Decentral Block Post

Wallet provider MetaMask is launching a crypto payments card that will allow users to spend self-custodied funds, offering crypto holders additional ways to use their tokens.

The new card is backed by Mastercard and is being developed in partnership with CompoSecure and Baanx, according to the company. The product uses smart contracts to execute the IRL (In Real Life) transactions, with a processing speed under five seconds. It operates on the Linea network, a layer-2 scaling solution on Ethereum.

The companies marketed the self-custodied crypto card as an alternative to the potential risks associated with centralized exchanges. In February, the second-largest crypto exchange by volume, Bybit, was hacked for $1.4 billion, an event that sparked widespread consternation in the crypto space.

With the launch of its card, MetaMask is entering a competitive segment of the cryptocurrency market. Major exchanges like Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, and Crypto.com already offer crypto debit cards, some of which feature "crypto-back" rewards that allow users to earn digital assets on their purchases.

MetaMask has struggled lately as interest in and participation in the Ethereum ecosystem have dried up. According to Dune Analytics, the wallet collected just $289,312 in fees for the week of April 14, much less than the $1.3 million in fees collected for the same period a year ago.

Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin payments

Despite growing competition from emerging issuers, the stablecoin market remains largely dominated by a few key players. According to data from Web3 research firm Nansen, Tether’s USDt continues to lead among US dollar-pegged stablecoins, even as competition intensifies.

As of April 25, Tether (USDT) has a roughly 66% market share among stablecoins, compared to around 28% for USDC (USDC), Nansen said in the April 25 report. Ethena’s USDe stablecoin ranks a distant third, touting a market share of just over 2%.

Nansen expects Tether’s lead to endure even as rivals such as USDC clock faster growth rates.

“With nearly 3x as many users as Uniswap and 50+% more transactions than the next app, Tether is by and far the largest use case of onchain activity,” Nansen said.

“Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we inevitably believe this is a ‘winner-takes-most’ market dynamic,” the Web3 researcher added. 

Lawmakers in the Arizona House of Representatives have voted to pass two bills that could allow the state to adopt a reserve using Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies.

In a third reading on April 28 of the Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), a proposal to amend Arizona’s statutes to allow for a strategic BTC reserve, 31 members of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposed. A similar bill, SB1373, to establish a state-level digital assets reserve, passed with 37 lawmakers in favor and 19 voting nay.

“This bill basically takes the approach that probably 15 other states are considering the same legislation nationwide that allows the treasurer to invest up to 10% into, probably mainly Bitcoin but other things as well,” said State Representative Jeff Weninger on SB1025. “I think this probably would start as a ‘may’ for the foreseeable future, but as things continue to pivot towards Bitcoin and these things, would have that already in place in the future.”

Voting for SB1025 in the Arizona House of Representatives on April 28. Source: Arizona State Legislature

The approvals bring the bills closer than any other state-level initiative in the US to getting a cryptocurrency or Bitcoin strategic reserve signed into law. Similar legislation proposed in New Hampshire passed the state’s House in April and is expected to head to the Senate for a full floor vote soon.

Related: Bitcoin reserve backlash signals unrealistic industry expectations

Key takeaways: 

A week full of US macroeconomic reports could impact Bitcoin traders’ sentiment. 

Bitcoin’s rally could stall if there’s a sharp reduction in spot buy volumes.

If PCE, the ISM PMI, and jobs data align with market expectations, BTC could rally. 

Bitcoin (BTC) price could face a period of range-bound trading after managing a 10.37% rally over the past 7 days. Robust spot purchasing demand from Strategy, the spot BTC ETFs, and announcements from 21Shares and Coinbase played a role in Bitcoin’s rally to $95,700. With the exception of the April 28 announcement of a $1.42 billion BTC purchase from Strategy, a quiet week on the crypto news front could translate to a reduction in spot demand and lower support tests from Bitcoin price. 

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have spiked in value amid the global trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariffs.

Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) reached all-time highs on April 22, with Tether Gold touching $3,529 and Paxos Gold recording a peak of $3,520, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Two other gold-backed cryptocurrencies — Quorium (QGOLD) and Kinesis Gold (KAU) — have seen rises of 8.5% and 7.6%, respectively, in the past 30 days. All four tokens are up 40% or more in the past 12 months, CoinGecko data shows.

Related: Tether clocks $13B in 2024 profits, US bond holdings hit all-time highs

According to a report by Tether, the increased demand for XAUT is due to macroeconomic factors, such as escalating global economic uncertainty, geopolitical conflicts, and a rising demand for inflation-resistant assets.

Since US President Trump’s renewed trade war, gold has increased significantly in value. On April 2, Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when the tariffs were announced, the price of one ounce of gold was $3,115. At the time of this writing, on April 28, the ounce price is at $3,335, representing a 7% jump in less than 30 days.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.

In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.

“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators.

“In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”

April 25 letter from Sens. Warren and Schiff to OGE. Source: Sen. Schiff

The letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin’s year-over-year return and realized price metric signal strong long-term support from holders and suggest that BTC is currently undervalued.

Standard Chartered estimates a Bitcoin price target in the $110,000–$120,000 zone by Q2 2025.

Positive funding rates point to a potential long squeeze to $90,500.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) weekly close near $94,000 delivered an impressive year-over-year total return of 53.61%. Since the last halving in 2024, the market has shifted from the early 2024 euphoric phase to a "mature bull trend" based on onchain growth, rather than speculative frenzy. 

Key points:

Bitcoin continues to face resistance at $95,000, but the possibility of an upside breakout remains high.

Solid spot Bitcoin ETF inflows do not always signal a short-term top.

Select altcoins are showing early signs of a short-term trend change.

Bitcoin (BTC) pierced the $95,000 resistance on April 28, but the bulls are struggling to sustain the higher levels. This suggests that the bears have not given up and are trying to defend the level. A minor positive in favor of the bulls is that they have not ceded much ground to the bears. That improves the prospects of a move toward $100,000.

Key takeaways:

US Treasury funds saw $19 billion inflows, the highest since March 2023, as the 30-year yield fell 30 basis points.

Foreign central banks cut US Treasury holdings to 23%, a 22-year low, as gold reserves hit 18%.

Bitcoin soared in 2020 from $9,000 to $60,000 amid similar trends, hinting at a similar outcome in 2025.

The global financial tides are shifting significantly, and Bitcoin (BTC) price could greatly benefit from it. Recent data indicates that US Treasury funds saw $19 billion in net inflows last week, exceeding the 2020 pandemic peak of $14 billion, with the 4-week moving average rising to $7 billion—the highest since March 2023.

The hacker behind the $5.8 million recent Loopscale exploit is in talks to return the stolen funds in exchange for a bounty, the Solana-based protocol said. 

The exploiter pilfered approximately 5.7 million USDC (USDC) and 1,200 Solana (SOL) tokens from two of Loopscale’s yield vaults on April 26, prompting the decentralized finance protocol to temporarily pause its lending markets. 

The following day, the hacker sent a message on the Etherscan blockchain scanner “indicat[ing] a willingness to return the exploited funds in exchange for a bounty,” Loopscale said in an April 27 X post. 

“We are agreeable to collaborating with you to reach a white hat agreement. However, we would like to negotiate the bounty percentage; our expectation is 20%,” the hacker said. “To demonstrate our commitment to a cooperative approach, we will immediately return the 5,000 wSOL funds following the transmission of this message,” they added.

Negotiations are ongoing for the remaining funds, according to the public messaging exchange on Etherscan. 

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin price dropped alongside falling Treasury yields, signaling investors’ flight to safer assets.

Strategy’s $4.28B Bitcoin purchases and stock market strength have supported BTC above $90,000.

A true breakout toward $100,000 will require Bitcoin to decouple from equities and stronger liquidity signals.

