Today's top news highlights:

The Bank of Korea suggests considering introducing a circuit breaker mechanism in the cryptocurrency industry to prevent incidents like Bithumb's accidental Bitcoin distribution.

CFTC Chairman: CFTC will continue to defend its "exclusive regulatory authority" over prediction markets in court.

The first part of the "Aave Will Win" on-chain proposal has been approved, granting Labs a $25 million grant.

Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be completely blocked, while the US military said it would only block Iranian ports and ships.

Data: CONX, ARB, DBR and other tokens will see a large unlocking next week, with CONX unlocking value estimated at approximately $16.2 million.

Regulation & Macro

The Bank of Korea suggests considering introducing a circuit breaker mechanism in the cryptocurrency industry to prevent incidents like Bithumb's accidental Bitcoin distribution.

The European Central Bank supports the EU's decision to transfer regulatory authority over crypto assets from member states to a unified body.

The European Central Bank supports the EU's plan to centralize the supervision of financial markets, including those of crypto asset service providers, from individual member states to a single EU body.

CFTC Chairman: CFTC will continue to defend its "exclusive regulatory authority" over prediction markets in court.

Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be completely blocked, while the US military said it would only block Iranian ports and ships.

A statement from U.S. Central Command said its blockade applies to all vessels of all nations entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, covering all Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports and passing through the Strait of Hormuz will not be affected. This action is more restrained than Trump's description on Sunday, when he had threatened to blockade "all vessels attempting to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz." However, the announced blockade appears to be broader, targeting vessels leaving all Iranian ports. Trump and his advisors are considering resuming limited military strikes against Iran while simultaneously imposing a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

Bank of Korea governor nominee: CBDC and deposit tokens should become the core of the digital currency ecosystem

Iranian President: Iran is ready to reach a balanced and fair agreement.

Informed officials: Second round of US-Iran talks could be held within days.

Officials familiar with the matter revealed that regional countries are vying to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table after marathon peace talks in Islamabad failed to reach an agreement. Diplomatic doors remain open, and a second round of talks could take place within days. Regional countries are consulting with the United States to secure an extension of the fragile two-week ceasefire announced Tuesday evening. Iranian officials have offered "alternative proposals," including continuing symbolic uranium enrichment activities or reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium, but the two sides have failed to reach a compromise.

Trump: The US-Iran talks reached an agreement on most issues, but the nuclear issue remained unresolved.

The U.S. military will blockade maritime traffic at Iranian ports starting at 10 p.m. on April 13.

U.S. Central Command announced that it will begin implementing a maritime blockade on all ports of entry and exit from Iran at 10:00 AM Eastern Time on April 13 (10:00 PM Beijing Time today). This blockade will apply equally to vessels of all nations entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Central Command will not impede the freedom of navigation of vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Further information will be provided to commercial seafarers through formal notification prior to the start of the blockade.

Iran: The Strait of Hormuz is under close monitoring and complete control.

Trump: Orders Navy to seize ships paying tolls to Iran and destroy mines in the Strait of Hormuz

US President Trump stated that he has also instructed the US Navy to search and seize every vessel that has paid passage fees to Iran in international waters. We will also begin destroying the mines laid by the Iranians in the Straits. Any Iranians who fire upon us or our peaceful vessels will be blown to "hell."

Trump: Closing the Strait of Hormuz would be similar to Venezuela's measures.

US President Trump stated that social media posts about eliminating Iranian civilization brought Iranians to the negotiating table, and that two US warships transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday were not obstructed. He added that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be similar to measures taken against Venezuela.

Trump: The Iranians haven't left the negotiating table yet, and they are expected to return.

Project Updates

Binance Alpha will list GENIUS at 19:00 today, with an airdrop threshold of 230 points.

Binance Alpha will launch trading for the Genius Foundation (GENIUS) on April 13, 2026 at 19:00 (UTC+8). Users with at least 230 Binance Alpha Points can receive an airdrop of 240 GENIUS tokens on a first-come, first-served basis. If the reward pool is not fully distributed, the points threshold will automatically decrease by 5 every 5 minutes. Claiming the airdrop will cost 15 Binance Alpha Points, and users must confirm their claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours; otherwise, they will be considered to have forfeited their claim.

Polkadot responds to Hyperbridge vulnerability: Only affects DOT bridged to Ethereum; security of assets within the ecosystem remains unaffected.

The Polkadot team is aware of a security issue in Hyperbridge's Ethereum gateway contract. This vulnerability only affects DOT tokens bridged to Ethereum via Hyperbridge; DOT and other bridging solutions within the Polkadot ecosystem are unaffected. Polkadot, its parachains, and native DOT remain secure, and Hyperbridge has been suspended during the investigation.

