replied under an X post of the victim who got fooled by what looked like a real copyright notice. It was actually a fake login page. After entering their password and security codes, attackers grabbed the accounts, locked them out, and started posting scam promotions.

Account theft like this has been a problem since the platform was still called Twitter. The new lockdown builds on earlier efforts to stop spam networks and organized groups running crypto promotions. Bier also criticized Google. He said the email company isn’t doing anything to stop phishing messages from getting through Gmail. He called the auto-lock a workaround for a problem X can’t fix directly.

Crypto scams drain $6.1 billion as reports surge past 2024 levels

The Federal Trade Commission has been tracking crypto scams on social media. They’ve become a multi-billion-dollar problem. Victims usually can’t get their money back because you can’t reverse blockchain transactions. That’s why stolen accounts with followers are so valuable to criminals.

People trust posts from accounts they recognize. The lockdown breaks that by stopping scammers from using a stolen account immediately. Through the first nine months of 2025, people reported 113,842 investment scams. Total losses hit $6.1 billion. That puts 2025 on pace to beat 2024, when 121,000 scams got reported with $5.8 billion in losses. Scammers grabbed $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency through the third quarter of 2025, according to Moltey Fool. That’s up from $1 billion in the same period of 2024.

Only bank transfers moved more money to criminals. People aged 40 to 49 filed the most reports. They submitted 9,513 of them and lost $366 million total. The typical loss was $7,405. Americans between 30 and 70 face way higher risk than younger or older groups.

Social platforms drive 38% of investment fraud as Google pulls spam protection

Social media was the starting point for 38% of investment scams. That’s more than any other method. Another 17% started on websites or apps. Victims who first got contacted through social media went from 4,889 in 2020 to 26,569 in 2024. Through the third quarter of 2025, there were 20,715 reports. In 2020, just 29% of these scams started on social platforms.

Things might get worse as Google shuts down Gmailify in January 2026. The tool lets people connect Yahoo, AOL, and Outlook accounts to Gmail and use its spam filters. Google’s also stopping the automatic pull of emails from other services into Gmail. Users relying on these features might not notice until spam starts slipping through.

American households lose about $119 billion yearly to digital fraud. That’s according to the Consumer Federation of America. The estimate comes from the FBI’s count of $16.6 billion in reported internet crimes during 2024.

Chainalysis found cryptocurrency scams brought in at least $14 billion in 2025. That’s up from $9.9 billion in 2024. The firm thinks that number could hit $17 billion once they identify more criminal wallets. The average scam payment jumped from $782 in 2024 to $2,764 in 2025. Impersonation scams exploded by 1,400% compared to last year. Average payments went up by over 600%.

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Telegram founder Pavel Durov urged “Russian brothers and sisters” to return to “digital resistance” in the face of Moscow’s attempts to block the popular messenger.

Durov’s call comes amid mounting reports of outages in the past weeks coming from many corners of the huge country, which has intensified efforts to cut access to the platform.

65 million Russians still use Telegram daily, Durov says

Millions of Russian citizens continue to communicate through Telegram despite their government’s push to prevent them from doing so, the app’s owner unveiled.

Durov made the claim in reaction to the blocking of the messenger over non-compliance with Russia’s rules, mainly over alleged failures to delete information prohibited by local law.

In a post on Saturday, the tech entrepreneur remarked:

“Telegram was banned in Russia — yet 65M Russians still use it daily via VPNs, with 50M+ sending messages every day.”

He also reminded that Russian authorities have been trying to ban VPN (virtual private network) services for years as well.

“Their blocking attempts just triggered a massive banking failure — cash briefly became the only payment method nationwide yesterday,” Durov also revealed.

He likened the recent developments in Russia to Iran’s earlier attempt to ban Telegram and recalled: “The government hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps but got mass adoption of VPNs instead.”

According to Pavel Durov, who was born in Russia but is now a French-Emirati citizen, millions of Russians are now joining millions of Iranians in opposing state censorship. He turned to them:

“Welcome back to the Digital Resistance, my Russian brothers and sisters. The entire nation is now mobilized to bypass these absurd restrictions. Thousands are building VPNs and proxies.”

Durov, also the chief executive of the messaging service, vowed that Telegram will keep adapting and making its traffic harder to detect and block.

Russia’s crackdown on Telegram enters new phase

Russian regulators have been accusing Telegram mainly of failure to comply with the country’s requirements regarding content moderation.

The messenger has been fined for such violations, most recently in March, when a Moscow court imposed a hefty financial penalty for not deleting a post allegedly calling for extremism.

Voice calls through the platform had already been limited in August of last year, when the authorities said the app had become a popular tool for fraudsters and cybercriminals.

Russia’s telecom watchdog and media censor, Roskomnadzor (RKN), started slowing down traffic to Telegram in early February.

At the time, Durov accused Moscow of trying to “force its citizens to switch to a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship.”

The app he was apparently referring to is called Max. The government-backed alternative, touted as the “national messenger,” has grown its daily audience to 70 million, according to state media.

Telegram became the most popular messaging app in Russia this past January, when it overtook the already banned WhatsApp, reaching over 95 million users.

The Telegram channel Baza posted in mid-February that the full blocking of the messaging service would begin in early April. Sources quoted later by RBC confirmed the timeframe.

Meanwhile, local authorities in a number of Russian regions and cities have been reportedly foiling protests in defense of Telegram.

Pavel Durov’s messenger is widely used not just by ordinary Russian citizens and businesses, but also by many officials and institutions.

Amid an increasing number of reports of issues with its mobile app and desktop version on platforms such as Detector404.ru and Cбой.рф, the country’s crypto community has been struggling to find a substitute.

Government representatives have previously indicated that Telegram may continue to operate in the Russian Federation if it complies with its legislation.

Russia first tried but failed to block the messenger in 2018, when it refused to provide law enforcement with encryption keys and access to user communications. That ban was eventually lifted two years later.

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Charles Schwab, a major US financial services company, is on track to roll out spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum in the first half of 2026. This announcement was made shortly after Bitcoin recorded its poorest quarterly performance since early 2018, concluding the first quarter of this year on a significant low.

To confirm this recently released report, sources highlighted a newly published cryptocurrency page in the company’s “Investment Products” section on the website, indicating that Schwab Crypto’s launch is around the corner. Moreover, a representative from the firm confirmed to several reporters that the spot offering is coming soon.

“We are on schedule to launch our spot crypto offering in the first half of 2026, starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum,” the spokesperson said. At this particular moment, interested individuals were advised to sign up online for updates and early access.

