TLDR

• Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued its first stablecoin licences to Anchorpoint and HSBC Hong Kong.
• Anchorpoint plans to launch HKDAP, a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin, in a phased rollout.
• The Stablecoins Ordinance requires HK$25 million capital and strict compliance standards.
• Authorities enforce penalties up to HK$5 million and seven years imprisonment for violations.
• Global stablecoin market exceeds $311 billion, dominated by US dollar-based tokens.

Hong Kong regulators have issued the first stablecoin licences under a new legal framework. Authorities approved Anchorpoint and HSBC Hong Kong as initial issuers. The move establishes a regulated path for Hong Kong dollar-backed digital tokens.

Standard Chartered, HSBC Secure Early Stablecoin Approval

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted licences to Anchorpoint and HSBC Hong Kong under its stablecoin rules. Anchorpoint operates as a joint venture involving Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and HKT. The approval allows both entities to issue regulated stablecoins within Hong Kong’s financial system.

Anchorpoint confirmed plans to introduce HKDAP, a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin, in phases during the second quarter. The company will use a structured rollout strategy targeting institutional and commercial use cases. It aims to support digital payments and tokenized financial transactions within regulated channels.

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, emphasized the bank’s commitment to financial innovation.

He said, “The issuance of HKDAP provides a regulated medium of exchange for modern financial markets.” He added that the initiative supports evolving global trade systems and digital finance adoption.

Anchorpoint Chief Executive Dominic Maffei highlighted the firm’s operational focus and ecosystem goals. He said the company will provide “secure, accessible, and regulated tokenized money” for users. He stated that this approach will reshape financial transactions and infrastructure across institutions and individuals.

The firm plans to deploy a B2B2C distribution model to expand adoption across different market segments. Selected distributors will connect the platform to end users and business clients. The strategy also supports partnerships with financial and technology service providers.

HKMA Framework Defines Capital and Compliance Standards

Hong Kong introduced its Stablecoins Ordinance in August 2025 to regulate digital asset issuance. The law established a licensing system and defined operational standards for issuers. Regulators designed the framework to ensure oversight and financial stability.

The ordinance requires issuers to maintain at least HK$25 million in paid-up capital. It also mandates HK$3 million in liquid assets for operational resilience. These thresholds aim to ensure financial strength among licensed participants.

Authorities set strict penalties for unauthorized stablecoin issuance under the new rules. Violators face fines of up to HK$5 million and possible prison sentences of seven years. Enforcement measures aim to maintain compliance and deter unlicensed activity.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also released guidelines on supervision and risk management practices. These rules include anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements. Issuers must follow strict reporting and operational controls under regulatory supervision.

Data from CoinGecko shows the global stablecoin market exceeds $311 billion in total value. Most transaction volumes remain concentrated in US dollar-based tokens like USDT and USDC. Hong Kong aims to expand regulated alternatives tied to its local currency.

Officials continue to develop the licensing system to support controlled innovation in digital finance. The framework focuses on practical use cases like cross-border settlement and tokenized banking services. Authorities maintain oversight while enabling stablecoin adoption in regulated financial environments.

Bittensor’s TAO token is the worst performer among the top-100 large-caps today, April 10, after a major subnet operator announced their departure from the ecosystem.

Yesterday evening ET, TAO plunged from around $338 to a low near $253 — a drop of roughly 25% — erasing close to $900 million in market cap, per CoinGecko data. The asset is currently down 20% over the past 24 hours, trading near $270 at press time.

The sell-off was triggered by an extended X post from Sam Dare, founder of Covenant AI, announcing the project’s departure from Bittensor, a decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) protocol.

In his statement, posted on X yesterday evening ET, Dare accused Bittensor founder Jacob Steeves (known online as “Const”) of exercising unilateral control over a network that presents itself as decentralized, alleging Steeves suspended emissions to Covenant’s subnets, stripped their moderation capabilities, deprecated their infrastructure, and applied economic pressure through large, visible token sales timed to moments of operational conflict.

“The entire premise of Bittensor… is that no single entity controls it,” Dare wrote. “That promise is a lie.”

Covenant AI operated subnets SN3, SN81, and SN39 — specialized sub-networks dedicated to specific AI tasks — and was the team behind Covenant-72B: the model whose reveal catalyzed a 90% TAO rally after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and investor Chamath Palihapitiya endorsed Bittensor’s decentralized AI training model on the All-In Podcast, as The Defiant reported previously.

