Crypto World
Utah Moves to Block Prediction Markets as State-Federal Tensions Rise
The state of Utah is moving to shut down prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket as part of a broader clash over how this evolving sector should be regulated. The legislative push, marked by HB243 (Gambling Revisions), would redefine “proposition betting” as gambling, aiming to bar platforms that host event-based bets—whether framed as prediction markets or sportsbooks—from operating in the state. The Utah House cleared the bill on February 10, followed by Senate approval on February 27, setting the stage for a gubernatorial signature. Governor Spencer Cox signaled his support, framing the move as a shield against what he described as risky, youth-targeting gaming products. The episode adds to a growing patchwork of state actions that intersect with federal authority over derivatives and fintech platforms.
Key takeaways
- Utah advances HB243, redefining proposition betting as gambling and barring platforms offering prediction-like services within the state.
- Kalshi has filed suit against Utah, contending its event contracts are federally regulated derivatives under the Commodity Exchange Act, not gambling.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission maintains that it has exclusive authority over prediction markets, framing them as potential conduits for information discovery, and indicating readiness to defend this stance in court.
- Similar clashes are unfolding in other states, including Iowa, and a series of federal court cases in Ohio have shaped the legal landscape around enforcement and jurisdiction.
- The regulatory tension highlights how crypto-adjacent markets—where prediction and derivatives intersect—could be affected by evolving governance and enforcement priorities.
Tickers mentioned:
Sentiment: Neutral
Market context: Regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets sits at the intersection of consumer protection, gambling law, and financial-market oversight, with federal authorities signaling a willingness to assert jurisdiction while states pursue their own legislative fixes.
Why it matters
Utah’s move crystallizes a broader narrative about how governments will treat platforms that blend prediction, gambling-style mechanics, and financial exposure. While proponents view prediction markets as tools for aggregating information—potentially offering more transparent signals than traditional polls—the regulatory approach in Utah treats these markets as gambling products subject to state-law restrictions. The dispute foregrounds a central question for the crypto and blockchain-adjacent economy: who should police event-based contracts that rely on real-money wagers and futures-style pricing? The CFTC’s stance that it retains exclusive federal oversight over such markets adds a layer of complexity for operators seeking a national framework that could preempt state bans or carveouts.
Kalshi’s legal strategy underscores the federal-versus-state tension at the heart of this debate. By insisting that its event contracts fall under federal derivatives regulation rather than gambling restrictions, the company is leveraging the Commodity Exchange Act to push back against Utah’s restrictions. That position aligns with prior CFTC positions that see these markets as subject to federal oversight, rather than states’ patchwork prohibitions. The unfolding cases, including Kalshi’s actions in Iowa and Ohio, illustrate how a chain of judicial decisions could shape not only the fate of prediction-market platforms but also broader efforts to innovate within the crypto and fintech ecosystems.
Beyond this particular dispute, observers are watching the implications for similar products—especially those that seek to tokenize or automate event-based bets with digital infrastructure. If courts uphold federal preemption for these contracts, it could unlock a more uniform regulatory path for platforms exploring cross-border and cross-state operations. Conversely, if states prevail, a mosaic of prohibitions could emerge, potentially dampening investment in related technologies and complicating compliance for operators seeking to scale. The debate is not just about Utah or Kalshi; it concerns the regulatory architecture that will govern the next wave of financial experimentation in the digital era.
In public remarks at a Florida industry conference, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig reminded attendees that the agency regards prediction markets as instruments with potential informational value, even calling them “truth machines” when priced and funded by participants who put real stake behind their views. He stressed that the CFTC would defend its authority in court if challenged, signaling that attempts to clamp down on such markets at the state level may be met with federal countermeasures. This framing dovetails with ongoing debates about how to regulate innovative financial products without stifling legitimate experimentation. The tone from Washington, D.C., and state capitals alike suggests a transitional period as policymakers weigh consumer protection, market integrity, and the demand for novel market signals.
What to watch next
- Governor Cox’s formal signature on HB243 and any subsequent regulatory guidance from Utah authorities.
- Federal court developments in Kalshi’s Utah and Iowa lawsuits, including any rulings on whether the CFTC’s authority can foreclose state bans.