This finding implies that Charles Schwab’s members will soon be able to purchase spot BTC and ETH. On the other hand, analysts suggested that the company would enable its members to custody digital assets on its platform.

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $66,938.64, up 0.07% over the past 24 hours, while Ethereum is trading at $2,051.92, down 0.15% over the same period.

Charles Schwab seeks to explore the crypto market amid heightened interest in the sector 

Charles Schwab’s recent announcement followed the President and CEO of The Charles Schwab Corporation, Rick Wurster’s March interview, in which he noted that the service would be launched with a restricted release in the second quarter, followed by expansion later in the year.

At this time, analysts discovered a signup form that indicates that only US-based residents are eligible for Schwab Crypto, excluding New York and Louisiana residents. Regarding this finding, several individuals shared their views. They emphasized that this move represents a major leap forward for Schwab’s adoption of cryptocurrency. Notably, the company manages more than $12.2 trillion in assets. 

To demonstrate its dedication to positioning itself as a hub for digital assets, reports highlighted that the company currently offers various cryptocurrency investment options. Some of these options include investing in crypto-related stocks such as Coinbase and Strategy, or via exchange-traded products.

When reporters asked Charles Schwab why it decided to embrace this move now, the company claimed that it was awaiting regulatory clarity before expanding their involvement in the crypto space. 

Interestingly, sources noted that the firm recently showed heightened interest in stablecoins. This was after Wurster announced that the US brokerage giant was exploring stablecoins in a statement last year. “Stablecoins are likely to be important for transactions on blockchains, and we want to offer that,” the CEO remarked during an earnings call. 

Meanwhile, while Charles Schwab prepares itself to launch spot trading for BTC and ETH  in the first half of 2026, reports released last month mentioned that clients from Schwab and TD Ameritrade, which Charles Schwab acquired,  can gain entry into the cryptocurrency market via trading US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs and CME Bitcoin futures rather than directly trading coins citing information retrieved from Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and CME Group. 

If the launch of Schwab’s spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum is officially confirmed, this move would establish another major brokerage in the crypto space, rivaling existing services from Fidelity and Robinhood. On the other hand, sources highlighted that traders are tracking potential shifts in liquidity and retail involvement during US market hours, according to disclosures from Fidelity and Robinhood. 

This statement prompted several analysts to weigh in on the topic of discussion. They shared their belief that this move marks a turning point for crypto adoption in traditional finance, likely creating new opportunities for institutional and retail investors.

In the meantime, the analysts advised traders to prepare for heightened volatility ahead of the launch, driven by growing anticipation over the integration of traditional finance and decentralized assets.

Uncertainties surround Bitcoin’s fate in the crypto market 

Bitcoin declined sharply from an all-time high of $95,000 in February to around $66,700 by the end of the quarter, representing a roughly 22% decline so far this year. This information was retrieved from a Talos report, which incorporated data from Coin Metrics, a crypto financial intelligence provider acquired by the institutional trading firm.

The company further indicated that losses reached 34.6% during the quarter. At the moment, BTC  is trapped in a narrow band, holding between $66,000 and $70,000. 

A research report from Wintermute, a leading global algorithmic market maker and liquidity provider in digital assets, noted that low transfer activity from large investors, combined with a lack of buying pressure, indicates weak price support.

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Charles Hoskinson said Midnight makes blockchain safer and protects essential data while still complying with the rules, thereby increasing adoption among banks and institutional investors.

Hoskinson said he loved the Matrix theme with Neo and Morpheus to show just how much users lack privacy online, and Midnight could be the solution that offers better privacy.

Midnight uses privacy technology to keep user and business data safe

People trust the blockchain because users can track transactions and verify that systems work properly without needing a central authority. However, this transparency comes with a serious privacy issue, as strangers, competitors, and criminals can access transaction records with malicious intent.

The extent of data visibility creates new risks, as companies that pay suppliers in Bitcoin leave behind payment records competitors can use to learn about business relationships, costs, and operations.

Similarly, criminals will always target users holding large amounts of crypto, using their wallet history to make malicious attempts. The Midnight ad showed how the system monitors every online activity, and blockchain isn’t any better since the public ledger records all financial transactions permanently.

The advertisement also pointed to cases that stemmed from information leaks, such as crypto theft, exchange hacks, wallet hacks, and even physical kidnappings and robberies where criminals targeted crypto wallets. 

Midnight uses a technology called zero-knowledge proofs, which allow users to transact without sharing all their personal information or leaving an obvious trail. It also uses selective disclosure, where users and companies choose the information they want to share and what they want to keep private.

As a result, a balance between transparency and privacy emerges, favoring banks and institutional investors who must protect customer data, business contracts, payment information, and internal financial records.

While earlier blockchains focused on payments, then smart contracts, then scaling, Midnight takes it further by also focusing on privacy, data protection, and regulatory compliance. What’s more, private smart contracts will allow businesses to run contracts on the blockchain without sharing more details with the public.

The levels of data access through selective disclosure on Midnight also allow regulators to see the information they need, while companies protect business secrets and users safeguard their personal data.

Governments today want transparency and compliance in all business activities, but users and companies crave privacy, so Midnight is the middle child that allows controlled transparency and secrecy.

Hoskinson says privacy technology helps more institutions use crypto

Midnight launched its mainnet on March 30 after months of testing on its beta testnet, making it ready for real users, including companies, banks, and large investors seeking both privacy and compliance.

Before the mainnet launch, Midnight ran the Midnight City Simulation to process zero-knowledge proofs at scale, and the results proved positive. Such preparation will help attract institutional investors accustomed to strict consumer protection and compliance laws.

Midnight’s privacy technology also helps tokenize assets with sensitive information, and banks like Monument have already begun using the infrastructure to tokenize retail deposits.

Hoskinson has always said that blockchain can only reach large institutions if they offer privacy infrastructure, because banks, governments, and financial organizations can’t operate fully transparent, decentralized systems.

The simulation and launch demonstrate how well the network is ready for real-world use, and organizations that were hesitant to adopt blockchain due to privacy risks can now adopt Midnight in their operations.

The Midnight ad proved that a lack of privacy is what’s blocking banks and institutions from adopting blockchain, but with the network’s new features, technology can be safe, usable, and compliant.

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China is opening the month with strength across trade, chips, and money markets.

Chinese companies tied to cross-border transactions saw their stocks surge after the commerce ministry said the yuan is being used to pay tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. That news sent traders straight into names linked to moving money across borders.

