ChainCatcher news, according to a tweet from Monad's official account, the testnet has surpassed 1 billion transaction data.

ChainCatcher news, global retail giant SPAR is testing cryptocurrency payments in Switzerland. This retail group, which has over 13,900 stores in 48 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, has recently been reported to accept Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network at its store in Zug, Switzerland.This test marks one of the largest attempts by a major retail chain to embrace cryptocurrency payments. SPAR's move demonstrates its interest in serving the growing community of cryptocurrency holders and its willingness to explore digital payment methods. Industry insiders expect that this trial will provide important insights for assessing the feasibility of cryptocurrency payments and customer demand in mainstream retail environments.

ChainCatcher news, according to Politico, President Donald Trump is angry with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for showing no signs of a rate cut in the near future. In a Truth Social post released on Thursday morning, Trump wrote that the "sooner he leaves, the better!"But for now, Powell's position seems relatively secure.Trump considered firing Powell during his first term—a move that is legally controversial—and if he attempts to do so again, it could exacerbate market instability. The markets have already become turbulent due to recent tariff shocks. Two individuals close to the White House revealed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized this point multiple times within the White House, and they requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions. Trump himself is also aware of the gravity of the situation. Investor confidence that the Federal Reserve will make decisions based on economic trends rather than short-term political pressure is key to maintaining the U.S.'s reputation in the global financial system.Allies within the White House believe that Trump's post on Thursday morning is more about trying to undermine Powell's position and casting him as a scapegoat for future economic issues, rather than an immediate move to fire him. Of course, nothing is ever certain with Trump; his allies also caution that he could change his mind in an instant and seriously pursue the idea of firing Powell.A White House spokesperson responded to related questions by stating that Trump's post on Truth Social should be taken as the standard. The U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to ChainCatcher news and official social media announcements, HTX DAO will hold a live stream themed "HTX DAO 2025 Q1 Burn Results Disclosure & Development Progress" today at 19:30. At that time, HTX DAO core builders Huobi HTX Liu Ye, Helium, Huobi HTX Research Team, HTX DAO Honorary Committee Member Mao Mao Jie, and Huobi HTX Contract Ambassador Da Biao Ge will be invited to attend, jointly interpreting the HTX DAO first quarter burn data, reviewing project construction achievements, and discussing issues such as DAO governance and future ecological development in depth. This event will be broadcast simultaneously through Huobi Live and Huobi HTX Twitter Space.

ChainCatcher news, the RWA stablecoin yield protocol R2 announced today that its testnet is officially live. Users can claim test tokens through Discord, mint R2USD, and stake, participate in interactions with products like R2BTC and R2ETH, while completing tasks on platforms such as Galxe and Intract to earn testnet points Signals and Pulses. All points will be exchanged for R2 tokens according to the rules before the mainnet TGE.The official stated that more test networks will be supported in the coming two weeks, connecting a multi-chain ecosystem to provide users with a broader range of participation paths and choices.R2 aims to build the next generation of redeemable, real yield stablecoin protocols, with underlying assets including on-chain US Treasuries, compliant MMF strategies, and real estate rents. The mainnet is expected to officially launch in the second quarter of 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, Huobi HTX has recently completed the integration of the Fireblocks Off-Exchange asset mapping feature, aimed at further reducing counterparty risk for exchanges and providing users with more effective protection. This feature allows institutional users to always keep their assets in self-controlled collateral accounts and obtain a 1:1 credit line based on collateral balance on the Huobi HTX platform, enjoying a flexible and efficient trading experience of centralized exchanges while avoiding risks.It is reported that since the launch of Fireblocks Off-Exchange on Huobi HTX, several institutional clients have settled in, and the overall test trading volume has increased by as much as 200%. Huobi HTX stated that it will continue to collaborate with industry-leading technology companies to promote continuous innovation in security, compliance, technology, and services on the platform, providing a safer, more efficient, and compliant trading environment for global institutional clients.

ChainCatcher news, recently, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng positively responded to the "Bhutan Happiness Exploration Special Project" initiated by Pieverse Timepot on the X platform, calling it an "interesting variation of the idea" and sending his wishes of "Good luck!"Pieverse Timepot is the first decentralized platform built around the "Time Economy" in the BNB ecosystem and is also a project incubated in Binance MVB Phase 9. The launched "Bhutan Happiness Exploration Special Project" not only showcases Timepot's unique time minting mechanisms (Time Bid, Time Draw, and Time Fund) but also engages in deep collaboration with the Ninth Living Buddha of Bhutan, the Bhutan Sovereign Fund, the Happiness Research Institute, and the Astrology Academy, focusing on the cross-border integration of "Happiness Economy," "Time Value," and "Blockchain Practice."

ChainCatcher news, according to Fortune, Trump's latest crypto project will be a real estate video game, as President Trump enjoys Monopoly. In 1989, the real estate mogul launched "Trump: The Game," a variant of a board game themed around real estate. In 2006, he considered launching a reality show inspired by Monopoly. "I've always thought Monopoly was a great game," Trump told the New York Post when discussing the show, but the program ultimately did not materialize. Now, Trump's latest project will be a crypto game branded with the Trump name—according to two insiders, this game has a Monopoly-like feel.This planned real estate game will be the latest addition to Trump's and his family's growing list of crypto projects. In addition to an NFT series and a MEME coin, there is the decentralized finance project World Liberty Financial, a stablecoin, and a Bitcoin mining company, in which the president's son Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. hold significant stakes.An insider familiar with Trump's new crypto game told Fortune that the game is an adaptation of "MONOPOLY GO!" where players earn in-game cash by moving pieces on a digital Monopoly board and building structures in a digital city. Another unrelated insider also compared the project to Monopoly. Both insiders requested anonymity due to the private nature of the business dealings.Insiders revealed that Trump's longtime friend Bill Zanker is the driving force behind the project, having helped the president launch his meme coin and NFT projects.Zanker's spokesperson Kevin Mercuri denied that the project is similar to "MONOPOLY GO!" but confirmed to Fortune that Zanker is developing a "game" set to launch at the end of April. He also stated that the Monopoly claims are "rumors."

