Crypto World
Inside Coinbase’s push to bring prediction markets on chain and on venue
Coinbase is folding regulated prediction markets into its “everything exchange” vision, using The Clearing Company to clear on‑chain event contracts beside crypto and stocks.
Summary
- Coinbase is moving prediction markets from a Kalshi integration toward an on‑chain, in‑house stack after acquiring The Clearing Company, aiming to keep them inside a regulated perimeter.
- In Europe, financial‑underlying prediction markets fall under MiFID while politics and sports are pushed into fragmented national gambling regimes, leaving most current on‑chain volume in regulatory limbo.
- Coinbase is already experimenting with cross‑margining via perpetual futures and sees long‑term scope to extend collateral efficiency across prediction markets, crypto, and tokenized assets on a single venue.
Coinbase’s push to become an “everything exchange” will increasingly run through regulated prediction markets rather than just spot crypto, according to Côme Prost‑Boucle, the exchange’s head of international listings, speaking with crypto.news at ETHGlobal Cannes on March 31.
For Prost‑Boucle, prediction markets are not a novelty bolt‑on. They sit at the core of Coinbase’s plan to become what he calls an “everything exchange.” “The whole strategy is pretty simple,” he told crypto.news.
“We want to build the everything exchange with Coinbase, meaning that we want to bring under one regulated umbrella all of the asset classes that you can imagine and offer this to both our retail customers and our institutional customers.”
Coinbase leading the way to become an ‘Everything Exchange’
That umbrella now stretches beyond spot crypto into derivatives, options, tokenized stocks and equities, token sales and, crucially, event‑based contracts that let users trade on future outcomes. “We have this whole breadth of different products that we’re bringing into one umbrella, which is Coinbase,” he said. “Our goal is to push this to as many users as possible across the world, and the reaction has been pretty tremendous so far.”
Coinbase’s debut in prediction markets was deliberately conservative. The initial launch in the U.S. leaned on Kalshi, the CFTC‑regulated event‑contract venue, giving the product an immediate regulatory backbone but also clear constraints on geography and design.
“The first iteration of the product is available in the US and in a couple of regions, but for instance, it’s not available in Europe because of lack of regulatory clarity,” Prost‑Boucle said. That version effectively pipes Kalshi’s markets into the Coinbase interface, letting users trade small‑ticket contracts on elections, sports, macro data and other real‑world events while staying inside a U.S. event‑contract framework.
The second phase is more aggressive. In December, Coinbase agreed to acquire The Clearing Company, a specialist prediction‑market clearing startup with roots in the existing event‑contract ecosystem.
Prost‑Boucle referred to it in the interview as “a company called The Clearing House,” but the strategic intent is clear. “The goal is for us to bring these capacities internally so that we can develop this product on chain and we can develop with the DNA that we have to bring all asset classes on chain,” he said. In effect, Coinbase is moving from renting regulated rails to owning the clearing and risk stack, and then pushing more of the lifecycle on‑chain while staying within the event‑contract perimeter. That stands in contrast to crypto‑native venues such as Polymarket, which prioritizes unconstrained on‑chain liquidity first and only later began to grapple with regulatory structure.
Prediction markets dominate conversation at ETHGlobal
If prediction markets are to sit alongside crypto, derivatives and tokenized stocks in a single app, collateral efficiency will determine whether users actually route meaningful size through Coinbase. Here, Prost‑Boucle says institutional desks are already applying pressure. “That’s also something that institutional clients have been pushing for,” he noted when asked about cross‑margining prediction markets with other Coinbase products. “We’re currently doing cross‑margining for our perpetual futures product, and that’s something that our institutional clients have been craving,” he added, pointing to demand for “always‑on exposure possibilities, weekend hedging, all of this that perpetual futures have as internal features.” The logical goal is to have a single collateral pool backing BTC perpetuals, tokenized equity and a portfolio of geopolitical or macro event contracts, rather than trapping capital in isolated silos across venues. “At the moment we’re working on this product,” he said of cross‑margining, “but I think that’s a good vision for us in the longer term—to have cross‑margining across the different asset classes, I guess.”
