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Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has launched one of his most direct attacks yet on Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, accusing the payments company of engineering the CLARITY Act to eliminate competition while shielding its own interests. 

The remarks were delivered during Hoskinson’s most recent weekly rollup on YouTube, where he laid out what he believes is a deeper issue surrounding the bill and how it could change competition across the crypto sector.

Hoskinson Accuses Ripple Of Playing Dirty

According to Charles Hoskinson, the CLARITY Act, in its current form, was crafted with Ripple’s fingerprints on it. He is of the notion that the bill’s structure would classify most digital assets as securities by default, forcing projects to fight their way out of that designation through a regulatory process he warned the SEC could easily weaponize. “They’re trying to pass a bill that hurts the entire ecosystem while they get protected,” he said.

As noted by Hoskinson, if the CLARITY Act is passed, projects would need to prove otherwise, effectively placing the burden of defense on developers and startups from the outset.

Open-source contributors could face legal risks even when they are not directly responsible for how their code is used. He pointed to the legal exposure faced by developers connected to Tornado Cash as an example of what could become standard practice if the CLARITY Act passes in its current form. 

He also flagged the removal of existing protections for DeFi developers as a provision that would send a chilling signal across the entire community of crypto developers. 

Cardano Founder Says XRP Community Is Incapable Of Critical Thinking

Hoskinson also reserved some of his remarks for members of the XRP community. He accused Ripple directly of conducting a sustained campaign of layer after layer of marketing and propaganda. Furthermore, years of social media consumption, cable news, and yellow journalism have left segments of the XRP community with an inability to think critically. 

Hoskinson has been building this argument over several months, and his recent statements tie into a broader pattern of criticism against Ripple and the CLARITY Act. 

Back in early March, he noted that the CLARITY Act’s structure effectively labels everything as a security first, creating a system where only a few projects will be spared. He suggested that XRP could be among the assets that receive more favorable treatment under the framework proposed by the CLARITY Act.

His criticism against Brad Garlinghouse has also been very persistent. A notable example is during a January 2026 livestream where he questioned why the Ripple CEO is supportive of advancing the bill despite its perceived flaws.

Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 have now fallen to 51%, down from above 78% in early March, following Coinbase’s opposition to a stablecoin yield compromise and the departure of crypto czar David Sacks from his role.

Polymarket’s most recent venture is turning crypto trading into an e-sport spectacle.

A New Crypto Coliseum?

The “casino degen” narrative that surrounds crypto trading in prediction and betting platforms is turning almost literal, thanks to prediction-market giant Polymarket. Despite recently being on the spotlight for heightened ethical concerns from legislators, Polymarket and legend.trade are presenting an e-sports‑inspired trading competition where crypto traders will battle it out in a live arena.

Serving as a metaphor for the current state of affairs in the crypto world, in this new event the market is literally used as the battleground (e.g. political, macro, crypto narrative markets), with traders taking positions on real‑world events that settle on‑chain. Let’s not forget that, not so long ago, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned against this perspective of the crypto market.

How The Competition Will Work

Polymarket’s new venture aims to fuse together three hot narratives, such as prediction markets, social trading and e-sports, signaling a possible new direction for the platform amidst so many insider trading scandals.

Introducing the Legend Trade Series, presented by @Polymarket

April 16, 2026 – trading goes live on the esports stage 8 traders. 3 rounds. 1 winner.

Watch on Kick, X, and YouTube – or attend in NYC.

The first of many global trading esports events. pic.twitter.com/WrBKTaF6qd

— legend.trade (@legendtrade) March 30, 2026

The event, as announced in legend.trade’s official X account, is called Legend Trade Series and will happen in New York City on April 16. It is not hard to imagine that, just as many other e-sporting events, the competition will have tournament brackets or rounds, scheduled events, maybe team vs. team or influencer‑led squads, and a Twitch‑style viewing experience where the crowd can follow top accounts and react in real time.

Legend is social crypto trading platform that turns trading into a live, multiplayer “arena” where traders compete, share strategies, and surface alpha in real time. The platform’s core idea is to surface the best traders on the site so others can watch, learn from their decisions, and ultimately try to make money by following high‑signal players.

Trading As An E-Sport: A Long History

Despite being a first for prediction markets, this is not the first time platforms attempt to turn trading into an e-sport.

FX and CFD brokers have long run leaderboard-based trading competitions, but newer setups use dedicated “tournament infrastructure” with brackets, rankings, and prize pools to mimic esports formats. White‑label tools like Swiset let brokers host recurring trading tournaments, track performance metrics, and display real‑time leaderboards to drive engagement much like ranked multiplayer ladders. Platforms such as The Trading League explicitly brand themselves around “gamified trading tournaments,” where users compete in FX, stocks, crypto and commodities for cash, crypto, and gadget prizes.

Crypto venues and derivatives platforms periodically run global trading competitions tied to big events (World Cup, market cycles), featuring campaign names, marketing storylines, and prize ladders that borrow from esports culture. These events generally focus on volume or PnL over a set period, with public rankings and social hype, but the spectator element (casters, live production) has usually been thin compared with real esports.

Legend itself highlighted self-organizing live-trading competitions already happening in Korea.

In Korea, traders are now self-organizing live competitions almost every week

Last week alone, 100+ traders went head-to-head in a single competition on @legendtrade

This is what trading as an esport actually looks like pic.twitter.com/JcKkhb32Sy

— legend.trade (@legendtrade) March 30, 2026

Gamified trading consistently boosts engagement and acquisition, which is why brokers and prop firms keep leaning into tournaments, XP, badges and challenges, but regulators are wary: UK’s FCA and others have warned that game‑like features (tournaments, rewards, loot‑box‑style promos) can drive overtrading and risk‑taking, so anything that looks like “esports for trading” carries compliance risk.

Cover image from Perplexity, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said Monday that Midnight is now live, marking the mainnet debut of the privacy-focused network that has been one of the highest-profile infrastructure bets tied to the broader Cardano ecosystem. In his March 30 livestream, Hoskinson said the chain had already been running for a while, with average block times holding at roughly six seconds, more than 163,000 blocks produced, and a finality gap of about two blocks.

Midnight Launch Marks Major Cardano Ecosystem Milestone

The launch itself was formally announced by Midnight via X. The project said the genesis block had been produced and that developers, partners and institutions would now be able to deploy applications and migrate assets onto the network. The release lands on the timeline the team had previously outlined in February, when Midnight said mainnet was scheduled for late March 2026. It also follows the December 2025 launch of NIGHT, the network’s native token, on Cardano.

Hoskinson framed the current phase as a controlled production launch rather than an instant jump to open decentralization. He described Midnight as being in a “guarded era,” with a strong federated network and an active post-launch bug-fix queue already numbering more than 130 items. None, he said, were showstoppers, but the team expects to spend the next two to three weeks hardening the system while partners and developers begin building against a live environment.

