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Italy finance minister warns US stablecoins pose bigger threat than tariffs

Italy’s minister of economy and finance warned that US stablecoin policies are more concerning than President Donald Trump’s tariffs, citing the potential for these crypto assets to undermine the euro’s dominance in cross-border payments.

Speaking at an event in Milan, Giancarlo Giorgetti said that while trade tariffs dominate headlines, new US policies on dollar-backed stablecoins present an “even more dangerous” threat to European financial stability, according to a Reuters report.

US stablecoins allow users to invest in a widely accepted method for cross-border payments without opening a US bank account, Giorgetti said. He warned that the growing appeal of US stablecoins to Europeans should not be underestimated.

Giorgetti urged European Union lawmakers to take more steps to boost the euro’s position as an international currency. He added that the digital euro under development by the European Central Bank (ECB) will be essential to minimize the need for

OKX reenters US market following $505M DOJ settlement

Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced that it is reentering the US market.

According to an April 16 blog post, OKX will return to the United States market along with the appointment of former Barclays director Roshan Robert as its US CEO. Robert said in the post:

“Today, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of OKX’s centralized crypto exchange and OKX Wallet in the United States, alongside the establishment of our regional headquarters in San Jose, California.“

All existing Okcoin users will be migrated to the new platform, which Robert said will lead to a better overall experience. The promised improvements include deeper liquidity, lower fees and advanced trading tools.

Source: OKX

Step by step

OKX will not roll out the upgrade in one shot. Instead,

Sony’s Soneium taps EigenLayer to cut finality to under 10 seconds

Soneium, a layer-2 (L2) blockchain network developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, said it has slashed its blockchain finality time by over 98%, as it aims to solve one of the biggest challenges in blockchain scalability.

Astar, a Japanese Web3 adoption collective bridging Astar Network and Soneium, announced a strategic partnership with AltLayer and EigenLayer to launch a “Fast Finality Layer” for Sony’s L2 blockchain.

In blockchain settlement, finality is the assurance that a transaction is irreversible, which happens after it is added to a block on the blockchain ledger.

The new finality layer provides a crypto-economic security guarantee through a decentralized network of validators to reduce the reliance on centralized sequencers and enable more secure crosschain interactions.

Soneium, ALtLayer, EigenLayer partnership. Source: Astar Network

This could result in a sub-10-second transaction finality for Soneium, a 98% reduction from its initial 15-minute finality, which was

Bitcoin trader sees gold 'blow-off top' as XAU nears new $3.3K record

Bitcoin (BTC) faces an uphill struggle as a safe haven in 2025 as gold fund inflows circle $80 billion.

Data from Bank of America (BoA) uploaded to X by trading resource The Kobeissi Letter on April 15 confirms gold’s “best streak” since 2013.

Gold beats records as Bitcoin ETFs slump

As the US trade war sees investors flee to gold, Bitcoin has lost the limelight as a hedge against macroeconomic volatility.

BoA figures show inflows to gold funds beating records, with data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView capturing new all-time highs for XAU/USD near $3,300 per ounce on April 16.

“Gold fund net inflows have hit a record $80 BILLION year-to-date. This is 2 TIMES more than the previous high set in the full year 2020,” Kobeissi noted.

“Investors are pouring money into gold at

How trade wars impact stocks and crypto

The 2025 US-China trade war

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump declared a national economic emergency and announced sweeping new import tariffs.

Dubbed “Liberation Day,” the policy set a baseline 10% tariff on all foreign goods, with a massive 145% rate on products from China. The move was framed as a way to fix long-standing trade imbalances and protect national industries.

China responded almost immediately. Tariffs on US imports jumped to 125%, and restrictions were introduced on the export of rare earth elements, materials essential to global manufacturing. Within days, trade between the world’s two largest economies had slowed dramatically.

The markets didn’t take it well. The S&P 500 dropped 15% in under a week. The Nasdaq was down nearly 20% for the year by April 7. Investors were rattled by the scale of the escalation and the potential knock-on effects on global growth.

