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The Iranian government’s attempt to block the Telegram messaging application in the country has backfired, as users find ways to circumvent national firewalls and online controls, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov.“Iran banned Telegram years ago,” Durov said on Friday; however, tens of millions of users in the country have managed to access the application via virtual private networks (VPNs) and other similar tools, he added.VPNs route web traffic through servers distributed around the globe to mask the true Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of users and obscure their locations. This allows individuals with VPN access to bypass national online restrictions.…

Bitcoin BTC$67,126.87 tends to outperform traditional safe haven assets like gold in the two months following major global crises, according to new analysis from Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin.The study, led by Rony Szuster, head of research at the Latin American crypto platform, examined 60-day windows after economic or geopolitical shocks such as the COVID-19 outbreak and U.S. tariff escalations. Bitcoin posted stronger returns than both gold and the S&P 500 in each of the periods analyzed.In April last year, after the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs, the price of bitcoin jumped 24% over the following 60 days. Gold rose…

Together AI has rolled out Alibaba’s Wan 2.7 video generation model on its cloud platform, pricing the text-to-video capability at $0.10 per second of generated footage. The deployment marks the first major cloud availability for the four-model suite that Alibaba released in late March.The text-to-video model, accessible via the endpoint Wan-AI/wan2.7-t2v, supports 720p and 1080p resolution with outputs ranging from 2 to 15 seconds. Audio input can drive generation, and multi-shot narrative control works directly through prompt language—a meaningful upgrade over basic prompt-to-video systems that force creators into fragmented workflows.What’s Actually ShippingRight now, only text-to-video is live. Together AI says…

The Ethereum Foundation (EF), the non-profit organization that steers development of the Ethereum ecosystem, staked over 45,000 Ether (ETH) on Friday, bringing the total amount staked to about 69,500 ETH, less than 500 coins shy of the Foundation’s 70,000 goal.The EF staked the coins in a series of transactions, each consisting of 2,047 ETH, with the total amount staked on Friday valued at over $92.2 million, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.A portion of the ETH transfers from the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury to the Ethereum Beacon Deposit Contract for staking. Source: Arkham IntelligenceThe EF began staking ETH in February as…

Brokerage services giant Charles Schwab plans to roll out spot cryptocurrency trading in the first half of 2026, pushing it deeper into digital assets. “We remain on track to launch our spot crypto offer in the first half of 2026, starting with bitcoin BTC$66,849.18 and ether (ETH),” a company spokesperson told CoinDesk on Friday.The firm has opened a waitlist for clients seeking early access to what it calls a “Schwab Crypto” account, which will allow users to buy and sell the two largest cryptocurrencies. The firm will offer the service via Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB.The move builds on comments…

The New York Stock Exchange, DTCC, and Tradeweb aren’t experimenting with blockchain anymore. They’re building production systems on it.According to a16z’s Jason Rosenthal, what’s unfolding represents the most significant infrastructure upgrade in capital markets since electronic trading replaced floor traders in the 1990s. DTCC, which processed $3.7 quadrillion in transactions in 2024, received SEC authorization in December 2025 to tokenize real-world assets and is targeting production deployment for U.S. Treasury securities in the first half of 2026.The Migration TimelineNYSE announced in January 2026 a platform for 24/7 onchain trading and settlement of U.S. equities and ETFs. The system will support…

President Donald Trump’s renewed aggressive posturing toward Iran has pushed bitcoin lower by roughly 2% over the past 24 hours to $67,000. While this price action is consistent with routine volatility, beneath the surface, market structure looks fragile. This is mainly due to flows in the Deribit-listed options market, specifically, a build-up of defensive positioning just below current prices that could result in a slide all the way down to $50,000. A fragile setup below $68,000In recent weeks, traders have been loading up on put options offering downside protection. These defensive flows have been concentrated in put options at strike…

Ether (ETH) price may be at risk of a correction to new year-to-date lows, especially if the bulls fail to secure daily candle closes above the $2,150 to $2,400 range.Ether’s price action continues to be driven by US and global macroeconomic events, along with investors’ appetite for risk assets during the US and Israel-Iran war. As data shows more than $1 billion in futures-driven sell pressure, the chance of Ether falling below $1,800 rises.Ether’s main challenge sits at $2,400Repeat rejections near $2,150 continue to cap Ether rallies, and the level has acted as a strong resistance seven times over the…

LangChain dropped a significant product overhaul in March, rebranding its Agent Builder as LangSmith Fleet while simultaneously announcing an enterprise partnership with NVIDIA that positions the company squarely in the production AI agent space.The Fleet rebrand isn’t just cosmetic. The platform now includes agent identity management, sharing capabilities, and granular permissions—features enterprise customers have been demanding as they move from AI experiments to company-wide deployments. Think of it as fleet management for your AI workforce.What’s Actually NewThe standout addition is LangSmith Sandboxes, currently in private preview. These provide isolated environments where agents can execute code without access to production systems—a…

Welcome to our institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week:Nilmini Rubin on the challenge facing crypto and traditional markets to create a hybrid, shared governance structure.Meredith Fitzpatrick covers how financial institutions must fundamentally rethink AML risk as crypto and TradFi converge.Top headlines institutions should pay attention to by Francisco Rodrigues.Maple loans surge past $1 billion in Chart of the Week.-Alexandra LevisExpert InsightsGovernance is the real Layer 1By Nilmini Rubin, chief policy officer, HederaWhen Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 2023, USDC briefly lost its dollar peg after billions in reserves were trapped in the bank. The impact spread quickly, stalling…