That characterization matches Midnight’s official rollout plan. The foundation said the network is entering production through a phased application deployment period designed to prioritize operational stability and security before later stages of decentralization. In this initial setup, federated node operators run the core infrastructure under explicit participation rules, with the longer-term goal of progressing toward a more decentralized and permissionless model.

Midnight’s launch post highlights a roster of federated node partners that includes Worldpay, Bullish, MoneyGram, Pairpoint by Vodafone, eToro, AlphaTON Capital, Google Cloud, Blockdaemon and Shielded Technologies. That institutional mix is central to Midnight’s pitch: a privacy-preserving public blockchain intended to support live applications without asking enterprises to accept the data exposure typical of fully transparent ledgers.

Midnight’s technical proposition is built around programmable privacy. According to the project’s launch materials, the network combines public and private data through a hybrid ledger architecture, uses client-side generation of zero-knowledge proofs so sensitive data remains on user devices, and supports both shielded and unshielded assets depending on the application’s needs. The protocol also supports selective disclosure, allowing counterparties, auditors or regulators to view specific records when application logic requires it, without exposing all underlying transaction data by default.

Economically, Midnight is also trying to differentiate itself from conventional gas-token networks. The chain uses a dual-component model in which NIGHT acts as the unshielded governance and utility token, while DUST functions as the renewable transaction resource consumed by applications. Midnight says DUST regenerates over time based on NIGHT holdings, with a full recharge reached over seven days, a design meant to make transaction costs more predictable for businesses and allow developers to subsidize usage for end users.

Hoskinson used the livestream to pair the launch announcement with a broader educational push. He said he has published a free book, Proving Nothing: A Complete Guide to Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems, aimed at non-technical readers who want a comprehensive overview of how ZK systems work.

On the product side, Hoskinson said Lace would receive an update tied to Midnight mainnet support, with version 136.2 already submitted for approval at the browser extension store. He added that Lace v2 and a mobile release are both expected in April.

At press time, Cardano traded at $0.24.

Staking activity on the Ethereum network is taking the spotlight as the altcoin’s price continues to face heightened volatility. One notable aspect of the development is the significant increase in staking activity among large institutional investors. The most recent staking move triggering a frenzy in the ETH community comes from The Ethereum Foundation.

Major ETH Stake by Ethereum Foundation

With the market still lingering in a bearish state, the frenzy around Ethereum’s price has cooled down and shifted toward a more dynamic trend. However, A recent notable move by the Ethereum Foundation is attracting attention to the staking activity across the ETH network, which appears to be experiencing substantial growth over the past few months.

Crypto commentator and investor Kyle Chasse has taken to X to report a massive staking from the Foundation, which saw $42.2 million worth of ETH being locked away in staking contracts. This development coincides with an increase in staking participation as more holders, especially institutional, decide to lock up their assets in exchange for yield.

By allocating a sizeable portion of ETH to staking, the Ethereum Foundation is showcasing its robust confidence in the network’s economics and security in the long term. With these persistent large ETH staking from The Foundation and other large institutions across the sector, the expert believes that the altcoin could change forever.

According to the expert, the Foundation made the move as Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, gave an open statement about changing ETH’s direction. This revelation from the founder carries major weight since it will reshape the altcoin and its network’s future.

Chasse stated that there is still a lot to build, and a pivot like this is capable of redefining the entire ETH ecosystem. However, this move still poses some real risk if it eventually fails at execution. In the event that the team discovers the right angle and delivers real utility, this plan could go down as one of the most crucial moves in crypto history.

ETH Is Being Locked Away Everywhere

A market expert with the nickname AltCryptoGems has outlined the magnitude of Ethereum staking after multiple moves. While ETH is getting sold on the chart, the leading altcoin is being staked across the sector. Currently, nearly 3 million ETH is sitting around to be staked, with the entry queue now around 50 days.

At the same time, the exit queue has almost vanished as very few are leaving, which indicates a clear imbalance. If confidence were weak, exits would have spiked, causing staking to slow down. However, the opposite is happening as participants are locking ETH for months at a 2.7% yield.

Total ETH staked has now surpassed 38 million, representing over 31% of the entire supply. Meanwhile, this number continues to increase despite declining price action. ETH’s price is demonstrating weakness, but participation is showing strength, a classic disconnection that does not last long. Supply may be getting locked away, but demand is building.

A crypto analyst has issued a new Solana price forecast, outlining several potential target levels for the current cycle. In the short term, the analyst expects significant volatility and the possibility of a sharp price crash to new lows. Despite this, his ultimate projection suggests that SOL could surge toward $360, representing a roughly 333% increase from its price of about $83 at the time of writing. 

When The Solana Price Could Hit $360

A detailed technical analysis shared by market expert Celal Kucuker on X has sparked renewed optimism around Solana’s price outlook. The analyst shared a chart showing the SOL price around $88 at the time. He also outlined a clear roadmap that points to a potential final surge near $360 for the cryptocurrency. 

The chart reveals a dominant bearish channel defined by several parallel red descending trendlines that shaped Solana’s price action from late 2025 through early 2026. These lines have repeatedly capped rallies and guided SOL’s downtrend, while also respecting the critical resistance point around $147.15. 

Following the cryptocurrency’s rally to $147, it recorded a massive price crash to $66.92, marking the first floor of its Double Bottom pattern, as shown on the chart. Based on the trajectory of black lines within the descending parallel channel, Kucuker expects Solana to rally again to $111.32 in the near term, representing a roughly 66% increase from the previous bottom. 

Once this happens, SOL is projected to plunge even deeper toward $50.42, officially completing its bearish Double Bottom pattern. Kucuker has highlighted this area as a solid support zone. From this pivotal low, the analyst drew a black, upward-sloping line that cleanly slices through the entire bearish descending channel. 

This line points directly to the $361.47 bullish target. Kucuker’s timing for this projection suggests that Solana could skyrocket to this level by 2027. However, the chart shows somewhere around the third quarter of 2026. Notably, such a move would deliver a staggering 616% gain from the projected $50.42 support level. 

Additional targets in the chart analysis further reinforce Kucuker’s bullish outlook. The analyst drew multiple horizontal lines on the chart to mark key resistance zones that may influence price movement. The first red line points to $130 as an immediate resistance level, which comes into play once the price surpasses the initial target of $111.32. Beyond this, the next black line identifies $260 as the next major resistance level that, if broken, could confirm Solana’s projected price rally above $360.  

The Thesis Behind The Bull Rally

A crypto community member has challenged Kucuker’s bullish forecast for Solana, questioning why he posted price targets and charts without explaining the underlying thesis. They asked the analyst to explain which macroeconomic factors could push the SOL price above $360 and which could drive it down to the $50 support level. 

In response, Kucuker pointed to broader market dynamics, noting that price rallies often start with meme coins, which typically generate momentum across the market. He noted that Solana will likely benefit from this upward movement, potentially propelling it to new all-time highs. 

Nakamoto Holdings, a publicly traded Bitcoin‑treasury company that launched last August, is facing a deepening financial crisis after a dramatic stock collapse and a string of losses that have eroded investor confidence and raised the specter of delisting.