ChainCatcher news, focusing on the Multiple Network of AI privacy computing acceleration, announced that the MultiPass verification node testnet will officially launch in late April 2025, marking a new stage in the network ecosystem.As the core access credential for this testnet, the MultiPass authorization card (NFT) will be simultaneously issued in a limited quantity of 10,000, with an initial price of 200 USDT.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement, Celestia has launched the mamo-1 public testnet, supporting a block size of 128MB and providing an unpermissioned data throughput of 21.33MB per second, which is 16 times the current 8MB block of its mainnet.The testnet consists of 21 validator nodes distributed in Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw, simulating a real-world network environment.

ChainCatcher news, according to official social media announcements, Huobi HTX's new column "Huoban 1+1" will be held today at 20:00 (UTC +8) via Huobi HTX Twitter Space. At that time, prominent figures such as Big Brother, MIC Qie Ge Coin Fu, Chloe Data Alchemist, DaDa, and other crypto KOLs will be invited to discuss the theme "Can Trump's Market Spark New Opportunities? Exclusive Insights from Hong Kong!" They will explore the profound impact of Trump's tariff policies on the crypto market and share the latest observations and trend insights during the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. Additionally, this column will also be broadcast live on Huobi, so stay tuned.Users can make a reservation for the live broadcast through the source link.

ChainCatcher news, the first stablecoin yield protocol R2 built on TradFi & RWA has announced that its testnet will officially launch at 13:00 Beijing time on April 17. R2 is committed to integrating Real-World Assets, traditional finance (TradFi), and decentralized finance (DeFi) to create the next generation of stablecoin yield solutions.During the testing period, users can claim test tokens through Discord, mint R2USD stablecoins, and participate in staking and other interactive activities to earn simulated yields. The official also launches a dual points reward mechanism called Signals + Pulses, where points accumulated during the testing period can be exchanged for R2 mainnet tokens according to the rules after the mainnet goes live. In addition, R2 will also launch interactive tasks on platforms like Galxe and Intract, and introduce an invitation mechanism to incentivize community growth and reward early users.As a pioneer project in the RWAFi track, R2 has reached cooperation with several leading protocols such as Ondo Finance, actively expanding the application of R2USD in DeFi scenarios. It is reported that the R2 mainnet is expected to officially launch in the second quarter of 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Kobeissi Letter analysis, the United States imports over $60 billion worth of smartphones each year. The exemption policy announced today covers some of the most important imported products, marking another sign of the U.S. making concessions in the trade war. After all, the bond market is forcing Trump to yield.This week, everyone learned about the specific methods of applying pressure on the U.S. in the trade war: selling U.S. Treasury bonds and driving up Treasury yields. The bond market is Trump's top priority, and now everyone knows it.ChainCatcher previously reported that the U.S. has conditional exemptions for "reciprocal tariffs" on products such as smartphones/PCs/servers/semiconductors.

ChainCatcher news, DWF Labs Executive Partner Andrei Grachev stated on social media that as long as users have the stablecoin USD1 of WLFI in their on-chain wallets, they can directly access the closed testing of the stablecoin protocol Falcon Finance and enjoy its benefits earlier than others.

ChainCatcher news, according to official social media announcements, Huobi HTX will hold a live stream today at 21:00 on the topic "In-depth Discussion on DOGE: Is the Current Price Worth Buying the Dip? Analysis of Recent Community Development Dynamics." At that time, Huobi HTX's Liu Ye, Song, BTV_Michael, Big Brother, MIC Qie Ge Coin Fu, Andy, and other crypto KOLs and core builders of the Dogecoin community will be invited to attend, sharing the latest developments on DOGE and discussing potential investment opportunities and strategies together.

According to ChainCatcher news, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI has significantly reduced the time and resources allocated for testing the safety of its powerful AI models, raising concerns about the rushed launch of its technology without sufficient safeguards. Compared to a few months ago, staff and third-party teams have recently had only a few days to "evaluate" OpenAI's latest large language model.According to eight individuals familiar with OpenAI's testing process, the startup's testing has become less thorough, with insufficient time and resources dedicated to identifying and mitigating risks, as the $300 billion startup faces pressure to rapidly release new models and maintain a competitive edge.Insiders revealed that OpenAI has been aiming to release its new model o3 as early as next week, giving some testers less than a week for safety checks. Previously, OpenAI allowed several months for safety testing.

ChainCatcher news, the modular DeFi lending market Loopscale has completed 6 months of closed testing and is now live. Loopscale is built on Solana and is supported by CoinFund, Solana Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.

ChainCatcher news, according to an official announcement, BNB Chain has completed the hard fork of the Lorentz testnet. Currently, the block time for opBNB is 0.5 seconds, while the block time for the BSC testnet is 1.5 seconds. The mainnet upgrades are expected to take place on April 21 and April 29, respectively.