The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day |
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A message from Interchain Foundation |
IBC Eureka: 1-Click Asset Transfers between Cosmos and Ethereum
Cosmos has launched a new bridge product, IBC Eureka, to deliver fast, affordable, and simple 1-click connections between Ethereum and Cosmos chains. IBC Eureka enables transfers from Ethereum for less than $1, including gas and relay fees, in seconds, and ERC-20s will be available for one-click transfers into Cosmos. IBC Eureka starts the distribution for Cosmos’ interchain development platform.
Partners joining the IBC Eureka network include Bitcoin services provider Babylon for its genesis mainnet launch, Bitcoin LST and DeFi partners Lombard, Lorenzo, PumpBTC, SatLayer, and Tower DEX, ZK proving network ZkCloud, data services provider SEDA Protocol, and leading DeFi blockchain Injective. Future chains adding IBC Eureka to their interoperability suite include dYdX and MANTRA.
To learn more about IBC Eureka, visit https://cosmos.network/ibc-eureka |
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Jesse Hamilton, Regulatory Desk:
Crypto's moment has seemingly arrived in Washington, D.C., and the industry is trying to make the most of it. But as new organizations hatch and leadership shifts at the top advocacy operations, the field of pro-crypto groups trying to carry the torch is more crowded than ever.
No fewer than a dozen groups — including the Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation — are seeking to steer digital assets policies in the U.S., some of them substantially overlapping in their membership bases, funding sources and in the goals they're seeking to accomplish. Most of the leaders of those groups told CoinDesk they have a more-the-merrier view on pushing for friendly policy from President Donald Trump's highly receptive administration and from Congress, which is increasingly loaded with industry allies. "Many of the objectives are consistent across these groups," said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, who recently left the DeFi Education Fund to launch the new Solana Policy Institute. "That's a good thing, because I think there's an absolute torrent of legislative and regulatory work that's going on right now, and we need all the help we could get." Congress is chasing several crypto bills, including legislation to set boundaries for crypto markets, oversee stablecoin issuers, curtail digital assets in illicit financing, call for proof of reserves at crypto firms and set up government digital reserves. "We would have 100 more groups and 10,000 more people working on these issues in an ideal world," Whitehouse-Levine added.
But other current and former policy advocates privately grant that the field is getting packed and that it can be difficult to justify so many entities pulling for the same cause with the same finite universe of congressional staff, White House offices and regulatory officials. In the recent past, groups have talked about reorganization and consolidation, according to people familiar with the discussions, though such efforts haven't been executed.
Meanwhile, new organizations have hung their shingles in recent weeks, including Whitehouse-Levine's SPI and the National Cryptocurrency Association, further increasing the ranks. That's often how the numbers have grown in Washington: A company or lobbyist who feels some specific interest isn't properly represented and can figure out how to pay for it. And big crypto firms have also set up their own D.C. operations, pushing for their more highly tailored interests. FULL ARTICLE |
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Helene Braun, Markets:
Crypto exchange Kraken has begun offering commission-free trading for U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), opening access to traditional financial markets from within the same platform it uses for cryptocurrencies and positioning itself to compete more directly with platforms like Robinhood (HOOD). The move expands Kraken's business as a growing list of U.S. crypto companies aiming to go public on U.S. exchanges — joining the likes of Coinbase (COIN), Marathon Digital (MARA), and Bitdeer (BTDR), among others. The Kraken stock trading rollout begins in 10 U.S. jurisdictions including New Jersey, Connecticut and Alabama, with plans to expand access across the country and to international markets such as the U.K., Europe and Australia. Clients in these states can now buy and sell equities directly through their Kraken account using the mobile app, Kraken Pro or web interface. “Crypto isn’t just evolving, it’s becoming the backbone for trading across asset classes, such as equities, commodities and currencies," said Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi in a statement. "As demand for 24/7 global access grows, clients want a seamless, all-in-one trading experience.” “Expanding into equities is a natural step for us, and paves the way for the tokenization of assets,” he continued. This move makes Kraken one of the few crypto-native companies to offer traditional asset trading alongside digital assets under a single account. The new product is offered through Kraken Securities, a FINRA-regulated entity focused on equities. By consolidating crypto and traditional finance tools, Kraken is positioning itself to compete more directly with platforms like Robinhood and Public that already cater to multi-asset investors. |
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From Aid to Efficiency: Why the Stellar Blockchain Is the Future of Government Spending A leaked memo circulating at the U.S. State Department has ignited a debate in Washington: Could blockchain be the key to cutting waste and improving government efficiency? With trillions flowing through federal programs, transparency and cost savings have never been more critical. But not all blockchains are created equal. The question now is: Which proven and scalable solution can best serve the government, taxpayers, and the global economy alike? Continue reading |
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Metaplanet Is 10th Biggest BTC Holder |
James Van Straten, Markets:
Metaplanet Inc. (3350) added 319 bitcoin (BTC) to its treasury. The Japanese firm made its latest buy at an average price $83,147 per coin.
This latest purchase brings the company's total bitcoin holdings to 4,525 BTC, with an aggregate cost basis of $408.1 million and an average acquisition price of $90,194. This move is part of Metaplanet’s broader bitcoin treasury operations strategy, launched in December 2024, aimed at using digital assets to enhance shareholder value.
The company evaluates its performance through BTC Yield, a measure of bitcoin holding growth relative to share outstanding. For Q1 2025, its BTC yield reached 95.6%, with a year-to-date figure of 6.5% as of April 14.
