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Bitget’s $12B VOXEL frenzy fizzled fast, but questions remain

A little-known VOXEL trading pair on cryptocurrency exchange Bitget suddenly clocked over $12 billion in volume on April 20, dwarfing the metrics of the same contract on Binance.

The activity centered on VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures, where traders reported instant order fills — an anomaly many described as a bug that allowed savvy traders to rack up outsized profits by exploiting unusual price behavior.

The atypical metrics drew Bitget’s attention. In the fallout of its early investigation, the exchange suspended accounts suspected of market manipulation and rolled back irregular trades that occurred throughout the day. Traders who copped losses during that period were offered compensation.

Bitget’s response and remediation plan may have prevented lasting investor damage, but the episode is the latest in a series of cases that raise questions about how exchanges handle market makers, internal systems and user safeguards. While Bitget promotes an open API and regularly

Bitcoin longs cut $106M — Are Bitfinex BTC whales turning bearish above $86K?

Despite Bitcoin’s (BTC) price reaching its highest level in over three weeks, traders on Bitfinex reduced their leveraged long (bullish) positions on margin contracts by more than $100 million between April 17 and April 19.

This reduction has led to speculation that Bitcoin whales may be anticipating a price correction or, at the very least, are not confident in further short-term gains. Let’s look closer at whether this could be the case.

Bitfinex Bitcoin whales remain bullish

Bitcoin surged above $86,000 on April 21 after US President Donald Trump openly discussed the possibility of replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump criticized Powell for not acting swiftly enough to ease monetary policy.

Additionally, investors are increasingly risk-off due to concerns about a recession as the global trade war escalates, particularly given the ongoing uncertainty in <a

El Salvador works with Nvidia to develop sovereign AI infrastructure

El Salvador, the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, is working with the computer chip giant Nvidia to implement artificial intelligence for national development.

El Salvador signed a letter of intent to collaborate with Nvidia on “sovereign AI to drive innovation and economic growth,” the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) of El Salvador announced on X on April 21.

As part of the collaboration, El Salvador will benefit from Nvidia’s AI tools, resources and expertise, enabling the development of sovereign AI capabilities targeting priorities related to culture, language, environment and economy.

“El Salvador will focus on building domestic AI infrastructure, upskilling the workforce, and creating solutions to address local challenges such as improving healthcare delivery, advancing education, and boosting economic productivity,” the announcement said.

AI training for state officials and developers

El Salvador’s latest collaboration with Nvidia marks the country’s commitment to encouraging AI usage to

CZ receives fake ‘Grok’ coins amid new wave of Elon Musk scam tokens

Scammers are once again capitalizing on the popularity of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, with fake tokens again emerging as part of potential phishing attacks.

A wallet linked to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao received 90 million fake Grok (GROK) tokens on April 21, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.

The tokens are “likely a scam,” since the “deployer distributed it to multiple addresses via multisend,” PeckShield said.

Source: PeckShieldAlert

The X platform’s Grok AI chatbot has no official cryptocurrency and no plans to launch one in the future.

Fake Grok-related tokens first emerged in 2023 when a scammer deployed an ERC-20 Grok token on Ethereum, which led to an over 90% drop after the deployer sold 0.5% of the total supply,

Gold-backed vs USD-backed stablecoins: Key differences

What are gold-backed stablecoins, and how do they work?

Gold-backed stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to physical gold reserves and designed to maintain a stable value. The concept of gold-backed digital currencies dates back to the early days of cryptocurrency, with developers aiming to create a reliable store of value.

Each gold-backed stablecoin represents a specific quantity of gold. For instance, one token might be linked to 1 troy ounce of gold. A troy ounce is a unit of weight used explicitly for weighing precious metals like gold, silver and platinum; it is equal to 31.1034768 grams.

A third party typically holds the gold reserves to ensure security and transparency. The issuing entity is responsible for maintaining an equivalent amount of physical gold for every token in circulation.