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sharp $2,000 correction to $93,500 on April 28. This price movement closely tracked the decline in US Treasury yields, suggesting that traders were seeking the relative safety of more secure assets.

Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine Canada’s next prime minister appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.

As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race to become the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.

Polymarket chances favor the Liberal Party’s Mark Carney over the Conservative Party’s Pierre Poilievre to be the next Canadian prime minister. Source: Polymarket

The odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a sharp change in the two candidates’ prospects since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.

Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March.

The election is not really focused on crypto

In contrast to the 2024 US election, in which Trump often made statements suggesting he would enact policies favorable to the crypto industry, neither Carney nor Poilievre seemed to have made digital assets central to their campaigns.

What to know:

Altcoins have lagged Bitcoin year-to-date, but BNB price shows relative resilience, trading only 10% lower than the previous cycle’s all-time high.

BNB Chain shows a robust activity, consistently ranking third in daily transactions, active addresses, and TVL, while leading in the number of DApps.

The blockchain’s weakest point is its revenue, which still lags compared to competitors.

Altcoin price action has been underwhelming for much of the 2023-2026 cycle, pushing many crypto traders to focus primarily on Bitcoin. However, with moderate optimism returning to the markets, a closer look reveals that not all altcoins are struggling. In fact, the total altcoin market cap remains solidly above $1 trillion — $1.17 trillion, to be exact — and its 9% surge over the past week offers a glimmer of hope.

Opinion by: Steven Smith, head of protocol and applied research, Tools for Humanity

Blockchains were designed as systems of trust that are transparent, decentralized and accessible. The age of AI has, however, introduced significant new challenges. Nearly half of all internet traffic is generated by bots, with up to 80% of blockchain transactions now automated and AI agents accounting for most onchain activity. 

While some bots serve legitimate and helpful purposes, others — like those used for airdrop farming and fake account creation — clog networks, drive up fees, and monopolize space and resources.

It’s up to humans to protect the blockchains we know and love, ensuring that people aren’t unfairly disadvantaged by automated systems, insulated from the effect of maximal extractable value attacks and exploits, and free from the need to pay significant gas fees to be included in a block.

The bot takeover is already here

AI bots are becoming more integral to networks and capable of more sophisticated exploits, dominating trading volumes, driving up gas fees, and manipulating decentralized finance (DeFi) markets.

Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork is expected to take place in the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to an Ethereum Foundation official.

In an April 28 X post, Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Tomasz Kajetan Stańczak said that the organization is aiming to deploy the Fusaka Ethereum network upgrade in Q3 or Q4 2025. Still, the exact rollout schedule has not been decided yet.

The comments come amid controversies over the upcoming implementation of the EVM object format (EOF) upgrade for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). As Stańczak pointed out, EOF is expected to be a part of the Fusaka network upgrade.

Source: Tomasz Kajetan Stańczak

The EVM is the software that runs Ethereum smart contracts. EOF would implement a series of protocol changes, known as Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs), with profound implications for how it operates. EOF introduces an extensible and versioned container format for the smart contract bytecode that is verified once at deployment, separating code and data for efficiency gains.

Related: Researcher proposes scaling Ethereum gas limit by 100x over 4 years

Peter Chung, head of research at quantitative trading firm Presto, has repeated his prediction that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach $210,000 by the end of 2025.

In an April 28 interview with CNBC, Chung cited institutional adoption and global liquidity expansion as the primary drivers behind his long-term bullish outlook.

The analyst acknowledged that market conditions this year haven’t been as expected, specifically the challenging macroeconomic environment and market reaction.

However, he described the recent corrections as a “healthy” adjustment, suggesting they have laid a stronger foundation for Bitcoin’s progression toward becoming a mainstream financial asset.

“In hindsight, I think it was actually a healthy correction which has paved the way for the further re-rating of Bitcoin as a mainstream asset,” he said.

When Donald Trump was running for president, he pledged to build 10 new US cities, dubbed “freedom cities,” from scratch, designed to improve the quality of life for Americans. 

