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Asset manager Teucrium Investment Advisors is set to launch the first XRP-based exchange-traded fund in the US markets, a leveraged XRP (ETF) on the NYSE Arca.

The Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF will seek to offer investors two times the daily return of the XRP (XRP) token with a 1.85% management fee and annual expense ratio, according to the company’s website. The XRP-based ETF will trade under the XXRP ticker beginning April 8.

"If you have a short-term high-conviction view on XRP prices, you may consider exploring the Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF," the alternative asset manager said.

XXRP currently has $2 million worth of net assets.

Details of Teucrium’s soon-to-be-launched XXRP ETF. Source: Teucrium

While crypto and stock markets are deep in the red this week, one memecoin is defying the trend and surging at the time of writing. 

Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) has surged a whopping 30% over the past 24 hours, topping $0.60 on April 8, according to CoinGecko. 

On April 7, the Solana-based memecoin hit a low of $0.42 amid the broader crypto market slump, which saw Bitcoin (BTC) prices fall below $75,000 to a five-month low. 

However, since then the token has gained more than 40% and is one of the crypto market’s top performers at the moment. 

Crypto trader “RookieXBT” told their 484,000 followers that Fartcoin volume was increasing “while the world falls apart,” adding, “No other coin is doing this.” 

Artificial intelligence and crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital has been given the nod from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange. 

The company, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), plans to relocate its home base from the Cayman Islands to Delaware, according to an April 7 statement from Galaxy, pending shareholder and TSX approval. 

“Our registration statement is now effective with the SEC. We’re on track to list on the Nasdaq shortly after our shareholder vote on May 9, contingent on completing our reorganization. Let’s go!” Galaxy CEO Michael Novogratz said in an April 7 statement to X.  

Source: Michael Novogratz

Galaxy anticipates listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GLXY shortly after the vote, with the transition to be completed by mid-May, contingent on meeting Nasdaq listing requirements.

Recent fake news that US President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs shows the potential for a strong market rebound should a real one take place, according to observers. 

A fake news post on X on April 7 from the verified “Walter Bloomberg” account claimed that the White House was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs following an interview with Kevin Hassett, one of Donald Trump’s economic advisers. 

“Hassett: Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China,” read the now-deleted post from the user, who is not affiliated with Bloomberg News. 

The account, which has a verified badge and 852,000 followers, caused quite a stir after the rumor was mistakenly aired as a banner on CNBC and then amplified by Reuters.

The S&P 500 spiked more than 8% from its low on the day in reaction, the Nasdaq added 9.5% in less than an hour and the Dow Jones pumped 7%, adding trillions to stock markets. 

Australia’s corporate watchdog has been given the nod to shut down 95 “hydra” companies that it suspects engaged in crypto investment and romance scams, known as “pig butchering.”

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s application to wind up the companies was approved by the Federal Court of Australia on just and equitable grounds after ASIC found that most of the companies had been incorporated with false information.

Many of these companies were set up purporting to provide “genuine services” but were instead believed to be scamming their victims, ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in an April 8 statement.

“There appears to be a common pattern of scam activity in the nature of ‘pig butchering,’” Justice Angus Stewart said in an April 4 court ruling after looking at 48 “Reviews of Misconduct” from 17 companies accused of facilitating romance scams. The judgment was made on March 21.

Source: Rocky Perrotta

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has released the list of executives from US crypto and finance giants that will take part in a roundtable discussion on crypto trading regulation.

On April 7, the regulator said its upcoming April 11 roundtable will discuss how it should handle crypto trading rules, calling it “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.”

It will be the second in a series of discussions on crypto, headed by its recently-formed Crypto Task Force.

Taking part are Uniswap Labs chief legal officer Katherine Minarik, Cumberland DRW associate general counsel Chelsea Pizzola and Coinbase institutional product vice president Gregory Tusar — all firms that had once been in the regulator’s scope.

Under the Biden administration, the regulator sued Cumberland DRW in October and Coinbase in June 2023 for alleged securities law violations, but both lawsuits were dropped this year under the Trump administration.

