AZ-Crypto

Newport Gold (NWPG) announced on Friday it has entered the final stages of its merger with a trio of Pennsylvania Limited Liability Companies known as "NFI Empire" by entering into a formal share exchange agreement.The company said that the structure enables Newport Gold to pursue growth initiatives without the dilution, complexity, or historical baggage often associated with reverse mergers.Anthony McCabe, CEO of Newport Gold, said, "Following a comprehensive review of our strategic alternatives, it became clear that a merger with NFI delivers the strongest value proposition for our shareholders. NFI is already generating eight-figure revenues with positive profitability, underscoring the strength of its operating model. Combined with its exceptional leadership and clear roadmap for accelerated growth, we are confident this transaction positions the company for long-term success and enhanced shareholder value."
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#BTCETFFeeRace #USJoblessClaimsNearTwo-YearLow #DriftProtocolExploited #ADPJobsSurge #GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges

A U.S. judge has refused to reassess a ruling that blocked the Department of Justice from subpoenaing Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, marking another setback for prosecutors pursuing a criminal probe tied to the central bank head.
Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., on Friday denied a request from Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, to reconsider his earlier ruling, which had effectively halted the criminal ​probe into Powell.
In his March decision, Boasberg found the subpoenas were improperly motivated, concluding they were aimed at pressuring Powell to comply with demands from Donald Trump to cut interest rates swiftly or step down.
Pirro, a close Trump ally, had sought documents related to a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters, including whether Powell misled Congress about the project.
Rejecting the latest motion, Boasberg said prosecutors had "not come close to convincing the court that a different outcome is warranted," adding that prosecutors had a "total lack of a good-faith basis to suspect a crime."
The decision marks another legal win for Powell, who has argued the investigation is being used as a tool by Trump to exert political influence over the Federal Reserve and its policy decisions.
The ongoing probe has also delayed the confirmation of Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to succeed Powell when his term ends in mid-May. However, Powell has pledged to remain in his role until the investigation is resolved.
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#USNFPExceededExpectations #USJoblessClaimsNearTwo-YearLow #DriftProtocolExploited #ADPJobsSurge #GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges

Regional countries’ efforts, led by Pakistan, for a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran reportedly have reached a dead end.
Mediators told the Wall Street Journal that Iran has informed them that the U.S. demands are unacceptable and that it is not willing to meet the U.S. officials in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, in the coming days.
Earlier, a U.S. fighter jet was shot down over Iran in the first such incident since the war started five weeks ago.
Two U.S. officials confirmed that one of the two crew members from the fighter jet has been rescued, according to the Wall Street Journal report. However, the status of the second crew member is unknown, and the search and rescue operation is ongoing.
On the other hand, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air defenses targeted the American warplane. Iranian officials also called on civilians to look out for survivors.
The incident follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to intensify strikes over the next two to three weeks and his warning that Iran would be pushed “back to the stone ages.”
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#USNFPExceededExpectations #USJoblessClaimsNearTwo-YearLow #GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges #USNoKingsProtests

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is holding above $66K—but with rising global tensions and mixed market signals, the big question is, will BTC attempt a strong recovery in April or another leg down?

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin (BTC-USD) price is trading at ~$66.85K, reflecting a mild decrease in the last 24 hours. However, it is up ~2% this week and down ~9% over the month. This strongly suggests that the market is struggling to find a clear direction.
This hesitation comes amid a heavy global situation. The US–Israel–Iran conflict has now entered its 35th day, creating uncertainty across markets. At the same time, The Kobeissi Letter says U.S. inflation could go above ~3.5%.
Despite this, crypto activity remains high, with total holdings at $20.57T in Q1 2026, including $18.63T in derivatives and $1.94T in spot trading. This situation clearly highlights a gap between strong participation and weak price momentum.
Looking at investor activity, there are mixed signals. As per SoSoValue data, on April 2, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw inflows of $8.99M, led by Fidelity’s FBTC with $7.29M. On the other hand, CoinGlass data shows 85.89K traders were liquidated in just 24 hours, totaling $119.80M.
24 hours crypto liquidation heatmap
Crypto liquidation chart (Coinglass)
This push-and-pull situation is clearly visible on the TradingView charts. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is moving sideways near ~$66.85K after falling from ~$75K in March. Indicators like RSI (~49) and MACD are neutral, and volume is low. In simple terms, neither buyers nor sellers are in control.
Bitcoin price monthly chart
Bitcoin price chart (TradingView)
Now, key levels matter to define April's direction. Support at ~$65K was held multiple times. If it breaks, the asset can fall to ~$62K levels, while resistance is sitting at ~$68K, and only a strong breakthrough in the Clarity Act or ease in geopolitical section can open the path to ~$75K.
Derivatives data adds another layer to this outlook. Glassnode data shows that the put/call ratio has increased from 0.65 to 0.69, with more bets placed around ~$62K. This means investors are still preparing for possible downside in April.
Other key assets to watch during this volatile phase are Ethereum (ETH-USD), Solana (SOL-USD), XRP (XRP-USD), and Pi Coin (PI).
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U.S. crude oil futures surged nearly $12/bbl Thursday in the biggest one-day dollar gain since 2020 after President Trump delivered a hawkish address on Iran, in volatile trading ahead of the three-day Good Friday holiday.