These new high-tech communities were to be created on public land, and they were going to be free of the “nightmare of red tape,” including lengthy environmental reviews, that had hampered the development of affordable housing in many parts of the US.

Freedom cities aren’t really a new idea. They are a rebranding of charter cities, which have been around since the late 1800s. Still, Trump’s proposal won the gung-ho support of many of Silicon Valley’s tech bros, whose backing helped tilt the last US presidential election in his direction, and many of whom — e.g., the PayPal mafia consisting of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan — were also enthusiastic early supporters of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. 

In mid-March, the new administration made some tentative moves to make freedom cities a reality. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a Joint Task Force on using underutilized federal land suitable for housing.

“America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it happen by making federal land available to build affordable housing stock,” they wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy added to its massive Bitcoin stash last week as the cryptocurrency surged above $90,000.

In an April 28 announcement, Strategy reported acquiring 15,355 Bitcoin (BTC) between April 21 and 27.

The latest purchases cost Strategy $1.42 billion at an average price of $92,737 per BTC, increasing the company’s aggregate BTC holdings by roughly 3% to a total of 535,555 BTC worth more than $50 billion.

An excerpt from Strategy’s Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: Strategy

Strategy’s latest buy is its largest since late March, when the firm bagged 22,048 Bitcoin for $1.92 billion at an average price of $86,969 per BTC.

Strategy’s Bitcoin yield is at 13.7%

Announcing the purchase on X, Strategy co-founder Saylor said the firm has achieved the BTC yield of 13.7% year-to-date.

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is launching the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund on May 1, aiming to offer Bitcoin (BTC) exposure for institutional investors outside the US.

The fund targets an annual net return of 4% to 8% on Bitcoin holdings, according to an April 28 blog post by Coinbase.

“To address the growing institutional demand for bitcoin yield, Coinbase Asset Management is excited to introduce the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund (CBYF),” the company wrote.

The fund is backed by multiple investors, including Aspen Digital, a digital asset manager based in Abu Dhabi and regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

Coinbase introduces a Bitcoin yield-bearing fund. Source: Coinbase

Related: Michael Saylor hints at Bitcoin purchase as whales stack aggressively

Wallet interoperability still remains the vision for Web3 gaming, according to Arthur Madrid, the co-founder and CEO of the decentralized metaverse and gaming platform The Sandbox. 

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Crypto Polo event in Dubai, Madrid and The Sandbox co-founder and chief operating officer Sebastien Borget told Cointelegraph that Web3 gaming interoperability remains the goal for The Sandbox. Madrid said: 

“So, the vision is still kind of obvious for us. It’s like you need to be able to play any games using one wallet that will enable you to combine the utilities of all that you collected and all what you earned.”

The Sandbox CEO said that one of the main narratives they’ve seen in the last couple of months is that players can move from one game to another using a single wallet. The executive told Cointelegraph that players accessing games with one wallet and using their items on different platforms remains an exciting topic for Web3 gaming enthusiasts. 

The Sandbox co-founders at the Crypto Polo event in Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph

Web3 gaming still “booming” as tools become accessible

Madrid added that despite a market slowdown, the Web3 gaming space is still booming. The executive told Cointelegraph that the tools and infrastructure needed to create new games have become more accessible. 

“I can feel that the tools you need to create games are becoming more accessible. If you look the number of games that have been created on gaming platforms over the last two years, it's still booming,” Madrid told Cointelegraph. 

The Stacks Asia DLT Foundation has become the first Bitcoin-based organization to establish an official presence in the Middle East, aiming to promote institutional Bitcoin adoption through expanded educational initiatives.

Stacks Asia has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) — one of the world’s fastest-growing financial centers — in a move that could boost the adoption of its Bitcoin (BTC) layer-2 (L2) solution in the Middle East and Asia.

