Coin Market

Polymarket faces scrutiny over $7M Ukraine mineral deal bet

Published

6 days ago

March 26, 2025

Polymarket, the world’s largest decentralized prediction market, is under fire after a controversial outcome raised concerns over potential governance manipulation in a high-stakes political bet.

A betting market on the platform asked whether US President Donald Trump would accept a rare earth mineral deal with Ukraine before April. Despite no such event occurring, the market was settled as “Yes,” triggering a backlash from users and industry observers.

This may point to a “governance attack” in which a whale from the UMA Protocol “used his voting power to manipulate the oracle, allowing the market to settle false results and successfully profit,” according to crypto threat researcher Vladimir S.

“The tycoon cast 5 million tokens through three accounts, accounting for 25% of the total votes. Polymarket is committed to preventing this from happening again,” he wrote in a March 26 X post.

Source: Vladimir S.

Polymarket employs UMA Protocol’s blockchain oracles for external data to settle market outcomes and verify real-world events.

Polymarket data shows the market amassed more than $7 million in trading volume before settling on March 25.

Source: Polymarket

Still, not everyone agrees that it was a coordinated attack. A pseudonymous Polymarket user, Tenadome, argued that the outcome was the result of negligence.

“There is no ‘tycoon’ who ‘manipulated the oracle,’ Tenadome wrote in a March 26 X post, adding:

“The voters that decided this outcome are the same UMA whales who vote in every dispute, who (1) are largely affiliated with/on the UMA team and (2) do not trade on Polymarket, and they just chose to ignore the clarification to get their rewards and avoid being slashed.”

Polymarket won’t issue a refund

Despite user frustration, Polymarket moderators said no refunds would be issued.

“We are aware of the situation regarding the Ukraine Rare Earth Market. This market resolved against the expectations of our users and our clarification,” Polymarket moderator Tanner said, adding:

“Unfortunately, because this wasn’t a market failure, we are not able to issue refunds.”

Source: Vladimir S.

Polymarket said it will build new monitoring systems to ensure this “unprecedented situation” does not occur again.

US elections fuel 565% prediction markets rise

Prediction markets saw significant growth in the third quarter of 2024, driven by bets on the United States presidential election.

Top three crypto prediction markets. Source: CoinGecko

The betting volume on prediction markets rose over 565% in Q3 to reach $3.1 billion across the three largest markets, up from just $463.3 million in the second quarter.

Polymarket, the most prominent such decentralized platform, dominated the market with over a 99% share as of September.

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Coin Market

GoMining launches $100M Bitcoin mining fund for institutional investors

Published

57 minutes ago

April 1, 2025

GoMining, a platform that allows users to mine Bitcoin (BTC) through data centers, is launching a $100 million Bitcoin mining fund for institutional investors. Custodied by Bitgo, the fund promises annual distributions from mining yield and a strategy that focuses on Bitcoin rewards and reinvestment.

GoMining’s Alpha Blocks Fund comes as more companies have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, capturing enthusiasm surrounding the resurgence of the world’s top cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Companies that have done so, including Japan’s Metaplanet and medical technology company Semler Scientific, have seen their stock prices increase.

“Unlike passive equity investments, the Alpha Blocks Fund offers direct exposure to mined Bitcoin via a fully managed, compounding hashrate strategy,” a GoMining spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

“BTC rewards are reinvested to increase the fund’s hashrate and improve miner efficiency — creating real, yield-driven outcomes. Our model is built for performance, not market sentiment, and integrates utility-based advantages that listed mining companies typically don’t offer.”

According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, GoMining Institutional operates with 7.3 Exahash of active hash power.

“This framework ensures compliance with relevant regulatory requirements and supports our focus on delivering institutional-grade exposure to Bitcoin mining yield strategies,” said the spokesperson, adding that retail users can access a separate digital mining product.

The fund will charge a 2% flat annual management fee, with no performance fees applied.

