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Bitcoin And Ethereum Whales Turn Bearish With Preference For Short Positions – What This Means
Bitcoin and Ethereum prices briefly surged on Wednesday, with BTC reclaiming $71,000 and ETH reclaiming $2,200. Despite the upside move, reports are showing that large investors across the market are heavily bearish toward the two leading cryptocurrency assets.
Whales Bet Against Bitcoin And EthereumBullish momentum appears to have returned for Bitcoin and Ethereum as both assets are now trading above key resistance levels that previously triggered downside action. Even during the period, key traders’ sentiment remained unchanged, reflecting a negative outlook for these top assets.
An X post from Alphractal, an advanced investment and on-chain data analytics platform, is showing a notable shift in sentiment among large investors or whales. The signal is emerging from the Whale Vs Retail Delta metric.
Specifically, whales in both Bitcoin and Ethereum are increasingly favoring or opening short positions over long positions. This shift implies that some of the market’s most powerful players are preparing for a possible decline, even though price action may seem reasonably constant on the surface.
When investors notably shift towards bearish bets, it usually implies that caution is building or investors are expecting the broader correction to extend. As whales continue to bet against the two leading assets, this pattern is likely to result in persistent selling pressure throughout the market.
According to the platform, whales are more interested in shorts than longs, whereas retail traders are doing the opposite and increasing their exposure. Retailers opening longs during a volatile period reflects growing optimism and confidence that the current phase offers buying opportunities.
This striking divergence between whales and retail holders’ sentiment and activity could create significant tension in the market. In the meantime, this pattern is likely to serve as a crucial part in shaping the next move for BTC and ETH.
A Compression Phase, Not A ResetAfter examining the Bitcoin On-Chain Price Dynamics, Teddy highlighted that the current price action is more of a compression than a reset. While BTC has fallen roughly 50% from the 2025 high, the on-chain structure still does not look like a full reset.
During the time of the post, BTC’s price was located near $68,600. Meanwhile, Realized Price remained close to $54,100, Long-Term Holder Realized Price stayed near $42,200, and Investor Price was close to $49,500. At this point, this positioning is keeping the broader cost-basis structure intact.
The market has cooled, but the price has not yet broken into the deeper on-chain support band, with higher pressure on the structure. Currently, Bitcoin is trading below the STH Realized Price, which is close to $79,200, and the True Market Mean Price, which is close to $78,300.
Teddy noted that recent buyers remain under pressure as the rice has not yet reclaimed the zone where the structure begins to appear healthier. With sideways price action, profitability has reduced, and short-term holders are still underwater. However, the broader realized base has not yet been lost.
Бутан готовится продать биткоины на $22,7 млн
Crypto Investigator Exposes North Korea’s Secret $1 Million A Month Scheme
Crypto detective ZachXBT uncovered an internal North Korean payment server tied to 390+ accounts, chat logs, and transaction histories.
The DPRK Crypto-Infiltration Saga, Part III (From This Week Only)The North Korean secret crypto-agents saga continues. The hidden network of North Korea–aligned crypto hackers have been slowly exposed on the social network X these past days, following the attribution of the April 1st $285 million attack on Drift Protocol to UNC4736, a North Korea–aligned, state‑sponsored hacking group.
On Sunday, security researcher Taylor Monahan claimed that North Korean IT workers have quietly worked inside more than 40 DeFi projects over roughly seven years. Also on Sunday and Monday, multiple crypto industry actors shared videos and stories of North Korean IT workers failing the “Kim Jong-Un Test”.
Now, it was ZachXBT turn to publish his findings, which he did yesterday on a thread on the social network X. The exfiltrated data, that hadn’t been publicly released before, was shared with him by an anonymous source.
The extraction of the data was possible because one of this IT workers workers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) had his device infected with an infostealer (malware designed specifically to steal sensitive information). The malware exposed IPMsg chat logs, fabricated identities, and detailed browser activity.
2/ A DPRK IT worker had their device compromised via infostealer. Extracted data included IPMsg chat logs, fake identities, and browser history.
