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France has seen 41 crypto-related kidnappings so far this year, averaging one incident every 2.5 days, Cointelegraph reported. Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Jean-Didier Berger, a delegate minister at the French Ministry of the Interior, announced the creation of a new crypto crime prevention platform that has already attracted thousands of members. He added that he and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez would unveil enhanced countermeasures within the next few weeks. The announcement follows a recent incident on April 13 in Burgundy, where the wife and 11-year-old child of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur were kidnapped. The perpetrators demanded a ransom of €400,000 ($471,000). The victims were rescued the following morning, and four suspects were arrested. France is considered the country most affected by so-called 'wrench attacks,' where victims are forced to transfer crypto assets through violence and intimidation. According to cybersecurity firm CertiK, there were 72 such attacks globally in 2025, a 75% increase from the previous year. France accounted for 19 of these cases, with Europe representing approximately 40% of the total.

Kang Yoo-bin, CEO of Nonce Classic, stated that South Korea lags significantly behind other nations in contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem through activities like development. Speaking at the 'Ethereum Korea One' event in Seoul on April 16, he identified four key limitations: a market heavily focused on investment, fragmented development efforts, regulatory uncertainty, and a lack of integration with global portfolios. Kang emphasized that Ethereum is becoming a new infrastructure for institutions, and the time has come to focus on contributing to its growth. He explained that the newly formed Ethereum Korea consortium aims to be a continuous communication channel connecting South Korea with the global community, rather than a one-off initiative. The event, held at the headquarters of DSRV, brought together global Ethereum ecosystem stakeholders with key figures from South Korea's financial and Web3 sectors to discuss institutional applications of the blockchain. Ethereum Korea was established on April 14, led by Web3 community builder Nonce Classic.

Decentralized Layer 3 blockchain Orbs (ORBS) has officially launched its community DAO, according to its official blog. The DAO will oversee areas including protocol revenue, tokenomics, network upgrades, validator certification, and ecosystem grants. It will operate on a seasonal basis to adapt to changing market and macroeconomic conditions. The first season will focus on establishing a burn mechanism and finalizing the project's tokenomics. In the coming weeks, the Orbs DAO plans to hold governance votes on its formal establishment—including wallet and multi-sig setup, voting parameters, and core operating procedures—as well as on its tokenomics framework.

An address belonging to the Alpha Bitcoin Fund, managed by London-based asset manager Abraxas Capital, has deposited an additional 1,993 BTC ($148.32 million) to Kraken, Lookonchain reported via X. This brings the fund's total deposits to the exchange since March 14 to 9,582 BTC, valued at $691 million. The fund currently holds 20,337 BTC ($1.51 billion). Deposits to exchanges are typically interpreted as a precursor to selling.

The total assets under management (AUM) for major crypto venture capital firms like Paradigm and Pantera Capital saw a significant decrease in 2025, Fortune Crypto exclusively reported. The total AUM across four funds at a16z Crypto fell by approximately 40% between 2024 and 2025 to $9.5 billion. Pantera Capital also experienced a decline in AUM, which was partly attributed to the distribution of capital to investors from its early funds following the public listings of five portfolio companies, including Circle (CRCL) and BitGo (BTGO). Additionally, Multicoin Capital's AUM dropped by more than half in one year to $2.7 billion, influenced by factors such as the decline in BTC's price. Among the firms surveyed, only Haun Ventures showed an increase, with its AUM reaching $2.5 billion due to successful new fund formations and investment exits. Meanwhile, Paradigm and a16z Crypto are reportedly in the process of raising new funds, each targeting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell by 20.4% in the first quarter of 2026, ending the period at $2.4 trillion, according to a CoinGecko report. During the same period, Bitcoin declined by 22.0% in line with weakness in the stock market, while crude oil prices surged by 76.9%. The market cap of stablecoins remained nearly unchanged at $309.9 billion, though the supply of USDT decreased for the first time since the second quarter of 2022. Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges (CEX) dropped by 39.1% to $2.7 trillion, hitting a monthly low of $800 billion in March. Among CEXs, only Binance and MEXC maintained double-digit market shares, at 37.0% and 10.0%, respectively. South Korean exchange Upbit's market share this year has been between 5% and 6%. On decentralized exchanges (DEX), Solana continued to lead with a 30.6% share of spot trading volume. In the derivatives market, commodity perpetual futures accounted for approximately 30% of open interest on Hyperliquid, driven by a surge in demand for 24-hour crude oil trading amid the war in the Middle East.

The spot CVD chart analyzes the order book for the BTC/USDT spot pair, with the top section showing a volume heatmap and the bottom section showing the cumulative volume delta (CVD). - The volume heatmap at the top tracks the scale of trading volume at specific price levels. The background color brightens when the price remains in a certain range for an extended period or moves significantly. Brighter areas may act as potential support or resistance levels. - The cumulative volume delta (CVD) indicator at the bottom represents buy and sell orders categorized by trade size. As buy orders increase, the corresponding colored line rises. The yellow line tracks orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line tracks large-scale orders between $1 million and $10 million.

Eighty percent of institutional investors are willing to allocate 2-5% of their assets to cryptocurrency and view the current market as a preparatory phase before full-scale entry, Japanese financial group Nomura Holdings, Inc. said in a recent report. According to DL News, the report states that institutions are more interested in yield-generating strategies—such as staking, lending, and stablecoin utilization—than in simple price appreciation. Furthermore, 65% of respondents see crypto as a diversification tool comparable to traditional financial assets. The report identified stablecoins as the primary growth driver, predicting that regulatory clarity for stablecoins issued by major financial institutions will be the key to unlocking significant institutional capital inflows.

Binance has announced the addition of USDT-margined perpetual futures for Microsoft (MSFT), Broadcom (AVGO), and Alibaba (BABA). All three pairs will support leverage of up to 10x.