"We're going ​to hit them extremely hard over the next 2-3 weeks," Trump said of Iran. "We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong."

The president did not discuss ceasefire negotiations and provided no details on any steps that could lead to a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for much of the world's oil transit that has been effectively closed since the war started on February 28.

"The market was a bit more set up for something that had maybe more focus on negotiations and a quicker withdrawal, and that was not what we got" in Trump's speech. CIBC Private Wealth US senior energy trader Rebecca Babin said in a note. "After the comments last night, it feels more likely that things are heading in the escalatory path as opposed to the de-escalatory path."

"The market doesn't like long weekends... Generally speaking, weekends haven't been kind to de-escalation," Babin also noted, but at the same time, "this is a sentiment market, and sentiment can change quickly. This could turn on a heartbeat."

Oil prices trimmed a bit of their early gains, and the major stock market indexes recovered most of their losses after Iran said it is working with Oman to set up a system to monitor tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that at least some additional energy shipments could start reaching the global market.

In other developments, French President Macron dismissed the use of military force to open the Strait of Hormuz, as suggested by Trump in his address, calling it "unrealistic."

Persian Gulf oil producers are considering building new pipelines that would avoid the strait altogether, the Financial Times reported, although such projects would be costly and take years to finish.

Continental Resources, the oil company owned by Trump ally Harold Hamm, became the first major U.S. producer to say it will boost output in response to higher oil prices.

J.P. Morgan analysts warned that oil prices could spike to $120-$130/bbl in the near term, with a ​risk of surging above $150 if supply ‌flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain disrupted into mid-May.

The count of active U.S. oil rigs, an indicator of future ​output, rose by 2 to 411 ⁠this week, according to Baker Hughes' latest survey.
#OilRisesAbove$116 #USJoblessClaimsNearTwo-YearLow #ADPJobsSurge #GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges #BitcoinPrices
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As Trump sought to convince Americans that his administration has nearly accomplished what it set out to do in Iran, he said regime change in the country was “not our goal” but had taken place anyway.

“We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ deaths,” the president said. “They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable.”

Though Trump has said in recent days that regime change was never a key objective, he suggested in the early days of the war that it was. In his video announcing that the U.S. and Israel had launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Trump encouraged the people of Iran to “take over” their government.

“Don’t leave your home,” he said in the eight-minute video. “It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.”

After Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed at the start of the war, his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, became the next supreme leader. Despite Trump’s claim of a “less radical” new regime, Mojtaba Khamenei is widely viewed as more hard line than his father.

Jaber Rabaji, a former adviser to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told MS NOW last month that Mojtaba Khamenei is “the most extremist person” he has seen lead the regime.

“Mojtaba is the most extremist person I’ve seen so far, and he says openly that the ends justify the means,” Rabaji told MS NOW. “For everyone who’s wondering to the level of extremism he has, and I have no doubt that what’s going on right now, Mojtaba is behind it.”
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🔥 $STO

🧠 Concept
Parabolic move → Blow-off topWeak structure holding highsLiquidity sitting below (late longs trapped)

🔴 Entry Zone (Liquidity Trap Area)
0.88 – 0.92

✅ Sniper Trigger (WAIT FOR THIS)
Enter ONLY if one of these prints inside the zone:
✔ Option 1 (Best)Price wicks above 0.90Closes back below 0.88👉 (Liquidity sweep + rejection)✔ Option 2Bearish engulfing after weak consolidation✔ Option 3Multiple upper wicks (3–4 candles failing higher)
🎯 Entry Execution
Enter at candle close after confirmationIdeal fill: ~0.88 – 0.90

🛑 Stop Loss
1.02👉 Above liquidity + invalidation zone

🎯 Take Profit
TP1: 0.78 (secure partials)TP2: 0.70 (main target)TP3 (runner): 0.62

⚡ RR Profile
Risk: ~10–14%Reward: ~20–35%✔ Clean 1:2 to 1:3+
$STO

Gold and silver futures rose for the fourth straight session Wednesday amid speculation over what President Trump will say in his prime-time speech tonight, with tentative hopes for a de-escalation of Middle East tensions that could lead to lower oil prices and alleviate concerns over central banks' rate increases.