Crypto

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/explained/how-trade-wars-impact-stocks-and-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Bitcoin’s wide price range to continue, no longer a ‘long only’ bet — Analyst

Bitcoin could be heading into another extended consolidation phase, with short-term indicators suggesting a more bearish outlook, contrary to the broader crypto community’s view, according to the head of research at 10x Research.

While many crypto analysts predict new Bitcoin (BTC) all-time highs by June, Markus Thielen said in an April 14 markets report that he is skeptical, pointing out that onchain data signals “more of a bear market environment than a bullish one.”

Short-term indicators signal potential market top

Thielen said the Bitcoin stochastic oscillator — which compares a particular closing price to a range of prices over a specific period to determine momentum — shows patterns “more typical of a market top or late-cycle phase rather than the early stages of a new bull run.”

Bitcoin is trading at $83,810 at the time of publication. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"

Chipmaker stocks slide as Nvidia faces $5.5B charge with US restrictions

Chipmaking giants Nvidia and AMD have seen their share prices slide in after-hours trading after Nvidia said US restrictions on artificial intelligence chips to China would cause it to face major costs.

Nvidia stated in an April 15 regulatory filing that it is expecting around $5.5 billion in charges associated with its AI chip inventory due to significant export restrictions imposed by the US government affecting the company’s business with China.

Nvidia said that the US government informed it on April 9 that export licenses are now required for its popular H20 integrated circuits and any chips with similar bandwidth capacity.

“First quarter results are expected to include up to approximately $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves.”

The restrictions specifically mention China, Hong Kong and Macau, and the government indicated that the license requirement “addresses

Brazil’s Meliuz floats to boost Bitcoin buying strategy

Brazilian fintech firm Meliuz has floated a plan to expand its Bitcoin holdings and make the cryptocurrency a strategic asset on the company’s books.

Meliuz, which provides cashback and financial technology services, is taking the plan to make Bitcoin (BTC) the primary strategic asset in the firm’s treasury to shareholders in a meeting slated for May 6, according to a translated April 14 statement.

The company said its core business will remain unchanged, but “the generation of cash from operations is fundamental to the strategy of acquiring more Bitcoin over time.”

If shareholders approve the measure, Bitcoin will be adopted as the firm’s main strategic treasury asset, but it will also look to foster “the incremental generation of Bitcoin for its shareholders, whether through the generation of operating cash or through possible financial transactions and strategic initiatives.”

Shareholders who

China selling seized crypto to top up coffers as economy slows: Report

Local governments in China are reportedly seeking ways to offload seized crypto while facing challenges due to the country’s ban on crypto trading and exchanges.

The lack of rules around how authorities should handle seized crypto has spawned “inconsistent and opaque approaches” that some fear could foster corruption, lawyers told Reuters for an April 16 report.

Chinese local governments are using private companies to sell seized cryptocurrencies in offshore markets in exchange for cash to replenish public coffers, Reuters reported, citing transaction and court documents.

The local governments reportedly held approximately 15,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $1.4 billion at the end of 2023, and the sales have been a significant source of income.

China holds an estimated 194,000 BTC worth approximately $16 billion and is the second largest nation Bitcoin holder behind the US, according to Bitbo.

Zhongnan University of

Aztec launches StealthNote app giving privacy to corporate whistleblowers

Developers behind the Ethereum layer 2 Aztec Network have launched a whistleblowing platform called StealthNote that allows workers to vent about their employer without revealing themselves.

StealthNote uses zero-knowledge proofs to prove that posts on its platform are written by someone with access to an email address of the company that they’re reviewing.

Aztec Labs developer Saleel Pichen wrote in an April 14 X post that StealthNote creates a zero-knowledge proof of a Google JSON Web Token, which is used to authenticate users and allows the platform to prove a poster owns “an email from a company domain without revealing any personal info.”

Two of the latest posts on StealthNote from personnel at Aztec Labs and Cornell University. Source: StealthNote.xyz

According to Aztec’s documentation, the privacy solution had been in development since at least Oct. 22, while the first