Upheaval at the Ethereum Foundation has some of crypto’s biggest names feeling bullish
In this week's edition of The Protocol Newsletter, we're looking at Ethereum's eventful week that started off with the launch of EthLabs, plus the layoffs at the Ethereum Foundation, and what this all means for the network.
7:48 PM
Positive
Kalshi targets a massive $40 billion valuation, widening lead over rival Polymarket
The prediction market operator, which is eyeing a potential public debut in 2027, could close a new funding round in Q3, according to a Financial Times report.
5:18 PM
Binance withdraws Greek MiCA bid but vows to remain in Europe
The crypto giant must find a home base in the EU by July 1 or regulators will force the company to shut down operations for millions of regional users.
4:01 PM
Negative
BTC0.00%
Bitcoin falls below $60,000 as AI trade continues to draw investor interest and capital
South Korean memory chip giant on Wednesday filed to raise nearly $30 billion in a U.S. offering.
4:00 PM
BTC0.00%
Crypto Long & Short: Infrastructure is the prevailing currency in digital assets
In this week's Crypto Long & Short, Nonco’s Caue Teixeira makes the case that regardless of which coin ultimately wins, infrastructure is the prevailing currency in digital assets. Then, using CoinDesk's liquidation feed, Liquibit Capital's Alen Pavlović finds that June's forced selling peaked near $68,000, days before bitcoin actually bottomed.
3:45 PM
Negative
SecondFi loses $2.4 million in Cardano wallet exploit
SecondFi was hit by three separate attacks exploiting a flaw in its wallet generation software. A further 129 million ADA was secured by the team before attackers could reach it.
3:42 PM
Negative
Trump's refusal to sign housing bill could delay Congress and imperil Clarity Act
As Congress prepared to celebrate the president's signing of the bipartisan housing bill that contains a CBDC prohibition, Trump abruptly cancelled the event.
3:23 PM
Neutral
Ex-FCA policy insider explains the ‘great divide’ in the UK’s crypto ambition
Former FCA policymaker and Hedera Global Policy VP, Isadora Arredondo says there is a gap between the U.K.'s crypto ambitions and how policy is carried out in practice.
2:47 PM
Negative
Bitcoin just broke below the floor of its famous Rainbow Chart into the ‘BTC is dead’ zone
A 50% drop from recent highs has pushed the asset into a zone historically labeled as a dead end, sparking a debate among crypto analysts.
1:48 PM
Negative
Gold, silver and bitcoin tumble as 'debasement' trade unwinds
Precious metals have fallen sharply from their 2025 highs as markets price in Fed rate hikes.
1:42 PM
Negative
BTC0.00%
Bitcoin could fall to $55,000 before finding a bottom, 10x Research says
A strengthening U.S. dollar and the Fed's hawkish turn under new chair Kevin Warsh may keep pressure on crypto through the summer.
1:19 PM
Positive
CoinDesk 20 performance update: Aave (AAVE) gains 5.9% as index moves higher
Internet Computer (ICP), up 2% from Tuesday, joined Aave (AAVE) as a top performer.
1:00 PM
CZ, Binance founder, wants to clear up 'misunderstandings' about who he is
The former CEO of the world's largest crypto exchange is seeking to redefine himself to the world on his own terms.
12:48 PM
Positive
BTC0.00%
+2 Assets
Aave could soar to $3,500 by 2030 on DeFi revival, says StanChart
Geoff Kendrick said Aave has moved past April's cyberattack-related market disruption and is well positioned to benefit from growth in tokenized assets and DeFi.
11:36 AM
Positive
BTC0.00%
+1 Asset
This forgotten coin could surprise everyone before its next halving
Your day-ahead look for June 24, 2026
11:04 AM
Negative
BTC0.00%
+6 Assets
Bitcoin clings to $62,500 as bears tighten grip on crypto market
Bitcoin held above $62,500 and ether near $1,665, but sluggish price action and widening put skews signal bears remain firmly in control.
10:47 AM
Positive
YZi Labs ends proxy war with BNB treasury company CEA Industries
Partner Alex Odagiu will serve as an interim president, pending a search for a new chief executive, while head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang and Matthew Roszak also appointed directors of CEA.
10:38 AM
Positive
Cboe revives S&P 500 binary options, chasing a market popularized by Polymarket, Kalshi
One of the largest U.S. derivatives exchanges is bringing back yes/no bets on the S&P 500 after pulling them a decade ago, moving onto turf that Polymarket and Kalshi turned into one of the internet's fastest-growing corners.
9:47 AM
Positive
The Runes revival: Bitcoin traffic hits a two-year high as transactions blast past 820,000
A surge in Rune protocol activity is pushing Bitcoin transaction counts and fee generation to multi year highs.
OnchainLens monitoring reported on December 21 that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold multiple cryptocurrencies over the past two days—including UNI, ZORA, BNB, KNC, OMG and other meme tokens—totaling tens of thousands of dollars. Following those sales, he transferred approximately $564,672 in USDC and 27 ETH (valued at roughly $80,364) using the privacy protocol Railgun.
Relevant content
Vice President of Strive: Strategy's STRC Has Essential Differences from the Luna/UST Model
Strive Vice President Joe Burnett wrote in an article that prior to the TerraUSD collapse, roughly $18.7 billion in UST was in circulation, backed by just $3.1 billion in Bitcoin reserves, and UST allowed immediate redemptions. Currently, Strategy holds around $51.5 billion in Bitcoin, corresponding to a circulating STRC supply of approximately $10.5 billion, while STRC is not an immediately redeemable asset. He stressed that the two differ significantly in collateral structure, asset coverage ratio, and redemption mechanism, noting "they are clearly completely different models."
1 minutes ago
trade.xyz launches contract trading for Japanese storage stock Kioxia (KOXIA)
According to official announcements, trade.xyz has launched contract trading for Japanese storage stock Kioxia (KOXIA), supporting up to 10x leverage. The Kioxia (KIOXIA) product tracks the value of each common share of Kioxia Holdings Corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (stock code: 285A). Its price conversion mechanism converts the underlying Japanese stock price from yen to U.S. dollars based on the current USD/JPY exchange rate. Kioxia manufactures NAND flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs) for use in data centers, consumer electronics, mobile devices, and enterprise storage.
1 minutes ago
Japanese storage chip manufacturer Kioxia's share price rose more than 12%
According to Bitget market data, the share price of Japanese storage chip manufacturer Kioxia Holdings (铠侠) surged by 12%.
1 minutes ago
Coinbase secures Luxembourg’s MiCA license, to base its EU operations in Luxembourg.
According to an official announcement, Luxembourg has officially become Coinbase’s registered MiCA Home under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Moving forward, Coinbase will use Luxembourg as its EU business hub to provide compliant crypto asset services for users across EU member states.
1 minutes ago
The KyberSwap attacker has transferred another 2000 ETH to Tornado Cash, with over 80% of the stolen funds now laundered.
According to PeckShield’s monitoring, an address identified as the KyberSwap attacker has once again transferred 2,000 ETH to Tornado Cash. Over the past two years, this attacker has cumulatively transferred and mixed 16,100 ETH via Tornado Cash, equivalent to roughly $40 million at current prices, accounting for over 80% of the $48.8 million lost in the KyberSwap attack in November 2023. Some of the stolen funds have not yet been fully transferred.
1 minutes ago
James Wynn closed out his 40x Bitcoin short position, netting $30,000 in profits, and shifted to opening a 50x S&P 500 short position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, James Wynn has liquidated his 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position, pocketing roughly $30,000 in profit. He subsequently opened a new 50x leveraged S&P 500 (SP500) short position at a price of 334.42, betting on a future decline in the US stock market.
Railgun [RAIL] has hit a key milestone that could scale privacy for DeFi like never before. The privacy mania has been so loud on token price gains, but the underlying protocols haven’t been very useful or scalable until now.
From Zcash to Tornado Cash, users could only deposit funds and shield them (hide) from the public or explorers. You can only park the funds there with limited utility.
However, to swap into a DeFi or use a lending protocol, one had to unshield and move the funds, making it easy to correlate and track the activity – A zero usability apart from hiding balances that limits legacy privacy protocols.
Now, the Ethereum [ETH]-based project has successfully tested Railgun_connect on CowSwap, effectively allowing private wallets to use DeFi platforms without unshielding and moving funds.
The project said,
“RAILGUN_connect is a first-of-its-kind tool for privacy and is a huge leap in making private addresses as functional as public ones.”
The team billed the feature as a ‘universal plug-and-play’ that will ‘eliminate the heavy work needed to build an integration to use a DeFi application from a private balance.’
Railgun leverages zero-knowledge proofs for shielded transfers, so interactions with DeFi frontends don’t compromise decentralization or privacy.
Railgun traction hits record high The push for DeFi privacy at scale aligns with Ethereum’s vision and increasing appetite for such solutions.
In fact, the number of shields per day for tracking private wallets has been rising sharply since 2025. In early 2026, the daily average shield hit a record high of 326, further confirming the massive demand for privacy.
Source: X/Etherscan Additionally, the cumulative volume on the privacy protocol reached a record $4.5 billion, up from $2.4 billion a year ago. This translated into nearly 100% growth, or 2x, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
Source: Dune The native governance token, RAIL, didn’t fall behind amid this growing network traction. In fact, after the pullback earlier in the week, the token recovered 25%.
This was part of a broader privacy coins rally after the E.U.-U.S. tensions eased, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff pause in favor of a potential Greenland deal.
Source: RAIL/USD, TradingView Final Thoughts Railgun unveiled Raingun_connect, a ‘plug and play’ feature to scale DeFi privacy The privacy project has seen a record daily shield of 326 amid rising demand for privacy solutions.
Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
With the start of a new month, the activity of wallets belonging to Vitalik Buterin has once again attracted attention from the crypto community, amid a market recovery, particularly with Ethereum gaining nearly 8% since the beginning of the week.
Buterin continues to execute a strategy of offloading gifted meme coins and reallocating funds toward infrastructure and, apparently, charitable initiatives. According to Onchain Lens, which cites Arkham data, several such transactions have been recorded in recent hours.
Specifically, Buterin sold another batch of unknown low-cap meme coins sent to him, receiving about 14.5 ETH, which is just over $30,000 at the current rate.
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Is new meme purge starting? Buterin's position here is clear, as he has repeatedly stated that he does not want to receive such tokens as gifts and urges developers to direct them to charity. Historically, he either "burns" these coins or sells them to fund ecosystem development and charitable causes, as seen when he donated $1 billion worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) back in 2021.
This is why the context of SHIB resurfaced in today’s transactions. Buterin recently criticized how his previous donation in this token, ultimately valued at $500 million, was used by the Future of Life Institute to lobby politicians for AI.
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At the same time, Buterin continues to actively use privacy tools. In particular, he transferred 70,000 USDC and 44 ETH, totaling $92,000, into the Railgun protocol. Buterin has long advocated that privacy is a fundamental human baseline, making Railgun, built on ZK-SNARKs, a suitable tool for protecting transactions from excessive public monitoring.
The last time Buterin sold Ethereum was at the end of February 2026, when he offloaded 17,696 ETH worth $35 million. Whether today’s activity signals a similar move for April remains unlikely for now, as the nature of these transactions differs.
PeckShield: WUSD/GLOVE liquidity pool attacked, resulting in losses of approximately $207,000.
PANews reported on May 25th that, according to PeckShield monitoring, the WUSD/GLOVE project on Ethereum suffered an attack, resulting in a loss of approximately $207,000. After obtaining the funds, the attackers converted the stolen assets into approximately 98 ETH and transferred them to the privacy protocol Railgun.
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May 25 update: According to monitoring from blockchain security firm PeckShield, the WUSD/GLOVE deployment on the Ethereum network was exploited in an attack, resulting in approximately $207,000 in losses. The attacker converted the stolen assets into roughly 98 ETH, then transferred these funds to Railgun—a privacy protocol—apparently aiming to obfuscate the flow of money through coin mixing and privacy-enhancing tools.
Relevant content
Vice President of Strive: Strategy's STRC Has Essential Differences from the Luna/UST Model
Strive Vice President Joe Burnett wrote in an article that prior to the TerraUSD collapse, roughly $18.7 billion in UST was in circulation, backed by just $3.1 billion in Bitcoin reserves, and UST allowed immediate redemptions. Currently, Strategy holds around $51.5 billion in Bitcoin, corresponding to a circulating STRC supply of approximately $10.5 billion, while STRC is not an immediately redeemable asset. He stressed that the two differ significantly in collateral structure, asset coverage ratio, and redemption mechanism, noting "they are clearly completely different models."
1 seconds ago
trade.xyz launches contract trading for Japanese storage stock Kioxia (KOXIA)
According to official announcements, trade.xyz has launched contract trading for Japanese storage stock Kioxia (KOXIA), supporting up to 10x leverage. The Kioxia (KIOXIA) product tracks the value of each common share of Kioxia Holdings Corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (stock code: 285A). Its price conversion mechanism converts the underlying Japanese stock price from yen to U.S. dollars based on the current USD/JPY exchange rate. Kioxia manufactures NAND flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs) for use in data centers, consumer electronics, mobile devices, and enterprise storage.
1 seconds ago
Japanese storage chip manufacturer Kioxia's share price rose more than 12%
According to Bitget market data, the share price of Japanese storage chip manufacturer Kioxia Holdings (铠侠) surged by 12%.
1 seconds ago
Coinbase secures Luxembourg’s MiCA license, to base its EU operations in Luxembourg.
According to an official announcement, Luxembourg has officially become Coinbase’s registered MiCA Home under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Moving forward, Coinbase will use Luxembourg as its EU business hub to provide compliant crypto asset services for users across EU member states.
1 seconds ago
The KyberSwap attacker has transferred another 2000 ETH to Tornado Cash, with over 80% of the stolen funds now laundered.
