Weekly preview | Initia launches mainnet and is listed on Binance; the US SEC holds the third crypto policy roundtable meeting, which will focus on custody issues

News preview:

• Balance will launch TGE on April 21; Binance Alpha, Binance Futures, and Gate.io will list Balance (EPT) on the same day
• DTCC Launches Tokenized Collateral Management Platform “AppChain”, Demonstration to Be Held on April 23
• Cross-chain protocol Hyperlane will issue $HYPER airdrop on April 22
• L1 blockchain Initia will be launched on the mainnet on April 24, and Binance will list its INIT token at 19:00 (UTC+8) on the same day.
• The U.S. SEC will hold the third crypto policy roundtable on April 25, focusing on custody issues
• Several Fed officials will deliver intensive speeches

April 21

Macroeconomics:

At 8:30 p.m., 2025 FOMC voting member and Chicago Fed President Goolsbee was interviewed by CNBC

Project News:

Balance announces EPT token economic model, TGE will be launched on April 21

The Balance Foundation announced its EPT token economic model. The total supply of EPT tokens is 10 billion, which will be launched on the BNB chain and Ethereum dual chain on April 21, 2025 (UTC). In the token distribution, airdrops and community incentives account for 15%, node rewards 25%, and ecological growth 23%. The airdrop targets include E-PAL users, early supporters, active community users and Pioneer badge NFT holders. EPT will be used to pay for AI services, governance, staking, incentives and other functions.

Latest Ethereum ACDE meeting: Pectra client is expected to be released on April 21

The 209th Ethereum Core Developers Meeting (ACDE) focused on the upcoming Pectra and Fusaka upgrades. The Pectra client is expected to be released on April 21, adding EIP-7702 delegation status to JSON-RPC. Fusaka will clearly include EIP-7823 (limiting MODEXP complexity), EIP-7825 (transaction gas limit) and EIP-7907 (contract code size measurement and limit improvement); EIP-7762 and EIP-7918 will be adopted in the blob fee mechanism to balance resource utilization and market supply and demand.

Governance Voting:

Babylon will complete the governance proposal voting to modify the second phase of the pledge unbinding fee parameters on April 21

Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon has announced on X that a governance proposal to modify the parameters of the Babylon Genesis chain has been officially launched. The proposal aims to adjust the unbinding fee for second-phase staking from 100 sats/vbyte to 30 sats/vbyte. Voting is now open and the deadline is 7am UTC on Monday, April 21.

April 22

Macroeconomics:

9 p.m. Fed Vice Chairman Jefferson speaks at the Economic Liquidity Summit

At 9:30 p.m., Harker, 2026 FOMC voting member and President of the Philadelphia Fed, spoke at the Economic Liquidity Summit

Policy supervision:

ESMA launches public consultation on developing crypto-asset advisory standards, closing on April 22

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a public consultation on guidelines for assessing the knowledge and competence of professionals providing crypto-asset services under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The consultation, published on February 17, aims to standardize the qualifications and experience required for individuals to provide advice or information to clients on digital assets.

The draft guidelines set clear professional qualifications, work experience and continuing education standards for employees employed by crypto asset service providers (CASPs). Under the proposal, individuals who provide crypto asset investment advice must meet stricter competency requirements than those who provide basic information services. Market participants, including CASPs, investors, financial institutions and industry associations, are invited to provide feedback on the proposed standards. ESMA will accept comments until April 22, 2025 and expects to publish final guidelines in the third quarter of that year.

Project dynamics:

Cross-chain protocol Hyperlane announces $HYPER airdrop details, to be distributed on April 22

The cross-chain interoperability protocol Hyperlane will airdrop the token $HYPER on April 22, with 57% of the total supply allocated to community users, 25% to the team, 10.9% to investors, and 7.1% to the foundation. The community airdrop will be fully unlocked, while the team and investor tokens will be locked for 12 months. Users must check their eligibility through the official portal before April 13.

Token unlocking:

SPACE ID (ID) will unlock approximately 12.65 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time on April 22, accounting for 2.94% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$2.4 million.

April 23

Macroeconomics:

The IMF will release its latest World Economic Outlook report on April 23. Its president said that the trade war may lead to a slowdown in global growth but there is no risk of recession.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech before the Spring Meeting in Washington that the trade "restart" and protectionism wave driven by the United States are exacerbating global uncertainty and may lead to a downward adjustment in economic growth, but the world will not fall into recession. She stressed that although some countries may face increased inflation, the overall economy remains resilient. The IMF will release its latest World Economic Outlook report on April 23 (next Tuesday).

At 2 a.m., Kashkari, 2026 FOMC voting member and president of the Minneapolis Fed, delivered a speech

Project News:

At 9:30 p.m., 2025 FOMC voting member, St. Louis Fed President Moussallem and Fed Governor Waller gave opening remarks at an event

The Argentine Congress will officially launch an investigation on April 23 to find out the relationship between government officials and Libra

The lower house of the Argentine Congress approved the establishment of a special committee to investigate the role of senior government officials in the issuance and collapse of the La Libertad Avanza project (Libra token). The committee, composed of 24 members, will review testimonies from all parties to confirm whether President Javier Milei, his sister Karina Milei and other government officials were involved in the issuance of the token and its subsequent collapse. The committee will launch an investigation on April 23 and must submit an investigation report within three months to clarify relevant responsibilities.

