Uncategorized
Cointelegraph’s Q1 crypto editorial roundtable
The year 2025 kicked off with a bang and a meme. Just weeks into the New Year, a frenzy of politically fueled memecoins sent Crypto Twitter into overdrive, while lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic turned up the heat on stablecoins, securities laws and tokenized assets, usually with different approaches.
It was a whirlwind first quarter, shaped by Bitcoin’s dominance in the crypto market and a US political climate that put digital assets back in the spotlight. Q1 delivered no shortage of storylines.
Who better to break it all down than the journalists tracking it in real time? In the latest episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph, editorial team members sit down for an unfiltered newsroom roundtable.
Savannah Fortis, head of podcasts and EU reporter, is joined by Gareth Jenkinson, chief of multimedia; Zoltan Vardai, breaking news reporter on the EU news team; and Vince Quill, US news reporter, to reflect on Q1’s biggest stories and what they signal for the months ahead. As memecoins surged in early 2025, questions regarding their legitimacy and political entanglement intensified. For Cointelegraph’s editorial team, the frenzy wasn’t just a market quirk, it revealed deep tensions among innovation, opportunism and influence. Jenkinson was first to comment on what the impact of US President Donald Trump and greater political memecoin frenzies may mean for the industry in the long term, saying, “I struggle to still trust what the Trump administration and his group of advisers are doing, when they are launching things like memecoins…” “Yes, we’ve seen a much more favorable approach to the wider crypto industry, and that’s been really great. But a lot of the lobbying, from Ripple, Circle and others, was about making sure their cryptocurrencies were included in this bundle of assets the US wants to hold.” Related: Bitcoin may hit a wall at $84K if bullish conditions don’t pick up: CryptoQuant The team acknowledged that while regulatory clarity and institutional support have created a more stable environment for crypto companies in general since the new administration took office, that progress risks being overshadowed by spectacle. Trump’s big moves seem to domino into other political figures, namely Argentina’s President Javier Milei, to become entangled in a high-profile memecoin controversy that rippled far beyond national politics. For an industry seeking legitimacy, this kind of involvement by world leaders sends a mixed message. “It’s terrible for the industry,” Jenkinson added. “Milei was supposed to be a savior for Argentina after years of hyperinflation. And now he’s launching a memecoin with a known rug puller.” Still, the roundtable remained hopeful. “I’m an eternal optimist,” he continued. “At least we got the affirmation for Bitcoin. People now understand what it is, governments are starting to hold it. That’s how good the fundamentals are.” While much attention has centered on Bitcoin’s institutional glow-up and the memecoin spectacle, several members of the Cointelegraph team voiced deeper concerns around emerging stablecoin legislation and the quiet moves behind it. “One thing that I think kind of flew under the radar is that the Trump-linked World Liberty Forum actually launched a US dollar-backed stablecoin in March,” Vardai pointed out. “These stablecoins would fall completely in line with both requirements in the Genius Act and Stable Act… but it could really be interpreted as Trump trying to pass stablecoin legislation while having a vested interest. His World Liberty Financial is launching a lot of crypto-related products.” The fallout from politically aligned memecoins has also weighed heavily on the broader crypto markets, particularly altcoins. “Altcoins aren’t really winning at all this quarter,” Vardai also noted. “Memecoins have had this premature rally, and they’ve been rallying independently from other cryptocurrencies. A lot of people are concerned whether Bitcoin’s rise is going to come before Ether’s, and before any altcoin rise.” So what defined Q1 of 2025? Tune in to the full episode to hear all of the insights! Listen to the full episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph on Cointelegraph’s podcast page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your podcast platform of choice. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! Magazine: Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging research Manta Network co-founder Kenny Li says he was targeted by a highly sophisticated phishing attack on Zoom that used live recordings of familiar people in an attempt to have him download malware. The meeting seemed real with the impersonated person’s camera on, but the lack of sound and a suspicious prompt to download a script raised red flags, Li said in an April 17 X post. “I could see their legit faces. Everything looked very real. But I couldn’t hear them. It said my Zoom needs an update. But it asked me to download a script file. I immediately left.” Li then asked the impersonator to verify themselves over a Telegram call, however, they didn’t comply and proceeded to erase all messages and block him soon after. Li believes the North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group was behind the attack. The Manta Network co-founder managed to screenshot his conversation with the attacker before the messages were deleted, where Li initially suggested moving the call over to Google Meet instead. