TimesCrypto

Qualcomm shares soared around 10% in premarket trading after analysis by TF International Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo indicated that OpenAI is also taking a proactive approach to developing hardware. The AI firm is said to be developing a dedicated OpenAI smartphone with a radical new interaction model. This means users will not navigate a grid of applications, but rather through an AI agent who will manage their requests (e.g., book transportation, compare flight options) using natural language.

K Bank signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to test blockchain-powered overseas remittances, marking a new push by the South Korean digital bank into blockchain-based payment infrastructure. Under the agreement, the two companies will work on a proof-of-concept using Ripple’s digital wallet infrastructure, while also exploring support for K Bank’s overseas remittance model and broader cooperation in digital assets. K Bank and Ripple executives sign strategic partnership in Seoul.

A new academic study found that prediction market accuracy stems from a small group of informed traders, not from the broad “wisdom of the crowd.” The paper, titled Prediction Market Accuracy: ‘Crowd Wisdom or Informed Minority?’ analyzed the full picture of Polymarket transactions across markets created after Jan. 1, 2023, and resolved by Dec. 31, 2025.

The Ethereum derivatives market is going through a significant deleveraging of the market, as across a wide range of exchanges, 30 day readings of open interest have fallen sharply into negative figures. Current values are now mirroring those in what can be said to have been one of the more significant derivative resets, that of April 2025. The largest move of the current cycle is being made via Gate.io. On April 21 2026, Gate.io’s 30 day OI (open interest) change was roughly -461,000 ETH.

Numerous people have had their digital money stolen due to an epidemic of violent crypto wrench attacks in France, where victims are threatened, kidnapped, or tortured and forced to give up their digital assets. Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, posted on X, claiming that the reason for these crimes may stem from government corruption, stating that members of the French tax authority are “selling” the personal data of crypto hedge fund managers to criminals.

Aave Labs has proposed that the Arbitrum Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) release the 30,765 ETH frozen by its Security Council (tied to the KelpDAO exploit) and redirect the funds to DeFi United, a recovery effort designed to restore rsETH and compensate holders. The submission is supported by Kelp DAO, LayerZero, Ether.fi, and Compound, stating that these frozen ETH are arguably a significant amount of funds that can help offset the damage caused by the exploit.

Pudgy Penguins native token PENGU is one of the most compelling-looking recoveries currently, up 52.10% over the time period of 30-days, 38.29% over the past week and 11.55% over the past day. But there is one more key data point to this move, which is that the 30-day is flatlining to the 90-day: up a negligible 0.89% over the past 90-days, PENGU’s recent price rise is recovering a significant drawdown, not starting a new bullish wave, and the implications for a trader moving forward are vast.

Money transfer giant Western Union unveiled plans to launch its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin as early as May, marking a deeper push to fold digital assets into its global payments and settlement network. The company’s president and CEO, Devin McGranahan, told investors during Western Union’s first-quarter earnings call that the stablecoin, known as USDPT, is in the “final stages of readiness” and is expected to go live next month.

China’s central bank and seven other regulators unveiled new rules that classify virtual currency issuance and trading among illegal financial activities that must not receive online marketing support, as Beijing moves to tighten supervision of financial product promotions across the internet.

Project Eleven named independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli as the winner of its one Bitcoin Q-Day Prize after he used publicly accessible quantum hardware to break a 15-bit elliptic curve key, setting a new public benchmark for an attack class that could one day threaten major blockchain networks.