The iris scanning crypto project Worldcoin has now made it possible for even unverified customers to reserve their Worldcoin tokens (WLD).
In an announcement on Aug. 11, the Worldcoi n project noted that the World app now offers a reservations feature to make it easier for everyone to reserve their WLD tokens before verifying their World ID. The reservation will be valid for 12 months and users can redeem their reserved world tokens by visiting the iris scanning device called Orb.
The Worldcoin project consists of three key elements: the Worldcoin ID, the Worldcoin App and the Worldcoin token (WLD). Users who are willing to scan their iris to create a biometric data-based ID system are rewarded with native WLD tokens. The iris scanning device is called Orb.
The global digital ID crypto project Worldcoin launched on July 24 after three years of development. The project promises to create a global database for humans to differentiate it from the bots in the future. The project’s claim is based on the fact that in future the artificial intelligence (AI) will become so prominent that it would become difficult to differentiate real humans from bots on the internet and the World ID would become a default ID system for humans to get access to various services.
Related: Worldcoin rebuts reports of lacklustre takeup as Altman cites Japan queues
The project has made some bold claims and proposes to solve a utopian problem, resulting in a comparison with sci-fi shows like Black Mirror. However, the project is already facing multiple investigations and regulatory troubles for its operations. The project was first suspended in Kenya over its data collection methodology. The government of Kenya is specifically concerned with Worldcoin collecting crucial identification information like iris scans in exchange for a digital ID.
Apart from suspension in Kenya, the project is also facing regulatory action in Argentina and UK. While the project on-boarded over 2 million customers before its public launch, the response from the customers after the launch has been lacklustre. The creators didn’t reveal the actual number of users that have claimed their WLD tokens while claiming that the response has been very encouraging with long queues.
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Magazine: Experts want to give AI human ‘souls’ so they don’t kill us all
Trump kills DeFi broker rule in major crypto win: Finance Redefined, April 4–11
In a significant win for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, US President Donald Trump overturned the Internal Revenue Service’s DeFi broker rule, which would have expanded existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms.
Increasing US crypto regulatory clarity will attract more tech giants to the space, requiring existing crypto projects to focus on more collaborative tokenomics to survive, according to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule
Trump signed a joint congressional resolution overturning a Biden administration-era rule that would have required DeFi protocols to report transactions to the Internal Revenue Service.
Set to take effect in 2027, the IRS DeFi broker rule would have expanded the tax authority’s existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms, requiring them to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.
Trump formally killed the measure by signing off on the resolution on April 10, marking the first time a crypto bill has been signed into US law, Representative Mike Carey, who backed the bill, said in a statement.
“The DeFi Broker Rule needlessly hindered American innovation, infringed on the privacy of everyday Americans, and was set to overwhelm the IRS with an overflow of new filings that it doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle during tax season,” he said.
Crypto needs collaborative tokenomics against tech giants — Hoskinson
The next generation of cryptocurrency projects must embrace a more collaborative approach to compete with major centralized tech companies entering the Web3 space, according to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, Hoskinson said one of the main criticisms of the crypto and DeFi space is its “circular economy,” which often means that the rally of a specific cryptocurrency is bolstered by funds exiting another token, limiting the growth of the whole industry.
Hoskinsin said that to have a chance against the centralized technology giants joining the Web3 industry, cryptocurrency projects need more collaborative tokenomics and market structure.
Hoskinson on stage at Paris Blockchain Week. Source: Cointelegraph
“The problem right now, with the way we’ve done things in the cryptocurrency space, is the tokenomics and the market structure are intrinsically adversarial. It’s sum 0,” said Hoskinson. “Instead of picking a fight, what you have to do is you have to find tokenomics and market structure that allows you to be in a cooperative equilibrium.”
He argued that the current environment often sees one crypto project’s growth come at the expense of another rather than contributing to the sector’s overall health. He added that this is not sustainable in the face of trillion-dollar firms like Apple, Google and Microsoft, which may soon join the Web3 race amid clearer US regulations.
Bitcoin’s 24/7 liquidity: Double-edged sword during global market turmoil
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are often praised for offering around-the-clock trading access, but that constant availability may have contributed to a steep sell-off over the weekend following the latest US trade tariff announcement.
Unlike stocks and traditional financial instruments, Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies enable payments and trading opportunities 24/7 thanks to the accessibility of blockchain technology.
After a record-breaking $5 trillion was wiped from the S&P 500 over two days — the worst drop on record — Bitcoin remained above the $82,000 support level. But by Sunday, the asset had plummeted to under $75,000.
Sunday’s correction may have occurred due to Bitcoin being the only large tradable asset over the weekend, according to Lucas Outumuro, head of research at crypto intelligence platform IntoTheBlock.
“There was a bit of optimism last week that Bitcoin might be uncorrelating and fairing better than traditional stocks, but the [correction] did accelerate over the weekend,” Outumuro said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, adding:
“There’s very little people can sell on a Sunday because most markets are closed. That also enables the correlation because people are panicking and Bitcoin is the largest asset they can sell over the weekend.”
Outumuro noted that Bitcoin’s weekend trading can also have upside effects, as prices often rally in calmer conditions.
