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4 May 2026, 17:05

Ripple (XRP) Makes Important Security Announcement Regarding North Korea

The cryptocurrency industry has long been a victim of hacks, many of which have been attributed to North Korean bad actors, including some of the latest major ones, such as the Drift Protocol exploit. Several big names have sought to enhance industry standards and security protocols, and Ripple is the latest to join. Here’s how. Ripple to Share Intelligence The X post from the company begins by arguing that ‘the strongest security posture in crypto is a shared one.’ Ripple believes a threat actor who has failed a background check at a certain company will apply to three more entities that same week, which is why every firm starts from zero without shared intelligence. Ripple has decided to start sharing exclusive threat intelligence with members of the Crypto ISAC – a collaborative security network designed to protect the digital asset ecosystem. The statement from both entities said that such sensitive data has never been shared at this level before. It includes fraud-linked crypto wallets, malicious domains, and Active Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) tied to North Korean campaigns. However, the two parties added that ‘it goes deeper’ as, instead of raw data, Ripple will provide context-rich profiles, including LinkedIn accounts, emails, phone numbers, and behavior patterns, as it attempts to turn fragmented clues into actionable intelligence. The strongest security posture in crypto is a shared one. A threat actor who fails a background check at one company will apply to three more that same week. Without shared intelligence, every company starts from zero. Ripple is now contributing exclusive DPRK threat… https://t.co/ZiXD25iOBx — Ripple (@Ripple) May 4, 2026 ISAC’s Infrastructure Crypto ISAC has launched a new API that has already been adopted by industry giants like Coinbase to make this intelligence usable in real time. It allows companies to integrate threat data directly into their security systems, detect attackers faster, and coordinate responses across the industry. “Crypto ISAC’s newly updated API represents a meaningful step forward in how intelligence is shared across the ecosystem. As an early adopter, we’ve been working closely with Crypto ISAC to onboard and operationalize new data sources in a way that aligns with our internal workflows. The result is higher-quality, more actionable intelligence that we can integrate directly into our security operations,” commented Erin Plante, Director of Brand Security and Intelligence at Ripple. The post Ripple (XRP) Makes Important Security Announcement Regarding North Korea appeared first on CryptoPotato .

4 May 2026, 17:00

Flexline deep dive: the rate-sensitive trader

TL;DR Traders with open positions sometimes need liquidity , but closing a working position to raise capital isn’t always the right move Flexline lets you borrow against your holdings without closing your positions, so the capital becomes available and the position stays intact Fixed rate, known upfront : you know your borrowing cost before you commit Rates: 10–25% APR (fixed) . Terms: 2 days to 2 years . Customizable LTV Most traders think carefully about entry and exit. Fewer think about what happens when a position is open and they need capital for something else: another opportunity, a short-term cost, something that won’t wait. The instinct is to close something. But closing a position that’s still working isn’t always the right call. This post is for the trader who has active positions, needs liquidity, and doesn’t want to unwind what’s already working to get it. The position that’s working Alex has been on Kraken Pro for two years. He has several active positions, some running for weeks, others for months. He’s not trading to close quickly. He builds positions around a thesis and lets them run. The problem he keeps running into is liquidity. His capital is deployed in positions that are working. When a new opportunity appears, or when he needs cash for something outside the portfolio, the obvious move is to close something. But closing a position mid-thesis to raise capital is a trade he didn’t want to make. What he needed was a way to access liquidity without the positions themselves being part of the equation. Not closing them, not restructuring them: just borrowing against what he holds, at a fixed cost he can plan around, while everything else stays open. “The market doesn’t wait for you to close a position. Flexline means I don’t have to.” Flexline lets Alex borrow against his existing holdings, BTC, ETH, or any of the 48 supported assets, at a fixed rate, for a defined term. The positions he’s built stay open. The capital becomes available. He can deploy it into a new opportunity, cover a short-term cost, or hold it as a buffer: whatever the situation requires. The rate is fixed for the full term. He knows what borrowing costs before he commits. He can choose a term that fits the timeline, two days to two years, and size the loan to what he actually needs. Keeping both Alex spots a new opportunity while two existing positions are running. The capital he’d need is tied up in those positions. The options are: close one of the running positions, pass on the opportunity, or find another way. With Flexline, he borrows against his holdings at a fixed rate for a defined term. He doesn’t close either running position. The capital is there. The existing positions stay intact. He can pursue the new opportunity on the same basis he would have if his capital wasn’t already deployed. The borrowing cost is fixed and known before he commits. He chooses the term to match the timeline: shorter if he expects to repay quickly, longer if he needs more runway. Either way, nothing he’s already built gets touched. The positions stay. The capital moves. What Flexline has changed for Alex is the decision he used to face whenever he needed capital and his portfolio was fully deployed. That decision, which position to close, how much to give up, what the timing cost would be, is no longer the only path. He borrows against what he holds, at a rate he agreed upfront, for a term that fits his situation. The positions run. The capital works. The cost is known from day one. Why Flexline fits: Positions stay open: borrow against your holdings without closing what’s already working Customizable LTV: control how much you’re borrowing relative to your collateral Core holdings preserved as collateral : long-term positions stay intact while you deploy capital elsewhere Terms from 2 days to 2 years : match the term to your timeline; shorter terms carry lower rates What to think about before you borrow Flexline is a term loan, not a trading position. Once the loan is open, the rate is fixed for the term. You can repay early, but an early repayment fee applies. Think about the term length before you commit. LTV and liquidation. If the value of your collateral falls to the liquidation threshold, your collateral can be liquidated to repay the loan. Kraken shows you where that threshold sits before you borrow. Factor it into your position sizing. Sell vs. borrow. Flexline makes sense when you want to keep your positions intact and can service the loan cost. If the borrowing cost outweighs the value of holding the position, selling may still be the better option. The decision depends on your specific situation. Check your Flexline borrowing power The post Flexline deep dive: the rate-sensitive trader appeared first on Kraken Blog .