The token’s price remains closely aligned with the market value of gold. Buyers pay gold’s spot price

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/explained/gold-backed-vs-usd-backed-stablecoins-key-differences?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Circle, BitGo about to apply for bank charter, others may follow: WSJ

Major cryptocurrency firms, including stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto custodian BitGo, are reportedly considering applying for bank charters or licenses.

According to an April 21 Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Circle, BitGo and other firms are considering applying for some form of banking license. Other firms cited include the publicly traded US-based crypto exchange Coinbase and the stablecoin issuer Paxos.

Back in 2021, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency already granted a preliminary conditional approval for a US bank charter to Paxos. The report comes as the US continues to reshape local stablecoin regulations.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently said that as digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea.” Speaking at a recent event in Chicago, Powell recognized that

Michael Saylor’s Strategy bagged 6,556 Bitcoin for $555.8M last week

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, one of the world’s largest publicly listed corporate Bitcoin holders, added another major purchase to its growing portfolio as the cryptocurrency trades near $85,000.

Strategy acquired 6,556 Bitcoin for $555.8 million from April 14–20, at an average price of $84,785 per coin, the firm announced in its latest Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The latest purchase accounts for 1.2% of Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings of 538,200 BTC as of April 20, acquired for the aggregate amount of $36.5 billion at an average price of $67,766 per BTC.

An excerpt from Strategy’s Form 8-K filing. Source: Strategy

The latest Bitcoin purchase was funded using proceeds from the Common ATM and STRK ATM stock offerings, including the sale of 1,755,000 Strategy shares for $547.7 million and 91,213 shares of Series A preferred stock sold for $7.8 million.

Strategy expands buying after a pause

The

Pavel Durov says Telegram would exit markets before betraying users

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has expressed concerns over the growing threat to private messaging in France and other European Union countries, warning that Telegram would rather exit certain markets than implement encryption backdoors that undermine user privacy.

In an April 21 post to his “Du Rove’s channel” on Telegram, he posted an alarming message about the EU’s increasing efforts to weaken messaging encryption by adding backdoors, a method that would allow authorities to bypass encryption and access private user data.

Durov cited initiatives from French and EU lawmakers to require messaging apps like Telegram to implement backdoors for police access and stressed Telegram’s commitment to digital privacy.

“Telegram would rather exit a market than undermine encryption with backdoors and violate basic human rights,” Durov stated, adding: “Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t trade privacy for market share.”

Backdoors can be exploited by criminals

In his message, Durov highlighted that the biggest

Crypto casino revenue hit $81B in 2024 despite global restrictions

Crypto casinos generated more than $81 billion in revenue in 2024, even as regulators in key jurisdictions continued to block access to the platforms, according to a new report.

Citing data from the anti-online-crime platform Yield Sec, the Financial Times reported that wagers paid in crypto in 2024 generated $81.4 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR). This metric refers to the difference between bets taken and winnings paid out.

Yield Sec data also showed that the annual revenue for crypto casinos has increased five times since 2022, despite gambling sites being blocked in the United States, China, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Crypto casino Stake rivals traditional betting platforms

Betting platform Stake reported that its GGR in 2024 was around $4.7 billion, up 80% since 2022. This puts it on a par with some of the biggest gambling groups, such as Entain and Flutter. Entain reported $5

Bitcoin rally above $100K may follow US Treasury buybacks — Arthur Hayes

Investors seeking Bitcoin exposure may be running out of time to purchase below a six-figure price, as US Treasury buybacks may signal the next leg up for the world’s first cryptocurrency.

This might be the “last chance” to buy Bitcoin (BTC) below the $100,000 mark, according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer of Maelstrom.

“Seriously fam, this might be the last chance you have to buy $BTC < $100k,” Hayes said in an April 21 X post, hinting at incoming “treasury buy backs” as the “Bazooka” for Bitcoin’s price trajectory.

Source: Arthur Hayes

Treasury buybacks refer to the US Treasury Department repurchasing its outstanding bonds from the open market to increase liquidity, manage federal debt or stabilize interest rates.

These operations can inject liquidity into the financial system, often benefiting risk assets like Bitcoin.