Decentral Block Post

Bitfarms, a global computer infrastructure company known for its Bitcoin mining operations, has entered into a $300 million loan agreement with Macquarie Group to finance the development of its high-performance computing (HPC) data centers.

According to an April 2 announcement, Macquarie’s private debt facility will provide $50 million in initial funding for Bitfarms’ Panther Creek data center project in Pennsylvania. 

The remaining $250 million will be released once Bitfarms achieves “specific development milestones at its Panther Creek location,” the announcement said.

Once developed, Panther Creek will have a nearly 500-megawatt capacity fueled by several power sources. 

Panther Creek “will be sought after by HPC tenants once construction of the project is underway,” said Joshua Stevens, an associate director at Macquarie Group. 

Sentient, an artificial intelligence development platform backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, has released an open-source AI search framework that it says outperforms leading closed-source competitors.

The company announced the public release of Open Deep Search (ODS) on April 2, describing it as a high-performance, developer-friendly alternative to platforms like Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s GPT-4o.

Sentient’s ODS aims to empower developers with open-source “Loyal AI” models, which Sentient says preserve the original intent of their developers.

The firm’s fingerprinting technology allows developers to protect intellectual property while maintaining model openness — aiming to solve the biggest issue of open-source AI, the challenges of monetizing a model without centralization.

“AI should belong to the community, not controlled by closed-source corporations,” according to Himanshu Tyagi, co-founder of Sentient and professor at the Indian Institute of Science.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC), a Japanese banking and financial services conglomerate, along with business systems firm TIS Inc, Ava Labs — the developer of the Avalanche network — and digital asset infrastructure company Fireblocks, have signed an agreement to explore a framework for commercializing stablecoins in Japan.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the companies will focus on developing strategies around issuing and circulating stablecoins pegged to the US dollar and Japanese yen, according to a joint announcement.

Additionally, the collaboration will explore stablecoins as a settlement mechanism for tokenized real-world assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate.

Stablecoins continue to be a major focus of crypto regulatory frameworks worldwide, and one of the sectors venture capitalists are eyeing in 2025 as nation-states push stablecoins to the forefront of their digital asset strategies.

Stablecoin total market overview. Source: RWA.XYZ

Bitcoin (BTC) reached new April highs at the April 2 Wall Street open as markets braced for US “Liberation Day.”

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin teases breakout in US tariff countdown

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed local highs of $86,444 on Bitstamp, the best performance for BTC/USD since March 28.

Volatility remained in the run-up to US President Donald Trump announcing a sweeping round of reciprocal trade tariffs.

The measures would be unveiled in an address from the White House Rose Garden at 4 pm Eastern Time, with Trump then holding a press conference.

Opinion by: James Strudwick, executive director, Starknet Foundation

The outlook surrounding the use of new technologies has shifted in Washington. Tesla CEO and presidential adviser Elon Musk’s proposition to incorporate blockchain technology into the US Treasury has placed blockchain and its use for state finances at the forefront of the global debate. According to Musk, much of this drive is rooted in the concern over the unsustainability of current government spending. With its immutable ledgers and transparent audit trails, blockchain is waiting in the wind, offering a potential solution to managing vast public finances. 

Musk advocates for a unified information system that can track real-time payments, credentials and government resources, spurring a debate within the fintech community about the pros and cons of introducing such a tool at the government level. The idea is compelling, as the description on the blockchain tin effectively promises accountability, traceability and streamlined operations. The shift here, namely to a blockchain-powered government infrastructure, presents several challenges that may prove to be beyond what the new administration has expected thus far.

Blockchain as state appendage 

A concern for stakeholders orbiting the blockchain world revolves around the sheer scale of government operations. Every day, the US government handles thousands of transactions across various departments. The feasibility of Musk’s vision is put into question simply as a result of its own complexity. The provable security that blockchain technology must offer while handling millions of daily transactions without buckling under the load to succeed at this scale is enormous.

