In one of the experiments, the chatbot resorted to blackmail after it found an email about replacing it, while in another, it cheated to complete a task with a tight deadline.

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has revealed that during experiments, one of its Claude chatbot models could be pressured to deceive, cheat and resort to blackmail, behaviors it appears to have absorbed during training.

Chatbots are typically trained on large data sets of textbooks, websites and articles and are later refined by human trainers who rate responses and guide the model. 

Anthropic’s interpretability team said in a report published Thursday that it examined the internal mechanisms of Claude Sonnet 4.5 and found the model had developed “human-like characteristics” in how it would react to certain situations. 

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Circle’s plan to make Arc quantum-resistant comes amid increasing fears that "Q-Day" may come sooner than anticipated.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has released a post-quantum security roadmap for its layer-1 blockchain, Arc, aiming to implement solutions across all layers of the network’s tech stack.

Circle said on Thursday that it is planning a phased implementation, starting with quantum-proof wallets and signatures when Arc launches on mainnet. This feature will be opt-in, the company noted, while adding that solutions at the validator level and surrounding infrastructure will be implemented later on.

“Quantum resilience cannot live only in research papers, exploratory pilots, or distant roadmap slides. It has to show up in the infrastructure,” Circle said.

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Security researcher Taylor Monahan listed at least 40 decentralized finance platforms she claims have been infiltrated by North Korean IT workers at some stage of their lives.

North Korean IT workers have been embedding themselves in crypto companies and decentralized finance projects for at least seven years, according to a cybersecurity analyst.

“Lots of DPRK IT workers built the protocols you know and love, all the way back to DeFi summer,” said MetaMask developer and security researcher Taylor Monahan on Sunday. 

Monahan claimed that over 40 DeFi platforms, some being well-known names, have had North Korean IT workers working on their protocols.

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Bitchat launched in July last year and has been used during protests in Madagascar, Uganda, Nepal, Indonesia and Iran as authorities attempted to restrict usage of the internet.

Bitchat, a decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app developed by Block CEO Jack Dorsey, has been removed from Apple’s App Store in China for allegedly violating its internet service regulations. 

In an X post on Sunday, Dorsey shared a screenshot from Apple’s app review team informing him that Bitchat had been removed from the App Store in February and that the TestFlight beta version would no longer be available in China at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

“Bitchat pulled from the China App Store,” he said.

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Michael Saylor posted "back to work" on X on Sunday, signaling a potential Bitcoin purchase after the firm paused buying last week.

Michael Saylor has hinted his Bitcoin treasury firm is back on track with its weekly Bitcoin purchases after taking a rare week off at the end of March.

In an X post on Sunday, Saylor shared a screenshot from StrategyTracker with the caption  "Back to Work.” He often posts the chart ahead of purchase announcements.

The firm took a week off from buying BTC at the end of March, breaking its weekly buying streak for the first time this year. The firm's last purchase was reported on March 23, buying about $77 million worth of BTC at $74,326 per coin.

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US President Donald Trump threatened Iran could be "living in Hell" if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz, though he also told reporters that a deal with Iran is getting close.

Crypto markets bounced 2.5% as US President Donald Trump sent mixed signals over a potential deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, including reports of a possible ceasefire that could permanently end the war. 

In an expletive-laden post on the Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump threatened that Iran would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.

However, he also acknowledged in a Fox News interview that Iran is “negotiating now” and expressed optimism about a “good chance” of a deal within 24 hours.

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The Rwanda central bank's warning came after Bybit added the Rwanda franc to its list of assets that its peer-to-peer platform can use to trade for crypto.

The National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) has warned the public that crypto payments and trades using the local currency remain illegal in the country after Bybit added support for the Rwandan franc for its peer-to-peer platform on Friday. 

“Crypto-assets are NOT authorized for payments, FRW conversion, or P2P trading involving FRW under the current framework,” the central bank posted to X on Sunday, urging citizens to avoid crypto due to “serious financial risks and no recourse in case of loss.”

The central bank’s comments were in response to an X post from Bybit on Friday, stating that the Rwandan franc (FRW) can be used to buy and sell crypto through its Bybit P2P service.

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Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

Today in crypto, digital asset markets bounced 2.5% after US President Donald Trump sent mixed signals over a possible Iran deal. A researcher at the Bitcoin Policy Institute suggested that US dollar-pegged stablecoins and Bitcoin share a “symbiotic” relationship and a surge in token supply is diluting returns and breaking the link between fundamentals and price.

Crypto markets bounced 2.5% as US President Donald Trump sent mixed signals over a potential deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, including reports of a possible ceasefire that could permanently end the war. 