Mile first announced the Libra token plan in February, claiming that it would be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Argentina. However, just hours after the token was issued, the price plummeted, causing losses to tens of thousands of investors. This congressional investigation is one of the investigations launched by multiple domestic and foreign institutions into the Libra token incident. Other institutions involved in the investigation include the Argentine court and the US Department of Justice. All parties are committed to finding out the truth of the incident.

Google to implement MiCA crypto advertising rules in EU from April 23

Google will enforce cryptocurrency advertising standards in Europe in accordance with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) from April 23, 2025.

DTCC Launches Tokenized Collateral Management Platform “AppChain”, Demonstration to Be Held on April 23

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced the launch of a real-time tokenized collateral management platform. This innovative platform, called "AppChain", will be demonstrated at the DTCC "Major Collateral Experiment" event on April 23. The platform aims to improve the efficiency and liquidity of global collateral circulation, optimize capital utilization, and "build an open digital liquidity ecosystem for market participants to deploy digital applications." The technical architecture shows that AppChain is developed based on the Besu platform of LF Decentralized Trust under the Linux Foundation.

DTCC pointed out that the increasingly complex market environment and cost pressures have made the demand for efficient and high-quality collateral solutions more urgent. Through the tokenization of collateral, the platform is committed to breaking the barriers of the traditional "isolated" system and significantly improving the speed of cross-system collateral circulation.

Token unlocking:

Murasaki (MURA) will unlock approximately 10 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 23, accounting for 1.00% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$4 million.

Karrat (KARRAT) will unlock approximately 21.25 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 23, accounting for 8.79% of the current circulation and worth approximately $1.3 million.

Eigenlayer (EIGEN) will unlock approximately 1.29 million tokens at 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on April 23, accounting for 0.53% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$1.1 million.

April 24

Macroeconomics:

At 2 a.m., the Federal Reserve released the Beige Book on economic conditions.

Policy supervision:

Dubai Financial Services Authority launches tokenization regulatory sandbox, applications close on April 24

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has announced that it is inviting companies to apply to join its tokenized regulatory sandbox, with a deadline of April 24, 2025. The DFSA is an independent agency responsible for regulating the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). In a March 17 announcement, the DFSA stated that the sandbox program is designed to attract companies that want to offer tokenized investment products and services. The sandbox provides a controlled environment for companies to test tokenized financial solutions under the supervision of regulators.

The DFSA has clarified that eligible services include tokenized stocks, bonds, Islamic bonds, and collective investment fund units. Both existing companies that have been authorized by the DFSA and want to expand their tokenization business, as well as eligible new applicants, can submit applications. After submitting the application, the company will enter the evaluation process. Successfully selected companies will have structured testing opportunities within the sandbox and receive tailored regulatory guidance. The DFSA emphasizes that only companies with strong business models and solid compliance capabilities will be selected. The sandbox program is part of the DFSA's broader innovative testing license project, which aims to help companies improve their financial products and prepare for full authorization.

Project dynamics:

Dolomite will hold a TGE on April 24th and will airdrop 20% of DOLO

Lending protocol Dolomite announced that its DOLO Token Generation Event (TGE) will be officially launched on April 24, and users can start claiming DOLO tokens on April 24. The total number of DOLO tokens is 1 billion, of which about 361 million will be in circulation at the TGE, including locked veDOLO. 20% of DOLO tokens will be distributed to platform users as airdrops, with the airdrop snapshot date being January 6, 2025, taking into account only the activities in Dolomite before the snapshot. In addition to the airdrop, Boyco depositors will receive a 3% allocation of DOLO tokens.

April 25

Policy supervision:

The U.S. SEC will hold the third crypto policy roundtable on April 25, focusing on custody issues

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released details of its third cryptocurrency policy roundtable, and the April 25 meeting will focus on custody issues, with two panels - one on broker-dealers and wallet custody, and the other on investment advisors and investment company custody. The broker-dealer panel includes Jason Allegrante of Fireblocks, Rachel Anderika of Anchorage Digital, Terrence Dempsey of Fidelity Investments, Mark Greenberg of crypto exchange Kraken, Veronica McGregor of Exodus, Brandon Russell of Etana Custody, and Tammy Weinrib of Copper.co.

Token unlocking:

Venom (VENOM) will unlock approximately 59.26 million tokens at 4:00 pm Beijing time on April 25, accounting for 2.86% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$7.9 million.

AltLayer (ALT) will unlock approximately 240 million tokens at 6:00 pm Beijing time on April 25, accounting for 7.92% of the current circulation, with a value of approximately US$6.9 million.

April 26

None

April 27

Token unlocking:

Undeads Games (UDS) will unlock approximately 21.94 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 27, accounting for 30.54% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$14.9 million.

Velo (VELO) will unlock approximately 182.8 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on April 27, accounting for 2.47% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$2.3 million.

Specific time to be determined

Project News:

Sonic Labs: .sonic domain name public sale to start next week

Sonic Labs posted on the X platform that the .sonic domain name is ready, users can now check their emails, and users on the waiting list can now pick up the domain name on Unstoppable Domains. The public sale of the .sonic domain name is scheduled to start next week.