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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has handed out its first stablecoin licenses, and the winners are Standard Chartered’s JV and HSBC.

HKMA Has Released First Stablecoin Licenses After A Delay

According to HKMA’s website, two entities have now become registered stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong: Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

Hong Kong launched its stablecoin bill called the Stablecoins Ordinance back in August 2025, establishing a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers. Under this law, parties interested in issuing fiat-tied cryptocurrencies in the Chinese city have to first obtain a license from the HKMA.

Major names quickly lined up to apply for a license. This included HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial Limited. The latter is a joint venture (JV) created by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecom. In total, the HKMA ended up receiving applications from 36 entities. Despite the high interest, though, Eddie Yue, the financial regulator’s chief executive, said in February that a “very small number” of licenses would be granted in the first wave.

Yue also said that these licenses would arrive in March, but in the end, no licenses were issued during that month, suggesting a delay from the HKMA. However, today, on April 10th, the first batch has finally gone out.

With just two licenses being handed out, Yue indeed set up the correct expectations. As mentioned earlier, Standard Chartered’s JV and HSBC are the applicants who have received the first approval. Thus, these banks have a head start over the rest when it comes to stablecoins in the region.

Hong Kong’s stablecoins advance is just one example of positive regulation that these fiat-tied tokens have seen the world over in the past year. One of the most important wins for the sector has been the GENIUS Act signed into law by United States President Donald Trump last year.

Because of all the regulatory momentum and adoption, the stablecoins sector has performed relatively well amid the wider downturn in the digital assets market. As data from DefiLlama shows, stablecoins have seen their combined market cap move sideways at all-time highs (ATHs) since Q4 2025. In the same period as this flat phase in these fiat-tied tokens, Bitcoin has gone down by more than 42%.

While the stablecoin market cap is significant in size, the vast majority of it is covered by just two assets pegged to the US Dollar: USDT and USDC. Moves like the euro-pegged token from a consortium of major European banks could shake up this dominance, but it only remains to be seen how the landscape will evolve.

Bitcoin Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $72,200, up more than 8% in the last seven days.

XRP is holding above $1.30. The market is consolidating. And the data behind that consolidation describes a market that has not been this inactive since 2021, which changes what the stillness means.

An Arab Chain report tracking XRP activity on Binance has identified a bilateral decline that goes beyond simple price consolidation. Both 30-day accumulation and 30-day distribution have fallen to their lowest levels since 2021 — not just one side pulling back, but both simultaneously.

The 30-day accumulation has stabilized at approximately 2.06 billion XRP, while distribution sits at approximately 2.09 billion XRP. The difference between them — a net negative of approximately -36 million XRP — reflects a slight but persistent tilt toward selling in a market where overall activity has nearly disappeared.

That combination — minimal buying, minimal selling, with selling marginally in front — describes a market in suspension rather than recovery. Investors are neither adding to their positions nor aggressively reducing them. The $1.30 level is holding not because buyers are defending it with conviction, but because sellers have not yet pushed hard enough to break it.

The silence is four years old. In markets, that kind of silence rarely persists indefinitely — and when it ends, the direction it breaks tends to move fast.

Both Sides Have Pulled Back

The report places the current activity levels in a historical context that sharpens their significance. The last time XRP accumulation and distribution on Binance were both this low simultaneously was 2021 — a year that preceded one of the most dramatic price movements in XRP’s history. The bilateral nature of the decline is what makes the current reading structurally meaningful rather than simply quiet. When only sellers step back, it is a supply story. When both sides step back together, it is a market holding its breath.

The interpretation the report assigns to this condition is precise and consistent with the historical record. Periods of declining bilateral activity — where buying decreases alongside selling rather than in isolation — typically signal a transitional phase rather than a permanent state. The market is not breaking down. It is reorganizing. Participation is contracting toward the participants with the highest conviction in either direction, clearing out the noise before the next directional move establishes itself.

The net negative accumulation of -36 million XRP adds the directional tilt that prevents this from being a purely neutral reading. The silence is not perfectly symmetrical. Selling is marginally ahead of buying — not enough to drive price lower on its own, but enough to confirm that the slight pressure present in the market is pointed in one direction.

Bilateral lows at four-year extremes. A net negative tilt. A transitional phase that the historical record suggests resolves into movement rather than continued stagnation. The question the data cannot yet answer is which direction that movement takes — and that answer belongs to whatever catalyst arrives first.

XRP Compresses Near Support as Momentum Fades

XRP continues to trade in a tight range just above $1.30, reflecting a market that has shifted from trend to compression. After the sharp February breakdown, which was marked by a high-volume capitulation wick, price has stabilized but failed to generate meaningful upside continuation. The current structure is defined by low volatility and narrow price movement, indicating indecision rather than strength.

Technically, XRP remains in a bearish alignment. Price is trading below the 50-day (blue), 100-day (green), and 200-day (red) moving averages, all of which are sloping downward. This confirms that the broader trend has not reversed. Attempts to push higher have consistently stalled below the 50-day average, suggesting persistent overhead supply.

Volume dynamics reinforce this interpretation. The February spike reflects forced selling and liquidation, while the subsequent decline in volume signals reduced participation. There is no clear evidence of aggressive accumulation entering the market.

The key level remains $1.30. It is holding, but not with conviction. Structurally, this is a market in suspension, not recovery. A break below $1.25 would likely accelerate downside, while a move above $1.50 is required to signal a shift in momentum. Until then, XRP remains compressed within a weakening trend.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

More than $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds has been frozen after a joint US, UK and Canadian crackdown targeted crypto approval phishing scams that affected more than 20,000 people, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency.

The operation also identified more than $45 million in cryptocurrency fraud tied to the same network of scams.

A Cross-Border Sweep Vs. Phishing

Operation Atlantic was run in March and brought together the NCA, the US Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Securities Commission.

The NCA said the effort focused on people who had already lost crypto, or were at risk of losing it, through approval phishing, a scheme that tricks users into handing over wallet access without meaning to.

