Crypto World
DOJ Says Tornado Cash Developer Made 250 Changes to the Protocol: Is the Immutable Code Defense Dead?
The DOJ core legal theory in the Roman Storm crypto case has never been that writing code is a crime. It’s that exercising operational control over a platform that processes more than $1 billion in illicit funds – while explicitly declining to implement feasible anti-money-laundering controls – constitutes running a criminal business.
That distinction is the mechanism that makes this case matter far beyond Tornado Cash.
Prosecutors filed a letter Tuesday rejecting Storm’s attempt to leverage a March Supreme Court ruling in Sony Music v. Cox Communications as grounds for dismissal.
The DOJ called the analogy “inapposite” – and the reasoning behind that rejection defines exactly what level of developer involvement triggers federal criminal liability under the current enforcement framework.
The unresolved question: where is the legal floor for DeFi developers who upgrade protocols, manage governance, and selectively respond to compliance inquiries? After Tuesday’s filing, that floor is still undefined – and prosecutors are pushing to make Storm’s retrial the place where it gets drawn.
- The Dismissal Attempt: Storm’s attorneys cited the Supreme Court’s Cox ruling – which shielded the ISP from liability for users’ copyright infringement – as precedent for dismissing criminal charges. DOJ prosecutors rejected the parallel as inapplicable to Storm’s conduct.
- The Control Argument: Prosecutors documented over 250 changes made to the Tornado Cash infrastructure during the charged period, directly contradicting Storm’s defense that the protocol was immutable code beyond his control. That operational record is central to the money laundering conspiracy charge.
- The Partial Conviction: A jury in August 2025 convicted Storm on conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business but deadlocked on money laundering conspiracy and sanctions evasion – the two charges prosecutors now want retried in October 2026.
- The Privacy Protocols Precedent: DOJ’s framing – that developers who implement changes and knowingly forgo compliance measures are operators, not bystanders – applies directly to any upgradeable DeFi protocol with identified founders or core teams.
- The Exposure: Storm faces up to 40–45 years in prison if convicted on all counts. The retrial scope covers the two deadlocked charges; the money transmitting conviction stands.
- What to Watch: The conference between Storm’s defense and Judge Katherine Polk Failla’s court will determine whether October 2026 becomes a firm retrial date – the specific scheduling order is the next legal trigger that confirms or compresses the timeline.
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What the DOJ’s Cox Rejection Actually Establishes – and Why the ‘Immutable Code’ Defense Is Running Out of Road
Storm’s legal team drew a specific parallel: the Supreme Court found Cox Communications shouldn’t be held liable for its users’ infringing activity because Cox had a robust, 98%-effective termination policy for repeat infringers.
The argument was that Storm, like Cox, was a neutral infrastructure provider. Prosecutors dismantled that comparison in a single filing.
The DOJ’s letter to Judge Failla emphasized that Cox actively discouraged the illegal conduct occurring on its network – while Storm and his co-conspirators at Tornado Cash did the opposite.
Prosecutors stated that Storm “actively lied in response to inquiries from victims, telling them he had little control over the protocol when in fact he and his co-conspirators implemented over 250 changes to Tornado Cash infrastructure during the charged time period and explicitly discussed – but forwent – feasible measures to curb criminality on their platform.”
That last clause is the legal weight-bearing element. Under the money laundering and unlicensed money transmission statutes at issue, the question isn’t whether a developer wrote code – it’s whether they operated a system they knew was being used for money laundering, had the capacity to limit that use, and chose not to.
The Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money-laundering compliance obligations attach to operators, not passive bystanders. Prosecutors’ position is that Storm was an operator by every functional measure.
“In short, the defendant’s reaction to criminal use of his company was window dressing at best and outright misdirection at worst” – prosecutors’ letter to Judge Failla, filed Tuesday.
The August 2025 jury conviction on the unlicensed money transmission count already rejected Storm’s passive-developer framing once.
The October 2026 retrial targets the money laundering conspiracy and sanctions evasion charges directly – the counts where the jury deadlocked, not where it acquitted. That distinction matters: deadlock means twelve jurors couldn’t reach unanimity, not that the evidence was insufficient to convict.
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The post DOJ Says Tornado Cash Developer Made 250 Changes to the Protocol: Is the Immutable Code Defense Dead? appeared first on Cryptonews.
A new push for the CLARITY Act is building in Washington as crypto policy supporters warn the timeline may be narrowing.
