Key takeaways:

Bearish Bitcoin traders were caught off guard by BTC’s rally above $90,000.

Spot volumes are driving the Bitcoin price rally.

Derivatives positions with a bearish bias remain at risk of liquidation.

Bitcoin (BTC) held above the $93,000 mark on April 24, suggesting a potential conclusion to the 52-day bear market that bottomed at $74,400. Although Bitcoin is beginning to show signs of decoupling from the stock market, professional traders have not altered their strategies, as indicated by BTC futures and margin market data.

BTC top traders’ long-to-short ratio. Source: CoinGlass

A higher long-to-short ratio reflects a preference for long (buy) positions, while a lower ratio indicates a tilt toward short (sell) contracts. Currently, the top traders’ long-to-short ratio on Binance stands at 1.5x, a notable decrease from the 2x level observed ten days earlier. At OKX, the ratio peaked near 1.1x on April 17 but has since lost momentum and now sits at 0.9x.

Bitcoin shines as dollar weakens and S&P 500 targets are slashed

Bitcoin’s 10% rally between April 20 and April 24 coincided with a more conciliatory stance from US President Donald Trump regarding import tariffs and his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has faced scrutiny for maintaining high interest rates. On April 24, Trump stated he had “no intention” of firing Powell, marking a notable shift from his previous rhetoric.

Amid economic uncertainty, Deutsche Bank strategists have reduced their year-end S&P 500 target by 12% to 6,150. Meanwhile, the US dollar has weakened against other major currencies, pushing the DXY index below 99 for the first time in three years. Despite a modest 6% gain over the past 30 days, Bitcoin’s performance has secured it a place among the world’s top eight tradable assets, with a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion.

The sharp move above $90,000 caught Bitcoin bears off guard, resulting in over $390 million in leveraged short (sell) futures liquidations between April 21 and April 22. More significantly, aggregate open interest in BTC futures remains just 5% below its all-time high, indicating that bearish traders have not fully exited their positions.

BTC futures liquidation heatmap, USD. Source: CoinGlass

If Bitcoin’s price maintains its upward momentum and breaks above $95,000, an additional $700 million in short (sell) futures positions could be liquidated, according to CoinGlass data. This potential short squeeze may prove especially challenging for bears, given the robust inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which totaled over $2.2 billion between April 21 and April 23.

A newly announced joint venture involving SoftBank, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Tether aims to accumulate Bitcoin through convertible bonds and equity financing, which could further strengthen the bullish case. Named “Twenty One Capital,” the Bitcoin treasury company is led by Strike founder Jack Mallers and plans to launch with 42,000 BTC.

Related: Sovereign wealth funds piling into BTC as retail exits — Coinbase exec

The muted response from top traders in BTC margin and futures markets suggests that the recent buying pressure has originated mainly from spot markets, which is generally considered a positive indicator for a sustainable bull run.

The longer Bitcoin consolidates above $90,000, the greater the pressure on bears to cover their shorts, as this level reinforces the narrative that Bitcoin is decoupling from the stock market. This could provide the confidence needed to challenge the $100,000 psychological threshold.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, which operates the largest financial derivatives exchanges worldwide, recently announced that XRP (XRP) futures contracts will go live on May 19.

According to the April 24 announcement, investors have the option of choosing between micro-sized contracts, featuring 2,500 XRP, or standard contract sizes of 50,000 XRP. All XRP futures contracts will be cash-settled.

In January 2025, the CME Group signaled an impending launch of XRP futures before quietly pulling the related page from its website.

CME’s announcement is the latest in a growing wave of crypto-focused financial products entering the market or awaiting regulatory approval in the US, a sign that cryptocurrencies have reached a new level of institutional acceptance.

The XRP ticker symbol displayed on the CME Group website. Source: CME Group

Related: CME Group taps Google Cloud for pilot asset tokenization program

Financial institutions push for altcoin financial products

On March 17, Solana (SOL) futures debuted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The SOL contracts featured a standard contract size of 500 SOL and the more accessible micro contracts for 25 SOL.