- The Ohio federal court ruling on Kalshi’s attempt to block enforcement—whether it sets a precedent for other states’ actions against similar platforms.
- Additional state-level proposals targeting prediction markets or similar event-based contracts, and how courts interpret their scope vis-à-vis federal law.
- Responses from other market participants and lawmakers that could chart a broader regulatory framework for crypto-adjacent prediction markets.
Sources & verification
- Utah HB243 (Gambling Revisions) text and legislative history: https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/static/HB0243.html
- Associated Press report on Cox’s stance and the signing intent: https://apnews.com/article/utah-kalshi-polymarket-spencer-cox-mormon-gambling-c3fecd3e120b4d5be103bc9e1f4a5587
- Kalshi v. Utah: Kalshi’s lawsuit filing (Utah News Dispatch PDF): https://utahnewsdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Kalshi_V_Utah.pdf
- Kalshi’s Iowa action (report reference): https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-preemptively-sues-iowa-claiming-risk-of-enforcement-action
- Ohio court action on Kalshi’s sports-betting case: https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-court-ohio-sports-betting-lawsuit
- CFTC Chair comments on prediction markets and enforcement stance: https://x.com/ChairmanSelig/status/2023744651216240966?s=20
- Related coverage on Kalshi’s Ohio case and broader regulatory actions: https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-sued-khamenei-trade-carveout
Regulatory clash reshapes the landscape for prediction markets
Utah’s HB243 embodies a strategic attempt by a state to reframe the legal perimeter around prediction-based platforms, extending beyond traditional sports betting to what officials view as speculative markets that could attract vulnerable users. The bill would reclassify proposition betting—where wagers hinge on individual events within a game, rather than the final outcome—as gambling. In practical terms, that shift empowers Utah’s regulators to block operators from offering those services in the state, regardless of how the platforms label themselves. The legislature’s passage through both chambers, followed by the governor’s stated intent to sign, signals a strong intent to create a production-ready barrier against these services at the state level.
Kalshi’s legal response underscores a core proposition: federal law governs the structure and operation of event contracts. By contending that these are derivatives within the CFTC’s purview under the Commodity Exchange Act, Kalshi argues that Utah cannot selectively ban the contracts simply because they are framed as prediction markets. This argument hinges on questions of preemption and the reach of federal securities and commodities law into digital and financial-innovation spaces. The case mirrors a broader pattern in which states test the limits of their regulatory reach while federal agencies assert a uniform framework intended to maintain market integrity and protect participants.
As the federal regulator’s position gains resonance, Kalshi has pursued multi-front litigation. The company’s Utah suit targets the state’s enforcement actions, while an accompanying Iowa filing signals a broader strategy to secure a federal preemption shield. Meanwhile, a separate Ohio decision denying Kalshi’s bid to halt state enforcement actions demonstrates how courts are weighing the balance between state consumer protections and federal authority. Taken together, these movements sketch a regulatory arc: a fight over jurisdiction that could determine how prediction markets, crypto-linked or otherwise, can operate across the United States.
For market participants and observers, the outcome could influence investment, product development, and international competitiveness. If federal oversight becomes the default, operators may gain the ability to launch across multiple states with a consistent, preemptive framework. If, on the other hand, state restrictions proliferate, founders may face a fragmented landscape characterized by varying compliance costs and heightened legal risk. The CFTC’s characterization of prediction markets as “truth machines”—contingent on active participation and risk-bearing—adds a qualitative element to the regulatory debate: markets that are price-discovered and transparent can offer valuable signals, but only if designed and governed with appropriate safeguards.
What to watch next
- Fiscal and regulatory status of HB243 after gubernatorial action, including any rulemaking or enforcement guidelines from Utah’s gambling regulators.
- Upcoming court decisions in Kalshi’s Utah and Iowa cases that could clarify federal preemption in the context of state gambling prohibitions.
- Rulings in Ohio and other jurisdictions that could set precedent for how prediction-market operators navigate enforcement actions.
- Public statements from the CFTC and related federal agencies about the regulatory approach to crypto-adjacent prediction markets and their potential scope beyond traditional derivatives.
