The value locked in Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (BTCFi) has surged by more than 2,700% over the past year, potentially transforming Bitcoin from a passive store of value into a productive, yield-bearing asset, according to new research from Binance. BTCFi is a new technological paradigm that aims to bring decentralized finance capabilities to Bitcoin’s base layer. It…

Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts continue targeting unlawful cryptocurrency market practices, with a local court fining crypto financial services firm CLS Global. A federal court in Boston on April 2 sentenced CLS Global on criminal charges related to fraudulent manipulation of crypto trading volume, according to an announcement from the Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office. In…

EigenLayer plans to start “slashing” restakers on April 17, resulting in the Ethereum restaking protocol’s “first feature-complete iteration,” it said in an April 2 announcement. Implementing slashing will mark EigenLayer’s final step toward establishing the protocol as “infrastructure for a new generation of verifiable apps and services built on the Verifiable Cloud,” it said in…

The US House Financial Services Committee advanced a bill aimed at preventing federal banks from using or issuing central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, paving the way for a vote in the chamber. In an April 2 committee session, lawmakers voted 27-22 in favor of passing the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The bill was one of five…

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…

South Korea’s 7-Eleven stores will accept payments in the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) until June, as the retailer participates in the test phase of its CBDC project. The convenience store chain will reportedly provide a 10% discount on all products paid for with CBDC during the test period. According to Moon Dae-woo, head of 7-Eleven’s…