Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) eyed $79,000 into Sunday’s weekly close as crypto markets continued to be guided by the US-Iran war.

Key points:

Bitcoin circles a key weekly level into the weekly close, with the highest close in several months on the table.

Analysis sees the mid-$80,000 zone and higher coming back into play.

Liquidity grabs form the basis for caution among some traders.

BTC price nears highest weekly close in over three months

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD attempting to hold higher after cancelling out losses from earlier in the week.

Finishing the week above $78,670 would deliver the pair’s highest weekly close since late January.

BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Friday delivered a boost to risk assets as hopes of a fresh peace agreement between the US and Iran accelerated. On Sunday, however, US President Donald Trump appeared skeptical of ratifying Iran’s latest peace proposals.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.”

Source: Truth Social

Despite this, some crypto market commentators remained optimistic about the short-term outlook.

“Strong consolidation on $BTC , and Friday gave us a slight insight in what's likely to come,” trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe wrote on X.

Van de Poppe referenced Friday’s strong inflows to the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which totaled nearly $630 million.

“I don't think this will slow down in the coming week and that's probably why we're seeing a relatively shallow consolidation taking place,” he continued. 

“The $79K area is a crucial zone. That needs to break. If this breaks, I'm assuming we'll see more upwards momentum and I've got $86-88K as first resistance area and $92-94K as the crucial one.”

BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Bitcoin traders warn of liquidity games

Caution was also visible, with traders watching for liquidity grabs to the upside before a subsequent price reversal.

“Starting to see a build of liquidity form below, but a take of the high liquidity and using that to dump,” Crypto Tony commented on data from CoinGlass on the day.

BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

Trading account JDK Analysis described the liquidity setup as “typically bearish.”

“We can clearly see fresh longs opening into the highs, while price continues to show signs of absorption - unable to push meaningfully higher despite increasingly aggressive market buying for now,” it summarized in posts on X.

BTC/USDT 15-minute chart. Source: JDK Analysis/X

Crypto and AI industry groups are pumping tens of millions of dollars into the 2026 midterm elections, but a new poll shows most Americans don't trust either industry.

45% of Americans say investing in cryptocurrency is not worth the risk and 44% say AI is developing too fast, according to an April survey by Public First for Politico. The survey also found that narly half trust a traditional bank over a crypto platform, and two-thirds want Congress to impose strict regulations or broad oversight principles on AI.

The numbers spell trouble for candidates taking money from industry-aligned super PACs. In hypothetical matchups, poll respondents were far less likely to back candidates supported by groups pushing looser AI regulations than those backed by groups calling for tighter tech rules.

“Skepticism of the industries, those results suggest, could turn into voter backlash if Americans grow fed up with the heavy spending,” the report said.

The poll was conducted between April 11 and 14, surveying 2,035 US adults online. Results were weighted by age, race, gender, geography and educational attainment, with an overall margin of sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points.

AI, crypto PACs spend big

Pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, which launched in August 2025, has raised more than $75 million and deployed funds in primaries across North Carolina, Texas, Illinois and New York. Fairshake, the pro-crypto PAC backed by Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs, has already spent $28 million across competitive primaries.

Source: Politico

Both industries are also spending heavily on lobbyists. OpenAI and Anthropic posted record lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2026. The crypto industry, meanwhile, is pushing the CLARITY Act through the Senate, a market structure bill it hopes will bring regulatory certainty to digital assets.

In 2024, a Fairshake-affiliated PAC spent over $40 million helping defeat Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto critic who is now running again.

Crypto, AI PACs are flying under the radar

For now, most voters don't know these groups exist. Just 9% have heard of Leading the Future and only 3% recognize Fairshake. However, political observers told Politico that once voters connect the money to the industries behind it, the backlash could be swift.

“I do think if they see somebody is backed by crypto, that’s always going to be a problem,” former Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci reportedly said.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

Nobitex, Iran’s biggest crypto exchange, was founded by two brothers from one of the Islamic Republic’s most influential families with ties to the supreme leaders, according to a Reuters investigation.

The exchange, which now accounts for the majority share of Iran’s crypto activity, was launched by Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi. The duo operated under the alternative surname “Aghamir,” which they used across corporate records and professional life, masking links to the Kharrazi dynasty, according to the report.

The Kharrazi family has long occupied positions close to the country’s leadership, with ties spanning generations of power, including links to Ali Khamenei and his successor Mojtaba Khamenei.

Ali and Mohammad’s grandfather reportedly served on the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for appointing Iran’s supreme leader, and once tutored Mojtaba Khamenei. Their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, founded an Iranian political group named Hezbollah and was involved in early staffing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following the 1979 revolution, per the report.

Nobitex remains operational even during war times

Nobitex, which reportedly serves over 11 million customers, has remained operational throughout the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel, even during a nationwide internet blackout. Analysts told Reuters that more than $100 million in transactions were processed during the war, with significant outflows moving abroad.

At the same time, investigators cited by Reuters say the platform has processed transactions linked to sanctioned entities. However, estimates vary. Analytics firm Elliptic identified roughly $366 million in suspect flows, while Chainalysis placed the figure closer to $68 million and Crystal Intelligence identified about $22 million in direct transfers from sanctioned wallets.

Separate findings indicate wallets associated with Iran’s central bank sent hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency to Nobitex in 2025, part of a broader strategy to bypass financial restrictions. A dispute involving businessman Babak Zanjani also exposed wallet addresses that analysts say revealed at least $20 million in routed state funds.