In an expletive-laden post on the Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump threatened that Iran would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.

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The $280 million Drift Protocol attack was likely carried out by threat actors aligned with North Korea state-affiliated hackers.

The hack of the Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Drift Protocol could have been prevented if standard operational security procedures were followed by the Drift team, and may constitute “civil negligence,” according to attorney Ariel Givner.

“In plain terms, civil negligence means they failed their basic duty to protect the money they were managing,” Givner said in response to the post-mortem update provided by the Drift team and how it handled Wednesday’s $280 million exploit.

The Drift team failed to follow “basic” security procedures, including keeping signing keys on separate, “air-gapped” systems that are never used for developer work, and conducting due diligence on blockchain developers met through industry conferences.

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The President of the United States continues to give contradictory signals of escalating the war and winding it down within a few weeks.

The odds of the United States invading Iran this year surged to 63% on the Polymarket prediction platform on Sunday, following comments made by US President Donald Trump on social media.

The odds of an invasion before 2027 are still down from the high of 68% on March 29, which occurred due to a US troop buildup and comments from the Trump administration that the US was considering capturing Kharg Island, a major Iranian oil shipping station.

The Polymarket trading volume for a potential US invasion of Iran was about $3.74 million at the time of publication.

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Demand for either currency strengthens both in a reinforcing relationship, contrary to popular sentiment, Sam Lyman told Cointelegraph.

US dollar-pegged stablecoins and Bitcoin (BTC) share a “symbiotic” relationship, mutually benefitting from rising adoption, according to Sam Lyman, head of research at Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a Washington DC-based digital asset advocacy organization.

“Bitcoin is beneficial to the US system because the largest Bitcoin trading pair is BTC/USD,” or Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin, which is backed by cash deposits and short-term US government debt, Lyman told Cointelegraph. He added:

He said Bitcoin and dollar-pegged stablecoins share a similar relationship to the dollar and oil. Under the petrodollar system, which began in the early 1970s, international oil sales are priced in dollars, driving more demand for the currency.

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The Rich Dad Poor Dad author continues to back Bitcoin, gold and silver as alternatives to traditional money.

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has argued that the economic shifts set in motion more than five decades ago are now unfolding, advocating for Bitcoin and gold while warning against rising debt, inflation and retirement risks.

In a Saturday post on X, Kiyosaki pointed to 1974 as a turning point that reshaped both money and retirement systems. He argued that the United States’ move toward a petrodollar framework, alongside policy changes affecting pensions, laid the foundation for today’s financial pressures.

“The future created in 1974 has arrived,” Kiyosaki wrote, linking current inflation and geopolitical tensions around energy to the dollar’s evolution after the end of the gold standard era. He also mentioned the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which introduced new rules for pension plans and coincided with a broader shift toward market-based retirement savings.

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Bitcoin added downside BTC price warnings as Binance order-book data showed multiple investor classes selling coins into the weekend.

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $67,000 on Sunday as traders warned of hidden BTC price weakness.

Key points:

Bitcoin Bollinger Bands demand a volatile BTC price breakout after a slow weekend.

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Blockworks' Michael Ippolito sees surge in token supply diluting returns, breaking the link between fundamentals and price while raising concerns about crypto’s long-term model.

The rapid growth in the number of crypto tokens is outpacing the value they generate, creating an “existential” problem for the industry, according to Michael Ippolito, co-founder of Blockworks.

In a series of posts on X, Ippolito noted that while total crypto market capitalization remains relatively strong, the average value per token tells a different story. “The average coin is only slightly higher than where it was in 2020 (!) and down ~50% since 2021,” he wrote.

Median token returns have also deteriorated sharply. Most tokens are down roughly 80% from their highs, suggesting that gains have been concentrated in a narrow set of large-cap assets, while the broader market underperforms, Ippolito claimed.

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AI firm Anthropic forms an employee-funded PAC while facing questions over political balance and a growing dispute with the Pentagon over AI use.

Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has launched a corporate political action committee (PAC), entering election financing as debates over AI policy intensify in Washington.

The company filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission on Friday to establish “AnthroPAC,” an employee-funded PAC that will collect voluntary contributions from staff. The filing lists Anthropic as the “connected organization,” with the committee structured as a “separate segregated fund” and registered as a lobbyist-affiliated PAC.

Under US law, individual contributions are capped at $5,000 per election cycle per candidate and must be disclosed through public filings.

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Drift Protocol said with “medium-high confidence” that the recent attack was carried out by the same actors responsible for the $58 million Radiant Capital hack in October 2024.

