The growing adoption of cryptocurrencies may pose risks to the traditional financial system and exacerbate wealth inequality, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
In an April 15 report, the BIS warned that the number of investors and amount of capital in crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) have “reached a critical mass,” with investor protection becoming a “significant concern for regulators.”
The size of the crypto market signals that authorities should be worried about the “stability of crypto over and above the role it may have for TradFi and the real economy,” the report states, highlighting the role of stablecoins, which the BIS said have “become the means through which participants transfer value within crypto.”
The report calls for targeted stablecoin regulation on stability and reserve asset requirements that will guarantee the redemption of stablecoins for US dollars during “stressed market conditions.”
Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin payments
The report comes two weeks after the US House Financial Services Committee passed the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy, or STABLE Act, with a 32–17 vote on April 2.
The STABLE Act aims to create a clear regulatory framework for dollar-denominated payment stablecoins, emphasizing transparency and consumer protection.
On March 13, the GENIUS Act, short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 18–6. The act aims to establish collateralization guidelines and require full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws from stablecoin issuers.
Related: $400M Web3 investment fund ABCDE halts new investments, fundraising
Crypto may exacerbate wealth gap
The BIS also raised concerns about how crypto markets may worsen income inequality by enabling larger investors to capitalize on the emotions of less sophisticated retail participants, as seen during the FTX collapse in 2022.
“As prices tumbled in 2022, users actually traded more,” the BIS report noted. “Most disturbingly, large bitcoin holders (“whales”) were selling as ordinary retail investors (“krill”) were buying.” It added:
“This implies that the crypto market, which is often presented as an opportunity for inclusive growth and financial stability, can be a means for redistributing wealth from the poorer to the wealthier.”
The report concludes that DeFi and TradFi have similar underlying economic drivers, but DeFi’s “distinctive features,” like “smart contract and composability,” present new challenges that need proactive regulatory interventions to “safeguard financial stability, while fostering innovation.”
Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express
Volvo Cars took the wraps off new-for-2026 S90 plug-in hybrid, calling the big sedan the most elegant and comfortable 90 yet, promising nearly 50 miles (80 km) of all-electric range and a comprehensive suite of high-end technology and design updates … but if you’re reading this in English, you probably can’t have one.
The updated Volvo S90 is still blinking into the spotlight, but there are already reports that Volvo Cars has decided against bringing the slick new sedan to the US. And Canada. And the UK. And … you get the idea.
That’s too bad, too – because the SPA S90 has always been a comfortable and capable performer. Alas, sedans aren’t selling, you could get whiplash trying to keep track of all the tariff news these days, and Volvo (like a lot of companies in 2025, frankly), no longer needs the English-speaking world to keep it profitable.
“The S90 is a key part of our product portfolio for the coming years in some of our Asian markets,” says Erik Severinson, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Volvo Cars. “Together with the new fully electric ES90, the new S90 ensures we have a complete and attractive offering for customers who value safety and want to drive a large, sleek Volvo sedan.”
Invoking the electric-only ES90 EV is a key point here – and Volvo is pushing its marketing heavily into the idea that the PHEV version(s) of the face-lifted luxo-cruiser is “really” an EV, with press copy that reads:
As a plug-in hybrid, the new S90 is an electric car with a back-up plan. It offers 80 kilometers of fully electric range on a single charge under the WLTP testing cycle, while also providing more power when needed. This means that many S90 drivers will be able to do their daily commute with zero tailpipe emissions. Volvo Cars’ data shows that nearly half of the distance covered by the latest plug-in hybrid Volvo cars is powered purely by electricity.
There’s plenty to unpack there – not the least of which is whether or not the cars’ owners will ever actually plug them in. My personal experience with friends and neighbors who own T8/PHEV Volvos now would tell me that they’re more likely than, say, Jeep Wrangler 4xe owners to plug-in … but it hardly matters at this point.
The new S90 will be available to order for customers in China this summer, with selected other markets following later.
Check out some of the official press photos, below, then let us know whether or not you’ll miss seeing new S90s on English-speaking roads in the comments.
Volvo S90 photo gallery
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Cars.
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An unexpected shape formed when a graduate student accidentally blended oil, water and nickel. Scientists discovered that the shape-recovering liquid defied the laws of thermodynamics. Instead of minimising the interfacial area and turning into a sphere, the mixture of liquid took the shape of a Grecian urn. This research was conducted by a team led by a graduate student, Anthony Raykh, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; the findings were published on April 4 in the Journal Nature Physics.
The Accidental Discovery
As per the study, Raykh, a student of polymer science and engineering, was experimenting with a jumble of water, oil and nickel particles in a container. To create an emulsion, he shook the vial. The mixture didn’t get separated as it should have, instead, it formed the shape of a Grecian urn. Even after shaking the mixture multiple times, the liquid kept returning to this shape. Thomas Russell, a professor of polymer science and engineering, told Live Science that this is an odd behaviour of the particles. It is quite strange because such a mixture doesn’t blend, and it returns to the state of equilibrium.
A Challenge to Thermodynamics
The blend tends to reduce the line of separation or interfacial area between the two liquids before emulsion. The law of thermodynamics governs this tendency, showing how temperature, work, heat and energy relate to each other. The liquid generally forms spherical droplets, having a minimum surface area. In contrast to this, the Grecian urn has a higher surface area, contradicting the law of nature, baffling the scientists.
Magnetic Interactions Take Over
After the investigation of this strange behaviour of the particles, they found that the interactions between the particles of nickel “sort of took over” and defied the law of thermodynamics, Russell says. The magnetic poles of the particles attracted each other, making a chain on the surface of the liquid. This interaction intersects with the phenomenon of emulsion of the liquid. Russell told the researchers have examined the separation of the particles in an oil-water blend. But in contrast to this, Raykh had added nickel to the mixture, which nobody else did. Thus, none had observed the shape of the Grecian urn with higher interficial energy.
A Strange Case, Not a Violation
Initially, this seemed to challenge the law of thermodynamics, but Russell clarified that this is a strange behaviour of the particles due to the magnetic field. This magnetic field influenced a high interfacial energy, which resulted in the formation of a higher surface area shape.
Russell says the law of thermodynamics applies to the system as a whole and not just based on interactions between the individual particles.
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