Uncategorized
De-banking Deserves Urgent Attention
Until last week, the issue of de-banking remained largely an open secret, something known primarily to insiders like myself. As I work to protect people and entities affected by de-banking both in the U.S. and globally, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating economic and social impact this has had on businesspeople, nonprofit organizations and “politically exposed persons.”
This situation changed as millions of people became familiar with the concept of de-banking after venture capitalist Marc Andreessen <a href=»https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRj9pIITwEU» target=»_blank»>appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast</a>. Andreessen discussed the exclusion of politically disfavored individuals and entities from the financial system, focusing specifically on the crypto-assets industry.
His remarks triggered a wave of responses, drawing attention to the broader issue of de-banking in the tech and cryptocurrency sectors. Prominent figures like the <a href=»https://x.com/tyler/status/1862860178577563944″ target=»_blank»>Winklevoss brothers</a>, known for their contributions to cryptocurrency exchange development, voiced their frustrations. <a href=»https://x.com/davidmarcus/status/1862654506774810641″ target=»_blank»>David Marcus</a>, former leader of Facebook’s Libra/Diem project, commented on how the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen allegedly pressured Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to dissuade banks from supporting the project (which was started by Facebook). Similarly, <a href=»https://x.com/Nneuman/status/1862899117019566262″ target=»_blank»>Nick Neuman</a>, CEO of Casa, recounted his experience of being de-banked by Silicon Valley Bank. His company, which offers self-custodial services, faced rejection from nearly 50 banks before finally securing a partnership with one institution.
In her recently published memoir, former First Lady Melania Trump revealed that a bank abruptly terminated her long-standing financial relationship, and her son Barron was blocked from opening a new account at the same institution. While the bank’s name remains undisclosed, the incident highlights the arbitrary and opaque nature of such decisions.
People and entities are being “de-banked” at an alarming rate, meaning their access to financial services is being terminated either by direct political pressures, the weaponization of regulations, or simply as an unintended consequence of other regulations.
De-banking is economically isolating not only entrepreneurs in the crypto-assets sector but also a wide range of communities, including international businesses, humanitarian organizations, public individuals, human rights activists, businesses deemed as unethical, and legal immigrants.
I began working on this policy issue in the spring of 2023. While researching sanctions policy, I discovered that malicious political actors around the world were exploiting the financial system to repress their opponents, both domestically and globally. In Nicaragua, for example, activists like <a href=»https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/how-dictators-use-financial-repression-against-their-opponents/» target=»_blank»>Felix Maradiaga</a> have argued that the government has abused the financial system to terminate bank accounts and strip the assets of activists, non-profit organizations, and even the Church.
This understudies policy issue sparked my interest, prompting me to delve deeper into this completely understudied policy issue. I spoke with numerous dissidents in exile, human rights defenders, and businesspeople who had been targeted in this manner. They shared how their bank accounts were arbitrarily closed, assets frozen, and private financial information weaponized against them.
Malicious political and business actors de-bank people and entities by abusing Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) regulations. For instance, they orchestrate targeted disinformation campaigns to falsely accuse individuals or organizations of money laundering or financing terrorism. Amplified through state-controlled media, these accusations feed into automated compliance systems used by financial institutions. Once flagged, the targeted accounts are often closed or denied access to services to avoid regulatory penalties — irrespective of the credibility of the claims. This has been the case of activists like <a href=»https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RniCVb99mM8″ target=»_blank»>Lyudmyla Kozlovska</a>, President of the Open Dialogue Foundation.
Moreover, malicious political actors exploit the global trust placed in Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), which serve as clearinghouses for financial data under AML/CFT frameworks. AML/CFT regulations require FIUs to exchange sensitive financial data with international counterparts to combat crime. However, in authoritarian regimes, FIUs often operate as tools of state repression, granting governments access to dissidents’ financial records, transaction histories, and personal details. This sensitive information is weaponized to intimidate, harass, and undermine critics both domestically and abroad.
