Tag: Crypto

Adrian Cachinero Vasiljevic: Stablecoins are safer and more efficient than banks, DeFi lending rates are aligning with traditional finance, and crypto guarantees ensure transaction integrity

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Key takeaways Stablecoins offer perceived safety and efficiency over traditional banking systems. The global and permissionless nature of crypto makes it an excellent distribution channel. DeFi interest rates are currently low, often aligning with traditional finance risk-free rates. DeFi lending markets face challenges due to a lack of necessary infrastructure. Over-collateralized lending is a strength of DeFi, but it still carries risks. Connecting DeFi to centralized finance can mislead users about inherent risks. The cost of capital in DeFi has increased due to supply and demand dynamics. DeFi capital markets…

SEC sets conditions for crypto trading apps to stay outside broker rules

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The US SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets has outlined conditions under which crypto asset trading interfaces such as DeFi front-ends, wallet apps, or crypto aggregators can operate without registering as brokers. Under US securities law, entities that facilitate or arrange securities transactions may be required to register as broker-dealers with the SEC. However, in a statement issued on April 13, SEC staff indicated that, subject to specified conditions, they would not recommend enforcement action against certain providers operating without registration. That effectively offers a time-limited, conditional staff no-objection framework…

South Korea Flags API Trading at 30% of Crypto Volume

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South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Monday that API-based trading now accounts for about 30% of crypto buy-and-sell turnover, warning that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices. According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and Maeil Business Newspaper, the regulator warned that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices, citing cases involving repeated small trades, spoofed orders and coordinated activity across multiple accounts.  The FSS said it will launch targeted investigations into accounts suspected of using APIs for…

Crypto ETP Inflows Hit $1.1 Billion, Strongest Since January

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Cryptocurrency investment products clocked significant inflows last week, marking their strongest weekly gains since January. Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) logged $1.1 billion in inflows last week, with Bitcoin (BTC) leading the gains with $871 million in inflows, CoinShares reported on Monday. The inflows marked the second-biggest weekly gains in 2026 so far, following only the $2.17 billion in weekly inflows recorded in mid-January. Weekly crypto ETP flows (in millions of US dollars). Source: CoinShares CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the spike in inflows to a rebound in…

South Korea’s Central Bank Pitches Crypto ‘Circuit Breakers’

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South Korea’s central bank says crypto exchanges should have their own “circuit breakers” that halt trading to prevent a repeat of the market fallout after Bithumb mistakenly sent more than $40 billion in Bitcoin to its customers in February. The Bank of Korea said in a payments report on Monday that lawmakers should consider introducing mechanisms similar to the Korea Exchange’s trading curbs to suspend trading if crypto prices suddenly fluctuate. “Currently, the virtual asset industry lacks internal control mechanisms and faces lower regulatory intensity compared to established financial institutions,”…

ECB Backs Plan for ESMA to Take Over Crypto Supervision

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The European Central Bank has supported the European Commission’s plan to bring the supervision of major crypto companies under the EU’s financial markets regulator.  The ECB said in an opinion published on Friday that it fully supports bringing oversight of systemically important cross-border capital market companies, such as large trading platforms and crypto companies, under the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The central bank said the proposals “constitute an ambitious step towards deeper integration of capital markets and financial market supervision within the Union.” The opinion is nonbinding, but…

AI Routers Can Steal Credentials and Crypto

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University of California researchers have discovered that some third-party AI large language model (LLM) routers can pose security vulnerabilities that can lead to crypto theft.  A paper measuring malicious intermediary attacks on the LLM supply chain, published on Thursday by the researchers, revealed four attack vectors, including malicious code injection and extraction of credentials.  “26 LLM routers are secretly injecting malicious tool calls and stealing creds,” said the paper’s co-author, Chaofan Shou, on X. LLM agents increasingly route requests through third-party API intermediaries or routers that aggregate access to providers…

Trump-Linked Crypto Tokens Face Renewed Scrutiny After Plummeting in Price

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United States President Donald Trump is facing renewed scrutiny, as crypto tokens and projects promoted by the US president crash to all-time lows or sit near record low levels. The Official Trump token (TRUMP), a memecoin promoted by Trump, hit an all-time low of about $2.73 in March 2026 and is currently trading at about $2.86, according to data from CoinGecko. The TRUMP memecoin has plummeted in price since launching in January 2025. Source: CoinGecko World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform co-founded by Trump’s sons, also issued…

Epic Market Flash Crash Killed Bull Market: Is Crypto Healthier Now?

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Key takeaways: Bitcoin orderbook depth has plummeted by 50% since September 2025, signaling a substantial decline in overall market liquidity. Indicators suggest that the current market fragility stems more from recent 2026 trends than from the 2025 flash crash itself. Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets took a massive hit on Oct. 10, 2025, precisely 6 months ago. That devastating flash crash wiped out a record-breaking $19 billion in leveraged positions while some altcoins collapsed 40% to 80%. Many traders speculated that multiple market makers had been wiped out, while others…

Paying Iran in Crypto Could Put Shippers at Sanctions Risk: Analyst

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Shipping firms that turn to cryptocurrency to pay potential transit fees to Iran could face significant sanctions exposure, according to Kaitlin Martin, senior intelligence analyst at Chainalysis. Martin told Cointelegraph that under the current sanctions framework, any payments made to the Iranian regime, including those tied to passage through key waterways, could be interpreted as “material support,” putting companies at risk of violating US and international restrictions. “Doing so could carry significant sanctions violation risk, as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is sanctioned by multiple jurisdictions and Iran is subject…