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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 used the exchange to launder roughly $35 million of the funds stolen in a $1.4 billion exploit on Bybit. The exchange said it was the subject of “an active transatlantic operation” aimed at shutting it down and potentially pursuing charges.

“Even though we have been able to operate despite some failed attempts to shut down our infrastructure (attempts that have also been confirmed to be part of this operation), we don’t see any point in operating in a hostile environment where we are the target of SIGINT

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 traditional markets, the company announced on April 17. This includes offering institutional clients regulatory-compliant clearing and financing services across fixed-income securities.

Membership in FINRA is considered a significant commitment to compliance and investor protection. It also boosts registrants’ credibility in the eyes of investment bankers, according to Telos Capital Advisors, a Dallas-based investment bank.

Hidden Road operates a prime brokerage and credit network, clearing more than $10 billion in daily transactions on behalf of more than 300 institutional clients. When it was founded in 2018, Hidden Road focused

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 of the US economy and it often impacts investor sentiment around risk assets like Bitcoin (BTC). US jobless claims data. Source: Investing.com

Resiliency in the labor market comes on the back of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s recent comment about the impact of tariffs. In a press conference at the economics club of Chicago on April 16, Powell said,

“The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated. The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will

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 2022 and a subsequent investment during LayerZero’s Series B funding round in April 2023. The companies have not disclosed the funding round’s valuation.

Source: Ali Yahja | alive.eth

The Canada-based LayerZero was valued at $3 billion during its Series B funding round, which saw participation from 33 investors. In addition to a16z, Circle Ventures, OKX Ventures, OpenSea Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and many others participated at the time.

In January 2025, LayerZero reached a settlement with the FTX Estate over a long-running dispute stemming

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.

Converge will feature a 100 milliseconds (ms) native block time, with plans to reduce block times to 50ms by Q4 2025. The developers also plan to achieve at least one gigagas of potential throughput during 2025. Gigagas is a measure of billions of gas units processed by a blockchain network in one second.

Ethena and Securitize are launching the network to support permissioned real-world tokenized applications and permissionless DeFi applications as the line between traditional and decentralized finance continues to blur.

Converge 1-year performance targets. Source: <a

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 index has dropped 5.7% in April, and this move came after the cryptocurrency managed a 14% rebound off its trade-war induced crash to $74,400. Investors are cautiously optimistic, but multiple events and data points to further gains above $90,000.

Several metrics and events support a “decoupling,” meaning Bitcoin’s price is not closely following traditional financial instruments. However, some skepticism emerges as BTC has not matched gold’s performance. Gold reached an all-time high of $3,358 on April 16, leading to speculation that governments and central banks are increasing their gold reserves.

Global

Trump blasts ‘too late’ Powell for not cutting interest rates

US President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing him of being too slow to cut interest rates and escalating a long-running conflict that risks undermining the central bank’s political independence.

With the European Central Bank (ECB) cutting interest rates again on April 17, “Too Late” Powell has failed to act appropriately in the United States, even with inflation falling, Trump said on Truth Social on April 17.

“Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump said.

Source: realDonaldTrump

Florida Senator Rick Scott agreed with the president, saying, “it’s time for new leadership at the Federal Reserve.”

Trump’s public criticism of the Fed breaks a decades-long convention in American politics that sought to safeguard the central bank from political scrutiny, which includes any executive decision to replace the chair.

In an April 16 address at the Economic

Wyoming commission floats whether stablecoin is 'covered' by SEC rules

The Wyoming Stable Token Commission, a body authorized by the US state to issue a stablecoin, has suggested that it may clarify its language to better comply with potential guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In an April 17 meeting in the extension of the Wyoming Capitol building, Commissioner Joel Revill suggested the body could reduce the risk of the state’s proposed WYST stablecoin qualifying as a security under SEC rules. The discussion among the commissioners and Executive Director Anthony Apollo followed the SEC issuing guidelines that certain “covered stablecoins” were considered” non-securities” and largely not subject to reporting requirements.

Wyoming Stable Token Commission Executive Director Anthony Apollo with Senator Cynthia Lummis. Source: LinkedIn

“We’re looking to kind of create our own vernacular around some of this, to clarify, and then use that as a jumping off point of discussion

When gold price hits new highs, history shows ‘Bitcoin follows’ within 150 days — Analyst

The price of gold surged to a new all-time high of $3,357 per ounce on April 17, igniting speculation on whether Bitcoin (BTC) would follow. Bitcoin-gold comparison. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In 2017, Bitcoin rallied to $19,120 after gold witnessed a 30% hike a few months earlier. Similarly, gold reached a new high near $2,075 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which preceded Bitcoin’s surge to $69,000 in 2021.

Bitcoin has historically surpassed its previous all-time highs whenever gold rallies, reflecting a dynamic relationship between the two assets during periods of economic uncertainty and when investors look for a US dollar alternative.

Further highlighting the interconnections between the assets, Joe Consorti, head of growth at Theya, pointed out that BTC follows gold’s directional bias with a lag of 100-150 days at a time. Consorti said,

“When the printer roars to life, gold sniffs it

Huaxia to add staking to Ether ETF, Hong Kong’s second of its kind

Huaxia Fund is set to launch staking services on its Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), making it the second in Hong Kong. OSL Digital Services (OSL) will provide custody and staking infrastructure for the fund.

The staking feature will be live on May 15, moving the ETF from a strictly passive investment vehicle to an “active participant” in the Ethereum ecosystem, according to the announcement from OSL. Huaxia Fund, a subsidiary of China Asset Management (ChinaAMC), first launched its Ether ETF in April 2024.

The introduction of a staking provision comes after Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) changed its rules on April 7 to allow for entities like centralized exchanges to offer crypto staking in a bid to position the city as a leader in Web3.

When announcing the rule change, the SFC said it “recognizes the potential benefits of