In an interview with CNBC, Fundstrat co-founder and BitMine chairman Tom Lee said that the market has shown clear signs of bottoming out, and he remains optimistic about the energy sector, the seven major U.S. stocks, the software sector, and crypto assets such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back published an article on the X platform, again denying that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin. He stated that the conclusions of New York Times investigative reporter John Carreyrou suffer from "selective attribution": because Carreyrou was very active on cypherpunk mailing lists, posting far more than others, he was more likely to leave comments on topics such as digital cash, making it easier for investigators to associate his statements with Satoshi Nakamoto, which he considered a statistical bias. Back believes the remaining evidence is coincidence and the result of people with similar experiences and interests using similar wording. He pointed out that Satoshi Nakamoto needed specific skills and experience to invent Bitcoin, and that he and many others, in their previous decade of design attempts, "seemed very close to the final solution, but in reality, never quite grasped the core."
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, called on Congress to pass the Clarity Act to establish a clear regulatory framework for the crypto market and ensure that the United States remains a global financial standard setter.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, it appears that someone attempted to manipulate the FARTCOIN market. In the past four hours, four wallets linked to the same entity opened long positions in FARTCOIN worth $33.3 million, which were subsequently forcibly liquidated, resulting in a loss of $3.02 million.
Meta launches new AI model Muse Spark
According to Yicai Global, on April 8th local time, Meta officially launched its new AI model, "Muse Spark." Developed by Meta's "Super Intelligence Lab" and led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, the new model achieves performance close to that of the previous Llama 4 mid-sized model with lower computing resources by restructuring AI infrastructure.
Visa has launched the "Intelligent Commerce Connect" service, which enables AI agents to complete purchases and payments on behalf of consumers in commercial settings worldwide.
Bitcoin Depot disclosed that it was hacked and $3.6 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen.
According to Decrypt, Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it suffered a security breach on March 23, during which hackers stole approximately 50.9 bitcoins, worth about $3.665 million. The attackers compromised the company's IT systems and obtained credentials for digital asset settlement accounts, allowing them to transfer funds without authorization. Bitcoin Depot stated that it has activated its incident response mechanism, hired external cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack path and secure the remaining assets, and has notified law enforcement. The company stated that its customer platforms and user data were not affected by the intrusion. The incident is considered to have a significant impact on the company's operations and may result in reputational damage and legal, regulatory, and incident response costs.
According to Cryptopolitan, the French National Assembly has passed a bill to combat social and tax fraud, requiring cryptocurrency holders to declare self-custodied wallets holding more than €5,000 in digital assets to the tax authorities. The bill has passed its first reading in the National Assembly and still needs review by the Senate and approval by a joint committee. The reporting obligations and monitoring mechanisms are expected to officially take effect by the end of 2026 or early 2027. In 2025, French tax authorities increased reporting requirements by €249 million, collecting over €17 billion in taxes and penalties. Crypto assets will be included in the monitoring mechanism to further enhance investigative capabilities. Taxpayers need to prepare for greater transparency regarding their digital assets in advance, or they will face penalties equivalent to those for failing to declare or report overseas bank accounts.
Michael Saylor: Bitcoin may have bottomed out; the risks of quantum computing have been exaggerated.
According to CoinDesk, Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy, stated at an event hosted by Mizuho that Bitcoin likely bottomed out around $60,000 in early February, with the bottom determined more by selling pressure than valuation. He believes current selling pressure is limited, ETF inflows are absorbing daily supply, and corporate asset allocation to Bitcoin is creating sustained demand. Saylor predicts the catalyst for the next bull market will be the formation of a banking and digital credit system built on Bitcoin, transforming it from a non-interest-bearing asset into a capital market engine. Regarding the recently discussed threat of quantum computing, Saylor believes the risks are exaggerated; the threat remains theoretical and may not be addressed for decades, by which time solutions will already be available.
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF recorded $34 million in inflows on its first day of trading.
According to CoinDesk, Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, MSBT, saw inflows of approximately $34 million on its first day of trading on April 8th, with a trading volume exceeding 1.6 million shares. The fund tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin benchmark price at 4 PM New York settlement and has an expense ratio of 0.14%, the lowest among similar products. MSBT's core advantage lies in Morgan Stanley's wealth management network, whose vast system of financial advisors manages trillions of dollars in client assets, providing the fund with distribution channels that are difficult for other issuers to replicate. Some analysts predict that the fund may divert funds from existing products, particularly BlackRock's largest ETF, IBIT. IBIT has accumulated over $53 billion in assets since its listing in January 2024, becoming BlackRock's most successful ETF product.
