Bitcoin AI Generated News

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs today that the first report from the Southport inquiry lays bare “systematic failures across multiple public sector organisations” that allowed a violent attacker to slip through repeated contact points with the state. Mahmood, speaking in the Commons after Sir Adrian Fulford’s report was published, said she would not repeat the perpetrator’s name. Instead she focused on the probe’s central finding: agencies repeatedly failed to record, share and act on information, meaning no single body had a full picture of the risk posed. “The failure, because it belonged to everyone, belonged to no one,” she said. What the inquiry found - Sir Adrian’s report is unsparing: information-sharing was poor, risk assessments were incomplete, and responsibility was diffuse. - The perpetrator had multiple documented contacts with public services: Lancashire police attended five calls to his home; officers were called when he was seen with a knife in public; he had several referrals to the multi-agency safeguarding hub; contacts with children’s social care, early help and child and adolescent mental health services; three Prevent referrals; and a conviction for violent assault that led to a youth offending team referral. None of these interventions identified the escalating risk. - The report also criticises the “irresponsible and harmful” role of the perpetrator’s parents and finds that warning signs — growing violence and clear intent to harm — were missed as the individual “fell between the gaps.” Government response and next steps - The report includes 67 recommendations. Mahmood said the government will respond to those relevant to central government by the summer and has already updated Prevent guidance. - She announced plans to legislate to prevent the spread of extreme violent content online and to close a legal loophole by making it an offence to plan an attack without an ideological motive — a gap she said exists despite planning with terrorist intent already being criminalised. - The inquiry’s second phase will consider broader preventative steps to stop similar attacks in future. Political fallout - Conservatives and opposition figures accepted the report’s finding of multi-agency failings, but debate over other causes followed. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused agencies of downplaying concerns because of the perpetrator’s ethnicity, quoting a former headteacher who said efforts to record risk in an EHCP were resisted and that one CAMHS professional accused her of “racially stereotyping… a black boy with a knife.” Philp warned against a damaging “fixation with ethnic disproportionality” when assessing risk. - Mahmood defended the government’s moves on online harms and risk assessment reform as part of the response. Crypto and conflict-of-interest spotlight The political day also carried a high-profile crypto conflict-of-interest allegation that will interest the sector. The Liberal Democrats have written to the Financial Conduct Authority asking it to investigate Nigel Farage’s reported £2 million purchase of bitcoin through Stack, the crypto firm chaired by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. The Lib Dems argue that, as an MP and party leader promoting crypto, Farage’s purchase could present a conflict between public duties and private financial interest. - Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, told the Commons the FCA should examine whether Farage’s position and actions amount to market abuse or a conflict of interest. - Labour has separately asked HM Revenue & Customs to probe the tax affairs of a company owned by Richard Tice, Farage’s deputy; Farage has dismissed the claims and said he is satisfied with Tice’s explanations. - Commentators have warned about the broader risk when politicians hold stakes in industries they champion. In the Times, Fraser Nelson argued that when policymakers promote sectors in which they are financially involved, “the boundary between public policy and private gain begins to dissolve.” The recent resignation of Lord Chadlington after using parliamentary access to assist a company in which he had an interest was cited as a reminder of the standard expected of public officeholders. Other Commons highlights - Keir Starmer used a Commons update on the Middle East to argue for closer economic and security ties with the EU, saying the benefits of alignment are “simply too big to ignore” amid global instability and an unpredictable US administration. He also stressed continued intelligence cooperation with the US. - MPs pressed the government on defence matters, energy projects such as Rosebank and Jackdaw, and the use of British bases in the region, with strong exchanges over arms supplies, Lebanon, Gaza and the UK’s strategic priorities. Starmer said British bases were being used only for defensive missions and insisted protecting personnel was a priority. What to watch next - The government’s formal responses to the Southport recommendations this summer. - The shape of the government’s promised legislation on online violent content and on criminalising non-ideological attack planning. - Any FCA or HMRC moves on the Farage/Stack and Tice matters — and whether that prompts wider scrutiny of MPs’ financial interests in crypto. This cross-cutting day in Westminster combined a major public-safety inquiry with fast-moving political questions about online harms, accountability and a growing spotlight on cryptocurrency and potential conflicts of interest among senior politicians. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Ethereum stalls in a holding pattern — on-chain data shows traders are waiting for a catalyst Ethereum has been stuck in a consolidation phase for weeks, with selling pressure still present and overall uncertainty elevated. A fresh analysis from Arab Chain points to a clear on-chain signal that captures exactly what the market is doing — and why this sideways trade can’t last forever. On-chain snapshot: Binance NUPL at -0.053 Arab Chain tracks Ethereum’s Net Unrealized Profit and Loss (NUPL) on Binance, an indicator that shows whether holders are, on average, sitting on gains or losses versus their entry prices. With ETH trading around $2,100, Binance NUPL sits at -0.053 — essentially in the neutral zone. That reading describes a market in balance: traders aren’t cutting losses in panic, nor are they taking big profits. They’re mostly holding and waiting. Behavioral readout: low volatility, low conviction The data paints a specific behavioral picture. Volatility has fallen, panic selling is absent, and there’s no excessive optimism driving speculative buying. Short-term trading activity has cooled so much that neither fear nor greed is creating directional pressure. The result: price is suspended between two states, held in place by the lack of a strong catalyst. Why the slight negative matters Though -0.053 is close to neutral, it’s slightly underwater — a small but meaningful detail. Arab Chain emphasizes that the indicator’s persistence just below zero signals a market waiting for a trigger rather than one building toward a clear