Today is Hal Finney's birthday – a person without whom Bitcoin would not exist.

Today Hal Finney would have turned 68, a man who played a crucial role in the history of Bitcoin.

Being a well-known cryptographer even before the emergence of Bitcoin, Finney joined the cypherpunk movement and supported the cryptocurrency in its early stages.

Not only did he receive the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto, but he is also, according to one theory, potentially the creator of Bitcoin himself.

🚀 Ex-Starknet and Yuga Labs Execs Join Kraken-backed $100M L1 Nibiru Chain: Expanding the Asian Frontier

✔️ Cultivating a Local Presence
Nibiru Chain, the ambitious $100 million Layer 1 blockchain supported by HashKey and Kraken Ventures, is setting its sights on Asia. With the goal of local brand presence and adoption, Nibiru has brought on board two heavyweights from the industry: Yura Nam, former head of StarkNet Asia, and Nicholas Lo, previously with Bored Ape Yacht Club's Yuga Labs.

🌐 Targeting Key Asian Markets
The expansion strategy is clear: Nibiru aims to make waves in Korea, Japan, India, Southeast Asia (SEA), and Chinese-speaking countries. To achieve this, they're not just relying on their new hires but also planning to recruit local community leads in each country. The team already boasts connections with major players in the region.

🤝 Forging Partnerships and Engaging Developers
Navigating the intricacies of local markets requires finesse. That's where Lo comes in as Asia Business Development lead. With a background in finance and experience expanding exchanges, he'll be building relationships with protocols, gaming companies, financial institutions, and more. Meanwhile, Nam's expertise in partnerships and event planning will help drive Nibiru's growth initiatives.

📈 From Go-to-Market to Exposure
COO Jonathan Chang is confident that these strategic hires will bring valuable insights and execution capabilities to Nibiru's table. Their focus will be on everything from go-to-market strategies to media exposure in gaming, DeFi, NFTs, and real-world assets (RWAs). As Nibiru charts its course across Asia's blockchain landscape, it seems they've found the right crew to steer the ship.

Bitcoin Responds with Growth to U.S. Unemployment Data

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to 3.9% compared to 3.8% in the previous month. The total number of unemployed now stands at 6.49 million.

Experts believe that the unemployment data may reinforce the notion of a potential "soft landing" for the economy, alleviating concerns about an excessive slowdown in the labor market.

Markets are now expecting two rate cuts of 25 basis points each in 2024. Previously, only one rate cut was anticipated.

Amid news of rising unemployment in the U.S., Bitcoin's price surged above $63,000.

🪂 DropsTab: Top 15 Projects by Total Value Locked (TVL) with Upcoming Airdrops

Top 10 Crypto News In The Last 24 Hours 🚀

1️⃣ 💰 Bitcoin is back above $63K, stocks rally on cooler jobs data.

2️⃣ 💰 Eigen Foundation to distribute extra $1,000 in EIGEN to all token holders, following airdrop backlash.

3️⃣ 💰 $USDT Stablecoin Supply on $TON Blockchain Hits 130 Million in 2 Weeks.

4️⃣ 🐋 Biggest Friend.tech whale dumps tokens as users struggle to claim airdrop.

5️⃣ ‼️ $2,400,000,000 worth of Bitcoin & Ethereum options expire today.

6️⃣ 🇮🇷 Iran is mining Bitcoin and may have earned up to $1 BILLION $BTC in 2021 alone, according to US senator Elizabeth "Karen" Warren.

7️⃣ 🇺🇸 SEC delays decision on 7RCC’s eco-friendly spot Bitcoin ETF.

8️⃣ 🇷🇺 Russian cryptocurrency exchange Beribit faces fraud allegations after refusing to refund customers' money.

9️⃣ 🇭🇰 Hong Kong asset manager Yong Rong just reported owning $38m of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF.

🔟 🇳🇱 Netherlands seized assets worth 11.4 million euros, including various cryptocurrencies, in the ZKasino scam.

⚡️ Indications of an upcoming Notcoin listing:

▪️ Alexander's Notcoin wallet has been topped up with 100 billion NOT.

▪️ Additionally, a "smart NOT" has appeared on GitHub.

There is speculation that the listing might occur on Easter, May 5, 2024. This is connected with the phrase "follow the white rabbit" found in the bot, as the rabbit is a known symbol of Easter.

📌 Top blockchains by number of active addresses in April.

Tron — 54.7 million;
NEAR Protocol — 53.8 million;
BNB — 35.5 million;
Solana — 35.2 million;
Polygon — 33.6 million;
Ethereum — 12 million;
Base — 10.7 million;
zkSync Era — 9.8 million;
Arbitrum — 9.3 million;
Linea — 5.6 million.

☁️ Active addresses indicate the number of participants involved in the network's operations. The higher the number, the better, as it demonstrates the popularity of a particular platform.

📊 Bitcoin just hit $64000 $BTC

💬 The Wolf of Wall Street

Scott Melker, known as "The Wolf of Wall Street":
The same attacks on cryptocurrency by the U.S. government "will ultimately come to Bitcoin," regardless of whether it is classified as a commodity.
Melker suggests that the U.S. government 🇺🇸 is steering Americans towards investing in regulated offerings, such as SEC-approved BTC ETFs, rather than owning Bitcoin directly. 🙄

🪙 The inflow into US Bitcoin ETFs has resumed, and yesterday it reached $378 million. It's also worth noting that Grayscale recorded its first inflow of funds into their Bitcoin ETF ($63 million) since its launch.

