Stripe is testing a new US dollar-backed stablecoin product for businesses outside the U.S., U.K., and Europe, aiming to expand the dollar's global footprint.

Daily top performer — Pudgy Penguins (PENGU)

S&P 500 futures dipped as over 180 S&P companies prepare to report earnings this week, following a 4.59% gain last week amid easing US-China trade tensions. Gold prices dipped to around $3,310 as easing US-China trade tensions reduced safe-haven demand, though recession fears may limit further losses ahead of key US economic data releases. Fed hawkishness may cap gains. CoinDesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, fell 0.72% in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin and Ether dropped 0.19% and 1.07%, respectively. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is PENGU, rising by 27.5%, following Pudgy Penguins' recent expansion into multiple industries and their celebration of World Penguin Day.

Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), launched in July 2021, is a popular NFT collection known for its cute artwork. It has expanded into physical products like toys, generating over $10 million in sales, and the collection now holds a market cap of over $1.19 billion. Pudgy Penguins and $PENGU were recently 

 as a fitspo in Wisdom Kaye's content, marking a major milestone for their influence across industries. Additionally, last Saturday, the brand celebrated 

, highlighting its continued growth and impact beyond the NFT space. This showcases Pudgy Penguins' expanding presence and reach in multiple sectors.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

 a new US dollar-backed stablecoin product for businesses outside the U.S., U.K., and Europe, aiming to expand the dollar's global footprint. This follows Stripe's acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin payment network, which competes with the SWIFT system. Stripe has a history with crypto and recently introduced stablecoin payments in over 70 countries. The company sees this new product as a decade-long ambition, with the stablecoin market growing significantly in 2025.

BTC spot ETFs saw $3.06B of net inflows for the week ending 25 April 2025, with $2.97B from non-GBTC products and $94M from GBTC. Since inception, ETFs have accumulated $38.4B in net flows, with non-GBTC products contributing $61.1B and GBTC seeing $22.7B of outflows.

GiveRep, a decentralized reputation protocol on Sui, has 

 a points program where users can earn Reputation Points by tweeting about GiveRep and its Loyalty projects to qualify for an upcoming airdrop. A minimum of 100 X (Twitter) followers is required, and participants may also earn bonus airdrops from partner projects.

Beginner

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Stripe launches testing for global stablecoin payments after Bridge acquisition

Initia is a blockchain ecosystem that unifies Layer 1 security with customizable Layer 2 rollups through its Interwoven Stack architecture. Learn more here.

 ecosystem forces developers to choose between security and customization, while fragmenting liquidity across isolated chains. Enter Initia (INIT), a groundbreaking protocol that reimagines blockchain architecture by seamlessly integrating 

This article examines Initia's Interwoven Stack architecture, its innovative economic features and the INIT token's utility and distribution, and considers whether this ambitious ecosystem redesign represents a promising investment opportunity following its recent mainnet launch.

 is a blockchain ecosystem that unifies Layer 1 security with customizable Layer 2 rollups through its Interwoven Stack architecture, enabling developers to build specialized application chains without sacrificing interoperability or liquidity or requiring deep infrastructure expertise.

Initia emerged in 2022 when Stanford Liu and Ezaan "Zon" Mangalji left Terraform Labs to tackle blockchain's fragmentation challenges. They later added ecosystem lead OmniscientAsian from Sino Global Capital to help create a more streamlined blockchain infrastructure.

The project quickly gained investor backing, starting with Binance Labs' pre-seed funding in October 2023. This was followed by a $7.5 million seed round led by Delphi Digital and Hack VC, then a $2.5 million community round and a $14 million Series A that valued Initia at $350 million by late 2024.

Initia aims to eliminate the traditional security/customization trade-off in blockchain by creating a unified ecosystem that allows both to coexist. By establishing a central hub for all rollups, the project combines the advantages of monolithic security with the flexibility of modularity, thereby eliminating the fragmentation that currently plagues blockchain systems.

The platform's integrated stack simplifies blockchain development with pre-built solutions that work together seamlessly. Users benefit from Initia's Universal Accounts system, which provides a consistent experience across all connected chains, eliminating the need for multiple wallets or managing different tokens for gas fees.

By introducing economic alignment mechanisms such as the 

, Initia creates an environment in which developers can focus solely on innovation in their applications. This shift away from infrastructure concerns toward product development aims to enhance capital efficiency and drive broader adoption of blockchain.

Initia fuses Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) technologies into a unified architecture with three distinct components. The foundation is Initia L1, built on Cosmos SDK, which functions as the orchestration layer. This base provides security, governance and interoperability.