The U.S. dollar fell for a second consecutive day, making greenback-priced bullion more attractive for holders ​of other currencies.

"An end to the ‌conflict ⁠could prove a double-edged sword" for gold, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note. "On one hand, a lasting peace agreement would remove the geopolitical safe-haven bid that supported prices in the run-up to the conflict," while on the other hand, lower oil prices and easing inflation "could ​revive expectations of 2026 ​Fed cuts," which could ⁠help gold.

Precious metals prices held their ground as U.S. retail ​sales rose solidly in February and the ADP's national employment report ⁠showed U.S. private payrolls increased steadily in March.

Front-month Comex gold (XAUUSD:CUR) for April delivery jumped 2.9% to $4,783.20/oz, and front-month Comex April silver (XAGUSD:CUR) rose 1.6% to $75.867/oz, the highest settlement values for both metals in two weeks.
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#GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges #TrumpSeeksQuickEndToIranWar #BitcoinPrices #ADPJobsSurge #BitmineIncreasesETHStake

Lately I’ve been thinking less about users and more about systems. Not in the abstract sense, but in how disconnected everything still feels even after all these years. You move from one protocol to another and it’s like starting over every time. New assumptions, new checks, new ways of interpreting the same wallet.

It’s strange when you think about it. We call this an open ecosystem, but most of it behaves like closed loops stitched together.

Here is the thing. Interoperability in crypto mostly solved asset movement, not understanding. Tokens can move freely, liquidity can bridge, but context doesn’t travel well. What one app “knows” about you rarely carries over in a meaningful way.

That gap keeps showing up in subtle ways. Incentives get misaligned, users get treated like strangers over and over again, and protocols end up rebuilding the same logic from scratch. It works, but it’s inefficient.

This is where Sign starts to feel more important the longer I sit with it.

At first glance, it doesn’t scream relevance. It’s not competing for liquidity, it’s not promising explosive growth narratives, it just sits there as a layer most people won’t notice immediately. I almost ignored it for that reason.

But the more I think about it, the more it feels like it’s addressing something structural rather than surface level.

My thesis is simple, at least on the surface. Crypto doesn’t just need composable assets, it needs composable understanding. Systems need a way to reuse what has already been established instead of constantly re-deriving it.

That’s where attestations start to matter, not as a feature, but as a shared reference point.

Instead of every protocol asking “can I trust this wallet?” and answering it differently, you get something closer to reusable signals that carry context. Not perfect truth, but something stronger than raw activity.

The more I think about it, the more I see this as a shift from isolated interpretation to shared acknowledgment. That sounds small, but it changes how systems coordinate over time.

But this is where it gets tricky.

Crypto has always leaned toward fragmentation because it’s easier to build that way. Shared layers introduce dependencies, and dependencies come with tradeoffs. Not every team wants that, even if it improves the overall system.

So adoption isn’t guaranteed. It has to be earned slowly, integration by integration, until it becomes easier to use than to ignore.

From a market perspective, that creates a weird dynamic for $SIGN . It’s not something that explodes off a single catalyst. It’s something that either embeds itself deeply over time or never quite escapes the margins.

We’ve seen both outcomes before with infrastructure plays.

I might be wrong about this, but I don’t think the signal here shows up in price first. It shows up in behavior. Developers choosing to rely on shared attestations instead of rolling their own logic again. That kind of shift is easy to miss early on.

At the same time, there’s still a real question around value capture. If this layer becomes widely used but stays invisible, how does the token reflect that? Crypto doesn’t always reward what it depends on most.

And that uncertainty matters.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that as complexity increases, systems won’t be able to operate in isolation forever. At some point, shared context stops being optional.

Or at least that’s how it looks from here.

I’m not fully convinced yet, but I’m paying attention to where Sign quietly starts reducing friction between protocols. Those small integrations, the ones no one really talks about, might end up being the real story.

