France is facing a sharp rise in kidnappings linked to cryptocurrency, with 88 suspects charged across 12 cases, including minors, most now in custody. Investigators say these crimes are part of organized networks targeting crypto holders and their families for ransom. Victims are often abducted, threatened, and forced to transfer digital assets. Authorities report dozens …
Momentum is building in Washington for the proposed CLARITY Act, a bipartisan crypto regulation bill that lawmakers say could bring long-awaited legal certainty to the U.S. digital asset industry. But even as Congress moves closer to defining crypto oversight, industry experts warn that complicated crypto tax rules remain one of the biggest obstacles to mainstream …
XRP price is starting to show signs of a deeper shift, even if price action hasn’t caught up yet. Over the past few days, a mix of on-chain outflows, ETF accumulation, and whale activity has created a setup that analysts say the market isn’t fully pricing in. According to Santiment, the XRP Ledger recorded 34.94 million …
In a recent conversation with Paul Barron, Bitwise strategist Juan Leon has opened up about how institutions are no longer just testing crypto with tiny allocations; they’re starting to rethink it as a core part of portfolios. Leon makes it clear that XRP’s recent stability doesn’t mean the opportunity is gone; it actually signals a …
Post-quantum startup Project Eleven has today awarded a 1 BTC ($77,736 at writing time) prize to the independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli for the latest and largest demonstration of a quantum attack on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Using a publicly accessible quantum computer, Lelli successfully derived a 15-bit elliptic curve private key from its public key …
Bitcoin (BTC) is consolidating around $77,600 as the price fails to break above the nearest resistance area near $79,500. With the market stuck in this range, attention is shifting to the possibility that Bitcoin could finally shift direction, potentially ending the current compression. A major part of this discussion is the CME gap around $82,000. In this context, CME gaps are treated as imbalances that can appear in futures pricing over periods when traditional trading is closed, such as weekends, while crypto trades continuously. Drop To $60,000 Still On The Table Market analyst Rekt Fencer recently claimed on social media that Bitcoin will “100%” fill the $82,000 CME gap on its 12-hour chart. The expectation being highlighted is that over $10 billion worth of short positions could be liquidated when BTC closes the $82,000 level. Even with that strong technical catalyst, Fencer also warned that the outcome may not remain purely bullish. He cautioned that the move could set up a new bull trap first, followed by a sharp correction. Related Reading: Bitcoin Nears $80,000: Two Scenarios That May Decide Q2—Bulls Or Bears? The broader consequence could be a decline toward February lows around $60,000. If that scenario plays out, it would imply roughly a 26% retrace from that level, potentially reigniting bearish sentiment across the market. However, another perspective is coming from institutional analysis. A new study by Coinbase Institutional argues for a different outlook, contesting the idea that Bitcoin’s recovery over the past week is driven only by leverage. The report frames the rally as potentially stronger than it looks, pointing to real demand rather than simply borrowing and forced positioning. What’s Behind The Bitcoin Rally? The study lists several indicators supporting its view. Rising exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows are said to be near their highest levels this year, signaling stronger institutional demand. It also notes accumulation by long-term holders, which is described as concentrating supply into “strong hands.” While short liquidations can help trigger upward momentum, the report argues that similar squeezes have historically happened before—yet sustained rallies tend to last when spot demand supports the move, not just leverage. Related Reading: XRP ETFs Post Longest Back-To-Back Gains Of 2026—Key Numbers Inside A key area highlighted by the institutional framing is approximately $80,000, described as the short-term holder cost basis. According to this interpretation, reclaiming around $80,000 could confirm that the market structure is strengthening. If Bitcoin fails and rejects that level, the implication would be that weakness could persist rather than a durable uptrend forming. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
The Ethereum Foundation sold 10,000 ETH on Thursday at an average price of $2,387 per token, raising approximately $23.87 million through an over-the-counter transaction with crypto firm BitMNR. The foundation disclosed the deal publicly on X within hours of its completion, including the onchain wallet address for independent verification. At current market prices, the sale …
Bitcoin has climbed more than 30% from its February lows and is pressing toward $80,000, turning sentiment sharply bullish across trading communities. One analyst who has tracked this structure for months says the excitement may be arriving at exactly the wrong moment. The question is not whether the rally is real. It is what comes …
XRP is moving beyond its own ledger faster than most observers are tracking. In the past week alone, the token has been bridged to Solana, purchased through WhatsApp via a Solana-based chatbot, and continued pulling steady inflows through its ETF. Analyst Jim Bazzani says the market has not connected the dots yet, and that disconnect …
The Enjin debate got a lot more louder today after CoinMarketCap amplified a brutal industry claim: roughly 93% of Web3 gaming projects are now “effectively dead,” with token values down 95% from 2022 peaks and studio funding collapsing 93% by 2025. That post landed hard because when a heavyweight speaks, markets listen. Then came the …
SKR price just snapped out of its slumber and it did it violently on intraday session. A 40% intraday surge isn’t subtle, especially for an asset that’s been grinding lower for weeks. Suddenly, the market cares again. And yes, there’s a reason this time. The spike didn’t come out of nowhere. It followed a string …