Traders are pricing fewer Fed cuts in 2026 as U.S. unemployment dips to 4.3%, tempering the liquidity story for Bitcoin and Ethereum but not triggering a risk‑asset capitulation.
Summary
- Market pricing shows fewer bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026 as traders reassess the path of U.S. monetary easing.
- March U.S. unemployment came in at 4.3%, below the 4.4% consensus forecast and down from 4.4% in February, pointing to a still‑resilient labor market.
- For crypto markets, the mix of sticky employment and a shallower rate‑cut path argues for a slower liquidity tailwind, but not an outright macro shock.
Derivatives and rates markets have trimmed expectations for how aggressively the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2026, according to Jinshi‑cited pricing data. That shift reflects growing skepticism that inflation will glide back to target quickly enough to justify deep easing, even as nominal policy rates sit at multi‑decade highs. Fewer cuts priced into 2026 effectively mean a higher “terminal” funding cost for leveraged players and a slower normalization of real yields — both headwinds to the kind of explosive liquidity conditions that fueled earlier crypto bull cycles.
At the same time, the U.S. labor market continues to look stubbornly robust. Jinshi reports that the March unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%, beating expectations for 4.4% and edging lower from February’s 4.4%. That is hardly a recession print; if anything, it signals that job conditions remain tight enough to keep wage and service‑sector inflation from collapsing, giving the Fed political and analytical cover to hold rates elevated longer. For risk assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), the combination of a still‑strong labor market and fewer rate cuts priced is a classic “higher for longer” setup: growth isn’t falling off a cliff, but the cheap‑money punch bowl stays out of reach.
Crypto traders react to US data news
For crypto traders, the implications are nuanced rather than outright bearish. A slower, shallower easing cycle tends to compress valuation multiples and cap speculative excess, making it harder for marginal capital to chase high‑beta altcoins with leverage. However, as long as unemployment hovers near 4–4.5% and the economy avoids a hard landing, on‑chain activity and real demand for digital assets can still grind higher, especially in narratives tied to stablecoins, tokenized treasuries and yield‑bearing infrastructure that directly intersect with rates markets. The immediate read‑through: expect less of a “melting‑up” liquidity rally in 2026 and more of a choppy, macro‑sensitive grind, where each shift in Fed‑cut odds and each monthly jobs print becomes a tradable event for both BTC and ETH volatility.
The White House no longer has a dedicated crypto policy lead, just days after President Donald Trump gave Vice President JD Vance a new enforcement mandate as “Fraud Czar.”
Trump announced the Vance appointment on Truth Social, directing the vice president to target what he called unprecedented taxpayer fraud in blue states. The move follows David Sacks’ quiet departure from the crypto czar position on March 26.
Sacks Out, No Replacement Coming
Sacks confirmed that he had used up his 130-day limit as a special government employee. The departure was not a resignation or termination. Federal law caps special government employee service at 130 days within a 12-month period.
The White House confirmed it will not appoint a replacement. Sacks transitioned to co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an advisory body that produces recommendations but lacks operational policy authority.
He joins Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Marc Andreessen on the council.
His exit leaves the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate and the broader crypto market structure bill unfinished.
Senator Bernie Moreno has warned that if the bill does not reach the Senate floor by May, it risks going dark until after the midterm elections.
Vance Turns to Fraud
Meanwhile, Trump’s “Fraud Czar” designation gives Vance a mandate focused on government spending enforcement.
Trump named California, Illinois, New York, Minnesota, and Maine as primary targets, claiming recovered funds could balance the federal budget.
Federal raids have already begun in Los Angeles, with arrests tied to $50 million in healthcare fraud.
The two czar roles are unrelated in scope. However, the contrast is notable.
The administration is deploying enforcement resources toward fiscal fraud while leaving the crypto policy seat empty at a critical legislative moment.
The post Trump’s Crypto Czar Role Sits Empty as White House Names Fraud Czar appeared first on BeInCrypto.
XRP is trading at $1.31, up by 0.9% in the last 24 hours, but price prediction still remains bearish for Ripple coin. Down nearly 30% year-to-date from a $1.88 open, the token is fighting to hold key support while the broader market registers extreme fear. What most traders haven’t priced in yet: a significant engineering overhaul quietly underway inside the XRP Ledger’s core repository.
