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A lawyer representing one of the co-founders of crypto mining service Hashflare has addressed how their criminal case may move forward after the pair received “self-deport” letters from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In an April 11 filing in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, Hashflare co-founders Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin reported they had received a DHS letter directing them to “leave the United States” as part of a push by the Trump administration to effect mass deportations. The government letter contradicted orders from Judge Robert Lasnik, who restricted travel for Potapenko and Turogin as part of their bail conditions.

In February, the Estonian nationals pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a deal with authorities. Between 2015 and 2019, the two were responsible for defrauding Hashflare users out of more than $550 million. They also raised $25 million from investors in 2017, claiming they would establish a digital bank called Polybius. The firm was never created.

Indicted in October 2022, Potapenko and Turogin were arrested and held in Estonia before their extradition to the US in May 2024. Both have been free on bail since July 2024 but could face up to 20 years in prison each at sentencing.

Ordered to leave, forced to stay

“[Potapenko and Turogin each] got letters from DHS to their personal email saying ‘deport immediately,’” Reed Smith partner and defense counsel Mark Bini told Cointelegraph. “It caused some angst because [our client and his co-defendant], their conditions of release include that they comply with the law. And here you have this letter saying if you stay in the country, you’re breaking the law. And of course, their bail conditions say they can’t leave the Seattle area.” 

Bitcoin (BTC) price has been in a persistent downtrend since January, but the April 22 surge past $91,000 marks its first higher high breakout of the year and the potential start of a new longer-term uptrend.Bitcoin 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The higher high pattern occurred after BTC moved above its previous lower high and resistance at $88,500, but the real factor that will keep price afloat is buying volumes in various cohorts of the Bitcoin market.

The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of $381 million on April 21, levels not seen since Jan. 30.

Rising spot BTC inflows, along with Bitcoin’s increase in price, point to a possible resurgence in institutional demand for Bitcoin, and the change in trend from the ETFs could offset the selling pressure that has put a cap on BTC price for months.

However, retail investor demand (buy volumes between $0 and 10,000) remained below 0%, which suggested that low volume buyers are not back yet. Over the past year, these investors have lagged behind BTC price breakouts, but they strengthen price momentum once the investor volume turns positive.

Demand from financial institutions could push the price of Bitcoin (BTC) as high as $200,000 per coin in 2025, according to two research reports reviewed by Cointelegraph. 

Analysts from Standard Chartered and Intellectia AI said institutional Bitcoin demand from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and traders seeking to hedge against macroeconomic risk could cause Bitcoin’s price to more than double this year.

“While the forecast is optimistic, it's also conditional. Any black swan — from a major regulatory clampdown to a geopolitical event — can disrupt trajectories,” Fei Chen, Intellectia AI’s chief investment strategist, told Cointelegraph. 

Related: US Bitcoin ETFs clock biggest inflows since January as crypto markets gain

Bullish sentiment

The reports come as Bitcoin broke past $90,000 on April 22 for the first time in six weeks, reflecting traders embracing Bitcoin and gold as potential hedges against looming trade wars and geopolitical volatility. 

Bitcoin’s (BTC) value relative to gold (XAU) may be poised for a steep 35% drop as it mirrors historical bear market signals and reacts to massive turbulence that has wiped out $13 trillion from the US stock market.

Bitcoin’s breaks below key gold support

As of April 22, the BTC/XAU ratio had closed below its 50-period exponential moving average (50-period EMA; the red wave) on the two-week chart for the first time since April 2022.

Historically, a decisive close below the 50-period EMA has led to an extended downtrend toward the 200-period EMA (the blue wave).

For instance, in both 2021 and 2022, BTC/XAU experienced an initial bounce after testing the 50-EMA, only to eventually break below it and decline toward the 200-EMA, as shown above.

Related: Bitcoin longs cut $106M — Are Bitfinex BTC whales turning bearish above $86K?

