Tron founder Justin Sun says he’s unaware of the recent rumors surrounding former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao following reports alleging that Zhao provided evidence against him as part of his plea deal with the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

“I’m not aware of the circulating rumors. CZ is both my mentor and a close friend,” Sun said in an April 11 X post.

Sun brushes off CZ rumors

“He has played a crucial role in supporting me during my entrepreneurial journey,” Sun added.

Sun’s X post came just hours after speculation grew over an April 11 Wall Street Journal report, which alleged that Zhao agreed to provide evidence on Sun as part of his plea deal, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Source: db

Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations.

The report added, “that arrangement hasn’t previously been reported.”

Zhao hasn’t publicly addressed the reports at the time of publication, but the day before, he warned his 10 million X followers that he had been told a “baseless hit piece” about him was being written.

Sun commended Zhao’s integrity and said that the DOJ is one of T3 Financial Crime Unit’s (T3 FCU) — which Tron co-founded along with Tether and TRM Labs — “closest and most trusted partners.”

“To this day, his conduct and principles remain the highest standard I strive to follow as a founder,” Sun said of Zhao. Sun added:

“Whether it’s CZ or our partners at the DOJ, we maintain direct, honest communication at all times. I have full trust in each and every one of them.”

Zhao walked free from a US federal prison on Sept. 27. With a reported net worth of approximately $60 billion at the time, Zhao is the wealthiest person ever to serve a prison sentence in the US.

Source: Justin Sun

Meanwhile, on Feb. 26, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Sun asked a federal court to pause the regulator’s case against the crypto entrepreneur to allow for settlement talks.

In March 2023, the SEC sued Sun and three of his companies, the entity behind Tron, the Tron Foundation and the file-sharing platform backers the BitTorrent Foundation and its San Francisco-based parent firm, Rainberry Inc.

Cointelegraph reached out to the US Department of Justice but did not receive a response by time of publication.

A fast-tracked temporary crypto regulatory framework could bolster innovation within the US crypto industry while permanent regulations are still in the works, says acting US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mark Uyeda.

“A time-limited, conditional exemptive relief framework for registrants and non-registrants could allow for greater innovation with blockchain technology within the United States in the near term,” Uyeda said at the SEC’s April 11 Crypto Task Force roundtable titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.”

Relief measures may address immediate challenges

Uyeda said this might be the short-term answer as the SEC works toward a “long-term solution” at the roundtable with SEC members and crypto industry executives, including Uniswap Labs’ Katherine Minarik, Cumberland DRW’s Chelsea Pizzola and Coinbase’s Gregory Tusar.

He flagged state-by-state regulation of crypto trading as a concern, warning it could lead to a “patchwork of state licensing regimes.”

Uyeda said that a favorable federal regulatory framework would ease the burden for market participants wishing to offer tokenized securities and non-security crypto assets, allowing them to operate under a single SEC license instead of navigating “fifty different state licenses.”

He urged crypto market participants to share feedback on areas where “exemptive relief” could be appropriate.

Source: US Securities and Exchange Commission

Uyeda also reiterated the benefits of blockchain technology in financial markets during the roundtable discussion. 

“Blockchain technology offers the potential to execute and clear securities transactions in ways that may be more efficient and reliable than current processes,” Uyeda said.

Uyeda to fill chair position until Atkins is sworn in

“Blockchains can be used to manage and mobilize collateral in tokenized form to increase capital efficiency and liquidity,” he added.

Uyeda will continue serving as acting SEC chair until US President Donald Trump’s nominee, Paul Atkins, is officially sworn in.

On April 10, the US Senate confirmed Atkins as chair of the SEC in a 52-44 vote largely along party lines. 

Related: SEC, Ripple file joint motion to pause appeals in XRP case

Uyeda has served as acting SEC chair since Jan. 20, succeeding former chair and crypto skeptic Gary Gensler. He’s been widely seen within the industry as a pro-crypto advocate.

On March 18, Cointelegraph reported that Uyea said the SEC could change or scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.

“I have asked the SEC staff to work closely with the crypto task force to consider appropriate alternatives, including its withdrawal,” Uyeda said.

Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research

Draft legislation in the US Senate threatens to hit data centers serving blockchain networks and artificial intelligence models with fees if they exceed federal emissions targets, according to an April 11 Bloomberg report. 

