Crypto News
Bitcoin drops under $93K after US GDP data shows shrinking economy, raising recession alarms
Key points: US GDP shrank in Q1, raising recession alarms while also prompting calls for Fed rate cuts.Bitcoin dropped to $92,910 as GDP figures were released, but sustained buy-side demand could provide support. Today’s crypto derisking is likely transitory; market fundamentals remain strong.Bitcoin (BTC) price took an abrupt tumble as data showed the US gross domestic product (GDP) retracting by 0.3% in Q1, raising alarms among analysts anticipating a recession. Following the news, BTC price dropped to an intra-day low of $92,910, while the DOW and S&P 500 fell by 1% and 1.3% respectively. While the GDP figures are shocking at face value, CNBC pointed out that the drop was primarily due to “a surge in imports ahead of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.” Imports are subtracted from GDP, suggesting that the pullback is more transitory than endemic. After an initial 1% price drop, Bitcoin rebounded back to the $94,000 range as crypto and traditional markets digest today’s news headlines. Beyond the GDP figures, Bitcoin still has multiple positive factors that translate to a continued bid throughout its current price range. Strong resistance at $95,000 remains, but BTC is holding a pattern of daily higher lows. The overhead resistance at $95,500 to $96,400 is also aligned with 61.8% Fibonacci retracement, which, in the view of technical analysis, tends to be an expected level of resistance. BTC/USD Coinbase. Source: TradingViewBeyond today’s $41.47 million spike in Bitcoin long liquidations, spot volumes have driven the bulk of BTC bullish price action over the past two weeks, which is another positive. BTC/USDT spot and futures cumulative volume delta. Source: TRDR.io Related: Bitcoin macro indicator that predicted 2022 bottom flashes ‘buy signal’Bitcoin buy demand from all angles could provide price supportIn the past two weeks, the Bitcoin market has seen: Spot Bitcoin ETF inflows as of April 29 total $3.02 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT being a leader among the pack. An April 24 statement from the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced that banks can independently and freely move forward with offering crypto-based products and services Investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald partnered with SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex to launch a $3 billion Bitcoin acquisition company called 21 Capital.Another $1.42 billion Bitcoin purchase from Strategy.Coinbase institutional head of strategy John D’Agostino mentioned that sovereign entities made Bitcoin purchases during the sell-off below $75,000. An increasing number of international companies are copying the “MicroStrategy playbook” by dipping their toes into the Bitcoin treasury game. What is clear is that despite the shrinking US GDP triggering a news headline-driven correction, sustained demand on the buy side and strengthening market structure fundamentals are likely to trump today’s brief downside blip in BTC price.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: 2025-04-30 17:01:16Creator: Cointelegraph by Big Smokey
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EU digital product passports won’t solve food fraud, but blockchain can
Opinion by: Fraser Edwards, co-founder and CEO, CheqdBrutal honesty has its place, especially when confronting discomfort, so here’s one that can’t be sweetened with honey: 96% of imported honey in the UK is fake! Tests found that 24 of 25 jars were suspicious or didn’t meet regulatory standards. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) can fix this. The UK Food Standards Agency and the European Commission both urge reform to tackle this concern by creating a robust traceability database within supply chain networks to ensure consumer transparency and trust. Data, however, is not the problem. The issue is people tampering with it. This is not the first time products have been revealed to be inauthentic, with the Honey Authenticity Network highlighting that one-third of all honey products were fake in 2020, a fraudulent industry amounting to 3.4 billion euros ($3.65 million) of counterfeit goods entering the EU in 2023, as reported by the European Commission.What is EMA, and how does it affect honey?Economically motivated adulteration (EMA) involves intentionally substituting valuable ingredients for less expensive products such as sweeteners or low-quality oil. This practice leads to severe economic and health complications — and, in some cases, disease — due to the poisonous additives from substitute products.The adulteration often involves creating an ultra-diluted blend containing minimal nutritional value, and counterfeiters call it… honey.Fraudsters dilute the product with high fructose corn syrup or increase the thickness with starch or gelatine. These adulterants closely mimic honey’s chemical profile, making it extremely difficult to detect with traditional tests such as isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Fake honey lacks the essential enzymes that give real honey its flavor and nutrients. To make matters worse, honey’s characteristics vary based on nectar sources, the harvest season, geography and more. Some companies filter out pollen content, a key identifier of a honey’s geographical origin, before exporting it to intermediary countries like Vietnam or India to further obfuscate the process. Once this is done, the products are brought to supermarket shelves and labeled with false certifications to command higher