In April 2025, asset manager Canary Capital submitted an application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a staked Tron (TRX) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The asset manager’s proposed ETF will hold spot TRX but will stake a portion of the token to accrue yield, which, at the time of this writing, is 4.5% for TRX.

On April 22, Crypto.com and the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), a media conglomerate partially owned by the US President, signed a deal to launch an ETF tracking US crypto projects.

The ETF will launch under the Truth.Fi banner, which is US President Trump’s decentralized finance project, and is expected to start trading later in 2025.

List of pending ETF applications. Source: Eric Balchunas

There are now more than 70 crypto ETF applications waiting to be reviewed by the SEC, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

“Everything from XRP, Litecoin, and Solana to Penguins, Doge, 2x Melania, and everything in between. Gonna be a wild year,” Balchunas wrote in an April 21 X post.

Magazine: Ethereum maxis should become ‘assholes’ to win TradFi tokenization race

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, which operates the largest financial derivatives exchanges worldwide, recently announced that XRP (XRP) futures contracts will go live on May 19.

According to the April 24 announcement, investors have the option of choosing between micro-sized contracts, featuring 2,500 XRP, or standard contract sizes of 50,000 XRP. All XRP futures contracts will be cash-settled.

In January 2025, the CME Group signaled an impending launch of XRP futures before quietly pulling the related page from its website.

CME’s announcement is the latest in a growing wave of crypto-focused financial products entering the market or awaiting regulatory approval in the US, a sign that cryptocurrencies have reached a new level of institutional acceptance.

The XRP ticker symbol displayed on the CME Group website. Source: CME Group

Related: CME Group taps Google Cloud for pilot asset tokenization program

Financial institutions push for altcoin financial products

On March 17, Solana (SOL) futures debuted on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The SOL contracts featured a standard contract size of 500 SOL and the more accessible micro contracts for 25 SOL.

In April 2025, asset manager Canary Capital submitted an application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a staked Tron (TRX) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The asset manager’s proposed ETF will hold spot TRX but will stake a portion of the token to accrue yield, which, at the time of this writing, is 4.5% for TRX.

On April 22, Crypto.com and the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), a media conglomerate partially owned by the US President, signed a deal to launch an ETF tracking US crypto projects.

The ETF will launch under the Truth.Fi banner, which is US President Trump’s decentralized finance project, and is expected to start trading later in 2025.

List of pending ETF applications. Source: Eric Balchunas

There are now more than 70 crypto ETF applications waiting to be reviewed by the SEC, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

“Everything from XRP, Litecoin, and Solana to Penguins, Doge, 2x Melania, and everything in between. Gonna be a wild year,” Balchunas wrote in an April 21 X post.

Magazine: Ethereum maxis should become ‘assholes’ to win TradFi tokenization race

Bitcoin reserves on cryptocurrency exchanges have dropped to their lowest level in more than six years, as publicly traded companies ramp up their accumulation of the digital asset following the US presidential election, according to Fidelity Digital Assets. 

“We have seen Bitcoin supply on exchanges dropping due to public company purchases — something we anticipate accelerating in the near future,” Fidelity reported on the X social media platform.

Source: Fidelity Digital Assets

Fidelity said the supply of Bitcoin (BTC) on exchanges had fallen to roughly 2.6 million BTC, the lowest since November 2018. More than 425,000 BTC have moved off exchanges since November, a trend often viewed as a signal of long-term investment rather than short-term trading.

Over the same period, publicly-traded companies acquired nearly 350,000 BTC, Fidelity said.

Fidelity Digital Assets is a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, the $5.8 trillion asset manager headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The Fidelity Digital subsidiary was established in 2018, long before cryptocurrency was considered an institutional asset class. 

Fidelity is the issuer of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, one of the first 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds approved in the United States.

Related: Bitcoin exchange buying is back as ‘Spoofy the Whale’ lifts $90K asks

Strategy dominates public company purchases

While Fidelity noted significant corporate Bitcoin purchases, most of the accumulation has been driven by Strategy, the business intelligence firm-turned-Bitcoin bank co-founded by Michael Saylor.

