1. Powell: In the future, banks and cryptocurrencies related rules may be "relaxed"

According to The Block, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that banking related rules may be "relaxed" in the future. On Wednesday, Powell pointed out that there had been “a wave of failures and fraud” in the cryptocurrency space over the years, but the atmosphere itself is becoming more mainstream. During the event, Powell also talked about topics such as tariffs, immigration and inflation. "We have taken a pretty conservative approach to the guidance and rules imposed on banks, and other bank regulators are even more conservative. I think these rules will be relaxed. We will try to achieve this in a way that can be both safe and robust, while allowing and promoting appropriate innovation, without putting consumers at risk they don't understand, nor reducing the security and robustness of banks," Powell said on Wednesday. "Stablecoins are digital products that may have quite broad appeal and should include typical consumer protections and transparency, which is exactly what the Senate and the House are working to address," he said.

2. The US SEC will hold its third roundtable for crypto policy on April 25 to focus on hosting issues

According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released details of its third roundtable for cryptocurrency policy, with the April 25 meeting focusing on custody issues, with two panel discussions – one on brokerage proprietors and wallet custody, and the other on investment consultants and investment firm custody. Members of the brokerage proprietor group include: Jason Allegrante of Fireblocks, Rachel Anderika of Anchorage Digital, Terrence Dempsey of Fidelity Investment, Mark Greenberg of crypto exchange Kraken, Veronica McGregor of Exodus, Brandon Russell of Etana Custody, Tammy Weinrib of Copper.co.

3. Early warning: Some fraudsters trick users into signing malicious transactions by taking over the official website of the abandoned DeFi project

According to Protos, DeFi users have recently encountered a new type of fraud: fraudsters trick old users into signing malicious "funding time" transactions by taking over the official website of abandoned projects. This passive scam is different from the traditional proactive scam, which is specifically targeted at old users who may still retain the bookmarks of old projects. DeFiLlama anonymous founder 0xngmi issued a warning that they have removed expired domains from platform and browser extensions, but still reminds users to stay alert. Since these project teams have been dissolved, no one can detect security vulnerabilities or replace malicious interfaces in time, users can only check each transaction to be signed by themselves, and there is almost no other way. A Maker/Sky community member pointed out that the official domain of the now-discontinued Maker sub-DAO Sakura is currently only sold for a cent.

4. Viewpoint: The US government's budget neutral path may release up to $874 billion in structured BTC buying

According to OKG Research's analysis, White House adviser Bo Hines recently mentioned the "budget-neutral purchase of BTC". OKG Research system sorted out five possible paths, including tariff revenue redistribution, gold revaluation, asset tokenization, unused budget recovery and pension-guided allocation, and estimated that its potential release scale range is: $764 billion – $874 billion + USD. Under the action of the market multiplier (2x–5x), it may drive the market value of BTC to increase by 1.5-4.4 trillion US dollars. If estimated based on actual active circulation, the theoretical price anchor of Bitcoin may be re-established to: $207,000 – $398,000/coin. OKG Research believes that budget neutrality is not just a fiscal technique, but an institutional precursor to the sovereign structure reanimating the value of digital assets; its expectations themselves have the ability to revaluate pricing.

5. Coinbase: Market sentiment indicates the beginning of a new round of "encrypted winter", but is optimistic about the second half of the year

Coinbase said in its latest report that some extreme negative sentiment has emerged due to the implementation of global tariffs and the potential for further escalation, which may herald the beginning of a new round of "encrypted winter". Meanwhile, although venture capital funds for cryptocurrencies increased in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter, they were still 50%-60% lower than the peak of the 2021-2022 cycle. This greatly limits new capital to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem, especially in the altcoin space. In the case of poor stock market performance, the road to recovery in the cryptocurrency market remains challenging even as the regulatory environment brings some unique favorable factors. The interaction of these factors portrays a difficult cyclical outlook for the digital asset field, which may require continued caution in the short term (perhaps in the next 4-6 weeks). However, Coinbase also believes investors need to take a tactical approach to the market, as Coinbase expects that the process may be quite rapid when market sentiment finally resets and is optimistic about the market in the second half of 2025. In addition, the report pointed out that recently, the Bitcoin (BTC) and the COIN50 index both fell below the 200-day moving average (200DMA), and this technological breakthrough may indicate that the crypto market is about to enter a bear market cycle.

6. Binance's second batch of voting coins ended, and FTT ranked first in the proportion of votes

According to official news, Binance's second batch of voting coin deposit activities ended at 7:59 today. Among them, the top five votes were FTT (11.1%), ZEC (8.6%), JASMY (8.6%), GPS (8.2%) and PDA (7.6%). According to Binance, the voting results will not be the only factor in deciding to finalize the removal decision. Monitoring of the project is still under evaluation and the final decision will be made by Binance in accordance with our official review process and standards. In addition, the timetable for removal will depend on Binance's procedures.

7. Wu Jihan suspected to respond to BTDR short report: The logic is absurd, and the right to take legal action is reserved.