In less than a year, the company’s market capitalization has plunged from a peak near $24 billion to roughly $180 million — a decline of about 99.3% that has wiped out roughly $23.3 billion in value. 

Heavy Q4 Mark‑downs  

In its late‑Monday report, Nakamoto reported a $142.6 million loss in the fair value of its digital assets during the fourth quarter, alongside a $10.8 million investment loss tied to its stake in another Bitcoin‑treasury firm, Metaplanet. 

The company said it entered 2025 with a mandate to build a public, Bitcoin‑native enterprise, completing its public listing via a merger with KindlyMD and expanding its footprint through acquisitions of BTC Inc and UTXO. 

“We established a robust Bitcoin treasury, built a scalable capital strategy, and… transitioned into a fully integrated Bitcoin operating business with the scale and infrastructure to drive sustained growth,” CEO David Bailey said in the statement.

Despite that strategic framing, recent filings revealed more troubling operational details. Analysts at Bull Theory flagged the sale of $20 million worth of Bitcoin at an average sale price near $70,000 — assets the company had originally acquired at an average cost basis of $118,000. 

That transaction crystallized a roughly 40% loss on those coins and underscored a central problem: Bitcoin is trading far below Nakamoto’s cost basis, shrinking the value of the company’s treasury while liabilities and financing structures remain in place.

Financing Fragility At Nakamoto

The company’s capital structure has also magnified its vulnerability. At launch, Nakamoto raised $510 million via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) and an additional $200 million in senior secured convertible notes. 

In December 2025, the firm refinanced its convertible debt with a $210 million Bitcoin‑backed loan from crypto exchange Kraken. That loan is secured by the same Bitcoin that has since fallen to roughly 40% below Nakamoto’s purchase price, exposing the company to margin and solvency pressures if prices remain depressed.

With the stock price trading under $1 for more than 30 consecutive days, Nakamoto is now non‑compliant with Nasdaq listing rules. If the situation is not remedied, the company faces a probable delisting effective June 8, 2026. 

The potential removal from the exchange would further constrict Nakamoto’s already limited access to capital and reduce liquidity for shareholders, creating a vicious cycle. 

A weak stock price limits the company’s ability to raise equity to shore up its balance sheet or buy back discounted Bitcoin, which in turn undermines the principal advantage of the treasury‑model business that Nakamoto has pursued.

Bull Theory’s analysts summarized the predicament bluntly: the Bitcoin treasury model depends on three things lining up — a sufficiently low cost basis for BTC, a strong stock price that enables capital raises, and continuous access to financing. 

If any one of these elements breaks, the model can rapidly unwind. At Nakamoto, all three have deteriorated: Bitcoin is trading well below the firm’s acquisition cost, the equity value has collapsed, and access to fresh capital has become effectively unavailable amid delisting risk.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Federal prosecutors say a Maryland man who stole more than $54 million from a crypto exchange blew a significant portion of the money on Pokémon cards, antique Roman coins, and a scrap of fabric from the Wright brothers’ plane.

A Hacker With An Unusual Shopping List

Jonathan Spalletta surrendered to authorities Monday after the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against him. Agents who searched his home found the collectibles. The items were seized. Spalletta now faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all charges — one count of computer fraud and one count of money laundering.

The case centers on two separate attacks against Uranium Finance, a now-defunct crypto exchange that operated on the BNB blockchain. Both hacks happened in April 2021, just weeks apart, and together they wiped out tens of millions of dollars in user funds. The platform never recovered.

“Stealing from a crypto exchange is stealing – the claim that ‘crypto is different’ does not chang that,’” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “For the victims, there is nothing different about having your money taken.”https://t.co/jSaPJ0F5LR pic.twitter.com/TbQ1mLfOYp

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 30, 2026

The first attack, on April 8, was relatively minor by crypto-crime standards. A bad actor exploited a smart contract flaw and walked away with $1.4 million. The two sides eventually reached a private agreement, and all but $386,000 was returned. Then, 20 days later, Spalletta allegedly came back for more.

The Second Strike Killed The Platform

The April 28 attack was on another level. According to prosecutors, Spalletta exploited a coding error in Uranium Finance’s withdrawal system, hitting 26 separate liquidity pools in a single sweep. He made off with $53.3 million in Bitcoin, Ether, and the platform’s own U92 token. The exchange shut down shortly after. Victims were left with little information and no recourse.

Uranium Finance had launched just days before the first hack, during the 2021 bull market. It was built as a fork of Uniswap, a well-known automated trading protocol. The platform never got a chance to grow. By the end of April, it was gone.

Federal investigators worked the case for years behind the scenes. In early 2025, authorities recovered $31 million in cryptocurrency tied to the hack but offered no public explanation at the time. Monday’s indictment filled in the details.

US Attorney Draws A Hard Line On Crypto Theft

US Attorney Jay Clayton made clear his office views crypto theft the same as any other financial crime. “Stealing from a crypto exchange is stealing,” Clayton said. “For the victims, there is nothing different about having your money taken.” He added that Spalletta caused real losses for real people and is now under real arrest.

Spalletta appeared before US Magistrate Ona Wang on Monday to formally hear the charges. Data from the broader crypto industry puts the 2021 hack in context — bad actors stole an estimated $2.6 billion through various exploits that year alone. The biggest was a $610 million breach of the Poly Network, though the hacker in that case eventually returned the funds.

The Uranium Finance victims have waited nearly five years for answers. Monday’s indictment was a start.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Despite waning price performance from Bitcoin and Ethereum, the broader cryptocurrency market still recorded notable inflows for weeks. However, all of these changed as investors’ sentiment shifted, and the crypto market ended up seeing massive capital outflows once again.

Bitcoin And Ethereum Are In Major Crypto Outflow

After several weeks of steady inflows, the cryptocurrency market has finally recorded a day of outflows as investors pull funds. Such a development is typically seen as a potential shift in investors’ sentiment across the highly volatile market.

As outlined in Milk Road’s report, this marks the first significant capital outflow in 5 weeks, raising questions about the market’s direction. Funds that had continuously invested in digital assets, especially well-known cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are now starting to turn around.

A single week of outflows doesn’t always indicate a larger trend, but it frequently indicates that investors are becoming more cautious. However, this could shift investors’ focus toward the sustainability of crypto’s recent momentum. 

Milk Road highlighted that over $414 million left the sector last week, putting an end to a stream that had bulls feeling more excited about the market. Underneath the surface, the United States led the selling activity with $445 million in outflows. Meanwhile, other regions such as Germany and Canada moved in the opposite direction to the US, buying the dip while American investors were heading for the exit.

In this bloodbath, Ethereum led the selling activity, recording approximately $222 million in outflows. According to Milk Road, this figure represents more than half of the total weekly rain emerging from a single asset.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, is telling a different story compared to Ethereum. Even though the week was rough, Bitcoin still managed to attract over $964 million in net inflows year-to-date (YTD). However, investors panicked as the asset reacted strongly negatively to economic and macro events.

