Crypto World
Hungary Election Political Shake-Up Could Reopen Crypto Policy and Regulation Debate
Hungary’s 16-year Orbán era ended on April 12, 2026, when opposition leader Péter Magyar’s pro-EU Tisza Party secured a commanding parliamentary majority – and with it, a plausible path to unwinding one of the EU’s most aggressive national crypto crackdowns.
The political shift is confirmed. The regulatory reversal is not. That distinction matters, and this article will interrogate exactly what the gap between those two facts means for traders, operators, and the broader MiCA implementation map across Europe.
This story carries a speculative tag for good reason: no legislative rollback has been announced, no enforcement moratorium declared, and no Tisza-led government has yet been formally seated. What exists is a changed political vector – and in crypto policy, that’s often where the real repositioning begins.
- Political event: Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party won a parliamentary majority on April 12, 2026, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule, with Orbán conceding in early projections.
- Crypto crackdown at stake: Hungary’s amended Crypto Act, effective July 1, 2025, criminalized unauthorized exchange services and imposed a SARA-certificate validation regime on all crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto transactions.
- MiCA conflict: The European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Hungary’s validation regime, citing incompatibility with the harmonized MiCA framework – proceedings that a new government could resolve swiftly.
- Revolut exposure: The UK-based fintech, serving over 2 million Hungarian clients, halted crypto buying, staking, and deposits post-July 2025 and has given no reinstatement timeline.
- What remains unverified: No confirmed policy reversal, no legislative timeline, and no formal Tisza government position on crypto regulation has been announced as of publication.
Discover: Top Crypto Presales Worth Watching This Month
What Hungary Crypto Crackdown Actually Built – and What Post Election Reversal Would Have to Dismantle
The architecture of Hungary’s crackdown is more surgical than the headlines suggested. Amendments effective July 1, 2025 created two new criminal offenses – “crypto abuse” and “unauthorized crypto exchange services” – carrying penalties of up to 2 years in prison.
But legal analysis clarified the scope: the offenses target large-scale unvalidated exchange operations and unlicensed platforms, not node-running, Bitcoin holding, or personal use of international trading platforms.
The sharper tool was the validation layer. By December 27, 2025, a transaction-level system required SARA-licensed certificates for any crypto-to-fiat or crypto-to-crypto exchange executed through domestic platforms.

The practical effect was a state-controlled regulatory gatekeeper – one that crypto insiders characterized as designed to redirect market power toward licensed incumbents and away from foreign-operated platforms.
The capital flight concern was not hypothetical: Revolut, serving over 2 million Hungarians, has completely banned crypto buying, staking, and deposits, and has offered no reinstatement date.
A rollback under Tisza would not be a single vote to repeal. It would require unwinding the SARA validation regime, amending or nullifying the criminal offense provisions, and coordinating with the European Commission to close the active infringement proceedings.
That’s three separate institutional actions – legislative, regulatory, and diplomatic – that need to move in sequence. Possible within months under a motivated government. Not guaranteed even under a favorable one.
The EU infringement angle is the fastest lever available. The Commission’s proceedings against Hungary’s validation regime rest on a clear argument: MiCA sets a harmonized floor for crypto-asset service regulation across member states, and Hungary’s SARA certificate system creates a parallel national gatekeeping layer that MiCA’s architecture does not permit.
A new government signaling EU alignment – which Tisza’s pro-EU platform explicitly does – could resolve those proceedings through administrative withdrawal rather than full legislative reform. That would remove the validation layer fastest, even before the criminal provisions are revisited.
Discover: Best Crypto Presales Gaining Traction in 2026
The post Hungary Election Political Shake-Up Could Reopen Crypto Policy and Regulation Debate appeared first on Cryptonews.
Crypto World
Criminals Blackmail Kraken With Alleged Client Data Leak
Kraken is facing an extortion attempt after uncovering two insider incidents involving support staff access to limited client data.
The exchange’s Chief Security Officer, Nick Percoco, insists its systems and funds were never compromised.
Kraken Insider Extortion Case Exposes Growing Support Staff Security Risks
Crypto exchange Kraken disclosed two separate incidents of insider access involving support staff who viewed limited client data, which later prompted an extortion attempt by a criminal group.
