Crypto

China denies trade talks, 21 Capital to buy 42K BTC, TRUMP pumps on dinner prize. - FOMO HOUR EP343 FOMO HOUR brings you the biggest daily news, updates and events from inside and outside of the crypto and macro spheres! Join hosts Farokh, Mando and Tyler as they cover some of the biggest topics at present with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Streaming live 5 days per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST on YouTube and X. BTC: 92.4k (-2%), ETH: 1740 (-3%), SOL: 146 (-4%). Top Gainers: TRUMP, POL, SUI, LEO, CRV. BTC ETFs: +$917mn, ETH ETFs: -$24mn. BTC hits $94.7k then pulls back with stocks. Sovereigns front-running US on BTC buying: Bitwise. SWFs quietly buying BTC: Coinbase. 21 Capital set to buy 42k BTC, Mallers will be CEO. Missouri BTC bill passes first committee. BTC whale groups all in accumulation. Russia launches National BTC and Crypto Exchange. Metaplanet buys $13.6m BTC. SOL strategies to buy up to $500m SOL. DeFi Dev Corp buys $10m SOL. SBF transferred to low-security p...

Crypto AI tokens are now more popular than memecoins, robot butlers arrive, plus why does ChatGPT constantly kiss your ass? AI Eye. The crypto AI sector is showing signs of life, with the combined market cap increasing by more than one-third in the past two weeks. The sector soared to a combined market cap of $70.42 billion back in mid-January and just as quickly plummeted back to earth, bottoming out at $21.46 billion on April 9, according to CoinMarketCap. Its now back at $28.8 billion, with much of the growth in the past week. Near gained 26% in the past seven days, Render is up 23%, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance gained 36%, and Bittensor surged 47%. (That said, even Ether gained 14% this week, so everything has been going up.) The AI crypto sectors outperformance came hot on the heels of a CoinGecko report on April 17 that found that five of the top 20 crypto narratives are AI-related, capturing 35.7% of global investor interest ahead of six memecoin narratives, which had a 27.1% share. The mo...

In the wake of OpenAI’s release of a new image generator for GPT-4o, the internet was flooded with AI-generated art mimicking the iconic Studio Ghibli animation style, sparking both admiration and intense debate over the ethics and legality of AI-driven content creation. This “Ghiblification” trend prompted industry figures like Jason Zhao of Story Protocol and Kyle Samani of Multicoin to weigh in on the evolving relationship between intellectual property (IP) and AI. Zhao called for infrastructure that enables compensation for artists, while Samani questioned the relevance of IP altogether in a world of zero marginal cost creation. In this report our analysts weigh in on the topic, discussing the role of IP in the age of AI.

THORChain’s first quarter of 2025 was defined by volatility, volume, and a pivotal reset. While RUNE’s price fell sharply and DeFi TVL contracted, protocol usage surged during market-wide dislocations, including a record $1.05 billion in single-day volume tied to the Bybit exploit. At the same time, THORChain initiated its most significant internal reform to date, passing Proposal 6 to unwind THORFi liabilities without inflating RUNE supply. Amid uncertainty, affiliate volume hit an all-time high, native deposits grew, and the protocol doubled down on its core mission: powering cross-chain swaps at scale.

BTC back to $93K, Trump softens rhetoric, AI coins surge FOMO HOUR EP342 FOMO HOUR brings you the biggest daily news, updates and events from inside and outside of the crypto and macro spheres! Join hosts Farokh, Mando and Tyler as they cover some of the biggest topics at present with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Streaming live 5 days per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST on YouTube and X. BTC: 93.6k (+5%), ETH: 1810 (+11%), SOL: 152 (+9%). Top Gainers: IMX, SUI, BONK, ENA, CRO. BTC ETFs: +$913mn, ETH ETFs: +$39mn. Crypto pumps on Trump’s Powell comments. Crypto rally leads to $500m liquidations. BTC & ETH ETFs see largest inflow in months. BTC flips Alphabet to become 5th largest asset. BTC being used to hedge systemic risk: StanChart. SUI & ETH lead rally in L1 coins. XRP ledger suffers hacker attack. Trump Media & CryptoCom to partner on ETFs. Cantor, Softbank, Tether form $3bn BTC vehicle. DeFi Development Corp buys $11.5m SOL. US support for crypto poses risks for Europe:...

This report argues that the United States is undergoing a structural shift away from the neoliberal international order and toward a strategy of neo-isolationism, driven by the need to preserve relative power in the face of China’s rise. Drawing from realist theory and the historical precedent of the Nixon administration, the report outlines how the U.S. is prioritizing containment over global growth. This reversion includes reshoring manufacturing, accelerating the clean energy transition, and restricting technological flows, particularly in AI, to prevent espionage and maintain strategic advantage. In this environment, crypto emerges not as a tool of global integration but as a beneficiary of fragmentation. The report concludes that we are entering an era where power, not efficiency, will define economic policy, and in this new industrial paradigm, Bitcoin, DePIN, and DePAI are uniquely positioned to thrive.

