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According to official news, the NFT public chain Mint Blockchain announced that the blockchain network officially ceased operations on April 17, 2026. To ensure the safety of user assets, the project team reminds all users to transfer their on-chain assets to the Ethereum mainnet as soon as possible, including assets such as ETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT.The announcement states that users need to complete the asset migration through the extraction channel provided by the official team, with a deadline of October 20, 2026. Before this deadline, users can still perform asset extraction operations normally to ensure the safe transfer of funds to external networks. If users do not complete the extraction before the deadline, the related assets will no longer be processed or recoverable.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released the final draft of the crypto asset framework. This new regulation is set to bring most crypto activities under the regulation of the Financial Services and Markets Act by October 25, 2027.According to the proposal, any institution that holds customer crypto assets for more than 24 hours or has the ability to revoke customer permissions will be considered a regulated custodian and must hold a full safeguarding license. Validators and node operators that provide value-added features such as yield or reward reinvestment will lose their technical exemptions. In addition, stablecoin issuers within the UK must control the entire lifecycle from issuance to redemption. Relevant institutions must submit authorization applications between September 30, 2026, and February 28, 2027.

The Ethereum Foundation announced that its jointly initiated ETH Rangers project has completed a 6-month operation. The project aims to fund independent researchers who contribute to public safety for the Ethereum ecosystem. Seventeen grantees have achieved multiple results in vulnerability research, security tool development, threat intelligence, and incident response, including: recovering or freezing over $5.8 million, reporting or documenting over 785 vulnerabilities and client issues, identifying about 100 attackers, providing security education content covering over 209,000 users, and handling over 36 security incidents.In addition, the project has also encouraged over 800 teams to participate in security challenges, produced over 80 technical sharing and training sessions, and developed or improved more than 7 open-source security tools. The Ethereum Foundation stated that the related results indicate that decentralized networks require "decentralized defense" and effectively enhance the overall security and resilience of the Ethereum ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph, during the US-Iran conflict, UAE investors chose to buy the dip in AI and digital assets rather than reducing their overall positions.eToro data shows that in the first quarter, UAE users increased their holdings in several software and AI infrastructure stocks that had significantly pulled back in price. eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert stated that the behavior of UAE investors is driven by long-term themes rather than risk aversion, with the most obvious signals appearing in the AI infrastructure and software sector—ServiceNow (+125%), Super Micro Computer (+65%), Adobe (+54%), and Oracle (+38%) all saw significant increases in holdings against a backdrop of market pressure.In terms of crypto assets, Strategy Inc. remains the eighth highest held stock by UAE investors, indicating a continued allocation to crypto-related assets. Deutsche Bank's report on April 13 indicated that this conflict is more likely to strengthen rather than weaken the region's demand for AI, cybersecurity, and sovereign digital infrastructure; however, it also cited reports that the Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain have been attacked, and the planned 1GW Stargate park in Abu Dhabi is also under threat.The report also noted that sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf region manage approximately $5 trillion in assets by 2025, with Abu Dhabi-related institutions being one of the most active sources of funding in the global AI sector. Local crypto businesses in Dubai are operating normally. HashKey MENA Managing Director Ben El-Baz told Cointelegraph that business remains normal, relying on cloud trading and custody systems; Binance also confirmed that the vast majority of employees chose to stay, but the Token2049 Dubai event has been postponed to 2027.The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) continues to advance its activity-type regulatory framework. VARA Market Assurance Director Sean McHugh stated that during times of pressure, serious market participants seek the clearest regulatory environment rather than the most lenient jurisdictions.

According to Fortune magazine, in the context of a downturn in the crypto market in 2025 and the distribution of profits to investors, the portfolio values of crypto venture capital firms such as Paradigm and a16z crypto have significantly shrunk.According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the total assets under management (AUM) of four crypto funds under a16z crypto dropped nearly 40% from 2024 to 2025, falling to $9.5 billion. Part of the reason is that the firm began returning capital to investors from earlier funds, and the timing of the returns coincided with the market peak in 2025, with a net DPI (distributions to paid-in capital) of 5.4 for its first crypto fund.Multicoin Capital's AUM has more than halved, dropping to about $2.7 billion. Paradigm's holdings also slightly decreased by about 6%. Meanwhile, the total size of a16z crypto's parent company, Andreessen Horowitz, has exceeded $100 billion.The report points out that the shrinkage in assets under management reflects the decline in portfolio value due to the market downturn, and is also a sign of normal exits by VCs and the return of funds to limited partners (LPs). Some firms, such as Haun Ventures, have seen their AUM grow by over 30%, reaching around $2.5 billion.Currently, Paradigm is seeking to raise a new fund of $1.5 billion, and a16z crypto is also raising up to $2 billion for its fifth fund.

HashKey Chain announced a strategic cooperation with the compliance brokerage infrastructure platform HabitTrade. The two parties will collaborate on the on-chain integration of quality assets and on-chain financial infrastructure, promoting the issuance and circulation of compliant assets.As the first tangible progress, HSKSwap has integrated the open-source securities tokenization protocol Stove Protocol under HabitTrade, supporting on-chain tokenized trading of assets including U.S. stocks.HashKey Chain stated that this cooperation will continuously introduce compliant assets backed by real assets, further improving the on-chain financial infrastructure. In the future, both parties will expand into more asset categories and explore cross-market circulation and on-chain financial application scenarios, promoting the integration of traditional capital markets and the on-chain ecosystem.