According to PeckShield’s monitoring, an address identified as the KyberSwap attacker has once again transferred 2,000 ETH to Tornado Cash. Over the past two years, this attacker has cumulatively transferred and mixed 16,100 ETH via Tornado Cash, equivalent to roughly $40 million at current prices, accounting for over 80% of the $48.8 million lost in the KyberSwap attack in November 2023. Some of the stolen funds have not yet been fully transferred.
1 seconds ago
James Wynn closed out his 40x Bitcoin short position, netting $30,000 in profits, and shifted to opening a 50x S&P 500 short position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, James Wynn has liquidated his 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position, pocketing roughly $30,000 in profit. He subsequently opened a new 50x leveraged S&P 500 (SP500) short position at a price of 334.42, betting on a future decline in the US stock market.
The Ethereum Foundation's Kohaku Initiative released an SDK enabling seamless integration of shielded pool protocols like Railgun, Tornado Cash, and Privacy Pools directly into wallet interfaces, with 4337 relaying now operational.
The Ethereum Foundation's Kohaku Initiative announced the release of its SDK for integrating privacy protocols into Ethereum wallets without intermediaries.
The team achieved a major milestone with v0.0.1-alpha.21 of the kohaku-eth/railgun integration, which now features operational 4337 mempool relaying for private transactions. Tornado Cash and Privacy Pools integrations are in development.
Kohaku aims to make end-to-end privacy the default for Ethereum users by abstracting away the complexity of interacting with existing shielded pool protocols.
Rather than relying on protocol-specific relaying infrastructure, the SDK enables all privacy protocol transactions to route through the 4337 mempool—a shift the team describes as a major contribution toward user-controlled privacy without dependence on centralized relayers.
Wallets in the worksThe initiative is actively demonstrating practical applications of the SDK beyond theoretical research. Developers have created a CLI-based wallet that consumes the Kohaku SDK to showcase real-world functionality. Wallet integrations are underway, with production wallets including Ambire preparing implementations. A browser extension experimental wallet developed in collaboration with breadcoop is also in progress.
Kohaku's scope extends beyond the work currently highlighted. The initiative is also developing infrastructure for post-quantum accounts, multisigs, and hardware wallet support, according to the team.
The SDK documentation is being expanded to improve developer experience, with the team emphasizing that wallet integration timelines require patience as production implementations move forward.
The Kohaku Initiative represents the Ethereum Foundation's focus on bringing privacy solutions from the research phase to real user adoption. Code is available on GitHub, and vision documentation for the CLI wallet component is publicly accessible. The team plans to showcase progress at Berlin Blockchain Week.
Sources: Ethereum Foundation Kohaku GitHub | Kohaku CLI GitHub Repository | Kohaku Vision Documentation | X Announcement
PANews reported on May 26th that, according to The Defiant, the Kohaku Initiative, a subsidiary of the Ethereum Foundation, has released a software development kit (SDK) that allows privacy protocols such as Railgun, Tornado Cash, and Privacy Pools to be directly integrated into wallet interfaces without intermediaries. This SDK enables all privacy protocol transactions to be routed through the 4337 mempool, allowing users to control their privacy independently without relying on centralized relayers.
The team has implemented private transactions with 4337 mempool relay functionality, and integrations with Tornado Cash and Privacy Pools are under development. Kohaku aims to make end-to-end privacy the default option for Ethereum users by abstracting the complexity of privacy protocol interactions. Developers have created CLI-based wallet demos, and wallets such as Ambire are being integrated, while a browser-based wallet extension is also under development. Kohaku is also developing post-quantum accounts, multi-signature, and hardware wallet support.
Manifold Finance's FOLD token crashes to 64 cents from a $87 peak amid product disappointment.Founder Sam Bacha goes quiet, responds to concerns with memes and jokes.Once-promising startup raised $2.5 million from VCs before downward spiral.Manifold Finance, a onetime buzzy crypto project, has plunged into turmoil.
Its erratic founder is unreachable, the price of its token is plummeting, and frustrated supporters are pleading for updates.
Manifold’s token, FOLD, hit an all-time low of 64 cents on November 8 — 98% off its 2022 peak of $87 — even as crypto markets surged on the election of Donald Trump as the US president.
Fold’s worth peaked at more than $87, and it was trading above $30 as recently as April. In 2022, the venture’s market value topped $128 million. Now it’s only $2 million.
Disappointing responseThe token has crashed amid a disappointing response to Manifold’s year-old liquid staking product, which was meant to compete with the likes of crypto giants Lido and Rocket Pool.
It has also suffered as a prominent backer stopped providing liquidity for the token on decentralised exchange SushiSwap earlier this year.
Meanwhile, founder Sam Bacha has not provided regular updates on a forthcoming product meant to reverse Manifold’s declining fortunes. Self-imposed deadlines have come and gone.
Bacha has occasionally commented in a 2,500-person Telegram chat without offering any explanation as to his whereabouts or Manifold’s progress, instead cracking jokes and sharing irrelevant memes, infuriating some supporters.
Lost supportEven one of Manifold’s most prominent investors, crypto influencer Jordan Fish, better known as Cobie, said in the group Telegram chat that he has lost faith in the company.
“I invested in it in 2021, and at the top, it was worth like $5m and now it’s worth 0,” Fish told DL News. “I don’t know what to tell you, yeah, seems like it failed, crypto investments are risky, maybe I should’ve sold the top, it is what it is.”
‘When did you last talk to Sam? He still alive?’
— Supporter on TelegramPhilipp Zahn, a co-founder of Manifold partner 20squares, declined to comment to DL News, but called the company a “former client.”
Bacha and Alexander Bradley, Manifold employee, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Manifold isn’t Bacha’s first project to go sideways.
His last crypto startup, Block Array, appears to be defunct, and has been dogged by allegations of fraud. What’s more, this isn’t the first time he’s gone weeks without providing the status updates that are de rigueur in the crypto industry.
But with the collapse of Manifold’s token and supporters’ anger boiling over, Bacha’s behaviour has taken a more ominous tone.
It’s the latest example of the pitfalls that come with crypto’s freewheeling culture.
Past troubleBacha graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2013, according to his LinkedIn account, which noted he had stints at AT&T and Amazon before founding his first blockchain-based startup in 2017.
Block Array’s website and white paper were inaccessible on Friday. The X account for its Freight Trust product has been suspended. Freight Trust’s token, EDI, is seldom traded and, despite a total supply of 600 million, had no market value Friday, according to Etherscan. Block Array’s token, ARY, is also worthless, according to Etherscan.
Malicious botsManifold was founded in 2021 to help crypto traders avoid front-running from malicious bots. It raised $2.5 million from P2P.org, Marshland Capital, and several other venture investors.
A version of that anti-front running software was developed for SushiSwap, a decentralised crypto exchange.
But it was quickly shelved due to software bugs. SushiSwap declined to integrate a retooled version of the software, opting to pursue development of an in-house version instead.
After forays into other crypto middleware, Manifold eventually pivoted to liquid staking, a multibillion-dollar business long dominated by DeFi giant Lido.
But Manifold’s liquid staking token, mevETH, saw little uptake after its launch a year ago; the market value peaked at $36 million in March.
Certain transactionsSince then, it has been working in collaboration with German research firm 20squares on a new product, XGA.
XGA is meant to ensure prompt confirmation of certain transactions, which sometimes wallow on Ethereum when a user doesn’t pay a sufficient fee.
Manifold investors held out hope XGA would lift the company from its doldrums. Without warning, however, Bacha stopped providing regular updates on his company’s work.
‘Where were you for the last 30 days? Why not a single reply here in the channel?’
— Supporter in Telegram channelCrypto security firm KebabSec had started an audit of XGA’s code, Bacha said in a September 2 update shared in the Telegram group chat. It is unclear whether that audit has been completed.
Bacha also said Manifold would begin testing XGA on an Ethereum-based test network September 17. A revamp of FOLD’s so-called tokenomics would be detailed by the end of that month, he added.
None of that appears to have happened.
“When did you last talk to Sam? He still alive?” one supporter asked in the Telegram chat on October 28.
Later that day, Bacha broke his silence to ask for feedback on Manifold’s revamped website. And he promised he would promptly share more information.
“I will post the long awaited update today comrades,” he wrote.
That update never came.
Dim moodOn October 30, Bacha took to Manifold’s seldom-used governance forum to propose the Manifold community move its conversation to social media app Discord.
The proposal was panned by supporters, who said that was the least of their concerns.
“Where were you for the last 30 days? Why not a single reply here in the channel? The mood is pretty dim,” one wrote.
“I was being vetted to become Trump’s new Crypto Czar,” Bacha replied in an apparent joke.
Missed deadlinesIn a subsequent message, he took aim at supporters who had accused him of blowing past self-imposed deadlines.
“Deadlines proclaimed by me in Telegram do not constitute any sort of binding agreement,” he wrote.
After the November 5 election, Bacha returned to the chat to share a meme derived from the film “Superman II” in which a supervillain commands, “Kneel before Zod!”
Supporters fear the worst.
“We don’t know if Sam is even coding. We don’t even know if there’s anything happening,” one wrote.
Two possibilitiesThere were two possibilities, the commenter continued: either the company was about to fold and “they don’t know how to tell us,” or “they’re working tirelessly” to release XGA.
On November 11, Matthew Land, a partner at Marshland Capital, an investor Manifold, said in a separate Telegram channel he had spoken with Bacha over the preceding weekend.
Land declined to comment when contacted by DL News Friday.
In his Telegram message, Land said he had told Bacha of “the importance of communication” and of resolving FOLD’s liquidity issue.
“As I said before, ball’s in Sam’s court and on Sam’s timeline,” Land said.
“He understands what’s up imo but we have no impact on his decisions/timeline to address them unfortunately.”
Correction, November 15: A previous version of this story stated that Matthew Land spoke to Sam Bacha about FOLD’s price. It has been corrected to state they spoke about FOLD’s liquidity issues. This story was also updated to note that Land declined to comment.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent based in New York. Have a tip? Contact him at [email protected].
An analyst has reignited bullish expectations for XRP, pointing to a historical fractal pattern that could catapult the asset to more than 50 times its current price.
The analysis suggests XRP could reach as high as $123, a level not seen in any previous cycle.
Hints from XRP Historical Fractal In his commentary on XRP’s performance, analyst Javon Marks shared a chart comparing XRP’s recent breakout to a similar technical pattern from 2017. At that time, XRP broke out of a pennant formation that spanned about two years.
XRP rallied from consolidation lows, where it traded with two leading zeros, to above the 2.618 Fibonacci extension, translating to a peak above $2.10.
During this climb, XRP formed local tops at the $0.0364 price mark (the 1.00 Fibonacci level), consolidated briefly, and broke out to the 1.618 Fibonacci level, equivalent to $0.1726. It then consolidated for several weeks before completing the bull run. Ultimately, XRP surpassed the 2.618 Fibonacci level and reached highs above $3.
XRP chart by Javon Marks Meanwhile, XRP entered a more prolonged consolidation phase that lasted over seven years. Marks’ chart confirmed that XRP has now completed the breakout from the multi-year pennant pattern, which formed in 2018.
This breakout has already pushed XRP into the $2+ range, slightly above the 1.00 Fibonacci level. Interestingly, the pattern XRP is forming now mirrors the early stages of the 2017 price explosion.
In particular, XRP has slipped into a ranging phase following the initial momentum from its breakout, cooling off the frenzy. Marks believes the second phase of a full-scale bull run is about to take shape.
According to his chart, the next target before another period of consolidation is the 1.618 Fibonacci extension, equivalent to a price of $9.63.
Why $123 Is on the Radar By applying the same Fibonacci logic to the current structure, Marks forecasts that XRP could again climb to the 2.618 Fibonacci extension, which this time sits around $123, after surpassing the 1.618 level. According to his estimation, this would represent a more than 50X increase from current price levels.
If such a move were to materialize, it would not only mark XRP’s highest valuation in history but would also place it among the top contenders in market capitalization, rivaling Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Specifically, at a $123 price, XRP’s market cap based on the current circulating supply of 58.55 billion tokens would be approximately $7.2 trillion. This is larger than the current combined market caps of Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as the overall crypto market.
Caution Amid the Hype While the technical setup is compelling, other analysts have cautioned that history doesn’t always repeat itself. In particular, some members of the XRP community believe the 2017 fractal is no longer relevant for future projections.
Critics of the $123 price target argue that such an audacious valuation, and the implied $7 trillion market cap, represent an overestimation of XRP’s potential in the current cycle. As a result, they advise holders to take profits strategically rather than waiting for these extreme price levels to materialize.
DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
TLDR: Ethereum retests $2,500 support, echoing a bullish fractal seen earlier in 2024. Weekly candle patterns signal rising buyer strength and possible rally continuation. ETH market cap crosses $345B as whale accumulation and volume surge return. Open interest hits record highs, reflecting rising market participation in ETH trades. Ethereum is once again mirroring a previous bullish pattern, rekindling optimism for a rally. After weeks of sideways trading, ETH has retested the $2,500 support level and held firm.
This structural move follows a historical setup from early 2024, which led to a breakout toward $4,000.
Momentum indicators are now shifting, with market activity hinting at an ongoing expansion phase. Traders are watching as Ethereum builds strength in both price and market structure.
Ethereum Price Holds $2,500 as New Support Ethereum’s weekly chart now shows a confirmed retest of the $2,500 zone, previously a key pivot level. Crypto analyst Rekt Capital highlighted the similarity between the current pattern and the early 2024 setup.
In both cases, ETH posted a weekly gain exceeding 13% after testing this zone, signaling renewed buyer interest.
This breakout lifted ETH above $2,800, reinforcing bullish sentiment. According to CoinGecko, the ETH price stands at $2,763.69, reflecting a 5.62% rise over the past seven days.
