Today's Crypto Pulse
Bitcoin slides below $70k as energy‑price worries spark $1.8B in liquidations
Bitcoin fell under $70,000 amid heightened energy‑price uncertainty linked to U.S.–Iran tensions. The dip triggered roughly $1.8 billion in crypto liquidations, while institutional investors pulled more than $4.2 billion from digital‑asset positions.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Strive acquires 2,500 Bitcoin for $185.2M
The $15 Billion Polymarket Bet That New York Coinbase & Gemini Lawsuit Suggests Is Essentially Based on Betting
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Coinbase and Gemini, declaring their prediction‑market products illegal gambling. At the same time, Polymarket is courting a $400 million financing round that would value the company at roughly $15 billion, backed by investors such as Intercontinental Exchange. The clash highlights a regulatory split: states view these platforms as bets, while the CFTC treats them as federally regulated exchanges. Polymarket has recently secured a CFTC‑licensed exchange and launched its own stablecoin to shore up its U.S. compliance posture.
Tagus Bytes (22.04.26)
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index climbed from extreme fear (<25) to a reading of 32 on April 22, 2026, marking a 20‑point rebound since April 18. The uplift coincided with the United States extending the Iran cease‑fire indefinitely, which helped calm market...
AI Drives Surge in ‘Bug Bounty’ Reports, but ‘Slop’ Is Rising Too
Bug bounty programs across the crypto and open‑source sectors are experiencing a dramatic surge driven by AI tools that can quickly generate vulnerability reports. Cosmos Labs reported a 900% increase in submissions, averaging 20‑50 daily, while HackerOne logged 85,000 valid...
Bybit Invests US$8M in Hata to Crack Malaysia’s Regulated Crypto Market
Bybit led an $8 million Series A round in Hata, Malaysia’s only dual‑licensed digital‑asset exchange, raising the startup’s total funding to $12.2 million. The partnership gives Bybit a compliant foothold in a market tightly overseen by the Securities Commission and Bank Negara, while...
Paolo Angelini: DLT and Stablecoins - Where Do We Stand?
Paolo Angelini argues that while blockchain’s promise of eliminating intermediaries has largely remained unrealized, Distributed Ledger Technology is now moving from experimental pilots to production‑grade deployments. He notes a tentative but growing confidence that DLT can meet the stringent governance,...
UTXO Powers Bitcoin’s Decentralized Transactions and Financial Autonomy
Bitcoin operates on a unique model known as UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output), which plays a crucial role in its decentralized nature. Understanding this model is essential for grasping how Bitcoin transactions work and the implications for financial autonomy. https://t.co/xrUNuLr0Ze
Iran Crisis and Strait of Hormuz Disruption Drive Wall Street Shift to 24/7 Tokenised Markets
Wall Street institutions are shifting to perpetual futures contracts and tokenized real‑world assets to trade 24/7 after the Strait of Hormuz closure exposed gaps in traditional markets. Crypto‑native platforms provided continuous price discovery for gold, oil and silver while CME,...
MicroStrategy’s $2.5 Billion Bitcoin Bet Signals a New Phase of Institutional Crypto Strategy:
MicroStrategy announced a $2.5 billion purchase of 34,164 Bitcoin, pushing its total holdings above 800,000 BTC and cementing its status as the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The acquisition was likely financed through a mix of convertible debt and equity, continuing...
Kalshi Perps Will Outshine Prediction Markets Despite Simpler Tech
easier to build a PM than perps in terms of technical infra way harder to bootstrap liquidity and acquire normie users for PMs kalshi perps are going to crush
Crypto Sees $117M Liquidation as BTC Tops $77K
JUST IN: The crypto market liquidated over $117 million in the last 60 minutes while $BTC surged past $77K.
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Cryptocurrency Ownership: The Reality of Full Bitcoin Holders
Bitcoin’s supply has surpassed 20 million, with about 824,000 blockchain addresses holding at least one whole coin. Large holders such as exchanges and corporate treasuries split their balances across multiple wallets, meaning the true number of individual full‑bitcoin owners is closer...
Justin Sun Sues over Frozen WLFI Tokens and Voting Rights
JUST IN: Justin Sun, a major $75M investor in World Liberty Financial, filed a lawsuit after they froze his $WLFI tokens without reason, revoked his voting rights, and threatened to burn his holdings despite his private attempts to resolve it.
SBF’s FTX Startup Portfolio Proves Exceptional Investing
Hats off to SBF, a legit goated investor. The FTX portfolio of startups is ridiculously good.
Trump's Crypto Venture Accused of Being a Scam by Billionaire Investor: 'They Used the Trump Brand to Profit Through Fraud'
A billionaire investor has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Donald Trump’s crypto venture of fraud. The complaint alleges the project used the Trump brand to lure investors into a scheme that promised high returns but delivered none. The filing brings...
200M USDT Mysteriously Deposited to Binance
JUST IN: A transfer of 200,000,000 USDT, valued at 200,024,500 USD, just hit Binance from an unknown wallet.