The main structural obstacle to that vision is Europe. “Prediction markets in the EU are pretty difficult to apprehend because there’s no unified regulatory framework,” Prost‑Boucle said. “It all depends on what you have as an underlying asset.” He draws a sharp line that mirrors emerging legal commentary: a contract on the future price of Bitcoin is treated as a financial derivative under MiFID, while a contract on an election or football match is pushed into gambling. “If the contract lies on a financial underlying asset, that would be regulated by MiFID,” he explained. “But all of the other classes, where currently all of the volumes are—on politics, on sports, this would be regulated under gambling laws in Europe.”
That split leaves most of today’s on‑chain volume—heavily skewed toward politics and sports—in regulatory limbo from the perspective of a regulated exchange. Any operator that wants to offer political or sports markets across the bloc has to navigate a patchwork of national gambling regimes, each with its own licensing, consumer rules and, in some cases, state monopolies. “It means you would have to go for every single European gambling law, because there is no unified regulatory framework,” Prost‑Boucle said. “These laws are pretty national, they’re quite country‑specific and they’re quite hard to get.” Despite that, he is not writing off the region. “I guess we’re still hopeful that at some point we’re going to have regulatory clarity on prediction markets and a better structure in Europe that enables this type of contract to flourish as well,” he said.
Beyond trading revenues, Coinbase clearly sees prediction markets as an information layer that competes with polling, research, and even traditional media. Prost‑Boucle points to cases in the U.S. where broadcasters are already embedding live market odds, such as CNBC, CNN, the Dow Jones and other media recently integrating Polymarket odds into the ‘traditional’ newscycle.
That, in turn, brings the problem of truth into focus. Once markets start pricing geopolitics, conflicts, and leadership changes, disputes over what actually happened can become payout disputes. That means oracles used to resolve contracts may be facing increasing scrutiny from not only bettors, but also regulators.
Prost‑Boucle argues that most of the damage begins with poor contract design. “It’s crucial when you enter a contract to look at what the event criteria are,” he said. “Obviously you want to diversify sources of truth and have kind of fixed criteria to make sure there is no ambiguity when an event like this happens,” he added. Asked whether AI agents could help by aggregating across outlets and delivering a consolidated verdict, he is open but cautious. “Potentially, AI could be helping with sorting out across different sources‑of‑truth venues and making sure that we have a consolidated view and a fixed view that is not biased by any specific media or even a group of people,” he said.
For now, Coinbase’s approach is less about chasing the wildest version of prediction markets and more about proving they can live inside the same rule‑set as everything else on the platform: keep them in a regulated perimeter, pull clearing and risk in‑house via The Clearing Company, and wire the whole thing into a broader multi‑asset venue where collateral actually earns its keep across products. As Brian Armstrong has put it in other contexts, Coinbase wants to be “the most trusted bridge” into the crypto economy, and in that frame, everything else—from MiFID hair‑splitting in Brussels to the next generation of AI‑driven oracles—is just another set of constraints to engineer around, not a reason to sit out a market.
The U.S. Treasury has proposed its first set of rules to implement the GENIUS Act and has opened a 60-day public comment period to define how stablecoin oversight can be handled at the state level.
Summary
- U.S. Treasury has proposed initial rules under the GENIUS Act, opening a 60-day consultation to define when state oversight of stablecoins is permitted.
- Issuers with less than $10 billion in circulation may fall under state supervision if frameworks meet federal standards, with strict reserve, disclosure, and compliance requirements in place.
Under the proposal, issuers with less than $10 billion in circulating stablecoins may operate under state supervision, provided those frameworks meet a “substantially similar” standard to federal regulations.
The proposal seeks to clarify how regulatory responsibilities will be divided as the regulation begins to take shape.
Stablecoin issuers with less than $10 billion in circulation are eligible for that route, though the flexibility comes with firm guardrails. Treasury has set out non-negotiable conditions, including full 1:1 reserve backing using cash or high-quality liquid assets, along with mandatory monthly disclosures.
Compliance with federal anti-money laundering and sanctions rules remains compulsory across all jurisdictions. The proposal also reinforces a ban on rehypothecation, preventing issuers from reusing reserves to support multiple obligations.
Meanwhile, state regulators are given room to impose stricter oversight, covering liquidity thresholds, reserve requirements, risk management standards, and enforcement mechanisms. Any framework introduced at the state level must deliver outcomes that match or exceed federal protections, rather than offering a lighter alternative.
Regulators are still working through how the GENIUS framework will align with existing money transmission laws and which agencies will oversee different parts of the market. Previous consultations have already covered areas such as digital forensic tools, tax reporting, and data collection.
