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blockmanity.com How Cryptocurrency Undermines Democracy: Shocking Risks Revealed

How Undermines Democracy: Shocking Risks Revealed Digital money like Bitcoin promised freedom from banks and governments. But today, cryptocurrency risks to democracy are growing. Bad actors use crypto to hide money, dodge rules, and mess with elections. This happens in […] The post How Cryptocurrency Undermines Democracy: Shocking Risks Revealed appeared first on Blockmanity.

forklog.media Researchers Question the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ on Polymarket

A group of scholars from the London Business School and Yale University analyzed transactions on Polymarket from 2023 to 2025. The authors concluded that the platform's forecast accuracy is driven by an 'informed minority' rather than the 'wisdom of crowds'. Only 3.14% of users were identified as 'skilled winners'. This group, along with market makers, captures more than 30% of the total profits on the platform. The study covered 1.7 million accounts and transactions amounting to $13.76 billion. However, overall income does not always indicate a trader's skill. The analysis showed that only 12% of the most profitable accounts truly possess a strategy. About 60% of 'lucky users' began to incur losses when market conditions changed. Most participants (67%) remain in the red due to lack of experience or bad luck. The researchers also found signs of insider trading. They identified 1,950 accounts that executed trades just before significant events and ceased activity after their conclusion. As an example, they cited bets on the resignation of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trades occurred shortly before the U.S. officially announced the military operation 'Absolute Resolve' to capture the politician. The findings contradict the stance of Polymarket and Kalshi's leadership. The heads of these companies often claim that prediction markets outperform experts due to the collective intelligence of participants. In April, the U.S. Department of Justice charged active-duty serviceman Gannon Kane Van Dyke, who is suspected of using classified information for betting on Polymarket.