Digging through the IPMsg logs revealed this site being discussed: luckyguys[.]site
An internal payment remittance platform,… pic.twitter.com/0rA1CxSmZx
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 8, 2026
The thread walks through how DPRK IT agents, often posing as freelancers abroad, are allegedly getting paid in crypto and funneled back into regime‑linked channels.
A Breakdown Of The FindingsThe website that surfaced from the data extraction was called luckyguys.site. According to the crypto detective, it appeared to function as an internal payment remittance hub: a Discord‑like messaging platform where DPRK IT operatives reported and reconciled their crypto payments with superiors.
Believe it or not, the site’s default login password was set to “123456”. At the moment of the data extraction, ten accounts were still using it unchanged.
The account roster showed roles, Korean names, locations, and internal group codes that align with known North Korean IT worker structures. ZachXBT highlighted that three of the companies referenced in the data, Sobaeksu, Saenal, and Songkwang, are already subject to OFAC sanctions.
The crypto investigator shared a video showing direct messages from one WebMsg account, “Rascal”, with PC‑1234 (the server admin account) that spell out payment transfers and the use of fake identities from December 2025 to April 2026. Every payment in these chats is routed and finalized via PC‑1234. The logs also reference Hong Kong addresses for billing and delivery of goods, although whether those details are genuine still needs to be confirmed.
4/ Here is one of the WebMsg users ‘Rascal’ and their DMs with PC-1234 detailing payment transfers and the use of fraudulent identities from December 2025 through April 2026.
All payments are processed and confirmed through the server admin account: PC-1234.
Addresses in Hong… pic.twitter.com/akyjmTbL5J
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 8, 2026
The findings only grow more interesting as the thread advances. Since late November 2025, more than $3.5 million has flowed into the payment wallets. The same remittance pattern shows up again and again: users either send crypto in directly from an exchange or service, or off‑ramp into fiat via Chinese bank accounts using platforms such as Payoneer.
After that, PC‑1234 acknowledges the incoming funds and hands over login credentials, which can be for different crypto exchanges or fintech payment apps, depending on the specific user.
5/ Since late November 2025 $3.5M+ was received across the payment wallet addresses.
The remittance pattern was consistent across users:
Users transfer crypto originating from an exchange or service, or convert to fiat via Chinese bank accounts through platforms like Payoneer.… pic.twitter.com/IhbqW3eKKI
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 8, 2026
A Reconstruction Of The Network’s HierarchyThe crypto detective reconstructed the network’s entire organizational hierarchy using the full dataset and made an interactive version of this org chart.
When the investigator followed the internal payment wallets on‑chain, he found connections to several already‑attributed DPRK IT worker clusters. The Tron‑based wallet was frozen by Tether in December 2025.
Other interesting findings show that the compromised device, which belonged to someone called “Jerry”, still had Astrill VPN in use, along with multiple fabricated identities being used to apply for jobs. Inside an internal Slack workspace, a user named “Nami” shared a blog post about a deepfake job applicant linked to DPRK IT workers. One colleague asked if the story was about them, while another reminded the group they weren’t allowed to post external links.
8/ Jerry’s compromised device shows usage of Astrill VPN and various fake personas applying for jobs.
An internal Slack showed ‘Nami’ sharing a blog post about a DPRK IT worker deepfake job applicant. A second user asked if it was them, while a third noted they aren’t allowed to… pic.twitter.com/7ZdGbX91WT
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 8, 2026
Jerry exchanged messages with another North Korean IT worker about plans to steal from a project, using a Nigerian proxy to target Arcano, a GalaChain game. If that attack was ever carried out or not is unclear.
9/ Jerry actively discussed stealing from a project with another DPRK IT worker via Nigerian proxy targeting Arcano, a GalaChain game.
However, it remains unclear if the attack later materialized. pic.twitter.com/p9QQLHbB91
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 8, 2026
The admin also distributed 43 Hex-Rays/IDA Pro training materials to the group between November 2025 and February 2026. These sessions focused on disassembly, decompilation, both local and remote debugging, and a range of cybersecurity techniques. One link shared on November 20 was explicitly titled: “using-ida-debugger-to-unpack-an-hostile-pe-executable”.
