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Texas man Robert Dunlap was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for his involvement in a cryptocurrency scam exceeding $20 million and was ordered to pay restitution to nearly 1,000 victims.Prosecutors stated that Dunlap operated a cryptocurrency project and sold Meta - 1 Coin, falsely claiming that the token was backed by $44 billion in gold and approximately $1 billion in artwork, including works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Salvador Dalí, and that the assets had been audited. A jury had found him guilty of mail fraud last year.

According to official data, JST has burned 271 million $JST in this single instance, equivalent to a value of approximately 21.3 million USD, accounting for 2.74% of the current total supply. At the same time, the treasury reserves have exceeded the 100 million USD mark, providing a solid guarantee for the continued advancement of the subsequent deflation process. All funds for repurchase and destruction come from the actual income generated by the protocol, thereby establishing an automated deflationary closed loop driven by actual earnings, where repurchase and destruction operate continuously. This marks that $JST is steadily moving towards a sustainable, endogenous, and long-term viable economic model.

According to the official announcement from Binance, starting from April 23, 2026, 08:00 (UTC), Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals of Highstreet (HIGH) and Resolv (RESOLV) on BSC.

Solv Protocol announced a strategic integration with Utexo, launching a native Bitcoin yield solution based on the RGB protocol and the Lightning Network, enabling the conversion between native BTC and USDT through atomic swaps without the need for wrapping, cross-chain bridges, or custodians.This solution emphasizes self-custody, privacy protection, and final settlement, and aligns with Tether's previously announced plan to natively issue USDT on the RGB-compatible Lightning Network. Additionally, it was disclosed that Solv participated as a strategic angel investor in Utexo's $7.5 million seed round financing led by Tether.

Due to the migration of the top decentralized application Ether.fi to Optimism, the Ethereum Layer-2 network Scroll has experienced a significant loss of funds, resulting in a total value locked (TVL) decrease of approximately $160 million and an annual fee loss of about $13 million.Scroll stated that it will propose a plan to dissolve the decentralized security committee and reduce DAO members to lower operational costs, with network control being handed over to the internal team. Additionally, Scroll briefly raised network gas fees by 1,280 times after the protocol migration, causing users to pay over $50,000 in extra fees, but it has since returned to normal. After this adjustment, Scroll's TVL has dropped to approximately $23 million. The official statement claims that all contract changes will remain transparent and verifiable on-chain.

According to CoinDesk, the current Bitcoin halving cycle has surpassed halfway, with block rewards reduced to 3.125 BTC, an inflation rate below 1%, and total supply continuously approaching the fixed cap of 21 million coins.Since the 2024 halving, the price of Bitcoin has increased by about 15%, a rise lower than in previous halving cycles, reflecting a gradual decrease in price volatility as Bitcoin adoption increases and the market matures. This cycle is expected to end in 2028, with halving events occurring every 210,000 blocks, approximately every four years.Data shows that Bitcoin reached an all-time high of about $126,000 in 2025, then fell back to $60,000, with recent prices recovering to nearly $75,000. The current market is focused on whether a price breakthrough above $75,500 could lead to about $200 million in short positions being liquidated, further driving price movements.

According to on-chain analyst ZachXBT, a counterfeit Ledger Live application was launched on the Apple App Store, resulting in over 50 users' assets being stolen, with total losses amounting to approximately $9.5 million, involving various assets such as Bitcoin, EVM chain assets, TRON, Solana, and XRP.The stolen funds were subsequently transferred through more than 150 KuCoin deposit addresses and laundered using a centralized mixing service called AudiA6. Data shows that the largest single loss reached $3.23 million. The application has recently been removed by Apple.

According to official news, Scroll announced an important proposal regarding protocol and governance operations. The team proposed to dissolve the Security Council and transfer protocol management authority to the Scroll Admin multi-signature address, with the transition expected to be completed within the next ten days.Scroll stated that the costs of the Security Council are no longer reasonable compared to actual usage over the past few quarters, and resources should be better allocated to product development and growth. Scroll will work with key stakeholders to find a new Security Council structure that is more suited to current market conditions.

Patrick Witte, the Executive Director of the White House Digital Assets Presidential Advisory Committee, stated on Monday that substantive progress is being made in Senate negotiations surrounding the Clarity Act, with a compromise reached on the issue of stablecoin yields expected to hold, and the focus of negotiations has shifted to other unresolved topics.The issue of stablecoin yields was previously the biggest obstacle to advancing the bill. Banking lobbyists successfully persuaded some senators that providing yields similar to bank interest to stablecoin holders would threaten the traditional banking deposit base, causing the bill to reach an impasse. Witte stated, "We hope that the compromise reached will be durable and stable. Resolving this issue is a prerequisite for advancing other pending matters." Last week, the White House economic advisors released a report downplaying the risk concerns raised by the banking industry; in response, the American Bankers Association rebutted on Monday, claiming the White House's arguments were flawed.In addition to stablecoin yields, the bill also faces several disagreements, including illegal financial protection mechanisms in the DeFi space and a demand from Democrats to prohibit senior government officials (specifically targeting President Trump) from profiting from the crypto industry. Witte did not disclose which topics have reached consensus but indicated that negotiations have "made considerable progress behind the scenes," stating, "We are very close to comprehensively resolving these issues." The Clarity Act still needs to go through the Senate Banking Committee's markup review process before being submitted for a full Senate vote. Witte expressed optimism about reaching a final agreement, noting that many issues that previously seemed stuck have gradually been resolved.