trend. Historically, such neutral NUPL regimes coincide with lower near-term risk because forced liquidations and frothy speculation are both muted. But they are temporary by nature: consolidation ends once some external or internal catalyst — macro clarity, a surge in demand, or a rapid sentiment shift — forces direction. Technical picture: compression under resistance Price action reinforces the on-chain read. ETH is trading roughly in the $2,150–$2,200 band after recovering from February’s capitulation, and it has been forming higher lows since the $1,800 bottom — a sign of stabilization, but not a confirmed bullish reversal. Technically, ETH remains below the 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. The 50-day is flattening and offering short-term support, while the 100- and 200-day averages still sit overhead and act as resistance. Recent breakout attempts have stalled below the $2,300–$2,400 zone, indicating persistent selling pressure. Volume tells the same story Volume dynamics back up this cautious picture. The sell-off spike reflected forced liquidations, and the follow-up decline in volume shows waning participation. The current recovery lacks the volume expansion that typically accompanies convincing trend reversals. Key levels to watch - Bullish trigger: a decisive break above $2,400 would likely shift momentum and could open a run toward the 100-day moving average. - Bearish trigger: losing the $2,000 area would undermine the recovery structure and risk a deeper pullback. - On-chain trigger: a sustained move of Binance NUPL away from neutral would confirm a directional shift in holder behavior. Bottom line Ethereum is in a classic consolidation: stable, but not safe. The market has found a temporary equilibrium around $2,100 with NUPL near neutral, but that balance hinges on the absence of a catalyst. When one arrives — whether macro, demand-driven, or sentiment-based — expect NUPL and price to move decisively out of this holding pattern. Image credits: chart from TradingView; featured image generated with ChatGPT. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

A public clash between the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, and one of its biggest backers—Tron founder Justin Sun—erupted over the weekend, driving the project’s WLFI token to fresh lows and drawing renewed scrutiny to the ties between crypto, politics, and governance. Price pain and stakes WLFI plunged to roughly $0.08 over the weekend, down about 20% in a week and more than 76% from its post-listing highs last fall. The token briefly sank to $0.077 on Saturday. WLFI confers governance rights, and Sun’s purchases last year made him the single largest holder—giving his stake material influence over World Liberty’s protocol decisions. How the dispute started Shortly after President Trump’s re-election in 2024, Sun bought tens of millions of dollars’ worth of WLFI (and later also invested in Trump’s official meme coin). In September, World Liberty blacklisted a wallet linked to Sun and froze those tokens after apparent on-chain movements of millions of dollars’ worth of WLFI. Sun maintained he had not moved the tokens to sell them—moves that, depending on his investment terms, might have been restricted. New accusations and counterattacks On Sunday Sun escalated the dispute publicly on X (formerly Twitter), accusing World Liberty of embedding a “secret backdoor” in its smart contract that allows the company to freeze token holders’ balances “without notice, without cause, and without recourse.” He framed the practice as antithetical to decentralization and blasted World Liberty for treating “the crypto community as a personal ATM,” calling several of the company’s leaders “bad actors.” Sun demanded World Liberty unlock the frozen tokens and disclose who controls and operates the project’s smart contracts. World Liberty hit back almost immediately, rejecting Sun’s demands, calling him a wrongdoer, and warning of legal action—“See you in court pal,” the company said in a public statement. Neither side offered an on-the-record comment to Decrypt at the time of the report. Why this matters beyond the price action The spat matters because it touches on core crypto themes—on-chain control, smart-contract transparency, and investor protections—while intersecting with high-stakes political narratives. The SEC, operating under the Trump administration, settled a yearslong fraud case against Sun in March; Reuters later reported that the agency’s head of enforcement resigned in the fallout. Democrats have frequently cited Sun as an example of what they call “Trump’s crypto corruption,” and if Democrats retake one or both chambers of Congress—as some prediction markets currently put at roughly 90% odds—both World Liberty and Sun could face intensified scrutiny in Washington. Bottom line The public fight has already hammered WLFI’s price and raised uncomfortable questions about centralized controls in projects billed as decentralized. The coming days may bring legal filings or on-chain analysis that clarify whether a “backdoor” exists, who truly controls World Liberty’s contracts, and what remedies, if any, are available to frozen investors. Either way, the episode underscores how governance structures and political ties can quickly become systemic risk factors in crypto projects. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Trump’s threats to Iran’s power and water infrastructure rekindle fears of a wider energy shock — and markets are taking notice The escalation risk between the US and Iran has returned to center stage this week as President Trump’s naval blockade goes into effect and his prior threats to target Iranian power plants, bridges and desalination facilities remain publicly unwithdrawn. Legal experts have warned such threats could amount to potential war crimes, and global markets are already pricing in a more severe scenario for civilian infrastructure strikes. What’s happening now - The naval blockade is live, and traders are reacting beyond the immediate crude-oil squeeze. Analysts told CNBC that a combined closure of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on civilian infrastructure could push Brent crude toward $150 per barrel from current levels around $103. - White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the administration “will always act within the confines of the law,” but did not address legal concerns over targeting power and water infrastructure. - Humanitarian groups called the rhetoric alarming: Annie Shiel, US Director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, called Trump’s earlier threats “appalling,” saying they target “infrastructure that is essential for civilian survival.” Why this would be a different kind of escalation - Striking Iran’s power plants or water systems would be a qualitative jump beyond the strikes so far. Iran’s power network serves both civilian and military needs, meaning each target would require a careful, case-by-case legal assessment under the laws of armed conflict. - Retired Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham warned on PBS that a blanket threat to take out “all power plants” looks like an “indiscriminate