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Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget discovered "abnormal trading activity" on the VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract on April 20, between 8:00 to 8:30 UTC, and paused accounts that the exchange suspected of market manipulation.

According to an April 20 announcement from the exchange, Bitget will roll back the accounts suspected of market manipulation within 24 hours, clawing back gains made from the trades.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen told Cointelegraph the trades were between individual market participants and not the platform itself. Chen also said that the losses are not platform-wide and that user funds remain safe.

The crypto exchange also plans to compensate users who suffered losses due to the alleged market manipulation and will announce a compensation plan soon, Chen confirmed to Cointelegraph. The Bitget CEO added:

The incident has called into question the obligations of exchanges under pressure from trading abnormalities and electronic trading bugs, with some traders comparing the Bitget incident to the Hyperliquid-Jelly exploit in March 2025.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed replacing the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contract language with the RISC-V instruction set architecture to improve the speed and efficiency of the Ethereum network's execution layer.

Buterin's April 20 proposal outlined several long-term bottlenecks for scaling the Ethereum network including, stable data availability sampling, ensuring block production remains competitive, and zero-knowledge EVM proving.

The Ethereum co-founder argued that implementing the RISC-V architecture in smart contracts would keep block production markets competitive and improve the efficiency of zero knowledge functions for the execution layer. Buterin wrote:

The proposal highlights the Ethereum network's struggle to improve throughput and remain competitive with next-generation monolithic blockchains such as Solana and the Sui networks at a time when investors are losing confidence in the original smart contract blockchain.

Related: Vitalik Buterin unveils roadmap for Ethereum privacy

Opinion by: Henry Duckworth, founder and CEO of AgriDex

We all need and buy it. Food is a common, universal ground across the planet. It should come as no surprise then that the agricultural industry is enormous. In 2023, the European Union alone imported 154 million tonnes of agricultural products and exported 134 million tonnes more. The market is growing too, projected to expand by 3.45% annually from this year to reach $5.52 trillion by 2029. 

Yet, farmers and agricultural traders are confronted with a serious problem. They need to export food abroad and interact with foreign currencies. The financial system — particularly in Africa — is, however, underdeveloped. Inefficiencies in their trade result in high transaction costs, delayed cross-border payments, and high interest rates for loans. Large corporations can better navigate financial hurdles, but this isn’t always the case for small farmers, who suffer the most from outdated banking systems.

Blockchain technology and stablecoins promise to smooth unstable waters for agricultural traders. Eliminating intermediaries and providing financial inclusion, the technology gives farmers direct access to global markets. With Africa’s food and agriculture market predicted to be valued at $1 trillion by 2030, stablecoins stand to be much more than simply another financial trend for the industry.

Cross-border payments are hiding significant costs

Cross-border payments are the beating heart of agricultural trade, central to accessing resources, such as equipment and seeds, or engaging in trade between countries. International transactions are vital to African agriculture, as exports within Africa represent only 17% of total African exports. 

Bitcoin holders are celebrating one year since the 2024 Bitcoin halving by praising BTC’s resilience amid a global trade war and suggesting an accelerated market cycle due to a growing institutional presence.

The 2024 Bitcoin halving reduced block rewards from 6.25 Bitcoin (BTC) to 3.125 BTC, slashing new BTC issuance in half.

Despite rising concerns over a global trade war and escalating tariff tensions between the United States and China, BTC has climbed more than 33% since April 2024, Cointelegraph Markets Pro data shows.

“So, even though Bitcoin’s showing resilience, I think the mix of past experiences, economic uncertainty, and this selling pressure is keeping investors on the sidelines, waiting for a stronger green light before they jump in,” said Enmanuel Cardozo, a market analyst at asset tokenization platform Brickken.

Cardozo added that institutional investment from firms such as Strategy and Tether could speed up Bitcoin’s traditional four-year halving cycle. He added:

Bitcoin (BTC) tapped 3-day lows into the April 20 weekly close as analysis warned of a fresh liquidity grab next.BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Analysis sees Bitcoin crossing $83,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dropping 1.5% to $83,974 on the day before rebounding.

Still broadly less volatile over the weekend, Bitcoin sought to stem the week’s downside as doubts appeared over the strength of nearby support.

Investigating the current liquidity setup across exchange order books, popular analyst Mark Cullen was particularly skeptical of $83,000.

