News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily Planet Daily reported that Jason Karsh, the new Chief Marketing Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation, stated that for the crypto industry to achieve mainstream adoption, it must shift from short-term speculation and "hype cycles" to long-term value creation, emphasizing that "get rich slow" is the key path to building trust.Karsh pointed out that the industry's long-standing reliance on obscure jargon and technical terminology has actually widened the cognitive gap with average users. He believes that crypto "peaked too early in the public eye" due to the speculative frenzy, distorting its true value potential. He emphasized that the real opportunity lies in rebuilding the global financial infrastructure to enable more efficient value transfer and storage. Meanwhile, the Stellar Development Foundation, which has consistently focused on payment and cross-border financial applications since 2014, is now benefiting from the gradual regulatory recognition of stablecoins and tokenized assets.Karsh called stablecoins "the first killer app," but also noted that there is still a barrier to public understanding, suggesting they be redefined as "programmable dollars." He stated that the industry's future goal is to drive trillions of dollars in assets onto the blockchain, but the key lies in rebuilding trust at both the product and narrative levels, rather than relying on token issuance to drive growth. He concluded that the next wave of crypto growth will come from replacing traditional financial infrastructure, not just speculative cycles, but in the short term, the industry must first prioritize the foundational adoption phase of "attracting 100 million real users." (CoinDesk)
Odaily Bitcoin remained consolidating above $77,000 on Wednesday, with markets cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. According to market data, Bitcoin fluctuated within the range of approximately $75,689 to $77,837 during the session, and is currently trading around $77,100.This FOMC meeting is seen as a pivotal event. Markets widely expect interest rates to remain unchanged, but the real focus is on whether Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will signal a "higher-for-longer" hawkish stance. Additionally, this meeting may be his last as Fed Chair, with markets simultaneously pricing in uncertainty regarding policy direction and potential power transitions.On the capital front, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a reversal after nine consecutive days of net inflows. SoSoValue data shows that on April 28, ETFs recorded net outflows of approximately $89.68 million. Among them, BlackRock's IBIT saw a single-day outflow of about $112 million. Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs also logged net outflows of $21.8 million.On-chain data also signals caution. CryptoQuant noted that on April 27, exchange net inflows reached 9,905 BTC, the largest single-day inflow in nearly 30 days. Exchange reserves have also rebounded recently. If these inflows are not quickly absorbed, prices could retest the support range of $74,000–$75,000.On the macroeconomic front, fluctuations in crude oil prices and shifts in the Middle East energy landscape continue to influence inflation expectations. Some analysts believe this could limit the Fed's room for future easing. Meanwhile, market liquidity continues to weaken, with institutional trading volumes and perpetual contract activity both at low levels. This means any policy surprise could amplify price volatility.Overall, Bitcoin remains in a "low liquidity + high event risk" structure and may continue to oscillate within the $72,000 to $80,000 range in the short term, awaiting further clarity on the Fed's policy path. (The Block)
According to QCP Capital’s market report, as the geopolitical risk premium gradually subsided last week, market sentiment turned cautious, and investors’ attention has refocused on policy direction, the interest-rate path, and the economic growth outlook. Equities have been trading near recent highs but lack momentum for an upside breakout. The Federal Reserve’s FOMC decision is due today. A pause in rate hikes is now the baseline market expectation; however, with no new CPI or employment data released since the prior meeting, markets are highly sensitive to Chair Powell’s commentary—any hawkish signal could swiftly reprice front-end rates and tighten financial conditions. Meanwhile, growing attention is turning to potential leadership changes at the Fed. Kevin Warsh has gained increasing traction in market forecasts. His hawkish stance on inflation and skepticism toward quantitative easing stand in marked contrast to current policy approaches. Should he assume leadership, liquidity-driven assets—including crypto—could face pressure, given crypto markets’ particular sensitivity to rising real yields and a stronger U.S. dollar. Regarding Bitcoin: after a strong performance in April—supported by ETF inflows and sustained institutional accumulation—the price has entered a range-bound phase. Funding rates remain subdued, volatility continues to narrow, and the broader market is in a wait-and-see mode. QCP believes Bitcoin’s next directional move will hinge more on Fed signals and macroeconomic data than on crypto-native flows. Additionally, the upcoming tech earnings season, alongside releases of the PCE and GDP price indices, will further test the validity of the “soft landing” narrative.