Concerns remain over stablecoin yields
As previously reported by crypto.news, the legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, marked a major step in formalizing stablecoin regulation.
However, uncertainty around yield-bearing stablecoins continues to hold back progress on the broader CLARITY market structure bill.
Some industry players argue that yield-generating stablecoins could offer higher returns than traditional savings accounts, while banking groups remain concerned about potential deposit outflows.
Polymarket’s daily fee revenue crossed $1 million on April 1, just two days after the platform expanded taker fees to nearly all market categories.
The surge, up from $696,000 on March 31, followed the March 30 rollout of variable taker fees across politics, finance, economics, culture, weather, and tech markets.
From Growth Play to Revenue Machine
Polymarket previously charged fees only on crypto and sports contracts. The updated structure applies a dynamic, probability-based model in which fees peak at 50% probability of the outcome and drop near the extremes.
Crypto markets carry the steepest rate at 1.80%, while sports remain the lowest at 0.75%.
Makers pay nothing. Instead, they receive daily USDC rebates of 20% to 25% of collected fees, depending on the category. Geopolitics and world events remain entirely fee-free.
On-chain analyst DefiOasis noted that April 1 fees reached $927,000 on Dune Analytics, translating to an annualized run rate of roughly $338 million.
“The latest full single-day fee on April 1 was $927,000, and it is expected that single-day fees could exceed $1 million in the coming days. Based on the April 1 single-day fee, Polymarket’s annualized equivalent reaches $338 million,” the analyst noted.
DefiLlama data placed the figure even higher, at $1.07 million.
Competition Heats Up Across Chains
The fee shift arrives as prediction markets draw new entrants. Binance Wallet began beta-testing an in-app prediction feature through Predict Fun (Predict.fun), a BNB Smart Chain protocol that saw $7.68 million in net inflows on a single day after the integration.
Predict Fun’s open interest rebounded to $23 million, according to DefiOasis.
Monthly prediction market volume now exceeds $20 billion industrywide.
The sector’s rapid monetization, from Polymarket’s fee expansion to Kalshi’s reported $1.5 billion annualized run rate, signals a broader transition from subsidized growth to sustainable revenue.
Whether Polymarket can sustain above $1 million in daily fees will depend on trading volume resilience as takers adjust to the new cost structure.
The post Polymarket’s Fee Overhaul Pushes Daily Revenue Past $1 Million appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Bitcoin price drifted closer to a key support zone near $65,000 after Donald Trump signaled that military action in the Middle East is set to continue over the coming weeks.
Summary
- Bitcoin slipped toward the $65,000 support zone after Trump signaled continued military action in the Middle East.
- Oil prices climbed back above $100, adding pressure on risk assets as traders reacted to renewed geopolitical tensions.
Addressing the nation from the White House on Wednesday, Trump said U.S. forces are nearing the final stages of “Operation Epic Fury,” describing it as a campaign that has already crippled large parts of Iran’s nuclear and naval infrastructure.
Even so, the tone of the address left little room for de-escalation in the short term.
“We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly,” he said, before adding that the U.S. would “hit them extremely hard over the next 2 to 3 weeks.”
Markets reacted quickly. Oil prices reversed earlier softness and climbed back above the $100 mark, reflecting renewed concern over supply disruptions tied to the Strait of Hormuz. The move fed into broader unease, with equities and digital assets slipping as traders reassessed geopolitical risk.
Bitcoin (BTC), which had shown signs of stabilizing earlier in the week, extended its decline, dropping over 2% since Trump took the stage. Price action hovered just above $66,500 at last check, with buyers attempting to hold the $65,000 region that has repeatedly acted as a near-term floor.
A sustained break below it would weaken the current structure and open the door toward the $60,000 range, an area that previously drew in demand during earlier pullbacks. Market participants have treated this zone as a key inflection point, where downside momentum either stalls or accelerates.
At the same time, diplomatic channels have not been fully shut. Trump has acknowledged that discussions are ongoing, even as military pressure builds.
Washington has continued to push for Iran to dismantle its nuclear program and allow greater oversight of its facilities, alongside restoring open commercial shipping routes. Tehran, on the other hand, has called for a permanent ceasefire, compensation for damages, and a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region.
Looking ahead, Trump maintained that the disruption to global energy flows may not last indefinitely. He argued that Iran would eventually ease restrictions on oil movement as it looks to rebuild.
