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Justin Sun Beats WLFI to the Punch

Justin Sun Beats WLFI to the Punch

Plus: ⚖️ Kalshi and Polymarket race to launch perps | 🔒 Kelp's stolen ETH starts moving | 📈 Bitcoin hits an 11-week high on the ceasefire extension

David Okoya
April 22, 2026

Hi! In today’s edition:

⚖️ Justin Sun is suing the Trump family's crypto project — and alleging extortion
📊 Kalshi and Polymarket want to be your perps exchange now, not just your election betting app
🔒 The Kelp hacker moves hundreds of millions through THORChain
📈 Bitcoin hit $78,400, an 11-week high, after Trump extended the Iran ceasefire

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Justin Sun Sues Trump-Linked World Liberty Financial Over Frozen $75 Million Token Stake

Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, filed a federal lawsuit in California on April 21 against World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-backed DeFi and stablecoin project, alleging it unlawfully froze his $WLFI tokens, stripped his governance voting rights, and threatened to permanently burn his holdings. Sun says he invested $30 million in WLFI in 2024 partly because of the Trump family's association with the project, later building a position now valued at roughly $75 million.

The dispute traces back to September 2025, when WLFI used a smart contract blacklist function to freeze Sun's wallet after he transferred approximately $9 million worth of tokens. Sun alleges the project team later pressured him to keep investing and mint its USD1 stablecoin, and threatened to report him to US authorities over purported KYC issues when he refused. Sun said he "tried in good faith to resolve this situation" before filing, and clarified the lawsuit targets specific individuals at WLFI, not President Trump.

Kalshi and Polymarket Plot Perpetual Futures Products

Kalshi and Polymarket, the two dominant prediction market platforms, are preparing to launch perpetual futures trading products.

Kalshi is set to launch perpetual futures for assets such as Bitcoin, The Information reported on April 21, citing people familiar with the matter. Hours after The Information broke the Kalshi story, Polymarket posted on X: "We price the future. Now you can lever it," teasing its own perpetuals product covering crypto, equities, and commodities.

The move puts both platforms in direct competition with Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken, all of which have moved into prediction markets over the past year.

Both Kalshi and Polymarket hold CFTC licenses as designated contract markets, giving them a regulatory footing to offer the product onshore that offshore platforms have long lacked.

Kelp DAO Exploiter Begins Moving Stolen ETH as Laundering Operation Gets Underway

The suspected Lazarus Group actors behind the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit began moving stolen funds on April 21, transferring 75,701 ETH worth roughly $175 million across three transactions into newly created wallet addresses, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. The move came directly after Arbitrum's Security Council froze $71 million in ETH linked to the attack on April 20.

ZachXBT reported that addresses tied to the exploit had started routing funds through THORChain and privacy protocol Umbra, with three THORChain transactions totaling roughly $1.5 million and a separate $78,000 transfer through Umbra. PeckShield tracked the broader laundering effort at approximately $176 million being split across THORChain, Umbra, Chainflip, and BitTorrent. Less than 0.768 ETH for gas remained in the original exploiter address by the end of Tuesday, indicating the wallet had largely been cleared.

Bitcoin Hits 11-Week High as Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire

Bitcoin jumped as much as 3.6% to $78,400 on April 22, its highest level since February 3, after President Trump announced he would extend the US-Iran ceasefire following a request from Pakistani mediators. Ether also gained as much as 3.8% in the same move, part of a broader risk-on rally across equities and crypto as markets absorbed the news that hostilities would remain on pause.

The extension came after the initial two-week ceasefire was set to expire on Wednesday, and reports emerged that Iran's government had yet to consolidate a unified proposal for peace talks. Trump characterized the Iranian government as "seriously fractured" and said the US military would maintain its naval blockade of Iranian ports while negotiations continued. The ceasefire extension is open-ended rather than tied to a fixed deadline, keeping market sensitivity to any fresh escalation elevated.