The new partnership will play a “pivotal role” in shaping the future of Bitcoin’s “programmability and adoption” in these regions through educational programs and support for Bitcoin builders, according to an April 28 announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

Through the collaboration, Stacks and the ADGM aim to make it easier for institutions and investors to participate in the growing Bitcoin economy and help set “new standards for regulatory clarity and technical growth” for the rising global Bitcoin capital, according to Kyle Ellicott, executive director at Stacks Asia DLT Foundation.

Stacks Asia DLT partners with ADGM. Source: Stacks Asia DLT Foundation

Related: Crypto options desk QCP Capital wins Abu Dhabi license: Report

Cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) bounced back with their third-largest inflows on record last week, according to CoinShares.

Global crypto ETPs collectively posted $3.4 billion of inflows in the trading week of April 21–25, marking the highest level since December 2024, CoinShares reported on April 28.

The inflows were just 13% below the all-time high of $3.85 billion seen in the trading week of Dec. 2–6, 2024, CoinShares previously reported.

Renewed investment interest in crypto ETPs came as Bitcoin (BTC) broke back above $90,000 last week for the first time since briefly retesting the price mark in early March, according to CoinGecko.

Bitcoin ETFs lead as price consolidates above $90,000

Bitcoin was the primary winner among crypto ETPs last week, with investors pouring as much as $3.18 billion into BTC ETPs.

Switzerland has long been seen as a beacon of privacy where companies, organizations and wealthy people put down roots in an effort to avoid the prying eyes of the rest of the world. Joining this cohort are many Web3 projects, which also appreciate the Swiss government’s generally positive stance toward blockchain and digital assets.

The country’s reputation as a privacy haven has resulted in Switzerland becoming a hub for privacy projects establishing their foundations or development entities there, including Nym, Session and Hopr — joining traditional privacy software companies such as Proton and Threema.

Now, a proposed change to a Swiss surveillance ordinance is worrying these same projects, as it would spell a marked increase in the government’s user monitoring requirements. But the decentralized nature of crypto may offer a solution for those wishing to preserve their privacy in a climate of increasing surveillance.

Switzerland is a privacy haven — or maybe not

Switzerland has long been considered by many to have some of the world’s strongest privacy protections. As Proton, the company behind the encrypted Proton Mail email service, argued in a 2014 blog post titled “Why Switzerland?”, the Central European country offers several advantages: Companies are outside of the jurisdiction of the US and EU, the country is politically neutral, there are strong constitutional privacy protections, and there is established infrastructure.

Kee Jeffries, technical co-founder of decentralized private messaging app Session, recently told Cointelegraph’s The Agenda podcast that it was important to establish the foundation “in a country which has a long history of preserving people’s personal privacy and freedom of speech.”

Onchain sleuth ZachXBT has flagged a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $330.7 million, that may indicate a major theft. The transaction, reported on April 28, saw funds moved from a potential victim’s wallet to the address bc1qcry...vz55g.

Following the transfer, the stolen stash was quickly laundered through over six instant exchanges and swapped into privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR).

The large-scale conversion led to a 50% spike in XMR’s price with the token reaching an intraday high of $339, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Source: ZachXBT

At the time of writing, XMR has settled slightly but remains up 25% in the past 24 hours, trading at $289.

When asked whether North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind the attack, ZachXBT dismissed the theory, stating it was “highly probable it’s not,” suggesting independent hackers were responsible.

Key takeawaysCrypto-backed mortgages let you use assets like Bitcoin or Ether as collateral to secure a loan without selling your holdings.The process involves choosing a lender, securing your crypto in custody, appraising the property and finalizing loan terms.These mortgages offer tax advantages, streamlined approvals and the ability to retain crypto investment value while accessing liquidity.Platforms like Nexo provide tailored solutions, but thorough research is essential to ensure security and regulatory compliance.

Crypto-backed mortgages are a watershed moment in real estate financing because they let you use digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) as collateral for a home loan.

Instead of selling your cryptocurrency, you pledge it to secure funds for buying property. This approach has been gaining traction as more people explore alternatives to traditional financing.

