Paradigm Co-founder: We Are Currently Experiencing the Cryptocurrency Industry's 'Netscape or iPhone Moment'

**Genius Group Sells All Remaining Bitcoin in Q1 to Repay Debt (Contradicts 2024 “Bitcoin-First” Pledge)** Genius Group, an AI and crypto firm, said Tuesday it sold its entire remaining Bitcoin in the first quarter to repay debt—walking back its 2024 “Bitcoin-first” strategy—while noting it will rebuild reserves when market conditions improve. In November 2024, the company vowed to hold over 90% of its current and future holdings in Bitcoin. As of March 2026, Genius held 84 BTC (worth approximately $5.7 million). Its Bitcoin holdings have declined since April 2025, when a U.S. court temporarily barred it from expanding its position. The firm posted strong Q1 2026 results: revenue surged 171% year-over-year to $3.3 million, gross profit rose 228% to $2 million, and net income swung from a $500,000 loss in Q1 2025 to a $2.7 million profit. Other companies have cut Bitcoin reserves in 2026: - MARA Holdings sold 15,133 BTC in March, raising ~$1.1 billion for convertible bond

April 2nd: Pard issued a clarification stating that HyperEVM did not suffer a network outage. The current issue is limited solely to the block explorer’s frontend, where a failure to sync and display new blocks has prevented users from accessing data. Earlier, the community and some monitoring tools detected unusual activity on the HyperEVM layer, sparking speculation about a "network outage."

On April 2nd, the Drift Protocol exploit impacted multiple DeFi protocols—including Reflect Money, Ranger Finance, Neutral Trade, Elemental DeFi, Project 0, Lulo Finance, Asgard Finance, DeFi Carrot, Pyra, xPlace, and Fuse Wallet. Several of these protocols have confirmed being affected, with some pausing minting, redemption, or deposit/withdrawal functions. Key updates from impacted protocols: - Ranger Finance confirmed ~$900,000 in risk exposure, equivalent to roughly 6% of its $14.6 million total value locked (TVL). - Pyra noted user funds were affected due to deposits in Drift for yield; it has paused Pyra card functionality. - Asgard Finance stated its Drift-related risk exposure was minimal, disabled that lending source, and contacted impacted users. - Fuse Wallet paused deposits to Drift for its Earn product, but the wallet itself remained unharmed. - DeFi Carrot paused minting and redemption functions, while its Boost and Turbo products are unaffected. - xPlace h

On April 2nd, even as markets have recently shifted focus to the Fed’s rate hike narrative, Goldman Sachs’ baseline forecast projects two rate cuts in 2026. The firm cites four key reasons the market is overly concerned: 1. The current oil shock is less severe than historical episodes; 2. A cooling labor market and slowing wage growth will cushion inflation’s impact; 3. Current Fed interest rates are roughly aligned with the neutral benchmark; 4. The Fed typically does not adjust rates solely in response to oil price shocks.

April 2nd: Per the Financial Times, Gulf states are weighing a new oil pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.