The Ethereum Foundation has already sold 3,750 of the 5,000 ETH it planned to sell.
According to on-chain analyst Ember, of the 5,000 ETH that the Ethereum Foundation planned to sell, 3,750 have already been sold (worth $8.3 million), with an average selling price of $2,214.
The temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran may break down due to Israel.
According to CCTV International News, the United States and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire and stated that negotiations would be held this week. Although only one day has passed since the ceasefire was announced, disagreements have already emerged regarding whether the ceasefire includes Lebanon. Iranian analysts point out that Israel views Iran as its biggest enemy in the region, and its intensified attacks on Lebanon after the ceasefire are an attempt to undermine the ceasefire and weaken Iran's regional influence. If Israel cannot cease its actions against Lebanon in the short term, regional conflict could reignite.
Native Markets launches a zero-fee, zero-slippage deposit and withdrawal channel for Hyperliquid.
According to Cointelegraph, Native Markets has launched a zero-fee, zero-slippage deposit and withdrawal channel for Hyperliquid through USDH.com, initially targeting US bank and brokerage accounts.
Continue Capital unpledged 603,000 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $23.3 million.
According to Mlm Onchain monitoring, Continue Capital has just unstaking 603,000 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $23.3 million.
Chainalysis: Stablecoin trading volume is projected to reach $1500 trillion by 2035.
According to The Block, Chainalysis released a report predicting that stablecoin trading volume could reach as high as $1500 trillion by 2035. Baseline growth alone could push adjusted stablecoin trading volume to $719 trillion by 2035; this upper limit would be significantly higher if macroeconomic catalysts such as demographic shifts and merchant adoption were added. The report points out that stablecoins processed approximately $28 trillion in "real economic activity" in 2025; this data excludes transaction noise and only counts payments, remittances, and settlements. Two major driving forces include: an estimated $100 trillion in wealth will shift from older generations to the more digitally accustomed Millennials and Gen Z between 2028 and 2048; and stablecoins are becoming more deeply embedded in merchant checkout and back-end payment systems, with users unaware of the underlying encryption technology.
According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appointed David Woodcock as the new director of its enforcement division, succeeding Margaret Ryan. Woodcock previously served as the SEC's chief of staff in Fort Worth from 2011 to 2015 and is currently a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He has no explicit background in the cryptocurrency industry. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that Woodcock's return will help focus on misconduct that has caused the greatest harm to investors. This personnel change comes a month after Ryan's departure. Reuters reported that Ryan wanted to delve deeper into fraud allegations involving President Trump's inner circle, but faced opposition from Atkins and senior Republican officials on the commission.
According to The Block, Canary Capital filed an S-1 petition with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, seeking to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the spot price of the PEPE token. In the filing, Canary stated that PEPE will launch in April 2023 with a total supply exceeding 420 trillion tokens and noted that the meme coin has no utility. Last year, Canary also filed applications for ETFs tracking the prices of MOG and Pengu.
According to Jinshi News, Nick Timiraos, often referred to as the "Federal Reserve mouthpiece," wrote that the ceasefire between the US and Iran offers an opportunity to mitigate the serious threat currently posed to the global economy. However, for the Federal Reserve, this may simply be a change of scenery: persistent energy price volatility is enough to keep inflation high, but not enough to severely damage demand, thus prolonging the period of unchanged interest rates. The minutes of the Fed's March meeting emphasized that the war was not the primary reason for the Fed's reluctance to cut rates, but rather it complicated the Fed's already cautious stance. Even before the conflict, the path to rate cuts had narrowed. The labor market had stabilized, easing concerns about a recession, while progress toward the Fed's 2% inflation target had stalled.
According to Jinshi News, following the outbreak of the war with Iran, Federal Reserve officials weighed different scenarios facing the US economy, including scenarios requiring interest rate cuts and scenarios that might require rate hikes. The minutes of the March FOMC meeting released Wednesday showed that most officials were concerned that the war could impact the labor market, thus necessitating lower interest rates. At the same time, many officials also emphasized the risks of inflation, which could ultimately require a rate hike. The minutes showed that an increasing number of officials recommended including relevant wording in the post-meeting statement, mentioning the possibility of a rate hike under certain conditions. The minutes stated: "Some participants believed that there were sufficient reasons to include a two-way description of future interest rate decisions in the post-meeting statement to reflect that raising the target range for the interest rate might be appropriate if inflation persists above the target level."
