Geopolitical tensions and inflation concerns may constrain the Fed's monetary policy flexibility, impacting future economic stability.

The post Fed expected to hold rates steady amid US-Iran tensions, rising oil prices appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The stalled Iran talks highlight potential for increased geopolitical tensions and market volatility, impacting future diplomatic strategies.

The post Trump frustrated as Iran talks stall, peace deal by April 30 unlikely appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

South Korea's rate hold highlights the significant impact of geopolitical tensions on Asian monetary policies and global trade stability.

The post South Korea holds rates steady amid Middle East conflict uncertainties appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Iran's oil storage crisis could escalate global oil prices and strain diplomatic efforts, impacting geopolitical stability and energy markets.

The post Iran faces oil storage crisis as Strait of Hormuz blockade tightens appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Iran's uranium stockpile heightens geopolitical tensions, complicating diplomatic efforts and increasing uncertainty in nuclear negotiations.

The post Iran holds 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium, complicating US acquisition appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Billionaire Tim Draper: You Should Be Scared If You Don’t Own Bitcoin

Speaking on the Nakamoto Stage, Tim Draper told attendees that bitcoin has entered the financial mainstream and that governments now roll out “the red carpet” for the industry. He said the community is “starting to feel like something is happening” as adoption grows, and he cast that shift as the early phase of a larger transition in the money system.

In his view, people will move in stages: first from dollars to stablecoins, then from stablecoins to bitcoin as the final store of value and unit of account.

Draper praised Satoshi Nakamoto’s design of BTC as a system with no government control, no middleman banks, and no traditional account records. He described his own early journey with the asset, including buying large amounts of BTC, then losing those holdings amid front-running and failures at Mt. Gox. That episode led him to question whether the experiment was worth the risk until he watched crypto usage spread in markets around the world and decided to buy again.

To illustrate the fragility of fiat money, Draper told a personal story about a “one–million–dollar bill” that his father gave him when he was young. The bill turned out to be a Confederate note with no value, which he held up as a warning that government currencies can fail, leaving savers with worthless paper.

He connected that story to his decision to purchase bitcoin from the U.S. government in an auction of seized coins, where he paid above market because he viewed bitcoin as a superior long-term asset.

Draper: You should be scared if you don’t own bitcoin

Draper outlined a scenario in which retailers begin by accepting bitcoin alongside other payment methods and then transition to accepting only bitcoin.

In that world, he said, consumers would rush to banks to pull out their money and convert into BTC as trust in national currencies declines. He told the audience that anyone who manages a family “ought to have about six months’ worth of bitcoin” as protection against such a breakdown.

He extended that warning to sovereigns facing inflation or fiscal stress. If a government encounters hyperinflation and holds no BTC on its balance sheet, Draper argued, its currency and the wealth of its officials could become worthless in real terms.

“You should be scared if you don’t own bitcoin,” Draper said he is telling people these days, adding that those without exposure “should be very, very worried.”

Draper closed with a call to action aimed at the entire BTC ecosystem around him. He said that “those of us who have bitcoin are gonna help steer the world” as legacy currencies lose value, and he told attendees to go home and tell their families to buy bitcoin, their governments to buy bitcoin, and their friends to buy BTC.

Addressing founders and builders, he urged entrepreneurs to “push it as hard as you can,” saying that broad BTC ownership is both a hedge against currency risk and a path to a new monetary standard.

This post Billionaire Tim Draper: You Should Be Scared If You Don’t Own Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

House Republicans Warn That the America’s Bitcoin Weakness Will Benefit China

Three members of Congress positioned digital asset regulation as a matter of national security and economic competition during a panel discussion at The Bitcoin 2026 Conference in Las Vegas on Monday.

Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) spoke on “The Bitcoin Bloc: A New Force in American Politics,” moderated by Faryar Shirzad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase.

Miller-Meeks described Bitcoin as “financial democracy” and linked cryptocurrency adoption to America’s 250th anniversary, framing support for digital assets as patriotic. She cited the Chinese Communist Party as a threat and characterized crypto policy as a national security issue.

The Iowa congresswoman shared her background working through medical school and highlighted Bitcoin’s potential to protect women experiencing domestic abuse or violence. 

She said digital assets can provide women with resources beyond government reach, citing Canada’s trucker protest as an example of government intervention in financial accounts. Miller-Meeks acknowledged that older Americans express concerns about digital asset safety.

Chinese is driving bitcoin policy urgency

Both Miller-Meeks and Nunn emphasized competition with China as a driver for U.S. crypto policy. Miller-Meeks stated that China continues to pursue leadership in the digital asset sector but said the United States remains the best environment for innovation.

Nunn warned that failing to advance American leadership in Bitcoin and digital assets creates national security risks. He called for holding China accountable and said losing the November midterm elections could reverse 18 months of legislative progress, allowing adversaries to gain ground while the U.S. falls behind.

“Decisions and elections have consequences,” Nunn said, pointing to specific anti-crypto Democrats as he discussed the stakes of the upcoming midterm elections.

Nunn highlighted progress in Congress and the crypto sector, noting that the SEC under former Chair Gary Gensler imposed fines in the millions of dollars for violations involving concepts Gensler did not understand. Gensler was fired earlier in the Trump administration.

Lawler referenced the GENIUS Act as a positive step but said Congress must establish a comprehensive federal regulatory framework. 

He cited Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and stated that passing regulatory clarity will position America at the forefront of the digital asset space. Lawler said SEC regulations should serve the crypto industry’s best interests.

As a New Yorker, Lawler said he wants the crypto industry to remain in New York and feel secure operating in the state.

The ‘double taxation’ of bitcoin mining

Nunn criticized double taxation on Bitcoin mining operations, questioning why the U.S. taxes Bitcoin mining differently than other forms of asset extraction. He said excessive taxation drives innovation to other countries and emphasized the need to avoid making it difficult to conduct business in the United States.

The panel discussion reflected a broader shift in congressional Republican attitudes toward digital assets, with lawmakers framing crypto policy through the lens of geopolitical competition and individual financial freedom rather than consumer protection or financial stability concerns that dominated earlier regulatory debates.

This post House Republicans Warn That the America’s Bitcoin Weakness Will Benefit China first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Lawmakers Warn Crypto Clarity Will Decide U.S. Leadership as 2026 Election Looms

U.S. lawmakers and White House officials used a Nakamoto Stage panel to argue that clear crypto rules will decide whether the United States leads or cedes ground in the next phase of financial innovation.

The discussion, titled “Are We Getting More Clarity?”, focused on the Clarity Act, enforcement under past administrations, and the risk that political swings could undo progress on crypto regulation.

Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that another hostile administration would mean “game over for sensible regulation,” framing the 2026 election cycle as a direct test of whether Congress can lock in a durable framework for digital assets. 

She argued that predictable rules are now essential for builders and capital, and said the industry cannot plan around policy that shifts with each change in the White House. Lummis also pushed back on concerns about crypto and crime, saying “it’s easier to solve crimes in digital assets than fiat currencies” because transaction records give law enforcement a trail that cash does not.

Witt:USA should dominate in crypto

White House digital asset adviser Patrick Witt set out an aggressive vision for U.S. leadership. “We want to dominate,” he said, calling crypto “the future of financial infrastructure” and tying that claim directly to passage of the Clarity Act. He said that once lawmakers deliver a clear regime for digital assets, “Bitcoin and crypto will take off like a rocketship,” with greater integration into markets and the banking system. 

Witt described the bill’s focus as defining obligations for exchanges that list exchange-traded products, wallet providers, and developers who build on Bitcoin, and said that set of rules is “critically important” so market participants understand their responsibilities and can connect Bitcoin more deeply to the broader financial system.

Witt also criticized earlier policy and enforcement choices. He said the industry “got wrongly targeted and criticized” in recent years, which he argued pushed innovation offshore and let foreign hubs claim core parts of the market. 

He pointed to the location of the largest centralized exchanges outside the United States as “a failure of U.S. leadership,” and cast the Clarity Act as a chance to reverse that trend. In his view, the measure could bring trading venues and developers back onshore and support a domestic ecosystem around Bitcoin exchange-traded products, custody, and payments infrastructure.

Across the panel, speakers returned to the same question: whether Washington will offer lasting clarity or continue to rely on fragmented enforcement. Lummis framed the stakes in terms of investor protection and national competitiveness, while Witt stressed the opportunity to anchor the next wave of financial infrastructure in the United States. Both cast the coming legislative window, and the election that follows it, as a turning point for Bitcoin, broader crypto markets, and the country’s role in them.

This post Lawmakers Warn Crypto Clarity Will Decide U.S. Leadership as 2026 Election Looms first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Kalshi Says Bitcoin Payments and Prediction Markets Are Building a New Exchange for Big Money

Kalshi’s head of crypto, John Wang, used a Bitcoin 2026 fireside chat to argue that regulated prediction markets offer a more accessible way to trade Bitcoin than traditional spot venues. He opened by describing his path at Kalshi and pushed back on the idea that the exchange is a pure crypto platform, saying Bitcoin and other digital assets serve as key payment rails rather than its core product. 

According to Wang, Bitcoin is now the largest source of user payments into Kalshi’s apps, underscoring how deeply the asset’s audience overlaps with the platform’s trader base.

Bitcoin predictions and insider trading on Kalshi

Moderator Conner Brown asked Wang on why a Bitcoin holder would choose Kalshi over spot markets to express a price view. Wang said prediction markets are attractive because they can apply to almost any outcome while preserving a simple user experience.

He argued that people already like trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and find them accessible, but that spot markets remain out of reach for many users compared with a straightforward contract that settles on a clear event result.

In his view, Kalshi can sit on top of that demand and package directional Bitcoin views in a format that feels more intuitive than managing wallets and navigating crypto exchanges.

Brown also raised concerns about insider trading and where to draw the line in event markets. Wang said Kalshi uses know-your-customer checks and internal protocols to protect traders and emphasized that information asymmetry is a challenge in equities and other markets as well. 

He framed the question as one of incentives, warning that if platforms fail to protect their users they risk turning markets into insider arenas that erode trust. The safeguards and norms for prediction markets are still developing, he said, but he expects investor protection standards to converge with those in more established asset classes.

Looking ahead, Wang positioned Kalshi as an exchange being built from the ground up for a new category of contracts rather than a niche trading venue. He said the company is constructing infrastructure for event-based exposure that can sit alongside traditional markets and added that he expects large hedge funds to take significant positions in prediction markets over time. 

Kalshi is set to launch cryptocurrency perpetual futures today, expanding beyond its core event-based contracts into continuous derivatives trading. The new product will allow traders to hold positions without expiration, using U.S. dollars as initial collateral, with plans to add stablecoins later.

Backed by its regulatory status and growing trading volumes, the move positions Kalshi to compete more directly with offshore crypto derivatives platforms.

This post Kalshi Says Bitcoin Payments and Prediction Markets Are Building a New Exchange for Big Money first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Aven Launches Bitcoin-Backed Visa Card Offering Up to $1 Million Credit Lines Without Asset Sales

Aven has introduced a bitcoin-backed credit card that allows users to borrow against digital assets without selling holdings, marking a shift in crypto-linked consumer finance, according to statements shared with Bitcoin Magazine. 

The Aven Bitcoin Visa Card, unveiled today at the Bitcoin Conference 2026 in Las Vegas, provides a credit line of up to $1 million secured by bitcoin collateral. The product targets long-term holders seeking liquidity without triggering taxable events tied to asset sales.