Bybit recovers market share to 7% after $1.4 billion hack
Bybit’s market share rebounded to pre-hack levels following a $1.4 billion exploit in February, as the crypto exchange implemented tighter security and improved liquidity options for retail traders.
The crypto industry was rocked by the largest hack in its history on Feb. 21, when Bybit lost over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and other digital assets.
Despite the scale of the exploit, Bybit has steadily regained market share, according to an April 9 report by crypto analytics firm Block Scholes.
“Since this initial decline, Bybit has steadily regained market share as it works to repair sentiment and as volumes return to the exchange,” the report stated.
Block Scholes said Bybit’s proportional share rose from a post-hack low of 4% to about 7%, reflecting a strong and stable recovery in spot market activity and trading volumes.
Bybit’s spot volume market share as a proportion of the market share of the top 20 CEXs. Source: Block Scholes
The hack occurred amid a “broader trend of macro de-risking that began prior to the event,” which signaled that Bybit’s initial decline in trading volume was not solely due to the exploit.
Nearly 400,000 FTX users risk losing $2.5 billion in repayments
Almost 400,000 creditors of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX risk missing out on $2.5 billion in repayments after failing to begin the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.
About 392,000 FTX creditors have failed to complete or at least take the first steps of the mandatory Know Your Customer verification, according to an April 2 court filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
FTX users originally had until March 3 to begin the verification process to collect their claims.
“If a holder of a claim listed on Schedule 1 attached thereto did not commence the KYC submission process with respect to such claim on or prior to March 3, 2025, at 4:00 pm (ET) (the “KYC Commencing Deadline”), 2 such claim shall be disallowed and expunged in its entirety,” the filing states.
FTX court filing. Source: Bloomberglaw.com
The KYC deadline has since been extended to June 1, giving users another chance to verify their identity and claim eligibility. Those who fail to meet the new deadline may have their claims permanently disqualified.
According to the court documents, claims under $50,000 may account for about $655 million in disallowed repayments, while claims over $50,000 could amount to $1.9 billion, bringing the total at-risk funds to more than $2.5 billion.
DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red.
The EOS (EOS) token fell over 23%, marking the week’s biggest decline in the top 100, followed by the Near Protocol (NEAR) token, down over 19% on the weekly chart.
Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.
Politics
This is a remarkable step by the government – and Donald Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part
When the sun sets on Scunthorpe this Saturday, the town’s steelworks will likely have a new boss – Jonathan Reynolds.
The law that parliament will almost certainly approve this weekend hands the business secretary the powers to direct staff at British Steel, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the blast furnaces at the plant open.
This is not full nationalisation.
But it is an extraordinary step.
The Chinese firm Jingye will – on paper – remain the owner of British Steel.
But the UK state will insert itself into the corporate set-up to legally override the wishes of the multinational company.
A form of martial law invoked and applied to private enterprise.
That will come at a cost to the taxpayer.
Follow latest: Live politics updates
No number has been specified, but there are wages to pay and orders to make at a site estimated to already be losing £700,000 a day.
There is also clear frustration in government at how the Chinese owners have engaged in negotiations around modernising the Scunthorpe site.
“Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process”, said the business secretary in his department’s official announcement about the new laws.
Time is so tight because of the nature of the steel-making process.
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Inside the UK’s last blast furnaces
Once switched off, blast furnaces are very hard to turn back on.
If this had happened in Scunthorpe – as seemed likely in a matter of days – then it would have been game over.
This move keeps the show on the road and opens up more time for talks over the long-term future of the plant.
While the official line in Whitehall is that “all options are on the table”, nationalisation seems increasingly likely.
That would need more legislation, if it was done – as seems likely – without the approval of the current owner.
Finding an alternative commercial partner has not been ruled out, but one is not waiting in the wings either.
As for what that long-term future looks like, with just five years of life left in the Scunthorpe blast furnaces, modernisation is inevitable.
Port Talbot’s plant saw its blast furnaces closed last year amid a switch to the more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces and a loss of thousands of jobs.
A general view shows British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant.
Pic Reuters
Political figures in Wales are now questioning why nationalisation wasn’t on the table for this site.
The response from government is that the deal was done by the previous Tory administration and the owners of the South Wales site agreed to the terms.
But there is also a sense that this decision over British Steel is being shaped by the domestic and international political context.
Labour came to power promising to revitalise left-behind communities and inject a sense of pride back into places still reeling from the loss of traditional industry.
With that in mind, it would be politically intolerable to see the UK’s last two blast furnaces closed and thousands of jobs lost in a relatively deprived part of the country.
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One of the two blast furnaces at British Steel’s Scunthorpe operation
Reform UK’s position of pushing for full and immediate nationalisation is also relevant, given the party is in electoral pursuit of Labour in many parts of the country where decline in manufacturing has been felt most acutely.
The geo-political situation is perhaps more pressing though.
Just look at the strength of the prime minister’s language in his Downing Street address – “our economic and national security are all on the line”.
The government’s reaction to the turmoil caused by President Donald Trump’s pronouncements on tariffs and security has been to emphasise the need to increase domestic resilience in both business and defence.