The firm’s CSO says no systems were breached and funds remained secure after acting immediately on each alert. Support access was revoked quickly in both cases, according to the Kraken security update statement.
“We are currently being extorted by a criminal group threatening to release videos of our internal systems with client data shown if we do not comply with their demands,” Percoco wrote in a post.
According to the company, only about 2,000 client accounts, roughly 0.02% of its user base, may have been viewed during the incidents.
Notifications were sent to affected users. Kraken says the exposure was limited to support systems, not trading infrastructure, and no funds were affected.
Kraken Rejects Extortion Demand
The incidents escalated when a criminal group began demanding payment, threatening to release internal videos and data unless Kraken complied.
Reportedly, Kraken refused, stating it would not negotiate with bad actors. The exchange confirmed it is working with law enforcement across jurisdictions and has gathered sufficient evidence for identification efforts.
“We are actively working with federal law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions to pursue all individuals involved and bring them to justice,” he added.
The case reflects a wider industry issue involving attempts to recruit or bribe customer support employees at crypto and tech firms.
It mirrors Coinbase’s 2025 case, where bribed overseas agents leaked customer information. In both, no systems were breached, client funds remained safe, and the exchanges refused extortion demands while cooperating with law enforcement.
Security teams across the sector have increased monitoring and access controls in response. Similar tactics have been observed in the gaming and telecom sectors, according to industry reports.
Notwithstanding, some users question offshore support hiring practices, arguing that geography influences security risk perception.
“Why don’t you hire people from developed countries? I won’t put my money on a platform that I have to hope for their third world support staff to not get bribed by criminals to expose my data. Banks don’t hire support staff in third world countries either,” one user expressed.
Kraken has not commented on those claims but emphasized access controls over location as the primary safeguard.
The post Criminals Blackmail Kraken With Alleged Client Data Leak appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
Coinbase VP of international policy leaves for OpenAI
Tom Duff Gordon, the vice president of international policy at U.S.-listed cryptocurrency platform Coinbase (COIN), has left the firm for pastures green.
Duff Gordon, who had been with Coinbase for close to 4 years, left the exchange to join OpenAI as head of EMEA Policy, a Coinbase spokesperson said via email.
Duff Gordon had previously spent 8.5 years working as a banker at Credit Suisse. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An expert on crypto regulations, Duff Gordon recently pointed out that U.K. banks are blocking millions of customers from accessing legal and compliant services, by failing to distinguish between Financial Conduct Authority-registered firms with low fraud rates and higher-risk operators.
Crypto World
Oil Price Slides Below $100 as China Defies US Hormuz Blockade
US oil prices fell back below $100 per barrel on Monday after a volatile session, reversing gains that pushed crude above $104 earlier in the day.
The sharp pullback came as China’s Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun signaled that Chinese vessels would continue transiting the Strait of Hormuz under existing agreements with Iran.
China Challenges US Naval Blockade
Admiral Dong Jun delivered a pointed message to the Trump administration and the US Navy. He confirmed that Chinese ships are actively moving through the Strait of Hormuz and that Beijing will honor its trade and energy agreements with Tehran.
“Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and it is open for us,” the Hormuz Letter reported, citing Admiral Dong Jun.
The statement reframes the standoff. What began as a bilateral US-Iran confrontation now involves a direct challenge from the world’s second-largest economy.
Analysts noted the repricing in oil markets reflects traders reassessing the blockade’s effectiveness now that China has entered the frame.
Notably, the US blockade of Iran affects China’s interests, as China is Iran’s largest oil export destination.
Trump Sets New April 27 Deadline
Speaking from the Oval Office, President Trump issued a fresh two-week ultimatum to Iran. He warned the situation “won’t be pleasant” if Tehran fails to reach a deal by April 27.
The deadline follows the collapse of US-Iran talks in Islamabad on April 12, which prompted Washington to declare a full naval blockade of the strait.
Brent crude had jumped more than 8% to above $103 following that announcement before reversing.
