Crypto

The end of the week is here again, which means another batch of crypto options contracts is expiring as spot markets continue to retreat again. 

Good Friday shuts CME futures and ETF activity, removing a key source of demand as large holders continue distributing and spot demand weakens.

The IMF said tokenization could improve cross-border payments and financial inclusion in emerging economies but cited concerns over volatility and the “erosion of monetary sovereignty.” The International Monetary Fund said tokenization has the potential to remove friction and boost transparency in finance, but warned that the technology could also create challenges that affect financial stability. "The net effect of tokenization on financial stability is uncertain,” the IMF said in a 23-page report on Thursday, stating that “atomic settlement and enhanced transparency reduce some traditional risks, but speed and automation introduce new ones.” More than $27.6 billion worth of real-world assets, minus stablecoins, is currently tokenized onchain, data from RWA.xyz shows. Boston Consulting Group estimated in 2022 that the tokenization market could rise to $16 trillion by 2030, while McKinsey & Co in 2024 predicted a more conservative $2 trillion over the same time frame. Read more

Stablecoin monthly transaction volume hit $7.2 trillion in February, surpassing the $6.8 trillion processed by the Automated Clearing House network. Stablecoin transaction volume surpassed the US Automated Clearing House network for the first time in February, a significant milestone for an asset class that has existed for less than 12 years. According to data from blockchain analytics platform Artemis, the total 30-day adjusted rolling stablecoin volume hit $7.2 trillion in February, beating the Automated Clearing House network at $6.8 trillion. The data is based on 30-day rolling adjusted volume of stablecoin transactions in US dollars, excluding MEV activity and intra-centralized exchange transactions, comparing this to the daily average volume of other financial systems. Read more

Circle, known for issuing stablecoins including USDC and EURC, is expanding into the Bitcoin space, targeting institutional users. Stablecoin issuer Circle said it plans to launch its own version of a wrapped Bitcoin, which would put it against incumbents Coinbase and BitGo as it targets institutional users.  The asset, called cirBTC and announced on Thursday, is set to launch on Ethereum, backed 1:1 by bitcoin (BTC) and aimed at over-the-counter desks, market makers and lending protocols.  Circle said the asset is designed to provide institutions with a “highly secure and neutral version of wrapped BTC.” Read more

Arkham also flagged a 500 Bitcoin outflow from Riot on Thursday, while MARA Holdings, Genius Group and Nakamoto Holdings sold a combined 15,501 Bitcoin in the last week. Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms sold 3,778 Bitcoin in the first quarter, adding to a recent wave of sales by crypto firms amid tough market conditions. The Bitcoin (BTC) was sold at an average price of $76,626, netting Riot $289.5 million, according to the miner’s operational update released on Thursday. Bitcoin was trading at $66,867 as of Friday. The miner produced 1,473 Bitcoin for the quarter and had 15,680 coins on its books at the end of Q1. Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham also flagged a 500 Bitcoin outflow from a wallet it attributed to Riot Platforms on Thursday.  Read more

The x402 protocol won't be owned by a single entity, with the Linux Foundation serving as the agentic AI protocol’s “neutral, non-profit home,” Coinbase said. Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are among the Big Tech firms supporting the newly launched x402 Foundation, established to govern and standardize the x402 protocol for agentic AI payments on crypto and fiat rails.  The x402 Foundation was launched on Thursday by the open-source software development non-profit Linux Foundation with the help of Coinbase, the creators of the x402 protocol. Other companies expressing “initial intent and support” of the x402 Foundation include American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Cloudflare, Shopify, Stripe, Circle, Base, Polygon Labs, Solana Foundation, Thirdweb and KakaoPay. Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump named Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney and deputy attorney general, as the interim top prosecutor.

Naoris Protocol says its blockchain network uses quantum-resistant cryptography, as the wider crypto industry prepares for future threats.

Bitcoin data shows a series of bearish trading patterns that could usher in new price lows if the key support at $60,000 fails to hold. Here’s why bulls need a rally to $76,000. Bitcoin’s (BTC) range-bound trading within the $60,000 to $73,000 range is impressive, especially when considering the macroeconomic backdrop of Brent crude oil rising to levels not seen since 2008, a hot war between the US, Israel and Iran, and a volatile stock market where the S&P 500 index trades at a 3.95% year-to-date loss.  Despite these intensifying headwinds, Bitcoin buyers have shown a steady appetite for buying the price drops to $60,000, and while the level currently holds as support, the risk of lower prices is not zero.    Bitcoin’s 1-day chart shows a bearish continuation pattern, with one pattern confirmed on Jan. 20 as BTC price entered a correction to $60,014, and a second bear flag currently in play. Every price rally to the flag’s overhead trendline has been rebuffed since Feb. 8, and technical analysis stresses the...

