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

Explainers

Metaverse

Altcoins

Virtua (TVK) is a metaverse environment dedicated to gaming and supporting gamers’ digital lives.

, an immersive digital world underpinned by blockchain, VR and AR technologies, is currently among the hottest topics in the crypto industry. A number of platforms, mainly in the gaming and NFT spheres, have risen to dominate this space. These include gaming environments like 

 (ILV), metaverse giants that are typically focused on one main game — although some platforms, e.g., 

, allow you to create your own custom games as well.

Virtua (TVK) is a major metaverse undertaking with a completely different approach: it’s a blockchain-based 3D digital world that acts as a comprehensive hub for all things related to crypto gaming. These include a variety of games, 

, NFT-based characters, gamer lounges, diverse land spaces and more. In short, Virtua provides an environment for users to play games, socialize and live their digital lives wholly immersed in a world of gaming.

 (TVK) is a metaverse environment dedicated to gaming and supporting gamers’ digital lives. In the Virtua Metaverse, users can play games, trade game assets as NFTs, purchase land plots, interact with animated characters and socialize with each other.

One of the earlier projects dedicated to providing a metaverse experience, Virtua was founded in 2017, initially under the brand name Terra Virtua, by a gaming industry veteran, Gary Bracey, and a technology entrepreneur, Jawad Ashraf. In June 2022, the platform was rebranded to Virtua, and in late 2023, the project team announced plans for 

 to Vanar (VANRY). The new brand and token names will be used once the platform launches its own 

Initially, Virtua focused on the NFT space. However, the platform has expanded significantly over the years. It now offers virtually everything a metaverse gamer might need — games, socialization lounges, special characters as NFTs, a variety of crypto land plots and more.

Among the special characters available on Virtua in the form of NFTs, the most popular are humanoid creatures called VFLECTs. When you first create an account on Virtua, you get a free non-NFT VFLECT to use as your avatar.

Virtua Prime, the first “planet” launched in the Virtua Metaverse, is where all the current activity on the platform happens. It’s divided into six regions where virtual islands — with different themes or purposes — are located. The regions and islands of Virtua Prime are as follows:

Some regions are already populated and have activity in them, but the majority still await their dwellers. The populated islands are in Region 1, where the platform’s main island, Virtua Island, is located, and Region 2, home to 

 Island. We’ll take a closer look at these two islands in the following sections. 

This is the primary island on the planet and home to the multidimensional Virtua Hub, which connects all the islands of Virtua Prime. The island also hosts digital land plots in four different sizes — Small, Medium, Large and Giga — and is divided into three City Zones and five Edge Zones, each of which has a few thousand individual plots that users can purchase.

The island also features thematic Experience Zones, areas dedicated to some industry or activity such as gaming, fashion, automotive and more.

Virtua Island also hosts the Monster Zone, an area where intimidating massive monster creatures roam. Land plots bordering the Monster Zone are some of the most expensive and prestigious on Virtua Island. Evidently, the island dwellers are brave folk!

A key part of Virtua Island is Virtua Hub, the beating heart of the entire planet. This is a multidimensional space that acts as a central portal for Virtua users. It provides links to NFT marketplaces, games, socialization areas and all the islands on the planet. The hub helps users navigate Virtua’s massive and complex environment. It also hosts the VFLECT Zone (where the abovementioned VFLECT creatures hang out), the Information Hub, NFT Showrooms, NFT trade zones and a lounge dedicated to esports fans.

Cardano Island is the first crypto island on Virtua. In early 2023, the Cardano (ADA) blockchain was 

, and Cardano enthusiasts can now have their own unique user experience on a separate island.

Cardano Island is home to Cardano HQ, the central point of navigation for the island residents; Cardano Academy, where users can access educational material and meetup opportunities; three Cardano Towers, with up to 1,000 condos per tower for purchase; and 12,999 land plots.

The Virtua Metaverse features a large variety of different NFTs. VFLECTs, land plots, condos in towers, resources on islands and many more asset types are all represented as NFTs on the platform. Virtua’s NFT Marketplace is the key area where these assets are traded.

VFLECTs are humanoid creatures that serve as a main NFT type on Virtua. There’s a variety of VFLECT configurations, and Virtua has partnered with many external brands and projects to create themed VFLECTs. For example, one of the VFLECT varieties is the Purgatori VFLECT, based on the famous Purgatori comic book character.

