Crypto Data and Research Reports

Solana Foundation Chief Product Officer Vibhu Norby responded to the Drift Protocol security incident, confirming that an attack occurred. The cause of the attack is still under investigation. The incident is related to operational security or social engineering, highlights the potential risks of multisig mechanisms, and says that this incident does not represent a systemic issue with Solana DeFi.

Chainalysis research reports that organizations linked to Russia and Iran have been buying low-cost drones and accessories through cryptocurrencies to bypass Western sanctions. Since 2022, pro-Russia groups have raised more than $8.3 million, and wallets associated with Iran show transactions with suppliers in Hong Kong. Although the anonymity of cryptocurrencies helps evade monitoring, blockchain transparency provides important leads for investigations.

At EthCC, Jonathan Passerat-Palmbach discussed the evolution and challenges of crypto mempool technology, noting that current solutions cannot meet protocol-level requirements. He also argued that blind ordering mechanisms could increase centralization and degrade transaction quality. He suggested exploring programmable privacy as a compromise, emphasized that privacy must be combined with economic incentives, and advocated conducting experiments outside the protocol.

Franklin Templeton is launching a cryptocurrency division, Franklin Crypto, by acquiring active crypto firm 250 Digital. Led by CoinFund's Christopher Perkins, this initiative aims to enhance institutional access to actively managed crypto products amid growing demand in the market.

Gate News message. On April 2, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, a BlackRock address transferred 1,360 BTC to a certain CEX, worth approximately $90.28 million, and also transferred 15,103 ETH, worth approximately $30.82 million. The total value of the two transfers was approximately $121 million.

Metaplanet said it acquired 5,075 Bitcoin during the first quarter of 2026 for around $405 million or about $79,898 per coin, making the company the third-largest publicly-listed Bitcoin treasury, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. The Tokyo-listed company now holds a total of 40,177 Bitcoin

Polymarket’s daily fees jumped from about $363,000 on March 30 to $995,000 on April 1, then fell to $899,000 on April 2. This increase was driven by the platform expanding its fee categories, covering multiple areas.

Prediction market Polymarket’s recent fee expansion has started to affect its numbers, with daily fees and revenue climbing sharply in the days following a March 30 price overhaul.  According to DefiLlama data, daily fees rose from about $363,000 on Monday to over $1 million on both Wednesday and

The crypto market faces a downturn with a 2.53% drop in market capitalization, led by decreases in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. However, daily crypto volume rose by 4.26%, while NFT sales surged. Key developments include Genius Group repaying debt and Australia's new crypto policy approval.

Ethereum Foundation project manager Hester Bruikman updated the “Trillion-Dollar Security Plan” at the EthCC conference, released a WalletBeat wallet security maturity rating model, and emphasized progress on user security and Clear Signing. She also disclosed that in the first quarter of 2026, Ethereum experienced 16 security incidents, with losses totaling $93 million.

Bitcoin’s hot-holdings trend is cooling off, as multiple companies and governments sell off their reserves, causing market volatility to increase. Companies such as Empery Digital and Genius Group have already cleared their bitcoin reserves, while Riot Platforms continues to reduce its holdings. Despite worries raised by the selloffs, the public vault still holds a large amount of bitcoin. The current bitcoin price is about $66,500, and market sentiment remains weak.

The Cardano Foundation has partnered with Flowdesk to launch a multi-million-dollar liquidity enhancement initiative aimed at strengthening the trading depth and stability of decentralized exchanges and advancing DeFi capabilities. By injecting ADA tokens and optimizing liquidity management, the program will improve market conditions, attract institutional investors, and support the ongoing growth of the Cardano ecosystem.

Metaplanet purchased 5,075 bitcoins for $398 million in the first quarter of 2026. Its total holdings reached 40,177 bitcoins, surpassing MARA Holdings to become the world’s third. After MARA sold 15,133 bitcoins, its holdings fell to 38,689 bitcoins. Metaplanet plans to hold 100,000 bitcoins by the end of 2026 and expects to raise about $255 million in financing. Despite its rank improving, its stock price still declined, facing pressure from losses; going forward, it will depend on financing and the MARA strategy.

K33’s research report indicates that the Bitcoin market is in a high-alert state due to weak coin prices, geopolitical risks, and threats from quantum computing, leading to a sharp increase in short positions. Vetle Lunde notes that persistently negative funding rates continue to reflect the market being overly crowded, which could signal that a turnaround may be on the way. At the same time, trading volume and volatility typically decline during holidays, affecting market liquidity.

The Uniswap Foundation's unaudited financial snapshot for 2025 shows $49.9 million in cash, 15.1 million UNI, and 240 ETH, enough to fund operations until January 2027. It plans $106.2 million for grants and incentives, emphasizing its role in ecosystem support.

The Ethereum Foundation-backed ZKNox founder, Nicolas Bacca, introduced at the EthCC conference the integration progress between hardware wallets and Ethereum, significantly lowering the on-chain verification cost of post-quantum secure signatures and improving efficiency. The standardized SDK they developed supports a range of account abstraction features and is dedicated to implementing open-source security standards in hardware wallets.

On April 1, 2026, Drift Protocol in the Solana ecosystem was hacked, resulting in losses of about $285 million. The attacker obtained administrator permissions for a multisig wallet, swiftly withdrew funds, and transferred them cross-chain to Ethereum, becoming the largest single security incident in the DeFi space. The investigation found that the attack was caused by a multisig management configuration flaw: the lack of a time-lock mechanism allowed the attacker to execute malicious actions immediately. The incident caused Drift’s total value locked to drop sharply, significantly impacting the Solana ecosystem.

Tokenized bonds open the door for more capital beyond T-bills OpenEden has launched tokenized, high-yield corporate bonds, expanding the RWA market beyond T-bills and attracting additional on-chain capital flows. Tokenized bonds are rapidly expanding into higher-yield asset categories. OpenEden is focusing on the debt segment.

April 1, 2026, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $173.73 million, with cumulative net redemptions of about $500 million in the first quarter, the worst start since 2018. Grayscale products showed diverging performance: the low-fee Bitcoin mini trust attracted inflows, indicating institutional investors are adjusting their strategy. Ethereum ETFs also face pressure, and the market needs to watch future institutional demand and regulatory changes.

Bhutan has transferred 375 BTC, continuing a trend of significant outflows linked to trading activities, indicating a shift from mining to selling Bitcoin to fund infrastructure projects. Reserves have sharply declined from previous highs.