Today in crypto, Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $1 billion in weekly inflows, Worldcoin fell double-digits as Sam Altman’s ID-focused company, World, made several integrations, including for Zoom and Docusign. Kraken’s parent company, Payward, acquired Bitnomial for $550 million.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs attract nearly $1B in weekly inflows as risk sentiment improves
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded nearly $1 billion in net inflows over the past week, marking their strongest performance in more than three months as market sentiment shifts toward risk assets.
Data from SoSoValue shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $996 muillion in total net inflows last week, the highest weekly intake since early January, when inflows reached about $1.4 billion.
Friday saw $663.9 million in inflows, the strongest single-day performance of the week. Earlier gains included $411.5 million on Tuesday and $186 million on Wednesday, followed by a more modest $26 million on Thursday. The period began with a $291 million outflow on Monday.
Total net assets across spot Bitcoin ETFs climbed above $101 billion by Friday, alongside a sharp increase in trading activity, with daily volumes nearing $4.8 billion.
Worldcoin tanks 13% as World’s iris-scanning tech expands to Zoom, Docusign
Worldcoin fell 13.4% to roughly $0.28 on Friday as World, the identity-focused company led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, unveiled several new integrations for its “proof of human” stack, which uses iris-scanning technology to verify identities.
Video conferencing tool Zoom is integrating World’s Deep Face authentication to prevent deepfakes, while electronic signature platform Docusign is adding World’s ID verification tech to digital agreements, World said on Friday. Dating app Tinder is also expanding its World ID verification to US users.
“As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of real people, the infrastructure to prove a human stands behind each agent becomes critical,” World said.
No more deepfakes on video calls. @worldnetwork identify verification on @Zoom. pic.twitter.com/0ap0IOKR6H
— World (@worldnetwork) April 17, 2026
Alongside the surge in AI-generated content, deepfake technology has been used in increasingly sophisticated impersonation scams, helping fraudsters evade standard ID checks and deceive victims into handing over funds or sensitive data.
While biometric verification has been touted as a solution, critics warn that collecting data at scale raises privacy risks, particularly if controlled by a single company, and could lead to excessive surveillance if misused.
Worldcoin’s (WLD) double-digit fall to $0.28 came as the broader crypto market rose 2.2% on news of the US and Iran easing tensions and opening up the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.
WLD is the native cryptocurrency token of the World Network, used to reward users for verifying their unique identity and to enable transactions and participation within its ecosystem.
Kraken’s parent company to acquire Bitnomial
The parent company of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, Payward, announced on Friday that it will acquire Bitnomial, a US-licensed cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange.
Bitnomial has secured licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to offer exchange, clearinghouse and brokerage services, according to Payward’s announcement. Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said:
“Bitnomial spent a decade building it: crypto settlement, crypto collateral, continuous 24/7 markets. These are capabilities that cannot be retrofitted onto legacy systems. They have to be built natively.”
Payward said it plans to leverage Bitnomial’s CFTC-regulated infrastructure to offer crypto derivatives trading to US residents and integrations for its institutional clients, allowing them to offer crypto services to their own customers.