ETH price chart on CoinGecko Although ETH dipped slightly by 0.77% in the last 24 hours, traders are closely monitoring the structure for continued momentum.
Rekt Capital noted that Ethereum’s recent price action has produced a weekly candle closely resembling its early-year breakout. That earlier fractal took ETH from the $2,500 range to near $4,000 within weeks.
The structure signals aggressive buyer activity around current support, potentially setting up another upward leg.
$ETH
Not only has Ethereum repeated early 2024 history with a successful retest of ~$2500 into new support
But #ETH has also produced a near-identical Weekly Candle stemming from that successful retest of almost +14%
Early 2024 saw Ethereum rally to ~$4000#Crypto #Ethereum https://t.co/rFa26mpLuu pic.twitter.com/g5myTXX20p
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) June 11, 2025
Traders now eye the $3,200 to $3,500 region as the next challenge. This range could either slow down the move or pave the way for a retest of the $3,900 to $4,000 resistance zone. The latter remains a key macro supply level that capped gains earlier this year.
ETH Market Activity Shows Renewed Interest ETH’s total market cap recently reclaimed the $345 billion mark, as highlighted by trader Alexia.
This follows a breakout from prolonged consolidation, reinforcing the bullish setup. The ongoing Wyckoff reaccumulation pattern suggests market readiness for a broader price expansion.
Whale activity has also returned, with one high-profile wallet reportedly accumulating 16,500 ETH after a profitable exit. Meanwhile, open interest in ETH has hit an all-time high, reflecting surging participation and positioning strength relative to Bitcoin.
Ethereum is heating up — here’s what just happened:$ETH just reclaimed a $345B market cap and broke out of weeks of consolidation. The Wyckoff reaccumulation pattern is holding momentum is building fast.
Meanwhile,a whale who made $30.45M profit on ETH just bought back 16.5K… pic.twitter.com/iMMbQR6dUG
— ALexia (@Alex1i9) June 12, 2025
As Ethereum maintains structure above the $2,500 support level, technical indicators point toward sustained upside. Market confidence appears to be growing, with rising volume and renewed capital inflows.
Should this fractal continue unfolding, a retest of yearly highs remains within reach, keeping ETH in the spotlight.
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Despite failing to break out of its downtrend, ONDO could be preparing for a surge above the $2 barrier. Some analysts suggest it could repeat its 2024 playbook if it continues to hold its current levels.
ONDO Breakout Eyes $2 ONDO, the native token of the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) platform Ondo Finance, is attempting to reclaim a key area amid the market pullback. Notably, the cryptocurrency has struggled to hold the $1 mark since losing the area as support over three months ago.
In December, the RWA token hit its all-time high (ATH) of $2.14 after US President Donald Trump’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), purchased 134,216 ONDO tokens for 250,000 USDC.
This propelled ONDO’s price above the $2 barrier for the first time, but the late 2024 and Q1 2025 corrections halted its bullish momentum, sending its price to the $0.60-$0.70 range.
Following the late April market recovery, ONDO’s price reclaimed the $0.85 area and broke out of its multi-month downtrend. The cryptocurrency then hovered between the $0.85-$1.10 levels throughout May, hitting a three-month high of $1.13 nearly a month ago.
Since then, the token has been in a one-month downtrend, dipping below its local range after the recent market pullback. However, the cryptocurrency has been attempting to reclaim this range for the past week, hitting a one-week high of $0.92 on Wednesday.
Crypto analyst World of Charts highlighted the token’s performance, affirming, “after a long correction, Finally Looking Good For Midterm.”
ONDO eyes 130% breakout. Source: World of Charts on X As ONDO attempts to reclaim the $0.90 area, the analyst anticipates that the cryptocurrency will soon break out of its current range and the downtrend line, forecasting a 130% rally toward the $2 barrier.
2024 ATH Repeat Coming? On Thursday, analyst Sjuul from AltCryptoGems noted ONDO’s performance over the past year, asserting, “Not sure there are many other charts looking as good on high time frames like ONDO.”
He explained that “The King of RWA” is “basically holding a bullish structure since its launch,” making a series of higher lows for over a year while maintaining its ascending support trendline.
Meanwhile, analyst Alex Clay suggested that ONDO could see a parabolic run based on its performance in 2024.
The market watcher noted that the token is currently accumulating at the bottom of a 15-month ascending channel, which previously served as a crucial bounce point for its rally toward its ATH.
As Clay explained, after reaching the channel’s upper boundary last year, ONDO saw a multi-month downtrend toward the lower boundary, before printing a higher low. This was followed by a massive rally toward the channel’s top.
This year, ONDO is “following the Bullish Fractal from the previous year” after falling to the channel’s lower boundary, breaking out of the downtrend line, and registering a higher low.
“These 2 reasons are more than enough to pump straight up to the channel’s top,” the analyst concluded. If history repeats, the cryptocurrency could surge toward the $2.8-$3 area.
At the time of writing, ONDO trades at $0.84, a 5.2% decline in the daily timeframe.
ONDO’s performance in the one-week chart. Source: ONDOUSDT on TradingView Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Ethereum (ETH) is gaining today, June 24, with a 7% spike within 24 hours to trade at $2,409 at press time. Amid these gains, ETH is now mirroring a 2024 bull pattern that drove a massive rally to $4,000. This bullish fractal pattern could see Ethereum price break about $2,800 as crypto prices continue to rally. Will history repeat itself, or will the bearish sentiment outlined in surging Binance short positions impact ETH’s uptrend?
Ethereum Price Fractal Targets $2,800 Breakout Ethereum price has been trading within a tight consolidation range for more than a month now, after the rally that commenced in May paused. It briefly made a bearish breakdown from this range over the weekend as bears sold into the fear of geopolitical tensions. However, traders quickly bought the dip on Tuesday after President Trump announced an Iran-Israel ceasefire deal, which spiked the risk appetite among crypto traders.
This price action mirrors what happened between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024. During the last quarter of 2023, the ETH price underwent a parabolic rally that later paused between December and January as prices entered a consolidation. It broke out of this range after more than a month with a strong rally that drove the price from around $2,200 to a peak of $4,000 within months.
Why This Matters? The last time this fractal appeared (Jan 2024), ETH rallied 80% in 6 weeks.
To validate the bullish fractal pattern, Ethereum price would have to overcome the strong resistance at $2,800. A decisive close above the upper boundary of this consolidation range could then unlock the next bullish leg above $4,000.
The RSI supports this fractal pattern as it is making the same move that it did in January 2024 before the bullish breakout occurred., Traders should wait until this indicator crosses above 50 to confirm a strong bullish momentum.
ETH/USDT: 1-day Chart (Source: Tradingview) However, a recent CoinGape analysis noted that ETH traders are cashing out, which could pose a risk to the price recovery and the eventual breakout from consolidation. The sell-side pressure from these traders may force Ethereum price to remain in consolidation.
Binance Traders Increase Bearish Bets Despite $112M Short Squeeze After rallying by more than 7% today, Ethereum recorded one of the biggest short squeezes in history. Within 24 hours, data from CoinGlass shows that more than $112 million in short positions witnessed liquidations, marking the biggest short squeeze scenario since May 9.
This liquidation event aided an Ethereum price rally as short sellers started to buy ETH to close their positions. However, despite facing intense losses, futures traders on Binance are still increasing bearish bets. In just 24 hours, the percentage of Binance traders with short positions on ETH has spiked from 28% to 39%.
ETH Long/Short Ratio (Source: Coinglass) This positioning supports a bullish Ethereum price prediction. If these positions are suddenly closed, the buy-side pressure will increase significantly to aid a rally.
To sum up, ETH price is at a critical point as a bullish fractal pattern comes into play. The pattern hints at a breakout rally above $2,800 in the near term. If this rally occurs, short sellers who are aggressively opening positions on Ethereum may exit the market, accelerating price gains.
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Crypto-market commentator “Quantum Ascend” devoted a 8 June video to a single idea: the price structure that once catapulted Ethereum Classic to its bull-market peak is about to do the same for Cardano—and could deliver a twenty-fold advance if history “rhymes rather than repeats.”
Speaking to his followers, the analyst opened by noting that ADA’s weekly chart “looks so similar” to the multi-year pattern that preceded Ethereum Classic’s vertical move in early 2021. “They have the same market makers,” he asserted, pointing out that Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson had early involvement in both projects. “It’s almost like a cheat code for this thing.”
Cardano Set For 2,000% Explosion To illustrate the parallel, Quantum Ascend overlaid the two assets’ Elliott-wave counts. In his reading, Ethereum Classic completed its fifth impulsive wave during the last cycle, whereas Cardano is “waiting on that fifth wave” after a prolonged flag-shaped consolidation.
He then dropped a Fibonacci retracement on Ethereum Classic’s 2020–21 third-to-fourth-wave segment, showing the final thrust topped out “just shy of the 2.36”—and repeated the exercise on Cardano’s current structure, which has advanced to the same proportional level. “Come on, it’s not perfect,” he conceded, “but you guys see how similar these structures are.”
Cardano vs Ethereum Classic fractal | Source: X @quantum_ascend A second Fibonacci projection, stretching Cardano’s initial three-wave span to a full 1.618 extension, points to a conservative target “up around four bucks,” he said. But a more ambitious extrapolation of Ethereum Classic’s 3.618 climax would propel ADA into a zone between roughly 10.67 and 12.55—an area he calls his “primary” and “secondary” objectives.
From the current price such a run would exceed 2,000 percent. “That’s violent,” he remarked after flicking his cursor to the comparative surge on the ETC chart. “Hopefully you can see how clean this is, because I feel really good about Cardano getting up into that $10 level.”
Quantum Ascend argued that the temporal spacing is also lining up. Ethereum Classic’s listing in August 2016 meant its multiyear base completed roughly four and a half years later; Cardano’s analogous base, begun in late 2017, is now of similar duration, though “the whole chart has taken a little bit longer on the consolidation.” For him, that extension merely “loads the spring” for a sharper repricing once last season begins in earnest.
The analyst did allow for interim turbulence. In his scenario, ADA could hit the former all-time-high region around $3.12, “reject back down to $1.67” during a broader market-wide wave-four shake-out, and only then launch into a blow-off toward the upper Fibonacci cluster. Still, even that corrective loop reinforces the fractal: “Over here with Ethereum Classic it got to its last all-time high, rejected, and then went on one more big run.”
Quantifying his own risk appetite, Quantum Ascend told viewers he is “pretty hyped on Cardano” and wants the token “in my portfolio because it is one of my higher-conviction plays for what’s about to happen here.” He concluded by sketching three tiers of price objectives—$4.90 (conservative), $10.67 (primary) and $12.45 (secondary).
Whether altseason’s starting gun fires as cleanly as the fractal implies remains to be seen, but Quantum Ascend’s thesis hinges on a single proposition: when the same market makers move two historically linked assets through mirror-image patterns, ignoring the setup may prove costlier than betting against it.
At press time, ADA traded at $0.59.
Cardano price, 1-week chart | Source: ADAUSDT on TradingView.com Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Leading cryptocurrencies cracked alongside stocks on Tuesday, after a sharp decline in chip-related stocks cast doubts on the sustainability of the AI rally.
Crypto Market Sinks DeeperBitcoin dropped below $62,000 amid heavy selling, while Ethereum bulls failed to defend the support at $1,700. XRP and Dogecoin recorded sharp declines as well.
Over $560 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with $490 million in bullish long positions wiped out, according to Coinglass data.
Roughly $350 million in Bitcoin longs were at risk of liquidation if the price dropped to $60,000.
Bitcoin’s open interest fell 1.39% over the last 24 hours. Whale and retail derivatives traders, meanwhile, bought the dip, adding more long exposure to BTC.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.15 trillion, following a decline of 1.63% from the previous day.
Stocks In Red After Chip Stocks TumbleStocks faced heavy sell-offs on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.87 points, or 0.09%, to close at 51,666.84. The S&P 500 slid 1.44% to end at 7,365.46, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite declined 2.21% to close at 25,587.04.
Why This Support Is Significant For BTCAli Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, said that Bitcoin must hold the support at $60,587 to “maintain the current trend.”
Citing on-chain data, the analyst highlighted the $60,000–$63,000 range as one of the largest volume clusters, where over one million BTC changed hands.
Michaël van de Poppe, another well-known cryptocurrency commentator, stated that Ethereum is currently stuck in the middle and needs to break above $1,800 to “regain momentum.”
“If the markets break back into that range, it can move quickly to $2,500+,” Van De Poppe said. “Other than that, it’s very likely to see retests at $1,385 and/or $1,505.”
Photo: Memory Stockphoto / Shutterstock
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High entry barriers, complex transaction processes, and geographical boundaries have historically constrained the real estate and fine art markets.
These difficulties though aren’t slowing down the management of traditional assets—especially on the blockchain. According to a report by Standard Chartered, tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) will reach $30 trillion by 2034. This significant potential growth points to the untapped potential of real-world assets. Tokenization through the blockchain is revolutionizing how traditional assets are managed today. It is transforming global trade by improving accessibility and liquidity.
Blockchain technology is shaking up traditional asset management by improving transparency and immutability, increasing efficiency, enhancing security, and providing global accessibility. There is less intermediary involvement in tokenized assets, unlike what is obtainable with traditional asset management. Eliminating middlemen makes the process more transparent (reducing fraud and increasing trust) and less complex. In this article, we will explore how traditional assets are being bridged to the digital space using tokenization.
Real-World Assets TokenizationReal-world asset tokenization is the process of issuing digital tokens based on the blockchain to physical or traditional assets like gold, real estate, machinery, etc. Essentially, the tokenization of these assets involves creating tokens that are typically issued as smart contracts on blockchain networks like Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, etc. Every token issued represents a fractional ownership of the underlying asset, and this is backed by a legal framework ensuring the connection between the token and the physical asset.