US media: Trump considers withdrawing US troops from some NATO allies.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal cited by Jinshi, US government officials revealed that the Trump administration is considering a plan to punish some NATO members it believes did not support the US and Israel during the war with Iran. The proposal includes withdrawing US troops from NATO members that did not provide support and deploying them to countries more supportive of US military operations. This proposal is far less serious than Trump's recent threats to completely withdraw the US from NATO; without congressional approval, Trump has no authority to withdraw. The plan has been circulating and gaining support among senior government officials in recent weeks and is currently in the initial conceptual stage. It is one of several plans to punish NATO that the White House is discussing. The White House previously stated that Trump believes NATO has failed the "test" and will discuss withdrawal with Rutte.
According to CCTV, on April 8th, the first day of the temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran, the Israeli military launched its largest airstrike against Hezbollah in Lebanon since the start of the conflict. Iran claimed that Hezbollah violated the ceasefire agreement, reopened the Strait of Hormuz, and threatened to take deterrent action against Israeli military targets. The White House announced on the 8th that the first round of US-Iran talks would be held in Pakistan on the 11th, but Iran stated that three key clauses of its 10 ceasefire terms had been violated, undermining the "foundation for negotiations." Earlier reports indicated that the White House stated the first round of US-Iran talks would be held in Islamabad on the morning of the 11th.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will jointly release proposed rules requiring institutions issuing stablecoins in the U.S. to establish robust anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance systems. These systems must include the ability to "intercept, freeze, and deny" suspicious transactions and to fulfill obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act. The rules will implement the GENIUS Act passed last year, requiring issuers to identify high-risk clients and activities based on their own business, cooperate with FinCEN in tracking down entities of "major money laundering concern," and identify and block transactions that may violate U.S. sanctions through risk-based measures. Issuers may face enforcement action if their compliance systems are found to have serious or systemic deficiencies.
Iranian armed forces announced a victory in the war against the United States and Israel.
On March 8, the central headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces in Hatem-Anbia issued a statement announcing a victory in a 40-day war of resistance against the United States and Israel, and stating that it was prepared for a "more intense, longer, and more extensive war." The statement claimed that over the past 40 days, the Iranian Armed Forces had struck US bases in the Middle East and key Israeli military, security, and economic targets, inflicting extremely heavy casualties and economic losses on the US and Israel, and completely seizing the initiative in the war. Ultimately, the US and Israel "yielded" and accepted the ceasefire terms proposed by Iran. This proves that Iran is capable of defeating its enemies on any level.
Trump: The two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran does not include Lebanon and Hezbollah.
In an interview on the 8th, US President Trump stated that the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran does not include Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Sources say Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if Israel's attacks on Lebanon continue.
According to Iran's Tasnim News Agency, sources familiar with the matter said that Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if Israel's attacks on Lebanon continue. The sources indicated that Iranian armed forces are targeting and preparing a response to Wednesday's Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
According to Bloomberg, Hong Kong Mortgage Corp., a wholly-owned financial institution of the Hong Kong government, is considering issuing its first digital bond, aiming to raise approximately HK$10 billion to HK$12 billion. If the maximum amount is reached, it would become the world's largest digital bond issuance. The multi-tranche bonds are planned to be denominated in Hong Kong dollars and offshore yuan, and could be offered to the market as early as next month. Specific terms are still under negotiation. The report points out that this move aligns with Hong Kong's policy direction of promoting the normalization of digital asset and tokenized bond issuance. These digital bonds will utilize blockchain technology for issuance, trading, and settlement, thereby shortening settlement cycles and reducing operating costs.
The Ethereum Foundation announced plans to convert 5,000 ETH into stablecoins in batches through CoWSwap's TWAP feature, to support ongoing research, funding, and donations.
According to blockchain detective ZachXBT, a North Korean IT worker's device was infected with a Trojan, leading to the leakage of data from its internal payment server, involving approximately 390 accounts, chat logs, and encrypted transactions. The leaked data shows that the North Korean IT team reported income through the internal platform luckyguys.site, using numerous forged identities and fake legal documents to transfer cryptocurrency from exchanges or other services to a wallet controlled by the administrator account "PC-1234," and then exchanged it for fiat currency through Chinese bank accounts and platforms such as Payoneer. Since November 2025, the related addresses have received over $3.5 million, and one of the Tron addresses was frozen by Tether in December 2025. ZachXBT also released the network's organizational structure, payment details, and some publicly verifiable addresses.
Securitize provides on-chain tokenization services for Currenc common stock.
Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group Inc. has commissioned Securitize to tokenize its common stock, with plans to enable 24/7 trading, divisible holding, and support for DeFi protocols and algorithmic trading.
Iran plans to charge transit oil tankers a cryptocurrency toll during the Hormuz ceasefire.
