Bitcoin BTC$78,296.72, the largest cryptocurrency, is set to surge in the next four years, propelling its market capitalization to $16 trillion by 2030, Ark Invest said in its annual research report, Big Ideas.

The more than 10-fold growth — market cap is currently about $1.5 trillion — will be driven by accelerated institutional adoption and crypto’s evolution into an asset class that features in investment portfolios worldwide, the Cathie Wood-led investment company said. That’s a compound annual rate of roughly 63%.

Bitcoin’s increased popularity will help drive the broader digital asset market to around $28 trillion by the end of the decade, according to the report. It’s currently about $2.7 trillion, according to CoinDesk data. It also means the price could surge: Even if all 21 million BTC were in circulation by then, which they wouldn’t be, one bitcoin would be valued at more than $730,000.

Wood has long been bullish on bitcoin. In January, Ark Invest forecast a price range of $300,000-$1.5 million by 2030. In February, Wood reiterated its appeal as a hedge against inflation and deflation, driven by technological acceleration.

“Bitcoin is maturing as the leader of a new institutional asset class,” the report said, buoyed by adoption across exchange-traded funds (EFTs), corporate treasuries and sovereign entities.

Institutional ownership of, primarily, bitcoin is already rising quickly. U.S. ETFs and public companies held about 12% of the total bitcoin supply at the end of last year, an increase from about 9% a year earlier, the report said.

The move reflects a shift in how bitcoin is perceived. Once seen primarily as a speculative asset, it is increasingly being considered “digital gold,” a macro hedge and a reserve asset alongside traditional stores of value.

It adds that even a modest penetration into institutional holdings, as low as 2.5% of an estimated $200 trillion global portfolio excluding gold, could contribute about $5 trillion to bitcoin’s total valuation.

The report also predicts that bitcoin will capture an estimated 40% of gold’s total market value, which it estimated at just over $24 trillion currently, implying nearly $10 trillion in additional upside from the “digital gold” narrative alone.

Other contributions to bitcoin’s growth would come from emerging demand for a neutral reserve asset, where even just a 0.5% penetration of a lower $68 trillion monetary base could add about $339 billion in value, along with allocations from nation-states and corporate treasuries that could each contribute hundred of billions of dollars more.

Solana-based decentralized finance yield protocol Carrot said Thursday that it is shutting down permanently, becoming one of the first DeFi protocols to fall due to contagion from the Drift Protocol exploit in early April. 

In an X post on Thursday, Carrot said the Drift exploit was “catastrophic” for the protocol and had left it financially unable to continue operating. The platform set a May 14 deadline for users to withdraw remaining funds. It said it will continue to help recovery efforts related to Drift and distribute assets once they become available.

“We are setting May 14th as the deadline to withdraw any remaining funds from Boost, Turbo, and CRT before we will then begin to deleverage the system. Your deposited funds are still yours, but all leverage will be reduced to zero, freeing up all liquidity for CRT redemption,” the protocol’s team said.

The Drift protocol exploit on April 1 was the second-largest in 2026. It was a highly coordinated attack that involved months of social engineering by a group of hackers who gained admin control and drained more than half the protocol’s total value locked. 

The contagion spread to several affiliated projects such as the yield protocol Gauntlet, the lending and borrowing platform PrimeFi and the crypto fund Elemental DeFi. 

Related: Insider trading backlash forces Polymarket to step up surveillance

Carrot was integrated with Drift’s infrastructure and used its pools to generate yield for its users. Its TVL collapsed after the Drift Protocol hack. 

According to data from DefiLlama, Carrot’s total value locked was around $28 million before the Drift hack, and is currently $1.99 million, marking a decrease of roughly 93%.

Carrot’s sharp TVL drop after the Drift hack. Source: DefiLlama

DefiLlama data also shows nearly $630 million worth of digital assets were stolen in April across 25 incidents, making it the month with the largest losses since February 2025, when $1.47 billion was stolen.

The $293 million hack on liquid staking protocol Kelp is the largest exploit of 2026 so far. The Drift hack is close behind at $285 million. Together, these two attacks account for more than 90% of all crypto stolen in April.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

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MoonPay has introduced the MoonAgents Card, a virtual Mastercard product that allows AI agents and users to spend stablecoins directly from onchain wallets. 