Bitdeer (Bitdeer, US stock code BTDR), chairman and CEO Wu Jihan issued a statement on X suspected to respond to the BTDR short report. He said the report is based on a preset position, pieced together complex but irrelevant facts, and constructed narratives using absurd and misleading logic, with the aim of short sellers manipulating market sentiment for their own benefit. He stressed that the company will continue to focus on actual business fundamentals and long-term value creation, while retaining the right to take legal action to protect the company's reputation and shareholder interests. On April 16, an institution called Callisto Research released a short report on BTDR and said, "We short BTDR BTDR, a Bitcoin mining company listed on Nasdaq. We found red flags for BTDR's disclosure, governance and related party transactions. We believe that BTDR is not worth investing without a thorough transparency reform."

8. The "suspended appeal" motion filed by the US SEC and Ripple has been approved by the court

According to lawyer James K. Filan, the motion for "suspended appeal" filed by the U.S. SEC and Ripple has been approved by the court. The SEC must submit a case status report within 60 days of the order issuance.

9. Some market makers make profits through token lending, which may "kill" small crypto projects

According to Cointelegraph, some market makers are turning token loans into a profitable machine and putting small crypto projects into a death spiral. It is reported that a market maker model called the "loan option model" will allow the project to lend to market maker tokens, and the market maker will use these tokens to provide liquidity, stabilize prices, and assist the project in launching a crypto trading platform. However, in the behind-the-scenes operation, some market makers are using this controversial token loan structure to make profits for themselves. These agreements are often packaged as "low risk, high returns", but in fact they will seriously hit the price of tokens, putting the fledgling crypto team in chaos and struggle. Ariel Givner, founder of Givner Law Law, said, "It works by: market makers borrow tokens from the project party at a certain agreed price. In exchange, they promise to help these tokens go online to large trading platforms. If they fail to fulfill their promise, they need to repay the tokens at a higher price within a year." But what often happens in reality is that market makers sell borrowed tokens, triggering a preliminary price plunge. After the token price is smashed, they repurchase the tokens at a low price to make profits from it.

10. Russian Ministry of Finance Official: Russia should have its own stablecoin

Russia should develop its own stablecoin pegged to other currencies after USDT, a senior Russian finance ministry official said on Wednesday after the USDT, a stablecoin held by a digital wallet linked to Russia, was frozen last month. Russian regulators have allowed the experimental use of cryptocurrencies in international payments, which have become more difficult due to Western sanctions. Before USDT was frozen, it became popular among Russian businesses as a payment tool. "The recent freeze has led us to think that we need to consider creating internal tools similar to USDT, which may be pegged to other currencies," said Osman Kabaloev, deputy director of the Ministry's Financial Policy Department. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, opposed the use of cryptocurrencies in domestic payments, but she said Russian companies are actively testing international cryptocurrency payments as part of the experiment.

11. Panama Capital will accept cryptocurrency to pay taxes, licenses and fines through bank exchange

According to The Block, Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi Matalon posted on the X platform on Wednesday that the Panama City Government has approved the use of cryptocurrency to pay taxes, fees, fines and licenses. Local media confirmed that the city will accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and USDT. Mizrachi said the Panama capital has implemented this policy by working with a partner bank to convert cryptocurrencies into US dollars when payment is made without the need for new laws.

12. ENS chief developer reveals vulnerability that allows phishers to imitate Google's official alerts

According to Bitcoin.com, ENS chief developer Nick Johnson revealed a delicate phishing attack that exploited vulnerabilities in Google's system, especially the recently fixed OAuth vulnerability. According to Johnson, the attacker first sent fraudulent emails that appeared to be from Google's legal department, lying that the recipient's account was involved in a subpoena investigation. These emails come with real DKIM digital signatures and are sent from Google's official no-reply domain name, so they can easily bypass Gmail's spam filtering. Johnson noted that the credibility of the scam increased significantly by a link to a site.google.com hyperlink that fakes support portal. This fake Google login page exposed two major security vulnerabilities: one is that the Google Sites platform allows execution of arbitrary scripts to enable criminals to create pages that steal credentials; the other is that there are flaws in the OAuth protocol itself. Johnson condemned Google for initially treating the vulnerability as “as consistent with design expectations” and stressed that the vulnerability poses a serious threat. What's worse is that fake portals use sites.google.com as a cover, which greatly reduces users' vigilance. In addition, Google Sites' abuse reporting mechanism is incomplete, making it difficult for illegal pages to be closed in time. Under public pressure, Google finally admitted that there was a problem. Johnson later confirmed that Google plans to fix flaws in the OAuth protocol. Security experts remind users to be vigilant, be skeptical of any unexpected legal documents, and carefully verify the authenticity of the URL before entering the voucher.

13. North Carolina advances HB 92 bill that plans to allow state Treasury Secretary to invest in digital assets

According to Cointelegraph, North Carolina's HB 92 bill has been passed by the House Pension and Retirement Committee. The bill allows state finance ministers to invest in eligible digital assets such as Bitcoin.

14. VanEck plans to launch new crypto-related ETFs next month, offering a wide range of industry investment opportunities through dozens of stocks

According to The Block, VanEck plans to launch a new crypto-related ETF next month with the transaction code NODE. The ETF aims to provide investors with access to a wider crypto economy by investing in financial instruments and stocks associated with crypto exchanges, bitcoin miners and data centers. NODE will adopt an active management strategy to select 30 to 60 of the more than 130 stocks related to the digital asset economy to invest.