Taking a look at the market, this cautious investor sentiment can be traced back to two major catalysts, which include rising rate expectations and Iran war fears. When both negative events meet, it often leads to institutions pulling away from risk assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum very fast. 

What Bulls And Bears Are Calling For

As the event intensified, the crypto market was the first thing to get trimmed, prompting bears to call this the beginning of a trend reversal. For bulls, they will point to the BTC YTD figure and declare that one bad week does not mean anything significant. Milk Road noted that both ideas make a point. 

One week of outflows does not mean the multi-week trend will not continue, but it does reduce momentum and make sellers more alert. In the meantime, the next test is whether the next two weeks produce more of the same or whether this was just institutions getting spooked by speculative headlines that carry no real significance.

If Iran tensions ease and rates stay put, the inflow streak will probably resume and continue in the following weeks. Sustained inflows will likely recover momentum for digital assets, with Bitcoin and Ethereum transitioning into the upward direction again.

The XRP community has drawn attention to old X posts by Ripple’s CTO Emeritus, David Schwartz, suggesting that Coinbase may have refused to list XRP on purpose. Schwartz had also suggested that the exchange asked Ripple for money before it could list the altcoin. 

Ripple’s CTO Emeritus X Posts Reveal Coinbase XRP Listing Saga

Crypto pundit Digital Asset Investor drew attention to old X posts from the Ripple executive in which he discussed the Coinbase XRP listing story and a hypothetical scenario in which Ripple was asked to pay listing fees for XRP. In the first X post, which was made back in May 2023, Schwartz said, “The story of Coinbase listing XRP is the only story I most wish I could tell that I can’t.”

The Ripple CTO Emeritus’ statement was in response to a question by another X user who asked how much the firm likely paid Coinbase to list XRP. This has raised speculations that the exchange may have initially refused to list XRP. In June 2023, Schwartz made another X post in which he described a “hypothetical” scenario in which an exchange refused to list XRP despite it being in its interest. 

Instead, the exchange asked Ripple to pay millions before it could list XRP and told Ripple it would have listed XRP a while ago if the crypto firm hadn’t existed. The CTO Emeritus said they finally reached an agreement with the exchange, and then the exchange listed XRP. Upon XRP’s listing, Schwartz said the altcoin accounted for 20% of the exchange’s revenue. 

Schwartz’s prior post in May 2023, in which he mentioned Coinbase, has led members of the XRP community to conclude that the Ripple CTO Emeritus was likely referring to Coinbase in the hypothetical scenario he painted. 

The Impact Of The SEC Lawsuit

It is worth noting that Coinbase had listed XRP before the SEC lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, but moved to delist the token in 2021 as the lawsuit took shape. This was based on the SEC’s claim that XRP was a security. The crypto exchange then relisted XRP in July 2023 after Judge Analisa Torres declared that XRP wasn’t a security. 

In his hypothetical scenario, Schwartz said that a litigation adversary used the fact that they paid money for XRP’s listing to imply that the crypto firm was using money to unfairly boost XRP’s adoption or liquidity. However, the CTO Emeritus said they simply paid the money to avoid their existence hurting the XRP ecosystem. The XRP price was negatively impacted during the lawsuit, which lasted for five years. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.32, down over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Qubic used a March 30 AMA to lay out the mechanics behind its Dogecoin mining rollout, with core tech lead Joetom outlining a three-phase mainnet transition that begins April 1. The shift matters because it is designed to move Qubic away from its current split between Monero-linked outsourced mining and AI training into a model where both activities run at full scale in parallel.

The presentation centered on what Qubic calls its internal “Doge Connect” architecture, a bridge that links external Scrypt miners to Qubic’s network while redirecting Qubic’s own CPU and GPU resources fully toward its AI initiative, Aigarth. Joetom said the system relies on a dispatcher that connects to pools, translates mining tasks between the Dogecoin and Qubic networks, validates shares, and feeds results back through Qubic’s infrastructure.

“So how does this work? We call it internally Dodge Connect,” he said. “We bridge basically the mining power from outside … with ASIC miners, we use the Scrypt algorithm and you can connect to any of the Qubic pools. So for you as a miner, nothing changes.”

That bridge is not limited to a single coin, at least in theory. Joetom said the task and messaging system was built generically enough that Qubic could support multiple chains or switch to other mineable assets later. For now, the focus is Dogecoin, with the longer-term goal of running Qubic’s AI research at full capacity while using outsourced mining as a revenue engine.

Qubic Starts Dogecoin Mining Transition

The rollout itself will happen in three stages, with each phase expected to last one to two weeks if testing goes as planned. Phase one begins on mainnet April 1 and is framed as a validation period, covering task distribution, solution handling, pool communications, and public statistics. During that phase, Qubic will reduce its current Monero “marathons” from three days per week to two, beginning a gradual shift away from XMR mining.

Joetom described the process as a controlled crossover rather than a hard cut. “We will reduce this starting with phase one to two days per week,” he said. “So they will basically cross each other and at the end of phase two the Monero stuff will be removed.”

By the final state, he said, the network is meant to reach “100% AI training and 100% outsourced mining.” In practice, that means Qubic’s CPUs and GPUs would be dedicated to Aigarth research, while Dogecoin mining would be handled externally by ASIC miners connected through Qubic pools.

Qubic “Doge Mining” AMA https://t.co/80Q03DL3M8

— Qubic (@_Qubic_) March 30, 2026

One of the more important economic details from the AMA was the payout model. Rather than distributing DOGE directly, Qubic plans to sell outsourced mining proceeds for stablecoins, use those funds to buy back Cubics, and then redistribute Cubics to miners. Joetom called the mechanism a “buyback” system and said the team expects it to make mining through Qubic more attractive than mining Dogecoin alone.

“We assume that we will see an acceleration for the DOGE revenue,” he said. “Meaning that the Qubic revenue when you mine DOGE via Qubic you will see approximately 10% more revenue than if you would go only for doge.”

The technical path also leans heavily on Qubic’s oracle infrastructure. Shares submitted through the network are validated internally, with oracle machines acting as the source of truth for whether a mined share is accepted. That makes the integration more than a simple mining proxy; it effectively routes Dogecoin-related work through Qubic’s own validation and accounting model.

For miners, the immediate takeaway is operational rather than conceptual. Joetom said older hardware such as Antminer L3 units can still participate, even if newer machines like the L9 offer stronger economics. Public testing is expected to open April 1, with connection details to be shared through Qubic’s Discord and pool operators.

At press time, DOGE traded at $0.09.

Ripple may soon shed the “conditional approval” label and operate as a fully licensed National Trust Bank in the US, as regulators designate April as a key date for implementing amendments to its application. Market analysts emphasize that Ripple’s transition into a bank could significantly boost adoption of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and facilitate its integration into the global financial sector. 

April 1 Marked As Key Date For Ripple’s Bank

Reports of an upcoming Ripple National Trust Bank continue to spread on social media, as market analysts and XRP advocates express excitement for April 1 as a key decision date for the crypto company. According to a filing on March 2, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has officially finalized amendments to its original bank chartering rules, allowing national trust banks to perform non-fiduciary activities. This means Ripple’s bank will be able to hold and manage money or assets on behalf of someone else. 