In Shenzhen, CNPC Capital, the financial services arm of China National Petroleum, jumped as much as the 10% daily limit. Lakala Payment climbed as much as 7.9%. Shenzhen Forms Syntron Information rose 9.4% before giving back part of the gain later.

Cross-border payments surge as yuan toll use lifts market bets

China has been pushing wider yuan use in trade for years, and this update gave the market something specific to trade on. That is why CNPC Capital, Lakala Payment, and Shenzhen Forms Syntron Information all shot higher in the same session.

The second major piece of the story came from SMIC, China’s biggest chipmaker, which reported 2025 revenue increase of 16% from a year ago to a record $9.3 billion.

Analyst estimates from LSEG say revenue could top $11 billion in 2026.

Moore Threads, which wants to compete with Nvidia, said 2025 revenue should come in between 1.45 billion yuan and 1.52 billion yuan, or about $209.8 million, which would mean growth of 231% to 247% from a year earlier.

New U.S. restrictions on Nvidia’s chips to China have also pushed Beijing to encourage local firms to buy homegrown alternatives. Huawei has been one of the companies stepping in. The gap is still there, though. Chinese chips still trail U.S. products on performance.

Chip sales jump while the central bank pulls cash from the system

Even with record revenue, China’s chipmakers are still behind rivals in the U.S., South Korea, Europe, and Taiwan when it comes to advanced technology.

U.S. export restrictions kept pushing Beijing to support local technology harder. Analysts and the companies themselves are now looking for another leg up this year as Chinese tech giants keep spending on AI infrastructure at home.

SMIC and Hua Hong still cannot produce the world’s most advanced chips at scale like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

A big reason is that they cannot get the most advanced tools made by ASML in the Netherlands because of export restrictions. China is trying to build domestic alternatives, but that job is difficult because the technology is highly complex.

At the same time, China’s central bank (People’s Bank of China) withdrew cash from the financial system for the first time in a year, draining 890 billion yuan, or about $129 billion, through short-term open market operations.

The central bank also absorbed another 250 billion yuan through longer-term tools, including outright reverse repurchase agreements and the medium-term lending facility.

Now growth has picked up at the start of the year, and the war in Iran has pushed oil prices higher. That has made the PBOC more cautious as China gets closer to moving out of its record deflation stretch.

More detail on the withdrawal should come in mid-April, when the bank releases balance sheet data.One key measure is claims on other depository corporations, which tracks lending to commercial banks.

That figure had risen for nine straight months through February. It also includes structural policy tools that support lending to targeted sectors, and those usually change less month to month.

To offset some of the drain, the PBOC resumed government bond purchases in October, but those purchases have been no larger than 100 billion yuan a month.

After counting all liquidity tools, the central bank made a net drain of more than 810 billion yuan in March, based on an official statement published on Thursday.

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The European Union must be prepared for a long-lasting energy crisis, according to the official responsible for the sector at the executive body in Brussels.

While the EU is assessing “all possibilities” to deal with it, including fuel rationing, its leadership does not intend to give up plans to abandon Russian gas.

Fuel prices won’t go down soon, says head of European energy

EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen is predicting a prolonged crisis caused by the war in the Middle East, which has been raging on for over a month now.

At the end of February, the United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes on Iran which retaliated by hitting targets across the Persian Gulf.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which accounted for over 20% of global oil and gas shipments, sent oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel.

The extensive damage inflicted on energy infrastructure in the region sparked fears around the world about the future of energy supplies.

Europe, which has been among the most affected, is now considering options to deal with the energy shock, Jørgensen told the Financial Times on Friday, warning:

“This will be a long crisis … energy prices will be higher for a very long time.”

He added that for some “critical” products officials in Brussels expect the situation may worsen even more in the coming weeks.

The Commissioner insisted that the Union was “not in a security of supply crisis, yet.” At the same time, its administration is planning on how to address “structural, long-lasting effects” of the war.

“The rhetoric that we’re using and the words we’re using are more serious now than they were earlier in the crisis,” Jørgensen admitted, elaborating further:

“It certainly is our analysis that this will be a prolonged situation, and countries need to be sure that they … have what they need.”

He emphasized that the EU is preparing for the worst scenarios such as the rationing of oil products like diesel and jet fuel.

It’s also ready to release more oil from emergency reserves, although it doesn’t need to do that at the current moment.

“I mean, better to be prepared than to be sorry,” Jørgensen added in comments for the British business newspaper.

Amid surging market prices, EU member states carried out a large-scale release of oil reserves last month. Jørgensen would not exclude another one, if necessary, although he declined to indicate when that might happen.

Europe is not changing energy rules for now

At this point, Europe is not amending its regulations to allow imports of lower-grade jet fuel or gasoline containing more ethanol, Dan Jørgensen noted.

“We’re not there yet where we have remedied or changed any of our current rules,” he said, but also emphasized the Commission is looking at all possibilities.

“It’s clear the more serious the situation gets, the more, of course, we will also have to look into legislative tools,” Jørgensen remarked and stated:

“If this is indeed, as I project, a long-lasting crisis, then we need those tools also at a later stage. It needs to be done at the exact right time, and it needs to be proportionate.”

EU won’t budge on plan to ban Russian gas

At the same time, Jørgensen made it clear that Brussels has no intentions to amend the legislation that puts an end to imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the EU.

The European Union favors substituting them with shipments from the United States and other partners that operate in the free market, as he reasoned.

Russian LNG supplies to the bloc fell by 5.6% in 2025 to 20.3 billion cubic meters, TASS highlighted in report quoting the Energy Commissioner.

With total gas supplies of 38 billion cubic meters, Russia ranked fourth among Europe’s suppliers, with Norway, the U.S., and Algeria forming the top three, the news agency also noted.

In January, EU countries approved a complete ban on Russian LNG imports, starting from January 1, 2027, and pipeline gas imports from September 30, 2027.

However, some restrictions will enter into force much earlier. For example, LNG imports under short-term contracts will be prohibited from April 25, while short-term contracts for pipeline gas must be completed by June 17, 2026.

The decision is part of efforts to end the EU’s dependency on Russia’s energy and prevent Moscow from using the proceeds to fund its invasion of Ukraine.

The new conflict in Iran has led to surging fuel prices across the Old Continent and both wars are threatening to almost completely turn off the oil and gas taps for Europe.

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The Cambodian National Assembly has unanimously passed an anti-cybercrime law that introduces life sentences for scam ringleaders, with especially harsh sentences for those whose operations involve violence and result in the loss of lives. 