Waterfall Network is a newly launched L1 blockDAG that integrates a DAG-based PoS consensus mechanism to address blockchain scalability while preserving decentralization. Its mainnet went live in mid-2024 following extensive research and testing. The network is designed to support high-throughput dApps while maintaining EVM compatibility, allowing developers to leverage Ethereum’s established ecosystem.

Ethereum’s lead in the $16.1T tokenization race could slip away if maxis don’t insist it’s the only acceptable source for truth for RWAs. For years, the default assumption in the Ethereum community has been that it will inevitably become the global settlement layer for finance. It didnt matter that retail was jumping ship for faster and cheaper chains like Solana and Aptos TradFi would recognize that Ethereum is the most battle-tested, credibly neutral and decentralized network, making it the only viable option for what Boston Consulting Group predicts will be a $16.1-trillion market by 2030. There are signs the prophecy is coming true. BlackRock, Fidelity, Wisdom Tree, Sony, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Coinbase are all making Ethereum the core of their onchain strategies. Last week, Ethereum-based platform Blocksquare announced a $1-billion deal with Vera Capital to tokenize US real estate, and Securitize and Ethena teamed up to launch the Converge L2 to tokenize billions more real-world assets (RWAs).  Read more

In Q1, Contango showed varied performance across its metrics. Total open interest declined 3% to $303.6 million, while trading volume declined $1.2 billion, with Ethereum holding a 69% volume share. TVL rose 34% to 17,500 ETH, though TVL declined 54% to $31.7 million in USD terms due to ETH’s 45% QoQ decline. Stablecoin open interest rose, and stablecoin pairs traded more frequently relative to ETH pairs. Optimism also saw increased activity due to a 100,000 OP token incentive program. While overall metrics in USD terms declined in sync with the market, the same cannot be said for ETH terms. Launched in November 2024, the TANGO token closed Q1 at $0.02, with a $2.6 million market cap, while the oTANGO mechanism facilitated airdrops with a discount structure tied to token price. These efforts to enhance the protocol’s functionality bode well for its future utility regardless of market conditions.

UNDER EXPOSED EP 22: Macro Latest, Gold & Bitcoin, and Crypto Banks UNDER EXPOSED brings you coverage of the biggest macro news of the week impacting crypto and broader markets, with a focus on the newest trends, trades and narratives. Join hosts TylerD, Deeze, Geebz and Peter Jennings as they have longer conversations on the hottest sectors in crypto and NFTs, what is moving markets and what they’re buying and selling. Streaming live every Tuesday from 12:00 PM EST to 1:00 PM EST on YouTube and X. LIVE AUDIO SPACE - https://x.com/i/spaces/1dRKZYrVNXVxB/peek Links: https://www.rug.fm/ https://x.com/rugradio https://linktr.ee/rugradio Hosts: https://twitter.com/deeze https://twitter.com/CSURAM88 https://twitter.com/artgeebz https://twitter.com/tyler_did_it Myriad: https://myriad.markets https://x.com/MyriadMarkets https://www.instagram.com/myriadmarkets #bitcoin #crypto #podcast

Kyros has emerged as one of the first liquid restaking protocols on Solana, built atop Jito’s restaking infrastructure. Through its vaults, kySOL and kyJTO, Kyros enables users to capture Solana staking rewards, MEV, and restaking incentives in a liquid format. By connecting with DeFi protocols such as Kamino, Exponent, and Sandglass, Kyros provides users with access to a broader set of yield strategies across Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. Since launching in late 2024, Kyros has grown its TVL to over $36 million, with kySOL representing the majority of deposits. As Solana’s restaking ecosystem develops, Kyros is positioned to play a key role in connecting user capital with decentralized infrastructure and increase market share in the liquid restaking sector.

BTC follows Gold higher, NASDAQ back in bear market, FARTCOIN hits $1B - FOMO HOUR EP341 FOMO HOUR brings you the biggest daily news, updates and events from inside and outside of the crypto and macro spheres! Join hosts Farokh, Mando and Tyler as they cover some of the biggest topics at present with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Streaming live 5 days per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST on YouTube and X. BTC rallies, catch up trade to gold is on. BTC dominance hits new 5-year high. Last chance to buy BTC below $100k: Hayes. Strategy buys $556m BTC. ETH/BTC lowest since Jan 2020. Upexi to build $90m SOL treasury. Galaxy Digital flips $105m ETH into SOL. Atkins sworn in as SEC chair, to meet Trump today. 72 crypto-related ETFs awaiting SEC approval. Crypto firms plan to apply for banking licenses. Singapore to launch BTC perp futures in 2H25. DB, StanChart seek to expand crypto ops in US. Circle launches CPN for real-time settlement. Maple active loan growth outpacing AAVE. Bit...

