Tag: latest crypto news

Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD

Tech moguls cannot stop heralding the artificial intelligence revolution — from Bill Gates to Sundar Pichai to Jensen Huang — signaling that agentic AI and robotics will claim our jobs and act as our autonomous assistants performing on our behalf in our professional and personal lives.

Whether these scenarios happen in a few years or are decades away, we will most likely evolve into that future in some manner, and technology, once again, will reshape our lives. Without the support of blockchain technology, however, it would be quite difficult, and potentially impossible, for agentic AI and robotics to evolve to what its proponents expect them to.

If we expect these services and devices to act autonomously, security, privacy, transparency and accountability will be at the top of our minds. These areas are where blockchain shines and can support AI weaknesses to facilitate the scaling and evolution of this vision. 

Blockchain strengths support AI weaknesses

Blockchain technology can significantly bolster the security of AI models by leveraging its key features such as decentralization, immutability, traceability, smart contracts, data privacy and identity verification. For example, but not limited to:

• The decentralization aspect eliminates a single point of attack, increasing the resilience of AI models against breaches. 

• The immutability of blockchain ensures that the data used in training AI models and the models themselves cannot be illicitly altered, maintaining the integrity of the models. 

• Every alteration or decision made by the AI model can be audibly traced through blockchain, providing unparalleled transparency and accountability. 

• Smart contracts automate the enforcement of data access and usage rules, preventing unauthorized or unethical use of AI models. 

• Smart contracts can ensure that data is only used for training and testing and by authorized personnel, locking the option to be used for other purposes. Combining these rules with multiparty computation could prevent or at least mitigate AI adversarial attacks. 

• Blockchain allows secure multiparty computation, ensuring data privacy during AI model training by keeping the data decentralized. 

• Blockchain’s secure identity verification enhances the safety of AI systems by preventing unauthorized access. 

Integrating AI with blockchain can establish a secure, transparent, traceable and decentralized AI environment, protecting our privacy, enhancing accountability and manifesting responsible AI.

Transactions: Programmable AI meets programmable blockchain 

AI agents and robotics are programmable. Smart contacts, the driver of digital assets, are programmable. It makes perfect sense that digital assets would be the preferred payment rail for agent-to-human and agent-to-agent, which includes robotics.

Crypto is an internet-native, programmable money with several advantages for powering the agent-based economy. As AI agents become more autonomous and engage in micro-transactions at scale, crypto’s efficiency, borderless nature and programmability will make it the preferred medium of exchange over traditional fiat rails.

Recent: Sentient open-source AI search outperforms GPT-4o and Perplexity

The true intersection of Web3 and agentic AI for financial transactions could emerge through new tokens and protocols tailored for this use case. These could extend stablecoin capabilities by integrating agent-specific functionalities.

In this scenario, payments could be made using a specialized asset that agents can stake for quality control. Slashing policies could penalize poor performance, while validators could resolve disputes based on task quality.

Additionally, agents’ reputations could be directly tied to their token stakes. Incorporating rules via smart contracts enables users to have control over their autonomous workers/assistants, enabling a shutdown or even a “kill switch,” if necessary, when AI agents start behaving dangerously. 

If Goldman Sachs wants to create AI agents that think and act like a seasoned employee in a highly regulated industry and with imperative risk to financial systems and at the extreme financial markets’ stability, it would be vital, not optional, to have these AI agents controlled by programmable tokens.

While this approach requires advancements in both Web3 and agentic AI, it is not as distant as it may seem.

Blockchain development firm Skyfire recently launched a payment platform that allows AI agents to spend money autonomously. Helmed by former Ripple vice president of products and services Amir Sarhangi, the company’s platform enables a business to give a pre-loaded wallet to an AI agent.

The company’s protocol converts the cash into USDC (USDC). In early March, Skyfire brought its payments network that enables AI agents to make autonomous transactions out of beta.

Using digital assets for robotics, VR devices and agentic AI transactions goes beyond a mode of payment for transactions. It could enhance user experience and security and enable endless business models that have never existed.

It would be interesting to see how it all plays out and whether other companies will follow.

There are risk issues to be addressed, however, and we should be mindful of how they are, at the very least, mitigated. This is where we should carefully consider the security measures discussed previously.

Stepping out of “tunnel vision” to a multifaceted approach

There is a lot of focus on the evolution of AI — generative AI, agentic AI, reasoning models, physical world models and more — all focusing on the premise that AI is the sole technology that we need to achieve AI autonomous agents at scale.

This is quite a tunnel vision approach to how products are built, and it is somewhat myopic: not understanding what needs to be accomplished beyond AI models’ advancement for the ecosystem to evolve and scale.