“When this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally,” he said, adding that oil would resume flowing and gas prices would fall as economic activity picks up again.
Any meaningful de-escalation could offer relief to risk assets, including Bitcoin, as lower energy costs and reduced geopolitical tension tend to support liquidity conditions. Until then, markets remain sensitive to headlines, with crypto trading closely tied to shifts in oil prices and broader macro signals.
Crypto World
XRP Price Holds $1.35 as ETF Outflows Hit $31 Million While Pepeto Presale Fills Past $8 Million Before Listing
The xrp price holds at $1.35 with seven spot ETFs but March posting first monthly outflows at $31 million. Bitcoin flushes and altcoins struggle to find real support. The market is being reminded that volatility exposes more than just weak hands. It exposes weak infrastructure.
Pepeto is a meme coin exchange aiming to bring zero fee trading to three chains, extending meme culture with real exchange tools instead of chasing short term rotations. Today is the day that matters. The entry available right now does not exist next week, and every person who entered early in crypto made one choice: they moved today.
XRP spot ETFs posted their first monthly outflows in March at $31 million despite holding $1 billion in combined assets across seven funds, according to Bankless Times. RLUSD stablecoin growth slowed after reaching $1.3 billion market cap.
CoinDesk confirmed the xrp price is also shaped by the CLARITY Act stablecoin compromise reaching the Senate Banking Committee by mid April, with commodity classification confirmed for 16 crypto assets that could accelerate institutional flows.
Where a Meme Exchange Extends Trading With Real Tools While the XRP Price Waits
Why Pepeto Brings Zero Fee Trading to Three Chains Instead of Chasing XRP Price Rotations
Pepeto is built around one reality: volatility exposes weak infrastructure, and exchange tools that work across three chains do not depend on any single asset’s price direction. Instead of chasing short term rotations, Pepeto extends meme culture with real exchange tools: PepetoSwap for zero fee trading, a contract screener for wallet protection, and a bridge connecting Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana at zero cost. The architect behind the original $11 billion Pepe coin partnered with a former Binance expert to build this.
Staking at 189% APY adds a yield component XRP cannot offer during periods of stress. The SolidProof audit proves the contracts are safe, and $8 million entering at $0.000000186 while the index read 8 adds a conviction signal that XRP ETF outflows cannot match. The 420 trillion supply matches what took PEPE to $11 billion.
Today is the day that matters. The entry available right now does not exist next week. Every person who entered early in crypto made one choice: they moved today instead of planning to come back tomorrow. Analysts project 100x from presale to Binance listing, and one day of hesitation means one day closer to the listing price replacing what is available.
XRP Price Prediction: Targets, Levels, and CLARITY Act Impact for 2026
XRP trades at $1.35 on April 1 according to CoinMarketCap, locked between $1.29 and $1.60 after March’s first monthly ETF outflows at $31 million. RLUSD passed $1.3 billion market cap but growth stalled.
The CLARITY Act stablecoin compromise targets a Senate markup by mid April, and passage could give XRP full commodity status alongside BTC and ETH. Support sits at $1.29, and a break below opens $1.10. Resistance at $1.60 needs to break for the rally toward $2 to begin.
Standard Chartered maintains its $8 year end target. From $1.35, reaching $5 gives 275% and reaching $8 gives 500%, both over quarters that depend on legislative timing nobody controls while the presale compresses 100x into one listing.
The XRP Price Waits for Legislation, but Today Is the Day That Matters for the Presale
Today is the day that matters. The entry available right now does not exist next week. The xrp price waits for the CLARITY Act and ETF flows to reverse, but Pepeto does not wait because exchange tools earn from every trade in every condition. The Pepeto official website shows more than $8 million with stages filling faster each round.
Entering today while the Binance listing approaches is how the one decision that separates winners gets made, and choosing to come back tomorrow could mean the stage is full, the price is higher, and the cost of one day becomes the number that echoes through the rest of this cycle.
Visit Pepeto today before this presale stage closes and the Binance listing erases the entry that only exists right now.
Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale
FAQs
What is the xrp price on April 1 2026?
XRP trades at $1.35 with support at $1.29 and resistance at $1.60. Standard Chartered targets $8 year end if the CLARITY Act passes mid April.
How do ETF outflows affect the xrp price?
