Cointelegraph.com
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Cointelegraph.com - 18:27 Apr 18, 2026
The Iranian government chose Bitcoin as a payment method for oil tolls due to its confiscation-resistant properties, but only dollar stablecoins have been used so far. Iran’s government naming Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for oil ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz highlights its role as a neutral, strategic asset, according to Sam Lyman, head of research at digital asset advocacy organization Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI). The government selected BTC as one of the payment methods for the tolls because of its censorship-resistant qualities, Lyman told Cointelegraph. He said: Iran is accepting oil tolls in Chinese yuan, US dollar-pegged stablecoins and BTC. However, there is “no onchain evidence” of a BTC toll payment so far, Lyman said, adding that the “majority” of Iran’s crypto transactions are denominated in US dollar stablecoins. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 12:24 Apr 18, 2026
Poland’s parliament has once again failed to overturn President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of the crypto regulation bill. Poland’s parliament has once again failed to overturn a presidential veto blocking a key crypto regulation bill, extending the political standoff over how the country should oversee digital assets. In a vote held Friday, lawmakers fell short of the 263 votes required to override the veto issued by President Karol Nawrocki, local outlet TVP World reported. A total of 243 MPs voted against the veto, while 191 supported it, per the report. The bill, backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, aims to align Poland with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), introduced in 2024 to govern the issuance and custody of crypto assets. Poland remains the only EU member state yet to implement the bloc’s framework. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 12:00 Apr 18, 2026
Stablecoins promise seamless dollar movement, but fragmented liquidity is turning large transfers into complex execution problems, says Eco CEO Ryne Saxe. Stablecoins behave like a fragmented foreign exchange market, where liquidity is spread across blockchains and pools, creating price differences and uneven access to dollar liquidity. Moving stablecoins looks simple on the surface. But under the hood, it’s often a multi-step transaction routed across chains and pools. “It’s a very special case of a foreign exchange market onchain, and that leads to bad user experience, with unexpected slippage, transaction reversion and unfamiliar information when moving your dollar from point A to point B,” Ryne Saxe, CEO at stablecoin infrastructure company Eco, told Cointelegraph. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 08:28 Apr 18, 2026
Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $1 billion in weekly inflows, their strongest performance in over three months amid improving risk sentiment. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded nearly $1 billion in net inflows over the past week, marking their strongest performance in more than three months as market sentiment shifts toward risk assets. Data from SoSoValue shows that spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs attracted $996 muillion in total net inflows last week, the highest weekly intake since early January, when inflows reached about $1.4 billion. Friday saw $663.9 million in inflows, the strongest single-day performance of the week. Earlier gains included $411.5 million on Tuesday and $186 million on Wednesday, followed by a more modest $26 million on Thursday. The period began with a $291 million outflow on Monday. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 07:32 Apr 18, 2026
The SEC has sued crypto executive Donald Basile over an alleged $16 million scheme involving false claims about an “insured” Bitcoin Latinum token. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against crypto executive Donald Basile, accusing him and two companies he controlled of raising about $16 million from investors through false claims tied to a so-called “insured” crypto token known as Bitcoin Latinum. In a complaint filed Friday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC alleged that Basile ran the scheme between March and December 2021 through Monsoon Blockchain Corp. and GIBF GP Inc., offering investors Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) that promised future delivery of the token, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Regulators said hundreds of investors were told the asset was backed and insured, but the SEC alleged no insurance company ever provided coverage or any proof that these claims were true, per the report. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 04:46 Apr 18, 2026
The USDC Bridge adds to Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which often sees over $500 million worth of USDC transfers each day. Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched USDC Bridge, a new user interface built on top of the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) that seeks to simplify native cross-chain transfers of the USDC stablecoin. On Friday, Circle’s USDC X account said the bridge allows users to move the USDC (USDC) stablecoin in a “predictable, transparent way,” citing a native burn-and-mint transfer mechanism and no bridge complexities. Gas fees will be handled automatically, fees will be shown upfront, and live status updates will be provided throughout the transfer, Circle added. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 02:46 Apr 18, 2026