The post by Babak Zanjani, an Iranian billionaire convicted of fraud, criticises the Central Bank of Iran. Source: Reuters

Nobitex has reportedly denied any government affiliation, claiming that illicit transactions represent a small share of overall activity.

US seizes $500 million in Iranian crypto

As Cointelegraph reported, the US has seized nearly $500 million in cryptocurrency linked to Iran, significantly expanding its financial crackdown under a campaign known as Operation Economic Fury.

The latest figure marks a sharp increase from previously disclosed totals, including $344 million in frozen digital assets, with stablecoin issuer Tether assisting in freezing funds.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?

New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured more than $5 million from cryptocurrency platform Uphold over its role in promoting a fraudulent investment product.

The settlement centers around Uphold’s promotion of CredEarn, a product offered by Cred, LLC and its CEO Daniel Schatt. Between January 2019 and October 2020, the platform marketed CredEarn to users on its platform and mobile app as a safe, reliable savings product with attractive annual interest payments.

However, Uphold didn’t tell customers that Cred was generating those returns by making microloans to low-income video game players in China, who are typically borrowers with no credit histories and no access to traditional financial institutions, the Attorney General’s office said in an announcement.  

Source: NY AG James

Uphold also told customers that Cred carried “comprehensive insurance,” a claim the Attorney General's office found to be false. No such insurance protecting retail investors from digital asset losses existed in the industry at the time. On top of the misleading promotion, Uphold was operating without the required broker or commodity broker-dealer registration.

Cred collapse hits Uphold users

Cred began racking up losses from its risky lending practices in March 2020 and filed for bankruptcy eight months later, leaving thousands of Uphold customers around the world holding the bag, according to the announcement.

Under the settlement, Uphold will pay $5 million directly to affected customers, more than five times the fees it collected from the arrangement. Any funds Uphold recovers from Cred’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, where it is owed $545,189, will also be passed on to harmed investors. Affected users will be notified by email when the funds hit their accounts.

“Investors should be able to trust the industry advice they receive,” James said, “and my office will always work to ensure bad actors are held accountable for endangering their customers’ financial security.”

New York’s legal run-up with CFTC

Last month, New York sued Coinbase and Gemini, claiming their prediction market offerings violated state gambling laws.

The CFTC fired back by suing New York in federal court, arguing that federal law gives it sole authority over prediction markets and asking for a permanent injunction to block the state's enforcement actions.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

A newly discovered vulnerability could affect most open-source major Linux distributions released since 2017, according to security researchers. 

The flaw, titled “Copy Fail,” caught the attention of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), who added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on Saturday, warning it poses “significant risks to the federal enterprise.”

“10 lines of Python” may be all it takes: Researcher

The vulnerability can allow attackers to gain root access across a wide range of Linux systems using a 732-byte Python script, though it requires prior code execution on the system to escalate privileges.

Researcher Miguel Angel Duran said that it only requires “10 lines of Python” to access root permissions on any affected system.

“This Linux vulnerability is insane,” Duran said.

Linux is a widely used operating system by cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain nodes and custodial services, due to its security and efficiency, meaning the vulnerability could potentially pose risks to the sector if attackers gain initial access.

Exploit was initially reported in March

Xint Code said in an X post on Saturday that the flaw “is a trivially exploitable logic bug in Linux, reachable on all major distros released in the last 9 years.”

“A small, portable python script gets root on all platforms,” Xint Code said. 

Cybersecurity firm Theori CEO Brian Pak said in an X post on Saturday that he reported the vulnerability “privately” to the Linux kernel security team on March 23. 

“We worked with them on patches, which landed in mainline on April 1. CVE assigned April 22. We disclosed publicly on April 29 with a full write-up and PoC,” Pak said. 

 

A16z has thrown its weight behind the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a growing federal-state standoff over prediction markets, opposing state regulators that try to shut down platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.

The venture capital heavyweight submitted the letter on Thursday in response to the CFTC’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets. It argues that state-level crackdowns, ranging from cease-and-desist letters to criminal charges, are creating barriers that undermine the federal agency’s mandate to provide “impartial access to its markets and services.”

In recent weeks alone, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, claiming that those states overstepped by trying to regulate markets that fall under federal jurisdiction. A16z backed that position, arguing that forcing exchanges to block users based on their state of residence directly conflicts with the CFTC’s impartial access rules.

“Being forced to deny impartial access to users in states that seek to license or prohibit certain event contracts will likely severely circumscribe available liquidity,” the firm wrote.

CFTC gets to define gaming: A16z

State attorneys general have countered that platforms offering contracts on sports outcomes and political events are running unlicensed gambling operations. A16z pushed back on that framing, arguing that the CFTC, not state legislatures, holds the authority to define what constitutes “gaming” under federal commodities law, given the agency's decades of oversight over event contracts.

Beyond the jurisdictional fight, a16z also made a case for the social value of prediction markets, describing their pricing mechanisms as a distinct form of price discovery that surfaces crowd intelligence on uncertain outcomes. The firm also showed support for blockchain-based platforms, claiming that the onchain auditability of transactions makes regulatory oversight more effective.

Kalshi and Polymarket trading volume. Source: Token Terminal

The letter arrives amid the growing popularity of these platforms. As Cointelegraph reported, monthly trading volume reached $25.7 billion in March, with more than 80% of users classified as retail, defined as those trading less than $10,000.

Polymarket wants back into the US

Polymarket is in talks with the CFTC to lift the ban that has kept American users off its main platform since a 2022 settlement, in which the company paid a $1.4 million penalty and agreed to block US customers over unregistered event contracts.

