rim

According to Jinshi reports, U.S. President Trump spoke on the phone with British Prime Minister Starmer to discuss the current situation in the Middle East and emphasized the "urgent need to restore shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."The British side stated that the ongoing blockade for several weeks has left many crew members stranded in the Gulf region. Starmer warned that this would have "serious consequences" for the global economy and the cost of living for the British people. On the same day, Iran warned that the waterway "will not return to its previous state under any circumstances."

The French National Anti-Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office (Pnaco) has stated that cases of kidnapping and illegal detention involving cryptocurrency are continuing to surge. Among the 12 related cases currently under investigation, 88 people have been prosecuted, including more than 10 minors, and another 75 are in custody awaiting trial.Prosecutor's data shows that since 2023, French law enforcement has recorded 135 such cases, with 18 in 2024, rising to 67 in 2025, and reaching 47 so far in 2026. Many of these cases involve violent kidnappings, ransom extortion, and forcing victims to transfer cryptocurrency assets. The prosecution pointed out that some suspects have appeared multiple times in different cases, indicating the formation of a structured criminal network behind it. The previous kidnapping incident involving Ledger co-founder David Balland is also seen as an important sign of the escalating security risks in the French cryptocurrency industry.

According to ABC News, multiple sources have revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to terminate the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Powell as early as Friday.

According to market news, after not conducting any outflow transactions in the past week, BlackRock transferred 12,080 ETH, worth approximately $27.94 million, to a Coinbase Prime address through its Ethereum exchange-traded fund ETHA; additionally, it transferred 113.342 BTC, worth $8.81 million, to a Coinbase Prime address through its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund IBIT.

Recently, during the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, at the "CypherAsia Smart Crypto Finance Forum" hosted by institutions such as Fosun Wealth Holdings, FinChain, and exSat, guests including ME Group President Vito Luo, FinChain CTO Lance Liu, SBVA Executive Director Wang Yinzhen, Solana Foundation Solutions Architect Mike Ma, Copilot Venture Studio Co-founder Yang Linyuan, and NeoSoul Co-founder Kaelan discussed the development trends of AI and crypto finance.During the forum, NeoSoul Co-founder Kaelan stated that the AI industry is still in the early stages of rapid evolution. When evaluating AI projects, it is important to look not only at the current products but also at whether the team can continuously keep up with the changes in the underlying model capabilities.Kaelan pointed out that AI entrepreneurship requires both groundedness and vision. Groundedness means that the team must have the ability to implement engineering, design products, and understand the market to create perceivable products; vision means that the team should build in line with the evolution of large models.He believes that some early AI products may seem like toys, but in emerging industries, the existence of toy-like forms should be allowed. Many truly new paradigms often first appear as experimental products.

According to market news, about 40 minutes ago, Grayscale transferred a total of 3,817 ETH and 210.006 BTC to a Coinbase Prime address, worth approximately 25.02 million dollars.

According to market news, at the "9th BCCC Collaborative Day" held on April 21, 2026, Shigeru Shimizu, the head of the Risk Analysis Division of the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, delivered a special speech revealing significant progress in cryptocurrency regulation. The FSA has submitted a bill to the extraordinary Diet, proposing to transition cryptocurrencies from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, mainly involving four core aspects: regulations on information disclosure, the establishment of new classifications for independent operators, strengthening penalties for unregistered operators, and preparing regulations against insider trading.At the same time, the FSA is advancing three "Payment Innovation Projects (PIP)" empirical experiments: first, a cross-border payment trial using yen stablecoins involving three major banks; second, on-chain settlement of securities such as government bonds, corporate bonds, and stocks based on blockchain, aiming for 24/7 continuous trading; third, an interbank tokenized deposit transfer experiment that just received support on April 3 of this month, which will be promoted in conjunction with the Bank of Japan's central bank digital currency tokenization sandbox project. Mr. Shimizu stated that blockchain has great potential in enhancing the convenience of financial services and diversifying products, and the FSA will continue to promote institutional development and practical support.

At the Bitget "Obsidian Night" offline event, the platform's Chinese language head, Xie Jiayin, elaborated on the IPO Prime product strategy. He stated that relying on the UEX panoramic exchange architecture, IPO Prime aims to break the barriers of traditional primary markets that have long been monopolized by leading institutions, building a standardized asset subscription channel that allows ordinary users to fairly participate in the early value growth of global unicorns like SpaceX.Xie Jiayin emphasized that "coming means being a VIP" has never just been a slogan, but a substantial right delivered to users based on UEX capabilities. IPO Prime is not only an upgrade and iteration of the product system but also a deep practice of the concept of financial equality in the cryptocurrency trading field. By continuously lowering participation thresholds and improving asset circulation efficiency, the rights to allocate high-quality global assets are truly made accessible to every user.

According to the official announcement, the first phase of the Bitget IPO Prime project preSPAX has now completed allocation, and spot trading will begin today at 20:00 (UTC+8). For more details, please refer to the Bitget official platform.

According to DL News, the Russian government has published a draft bill on the State Duma website, proposing to hold criminal liability for organizing the circulation of digital currencies without registration or permission from the Central Bank of Russia, with a maximum penalty of 7 years of forced labor.The draft states that ordinary violators could face fines of up to approximately $4,000 and a maximum sentence of 4 years; operators of large cryptocurrency trading platforms could face fines of up to approximately $13,000, and responsible individuals could be sentenced to 5 to 7 years. The bill also proposes that most cryptocurrency transactions be completed through commercial bank apps and imposes penalties on industrial cryptocurrency miners for unreported activities. If approved by the State Duma and the president, the new regulations are set to take effect on July 1, 2027.

