Crypto News
Tether CEO defends decision to skip MiCA registration for USDT
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether, addressed criticism over the company's decision not to seek registration under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, arguing that the regulations were risky for stablecoins.Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Token2049 conference in Dubai, Ardoino reiterated that Tether had no plans to apply for its US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDt — the largest by market capitalization — to be compliant under MiCA in European countries, potentially forcing exchanges to delist the stablecoin. He added that though crypto firms had to follow regulations, there was a “fear of compliance” among companies in the EU.“[...] MiCA license is very dangerous when it comes to stablecoins, and I believe that is even more dangerous for the small, medium banking system in Europe,” said the Tether CEO, adding that banks in the region could “go belly up” in the next few years thanks to MiCA's requirements, such as keeping 60% of stablecoins reserves in insured cash deposits in European banks. Ardoino added:“I decided to not apply to the MiCA license because I need to protect the 400 million+ users that we have around the world. They are not as lucky as Europeans. I love Europe, but I think that unfortunately European Central Bank is more interested [in pushing] the digital euro as a way to control people and control how they spend their money.”Related: Paolo Ardoino: Competitors and politicians intend to ‘kill Tether’After years of planning and research, EU officials began to implement requirements under MiCA in December 2024. Tether, which is regulated and headquartered in El Salvador, is required to comply with MiCA regulatory requirements if offering products or services in EU member states.Since the regulations went into effect, many crypto exchanges acted to ensure their platforms listed MiCA-compliant tokens. Kraken delisted 5 stablecoins, including USDt, and Crypto.com announced plans to delist 10 stablecoins as of January. On nations establishing crypto reservesSpeaking on its intentions for operating in the United States, Ardoino said the country “would require a different type of product,” given the competition with local stablecoin issuers. He added that the US’s and other countries’ efforts to establish a Bitcoin (BTC) stockpile were “just inevitable.”“In the medium to long term, the more Bitcoin education, the more companies will set the example […] then everyone else will follow,” said the Tether CEO. “It’s never too late to buy Bitcoin.”Ardoino’s statements came the same day that Tether announced roughly $120 billion in exposure to US Treasurys as of the first quarter of 2025. As of May 1, USDt had a market capitalization of roughly $149 billion.Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
Published Date: 2025-05-01 19:03:25Creator: Cointelegraph by Turner Wright
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Coinbase suspends trading for MOVE token
Crypto exchange Coinbase has announced it will suspend trading of the Movement Network token (MOVE), the native cryptocurrency of the Movement layer-2 blockchain protocol, developed by Movement Labs, effective May 15.The decision was shared in a May 1 X post, with Coinbase citing the token’s failure to meet its listing standards. The price of the MOVE token also declined by approximately 14.5% in the last 24 hours. Coinbase specified the details of the suspension in an announcement:"Trading for MOVE will be suspended on Coinbase, Simple and Advanced Trade, Coinbase Exchange, and Coinbase Prime. We have moved our MOVE order books to limit-only mode. Limit orders can be placed and canceled, and matches may occur."The suspension of the token follows a recently announced third-party review orchestrated by the Movement Network Foundation into an agreement allegedly signed by Movement Labs and a market-making firm, which is said to be behind the downfall of the MOVE token price in December 2024.Source: Coinbase AssetsA Movement Network Foundation spokesperson recently confirmed to Cointelegraph that the third-party investigation, which commenced on April 21, is ongoing. The investigation is being conducted by Groom Lake, an independent cybersecurity and intelligence firm, and has cast a cloud over the MOVE token's price.Related: Binance to purge 14 tokens following ‘vote to delist’ processInvestigation launched into Movement Labs dealThe details of the ongoing investigation, reported by CoinDesk on April 30, revealed an agreement between Movement Labs and Web3Port, a market maker to help distribute the Move token at launch.According to the report, a company called “Rentech” helped to broker the agreement between the two firms, appearing on both sides of the deal — as a Web3Port subsidiary and as an agent of the Movement Foundation.The deal reportedly gave Rentech control of over 66 million MOVE tokens that it sold-off after the token launch in early December 2024, triggering $38 million in downward price pressure.The price action for the MOVE token. Source: TradingViewThe MOVE token has been in a downtrend ever since early January 2025 and is trading at around $0.20 at the time of this writing.Magazine: Arbitrum co-founder skeptical of move to based and native rollups: Steven Goldfeder
Published Date: 2025-05-01 16:53:38Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
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Devs introduce Ethereum R1 layer-2 scaling solution