“Bitcoin 90k liquidity still calling. BUT, i think the 83k level isn't safe, those lows from last Sunday and Wednesday are likely to get run first,” he summarized on X. 

Dogecoin holders worldwide celebrate “Dogeday” on April 20, as the memecoin’s community awaits upcoming deadlines for Dogecoin-related exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications.

Dogeday marks the unofficial holiday of the Dogecoin (DOGE) community. It gained traction in the memecoin community four years ago, in 2021, during International Weed Day on April 20.

Despite its reputation as a joke token, Dogecoin remains the eighth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, currently valued at $23.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Dogecoin’s tokenomics have often been criticized for issuing 14.4 million worth of new DOGE into circulation per day, giving it a daily inflation rate of over $2.16 million.

Related: Altseason 2025: ‘Most altcoins won’t make it,’ CryptoQuant CEO says

Opinion by: Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs

Even though Ethereum remains a leader in terms of total value locked (TVL), things aren’t looking great. Network activity is hemorrhaging, and momentum is slipping. Ethereum has become locked in a fight for its future. Without meaningful change, Ethereum risks becoming inaccessible to the builders and users it needs to thrive. Ethereum needs fresh ideas to bolster the ecosystem out of its slump, unify it, and genuinely support innovation.

Enter based applications (bApps), which are any application or service that uses the Ethereum validator set for security. Inspired by the based movement, bApps enable any project to bootstrap directly from the Ethereum layer 1 (L1), enabling interoperable, scalable and cost-effective development.

High stakes and high costs

The recent decline in network activity highlights a deep issue across Ethereum, and it boils down to UX. The race to scale a blockchain isn’t just about TVL and transactions per second (TPS). It’s about the experience of users and developers who co-create the ecosystem. Ease of development and interoperable developer ecosystems and applications are paramount. Improving the developer experience is crucial for improving user experience, which drives adoption.

Today, builders are presented with two options. The first and more popular one is restaking, which has become the default mechanism for bootstrapping new services by locking up validators’ withdrawal keys or large amounts of capital for security. That leaves teams with only one other inconvenient alternative: self-bootstrapping. Building a validator set from scratch is resource-heavy, technically complex and often starts off centralized. Both choices are limiting for builders and don’t solve the fragmentation problems we see today in Ethereum.

Jan3 CEO Samson Mow says that Bitcoin dominance hasn’t yet exhausted its upside trajectory after analyzing how altcoin prices would stack up against Bitcoin if all were on equal terms of total supply.

His forecast for Bitcoin (BTC) Dominance to rise further comes as the ratio has already exceeded the levels many crypto analysts expected it would reach by late 2024.

“Unit bias is absolutely destroying the uninitiated,” Mow said in an April 19 X post. Mow suggested that unit bias — a psychological method in behavioral economics that suggests that individuals usually like to own a complete unit or stock regardless of its price and size — often causes less experienced investors to assume cheaper whole altcoins are better value than owning part of a Bitcoin.

Mow questions altcoin valuations on level playing field

“You can buy one twenty-one millionth of the BTC supply for ~$85,000,” Mow said. He asked, “What happens if you remove unit bias from alts to calculate the equivalent of 1/21 million?”

He pointed out that Ether (ETH) would be priced at $9,200, XRP (XRP) would be priced at $5,800, and Solana (SOL) would be priced at $3,400 — representing increases of approximately 278,746%, 470%, and 2,328%, respectively, from their prices at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) push to isolate crypto markets and its controversial recommendations on DeFi and stablecoins is “dangerous” for the entire financial system, warns the head of a blockchain investment firm.

“Many of their recommendations and conclusions — perhaps due to a mix of fear, arrogance, or ignorance — are completely uninformed and, frankly, dangerous,” CoinFund president Christopher Perkins said in an April 19 X post, referring to the BIS’ April 15 report titled “Cryptocurrencies and Decentralized Finance: Functions and Financial Stability Implications.” 

BIS recommendations exposes TradFi to risks of “unimaginable scale”

“Crypto is not communism,” Perkins said, pushing back against the BIS’ call for a “containment” approach to isolate crypto from traditional finance and the broader economy.

“It’s the new internet that provides anyone with a connection access to financial services,” Perkins said. “You cannot control it anymore than you control the internet,” he added.