Led by Senate Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman, the draft bill purportedly aims to address environmental impacts from rising energy demand and protect households from higher energy bills, Bloomberg said.

Dubbed the Clean Cloud Act, the legislation mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set an emissions performance standard for data centers and crypto mining facilities with over 100 KW of installed IT nameplate power.

The standard would be based on regional grid emissions intensities, with an 11% annual reduction target. The legislation also includes penalties for emissions exceeding the set standard, starting at $20 per ton of CO2e, with the penalty increasing annually by inflation plus an additional $10.

“Surging power demand from cryptominers and data centers is outpacing the growth of carbon-free electricity,” notes a minority blog post on the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works website, adding that data centers’ electricity usage is projected to account for up to 12% of the US total power demand by 2028.

According to research from Morgan Stanley, the rapid growth of data centers is projected to generate approximately 2.5 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions globally by the end of the decade.

For Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of research, the proposed legislation effectively seeks to single out Bitcoin (BTC) miners and similar operations for energy consumption in a “Losing ‘Blame the Server Racks’ Strategy,” he said in an April 11 X post. 

In addition, the law could clash with the US’s policy under President Donald Trump, who repealed a 2023 executive order by former President Joe Biden setting AI safety standards. Trump has previously declared his intention to make the US the “world capital” of AI and cryptocurrency.

New US draft bill would penalize AI, crypto data centers for power consumption. Source: Matthew Sigel

Related: Trade tensions to speed institutional crypto adoption — Execs

Bitcoin and AI converge

The draft law, which has yet to pass in the Senate, comes as Bitcoin miners — including Galaxy, CoreScientific, and Terawulf — increasingly pivot toward supplying high-performance computing (HPC) power for AI models, VanEck said.

Bitcoin miners have struggled in 2025 as declining cryptocurrency prices weigh on business models already impacted by the Bitcoin network’s most recent halving.

Miners are “diversifying into AI data-center hosting as a way to expand revenue and repurpose existing infrastructure for high-performance computing,” Coin Metrics said.

Comparison of miners’ AI-related contracts. Source: VanEck

According to Coin Metrics, miners’ incomes began to stabilize in the first quarter of 2025. However, the recovery could be cut short if ongoing trade wars disrupt miners’ business models, several cryptocurrency executives told Cointelegraph. 

“Aggressive tariffs and retaliatory trade policies could create obstacles for node operators, validators, and other core participants in blockchain networks,” Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, CEO of Concrete & Glow Finance, said. 

“In moments of global uncertainty, the infrastructure supporting crypto, not just the assets themselves, can become collateral damage.”

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

Draft legislation in the US Senate threatens to hit data centers serving blockchain networks and artificial intelligence models with fees if they exceed federal emissions targets, according to an April 11 Bloomberg report. 

Led by Senate Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman, the draft bill purportedly aims to address environmental impacts from rising energy demand and protect households from higher energy bills, Bloomberg said.

Dubbed the Clean Cloud Act, the legislation mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set an emissions performance standard for data centers and crypto mining facilities with over 100 KW of installed IT nameplate power.

The standard would be based on regional grid emissions intensities, with an 11% annual reduction target. The legislation also includes penalties for emissions exceeding the set standard, starting at $20 per ton of CO2e, with the penalty increasing annually by inflation plus an additional $10.

“Surging power demand from cryptominers and data centers is outpacing the growth of carbon-free electricity,” notes a minority blog post on the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works website, adding that data centers’ electricity usage is projected to account for up to 12% of the US total power demand by 2028.

According to research from Morgan Stanley, the rapid growth of data centers is projected to generate approximately 2.5 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions globally by the end of the decade.

For Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of research, the proposed legislation effectively seeks to single out Bitcoin (BTC) miners and similar operations for energy consumption in a “Losing ‘Blame the Server Racks’ Strategy,” he said in an April 11 X post. 

In addition, the law could clash with the US’s policy under President Donald Trump, who repealed a 2023 executive order by former President Joe Biden setting AI safety standards. Trump has previously declared his intention to make the US the “world capital” of AI and cryptocurrency.