Denis Angell, an XRPL core developer, outlined six active workstreams on April 2 that are reshaping the ledger’s foundational infrastructure, telemetry, nomenclature, type safety, refactoring, logging, and documentation.
“I’ve never been more excited for the XRP Ledger core development than I am now,” Angell posted, describing the effort as tedious but critical.
The work targets backend reliability and developer experience rather than user-facing features, a distinction that matters for long-term network competitiveness.
Whether these upgrades translate into price recovery depends entirely on market timing.
Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with
XRP Price Prediction: $1.40 Before the Next Wave of Selling?
XRP’s current level of $1.31 places it uncomfortably below both major moving averages. The 50-day SMA sits at $1.40–$1.42, acting as immediate overhead resistance. The 200-day SMA at $2.04–$2.07 represents a full recovery target that feels distant given current momentum.
Support is clustered at $1.27–$1.29. That zone is thin. A clean break below it opens a more significant leg down with limited structural floors until the $1.10 range. The Fear and Greed Index reading Fear confirms capitulation sentiment, which historically precedes either a sharp reversal or a final flush.
Analyst consensus points to $2.04 as a potential recovery level by September 2026, achievable, but requiring sustained buying pressure that simply isn’t visible in current volume data.
Discover: The best pre-launch token sales
Bitcoin Hyper Targets Early-Mover Upside as XRP Tests Critical Support
XRP’s -29.6% year-to-date performance raises a legitimate question: at a $1.31 price point and a multi-billion-dollar market cap, how much asymmetric upside actually remains? For traders comfortable with the risk profile of early-stage assets, the calculus looks different at the infrastructure layer.
Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is positioning itself as a genuinely novel infrastructure play, the first Bitcoin Layer 2 integrating the Solana Virtual Machine, delivering sub-second finality and low-cost smart contract execution while anchored to Bitcoin’s security model.
The presale has raised $32 million at a current price of just $0.013678, with healthy staking rewards available for early participants. The Decentralized Canonical Bridge enables native BTC transfers into the ecosystem, addressing Bitcoin’s longstanding programmability gap without sacrificing its trust layer.
More detail on Bitcoin Hyper is available here.
The post XRP Price Prediction: Can These 6 Ongoing Developments Save Ripple appeared first on Cryptonews.
TLDR
- Riot Platforms sold 3,778 Bitcoin for more than $250 million during the first quarter of 2025.
- The company reduced its total Bitcoin holdings to 15,680 BTC after the sale.
- Riot Platforms achieved an average selling price of over $76,000 per Bitcoin.
- The firm has now sold Bitcoin in consecutive quarters after raising nearly $200 million late last year.
- CEO Jason Les said earlier that sales were intended to fund ongoing growth and operations.
Riot Platforms sold more than $250 million in Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2025. The company confirmed it sold 3,778 BTC at an average price above $76,000. As a result, the firm reduced its total holdings to 15,680 BTC by the end of March.
Riot Platforms Cuts Bitcoin Holdings as Sales Extend Into Second Quarter
Riot Platforms reported that it sold 3,778 Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2025. The company achieved an average sale price above $76,000 per coin. Consequently, it reduced its Bitcoin reserves to 15,680 BTC at quarter’s end. The remaining holdings now carry a market value near $1.04 billion. Bitcoin traded at $66,844 at the time of valuation.
The Colorado-based miner has now sold Bitcoin in consecutive quarters. During November and December, it generated nearly $200 million from Bitcoin sales. The company has not yet disclosed detailed allocation plans for the recent proceeds. A company representative did not respond to a request for comment. However, earlier in 2025, CEO Jason Les addressed the purpose of prior sales.
Les stated that earlier Bitcoin sales aimed to “fund ongoing growth and operations.” He connected those operations to expanding infrastructure and computing capacity. The company outlined these objectives in its latest strategic business update. Riot Platforms has focused on increasing its data center capabilities. It also continues to adjust its capital structure through asset sales.
