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

Bybit Learn

Crypto

If you've been keeping up with the crypto space, chances are, you've heard of token burning. Read this article to find out what it is and why it's needed.

Maintaining the value of an asset can be difficult to accomplish. When it comes to cryptocurrency, many people worry about the high number of coins in circulation and the oversupply of coins that dilutes their value. This has led to several innovative ways to incentivize investors and help maintain a coin’s value.

Burning cryptocurrency is a popular method of boosting the value of a coin or token. Essentially, token burning removes coins from circulation, permanently decreasing the overall supply of the cryptocurrency. This helps to increase scarcity and raise the value of each remaining coin, which is crucial for coins that can be mined quickly.

Token burning means removing coins from the overall supply of a cryptocurrency. This typically involves sending the coins or tokens to a wallet with no known private keys. This wallet can only receive assets, thus effectively making them inaccessible.

While burning a small portion of coins can help maintain the value of a cryptocurrency, the token burning process is often a community effort. Occasionally, substantial token holders or persons with a large social media following will encourage a community burn. When everyone burns a small number of their holdings simultaneously, it can make a notable difference in the overall number of coins in circulation — and, therefore, in a coin’s value.

In other cases, token burning happens steadily over time. Many users don’t even notice it. For example, 

 burns a small percentage of Ether during each transaction. This adds up over time, which can increase the coin’s value as supply steadily decreases.

Cryptocurrencies generally have specific instructions and processes in place for burning tokens. The most common burn mechanism involves sending tokens to an unusable wallet address, effectively taking them out of circulation. Technically, therefore, all a user needs to do in order to burn coins is send them to a wallet with an invalid 

Some cryptocurrency projects establish their own token burn mechanisms. For example, in April 2022, Shiba Inu released an easy-to-use burn portal. By working with Ryoshis Visiondevelopers, Shiba Inu offers rewards to anyone using the burn portal to destroy SHIB tokens.

Other cryptocurrencies use a burn function to destroy assets. Binance Coin has a burn function that any cryptocurrency holder can execute simply by stating how many coins in their wallet they’d like to destroy. A 

 first checks to see if the holder has the coins available in their wallet, and then subtracts them. Binance Coin then automatically updates the total number of coins in circulation.

Keep in mind that any coins burned will be permanently removed from your account — and there’s no way to return them. Before you execute a burn function or send tokens to a null address, double-check to make sure that all of the amounts and information you’ve specified are correct.

In other cases, the token burning process is automatic. For example, some networks burn a small portion of cryptocurrency during mining, or as a transaction fee.

There are several reasons why cryptocurrency holders burn coins and tokens. As technology continues to expand, people are finding more innovative ways to utilize burning. Here are a few examples of how token burning can be used.

Proof of burn (PoB) is a consensus mechanism that verifies and validates a transaction. This algorithm enables miners to burn coins effectively with no energy waste. PoB can be verified using a blockchain explorer if needed.

PoB has several practical uses. It’s primarily used to prevent fraud by automatically verifying each transaction. It also maintains miners’ ability to mine new coins, as several cryptocurrencies require miners to burn coins first in order to mine new blocks.

Typically, token burning aims to reduce the overall supply of a cryptocurrency, thus raising demand. Theoretically, prices will rise if demand is high and token supply is low.

Another possible reason coin prices can increase after a burn is publicity. Many large token burns are community-driven. In some cases, these token burns are coordinated through social media. At other times, an investor will intentionally burn a large portion of the tokens in circulation and post about it on social media. This can raise awareness of the cryptocurrency, further increasing demand and raising the price per token.

Keeping a network efficient can be difficult. Every time a new token is created it reduces mining speed. This gives many early miners an unfair advantage over new users. Token burning grants miners the right to mine new tokens. Rather than burning one token when mining first begins, the process is spread out and, consequently, more proportionate.

In some cases, miners don’t need to burn the same token they’re mining. Because proof of burn is customizable, networks can offer a variety of rewards to miners. This encourages healthy network activity.

Token burning can impact a token’s value and price. Ultimately, the goal is to create a balance between supply and demand. Although it may not be the main factor causing a significant shift in token price, removing a number of tokens from circulation creates scarcity and potentially increases the value of the remaining tokens. This ensures that demand for the token remains the same or increases.

It’s essential to note that plenty of other factors can influence a token’s price movement, including market sentiment, project fundamentals, overall market conditions, investor perception, political changes and more. Token burning isn’t a guaranteed price appreciation strategy. In most cases, however, there’s a correlation between scheduled token burns and price volatility.