The filing stated that the finalized rule was first issued on January 12, 2026, without any changes. It will officially take effect on April 1, 2026, making the date a key moment for Ripple and other companies that received conditional approval to operate as a national trust bank. Notably, the revision replaces the phrase “fiduciary activities” in the OCC’s rules with “the operations of a trust company and activities related thereto” when describing what national trust banks are allowed to do.

The regulator has clarified that these amendments were made to align with the language of the National Bank Act and to avoid any misunderstandings or misinterpretations that could lead to the wrongful imposition of restrictions on the activities of national trust banks.

In response to comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR), the OCC also said it would not change the existing rule to explicitly state that national trust banks need not perform fiduciary activities within their required scope. Instead, the regulator said it will review each charter application on its own merits and make its final decisions on a case-by-case basis.

How This Affects XRP And Its Ledger

In a post on X, market analyst ChartNerd announced that Ripple’s national trust bank is getting closer to becoming a reality. He explained that the upcoming bank could have a major impact on the XRP Ledger, enabling the blockchain network to connect to the Federal Reserve’s banking system. 

XRP supporters on X described the development as a remarkable milestone that could boost institutional adoption by giving the ledger a direct, regulated way to integrate into existing banking frameworks. Some community members also stated that once the bank begins operating, it could positively impact future XRP prices. In contrast, others suggested that the cryptocurrency could eventually become the new global banking standard.

Google’s decision to pull its post-quantum cryptography migration timeline forward to 2029 has landed hard in Bitcoin and crypto, because the company did not just change a policy deadline. It paired that warning with a new whitepaper arguing that breaking the 256-bit elliptic curve cryptography used across major blockchains may require far fewer quantum resources than many in the market had assumed.

That is the link Castle Island Ventures General Partner Nic Carter seized on in a series of X posts on Tuesday, arguing that the answer to what Google “saw” was this paper itself. The whitepaper, dated March 30 and co-authored by researchers from Google Quantum AI alongside Justin Drake and Dan Boneh, lays out updated estimates for attacking the secp256k1 curve that sits at the center of Bitcoin-era signature security.

Specifically, this paper. It’s a brand new resource estimate that’s wildly lower than prior estimates of what it would take to break ECC-256. Featuring the Google Quantum AI team + Justin Drake + Dan Boneh https://t.co/dYRld7HbJY pic.twitter.com/qXlAvzBQkv

— nic carter (@nic_carter) March 31, 2026

In Google’s formulation, Shor’s algorithm could solve the target problem with either no more than 1,200 logical qubits and 90 million Toffoli gates, or no more than 1,450 logical qubits and 70 million Toffoli gates. On a superconducting architecture, the authors say those circuits could run in minutes with fewer than half a million physical qubits.

That is the real shock to the Bitcoin threat model. Google’s March 25 blog post said the company moved to a 2029 migration target because of progress in quantum hardware, error correction and quantum factoring resource estimates, and said it had already adjusted its threat model to prioritize post-quantum migration for authentication services. The crypto paper then gave markets a concrete reason for why that deadline may have moved.

The paper is also unusual in how it handles disclosure. Rather than publishing the attack circuits in full, the authors say they used a zero-knowledge proof to validate the results without leaking sensitive details. Google framed that as a responsible-disclosure choice in a field where public discussion can itself create fear and instability, especially when the assets in question are bearer instruments with no recourse layer.

That choice fed directly into the reaction on X. Dragonfly’s managing partner Haseeb Qureshi called the result “wild,” writing: “Google Research demonstrates a ~20x more efficient implementation of Shor’s algorithm that could break ECDSA keys within minutes with ~500K physical qubits. Google is now are more confident on a 2029 post-quantum transition. We are no longer looking at mid 2030s, we could have quantum computers of this scale by the end of the decade.”

He added that Google’s decision not to publish the actual circuits, and instead publish a proof that they exist. “They believe this result is so severe that they are not publishing the actual circuits. They instead published a ZKP proving that they know of the quantum circuit with these properties. This is very atypical, showing Google thinks this is serious shit. All blockchains need a transition plan ASAP. Post-quantum is no longer a drill,” he added.

This is wild. Google Research demonstrates a ~20x more efficient implementation of Shor’s algorithm that could break ECDSA keys within minutes with ~500K physical qubits.

Google is now are more confident on a 2029 post-quantum transition. We are no longer looking at mid 2030s,… https://t.co/jGzFk5uLc0 pic.twitter.com/O4V1VbiXkf

— Haseeb ＞|＜ (@hosseeb) March 31, 2026

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake pushed the same point even further. “Today is a monumentous day for quantum computing and cryptography. Two breakthrough papers just landed,” he wrote. “The results are shocking. I expect a narrative shift and a further R&D boost toward post-quantum cryptography.”

In a separate post, he added: “My confidence in q-day by 2032 has shot up significantly. IMO there’s at least a 10% chance that by 2032 a quantum computer recovers a secp256k1 ECDSA private key from an exposed public key. While a cryptographically-relevant quantum computer before 2030 still feels unlikely, now is undoubtedly the time to start preparing.”

Today is a monumentous day for quantum computing and cryptography. Two breakthrough papers just landed (links in next tweet). Both papers improve Shor’s algorithm, infamous for cracking RSA and elliptic curve cryptography. The two results compound, optimising separate layers of…

— Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) March 31, 2026

For Bitcoin specifically, the most important part of the paper is not some vague future threat to “crypto,” but the distinction it draws between attacks on dormant or exposed keys and attacks on live transactions. The authors argue that fast-clock architectures such as superconducting and photonic systems could eventually enable “on-spend” attacks, where a public key exposed during transaction flow is broken quickly enough to race the original payment into a block.

Their estimate explicitly says fast-clock systems could solve ECDLP in about nine minutes on average, putting Bitcoin’s roughly 10-minute block cadence uncomfortably close to the attack window. The paper points to private mempools and commit-reveal schemes as possible mitigations, but treats migration to post-quantum cryptography as the actual answer.

Just as important, Google tries to narrow the panic. The paper says quantum attacks on Bitcoin proof-of-work via Grover’s algorithm are not a practical concern “in the next several decades,” arguing that discussion should stay focused on signatures, not mining. That matters because it shifts the debate away from network collapse scenarios and toward wallet design, key exposure, mempool privacy and upgrade coordination.

The broader message is hard to miss. Google’s paper ends by urging “all vulnerable cryptocurrency communities to join the migration to PQC without delay,” and its separate security timeline now points to 2029, not some comfortably distant date in the mid-2030s.

Bitcoin has spent years treating quantum risk as a long-range problem. What changed this week is that a major quantum lab put a much tighter engineering estimate around the threat, and some of the sector’s most technically literate observers immediately started talking less about whether the transition will be needed and more about how fast it has to begin.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $67,475.

Russia’s government has just approved a package of crypto regulation bills that make trading through regulated intermediaries the only legal route, highly limiting off retail access.