Steeves pushed back in an X response on April 10, disputing each claim. He acknowledged selling some of his alpha holdings across Covenant’s three subnets, but said it was because they “were not running, and were on near 100% burn code” — and that the sales amounted to less than 1% of his total investment in the project.

He also denied having any ability to unilaterally suspend emissions, said Dare deprecated his own channels, and noted that visibility in token sales is “impossible to avoid” given his position.

Not everyone in the community is sympathetic to Dare’s account. Prominent Bittensor community member @DreadBong0 alleged that Dare dumped 37,000 TAO worth of subnet alpha tokens across the Grail, Basilica, and Templar subnets on the way out — a move that “completely destroyed the investments of everyone who followed and trusted these guys.”

DreadBong0’s X post called the alleged move a “rug for max extraction,” adding: “Maybe that’s wrong but that’s exactly how it looks to me.” The dump allegation has not been independently verified, and Dare has not publicly addressed it.

Subnet Ecosystem Suffers

The Bittensor subnets sector more broadly is down nearly 26% on the day per CoinGecko, with τemplar (SN3) — which had surged around 400% over the prior month to an over $150 million market cap — now down almost 63% in the past 24 hours.

Nearly $10 million in TAO long positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, per CoinGlass data.

The Defiant had covered the TAO rally last month, noting the surge in Bittensor subnet tokens and the outsized role Covenant AI’s model played in driving enthusiasm.

The network has also attracted a wave of institutional interest, with publicly traded companies building TAO treasuries and, more recently, the potential conversion of the Grayscale TAO Trust into a spot ETF on the horizon.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong backed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s push to pass the CLARITY Act on Friday, April 10, 2026. Armstrong publicly agreed with the urgency around crypto regulation and thanked Bessent for advancing the issue forward with bipartisan support in the Senate.

The endorsement from Armstrong, one of crypto’s largest institutional figures, adds pressure on Congress to act on the cryptocurrency regulation framework. The CLARITY Act aims to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets and their classification across U.S. financial regulators.

Sources: Brian Armstrong

This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.

Best crypto to buy now gets a fresh spark as Polkadot just landed on Robinhood, breaking out of a falling wedge pattern that held DOT down for weeks, according to Crypto.news. NEAR Protocol climbs in AI search rankings as developer interest picks up. But while both coins fight for recovery from 90%+ drops, the smart play is locking into the entry that benefits most before the crowd arrives.

Highlighted as the best crypto to buy now, Pepeto raised $8.86 million with analysts calling for at least 100x after the Binance listing. The presale is ending and pricing closes for good when trading opens.

Best Crypto to Buy Now Gets a Boost as DOT Hits Robinhood and Staking Reforms Go Live

Polkadot landed on Robinhood this week, triggering a breakout from a falling wedge that had capped DOT for over a month, according to Crypto.news. The listing opens DOT to millions of retail traders who never held it before.

On top of that, staking reforms cut the unbonding period from 28 days to just 24 to 48 hours, making DOT far more liquid for holders, according to CoinMarketCap. The 53.6% emission cut from March 14 is already live, capping supply at 2.1 billion. The best crypto to buy now gains directly when new onramps open, and the exchange already live at presale pricing with a Binance listing confirmed is where that wave hits hardest.

Where the Presale Sits Before DOT’s Robinhood Wave Plays Out

Pepeto

While DOT gets a fresh boost from Robinhood and NEAR draws developer buzz, the best crypto to buy now is not the large cap that needs trillions to move. Pepeto runs a contract scanner across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana that catches dangerous tokens before your capital touches them. PepetoSwap handles trades with zero fees, and the bridge transfers assets between chains for free.

The presale pulled $8.86 million at $0.0000001863 during weeks of extreme fear. Staking pays 186% APY and keeps growing positions while each round fills. SolidProof went through the full codebase, the founder behind the original Pepe coin leads the build, and a senior Binance developer manages exchange operations. Analysts project 100x to 300x from one listing event, the kind of math that no large cap recovery can touch.

The Binance listing is the event that sends Pepeto from a fraction of a cent into open market trading where demand sets the price. Early holders who locked in at $0.0000001863 will be sitting on positions that the rest of the market pays multiples more to enter, and that gap is where the biggest returns of this cycle live.