That method has made scams harder to spot because the victim is often the one who authorizes the dangerous action. Instead of sending coins directly to a thief, users are pushed into signing a malicious approval that gives scammers permission to move assets out of the wallet later. Binance described that kind of fraud as one of the most damaging scams aimed at crypto users.

The NCA said the operation identified victims across the UK, the US and Canada, and one UK victim was thought to have lost more than £52,000.

Officials said the public-private effort helped law enforcement act while some funds were still traceable, with private firms helping identify victims in real time and trace suspicious transactions.

What Binance Said It Did

Binance said its Special Investigations team supported the operation on site in London, where staff helped with live account screening and scam intelligence. The company also said it identified scam websites that were still active during the operation and passed along information that could help with asset seizure efforts.

The exchange said no funds were frozen on Binance accounts. That point matters because it suggests the criminal proceeds were being held elsewhere when the sweep took place, even though Binance still played a role in tracing the wider scam network.

Phishing: A Warning For Crypto Users

Officials from the NCA said the operation is now being followed by further analysis of the intelligence gathered during the crackdown. The agency also told victims to watch out for recovery scams, warning that criminals often return under a new name and promise to get stolen crypto back for a fee.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to climb in the wake of the ceasefire between Iran and the US, and it has now reclaimed the $73,000 level as geopolitical tensions cool and oil prices drop. 

The move has kept momentum building after the initial surge following the truce, with some analysts arguing that the market is approaching a point where short positions could be forced to unwind rapidly.

Bitcoin Nears Key Liquidity Zone 

In a Friday assessment, market analyst Ali Martinez said attention is shifting to a large liquidity pool sitting just above the current price region. His view is that shorts are increasingly “trapped,” and that the window for exits is tightening. 

Martinez suggested that a push toward $75,300 could wipe out roughly $80 million worth of short positions. He warned that this could set off a cascading effect—an initial wave of liquidations that then accelerates into a sharper, faster move as the broader market reacts.

The mechanism Martinez described is familiar in crypto markets: when liquidity sits in a concentrated area, price can be driven into it in order to force traders to cover. 

In his framing, market makers and large holders often move prices toward high-liquidity zones to “flush” speculators, using the buyback pressure that results from liquidations as fuel for an upward drive. 

Support Levels Tied To Concentrated Supply Areas

Martinez also tied this near-term setup to an earlier analysis about where Bitcoin’s supply is concentrated. He previously argued that BTC sits above a broad supply cluster spanning roughly $73,200 down to $63,100, describing it as a region where a large number of holders have “voted” through their cost basis. 

In his interpretation, as long as Bitcoin trades inside that band, those investors are psychologically incentivized to defend their entries, which can help stabilize the price.

However, he cautioned that if $63,100 fails to hold, Bitcoin may move into what he called a “liquidity vacuum.” In that scenario, Martinez said the next meaningful support level would be significantly lower, leaving fewer buyers willing—or able—to absorb selling pressure.

Critical Levels And CVDD Indicator 

Beyond the immediate liquidation narrative, Martinez also pointed to what he described as a long-standing technical “Decade Trendline,” which he characterized as one of Bitcoin’s most respected technical reference points. 

For nearly ten years, he said the ascending trendline has historically acted as a “Parabolic Guard,” with prior touches preceding major expansions. 

According to Martinez, Bitcoin is approaching this line now, between roughly $56,000 and $60,000, and that historically this is where “smart money” tends to complete accumulation before the next leg upward.

However, Bitcoin would need to decline by a further 23% and 17%, respectively, from its current trading price of over $73,000 to reach the range indicated by the expert. 

To identify what he referred to as the “Line in the Sand,” Martinez said he looks to CVDD, or Cumulative Value Days Destroyed. 

In his view, the current CVDD value is around $47,960. He described it as the “ultimate structural foundation,” and added that if the broader macro environment deteriorates, this is the level where he expects a violent reversal to the upside.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

Analysts at investment research firm Bernstein are pushing back against growing fears that quantum computing poses an existential danger to Bitcoin. 

Concerns about quantum computing breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography have grown following recent findings from Google researchers. Bernstein analysts, however, say the quantum threat is only a technical challenge that the network can adapt to over time.

Bernstein Analysts Dispel The Bitcoin Quantum Threat

Google’s research team recently established that breaking the elliptic curve cryptography protecting Bitcoin and other crypto transactions could be achieved with far fewer resources than estimated. 

According to research findings by Google published in a recent whitepaper, a quantum machine running fewer than 500,000 physical qubits could be able to break Bitcoin’s cryptography in the near future, down from earlier estimates of around 10 million. 

Google also warned of on-spend attacks, where a sufficiently fast quantum computer could derive a private key from an exposed public key within Bitcoin’s average 10-minute block confirmation window, giving an attacker a roughly 41% chance of redirecting funds before a transaction settles. 

However, analysts at Bernstein are taking a more measured view by describing quantum computing as a manageable upgrade cycle for Bitcoin. In a recent note to clients, Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said that the network has enough time to respond before the threat becomes practical, while also providing estimates that point to a multi-year window for preparation.

The firm estimates Bitcoin and the broader crypto industry have a three- to five-year runway before quantum computers reach the scale required to mount real attacks. 

Interestingly, this timeline aligns with Google’s own 2029 migration benchmark, cited in the same whitepaper. Google had acknowledged in its paper that the time remaining before cryptographically relevant quantum computers arrive still exceeds the time needed to complete a migration to post-quantum cryptography capable of protecting against these threats.

“We think that the quantum should be seen as a medium to long term system upgrade cycle rather than a risk,” the note said.

Vulnerability Is Narrower Than It Appears

The paper by Google’s research team took the crypto industry by surprise, and rightly so. The entire Bitcoin network and crypto industry by extension is built on the premise of blockchain security. Therefore, the possibility that computers that can threaten this security can be built by the end of the decade is a threat to the future of the entire industry.

