The Wire

The deal gives Payward control of a fully licensed U.S. crypto derivatives stack, accelerating its expansion in regulated markets.

Bitcoin funding rates hit year-high negative levels, setting up a potential short squeeze—or bull trap—as its price tests $76K.

Bitcoin climbed toward $76,000 as ETF demand improves and Wall Street hits record highs, but analysts say the rally still looks fragile.

Bloomberg reported Flow Capital plans to tokenize its private credit fund to raise additional capital, but crypto execs warn tokenization doesn’t magically make hard-to-trade assets liquid.

Tempo’s new “Zones” feature offers private, permissioned stablecoin transactions on its layer-1 for enterprises, but critics warn the operator‑controlled design adds back centralized trust.

What you need to know for April 17, 2026

Lawyers allege Circle failed to freeze stolen USDC during an eight-hour window as hackers moved funds from the exploited trading platform.

The firm isn't interested in sports contracts, but suggested prediction markets could serve as a hedge for risks such as geopolitical events.

The bitcoin price is hovering near a key resistance level with $450 million in sell orders overhead as liquidations surge and derivatives data signal caution.

Foundation is shutting down after a failed sale to Blackdove, having processed about $230 million in NFT primary sales since its launch in 2021.

Industry speakers at Paris Blockchain Week said tokenization can broaden access and issuance, but it does not by itself create active secondary markets for illiquid assets.

RHODL ratio suggests market conditions resemble cycle corrections rather than late-stage tops, as long-term holders regain dominance.

The exchange, formerly known as Garantex and based in Kyrgyzstan, has been sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and EU for helping users bypass sanctions.

The company also seeks to raise an additional $30 million in tokenized shares by the end of this year, according to Bloomberg.

Quarterly transactions hit 200.4 million in Q1 2026, the first time above 200 million and more than double the 2023 lows.

A bitcoin indicator based on key moving averages has accurately marked every bear market bottom since 2015. That signal hasn't fired yet.

Meta-1 Coin was sold and marketed from 2018 to 2023 as an investment backed by $44 billion in gold and $1 billion in artworks, which turned out to be fictional.

March was the “weakest month" with $800 billion in centralized crypto exchange trading volume, the lowest since November 2023.

The researcher said they examined the fake Ledger device’s firmware and found signs pointing to a Chinese semiconductor company named Espressif Systems.

The Ketman Project, funded by an Ethereum Foundation stipend, identified 100 North Korean IT workers and alerted about 53 projects employing DPRK operatives.

Rhea Finance and the Russia-linked Grinex exchange were hacked for a combined $21 million over the past two days.

Bitfinex plans to use the returned coins to redeem all Recovery Right Tokens and devote at least 80 percent of remaining net proceeds to repurchasing and burning its UNUS SED LEO token.

Token outperforms bitcoin and ether over seven days, though thinning participation signals consolidation rather than conviction.

Funding rates at 2023 lows signal the market is heavily short against bitcoin, ZeroStack's Daniel Reis-Faria says, setting up conditions for a forced unwind if prices push higher.

A source told The Block that the latest text reflects previous language that bans rewards on idle stablecoin holdings.

Zanzibar police are reportedly holding Asymmetric founder Joe McCann for questioning after the death of his fiancée, Ashly Robinson.

Grinex has been accused by US authorities of assisting Russia and other entities in evading sanctions and laundering funds for Russia-linked hackers.

The lawsuit, filed by law firm Gibbs Mura, alleged that Circle failed to act swiftly to freeze the stolen USDC tied to the attack.

“When we hit it, it will be vicious, so we have to prepare for that eventuality,” said former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on a potential US Treasury market crisis.

Analysts say reclaiming $76,000, sustained spot market buy volume and consistent inflows to the Bitcoin ETFs are the necessary components required for a rally to new highs.

Circle was accused of aiding and abetting the conversion of the stolen funds and negligence after it did not freeze funds stolen from the Drift Protocol in April.

Bitcoin price has entered the breakout stage of a classic bullish reversal pattern and is now eyeing a run toward $90,000.

Bitcoin consolidates between $73,000 and $75,000 as liquidations trigger a short squeeze, but weak spot demand keeps the upside momentum in check.

Bitcoin’s futures funding rate has remained negative even as BTC bounced back above $75,000. Should traders be worried?

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says "it's not possible" to save all vulnerable Bitcoin from quantum computing under the current proposal.

Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

Stark's departure from the Ethereum Foundation is the most high-profile exit from the organization since its shakeup in the first quarter of 2025.

