Crypto World
CFTC Withdraws Proposal to Ban Sports Prediction Markets
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission moved to reverse a Biden-era rule proposal that would have barred sports, politics and war-related prediction markets, signaling a recalibration under the agency’s current leadership. CFTC Chair Mike Selig announced on Wednesday that the agency is withdrawing the 2024 notice of proposed rulemaking that sought to ban event contracts tied to public-interest events, and that the commission does not plan to issue final rules on that proposal. Instead, the CFTC intends to pursue a new rulemaking anchored in a rational interpretation of the Commodity Exchange Act, aiming to balance investor protections with responsible innovation in derivatives markets. This shift comes as prediction-market platforms—widely used for forecasting events—navigate a patchwork of state enforcement actions and ongoing regulatory debates over how they should be treated within the U.S. financial framework. The move also echoes broader regulatory conversations about how digital-asset markets and related products should be supervised.
Key takeaways
- The CFTC formally withdrew the 2024 notice of proposed rulemaking that would have banned sports, political and other event contracts, labeling them as contrary to the public interest.
- Chair Mike Selig stated the agency will pursue a new rulemaking grounded in the Commodity Exchange Act to foster responsible innovation in derivatives markets aligned with congressional intent.
- The withdrawal signals a pivot away from a broader ban towards a more measured, standards-based approach to event contracts and related platforms.
- Prediction-market operators like Polymarket and Kalshi have faced state-level enforcement actions, with platforms arguing they are regulated by the CFTC and not unlicensed gambling.
- The agency also pulled a September staff letter that warned regulated entities to prepare for litigation and to maintain robust risk management in facilitating sports-related event contracts.
Sentiment: Neutral
Market context: The development arrives amid intensifying regulatory scrutiny of crypto-related products and event-driven contracts, while regulators explore a coordinated approach to oversight across asset classes. The shift follows a broader debate about how prediction markets fit within the U.S. securities and commodities frameworks and reflects ongoing conversations about how innovation can coexist with investor protection in a evolving market landscape.
Why it matters
The decision to withdraw the proposed prohibition on event contracts signals a more deliberate, regulator-led path forward for a sector that earned rapid traction in the crypto and fintech space. By signaling a move toward a rulemaking grounded in the Commodity Exchange Act, the commission acknowledges the complexity of product design, consumer risk, and market dynamics in prediction markets. For developers and operators, this could translate into a clearer, more predictable regulatory runway—albeit one that may still constrain certain product features or market access in the future.
Prediction-market platforms have been at the center of a legal and political struggle. Polymarket and Kalshi pressed ahead with contracts tied to a wide range of events, including sports outcomes, election results, and other timely topics. States such as Nevada have pursued enforcement actions, arguing that such contracts amount to unlicensed gambling, while platforms contend they are regulated under the CFTC. The tension highlights a broader policy question: should prediction markets be treated primarily as financial derivatives subject to federal oversight, or as a separate class of information markets with distinct rules? The withdrawal of the rulemaking proposal pushes regulators to develop a more nuanced framework that could determine whether such markets persist, mature, or evolve in structure and scope.
Moreover, the withdrawal of the September staff letter—issued amid a period of uncertainty and ahead of a potential government slowdown—suggests a period of recalibration in how the CFTC communicates expectations to market participants. The letter warned that firms should prepare for litigation and emphasize contingency planning, disclosures, and risk-management policies. While the agency framed the advisory as a reminder of litigation considerations, Selig noted it had unintentionally created confusion. The unfurling of a dedicated event-contract rulemaking implies a more deliberate approach to both enforcement and guidance as the market evolves.
The agency’s action aligns with broader regulatory shifts described in related reporting about coordination among U.S. market regulators on crypto oversight and a continuing reassessment of how innovation fits within established statutory authority. As the crypto ecosystem expands to include more complex financial instruments and cross-border activity, policymakers are weighing how to maintain investor protections without stifling beneficial market developments. The CFTC’s pivot—away from an outright ban toward a structured rulemaking—reflects a central tension in the regulatory landscape: balancing the allure of predictive- and event-based markets with the need for clarity, compliance, and consumer safeguards.