Markets now face a new variable. China’s willingness to test the blockade could determine whether oil stabilizes or enters another leg higher as the April 27 deadline approaches.
However, reports suggest that a tanker bound for China forced to turn back under the U.S. blockade.
“I believe the US intends to use this opportunity to pressure China to help urge Iran to reach an agreement, although this action is not specifically targeted at China,” one user commented.
The post Oil Price Slides Below $100 as China Defies US Hormuz Blockade appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
White House crypto adviser Witt says other Clarity Act hurdles being cleared
The White House’s main crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, said that work is still being done to lock in the compromise that he thinks will move the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act forward in the U.S. Senate, though he said several other points are also being worked out behind the scenes.
In an interview on CoinDesk TV Monday, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets suggested Monday that the common ground that key senators from both parties said they’d secured on stablecoin yield seems to be intact.”We’re hopeful that the compromise that has been reached will be durable and will hold,” Witt said. “Solving that was a must-have before we could get onto the other outstanding issues,” which he said he’s now pivoted to, though some of the issues have already been resolved.
Apart from the question of yield on stablecoins, over which bankers had successfully convinced some in the Senate that their deposit base could be in peril, the Clarity Act had a number of other potential hangups. Among those have been the illicit financial protections in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, and a request from Democrats that senior government officials (most pointedly, President Donald Trump) be barred from profiting off of the crypto sector.
Though Witt wouldn’t identify the topics that have been settled in the ongoing talks, he said that the negotiations “made considerable progress in the background” while the yield argument between banks and crypto firms got most of the attention.
“We’re very close to closing them out,” he said. “All of these issues felt intractable and unsolvable at one point in time. So the fact that we’ve been able to close out a lot of them gives me confidence that we can close out these other ones, too.”
The Clarity Act would need a markup hearing in the Senate Banking Committee before it can be advanced toward a final Senate vote. It had been close to such a hearing at the beginning of the year, but the bank lobbyists raised objections to stablecoin yield that delayed the process.
Last week, White House economists issued a report that downplayed the threats the banking sector contended are posed by giving stablecoin holders a return that resembles interest from a bank account. On Monday, the American Bankers Association answered back, saying the White House argument was flawed. Witt said the view of bankers is wide-ranging, depending on how close they are to the technology.
“They’re grappling with it,” he said. “These are all important issues to their members.
And, you know, some of them are going to view stablecoins more positively. Some are going to be a little bit more threatened by them.”
Read More: Trump’s crypto adviser rejects Jamie Dimon on treating yield-bearing stablecoins like banks
Crypto World
Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC Needs All Year for $120,000 but $750 in This Presale Could Return $225,000 From One Listing
The bitcoin price prediction just hit a turning point. BTC posted back to back quarterly losses for the first time since 2022, dropping 23% from its January price of $87,500, but April has closed green 9 out of 13 times since 2013 with a 69% win rate per 24/7 Wall St.
The pattern is clear: BTC falls hard then bounces harder. While that recovery builds over months from a $1.3 trillion cap, the wallets chasing the biggest return are not waiting on BTC.
They are filling Pepeto because a working exchange, a confirmed Binance listing, and $8.9 million in committed capital tell them the setup is already in place.
Bitcoin Price Prediction Shifts as April Win Rate Meets Quarterly Reset
BTC lost 23% in Q1 after falling from $87,500, and Q4 2025 also closed red, marking the first back to back quarterly losses since 2022 per 24/7 Wall St.
But April’s 69% win rate is one of BTC’s strongest months on record, and CME FedWatch shows 98% expect the Fed to hold at the April 28 meeting per 24/7 Wall St.
When BTC falls to levels that historically trigger rebounds and the Fed removes the threat of more rate hikes, the bitcoin price prediction shifts from fear to timing.
BTC at $71,140 and Pepeto at $8.9M: Where the Pattern Repeats
Pepeto: The Same Pattern That Made Every Early Crypto Fortune
What if you could go back and buy BTC at $100? Or catch BNB at $0.15? Or enter Pepe before $11 billion? Every one of those followed the same pattern: a real product, early fear, and a crowd that showed up late. Pepeto is following that exact pattern right now, except this time you are not late.