forklog.media The week: an Aave rescue and a quantum vulnerability laid bare

Bitcoin held around $78,000, the community raised over 100,000 ETH to shore up the DeFi ecosystem, a researcher cracked a 15-bit key on a quantum computer, and other events of the week. Bitcoin steadies Over the past seven days the leading cryptocurrency firmed up. Although Monday opened with a drop to $73,000, bitcoin managed to confirm a local positive trend. By Tuesday, April 21, the coin had already returned to $76,000. On Wednesday morning the asset again pierced resistance around $78,000, which it had tested the previous week. That same day the digital asset hit a high of $79,500. Afterwards bitcoin moved into consolidation, trading in a narrow $79,000–$77,000 range from Thursday through the week’s end. Hourly chart of BTC/USD on Binance. Source: TradingView. At the time of writing the price is $77,800 — up 1.5% on the week. Several analysts reckon the rally was driven mostly by the derivatives market rather than spot demand. During the run to $79,000, the market saw a cascade of short liquidations totalling roughly $1.1bn. A shift in sentiment was confirmed by the crypto Fear and Greed Index. At one point the gauge climbed to 46 — a first since January. It now sits at 33, signalling “fear”. Source: Alternative.me. Other top-ten cryptocurrencies lagged the bellwether. Ethereum is stuck at $2,300 (-0.5% over seven days), XRP trades at $1.4 (-1.2%), and BNB at $631 (+1%). Source: CoinMarketCap. Meanwhile, spot bitcoin-ETFs notched a fourth straight week of inflows. The products took in $823m. Source: SoSoValue. Ethereum funds attracted $155m — a third consecutive “green” week. Source: SoSoValue. Total crypto market capitalisation stands at $2.68trn. BTC dominance is 58.2%, ETH — 10.5%. A collective DeFi rescue The community is still dealing with the fallout from the Kelp hack. The main task has been to plug the shortfall in the rsETH token. On April 23 the affected lending protocol Aave teamed up with leading DeFi platforms and launched the DeFi United initiative. The campaign opened a fund-raising drive to restore the ecosystem, which other projects joined. “We believe that collaboration matters most in such moments, and our priority is to achieve the best possible outcome for users,” the Aave statement said. In the days after launch DeFi United raised more than 100,000 ETH (~$230m). The sum nearly covered the ~ $290m loss from the hack. Source: defiunited.world. The largest donors included: Mantle — 30,000 ETH; Aave DAO — 25,000 ETH; founder of Aave Stani Kucherov — 5,000 ETH; Ether.fi — 5,000 ETH; Lido Finance — 2,500 ETH. Roughly 30,700 ETH was recovered via the freezing of stolen funds on Arbitrum. Nearly 400 ETH came in as community donations. As part of protective measures Aave and partners created a dedicated fund to rebuild collateral for the affected rsETH token. Kelp also set up a separate vehicle to compensate users. The protocol’s TVL decline has been stabilised. As of April 26 the metric hovered around $14bn. Even so, since the attack deposits on the platform have fallen by more than $12bn. Source: DefiLlama. What to discuss with friends? The community marked Dogecoin Day. Reporters learned of a new scheme extorting bitcoin for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. A wave of DeFi hacks put Wall Street’s crypto plans into question. Belarus outlined rules for crypto banks. A show of quantum strength This week brought a reminder of the approaching quantum threat. Independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli managed to compute a 15-bit cryptographic key on ECC using a publicly available quantum computer. For this the startup Project Eleven awarded the expert 1 BTC under its Q-Day Prize programme. Lelli applied a modification of Shor’s algorithm to a search space of 32,767 combinations. The method targets the discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curves — the mathematical basis of digital signatures used across most blockchains. Previously, engineer Steve Tippekonnik had extracted an ECC key on IBM’s 133-qubit machine, but it was six-bit. Lelli’s result topped the prior demonstration by a factor of 512. Project Eleven’s team called it the largest elliptic-curve break using quantum technologies. While the scale is nowhere near real systems — bitcoin uses 256-bit ECC — Project Eleven noted the gap is narrowing quickly. Programmers deem the transition more an engineering task than a fundamental physics problem. The project has its critics. Former Bitcoin Core developer Jonas Schnelli said that in this case quantum computing contributed nothing useful. The result was obtained via classical verification of outputs indistinguishable from random noise. The method is equivalent to classic guessing, like flipping a coin. According to the developer, Lelli’s approach cannot be scaled to the bitcoin blockchain. Schnelli also reproduced the experiment with 20 lines of Python code, without any quantum computer. Several experts agreed with his conclusions, including cryptographer Adam Back. Analyst Jacek Czech suggested Project Eleven’s reward payment was merely a marketing ploy. Fresh conjectures On April 22 a second documentary this month appeared on the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto. Finding Satoshi, by directors Tucker Tooley and Matthew Miele, summarises a four-year investigation led by American business writer William D. Cohan and private detective Tyler Maroney. The film concludes that the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin was a duo: cryptographers Hal Finney and Len Sassaman. The former handled code and technical implementation; the latter handled the textual and academic side, including the white paper. The case rests on analysis of the candidates’ digital activity. The authors compared Satoshi’s online behaviour with that of known early crypto figures and concluded Finney and Sassaman most closely match the profile. The filmmakers offered several circumstantial points for Finney, the first recipient of bitcoin from Satoshi. They also noted a pause in his repository activity between the white paper’s publication in October 2008 and mainnet launch in January 2009 — a period in which Finney could have worked on bitcoin. For Sassaman the film cited other arguments: academic writing style, ties to cypherpunks and expertise in anonymity. The documentary also features dozens of interviews. Among the participants are Bill Gates, Gary Gensler, Michael Saylor, Joseph Lubin and Fred Ehrsam. Tooley and Miele stressed the film does not claim to resolve Nakamoto’s identity. What Finding Satoshi presents is merely a hypothesis. Also on ForkLog: Cybersecurity experts warned of a new wave of attacks by North Korean hackers. A robot set a world record in the half marathon. Tether blocked $344m in USDT at the request of the US. US politicians were sanctioned by Kalshi for insider trading. An updated GPT On April 23 OpenAI released a new language model, GPT-5.5. It is billed as “a new level of intelligence for real work and agentic control”. The neural network is “built to understand complex tasks, use tools, verify outputs and carry more tasks to completion”. GPT-5.5 can also: understand user intent; plan work autonomously and drive tasks to an end result; write and debug code; search the internet for information; analyse data; create documents and spreadsheets; control software and switch between tools. GPT-5.5 benchmark tests. Source: OpenAI. OpenAI noted the new model is particularly effective in agentic programming, computer control, knowledge work and early-stage scientific research — areas that require long chains of reasoning and action. The model “noticeably outperforms” GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.7 in reasoning and autonomy: it anticipates issues, predicts needs for testing and review, and does so without explicit prompting. Source: OpenAI. GPT-5.5 is available in ChatGPT and Codex for Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise plans. A separate GPT‑5.5 Pro version is available for Pro, Business and Enterprise. Both variants will soon be available via the API at $5m per 1m input tokens and $30m per 1m output tokens. Context window — 1m tokens. What else to read? How cutting corners on intelligence-gathering backfires, what governments will pay to crack a smartphone, and how to trust researchers who unearth bugs decades later. Answers in ForkLog’s new feature. The end of the monopoly on intellect — how algorithms displace the cognitive elite.