attack,” which would not meet the needed legal standards. Potential retaliation and wider market effects - Iran’s military command has publicly vowed that attacks on civilian targets would trigger retaliation “much more devastating and widespread” than what has already occurred. Tehran still retains missile and drone capabilities, Gulf Arab energy infrastructure is vulnerable, and allied Houthi forces in Yemen could reopen attacks on Red Sea shipping via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. - Any of those responses — alone or combined — would add a new supply shock on top of Hormuz-related disruption, heightening the risk premium on energy markets. Timing and the market gap - A temporary ceasefire that paused threats to Iran’s power infrastructure expires April 22. If talks do not resume and the blockade widens without a diplomatic off-ramp, infrastructure strikes become a likely escalation lever. - Markets have largely priced in continued conflict but not large-scale strikes on civilian networks. That gap—current oil around $103 versus a stressed estimate near $150 for full blockade plus infrastructure strikes—is the immediate market risk to watch over the coming nine days. What this means for crypto markets - While this is fundamentally an energy and geopolitical story, crypto markets are sensitive to macro shocks. Sharp swings in oil prices and broader risk sentiment can raise volatility across risk assets, affect fiat liquidity, and influence behavior in digital-asset markets. - Higher energy prices also tighten margins for energy-intensive crypto miners and could accelerate shifts in miner economics or fees. Traders and investors often view Bitcoin and other digital assets as alternative stores of value during geopolitical uncertainty, which can amplify flows and volatility. Bottom line: The blockade is active and rhetoric about striking civilian infrastructure has not been retracted. That combination raises the stakes for oil and energy markets—and, by extension, could ripple through risk assets including crypto—unless diplomatic talks revive before the April 22 deadline. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Stanford’s 2026 AI Index: Entry-Level Software Jobs Plummet 20% as AI Reshapes the Labor Market Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, released Monday by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), confirms a seismic shift in the labor market driven by generative AI. Using ADP payroll records covering millions of workers at tens of thousands of companies from 2021–2025, researchers led by Erik Brynjolfsson find that employment for software developers aged 22–25 has dropped nearly 20% since late 2022 — the moment generative AI tools became mainstream. Why this matters - The dataset is one of the largest applied to AI’s labor effects, and researchers explicitly ruled out alternative causes such as remote-work trends, COVID hiring distortions, and broad macroeconomic shifts. The most consistent explanation for the divergence between younger and older workers in the same roles is exposure to AI tools. - Stanford’s analysis matches reporting from MIT Technology Review that “the job market is struggling to keep up” with rapidly advancing AI capabilities. How AI is changing roles - The shift is structural, not simply cyclical. Today’s generative AI tools are adept at routine coding tasks — the kind of textbook syntax and basic algorithms new graduates typically bring to the job. That’s where young developers historically learned on-the-job skills through apprenticeship models. - Seasoned developers retain tacit knowledge, systems thinking, and organizational context that current AI tools can’t replicate from a prompt. As a result, AI is not wiping out software development broadly; it’s hollowing out the entry-level layer that has long fed the profession. As Stanford CS professor Jan Liphardt put it, graduates are “struggling to find entry-level jobs” in “a dramatic reversal from three years ago.” Not just developers - The same age-based pattern shows up in customer service, accounting, and administrative roles: workers aged 22–25 have lost ground while more experienced colleagues held steady. - By contrast, occupations where human judgment and physical presence remain critical — such as nursing aides and production supervisors — grew faster for young workers than for older ones over the same period. Productivity and prospects - The index quantifies notable productivity boosts tied to AI: roughly 26% in software development and 14% in customer service. - A third of surveyed organizations expect AI will shrink their workforce in the coming year, concentrated in service and software sectors — the very areas already seeing declines in entry-level hiring. That creates a feedback loop: rising AI capability → measurable productivity gains → reduced demand for junior roles. What this means for the crypto industry - For blockchain and Web3 projects that rely on junior dev pipelines, the Stanford findings are a warning to rethink hiring and talent development. Expect a tighter market for entry-level engineers, and greater premium on developers with domain expertise (smart contracts, formal verification, consensus protocols) and the ability to supervise AI-assisted workflows. - Opportunities also emerge: projects can invest in tooling, mentorship programs, and apprenticeships that combine AI with hands-on training, or shift hiring toward mid-career talent and specialists where human judgment matters most. Bottom line The Stanford HAI 2026 AI Index makes clear that AI’s impact on labor is already concrete, targeted, and accelerating. It’s not a future hypothesis — it’s a present reality reshaping how companies hire, train, and structure teams, with particular consequences for the traditional entry-level gateway into software engineering. For crypto firms navigating rapid product cycles and security-sensitive codebases, adapting hiring strategies and upskilling pathways will be essential. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Stanford HAI’s newly released 2026 AI Index delivers a stark warning: the most capable AI models today are also the least transparent. According to the report, frontier models that drive the biggest performance gains are increasingly shrouded in secrecy—companies are disclosing less about training data, filtering, and human-feedback processes even as those models are rolled out more broadly. SiliconANGLE notes the wider context the Index documents: AI adoption is surging at historic rates while public trust in oversight and transparency is plunging. These trends are linked. AI tools now reach more than half the global population and produce roughly $172 billion in annual consumer value in the U.S. alone. Yet, with limited visibility into how the most powerful models are built and evaluated, regulators, researchers, and the public lack the data needed to assess risks and hold providers accountable. A central technical problem highlighted by the Index is benchmarking. Reported benchmark scores can be meaningless if models were inadvertently exposed to test data during training. For high-stakes, complex applications—AI agents, robotics, and