For stakeholders, the immediate implication is a clearer signal that the federal framework may offer a path for legitimate, regulated event markets to operate under defined standards. That does not guarantee-permanent permission for every product, but it increases the likelihood of formal guidance and a transparent process for evaluating individual contracts, platforms, and business models. The reshaped trajectory could influence funding, market participation, and strategic development for firms that have built significant user bases around event-focused trading, including those exploring tokenized and cross-chain versions of prediction markets.
In the broader context, the withdrawal reinforces the notion that the regulatory environment remains dynamic. While some participants seek quicker, broader access to innovative products, the evolving stance of U.S. regulators underscores the importance of compliance-readiness, robust risk controls, and an ability to adapt to changing rules. As the CFTC moves toward a new framework, market participants will be watching for forthcoming rulemaking notices, public-comment windows, and how state and federal authorities coordinate their enforcement and supervisory actions in this rapidly changing space.
What to watch next
- A formal rulemaking notice on event contracts under the Commodity Exchange Act, outlining permissible structures and registration requirements.
- Public-comment period and industry feedback shaping the final framework for prediction markets.
- Regulatory updates or clarifications regarding specific platforms (e.g., Polymarket, Kalshi) and their compliance posture with federal law.
- Any new guidance or reporting requirements from the CFTC related to sports and political event contracts.
Sources & verification
- CFTC press release: Withdrawal of 2024 notice of proposed rulemaking (9179-26).
- Chair Mike Selig’s public remarks and official communications (X post).
- Related reporting on the CFTC chair transition and policy discussions.
- State actions and platform responses regarding sports event contracts (e.g., Nevada actions; Coinbase/Crypto.com references in coverage).
Regulatory recalibration reshapes prediction markets
The renewal of this policy path begins with a recognition that the original 2024 proposal—seen by supporters as a bold move to curb what some labeled speculative gambling—did not reflect a holistic view of how event-driven contracts function within modern markets. By withdrawing the proposal, the commission opens space for a more measured, evidence-based approach to rulemaking. The new process will be anchored in the Commodity Exchange Act and guided by congressional intent to enable responsible innovation in derivatives markets, while preserving critical investor protections.
As stated in the agency’s communications, the commission intends to frame future rules through a rational interpretation of the existing statute, rather than relying on broad prohibitions. That nuance matters: it signals a potential for future, carefully scoped products that could be offered under a clear regulatory license regime, with defined risk disclosures, dispute-resolution mechanisms, and capital requirements. For participants who rely on prediction markets for price discovery, hedging, or information gathering, clearer federal guidance could improve certainty and reduce litigation risk, even as particular contract designs and market access criteria are vetted by regulators.
The ongoing dialogue between federal regulators, state authorities, and market participants underscores a broader theme in the cryptocurrency and derivatives space: innovation is not inherently at odds with oversight, but it requires a governance framework that is adaptive, transparent, and aligned with statutory authority. The CFTC’s decision to pivot away from an outright ban toward a formal rulemaking process reflects this balance-seeking impulse. It also positions the agency to address a spectrum of market models—from traditional exchange-based contracts to novel, tokenized formats—within a single, coherent regulatory architecture.
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President Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire beginning at 5 PM ET today, April 16, following direct conversations with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Summary
- Trump posted on Truth Social that both leaders agreed to formally begin a 10-day ceasefire and has invited them to the White House for what he called the first meaningful Israel-Lebanon talks since 1983.
- Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the ceasefire, while Lebanese President Aoun had initially declined to speak directly with Netanyahu before Trump personally called him to broker the announcement.
- More than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon and over 1 million displaced since Israeli strikes began targeting Hezbollah positions approximately six weeks ago.
President Trump announced Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, beginning at 5 PM ET today, following what he described as “excellent conversations” with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. “These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said he has directed Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine to work toward a lasting peace agreement. He also invited Aoun and Netanyahu to the White House for what he called “the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983.”
The announcement came after a turbulent morning of diplomacy. Lebanese President Aoun initially declined to speak directly with Netanyahu during a call with Secretary Rubio, with Washington signaling it “understands Lebanon’s position.” Trump then personally called Aoun, and the ceasefire announcement followed within hours.
The deal grew out of direct negotiations that began Tuesday between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States, the first such talks between the two countries in decades. Lebanon had insisted on a ceasefire as a precondition for any broader engagement, while committing to disarm Hezbollah over time.
Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Thursday morning that “a ceasefire in Lebanon is as important as a ceasefire in Iran,” framing the Lebanon front as part of the broader regional conflict that has defined 2026.
The Human Cost and Ground Situation
More than 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israeli forces began strikes approximately six weeks ago, targeting Hezbollah positions following the outbreak of the US-Iran war in late February. More than one million Lebanese have been displaced. Israel has suffered 21 casualties from strikes tied to both Iran and Hezbollah since the conflict began.
Israeli Defense Forces confirmed they will not withdraw from southern Lebanon during the 10-day pause, maintaining their ground position while the ceasefire holds. Hezbollah is not formally a party to the Lebanon-Israel talks, and Israel had previously denied that any Iran ceasefire framework extended to Lebanon.
Why It Matters Beyond Lebanon
The Lebanon ceasefire adds a second diplomatic track to an already fragile regional situation. Iran had argued that continued Israeli strikes on Lebanon constituted a violation of the existing US-Iran truce, while Washington and Jerusalem denied that connection. The Lebanon announcement removes that point of friction at a moment when the US-Iran ceasefire window is approaching its April 22 expiration.
Prediction markets had priced a Lebanon ceasefire by April 30 at only around 55% as recently as last week, reflecting how uncertain the diplomatic picture had looked. For financial markets, a stable Lebanon ceasefire alongside the Iran truce removes one of several risk premiums that have kept oil elevated and risk assets suppressed since February.
Bitcoin has consistently moved 4 to 5% within hours of credible ceasefire signals across this conflict, with the pattern repeating on April 7, April 8, and April 14. The Lebanon announcement, arriving while BTC already hovers near $75,000, adds to the stack of diplomatic catalysts that analysts say could push BTC past $76,000 if the ceasefire holds through the weekend.
Drift Protocol has announced a collaboration with Tether (USDT) and other partners totaling nearly $150 million to fund user recovery and a protocol relaunch following its April 1 exploit on Solana (SOL).
The package includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to designated market makers. USDT will serve as the settlement asset when the protocol relaunches.
Recovery Pool and Token for Impacted Users
The funds, out of which $127.5 million is reportedly from Tether, will support a dedicated user recovery pool fed by exchange revenue and committed support capital.
Drift stated that any assets recovered through ongoing law enforcement and blockchain forensics efforts will also flow into the pool.
To distribute recovery assets, Drift will issue a new transferable token to users affected by the April 1 exploit. The team said additional details on token mechanics will follow in the near term.
The April 1 attack drained between $270 million and $285 million from Drift’s vaults.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic attributed the operation to North Korean state-linked actors who spent six months infiltrating the protocol’s inner circle.
Attackers posed as a quantitative trading firm, built trust at conferences, and compromised devices through a malicious TestFlight app and a VSCode vulnerability.
They then manipulated Drift’s multisig approvals using Solana’s durable nonces feature to drain core vaults holding USDC, SOL, and JLP tokens.
The incident slashed Drift’s total value locked from $550 million to roughly $230 million. The Drift (DRIFT) token dropped over 30% in the immediate aftermath. The protocol’s TVL was $243 million as of this writing.
Hardened Security and USDT-Centered Relaunch
Before relaunching, every protocol component will pass independent audits from OtterSec and Asymmetric Research.
Drift will also introduce a community-governed multisig for core protocol assets, requiring all signers to use dedicated devices with transaction content verified outside the primary signing interface.
Tether has proposed extending a USDT support facility to market makers to ensure deep liquidity from day one.
The shift to USDT settlement marks a notable pivot after Circle declined to freeze stolen USDC during the original attack.
Circle’s position on the matter is that it didn’t freeze stolen USDC because it can only act with legal orders, not on its own.
“When Circle freezes USDC, it is not because we have decided, unilaterally or arbitrarily, that someone’s assets should be taken from them. It is because the law requires us to act,” wrote Circle’s CSO Dante Disparte in a blog.
Tether’s involvement signals a growing willingness among stablecoin issuers to act as ecosystem backstops during major crises.
