Decentral Block Post

The US House Financial Services Committee advanced a bill aimed at preventing federal banks from using or issuing central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, paving the way for a vote in the chamber.

In an April 2 committee session, lawmakers voted 27-22 in favor of passing the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The bill was one of five the committee considered in a markup hearing discussing possible amendments. Lawmakers also approved a bill regulating payment stablecoins, setting up the legislation for a full House vote.

“Last Congress, this bill passed out of the House of Representatives by a 216-192 vote,” said Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, the anti-CBDC bill’s sponsor. “So far this Congress, this bill has 114 cosponsors and support from groups ranging from the Independent Community Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association to Club for Growth, Heritage Action, and the Blockchain Association.”

Related: Crypto regulation must go through Congress for lasting change — Wiley Nickel

Many Republican lawmakers have warned institutions such as the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department away from exploring CBDC development, often citing financial privacy concerns. After reintroducing the bill in March, Emmer suggested it was an attempt to codify an executive order from US President Donald Trump into law. That order, signed on Jan. 23, prohibited “the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use” of a CBDC in the United States.

Bitcoin (BTC) and US stock markets all sold off sharply after US President Donald Trump shook up financial markets by announcing a list of reciprocal tariffs on several countries.

On April 3, the S&P 500 saw a 4.2% drop at market open, its most significant single-day decline since June 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.41%, to 40,785.41 from 42,225.32, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.23%. Overall, $1.6 trillion in value was wiped out from US stock at the market open.

Bitcoin’s value dropped by 8%, but a positive is bulls seem capable of defending the $80,000 support level. These steep declines essentially stem from uncertainty surrounding the new tariffs and amplify investors’ concerns about impending recession.

Source: X

Data from CoinGecko suggests that the total crypto market has dropped 6.8% over the past 24 hours and it seems unlikely that a relief rally is viable in the short-term.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit new monthly lows at the April 3 Wall Street open as US unemployment data added to pressure on risk assets.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin gives early April gains as stocks plummet

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed the first trip below $82,000 for BTC/USD since the start of the month.

After initially surging as high as $88,580 as the US government unveiled reciprocal trade tariffs, Bitcoin soon ran out of steam as the reality of the stronger-than-expected measures hit home.

US stocks then followed, with the S&P 500 down over 4% on the day at the time of writing.

Opinion by: Rob Viglione, co-founder and CEO of Horizen Labs

Can you trust your AI to be unbiased? A recent research paper suggests it’s a little more complicated. Unfortunately, bias isn’t just a bug — it’s a persistent feature without proper cryptographic guardrails.

A September 2024 study from Imperial College London shows how zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) can help companies verify that their machine learning (ML) models treat all demographic groups equally while still keeping model details and user data private. 

Zero-knowledge proofs are cryptographic methods that enable one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any additional information beyond the statement’s validity. When defining “fairness,” however, we open up a whole new can of worms. 

Machine learning bias

With machine learning models, bias manifests in dramatically different ways. It can cause a credit scoring service to rate a person differently based on their friends’ and communities’ credit scores, which can be inherently discriminatory. It can also prompt AI image generators to show the Pope and Ancient Greeks as people of different races, like Google’s AI tool Gemini infamously did last year.  

Decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator ParaSwap announced its rebrand to Velora and is moving on to a new intents-based trading feature.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Velora’s just introduced its Delta v.2.5 upgrade. This supposedly results in improved flexibility and agility in trade execution on the DEX.

Paraswap has seen 18,000 monthly active users over the last month with 4.3 million smart contract interactions over the past 365 days, according to TokenTerminal data. The platform first introduced intents-based trading back in the summer of 2024, with hopes that it would mitigate the negative impact of maximum extractable value (MEV) bots.

Since then, ParaSwap submitted orders in three steps. First the order is preprocessed defining the expected trade price, then this is submitted to an auction to determine the most efficient execution strategy considering liquidity and timing. The winning agent executes the trade while taking the user’s intent into account and purportedly minimizing MEV exploitation risks.