Huge PYUSD Transfer Hits Paxos Treasury
JUST IN: An unknown wallet moved 118,060,307 PYUSD, worth 118,038,757 USD, to the Paxos Treasury.
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Pulls $256M, Driving Weekly Crypto ETF Inflows to $996M
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust attracted $256 million in net inflows, contributing to a $996 million weekly surge across U.S. spot crypto ETFs – the biggest weekly intake since January 2026. The wave also lifted Ether and XRP ETFs, underscoring a renewed institutional...
Brokers' Crypto Access Signals Full Securities Tokenization
Major brokers like Schwab now offering direct crypto access are simply a precursor to full securities tokenization… Brokers are building full infrastructure stack to handle crypto alongside tradfi investments. These investments will ultimately merge into one. Seems obvious.
Mastercard and SoFi Launch Pilot to Settle Card Payments with Stablecoin
Mastercard and SoFi Technologies have begun a pilot that uses SoFiUSD, a regulated digital dollar stablecoin, to settle credit and debit card transactions. The test keeps the consumer experience unchanged while moving the post‑authorization settlement onto a blockchain, a move...
Prediction‑Market Firms Ramp Up Washington Lobbying as Congress Mulls Tougher Crypto‑Gambling Rules
Kalshi and a cohort of crypto‑and sports‑betting firms have launched intensive lobbying campaigns in Washington as Congress prepares stricter rules for prediction‑market platforms. The industry, worth several billions of dollars, argues the measures could stifle innovation while regulators cite gambling...
Ethereum Holds Support, Still Seeking Proof
DOES ETH STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO PROVE ITSELF? 👀 After the retest, it’s holding above support. Do you believe in $ETH? Vitalik show us your strength https://t.co/0MERO73JkV
ICMA Responds to Eurosystem Consultation on Appia Roadmap
On 22 April 2026, the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) submitted its response to the Eurosystem’s consultation on the Appia roadmap, which seeks to build a European tokenised financial ecosystem. ICMA, representing issuers, banks, investors and service providers, welcomed the opportunity to...
Defining What Is a VASP License and Who Needs One for Business Operations
A VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) license is the regulatory authorisation required for crypto businesses that handle third‑party digital assets, as defined by the FATF. Jurisdictions such as Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Cayman Islands and BVI translate FATF standards into...
Guilt Admitted by British Hacker in $8M Crypto Theft Scheme
British hacker Tyler Buchanan pleaded guilty to a scheme that stole at least $8 million in cryptocurrency from U.S. victims, targeting roughly 12 companies across virtual‑currency, technology, telecom and entertainment sectors between September 2021 and April 2023. Prosecutors say he and co‑conspirators used...
Crypto Stealing Wallet Apps Proliferate in Apple App Store
A wave of 26 counterfeit crypto‑wallet apps masquerading as Coinbase, MetaMask, OneKey and Trust Wallet surfaced in the Apple App Store. The apps redirected users to phishing pages that installed malicious provisioning profiles, enabling the theft of mnemonic seed phrases....
Crypto 2028
The post argues that crypto’s next phase will be driven by AI‑powered agents that consume on‑chain compute and transact via micro‑payments. As cloud compute costs rise over 10% annually, scarcity will force developers to monetize compute through tokenized services. This...
Coinbase Says Bitcoin Not at Risk to Quantum
The Coinbase Quantum Advisory Council announced that Bitcoin’s core infrastructure—mining, hash functions, and historical data—is not presently vulnerable to quantum attacks. A multi‑institution research paper supports this view but warns that wallet‑level private keys could become exposed as quantum computers...
$293M KelpDAO Crypto Heist Exposes Cross-Chain Weaknesses in DeFi
A coordinated attack stole roughly $293 million worth of rsETH from KelpDAO, a liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum. The thieves compromised RPC nodes and flooded the network with DDoS traffic, corrupting LayerZero’s cross‑chain verification and allowing fraudulent transfers. The stolen tokens...
XRP Offers 20X Upside; Ripple Is Dividend Play
Two different bets. XRP is the asset, built for ROI, borrowing, and scaling with on-chain settlement demand. Ripple is the company. Brad Garlinghouse believes Ripple hits a trillion dollar valuation. At current $50 billion, that is a 20X. A 20X...
Retail Crypto Traders Flock to On‑Chain Derivatives, Driving Volume Surge
Retail crypto participants are abandoning spot purchases for on‑chain perpetual futures, now making up the bulk of global crypto trading volume. Platforms such as dYdX, GMX, Hyperliquid and Vertex enable 20‑100x leverage, reshaping trader behavior and market risk.
Little Pepe Meme Coin Raises $28 Million in Presale, Sparking Meme‑coin Rotation
Little Pepe ($LILPEPE) has secured more than $28 million in its Stage 13 presale, pricing tokens at $0.0022 and promising a jump to $0.0023 in Stage 14. The surge reflects a broader meme‑coin rotation toward early‑stage projects that blend hype with utility.
How Crypto Futures Markets Are Feeding ‘Scam Coin’ Insider Pump and Dumps
Crypto token RAVE briefly hit a $6.7 billion market cap on April 18 before crashing nearly 95% within hours. Analysts traced the volatility to a perpetual futures market built on a thin float, with over 90% of the token’s supply concentrated in...