Crypto and banking industry representatives are viewing revised stablecoin yield compromise language this week.

Stablecoins dominated crypto trading in Q1 as investors sought safety, while rising bot usage and declining retail flows pointed to shifting market dynamics, according to CEX.io. Stablecoins were a rare bright spot in an otherwise subdued crypto market in the first quarter, with supply growth and transaction activity pointing to sustained demand even as broader market conditions weakened. Total stablecoin supply increased by roughly $8 billion to a record $315 billion in Q1, according to data from CEX.IO. Although this marked the slowest pace of expansion since Q4 of 2023, it still represented growth during a period when the wider crypto market contracted. The data suggests investors rotated into stablecoins as a defensive strategy, boosting their share of overall market activity. Stablecoins accounted for 75% of total crypto trading volume during the quarter — the highest level on record. Read more

Are Bitcoin’s odds for a rally to $75,000 diminished by a weakening US economy, the war in Iran and multiple institutional BTC holders selling in the open market? Key takeaways: Private credit risks and weak US jobs market data drive Bitcoin lower, but is there a silver lining? Institutional Bitcoin ETF outflows and miner sales test BTC's strength, but the Federal Reserve's options for addressing the federal deficit may also favor scarce assets. Read more

ZachXBT called Circle "asleep" as stolen USDC flowed from Solana to Ethereum during the multi-hour Drift Protocol exploit window.

Publicly traded stablecoin issuer Circle is launching a new token, cirBTC, its own wrapped Bitcoin alternative.

A Google DeepMind paper maps six attack categories against autonomous AI agents—from invisible HTML commands to multi-agent flash crashes.

XRP is in its deepest losing streak in more than a decade, even as Ripple aggressively expands into corporate finance and institutional infrastructure. The disconnect is forcing a key market question: why isn’t that momentum showing up in price? XRP price is in its longest losing streak since 2014, a slide that has left one […] The post XRP’s longest slump in a decade collides with Ripple’s $13 trillion institutional push appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The prediction market is introducing price-based contracts tied to stocks and commodities, using Pyth data feeds as the "resolution source" to automatically settle outcomes. Polymarket has added markets tied to equities, commodities and exchange-traded funds, using price data from blockchain oracle provider Pyth Network as the resolution source to determine outcomes for daily contracts. The new markets include daily up-or-down and closing price contracts for major equity indexes, commodities such as gold and oil, and a range of US-listed stocks, with outcomes settled automatically based on Pyth’s real-time price feeds. The contracts reset at the end of each trading session. According to the announcement, the offering includes more than a dozen US-listed stocks, including Tesla, Nvidia and Apple, alongside commodities and equity indices. Read more

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims it "first officially recognized" event contracts in 1992 and that Congress has granted it sole authority over the market. The Trump administration is suing Illinois, Connecticut, Arizona, and their gaming regulators over the federal government’s right to regulate prediction markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the US Department of Justice filed separate lawsuits on Thursday against the three states. In 2025, those states and their gaming regulators sent cease and desist letters to prediction platforms, including Kalshi and Polymarket, claiming that the event contracts offered by the platforms violated state gambling laws and licensing requirements. Read more

An executive said the social media platform could lock accounts mentioning crypto for the first time and require verification after a scammer faked reports of a tortoise's death. Social media platform X is considering implementing new rules for first-time user posts about crypto in an effort to crack down on scammers using phishing attacks to gain access to accounts. Nikita Bier, the head of product at the platform formerly known as Twitter, made the announcement on Wednesday amid reports that a scammer pretending to be a veterinarian previously responsible for the health of a 193-year-old tortoise named “Jonathan” conned social media users into buying crypto before the truth was revealed. Bier said that X could auto-lock accounts mentioning crypto for the first time and require them to go through verification. “This should kill 99% of the incentive, especially since Google isn’t doing shit to stop the phishing emails,” read his post. Read more