Linera Launches Babbage Testnet

April 8 — Bitget market data shows the U.S. stock market opened sharply higher on the back of a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.76%, the S&P 500 gained 2.64%, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.5%. Crypto-related U.S. stocks rallied across the board, with notable gains for: - MicroStrategy (MSTR): +6.97% - Coinbase (COIN): +6.1% - Circle (CRCL): +5.6% - MARA Holdings (MARA): +4.52% - Riot Blockchain (RIOT): +9.06% - BitMine Immersion (BMNR): +7.4% - SharpLink Gaming (SBET): +6.4%

On April 8th, per on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa), a $25.43 million short position linked to address 0xedf...8fc0b was liquidated after Bitcoin briefly surged to $72,800. Just four minutes later, the whale behind the position opened a 40x leveraged short position totaling 138.96 BTC (valued at $10.09 million), with an entry price of $72,620 and a liquidation price of $73,309.

On April 8, SBI Ripple Asia completed development of an XRP Ledger-based token issuance platform and registered as a prepaid payment instrument provider in Japan. Corporate users can now issue tokenized payment instruments through this platform.

April 8th: The Financial Times reports Iran will require shipping companies to pay a cryptocurrency toll for oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week ceasefire, as part of efforts to maintain control of the waterway. Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, said each tanker must email cargo details to Iranian authorities. After reviewing the info, Iran will notify the vessel of the toll amount—$1 per barrel of oil; empty tankers will be exempt. “Once we get the email and finish our assessment, the ship will have seconds to pay via Bitcoin,” Hosseini noted. “This ensures the payment can’t be traced or seized amid sanctions.”

On April 8, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released an analysis report noting that banning crypto firms from offering yields on stablecoins would have minimal impact on small and community banks’ deposit and lending operations. Economic modeling shows that even if the ban takes effect, total bank lending would rise by just 0.02%—roughly $21 billion—while community bank lending would see a mere 0.026% uptick (around $5 billion). Even under a worst-case scenario where the stablecoin market expands sixfold, community bank lending would climb by only 6.7% (some $129 billion)—far from the banking industry’s prior warnings of “disastrous” outcomes: $13 trillion in deposit outflows and an $850 billion drop in lending. The report directly pushed back against concerns from banking industry lobbying groups over stablecoin yield products, stating stablecoins do not pose a significant threat to traditional banks. Currently, the U.S. Congress’s “Cryptocurrency Market St

**Aster Launches BAY Perpetual Contract, $50K ASTER Rewards Up for Grabs** On April 8, Aster announced the launch of the Marina Protocol (BAY) perpetual contract. Traders who participate can share $50,000 in ASTER token rewards. ### Key Details - **BAYUSDT Launch Time**: 20:00 UTC+8 on April 8 - **Reward Pool**: $50,000 worth of ASTER tokens - **Event Period**: 20:00 UTC+8, April 8 – 22:00 UTC+8, April 15 - **Fee Bonus**: BAYUSDT perpetual contract trades get a 1.2x bonus on trading fees during the event ### Reward Calculation Rules Rewards are distributed proportionally based on a user’s BAYUSDT perpetual contract trading fees relative to all eligible users: \[ \text{Reward} = \text{Total Reward Pool} \times \left( \frac{\text{User’s BAYUSDT Fees}}{\text{Total Eligible Users’ BAYUSDT Fees}} \right) \] ### Eligibility & Limits - Users must generate **total trading fees > $5** to qualify - Single user reward cap: 3% of the total reward pool - Rewards < 1 AS