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SEC waves white flag on OpenSea probe, CEO says ‘this is a win’

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is officially backing off its investigation into NFT marketplace OpenSea — yet another example of the crypto industry benefitting from loose regulations under the Trump administration.

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer shared the news late Friday. The announcement came on the heels of Coinbase’s announcement that the SEC was dropping its case against them.

“The SEC is closing its investigation into [Opensea]. This is a win for everyone who is creating and building in our space,” Finzer declared on X. “Trying to classify NFTs as securities would have been a step backward—one that misinterprets the law and slows innovation. Every creator, big or small, should be able to build freely without unnecessary barriers.”

Last August, Finzer revealed that OpenSea received a Wells notice warning of potential charges related to unregistered securities. OpenSea had vowed to fight back, and now, it seems the marketplace has come out on top.

Trump’s SEC: From crackdowns to crypto love letters

If all this sounds like a pattern, that’s because it is. President Donald Trump received millions in campaign contributions from the crypto industry heading into the 2024 elections, according to Bloomberg.

Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs banker turned regulatory bulldog, led the toughest crackdown the crypto industry has ever seen. Under his watch, the SEC came after everyone from industry titans like OpenSea, Coinbase and Ripple, the firm behind XRP.

Ripple and the SEC have been in a legal spat since 2020. The regulator accused Ripple Labs of selling unregistered securities, but Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP was not a security when sold to exchanges but determined that its institutional sales violated securities laws. She ordered Ripple to pay $125 million, significantly lower than the SEC’s initial $2 billion demand.

Both parties filed appeals, but the SEC may withdraw its case now that Trump nominated pro-crypto SEC commissioner Paul Atkins to be agency chair.

Essentially, the crypto crackdown under Gensler is now slowing down and the agency is taking a more laissez-faire approach, exemplified by the Coinbase and OpenSea announcements.

OpenSea’s SEA airdrop

Meanwhile, OpenSea isn’t just celebrating its SEC victory—it’s also throwing a party in the form of a SEA token airdrop. The OpenSea Foundation announced Thursday that it will reward active, loyal, and longtime users of its NFT marketplace and Seaport protocol with free tokens.

While details are still fuzzy on when the SEA token will actually launch, OpenSea traders are already rubbing their hands together at the thought of free digital loot. The company has also rolled out OS2, a new multi-chain trading platform.





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AI crypto tokens at risk as Nvidia faces restrictions on China exports

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AI-focused crypto tokens are seeing a dip as Nvidia, the top AI chipmaker fueling the space, could soon take a major financial hit due to new U.S. export restrictions.

In a filing on April 14, Nvidia said it expects around $5.5 billion in charges for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 because of U.S. government rules limiting its AI chip sales to China.

On April 9, officials told Nvidia it now needs special export licenses for its popular H20 chips and others with similar capabilities. The new restrictions target China, Hong Kong, and Macau, with the government warning that the chips could end up powering Chinese supercomputers.

The H20 chip is the most advanced AI chip Nvidia is currently allowed to sell in China under the earlier rules. It’s reportedly been used by Chinese AI startup DeepSeek to train models, something that has raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers.

Even though Nvidia said it plans to spend hundreds of millions over the next four years making some AI chips in the U.S., that hasn’t stopped the stock from sliding after its latest filing and the expected hit to future revenues. NVDA dropped 6.3% in after-hours trading on April 15 to $105.10, and it’s down about 16.45% so far this year.

Nvidia’s decline mirrors a wider pullback in tech as Trump’s tariff escalation rattles investor confidence across the sector. Other prominent tech stocks were also in the red, with Apple down 0.20% from the previous close to $202.14, Microsoft off 0.56% at $385.73, Alphabet sliding 1.71% to $156.31, and Amazon dropping 1.33% to $179.59.

Adding to Nvidia’s troubles, a “death cross” has formed on the 1-day NVDA/USD chart, a bearish technical signal where its 50-day moving average drops below the 200-day one. The last time this happened was in April 2022, and Nvidia’s stock plunged nearly 50% in the following six months.

AI crypto tokens at risk as Nvidia faces restrictions on China exports - 1
Nvidia’s 1-day price chart has formed a death cross | Source: TradingView

That’s got investors in AI crypto tokens on edge, as these tokens have often reacted to Nvidia-related news mostly due to the fact that Nvidia’s hardware plays a central role in powering the AI infrastructure that many of these projects rely on. 

