BANKEX Sues ZKsync for IP Theft

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• Cantor plans $3B Bitcoin $BTC investment vehicle with SoftBank, Tether, & Bitfinex; raised $200M in January to create a new firm called 21 Capital.

• Crypto[.]com $CRO and Trump Media & Technology Group $DJT finalize deal to launch a series of ETFs later this year; to comprise of various digital assets and securities with a “Made in America” focus.

• Galaxy Digital swaps ~$100M of Ethereum $ETH for ~$100M of Solana $SOL; Paradigm has transferred ~$300M of ETH to Anchorage over the past year.

• ⭐️ BANKEX sues Matter Labs $ZK alleging two ex-employees stole its technology to build ZKsync; Matter Labs spokesperson calls the allegation "baseless."

• Solana $SOL Foundation introduces new policy; for every new validator added to the Foundation’s Delegation Program, 3 will be removed if they have held Foundation stake for over 18 months and have less than 1,000 SOL in external stake.

• SOL Strategies $HODL secures $500M convertible note with ATW Partners to buy more Solana $SOL; currently holds 267,151 SOL worth ~$40M.

• DeFi Dev Corp $JNVR buys an additional 65,305 Solana $SOL for ~$11.5M; now holds 251,842 SOL worth ~$34M.

• Circle $USDC announces Circle Payments Network; connects financial institutions to orchestrate global money movement, powered by stablecoins.

• US SEC drops fraud case against Richard Heart, founder of HEX $HEX & PulseChain $PLS; remains on Europol’s most wanted list for fraud charges.

• FTX Co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried transfers to low-security FCI Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California; previously at medium-security facility in Victorville, California.

• Digital Asset Investment Products saw ~$6M of inflows last week; Bitcoin $BTC $6M outflows, Ethereum $ETH $26.7M outflows, Ripple $XRP $37.7M inflows.

Alpha

• PayPal $PYPL to launch rewards program for holding its $PYUSD stablecoin; to offer an annual yield of 3.7%.

• Reddio unveils $RDO tokenomics; 8% of total supply allocated for the community (community supporters, early users, advocates, & developers).

• ⭐️ Infrared launches Infrared Points Program; stake into Infrared's PoL vaults to earn points.

• Avantis launches 2x XP boost for LPs until May 31st; Avantis XP Season 2 ends on May 31st.

• ICYMI Weekly Airdrop Recap by Earndrop.

Airdrops

• ⭐️ Initia to launch $INIT TGE & airdrop on April 24th; testnet participants, power users of LayerZero, IBC, & MilkTIA, and social contributors are eligible.

• Milkyway launches $MILK airdrop allocation & eligibility checker; mPoint holders, Moolitia NFT holders, & milkINIT testers are eligible.

• Hyperlane launches $HYPER TGE & airdrop claim; Hyperlane users are eligible.

• Zora launches $ZORA TGE & airdrop claim; Zora users & creators are eligible.

Finance News

• IMF releases World Economic Outlook; lowers forecast for global economic growth this year from 3.3% to 2.8%.

• US President Trump says he has no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell; Trump has been critical of Powell due to current interest rates.

• ⭐️ Paul S. Atkins swears in as new Chairman of the US SEC; states top priority will be to “provide a rational, coherent, and principled regulatory foundation for digital assets.”

• US to reduce tariffs on China by 50%; though US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent says Trump is not offering a decrease in tariffs on China.

• RIOT Platforms $RIOT secures $100M credit facility from Coinbase $COIN; to be used to support operations and strategic growth initiatives.

• Bitdeer $BTDR raises $179M in loans and equity; to use proceeds to accelerate its push into Bitcoin $BTC ASIC manufacturing.

• Intel $INTC to reportedly lay off ~20% (~22K) of its workforce this week; part of new CEO Lip-Bu Tan's push to streamline management, reduce costs, and refocus the company.

Security and Exploits

• Cybercriminals steal record $16.6B from Americans in 2024; an increase of ~33% compared to 2023.

• Telegram threatens to exit France market if compelled to implement encryption backdoors; statement follows renewed pressure from French authorities to mandate surveillance access to private messages.

• WazirX to restart operations contingent on Singapore High Court ruling on May 13th; WazirX was recently hacked for $230M in July 2024.

Token Unlocks

• Optimism $OP / ~$24M / APR 30th
• Kamino $KMNO / ~$14M / APR 30th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• ⭐️ Symbiotic raises $29M in Series A funding led by Pantera Capital.

• Arch Network raises $13M in Series A funding led by Pantera Capital.

• Tally raises $8M in Series A funding led by AppWorks & Blockchain Capital.

• Inflow raises $1.1M in Pre-Seed funding from several investors.

The Degen Farmer