Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has inked a deal with Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency to trigger Web 3 adoption metrics. Both parties have reiterated a commitment to integrate Web 3 technologies into every facet of the local economy leaning on CZ’s expertise.
Kyrgyzstan Turns To Binance Founder CZ For Web 3 Direction
According to an X post by Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov, the Central Asian country has inked a deal with CZ. The Binance founder and the National Investment Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the local Web 3 ecosystem.
Signed with the consent of the president, parties will commit to building out a thriving cryptocurrency ecosystem for residents. To achieve this, the National Investment Agency will lean on Zhao’s expertise as the Binance founder takes on an advisory role.
“The signing of the Memorandum opens new horizons for the development of digital technologies and the blockchain ecosystem in the country,” said President Zhaparov.
Furthermore, CZ says the MoU will extend to distributed ledger technology (DLT) and real-world application of blockchain outside of speculation. However, while not expressly stated, pundits theorize that the founder of the top cryptocurrency exchange will explore cross-border use cases and other financial utility for cryptocurrencies.
There are plans to train residents on blockchain, cybersecurity, virtual asset management, and other emerging technologies. The economic impact of the Web 3 initiative is far-reaching and will contribute a chunk to Kyrgyzstan’s GDP by 2030.
CZ Excited To Take On The Advisory Role
CZ has expressed his commitment to the advisory role, noting that Kyrgyzstan is the latest in a line of MoUs. The Binance founder has previously provided advisory services in both official and unofficial capacities on cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks and real-world DLT applications.
“I find this work extremely meaningful,” said CZ.
Amid reciprocal tariffs affecting crypto prices, CZ disclosed that his advisory services to countries do not extend to geopolitics.
Apart from his advisory role, Zhao has donated a portion of his wealth to disaster relief in affected regions. The latest is a hefty donation of over $1 million to earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar and Thailand. Beyond charitable donations, the Binance founder has downplayed the impact of exchange listing on token prices.
Pi Network users, known as Pioneers, are expressing growing frustration over their inability to transfer their mined Pi Coins (PI) to the blockchain’s mainnet.
The concerns mount as the network’s Grace Period deadline approaches, leaving users with just four days to complete the necessary migration process.
Pi Network Sets March 14 Deadline for KYC and Mainnet Migration
The Pi Network has set a critical deadline for users to complete their Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and Mainnet migration. According to the announcement, Pioneers must finalize these processes by 8:00 AM UTC on March 14, 2025.
Failing to do so will result in the loss of most of their Pi holdings. However, coins mined within the past six months are exempt from this. The Grace Period, introduced to give users ample time to complete verification, has already been extended multiple times.
As per the Pi team, these extensions were designed to accommodate as many legitimate users as possible, ensuring their balances could be verified and migrated.
“The end of the Grace Period is inevitable to make sure the network can move on in its new phase without large sums of unverified and unclaimed mobile balances,” the blog read.
Despite this urgency, numerous Pioneers have reported issues preventing them from transferring their PI to the Mainnet. Among them is Jaro Giesbrecht. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Giesbrecht claimed he had completed the Mainnet checklist but remained stalled.
“The Pi network has done nothing to help solve this problem. It is a very common problem. Pi has done nothing to help fix this and other problems,” he wrote.
Giesbrecht intensified his criticism, arguing that the deadline should be extended until all Pioneer issues are resolved. He suggested that failing to do so would render the entire process ineffective and raise concerns about the project’s legitimacy.
The issue appears widespread, with other Pioneers echoing similar complaints on X.
“The whole process is a joke. ~80% of my balance shows as unverified, although all of my security circle has completed KYC. No additional actions are listed to be taken in order to clear this up. Furthermore, nobody got back to me on a support ticket I opened weeks ago. What gives?” remarked a user.
Furthermore, users also noted that Step 9 on the Mainnet checklist—”Migrate to Mainnet”—remains unresolved, leaving their Pi balances in limbo.
“What’s the problem with the mainnet migration? Are we to forfeit our mined PI due to an error from your end?” a user posted.
Pi Network Mainnet Migration Issues. Source: X/Abissan
Pi Coin Sees Double-Digit Losses Amid Binance Listing Uncertainty
While the looming deadline worries many, others eagerly await March 14, widely recognized as Pi Day. The occasion has sparked optimism for a potential price surge despite Pi Coin’s recent struggles in the market.
“As long as we don’t break $1.2 support, I’m bullish. PI day is approaching, and hopefully, we will see a pump,” an analyst wrote.
Over the past week, PI has lost 16.3% of its value. Moreover, in the last 24 hours, it suffered a double-digit drop, trading at $1.40 at press time. This represented a decline of 12.2% over the past day alone.
However, these tools do not grant users full authority, as Binance retains the final decision-making power. Therefore, the uncertainty surrounding the decision has led to frustration.