Polkadot

DOT trades at $1.33 on April 10, down 98% from its $55 all-time high, according to CoinMarketCap.

The first US spot Polkadot ETF launched in March, and a 53.6% emission cut went live on March 14, cutting new supply in half. Resistance sits at $1.40 with $1.15 as support. Strong tech, but the path from $1.33 needs months of buying, not one listing event.

NEAR Protocol

NEAR trades at $1.38 on April 10, down 93% from its $20.44 high, according to CoinMarketCap. The AI-native blockchain now bridges to Solana and TON through Chain Signatures, pulling developer attention.

Support holds at $1.00 with $1.50 as resistance. Good narrative, but the recovery from $1.38 takes quarters of steady demand.

Conclusion

With DOT now live on Robinhood and NEAR pulling developer attention through AI integration, both coins have a path forward, but recovery from 90%+ drops takes quarters of patience. The best crypto to buy now for fast, high returns is the presale where the product already works and the listing is the only event left. Analysts project 100x from the Binance listing, and this is the last window to get presale pricing before trading opens.

DOGE started at $0.007 and made early holders rich enough to never worry about money again, and Pepeto carries more tools, a stronger team, and a confirmed listing that DOGE never had at that stage. The Pepeto official website is where smart money is getting in before the listing sets a higher floor.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What is the best crypto to buy now after Polkadot’s Robinhood listing opens DOT to millions of new traders?

Pepeto is the best crypto to buy now because it raised $8.86 million with a SolidProof audit, a live zero-fee exchange, and a Binance listing confirmed, giving it 100x to 300x upside that large caps like DOT and NEAR cannot offer from their current prices.

Is Polkadot or NEAR Protocol a better buy than a presale with 100x potential right now?

DOT at $1.25 sits 98% below its all-time high and NEAR at $1.38 is 93% below its peak. Both need billions in new capital for big moves, while Pepeto at presale pricing delivers triple-digit returns from one listing event with working tools already live.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Cross-chain DEX aggregator Velora has become the latest protocol to see its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) vs. Labs structure come under pressure.

Today, April 10, Velora, formerly known as ParaSwap, passed PIP-77: Governance Evolution & Operational Alignment, a proposal to wind down its DAO and consolidate operations under Laita Labs, the development company that built the protocol. The proposal passed with 65.8% of voters for and 16.78% against the shift. 17.41% of voters abstained. Voting began on April 5, with Shutter shielding results until voting ended today.

The proposal transfers the roughly $415,000 remaining in the DAO treasury to Laita Labs to settle outstanding infrastructure costs. It also discontinues the DAO’s 20% protocol fee routing, retires the staking program with the exit lockup set to zero so stakers can withdraw immediately, and closes the futarchy governance pilot with approximately $19,000 remaining from its original $50,000 allocation.

Per the proposal, going forward, VLR becomes a governance-only token, with Snapshot reserved for structural decisions such as token migrations, new chain deployments, or activation of the contract’s 2% annual minting mechanism. Meanwhile, protocol operations, infrastructure, and revenue flow exclusively through Laita Labs.

Laita Labs framed the proposal as an alignment with existing reality: staking rewards and fee routing had already been inactive for months, governance participation had declined, and the DAO had primarily functioned as an off-chain signaling layer while the development team kept the protocol running.

Per DefiLlama data, Velora ranks eighth among DEX aggregators by 30-day volume at $2.06 billion, compared to category leader Jupiter’s $11.2 billion.

VLR, which launched in September of last year, is down 99% from its high of $0.06 just after launch.

Community Response

The proposal didn’t pass without community pushback. In the proposal discussion, community member VeloCryptor, who said they have been staking since day one, proposed three compromises, namely a smaller 5-10% revenue share, a treasury buyback reserve, or a conditional sunset tied to revenue staying low for another 6-12 months.

Laita responded by rejecting all three suggestions, saying even a partial share “brings back the same complexity we’re trying to move away from.”

Another community member, 12342, argued the proposal “shifts the token from something that had a clear economic alignment with the protocol’s success into a pure governance token with no direct value capture.” Supporter citizen42 backed the team, calling it “not a sunset, it will be a sunrise.”

Another community member, 12342, said in the proposal discussion that they are “strongly against this proposal,” arguing that it “shifts the token from something that had a clear economic alignment with the protocol’s success into a pure governance token with no direct value capture.”

