Shipping companies stranded near the Strait of Hormuz are reportedly being targeted by scammers posing as Iranian authorities, demanding Bitcoin or USDt for “safe passage.” Fraudulent actors posing as Iranian authorities have reportedly sent messages to shipping companies whose vessels remain stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding payment in cryptocurrency for safe passage....Continue Reading

New Bank of Korea governor Shin Hyun-song supported CBDCs and deposit tokens in his first address, while stablecoins were notably absent from his remarks. The newly appointed Governor of the Bank of Korea, Shin Hyun-song, has voiced support for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits in his first public address. Shin, who began...Continue Reading

STRC’s dropped below its $100 par value, indicating that Strategy will likely pause Bitcoin buying this week, which could help the bears pull price down to $70,000. Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2.66% to around $75,800 on Monday after Strategy disclosed a $2.54 billion purchase, the company’s third biggest ever, and equivalent to about 2.5 months of...Continue Reading

A 12-bank European consortium led by Qivalis is partnering with Fireblocks to develop a regulated euro stablecoin under MiCA, targeting launch in the second half of 2026. A consortium of 12 European banks led by Qivalis has selected Fireblocks to provide infrastructure for a Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA)-compliant euro stablecoin, according to a...Continue Reading

The value of tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains is estimated at more than $29 billion, up more than 10% in the last 30 days. OCBC, one of Singapore’s largest banking and financial services corporations, has launched a tokenized physical gold fund, with the underlying token, GOLDX, issued on both Ethereum and Solana. The launch...Continue Reading

A fake police raid enabled a $1 million Bitcoin robbery, exposing the rise of wrench attacks and the shift from digital hacks to physical crypto threats. Crypto security is expanding beyond digital threats, with criminals increasingly targeting individuals directly through physical coercion rather than trying to exploit blockchain vulnerabilities or hack wallets. The French case...Continue Reading

Griff Green, a member of Arbitrum’s security council, said the group acted with input from law enforcement and “did not make this decision lightly.” Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum on Monday froze more than 30,000 Ether worth about $71.2 million held in a wallet connected to the recent exploit of the Kelp protocol. Arbitrum said on...Continue Reading

US Senator Thom Tillis said members of the crypto and banking industries still need more time to be heard. A US senator has reportedly urged Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott to delay the markup for the crypto market structure bill until May, as banking and crypto representatives need more time to resolve disagreements over stablecoin...Continue Reading

The proposed AI dividend would be funded by taxes on AI use and equity stakes in AI companies, paying US citizens if automation meaningfully displaces workers. A New York state assemblymember and congressional candidate has proposed an artificial intelligence dividend program for US citizens to address potential job losses stemming from advances in AI technology....Continue Reading

Coinbase’s x402 AI payments protocol has launched Agentic.market, a platform where AI agents can discover and use AI-friendly services. Coinbase-backed artificial intelligence payments standard x402 has launched a marketplace for apps and services to boost the usefulness of AI agents. Coinbase product lead Nick Prince said in a video posted on X on Monday that...Continue Reading