Zilliqa CEO Matt Dyer steps down as the team focuses on delivering Zilliqa 2.0 following recent bridge recovery efforts. Matt Dyer has stepped down as chief executive officer of Zilliqa Technology, the company announced, as the project moves toward a…

Zilliqa CEO steps down two months after X-Bridge exploit

The incident highlights the volatility and risks of experimental tokenization, 
underscoring the need for clearer market guidelines and user education.
The post Coinbase&#8217;s Base sparks controversy after experimental token melts 
down, then rockets back appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Coinbase’s Base sparks controversy after experimental token melts down, then rockets back

The firm behind the Solana-based automated market maker (AMM) Raydium has 
launched its memecoin-making protocol, LaunchLab, which looks to compete with 
Pump.fun.
The arrival of LaunchLab on April 16 comes a month after Pump.fun, previously 
a key contributor to Raydium&#8217;s revenue, severed ties with the firm by moving 
its token migration from Raydium&#8217;s liquidity pools to its own new 
decentralized exchange, PumpSwap.
LaunchLab will leverage Raydium&#8217;s liquidity pools and aim to dethrone Pump.fun 
as the leading Solana memecoin launchpad.
Raydium said LaunchLab provides memecoin enthusiasts with customizable bonding 
curves and no migration fees, while tokens that raise 85 Solana (SOL) &#8212; 
currently worth $11,150 &#8212; will transition to Raydium&#8217;s AMM instantly.
Around 10 LaunchLab tokens have already surpassed this threshold, according to 
the LaunchLab platform.
Raydium said tokens can be launched for free and creators can opt-in to earn 
10% of trading fees from the AMM pool post-graduation.
_Source:__Raydium_
LaunchLab trading fees are set at 1%, and 25% of those fees will be used for 
Raydium (RAY) buybacks.
_**Related:**__**Trump &#8216;s next crypto play will be Monopoly-style game &#8212; 
Report**_
The news triggered a near 14% price surge of the RAY token, pushing it up to 
$2.41 four hours after the announcement before falling back to $2.21 at the 
time of writing, CoinGecko data shows.
## PumpSwap volume on a tear
PumpSwap&#8217;s daily record in trading volume has now been broken five days in a 
row after posting $460 million on April 17.
The April 17 tally narrowly edged out the $454.9 million in trading volume 
seen on April 16, making it the fourth consecutive day above $400 million.
_Daily change in trading volume on PumpSwap since March 22. 
Source:__DefiLlama_
PumpSwap has now processed $7.3 billion worth of volume since it launched on 
March 22, DefiLlama data shows.
_**Magazine:**__**Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging 
research**_

Raydium debuts LaunchLab to rival memecoin maker Pump.fun

BNB price is recovering from the $575 support zone. The price is now 
consolidating gains and might face hurdles near $585 and $600. BNB price is 
attempting to recover above the $580 resistance zone. The price is now trading 
below $585 and the 100-hourly simple moving average. There is a connecting 
bearish trend line forming with resistance at $585 on the hourly chart of the 
BNB/USD pair (data source from Binance). The pair must stay above the $575 
level to start another increase in the near term. BNB Price Faces Resistance 
After struggling to clear the $595 resistance, BNB price started a fresh 
decline. There was a move below the $590 and $585 levels, like Ethereum and 
Bitcoin. A low was formed at $576 and the price is now attempting to recover. 
There was a move above the $580 level. The price climbed above the 23.6% Fib 
retracement level of the downward move from the $594 swing high to the $576 
low. The price is now trading below $585 and the 100-hourly simple moving 
average. On the upside, the price could face resistance near the $585 level. 
There is also a connecting bearish trend line forming with resistance at $585 
on the hourly chart of the BNB/USD pair. The next resistance sits near the 
$588 level and the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the 
$594 swing high to the $576 low. A clear move above the $588 zone could send 
the price higher. In the stated case, BNB price could test $595. A close above 
the $595 resistance might set the pace for a larger move toward the $600 
resistance. Any more gains might call for a test of the $620 level in the near 
term. Another Decline? If BNB fails to clear the $585 resistance, it could 
start another decline. Initial support on the downside is near the $580 level. 
The next major support is near the $575 level. The main support sits at $562. 
If there is a downside break below the $562 support, the price could drop 
toward the $550 support. Any more losses could initiate a larger decline 
toward the $535 level. Technical Indicators Hourly MACD – The MACD for BNB/USD 
is losing pace in the bullish zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The 
RSI for BNB/USD is currently below the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $580 
and $575. Major Resistance Levels – $585 and $595.

