Block reported on the completion of the development of a 3-nanometer chip for mining

The Block company of Jack Dorsey, former CEO of ex-Twitter 😁, has completed the development of a three-nanometer chip for 🔨 mining.

🧐 Now the company has started creating a mining system that works on the basis of a chip in which a silicon wafer is integrated.

According to Block, the new chips will help miners 🌴 "survive and thrive" in the fifth era of mining.

BNB Chain developers announced the launch of native staking on BNB Smart Chain

🔗 The BNB Chain ecosystem has announced the addition of native liquid staking (LSDFi) to BNB Smart Chain (BSC). The integration is scheduled from April to early May.

🔜 This is one of the 🪜stages in preparation for the final shutdown of BNB Beacon Chain in June 2024.

➡️Transferring all functions to BSC will optimize the network, enhance efficiency, and reduce security risks.

🙇‍♂️Users will be able to accumulate LSDFi rewards daily alongside revenues from MEV and participation in other 💻 DeFi protocols.

✔️ This will also allow the BNB Chain ecosystem to expand its validator base thanks to triple voting and incentives for partners involved in liquid staking/restaking.

Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested on $100 Million Money Laundering Charges

🇺🇸 U.S. Federal Prosecutors have indicted the creators of 🥷 Samourai Wallet, an anonymous Bitcoin wallet, for allegedly aiding in the laundering of $100 million from illicit activities. Keonn Rodriguez, the CEO, was 🚔 arrested on April 24th in the U.S., while CTO William Lonergan Hill was apprehended in Portugal, with extradition to the U.S. pending.

👝 The wallet is said to have processed funds from individuals under sanctions, cybercriminals, and transactions from darknet marketplaces like 🕸 Silk Road and Hydra, as per the U.S. authorities.

Designed with a focus on 🕶 privacy, Samourai Wallet offered features to conceal the origins of funds and disrupt the traceability of transactions.

🇮🇸 Icelandic law enforcement has helped seize the wallet's servers and domain. Furthermore, authorities have issued a warrant to remove its mobile app from Google Play, where it has been ⬇️ downloaded over 100,000 times.

Runes have dominated the share of Bitcoin transactions

Immediately after the 🚀 launch of the Runes protocol, the share of tokens on it in the total number of daily transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain averaged 70%.

🏔 The largest number of transactions on Runes was recorded on April 23 - 750,428, which accounted for 81% of the total number of Bitcoin transactions.

👀 In the following days, the hype around Runes somewhat ⬇️ decreased, and by April 25, the number of traditional transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain exceeded the movement of Runes tokens, accounting for 51% and 46% respectively.

🤷 On the launch day of Runes, April 20, the average commission size rose to a record value of $128.45.

🧐 In the following days, the size of the fees adjusted closer to previous values. According to BitInfoCharts, this indicator now stands at $12.98.

Pantera Capital is set to raise $1 billion for a new cryptocurrency fund

🐈‍⬛ Pantera Capital, a venture capital firm, is planning to gather $1 billion for its forthcoming cryptocurrency fund, Pantera Fund V, as reported by Bloomberg, based on information from insiders.

💰The fund is slated to invest in early-stage startup equities and tokens. Additionally, Pantera Fund V is looking for limited partners who can bring a minimum of $25 million in capital.

👀 The anticipated size of the fund is $1.25 billion, with a launch date projected for April 2025.

🕐 Previously, Pantera Capital’s Liquid Token Fund reported a 66% profit in the first quarter of 2024. This profit surge was driven by successful investments in Solana ($SOL), Ribbon Finance ($RBN), Aevo (AEVO), and Stacks ($STX).

Consensys initiates legal action against the SEC

🤝 Consensys, the company behind the MetaMask wallet, has initiated a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

🎭 The MetaMask developer outlined that the lawsuit seeks to establish several key assertions:

▫️Ethereum ($ETH) should not be classified as a security.

▫️The blockchain functions as a global computational platform, rather than an investment vehicle.

▫️ Applications enabling Ethereum transactions should not be regulated as brokers.

▫️The SEC’s position potentially jeopardizes the U.S.'s leadership in critical technology sectors.

Consensys has requested that a federal 🔨 court recognize Ethereum (ETH) as a commodity instead of a security, which would exempt them from SEC oversight.

🗒 On April 10, 2024, Consensys received a "Wells Notice" from the SEC, indicating that MetaMask was operating as an unregistered broker. This type of notice is typically a precursor to legal action by the regulatory body.

Fidelity's spot bitcoin ETF experiences its first outflow

😕 Fidelity’s spot bitcoin ETF experienced its first daily net outflow of $22.61 million since its January debut, per SoSoValue data. This event marks a shift, as multiple U.S. bitcoin funds also faced outflows totaling $217.58 million. Grayscale’s converted ETF led with a $139.37 million loss, followed by Ark Invest and 21Shares at $31.34 million, Valkyrie at $20.16 million, and Bitwise with $6 million.

