Author: James Wilson

China’s DeepSeek is making waves again by claiming its new V4 models are now just months away from catching up to industry leaders like OpenAI and Google. Summary DeepSeek launched V4-Pro and V4-Flash preview models, claiming performance just 3 to 6 months behind leading systems from OpenAI and Google. The open-source V4-Pro leads rival open models in maths and coding benchmarks, while V4-Flash offers similar reasoning with faster speeds and lower cost. The rollout follows the impact of DeepSeek-R1 and comes amid rising regulatory scrutiny and a narrowing US-China AI performance gap, according to the Stanford AI Index 2026 report.…

Fold Holdings has rolled out a Bitcoin-based bonus program for employees, expanding its push to bring BTC into everyday workplace compensation. Summary Fold has introduced a Bitcoin bonus program that lets companies distribute recurring BTC rewards without handling custody or compliance. Steak ‘n Shake has rolled out the program to more than 10,000 hourly workers, contributing $0.21 per hour into bonuses that vest after two years. Fold said the new offering, launched under its enterprise arm Fold Business, allows companies to distribute recurring bonuses in Bitcoin without handling custody or compliance requirements themselves. “We launched our Bitcoin Bonus Program because…

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed plans to attend a private gala for top holders of his TRUMP memecoin at Mar-a-Lago, following earlier uncertainty around his participation. Summary Trump has confirmed he will attend and deliver a keynote at a Mar-a-Lago gala for top TRUMP memecoin holders. Entry is limited to the top 297 wallets, with a private reception reserved for the top 29 investors. According to Reuters, the White House said Trump will deliver a keynote address at the luncheon hosted by the team behind the Official Trump token, settling questions raised earlier this month over whether the event…

Succinct Labs has launched ZCAM, an iPhone camera app built to verify photos and videos at the moment of capture.  Summary Succinct Labs launched ZCAM to verify iPhone photos and videos at the moment of capture. The app creates cryptographic fingerprints that help prove media came from a real device. ZCAM targets rising AI fake risks as fraud losses tied to generative AI continue growing. The app uses cryptography to create a record linked to the device that captured the media. The company said ZCAM “signs photos and videos at the moment of capture, producing a tamper-proof record that links…

Pi Network has set a hard deadline of April 27 for all Mainnet node operators to upgrade to Protocol 22, warning that any node still running version 21.2 after the cutoff will be automatically disconnected from the network. Summary Pi Network issued a mandatory Protocol 22 upgrade deadline of April 27 for all Mainnet nodes, with non-compliant nodes to be automatically disconnected. The upgrade is described as a critical infrastructure step preparing the network for full smart contract functionality, expected under Protocol 23 in May 2026. PI traded at approximately $0.1687 on April 23 with an $1.73 billion market cap,…

Senator Bernie Moreno declared at a Washington event on April 22 that the CLARITY Act must clear Congress by the end of May, stating plainly that missing that deadline could shelve the legislation indefinitely as midterm election politics consume the remainder of the congressional calendar. Summary Senator Bernie Moreno set an end-of-May deadline for the CLARITY Act at a DC event on April 22, 2026, warning that failure to meet it could permanently delay the bill. Moreno’s statement pushed Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 from 38% to 46%, but Galaxy Research still puts chances at roughly…

Ethereum opened at $2,375.12 on Thursday April 23, 2026, rising 2% from Wednesday’s open as Bitcoin led a broad morning rally past $78,000, though ETH pulled back to $2,316.88 by 7:10 a.m. ET as traders remained cautious over the lack of progress in Iran peace talks and continued US naval activity near the Strait of Hormuz. Summary Ethereum opened at $2,375.12 on April 23, 2026, up approximately 2% from Wednesday’s opening price, tracking Bitcoin’s move above $78,000 for the first time since early February. ETH pulled back to $2,316.88 by 7:10 a.m. ET as traders weighed stalled Iran ceasefire talks…

GraniteShares has delayed the launch of its 3x Long and 3x Short XRP Daily ETFs from April 23 to May 7, marking the fifth postponement in three weeks and raising fresh questions about whether the SEC will ultimately clear 3x leveraged crypto products under the framework it applied to reject similar products from ProShares in December 2025. Summary GraniteShares delayed its 3x Long and 3x Short XRP Daily ETFs from April 23 to May 7 using Rule 485, which allows issuers to shift effective dates without restarting the SEC review process. The delay is the fifth since the original April…

Deloitte and Touche LLP has completed a SOC 2 Type 2 examination for Chainlink’s CCIP and Data Feeds, making Chainlink the only data and interoperability oracle platform in the blockchain industry to hold SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 1, and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certifications simultaneously, the full stack of security credentials that institutional risk teams require before deployment. Summary Deloitte and Touche LLP completed a SOC 2 Type 2 examination for Chainlink CCIP and Data Feeds on April 21, 2026, announced by Chainlink via X on April 21. The certification covers Chainlink Price Feeds, SmartData feeds including Proof of…

Galaxy Digital head of firmwide research Alex Thorn has assessed the CLARITY Act’s chances of being signed into law in 2026 at roughly 50-50, and possibly lower, in a research note being published this week, warning that the bill faces more unresolved questions than most of Washington appreciates and that time pressure is now its biggest enemy. Summary Galaxy Research puts the CLARITY Act’s odds of becoming law in 2026 at approximately 50-50 or lower, with Thorn warning that a markup slipping past mid-May would drop chances sharply. Polymarket traders are pricing the bill’s passage at approximately 43%, down from…