Interestingly, the Bernstein note also pointed out that the risk is not evenly distributed across the Bitcoin network. The primary exposure lies in wallet-level cryptography, particularly in older Satoshi-era legacy wallet addresses that have revealed their public keys or reused them multiple times. 

Bitcoin’s mining process, which relies on SHA-256 hashing, is not considered meaningfully threatened by quantum advances in the same way.

The cryptocurrency industry is also now in a place where many institutional players like Circle, Strategy, BlackRock, and Fidelity are likely to play a constructive role in mitigating any quantum computing threat.

Since falling from its all-time high in 2025, the Bitcoin price has failed to initiate another major upward move, reinforcing the bear market narrative. After this sharp downward action over the past few months, the amount of BTC supply in loss is spiking hard, reaching levels not seen in years.

Profit Supply On Bitcoin Contracts To Multi-Year Lows

Bitcoin’s price may have witnessed a brief upswing, reclaiming the $72,000 mark, but the underlying structure remains highly bearish. The prolonged negative price performance has started to influence BTC’s market dynamics, with supply in the loss territory rising at a fast rate.

With the price of Bitcoin falling sharply, Darkfost, a market expert and CryptoQuant’s verified author, revealed that profit supply has collapsed, nearing levels last seen in the last bear market phase. This decline, which reflects the strain of recent market activity, indicates that an increasing percentage of holders are either at breakeven or sitting on unrealized losses.

Darkfost stated that nearly 1 BTC out of 2 is held at a loss as of Thursday. To be precise, the share of Bitcoin supply still in profit is estimated at around 59%, a level that almost aligns with what was observed during the last bear market. According to historical data, the average level sits closer to about 75% of supply in profit. Therefore, the current market cycle is now below typical levels. 

These levels can trigger periods of capitulation or consolidation, but they also frequently indicate a decline in market confidence and a diminished motivation to sell. While it may seem counterintuitive to some crypto players, the expert claims that the market clearly needs investors to make profits in order to maintain a positive momentum. 

However, the key level to watch out for is 50%, which could completely flip the market structure, as bear markets have often bottomed around this area. Given the market state, this metric should be closely watched since it helps assess when losses or profits become significant across the market, allowing for a relatively straightforward strategy.

Specifically, this strategy involves accumulating when losses hit extreme levels, putting some investors ahead of a majority of players. It also helps to manage exposure when profits approach 100%. As profit margins shrink across the network, the current environment seems more of an accumulation phase than selling at this stage.

BTC Bear Market Is Still Active

As the debate regarding a bear market bottom heats up, a crypto analyst has offered insights on the matter, noting that Bitcoin has yet to hit a bottom. The expert’s analysis is backed by signals from the BTC Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) Z-Score. While some considered the $60,000 level as the bear market bottom for BTC, the expert has dismissed this narrative. 

According to the expert, the MVRV has not yet fallen into the green bottoming zone, which means the bear market is still active. In terms of timing, the analyst has predicted an additional 6 months into the bear market. As a result, another major drop for BTC is inevitable.

The Bitcoin long-term holders have seen their losses balloon recently, but historical data shows bear markets bottomed out at yet higher levels.

Bitcoin LTH Losses Currently Equivalent To 14% Of The Market Cap

As pointed out by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode in an X post, the Unrealized Loss among the Bitcoin long-term holders has been elevated recently. The “long-term holders” (LTHs) here refer to to the BTC investors who have been holding their tokens since more than 155 days ago. This group is considered to include the resolute “HODLers” of the market.

Since the last quarter of 2025, BTC has significantly gone down along with the wider cryptocurrency sector, and these long-term holders have also naturally been affected. An indicator that can be useful for gauging the effect of a drawdown on investors is the “Unrealized Loss,” which measures, as its name suggests, the total amount of loss that BTC investors are carrying right now.

The metric works by going through the transaction history of each token in circulation to determine whether its last transfer price was greater than the current spot price. Coins that fulfill this condition are assumed to be at a loss equal to the difference between the two prices. The Unrealized Loss sums up this value for all tokens of the loss type.

In the context of the current topic, a modified form of the indicator called the Relative Unrealized Loss is of interest. This metric represents the holder loss as a percentage of the market cap.

Now here is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows the trend in the 30-day simple moving average (SMA) of the Bitcoin Relative Unrealized Loss for the LTHs:

As displayed in the above graph, the 30-day SMA of the Bitcoin LTH Relative Unrealized Loss has observed a rise over the last few months, a consequence of the bearish price action as well as the maturation of coins bought at the market top into the LTH cohort.

Today, the indicator’s value is sitting at 14%, meaning that the loss held by the diamond hands is equivalent to 14% of the total valuation of the cryptocurrency. This is the highest degree of pain that the LTHs have faced since 2023.

It’s visible from the chart, however, that the last two bear markets both saw the indicator spike to much higher levels, with notable peaks of around 70% forming during their bottoms.

While it’s uncertain whether the latest Bitcoin cycle will also have to see a similar level of pain among the LTHs before a bottom, the fact that the Relative Unrealized Loss still significantly lags behind could be noteworthy.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has recovered back above the $72,000 mark with its latest rally.

The Ripple ecosystem has reached a new milestone that could significantly impact the trajectory of the XRP price. The crypto company recently launched a Treasury Management System (TMS) designed to expand its digital asset solutions. At the same time, comments from crypto founders have added a fresh perspective to ongoing discussions about XRP. Even updates on the progress of the CLARITY Act continue to shape sentiment and influence the direction of Ripple and XRP. 

Ripple Launches First Treasury Management System

Ripple has announced the launch of the first Treasury Management System with native digital asset capabilities this April. The system is part of its newly rebranded Ripple Treasury, developed following its acquisition of GTreasury. It introduces Digital Asset Accounts and a Unified Treasury designed to strengthen the company’s enterprise offerings.

With the new Treasury Management System, Ripple Treasury can now enable CFOs and their treasury teams to view, hold, receive, and manage fiat and digital liquidity across bank and custody providers within a single system. This feature removes the need to switch between platforms and manually check records or combine data. Currently, no other treasury system provides this capability, giving Ripple Treasury and its users a major competitive edge. 

