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Ripple is buying prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, aiming to scale up its institutional crypto services and boost its stablecoin strategy. The deal will integrate Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP Ledger into Hidden Road's infrastructure, positioning Ripple to better bridge traditional finance and digital assets.
The DOJ has disbanded its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and shifted its focus from enforcing regulatory violations to targeting criminal activities like fraud and terrorist financing. The US Deputy Attorney General emphasized that the department is not a regulator. This is a clear deviation from the previous “regulation by prosecution” approach, which was halted by President Trump's executive order on digital assets.
Coinbase has launched SuperPay, a demo app built on its Developer Platform to simplify onchain payments. The app allows for easy USDC purchases, crypto transfers, and invoice management. It is now live on the Base Sepolia testnet. There are tools available for developers to build their own version.
OKX will list PROMPT (Wayfinder), an AI agent-based multi-chain trading protocol, for spot trading with deposits open from April 9. PROMPT/USDT trading will launch on April 10.
TVL deals are a way for crypto projects to temporarily boost their total value locked by offering a small portion of tokens in exchange for liquidity - a tactic aimed at building trust and early momentum. Deal parameters like asset type, lock-up duration, and transparent documentation are critical for incentive alignment and ensuring liquidity remains sticky. These deals have come under criticism for artificially inflating metrics and obscuring details from retail users.
Type III stablecoins replace human oversight with immutable smart contracts. Unlike traditional models, which either depend on a centralized team (Type I) or decentralized committees (Type II) to allocate capital, Type III protocols, like Cap, use shared security and market-driven dynamics to match operator strategies weighted by restaker votes. This model lowers switching latency when market conditions change and ensures yield generation and risk management are aligned with user interests.
Stablecoins are transforming the payments industry by offering a faster, cheaper, and more efficient alternative to traditional financial systems. This deep dive breaks down the crypto payments stack from first principles and explores how stablecoins move through layers of wallets, on/off-ramps, BaaS providers, liquidity services, and more to reach the end user.
This article compares the business models of major stablecoins - USDT, USDC, and USDS - through the lens of reserve structure and return on equity. It highlights how full reserve models (like USDC) prioritize liquidity but face profitability challenges, while fractional reserve models (like Tether and Sky) take on more risk for higher returns, suggesting a future where stablecoins serve different roles based on their economic design.
Ethereum's narrative has shifted from once being touted as the future global supercomputer to now being pitched as a settlement layer, raising questions about its current $192B valuation.
There are growing concerns around DAO governance as platforms, like Lobby Finance, make it easier and cheaper to buy voting power, raising serious security and integrity risks.
Even standout platforms like Hyperliquid retain only 20% of top users after six months.
Aave is flexing serious strength in the DeFi space, raking in $1.73M revenue in 48 hours, holding 67% lending market share, and gearing up for $1M weekly token buybacks.