De-banking and vulnerable groups
Beyond their deliberate weaponization, the misuse of AML/CFT laws frequently yields unintended consequences that disproportionately impact vulnerable groups, such as immigrants. Financial institutions in the U.S. often classify individuals from certain regions as “high risk,” as their countries of origin are labeled as “high-risk jurisdictions” by financial institutions. This classification triggers enhanced compliance measures, requiring additional documentation, background checks, and ongoing monitoring for these individuals to access financial services.
For immigrants, this creates barriers to entry into the financial system. Many face exorbitant costs and excessive scrutiny, discouraging financial institutions from onboarding them as clients. This “de-risking” practice, where banks terminate or deny services to perceived high-risk clients to minimize compliance burdens, often leaves immigrants without access to even basic banking services such as savings accounts or payment systems. Without these services, immigrants struggle to integrate into their host countries’ economies, send remittances to their families, or establish credit histories, perpetuating cycles of financial and social exclusion.
The Need for Awareness and Action
The rise of de-banking as a political weapon is a wake-up call for all of us to act. Silence only perpetuates these injustices. If we do not act now, the financial system risks becoming a privilege reserved for the few — a battleground for partisan agendas — rather than a neutral platform designed to empower individuals, safeguard their savings, and facilitate economic activity.
We need to continue raising awareness about this crisis and fight for a “Right to Banking.” This right must transcend nationality, political beliefs, or economic status, ensuring that no one is arbitrarily excluded from participating in the global economy. Guaranteeing this access is not only an economic necessity but a moral imperative, foundational to modern citizenship and human dignity. We also ought to protect new financial solutions in the crypto-assets space, as they are key to advancing financial inclusion globally — thanks to their permissionless nature and decentralized structure.
To achieve this, we must demand structural reforms that address the flaws in AML/CFT regulations. These laws must include safeguards to prevent their misuse as tools for political repression or financial exclusion, as well as clear remedies for victims of debanking. Structural reforms are essential to ensure that neither autocratic politicians nor malicious private sector actors can weaponize the financial system.
Let’s work together, policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society, to build momentum for reforms that preserve the financial system’s integrity, including the protection of the crypto-assets sector. Together, we must ensure that the financial system (traditional and modern financial instruments) remains an inclusive and well-functioning pillar of our market economy.
Strategy (MSTR) has added 6,556 bitcoin (BTC) to its balance sheet, spending $555.8 million in the process, according to a regulatory filing published on Monday.
The purchase was funded using proceeds from the company’s two at-the-market (ATM) stock offering programs, the filings notes.
The firm, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, sold 1.76 million shares of its Class A common stock and over 91,000 shares of a preferred stock series — STRK — between April 14 and April 20.
The common stock sale brought in $547.7 million, while the preferred shares added another $7.8 million. The latest acquisition boosts Strategy’s total holdings to 538,200 BTC, purchased at an average price of $67,766 per coin.
The Michael Saylor-led company has spent $36.47 billion on bitcoin to date. Shares of MSTR are up 2.77% in pre-market trading as BTC rose to $87,300.
Uncategorized
Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Breakout Lifts AI, Memecoins, Underscores Hedge Value
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Bitcoin’s censorship-resistant, decentralized setup empowers individuals by facilitating peer-to-peer transactions without government interference or corporate control.
You’ve probably heard that from a Bitcoin maxi many times.
It’s an idea that resonates even more strongly today in light of reports that President Donald Trump is exploring ways to remove Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, which is the world’s most powerful central bank.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett talked about Trump’s intentions Friday and markets responded early Monday by selling the dollar and the U.S. stock futures. The Dollar Index, which tracks the currency’s exchange rate against major fiat currencies, slipped to a three-year low of 98.00 while gold touched new highs above $3,400 per ounce.
Bitcoin rose past $87,000, confirming a bullish breakout from its recent sideways trading between $83,000 and $86,000 to suggest more gains ahead. The uptick saw gaming, AI and memecoins outshine other sectors of the crypto market, with smaller tokens like ENJ and MAGIC chalking out gains in excess of 50% in 24 hours. MANTRA still tanked 15%.