Joe McCann, founder of the crypto investment firm Asymmetric, is being investigated by local authorities in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in connection with the death of his fiancée, Ashly Robinson, CoinDesk reported. According to local police, Robinson entered the country with McCann on April 4 and was found unconscious in a villa on April 9 before being pronounced dead after transport to a hospital. Police confirmed that the couple had argued so violently that hotel staff had to separate them into different rooms on two occasions. While authorities are treating the death as a suicide, they have confiscated McCann's passport and barred him from leaving the country until an autopsy is completed, citing the ongoing investigation. McCann has led Asymmetric, which is backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Last December, he announced the liquidation of the firm's Liquid Alpha Fund amid rumors that it had lost 78% in 2025.

Tron-based lending platform JustLend DAO announced it has completed its third JST buyback and burn. The platform burned 271,337,579 JST, worth $21.3 million. This brings the cumulative amount burned to over 1.356 billion JST, representing 13.70% of the total supply. JustLend DAO stated that it used quarterly net profits and carried-over earnings to fund the burn and plans to continue the initiative on a quarterly basis.

According to data from CoinGlass, short positions worth $473.89 million on major centralized exchanges face liquidation if BTC surpasses $75,709. Conversely, a drop below $73,447 would liquidate long positions valued at $786.68 million.

JPMorgan has assessed in a recent report that negotiations for the U.S. cryptocurrency market structure act, known as the CLARITY Act, are nearing a final agreement with only a few unresolved issues remaining. According to CoinDesk, a senior policy official stated that the number of contentious items has been reduced from around 12 to just two or three, and that discussions on the most controversial topic, stablecoin interest, are progressing well. Another Senate aide also noted that the draft bill is in its final stages, with remaining issues such as DeFi supervision and cryptocurrency classification expected to be settled soon. JPMorgan noted that political variables remain, as the final draft has not yet been released and an official voting schedule has not been set. The bank highlighted the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, suggesting that if the Democratic Party were to regain a majority in the House of Representatives, crypto-related legislation could be delayed. However, JPMorgan explained that there is a growing willingness among stakeholders to compromise on a practical regulatory framework rather than holding out for a perfect bill.

Digital art platform Blackdove announced on X that it is ending its support for the Ethereum-based NFT platform Foundation and returning operational control to founder Kayvon and the original team. Kayvon is now back in charge of Foundation's operations, and the team is regrouping to continue supporting its community.

Less than 1% of over 150 cryptocurrency protocols disclose the terms of their contracts with market makers, Wu Blockchain reported, citing a study by crypto advisory firm Novora. The study, which surveyed projects with market capitalizations ranging from $40 million to $45 billion, found that only Meteora (MET) made its terms public. Novora founder Conner King noted that these agreements, which can include token loans, option contracts, and performance fees, directly impact price formation. He pointed out that while such disclosures are mandatory in traditional financial markets, the crypto market lacks the investor relations infrastructure to help translate raw data into institutional trust. The study also found that only 38% of the surveyed protocols had models for returning value to token holders, such as fee distribution or buybacks. For the remaining 62%, the sole use case for their tokens was governance.

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone has announced the designation of nine tokens to its delisting watchlist: BAAS, WIKEN, ZTX, SPURS, ZKL, GM, MAK, K, and FRAG. The exchange stated that these assets failed to meet its minimum maintenance criteria, as their combined domestic and international market capitalization and trading volumes fell below the standards set by its delisting and trading support termination policies.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb announced it has placed five cryptocurrencies on its delisting watchlist: Gracy (GRACY), Tottenham Hotspur (SPURS), GTX (ZTX), With (WIKEN), and Step App (FITFI). The exchange cited the assets' failure to meet its policy standards for combined market capitalization and trading volume across both domestic and overseas exchanges. As a result, deposits for these assets will be suspended starting at 8:30 a.m. UTC today.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced that it has placed Tottenham Hotspur (SPURS) on its delisting watchlist.

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone announced it will delist seven cryptocurrencies at 6:00 a.m. UTC on May 18: Cloudbric (CLBK), LoungeM (LZM), Crust Network (CRU), Fancy (FNCY), Everyworld (EVERY), Havah (HVH), and sKLAY (SKLAY). The exchange stated the move is in accordance with its policy on delisting watchlist designations and the termination of trading support.

Binance has announced that it will suspend deposit and withdrawal support for Highstreet (HIGH) and Resolv (RESOLV) via the BNB Smart Chain, effective from 8:00 a.m. UTC on April 23.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb announced it will delist Witch Token (WITCH), Talken (TALK), and Havah (HVH) at 6:00 a.m. UTC on May 18.

Whale addresses have accumulated approximately 270,000 BTC over the past 30 days, according to data from CryptoQuant. Meanwhile, BTC holdings on major centralized exchanges (CEX) have fallen to their lowest level since December 2017.

Shinhan Financial Group plans to integrate a crypto wallet into its new super-app, Shinhan SuperSOL, which is scheduled to launch this coming June, Newspim reported. The financial group is also expected to test a deposit token system, allowing users to convert their bank deposits into tokens for everyday payments.

CryptoQuant reported via X that Bitcoin holdings by miners are on the decline. Since the current cycle began, miner reserves have fallen from approximately 1.862 million BTC to 1.801 million BTC, representing a net sale of around 61,000 BTC. Major sellers include: - Riot Platforms: 4,026 BTC - MARA Holdings: 13,210 BTC - Core Scientific: 1,992 BTC

Lido has transferred 4.82 million LDO, worth $1.81 million, from Binance to a multisig wallet, according to AmberCN. The move is seen as the official start of the project's token buyback program. Lido previously passed a governance proposal to buy back $20 million worth of LDO to support the token's price.