Pre-Halving Adjustments Increase Mining Challenges The Bitcoin mining difficulty has hit a new all-time high of 86.4 trillion, marking a significant increase ahead of the upcoming halving event. This adjustment, which took place on April 10, represents a 3.4% rise from the previous level of 83 trillion set on March 28. With the halving expected to occur in eight days, this adjustment is likely the last before the event that will reduce miner rewards by half. Implications of the Halving Event The Bitcoin halving, a major event in the cryptocurrency industry, is anticipated to occur on April 19 ..read more

Volume Surpasses $1.6 Trillion Amid Crypto Bull Market Bitget, a cryptocurrency exchange, has reported impressive growth in the first quarter of 2024, with futures and spot volume exceeding $1.4 trillion and $160 billion, respectively. This marks a significant increase from Q1 2023, where futures trading volume was $658 billion and spot trading volume was $59 billion. Expanding User Base and Product Offerings The exchange now boasts over 25 million users across its trading platform and Web3 wallet. The first quarter saw several key developments in the crypto market, including a robust recover ..read more

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Experience Fluctuating Outflows Cathie Wood's ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) has experienced a record daily outflow of $87 million, surpassing Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) for the first time since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. This marks the second consecutive day of outflows for ARKB, with a total loss of $300,000 in assets on April 1. Grayscale's Consistent Outflows Grayscale has been facing consistent daily outflows since converting to a spot ETF, with a recent daily outflow of $81.9 million. This is relatively low compared to the average outf ..read more

Nick van Eck Sets Sights on International Markets for AUSD Nick van Eck, the son of Jan van Eck, CEO of the $90 billion asset management firm VanEck, is poised to launch a new U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, Agora digital dollar (AUSD), following a successful $12 million funding round. The venture aims to carve out a niche in the competitive stablecoin market, focusing on transparency and trust in managing digital dollar assets. Backing and Management AUSD will be fully backed by cash, U.S. Treasury bills, and overnight repo agreements. VanEck will manage a fund for Agora's reserves, ensuring ..read more

Solana-Based Telegram Trading Bot Closes Its Doors Solareum, a Telegram trading bot built on the Solana blockchain, has announced its permanent closure due to a combination of insufficient funding, evolving market trends, and a recent security breach. The announcement was made on the Solareum support channel on Telegram and shared on X (formerly Twitter) by BONKbot co-founder king.sol on March 31. Dear Solareum Community, It is with a profound sense of regret that we announce the closure of the Solareum project. Unfortunately, due to a combination of insufficient funds, evolving market tren ..read more

Phishing Thefts on Ethereum Layer-2 Chain Base Skyrocket Ethereum layer-2 chain Base has experienced a staggering increase in funds stolen through phishing scams, with a nearly 1,900% surge since January. According to data from blockchain anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer, approximately $3.35 million was stolen on Base in March alone, marking a 334% increase from February and a significant rise from January's $169,000 loss. Comparison with BNB Chain The BNB Chain, operated by Binance, has also seen a similar uptick in phishing scams in March. Overall, the crypto industry faced $71.5 million in ..read more

Unprecedented Bull Market Sees Liquidity Bypass Bitcoin for Memecoins Crypto industry analysts are labeling the current Bitcoin halving cycle as the "weirdest" bull market to date, with a significant shift in market dynamics. Unlike traditional cycles where liquidity flows from Bitcoin to Ethereum and then to other high-cap coins before reaching smaller assets, this cycle has seen a direct leap from Bitcoin to memecoins. The Rise of Memecoins The total capitalization of memecoins surged to an astonishing $70 billion on April 1, with significant gains in both new and old memecoins. Tokens like ..read more

Marc Boiron Questions the Necessity of Layer-3 Networks Marc Boiron, the CEO of Polygon, has ignited a contentious debate on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) regarding the role and necessity of layer-3 (L3) networks in the Ethereum ecosystem. Boiron argues that L3s, which are built on top of layer-2 (L2) networks, primarily serve to divert value away from the Ethereum mainnet. I’ll say the quiet part out loud: L3s exist only to take value away from Ethereum and onto the L2s on which the L3s are built. *You do not need L3s to scale* And this is why Polygon Labs does not work on L3 ..read more

Coinbase's Layer-2 Network Sees Surge in Trading Activity Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase, has achieved a new milestone by recording its highest-ever trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) within a 24-hour period. Surpassing the $1 billion mark, Base witnessed a significant 25% increase in trading volume compared to the previous day. DEX volume (%) across the exchanges. Source: DuneLeading DEX Platforms on Base The bulk of the trading activity was concentrated on UniSwap, which accounted for 64.3% of the total volume. Other notable platforms contributing to t ..read more

Roman Storm's Legal Team Claims Charges Are Baseless Roman Storm, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, has formally requested the dismissal of all charges against him, relating to accusations of operating a money laundering scheme and breaching the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His legal representatives argue that the charges are fundamentally flawed, given that Storm had no control over preventing sanctioned entities from utilizing the crypto mixer. The Defense's Argument: No Conspiracy to Launder Funds Storm's legal team presented their case in a ..read more