Crypto Vesting

Zoop, the social app created by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely, and the HBAR Foundation have reportedly submitted a bid to purchase the video-sharing app TikTok in the United States.

According to an April 2 Reuters report, the HBAR Foundation and Zoop filed an intent to bid on TikTok with the Trump administration the previous week. The bid will follow others from major technology companies, including Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and Rumble, in an attempt to keep the video-sharing app’s services alive for US users.

“Our bid for TikTok isn’t just about changing ownership, it’s about creating a new paradigm where both creators and their communities benefit directly from the value they generate,” Zoop co-founder RJ Phillips reportedly said.

In 2024, the US Congress passed, and former President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that could potentially ban TikTok if the firm’s operations weren’t

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/hbar-foundation-onlyfans-founder-tik-tok?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Pump.fun is launching a lending platform to enable users to buy memecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with borrowed cryptocurrency, the Solana-based memecoin launchpad said. 

Dubbed Pump.Fi, the onchain lending protocol provides “immediate… financing for [any] digital asset,” Pump.fun said in an April 1 X post.

According to Pump.fun, borrowers pay one-third up front and the rest over 60 days. In addition, Pump.Fi will create a marketplace for lenders to buy debt. The protocol did not specify how Pump.Fi — which doesn’t do credit checks — plans to ensure repayment of undercollateralized onchain loans. 

Pump.Fi will let users borrow to buy memecoins. Source: Pump.fun

Related: Pump.fun launches own DEX, drops Raydium

Competitive market

Pump.fun has been grappling with a sharp drawdown in memecoin trading activity on Solana after several high-profile scandals — such as the LIBRA

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-launches-defi-lender-finance-memecoin-buys?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

California Representative Maxine Waters, ranking member of the US House Financial Services Committee, used her opening statement at a markup hearing to criticize President Donald Trump’s business and ethical entanglements with the crypto industry, including the launch of a stablecoin by a family-backed company.

Addressing lawmakers at an April 2 hearing, Waters said Trump had used his position as president to leverage “multiple crypto schemes” for profit, including a US dollar-pegged stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial (WLFI) — the firm backed by his family.

The California lawmaker pointed to Trump’s memecoin launched in January, his plans to establish a national cryptocurrency stockpile, and “his own stablecoin,” referring to WLFI’s USD1 token launched in March.

Rep. Maxine Waters addressing the House Financial Services Committee on April 2. Source: GOP Financial Services

“With this stablecoin bill, this committee

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/maxine-waters-donald-trump-replace-us-dollar-stablecoin?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

The First Digital US-dollar pegged stablecoin (FDUSD) depegged on April 2 following claims of insolvency from Tron network founder Justin Sun, who said that the issuer of the tokenized fiat equivalent, First Digital, is insolvent.

First Digital responded to the claims by assuring users that the issuer is completely solvent and said that the dispute is with TrueUSD (TUSD), another stablecoin. The firm wrote in an April 2 X post:

“Every dollar backing FDUSD is completely secure, safe and accounted for with US-backed Treasury Bills. The exact ISIN numbers of all of the reserves of FDUSD are set out in our attestation report and clearly accounted for.”

First Digital also indicated they would be taking legal action against Sun for making the claims on social media.

FDUSD loses its dollar peg following online

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/fdusd-depegs-following-claims-justin-sun?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls have pushed the price above the $87,000 level even as US trade tariffs are slated to kick in on April 2. Bitcoin may remain volatile in the near term, but analysts remain bullish for the long term.

According to Fidelity analyst Zack Wainwright, Bitcoin is currently in an acceleration phase, which “can conclude with a sharp, dramatic rally” if history repeats itself. If that happens, Wainwright expects $110,000 to be the starting base of the next leg of the upmove.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom chief investment officer Arthur Hayes said in a post that if the Federal Reserve pivots to quantitative easing, then Bitcoin could rally to $250,000 by year-end.

Could Bitcoin break above the $89,000 overhead resistance, starting a rally in select altcoins?

