Coinbase Australia has been granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), including authorisation to offer retail derivatives. The company said it is the first cryptocurrency exchange to obtain an AFSL with this scope. An AFSL permits firms to provide regulated financial services in Australia, including activities such as giving financial advice, dealing in financial products, operating investment schemes, and other specified services. Licensees must meet disclosure and compliance requirements, maintain adequate resources, and adhere to Australia's financial regulatory standards. John O'Loghlen, Coinbase's Regional Managing Director, APAC, and Country Director for Australia, said the approval reflects years of investment in the local market and underscores the company's focus on consumer protection and regulatory compliance. "Receiving an AFSL is the natural next step in our journey," O'Loghlen said, adding that the licence places Coinbase Australia under the same conduct, disclosure, governance, and consumer-protection expectations as traditional financial services providers. Coinbase said the licence comes ahead of new regulatory requirements and will support the local expansion of its "Everything Exchange" offering. Australians are expected to gain access to crypto and equity perpetuals, with futures and options planned, as the company works toward offering a wider range of financial products on a single platform. Since entering Australia in 2016, Coinbase has expanded its footprint by establishing a local entity, registering with AUSTRAC, and rolling out market-specific features such as PayID integration and advanced trading tools. The company also noted ongoing engagement with research institutions, industry groups, and policymakers, alongside building a team with experience in regulated sectors. Crypto ownership in Australia has reached a record 33% of adults, according to the 2026 Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index. The report shows adoption continuing to rise despite 30% of investors facing blocked or delayed bank payments, while many Australians still want clearer guidance on crypto taxation. Younger Australians remain the most active holders, and confidence in crypto's long-term role continues to build.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back (@adam3us) has publicly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto after a New York Times investigation published today raised the possibility. "I’m not Satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash," Back said. The report draws on evidence from 1990s Cypherpunk archives and argues that Back’s Hashcash may have provided a key blueprint for Bitcoin. Back said that while he helped pioneer electronic cash and privacy technologies, he is not the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin protocol.

South Korea's Democratic Party of Korea is seeking to fold tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and stablecoins into the country's current regulatory framework, with related clauses to be written into the draft Digital Assets Basic Act, ME News reported on April 8 (UTC+8). Under the proposal, issuers of tokenized RWAs would be required to place the underlying assets into trust accounts in line with the Capital Markets Act. Stablecoins would be treated as "payment instruments" under the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act and supervised by the foreign-exchange authority, without a separate registration requirement. The plan would exempt small-value stablecoin transactions from foreign-exchange reporting, while keeping reporting and compliance obligations in place for large-value transfers. It also would ban issuers from offering yields on idle stablecoin balances and direct the Financial Services Commission to set technical standards to ensure stablecoin interoperability. The Digital Assets Basic Act would represent South Korea's second set of digital-asset rules. The legislation has been delayed multiple times, pushing back its originally targeted 2025 rollout. (Source: ChainCatcher)

Large whale flows are emerging on Hyperliquid as deep-pocketed players put fresh capital to work in $HYPE amid the current price action. Wallet 0xf562 deposited 7.86M $USDC to buy 200,042 $HYPE at an average price of $39.3. Shortly after, @CookerFlips (Cooker.hl) transferred $1.99M to acquire 50,751 $HYPE around $38.5.

Bitcoin climbed back above $71,000 after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week, conditional ceasefire covering transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report from QCP Capital. Risk sentiment improved alongside the move: equities advanced and Brent crude briefly slid to $90. Tensions in the region remain elevated. Just hours before the ceasefire agreement, Iran launched missile strikes on Saudi Arabia's Jubail petrochemical facility, underscoring that threats to energy infrastructure have not been resolved. In macro data, U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 178,000 in March, but the labor backdrop is still described as broadly weak. Energy-driven inflation pressure adds another layer of uncertainty, putting this week's CPI release in the spotlight as a key input for the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. In the options market, near-term implied volatility in BTC has compressed, while demand for put protection remains firm. Traders are watching $74,000 as the next important technical hurdle. QCP Capital said markets appear to be pricing in expectations of downgrades rather than a definitive outcome. The main near-term catalysts are Fed meeting minutes, the CPI print, and Friday's diplomatic developments, which will help determine whether the current rally can hold.

White House economists said stablecoin reward programs are not expected to harm banks, Bloomberg reported. The analysis found that banning stablecoin yields would increase bank lending by just 0.02%.

The New York Times says it has identified @adam3us as Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, following an 18-month investigation. Adam Back has denied the allegation. Who do you believe Satoshi is?

Odaily Planet Daily reports that U.S. crypto-related equities moved sharply higher in premarket trading, citing msx.com data. CRCL rose 7.63%, MSTR gained 7.21%, SBET advanced 7.37%, and BMNR added 7.54%. MSX.com is a decentralized real-world asset (RWA) trading platform that has listed hundreds of RWA tokens, including tokens backed by U.S. equities such as AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, NFLX, and NVDA, along with ETFs.

BlockBeats reported that on April 8, vessel-tracking site MarineTraffic logged the first transits through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.-Iran agreement to halt hostilities. The Greek bulk carrier "NJ Earth" cleared the strait at 08:44 GMT. The Liberian-flagged "Daytona Beach" transited at 06:59 GMT after departing Iran's Bandar Abbas port at 05:28 GMT. MarineTraffic data showed hundreds of ships still operating in the area, including 426 tankers, 34 liquefied petroleum gas carriers and 19 liquefied natural gas carriers. (CCTV News)