«A weaker dollar could draw renewed attention from American investors, highlighting bitcoin’s potential as a hedge against declining dollar value,» said Matrixport, a crypto financial services platform.
On-chain data warned of heightened volatility as prices potentially near the $90,000 mark. «Cost‑basis clusters show little overhead supply below that range, implying the market could advance quickly before a larger tranche of holders reaches break‑even and begins taking profit,» analytics firm IntoTheBlock said in a Telegram post.
In other news, Charles Shwab CEO Rick Wurster said the financial services firm is “hopeful and likely to be able” to support spot crypto trading within the next year. Wurster said that more and more clients are seeking information about crypto.
Slovenia’s Finance Ministry proposed a 25% tax on capital gains on profits from selling cryptocurrencies for fiat or spending tokens for goods and services. The tax is proposed to go into effect from 2026.
Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, proposed replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, an open-source instruction set architecture used to develop custom processors for a variety of applications. Buterin said the proposal address one of Ethereum’s key scaling bottlenecks by dramatically improving the efficiency and simplicity of smart contract execution.
Speaking of Ethereum, it briefly fell behind its chief rival, Solana network in terms of the total staked value of their respective native tokens, ETH and SOL. Uniswap founder Hayden Adam warned that Ethereum could fall behind Solana if it goes back to relying on the layer 1 bockchain instead of the layer-2 scaling products.
In macro news, China said it will retaliate against countries that work with U.S. to isolate Beijing in the trade war started by Trump. Stay alert!
What to Watch
- Crypto:
- April 21: Coinbase Derivatives will list XRP futures pending approval by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- April 25, 1 p.m.: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force Roundtable on «Key Considerations for Crypto Custody«.
- April 29, 1:05 a.m.: BNB Chain (BNB) — BSC mainnet hardfork.
- April 30, 9:30 a.m.: ProShares expects its XRP ETF, offering exposure through futures and swap agreements, to begin trading on NYSE Arca.
- April 30, 10:03 a.m.: Gnosis Chain (GNO), an Ethereum sister chain, will activate the Pectra hard fork on its mainnet at slot 21,405,696, epoch 1,337,856.
- Macro
- April 21-26: World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings take place in Washington.
- April 22, 8:30 p.m.: Statistics Canada releases March producer price inflation data.
- PPI MoM Prev. 0.4%
- PPI YoY Prev. 4.9%
- April 22, 6 p.m.: Fed Governor Adriana D. Kugler will deliver a speech titled «Transmission of Monetary Policy.»
- April 23, 8 a.m.: Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography releases retail sales data.
- Retail Sales MoM Prev. 0.6%
- Retail Sales YoY Prev. 2.7%
- April 23, 9:45 a.m.: S&P Global releases (flash) U.S. April purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data.
- Composite PMI Prev. 53.5
- Manufacturing PMI Prev. 50.2
- Services PMI Est. 52.9 vs. Prev. 54.4
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
Token Events
- Governance votes & calls
- Aave DAO is discussing working with Ether.fi to create a custom Aave market on EVM layer 2 to “facilitate on-chain credit for everyday payments through the Ether.fi Cash credit card program.”
- April 23, 9 p.m.: Manta Network to host a townhall meeting with its founders.
- April 24, 8 a.m.: Alchemy Pay to host an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on its 2025 roadmap.
- April 30, 12 p.m.: Helium to host a community call meeting.
- Unlocks
- April 22: Metars Genesis (MRS) to unlock 11.87% of its circulating supply worth $127.9 million.
- April 30: Optimism (OP) to unlock 1.89% of its circulating supply worth $22.78 million.
- May 1: Sui (SUI) to unlock 2.28% of its circulating supply worth $167.97 million.
- May 1: ZetaChain (ZETA) to unlock 5.67% of its circulating supply worth $10.57 million.
- May 2: Ethena (ENA) to unlock 0.73% of its circulating supply worth $12.12 million.