Hyperbridge gateway was compromised by a contract attack; hackers profited approximately $237,000 by minting and selling 1 billion DOT tokens.

The Hyperbridge gateway contract was compromised. Attackers forged messages, altered the administrator privileges of the Polkadot token contract on Ethereum, and profited approximately $237,000 by minting and selling 1 billion tokens.

Genius: Based on community feedback, a "refund" function has been added to the airdrop program.

Based on community feedback, Genius has added a "refund" feature to its airdrop program. Users can choose to destroy all their GENIUS airdrop shares within 48 hours of receiving the TGE in exchange for a refund of the net fees charged by the platform. The refund is based on net fees, not total fees—the platform has already deducted over $7 million in cashback to the trading community and over $1.3 million in referral rewards from the refundable amount. The refund only covers the portion charged by Genius itself; fees charged through third-party agreements are not included. The choice to hold GENIUS or request a refund is entirely up to the user.

Investment and financing news

The first part of the "Aave Will Win" on-chain proposal has been approved, granting Labs a $25 million grant.

The Aave DAO passed an on-chain proposal to fund the first part of the "Aave Will Win" framework, approving a $25 million stablecoin grant and an allocation of 75,000 AAVE tokens (approximately $6.8 million) to Aave Labs with approximately 75% of the votes in favor. The stablecoin portion consists of 5 million aEthLidoGHO tokens to be released immediately, 5 million to be released in batches over 6 months, and 15 million to be released in batches over 12 months. The AAVE portion will be released linearly over 48 months. The Aave Chan Initiative cast the largest dissenting vote, with 166,200 AAVE tokens. Aave founder Stani Kulechov stated that the proposal is "the most important proposal in Aave's history."

NXC, the parent company of South Korean gaming giant Nexon, reduced its holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum and sold shares in a cryptocurrency exchange.

NXC, the parent company of South Korean gaming giant Nexon, is restructuring its cryptocurrency-related business. As of the end of 2025, NXC held 147.6 billion won (approximately US$108 million) in cryptocurrency assets, including 2,356 Bitcoins and 22,400 Ethereums, a 15.2% decrease from 174 billion won in the same period last year. NXC has sold its stake in the overseas exchange Bitstamp and decided to sell all of its shares in the South Korean exchange Korbit. Simultaneously, NXC continues to diversify its business, acquiring a stake in European industrial solutions company CLI Group through its Belgian investment subsidiary NXMH in February of this year.

SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony have jointly established a new company to develop Nissan's AI.

A new company, "Japan AI Basic Model Development," has been established, primarily led by SoftBank, NEC, Honda, and Sony Group, to develop artificial intelligence (AI). With government support, the company aims to create domestically developed AI basic models and provide these models to Japanese companies. It plans to recruit approximately 100 AI developers, with a SoftBank executive serving as president. In addition to these four companies, Nippon Steel, Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mizuho Bank have also invested in the project. SoftBank and NEC will conduct the development, while Honda will apply the results to autonomous driving.

Opinions & Analysis

Analysis: Liquidity may become a negative factor for Bitcoin; the current macroeconomic structure is similar to that of 2022.

Liquidity could become a headwind for Bitcoin. February's PCE data showed that US consumer spending was already weak, with incomes contracting and real spending growing almost nonexistent, even before data on the impact of the Iran war. March's CPI then recorded 3.3%, with energy contributing three-quarters of the increase. The US Policy Leading Economic Index (LEI), which leads real yields by about six months, is declining. The last time this occurred was in 2022: tight monetary policy met with an energy shock, and that year Bitcoin's correlation with real yields turned deeply negative.

Yi Lihua: Continue to wait for a rebound before taking profits; if a financial crisis recurs, it will also be a buying opportunity for Bitcoin.

Liquid Capital founder Yi Lihua posted that he will continue to wait for the rebound before taking profits, and the moment the agreement is reached will be a bullish day. From a medium- to long-term perspective, many are waiting for a major crisis. If a financial crisis does recur, the time will come to test whether BTC is a safe-haven asset or simply following the trend, presenting a super buying opportunity. AI has given outstanding founders a new opportunity; now, a few people can run a company with a global product.

Several Wall Street firms have lowered their Q1 earnings forecasts for crypto companies such as Coinbase.

Arthur Hayes: Hyperliquid's price discovery mechanism over the weekend suggests a poor Asian opening.

Michael Saylor: Dividends can be paid indefinitely if Bitcoin's growth rate exceeds 2.05%, without the need to issue new MSTR shares.

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor stated that the company's annualized break-even return on its Bitcoin holdings is approximately 2.05%. If Bitcoin's long-term growth rate exceeds this level, Strategy can pay dividends indefinitely without issuing new MSTR shares; this data can be tracked in real-time on the company's website.

