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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on April 23 that Israel has completed its preparations to resume war with Iran and is now only awaiting U.S. approval. The statement followed a situation assessment meeting.

Cryptocurrency lending protocol Aave (AAVE) announced on X that it has temporarily paused rsETH reserves on the Ethereum mainnet and other major chains, including Arbitrum (ARB), Base, Mantle (MNT), and Linea. The protocol explained that this measure is intended to maximize the recovery of additional funds during an ongoing recovery process. Aave added that it will continue to update the community on future actions as the recovery work proceeds.

DeFi protocol Firelight and Sentora, formerly IntoTheBlock, have launched an on-chain solution for vault security, the companies announced on X. The two firms plan to use the solution to strengthen the security standards required for institutional funds operating in an on-chain environment.

Binance has announced the delisting of six perpetual futures contracts. The B3/USDT, DEGEN/USDT, and BOB/USDT contracts will be delisted at 9:00 a.m. UTC on April 28, followed by the ZKJ/USDT, IR/USDT, and DAM/USDT contracts at 9:00 a.m. UTC on April 29.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned that while cryptocurrency exchanges offer bank-like services such as loans and interest-bearing products, they lack the safeguards of traditional finance, CoinDesk reported. In a report, the BIS stated that stablecoin interest products and DeFi "earn" services are structured much like unsecured loans. It cautioned that these offerings, while appearing to be high-yield products, actually represent credit exposure to under-regulated shadow banking. The report highlighted that customer funds are often used for high-risk investments without adequate mechanisms to ensure stability, warning that investors could be forced to bear losses directly if a platform encounters problems.

Hacking and capital stagnation are undermining the appeal of decentralized finance (DeFi) for institutional investors, JPMorgan said in a recent note, CoinDesk reported. The bank highlighted the systemic risks in DeFi, pointing to the $20 billion loss from the KelpDAO hack. JPMorgan stated that hacking and exploits are core risks in cryptocurrency systems because they directly erode trust in platforms that rely on code rather than intermediaries. A single vulnerability can lead to massive losses, and despite improvements in smart contract audits, weaknesses in infrastructure and bridges remain a significant issue. Amid these challenges, investors are moving their funds into stablecoins. The bank noted that following the hack, capital from DeFi lending flowed into Tether (USDT), which is favored as a safe-haven asset due to its high liquidity and fast withdrawal capabilities.

Decentralized AI project Reppo Foundation has secured a $20 million investment from Bolts Capital, according to a Chainwire press release. The funds will be used to advance protocol development and expand its ecosystem.

Iranian media outlet Fars News stated that reports claiming Iran will collect passage fees for the Strait of Hormuz in cryptocurrency are inaccurate.

Whale Alert reported that 250 million USDC has been minted at the USDC Treasury.

Peter Schiff, a prominent Bitcoin skeptic and gold bull, has argued that Strategy's preferred stock, STRC, resembles a Ponzi scheme. According to CryptoPotato, Schiff stated on X that a Ponzi-style product pays returns to existing investors using funds from new investors, a model he believes STRC follows. While acknowledging that Strategy's software business generates some revenue, he claimed it is insufficient to cover the 11.5% annual dividend. Schiff also noted that the STRC dividend is optional rather than a legal obligation, meaning that if payments were to cease, the yield would vanish and demand could plummet. He added that because investors cannot redeem their shares and can only sell them, the stock price could crash if market demand weakens.

Whale Alert reported that 350 million USDT has been minted at the Tether Treasury.

Web3 infrastructure company Cluster Protocol has raised $5 million in a funding round led by dao5, The Block reported. Other participants in the round included Paper Ventures, JPEG Trading, and Mapleblock Capital. The funds will be used to develop a browser-based coding IDE for the EVM ecosystem.

The risk of a market collapse due to quantum computing threats against Bitcoin is limited, according to an analysis by Bitcoin analyst James Check. CoinDesk reports that Check noted while about 1.7 million BTC, valued at $145 billion, in early wallets could be vulnerable to quantum attacks, this volume is comparable to sell-offs the market has absorbed within months during past cycles. He pointed out that the market has previously handled daily sell-offs of 10,000 to 30,000 BTC during bull runs and has seen quarterly trading volumes exceed 2.3 million BTC. Check concluded that the core issue is not a potential market collapse but rather a governance challenge, such as deciding whether to freeze the vulnerable assets.

Whale Alert reported that 214,000,000 USDT has been transferred from Kraken to Aave. The transaction is valued at about $214 million.

Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun has deposited a cumulative $1.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency on the liquidity marketplace Spark, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa. The main deposited assets include $436 million in the USDS pool, $135 million in the USDC pool, and $93.39 million in the USDT pool.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower today. - S&P 500: -0.3% - Nasdaq: -0.5% - Dow Jones: -0.3%

Lookonchain reported that Bitmine (BMNR) staked an additional 93,600 ETH, worth $218 million, about an hour ago. The company now has 3,489,469 ETH ($8.13 billion) staked, which represents 70% of its total holdings. This follows an earlier report today that Bitmine had purchased an additional 100,000 ETH for $233.7 million.

Binance has opened a page for its new debit card and is accepting user registrations until April 30. Registered users will be notified when the service officially launches in their region. The Binance Debit Card, which operates on the Mastercard network, allows users to spend USDT, USDC, FDUSD, and BNB from their Binance Earn accounts for daily purchases. The card offers 3% cashback with no annual or issuance fees. A virtual card is also available for immediate use with Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

OKX has introduced BitGo's off-exchange settlement service for its U.S. institutional clients, Cointelegraph reported. The integration allows institutions holding their crypto assets with BitGo to trade on the OKX platform. The outlet noted that this move represents a major infrastructure development following an investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in early March, which valued OKX at $25 billion and secured ICE a seat on its board.

Despite over $15 billion being invested into the Web3 gaming market, the industry has effectively collapsed, according to a new analysis. CoinDesk reported that according to crypto trading firm Caladan, 90% of all GameFi projects have failed. Token prices for these projects have fallen approximately 95% from their all-time highs, and investment has plummeted. The play-to-earn (P2E) model collapsed as new user growth slowed, and major projects like Axie Infinity have seen a sharp decline in users. Investment capital has since shifted to AI, RWA, and Layer 2 infrastructure, while over 300 blockchain games have shut down, the report added.

Cryptocurrency payment network MoonPay has announced the launch of a virtual account service in New York State that links fiat currency to stablecoins. The service, which leverages technology from the previously acquired stablecoin infrastructure platform Iron, enables automatic currency conversion and settlement via API integration without requiring traditional banking infrastructure.

Robinhood has announced the listing of spot Zcash (ZEC).

Tether has announced the freezing of 344 million USDT held in addresses linked to illicit activities. The company explained that the action was taken after receiving information from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding illegal activities such as sanctions evasion and criminal networks. Tether added that it has frozen a total of over $4.4 billion to date, with $2.1 billion of that amount related to cases involving U.S. authorities.

The Aurise Foundation, an Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) project, has announced the launch of its gold yield-bearing token, XAUE. The token is designed as a treasury layer for Tether Gold (XAUT), with ecosystem partners Aurelion and Antalpha contributing an initial reserve of $76 million.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he has ordered the Navy to sink all ships, regardless of size, that are laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. He added that U.S. Navy minesweepers are currently clearing the strait and have already sunk 159 vessels. Trump also stated he will order the operation to continue and be expanded threefold.