A full return would require a formal commission vote, though the process may move faster given that four of the CFTC's commissioner seats are currently vacant.

Magazine: How to fix suspected insider trading on Polymarket and Kalshi

Bitcoin (BTC) eyed $77,500 on Friday after US stocks posted fresh record highs on strong tech earnings.

Key points:

Bitcoin continues a rebound after the monthly close as stocks hit record highs.

Strong tech earnings propel the S&P 500 over 7,200 points for the first time in history.

PCE inflation data nears its highest levels in three years, prompting speculation about next month's numbers.

Bitcoin creeps higher while S&P 500 makes history

Data from TradingView showed near 12% April BTC price gains as risk assets ignored rising US inflation signs.

BTC/USD one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The S&P 500 reached nearly 7,220 points before closing ten points lower, propelled by stronger-than-expected earnings from Google and Apple.

Reacting on X, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted that the S&P had added over $8 trillion in market cap since hitting local lows at the end of March.

“A year ago it was at 5,600. 5 years ago it was at 4,200. 10 years ago it was at 2,100,” Charlie Bilello, chief market strategist at wealth manager Creative Planning, added.

S&P 500 one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

While Bitcoin’s gains were less pronounced, markets en masse appeared uninterested in US inflation warnings.

The March print of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) came in at 3.5%, per data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), marking its highest since August 2023.

Known as the Federal Reserve’s “preferred” inflation gauge, PCE had previously conformed to market estimates.

“In the first month of the Iran War, US inflation hit a 3-year high,” Kobeissi commented. 

“April's data will be interesting.”

US PCE Indexes. Source: BEA

BTC price still struggling with support reclaim

Bitcoin thus closed out April’s monthly candle with mixed messages.

At 11.9%, BTC/USD saw its highest monthly gains in a year, CoinGlass data confirmed, but the monthly candle fell short of reclaiming key support lines.

BTC/USD monthly returns (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

As Cointelegraph reported, these included the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA), with only a single weekly close above it since last October.

“The Bitcoin pullback continues and this is looking more and more like an EMA rejection, especially if BTC isn't able to Weekly Close above the EMA by end of week,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital warned X followers on Wednesday.

He added that a retest of the mid-$60,000 zone on weekly time frames was “technically necessary to achieve full breakout confirmation.”

BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X

Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded above $76,000 at Thursday’s Wall Street open while traders stayed bearish on the short-term BTC price outlook.

Key points:

Bitcoin's Coinbase Premium Index flips negative as analysis warned the January breakdown could repeat.

BTC price action is already at risk of repeating a bear flag breakdown to new macro lows.

The April monthly close should still offer Bitcoin's best gains in a year.

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium risks repeating bearish history

Data from TradingView showed 1% daily gains after initial pressure over high oil prices and a hawkish US Federal Reserve meeting the day prior.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

With US stocks treading water, Bitcoin market participants saw little reason to flip bullish on shorter time frames. 

Among the concerns was the Coinbase Premium — the difference in price between Coinbase’s BTC/USD and Binance’s BTC/USDT pairs.

“Bitcoin’s ripping higher… but the selling on Coinbase is getting DEEPER by the minute,” X user Against Wall Street wrote. 

A negative Coinbase Premium implies insufficient demand for Bitcoin during US trading hours, with price action normally suffering as a result. 

In January, a relief bounce on BTC/USD combined with a steepening negative Premium, and the pair ultimately broke to new macro lows.

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuant

“We’ve seen this exact movie before, and spoiler alert: everybody already knows how it ends,” Against Wall Street continued, referring to January's events.

As Cointelegraph reported, then, as now, price formed a so-called “bear flag” construction on the daily chart — a warning to buyers that a breakdown could occur.

BTC teases best monthly price gains since April 2025

Other traders also felt the need for caution, with trader CJ seeing little sign of a long-term floor already being in place.

A chart uploaded to X on the day included a potential target of $65,000.

“I think even if we are putting in a bottom here, we *at least* see something like this,” they commented. 

“This would be my bullish outlook. I'm ultimately waiting on April close to refine.”

BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: CJ/X

The monthly close was set to offer 11.6% gains for April at the time of writing — still Bitcoin’s best performance in a year, per data from CoinGlass.

BTC/USD monthly returns (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

April 30, 2026 – HederaCon 2026 will take place on May 4 at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach, bringing together leaders from global finance, policy, and enterprise to explore how tokenization, stablecoins, interoperability, and AI-powered financial systems are moving into real-world adoption.

Taking place in between the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix and Consensus 2026, it’s a timely stop for those already in the city, and a one-day event you don’t want to miss on your Miami schedule.

Across two stages, Main Stage and The Trust Layer Stage, the agenda focuses on how trust is being embedded into financial systems, real-world assets, and the infrastructure underpinning the digital economy. Discover the full agenda here: https://hederacon.hedera.com/agenda.

A key session will feature Hedera co-founder Mance Harmon and Hashgraph CEO Eric Piscini, sharing their perspective on the evolution of the Hedera ecosystem and what comes next, building on the concept of “invisible ubiquity” as tokenization and trust layers scale. This idea carries into a founder conversation with Dr. Leemon Baird, revisiting the foundational concept of shared worlds and how that vision is evolving into a network of networks.

Financial transformation will take center stage, with sessions like “The New Global Rails: Rewiring Payments, Settlement, and Trust,” featuring Citi, Euroclear, DTCC, and Moody’s, examining how stablecoins and tokenized cash are reshaping markets.

