The Babylon Foundation, an entity tied to the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon, released tokenomic details for its BABY token Thursday—and revealed an airdrop for early users.

The Foundation will provide 6% or 600 million BABY, the Babylon Genesis Network’s native governance token, to five reward groups and early supporters as part of its airdrop. The vast majority of tokens (585 million) set aside for the airdrop campaign will be provided to those who have staked Bitcoin with Babylon. 

“Tokens will be directly transferred to the registered BABY address upon Babylon Genesis launch,” the Babylon Foundation posted on X (formerly Twitter). “No claims needed.”

The largest allocation, 335 million BABY tokens, is for those who participated in Babylon’s Base Phase-1 staking, the locking up of native Bitcoin tokens via Babylon which took place across multiple instances called “caps.” 

The protocol launched three total caps of Bitcoin staking, the first of which was held to just 1,000 Bitcoin and led to a major spike in transaction fees as users rushed to be among the first to stake their Bitcoin ahead of anticipated rewards.

Another 200 million BABY is earmarked for users that transition their Phase-1 stakes to Phase-2. Two smaller buckets—of 30 million and 5 million BABY, respectively—will be provided to Pioneer Pass NFT holders and Github contributors.

BABY was first revealed in February, and users were able to create and register a BABY address and connect it to their Bitcoin staking wallet. At the launch of the Babylon Genesis Network, users will automatically receive their airdropped BABY tokens. 

Users who have participated in Babylon staking, but have not registered their address, can still do so if they transition their stakes to Phase-2. Other social and wallet campaign airdrops for BABY are also planned by the Foundation.

Babylon Genesis is a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain that is secured by Bitcoin, meaning it uses Bitcoin staking to secure and provide liquidity to the network. The network will utilize a “dual-staking” model, allowing users to stake both BTC and BABY tokens. 

Babylon previously raised more than $70 million to make Bitcoin the “backbone of proof-of-stake systems”—in other words, making it possible to use the leading crypto asset to help secure proof-of-stake chains like Ethereum or Solana.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Bitcoin could soon find a place on state balance sheets, with Alabama and Minnesota both pressing ahead with legislative frameworks for state Bitcoin reserves.

In Minnesota, House File 2946, also called the Minnesota Bitcoin Act, introduced by Rep. B. Olson (R-MN) on Tuesday, would allow the state to invest in Bitcoin directly. Its Senate counterpart, SF 2661, was introduced earlier in March.

The identical bills seek to authorize the State Board of Investment to allocate public funds into Bitcoin, marking a direct acknowledgment of the digital asset’s long-term financial potential.

Meanwhile in Alabama, Senate Bill 283, filed this week by Sen. April Weaver (R-AL)is a companion to House Bill 482, introduced earlier in March.

Though neither bill explicitly names Bitcoin, the legislation limits eligibility to digital assets with a market capitalization of at least $750 billion.

Currently, only Bitcoin meets that threshold, effectively making it the sole qualifying asset under the proposed framework.

If the proposals pass, they would take effect on October 1, 2025 in Alabama and January 1, 2026 in Minnesota.

Both states are embracing a legislative tactic commonly used to fast-track approval: introducing identical bills in both chambers.

HF 2946/SF 2661 would allow the state to not only invest in Bitcoin but also accept it for tax payments and government transactions.

The bill amends more than a dozen statutes to incorporate crypto, including tax codes, pension plans, and investment rules.

The Alabama legislation also outlines digital assets must be held directly by the treasurer, by a qualified custodian, or via exchange-traded products, and cannot exceed 10% of any state fund.

U.S. state Bitcoin reserve proposals

The proposals follow a wider trend of state-level efforts across the U.S. to explore the world’s largest crypto as a strategic reserve asset.

While some states, including Wyoming, Montana, and Pennsylvania, have recently paused or withdrawn their Bitcoin reserve plans, the momentum remains strong elsewhere.

South Carolina recently introduced a bill to allow its treasurer to allocate up to 10% of certain state funds into digital assets—starting with Bitcoin.

Oklahoma’s House Bill 1203, which allows for crypto asset reserves, passed overwhelmingly and is pending Senate review. Texas passed Senate Bill 21 to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve and is awaiting gubernatorial approval.

Arizona and Utah have introduced their own frameworks, although Utah’s reserve language was dropped during revisions.

Bitcoin reserve tracker Bitcoin Law’s data shows that 47 state-level Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced in 26 states, 41 of which are currently live.

Sentiment around the passing of a state Bitcoin reserve proposal appears to have turned negative, however. Users of MYRIAD, the decentralized prediction market launched by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN, overwhelmingly predicted that no state would implement such a reserve, in a market that closed at the end of March.

In February, North Korean hackers broke headlines with what is now regarded as the largest single hack in crypto history.

The Lazarus Group stole at least $1.4 billion from Bybit and later funneled those funds to crypto mixers.

“Someone had pulled off the biggest hack in [crypto] history, and we had a front-row seat,” Samczsun, Research Partner at Paradigm, recalled in a blog post.

The researcher said they witnessed the theft in real-time and collaborated with Bybit to confirm the unauthorized access.

Samczsun was working with SEAL 911, an emergency response unit affiliated with the Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to securing decentralized systems.

But these attacks aren’t all just about the Lazarus Group. There’s more to North Korea’s cyber offensives than previously thought.

There’s a misconception about how to “classify and name” the group’s operations.

While the term “Lazarus Group” is “colloquially acceptable,” discussing how the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) runs its cyber operations on the offensive needs more rigor, Samczsun claimed.

Lazarus Group has become the preferred term by the media when describing DPRK cyberactivity. Cybersecurity researchers “created more precise designations” to show which ones are working on specific activities, they added.

A hacking bureau

The DPRK’s hacking ecosystem operates under the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), which houses several distinct groups: AppleJeus, APT38, DangerousPassword, and TraderTraito

These groups operate with specific targeting methodologies and technical capabilities.

TraderTraitor, identified as the most sophisticated DPRK actor targeting the crypto industry, focuses on exchanges with large reserves and employs advanced techniques, successfully compromising Axie Infinity through fake job offers and manipulating WazirX.

AppleJeus specializes in complex supply chain attacks, including the 2023 3CX hack that potentially affected 12 million users.

Dangerous Password, meanwhile, conducts lower-end social engineering through phishing emails and malicious messaging on platforms like Telegram.

Another subgroup, APT38, spun out of Lazarus in 2016 and focused on financial crimes. It first targeted traditional banks before shifting attention to crypto platforms.

In 2018, the OFAC first mentioned “North Korean IT workers,” which in 2023 were identified by researchers as “Contagious Interview” and “Wagemole,” operating through schemes where the threat actors either pose as recruiters or attempt to get hired by target companies.

There’s still hope

While the DPRK has shown its ability to deploy zero-day attacks, there have been “no recorded or known incidents” of it deploying directly against the crypto industry, Samczsun said.

The researcher urged crypto companies to implement basic security practices such as least privilege access, two-factor authentication, and device segregation. If preventive measures fail, connecting with security groups like SEAL 911 and the FBI’s DPRK unit would also be helpful.

“DPRK hackers are an ever-growing threat against our industry, and we can’t defeat an enemy that we don’t know or understand,” Samczsun wrote.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair