Из жизни альткоинов

Журналисты газеты The New York Times провели расследование, по результатам которого объявили, что создателем Биткоина, скрывшимся под псевдонимом Сатоси Накамото, с высокой вероятностью является британский криптограф Адам Бэк (Adam Back).

Поведение долгосрочных инвесторов и активность в сети Биткоина сейчас, в апреле 2026 года, напомнили аналитикам ончейн-платформы CryptoQuant 2024 год — а точнее время, которое предшествовало росту курса первой криптовалюты.

Bitcoin is approaching a sensitive stage in its broader market cycle, according to new analysis shared by Joao Wedson. The post pointed to a macro indicator designed to track the long-term structure of the market. Based on the latest reading of this model, the data suggests Bitcoin may be moving toward a zone where distribution risks may begin to increase, making the next phase of the cycle particularly important to monitor.

Bitcoin’s Macro Cycle Indicator Explains Where The Market Stands

In a recent X post, Wedson drew attention to the Accumulation Distribution Cycle Index (ADCI), a macro framework created by @arch_physicist and now used in research at Alphractal. The indicator was designed to analyze Bitcoin’s position within the broader structure described by the Wyckoff Method.

The ADCI organizes the market cycle into three distinct ranges, each representing a different stage of market behavior. When the index stays between 0 and 3, Bitcoin is typically in accumulation. These periods usually appear when sentiment is weak and participation is low, allowing larger investors to quietly absorb supply.

The 30 to 70 range signals a market that has already begun moving. In this zone, trends start to develop and expand. The direction of the index during this phase can reveal whether momentum is strengthening or beginning to deteriorate.

When the index moves between 70 and 100, the risk of distribution increases. This phase historically appears when market optimism grows, and demand expands, creating conditions where larger holders can begin offloading supply.

The chart shared alongside the post illustrates this pattern across multiple Bitcoin cycles. Previous peaks in the indicator appear near major price highs, while deep drops in the index tend to align with long accumulation periods that later preceded large price expansions.

What Investors Should Watch As Bitcoin Approaches This Phase

Wedson noted that distribution in the current cycle may not appear the same way it did in earlier markets. In the past, Bitcoin cycles often ended with a sharp blow-off top followed by a rapid correction.

However, as the market matures, distribution may occur more gradually. Instead of a sudden spike and collapse, the market could move sideways for extended periods while repeated rallies begin losing strength.

This type of structure allows stronger holders to slowly release supply while public demand remains active. Because of this, the key signal to watch is not just price spikes but signs of repeated exhaustion, slowing momentum, and prolonged sideways movement.

This is why macro indicators like the ADCI are being emphasized. By focusing on structural positioning rather than short-term price action, the model aims to identify whether Bitcoin is being accumulated or distributed before the shift becomes obvious to the wider market. If the index continues rising toward its upper range while price action begins showing exhaustion, it could indicate the market is entering the distribution phase of the cycle.

В ближайшие два–три года модель непрерывной работы майнинговых ферм от электросети станет в России экономически невыгодной, сообщила майнинговая компания «Алгоритм», сославшись на свое исследование.

Министерство юстиции США выступило против попытки сооснователя Tornado Cash Романа Шторма использовать недавнее решение Верховного суда США по делу интернет-провайдера Cox Communications и звукозаписывающей компании Sony Music Entertainment для прекращения его уголовного преследования.

A New York Times journalist just released a long-form investigation claiming that, after a year of intensive research, he finally uncovered the real identity of the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

A NYT Journalist Claims To Have Unmasked Bitcoin’s Creator

A reporter trying to unmask Satoshi Nakamoto (and claiming success) is hardly news. Across 15 years of hunting, there have been countless of theories and tons of serious journalists assuring they had finally pinned down the real name of the creator of Bitcoin. However, this is the first time a top U.S. legacy outlet has directly named a Satoshi Nakamoto candidate: Adam Back, 55‑year‑old British cryptographer, Blockstream CEO, Hashcash creator, former Cypherpunk. The piece was written by John Carreyrou, an investigative reporter for the NYT who has won two Pulitzer Prizes.

This is also not the first time Back’s name is brought on as a Satoshi contendat. Back himself has denied this theory repeatedly, following years of YouTube sleuths, HBO docs and research reports circling his name. Carreyrou, however, found his denials so unconvincing that he used them as fuel to continue investigating on the connection.

The idea that Back is Satoshi came to Carreyrou after watching the 2024 HBO documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery”, that pointed at Hard Fork, a Canadian software developer. The journalist found the way Back tensed up in the documentary at the mention of his name amongst the Satoshi more convincing than the doc’s conclusion.

The E-Mail Lead

The other big idea Carreyrou had was to use the Satoshi Nakamoto e-mails that surfaced in the context of the UK COPA v. Craig Wright trial, where Wright tried to prove in court that he was Satoshi to assert copyright over the Bitcoin whitepaper –which clearly signaled that he wasn’t the creator of Bitcoin, as Satoshi Nakamoto disliked the idea of copyright and patents, and was a fierce advocate of open-source and public domains.

Emails Satoshi sent to other early Bitcoin adopters had surfaced before, but none came close in volume to the Malmi dump. If Satoshi was ever going to be found, I was convinced the key lay somewhere in these texts.

Amongst the submitted e-mails was correspondence shared between Back and Satoshi during 2008-2009, independently discussing Bitcoin’s design with Back, citing Hashcash and only learning about Wei Dai’s b‑money through Back’s recommendation —an incongruence Back himself has acknowledged, as Dai’s b-mobey was cited in the Hashcash whitepaper.

The Cypherpunk And Technological Leads

According to Carreyrou’s investigation, both Back and Satoshi sat in the same Cypherpunk lists in the 1990s, including the more obscure Cryptography list, trading emails about anonymized communication, digital cash and crypto‑anarchist ideals. The journalist provided evidence showing that Back sketched almost every core Bitcoin ingredient in the Cypherpunk list a decade before launch: decentralized e‑cash, independent nodes, resistance to government/censorship, and proof‑of‑work style spam prevention.

Back proposed combining his own Hashcash with Wei Dai’s b‑money idea, essentially the same recipe Satoshi later used for Bitcoin’s architecture. Hashcash itself is the direct conceptual ancestor of Bitcoin’s proof‑of‑work, and Satoshi explicitly cited Back’s paper in the 2008 whitepaper.

When Satoshi Nakamoto floated Bitcoin for the first time in Halloween 2008, Back disappeared from the conversations. However, Back got fully involved again after an Argentinian cryptographer made Satoshi’s fortune public on April 17, 2013.

For more than a decade, whenever electronic money was discussed on the Cypherpunks or the Cryptography list, Mr. Back had almost always chimed in, often with long, detailed posts. But when Bitcoin, the closest manifestation of the vision he had laid out, arrived, Mr. Back was nowhere to be found.

Back also holds a doctorate in distributed computer systems, matching the specialized skill set needed to design Bitcoin’s peer‑to‑peer network, incentive design and security model. He used the same programming language Satoshi used (C++) and worked professionally on securing computer networks and public‑key cryptography, which mirrors Satoshi’s toolkit.

The Linguistics Lead

Despite traditional stylometry not working, NYT’s Dylan Freedman used AI-based computational text analysis to filter thousands of old cypherpunk posts for British spelling, specific grammar tic patterns (like “also” at sentence ends, certain hyphenation mistakes and “its/it’s” slips). Back’s writing survived every filter, landing him in a tiny pool of eight final suspects.

Summing up, the investigation argues that the overlap of ideology, technical design, code skills, network position and language quirks is so tight that to call it “coincidence” stretches plausibility.

Back continued to deny being Satoshi when Carreyrou confronted him with this evidence during a Bitcoin conference held in El Salvador. Carreyrou, however, argues that Back’s way of denying it strengthened his suspicions once again.

Market Implications

Every serious “Satoshi theory” so far has eventually run into the same wall: nobody has produced cryptographic proof. Hal Finney and Nick Szabo had the right ideas at the right time, from reusable proof‑of‑work to “bit gold,” but both denied being Satoshi and never signed a message with early keys. Newsweek’s Dorian Nakamoto scoop, the Len Sassaman hypothesis and Craig Wright’s courtroom implosion all showed how fragile narrative‑driven cases are once they meet hard evidence. Even newer theories that cast Jack Dorsey or a shadowy “2010 megawhale” as the mastermind rely on stylistic forensics and on‑chain heuristics, not on movement of Satoshi‑era coins or a verifiable signature.

Many Bitcoin builders argue that not knowing Satoshi is a feature: it strengthens the “no founder, no CEO” commodity narrative. A persuasive mainstream story that “Bitcoin has a de facto founder” could embolden regulators and litigants to re‑open questions about control, intent and even securities‑style arguments, even if the crypto community rejects the premise.

Unless the NYT story is followed by an on‑chain move from Satoshi‑linked wallets or hard evidence, the market is likely to fade the headline and revert to watching funding, options skews and ETF flows. A genuine proof‑of‑identity event, however, would be a volatility shock with unknown tail risks.

Cover image from Perplexity. BTCUSD chart from Tradingview.

Инвестиционный директор Bitwise Мэтт Хоуган (Matt Hougan) заявил, что ключевое отличие текущего цикла биткоина от предыдущих заключается в смене структуры владения активом.

The conversation around crypto and Real-World Assets (RWA) have often centered Ripple and XRP in recent times. This comes as no surprise, as the crypto firm has made major strides in moving into this potential trillion-dollar market over the last few years, making them one of the most recognizable names in the space. However, when looking at the space as a whole and going through the numbers, it shows that despite Ripple’s efforts, the blockchain is not the leader.

Ripple Falls Behind Others For RWA Value

Data from the RWA.xyz website, which is a website that tracks the RWA market and the performance of blockchains in the space, shows who the RWA leaders are by numbers, and Ripple unfortunately falls behind. While the XRP Ledger is doing decent numbers, other blockchains continue to lead in this regard.

One example of this is that when it comes to the total distributed RWA value, Ethereum is the leading blockchain and not the XRP Ledger. In fact, using this metric, Ripple’s XRP Ledger does not even fall in the top 5 by volume, with competitors taking charge in this regard.

The top 5 RWA chains by distributed value are Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, Stellar, and Liquid Network. Their values come out to $15.54 billion, $3.5 billion, $1.949 billion, $1.41 billion, and $1.32 billion, respectively. The XRP Ledger comes in 8th place with $458.46 million, putting it behind the likes of Arbitrum and Avalanche.

XRP Ledger Ranks Low For RWA Users

The distributed value is not the only metric where the XRP Ledger falls behind competitors. Another metric is the user count, where the XRP Ledger is struggling even worse. In this case, the network ranks 10th place with fewer than 5,000 users. This is a stark contrast to Plume’s 259,000 users, Solana’s 184,000, and Ethereum’s 164,000, making them the top 3 chains by user base.

However, one metric where the XRP Ledger seems to shine when it comes to RWA is the represented value on the blockchain. While it is still not in first place, it ranks behind ZKsync Era with $2.2 billion for ZKsync Era and $1.5 billion for XRP Ledger. This puts it ahead of the likes of Ethereum, Solana, and Plume in this metric, showing there is still active participation on the blockchain.

Nevertheless, the RWA space looks to be rising rapidly as the website shows that the total Distributed Asset Value across blockchains has crossed into $27.68 billion. Meanwhile, there are over 710,000 holders, and $441.38 billion in Represented Asset Value.

На фоне нестабильности рынков поведение биткоин-инвесторов изменилось: доля удерживаемых ими монет вновь начала расти, сообщили аналитики ончейн-платформы CryptoQuant.

Основатель крупнейшей криптобиржи Binance Чанпэн Чжао (Changpeng Zhao) в своих мемуарах «Свобода денег» (Freedom of Money) рассказал, что бывший гендиректор рухнувшей платформы FTX Сэм Бэнкман-Фрид (Sam Bankman-Fried) в ноябре 2022 года просил у него несколько миллиардов долларов.

Комиссия по ценным бумагам и инвестициям Австралии (ASIC) выдала дочерней компании Coinbase Global — Coinbase Australia — лицензию Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) на оказание финансовых услуг и розничную торговлю производными финансовыми инструментами.

Гендиректор финансовой компании Galaxy Digital Майк Новограц (Mike Novogratz) заявил, что для перехода к восходящему тренду биткоину необходимо закрепиться выше $74 000, а затем преодолеть отметку $80 000.

As the crypto market rallied through 2025 — led by a strong Bitcoin (BTC) ascent that pushed prices to fresh all‑time highs in the fourth quarter — Americans also faced a sharp rise in crypto‑related scams, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported in its 2025 Internet Crime Report.

Rising Fraud Concern

The FBI said US victims lost $11.4 billion to cryptocurrency fraud in 2025, a 22% increase from the prior year. That figure is based on 181,565 complaints involving crypto assets, itself up 21% year‑over‑year. 

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, an increase from 859,532 in 2024. Phishing and spoofing, extortion, and investment schemes remained the complaint categories reported most often.

Older Americans suffered disproportionately large losses. Complainants aged 60 and older reported roughly $7.7 billion in losses — a 37% rise over 2024 — reflecting persistent targeting of retirees and other seniors. 

Another growing menace is the use of artificial intelligence (AI): for the first time, the report includes an AI section. The IC3 received 22,364 complaints tied to AI‑enabled scams in 2025, with reported losses approaching $893 million. 

Those schemes often deploy high‑pressure tactics while leveraging fabricated social profiles, voice cloning, counterfeit identity documents, and deceptively realistic videos of public figures or victims’ relatives to persuade targets to hand over funds.

California, Texas, Florida Lead In Crypto Complaints

The report also calls out fraud centered on cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks. In 2025, there were 13,460 complaints linked to crypto ATM use, resulting in $389 million in losses — a 23% climb in complaints and a 58% jump in dollar losses compared with 2024. 

By crime type, investment schemes were the most common complaint category, with 61,559 filings. Extortion and phishing/spoofing were also prominent, with 23,797 and 7,164 complaints, respectively. 

The IC3 detailed a long list of other fraud types reported in 2025, including tech/customer support fraud, personal data breaches, employment scams, and business email compromise, among others.

Geographically, complaints were concentrated in populous states. California led the nation with 20,878 crypto‑related complaints, followed by Texas (13,965), Florida (13,381), New York (8,088), and Pennsylvania (5,118). 

The FBI also outlined its enforcement and prevention efforts. Operation Level Up, launched in 2024, has been a proactive outreach initiative to identify and notify people in the process of falling victim to cryptocurrency investment fraud. 

Since the program began, more than 8,000 potential victims have been alerted, and the operation has helped curtail losses by over $500 million. Building on that approach, the FBI launched Operation Winter SHIELD in 2026 to emphasize actionable steps organizations can take to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

Гендиректор американского банка JPMorgan Chase Джейми Даймон (Jamie Dimon) в ежегодном письме акционерам заявил, что компании, работающие в сфере блокчейна и токенизации активов, формируют новую категорию конкурентов, наряду с традиционными банками и финтех-компаниями.

Агентство по финансовому мониторингу Казахстана (АФМ) сообщило об аресте 1 057 599 стейблкоинов USDT (около $1 млн) в рамках уголовного дела о финансовой пирамиде NBC TV.

US Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors have pushed back on the Tornado Cash co-founder’s defense, claiming that his arguments for dismissal lack applicability ahead of a crucial hearing later this week.

DOJ Says Tornado Cash Founder’s Defense Is ‘Not Applicable’

On Tuesday, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton sent a letter to Judge Katherine Failla rejecting Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s recent letter in support of his motion for a judgment of acquittal.