other interactive systems—standardized benchmarks are scarce or immature, meaning some of the most consequential deployments have little external, standardized validation. The report maps opacity across three layers: - Training: shrinking disclosure about datasets, filtering methods, and human-feedback processes. - Evaluation: selective publication of benchmark results that favor tests where models perform well. - Deployment: independent tests sometimes contradict company claims, revealing gaps between published performance and real-world behavior. Stanford does not single out firms by name but treats the pattern as industry-wide. That shift is tangible: just two years ago frontier models were largely research tools for developers; today they’re embedded in customer service, hiring systems, medical information delivery, financial advice, and legal research. The Index stresses that the benchmark-to-deployment gap is no longer academic—it's central to whether systems used by millions actually do what their creators claim. Notably, responsible-AI benchmarks are the category companies most frequently decline to publish—ironically the category that matters most for real-world safety and fairness. Crypto.news has previously reported on the tension between rapid AI infrastructure buildout and lagging governance. Competitive pressure to ship increasingly capable models creates incentives against transparency: revealing weaknesses or methods can be weaponized by rivals. Stanford frames that dynamic as the core accountability problem of the current AI era. Governments are responding—47 countries have introduced AI-specific legislation—but only 23 have laws with active enforcement mechanisms, leaving a patchwork of protections as the technology scales. Why this matters for crypto and Web3: decentralized finance, tokenized services, and blockchain-based identity systems increasingly intersect with AI-driven tools. Opaque model behavior, weak benchmarks, and uneven oversight create systemic risks for any sector—crypto included—that relies on algorithmic decisioning at scale. The Index is a clear call to strengthen independent evaluation, transparency standards, and enforcement if society is to safely reap the benefits of advanced AI. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Crypto.com will hand out $1 million in CRO tokens to fighters at the UFC’s Freedom 250 card — a bonus pool the exchange says is the largest in UFC history — as part of a co-presenting sponsorship for a June 14 event staged on the White House grounds to mark America’s 250th birthday. The exchange will pay the $1 million pot in CRO. With CRO trading recently above $0.068, that sum equates to roughly 14.6–14.7 million CRO tokens. UFC President Dana White called the night “the most historic sporting event in history,” adding that Crypto.com’s $1 million bonus “gives fighters the biggest bonus in UFC history” and that “the world will be watching on June 14.” The Freedom 250 card features high-profile matchups, including a main event between lightweight champion Ilia Topuria and interim champ Justin Gaethje, and a headline attempt by former two-division champion Alex Pereira, who will face Ciryl Gane as he pursues a third UFC title. The event will stream on Paramount+ in the United States. The promotion dovetails with Crypto.com’s 10th anniversary. “I can think of no better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Crypto.com than by making history at the White House,” Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said, calling the partnership a milestone that “transcends sport.” Crypto.com’s relationship with the UFC dates to 2021, when the exchange became the promotion’s first Official Fight Kit Partner. The companies have also worked on official UFC digital collectibles (NFTs) through Crypto.com’s platform. The UFC’s broader web3 play includes a blockchain tech partnership with VeChain and a licensed FIGHT token issued on Solana and BNB Chain. The organization also named prediction market Polymarket an exclusive partner; over the weekend, Polymarket drew headlines when one trader turned a $500 wager into a $252,000 payday after spotting a scoring-error announcement on the broadcast. Outside of the UFC, Crypto.com has been active in other media and crypto integrations. The exchange has linked up with Trump Media & Technology Group on crypto ETF plans and CRO integrations across Truth Social and Truth+ platforms, and the companies have collaborated on a CRO treasury vehicle and prediction market initiatives. This sponsorship highlights the continuing fusion of mainstream sports and crypto brands: large token-denominated bonuses, NFT tie-ins and cross-platform integrations are becoming regular features of major sports partnerships as exchanges push visibility and utility for their native tokens. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

U.S. lawmakers are back at the crypto-tax drawing board. Representatives Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Max Miller (R-Ohio) quietly reintroduced their bipartisan Digital Asset PARITY Act late last month, aiming to update how digital assets are treated for U.S. tax purposes — and potentially shape rules that will affect every crypto holder. Why it matters Congress is gearing up to address tax policy, and crypto could be folded into that process. For anyone in the U.S. with crypto — even casual users who spend crypto for everyday purchases — changes in law could alter reporting obligations, capital gains treatment, and how exchanges and wallets track basis. What’s new in this version The PARITY Act first appeared as a discussion draft in December and was reissued on March 26 for more review. The most visible shifts in the newest draft relate to “de minimis” exemptions, basis rules for stablecoins, wash-sale treatment, and staking: - De minimis/exemptions: Industry players have long pushed for de minimis relief so small, common purchases (like buying coffee with crypto) wouldn’t trigger taxable events. The December 2025 draft expressly targeted regulated payment stablecoins with a $200 threshold. The March 2026 revision dropped the explicit $200 cap and doesn’t plainly adopt a traditional de minimis exemption, but it introduces language that reduces taxable recognition on sales of regulated payment stablecoins unless “the taxpayer’s basis in such stablecoin is less than 99 percent of the redemption value.” - Deemed basis for exchanges: The newer draft creates a deemed basis of $1 for exchanges of stablecoins, treating those differently from outright sales — a potentially significant bookkeeping simplification for trading activity. - Wash-sale rules: The bill would apply wash-sale rules to digital asset transactions. That’s not novel — Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) put similar language in her tax proposal last year — but it signals momentum toward treating crypto more like stocks for loss-deduction rules. (Wash-sale rules generally deny a tax loss deduction if you repurchase the same asset within a short window.) - Staking vs. trading: The draft aims to differentiate “passive staking” income from active trading, drawing regulatory and tax lines around how rewards are taxed. Where things stand It’s unclear whether PARITY will move as a standalone measure or be folded into broader tax reconciliation this year. President Trump has released fiscal year 2027 budget requests, and lawmakers are talking about reconciliation, but the path forward — and whether crypto provisions survive — remains uncertain. What industry insiders expect Conversations over recent weeks suggest the crypto sector will push hard to include favorable or clarifying crypto tax language in any tax package that reaches the president’s desk. For now, the PARITY Act is a key vehicle shaping those negotiations and public debate. Editor’s note: This piece was adapted from CoinDesk’s State of Crypto newsletter earlier this month. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Shiba Inu’s community has revisited a decisive early move by Ryoshi, the project’s anonymous founder, shedding light on how the token’s supply dynamics helped shape its decentralization. According to a post shared with followers of the Shibarium ecosystem on X on April 10, when Shiba Inu launched in mid-2020 Ryoshi split the token’s 1 quadrillion supply in two. Roughly half—about 505 trillion SHIB—was sent to Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin. Initially framed as a gesture of respect, Buterin later said the transfer also had a marketing element, likening its attention-grabbing effect to the role Elon Musk played for Dogecoin. In May 2022, Buterin permanently removed more than 410 trillion of those tokens from circulation in a single burn transaction, a move that was valued at over $6 billion at the time. He explained the burn partly by saying he did not want to be a “locus of power” in the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Shibizens point out that Ryoshi’s actions effectively neutered centralized control over the remaining supply. Aside from the tokens transferred to Buterin, the other half of the supply was locked into Uniswap liquidity pools with the keys discarded—intended as foundational, permissionless trading liquidity so anyone could swap ETH and SHIB without a central custodian. The team emphasizes that there were no developer token reserves or hidden allocations, framing Shiba Inu as community-governed. The community also reiterated how token burns work in practice: to reduce supply through burns, users must first acquire SHIB and then send those coins to so-called “dead” wallets, permanently removing them from circulation. Burns therefore depend on holders buying and sending tokens; they can’t be executed out of thin air. On the market front, on-chain observers say whales have been accumulating SHIB amid the recent pullback, treating lower prices as buying opportunities. CoinMarketCap data shows SHIB is down more than 4% over the past seven days and is trading around $0.0000057. The meme coin has been tracking broader market weakness—particularly Bitcoin’s decline, which market participants attribute to renewed geopolitical risk aversion after failed US‑Iran peace talks and concerns about a potential naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Taken together, Ryoshi’s early supply moves, Buterin’s large-scale burn, and ongoing community activity continue to factor into how Shiba Inu is governed and traded today. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Bitcoin’s rally is losing steam as the market drifts back toward the $70,000 mark, pressured by rising selling activity and a string of macro and geopolitical headwinds. What happened - Renewed geopolitical uncertainty — triggered by failed U.S.-Iran negotiations announced over the weekend by J.D. Vance — sent traders running for the exits and briefly knocked BTC about 3% lower into the ~$70,000 range. - CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost flagged heavy short pressure after the talks collapsed, saying the breakdown erased recent hopes for improving geopolitical risk and pushed traders into bearish positioning. On-chain and derivatives signals - Sell volume on Binance derivatives is hovering near $1 billion, a sign that both retail and institutional participants are leaning toward the downside. - Bitcoin’s drawdown is roughly 42% from its last peak, and funding rates are firmly negative at -0.0065%, indicating that short positions currently dominate the market. - For context, Binance’s funding-rate framework includes a 0.01% implicit interest benchmark; funding below that level typically signals an overwhelming short bias. What this means - The market is now being driven more by macro headlines than by pure crypto fundamentals, increasing near-term volatility and encouraging cautious positioning. - Historically, markets can move against crowded consensus (i.e., heavy shorting can set the stage for squeezes), but that contrarian dynamic tends to be muted during broader drawdowns — meaning any short-term rebounds may be limited in scope. What traders are watching - Whether continued geopolitical uncertainty will push Bitcoin to test lower supports below $70K, or whether concentrated short positions could trigger a rapid reversal if sentiment shifts. - Ongoing macro and political developments and their impact on derivatives flows and funding rates will likely dictate the next major move. Bottom line: Short-term momentum is tilted bearish as geopolitical risk and elevated selling pressure weigh on Bitcoin, but concentrated short exposure leaves the market vulnerable to quick reversals if headlines — or a funding-rate shift — change the narrative. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Oracle (ORCL) is drawing renewed Wall Street optimism — and crypto markets should be watching. After a painful bout of layoffs and a rough start to 2026 for tech, the software giant is seeing its stock re-rated on the back of fresh AI momentum and a multibillion-dollar infrastructure push. What happened - At the end of March Oracle announced a major layoff round, cutting an estimated 20,000–30,000 roles — roughly 18% of its ~162,000 global workforce. Despite that, shares jumped the day after the cuts and have continued to rally, climbing about 7% over the past week. - Oracle has been one of the hardest-hit software names in 2026 amid a volatile global energy market and macro headwinds in the U.S., but this week’s rebound has many analysts calling the start of a longer recovery. Wall Street view - Per TipRanks, analysts have given ORCL a Strong Buy consensus based on 27 Buys, six Holds and zero Sells over the past three months. - The average price target sits at $245.11, implying roughly 70% upside from current levels — signaling that many firms expect sizable gains if Oracle’s strategy pays off. Price action & catalysts - The stock recently broke out of a multi-week range, trading after a period of consolidation between roughly $138 and $150 and closing near $153.85 — a move technical traders often interpret as re-rating momentum. - A key near-term catalyst: Oracle announced AI enhancements aimed at utilities, a move that helped lift the stock about 11% on Monday. The company is positioning itself as essential “plumbing” for the AI boom — an attractive narrative for investors. Big infrastructure