BNB Price Eyes Breakout, But $600 Remains A Stubborn Ceiling

Artificial intelligence startups received the lion&#8217;s share of venture capital 
investments across the globe in the first quarter of 2025, according to new 
data from Pitchbook.
&#8220;Investors still have an AI FOMO [fear of missing out] problem,&#8221; the research 
firm said in an April 17 report, which revealed that 57.9% of global venture 
capital dollars in Q1 went to AI and machine learning startups.
Comparatively, the first quarter of 2024 saw just 28% of VC dollars channeled 
into AI startups.
Pitchbook said the capital flowing into AI was even more concentrated in North 
America, with 70% of venture funding in the region going into AI startups in 
the first quarter.
The global AI sector raised $73 billion in the first quarter, which was more 
than half of the total value of AI-related deals made last year. However, more 
than half of that was for OpenAI, which closed a $40 billion funding round led 
by SoftBank on March 31.
Other notable AI funding rounds in March included Anthropic, which raised $3.5 
billion in a Series E round.
&#8220;The fear of somebody else winning your market has never been higher than it 
is now,&#8221; said Maria Palma, general partner at Freestyle Capital. &#8220;You haven&#8217;t 
seen a slowdown because the rate of change on the technology side is almost 
indigestible,&#8221; she added.
Nnamdi Okike, co-founder and managing partner at 645 Ventures, cautioned that 
there are extremes happening, &#8220;and that&#8217;s going to mean there&#8217;s going to be a 
lot of losers.&#8221;
&#8220;A lot of VC funds are just kind of saying, &#8216;Hey, this can only go up.&#8217; And 
that&#8217;s usually a recipe for failure &#8212; when that starts to happen, you&#8217;re 
becoming detached from reality,&#8221; he added.
_AI deals as a share of all global VC deal activity. Source:__PitchBook_
## Crypto venture capital creeps up
Comparatively, crypto and blockchain startups raised just $4.8 billion in Q1, 
according to CryptoRank. Almost half of that, $2 billion, was Abu Dhabi 
investment firm MGX investing in Binance.
This was still over four times as much as the $1.1 billion raised in the 
fourth quarter of 2024, and the biggest quarter for crypto venture capital 
deal value since the third quarter of 2022.
_**Related:**__**Crypto VCs &#8216;excited&#8217; about AI agents but not yet investing**_
Crypto venture capital appears to be warming again with a friendlier 
regulatory environment emerging in the US.
On April 17, Mike Novogratz&#8217;s Galaxy Ventures Fund I was reportedly set to 
exceed its $150 million funding target and could hit $180 million when it 
closes at the end of June.
_**Magazine:**__**Illegal arcade disguised as … a fake Bitcoin mine? Soldier 
scams in China: Asia Express**_

AI takes nearly 60% of global venture capital dollars in Q1: Pitchbook

Auradine, a U.S.-based firm in energy-efficient blockchain and artificial 
intelligence (AI) infrastructure, has raised $153 million in a Series C 
funding round to accelerate its growth and innovation. Auradine Hits $300M 
Total Funding With Latest $153M Investment The oversubscribed round was led by 
Stepstone Group and included participation from Maverick Silicon, Premji 
Invest, Samsung Catalyst […]