Summary
- Cynthia Lummis warned Congress may miss its best chance to pass the CLARITY Act soon.
- David Sacks and crypto leaders urged the Senate to move market structure legislation forward now.
- Senate progress may depend on resolving stablecoin yield disagreements before a markup hearing begins.
Senator Cynthia Lummis said Congress must move soon or risk delaying market structure reform for years.
Lummis said the United States may miss a rare opening to pass the CLARITY Act if lawmakers fail to act soon. She said the bill may not get another real chance until at least 2030.
In a post on X, Lummis wrote, “This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030.” She added, “We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future.”
The warning comes as crypto policy supporters watch the political calendar. With US midterm elections set for November, some industry figures fear Congress could shift focus and slow work on crypto legislation.
That concern has kept attention on the bill’s timing. Supporters say the next few months may decide whether the measure advances during the current session.
Former White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks also called for quick action. He said the Senate Banking Committee and the full Senate should move the bill forward.
Sacks said, “The time to act is now. Senate Banking, and then the full Senate, should pass market structure.” He added that he expects President Donald Trump to sign the bill if Congress approves it.
Other industry voices have also backed the legislation. A16z Crypto managing partner Chris Dixon said,
“when rules are defined, both consumers and entrepreneurs win.”
Immutable founder Robbie Ferguson also backed the bill. On April 3, he said, “the CLARITY Act will make the last decade of growth in gaming look like a joke.”
Senate progress depends on key issues
Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said on Friday that “it’s time” for the bill to pass after months of delays. His comment added to fresh calls for movement in the Senate.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said on April 2 that the CLARITY Act could be nearing a markup hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. He also said disagreements over stablecoin yield still need to be resolved.
Regulators have also shown support. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said,
“It’s time for Congress to future-proof against rogue regulators & advance comprehensive market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.”
Kenya is moving closer to formalizing oversight of its digital asset sector after completing public consultations on proposed rules for crypto firms.
On April 11, the National Treasury announced that it had concluded stakeholder submissions on the draft Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) regulations. This step advances the framework needed to implement the country’s 2025 law governing crypto-related businesses.
Kenya Drafts Stricter Rules for Crypto Firms
The rules will establish licensing requirements and supervisory standards for companies dealing in cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and stablecoins.
The proposed regime outlines entry thresholds for operators, including ownership suitability tests, capital requirements, and governance standards. It also establishes obligations related to risk management and anti-money laundering compliance.
The Kenyan authorities are also seeking to impose stricter consumer safeguards. This would include mandatory disclosures, transparent pricing, and protections for crypto client funds.
The framework introduces market conduct provisions aimed at curbing manipulation and insider activity, while requiring due diligence for asset listings and ongoing monitoring of trading activity. Firms would also be subject to periodic reporting, audits, and cybersecurity standards under a system combining on-site and off-site supervision.
The central bank and capital markets authorities are expected to share oversight of the crypto sector.
Kenya’s push to formalize oversight aligns with a broader global shift among regulators to define sectoral rules while preserving space for innovation.
The Treasury said the next phase will involve reviewing feedback and refining the draft before finalizing the regulations. The outcome is expected to shape how firms enter and operate in one of Africa’s more mature fintech markets.
“Kenya is building a trusted framework that balances innovation with financial stability,” the financial agency stated.
The consultation process comes as digital asset use expands rapidly across Africa. According to Ripple, the continent faces high transaction costs, delays in cross-border transfers, and limited access to stable foreign currencies.
As a result, people on the continent have shown increased reliance on crypto-based tools for settlement and savings.
Due to this, Sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as one of the fastest-growing crypto markets, with transaction volumes rising sharply over the past year.
The post Kenya Moves Closer to Regulating Crypto Firms With VASP Framework appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
Trump token sees whale accumulation ahead of Mar-a-Lago gala; senators raise questions over event
Large investors are accumulating the TRUMP memecoin ahead of an upcoming gala hosted by President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on April 28, even as the token trades near record lows and the impending event faces political scrutiny.
Data tracked by blockchain sleuth Lookonchain shows notable whale buying through centralized exchanges. One whale, “8DHkza,” withdrew 850,488 $TRUMP tokens (worth approximately $2.4 million) from Bybit over the past two days. Another address, “7EtuAt,” withdrew 105,754 tokens (around $298,000) from Binance 17 hours ago and currently holds 1.13 million tokens, valued at roughly $3.2 million.