In an attempt to crack down on cybercrime, Cambodian authorities recently extradited fugitive tycoon Chen Zhi and his key associate, Li Xiong, to China and passed a law that imposes life sentences and heavy fines on scammers.

Cambodia’s zero tolerance for violent scam operations 

All 112 lawmakers present in Cambodia’s National Assembly voted on March 30 to pass the Law on Combating Online Scams. The law passed Senate review today, April 3. It imposes severe penalties ranging from heavy fines to life imprisonment for those running forced-labor fraud compounds. 

Under the legislation, individuals suspected of being directors of fraud operations face 5 to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. If a scam operation involves human trafficking, illegal detention, or physical violence, the ringleaders face 10 to 20 years in prison. 

If a victim dies, often as a result of escape attempts or torture, the bosses face 15 to 30 years or even life imprisonment. 

Cambodian Justice Minister Koeut Rith told a news conference that passing the law aims to “send a message to cyber scammers that Cambodia is not a place to do scams.” 

In January 2026, Cambodian authorities arrested and extradited Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old chairman of Prince Group, to China. Chen, who once boasted of making $30 million daily from online scams, had his Cambodian citizenship revoked, and now he faces potential life imprisonment. 

Li Xiong, the former chairman of Huione Group, a Prince Group subsidiary, was also extradited. 

Enforcement of laws in Cambodia has historically been a challenge. Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center, noted that past crackdowns in the country often failed because they left the financial and protection networks for these criminals intact, allowing their operations to quickly restart. 

Furthermore, the U.S. State Department previously alleged that some senior-level officials were complicit in the schemes, but the government has so far denied the accusation. 

Are the scammers just moving to another country?

Experts have warned that while the pressure is forcing scam operations to end in Cambodia, the global scam economy, which is valued as high as $64 billion annually by the UN, cannot easily fall apart. The industry is simply spilling over into Africa and other parts of Asia.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently reported that the cyberscam industry has reached “industrial proportions.”

As crackdowns intensify in Southeast Asia, crime syndicates are expanding their operations into Africa, specifically targeting nations like Zambia, Angola, and Namibia where regulation is looser. The UN has worryingly described the spillover as “potentially irreversible.” 

According to a March 2026 report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), South Africa has become a popular base for international scammers who operate targeting victims abroad.  

Interpol’s Operation Red Card 2.0, conducted from December 2025 to January 2026 across 16 African countries, resulted in 651 arrests and the recovery of over $4.3 million in illicit proceeds. 

In the meantime, following the extradition of scam kingpins in Cambodia, thousands of trafficked victims who were abandoned without their passports or money by fleeing compound managers have been left stranded at embassies in Phnom Penh or attempting to cross borders. 

Since July 2025, Cambodia has deported over 11,000 foreign nationals linked to the trade.

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A group of American lawmakers from both parties has put forward a new bill that would sharply limit China’s ability to get hold of the equipment it needs to make advanced computer chips.

The legislation, called the MATCH Act, was introduced late Thursday.

It aims to keep the United States ahead in the artificial intelligence race by stopping Chinese companies from buying chip-making machines they cannot produce on their own.

Much of the attention falls on ASML, a Dutch company that is the only maker of the most advanced chip production equipment in the world.

Past restrictions on what China could import were pushed through by the White House under both the Trump and Biden administrations. This time, the push is coming directly from Congress.

The lawmakers behind the bill include Congressman Michael Baumgartner and John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China.

According to Baumgartner’s office, the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware Act, MATCH for short, is designed to close what it calls “critical gaps” in the rules that already exist.

“The MATCH Act will close loopholes, create a level playing field for U.S. and allied toolmakers, and ensure the next decade of growth in chip manufacturing… happens in the United States and allied countries, not China,” the report from his office states.

Bill targets older machines and named Chinese firms

The bill takes direct aim at a specific type of chip-making machine called immersion DUV lithography. China buys most of these from ASML and, to a lesser extent, from its smaller Japanese competitor, Nikon.

Rules already bar ASML from selling its newest and most powerful EUV machines to China. But the MATCH Act would go further.

It would ban the sale and even the maintenance of older DUV machines to major Chinese chip companies.

The bill clearly designates SMIC, Hua Hong, Huawei, CXMT, YMTC, and associated companies as targets. If the legislation is approved, these businesses would receive exports, servicing, and technical assistance in the same manner that the United States presently treats businesses on its Entity List.

This would essentially compel ASML to violate current agreements and give up a significant portion of its business. With 33% of ASML’s total revenue in 2025, China was the company’s largest market.

This year, that percentage is already predicted to drop to about 20%.

One of the bill’s central goals is to make sure that American allies play by the same rules as U.S. companies. The proposal gives allied countries 150 days to show they are tightening their own controls.

If they fall short, the Department of Commerce would be directed to put the restrictions in place on its own. The bill also widens U.S. authority over goods made in other countries if they include American software, technology, or parts.

Senator Pete Ricketts spoke plainly about what the bill is trying to fix.

“For too long, our export controls have been a patchwork of entity-based restrictions that Beijing easily bypasses using front companies,” he said. “The MATCH Act strengthens our controls and creates a level playing field for U.S. companies.”

The Dutch government offered a careful response to the bill. A spokesperson from the Netherlands’ foreign ministry said it was “not our place to comment on draft legislation proposed by lawmakers from other countries.” ASML said nothing publicly on Friday.

Rare earth squeeze looms as China’s likely countermove

China could attempt to tighten its hold on rare earth elements, another piece of the technology puzzle, in response to Washington’s efforts to tighten regulations on chip equipment.

A top Chinese delegation had recently visited research facilities and manufacturers to advocate for closer cooperation between the mining, production, and commercial usage of these commodities, according to state-affiliated industry sources.

China could carefully control its rare earth business, as evidenced by the visit, which emphasized the need to ensure supply and maintain stable prices.

The concern for Western technology companies is not just about raw materials.

China already leads in the processing of rare earths and in manufacturing products like electric vehicle motors and industrial robots that depend on them.

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With a 23.8% decline to close at $66,619 on March 31, Bitcoin finished the first three months of 2026 with its biggest quarterly loss since 2018. The primary cause can be summed up in one word: outflows.

The decline marked a clear departure from the bullish streak that had characterized most of the preceding year.

The Official Report on Q1 Crypto Market Activity states that a consistent withdrawal of funds from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds was the largest factor driving down prices. Over the course of the quarter, the funds lost a net $496.5 million.

Before a minor recovery in March helped mitigate the impact, January and February were particularly difficult, with $1.8 billion fleeing those products.