A proposed solution by Musk is a hybrid model that uses “Validium” zero-knowledge rollups. The speed and efficiency of modern ZK-rollups, which can handle hundreds of millions of transactions daily, have the potential to make sure each citizen’s share of government transactions is intact and verifiable. The technology’s rapidly evolving nature, scaling to handle even higher transaction volumes in the coming years, indicates that this could be achievable.

Major cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments announced two new Bitcoin outcome-oriented exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

According to an April 2 announcement, the new products are the Grayscale Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (BTCC) and the Grayscale Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BPI). According to an email sent to Cointelegraph, the two new Bitcoin (BTC) funds are meant to generate revenue by harnessing BTC volatility:

A complex derivative product

The Bitcoin Covered Call product seeks to capture the highest premiums and maximize potential income. Grayscale suggests that it may serve as a complement to Bitcoin exposure.

Related: Bitcoin traders are overstating the impact of the US-led tariff war on BTC price

The fund's strategy involves systematically writing calls very close to spot prices. The hope is that, due to Bitcoin’s historically high volatility, it would generate income through paid call generation.

A new report by Cointelegraph Research explores Coreum’s role in institutional blockchain adoption. It analyzes the project’s technical architecture, compliance framework and its potential impact on regulated asset tokenization. The report presents insights into transaction efficiency, security mechanisms and crosschain interoperability. It also evaluates how Coreum fits into the evolving financial landscape.

Blockchain evolution and institutional requirements

The adoption of blockchain technology by financial institutions has been increasing in lockstep, with the value locked in tokenized real-world assets (RWA). The latter grew by 85% in 2024. 

Our report examines how third-generation blockchains, such as Coreum, are addressing the challenges of scalability, regulatory compliance and interoperability. Improvements in the infrastructure on the base layer will lead to more seamless institutional adoption in the future.

Read the full version of the report for free here.

Coreum is structured to support applications that require predictable transaction costs, regulatory oversight and seamless integration with financial infrastructure. Network data indicates that Coreum achieves a transaction throughput in excess of  7,000 TPS and a time to finality of about 1.2 seconds. This positions Coreum well in a crowded and highly competitive layer-1 blockchain landscape. 

The crypto industry’s sway in Washington DC has made it more likely that the industry will get beneficial legislation, but it’s also creating problems. 

Concerns of regulatory capture — a situation in which regulators or lawmakers are co-opted to serve the interests of a small constituency — have grown as crypto lobbying gains influence in Washington.

The risks of regulatory capture are twofold: First, the public interest is shut out from policy-making in favor of a single industry or company, and second, it can make regulators blind to or paralyzed by economic risks. 

Now, not even three months into Trump’s presidency, American lawmakers and industry crypto observers have voiced concerns that this regulatory capture could not only negatively affect the country but curb competition within the crypto industry as well. 

Regulatory capture in the battle for crypto policy

In a March 28 letter, prominent members of the US Senate Banking Committee and Committee on Finance addressed Acting Comptroller Rodney Hood and Michelle Bowman, Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governor’s Committee on Supervision and Regulation.

Social messaging apps tend to make major news headlines a few times per year for either their use in planning some sort of crime or, more routinely, for users’ privacy concerns over how companies like Meta — which owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger — handle user data. 

In a somewhat separate event, the Trump administration became the focus of national discussion after members of US President Donald Trump’s cabinet were found to be using Signal to plan military actions in Yemen. While a hack, backdoor access or misuse of user data was not the source of criticism in this scenario, the event did raise national security concerns about Signal’s security and whether or not high-ranking government officials should be using messaging apps to discuss classified information. 

Apple’s recent decision to stop offering end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cloud storage in the UK instead of creating a backdoor that would allow the UK government access to user data also raised eyebrows, and it highlights the ability of tech companies to make unilateral decisions about users’ data and their privacy. 

On Episode 58 of The Agenda podcast, hosts Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung spoke to Sessions technical co-founder Kee Jefferys about how the decentralized, encrypted messaging app works to protect users’ privacy and data. 

Decentralize, or else the writing is on the wall

By downloading and using messaging apps, users, whether they realize it or not, often give the app and its operator permission to track their location, view their contacts and other data on their phone, and also keep records of their conversations.

