April 11 (Reuters) — A senior Iranian official stated that the U.S. has agreed to release Iran’s frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks.

April 11 – Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said in a social media post on April 11 that negotiations with “America First” U.S. representatives in Islamabad, Pakistan could yield a mutually beneficial deal—one that would also serve the world. However, if dealing with “Israel First” U.S. representatives, no deal will be struck. “We will inevitably step up our self-defense more resolutely than ever, and the world will also bear a heavier cost,” he added. (Xinhua)

On April 11, Caixin reported that applications for Hong Kong’s second batch of compliant stablecoin licenses are already under review. Reliable sources indicate Futu Securities and OSL Group are among the contenders for these licenses. However, in November 2023, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and 13 other government departments reiterated their stance against cryptocurrency trading in mainland China, classifying stablecoins as virtual currencies. This means stablecoin transactions are not permitted on the mainland.

April 11th (CNN) — A senior Pakistani official told CNN that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence played a key role in facilitating U.S.-Iran talks set to kick off in Islamabad, Pakistan. A source familiar with the negotiation process expects the talks to take several days to finalize a ceasefire agreement. Pakistani officials are pushing Pence to extend his stay in the country to assist with the effort. Separately, a senior Gulf official disclosed that Iran has very little trust in U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Wittkof. Previously, Wittkof led multiple rounds of talks with Iran, all of which were derailed by U.S. military strikes on Iran. He is part of the U.S. delegation for the Islamabad talks.

April 11th — Iran’s Parliament Speaker Qalibaf will meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shabaz on Wednesday to finalize the timing and format for potential US-Iran negotiations, per Iran’s Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Tasnim News Agency reports Iran will raise U.S. violations of its commitments during the talks. Key prerequisites for launching negotiations include unfreezing Iranian assets and a ceasefire in Lebanon. The U.S. has informed Pakistan it agrees to these prerequisites and additional conditions for talks. Iran’s delegation plans to assess the U.S. position and its commitment implementation before deciding whether to proceed with negotiations. Tasnim added that if talks take place, they are currently scheduled to start later on April 11th and may last just one day. (Source: Forexlive)

April 11th – Digital asset investment platform Grayscale recently updated its list of candidate assets for its products, covering six major crypto sectors with a key focus on AI and Finance. The AI sector saw the most additions, with 9 projects joining the candidate pool: Fabric Protocol, Flock, Grass, Kaito, Kite AI, Nous Research, Poseidon, Venice, and Virtuals Protocol. These join existing candidates Bittensor, Livepeer, Near, Render, and Story, reflecting ongoing institutional interest in the AI + crypto space. In the Finance sector, 8 DeFi projects (Ethena, Hyperliquid, Jupiter, Kamino Finance, Maple Finance, Morpho, Pendle, and seven others) were added, complementing current candidates like Aave, Aerodrome, Curve, Ondo, and Uniswap. For Smart Contract Platforms, 6 projects were added: Celo, Mantle, MegaETH, Monad, Toncoin, Tron, and Canton Network. The Utility Tools sector included DoubleZero, Geodnet, Helium, Jito, LayerZero, and Wormhole in its candidate list. Gr