Becoming the only G7 nation unable to produce virgin steel at a time when globalisation appears to be in retreat hardly fits with that narrative.
It would also present serious practical questions about the ability of the UK to produce steel for defence and the broader switch to green energy production.
Then there is the intriguing subplot around US-China trade.
While this decision is separate from discussions with the White House on tariffs, one can imagine how a UK move to wrestle control of a site of national importance from its Chinese owner might go down with a US president currently engaged in a fierce trade war with Beijing.
This is a remarkable step from the government, but it is more a punctuation mark than a full answer.
The tension between manufacturing and decarbonisation remains, as do the challenges presented by a global economy appearing to fragment significantly.
But one thing is for sure.
As a political parable about changes to traditional industry and the challenges of globalisation, the saga of British Steel is hard to beat.
Opinion by: Billy Campana, contract developer, Api3
Speculation is a cornerstone of price discovery for traditional finance institutions like hedge funds and major banks and plays an essential role in their day-to-day operations. It is the mechanism by which they can establish reliable valuations for everything, ranging from simple stocks and bonds to complex derivatives and structured products.
While decentralized finance (DeFi) is often criticized for its speculative “casino” nature, this is, in reality, one of its strengths: making practices like arbitrage more accessible to everyone and empowering individuals to participate in opportunities once out of reach
DeFi’s volatility
Critics have highlighted DeFi’s extreme volatility, a concern exemplified by Ether’s (ETH) recent 15% price drop that triggered over $100 million in long position liquidations. These dramatic market movements continually test market resilience and investor confidence in the ecosystem.
The accusations that DeFi platforms function essentially as gambling venues persist throughout the industry. Such criticisms have gained further traction following several high-profile memecoin crashes that collectively erased over $46 billion in market value, revealing the systemic vulnerabilities that speculative activities can introduce to the broader ecosystem.
Additionally, the recent Bybit hack spotlighted the major security concerns, exposing critical vulnerabilities within DeFi infrastructure and triggering intense scrutiny of the sector’s security protocols. These systemic risks have only escalated institutional skepticism, resulting in increasingly vocal calls for greater transparency and comprehensive regulatory oversight.
Simultaneously, the media narrative surrounding DeFi remains overwhelmingly focused on its spectacular failures, growing institutional skepticism and persistent market instability. This one-sided portrayal continues challenging DeFi’s credibility as a serious financial ecosystem capable of responsible innovation.
Evening the playing field
Critics consistently miss that DeFi democratizes the same speculative mechanisms that traditional finance has always employed for price discovery. The fundamental difference is that Wall Street gatekeepers no longer control who benefits from these opportunities.
While traditional finance has historically restricted arbitrage opportunities to institutional players with privileged access, DeFi effectively removes these gatekeepers, allowing anyone with an internet connection to participate in the price discovery process that hedge funds and banks have monopolized for decades.
Smart contracts have revolutionized financial operations that once required privileged access and teams of highly paid professionals. Smart contracts effectively break down the artificial barriers that have systematically kept ordinary people out of sophisticated markets.
Recent: Bitwise makes first institutional DeFi allocation
Leading financial institutions increasingly recognize this paradigm shift, with established businesses progressively adopting DeFi mechanisms to automate transactions and enhance operational efficiency. Institutional adoption validates speculation as a legitimate financial practice rather than dismissing it as mere gambling.
An arbitrage utopia
This unprecedented democratization manifests concretely in decentralized lending platforms that enable automated market makers (AMMs), enabling anyone to provide liquidity and earn fees previously reserved exclusively for institutional market makers with significant capital reserves.
With unprecedented data transparency across blockchain networks, even uncollateralized crypto loans can enable capital-efficient arbitrage opportunities spanning multiple blockchain ecosystems without requiring the millions in upfront collateral that traditional finance demands from participants.
As institutional involvement continues to grow and regulatory frameworks gradually mature, these speculative mechanisms steadily evolve toward the same legitimacy traditional finance instruments enjoy. This evolution reveals that speculation itself was never the problem — the exclusionary access to its benefits was.
The practical execution of this democratized speculation includes cross-exchange arbitrage through DeFi aggregators, crosschain bridges that naturally equalize asset prices across different blockchains and automated liquidation mechanisms that maintain system solvency.
All these components serve the same fundamental purpose as traditional financial instruments but with radically expanded access for participants worldwide.
As institutional investors and traditional financial markets return their gaze to the industry, with increased involvement from regulatory bodies and political figures in the US, DeFi must remember its core value proposition.
The actual value of DeFi is not in recreating the current structures that allow the powerful to benefit from methods that regular people don’t have access to but in making these opaque systems transparent and open to everyone.
Rather than apologizing for speculation, the industry should embrace and refine it as its revolutionary tool — one that brings financial opportunities to billions systematically excluded from traditional markets.
Innovation in DeFi isn’t just technological; it is also social, creating a financial system where opportunity isn’t determined by privilege but by insight, creativity and willingness to participate. The future belongs not to those who can eliminate speculation but to those who can make it fair, transparent and accessible to all.
Opinion by: Billy Campana, contract developer, Api3
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
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