The new treasury development could be positive for the XRP price as it strengthens Ripple’s role in real-world financial infrastructure, especially with large companies. If more businesses use Ripple Treasury to manage their fiat and digital assets in one system, it could increase demand and trust in Ripple’s technology. Over time, this kind of adoption could trickle down to fuel XRP’s usage in payments. Even if XRP is not directly used in every function of the new system, stronger institutional demand for Ripple’s products could improve market confidence and support upward price pressure. 

XRP Price Allegedly Faced Targeted Attacks

In other news, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has made controversial remarks about Bitcoin and XRP’s resolved legal battle with the US SEC that began in 2018. In an X post published by market analyst Xaif Crypto, Hoskinson suggested that Bitcoin’s dominance could collapse the moment another digital asset surpasses it in market capitalization.

He argued that Bitcoin lacked the same level of technical capabilities, utility, and growth backers seen in crypto projects like Ethereum and XRP have. He also said that BTC’s strength and price acceleration are largely driven by market sentiment and perception, as well as its long-standing global adoption.

Furthermore, the Cardano founder claimed that after XRP briefly surpassed Ethereum in 2018, the cryptocurrency was immediately bombarded with legal attacks that stalled its growth and public image. According to him, these attacks were targeted and aimed at preventing XRP’s price and market value from rising to the point of potentially challenging Bitcoin’s dominance later. His controversial statements have been well received by members of the XRP community, who have continued to support the cryptocurrency through years of regulatory and market setbacks. 

White House Report Downplays Stablecoin Yield Concerns

Another major development that could have even greater implications for Ripple and the XRP price is the recent progress in the highly anticipated CLARITY Act. On April 8, the White House released a new report that significantly downplays concerns raised by banks about stablecoin yields, an issue that has been slowing movement on the bill.

According to the report, banning stablecoin yields would offer minimal benefit for traditional banks. It estimates that such a restriction would increase bank lending by only 0.02%, or roughly $2.1 billion—a number considered negligible when compared to the potential gains these yields could bring to stablecoin users. 

In simple terms, the report suggests that the arguments made against stablecoin yields may have been exaggerated, as it would pose no significant threat to banks’ lending activity. With this update, the government appears to be taking a more supportive stance toward stablecoins, a shift that could benefit XRP, Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD, and the broader crypto market. 

After a brief period of trading below the $2,000 mark, the Ethereum price has regained above this level as bullish momentum slowly returns to the market. Even though ETH has been struggling with the growing volatility across the market, interest in the asset at the institutional level has remained strong, with accumulation spiking each month.

Institutional Interest In Ethereum Keeps Expanding

Ethereum may be experiencing prolonged sideways price action, but institutional investors in the sector are unfazed by the bearish performance. During the downward trend, a steady wave of institutional demand is building around the leading altcoin, putting it in the spotlight.

Over the past few months, public companies have been accumulating the altcoin at a relentless pace. These companies are steadily increasing their holdings rather than slowing down in the face of market uncertainty, indicating a strong long-term belief in Ethereum’s place in the developing digital economy.

In a post on the X platform, Leon Waidmann, a market expert and research head at Lisk, revealed that these public companies have scooped up approximately 7.4 million ETH in a period of 12 months. This figure represents a 6.1% of the total circulating supply of ETH.

Even after a massive wave of accumulation, these public companies are still buying ETH, persistently tightening available supply. Such a sustained accumulation by institutions strengthens the narrative of ETH as a strategic asset for corporate treasuries.

As of May 2025, the cumulative ETH treasury holdings of institutional and corporate players were sitting at near 0. However, by April 2026, over 6.5 million ETH have been scooped off the market, demonstrating ETH’s position as a leading crypto asset with short and long-term potential.

These ETH are being moved into treasury reserves, rather than cryptocurrency exchanges, suggesting a holding sentiment, especially for the long term. As a result, these coins are not available to sell without board approval, shareholder disclosure, and regulatory filings. In a market deep in bearish conditions, public companies’ ETH holdings continue to climb, as they add more coins every single month.

ETH Staking Rises To Historical Levels

While institutional accumulation has spiked, Ethereum staking activity has also experienced a sharp uptick. After persistent staking activity, the number of ETH staked has now reached a new all-time high, reflecting growing participation in the network’s proof-of-stake system.

As seen in the chart, over 32% of all ETH’s entire supply is now locked away in staking contracts. In May 2021, the total number of staked ETH was 18 million, marking a 16% of its entire supply. Meanwhile, by March 2026, the figure had increased to a staggering 40 million ETH or 32% of its entire supply.

Waidmann added that the 32% of ETH’s total supply is not present on cryptocurrency exchanges or in wallets waiting to sell. Rather, they are stored in staking contracts and actively being used to secure the Ethereum network.

Ripple and Ethereum are increasingly aligning through a key stablecoin development that is beginning to reshape how liquidity moves across blockchain ecosystems. With new RLUSD supply entering Ethereum, this shift points to a more connected trading environment where assets are no longer confined to a single network, but can move efficiently across multiple markets.

Ripple Issues 9.9 Million RLUSD On Ethereum

Ripple has issued 9,900,000 RLUSD on the Ethereum network, marking a fresh expansion of its stablecoin footprint across multiple blockchains. The minting activity was spotted by the Ripple Stablecoin Tracker, which monitors treasury-level movements and changes in supply.

The issuance is demand-driven, meaning RLUSD is created in response to activity from exchanges, institutional participants, and retail users. Tokens are generated through Ripple’s Treasury smart contract system, allowing supply to expand in a controlled and traceable manner.

Each RLUSD token is backed 1:1 by US dollar reserves or cash equivalents held in regulated custody accounts. This ensures price stability while supporting usage across Ethereum-based platforms, including decentralized finance applications and trading venues.

This mint follows a period of aggressive supply contraction, where more than $230 million RLUSD was burned in roughly a week. This included a single large burn of 180 million RLUSD within hours, along with additional reductions across both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger.