New US draft bill would penalize AI, crypto data centers for power consumption. Source: Matthew Sigel

Related: Trade tensions to speed institutional crypto adoption — Execs

Bitcoin and AI converge

The draft law, which has yet to pass in the Senate, comes as Bitcoin miners — including Galaxy, CoreScientific, and Terawulf — increasingly pivot toward supplying high-performance computing (HPC) power for AI models, VanEck said.

Bitcoin miners have struggled in 2025 as declining cryptocurrency prices weigh on business models already impacted by the Bitcoin network’s most recent halving.

Miners are “diversifying into AI data-center hosting as a way to expand revenue and repurpose existing infrastructure for high-performance computing,” Coin Metrics said.

Comparison of miners’ AI-related contracts. Source: VanEck

According to Coin Metrics, miners’ incomes began to stabilize in the first quarter of 2025. However, the recovery could be cut short if ongoing trade wars disrupt miners’ business models, several cryptocurrency executives told Cointelegraph. 

“Aggressive tariffs and retaliatory trade policies could create obstacles for node operators, validators, and other core participants in blockchain networks,” Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, CEO of Concrete & Glow Finance, said. 

“In moments of global uncertainty, the infrastructure supporting crypto, not just the assets themselves, can become collateral damage.”

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

Draft legislation in the US Senate threatens to hit data centers serving blockchain networks and artificial intelligence models with fees if they exceed federal emissions targets, according to an April 11 Bloomberg report. 

Led by Senate Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman, the draft bill purportedly aims to address environmental impacts from rising energy demand and protect households from higher energy bills, Bloomberg said.

Dubbed the Clean Cloud Act, the legislation mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set an emissions performance standard for data centers and crypto mining facilities with over 100 KW of installed IT nameplate power.

The standard would be based on regional grid emissions intensities, with an 11% annual reduction target. The legislation also includes penalties for emissions exceeding the set standard, starting at $20 per ton of CO2e, with the penalty increasing annually by inflation plus an additional $10.

“Surging power demand from cryptominers and data centers is outpacing the growth of carbon-free electricity,” notes a minority blog post on the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works website, adding that data centers’ electricity usage is projected to account for up to 12% of the US total power demand by 2028.

According to research from Morgan Stanley, the rapid growth of data centers is projected to generate approximately 2.5 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions globally by the end of the decade.

For Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of research, the proposed legislation effectively seeks to single out Bitcoin (BTC) miners and similar operations for energy consumption in a “Losing ‘Blame the Server Racks’ Strategy,” he said in an April 11 X post. 

In addition, the law could clash with the US’s policy under President Donald Trump, who repealed a 2023 executive order by former President Joe Biden setting AI safety standards. Trump has previously declared his intention to make the US the “world capital” of AI and cryptocurrency.

New US draft bill would penalize AI, crypto data centers for power consumption. Source: Matthew Sigel

Related: Trade tensions to speed institutional crypto adoption — Execs

Bitcoin and AI converge

The draft law, which has yet to pass in the Senate, comes as Bitcoin miners — including Galaxy, CoreScientific, and Terawulf — increasingly pivot toward supplying high-performance computing (HPC) power for AI models, VanEck said.

Bitcoin miners have struggled in 2025 as declining cryptocurrency prices weigh on business models already impacted by the Bitcoin network’s most recent halving.

Miners are “diversifying into AI data-center hosting as a way to expand revenue and repurpose existing infrastructure for high-performance computing,” Coin Metrics said.

Comparison of miners’ AI-related contracts. Source: VanEck

According to Coin Metrics, miners’ incomes began to stabilize in the first quarter of 2025. However, the recovery could be cut short if ongoing trade wars disrupt miners’ business models, several cryptocurrency executives told Cointelegraph. 

“Aggressive tariffs and retaliatory trade policies could create obstacles for node operators, validators, and other core participants in blockchain networks,” Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, CEO of Concrete & Glow Finance, said. 

“In moments of global uncertainty, the infrastructure supporting crypto, not just the assets themselves, can become collateral damage.”

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

The Lomond School in Scotland will accept Bitcoin (BTC) tuition payments beginning in the Autumn semester of 2025, making it the first school in the United Kingdom to do so.