Former Love Island Australia star turned crypto influencer, Vanessa Sierra, shares her secrets for going viral in crypto. Vanessa Sierra went on Australian national television to find love but that didnt work out. A few years later, she accidentally got big on Crypto Twitter, which is almost as good. She says anyone can learn to go viral in crypto if they follow the right steps. Sierra thinks Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin would do well on Love Island as he is quite a funny person. I think hed be entertaining, Sierra tells Hall of Flame, but adds theres little chance hed ever join the show. After making a name for herself on Love Island Australia in 2019 and spending 14 days in the villa, Sierra says she had no intention of blowing up on Crypto Twitter. Read more

Fasset founder and CEO Mohammad Raafi Hossain talks to Decrypt about its mission to foster financial inclusion, tokenized assets in emerging markets, and the launch of Own—the first Ethereum Layer 2 protocol built for the creation, management and distribution of tokenized RWAs.

OpenServ's vision is to create a collaborative ecosystem of multimodal AI agents capable of advanced reasoning, autonomous decision-making, and seamless integration into everyday workflows. Throughout 2025, OpenServ plans to rapidly iterate on its product offering, starting with developer feedback from its first DeFAI hackathon. OpenServ aims to expand features and partnerships in subsequent quarters, culminating in enterprise-level solutions by the end of the year. Furthermore, OpenServ’s SERV token is intended to be burned from platform activities, creating demand for SERV through user actions. The first application to be powered by OpenServ’s infrastructure will be dash.fun, OpenServ’s flagship consumer application. It aims to be an all-in-one AI agent-powered dashboard to streamline crypto discovery, research, and execution. With its agentic platform and consumer-facing application, dash.fun, OpenServ will be well-positioned in the DeFAI space.

Fogo is an SVM-based Layer-1 blockchain that applies decentralized infrastructure tradeoffs such as (i) a single Firedancer client, (ii) multi-local consensus, and (iii) a curated validator set to match traditional finance performance. The permissioned testnet launched on March 31, 2025, following a devnet in January, is being used to evaluate throughput, latency, and stability in a controlled environment. Early testnet results show ~40ms block times and a TPS of ~46,000. A public explorer was released on April 11 for real-time monitoring, and the Fogo Flames (Points) Program, launched on March 13, tracks participation across staking, trading, and community activity.

Crypto rallies on Weaker Dollar, Gold keeps Soaring, Stocks open Weak FOMO HOUR EP340 FOMO HOUR brings you the biggest daily news, updates and events from inside and outside of the crypto and macro spheres! Join hosts Farokh, Mando and Tyler as they cover some of the biggest topics at present with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Streaming live 5 days per week, Monday to Friday 10:00 AM EST to 11:00 AM EST on YouTube and X. BTC hits $87k on weaker dollar, rise in gold. Strategy may announce up to $2bn BTC buy today. SOL overtakes ETH in market cap staked. SOL/ETH weekly close hits another ATH. Vitalik wants RISC-V to replace ETH’s EVM. SOL has better roadmap than ETH: Adams. Charles Schwab to offer crypto trading in a year. Only 68% of ByBit hacked funds still traceable. Metaplanet buys $28m BTC. Abraxas Capital buys $250m BTC in 4 days. ECB set to launch Digital Euro in Oct 2025. StanChart forecasts $2T of stablecoins by 2028. Public firms now hold $56bn BTC, +16% y/y in Q1. Hashkey launches XRP t...

Reserve, founded in 2017 by Nevin Freeman and Matt Elder, initially aimed to offer stable monetary solutions for users facing inflation and unstable currencies. Today, Reserve has evolved into a sophisticated ecosystem offering DTFs, crypto’s decentralized equivalent to traditional ETFs. Through two specialized protocols — Yield and Index — Reserve provides investors with accessible yield opportunities and thematic crypto portfolios, governed transparently by community-chosen governance tokens. Yield RTokens have rapidly achieved product-market fit, capturing significant market share, while Index RTokens, launched in early 2025, are quickly expanding. Reserve’s strategic roadmap focuses on extending its decentralized Index Protocol onto blockchains like Solana, further widening investor access. Beyond decentralized investing, Reserve’s mission is to develop an asset-backed currency that provides global stability and resilience. By combining diversified asset portfolios with decentralized governance, Reserve s...

FITCHIN is redefining the esports landscape for Spanish-speaking audiences by seamlessly integrating blockchain-enabled tokenization with competitive gaming. By leveraging its robust tournament platform, active community hubs, and the utility of the CHIN token, FITCHIN is expanding beyond traditional esports to create a decentralized ecosystem where engagement and digital ownership converge. With over 200,000 verified users, more than 500 tournaments, and significant social media reach, FITCHIN has built a solid foundation in the LATAM market. The CHIN Token Generation Event and the upcoming launch of Clans Arena further reinforce its strategy to deepen token utility and empower gaming communities through decentralized Clan economies.

Swiss bank Sygnum says altcoins may see a resurgence in Q2 2025, Mantra CEO plans team token burn: Hodler’s Digest Mantra CEO John Mullin said he is planning to burn all of his teams tokens in order to win back the trust of the networks community following the sudden collapse of the Mantra (OM) token on April 13. Im planning to burn all of my team tokens and when we turn it around the community and investors can decide if I have earned it back, Mullin posted to X on April 16. Mantra set aside 300 million OM, 16.88% of the tokens nearly 1.78 billion total supply, for its team and core contributors. They are currently locked and were scheduled to be released in stages between April 2027 and October 2029, according to an April 8 blog post. Read more