The U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces are supporting a "freedom of navigation" operation and have imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Furthermore, the U.S. Central Command denied that Iran had attacked a U.S. Navy ship with a missile, claiming it was pure Iranian propaganda. "This is fabricated. It's not true," a source said. Tehran is prepared for any potential situation and will not allow the U.S. to bully Iran; Iran will not allow U.S. forces to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. (Jinshi)

Galaxy Research Director Alex Thorn stated in an article on the X platform that passing the CLARITY bill is now more urgent, partly due to the exceptionally fierce competition for control of the US Senate. If the Democrats regain control of the Senate, former Senator Sherrod Brown may return as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; however, if he fails to win the Ohio Senate election but the Democrats retain control of the Senate, the committee may be led by Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth Warren is not friendly to the crypto industry; she has urged the US Treasury Department to issue strict supporting rules for the GENIUS Act and to clearly issue guidance prohibiting the use of federal resources such as the Exchange Stabilization Fund or the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facilities to bail out stablecoins and the crypto industry. These potential personnel changes could significantly impact the direction of crypto industry regulation, thereby increasing the urgency of advancing the CLARITY bill.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi, a tweet from "First Set 10 Big Goals" indicated that they shorted 2448.2 BTC at $79903.19, worth $195 million, and have now made a floating profit of $2.463 million.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a smart money address, 0x2daa, after making a profit of approximately $1.3 million by trading $ASTEROID, spent 53.6 ETH (approximately $127,000) today to buy 254,000 sato at a price of $0.50, becoming the second largest holder of sato on the Ethereum network.

Coinbase has announced the integration of its DFlow trading protocol as the primary trading router within its Solana ecosystem, enabling users to natively exchange value between spot and prediction markets on Solana. Coinbase stated that after introducing DFlow, the failure rate of its Solana transactions decreased from approximately 1/30 to approximately 1/250, a reduction of eight times. Simultaneously, the solution improved liquidity coverage, making previously illiquid small- and mid-cap tokens tradable and optimizing transaction prices for users. (CoinDesk)

Total cryptocurrency liquidations have surged to $75.91 million within the past hour. According to NS3.AI, long positions comprised $68.97 million of the total liquidations, indicating a significant impact on investors holding these positions.

Capital B has successfully raised 1.1 million euros ($1.28 million) through a warrant issuance, with Blockstream CEO Adam Back subscribing to the offering. According to Cointelegraph, Back acquired 10 million subscription warrants at $0.13 each, granting him the right to purchase one new share of future company stock at an exercise price of $0.98. This price aligns with the company's market net asset value (mNAV) of 1.1 per share, as stated by Capital B. This investment further increases Back's stake in Capital B, where he is already a significant strategic investor. Currently, Back holds over 39.5 million shares, representing 9.97% of Plan B's shares on a fully diluted basis. Back is renowned for inventing Hashcash, the proof-of-work system referenced in the Bitcoin white paper. The capital raise occurs amidst a period where Bitcoin treasury companies are exploring various strategies to manage balance sheet risks during Bitcoin's downturn. While some companies focus on accumulation strategies, others are utilizing derivatives or asset sales. Capital B and the UK-based Connecting Excellence Group (XCE) were the only Bitcoin treasury firms to secure capital in Europe over the past month, with XCE raising $794,000 on April 23, also backed by Adam Back. Following the announcement of the capital raise, Capital B's stock price increased by over 6.5% on Monday, although it remains down more than 16% since the beginning of 2026, according to Yahoo! Finance data. The company plans to use the new funds to "accelerate" its Bitcoin treasury strategy, which shareholders viewed positively. Capital B is currently the 25th largest Bitcoin treasury company, holding 2,943 BTC, valued at approximately $234 million, based on Bitcointreasuries.net data. Other Bitcoin treasury companies are taking measures to mitigate balance sheet risks associated with Bitcoin's downturn. On April 24, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury company Nakamoto announced an actively managed Bitcoin derivatives program aimed at generating recurring income from volatility and hedging part of its corporate BTC holdings against downside exposure. Nakamoto, the 20th-largest Bitcoin treasury firm, disclosed selling part of its holdings earlier this year, with a sale of 284 Bitcoin (worth about $20 million at the time) in a March 30 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In February, Bitcoin treasury company Genius Group liquidated its entire treasury holdings of 84 BTC for approximately $5.7 million, using the proceeds to repay an $8.5 million debt obligation, as per an SEC filing.

The probability of the European Central Bank (ECB) raising interest rates by June has surpassed 90%, according to Jin10. This expectation reflects the market's anticipation of monetary policy adjustments in response to economic conditions.

A senior U.S. official denied that a U.S. ship was attacked by Iranian missiles. (Jinshi)

Morgan Stanley strategists said strong U.S. corporate earnings, particularly in the booming technology sector, have masked concerns about potential pressure on the stock market from Middle East conflict. A team led by Michael Wilson wrote in a report that S&P 500 earnings forecasts have been revised upwards across multiple timeframes over the past month. Second-quarter earnings forecasts were revised upwards by 2%, while full-year 2026 and the next 12 months' earnings forecasts were revised upwards by 3% and 4%, respectively. (Jinshi)

X's head of Product Nikita Bier has just revealed that crypto is the topic most likely to be muted by X users, as fewer and fewer users want to see crypto-related news on their "For You" page.

OpenAI is trying to patch the vulnerabilities, but the lives lost continue to test the boundaries between technology and humanity.

Singapore is testing AI with five banks and agencies to spot scam transactions earlier using shared data. The trial aims to improve detection and reduce losses, with plans to expand if it works well.

The XRP community has been hit by a new kind of threat—and this time, it unfolded in real time during a live event.

Morgan Stanley added another 286.7 Bitcoin worth about $22.5 million, bringing its total holdings to around 2,620 BTC valued at roughly $205 million.

Brazil has banned foreign exchange providers from using stablecoins and cryptocurrencies to settle cross-border payments, forcing them to use traditional banking channels instead. Crypto trading remains legal, but firms using blockchain for remittances must change their systems by deadlines running to 2027.

The long-stalled CLARITY Act is now on the brink of a decisive breakthrough, with U.S. senators reaching a critical compromise that could push the landmark crypto bill to a floor vote as early as May.

Nobitex, Iran’s dominant cryptocurrency platform, has been thrust into the spotlight after a Reuters investigation revealed it was founded by individuals linked to one of the country’s most powerful political families—raising fresh questions about the intersection of crypto infrastructure and state influence.

Russia is planning to charge about $2 per gigabyte for international internet use, a move that would make VPN use much more expensive for everyday users. It is also raising licence fees for small internet providers and expanding surveillance systems, which could force most smaller firms out and increase state control over the internet.

Asset tokenization will bring various assets and transactions onto the blockchain, reshaping capital markets; this massive wave is just beginning. Networks focused on institutional needs are expected to lead the way in the short term, while open public chains continue to improve their privacy and identity infrastructure.