The card enables real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion at checkout and works with merchants that accept Mastercard.

The product is built for programmatic use through MoonPay’s agent infrastructure. It allows users to authorize AI agents to initiate payments without moving funds off-chain or preloading balances.

MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said, “Agents are already managing wallets… now they can spend.”

AI agents gain non-custodial spending tools

The MoonAgents Card connects with MoonPay’s broader AI framework. The company earlier launched a non-custodial system that allows AI agents to manage wallets, execute trades, and move assets autonomously.

The card extends that system by adding merchant payments. AI agents can now operate across trading, transfers, and real-world spending within one workflow.

MoonPay said its developer tools have processed millions of commands, showing growing usage of AI-driven crypto transactions.

Additionally, MoonPay’s AI and payments rollout comes alongside a broader institutional expansion. The company recently acquired Sodot, a digital asset security firm, to launch a new business unit focused on institutional clients.

The new division, MoonPay Institutional, is designed to support banks, asset managers, and trading firms. It offers infrastructure for payments, custody, trading, and tokenized assets.

Sodot’s technology handles key management and has supported billions in transactions across major platforms.

Stablecoin services and partnerships grow

MoonPay has also been expanding stablecoin services with enterprise partners. Its infrastructure supports stablecoin issuance, cross-border payments, and integrations with major financial platforms.

The company has worked with payment providers and fintech firms to connect stablecoins with global payment systems. This includes enabling businesses to launch custom stablecoins and use them in payments and treasury operations.

The U.S. Department of Defense has expanded its push into artificial intelligence, securing fresh agreements with several major technology firms to deploy advanced AI systems across classified military networks.

According to a report released Friday, Nvidia, Microsoft, Reflection AI, and Amazon Web Services have all signed agreements to provide operational capabilities, the Pentagon said in a statement. Two defense officials familiar with the matter also confirmed the agreements.

The latest additions place them alongside SpaceX, OpenAI, and Google, which had already committed to supplying AI tools for classified use. The announcement also serves as the first formal confirmation from the Pentagon of its agreement with Google, which had surfaced in earlier reports this week.

“These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force,” the department said.

Officials said the agreement with Amazon Web Services was finalized late Thursday, indicating that negotiations had continued up to the final stages before the announcement.

Efforts to build a network of private-sector partners come as the Pentagon looks for alternatives to systems developed by Anthropic, particularly its Claude models. That search follows a dispute between the company and defense officials over how its technology could be used in military settings.

Anthropic had pushed back against requests to relax safeguards that limit the use of its models in areas such as autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance.

The disagreement deepened over time, with the Defense Department at one point classifying the company as a “supply chain risk,” despite continued internal interest in its systems.

Pentagon officials have maintained that there are no plans to deploy AI for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens or to enable fully autonomous weapons. At the same time, the department has emphasized that “any lawful use” of artificial intelligence should remain accessible to government agencies under these agreements.

Tokyo-based SBI Holdings has opened talks to acquire shares in cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank and make it a consolidated subsidiary, extending its push to consolidate regulated crypto trading platforms in Japan as the country moves toward securities-style rules for digital assets.

The financial conglomerate said Friday it is considering a share acquisition as part of a potential capital and business alliance with Bitbank. The deal remains subject to due diligence, negotiations and internal approvals, SBI said.

The talks come a month after SBI VC Trade absorbed Bitpoint Japan on April 1, with SBI VC Trade becoming the surviving company. A Bitbank acquisition would give SBI a larger position in Japan’s crypto exchange market at a time when policymakers are preparing to bring crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

SBI said the potential deal would help the group establish an “overwhelming position in the domestic cryptocurrency industry,” citing Japan’s planned regulatory shift for crypto assets.

Japan’s Cabinet approved a bill on April 10 to amend the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act, according to the Financial Services Agency. The bill is intended to strengthen market fairness, transparency and investor protection while revising rules for crypto assets.