A group of developers within the Ethereum ecosystem, operating independently of the Ethereum Foundation, have announced Ethereum R1 — a layer-2 (L2) scaling solution for the Ethereum network that does not include a native token.According to the announcement, the project relies entirely on donations, does not have venture funding, and does not have any pre-mined token allocations or a governance token. The project's team wrote in a May 1 X post:"General-purpose L2s should be commodities — simple, replaceable, and free from centralized dependencies or risky governance. Ethereum R1 is our answer to that call — the rollup grounded in credible neutrality, decentralization, and censorship resistance.""Most L2s today are acting more like new L1s than an Ethereum scaling solution — private allocations, opaque governance, and centralized control," the developers continued.The announcement points to increasing concerns within the Ethereum community regarding the current direction of many layer-2 scaling solutions, which some view as potentially misaligned with the interests of the base layerRelated: Ethereum community members propose new fee structure for the app layerEthereum's L2-centric approach: unique value proposition or exploitation?Ethereum's Dencun upgrade in March 2024 significantly lowered fees for its layer-2 networks. By September, revenue on the Ethereum base layer collapsed by 99%.As a result, transaction costs on the Ethereum network base layer dropped to a five-year low of roughly $0.16 per transaction in April 2025, due to a lack of demand for block space on the base layer.Ethereum's transaction fees are determined by demand and network traffic — higher demand and network traffic translate into higher fees for the base layer and more revenue.Ethereum’s base layer revenue collapsed in Q1 2025. Source: Token TerminalWhile critics continue to argue that this provides perverse incentives for layer-2 networks to grow at the expense of the base layer, protocols continue to argue that Ethereum's many layer-2 networks are a feature, not a bug.Anurag Arjun, co-founder of the unified chain abstraction solution Avail, told Cointelegraph that Ethereum's layer-2 approach gives users a virtually unlimited number of high-throughput chains to choose from, as opposed to the singular one-size-fits-all approach employed by monolithic blockchain protocols.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race
Published Date: 2025-05-01 16:17:47Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
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Federal crypto legislation could come with a ‘New York State of Mind’
Love it or leave it, New York State has been a force in crypto regulation.Ten years ago, the state created the United States’ first comprehensive regulatory framework for firms dealing in cryptocurrencies, including key consumer protection, anti-money laundering compliance and cybersecurity guidelines.In September 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued its first BitLicense to Circle Internet Financial, enabling the company to conduct digital currency business activity in the state. Ripple Markets received the second BitLicense in 2016. Circle and Ripple went on to become giant players in the global cryptocurrency and stablecoin industry.Today, the NYDFS regulates one of the largest pools of crypto firms in the world, and it is often cited as the gold standard for crypto regulation in the US.It’s against that background that Ken Coghill, NYDFS’s deputy superintendent for virtual currencies, appeared at Cornell Tech’s blockchain conference on April 25 to discuss “A New Era of U.S. Innovation in Crypto.” “We set the guardrails”Most of the firms that have come to the NYDFS for a BitLicense are crypto-native firms, and often, they are new to the financial world and not used to dealing with regulators. Many times they don’t fully understand that they are in control of someone else’s asset, noted Coghill at the New York City conference, adding:If you want to start a business and the only person you’re putting at risk is your own business, that’s not really our concern. We only exist because you’re selling something to somebody else, and you’re maintaining control over that product for someone else.“We set the guardrails,” Coghill said, and it’s the industry’s job to figure out how to stay within those guardrails. The NYDFS can’t possibly contemplate every element that’s going to go wrong in a business.These days, more conventional financial institutions are becoming interested in crypto as well, added Coghill. Large banks are beginning to offer crypto custody services, and others are starting to provide settlement services. “The conventional [bank] model is being brought into the crypto [sphere] primarily because it makes people feel comfortable,” said Coghill.Related: Trump’s first 100 days ‘worst in history’ despite crypto promisesAnd while the NYDFS has only issued 22 BitLicenses to date, it appears to be ready to handle a tide of applications from TradFi firms if and when they materialize. “On a per capita basis, we have more supervisory resources focused on crypto businesses than we do for all of those other [non-crypto] businesses,” said Coghill. This includes 3,000 banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Dubai’s crypto regulatorIt wasn’t a direct route that brought Coghill to the NYDFS in July 2024. He spent the previous 12 years in the Middle East working for the Dubai Financial Services Authority, eventually becoming the agency’s head of innovation and technology risk supervision.It was a “whim” that took him to the Middle East in the first place, he recalled. “I went for three years and stayed for 12 years,” spending that time primarily as an official regulating global systemically important banks, or G-SIBs. There, he was called upon to develop a cryptocurrency supervision model, and