While some proponents believe AI will bring about an employment boom, so far its effect has been to dampen entry-level hiring while delivering mixed results on productivity. In March, the US jobs market recorded 178,000 new jobs, marking little change from the month before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The anemic growth in job listings comes amid volatile policy swings from the White House, increased energy prices due to the US and Israel’s war with Iran and, according to recent research, AI disruptions to the labor market. Proponents of AI and large language models have claimed that the tech will bring about an economic boom, thanks to the promise of efficiency breakthroughs. Read more
Crypto’s transparent ledger makes sanctions evasion easier to trace, allowing authorities to track and potentially freeze illicit flows. Shipping firms that turn to cryptocurrency to pay potential transit fees to Iran could face significant sanctions exposure, according to Kaitlin Martin, senior intelligence analyst at Chainalysis. Martin told Cointelegraph that under the current sanctions framework, any payments made to the Iranian regime, including those tied to passage through key waterways, could be interpreted as “material support,” putting companies at risk of violating US and international restrictions. “Doing so could carry significant sanctions violation risk, as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is sanctioned by multiple jurisdictions and Iran is subject to comprehensive sanctions by the United States,” she said. Read more
WLFI fell to a record low after it was revealed that the project used billions of its own tokens as collateral to borrow $75 million in stablecoins. WLFI, the native token of the Donald Trump–backed World Liberty Financial platform, sank to an all-time low on Saturday as crypto users expressed concerns after revelations that the project used a large amount of its own tokens to take out loans. The token hit a new low of around $0.07714 on Saturday, down 83% from its peak of $0.46 reached last September, according to data from CoinMarketCap. WLFI is currently at $0.07879, down by 4.66% over the past day. The downturn came after it was revealed that wallets linked to World Liberty Financial deployed substantial WLFI holdings as collateral on Dolomite, a decentralized lending platform co-founded by the project’s chief technology officer, Corey Caplan. Read more
A federal judge in Arizona has temporarily barred state officials from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi, siding with the CFTC. A federal judge in Arizona has temporarily barred state officials from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi, siding with US regulators in a growing dispute over how event-based trading products should be classified. In an order issued on Friday, Judge Michael Liburdi of the US District Court for the District of Arizona granted a request from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the federal government to halt any state-level action targeting contracts listed on CFTC-regulated markets . The ruling centers on whether Kalshi’s “event contracts” fall under federal derivatives law or state gambling statutes. Last month, Arizona authorities sought to pursue enforcement against Kalshi under local gambling rules, but the CFTC asked a court order on Wednesday to stop the action. Read more
Bitwise added the ticker $BHYP and a 0.67% management fee in its latest filing, signaling a potential launch soon, according to Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst. Bitwise Asset Management has reportedly taken a key step toward launching its proposed spot Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund, filing a second amendment with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In an X post on Friday, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted that Bitwise had updated its Hyperliquid ETF to include the ticker $BHYP and had also set a management fee of 0.67% (67 basis points). According to Balchunas, the filing of these details generally indicates that the product will "launch soon." Read more