A wide variety of assets can be tokenized, they include:
Financial Instruments like stocks, bonds, and other structured products Real Estate like commercial and residential properties Commodities like gold, silver, oil, etc Assets like arts and collectibles RWA Tokenization and the Opportunities in the Market We are at a transformative phase in the financial markets with RWA tokenization. This use case of blockchain technology has seen renowned financial institutions and fintech innovators actively developing and partnering with tokenization platforms. According to forecasts, it is predicted that 7-9% of investors’ portfolios will be allocated to tokenized assets by 2027 and the industry is on course to reach that.
A pointer to this is the market experiencing traction in securities tokenization, with major players like BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan launching dedicated tokenization initiatives. $10 trillion BlackRock for instance recently partnered with Securitize to provide better access to traditional financial products via digitization. BlackRock’s tokenized fund BUIDL, is leading the tokenized Treasury category with a market cap of $541 million. Franklin Templeton’s tokenized Treasury FOBXX is the third-largest with a market capitalization of $410 million.
The Total Value Locked (TVL) in the RWA sector at the time of writing is $6.4 billion. This represents the industry’s economic value and its universal acceptance. As institutional-standard infrastructure continues to mature for trading, custody, and other products and services, private market assets like real estate and private equity have emerged as early adoption leaders.
Some key drivers of this adoption include the demand for access to premium investment opportunities without intermediaries, the push for more liquidity in otherwise traditionally illiquid assets, and major cost reductions in asset management and transactions.
The sector however faces significant challenges still, some of which include the complexity of integrating traditional financial products with blockchain infrastructure and regulatory uncertainty. Other challenges include education and institutional adoption curves, and technicalities around interoperability, scalability, and security.
With regulations, it varies across jurisdictions. Certain regions are emerging as clear leaders in providing regulatory frameworks for tokenized assets. Countries like Switzerland and Singapore have established progressive environments that support the tokenization of RWAs while protecting investors and their investments.
Pioneers at the Forefront of RWA Tokenization Enter RWA Inc. and Others The RWA sector is gaining momentum thanks to the work of projects in the space. RWA Inc. is one such key player and pioneering platform leading the charge in the RWA tokenization sector and redefining how we interact with RWAs on the blockchain. This is the first comprehensive RWA ecosystem offering end-to-end RWA tokenization through a cutting-edge multi-asset platform that includes tokenization-as-a-service, a launchpad, and a marketplace.
RWA Inc. isn’t only digitizing assets, it’s also unlocking an entirely new standard for asset ownership, trading, and management. The multi-asset platform seamlessly integrates a launchpad and a marketplace, while offering tokenization as a service, bridging the gap between traditional finance and a digital future on the blockchain.
Operating in a potential $30 trillion market, RWA Inc. is well-positioned to be a dominant force in the RWA sector as it leverages unmatched regulatory compliance (already established 6 regulated trading licenses in the UAE) and transformative asset accessibility. The licenses RWA Inc. holds positions it as the premier onramp for traditional investment firms, banks, and hedge fund managers. $RWA is the native utility token that fuels the RWA Inc. ecosystem. Other projects at the forefront of RWA tokenization include:
Propy: A decentralized real estate protocol that leverages blockchain technology to facilitate real estate transactions. YieldBricks: a company that provides seamless DeFi pools for tokenizing yield via real estate assets. EstateX: A blockchain-based company that democratizes access to real estate investments with increased liquidity, lower investment minimums, and portfolio diversification. Metamovers: An innovative blockchain platform engineered to transform the secondary market for real-world assets, specifically focusing on real estate. Future of RWA Tokenization Speaking on tokenization and the RWA industry, David Henderson, the Head of Marketing at Backed Finance, a significant player in the tokenization of government securities, said, “The tokenization revolution is in full swing. Financial institutions are embracing this technology, recognizing its potential to reshape the global financial landscape. The distinction between ‘real-world’ and digital assets will blur as blockchains become the settlement layer for all financial transactions, democratizing access to markets worldwide. The future of finance is borderless and inclusive.”
RWA tokenization is at a focal intersection between traditional finance and blockchain innovation. Integrations between tokenized RWAs and DeFi protocols are creating new avenues for yield generation and lending markets. The development of institutional-standard infrastructures also increases adoption by major traditional financial players. As the technology continues to mature, we will see the emergence of sophisticated systems that combine blockchain’s efficiency with the mechanisms of the conventional financial market.
The tokenization of real-world assets is homogenizing access to asset classes that were previously exclusive, reducing market friction, and automating compliance processes. These are potentially profound impacts on traditional finance. The success of these alterations, however, depends largely on continued technology advancements, regulatory clarity, and institutional adoption.
Conclusion One of the most significant innovations in modern finance in recent times is the tokenization of RWAs. They play a major role in bridging the gap between traditional assets and blockchain financial infrastructure. Even though the technology and market frameworks are still evolving, the foundations for massive transformations are being laid by projects like RWA Inc. They are changing how we view asset ownership and trading.
The convergence of technological advancement, increase in institutional interest, and proper regulatory development corroborate that RWA tokenization is a rudimentary shift in the financial markets. And they are set to play a major part in this bull run. So, as an investor or an institution, this is the best time to develop strategic approaches to RWA tokenization.
Altcoin Daily host Austin Arnold used a Jan. 1 video titled “Top 6 Crypto Altcoins To Invest In For 2026” to lay out what he framed as three “first-time” catalysts for crypto in 2026 and a corresponding list of six altcoins he says he’d “buy and hold” into that backdrop, spanning smart-contract platforms, AI infrastructure, and tokenization-focused plays.
Arnold opened with the claim that crypto sits at the center of “two mega trends”: digital assets and the tokenization of financial assets and argued the combination of macro policy, US legislation, and SEC posture could drive “trillions of dollars” of new inflows.
The 3 Bullisch Crypto Catalysts First, Arnold pointed to what he described as a monetary-policy regime shift, including the resumption of “reserve management purchases,” and framed it as supportive for risk assets broadly. “We’re starting to see significant stimulus,” he said, adding that markets were already seeing “quantitative easing light” as “the Fed is starting to buy its own bonds,” while suggesting demand for government debt could fall alongside lower rates.
Second, he argued crypto-specific regulation could function like a green light for institutional capital. He singled out the market structure focused Clarity Act, saying its passage would be “like a starter gun for ETH and SOL to run into trillions of dollars of value,” and noted discussion of a US Senate markup date of Jan. 15 with hopes of movement by late January or February.
Third, Arnold highlighted what he called a tokenization push led by SEC chair Paul Atkins, describing “Project Crypto” as an effort to “bring all of traditional finance on the blockchain.”
He paired that theme with a distribution angle around spot crypto ETFs, leaning on a quote he cited about how unusual the early ETF growth was: “These were the single best-selling product in the world and no one was allowed to make a phone call to sell it or advertise it,” he said.
Top 6 Crypto Altcoins To Invest In For 2026 Arnold’s first pick is Ethereum. He frames it as the primary beneficiary of stablecoin growth and added that stablecoins are “mostly on the Ethereum blockchain,” and tied the thesis to regulation via the Genius Act, citing a view that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expects the sector to grow “10x in the next few years.”
Arnold also said Ethereum’s stablecoin share rose to 53% from the high-40s “just a few months” earlier, and argued the link to ETH value accrual runs through fees: “30% of all fees on Ethereum are actually stablecoin revenue,” he said. “So as this is 10x’es the amount of fees, the amount of Ethereum being burned should be 10x to match.”
Arnold’s second pick was Solana, which he portrayed as a usage leader relative to its market value versus Ethereum. He argued Solana is “already one of or if not the most used chain in crypto,” and claimed that through 2025 it was “more used than the entire rest of the industry combined times 2 to three.” He also cited a real-world asset milestone, saying Solana “RWA holders…have surpassed 125,000 holders.”
Cardano is next, which Arnold said had a weak 2025 but could benefit from founder Charles Hoskinson’s push around Midnight. Arnold played a longer excerpt in which Hoskinson argued privacy could be the wedge that changes user behavior:
“They can go through Midnight to Cardano and they get privacy. They do something new and different,” Hoskinson said. “Midnight my view will be through hybrid applications… private prediction markets, private DEXes, private stable coins… maybe… those Bitcoin people are going to want to trade on a private DEX instead of a public DEX.”
Arnold then shifted to AI infrastructure with Bittensor (TAO), calling it “decentralized AI” plumbing and noting it had a recent “halving” and a fixed supply model he compared to Bitcoin’s. He also pointed to early-2026 ETF momentum, saying Grayscale filed an S-1 for a TAO product and Bitwise followed with a Bittensor ETF filing.
For tokenization exposure, Arnold highlighted Ondo Finance (ONDO) ahead of what he described as an Ondo Summit on Feb. 3, where “world leaders, investors, policy makers” would reconvene, and closed his list with Propy, a real-estate-focused project he said is “US licensed” for title and escrow closing and “backed by Coinbase,” positioning it as a bet on bringing home buying and selling “on-chain.”
Arnold closed his list with Propy, explicitly flagging it as the most speculative end of the spectrum and pairing it with a warning that lower-cap exposure can mean “these altcoins go to zero.”
The Altcoin Daily host described it as “essentially real estate on-chain.” He emphasized operational and regulatory positioning as part of the pitch, saying Propy is “US licensed title and escrow closing,” and also highlighted its backers: “They’re backed again by Coinbase.”
The investment thesis, as Arnold presented it, is straightforward tokenization logic applied to housing: bringing parts of the buying and selling process onto rails that can be settled and recorded on-chain, with Propy positioned as a project already operating within the US compliance perimeter he expects to matter more in 2026.
At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.98 trillion.
Total crypto market cap hovers below the 2021 high again, 1-week chart | Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
In a blog post on Tuesday, Binance Exchange, the largest crypto trading platform by volume, announced the automatic conversion of several delisted tokens to USDC.
This action will be executed based on the average token to USDC exchange rate within the conversion period.
What Binance Exchange Users Need To KnowAfter delisting 10 tokens from its catalog, Binance said in a follow-up message that it would convert them to USDC automatically, enabling holders to access their funds. After the conversion happens, the exchange will credit the stablecoin equivalent of the affected tokens to users’ wallets by April 28, 2025. The tokens include:
Vai (VAI) Tornado Cash (TORN) OMG Network (OMG) Waves (WAVES) NEM (XEM) BarnBridge (BOND) Dock (DOCK) Mdex (MDX) Polkastarter (POLS) Pundi X PURSE (PURSE) Read more: Binance Review 2024: Is It the Right Crypto Exchange for You?
Holders of these tokens should adjust their trading strategies accordingly to prepare for the upcoming changes. Failure to do so by October 28 would see them automatically converted to USDC, effectively phasing out the affected tokens from the exchange.
“During the Conversion Period [between October 29, 2024 and April 28, 2025], users will not be able to view the above tokens in their Binance wallets,” Binance articulated.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the history of Binance’s tokens delisting often inspires volatility. For instance, the exchange delisted six altcoins around mid-August, causing double-digit price drops for PowerPool (CVP) and Ellipsis (EPX). These tokens also featured among the delisted assets.
However, Binance is not only removing several tokens but also adding new ones to its platform. One of the notable additions is Scroll (SCR), a zkRollup scaling solution for Ethereum.
As per the announcement, SCR will be listed on October 11, with pre-market trading for the SCR/USDT pair set to open. This move supports Ethereum’s scalability by enabling faster, more efficient transactions while maintaining security and decentralization.
“Binance is excited to announce the 60th project on Binance Launchpool – Scroll (SCR), a Bytecode-level compatible zkEVM Rollup,” an excerpt in Binance’s announcement read.
Read more: What are Crypto Airdrops?
With this listing notice, Binance becomes the first platform to list Scroll’s powering token. The exchange will also airdrop 55,000,000 SCR, representing 5.5% of the total supply. Airdrop farming will start on Wednesday, October 9. The participants must lock their BNB and FDUSD to receive the SCR tokens.
A few weeks ago, Threshold launched the tBTC Bitcoin Vault on Starknet, introducing a new way for Bitcoin holders to access yield while preserving BTC exposure. Today, in collaboration with Noon Capital, Threshold is expanding that offering with a new Bitcoin vault on Ethereum - tBTC’s largest and most established market.
This latest vault enables users to deposit tBTC, Ethereum’s most decentralized and trust-minimized Bitcoin asset, into a professionally managed strategy powered by Noon.
Bitcoin yield via tBTC is powered by Noon’s sUSN engine, with full transparency provided through Accountable’s Data Verification Network. Together, this framework delivers performance, oversight, and verifiable execution within a streamlined onchain vault experience.
Unlocking More Utility for Bitcoin on EthereumBitcoin has long been recognized as a foundational asset, but historically, it has had limited access to onchain financial infrastructure. The launch of the tBTC–Noon Vault expands what BTC can do on Ethereum, without requiring users to exit their BTC position.
By using tBTC, users can access Ethereum-native strategies through a single vault experience, while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin.
This is made possible through Threshold cryptography, which underpins tBTC and enables a more secure, resilient approach to bridging BTC into Ethereum.
tBTC x Noon App Screenshot | Threshold NetworkHow the tBTC–Noon Vault WorksThe strategy begins with users depositing tBTC into the vault on Ethereum.
From there, the vault borrows stablecoins against the deposited tBTC at conservative loan-to-value ratios. These stablecoins are deployed into Noon’s yield-bearing stablecoin, sUSN, which is then allocated into lending markets and looping strategies designed to generate sustainable returns.
The strategy is structured so that performance is generated in USD, while the vault maintains its BTC collateral base via tBTC. At launch, the vault is fully allocated to Noon sUSN and currently displays a net APY of approximately 4.16%, with TVL over $850,000.