For instance, in December, reports of China launching an antitrust probe into Nvidia caused the AI crypto token market cap to drop by over 14% in a single day. In the past, a surge in the Nvidia stock price has also resulted in bullish rallies for AI tokens.

Following Nvidia’s latest filing, the total market cap of AI-related tokens has fallen 3.7% in the past 24 hours, now sitting at around $20.1 billion. Trading volume also declined, signaling weaker demand.

Near Protocol (NEAR), the biggest AI crypto by market cap, slid 5.3% over the past day. Other major tokens like Internet Computer (ICP), Render (RENDER), Sei (SEI), Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), and Akash Network (AKT) also lost between 5% and 12%.



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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Indicator Flashing Bullish for First Time in 18 Weeks, Says Analyst Who Called May 2021 Crypto Collapse

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A crypto analyst who nailed the 2021 Bitcoin market meltdown says that a BTC indicator is suddenly flashing bullish.

Pseudonymous analyst Dave the Wave tells his 149,300 followers on the social media platform X that Bitcoin’s weekly logarithmic moving average convergence divergence (LMACD) histogram indicator is starting to strengthen, signaling a possible rally.

The LMACD histogram indicator is designed to signal changes in an asset’s trend, strength and momentum. Shrinking bars on the histogram suggest that an asset’s trend momentum is weakening. In Bitcoin’s case, the histogram’s declining red bars may indicate that a market reversal is in sight.

Says Dave the Wave,

“Bull markets climb a wall of worry. First strengthening histogram on the weekly BTC chart in 18 weeks/4.5 months. Weekly MACD itself has not been below the zero-line, in bear territory, since Feb 2023, i.e.; an ongoing bull market. People drop the ball when they ignore the technicals.”

Image
Source: Dave the Wave/X

Next up, he looks at the BTC/gold ratio, which is the value of Bitcoin relative to the price of gold. Based on the trader’s chart, he appears to suggest that the BTC/gold ratio may have topped out, indicating that Bitcoin may soon outperform gold.

Image
Source: Dave the Wave/X

Lastly, Dave the Wave shares a chart that shows BTC has been out of the “buy zone” of his logarithmic growth curve (LGC) since it was last trading around $40,000.

The LGC aims to forecast Bitcoin’s market cycle highs and lows while filtering out short-term volatility.

“Back when BTC was half the price that was the last time it hit the LGC ‘buy zone.’”

Image
Source: Dave the Wave/X

Bitcoin is trading for $84,459 at time of writing, flat on the day.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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3iQ and Figment to launch North America’s first Solana staking ETF

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3iQ Corp. has tapped Figment as the primary staking provider for its new Solana Staking ETF (TSX: SOLQ), which officially launches on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday at 9:30 AM EST.

The announcement represents the first product of its kind in North America to incorporate native Solana (SOL) staking rewards into an exchange-traded format.

SOLQ gives investors regulated, exchange-traded access to Solana’s native staking yield, traditionally reserved for crypto-native users who either run validator nodes or delegate tokens to existing validators, without the complexity of self-custody or direct protocol interaction.

Figment, a longtime Solana ecosystem player and one of its genesis validators, will handle staking operations on behalf of the ETF.

The company brings a robust infrastructure to the table: over $15 billion in assets staked across 40+ protocols, a perfect slashing prevention record, and a client base of over 700 institutional partners.

“By combining institutional-grade staking infrastructure with traditional investment vehicles, we’re making sustainable staking yields accessible to a new class of investors,” said Lorien Gabel, CEO and co-founder of Figment.

3iQ continues its push into staking ETFs

This move builds on 3iQ’s history of pioneering digital asset products in traditional markets. The firm previously launched the world’s first Ether Staking ETF in 2023, and the Bitcoin ETF (TSX: BTCQ), which became the first Bitcoin ETP to trade on a major global stock exchange.

“At 3iQ, we are proud to continue our tradition of innovation,” said 3iQ President and CEO Pascal St-Jean. “This product reinforces our commitment to aligning with top-tier partners who share our vision for unlocking the full value of the digital asset ecosystem.”



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