News linked to both this project and an event.
According to official announcements, the blockchain infrastructure protocol project IOTA has completed a major consensus upgrade, migrating the IOTA mainnet from Mysticeti to Starfish. Cross-border trade systems operate across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory regimes; thus, the infrastructure underpinning trade, logistics, and regulatory environments must remain reliable even under unpredictable real-world conditions. As an evolutionary iteration of the consensus engine Mysticeti, Starfish represents a novel prototype of distributed ledger technology that decouples the consensus process from validator synchronization. This design ensures network reliability and stability—even if certain validator nodes experience latency or disconnection—much like a starfish, which can regenerate lost limbs without dying. Starfish’s design goals extend beyond performance enhancement: it aims to reinforce IOTA’s position as a foundational platform for global trade and regulated systems. Starfish recognizes that global trade systems must remain available despite latency, volatility, and partial failures—and with Starfish, IOTA can continue advancing and recovering even amid unstable participation.
According to Business Insider, U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Major Gannon Van Dyke has been charged with allegedly using classified military information to place bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket regarding the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—netting over $400,000 in illegal profits. Notably, Van Dyke had previously attempted to open an account on rival platform Kalshi but was rejected due to failure to pass identity verification and KYC checks. Polymarket stated it proactively reported the suspicious trading activity to law enforcement authorities and has fully cooperated with the investigation. This case is regarded as the first major insider-trading criminal prosecution in the prediction market space, reigniting market concerns about insider-trading risks on prediction platforms.
According to an official announcement, Robinhood has received in-principle approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch brokerage services in Singapore, covering securities trading, exchange-traded derivatives, custody, product financing, and collective investment schemes. Robinhood stated that Singapore will serve as its Asia-Pacific headquarters to support its international expansion. Its subsidiary, Bitstamp Asia Pte. Ltd., already holds a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license issued by the MAS. Note that in-principle approval is not equivalent to a formal license; Robinhood Singapore Pte. Ltd. must still meet relevant conditions before receiving final approval to commence operations.
According to The Block, Jaret Seiberg, Managing Director of the Washington Research Group at investment bank TD Cowen, stated that stablecoin yield issues are not the sole obstacle to the passage of the Clarity Act—and cited the following five additional hurdles: 1. A severe shortage of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioners: only Chairman Michael Selig remains in office, and the process to appoint new commissioners could take several months, while the bill must complete its review by the end of July; 2. Complex regulatory questions surrounding prediction markets—including concerns about insider trading and potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump family—which may prompt Democratic lawmakers to withdraw their support via related amendments; 3. Ongoing controversy surrounding World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project affiliated with the Trump family, increasing political resistance from Democrats toward supporting the bill; 4. Reports indicating Iran is discussing requiring vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to pay tolls in cryptocurrency—a development that could trigger contentious anti-money laundering (AML) amendments, potentially serving as a “poison pill” for the bill; 5. Risk that the Credit Card Competition Act could be attached to the Clarity Act, jeopardizing the entire bill’s progress. Regarding stablecoin yield issues, Senator Thom Tillis indicated that the Senate Banking Committee will not vote on the bill until as early as May. TD Cowen maintains its assessment that the bill has approximately a one-in-three chance of passing this year, while Galaxy Digital estimates the probability at roughly 50%.
According to CoinDesk, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure publicly stated on April 17 that Europe needs more euro-denominated stablecoins and strongly encouraged EU banks to explore launching tokenized deposits. Lescure explicitly backed the Qivalis consortium—a group of 12 European banks including BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas—that plans to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, aiming to counter U.S. dominance in digital payments. He also noted that the current scale of euro-pegged stablecoins remains far smaller than that of dollar-pegged stablecoins—a situation he described as “unsatisfactory.” This statement marks a clear departure from France’s previous hardline regulatory stance: former Finance Minister Le Maire had declared that private stablecoins “have no place in Europe,” while Bank of France Governor Villeroy de Galhau has repeatedly warned that stablecoins pose risks of monetary privatization.