March posted first monthly outflows at $31 million. The Pepeto official website shows capital entering during fear while XRP ETFs face redemptions.
Is Pepeto a better entry than XRP right now?
XRP targets 275% to 500% over quarters. Pepeto targets 100x from presale to listing with zero fee exchange tools and a SolidProof audit behind the same cofounder.
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.
Bitcoin fell 2.2% to $66,609 on Wednesday, giving back Tuesday’s gains after Trump’s primetime address to the nation promised to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks rather than offering the de-escalation markets had priced in.
Every major token in the top 10 dropped. Ether slid 2.2% to $2,056, BNB fell 3.9% to $591, XRP lost 2.5% to $1.31, and solana’s SOL led losses at 5.2%, extending its weekly decline to 13%.
The selloff reversed a sharp global rally that had built through Tuesday on Trump’s earlier comments that the war could end within weeks and that a deal with Tehran was not a prerequisite. Asian stocks had surged 4%. S&P 500 futures had jumped. The mood was the most optimistic since the conflict began five weeks ago.
Then the speech happened. In nearly 20 minutes, Trump did not outline any shift in Iran policy, did not provide specifics on how operations would proceed, and did not signal any pathway to a ceasefire.
The Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil shipping lane that has been effectively shut since mid-March, would reopen “naturally” once hostilities subside, he said, without offering a timeline.
Brent crude jumped 5% to above $106 a barrel. Asian shares fell 2.1%. U.S. and European equity futures dropped more than 1.2%. The dollar strengthened. Treasuries dropped on inflation concerns.
The crypto-specific picture is now familiar to the point of numbness. Bitcoin has spent five weeks bouncing between roughly $60,000 and $73,000, selling on every escalation headline, rallying on every de-escalation headline, and ending up roughly where it started.
The Fear and Greed Index sits at 8, deep in extreme fear territory, where it has been stuck between 8 and 14 for the past month.
There is a seasonal argument for optimism. April has historically been one of bitcoin’s strongest months, finishing green 10 out of 15 years with an average gain of 20.9% versus an average decline of 8.8% in down years. Bitcoin also bounced firmly off its two-month uptrend support near $60,000 last week and is attempting to reclaim the 50-day moving average.
But seasonality doesn’t trade against a war. The pattern of the past five weeks — hope, headline, reversal — shows no sign of breaking until the conflict itself does.
SpaceX submitted a confidential draft Initial Public Offering (IPO) registration to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This puts the company on track for a June listing.
The filing would position SpaceX as the first of three anticipated mega-IPOs this year, ahead of OpenAI and Anthropic.
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For context, in a confidential IPO filing, a company can receive comments and feedback from the SEC and make corrections or adjustments before any information becomes public.
SpaceX could target a valuation above $1.75 trillion. The IPO could raise as much as $75 billion, according to Bloomberg. That would more than double Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion IPO in 2019, which held the record.
According to people familiar with the matter, SpaceX has enlisted Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley for senior roles on the offering.
SpaceX is also weighing a dual-class share structure. This would grant insiders like Elon Musk enhanced voting power.
Nonetheless, the path to a June listing is not without headwinds. Equity markets have been volatile due to the US-Iran conflict and elevated oil prices.
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The post SpaceX Files for IPO That Could Dwarf Saudi Aramco’s Record appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Onchain investigator ZachXBT accused Circle of failing to act while millions in stolen USDC moved freely through its own cross-chain bridge during the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit.
The criticism followed the April 1 attack on the Solana-based decentralized exchange, which ranks as the largest DeFi exploit of 2026 so far.
Circle Faces Backlash Over CCTP Inaction
Drift Protocol, a perpetual futures platform on Solana (SOL), suffered a massive vault drain on April 1. Security firm PeckShield and blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence flagged roughly $285 million in outflows from Drift’s main vault to attacker-controlled wallets.
The attacker moved stolen assets, heavily involving USDC, across multiple wallets before bridging them from Solana to Ethereum using Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP).
ZachXBT pointed out the transfers occurred during U.S. business hours with no intervention.
Circle was asleep while many millions of USDC were swapped via CCTP from Solana to Ethereum for hours from the 9-figure Drift hack during US hours,” the blockchain investigator stated.
Security researcher Specter echoed those concerns. He noted that the attacker held USDC across wallets for 1 to 3 hours before swapping and deliberately avoided converting to Tether (USDT) during the bridging process, suggesting confidence that Circle would not freeze the funds.