Final ThoughtsZachXBT concluded that this DPRK IT worker cluster appears relatively unsophisticated compared with outfits like AppleJeus and TraderTraitor, which run much tighter operations and pose a far greater systemic threat to the crypto industry. His earlier estimated that North Korean IT workers collectively pull in several million dollars a month is reinforced by this dataset.
Today, the investigator posted an update explaining that the internal DPRK payment portal has been pulled offline following the publication of his findings. All of the data was fully captured and archived beforehand.
Update: The internal DPRK payment site has since been taken down after my post.
However all data was archived in advance. pic.twitter.com/9cRdopal5g
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 9, 2026
Crypto is now deeply embedded in geopolitical shadow economies. On‑chain transparency cuts both ways for users and adversaries.
It wouldn’t be surprising if markets start to price higher compliance costs for CEXs and OTC desks, or if there is more friction for stablecoin flows in sanctioned regions. The North Korean saga surely raises the odds of more aggressive enforcement against cross‑border flows, privacy tools, and high‑risk venues.
Cover image from Perplexity. BTCUSDT chart from Tradingview.
ZachXBT раскрыл схему отмывания криптовалют с оборотом $1 млн в месяц
Here’s How Much Michael Saylor’s Strategy Has Lost On Bitcoin
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) started buying Bitcoin back in 2020, kickstarted by founder and CEO at the time, Michael Saylor. What began as a small buying trend quickly exploded over the years, and now, the company has claimed the title of the public company with the largest Bitcoin holdings in the world. The company has now spent tens of billions of dollars buying Bitcoin, but with the price decline, the holdings have now moved into losses.
Strategy’s Bitcoin Bet Records Billions Of Dollars In LossesStrategy recently filed its Form 8-K for the first quarter of the year 2026, and it showed major losses for the company and its Bitcoin strategy. According to the form, the company’s Bitcoin holdings were down over $14 billion in Q1 alone, reflecting the decline that the btc price has suffered during this time.
Despite the Bitcoin price and its holdings moving underwater, Strategy had continued to purchase Bitcoin. Throughout the first quarter of the year, the company made a total of 12 different BTC purchases, with the lowest being a $40 million haul.
By the time the company was done in Q1, it had spent over $7 billion buying BTC in three months, adding more than 89,000 BTC to its already massive stash. This brought the total spend that the company has made over the years buying BTC to over $57 billion.
Despite the filing showing billions of dollars in losses, the company is right back to buying Bitcoin again. On April 6, the company reported another purchase of 4,871 BTC at an average price of $67,718. This cost the compass $329.9 million, bringing its total BTC spend so far to $58.02 billion.
The Bitcoin price has since rebounded from its Q1 lows and is trending high again, but the company is still underwater. Its current cost basis sits at $75,644 per coin, so as long as the BTC price stays below this level, then the company’s BTC holdings remain underwater.
As for the company’s stock price, it has followed the downward trajectory of Bitcoin. The MSTR stock price is sitting round $163 at the time of this report, down by more than 50% from its 2025 peak above $400. As for its BTC holdings, Saylor has previously said that the company has no plans to sell its BTC, and in fact will keep accumulating BTC for the foreseeable future.
Раздавшая биткоины по ошибке биржа подала в суд на получателей монет
Джеффри Кендрик: Биткоин может упасть до $50 000 в ближайшее время
Компания Canary Capital подала заявку на запуск привязанного к PEPE биржевого фонда
Оператор криптоматов Bitcoin Depot сообщил о взломе на 3,6 млн
Chainalysis: $100 Trillion Could Shift To Crypto‑Native Generations By 2048
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has revealed that a significant transfer of wealth over the next two decades could transform the way global payments are made, with stablecoins likely to play a central role in this change for the broader crypto sector.
In a new blog post, the company projects that between 2028 and 2048 as much as $100 trillion could pass from “Baby Boomers” to “Millennials” and “Generation Z, groups that are far more likely to view crypto as a standard part of their financial lives.
That demographic and capital movement, Chainalysis argues, will drive an enormous increase in on‑chain stablecoin activity and accelerate adoption of crypto payment rails.
Why Chainalysis Predicts Stablecoin SurgeChainalysis bases its forecast on two converging trends. First, beginning around 2028, the composition of the adult population in North America and Europe will change.