Contrastingly, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC was the sole fund with a net inflow, ⬆️gaining $1.87 million. BlackRock’s IBIT fund had no new flows, halting its 71-day positive streak, crypto analyst HODL15Capital noted. Bloomberg ETF Analyst James Seyffart remarked that zero flows are not unusual for ETFs.

🤷 In general, it can be concluded that post-bitcoin halving fund inflows have stalled to ETFs.

Solana Experiences Surge in Institutional Interest

CoinShares reports a notable ⬆️ rise in the number of hedge funds and wealth managers who now include Solana in their portfolios, a significant increase compared to earlier in the year.

💰Institutional investors are expanding their investments into altcoins, notably Solana, which has witnessed substantial growth in allocations from both wealth managers and hedge funds.

🤔 Nearly 15% of the investors surveyed indicated they have invested in SOL, marking a noteworthy increase from a January survey where none of the respondents reported investments in the altcoin.

✔️Additionally, Solana ranked third in terms of having the "most compelling growth outlook," with just under 15% of respondents affirming this view, up from just over 10% in the previous survey conducted in January.

Stripe to resume cryptocurrency payments after a six-year hiatus

💲Payment service Stripe has announced that it will add support for USDC stablecoin transactions this summer.

🤵🏻‍♂️Stripe's president and co-founder John Collison explained that transactions are instantly processed on-chain and automatically converted into fiat currency. The company has opened a waitlist.

🤷 In 2018, Stripe ceased using digital assets, citing the high volatility of Bitcoin.

✔️Customers will be able to conduct transactions with USDC on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.

Pantera Capital secures Solana in FTX bankruptcy auction

🐈‍⬛ Pantera Capital has won an auction for Solana (SOL) tokens held by the bankrupt FTX, as reported by Bloomberg with information from insiders.

🔨 The auction also saw other unnamed participants acquiring assets, with organizers distributing 2,000 SOL worth approximately $0.29 million.

🤔 The tokens sold at a price higher than the roughly $60 achieved in the previous auction. To put it into perspective, the price of SOL at the time of this report is $142.7, with expectations of more auctions to come.

🗒 In April, the sale of two-thirds of FTX's SOL reserves at a 62% discount in a private sale sparked outrage among FTX creditors. The tokens were 💵 bought by Galaxy Trading, Pantera Capital, and other entities, with access to these tokens to be progressively unlocked over the next four years.

Anticipated $1.4 Trillion Liquidity Boost Could Rekindle Bull Market Next Week 💸

Arthur Hayes has predicted that the U.S. Treasury is poised to potentially release 💰 $1.4 trillion into the financial markets next week from its Treasury General Account (TGA) and via reverse repurchase agreements (RRP).

🔜 Hayes believes that the upcoming May 1 Federal Reserve meeting won't significantly affect market trends. However, he 🤔 suggests that this substantial liquidity infusion from the Treasury has the potential to reignite the bull market.

U.S. senators call to limit cryptocurrencies, because they are the best way to pay for sexual exploitation of children

🚨 U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, alongside Senator Bill Cassidy, has called for stringent actions against the use of cryptocurrencies in child exploitation.

✉️ In a bipartisan letter to the DOJ and DHS, they label crypto as the favored payment method for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

✍️ The senators cite reports indicating that the anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Monero significantly aids the trade of CSAM. 📋 A 2021 report highlights Bitcoin as the most utilized currency in such transactions, with over 1,800 unique Bitcoin wallet addresses identified in connection to suspected CSAM offenses.

📨 The letter sets a deadline of May 10 for the DOJ and DHS to respond with their needs and assessments, emphasizing the urgency to address this illicit use of digital currencies and enhance regulatory measures.

Optimism fixes significant testnet vulnerabilities following competitor's alert

🛡 Optimism, a Layer 2 blockchain network, has patched up two ⚠️ critical vulnerabilities in its testnet. These were initially flagged by Offchain Labs, their rival, who discovered potential security threats that could allow attackers to alter the 🔗 chain's history. The issues, reported on March 22, included flaws in the OP Stack fraud-proof mechanism. Optimism addressed the vulnerabilities by updating its testnet on April 25, preventing "subtle attacks" and manipulations.

✔️Despite the rivalry, Offchain Labs acknowledged the complexity of creating secure fraud-proof protocols. Layer 2 testnets serve the vital role of stress-testing the network to uncover such issues before full-scale deployment. Stay alert, stay safe!

U.S. Department of Justice: Tornado Cash co-founders were aware of money laundering and profited from the mixer

🇺🇸 The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has detailed accusations against Tornado Cash's co-founders, suggesting they were complicit in money 🧺 laundering and profited from the cryptocurrency mixer.

🔨 The DOJ refutes the defense’s argument that co-founder Roman Storm was merely coding without charging for the mixer’s services.

✔️ According to prosecutors, both Storm and his colleague Roman Semenov were aware of and facilitated the laundering operations, continuing to promote Tornado Cash despite this.

