Trump kills DeFi broker rule in major crypto win: Finance Redefined
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.
Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, recently said that he expects a crypto market bill to be passed into law by August 2025.
The chairman also noted the Senate Banking Committee’s advancement of the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory bill, in March 2025, as evidence that the committee prioritizes crypto policy. In a statement to Fox News, Scott said:
“We must innovate before we regulate — allowing innovation in the digital asset space to happen here at home is critical to American economic dominance across the globe.”
Scott’s timeline for a crypto market structure bill lines up with expectations from Kristin Smith, CEO of the crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association, of market structure and stablecoin legislation being passed into law by August.
The Trump administration has emphasized that comprehensive crypto regulations are central to its plans for protecting the value of the US dollar and establishing the country as a global leader in digital assets by attracting investment into US-based crypto firms.
Senator Tim Scott highlights the Senate Banking Committee’s goals and accomplishments in 2025. Source: Fox News
Related: Atkins becomes next SEC chair: What’s next for the crypto industry
Support for comprehensive crypto regulations is bipartisan
US lawmakers and officials expect clear crypto policies to be established and signed into law sometime in 2025 with bipartisan support from Congress.
Speaking at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, on March 18, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna said he expects both the market structure and stablecoin bills to pass this year.
The Democrat lawmaker added that there are about 70-80 other representatives in the party who understand the importance of passing clear digital asset regulations in the United States.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, pictured left, President Donald Trump in the center, and crypto czar David Sacks, pictured right, at the White House Crypto Summit. Source: The White House
Khanna emphasized that fellow Democrats support dollar-pegged stablecoins due to the role of dollar tokens in expanding demand for the US dollar worldwide through the internet.
Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, also spoke at the conference and predicted that stablecoin legislation would be passed into law within 60 days.
Hines highlighted that establishing US dominance in the digital asset space is a goal with widespread bipartisan support in Washington DC.
Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025
The US Social Security Administration (SSA) will move all public communications to the X social media platform amid sweeping workforce cuts recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner Elon Musk.
According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, the government agency will no longer issue its customary letters and press releases to communicate changes to the public, instead relying on X as its primary form of public-facing communication.
The shift comes as the SSA downsizes its workforce from 57,000 employees to roughly 50,000 to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The agency issued this statement in February 2025:
“SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient.”
Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has accused the Social Security system of distributing billions of dollars in wrongful payments, a claim echoed by the White House. Musk’s comments sparked intense debate about the future of the retirement program and sustainable government spending.
Source: Elon Musk
Related: Musk says he found ‘magic money computers’ printing money ‘out of thin air’
DOGE targets US government agencies in efficiency push
The Department of Government Efficiency is an unofficial government agency tasked with identifying and curbing allegedly wasteful public spending through budget and personnel cuts.
In March, DOGE began probing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and gained access to its internal systems, including data repositories.
SEC officials signaled their cooperation with DOGE and said the regulatory agency would work closely with it to provide any relevant information requested.
Musk and Trump discuss curbing public spending and eliminating government waste. Source: The White house
DOGE also proposed slashing the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) workforce by 20%. The workforce reduction could impact up to 6,800 IRS employees and be implemented by May 15 — exactly one month after 2024 federal taxes are due.
Musk’s and the DOGE’s proposals for sweeping spending cuts are not limited to slashing budgets and reducing the size of the federal workforce.
DOGE is reportedly exploring blockchain to curb public spending by placing the entire government budget onchain to promote accountability and transparency.
Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
United States President Donald Trump has exempted an array of tech products including, smartphones, chips, computers, and select electronics from tariffs, giving the tech industry a much-needed respite from trade pressures.
According to the US Customs and Border Protection, storage cards, modems, diodes, semiconductors, and other electronics were also excluded from the ongoing trade tariffs.
“Large-cap technology companies will ultimately come out ahead when this is all said and done,” The Kobeissi letter wrote in an April 12 X post.
US Customs and Border Protection announces tariff exemptions on select tech products. Source: US Customs and Border Protection
The tariff relief will take the pressure off of tech stocks, which were one of the biggest casualties of the trade war. Crypto markets are correlated with tech stocks and could also rally as risk appetite increases on positive trade war headlines.
Following news of the tariff exemptions, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke past $85,000 on April 12, a signal that crypto markets are already responding to the latest macroeconomic development.
Related: Billionaire investor would ‘not be surprised’ if Trump postpones tariffs
Markets hinge on Trump’s every word during macroeconomic uncertainty
President Trump walked back the sweeping tariff policies on April 9 by initiating a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs and lowering tariff rates to 10% for countries that did not respond with counter-tariffs on US goods.
Bitcoin surged by 9% and the S&P 500 surged by over 10% on the same day that Trump issued the tariff pause.
Macroeconomic trader Raoul Pal said the tariff policies were a negotiation tool to establish a US-China trade deal and characterized the US administration’s trade rhetoric as “posturing.”
Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that exempting select tech products from import tariffs would not reduce bond yields or further the Trump administration’s goal of lowering interest rates.
Yield on the 10-year US government bond spikes following sweeping trade policies from the Trump administration. Source: TradingView
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury Bond shot up to a local high of approximately 4.5% on April 11 as bond investors reacted to the macroeconomic uncertainty of a protracted trade war.
“The concession just given to China for tech exports won’t reverse the trend of rates going higher. Confidence in US bonds and the US Dollar has been eroding for years and won’t stop now,” Keiser wrote on April 12.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
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