“The willingness of Paolo Ardoino Tether and our partners to commit real capital to Drift’s recovery says something about the strength of what we’ve built and what we’re building next, as well as our shared vision to scale the Solana DeFi ecosystem together,” said Cindy Leow, co-founder at Drift Protocol.
However, the partial recovery also highlights persistent vulnerabilities in operational security, even among mature protocols.
Drift described the plan as its first step toward making users whole over time.
The post Drift Protocol Lands $150 Million Lifeline in Aftermath of Exploit Shock appeared first on BeInCrypto.
TLDR
- The Royal Government of Bhutan transferred 250 BTC worth about $18.47 million, within 24 hours.
- Bhutan has moved 3,247 BTC in 2026, with total outflows valued near $240.4 million at current prices.
- After the latest transfers, Bhutan holds about 3,524 BTC worth between $260 million and $264 million.
- Bitcoin climbed to an intraday high of $76,038 before easing toward the $74,000 range.
- Glassnode identified resistance between $74,000 and $76,000, while CryptoQuant placed key levels near $76,800.
The Royal Government of Bhutan transferred about 250 BTC worth $18.47 million within 24 hours. Arkham data showed 162 BTC and 69.7 BTC moved to new wallet addresses in quick succession. The transactions came as Bitcoin traded above $74,000 and tested resistance levels.
Bhutan Extends Bitcoin Sales as Treasury Activity Continues
Arkham data confirmed that Bhutan shifted 162 BTC and 69.7 BTC to fresh addresses within hours. The transfers formed part of a wider reduction in publicly tracked holdings. Bhutan has moved 3,247 BTC in 2026, with total outflows valued near $240.4 million at current prices.
Other pricing periods placed the yearly sales closer to $198 million. After the latest transfers, Bhutan wallets hold about 3,524 BTC worth between $260 million and $264 million. Analysts linked earlier movements to wallets that later routed funds to Galaxy Digital and OKX.
Arkham reported that no Bitcoin inflow above $100,000 reached Bhutan-linked wallets in over a year. That data drew attention to possible shifts in mining operations or liquidity priorities. Bhutan originally built much of its reserve through hydropower-backed mining using surplus national energy.
On-chain records showed reduced inflows and continued outflows across tracked addresses. The pattern matched earlier sequences where funds moved in structured batches. However, blockchain data has not confirmed the final destination of the newest transfers.
Bitcoin Price Tests Resistance as Market Metrics Shift
Bitcoin price climbed to an intraday high of $76,038 earlier this week before easing toward $74,000. Glassnode said the market is moving through a resistance band between $74,000 and $76,000. CryptoQuant identified $76,800 as the “Traders’ Realized Price” level.
CryptoQuant stated that holders who bought between $65,000 and $76,000 now sit in profit. The firm reported that large deposits rose from under 10% to above 40% of exchange inflows. The shift pointed to heavier activity from larger holders within days.
Daily realized profits reached about $500 million on Wednesday. However, that figure remained below the $1 billion level often seen near local tops. Market data showed Bitcoin trading in the mid-$74,000 range during the latest session.
Mining economics also shifted as prices recovered in recent days. The average all-in production cost stood near $79,500 per BTC as of mid-Wednesday. The gap between cost and spot price narrowed compared to previous months.
The next network difficulty adjustment is scheduled for April 17. Forecasts projected a decline of nearly 3%, which would bring difficulty below 135 trillion hashes. Reports also showed the network hash rate fell 4% during the first quarter of 2026.
Some operators shut down older machines due to unprofitable conditions. Other miners redirected resources toward AI and high-performance computing services. The difficulty adjustment estimate remained the latest scheduled network update.
A Chinese professor’s incendiary claim that Bitcoin was engineered by the CIA as a financial surveillance tool is resurfacing across crypto circles, just as BTC is fighting for a decisive breakout. Professor Jiang’s theory isn’t new, but its renewed traction in an era of spot ETF approvals and institutional accumulation carries a certain irony that even Bitcoin maximalists can’t fully dismiss.
Jiang’s core argument: Satoshi Nakamoto’s anonymity, the dollar-denominated pricing structure, and Bitcoin’s emergence post-2008 financial crisis were all engineered to serve U.S. geopolitical interests. According to Jiang, Bitcoin is giving Washington a mechanism to track global capital flows while maintaining plausible deniability.
