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Panama's capital to accept crypto for taxes, municipal fees

Panama’s capital city will accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes and municipal fees, including bus tickets and permits, Panama City mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on April 15, joining a growing list of jurisdictions globally that have voted to accept such payments.

Panama City will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Circle’s USDC (USDC), and Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin for payment once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi posted on the X platform.

Mizrachi said previous administrations attempted to push through similar legislation but failed to overcome stipulations requiring the local government to accept funds denominated in US dollars.

In a translated statement, the Panama City mayor said that the local government partnered with a bank that will immediately convert any digital assets received into US dollars, allowing the municipality to accept crypto

Solana price is up 36% from its crypto market crash lows — Is $180 SOL the next stop?

Solana’s native token SOL (SOL) failed to maintain its bullish momentum after reaching the $134 level on April 14, but an assortment of data points suggest that the altcoin’s rally is not over. SOL price is currently 57% down from its all-time high, partially due to a sharp decline in its DApps activity, but some analysts cite the growth in deposits on the Solana network as a catalyst for sustained price upside in the short term.Blockchains ranked by total value locked, USD. Source: DefiLlama

Solana has established itself as the second-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), with $6.9 billion. After gaining 12% over the seven days ending April 16, Solana has pulled ahead of competitors such as Tron, Base, and Berachain. Positive signs include a 30% increase in deposits on Sanctum, a liquid staking application, and 20% growth on Jito and Jupiter.

Solana’s DEX volume surpasses

SEC's next roundtable to discuss crypto custody with insiders

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced industry insiders from Kraken, Exodus, Anchorage Digital, and others would be participating in its crypto task force’s roundtable discussion on custody.

In an April 16 notice, the SEC said commissioners Hester Peirce and Caroline Crenshaw, acting chair Mark Uyeda and crypto task force Chief of Staff Richard Gabbert will sit down with Mark Greenberg, crypto exchange Kraken’s vice president of consumer business and product, Anchorage Digital Bank’s Chief Risk Officer Rachel Anderika and Exodus Chief Legal Officer Veronica McGregor. Other representatives will include those from WisdomTree, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, and Fireblocks.

“It is important for the SEC to grapple with custody issues, which are some of the most challenging as we seek to integrate crypto assets into our regulatory structure,” said Peirce, who heads the SEC task force.

Notably, Uyeda was listed as acting chair of the commission at

Bitcoin rally to $86K shows investor confidence, but it’s too early to confirm a trend reversal

Bitcoin (BTC) remains under pressure as macroeconomic uncertainty continues to weigh on its price action. After making a strong bounce from the local bottom near $75,000 on April 7 and 9, analysts are beginning to question whether BTC could be gearing up for a reversal of the downward trend that’s persisted since the start of the year.BTC/USD 1-day, RSI 1-week. Source: Marie Poteriaieva, TradingView

For some, like the veteran trader Peter Brandt, this trendline is nothing but hopium. As he noted in his X post,

“Of all chart construction, trendlines are the LEAST significant. A trendline violation does NOT signify a transition of the BTC trend. Sorry.”

Others, however, see more reason for cautious optimism. Analyst Kevin Svenson highlighted a possible weekly RSI breakout, pointing out that “Once confirmed, weekly RSI breakout signals have proven to be among

Public mining firms sold over 40% of their BTC in March — Report

Publicly listed Bitcoin miners sold over 40% of the collective coins mined in March, representing the largest monthly BTC liquidation for mining firms since October 2024 and reversing the post-halving trend of accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) for a corporate treasury strategy, according to TheMinerMag, which screened data from 15 publicly traded mining companies.

The increased liquidations come amid widespread macroeconomic uncertainty in financial markets and the business sector, likely signaling that companies are selling their BTC to reduce shortfalls caused by the current economic climate.

Mining firms offloading BTC to cover operational expenses contributes to selling pressure on the cryptocurrency, which can result in a price volatility. According to CoinGlass, Bitcoin posted a 2.3% loss in March, following a 17.39% correction the previous month.

Fed's Powell reasserts support for stablecoin legislation

As digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea,” said US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

In an April 16 panel at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell commented on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which has delivered a consumer use case that “could have wide appeal” following a difficult “wave of failures and frauds,” he said.

Powell delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. Source: Bloomberg Television

During crypto’s difficult years, which culminated in 2022 and 2023 with several high-profile business failures, the Fed “worked with Congress to try to get a […] legal framework for stablecoins, which would have been a nice place to start,” said Powell. “We were not successful.”

“I think that the climate is changing and you’re moving into more mainstreaming of that whole sector, so Congress is again looking

Sam Bankman-Fried's latest California prison once housed Al Capone

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried has moved from a transit facility to a California prison that once housed infamous gangster Al Capone.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, officials moved Bankman-Fried from the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City briefly to the Federal Correctional Institution in Victorville before transferring him to a facility in Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. The federal institution was once home to criminals like former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh Balwani and Capone, who was convicted of tax evasion in 1931.

During his 2023 trial and following his conviction on seven felony counts in 2024, Bankman-Fried was housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. However, officials moved the former FTX CEO after he was the subject of an interview by right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson — an activity reportedly unsanctioned by authorities.

Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-token-surges-sam-bankman-fried-posts-first-time-in-2-years" rel="null" target="null"

Bitcoin US vs. offshore exchange ratio flashes bullish signal, hinting at BTC price highs in 2025

US-based crypto trading platforms regaining influence over Bitcoin’s (BTC) token transfer volumes could possibly kick-start a rally in the second half of 2025.

Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr pointed out that the “US vs. off-shore ratio,” which measures token transfer volumes between US-regulated and offshore exchanges, indicated a drop in dominance from US exchanges after BTC reached an all-time high in January.

Bitcoin total transferred ratio chart (US vs off-shore). Source: X.com

As illustrated in the chart, a trend reversal is underway, which implies BTC transfer volumes on US exchanges are beginning to rise again, aligning with previous bull market rallies.

A key technical indicator in the chart is the 90-day simple moving average (SMA) crossing above the 365-day SMA. Historically, this crossover has preceded major price rallies. For example, when this signal occurred at $60,000, Bitcoin began a rally

Auradine raises $153M, debuts business group for AI data centers

Auradine, a Silicon Valley-based startup that specializes in equipment for AI data centers and Bitcoin mining, has announced a raise of $153 million in a Series C funding round. The new capital will go to increasing the company’s product suite of infrastructure for AI and blockchain technology.

The Series C round was led by StepStone Group and included participation from Maverick Silicon, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, and others. Auradine said the round was oversubscribed but did not disclose by how much or at what valuation the funds were raised.

Along with the funding round, Auradine announced the launch of AuraLinks AI — its new business group dedicated to networking solutions targeting data centers’ energy and cooling costs.

According to Goldman Sachs, energy demand due to AI data centers is expected to rise 165% by 2030. Building a small-scale

Court grants 60-day pause of SEC, Ripple appeals case

An appellate court has granted a joint request from Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pause an appeal in a 2020 SEC case against Ripple amid settlement negotiations.

In an April 16 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the court approved a joint SEC-Ripple motion to hold the appeal in abeyance — temporarily pausing the case — for 60 days. As part of the order, the SEC is expected to file a status report by June 15.

April 16 order approving a motion to hold an appeal in abeyance. Source: PACER

The SEC’s case against Ripple and its executives, filed in December 2020, was expected to begin winding down after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced on March 19 that the commission would be dropping its appeal against the blockchain firm. A federal court found Ripple liable for $125 million