Bitcoin Holds Steady Amid Trump‑Iran News Noise
Despite this little correction on the markets today, there's not much that has changed on #Bitcoin. The momentum is still there, the technical structure remains intact too. The market isn't pricing the news-related mentions of Trump and Iran today with a lot...
AG James Seeks Triple Fines, Profit Forfeiture From Coinbase, Gemini
"In her lawsuits filed today, AG James is asking the court to require Coinbase & Gemini to forfeit illegal profits, distribute restitution to consumers who were harmed and pay fines equal to 3X the profits the companies made through their...
How P2P.org Built a Solana Transaction Sender for Teams That Cannot Afford to Miss a Slot
P2P.org unveiled Syncro Sender, a Solana transaction sender built on its own staked validator infrastructure. By leveraging Stake‑Weighted Quality of Service (SWQoS) and multi‑path routing, the service delivers sub‑second latency for execution‑critical workflows such as arbitrage bots and liquidation engines....
NYAG Lawsuits Pile up with Problem Gambling Exhibits
There are already 81 docket entries in the NYAG v. Gemini lawsuit and 72 docket entries in the NYAG v. Coinbase lawsuit. Mostly exhibits to the State's TRO/PI motions. An article from @GamblingHarmOrg is one of the exhibits--many of...
Shielded Labs Boosts Zcash Security for Users
We at Shielded Labs have been working hard alongside others to urgently defend users and strengthen Zcash's security (https://t.co/GEDJVifGlc) …
XRP Ledger to Be Quantum-Proof Years Before Bitcoin
Ripple announced a hard deadline to make the XRP Ledger quantum‑proof by 2028, positioning it years ahead of the industry’s estimated "Q‑Day" in the 2030s. The roadmap, detailed by senior director Ayo Akinyele, outlines cryptographic upgrades that will protect the...
WLFI Token Lockup Hides Second Freeze for Select Investors
WLFI's token lockup is more layered than it looks. @tayvano_ explains why a select group of investors — including Justin Sun — face a second freeze even if the global lock lifts. And then there's the ultimatum they're all being forced...
Questioning DOGE: CMS Fared Better Than Other H
maybe DOGE was a mistake? (I know CMS didn't lose as many as other HHS agencies)
The Stablecoin Market Has Got Too Stable
Stablecoin issuance, especially dollar‑backed tokens, surged through 2024 but has flat‑lined in 2025, prompting analysts to label the market “too stable.” While proponents tout stablecoins as a low‑volatility bridge between crypto and traditional finance, the recent stall reveals limited new...
NY Attorney General's Office Made 22,000 Coinbase Trades
The New York AG's Office placed 22,000 bets on Coinbase over a two-and-a-half-month period. https://t.co/zRrJJCBqmG
Spark TVL Jumps $1B; Morpho Trails as Biggest Loser
Spark TVL is up by ~$1B in past 2 days, biggest gainer from Kelp hack. After Aave, Morpho is the biggest loser in terms of USD flows. https://t.co/Lv7j5fiiGn
Nigerian Web3 Startups Raised $43 Million in 2025, but Growth Remains Early
Nigeria’s Web3 sector raised $43 million in 2025, twice the amount raised in 2024, according to Hashed Emergent’s Nigeria Web3 Landscape Report. Funding was heavily skewed toward stablecoin‑centric finance, with 89% ($38 million) supporting payments, fiat‑crypto exchanges and related infrastructure. Early‑stage activity...
Kalshi Faces Likely NY Lawsuit After Coinbase, Gemini
“Legal expert Daniel Wallach noted that Kalshi is likely next after the lawsuit against Coinbase and Gemini. He explained that New York hasn’t sued the prediction markets platform because of the pending motion for a preliminary injunction.” https://t.co/F4FDlpNRvI
Bitcoin Could Face Shock Scenario by 2026
🚨 ONE OF THE SHOCK SCENARIOS Imagine if something like this happens to Bitcoin in 2026? 👀 https://t.co/AxSBLZuA0e
US Cracks Down on Crypto, Ignores Predatory Lotteries
It’s absolutely alarming that the USA government goes after select entities like prediction markets and crypto But not banning lottery tickets and scratchers that are on every street corner in low income areas. There is no debate on this.
Wait for EMA Reclaim Before NTR Upside Push
$NTR Breakdown and retesting resistance however.. Possible reversal pattern down here so if it can reclaim the EMAs then could make a nice upside push. Best to wait for that reclaim though. https://t.co/OIMtMYIxuQ
Team Advances Quantum-Ready Blockchain Research, Community Collaboration Ahead
Appreciate the team for conducting this research on quantum prep for blockchains. Excited to work together more with the community on next steps.
Captain Hook Pattern Drives $CAR Soaring Hundreds Percent
Now THAT'S a captain hook. And a great example of why it's my favorite bullish pattern (that I may or may not have made up, not sure what the technical term for it is.) $CAR up a few hundred percent...