For now, no credible evidence supports the claim, and the cypherpunk origins of Bitcoin are extensively documented. Still, the theory spreads precisely because Bitcoin’s creator remains unidentified. That’s a gap conspiracy narratives thrive in. Meanwhile, BTC has posted a 4% weekly gain above $72,000 following a U.S.-Iran ceasefire announcement, with spot ETF inflows rebounding and institutional appetite cautiously returning.
Whether or not you believe the CIA theory (most analysts emphatically don’t), the more pressing question for traders right now is what happens to Bitcoin’s price in the next 72 hours — and whether the current consolidation resolves upward or fades.
Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with
Bitcoin and $80K Level to Break
Bitcoin is consolidating just below $75,000, holding above the $71,000–$72,000 support band that served as a floor during earlier geopolitical volatility. Yesterday’s high of $76,000 represents immediate resistance.
The technical picture is mixed, though. RSI sits at 62, a neutral territory, approaching overbought. But 20 of 32 technical indicators currently read bearish on daily and weekly timeframes, a signal that the rally lacks broad conviction. Alexander Kuptsikevich characterizes the current move as “slow but steady growth,” in not a ringing endorsement for aggressive longs.
Discover: The best pre-launch token sales
Bitcoin Hyper Is Not a CIA Surveillance Instrument
CIA or not, Bitcoin’s asymmetric upside window is largely priced in. That’s not a knock on BTC’s long-term thesis. It’s just arithmetic.
This is why some traders are rotating early-stage exposure toward infrastructure plays positioned to benefit from Bitcoin’s growth rather than replicate it. Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is one project drawing significant attention, and not without reason.
It’s the first Bitcoin Layer 2 integrating the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), delivering transaction speeds that reportedly surpass Solana itself while inheriting Bitcoin’s security layer. That’s a technically aggressive claim, and the market is responding.
The presale has raised $32 million at a current token price of $0.0136, with huge staking rewards available for participants who commit early. The presale milestone has already drawn wider coverage as BTC Layer 2 infrastructure becomes a key narrative heading into 2026.
Features include a Decentralized Canonical Bridge for BTC transfers, low-latency smart contract execution, and support for payments, meme coins, and dApps, essentially the programmability Bitcoin has never natively offered.
The post Bitcoin is CIA Operation: Professor Jiang Believes appeared first on Cryptonews.
The curated art platform says its infrastructure has already been spun down with no plans to come back online.
Foundation, the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace, is shutting down for good after a failed acquisition by digital art display company BlackDove.
Founder Kayvon Tehranian announced the closure in a post on X, explaining that a deal to sell the platform to a buyer “who intended to continue its operations” fell through, and the company does not believe another buyer is worth pursuing.
“Our goal in pursuing a sale was always to see Foundation live on,” Tehranian wrote. “That’s no longer possible. As part of our wind-down process, our infrastructure has already been spun down, and we’re not in a position to bring the platform back online.”
The announcement marks the final chapter in a drawn-out unraveling that began in January, when Tehranian transferred ownership of Foundation to BlackDove. At the time, he framed the move as a transition to a leadership committed to the platform’s long-term future, noting that Foundation had facilitated roughly $230 million in primary sales since its launch and had hosted landmark auctions for artists like Jen Stark, James Jean, and Edward Snowden.
But BlackDove’s involvement was short-lived. The company later said full due diligence was only completed after the operational handover, and BlackDove ultimately concluded that building its own proprietary marketplace was a more viable path.
Foundation’s closure adds to a growing list of NFT platform shutdowns that have accelerated since 2024. MakersPlace, KnownOrigin, RTFKT, Nifty Gateway, and X2Y2 have all wound down operations as monthly NFT trading volumes collapsed from $2.9 billion at the 2021 peak to just $23.8 million by early 2025. Surviving platforms like OpenSea have pivoted aggressively toward fungible token trading to stay afloat.
The shutdown also raises familiar questions about the permanence of NFT media hosted on centralized infrastructure, an issue The Defiant raised as early as 2021. Tehranian said Foundation plans to continue pinning IPFS-hosted media and metadata for another year, but urged the community to take responsibility for personally pinning assets they care about. Users with NFTs listed on Foundation’s marketplace smart contract will need to unlist and retrieve them.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.
