OKX Ventures and HashKey are buying into VPBank-backed CAEX as Vietnam’s strict crypto pilot pushes offshore exchanges toward a challenging onshore licensing regime. CAEX, a crypto platform linked to the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) ecosystem, said OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital are backing the company as it seeks to qualify for Vietnam’s pilot regime for crypto exchanges. CAEX said Friday that the two offshore companies will join VPBank Securities (VPBankS) and technology partner LynkiD as shareholders. According to a release shared with Cointelegraph, their investment is intended to help CAEX reach Vietnam’s minimum charter capital threshold of 10 trillion dong (about $380 million), a key condition for participating in the pilot program. Read more
A listing on the NYSE requires a company to meet strict requirements covering financial health, share distribution and corporate governance. Ether treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies has started trading on the New York Stock Exchange after uplisting from NYSE American as the company expanded its share buyback program. The Ether (ETH) treasury company’s stock began trading on the NYSE at market open on Thursday under its existing “BMNR” ticker symbol, Bitmine announced Thursday. Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said it’s a major milestone for the company as the NYSE is considered one of the world's top exchanges. Read more
The CIA has already tested AI across 300 projects to process large data sets, assist with language translation and publish reports. The US Central Intelligence Agency said it will embed “AI co-workers” directly into its analytics platforms to assist analysts with detecting spies and anticipating hostile moves by foreign adversaries. “Within the next couple of years, we will have AI co-workers built into all of the agency’s analytic platforms — a kind of classified version of generative AI that will help our analysts with basic tasks,” CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis reportedly said on Thursday during an event hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project in Washington, DC. According to Politico, Ellis said the AI co-workers would assist intelligence officers with drafting key judgments, testing analytical conclusions and identifying trends in intelligence that the agency gathers from abroad. Read more
Newly appointed company president Brett Redfearn briefly worked as Coinbase’s head of capital markets and served for more than three years at the SEC. Tokenization platform Securitize has named Brett Redfearn as president, with the former official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also joining its board of directors. Securitize’s Thursday notice said Redfearn previously served as the SEC’s director of its division of trading and markets, worked as Coinbase’s head of capital markets and held various roles over a decade spent at JPMorgan. He most recently has been a member of Securitize’s advisory board. Redfearn is the latest former government official who has moved into the crypto industry, highlighting questions about their roles overseeing digital assets while in office. Caroline Pham, who served as a commissioner and acting chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), left the agency in December to join crypto payments infrastructure company MoonPay. Read more
Bitcoin continues to show strength even as US recession risks rise and the fragile ceasefire with Iran begins to show cracks. Key takeaways: Bitcoin climbed to $72,000 as rising recession odds and a weak US dollar boosted the appeal of scarce financial assets. Rising oil prices and a wobbly truce with Iran threaten to reverse Bitcoin’s recent gains. Read more
The Treasury Department said the move reflects increases in frequency and sophistication of actions targeting digital asset platforms. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) announced on Thursday that it is expanding its cybersecurity threat identification program to include digital asset companies. Blockchain companies that choose to take part in the program will receive the same cybersecurity threat intelligence provided to traditional financial institutions at “no cost,” according to the Treasury’s announcement. “Cyber threats targeting digital asset platforms are growing in frequency and sophistication,” Cory Wilson, the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity at the OCCIP, said. Read more
The stablecoin issuer faces pressure after a stock downgrade and Drift Protocol exploit fallout, raising concerns over USDC exposure, crypto regulation and market risk. Shares of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group fell sharply Thursday following a Wall Street downgrade and reports tied to a legal probe connected to a recent crypto exploit. Circle’s stock price closed near session lows in Nasdaq trading, falling 9.9% to $85.10. The decline adds to a broader slide in the company’s shares, which are down nearly 24% over the past month and about 43% over the past six months, reflecting continued volatility after Circle’s high-profile public debut last year. Read more
A rare signal from an ETH price indicator suggests Ether is undervalued, while demand in spot and futures markets hints at a rally to $2,500. Ether (ETH) may be on the path to retesting $2,500 if the current rally above $2,150 and the bullish spot and futures market volumes pushing prices higher are sustained. Ether is also supported by a key macro indicator that places the altcoin in a rare undervaluation zone not seen since 2022. The data points to fading selling pressure and the early stages of an accumulation process for Ether. Ether’s daily chart shows bulls leading the charge after a 6.33% rally pushed the price above the $2,150 resistance. ETH now eyes a retest of its March highs near $2,385, with further upside toward the $2,475–$2,635 fair-value gap acting as a price magnet for bulls. Read more
With a potential scheduling conflict, several senators want to know if the president plans to attend a luncheon for memecoin holders in Florida or just seeking to generate fees. Three US senators have reportedly asked one of the people behind US President Donald Trump’s memecoin whether the president intends to “dangle access” to himself at a luncheon event, given he is already planning to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner the same day. According to a Thursday Politico report, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff sent a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the launch of the memecoin Official Trump (TRUMP). The lawmakers questioned whether Trump had been leveraging his appearance at a luncheon event scheduled for April 25, which the memecoin project announced in March. “[O]rganizers are promoting a conference by dangling access to President Trump to potential attendees (and in doing so, are encouraging purchases of his meme coin that will generate tran...