Millennials and Gen Z — groups among whom nearly half have at some point held cryptocurrency — are expected to become the dominant economic actors, gradually replacing Generation X and Boomers in influence and purchasing power.
Second, estimates from institutions such as Merrill Lynch suggest as much as $100 trillion could transfer to younger generations by 2048. Chainalysis calculates that this generational transfer alone could add roughly $508 trillion to annual stablecoin transaction volumes by 2035.
Beyond direct wealth transfers, Chainalysis highlights point‑of‑sale (POS) adoption as a second major driver. The firm estimates that POS saturation of stablecoin rails could contribute as much as $232 trillion in annual stablecoin volume by 2035.
Taken together, the influx of inheritable capital and broader merchant adoption would produce a new payments baseline where stablecoin rails constitute a core element of the infrastructure that moves money.
Crypto Transactions Could Match Visa And MastercardIf current trends in transaction growth continue, Chainalysis says on‑chain stablecoin transactions could reach parity with the off‑chain transaction counts of Visa and Mastercard sometime in the 2031–2039 window.
The report cautions, however, that adoption rarely follows a straight line: network effects, user incentives, and technological improvements could bring that crossover earlier.
As consumers evaluate payment options, they are likely to compare crypto rails with traditional systems on familiar metrics — fees, settlement times, and rewards — and stablecoin‑linked cards and services could compete directly with legacy providers.
Chainalysis sees these dynamics already prompting strategic moves by established financial players. The blog post points to actions such as Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge and Mastercard’s partnership with BVNK as examples of incumbents positioning themselves to operate on both traditional and on‑chain rails.
The firm argues that, for banks and payments companies, the choice is becoming binary: build infrastructure and partnerships to capture flows from crypto‑native customers or risk ceding transactions to alternative rails operated by others.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Банк Morgan Stanley запустил спотовый биткоин-ETF
Минфин США предложил ужесточить требования для эмитентов платежных стейблкоинов
Not A Threat: Stablecoin Yield Won’t Harm Banks, White House Economists Say
In a positive development for the crypto industry, a recent study by White House economists affirmed that stablecoin yield won’t harm community banks, and its prohibition won’t have a meaningful impact on overall lending in the banking system.
Stablecoin Yield Is Not A ThreatOn Wednesday, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released the highly anticipated study on a key issue that has become a major point of contention between the banking and crypto industries over the past few months: stablecoin yield and its potential impact on deposit flight and bank lending.
For context, the landmark crypto legislation, the GENIUS Act, requires issuers to maintain reserves backing outstanding stablecoins on a one-to-one basis and to hold these reserves in certain assets, including US dollars, Federal Reserve notes, and short-term US Treasuries.
The bill also introduced key restrictions that prohibit issuers from offering any form of interest or yield to stablecoin holders. The banking industry has urged US lawmakers to extend the prohibition to digital asset exchanges, brokers, dealers, and related entities, which has led to prolonged debate and delay of the crypto market structure bill, also known as the CLARITY Act.
While some analysts estimate that the effect of lending in the trillions of dollars, the CEA report found that eliminating stablecoin yield would only boost bank lending by $2.1 billion, equivalent to a 0.02% increase.
Large banks would conduct 76% of this additional lending, while community banks—which have assets below $10 billion—would lend the remaining 24%. In our baseline, that adds up to $500 million in additional lending from community banks, meaning their lending rising by 0.026%.
As they noted, even under the worst-case assumptions, the CEA’s model produced only $521 billion in additional aggregate lending, corresponding to a 4.4% increase in bank loans as of Q4 2025.
Moreover, that figure would require the stablecoin market to grow sixfold as a share of deposits, all reserves to be locked in unlendable cash instead of US treasuries, and the Federal Reserve (Fed) to “abandon its current monetary framework.”
“Even under those implausible conditions, community bank lending only rises by $129 billion, corresponding to an increase of 6.7%,” the White House economists emphasized, concluding that prohibiting yield would have only a moderate impact on overall lending in the banking system.
The conditions for finding a positive welfare effect from prohibiting yield are similarly implausible. In short, a yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending, while forgoing the consumer benefits of competitive returns on stablecoin holdings.