According to FinanceFeeds, Morgan Stanley stated that the tokenization of real-world assets has become the "next major step" in its global business and has incorporated it into its strategic focus on upgrading traditional financial infrastructure with blockchain.The institution mentioned plans to integrate traditional assets with digital assets in a regulated environment, advance near real-time on-chain settlement, and launch an institutional digital wallet in the second half of 2026, supporting tokenized traditional investment products as well as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. At the same time, Morgan Stanley is also advancing the tokenization of the private equity secondary market and the construction of on-chain and off-chain settlement processes.

The dominance of the US dollar has always been a topic of concern, but Franklin Templeton believes that the dollar will remain the preferred currency. The Chief Investment Officer of the company's fixed income department, Sonal Desai, wrote in a report that the dollar's status is supported by three main pillars: the size of the world's largest economy, the depth of the market, and its institutional credibility.Sonal Desai pointed out that there are currently no reliable alternative assets, and it will take decades to establish the institutional infrastructure needed to support such a currency. The debate over the dollar's dominance has intensified, as Trump's erratic trade, geopolitical, and fiscal policies have weakened the appeal of US assets. Some analysts believe that the euro and gold are likely to become preferred reserve assets.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that Circle has expanded its collaboration with Upbit operator Dunamu to support the compliant adoption of digital assets and has enhanced its partnership with Bithumb to improve stablecoin infrastructure and raise market awareness of stablecoins.Jeremy Allaire mentioned that South Korea is rapidly advancing regulations on stablecoins and digital assets, with a high local cryptocurrency adoption rate. During his time in Seoul, he also met with representatives from KakaoGroup, Coinone, Hashed, Shinhan Bank, KB Financial Group, and Woori Bank.

The UK asset management firm Legal & General has put its managed liquidity funds, exceeding £50 billion, on-chain through the tokenized distribution network launched by Calastone.The firm is now offering money market funds in tokenized share form on this network, supporting USD, EUR, and GBP, covering issuance, trading, and same-day settlement. Investors can purchase, hold, and transfer the related tokenized shares within a permissioned, regulated network. The relevant funds will be deployed on Ethereum and compatible blockchains, with plans to expand to more networks in the future.

The open interest (OI) of the HIP-3 market on Hyperliquid reached a peak of approximately $2.38 billion and currently remains at a high of around $2.1 billion, reflecting a growth of about 580% year-to-date. This growth is primarily driven by "non-crypto assets."Among the top ten markets by trading volume on the platform, only three are crypto trading pairs, while the rest consist of tokenized stocks and commodities, including the Nasdaq index, S&P 500, crude oil, gold, and silver. Analysis indicates that the core driving force comes from the demand for "24/7 trading of traditional assets." Unlike traditional markets that are limited by trading hours, HIP-3 enables investors to trade stock and commodity exposure around the clock through on-chain settlement and a non-intermediary structure. Additionally, TradeXYZ accounts for over 90% of the open interest in HIP-3, becoming the main source of liquidity in this sector.

According to QCP Group analysis, BTC followed the overnight rebound of risk assets, rising to the mid-range of $74,000, triggered by the news of a preliminary framework agreement between the U.S. and Iran. However, long-term yields remained almost unchanged, gold maintained high levels, and the bond market did not follow suit, indicating that this rebound is merely a relief from headline risks rather than a substantive geopolitical resolution.The core contradiction lies in the uranium enrichment issue—Iran is currently enriching at 60%, while the U.S. demands a reduction to below 20%. Iran has yet to signal any compromise, and this issue has been unresolved since 2015. In terms of market structure, BTC spot is slowly rising against a backdrop of negative funding rates and low open interest, showing that shorts are still resisting and pushing for a short squeeze, but the options market has failed to confirm a breakout—short-term ATM volatility remains around 40, and one-month volatility is still lower than three-month volatility, with demand for downside protection still stronger than the willingness to chase upside.On the macro level, the Federal Reserve's net rate cut space for this year is close to zero, and liquidity conditions remain tight. QCP believes that this round of market activity is essentially a geopolitical-driven relief rebound rather than a fundamental shift in the macro landscape, and the market needs to be wary of the risk of a pullback after the rebound.

The National Bank of Pakistan has officially lifted its ban on virtual assets that has been in place since 2018, allowing banks to open independent interest-free rupee accounts for virtual asset service providers (VASP) licensed by the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), and banks must conduct due diligence on the relevant institutions.

According to a report by Bloomberg, a recent study shows that many cryptocurrency investors in the United States may not have reported their digital asset holdings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Tyler Menzer, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University, and his co-authors found that between 2013 and 2021, only 6.5% of taxpayers reported cryptocurrency sales, while surveys during the same period indicated that 12% to 21% of American adults had held cryptocurrency. The analysis suggests that some investors failed to accurately report income and transactions related to cryptocurrency, potentially leading to tax revenue loss.The study found that cryptocurrency holders are more likely to hold meme tokens, are younger, and have lower incomes, with trading behaviors significantly differing from traditional stock investors. CoinTracker data shows that for the 2025 tax year, cryptocurrency investors are required to report an average of 836 transactions, with average short-term losses of $636 and average long-term gains of $2,692.

The Central Bank of Russia stated that it plans to require its citizens to declare their cryptocurrency assets held overseas after the new round of cryptocurrency regulatory rules comes into effect.Vladimir Chistyukhin, the First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, pointed out that the new regulations will strengthen KYC requirements for exchanges to enhance transaction transparency. He also emphasized that regulation does not prohibit individuals or institutions from holding cryptocurrency assets in overseas wallets, but they must declare them to the federal tax authority. This measure is expected to come into effect in July along with the relevant regulatory framework.

According to Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed HB 798, a bill that extends the state's unclaimed property regulations to digital assets and ensures that digital assets can be managed for attribution as they are.This initiative aims to improve the legal attribution and handling mechanisms for digital assets. Paul Grewal expressed his gratitude for this.