Perkins warned that a containment approach to crypto would expose the traditional financial system to massive liquidity risks “of unimaginable scale,” especially when the crypto market operates in real-time, 24/7, while traditional financial markets shuts down after trading hours.

Financial educator, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and investor Robert Kiyosaki recently forecasted a $1 million Bitcoin (BTC) price by 2035 as the US dollar continues to lose value to inflationary monetary policies.

"I strongly believe, by 2035, that one Bitcoin will be over $ 1 million, Gold will be $30,000, and silver $3,000 a coin," Kiyosaki wrote in an April 18 X post.

Kiyosaki, a self-described gold bug, has long argued that bearer assets like gold, silver, and more recently Bitcoin, are critical hedges against inflation and key to long-term generational wealth accumulation through economic cycles.

"In 2025, credit card debt is at all-time highs, US debt is at all-time highs, unemployment is rising, 401k’s are losing, and pensions are being stolen. The USA may be heading for a greater depression," Kiyosaki warned.

Kiyosaki, like many other sound money advocates, has continually warned of an impending financial crash brought on by expansionist monetary policies and fiscal irresponsibility. Bitcoin maximalists argue that loose monetary policy will drive the price of Bitcoin to seven-figures.

Charles Schwab Corp CEO Rick Wurster is reportedly eyeing an April 2026 launch window to provide spot Bitcoin (BTC) trading services to Schwab clients.

According to RIABiz, Wurster cited a 400% increase in traffic to Schwab's crypto website as evidence of investor interest in digital assets. The CEO predicted:

The Schwab CEO's comments reflect the growing trend of traditional financial (TradFi) institutions adopting crypto products and offering services that blur the line between the digital asset world and TradFi.

Related: Lyn Alden lowers Bitcoin forecast after ‘tariff kerfuffle,’ eyes liquidity

Schwab makes crypto moves under new CEO

Rick Wurster assumed the helm at Schwab in 2025, and in a November 2024 Yahoo Finance interview, said the company was happy to provide services to clients who want to trade digital assets.

Brandon Ferrick, general counsel at Douro Labs, said that the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) openness to public input on crypto policy and their roundtable discussions are positive signs that the crypto industry is not currently experiencing regulatory capture.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ferrick identified signs of regulatory capture including, a public-to-private sector revolving door of employees, the same roster of attendees at regulatory events, and special treatment given to certain crypto projects. However, Ferrick added:

"[The SEC] has a public portal where you can just submit written commentary on your thoughts for the crypto regulatory environment, and you can schedule meetings with them," the attorney continued.

As the crypto industry becomes more integrated with the traditional financial system and engages state regulators more, some analysts and executives are worried that the industry is experiencing regulatory capture that will skew incentives and politicize the burgeoning crypto sector.

Related: SEC staff gives guidance on how securities laws could apply to crypto

Opinion by: Jin Kwon, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Saga

Crypto has come a long way in boosting transaction throughput. New layer 1s (L1s) and side networks offer faster, cheaper transactions than ever before. Yet, a core challenge has come into focus: liquidity fragmentation — the scattering of capital and users across an ever-growing maze of blockchains.

Vitalik Buterin, in a recent blog post, highlighted how scaling successes have led to unforeseen coordination challenges. With so many chains and so much value splintered among them, participants face a daily tangle of bridging, swapping and wallet-switching. 

While these issues affect Ethereum, they also affect nearly every ecosystem. No matter how advanced, new blockchains risk becoming liquidity “islands” that struggle to connect with one another.

The real costs of fragmentation

Liquidity fragmentation means there is no single “pool” of assets for traders, investors or decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to tap into. Instead, each blockchain or side network hosts its own siloed liquidity. For a user who wants to buy a token or access a specific lending platform, this siloing introduces multiple headaches. 

Whales and institutions are increasing their Bitcoin holdings ahead of Easter, as market analysts predict a weekend with less volatility after two weeks of heightened volatility driven by escalating global trade tensions.

A wallet linked to London-based investment firm Abraxas Capital acquired 2,949 Bitcoin (BTC) worth more than $250 million during the four days leading up to April 19.

In the latest transaction, the firm bought over $45 million worth of Bitcoin from Binance on April 18, according to crypto intelligence firm Lookonchain, citing Arkham Intelligence data.

The investment came days after Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought $285 million worth of Bitcoin at an average price of $82,618 per BTC, as the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders signal continued confidence in Bitcoin, amid global tariff uncertainty.

Large Bitcoin investors, or whales, continue accumulating, absorbing over 300% of Bitcoin’s yearly issuance as exchanges continue losing coins at a historic pace, Cointelegraph reported on April 18.

XRP (XRP) has bounced nearly 30% after a four-month low of $1.61 amid rising tariff tensions. However, the rebound may be short-lived as technical patterns and on-chain signals now point to a deeper correction ahead.

XRP cup-and-handle pattern hints at 40% drop

XRP is forming a classic bearish reversal pattern that could see its price falling by at least 40% in the coming weeks.

Dubbed inverse-cup-and-handle (IC&H), the pattern forms when the price rounds off in a curved descent (cup) followed by a brief consolidation phase (handle) — all atop a common neckline support level.

The pattern is confirmed by a breakdown stage, where the price breaks decisively below support and falls by as much as the pattern’s maximum height.

As of April 19, XRP had entered the pattern’s handle-formation phase, eyeing a decisive close below the neckline support at around $2. In this case, the primary downside target will likely be around $1.24, almost 40% below current prices.

Bitcoin (BTC) faces “unprecedented” US dollar correlation as new BTC price research gives a $75,000 floor.

In one of his latest analyses on April 18, network economist Timothy Peterson calculated that BTC/USD may rise as high as $138,000 within the next three months.

BTC price probabilities give bulls the upper hand

Bitcoin is navigating highly unusual macroeconomic conditions as a result of the ongoing US trade war, but history still offers clues as to where BTC price action may head next.

For Peterson, the US High Yield Index Effective Yield, currently at over 8%, holds the key.

“This has happened 38 times since 2010 (monthly data),” he summarized. 

The growing adoption of cryptocurrencies may pose risks to the traditional financial system and exacerbate wealth inequality, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

In an April 15 report, the BIS warned that the number of investors and amount of capital in crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) have “reached a critical mass,” with investor protection becoming a “significant concern for regulators.”

The size of the crypto market signals that authorities should be worried about the “stability of crypto over and above the role it may have for TradFi and the real economy,” the report states, highlighting the role of stablecoins, which the BIS said have “become the means through which participants transfer value within crypto.”

The report calls for targeted stablecoin regulation on stability and reserve asset requirements that will guarantee the redemption of stablecoins for US dollars during “stressed market conditions.”

Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin payments

Web3 and blockchain-focused investment fund ABCDE is halting new investments, but the $400 million fund remains committed to supporting its existing projects.

In an April 19 X post, ABCDE co-founder and Huobi exchange founder Du Jun said the $400 million fund will no longer invest in new projects or raise capital for the second phase of the fund.

However, Jun said the fund will continue to “post-investment support and exit arrangements of existing projects” to ensure the firm’s commitment to entrepreneurs and liquidity providers (LPs).

“My personal work focus will also gradually shift from financial investment in the primary market to strategic investment-led and deep incubation-based, focusing more on industrial synergy and long-term value creation,” Jun added.

The announcement comes nearly three months after ABCDE’s last investment into an Ethereum layer-2 (L2) solution, Soon (Solana Optimistic Network), which raised $22 million through a non-fungible token sale to mark the launch of its mainnet, Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 22.

The creator of Ethereum layer 2 blockchain Base, Jesse Pollak, has apologized following backlash over posting digital artwork that controversially played on Base’s tagline, “Base is for everyone.”

Several social media users found the artwork offensive and inappropriate.

“It was a single phrase among many, but I’ll own this was a mistake and apologize,” Pollak said in an April 18 X post referring to his decision to reshare a GIF image that featured the phrase “Base is for...” followed by a rotating sequence of words, including both controversial terms like “pimping” and “squirting,” as well as more neutral ones like “art,” “minting,” and “ideas.”

Pollak says he appreciates “provocative art”

Pollak emphasized that the artwork was made by a creator, not him, and specifically apologized for the image featuring the phrase “Base is for pimping.”

Pollak said that while he wants to support artists building on Base and admits he appreciates “provocative art,” he recognizes the need to be mindful of his shared messages, especially when they appear to come directly from him.