An Authoritarian Crypto Restriction?

On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Finance said in a press release that Moscow had greenlit a bundle of draft laws to legalize the circulation of digital currencies and digital rights inside Russia.

Retail “non‑qualified” investors now face an annual purchase limit of about ₽300,000 (around $3,700) per broker or intermediary,and can only access a narrow list of high‑liquidity coins approved by the central bank.

Trading without intermediaries is also banned. Banks will not be allowed to process payments to unlicensed foreign platforms. Qualified investors can keep broad access and no caps but must still pass tests and go through licensed platforms.

As the press release states it:

The regulation prohibits transactions involving digital currencies without regulated intermediaries. However, residents are permitted to purchase digital currencies abroad, paying from foreign accounts, and transfer foreign currency purchased through Russian intermediaries. Residents will be required to notify the Federal Tax Service of Russia of any foreign transactions.

Russia is joining a broader trend of countries tolerating crypto only under banking‑style licenses, turning exchanges into tightly supervised gatekeepers instead of open platforms.

A new Crypto Legislation In Russia

This announcement follows the legislation targeting a full framework around mid‑2026, with liability and penalties for illegal intermediaries ramping up into 2027, as covered by Bitcoinist.

The new package of bills effectively shuts down Russia’s gray P2P and OTC market and cuts off most citizens from global exchanges like Bybit, OKX and other unlicensed offshore venues. The Kremlin wants to pull flows onshore, tax them, tighten AML controls and protect the ruble, while keeping crypto banned for domestic payments and pushing the digital ruble as the “safe” alternative.

Russian retailers should expect loss of access to long‑tail altcoins, fragmented liquidity across “friendly” jurisdictions, heavier surveillance, and higher friction for cross‑border transfers.

In global markets, a reduced Russian flow on major offshore exchanges could slightly dent volumes in some pairs, but the bigger story is the precedent: if more large economies adopt “intermediaries only” models, the free‑wheeling P2P era in crypto could be in structural decline.

Cover image from Perplexity, BTCUSDT chart from Tradingview

XRP whale accumulation has long been in full swing after the cryptocurrency hit its cycle peak back in 2025. So far, it has been one year of non-stop accumulation, especially as these large players seem to be getting ready for another move. As they continue to buy up more of the supply, there is now the possibility that the cryptocurrency will start to rise again. Going by past performances, a pseudonymous crypto analyst, CW8900, shares what this move might mean for the digital asset.

Why Whale Buying Is Very Bullish For XRP

Historically, large whale XRP buying has usually marked the bottom of a downtrend, leading to a reversal of the trend. This has been the case in the past bear/bull markets, where the whale buying has often stopped the bleed for the altcoin.

The crypto analyst points out that the whales have actually been accumulating the digital asset for a while now, going as far back as one year. This accumulation began with the 2025 high and has continued as the cryptocurrency’s price has drawn down.

Interestingly, these large whale orders have dominated the XRP buying in one year now, showing that these large investors are ramping up their holdings. As the crypto analyst explains, this means that the whales are actually preparing for the cryptocurrency to go into another bull market.

Mostly the buys have been around the $1.3-$3 level, which is where the most buying has occurred. Pointing to the past, the crypto analyst explained that whales have previously bought XRP in the $0.3-$1.3 range, which happened before the 2024/2025 rally.

Another interest fact is the fact that these large whales have not been selling at all and have been focused on buying. This means that the coins are not moving out of the hands of the whale traders into the hands of retail traders.

Going by previous performance, such a trend, when done, could send the XRP price rallying again. The last time, there was a 500% rally resulting from the accumulation. A similar breakout would mean that the price would eventually cross above $7 before topping.

Amidst the ongoing crypto market consolidation and Bitcoin (BTC) above the $60,000 support level, a looming concern has surfaced regarding a potential new crash. This time, experts suggest that the turmoil might extend beyond geopolitical tensions and oil prices, finding its roots in a deepening liquidity crisis unfolding in Japan.

Japan’s Low‑Rate Model At Risk?

In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), market expert Ted Pillows argued that Japan’s long-standing low-rate financial architecture makes its system especially vulnerable when long-term interest rates climb. 

The practical effect, he explained, is twofold. First, as 30‑year bond yields rise, borrowing costs increase across the economy. Second, the market value of existing long-dated bonds falls, producing mark-to-market losses for institutions such as banks and pension funds. 

Those losses can sap confidence, Pillows claimed, prompting financial institutions to hoard cash and pull back from lending and risk-taking—a process known as liquidity tightening.

Japan matters to global markets because, for decades, its ultra-low rates effectively supplied cheap capital to investors worldwide. Traders often borrowed yen at minimal cost and redeployed that capital into higher-yielding or riskier assets overseas. 

When Japanese yields climb, that carry trade becomes less attractive and can even reverse as investors unwind positions and repatriate funds. The result is a drain of liquidity from global markets at precisely the moment risk appetite is needed most.

Liquidity Shock Could Trigger New Crypto Sell‑Off

Crypto markets are particularly sensitive to swings in global liquidity, Pillows contends. Digital assets have benefited strongly over the past years from a steady flow of “easy money” that encouraged investors to chase higher returns. 

When liquidity tightens, investors typically de-risk by selling the most volatile holdings; cryptocurrencies and smaller altcoins often fall hardest because they are more speculative and less stable than major assets. 

A concurrent strengthening of the Japanese yen can compound the effect by reducing dollar liquidity available internationally, placing additional pressure on risk assets priced or financed in dollars.

Pillows cautioned that Japan need not be the sole cause of a market collapse to be consequential. Instead, rising Japanese yields can act as an accelerant for broader market moves that are already in motion. 

He noted, however, that this can run in both directions: heightened stress and falling asset prices often prompt central banks to step in. 

The Bank of Japan could respond by intervening to lower yields—either through bond purchases or other liquidity measures—which would restore capital flows and potentially fuel a sharp rebound in risk assets. 

In other words, the same mechanisms that can precipitate a downturn can later help power a new crypto bull run once liquidity is restored.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Senators are poised to publish a revised draft of the CLARITY Act — the long‑anticipated crypto market structure bill — as early as this week, according to reporting from Eleanor Terrett of Crypto In America. 

The timing comes amid an Easter recess that runs through April 13, but Terrett’s sources say lawmakers intend to unveil language resolving the politically sensitive dispute over the CLARITY Act stablecoin yield and rewards before members return to regular business.

Industry Pushes Back On CLARITY Act Restrictions

The latest draft reportedly aims to strike a compromise on how cryptocurrency platforms may offer rewards without prompting a flight of deposits from traditional banks. 

As Bitcoinist reported last week, the CLARITY Act would broadly bar platforms from offering yield “directly or indirectly” on stablecoins or on assets that operate like bank deposits. 

Lawmakers would still allow activity‑based incentives such as loyalty points and promotional offers in the CLARITY Act draft, while assigning regulators a one‑year window to define permitted incentives and establish anti‑evasion rules to prevent workarounds.

