Cryptocurrency compliance firm Bitrace found that $649 billion worth of stablecoins flowed through addresses classified as high-risk in 2024, according to an April 29 report.

Bitrace defines high-risk blockchain addresses as those used by illegal entities to receive, transfer or store stablecoins.

Crypto compliance firms typically score crypto wallet addresses based on their likelihood of involvement in illicit activities. The higher the risk, the higher the likelihood of foul play, and the less likely compliant crypto businesses are to accept the assets.

Per the report, the amount accounted for roughly 5.14% of all stablecoin transaction volume in 2024. This is down 0.8% from 5.94% the previous year, but significantly higher than the 2.8% reported in 2022 and 1.63% in 2021.

Proportion of high-risk stablecoin transactions. Source: Bitrace

Related: Americans lost $9.3B to crypto fraud in 2024 — FBI

Tron USDT tops high-risk transactions

Tron-based USDt (USDT) dominates high-risk stablecoin transactions, with Bitrace data indicating that well over 70% of the volume moved on the network. The remaining high-risk stablecoin transactions are mostly Ethereum-based USDt and a small amount of USDC (USDC).

A likely explanation for the prevalence of USDT is likely due to its larger market capitalization and adoption compared with other stablecoins. At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap shows that USDt has a market cap of over $148 billion, while USDC stands at over $62 billion.

Tron’s prevalence is not as easy to explain. Ethereum remains the more popular choice for most stablecoin users, with DefiLlama showing nearly $124.3 billion worth of stablecoins circulating on the network. Tron ranks second, with about $71 billion — almost 43% less than Ethereum.

When comparing USDT balances alone, Tron holds slightly more than Ethereum: 47.4% of USDT supply, versus Ethereum’s 45.44%.

High-risk inflows by stablecoin type. Source: Bitrue

Related: Tether stablecoin issuer and Tron launch financial crime unit

Crypto gambling continues its rise

Bitrace also reported that in 2024, online gambling platforms processed $217.8 billion worth of stablecoins — a 17.5% increase over the previous year.

Once again, USDT also dominated this type of activity. Still, USDC’s market share is rapidly rising, clocking in at 13.36% in 2024.

Stablecoin inflows to gambling platforms. Source: Bitrue

The data follows recent reports that crypto casinos generated more than $81 billion in revenue in 2024, even as regulators in key jurisdictions continued to block access to the platforms, according to a new report.

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

Key points:

Bitcoin’s most recently-moved supply segment is increasing as higher prices see an influx of “speculative capital.”

“Hot supply” has doubled in just five weeks versus local lows in March.

Active address numbers have yet to mimic a classic bull market comeback.

Bitcoin (BTC) short-term holders (STHs) are back in the game as a “speculative capital” enters the market.

In an X thread on April 29, onchain analytics firm Glassnode reported a surge in Bitcoin’s so-called “hot capital.”

Bitcoin sees “surge in capital turnover”

New investors are entering the market as BTC price action circles its highest levels in several months.

Glassnode reveals that the sum of coins which last moved up to a week ago has reached its largest figure since early February.

“This metric captures short-term holder activity and is a proxy for speculative capital entering the market,” it explains.

In the past week alone, hot capital has shot up by over 90% to near $40 billion. Since local lows in late March, hot capital has increased by $21.5 billion, a “surge in capital turnover” which underscores a sea change in market sentiment.

“BTC hot capital bottomed at $17.5B on 23 Mar – its lowest level since Dec,” Glassnode summarizes. 

“In just 5 weeks, it has added over $21.5B, suggesting a rapid shift from dormancy to speculation among newer market entrants.”Bitcoin “hot supply” data. Source: Glassnode/X

BTC bull market comeback in progress

As Cointelegraph continues to report, STH investors have recently returned to aggregate profit as price hovers near $95,000.

Related: Bitcoin in ‘critical zone’ as triple breakout meets $93.5K support battle

Analyzing overall network participation, however, Glassnode suggested that a full bull market comeback has not yet taken place.

“Signs of early FOMO are emerging, with the Hot Capital Share ticking higher and profitability metrics like Percent Supply in Profit (86%) and NUPL (0.53) expanding notably,” it wrote in an introduction to its latest “Market Pulse” analysis piece released on April 28.

“However, while on-chain activity such as transfer volume and fees are recovering, daily active addresses remain suppressed, suggesting that full organic network engagement is still rebuilding.”Bitcoin active addresses (7-day simple moving average). Source: Glassnode

Earlier this week, other sources reported on the potential dangers of “FOMO” when it comes to an enduring BTC price recovery.

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.

New analysis on April 29 from Axel Adler Jr., a contributor to onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, shows 

Opinion by: Felix Xu, co-founder of ARPA Network and Bella Protocol

AI has been a dominant narrative since 2024, but users and companies still cannot completely trust it. Whether it’s finances, personal data or healthcare decisions, hesitation around AI’s reliability and integrity remains high.

This growing AI trust deficit is now one of the most significant barriers to widespread adoption. Decentralized, privacy-preserving technologies are quickly being recognized as viable solutions that offer verifiability, transparency and stronger data protection without compromising AI’s growth.

The pervasive AI trust deficit 

AI was the second most popular category occupying crypto mindshare in 2024, with over 16% investor interest. Startups and multinational companies have allocated considerable resources to AI to expand the technology to people’s finances, health, and every other aspect.

For example, the emerging DeFi x AI (DeFAI) sector shipped more than 7,000 projects with a peak market cap of $7 billion in early 2025 before the markets crashed. DeFAI has demonstrated the transformative potential of AI to make decentralized finance (DeFi) more user-friendly with natural language commands, execute complex multi-step operations, and conduct complex market research.

Innovation alone hasn’t, however, solved AI’s core vulnerabilities: hallucinations, manipulation and privacy concerns.

In November 2024, a user convinced an AI agent on Base to send $47,000 despite being programmed never to do so. While the scenario was part of a game, it raised real concerns: Can AI agents be trusted with autonomy over financial operations?

Audits, bug bounties and red teams help but don’t eliminate the risk of prompt injection, logic flaws or unauthorized data use. According to KPMG (2023), 61% of people still hesitate to trust AI, and even industry professionals share that concern. A Forrester survey cited in Harvard Business Review found that 25% of analysts named trust as AI’s biggest obstacle.

That skepticism remains strong. A poll conducted at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit found that 61% of America’s top IT leaders are still experimenting with AI agents. The rest were still experimenting or avoiding them altogether, citing lack of reliability, cybersecurity risks and data privacy as top concerns.

Industries like healthcare feel these risks most acutely. Sharing electronic health records (EHR) with LLMs to improve outcomes is promising, but it is also legally and ethically risky without airtight privacy protections.

For example, the healthcare industry suffers adversely from data privacy breaches. This problem compounds when hospitals share EHR data to train AI algorithms without protecting patient privacy.

Decentralized, privacy-preserving infrastructure

J.M. Barrie wrote in Peter Pan, “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” Trust isn’t just a nice to have in AI — it’s foundational. AI’s projected economic boon of $15.7 trillion by 2030 may never materialize without it.

Enter decentralized cryptographic systems like zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (ZK-SNARKs). These technologies offer a new path: allowing users to verify AI decisions without revealing personal data or the model’s inner workings.

By applying privacy-preserving cryptography to machine learning infrastructure, AI can be auditable, trustworthy and privacy-respecting, especially in sectors like finance and healthcare.

Recent: Blockchain’s next big breakthroughs: What to watch

ZK-SNARKs rely on advanced cryptographic proof systems that let one party prove something is true without revealing how. For AI, this enables models to be verified for correctness without disclosing their training data, input values or proprietary logic.

Imagine a decentralized AI lending agent. Instead of reviewing full financial records, it checks encrypted credit score proofs to make autonomous loan decisions without accessing sensitive data. This protects both user privacy and institutional risk.

ZK technology also addresses the black-box nature of LLMs. By using dynamic proofs, it’s possible to verify AI outputs while shielding both data integrity and model architecture. That’s a win for users and companies — one no longer fears data misuse, while the other safeguards its IP.

Decentralized AI 

We’re entering a new phase of AI where better models aren’t enough. Users demand transparency; enterprises need resilience; regulators expect accountability.

Decentralized, verifiable cryptography delivers all three.

Technologies like ZK-SNARKs, threshold multiparty computation, and BLS-based verification systems aren’t just “crypto tools” — they’re becoming the foundation of trustworthy AI. Combined with blockchain’s transparency, they create a powerful new stack for privacy-preserving, auditable and reliable AI systems.

Gartner predicted that 80% of companies will be using AI by 2026. Adoption won’t be driven by hype or resources alone. It will hinge on building AI that people and companies can actually trust.

And that starts with decentralization.

Opinion by: Felix Xu, co-founder of ARPA Network and Bella Protocol.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.