According to the Financial Times, a spokesperson for the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters Union stated that Iran plans to charge all oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz a passage fee of $1 per barrel during the two-week ceasefire. Tankers will be required to use the northern route closer to the Iranian coast, declare their cargo to Iran via email, and complete payment within seconds using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Iran stated that this measure is to monitor for arms shipments, and unauthorized vessels will face the threat of military strikes. Currently, only a few tankers with ties to Iran are attempting passage, with approximately 300 to 400 vessels waiting to sail in the Gulf. Industry insiders say it will be difficult to clear the backlog within two weeks.
Polygon Labs plans to raise up to $100 million to expand its payments business.
According to The Information, Polygon Labs is in talks with investors to raise up to $100 million for its payments business. The report states that the funding will be used to accelerate Polygon's expansion in crypto payments and related infrastructure. Specific investors and valuation details have not yet been disclosed.
Cango sold 2,000 bitcoins in March to repay BTC-staking loans, reducing mining costs to $68,000.
Cango Inc., a NYSE-listed company, released its Bitcoin mining operations data for March 2026. The company's total hashrate was 37.01 EH/s, of which 27.98 EH/s was self-operated and 9.02 EH/s was leased. The company is prioritizing cash profit margins by shutting down inefficient mining rigs, deploying S21/S21XP mining rigs in high-electricity-price areas, and relocating to areas with lower-cost electricity. The average cost per Bitcoin in cash decreased to $68,215.83 in March, a 19.3% decrease from $84,552 in Q4 2025. Cango sold 2,000 Bitcoins that month to repay BTC-collateralized loans, reducing the loan balance to $30.6 million. Its on-paper Bitcoin holdings were 1,025.69 Bitcoins. Previously, it received $65 million in equity investment and $10 million in convertible bonds to support its transformation into energy and AI infrastructure.
Public blockchain project Pharos announced the completion of a $44 million Series A funding round, with investors including Sumitomo Corporation CVC, SNZ, Chainlink, Flow Traders, and several undisclosed global financial institutions. Pharos positions itself as a native Layer 1 financial asset platform for Real-Time Asset Exploitation (RWA) and traditional finance, highlighting its deep parallel execution architecture and native compliance, aiming to tap into the approximately $50 trillion RWA and TradeFi market. During the AtlanticOcean testnet phase, the project claims to have achieved participation from millions of users and addresses, and has reached a solar energy asset RWA cooperation agreement with photovoltaic company GCL Group.
US President Trump: Countries that supply military weapons to Iran will be subject to a 50% tariff on all goods they export to the United States, effective immediately. There are no exclusions or exemptions.
White House report: "Banning stablecoin yields" has very limited impact on bank lending.
A report released today by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, titled "Effects of Stablecoin Yield Prohibition on Bank Lending," indicates that, according to model predictions, a complete ban on stablecoin yields would, in the baseline scenario, result in only approximately $2.1 billion in increased bank lending, representing about 0.02% of total loans, while incurring a net welfare loss of approximately $800 million. Large banks would contribute about 76% of the new loans, and community banks about 24%. The report states that concerns about "deposit outflows" are relatively small in scale because most stablecoin reserves would still flow back into the financial system in the form of government bonds, with a limited portion actually deviating from the credit multiplier. Even under extreme assumptions such as all reserves being non-lending cash and the Federal Reserve abandoning the current framework, the increase in bank lending would only be about 4.4%.
According to CoinDesk, South Korean financial regulators have mandated that all domestic cryptocurrency exchanges implement a standardized withdrawal delay mechanism to curb phishing scams that exploit "instant" withdrawals. The new regulations remove the discretionary power of individual exchanges to set "exceptions" for quick withdrawals, instead requiring them to uniformly review eligibility based on account history, trading patterns, and behavioral changes. Regulators anticipate that less than 1% of users will qualify for "instant withdrawals." Exchanges are also required to strengthen identity verification and enhance fund flow monitoring, marking a shift from industry self-regulation to a nationwide standard for fraud prevention.
According to an investigative article published today by The New York Times, a comparison of language features between early Bitcoin emails and the Cypherpunks mailing list from the 1990s points to Adam Back, a 55-year-old British cryptographer, as a possible candidate for Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of Bitcoin. The report states that Adam Back repeatedly expressed similar libertarian stances to Satoshi in his 1990s emails, and their comparisons—including technological analogies (Napster vs. Gnutella), energy consumption versus fiat currency costs, and his self-assessment that he was "better at coding than writing"—are highly consistent. The reporter further narrowed down the suspects from 562 candidates to Adam Back through multiple screening processes, including spelling habits and word combinations.