Furthermore, as the adoption of cryptocurrencies grows, crypto-backed mortgages are positioning themselves as a bridge between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional property markets, offering a unique solution for crypto holders looking to diversify their investments without forfeiting their digital wealth.

What are crypto-backed mortgages?

Crypto-backed mortgages are home loans where digital assets are used as collateral instead of cash or traditional assets. 

Surprisingly, the process is straightforward: You transfer your cryptocurrency to a lender, who locks it up as collateral. In return, they provide a loan, often in fiat currency, to finance your property purchase. As long as you make timely payments, your crypto stays intact. 

Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, has criticized the US Federal Reserve for quietly maintaining a key anti-crypto policy that favors big-bank-issued stablecoins, despite relaxing crypto partnership rules for banks.

In an April 27 thread on X, Long explained that while the Fed recently rescinded four prior crypto guidelines, it left intact a Jan. 27, 2023, statement issued in coordination with the Biden administration.

The guidance, according to Long, blocks banks from engaging directly with crypto assets and prohibits them from issuing stablecoins on permissionless blockchains.

“THE FED HAS MAINTAINED A REGULATORY PREFERENCE FOR PERMISSIONED STABLECOINS (ie, big-bank versions),” Long stated.

She warned that this move gives traditional financial institutions a “head start” in launching private stablecoins while the broader market waits for stablecoin legislation to pass through Congress.

Key points:

High Bitcoin ETF inflows don't always signal a price top as historical data is mixed.

Spot Bitcoin inflows often precede short-term price rises, not reversals.

Bitcoin may hit $100K but faces resistance.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price recovery may be stalled at $100,000 as questions emerge whether high ETF inflows have always marked the local top for the asset.

Opinion by: Ross Shemeliak, co-founder and chief operating officer of Stobox

The Trump administration is pushing a much-revived policy trajectory, marked by tariffs and sanctions that aim to reshore production. Despite exemptions favorable to technology, this dramatic turnaround may seem like a case of the White House treating global trade as its playground. The president’s tariff agenda is fracturing supply chains overnight and disregarding long-standing economic rules.

This latent, chaotic agenda also sees the quiet emergence of a new infrastructure in which blockchain is taking on a fresh role. Insofar as it is not purely focused on decentralization, the technology is geopolitically resilient. With global businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, increasingly pushed toward blockchain, we are witnessing a global economic map redrawing into one centered on Real-World Assets tokenization and stablecoins.

Secondary markets for tokenized trade assets

There are few winners in a trade war. Sanctions and restrictions disrupt international economic rules, and liquidity is one of the first victims. Companies struggle to finance their operations, while risk management models force banks to step back. With the fragmented economic order, a new era in which secondary markets for tokenized trade assets are prevalent is being ushered in. 

These tokenized real-world assets — receivables, commodities or shopping slots, for example — can be fractionalized and sold in global permissioned marketplaces. The resulting access to capital outside of sanctioned corridors grants companies liquidity. As sanctions reduce liquidity, tokenization creates it. Within the economic disruption from the US, there is a moment of opportunity for tokenization.

Cryptocurrency services platform Nexo announced that it is reentering the US market after facing previous regulatory challenges.

According to an April 28 announcement, Nexo’s reentry event featured Donald Trump Jr., who said that he thinks “crypto is the future of finance,” adding:

“We see the opportunity for the financial sector and want to ensure we bring that back to the US.”

Trump Jr. also emphasized the need for a regulatory environment that supports the cryptocurrency industry. He said that “the key to everything crypto is going to be the regulatory framework.”

Source: Nexo

Related: Coinbase presses to axe rule banning SEC staff from holding crypto

Nexo is back to fight where it lost

Nexo left the US at the end of 2022, citing a lack of regulatory clarity as the reason behind the decision. At the beginning of 2023, the firm agreed to pay a $45 million settlement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its failure to register the offer and sale of securities of its interest-earning product.