The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), a clearing institution under the Japan Exchange Group, has partnered with Mizuho Bank, Nomura Securities, and Digital Asset to launch a proof-of-concept trial aimed at exploring the use of blockchain technology for collateral management of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs).According to a joint statement released on Monday, the trial will integrate existing systems from multiple institutions through the Canton Network to test the on-chain transfer and management of JGBs. This initiative aims to assess the feasibility of achieving real-time collateral trading while ensuring compliance with relevant financial instruments and trading laws. The trial will also investigate cross-border use cases involving clearinghouses, institutional investors, and other market participants.JSCC stated that this trial is part of a broader initiative under the Financial Services Agency's "Payment Innovation Project." As overseas markets like the United States make progress in testing similar infrastructures, advancing JGBs collateral management has become an "urgent priority." Previously, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in the U.S. launched a pilot to tokenize U.S. Treasury securities, and South Korea is also conducting related tests.

ChainCatcher live report, HashKey RWA CEO Anna Liu delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. She introduced that Hashkey Chain has deployed 11 tokenized products, with the total value of on-chain RWA assets reaching 2 billion Hong Kong dollars. The exchange has launched seven tokenized products, including Hong Kong's first tokenized gold ETF.She addressed the four major challenges of RWA: first, the authenticity of underlying assets; blockchain cannot guarantee the authenticity of data before it is on-chain, and the oracle problem is a core issue; second, the lack of a commercial closed loop; many projects go on-chain just for the sake of going on-chain, and new value must be created that traditional methods cannot achieve; third, the liquidity dilemma; even compliant STO exchanges in the U.S. often have daily trading volumes of only a few tens of thousands of dollars, requiring high-quality assets, licensed distribution channels, and secondary market infrastructure to be in place simultaneously; fourth, the complexity of cross-border compliance, suggesting that resource planning should be included from day one.She proposed that asset tokenization should first ask three questions: Can it be done? Is it suitable? Why tokenize? She cited data indicating that in the first quarter of this year, the global tokenized RWA market size has approached 30 billion dollars, growing over 260% in the past year, with the IMF characterizing it this month as "a fundamental restructuring of the financial architecture."

According to Cointelegraph, Iran has designated Bitcoin for paying the oil transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, but insiders say that most of the funds are still settled through stablecoins.Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union, stated that each tanker must report its cargo information to Iranian authorities via email, after which Iran will inform the amount of the fee to be paid, which must be paid in cryptocurrency. "Once the email arrives and Iran completes the assessment, the vessel will be given a few seconds to pay in Bitcoin, ensuring that it cannot be tracked or confiscated due to sanctions."

According to CoinDesk, Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister of the UK with the shortest term, stated in an interview that the UK economy is on a "very negative trajectory," with high taxes, excessive regulation, and energy costs making it so that the risks for entrepreneurs "often do not justify the returns." She attributed inflation and wealth inequality to "currency devaluation" and pointed out that discussions about monetary policy within the government have become "taboo," a phenomenon that is "quite disturbing."Truss expressed that she is "very interested" in Bitcoin, believing it to be an important tool against currency devaluation and to resist centralized financial control, and revealed that she had come into contact with Bitcoin as early as during her time as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.She is currently actively preparing for CPAC UK, planning to hold a three-day conference to unite entrepreneurs and activists to promote the "sovereignty and freedom" movement, stating bluntly: "There are only two choices, either sink or change completely."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that a cryptocurrency company linked to "Russian gangs and intelligence agencies" is funding political opponents and influencing domestic cryptocurrency regulatory legislation.During a parliamentary vote on Friday, Tusk pointed out that some Polish politicians obstructing cryptocurrency regulatory legislation are serving the interests of a company named Zondacrypto, which is accused of providing "financial support" to political figures and has ties to Russia. Tusk further claimed that the company sponsored the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event held in Poland last year, during which former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem publicly supported President Karol Nawrocki's campaign. Tusk bluntly stated that the company's funding sources involve not only "money related to the Russian mafia (Bratva)" but may also be connected to Russian intelligence agencies.Meanwhile, President Nawrocki won the election in June last year, with support from former U.S. President Donald Trump. The president's office responded that it does not oppose cryptocurrency regulation itself but opposes the "flawed regulatory model" proposed by the government. This controversy arises amid the political tug-of-war in Poland over the cryptocurrency regulatory bill. The bill aims to align with the EU's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) framework, but the president previously vetoed the related bill and blocked parliament from overturning the veto in December, hindering the regulatory process.

According to the official announcement, in order to optimize the trading experience and liquidity, the Bitget IPO Prime first phase project preSPAX will change from "over-the-counter trading" to "spot trading." The trading opening time is April 21 at 20:00 (UTC+8), and the swap function will be available 10 minutes after trading begins. For more details, please refer to the Bitget official platform.

Arkham monitoring shows that a U.S. government address has just transferred $606,470 worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime. This Bitcoin was previously seized by the U.S. government from Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein. It is currently unclear whether this batch of stolen Bitcoin will be sold on Coinbase.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain, the U.S. government deposited 8.2 BTC (approximately $606,000) into Coinbase Prime, with the funds originating from previously seized assets related to the Bitfinex hack.

According to market news, BlackRock transferred 7,551 ETH, worth 17.66 million dollars, to the Coinbase Prime address through its Ethereum exchange-traded fund ETHA three hours ago.