Important data

Data: CONX, ARB, DBR and other tokens will see a large unlocking next week, with CONX unlocking value estimated at approximately $16.2 million.

CONX, ARB, DBR, and other tokens will see large-scale unlocks next week. Specifically: Connex (CONX) will unlock approximately 1.32 million tokens, worth about $16.2 million, at 8:00 AM Beijing time on April 15th; Arbitrum (ARB) will unlock approximately 92.65 million tokens, worth about $10.3 million, at 9:00 PM Beijing time on April 16th; deBridge (DBR) will unlock approximately 618 million tokens, worth about $9.2 million, at 8:00 AM Beijing time on April 17th; and other tokens such as YZY, STRK, SEI, CHEEL, and ZK will unlock between $2.7 million and $6.3 million.

A major whale is suspected of liquidating its entire holding of 7,050 ETH, having held the position for over a month and profiting approximately $1.647 million.

A whale holding ETH for over a month appears to have liquidated its position, with an estimated profit of $1.647 million. The address 0xf4a…48cCa withdrew 7,100 ETH (approximately $13.87 million) from Binance on February 20th at an average price of $1,954, with a peak unrealized profit of $2.763 million. Two hours ago, it deposited 7,050 ETH into Binance at $2,187. If sold, this would result in a profit of $1.647 million.

PyShield: 1 billion DOT tokens were minted and sold on Ethereum

One billion DOT tokens were minted and sold on Ethereum.

Suspected manipulators withdrew 57.88 million Binance Life tokens in the past 20 hours, bringing their on-chain holdings to 11.7% of the total.

In the past 20 hours, 57.88 million Binance Life tokens ($9.37 million) were withdrawn from Binance by suspected Binance Life controllers through six wallets. Binance Life's price has risen sixfold in the past two weeks, from $0.037 to $0.22. Additionally, they withdrew 59 million Binance Life tokens from Binance through two wallets at the end of February, and now hold approximately 11.7% of the total Binance Life supply on-chain (116.9 million tokens, worth $21.71 million).

RAVE has surged 20-fold in the past three days, with the address of the "market maker" suspected of controlling the spot price and using contracts to profit from it.

RAVE's price surged from $0.3 to $6.2 in the last three days, a 20-fold increase. RAVE "market manipulators" are suspected of controlling the spot price and then using contracts to profit from it. Over the past three days, they first transferred 30.58 million RAVE (US$42 million) to Bitget to attract short selling; then, in the past two days, they withdrew 31.94 million RAVE back to the blockchain from Bitget, simultaneously driving up the RAVE spot price on platforms like Bitget.

The FBI reports that cryptocurrency fraud losses are projected to reach a record high of $11.36 billion by 2025, with the elderly being the hardest hit.

A report released by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center shows that cryptocurrency-related fraud losses reached a record $11.366 billion in 2025, a 22% increase year-over-year, accounting for more than half of the total $20.9 billion in internet crime losses for the year. A total of 181,600 cryptocurrency-related complaints were received, with an average loss of $62,600 per case. People aged 60 and older reported 44,500 complaints, resulting in losses of $4.4 billion, an increase of approximately 56% compared to 2024. Cryptocurrency investment scams caused $7.2 billion in losses, ranking first among all types of fraud. Fraudulent activities through cryptocurrency ATMs and self-service machines resulted in losses of $389 million, a 58% increase year-over-year.

FTX/Alameda unstaking approximately 198,400 SOL tokens, worth $16.21 million.

FTX/Alameda unstaking 198,426 SOL tokens, worth $16.21 million.

Trader Loracle increased his short position in CL to $19.76 million, bringing his total long position to over $47.17 million.

Trader Loracle has increased his 7x leveraged short position in CL to $19.76 million and added a 5x leveraged long position in TON. Loracle also holds long positions in BTC, NEAR, LIT, TAO, PAXG, and ENA, totaling over $47.17 million.

The two wallets have a combined stake of over 23,000 ETH, worth approximately $50.74 million.

The two wallets have staked a total of over 23,000 ETH today, worth approximately $50.74 million. Wallet "0xE3" staked 18,000 ETH, worth $39.45 million. Wallet "0xd18" withdrew 5,142 ETH ($11.29 million) from Gemini and sent them to the staking platform.

A whale has set 10 major targets first, and its short positions in BTC and ETH have accumulated a floating profit of $3.21 million.

The short BTC and ETH combination held by crypto contract whale "First Set 10 Big Targets" has accumulated a floating profit of $3.21 million. The position details are as follows: BTC short position: 2567.49 BTC, average opening price: $71554.61, current floating profit: $1.185 million; ETH short position: 38465.22 ETH, average opening price: $2248.74, current floating profit: $2.028 million.

The US military's blockade order on Iranian ports has expired.

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