The metal market has seen a short-term pullback. Among them, international gold (XAUT) reached a high of $4,713.3 and a low of $4,621.1 within 24 hours; international silver (XAG) reached a high of $75.73 and a low of $72.79 within 24 hours. As prices broke through key ranges, market risk aversion sentiment marginally receded, significantly amplifying short-term volatility.According to CoinGlass data, Gate's metal contract trading and positions are actively synchronized. Currently, the position size of XAUT is $42.7135 million; the 24-hour contract trading volume of XAG reached $60.4477 million, a substantial increase of 1640.73% compared to the previous period. Against the backdrop of severe market fluctuations, the competition between bulls and bears has intensified, driving a rapid increase in trading activity.Gate has pioneered the metal contract trading sector, providing 24/7 uninterrupted trading, offering users greater strategic flexibility and asset management efficiency in volatile markets. Gate's contracts cover various traditional financial assets, including stocks, metals, foreign exchange, indices, and commodities, supporting trading in core targets such as gold, silver, and globally popular stocks. Gate continues to build a more efficient and professional multi-asset one-stop trading platform for global users.

According to Cointelegraph, about two years away from Bitcoin's fifth halving, mining companies are facing a more challenging operating environment than the halving in 2024. At that time, the block reward will drop from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC, compounded by record-high network hash rates, rising energy costs, and a more cautious capital market, significantly compressing the industry's profit margins.On the balance sheet front, several leading mining companies have begun to actively deleverage. MARA Holdings sold over 15,000 Bitcoins in March to reduce leverage, Riot Platforms sold over 3,700 in the first quarter, Cango sold 2,000 to repay Bitcoin collateralized debt, and Bitdeer's Bitcoin holdings dropped to zero on February 20.Industry insiders generally hold a cautious outlook. Cango's communications head, Juliet Ye, stated, "The middle ground has almost disappeared; operators with scale and diversified layouts can cope, while those lacking these conditions will struggle in the next halving." GoMining CEO Mark Zalan pointed out, "Capital discipline is now more important than maximizing hash power," and new deployment projects must meet stricter return thresholds.In terms of business models, pure block rewards have become "an increasingly thin business," with strong operators moving towards power and data center businesses, exploring additional revenue through grid peak shaving and waste heat utilization. Cango is transitioning to a dual-line model focusing on both computing power and AI workloads, with Ye stating, "The truly important facilities in five years will be those that can do multiple things simultaneously."

OpenAI stated that during a recent industry-wide security incident, potential security issues were discovered in the third-party development library Axios that they use. After investigation, no evidence was found of user data being accessed, systems being compromised, or software being tampered with.Out of caution, OpenAI has initiated security reinforcement measures, focusing on strengthening the authentication mechanism of the macOS application to prevent malicious parties from distributing counterfeit official applications. OpenAI also reminds all macOS users to update to the latest version of the application as soon as possible, either through in-app updates or official channels, to reduce potential risks.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT posted on platform X, stating that Spartans co-founder Gurhan Kiziloz may be the mastermind behind Blockdag Network. The project raised over $300 million from retail investors through social media advertising and has been accused of unrealistic profit promises and misleading partnership promotions.ZachXBT noted that the token sale of Blockdag has been ongoing for over two years, while gradually liquidating pre-sale funds through Middle Eastern over-the-counter (OTC) channels; during this period, Gurhan Kiziloz has been accused of high-end luxury spending, including luxury cars, real estate, and luxury goods. Relevant individuals have a significant amount of paid PR content in public information, and it was claimed that as early as October 2025, it was revealed that the management of Blockdag were "nominal leaders," with the actual controller being Gurhan Kiziloz, who later publicly admitted to his involvement.ZachXBT stated that he has received feedback from at least 10 to 15 victims regarding financial losses and reminded the market to remain highly vigilant about projects related to Gurhan Kiziloz.

S&P Global Market Intelligence released a report indicating that the stablecoin market size has surpassed $316 billion, but the overall strategic layout of the banking industry is still in its early stages.Among 100 banks surveyed in Q1 2026, only 7% are developing relevant frameworks, and no institutions have launched pilot programs. Banks are primarily concerned about deposit outflows, intensified competition, and unclear impacts on revenue. It is expected that large banks will focus on tokenized deposits, while small and medium-sized banks will emphasize fiat currency inflows and outflows, and both will require significant upgrades to their existing systems.

According to CoinDesk, Paul Atkins, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the termination of "enforcement-style regulation" and stated that the seven cases related to cryptocurrency registration initiated by the previous administration were a "misallocation of resources" that did not provide direct benefits to investors.

Liquid Capital (formerly LD Capital) founder Yi Lihua stated on Twitter that wherever there are people, there are grievances, and wherever there are grievances, there is a community. He has heard these community stories from the parties involved multiple times, but we can only be bystanders.Yi Lihua called for the parties involved (CZ, Xu Mingxing, Li Lin, Sun Yuchen, He Yi) to resolve this historical grievance and work together to build the industry and prices. He mentioned that gossip and grievances sound exciting, but wallets are more important to everyone.It is reported that CZ mentioned past interactions with Li Lin, Xu Mingxing, and others in his new book, and discussions about the related events are currently trending on platform X.

According to independent analyst Markus Thielen, Bitcoin futures open interest has significantly reduced from a peak of $42 billion in 2025 to the current $21 billion, indicating a deep deleveraging in the market.Currently, on-site leverage is notably low, and small inflows of capital can have an amplified effect on prices; the funding rate has recently fluctuated sharply between -12.6% and +7.1%, with rapid switching between long and short positions. In terms of liquidation, the last concentrated forced liquidation occurred on February 6, and the previous leverage has basically been cleared, resulting in a relatively healthy position structure.In the short term, Bitcoin has not yet formed a clear directional trend, but the market is in a highly sensitive state, and any inflow of capital or narrative shift could trigger unexpected price volatility.