Above this foundation, Interwoven Rollups (Minitias) provide developers with customizable Layer 2 environments, allowing them to select their preferred virtual machine (

, Move or Wasm), define unique gas token systems and implement specialized transaction ordering mechanisms. 

Binding everything together is the Interwoven Stack, a comprehensive framework that provides all necessary tools for building and deploying rollups without requiring developers to source and integrate disparate components.

The system leverages optimistic rollups through the OPinit Stack to achieve remarkable transaction speeds (up to 10,000 

) while maintaining security. Transactions processed via L2 rollups are submitted to Initia’s L1 for finalization, with data availability secured through 

Initia provides the following core features that work together to simplify development and unify the blockchain ecosystem.

Initia L1 serves as the foundational layer and central coordination hub for the entire ecosystem. Built on the Cosmos SDK with CometBFT and MoveVM, it provides essential services, including network security, governance mechanisms and liquidity solutions through InitiaDEX.

 (also known as Minitias) are flexible Layer 2 blockchains built on top of Initia L1. These rollups rely on the orchestration layer for security and data settlement, operating without native 

 while enabling advanced rollup functionalities.

Developers can customize their rollups by selecting from multiple virtual machines and defining their own gas token and fee structure. This flexibility enables application-specific optimizations and economic models, at the same time maintaining seamless interoperability within the broader Initia ecosystem.

The Interwoven Stack is Initia's comprehensive, all-in-one solution, designed to empower developers in building and deploying rollups with unmatched ease. Instead of requiring developers to research and piece together numerous components — such as wallets, explorers and 

 — the Stack provides everything needed right out of the box.

At the core of this framework is OPinit Stack, designed exclusively for optimistic rollups within the Cosmos ecosystem. It includes mechanisms for fraudproofs and rollback capabilities and supports multiple virtual machines, which allows developers to focus solely on building their applications, rather than configuring complex infrastructure.

The Vested Interest Program (VIP) is Initia's novel incentive alignment mechanism that’s designed to address common issues in multi-rollup ecosystems. It addresses the misalignment of incentives for high-activity 

 (DApps), the economic underutilization of the native token and the inefficient distribution of protocol-level incentives.

VIP programmatically rewards valuable economic activities by allocating INIT tokens to rollups that create innovative applications, and to users who perform beneficial actions. This approach ensures that rollup teams, users and token holders all share aligned interests in the ecosystem's long-term success.

 (DEX) built on the Initia L1, functioning as the central liquidity hub for all Interwoven Rollups. It features Balancer-style weighted pools for diverse asset pairs, and 

 pools for assets with closely correlated prices, ensuring an optimal trading experience.

Enshrined Liquidity is Initia's solution to the traditional dilemma in 

 (PoS) systems, whereby token holders must choose between either staking for security or providing liquidity. It allows governance-whitelisted InitiaDEX liquidity positions (INIT-TOKEN pairs) to function as staking assets alongside the native INIT token.

Users can earn both staking rewards and trading fees from a single position, dramatically improving capital efficiency. To qualify, LP tokens must include INIT as part of the pair (with at least 50% weight for Balancer pools) and receive 

 approval, which also determines reward weight distribution among all whitelisted tokens.

Minitswap eliminates the days-long waiting periods typically required by optimistic bridges when moving assets from rollups to Layer 1s. Users can instantly swap their rollup tokens for L1 assets through liquid trading pairs, creating a frictionless experience for asset transfers throughout the Initia ecosystem.

 offers a unified interface for managing assets across multiple rollups, thereby facilitating cross-chain transfers and accessing DApps. By abstracting multichain complexity into a single interface, users can navigate the entire Initia ecosystem without confronting technical barriers or fragmented experiences.

Initia's bridge technology enables secure token transfers between Initia L1 and rollups using an optimistic bridge model. The OPinit Bridge leverages Cosmos SDK modules, and operates through two key components that work in tandem to ensure system integrity.

The Executor handles token movements, output submissions and data relay, while the Challenger monitors for invalid proposals and provides security oversight. This balanced architecture delivers verifiable cross-chain communication that maintains the integrity of both L1 and L2 chains while enabling reliable asset transfers throughout the Initia ecosystem.

Initia reached a major milestone with its successful mainnet launch on Apr 24, 2025. Before then, the project had completed several critical developments, including the MiniEVM and MiniMove frameworks, the deployment of InitiaDEX and the implementation of the innovative Vested Interest Program.

The immediate post-launch phase is focusing on expanding the ecosystem by onboarding strategic partner projects across 

 and enterprise sectors. This expansion demonstrates Initia's versatility as it builds a network of interconnected Interwoven Rollups that leverage the platform's unified infrastructure.