Liquidity and users of the sanctioned Garantex exchange have flowed into Grinex over the past year, Elliptic claims.

The Ethereum Foundation reported that a six-month program helped expose around 100 DPRK IT workers across 53 crypto projects.

Yuga Labs' new CEO Michael Figge most recently served as chief product officer and has been with the company since 2021.

A Texas man was sentenced to over two decades in prison after prosecutors said he scammed investors of more than $20 million.

Each Zone will offer a private execution environment managed by a trusted entity, Tempo wrote in an announcement.

An appellate court is expected to reach a decision after hearing arguments from Kalshi and lawyers representing the state of Nevada.

OpenAI's Codex desktop app now controls your Mac, runs its own browser, and generates images. The update pushes Codex further into territory occupied by Claude Code and OpenClaw.

Russian crypto exchange Grinex paused trading services after a $13 million exploit it says was conducted by "foreign special services."

The Bitcoin miner will use the proceeds to expand GPU capacity and data centers as it scales its high-performance computing business beyond mining.

The United States government has rapidly adopted AI tools in recent years, but skepticism towards both AI and agencies alike is only growing.

Richard Teng explains why crypto fundamentals remain strong, how regulation is driving global adoption, and where Binance is headed next.

Morgan Stanley's digital asset chief said demand is split between direct crypto exposure and ETFs, forcing banks to build for both.

Two linked wallets flawlessly bet on several pardons made by former President Joe Biden during his final minutes in office.

Mining companies are now split between those liquidating Bitcoin to cover operating expenses and those holding their BTC in reserve to fuel future growth.

Two months after a New York federal judge ruled AI conversations can be seized by prosecutors, more than a dozen major law firms have issued warnings to clients.

Traders say Bitcoin has room to rally higher, but the upside may be capped at BTC’s active supply cost basis near $78,000.

Selig faced heat from lawmakers on how he plans to oversee prediction markets and whether it has the headcount to do it.

Democratic lawmakers called out Michael Selig for unilaterally advancing policies at the regulator that's normally led by a bipartisan group of five commissioners.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage announced his backing of the company following its relaunch under the Stack BTC name in March.

Anthropic's new flagship model beat every benchmark we threw at it, eats tokens like a hungry teenager, and showed its reasoning out loud.

Charles Schwab President and CEO Rick Wurster indicated that America’s largest discount brokerage will likely support prediction markets.

Schwab will introduce direct trading in the two biggest cryptos through a dedicated account, its first move into spot trading as it expands its digital asset offerings.

Sports and war prediction markets and crypto-backed perpetual futures came under fire during a House committee hearing Thursday.

Bitcoin trades below the profitability threshold for active holders, with early signs of BTC demand offering limited price support for now.

Chairman Mike Selig faces explosive new market duties with crypto and prediction markets, where he said "numerous investigations" have begun.

The global RAM shortage claims another victim, with Meta boosting Quest 3 and Quest 3S prices following other gadget price hikes.

The Cardano founder argues BIP-361 is mislabeled as a soft fork and that its zero-knowledge recovery plan cannot rescue roughly 1.7 million pre-2013 bitcoin, including Satoshi's holdings.

Bitcoin attempted to recover the $75,000 level as US stocks chase after a second day of fresh all-time highs. Is the bull market back on?

X launched a new feature this week where users can view financial data on stocks and cryptocurrencies directly.

Circle has faced pushback online for standing pat as actors used its cross-chain protocol to move stolen funds.

The CEO of the troubled Zonda exchange has disclosed a Bitcoin wallet holding around 4,500 BTC, but said the private keys were never transferred during a company handover.

The move comes amid ongoing changes at the EF, including a renewed focus on scaling and developing the Ethereum mainnet.

Hyperbridge has raised its loss estimate from $237,000 to $2.5 million after a Token Gateway exploit, with some funds traced to Binance.

Polkadot bridge protocol Hyperbridge said losses from this week's hack were 10x worse than originally reported, tallying about $2.5 million.

The Drift Protocol will use the $150 million to relaunch and restore user funds following a $280 million exploit earlier in April.

Tokenized assets are moving from concept to portfolio allocation. Learn how compliance architecture and institutional movement are redefining risk and opportunity for advisors.

The $75,000-$76,000 range has proven to be stiff resistance as bitcoin attempts to claw back this year's losses.

Elite French police rescued a mother and child after kidnappers targeted the family's crypto wealth in the latest “wrench attack.”

