Honest Merchant

The European Central Bank has launched a task force, chaired by Vice President Luis de Guindos, that will look for ways of simplifying banking rules in Europe, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The central bank governors of Germany, France, Italy and Finland are also part of the task force, the source said.

The Bank declined to comment, while Germany's Bundesbank, the Bank of France, the Bank of Italy and the Bank of Finland did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The Bank does not have power to change rules, which is the prerogative of European lawmakers in Brussels. Any recommendation made by the task force would need to go to Brussels for consideration.
The launch of the task force was previously reported by Bloomberg.
Its creation follows a letter to the European Commission this year in which the central bank governors of Germany, France, Italy and Spain called for simplifying European banking rules where they were "unduly complex."

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Nike (NKE.N), opens new tab was sued on Friday by purchasers of Nike-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other cryptocurrency assets who said they suffered significant losses when the athletic wear company abruptly closed the business that created those assets.

In a proposed class action filed in Brooklyn, New York federal court, purchasers led by Australian resident Jagdeep Cheema said the sudden closure in December of Nike's RTFKT unit caused demand for their NFTs to dry up.

They said they would never have bought the NFTs at the prices they did, or at all, had they known the tokens were unregistered securities, and that Nike would "cause the rug to be pulled out from under them."
Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Phillip Kim, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, declined to comment.
The legal status of NFTs is unsettled, and there has been much litigation over whether they are securities under federal law.

#XRPETF

XRP steadies as SEC Chair Atkins pledges to end regulatory uncertainty and support crypto innovation.
XRP underperforms the broader crypto market, reflecting lingering legal uncertainty

A Ripple-SEC deal, XRP-spot ETF approval, and Fed policy will be key drivers of XRP price direction.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission held a crypto roundtable on Friday, April 25, marking SEC Chair Atkins’ first public address since assuming office. His speech drew significant market interest, particularly in light of the SEC’s recent U-turn on regulation through enforcement.

His call for regulatory clarity is a potential catalyst for crypto adoption in the US.

#XRPETF

The cryptocurrency market witnessed a significant development for Ethereum as ETH ETFs recorded a massive inflow of nearly 57,900 ETH, valued at approximately $104.1 million, on April 25, 2025, as reported by Cas Abbé on Twitter at 10:30 AM UTC on April 26, 2025.

This substantial buying activity marks a notable shift in institutional interest in Ethereum, especially considering that none of the ETH ETFs sold any of their holdings during this period, according to the same source. The price of ETH at the time of this inflow was around $1,800 per token, as per data from CoinMarketCap recorded at 11:00 PM UTC on April 25, 2025.

Trading volume for ETH surged by 28% within 24 hours of the inflow, reaching $18.5 billion across major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, based on statistics from CoinGecko at 8:00 AM UTC on April 26, 2025. This event is particularly noteworthy amidst a backdrop of fluctuating market sentiment for Ethereum over the past few weeks. Additionally, on-chain data from Glassnode at 9:00 AM UTC on April 26, 2025, shows that the number of active ETH addresses spiked by 15% to 1.2 million during this period, indicating heightened network activity. For trading pairs, ETH/BTC saw a 3.2% increase to 0.058 BTC per ETH, while ETH/USDT rose by 4.5% to $1,810 on Binance at 10:00 AM UTC on April 26, 2025. This inflow could signal a potential reversal for Ethereum, which has struggled to maintain bullish momentum since early 2025, with prices hovering below $2,000 for much of Q1 as per TradingView data tracked at 12:00 PM UTC on April 25, 2025. The absence of selling pressure from ETFs further strengthens the case for a possible breakout, making this a critical moment for traders monitoring Ethereum price predictions and ETH ETF inflows in 2025.

$ETH

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Ethereum won’t survive in 10 years: Charles Hoskinson of Cardano

Charles Hoskinson, the former co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Cardano, has expressed uncertainty over the future of Ethereum, owing to its so-called wrong protocols, accounting models, consensus models, and even virtual machines.

