Aleksandr1981

It looks like the ETF market in the U.S. is entering a new phase. The first prediction market ETFs could launch as early as next week, according to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart. This will essentially give investors access to betting on election outcomes, but in a familiar format, through the standard purchase of ETFs, just like any other stock.

Powell isn't planning to leave the Fed board after his term as chair ends on May 15, 2026. The investigation by the Justice Department is still ongoing, and while that's in play, he's staying put.
In the end, he'll stick around on the board at least until January 2028. This automatically takes one important option off the table for Trump. The vacated seat could have been filled by his candidate, getting him closer to controlling the votes on rate decisions.

Bitcoin dropped to $75,000 following the FOMC minutes release, where the U.S. Federal Reserve confirmed the maintenance of interest rates and noted rising uncertainty amid inflation and the conflict with Iran.
BTC has continued its slide for the second day in a row after the Fed decided to keep the target rate range at 3.5% – 3.75%.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures have pushed violations of securities laws off the top spot as the main regulatory risk for the crypto space. According to blockchain security auditor CertiK, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have imposed a total of $900 million in fines for AML violations – just in the first half of 2025.

The idea of crypto lending sounds super straightforward. You deposit Bitcoin or Ethereum, take out a loan in fiat, and keep your position in the asset, banking on its appreciation. This gives you liquidity without locking in profits and, consequently, without tax implications.
But the market has changed a lot over the past few years. After the collapse of platforms like Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager in 2022, nobody's willing to take these services at face value anymore. The remaining players are operating under new conditions where transparency is key. Users expect platforms to protect their funds, conduct regular audits, and have a clear operational structure.

Senator Thom Tillis laid down a second hard condition, stating he would vote against the CLARITY Act unless ethical provisions aimed at Trump family's crypto businesses were added to the document.
A Republican went against the party line just a few days after lifting the blockade on Kevin Warsh's nomination for the head of the Fed. This happened on Sunday after the DOJ wrapped up its criminal investigation into the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell.

The Canadian Parliament has taken a step towards banning crypto donations for political campaigns. Bill C-25 has passed its second reading and is headed for committee review. This initiative has garnered support from various parties and has not faced significant pushback.
The document proposes to equate crypto donations with hard-to-trace funding sources. This applies not only to parties but also to candidates and organizations involved in political advertising.

Bitcoin developer and head of LayerTwo Labs, Paul Stortz, has unveiled a plan to launch eCash — a new hard fork of Bitcoin set to drop in August 2026. BTC holders will receive coins from the new network at a 1:1 ratio. However, the real debate isn't about the fork itself but the decision to redistribute a portion of eCash tied to Satoshi Nakamoto's addresses.

Key takeaways:
Food prices are ramping up again. And judging by the latest data, this is just the beginning.
In March, inflation in the food and beverage sector in the U.S. hit 7.9% year-over-year. That's the sharpest spike we've seen in the past year.
That said, the current numbers might not show the full picture. The main pump is still tied to rising fuel prices. But there are other factors that haven't hit the consumer yet.

Key takeaways:
TRON is gearing up to launch a testnet with quantum-resistant security in Q2 2026. They aim to roll out the mainnet upgrade in Q3.
Justin Sun is betting on post-quantum security. He claims this will be a key demand in the age of AI development.

Bybit's CEO Ben Zhou stated that one MiCA license isn't enough to build a profitable business in Europe. He mentioned that the basic license opens up market access but doesn't provide platforms with the full range of products that exchanges typically use to generate revenue. Additional licenses are needed for derivatives, tokenized assets, and payment services.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is cutting resources at the worst possible time. Over the past few months, the agency has lost about a quarter of its staff and has returned to its lowest headcount in 15 years. This is happening against a backdrop of rising risks of manipulation in cryptocurrencies, commodity markets, and prediction platforms.

Jerome Powell will hold his last FOMC press conference on April 29, wrapping up eight years at the Fed during a challenging time. The rate remains in the 3.50–3.75% range, inflation has ticked back up to 3.3%, and the market is still waiting for signals to pivot on rate cuts. His successor, Kevin Warsh, inherits a Fed grappling with unfinished business on inflation, a balance sheet of $6.7 trillion, and markets that are used to trading on liquidity signals.

The Wall Street Journal featured an in-depth piece on the British trading firm XTX Markets and its founder Alex Gerko — one of the most low-key yet successful players in the global algo trading scene. The spotlight was on their impressive financial results and substantial investments in their own AI infrastructure.

The company Anthropic, known for developing one of the hottest AI models, has rolled out Claude Mythos — and this isn’t just another upgrade. In testing, it significantly outperforms the previous generation in reading other people's code, understanding system architecture, and identifying vulnerabilities.

An attempted hit on OpenAI's head honcho Sam Altman with a Molotov cocktail, 13 shots fired at the home of a city council member in Indianapolis who voted for the construction of a data center—this wave of discontent with artificial intelligence (AI) in the US is increasingly spilling over into violence.
Two attacks on Altman's home in San Francisco mark the first high-profile acts of anti-tech terrorism in America since the capture of the Unabomber. The perpetrator of the first attack—a Texas resident who operated online under the alias "Battlearian Jihadist" referencing the anti-machine crusade from Frank Herbert's "Dune". After the arson, he headed to OpenAI's headquarters, threatening to burn the building down and kill everyone inside—he was armed with a canister of kerosene and a list of names and addresses of other AI company executives.

Mike Novogratz, the CEO of Galaxy Digital, stated that the American CLARITY Act, aimed at providing regulatory clarity for the crypto industry, is set to be signed in May. According to him, this bill will open up the U.S. economy to 5.5 billion people worldwide.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov linked the wave of crypto holders getting snatched in France to leaks of tax databases and corruption among officials.
On social media platform X, Durov stated: "More data — more victims," pointing out around 41 recorded cases of crypto holders being taken in France since the start of 2026. According to him, the spike in criminal activity is due to two factors: the sale of data on crypto asset owners to criminals by a former tax official and massive leaks of tax databases.

After Paul Atkins took the helm at the SEC in April 2025, the approach to the crypto market started to shift. This became evident pretty quickly, especially when compared to how the regulator operated under Gensler.
During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump was vocal about wanting to shake up the SEC leadership. This was one of his signals to the crypto space. He also mentioned the idea of a national reserve in Bitcoin and was against the digital dollar.

Intel just dropped some solid earnings that blew past expectations, and the market reacted instantly. Their stock jumped about 15% in after-hours trading right after the results hit. The company reported revenue growth, improved margins, and a noticeable spike in adjusted earnings.
The results seem like a move to win back investor confidence. After a few weak periods, the market got a set of numbers that's hard to brush off.