When prices fell, large investors withdrew more money, which caused prices to drop further and led to even more withdrawals.

The cycle was self-sustaining. Even if a $1.32 billion influx into Bitcoin ETFs in a single day in March seemed to be a possible turning point, analysts believe that the recovery will only depend on how long these inflows last over the coming weeks.

According to the Official Report, the present is a cautious ascent after a challenging period that started in the latter few months of 2025.

But this wasn’t capital leaving crypto entirely. It was just moving around inside the system.

Stablecoins fill the gap

While Bitcoin struggled, stablecoins told a different story entirely.

Total stablecoin supply climbed to a record $315 billion during the first quarter, clear evidence that money stayed on-chain rather than fleeing to traditional fiat.

As investors appear to shift money out of riskier assets and into stable assets, stablecoins accounted for 75% of all crypto trading volume during the period, the highest share ever recorded.

Total stablecoin transaction volume crossed $28 trillion for the quarter, underlining how central these dollar-pegged tokens have become to the daily workings of the crypto market.

The numbers point to rotation, not retreat. Capital is not leaving crypto entirely; it is moving from speculative bets into more stable corners of the ecosystem.

However, a closer examination of the activity data adds nuance to that image.

Retailers drastically cut back

A prominent indicator of regular investment activity, transfers from smaller wallets fell 16% in Q1, the largest reduction ever.

However, almost 76% of all stablecoin transactions were made by automated trading bots, indicating that the majority of market movement is not being caused by individuals making conscious decisions.

There was a noticeable division between the two largest companies in the stablecoin industry itself.

During the quarter, Circle’s USDC increased its supply by almost $2 billion, or slightly more than 12%. In comparison, Tether’s USDt decreased by about $3 billion. This is the first significant difference between the two since the second quarter of 2022, according to the Official Report.

Yield is also contributing to the stablecoin boom.

During that time, the market value of products that give holders a return on their stablecoin holdings increased by almost $4.3 billion.

With a daily trading volume of more than $100 million, the market segment is currently valued at over $3.7 billion.

What to watch going into Q2

Considering the second quarter, the Official Report points to three factors that will shape where things go next.

The first is what the Federal Reserve decides to do with interest rates. The second is whether Bitcoin ETF inflows continue to recover.

The third is progress on crypto regulation, particularly a long-awaited digital asset classification framework from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that could reduce uncertainty for stablecoins and other key assets.

Bitcoin itself remains stuck below a key ceiling. Analysts think that before the market can declare that it has turned the corner, a decisive rise over $70,000 is required. Resistance is located between $68,800 and $69,600.

If these events coincide, the capital currently cycling into stablecoins may return to riskier assets, completing the cycle without ever truly exiting the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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South Korea’s FSS has asked Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, to correct its disclosure regarding its merger with Naver Financial, claiming that important details were omitted. 

Meanwhile, Korea Investment & Securities has positioned itself as a potential buyer of Coinone, following its rival Mirae Asset Group’s acquisition of Korbit. 

Why did the FSS issue a correction order for Dunamu and Naver?

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has officially ordered Dunamu, the operator of the largest Korean exchange, Upbit, to correct its disclosure of the comprehensive stock exchange with Naver Financial.

According to the FSS, the report submitted by Dunamu on March 30 contained “important omissions or false statements.” The financial regulator specifically pointed to two sections of the report: the “plan for future company restructuring” and “important matters related to other investment judgments.”

In the original report that was flagged by regulators, Dunamu stated that no specific decisions had been made about restructuring the company after the stock exchange was completed. 

Dunamu added that any future decisions or board resolutions will be disclosed in accordance with regulations. 

The company also disclosed that Naver would secure voting rights in Naver Financial through contracts between major shareholders. Following the stock exchange, Naver Financial would remain a consolidated subsidiary of Naver. The share value ratio between Dunamu and Naver Financial was specified as 3.064569:1.

The company explicitly warned investors that the stock exchange could face delays or cancellation due to the need for approval from the Fair Trade Commission, approval for changes to Naver Financial’s major shareholders under the Credit Information Act, and changes to Dunamu’s major shareholder status under the Specific Financial Information Act. 

Additionally, Dunamu noted that the ongoing legislative process for the Digital Asset Framework Act could affect the progress and outcome of the stock exchange. Reports from mid-March show that discussions about the framework had faced delays, and it was even left off the agenda of a key government meeting on March 19. 

Who is looking to acquire a stake in Coinone?

Korea Investment & Securities is working to persuade financial authorities and politicians regarding the acquisition of Coinone shares. 

An official familiar with the matter stated that the company is following a similar path to its rival, Mirae Asset Group, in its acquisition of Korbit.

Coinone ranks third among Korean exchanges, with a double-digit market share, but it has recorded deficits for three consecutive years. Financial authorities are pushing to limit the stake sizes of major shareholders in exchanges, so it is expected that some of the 53.44% stake held by CEO Cha Myung-hoon will be sold. 

While several domestic companies have expressed interest in the shares, a significant gap in price expectations has prevented solid deals. Korea Investment & Securities, however, has significant financial power. 

Market observers suggest that Korea Investment & Securities would need to buy about 20% of the shares to enter the deal without infringing on the CEO’s management rights. The acquisition of Korbit by Mirae Asset Consulting for approximately 133 billion won (about $93 million) is expected to serve as a pricing reference point. 

Coinone responded to the reports by confirming that various collaboration proposals have been coming in due to increased interest in the virtual asset business, but that while it has discussed collaborations with various parties, the specific model, method, or target has not been determined.

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The Cosmos ecosystem’s struggles appear set to be compounded, as the non-custodial Leap Wallet announced it would stop operating from May 28. The shutdown news arrives as the NFT platform Intergaze revealed it would wind down and remove its rollup from Initia’s ecosystem, moving on from the fading NFT sector, which has failed to sustain activity at reasonable levels.

The announcements arrive during a turbulent period for the crypto space, with only a few subsectors and networks maintaining profitability and reporting sustained growth. 

For the first time ever, in February 2026, stablecoins reported a higher volume than the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network, according to Alex Obchakevich, managing director at Pagga, citing Artemis data. For context, the ACH processes up to 93% of worker pay and 99% of Social Security payments. 

Regulatory clarity from US regulators has also cleared the path for institutional interest from TradFi powerhouses such as BlackRock’s Larry Fink, with All In Podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya also backing tokenization to fully unlock the $150 trillion global equity market. 

While those areas are getting the shine, the digital art and metaverse narrative that powered the NFT drive has fallen flat on its face, while the Cosmos ecosystem continues to adjust to draw in some of the growth that has become concentrated on Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, as reported by Cryptopolitan. 