The exchange is already live. PepetoSwap handles every trade at zero cost so your gains stay whole, the bridge sends your assets between ETH, BNB, and Solana chains for free, and the scanner catches dangerous contracts before your money goes anywhere near them.
The mind behind the original Pepe, the meme token that hit $11 billion on nothing but hype and 420 trillion supply, built Pepeto with real tools and a Binance listing already confirmed. SolidProof audited every contract with results on chain for anyone to check. More than $8.9 million flowed in while the market sat in fear, and that is the tell. The people inside are not waiting and hoping. They already see where this goes. Staking pays 185% APY, growing your position every day before listing day arrives.
At $0.0000001862 per token, analysts project 100x to 300x once the Binance listing opens trading. Let those numbers sink in. $750 at 100x becomes $75,000. At 300x that same $750 becomes $225,000. How often does a setup like this land in front of you with a working exchange, a clean audit, and a confirmed listing all at less than a penny? The presale is filling fast and the listing will end this price for good.
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Levels, Targets, and What the Quarterly Reset Means
BTC trades near $71,140 with a $1.42 trillion cap, down 43% from its October 2025 all time high near $126,000 per CoinMarketCap.
The $75,000 level is the key resistance, and a clean break with volume opens the path toward $85,000 by summer.
Standard Chartered targets $120,000 by year end, and the CLARITY Act markup in late April is the next catalyst. Even the bull case at $120,000 delivers 67% from current levels, strong for a $1.3 trillion asset but taking the rest of the year to play out.
Conclusion
BTC carries the store of value story and April’s 69% win rate says the bounce is likely coming. But here is what it comes down to. Do you want 67% over the rest of the year from a $1.3 trillion token? Or do you want to be the person who put $750 into a presale and watched it become $75,000 to $225,000 from one listing?
Every fortune built in crypto started with one moment where someone moved while everyone else was still reading about it. BTC at $100. BNB at $0.15. Pepe at zero. The same creator who built that last one is behind Pepeto, and the Binance listing is the event that turns this presale price into history. The wallets already inside are the ones who will tell this story next year. The only question left is whether your wallet is one of them.
Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale
FAQs
How do back to back quarterly losses change the bitcoin price prediction?
BTC’s first back to back quarterly losses since 2022 pushed prices lower, but April’s 69% win rate signals a bounce, while Pepeto at presale pricing delivers returns one listing can produce.
Can a presale outperform the bitcoin price prediction this cycle?
BTC at $71,140 targeting $120,000 delivers 67% over months, but $750 inside Pepeto at 100x becomes $75,000 from one Binance listing, making the presale at the Pepeto official website the faster path.
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.
Crypto World
The SEC Conditionalises DeFi Platforms to Be Avoided for Broker Registration
Scope of Interfaces to Be Covered
The Commission outlined covered user interfaces as websites, browser extensions, or applications associated with crypto wallets. These applications assist users to plan and start transactions on blockchain platforms or smart contracts. Also in the guidelines, there are platforms that provide routing information, pricing and cost estimates of transactions. Such interfaces provide support to users that make use of self-custodial wallets to conduct crypto asset securities trades. They might also contain aggregators and swap platforms that show execution paths. As a result, the SEC acknowledges their functions in operations but does not differentiate them from the traditional intermediaries.
The SEC, however, added that it will not object to some platforms functioning without registration of a broker-dealer in some circumstances. The platforms should enable users to customise the parameters of transactions and offer educational aids to make informed choices. In addition, they should not give instructions to the users on certain securities transactions. The Commission highlighted that platforms should be neutral when offering trading options. The interface providers can provide default execution facilities, but they are not able to rank or favor specific trades. Therefore, it requires compliance by ensuring that the user is in control and restricting access to the results of transactions.
Section 15 of the Exchange Act that regulates the registration of brokers is referred to as the guidance. Though certain interfaces might fit the definition of brokers, the SEC made it clear that there are situations in which the enforcement might not be applicable. Moreover, such a strategy is an indication of a loose reading of the law on securities. The research head of Galaxy Digital Alex Thorn claimed that the SEC is moving forward with market structure without legislation. He observed that the agency is developing rules that resemble the ones suggested in the CLARITY Act. Furthermore, he emphasised the fact that the guidance provided to the staff might change with time.