Solana has crossed 25.3 billion total transactions, showing massive network activity as it continues to compete with Ethereum. Growth is being driven by tokenized equities and pre-IPO assets through platforms like Ondo Finance, xStocks, and PreStocks, alongside strong DeFi expansion. Real-world asset lending on the network has also reached about $1.23 billion, highlighting rising institutional …
After one of 2026’s largest DeFi exploits, Kelp DAO is working with Aave and ecosystem partners to recover losses tied to rsETH. The attack, which involved minting unbacked tokens through a compromised cross-chain setup, created a major deficit across lending platforms. From the initial 163,200 ETH shortfall, around 43,000 ETH has been recovered and 30,700 …
The Clarity Act is running late again. What lawmakers described just weeks ago as nearly done has now slipped into May, and the crypto industry is no longer staying quiet about it. Analyst Dan Gambardello said this week that the delay has taken over conversations across the industry, with pressure mounting directly on Senate Banking …
MicroStrategy is pushing a new narrative around Bitcoin, with CEO Phong Le detailing how the firm is building a yield-driven system around BTC. Le described the approach as a “digital credit ecosystem,” where capital is deployed into Bitcoin-linked strategies with target returns as high as 30%, and a portion of that yield is passed back …
XRP ETFs have shifted sharply after a shaky start to the year, and the change is evident in both flows and the market. Following a troubling first quarter, funds have recorded strong, sustained inflows that helped push the altcoin above the $1.40 level. XRP ETFs Hit Best Week Of 2026 Market expert Sam Daodu, writing for 24/7 Wall St., reported that XRP ETFs brought in $55.39 million during the week ending April 17, which he described as the best weekly performance of 2026 to date. On April 20, the funds added another $3 million. Just as important for sentiment, there have been no outflows since April 9. Daodu noted that this is the first stretch of uninterrupted, sustained buying XRP ETFs that they have put together throughout the year. Related Reading: Bitcoin Watch: All Eyes On $86,000—What Could Fuel The Next Bullish Breakout In the months leading up to April, XRP ETFs were bleeding assets. Their assets under management peaked above $1.5 billion in January, but that figure slipped below $950 million by March as outflows intensified. This time around, Daodu emphasized that inflows have been steadier—arriving day after day rather than in sporadic bursts—suggesting a more durable shift in investor behavior. Within the competitive lineup of XRP products, the cumulative inflow lead still belongs to Canary Capital, which holds $421.86 million in net inflows across the suite. However, Daodu said that the lead has narrowed. In April, Canary has logged zero net inflows on most trading days, while Bitwise and Franklin Templeton have been adding nearly every day. Bitwise’s cumulative inflows now stand at $419.17 million, leaving it just $2.69 million behind Canary and giving it a clear opportunity to take the top spot this week. Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ trails in third place, consistently close behind Bitwise throughout the April run. In Daodu’s framing, Bitwise and Franklin have absorbed nearly all of April’s inflows, while the rest of the XRP ETF sector has been flat or negative. The Key Catalyst Missing Daodu also pointed to a key catalyst that could determine whether this positive momentum continues. The likelihood of follow-through for XRP ETFs, according to the expert, is tied largely to US regulatory clarity—specifically, the CLARITY Act. The bill is facing a tight May deadline after missing its April markup window. Senator Thom Tillis has urged Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott to delay the markup to May, and timing matters because the legislation would need to clear the committee before the Senate’s May 21 recess. Related Reading: CEO Calls CLARITY Act ‘Horrible Bill,’ Warns Of Prolonged Crypto Bear Market Ahead If it doesn’t, Daodu suggested that the anticipated crypto market structure framework could be delayed indefinitely. The CLARITY Act is expected to permanently and officially classify XRP as a digital commodity. That classification is not just a theoretical legal detail—it’s seen as the missing piece that could reduce uncertainty for institutions. A Coinbase survey cited in the report found that 65% of institutional investors are waiting for that exact type of clarity before committing meaningful capital to XRP. As of this writing, the altcoin is consolidating at around $1.43, having gained 2% and almost 8% over the last seven and fourteen days, respectively. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Toncoin is about to undergo a big shift in its cost structure. According to Pavel Durov, transaction fees on the network will drop 6x within a week, bringing costs down to just 0.00039 TON (~$0.0005) per transaction, fixed, regardless of network load. This isn’t just a fee cut. It’s part of a broader push under …
Most cryptocurrency wealth stories follow a familiar script: someone buys a small amount of an obscure token, forgets about it, and wakes up rich. Pi Network’s potential trajectory, according to one analyst’s breakdown, does not follow that script. The numbers here are more grounded, and the math is more straightforward than most in the space …