The card combines a revolving credit line with fixed-term loan options, offering repayment periods of up to 10 years. Interest rates for both structures start at 7.99% APR, which the company said is below typical rates in the bitcoin-backed lending market.

“The industry norm for borrowing at fixed rates against bitcoin is a 1-year term. At Aven, we have 10X the industry standard, unlocking a wide variety of use cases previously not feasible,” Aven’s Sisun Lee said, speaking at The Bitcoin Conference.

Aven’s bitcoin custody structure

Borrowers pledge bitcoin through custody and infrastructure provided by BitGo Inc. and BitGo Bank & Trust, a federally regulated digital asset trust bank. The structure separates asset custody from card issuance, which is handled by Coastal Community Bank under a Visa network license.

The product includes no annual or origination fees and offers 2% cash back on purchases. Aven positions the card as a tool that bridges crypto holdings with traditional credit access, aiming to expand the utility of bitcoin within household balance sheets.

The card also offers up to a 5-year interest-only period for added flexibility. The company is one of the few Bitcoin-backed loan providers offering both fixed-term and interest-only plans in the same product.

“At Aven we believe that the hardest money ever created deserves the best financial products. With the Aven Bitcoin Card, we’re just getting started,” Lee said.

Bitcoin-backed lending has grown with the rise in digital asset adoption, though it has faced scrutiny over risk management and collateral volatility. Fixed-rate, longer-term structures such as Aven’s may appeal to borrowers seeking more predictable repayment schedules compared with margin-style loans that can face liquidation risk during price swings.

Aven, founded in 2019, focuses on asset-backed lending products designed to lower borrowing costs. The company reports that its platform has saved customers more than $300 million in interest payments through March 2026.

The launch signals continued convergence between crypto infrastructure and regulated financial services, as firms seek to integrate digital assets into mainstream credit markets while addressing risk, custody, and compliance requirements.

This post Aven Launches Bitcoin-Backed Visa Card Offering Up to $1 Million Credit Lines Without Asset Sales first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Crypto investment products recorded $1.2 billion in inflows last week, capping three straight weeks above $1 billion and a fourth consecutive positive week overall.

According to CoinShares data, Bitcoin pulled $933 million of that total, Ethereum added $192 million, and the US accounted for $1.1 billion of regional demand. Total assets under management climbed to $155 billion, the highest reading since Feb. 1, though still below the October 2025 peak of $263 billion.

CoinShares attributed the three-week streak to improving institutional demand while flagging the Apr. 28-29 FOMC decision as a source of marginal caution.

The demand stack

The inflow data converges with signals from several other channels simultaneously, which is what distinguishes it from a single-report anomaly.

On regulated derivatives, CME reported that its average daily volume of crypto rose from 191,000 to 310,000 contracts year over year in the first quarter, with average daily open interest reaching 313,900 contracts, up 25% from the first quarter of 2025.

Open interest at that level means capital is staying in the marketplace, pointing to a longer-horizon positioning posture.

The CoinShares report noted that blockchain equity ETFs have taken in $617 million over the past three weeks, reinforcing the view that institutions are buying infrastructure exposure alongside direct coin positions.

Corporate treasury accumulation has continued on its own track. Strategy's Apr. 27 SEC filing shows another 3,273 BTC purchased during Apr. 20-26, bringing its total to 818,334 BTC at an aggregate cost of $61.8 billion, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.

Hong Kong-listed Bitfire is targeting over 10,000 BTC for a regulated “Alpha BTC” strategy within a year, while Avenir held $908 million of BlackRock's IBIT at the end of 2025.

The geographic spread, comprising US corporate treasuries, regulated Asian asset management, and global investment products all moving in the same direction, gives the demand recovery a structural quality that a single weekly inflow report could not establish on its own.

DefiLlama puts the total stablecoin market cap at roughly $320.7 billion, up 1.73% over 30 days, meaning the on-ramp infrastructure for deploying capital into Bitcoin is expanding.

Beyond demand

Market structure adds a layer that prevents demand recovery from being read as settled.

Glassnode's Apr. 22 report placed Bitcoin back above the True Market Mean at $78,100, with the short-term holder cost basis at $80,100 now serving as the immediate resistance ceiling.

ETF flows had turned modestly positive again, and spot demand showed early signs of recovery. Glassnode also reported that short-term holders realized profit had spiked to $4.4 million per hour, nearly three times the $1.5 million threshold that marked prior local tops this year.

At that rate, recent buyers are locking in gains at a pace the market has historically struggled to absorb without a pause or pullback.

Glassnode's spot breakdown noted that Binance's cumulative volume delta (CVD) drove much of the recent buying, while Coinbase activity stayed comparatively muted.

Coinbase is the primary venue for US institutional spot activity, and a recovery driven more by offshore retail and mid-tier funds leaves the bid less anchored than the headline inflow figures imply.

Farside Investors' daily US ETF data makes the same point from a different angle. Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted positive flows for nine trading sessions, surpassing $2 billion, before turning negative on Apr. 27.

Three weeks of billion-dollar inflow readings and a single-day reversal can both be true at once, and together they describe a demand recovery that is directionally real but still fragile enough to break on a macro catalyst.

The Apr. 28-29 FOMC meeting is now the first hard test to see if the institutional bid that has been built over four weeks can hold its ground.

CoinShares explicitly tied current investor caution to that decision window, and the market structure data from Glassnode explains that Bitcoin is pressing into the $80,100 zone, where over 54% of recent buyers would be sitting on profit, historically the zone where distribution selling has exhausted bear market rallies.

A Fed outcome that leaves financial conditions roughly unchanged removes the largest near-term macro headwind.

A hawkish surprise, or language that tightens the rate-cut timeline further, hands sellers exactly the external trigger they need to act on those elevated profit readings.

The two paths forward

The bull case rests on the Fed passing without adding fresh macro stress, weekly product inflows holding near or above $1 billion, US ETF demand re-accelerating past the Apr. 27 wobble, and Coinbase spot activity closing the gap with offshore venues.

The demand recovery becomes self-reinforcing, and Bitcoin clearing $80,100 with consistent spot absorption behind it would shift the market structure from “rally on trial” to a confirmed demand regime, pulling in the next layer of institutional allocators who have been waiting for the price structure to confirm the flow data.

In that scenario, the October 2025 AUM peak of $263 billion becomes the relevant reference point, and the three-week inflow streak gets read as the early phase of a durable re-engagement.

The bear case turns on the same variables running in reverse. If the Fed re-tightens financial conditions at the margin, the weekly flow streak breaks, and Glassnode's realized profit warning starts to dominate price action, the recent move resolves as another distribution rally, particularly if ETF demand fades and price cannot hold above the reclaimed mean.

Glassnode's own record shows that prior rallies this year have struggled at exactly that point, and with liquidity conditions still thin, a breakdown at $78,100 could accelerate faster than inflow data would predict.

Total AUM at $155 billion is 41% below the October peak, meaning far more unwound institutional exposure above current levels.

CoinShares' three straight billion-dollar weeks, CME's higher open interest, Strategy's continued accumulation, and a deeper base of stablecoin liquidity all point to capital returning to Bitcoin with greater conviction.

The recovery runs across enough channels simultaneously to rule out a single-venue anomaly, and the Fed now decides if the market can keep this movement.

The post Bitcoin’s comeback is now in the Fed’s hands after big investors piled back in appeared first on CryptoSlate.

South Korea's Kbank has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to test blockchain-based overseas remittances, placing a bank with a central role in Upbit's KRW account access beside one of crypto's longest-running payments infrastructure firms.

Local reports describe the work as a technical verification, or proof-of-concept, focused on whether Ripple's infrastructure can improve the speed, cost, and transparency of overseas remittances. ZDNet Korea separately described the test as part of a phased push around bank-linked overseas remittance infrastructure.

For now, the commercial pieces remain open: launch date, customer access, fees, live volume, and the exact settlement asset.

Kbank already sits inside South Korea's crypto market through Upbit's real-name account system. Its Ripple pilot, therefore, lands as more than a remittance experiment: it tests whether bank-side crypto infrastructure can move from exchange access toward ordinary cross-border payments while the product design and rulebook remain unfinished.

What Kbank and Ripple are testing

The Kbank-Ripple agreement points to bank integration rather than a standalone crypto app. Local reports said Kbank CEO Choi Woo-hyung and Ripple APAC head Fiona Murray attended a signing ceremony at Kbank's Seoul headquarters, with the companies discussing a Ripple digital-wallet proof-of-concept, support for Kbank's overseas remittance model, and broader digital-asset cooperation.

The sequence starts with a separate app-based remittance structure. The next step virtually links customer accounts and internal systems to test remittance stability, checking whether blockchain remittance rails can be mapped onto account and operations layers that resemble the systems a regulated bank would actually use.

That second phase also reportedly tests on-chain transfers involving corridors such as the UAE and Thailand. The corridor detail makes the PoC more operationally specific than a generic partnership announcement while keeping the commercial model open.

Palisade brings the wallet and custody layer into the test. Global Economic said the second phase uses or evaluates Ripple's SaaS-based digital wallet Palisade, while Ripple's own Palisade acquisition announcement describes the platform as wallet-as-a-service and custody tooling with features aimed at institutional digital-asset operations.

That makes the test a wallet and key-management exercise as much as a transfer-speed exercise. Production deployment by Kbank remains unannounced.

The technical focus is still meaningful. A bank remittance product has to solve compliance, custody, account linkage, settlement, and broader regulatory requirements. The PoC appears to test parts of that stack, while the full commercial design remains open.

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Why Upbit changes the stakes

Kbank's role in Upbit's fiat access gives the Ripple test its market-structure relevance. The bank was moving to extend its real-name deposit and withdrawal account partnership with Upbit through October 2026, according to ChosunBiz.

Upbit's own real-name account verification guide says deposit and withdrawal account verification is possible only with Kbank.

Taken together, the partnership report and Upbit's guide make Kbank the bank behind Upbit's KRW real-name deposit and withdrawal account verification rail. They do not show Upbit participating in the Ripple PoC or Kbank running the test on Upbit's behalf.

The size of the Upbit relationship explains why the context has force. Upbit-linked funds accounted for about 24% of Kbank's 30.4 trillion won deposit balance as of the third quarter of 2025, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.

The same report quoted Choi discussing Kbank's need to reduce reliance on Upbit while positioning stablecoins and cross-border payments as future opportunities.

Kbank's crypto-linked banking role has been built around exchange access. The Ripple test examines whether similar bank-side plumbing can be used for payments.

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Sep 25, 2025 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

The first use case is account access for trading. The next possible use case is cross-border money movement. Between those two sits the unresolved question of regulation.

That context should not be stretched into Upbit participation. Upbit explains why Kbank's banking role matters to South Korea's crypto rails; the Ripple agreement remains a Kbank-side remittance PoC.

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Apr 29, 2020 · Shaurya Malwa

CryptoSlate's prior coverage helps define the surrounding terrain. A June 2025 article covered South Korean banks pursuing a won-backed stablecoin push, while an April 2026 CryptoSlate report on Ripple's RLUSD in Japan showed how bank trust can shape Asian stablecoin adoption.