Outflows from exchanges are said to represent investor intention to take direct custody of coins and hold the same for long-term. Hence, outflows are taken to indicate accumulation and potentially reduce immediate sell-side liquidity in the market.
The accumulation comes ahead of an invitation-only luncheon reportedly limited to the top 297 TRUMP token holders, with the top 29 receiving exclusive VIP access to Donald Trump.
However, TRUMP continues to trade at record lows near $2.80, down 0.2% on a 24-hour basis and over 1% in seven days. The token came under pressure this week after CoinDesk reported the Trump-linked crypto venture World Liberty Financial’s controversial lending strategy on the Dolomite DeFi platform.
Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have stepped up scrutiny of the Mar-a-Lago event. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, and Richard Blumenthal have sent a letter to Fight Fight Fight LLC, a Delaware-based entity run by Trump associate Bill Zanker, requesting documents and information on whether Trump played a role in planning, promoting, or financially benefiting from the gathering. Fight Fight Fight LLC TRUMP memecoin in partnership with entities affiliated with Donald Trump.
“It is essential that Congress fully understand the extent to which President Trump and his family are profiting off of his cryptocurrency ventures,” the senators said, adding that “Congress must also take steps to prohibit and prevent these egregious conflicts of interest.”
The probe introduces an additional layer of uncertainty for the token, as regulatory and political risks intersect with already weak price action.
The United States government must pass the CLARITY Act, which aims to provide the crypto industry with clearer regulatory oversight, soon, or risk waiting almost another four years to move the industry forward, according to US Senator Cynthia Lummis.
“This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030,” Lummis, a well-known crypto advocate, said in an X post on Friday.
“We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future,” she added. The comments come as crypto industry participants begin to worry that the bill’s chances of passing this year are narrowing, with US midterm elections in November potentially changing congressional priorities and slowing momentum on the highly anticipated crypto legislation.
The former White House AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, also chimed in on Thursday with a similar view to Lummis.
“The time to act is now. Senate Banking, and then the full Senate, should pass market structure. I’m confident that they will. And then President Trump will sign this landmark bill into law,” Sacks said.
Consumers and entrepreneurs both “win” from the CLARITY Act
Many industry participants have argued that the passage of legislation aimed at clarifying which regulators oversee parts of the crypto industry could lead to greater innovation in the US and potentially increase demand for crypto assets among retail investors.
A16z Crypto managing partner Chris Dixon reiterated that view in a post, saying that “when rules are defined, both consumers and entrepreneurs win.”
A wide range of sectors in the crypto industry expect the move to be positive.
Web3 gaming giant Immutable founder Robbie Ferguson said just days before, on April 3, that “the CLARITY Act will make the last decade of growth in gaming look like a joke.”
On Friday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who withdrew the crypto exchange’s support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in January, said “it’s time” for the legislation to pass after months of delays.
Meanwhile, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said on April 2 that the CLARITY Act could be nearing a markup hearing in the US Senate Banking Committee. However, he noted that progress hinges on resolving disagreements over stablecoin yield.
Related: CFTC unveils innovation task force members in crypto clarity push
Regulators are also voicing their support for the legislation.
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said in a post on the same day that, “It’s time for Congress to future-proof against rogue regulators & advance comprehensive market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.”
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US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted their strongest weekly inflow since February last week, drawing more than $786 million.
Data from SoSoValue showed that the US-listed funds’ performance last week narrowly trailed the roughly $787.31 million recorded during the last week of February.
BlackRock and Morgan Stanley’s New MSBT Fund Drive Interest
The inflows followed a softer stretch for the products amid broader market volatility and geopolitical tension, which weighed on risk appetite.
SoSoValue data shows that the flow pattern was uneven through the week. The funds opened with a sharp $471.32 million intake on Monday, then slipped into outflows midweek before recovering on Thursday and Friday.
The turnaround left the group with its best weekly result in nearly two months and suggested buyers returned as Bitcoin regained momentum.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust remained the main driver of demand. The fund brought in about $612 million during the week, accounting for almost four-fifths of total net inflows across the category.
The concentration underscored how heavily new institutional allocations continue to favor the largest and most liquid product in the market.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s newly launched MSBT fund added another point of interest for the market. The fund raised roughly $46 million over its first three trading days, giving investors a fresh entry point as demand across the ETF group picked up again.
