CryptoPulseElite

British Bitcoin developer and Blockstream CEO Adam Back publicly denied on April 8, 2026 that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, after a New York Times investigation by journalist John Carreyrou identified him as the strongest candidate to be the inventor of the digital currency.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT published on April 8, 2026 a detailed analysis of internal data exfiltrated from a North Korean payment server, revealing a scheme processing approximately $1 million per month in cryptocurrency through fake identities, forged legal documents, and coordinated crypto‑to‑fiat conversion systems.

Visa unveiled Intelligent Commerce Connect (ICC) on April 8, 2026, a platform designed to enable AI agents to discover merchants, browse products, and complete purchases on behalf of users, while allowing businesses to accept agent‑initiated payments across multiple card networks and token vaults without vendor lock‑in.

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party proposed a Digital Asset Basic Act on April 8, 2026 that would impose bank‑style reserve, capital and operational requirements on stablecoin issuers and ban yield on idle stablecoin balances, while bringing tokenized real‑world assets (RWAs) under existing financial frameworks.

Yuga Labs reached a settlement on April 8, 2026 with artist Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen, ending a two‑year lawsuit over the RR/BAYC NFT collection that allegedly copied imagery from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) brand.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on April 8, 2026 that David Woodcock, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and former head of the agency’s Fort Worth office, will serve as the new director of the Division of Enforcement, effective May 4.

Crypto‑linked debit and prepaid card monthly transaction volume reached $600 million in March 2026, more than tripling from $187 million a year earlier, according to data from The Block.

Morgan Stanley’s spot bitcoin exchange‑traded fund (ETF) began trading on April 8, 2026 under the ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca, recording more than 1.6 million shares traded and approximately $34 million in net inflows on its first day.

Strategy (MSTR) executive chairman Michael Saylor stated at a Mizuho event on April 8, 2026 that bitcoin likely bottomed near $60,000 in early February when forced sellers were flushed out, and that the formation of banking credit and digital credit markets built on bitcoin will be the catalyst for the next bull market.

Iran is imposing transit tolls on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz during the two‑week ceasefire with the United States, requiring payments in bitcoin (BTC) at a rate of approximately $1 per barrel — a fully loaded supertanker facing charges up to $2 million.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, through its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), proposed a joint rulemaking on April 8, 2026 that would require stablecoin issuers to establish anti‑money laundering (AML) and sanctions compliance programs, including technical capabilities to “block, freeze and reject” transactions.

Canary Capital Group LLC filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 8, 2026, seeking approval to list an exchange-traded fund that tracks the spot price of the PEPE memecoin.

BTQ Technologies Corp. published a research paper on April 8, 2026 establishing the first end-to-end physical cost estimate for using quantum computers to mine Bitcoin.

Seamless Protocol, a lending and borrowing protocol built on Base, announced on April 8, 2026 that it is winding down operations after more than two and a half years, with its user interface set to go offline on June 30, 2026.

The U.S. Department of Justice on April 7, 2026 rejected Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s argument that a recent Supreme Court ruling should lead to dismissal of his criminal case, stating the civil copyright decision has “no relevance” to charges of money laundering and sanctions evasion.

Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to begin trading on April 8, 2026, under the ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca, after the SEC declared the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust effective and the bank filed its final prospectus.

President Donald Trump announced on April 7, 2026 that he had agreed to a two‑week ceasefire with Iran, suspending planned military strikes just hours before his self‑imposed deadline, triggering a more than 14% plunge in crude oil prices.

Resolv Labs executed an on-chain contract upgrade on April 6, 2026 to permanently burn 36.73 million wstUSR and stUSR tokens that were under the control of an attacker, capping the protocol’s estimated net loss from the March 22 exploit at approximately $34 million.

GSR, a prominent cryptocurrency market maker, has made a lead investment in Libeara, a tokenization platform incubated by Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, as part of its strategy to build a full-service digital asset and real-world asset (RWA) investment bank.