prices. This tactic exploits the fact that many regulatory bodies lack the means to verify every shipment.The hidden cost of food fraudThe supply chain is profoundly fractured, as a jar of honey passes six to eight key points in the supply chain before it arrives on the shelves in the UK. Current practices make authenticity verification extremely difficult. Coupled with the inefficient paper-based bureaucracy that makes it hard to track origin obscuration attempts in intermediary countries, we cannot reliably determine the true extent of food fraud.One Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimate suggests that at least 1% of the global food industry, potentially up to $40 billion per year, is affected — and it could be even higher.Recent: What is decentralized identity in blockchain?Fraudulent practices don’t just harm consumers — they destroy beekeepers’ livelihoods, flooding the market and destroying profitability for legitimate traders. Ziya Sahin, a Turkish beekeeper, explained the frustration with food fraud regulation:“Our beekeepers are angry, and they ask why we’re not doing something to stop it. But we have no authority to inspect,” he said. “I’m not even allowed to ask street sellers whether their honey is real.”While there’s a growing appetite for more reliable testing and stricter enforcement, solutions are lagging. The EU’s latest attempt to fix this? Digital product passports are designed to track honey’s origins and composition, but they are already being criticized as ineffective and easy to manipulate, ultimately leaving the door open for fraud to continue.EU passports are an ineffective solution The European Union’s Digital Product Passport aims to tackle this by enhancing traceability and transparency in its supply chains. By 2030, all goods in the EU must have a digital product passport containing detailed information on the product’s lifecycle, origins and environmental effects. While the idea sounds promising, it fails to recognize the extent to which fraudsters can forge certificates and obscure origins by passing products through intermediary countries alongside officials who turn a blind eye.At the core of this issue is trust. Despite history showing that these rules can and will be bent, we rely on governments to implement laws and regulations. Technology, on the other hand, is agnostic and doesn’t care about money or incentives.This is the fundamental flaw of the EU’s approach — a system built on human oversight that is vulnerable to the corruption these supply chains are already known for. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) for productsMany people are already aware of the scalability trilemma, but the trust triangle is a key concept in SSI that defines how trust is established between issuers, holders and verifiers. It makes fraud much more challenging because every product must be backed by a verifiable credential from a trusted source to prove it’s real.Issuers, like manufacturers or certification bodies, create and sign verifiable credentials that attest to a product’s authenticity. The holder, typically the product owner, stores and presents these credentials when required. Verifiers — such as retailers, customs officials or consumers — can check the credentials’ validity without relying on a central authority. Verifiable credentials are protected by cryptography. If someone tries to sell fake products, their missing or invalid credentials will immediately reveal the fraud.Government reforms must extend beyond current regulatory oversight and explore the approach outlined in the trust trilemma to safeguard supply chains from widespread adulteration and fraud.SSI provides the underlying infrastructure necessary to reliably track the identity of products across multiple bodies, standards and regions. By enabling tamper-proof, end-to-end traceability in every single product — whether a jar of honey or a designer handbag — SSI ensures sufficient validators confirm the data is correct to tackle fraud and obfuscation attempts.SSI also empowers consumers to independently verify products without relying on third-party databases. Buyers can scan the product to authenticate its origin and history directly via the cryptographic certifications confirmed by the validators to further reduce the risk of misinformation even if it reaches the shelves. This would also help reduce corruption and inefficiencies, as many checks are made on paper, which can be easily altered and is a slow process.As honey fraud methods continue to expand, so do these products’ harm to consumers and local businesses. Steps taken to tackle these methods must thus also broaden. The EU’s Digital Product Passports aim to improve traceability; but unfortunately, they fall short of fraudsters’ sophistication. Implementation of SSI is a necessary step to effectively address the extent fraudsters take to ensure their product arrives on shelves.Opinion by: Fraser Edwards, co-founder and CEO, Cheqd. 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: 2025-04-30 15:00:00Creator: Cointelegraph by Fraser Edwards
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Bitcoin price recovers, Ethereum RWA value up 20%: April in charts