Regulation keeps the test provisional

South Korea's bank-led stablecoin debate gives the remittance test a policy edge. The Kbank pilot is already being tied to South Korea's stablecoin rulemaking debate, while Seoul Economic Daily reported that delayed digital-asset legislation has kept some Korean blockchain and remittance infrastructure from moving into actual operations.

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Banks can test the mechanics before they know the final rulebook. They can examine wallet architecture, account linkage, compliance controls, and cross-border flows. They can also build optionality without committing to a product launch.

Note: Kbank, the South Korean internet-only bank in the Ripple partnership, should be kept separate from Thailand's KASIKORNBANK, often branded KBank.

KASIKORNBANK has appeared in related Korea-Thailand digital-asset remittance discussions, including a February cooperation announcement with Orbix and BPMG. The connection is corridor context and naming clarity, while the South Korean Kbank and Thailand's KASIKORNBANK remain separate institutions.

The practical split is straightforward: what the pilot tests, what remains undecided, and why Kbank's Upbit rail gives the work market weight.

The next test is commercial proof

Kbank is now sitting between two roles. One is already visible: banking access for Upbit's KRW deposit and withdrawal verification.

The other is being tested: blockchain-based overseas remittances that connect with bank accounts and internal systems.

That bridge has strategic value because South Korea's crypto market already depends on tightly controlled bank-account rails. If a bank tied to those rails can also make blockchain remittances operational, the boundary between exchange access and payment infrastructure becomes less fixed.

The same compliance-heavy banking layer could become a place where crypto-linked infrastructure moves from trading access into cross-border money movement.

For now, the PoC covers testing, corridors, account-system simulation, and Palisade evaluation. It does not yet provide the commercial pieces that would turn the work into a live remittance business.

The next threshold is concrete: a named product, a live customer flow, a settlement asset, a fee model, and regulatory clearance.

Until those pieces arrive, Kbank's Ripple partnership is best read as a readiness test with unusually important surroundings. It shows that one of South Korea's key crypto-linked banking rails is examining the payments infrastructure.

It also shows how much still depends on regulation before a technical pilot can become a real remittance business.

The post The South Korean bank powering Upbit is testing Ripple integration for cross-border payments appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The European Union’s latest Russia sanctions package, its twentieth so far, brings crypto settlement squarely into an already fractured geopolitical spotlight.

Adopted on April 23, the package adds 120 new listings and rolls out financial measures that touch just about every corner of Russia’s crypto scene. That includes service providers, decentralized trading platforms, ruble-backed tokens, payment agents, and even support for the digital rouble.

Earlier rounds of restrictions mostly went after specific exchanges, wallets, or operators. This time, the EU is aiming higher up the stack, targeting the service layer that keeps Russia-linked crypto settlement running. That means third-country platforms and tools that can keep money moving globally, even if a particular exchange gets shut down.

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The EU frames these new rules as a way to close loopholes. According to Council materials, Russia is leaning more and more on crypto for international payments as traditional finance routes get squeezed by sanctions.

The package is the bloc's largest move to sanction Russia in years, with crypto restrictions among its most specific measures.

The real test now is whether Europe can actually measure crypto settlement risk at the infrastructure level. That means platforms have to dig deeper than exchange names and look at where a provider is based, which tokens are in play, which settlement agents are involved, and whether the route relies on a state-backed digital currency.

The Ban Moves Down The Stack

The Commission says this package brings a blanket ban on doing business with any Russian crypto asset service provider. It also covers decentralized platforms if they’re being used to get around sanctions. Now, where a provider is based and how it operates matter just as much as whether it’s been named on a sanctions list.

TRM Labs ties the measure to platform succession risk after Garantex was disrupted. Its analysis of the package points to the Garantex-to-Grinex migration and the role of A7A5 as the bridge between those systems.

Chainalysis reaches a similar conclusion from a compliance angle. Its 20th package analysis describes the measure as a move against categories of evasion infrastructure rather than single named entities.

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It’s one thing to screen a wallet address or exchange name. It’s a whole different challenge to spot a service provider set up in Russia, a third-country platform with Russian liquidity, or a settlement route built around a sanctioned token.

The Financial Times had already reported that EU officials were weighing a broad ban on Russian crypto transactions.

Prior CryptoSlate coverage of that proposal shows the continuity: Brussels was already testing a broader enforcement perimeter before the package was adopted.

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The new rules reach into five different parts of the crypto settlement process.

Stablecoins Become Enforcement Infrastructure

A7A5 gives the policy a concrete example. Chainalysis identifies TengriCoin, doing business as Meer.kg, as the Kyrgyz venue where significant amounts of the government-backed stablecoin are traded.

The Council language is broader, pointing to a Kyrgyz entity operating an exchange where significant A7A5 volumes move.

The venue turns A7A5 from background context into a named enforcement path. TRM says A7A5 served as the financial bridge between Garantex and Grinex after Garantex was disrupted, while Chainalysis describes the token as a Russia-linked stablecoin rail for sanctioned businesses seeking access to the global financial system.

A 2025 U.S. sanctions report linked the Garantex, Grinex, and A7A5 network to earlier enforcement pressure. The EU package now codifies that route-level concern in its own sanctions framework.

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Aug 14, 2025 · Assad Jafri

RUBx gives the package a second stablecoin layer. Russian state-owned conglomerate Rostec planned RUBx as a ruble-pegged token on Tron alongside a payment platform called RT-Pay.

The Commission now says the EU is prohibiting the use of and support for RUBx, as well as support for the digital rouble, a central bank digital currency under development by the Bank of Russia.

The policy signal is direct. The EU is treating a stablecoin, a CBDC project, and the service providers around them as parts of a sanctions-relevant payment architecture.

The role of the instrument carries more weight than the token ticker. If a ruble-backed asset can connect sanctioned businesses to liquidity, its issuer, venue, service provider, and supporting infrastructure all become part of the risk map.

Live market data shows these instruments are active across a huge global market. The focus here is on who can actually settle transactions.

Compliance Moves To The Whole Route

The netting ban shows how far the package reaches into settlement mechanics. The Commission says the package prohibits transactions with agents in Russia and other third countries that offer to facilitate international transactions from Russia to bypass EU sanctions. It also bars netting transactions with Russian agents.

Chainalysis describes this as significant for crypto compliance because netting can obscure the underlying counterparties of Russia-linked flows.

For crypto firms, risk can show up in the service provider behind the scenes, the country where an intermediary is based, the token used to settle, or the payment agent moving the money. Screening now means looking at the whole route, not just searching for familiar names.

For stablecoin issuers, custodians, exchanges, payment processors, and infrastructure providers, this means stepping up checks on any Russia-linked activity. TRM points out that the package moves the focus from just screening names to figuring out if a counterparty is actually based in Russia, even if it’s a brand-new service that hasn’t been listed yet. individual designation.

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Chainalysis flags third-country platforms and intermediaries as sanctions-evasion risks when Russian settlement links are detected.

One likely result is more friction. If issuers, exchanges, and service providers really enforce these rules, settling Russia-linked crypto could get pricier and less dependable. The real squeeze is on the route itself; redemption, platform access, liquidity, custody, and payment-agent relationships all come under pressure.

Another outcome is migration. Successor platforms, nested services, and third-country brokers can push activity into less transparent venues. The EU's answer is to target the architecture that lets those routes keep functioning, pairing crypto restrictions with measures against third-country financial institutions and anti-circumvention channels.

Stablecoins and the digital rouble are now firmly inside the EU’s sanctions playbook, not just sitting on the sidelines. The EU has called out crypto rails as real financial infrastructure and built restrictions around the providers, tokens, platforms, and settlement mechanics that make them work. The big question now is whether enforcement can keep up as these routes keep shifting.

The post EU bans on digital rubles and anyone using Russian crypto services in 20th round of Russia sanctions appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Cardano's governance system is facing two deadlines that belong in the same conversation.

JPG Store, a prominent Cardano NFT marketplace whose product page calls it the #1 Cardano NFT marketplace, began a ‘Restriction Mode' on April 23 and scheduled its ‘Complete Shutdown for May 23′.

The shutdown gives users immediate work to do. The shutdown FAQ tells users to remove listings, cancel offers, and settle or cancel loans before the final date. A separate social-login wallet notice tells users to transfer NFTs, tokens, and ADA to a self-custody Cardano wallet before access through those wallets ends.

At the same time, Cardano voters are weighing Input Output's 2026 treasury slate, where Pogun asks for ₳12.29 million to build a Bitcoin liquidity and credit engine. The process is demanding by design: treasury withdrawals require delegated representative approval from 67% of active voting stake, plus Constitutional Committee approval.

Put together, those deadlines turn Cardano's funding priorities into a live test against the stress points users can see.

The evidence supports an application-level pressure point, while broader chain-health claims would need separate support. JPG Store attributed the decision to operating sustainability, and the closure materials do not establish chain-wide failure.

That distinction is important for the ongoing treasury debate. Cardano can still pursue an ambitious Bitcoin DeFi strategy, but the case for funding it now has to sit beside a visible consumer product telling users to unwind positions and move assets.

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Apr 23, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

A consumer deadline now sits beside the vote

Its ‘Restriction Mode' puts JPG Store into an immediate wind-down process. During that phase, core actions such as listings, offers, sales, and rentals are restricted, while users can still remove active orders and manage certain existing positions before ‘Complete Shutdown' on May 23.

That creates a migration problem for users and a visible comparison point for builders watching where Cardano treasury capital may go next.

Cardano's funding system is debating new infrastructure while one of its most recognizable consumer surfaces is asking people to move assets before it shuts down for good.

JPG Store winding down shows that a product with real visibility in Cardano's NFT market could not continue operating under its current model. Other parts of the ecosystem are still building, voting, and shipping, but the shutdown still adds pressure to the allocation question.

If treasury allocations are contested and voter approval is difficult to secure, the debate becomes a test of whether Bitcoin DeFi is the best near-term answer to the stress points users see.

A marketplace shutdown driven by sustainability pressure and a treasury request for new liquidity infrastructure can both be rational responses to the same ecosystem issues. Together, they set a clearer test: Cardano has to show that new funding can translate into applications, users, and liquidity, with the consumer layer as the proof point.

The closure also changes how the vote will be judged. A consumer deadline gives voters and builders a visible benchmark for any treasury ask.

Funding new infrastructure can still be rational, but the burden is higher when existing user surfaces are asking people to move assets and unwind positions.

The vote tests Cardano's allocation logic

Input Output's 2026 treasury package includes nine proposals. Pogun is the Bitcoin DeFi plank in that set, and its listed work includes a non-margin credit market, a yield application, institutional access, and a BitVM-powered trust-minimized bridge through 2026.

In plain English, the proposal aims to make Bitcoin useful within Cardano's DeFi stack. That is a coherent strategic target because it aims at liquidity alongside application growth.

The harder challenge is whether that target addresses the current weakness visible in Cardano's consumer and DeFi activity.

The live treasury withdrawal process listed Pogun as expiring May 24, with 1.04% DRep support toward the 67% threshold as of 09:30 UTC on April 24.

That can change quickly, but it captures the state of the process at a useful moment: the proposal is live, the threshold is high, and voter conviction still has to be built.

The broader request was already on the table. Input Output's teams were seeking almost $50 million for Bitcoin DeFi and Vision 2030, with the 2026 ask below the prior year's approved level.

JPG Store's closure adds pressure around how that funding case should be judged.