Clayton’s response addressed an April 2 motion filed by Storm’s defense, which claimed that a 2026 Supreme Court case, Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, supported his pending Rule 29 motion.

The Cox case involved a civil liability of an internet service provider for its subscribers engaging in copyright infringement. The Supreme Court found that Cox was not contributorily liable for copyright infringement on its users’ accounts, as it did not induce its users’ infringement nor provide a service tailored to infringement.

In the Tuesday filing, the US attorney argued that “The defendant and the Tornado Cash service are a far cry from Cox,” affirming that “Even if Cox had some applicability here, its reasoning offers no help to the defendant given the strikingly different facts at issue.”

“As set forth in detail in the Government’s response to the defendant’s Rule 29 motion— and in contrast to Cox’s robust system for responding to infringement—the defendant intentionally implemented mere half-measures that he said were ‘easy to bypass’ to counter criminal use of the Tornado Cash service, and his purpose in doing so was to distract law enforcement,” the document read.

Clayton added that Storm’s use of the crypto mixer “was window dressing at best and outright misdirection at worst,” as there was no evidence that the Tornado Cash founders put in place effective anti-money-laundering (AML) measures.

It’s worth noting that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 for failing to impose effective controls to prevent malicious actors from laundering funds through the protocol, including $455 million by the North Korea-linked hacking group, Lazarus Group.

However, the sanctions were overturned in March 2025 after the Court of Appeals ruled in November 2024 that OFAC had overstepped its authority by sanctioning immutable, decentralized smart contracts rather than a legal entity.

US Prosecutors Seek Roman Storm Retrial

The prosecutors’ latest move follows his March letter seeking a retrial of the Tornado Cash co-founder on the two counts where jurors were deadlocked last August. In the letter, Clayton asked Judge Failla to schedule a retrial for Roman Storm, pushing for trial dates between October 5 and 12, 2026.

For context, Storm was detained and indicted following the Tornado Cash sanctions and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The jury found Storm guilty of one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, but was unable to come to a unanimous decision regarding the two other charges. Nonetheless, a hung jury does not constitute an acquittal, which opened the door to a potential retrial on those charges.

In September, Storm filed a motion for acquittal, which asks the trial judge to throw out charges or a verdict because the prosecution’s evidence is legally insufficient. The Tornado Cash founder’s lawyers argued that the government never proved he meant to help bad actors launder money through the platform, which would invalidate the grounds for his conviction based on negligent inaction.

Now, prosecutors and Storm’s defense attorneys are scheduled to meet on April 9 for an oral argument on the pending Rule 29 motion, which could shape the course of this key legal battle.

Согласно отчету Федерального бюро расследований (ФБР), в 2025 году жители США потеряли $11,3 млрд в результате криптовалютного мошенничества — это рекордный показатель. Общее число жалоб выросло до 181 565, увеличившись на 22% по сравнению с предыдущим годом.

Neopool проведет afterparty в рамках первого дня Blockchain Forum 2026 и приглашает представителей майнинговой индустрии, криптосообщества и партнеров.

A new report has revealed how the Bitcoin mining power has remained concentrated recently, with the top three nations controlling a 65% share.

US Continues Leading In Bitcoin Hashrate With 37.4% Share

In a new report, Hashrate Index has talked about how the global geographical heatmap of the Bitcoin Hashrate has changed compared to the last quarter. The “Hashrate” here refers to an indicator that measures the total amount of computing power that miners have attached to the BTC network. It’s measured in terms of hashes per second (H/s) or more practically, in exahashes per second (EH/s).

As the 7-day average chart for the indicator from Blockchain.com shows, the global Bitcoin Hashrate has declined this year.

Generally, there can be a few factors in play whenever the Hashrate declines, but a leading one tends to be the BTC price action. Miner rewards are denoted in BTC, so these validators depend on the cryptocurrency’s USD spot value for their revenue. When the asset declines, miners with less efficient machines can drop into loss and be forced to disconnect their rigs from the network.