Crypto assets are currently regulated by the FSA under the Payment Services Act as a means of payment. The proposed changes would move crypto closer to Japan’s traditional financial market framework, with stronger disclosure, exchange oversight and rules targeting unfair trading.

Cointelegraph asked SBI Holdings for comment on the proposed Bitbank acquisition and how Japan’s shifting crypto rules are affecting the group’s exchange strategy, but had not received a response by publication.

Bitbank company profile. Source: SBI Group

Bitbank is one of Japan’s major crypto exchanges. It ranks as Japan’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by Coingecko’s trust score, which measures the legitimacy of crypto exchanges based on liquidity, trading activity, cybersecurity and operational scale.

It ranks third among cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trading volume, behind bitFlyer and Coincheck.

Top Japanese crypto exchanges by trust score. Source: Coingecko

The proposed deal would add to SBI’s broader digital asset footprint. SBI made a $50 million investment in Circle’s IPO in June 2025. In previous years, SBI also made strategic investments in other crypto-native companies, including BITPoint Japan, Sygnum Bank and crypto exchange TaoTao, which later merged into SBI VC Trade. 

Japan brings crypto under TradFi umbrella, targets ETFs by 2028

Japan’s regulatory shift comes as institutional interest in digital assets continues to grow and policymakers reassess how crypto should fit within the country’s financial markets.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama first signaled the intent to bring crypto under the same umbrella as traditional finance assets in January, to ensure that citizens will “benefit from digital and blockchain-based assets.”

Related: South Korea’s Shinhan Card taps Solana to test real-world stablecoin payments

The country is also planning to legalize the launch of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by 2028, according to a January report. Large financial conglomerates like SBI Holdings and Nomura are among the first companies expected to develop crypto-linked ETFs. 

Magazine: Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO

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WHITE TECH has received authorization from Croatia’s Financial Services Supervisory Agency, HANFA, to operate as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA.

The company is part of the W Group ecosystem and is majority-owned by Volodymyr Nosov, founder and CEO of WhiteBIT. The approval allows WHITE TECH to offer regulated crypto services under the EU’s common framework.

WHITE TECH supports crypto exchange services, fiat-to-crypto conversion, and crypto-asset transfers for businesses and users.

Under the MiCA approval, the company can provide exchange services, custody and administration of crypto assets, and transfer services. It must also follow EU standards for governance, risk controls, and customer protection.

Croatia’s MiCA market takes shape

WHITE TECH is among the first companies in Croatia to receive MiCA authorization. The approval places the firm inside the EU’s unified regulatory system at an early stage.

Croatia has already started licensing crypto firms under MiCA. Electrocoin received HANFA approval in April, becoming the first company registered under the country’s crypto licensing process.

MiCA creates common rules for crypto firms across EU member states. The framework covers transparency, authorization, supervision, and user protection for crypto-asset service providers.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has dismissed claims that XRP could reach $10,000. 

His comments came during an online debate about old XRP price discussions and market valuation models.

Schwartz said the idea does not match normal market behavior. He argued that if even a small chance of such a move existed, wealthy and rational investors would already be buying XRP heavily.

Old XRP comments return to focus

The debate followed renewed attention on a 2017 post in which Schwartz discussed XRP liquidity. Some users treated the old comments as a price target, but Schwartz said the post explained transaction needs, not a future price promise.

He had said XRP could not be “dirt cheap” if it handled very large payment flows. Schwartz later clarified that the point was about liquidity, market depth, and settlement size.

Additionally, Schwartz has also rejected claims that XRP is part of secret government or central bank plans. He described such claims as a “conspiracy theory” and warned investors against relying on hidden signals.

He said Ripple’s non-disclosure agreements relate to normal business privacy. According to Schwartz, they do not prove hidden government XRP deals or secret settlement plans.

Ripple seeks clearer market debate

Schwartz also addressed claims tied to Ripple’s escrow holdings. He said the escrow system remains visible on-chain and can be tracked by anyone.

The comments come as Ripple’s native token remains a major topic in crypto markets. XRP (XRP) traded near $1.37 to $1.38, with a market cap above $84 billion, according to crypto.news price data.