Since November, Strategy has acquired 285,980 BTC, accounting for 81% of the approximately 350,000 BTC purchased by publicly traded companies.

A snapshot of some of Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases over the past six months. Source: Strategy

Strategy’s latest purchase of 6,556 BTC was disclosed on April 21. 

Outside the United States, publicly traded companies in Asia have adopted a similar Bitcoin treasury strategy, with Japan’s Metaplanet and Hong Kong’s HK Asia Holdings increasing their Bitcoin allocations. 

Metaplanet currently holds 5,000 BTC, with CEO Simon Gerovich saying his goal is to double that amount this year.

Meanwhile, HK Asia Holdings announced plans to raise roughly $8.35 million to potentially increase its Bitcoin reserves. 

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

Theo, a provider of onchain trading infrastructure, has raised $20 million from 17 investors to enhance its institutional-grade trading platform aimed at retail investors.

The funding round was co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital, with additional participation from venture capital firms Manifold Trading, Miranda Ventures, Flowdesk, MEXC and Amber Group, Theo disclosed on April 24. 

Citadel, Jane Street, IMC and JPMorgan were listed as angel investors in the deal.

Created by former quant traders, Theo gives retail investors access to advanced strategies like high-frequency trading and market making, which are tools typically used by professional trading firms.

Theo’s infrastructure can be used across centralized exchanges and decentralized financing protocols, the company said. 

The Theo network secures nearly $29 million in total value locked as of April 23, according to industry data. 

Theo’s total value locked is down from its peak in February. Source: DefiLlama

Theo is part of a wave of blockchain protocols attempting to bridge the gap between institutional finance and retail. Companies like Polygon, Fireblocks, Ondo Finance, Lido, and BloFin have all played active roles in advancing this space.

Related: Institutions break up with Ethereum but keep ETH on the hook

Institutions are also coming onchain

While companies like Theo are working to bring Wall Street-level sophistication to crypto-native users, there’s strong evidence that influence is flowing in the opposite direction, too.

After years of speculation, institutional involvement in digital assets is now a reality, driven by the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the rise of real-world asset tokenization, the lure of onchain lending, and the growing dominance of stablecoins as a preferred funding method.

According to credit rating agency Moody’s, secondary markets built on the blockchain can streamline the investing process by removing inefficiencies and lowering barriers to asset ownership. 

These trends are a major reason why the majority of institutional investors say they plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, according to a recent survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon.

The survey also determined that three-quarters of institutions could be active DeFi users within two years.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC

Crypto security is a ticking time bomb. Updatable firmware might just be the match that lights the fuse.

Hardware wallets have become the holy grail of self-custody, the ultimate safeguard against hackers, scammers and even government overreach. There’s an inconvenient truth, however, that most people ignore: Firmware updates aren’t just security patches. 

They’re potential backdoors, waiting for someone — whether a hacker, a rogue developer or a shady third party — to kick them wide open.

Every time a hardware wallet manufacturer pushes an update, users are forced to make a choice. Hit that update button and hope for the best, or refuse to update and risk using outdated software with unknown vulnerabilities. Either way, it’s a gamble. 

In crypto, a bad gamble can mean waking up to an empty wallet.

Firmware updates aren’t always your friend

Updating firmware sounds like common sense. More security! Fewer bugs! Better user experience!

Here’s the thing: Every update is also an opportunity not just for the wallet provider but for anyone with the power, or motivation, to tamper with the process.

Hackers dream of firmware vulnerabilities. A rushed or poorly audited update can introduce tiny, almost imperceptible flaws — ones that sit in the background, waiting for the right moment to drain funds. And the best part? Users will never know what hit them.

Then there’s the more unsettling possibility: deliberate backdoors.

Recent: Hardware wallet Ledger helps competitor Trezor resolve security vulnerability

Tech companies have been forced to include government-mandated surveillance tools before. What makes anyone think hardware wallet makers are exempt? If a regulatory agency — or worse, a criminal organization — wants access to private keys, firmware updates are the perfect attack vector. One hidden function. One disguised line of code. 