Also, the guidance can facilitate future exemption of innovation covered by the SEC leadership. This may go as far as tokenised securities trading via automated systems and decentralised applications. The agency therefore keeps on demarcating operational limits of new crypto services. The crypto regulation debate in the U.S. Senate is set to be reintroduced in the near future. The legislators can proceed with official reviews and amendments of the suggested bill. The schedule indicates that there will be ongoing liaison between regulatory and legislative action.
Crypto World
U.S. SEC says software allowing crypto wallet transactions not considered broker
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that software that sets up user interfaces allowing crypto securities to be transacted through individuals’ wallets won’t need to be registered and regulated as a broker.
In the latest of the agency’s staff statements on crypto — now a wide-ranging list of views meant to allow the crypto industry to move forward in the absence of permanent rules — the SEC staff said on Monday that the websites or software used by people pursuing securities transactions with their self-hosted wallets won’t itself be considered as belonging to the broker-dealer category. That tracks with the agency’s recent stance that developers should be able to write software without triggering such regulations.
The agency provided a checklist of measures the creators of these interfaces can take to keep them out of the regulatory box, including that it “does not solicit investors to engage in any specific crypto asset securities transactions” and “does not provide commentary on any potential execution route(s) displayed to a user.”
If the interface offers financing, provides investment recommendations, handles user assets, takes orders or executes transactions, it’s no longer outside the agency’s regulatory reach.
“The staff is providing its views as an interim step while the commission continues to consider various regulatory issues relating to crypto asset securities activities and the feedback it has received,” the document said.
Under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has demanded that his executive branch clear an easier path for the rise of friendly crypto regulation, the leadership of the SEC has reversed previous resistance and embraced the technology. Even before the arrival of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, a series of pro-crypto statements began emerging, clarifying the regulator’s new view that various assets wouldn’t be considered securities or wouldn’t trigger oversight requirements. But these statements don’t carry the weight and greater permanence of full-fledged rules.
In the meantime, Atkins’ agency is working on such rules. Wide-ranging SEC rules are close to the proposal stage at the agency, he’s said. Even as the Senate continues to work on the Clarity Act that would cement crypto regulations into law, the agency is working on interim measures to give the agency great certainty.
Read More: SEC makes quiet shift to brokers’ stablecoin holdings that may pack big results
Crypto World
Crypto-Aligned Super PAC Begins to Endorse Candidates for US Midterms
Fellowship, a super political action committee (PAC) that claims to have $100 million in its war chest from crypto-aligned parties ahead of the 2026 US midterms, has begun reporting spending and endorsements for the next election.
According to a filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Fellowship PAC reported spending $300,000 on advertising for Clay Fuller, a Republican who won a special election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District to replace resigning congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The spending, reported disbursed on Tuesday, comes about a month before Georgia’s Republican primary on May 19.

Fellowship is just one of several crypto-backed or aligned PACs expected to pour money to support or oppose candidates in another critical US election season. In 2024, the Fairshake PAC spent more than $130 million in media buys in congressional races, possibly influencing the outcomes in key battlegrounds like the US Senate seat for Ohio.
According to the FEC, super PACs may “receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity.”
In addition to its only reported expenditure since the Fellowship PAC’s statement of organization filed in 2025, Fellowship posted endorsements for candidates to its X account on Thursday, signaling support for Republicans in races across five states. The candidates included Alan Wilson for South Carolina governor, Blake Miguez for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, Mike Collins for the US Senate in Georgia, Julia Letlow for the US Senate in Louisiana, Pete Ricketts for the US Senate in Nebraska and Nate Morris for the US Senate in Kentucky.
Related: Chainlink and Anchorage Digital back launch of crypto-aligned PAC
Fellowship announced its launch in September, claiming to have “over $100 million” from undisclosed backers aligned with the crypto industry. On April 1, it said that Tether’s head of government affairs, Jesse Spiro, would chair the PAC, signaling support for candidates with pro-crypto views.