VFLECTs are roaming around in Virtua and are among the most actively traded NFT varieties on the platform’s marketplace.

Guardians are another type of NFTs in the Virtua world. There are 999 Guardian NFTs in total. They’re described as protectors of Virtua, whose task is to defend the space from monsters. As with VFLECTS, you’ll often bump into them when spending time in the Virtua Metaverse.

Players can receive Guardian NFTs for free by clearing Level 50 in the Season Pass game. Note that a single player can only claim one Guardian for free. If you hope to own more than one Guardian, you'll have to purchase them in the market.

Virtua’s land plots are also traded as NFTs. Land plot prices differ, depending upon the island and zone, with places closer to the Monster Zone on Virtua Island trading at a premium. Virtua Island has 55,000 plots, in addition to 10 vast Giga Plots across its eight zones.

Each land plot may have various NFT-based items, introducing a dynamic element to life on the plot. For instance, there are small Loot Boxes that occasionally appear on plots, and can be opened for a surprise; and Relics, mysterious items that can alter the land plot’s properties. In total, over 10 item types might be available on a land plot, and the availability of each type depends upon the size of the land piece you own.

Creatures, land plots and items that belong to the Virtua Metaverse aren’t the only NFT types on the platform. The marketplace also supports independent digital artwork creators, who can mint NFTs that represent their unique artwork and list them on the marketplace for sale.

Buying land plots or owning VFLECTs is a lot of fun — but true gamers always appreciate the opportunity to play actual games. The 

 is the part of the platform where it all happens. An important element of the network is the Gamers Lounge, where you can access exclusive gaming content and play games for crypto and NFT rewards.

Outside of the exclusive lounge, Virtua has made available a selection of HTML5 games, as well as its flagship mobile game, 

 — a fun environment in which you go on a space run, overcoming obstacles and challenges along the way.

TVK is Virtua’s native cryptocurrency, which you can use to purchase land plots in the Virtua Metaverse. You can also stake TVK in Virtua’s Prestige Club to earn a host of rewards and benefits, such as exclusive NFT 

, TVK bonuses and a variety of collectibles. The Prestige Club membership has four levels — Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The minimum required to join as a member is 5,000 TVK (around $240) for the Bronze Prestige Tier Level, and up to 125,000 TVK (around $6,000) for Platinum.

TVK can also be earned by completing quests and winning competitions. The token also has 

 functionality. By staking your TVK funds, you can participate in voting on the future direction of the Virtua Metaverse. Staking for governance voting is different from staking in the Prestige Club. For governance staking, users need to lock at least 50,000 TVK (around $2,400) to be eligible for voting. The more tokens you stake, the more voting power you have.

TVK is a supply-capped token. Its total and maximum supply stands at 1.2 billion, with nearly all of that amount in circulation.

As of Dec 1, 2023, TVK is trading at $0.0478, around 96% lower than its all-time high of $1.21 on May 15, 2021, and 169% higher than its all-time low of $0.01767 on Sep 13, 2023.

Long-term forecasts for TVK are all bullish, with PricePrediction 

 $0.136 in 2025 and $0.907 in 2030, and DigitalCoinPrice 

Is Virtua Kolect (TVK) a Good Investment?

Operating in the booming niche of the metaverse, Virtua and its TVK token show great promise. TVK acts as a multi-function token with vast utility within the Virtua Metaverse. TVK, or its planned future replacement, VANRY, will experience solid growth as the Virtua platform develops and expands. Multiple factors point to TVK’s great investment outlook:

TVK will certainly capitalize on these opportunities to put up some solid notches on the price chart. Nevertheless, even though TVK may show potential for growth, the volatile nature of 

 and analysis before considering any investment.

 Spot pair in the Innovation Zone. If you’re a gaming or metaverse enthusiast, you can’t miss out on TVK! Note that tokens listed in the 

 may be vulnerable to volatile price swings.

Many of the large metaverse platforms launched so far have been criticized — even ridiculed — for their visually underwhelming user experiences that fall short of the true metaverse. Virtua is different. Its vast, complex environment comes close to the rich graphics that deserve the metaverse badge.

And for gamers, Virtua is a rare platform that offers a comprehensive digital living and playing experience. Playing games, buying land plots or condos, socializing with other gamers, nurturing your VFLECTs, trading NFTs and winning collectibles — all this is offered within the Virtua Metaverse. What more could a gamer ask for?

Virtua (TVK): The Ultimate Metaverse Playground

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