Riot Platforms Shifts Strategy Toward Data Center Development
Riot Platforms confirmed that it intends to expand beyond traditional Bitcoin mining. The firm stated that it plans to unlock its nearly two-gigawatt power portfolio. It aims to deploy that capacity for high-demand data center infrastructure. Les said, “2025 marked a watershed year for Riot.” He added that the company has transformed its future trajectory.
The company explained that it previously used most of its power portfolio for Bitcoin mining. Now, it seeks to reallocate that capacity toward data center development. Riot Platforms stated that its long-term goal is “to fully utilize our power portfolio for data center development.” This shift aligns with ongoing operational restructuring. The firm continues to balance mining output with infrastructure planning.
An activist investor, Starboard Value, urged the company to accelerate its transition strategy. Starboard Value stated that the opportunity could add as much as $21 billion to Riot’s valuation. The investor called for a “renewed sense of urgency” in pursuing this plan. Meanwhile, shares of RIOT closed up 2.47% on Thursday. The stock recently traded at $12.86.
Over the past six months, RIOT shares have fallen more than 33%. During the same period, Bitcoin has declined 47% from its all-time high of $126,080. The company continues to report updates through formal filings and public statements. Riot Platforms has not announced further Bitcoin sales beyond the first quarter.
Stephanie Cutter will join the prediction markets company as a policy adviser, having previously worked in Democratic lawmakers’ campaigns.
Predictions market platform Kalshi announced that a former staffer of US President Barack Obama had joined the company as a policy adviser.
In a Thursday notice, Kalshi said Stephanie Cutter would join the prediction markets company from Precision Strategies, a communications firm she co-founded in 2013. Kalshi said the addition of Cutter came as the company planned to “deepen its relationships in DC and across the country.”
According to Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour, Cutter’s experience allowed her to “get [the] message to the right people,” highlighting her background in government and politics. The predictions market already has staff with ties to the US government, including the appointment of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., as a strategic adviser in January 2025, the week before his father took office.
In the last year, Kalshi has come under scrutiny from many US state-level authorities, who have filed lawsuits against the platform and other companies offering event contracts on prediction markets for sports, alleging that they constituted illegal bets.
Under Trump nominee Michael Selig, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has claimed that the agency has the “exclusive jurisdiction” to oversee such markets, filing lawsuits against state gaming regulators.
Related: Polymarket expands into equities and commodities with Pyth price feeds
Lawsuits and proposed legislation
Many Democrats in US Congress have also called for scrutiny into prediction markets after what they called “suspicious trades” related to the country’s invasion of Iran. Although Kalshi and Polymarket announced plans in March to implement guardrails to prevent accounts from using insider information, some lawmakers introduced legislation that could ban politicians from engaging in such bets on prediction markets.
As of Friday, none of the bills proposed in Congress had been signed into law, and it was unclear what the outcome would be for many of the state-level lawsuits.
Magazine: Solana exec trolls crypto gamers, Pixel tackles play-to-earn issues: Web3 Gamer
XRP is grinding higher, but not breaking out. The token is sitting around $1.33 after a modest move up, with higher volume coming in — yet price still isn’t escaping its range. That usually means positioning is building, not conviction.
News Background
- XRP rose just over 1% to $1.33 with volume about 23% above its weekly average
- Price moved almost in lockstep with the broader crypto market, showing little independent strength
- No major XRP-specific catalyst drove the session
Price Action Summary
- XRP traded in a tight range, holding above $1.30 while struggling near $1.33
- Buyers stepped in on dips, creating higher lows
- Breakout attempts toward $1.33-$1.34 were repeatedly sold into
- Late-session price action stabilized without follow-through
Technical Analysis
- The key theme is correlation — XRP is moving with the market, not leading it
- Higher volume without a breakout suggests traders are positioning, not committing
- Structure is slightly constructive (higher lows), but capped by overhead supply
- This keeps XRP stuck in a compression phase, where range tightens before expansion
What traders should watch
- $1.34-$1.35 is the near-term ceiling — break that and momentum can build
- $1.30 remains the floor holding the structure together
- Until one of those levels breaks, XRP is likely to stay range-bound and reactive to broader crypto moves
Stablecoin monthly transaction volume reached $7.2 trillion in February 2026, overtaking the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network’s $6.8 trillion for the first time.
