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According to Hong Kong Radio, the Hong Kong government has decided to stop promoting basketball gambling projects. The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Mak Mei-juan, stated in an interview with this station that the information collected by the authorities shows that the "prediction market" has developed rapidly in recent years, with monthly trading volume increasing from less than $100 million two years ago to over $13 billion last year, of which nearly 40% of the transactions are related to sports. The authorities are concerned that if new gambling projects are promoted at this time, it will lead to greater public concern and even participation in illegal gambling in the "prediction market." Therefore, it is believed that research should be conducted first before deciding on the next steps, and the promotion of new gambling projects should be halted for now.Mak Mei-juan stated that the existing regulated gambling projects have established a more mature monitoring and management system, which can help control risks. However, due to the uncertainty of the "prediction market," as a responsible government, there is a need to conduct research to understand the impact of the "prediction market" and its prevalence in Hong Kong. She also mentioned that the government has always maintained close contact with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, as the club has a rigorous monitoring system to oversee illegal gambling situations, and there are experts specifically targeting the fight against illegal gambling. The government will cooperate with the Jockey Club to obtain professional advice, allowing the authorities to implement measures specifically aimed at illegal gambling.Mak Mei-juan reiterated that the government's consistent policy is not to encourage gambling, and betting on sports projects in the "prediction market" is considered illegal gambling. The authorities will strengthen public education to help citizens understand the harms of gambling and refrain from participating in illegal gambling.

According to The Block, the total amount of bets related to the 2026 elections on the Polymarket platform has exceeded $2 billion. With the elections in Hungary and Peru approaching, the betting volume in April has significantly increased; the share of bets from non-U.S. markets has risen significantly and now accounts for a majority.The Block points out that election prediction markets are no longer exclusive to the United States and are gradually becoming a global phenomenon.

Bitcoin rose to about $74,935 during the Asian session, up 0.7% in the last 24 hours and 5.4% for the week. However, the derivatives market is sending mixed signals. Institutional firm QCP Capital pointed out that this round of increase is mainly driven by spot trading, rather than a broad recovery in risk appetite.Currently, the funding rate for Bitcoin perpetual contracts remains negative, and open interest has decreased, indicating that short sellers are still increasing hedges rather than passively closing positions. The options market is also leaning towards caution: short-term implied volatility is sluggish, with one-month volatility lower than three-month volatility, and the risk reversal indicator shows that the market's demand for downside protection is higher than for upside bets, indicating that traders are more inclined to pay for potential declines rather than chase upward movements. QCP believes this is more of a "bounce" rather than a trend reversal.On a macro level, long-term U.S. Treasury yields and gold prices have not confirmed a recovery in risk appetite, with gold still near high levels, indicating that safe-haven demand remains. Institutions point out that the current market is more driven by expectations of a ceasefire and "emotional repair," rather than a core risk being alleviated. Additionally, Ethereum has shown relatively strong performance, with the ETH/BTC ratio rising to about 0.0315, combined with on-chain transaction volumes and stablecoin supply reaching all-time highs, indicating signs of capital rotating towards high β assets. However, the market still needs to observe the evolution of subsequent risk events to confirm the sustainability of this round of increase.

Bitcoin core developer Jameson Lopp stated that, compared to the potential quantum computing attacks that may arise in the future, he prefers to "freeze" about 5.6 million long-dormant BTC from the network rather than let them be acquired by attackers. These Bitcoins have not moved for over 10 years and may be permanently lost, valued at approximately $42 billion at current prices. If future breakthroughs in quantum computing lead to the decryption of old address private keys, this portion of assets could be re-transferred, triggering severe market fluctuations or even a crisis of confidence.Although the community recently proposed BIP-361, the proposal is still in its early stages and is not an officially promoted plan, but rather more like a contingency plan to address "extreme risks."