X’s Cashtags feature has been integrated into Canadian-based online brokerage Wealthsimple, but has not yet been adopted by a US trading platform. Social media platform X has already generated roughly $1 billion in trading volume from its new Cashtags feature, which allows users to view stock and crypto data directly from the app. In a post to X on Friday, the company’s head of product, Nikita Bier, said the estimated $1 billion in trading volume was reached after launching on Tuesday night, citing data aggregated from X’s trading pilot. Based on aggregated data from our trading pilot, X has driven a estimated $1 billion in trading volume globally since launching on Tuesday night. https://t.co/TimRE4U37S Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 00:49 Apr 18, 2026
Most of the integrations are aimed at fighting deepfakes as the rise of AI-generated content makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish humans from AI. Worldcoin fell 13.4% to roughly $0.28 on Friday as World, the identity-focused company led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, unveiled several new integrations for its “proof of human” stack, which uses iris-scanning technology to verify identities. Video conferencing tool Zoom is integrating World’s Deep Face authentication to prevent deepfakes, while electronic signature platform Docusign is adding World’s ID verification tech to digital agreements, World said on Friday. Dating app Tinder is also expanding its World ID verification to US users. “As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of real people, the infrastructure to prove a human stands behind each agent becomes critical,” World said. No more deepfakes on video calls. @worldnetwork identify verification on @Zoom. pic.twitter.com/0ap0IOKR6H Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:33 Apr 17, 2026
Individuals and groups would be required to register with the Bank of Russia before offering certain crypto services, or potentially face fines and prison time. Russia’s government submitted a bill to its parliament’s lower house in an effort to amend the country's legal code to attach criminal liability for crypto services offered without regulatory approval or licensing. In a draft law sent to the State Duma on Friday, Russian lawmakers proposed that entities "carrying out activities related to the organization of digital currency circulation,” that operate without a license from Russia’s central bank, could be subject to criminal liability. Without registration with the Bank of Russia, individuals could face up to $4,000 in fines and up to four years in prison, or more severe penalties if part of an organized group. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:12 Apr 17, 2026
Traders on the Polymarket prediction market platform place the odds of the Strait returning to normal traffic by May 31, 2026, at 73%. Polymarket prediction market odds of the Strait of Hormuz “returning to normal” by the end of May spiked to 73% on Friday, following news that Iranian officials have temporarily opened up the Strait of Hormuz as part of a ceasefire deal. The odds climbed to a high of 82% on Friday, after Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open. Since that time, the odds have fallen back down to 73%. He said in an X post: However, traders on the platform placed the odds of the Strait returning to normal activity by the end of April at just 40%. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 19:22 Apr 17, 2026
A letter from US Senator Richard Blumenthal said he was concerned about “mounting allegations of dangerously lax anti-money laundering prevention by Binance.” Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned US authorities responsible for overseeing Binance about whether the company is complying with anti-money laundering laws and sanctions under its 2023 court-imposed monitoring program. According to a report published by Fortune on Friday, Blumenthal sent letters to the Justice Department and the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), asking for details on Binance’s compliance. Binance and its former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao reached a deal in 2023, in which the exchange would pay $4.3 billion to settle civil regulatory enforcement actions, and CZ would plead guilty to one felony charge. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 19:14 Apr 17, 2026
A confirmed cup-and-handle breakout on Ether’s chart and a double-digit increase in ETH accumulation wallet balances could be earlier signs of a longer-term rally for the altcoin. Ether’s (ETH) rally to $2,400 is nearly 38% above its swing low at $1,750, but is ETH’s price move simply a momentum trade, or do longer-term data points suggest a paradigm shift at play? Ether’s recent rally was preceded by an 89% surge in daily active addresses (DAA), which jumped to 730,278 from 384,763 on April 5. The increase in Ethereum’s active addresses indicates increased user interaction with the network, which is generally a positive. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:27 Apr 17, 2026
