Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
BNB Chain is the latest to jump on the memecoin bandwagon, offering a reward to entice developers to its blockchain. Memecoins are making this bull market “weird,” crypto watchers say. Meanwhile, Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly claimed he never thought his actions were illegal.
BNB Chain puts up $1 million reward to attract memecoin devs
Smart contract blockchain BNB Chain is attempting to attract memecoin developers amid the explosive growth of meme tokens within the crypto ecosystem.
BNB Chain said it is allocating up to $1 million to reward eligible developers deploying their memecoin projects in the network.
Interested developers can apply to participate in the network’s “Meme Innovation Campaign” and deploy their tokens on the network during the campaign period, which will last from April 10 to May 9.
Apart from BNB Chain, other blockchain networks have also started to encourage the development of memecoins within their ecosystems.
On March 22, the Avalanche Foundation continued its memecoin push by offering a $1 million reward for memecoin liquidity providers. Those who provide liquidity to selected memecoins are eligible to get a chunk of the rewards.
Memecoins make for a “weird” bull market
BTC $65,620 all-time high and a massive rush to memecoins before the Bitcoin halving is making this bull market the “weirdest” on record, say crypto industry analysts.
“I think most people would agree this bull market has been weird,” Chainlink community liaison Zach Rynes said in an April 1 X post. He explained past cycles saw funds flow to Bitcoin, then Ether
ETH $3,267, then other high-cap coins before moving to speculative tokens.
But this time, the market “skipped a couple of steps that we have seen with previous cycles,” with flows going from BTC straight to memecoins — with their total capitalization surging to $70 billion — which is “a bit unusual,” Rynes said.
Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano said after around a decade in crypto: “I can say with full confidence that this is, by far, the weirdest bull market crypto has ever had.”
Sassano added that retail traders are not invested in crypto “in any meaningful way” right now and believed “these isolated sector-specific pumps” are crypto natives moving around a ”hot ball of money.”
SBF speaks out after sentencing
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried responded to questioning following his 25-year prison sentence last week, stating: “I never thought what I was doing was illegal.”
ABC News reported the FTX co-founder responded to questions via email from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he has been held since last August.
“I’m haunted, every day, by what was lost. I never intended to hurt anyone or take anyone’s money,” Bankman-Fried said.
He blamed “bad decisions” for the collapse of FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research but claimed he never acted selfishly.
Following last week’s verdict, Bankman-Fried is expected to remain in federal prison until the age of 57 but has said he will appeal. Judge Lewis Kaplan compared Bankman-Fried to a “thief” and said his attempts to pursue crypto regulation was “an act.”