🤔 The DOJ also highlighted that the majority of users accessed the service through its official website, which was under the developers' control. They argue that 🌪 Tornado Cash was operated as a commercial venture that financially benefited its creators, challenging the notion that it was a non-profit endeavor merely providing a 🕶 privacy tool.

zkSNACKs restricts U.S.users access to Wasabi Wallet

🥐 zkSNACKs, the company behind the open-source Bitcoin wallet Wasabi, has indefinitely blocked 🇺🇸 U.S. users from accessing its services, including the wallet, APIs, and RPC interfaces.

The block is enforced through an IP address 🔥 firewall, preventing users in the U.S. and its territories from visiting its websites or downloading its products.

👀 The company cited "recent announcements by U.S. authorities" as the reason for this action. This decision follows the 👮 arrest of the founders of Samourai Wallet, another privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet, which officials claim facilitates money 🧺 laundering.

🤔 The specifics of the policy change were not detailed in zkSNACKs' announcement.

Australia's biggest stock exchange may list approved spot bitcoin ETFs by the end of 2024

The ASX stock exchange in 🇦🇺 Australia is anticipated to list its inaugural batch of approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the end of 2024 - Bloomberg reported.

✔️ According to a report citing sources familiar with the matter, several issuers, including VanEck and local firms BetaShares and DigitalX, have already submitted their ETF applications earlier this year.

ASX, the leading equity exchange in 🦘 Australia, manages approximately 80% of the local trades and had a domestic market capitalization of $2.7 trillion as of March.

👆 Since 2022, Australian investors have been trading spot bitcoin ETFs, which are currently listed on CBOE Australia.

A solo miner successfully mined a Bitcoin block and earned $218,500.

🙀 On April 29, a solo miner successfully mined Bitcoin block #841,286 using a hardware with a hashrate of 120 PH/s, as reported by CKPool pool administrator Kon Kolivas. This event occurred after the recent halving, which reduced the Bitcoin mining reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. From this block, the miner 💰 earned 3.433 BTC, approximately $218,544, including transaction fees.

👀 Kolivas suggested that the miner had switched from pool mining to solo mining because pool mining was not covering his ⚡️electricity costs, and he suggested that the miner consider renting out his hashing power.

🔨 Solo mining a block is a relatively rare event in the 14-year history of Bitcoin’s blockchain, having occurred only 282 times. The average network hash rate currently stands at 591 EH/s, having 📈peaked at 728 EH/s on April 23. The hash rate has ⬆️ surged by over 90% in the past year, making solo mining increasingly challenging.

Experts point to a possible sign of the upcoming altcoin season

⬆️ The decrease in transaction fees on the Ethereum network to a six-month low ($1.12) may indicate the approach of the altcoin season, according to Santiment.

Fees typically 🗻 peak at local market tops and drop to "resting state" minimums during its decline.

🗒 In February 2024, the metric rose to an eight-month high amid a 🌊 wave of interest in the experimental ERC-404 token standard. The current low values could predict an increase in network activity and positive price trends, the experts warned.🧐

"With markets mainly retracing over the past 6 weeks, the lack of demand and strain on the network may help turn $ETH and associated altcoins around sooner than many may expect"

- they indicated.

Peter Brandt suggests the end of the bull market despite the halving

The Bitcoin 🚀 bull market may have already formed its ATH at $73,800 in March, according to technical analyst and head of Factor LLC, Peter Brandt.

👀 The expert referred to the concept of "exponential decay," which describes the process of growth magnitude ⬆️ decreasing by a constant percentage over a certain period.

📝 Historically, Bitcoin has traded within roughly a four-year 🌀cycle, often associated with halvings. Since the initial bull run, there have been three subsequent ones, each 📉 80% less powerful than its predecessor in terms of price growth, Brandt writes.

Thus, if this statistical constant holds true, possible ATH of ~$73,800 on March 14, 2024, 🙀 has already reached its calculated peak. The likelihood of this is 25%, according to the analyst.🤔

🐳 Whale alert!

👌 An Ethereum Foundation-related wallet, inactive for nine years, recently became active and transferred 2,000 ETH (valued at $6.6 million ) to a new address.

👀 This wallet initially received 2,000 ETH from the fund on September 22, 2015, when the price of Ethereum was just $0.9.

Trust Wallet has returned to the Play Store marketplace

😳 On April 29, the team behind Trust Wallet, owned by Binance, announced that the app had been removed from the Google Play Store marketplace.

According to the post, ⏳ a few weeks ago, Google informed the service about possible enforcement actions, after which the team filed an appeal. However, the corporation decided to 🗑 remove the application without completing the review of the appeal.

⚡️Less than an hour later, Trust Wallet reappeared in the Play Store.

✔️ Despite the app's removal, the wallet's installation APK file could still be downloaded from the official website of the service.

❗️The Trust Wallet team also warned about fake apps that began appearing on the marketplace.