@SignOfficial #SignDigitalSovereignInfra $SIGN

I’ve been thinking less about activity lately and more about coordination. Not the obvious kind, like DAOs voting or users farming the same thing, but the quieter layer where systems try to agree on what is actually true about a user without directly knowing them. That part of crypto still feels underbuilt.
Most apps today operate like isolated islands. They see your wallet, maybe your balances, maybe your past transactions if they bother parsing them, and then they make decisions. Sometimes those decisions are decent. Most of the time they’re shallow. It’s all inference.
And inference breaks down pretty quickly when the environment gets noisy, which it always does.
Here is the thing. As the space grows, apps don’t just need more users, they need better ways to understand those users without rebuilding context from scratch every time. Right now, every protocol is basically re-learning the same things in parallel, badly.
That’s where Sign starts to feel different to me, but not in the obvious way people frame it.
My first instinct was to think of it as another identity-adjacent layer. Something around attestations, credentials, that general category. We’ve seen variations of that idea before, and most of them never really stuck beyond niche use cases.
But the more I sit with it, the less it feels like identity and the more it feels like coordination infrastructure. Not proving who you are, but allowing different systems to agree on what has been established about you without needing to trust each other directly.
That sounds abstract, maybe too abstract. I thought the same.
So I tried to simplify it in my head. Instead of every app verifying everything on its own, you get shared claims that can be reused. Not blindly, but with enough structure that they don’t have to start from zero each time. Almost like passing around verified context instead of raw data.
The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of how APIs changed web development. Before that, everything was more siloed, more repetitive. Then suddenly you could plug into something that already worked and build on top of it. You didn’t need to recreate the base layer every time.
But this is where it gets tricky.
Crypto has a habit of overestimating how much coordination it actually wants. In theory, shared context makes everything more efficient. In practice, a lot of protocols prefer control, even if it means duplication. There’s a reason fragmentation persists.
So the question becomes whether developers actually lean into something like this, or if they keep building in isolation because it’s simpler or safer.
From a market perspective, that uncertainty makes $SIGN hard to read.
It’s not tied to a single vertical. It doesn’t sit cleanly in DeFi, or identity, or social. It kind of touches all of them without belonging to any of them. That can be powerful if it becomes embedded across the stack. It can also mean it struggles to find a clear narrative that traders can latch onto.
I’ve seen this play out before with other infrastructure layers. They make sense conceptually, even feel necessary, but the adoption curve is uneven. One or two ecosystems might integrate deeply, others ignore it completely. And until there’s a tipping point, the market doesn’t fully commit.
I might be wrong about this, but I think the real signal won’t come from announcements or partnerships. It’ll come from whether developers start depending on it in ways that are hard to remove later. That kind of dependency is usually quiet at first.
There’s also the question of whether users even notice. And maybe they shouldn’t. The best infrastructure usually disappears into the background. But that creates another problem, which is value capture. If users don’t see it, and developers only partially rely on it, where does sustained demand for the token actually come from?
That part I’m still unsure about.
At the same time, I can’t shake the feeling that something like this becomes more necessary as systems get more complex. You can only operate in silos for so long before the inefficiencies start to compound. At some point, shared context stops being a luxury and starts becoming a requirement.
Or at least that’s the theory.
But crypto doesn’t always move based on what’s theoretically better. It moves based on what gets adopted, and adoption is messy, sometimes irrational.
So I keep circling back to the same thought. Not whether Sign is useful, but whether the ecosystem reaches a point where it can’t function smoothly without something like it.
If that moment comes, this category probably looks very different in hindsight.
If it doesn’t, then this just becomes another well-designed layer that never fully plugs into the system it was meant to support.
For now I’m watching where it quietly integrates, where it starts saving developers time, where it reduces friction in ways that aren’t immediately visible but are hard to ignore once you notice them.
Those small shifts tend to matter more than the big narratives people talk about upfront.
@SignOfficial #SignDigitalSovereignInfra $SIGN

Gold (XAUUSD:CUR) ticked higher on Tuesday on hopes of Middle East de-escalation but headed for its worst month in 17 years as higher energy costs dampened U.S. rate cut expectations.

Spot gold was up about 1% to $4,557.62 per ounce but down 14% this month. Silver (XAGUSD:CUR) advanced 3% to $72.22 but slipped 23% so far this month.

Trump told aides that he is willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed and leave a complex operation to reopen it for a later ​date, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Safe-haven gold has fallen more than 14% so far this month, putting it on track for its steepest fall since October 2008, weighed down by a stronger dollar index (DXY) and fading expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut this ​year. Prices are, however, ​up about 5% for ⁠the quarter.

Gold tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment as it ​is a non-yielding ⁠asset, but traders have almost completely priced out any chance of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut this year amid rising energy prices.

Yet, Goldman Sachs retained its bullish view on gold despite the recent selloff, forecasting renewed gains by the end of 2026.

Gold’s medium-term outlook remains intact, and the precious metal may reach $5,400 an ounce, analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven said in a note, citing continued central bank purchases and two more US rate cuts this year, according to media reports.
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#TrumpSeeksQuickEndToIranWar #BTCVSGOLD #BTCETFFeeRace #BitmineIncreasesETHStake #GoogleStudyOnCryptoSecurityChallenges