France’s Lightning Stock Exchange, known as Lise, is preparing to host what could become Europe’s first fully onchain stock market debut, a step that brings tokenization into the initial public offering (IPO) process.

The Paris-based exchange, approved last year under the EU’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) pilot regime, plans to list French aerospace supplier ST Group on April 9, according to a Thursday press release.

ST Group builds composite parts used in aircraft, defense systems and space programs. The company says it has about 59 million euros ($68 million) in potential program revenue over the next decade and aims to scale output as demand rises across aerospace and military supply chains.

Tokenization has gained traction among large financial firms using blockchain rails to settle trades and track ownership of assets such as bonds, funds and equities. Proponents say tokenization could improve capital markets with cheaper and faster settlements and more efficient operations. Wall Street giants like the Nasdaq and NYSE are also laid out plans for tokenized securities trading on their platforms.

Lise pushes that concept further by moving the IPO process itself onchain. The exchange focuses on small and mid-sized firms that would face high costs and long timelines when raising capital through traditional markets. It is backed by French lenders such as BNP Paribas, CACEIS (a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole Group) and Bpifrance.

ST Group’s debut, if successful, could offer a blueprint for smaller firms a cheaper and faster path to public markets within European rules.

Read more: EU at risk of falling behind the U.S. in tokenization rules, digital asset firms warn

Technology investment platform Fundrise is partnering with crypto exchange Kraken to tokenize shares of its Fundrise Innovation Fund VCX, according to reporting from Crowdfund Insider. The deal will see the publicly listed VCX vehicle, which trades on the NYSE, wrapped into a blockchain-based representation on Kraken’s tokenized equities venue xStocks under the ticker VCXx.

Kraken’s xStocks framework, powered by Payward, already offers more than 100 fully backed tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs, and the addition of VCXx marks its first move into tokenized access to a diversified private-tech portfolio. Fundrise CEO Ben Miller said, “We built VCX to act as a bridge between the public and private markets,” arguing that tokenizing the fund on xStocks lets “individual investors own a piece of the best private technology companies in the world” via a regulated structure.

The VCXx token will be issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited and offered via Payward Digital Solutions, with trading set to go live on xStocks “in the coming days.” Fundrise and Kraken say VCXx will be fully backed by underlying VCX shares and designed to move seamlessly between centralized exchanges, self-custodied wallets, and onchain applications.

According to xStocks’ launch materials, VCXx will be purchasable using USDG — Kraken’s on-platform dollar-denominated token — or U.S. dollars, giving eligible investors outside the U.S. a way to gain exposure to VCX’s portfolio. That portfolio includes stakes in late-stage private firms such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks, bundling them into a single liquid, tokenized asset that can also be used as collateral or integrated into automated strategies.

Fundrise’s Innovation Fund was launched to open up late-stage private tech deals that are typically reserved for institutions and ultra‑high‑net‑worth investors. By bringing VCX onchain, xStocks and Fundrise are extending tokenized equities beyond public stocks into private-market exposure, a segment Kraken has called “one of the most sought‑after and historically inaccessible parts of the market.”

The partners argue that tokenizing VCX shares allows diversified private-tech exposure to be accessed, transferred, and integrated into DeFi with the same flexibility as other digital assets. If VCXx gains liquidity, it could become a template for how other listed vehicles and funds wrap private holdings into programmable, globally tradable tokens without dismantling existing regulatory structures.

Elliptic said Thursday the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit, the largest this year, carries “multiple indicators” of North Korea’s state-sponsored DPRK hacker group involvement.

The research firm pointed specifically to onchain behavior, laundering methodologies and network-level signals, all of which align with previous state-linked attacks.

Drift Protocol, whose token has dropped over 40% to roughly $0.06 since the hack, is the largest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on the Solana blockchain.

“If confirmed, this incident would represent the eighteenth DPRK act Elliptic has tracked this year, with over $300 million stolen so far,” the report said.

“It is a continuation of the DPRK’s sustained campaign of large-scale cryptoasset theft, which the U.S. government has linked to the funding of its weapons programs. DPRK-linked actors are believed to be responsible for billions of dollars in cryptoasset theft in recent years,” Elliptic added.

Hours earlier, Arkham data showed that over $250 million had been moved from Drift to an interim wallet, then to various other addresses.

In December, a Chainalysis report revealed DPRK hackers stole a record $2 billion of crypto in 2025, including the $1.4 billion Bybit breach, representing a 51% increase from the previous year. The U.S. Treasury Department last month said North Korea uses the stolen assets to fund the country’s weapons of mass destruction program.

Rather than focusing on the exploit itself, Elliptic’s analysis highlights a familiar operational pattern. The activity appears “premeditated and carefully staged,” with early test transactions and pre-positioned wallets preceding the main event.

The report explains that once executed, funds were rapidly consolidated and swapped, bridged across chains, and converted into more liquid assets, reflecting a structured, repeatable laundering flow designed to obscure origin while maintaining control.

A central challenge, Elliptic notes, is Solana’s account model. Because each asset is held in a separate token account, activity tied to a single actor can appear fragmented across multiple addresses. Without linking these, investigators risk seeing “fragments of the attacker’s activity, not the complete picture.”

This is where Elliptic’s report highlights the clustering approach, which connects token accounts back to a single entity, allowing exposure to be identified regardless of which address is screened. In an incident involving more than a dozen asset types, that entity-level view becomes critical.

