Decentral Block Post

Vanar Chain, a layer-1 blockchain network, has launched a new artificial intelligence-powered compression and data authentication layer designed to address the industry’s longstanding issue with onchain storage.

Vanar Chain is launching Neutron, an AI-native blockchain layer with data compression ratios of up to 500:1, which can reduce a standard 25 megabyte file to just 50 kilobytes, transforming it into a “Neutron Seed” that can be stored on the blockchain ledger.

The new blockchain compression layer aims to solve the industry’s data storage issue, with traditional blockchains lacking the capacity to store data, only to reference it.

This design introduces potential single points of failure. Vanar's Neutron aims to solve this by enabling fully onchain, verifiable data storage.

Neutron is a “world first” which “handles both physical file compression and semantic compression, meaning it compresses not just the file itself but the meaning inside it,” Jawad Ashraf, CEO of Vanar Chain, told Cointelegraph:

Key points:

Bitcoin consolidates after upside momentum stalls, but traders are confident that upside breakout will result.

Major risk-asset volatility is expected as US macro data precedes the monthly candle close.

April BTC price performance is on track to be the best since 2020.

Bitcoin (BTC) spent another day around $95,000 on April 30 as volatility waited in the wings.

Bitcoin is showing signs of maturity as a global financial asset, with price volatility dropping to its lowest level in more than 500 days, according to new research.

Volatility refers to the degree of variation of a trading price over time, which indicates the uncertainty about the size of changes in an asset’s value.

Bitcoin (BTC) weekly volatility hit a 563-day low on April 30, said Vetle Lunde, the head of research at K33 Research.

Bitcoin’s decreasing volatility suggests BTC is maturing as a global financial asset, leading to a more stable price trajectory.

Bitcoin has become the seventh-largest asset globally by market capitalization, reaching $1.87 trillion. It now ranks above Silver, Meta and Saudi Aramco, according to Companiesmarketcap.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has partnered with Onafriq, Africa’s largest payments gateway, to reduce the high cost of cross-border payments across the continent using USDC.

According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, Circle aims to pilot USDC (USDC) settlements within Onafriq’s vast network, which connects over 500 wallets and 200 million bank accounts in more than 40 countries.

“By integrating USDC, we aim to simplify financial transactions for institutions and individuals, reduce costs and strengthen trust,” Onafriq founder and CEO Dare Okoudjou said.

He added that the integration of USDC will simplify transactions and boost trust in digital financial services.

Currently, over 80% of intra-African transactions are routed through correspondent banks outside the continent and settled in foreign currencies like the US dollar or euro. This results in approximately $5 billion in fees annually.

Key takeaways

Set up your Pi Wallet and secure it with a 24-word seed phrase before transferring your coins.

KYC is often required on both CEXs and P2P platforms to transfer and sell Pi Coins.

You can sell Pi through CEXs or P2P platforms, each offering different security, speed and control.

Always do your own research (DYOR) before selling or holding, as expert opinions on Pi’s future vary.

If you’re here, you probably already know what Pi Coin is and just want to figure out how to sell it. However, a recap awaits, in case you need one. 

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of US President Donald Trump, has delivered a warning to global banks regarding cryptocurrency adoption.

“The modern financial system is broken, it’s slow, it’s expensive,” Trump said in a CNBC interview on April 30, adding that the existing banking system “favors the ultra-wealthy.”

“It forced me into the crypto world,” he continued, adding: “And I’m telling you, if the banks don’t watch what’s coming, they’re going to be extinct in 10 years.”

SWIFT is an “absolute disaster”

While emphasizing the need for banks to closely monitor developments in the crypto industry, Trump highlighted the benefits of cryptocurrency’s underlying blockchain technology for the financial system.

He slammed the existing cross-border transaction solutions like the global international messaging network SWIFT, which has often been criticized for its slow transactions.

The Open Network (TON) ecosystem participant Broxus has unveiled TON Factory, a new platform designed to accelerate the development and scalability of high-throughput applications like decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and blockchain-based games.

In an April 30 post on Telegram, the project said TON Factory aims to help developers rapidly build and scale projects with modular components, integration tools, and hands-on expert support.

“For OGs already building on TON, TON Factory helps you scale further,” the announcement stated.

The initiative is backed by a team of over 150 engineers with experience delivering production-ready infrastructure in the TON ecosystem, per the announcement.

