Discussions surrounding stablecoins have long focused on one question: who will issue the next dominant stablecoin?

Industry leaders at Paris Blockchain Week have challenged the notion that tokenization inherently enhances the liquidity of traditionally hard-to-trade assets. According to Cointelegraph, executives argued that simply placing private credit, real estate, or other illiquid products on the blockchain does not automatically create active secondary markets. During a panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Oya Celiktemur, Ondo Finance's sales director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, highlighted a common misconception regarding tokenization. Celiktemur stated, "I think there’s still this idea that tokenizing something illiquid will somehow magically make it a liquid asset, which is just not true." She emphasized that assets like real estate and private credit have historically lacked liquidity. Francesco Ranieri Fabracci, head of tokenization expansion at Tether, echoed this sentiment, noting that not all assets become liquid simply by being placed on the blockchain. Fabracci argued that only specific instruments, such as bonds, money market funds, and stablecoins, are likely to achieve consistent liquidity in tokenized markets. The conversation comes amid the ongoing expansion of the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) sector, which is shifting focus from issuance growth to whether these tokenized products can achieve significant activity beyond limited distribution channels. Data from RWA analytics platform RWA.xyz indicates that the tokenized RWA market grew from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to approximately $29.9 billion by April 16, 2026, more than tripling in size over the year. This growth was primarily driven by standardized and widely traded assets, with tokenized US Treasury Debt and commodities accounting for a substantial portion of the market. In contrast, categories typically associated with lower liquidity, such as tokenized real estate and private equity, remained smaller despite strong percentage growth. Tokenized real estate increased from about $35 million to $296 million, while private equity rose from nearly $60 million to $223 million. Other segments, including asset-backed credit and corporate credit, also saw significant expansion, indicating rising issuance across a broader range of instruments. However, market value alone does not guarantee liquidity, as outstanding value can increase due to more assets being issued, even if secondary market trading remains limited.

The ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran presents Latin America with a unique opportunity to establish itself as a reliable supplier of energy resources. Bloomberg posted on X, highlighting the region's potential to leverage its stability and abundant energy reserves to meet global demands. As tensions escalate in the Middle East, Latin American countries could capitalize on their relative peace and resource wealth to strengthen their position in the global energy market. This strategic move could enhance their economic influence and provide a stable alternative to regions affected by geopolitical unrest.

A group of Drift Protocol investors are seeking to bring stablecoin issuer Circle to court, blaming the company for its inaction following the Drift Protocol hack.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi, manipulators withdrew 1.369 million $SIREN tokens, worth $2.45 million, from the Binance Alpha wallet in the past 6 hours, currently holding over 93% of the tokens. The wallet addresses are: 0xB57a00f0C46585db22926C365B849ec7699f6a45 and 0x1f979198620F07Bb20EC49fB00530fb0fA3430bA.

A recent survey conducted by Nomura and Laser Digital among 518 investment professionals in Japan highlights the growing recognition of stablecoin use cases. According to NS3.AI, 63% of respondents identified stablecoin applications, with major financial institutions issuing JPY, USD, and EUR products garnering the highest trust. SBI VC Trade's planned distribution of RLUSD remains pending approval, as indicated in late 2025 materials. Meanwhile, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, SMBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, and Progmat are progressing with a joint stablecoin proof of concept, showcasing the collaborative efforts in advancing stablecoin technology.

According to official sources, the Binance Wallet plugin now supports generating accounts from mnemonic phrases. With just one set of mnemonic phrases backed up, up to 99 independent accounts can be generated. This protects mnemonic phrase security, enables efficient account management, and supports multiple chains, allowing a single account to be used across chains. The plugin supports versions 1.12.0 and above.

Anthropic's CEO is scheduled to meet with the White House Chief of Staff this Friday. According to Odaily, the meeting will take place at the White House. Further details about the agenda or topics of discussion have not been disclosed.

According to data from msx.com, crypto stocks generally rose in pre-market trading in the US, with COIN up 1.09%, MSTR up 1.56%, SBET up 1.03%, and HOOD up 0.75%. msx.com is a decentralized RWA trading platform that has listed hundreds of RWA tokens, covering US stock and ETF tokens such as AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, NFLX, and NVDA.

On April 17, according to BlockBeats, monitoring by Hyperinsight revealed that investor Huang Licheng has slightly increased his holdings in Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), and HYPE within the past half-hour. Following this, he placed sell orders to partially take profits. The largest sell order is for ETH, with plans to initiate profit-taking when the price reaches $2,365, extending up to $2,425, with a total order size of approximately $4.25 million. Currently, the address primarily holds a 25x leveraged long position in ETH, with a position size of $32.8 million at an average price of $2,253 and a liquidation price of $2,148, making it the largest ETH long position on the Hyperliquid platform. Address: 0x020ca66c30bec2c4fe3861a94e4db4a498a35872

U.S. consumer spending on gasoline increased by 16% year over year in March, with average prices reaching $4.12 per gallon. According to NS3.AI, Americans spent nearly 25% more on fuel in March compared to February. In response to these rising costs, Reuters reported that the heads of the U.S. Interior and Energy Departments are anticipated to meet with the CEOs of Exxon and Chevron at the White House to discuss strategies for boosting oil output.

According to AXIOS: Anthropic's CEO will meet with the White House Chief of Staff at the White House on Friday. (Jinshi)

OpenAI has paused its Stargate UK data centre plan, saying energy costs and regulation were the main reasons. The UK AI minister disputes this, saying conditions have not changed and pointing instead to OpenAI’s financial pressures.

The most valuable thing in the future will be the oldest thing. It's not computing power. It's not data. It's not models. It's when one person says "I believe in you" to another, and that promise is truly fulfilled.

A Brazilian cybersecurity researcher has raised alarm bells, warning others about counterfeit ledger devices that has been planted by scammers in the Chinese market in the attempt to steal users' crypto.

Exchanges are replacing traditional venture capital (VC) firms, gradually gaining control over initial public offerings (IPOs), pricing power, and liquidity. Exchanges are eroding the informational, investment, and lock-up advantages of traditional VCs, and arbitrage opportunities for VCs are being continuously squeezed.

Grinex halted trading after hackers stole around $13–15 million from its wallets in a coordinated attack involving 54 addresses. The stolen funds were quickly moved across multiple blockchains and converted into other assets to make them harder to trace.

Payments, Stablecoins, Web3 Compliance: Licensing Strategies for Stablecoin Payment Projects (Jinse Finance) This article analyzes the compliance and licensing strategies for stablecoin payment projects.

Overnight, BTC continued to fluctuate around 75k, with various opinions circulating in the market.

In the world of artificial intelligence and crypto, are humans being replaced by robots? Golden Finance: In which areas of the crypto world have robots taken over, and which remain human-dominated?