AI, advanced as it can be, cannot stand on its own and needs the support of blockchain technology — a programmable match made in heaven. Therefore, we must act in a multifaceted approach. We should think about and treat AI and Web3 together in terms of innovation, regulation and infrastructure. This is fundamental to the bedrock of a successful agentic economy.

“Dreams are built with solid foundations,” and the time to build them is now.

Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes says US President Donald Trump’s tariffs may rattle the global economy in some ways, but that same disruption could be exactly what Bitcoin needs to rally.

“Global imbalances will be corrected, and the pain papered over with printed money, which is good for BTC,” Hayes said in an April 3 X post.

Several factors contribute to Bitcoin’s potential pump

“Some of y’all are running scurred, but I LOVE TARIFFS,” Hayes said. 

His comments come just a day after it was announced that the Trump administration will hit all countries with a 10% tariff starting April 5, with some countries facing even larger rates, such as China facing a 34% tariff, the European Union 20%, and Japan 24%. 

Hayes explained that tariffs positively impact Bitcoin’s (BTC) price for several reasons. 

One of them, he said, is the “weakening” of the US Dollar Index (DXY), as overseas investors continue to sell off US stocks and “bring money home.” 

April 3 marked “the largest single-day point loss for the Nasdaq 100 in history,” according to the trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter.

“The index lost a total of -1060 points and came just 1.5% away from triggering the first circuit breaker since March 2020,” The Kobeissi Letter said.

“This is good for BTC and gold over the medium term.”

Hayes also said that the stringent tariff placed on China may weaken the yuan (CNY). “With a 65% effective tariff levied, China could respond by allowing CNY to weaken past 8.00,” Hayes said. 

A weakening yuan may force the hand of Chinese investors to look at riskier assets such as Bitcoin to preserve their wealth.

Meanwhile, Hayes said that “we need Fed easing,” noting that the two-year Treasury yield “dumped” following the tariff announcement. 

Related: Bitcoin sales at $109K all-time high ‘significantly below’ cycle tops — Glassnode

He explained this as a signal that markets expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates and potentially restart quantitative easing (QE) to offset the negative economic impact. 

Fed rate cuts increase liquidity, also making riskier assets like crypto more attractive to investors.

Meanwhile, Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies at Bitwise Invest, has long argued that Trump’s tariffs will ultimately benefit Bitcoin.

He said on Feb. 3 that in a “world of weaker dollar and weaker US rates…risk assets in the US will fly through the roof beyond your wildest imagination.”

“Bookmark this and revisit as the financial war unravels, sending Bitcoin violently higher,” Parks said on Feb. 3.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Online battle royale shooter Fortnite has just added a new secret “Dill Bits” server mine location to its latest map update — prompting a small spike in an otherwise obscure memecoin.

Videos on social media show a new “Dill Bit” server farm location in the game — made to look like a cryptocurrency mining operation. There are other locations on the map where it has appeared.

Fortnite added a Bitcoin mine to the new map pic.twitter.com/z8ABokLG2b

— Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) April 3, 2025

Players in the game can collect Dill Bits by destroying the equipment. It’s a unique resource that is typically hard to obtain.

Dill Bits memecoin spikes

Solana-based memecoin Dill Bits, inspired by the Fortnite in-game currency, spiked 200% to $0.0005 on April 4 as the crypto community also took notice of the latest addition.

Fortnite introduced Dill Bits as an in-game currency in February as a jest toward crypto. However, these can only be used to buy in-game items. 

At the time, the announcement of the in-game currency prompted an anonymous crypto user to create their own version of the token on Solana.

The recent spike is nowhere near previous surges, however. When the memecoin first launched in February, it surged 4,500% in price to reach a market cap of $4.8 million.

Another huge spike for the memecoin occurred on March 9, after Fortnite released a video promoting its latest “Rugpull” storyline, which saw the token pump over 4,000% in just a few minutes again.

The underground Bitcoin mine shows banks of green servers with the Dill Bit logo, which looks very similar to Bitcoin’s.

Another player posted a YouTube video on April 1 showing all of the secret locations on the map, explaining that if the servers are destroyed in the game, they may drop Dill Bits. 

“Wow. Bitcoin really becoming mainstream for a game like Fortnite to add this little easter egg,” commented one player on Reddit after becoming aware of the secret location on April 3.

The gimmick is not likely new for Fortnite players, as other hidden server mines have been discovered in other parts of the map since the in-game currency was introduced. 