so he “spent the last six years regulating cryptocurrency in the Middle East.”The Dubai Financial Services Authority offices. Source: Condé NastEventually, an opportunity arose to return to the US, where he had worked earlier as a manager in the department of market regulation at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Before that he was an options trader. He took the new assignment with the NYDFS, among other reasons, because “the world looks to New York, and the world looks to the DFS” when it comes to regulation, he told the Cornell Tech audience.Panel moderator Neil DeSilva asked Coghill what good regulation looks like. “Good regulation is regulation that doesn’t prohibit activity but that applies appropriate guardrails that reduces risk to clients,” he answered. One can’t eliminate risk entirely; to do so would quash all business activity.Related: Institutions break up with Ethereum but keep ETH on the hookHe compares regulation to a pendulum constantly swinging between two extremes: too lenient and too restrictive. “The pendulum swung too far to one end of the regulation in the last few years [i.e., too restrictive]. Now it’s swinging back.”What does the state regulator make of the fevered regulatory activity in Washington, DC at the federal level these days? There seem to be some “positive tailwinds” behind cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, noted DeSilva, himself a former chief financial officer for PayPal’s Digital Currencies and Remittances business. A pipeline to Washington“For DFS, it’s largely business as usual,” Coghill commented. That’s because New York State has long had crypto rules in place. In fact, “much of what’s happening now in Washington” — at the federal level — “is influenced by what we’ve done over the last 10 years” at the state level.The state agency has regularly communicated with the powers-that-be in the US capital regarding digital currencies. “We have a team that practically sits in Washington and has discussions with Congressional members, talking about what we think will work and what won’t work.”The NYDFS’ crypto initiatives have influenced other US states. California’s crypto reform legislation (AB 1934), signed into law in late September 2024, for instance, builds on New York State’s BitLicense and its limited-purpose trust charter regulations for digital currency businesses — even though BitLicense’s licensing requirements are relatively strict.Not all in the crypto industry have been enamored with the state’s crypto licensing regime, either, declaring BitLicenses too expensive. Its application fee is $5,000 — too strict with its detailed anti-money laundering protocols and required audits and generally too much of an obstacle for innovative crypto-native firms. Crypto exchange Kraken exited the state when New York implemented its BitLicense requirement, for instance. Coghill was asked by DeSilva how the NYDFS actually looks at decentralized protocols compared with how it views the centralized financial institutions that it has historically regulated. It’s important to look at the actual purpose of the product, Coghill answered. What’s its underlying intent? Who does it serve, and what are its good and bad impacts? “There are lots of innovations that are created for no purpose other than making a lot of money off of its customers,” said Coghill. “And so it’s incumbent on us to filter those out.” “We’re paid to look at everything in a dark, dark way. It’s not our job to look at and say, ‘Yes, this is fantastic.’” Rather, they examine a potential product and ask, “How is this bad for efficiency?” or “How is this bad for inclusion?” How does he think things will play out at the federal level this year regarding crypto and stablecoin legislation?What’s going to ultimately happen [in Washington, DC]? Who knows? We could know six months from now. We could know things next week. Things have been changing very rapidly recently.In the meantime, “we’re still accepting applications. We’re still processing those applications. We’re still focusing on our underlying objectives: protecting the market, protecting the consumers, supporting innovation.”Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
Published Date: 2025-05-01 15:17:05Creator: Cointelegraph by Andrew Singer
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Bitcoin bulls prep $97K resistance showdown as gold dips 8% from highs
Bitcoin (BTC) gained 3% on May 1 as a new month saw shorts struggle to keep price pinned.BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewBitcoin pressures shorts after 3% daily gainsData from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $96,955 on Bitstamp, its highest since Feb. 22.Increasingly close to six figures, Bitcoin rose with US stocks at the Wall Street open as Microsoft gained 10% to become the world’s highest-valued public company.Reacting, popular trader Daan Crypto Trades suggested that stocks may be on the cusp of a return to sustained bullish trajectory.“Stocks trade at a key area here,” he wrote in ongoing X analysis.“I think the general rule is that if stocks do trade back above the .618 Fibonacci retracement after a big drop, the bottom is considered to be in.”S&P 500 1-day chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/XAn accompanying chart showed the S&P 500 approaching monthly highs, delivering a V-shaped recovery.“Even though $BTC has held up better recently, large moves by equities should still influence BTC & Crypto. So watch this zone,” Daan Crypto Trades added.Fellow trader Skew watched exchange order book liquidity for signs of short-term moves to come.