DNA testing firm 23andMe is bankrupt, and now the genomic data of its 15 million users is up for sale to the highest bidder. Could that data end up on the blockchain?

The company announced on March 23 that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that its CEO, Anne Wojcicki, had stepped down. The announcement sent waves of concern among 23andMe’s customers, many of whom are now scrambling to delete their data from the service.

Privacy advocates and government officials have weighed in, urging users to download and then delete their data. The sense of urgency increased on March 26 when a judge gave 23andMe the official stamp of approval to sell user data. Still, there is the question of where these users should move their data and whether there is a better alternative.

In the wake of the bankruptcy, blockchain advocates have seized the opportunity to make the case that DNA is better off on the blockchain, whether directly stored on the servers of a decentralized network or using some elements of Web3 technology on the back end. 

The promise of a more private 23andMe, where users control their own data, is alluring to many, yet actually bringing the world of DNA sequencing onto the blockchain is not without its challenges.

Over $2 billion was lost to cryptocurrency hacks in the first quarter of 2025.

According to a report shared with Cointelegraph by crypto cybersecurity firm Hacken, in Q1 2025, nearly $1.63 billion was lost just to access control exploits. Anmol Jain, vice president of investigations at crypto forensics firm AMLBot, told Cointelegraph that the exceptionally high figure is mainly attributable to the recent hack of the crypto exchange Bybit.

The data is similar to that recently shared by crypto cybersecurity firm PeckShield. The competing firm’s report — which excludes scams — suggested that crypto hacks total at $1.6 billion in Q1 2025.

Total 2025 Q1 crypto hack losses by category. Source: Hacken

Late February reports indicate that the North Korean hackers behind the $1.4 billion Bybit hack control over 11,000 cryptocurrency wallets used to launder stolen funds. The increasing participation of North Korean state actors highlights increasing sophistication and scale.

Avalanche saw a significant surge in stablecoin supply over the past year, but the onchain deployment of this capital points to passive investor behavior, which may be limiting demand for the network’s utility token.

The stablecoin supply on the Avalanche network rose by over 70% over the past year, from $1.5 billion in March 2024, to over $2.5 billion as of March 31, 2025, according to Avalanche’s X pos

Market capitalization of stablecoins on Avalanche. Source: Avalanche

Stablecoins are the main bridge between the fiat and crypto world and increasing stablecoin supply is often seen as a signal for incoming buying pressure and growing investor appetite.

However, Avalanche’s (AVAX) token has been in a downtrend, dropping nearly 60% over the past year to trade above $19 as of 12:31 pm UTC, despite the $1 billion increase in stablecoin supply, Cointelegraph Markets Pro data shows.

XRP (XRP), the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has been touted by proponents as a high-speed, low-cost solution for cross-border payments. But just how much value flows through the network on a daily basis? Let’s examine.

XRP volumes have risen since Trump’s reelection

Based on recent data from Glassnode, XRP’s daily transfer volume settled on its blockchain in US dollars frequently ranges between $300 million and $1 billion.

However, since November 2024, when Donald Trump won the US presidential election, XRP has settled an average of $2.28 billion per day, signifying heightened network activity likely fueled by XRP’s price boom in the same period.

XRP total transfer volume. Source: Glassnode

That said, these spikes don’t necessarily reflect steady adoption or payment activity; instead, they could further be tied to speculative behavior, Ripple-related transfers, whale moves, and reshuffling between exchanges.

Update (April 2, 1:50 pm UTC): This article has been updated to add official registration data from the Ontario Securities Commission.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken obtained a new registration in Canada as its latest compliance milestone.

Kraken secured a restricted dealer registration from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) on April 1, according to official data on the OSC website.

The registration reaffirms Kraken’s commitment to serving Canadian investors as its platform now has more than $2 billion Canadian dollars ($1.4 billion) in combined assets under custody.

An excerpt from the list of crypto asset trading platforms registered with the OSC. Source: OSC

Social cryptocurrency project Pi Network’s price approaches all-time lows as more and more coins are unlocked.