Its early flows were modest compared with BlackRock’s scale, but the launch carries broader significance because of Morgan Stanley’s distribution reach. The bank’s network of roughly 16,000 financial advisers oversees trillions of dollars in client assets, giving it access to a channel few Bitcoin ETF issuers can match.
The improvement in fund flows came alongside a strong week for the underlying asset. Bitcoin climbed from around $67,000 to above $70,000 during the period and was trading near $73,411 by the end of the week, a gain of about 9%.
The move marked one of the token’s strongest weekly advances in recent months and helped restore momentum after a period of weaker price action.
The post US Bitcoin ETFs Log Biggest Weekly Inflow Since February appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Polymarket betting markets reportedly appeared inside Google News results alongside established news publishers before disappearing.
A Google spokesperson told The Verge that the platform’s appearance in News was an error. “This site briefly appeared in Google News in error, and it is no longer surfacing in News,” spokesperson Ned Adriance reportedly said.
Before removal, Polymarket links were shown directly beneath mainstream outlets when users searched event-driven queries. In one example cited by Futurism, a search for “will ships transit the strait” related to the Strait of Hormuz returned a Polymarket market predicting outcomes on vessel passage alongside reporting from Reuters and The Guardian.
In a Sunday search conducted by Cointelegraph, the same query did not surface any Polymarket results.
Related: Three Polymarket traders made timely bets on US-Iran ceasefire
Polymarket and Kalshi pursue media partnerships
Last year, Google partnered with both Polymarket and rival Kalshi to integrate their data into Google Finance.
In June, Elon Musk’s X also announced a partnership with Polymarket, naming it as its official prediction market partner. The deal aimed to integrate the betting-based forecasting service into the social media platform.
Furthermore, in October, MetaMask said it would integrate Polymarket as part of its push to expand beyond a crypto wallet into a broader “democratized finance” gateway. The same month, World App, the digital wallet and identity platform from Sam Altman’s World project, also added the Polymarket app.
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Small portion of Polymarket traders make a profit
As Cointelegraph reported, only a tiny fraction of Polymarket traders manage to generate consistent high monthly income, according to new data shared by crypto analyst Andrey Sergeenkov. While around 1% of traders have crossed $5,000 in profits in a single month, only 0.015% were able to sustain that level for four consecutive months.
The findings also show that just 0.033% of wallets have exceeded $100,000 in total profits, with some of these likely belonging to professional traders rather than retail users. Despite growing hype around prediction markets as a fast-rising crypto use case, the data suggests most participants struggle to maintain consistent profitability over time.
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Crypto exchange activity slowed in the first quarter of 2026 after the market cooled from its earlier peak.
Summary
- Crypto exchange trading volume fell sharply in Q1 2026 as market participation weakened after the cycle peak.
- Perpetual futures dominated March activity, with volume reaching four times the level of spot trading.
- Binance held the top position in spot and derivatives despite rising competition from secondary exchanges.
CryptoQuant data showed lower participation across centralized venues, while Binance kept the lead in both spot and derivatives trading.
Centralized exchange trading volume dropped about 48% from the October 2025 peak. The figure fell to $4.3 trillion in March 2026, its lowest level since October 2024.
The pullback showed lower participation from traders and investors after the earlier market run. Activity narrowed toward the biggest exchanges, as users favored liquid venues during periods of price movement.
Perpetual futures remained the main source of trading activity during the quarter. Perpetual volume rose to $3.5 trillion in March, while spot volume stood at $0.8 trillion.
That gap showed how strongly derivatives shaped market structure in Q1. Perpetual volume reached four times spot volume in March, and cumulative perpetual trading hit $4.5 trillion this year.
The rise in derivatives activity also picked up during the relief rally in the third week of March. Binance recorded the largest 24-hour open interest increase for both Bitcoin and Ethereum by mid-March.
Bitcoin open interest on Binance rose by $829 million in 24 hours, while Ethereum open interest increased by $1.6 billion. Across exchanges, Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures open interest climbed to $23 billion and $16 billion.
Binance keeps lead in derivatives trading
Binance led the perpetual futures market with a 40% share and $1.4 trillion in monthly volume. OKX followed with 19%, while Bybit held 13%.
The data showed that most open interest growth flowed to Binance during the March rebound. Other exchanges, including Gate and Bybit, also posted gains, but none matched Binance’s scale.
Binance remained the largest spot trading venue in March. The exchange recorded $248 billion in spot volume and controlled 32% of the market.