At the same time, RLUSD continues to expand its trading footprint. A new listing on the Bitrue exchange introduced trading pairs linking RLUSD with PAXG and XAUT, both tokenized gold assets. A Deloitte report also placed RLUSD reserves at $1.56 billion, above its circulating supply of $1.49 billion tokens, reinforcing its fully backed structure.

How RLUSD’s Expansion Signals A Shift In Global Trading

The real significance of RLUSD’s movement onto Ethereum lies in how it changes the mechanics of trading itself. By existing across both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger, RLUSD becomes a bridge asset that can move liquidity between ecosystems that previously operated in parallel.

This means traders and platforms can access stable dollar liquidity more directly within DeFi environments, without needing to exit into traditional banking rails or rely on slower settlement layers. It also allows liquidity to adjust more fluidly, as issuance increases when demand rises and supply contracts when activity cools.

The result is a more responsive market structure. Stable assets like RLUSD can now support trading strategies that depend on speed, cross-chain access, and deep liquidity across multiple venues. The integration with tokenized gold pairs on Bitrue further extends its use case into real-world asset exposure, connecting digital dollar liquidity with commodity-backed instruments.

In practical terms, this type of system reduces friction in global trading. It improves capital efficiency, shortens settlement pathways, and allows liquidity to flow more naturally between centralized exchanges and decentralized markets.

Ultimately, RLUSD’s expansion on Ethereum, its controlled supply mechanics, and its growing market integration point toward a trading environment that is more connected, more adaptive, and more efficient.

Crypto companies and public authorities are joining forces in “Operation Atlantic”, a coordinated push to shut down crypto fraud schemes and approval‑phishing attacks.

A Transnational Operation Against Crypto Phishing Scams

Operation Atlantic is a rare case of law enforcement moving in near real time to block scammers before funds fully disappear on‑chain. The operation is a joint UK–US–Canada venture led by the UK’s National Crime Agency and the US Secret Service, targeting crypto investment and “approval phishing” scams. The multiparty operation is also joined by private industry partners like Chainalysis. The blockchain data and analytics company announced the partnership in a yesterday’s post on their website.

As stated by Chainalysis:

Operation Atlantic’s objective is simple but ambitious: spot victims and compromised wallets in real time, freeze and secure illicit funds before they can be laundered through exchanges or services, generate new investigative leads on the fraud networks behind these scams, and lay the groundwork for ongoing investigations based on the intelligence collected during the operation.

Inside Operation Atlantic’s First Results

The operation, announced last month, has yielded its first striking results.

According to a new report from the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom, more than 20,000 victims have been identified, with over 20,000 wallet addresses flagged and more than $12 million in suspected scam proceeds frozen.

More than $45 million stolen in cryptocurrency fraud schemes has been identified around the world.

The report also highlighted that the operation identified one UK victim that lost more than £52,000 to this type of fraud.

Phishing 101

In approval phishing scams, victims are tricked into signing malicious on‑chain approvals that grant the scammers permission to drain tokens directly from their wallets. These attempts are often disguised as investment opportunities or “account security” prompts.

Such tactics are increasingly favored by organized fraud networks because they bypass traditional password theft and rely on users misunderstanding what they are signing.

Just yesterday, our sister website NewsBTC reported that South Korean authorities are rolling out a new standardized withdrawal‑delay across all exchanges in order to prevent damage from phishing scams that depend on speed.

Last month, the Solana memecoin issuance platform Bonk.fun was hichjacked by a phishing scam that set up a fake “Terms of Services” (TOS) signature prompt which, when signed, allowed the drainer to move the unaware user’s funds.

At the beginning of the month, the social network X announced it is in the process of rolling out its toughest anti-crypto scam measure to date, particularly design to combat phishing scams.

As law enforcement becomes more adept at tracing and freezing stolen funds, scam operations will likely move to more complex laundering routes, creating both new tail risks and new on‑chain data signals for sophisticated traders to track.

Cover image from Perplexity. BTCUSDT chart from Tradingview.

XRP’s brief surge on Tuesday was no cause for celebration, at least not according to crypto analyst CasiTrades. Recent price action pushed the cryptocurrency as high as $1.39, creating what looks like a temporary rally. However, one analyst believes the real move hasn’t happened yet, and the current price action is merely preparing for a bigger downward push that could catch traders off guard.

Clean Wave Structure Points To A Larger Move Brewing

The XRP price climbed as high as $1.39 on April 8 as a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between the US and Iran led to a wave of short liquidations across the crypto market, and sentiment changed from extreme fear to cautious neutral optimism.

But crypto analyst CasiTrades, who has been tracking XRP’s wave structure, saw something different in the price action. The bounce, she says, was exactly what the chart needed to complete a corrective structure. Now, the real move is set to begin.

According to CasiTrades, the recent XRP price bounce in XRP was the completion of a corrective phase. The move into the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level, which is visible on the chart around the $1.35 to $1.40 range, helped confirm what she identifies as a clean Wave 2 in an Elliott Wave structure.

This move completed the counter-trend move without breaking the broader bearish count. Despite the strength of the bounce, it failed to break above these Fibonacci levels, and XRP is now back to trading at $1.32. Therefore, the next projected move is a Wave 3 impulse that continues the correction.

What The Chart Is Saying

CasiTrades’ analysis lays out a five-wave impulsive decline playing out on the one-hour timeframe. According to her count, XRP had already completed Wave 1 down and Wave 2 up by the time the ceasefire bounce peaked. With Wave 2 now likely completed, attention turns to what typically follows in Elliott Wave theory: Wave 3, which is the strongest and fastest move in the sequence. 

The target for Wave 3’s conclusion is somewhere around $1.09, and this corresponds to a 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level. A fourth-wave bounce to $1.20 is expected next. After that, a fifth-wave continuation could follow, with the 0.786 extension at $1.0854 and the 0.854 extension at $0.862 serving as deeper structural targets if the move plays out fully.