In “Trust on Chain: The Tokenization Era Takes Hold,” speakers from Archax, Aberdeen, ERC-3643 Foundation, and Red Swan will explore how tokenization is gaining traction across real estate, funds, and foreign exchange.

Institutional adoption will also be in focus, with 21Shares, Canary Capital, YieldFX, and ClearStreet discussing digital asset products, while Chainlink, Fireblocks, and Kaiko address interoperability across emerging financial systems.

Policy discussions will feature voices from the White House, Blockchain Association, Digital Chamber, and Institute of International Finance, with speakers including Summer Mersinger, Cody Carbone, and Jessica Renier. The event will close with a fireside chat featuring Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council.

On the Trust Layer Stage, sessions will explore governance, security, and open-source collaboration, with contributors from the Linux Foundation, Halborn, DFNS, CryptoISAC, and Vodafone. The agenda also includes “Proven Finance to Sustainable Impact,” highlighting how tokenization is enabling transparent, real-world applications in sustainable finance and ESG markets.

HederaCon will run from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, followed by a cocktail reception.

Registration is available at: https://hederacon.hedera.com/home

South Korean prosecutors have requested a 20-year prison sentence for the CEO of crypto deposit service Delio, calling the scale of alleged fraud against thousands of investors “massive.”

During closing arguments at the Seoul Southern District Court on Thursday, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Jeong Sang-ho under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, citing what they described as deliberate deception and false promotion that left nearly 2,800 victims without access to their funds, according to the Korean news agency Yonhap.

“The defendant’s active deceptive acts and false promotion have resulted in numerous victims, and the scale of the damage is massive," prosecutors reportedly said, adding that Jeong was “exacerbating their suffering by evading responsibility and maintaining an uncooperative attitude.”

Delio operated a crypto deposit service that promised investors high-interest returns on coins deposited for a fixed period. On June 14, 2023, the platform abruptly suspended withdrawals, freezing customer assets worth 250 billion Korean won ($169 million). A Seoul court declared the company bankrupt in November 2024.

Delio CEO acknowledges harm done to investors

Jeong’s legal team acknowledged the harm caused. “We are aware of the victim's suffering and feel a deep sense of responsibility,” his attorney reportedly said, adding that Jeong would seek to compensate victims if acquitted.

Jeong was indicted in April 2025 on charges of embezzling $169 million in crypto assets from victims over roughly two years, between August 2021 and June 2023.

The first-instance verdict is scheduled for July 16.

South Korea launches crackdown on exchanges

The news comes amid South Korea's launch of a regulatory crackdown on crypto exchanges. Earlier this month, the country fined Coinone, the country’s third-largest exchange, and ordered a partial business suspension over Anti-Money Laundering failures.

The action marks the second such crackdown in a few months, following a $24 million fine and six-month partial suspension handed to Bithumb in March for similar Anti-Money Laundering failures. The pressure on exchanges intensified after Bithumb mistakenly sent customers 620,000 Bitcoin, worth around $42 billion at the time, instead of 620,000 Korean won.

Magazine: South Korea gets rich from crypto… North Korea gets weapons

One of South Korea’s largest credit card providers, Shinhan Card, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin payment technology and explore the use of non-custodial wallets through a more advanced follow-on proof of concept (PoC). 

Following a joint pilot project completed at the beginning of April, the new partnership will conduct a more “advanced” PoC to explore the commercial feasibility of stablecoin payments for merchants and customers seeking an improved payment experience, Shinhan Card announced on Thursday.

The partnership will also explore developing a “hybrid financial model” that combines traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure.

The move signals that South Korea's second-largest credit card provider is exploring the implementation of blockchain technology to improve retail merchant payment interactions. 

Shinhan Card is South Korea’s second-largest credit card issuer with a 16.9% market share, which was overtaken by Samsung Card’s 17.02% market share for the top spot in March, KED Global reported.

Shinhan Card to develop smart contract-based DeFi services

Shinhan Card said that the partnership’s ultimate goal is to explore DeFi-linked services of its own, which implement blockchain oracles, a technology used to connect information in offchain and onchain environments.

The credit card giant said it will also explore the “execution stability” of smart contracts, which are self-executing, digital agreements with terms written in code, used to disintermediate transactions.

On April 9, Shinhan Card said it completed a successful PoC with the Solana Foundation on six key areas, including blockchain-based peer-to-peer payments, digital asset integrated payment infrastructure, stablecoin-based check and credit hybrid products, stablecoin-based cross-border remittances and settlement, stablecoin payments and IC chip-based card payment services for crypto wallets.

Shinhan said the earlier PoC could serve as a blueprint for bridging the existing fiat-based payment systems with the digital asset ecosystem to discover new business models that can “increase customer convenience in the payment and settlement areas” and strengthen its competitiveness in “next-generation financial markets.” 

Other large stablecoin issuers exploring stablecoins for improved payments and settlement include Visa, Mastercard and BC Card.

Visa is among the more advanced examples, having launched USD Coin (USDC) settlement services for some US-based financial institutions on the Solana blockchain in December 2025.

Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO

Crypto has topped the list of most-muted topics on X since the platform rolled out its snooze feature, with spam and artificial intelligence content, or "AI slop," likely playing a major role.

On Thursday, Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, revealed that crypto has become the most-muted topic ahead of politics, the Iran conflict, sports and business and finance, a notable shift in a platform that was once the heartbeat of Crypto Twitter.