In a recent ‘Ask Me Anything’ episode with Altcoin Daily, Charles claimed that Ethereum may not even survive the upcoming decade, as Bitcoin DeFi can overshadow it.

During the AMA session, a user had asked, “If you were doing the Ethereum Foundation, what would you do differently? In a broad sense.”

Charles answered by saying that Ethereum has wrong protocols, accounting models, consensus models, and even virtual machines. He also added that it lacks a satisfactory on-chain governance system. Furthermore, it features a parasitic Layer-2 system.

I don’t think Ethereum will survive, you know, more than ten or fifteen years. The Layer-2s will continue to suckle out all of the alpha. People will start fighting, and it will get harder and harder for Vitalik (Buterin) to be able to hold it together through sheer force of will, and users will gradually migrate to other places, and then they are going to get eclipsed by Bitcoin,” said Charles.

The former CEO of Ethereum also stated that Ethereum is a brilliant project, but it is just a victim of its success, like MySpace or BlackBerry. He underlined that Ethereum’s increasing complexity and reliance on outside scaling solutions might cause it to become obsolescent.

$ETH

After the dinner offer was posted on the TRUMP meme coin website and X account, the value of the meme coin surged as much as $5.32, or 58%, to $14.32 on Wednesday afternoon. That gain only partially erased the meme coin's decline in value, which hit a peak of $75.35 on January 19 the day before Mr. Trump's inauguration.

The dinner offer promises TRUMP coin investors the opportunity to "Hear close-up, from President Trump, about the future of Crypto!" Mr. Trump, who has vowed to turn the U.S. into the cryptocurrency capital of the world, has also pushed his own ventures into the realm of digital products, issuing everything from NFTs billed as "Trump digital trading cards" to a cryptocurrency platform called World Liberty Financial.

CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC together own 80% of the meme coins, according to the Trump coin site. Fight Fight Fight is a Delaware LLC, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The White House and the Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the promotion.

Invitations to the dinner event with Mr. Trump will only be offered to those who own the most TRUMP meme coins, according to the website. The top 25 holders will get a bonus of "an Exclusive Reception before Dinner with YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT!" the website marketing the dinner said.

"Our leaderboard updates hourly in real time. Your $TRUMP coin count puts you in the running. The competition is fierce. Own TRUMP — or watch from the sidelines," according to the website marketing the coin.

The leaderboard will be determined by the average holdings of TRUMP owners from April 23 to May 12, according to the website. "The more TRUMP you hold — and the longer you hold it — the higher Your Ranking will be," it said.

The dinner will take place on May 22 at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., according to the site.

$TRUMP

The University of the Hespérides in Spain is launching its first Master’s in Bitcoin programme on 28 April 2025.

Designed for professionals such as entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers, and investors, the 10-month course will be delivered online and in Spanish. It will offer 60 ECTS credits.

Students will explore Bitcoin from multiple angles, including its philosophy, technology, monetary theory, legal status, and investment strategies. The curriculum includes practical workshops on self-custody, proof-of-work mining, and tax compliance.

Participants will also receive a Blockstream Jade hardware wallet and a book written by programme director Álvaro D. María.

Optional in-person seminars will be held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The faculty includes economist Juan Ramón Rallo and experts from companies like BTC Inc. and Jan3.

The initiative aligns the university with global institutions such as MIT, NYU, and Berkeley, which are expanding cryptocurrency education to meet growing industry demand.

#BTCvsMarkets

The price of Donald Trump's cryptocurrency has soared after the US president promised to host two special events for its top investors.

The website for the $Trump meme coin says its 220 biggest holders will be invited to a private gala dinner with the president on 22 May, describing it as the "most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world."

$Trump jumped by more than 70% after the announcement. But it remains well below the record high of more than $74 (£42.40) reached shortly after its launch in January.

The digital currency is one of several crypto-related ventures launched by businesses linked to Trump, who has called himself the "crypto president".