Regulatory Uncertainty More Harmful Than RewardsThe CEA study directly contradicts one of the banking sector’s main arguments for banning stablecoin yield: it would mostly affect community banks. In January, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told investors that the banking industry could face significant challenges if the US Congress does not prohibit interest-bearing stablecoins.
During its Q4 earnings call, the executive stated that up to $6 trillion in deposits, roughly 30% to 35% of all US commercial bank deposits, could flow out of the banking system and into the stablecoin sector, citing Treasury Department studies.
The CEO asserted that while Bank of America would not be affected by this issue, small- and medium-sized businesses would be particularly hurt, as they’re “largely lent to end consumers by the banking industry.”
Earlier this year, the Independent Community Bankers of America affirmed that offering interest on payment stablecoins could drain community bank deposits and limit credit availability for local economies.
The group asserted that allowing digital asset entities to pay interest, yield, or “rewards” on payment stablecoins would significantly reduce community banks’ ability to support local lending needs, potentially losing $1.3 trillion in deposits and $850 billion in loans.
Nonetheless, a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chief, Chris Giancarlo, said in March that banks require regulatory clarity more than the crypto industry. He argued that banks will be hesitant to invest in new technology without clear rules, and their systems will eventually be obsolete.
“The banks, however, can’t afford regulatory uncertainty. Their general counselors are telling their boards, you can’t invest billions of dollars in this (…) unless you’ve got regulatory certainty. (…) The banks need this clarity because they need to build this. They need to be in the forefront, not in the rear guard of this innovation,” he stated.
Биржа Stabble призвала пользователей срочно вывести средства
Мемкоин MOODENG вырос после инцидента в зоопарке
Bitcoin Needs An Upgrade—But Not Because Of Quantum, Research Argues
As headlines related to Quantum Computing loom over Bitcoin, some research papers have broken down how real the threat currently is.
Bitcoin Network Has 6.26 Million Tokens With Exposed Public KeysHardware entrepreneur Rodolfo Novak has made two X articles discussing what research papers on Quantum Computing could reveal about how real the threat is to Bitcoin.
Quantum Computing is an emerging technology that leverages laws of quantum physics to solve problems that are extremely difficult for classic computers. It’s been an “upcoming” technology for a while now, but lately, it has been coming up in news more often.
In the context of Bitcoin, many speculate that Quantum Computers could be used to threaten the network in two ways. The first is via deriving a wallet’s private key from its public key. If successful, this can allow the attacker to gain access to the wallet’s balance.
That said, the threat only applies to wallets that have their public keys exposed. Currently, there is a combined 6.26 million BTC sitting in such wallets, including Satoshi’s coins. That’s equivalent to approximately 31% of the cryptocurrency’s supply in circulation.
The other potential threat that Quantum Computing poses to Bitcoin is by offering a significant speedup to the task of the miners. Novak has argued, however, that this application of Quantum Computing is unfeasible. According to a 2025 paper, the energy requirements for Quantum mining Bitcoin are so great that power can be measured relative to the Sun’s. “To mine Bitcoin with a quantum computer, you would need roughly 3% of the Sun’s total energy output,” noted Novak.
While Quantum mining is a pipedream, the other threat still remains. That said, it doesn’t mean that it’s here or even close to arriving. Novak has highlighted that breaking BTC’s cryptography requires the equivalent of factoring a 1,300 digital number. So far, Quantum Computers haven’t come close to achieving such a feat.
As the below table shows, Quantum Computing has also failed to deliver on major predictions until now, with the exception of one target.
While Quantum Computing could still be some distance away, Novak has stressed that it’s important to upgrade Bitcoin. In the past, the cryptocurrency has already pushed out major upgrades, but progress can be slow. Work on a quantum resistant proposal called BIP-360 has already been underway.
The real threat to BTC may not even be Quantum Computing. Historically, many cryptographic systems have eventually been broken by classical mathematical models alone. Novak noted:
This is the actual reason Bitcoin should adopt alternate cryptographic schemes. Not because quantum computers are coming — they might never arrive. But because relying on a single cryptographic assumption for a $2 trillion network is exactly the kind of risk that serious engineering addresses proactively.
