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In brief Scammers impersonating Iran are demanding payment in BTC or USDT from vessels stranded at Hormuz. MARISKS believes at least one vessel fired at on Saturday had paid the fraudulent fee. Experts warn any crypto transit payment carries sanctions liability, regardless of recipient. Scammers impersonating Iranian authorities are reportedly targeting shipping companies with fraudulent payment demands to be made through Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT stablecoin, promising safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.Greek maritime risk firm MARISKS warned Monday via Reuters that unknown actors impersonating Iranian authorities had sent shipping companies messages demanding cryptocurrency payments for transit clearance in…

The grandson of Gambino crime boss John Gotti pleaded guilty to wire fraud after funneling $420K in stolen pandemic relief funds into crypto. Source link

Make CryptoSlate preferred on When Customs launched the CAPE refund portal, it put administrative certainty behind an asset class that Wall Street had already begun pricing.As of Apr. 9, 56,497 importers had registered for electronic refunds totaling $127 billion, out of roughly $166 billion the government expects to be returned after the Supreme Court ruled in February that IEEPA did not authorize President Donald Trump’s tariffs.CBP says valid claims will generally be paid within 60 to 90 days. That timetable has brought a set of questions back into focus, including what Cantor Fitzgerald actually did with tariff-refund rights, and what…

In brief The Arbitrum Security Council has frozen 30,766 ETH worth $71.5 million linked to the weekend’s KelpDAO exploit. The funds can only be moved by further action by Arbitrum governance, the council said. The KelpDAO attackers, thought to be North Korean hackers, have begun moving and laundering funds linked to the exploit. The Arbitrum Security Council has frozen 30,766 ETH worth $71.5 million allegedly linked to the KelpDAO exploit, moving the funds to an intermediary wallet.In a tweet, the council explained the “emergency action” was taken following law enforcement input about the exploiter’s identity. Following the move, the funds…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Building on its US success, crypto exchange Coinbase has rolled out crypto-backed USDC loans for UK residents, using Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as collateral. This expands the exchange’s growing suite of financial services in the region. Crypto-Backed Loans Cross The Pond On Monday, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, announced that it has expanded its Borrow product to UK residents, unlocking more liquidity for users without having to sell their crypto holdings. UK customers can now instantly borrow USDC using their Bitcoin, Ethereum, and…

Make CryptoSlate preferred on When Customs launched the CAPE refund portal, it put administrative certainty behind an asset class that Wall Street had already begun pricing.As of Apr. 9, 56,497 importers had registered for electronic refunds totaling $127 billion, out of roughly $166 billion the government expects to be returned after the Supreme Court ruled in February that IEEPA did not authorize President Donald Trump’s tariffs.CBP says valid claims will generally be paid within 60 to 90 days. That timetable has brought a set of questions back into focus, including what Cantor Fitzgerald actually did with tariff-refund rights, and what…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure Altcoins have been one of crypto’s most painful stories of the past few years. The 2022 bear market broke valuations across the sector, and the recovery that followed never fully delivered on its promise. The altseason that traders had been anticipating through 2024 and into 2025 arrived in fragmented, selective bursts rather than the broad-based surge the cycle was supposed to produce. For holders of most altcoins, the wait has been long — and expensive. The most recent chapter made things worse before they got better. According…

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure SBI Remit and Tottori Bank are launching international money transfer services on April 20, extending what XRP-focused observers describe as Ripple’s bank-linked remittance footprint in Japan. The partnership marks the 26th collaboration between SBI Remit and a financial institution, with Ripple’s distributed ledger technology again referenced as part of the service stack. The Ripple angle was pushed into focus by XRP community commentator Eri, who wrote on X: “XRP Scoop: Tottori Bank & SBI Remit start international money transfer services, April 20. This marks the 26th Bank|FI…

In brief Ocean Network is launching a decentralized peer-to-peer compute network that leverages idle and underused GPUs. Users will be able to run code without having to manage the infrastructure themselves or leave VS Code, Cursor, or Windsurf. The project uses Circle’s USDC deployed on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, an Ethereum Layer 2, for instant settlements. From a computation perspective, 2026 is starting to look a lot like the brutal realities of finding housing in a high-cost-of-living city: it’s a seller’s market, and it’s expensive.Demand for compute is higher than ever, with hyperscalers, AI firms, and even gamers pushing demand to…

In brief Ripple will design, build and propose a new amendment to the XRP Ledger ecosystem for native post-quantum cryptography by 2028. The plan addresses Google research showing future quantum computers could derive private keys from exposed public keys in nine minutes. XRPL supports native key rotation, allowing users to move away from potentially vulnerable keys without changing their underlying accounts. Ripple announced a multi-phase roadmap Monday to make the XRP Ledger quantum-resistant by 2028, responding to recent Google research demonstrating that future quantum computers may break current blockchain cryptography by 2032.The company will begin active testing of quantum-resistant cryptography…

In brief Alibaba unveiled Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview, its most powerful AI model yet, topping multiple coding and agentic benchmarks. The model marks a shift toward proprietary offerings, as Chinese AI labs move away from free open-source access to monetized services. Qwen’s rapid adoption underscores China’s growing influence in AI, with its models now accounting for a significant share of global usage. Alibaba released a preview of its next flagship AI model on Monday, pushing the Qwen series further into the frontier race. Qwen 3.6-Max-Preview is the most powerful model the company has shipped so far, topping six major coding benchmarks and…