The US House of Representatives rejected a War Powers Resolution on Iran by a 213-214 vote today, preserving President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations.
The narrow defeat came as Trump simultaneously announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, positioning himself as a peacemaker even as Congress debated constraints on his war powers.
War Powers Vote Falls One Short
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) introduced H.Con.Res. 40 to force the withdrawal of US Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran without explicit congressional authorization. The measure failed along largely partisan lines.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was the lone Democrat to vote against the resolution, siding with Republicans. Meanwhile, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a frequent critic of expansive executive war powers, crossed party lines to support it. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) voted “present.”
The Senate rejected a similar resolution 47-52 a day earlier. Democrats have now forced at least four such votes in both chambers since the Iran conflict began in late February, all failing along partisan lines.
Trump Announces Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire
Hours before the vote, Trump announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire starting at 5 p.m. EST.
The deal followed the first direct talks between the two countries in 34 years, held in Washington with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump said he would invite both leaders to the White House for what he called the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the truce, urging “a path to permanent peace” and full respect of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Energy Crisis Deepens Alongside Conflict
The International Energy Agency warned that Europe holds just six weeks of jet fuel supply as the Iran conflict disrupts global energy flows.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol described the situation as the largest energy crisis the agency has ever tracked.
Dutch airline KLM has already cancelled 80 flights over the next month due to rising fuel costs. Jet fuel prices across Europe have surged by over 100% since the war began.
Gulf and European officials now estimate the U.S. may need six months to reach a deal with Iran, suggesting the energy shock could extend well into summer.
Whether the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire eases broader regional tensions or simply shifts attention remains the open question for markets.
The post Trump Announces Israel and Lebanon Ceasefire, But Oil Crisis Deepens appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Market analysts said Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest rally to $76,000 was a “clear momentum shift,” confirming a short-term uptrend for BTC price.
Bitcoin’s short-term holder (STH) supply in profit, a measure of the share of recently acquired coins currently held at an unrealized gain, suggests that BTC/USD has not exhausted its bear market rally, data from Glassnode shows.
Local tops in bear market rallies have historically formed when this metric approaches its statistical mean of 54.2%, a threshold where the concentration of profitable STHs becomes sufficient to trigger meaningful distribution.
Currently at 43.2%, the STH supply in profit remains “meaningfully below that threshold, suggesting the present rally has not yet reached the zone of typical exhaustion,” Glassnode said in its latest Week Onchain newsletter, adding:
“This leaves slight room for further upside toward the True Market Mean, while also providing a quantitative level to monitor as price advances.”
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has remained in “deep under extension territory” relative to its 50-week simple moving average (SMA), currently at $96,800, analyst McKenna said in a recent post on X.
Related: Bitcoin traders cash out 63K BTC profit as price rallied above $76K: Will the market rebound?
When markets deviate either to the upside or downside, they usually revert back to their mean.
Combined with “clear momentum shifts and bullish trending signals firing then I would be inclined to be directionally bullish here, the analyst said, adding:
“BTC breaking above $74K and holding this level on a HTF is the final trigger I want to see to be confident in mid to high 80s over the coming weeks.”
Fellow analyst Bitcoin Archive focused on the falling US dollar index, saying that it provides a “massive tailwind for the next leg up” for Bitcoin.
As Cointelegraph reported, several metrics support Bitcoin’s potential to rise higher, including increasing network activity and a strengthening technical setup.
Onchain data reveals key Bitcoin price levels to watch
Bitcoin’s 41% drawdown from its $126,000 all-time high has seen the BTC/USD pair drop below key pricing levels, including the active realized price at $85,100, the STH cost basis at $80,950 and the true market mean currently at $78,140.
At $74,000, Bitcoin is 5.2% below the true market mean, a metric tracking the cost basis of active BTC supply.
While the price is yet to “test and stabilize above this key threshold, the probability of a spike toward and potentially above it remains considerable in the mid-term,” Glassnode added.
The importance of this resistance level is reinforced by cost basis distribution. The heatmap below shows that over 200,000 BTC were acquired for around $78,000.
On the downside, the first major support is at $72,000, where the 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) appear to converge. It is also where investors bought approximately 220,000 BTC.