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Governor Barr stated that there is a tension between current goals, but the Federal Reserve will be committed to fulfilling its mission.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain (@lookonchain), trader epsteinfiles spent $12,300 betting that MicroStrategy will hold more than 1 million BTC before December 31, 2026. The trader only participates in bets related to MicroStrategy, and all previous bets have been successful.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain, trader epsteinfiles spent $12,300 betting that MicroStrategy will hold over 1 million BTC before December 31, 2026.This trader only participates in bets related to MicroStrategy, and all previous bets have been successful.

According to market news, the UK Liberal Democrats have written to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), requesting an investigation into the relationship between Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the Bitcoin company Stack BTC.The party questions whether Farage's appearance in the company's promotional video, while holding shares in Stack BTC, violates market rules and presents a conflict of interest. Stack BTC recently disclosed that it purchased 37 bitcoins as company reserves, valued at approximately $2.7 million, and Farage holds a 6.31% stake in Stack BTC through his media company. At the same time, the UK government is advancing a proposal to ban political donations in cryptocurrency to prevent external funding from interfering in elections. The FCA stated that it will review the relevant correspondence and respond.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain (@lookonchain), a newly created wallet (bullseye123) spent $40,000 betting on the prediction market Polymarket that Trump will announce the end of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement before April 15 or 18. Currently, this position has an unrealized loss of about $34,000, with a loss rate of 85%.

According to The Block, zero-knowledge proof scaling developer StarkWare announced layoffs and initiated an internal restructuring. Co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated in an all-hands meeting that the company is "overly large" and needs to return to a "startup mode" to accelerate product-market fit. The specific number of layoffs and the timeline have not yet been disclosed, but the company promises to provide severance compensation that exceeds legal requirements.After the restructuring, StarkWare will split into two independent business units: one is a revenue-oriented application department led by current CPO Avihu Levy, focusing on developing monetizable products on its own technology stack; the other is the Starknet development department led by current product head Tom Brand. Each unit will have its own engineering, product, and marketing teams.Strategically, StarkWare plans to fully control the complete blockchain proof technology stack, including Cairo, Sierra, and quantum-resistant STARK cryptography, reducing reliance on external Layer 1 blockchains and application teams. Ben-Sasson stated that the company will shift from "doing many things well" to "doing a few things excellently," focusing on high-potential, high-value directions that only StarkWare can achieve. Additionally, COO Oren Katz has applied for resignation and will officially leave at the end of April.

Bittensor co-founder Jacob Robert Steeves responded to the Covenant AI incident, stating that he was "deeply shocked" by the events of the past few days and accused Covenant AI founder Samuel Dare of causing serious harm to the protocol and community, betraying the trust of investors and users. He apologized to users who suffered losses due to the incident.Steeves stated that the original intention of Bittensor was to combat greed and selfishness in human nature, promoting AI to be collectively owned by all participants through a permissionless mechanism. He emphasized that while this incident exposed vulnerabilities in the system, it would also encourage the protocol and community to further enhance their risk resilience.Regarding future directions, Steeves proposed advancing the "Locked Stake" mechanism, introducing a "time + stake" commitment dimension at the protocol layer to improve transparency and investor protection, thereby reducing similar risks. He noted that this plan was originally designed with the participation of Samuel Dare.Additionally, he mentioned that the development related to subnets 3, 39, and 81 would continue to be driven by the community, and the overall functionality and vision would not change. Steeves emphasized that Bittensor remains one of the most decentralized AI protocols currently and will continue to promote the development of open AI, with plans to move towards training larger-scale models. In the future, they will train a 1 trillion parameter model.

According to Iranian sources, the negotiations between Iran and the U.S. ended a few minutes ago on the morning of the 12th local time. The U.S.'s excessively high demands hindered the achievement of a common framework and agreement, and no agreement was reached.U.S. Vice President Vance stated at a press conference held in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on the 12th that the U.S. has not yet reached a consensus with Iran and will return to the United States.