In protest, they flooded the exchange with one-star reviews on Google Play Store. A similar decline in ratings was observed on Bybit. The exchange’s CEO had previously called Pi Network a scam.
Cardano (ADA) price has gradually followed the ongoing Bitcoin (BTC) bullish sentiment, catalyzed by Gold’s meteoric growth. In the past seven days, ADA price gained over 10 percent to trade at about $0.645 on Tuesday, April 15, during the mid-London session.
Similarly, Cardano’s Futures Open Interest (OI) has experienced growth, whereby it increased by around 3.13 percent in the past 24 hours to hover about $632 million.
Cardano Whales Capitulate
According to on-chain data from Santiment, Cardano whales, with a balance of between 1 million and 10 million ADA coins, offloaded more than 100 million coins during the past weeks.
As a result, the specific ADA whale group now holds 5.65 billion coins, currently worth about $3.64 billion.
From a technical analysis perspective, ADA price, against the U.S. dollar, has been following a similar fractal pattern to the 2021 bull cycle, but with the exception of the tariff and COVID-19 extremities. As a result, the large-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $29 billion and a 24-hour average trading volume of about $668 million, has potentially entered the final consolidation before kickstarting the much anticipated parabolic rally toward price discovery.
For the market reversal, ADA price could consolidate between 74 cents and 55 cents in the coming weeks. From a different perspective, ADA price could continue with bullish sentiment and surge toward $1.38 in the near future, all without further consolidation.
Market Picture
The Cardano network has gradually grown to a vibrant web3 ecosystem, with a total value locked (TVL) of about $298 million and a stablecoins market cap of $31 million. The mention of the Cardano network by the U.S. SEC as a strategic crypto asset likely to revolutionize government contracts, including the education system, has played a crucial role in the mainstream adoption of ADA.
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Cardano (ADA) price has gradually followed the ongoing Bitcoin (BTC) bullish sentiment, catalyzed by Gold’s meteoric growth. In the past seven days, ADA price gained over 10 percent to trade at about $0.645 on Tuesday, April 15, during the mid-London session. Similarly, Cardano’s Futures Open Interest (OI) has experienced growth, whereby it increased by around …
Since US President Donald Trump assumed office, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped, settled, or paused lawsuits against prominent crypto entities left and right. In stark contrast to the previous administration’s leadership under Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC seems to be parting from its previous crackdown on digital assets.
In an interview with BeInCrypto, Nick Puckrin, Founder of The Coin Bureau, and Hank Huang, Chief Executive Officer at Kronos Research, highlighted the substantial election influence the crypto industry had over Trump’s candidacy as a contributing factor to the SEC’s looser stance on crypto.
The SEC’s Approach Under Trump
The SEC has experienced a clear shift in its approach to crypto lawsuits under Trump’s presidency. Its move away from the aggressive enforcement tactics of its previous leadership has largely characterized this shift.
“When President Donald Trump won the US election, the crypto industry rejoiced. Finally, the ‘regulation by enforcement’ era, which the SEC under the leadership of Gary Gensler was so famous for, was about to come to an end. And the new administration didn’t disappoint. Within just a couple of weeks of Trump’s inauguration, the revamped SEC started dropping lawsuits against crypto firms left, right and center,” Puckrin said.
Two weeks ago, the SEC officially dropped its appeal and XRP lawsuit against Ripple Labs, ending a five-year legal battle. The Commission had originally accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion through XRP sales.
“After more than four years in limbo, the SEC has officially decided that XRP is not a security (though what it is instead remains to be seen). This case has been weighing heavily on XRP – the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of roughly $130 billion– so its resolution is a major win,” Puckrin added.
The wider crypto community celebrated the outcome, with many arguing that it will set a precedent for how digital assets are classified in the US. This prediction is warranted, given that the SEC has been on a lawsuit-dropping spree.
The SEC has also dropped several ongoing investigations against OpenSea, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, Kraken, and Gemini. It has also asked a federal court to issue a 60-day pause over its litigation against Binance. Meanwhile, the Commission settled its investigation into ConsenSys over its Ethereum software products.
These lawsuits surfaced in parallel to a series of crypto-friendly measures meant to foster greater innovation and curb potential regulatory suffocation that had existed during the Biden era.
Will New Leadership Define Clear Crypto Regulations?
A day after Trump assumed office, SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda announced the creation of a dedicated crypto task force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. The task force was reportedly designed to resolve long-standing ambiguities in the regulatory treatment of digital assets.
In all SEC crypto lawsuits, Commissioner Uyeda has implemented a strategy prioritizing industry engagement to develop regulatory frameworks that balance innovation and investor protection.
Meanwhile, Trump strategically nominated Paul Atkins, a crypto-curious, regulation-light candidate, to replace Gensler as head of the SEC. Just this week, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance Atkins’ nomination to the full Senate.