Lower than that, the $65,000-$70,000 demand zone is a key area to watch. This price band has historically served as a vital support level, as seen between October and November 2024, providing a launching pad for the October 2024-January 2025 rally.
As Cointelegraph reported, a drop below the $70,000 would suggest the bears are back in control, increasing the prospects of a drop toward $60,000.
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research before making any decisions. Cointelegraph makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information presented, including forward-looking statements, and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content.
NVIDIA Ising has launched as the world’s first family of open-source quantum AI models, targeting the two biggest engineering bottlenecks in quantum computing: processor calibration and error correction decoding.
Summary
- NVIDIA Ising delivers up to 2.5x faster and 3x more accurate quantum error correction decoding than current open-source benchmarks, with calibration workflows shrinking from days to hours.
- The model family includes Ising Calibration, a 35-billion-parameter vision-language model, and Ising Decoding, a 3D convolutional neural network framework, both available on GitHub and Hugging Face.
- Early adopters include Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Harvard, IQM Quantum Computers, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the UK National Physical Laboratory.
NVIDIA Ising launched April 15, 2026, as the world’s first open-source AI model family purpose-built for quantum computing, providing researchers and enterprises with tools to address processor calibration and error correction, the two engineering barriers standing between today’s fragile qubits and large-scale useful quantum systems.
The models achieve up to 2.5x faster and 3x more accurate quantum error correction decoding compared to pyMatching, the current open-source benchmark.
The family has two domains. Ising Calibration is a 35-billion-parameter vision-language model that automates quantum processor tuning, compressing calibration workflows that previously required days of manual setup to hours of automated execution. Ising Decoding is a 3D convolutional neural network framework for real-time quantum error correction, available in two variants optimized for either speed or accuracy depending on the application.
Both models are distributed through GitHub, Hugging Face, and NVIDIA’s build.nvidia.com platform, integrated with CUDA-Q and NVQLink. NVIDIA is also releasing a quantum workflow cookbook, training datasets, and hardware-specific fine-tuning tools so researchers can adapt the models to their own quantum processor architectures without exposing proprietary data.
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, framed the launch in infrastructure terms. “AI is essential to making quantum computing practical. With Ising, AI becomes the control plane, the operating system of quantum machines, transforming fragile qubits to scalable and reliable quantum-GPU systems,” he said.
Who Is Already Using It
Adoption at launch spans a range of institutions including Academia Sinica, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, IQM Quantum Computers, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Quantum Testbed, Sandia National Laboratories, UC San Diego, the UK National Physical Laboratory, and Yonsei University.
The breadth of early adopters reflects a deliberate open-model strategy. By releasing pre-trained weights, training frameworks, and benchmarks publicly, NVIDIA positions Ising as a foundation layer that other developers can build on without starting from scratch.
Crypto and AI Market Implications
The Ising launch reinforces NVIDIA’s positioning as the dominant infrastructure provider across both classical AI and the emerging quantum-classical hybrid computing stack. For the crypto sector, quantum computing has long represented a future threat to existing blockchain encryption standards, particularly RSA and elliptic curve cryptography used to secure Bitcoin wallets.
Progress in quantum error correction, which Ising specifically targets, is the technical precondition for cryptographically relevant quantum computers to exist. The timeline remains distant, but every improvement in error correction decoding accuracy shortens it.
NVIDIA news has historically triggered moves in AI tokens across the crypto market, as the chip company’s hardware underpins the AI infrastructure that powers many blockchain AI projects. The Ising launch adds a new quantum AI vertical to that relationship.
Pi Network (PI) announced it has surpassed 18 million identity-verified users, positioning the figure as a structural advantage over networks that measure growth by wallet count alone.
The post from the Pi Core Team argued that verified identities are necessary for any transfer of value.
How Pi Verified 18 Million Identities
Pi’s in-app KYC system pairs human reviewers with AI-assisted fraud detection. More than 1 million validators processed 526 million verification tasks to confirm approximately 18 million unique identities.
Each submission passed through roughly 30 individual checks before approval.
The network recently completed its first validator reward distribution, paying out 26.5 million PI to participants. Validators earned about 0.05 PI per task, approximately 22 times the standard mining rate.