$BTCWho's going to be right this time?Longs or Shorts pic.twitter.com/4xSu86WzSQ— Skew Δ (@52kskew) May 1, 2025The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed ask liquidity thickening around $97,000 at the time of writing.BTC liquidation heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlassAnalyst on macro picture: “Short term: bad for gold”The optimistic May open meanwhile came despite the macroeconomic outlook remaining uncertain as recession fears returned on the back of poor US GDP data.Related: Bitcoin eyes gains as macro data makes US recession 2025 ‘base case’With the Federal Reserve under pressure to cut interest rates, various crypto market commentators saw the chance for a stronger comeback in the coming months.“Bad macroeconomic data came along, through which the pressure on the FED is increasing to start the money printer again,” Crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe told X followers in part of a post on the day. “Ultimately, good for risk-on assets. Short-term, bad for Gold.”XAU/USD 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewXAU/USD was down more than 8% versus its all-time highs seen in April, with oil also suffering.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-01 15:04:05Creator: Cointelegraph by William Suberg
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The case for enterprise-grade custody solutions
Opinion by: Vikash Singh, Principal Investor at StillmarkThe Bybit hack resulted in the largest loss of funds to cyber hackers by a cryptocurrency exchange in history. It served as a wake-up call for those complacent about the state of security threats in the digital assets space. Everyone must learn the lesson from this heist — enterprise-grade custody solutions require tech to be accompanied by transparency.Unlike many previous incidents, this loss of funds was not due to a faulty smart contract, lost/mismanaged keys or deliberate mismanagement or rehypothecation of user funds, but rather a sophisticated social engineering attack that exploited vulnerabilities in operational security. This hack differs from earlier eras because it happened to a major global exchange that takes security and compliance seriously. It’s a reminder that, in crypto, there’s no such thing as “good enough” security.The anatomy of a heist A technical overview of the Bybit attack is key for understanding how companies can proactively strengthen their security against such attacks. Initially, a developer machine belonging to Safe, an asset management platform offering multisig Ethereum wallets used by Bybit, was compromised. This initial breach granted the attackers unauthorized access to Safe’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment, including its S3 storage bucket. The attackers then pushed a malicious JavaScript file into this bucket, which was subsequently distributed to users via access to the Safe UI. The JS code manipulated the transaction content displayed to the user during the signing process, effectively tricking them into authorizing transfers to the attackers’ wallets while believing they were confirming legitimate transactions. Recent: CertiK exec explains how to keep crypto safe after Bybit hackThis highlights how even highly robust security at the technical level, like multisig, can be vulnerable if not implemented correctly. They can lull users into a false sense of security that can be fatal.Layered securityWhile multisignature security setups have long been considered the gold standard in digital asset security, the Bybit hack underscores the need for further analysis and transparency on the implementation of these systems, including the layers of security that exist to mitigate attacks that exploit operational security and the human layer in addition to verification of the smart contracts themselves. A robust security framework for safeguarding digital assets should prioritize multi-layered verification and restrict the scope of potential interactions. Such a framework demonstrably enhances protection against attacks.A well-designed system implements a thorough verification process for all transactions. For example, a triple-check verification system involves the mobile application verifying the server’s data, the server checking the mobile application’s data, and the hardware wallet verifying the server’s data. If any of these checks fail, the transaction will not be signed. This multi-layered approach contrasts with systems that directly interface with onchain contracts, potentially lacking critical server-side checks. These checks are essential for fault tolerance, especially if the user’s interface is compromised.A secure framework should limit the scope of possible interactions with digital asset vaults. Restricting actions to a minimal set, like sending, receiving and managing signers, reduces potential attack vectors associated with complex smart contract modifications.Using a dedicated mobile application for sensitive operations, like transaction creation and display, adds another security layer. Mobile platforms often offer better resistance to compromise and spoofing compared to browser-based wallets or multisig interfaces. This reliance on a dedicated application enhances the overall security posture.Transparency upgradesTo bolster transparency, businesses can leverage the capabilities of proof-of-reserve software. These can defend multisignature custody setups from UI-targeted attacks by providing an independent, self-auditable view of chain state/ownership and verifying that the correct set of keys is available to spend funds in a given address/contract (akin to a health check). As institutional adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and digital assets continues, custody providers must transparently communicate such details on the security models of their