Odaily News, Web3 security company CertiK has released its "2026 State of Digital Asset Regulation" report, systematically reviewing global regulatory trends. The report indicates that as of April 2026, regulatory frameworks in major jurisdictions such as the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore have been largely established, and the industry is entering a phase of comprehensive compliance.The report shows that anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement has replaced securities classification as the primary regulatory risk. In the first half of 2025, global AML-related fines exceeded $900 million, making transaction monitoring capabilities a core compliance requirement. Meanwhile, smart contract security audits are evolving from industry best practices into access conditions, becoming a prerequisite for license approval and token listings. Additionally, global stablecoin regulatory frameworks are converging, with principles such as full reserve backing and licensed issuance becoming widespread, though cross-jurisdictional regulatory differences still pose compliance challenges.The report states that with regulatory convergence and strengthened enforcement, the industry has entered an "era of strong compliance." CertiK indicated that the core challenge for enterprises is shifting from "whether to comply" to "how to quickly build and implement compliance capabilities." Multi-jurisdictional licensing, AML investment, and continuous security audits are becoming fundamental entry requirements for institutional development.
According to Bits.media, Russia’s Government Legislative Committee has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Finance to include cryptocurrency-related activities—including cryptocurrency exchanges—within the scope of personal income tax. The draft law proposes calculating transaction costs using the FIFO (First-In, First-Out) method and prohibits carrying forward losses from cryptocurrency transactions to future tax periods. Meanwhile, certain services and transactions would be exempt from value-added tax (VAT), including services provided by digital custodians and cryptocurrency exchange operators, as well as certain foreign digital rights transactions that do not involve physical delivery. For debt-type digital financial assets (e.g., tokenized bonds), the draft law establishes separate rules for profit tax calculation and permits loss carryforwards. Previously, Russia’s State Duma had approved the “Digital Currency and Digital Rights” bill at its first reading.
The Canadian House of Commons has passed the second reading of Bill C-25, which proposes to ban political parties and candidates from accepting cryptocurrency political donations. Introduced on March 26 as part of electoral law reforms, the bill aims to enhance transparency, strengthen enforcement, and reduce the risk of foreign interference. It will proceed to committee review and may still be subject to amendments. No fixed review date has been set yet.Meanwhile, Canada is advancing a regulatory framework for stablecoins and refining rules related to crypto investment funds, custody, and cold storage. (Cointelegraph)
According to an official announcement, ZetaChain stated that its GatewayEVM contract was attacked today, with the impact limited solely to internal wallets controlled by the ZetaChain team. The official statement confirmed that the attack vector has been blocked and no further funds are currently at risk. As a precautionary measure, ZetaChain has suspended cross-chain transactions. Meanwhile, the investigation remains ongoing; according to the official statement, no user funds have been affected by this incident, and a detailed post-mortem report will be released upon completion of the investigation.
the open interest (OI) for options on the Bitcoin spot ETF, IBIT, issued by BlackRock, rose to $27.61 billion on Friday, surpassing the $26.9 billion in the Bitcoin options market on the crypto derivatives platform Deribit for the first time.According to Volmex data, the call options holdings in IBIT are primarily betting that the Bitcoin price will rise to $109,709 in the short term, approximately 41% higher than the current level of around $77,400. Meanwhile, the Deribit market mainly expects Bitcoin to rise to about $106,000. Additionally, the average time to maturity of IBIT options is about two months longer than those on Deribit, indicating that investors in the regulated U.S. market are more inclined towards long-term holdings and stronger bullish sentiment. This further highlights the accelerating trend of institutionalization in the Bitcoin market. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, OSL Group has announced a partnership with Circle’s affiliated entities to expand USDC integration across its payment and trading platforms. Through OSL Global, users can exchange USD for USDC at a 1:1 ratio and trade BTC, ETH, SOL, USD, and USDT pairs in a dedicated USDC trading zone. Meanwhile, OSL has adopted USDC as its unified margin asset and integrated USDC into its payment services to support compliant digital dollar settlement and payment use cases. OSL also stated that it plans to support Circle’s tokenized money market fund, USYC, subject to regulatory requirements and platform eligibility criteria.