April 2025 witnessed crypto markets rocked by more tariffs at the direction of US President Donald Trump — controversial policies that could have influenced the outcome of Canada’s elections on April 28. On April 2, Trump levied “discounted reciprocal tariffs” on 185 countries and territories. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,200 points on April 4, while the S&P 500 dropped nearly 6%, its largest decline since March 2020. Bitcoin (BTC) went along for the ride but broke from stocks as it recovered toward the end of the month. Blockchain adoption metrics for Ethereum are looking good, as the network now boasts 60% real-world asset (RWA) tokenization value. Major firms like BlackRock are sure the blockchain will be the standard for RWAs, but other observers believe that scaling issues could create problems. On matters of policy, pro-crypto legislators in a number of US states are pushing their respective bills; two states have introduced new legislation in April. In Canada, pro-crypto Conservatives lost to the Liberals, but the victors must form a minority government. Here’s April in numbers.“Liberation Day” sees markets plunge, Bitcoin up 16% on the monthOn April 2, the US president levied retaliatory tariffs on all US trade partners, sending Wall Street into a spiral. Between the announcement after market close and the end of trading on April 8, global markets wiped off more than $8.5 trillion in asset value. By the same date, the S&P 500 had fallen by just north of 12%.Market value has since inched back upward as some countries court the Trump administration seeking tariff relief, but major partners such as China still haven’t budged. While markets have recovered slightly, losses still amount to a “mere” $1 trillion, according to investment managers AJ Bell. Crypto saw losses as well. Bitcoin’s price decreased 9% between the Liberation Day announcement and April 8. However, unlike stock markets, which are still seeing losses, Bitcoin has managed to close out the month higher than where it started. At the time of writing, BTC is up 16.16%, trading at $94,729.Canada’s crypto-skeptic Liberals win, but fall 3 seats short of majorityCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has claimed victory in the country’s federal parliamentary elections, which took place on April 28.Despite their victory, the Liberals secured 169 seats, three short of the 172 needed to form a majority. A minority Liberal government means they must rely on other parties for legislative initiatives.The outcome will be meaningful for Canada’s crypto policy. Carney, himself a former central banker, has been public about his skepticism for cryptocurrencies. When serving as governor of the Bank of England, Carney said “they are failing” as a form of money. He has also called for “equivalent protections to those for commercial bank money” for private stablecoins.Related: What Canada’s new Liberal PM Mark Carney means for cryptoAt the same time, Carney has signaled his openness to digital forms of money and the ledger capabilities of blockchain technology. He voiced support for a central bank digital currency, seeing it as another step in the evolution of money. The Liberals started the year trailing well behind the Conservatives as former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down. On Trump’s inauguration day, Conservatives led polling at a 44% polling average to the Liberals’ 21%.Conservative rhetoric, including that of the pro-crypto party leader Pierre Poilievre, was decidedly pro-Trump. This connection may have been the Conservatives’ undoing, as quickly after taking office, Trump said that Canada should become America’s 51st state while simultaneously ramping up tariffs on Canadian goods.Ethereum’s market share of RWAs is up 20%The tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) has been one of the rising use cases for blockchain technology in April. Ethereum is leading the way, with the value of the RWA tokenization on the network increasing to $6.2 billion. This marks a 20% increase over the month of April. RWAs are increasingly adopted by established financial firms launching tokenization pilot projects in real estate, commodities like gold, and even carbon credits. Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, has noted that tokenized RWAs allow for instant trading and transfers like a “digital deed.”Related: Five reasons RWAs are taking off in 2025As reported in Cointelegraph Magazine, Ethereum advocates and developers have generally assumed that Ethereum will be the logical choice for firms exploring RWAs. Indeed, Fink said there’s “no question that the blockchain we would start our tokenization on would be Ethereum, and that’s not just a BlackRock thing. That’s the natural default answer.”Two new crypto laws introduced at US state levelTwo states, Texas and Georgia, introduced new blockchain- and crypto-related bills in their state legislatures in April.In Texas, HB 5352 would establish a State Blockchain Technology Pilot Program by the Department of Information Resources. The pilot aims to see how blockchain technology could improve “transparency, security, and efficiency in government operations.”In Georgia, HR 905 seeks to “implement a public awareness campaign for grade levels K-12 regarding blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Web3.” The bill states that technological literacy is important for all ages and “blockchain computation represents the future of how the world interacts online and shares information through a permanent record of transactions on an open ledger.”In Arizona, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill to expand a state regulatory sandbox program to include digital assets. But she signed and enacted a bill into law that now prohibits towns “from banning or restricting individuals from using computational power or running blockchain nodes in their own homes.” The law’s definition of “computational power” can be broadly interpreted to mean AI, scientific research, blockchain