Related: Venture capital firms invest $400M in TON blockchain

Key takeaways

Approving staking for spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US may have a minimal impact on inflows unless Ether sees a sustained rally, says Eric Balchunas

ETH dropped significantly in price after the launch of the ETFs last year, unlike spot Bitcoin ETFs, which saw new all-time highs just two months after launching.

For inflows to increase again, Balchunas said ETH would need a multimonth run along with a strong narrative.

Spot Ethereum ETFs being able to stake a portion of the tokens under their control may not help garner inflows without a more sustained rally in the token’s price, says Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.

PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.

The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023. 

“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.

In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed lawsuits against the non-fungible token marketplace NFT Stars and the blockchain gaming firm Kurosemi, which operates as Delysium, accusing them of withholding tokens they owed.

The lawsuits, both filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court, alleged that NFT Stars and Delysium failed to deliver all the tokens paid for by FTX despite repeated attempts to resolve the matter.

FTX claimed in an April 28 statement that it made “numerous unanswered attempts” to engage with both firms, and it would be “contacting numerous other token and coin issuers regarding FTX assets and will be filing additional suits against non-responsive parties.”

As part of the complaint against Delysium, FTX claimed its defunct trading arm, Alameda Research, paid $1 million in January 2022 for 75 million of the gaming firm’s AGI tokens.

It claimed the original token launch was in April 2023, and Alameda Research’s share of the tokens was subject to a vesting schedule that started with 20% unlocking after 12 months.

Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.

The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.

BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”

Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control can’t restore or reimpose sanctions against the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, a US federal court has ruled.

Austin federal court judge Robert Pitman said in an April 28 judgment that OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash were unlawful and that the agency was “permanently enjoined from enforcing” sanctions.

Tornado Cash users led by Joseph Van Loon had sued the Treasury, arguing that OFAC’s addition of the platform’s smart contract addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list was “not in accordance with law.” 

OFAC had sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, accusing the protocol of helping launder crypto stolen by the North Korean hacking collective, the Lazarus Group.

The agency dropped the platform from the sanctions list on March 21 and argued that the matter was “moot” after a court ruled in favor of Tornado Cash in January.

Key takeaways:

Richard Byworth says Michael Saylor’s Strategy could ramp up its Bitcoin buys by acquiring cash-rich companies and converting their cash into Bitcoin.

He says that Strategy should consider accelerating purchases as the Bitcoin supply on exchanges continues to decline.

Byworth argues that aggressively increasing Bitcoin holdings would boost Strategy’s mNAV, benefiting shareholders.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy should take a more aggressive approach to buying Bitcoin by acquiring companies to use their cash holdings to fund purchases and do away with over-the-counter buys, a crypto executive says.

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.

Businesses 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.

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.”

A 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.

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.

Truth+ launched in October, offering movies and shows mainly targeting a politically conservative audience.

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. 

Bettors on prediction platforms Polymarket and Kalshi are flipping bearish on the US economy. As of April 29, both platforms are predicting that the US will log an economic contraction during the first quarter of 2025 in an upcoming economic data release.

The US has logged positive growth figures every quarter since 2022, and a reversal in that trend could mark the start of a recession.

The pessimistic outlook marks a stark sentiment shift for prediction markets, which had recently anticipated a positive US growth report. On April 29, consensus Q1 US growth estimates on Kalshi, a US derivatives exchange, plunged from around 0.5% to -0.4% in less than 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Polymarket bettors are setting the odds of a US economic contraction in Q1 at around 70%. On April 28, they still had a mostly favorable outlook.

The shift comes one day after Canada, America’s second-largest trading partner, elected Liberal Mark Carney as prime minister. Carney has vowed to take a more hawkish stance in Canada’s ongoing trade war with the US.

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told Republican lawmakers that the chamber would address a bill on stablecoin regulation before the May 26 Memorial Day holiday.

According to an April 29 Politico report, Thune made the comments in a closed-door meeting with Republican senators, who hold a slim majority in the chamber. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, was introduced by Senator Bill Hagerty in February and passed the Senate Banking Committee in March.

Thune did not mention any crypto or blockchain-related bills in his public comments on US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has signed several executive orders with the potential to affect US crypto policy, including one affecting stablecoins. Still, many of the actions do not carry the force of law without an act of Congress.