According to CoinPost, at the “9th BCCC Collaborative Day” held on April 21, 2026, Mr. Shigeharu Shimizu, Chief of the Risk Analysis Division, General Policy Bureau of Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), delivered a special keynote speech revealing significant progress in cryptocurrency regulation. The FSA has submitted a bill to the extraordinary Diet session proposing to transfer cryptocurrency assets from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. The bill centers on four key regulatory enhancements: strengthened disclosure requirements, establishment of a new category for independent operators, stricter penalties for unregistered operators, and comprehensive insider trading regulations. Meanwhile, the FSA is advancing three “Payment Innovation Projects (PIPs)” pilot experiments: 1) A cross-border yen stablecoin payment trial involving Japan’s three major banks; 2) On-chain settlement of government bonds, social bonds, and equities using blockchain technology, aiming to enable 24/7 continuous trading; and 3) A bank-to-bank tokenized deposit transfer experiment, which received official support on April 3 this month and will be coordinated with the Bank of Japan’s central bank reserve tokenization sandbox initiative. Mr. Shimizu stated that blockchain holds tremendous potential to enhance the convenience and diversification of financial services, and the FSA will continue advancing institutional development and practical implementation support.
Odaily News: New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Wednesday prohibiting state government employees from using non-public information to trade in prediction markets or assisting others in profiting from it. This move aims to address growing concerns over "insider betting" in prediction markets.According to the executive order, all government officials appointed by the governor or under her jurisdiction, as well as members of public agencies, are prohibited from using any non-public information obtained in the course of their duties to seek profits or avoid losses in prediction markets or similar services. They are also barred from assisting others in such activities. The governor mentioned in the document that the current "rapid expansion of prediction markets" has drawn regulatory attention.The day before, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also issued a similar executive order, banning state government personnel from using non-public information to participate in prediction market betting.Meanwhile, prediction market platform Kalshi disclosed that it has launched investigations into three insider trading cases involving candidates and has imposed fines and trading suspensions on the relevant individuals. One of those penalized is Mark Moran, a candidate in the Virginia State Senate Democratic primary, who was penalized for betting on his own campaign and stated he "hoped to be caught."
According to an official announcement, Kalshi—a prediction market regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—has integrated Pyth as the settlement data source for its newly launched Commodities Hub, covering markets including gold, silver, Brent crude oil, natural gas, copper, corn, soybeans, and wheat. Meanwhile, Pyth Pro will provide Kalshi’s market makers with direct access to market data. Kalshi stated that this move aims to support continuous trading and reliable settlement of commodity-related event contracts; Pyth Pro will subsequently expand to additional asset classes, including indices, equities, and foreign exchange.
According to CoinDesk, citing the Financial Times, Revolut—the largest fintech company in Europe and a crypto-friendly platform—has informed investors that its target valuation range for its IPO is $150 billion to $200 billion, with the earliest possible listing date no earlier than 2028. Previously, in November 2025, the company completed a share sale at a valuation of $75 billion—representing over a 125% increase from that figure. Meanwhile, Revolut is reportedly preparing for a secondary share sale in the second half of 2026, with an expected valuation of approximately $100 billion. Financially, the company’s pre-tax profit for 2025 rose 57% year-on-year to £1.7 billion (approximately $2.3 billion). On the operational front, Revolut obtained a full UK banking license in March this year and has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a U.S. banking license, accelerating its global market expansion. However, insiders indicate that a formal valuation target has not yet been finalized.
Odaily News: According to sources, UK-based digital bank Revolut plans to seek a valuation between $150 billion and $200 billion in its future IPO, a significant increase from its previous $75 billion valuation. The company's CEO, Nik Storonsky, also revealed that Revolut is preparing for a new round of secondary share sale in the second half of 2026, with a potential valuation exceeding $100 billion. (Financial Times)Previously, Nik Storonsky stated that the company's listing timeline is at least two years away, potentially delayed until 2028 at the earliest, with no immediate IPO plans. He pointed out that Revolut is currently focusing on expanding its presence in the US market, including applying for a banking license to gain access to the Federal Reserve's payment system and expand its lending and credit card businesses. Meanwhile, the company has already obtained a full banking license in the UK.
According to The Block, the UK Treasury has unveiled a payment regulatory reform proposal that aims to bring traditional payment services, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits under a unified regulatory framework. The proposal also plans to regulate stablecoins used for payments through subsequent issuance rules. Additionally, it seeks to expand the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) supervisory authority over open banking and explore regulatory adjustments for payment activities conducted by AI agents. Meanwhile, the UK Treasury will provide £1 million in funding to the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology starting in April and has appointed Chris Woolard CBE to lead the development of a tokenized financial system for wholesale digital markets.