Deepening tBTC Integration in DeFiThe tBTC–Noon Vault represents another step forward for the Threshold ecosystem and for Bitcoin’s role in DeFi.
It demonstrates how threshold cryptography can unlock more trust-minimized access to Ethereum’s financial markets, while keeping Bitcoin at the center of the user experience. For BTC holders, this means the ability to deploy capital more efficiently without giving up exposure to the asset they believe in.
Mint or swap into tBTC via the Threshold App and allocate your position to the latest Bitcoin yield vault to access structured onchain strategies.
Disclosure: Participation in Noon vaults carries market, smart contract, and counterparty risks, as well as the potential loss of capital. Target outcomes and projected metrics are not guaranteed; actual results may vary with market conditions. This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation for capital loss.
Mint or swap into tBTC via the Threshold App and allocate your position to the latest Bitcoin yield vault to access structured onchain strategies.
PANews reported on May 18th that, according to PANews' monitoring, the Verus-Ethereum cross-chain bridge has had 103.6 tBTC, 1625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC stolen. The attackers exchanged the stolen assets for approximately 5402.4 ETH (about $11.4 million), which are currently stored in an address starting with 0x65Cb. The attackers' address received 1 ETH as initial funding approximately 14 hours ago via Tornado Cash.
TLDR: Blockaid’s exploit detection system identified an active attack draining $11.58M from the Verus-Ethereum bridge. Peckshield confirmed 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC were stolen and swapped for 5,402 ETH. GoPlus found the attacker used a low-value transaction to trigger a batch-transfer of all bridge reserves. The attacker’s wallet was pre-funded with 1 ETH via Tornado Cash roughly 14 hours before the exploit began. The Verus-Ethereum bridge is under an active exploit that has drained approximately $11.58 million in digital assets. Blockchain security firm Blockaid identified the attack through its exploit detection system on Sunday.
The stolen funds included tBTC, ETH, and USDC. The attacker subsequently converted those assets into ETH. Multiple security companies have since confirmed the breach and traced the attacker’s on-chain activity.
How the Attack Unfolded Blockaid was among the first to publicly flag the exploit. The firm identified the attacker’s externally owned account as address “0x5aBb91B9c01A5Ed3aE762d32B236595B459D5777.” The drained funds were moved to a separate wallet at “0x65Cb8b128Bf6e690761044CCECA422bb239C25F9.”
🚨 Community alert:
Blockaid's exploit detection system has identified an on-going exploit on the @veruscoin Verus-Ethereum Bridge (https://t.co/HEwYZqFEfC).
~$11.58M drained so far.
More details in🧵
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) May 18, 2026
Peckshield provided a detailed breakdown of what was taken from the bridge. According to the firm, the attacker drained 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC from the protocol. Those assets were then swapped for roughly 5,402 ETH, valued at around $11.4 million at the time.
Another security firm, GoPlus, shed light on the method used in the attack. The attacker sent a low-value transaction to the bridge contract and called a specific function. That function triggered the bridge contract to batch-transfer its reserve assets directly to the drainer’s wallet.
The exploit transaction has been publicly logged on Etherscan, providing a transparent on-chain record. The bridge contract address involved is “0x71518580f36feceffe0721f06ba4703218cd7f63.” Security researchers continue to monitor the addresses involved for further movement.
Attacker’s Funding Trail Points to Tornado Cash Peckshield also traced how the attacker initially funded their wallet before carrying out the exploit. The attacker’s address received 1 ETH through Tornado Cash approximately 14 hours before the attack began. Tornado Cash is a crypto mixer commonly used to obscure the origin of funds on-chain.
This funding method is a recognized pattern among on-chain bad actors seeking to hide their identity. By routing startup funds through a mixer, the attacker made it harder to link the exploit wallet to any prior history. Investigators typically watch for such patterns when tracing the source of stolen assets.
At the time of writing, the stolen funds remain in the drainer wallet identified by Blockaid. No confirmed recovery measures or protocol pause announcements had been publicly issued by the Verus team. The broader DeFi community has been alerted to avoid interacting with the bridge in the meantime.
The attack adds to a long list of bridge exploits that have plagued the crypto industry in recent years. Cross-chain bridges remain a high-value target due to the large reserves they hold and the complexity of their smart contract logic.
PANews reported on May 18 that Verus disclosed on its official Discord that the Verus-Ethereum cross-chain bridge was attacked at 23:55 UTC on May 17, 2026. The attackers transferred Ethereum, USDC, and tBTC assets from the Ethereum contract. The Verus network subsequently suspended operations, and most block-generating nodes have proactively gone offline to prevent further spread of the attack.
The project team stated that they are investigating the attack path and the extent of the damage, and that if the attackers return all funds, a bug bounty will be awarded and no further legal action will be taken. They also warned that anyone offering a "compensation plan" via private message is a scammer and should not interact with them.
The KyberSwap attacker has transferred another 2000 ETH to Tornado Cash, with over 80% of the stolen funds now laundered.
According to PeckShield’s monitoring, an address identified as the KyberSwap attacker has once again transferred 2,000 ETH to Tornado Cash. Over the past two years, this attacker has cumulatively transferred and mixed 16,100 ETH via Tornado Cash, equivalent to roughly $40 million at current prices, accounting for over 80% of the $48.8 million lost in the KyberSwap attack in November 2023. Some of the stolen funds have not yet been fully transferred.
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James Wynn closed out his 40x Bitcoin short position, netting $30,000 in profits, and shifted to opening a 50x S&P 500 short position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, James Wynn has liquidated his 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position, pocketing roughly $30,000 in profit. He subsequently opened a new 50x leveraged S&P 500 (SP500) short position at a price of 334.42, betting on a future decline in the US stock market.
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Micron's conference call delivers strong signals: the memory shortage will continue until 2028, and AI long-term contracts are rewriting the industry cycle narrative.
Micron Technology (MU) revealed in its early-morning earnings call that its strategic customer agreements rose from 1 to 16 sequentially, covering roughly 20% of its DRAM shipments and around one-third of its NAND shipments. Of these deals, 14 calculated at minimum contract prices represent a cumulative remaining revenue of approximately $100 billion. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said these agreements will "fundamentally transform" the company’s business model. The key takeaway for the market is that Micron is being repositioned from a highly cyclical memory stock to an AI infrastructure provider with far greater revenue visibility. During the call, Micron disclosed it expects industry tightness to persist beyond 2027, and even as supply gradually improves in 2028, there is no clear timeline for supply to catch up with demand. Management attributed this gap to the large scale, complexity, and long lead times of new semiconductor fab construction. CFO Mark Murphy noted that DRAM revenue jumped 343% year-over-year to $31.3 billion, while NAND revenue surged 361% YoY to $9.9 billion. DRAM prices rose in the low-60% range, and NAND prices increased in the mid-80% range. He explained that the quarter’s earnings, which handily beat market expectations, were driven more by pricing power and supply-demand imbalances rather than just shipment volume. The company forecasts capital expenditure of roughly $10 billion this quarter, and $27 billion for full fiscal 2026. Fiscal 2027 quarterly capex will exceed the FY2026 fourth quarter level, with more than half allocated to cleanroom construction. However, the CFO also stated that free cash flow for the current quarter is expected to continue rising sharply. Overall, the call’s messaging sent three key signals to the market: persistent memory shortages, customer willingness to sign long-term agreements, and further upside for prices. This drove Micron’s (MU) shares to surge nearly 16% in U.S. post-market trading.
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A poll shows that a majority of U.S. voters support federal unified regulation of prediction markets.
Two polls commissioned by the Coalition for Prediction Markets show that U.S. Republican and Democratic voters both prefer federal-level unified regulation of prediction markets over state-by-state oversight. Among Republican respondents, 48% support a federal regulatory framework, while only 27% back state-level regulation. For Democratic voters, 45% favor federal regulation, compared to 35% who support state-level rules. Only 8% of respondents believe prediction markets should be banned in the U.S., and a majority of voters support consumer autonomy to choose whether to participate in such markets. The survey also found that people under 35 have the highest acceptance of prediction markets, with more than half of young respondents expressing interest in using or having already used related platforms. Currently, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and prediction market platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket are in disputes with multiple state governments over regulatory authority, with the core focus being whether sports event contracts qualify as prediction market products subject to federal regulation.
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Analysis: Bitcoin miners face profit pressure, with around 20% of mining firms now operating below the break-even point.
Bitcoin miners' revenue continues to decline, with the current 7-day average daily income dropping to around $30 million, a notable pullback from the over $50 million level seen last summer. Meanwhile, on-chain transaction fee revenue has fallen to less than $250,000, accounting for an extremely small share of miners' total income. Data from JPMorgan Chase shows the average production cost is approximately $78,000, and Bitcoin’s price has remained below this level for five consecutive months — the longest such stretch in the current cycle. An estimated 20% of miners are already operating at a loss; some high-cost miners have begun frequently powering their mining rigs on and off in response to price fluctuations, leading to a stronger correlation between network hash rate difficulty and Bitcoin’s price. Additionally, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty was adjusted down by roughly 10% in the second week of June, marking the second pullback of the same magnitude this year. Publicly listed mining companies, meanwhile, are relying more on their balance sheets to sustain operations, selling over 32,000 BTC in the first quarter alone to cover operating costs. Analysts note that against the backdrop of continuously shrinking block subsidies and stagnant fee revenue, a recovery in miners’ profits will primarily depend on a rise in Bitcoin’s price.
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Japan and South Korea's stock markets opened higher, with South Korea's KOSPI index rising 2.9% and SK Hynix surging 11%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index opened 1.4% higher at 70114.09. South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 2.9%. South Korean stocks SK Hynix gained 11%, while Samsung Electronics rose 5%.
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As the community prepares for the much-anticipated fourth halving set for April 19, 2024, the buzz around Bitcoin-based projects is reaching a fever pitch. Crypto influencer Leshka.eth, with a following of over 128,500 on X (formerly Twitter), has identified a set of altcoins under the Bitcoin financial ecosystem (BTCfi) that could see significant gains post-halving.
Crypto Analyst Shares His Top-10 BTCfi Altcoins Leshka.eth told his 128,500 followers on X (formerly Twitter) about the potential of various projects in the BTCfi landscape. He remarked, “The countdown to BTC halving ends in 2 days. If you missed 1,000x on BRC20 and Ordinals, if you missed 800x on STAMP, check out my watchlist of BTCfi altcoins poised to surge because of the halving.”
Here’s a breakdown of the top altcoins Leshka.eth believes could benefit from the upcoming Bitcoin halving:
1. Hulvin (HULVIN): This project is touted as the first halving-themed memecoin with the slogan “Make Halving Great Again.” Initially mentioned by Leshka.eth when it was valued at a $9 million market cap, Hulvin has seen an impressive ascent, crossing a $30 million market cap.
“I first mentioned it when it was at $9M market cap. Today it surpassed $30M MC and outperforming all other tokens on the market. Still much space for a price discovery,” Leshka.eth highlighted. The coin currently trades at $0.01298 with a daily volume of $5.8 million.
2. Map Protocol (MAP): Designed to simplify cross-blockchain transactions using light clients and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, MAP Protocol operates without relying on trusted third parties. It facilitates secure peer-to-peer connections and emphasizes compatibility across different blockchains. Currently, MAP is trading at $0.0248 with a $107 million market cap and a 24-hour trading volume of $3.2 million. Leshka.eth views it as a crucial infrastructure component for the evolving blockchain ecosystem.
3. Stacks (STX): As a layer built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, Stacks introduces functionalities such as smart contracts, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized applications (dApps). It is often compared to the Lightning Network due to its extension of Bitcoin’s capabilities.
With a substantial market cap of $4.04 billion and a price of $2.29, Stacks represents a significant part of the BTCfi landscape. “Stacks transforms Bitcoin from a digital gold into a more expansive ecosystem capable of supporting a wide array of applications,” Leshka.eth noted.
4. Mintlayer (ML): This layer 2 solution enhances Bitcoin’s functionality by enabling DeFi, smart contracts, atomic swaps, NFTs, and dApps directly on the Bitcoin network. Trading at $0.38 with a market cap of $24 million and a daily volume of $2.5 million, Mintlayer stands out for its integrative approach to extending Bitcoin’s utility without the need for an entirely separate blockchain.
5. SatoshiSync (SSNC): Collaborating with LayerZero and Chainlink, SatoshiSync offers a toolkit for easing transactions on Bitcoin’s L1 and L2 layers. Even before its token launch, the platform had attracted over 50,000 users, underscoring its practical value. SSNC is priced at $0.1275, with a market cap of $124.7 million and modest daily transactions amounting to $0.45 million.
6. Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BVM): BVM is a rapidly growing Layer 2 solution for Bitcoin that allows users to create their own L2 networks, thereby enhancing the value of BVM tokens. The BVM team is also planning to introduce airdrops for BVM stakers, which Leshka.eth believes could “drive up demand for the tokens significantly.” BVM is currently trading at $5.35, with a market cap of $133.6 million and a 24-hour volume of $2.74 million.
7. Naka Chain (NAKA): Positioned as a cost-effective, high-speed Bitcoin L2 blockchain tailored for DeFi applications that utilize Bitcoin for gas fees, Naka Chain enables developers to port decentralized apps from Ethereum to Bitcoin with minimal changes. It functions similarly to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), enhancing its appeal. NAKA is trading at $0.026, with a market cap of $56.32 million and a daily volume of $128,000.
8. Elastos (ELA): Elastos aims to construct a blockchain-driven version of the internet, addressing scalability and flexibility issues found in Ethereum and other DApp platforms. With a market cap of $81 million and trading at $3.69, ELA focuses on building a robust infrastructure for a decentralized internet.