That restrictive approach has drawn a swift and visible reaction in the industry. Coinbase’s Global Head of Investment Research, David Duong, has said that industry participants are coordinating a counterproposal to explain why targeted changes are needed to protect customers and sustain workable rewards programs. 

However, a spokesperson for Senator Thom Tillis told Crypto In America that the new CLARITY Act text reflects ongoing conversations with industry groups, including banks. 

Key unresolved topics expected to shape the final negotiations include decentralized finance (DeFi) safeguards, token classification, and rules for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, according to Terrett.

New Crypto PAC In Town

The legislative manoeuvring has coincided with increased political organizing from within the crypto industry. Anchorage Digital and Chainlink (LINK) announced Monday the formation of a bipartisan hybrid political action committee (PAC), the Blockchain Leadership Fund, backed by members of the Digital Chamber. 

Per the firm’s release, the new fund plans to engage across federal, state, and local contests to support candidates and policymakers who favor durable, innovation‑friendly digital asset policy. An Anchorage Digital spokesperson stated: 

Crypto policy is being written right now and the companies that show up and engage will help define the rules of the road; the ones that don’t will inherit them. At Anchorage Digital, we’ve always believed that responsible innovation requires active participation, which is why we’re proud to support the Blockchain Leadership Fund at such a pivotal moment for the industry.

A Chainlink representative echoed that message, noting the unusually clear — but still fragile — legislative moment the sector faces. “The market structure bill [CLARITY Act] is where the real complexity lives, and the candidates willing to work through that complexity deserve sustained, organized support from the industry,” the spokesperson said. 

Chainlink added that its institutional partners are building on blockchain infrastructure and that the Blockchain Leadership Fund will help ensure the policy environment can scale that adoption.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

A recent report has shared that Pro-Russia and Iran groups are turning to crypto to fund purchases of commercially available drones and related components, as the products become central to modern conflict.

Crypto-Funded Drone Purchases Linked To Russia, Iran

On Monday, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis revealed that groups affiliated with Russia and Iran are utilizing crypto to fund the acquisition of low-cost military drones and their components.

The firm traced crypto flows from individual wallets linked to various paramilitary groups to the purchase of affordable drones and related components from vendors on e-commerce platforms.

According to the report, low-cost, commercially available drones have become central to modern conflict, enabling both state and non-state actors, including pro-Russia militias and Iran-backed terrorist organizations.

Most purchases use traditional financial channels, but Chainalysis noted that drone procurement networks are ⁠increasingly intersecting with the blockchain. As the firm explained, crypto can enter the drone procurement picture directly or indirectly. In the first scenario, a drone manufacturer openly accepts digital assets as payment on its website.

In the second scenario, electronics and dual-use component vendors that sell through third-party e-commerce platforms like Alibaba accept digital assets to sell drones and their parts to buyers whose identities and intended use are unclear.

The report found that Iran-linked groups have been using crypto to acquire drone components and sell military equipment, highlighting a wallet associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that purchased drone parts from a Hong Kong-based supplier.

As reported by Bitcoinist in January, Iran’s Ministry of Defence Export Center (Mindex), the state arms export arm, openly offered to accept crypto as payment for military hardware, including drones, air defense systems, warships, and ballistic missiles.

Paramilitary Groups ‘Crowdfund The Frontline’

Chainalysis also emphasized that the “most publicly visible crypto-drone nexus operates at the militia level, through open crowdfunding campaigns on social media platforms.”

The blockchain analytics firm has identified dozens of pro-Russia volunteer and paramilitary organizations asking for crypto donations for military equipment since Russia invaded Ukraine in ​2022.

Over the past four years, the pro-Russia groups have raised more than $8.3 million in these donations across various blockchains to purchase drones and associated components from global e-commerce platforms.

On-chain evidence shows Russian militia fundraising groups purchasing from a Hong Kong-based drone manufacturer and drone purchasers acquiring liquidity from Russian-language no-Know Your Client (KYC) exchanges, the sanctioned Russian exchanges Garantex and Grinex, and a Federation Tower-based OTC service.

To the firm, this strongly suggests that Russia-linked actors may have acquired drones from Chinese manufacturers for deployment in Ukraine. Chainalysis also matched crypto transactions between $2,200-$3,500 to the exact prices of drones and their components on ​e-commerce platforms. 

“The striking point is not the dollar figure, but the logic. At the militia level, low-cost commercial drones are among the most tactically significant items crowdfunded crypto can buy,” the report affirmed.

“At $2,200–$3,500 per unit, a single successful fundraising campaign translates directly into battlefield capability for groups that cannot access conventional finance,” it continued.

The firm underscored that the blockchain offers new opportunities to trace these flows and obtain a better understanding of how emerging technologies are “transforming the economics of conflict.”

“On the blockchain, there’s this incredible opportunity, once you have ‌identified the ⁠vendor to see the counterparty activity and make assessments that help clarify that utilization and the intent behind the purchase,” Andrew Fierman, Chainalysis’s head of national security intelligence, told Reuters

John Deaton, the U.S. crypto lawyer who represented XRP holders in the SEC vs. Ripple case, blasted at how U.S. crypto policy is being shaped.

An XRP Voice Warns Against Inaction

Reacting to Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s interview with Maria Bartiromo, Deaton wrote a lengthy post on the social media X today, expressing his worries and concerns regarding the direction crypto policy in the U.S. is taking.

One thing @bgarlinghouse said to @MariaBartiromo that I completely agree with – is that American companies and our financial markets cannot afford to experience Gensler 2.0. And the only way to guarantee that we don’t – is by passing legislation.

Look, no one despises the… https://t.co/H958StIpRY pic.twitter.com/tOdj4N5wlJ

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) March 30, 2026

In his interview with Bartirmoro for Fox Business, Garlinghouse warned that if the U.S. keeps dragging its feet, American companies and capital markets will bleed out to friendlier jurisdictions while Washington fixates on the wrong crypto battles.

Bartimoro positioned the discussion around U.S. competitiveness and regulatory chaos, echoing a long‑running Fox Business narrative that America is “losing the race” on digital assets.

Ripple CEO warns against weaponization of crypto policy: ‘We can’t have another Gary Gensler moment’ | https://t.co/hc5WMt0boT @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) March 27, 2026

Ripple and XRP holders have lived through that chaos first‑hand, from the SEC fight to today’s policy vacuum.

This is why Deaton seizes on Garlinghouse’s warning. In the middle of a heated fight over Trump’s CBDC ban order and years of media‑driven CBDC panic, Deaton argues that the only way to stop a future surveillance‑style CBDC is through hard legislation passed by Congress.

American companies and our financial markets cannot afford to experience Gensler 2.0. And the only way to guarantee that we don’t – is by passing legislation.

For Deaton, a “Gensler 2.0” means a future regulator who uses aggressive “regulation by enforcement” instead of clear rulemaking, like Gensler did with Ripple, XRP, LBRY, Coinbase and others, and treats most tokens as securities by default, keeping the industry in a constant defensive posture.

