Veteran trader Peter Brandt and other analysts question the $250,000 Bitcoin target, warning the current bear phase may not be over. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading roughly 40% below its October 2025 record high near $126,000 despite its ongoing recovery. Still, some of the cryptocurrency's loudest bulls, including billionaire investor Tim Draper and Fundstrat’s co-founder Tom Lee, have not backed down from their $250,000 year-end prediction, a target that would require more than a threefold rally from current levels. Is that realistic, or is Bitcoin’s latest drawdown a warning that the cycle has already peaked? Read more
Crypto projects are shutting down as token funding weakens and fragmented structures leave them with limited options to restructure or recover. A wave of crypto shutdowns is unfolding across the industry this year, hitting projects from trading platforms to analytics tools. April was no exception, as decentralized email service Dmail said it is shutting down due to high infrastructure costs, failed fundraising and weak token utility. “In prior cycles, projects could extend runway through new issuance or venture support,” Roshan Dharia, a restructuring advisor and CEO of crypto holding company Echo Base, told Cointelegraph. Read more
Four Japanese government agencies have warned against the AML risks posed by crypto in real estate transactions, instructing industry bodies to enforce stricter compliance. Japan's financial, law enforcement and real estate regulators have issued a joint guidance request warning that crypto assets pose money laundering risk in property transactions. The request, published on Tuesday, was issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Financial Services Agency, the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Finance. It was addressed to major real estate and crypto industry bodies, including the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association and several national real estate federations. “Crypto assets, which have the nature of being transferred instantly across national borders, are considered to pose a high risk of being used as a payment method in real estate transactions for the purpose of money laundering,” the request states. Read more
The integration lets employees earn yield on stablecoin-paid salaries without moving funds or giving up custody. Paxos Labs has integrated its Amplify platform with Toku to let employees earn yield on stablecoin salaries as soon as they are paid, without moving funds off-platform or giving up custody. The feature applies to balances held in Toku wallets, allowing users to opt in and earn yield on USDC (USDC), USDt (USDT) and USDG (USDG) with no lockups or withdrawal delays. The rollout extends across Toku’s payroll network, which it said processes more than $1 billion annually for workers in over 100 countries and integrates with systems including ADP, Workday, Gusto and UKG. The update addresses a limitation of stablecoin payrolls, where funds typically sit idle between pay cycles. Embedding yield directly into balances allows users to earn on their salaries without using external platforms or transferring assets out of their wallets. Read more
DeFi United published a technical plan to restore rsETH backing and unwind attacker-linked DeFi positions after the $293 million Kelp exploit. The Aave-linked recovery group DeFi United has published a technical implementation plan to restore rsETH backing after the April 18 Kelp bridge exploit released 116,500 rsETH, worth about $293 million at the time, without a corresponding burn on Unichain. The plan would convert committed Ether (ETH) into rsETH in tranches and deposit the tokens into the affected bridge lockbox, allowing the bridge to resume normal operations once the backing is restored. LayerZero and Kelp have also implemented additional security measures before the bridge returns to full operation, according to Aave. In parallel, DeFi United plans to clear attacker-linked positions across Aave and Compound to recover collateral and resolve market impairments caused by the exploit. The group said seven addresses associated with the exploiter still hold active rsETH-backed positions on Aave and Compo...
Startale plans to integrate Sunnyside Labs’ Privacy Boost into its Soneium app, adding private transfers with audit-friendly compliance controls. Crypto infrastructure company Startale Group has selected Sunnyside Labs’ Privacy Boost as the official privacy partner for its Startale App, built for Soneium, a Sony-linked blockchain network. Startale Group said Tuesday that the integration will add self-custodial private transfer features to the app, including shielded balances, private peer-to-peer transfers and privacy-enabled payment flows on Soneium. The move adds a consumer-facing privacy layer to Startale’s Sony-linked Soneium ecosystem as crypto apps try to give users more control over visible onchain activity while preserving compliance mechanisms for operators. Read more
Stablecoin transfer volume fell more than 19% in 30 days even as supply, holders and active addresses continued to climb. Stablecoin monthly transfer volume fell by nearly 20% over the past 30 days, even as the market’s total supply and holder count continued to rise. According to data from RWA.xyz, 30-day stablecoin transfer volume dropped 19.18% to $8.31 trillion as of April 28, while stablecoin market capitalization rose 2.06% to $305.29 billion over the same period. The number of stablecoin holders also increased by 2.32% to 246.94 million, while monthly active addresses edged up 0.26% to 51.28 million. The divergence suggests that stablecoin growth is not translating evenly into onchain activity. While more capital appears to be sitting in dollar-denominated crypto assets, fewer dollars are being moved across blockchains compared with 30 days earlier. Read more