Nearly a billion dollars in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours as the Bitcoin price rallied above $78,000. Bitcoin (BTC) rallied above $78,000 to hit another 10-week high on Friday as crypto and equity markets reacted to cooling tensions in the US and Israel war in Iran. The rally above range highs also resulted in a large liquidation of leveraged Bitcoin positions. More than $660 million in short positions were liquidated, with Bitcoin accounting for $353 million of that total. Ether (ETH) followed with $160 million in short liquidations. Related: Three things Bitcoin must do to hold highs above $76K: Analysts Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:27 Apr 17, 2026
Payward, the parent company of the Kraken crypto exchange, cited Bitnomial's regulatory licenses as the primary driver for the acquisition. Payward, the parent company of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Friday that it has entered into a “definitive agreement” to acquire Bitnomial, a US-licensed cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange; the deal values Bitnomial’s equity at $20 billion. Bitnomial is the “first” crypto-native exchange in the United States to hold all three regulatory licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage permits, according to Payward’s announcement. “Settlement mechanics, margin models, and contract structures define what products can exist and who can access them. The US has had no clearing infrastructure built for digital assets,” Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said. He added: Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 17:37 Apr 17, 2026
Bitcoin pole vaulted to $78,000 and altcoins soared after Iran said that the Strait of Hormuz was fully open. Will bulls be able to sustain the upward momentum? Key points: Bitcoin soared above $76,000, opening the doors for a further rally toward $84,000. Several major altcoins are showing strength, signaling broad-based buying by the bulls. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 17:33 Apr 17, 2026
The Bahrain-based lender lets institutional clients convert fiat currency to US dollar-pegged stablecoins directly from their accounts. Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) has introduced a service that lets institutional clients mint and redeem stablecoins directly from their bank accounts, using the Solana layer-1 blockchain network to enable round-the-clock settlement between fiat and digital assets. The service will initially support Circle USDC (USDC) transactions above $100,000 and includes temporary fee waivers for minting and redemption on the Solana network, according to SGB’s announcement. Additional assets such as Tether’s USDT (USDT), Ethena’s USDe (USDe) and Global Dollar (USDG) are expected to follow, the company said. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 17:14 Apr 17, 2026
The country's finance minister supported the Qivalis initiative, launched in 2025, to create a euro-pegged stablecoin under the MiCA framework. Roland Lescure, France’s finance minister, backed an initiative by European banks to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in 2026 to compete with US dollar-backed tokens, which currently dominate the market. According to a Friday Reuters report, Lescure supported the euro-pegged Qivalis stablecoin plan launched in September 2025 by EU banks, including Dutch lender ING and Italy’s UniCredit. The goal of the banks was to create a stablecoin in compliance with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework; the MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin is expected to be launched in the second half of 2026. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:52 Apr 17, 2026
Bitcoin price rallied above $77,000 amid cooling geopolitical tensions and record-high back-to-back closes for the S&P 500. Bitcoin (BTC) refreshed February highs on Friday as attention focused on the upcoming weekly close and a longer-term rally to $88,000. Key points: Bitcoin hits its highest levels in ten weeks as markets abandon geopolitical nerves. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:50 Apr 17, 2026
Neo’s proposed overhaul would restructure its foundation, return tokens to the community and impose formal oversight, as co-founders clash over governance and control. Neo co-founder Da Hongfei has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the Neo Foundation after years of deadlock with co-founder Erik Zhang left one of crypto’s oldest networks effectively paralyzed. The plan follows Neo’s first public financial disclosure since 2019, showing about $461 million in assets held across the Neo Foundation (NF) and Neo Global Development (NGD) at the end of 2025. The proposed restructuring aims to replace what Hongfei described as informal, founder-driven governance, arguing the outcome could serve as a test case for how aging blockchain networks manage large treasuries and transition away from founder control. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:45 Apr 17, 2026
Notable crypto execs descended on Paris Blockchain Week, bringing more attention to personal security as kidnapping and ransom attempts skyrocket. The frequency of kidnap and ransom attempts on prominent cryptocurrency executives has skyrocketed in recent years. Referred to, perhaps crudely, in the crypto community as a “$5 wrench attack,” these attempts to extract millions from crypto bigwigs have spurred politicians to mitigate risk. Policymakers in France are currently working on safeguards, including a prevention platform announced at Paris Blockchain Week yesterday. In the private sector, insurance companies are offering bespoke coverage to crypto execs, which includes awareness and prevention training. Read more
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