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Jupiter’s Acquisition Spree, Buyback Plan Spark Solana Ecosystem Dominance Concerns

Amid a bloody start to the week in crypto markets, which saw liquidations near monthly highs as various major tokens dropped by double-digit percentages, the native token of Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter is defying the trend over a new buyback plan.
Data from TradingView shows that JUP is up more than 34% against bitcoin over the past week despite seeing an 11% decline over the last 24 hours, compared to BTC’s near 4% drop.
JUP’s outperformance is a result of a series of announcements made during its first-ever event, Catstanbul 2025, which addressed utility concerns. The protocol’s pseudonymous founder, known as ‘Meow’, revealed that 50% of all protocol fees are set to be used to buy tokens from the open market, with the tokens being moved to a “long-term litterbox,» a long-term reserve.
The move led to a price increase, which demonstrated a “high level of investor confidence in the project and its strategy,” according to Bitget Research’s Chief Analyst, Ryan Lee. He said increasing attention on the platform could attract new users and liquidity to the Solana ecosystem in the long run.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Lee noted the buyback program could “act as a catalyst for long-term growth as the team estimates it could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the buyback volume per year.”
Jupiter is Solana’s leading DEX aggregator, having facilitated nearly $2.2 trillion in total volume over 1.25 billion token swaps, according to data from Dune Analytics. In the last 24 hours, its trading volume was $6.5 billion over 6.9 million swaps.
‘Monopolistic behavior’
The announcement may have helped JUP’s price surge, but it drew some concerns from the community.
Chris Chung, the founder of Solana swap platform Titan, wrote in an emailed statement to CoinDesk that the “news over the weekend that Jupiter – Solana’s most used DEX – is implementing a 5bps fee for basic swap trades in its default ‘Ultra’ mode is disappointing news for traders.”
Jupiter’s Ultra mode is set to include features such as real-time slippage estimation, dynamic priority fees, and optimized transaction landing, all bolstered by a new “Jupiter Shield” security tool. The protocol’s success, Bitget Research’s Lee told CoinDesk, “may come with the risk of centralization.”
“If Jupiter continues to increase its influence and become the dominant player in the Solana ecosystem, it could lead to over-reliance on a single project,” Lee said, adding that the “situation is contrary to the principles of blockchain which are aimed at decentralization and distribution of influence.”
Chung added that Solana’s “entire value proposition is lower cost and higher throughout, and a 5-10bps increase in trading costs is significant in this context. But it’s particularly disappointing when a paid model is being implemented when there is no perceivable performance gain over the previous free version, especially when the features in question are essential in landing transactions.”
Jupiter also announced it acquired a majority stake in Moonshot, the memecoin trading platform that was featured on the website of U.S. President Donald Trump’s memecoin and reportedly “brought 200k+ new people onchain” as a result.
The protocol has also acquired on-chain portfolio tracker SonarWatch, which coupled with the Moonshot acquisition means, to Chung, that Jupiter is “clearly looking to dominate the entire Solana ecosystem,” in a move that’s both “unhealthy and detrimental for innovation and for the user experience.”
To Titan’s founder, Jupiter’s moves amount to “monopolistic behavior” that allows incumbents to “raise prices further and further in absence of competition,” the type of behavior that decentralized finance was meant to eradicate.
Furthering these concerns, Jupiter also announced the launch of Jupnet, described as an omnichain network designed “to aggregate all of crypto in one single decentralized ledger for maximum ease of use for users and developers.” Its public beta version is coming in the next few months.
Although the DEX aggregator’s dominance may have led to concerns over the potential concentration of power in the hands of a single player, it could have a silver lining. Jupiter’s focus on the Solana ecosystem could lead to a new wave of developers engaging with it and creating new, unique products, Bitget’s Lee added.
Mike Cahill, Co-Founder and CEO of Pyth Network’s core contributor Douro Labs, pointed to Jupiter’s moves as a “clear commitment to expanding DeFi infrastructure and improving liquidity dynamics.” The innovation approach, he added, could “push a new influx of builders into the Solana ecosystem, which means we’re going to see a lot of new memecoins and a lot of new dApps as a result.”
Jupiter didn’t respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment at the press time.