US lawmakers are still stalled on crypto market structure bill as midterms approach
The CLARITY Act, legislation passed by the US House of Representatives in July, has faced several delays in the Senate with no clear path forward on passing the legislation as of Monday.
Reports over the weekend signaled that the Senate Banking Committee, one of the two bodies needed to approve the bill in the chamber before a vote, was planning to hold a markup on the legislation, but the event was not on the committee’s calendar at the time of publication.
The bill, expected to be one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation affecting the crypto and banking industries, has faced pushback from lawmakers to address ethics, stablecoin yield, tokenized equities and other potential issues.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?
Crypto World
ECB Approves Tokenized EU Capital Markets With Guardrails
The European Central Bank is charting a cautious path toward tokenizing Europe’s capital markets, arguing that the gains from distributed ledger technology (DLT) hinge on anchoring transactions in central bank money, ensuring interoperable infrastructures, and maintaining a robust regulatory framework.
In its latest Macroprudential Bulletin, the ECB notes that tokenization could deepen the EU’s savings and investments union, but warns gains depend on policy action keeping pace with evolving risks. The stance signals a measured push to modernize market plumbing without compromising financial stability or monetary control.
Key takeaways
- Tokenization could streamline the issuance-to-settlement chain and boost liquidity, but true gains require interoperable platforms and central bank money for settlement, not just private or commercial instruments.
- Early evidence from tokenized bonds points to lower borrowing costs and tighter bid-ask spreads, yet these improvements depend on scale, risk controls, and market adoption.
- Tokenized money market funds and euro-denominated stablecoins are analyzed as experiments in on-chain cash-like instruments, bringing new operational vulnerabilities alongside familiar liquidity risks.
- MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins could influence sovereign-bond demand and market resilience, depending on how issuers meet deposit and reserve requirements.
- Across five Bulletin pieces, the ECB stresses that tokenization can support a more integrated capital market only if policy, prudential rules, and central-bank infrastructure evolve in tandem.
Tokenized capital markets: Conditions and expected benefits
The ECB’s analysis outlines how tokenized assets could rewire the issuance-to-settlement chain by moving both securities and cash onto compatible ledgers and by automating corporate actions. By doing so, the authors argue, operational frictions tied to multiple intermediaries and legacy systems could be reduced, potentially unlocking improved secondary liquidity. Yet the potential gains hinge on avoiding a patchwork of incompatible platforms and ensuring that central bank money—not merely commercial bank money or privately issued tokens—can be used for settlement in tokenized markets.
One article in the Bulletin highlights that tokenization and DLT are moving from concept to early-scale deployment, but the benefits will be realized safely only if European policy action keeps pace. This framing underscores the balance policymakers are seeking: enabling innovation while preserving financial stability and monetary integrity. For market participants, that means pilots and gradually expanded use cases rather than rapid, broad-based deployment.
The Bulletin also flags the need for robust interoperability standards and risk governance to prevent fragmentation as tokenized infrastructure expands. In practical terms, that could mean common settlement rails, standardized corporate-action workflows, and clear rules on settlement finality and collateral management across platforms.
Tokenized MMFs and euro stablecoins under the lens
The bulletin treats tokenized money market funds (MMFs) as a parallel set of experiments that largely mirror the liquidity and run-risk profile of traditional MMFs, but with added operational vulnerabilities inherent to on-chain structures. The analysis invites scrutiny of how such funds would behave under stress and how they interact with on-chain cash-like instruments during adverse conditions.
A separate piece examines euro-denominated, MiCA-compliant stablecoins and their potential impact on sovereign debt markets. Depending on whether issuers meet deposit and reserve requirements, these on-chain tokens could act as a liquidity buffer in turbulent times or, conversely, become a channel for bank contagion. The report emphasizes the regulatory hinge: the way deposits, reserves, and governance are structured will shape how these stablecoins influence demand for government bonds and overall market stability.
