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Japan has launched a blockchain pilot to modernize its $7.5 trillion Japanese Government Bond (JGB) collateral system. The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation, Mizuho Financial Group, and Nomura Holdings are working with Digital Asset Holdings on the Canton Network. The project enables real-time, 24/7 cross-border movement of JGBs while preserving their legal status under Japanese law. Backed by the Financial Services Agency, it aims to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and align Japan’s financial infrastructure with global tokenization trends without using public crypto.

The Arbitrum Security Council has frozen 30,766 ETH, worth about $71 million, linked to the KelpDAO exploit on Arbitrum One. The funds were moved to a secure wallet requiring governance approval for release, with no impact on other users. The April 18 attack drained $292 million in rsETH through a compromised LayerZero bridge, reportedly tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Meanwhile, Aave paused markets to review up to $230 million in potential bad debt. Read Complete Story

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) purchased another $256 million worth of Bitcoin on April 21, continuing its aggressive accumulation strategy. The move follows recent buys of 3,672 BTC and 3,899 BTC earlier in the week. With total holdings now valued at over $61 billion at around $76,000 per Bitcoin, IBIT remains the largest spot Bitcoin ETF. Strong weekly inflows of more than $600 million highlight rising institutional interest as major players steadily accumulate during market pullbacks.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy has acquired 34,164 BTC for about $2.54B at an average price of $74,395 per Bitcoin. This latest purchase brings its total holdings to 815,061 BTC, accumulated for roughly $61.56B at an average cost of $75,527. The firm also reports a 9.5% BTC yield year-to-date in 2026. The move highlights Strategy’s continued aggressive accumulation approach, reinforcing its long-term conviction in Bitcoin despite ongoing market volatility.

Bitcoin fell below $74,000 after weekend gains faded, following rising US-Iran tensions after a reported cargo ship seizure and retaliation threats. The price is now moving between key levels, with $74,000 as support and $76,000–$77,000 as resistance, while traders also watch a possible CME gap and liquidity zones. Sentiment remains divided between bullish continuation and deeper pullback, as geopolitical risks and high leverage continue to drive short-term volatility in the market.

Coinbase has launched crypto-backed USDC loans for UK users, powered by the Morpho protocol on Base. The feature lets users borrow USDC against BTC, ETH, and cbETH, with limits up to $5M for Bitcoin and $1M for Ethereum. Loans have flexible repayment with no fixed schedules, but require monitoring of loan-to-value ratios to avoid liquidation risk. The move expands Coinbase’s 2025 US rollout, blending DeFi infrastructure with regulated access, aiming to boost liquidity while highlighting volatility and collateral risks.

US spot crypto ETFs recorded strong institutional inflows last week, with Bitcoin ETFs attracting $996.38 million, the highest since mid January and marking a third straight week of gains. Ethereum ETFs added $275.83 million, while Solana and XRP ETFs brought in $35.17 million and $55.39 million, respectively. BlackRock’s IBIT dominated Bitcoin flows with $906 million. The surge highlights sustained institutional demand across major digital assets as ETF adoption continues to strengthen market liquidity and investor participation.

Anthony Scaramucci and analyst Back expect Bitcoin to reach between $500,000 and $1 million this cycle. Scaramucci highlights Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins, saying a $1 million price would align with gold’s market value. Back points to rising ETF inflows, corporate accumulation, and growing institutional participation as key drivers. Bitcoin currently trades near $74,500 after peaking above $126,000 last year, reflecting ongoing volatility but strong long-term conviction among investors.

Upbit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, has listed PIEVERSE trading pairs against KRW, BTC, and USDT. PIEVERSE is a Web3 payment infrastructure project built for an agent native economy where humans, AI agents, and machines can transact seamlessly. It focuses on automated, verifiable, and cross-chain payments with improved transparency and efficiency. The listing is expected to increase liquidity, adoption, and market visibility as demand grows for AI-driven payment systems in the evolving digital finance ecosystem.

KelpDAO suffered a $290M exploit on April 18, 2026, after attackers used a highly targeted cross-chain message spoofing attack. According to post-incident analysis, North Korea’s Lazarus Group is the likely source. The attackers compromised and poisoned RPC nodes used by LayerZero’s DVN system, then triggered a DDoS to force failover to malicious nodes, allowing fake cross-chain messages to pass validation. The root issue was KelpDAO’s 1/1 DVN setup, which had no redundancy or backup verifiers. Only rsETH was affected, with no protocol-wide contagion, and infrastructure has since been replaced and secured.