The current macro environment offers few bullish factors that can negate the bearish outlook. The two bullish factors are the CLARITY Act markup, which is scheduled for the second half of April, and any progress on the Iran ceasefire. However, if the CLARITY Act stalls and the war drags on, XRP’s $1.30 support could break, and the price could fall lower.

A Bitcoin transaction that costs $75 to $150 in GPU compute is not built for daily use, but it may still matter.

StarkWare chief product officer Avihu Levy has put forward a scheme called Quantum Safe Bitcoin, or QSB, that he says could make new BTC transfers resistant to quantum attacks without changing the Bitcoin protocol.

The proposal is designed to work even against a large quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm.

A Workaround Inside Bitcoin’s Existing Rules

Levy’s plan stays within the crypto’s current legacy script limits and does not require a soft fork. Instead of relying on elliptic curve math, QSB swaps in a hash-to-signature puzzle.

In simple terms, the sender must find an input whose hash output happens to look like a valid ECDSA signature, a process that depends on brute-force work rather than the kind of math quantum computers are expected to break.

That makes the scheme unusual. It does not try to rebuild Bitcoin from the ground up. It tries to bolt on a narrow shield using rules that already exist.

The researchers describe it as a temporary answer while the bigger question of its long-term quantum defense remains unsettled.

Praise, Pushback And A Narrow Use Case

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson called the work “huge” and said it essentially makes Bitcoin quantum-safe today. But not everyone agrees with that framing.

Bitcoin ESG specialist Daniel Batten said the claim goes too far because the paper does not address exposed public keys or dormant wallets.

He pointed to an estimated 1.7 million BTC sitting in early P2PK addresses that could be vulnerable if a quantum computer becomes powerful enough to crack them.

The new scheme also comes with a sharp limit on who might use it. According to the proposal, it is more complex than a standard BTC transaction and only makes sense for large transfers. The reported compute cost makes it a poor fit for routine payments.

THIS IS HUGE. Bitcoin is Quantum-Safe TODAY.

Even if a quantum computer appeared, one that breaks the conventional Bitcion signatures, it shows a practical way to create safe Bitcoin transactions. WITH NO CHANGE TO BITCOIN PROTOCOL!!! https://t.co/ireGc3ai7W

— Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) April 9, 2026

A Temporary Fix, Not The Final Answer

The debate around quantum risk has already split the Bitcoin community. Some argue for leaving Bitcoin unchanged to preserve its original design.

Others want vulnerable coins frozen or burned. A separate group wants the protocol upgraded to support quantum-safe signatures.

Levy’s proposal lands in the middle of that fight, giving users a last-resort option while skipping the need for network-wide consensus.

The researchers still say protocol-level changes are the better long-term path. They also acknowledged that the QSB approach is non-standard, does not scale to all users, and does not cover use cases such as the Lightning Network.

The timing of the paper matters too. Google published research in March that added fresh pressure to the debate, and Lightning Labs chief technology officer Olaoluwa Osuntokun followed with a quantum fallback prototype on Wednesday.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView

An XRP enthusiast on X recently shared a screenshot of a valuation calculator outputting a price of $1,632 per token, using a set of assumptions about global transaction volumes and store-of-value demand for XRP. However, according to the pundit, the most important thing is not this predicted price. The claim does not stand alone, though, as it feeds into a shared narrative that has been circulating across the XRP community for many months.

A $1,632 Valuation Model Built On Flow

XRP is currently trading around $1.30 to $1.33, down 64% from its all-time high of $3.65. However, this hasn’t deterred many members of the XRP community from touting bullish price levels. 

This time, the bullish outlook is based on a calculator model that pushes the cryptocurrency into four-digit territory. The calculator is based on a valuation model developed by Susan Athey, a board member at Ripple, and Robert Mitchnick of Stanford Graduate School of Business, published in a paper titled A Fundamental Valuation Framework for Cryptoassets.

This calculator model uses a set of assumptions that influences how value is derived for XRP. The specific inputs that produced the $1,632 figure are $19 trillion in total estimated daily transaction volume, an average holding period of five days between transactions per XRP unit, $30 trillion in store-of-value demand, a five-year timeline to reach those volumes, and a 5% discount rate to bring the future value to present terms. 

When these variables are combined and distributed across an estimated 60 billion circulating tokens, the result is a valuation that far exceeds anything seen in current market pricing.

Pundit Says Stop Watching Price

The more interesting part of the prediction is the philosophy behind the price number. Particularly, the pundit dismissed price as the wrong metric entirely. “People argue about price. They’re not even looking at the variables,” he said.

What this means is that the output itself is less important than what the inputs imply. The input implies that XRP could one day serve as a bridge across global financial flows comparable in scale to the entire foreign exchange market.

The $1,632 figure is just one example in a growing list of ultra-bullish projections from XRP enthusiasts online. A common thread runs through all of them. They rely on the idea that XRP will capture a meaningful share of multi-trillion-dollar financial markets, whether in cross-border payments or tokenized real-world assets. Once that assumption is locked in, the math tends to escalate quickly above $1,000.

However, the basic market-cap arithmetic makes that scenario essentially impossible. A $1,000 XRP price would imply a market capitalization above $60 trillion, which is more than double U.S. GDP.

The terms and conditions buried in the Official Trump memecoin website say the president “may not be able to attend” a luncheon planned for April 25 — and that the event could be called off for any reason.

That disclaimer has done little to stop organizers from aggressively promoting the event around Trump’s potential presence.

Senators Fire Off A Letter

Three Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff — sent a letter to Bill Zanker, the man behind the TRUMP memecoin launch, demanding to know whether the president actually plans to show up.

Based on reports by Politico, the senators accused organizers of using Trump’s name to push coin purchases that generate transaction fees for him and his family, all while his attendance remained uncertain. The event is set for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

The senators put it plainly. They wrote that organizers were promoting the conference by holding out the prospect of a presidential appearance to potential attendees — and that doing so was encouraging people to buy the coin.