That share was down from 37% in October 2025, but Binance still held a lead well ahead of rivals. MEXC and Bybit followed with 9% and 7%, while Gate and Crypto.com posted growth without changing the broader market order.
North Korea’s six-month infiltration campaign at Drift rattled a crypto industry already reeling from billion-dollar exploits.
But as the news settled, a bigger question came into focus: why does North Korea keep coming back to crypto in the first place, and why does its approach look so different from every other state-backed hacking operation on the planet?
The short answer, according to security experts, is that crypto helps give the regime a revenue stream and keep them afloat.
“North Korea doesn’t have the luxury of patience,” said Dave Schwed, chief operating officer at SVRN and the founder of the cybersecurity masters program at Yeshiva University. “They’re under comprehensive international sanctions and they need hard currency to fund weapons programs. The UN and multiple intelligence agencies have confirmed that crypto theft is a primary funding mechanism for their nuclear and ballistic missile development.”
That urgency explains a dynamic that has long puzzled investigators: why North Korean hackers carry out large-scale, traceable heists on public blockchains instead of quietly using crypto to evade sanctions the way other state actors do.
The answer, Schwed argues, is structural. Russia still has an economy: oil, gas, commodity exports, and trading partners willing to use workarounds. It needs crypto as a payment rail, but not for much else. Iran, too, has goods to move — sanctioned oil, proxy financing networks, willing intermediaries across the Middle East. North Korea has almost nothing left to sell.
“Their exports are almost entirely sanctioned. They don’t have a functioning economy that needs a payment rail. They need direct revenue,” Schwed said. “Crypto theft gives them immediate access to liquid value, globally, without needing a counterparty willing to do business with them.”
That distinction — crypto as infrastructure versus crypto as a target — is what separates North Korea not just from Russia, but from Iran as well. While Russia routes money through crypto to work around sanctions, and Iran uses it to fund proxy networks across the Middle East, North Korea is running something closer to a state-sponsored heist operation.
“Their targets are exchanges, wallet providers, DeFi protocols and the individual engineers and founders who have signing authority or infrastructure access,” said Alexander Urbelis, chief information security officer at ENS Labs and a professor of cybersecurity at King’s College London. “The victim is whoever holds the keys or access to the infrastructure that holds the keys.”
Russia and Iran, by comparison, treat crypto as incidental, a means to broader geopolitical ends.
“Russia targets elections, energy infrastructure and government systems. Iran goes after dissidents and regional adversaries,” Urbelis said. “When either of them touches crypto, it’s to move money, not to steal it from the ecosystem.”
That singular focus has pushed North Korean operatives to adopt tactics more commonly associated with intelligence agencies than criminal hackers: months-long relationship building, fabricated identities and supply chain infiltration.
The Drift campaign is only the most recent example.
“You’re not defending against a phishing email from a random scammer,” Urbelis said. “You’re defending against someone who spent six months building a relationship specifically to compromise one person who has the access you need to protect.”
Crypto’s own architecture makes it a uniquely attractive hunting ground. In traditional finance, even successful hacks run into friction in the form of compliance checks, correspondent bank checks, settlement delays and the possibility of reversing fraudulent transfers. When North Korea’s hackers pulled off the Bangladesh Bank robbery in 2016, the heist took days to process and most of the funds were eventually recovered or blocked. In crypto, none of those safeguards exist at the protocol level.
“Once a transaction is signed and confirmed, it’s final,” Urbelis said. The Bybit exploit earlier last year moved $1.5 billion in roughly 30 minutes, a pace and scale that would be nearly impossible in the traditional banking system.
That finality fundamentally changes the security calculus. In banking, a reasonable defense can be built across prevention, detection and response, because there’s always a window to freeze funds or reverse a wire. In crypto, that window barely exists, which means stopping an attack before it happens isn’t just preferable — it’s essentially the only option.
And while banks operate under decades of regulatory guidance and audit requirements, many crypto projects are still improvising — often prioritizing speed and innovation over governance and controls.
That gap creates an environment where even sophisticated teams can be vulnerable, particularly to the kind of long-term infiltration tactics North Korea has been refining.
“This is the hardest operational security problem in crypto right now,” Urbelis said of the challenge of vetting against sophisticated fake identities and third-party intermediaries. “I don’t think the industry has solved it.”
Read more: How North Korea’s 6-month long secret espionage program has crypto community rethinking security
Donald Trump is facing fresh scrutiny as crypto tokens tied to his name and family trade near record lows.
