FTX considers reboot, Ethereum’s fork goes live and OpenAI news

Top Stories This Week

Ethereum’s Shapella hard fork executed on mainnet

The Ethereum blockchain’s mainnet, also referred to as the Beacon Chain, implemented the Shapella hard fork on April 12. The upgrade made fund withdrawals possible for those who have staked the network’s Ether (ETH) asset. Within the first hour of the hard fork, a total of 12,859 Ether were unlocked in 4,333 withdrawals, according to Ethereum block explorer beaconchai.in. Nearly a day after the upgrade, ETH surpassed the $2,000 price point.

FTX has recovered $7.3B in assets, will consider rebooting exchange

A comeback for FTX is on the table, according to the legal team of the bankrupted crypto exchange. In an April 12 hearing, FTX’s lawyers said the company had already recovered about $7.3 billion in liquid assets and was considering restarting its crypto exchange operations in the second quarter of 2024, suggesting a reboot as early as April. After the news broke, FTX token (FTT) surged over 112%. Meanwhile in Europe, a Swiss court approved the sale of the firm’s European operations.

OpenAI finds fresh support from Japan amid global country-wide bans

Japan is interested in potentially using technology from artificial intelligence (AI) outfit OpenAI — the creator of chatbot ChatGPT — depending on the resolution of issues relating to cybersecurity and privacy. The interest was expressed by Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, aims to work with Japan to build technology for the country. OpenAI has faced opposition from multiple countries, however. The artificial intelligence race has also accelerated this week with Amazon, Alibaba and Twitter working on their own AI initiatives.

Twitter to launch crypto and stock trading in partnership with eToro

Twitter is reportedly planning to introduce a new feature that lets users trade cryptocurrencies and stocks. The feature will allow users to browse market charts for a wider variety of financial instruments, as well as purchase or sell crypto and other assets through Twitter’s partner fintech firm, eToro. Musk had earlier floated the idea of making Twitter a “super app,” offering users access to several online services in one place.

Mastercard launches NFT-gated musician accelerator program

Mastercard is one of several traditional finance companies that have ventured into the Web3 arena in recent years. Most recently, on April 12, the company announced its new artist accelerator program with a Web3 twist: The program is NFT-gated and, therefore, only accessible to holders of its Mastercard Music Pass NFT. The NFT is limited-edition and free until the end of the month for both musicians and fans, while the program was created in partnership with Polygon.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,439, Ether (ETH) at $2,105 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.28 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Injective (INJ) at 54.92%, WOO Network (WOO) at 46.91% and Arbitrum (ARB) at 42.04%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Enjin Coin (ENJ) at -6.49%, Basic Attention Token (BAT) at -2.89% and BitTorrent New (BTT) at -1.19%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If we want a strong U.S. dollar globally, a U.S. dollar stablecoin is a way to see that happen.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation

“Bitcoin is a gambling token, and it doesn’t have any intrinsic value.”

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

“There is a very natural tendency to borrow traditional financial industry regulations to apply to crypto. Crypto is different from banks and traditional financial industries.”

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance

“[NFT warranties] will provide a sense of security and trust,…