Bitcoin (BTC) hit six-week highs on April 22 as US trade war tensions emboldened crypto bulls.BTC/USD 1-hour chart with 200SMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin lines up resistance flips around $90,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD above $91,000 after the Wall Street open — its highest since March 7.

Bitcoin and gold benefited from increasing market nerves over how China, Japan and others would respond to US trade tariffs.

XAU/USD set fresh all-time highs on the day, while BTC/USD faced a key bull market support trend line that has been acting as resistance since early March.

For traders, the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) at $88,370 thus became the level to flip back to support on daily timeframes.

Opinion by: Ahmad Shadid, CEO of O.xyz

The DeepSeek saga made it abundantly clear that cheaper AI models can offer breakthrough advantages. DeepSeek challenges traditional investments with low-cost, high-performance technology. Yet its rise brings serious risks. 

The most concerning aspects of such models are data privacy and security issues. The fact that such advanced models can be developed at a fraction of the standard expense does boost innovation and investment prospects, but at what cost?

Cost-cutting AI models can create dangerous vulnerabilities, even if they democratize AI development. A recent Cisco study found that DeepSeek’s R1 model had a 100% attack success rate. In simple terms, the model failed to block a single harmful prompt. Why does security take a backseat during such innovation?

DeepSeek sparks AI frenzy in China 

DeepSeek developers claim that its R1 chatbot costs a fraction of what rivals like OpenAI spend. Industry voices labeled this as the biggest AI chatbot story since November 2022. Microsoft and Amazon Web Services moved quickly to support DeepSeek.

Bitcoin mining firm Bitdeer secured $60 million in loans to ramp up its Bitcoin ASIC manufacturing efforts as global mining competition intensifies amid record-breaking network hashrates.

According to its annual report, Bitdeer entered a loan agreement in April with affiliate firm Matrixport, a crypto financial services company founded by Bitdeer’s chairman, Jihan Wu.

The facility offers up to $200 million, backed by Bitdeer’s Sealminer hardware, with a floating interest rate of 9% plus market benchmarks. As of April 21, Bitdeer had drawn $43 million from the credit line.

The latest funding adds to a $17 million unsecured loan obtained in January, alongside previous capital raises totaling $572.5 million via convertible notes in 2024. Bitdeer also issued over six million shares, raising nearly $119 million in equity markets this year.

Related: Top Bitcoin miners produced nearly $800M of BTC in Q1 2025

Mantra founder and CEO John Mullin has begun an $80 million burn of OM tokens to regain users’ trust following the token’s crash earlier in April. However, the question of the underlying reasons for the crash remains unanswered, blockchain investigators told Cointelegraph.

Unpacking Mantra’s OM crash would require a detailed forensic study rather than just basic blockchain analysis, said Natalie Newson, senior blockchain investigator at the blockchain security firm CertiK.

“A full forensic investigation, akin to what we saw post-FTX, would be needed to substantiate claims of calculated exploitation,” Newson told Cointelegraph, highlighting challenges of tracing over-the-counter (OTC) transactions.

Newson’s perspective on the OM crash came days after Mantra released its post-crash statement, asking centralized exchange partners to collaborate on further unpacking the incident.

Onchain activity versus opaque OTC deals

Addressing the OM token crash, Newson stressed the importance of distinguishing between public onchain activity and the “more opaque nature of OTC deals.”

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied above $89,000 on April 22, its highest level since early March, buoyed by strong spot demand during US trading hours on April 21. The recovery, however, faced a serious challenge in breaking above $90,000 as sell-side liquidity blocked the way.BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin price faces stiff resistance on the upside

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price has been steadily moving toward the $89,000 level over the last six hours, leading to questions about whether the barrier at $90,00 will finally give in.

“BTC is closing in on the big $ 90 K-$91 K horizontal area which acted as the previous range low,” said popular trader Daan Crypto Trades in an April 22 post on X. 