bet - Oracle is lining up roughly $14–16 billion in project and debt financing to build a large AI-focused data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan. Major financial and development partners mentioned include Pimco, Bank of America and Related Digital — underscoring significant institutional backing. Why crypto readers should care - Oracle’s ramp in AI-focused cloud infrastructure matters beyond enterprise software. Large-scale data centers and beefed-up cloud services can be leveraged by blockchain and Web3 projects for hosting nodes, running compute-heavy AI/crypto workloads, or powering hybrid AI/blockchain applications. - If Oracle captures more of the AI-infrastructure market, it could become a bigger player in the backend stack that many crypto and DeFi projects rely on for scale and reliability. Bottom line Oracle’s headline layoffs looked ugly on paper, but the market is increasingly focused on the company’s AI strategy and massive infrastructure plans. With strong analyst support and notable institutional financing in place, ORCL is back on investors’ radars — a development crypto and cloud-native projects would do well to monitor. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Pierre de Gaulle, grandson of former French president General Charles de Gaulle, has urged Paris to join the BRICS bloc — a move he says would anchor France in a multipolar world and expand its diplomatic horizons beyond the Western camp. Speaking bluntly about rising tensions between Washington and its European allies, Pierre de Gaulle argued that BRICS membership would transform France’s international posture into a more balanced, interstate partnership. He called for a fundamental rethink of Franco-American relations, accusing the United States — and implicitly the Trump administration — of growing “aggressive and unpredictable” behaviour, from tariff disputes to pressuring allies over funding for Ukraine. “France must regain its role,” he said, adding that breaking leftover dependence on the US should be considered. The comments come amid a broader European unease with U.S. policies: trade frictions, threats over defense funding, and diplomatic rifts have prompted several EU figures to question the status quo. That context helps explain why French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly sought closer engagement with BRICS. Macron attempted to attend the 2023 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, but was reportedly blocked from participating by China and Russia, who feared his presence could disrupt the meeting. By January at Davos, Macron again said France would “build bridges” with BRICS and urged other EU countries to consider the bloc as a means of rebalancing global economic influence. BRICS’ growing clout — often cited by supporters as accounting for roughly 40% of global GDP versus a declining G7 share — and ongoing talk of de-dollarization have made the alliance a focal point for debates about the future of the international monetary system. For crypto markets and digital-asset observers, that geopolitical shift matters: expanding BRICS cooperation and moves away from dollar dominance could accelerate interest in alternative payment rails, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and cross-border stablecoin solutions. Bottom line: calls from figures like Pierre de Gaulle and outreach from Macron underscore a larger reassessment in Europe of alliances and economic strategy. As BRICS gains momentum, policymakers and markets alike will be watching how trade, currency and payments architecture evolve — a development that could have meaningful implications for crypto and broader financial technology. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Analyst Says Bitcoin “Stability” Isn’t Proof of a Bottom — Watch Cycle Timing and Capitulation Bitcoin’s recent steadiness may feel reassuring, but it’s not enough to declare a market bottom, crypto analyst @CryptoTice_ warns. In a fresh analysis, he argues that both the timing within Bitcoin’s four‑year cycle and clear signs of market capitulation must align before investors can confidently call the cycle finished. Cycle timing points to late 2026, not earlier Using a chart that overlays post‑halving cycles from 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024, CryptoTice_ highlights a recurring pattern: prior lows formed after extended declines and long consolidation periods. In previous cycles the critical window for approaching final lows fell roughly 800–950 days after the halving. Applied to the current cycle, that zone maps to the last quarter of 2026 — a timeline that undercuts growing hopes for a Q1–Q3 2026 bottom. Historically, earlier quarters haven’t been where final bottoms materialized. Market behavior matters as much as calendar dates Timing alone isn’t decisive. CryptoTice_ stresses that genuine bottoms are also behavioral events. Across cycles, price drops are typically followed by narrative attempts to explain them, then a phase of capitulation where weaker hands exit and confidence collapses — only after that does a durable bottom emerge. Right now, the analyst says, market behavior looks premature: sentiment still shows conviction, with aggressive buying and expectations of a near‑term recovery. That kind of confidence often signals that the market hasn’t yet reached its low. What traders should actually watch Instead of celebrating short periods of price stability, investors should track the combination of cycle timing and exhaustion signals. Useful things to monitor include: - whether we enter the ~800–950 days post‑halving window (aligning with late 2026), - clear signs of capitulation and fading retail confidence, - rising volatility paired with large outflows or forced selling, and - objective market stress indicators (funding rates, exchange flows, volume and sentiment metrics). Bottom line A true Bitcoin bottom, CryptoTice_ argues, requires both the timing characteristic of past cycles and behavioral confirmation from the market. Based on historical patterns and current participant behavior, those signals aren’t fully in place yet — so caution remains warranted before declaring the cycle complete. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Social sentiment around XRP has cooled sharply, plunging to its third-worst level in two years — a clear sign that the market’s mood has shifted toward caution, according to on-chain analytics firm Santiment. What the data shows Santiment’s Positive/Negative Sentiment metric tracks mentions of an asset across major social platforms, uses machine learning to label posts as bullish or bearish, and then calculates the ratio. After a surge in optimism in December and January — when users bet on a turnaround following a pause in selling — that enthusiasm faded as price drawdowns resumed at the end of January. Sentiment briefly recovered but at much lower highs than before. Then last week, the optimism collapsed again. The metric now sits around 1.02, meaning roughly as many positive posts as negative ones. That reading is low by recent standards and, Santiment notes, places XRP’s social sentiment in the “FUD” zone — its third-highest FUD reading in two years for the token (currently the crypto market’s No. 4 by cap). Why this matters Santiment highlights a recurrent pattern in crypto markets: extreme bearishness (FUD) and extreme bullishness (FOMO) often precede moves that run counter to the crowd. The two previous periods in the past year when bearish sentiment dominated — February and October — were followed by price rebounds. Historically, when bullish commentary is replaced by sustained bearishness at this magnitude, the odds of a relief rally rise. Price snapshot and caveats At the time of writing, XRP trades around $1.32, down about 1% over the past seven days. While social indicators like Santiment’s can signal crowd psychology and potential mean-reversion, they’re not a guarantee of price direction. Traders should weigh sentiment alongside on-chain metrics, macro conditions, and newsflow (including legal and regulatory developments that have a notable history of moving XRP). Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