Overall, while token burning can impact coin prices, it’s just one factor among many that can influence the dynamics of the cryptocurrency market.

While destroying coins and tokens may seem counterproductive, there are several reasons why users burn their crypto.

Maintaining the Value of Coins for Investors

The goal of token burning is to stabilize prices and boost confidence among investors. When demand remains steady, decreasing the overall supply of a coin can lead to higher prices. By burning cryptocurrency regularly or with each transaction, many altcoins can steadily increase demand over time.

Behind some of the most popular altcoins are great communities. Successful blockchain projects tend to have several participants advancing them, and numerous investors actively using them. Large community-driven token-burning initiatives can inspire others to invest or become involved with a project.

Before you start burning tokens, there are several things to consider. If you aren’t burning coins to gain mining rights, you need to consider how token burning affects your portfolio. If the token burning is automatic, consider how often you’ll make cryptocurrency transactions. The way in which a cryptocurrency handles token burning can also influence your investment choices.

In order to burn tokens, you first need to own them. Once the token burn is completed, the tokens are permanently removed from your wallet. That means you no longer own those assets, even if the price per token skyrockets afterward. With some coins valued at well under a penny, this could lead to regret later, especially if you’re burning thousands of tokens at a time.

Before you burn tokens, consider the cryptocurrency’s current and expected value. Identify all of the factors that impact the coin’s price. Then, carefully think about how much you want to burn. Remember that you can’t undo a transaction once it’s completed.

Large Amounts Are Needed to Make an Impact

One of the biggest cons of token burning is that small amounts won’t greatly impact price. For example, there are over 

 (SHIB) coins currently in circulation. Burning a few thousand $SHIB wouldn’t affect the overall supply. However, the community has burned more than 263 billion $SHIB since October 2021, roughly 0.05% of the total circulating supply.

Any cryptocurrency can be burned. For example, an estimated 4 million bitcoins have been burned or lost. Other cryptocurrencies have adopted regular token burning into their strategies.

In 2021, Ethereum (ETH) introduced the EIP-1159 upgrade, restructured the fee model and began burning Ether with each transaction. 

Ethereum will transition its existing token model to a deflationary crypto asset. Over 3.4 million ETH have been burned using this controlled, steady method, which grows daily. The change in its protocol entails that a fraction of each transaction fee or gas fee will be burned on every successful transaction on the Ethereum blockchain network. Currently, the estimated 

 is about 1.63 ETH per minute in (24h) as of July 11, 2023.

 (SHIB) is often in the headlines for initiating large token burns. One way investors are encouraged to burn coins is via the burn portal, which was introduced in April 2022. However, Shiba Inu began making headlines for token burning long before that. About one year after the coin was launched, its creators sent Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin 50% of the total SHIB supply. In response, Buterin 

 (BNB) is known for its Auto-Burn and the Pioneer Burn program. This strategy automatically reduces the number of total coins in circulation each quarter. The first BNB Auto-Burn was in October 2017, when 0.49% of the total supply was destroyed. Because each coin-burning event is automatic, and is based on price and the number of new blocks created on BNB Smart Chain (BSC), investors don’t need to worry about too large a portion of the supply being burned at once.

In addition to the Auto-Burn, Binance Coin (BNB) burns a portion of the gas fees associated with each transaction on the BNB Smart Chain. BNB burns take place once every quarter, and they just completed their 23rd quarterly BNB burn of 2023 in April, with a total of 

Sweat Coin is one of the first blockchains to let its community decide whether to burn tokens or not through decentralized governance votes. In April’s governance vote, Sweat Coin introduced a scheduled 100 million tokens for distribution and burning. Over 150,000 SWEAT token holders voted, with 59.487% opting for token distribution and 40.513% for token burning, translating to over 59 million tokens being distributed and more than 40 million being burned.

Token burning isn’t essential in order for a cryptocurrency to function. However, as discussed above, regularly burning tokens helps maintain a balance between supply and demand. Investors may focus on the impact coin burning can have on the value of a token, and miners may find coin burning necessary in order to mine new tokens on a network effectively.

While there’s no guarantee that coin burning will increase a cryptocurrency’s prices, it can be a helpful tool for maintaining value and incentivizing investors. 

If you invest in a cryptocurrency, examine its burn strategy to see if it aligns with your own goals. Whether you plan on manually burning coins or using a coin that automatically burns portions of its supply, always have a clear idea of what you’re investing in.

Token Burning: What Does Burning Crypto Mean?

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Token Burning: What Does Burning Crypto Mean?

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