Related: Hyperliquid DEX trading volumes cut into CEX market share: Data

Lawmakers in the US Senate Banking Committee confirmed the nomination of Paul Atkins to be a member of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), paving the way for a full floor vote in the chamber.

In an April 3 executive session of the banking committee, lawmakers voted 13-11 to confirm Atkins for two consecutive terms as an SEC commissioner, taking over former Chair Gary Gensler’s term and another term ending in 2031.

Atkins’ nomination will soon go to the Republican-controlled Senate for a full floor vote, where many experts suggest he is also likely to be confirmed.

Senator Tim Scott addressing lawmakers on April 3. Source: US Senate Banking Committee

Before calling for a vote, committee chair Tim Scott said Atkins would bring “much-needed clarity for digital assets.” Ranking member Elizabeth Warren reiterated earlier concerns about Trump’s SEC pick helping “billionaire scammers” like former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Tesla CEO Elon Musk “actively trying to destroy” federal agencies. 

Bitcoin’s (BTC) journey from a radical experiment to a trillion-dollar asset has been fueled by grand narratives: Digital gold, decentralized money and an alternative financial system. Beyond the hype, how does Bitcoin remain true to its core values? 

That’s the central theme of the latest episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, where hosts Nathan Jeffay and Gareth Jenkinson are joined by Charlie Spears, co-founder of Blockspace Media, to unpack Bitcoin’s evolving role in the global financial system.

Bitcoin’s evolution

From the outset, Bitcoin was designed as a decentralized alternative to traditional money.

But as adoption has surged, so too has the debate over its scalability and usability. Jenkinson began the conversation by explaining the origins of the original cryptocurrency and how that has shifted over time:

The discussion underscores the growing importance of layer-2 solutions like the Lightning Network, which aim to make Bitcoin practical for everyday transactions by enabling users to transact in satoshis — the smallest unit of Bitcoin — rather than traditional currencies.

US President Donald Trump introduced a slew of tariffs on April 2, sending markets into a tailspin and dividing crypto observers as to their possible long-term effects. 

At a special event at the White House, Trump signed an executive order and claimed emergency powers, leveling reciprocal tariffs at every country that has a tariff on US goods, starting at a 10% minimum.

The long-term effect that this swathe of new taxes could have on global markets is unknown. The uncertainty is compounded by the ambiguous methodology the Trump administration used to determine the tariff rates. 

Some believe that the crypto market is due for a boom as investors seek an alternative for traditional investments. Others note the effect tariffs could have on mining equipment, hampering profitability. More still are concerned about the broader impact of tariffs and a possible recession. 

Trump’s tariffs “provide certainty” for markets

Financial markets crashed immediately on the news of the tariffs, with crypto markets no exception. 

Market makers’ blockchain transactions point to a potential $3 million arbitrage opportunity related to the depegging of the FDUSD stablecoin.

The First Digital US dollar-pegged stablecoin (FDUSD) depegged on April 2, after Tron founder Justin Sun claimed that the stablecoin issuer was insolvent.

Market marker Wintermute transferred over 75 million FDUSD tokens back to First Digital within a day since the stablecoin depegged to $0.87.

Source: Lookonchain

“Since $FDUSD depegged, #Wintermute has transferred 75M $FDUSD to First Digital Labs,” wrote blockchain intelligence platform Lookonchain, in an April 3 X post, adding:

Cryptocurrency listings have outperformed the average of traditional stock listings, despite recent community criticism regarding the manipulation potential of token listings on centralized exchanges.

Token listing procedures on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs) drew significant controversy after Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder and former CEO of Binance, called the process flawed after disappointing performances of some token listings.

Despite the criticism, crypto exchanges have outperformed traditional stock exchanges in terms of listings with positive returns on investment (ROI) and average ROI, according to an April 3 CoinMarketCap report shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.