The trader explained that the price had swept the $89,000 level as it was consolidating below it. Note that the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) is currently located just above this level, reinforcing its significance.

Daan Crypto Trades said that the price needs to overcome these barriers in order to confirm a breakout. 

Organized crime groups across Southeast Asia have scaled their operations by exploiting cryptocurrency and launching their own coins, exchanges and blockchain networks to launder billions of dollars, according to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The report said criminal syndicates are no longer just using existing crypto infrastructure. Instead, they are actively building tailored financial ecosystems to evade detection.

One example cited in the report is the Chinese-language ecosystem and marketplace known as Huione Guarantee, now rebranded as Haowang, which has processed more than $24 billion in crypto linked to fraud over the past four years.

Headquartered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the platform has grown to more than 970,000 users and thousands of interconnected vendors.

“Concerningly, Huione has recently launched a range of its own cryptocurrency-related products, including a cryptocurrency exchange and trading application, online gambling platform, blockchain network, and US dollar-backed stablecoin designed to circumvent government controls,” the report stated.

Cryptocurrency firms and exchanges are increasingly moving into Wall Street territory, launching more traditional investment offerings and showcasing the increasing connection between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi).

“There’s a growing synergy between traditional financial investments and the emerging crypto space,” according to Gracy Chen, the CEO of Bitget, the world’s sixth-largest crypto exchange.

“Crypto players are now checking out traditional finance as they see the opportunity to bridge it,” Chen told Cointelegraph.

“The lines are blurring — investors want flexibility, and products that can straddle both worlds are naturally attractive,” Chen said. “Some players see TradFi as a safety net; others, like Bitget, see it as a launchpad for broader adoption.” She added:

Related: Trump’s tariff escalation exposes ‘deeper fractures’ in global financial system

The cryptocurrency market has witnessed a surge in the adoption of automated trading solutions, with trading bots gaining prominence for their ability to analyze vast data sets and execute trades with precision.

Cointelegraph has dissected historical bot revenues and token price rollercoasters and backtested strategy returns against the buy-and-hold yardstick to decode what bots shine brightest — and when — so you can pick the perfect bot to match your style and stomach for risk.

We have examined three types of trading bots: Telegram bots trading on decentralized exchanges (DEX), non-Telegram bots trading on DEXs and on centralized exchanges (CEXs), and the recently evolving AI agent bots.

Choosing the right trading bot depends on the user’s goals, risk tolerance and experience. At a glance:

Telegram bots are ideal for fast, opportunistic trading like token launches and memecoins.

Cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) showed signs of recovery last week with minor inflows, after shedding more than $1 billion in outflows in the previous two weeks.

Crypto investment products saw inflows of $6 million during the week of April 14–18, reflecting mixed investor sentiment, CoinShares reported on April 22.

“While the week began with minor inflows, stronger-than-expected US retail sales figures mid-week likely triggered outflows of $146 million,” CoinShares’ head of research James Butterfill wrote.

Total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs edged up 1.4% from $129 billion as of April 11 to $131 billion on April 18.

All US Bitcoin ETFs are red in April so far

According to the report, BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds saw the biggest inflows last week at $182 million, while major issuers like Fidelity saw $123 million of outflows from the issuer’s crypto ETPs.

A Solana address with over 1 million tokens is sitting on more than $153 million in profit after a four-year staking play on the crypto asset. 

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain flagged the wallet address of a whale that staked nearly 1 million Solana (SOL) tokens in 2021. At the time of the staking, Solana tokens were worth around $27, which means the trader spent about $27 million to execute the play. 

Four years later, the whale’s total staked Solana holdings have reached 1.29 million. With Solana appreciating to about $140, the whale’s holdings have increased in value to about $180 million. 

On April 22, the whale started offloading a portion of the token stash to cash out on the gains. Lookonchain reported that the whale had unstaked 100,000 SOL tokens (about $14 million) and sent them to Binance. Sending tokens to crypto exchanges often indicates an intent to sell. 