Summary
- TRUMP fell about 90% from its peak as renewed scrutiny hit Trump-linked crypto projects again this week.
- WLFI dropped to a fresh all-time low as criticism of Trump family crypto ties intensified.
- Senators pressed Bill Zanker for details after Trump announced an April 25 gala for token holders.
The pressure has grown after a new gala for token holders raised new questions from Democratic lawmakers.
The Official Trump token, known as TRUMP, fell to an all-time low of about $2.73 in March 2026. It later traded near $2.86, according to CoinGecko data.
The token has dropped about 90% from its January 2025 peak above $73. The decline has kept attention on Trump-backed crypto ventures as traders track whether the project can regain momentum.
World Liberty Financial’s governance token, WLFI, also fell sharply. The token dropped to about $0.07 on Saturday, marking a new all-time low.
WLFI is down nearly 75% from its September 2025 high of about $0.31. The slide has added to pressure on projects linked to Trump and his family.
Criticism grows around Trump crypto ventures
The price declines drew criticism from market observers and legal scholars. Professor Tonya Evans responded to the sell-off with a sharp rebuke of Trump’s role in crypto.
“We thought Sam Bankman-Fried or Gary Gensler were the worst things to happen to the crypto industry, and they were horrible,” Evans said.
She added that “turns out, it was the guy who surrounds himself with sycophants, siphons every bit of value he can for himself, and then expeditiously bankrupts companies and casinos without consequence.”
Her comments came as debate over Trump’s crypto activity returned to the center of public discussion. Critics have focused on whether token-linked events create a financial path to political access.
April gala draws Senate attention
President Trump recently announced another gala for token holders, scheduled for April 25. The event has drawn criticism from Democratic senators who said the plan raises questions about access and fundraising.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff sent a letter to Bill Zanker, the memecoin’s creator, seeking details about the event, according to Politico. They said organizers were “dangling access” to Trump while requiring attendees to hold TRUMP tokens, a structure they said could benefit Trump and his family through increased token demand.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, has added to his Hyperliquid (HYPE) position, purchasing 26,022 tokens worth approximately $1.1 million.
The buy, flagged by on-chain tracker Lookonchain, marks his first HYPE accumulation in roughly three months, signaling renewed confidence in the token.
Why Arthur Hayes Is Doubling Down on Hyperliquid
With this latest addition, his total holdings now stand at 247,334 HYPE, valued at approximately $10.44 million. The position is sitting on unrealized gains of 27.22%, equivalent to around $2.23 million in profit.
This reflects a strong return on his initial investment despite broader market volatility in the crypto space. The renewed accumulation follows Hayes’s public declaration on April 8.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
Hayes has maintained a $150 price target for the token by August 2026, roughly a 266% increase from current levels. The executive pointed to Hyperliquid’s revenue model as a key driver.
The platform returns 97% of its trading fees to buy back and burn HYPE from the open market, creating a deflationary loop that ties token value directly to platform usage.
Meanwhile, the acquisition comes as institutional interest in HYPE is also rising. Bitwise filed an amended registration statement with the SEC, adding the ticker BHYP and a 0.67% management fee.
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said such additions typically signal a fund may launch soon. Last month, Grayscale submitted its own S-1 application to list the Grayscale HYPE ETF on Nasdaq under the ticker GHYP.
A potential ETF approval could open the door to significant institutional capital inflows into HYPE, potentially driving broader adoption and renewed price momentum for the token.
HYPE has been one of the strongest large-cap performers over the past year, gaining roughly 176% according to CoinGecko data. However, it has not escaped broader market pressure.
The token slipped approximately 2% in the past 24 hours to around $40.91 as the US and Iran failed to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, decentralized exchange activity is contracting across the board. Total DEX spot volume fell 23.9% to $212 billion in March, the lowest monthly figure since October 2024.
Monthly perpetual DEX volumes dropped to $699 billion in March, down from a peak of $1.369 trillion in October 2025, according to DefiLlama data. Hyperliquid still leads the perp segment, but the five-month downtrend raises questions about whether fee-driven buybacks can sustain their pace if trading activity continues to cool.
Whether ETF approvals and sustained whale accumulation can offset that macro softening remains the key question for HYPE holders heading into Q2.
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The post Arthur Hayes Buys $1.1 Million in HYPE After 3-Month Break appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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