Liquidators of Mirror Trading International, a massive South African crypto pyramid scheme, have received over 9,441 claims totaling nearly $395 million.

Jane Street sharply reduced several major bitcoin-linked positions during the first quarter while increasing exposure to ether ETFs and selected crypto equities. The portfolio changes came amid heightened market volatility and shifting institutional sentiment toward digital assets.

Bitcoin futures open interest across all exchanges reached $61.9 billion on Thursday, as traders positioned on both sides of a market sitting at $81,500 per coin at 3 p.m. ET. Options data from Deribit, OKX, and Binance point to $80,000 as the level where the most contracts expire worthless, a figure worth watching heading into several near-term expirations.

XRP rallied as buyers pushed the token to fresh session highs, extending gains after a breakout from consolidation. The move came alongside expanding volume, elevated momentum readings, and optimism after the Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act, which Ripple publicly supported.

Crypto ETF markets faced another sharp wave of selling on Wednesday, with bitcoin funds posting their second straight day of heavy outflows and ether ETFs extending their losing streak to three sessions. Solana stood out as the lone area of strength, while XRP products remained inactive.

After struggling to break $80,000, bitcoin surged more than $2,000 in four hours, peaking above $81,800 and eyeing the $82,000 mark.

Crypto data firm Dune has laid off 25% of its workforce, with CEO Fredrik Haga citing a sharpened focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data tools and institutional clients moving onchain.

The United States Senate Banking Committee took a definitive step toward establishing a national regulatory framework for digital assets on Thursday by advancing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

Moody’s Ratings has assigned its highest credit rating to Blackrock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), according to a recent announcement.

Senate Democrats intensified efforts to challenge the CLARITY Act, warning the crypto market structure bill could leave major illicit finance vulnerabilities unresolved. The push to challenge the legislation coincided with a separate request for a federal investigation into World Liberty Financial.

Interactive Brokers announced the launch of a unified prediction markets platform on Thursday, which integrates event contracts from Kalshi, CME Group, and its own affiliate exchange, ForecastEx.

CME Group is preparing Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures tied to a cryptocurrency basket led by bitcoin, ether, and XRP. The financially settled products would come in micro-sized and larger-sized versions designed for regulated market exposure.

Coinbase is stepping in as the official treasury deployer for USDC on Hyperliquid under a new framework called AQAv2, ending a fragmented stablecoin setup on one of decentralized finance’s most active perpetuals platforms.

AARP urged senators to preserve Section 205 of the CLARITY Act as cryptocurrency kiosk scams draw concern. The group cited more than 13,460 complaints and $389 million in reported losses tied to the machines.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a blanket no-action letter this week, relieving prediction market operators from swap data reporting and recordkeeping obligations tied to fully collateralized event contracts.