The Bitcoin-liquidity direction also predates Pogun. Cardano had already approved an Orion Fund first tranche tied to 50 million ADA, a $15 million first deployment, and an $80 million target.

Pogun, therefore, sits within a broader effort to connect Cardano with Bitcoin liquidity, a strategy that now has multiple pieces, from Orion to Pogun, while the consumer-product side has just set a new deadline.

The funding case has to show that those pieces connect, because a liquidity engine only strengthens the ecosystem if it eventually produces usable markets, credible demand, and applications that people return to.

The next test is delivery and usage

The market backdrop shows why Bitcoin DeFi is tempting. The aggregate crypto market sits at around $2.6 trillion, with BTC dominance near 60.1%.

CryptoSlate's Cardano price data show ADA trading near $0.25 with a market cap of around $9 billion, while BTC trades near $77,872 with a $1.56 trillion market cap.

Those figures show the scale mismatch Cardano is trying to solve. Bitcoin liquidity is enormous, and Cardano's own asset value remains large enough to make light application usage look like an execution challenge.

Cardano's activity metrics give the other side of the frame. DefiLlama shows about $134.57 million in DeFi TVL, $49.08 million in stablecoins, $556,520 in 24-hour DEX volume, and $3,575 in 24-hour NFT volume.

The shape is more important than the exact numbers. Cardano's market value is large, while measured DeFi and NFT activity remain comparatively light.

That makes the treasury question harder and more useful. A Bitcoin liquidity push could address one clear constraint by bringing a deeper asset pool into Cardano's DeFi system.

At the same time, a consumer NFT marketplace shutdown asks whether the ecosystem also needs stronger native demand, better product economics, or funding paths that sustain applications users already recognize.

Cardano's funding system was already in transition before this week. Project Catalyst had distributed more than $150 million, while the next rounds were paused as stewardship moved from Input Output to the Cardano Foundation.

That context places the current debate inside a broader governance reset and the strongest conclusion is conditional. JPG Store's closure leaves Cardano's Bitcoin DeFi strategy alive, but harder to judge by itself.

If Pogun and related liquidity work win support, ship on schedule, and create measurable activity, the treasury push can be understood as an attempt to connect Cardano to a larger pool of capital.

In that version, consumer consolidation and Bitcoin DeFi expansion can coexist because the chain is trying to build new demand channels while some unsustainable products wind down.

If voting remains thin, activity metrics stay weak, or more consumer surfaces contract, the same proposal will face a tougher interpretation.

It will resemble a bet that a new liquidity narrative can repair problems visible in the existing application layer.

The next thresholds are concrete. JPG Store's final shutdown date is May 23. Pogun's listed treasury vote window expires May 24.

After that, the useful signals move from governance approval to delivery, usage, and liquidity. The useful question is whether the treasury process can direct capital toward constraints that users and builders can actually feel.

The post Cardano to invest in Bitcoin while Cardano marketplaces like JPG Store are shut down appeared first on CryptoSlate.

AAVE, the native token of the Aave DeFi platform, is now available on the Solana blockchain network.

The move will give Solana users access to one of the largest lending protocols in decentralized finance without leaving the network.

This came less than two days after the Solana Foundation revealed that it would deploy part of its treasury into Aave.

Through this action, the non-profit joined a broader industry effort to contain the fallout from the KelpDAO rsETH $292 million exploit and restore confidence in decentralized lending markets.

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Solana Foundation aids Aave recovery

On April 25, Lily Liu, chair of the foundation, said the nonprofit is lending USDT to Aave to support recovery efforts after the exploit left major DeFi protocols exposed to unbacked collateral and liquidity stress.

The step marks an unusual cross-chain intervention by Solana, which has spent years building its own DeFi economy around native lending, trading, and liquid staking applications.

It also gives the foundation a direct role in a recovery effort centered on Aave, a protocol more closely associated with Ethereum and its layer-2 networks.

Liu framed the move as support for the broader open-finance market, saying blockchain economies do not operate in isolation and that Solana’s long-term health depends on a functioning DeFi sector beyond its own ecosystem.

For Solana, the intervention signals that competition among chains does not preclude coordination when a failure threatens the market structure on which they all depend.

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A bridge failure becomes a DeFi problem

The April 18 $292 million exploit began with KelpDAO’s rsETH, a liquid restaking token, after attackers allegedly exploited a weakness tied to its LayerZero bridge configuration.

According to reports, the attackers were able to redeem 116,500 unbacked rsETH tokens on Ethereum before depositing the assets as collateral across Aave, Compound, and Euler, then borrowing roughly $292 million in ETH and other assets.

This action caused broader contagion, especially in Aave's lending markets, where platform users exited en masse, and resulted in WETH utilization reaching 100% within hours of the exploit.

Galaxy Research explained:

“At full utilization, Aave's design doesn't allow withdrawals, because there is no idle liquidity in the pool to redeem against. Whoever withdraws first is made whole, while whoever comes later must wait for new supply to arrive or borrowers to repay.”

Oak Research, a crypto intelligence firm, said the mass exit led to a 17% decline in total value locked in DeFi, with Aave experiencing more than $12 billion in outflows.

The firm argued the episode could have become a defining failure for DeFi because it combined a bridge misconfiguration, a systemically important lending venue, and lenders unable to withdraw funds from depleted pools.

The liquidity crunch also showed how lending protocols can operate as designed while still importing risk from outside infrastructure.

Aave pools depend on borrowers, collateral, and liquidations functioning normally. When collateral quality collapses suddenly, lenders can be left waiting for liquidity until borrowers repay, liquidations occur, or new deposits enter the market.

Can ‘DeFi United' restore investors' confidence?

In response to the incident, Aave and KelpDAO helped organize DeFi United, a recovery vehicle aimed at replenishing rsETH reserves and making affected users whole.

According to DeFi United's official website, the effort has drawn commitments of nearly $240 million from several major DeFi participants, including Aave DAO, Arbitrum DAO, Mantle, Ether.fi, Lido, Kelp, Golem Foundation, and individual contributors.

Oak Research said this recovery effort is working because Aave was the protocol at risk.

In its view, the response may have been different if the losses had been isolated to a smaller restaking protocol or a bridge without broader systemic importance. Aave, as the largest DeFi lending venue, had stronger incentives to preserve its reputation and avoid a precedent in which lenders take losses from collateral accepted by the protocol.

That is what makes Solana’s support notable. The foundation is stepping into a sector-wide effort to prevent a bridge-linked collateral failure from damaging confidence in DeFi’s largest lending venue.

The move also gives Solana a strategic opening. Bringing AAVE to Solana could deepen cross-chain liquidity, broaden access for Solana users, and give Aave another distribution channel at a time when lending protocols are reassessing collateral risk, bridge dependencies, and emergency backstops.

Meanwhile, the recovery may still leave governance questions unresolved. Aave tokenholders must weigh the cost of using treasury assets against the reputational risk of allowing users to absorb losses.

While DeFi United can help close the immediate shortfall, the KelpDAO exploit has already shown that collateral standards, bridge design, and protocol risk controls are no longer separate issues.

The post Aave moves onto Solana as part of rescue efforts after latest $290M exploit hit DeFi hard appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Kevin Warsh has emerged as the clear frontrunner to succeed Jerome Powell as the Chair of the Federal Reserve. Warsh is widely considered the most "pro-Bitcoin" candidate to ever be nominated for the role. However, historical data casts a long, dark shadow over Fed leadership changes. In every major transition over the last decade, Bitcoin has suffered double-digit percentage collapses.

The "Fed Chair Curse": A History of Bitcoin Crashes

To understand the current market anxiety, one must look at the precedent set by previous appointments. Historically, the uncertainty surrounding a new Fed Chair’s "hawkish" or "dovish" stance has triggered massive sell-offs.

In 2014, Janet Yellen's arrival coincided with the post-2013 bubble burst and the Mt. Gox collapse. By 2018, Powell took the reigns just as the ICO craze deflated. Most recently, in 2022, his second term confirmation aligned with the start of aggressive interest rate hikes that fueled the "Crypto Winter."

Who is Kevin Warsh? The Pro-Crypto Nominee

Kevin Warsh is not your typical central banker. A former Fed Governor (2006–2011) and Morgan Stanley veteran, Warsh has a track record of acknowledging Bitcoin as a legitimate financial asset. During his recent confirmation hearings, Warsh stated that "digital assets are already part of the fabric of our financial services industry."

Unlike his predecessors, Warsh’s personal financial disclosures revealed significant exposure to the sector, including holdings in Web3 infrastructure and DeFi protocols.

Key Policy Stances:

• Opposition to CBDCs: Warsh has explicitly called a retail U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency a "bad policy choice," citing privacy concerns.
• Private Innovation: He favors letting the private sector lead in stablecoins and digital payments rather than government-led initiatives.
• Inflation Hedge: He has previously referred to Bitcoin as an "important asset" that informs policymakers on inflation and dollar strength.

Why 2026 Might Be Different: The Case for a Bitcoin Pump

While the "Fed Chair Curse" suggests a crash is imminent by May 2026, several factors suggest we might see a "Warsh Pump" instead of a "Powell Dump."

1. Regulatory Clarity: Unlike 2014 or 2018, the U.S. now has a maturing regulatory framework. Investors are no longer trading in a vacuum; institutional products like Spot Bitcoin ETFs have stabilized liquidity.
2. The "Shadow" Mandate: Warsh is expected to prioritize "Sound Money" and market-led growth. If the market perceives him as more "dovish" or less likely to weaponize the banking system against crypto (Operation Choke Point 2.0), capital could flood back into crypto exchanges.
3. Institutional Sentiment: According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Wall Street views Warsh as a candidate who understands market volatility, potentially leading to a more predictable interest rate path.

The Risks: Political Friction and the "Sock Puppet" Narrative

It hasn't been all smooth sailing. Senator Elizabeth Warren and other critics have raised concerns about Warsh’s independence, fearing he may act as a "sock puppet" for the executive branch to facilitate specific crypto ventures. Any perception that the Fed is losing its independence could lead to dollar volatility, which historically sends tremors through all risk assets, including hardware wallets and cold storage holdings.

Ethereum drops below $2,300 as crypto momentum fades

Ethereum fell below the important $2,300 level after Bitcoin failed to hold its recent pump toward $79K. The move came during a broader crypto market pullback, where Bitcoin dropped below $77K and several major altcoins turned red within a short period.

The latest market data shows ETH trading around $2,277, down nearly 3% over 24 hours. This drop is important because Ethereum had recently been supported by bullish institutional headlines, including reports of major ETH accumulation by BitMine. However, the market reaction shows that short-term traders are still focused more on Bitcoin’s price action, liquidations and weak market structure than on long-term accumulation news.

In simple terms, Ethereum did not drop because of one isolated ETH-specific event. It dropped because the broader crypto market lost momentum.

Why did Ethereum drop below $2,300?

The main reason Ethereum dropped is that Bitcoin rejected a key resistance zone. BTC briefly pushed toward $79K, but the move failed quickly. Once Bitcoin lost strength and fell back below $77K, Ethereum followed with a sharper decline.

This is normal during fast market reversals. ETH often behaves like a higher-beta version of Bitcoin, meaning it can rise faster during bullish momentum but also fall harder when the market turns. When BTC rejected the breakout, traders quickly reduced exposure across major crypto assets, and ETH became one of the first large-cap altcoins to feel the pressure.