systems in addition to the design decisions behind them: This is the true “gold standard” of crypto security. Transparency should extend to how the nature of the underlying protocols alters the attack surface of custody setups, including multisignature wallets. Bitcoin has prioritized human-verifiable transfers where signers confirm destination addresses directly rather than confirm engagement in complex smart contracts, which require additional steps/dependencies to reveal the flow of funds. In the case of the Bybit hack, this would enable the human signer to detect more easily that the address shown by the hardware wallet did not match the spoofed UI.While expressive smart contracts expand the application design space, they increase the attack surface and make formal security audits more challenging. Bitcoin’s well-established multisignature standards, including a native multisig opcode, create additional security barriers against such attacks. The Bitcoin protocol has historically favored simplicity in its design, which reduces the attack surface not just at the smart contracting layer but also at the UX/human layer, including hardware wallet users. Increasing regulatory acceptance shows how far Bitcoin has come since its early era of widespread hacks and frauds, but Bybit shows we must never let our guard slip. Bitcoin represents financial freedom — and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.Opinion by: Vikash Singh, Principal Investor at Stillmark. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Published Date: 2025-05-01 15:00:00Creator: Cointelegraph by Vikash Singh
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Bitcoin to $1M by 2029 fueled by ETF and gov’t demand — Bitwise exec
Bitcoin’s expanding institutional adoption may provide the “structural” inflows necessary to surpass gold’s market capitalization and push its price beyond $1 million by 2029, according to Bitwise’s head of European research, André Dragosch.“Our in-house prediction is $1 million by 2029. So that Bitcoin will match gold's market cap and total addressable market by 2029,” he told Cointelegraph during the Chain Reaction daily X spaces show on April 30.Corporations are coming for your bitcoin (feat. André Dragosch, Head of Research at Bitwise) #CHAINREACTION https://t.co/5F3cRWBHzq— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) April 30, 2025Gold is currently the world’s largest asset, valued at over $21.7 trillion. In comparison, Bitcoin’s market capitalization sits at $1.9 trillion, making it the seventh-largest asset globally, according to CompaniesMarketCap data.Top 10 global assets by market capitalization. Source: CompaniesMarketCapRelated: Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam BackFor the 2025 market cycle, Bitcoin may surpass $200,000 in the “base case” and $500,000 with more governmental adoption, Dragosch said.“But once you see sovereign bias like the US government stepping in, all this will change to $500,000.”“So the base case is $200,000, conditional on the US government not stepping in. If they step in, it will move closer toward $500,000,” said Dragosch, referring to the US government’s plan to potentially make direct Bitcoin acquisitions through “budget-neutral” strategies.The US is looking at “many creative ways” to fund its Bitcoin investments, including from tariff revenue and by reevaluating the US Treasury’s gold certificates, creating a paper surplus to fund the BTC reserve without selling gold, Bo Hines of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets said in an interview on April 14.Related: Crypto sentiment recovers, but weekend liquidity risks remain“Structural” ETF inflows, institutional adoption prolong Bitcoin cycleThe US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have surpassed all expectations during their first year of trading, exceeding record trading volumes as BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF became the fastest-growing ETF in history.The first year is usually the “slowest” for ETFs, Dragosch said, highlighting the launch of the gold ETF:“That alone implies that in the second and third year, we will see growing inflows. In terms of the four four-year cycle, implies that, this cycle will be prolonged by these structural inflows.”The Bitcoin cycle may also be prolonged when US wirehouses start gaining exposure to Bitcoin and ETFs.“In the US, the major distribution channels go via Wirehouses, which are essentially the big banks like Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley. [...] Not even half of these wirehouses have opened up their distribution channels to US Bitcoin ETFs,” the analyst said.Adoption from US wirehouses may bring a “huge amount of capital,” since these control over $10 trillion worth of customer assets, Dragosch added.Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19
Published Date: 2025-05-01 14:34:39Creator: Cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai
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Bitcoin yield demand booming as institutions seek liquidity — Solv CEO