BTC PriceAt the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $72,600, up nearly 6% over the last 24 hours.
Энергия в нужное русло: самые необычные майнинг-фермы в мире
Iran Announces Crypto Tolls: Oil Tankers Must Pay In Bitcoin For Hormuz Passage
As markets reacted to Tuesday evening’s ceasefire announcement, Iran moved to assert control over passage through the Strait of Hormuz by saying it will demand crypto tolls — chiefly Bitcoin (BTC) — from oil tankers transiting the vital waterway during the two‑week pause in hostilities.
Tankers Must Pay In Bitcoin Within SecondsHamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, told the Financial Times that Tehran intends to assess each vessel seeking passage and levy a fee, communicated by email, that must be paid in digital currency.
“Iran needs to monitor what goes in and out of the strait to ensure these two weeks aren’t used for transferring weapons,” Hosseini said, noting his industry association works closely with the state.
Hosseini described a process in which ship operators must disclose cargo details by email, after which Iran will determine the crypto toll and give the vessel only a few seconds to complete payment in Bitcoin so the transaction cannot be traced or seized under sanctions.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social in which he said he would suspend strikes on Iran for two weeks, provided Tehran agreed to the “COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Trump said that conversations with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, who asked him to hold off on military action, helped shape the decision.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has set out a 10‑point basis for negotiations, including a new “protocol for secure passage” developed in coordination with Iran’s armed forces, signaling Tehran’s intent to retain leverage over the waterway even while talks proceed.
Historic Real‑World Use CaseWhile Bitcoin has broken the consolidation range below $70,000 amid short-term relief for the market, some analysts argue that accepting digital currency for strategic tolls is an unprecedented real-world use of a censorship-resistant asset.
Analysts at TFTC wrote on social media platform X that this represents “the largest real‑world stablecoin use case ever recorded,” contrasting sovereign adoption to prior crypto activity such as decentralized finance (DeFi) yield farming or non-fungible token (NFT) speculation.
Their comment underscores the notion long advanced by some in the crypto community: when a state is shut out of the dollar system, it may turn to alternative payment rails to sustain trade and collect revenues.
Already, only a handful of vessels — mainly those with ties to Iran and not connected to the US, Israel, or Gulf states that supported recent strikes — have received approval to transit on restricted routes in the past fortnight.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at around $71,570, having recorded gains of 4.6% over 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Solana (SOL) have followed suit, achieving gains of 6%, 4%, and 5%, respectively, in the same period.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Crypto Sector Faces Tighter Rules On Hidden Investors In Thailand
Thai crypto exchanges could soon face stricter scrutiny over who is actually bankrolling their major shareholders — not just who owns shares on paper.
A Net Wide Enough To Catch Indirect BackersThailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission put forward a proposal this week that would require regulatory approval not only for direct major shareholders in crypto businesses, but also for anyone providing financial support to those shareholders behind the scenes.
That includes backers working through share acquisitions, guarantors, and parties to contractual arrangements that effectively give them a funding role.
According to the regulator, the new rules are designed to cut off capital flows that may be tied to unlawful activities — money that could expose licensed firms to legal trouble or damage their standing in the market.
The proposal arrives as part of a wider push by Thai authorities to tighten controls across both traditional and digital finance. Reports indicate Thai crypto platforms froze 10,000 accounts earlier this year as part of an anti-money laundering drive.
A separate campaign targeting so-called “gray money” was launched in January, covering physical markets alongside digital ones.
Who Gets Reviewed — And Who Gets A PassUnder the proposed framework, the approval requirement would extend to financial supporters of legal entities that themselves hold shares in crypto operators — not just the operators’ direct shareholders.
ก.ล.ต. เสนอเพิ่ม “ผู้ให้แหล่งเงินทุน” เป็นผู้ถือหุ้นรายใหญ่ที่ผู้ประกอบธุรกิจหลักทรัพย์และผู้ประกอบธุรกิจสินทรัพย์ดิจิทัลต้องขอรับความเห็นชอบ ยกระดับการสกัดกั้นทุนเทาให้เข้มข้นขึ้นhttps://t.co/QoOe6z8xmx
— ThaiSEC_News (@ThaiSEC_News) April 7, 2026
The SEC said the rules would apply to anyone whose financial role gives them, in substance, the standing of a major funder, regardless of how that arrangement is structured.