The INIT airdrop will distribute 50 million tokens, representing 5% of the total supply, to early supporters and community members. This allocation is strategically divided across three main categories: testnet participants (89.46%), social contributors (6.04%) and Interwoven Stack partners (4.50%).

The largest portion (44.7 million INIT) is being designated for the 194,294 users who participated in Initia's public testnet campaigns, particularly those who engaged with interactive 

 activities. Additional allocations target users from partner ecosystems, including LayerZero, IBC and milkTIA holders.

Following the mainnet launch on Apr 24, 2025, eligible participants will have a 30-day claim window to secure their tokens. This airdrop serves as both a community-building initiative and a strategic token distribution to those most likely to contribute to the ecosystem's growth.

INIT is the native token of the Initia ecosystem, with a fixed total supply of 1 billion. Initial circulating supply at launch was 148.75 million INIT, representing 14.88% of the total supply. The token’s distribution is strategically designed to ensure long-term sustainability and broad community engagement.

INIT enables staking to secure the network, powers governance decisions for protocol changes, facilitates cross-rollup operations between different Minitias and provides liquidity through InitiaDEX. This utility-driven model ties INIT's value directly to ecosystem activity and adoption.

Looking to trade Initia tokens? Bybit now offers the INITUSDT Perpetual contract following the recent mainnet launch. To get started, you'll need to create a Bybit account, fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

While Initia represents a groundbreaking approach to blockchain scalability through its interwoven architecture and unified liquidity model, investors must carefully weigh its significant growth potential against relevant risk factors.

Initia shows promising potential with its comprehensive ecosystem approach and significant financial backing. In addition, growing demand for scalable blockchain infrastructure that doesn't sacrifice security or customization provides a favorable market environment. However, potential investors should 

 and consider their individual risk tolerance.

Initia revolutionizes blockchain architecture by creating a multichain environment in which thousands of appchains can coexist harmoniously through modularity and orchestration. With established financial backing and over 16 appchains already onboarded at mainnet launch, Initia could transform the way blockchain applications are built, deployed and interconnected.

Intermediate

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Initia (INIT): The Interwoven Stack behind scalable rollups

Apr 28, 2025: Our weekly Institutional Insights explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

 explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

Weekly highlight — US-Sino trade conflicts cool down

China is considering suspending its 125% tariff on certain US imports, including medical equipment and industrial chemicals like ethane, due to the economic impact of the trade war. Discussions are also underway to waive tariffs on aircraft leases, which are financially burdensome for airlines.

This potential move has boosted investor optimism, with Asian shares rising and the yuan recovering losses. Analysts view this as a step toward de-escalation, although significant differences between the US and China remain.

The proposed exemptions align with recent US tariff exclusions on electronics, highlighting the intertwined nature of the two economies. Chinese companies reliant on US goods, such as advanced medical equipment and ethane, have reported some shipments arriving without tariffs.

While the list of potential exemptions is still being finalized, authorities have requested companies submit customs codes for necessary goods. Reports suggest China may also waive tariffs on at least eight semiconductor-related products, excluding memory chips, which could impact companies such as Micron Technology.

Overall, while investor interest grows, relations between the two nations still face challenges, with China demanding the US revoke unilateral tariffs before resuming trade talks.

Traders have heavily invested in Cantor Equity Partners Inc, a blank-check company merging with Twenty One Capital Inc., which is backed by Tether, Bitfinex and SoftBank. Since the April 22 merger announcement, Cantor's stock has surged 197%, closing at $31.50 on Friday.

The merger includes a convertible debt offering, potentially leading to a market capitalization of about $12 billion that would far exceed the estimated $4 billion value of the Bitcoin it’s expected to hold. This would reflect strong demand for crypto-related investments.

Analysts note that investing in such vehicles is akin to betting on Bitcoin's growth. Public special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) shareholders are projected to own 2.7% of the new company, while major stakeholders like Tether and SoftBank will have substantial shares. Overall, the market is optimistic about this collaboration in the digital asset space.

Advanced

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Trade conflicts cool down as crypto SPAC sees popularity

Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events; the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume; and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

At the start of the week, Bitcoin showed signs of decoupling from US equities. However, US president Trump's positive remarks about the US-China trade war (which had included a 145% tariff on Chinese goods) triggered a relief rally across markets. As a result, BTC has resumed moving up with US equities. 

