Understanding inflation and the need for hedges
Bitcoin’s supply-and-demand dynamics, in addition to growing institutional adoption, position it as a potential hedge against inflation in 2025. However, its high volatility and centralization concerns mean it remains a speculative asset rather than a guaranteed safeguard against inflation.
What is inflation?
Inflation refers to the general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy over time, leading to a decrease in the purchasing power of money. As prices rise, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Inflation is typically measured by indexes such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the average change in the prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services.
Traditional inflation hedges
To protect against the eroding effects of inflation, investors have traditionally turned to certain asset classes known to retain value or appreciate during
Where and how to sell Pi Coin: A step-by-step guide
Key takeaways
Set up your Pi Wallet and secure it with a 24-word seed phrase before transferring your coins.
KYC is often required on both CEXs and P2P platforms to transfer and sell Pi Coins.
You can sell Pi through CEXs or P2P platforms, each offering different security, speed and control.
Always do your own research (DYOR) before selling or holding, as expert opinions on Pi’s future vary.
If you’re here, you probably already know what Pi Coin is and just want to figure out how to sell it. However, a recap awaits, in case you need one.
While the project pitches itself as a way to democratize crypto access through mobile mining, there are some major concerns that have been hard to ignore:
Pi claims over 60 million users, but blockchain explorers show only about 9.11 million wallets, with daily active users closer to 20,000.
Six years
Banks must adopt crypto or be extinct in 10 years, Eric Trump says
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of US President Donald Trump, has delivered a warning to global banks regarding cryptocurrency adoption.
Banks around the world will have to adopt cryptocurrency or go extinct in a decade, Trump predicted in an interview with CNBC’s Dan Murphy in Dubai on April 30.
“The modern financial system is broken, it’s slow, it’s expensive,” the businessman said, adding that the existing banking system “favors the ultra-wealthy.”
“It forced me into the crypto world,” he continued, adding: “And I’m telling you, if the banks don’t watch what’s coming, they’re going to be extinct in 10 years.”
SWIFT is an “absolute disaster”
While emphasizing the need for banks to closely monitor developments in the crypto industry, Trump highlighted the benefits of cryptocurrency’s underlying blockchain technology for the financial system.
He slammed the existing cross-border transaction solutions like the global international messaging network
TON’s Broxus launches blockchain app scalability platform TON Factory
The Open Network (TON) ecosystem participant Broxus has unveiled TON Factory, a new platform designed to accelerate the development and scalability of high-throughput applications like decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and blockchain-based games.
In an April 30 post on Telegram, the project said TON Factory aims to help developers rapidly build and scale projects with modular components, integration tools, and hands-on expert support.
“For OGs already building on TON, TON Factory helps you scale further,” the announcement stated.
The initiative is backed by a team of over 150 engineers with experience delivering production-ready infrastructure in the TON ecosystem, per the announcement.
Source: TON
Related: Venture capital firms invest $400M in TON blockchain
Broxus’ Tycho Protocol powers TON Factory
The underlying architecture leverages Broxus’ Tycho protocol, which combines the TVM with a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) consensus mechanism.
This hybrid design is intended to
Ethereum ETF staking will have little impact without multimonth rally: Analyst
Key takeaways
Approving staking for spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US may have a minimal impact on inflows unless Ether sees a sustained rally, says Eric Balchunas
ETH dropped significantly in price after the launch of the ETFs last year, unlike spot Bitcoin ETFs, which saw new all-time highs just two months after launching.
Balchunas said that for inflows to increase again, ETH would need a multimonth run and a strong narrative.
Spot Ethereum ETFs being able to stake a portion of the tokens under their control may not help garner inflows without a more sustained rally in the token’s price, says Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
Balchunas said on an April 29 episode of the New Era Finance Podcast that staking being approved for Ether (ETH) ETFs would have “a little” impact on inflows, adding “it’s only going to help — it
SEC drops investigation into PayPal’s stablecoin
PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.
PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.
The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023.
“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.
In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”
PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.
However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether
FTX sues NFT Stars and Kurosemi in push to recover tokens
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed lawsuits against the non-fungible token marketplace NFT Stars and the blockchain gaming firm Kurosemi, which operates as Delysium, accusing them of withholding tokens they owed.
The lawsuits, both filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court, alleged that NFT Stars and Delysium failed to deliver all the tokens paid for by FTX despite repeated attempts to resolve the matter.
FTX claimed in an April 28 statement that it made “numerous unanswered attempts” to engage with both firms, and it would be “contacting numerous other token and coin issuers regarding FTX assets and will be filing additional suits against non-responsive parties.”
Source: FTX
As part of the complaint against Delysium, FTX claimed its defunct trading arm, Alameda Research, paid $1 million in January 2022 for 75 million of the gaming firm’s
BlackRock files to create digital shares tracking one of its money market funds
Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.
The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.
BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”
Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will
US Treasury’s OFAC can’t restore Tornado Cash sanctions, judge rules
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control can’t restore or reimpose sanctions against the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, a US federal court has ruled.
Austin federal court judge Robert Pitman said in an April 28 judgment that OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash were unlawful and that the agency was “permanently enjoined from enforcing” sanctions.
Tornado Cash users led by Joseph Van Loon had sued the Treasury, arguing that OFAC’s addition of the platform’s smart contract addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list was “not in accordance with law.”
OFAC had sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, accusing the protocol of helping launder crypto stolen by the North Korean hacking collective, the Lazarus Group.
The agency dropped the platform from the sanctions list on March 21 and argued that the matter was “moot” after a <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-texas-court-reverses-tornado-cash-sanctions-crypto-privacy-win"
Strategy’s Bitcoin buys should be ‘super careless’ to pump price — Exec
Key takeaways:
Richard Byworth says Michael Saylor’s Strategy could ramp up its Bitcoin buys by acquiring cash-rich companies and converting their cash into Bitcoin.
He says that Strategy should consider accelerating purchases as the Bitcoin supply on exchanges continues to decline.
Byworth argues that aggressively increasing Bitcoin holdings would boost Strategy’s mNAV, benefiting shareholders.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy should take a more aggressive approach to buying Bitcoin by acquiring companies to use their cash holdings to fund purchases and do away with over-the-counter buys, a crypto executive says.
“Saylor’s strategy so far has been the right one,” Syz Capital partner and Jan3 adviser Richard Byworth said on an April 29 podcast.
Strategy should try “super aggressive” buying
However, Byworth pondered what happens when Bitcoin (BTC) reaches an “illiquid supply” point where no Bitcoin is left on crypto exchanges or over-the-counter (OTC) desks.
“Should Saylor buy Bitcoin really carelessly? As