What makes the situation thornier is that April 25 is already taken. Trump announced on March 2 that he planned to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, DC — his first time going since boycotting it throughout his first term.

Two major events. One day. One president. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on his schedule.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25 AT MAR-A-LAGO!

The Most Exclusive Crypto and Business Conference in the World & Gala Luncheon with PRESIDENT TRUMP and 18 other SUPERSTARS.

Strictly Limited to only 297 attendees. Are You In?

Register Here: https://t.co/MBo3UBrzje pic.twitter.com/CWOVNK1kbU

— TrumpMeme (@GetTrumpMemes) March 12, 2026

A Coin With A Schedule Problem

This is not the first time Trump has shown up — or been expected to show up — at a crypto event. Reports indicate he attended the Bitcoin 2024 conference and a separate dinner for TRUMP memecoin holders back in May 2025. The April 25 event would be the second such gathering for holders of the coin.

The conflict has drawn attention beyond just scheduling. Critics say it raises questions about whether access to the president is being tied to participation in a financial product that benefits him directly. Organizers have not publicly addressed whether Trump will appear or whether the event will go ahead as planned.

Crypto Legislation Caught In The Crossfire

The controversy lands at a difficult moment for crypto regulation in the US. The CLARITY Act — a bill aimed at setting a legal framework for digital assets — passed the House in July 2025.

The Senate agriculture committee moved it forward in January, but the banking committee put a halt to further action. Concerns over tokenized equities, stablecoin yield, and ethics stalled the process. As of Thursday, no new markup date had been set.

The White House weighed in Wednesday, saying a proposed ban on stablecoin yield in the bill would do little to protect bank lending — a claim aimed at cooling opposition from both the banking and crypto industries.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

Cardano has been one of the worst-hit altcoins in the crypto market, barely getting a rally in the last run and dropping fast once momentum shifted. Over the last year, the cryptocurrency’s performance remained muted as it seemed like investors were focused on offloading their coins in order to avoid more losses. But with the new year, this trend seems to be changing, especially as investors seem to be coming back to the table.

Cardano Sees Renewed Activity

According to the on-chain tracking platform, Santiment, the Cardano network is beginning to see some much-needed change when it comes to participation. The network saw a major surge in activity as reported earlier in the week, suggesting that sentiment toward the altcoin is beginning to move again.

Santiment’s data focused on Cardano wallets holding at least 10 million ADA, meaning these are the whale wallets. This large investor cohort had begun to make more moves, rapidly adding to their already massive holdings as the ADA price continued to struggle.

As the tracker reports, the number of wallets holding at least 10 million ADA has now moved up to 424. This means that it is the first time in more than one month that this metric is moving, and it translates to a 5.92% increase in whale wallets.

ADA Investors Are Very Bullish

While the Cardano whales are coming back to the table, the sentiment is beginning to turn toward the positive again. An earlier report from Santiment shows that ADA investors are still heavily bullish despite most being underwater. The data comes out to around 79% of all investors still bullish and expecting the cryptocurrency’s price to actually move upward.

In addition to this, the month of April has usually been rather bullish for the Cardano price, with more green closes than red for this month throughout history. CryptoRank’s data puts the average ADA price returns for April at 14.1%, suggesting that there could be some positive movement for the cryptocurrency.

The rise in whale volume is also a net positive as these large buys go toward reducing the available supply on the market. Thereby, introducing scarcity and pushing the price upwards. However, the direction of the general crypto market still comes into play, meaning that if the market does go bullish, the likelihood of the ADA price going up becomes higher.

On-chain data shows crypto trading volume on centralized exchanges has fallen to $4.3 trillion, a decline of nearly 50% from the October Bitcoin peak.

Crypto Exchange Volume Has Witnessed A Significant Drop

According to data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, the crypto trading volume of the centralized exchanges has been cooling down. The “trading volume” here refers to an indicator that keeps track of the total amount of a given asset or group of assets becoming involved in trading activity on exchanges.

Below is the chart shared by CryptoQuant that shows the trend in this metric for the entire crypto sector over the last few years.

As is visible in the graph, the crypto trading volume shot up to a peak level during the last quarter of 2024, suggesting traders were at their most active on exchanges. In 2025, a second peak aligned with Bitcoin’s rally to its new all-time high (ATH).

Both of these highs coinciding with price surges isn’t surprising, as bullish price action tends to attract hype, which naturally results in higher trading activity. In contrast, bearish or sideways phases tend to scare investors away. From the chart, it’s visible that the latter effect has followed with the bearish reversal that crypto has seen since the last quarter of 2025.

Compared to the peak in October, crypto trading volume is today down 48%. Out of the $4.3 trillion volume that exchanges are observing right now, just $0.8 trillion is occurring on spot platforms. Thus, it would appear that perpetual futures markets are seeing most of the activity.

In terms of the individual exchanges, Binance continues to be the most dominant platform.

From the graph, it’s visible that Binance occupies the largest share of the exchange trading volume. Though, its dominance has actually shrunken over the years. At its peak back in the previous cycle, Binance controlled the majority of the market.

In some other news, the latest Bitcoin price surge has led to a break above a key Trader Realized Price level, as CryptoQuant has highlighted in an X post. The “Trader Realized Price” here refers to the average cost basis of the recent BTC buyers.

As displayed in the chart, the lower band of the Trader Realized Price was acting as an upper bound for BTC during the past few weeks, but the latest rally has taken the coin beyond the line. “If it holds, $79K is next—the key bear market ceiling and test for structural recovery,” noted the analytics firm.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $71,800, up more than 7.5% in the last seven days.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul S. Atkins on Thursday used social media to press Congress to approve the long‑awaited CLARITY Act, the bill intended to create a formal market‑structure framework for crypto in the United States. 

Atkins’ post on X (formerly Twitter) echoed recent comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and framed the legislation as necessary to replace “regulation by enforcement” with clear statutory rules that will allow federal agencies to implement consistent oversight of digital assets.