CoinMarketCap data shows that Pi Network (PI) is trading at $0.6722 as of press time, very close to its all-time low of $0.6152 reported on Feb. 20. The price action comes as over 126.6 million PI tokens are expected to be unlocked this month, equivalent to just under 1.87% of the coin’s current circulating supply.

Monthly Pi unlock chart. Source: PiScan

Founder of Obchakevich Research, Alex Obchakevich, attributed the price downturn to continued PI unlocks in correspondence with Cointelegraph. He described the event as “inevitable in any case” and said:

“Monthly unlocks exceed demand, which greatly affects the value of the token.“

The cryptocurrency market may see a local bottom in the next two months amid global uncertainty over ongoing import tariff negotiations, which have been limiting investor sentiment in both traditional and digital markets.

US President Donald Trump is set to detail on April 2 his reciprocal import tariffs, measures aimed at reducing the country’s estimated trade deficit of $1.2 trillion in goods and boosting domestic manufacturing. 

While global markets took a hit from the first tariff announcement, there is a 70% chance for cryptocurrency valuations to find their bottom by June, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.

The research analyst told Cointelegraph:

“Once the toughest part of the negotiation is behind us, we see a cleaner opportunity for crypto and risk assets to finally mark a bottom,” she added.

XRP (XRP) price fell 22% between March 19 and March 31, potentially forming a local bottom at $2.02. The price then increased by 9% to $2.20 before retracing to current levels.

Has the popular altcoin finally bottomed out, or is there a deeper retracement in the cards?

XRP bullish divergence on multiple timeframes

The XRP relative strength index (RSI) displays bullish divergence conditions in lower timeframes, according to analyst CasiTrades.

A bullish divergence is when the asset’s price prints lower lows and the RSI produces higher lows, indicating that downward momentum is waning.

“After reaching the 0.786 retrace at $2.05, XRP is printing bullish divergences from the 15-min all the way up to the 4-hour chart,” the analyst said in a March 31 post on X. 

Investment company VanEck filed to register a Delaware trust company for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Binance-linked BNB cryptocurrency.

VanEck, on March 31, registered a new entity under the name VanEck BNB ETF in Delaware, according to public records on the official Delaware state website.

In filing 10148820, the entity is registered as a trust corporate service company in Delaware, hinting at a potential spot BNB (BNB) ETF in the United States.

VanEck BNB ETF trust registration in Delaware. Source: Delaware.gov

According to social media reports, VanEck is the first company to propose a potential BNB ETF in the US, potentially signaling an expansion of BNB Chain — formerly known as Binance Chain — across traditional financial products in the market.

The Bitcoin price may still rise to over $250,000 before the end of the year, with expectations of an increasing fiat supply remaining the significant catalyst for the world’s first cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) 2025 price rally may be boosted by the US Federal Reserve pivoting to quantitative easing (QE), when the Fed buys bonds and pumps money into the economy to lower interest rates and encourage spending during difficult financial conditions. 

“Bitcoin trades solely based on the market expectation for the future supply of fiat,” according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer of Maelstrom.

Hayes wrote in an April 1 Substack post:

The Fed reduced the Treasury runoff cap to $5 billion per month from $25 billion effective April 1, while keeping mortgage-backed securities (MBS) runoff steady at $35 billion.

South Korea’s 7-Eleven stores will accept payments in the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) until June, as the retailer participates in the test phase of its CBDC project. 

The convenience store chain will reportedly provide a 10% discount on all products paid for with CBDC during the test period. According to Moon Dae-woo, head of 7-Eleven’s digital innovation division, the company is making an effort to incorporate digital technology advancements in its operations. 

The executive added that the company’s participation in the CBDC test will help accelerate the firm’s digital transformation. 

Many stores will participate in South Korea’s CBDC testing phase, which runs from April 1 to June 30. The project also involves 100,000 participants who will be allowed to test payments using CBDC issued by the central bank. 

Central bank digital currencies are digital assets issued by government agencies. Like other digital assets, CBDCs offer faster and more modernized payment features. However, unlike Bitcoin and other privacy-focused tokens that offer certain levels of anonymity, CBDCs are controlled and monitored by governments.