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Li said he believes the live shots used in the video call were taken from past recordings of real team members. “It didn’t seem AI-generated. The quality looked like what a typical webcam quality looks like.” Li confirmed that the real person’s accounts had been compromised by the Lazarus Group. Li advised other members of the crypto community to always be aware of anything they’re asked to download out of the blue. “The biggest red flag will always be a downloadable. Whether it’s in the form of an update, an attachment, app, or anything else, if you need to download something in order to continue something with the person on the other side, don’t do it.” The Manta executive acknowledged that it could easily fool a crypto executive accustomed to being bombarded with messages and accepting sudden meeting requests. “These are hacks that play to your emotional connection and potentially mental fatigue.” Li wasn’t the only to be targeted by the hackers in recent days. “They also asked me to download Zoom via their link, and said that it’s only for their business. Even though I actually have Zoom on my computer, I couldn’t use it,” a member of ContributionDAO said. Related: Lazarus Group’s 2024 pause was repositioning for $1.4B Bybit hack “They claimed it had to be a business version that they had registered. When I requested to switch to Google Meet instead, they refused.” Crypto researcher and X user “Meekdonald” said a friend of theirs fell victim to the exact same strategy that Li avoided. Magazine: Meet the hackers who can help get your crypto life savings back Prime brokerage Hidden Road, which was recently acquired by Ripple for $1.25 billion, has secured a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — a move that enhances its capacity in the fixed-income markets. As a FINRA broker-dealer, Hidden Road can further develop its fixed-income prime brokerage services and extend its capabilities in traditional markets, the company announced on April 17. This includes offering institutional clients regulatory-compliant clearing and financing services across fixed-income securities. Membership in FINRA is considered a significant commitment to compliance and investor protection. It also boosts registrants’ credibility in the eyes of investment bankers, according to Telos Capital Advisors, a Dallas-based investment bank. Hidden Road operates a prime brokerage and credit network, clearing more than $10 billion in daily transactions on behalf of more than 300 institutional clients. When it was founded in 2018, Hidden Road focused mainly on foreign exchange markets before expanding into digital assets. These strengths positioned Hidden Road as an attractive acquisition for blockchain payments network Ripple, which ultimately purchased the company on April 8. Ripple’s chief technology officer, David Schwartz, described the acquisition as a “defining moment for the XRP Ledger” by expanding the settlement layer’s use cases across traditional financial markets. Under Ripple, Hidden Road will “exponentially expand its capacity to service its pipeline and become the largest non-bank prime broker globally,” said CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Related: US to get its first XRP-based ETF, launching on NYSE Arca Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road comes on the heels of a favorable regulatory backdrop in the United States following the election of President Donald Trump. In January, Ripple secured money transmitter licenses in both Texas and New York, allowing the company to facilitate capital transfers within those states. Two months later, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped its lawsuit against Ripple, ending one of crypto’s longest legal battles and positioning the company to once again focus on expansion. At the time, crypto lawyer John Deaton said the decision is the “final exclamation point that [XRP tokens] are considered digital commodities, not securities.” The SEC is about to get a pro-crypto Chair after Paul Atkins’ nomination was approved by the US Senate on April 9. Once he’s sworn in, Atkins will take the reins from Mark Yueda, who has served as Acting Chair since Jan. 20. Related: Court grants 60-day pause of SEC, Ripple appeals case Bybit is shutting down more of its Web3 services after axing its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace earlier in April. According to an April 16 announcement, the exchange is shutting down its Cloud Wallet (a hosted custodial wallet), Keyless Wallet (non‑custodial multiparty computation wallet with no seed