activities and cloud computing. It effectively protects home crypto miners from local and municipal zoning laws and bans.Stablecoin adoption grows $4 billion in AprilStablecoins have seen steady growth in 2025, and April was no exception. The total market capitalization of stablecoins grew $4 billion in April, according to CoinGlass.Growing stablecoin value comes as a number of jurisdictions develop legal frameworks for the assets and soften their regulatory approach. In the US, the House of Representatives bill on stablecoins passed a critical committee vote on April 2. The STABLE Act provides rules around stablecoin issuance and reserves and will proceed to the floor for a vote. Related: Stablecoin adoption grows with new US bills, Japan’s open approachThe Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a case against PayPal’s stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), on April 29. In a form, the SEC said an inquiry regarding a 2023 subpoena was being closed “without enforcement.”Market volatility provides another incentive for stablecoin growth, according to crypto intelligence platform IntoTheBlock. According to the analytics firm, these assets are increasingly seen as “safe havens in the current uncertain market.”As the Trump administration marks its first 100 days, markets are begging for relief, but none seems forthcoming. Despite claims from the White House, China says that no high-level talks are underway to negotiate the tariffs. Despite this, some observers insist that, for crypto at least, one should keep their eyes on the prize: the regulatory framework making its way through the US federal Congress.Magazine: Your AI ‘digital twin’ can take meetings and comfort your loved ones
Published Date: 2025-04-30 14:37:03Creator: Cointelegraph by Aaron Wood
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China’s DeepSeek launches new open-source AI after R1 took on OpenAI
Chinese artificial intelligence development company DeepSeek has released a new open-weight large language model (LLM).DeepSeek uploaded its newest model, Prover V2, to the hosting service Hugging Face on April 30. The latest model, released under the permissive open-source MIT license, aims to tackle math proof verification. DeepSeek-Prover-V2 HuggingFace repository. Source: HuggingFaceProver V2 has 671 billion parameters, making it significantly larger than its predecessors, Prover V1 and Prover V1.5, which were released in August 2024. The paper accompanying the first version explained that the model was trained to translate math competition problems into formal logic using the Lean 4 programming language — a tool widely used for proving theorems. The developers say Prover V2 compresses mathematical knowledge into a format that allows it to generate and verify proofs, potentially aiding research and education.Related: Here’s why DeepSeek crashed your Bitcoin and cryptoWhat does it all mean?A model, also informally and incorrectly referred to as “weights” in the AI space, is the file or collection of files that allow one to locally execute an AI without relying on external servers. Still, it’s worth pointing out that state-of-the-art LLMs require hardware that most people don't have access to. This is because those models tend to have a large parameter count, which results in large files that require a lot of RAM or VRAM (GPU memory) and processing power to run. The new Prover V2 model weighs approximately 650 gigabytes and is expected to run from RAM or VRAM.To get them down to this size, Prover V2 weights have been quantized down to 8-bit floating point precision, meaning that each parameter has been approximated to take half the space of the usual 16 bits, with a bit being a single digit in binary numbers. This effectively halves the model’s bulk.Prover V1 is based on the seven-billion-parameter DeepSeekMath model and was fine-tuned on synthetic data. Synthetic data refers to data used for training AI models that was, in turn, also generated by AI models, with human-generated data usually seen as an increasingly scarce source of higher-quality data.Prover V1.5 reportedly improved on the previous version by optimizing both training and execution and achieving higher accuracy in benchmarks. So far, the improvements introduced by Prover V2 are unclear, as no research paper or other information has been published at the time of writing. The number of parameters in the Prover V2 weights suggests that it is likely to be based on the company’s previous R1 model. When it was first released, R1 made waves in the AI space with its performance comparable to the then state-of-the-art OpenAI’s o1 model.Related: South Korea suspends downloads of DeepSeek over user data concernsThe importance of open weightsPublicly releasing the weights of LLMs is a controversial topic. On one side, it is a democratizing force that allows the public to access AI on their own terms without relying on private company infrastructure.On the other side, it means that the company cannot step in and prevent abuse of the model by enforcing certain limitations on dangerous user queries. The release of R1 in this manner raised security concerns, and some described it as China’s “Sputnik moment.”Open source proponents rejoiced that DeepSeek continued where Meta left off with the release of its LLaMA series of open-source AI models, proving that open AI is a serious contender for OpenAI’s closed AI. The accessibility of those models also continues to improve.Accessible language modelsNow, even users without access to a supercomputer that costs more than the average home in much of the world can