Slovenia’s finance ministry floats 25% tax on crypto transactions

Slovenia’s Finance Ministry is considering a possible 25% tax on crypto trading profits for residents in the country under a new draft law now open for public consultation.  The bill proposes to tax traders when they sell their cryptocurrency for fiat or pay for goods and services, but crypto-to-crypto and transfers between wallets owned by …

Bitcoin dip buyers nibble at BTC range lows but are risk off until $90K becomes support

Bitcoin’s (BTC) realized market cap reached a new all-time high of $872 billion, but data from Glassnode reflects investors’ lack of enthusiasm at BTC’s current price levels. In a recent X post, the analytics platform pointed out that despite the realized cap milestone, the monthly growth rate of the metric has dropped to 0.9% month …

Kyrgyzstan’s president signs CBDC law giving ‘digital som’ legal status

Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov has signed a constitutional law authorizing the launch of a central bank digital currency pilot project while also giving the “digital som” — the national currency in digital form — legal tender status. The law gives the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic the exclusive right to issue the digital som, …

OpenAI sought Anysphere deal before turning its sights on WindSurf

OpenAI was reportedly in talks to buy Anysphere, the company that produces the Cursor AI coding assistant, before entering into talks with rival company WindSurf. According to CNBC, OpenAI approached Anysphere in 2024 and again in 2025, but talks stalled both times. Failing to arrive at a deal led OpenAI to look elsewhere for potential …

Crypto exchange eXch to shut down amid money laundering allegations

Cryptocurrency exchange eXch announced it will cease operations on May 1 after reports alleged the firm was used to launder funds from a Bybit hack. In an April 17 notice, eXch said the majority of people in its management team voted to “cease and retreat” in response to the allegations that North Korea’s Lazarus Group …

Ripple acquisition Hidden Road secures FINRA registration

Prime brokerage Hidden Road, which was recently acquired by Ripple for $1.25 billion, has secured a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — a move that enhances its capacity in the fixed-income markets.  As a FINRA broker-dealer, Hidden Road can further develop its fixed-income prime brokerage services and extend its capabilities in …

US jobless claims hint at stability as Bitcoin reaches 'inflection point' at $85K

The latest US initial jobless claims data came at 215,000, below the estimated expectation of 225,000, on April 17. The dip in jobless claims indicated that the US labor market remained stable, with fewer people being affected by the uncertainty of US tariffs. Initial jobless claims are a leading economic indicator that measures the health …

A16z doubles down on LayerZero with $55M investment

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, announced a $55 million investment in LayerZero, a Web3 company that runs a crosschain messaging protocol. The investment was disclosed in an April 17 X post by Ali Yahya, a general partner in the firm. A16z has made previous investments in LayerZero, including an initial investment in March …

Ethena Labs, Securitize unveil 'Converge' network roadmap

Ethena Labs, the developer of the USDe synthetic dollar (USDe), and financial technology company Securitize, released a preliminary roadmap for their upcoming Converge network, a high-throughput blockchain focused on real-world assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). According to the announcement, a testnet will be live in the coming weeks, with a mainnet launch later in 2025. …

4 reasons why Bitcoin price could rally to $90K in April

Key points:  Monetary stimulus in China and Europe increases investors’ focus on Bitcoin price. The US Federal Reserve is under political pressure to cut rates, as the DXY weakens. Bitcoin’s decoupling from traditional markets continues to gain attention.  Bitcoin (BTC) traders are somewhat puzzled by BTC price jumping to $85,000, especially since the S&P 500 …