There is one notable exception. If a major shareholder happens to be a government body — a ministry, public agency, or similar entity — the SEC said it would only look at ownership at that entity’s level.
Officials said those bodies are already under government supervision, making a deeper review unnecessary.
The proposal is open for public comment until April 22.
A Pattern Taking Shape Across AsiaThailand is not acting alone. Based on reports, South Korea’s regulators are weighing a separate but related measure that would cap ownership stakes in crypto exchanges at 20%.
The back-to-back moves suggest that Asian financial watchdogs are paying closer attention to who controls — and who funds — the companies handling public crypto transactions.
For Thai crypto firms, the practical impact of the new rules will depend heavily on how regulators define terms like “significant funding” once the consultation period closes and a final version is drafted.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Why Global Banks May Pick XRP Over Stablecoins Like USDT; Ex-Ripple Exec
A fascinating debate about XRP and stablecoins like USDT has emerged between former Ripple CTO David Schwartz and members of the XRP community. During the exchange, questions were raised about whether banks would choose XRP despite Ripple’s concentrated token ownership—and whether the cryptocurrency still remains relevant in an era dominated by stablecoins. Schwartz responded with detailed explanations, highlighting XRP’s advantages for banks and the factors that make it a more attractive alternative to stablecoins.
Ex-Ripple CTO Reveals Why Banks Will Choose XRPCrypto enthusiast Mason Versluis has raised a sharp and legitimate concern about the incentive structures behind XRP’s adoption by banks. In a post on X, Versluis asked holders why they believe global banks will use XRP, and drive a price rally that could make Ripple one of the wealthiest financial institutions in the world.
Versluis noted that Ripple currently owns over 40% of XRP’s total supply, which is roughly 34 billion escrowed tokens. If banks widely adopt XRP, the value of this already substantial holding could rise sharply, making Ripple wealthier.
His argument points to a potential conflict of interest, questioning whether banks, which are essentially being asked to enrich a competitor, would willingly go along. In other words, he’s basically asking why banks such as JPMorgan or HSBC would want to be the engine that makes Ripple richer than all of them.
Schwartz responded with a dismissive one-liner, essentially mocking the logic behind the concern. The former Ripple CTO argued that it would be irrational for banks to reject a genuinely useful and innovative technology simply because it also benefits the company monetarily. His sarcastic comment suggested that banks would rather evaluate XRP’s technology on its merits rather than worry about inadvertently enriching Ripple.
Why XRP Has An Edge Over Stablecoins Like USDTDuring the discussion between Schwartz and Versluis, a different crypto community member raised a more strategic question. He asked if XRP’s “technology is still relevant in the age of stablecoins.”
Related Reading: Are Institutions About To Trigger A Massive XRP Supply Shock? Here’s How Much They’re Holding
Notably, stablecoins like USDT and USDC have exploded in adoption precisely because they address the volatility and stability issues that make most cryptocurrencies impractical for payments. Schwartz, however, pushed back thoughtfully against this view, providing a more detailed answer than his earlier response to Versluis.
The former Ripple CTO outlined “three big advantages” cryptocurrencies like XRP have over stablecoins. His first point addressed cross-border transfers, noting that stablecoins are usually pegged to a single currency. As such, users could face difficulties sending money to multiple countries with different currencies because they may not find a stablecoin widely accepted and easily convertible in many jurisdictions.
His second point focused on centralization, control, and security. Schwartz stated that stablecoins can be frozen or seized by their issuers, who are subject to legal and government pressure. He described a scenario where AI agents or individuals in unclear legal situations may not be able to rely on a court to protect their assets from being frozen. In contrast, decentralized cryptocurrencies like XRP, designed to be censorship-resistant, mitigate this risk, giving users greater freedom and protection.
Lastly, Schwartz highlighted the potential gains from holding cryptocurrencies compared to stablecoins. While USDT remains idle, generating no returns and could even lose buying power due to inflation, XRP offers an attractive combination of speed, cross-border payments, and the potential for price appreciation.
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