run LLMs locally. This is primarily thanks to two AI development techniques: model distillation and quantization.Distillation refers to training a compact “student” network to replicate the behavior of a larger “teacher” model, so you keep most of the performance while cutting parameters to make it accessible to less powerful hardware. Quantization consists of reducing the numeric precision of a model’s weights and activations to shrink size and boost inference speed with only minor accuracy loss.An example is Prover V2’s reduction from 16 to eight-bit floating point numbers, but further reductions are possible by halving bits further. Both of those techniques have consequences for model performance, but usually leave the model largely functional.DeepSeek’s R1 was distilled into versions with retrained LLaMA and Qwen models ranging from 70 billion parameters to as low as 1.5 billion parameters. The smallest of those models can even reliably be run on some mobile devices.Magazine: ‘Chernobyl’ needed to wake people to AI risks, Studio Ghibli memes: AI Eye
Published Date: 2025-04-30 13:47:08Creator: Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski
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Vitalik Buterin outlines vision as Ethereum ecosystem addresses hit new high
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin released another update on what he believes the future of the network should entail.In an April 30 post on blockchain-based social media platform Farcaster, Buterin outlined his personal areas of focus for Ethereum development this year. These include investigating changes to the network infrastructure to achieve single-slot finality, updates to smart contract execution and enhancements to privacy.The post comes as the Ethereum network hits a new milestone. GrowThePie data shows that the weekly number of unique addresses interacting with the Ethereum ecosystem reached a new high of over 15.4 million, with nearly 13.45 million on layer-2 protocols.Weekly chart of unique active addresses in the Ethereum ecosystem. Source: GrowThePieButerin recently argued that privacy should be a top priority for developers and proposed solutions to boost privacy on Ethereum. Earlier in April, he also published a short-term privacy roadmap for Ethereum, detailing technical solutions to the network’s transparency.Buterin’s focus on forward-looking research follows changes at the Ethereum Foundation, the nonprofit organization developing the Ethereum ecosystem. Earlier this month, the Ethereum Foundation co-executive director, Tomasz Stańczak, said that Buterin now has more time for research and exploration.“Each time Vitalik shares insights or communicates a direction, he accelerates major long‑term breakthroughs,” he wrote.Related: Vitalik Buterin proposes swapping EVM language for RISC-VProposed Ethereum protocol changesIn today’s post, Buterin said that this year, he would be researching single-slot finality on Ethereum. This proposed upgrade would allow blocks to become final in a single slot within 12 seconds. This would significantly reduce the time needed to confirm transactions irreversibly and improve user experience.Another area of focus would be making Ethereum stateless. This would lead to nodes no longer storing the full state (account balances, contracts, etc.) but instead requiring users to provide the necessary state data (witnesses) with each transaction. This could potentially improve scalability and decentralization.Buterin also expects to study ways to improve the ecosystem’s cybersecurity on both the front and back ends, as well as its resilience and decentralization. He set some objectives that he specified should also apply to client software, such as third-party wallets:“Ensuring Ethereum is usable in a way that is highly secure, free of centralized intermediaries and privacy-friendly.“Related: ‘Vitalik: An Ethereum Story’ is less about crypto and more about being humanNot just the protocolBesides working on the Ethereum protocol, Buterin expects to dedicate his attention to improving communication tools, information sharing, and the social layer surrounding Ethereum. This includes governance changes, the network’s resources management and open-source development funding.Buterin explained that this also involves developing better encrypted messaging, software documentation, and leading their adoption in the ecosystem. He also hinted at developing prediction markets and related technology, as well as some potential new types of communication tools.Other objectives include the lower-level development. Buterin cited the intention to investigate cryptography, operating systems, hardware, physical infrastructure and biological defence without further explanation.Buterin also cited some areas of development where he is not personally involved, including plans to increase Ethereum’s gas limit as a short-term scalability solution, as well as peer-to-peer systems.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race
Published Date: 2025-04-30 13:34:08Creator: Cointelegraph by Adrian Zmudzinski
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$330M Bitcoin social engineering theft victim is elderly US citizen