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Kraken Secures Restricted Dealer Status in Canada Amid ‘Turning Point’ for Crypto in the Country

Crypto exchange Kraken has registered as a restricted dealer in Canada, allowing the exchange to continue offering crypto trading services to Canadian users under the country’s evolving regulatory framework.
The registration, announced on Tuesday, comes after a multi-year process that required exchanges to meet higher standards for investor protection and governance. Kraken said it worked closely with Canadian regulators during this pre-registration phase, upgrading its compliance systems and internal controls to meet expectations set by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
To lead its Canadian expansion, Kraken named Cynthia Del Pozo as general manager for North America. Del Pozo, a fintech and operations veteran, will oversee strategy, regulatory engagement and business development across the region.
“Canada is at a turning point for crypto adoption,” said Del Pozo in a statement, pointing to growing interest from both retail and institutional investors. A recent survey cited by Kraken found that 30% of Canadian investors currently hold crypto assets.
Kraken also announced it will offer free Interac e-Transfer deposits for Canadian users, a move aimed at reducing friction for newcomers to the platform. The exchange claims it doubled its team and user base in Canada over the last two years and now manages over $2 billion CAD in client assets.
Mayur Gupta, Kraken’s chief marketing officer and general manager of growth, will be speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2025 in Toronto on May 14-15.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
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The Protocol: Vana Introduces Token Standard for Data-Backed Assets

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller.
In this issue:
Vana launches token standard
Hashgraph to debut private blockchain
ASICs will look more like servers
An interview with Gensyn’s Ben Fielding
This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Network News
VANA’S DATA-BACKED TOKEN STANDARD: Crypto enthusiasts might have heard of the ERC-20 token standard, which provides guidelines to ensure that tokens created on the Ethereum smart contract blockchain are compatible and can interact with other tokens and applications within the network. A similar standard for data-backed tokens, called VRC-20, has now emerged. Vana, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that helps users monetize personal data by bundling it into DataDAOs for AI model training, introduced the new standard early this week to boost trust and transparency in the market for data-backed digital assets. The VRC-20 standard design includes specific criteria such as fixed supply, governance, and liquidity rules while ensuring real data access by tying tokens to actual data utility. Additionally, it promotes continuous liquidity through rewards that ensure market stability. «This isn’t speculation. This is real financialization of data,» Vana noted on X. Vana launched its mainnet in December, with VANA as its native cryptocurrency. Since then, the network has onboarded over 12 million data points through multiple DataDAOs, reflecting strong demand for user-owned data. DataDAOs or data liquidity pools are decentralized marketplaces that bring data on-chain as transferable digital tokens. DLPs are where data is contributed, tokenized and made ready for use in applications such as AI model training. — Omkar Godbole Read more.
HASHGRAPH LINES UP Q3 PRIVATE CHAIN: Hashgraph, the blockchain development firm focusing on the Hedera (HBAR) network, is building a private, permissioned blockchain for enterprises in highly regulated industries with plans to debut in the third quarter of 2025. HashSphere, built with Hedera’s technology, aims to bridge private and public distributed ledgers, ensuring compliance with regulations while maintaining interoperability, the company said Monday. Hashgraph is looking to provide services to asset managers, banks and payment providers seeking secure, low-cost cross-border transactions with stablecoins.While public blockchains offer security and transparency, enterprises in industries like finance and payments often face compliance challenges, particularly with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. HashSphere addresses this by restricting access to verified participants, enabling firms to develop tokenized assets, AI-powered services and other blockchain-based products while meeting regulatory standards. The network also integrates Hedera’s existing tools, including the Token Service for managing digital assets and the Consensus Service for recording transactions with trusted timestamps. The platform is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), allowing developers to deploy decentralized applications using Solidity and other EVM languages. — Kris Sandor Read more.
