Escalating geopolitical tensions threaten to balkanize blockchain networks and restrict users’ access, crypto executives told Cointelegraph. On April 9, US President Donald Trump announced a pause in the rollout of tariffs imposed on certain countries — but the prospect of a global trade war still looms, especially because Trump still wants to charge a 125%…

US President Donald Trump has signed a joint congressional resolution overturning a Biden administration-era rule that would have required decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. Set to take effect in 2027, the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule would have expanded the tax authority’s existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms, requiring them…

Swiss cryptocurrency fintech Taurus has launched an interbank network that is purpose-built for regulated institutions involved in digital asset operations. On April 9, Taurus said in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph that it had launched Taurus-Network (TN), an interbank network designed to simplify and improve digital asset transactions between regulated financial institutions worldwide. The network…

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has partnered with Mastercard to issue crypto debit cards across the United Kingdom and Europe, the company announced on April 8. The partnership will enable the crypto exchange to expand its payment offerings by launching physical crypto debit cards. The partnership comes as Kraken continues to pursue a license under the European…

United States President Donald Trump issued a 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs” and lowered the tariff rate to 10% on countries that do not retaliate with counter-tariffs. The president also said he would increase the reciprocal tariff rate on China to 125% due to the country’s counter-tariffs against the US. Trump wrote in an April…

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has warned that crypto will increasingly threaten traditional financial markets’ stability as the industry grows and becomes more entwined with traditional finance players. “We cannot rule out that future sharp drops in crypto prices could have knock-on effects on our financial system,” ESMA’s executive director Natasha Cazenave said in an…