The ACH is an electronic payment network in the United States that enables transfers directly between bank accounts. It has become the most widely used infrastructure for handling electronic money movement across the country.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
It’s a symbolically significant milestone showing how massive crypto payment rails have become. The February crossover did not happen in isolation.
Artemis data shows that stablecoin volume climbed further in March, reaching $7.5 trillion. That figure matched ACH over the same period.
Meanwhile, the stablecoin market has continued to grow. DefiLlama data showed that the market capitalization surpassed $316.7 billion, setting a new all-time high.
Notably, a recent report revealed that stablecoins dominated crypto markets in Q1 2026. They made up 75% of total trading volume, the largest share on record.
Overall transaction volume exceeded $28 trillion during the quarter, marking another all-time high. However, according to CEX.IO, automated trading played a major role, with bots responsible for 76% of the volume, the highest proportion seen in the past two years.
“Q1 2026 made the 2022 comparison hard to ignore. Stablecoin dominance rising sharply, capital rotating defensively, USDT and USDC diverging, automation surging, and retail pulling back — these patterns appeared together in mid-2022, and they are reappearing now. If broader bearish conditions persist through the year, stablecoins could see further demand and dominance gains in the coming quarters,” the report read.
The rising volumes reflect more than speculative activity. It also highlights the expanding use of these assets in real-world applications, including business-to-business (B2B) payments, cross-border transactions, and other financial activities.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights
The post Stablecoins Moved More Money Than the US Financial System’s Backbone appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The International Monetary Fund also warns that the distribution and speed of on-chain transactions bring new challenges and risks that require international coordination.
In a new staff research note published on Thursday, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) argues that tokenization represents a “structural shift in financial architecture,” not just an incremental efficiency gain.
Authored by Tobias Adrian — the IMF’s Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department — the report focuses on the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) within the regulated financial system, namely banks, finance infrastructure, and asset managers, arguing that’s where “the most consequential transformation occurs.”
Settlement Speed Is a Double-Edged Sword
The IMF’s core thesis is that tokenization doesn’t just make existing finance faster, but represents a shift in how trust, settlement, and risk management work. In TradFi, trust is embedded in regulated intermediaries and time-delayed processes (end-of-day settlement, batch reconciliation). Those frictions, the report notes, actually serve a purpose: they give regulators and institutions time to intervene before a crisis cascades.
Tokenization, which the note defines broadly as “the representation of financial assets and liabilities on programmable digital ledgers,” collapses those frictions, bringing what is generally referred to as the primary benefits of blockchain: near instant settlement, 24/7 liquidity, etc. But, the report notes, that this reduction of barriers introduces new challenges and risks.
“Liquidity demands materialize instantaneously,” the note warns, creating conditions where a smart contract bug or oracle failure could trigger a chain reaction before anyone can respond. The IMF argues:
“When trading, settlement, custody, and compliance are embedded in code, supervision must extend beyond market participants to the design, governance, and resilience of market infrastructures themselves. Failures can
originate in smart contracts, data feeds, or consensus mechanisms, rather than firm balance sheets.”
Who Controls the Money?
A major focus of the report is on the quetion of settlement assets. The IMF identifies three competing models: tokenized commercial bank deposits, regulated stablecoins, and what the report refers to as wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs), with each carrying different risk profiles.
Cross-Border Gaps and the Fragmentation Risk
The report highlights that a major concern around the tokenization of RWAs in regulated financial markets is jurisdictional: tokenized transactions execute across borders at machine speed, while resolution and crisis management frameworks are still built around nationally domiciled institutions.
“Tokenization challenges crisis management and resolution frameworks that are built around nationally domiciled institutions, territorially bounded infrastructures, and jurisdiction-specific legal authority.“
In its research note, the IMF calls for international coordination and legal frameworks that can govern code itself, not just the institutions that deploy it.
“The key levers of control may lie in governance keys, consensus mechanisms, or smart contract logic operating across borders,” the note reads — a setup where no single regulator has a clear handle.
The report lands as the value of tokenized RWAs continue to surge, driven in part by tokenized funds from TradFi giants like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Janus Henderson.