A Pattern of Contradictory Responses
The timing intensified frustration. Just days before the Drift exploit, Circle froze the USDC balances of 16 unrelated business hot wallets on March 23, as part of a sealed U.S. civil case.
That action disrupted operations for exchanges, casinos, and payment processors.
ZachXBT previously called that freeze potentially the most incompetent he had seen in over five years. He argued that, based on on-chain analysis, the wallets engaged in legitimate activity.
Circle later unfroze one wallet linked to Goated.com on March 26, but most remained locked.
The contrast is stark. Circle acted aggressively on a civil matter affecting legitimate businesses. Yet during a confirmed nine-figure exploit, it took no steps to freeze stolen funds transiting its own infrastructure.
ZachXBT also tied this behavior to Circle’s proposed optional privacy features on its upcoming Arc blockchain. He suggested those features could reduce compliance accountability further by limiting who can view transactions.
What Comes Next for Circle and Drift
On the Ethereum side, stolen assets were swapped for roughly 129,000 ETH. Drift’s total value locked collapsed from approximately $550 million to $247 million, and its native DRIFT token fell nearly 28%.
Circle has not publicly responded to the criticism. The incident has reignited debate over whether centralized stablecoin issuers can justify their freeze authority if they apply it inconsistently.
The post ZachXBT Slams Circle for Letting Millions in Stolen USDC Flow Freely After Drift Hack appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The U.S. Department of Labor released a proposed rule Monday that would open 401(k) retirement accounts to cryptocurrencies and other alternative assets – a direct implementation of President Trump’s August executive order and a structural shift that puts up to $12 trillion in retirement capital within reach of digital asset markets for the first time under a formal regulatory framework.
The proposal does not explicitly approve crypto for retirement plans. What it does is create a safe harbor for ERISA-governed plan managers who choose to include digital assets, provided they follow a defined fiduciary process – removing the single biggest legal deterrent that kept virtually every 401(k) administrator on the sidelines until now.
- Market size: Up to $12 trillion in 401(k) assets could gain access to crypto and other alternatives under the proposed rule, against a $48 trillion total U.S. retirement market.
- Safe harbor structure: Plan managers must evaluate risk/return, fees, liquidity, valuation, and complexity – but face no explicit ban or approval of specific assets.
- Timeline: A 60-day public comment period follows Federal Register publication; finalization expected within months, with Indiana’s state-level crypto mandate taking effect July 1, 2027.
- Regulatory origin: OIRA cleared the proposal March 24, 2026, marking it “economically significant” – the highest regulatory classification, signaling broad expected market impact.
Discover: Top Crypto Presales to Watch Before They Launch
How the DOL Proposal Actually Unlocks 401(k) Capital for Crypto
The mechanism is more precise than the headline suggests, and that precision matters enormously for how fast capital actually moves. Under ERISA, plan fiduciaries have always had the legal authority to consider alternative assets – the Labor Department acknowledged this directly in its statement.
The barrier was not statutory prohibition but regulatory ambiguity: a 2022 Biden-era compliance release urged plan managers to apply “extreme caution” to crypto, effectively signaling that inclusion would attract enforcement scrutiny. The DOL rescinded that guidance in May 2025, clearing the first obstacle.
The new proposal completes the regulatory architecture.
First, it defines digital assets formally as “a new form of investing that includes a wide variety of assets that can be stored and transmitted digitally, including cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and other tokens” – giving plan administrators a documented regulatory definition to anchor their fiduciary analysis.
Second, it establishes a uniform evaluation framework requiring assessment of performance history, fee structures, liquidity profiles, valuation methodologies, and complexity disclosures.
Third, it extends ERISA’s existing fiduciary standard – care, skill, prudence, and diligence – explicitly to alternative asset selection, meaning a manager who follows the process has a defensible legal position even if the asset underperforms.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling framed the shift directly: “Our rule clearly spells out that managers must evaluate any and all potential product offerings by following a prudent process.”
That framing matters because it removes the asymmetric risk that previously defined the decision – where inclusion created legal exposure and exclusion did not. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the proposal as “an initial step in implementing the President’s Executive Order in a safe and smart manner, broadening access to additional retirement plan options for millions of Americans.”
The most important variable now is not regulatory intent – it is whether the comment period produces material revisions that narrow the asset definition or tighten the liquidity requirements enough to functionally exclude most crypto products.