StarkWare — the Israel-based team behind Starknet’s zero-knowledge layer-2 tech — has announced layoffs as it pivots from pure infrastructure development toward a revenue-first strategy. In a post on X on April 13, 2026, co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson said the eight-year-old company must “move fast” and become leaner to pursue a sustainable path forward. “Our new strategy requires that we move fast, and we’re too big and too inefficient for that,” he wrote, adding that the change will be “dramatic” for those who remain. He did not disclose the exact size of the cuts. What’s changing - StarkWare is consolidating its workforce into two “purpose-focused units” responsible for business development, engineering, product and go-to-market work. The aim is to “do fewer things excellently” and find product-market fit through targeted experimentation — in Ben-Sasson’s words, “a bit like going back to startup mode.” - The firm, which has raised $287 million across eight funding rounds, is best known for Starknet, an Ethereum L2 that uses zero-knowledge proofs to scale transactions and add privacy-focused features (February saw a “private Bitcoin” implementation on Starknet with Zcash-like functionality). Market context and metrics - On-chain activity for Starknet has been modest: DefiLlama shows around $3,500 in chain revenue over the past day, compared with roughly $89,000 for Base (Coinbase’s L2) over the same period. - Starknet’s native token traded near $0.03 on Monday, down about 75% over the past year per CoinGecko. Industry-wide trend toward cost cuts and commercialization StarkWare’s move follows a wave of cost-cutting and strategy pivots across crypto infrastructure firms. Optimism recently disclosed 20 layoffs as it trims overhead to speed decision-making. Polygon Labs shifted focus to real-world payments after a $250 million acquisition spree and then cut roughly 30% of staff (about 60 people). Crypto.com reduced its workforce by roughly 12% (~180 employees), while Block Inc. earlier this year cut around 4,000 roles. What to watch StarkWare’s new direction centers on monetization and tighter product focus; whether the company can translate its technical leadership in ZK proofs into sustainable revenue will be the key question for investors, developers and the broader Ethereum scaling ecosystem. Decrypt has reached out to StarkWare for comment. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Japan’s cabinet has approved a major regulatory shift that reclassifies crypto assets away from payments law and into securities-style regulation — a move that could reshape how exchanges, issuers and traders operate. What changed - The government-backed bill moves crypto out of the Payment Services Act and into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). Crypto would be treated as a type of financial instrument (distinct from traditional securities) rather than primarily as a means of payment. - The proposal is part of a broader package the Financial Services Agency (FSA) working group published in late 2025 that treats crypto increasingly as an investment target and focuses on market fairness, information gaps and stronger user protections. Key elements of the reform - New disclosure and information rules for crypto issuers and crypto-asset exchange service providers. - Tighter controls on unregistered operators and expanded oversight of crypto-related advisory and investment services. - Stronger cybersecurity requirements for market participants. - A push to align Japan’s crypto rules with international standards for investment products and market conduct. Insider trading and enforcement at the centre - The working group highlighted insider trading as the immediate market gap: the current FIEA does not directly cover insider trading in crypto, even though some anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions already apply. - To close that gap, the reform would create explicit insider trading rules for crypto, and recommend giving the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) criminal investigative powers plus an administrative monetary-penalty framework tailored to crypto market abuse. That would provide regulators a clearer, more direct enforcement route than the current patchwork. What comes next - Cabinet approval is only the first step — the bill must still pass the Diet. If approved, reports say the new framework could take effect as early as 2027. - For exchanges, issuers and trading firms, the intent is now clear: Japan is shifting from treating crypto mainly as a payment tool toward regulating it as an investment market that requires disclosure, surveillance and market-abuse rules. Why it matters - The change signals Japan’s intent to bring crypto into mainstream capital-market regulation, prioritizing investor protection and market integrity as crypto adoption matures. Watch the parliamentary debate, the final text of the law, and subsequent rulemaking for the exact compliance requirements and timelines. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Little-known RaveDAO token rockets 6,000% in a month — on-chain data and a short squeeze raise alarm bells A little-known token tied to a Web3 music project exploded this week, surging more than 6,000% over the past month and sparking fresh debate about speculative excesses in crypto. RAVE, the native token of RaveDAO, climbed from roughly $0.25 to above $14 in just seven days — a move that included a 198% jump in the last 24 hours and a roughly 5,600% gain over the prior week. For a brief period the token crept into the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, drawing intense attention across trading desks and social feeds. What is RaveDAO? RaveDAO bills itself as a Web3 music protocol that bridges electronic dance music (EDM) culture and blockchain tools. The project’s pitch includes on-chain ticketing, crypto-enabled payments at live events, and staking mechanics tied to real-world rave revenues. RaveDAO has also claimed partnerships with major exchanges including Binance and OKX and reported several million dollars in revenue — facts the project points to when arguing the token has real