Why is Leap Wallet shutting down?

The Leap Wallet team, in a blog, explained that it would take its wallet and associated products offline as of May 28, 2026, after “careful consideration.” The team maintained its optimism about the “long-term future of crypto and the interchain ecosystem,” but it believes this decision stems from a “deep sense of responsibility” to its users and the broader Cosmos ecosystem. 

As for next steps, the Leap Wallet blog reminded users to migrate their assets to compatible wallets before the set date, after which official support channels will be taken offline. That means users may not be able to reach anyone for help if they encounter issues while interacting with the Leap Wallet, Compass Wallet, Leap WebApp, Swapfast, the Leap Cosmos Hub validator, or Leap Cosmos Snaps. 

As of the time of writing, the Leap Wallet Cosmos Hub validator ranks 57th among 200 tracked validators, holding a 0.22% voting power across 656,732 ATOM tokens staked. 

Leap Wallet ranks 57th among Cosmos Hub validators. Source: Mintscan

All of those tokens, along with other types of digital assets distributed across Leap Wallet products, are expected to be on the move in the next few days, and with that, a run that started in 2022 is expected to end in a matter of weeks. 

Intergaze rollup ends NFT run

Intergaze, another platform with ties to the Cosmos ecosystem, was more direct about the reason for winding down its rollup platform and removing it from Initia’s ecosystem. It simply said: “The Intergaze rollup is no longer sustainable to operate as a standalone chain within the Initia ecosystem.”

The wind-down notice continued that the overhead-to-revenue ratio did not make sense for continuing to operate the NFT rollup platform. 

Throughout its lifetime as a “curated NFT launchpad and marketplace”, Intergaze processed interactions with almost 20,000 wallets and processed over 435,000 INIT tokens in lifetime trading volume, worth just under $35,000 at current prices, justifying the decision. 

Intergaze’s wind-down timeline. Source: Intergaze

Users now have until the middle of April, 14 days from the wind-down announcement, to migrate their INIT and any other tokens back to the Initia L1, pulling out from the Intergaze rollup completely via the only official bridge provided. It also warned to cancel all open offers on the marketplace or risk losing those locked funds. 

As for NFTs held on Intergaze, they will now be moved to Stargaze on the Cosmos Hub. However, there’s an important caveat: unlike Leap Wallet, where users can still migrate funds with a simple wallet recovery using their recovery phrases, Intergaze users first need to register the Cosmos wallet they linked to their Intergaze EVM before the May 1 deadline.

Creators who don’t want to migrate or are looking to define terms can also reach out to the team by May 1. 

Cosmos’ ATOM token is up more than 3% over the past day in terms of price and market cap, trading at $1.7 at the time of writing. 

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On-chain researcher ZachXBT noted Circle may have failed to intercept up to $420M since 2022. The stablecoin issuer has frozen some USDC but failed to act within the first hours after a hack. 

According to ZachXBT, Circle was too slow to freeze USDC after the Drift Protocol exploit, while the attacker was still holding some USDC. 

Other protocols were also involved in partially freezing some of the tokens, but not specifically USDC. In comparison, Tether managed to freeze the known addresses carrying USDT0, the cross-chain token, thus salvaging some of the losses.

ZachXBT previewed previous hacks, totaling $420M since August 2022. 

1/ Welcome to the Circle $USDC files.

$420M+ in alleged compliance failures since 2022, including fifteen cases of the US-regulated stablecoin issuer taking minimal action against illicit funds. pic.twitter.com/OiWZz5MrVM

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 3, 2026

Circle has frozen funds pursuant to court orders but has acted minimally, intercepting only a small fraction of the funds. The losses were made worse by the faster laundering techniques deployed by hackers in the past few years. USDC is usually an intermediary step, used to drain liquidity pools from DEX or lending protocols. 

ZachXBT: Circle did not react for six hours

Following the Drift Protocol hack, Circle had a six-hour window during which it received constant reports of addresses holding USDC. Despite the token’s freeze function, Circle did not act to intercept the funds. 

The attacker used Circle’s native CCTP bridge to move $223M from Solana to Ethereum. Circle also did not use the bridge capabilities to stop the transactions. The same bridge was used for the Cetus Protocol hack, where Circle also did not act in time. The USDC exploit address was only frozen weeks after the incident, after all the stablecoins had been converted to ETH. 

Is DeFi growing more insecure? 

USDC accounts for the bulk of liquidity on Solana. The stablecoin advertised itself as fully regulated and safer due to the freeze function. Over time, USDC became the preferred asset for DEX trading and lending pools. 

In total, Solana holds $14.8B in stablecoins, of which $8.6B is USDC. 

DeFi safety and institutional-grade security have remained among the latest crypto narratives, with hopes of driving adoption. The latest exploit revealed that USDC was not a failsafe tool and could not protect DeFi lenders from losses. 

Usually, increased DeFi attacks happen during bull markets. The past quarter was a relatively busy period with notable attacks against smart contracts and protocols, signaling that even during a bear market, Web3 remained a target. 

Alerting and intercepting funds is still done on an ad hoc basis, often noticed by on-chain researchers. There is no procedure to freeze funds. Web3 protocols also have relatively risky multisig wallets, exposing Solana DeFi to other exploits. 

For now, Drift Protocol has not explained how the attacker gained access to some of the multisig keys, though a social engineering exploit is probable. Other protocols may have similar vulnerabilities or insider exposure. 

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The US economy added 178,000 jobs last month, a solid number that gave the White House something to cheer about. But the March employment figures tell only part of the story, coming before the full weight of soaring energy costs from the Iran conflict hits American workers and businesses.

The jobless rate fell slightly to 4.3 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. The numbers beat what experts expected, helped by health-care workers returning from West Coast strikes and better weather after a rough winter.

But there’s trouble ahead. The jobs data captures the time after the United States attacked Iran, but before supply problems really took hold. Oil prices have jumped roughly 90 percent since January started, pushing gas above $4 a gallon for the first time in more than three years. U.S. crude hit $110 a barrel Thursday, crossing the $100 mark for the first time since 2022.

Health care added 76,000 jobs, keeping up its strong pace as the population ages. Manufacturing, which had been shrinking most of the past year, put on 15,000 workers. Construction, hotels and restaurants, social services, and shipping also saw gains.

Not every sector did well

The federal government cut 18,000 positions as the Trump administration trimmed staff, down 11.8 percent from its high point in October 2024. Finance companies dropped 15,000 workers.