The loss of the $2,300 level then made the move worse. For many traders, $2,300 is both a psychological level and a short-term technical support zone. Once Ethereum fell below it, stop-losses and leveraged long liquidations likely accelerated the decline.

Liquidations hit Ethereum after Bitcoin’s failed breakout

The speed of the drop suggests that liquidations played a major role. Social media reports pointed to a sharp amount of value being wiped from the crypto market in a very short time, with both BTC and ETH falling almost simultaneously.

This matters because Ethereum is heavily traded with leverage. When the market moves against crowded long positions, traders are forced to close positions or get liquidated. That selling pressure can push ETH lower even if there is no major negative news about Ethereum itself.

This is why ETH can drop despite bullish long-term headlines. Institutional accumulation may support the broader narrative, but short-term leverage can still control intraday price action.

BitMine buying Ethereum was not enough to stop the selloff

One of the more bullish headlines around Ethereum was the report that Tom Lee’s BitMine bought a large amount of ETH. This should normally support confidence in Ethereum’s long-term outlook, especially as institutional interest in ETH continues to grow.

However, today’s move shows the difference between long-term accumulation and short-term trading pressure. Big buyers can strengthen the investment case for Ethereum, but they do not automatically prevent sudden corrections. If Bitcoin rejects resistance, the market deleverages, and altcoins weaken, ETH can still drop below key levels.

That is exactly what happened here. The BitMine headline helped the Ethereum narrative, but it was not strong enough to stop the market-wide selloff.

Ethereum weakens as altcoins flash warning signs

Ethereum’s decline also fits the broader altcoin weakness. XRP, Solana, Cardano, BNB and Chainlink were all under pressure, confirming that this was not only an Ethereum problem. The market was reducing risk across major altcoins.

This is important because Ethereum usually needs broader altcoin strength to build a sustainable rally. When ETH rises while altcoins confirm the move, the market often looks healthier. But when ETH drops alongside most large-cap coins, it suggests that traders are becoming more defensive.

For now, Ethereum is still being treated like a risk asset. It is not leading the market higher. Instead, it is reacting to Bitcoin’s failed breakout and the broader weakness across crypto.

Ethereum price analysis: key levels to watch

The most important level for Ethereum now is $2,300. If ETH can reclaim this level quickly, the latest drop may be viewed as a temporary shakeout caused by Bitcoin’s rejection and short-term liquidations.

A move back above $2,300 would be the first sign that buyers are trying to regain control. After that, ETH would need to push toward the $2,350 to $2,400 zone to rebuild stronger bullish momentum.

However, if Ethereum remains below $2,300, the risk of further downside increases. In that case, traders may start watching lower support areas near $2,250 and then $2,200. Losing those levels could make the ETH chart look weaker and extend the correction.

For now, ETH is in a sensitive position. The next move depends heavily on whether Bitcoin can stabilize above $76K to $77K and whether Ethereum can recover $2,300 quickly.

Is Ethereum still bullish?

Ethereum’s long-term outlook has not been destroyed by this drop. Institutional buying, ETF-related interest and the broader Ethereum ecosystem still support the long-term narrative. But the short-term chart is clearly under pressure.

The problem is not that Ethereum has no bullish catalysts. The problem is that the market is not responding strongly to them yet. When bullish headlines fail to push price higher, it usually means traders are waiting for technical confirmation before taking more risk.

For Ethereum, that confirmation starts with reclaiming $2,300. Without that, the market may continue to treat ETH as weak in the short term.

Ethereum price prediction: bounce or deeper correction?

If Ethereum reclaims $2,300 and Bitcoin stabilizes above $77K, ETH could attempt a recovery toward $2,350 and then $2,400. A stronger move above that zone would suggest that the selloff was only a temporary liquidation event.

But if ETH fails to recover $2,300, the bearish case becomes stronger. A continued rejection below this level could send Ethereum toward $2,250 or even $2,200, especially if Bitcoin loses the $76K support area.

The most likely short-term scenario is continued volatility. Ethereum is stuck between bullish institutional narratives and bearish short-term price action. Until ETH turns $2,300 back into support, traders should expect more sharp moves in both directions.

Final thoughts: why ETH dropped and what comes next

Ethereum dropped below $2,300 because Bitcoin’s failed $79K pump triggered a broader crypto market selloff. The move was accelerated by liquidations, weak altcoin momentum and traders reducing risk across major crypto assets.

This does not mean Ethereum’s long-term story is broken. But it does show that ETH needs stronger confirmation before the next major rally can begin. Bullish accumulation headlines are important, but price action still matters.

For now, the key level is clear: Ethereum needs to reclaim $2,300. If it does, the market could start looking for a recovery. If it fails, ETH may remain under pressure and test lower support zones.

Bitcoin fails to hold the $79K pump

Bitcoin gave traders a short burst of optimism after briefly pumping toward the $79K level. The move looked like a potential breakout attempt, especially after fresh institutional buying headlines entered the market. However, the momentum quickly faded, and Bitcoin dropped back below $77K, erasing the gains from the previous move.

According to the latest market data, Bitcoin is trading around $76,600, down roughly 1.7% over 24 hours. This confirms that BTC is still struggling to build a clean continuation above the $78K to $79K range. The failed move also shows that buyers are not yet strong enough to push Bitcoin into a confirmed breakout above $80K.

The key question now is simple: why did Bitcoin pump toward $79K, then suddenly lose strength?

Why did Bitcoin drop below $77K?

The first reason is a classic failed breakout. Bitcoin moved higher, attracted short-term traders, but failed to hold the breakout zone. Once the price started rejecting near $79K, leveraged positions became vulnerable. The move then turned into a fast downside reaction, with reports pointing to billions being wiped from the crypto market in a short period.

This type of move often happens when the market pumps into resistance without enough spot demand to support the rally. Traders chase the move, liquidity builds above and below the price, and once momentum slows, the market reverses sharply.

In this case, Bitcoin’s drop below $77K suggests that the $79K area was not a real breakout yet. It was more likely a liquidity move, where the price pushed higher, trapped late buyers, and then quickly reversed.

Strategy buys more Bitcoin, but BTC still drops

One of the most interesting parts of today’s crypto news is that Bitcoin dropped even after bullish institutional headlines. Michael Saylor’s Strategy reportedly bought 3,273 BTC worth around $255 million, adding more fuel to the long-term Bitcoin accumulation narrative.

Normally, this type of news would support bullish sentiment. But today’s price action shows that institutional buying does not always create an immediate pump. Large buyers may support the bigger trend, but short-term price action still depends on liquidity, leverage, resistance levels and market confidence.

In other words, Strategy buying more Bitcoin is bullish for the long-term narrative, but it was not enough to stop the short-term selloff below $77K.

BlackRock and institutions are buying, but retail momentum is weak

The broader institutional story remains strong. BlackRock has reportedly accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin through spot ETF demand, while Strategy continues to add BTC to its balance sheet. This confirms that large players are still using weakness as an accumulation opportunity.

However, Bitcoin’s failure to break $80K shows that institutional demand alone is not enough. The market also needs stronger retail participation, better altcoin momentum, and a clear technical breakout. Without those elements, Bitcoin can continue to see sharp pumps and dumps inside the same range.

This is why today’s move is important. It shows a clear gap between the long-term accumulation story and the short-term trading reality.

Altcoins confirm the market weakness

Bitcoin was not the only asset under pressure. The latest crypto performance data shows that most major altcoins are also red. Ethereum dropped below $2,300, XRP fell by more than 2%, Solana moved lower, Cardano weakened, and Chainlink also declined.

This matters because a healthy crypto rally usually needs support from major altcoins. When Bitcoin pumps but altcoins remain weak, the move often looks defensive rather than broad-based. It means traders are not fully rotating into risk yet.

Ethereum’s weakness is especially important. ETH is trading around $2,277, down almost 3%, despite recent reports that Tom Lee’s BitMine bought a large amount of Ethereum. This shows that even bullish Ethereum accumulation headlines are not currently enough to reverse market pressure.

Peter Schiff adds bearish pressure to the Bitcoin narrative

Another headline adding attention to the market is Peter Schiff’s latest bearish comment, where he reportedly said Bitcoin could crash “close to zero.” Schiff has always been one of Bitcoin’s most vocal critics, so the statement itself is not surprising. But the timing matters.

His comment came while Bitcoin was failing to hold a breakout and dropping below $77K. This gives the market a stronger emotional contrast: institutions are buying BTC, but critics are using the failed pump as proof that Bitcoin remains fragile.

For traders, this does not mean Bitcoin is going to zero. But it does show that sentiment is still divided. The market is not in full euphoria mode. Fear, skepticism and leverage-driven volatility are still controlling short-term moves.

Why is Bitcoin weak while stocks hit all-time highs?

One of the most important parts of today’s market setup is that stocks are reportedly hitting all-time highs while Bitcoin is struggling below $80K. That is a major signal.

If US and Asian stock markets are strong, but Bitcoin cannot hold above $79K, it suggests that crypto is not currently leading the risk-on trade. Liquidity may be flowing first into equities, while crypto remains trapped by leverage, weak altcoin demand and resistance near $80K.

This does not necessarily mean the Bitcoin trend is broken. But it does mean that BTC needs stronger confirmation before traders can call the next major breakout. For now, the market is still reacting more like a fragile risk asset than a leading momentum asset.

Bitcoin price analysis: key levels to watch

The most important level now is the $76K to $77K support zone. If Bitcoin can hold this area and reclaim $78K, the market may attempt another move toward $79K and eventually $80K.

However, if BTC loses the $76K zone clearly, the failed $79K pump could turn into a deeper correction. In that case, traders may start watching lower liquidity areas and stronger support zones below the current range.

For the bullish case to return, Bitcoin needs more than another quick pump. It needs to reclaim the $78K to $79K range, hold it as support, and show enough strength to challenge $80K with real volume.

For Ethereum, the key level is $2,300. If ETH remains below this zone, altcoins may continue to struggle, even if Bitcoin stabilizes.

Is the Bitcoin rally over?

The Bitcoin rally is not necessarily over, but today’s move is a warning sign. Bitcoin is still attracting institutional buyers, and major companies continue to accumulate BTC. However, the short-term chart shows that the market is not ready for a clean breakout yet.

The drop below $77K after a pump to $79K shows that traders are still selling into strength. It also confirms that $80K remains a major psychological and technical barrier.

For now, the crypto market is stuck between two forces. On one side, institutional accumulation supports the long-term Bitcoin story. On the other side, weak altcoins, liquidations and failed breakout attempts are keeping short-term pressure alive.

Until Bitcoin turns $79K into support and breaks $80K with conviction, the market may continue to see sharp pumps followed by fast pullbacks.

Tangem is heating up the self-custody market this spring with the launch of its exclusive Prize Draw Campaign, running from May 5 to June 6, 2026. This campaign offers users a chance to win a share of over 100 prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000 in BTC.

How to Participate in the Tangem Draw

To participate in the Tangem Prize Draw, users simply need to purchase a Tangem wallet directly through our exclusive promo link here during the promotion period. Participation is entirely automatic; every wallet item purchased counts as one entry—for example, a 3-pack order equals three tickets—with no additional sign-up required.

Prize Pool Breakdown: What Can You Win?