This rally has led to a rise in short-tenor implied volatility and a recovery in BTC’s put-call skew, indicating that traders are seeking upside exposure.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Perp open interest rises across the board

Perpetual open interest increased significantly this week across various tokens, especially ETH. Perpetual trading volumes also rose. Notably, Ap 7, 2025 recorded the highest trade volume of the month, following Trump's comment, "Forget markets for a second, we have all the advantages."

BTC option open interest shows a mixed picture; put-call skew in short tenor sends positive signals

President Trump’s recent willingness to negotiate a trade deal with China’s President Xi triggered a relief rally across asset classes, including crypto. Bitcoin had already risen 7% since Apr 21, 2025, prior to Trump's comments. Despite this rally, open interest in puts has outpaced calls, with options volume remaining relatively balanced. 

It's unclear if the demand for puts reflects a hedge against downside risks, or a bet against the upward movement. Meanwhile, perpetual funding rates are providing limited insight into sentiment. However, the recovery of the put-call skew at short tenors indicates that traders are seeking upside exposure to the rally — and are willing to pay for it.

ETH unexpectedly outperforms BTC in this relief rally

ETH's response to the recent crypto market recovery has diverged from previous trends: it outperformed BTC in spot prices, a rarity in past rallies, and open interest in calls exceeds that in puts — opposite to BTC's trend. In addition, ETH call open interest is nearly double that of puts, with calls dominating options volumes. This suggests traders anticipate ETH will reduce its significant underperformance against both BTC and other “ETH killers” like SUI and SOL. Additionally, the spot rally has led to another term structure inversion for ETH.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 24, 2025): Put-call skew recovers at short tenors, showing reviving sentiment

Altcoins

Crypto

GameFi

Adopted by large corporations and used in MMOs, learn why - and how - the Enjin Coin is transforming the NFT gaming landscape.

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Enjin Coin (ENJ) is an ERC20 token that’s traded on the Ethereum blockchain. The Enjin platform’s underlying technology powers an entire ecosystem for NFTs, gaming and app distribution. Every token minted with Enjin is backed up directly by ENJ, the platform’s token. This allows users to access in-game items, and opens up new possibilities in the realm of crypto-powered blockchain gaming. In this article we’ll shed light on Enjin and the Enjin Coin.

Founded in 2009 by CEO/Creative Director Maxim Blagov and CTO Witek Radomski, Enjin was launched as a community gaming platform and currently oversees one of the largest crypto/NFT projects worldwide. The company raised 

 with its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO), and launched ENJ in 2018. Enjin is based in Singapore and works with companies to implement smart digital solutions. It has over 

Enjin helps create, distribute, store, trade and integrate tokenized digital assets across different industries, mainly in the gaming sector. The Enjin network uses ENJ-backed digital assets in order to create digital vouchers, NFTs used in gaming, and more.

The Enjin network uses a gamified approach of connecting every in-game or platform-based asset to real-world value. In addition, its community management services (CMS) platform lets users build websites, stores and forums, and create modules such as in-game plugins while minimizing fraud, improving settlement times and maintaining low transaction costs. 

Enjin is known for its community management tools that have helped over 20 million Minecraft users stay connected and form robust networks of like-minded players. Blockchain-based tokens and NFTs can be easily integrated into multiple platforms, allowing cross-platform collaborations between game developers and big gaming brands like Minecraft.

, are units of data which contain unique identification codes. Launched in 2014, they can be bought or sold like cryptocurrencies, but cannot be replicated. Examples of NFTs include artworks, music, 

s and more. Since every NFT is unique, a non-fungible token cannot be exchanged for any other. As of April 12, 2021, more than 

 NFTs have been sold, and their market is expanding.

Created to simplify the use of NFTs, Enjin Coin (ENJ) is the Enjin platform’s native cryptocurrency. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Enjin Coin is an ERC20 compatible token that enables users to send and receive coins via Ethereum wallets. It’s used to support the value of NFTs produced within the Enjin ecosystem. ENJ is tradable, protected by Ethereum smart contracts, and compatible with Ethereum-based 

Enjin focuses on virtual games, virtual goods and preventing fraud and theft of digital assets. 

Enjin allows users to manage and store virtual gaming goods, such as accessories for characters or in-game currencies. Users can also obtain Enjin coins by selling NFTs. ENJ can be used as a currency to buy, sell and trade NFTs.

ENJ can be used to create, manage and destroy in-game items. Developers can issue custom tokens, unique items or 

 backed by Enjin Coin. On certain exchanges, users can also deposit ENJ and earn interest on it.

Enjin is used by loyalty reward programs. For example, in its 

, NFTs come with loyalty points that can be used to pay for fuel, parking fees, road tolls, or even swapped for ENJ.