Lookonchain said the whale still has 1.19 million Solana, worth around $166 million. Since the trader spent $27 million on the play, the total unrealized profit for the address is about $153 million. 

XRP (XRP) has been trapped within a tight range over the last eight days. The altcoin was trading just above its $2.00 support after a marketwide recovery over the weekend.

Onchain and technical data now show that the XRP/USD pair is well-positioned for a breakout toward $3.00.

XRP whale accumulation is back

XRP’s price has been consolidating between $2.03 and $2.13 since April 14. The daily relative strength index (RSI) remained flat at around 49 over the same period, signaling market indecision.

Despite this sideways price action, whale activity paints a promising picture, with onchain data showing large investors took advantage of the drop to $1.61.

Related: Coinbase Derivatives lists XRP futures

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s lawsuit against Coinbase argues that XRP and other digital assets are unregistered securities.

Rayield sued US-based, publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly violating Oregon’s securities law. In an April 18 announcement, the Oregon Department of Justice said the suit was part of an effort to fill what it described as a regulatory vacuum left by federal agencies under the Trump administration:

“States must fill enforcement vacuum being left by federal regulators who are abandoning these cases under Trump administration,“ the department said.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal voiced his frustration over the lawsuit in an April 21 X post. Justin Slaughter, the vice president of regulatory affairs at crypto investment firm Paradigm, pointed out that the lawsuit claims a long list of digital assets, including XRP (XRP), are unregistered securities.

Yarden Noy, partner at crypto legal firm DLT Law, told Cointelegraph that if the court ruled these assets are securities, it “would mostly create more confusion in this regard.” It would not be a binding precedent in other cases, not even within Oregon, he added.

US-based publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase confirmed that it is considering applying for a US federal bank charter.

In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Coinbase said it is considering pursuing a US federal bank charter, according to a company spokesperson.

“This is something Coinbase is actively considering but has not made any formal decisions yet,” the spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

The comments follow recent reports suggesting that Coinbase and multiple other major crypto firms were planning to apply for US banking licenses. Coinbase, stablecoin issuers Circle and Paxos, and crypto custodian BitGo were the other firms mentioned.

Coinbase did not clarify to Cointelegraph why it is considering pursuing a bank charter. Still, a license could potentially allow crypto firms to operate like traditional lenders, taking deposits and making loans. Cointelegraph also reached out to the other firms reportedly considering applying for a charter.

As gold reached new highs above $3,500, Peter Schiff — a prominent gold advocate and Bitcoin critic — argued that the precious metal is money, fueling backlash from the crypto community.

“Gold is not just any commodity, it’s money,” Schiff wrote in an X post on April 22 after gold prices briefly broke above $3,500.

While praising gold, Schiff sounded the alarm about the state of the economy, emphasizing that gold’s abnormal rally in the past few weeks holds negative implications for the US dollar.

“This is the end of the US dollar’s dominance. Life in America is about to change in ways few can imagine,” he stated.

Gold is up 31% YTD, USD is down 9%

Schiff’s comments came amid gold futures surging to a record-breaking $3,500 on April 22, while spot gold has yet to touch the milestone after reaching $3,498 on Tuesday, according to TradingView.

Update April 22, 2:17 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include comments from Cato Institute analyst Nicholas Anthony.

The European Central Bank (ECB) raised an alarm over potential fallout from aggressive US support for the crypto industry, warning that a surge in dollar-backed stablecoins could destabilize Europe’s financial system.

According to a policy paper seen by Politico, the ECB has asked for a revision of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework for cryptocurrencies just months after it came into effect.

The concern is that US reforms backed by President Donald Trump could flood European markets with dollar-denominated stablecoins.

The ECB fears this could trigger a flight of European capital into US assets, undermining EU financial sovereignty and exposing banks to liquidity risks.