The campaign features a robust selection of 104 individual prizes. Beyond the headline Bitcoin rewards, Tangem is giving away the latest tech and specialized hardware security gear.

Winners will be announced on July 5, 2026, following a 30-day "cooldown" period used to verify that only non-refunded purchases are eligible. The announcement will take place on the Tangem blog and via a live stream on the Tangem Discord.

Bonus Offer: Double Your Entries and Save 50%

Running concurrently with the prize draw is a significant discount on high-capacity storage. Users who purchase a Family Pack (two 3-card sets) starting with a Black or Stealth wallet can receive the second set at 50% off by using our official discount link.

Notably, both sets in the Family Pack count as separate entries for the prize draw, effectively doubling your chances to win while securing your assets at a lower cost. Eligible collections for the discounted second set include popular designs like Bitcoin, White Stealth, and the "Hold Your Freedom" series.

Why Hardware Security Matters in 2026

In an era where Bitcoin prices are pushing toward six-figure milestones, the security of your private keys is paramount. Modern hardware wallets have evolved to address sophisticated 2026 threats like AI-enabled phishing and "pig butchering" scams.

Tangem's unique approach utilizes EAL6+ certified secure element chips within a card-shaped form factor. Unlike traditional devices, Tangem is battery-free and requires no cables; users simply tap the card to their smartphone to sign transactions. This eliminates the vulnerability of a written seed phrase, as the keys are generated and stored exclusively on the card's chip.

Safety and Anti-Scam Precautions

Tangem has issued a strict warning regarding security during this campaign. Official winners will only be contacted via email from the @tangem.com domain.

• No Payment Required: Tangem will never ask for payment to claim a prize.
• Privacy First: Official staff will never ask for your private keys or seed phrases.
• Verify Sources: If you receive messages from other addresses claiming you have won, it is a scam.

While Bitcoin ($BTC) remains in a choppy consolidation range near $77,500, a handful of high-beta assets have posted double-digit gains, diverging significantly from the broader index.

Historically, vertical moves of this magnitude—often exceeding 30% in seven days—invite a period of rebalancing. For traders, this week is less about chasing the "pump" and more about identifying where the floor sits. Here are 3 tokens that soared high and need to be on every trader's radar.

1. Humanity Protocol (H): The "Vesting Choice" Volatility

Humanity Protocol (H) has been the week's standout performer, surging over 45% following a massive spike in on-chain whale activity. Large-scale transactions for $H$ recently hit a five-month high, signaling that institutional players are positioning themselves within its "Proof of Humanity" ecosystem.

However, a fundamental headwind is peaking right now. The Humanity Foundation recently presented early backers with a difficult choice: extend their vesting schedules until late 2026 or accept a 70% haircut for immediate liquidity by April 26. This creates a complex supply dynamic for the remainder of this week.

• The Bull Case: If whales continue to defend the current breakout support at $0.12, a test of the $0.18 resistance level is likely.
• The Bear Case: A significant "cliff" token unlock is approaching on June 25 for those who chose the haircut. In the immediate term, the market is pricing in this "death spiral" risk. If $H$ fails to hold $0.14, expect a retracement toward the $0.11 EMA.

2. Stable (STABLE): Navigating Regulatory Momentum

Stable (STABLE) has climbed over 30% this week, reaching a market capitalization of approximately $742 million. This rally is fueled by the evolving regulatory landscape in the United States, specifically following the GENIUS Act guidelines and new institutional reserve portfolios from major banks.

Unlike purely speculative tokens, STABLE is positioning itself as a compliance-first asset. However, after such a rapid ascent, the token is showing signs of exhaustion.

• Key Levels: STABLE is currently hovering near a psychological resistance point of $0.035. A failure to break through this week could see profit-taking dominate the mid-week sessions, leading to a healthy retracement toward $0.028.
• Watch for: New Treasury Department rules regarding stablecoin AML frameworks, which could either solidify this rally or trigger a "sell the news" event.

3. MemeCore (M): High Gains vs. Thin Liquidity

The third asset on our radar, MemeCore (M), has been the "moonshot" story of the month, gaining nearly 30% this week and pushing its valuation into the multi-billion dollar range. While the price of $M is sitting near its local highs of $4.38, technical analysts are sounding the alarm.

The project recently executed a hardfork that reduced gas fees by 99%, attracting a wave of retail interest. However, on-chain scrutiny highlights a potential risk: a discrepancy between the high market cap and relatively thin liquidity in decentralized exchange (DEX) pools.

• Risk Factor: The volume-to-market cap ratio remains low. In thin markets like MemeCore's, even small sell orders can have an outsized impact on the price.
• Technical Outlook: Watch for a "double top" pattern near $4.65. If $M fails to sustain volume above its 24-hour average of $25M, a sharp correction toward the $3.89 support level is probable.

Summary: 3 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Week

The fintech company's third-party audited disclosure shows $1.5 billion in customer Bitcoin and $692 million in corporate treasury holdings.

The joint motion halts deadlines and enforcement in xAI’s lawsuit while Colorado lawmakers weigh changes to the state’s AI bias law.

The Aave-led relief effort has gained widespread support, securing enough commitments to replenish the swiped funds.

Six weeks after telling staff to stop chasing distractions, OpenAI is reportedly planning a phone targeting 400 million units a year.

Paul Sztorc’s proposed eCash fork would give investors coins cloned from wallets believed to belong to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

After the synchronization of the XRP Ledger with the market performance of XRP< things went downhill.

A trend of increasing Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin activity is usually spotted towards the month's end.

While Vegas celebrates, Ripple's UK CEO explains why Europe's operational maturity is outpacing the US regulatory gridlock in the XRP race.

The interoperability-focused blockchain network ZetaChain has suffered a smart contract exploit due to a critical vulnerability in its cross-chain messaging system.

Ridiculous memecoin rallies isn't the sign of a healthy market, but one with free liquidity.

Quick Overview

• Alphabet’s Q1 2026 financial results will be released Wednesday, April 29, following the market close
• Options market signals suggest a potential 5.63% price swing — significantly higher than the 1.44% four-quarter average
• Consensus estimates point to $106.89 billion in revenue, representing approximately 19% year-over-year growth
• Analysts project earnings per share of $2.63, marking a roughly 6.4% decline compared to last year’s quarter
• Mark Mahaney from Evercore ISI maintains an Outperform stance with a $400 target price for GOOGL

The Google parent company is scheduled to unveil its first quarter 2026 financial performance on Wednesday, April 29, following the close of trading.

Alphabet Inc., GOOGL

Analyst consensus calls for total revenue reaching $106.89 billion, translating to approximately 19% expansion versus the comparable quarter from the prior year.

Per-share earnings are anticipated to land at $2.63 — representing roughly a 6.4% year-over-year decrease, primarily attributed to escalating expenses related to artificial intelligence infrastructure investments and data center buildouts.

During the previous quarter, Alphabet delivered revenues totaling $113.8 billion, marking an 18% annual increase while surpassing both revenue and earnings per share projections. Expectations entering this quarterly report remain elevated.

Derivatives markets are indicating a potential 5.63% price movement in either direction once earnings are disclosed. This substantially exceeds Alphabet’s typical post-earnings fluctuation of merely 1.44% across the preceding four quarters — suggesting traders perceive heightened uncertainty surrounding this release.

GOOGL stock has surged 78% since the beginning of the year and has climbed 118% over the trailing twelve months. Shares were trading approximately 1.72% higher entering Tuesday’s trading session.

Financial analysts tracking Alphabet have maintained relatively stable projections throughout the past 30 days, indicating limited anticipation of major deviations — though the company has historically demonstrated consistency in meeting or exceeding revenue expectations.

Critical Focus Areas for Investors

Beyond the primary financial metrics, market participants will scrutinize updates regarding Gemini AI deployment progress and YouTube’s advertising revenue performance.

YouTube has exhibited somewhat inconsistent trends lately, with Mahaney identifying possible weakness in this division ahead of the earnings announcement.

Google Cloud stands out as a potentially strong performer. Robust client demand coupled with an expanding contract backlog may generate positive surprises, based on Mahaney’s pre-earnings analysis.

Regarding profitability metrics, expectations remain measured. Elevated data center expenditures combined with ongoing recruitment efforts in AI and Cloud divisions are projected to constrain margin improvement, even if revenue growth remains solid.

Search advertising continues as the fundamental revenue driver. Advertising expenditure patterns are characterized as stable to moderately strengthening, which should establish a dependable baseline for quarterly performance.

Wall Street’s Perspective

Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI has reaffirmed his Outperform rating alongside a $400 price objective for GOOGL in advance of the results.

Mahaney anticipates a slight beat, with total revenue and advertising sales likely to meet or marginally exceed consensus forecasts.

The broader analyst community maintains a Strong Buy consensus on Alphabet, supported by 26 Buy recommendations and five Hold ratings.

The mean price target stands at $387.68, suggesting approximately 12.57% appreciation potential from present trading levels.

Alphabet’s Q1 2026 financial results are scheduled for release Wednesday, April 29, after the market close.

The post Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock: Q1 2026 Earnings Preview and What Analysts Predict appeared first on Blockonomi.

Quick Summary

• Meta Platforms delivers Q1 2026 financial results Wednesday, April 29, following market hours.
• Wall Street forecasts earnings per share of $6.67 alongside revenue reaching $55.56 billion, representing 31.3% annual growth.
• META shares have surged 26.5% in the last 30 days ahead of the earnings announcement.
• The primary concern centers on artificial intelligence infrastructure spending, with Meta planning $60–65 billion in capital expenditures for 2026.
• A total of 45 Wall Street analysts give META a Strong Buy consensus rating, projecting an average share price of $854.46.

Meta Platforms is scheduled to release its Q1 2026 financial results on Wednesday, April 29, following the closing bell. With shares advancing 26.5% during the previous month, investor expectations are running particularly high.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

Analyst consensus points to earnings per share reaching $6.67, an increase from the $6.43 reported during the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue projections stand at $55.56 billion, marking a substantial 31.3% increase year over year. This represents a significant acceleration compared to the 16.1% growth rate Meta recorded in Q1 2025.

During the previous quarter, Meta exceeded revenue forecasts by posting $59.89 billion, representing 23.8% annual growth. The social media giant also disclosed 3.58 billion daily active users, reflecting a 6.9% expansion. Management provided current-quarter revenue guidance that surpassed analyst projections, contributing momentum to the recent stock appreciation.

The vast majority of analysts tracking Meta have maintained their financial estimates unchanged throughout the past 30 days. The company’s historical pattern of surpassing Wall Street projections provides some reassurance as the earnings date approaches.

Artificial Intelligence Expenditures Take Priority

The critical question entering Wednesday’s announcement isn’t whether Meta will exceed expectations — it’s what management communicates regarding capital allocation.

Meta has outlined plans for $60 billion to $65 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure investments throughout 2026. Any increase to this range, absent corresponding revenue guidance improvements, could trigger investor concern.

Artificial intelligence is already producing tangible returns on the advertising platform. Enhanced precision in ad targeting combined with AI-curated content recommendations have strengthened user engagement across Facebook and Instagram. These quantifiable improvements help justify the stock’s recent appreciation.

However, the market is demanding additional proof. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has committed substantial resources toward AI-powered agents and business messaging capabilities. The Q1 results will provide the initial substantive indication of whether these initiatives are producing revenue or remain in development stages.