The snooze feature, which lets Premium subscribers hide topics from their For You feed for 24 hours, was launched on April 22. At the time, Bier described the tool as a way for users to “crank up or turn down the slop,” apparently a nod to the flood of low-quality content that has increasingly plagued the platform.

Source: Nikita Beir

Crypto content on X has come under growing scrutiny, with the platform changing its API policies in January to cut off apps that paid users to post. The move was aimed at curbing the wave of AI-generated spam and low-quality content flooding crypto feeds through so-called “InfoFi” apps that rewarded engagement.

Beir’s run-in with Crypto Twitter

Earlier this year, Bier said in a now-deleted post that Crypto Twitter’s visibility problems were largely self-inflicted, arguing that many accounts burn through their daily reach by overposting or flooding replies with low-value messages like repeated “gm” greetings, leaving little room for substantive content to land.

The remark drew a sharp response from the crypto community. CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju pushed back, arguing that the real problem is a flood of AI-generated spam that X’s algorithm cannot distinguish from legitimate accounts. “It is absurd that X would rather ban crypto than improve its bot detection,” Ju wrote.

Bier joined X as head of product in June 2025, shortly after taking an advisory role at the Solana Foundation in March, where he focused on helping consumer-facing apps built on the network scale and reach mainstream mobile audiences.

X also launched Smart Cashtags on April 15, allowing iPhone users in the US and Canada to view real-time price charts for stocks and crypto, including Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and stocks like Coinbase and MicroStrategy, without leaving the app. The rollout came days after Bier teased that X would “launch something to fix” crypto’s rough year.

Crypto sentiment and search interest remain low

Crypto market sentiment remains subdued, with the Fear & Greed Index sitting at 29, or in “Fear” territory. While it is a notable recovery from last month's Extreme Fear reading of 11, it still signals a state of investor anxiety.

Google Trends data tells a similar story. Worldwide search interest in crypto has trended sharply lower since peaking in early 2026, with interest in terms like “crypto,” “cryptocurrency” and “Bitcoin” declining heading into April.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

Bitcoin (BTC) failed to recover new support on Thursday as oil hit its highest levels in nearly four years.

Key points:

Bitcoin struggles to recoup recent lost ground as geopolitical factors weigh on momentum.

UK Brent crude oil spot markets record their highest levels since June 2022.

The Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision is called Chair Jerome Powell's "most hawkish in years."

Bitcoin falls on "most hawkish" Fed meeting

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $76,000, down around 2% from the previous day’s high.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A combination of high oil prices and the US Federal Reserve’s “most hawkish” meeting in years kept risk-asset optimism low.

Both were a result of the ongoing US-Iran war, which showed no sign of resolution.

“Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” US President Donald Trump wrote in one of his latest posts on Truth Social.

Source: Truth Social

Amid the tensions, spot Brent crude oil passed $120 per barrel for the first time since June 2022.

“Asia is facing its worst even crisis in history and Europe has just weeks worth of jet fuel left. The US is exporting record amounts of oil as a result,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter responded in a post on X. 

“Inflation is back.”

Spot Brent crude oil one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Inflation worries were among the guiding factors for Fed officials at Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where they left interest rates unchanged.

While markets expected that outcome, commentators noted a worsening outlook for risk appetite due to changing Fed policy.

Nic Puckrin, CEO and cofounder of crypto education platform Coin Bureau, described the FOMC meeting — the last with Jerome Powell as Chair — as his “most hawkish in years.”

“For the first time since 1992, 4 Federal Reserve members dissented the decision,” he noted.

US two-year Treasury yield versus Fed funds rate futures. Source: Nic Puckrin/X

Puckrin suggested that the Fed’s “soft landing” policy on inflation had also gone. 

“Rates held for the third straight meeting, but the direction of travel just changed,” he summarized.

Source: Truth Social

Trump repeated attacks on Powell after the decision, calling him “too late” in cutting rates ahead of the likely takeover by Kevin Warsh.

As Cointelegraph reported, Trump said that he “would” be disappointed if Warsh did not cut rates at his first FOMC meeting in June.

BTC price 21-day trend line hangs in the balance

BTC price action still managed to respect the 21-day simple moving average (SMA) near $75,500 overnight.

That support line was the key question for trading resource Material Indicators on low time frames.

“Will support hold?” it queried in an X post alongside order-book liquidity data for Binance.

The data showed whale order classes broadly buying the dip, while smaller order classes reduced exposure.

BTC/USDT order-book data (Binance) with whale orders. Source: Material Indicators/X

April 29, 2026 – Changelly, a leading instant cryptocurrency exchange and trusted blockchain API provider, is marking its 11th anniversary with a new company milestone. More than 12 million users worldwide now rely on the platform's web and app alone for seamless digital asset swaps, purchases, and cash-outs—with API integrations driving an even greater volume of users beyond that count. After more than a decade on the market, the platform has grown to support 1,200 cryptocurrencies across 200 blockchains for instant crypto swaps.

To celebrate, the company is launching Changelly’s 11th Birthday Mystery Boxes—a limited-time in-app game available starting April 28, 2026, featuring prizes from Changelly and its partners, including Topper by Uphold, SafePal, OneKey, SecuX, and MyTonWallet.

“Congratulations to Changelly on 11 years of making crypto accessible to millions worldwide. At SecuX, we believe great security starts with great partners, and Changelly has always stood for ease, trust, and innovation. Here's to many more years of building a more secure and open financial future together!” — Wendy Chen, Head of PR at SecuX.