What The Future Could Hold

The only durable way to block a U.S. surveillance CBDC is an explicit act of Congress that ties the Fed’s hands, Deaton argues.

But as much progress, guidance, and clarity, @PaulSAtkiinsSEC and  @MichaelSelig have provided to the markets, without legislation passed into law – all that guidnace [sic] and clarity can be taken away – as if it never happened – when a new administration takes over.

The XRP advocate finishes his post with a reminder of who is to become Chair of the Senate Banking Comittee which oversees the SEC: Elizabeth Warren. Warren built her brand as a tough Wall Street and big‑bank watchdog. In crypto, she is famous for claiming she is “building an anti‑crypto army”, backing tough bills like the Digital Asset Anti‑Money Laundering Act and pushing amendments that critics say favor banks and restrict digital assets.

We need strong crypto regulation – not an industry giveaway that puts our economy at risk and supercharges President Trump’s corruption. pic.twitter.com/6sVbwMiSFf

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 10, 2025

Both Deaton and Garlinghouse warn that regulatory drift is already driving talent, liquidity and innovation offshore, and that the U.S. risks watching the next generation of financial plumbing get built in Europe, Asia or the Middle East instead.

Clarity on XRP’s status and broader digital‑asset law in the U.S. is already shifting flows into assets seen as “safer” from enforcement risk. Further statutory wins could reinforce that capital rotation.

Cover image from Perplexity, XRPUSDT chart from Tradingview

Bitcoin is testing $67,000. The market is bracing for a volatile week. And the macro environment surrounding it has not looked this dangerous since 1973.

A GugaOnChain analysis published on CryptoQuant places the current moment in a historical frame that demands attention: Brent crude has consolidated above $100, geopolitical tension is threatening the Strait of Hormuz, and approximately 30% of the world’s oil supply now faces critical logistical risk. The last time the global energy system looked this constrained, it did not end quietly for financial markets.

The analysis carries a central thesis that is both bold and specific: while physical energy logistics are effectively locked by geography and conflict, Bitcoin’s infrastructure operates outside those constraints entirely. No blockade reaches a distributed network. No embargo affects a neutral liquidity rail. In a world where the movement of physical assets is increasingly politicized, Bitcoin’s immunity to geographical restriction is not a theoretical property — it is a live advantage.

The risk the analysis does not dismiss is the one that matters most in the short term. A global deleveraging event — forced liquidations across traditional markets to cover margin — carries a 45-50% probability according to GugaOnChain. When institutions sell what they can rather than what they want to, Bitcoin is rarely spared.

$12 Billion Is Telling a Story. Most of It Is Not on Exchanges

GugaOnChain’s on-chain segmentation of the $12.34 billion in institutional activity reveals a supply structure that the price chart alone cannot show. Of that total, 93.83% — approximately $11.57 billion — has moved through OTC channels rather than exchanges.

That is not routine portfolio management. That is, institutions deliberately removing Bitcoin from the visible market, locking it as a strategic reserve against the cost-push inflation the energy shock is already generating. Smart money is not panic-selling into the macro dislocation. It is using the panic to accumulate at scale, out of sight.

What remains on exchanges is the critical detail. Only $761 million — 6.17% of the institutional flow — is exposed to direct exchange volatility. With the order book this shallow, GugaOnChain estimates the probability of a sharp move exceeding 8% in response to a geopolitical trigger at over 70%. The fuel for a violent move exists on both sides.

The $65,000–$70,000 region carries a 65% probability of holding as structural support — provided global credit markets do not capitulate. If they do, the analysis identifies $54,000 as the systemic stress scenario.

April 6th is named as the catalyst date. Derivative hedges are recommended. The analysis treats what follows not as a trading event but as a global liquidity solvency test — and advises positioning accordingly.

Bitcoin Tests 2021 Cycle High

Bitcoin is now trading around the $67,000 level, directly testing what was previously the 2021 cycle high, a historically significant level that has now transitioned into a critical support zone. This area represents a key structural pivot, where past resistance is being evaluated as potential long-term support.

From a macro perspective, BTC remains in a corrective phase following its rejection from the $100,000–$120,000 region. The chart shows a clear loss of momentum, with price breaking below the 50-week moving average and currently hovering near the 100-week moving average, which is acting as an intermediate support. Meanwhile, the 200-week moving average continues to trend upward well below the current price, reinforcing the broader bullish structure despite recent weakness.

The importance of the current level cannot be overstated. Holding above the 2021 high would signal a successful retest of a major breakout zone, a pattern often associated with continuation in long-term uptrends. However, failure to hold this region could open the door to a deeper correction toward the $60,000–$62,000 range.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Ethereum treasury company Bitmine has announced that it loaded up on 71,179 ETH over the past week, taking its supply share to 3.92%.

Bitmine Has Continued Its Aggressive Ethereum Accumulation

As announced in a press release, Bitmine participated in additional Ethereum buying during the last week. In total, the firm has added 71,179 ETH with this accumulation spree, worth nearly $146 million right now. The purchase is larger than the recent weekly average for the company. “Bitmine has maintained the increased pace of ETH buys in each of the past four weeks, as our base case is ETH is in the final stages of the ‘mini-crypto winter,'” said Thomas “Tom” Lee, Bitmine chairman.

Originally a Bitcoin mining-focused firm, Bitmine pivoted to an Ethereum treasury strategy in mid-2025. Since then, the firm has followed in the footsteps of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, continuously accumulating ETH even as the bearish market shift has occurred.

The sector has faced an especially high degree uncertainty recently with the war situation in Iran. Lee pointed out, however, that crypto has held up well even as the war enters its 5th week, with ETH outperforming equities by 1,160 basis points. In contrast, Gold, the traditional safe-haven, has underperformed by more than 750 basis points. “Crypto is demonstrating itself to be a good ‘war time’ store of value,” noted the Bitmine chairman.

Following the latest addition, Bitmine’s Ethereum reserves have grown to 4,732,082 ETH, equivalent to 3.92% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply in circulation. The firm has set a goal of 5% of the supply, so at the current figure, it’s already over 78% of its way to the target in just eight months.

Lately, Bitmine has also been putting its ETH toward staking to earn some passive income through the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) contract. Unlike BTC, where miners secure the network, ETH is instead protected by stakers, validators who put forward some initial ‘stake’ to take part in consensus-making. Just like how miners earn rewards for mining blocks, stakers also get rewards when they add a block to the chain.

According to the press release, Bitmine has a total of 3,142,643 ETH staked right now, representing 66% of the total reserves held by the company. “Bitmine has staked more ETH than other entities in the world,” said Lee.

Bitmine isn’t the only organization locking its ETH in the PoS contract. As highlighted by Arkham in an X post, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting the ETH blockchain, has just transferred $46.2 million worth of the cryptocurrency to the staking deposit contract. “This is more ETH than they have EVER staked before,” explained Arkham.

ETH Price

Ethereum dropped under the $2,000 level earlier, but the coin has opened the new week with recovery back above $2,060.