🔒 Scammers impersonating Iranian authorities have been sending messages to shipping companies stuck west of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding fees in Bitcoin or USDT in exchange for safe transit, Greek maritime risk firm MARISKS warned. At least one vessel appears to have paid, only to be fired on by Iranian gunboats while attempting to pass through.
🔒 Sui-based liquid staking protocol Volo has been exploited for $3.5 million in the latest DeFi security incident, with the team pledging to absorb losses.
⚖️ New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Coinbase and Gemini on Tuesday, alleging their prediction market offerings are illegal, unlicensed gambling operations that let users as young as 18 wager despite the state's 21-year minimum age for mobile sports betting. The AG is seeking $2.2 billion from Coinbase and at least $1.2 billion from Gemini, plus a ban on the products.
🏦 Kevin Warsh, Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, backed crypto's role in finance during his Senate confirmation hearing, saying digital assets are a legitimate part of the financial system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, expressed concerns that Warsh could be a "sock puppet" for President Donald Trump.
🤖 Coinbase's Quantum Advisory Council published a position paper warning that quantum computing poses a credible threat to blockchain cryptography and urging the industry to begin migrating to quantum-resistant standards now. The council cited the "harvest now, decrypt later" risk as the most pressing near-term concern.
📈 Etherealize updated its long-term ETH price target to $250,000, citing Ethereum's growing role in institutional finance, tokenization infrastructure, and stablecoin settlement. The firm acknowledged the timeline is multi-year and contingent on continued institutional adoption.
🏛️ A bipartisan PACE Act was introduced in Congress that would open Federal Reserve payment rails to nonbanks including crypto firms, drawing support from digital asset advocates who argue the current system unfairly locks out fintech competition. The bill would let qualifying nonbank institutions access the Fed's master account system.
💸 Securitize named a former IMF representative to its board as the tokenization firm expands its institutional credibility ahead of further product launches.
🐕 The Dogecoin Foundation and MoonPay donated 1 million DOGE to the AKC Humane Fund, the charitable arm of the American Kennel Club, in a campaign tying the meme coin's dog branding to real animal welfare causes.

🇬🇧 The UK government invited Bybit to London as part of a broader push to position the country as a crypto hub and compete with the UAE's reputation for digital asset innovation. The move signals a shift in UK regulatory posture toward courting, rather than cautioning, major global exchanges.
🏠 DoorDash is building on Stripe's Tempo blockchain to pay its delivery workers and merchants in stablecoins across more than 40 countries, aiming to cut cross-border settlement costs and times. Co-founder Andy Fang cited Tempo's "enterprise readiness" as the deciding factor over other stablecoin infrastructure options.
🟡 Ramp, the Peter Thiel-backed fintech unicorn, rolled out zero-fee conversions between USDT and US dollars across its product suite, making stablecoin treasury management effectively cost-free for its corporate customers.
📱 Block's Cash App launched accounts for children with parental controls, stopping short of giving minors access to Bitcoin despite Cash App's heavy crypto focus. The product is aimed at teaching financial literacy to young users.
🌐 SoFi added XRP deposits to its platform but immediately drew user criticism for barring external wallet transfers, limiting XRP to a custodial product with no on-chain utility. The restriction puts SoFi at odds with the broader XRP community's self-custody norms.

⛏️ Core Scientific launched a $3.3 billion junk bond sale to fund six AI data centers it is building under a 12-year lease agreement with CoreWeave that could generate approximately $10 billion in revenue. The former bitcoin miner has sold its entire BTC holdings as part of its AI infrastructure pivot.
💰 Revolut told investors it is targeting a valuation of $150 billion to $200 billion in a future IPO, more than double its $75 billion November share sale price, per the Financial Times. CEO Nik Storonsky said the listing will not happen before 2028, but the firm is preparing a secondary share sale in the second half of 2026 expected to value it at over $100 billion.

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