Over the past 180 days, crypto exchange listings had an average return of over 80%, outperforming the largest traditional stock indexes such as the Nasdaq and Dow Jones, as well as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

CEX listings, top indexes, average ROI. Source: CoinMarketCap

The US Treasury Department sanctioned eight cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to Russian crypto exchange Garantex and the Yemeni political and military organization the Houthis.

The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned eight crypto addresses that data from blockchain forensic firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs had linked to the organizations. Two are deposit addresses at major crypto platforms, while the other six are privately controlled.

Visualization of transaction flow related to OFAC sanctions. Source: Chainalysis

The addresses in question reportedly moved nearly $1 billion worth of funds linked to sanctioned entities. Most of the transactions funded Houthi operations in Yemen and the Red Sea region.

Slava Demchuk, a crypto-focused money laundering specialist and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime consultant told Cointelegraph that “the inclusion of Houthi-linked wallets reflects a broader recognition of crypto’s role in geopolitical conflicts and terrorism financing.” He added:

Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao donated over half a million dollars worth of crypto to the earthquake disaster relief effort in Thailand and Myanmar, in another testament to the growing utility of blockchain-based emergency charity efforts.

Zhao donated 1,000 BNB (BNB) tokens worth almost $600,000 to the disaster relief funds for the region on March 3, blockchain data shows.

Zhao donates 1,000 BNB. Source: BscScan

“Sent 1000 BNB for the donation for Myanmar and Thailand,” wrote Zhao in an April 3 X post.

The crypto donation comes after Thailand and Myanmar were hit by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28, causing severe damage to buildings and widespread flooding.

Bitcoin (BTC) faces “very high risk” conditions from US trade tariffs, which could spark a slump to $71,000.

In his latest analysis, Charles Edwards, the founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, warned about the impact of “higher than expected” US trade tariffs.

”Higher than expected” US tariffs pressure Bitcoin

Bitcoin reacted noticeably worse than US stocks after President Donald Trump announced worldwide reciprocal trade tariffs on April 2.

BTC/USD fell up to 8.5% on the day, while the S&P 500 managed to end the Wall Street trading session 0.7% higher.

Edwards said that US business expectations are reflecting the type of uncertainty seen only three times since the turn of the millennium.

Lawmakers in the US states of Minnesota and Alabama filed companion bills to identical existing bills that if passed into law, would allow each state to buy Bitcoin.

The Minnesota Bitcoin Act, or HF 2946, was introduced to the state’s House by Republican Representative Bernie Perryman on April 1, following an identical bill introduced on March 17 by GOP state Senator Jeremy Miller.

Meanwhile, on the same day in Alabama, Republican state Senator Will Barfoot introduced Senate Bill 283, while a bi-partisan group of representatives led by Republican Mike Shaw filed the identical House Bill 482, which allows for the state to invest in crypto, but essentially limits it to Bitcoin (BTC).

Twin Alabama bills don’t explicitly name Bitcoin

Minnesota’s Bitcoin Act would allow the state’s investment board to invest state assets in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and permit state employees to add crypto to retirement accounts.

It would also exempt crypto gains from state income taxes and give residents the option to pay state taxes and fees with Bitcoin.

Decentralized video game ecosystem Treasure DAO is restructuring as “a matter of survival” to extend its financial runway to at least February 2026.

Treasure DAO's chief contributor John Patten says in an April 2 video posted to X that he has resumed a leadership role and is taking a plan to the DAO to streamline operations, eliminate unnecessary costs, and center the organization around a few key projects.

“I will introduce this after all of you provide your opinions at this time. I have my own thoughts, but we must make this decision as a community through long deliberation. The best ideas need to rise to the surface,” he said. 

The Next Chapter of Treasure ✨

We're releasing an official statement on our pivotal transition, outlining the rationale behind leadership changes, financial restructuring, and our bold new strategic direction.