Bitcoin has witnessed a significant drawdown since Q4 2025, so it’s not surprising to see that the 7-day average network Hashrate has decreased from 1,083 EH/s in October to 953 EH/s today.

Another factor that has probably been behind the Hashrate contraction is a pivot from major mining companies toward the AI datacenter business. Firms are deeming the industry to be more profitable than BTC mining, so some are even outright transitioning from Bitcoin to put their focus on it.

While the global Hashrate has declined, the trend in the computing power of individual nations has differed. For example, the United States lost Hashrate dominance of 0.13% since the start of 2026, but Kyrgyzstan and Paraguay gained shares of 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

Below is a table shared by the Hashrate Index report that breaks down the current mining market share of the top 10 countries.

As is visible, the US, Russia, and China are the three most dominant nations in Hashrate today with shares of 37.4%, 16.9%, and 12%, respectively. Together, the countries make up for 65% of the global Hashrate. Generally, mining power centralization doesn’t tend to be a positive for the sector, as it means local policy changes or disruptions can shake the blockchain as a whole.

Before mid-2021, China was the most dominant player in the space, but following the mining ban, miners fled the country, causing a plunge in the total network Hashrate. This year, a snow storm in the US caused miners to turn off their machines, which once again showed up as a significant reduction in the global metric.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has retraced its recovery during the past day as its price has dropped to the $67,900 mark.

Developers working on the XRP Ledger added a new type of digital signature to the network’s test environment in December 2025 — one designed to hold up against attacks from quantum computers.

The upgrade, known as ML-DSA, replaces older cryptographic systems and produces signatures about 2,420 bytes in size. It supports quantum-resistant transactions, accounts, and consensus on the network.

Still In Testing, Not Yet Live

The changes are running on AlphaNet, XRPL’s developer network, and have not been pushed to the main network. Along with the new signature standard, the ledger supports built-in key rotation — a system that lets the network upgrade its cryptographic tools through validator agreement, without shutting down or touching user accounts.

Both features are part of a broader push by XRPL developers to get ahead of a threat that most of the crypto industry has not yet fully addressed.

Grayscale Research’s analysis of the @Google Quantum AI paper suggests breakthroughs may come in sudden leaps, not gradual steps. That means preparation can’t be delayed.

The good news: • Post-quantum cryptography already exists • Some chains like $SOL and $XRP Ledger are… pic.twitter.com/r5vtnnWCJj

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) April 6, 2026

That threat comes from quantum computing. Based on reports from Grayscale, a digital asset manager, the concern dates back to a mathematical breakthrough made by MIT’s Peter Shor in the mid-1990s.

Shor developed an algorithm that, if run on a powerful enough quantum machine, could crack the encryption protecting most blockchain networks today. No computer has been able to run it at the scale needed — but that window may be closing.

Google Research Points To Sudden Leaps, Not Gradual Progress

Grayscale’s report, authored by the firm’s head of research, Zach Pandl, referenced recent work from Google Quantum AI warning that progress in this area may not come in slow, predictable steps. It could arrive in sudden bursts.

According to Pandl’s report, reaching the level of computing power needed to break current encryption may require between 1,200 and 1,450 logical qubits. That threshold has not been crossed, but researchers say waiting until it is may leave networks with too little time to respond.

Grayscale pointed to XRPL and Solana as networks already running tests on post-quantum cryptographic tools. These are methods that have been reviewed, tested, and deployed in other real-world systems, including those protecting parts of today’s internet traffic. Their use in blockchain is still early, but the work is underway.

Not All Blockchains Face The Same Level Of Exposure

Risk levels vary depending on how a network is built. Reports indicate that Bitcoin may carry less technical exposure than other chains because of its design — it uses a transaction model that limits address reuse, relies on proof-of-work, and has no built-in smart contracts. Some Bitcoin address types are safer than others, as long as they are not reused.

Featured image from Mastercard Developers, chart from TradingView