Authorities in Spain have arrested six people who helped operate a global AI-powered investment scam that stole over $20 million from at least 208 victims. 

The scammers would swindle victims up to three times. After stealing an initial sum through the investment scam, the fraudsters contacted victims twice more, masquerading as investment managers and then as authorities, offering to recover the stolen funds for a fee, Spanish police said in an April 7 statement. 

The scammers used deepfake ads of “national personalities” promising high returns on crypto investments, and would occasionally pose as financial advisers or even feign romantic interest to lure in victims.  

Experts have been warning of a rise in AI-enhanced scams. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said in its Feb. 13 Crypto Scam Revenue 2024 report that generative AI is making “scams more scalable and affordable for bad actors to conduct.”

🚩Detenidas seis personas por estafar más de 19 millones de euros usando #inteligenciaartificial

🔴Engañaban a las víctimas a través de anuncios manipulados con #IA para que realizaran inversiones con #criptomonedas en productos supuestamente muy rentables pic.twitter.com/rMrdgBpOYz

Update: April 8 at 1:01am UTC: This article has been updated to include James Murphy’s responses to two questions from Cointelegraph.

A crypto lawyer has sued the US Department of Homeland Security, alleging the agency may know who created Bitcoin — compelling the department to share what it knows. 

The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was filed by James Murphy, who based his accusations on claims made by DHS Special Agent Rana Saoud at a conference in April 2019, where she said a few of her colleagues had previously met with four people involved in creating Bitcoin.

“My FOIA lawsuit simply asks for the notes, email and other documents relating to that alleged interview,” Murphy posted to X after announcing the April 7 suit.  

“IF the interview really happened as the DHS Agent claimed, there should be documentation of the substance of that meeting,” added Murphy, who goes by MetaLawMan on X.

A team of former Kraken executives has taken control of Janover, with Joseph Onorati, former chief strategy officer at Kraken, stepping in as chairman and CEO, following the group's purchase of over 700,000 common shares and all Series A preferred stock.

Parker White, former director of engineering at Kraken, was appointed as the new chief investment officer and chief operating officer. The group bought 728,632 shares of Janover common stock and all 10,000 shares of Series A preferred stock. Marco Santori, former chief legal officer at Kraken, will join the board.

Janover is a real estate financing company that connects lenders and buyers of commercial properties. The company stock price saw an 840% rise on April 7 as part of the deal.

According to a statement, the company's new leadership has plans to create a Solana (SOL) reserve treasury. The plans include acquiring Solana validators, staking SOL and additional purchases of the token.

Janover stock price on April 7. Source: Google Finance

Corporate Bitcoin (BTC) treasuries collectively shed more than $4 billion in value after US President Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered a global market sell-off, data shows. 

As of April 7, corporate Bitcoin holdings are worth approximately $54.5 billion in the aggregate, down from roughly $59 billion before April 2, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net.

The cryptocurrency’s volatility has also weighed on publicly traded Bitcoin holders’ share prices.

The Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB) — an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking a diverse basket of corporate Bitcoin holders — has lost more than 13% since Trump announced sweeping US import tariffs on April 2, according to Yahoo Finance.

Even shares of Strategy — the de facto Bitcoin hedge fund founded by Michael Saylor that pioneered corporate Bitcoin buying — are down, clocking losses of more than 13% since April 2, Google Finance data showed. 

Bitcoin’s (BTC) 26.62% decline from its $109,500 all-time high is en route to becoming the deepest drawdown of the current bull market cycle, according to CryptoQuant head of research, Julio Moreno.

Bitcoin price drawdown analysis. Source: X

Bitcoin has experienced significant drawdowns in past cycles, with a notable 83% drop from its peak in 2018 and a 73% correction from all-time highs (ATH) in 2022. In comparison, the current decline of 26.62%, while substantial, remains less severe than previous bear markets.