Pay raises slowed down considerably. Hourly wages grew 3.5 percent over the past year to $37.38. Workers still make more than inflation takes away, but that gap is getting smaller with a weaker job market and high prices that won’t budge.

February’s job losses were worse than initially reported, totaling 133,000 positions. January got revised upward to 160,000 jobs, better than the initial count.

Before the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, warning signs were already showing up. February hiring dropped to its lowest pace in nearly six years. Job openings fell by more than 350,000.

Inflation test arrives next week

Markets are struggling with mixed signals about whether the war might wind down. The S&P 500 gained ground in the holiday-shortened week, breaking a five-week losing streak. But the benchmark index just closed its worst quarter since 2022, dragged down since late February by the war and rising energy costs.

Next week’s consumer price index report will be an early test of the war’s impact. With crude oil jumping so much, experts think March inflation climbed 0.9 percent for the month. “We think the first stage of oil price pass-through will have arrived in March via motor fuel,” BNP Paribas said.

The Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has stalled, remains a major worry. It’s the main shipping route for oil and gas from the Persian Gulf.

Poll numbers bring bad news to White House

Behind the scenes, Trump is feeling the pressure. In the third week of the Iran war, his pollster, Tony Fabrizio, brought troubling survey results to the Oval Office. The war was becoming unpopular.

Gas prices had shot past $4 per gallon, stock markets had fallen to multi-year lows, and millions of Americans were getting ready to protest. Thirteen American service members had died. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other aides told the President that dragging out the war would hurt his support and Republican chances in November’s elections.

Trump is now seeking a way out, according to two advisers and two members of Congress who spoke with him recently. He wants to wind down the campaign before it damages Republicans heading into the midterms, but he also wants to call it a success.

In a national address on April 1, Trump said the operation was “nearing its completion,” while also threatening to strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks. “We’re going to bring them back to the stone ages,” he said, “where they belong.”

The next morning, Trump told TIME that Iran wanted to make a deal. “Why wouldn’t they call? We just blew up their three big bridges last night,” he said. “They’re getting decimated.”

But inside the West Wing, there’s growing worry that the situation is getting out of control. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other key officials were caught off guard by Iran’s fierce response, attacking U.S. and Israeli targets across the region in Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

“There’s a narrow window,” said a senior administration official about Trump’s options.

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Big tech companies are backing a new group that aims to set standards for how AI systems handle payments, both in crypto and in traditional currencies.

The Linux Foundation announced Thursday it’s launching the x402 Foundation to oversee the x402 protocol. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services have already signed on.

Coinbase helped develop the protocol before handing it over to the foundation. Several major financial players joined early. American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, Circle, Solana Foundation, and Polygon Labs all threw their support behind it.

Other backers include Cloudflare, Shopify, Thirdweb, and KakaoPay.

Coinbase says moving the protocol under the Linux Foundation creates a neutral home that’s not controlled by any single company. This setup might appeal more to tech firms and developers than keeping it under corporate ownership.

Protocol aims to enable autonomous AI payments

Jim Zemlin, who leads the Linux Foundation, made the case by pointing to how “the internet was built on open protocols.” He’s arguing for taking the same approach with AI payments.

What does the x402 protocol actually do? It lets AI agents and web services process payments independently. Think paying for API access, buying data, or getting digital services – all without needing someone to click approve each time.

The idea is picking up steam as more people predict that machine-to-machine transactions will dominate crypto payments.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, recently said that AI agents making online transactions will outnumber humans pretty soon. Over at Circle, Jeremy Allaire has predicted that billions of AI agents could be running on blockchain networks within three to five years.

Actual use of the x402 protocol hasn’t matched the hype

Data from Dune Analytics shows a spike late last year followed by a sharp drop.

Transactions peaked at around 13.7 million during the week of November 4-10, with another 13.66 million the following week. Since then? Activity fell off a cliff. Weekly volumes in 2026 have ranged from about 29,000 to 1.1 million. That’s a huge gap and shows adoption has been spotty despite all the major backing.

Meanwhile, Stripe partnered with Tempo, a blockchain startup, to launch their own version on Wednesday. They’re calling it the Machine Payments Protocol.

Matt Huang, who cofounded Tempo and runs Paradigm, put it this way: “Agentic payments is very early, and we still are figuring out the best way to structure these. So our team just came up with what we thought was the most elegant, minimal, efficient protocol that anyone can extend without our permission.”

Tempo raised $500 million in 2025 at a $5 billion valuation. Investors included Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.

Visa developed the part of Stripe and Tempo’s protocol that handles credit and debit card payments for agents. Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, described it as creating a clear protocol for how agents talk to merchants.

Visa’s also testing an experimental command-line tool in beta. It lets software fire off payments directly from a terminal without developers needing to juggle API keys.

Last month, Mastercard announced plans to acquire BVNK, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure company, for up to $1.8 billion. The deal includes $300 million in payments contingent on hitting performance benchmarks. It’s expected to close sometime this year.

Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, said: “We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will, in time, provide digital currency services.”

BVNK, founded in 2021, had a valuation above $750 million, according to CNBC last year. The platform supports transactions across all major blockchain networks in over 130 countries.

CZ predicts a million-fold increase in AI payments

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao weighed in on March 9, posting that AI agents will process one million times more payments than humans, and they’ll use crypto to do it.

Zhao’s post came out the same day as Brian Armstrong’s similar point. Armstrong mentioned Coinbase’s Agentic Wallets, which went live in February 2026 on the x402 protocol.

AI agents will make 1 million times more payments than humans, and they will use crypto. https://t.co/PkhsAuZPst

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) March 9, 2026

BNB Chain, Binance’s blockchain network, rolled out infrastructure for autonomous agent payments on February 4, 2026. The ERC-8004 standard creates verifiable blockchain identities for AI agents. BAP-578 brought in Non-Fungible Agents, essentially software that exists as a blockchain asset with its own wallet and can spend funds to complete tasks without needing approval for every transaction.

A day after talking about AI payments, Zhao posted about the tools he’s been using. After testing different AI models with OpenClaw, an open-source autonomous agent framework, he said Kimi AI performed best. He found it most efficient with tokens, effective for coding work, and easiest to get running.

Kimi AI is built by Moonshot AI, a Chinese artificial intelligence company founded in 2023. OpenClaw is an open-source project for deploying autonomous agents locally without cloud services. OpenAI acquired the project earlier in 2026.

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Russian residents will be required to report their offshore crypto wallets to the federal tax authority under new legislation regulating digital assets, now filed with the parliament in Moscow.