Related: $649B stablecoin transfers linked to illicit activity in 2024: Report

The proposed GENIUS bill could essentially restrict any entity other than a “permitted payment stablecoin issuer” from issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States. The House of Representatives, also controlled by Republicans, has proposed a companion bill to the legislation: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy, or STABLE Act.

Key Takeaways:

Fidelity Digital Assets says Bitcoin is undervalued and the firm holds an optimistic mid-term outlook.

The JOLTS report shows a sharp drop in open US jobs, raising investors’ hope for Fed interest rate cuts.

According to Fidelity Digital Assets, Bitcoin’s (BTC) mid-term outlook dropped to an “optimism” zone, as the investment firm noted that BTC is trending toward “undervaluation.”

As proof, the firm cited the ‘Bitcoin Yardstick’ metric, which measures BTC’s market cap divided by its hashrate. A lower ratio suggests that Bitcoin is “cheaper” relative to the energy security of its network.

The Bank of Italy identified Bitcoin and other digital assets as emerging risk factors in a recent report, citing concerns for both investors and the financial system.

In its April 2025 Financial Stability Report, the Bank of Italy flags crypto volatility and rising integration with the broader economy, singling out stablecoins and non-financial firms’ crypto exposure as key concerns.

"The strong growth of Bitcoin and of other crypto-assets with high price volatility means risks not only for investors but also potentially for financial stability, given the growing interconnections between the digital asset ecosystem, the traditional financial sector and the real economy,” the report notes.

The Bank of Italy’s report also addressed the trend of non-financial corporations holding Bitcoin, stating that it exposes them to “marked price volatility” driven by “the belief that Bitcoin can support their share prices.”

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) helped popularize the corporate purchase of Bitcoin, beginning its acquisitions in August 2020. Since then, several companies have followed its lead, including Metaplanet, Semler Scientific, and GameStop.

A court in India has ordered the encrypted email service Proton Mail blocked in the country for refusing to share information with authorities.

In an April 29 hearing of the High Court of Karnataka, Justice M Nagaprasanna ordered the government to “block forthwith” domain names associated with Proton Mail, citing authority under the country’s Information Technology Act of 2008. The order stemmed from a complaint filed in January by a New Delhi-based design firm, alleging that some of its employees received offensive emails through the service.  

It’s unclear whether the ban will take effect or face other possible challenges in court. The Proton team reported in March 2024 that Indian authorities had similarly proposed ordering the service blocked in response to alleged “hoax bomb threats,” but it continued to operate in the country.

The crackdown on Proton Mail appeared to be part of a larger global trend to pursue action against platforms based on users’ activities, such as the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France in part for allegedly failing to moderate illicit content. Cointelegraph reached out to Proton for comment but did not receive any response at the time of publication.

Related: Crypto projects prepare to battle for privacy in Switzerland

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed deciding on whether to greenlight two proposed cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding Dogecoin and XRP, filings show. 

The US regulator has delayed its deadline for ruling on the proposed ETF listings until June, according to two filings reviewed by Cointelegraph. 

The filings were responses to March requests from US exchanges NYSE Arca and Cboe BZX Exchange to list Bitwise’s Dogecoin (DOGE) ETF and Franklin Templeton’s XRP (XRP) ETF, respectively. 

They came on the same day that Nasdaq, another US exchange, asked for permission to list a 21Shares Dogecoin ETF. 

Dogecoin is the world’s most heavily traded memecoin, with a market capitalization of around $26 billion as of April 29, according to data from CoinGecko. XRP is the native token of the XRP Ledger blockchain network. It has a market capitalization of approximately $133 billion, CoinGecko data shows.

Bitget, a cryptocurrency exchange with 100 million users, has announced a partnership with Avalanche to support community initiatives across India, one of the fastest-growing areas for crypto and Web3 developers.

The partnership will see at least $10 million doled out in mini-grants, scholarships, hackathons, and workshops to the Web3 community in the country. The initial focus will be in Delhi and Bangalore. Delhi is the most populous city in India, and Bangalore is known as the local “Silicon Valley.”