That’s all it takes. Still think firmware updates are harmless? 

Firmware vulnerabilities are already being exploited

This isn’t some far-fetched, doomsday scenario. It has already happened.

Ledger, one of the biggest names in crypto security, had a major security crisis in 2018 when security researcher Saleem Rashid exposed a vulnerability that allowed attackers to replace Ledger Nano S firmware and hijack private keys. Nearly 1 million devices were at risk before a fix was rolled out. The scary part? There was no way for users to know if their devices had already been compromised.

In 2023, OneKey suffered a similar nightmare. White hat hackers demonstrated that its firmware could be cracked in mere seconds. No crypto was lost — this time. But what if real attackers had found the flaw first?

Then came the “Dark Skippy” exploit, taking firmware-based attacks to an entirely new level. With just two signed transactions, hackers could extract a user’s entire seed phrase — without setting off a single alarm. If firmware updates can be manipulated this easily, how can anyone be sure their assets are safe?

The hidden price of updatable firmware

To be fair, not all firmware updates are security disasters. Ledger uses a proprietary operating system and secure element chips for added protection now. Trezor takes an open-source approach, allowing the community to scrutinize its firmware. Coldcard and BitBox02 give users manual control over updates, reducing — but not eliminating — risk.

Here’s the real question: Can users ever be 100% sure that an update won’t introduce a fatal flaw?

Some wallets have decided to eliminate the risk altogether. Tangem ships with fixed, non-updatable firmware, meaning that its code can never be altered once the device leaves the factory. No updates. No patches. 

Of course, this approach has its trade-offs. If a vulnerability is discovered, there’s no way to fix it. But in security, predictability matters. 

Real crypto security means taking back control

The crypto market was worth $2.79 trillion as of March 2025. With that much money on the table, cybercriminals, rogue insiders and overreaching governments are always looking for weak points. Hardware wallet makers should be laser-focused on security.

Choosing a hardware wallet shouldn’t feel like gambling with private keys. It shouldn’t involve blind trust in a corporation’s ability to push updates responsibly. Users deserve more than vague reassurances. They deserve security models that put control where it belongs — with them.

Security isn’t about convenience. It’s about control. Any system that requires trusting unknown developers, opaque update processes or firmware that can be changed at will? That’s not control. That’s a liability.

The only real way to keep a hardware wallet safe? Remove the guesswork. Strip away the blind trust. Always research the developers’ backgrounds, check their track record for security incidents, and see how they’ve handled past vulnerabilities. Stick to verifiable facts — security should never be based on assumptions.

Opinion by: Igor Zemtsov, chief technology officer at TBCC.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Theo, a provider of onchain trading infrastructure, has raised $20 million from 17 investors to enhance its institutional-grade trading platform aimed at retail investors.

The funding round was co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital, with additional participation from venture capital firms Manifold Trading, Miranda Ventures, Flowdesk, MEXC and Amber Group, Theo disclosed on April 24. 

Citadel, Jane Street, IMC and JPMorgan were listed as angel investors in the deal.

Created by former quant traders, Theo gives retail investors access to advanced strategies like high-frequency trading and market making, which are tools typically used by professional trading firms.

Theo’s infrastructure can be used across centralized exchanges and decentralized financing protocols, the company said. 

The Theo network secures nearly $29 million in total value locked as of April 23, according to industry data. 

Theo’s total value locked is down from its peak in February. Source: DefiLlama

Theo is part of a wave of blockchain protocols attempting to bridge the gap between institutional finance and retail. Companies like Polygon, Fireblocks, Ondo Finance, Lido, and BloFin have all played active roles in advancing this space.

Related: Institutions break up with Ethereum but keep ETH on the hook

Institutions are also coming onchain

While companies like Theo are working to bring Wall Street-level sophistication to crypto-native users, there’s strong evidence that influence is flowing in the opposite direction, too.

