crtypto & forex news

South Korea is kicking off a pilot that will replace government expense credit cards with blockchain‑based deposit tokens. Blockchain Goes TradFi? The Ministry of Finance and Economy announced on an official press release that the pilot project for the execution of national treasury funds using blockchain‑based digital currency has been approved. This new official venture marks the second time in which South Korea’s government uses digital currency and deposit tokens for the execution of national treasury funds, following another pilot project for building electric‑vehicle charging facilities and paying national subsidies together with the Ministry of Environment. Deposit tokens are digital claims on commercial bank deposits, issued on permissioned blockchain rails, spendable by citizens and companies at participating merchants and service providers. In simpler words, deposit tokens are digital versions of the money already kept in a normal bank account. The bank “wraps” those de...

Charles Hoskinson used his latest livestream on April 14 to sketch out what he described as the next 90 to 180 days for Midnight, framing the privacy-focused network as one of the most important initiatives now taking shape around Cardano. According to Hoskinson, Midnight’s token launched in December and has already reached what he called “near ubiquitous liquidity,” with Korea, Japan, and some “legacy exchanges like Coinbase” still to come. He said the token has already been listed on venues including Binance Spot and Kraken, and claimed Midnight has shown the capacity to trade as much as $9 billion per day at peak liquidity. “There’s no longer liquidity issues, which is extraordinary for a brand new token,” Hoskinson said. “Usually it takes about two to three years for a token to go through all these trials and tribulations, but Midnight lives in fast mode.” Why Cardano’s Midnight Is Just Getting Started That market progress has been paired with infrastructure rollout. Hoskinson...

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) once again, as institutional demand for crypto-based Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) ramps up. The move comes despite ongoing market volatility and heightened bearish sentiment, highlighting how institutional appetite for crypto exposure remains firm even as fear and uncertainty spread across the market. BlackRock Ramps Up Bitcoin And Ethereum Buying From April 6 to 10, BlackRock recorded a strong wave of inflows into its spot crypto ETFs, highlighting sustained institutional demand for digital assets. The recent inflows also signaled a shift in sentiment among investors, who had previously adopted a risk-off stance amid geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic conditions that fueled price declines in the crypto market.  In total, the investment company attracted about $780 million across its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, a staggering figure that shows renewed interest in regulated crypto...

Two of the most closely watched regulatory bodies in American finance are operating with skeleton crews. The Securities and Exchange Commission has three of its five commissioner seats filled — all by Republicans. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has just one sitting commissioner. Both vacancies come at a moment when the agencies are expected to take center stage in shaping the rules around digital assets, should a crypto market structure bill that has been stalled in the Senate since July 2025 finally pass. A Nominee With Stakes In The Industry Against that backdrop, Kevin Warsh — US President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — filed a financial disclosure last week that revealed personal investments in crypto and artificial intelligence companies. Based on reports , Warsh’s filing with the US Office of Government Ethics lists holdings in Compound, Dapper Labs , and Kinetic on the crypto side, alongside AI firms including Delphi, Conver...

US crypto exchange Kraken has taken another step toward public markets after Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said Tuesday at the Semafor World Economy event in Washington, DC, that the company has confidentially filed for an initial public offering.  Co-CEO Unveils Kraken’s Mission Sethi said Kraken’s goal is to give customers access to advanced trading and “directional bets” that are often available only to institutions. He compared that aspiration to the kinds of quantitative and market infrastructure used by major names like Citadel, Jane Street, and JPMorgan.  “What they want at the end of the day is what Citadel and Jane Street have, or JPMorgan has, and they want it accessible to them,” Sethi said. He added, “That’s our mission: How do we make all these products open. We want to be able to help enable what you want to do with your own capital.” During the same appearance, Sethi also addressed broader concerns about technology—specifically, fears that artificial intelligence coul...

Ethereum network activity is not being influenced or shaped by the current price action of the altcoin, which has been steadily battling with volatility. Even as the price of ETH has fallen sharply from its new peak, user activity on the leading blockchain network is experiencing robust growth, with more operations being carried out on a daily basis. Rising On-Chain Activity Contrasts With Declining Price In a highly uncertain and volatile cryptocurrency environment, the Ethereum network appears to be thriving, experiencing robust interest and engagement. ETH’s current network strength is evident, particularly in the number of transactions processed on the blockchain each day. The daily transaction counts on the network have exploded while price action continues to struggle to regain bullish momentum. This mismatch between market performance and fundamentals often indicates underlying strength that may not yet be represented in valuation. Reports from Everstake, the largest glob...

Bitcoin’s latest rebound has not done much to settle the argument among crypto analysts over where this cycle really is right now.  A technical analysis posted on X claims the market is once again tracing the same structure seen in prior bear phases, only this time with a slower tempo, deeper institutional involvement, and a more controlled trading environment. However, the outlook of this analysis is that the downtrend is still not complete. Familiar Bitcoin Script Is Showing Up Again The concept of the analysis is that the Bitcoin price keeps moving through the same emotional and structural framework from one cycle to the next. In that framework, the Bitcoin price first pushes into a parabolic advance, then enters distribution, suffers a violent break lower, stages a misleading recovery, and eventually grinds into a final capitulation.  That is the same pattern that appeared in 2018 and again in 2022, and in this reading, 2026 is now occupying the same late-stage pos...