Broader implications and what to watch
Together, the five pieces in the Bulletin lay out a clear, conditional path for tokenization: it can support Europe’s goal of a more integrated and efficient capital market, but only if policy direction, prudential oversight, and central-bank infrastructure evolve in lockstep. The ECB’s nuanced stance reflects an intention to reap potential benefits while keeping a tight line on risk management, liquidity resilience, and monetary integrity as tokenized formats scale beyond flagship deals and select issuers.
For investors and market builders, the early signals are instructive. Tokenized bonds showing lower borrowing costs in initial deployments suggest real efficiency gains from streamlined settlement and enhanced transparency. Yet those advantages are not guaranteed to persist once activity broadens: scale, legal clarity, and robust liquidity mechanisms will determine whether the benefits are durable or merely episodic. The same tension applies to tokenized MMFs and stablecoins, where innovation can improve access to liquidity but must not outpace safeguards around reserve adequacy and systemic risk.
Policymakers appear determined to preserve a centralized architectural logic—anchoring settlements in central bank money and ensuring regulatory clarity—while allowing the market to experiment with tokenized formats. The coming months could bring pilot programs, shared standards, and possible adjustments to settlement infrastructures, as Europe weighs how best to harmonize technology, law, and prudential rules.
Readers should watch how the ECB formalizes these concepts in concrete policy and industry guidance, and how market participants respond to any push toward standardized cross-platform settlement rails. The balancing act between innovation and stability will continue to shape the pace and scope of tokenized instruments across Europe.
The ECB did not respond to Cointelegraph for comment by publication.
Crypto World
StarkWare fires staff after Starknet revenue collapses 98%
The CEO of StarkWare, the once-$8 billion Israeli company behind Ethereum-based blockchain Starknet, announced layoffs and a full corporate restructuring today. Monthly revenue on its flagship network has collapsed more than 98% from its peak.
In November 2023, Starknet’s on-chain revenue peaked near $5.8 million within a single month. This month, it is on track for approximately $100,000.
In other words, the network that once generated $187,000 in daily fees now generates about $3,500 per day. StarkWare declined to disclose the number of layoffs.
StarkWare, founded in Israel in 2018, develops Starknet, an Ethereum layer 2. For disambiguation, there is no StarkWave entity, a common misnomer that circulates online.
Starknet’s STRK token launched via airdrop in February 2024 and briefly traded to $4.41. It’s since fallen to $0.033, giving it a market capitalization of $187 million. That’s a 91% decline from its $2 billion market cap in March 2024.

StarkWare CEO: We are downsizing
CEO Eli Ben-Sasson posted his internal memo to X, telling staff the company had grown too large.
“Very sadly, as part of this process, we are downsizing,” he said as he fired staff. “Our new strategy requires that we move fast, and we’re too big and too inefficient for that.”
StarkWare raised $100 million at an $8 billion valuation in May 2022, quadrupling its size from $2 billion in a round six months prior. Although the company hasn’t updated its valuation in today’s downsizing announcement, it would probably be embarrassing relative to those 2022 figures.
GreenOaks Capital and Coatue were lead investors in the company. Earlier backers included Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Founders Fund, as well as crypto dumpster fires Three Arrows Capital and Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research.
StarkWare raised more than $260 million over its lifetime — more than the current market cap of STRK.
COO Oren Katz has submitted his resignation and departs at the end of this month.
A split and a sunset
The restructuring splits StarkWare into two independent business units. An applications division, led by Chief Product Officer Avihu Levy, will chase revenue directly. A Starknet development unit, led by Product Head Tom Brand, will continue core protocol work.
Read more: Crypto Twitter upset by Starknet STRK airdrop
The revenue decline is mostly due to Starknet’s failure to attract usage of its blockchain as well as limited revenue across layer 2 blockchains.
Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade in March 2024 slashed data costs for all layer 2 networks, compressing fee revenue across the board. Layer 2 governance tokens like STRK posted average returns of negative 40% in 2025 in their second consecutive unprofitable year.
Starknet fared worse than most. Its total value locked sits around $241 million per DefiLlama, far behind Coinbase’s Base at roughly $4.3 billion and Arbitrum at $1.9 billion. Starknet’s all-time cumulative fees total just $45 million.
Ben-Sasson acknowledged as much. “Infrastructure alone does not win the game.”
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