Accepting Bitcoin is part of the school’s plan to integrate “sound money principles” from the Austrian School of Economics into the curriculum to “prepare students for the uncertain future,” the announcement reads, adding:

“Bitcoin is available to anyone willing to learn — making it more democratic and inclusive, particularly for people in developing nations who lack access to traditional banking. Lomond sees Bitcoin as a perfect real-world case study in economics, computing, ethics, and innovation.”

The school has no plans to accept other cryptocurrencies and will convert the BTC to fiat currency immediately, according to the announcement. It might establish a BTC treasury in the future, pending input from the Lomond community.

Lomond’s announcement highlights the growing tide of institutions adopting Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation amid turmoil in the global financial order.

Value of the British pound (GBP) 1209-2025. Source: Statista

Related: Swedish MP proposes Bitcoin reserve to finance minister

Bitcoin slowly makes its way through the education system

Bitcoin is now part of the curriculum in several schools and universities; some of these institutions have also adopted a BTC treasury strategy to protect reserves against the corrosive effects of inflation on purchasing power.

In 2022, the University of Cincinnati added crypto courses to its curriculum to teach students about BTC and emerging Web3 technologies.

Mi Primer Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education initiative, partnered with the Ministry of Education in El Salvador in 2023 to integrate Bitcoin education into the school system.

Visual of Bitcoin’s hard supply cap expressed through successive halving events. Source: River

The University of Wyoming launched the Bitcoin Research Institute in July 2024 to conduct peer-reviewed academic studies about the decentralized digital asset.

In February 2025, the University of Austin announced that its endowment fund allocated $5 million to BTC investments. The university’s endowment fund has approximately $200 million in assets under management.

Chun Lai, the endowment fund’s chief investment officer, said the fund wanted BTC exposure to capitalize on the financial upside of digital assets as crypto experiences increased institutional adoption.

Magazine: TradFi fans ignored Lyn Alden’s BTC tip — Now she says it’ll hit 7 figures: X Hall of Flame

Ripple made headlines this week when it became the first crypto-native company to acquire a multi-asset prime broker, potentially setting the stage for wider adoption of its XRP Ledger technology. 

The acquisition of Hidden Road didn’t come cheap, either, as Ripple doled out $1.25 billion for the brokerage. It was a price Ripple CEO Brad Garlinhouse was happy to pay as the company set its sights on global expansion. 

Elsewhere, crypto exchange Binance listened to its community and moved to delist 14 tokens that no longer met its quality thresholds. Meanwhile, Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was appointed adviser for Pakistan’s newly formed crypto counsel. 

All this happened against a backdrop of negative headlines and plunging crypto prices stemming from the US-led trade war, which culminated in President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a 104% tariff on Chinese imports. 

Despite the chaos, a panel of industry experts told Cointelegraph that the crypto bull market is far from over. In fact, it hasn’t even started yet. 

Hidden Road: Ripple’s “defining moment”

Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road is the payment company’s “defining moment,” according to Ripple’s chief financial officer, David Schwartz.

In a social media post, Schwartz said the acquisition gives Ripple a major boost in promoting its XRP Ledger since Hidden Road already has more than 300 institutional customers and processes more than 50 million transactions per day.

Source: David Schwartz

“Now, imagine even a portion of that activity on the XRP Ledger — and that’s exactly what Hidden Road plans on doing — not to mention future use of collateral and real-world assets tokenized on the XRPL,” said Schwartz. 

Ripple has already dabbled in real-world assets (RWAs) by launching a tokenized money market fund in partnership with crypto exchange Archax. That could be the tip of the iceberg for the company’s RWA ambitions. 

Binance’s purge continues

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will purge 14 tokens from its platform on April 16 following its first “vote to delist” results, where community members nominated projects with troubling metrics.

The 14 tokens selected for delisting include Badger (BADGER), Balancer (BAL), Beta Finance, Status (SNT), Cream Finance (CREAM) and Nuls (NULS).

These tokens were removed after Binance conducted a “comprehensive evaluation of multiple factors,” including project development activity, trading volumes and responsiveness to the exchange’s due diligence requests.

Pakistan taps CZ to broaden crypto ambitions

Pakistan landed one of crypto’s biggest influencers as it attempts to promote industry adoption and lure blockchain companies to its shores. 

On April 7, the newly created Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) appointed former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as its crypto adviser. Pakistan’s finance ministry said Zhao will advise the PCC on crypto regulations, infrastructure development and adoption.