In 2025, tokenized RWA value tripled over the course of the year as a wave of financial institutions began tokenizing U.S. treasuries, private credit, and other RWAs.
Industry forecasts project the sector could hit $100 billion by end of 2026, with more than half of the world’s 20 largest asset managers expected to have launched RWA tokens by year-end.
Meanwhile, stablecoins have already begun functioning as mainstream financial infrastructure, with the GENIUS Act providing U.S. regulatory clarity in mid-2025.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.
A solo Bitcoin miner secured a roughly $210,000 block reward on Thursday, proving that the so-called “mining lottery” is still paying out even if industrial operators dominate the network.
The miner, connected to CKPool’s solo service, found block 943,411 and earned 3.139 BTC in subsidy and transaction fees, according to data from block explorer mempool.space.
Solo mining remains rare. Statistics compiled by Bennet’s tracker show that solo mining pools have found just 20 Bitcoin (BTC) blocks over the last 12 months, paying out a total of 62.96 BTC, roughly one win every 18.7 days on average. The longest “drought” between blocks was 58 days, and the previous solo win came on Feb. 28.
The win comes as Bitcoin mining grows increasingly competitive. Network difficulty, the measure of how hard it is to find a block, recently recorded its steepest adjustment since February, falling about 7.7% before rebounding 3.87% in the past 24 hours, reflecting weaker hashrate and briefly improving miners’ odds.
Bitcoin difficulty relief is fleeting
Even so, current difficulty levels remain near historic highs, meaning the probability of any single solo miner discovering a block is still vanishingly small.
Related: Solo Bitcoin miner bags over $200K block reward using rented hashrate
Public trackers like CoinWarz show Bitcoin’s difficulty has climbed orders of magnitude over the past decade, with only brief downward adjustments when miners switch off unprofitable rigs or redirect machines to other workloads such as artificial intelligence.
As difficulty grinds higher and input costs rise, the economics of mining increasingly favor large, well-capitalized operators over hobbyists.
Major listed Bitcoin miners are responding by reshaping their balance sheets and fleet strategies rather than betting on luck. Riot Platforms sold 3,778 BTC during the first quarter of 2026, according to a Thursday release, adding to a number of crypto miners and firms that have sold Bitcoin recently, including MARA Holdings, Genius Group and Nakamoto Holdings.
Against that institutional backdrop, the CKPool win stands out as a reminder that individuals can still, on rare occasions, beat the odds.
Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author
Ethereum layer-2 networks need “responsive pricing” to scale to billions of users and reduce the fee swings that still accompany congestion, Offchain Labs co-founder Edward Felten said during a keynote at EthCC 2026.
Ethereum’s EIP-1559 upgrade launched in August 2021, as part of the London hard fork. It reformed the Ethereum fee market by modifying the gas fee limit and introduced a feature that burns part of the transaction fees, removing them permanently from circulation.
Felten said gas-price swings are still the main mechanism for protecting networks from being overrun during periods of heavy demand, even though that produces the kind of fee volatility mainstream users tend to reject.
“[With responsive pricing], you can see more traffic at lower gas prices without overrunning the infrastructure.”
Volatile gas prices have long been a barrier to mass adoption, particularly for users accustomed to fixed or predictable transaction costs in traditional financial systems.
The issue matters because Ethereum’s scaling story is no longer just about adding more throughput. It is increasingly about whether layer-2 networks can make transaction costs predictable enough for mainstream-style apps while still pricing congestion honestly enough to protect infrastructure under heavy demand. Arbitrum’s dynamic pricing rollout is now one of the first live tests of that tradeoff.
Arbitrum One the first L2 to adopt responsive pricing
Arbitrum One adopted dynamic pricing in January. It described the model as an “Arbitrum platform direction to make fees more predictable under demand by aligning prices with real network bottlenecks.”
Related: Gavin Wood’s biggest hope: Free crypto transactions and Web3 tech worldwide
Felten shared multiple charts showing how Arbitrum gas fees remained lower during peak network volumes than fees on the Base network and other L2s that rely on EIP-1559.
Arbitrum One is the largest L2 with $15.2 billion in TVL, while Coinbase’s Base Chain is second with $10.9 billion, according to data from L2beat. L2s are securing over $39.7 billion in cumulative TVL, up 4.6% over the past year.