A separate response to the proposal from citizen42 was more positive: “I have faith in Laita that when time comes value will return to token holders, in the meantime all in for operational simplicity.”

DAO vs Labs Model Under Pressure

The vote arrives as the DAO vs. Labs governance model shows cracks across DeFi. At Aave, a months-long dispute over fee distribution between tokenholders and Aave Labs spiraled into a full-blown contributor exodus. Most recently, Chaos Labs became the third core contributor to exit Aave in two months, following BGD Labs and the Aave-Chan Initiative, all citing governance misalignment.

At Balancer, a restructuring proposal published in March formalized the wind-down of Balancer Labs OÜ and consolidated all activity under a BVI entity operating as a direct agent of the DAO, slashing the team and cutting the annual operating budget by 34%.

Meanwhile, last month, DAO governance platform Tally shut down after six years, with its CEO citing reduced demand for DAO tooling as regulatory pressure eased.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Trump Coin Event Vetted by Democrats

Democratic lawmakers have initiated an investigation into a conference associated with the Trump Coin that will take place later this month. It is reported that Donald Trump is likely to visit the event, which will add a political touch to it. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, and Richard Blumenthal have demanded information from organizer Bill Zanker. They mentioned concerns about the manner the event introduces political intervention in crypto activities.

The scheduled date of the conference coincides with the White House Correspondents Dinner, which Donald Trump is likely to attend as well. This overlap has raised questions about the timing and activity. In addition, legislators reported that promotional content includes Trump as a possible attendee even though it is not clear. Therefore, the issue has contributed to the ongoing debate on ethics related to the bill.

Law-enforcement agencies have criticized the contents of the bill, especially the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The section aims to ensure that developers are not liable for the actions of users on decentralized platforms. Such protections, however, according to these groups, would hamper their efforts to investigate financial crimes. Furthermore, Catherine Cortez Masto has endorsed calls to make changes to tackle these issues.

In spite of the current controversy, there are still mounting calls for legislators to pass the CLARITY Act. Administration officials have requested the Senate to proceed with the process. In addition, regulatory leaders have indicated a willingness to adopt the framework when it is enacted into law. The debate continues as legislators balance morality issues with the regulatory agenda.

CoreWeave, a publicly traded AI cloud infrastructure company, announced a multi-year agreement with Anthropic to run Claude AI model workloads in its data centers. The rollout will occur in phases, with the potential to expand over time, according to CoreWeave’s announcement.

Shares rose more than 12% on the news, trading around $102.73 at the time of reporting, according to Yahoo Finance coverage.

The deal comes amid CoreWeave’s recent financing round and strategic pivot. The company completed an $8.5 billion capital raise led by Meta Platforms, with the borrowing structured around deployed computing capacity rather than the company’s GPU hardware. In practice, the financing emphasizes predictable cash flows tied to the scale of compute capacity rather than the asset value of the hardware itself.

CoreWeave has long prioritized AI compute over crypto mining. The company pivoted away from mining and rebranded as an AI infrastructure provider in 2019, a move that positioned it to capitalize on growing demand for scalable AI workloads as the crypto industry faced cyclical pressures and rising energy costs.

Key takeaways

• The Anthropic deal is designed as a multi-year engagement with a phased deployment, opening the door to further expansion if demand grows.
• The $8.5 billion capital raise, led by Meta Platforms, is collateralized against deployed compute capacity, signaling a shift toward cash-flow-based valuation in AI infrastructure rather than hardware-backed lending common in crypto mining.
• CoreWeave’s pivot from crypto mining to AI infrastructure aligns with broader industry trends favoring AI compute markets in an environment of mounting mining headwinds.
• Bitcoin miners face sustained economic pressures, with a notable share reportedly unprofitable, which reinforces the appeal of directing energy and computing resources toward AI workloads.
• Analysts and market participants note that AI workloads—especially large-language-model inference and training—have become a more attractive revenue driver than traditional mining in recent years.

CoreWeave and Anthropic: a phased deployment for Claude workloads

In a statement, CoreWeave described the collaboration as a long-term, multi-year engagement aimed at supporting Anthropic’s Claude family of models. The plan is to roll out the compute capacity in stages, with the potential to scale as Claude’s demand grows and as the two companies refine capacity planning and efficiency. The arrangement underscores the ongoing shift in the AI ecosystem toward specialized cloud operators that can deliver cost-effective, scalable infrastructure for model development, training, and inference. By aligning with Anthropic, CoreWeave signals its intent to remain at the forefront of AI-accelerated compute, where the timing and cadence of deployments matter for both model developers and infrastructure providers.