phrase), NFT marketplace, multi‑chain decentralized exchange (DEX) DEX Pro and the Swap & Bridge cross‑chain swap widget on May 31. On April 28, Bybit will also discontinue Web3 Points, its internal loyalty program that rewarded onchain activity with redeemable points for fee discounts, airdrop boosts and early-bird perks. On the same day, the exchange will shut down its inscription marketplace, the decentralized NFT marketplace NFT Pro, the gateway to the Apex Pro derivatives DEX, its fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, and its initial DEX offering service. Related: Bybit recovers market share to 7% after $1.4B hack Bybit announced its intention to shut down its NFT marketplace earlier this month. The decision follows a similar decision by major NFT marketplace X2Y2. Still, the firm is not just cutting products. Recent reports indicate that Bybit has integrated the Bitcoin (BTC) yield product of lending protocol Avalon to offer Bitcoin yield to its users. Avalon said it will allow the platform’s users to earn yield from Bitcoin by arbitrating on its fixed-rate institutional borrowing layer. Bybit recently denied claims that it charges $1.4 million to list a token on its platform, following allegations made by a social media user. Related: BitMEX CEO explains how perpetual swaps test altcoin value Bybit said it is shutting down the services in order to focus on the quality of its core products. The announcement reads: “In line with our commitment to the evolving onchain ecosystem and delivering high-quality services to our Web3 users, we will be optimizing our current Web3 product and service offerings.“ These apparent cost-cutting efforts by the company follow Bybit’s loss of about $1.4 billion in a major hack in February. “Bybit is Solvent even if this hack loss is not recovered, all of the client’s assets are 1 to 1 backed — we can cover the loss.“ Bybit had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment by publication. Magazine: Your AI’ digital twin’ can take meetings and comfort your loved ones Arthur Hayes, Murad’s Prediction For Meme Coins, AI & DeFi Coins For 2025 Expert Sees Bitcoin Dipping To $50K While Bullish Signs Persist Aptos Leverages Chainlink To Enhance Scalability and Data Access 3 Voting Polls Show Why Ripple’s XRP Price Could Hit $10 Soon Bitcoin Could Rally to $80,000 on the Eve of US Elections Crypto’s Big Trump Gamble Is Risky Sonic Now ‘Golden Standard’ of Layer-2s After Scaling Transactions to 16,000+ per Second, Says Andre Cronje Institutional Investors Go All In on Crypto as 57% Plan to Boost Allocations as Bull Run Heats Up, Sygnum Survey RevealsMemecoins, power and perception
More memes…
Stablecoins and the altcoin fallout
Source link 
Beware of being asked to download anything, says Li
Other members of the crypto community share similar stories
Source link 
Positive regulatory backdrop supports Ripple expansion
Source link 
A strategic pivot
Bybit refocusing its efforts
Source link 
Kyrgyzstan President Brings CBDC a Step Closer to Reality
Manta founder details attempted Zoom hack by Lazarus that used very real ‘legit faces’
Ethereum Price Fights for Momentum—Traders Watch Key Resistance
Corporate Bitcoin Holdings Hit Record High In Q1 2025 As Public Companies Accelerate Accumulation
‘Big Short’ Investor Steve Eisman Derisks, Says Stock Market Volatility Will Be Here for a While
Dow drops over 500 points as UnitedHealth tanks, Fed tensions weigh on markets
Gold Is Still the Safe-Haven King, While Bitcoin Loses Out: JP Morgan
Dogecoin Price Breakout in view as Analyst Predicts $5.6 high
Bitcoin (BTC) Price in Standstill at $85K as Trump Increases Pressure on Fed’s Powell
Ripple acquisition Hidden Road secures FINRA registration
Ethereum Whales Offload 143,000 ETH In One Week – More Selling Ahead?
How Do We Protect Bitcoin From Quantum Computers? Not With A Joke
OKX Goes Live In The US After Setting Up New Headquarters in San Jose, California
Stanford’s AI research lab to use Theta EdgeCloud for LLM model studies
Central African Republic Solana Meme Coin Jumps as President Fuels Rumors of Revival
Arthur Hayes, Murad’s Prediction For Meme Coins, AI & DeFi Coins For 2025
Expert Sees Bitcoin Dipping To $50K While Bullish Signs Persist
Aptos Leverages Chainlink To Enhance Scalability and Data Access
3 Voting Polls Show Why Ripple’s XRP Price Could Hit $10 Soon
Bitcoin Could Rally to $80,000 on the Eve of US Elections
Crypto’s Big Trump Gamble Is Risky
Sonic Now ‘Golden Standard’ of Layer-2s After Scaling Transactions to 16,000+ per Second, Says Andre Cronje
Institutional Investors Go All In on Crypto as 57% Plan to Boost Allocations as Bull Run Heats Up, Sygnum Survey Reveals
Ripple-SEC Case Ends, But These 3 Rivals Could Jump 500x
The Future of Bitcoin: Scaling, Institutional Adoption, and Strategic Reserves with Rich Rines
Has The Bitcoin Price Already Peaked?
A16z-backed Espresso announces mainnet launch of core product
Xmas Altcoin Rally Insights by BNM Agent I
Blockchain groups challenge new broker reporting rule
I’m Grateful for Trump’s Embrace of Bitcoin