Full details 👇 pic.twitter.com/BjWgZxc98l

As part of cost-cutting to reduce Treasure DAO's annual burn rate of $8.3 million, Patten says 15 contributors have either left or been laid off, and game publishing support and the treasure chain will be terminated. 

At the same time, he is proposing to withdraw an idle $785,000 from the market maker Flowdesk to increase the DAO’s treasury.

Update (April 3, 10:50 am UTC): This article has been updated to correct the quote attributed to Wojtek Kopczuk

There’s a crazy theory on social media that US President Donald Trump's newly announced reciprocal tariff plan — which hits all countries with a minimum 10% tariff — could have been designed by an artificial intelligence chatbot.

Only a short period after Trump announced the tariffs at the White House Rose Garden on April 2, some X users claim they were able to duplicate the same tariff plan with a rudimentary prompt using OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

“I was able to duplicate it in ChatGPT,” NFT collector DCinvestor told his 260,000 followers on X following the Donald Trump announcement of reciprocal tariffs on 185 countries on April 2. 

“It also told me that this idea hadn’t been formalized anywhere before, and that it was something it came up with,” he added, referring to the chatbot’s ability to calculate the tariff rates. “FFS. Trump admin is using ChatGPT to determine trade policy,” he added.

One of Bitcoin’s key communication tools used to discuss potential protocol changes was knocked out for several hours starting on April 2, with one moderator speculating it may have been a targeted attack assisted by bots. 

For several hours across April 2 and 3, Bitcoin core developers and researchers were unable to interact on Google Groups after Google banned the group for spam. 

“Bitcoin Development Mailing List has been identified as containing spam, malware, or other malicious content,” Google’s warning stated at the time.

The Bitcoin Development Mailing List’s warning before the ban was lifted. Source: Google

Bitcoin Core developer Bryan Bishop told Cointelegraph that the ban may have been triggered by individuals or bots mass-reporting the Bitcoin mailing list from multiple accounts.

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky says it has uncovered thousands of counterfeit Android smartphones sold online with preinstalled malware designed to steal crypto and other sensitive data. 

The Android devices are sold at reduced prices, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs said in an April 1 statement, but are riddled with a version of the Triada Trojan that infects every process and gives the attackers “almost unlimited control” over the device. 

Dmitry Kalinin, a cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Labs, said that once the trojan grants the attackers access to devices, they can steal crypto by replacing wallet addresses. 

“The authors of the new version of Triada are actively monetizing their efforts; judging by the analysis of transactions, they were able to transfer about $270,000 in various cryptocurrencies to their crypto wallets,” he said. 

Among the trojan’s other capabilities are stealing user account information and intercepting incoming and outgoing texts, including two-factor authentication. 

The US House Financial Services Committee has passed a Republican-backed stablecoin framework bill, which will now head to the House floor for a full vote.

The Committee passed the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy, or STABLE Act, with a 32-17 vote on April 2.

The bill would provide rules around payment stablecoins, a type of crypto token tied to a currency such as the US dollar, and aims to ensure issuers give information about their business and how they back their tokens.

Related: Lawmaker alleges Trump wants to replace US dollar with his stablecoin

Other stablecoin-related bills are also working their way through Congress, including the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which lays out oversight and reserve rules for issuers.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are outpacing many traditional cyber threats and are no longer just a tool but a “dominant geopolitical weapon,” according to network security firm Netscout.

Global DDoS activity increased by 12.7% in the second half of 2024 compared to the first half, totaling almost 9 million attacks, according to the firm. 

A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal web traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic.

The largest increases have been in Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions, with around 30% and 20% increases from the first half, respectively.  

Netscout reported that there were a total of 7.9 million DDoS attacks in the first half of 2024, with a combined total of 16.8 million for the full year, up almost 30% from the 13 million attacks the firm recorded in 2023.