This suggests that even though the current downturn is impactful, it has not yet reached the intensity of previous cycles. However, crypto and macro resource ‘ecoinometrics’ said that Bitcoin might struggle to stage an immediate turnaround. The analysts explained,

Bitcoin and Nasdaq correlation. Source: X / Ecoinometrics

Crypto’s worst quarter since the FTX crisis has many investors worried about the end of the bull market, but according to an industry panel, Bitcoin and altcoins’ parabolic moves haven’t even begun yet. 

In a panel discussion at the LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph event in Paris, France, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said he thinks the bull market is “actually getting started from this point.” 

While it’s hard to believe that following Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent plunge below $80,000 on global tariff woes, “we know from history” that chaotic sell-offs create favorable conditions for a reversal, he said.

Van de Poppe drew parallels between the current market dump and the COVID-19 crash in 2020, when Bitcoin plunged by nearly 40% in a single day.

“That was the actual bottom, and since then, Bitcoin went 20x,” said van de Poppe. 

Bitcoin (BTC) is showing “signs of resilience” even as stocks and the broader cryptocurrency market plunge amid a global market sell-off after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on US imports last week, Binance Research said. 

As of mid-day trading on April 7, Bitcoin is up almost 1% to nearly $79,000. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 — an index of large US stocks — is essentially flat and front-month gold futures are down around 1.5%, according to Google Finance.

“Even in the wake of recent tariff announcements, BTC has shown some signs of resilience, holding steady or rebounding on days when traditional risk assets faltered,” Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said in an April 7 research report.  

Notably, Bitcoin’s supply of long-term holders continues to rise, “reflecting conviction and limited capitulation during recent volatility,” Binance said.

On April 2, Trump said he was putting tariffs of at least 10% on most imports into the United States and adding additional "reciprocal" tariffs on goods from 57 countries. 

The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued two directives specifying policies and deadlines for deploying AI tools that enhance public services, providing a roadmap for implementing US President Donald Trump’s executive order advance US “dominance” in the use and development of artificial intelligence.

According to two memorandums from April 3, all government agencies “should invest in the AI marketplace and maximize the use of AI products and services that are developed and produced in the United States.” The memorandums list various deadlines for the adoption of AI, including a 270-day deadline to update policies and procedures.

In early 2025, Trump took significant steps to reshape US policy on emerging technologies by repealing former President Joe Biden's 2023 executive order on AI safety — arguing it imposed excessive regulations that stifled innovation — and declaring his intention to make the US the "world capital"of AI and cryptocurrency. Critics, however, have raised concerns that removing safety frameworks could leave the public vulnerable to AI-related risks.

OMB memorandum M-25-21. Source: White House

Some common AI models developed and produced in the United States include OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Meta’s Llama, and Elon Musk’s Grok. The directive from the OMB follows Trump’s promises to boost American dominance in this new sector of technology.

Ether (ETH) price dropped to $1,410 on April 7, marking its lowest level since March 2023. This sharp decline triggered liquidations of leveraged ETH futures worth over $370 million in 2 days, according to CoinGlass data. However, the altcoin managed to recover above the $1,500 mark as the S&P 500 index reclaimed its psychological 5,000 support level.

Ether/USD (blue) vs. total crypto market capitalization (magenta). Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph

Over the past 30 days, Ether has underperformed the broader cryptocurrency market by 14%. Despite this, professional traders are not yet ready to turn bearish, as suggested by Ethereum’s derivatives data and onchain metrics. While this data does not guarantee that Ether’s price has reached its bottom, the reduced demand for bearish positions below $1,600 offers some reassurance for bullish investors.

Ether 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: laevitas.ch

On April 7, the Ether monthly futures premium rose to 4% after dipping to 3% earlier in the day. Although still below the neutral threshold of 5%, this marks an improvement from March 31, when the indicator hit a low of 2%. Currently, there is a noticeable lack of demand from long positions (buyers), but this is not unusual following a steep 30% drop in ETH’s price over the past month.

Diving into the chaos of global markets, Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone warns more turmoil could be on the way.

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, McGlone points to deepening market sell-offs, intensified by US President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff wars, and forecasts a sharp correction in crypto assets. He predicts Bitcoin could tumble to $10,000, citing excessive speculation and overvaluation within the digital asset space.

