French President Announces Increase in Nuclear Warhead Stockpile, Reshaping European Nuclear Deterrence

April 4 (Bloomberg) — Marex Group Plc, a global financial services platform, has issued what is believed to be the world’s first bond-like note tied to forecast market outcomes. Unlike traditional binary options contracts, the note’s terms specify: If Nvidia Corp. remains the world’s largest company by market capitalization one year from now, investors will receive a 7% coupon; if not, their principal will be fully repaid (with only potential interest lost, no full principal risk). The issuance totals approximately $10 million, sold to Swiss institutional clients and restricted to regions outside the U.S. due to regulatory constraints. Marex will dynamically hedge risks via prediction market platforms such as Kalshi. Per the report, this marks the latest Wall Street effort to “securitize” the power of prediction markets, providing a compliant, low-risk entry point for traditional large-scale funds.

On April 4th, crypto contract whale "First Set 10 Big Goals" (@Jason60704294) posted a long position on X with a limit price of $67,023.8 for Bitcoin.

April 4 Despite a crypto market downturn, stablecoins are still growing rapidly. Per DefiLlama data: - Total stablecoin market cap rose 0.43% over the past week, hitting a new all-time high at $317.255 billion. - USDT’s market dominance slid below 60% to its current 58.03%. - Sky Network’s stablecoin USDS saw its circulating market cap jump 9.57% last week to $8.924 billion, now the third-largest stablecoin by market cap.

April 4 — Iran has authorized a ship carrying essential goods to sail to an Iranian port via the Strait of Hormuz, according to Tasnim News Agency.

April 4 – Cryptoquant analyst Darkfost says a major shift in Ethereum’s derivatives market structure has occurred, marking the first such change since the 2023 bear market. Darkfost notes that while ETH’s net trading volume has been negative for most of the period since 2023, it has now turned positive. (Note: Net trading volume measures whether buying or selling pressure is dominant in the derivatives order book.) Right now, the indicator signals dominant buying pressure, with $104 million in buying volume. Notably, even when ETH prices neared a new high earlier, the indicator still showed strong selling pressure—but that dynamic now seems to be shifting. Darkfost argues the positive buying pressure could help ETH form a stronger bottom. If this momentum holds and the spot market plus ETFs start backing the trend, ETH may be set to resume its uptrend.

April 4 — Israel has resumed operations at its Leviathan natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean, the country’s Ministry of Energy announced Thursday. The nation’s largest gas field was shut down for 32 days due to escalating regional tensions. The resumption is aimed at restoring natural gas exports to Egypt and Jordan. (CCTV International News)