1,200 coins, 1b+ assets on DeFi, 840 integrations, scaling user and business demand

Asset availability on Changelly has continued to expand. The platform now supports 1,200 cryptocurrencies, with 200 new coins added over the past year—a selection built around users’ preferences and market demand. Include Changelly DeFi, a recently launched cross-chain swap product accessible directly on the web platform and as a standalone app, and that figure grows to over 1 billion supported assets.

Meanwhile, Changelly significantly broadened its business collaborations and blockchain API reach. Its partner network has grown to 840 Web3 companies, with 240 new partnerships signed over the last 12 months. Through embedded instant exchange and fiat on/off-ramp APIs, Changelly’s infrastructure now powers a growing share of crypto purchase and swap flows across wallets, apps, and digital finance products. Additionally, Changelly expanded its blockchain API offering for crypto businesses with the launch of Changelly DeFi, which brings decentralized trading infrastructure to business partners.

“We’re proud of our long-term partnership with Changelly—a progressive team that shares our vision of making crypto simple, easy, and more accessible to people around the world. On behalf of MyTonWallet, we warmly congratulate Changelly on its 11th anniversary. This is an impressive milestone for the entire industry, and we’re excited to support this campaign together. Here’s to many more years of growth, innovation, and shared success.” — Irina Arons, CMO at MyTonWallet.

Where first-time users became long-term traders

Besides bringing in new users, Changelly has remained the preferred platform for its user base for years—and the anniversary data suggests the platform has managed to do both. Users who joined Changelly five or more years ago have returned to use the platform again and again, making thousands of crypto swaps and purchases. One customer alone completed more than 16,000 transactions across eight years—the kind of number that speaks volumes about habits, trust, and routine use.

"Reaching 12 million users is a milestone we're proud of, but it's the depth of engagement that tells the real story," said John Adam Khandjian, Chief Growth Officer at Changelly. "Our longest-standing users have made millions of secure and fast crypto transactions. That's a real relationship built over the years. It reflects what we've tried to build from the start: a service people can rely on regardless of what the market is doing."

The 2 million new users added over the past year have largely followed market movements, with registration spikes consistent within weeks of significant price action. On the platform, the most-traded assets included BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and TRON, alongside altcoins like VIRTUAL, AIXBT, PENGU, GRASS, HYPE, and CC, indicating growing user interest in AI-adjacent and community-driven assets. 

Security is another reason why users remain loyal to the veteran crypto platform:

"At OneKey, our mission is to make advanced security feel effortless, pairing certified hardware with an app anyone can use. Partnering with Changelly helps us share that mission and remind users that strong security doesn’t have to be scary." — The OneKey Team.

The anniversary celebration moves in-app

Starting April 28, 2026, Changelly is bringing its 11th birthday celebration directly into the app—and users get to unwrap gifts from Changelly and ecosystem partners.

Prizes include a Crypto Terminal (Mac Mini & espressoDisplay Pro), SafePal x Changelly limited edition hardware wallets, Topper-branded exclusive hardware wallets, OneKey Classic 1S Pure BTC-only hardware wallets, OneKey Keytags, SecuX Neo wallets, MyTonWallet NFT cards, USDT prizes of up to 200 USDT, VIP status, 0% fees, and exclusive crypto guides.

"Changelly sets the bar for what a crypto partnership should look like—collaborative, high-performing, and always thinking about the user. Proud to be part of this campaign." — Robin O'Connell, CEO Enterprise, Uphold.

How to get your birthday surprise

Download the Changelly app or log in if you already have an account

Navigate to the in-app stories to play the game

Open your Mystery Box and discover your reward

To unlock more boxes and more chances to win, complete any transaction and get one more try

The two-week anniversary campaign will run through May 11, with the final results and prize announcements scheduled for May 12. Read the Terms & Conditions and enter the game. 

About Changelly

Changelly is an instant crypto exchange trusted by over 12 million users worldwide. Founded in 2015, the platform offers secure and fast crypto-to-crypto swaps for over 1,200 cryptocurrencies and 24/7 live customer support. Changelly also features a built-in smart fiat on-ramp aggregator, giving users access to 220+ competitive offers from verified providers, enabling seamless purchases of 350+ cryptocurrencies using 20+ global payment methods.

Changelly is available on desktop (website), iOS (App Store), and Android (Google Play).

The vulnerability that led to ZetaChain’s recent exploit had been flagged through its bug bounty program before the attack, but was dismissed as intended behavior.

In a post-mortem published Wednesday, the team said the incident has prompted a review of how it handles bug bounty submissions, particularly reports involving chained attack vectors that may appear harmless in isolation but are dangerous in combination.

“This bug was reported and they simply ignored it,” one user wrote on X. “That's how bug bounty programs work with these protocols currently; they incentivize losses for the protocol, the TVL, and the user's balance instead of paying the researcher for discovering and fixing the bug,” they added.

ZetaChain lost approximately $334,000 to a premeditated exploit on Sunday that targeted its cross-chain gateway contract. The exploit drained funds across nine transactions on four chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and BSC, all from ZetaChain-controlled wallets. No user funds were affected.

Attacker exploits small design flaws

ZetaChain said in its post-mortem that the attacker exploited three design flaws that, individually, might have seemed minor, but together opened the door to a full drain. First, the gateway allowed anyone to send arbitrary cross-chain instructions with no restrictions. Second, on the receiving end, it would execute almost any command on any contract, with a blocklist so narrow it missed basic token transfer functions.