CZ is appointed as an adviser by Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance. Source: Business Recorder

After being lukewarm on crypto, Pakistan is fully embracing the industry in recognition of its transformative impact. The country has become a hotbed of crypto activity thanks to rising retail adoption and remittance activity. 

“Pakistan is done sitting on the sidelines,” said Bilal bin Saqib, the CEO of the PCC. “We want to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost high-growth market with […] a Web3 native workforce ready to build.”

Crypto bull market hasn’t loaded yet

With investors wondering whether Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins have already peaked, an industry panel told Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson that the best is yet to come. 

Cointelegraph Managing Editor Gareth Jenkinson, left, hosts a panel on crypto market conditions in Paris, France. Source: Cointelegraph

Speaking at a LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph panel in Paris, France, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said he believes the bull market “is actually getting started from this point.”

Drawing parallels between the recent market crash and the COVID-19 meltdown of March 2020, van de Poppe said the US Federal Reserve will eventually step in to backstop investors.

Fellow panelist and Messari CEO Eric Turner agreed, saying, “We never had a bull market,” but rather “two sides of the market” driven by Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the memecoin frenzy.

Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.

The US Federal Reserve is prepared to use its vast arsenal of monetary policy tools to prevent financial and economic conditions from deteriorating rapidly but will do so only if liquidity dries up or markets become disorderly, a top central banker said.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said the central bank “would absolutely be prepared” to backstop markets if needed.

Source: Walter Bloomberg

While it is generally understood that the Fed is always prepared to act quickly to stave off market chaos, Collins’ remarks come on the heels of asset selloffs across stocks and bonds, which have raised concerns about the health of the US financial system.

Overall, however, the Fed is “not seeing liquidity concerns,” said Collins. If that were to change, policymakers would have “tools to address concerns about markets functioning or liquidity,” she said.

The Fed’s Collins pictured in a December interview with Bloomberg. Source: Bloomberg Television

For investors, Collins’ comments may carry extra weight because she’s a voting member of this year’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the 12-person panel responsible for setting interest rates.

While Collins and her fellow FOMC members voted to keep interest rates steady at their March meeting, the biggest takeaway was the central bank’s easing off on quantitative tightening by reducing the redemption cap on Treasurys by 80%. 

Related: S&P 500 briefly sees ‘Bitcoin-level’ volatility amid Trump tariff war

The Fed moves markets

Federal Reserve policy exerts a gravitational pull on global markets through US dollar monetary liquidity, or the ease with which dollars can be used for investments and transactions. Liquidity has a major impact on digital asset prices, including Bitcoin (BTC). 

This was further corroborated by a 2024 academic paper by Kingston University of London professors Jinsha Zhao and J Miao, which concluded that dollar monetary liquidity “has [a] significant impact on Bitcoin price.”

The relationship strengthened after the COVID-19 pandemic, with liquidity conditions accounting for more than 65% of Bitcoin’s price movements.

“After the pandemic, [monetary liquidity] is the most important determinant of Bitcoin price, outperforming even fundamental measures of Bitcoin network,” the researchers said. 

Macro analyst Lyn Alden reached a similar conclusion when she called Bitcoin “a global liquidity barometer” in a September article. 

Alden drew attention to the relationship between Bitcoin’s price and global M2, or the broad measure of money supply across major global economies. 

Bitcoin trades in the same direction as global liquidity more than 83% of the time. Source: Lyn Alden

As Cointelegraph reported in early March, an increase in global liquidity and a rebounding business cycle have historically had strong predictive powers for Bitcoin’s price. Liquidity and business cycle trends suggest that BTC’s price could be poised for a recovery in the second quarter. 

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

Bitcoin (BTC) is entering what former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes calls “up only mode,” as a deepening crisis in the US bond market potentially drives investors away from traditional haven assets and toward alternative stores of value.

Loss of confidence in US policy boosts Bitcoin’s upside prospects

On April 11, the benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield surged above 4.59%—its highest level in two months.

US 10-year Treasury note yields daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

The $29 trillion US Treasury market has dropped more than 2% this week — its steepest decline since September 2019, when a liquidity crunch in the repo market forced the Federal Reserve to intervene.