The demand for yield-generating strategies around Bitcoin (BTC) is surging, especially from firms seeking liquidity without liquidating their BTC, according to Ryan Chow, co-founder and CEO of Solv Protocol.During a fireside chat at the Token2049 conference in Dubai on May 1, Chow said institutional interest in Bitcoin yield products has grown exponentially over the past few years.Initially, generating Bitcoin yield was nearly impossible. However, recent innovations like staking via proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols and delta-neutral trading strategies have made this possible.Layer-1 and layer-2 advancements, such as Babylon, have made these strategies more viable. Babylon allows BTC holders to earn yield on their assets, which are used to provide security and liquidity for PoS networks.“Bitcoin as the largest asset class here, you can stake your Bitcoin to secure the network […] that makes us feel like if it is the answer to really bring utility and also use case,” he said.Ryan Chow, co-founder and CEO of Solv Protocol.Related: Bitcoin DeFi project Solv to launch native token on HyperliquidLending emerges dominant BTC financial use caseChow noted that institutions mainly focus on Bitcoin when entering crypto due to its dominance in portfolios. Once they purchase Bitcoin, they lend it out to gain liquidity without selling.Companies like Coinbase now offer up to $1 million in borrowing against Bitcoin. Platforms like Aave and Compound also enable instant borrowing.Chow also praised public firms like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) for helping normalize BTC as a treasury asset. “MSTR is a very successful derivatives kind of use case based on Bitcoin […] That’s also Bitcoin finance.”In an April report, crypto fund issuer Bitwise revealed that the amount of Bitcoin held on the books of publicly traded companies rose by 16.1% in the first quarter of 2025.The company detailed that Bitcoin holdings rose to around 688,000 BTC by the end of Q1, with firms adding 95,431 BTC over the quarter.The value of the combined Bitcoin stacks rose around 2.2%, reaching a total combined value of $56.7 billion with a price per BTC of $82,445, the firm added.Looking ahead, Chow said he expects over 100,000 BTC to enter ecosystems like Solana. “There should be more and more use cases come out,” he said.Related: Solv launches Bitcoin staking token on SolanaSolv launches Sharia-compliant yield productsChow also mentioned the firm’s recently launched Sharia-compliant Bitcoin yield product called SolvBTC.core, which generates yield by securing the Core blockchain network and engaging in onchain DeFi activities while adhering to Islamic finance principles.“Sharia compliance is something that we prepared for a long time [...] you have to pass it before you really serve them through your platform.”Source: Solv ProtocolWith over 25,000 BTC already locked in Solv’s protocol — worth more than $2 billion — Chow said the firm is now building infrastructure tailored to institutional needs, with an emphasis on regulatory and cultural requirements.Magazine: TV hit Peaky Blinders to launch crypto game, FIFA Rivals on Polkadot: Web3 Gamer
Published Date: 2025-05-01 14:16:54Creator: Cointelegraph by Amin Haqshanas
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Ethereum to simplify crosschain transactions with new token standards
Ethereum developers are working to improve blockchain interoperability with two new token standards: ERC-7930 and ERC-7828.“There’s no standard way for wallets, apps, or protocols to interpret or display this information,” decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem development organization Wonderland wrote in a May 1 X post. Wallets, decentralized applications (DApps), block explorers and smart contracts follow different rules.“The result? A messy, inconsistent experience that breaks cross-chain UX,“ Wonderland stated.Wonderland is a group of developers, researchers and data scientists focused on improving the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. The organization partnered with multiple DeFi protocols, including Optimism, Aztec, Connext and Yearn.Wonderland’s ERC-7828 and ERC-7930 explanation post. Source: WonderlandIn the post, the organization shared what was discussed at a recent Ethereum Foundation interoperability working group call. Teddy from Wonderland explained that the current goal is to finalize both token standards within the next two weeks. He added:“We badly need feedback on the ETH-Magicians forum.”Related: Vitalik Buterin’s vision for Ethereum: Pectra, Glamsterdam and beyondSomething for people, something for botsWonderland explained that “ERC-7930 defines a compact, binary format for interoperable addresses.” This format is machine-friendly and optimized for protocols that require a single representation for all blockchains.ERC-7828 expands that standard “by adding a human-readable layer, using formats like address@chain, ensuring everything stays clear and simple for users.” Together, the two are designed to enhance the experience of using Ethereum’s inter-blockchain ecosystem. “Target audience for ERC-7828 is anything that interacts with humans… It’s the text layer,” Teddy said during the call. Related: Ethereum Fusaka hard fork set for late 2025Many chains, one addressPut simply, the proposed system would allow the sender to specify the target blockchain when sending a payment address. This would include both a human-readable address@chain format and a machine-readable format for application programming interfaces.The setup prevents users from sending or receiving assets on the wrong blockchain, which helps prevent crypto losses. Currently, the same address can be used on multiple blockchains within the Ethereum ecosystem, which can lead to confusion.With the new setup, wallet operation can be blockchain-agnostic, and the address input into the user interface will also determine which blockchain the transaction is directed toward. This would, in turn, reduce friction, as users currently need to switch networks in wallet settings to move from chain to chain.Magazine: Ethereum L2s will be interoperable ‘within months’: Complete guide
Published Date: 2025-05-01 14:06:56Creator: Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski
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Why is Solana (SOL) price up today?