"Look at Dogecoin — it still has a $20 billion market cap. It should go to zero. The whole space needs purging, just like the dot-com bubble did."

According to McGlone, Bitcoin’s current price could face significant downward pressure as part of the broader market resets. Despite the relatively supportive regulatory environment, he cautions that Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative is facing a stress test.

“Anybody who bought ETFs is learning the hard way. They did not buy digital gold. They bought more of a value of leveraged beta. That's a fact.”

Bitcoin (BTC) made a sharp comeback and is trading near the $78,000 level. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization tumbled below the psychological support of $80,000 after the US stock futures market opened sharply lower on April 6. The selling continued on April 7, and Bitcoin hit a new year-to-date low of $74,508, but lower levels attracted solid buying by the bulls.

The bearish macroeconomic picture sent the Fear & Greed Index of the US stock markets to just 4/100. Usually, such periods of panic selling form a bottom as most weak hands and leveraged players capitulate. Once that happens, the recovery is likely to be sharp.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

However, it is a good strategy to remain cautious and not overleverage on trades in the short term as the volatility may remain high. Even Michael Saylor’s firm Strategy, the world’s largest publicly listed corporate holder of Bitcoin, stalled its Bitcoin purchases last week.

Could Bitcoin sustain the recovery, or will higher levels attract sellers? How are the altcoins positioned? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

Global financial markets continued to tumble on April 7, as US equities dropped more than 3%, wiping more than $2 trillion in value on market open. The pullback saw the S&P 500 drop 2.79%, with the index officially entering a bear market, following a 20% decline from its recent all-time highs.

However, the SPX momentarily rallied by 6% after a rumor began to spread on X that US President Donald Trump was contemplating a 90-day tariff pause. Bitcoin (BTC) price also rallied above $80,000, but after 30 minutes of positive price action, the White House confirmed that the rumor was not true.

Source: X

The S&P 500 is currently in positive territory for the day. Still, despite this uptick, the sustainability of the recovery remains uncertain as bearish undercurrents remain the same as before the tariff-pause rumor started to circulate.

In Asia trading sessions, where economies heavily depend on favorable global trade, stock markets plummeted. Hong Kong's equity index suffered a staggering 13% drop, marking its worst performance since the Asian financial crisis. Major indexes in Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo also saw sharp declines, ranging from 7% to 10%.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been appointed as an adviser to Pakistan’s Crypto Council, a newly formed regulatory body tasked with overseeing the country’s embrace of blockchain technology and digital assets. 

The appointment was confirmed by Pakistan’s finance ministry and reported by Bloomberg on April 7. Zhao will advise the regulatory body on cryptocurrency regulation, infrastructure and adoption, Bloomberg reported.

CZ is seen signing documents during his appointment by Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance. Source: Business Recorder

Zhao is one of the most recognizable names in crypto, having served as CEO of Binance between 2017 and 2023. He resigned as CEO of the exchange in November 2023 after pleading guilty to charges related to violating US money laundering laws. He was later sentenced to four months in prison. 

For Pakistan, Zhao is a high-profile appointment that could potentially help the country lure foreign investment in an industry that has taken on new strategic importance.

Metaplanet, a Japanese hotel manager turned Bitcoin treasury company, has fully repaid 2 billion yen ($13.5 million) worth of bonds ahead of schedule as it seeks to shore up its financial position.

Metaplanet conducted an early redemption of its 9th Series of Ordinary Bonds on April 4, more than five months before the maturity date, the company disclosed on April 7. 

The zero-interest bonds were issued in March through Metaplanet’s Evo Fund and used to acquire additional Bitcoin (BTC). Since the bonds carry zero interest, the repayment would not have a material impact on the company’s fiscal 2025 results, it said.

Source: Metaplanet

Metaplanet, which trades publicly on the Tokyo stock exchange, has made Bitcoin the center of its corporate strategy through a series of acquisitions. The company’s Bitcoin balance has swelled to 4,206 BTC, placing it among the top 10 publicly traded holders.