The new regulations revealed by the Financial Conduct Authority include several technical traps which crypto software providers need to watch for to avoid sanctions

Payments companies are increasingly investing in new tools that will enable agents to safely execute transactions.

Social media company Snap is restructuring operations to focus on profitability as AI tools reshape how teams work across key initiatives.

The new platform, called Schwab Crypto, will roll out over the coming weeks and will only support bitcoin and ethereum at first.

A new zero-knowledge-powered system enables shielded bitcoin transactions, reflecting a broader push across crypto to address the “privacy gap” keeping institutions off public blockchains.

UAE investors are buying the AI and tech dip, keeping exposure to software, chips and crypto as the Iran conflict stress-tests the Gulf’s bid to be a global tech hub.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs added $186 million in their second straight day of positive flows, as Morgan Stanley's MSBT topped WisdomTree's fund.

Drift Protocol said it has secured up to $127.5 million from Tether to support user recovery after the April 1 exploit.

Aave (AAVE), down 1.1% from Wednesday, was also an underperformer.

The project, called DoubleZero Edge, offers a real-time feed of raw data from the Solana blockchain, giving traders faster access to information that can influence prices.

The money will be used by Drift to recover user funds after more than $270 million in clients assets were exploited this month, and will relaunch the protocol as a USDT-based perpetuals DEX on Solana.

Edge is a permissionless platform delivering ultra-fast onchain market data over DoubleZero's global fiber network.

BIP-361 would freeze the Bitcoin most at risk of seizure from quantum exploits. But will the community go for it?

The regulator is seeking feedback on its interpretation of regulated cryptoasset activities under rules set to take effect in October 2027.

On-chain data show increased selling pressure, with Bitcoin exchange inflows and large-holder deposits spiking to multi-month highs.

What you need to know for April 16, 2026

Despite a surge in short positioning, bitcoin has climbed toward $75,000, with past episodes of negative funding rates often aligning with local market bottoms.

Bitcoin is hovering near $75,000 as steady institutional demand meets a wall of supply, while the options market is biased toward downside hedges.

The Blockstream CEO’s approach contrasts with BIP-361, a proposal that would implement mandatory freezes of quantum-vulnerable Bitcoin.

Token-based payments can be programmed with spending limits and which industries can use them, reducing audits and lowering transaction fees by removing intermediaries.

Morgan Stanley’s new MSBT fund has quickly attracted over $100 million by offering the market's lowest fees, sparking a fresh wave of competition from rivals like Goldman Sachs.

The couple argued, according to hotel staff and were separated. Despite confirming Ashly Robinson died by suicide, police said they are still investigating her death.

The new Google Gemini Robotics AI model gives robots improved spatial reasoning and task planning abilities for industrial applications.

Maine's moratorium on AI data centers would last for over a year. Will the governor, embroiled in a tough Senate primary, sign it into law?

Anthropic quietly rolled out government ID and selfie verification for Claude—a first among major AI chatbots, and a peculiar pivot for a company whose privacy stance just drove a record wave of users away from ChatGPT.

World Liberty Financial's early supporters vented frustrations after the Trump-backed crypto venture released a four-year vesting schedule.

A $70 million feature film focusing on Bitcoin and the hunt for creator Satoshi Nakamoto will lean heavily on AI tools.

Alibaba shut down Qwen Code's free tier today, following MiniMax's license bait-and-switch. The idea that Chinese labs are the "open-source good guys" is crumbling fast.

Starbucks’ ChatGPT integration lets customers describe their mood or upload photos to receive AI-generated drink picks.

Leaked models, a new design tool, and an unreleaseable cyber weapon walk into a press cycle.

Leading Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies posted a major loss thanks to unrealized losses on its ETH.

The deal signals eToro's strategic push into self-custody solutions amid growing demand for non-custodial crypto infrastructure.

Banks in Pakistan can now provide services to registered crypto firms—but not trade crypto themselves—after a 2018 ban was rescinded.

Shares in High Roller Technologies nearly doubled Tuesday after the firm announced it was entering the prediction markets space.

Sterling Crispin's 'Nothing Ever Happens' bot automatically buys "No" on every non-sports Polymarket it finds. It's not that crazy.

The proposal would phase out Bitcoin's original security methods and freeze coins that don't move in time.

KellyBench put Claude, GPT-5, Gemini, and Grok through a full Premier League season of betting. Not one turned a profit. Here's why.

Sustainable footwear company Allbirds will rebrand as NewBird AI and enter the GPU-as-a-service market. Investors love the pivot.