The case also emphasizes, Elliptic adds in its report, how laundering has become inherently cross-chain. Funds moved from Solana to Ethereum and beyond, demonstrating the need for what Elliptic described as “holistic cross-chain tracing capabilities.”

TLDR

• Ethereum derivatives recorded more than $1 billion in sell volume within one hour after Trump’s speech on Iran.
• Ethereum’s price fell over 4% as traders increased short positions in the derivatives market.
• Binance accounted for nearly $968 million of the total Ethereum derivatives sell activity.
• The S&P 500 lost about $500 billion in market value shortly after the remarks.
• Spot Ethereum ETFs reported more than $7 million in net outflows on April 1.

Global financial markets reacted sharply after President Donald Trump outlined potential military action against Iran within weeks. Ethereum followed the broader risk-off move as traders rushed to exit positions. Data from CryptoQuant showed heavy selling in derivatives within a single hour.

Ethereum Derivatives Record $1B in Rapid Sell Orders

Crypto markets shifted quickly after Trump addressed the nation and detailed plans for continued strikes on Iran. He said Operation Epic Fury had weakened Iran’s military and reduced missile capabilities. He also warned that stronger attacks would continue over the next two to three weeks.

As a result, traders moved rapidly across risk assets and pushed US Treasury prices higher. At the same time, the S&P 500 erased about $500 billion in market value within minutes. Ethereum derivatives then recorded more than $1 billion in sell volume within one hour, according to CryptoQuant.

CryptoQuant reported that about $968 million of that sell volume occurred on Binance. Binance currently handles the largest share of global crypto trading activity. The surge in orders increased short-term bearish pressure across futures markets.

Consequently, Ethereum’s price fell more than 4% during the same period. The sharp movement reflected aggressive positioning in leveraged products. CryptoQuant stated that markets now face “a period of extreme uncertainty and volatility.”

The firm added that price action has become “increasingly erratic and unstable.” Traders reacted directly to geopolitical developments and shifting liquidity conditions. The derivatives spike marked one of the largest hourly sell waves this month.

ETF Outflows Add Pressure on Ethereum

Institutional flows also reflected weaker sentiment toward Ethereum products. Spot Ethereum ETFs posted eight consecutive days of net outflows before briefly reversing direction. During the following two sessions, these funds recorded short-lived inflows.

However, the rebound did not hold as outflows returned. On April 1, spot Ethereum ETFs registered more than $7 million in net withdrawals. The renewed selling aligned with rising geopolitical tension and reduced risk appetite.

Bitunix analysts described the current environment as a shift in market structure. They stated, “The market has entered a new phase dominated by ‘supply chain destruction.’” They added that energy, metals, and geopolitics now push inflation expectations higher without supporting growth.

The analysts said this dynamic creates a mismatch between risk pricing and economic support. They explained that asset prices now respond mainly to liquidity conditions. They also stated that markets lack a clear policy anchor or exit path from conflict.

Ethereum’s derivatives data and ETF flows both reflected mounting strain across trading venues. Traders reduced exposure as headlines intensified across global markets. The latest ETF outflow data on April 1 marked the most recent confirmed movement in institutional positioning.

Ether (ETH) price may be at risk of a correction to new year-to-date lows, especially if the bulls fail to secure daily candle closes above the $2,150 to $2,400 range.

Ether’s price action continues to be driven by US and global macroeconomic events, along with investors’ appetite for risk assets during the US and Israel-Iran war. As data shows more than $1 billion in futures-driven sell pressure, the chance of Ether falling below $1,800 rises.

Ether’s main challenge sits at $2,400

Repeat rejections near $2,150 continue to cap Ether rallies, and the level has acted as a strong resistance seven times over the past two months. The trend and its resistance dominate the price action, despite the pattern of higher-high and higher-low candles, which can be seen on the daily chart.

A break below the ascending trendline may shift traders’ focus to $1,900, where liquidity sits near the equal lows formed during the first week of March. Losing that level introduces a bearish break of structure, exposing the external liquidity pockets to Ether’s yearly low at $1,736. 

The short positioning has not increased significantly despite the recent decline. The liquidation heatmap shows an imbalance within a 10% range ($1,845–$2,255) from the current price, with approximately $2.4 billion in long liquidations clustered near the lower bound ($1,845) and $1.7 billion in short liquidations near the upper bound ($2,255).

This skew indicates that downside liquidity is larger, but the short positioning still isn’t overcrowded, even as the price continues to weaken.

The absence of large short buildup points to a passive positioning stance rather than conviction-driven selling. The price continues to compress under resistance, with buyers unable to reclaim control above the key threshold of $2,150. 

Related: Ethereum bulls must hold $2K: Volatility metric hints at ‘strong’ move next

ETH derivatives spike after continued macro volatility

A surge in ETH futures selling followed comments by US President Donald Trump, which escalated tensions with Iran rather than calming markets. Trump signaled that military action will continue until late April and warned of potential strikes on Iran’s power plants.

Following the development, crypto analyst Darkfost noted that Ether futures sell volume on Binance increased by $1 billion within an hour.

Despite the surge in selling, ETH continues to trade just below the $2,150 resistance level. A sustained move above $2,150 would open the way toward $2,400, where resistance is relatively thin.

If the price clears $2,400, the next expansion zone sits near $2,800, where little trading activity has occurred over the past six months.

For now, ETH remains range-bound, capped by repeated resistance near $2,150, with $1,900 acting as the nearest liquidity pivot, which may extend the bearish breakdown. 

Related: Ethereum’s EEZ and the attempt to rebuild one Ethereum