Trump posted on his Truth platform stating, "A large number of empty oil tankers, some of which are the largest in the world, are currently heading to the United States, loaded with the world's highest quality, 'sweetest' oil (and natural gas!). Our oil reserves exceed the total of the second and third largest oil-producing countries combined—and the quality is better. We look forward to your visit. Hurry up!"

Benchmark reiterated its bullish outlook on Securitize in its latest research report, giving it a target price of $16 post-IPO (stock code SECZ), believing it is poised to significantly benefit from the wave of tokenized assets.Analysis indicates that the total market capitalization of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange is approximately $44 trillion. If Securitize captures just 1 basis point (0.01%) of that market, its platform asset size could double from the current approximately $4 billion. Benchmark emphasizes that Securitize is not only a tokenization platform but also possesses a "complete regulatory qualification system" that includes broker-dealer, transfer agent, and trading functions, which is expected to generate diversified income throughout the entire lifecycle of asset issuance, secondary trading, and custody services. Additionally, the company has been designated as the digital transfer agent for the tokenized securities platform that the New York Stock Exchange plans to launch, which supports 24/7 trading. Meanwhile, its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund BUIDL, in collaboration with BlackRock, has approached $3 billion, indicating rapid growth in the institutional-level RWA market. However, Benchmark also cautions that factors such as regulatory uncertainty, fragmented liquidity, and technological risks may still exert pressure on its valuation.

According to Jinshi reports, after the release of the U.S. March CPI data, market pricing shows that bets on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates once this year have increased.

In response to Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) proposing a bet of $1 billion (or any amount) regarding the claim of "already officially divorced," OKX Star stated that as the CEO of OKX, he cannot participate in such public bets due to the company's compliance culture, and gambling is also illegal for UAE citizens.He emphasized that to verify whether CZ is officially divorced, it is sufficient to show whether Binance's shares have been legally divided from his ex-wife, without the need for a betting proof. Furthermore, the division of marital property after a 20-year marriage is not only a legal obligation but also a basic moral responsibility. He has no interest in CZ's private life but reserves the right to question and clarify any false statements about himself made in the book and public interviews.Previously, CZ demanded an apology from Star and stated that if the bet is not accepted within 24 hours, it would prove who is misleading the public.

According to the WSJ, just hours after President Trump suddenly announced a suspension of attacks on Iran last month, the White House warned staff not to abuse their power to place bets in prediction markets at the right moment. According to informed sources, the Office of Management and Budget issued this warning on March 23.Earlier that day, Trump announced the decision to suspend airstrikes via Truth Social. About 15 minutes before the sudden policy shift, there was a wave of mysterious trading activity in the futures market, with Dow Jones market data showing that contracts worth over $760 million in oil futures changed hands in less than two minutes.Recently, three accounts on the Polymarket platform profited over $600,000 by accurately predicting the timing of this week's ceasefire in Iran. Critics of Trump, including many Democrats, immediately inferred that someone had profited from having advance knowledge of the policy shift.The White House confirmed the authenticity of this warning, with Trump's spokesperson Engel stating, "The only special interest that can guide President Trump's decision-making is the best interest of the American people."

According to CoinDesk, as market sentiment improves, the Bitcoin options market is showing a significant shift. The call options with a strike price of $80,000 on Deribit have become the most popular trades, with an open interest exceeding $1.6 billion, surpassing the previously dominant $60,000 put options (with an open interest of about $1.41 billion). Analysts believe that the recent temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has led to a decline in oil prices, easing inflation expectations, which may enhance the market's expectations for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, thereby benefiting risk assets including Bitcoin.In addition, asset management firm 21Shares stated that with continued inflows into ETFs and increased institutional holdings, if the geopolitical situation eases and the regulatory environment improves, Bitcoin could potentially surge to $100,000 by the end of the second quarter. However, risks remain in the market; the current ceasefire situation is relatively fragile, and if the conflict in the Middle East escalates again, a rebound in oil prices could suppress market risk appetite, thereby limiting Bitcoin's upside potential.