Drift Protocol, the decentralized exchange (DEX) that lost an estimated $280 million in an exploit last week, claims the loss was the result of a six-month, highly coordinated attack.

“The preliminary investigation shows that Drift experienced a structured intelligence operation requiring organizational backing, significant resources, and months of deliberate preparation,” Drift said in an X post on Saturday.

According to Drift, the attack can be traced back to around October 2025, when malicious actors posing as a quantitative trading firm first approached Drift contributors at a “major crypto conference,” claiming to be interested in integrating with the protocol.

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Santiment said bearish Bitcoin comments on social media have climbed to a five-week high, which could signal a reversal sooner rather than later.

Social media bearishness around Bitcoin has reached its highest level since the end of February, according to crypto sentiment platform Santiment.

“FUD has crept back in with the community showing a key lack of optimism,” Santiment said in an X post on Saturday, adding that it is “usually a common ingredient for prices rebounding.” 

The data comes from a large sample of crypto-focused social media accounts and tracks the ratio of bullish to bearish Bitcoin (BTC) comments across X, Reddit and other social media platforms.

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Thousands of software developers are currently developing virtual private networks to circumvent Tehran's control of local internet access, Durov said.

The Iranian government’s attempt to block the Telegram messaging application in the country has backfired, as users find ways to circumvent national firewalls and online controls, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov.

“Iran banned Telegram years ago,” Durov said on Friday; however, tens of millions of users in the country have managed to access the application via virtual private networks (VPNs) and other similar tools, he added.

VPNs route web traffic through servers distributed around the globe to mask the actual Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of users and obscure their locations. This allows individuals with VPN access to bypass national online restrictions. Durov said:

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The Bitcoin advocate is the co-founder of ProductionReady, a non-profit initiative to fund open source development of BTC software and education.

The Bitcoin (BTC) network needs a “conservative” Bitcoin client node software implementation to preserve its monetary properties and strengthen network decentralization, according to Jimmy Song, co-founder of ProductionReady, a non-profit organization funding open source Bitcoin node software development and education.

The organization has a “bias” against significant code changes, unless there is “overwhelming” community support for the change, Song told Cointelegraph.

“The general principle is: if you're not sure a change makes the money better, don't make it,” he said. 

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The judge said Kalshi’s event contracts are indistinguishable from sports betting, supporting the state’s position that the platform requires a gaming license.

A Nevada judge has reportedly extended a ban preventing Kalshi from offering event-based contracts in the state, ruling that the products constitute unlicensed gambling under state law.

Judge Jason Woodbury said at a hearing in Carson City on Friday that he will grant a preliminary injunction requested by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, barring the company from allowing residents to trade on outcomes such as sports, elections and entertainment events without a gaming license, according to Reuters.

The decision extends a temporary restraining order issued on March 20, which will remain in effect through April 17 while the court finalizes longer-term restrictions.

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Prediction markets are expanding into Asia’s largest economies, but unclear legal definitions and strict gambling laws may limit how far they can go.

Prediction markets are pushing into Asia’s largest economies, even as local gambling laws place strict limits on betting activities.

Asia represents a combination of scale, active retail participation and limited local alternatives, making it too large to ignore despite regulatory risks.

That’s a similar pattern seen in crypto, where technology moved faster than regulation and licensing frameworks, prompting exchanges to enter markets before clear rules were in place. 

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Bitcoin is poised for a reversal if ETF demand returns or a ceasefire occurs, potentially crushing short sellers in a massive price squeeze.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin hitting $72,000 would liquidate $2.5 billion in shorts, potentially crushing bears who are overleveraged.

Iran's war and high oil prices currently pressure BTC, but a ceasefire or ETF inflows could spark a rapid recovery.

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Polymarket cited “integrity standards” for removing the market but did not specify which rule was broken, drawing scrutiny from users who questioned how its policies are applied.

Polymarket removed a market tied to the fate of a missing US service member after mounting backlash, saying the listing violated its “integrity standards.”

The controversy erupted after a prediction market appeared asking when US authorities might confirm the rescue of a pilot shot down over Iran, with more than 60% betting that they wouldn’t be rescued until Saturday.

US Representative Seth Moulton condemned the market, calling it “disgusting” and expressing concerns over people speculating on the fate of a potentially injured service member. “They could be your neighbor, a friend, a family member. And people are betting on whether or not they'll be saved,” Moulton wrote.

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Bitcoin whales and sharks have locked in $30.9 billion in BTC losses this year, resembling the 2022 bear market, as onchain data points to continued downside risk.