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/price-analysis-4-2-btc-eth-xrp-bnb-sol-doge-ada-ton-link-leo?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

If you’ve ever wondered when is the right time to invest in Bitcoin (BTC), you won’t want to miss our latest interview with Matt Hougan. As the chief investment officer at Bitwise, Hougan provides an in-depth analysis, explaining why, from a risk-adjusted perspective, there has never been a more opportune time to buy Bitcoin.

In our discussion, Hougan lays out a compelling argument: Bitcoin’s early days were filled with uncertainty — technology risks, regulatory threats, trading inefficiencies, and reputational concerns. Fast forward to today, and those risks have significantly diminished. The launch of Bitcoin ETFs, adoption by major institutional investors, and even the US government’s strategic Bitcoin reserve have all cemented its place in the global financial ecosystem.

“Bitcoin is only 10% of gold. So just to match gold, which I think is just a stopping point on its long-term journey, it has to ten-x from

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/best-time-ever-to-buy-bitcoin-bitwise-matt-hougan?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Bitfarms, a global computer infrastructure company known for its Bitcoin mining operations, has entered into a $300 million loan agreement with Macquarie Group to finance the development of its high-performance computing (HPC) data centers.

According to an April 2 announcement, Macquarie’s private debt facility will provide $50 million in initial funding for Bitfarms’ Panther Creek data center project in Pennsylvania. 

The remaining $250 million will be released once Bitfarms achieves “specific development milestones at its Panther Creek location,” the announcement said.

Once developed, Panther Creek will have a nearly 500-megawatt capacity fueled by several power sources. 

Panther Creek “will be sought after by HPC tenants once construction of the project is underway,” said Joshua Stevens, an associate director at Macquarie Group. 

Source: Bitfarms

The project is being delivered at a time when AI applications are fueling growing demand for new sources

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-miner-bitfarms-debt-facility-macquarie?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Sentient, an artificial intelligence development platform backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, has released an open-source AI search framework that it says outperforms leading closed-source competitors.

The company announced the public release of Open Deep Search (ODS) on April 2, describing it as a high-performance, developer-friendly alternative to platforms like Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s GPT-4o.

Sentient’s ODS aims to empower developers with open-source “Loyal AI” models, which Sentient says preserve the original intent of their developers.

The firm’s fingerprinting technology allows developers to protect intellectual property while maintaining model openness — aiming to solve the biggest issue of open-source AI, the challenges of monetizing a model without centralization.

“AI should belong to the community, not controlled by closed-source corporations,” according to Himanshu Tyagi, co-founder of Sentient and professor at the Indian Institute of Science.

“We’re building, monetizing and delivering open-source AI with a key principle in mind: singularity in intelligence

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/sentient-ai-search-outperforms-gpt4o-perplexity?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC), a Japanese banking and financial services conglomerate, along with business systems firm TIS Inc, Ava Labs — the developer of the Avalanche network — and digital asset infrastructure company Fireblocks, have signed an agreement to explore a framework for commercializing stablecoins in Japan.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the companies will focus on developing strategies around issuing and circulating stablecoins pegged to the US dollar and Japanese yen, according to a joint announcement.

Additionally, the collaboration will explore stablecoins as a settlement mechanism for tokenized real-world assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate.

Stablecoins continue to be a major focus of crypto regulatory frameworks worldwide, and one of the sectors venture capitalists are eyeing in 2025 as nation-states push stablecoins to the forefront of their digital asset strategies.

Stablecoin total market overview. Source: RWA.XYZ

Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/rwa-stablecoins-rise-investors-safe-haven-trump-tariffs"

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Bitcoin (BTC) reached new April highs at the April 2 Wall Street open as markets braced for US “Liberation Day.”

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin teases breakout in US tariff countdown

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed local highs of $86,444 on Bitstamp, the best performance for BTC/USD since March 28.

Volatility remained in the run-up to US President Donald Trump announcing a sweeping round of reciprocal trade tariffs.

The measures would be unveiled in an address from the White House Rose Garden at 4 pm Eastern Time, with Trump then holding a press conference.

While US stocks traded slightly down after the open, Bitcoin managed to claw back lost ground, acting in a key area of interest filled with long-term trend lines.

As Cointelegraph reported, these include various simple (SMA) and exponential (EMA)

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