Capital expenditure projections will receive intense scrutiny. Profit margins represent another critical metric — shareholders want confirmation that aggressive spending isn’t compromising bottom-line performance.

Competitor Performance Analysis

Examining other consumer internet companies that have already disclosed results, the landscape appears inconsistent. Netflix delivered 16.2% revenue expansion and exceeded estimates by 0.5%, yet shares declined 9.7% following the announcement. Coursera achieved 9.1% growth and aligned with expectations, but experienced an 11.6% price drop.

Even strong quarterly performances have faced negative market reactions during this earnings season. This dynamic carries significance for Meta, considering the substantial gains the stock has accumulated entering the report.

Wall Street Perspective

According to TipRanks, META carries a consensus Strong Buy designation from 45 analysts — comprising 39 Buy ratings and 6 Hold ratings issued within the last three months. The average price objective stands at $854.46, suggesting approximately 26% potential appreciation from current trading levels. The consensus target across various analyst platforms hovers near $855.

Meta Platforms reports Wednesday, April 29, after market close.

The post Meta Platforms (META) Q1 2026 Earnings Preview: Wall Street’s Expectations Revealed appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Shares of Dynatrace climbed more than 8% following reports that Starboard Value has accumulated a significant activist position
• Starboard has emerged as one of the company’s top five investors after months of private discussions with leadership
• The hedge fund criticizes DT for lagging behind industry competitors due to weak revenue expansion
• The activist firm is calling for shareholder distributions exceeding $2.5 billion across a three-year period
• Wall Street maintains a Strong Buy rating on DT shares, targeting an average price of $48.38

Shares of Dynatrace (DT) rocketed more than 8% during premarket hours on Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report revealing that activist hedge fund Starboard Value has established a substantial position in the AI-powered observability platform provider.

Dynatrace, Inc., DT

On Tuesday, Starboard delivered a preliminary letter to Dynatrace’s board, detailing its concerns and strategic recommendations for the business.

The investment firm now ranks among DT’s five largest shareholders. Starboard has been conducting private negotiations with company executives for multiple months before deciding to make its position more visible.

Prior to Tuesday’s premarket surge, DT shares had declined 18% since the start of the year. This disappointing performance relative to other software infrastructure and cybersecurity companies is precisely what drew Starboard’s interest.

Starboard’s central thesis is simple: flat revenue growth has dragged down the stock price, and the market has lost confidence in management’s ability to deliver near-term improvements.

According to the WSJ report, the letter also highlighted investor skepticism about whether Dynatrace can execute a successful turnaround independently.

What Starboard Is Demanding

Starboard isn’t simply pointing out problems — the firm wants concrete changes. The activist investor is advocating for an aggressive share repurchase initiative and anticipates Dynatrace will distribute over $2.5 billion to shareholders within the coming three years.

While Dynatrace recently unveiled a $1 billion buyback authorization, Starboard views this as merely a starting point.

The hedge fund also projects that Dynatrace should be able to nearly double its free cash flow per share to exceed $3.30. Starboard believes the company stands to gain significantly as more corporations integrate AI capabilities into their technology stacks.

Regarding profitability metrics, Starboard sees opportunities for margin expansion as well, though specific targets haven’t been publicly disclosed.

Software Industry Dynamics

The enterprise software industry has faced headwinds from concerns about AI-driven disruption, while merger and acquisition activity has intensified. Last year, Palo Alto Networks completed a $3 billion acquisition of Chronosphere, a Dynatrace competitor. Meanwhile, Cisco closed a massive $28 billion transaction to acquire Splunk.

This ongoing consolidation trend adds another dimension to Starboard’s investment thesis — Dynatrace could emerge as a more compelling acquisition candidate or face mounting pressure to demonstrate its value as an independent company.

Among Wall Street analysts, the outlook remains positive. Dynatrace holds a Strong Buy consensus rating, supported by 21 Buy recommendations and six Hold ratings.

The consensus price target stands at $48.38, suggesting approximately 36% potential upside from current trading levels.

Analysts have highlighted forthcoming product releases and the renewal of major enterprise contracts as potential near-term catalysts that the market may be overlooking.

Dynatrace shares were trading more than 8% higher in premarket activity on Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal’s disclosure.

The post Dynatrace (DT) Stock Soars 8% as Starboard Value Builds Major Activist Position appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Paramount Skydance has submitted an FCC petition seeking authorization for foreign entities to hold approximately 50% equity ownership
• Saudi PIF, Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding, and Qatar’s QIA are collectively backing the transaction with $24 billion in capital
• Federal regulations typically restrict foreign ownership of broadcast license holders to 25%, making regulatory clearance essential
• The Ellison family alongside RedBird Capital will maintain complete voting authority while Gulf investors remain passive without board representation
• Year-to-date performance shows PSKY declining 20.6%, with analysts assigning a Moderate Sell rating on TipRanks

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) has submitted a petition to the Federal Communications Commission requesting authorization for foreign investors to control nearly half of its equity position—a critical regulatory milestone for its planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

Paramount Skydance Corporation Class B Common Stock, PSKY

The regulatory submission, disclosed to the public this Monday, identifies three prominent sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East as primary financial backers: the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, L’imad Holding based in Abu Dhabi, and the Qatar Investment Authority. These entities are collectively pledging approximately $24 billion in capital to facilitate the transaction.

Regulatory approval from the FCC becomes necessary because Paramount maintains ownership of CBS along with numerous regional television broadcasting stations throughout the country. Federal broadcasting regulations impose strict limitations on foreign ownership, typically capping such investment at 25% for entities holding broadcast licenses. Approaching the 50% threshold necessitates obtaining extraordinary regulatory permission.

A company representative characterized the filing as “completely standard” procedure and emphasized it does not constitute a prerequisite for completing the transaction.

Middle East Capital Fuels Entertainment Consolidation

The trio of sovereign investment vehicles are assuming non-voting, passive ownership positions. Based on Paramount’s regulatory disclosures, these investors will receive zero board seats and exercise no influence over corporate governance or strategic direction.

Voting authority remains concentrated exclusively with the Ellison family—spearheaded by Paramount’s Chief Executive David Ellison—alongside RedBird Capital, irrespective of the foreign investors’ equity percentage.

Paramount has also established a contingency mechanism. Should the Gulf-based financing unexpectedly collapse, the Ellison family has committed to personally finance the equity component to ensure deal completion.

The media company stated that FCC authorization would eliminate obstacles to securing future international investment and strengthen its ability to grow broadcast operations across global markets.

According to company statements, the fresh capital infusion and operational synergies resulting from the Paramount-Skydance combination would “better position the company to weather continuing challenges facing broadcasters and operators of linear pay-television networks.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr informed Reuters that the commission’s involvement in reviewing this transaction would be limited in scope. He indicated the foreign capital structure would probably meet existing regulatory standards as “bona fide debt.”

Transaction Timeline and Regulatory Status

The Federal Communications Commission previously granted approval for the initial Paramount-Skydance combination last July. This current filing represents an independent regulatory requirement directly connected to the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover.

Paramount emphasized the transaction would eliminate impediments to accessing international capital markets from non-domestic investors, strengthening its competitive positioning against multinational media corporations.

Industry analysts are monitoring the FCC’s review timeline and evaluating whether the commission will impose additional stipulations or restrictions.

According to TipRanks analysis, PSKY holds a Moderate Sell consensus rating, derived from five Hold recommendations and five Sell recommendations. The average analyst price target stands at $11.38, suggesting potential upside of approximately 7.4% from present trading levels.

Shares of PSKY have fallen 20.6% since the beginning of the year.

The post Paramount Skydance (PSKY) Files for FCC Clearance on $24B Middle East Funding in WBD Acquisition appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings release scheduled for Tuesday, April 28 after the closing bell
• Wall Street consensus projects $9.17 billion in revenue, representing 4.7% year-over-year growth
• Analysts anticipate earnings per share between $0.42 and $0.43, the first annual increase since late 2023
• Placer.ai tracking shows U.S. foot traffic jumped 5.5% versus last year during Q1
• Market volatility expectations suggest approximately 6.92% price movement following the announcement

The Seattle-based coffee chain is on track to deliver its first year-over-year profit increase since 2023 when quarterly results arrive following Tuesday’s trading session.

Starbucks Corporation, SBUX

Financial analysts project quarterly revenue reaching $9.17 billion for the period concluded in March, marking a 4.7% climb compared to the corresponding quarter in the prior year. The Street anticipates adjusted earnings per share landing between $0.42 and $0.43, versus $0.41 recorded during the year-ago period.

SBUX stock has climbed over 16% since the beginning of the year as the earnings date approaches.

Chief Executive Brian Niccol has championed a strategic initiative dubbed “Back to Starbucks” over the previous 24 months. The program emphasizes accelerated service delivery, streamlined product offerings, and reconnecting with consumers who abandoned the brand amid pricing concerns and extended waiting periods.

Positive indicators emerged during the first quarter. Domestic comparable store sales advanced 4% throughout the three months ending in December, marking the initial positive transaction growth in two years. Location intelligence firm Placer.ai documented a 5.5% year-over-year surge in U.S. customer visits during Q1, alongside a 5.9% increase in average visits per store.

Global markets delivered comparable sales expansion of 5% during the identical timeframe, with China posting 7% growth.

Profitability Challenges Persist

Notwithstanding revenue acceleration, profit margins continue facing headwinds. Increased employee compensation expenses, elevated commodity costs for coffee beans, and capital deployment supporting the transformation strategy are collectively pressuring bottom-line performance.

Starbucks has yet to demonstrate sustainable conversion of improved customer traffic into consistent profit expansion. Tuesday’s financial disclosure will reveal whether momentum is building.

Market participants await potential modifications to full-year projections, which the analyst community anticipates will trend higher. The recently unveiled China joint venture structure may influence reported figures, and investors are monitoring management commentary regarding its financial implications.

Stifel’s Chris O’Cull elevated his valuation target from $105 to $115 while maintaining a Buy recommendation. His analysis highlighted robust domestic revenue trajectories and referenced mobile location intelligence supporting at least 4% comparable sales advancement in the second quarter.

O’Cull additionally noted successful performance from February’s limited-time Matcha beverage promotion coordinated with Valentine’s Day merchandise. Early April’s Energy Refreshers debut alongside mango-themed products generated noticeable transaction volume increases during the month’s opening week.

Wall Street Perspectives Before the Release

UBS analyst Dennis Geiger maintained a Hold position with a $100 valuation benchmark. While acknowledging turnaround momentum, he believes current share prices adequately incorporate a multi-year recovery scenario, constraining additional appreciation potential.

Consensus among Wall Street professionals reflects a Moderate Buy stance, comprising 14 Buy recommendations, 12 Hold ratings, and 2 Sell opinions. The mean price objective stands at $103.58, suggesting approximately 6% potential appreciation.

Derivatives market participants are positioning for roughly 6.92% price volatility following the quarterly announcement—substantially exceeding the stock’s historical four-quarter average post-earnings movement of 1.92%.

The second-quarter financial report encompasses the three-month period ending March 2026.

The post Starbucks (SBUX) Stock: Q2 Earnings Preview Ahead of Tuesday’s Report appeared first on Blockonomi.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule change yesterday that would make it much easier to list crypto investment products that hold XRP alongside Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL).

The filing formally names XRP as an eligible commodity under a new 85/15 framework, which would let multi-asset crypto trusts gain listed status without an exchange having to seek individual SEC approval for each product.