- Token Launches
- April 21: Balance (EPT) to be listed on Bitget Bybit, KuCoin, Gate.io, LBank, MEXC, BingX.
- April 22: Hyperlane to airdrop its HYPER tokens.
- April 22: BNB to be listed on Kraken.
Conferences:
- CoinDesk’s Consensus is taking place in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.
- April 22-24: Money20/20 Asia (Bangkok)
- April 23: Crypto Horizons 2025 (Dubai)
- April 23-24: Blockchain Forum 2025 (Moscow)
- April 24: Bitwise’s Investor Day for Bitcoin Standard Corporations (New York)
- April 26: Crypto Vision Conference 2025 (Manilla)
- April 26-27: Harvard Blockchain in Action Conference (Cambridge, Mass.)
- April 27: N Crypto Conference 2025 (Kyiv)
- April 27-30: Web Summit Rio 2025
- April 28-29: Blockchain Disrupt 2025 (Dubai)
- April 28-29: Staking Summit Dubai
- April 29: El Salvador Digital Assets Summit 2025 (San Salvador)
- April 29: IFGS 2025 (London)
Token Talk
By Shaurya Malwa
- Bitget, a centralized crypto exchange, will reverse trades and compensate users due to «abnormal trading» in its perpetual futures market for VOXEL, a token linked to the Polygon-based RPG game Voxie Tactics.
- Early Sunday, VOXEL’s trading volume surged past bitcoin’s 24-hour volume — with the token’s value surging over 300% in a week — despite being only the 723rd-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
- An X user claimed six-figure profits from a sub-$100 investment, attributing the surge to a potential bug in Bitget’s market-making robot,. The trade rollback will likely erase these gains.
- Bitget’s investigation revealed possible market manipulation by certain accounts, prompting the exchange to activate its risk-control system and plan a trade rollback within 24 hours.
- Affected users who incurred losses will receive compensation, and Bitget is continuing its investigation.
Derivatives Positioning
- The market-wide futures open interest has climbed to $37.22 billion, the highest since March 24, according to Velo Data. The figure represents open interest in all coins listed on Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit and Hyperliquid.
- ETH is the best performing major token in terms of futures open interest growth, followed by BTC and LINK.
- Speaking of OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta, ETH also leads the pack with the highest positive reading, implying an influx of buying pressure in the market.
- On Deribit, BTC and ETH risk reversals for short- and near-dated expiries have flattened out, recovering from the recent persistent negative prints that represented bias for protective put options.
Market Movements:
- BTC is up 3.19% from 4 p.m. ET Sunday at $87,270.44 (24hrs: +3.63%)
- ETH is up 2.54% at $1,631.90 (24hrs: +3.17%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 0.8% at 2,268.01 (24hrs: +3.77%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 47 bps at 2.47%
- BTC funding rate is at 0.0044% (4.776% annualized) on Binance
- DXY is down 1.11% at 98.26
- Gold is up 2.04% at $3,395.65/oz
- Silver is up 1.12% at $32.89/oz
- Nikkei 225 closed -1.3% at 34,279.92
- Hang Seng closed +1.61% at 21,395.14
- FTSE is closed at 8,275.66
- Euro Stoxx 50 is closed at 4,935.34
- DJIA closed on Thursday -1.33% at 39,142.23
- S&P 500 closed +0.13% at 5,282.70
- Nasdaq closed -0.13% at 16,286.45
- S&P/TSX Composite Index closed +0.36% at 24,192.81
- S&P 40 Latin America closed +1.64% at 2,383.75
- U.S. 10-year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.33%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 1.04% at 5,275.00
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 1.16% at 18,168.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.92% at 38,969
Bitcoin Stats:
- BTC Dominance: 64% (0.23%)
- Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.1873 (0.54%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 858 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $45.22
- Total Fees: 5.48 BTC / $479,045
- CME Futures Open Interest: 141,280 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 25.7 oz
- BTC vs gold market cap: 7.2%
Technical Analysis
- Bitcoin’s breakout has set the stage for a continued move higher to $90,000.