Following are five games that use Enjin Coin or ENJ-based digital assets.

 is a dynamic 3D Low-poly Space Sandbox MMO. In it, players can use cryptocurrency to hunt, collect and mine items and resources. The game comes with highly immersive graphics and allows players to take on one of the following roles: space pirate, trader or miner. Enjin gives players more control over the game by tokenizing key assets as NFTs on the blockchain. Using Enjin’s JumpNet blockchain technology, the game has created a play-to-earn economy and its very own in-game currency (BITS).

, you can become a Viking, Barbarian, Samurai, Gladiator or Ancient Atlantean. Each time a character wins a battle, rewards like powerful blueprints and materials are awarded, offering players a chance to craft exclusive weaponry with them. Enjin backs up these rewards.

 is a game featuring three character classes: warrior, mage and cleric. Players can combine up to 33 skills from each tree. They can choose from words for warriors, staffs for wizards and maces for clerics, with 26 variants each. Using Enjin, gamers’ digital wallets are transformed into real-life inventories that allow them to create new in-game assets. The players can instantly claim tokens dropped by defeated enemies, like swords, armor and potions. With the help of the blockchain, the game also offers users an in-game marketplace called the “Blockchain Blacksmith Service,” with which gamers can craft new tokenized in-game assets using the blockchain recipes of fellow players.

War of Crypta is a player-versus-player (PvP) web-based multiplayer game. Players can collect, customize and strengthen their characters by 

. They can strategize and select heroes with various powers for their team, based on their battling needs, and put these players to the test against another player’s heroes.

 lets gamers collect, trade and breed 3D cubes. Each cube has its own unique personality and set of physical traits. Users can interact with cubes by designing, creating and decorating their “nest.” Resources can be collected to bring improvements to the nest. The game allows players to collect and customize the cubes, which can also be traded with other players by leveraging the underlying blockchain. All the cubes in the game are ERC1155 tokens backed by ENJ. These cubes can be shared, traded and sold — or even melted down to obtain ENJ.

At the time of this writing, the price of one Enjin Coin is 

. ENJ has a trading volume of more than 

. Its highest price is $3.85, recorded in April 2021, and the lowest is $0.019, recorded in November 2017.

Enjin Coin price is affected by many factors, such as its capped supply, projects building on the “Enjin multiverse,” crypto market trends and the wider economy.

At the time of this writing, Enjin ranks #89 on CoinMarketCap, with a 

Wallets are required to hold ENJ. Ethereum wallets like Breadwallet, Exodus, Coinomi and MetaMask are compatible with ERC20 tokens. All wallet types — including exchange accounts, software wallets and hardware wallets — support Enjin.

Enjin has its own official wallet called the Enjin Wallet, with which players can store and trade items. The wallet gives users access to all features of the platform for greater convenience.

The Enjin Wallet also allows users to access their inventory, enabling them to connect to multiple games and use items. Users can perform transactions with the Enjin Wallet, or trade coins and items outside the gaming environment. You can also sell your digital goods for ENJ with this wallet.

The ENJ network relies on miners rather than stakers. Enjin token runs on a PoW consensus algorithm and can be mined. The mining setup used in Enjin is similar to that of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, which are typically mined with an ASIC unit or a GPU. 

Enjin crypto can be bought easily on major crypto exchanges with a credit or debit card. You can sign up for a free account by providing your email address and password. Some exchanges might require you to provide additional contact details or a photo ID before you can deposit funds. Once your account has been created, you can purchase as much ENJ as you like.

ENJ can also be traded with listed cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

To date, the Enjin platform receives nearly 

 per month and rakes in millions of USD in virtual goods sales across Enjin community stores.

Enjin aims to revolutionize the virtual goods creation and management process with the Enjin Coin. ENJ has both excellent short- and long-term potential: it brings interesting features and value propositions beyond what competitors currently offer. It also has a strong community to back it up.

In recent years, more and more investors have started seeing the potential in gaming cryptos. Enjin has raised a reasonable amount of capital on its platform through its ICO. If ENJ gains more attention and appreciation, it could become a widely-used cryptocurrency in the gaming community. Going by Enjin’s past achievements, it definitely has a bright future ahead.

Enjin’s software gives developers the ability to create and manage virtual goods on the Ethereum blockchain. Enjin’s goal is to manage in-game items across different properties. It effectively does this by reducing transaction fees, overcoming duplication and eliminating fraud. Millions of transactions occur on the Enjin marketplace every month. It provides true ownership to virtual goods holders, and gives users a seamless NFT experience.

Enjin Coin (ENJ): What It Is — and How It’s Paving The Way For NFTs

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