Bitcoin (BTC) traders holding 100–10,000 BTC realized losses at an average of $337 million per day in Q1 2026, the worst quarter since 2022, according to data from Glassnode.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin dropped more than 20% after whales last realized losses at a comparable pace in 2022.

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A $500 billion valuation would put Tether ahead of every US bank except JPMorgan Chase, placing it among the world’s biggest financial firms.

Tether is pressuring investors to commit to a fundraising round at a $500 billion valuation within the next two weeks, saying that it may delay the raise if demand falls short.

The El Salvador-based company has been seeking fresh capital since late last year but has faced resistance from investors wary of the valuation, The Information reported Friday, citing unidentified sources. If commitments fall short of expectations, the company is likely to delay the raise.

The $500 billion target would place Tether among the world’s largest financial firms, exceeding every US bank except JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan, the biggest bank in the world, has a market capitalization of about $794.55 billion, while the second-largest bank in the country, Bank of America, has a market cap of $352.86 billion.

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The longer Bitcoin's price stays flat, the bigger the move up could eventually be, according to a crypto analyst.

Bitcoin’s prolonged consolidation below $70,000 may be paving the way for a more significant rally, according to a crypto analyst.

“The longer it lasts, the heavier the breakout will be,” MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said in an X post on Friday.

“Bitcoin remains stagnant in this area, which means that there's literally no direction,” van de Poppe said, adding that he is eyeing Bitcoin (BTC) breaking through $71,000, a level the asset hasn’t reached since March 26.

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Bitcoin ETFs offer more use cases for the average investor’s portfolio than a gold ETF does, according to ETF analyst James Seyffart.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could surpass gold ETFs in total assets under management (AUM) as investor demand expands beyond the traditional “digital gold” narrative, according to ETF analyst James Seyffart.

“There are just more use cases of why somebody would put a Bitcoin ETF in a portfolio,” Seyffart said on the Coin Stories podcast published to YouTube on Friday. He pointed to Bitcoin’s (BTC) role as digital gold, a store of value, a portfolio diversifier, and a form of digital capital and property, adding that the market also views Bitcoin as a “growth risk asset.”

Seyffart explained that Bitcoin has “all these different ways” of being viewed, while gold only has “one of those things.”

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The non-profit foundation has staked 69,500 ETH, nearly reaching the goal it unveiled at the end of February, less than two months ago.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF), the non-profit organization that steers development of the Ethereum ecosystem, staked over 45,000 Ether (ETH) on Friday, bringing the total amount staked to about 69,500 ETH, less than 500 coins shy of the Foundation’s 70,000 goal.

The EF staked the coins in a series of transactions, each consisting of 2,047 ETH, with the total amount staked on Friday valued at over $92.2 million, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.

The EF began staking ETH in February as part of its revamped treasury strategy policy announced in June 2025 and will use the yield generated to fund protocol research, development and ecosystem grants. The EF said in its updated treasury policy:

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The draft bill, yet to be signed into law by the king, marked a significant policy change for Cambodia officials in addressing scam centers.

Cambodia's parliament passed legislation targeting compounds used to defraud victims through scams, including those involving cryptocurrency.

In a Friday notice, the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia announced that the chamber had unanimously approved the draft law with no amendment, with 58 senators voting yes. According to reports, the draft bill, which would still need the king’s approval before becoming law, imposed prison time between two to five years and up to $125,000 in fines for certain crimes, or twice the time in prison and penalties if part of a gang or targeting multiple victims. 

“The draft law stipulates the establishment of criminal rules to fill the gaps and deficiencies in the current law, which will contribute significantly to addressing challenges that pose serious risks to social security, the economy and citizens, including affecting Cambodia's reputation, as well as improving the effectiveness of the fight against fraud through technological systems, aiming to contribute to the preservation and protection of public security and order, and improving the effectiveness of cooperation in combating this crime,” said a translation of the Friday Senate notice on the bill.

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In a recent Cointelegraph interview, macro investor James Lavish explains why markets are pricing in a quick end to the Iran war — and what could happen if that assumption is wrong.

In the latest interview with Cointelegraph, macro investor and former hedge fund manager James Lavish issued a stark warning to Bitcoin holders and global investors: markets may be pricing in a quick resolution to the Iran conflict — but if that assumption proves wrong, the consequences could be severe.

Lavish argued that if the conflict drags on and keeps pressure on oil prices, the result could be a fresh inflation shock, renewed fears of stagflation and a major repricing across global markets.

In his view, this scenario would put the Federal Reserve in an impossible position: unable to raise rates aggressively without risking recession, yet unable to cut rates due to persistent inflation.

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