Crypto

RFK Jr. HHS budget cuts of roughly $16 billion faced their first major congressional test Thursday as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, fielding pointed questions on vaccine policy while defending a budget that slashes discretionary spending by 12.5% compared to last year. Summary Trump’s 2027 budget

A ceasefire has taken effect in Lebanon, though Hezbollah’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal remain tied to U.S.-Iran negotiations. The market for a ceasefire by April 30, 2026, is at 94% YES, up from 45% a week ago. The ceasefire confirmation pushed the odds for June 30 to 97% YES. The spread between April 30 and

Bitwise has launched BAVA, an exchange-traded fund holding Avalanche (AVAX crypto) tokens directly and staking a portion of those holdings to generate yield for investors. It is the first Avalanche ETF to market with a staking component built in from day one, beating competing filings from VanEck and Grayscale to the launch. The detail most

Hayes’s core view is that BTC’s price is driven by the quantity of money, not its cost, meaning even rate hikes won’t necessarily hurt it. Bitcoin’s near-term direction may hinge less on Fed policy than on which four war scenarios play out in the Middle East. This is according to Maelstrom’s chief investment officer,

Plasma blockchain TVL has climbed to $2 billion, making it the seventh-largest blockchain by total value locked after Tether selected Plasma as one of only four networks to support its newly launched self-custody wallet. Summary Plasma’s TVL reached $2 billion as of April 16, up 27% over the past week and more than 80% over

Iran increased its commodity exports through the Strait of Hormuz in March while US-Iran tensions continued. The market for Strait of Hormuz Ship Transit April, which tracks whether 10 ships will transit the strait on any day between April 8 and April 12, is expected to see odds rise by 15%. Market reaction The transit

Hyperliquid HIP-3 market just crossed $2B in open interest, and the number itself is almost beside the point. The detail most headlines are missing is what’s actually driving it: seven of Hyperliquid’s top ten markets by volume are now tokenized equities or commodity futures, not crypto pairs. This isn’t a DeFi platform doing DeFi things.

A new Cato Institute paper argues that U.S. capital gains rules make “bitcoin taxes make no sense,” burying everyday BTC payments in paperwork and locking the asset into a hoarding role instead of money. Summary Cato Institute’s Nick Anthony argues US capital gains rules make daily bitcoin spending “make no sense.” Treating BTC as property

Google’s research indicates Bitcoin’s cryptography might need 20× fewer qubits to crack than previously estimated. The Bitcoin price market for April 17 sits at 99.9% YES. Adam Back has proposed optional quantum-resistant upgrades amid concerns that wallets, including those linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, could be compromised. The market for Bitcoin price above $62,000 on April