A California federal judge ruled that Caitlyn Jenner's JENNER memecoin was not a security under US law and dismissed the amended class-action complaint. Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. said the buyers did not plausibly show a common enterprise because the token did not pool investor money or use funds to build a related product or technology. Blumenfeld denied another amendment and said the remaining California contract and fraud claims were better suited for state court.

RAVE fell 88% in 24 hours after ZachXBT, Binance, Bitget, and others announced investigations into RAVE. About $43.68 million of liquidations occurred over the same period.

Kelp DAO's rsETH cross-chain bridge was exploited, and about 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million was drained. Kelp DAO paused core contracts to block further attempts. Kelp DAO said it is investigating with LayerZero and Unichain. Aave froze rsETH markets and is assessing potential bad debt.

A House discussion draft would exclude gains and losses on regulated payment stablecoins from gross income unless a holder's basis falls below 99% of redemption value. The proposal is tied to the GENIUS Act, which already set federal rules for permitted payment stablecoin issuers. No issuer has received permitted status yet, and final implementing rules are not required until July 2026.

Kelp DAO said it identified suspicious cross-chain activity after $293.7 million in rsETH was drained from its rsETH adapter. Kelp DAO paused rsETH contracts while it investigates the incident with security experts. Aave froze rsETH markets on Aave v3 and Aave v4. Cyvers said the funds were swapped back to Ethereum and Arbitrum.

An attacker drained 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million from Kelp DAO's LayerZero-powered bridge. The loss equals about 18% of rsETH's circulating supply and emptied the reserve backing wrapped rsETH on more than 20 networks. Aave, SparkLend and Fluid froze rsETH markets within hours. Kelp said it was investigating with LayerZero, Unichain, its auditors and outside security specialists.

Aave froze rsETH markets on V3 and V4 after a Kelp DAO attacker used stolen rsETH as collateral to borrow ETH, raising concerns that the protocol may have incurred bad debt. Aave said the specific amount is still unclear and that it is reviewing the borrowing activity. Aave also said it will explore ways to cover any shortfall if bad debt is confirmed, while OKX data showed AAVE at 105.15 USDT, down 9.56% in 24 hours.

Kelp DAO's rsETH bridge was apparently exploited for about $292 million after an attacker drained 116,500 rsETH on Saturday. Kelp later paused rsETH contracts across mainnet and several L2s, and two later attempts to drain another 40,000 rsETH reverted. Aave froze rsETH markets on Aave V3 and V4 as it reviewed whether the incident could leave the lending protocol with bad debt.

In March 2026, a regional Federal Reserve bank approved a limited account for Kraken, giving a crypto exchange direct access to the US central bank's payment system for the first time. The article links that step to the GENIUS Act, which passed last year and cleared a path for ordinary banks to issue digital dollars. The Fed has also opened a public comment period on a lighter-weight account for payment-focused firms, which could allow more approvals later.

The Financial Conduct Authority published a proposal for UK crypto regulation that covers stablecoins, staking and trading platforms. Bill Hughes of Consensys said the wording could force a broad set of firms and interfaces to register with the FCA before serving the UK public. The consultation is open until June, and the wider UK crypto bill is set to come into force by October 2027.

Alcoa is in advanced talks to sell its dormant Massena East smelter site in New York to Bitcoin miner NYDIG, one of 10 shuttered U.S. smelter properties it has been marketing. Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger said the deal should be done in the middle part of this year. Coinmint already runs Bitcoin mining hardware at the 435-megawatt Massena campus under a 10-year lease signed with Alcoa in 2018.

Arkham Intelligence said Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF wallets are now publicly traceable, with on-chain holdings of about $102.79 million, or about 1,348 BTC. MSBT began trading on NYSE Arca on April 8 as the first spot Bitcoin ETF issued by a major US bank. Arkham said the fund’s wallet data trails allocation decisions by one day because the ETF settles on a T+1 cycle. MSBT charges a 0.14% annual fee, below BlackRock’s 0.25% for IBIT.

Binance and Bitget opened investigations into RAVE trading after the token surged 4,500% in a week. ZachXBT alleged insiders engineered a short squeeze that liquidated more than $44 million in mostly bearish positions in a single day. ZachXBT said nearly 90% of RAVE supply sat in three Gnosis Safe wallets at the time.

Justin Sun met Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on April 18 to propose moving the KGST stablecoin, a 1:1 Kyrgyz som-backed asset, onto TRON infrastructure. KGST is already live on BNB Chain and has been listed on Binance since December 2025. Japarov said Kyrgyzstan's virtual asset sector now includes more than 200 registered crypto exchanges and 11 industrial mining companies.

US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs drew about $664 million on April 17, their largest daily inflow since January. The surge followed Iran's announcement that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened to commercial shipping for the duration of the ceasefire, which Donald Trump later confirmed. SoSoValue data shows IBIT led with $284 million, while the 12 funds pulled in $996 million over the week. Ecoinometrics said the recent flow pattern still lacks the clustered inflows that usually support a durable breakout.

Bitcoin fell nearly 2% to $76,252 and Ethereum dropped 3% to about $2,365 on Saturday after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was shut. The two coins were still up about 5% over the past seven days after earlier reaching two-month highs. President Donald Trump said this week that the war would end soon, but on Saturday he said closing the waterway would be blackmail. Farside Investors data shows U.S. Bitcoin ETFs drew nearly $1 billion this week and Ethereum ETFs added close to $276 million.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council resolved to control passage through the Strait of Hormuz until the war is completely over and lasting peace is established in the region. Iranian media reported the decision on April 18.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Zondacrypto of backing politicians who opposed crypto regulation, while the exchange said a missing private key locked about 4,500 BTC worth about $330 million. CEO Przemyslaw Kral denied any misuse of client funds and said delayed withdrawals followed a surge in requests and manual security checks. Analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Recoveris, cited by local news outlets, found bitcoin balances in Zonda-linked hot wallets had fallen about 99% since mid-2024.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said Iran can charge fees tied to security, safety, and environmental protection services in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media carried the statement.

Poland’s parliament again failed to overturn President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of a MiCA-aligned crypto bill, falling short of the 263 votes required in Friday’s vote. The bill would align Poland with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, and Poland remains the only EU member state yet to implement the framework. The failure extends a political standoff that already produced a similar rejection in December and another veto in February this year.