utility. Why traders are puzzled Despite those claims, on-chain analysis suggests the rally’s mechanics were anything but organic. A post on X highlighted that only about 24% of RAVE’s total supply is currently in circulation, and the token is extremely concentrated: three large wallets believed to be controlled by the project reportedly hold roughly 90% of supply, and the top 10 wallets account for more than 98%. That leaves a very thin public float. How a squeeze can be produced Concentration at the top can massively amplify price moves. According to blockchain observers, wallets linked to the project quietly moved millions of tokens to exchanges while the price remained below $0.50. Within hours trading activity surged: derivatives open interest climbed above $200 million and daily spot volume ballooned to approach the token’s entire market capitalization. Compounding the move was a heavily short-positioned market — reports indicate a majority of traders were betting against RAVE. As prices ticked higher, forced liquidations of short positions accelerated the ascent, wiping out millions in short exposure in a single day. In thin markets, those dynamics can become self-reinforcing and generate dramatic spikes disconnected from organic buying demand. Bigger picture and risks The episode arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of risky practices in crypto, from exploit-prone protocols to opaque token distributions. For some analysts, RAVE’s meteoric rise is less evidence of a broad market recovery than a reminder that speculative froth and opportunistic behavior remain deeply embedded in digital-asset markets. High wallet concentration, rapid exchange inflows, swollen derivatives activity and thin liquidity are all red flags investors should weigh before jumping in. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Coinbase policy lead Tom Duff Gordon leaves for OpenAI as head of EMEA policy Tom Duff Gordon, Coinbase’s vice president of international policy, has left the U.S.-listed crypto exchange after nearly four years to join OpenAI as head of EMEA Policy, a Coinbase spokesperson confirmed via email. A seasoned regulatory specialist, Duff Gordon spent roughly 8.5 years at Credit Suisse before moving into the crypto policy world. At Coinbase he was a prominent voice on regulation — recently highlighting how some U.K. banks are effectively locking millions of customers out of legitimate services by failing to distinguish low-fraud FCA-registered firms from higher-risk operators. Coinbase did not offer additional details about succession plans, and Duff Gordon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The move underscores ongoing crossovers between tech and policy roles as regulators and companies navigate complex rules around both AI and digital assets. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Ripple CEO doubles down on big Bitcoin call — and stays mum on XRP Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has told FOX that he now views a Bitcoin price of $200,000 as “not unreasonable,” a figure he has upgraded from a prior $175,000 projection. Crypto commentators including COACHTY and XRP Queen flagged the interview, in which Garlinghouse tied the possibility of a major BTC rally to recent shifts in the U.S. regulatory environment — saying the United States has moved “from a headwind to a tailwind.” Garlinghouse’s comment came in response to a reference to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson’s more bullish call that Bitcoin could hit $250,000 by the end of 2025. Unlike Hoskinson, Garlinghouse did not attach a timeline to his $200,000 view, leaving the projection open-ended. Regulatory clarity, CLARITY Act and institutional flows Market watchers have homed in on the CLARITY Act as a potential catalyst for the next crypto bull run. Several pundits, including Fergani, have echoed the $200,000 scenario and argued that passage of clearer U.S. crypto rules could unlock increased institutional demand — a key factor that could push BTC toward a new all-time high. In this narrative, the CLARITY Act would reduce uncertainty and make crypto a more viable option for large investors who’ve been sitting on the sidelines. Why Garlinghouse won’t forecast XRP When asked about XRP, Garlinghouse declined to give a price prediction, saying the token is too “close to home.” Ripple’s leadership and balance sheet hold large amounts of XRP, and the company actively uses the token as a bridge currency across its payments services. Since settling its long-running SEC lawsuit last year, Garlinghouse has become more vocal about XRP’s role — calling it Ripple’s “North Star” and the “heartbeat” of the company’s vision. Corporate moves: XRP in the treasury Ripple has also moved to embed XRP deeper into its corporate structure: the firm recently added XRP and RLUSD to Ripple Treasury, which the company describes as the first native on-chain enterprise treasury. That development underscores Ripple’s commitment to using its token in real operations, not just as a market-facing asset. Market snapshot At the time of writing, XRP is trading around $1.32, down over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Whether regulatory developments and growing institutional interest will lift Bitcoin — and by extension broader crypto markets — remains the key story traders and investors will be watching. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Bitcoin pulled back to roughly $71,000 after a short-lived surge, and on-chain data suggests profit-taking was the likely trigger. Glassnode flagged the move on X, pointing to its Bitcoin Realized Profit metric — which tracks the total profit BTC addresses are locking in — and shared a chart of the 24-hour simple moving average (SMA) for that indicator. The SMA has swung noticeably over the past few months, and in recent days it produced a couple of sharp spikes as the market bounced. Those spikes coincided with BTC briefly reclaiming the $73,000 area. During the moves, realized profit flows topped $20 million per hour, indicating that many investors used the recovery to exit positions. That selling pressure helped push BTC back below $71,000 and capped the rally. This behavior isn’t new. Glassnode notes a recurring pattern: “Every approach to the $70k–$80k band faces thin liquidity and profit-taking pressure, capping the bounce.” In short, there doesn’t yet appear to be enough fresh buy-side liquidity to absorb the opportunistic selling around those levels. The sideways market has also left a large segment of holders underwater. Glassnode’s Number of Addresses in Loss metric shows temporary drops during price upticks, but because BTC hasn’t sustained recoveries the count has remained elevated. Currently about 13.5 million addresses sit at a net unrealized loss; if the pullback continues that figure could revisit the 16 million-plus levels seen earlier this year. After the weekend retracement, BTC is trading near $70,800. Traders will be watching whether new liquidity arrives to support higher prices, or whether repeated profit-taking will continue to limit rallies in the $70k–$80k band. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news