According to the official Fortnite Wiki, the new Dill Bits Mining Server is an “Unnamed Location in Fortnite: Battle Royale, that was added in Chapter 6: Season 2 to the island Oninoshima near Outlaw Oasis.” It is a “small cave containing servers mining the cryptocurrency called Dill Bits,” it states. 

The online battle royale platform developed by Epic Games released its most recent update on April 1, which included a new Mortal Kombat collaboration, quests, skins and map updates. 

Related: Epic wants Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox to become interoperable metaverse

Fortnite’s in-game cryptocurrency

Dill Bits, Fortnite’s in-game currency, can be spent “at one of three Black Markets around the map, offering a selection of Mythic and Legendary items,” and “Boons” that grant extra abilities, the Fortnite team explained at the time. 

An in-game description calls Dill Bits “a bulky and confusing crypto coin you never knew you needed. These coins are ideal for shady black-market trades.”

Magazine: Web3 gaming activity surges 386% — Wen bull run? Web3 Gamer

European Union regulators are reportedly mulling a $1 billion fine against Elon Musk’s X, taking into account revenue from his other ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX, according to The New York Times.

EU regulators allege that X has violated the Digital Services Act and will use a section of the act to calculate a fine based on revenue that includes other companies Musk controls, according to an April 3 report by the newspaper, which cited four people with knowledge of the plan.

Under the Digital Services Act, which came into law in October 2022 to police social media companies and “prevent illegal and harmful activities online,” companies can be fined up to 6% of global revenue for violations.

A spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, declined to comment on this case to The New York Times but did say it would “continue to enforce our laws fairly and without discrimination toward all companies operating in the EU.”

In a statement, X’s Global Government Affairs team said that if the reports about the EU’s plans are accurate, it “represents an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.”

“X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,” X’s global government affairs team said.

Along with the fine, the EU regulators could reportedly demand product changes at X, with the full scope of any penalties to be announced in the coming months. 

Still, a settlement could be reached if the social media platform agrees to changes that satisfy regulators, according to the Times. 

One of the officials who spoke to the Times also said that X is facing a second investigation alleging the platform’s approach to policing user-generated content has made it a hub of illegal hate speech and disinformation, which could result in more penalties.

X EU investigation ongoing since 2023

The EU investigation began in 2023. A preliminary ruling in July 2024 found X had violated the Digital Services Act by refusing to provide data to outside researchers, provide adequate transparency about advertisers, or verify the authenticity of users who have a verified account.

Related: Musk says he found ‘magic money computers’ printing money ‘out of thin air’

X responded to the ruling with hundreds of points of dispute, and Musk said at the time he was offered a deal, alleging that EU regulators told him if he secretly suppressed certain content, X would escape fines. 

Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner for internal market, said in a July 12 X post in 2024 that there was no secret deal and that X’s team had asked for the “Commission to explain the process for settlement and to clarify our concerns,” and its response was in line with “established regulatory procedures.” 

Musk replied he was looking “forward to a very public battle in court so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set

US crypto exchange Coinbase has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch futures contracts for Ripple’s XRP token.

“We’re excited to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the CFTC to self-certify XRP futures — bringing a regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure to one of the most liquid digital assets,” stated Coinbase Institutional on April 3. 

The firm added that it anticipates the contract going live on April 21.

According to the certification filing, the XRP (XRP) futures contract will be a monthly cash-settled and margined contract trading under the symbol XRL.

The contract tracks XRP’s price and is settled in US dollars. Each contract represents 10,000 XRP, currently worth about $20,000 at $2 per token.

Contracts can be traded for the current month and two months ahead, and trading will be paused as a safety measure if spot XRP prices move more than 10% in an hour. 

“The exchange has spoken with FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) and market participants who support the decision to launch a XRP contract,” the firm stated. 

Coinbase is not the first to launch XRP futures in the United States. In March, Chicago-based crypto exchange Bitnomial announced the launch of the “first-ever CFTC-regulated XRP futures in the US.” 

XRP futures trading is available on many of the world’s leading centralized crypto exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and BitMEX. 

Funding rates remain negative

In late March, Cointelegraph reported that XRP derivatives’ funding rates had flipped negative as investor sentiment turned bearish. 

Related: XRP funding rate flips negative — Will smart traders flip long or short?

Funding rates are periodic payments between traders in perpetual futures markets that help keep the futures price aligned with the spot price. Positive funding rates mean that long traders (buyers) pay short traders, while negative funding rates mean short traders (sellers) pay long traders. 

When funding rates go negative, it means short traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain their positions, indicating strong conviction from bearish derivatives traders. 

XRP funding rates remained negative on major derivatives exchanges as of April 4, according to CoinGlass. 

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set