📈 Consequently, Bitcoin's price surged to $63,000. $BTC

No matter what the market locally paints, no matter how much the news, loud headlines, and grim forecasts may scare us, there's one thing you need to know. ⬇️

The game is now taking a very serious turn:

1) Financial institutions are entering the game. ⚖️

2) Pension funds are looking towards Bitcoin. ⏳

3) More and more large companies are starting to buy Bitcoin with a portion of their net profits. 📊

4) More large-scale companies are entering the mining business. 👁️

However, the masses will be manipulated just as they have been in the past. People who are casual about their finances make up 99% of the market—not just in crypto. Be smarter, be visionary, be bolder. 🤝

That's all you need to know. 👌

Market Data as of May 4, 2024

🟦 Current Bitcoin Price — $63,074 (+6.46%)
🟨 Current Ethereum Price — $3,106 (+4.48%)

❇️ BTC Dominance Index — 54.80%
❇️ S&P 500 Index — $5,134
❇️ Fear and Greed Index — 67 (Greed)

🌐 Total Market Cap — $2.268 trillion
🌐 Altcoin Market Cap — $1.025 trillion

📈 Top-100 Crypto Gainers:
1. WIF — $3.31 (+19.3%)
2. FLOKI — $0.000194 (+18.1%)
3. STX — $2.41 (+16%)

📉 Top-100 Crypto Losers:
1. HNT — $5.39 (-2%)
2. LEO — $5.82 (-1.2%)
3. SUI — $1.09 (-0.7%)

❗️ BitMEX Co-founder Predicts Bitcoin to Reach $70,000

👤 Yesterday, Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX, shared his expectations for the price of bitcoin. He believes that $BTC will return to $60,000 (which has already happened), and then stabilize at $70,000 by August.

💬 He thinks that the gradual addition of billions of dollars in liquidity each month will soften future price volatility, changing the common seasonal market mindset ("sell in May and go away").

🔍 Hayes noted that recent decisions by the Federal Reserve, specifically the reduction of quantitative tightening (QT) and the increase in debt issuance, are actually forms of "stealth money printing," which will inject liquidity into the market, leading to a gradual increase in bitcoin prices.

🙏 Arthur, we hope you're right. 😁

#BitMEX #ArthurHayes #Fed #FRS #BTC

❗️ Suspect Arrested in ZKasino Fraud Case in the Netherlands

🇳🇱 On April 29th, the Netherlands Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested a 26-year-old suspect involved in ZKasino, accused of fraud, theft, and money laundering.

💰 Dutch authorities confiscated cryptocurrencies, real estate, and luxury cars valued at over $12.2 million.

🗓 Reminder: In April, ZKasino defrauded its users of $33 million.

#ZKasino #ZKAS #ETH #scam #TheNetherlands

❗️ Block to Invest 10% of Its Profit into BTC Monthly

🏢 Block has announced that it will invest 10% of its gross profit into $BTC every month.

ℹ️ Block (formerly known as Square, Inc. until December 1, 2021) is an American technology company focused on creating solutions for accepting and processing electronic payments. Founded by Jack Dorsey (co-founder and former CEO of Twitter) and Jim McKelvey in February 2009, by the end of 2023, the company had nearly $22 billion in revenue and approximately 13,000 employees.

🗣 "The world needs an open financial protocol that is not owned or controlled by any single entity. We believe bitcoin is the best and only candidate to become such a protocol, and ultimately the main currency of the internet," stated Dorsey.

💰 The company also mentioned that its initial investment of $220 million in bitcoin has grown approximately 160% to $573 million.

#Block #JackDorsey #BTC #Bitcoin #Square

❗️ Pantera Capital Invests in TON

🏢 Crypto-focused asset management company Pantera Capital has invested in the blockchain platform The Open Network (TON). The amount raised has not been disclosed.

💬 The company believes that TON has the potential for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies due to its connection with Telegram's vast user base.

✅ The current price of $TON is $5.48.

#TheOpenNetwork #PanteraCapital #TON

❗️ Tether Announces Partnership with Chainalysis

🏢 Tether has announced a partnership with the blockchain data platform Chainalysis to develop a customized solution for monitoring transactions of its stablecoin USDT in the secondary market.

🔍 The new system includes tools for checking lists of addresses and transactions involving entities under sanctions, classifying USDT holders by types, including exchanges and darknet markets.

💼 Additionally, the new solution also includes analysis of the largest wallets for a detailed examination of major USDT holders and their activities, as well as analysis of illicit transfers to identify transactions related to terrorism.

🗣 "Tether remains steadfast in our commitment to uphold the highest standards of integrity, and this partnership enhances our proactive approach to protecting our ecosystem from illegal activities," stated Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

😐 It seems that the number of AML blockages will soon significantly increase.

#Tether #USDT #PaoloArdoino #Chainalysis

🆒 Another crypto user lost $68 million (1155 WBTC) due to an address swap.

A dusting attack—a type of fraud where attackers send small amounts from addresses that look similar to the victim's, usually with the same beginning and ending. This attack targets inattentive crypto users who copy the attacker’s address without fully checking it and send tokens to it.

According to analysts, this attack is the largest in the history of this scheme.

🕯 Bitcoin's volatility has reached a historic low.

Analysts at Fidelity have stated that this trend will continue as Bitcoin becomes a more mature asset.

Currently, investments in BTC are subject to lower risks compared to investments in Netflix stocks and those of 32 other global companies.

🥇 Bitcoin ranked second in ten-year growth among the stocks of the largest technology companies.