ASICS TO BE MORE LIKE SERVERS: In the beginning, there were only CPUs, then GPUs, for bitcoin mining. Then came the mighty ASIC in 2013, and with it, the “shoebox” form factor that has become emblematic of the bitcoin mining industry. What comes next? ASIC manufacturers are increasingly betting on a hydro-cooled server rack design to become a substantial portion of bitcoin mining fleets, leaning into the “direct-to-chip” cooling for further efficiency gains. Last September, Bitmain announced its model U3S21EXPH developed in a partnership with Hut 8. Its U3 design means that one unit takes up three spaces in a traditional server rack. MicroBT soon followed with its M63 Hydro series, as did Bitdeer’s Sealminer A2 Hydro unit. Following suit, Auradine released its server rack model, the AH3880, this March. Its U2 design, which occupies two server slots, is a bit smaller, but it packs more hashrate per unit of space at 600 TH/s (or 300 TH/s per slot) versus Bitmain’s 860 TH/s (286.66 TH/s per slot). The benefit of a server rack ASIC lies in standardization. Bitcoin miners are increasingly marching in step with the traditional datacenter industry, and that industry could see 40% adoption of direct liquid-to-chip cooling by 2026, according to data center developer Cyrus One. If miners adopt this design, then theoretically, they can optimize their supply chains by converging on server designs that are becoming best practice in the big-boy data center sector. — Colin Harper, Blockspace Read more.
GENSYN CEO BEN FIELDING: Ten years ago, when he was still a young AI researcher beginning his PhD track, Ben Fielding explored how “swarms” of AI — clusters of many different models — could talk to each other and learn from each other, which might improve the collective whole. There was just one problem: He was handcuffed by the realities of that noisy machine beneath his desk. And he knew he was outgunned by Google and other Big Tech. Compute constraints would always be an issue, he realized. The solution? Decentralized AI. Fielding co-founded Gensyn (along with Harry Grieve) in 2020, or years before Decentralized AI became fashionable. The project was initially known for building decentralized compute, but the vision is actually something wider: “The network for machine intelligence.” They’re building solutions up and down the tech stack. And now, a decade after Fielding’s noisy desk annoyed his lab-mates, the early tools of Gensyn are out in the wild. Gensyn recently released its “RL Swarms” protocol (a descendant of Fielding’s PhD work) and just launched its Testnet — which brings blockchain into the fold. Fielding talked with Jeff Wilser about AI Swarms, how blockchain snaps into the puzzle, and shares why all innovators — not just tech giants — “should have the right to build machine learning technologies.” — Jeff Wilser Read more.
In Other News
Web3 lacks a dedicated memory layer, making its current architecture inefficient and difficult to scale. Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) offers a solution by enhancing data propagation and storage efficiency in decentralized systems. Implementing RLNC can address Web3’s scalability challenges by optimizing memory and data access without compromising decentralization, says Muriel Médard, co-founder of Optimum. Read her op-ed here.
Ripple, an enterprise-focused blockchain service closely tied to the XRP Ledger (XRP), said on Wednesday it has integrated its stablecoin to the company’s cross-border payments system to boost adoption for Ripple USD (RLUSD). Select Ripple Payments customers including cross-border payment providers BKK Forex and iSend are already using the stablecoin to improve their treasury operations, the company said. Ripple plans to further expand the token’s availability of its token to payments customers. RLUSD reached a $244 million market capitalization, growing 87% over the past month. — Kris Sandor reports.
Regulatory and Policy
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped or paused over a dozen ongoing cases (and lost one) since U.S. President Donald Trump retook office just over two months ago and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair. Here is a rundown of what’s left on the SEC’s enforcement docket. — Nik De reports.
Calendar
April 8-10: Paris Blockchain Week
April 30-May 1: Token 2049, Dubai
May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto
May 20-22: Avalanche Summit, London
May 27-29: Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas
June 30-July 3: EthCC, Cannes
Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
Uncategorized
President Trump to Order ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ to Begin at Midnight

In a Rose Garden ceremony on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he intends to immediately sign an order for «reciprocal tariffs» to be levied against U.S. trading partners.
«Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years but it’s not going to happen anymore,» said Trump, adding that the tariffs will begin at midnight.
The first specific tariff announced at the ceremony was a 25% levy on all foreign-made autos.
Among country-specific tariffs: China will see a rate of 34%, Vietnam 46%, Taiwan 32% South Korea 25%, Switzerland 31%.
The price of bitcoin (BTC) initially rose in the ceremony’s early stages, but began to give ground as the tariffs were detailed. The price has retreated to $86,000, down about 1% from prior to the announcements.
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