As well as the gala dinner, which will be held at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington DC, there will be "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President" for the top 25 coin holders, the coin's website said.

Trump tokens in circulation are currently worth a total of around $2.5bn. They were first released just days before his inauguration on 20 January.

The move was criticised by several people in the crypto industry, with some calling it "a stunt".

#DinnerWithTrump

Ethereum (ETH) saw a 10% gain on Tuesday after the general crypto market rallied alongside Bitcoin. The rally comes after the ETH Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) basis plunged from 20% in November to about 5% in April.

Ethereum rallies as CME short positions fall from elevated levels
Ethereum short positions on the CME have declined steadily since Trump's tariffs set in, dropping below $500 million across all traders categories for the first time in 2025.

The drop stems from a decline in the Ethereum CME basis, which plunged from 20% in November to around 4-5% in April. Basis is the difference between a futures contract price and its underlying asset's spot price.

The 20% basis — greater than US Treasury yields at the time — attracted arbitrageurs, especially hedge funds. They bought US spot ETH ETF shares and simultaneously shorted ETH on the CME, according to an analyst note on CryptoQuant's Quicktake page.

However, the basis gap closed after Trump's tariffs and the Federal Reserve's hawkish tone caused a market-wide correction across crypto assets and stocks. As a result, these arbitrageurs have sold their spot ETH ETF holdings, sparking a major dump in the top altcoin.

This is visible in US spot ETH ETFs’ net outflows since mid-February, which are fast approaching the $1 billion mark. Notably, their total net assets dropped to an all-time low of $5.21 billion on Monday, according to data from SoSoValue.

"When we look at the current state of the market, we can see that a large portion of those arbitrage positions that dominated our agenda 2–3 months ago have now been closed. That's because basis levels have dropped to around 4–5%, aligning closely with US Treasury yields," the analyst wrote.

The decline in CME short positions indicates that ETH is free from "that pressure," but the analyst added that the market needs a series of positive macro news to turn bullish.

$ETH

Bitcoin broke above $93,000 for the first time since March, with altcoins Ethereum, XRP and Solana gaining 11%, 5% and 6%, respectively.

The rally has sparked increased liquidations, with short traders suffering losses of over $500 million in the past 24 hours.

The major US stock indexes saw gains of over 2.5% across the board.

The rally stems from optimism surrounding Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statement that he expectsUS and China to reach a trade deal soon.

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied above $93,000 on Tuesday alongside the broader financial market following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statement at a closed-door meeting that the trade feud between the US and China is unsustainable.

Bitcoin reclaims $93,000 as stocks rally following Scott Bessent's statement
The crypto market saw an uptick on Tuesday, rising over 5% as major assets took noted gains. Bitcoin rallied above $93,000 for the first time since March 6, with top altcoins Ethereum, XRP and Solana also gaining 11%, 5% and 6%, respectively.

The meme sector rallied alongside top cryptos, jumping over 15%. Other sectors including the AI and Real-world asset (RWA) sectors also posted gains.

#MarketRebound

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Saylor Goes Deep: $555M Bitcoin Buy Fuels Strategy Comeback

Strategy, previously referred to as MicroStrategy, has purchased an additional 6,556 Bitcoin in a $555.8 million acquisition. The firm acquired the Bitcoin between April 14 and April 20, spending an average of $84,785 per coin. The latest move takes the company’s total Bitcoin to 538,200 BTC.

Company Now Has Over $36 Billion In Bitcoin
Based on company reports, Strategy has paid around $36.47 billion buying its Bitcoin reserves at an average of $67,766 per coin. The company is still the largest public company to hold Bitcoins, way ahead of rivals such as MARA Holdings.