forklog.media Analyst Predicts Bitcoin’s Bottom at $57,000

The price of the leading cryptocurrency is expected to hit a cycle low of $57,000 in October this year. This view was shared by investor Michael Terpin in a conversation with Cointelegraph. The expert explained that his estimate is based on the "historical average": it usually takes about 12 months from the peak (October 2025, when Bitcoin rose above $126,000) to the bottom. According to Terpin, for the bull market to resume, the digital gold price must return to $100,000. Achieving this level is possible if the asset's quotes fall below the 200-week moving average—a critical support level. However, the investor considers this scenario unlikely. "There is a chance to see $100,000 this year, but it is small. Strong ETF demand, continued purchases by Michael Saylor's Strategy, and no liquidations during a sharp drop are needed," he added. Other experts, including trader Peter Brandt, have also pointed to the potential bottoming out this autumn. Should Bitcoin continue with the most remarkable cyclic patterns of any market in the past 15 years, an investable low is scheduled for Sep/Oct 2026. That low might or might not penetrate the Feb 2026 low. The next high (should patterns continue) will be between $300k and $500k…— The Factor Report (@PeterLBrandt) April 23, 2026 Analyst Matthew Hyland noted that overall, investors are uncertain about the sustainability of the current market dynamics, despite the recent recovery. In his view, there is no euphoria or clear interest—many are simply interpreting the situation through the lens of their own biases. It does appear to me the larger expected consensus outcome for #BTC is another leg lower by October There does not seem to be much euphoria or interest; many just projecting it to fit their biasTherefore the calls for lower whilst price rallies is a sign of disbelief https://t.co/NmDuBTPatD— Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) April 25, 2026 "As it seems to me, the broader expected consensus outcome for Bitcoin is another drop by October," he wrote. Market Developments At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $77,800, having decreased by 0.3% over the past day. In the early hours of April 27, the asset's price reached a local high of $79,400 before sharply retreating. Hourly chart of BTC/USDT on Binance. Source: TradingView. The Ethereum price fell by 0.2% to $2300. Most of the largest coins by market capitalization limited their correction to 0.5%. Source: CoinMarketCap. The Fear and Greed Index has emerged from a prolonged phase of fear and shifted to a neutral level. Source: Alternative.me. The market has been supported by U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and easing geopolitical tensions. Products based on the leading cryptocurrency attracted $823 million over the week. Source: SoSoValue. "All this indicates that the market is returning to moderate risk positioning," commented Dominic John of Zeus Research. Research fellow Min Jun from Presto Research emphasized that the market has stopped reacting sharply to news from the Middle East due to investor fatigue. According to her, participants have shifted their focus to the upcoming FOMC meeting, which will take place on April 29. The market is fully confident in maintaining the current Fed rate range. Source: CME FedWatch. The upcoming meeting could be the last for the current head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, noted market observer Nick Pakrin. His term expires in May. Wednesday is Powell's almost certain last FOMC meeting as Fed Chair.Rate decision is almost certainly a hold flat. Unfortunately, no dot-plot released at this meeting so we won't have a sense of which way the FOMC is tilting for future cuts.We'll have to wait for the June…— Nic (@nicrypto) April 26, 2026 Back on April 23, MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe predicted Bitcoin's rise amid a low Sharpe ratio.