After years of speculation, institutional involvement in digital assets is now a reality, driven by the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the rise of real-world asset tokenization, the lure of onchain lending, and the growing dominance of stablecoins as a preferred funding method.

According to credit rating agency Moody’s, secondary markets built on the blockchain can streamline the investing process by removing inefficiencies and lowering barriers to asset ownership. 

These trends are a major reason why the majority of institutional investors say they plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, according to a recent survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon.

The survey also determined that three-quarters of institutions could be active DeFi users within two years.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

Tether Investments — the investment arm of leading stablecoin issuer Tether — acquired additional shares in Juventus Football Club.

According to an April 24 announcement, with its latest investment, Tether brought its total participation in Juventus to over 10.12% of the issued share capital, representing 6.18% of the voting rights. The investment follows the firm’s initial acquisition of 8.2% of the issued shares.

Tether’s second Juventus investment announcement’s image. Source: Tether

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the investment is not only a short-term financial maneuver but “a commitment to innovation and long-term collaboration.” He added:

“We believe Juventus is uniquely positioned to lead both on the field and in embracing technology that can elevate fan engagement, digital experiences, and financial resilience. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead.”

Founder of Obchakevich Research, Alex Obchakevich, told Cointelegraph that Tether’s Juventus stake increase is an “attempt to prove to non-crypto investors and users that the company is much more than just a stablecoin.” Investors may also not be the only target:

“It is also a way to improve your image with regulators (especially in the European Union) by demonstrating transparency and stability.“

Obchakevich added that he believes “Tether is trying to return to the European market” after losing access due to compliance issues with the local Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Leading crypto exchange Binance delisted Tether’s stablecoin, USDt (USDT), in the European Economic Area (EEA) earlier this month, and now a “stake in Juventus is one of the options for returning to the EU market.”

What is Juventus?

Juventus is a professional soccer club based in Turin, Italy, widely regarded as one of the most successful and popular teams in the history of Italian and European soccer. Founded in 1897, Juventus, commonly known as “Juve,” competes in Serie A, Italy’s top soccer league.

The club has won numerous national and international titles, including multiple Serie A championships, Coppa Italia trophies and UEFA competitions. Tether announced its intention to work closely with the soccer club’s leadership and stakeholders, as well as provide further financial support:

“As a further demonstration of its long-term commitment, Tether is also open to participating in any future equity injections to help strengthen Juventus’s financial foundation and avoid dilution of its position.“Tether is on a shopping spree

This is just the latest in a long series of investments by Tether. According to reports from earlier this month, Brandon Lutnick, chair of investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is partnering with SoftBank, Tether and Bitfinex to create a $3 billion crypto acquisition company.

Tether is also involved in Bitcoin (BTC) mining. The firm recently announced the intention to deploy its existing and future Bitcoin hashrate to Ocean’s Bitcoin mining pool to strengthen the network’s decentralization.

Tether also just bought 8,888 Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2025. Data from the onchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence shows that the firm currently holds 95,721 BTC, worth roughly $8.89 billion at the time of writing.

In late March, Tether also invested €10 million ($11.4 million) in the Italian media company Be Water. Some of the investments are already paying off, with Canadian YouTube alternative Rumble recently launching its wallet with support for Tether’s USDT stablecoin. This comes after Tether invested $775 million in Rumble in late 2024.

Tether’s recent spending spree is likely at least partly due to the company’s intention to hedge against a falling US dollar. Still, Obchakevich thinks this is not the whole story since “companies like Tether are playing for the long haul, and a situational drop in the dollar in the market due to tariffs would not be a reason to spend money quickly.” He said:

“The deal with Juventus is not a situational story, I’m sure it was prepared long before the tariffs and the dollar fell.“

Bitcoin’s price trajectory may be suppressed ahead of its upcoming “omega candle” rally, according to Prince Filip Karađorđević, the hereditary prince of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

In an April 24 interview with Simply Bitcoin, Filip said some market participants may be limiting Bitcoin (BTC) price action.

“People are able to control the market to some extent,” he said. “Maybe that’s what acted on the 2021 market that suppressed its price from jumping high up. We could get that again in 2025, but there will be one point where [Bitcoin price] will run away.”