Third, wallets that had previously used the gateway had left unlimited spending permissions in place that were never cleaned up. By combining all three, the attacker simply told the gateway to transfer tokens from victim wallets to their own, and the gateway complied.

Source: ZetaChain

“This was not an opportunistic attack,” ZetaChain said in its post-mortem. The attacker funded their wallet through Tornado Cash three days before the exploit, deployed a purpose-built drainer contract on ZetaChain and ran an address poisoning campaign before seeding it into their transaction history via dust transfers.

ZetaChain added that a patch permanently disabling the arbitrary call functionality is being rolled out to mainnet nodes. The platform also removed unlimited token approvals from its deposit flow, replacing them with exact-amount approvals going forward.

AI DeFi exploit success rate increases

A new study by a16z tested whether an off-the-shelf AI agent could go beyond identifying DeFi vulnerabilities and actually produce working exploits. Using OpenAI's Codex against a dataset of 20 real Ethereum price manipulation incidents, researchers ran the agent in a sandboxed environment with no access to future transaction data and no guidance on how the attacks worked. The agent succeeded in just 10% of cases.

However, when researchers fed the agent structured knowledge about common attack patterns and exploit workflows, the success rate jumped to 70%.

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Bitcoin (BTC) headed to weekly lows after Tuesday’s Wall Street open as oil-supply woes panicked global markets.

Key points:

Bitcoin continues its come down from recent highs as new oil fears worsen already shaky market sentiment.

US President Donald Trump avoids hints of lifting the Strait of Hormuz blockade.

BTC price action falls below $76,000 as a week's gains evaporate.

Bitcoin, stocks extend losses on Hormuz oil nerves

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD dipping under $76,000 as US stocks also opened lower.

BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The US-Iran war lay behind risk assets’ cold feet, with oil taking center stage amid the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

WTI crude oil returned to $100 per barrel on the day, as US President Donald Trump continued to keep markets guessing on the outcome of the Hormuz impasse.

“Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse,’” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

“They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!).”

Source: Truth Social

Commenting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted the ongoing impact on Asian countries, with Iran rapidly running out of oil storage capacity.

“Asia's energy crisis will soon intensify even further,” it predicted in a post on X.

Crypto sources also drew attention to the impact of oil on market mood, among them onchain analytics platform Glassnode.

“Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz persist due to stalled US-Iran talks, tightening supply and spooking markets across the board,” it told X followers on the back of the WTI jump.

CFDs on US WTI crude oil four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

BTC price breakout hopes fade into monthly close

BTC price action thus continued to shy away from attacking $80,000 after sealing a weekly candle close above a key resistance trend line.

Instead, the two recent visits to $73,000 made market participants wary of calling a “double bottom” formation too early.

“So far, $BTC bulls aren't showing much enthusiasm for a robust double bottom bounce. Expecting to see volatility increase as we move to and through the monthly close,” trading resource Material Indicators commented.

An accompanying chart showed exchange order-book liquidity and whale orders, with only the largest class of investors stepping in to buy.

BTC/USDT order-book liquidity data with whale orders. Source: Material Indicators/X

Others also demanded more proof that bulls could crush the multiple resistance levels immediately above spot price, including the bear market support band.

“We'll need to see follow up to actually confirm a proper breakout though. But at least the bulls are putting in an effort for now,” trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote on X.

BTC/USD one-week chart with bull market support band, moving averages. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Japan's financial, law enforcement and real estate regulators have issued a joint guidance request warning that crypto assets pose money laundering risk in property transactions.

The request, published on Tuesday, was issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Financial Services Agency, the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Finance. It was addressed to major real estate and crypto industry bodies, including the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association and several national real estate federations.

“Crypto assets, which have the nature of being transferred instantly across national borders, are considered to pose a high risk of being used as a payment method in real estate transactions for the purpose of money laundering,” the request states.

Japan sends request regarding crypto usage in property deals. Source: FSA

The multi-agency request instructed real estate agents to conduct customer due diligence on any crypto-involved transaction under Japan's Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds, file suspicious transaction reports with regulators and notify police when criminal activity is suspected, bringing bank-style Anti-Money Laundering (AML) expectations into crypto property deals.

Japan warns against unregistered crypto in property deals

The request warned that converting crypto to fiat on behalf of clients may constitute “crypto asset exchange business” under the Payment Services Act, an activity that requires registration and carries legal risk if conducted without it.

It also asked crypto exchanges to watch for cases where a customer receives property sale proceeds in crypto and then attempts unusually large transactions that don't match their financial background.

Furthermore, the document reminded firms that under Japan's Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, anyone receiving crypto worth more than 30 million Japanese yen (approximately $180,000) from overseas must file a payment report with authorities.

Japan classifies crypto as financial instrument

Earlier this month, Japan amended its Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to classify crypto assets as financial instruments, moving them out of the payments category and into the same regulatory framework as traditional securities.

The change bans insider trading and other market manipulation involving undisclosed information, and requires crypto issuers to publish annual disclosures. Penalties for unregistered crypto exchanges have also been stiffened under the amendment, while the government separately backed plans late last year to cap the tax rate on crypto profits at a flat 20%.

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Ondo Finance has teamed up with financial technology giant Broadridge to give holders of tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) the ability to participate in proxy voting.

Broadridge has built a Web3-enabled relay system where tokenholders connect their crypto wallet to Broadridge's ProxyVote platform, submit their voting preference, and Ondo's issuer then votes the real shares accordingly, with the entire process recorded onchain for transparency, according to a Tuesday announcement.