9. MVC (SPACE): This public blockchain integrates multiple technologies, including the UTXO model and Proof of Work (PoW), to deliver exceptional performance, minimal fees, and high decentralization. SPACE trades at $17.59 with a market cap of $52.3 million and a 24-hour volume of $1.31 million.
10. Photon: Touted as a superior traditional Layer 2 solution, Photon leverages the security of Bitcoin’s Layer 1 to support scalable decentralized applications, providing efficiency and flexibility comparable to Ethereum’s ecosystem. This project is one to watch, with its upcoming launch expected to attract significant attention. “Keep an eye out for its upcoming launch!,” Leshka.eth stated.
11. Additional Mention – BounceBit: BounceBit is a Bitcoin staking chain that allows users to earn yields on their dormant Bitcoin. With a focus on early access, the platform encourages active participation and utilization of Bitcoin for staking purposes. The imminent launch of BounceBit is highly anticipated by the community.
At press time, Stacks (STX) was trading at $2.29, down 40% from its all-time high reached on April 1.
STX price, 1-day chart | Source: STXUSD on TradingView.com Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
PANews reported on May 21 that, according to Blockaid, the Map Protocol/Butter Network cross-chain bridge was attacked on Ethereum and BSC. The attacker tricked the Butter Bridge V3.1 contract into directly minting approximately 1000 trillion MAPO tokens to a newly created EOA address, roughly 4.8 million times the legitimate supply of 208 million tokens. Furthermore, according to the DeFi community YAM, the attacker has currently profited approximately 52.2 ETH (about $110,000).
In response, MAP Protocol stated that the team is aware of the matter and is coordinating with external security partners to investigate and contain it. The bridge between MAPO ERC-20 and the MAPO mainnet has been suspended. Do not trade MAPO ERC-20 tokens on Uniswap at this time. Liquidity pools remain at risk while mitigation measures are in place.
Butter Network responded that ButterSwap has been suspended, and the team is coordinating an investigation with external security partners. Pending transactions will be processed once security is restored. User funds are not at risk, and all affected transactions will be processed in full upon restoration.
In brief Altcoins fell with bitcoin yesterday—but, like BTC, are showing modest recovery today. The biggest winner of the day was Contentos's COS, which saw its price pump 158%. Most other coins in the top 200 say modest single-digit boosts. When bitcoin sneezes, altcoins get the flu. That’s probably a bad joke to make right now, but you get the point: As goes the market for bitcoin, so go the thousands of other cryptocurrencies whose fate is pegged to the mother of all blockchains. And, with BTC itself falling 10% yesterday alone, it was hardly surprising that the market cap for crypto overall dropped $40 billion from Saturday through Monday.
But now that the market appears to be recovering a bit, so are altcoins, with the vast majority of the top 100 seeing modest gains. The big winner of the day (at least in the top 200 coins on CoinMarketCap) was Contentos. The content-management system’s native token, COS, is on the Binance Coin platform and enjoys a $36 million market cap, making it the 107th most valuable coin. Today, it saw a 158% pump—to $0.03.
Who knows why! But hearty congratulations, to the Contentos whale, from the entire Decrypt team...
A fine day for Contentos via Coinmarketcap.comElsewhere, gains were far less spectacular. We took a look at some of the better known altcoins to see how they’re doing. (The numbers next to them represent their ranking on CoinMarketCap).
Coronacoin (NCOV) #N/AIf any altcoin should be benefiting from the ravages of covid-19, it’s the Coronacoin. Yet it isn’t listed on CoinMarketCap, and it’s so low on CoinGecko, we couldn’t find a ranking associated with it. The NCOV token allows traders to bet on the new coronavirus epidemic, and it’s stumbling. In the last 24 hours the token saw a 25 percent drop in price, according to CoinGecko.
At the end of February, NCOV was $.03. It was $.0015 when I looked early today. Oddly, the value of the altcoin is supposed to increase when people die, because the networks proportionately burns coins. But all that Corona death isn’t helping the price, apparently.
Still, Sunny Kemp, a Coronacoin developer, maintains his sunny optimism. “The project is doing great,” he told Decrypt via a chat in Telegram. According to him, the alcoin was recently listed on two (obscure) exchanges—Altmarkets and Satoexchange—and the project made its first RedCross donation for $235. (The project is not as cynical as it sounds, and allocates 20 percent of its NCON supply to the non-government agencies every month.)
Fans of its gallows humor will be heartened to hear that, to boost the sihitcoin's price, the team is working on a new morbid game that will put the token to use. The game is similar to Pandemic for Android, where the player creates a pathogen in an effort to annihilate the human population.
“You create a virus and infect countries. The rate of infection and severity of the virus is dependent upon how you engineer the virus,” Kemp said in describing how it works. His team even consulted a biomedical researcher to design the game, he said.
But as to the dismal price of NCOV, he wouldn’t comment. “I cannot comment on price, we are not a security, $nCoV is a utility token,” he said.
Cardano (ADA) #12 Cardano was started by Charles Hoskinson, the ex-CEO of Ethereum. The network launched in October 2017, and in January 2018, when its native token peaked at $1.25, ADA owners were a happy bunch. The token went on to plummet to $.15 later in the year. After that, it saw a few hopeful pumps and now it’s tooting along at $.05.
To be fair, the total circulating supply of ADA is about 26 billion, so even though they aren’t worth much, there’s a hefty number of them. Hoskinson argues that based on the initial coin offering, which brought in $64 million, ADA is still good value for investors.
Still, the big question is, when will the Cardano project be decentralized? It has been centralized since its launch in September 2017. Speaking to Decrypt on the phone from his Colorado farm last night, Hoskinson said that will happen when the project transitions from Byron to its Shelley release sometime later this year. Shelly was originally slated to come out in 2018.
In defense, he said: “It’s always been a five year project from the beginning.”
Ethereum (ETH) #2Second only to bitcoin in marketcap ETH, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, had been on a bit of a roll lately. At least it was until mid February when ETH was at $257. Since then the price dropped slowly—until yesterday when it plunged below $192. It's back up to $201 today.
Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) #41Hashgraph falls into the category of “mathcoins.” Similar to other mathcoins, such as Maidsafe, Nano and IOTA (we’ll get into the latter two in a minute), the project promises a consensus mechanism that will solve all the problems of bitcoin’s energy consuming proof-of-work with clever new mathematics. And like some of the other mathcoins, Hashgraph doesn’t even use a blockchain. It uses a “hashgraph” instead.
At the same time, it still makes all the tantalising promises of cryptocurrency, including a decentralised censorship-resistant network with fast, secure and cheap transactions, but sans the headaches of PoW.
In mid-February, after Hashgraph announced that Google would be joining its high-profile governing council, the price of HBAR shot to above $.05 for the first time since the network’s launch in July 2017. Now it is sitting at below $.05 again.
Nanocoin (NANO) #58Billed as “digital money for the real world,” Nanocoin (formerly RaiBlocks) is another mathcoin that employs all kinds of mad scientist technology. It uses “directed acyclic graph architecture” and employs its own “block-lattice architecture,” which means every individual is assigned their own blockchain.
None of that has helped the price of the NANO, which flatlined in recent months. At its highpoint in January 2018, the altcoin was worth $34. Although it hasn’t tumbled as far as others in the recent dip, it was at $.70 today.
Communications Manager Andy Johnson, shrugged off the recent change in price. “Volatility is a symptom of the nascent cryptocurrency industry,” he told Decrypt via email.
He assured us that the project is well provisioned. “Early caution ensured that we have been able to maintain a razor-sharp focus on our goals and equipped with the resources to refine the protocol and build out the surrounding ecosystem,” he said.
The project claims it is decentralized, but it also uses proof-of-stake, which means that the largest bagholders control consensus. One of them is crypto exchange Binance, which trades about 30% of the volume.
IOTA (MIOTA) #24IOTA is proof that a network doesn’t need to be operational for an altcoin to go up in price.
Similar to Nanocoin, IOTA runs on a DAG. IOTA is not decentralized—it’s network relies on a central coordinator node, which it shut down on Feb. 12, after its Trinity wallet was hacked.
(The project didn’t say how much was lost, but IOTA founder David Sønstebø recently said he was paying back users $2 million with his own funds.)
The big task for the project is getting rid of the coordinator node—or “coordicide,” but it isn’t there yet—and hasn’t been since it launched its mainnet in July 2016.
Shutting down a network is unusual because cryptocurrencies are by nature supposed to be unstoppable, but this one apparently isn’t. The IOTA project promised it would spin the network back up Tuesday, after being turned off for nearly a month.
Despite the network literally being shut off—and a lot of other ongoing drama in the project—though it has dropped from $.03 in early February, the price of IOTA coin actually went up 4% earlier today, to nearly $.02, according to CoinMarketCap. That might lead one to the conclusion that nothing can kill a zombie altcoin.
Ripple (XRP) #3Ah, Ripple, the platform people love to hate as being a wold in crypto's clothes. Though it has a total supply of $99 billion, most XRP is in the hands of Ripple, which currently has $54 billion in escrow. (The platform unlocks $1 billion each month and sells it.)
Our good friend XRP saw a steady decline in price last year, sinking from $0.35 in early 2019, down to $0.25. In the past few days, it dropped a few more cents to $0.21, where it currently resides—up nearly 3% in the past 24 hours.
Tether (USDT) #5Tether is everyone’s favorite fictional trading reserve. Pegged to the U.S. dollar, USDT is the essential source of liquidity in the crypto trading markets. Every 24 hours, the entire $4.6 billion supply of tethers sloshes around 11 times. Though right now, tether is $0.99, it’s known to slide at times. Like in April 2017 when it lost its peg and dropped to $0.91. Who knows what could happen if we ever learn the real story of what’s behind those tethers.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
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Binance will discontinue support for deposits and withdrawals of certain tokens on some networks.
PANews reported on March 13th that, according to an official announcement, Binance will cease supporting deposits and withdrawals of designated tokens from the following networks at 16:00 (UTC+8) on March 20, 2026. After 16:00 on March 20, 2026, deposits made using these designated tokens will not be credited to your account, potentially resulting in asset loss.
Contentos (COS) via Ethereum Network; Through BNB Smart Chain's Dego Finance (DEGO).Share to:
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Analysis: Bitcoin miners face profit pressure, with around 20% of mining firms now operating below the break-even point.
Bitcoin miners' revenue continues to decline, with the current 7-day average daily income dropping to around $30 million, a notable pullback from the over $50 million level seen last summer. Meanwhile, on-chain transaction fee revenue has fallen to less than $250,000, accounting for an extremely small share of miners' total income. Data from JPMorgan Chase shows the average production cost is approximately $78,000, and Bitcoin’s price has remained below this level for five consecutive months — the longest such stretch in the current cycle. An estimated 20% of miners are already operating at a loss; some high-cost miners have begun frequently powering their mining rigs on and off in response to price fluctuations, leading to a stronger correlation between network hash rate difficulty and Bitcoin’s price. Additionally, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty was adjusted down by roughly 10% in the second week of June, marking the second pullback of the same magnitude this year. Publicly listed mining companies, meanwhile, are relying more on their balance sheets to sustain operations, selling over 32,000 BTC in the first quarter alone to cover operating costs. Analysts note that against the backdrop of continuously shrinking block subsidies and stagnant fee revenue, a recovery in miners’ profits will primarily depend on a rise in Bitcoin’s price.
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Japan and South Korea's stock markets opened higher, with South Korea's KOSPI index rising 2.9% and SK Hynix surging 11%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index opened 1.4% higher at 70114.09. South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 2.9%. South Korean stocks SK Hynix gained 11%, while Samsung Electronics rose 5%.
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Trader Maji was liquidated on his 25x leveraged long Ethereum position, incurring $1.9 million in losses, and subsequently opened a new position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, Stanley Huang, known as "Machi Big Brother" (@machibigbrother), has had his 25x leveraged long Ethereum (ETH) position fully liquidated, incurring a loss of approximately $1.9 million. Notably, he opened a new 25x leveraged long ETH position immediately after the liquidation. Machi Big Brother’s cumulative historical losses exceed $35.4 million.
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Micron posted strong quarterly results, with its quarterly revenue and next-quarter outlook significantly exceeding market expectations. Its stock surged nearly 16% in after-hours trading, driving a broad rally across the storage sector.
According to its official financial report, Micron Technology (MU.O) reported Q3 fiscal 2026 revenue of $41.456 billion, beating market expectations of $35.423 billion and surging from $9.301 billion in the year-ago period. The company issued Q4 fiscal revenue guidance of $50 billion, against market expectations of $42.915 billion. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated: "Micron’s record-breaking Q3 fiscal financial results and stronger Q4 outlook reflect the strategic value of memory chips in the AI era. We believe our multi-year strategic customer agreements will significantly enhance the durability and predictability of Micron’s strong financial performance." Micron’s Q3 report showed net profit of $28.24 billion, or $24.67 per share, up from $1.89 billion, or $1.68 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding certain one-time items, Micron reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $25.11, exceeding analysts’ consensus estimate of $20.86. Driven by the quarterly revenue and outlook that topped expectations, as of press time, Micron jumped 15.95% in post-market trading on the U.S. stock market, also lifting other memory stocks sharply: Seagate (STX) rose 10.21%, Western Digital (WDC) gained 12.31%, and SanDisk (SNDK) surged 15.77%.
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Kalshi is reportedly seeking a new round of financing, with its valuation potentially rising to $40 billion.
According to a report from the U.K.’s Financial Times, prediction market platform Kalshi is in discussions with investors for a new funding round targeting a roughly $40 billion valuation, with a potential close as early as the third quarter of this year. The development follows Kalshi’s $1 billion financing round completed last month, which valued the firm at $22 billion, with backers including leading institutions such as Coatue, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morgan Stanley. Data shows Kalshi’s trading volume last month surpassed $17 billion, a sharp jump from less than $5 billion a year prior, with approximately 65% of that volume stemming from sports-related prediction contracts.