What the Filing Actually Says

The proposal is targeting Rule 8.201-E, which governs how commodity-based trust shares get listed on NYSE Arca. Right now, every asset in one of these trusts must independently meet specific eligibility criteria.

The new rule would drop that requirement. Instead, a trust would only need at least 85% of its net asset value in qualifying assets, with the remaining 15% free to hold assets that would not otherwise clear the bar.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP are each explicitly named in the filing as assets that already qualify. All four meet the criteria on two counts: each one underlies a futures contract that has been trading on a regulated market for at least six months, and there is an ETF providing at least 40% economic exposure to each.

To illustrate how the rule would work in practice, the filing used a hypothetical trust holding $95 million in BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP, alongside $5 million in other digital assets that do not meet the eligibility standards. Because the qualifying assets represent 95% of the portfolio, well above the 85% threshold, the trust would satisfy the listing requirements under the proposed change.

It is also worth noting that Nasdaq filed an essentially identical proposal under SR-NASDAQ-2026-032. NYSE Arca also pointed to two prior SEC approvals as precedent: the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund and Bitwise’s 10 Crypto Index ETF, both of which were cleared under a comparable 85% standard.

The filing also proposed excluding non-fungible assets and collectibles from the definition of eligible commodities, since those were never contemplated when the original generic listing standards were drawn up.

The SEC now has up to 45 days from the Federal Register publication date to act on the proposal, with the option to extend that to 90 days.

XRP Price Context and ETF Flows

While analysts like ChartNerd described the development as “massive” for XRP, the token is struggling to wring itself away from the broader market weakness, trading for about $1.39 at the time of writing, which marked a 2% dip in the last 24 hours as well as a 3% decline over seven days.

And while it has gone up 4.4% in the last month, XRP is still almost 40% lower than it was a year ago and more than 61% lower than its all-time high of $3.65 attained in July 2025.

Meanwhile, on the ETF side, things have been going much better, with spot XRP ETFs hitting a new record for cumulative net inflows at $1.29 billion. This is the highest the funds have recorded since their launch in mid-November 2025.

The post Why XRP Holders Are Watching This SEC Proposal Closely appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin’s price ascent came to a halt yesterday at $79,500 as the asset experienced a couple of leg downs in the following hours, dumping by three grand in total.

Aside from DOGE, most larger-cap alts have also posted losses over the past day, led by ZEC, XMR, and HYPE.

BTC Rejected at $79.5K

Bitcoin slipped at the beginning of the previous business week below $75,000 before it rocketed to a multi-month peak of $79,500 a day later after the US and Iran extended the ceasefire deal. The following days were choppy and less eventful as the asset remained sideways between $77,000 and $78,500.

The weekend was also quite sluggish, even though Trump canceled the US delegation’s trip to the peace talks with Iran, and there was a reported assassination attempt during a White House event. The more profound volatility came on Monday when BTC tapped $79,500 once again for the second time in less than a week.

However, the rejection scenario repeated, and BTC quickly dumped to $77,500. It rebounded slightly to $78,250 later that day before the bears took control of the market again and drove it south to just under $76,500.

Although it has recovered some ground since then, BTC continues to struggle below $77,000 with some warnings for another decline after tomorrow’s FOMC meeting.

For now, bitcoin’s market cap remains below $1.540 trillion, while its dominance over the alts is still over 58% on CG.

PI Bounces

Most larger-cap alts are in the red today as well. Ethereum sits below $2,300, XRP has slipped under $1.40, while BNB fights to stay above $625. SOL, TRX, and ADA are also slightly in the red, while ZEC has plummeted by 6%, HYPE by almost 4%, and XMR by nearly 3%. Dogecoin is among the few exceptions from the larger-cap alts in the green now.

Pi Network’s native token is the top performer from the largest 50 alts, surging by over 5% to almost $0.60. The asset has defied the overall correction on a weekly scale, adding 11% since last Tuesday.

BCAP and HASH have gained the most value today, rocketing by 27% and 17%, respectively, to $106 and $0.0125.

The total crypto market cap has shed over $30 billion in a day and is below $2.650 trillion on CG now.

The post Pi Network’s PI Token Jumps Again as Bitcoin (BTC) Stalls Below $77K: Market Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin slipped under $77,000 on Tuesday following another unsuccessful breakout attempt, as higher oil prices and upcoming central bank decisions reduced appetite for risk.

But Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes believes that wartime fiscal expansion is now reversing conditions in Bitcoin’s favor.

War, Debt, and AI Disruption

At Bitcoin Vegas 2026, Hayes outlined a more bullish outlook for the asset as he projected it could reach $125,000 by the end of the year as global liquidity conditions shift alongside rising war-related spending.

Hayes said his updated stance is shaped by three factors – credit deflation tied to artificial intelligence, leadership changes at the Federal Reserve, and a structural adjustment in how US banks are expected to absorb growing government debt. The BitMEX co-founder framed his argument around money supply expansion, while highlighting that increased fiscal pressure – particularly from defense budgets – will likely require more liquidity in the system.

Upon assessing the ongoing US-Iran conflict, Hayes acknowledged disruption, but said that the market has not reached a level severe enough to trigger a broad risk-off environment, allowing investors to continue focusing on macro liquidity trends rather than geopolitical panic. He then turned to the credit contraction linked to artificial intelligence, and found that automation is eroding revenues for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies and threatening high-income knowledge worker jobs that make up a significant portion of bank lending.

Looking at performance since Bitcoin’s October high, Hayes said there has been a significant divergence between markets. Bitcoin dropped by 40%, but the Nasdaq was mostly “flat,” which he believes reflects pressure on SaaS companies as AI replaces expensive human labor. This amounted to a quiet credit deflation event that central banks failed to fully recognize, which resulted in insufficient monetary expansion at the time and contributed to Bitcoin’s decline.

Hayes characterized AI as a subprime risk to credit markets, particularly because many affected workers carry loans backed by their previously stable incomes. However, he said the macro backdrop changed following the escalation of the US-Iran conflict in late February.

According to Hayes, governments openly acknowledging a wartime footing implies higher defense expenditures that will need to be financed through increased borrowing and, ultimately, monetary expansion. Addressing concerns about incoming Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh, Hayes argued that expectations of tighter policy are misplaced, as the central bank will remain constrained by the need to maintain orderly bond markets in coordination with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

He described a balance sheet adjustment in which commercial banks exchange reserve balances for Treasurys and repurchase agreements, effectively reducing the Fed’s reported balance sheet without draining liquidity from the system.

Hayes said this mechanism means the net liquidity impact remains unchanged, regardless of how policy is presented publicly. He also pointed to the implementation of the Enhanced Supplemental Leverage Ratio on April 1 as a major catalyst, while explaining that the rule allows major banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citibank to hold fewer reserves against assets, thereby expanding their capacity to purchase government debt and extend loans.

Outpacing AI-Driven Credit Losses

Citing estimates from S&P Global, Hayes said the regulatory change could generate $1.3 trillion in new lending. Combined with the banking system’s credit multiplier, this could translate into roughly $4 trillion in additional credit, which is more than offsetting losses linked to AI-driven job displacement.

He further explained that foreign demand for US Treasurys has stagnated even as total debt continues to climb, increasing reliance on domestic banks to absorb new issuance, particularly as defense spending rises sharply.

“We’ve had some chop. We’ve had a war. Now it’s time to break out. That’s why I believe Bitcoin is going higher. I think my end-of-year target is around $125,000.”

The post Bitcoin to $125K? Arthur Hayes Says Wartime Money Printing Is the Catalyst appeared first on CryptoPotato.

[PRESS RELEASE – London, United Kingdom, April 28th, 2026]

AxeCasino announced that members of its leadership and product teams will attend iGB L!VE 2026, one of the established events in the online gaming and affiliate marketing calendar.

The company said its participation reflects an ongoing effort to remain closely engaged with the conversations shaping the digital gaming sector, including platform usability, product development, responsible gaming standards, and changing player expectations.

During the event, AxeCasino representatives plan to take part in networking sessions, meetings, and broader industry discussions with operators, affiliates, technology providers, and service partners. According to the company, the goal is to exchange practical insight on platform development, user experience, and the wider direction of the online gaming market.

“iGB L!VE provides a valuable setting for direct conversations about how online gaming products are evolving,” a company spokesperson Kortes Gordon said. “For us, it is an opportunity to discuss usability, performance, and the standards that increasingly shape player expectations across devices and markets.”

The conference appearance follows a recent front-end update introduced by AxeCasino across desktop and mobile. The company said the update was designed to improve navigation, game discovery, bonus visibility, and access to account features while delivering a more consistent cross-device experience.

AxeCasino added that the update forms part of its broader product development efforts, with continued focus on usability, performance, and player-facing improvements. The company views events such as iGB L!VE as an important opportunity to stay connected to the practical issues affecting operators and platform teams, including product refinement, partnership development, and long-term player experience.

About AxeCasino

AxeCasino is a digital gaming platform offering a range of online casino content, including slots, table games, and live dealer titles from established software providers. The company focuses on platform usability, performance, and ongoing product development.

The post AxeCasino to Attend iGB L!VE 2026 Following Front-End Update Focused on Usability and Cross-Device Performance appeared first on CryptoPotato.

In what is expected to be one of the most eventful economic weeks of 2026, arguably the most notable event will take place tomorrow evening when the US Federal Reserve will announce whether it has made any interest rate changes and its future plans.

Although experts are convinced the rates will be left untouched, history has shown that BTC tends to go volatile in the days after the meetings, mostly heading south.

Will BTC Dip Again?

Popular crypto analyst Crypto Rover has observed this pattern, which began at least in the middle of last year. He outlined a chart showing that the cryptocurrency dropped after “every single Fed meeting” since July 2025.

Moreover, he predicted that tomorrow’s FOMC is “unlikely to be any different,” as bitcoin could drop further. The asset pumped to $79,500 on a couple of occasions in the past week or so, but was rejected both times and now sits around $77,000.

BRACE YOURSELF BITCOIN HOLDERS!

I’ve been tracking Bitcoin price action around every FOMC meeting since July 2025.

The pattern is brutal.

Every single Fed meeting since then has triggered a hard drop in $BTC.

No exceptions.

Tomorrow’s FOMC is unlikely to be any different.… pic.twitter.com/Wf2As6cNXg

— Crypto Rover (@cryptorover) April 28, 2026

The chart above outlines several big daily price drops in the first week or so after all previous meetings. What’s particularly worrying is that the Federal Reserve actually reduced the rates by 25 bps on three separate occasions in late 2025. Although lower interest rates are typically regarded as bullish for risk-on assets like BTC, the cryptocurrency actually dipped after those cuts as well.

Or Maybe Not?

Another analyst outlined a different perspective, basing their prediction on the fact that this is likely to be Jerome Powell’s last FOMC meeting. Consequently, they noted that there could be a “possible Powell farewell rally” after Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bitfinex analysts shared their opinion in an email to CryptoPotato, indicating that markets will “favor a phase of consolidation or even a technical retest of the $75,000 level” heading into the FOMC meeting. Once it concludes, though, BTC could rise above $80,000 for the first time in almost three months.

“As a result, the path of least resistance in the near term is likely consolidation or a pullback toward the $75,000 region, with a decisive break above $80,000 required to confirm a more durable bullish regime.”

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