Filip added that Bitcoin remains a fundamentally deflationary asset and said its value is “always going to rise over time.”

Source: Simply Bitcoin

He referenced the concept of the “omega candle,” made popular by Bitcoin advocate and Jan3 CEO Samson Mow. The theory predicts Bitcoin’s growth trajectory will explode after it hits the $100,000 mark.

Related: Bitcoin acting ‘less Nasdaq,’ more like gold, despite 60% recession odds

“You’ll start to go up by 10,000 a day or drop by 10,000 a day. And this is the God candle. After that, we’ll start to see omega candles, which are 100,000 increments daily,” said Mow in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph in November 2024.

Factors contributing to Bitcoin’s growth include the growing distrust in the traditional financial system, according to Mow.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs log $912M inflows in ‘dramatic’ investor sentiment boost

ETF inflows, macro relief drive momentum

Bitcoin price saw an over 9% recovery over the past week as the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) accumulated over $2.2 billion worth of Bitcoin in the three days leading up to April 23, Farside Investors’ data shows.

Source: Farside Investors

The price action is in line “with our Bitcoin relative strength expectations with respect to equities and the dollar,” analysts from Bitfinex exchange told Cointelegraph, adding:

“Bitcoin is rallying due to a combination of macro relief, strong ETF inflows, and growing expectations that the Fed will maintain policy flexibility amid softening economic data.”

Bitcoin may continue to see more upside if “equities continue higher during earnings week,” but the “still-elevated macro uncertainty could limit broad-based upside,” the analysts added.

Stock and cryptocurrency investors are also concerned about a potential recession in the US. JPMorgan estimates a 60% probability for a recession in 2025, citing US President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs on China as a “material threat to growth” that increases the odds of an economic downturn.

Magazine: Bitcoin’s odds of June highs, SOL’s $485M outflows, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 2 – 8

What if paying with crypto was as easy and as fun as sending a meme on X?

In the latest episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, StarkWare’s Nathan Jeffay and Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson sit down with Stefana Banciu, growth lead at Pulsar Money, to explore how blockchain is bringing payments into the digital age, with speed, transparency and a dash of playfulness.

Transforming Web3 payments

Banciu lays out how Pulsar is pushing the frontier of Web3 payments with features like social transfers that allow users to send crypto directly through X, simply by tagging a handle. 

“You can actually have super seamless, easy and convenient payments, and it can also be super fun.”

The episode cuts through the crypto jargon to tackle a question with mainstream resonance: Why aren’t we using crypto for everyday transactions yet?

“I wish I could say yes, but that wouldn’t be a true reflection of the state of affairs,” Jenkinson admits when asked if crypto is widely used for payments. He points to Mastercard-linked crypto cards as a stopgap, but says the real revolution hasn’t yet reached the coffee shop counter.

Related: Luxury app Dorsia taps MoonPay for crypto payments

For Banciu, the path forward lies in bridging fun and fundamentals. While crypto’s founding ideals include borderless, permissionless transfers and low fees, she says onboarding the next wave of users will require experiences that are intuitive, social and entertaining.

Their platform includes a “social payments module” that lets users send crypto directly through X by tagging a handle, a small but powerful step toward making transactions feel more like communication than banking.

“You can actually send funds directly on Twitter,” Banciu says.

 “This is a cool use case to showcase people that yes, with crypto payments you can actually have super seamless, easy and convenient payments.”

But convenience alone isn’t enough. Banciu says making crypto fun is key to onboarding the next wave of users.

“We all know within the crypto space, the whole community that is here for perhaps something else than payments, which is quite boring, right?” she adds. “So we said, OK, why not think of a way to onboard users, make them do payments in a fun way?”

For Jenkinson, making crypto usable as a true “medium of exchange” is essential to its legitimacy.

“If we’re not using cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, then it’s not solving one of the core characteristics that makes money, money.”

To hear the full conversation on The Clear Crypto Podcast,  listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! 

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered