Decentral Block Post

Weekly active developers in the crypto space dropped by almost 40% in one year as “narrative-led” developments took over the industry. 

Crypto data and analytics platform Artemis Terminal shows that on March 17, 2024, the number of active developers tagged on open-source repositories in a week was 12,380. The number dropped to around 7,600 on March 16, signaling a 38.6% drop in weekly active developers in one year. 

The number of active developers working across over 1,500 ecosystems is used as an indicator of the Web3 ecosystem’s overall health. Developer activity suggests increased innovation and maintenance of protocols, which contributes to long-term sustainability. 

Weekly active developers in the crypto space. Source: Artemis Terminal

Community calls for more developer-led narratives

The drop in developer activity across the Web3 space spurred calls for more developer-led narratives on social media. 

Key takeaways

ChatGPT can analyze crypto news headlines and generate actionable trade signals, helping traders make faster and more informed decisions.

Well-crafted prompts are essential — the more specific your instructions, the more accurate and useful ChatGPT’s responses will be.

News-based signals work best when combined with broader market context, like Bitcoin trends or altcoin momentum, for a complete trading picture.

AI is a tool, not a guarantee — always verify its insights with other research, charts and risk management practices before executing trades.

The cryptocurrency market moves fast, and staying ahead of the curve can feel overwhelming — especially for beginners. News plays a huge role in driving crypto prices, but how do you sift through the noise and turn it into actionable trade signals? 

Global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff measures may come to an end with a potential deal with China as investors remain concerned about escalation from both sides.

Trump’s April 2 announcement of reciprocal import tariffs sent shockwaves through global equity and crypto markets. The measures include a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, effective April 5, with higher levies — such as a 34% tariff on Chinese imports — set to begin on April 9.

However, the tariff negotiations may only be “posturing” for the US to reach an agreement with China, according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.

“In the end, almost all the other tariff negotiations and rhetoric are all about getting China to agree a deal,” Pal wrote in an April 8 X post, adding:

“That is the big prize and both China and the US understand it and need it. Everything else is negotiation posturing. China needs a weaker $ and the US needs tariffs.”

Source: Raoul Pal

A maximal extractable value (MEV) bot lost about $180,000 in Ether after an attacker exploited a vulnerability in its access control systems. 

On April 8, blockchain security firm SlowMist reported that the MEV bot lost 116.7 Ether (ETH) because of the lack of access control. Threat researcher Vladimir Sobolev, also known as Officer’s Notes on X, told Cointelegraph that an attacker exploited a vulnerability in the bot, causing it to swap its ETH to a dummy token. 

Sobolev said this was done through a malicious pool created by the attacker within the same transaction. The threat researcher added that this could have been prevented if the MEV owner implemented stricter access controls. 

Just 25 minutes into the exploit, the MEV’s owner proposed a bounty to the attacker. The owner then deployed a new MEV bot with stricter access control validation. 

Sobolev compared the exploit to a similar incident in 2023, where MEV bots lost $25 million after being exploited. On April 23, 2023, bots who performed sandwich trades lost their crypto to a validator that went rogue. 

Update 1:17 pm UTC: This article has been updated with the corrected US dollar figure that the user paid at the time.

One presumably panicked Bitcoin user paid nearly 0.75 BTC (nearly $60,000 at the time) in a replace-by-fee (RBF) transaction fee.

The transaction in question was sent about 30 minutes after midnight UTC on April 8. It was the second attempt at performing an RBF that changed the transaction's target address, sending 0.48 Bitcoin ($37,770) with 0.2 BTC of change ($16,357).

Second Bitcoin RBF transaction. Source: Mempool.Space

Anmol Jain, vice president of investigations at crypto forensics firm AMLBot, told Cointelegraph that the original transaction featured a “default or conservative” fee. The first RBF raised the fee to nearly double the amount and changed the output address.

Bitcoin could begin to take market share from gold over the next decade as a hedge against inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, according to Blockstream CEO Adam Back.

Speaking during a fireside chat with Cointelegraph managing editor Gareth Jenkinson at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, Back said rising inflation and monetary instability across global economies will drive broader Bitcoin (BTC) adoption.

He compared the cryptocurrency to gold, noting its scarcity and growing recognition as a store of value despite its 30% correction from its all-time high above $109,000.

“Bitcoin has the advantage of being like gold — it’s a scarce asset but also undergoing an adoption curve,” he said.

Inflation continues to plague global economies, with major currencies like the US dollar and the euro seeing their supplies rise by more than 50% over the past five years — a development that may drive Bitcoin’s adoption as a hedge against monetary destabilization, according to Back.

Cathie Wood’s investment firm ARK Invest is showing a mixed reaction to the United States’ latest trade tariffs, offloading shares of its spot Bitcoin ETF while increasing its position in Coinbase.

ARK has acquired $26.6 million of Coinbase (COIN) stock since US President Donald Trump announced new trade tariffs on April 2, according to trading data seen by Cointelegraph.

The purchase includes a $13.2 million COIN buy on April 7 and another $13.3 million purchase on April 4.

Despite this bullish move on Coinbase, ARK simultaneously sold $12 million of its ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) on April 7. ARKB was one of the spot Bitcoin ETFs that launched in the United States in January 2024.

ARKW still offers $142 billion of indirect exposure to Bitcoin

ARK’s $12 million ARKB sale from its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) fund is one of the largest daily ARKB sales by the firm.

Opinion by: William Campbell, advisory lead at USDKG

Stablecoins were heralded as a breakthrough in the cryptocurrency space as a way to marry the lightning-fast, borderless nature of digital assets with the stability of traditional currencies. They achieve this by pegging their value to reserves like fiat currencies or commodities. Stablecoins are engineered to maintain a fixed exchange rate, typically one-to-one, with the underlying asset.

What does “stability” mean? At its core, stability demands three pillars:

Reliable collateral: The tangible assets that back the token.

Transparency: The ability for anyone to independently verify reserves.

China’s response to America’s sweeping trade tariffs could result in capital flight to Bitcoin and crypto, according to BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes.

“If not the Fed [Federal Reserve], then the PBOC [People’s Bank of China] will give us the Yahtzee ingredients,” said Hayes on X on April 8 in reference to the catalyst needed to resume the crypto market bull run.

Hayes said that if the Chinese central bank devalued its currency, the yuan, the “narrative [is] that Chinese capital flight will flow into Bitcoin,” adding that “it worked in 2013, 2015, and can work in 2025.” 

Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said that China will try to lower the yuan to counter the tariff, adding that historically, whenever the yuan drops, “a lot of Chinese capital flows into BTC,” which is bullish for Bitcoin (BTC).

The yuan has weakened against the greenback since 2022. Source. Google Finance

A Nigerian court has reportedly delayed the country’s tax evasion case against Binance until April 30 to give time for Nigeria’s tax authority to respond to a request from the crypto exchange.

Reuters reported on April 7 that a lawyer for Binance, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, asked a court the same day to invalidate an order allowing for court documents to be served to the company via email.

Binance doesn't have an office in Nigeria and Ikwuazom claimed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) didn’t get court permission to serve court documents to Binance outside the country.

"On the whole the order for the substituted service as granted by the court on February 11, 2025 on Binance who is ... registered under the laws of Cayman Islands and resident in Cayman Islands is improper and should be set aside," he said.

FIRS sued Binance in February, claiming the exchange owed $2 billion in back taxes and should be made to pay $79.5 billion for damages to the local economy as its its operations allegedly destabilized the country’s currency, the naira, which Binance denies.

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.