US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff announcements and reversals have fueled the chaos. After threatening sweeping levies on global trading partners, Trump walked back many of the measures within days for certain countries, except China.

The US dollar added to the pressure, with its strength against a basket of top foreign currencies—as tracked by the US Dollar Index (DXY)—dropping below the 100 mark for the first time since 2022.

US Dollar Index daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

That further notched its worst weekly decline in over two years.

In contrast, Bitcoin rose by over 4.50% amid the US bond market rout, reaching around $83,250 on hopes that the weakening macroeconomic conditions will push US policymakers to act.

“It’s on like donkey kong,” wrote Hayes in his April 11 X post, adding:

“We will be getting more policy response this weekend if this keeps up. We are about to enter UP ONLY mode for $BTC.”

Furthermore, bond traders are now pricing in at least three rate cuts from the Federal Reserve by the end of the year, with a fourth becoming increasingly likely. Rate cuts have historically been bullish for Bitcoin.

Target rate probabilities for December Fed meeting. Source: CME

Bitcoin eyes ‘parabolic bull run’ due to weaker dollar

Historically, sharp drops in the US Dollar Index have preceded delayed but powerful Bitcoin bull runs, according to crypto analyst Venturefounder.

“A falling DXY has typically been a strong bullish signal for Bitcoin,” the analyst wrote on X, pointing to a clear bearish divergence on the chart.

DXY vs BTC/USD monthly price chart. Source: TradingView/Venturefounder

He added that if DXY continues to slide toward the 90 level, it could replicate conditions that led to parabolic BTC rallies during the final stages of previous bull markets — each lasting up to a year.

Additionally, Bollinger Bands creator John Bollinger offered a bullish outlook for Bitcoin, noting that the cryptocurrency is forming a familiar bottom at $80,000.

Related: Bitcoiners’ ‘bullish impulse’ on recession may be premature: 10x Research

Meanwhile, a maturing falling wedge pattern on the BTC price chart hints at a potential Bitcoin price rally toward $100,000, as Cointelegraph reported earlier.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Betting against Ether has been the best performing exchange traded fund (ETF) strategy so far in 2025, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.

Two ETFs designed to take two-times leveraged short positions in Ether claimed (ETH) first and second place in a Bloomberg Intelligence ranking of the year’s top-performing funds, Balchunas said in a post on the X platform.  

In the year-to-date, ProShares UltraShort Ether ETF (ETHD) and T Rex 2X Inverse Ether Daily Target ETF (ETQ) are up approximately 247% and 219%, respectively, Bloomberg Intelligence data showed. 

The implications for Ether are “brutal,” Balchunas said. Ether itself is down approximately 54% year-to-date on April 11, according to Cointelegraph’s market data.

Both ETFs use financial derivatives to inversely track Ether’s performance with twice as much volatility as the underlying cryptocurrency. Leveraged ETFs do not always perfectly track their underlying assets. 

Source: Eric Balchunas

Related: Ethereum fees poised for rebound amid L2, blob uptick

Weak revenue performance

With approximately $46 billion in total value locked (TVL), Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain network, according to data from DefiLlama. 

However, its native token performance has sputtered since March 2024, when Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade — designed to cut costs for users — slashed the network’s fee revenues by roughly 95%.

The upgrade kept the network’s revenues depressed, largely because of difficulties monetizing its layer-2 (L2) scaling chains, which host an increasingly large portion of transactions settled on Ethereum. 

“Ethereum’s future will revolve around how effectively it serves as a data availability engine for L2s,” arndxt, author of the Threading on the Edge newsletter, said in a March X post.

Ethereum’s TVL. Source: DeFiLlama

In the week ending March 30, Ethereum earned only 3.18 ETH from transactions on its layer-2 chains, such as Arbitrum and Base, according to data from Etherscan. 

To fully recover Ethereum’s peak fee revenues from before the Dencun upgrade, L2’s transaction volumes would need to increase more than 22,000-fold, according to an X post by Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report. 

Meanwhile, smart contract platforms — including Ethereum and Solana — suffered across-the-board declines in usage during the first quarter of 2025, asset manager VanEck said in an April report. 

The diminished activity reflects cooling market sentiment as traders brace for US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and a looming trade war.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set