[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | White House Official: “Announcement on Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Coming Soon”

White House Official: “Announcement on Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Coming Soon”

According to Bitcoin Magazine, a White House official said that “an announcement is coming soon” regarding a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

The official explained that “meaningful progress has been made in establishing the legal framework for all procedures and laying the groundwork to properly safeguard assets.”

A strategic Bitcoin reserve is related to how the U.S. government may hold and manage digital assets, and the market could interpret it as a signal of Bitcoin’s deeper integration into the institutional and regulatory mainstream.

Ethereum Foundation Researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma Resign

According to Odaily, Ethereum Foundation researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma announced their resignations on the 18th.

After seven years at the foundation, Carl Beek will leave on May 29, while Julian Ma is stepping down after about four years of service.

Previously, other key personnel had also departed from the Ethereum Foundation, including co-executive director Tomasz K. Stańczak, Josh Stark, and protocol team members Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, and Alex Stokes.

The foundation underwent a major organizational restructuring in 2025 in response to community criticism, and it was also recently embroiled in controversy over requiring employees to sign loyalty pledges.

DeFi TVL Down More Than 50% From Peak Reached Last October

Odaily, citing Cointelegraph and DefiLlama data, reported that decentralized finance total value locked (TVL) has fallen more than 50% from its peak of $170 billion recorded last October.

TVL is a metric representing the amount of assets deposited in DeFi protocols. The decline is being interpreted as a sign of slowing capital inflows into the DeFi market and weakening investor sentiment.

Forsage Co-Founder Pleads Not Guilty to Conspiracy Fraud Charge After Extradition to U.S.

According to Odaily, Forsage co-founder Olena Oblamska pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after being extradited from Thailand to the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Forsage used smart contracts on Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain to automatically transfer funds from new investors to earlier investors, describing the platform as a Ponzi and pyramid scheme.

Blockchain analysis found that more than 80% of Forsage investors received less cryptocurrency than they deposited, and more than 50% earned no returns at all. Estimated damages total about $340 million across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Previously, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against the related parties in August 2022.

Messari: Solana Recorded $342.2 Million in Chain GDP in Q1 2026

According to Wu Blockchain, Messari said Solana recorded $342.2 million in chain GDP in the first quarter of 2026.

The report said Pump.fun remained the top revenue-generating application on the Solana network, with $124.7 million. Solana’s REV declined 1% quarter over quarter to $89.5 million, ranking second among all blockchain networks behind Hyperliquid.

Solana’s RWA market capitalization rose 43% over the same period to $2.01 billion. Messari also said Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade aims to reduce transaction finality time from about 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds.

Tempo Integrates Morpho to Bring $7.5 Billion DeFi Lending Market On-Chain

Odaily reported that Tempo has integrated the DeFi lending market Morpho, bringing a $7.5 billion lending market to the network.

The integration is focused on enabling fintech companies and enterprise clients building on Tempo Chain to access lending directly on-chain and earn yield on idle stablecoins.

Morpho’s Tempo lending system will feature customized markets provided by risk management firms Gauntlet and Centora, while RedStone Oracle will supply pricing data.

Coinbase to List WRON for Spot Trading

According to PANews, Coinbase Markets said it will launch spot trading for Wrapped Ronin (WRON).

Trading for the WRON-USD pair will begin once liquidity conditions are met and will be available in regions where Coinbase supports the service.

Brian Armstrong: “Cooperation With Coinbase Led to Five Convictions”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X that Coinbase is supporting law enforcement efforts to combat crime.

According to Armstrong, Coinbase’s investigations team identified ongoing criminal activity and tracked perpetrators using blockchain forensics, leading to five criminal convictions.

The source was Odaily.

xAI Asked Employees to Provide Personal Tax Returns as Grok Training Data

Odaily, citing Bloomberg, reported that Elon Musk’s xAI asked employees earlier this year to provide personal tax returns as training data for Grok.

xAI reportedly offered employees $420 in exchange for the documents. The request was interpreted as part of efforts to secure more data to improve Grok’s performance.

OpenAI and Sam Altman Found Not Liable in Elon Musk Lawsuit

Watcher.Guru reported that OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman were found not liable in a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk.

Musk had previously sued over OpenAI’s strategic direction and its for-profit structure.