While GoMining’s Bitcoin fund caters to institutional investors, its flagship product is geared toward retail miners who may lack the funds to create a heavy-duty mining rig. In 2024, it revealed an attempt to gamify Bitcoin mining through the use of non-fungible tokens.

Institutional investment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH) has been on the rise since 2024, when the first cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds were launched in the United States.

Regulatory clarity from Europe’s MiCA and the enthusiasm for digital assets in the United States might be changing institutional investors’ skepticism about cryptocurrencies. In March 2025, a report by Coinbase revealed that 83% of institutions are planning a crypto allocation.

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Coin Market

Ethereum prints 4 consecutive red monthly candles, but data points to an ETH/BTC bottom

Published

57 minutes ago

April 1, 2025

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), registered four consecutive red monthly candles after the altcoin dropped 18.47% in March. The altcoin’s current market structure reflects a sustained bearish trend not seen since the bear market of 2022.

With each monthly close taking place below the previous month’s low, analysts are beginning the debate about whether ETH is approaching a bottom or if there is more downside ahead for the altcoin.

Ethereum/Bitcoin ratio hits new 5-year low

On March 30, the Ethereum/Bitcoin ratio dropped to a five-year low of 0.021. The ETH/BTC ratio measures ETH’s value against Bitcoin (BTC), and the current decline underlines Ether’s underperformance against Bitcoin over the past five years.

In fact, the last time the ETH/BTC ratio dipped to 0.021, ETH was valued between $150-$300 in May 2020.

Ethereum/Bitcoin 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Data from the token terminal showed Ethereum’s monthly fees dropped to $22 million in March 20205, its lowest level since June 2020, indicating low network activity and market interest.

Ethereum fees represent the cost users pay for transactions, which is influenced by network demand. When network fees begin to drop, it indicates reduced network utility.

Ethereum fees and price. Source: token terminal

Despite the price action and revenue malaise, Ethereum analyst VentureFounder said that the ETH/BTC bottom could occur over the next few weeks. The analyst hinted at a potential bottom between 0.017 and 0.022, suggesting that the ratio might drop further before a recovery. The analyst said,

“Maybe another lower low RSI and one more push downward lots of similarity with 2018-2019 Fed tightening & QE cycle, expecting the first higher high after May FOMC when Fed ends QT & begin QE.”

Ethereum/Bitcoin analysis by venture founder. Source: X.com

Historical odds favor a short-term bottom

Since its inception, ETH has registered three or more consecutive bearish monthly candles on five occasions, and each time, a short-term bottom was the result. The chart below shows that the most back-to-back red months occurred in 2018, with seven, but prices jumped 83% after the correction.

Ethereum monthly chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In 2022, after three consecutive bearish months, ETH price consolidated in a range for almost a year, but the bottom was in on the third bearish candle in June 2022. Historically, Ethereum has a 75% probability of having a green month in April.

Based on Ethereum’s past quarterly returns, the altcoin experienced the least number of drawdowns in Q2 compared to other quarters. With the average returns in Q2 as high as 60.59%, the likelihood of positive returns in April.

Ethereum Quarterly returns. Source: CoinGlass

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Coin Market

US lawmaker will reintroduce crypto retirement bill to help Trump agenda

Published

3 hours ago

April 1, 2025

For the second time, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville is set to reintroduce a bill aimed at allowing Americans to add cryptocurrency to their retirement savings plans.

In a March 31 Fox News interview, Sen. Tuberville said he planned to reintroduce his “Financial Freedoms Act” legislation after two failed attempts to get the legislation through Congress in 2022 and 2023. In announcing the bill, the Alabama senator said he wanted to help US President Donald Trump’s perceived role as a “crypto president.”

“Give people a chance to breathe for once […] let them do what they do best [which] is invest their money,” said the senator.

The Financial Freedom Act, which Tuberville first introduced in the US Senate in May 2022, proposed scaling back regulations with the Department of Labor over the types of investments used in 401(k) retirement plan fiduciaries. The senator said he would reintroduce the bill on April 1, but congressional records showed no movement at the time of publication.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.