PI traded near $0.17 as of this writing, up 3.43% on the day, with a market cap of $1.75 billion according to CoinGecko data.
Backlogs and Tentative KYC Remain Pain Points
Despite the milestone, a significant number of Pioneers remain stuck in limbo. Nearly 44 million users have held a “tentative” KYC status at various points, meaning their verification requires additional review before full Mainnet access.
“At this rate, it’s going to be 10 years before some people see their Pi,” one pioneer remarked.
Some users report waiting over two years without resolution. Others faced losing accumulated coins when a KYC deadline passed before their applications cleared.
Pi introduced a FastTrack option and automated review system that fully verified an additional 3.36 million Pioneers.
“If eligible, users will see this option directly within the Pi Wallet app, allowing them to begin KYC and, once verified, gain immediate access to the Pi Mainnet wallet and its utilities,” the team wrote in a blog.
However, with over 16 million Mainnet migrations completed so far, a gap remains between verified and fully migrated accounts.
Whether Pi’s identity-first approach translates into sustained real-world adoption may depend on how quickly it clears the backlog of verifications that continues to frustrate its most loyal users.
The post Pi Network Claims 18 Million Verified Real Users, Is It True? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Eight web3 games have either shuttered, paused operations, or pivoted to web2 this year as the space continues to struggle amid a major funding drought.
The latest web3 games to be hit, 77-Bit and Pixel Heroes Adventure, delivered their bad news on Wednesday.
Pixel Heroes Adventure says it laid off its entire team due to “unavoidable circumstances,” while 77-Bit paused its development, citing infrastructure issues “built with corners we cut trying to win time that couldn’t hold the scale we grew into.”
Before the dust from those two announcements had had time to settle, XOCIETY revealed on Thursday that it would be pausing its live service NFT game and web3 activities due to “ongoing profitability issues.” Its development team, NDUS, is considering selling or merging the firm.
One of Moku’s social media team members, @EduMock noted that this year, Bloktopia, Pixiland, Forgotten Runiverse, GENSO Online, and KTTY World have all either shut down, paused their operations, or pivoted to web2.
Web3 games typically involve some sort of element that incorporates blockchain technology, such as NFTs or some kind of token system.
Earlier this month, Gunzilla Games, the firm behind Off The Grid and one of the biggest names in web3 gaming, was revealed to be struggling to pay its staff on time, with multiple staff members reporting that they hadn’t been paid after months of work.
Read more: Hamster Kombat players are exploiting the game with massage guns
The response from the company’s CEO spun the coverage as FUD. He claimed the salary delays were necessary, and framed the revelations as “a new narrative from haters.”
Web3’s woes stretch back further than the beginning of this year. Indeed, crypto poster “@StarPlatinum_” noted that, in May 2025, 18 different web3 studios and games had shuttered their operations across the first five months of the year.
Has web3 gaming funding dried up?
The downturn appears to stem from a lackluster demand in web3 games that has in turn, contributed to a lack of venture capital funding to keep supporting the development of these teams.
Indeed, various web3 executives told Decrypt that funding was starting to dry up, many web3 games were reaching the end of their life span, and teams were pivoting away from the space entirely.
The CEO of web3 game The Sandbox, Robby Yung, told Decrypt, “Venture capital funding in gaming has been dry for years,” adding that “most of them probably raised money in 2022, and this is just how long their runway has lasted.”
Even Gunzilla’s web3 director, Theodore Agranat, told Decrypt that there’s an “open” and “universal sentiment” about the lack of funds within his venture capital contacts.
Read more: Web3 is the future of the internet — and a16z’s exit liquidity
Chris Heatherly, who ran the development studio Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, which suffered its own game closures, said investors thought crypto firms would make twice their return quicker than a regular fund, “so they wanted these redonkulous returns and had no patience.”
He added, “Towards the end of 2023, mid-2023, crypto funds stopped deploying and writing checks.”
There’s also been economic struggles across the mainstream gaming industry. Fortnite’s developer Epic Games, Ubisoft, and EA have made thousands of their employees redundant.
Meta, the firm that rebranded its image from Facebook as part of the “metaverse” hype, announced in March that it was shutting down its virtual reality metaverse project, Horizon Worlds, this year.
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