KelpDAO’s liquid restaking token, rsETH, has become the center of a major DeFi recovery effort after a hack estimated at roughly $290 million. The latest development came on Thursday, when Lido Finance unveiled a proposal aimed at supporting Aave’s (AAVE) coordinated response to the rsETH shortfall. Lido Joins rsETH Recovery Effort The Lido plan was submitted to Aave’s Research Forum following this week’s Kelp incident involving the rsETH LayerZero bridge exploit. While the exploit’s details were still unfolding, Aave moved quickly to organize a larger, ecosystem-wide effort—“DeFi United”—with the goal of making affected users whole after the April 18 bridge incident left rsETH underbacked and, in turn, put funds at risk across multiple lending markets. Aave posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that “multiple strong indicative commitments” had already been lined up, and that Lido Finance was the first public participant. Related Reading: Bitcoin Nears $80,000: Two Scenarios That May Decide Q2—Bulls Or Bears? The proposal itself authorizes a one-time, capped contribution of up to 2,500 stETH—roughly $6 million at the time of reporting. Importantly, Aave framed this as part of a fully funded recovery package rather than a piecemeal attempt to patch only part of the damage. The structure is meant to limit broader spillover and allow an orderly resolution for users impacted by the rsETH deficit. The conditions attached to Lido’s contribution are strict. Lido Finance’s funds would only be deployed if the relief vehicle is large enough to cover the entire deficit—specifically, not a partial fix that still leaves users exposed. The total shortfall is described as exceeding 100,000 ETH. If any funds remain unused, they would be returned to Lido’s treasury. And the money can only be used to address the rsETH shortfall itself. Market-Wide TVL Losses Lido’s interest in this outcome is closely tied to its own product exposure. Lido offers an EarnETH vault that has direct exposure to rsETH. Without coordinated support, losses for users in that vault could reach approximately 9,000 ETH. Aave also moved to limit further risk while recovery planning progressed. Earlier Thursday, it updated that rsETH reserves were paused across multiple Ethereum and rollup environments, including Ethereum Core, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea. Related Reading: 4-Figure XRP: How High Will The Price Be If Ripple Captures 50% Of SWIFT? The broader market reaction has been severe. Since the heist news first emerged on Saturday, Aave has reportedly recorded around $9 billion in net outflows as of April 21. Total value locked on the platform fell by more than a third, dropping to about 17.5 billion. That figure has since declined further, reaching approximately 14.3 billion at the time of this writing. The damage extended beyond Aave as well: according to DefiLlama data, across all decentralized lending protocols, TVL fell by roughly $13 billion within 48 hours after the exploit. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
SPK price is back from the dead and it didn’t come quietly. After months of grinding sideways and shaking out weak hands, the token just ripped higher, smashing through its accumulation phase and tagging $0.063 in April. For something that looked completely forgotten after its brutal post-2025 decline, this kind of move feels… almost suspiciously …
STABLE price after days of silence it just woke up again and not quietly. A sharp 15% intraday spike has pushed the token back into relevance, fueled less by fundamentals and more by something crypto markets oddly love: attention. This time, it came from the project’s CEO stepping into the spotlight at the RWA & …
XRP has one of the most passionate and, at times, most imaginative communities in crypto. Price predictions of $10,000 per token circulate regularly. Theories about secret government partnerships, backdoor deals with central banks, and XRP being quietly selected as the backbone of a new global financial order have become part of the ecosystem’s folklore. Some …
Something is shifting in how serious money thinks about digital assets. Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise, sat down with Paul Barron this week and made the case that the era of institutions dabbling with 1% crypto allocations is quietly coming to an end. With the S&P hitting all-time highs, Bitcoin pushing back toward …
Most blockchains burn tokens to reduce supply. Pi Network is taking a different route, and a new forecast model suggests that approach could push the network toward significant scarcity levels within five years without destroying a single coin in the process. According to projections circulating within the Pi community, the percentage of Pi tokens permanently …
A security incident at Kelp, a liquid restaking protocol, has sent ripple effects through decentralised finance, catching one of Lido Finance’s yield vaults in the crossfire. Lido has paused deposits and withdrawals on its EarnETH vault while it works through two separate but connected problems: direct exposure to a compromised asset and a liquidity squeeze …
Tether has frozen two Tron-based wallets holding about $344 million in USDT, marking one of its largest enforcement moves to date. One wallet contained roughly $212.9 million, while the other held $131.3 million. The action was carried out in coordination with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other law enforcement agencies as …
It has been 15 years since Satoshi Nakamoto sent his final known email on April 23, 2011. In the message to developer Mike Hearn, he said he had “moved on to other things” and that Bitcoin was in good hands with Gavin Andresen and the community. This moment is widely seen as Satoshi’s quiet exit …
BELIEVE token is back under pressure, dropping nearly 19% in a day as serious legal charges against its founder, Benjamin Pasternak, shake already fragile market confidence. According to New York Criminal Court records, Pasternak has been charged with second-degree strangulation and assault, with a court appearance scheduled for June 11. The timing couldn’t be worse …
The Digital Asset Market Structure CLARITY Act is hitting a key moment, with Senate talks now slipping into May due to delays around stablecoin rules. Most issues are close to being sorted, but timing is becoming the real problem. According to the reports, with a tight calendar and a possible July vote window, the bill …
When Charles Hoskinson and others in the crypto space talk about operating with regulatory clarity today, one name rarely gets the credit it deserves: Ripple. That is the argument analyst Bradley Kimes made in a recent podcast, and it is starting to cut through as new money flows into crypto and asks the obvious question …