Discover: Best Crypto Exchanges for Active Traders in 2026
The post US Labor Department Proposes Opening 401(k) Plans to Crypto appeared first on Cryptonews.
Crypto’s biggest liquidation event this week wasn’t about crypto.
Tokenized Brent oil futures on Hyperliquid accounted for $46.6 million of the $403 million in total liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data, making oil the third-largest liquidated asset behind ether at $104.5 million and bitcoin at $98.3 million. Solana came in fourth at roughly $24.7 million.
The single largest liquidation across all assets was a $17.17 million Brent oil position on Hyperliquid, not a bitcoin or ether trade. That is the second time in under 30 days that oil has produced the largest individual liquidation on a crypto venue.
The BRENTOIL-USDC contract on Hyperliquid traded at $107.19, up roughly 2% on the day, with $977 million in 24-hour volume and $515 million in open interest. For context, that open interest figure is larger than many mid-cap crypto tokens’ entire market capitalization.
The liquidations were triggered by Trump’s national address, which promised to hit Iran “extremely hard” rather than offering the de-escalation that had fueled a two-day rally. Brent crude jumped 5% to above $106 on traditional markets.
Traders who had positioned for a ceasefire, particularly those long crypto and short oil, got hit from both sides.
Of the $403 million in total liquidations across 137,031 traders, longs took the heavier hit at $234.6 million versus $168.7 million in shorts. That ratio reflects the broad selloff in risk assets after the speech reversed Tuesday’s optimism. The 4-hour window around the address saw $153.7 million liquidated, with $130.8 million from longs.
Hyperliquid’s tokenized commodity contracts, which give traders 24/7 access to oil, gold, and other macro assets with crypto-native leverage, are absorbing an outsized share of geopolitical volatility.
Tokenized oil has now been among the top five liquidated assets on at least three separate occasions since the war began, a dynamic that did not exist before Hyperliquid listed the contracts.
Ethereum price rose nearly 7% on drawing closer to the $2,200 psychological resistance level after reports suggested that the U.S.-Iran war could end soon.
Summary
- Ethereum price rose nearly 7% to $2,153, rebounding from recent losses.
- Risk sentiment improved after signals of a possible ceasefire between Iran and the U.S.
- A cup and handle pattern has formed on the daily chart.
According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price rose to a six-day high of $2,153 on Wednesday, April 1.
The recovery followed after the leading altcoin fell nearly 16% from its monthly high of $2,360 to $1,972 earlier on Monday. The drop occurred amid growing uneasiness in the market due to the back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran. A ripple effect of it was the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime corridor that has pushed oil prices to record highs.
Ethereum price rebounded following reports that Iran’s president is willing to end the war with the U.S. and Israel if certain conditions are met.
While details of the demands are still not clear at the time of writing, they have previously called for more control in the Strait of Hormuz region, compensation for wartime damages on the nation, allowing it to continue its nuclear energy program, and a guarantee that the U.S. will not launch another attack on the country.
The U.S., for its part, has also signaled a potential ceasefire with Iran, even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, although Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have urged the U.S. to continue the war until the blockade is cleared.
Later today, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to give a speech where he will share major updates on Iran relations.
Notably, the impact of a potential resolution was already felt on energy markets as WTI oil prices dropped nearly 5% shortly following the report. Simultaneously, the crypto market surged along with U.S. equities such as the S&P 500.
Signs of de-escalation have offered Ethereum traders some short-term relief, easing the bearish pressure that emerged after Google’s quantum computing research raised concerns that Ethereum’s encryption could eventually be compromised.
On the daily chart, Ethereum price has formed a cup and handle pattern, a popular bullish continuation pattern in technical analysis. ETH price has recently broken out of the handle pattern, a sign that the upward trend is resuming.
Technical indicators suggest bulls have the upper hand at the moment. Notably, the 20-day SMA has crossed above the 50-day SMA, with Ethereum price eyeing the 50-day EMA next at $2,160. Additionally, the supertrend has flashed green, indicating a buy signal.
Hence, the next immediate resistance level that traders would be keeping an eye on lies at $2,200, a level where previous selling pressure has historically intensified.
A break above this level could spur Ethereum towards the neckline of the cup and handle pattern at $2,384, with the next major target at $2,450, which coincides with the 100-day SMA.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
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