Atkins Urges Congress To Pass CLARITY Act

“At project Crypto is designed so once Congress acts, @SECGov & @CFTC are ready to implement the CLARITY Act,” Atkins wrote, adding that “It’s time for Congress to future‑proof against rogue regulators & advance comprehensive market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.” 

His remarks came a day after Bessent published an op‑ed in the Wall Street Journal warning that the United States risks losing its leadership in financial innovation if lawmakers fail to pass the bill. 

Bessent urged durable legislation that would give entrepreneurs and developers the confidence to “reshore” digital‑asset activity to American markets, arguing that decisive legal standards have historically made the US the world’s financial center.

Atkins’ appeal references Project Crypto, the coordinated SEC–CFTC effort to create a unified approach to token classification and to streamline how on‑chain trading, custody, and settlement are treated under federal law. 

That initiative culminated in a joint interpretation in March clarifying how securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and transactions — a milestone that many described as the first meaningful step toward the kind of legal clarity the sector has sought for years.

The push for the CLARITY Act, however, is occurring amid stalled negotiations and a high‑stakes dispute between the banking and crypto industries over a provision of the already passed GENIUS Act, the country’s stablecoin legislation. 

Banks Vs. Crypto

That earlier legislation included a measure prohibiting permitted stablecoin issuers from paying interest or yield to customers simply for holding tokens. 

Banks argue the rule left a gap that third parties could exploit by offering rewards to stablecoin holders and have demanded that the market‑structure bill close that loophole. The crypto sector counters that the ability to provide rewards is crucial for stablecoins to compete effectively as payment instruments.

Despite multiple White House meetings intended to bridge the divide, no public compromise has yet been announced. Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis appeared to find bipartisan common ground late last month, but it remains unclear whether their proposal satisfies both the banking and crypto lobbies.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Polymarket’s five-minute and 15-minute crypto markets have passed $4 billion in total volume, while the first week of trading brought in more than $200 million, according to reports tied to a Chainlink post. The same data put average daily volume at $153 million after the integration.

Short Trades Draw Fast Turnover

The jump followed Polymarket’s use of Chainlink data feeds in its short-duration crypto markets. The platform now relies on those feeds to support live pricing in markets that move every five or 15 minutes.

Chainlink said in a post on April 8 that Polymarket’s average daily volume had climbed to $153 million, or roughly 3x the level seen before the integration. The post also pointed to more than $4 billion in total volume across the short-term markets and more than $200 million in the first week of the 5-minute products.

Since adopting Chainlink to power 5 & 15 min crypto markets, @Polymarket has seen:

• $153M+ avg daily volume, up 3x • $4B+ volume across 5 & 15 min markets • $200M+ in week one of 5-min markets

The Chainlink effect is real. pic.twitter.com/YwDluD6vWS

— Chainlink (@chainlink) April 8, 2026

Chainlink Data Sits At The Center

The report ties that activity to the need for quick, reliable market data. It says Chainlink’s role is to supply secure outside information so outcomes can be settled against live prices instead of stale feeds. In that setup, speed matters. So does trust.

The coverage also says the faster markets have pulled in both retail and institutional traders. Larger participation has helped liquidity, and the short windows appear to have made the product feel more active for users watching small price moves in real time.

What The Numbers Show

The five-minute market appears to have been the sharpest draw. Reports say it generated more than $200 million in its first week, a burst that helped push the wider short-duration segment past the $4 billion mark.

The piece frames Chainlink’s role as a technical one: keeping prices accurate and the market running smoothly as volume rises. It says the oracle network helps Polymarket handle fast trades without losing reliability, which is central to any market built around short deadlines.

Even so, the report does not separate out exactly how much of the rise came from Chainlink itself, new users, or broader interest in fast crypto betting. It presents the integration as the clear catalyst, but the numbers are still shown as a simple before-and-after change rather than a full breakdown.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

The US Department of the Treasury announced Thursday a new initiative designed to reduce the growing cybersecurity risks facing the crypto industry. 

The program, led through the Department’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP), is intended to give eligible US digital asset firms practical cybersecurity information. The goal is straightforward: help companies spot threats, strengthen prevention efforts, and respond effectively when incidents occur.

Treasury’s Crypto Cybersecurity Push 

In remarks accompanying the announcement, Luke Pettit, Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, emphasized that digital asset firms now play an increasingly important role in the US financial system. 

By extending access to the same quality cybersecurity information used by traditional financial institutions, Pettit said Treasury is working to support a more secure and responsible digital asset ecosystem.

Treasury also framed the announcement as part of a broader push to ensure that cybersecurity is treated as a foundation for the next stage of digital finance, rather than an afterthought. 

Tyler Williams, Counselor to the Secretary for Digital Assets, said the initiative reflects the principles behind the country’s stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act, by encouraging innovation supported by cybersecurity and operational resilience. 

Williams added that as digital assets become more integrated into the financial system, providing timely and actionable threat information becomes essential to protecting consumers and safeguarding US financial markets.

Additionally, Treasury officials said the initiative builds on recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report, Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology. 

Stablecoin Compliance Gets Clearer 

Officials involved in cybersecurity oversight also highlighted that the threat environment is changing quickly. Cory Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity, noted that cyber threats targeting crypto platforms are rising in both frequency and sophistication. 

According to Wilson, the new initiative expands access to actionable threat intelligence intended to help firms strengthen defenses, reduce risk exposure, and handle incidents more effectively when they happen.

The announcement arrives alongside other regulatory steps Treasury and related agencies have been pursuing. On Wednesday, the Department also released a joint proposed rule from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 

That proposal is intended to provide a more detailed framework for the GENIUS Act, translating statutory requirements into clearer anti-money-laundering (AML) and sanctions-compliance obligations for permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs).

Treasury said the draft rule outlines how stablecoin issuers would be expected to detect, report, and block unlawful activity while still maintaining the tools required to comply with lawful orders. 

In combination with the new OCCIP cybersecurity initiative, the actions signal a broader direction: tighter operational standards, greater regulatory clarity, and continued cooperation with digital asset firms to help the crypto industry operate with stronger safeguards.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com