According to Crypto Briefing, Nik Storonsky, CEO of Revolut—the largest fintech company in Europe—told David Rubenstein in a recent interview that the company’s IPO is still at least “two years away,” meaning it would not go public before 2028 at the earliest. Prior to its IPO, Revolut will continue offering liquidity to employees and early investors via secondary share sales; a new round of such transactions is reportedly slated for 2026. The company’s latest valuation stands at $75 billion. Meanwhile, Revolut is actively expanding into the U.S. market and has completed its second application for a U.S. banking charter. If approved, it would gain direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment systems and be able to offer loans and credit cards to U.S. customers.
According to The Block, the cryptocurrency venture capital sector is undergoing a structural shift. Investors now broadly require startups to demonstrate real users and revenue before committing capital—marking the end of the era when early-stage fundraising was easy. Token-based exit strategies have become significantly less reliable; low-liquidity, high-valuation token launches continue to underperform the broader market, prompting investors to revert to traditional equity-oriented thinking. Meanwhile, the rise of the AI sector has siphoned off substantial LP capital and entrepreneurial talent, further intensifying fundraising challenges for crypto VCs. Nonetheless, several investors note that reduced competition, more rational valuations, and an improving regulatory environment point to 2026–2027 as the strongest investment years since 2018. Future capital will focus on areas with clear business models—including stablecoins, payments, tokenization, real-world assets (RWAs), and financial infrastructure—while the boundaries between crypto VCs and traditional VCs accelerate toward convergence.
According to an official announcement from Curve Finance, due to a hacker attack on the rsETH LayerZero infrastructure, Curve Finance has suspended its LayerZero infrastructure for security reasons, pending further investigation into the root cause before resuming operations. This suspension affects the following: cross-chain bridging of CRV tokens from BNB Chain, Sonic, Avalanche, Fantom, Etherlink, and Kava (chains using native bridges remain unaffected), as well as the crvUSD fast bridge functionality (the L2 slow bridge remains fully operational). Meanwhile, KelpDAO is also reported to have suffered a vulnerability exploit involving approximately $291 million; the exact extent of losses is still under investigation.
Odaily News: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that a cryptocurrency company linked to "Russian mafia and intelligence agencies" is funding political opponents and influencing domestic crypto regulatory legislation. During a parliamentary vote on Friday, Tusk pointed out that some Polish politicians are obstructing crypto regulatory legislation to serve a company named Zondacrypto, which is alleged to provide "financial support" to political figures and has ties to Russia.Tusk further claimed that the company sponsored the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event held in Poland last year, during which former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem publicly supported President Karol Nawrocki's campaign.Tusk bluntly stated that the company's funding sources not only involve "funds related to the Russian mafia (Bratva)" but may also be connected to Russian intelligence agencies.Meanwhile, President Nawrocki won the election last June, with his camp receiving support from former U.S. President Donald Trump. The President's Office responded that it is not opposed to crypto regulation itself but opposes the "flawed regulatory model" proposed by the government.This controversy arises amidst the political tug-of-war in Poland over the crypto regulatory bill. The bill aims to align with the EU's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) framework. However, the President previously vetoed the relevant bill and blocked parliament from overriding the veto in December, stalling the regulatory process. (The Block)
According to Tech in Asia, Naver plans to pursue an IPO for its subsidiary Naver Financial within five years after completing a share swap transaction with Dunamu—the operator of South Korea’s Upbit cryptocurrency exchange. Per the shareholders’ agreement signed by both parties, an IPO committee must be established within one year following the completion of the transaction; if the IPO is not completed within five years, the deadline may be extended up to seven years. The specific timing and structure of the IPO have yet to be determined and will depend on market conditions and regulatory developments. Notably, South Korea’s proposed Digital Asset Basic Act could impact the transaction structure, and regulators are also discussing a rule that would cap the maximum shareholding ratio for major shareholders of cryptocurrency exchanges at 20%. Meanwhile, Dunamu’s operating profit for 2025 declined 26.7% year-on-year to KRW 869.3 billion (approximately USD 591 million), primarily due to a slowdown in cryptocurrency trading volume.