Cryptocurrency activity in India has surged over the past two years. According to CoinSwitch, a local exchange, crypto investment across the country accelerated in 2024, with the highest concentrations in Delhi (20.1%), Bengaluru (9.6%), and Mumbai (6.5%). Youth 18- to 35-years-old now account for nearly 75% of the country's crypto investors. While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) remained popular choices, Dogecoin (DOGE) attracted the most investment in 2024, with other memecoins like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Pepe (PEPE) also gaining significant traction.

Related: India has no plans to regulate crypto sales and purchases

India's tech market

The growth of India’s crypto ecosystem coincides with a wave of global exchanges either reentering the market or actively exploring a return. In February 2025, Bybit registered with local authorities and restored services in the country. In the same month, Coinbase began discussions with regulators seeking a comeback in the Indian market.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin tends to rally significantly when low leverage meets stronger-than-expected retail sales and hawkish Federal Reserve signals.

In three separate 7-week periods, Bitcoin rose 50% to 84%.

Upcoming speeches from Fed Chair Jerome Powell could benefit Bitcoin price.

Bitcoin (BTC) price rallies are frequently linked to investors’ inflation concerns or data that surpasses expectations for economic growth, yet clear signals of an impending rally are rare. However, a combination of three independent events has historically coincided with BTC price surges of 50% or more.

Update (April 29 at 8:54 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from Bunq's CEO to Cointelegraph.

Europe’s second-largest neobank, Bunq, is expanding into cryptocurrency, citing growing retail investor demand for digital assets worldwide.

The Amsterdam-based neobank announced the launch of Bunq Crypto on April 29, a new offering enabling its users to invest in over 300 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

Starting April 29, Bunq users in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy and Belgium will be able to access cryptocurrencies directly through the Bunq app, according to an announcement.

Bunq CEO Ali Niknam told Cointelegraph that the move was driven by growing client demand for digital assets. "We believe that now many, many people, the large majority, are interested in crypto, and we believe that they're interested in buying crypto through an environment that they can trust, and they can relate to and they can recognize," he said.

Key Takeaways:

Fidelity Digital Assets’ report said that multiple Ethereum onchain metrics suggest ETH trades at a discount.

The BTC/ETH market cap ratio is at mid-2020 levels.

Ethereum's layer-2 active addresses hit new highs at 13.6 million.

Fresh data from Fidelity Digital Assets hints at a cautiously optimistic outlook for Ethereum, suggesting its dismal Q1 performance could be an opportunity. According to their latest Signals Report, Ether (ETH) dipped 45% during Q1, wiping out it post-US election gains after peaking at $3,579 in January.

The United States exchange Nasdaq has asked regulators for permission to list a 21Shares exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding the popular memcoin Dogecoin, regulatory filings show. 

The move follows 21Shares’ April 10 filing of its initial proposal to launch its Dogecoin ETF, shortly after similar applications from rivals Bitwise and Grayscale. The asset manager has also sought regulators’ permission to list ETFs holding other cryptocurrencies, including Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Polkadot (DOT). 

Nasdaq must gain approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before it can list and trade the fund. The request amounts to a regulatory review process that could determine whether Dogecoin becomes accessible to a broader range of investors through an ETF structure.

Related: 21Shares files for spot Dogecoin ETF in the US

Onslaught of altcoin ETFs

Fund issuers requested to list dozens of altcoin ETFs after US President Donald Trump instructed the SEC to take a friendlier stance toward cryptocurrencies after his second term began in January. 

The United Kingdom’s Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, have proposed new crypto rules aimed at “support[ing] innovation while cracking down on fraudsters.”

In an April 29 notice, the UK government announced draft rules for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), that would bring “crypto exchanges, dealers and agents” in line with regulations, as many residents were “exposed to risky firms and scams.” It cited discussions with US government officials, including a proposed US-UK cross-border sandbox from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Hester Peirce.

“Today’s announcement sends a clear signal: Britain is open for business — but closed to fraud, abuse, and instability,” said the notice. “The government will bring forward final cryptoasset legislation at the earliest opportunity, following engagement on the draft provisions with industry.”

Related: UK trade bodies ask government to make crypto a ‘strategic priority’

Treasury and Reeves said the UK was committed to making the country a “global hub for digital asset technologies,” referencing the goals of the previous government under the Conservative Party. A 2023 consultation paper from Treasury proposed “bringing a wide range of cryptoasset activities” — including trading and issuing stablecoins — in line with UK regulations.