FDIC accused of omitting more crypto ‘pause letters’ in Coinbase-backed suit  

Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Mantra has called for industry-wide cooperation to reduce investor risks in the aftermath of its OM token crash.On April 30, Mantra published its latest update since the sudden collapse of its OM token, claiming that the incident was “bigger than Mantra.”“Liquidation cascades could happen to any project in the crypto industry,” Mantra CEO John Mullin warned in the post, pointing to the role of “aggressive leverage positions” on exchanges as a broader threat to investor safety.Mantra’s industry-wide call to action is the biggest section in the latest OM crash update. Source: Mantra“We’re cooperating with major exchanges to improve market stability, and we’re calling on the rest of our industry to provide input on how exchange policies can minimize — or continue to permit — policies that create risk to investors,” the update states.Progress includes governance improvementsAside from calling global centralized exchanges to review their leverage policies, Mantra listed a few key solutions following the OM crash.The first point concerned governance improvements to the Mantra chain with a focus on decentralization. Mantra has pledged to accelerate its validator diversification efforts by winding down internal validators and adding more support partners.Related: Mantra unveils $108M fund to back real-world asset tokenization, DeFi“By the end of Q2 2025, we’ll have reduced internal validators by half and onboarded 50 total external partner validators,” the update states.Additionally, the update mentioned that Mantra has burned 150 million staked OM tokens, permanently removing them from the total supply.To enhance transparency, Mantra has introduced a real-time dashboard featuring tokenomics data. It has also begun alpha testing a new Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible testnet called Omstead, aimed at improving technical resilience.The post highlighted that the Mantra chain continued operating without interruption during the price drop, even with transaction volumes at all-time highs.Cointelegraph contacted Mantra and exchanges, including Binance and OKX, for comment regarding Mantra’s industry-wide call to action, but did not receive a response by publication.This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race

PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023. “The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents. However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether and Circle. PYUSD has a market capitalization of just $880 million, less than 1% of Tether’s (USDT) $148.5 billion.PayPal’s stablecoin has seen better growth this year with a 75% increase in PYUSD circulating supply since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. It remains down 14% from its peak supply of just over $1 billion in August 2024. PayPal USD market capitalization. Source: CoinGeckoEarnings on PYUSD, Coinbase partnershipThat growth could be bolstered by a company announcement on April 23 introducing rewards for PYUSD in a new loyalty offering that will enable US users to earn 3.7% annually for holding the asset on the platform. Meanwhile, on April 24, PayPal announced a partnership with Coinbase to increase the adoption of PYUSD. “We are excited to drive new, exciting, and innovative use cases together with Coinbase and the entire cryptocurrency community, putting PYUSD at the center,”  said Alex Chriss, PayPal President and CEO.Related: PayPal to offer 3.7% yield on stablecoin balances: ReportThe payments giant also reported robust first-quarter earnings and the completion of significant share repurchase activities. The firm beat Wall Street estimates, earning $1.33 per share in the first quarter, topping analyst expectations of $1.16. Revenue rose 1% from a year before to $7.8 billion. Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest

Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.BlackRock will continue to maintain traditional book-entry records as the official ownership ledger.BlackRock didn’t propose a ticker or set a management fee for the DLT shares in its filing.A minimum initial investment of $3 million worth of DLT is required for institutions seeking to purchase the digital shares. BlackRock follows Fidelity’s March 21 filing to list an Ethereum-based OnChain share class, which seeks to track the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) — an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, Fidelity expects it to take effect on May 30.Wall Street heavyweights continue to explore blockchain use casesAsset managers have increasingly turned to blockchain to tokenize Treasury bills, bonds and private credit over the past few years.Related: BlackRock Bitcoin ETF buys $970M in BTC as inflows surge, boost marketThe treasury tokenization market is currently valued at $6.16 billion, led by BlackRock’s BUIDL at $2.55 billion, while the Franklin Templeton-issued Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (BENJI) secures over $700 million worth of real-world assets, according to rwa.xyz.Market caps of blockchain-based Treasury products. Source: rwa.xyzEthereum remains the chain of choice for tokenizing treasury assets, and currently houses over $4.55 billion worth, while the Stellar network and Solana round out the top three at $474.9 million and $274.5 million, respectively.The potential of RWA tokenization has also been championed by BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, who believes the technology could revolutionize investing.Magazine: Ethereum is destroying the competition in the $16.1T TradFi tokenization race