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Polymarket integrates with Telegram via TON, enabling users to participate in prediction markets directly within the messaging app.
Polymarket has been integrated into Telegram via Predict, a native decentralized application (dApp) of the TON ecosystem. Developed by the Getgems team, the app allows users to directly participate in prediction markets covering sports, politics, cryptocurrency, culture and other sectors within Telegram. Transaction results are settled on-chain, and users retain full control over their assets. Users can participate in trades using USDT on the TON network, and pay a small amount of GRAM for gas fees. The cross-chain infrastructure is powered by STON.fi’s Omniston protocol, enabling the prediction market service to seamlessly integrate into the Telegram ecosystem.
Saturday, April 20 — The LayerZero cross-chain bridge for rsETH (a liquidity re-staking token from Kelp DAO) was hacked, marking the largest DeFi hack of 2026 to date. The attacker forged LayerZero cross-chain messages to withdraw 116,500 rsETH directly from the bridge contract, then deposited the tokens into Aave and other lending platforms to borrow WETH—creating significant uncollateralized bad debt risk. Below is a roundup of responses from major DeFi protocols to the rsETH hack: Aave has shared an update on the rsETH incident: rsETH on the Ethereum mainnet is fully collateralized. The token remains frozen on Aave V3 and V4, while WETH reserves are frozen in affected markets including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea. Aave is actively verifying details and evaluating potential resolutions. Ethena has officially extended the suspension period for its LayerZero OFT cross-chain bridge. Additionally, the protocol released updated reserve proofs confirming its USDe stablecoin maintains a collateralization ratio above 100%. LayerZero stated it has fully grasped the rsETH vulnerability and has been collaborating with the Kelp DAO team on fixes since the hack occurred, while continuously monitoring the situation. All other applications remain secure, and the protocol will publish a comprehensive post-incident analysis report alongside Kelp DAO once all relevant information is compiled. Fluid announced the launch of its aWETH redemption protocol, which enables ETH borrowers to: redeem for wstETH or weETH (restoring liquidity immediately and reducing liquidation risk); redeem in full if they only borrowed ETH; or seamlessly convert ETH collateral to wstETH/weETH while keeping other debts intact. The protocol’s initial capacity is capped at $1 billion worth of ETH. Morpho has temporarily suspended its MORPHO LayerZero OFT cross-chain bridge on Arbitrum until the root cause of the rsETH incident is identified. The protocol noted its smart contracts are secure and operating normally; risk exposure is limited (only ~$1 million worth of ETH was borrowed using rsETH as collateral, spread across two isolated markets out of thousands total). Thanks to Morpho’s fully isolated market design, all other vaults remain unaffected. Curve Finance announced it has suspended its LayerZero infrastructure, impacting: CRV bridging from BNB, Sonic, Avalanche, Fantom, Etherlink, and Kava (bridging from other chains still uses native bridges); and crvUSD quick bridging (L2 slow bridging remains operational). Reserve issued an official update: Its DTF holders are unlikely to be affected. RSR stakers in the Reserve Protocol’s USD3 and eUSD may qualify for "first-loss capital" protection, though the impact is minimal and RSR’s overcollateralization is sufficient to cover any potential losses. ETH+ and bsdETH contain no rsETH collateral, making them zero-risk. As a precaution, Reserve has temporarily paused minting, rebalancing, and RSR unstaking for eUSD and USD3—redemption functionality remains operational. Maple Finance stated all USDT provided on Aave Mantle using syrupUSDT has been withdrawn. Its syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT products are not impacted by the rsETH exploit. Polygon has been actively monitoring the rsETH exploit. The Polygon chain, Agglayer, and entire ecosystem (including Katana and Vaultbridge) have not been impacted by the incident. EtherFi announced its protocol’s liquidity pool remains unaffected by the Kelp rsETH exploit, and pool users will not suffer any fund losses. Hyperliquid’s DeFi project Hyperwave announced it has temporarily suspended all LayerZero bridging of Hyperwave assets as a precautionary measure.
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Analysis: Bitcoin miners face profit pressure, with around 20% of mining firms now operating below the break-even point.
Bitcoin miners' revenue continues to decline, with the current 7-day average daily income dropping to around $30 million, a notable pullback from the over $50 million level seen last summer. Meanwhile, on-chain transaction fee revenue has fallen to less than $250,000, accounting for an extremely small share of miners' total income. Data from JPMorgan Chase shows the average production cost is approximately $78,000, and Bitcoin’s price has remained below this level for five consecutive months — the longest such stretch in the current cycle. An estimated 20% of miners are already operating at a loss; some high-cost miners have begun frequently powering their mining rigs on and off in response to price fluctuations, leading to a stronger correlation between network hash rate difficulty and Bitcoin’s price. Additionally, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty was adjusted down by roughly 10% in the second week of June, marking the second pullback of the same magnitude this year. Publicly listed mining companies, meanwhile, are relying more on their balance sheets to sustain operations, selling over 32,000 BTC in the first quarter alone to cover operating costs. Analysts note that against the backdrop of continuously shrinking block subsidies and stagnant fee revenue, a recovery in miners’ profits will primarily depend on a rise in Bitcoin’s price.
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Japan and South Korea's stock markets opened higher, with South Korea's KOSPI index rising 2.9% and SK Hynix surging 11%.
According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index opened 1.4% higher at 70114.09. South Korea’s KOSPI index rose 2.9%. South Korean stocks SK Hynix gained 11%, while Samsung Electronics rose 5%.
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Trader Maji was liquidated on his 25x leveraged long Ethereum position, incurring $1.9 million in losses, and subsequently opened a new position.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, Stanley Huang, known as "Machi Big Brother" (@machibigbrother), has had his 25x leveraged long Ethereum (ETH) position fully liquidated, incurring a loss of approximately $1.9 million. Notably, he opened a new 25x leveraged long ETH position immediately after the liquidation. Machi Big Brother’s cumulative historical losses exceed $35.4 million.
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Micron posted strong quarterly results, with its quarterly revenue and next-quarter outlook significantly exceeding market expectations. Its stock surged nearly 16% in after-hours trading, driving a broad rally across the storage sector.
According to its official financial report, Micron Technology (MU.O) reported Q3 fiscal 2026 revenue of $41.456 billion, beating market expectations of $35.423 billion and surging from $9.301 billion in the year-ago period. The company issued Q4 fiscal revenue guidance of $50 billion, against market expectations of $42.915 billion. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated: "Micron’s record-breaking Q3 fiscal financial results and stronger Q4 outlook reflect the strategic value of memory chips in the AI era. We believe our multi-year strategic customer agreements will significantly enhance the durability and predictability of Micron’s strong financial performance." Micron’s Q3 report showed net profit of $28.24 billion, or $24.67 per share, up from $1.89 billion, or $1.68 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding certain one-time items, Micron reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $25.11, exceeding analysts’ consensus estimate of $20.86. Driven by the quarterly revenue and outlook that topped expectations, as of press time, Micron jumped 15.95% in post-market trading on the U.S. stock market, also lifting other memory stocks sharply: Seagate (STX) rose 10.21%, Western Digital (WDC) gained 12.31%, and SanDisk (SNDK) surged 15.77%.
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Kalshi is reportedly seeking a new round of financing, with its valuation potentially rising to $40 billion.
According to a report from the U.K.’s Financial Times, prediction market platform Kalshi is in discussions with investors for a new funding round targeting a roughly $40 billion valuation, with a potential close as early as the third quarter of this year. The development follows Kalshi’s $1 billion financing round completed last month, which valued the firm at $22 billion, with backers including leading institutions such as Coatue, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morgan Stanley. Data shows Kalshi’s trading volume last month surpassed $17 billion, a sharp jump from less than $5 billion a year prior, with approximately 65% of that volume stemming from sports-related prediction contracts.
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Polymarket integrates with Telegram via TON, enabling users to participate in prediction markets directly within the messaging app.
Polymarket has been integrated into Telegram via Predict, a native decentralized application (dApp) of the TON ecosystem. Developed by the Getgems team, the app allows users to directly participate in prediction markets covering sports, politics, cryptocurrency, culture and other sectors within Telegram. Transaction results are settled on-chain, and users retain full control over their assets. Users can participate in trades using USDT on the TON network, and pay a small amount of GRAM for gas fees. The cross-chain infrastructure is powered by STON.fi’s Omniston protocol, enabling the prediction market service to seamlessly integrate into the Telegram ecosystem.
PANews reported on June 1st that, according to BlackHart, the reward distribution mechanism of the DeFi project Fluid on Ethereum was exploited, resulting in the theft of approximately $215,000 in assets. Fluid employs a Merkle reward list mechanism where one key initiates and another approves. The attacker possessed both operating private keys, submitted and approved a list of rewards to be distributed only to themselves, and then used a null proof to complete the claim. The stolen assets came from three reward distributors, including 112,883 FLUID, 47,903 GHO, and a small amount of cbBTC, which were later exchanged for ETH and transferred via Tornado Cash. Fluid's lending market, vault, DEX, and user deposits were unaffected. The team replaced the compromised key and transferred the remaining reward funds within approximately 10 hours, but the public statement only mentioned that reward claims were temporarily suspended, without mentioning details of the private key leak and the loss.
In a landmark development, Stake DAO has unveiled its collaboration with Chainlink, integrating the Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to facilitate seamless cross-chain transfers of the Stake DAO Token (SDT). This integration marks a significant milestone, extending across key blockchains such as Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Ethereum mainnets. By leveraging CCIP’s Simplified Token Transfer capabilities, Stake DAO is setting a new standard in interoperability, ensuring secure and efficient transactions within its ecosystem.
Enhancing Security and Accessibility with CCIP Stake DAO’s choice of CCIP underscores a commitment to unparalleled security and reliability in cross-chain operations. Chainlink’s stellar reputation for maintaining robust security standards in the Web3 space, combined with CCIP’s backing by the Risk Management Network, offers Stake DAO an edge in safeguarding cross-chain transfers against potential exploits. This integration not only fortifies Stake DAO’s infrastructure but also expands its reach, making SDT accessible across multiple blockchains and enhancing the platform’s contribution to liquid staking and DeFi governance.
Elevating the Stake DAO Ecosystem The integration of CCIP is poised to revolutionize Stake DAO’s offerings, starting with the expansion of Liquid Lockers to diverse blockchains. The recent launch of the CAKE Liquid Locker on PancakeSwap for the BNB chain is just the beginning. The addition of SDT to various chains is anticipated to introduce innovative features, including the veSDT boost, further enriching the Stake DAO ecosystem and its user experience.
Key Advantages of Chainlink CCIP Integration Stake DAO’s partnership with Chainlink through CCIP brings a suite of benefits critical to securing cross-chain SDT transfers. The decision is backed by CCIP’s proven track record in securing substantial on-chain transaction value and its advanced features, including:
Time-tested Security: Powered by decentralized oracle networks, CCIP ensures a high standard of security and reliability. Secure Token Transfers: With audited token pool contracts, CCIP simplifies the complexity of cross-chain transactions, incorporating additional security measures such as rate limits. Programmable Transfers: CCIP’s programmability allows for the transfer of tokens and arbitrary data in a single transaction, broadening the scope of cross-chain interactions. Future-proof Technology: CCIP’s architecture is designed for scalability, supporting continuous updates and new functionalities, thereby safeguarding against obsolescence. A Forward-Looking Collaboration Stake DAO’s integration of Chainlink CCIP heralds a new era in cross-chain interoperability, promising a more interconnected and secure blockchain ecosystem. This collaboration not only enhances Stake DAO’s operational capabilities but also contributes to the broader adoption and growth of liquid staking and DeFi governance.
As the Stake DAO and Chainlink partnership flourishes, the vision for a more accessible and secure decentralized finance landscape comes into clearer focus, underscoring the transformative potential of strategic technological alliances in the blockchain industry.
AUTHOR
Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.
Stake DAO is facing an ongoing exploit tied to its vsdCRV token on Arbitrum. Blockchain security firm Blockaid said an attacker minted more than 5.4 trillion vsdCRV and began swapping the tokens for ETH.
Summary
Stake DAO warned users not to interact with vsdCRV as the exploit remained active. Security researchers said an attacker minted about 5.4 trillion vsdCRV on Arbitrum before swapping funds. The suspected cause was a compromised deployer key used to alter LayerZero peer settings. Stake DAO confirmed it was aware of the situation and told users not to interact with vsdCRV. The project’s warning came as researchers continued tracking the attacker’s activity across Arbitrum and Ethereum.
vsdCRV, or vote-boosted sdCRV, is tied to the Curve Finance ecosystem and used within Stake DAO’s yield products. The token became the center of the incident after the attacker allegedly gained enough control to mint a huge supply.
PeckShield said part of the minted funds had already been swapped for 43.78 ETH, worth about $91,000, and bridged to Ethereum. The incident remains a developing story, and final loss figures may change as more transactions are traced.
Source: PeckShield/X Researchers point to deployer key compromise Blockaid said the suspected root cause was a compromised Stake DAO deployer private key. According to the firm, the attacker used that access to reconfigure the LayerZero v2 OFT peer for the vsdCRV token contract.
That change allegedly redirected trust from the legitimate Ethereum-side adapter to a malicious contract controlled by the attacker. The attacker then sent a forged cross-chain message that triggered the minting of roughly 5.44 trillion vsdCRV.
BlockSec described the attack as a case where the attacker appeared to obtain the deployer’s private key and set an arbitrary peer for vsdCRV. The firm said the forged message then caused unconditional minting to the attacker’s address.