Domestic wallets will be known to the state anyway, as Russia intends to channel all cryptocurrency flows through local intermediaries licensed as elements of a sovereign crypto infrastructure.

Several bills proposed by the government are fundamentally changing the way Russian citizens and businesses interact with coins like Bitcoin and how platforms process such transactions.

Moscow wants to know all about Russians’ crypto holdings

Residents of the Russian Federation will be obligated to notify the country’s Federal Tax Service (FNS) about any foreign crypto wallets they have.

That’s according to provisions in draft legislation designed to comprehensively regulate crypto-related activities, including investment and trading.

The executive power in Moscow submitted this week a package of bills to the State Duma, among which is the flagship draft law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights.”

The lower house of parliament is expected to adopt the acts, which legalize but also limit transactions with decentralized digital money, during its spring session by July 1.

The requirements, introduced with one of the supplementary bills, include informing the FNS of the opening and closing of wallets hosted abroad within a month of the event.

Crypto holders who permanently live in Russia will also have to file tax reports on all crypto transactions involving foreign-based wallets, the crypto news outlet Bits.media unveiled.

While Russians won’t be banned from having such wallets, any digital assets purchased in a different jurisdiction must be paid for using foreign fiat accounts.

The measure is apparently aimed at preventing capital flight through crypto. The authorities also plan to push companies to repatriate cryptocurrency held in foreign addresses.

According to estimates quoted by officials and financial experts, Russia has up to 10 million cryptocurrency users, with their daily coin transactions reaching 50 billion rubles (over $600 million).

New legislation brings significant changes to Russia’s crypto space

The new laws will finally regulate crypto transactions in Russia, but will do it the Russian way. The long-awaited legalization comes with a lot of restrictions and government control.

For example, even non-qualified investors will be able to legally buy cryptocurrencies, but their purchases will be capped at 300,000 rubles a year, or less than $3,700, and limited to a handful of the most liquid coins.

The Central Bank of Russia also wants to limit crypto investments for commercial banks to 1% of their capital, whether they acquire the assets themselves or on behalf of clients.

Existing crypto platforms, such as exchanges currently working mostly in the gray economy, will have a year to apply for a license that should be issued by July 1, 2027.

Traditional financial institutions like banks, brokers and stock market operators will be able to provide services under their existing licenses.

The regulatory framework introduces the institute of “digital depository,” similar to a stock market depository but acting as a crypto wallet operator as well.

While every client will technically have their own personal wallet, each transfer will need the consent of the custodial provider, explained Denis Polyakov, head of the Digital Economy practice at the law firm GMT Legal.

These digital depositories will play a key role in the Russian crypto market, as most transactions involving regulated entities and clients must be conducted through one.

The digital currency bill also adopts the concept of an “identifier address” as a means to link a person or an entity to a specific crypto wallet, similar to a bank account number.

Thus, Russia’s view of how its crypto infrastructure should function seems to leave no room for non-custodial wallets, despite that these are not explicitly banned.

Sending coins from such a wallet to a regulated account would come with the obligation to explain the origin of the funds. What’s more, direct withdrawals to non-custodial wallets will be prohibited.

One way to circumvent this restriction is to first transfer the crypto to a wallet hosted by a foreign exchange and then deposit it into a Russian wallet.

However, it’s uncertain if even this option would eventually work, as Russian authorities have made it clear they would require foreign-registered platforms to either establish a presence in the country or work through a licensed domestic intermediary.

Since many global cryptocurrency exchanges have already left Russia amid sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, conditions like these have caused critics to conclude that Moscow is effectively dropping an iron curtain on the crypto market.

There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance.

The analysis of Drift Protocol’s recent exploit pointed to North Korean hackers, possibly the same group that exploited Bybit for over $1.4B. The exploit affected multiple DeFi apps across the Solana ecosystem. 

Drift Protocol analysis shows the exploit was possibly performed by North Korea’s Lazarus Group, the same threat actors behind Bybit and the Ronin bridge hack. 

New facts about the exploit are also emerging, based on DivergSec analysis and reports by Elliptic and TRM Labs. 

The attacker did not just compromise the Drift Protocol multisig once. Drift migrated some of its multisig wallets to new Security Council members. Within three days, the attacker compromised the new multisig and prepared with pre-signed transactions on March 31, a day before the attack.

The specific usage of wallets points to the Lazarus Group modus operandi, with a wallet first funded by Tornado Cash, rapid multi-chain bridging to ETH, and consolidating the funds for mixing. 

Based on Elliptic’s research, Lazarus has performed 18 attacks in the year to date. Researchers will cooperate with the Drift Protocol team to track the funds. 

Drift Protocol sends message to exploiters

Drift Protocol announced that critical information about the involved parties has been discovered. The team sent messages to the four identified wallets currently holding the proceeds of the hack. 

Critical information of parties related to the exploit have been identified. Drift is now sending an on-chain message from 0x0934faC45f2883dd5906d09aCfFdb5D18aAdC105 to the ETH Wallets that holds the stolen funds.

Wallet 1: 0xAa843eD65C1f061F111B5289169731351c5e57C1 (Timestamp…

— Drift (@DriftProtocol) April 3, 2026

The message suggested Drift Protocol may have known the identity of the hackers. The community speculates about possible insider access or project infiltration. Despite this, Drift Protocol was still criticized for having a zero timelock on protocol-level changes, allowing the exploiter to drain liquidity immediately.

Drift Protocol spread contagion to the Solana economy

Drift Protocol retains $232M in value locked, down from over $550M. Multiple protocols that used Drift for yield have had their funds stolen or frozen in whole or in part. 

SOL recovered above $80 after a brief dip in response to the hack. 

The hack affected Reflect Money for its USD+ farming yield. DeFi Carrot lost 50% of its TVL in Drift, and CRT tokens were also affected. Ranger Finance was exposed through rUSD. PiggybankFi lost $106K from deposits into Drift Protocol. 

Project0 paused loans against Drift vaults. Other projects, including Pyra, which lost all its funds, and XPlace, which mainly used Drift for yield. Elemental DeFi was only exposed through a USDC vault. 

Some of the protocols only had their funds on hold until security is improved. Eleven projects were affected so far, not counting the general sentiment repercussions and loss of trust in DeFi lending. 

A total of 35 DeFi protocols have been exploited in 2026 to date, with an accelerating trend and more organized attacks. 

Around $453M was extracted from DeFi, showing it is still a high-risk sector. The hacks undermine the narrative that DeFi would be a suitable way to gain yield with minimal risk. 

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