- However, trading volume has dipped, suggesting low participation in the price recovery.
- A low-volume rally often ends up being short-lived.
Crypto Equities
- Strategy (MSTR): closed on Thursday at $317.20 (1.78%), up 3.13% at $327.12 in pre-market
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $175.03 (1.64%) up 1.4% at $177.49
- Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$15.36 (-1.41%)
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $12.66 (2.76%), up 2.69% at $13.00
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $6.46 (1.57%), up 2.63% at $6.63
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $6.63 (0.61%), down 0.45% at $6.60
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $7.51 (3.16%), up 1.86% at $7.65
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $12.04 (1.09%), up 2.41% at $12.33
- Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $32.49 (4.79%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $36.58 (-1.64%), up 2.1% at $37.35
ETF Flows
U.S. equity markets were closed on Friday.
Overnight Flows
Chart of the Day
- XRP’s short- and near-dated risk reversals continue to be priced negative, a sign of persistent demand for put options, which offer downside protection.
While You Were Sleeping
- Pope Francis, Voice for the Poor Who Transformed the Catholic Church, Dies at 88 (CNN): The first Latin American pope died weeks after returning to public life following a life-threatening case of pneumonia.
- China Vows Retaliation Against Countries That Follow U.S. Calls to Isolate Beijing (CNBC): China said it will respond to U.S. tariff deals that undermine its interests, accusing Washington of «unilateral bullying» and warning it risks returning global trade to «law of the jungle.»
- BNB, SOL, XRP Spike Higher as Bitcoin ‘Digital Gold’ Narrative Makes a Comeback (CoinDesk): Bitcoin’s correlation with U.S. equities appears to be weakening as its price increasingly tracks gold, which has held firm while stocks decline, according to LVRG Research’s Nick Ruck.
- Stablecoin Giant Circle Is Launching a New Payments and Remittance Network (CoinDesk): The fintech firm will unveil a new payments and cross-border remittance product on Tuesday.
- Over $380M Worth of Crypto Stolen During Bybit’s $1.4B Hack Has Gone Dark (CoinDesk): The exchange’s CEO said that 27.6% of the funds stolen by the North Korean Lazarus Group «flowed into mixers then through bridges to P2P and OTC platforms.»
- Bitcoin’s Breakout Signals BTC Potentially Rallying to $90K-$92K: Technical Analysis (CoinDesk): Bitcoin’s price surged past $87,000, breaking out of a week-long consolidation between $83,000 and $86,000. The target range previously served as a strong support zone.
In the Ether
This is a daily technical analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent range play resolved bullishly early Monday, shifting focus to the $90,000-$92,000 range, which was previously a strong support zone.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value rose past $87,000, convincingly breaking out of a week-long consolidation between $83,000 and $86,000. The renewed willingness among the bulls to lead the price action indicates the resumption of the recovery from the April 7 lows under $75,000.
It also means potential for a continued move higher to the $90,000-$92,000 range, which acted as the floor, arresting price drops from December to early February. The support zone was eventually breached in late February, spurring a rapid decline to under $75,000.
The range breakout is seen on the hourly chart (left).
It follows the recent invalidation of the bearish trendline, characterizing the sell-off from record highs, as seen on the daily chart. BTC has also surpassed the 30-day exponential moving average (EMA) of price highs, indicating a bullish shift in momentum.
The focus, therefore, is on the $90,000-$92,000 range, the former support zone from early this year. Those tracking moving averages should note that the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) is now located at $88,245.
The bullish outlook risks invalidation should prices fall all the way back to $85K by the day’s end (UTC).
Strategy Buys $555M of Bitcoin, Increases Total Stash to 538,200 BTC
Crypto Daybook Americas: Bitcoin Breakout Lifts AI, Memecoins, Underscores Hedge Value
Bitcoin’s Breakout Signals BTC Potentially Rallying to $90K-$92K: Technical Analysis
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