CoreWeave has previously positioned itself as a bridge between AI research and production-grade compute, emphasizing the ability to deliver high-performance, scalable resources to a diverse set of AI workloads. The Anthropic partnership complements a strategy that seeks to monetize large-scale AI activity through predictable, capacity-driven revenue streams, rather than relying solely on hardware ownership or crypto-focused cycles. While the exact terms beyond the phased rollout were not disclosed, investors will be watching for indicators of expansion, such as additional model families integrated into Claude workloads or cross-service collaborations with other AI developers.

Financing anchored to compute capacity signals a strategic pivot

The capital raise tied to deployed compute capacity reflects a broader financial premise: the income stability of AI compute assets can be more predictable than hardware-backed collateral in volatile tech cycles. By stressing capacity-backed financing, CoreWeave and its backers aim to capture recurring revenue from ongoing Claude usage, rather than relying on the resale value or utilization of GPUs alone. The arrangement aligns with Meta Platforms’ broader investment in AI infrastructure, and it signals continued appetite among major tech sponsors for AI-oriented compute assets as a strategic asset class.

Industry observers have noted that such structures could become more common as AI workloads grow and require turnkey, scalable capacity that operators can commit to long term. For CoreWeave, the approach may enhance revenue visibility and help fund further expansion of its data-center footprint to meet rising demand from large-scale AI deployments.

Mining headwinds push AI compute demand higher

The broader crypto sector continues to wrestle with a challenging macro backdrop. Bitcoin mining remains capital- and energy-intensive, with rising energy costs squeezing margins as crypto asset prices fluctuate. CoinShares’ mining research has highlighted that as many as 20% of Bitcoin miners may be unprofitable under current conditions, underscoring the difficulty of sustaining traditional mining operations in today’s environment.

Market participants have observed a shift of some mining capacity toward AI processing and other high-value compute tasks, particularly when energy prices become more favorable for AI workloads. Market-maker Wintermute has underscored the need for miners to find yield opportunities for their assets, including deploying crypto into DeFi protocols to shore up revenues in tighter macro cycles. The sector’s stress intensified after the October 2025 market crash, when Bitcoin slid from a peak near $126,000 to the low-$60,000s before stabilizing in the $70,000s range. In this context, AI compute demand appears increasingly attractive as a more predictable cash-flow engine for data-center operators.

Analysts have framed this dynamic as a structural shift: AI compute needs—quantities of scalable, dependable processing capacity—are increasingly displacing traditional mining activity as the dominant driver of data-center utilization and profitability. As Ran Neuner noted in market commentary, “AI is willing to pay more for electricity,” a factor that complicates the economics of mining and tilts the balance toward AI-centric infrastructure solutions.

What investors should watch next

The Anthropic deal adds a new layer to CoreWeave’s earnings narrative, linking revenue growth to a major AI model developer’s deployment cadence and efficiency improvements. Investors will look for clear milestones on Claude workloads—such as rollout scale, latency benchmarks, and energy efficiency—and for confirmation that capacity expansion aligns with Anthropic’s model-usage patterns. At the same time, the sector-wide shift away from mining toward AI compute will continue to influence capital allocation, asset mix, and financing terms across AI-focused data-center operators.

For miners and AI infrastructure players alike, the key questions center on energy prices, the trajectory of AI compute demand, and the ability of data-center networks to scale while maintaining profitability. The CoreWeave-Anthropic alliance provides a concrete data point in a broader narrative: AI workloads may become the dominant driver of compute demand in the near term, with capital markets increasingly favoring capacity-backed models over hardware-centric financing in volatile cycles.

As the relationship between AI developers and compute providers deepens, observers will want to monitor how Anthropic’s Claude deployments scale in CoreWeave’s footprint, whether additional AI customers follow suit, and how this model of long-term, capacity-backed financing influences valuations and funding in the sector.

What remains uncertain is how broader regulatory and energy-market developments will shape the economics of AI compute versus crypto mining. Until then, CoreWeave’s latest collaboration with Anthropic serves as a tangible sign that AI-centric infrastructure—and the funding mechanisms that support it—are increasingly central to the next phase of digital technology deployment.