news.bitcoin.com SEC Chair Paul Atkins Makes History as First Sitting Commissioner to Address the Bitcoin Conference

SEC Chair Paul Atkins is set to deliver a fireside chat at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas on Monday, marking the first time a sitting U.S. securities regulator has spoken at the annual event. Key Takeaways: SEC Chair Paul Atkins is set to address the attendees of Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas on […]

bitcoinist.com Ripple CEO Garlinghouse Named Harvard Business Leader Of The Year

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been honored as the 2026 Business Leader of the Year by the Harvard Business School Association of Northern California, giving one of crypto’s most prominent executives a high-profile recognition from the Bay Area business establishment. The award places Ripple’s payments and digital-asset strategy in a broader conversation about financial infrastructure, […]

blockonomi.com XRP Price Prediction Tightens Toward $3 With Spot ETFs Booking Best Month of 2026, While Pepeto Charts a 100x Path

The xrp price prediction just picked up a fresh signal. Spot XRP ETFs have pulled in $75.6 million across April, the strongest month since launch, and GraniteShares debuted 3x long and short XRP ETFs on Nasdaq on April 23, lifting cumulative XRP fund flows past $1.28 billion as XRP holds $1.42 with no outflows since [...] The post XRP Price Prediction Tightens Toward $3 With Spot ETFs Booking Best Month of 2026, While Pepeto Charts a 100x Path appeared first on Blockonomi.

news.bitcoin.com BTC Touches $79,000 on Day One of the Bitcoin 2026 Conference in Las Vegas

BTC crossed $79,000 on Monday as the Bitcoin 2026 conference opened its doors at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, extending a four-week rally underpinned by record ETF inflows, easing geopolitical tensions, and fresh regulatory clarity from U.S. authorities. Key Takeaways: BTC touched $79,000 on April 27, coinciding with the opening day of the Bitcoin […]

news.bitcoin.com Senator Bernie Sanders Issues Warning on AI’s Existential Threat

Sanders stressed that even as most AI scientists acknowledge the possibility of AI escaping control and becoming a danger to our existence, no major measures have been taken to avoid it. “We must make certain that Al benefits humanity, not hurts us,” he stated. Key Takeaways: Bernie Sanders warns humanity might lose control of AI, […]

blockonomi.com Next Crypto to Explode: Pepeto Leads as Investors Choose Presales Over Solana and Cardano for Higher Returns

The next crypto to explode just received a signal from the corporate treasury front. Strategy added 34,160 Bitcoin to reach 815,061 total coins and passed BlackRock as the largest corporate holder according to Yahoo Finance. When the biggest funds on Wall Street treat Bitcoin companies as core holdings, fresh capital is already moving toward tokens [...] The post Next Crypto to Explode: Pepeto Leads as Investors Choose Presales Over Solana and Cardano for Higher Returns appeared first on Blockonomi.

news.bitcoin.com Chainalysis: EU’s New Sanctions on Russia Mark ‘a New Era’ of Crypto Enforcement

The blockchain intelligence agency highlighted that the recently issued sanctions package against Russia was perhaps the most comprehensive crypto-focused action by the EU, targeting the whole Russian cryptocurrency sector rather than individual actors, including the digital ruble in full and the RUBx token. Key Takeaways: The EU launched its 20th sanctions package, strictly targeting the […]

news.bitcoin.com TRM Labs Highligihts Rise of Stablecoins in Venezuela

TRM Labs’ latest report on global cryptocurrency adoption stressed that stablecoins are being used in Venezuela as part of retail users’ arsenal to deal with high inflation and capital-constrained environments, countering currency instability and capital controls as parallel currency markets surge. Key Takeaways: TRM Labs reports a Q1 2026 shift to USDT, boosting Venezuela’s volume […]