.@StakeDAOHQ was reportedly exploited via a deployer key compromise, resulting in ~5.44T $vsdCRV minted to the attacker. The attacker appears to have obtained the deployer’s private key and set an arbitrary peer for $vsdCRV. Using that peer, they forged a malicious message that…
— BlockSec Phalcon (@Phalcon_xyz) May 27, 2026 The incident shows how privileged access remains a major risk in DeFi. Even when smart contract code works as designed, a compromised deployer key can give attackers the ability to change trusted settings and trigger losses.
DeFi security concerns deepen The Stake DAO exploit follows a series of recent DeFi incidents. As previously reported by crypto.news, OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Aráoz said he now considers “all of DeFi” unsafe and has advised friends and family to exit DeFi positions.
Aráoz argued that coding agents are becoming strong tools for finding vulnerabilities, while defenders still need to fix every weakness before attackers find one. His comments came as DeFi protocols lost about $629.7 million to hacks in April.
Separately, Wasabi Protocol lost more than $5 million across Ethereum, Base, Berachain, and Blast after a compromised admin key allowed attackers to upgrade contracts and drain funds.
That case resembles the current Stake DAO concern because both incidents involved privileged key access rather than a simple market manipulation event. Wasabi also warned users not to interact with its contracts while the team investigated.
Cross-chain risks remain in focus The Stake DAO incident also points back to cross-chain token risks. Security reports have tracked repeated attacks involving bridges, peer settings, and message validation across chains in 2026.
BlockSec’s May security roundup listed multiple incidents across Ethereum, Sui, BNB Chain, Base, Blast, and Berachain, with total losses of about $15.9 million over a two-week period. Its blog also identified Wasabi as a key-compromise case.
In April, Kelp DAO suffered one of the year’s largest DeFi exploits after attackers drained about $292 million from a LayerZero-powered bridge. The breach raised concerns about cross-chain asset backing across more than 20 networks.
With the explosion in decentralized applications (dApps) being built on chains such as Ethereum, EOS, and Tron, there’s more and more data being generated every day which requires secure storage.
Bluzelle CEO and co-founder Pavel Bains However, although the apps themselves may be decentralized, truly fast and secure decentralized data storage solutions are still lagging behind. As running dApps is a seriously expensive endeavor, companies are looking at ways of reducing their costs – and when it comes to storage, Bluzelle may have the answer.
Blokt interviewed Bluzelle CEO and co-founder Pavel Bains to find out why blockchain systems require more efficient data storage systems, in line with the decentralized nature of blockchain itself.
Founding Bluzelle Bluzelle was founded in 2014 by Pavel Bains and Neeraj Murarka, to address the current need for more efficient data exchange and storage between devices.
CEO and co-founder Pavel Bains comes from a design and interactive media background, which he sees as key use cases for Bluzelle solutions in the non-blockchain sector. Likewise, CTO and co-founder, Neera Murarkaj, has a long history of working with Bitcoin and Blockchain since 2013.
Expanding on his team’s expertise, Bains says:
“Our core team has worked on blockchain projects for banks and insurers such as HSBC, AIA and MUFG. That is where we discovered that traditional database systems were not going to cut it for blockchain projects.”
Additionally, Andrew Mastracci, the Bluzelle Director of Product Development, has over a decade of experience in networking technology and is working on taking the idea of data storage and turning it into a network protocol.
Other notable team members include Isabel Scroggin, Head of Research, who has previously worked with NASA, bringing valuable experience as Bluzelle researches new technologies and determines how to best apply them.
Discussing how Bluzelle was established, Bains remarks:
“Neeraj and I started Bluzelle to work on blockchain projects to see what was needed in the market. Initially we did work in payments for companies in Vancouver and developed a Ripple gateway. Then we saw the need for banks and insurers to get onto blockchain and began building POCs in insurance and identity management for several companies in Asia.”
It was through those early projects that Bains and Neeraj discovered the need for a decentralized database, and became focused on delivering Bluzelle.
The Data Explosion With the explosion in device usage, the current infrastructure of the internet can’t handle the growing amount of data created and shared.
Instead, Bluzelle uses blockchain principals to create data storage solutions which offer high performance, superior security, and authenticity which current centralized systems cannot.
Specifically, Bluzelle focuses on the growing use of decentralized applications (dApps), which are generating massive amounts of siloed data.
Bains explains:
“Decentralized applications built on blockchain platforms still require their data to be stored in a database. If it’s stored on the blockchain it’s too slow, and if it’s stored on centralized data storage systems it’s not efficient and has poor security.”
To combat this, Bluzelle has utilized off-chain storage, which offers the highest levels of security for sensitive data, with ideal performance compared to centralized systems.
The Bluzelle Decentralized Database Service Bluzelle takes unused computer hardware resources from around the world and allows them to be rented out to companies to store their data on. By providing a decentralized solution, Bluzelle provides enterprise-grade storage solutions which every developer can afford.
Explaining how the Bluzelle decentralized database model brings greater benefits than traditional cloud-based or single system data storage models, Bains says:
“We have no points of failure where they have multiple points of failure – this can bring the whole system down. We can scale efficiently and on-demand, where they become very costly to scale. We can guarantee privacy where they are unable to do so.”
Bluzelle’s Swarming Approach Instead of data sitting on a computer, as in centralized data storage solutions, Bluzelle implements what is known as ‘swarming.’ In this case, data is fragmented and split across multiple computers through blockchain technology.
The group of computers all have the same ‘shard’ of data on them, so even if one goes down; the others are still there as a backup. Importantly, none of the computers in the group hold more than half of the data, so it can’t be pieced together without the private key holder.
Bains explains further:
“As our network grows, swarming allows us to manage data and performance at a regional level, ensuring that performance never suffers as a result of more data being stored. Also, with swarming we can tailor solutions for companies that need to have their data stored in specific geographic areas.”
Bluzelle’s swarm database can scale up and down as needed, while remaining secure, and crucially – fast.
Bluzelle Use Cases Each dApp being built, which in the near future will number in the thousands, will require its own database, and decentralized databases like Bluzelle could hold the ideal solution for the enormity of data produced.
Discussing the first target use cases for Bluzelle, Bains says:
“For general applications, for example those without blockchains, we see video games, media and IoT as excellent segments. Each of those industries want a global reach, and traditional data storage solutions can slow down performance which irritates end-users. Decentralized storage ensures that no matter where their customer is, they will get high performance.”
Bains gives the scenario of a game provider scaling their product to new countries as a perfect use case for Bluzelle technology. For example, an online game with a database in Portland USA suddenly becomes popular in India.
Traditionally, in this scenario gaming companies would need to set up another server and replicate everything in India to keep the performance up. Then, if the game becomes popular in another location, operators have to do this all over again, with each operation costing a significant investment in time and money.
Instead, with Bluzelle’s solution, the data is replicated automatically to every one of the nodes on its network, which means that companies data is instantly available everywhere; without the developers having to expand the network manually.
The BLZ Token The BLZ token is an ERC-20 token used by customers on the Bluzelle network to pay for the Bluzelle data storage service, and also functions as a utility token for payouts to the people who provide their hardware for use with Bluzelle.
The BLZ token is trading on popular centralized exchanges including Binance and Huobi, and also on decentralized exchanges such as IDEX.
Attracting Developers to the Bluzelle Network Software developers are integral to the adoption of the Bluzelle network, and Bluzelle has several methods of attracting top talent to its product.
Bains remarks:
“Software developers like to see how a product will benefit them right away. They don’t like hype and exaggeration. To reach them we will go through developer platforms and marketplaces like Heroku. We’ll also do live events and hackathons, and using online communities is also essential. For incentivizing, a great method is to provide a free evaluation period and the ability to earn more storage by referring others.”
Bluzelle have already hosted two hackathons, one of which saw over 1,000 livestream viewers tune in to their presentations and discussions sessions.
The Future for Bluzelle Since it was founded, Bluzelle has attracted some serious VC funding, in addition to closing a successful $19.5 million ICO in January 2018.
Talking about what Bluzelle’s biggest lessons were since its ICO, Bains shares:
“The biggest learning curve was in becoming focused on who our target market is. We started with a general developer market but that can be hard to market to. By focusing on a specific group, like video game developers, it allows us to measure ourselves against the leading solutions available to them, and helps craft our communication to one specific group.”
Bains also believes that the most significant areas of development for Bluzelle in the future will be in finding new ways to increase network storage capacity; creating efficient payments so users can pay in fiat while still powering the network through the BLZ token, and in finding multiple ways for users to stake their BLZ tokens.
Blokt would like to thank Pavel Bains and all the team at Bluzelle for sharing their expertise with us.
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Bybit has requested a refund from ParaSwap DAO for swap fees paid by a hacker, sparking a governance debate over ethical responsibility.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit wants ParaSwap DAO to return over $90,000 in Ethereum (ETH) in swap fees tied to the $1.46 billion theft, sparking debate in the decentralized finance community over a move that could set a legal precedent.
Bybit asked to return 44.67 ETH from the Paraswap DAO that Bybit hacker paid in SWAP FEES.
This decision has ethical and legal responsibilities against the DAO and sets a precedent for the wider DeFi ecosystem (notably Thorswap).
I'm a Paraswap DAO delegate but still split on… pic.twitter.com/gz83dk6whR
— Ignas | DeFi (@DefiIgnas) March 4, 2025 In an X post on March 4, prominent defi analyst Ignas, who’s also a Paraswap DAO delegate, said that the exchange asked to return 44.67 ETH from the ParaSwap DAO “that Bybit hacker paid in swap fees.”
“This decision has ethical and legal responsibilities against the DAO and sets a precedent for the wider DeFi ecosystem (notably Thorswap).”
Ignas
The analyst notes that Bybit is a major player in the space, adding that returning the funds could help avoid “legal headaches.” However, there’s still a catch, as returning the funds could set a precedent.
“Code is law. The DAO earned the fees legitimately via smart contracts. And if funds are returned now, what about future cases? Sets a dangerous precedent. And at the end of the day, Bybit’s poor security (I know Safe UI was compromised, but still) led to the hack.”
Ignas
The analyst suggest a middle ground, leaning towards returning most of the fund “minus 10% Bybit official bounty.”
Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou earlier revealed that nearly 20% of the stolen funds are now untraceable, just less than two weeks after the exchange lost over $1.4 billion in a highly sophisticated attack by North Korea-backed hackers.
Goldfinch, a crypto lending platform built on Ethereum, is in a bad spot. Its native token, GFI, is down over 75% from its April high. Many investors are exploring other RWA tokens like Ondo Finance or Realio.
The GFI situation is worsened by ongoing project-related issues that may lead to further selling pressure, adversely affecting holders.
Goldfinch Troubles In just the past day, GFI has dropped more than 15% in 25 hours, and there is potential for even greater declines in the coming days.
This Goldfinch crypto downturn coincides with rising concerns about a high rate of loan defaults.
Lenders are increasingly worried that borrowers are not honoring their loan agreements, prompting some to pull out of the platform.
It goes from bad to worse.
Rising loan defaults, coupled with the free-falling GFI token, are straining relations between the platform’s founders and leaders. Recently, Goldfinch lost its risk management advisor, Ajay Gill, who came on board in June to address the alarming loan default rates.
There seems to be no progress in resolving the pressing loan default crisis.
Since its launch in 2021, Goldfinch has processed over $60 million in loans and aims to regain its position. To achieve this, they first need to find a new advisor now that Gill has departed.
3 RWA Tokens To Explore In October 2024 Even with Goldfinch’s crypto troubles, it is not to say there are no other opportunities to explore in the burgeoning real-world asset (RWA) market.
BlackRock is neck-dip in RWA, tokenizing United States Treasuries. Its CEO earlier said the sphere will eventually command over $1 trillion in market cap.
According to Coingecko, the RWA sector is up 5% to over $7.7 billion.
Investors can explore the following RWA tokenization projects, diversifying from the crashing GFI token:
ONDO Finance (ONDO): This is the second-largest RWA platform with a market cap of over $7.7 billion. It seeks to tokenize financial instruments like treasuries, bringing them on-chain. While it rides on the decentralization of Ethereum, all tokenized assets comply with existing securities law. Ondo Finance might be down 14% in the past week but up 742% from all-time lows of $0.082. Landshare (LAND): Landshare is focused on real-estate tokenization while complying with existing laws. Through tokenization, investors gain access to real estate, regardless of location. LAND is the native utility and governance token, priming the Landshare ecosystem. The token is up nearly 3X since sinking to all-time lows in October 2023. Realio (RIO): Realio is a software-as-a-service platform for tokenizing real-world assets. Integrating the blockchain makes it more transparent, reliable, and secure. RIO is the main currency. It is up 51X since launching two years ago in October 2022. Pepe Unchained: RWA Investors Diversifying With PEPU The value proposition of RWA tokens could mean decent ROI for investors in the long term.
Those who want to see this now can choose Pepe Unchained, a meme coin project with a twist.
With over $22.9 million raised, investors are pouring in, searching for gems—and PEPU is proving to be one.
Can it be the next better version of SHIB or PEPE?
Pepe Unchained wants to build an Ethereum layer-2 for meme coins. The platform, Pepe Chain, will offer a solution for developers and traders seeking a scalable and low-fee environment without losing the security of Ethereum.
Pepe Unchained will be compatible with Ethereum, feature a dedicated block explorer, and include a decentralized exchange (DEX).
On launch, the “Frens with benefit” program will boost platform activity and attract developers.
PEPU, the native token, is trading for just $0.01179. On launch, it could easily 100X, outperforming all RWA tokens, including ONDO and GFI.
Visit Pepe Unchained
Explore: Tonchain Daily Active Users Fall 80% To 1 Million: Will Prices Follow?
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Dalmas is an experienced journalist with over a decade in crypto, technology, and blockchain. His work and that of his partners have been featured in top news outlets, including Forbes, investing.com, and Entrepreneur, among others. He is passionate about crypto... Read More
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