Key points:Solana gains 8% to $152, with 35% higher trading volume and a 5% rise in futures open interest, showing strong demand.Solana’s TVL up 25% in 30 days, DEX volumes soar 90%, led by Sanctum, Raydium, and others.A V-shaped recovery eyes $250 if SOL price breaks $160-$200 resistance.Solana (SOL) displayed strength on May 1, climbing 8% from its April 30 low of $140 to around $152 at the time of writing. Its daily trading volume has jumped by 35% over the last 24 hours.SOL/USD four chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewRising futures OI boosts SOL priceAn increase in open long positions in the futures market preceded SOL’s rally above $150 today. SOL futures open interest climbed 5% over the last 30 days to 38.7 million SOL on May 1. In dollar terms, this represents $5.86 billion in futures positions, ranking third in the cryptocurrency market and over 50% higher than the demand for XRP derivatives. Solana futures aggregate open interest, SOL. Source: CoinGlass Also backing Solana’s upside are positive funding rates in its perpetual futures markets. Funding rates represent the periodic payments exchanged between long and short positions. This metric has flipped positive from -0.005% on April 30 to 0.007% at the time of writing.ETH funding rates across all exchanges. Source: CoinGlassIncreasing OI and positive funding rates mean more capital is entering the market, which can boost the price increase as buying pressure builds up.Solana onchain activity is backSolana ranks as the second-largest layer-1 blockchain with more than $8 billion in total value locked (TVL) on the network, according to data from DefiLlama. The chart below shows that Solana’s TVL has increased by approximately 25% over the last 30 days. Solana TVL and daily DEX volumes. Source: DefiLlamaSanctum was among the strongest performers in Solana deposits, with the TVL rising 40% over the last 30 days. Other notable increases included Kamino (24%), Jito (20%), and Jupiter (19%).Solana’s daily DEX volumes have increased by more than 90% since April 11 to $3.14 billion. Solana led the past week with $21.6 billion in decentralized exchange activity, surpassing the entire Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem.Decentralized exchange volumes, 7-day market share. Source: DefiLlamaHigh performers within the Solana network include a 63% weekly increase in Raydium’s volumes and a 40% rise in Lifinity activity.Related: Bloomberg Intelligence boosts Solana ETF approval odds to 90%Solana follows V-shaped recoverySOL’s price action has been painting a V-shaped recovery pattern on the weekly chart since January, as shown below.A V-shaped recovery is a bullish pattern formed when an asset rises sharply after a steep decline. It is completed when the price moves up to the resistance at the top of the V formation, also known as the neckline.SOL appears to be on a similar trajectory and now trades below a supply-demand zone between $160 and $200, where the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) sits.The bulls need to push the price above this area to increase the chances of reaching the neckline at $250 to complete the V-shaped pattern. Beyond that, the next target would be the all-time highs above $294. This would represent a 92% increase from the current price.SOL/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe relative strength index has increased from 36 at the end of March to 47 at the time of writing, suggesting the bullish momentum is picking up.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-01 13:59:43Creator: Cointelegraph by Nancy Lubale
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