The acquisitions are supported by dynamic capital market activity, including bond issuances and stock acquisition rights, enabling Metaplanet to raise substantial funds while minimizing dilution. In total, approximately 41.7% of the company’s “210 million plan” has been executed. |
Oliver Knight, News:
Switzerland-based trading firm Laser Digital, which is part of the Nomura Group, has denied any involvement in the Mantra token flash crash that saw OM lose lose 90% of its value.
"Assertions circulating on social media that link Laser to 'investor selling' are factually incorrect and misleading," the firm wrote on X. Laser Digital went on to share its controlled Mantra wallet addresses, none of which show deposits to exchanges or selling activity.
Speculation remains rife over why OM collapsed so violently. The Mantra team insist it was due to wider market pressures and centralized exchanges forcibly closing positions, which led to a liquidation cascade.
OKX stated that the price volatility occurred due to a spike in trading volume coupled with an initial price decline across various exchanges out side of OKX, before spreading to the wider market. Before the crash, 17 wallets deposited 43.6M OM ($227M) to exchanges, this led to a panicked response from holders as the Mantra team holds 90% of the token's circulating supply, spurring the initial sell-off.
OM is currently trading at $0.57, down 90% from the day's high of $6.14 as trading volume has increased by 3,425% to $2.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. |
Opinion: Favorable Conditions for BTC |
It’s a big week for those of us tasked with making the case for bitcoin and crypto as an investable asset class. While global markets have been ugly, unpredictable and fragile of late, digital assets held steady with moderate volatility. Bitcoin was up ~ 5% and the CoinDesk 20 Index was up ~ 6% last week. In a landscape where traditional assets seemed to lose their footing, crypto's resilience offers an intriguing counternarrative to the skeptics who've long questioned its legitimacy during market stress. A week ago (April 6), I described the market as a bus teetering on a cliff's edge. It might have been exhilarating for skillful traders, but unhedgeable for managers of traditional asset portfolios. Sure, being long equity puts might have looked (and felt) great as futures tumbled Sunday night (April 13), but monetizing those puts in an extremely choppy and high-velocity market is near impossible – and forces the hedger to "call a bottom." If you don't monetize the puts and the market rebounds, your puts decay to zero, locking in a loss. (Or, if your hedge of choice was a retreat to U.S. Treasuries, it was even worse.) The art of risk management in traditional markets is proving increasingly difficult in this environment. Even professional traders with decades of experience found themselves whipsawed by the market's violent moves. For those managing pension funds, endowments, or family offices, the challenge of preserving capital while maintaining return targets has rarely been more daunting. The playbook that worked for the past decade seems increasingly irrelevant. Amid the chaos, bitcoin kept a pretty narrow range. The two weakest periods, on April 7 and 9, lined up with perp liquidations (forced sales of leveraged positions that are much more “standard practice” in crypto than in traditional markets). This gave pundits a handy "low" price to challenge bitcoin's aforementioned resilience, but we should push back here. Temporary liquidation dips are just that — artificial flows that are recoverable. They create a nice lower candle wick, but don't always represent the whole market fairly; we should discount their relevance accordingly. (This may be a controversial view; fire away if you disagree.) As usual, pundits and skeptics blurred bitcoin's "store of value" claim with "flight-to-quality" and "safe haven." We will keep pounding the drum on the difference between "flight-to-quality"/"safe haven" and "store of value" assets. Bitcoin, still in its adolescence and with limited access to traditional liquidity pools (i.e., banks), shouldn't be expected to function as a mature flight-to-quality or safe haven asset during extreme volatility episodes. Similarly, there are things I don't expect or enlist my teenage children to do. Seeing gold's outperformance vs. bitcoin this year supports this argument. Gold has better access to traditional finance, is perceived to be limited in supply, and has a mature network. But does it have adoption momentum? Is it an asset of the future? While gold glitters in times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, bitcoin offers something different – a technological evolution in the concept of money itself, with adoption curves that continue to remind us that we're still early in its lifecycle. Uncertain Consumers -> Strong Bitcoin The week's crypto-supporting experience was capped by April 11's University of Michigan Consumer Survey, which delivered two powerful data points supporting bitcoin's price trajectory: the highest expectations for 1-year inflation since 1981(!) and elevated expectations for unemployment. We favor anchoring bitcoin's demand to expected real interest rates — the difference between expected nominal rates and inflation expectations. When real rates are expected to rise, bitcoin faces headwinds. Conversely, when real rates are expected to fall due to higher inflation and potential rate cuts (hello, rising unemployment expectations), bitcoin tends to benefit. The Michigan survey numbers provide a surprisingly clear north star for bitcoin accumulation: 1) higher expected inflation and 2) unemployment expectations that could prompt Fed easing. Lower nominal rates, higher inflation. This framework helps explain bitcoin's impressive performance during previous easing cycles and suggests we could be entering a similarly favorable environment. The divergence between consumer inflation expectations and the Fed's more sanguine outlook bears watching closely – historically, the consumer has often proven more prescient than the central bank. Beyond Bitcoin With Paul Atkins now cleared to lead the SEC and other supportive regulatory developments, the broader crypto ecosystem shows promising signals. Can we expect the rest of the broad-based CoinDesk 20 Index, which covers about 80% of the market, to participate in a potential bitcoin-lead rally? Two factors suggest yes. First, asset correlations rarely break down during broad market rallies in this sector. Second, the pro-blockchain uptrend dynamics we witnessed last November could reappear and reignite interest across Layer 1 blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, Sui, Cardano, and Avalanche, infrastructure providers like Chainlink and Filecoin, DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave, financial services assets like Ripple, and other sectors. The potential for a broader rally suggests that diversification within the crypto space could once again prove rewarding, particularly if regulatory tailwinds continue to strengthen. The tide that lifts bitcoin rarely leaves other quality projects stranded. |
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