While responsive pricing may be more scalable and more transparent about underlying costs, its biggest downside is lower predictability than EIP-1559, according to Julian Kors, a senior developer and founder of execution workspace startup Pulsar Spaces.
The debate is not about one model being better, but whether networks optimise for “predictability and mechanism design purity or for efficiency and real-time cost alignment. EIP-1559 does the first very well. Responsive pricing leans into the second,” he told Cointelegraph.
Related: Ethereum Foundation accelerates 70,000 ETH staking plan after BitMine sale
Responsive pricing is a step forward, but the gas model needs replacing
Jerome de Tychey, president of Ethereum France and EthCC, told Cointelegraph that responsive pricing could improve user experience by making fees more closely reflect actual network demand.
Cyprien Grau, project lead at gasless Ethereum L2 Status Network, agreed, calling the new pricing model a “real improvement in fee accuracy.” However, the model still relies on a “fee market,” meaning that users may still face variable costs and gas spikes during congestion, he told Cointelegraph.
“It doesn’t solve the structural problem: L2 gas fees trend toward zero as scaling on L1 and L2s improves and competition intensifies. Responsive pricing makes the decline smoother, but you’re still building a revenue model on a depreciating asset.”
Grau added that responsive pricing is the “most advanced version of the gas model,” but said the gas model needs replacing. “L2s that scale to billions of users will be the ones where users never think about gas at all, and where networks’ economics don’t depend on charging them for it,” he added.
The fee model debate comes as parts of the Ethereum ecosystem are already rethinking the original rollup-centric scaling thesis. In February, Vitalik Buterin argued that some layer-2 assumptions no longer held and that future scaling should rely more heavily on the mainnet and native rollups.
L2 networks were created to scale Ethereum and offload part of the transaction load from the mainnet. However, Ethereum is now reconsidering its L2-centric approach, as these networks have siphoned significant economic value from the mainnet.
Magazine: Ethereum’s Fusaka fork explained for dummies — What the hell is PeerDAS?
John Perry Barlow, JFK Jr., and a Night of Grief I Can’t Forget
XRP TO $100 in 2026!?
Chorley New Road reopens after crash involving cyclist
-
NewsBeat7 days agoThe Story hosts event on Durham’s historic registers
-
NewsBeat24 hours agoSteven Gerrard disagrees with Gary Neville over ‘shock’ Chelsea and Arsenal claim | Football
-
Sports7 days agoSweet Sixteen Game Thread: Tide vs Michigan
-
Entertainment4 days ago
Fans slam 'heartbreaking' Barbie Dream Fest convention debacle with 'cardboard cutout' experience
-
Business18 hours agoNo Jackpot Winner and $194 Million Prize Rolls Over
-
Crypto World2 days agoGold Price Prediction: Worst Month in 17 Years fo Save Haven Rock
-
Entertainment6 days agoLana Del Rey Celebrates Her Husband’s 51st Birthday In New Post
-
Tech5 days agoThe Pixel 10a doesn’t have a camera bump, and it’s great
-
Crypto World3 days ago
Dems press CFTC, ethics board on prediction-market insider trades
-
Tech5 days agoAvatar Legends: The Fighting Game comes out in July and it looks pretty slick
-
Sports3 days agoTallest college basketball player ever, standing at 7-foot-9, entering transfer portal
-
Tech3 days agoEE TV is using AI to help you find something to watch
-
Fashion6 days agoAmazon Sundays: Soft Spring Layers
-
Business2 days agoLogin and Checkout Issues Spark Merchant Frustration
-
Fashion7 days agoWhen Evening Dressing Gets Colorful for Spring
-
Tech5 days agoElon Musk’s last co-founder reportedly leaves xAI
-
Tech3 days agoHow to back up your iPhone & iPad to your Mac before something goes wrong
-
Tech4 days agoApple will hide your email address from apps and websites, but not cops
-
Politics4 days agoShould Trump Be Scared Strait?
-
Crypto World4 days agoU.S. rule change may open trillions in 401(k) funds to crypto
You must be logged in to post a comment Login