“By working with Broadridge, we are enabling holders of our on-chain tokenized stocks to access governance and voting capabilities, with all the additional benefits on-chain tokens provide,” Matthieu de Vergnes, global head of institutional at Ondo Finance, said.

Proxy voting is when a shareholder authorizes someone else to vote on corporate matters on their behalf. It has long been a standard feature of traditional equity ownership, but tokenized stocks have largely lacked it. The Broadridge integration addresses this gap, letting investors sign in via their crypto wallets, confirm their holdings and submit votes.

Tokenized stocks hit $1.15 billion

Tokenized stocks have surged to $1.15 billion in distributed value, up 25.46% over the past 30 days, according to data from RWA.xyz. Monthly transfer volume stands at $2.27 billion, with over 217,000 holders, up 9.26% in the last month alone.

Tesla, NVIDIA, and S&P 500-linked products are among the most prominent assets by value, alongside Circle Internet and Strategy-linked tokens.

Tokenized stocks continue to grow. Source: RWA.xyz

Ondo, which claims roughly 70% of the tokenized stock market with over $700 million in total value locked, offers its products across Solana (SOL), Ethereum (ETH) and BNB Chain (BNB). The tokens are backed by the corresponding stocks or ETFs.

Franklin Templeton, Ondo bring tokenized ETFs to crypto wallets

Last month, Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance announced a partnership to bring tokenized versions of Franklin's ETFs onchain, giving investors access through crypto wallets rather than traditional brokerage accounts. The initial offering covers five funds spanning US equities, fixed income, and gold, available across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America, with US access pending regulatory clarity.

Meanwhile, Binance has listed 10 tokenized assets from Ondo Global Markets on its Binance Alpha platform, including tokens tracking Apple, Nvidia and the Invesco QQQ ETF.

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April 27, 2026 — Changelly and Tonkeeper have teamed up to make cross-chain deposits into TON a seamless, in-wallet experience. Users can now fund their Tonkeeper wallet with USDT, USDC, or DAI from 13 decentralized networks, without leaving the app.

For Changelly users already familiar with cross-chain swaps, this extends existing functionality into direct wallet deposits. For Tonkeeper’s user base, it introduces a new way to move assets into the TON ecosystem within a single interface.

Cross-chain deposits without leaving the app

With Changelly’s infrastructure integrated into Tonkeeper, cross-chain deposits can be completed within the wallet, while routing is handled in the background.

Support spans 13 networks: Ethereum, Solana, TRON, BSC, Polygon, Arbitrum, Base, Liquid, Avalanche, NEAR, Optimism, Matic, and Tezos.

The integration removes the need to use external bridges or manage multiple interfaces when moving assets across chains, keeping the entire process within the wallet environment.

Launch campaign

To mark the integration, the companies have introduced a campaign running from April 27 to May 10, 2026. Users who deposit USDT, USDC, or DAI from any of the supported networks into Tonkeeper via the integration during this period will be eligible to enter a draw for 20 one-year subscriptions to Telegram Premium.

About Tonkeeper

Tonkeeper gives users access to TON assets and dApps, USDT on TRC20, NFTs in one wallet. Tonkeeper supports powerful features like the Battery and Gasless transactions, while Tonkeeper Pro unlocks advanced tools like multisig support.

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific plans to scale its Texas operations into a large artificial intelligence-focused data center campus with up to 1.5 gigawatts of gross power capacity.

In a Monday announcement, the company said it is developing its Pecos, Texas, site into a high-density colocation hub designed to support AI workloads amid rising demand for computing infrastructure. Of the planned capacity, about 1 GW is expected to be available for leasing.

“We continue to leverage our deep in-house expertise to differentiate how we build and scale next generation artificial intelligence infrastructure,” Adam Sullivan, CEO of Core Scientific, said.

As part of the transition, roughly 300 megawatts currently used for Bitcoin mining at the site are being repurposed for data center operations, Core Scientific said. The company added that the first data hall has completed foundational work and is moving into vertical construction, with initial capacity expected in early 2027.

Core Scientific shares are up 44% YTD. Source: Yahoo! Finance

The company has also secured an additional 300 megawatts of power under contract with its utility provider, while outlining plans for further expansion through a behind-the-meter solution.

Aside from Core Scientific, other miners are also exploring alternative revenue streams as mining margins tighten, with a focus on AI. In February, MARA Holdings acquired a 64% stake in French infrastructure company Exaion, expanding into AI services. Other miners, including Hive, Hut 8, TeraWulf and Iren, are also repurposing mining facilities into data centers.

Core Scientific acquires 200 acres

To support the buildout, Core Scientific said it has acquired more than 200 acres of land in the area.

Last week, the company also announced plans to raise $3.3 billion through senior secured notes due 2031 to fund data center expansion across Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and Oklahoma. The move follows a separate $1 billion credit facility secured from Morgan Stanley in March.

Core Scientific has historically generated most of its revenue from mining digital assets, but has been increasing its focus on infrastructure services. The company operates facilities across several US states, including Texas, Georgia and North Carolina.

NYDIG to buy idle New York smelter

As Cointelegraph reported, Alcoa is close to selling its long-dormant Massena East smelter in upstate New York to Bitcoin mining firm NYDIG, with the deal expected to close by the middle of the year. The plant has sat unused since 2014, when it was shut down due to high energy costs and global competition.

Earlier this year, Century Aluminum also sold its Hawesville smelter in Kentucky for $200 million to crypto miner TeraWulf, which plans to convert it into a high-performance computing and AI facility.

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