4 May 2026, 16:50

Bitmine’s Ethereum stash grows to 5.18M after fresh buy

Bitmine Immersion Technologies purchased 101,745 Ethereum during the period from May 3, 2026. The total number of Ethereum purchased stood at 5,180,131 ETH, accounting for 4.29% of the total circulating Ether supply that amounted to 120.7 million tokens. This information was announced by the company on May 4, 2026. This purchase raised the company’s position up to 86% of their “Alchemy of 5%” target. Bitmine’s Ethereum accumulation strategy has run for 10 months Bitmine launched its dedicated Ethereum treasury program on June 30, 2025, with initial large purchases executed in early July of that year. In the first 35 days of the program, the company scaled from zero ETH to more than 833,000 tokens. UPDATE: @BitMNR bought 101,745 ETH in 7 days They now own 5.18 MILLION coins That's 4.29% of ALL @ethereum in existence pic.twitter.com/G1uXTLsCUW — Cryptopolitan (@CPOfficialtx) May 4, 2026 Prior to that, Bitmine had entered crypto in June 2025 with purchases totaling approximately 254 BTC. The real directional change came in July 2025 when Bitmine executed three major ETH purchases totaling more than 566,000 tokens. From that point, weekly buying started through market drawdowns and sideways periods. Over ten months, the company scaled from zero to more than 5 million ETH. As of May 3, 2026, Bitmine’s holdings include 5,180,131 ETH, 200 Bitcoin , a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, an $83 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and total cash of $700 million. The combined total across crypto, cash, and these strategic stakes reaches $13.1 billion. Staking operations generate $297 million in annualized revenue Bitmine has staked 4,362,757 ETH, valued at $10.2 billion at current prices, across its MAVAN platform and staking partners. That staked figure is 84% of total holdings. The company’s own staking operations generated a 7-day annualized yield of 2.91%, producing $297 million in annualized staking revenue. MAVAN, the Made in American VAlidator Network, was originally built to support Bitmine’s own treasury but is expanding to serve institutional investors, custodians, and ecosystem partners. The company has stated that it has staked more ETH than any other entity in the world. Bitmine’s Ethereum holdings now at 4.29% of total supply Bitmine has the ETH position of 5,180,131 ETH which equates to 4.29% of the total circulation of 120.7 million ETH tokens. This company needs approximately 843,000 more ETH to achieve the 5% goal. According to the weekly rate of acquisitions of 101,000-102,000 ETH, it will take about two months for Bitmine to achieve this level. Bitmine is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker BMNR after having undergone the uplisting process from the NYSE American exchange on April 9, 2026. The company averages daily trading volume of around $625 million, ranking as the 173rd highest-traded stocks in the USA. Institutional backers include ARK’s Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken, DCG, Galaxy Digital, and personal investor Thomas Lee. There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance .

4 May 2026, 16:10

South Korea's crypto exchanges push back on proposed escalation of AML rules

South Korea’s 27 registered crypto operators filed a joint objection on April 29 against proposed anti-money-laundering rules. The proposed rules would force them to report every transaction above 10 million won (roughly $7,000) to the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit. Exchanges reject proposed anti-money-laundering rules The Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA), which represents the five major Korean exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, along with 22 smaller licensed operators, submitted a formal objection to the proposed anti-money laundering rules through the Korea Legislation Research Institute’s public comment portal. South Korea’s primary anti-money laundering (AML) law, the Specific Financial Information Act, currently requires crypto operators to file suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) only when they have reasonable grounds to suspect illicit activity. The amendment would treat all transactions above 10 million won (about $6,800) as inherently suspicious. DAXA estimates the change would increase the big five exchanges’ STR filings from 63,408 last year to nearly 5.5 million, an 85 times increase. The proposed rules also introduce a new rule that forces crypto operators to verify the accuracy of customer identification data. DAXA argued that adding a separate “verification” layer is going beyond what the current law requires. Under the proposed rules, if a crypto exchange fails to follow customer verification rules, it could face a full business suspension. But for traditional banks or other financial firms, the same violation usually just results in a fine. Cryptopolitan has previously reported on the unique regulatory pressure that the crypto industry faces. Earlier this year, the opposition People Power Party’s floor leader Song Eon-seok made a similar argument on when taxes were imposed on crypto gains. He told exchange executives that taxing crypto gains while having abolished the equivalent tax on stock investments amounts to unfair treatment. South Korea’s tightening regulatory environment South Korea’s regulators are also intensifying their oversight of the Korean crypto markets. Cryptopolitan reported that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) imposed new real-time monitoring requirements on major exchanges following Bithumb’s accidental payout of 620,000 Bitcoins instead of 620,000 won in February. Exchanges must now balance their internal ledgers with actual holdings every five minutes, rather than every 24 hours. The FIU has also imposed a six-month partial business suspension and a 36.8 billion won ($24.6 million) fine on Bithumb for roughly 6.65 million AML violations. The suspension was later paused by a Seoul court after the exchange filed an injunction. Upbit’s operator, Dunamu, won a similar court challenge, getting its three-month suspension vacated. Coinone is now contesting its own sanctions. The public comment period for the proposed AML rules ends on May 11. After that, the amendments will be reviewed by the Regulatory Reform Committee and the Ministry of Government Legislation. The government is currently targeting a final cabinet vote in July. If passed, some parts of the law would take effect as soon as August 20, 2026, while others would be phased in starting in early 2027. Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank

4 May 2026, 15:35

Evernorth moves closer to Nasdaq listing under XRPN

Evernorth has filed a new Form S-4 as the Ripple-backed XRP treasury firm gets closer to a planned listing on Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) under the ticker XRPN. The company wants to enter public markets through a merger with Armada Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: AACI), with more than 473 million XRP sitting at the center of its treasury plan. The deal still needs SEC approval and a vote from Armada shareholders. Until that happens, Evernorth is still waiting at the gate. Evernorth builds its public listing plan around a large XRP treasury Ashish Birla, the CEO of EvernorthXRP, spoke about the plan at a live event in Las Vegas. He said the company wants to give investors stock-style access to XRP through XRPN. So instead of buying the token directly, investors would buy shares in a company whose main strategy is tied to XRP. The setup has an obvious link to Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) and its Bitcoin (BTC) treasury model. Strategy made Bitcoin the core of its balance sheet. Evernorth is taking a similar route with XRP, but it is not planning to sit still and hope the chart behaves. The company wants to use part of its XRP pile in yield strategies over time. That means Evernorth wants to earn more than just any future price gain from the token. The plan is aimed at large investors that want crypto access through a regulated stock, not through direct custody. Ashish said the structure is meant for institutions that prefer equity-based crypto exposure. He also pointed to stronger demand for products such as crypto ETFs and tokenized assets, as Wall Street keeps finding ways to package cryptocurrencies in formats it already understands. Ashish links XRP to tokenization as Binance and Bybit data show falling reserves Evernorth also wants to connect its public-market structure with blockchain tools. That includes possible DeFi use across the XRP network, where future yield products could be built if the ecosystem gets enough activity, liquidity, and developers. Ashish called tokenization the direction finance is heading and said, “I do believe that XRP is going to be a leader there.” He tied that view to XRP’s past focus on payments, settlement, and liquidity. Ashish also pointed to XRP-based DeFi as one of the areas he is watching. Flare, Axelar, and native XRP Ledger work could help create more on-chain products for the token. The market data is rougher than the pitch deck would like. XRP is down about 13% over the past quarter, caught in a weaker crypto market. On May 1, XRP open interest delta on Bybit rose by about $23.9 million, while Binance saw about $2.7 million. Reserves also fell on both exchanges. Binance XRP balances dropped from about 2.80 billion XRP on March 17 to around 2.76 billion XRP by May 4, down about 50 million XRP, or 1.8%. Bybit fell from about 117 million XRP to nearly 98 million XRP, down around 19 million XRP, or 16.2%. There’s a middle ground between leaving money in the bank and rolling the dice in crypto. Start with this free video on decentralized finance .

4 May 2026, 15:34

Binance Launches Withdrawal Lock Feature to Block Forced Fund Transfers

Binance added Withdraw Protection to block on-chain withdrawals for one to seven days, targeting forced crypto transfers during in-person coercion. The feature keeps trading and account access available while delaying outgoing transfers by default. Key Takeaways: Binance introduced Withdraw Protection to block on-chain withdrawals during user-selected lockdown windows. Coercion risks can bypass passwords, 2FA, and