This is the second straight week Strategy has bought Bitcoin. Two weeks ago, the company acquired nearly 3,460 BTC for over $280 million. The company has also posted a 12% Bitcoin return since the beginning of the year.
Strategy Is Planning To Raise $20 Billion For Additional Buying
The firm has no indication of decelerating its Bitcoin buying strategy. According to reports, Strategy plans to raise over $20 billion from the sale of stock to finance future Bitcoin buys. This aggressive buying persists even as Bitcoin’s relatively flat performance in recent months.

#SaylorBTCPurchase

Metaplanet adds 319 BTC as total holdings approach 5000 Bitcoin

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has purchased 330 more Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 4,855 BTC.

According to the company’s Apr. 21 disclosure, the latest acquisition was made at an average price of ¥12.18 million per Bitcoin Bitcoin
btc
2.81%
Bitcoin, about $85,605, totaling ¥4.02 billion (~$26 million). Its total Bitcoin stash is now worth ¥62.17 billion ($414 million), with an average purchase price of ¥12.8 million ($85,386) per coin.

To track its performance, Metaplanet uses a metric called BTC Yield. This measures how much Bitcoin it holds per fully diluted share. So far in this quarter, the company’s Bitcoin Yield is 12.1%. The three quarters prior were even stronger, at 41.7% in Q3 2024, 309.8% in Q4, and 95.6% in Q1 2025.

The company’s Bitcoin-focused strategy is supported by a variety of capital market activities, including the issuance of zero-coupon bonds and stock acquisition rights. As of April 2025, Metaplanet had completed over 40% of its “210 Million Plan,” a fundraising initiative linked to the issuance of 0% discount stock rights to EVO FUND.

The proceeds, which so far amount to over ¥35 billion (~$226 million), have been used to buy Bitcoin. Just recently, on Apr. 16, the company raised another $10 million through zero-interest bond issuance, which will also go toward additional Bitcoin purchases.

The company has stated that it is on track to reach its goal of earning ¥3.0 billion (~$27.5 million) from its Bitcoin program this year. This will help meet the company’s total revenue target of ¥3.4 billion (~$31.3 million) for the entire year.

Metaplanet, currently the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in Asia, has greatly increased its exposure since establishing its Bitcoin accumulation strategy in 2024. The company aims to own 10,000 Bitcoin by the end of 2025 and 21,000 Bitcoin by 2026, or roughly 1% of the total supply.

#BTCRebound

Russia and Ukraine blamed each other on Sunday for breaking a one-day Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, with both sides accusing the other of carrying out hundreds of attacks.

Putin, who sent thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, ordered Russian forces to "stop all military activity" along the front line in the three-year-old war until midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT) on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was pretending to observe the Easter ceasefire, but had in fact continued hundreds of artillery attacks on Saturday night, with more assaults on Sunday.
Russia launched 46 assaults from midnight until 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), including with heavy weapons, Zelenskiy wrote on the X social media platform.
"Either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favourable PR coverage," Zelenskiy posted.

Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukraine had broken the ceasefire more than 1,000 times, inflicting damage to infrastructure and causing some civilian deaths.
The ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times while it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, including attacks on Crimea and on the Russian border areas of the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
"As a result, there are deaths and injuries among the civilian population, as well as damage to civilian facilities," the ministry said.

$TRX

For the first time since April 1, Ethereum (ETH) is seeing renewed market participants in the U.S. This development comes after Ethereum’s (ETH) price has corrected by 50% within the last 90 days.

Amid the decline, ETH plunged below $1,500, with some analysts calling for a lower value. But as of this writing, the cryptocurrency’s price has bounced and is trading close to $1,600.

With buying momentum building up, does this mean ETH’s price will erase more of its gains? Let’s find out.

U.S. Risk Appetite for ETH Rises
For a large part of the month, U.S.-based market participants have been offloading ETH, as reflected by the declining Coinbase Premium Gap, a metric that measures the difference between ETH’s price on Coinbase and global exchanges.

A negative or falling premium indicates heightened selling pressure from American investors. However, with U.S. President Donald Trump placing a 90-day pause on the controversial tariffs, risk appetite appears to be returning.

$ETH