Now, only a stone’s throw away from becoming SEC Chair, Atkins is expected to loosen regulatory oversight on crypto.
“With the establishment of a new Task Force and key appointees like Paul Atkins fostering innovation, Trump’s strategic move to create a Bitcoin reserve within the government further underscores his commitment to supporting the industry. The future of crypto regulations will be focused on less oversight and the beginning of a delicate but promising thaw in the regulatory landscape,” Huang added.
Though some say Trump’s handling of crypto affairs has resulted in a never-before-seen triumph, others are weary that his increasing involvement in the industry has turned out to be a recipe for disaster.
The Impact of Crypto Donations on Regulations
Several industry leaders went to great lengths to ensure that Trump became America’s 47th president. Millions of dollars in donations from crypto firms throughout Trump’s campaign illustrated these efforts.
According to a Public Citizen report, over $119 million from crypto corporations went into influencing the 2024 federal elections, largely through Fairshake, a non-partisan super PAC backing pro-crypto candidates and opposing skeptics.
Crypto corporations donated over $119 million to the 2024 federal elections. Source: Public Citizen
Coinbase and Ripple, among others who stand to profit, directly provided over half of Fairshake’s funding. The remaining funds mostly came from billionaire crypto executives and venture capitalists. Notable contributions included $44 million from the founders of Andreessen Horowitz, $5 million from the Winklevoss twins, and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
So far, big crypto’s spending strategy is paying off with a more favorable environment.
Without a clear framework to guide the crypto industry following these dropped lawsuits, this lax approach risks being short-lived. Ultimately, this could tarnish long-term crypto adoption.
“Somehow, all these victories feel somewhat hollow after the reputation of the crypto industry has been tarnished by the billions of dollars in combined losses from meme coin scams. Meanwhile, Hayden Davis, the mastermind behind LIBRA, continues to launch fraudulent meme tokens, despite being on the Interpol wanted list,” he said.
A 2024 report by Web3 intelligence platform Merkle Science revealed that meme coin rug pulls cost investors over $500 million. The February LIBRA incident showed how this trend was carried over to 2025. Nansen data revealed that 86% of investors lost $251 million, while insiders pocketed $180 million in profits.
Though crypto scammers may be charged with related crimes like wire fraud or money laundering, rug pulling is legal. Better said, it’s unaccounted for. No regulation holds crypto insiders responsible for meme coin scams.
“As crypto becomes an ever more mainstream asset class, consumers need to be protected against those who choose to use it for nefarious purposes. One way to do this is through education, and that’s our job as an industry. But deterring scams and extractive behavior is the job of the regulators. And it’s time they stepped up to the task,” Puckrin told BeInCrypto.
If the SEC doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to curb the consequences that meme coin scams can produce, it will result in an enormous setback for the industry.
Comprehensive Regulation Beyond Dropped Lawsuits
Puckrin illustrated the need for heightened regulatory clarity in crypto by drawing attention to the way the SEC penalizes insider trading in the context of traditional investing.
“In traditional investing, insider trading is a serious crime. In the US, it’s punishable by fines of up to $5 million for individuals and prison sentences up to 20 years. Similarly, federal penalties for engaging with illegal gambling activities include up to five years in prison. Perpetrators of memecoin scams must be punished with the same level of severity, because the result is the same: manipulating markets and cheating unsuspecting investors out of their savings,” he said.
Puckrin clarified, however, that the issue isn’t solely about penalizing fraudsters. Just as the SEC’s past overregulation hindered the industry, the current lack of meme coin rules creates an environment where new scams and exploitative schemes can easily flourish.
“Yes, the removal of lawsuits is great news for blockchain innovation, but something needs to replace it. Indeed, serious cryptocurrency firms have never advocated for an unregulated Wild West. What they want is clarity and rules that are fit for the nascent blockchain industry – not just a copy-and-paste of existing financial regulations that simply don’t work for crypto,” he said.
Although the Trump administration has only been in place for four months, the clock is ticking, and meaningful change takes time.
Unanswered Questions Loom
Puckrin expressed concern over the current administration’s prioritization of lawsuit dismissals instead of working faster to implement transcendental crypto regulation.
“My concern is that regulators will keep kicking the can down the road with crypto regulation, having gained the approval of the industry for dropping the many lawsuits that were stifling its growth. And this is incredibly dangerous,” he told BeInCrypto.
Meanwhile, critical questions that only the SEC can define remain unanswered.
“What are memecoins and who will ensure another LIBRA fiasco doesn’t happen? Are utility altcoins now commodities and if so, will the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulate them? And, importantly, what do we do about compensating investors who have lost billions to crypto fraud?” Puckrin concluded.
The SEC’s current direction promises a regulated renaissance or a breeding ground for future crises.
With billions lost and critical questions unanswered, the future of crypto hinges on whether the regulatory body will translate its recent shift into a lasting framework that fosters innovation without sacrificing investor protection.