An elderly US individual is reportedly the victim of a devastating $330 million Bitcoin heist, now ranked as the fifth-largest crypto hack in history.The attacker used advanced social engineering tactics to gain access to the victim’s wallet, onchain investigator ZachXBT said in an April 30 update on X.The hack took place on April 28, 2025, when ZachXBT flagged a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $330.7 million.Following the transfer, the stolen stash was quickly laundered through over six instant exchanges and swapped into privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR).Onchain data shows that the victim had held over 3,000 BTC since 2017, with no prior history of large-scale transactions.ZachXBT confirming the victim of the hack. Source: ZachXBTOnce stolen, the attacker wasted no time laundering the Bitcoin using a peel chain method — a common obfuscation technique in which large sums are broken into smaller, harder-to-trace chunks.“$330M in BTC was received in two transactions, then immediately distributed via peel chains,” Yehor Rudytsia, onchain researcher at Hacken, explained to Cointelegraph.“Funds started to flow into multiple instant exchanges / mixers with small amounts, then mixers were distributing funds across multiple new wallets. The biggest funnelling chain is now consists of 40+ wallets.”Related: Loopscale recovers $2.8M after weekend DeFi hack and bounty talksOver 300 wallets and 20 exchanges were involvedHacken’s internal tool, Extractor, tracked $284 million worth of BTC funneled through these chains, which now amounts to around $60 million after repeated “peeling” and redistribution across low-credibility exchanges.Rudytsia said over 300 hacker wallets and 20+ exchanges or payment services were involved, including Binance.Cointelegraph has reached out to Binance for comment.“Major problem in cases like this (similar to Genesis creditor’s 4064 BTC theft back in Aug 2024) is that freezing centralized exchange accounts used in the laundering process is hardened due to particularly slow legal process of police reporting and investigations,” Rudytsia added.Adding to the complexity, the attacker rapidly converted a significant portion of the BTC into XMR. The move triggered a 50% surge in Monero’s price, with the token briefly reaching $339.“Once funds are swapped into Monero, tracing becomes virtually impossible due to its privacy-preserving architecture. The chance of recovery drops significantly after this step,” Cyvers Alerts senior security operations lead Hakan Unal said.Unal said that the attacker likely had pre-established accounts across multiple exchanges and OTC desks, suggesting a high degree of premeditation.A small portion of the stolen BTC was also bridged to Ethereum and deposited into various platforms, further complicating tracking efforts. Investigators have since alerted exchanges for potential freezing of funds.Related: North Korean hackers set up 3 shell companies to scam crypto devsNo familiar laundering tacticsZachXBT had previously dismissed the theory that North Korea’s Lazarus Group could have been behind the attack, suggesting independent hackers were responsible.ZachXBT dismissing North Korea theory. Source: ZachXBTWhile attribution remains uncertain, experts agree the laundering tactics show rare automation and coordination for a heist of this magnitude.“So far, we haven’t been able to confidently link this activity to any known hacker group, as the laundering methods used — while sophisticated — don’t clearly match the signature patterns of previously identified actors,” Unal noted.He recommended using multisignature (multisig) wallets to eliminate single points of failure, minimizing exposure to hot wallets connected to the internet, regularly rotating private keys, and relying on hardware-based cold storage to safeguard large Bitcoin holdings.In the first quarter of 2025, hackers stole more than $1.6 billion worth of crypto from exchanges and onchain smart contracts, blockchain security firm PeckShield said in an April report. More than 90% of those losses are attributable to a $1.5 billion attack on Bybit, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, by North Korean hacking outfit Lazarus Group.Magazine: TV hit Peaky Blinders to launch crypto game, FIFA Rivals on Polkadot: Web3 Gamer
Published Date: 2025-04-30 13:18:54Creator: Cointelegraph by Amin Haqshanas
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Australia’s finance watchdog to crack down on dormant crypto exchanges
Australia’s financial intelligence agency has told inactive registered crypto exchanges to withdraw their registrations or risk having them canceled over fears that the dormant firms could be used for scams.There are currently 427 crypto exchanges registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), but the agency said on April 29 that it suspects a significant number are inactive and possibly vulnerable to being bought and co-opted by criminals.The agency is contacting any so-called digital currency exchanges (DCEs) that appear to no longer be trading, and AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said they’ll be told to “use it or lose it.”“Businesses registered with AUSTRAC are required to keep their details up to date; this includes details about services that are no longer provided,” he added.AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas says scammers can use inactive crypto firms to appear legitimate. Source: AUSTRACBusinesses wanting to offer Australians conversions between cash and crypto, including crypto ATM providers, must first register with AUSTRAC, which monitors for crimes including money laundering, terror financing and tax evasion.The agency can cancel a registration if it has reasonable grounds to believe the business is no longer active or offering crypto-related services.Ten firms have had their AUSTRAC registration canceled since 2019, with the most recent being FTX Express in June 2024, the local subsidiary of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.AUSTRAC to launch public list of registered exchanges Following its blitz on inactive crypto exchanges, AUSTRAC said it will publish a list of registered exchanges to help Australians verify legitimate providers.Thomas said the goal is to make it harder for criminals to scam people and improve the integrity and accuracy of AUSTRAC's register.“If a DCE does intend to offer a service, they need to contact us otherwise we will cancel the registration and this information will be added to the register,” he said.“Members of the public should feel confident that they can identify legitimate cryptocurrency providers that are registered and subject to regulatory oversight and that we are driving criminals out of this industry,” Thomas added. Related: Australia’s top court sides with Block Earner, dismisses ASIC appealIn February, the Anti-Money Laundering regulator took action against 13 remittance service providers and crypto exchanges, with over 50 others still being investigated regarding possible compliance issues.Six providers were refused registration renewal on the grounds that key personnel were either convicted, prosecuted, or charged with a serious offense.Australia has yet to pass crypto regulations. In August 2022, the ruling center-left Labor Party initiated a series of industry consultations to draft a crypto regulatory framework.In March, the government proposed a new crypto framework regulating exchanges under existing financial services laws ahead of a federal election slated for May 3.Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
Published Date: 2025-04-30 02:24:37Creator: Cointelegraph by Stephen Katte
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Ledger scammers are sending letters to steal seed phrases
Scammers are mailing physical letters to the owners of Ledger crypto hardware wallets asking them to validate their private seed phrases in a bid to access the wallets to clean them out.In an April 29 X post, tech commentator Jacob Canfield shared a scam letter sent to his home via post that appeared to be from Ledger claiming he needed to immediately perform a “critical security update” on his device. The letter, which uses Ledger’s logo, business address, and a reference number to feign legitimacy, asks to scan a QR code and enter the wallet’s private recovery phrase under the guise of validating the device.The letter threatens that “failure to complete this mandatory validation process may result in restricted access to your wallet and funds.”Source: Jacob CanfieldA seed phrase, or recovery phrase, is a string of up to 24 words that unlocks access to a crypto wallet. A scammer with the phrase can access and control the associated wallet to transfer its holdings elsewhere.Earlier this month, the X account of a crypto hardware wallet reseller said it had also received multiple reports of Ledger users receiving a similar letter.In response to Canfield’s post, Ledger said the letter is a scam and cautioned its device users to stay vigilant against phishing attempts.Related: Ledger wallet user reports 10 BTC loss — Community blames phishing“Ledger will never call, DM [direct message], or ask for your 24-word recovery phrase. If someone does, it's a scam,” it added.“Please don't engage with accounts claiming to be Ledger employees or anyone offering to help recover funds.”Unclear whether connected to the Ledger’s data leakCanfield suggested that scammers were sending letters to Ledger customers whose data was leaked nearly five years ago.In July 2020, a hacker breached Ledger’s database and dumped the personal information of more than 270,000 of its customers online, which included names, phone numbers and home addressesThe following year, several Ledger users claimed to have been mailed fake Ledger devices that were tampered with and designed to install malware upon use, Bleeping Computer reported at the time.Magazine: Your AI ‘digital twin’ can take meetings and comfort your loved ones
Published Date: 2025-04-30 01:50:34Creator: Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea
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Trump Media considers crypto token and wallet for streaming arm
Trump Media and Technology Group, the social media conglomerate backed by US President Donald Trump, is considering integrating a crypto token and wallet into its video streaming site, Truth+."We're exploring the introduction of a utility token within a Truth digital wallet that can initially be used to pay for Truth+ subscription costs, and later be applied to other products and services in the Truth ecosphere," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes wrote in an April 29 letter to shareholders.He added that the crypto token and wallet would be part of a rewards program that Trump Media is exploring across its services, which include the social media platform Truth Social and the financial services platform Truth.Fi.Trump Media first signaled plans for a potential crypto payments venture last November when it filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for computer software designed to function as a digital wallet, enable digital asset trading and process crypto payments on Truth.Fi.Source: CointelegraphTruth+ launched in October, offering movies and shows mainly targeting a politically conservative audience.Trump Media signed a binding agreement with the crypto exchange Crypto.com and asset manager Yorkville America Digital to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that will include crypto and stocks “with a Made in America focus” to launch on Truth.Fi.The company said in January that it plans to invest up to $250 million of its cash reserves into a range of financial products, including Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto tokens or crypto-related securities, which would be custodied by asset manager Charles Schwab.More potential for conflict of interestThe launch of a Trump Media utility token would only heighten concerns about the president’s crypto-related ventures potentially conflicting with his duties. Trump, however, transferred his 59% stake into a trust last December.Related: Trump’s first 100 days ‘worst in history’ despite crypto promisesTrump has also been criticized for backing the crypto platform World Liberty Financial, where he’s named the firm’s “Chief Crypto Advocate” and draws a portion of its profits.Some senators have raised concerns that Trump’s influence on policy could benefit World Liberty, which is 60% owned by the Trump family.Trump also received backlash for the controversial launch of his memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), on Jan. 18 — just two days before he re-entered the White House.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Published Date: 2025-04-29 23:56:16Creator: Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea
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Labor pain, crypto gain — How weak JOLTS data sets path for Bitcoin price to rally
Key points:Weak labor and consumer data often precede Bitcoin rallies, leading some analysts to anticipate future economic stimulus programs.Job openings fell to 7.2 million in March versus the 7.5 million forecast and consumer confidence hit its lowest level since January 2021.If past patterns hold, Bitcoin could rally by mid-July and possibly reach $140,000 by October 2025.Macroeconomic conditions have long been seen as a major influence on cryptocurrency prices. Generally, Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins perform poorly when investors fear that employment and consumer data are weakening. According to a US Labor Department JOLTS report released on April 29, job openings in March approached their lowest levels in four years. US employers posted 7.2 million vacancies in March, below the 7.5 million that economists had forecast. Meanwhile, US consumer confidence fell for the fifth straight month in April, reaching its lowest point since January 2021. US Consumer Confidence (left) vs. Total non-farm US job openings (right). Source: TradingView/CointelegraphWorsening conditions raise the chances that central banks will introduce economic stimulus measures, making the overall impact on cryptocurrency markets uncertain. Typically, the additional liquidity encourages investment in risk-on assets like Bitcoin, as more capital flows into the economy.Future expectations matter more than today’s weak economic dataThe last time the US experienced a drop in job openings and weakening consumer confidence was between January and June 2024. In the three months that followed, Bitcoin’s price moved between $53,000 and $66,000. Then, a 60% rally began in mid-October, pushing BTC above $100,000. The final result was positive, but it took more than 105 days for this effect to show in the cryptocurrency market.Bitcoin/USD, log scale. Source: TradingView / CointelegraphAlthough these conditions may seem worrying at first, weaker labor and consumer sentiment are usually backward-looking. Financial markets and companies base their decisions on expectations for future economic growth, rather than just past data. Also, improved sentiment among crypto investors tends to come after there is some confirmation of better macroeconomic conditions. This explains why the 105-day lag is not unusual.Before 2024, a similar situation occurred between January and June 2023, with declines in both job market data and consumer confidence. The next four months were difficult, as Bitcoin’s price fell 18% to $25,000. It took 115 days for the price to recover to $30,500 by late October. However, the following two months were very positive, with BTC gaining 45% to reach $43,900.Bitcoin/USD in 2020, log scale. Source: TradingView / CointelegraphThe last time in the past eight years when both the labor market and consumer confidence suffered significantly was between February 2020 and May 2020, right after the implementation of the COVID-19 lockdowns. This period saw Bitcoin briefly drop below $4,000 on March 13, 2020. As a result, a longer period of consolidation was expected before investors regained confidence in the crypto markets.Related: Bitcoin acts like ‘store of value that it is’ amid Trump policy chaos: NYDIGCould Bitcoin hit $140,000 by October?Looking back at the macroeconomic data, there was no major impact on Bitcoin between May 2020 and September 2020, as its price increased from $8,900 to $10,600, a 20% gain. However, the next 60 days brought an impressive 85% rally to $19,700. For the third time, weaker labor and consumer sentiment data seemed to come before a rally in Bitcoin prices.While the time between the lowest point of economic conditions and Bitcoin’s rally ranged from 105 to 130 days, the result was clear in all three cases. Therefore, if US job openings and consumer confidence improve from April 2025, it is likely that Bitcoin’s price will start to rise by mid-July. If history repeats itself, this could mean a minimum target of $140,000 by October 2025, but further positive macroeconomic data is needed to confirm this outlook.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: 2025-04-29 23:30:00Creator: Cointelegraph by Marcel Pechman
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