CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.
The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2093.01, up 0.7% (+15.25) since 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Fourteen of 20 assets are trading higher.
Leaders: LTC (+2.4%) and APT (+1.7%).
Laggards: AAVE (-1.1%) and SUI (-0.4%).
The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.
As is known, US President Donald Trump launched his own altcoin just a few days before officially taking office.
Official Trump ($TRUMP), which rose to over $60 after its release, has been the target of criticism ever since.
At this point, a criticism also came from the founder of Moonrock Capital. According to Simon Dedic, the founder of Moonrock Capital, the memecoin named Trump is the biggest obstacle to cryptocurrency regulation.
Simon Dedic, founder of cryptocurrency and blockchain venture capital firm Moonrock Capital, argued that President Donald Trump’s memecoin is the biggest obstacle to creating a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
In a post published from his X account, Dedic claimed that the $TRUMP meme coin delayed the passage of the Clarity Act by Congress.
Dedic stated that Democrats are using the Trump memecoin issue to demand the addition of ethical clauses, which could lead to the law being completely halted or repealed.
The well-known figure also claims that the president, who portrays himself as crypto-friendly, is too focused on lining his own pockets, thus ruining the legislation the industry needs most.
He also criticized the crypto sector for failing to address this uncomfortable reality.
Dedic pointed out that instead of distancing themselves, members of the cryptocurrency sector attended dinners organized for Trump coin holders and flattered the president. At this point, Dedic emphasized that nothing would change unless someone spoke up.
*This is not investment advice.
Odd News // 3 weeks ago
Wrong click earns Michigan woman a $251,738 lottery jackpot
April 1 (UPI) — A Michigan woman said the wrong click at the right time while buying lottery tickets online led to her winning a $251,738 Fantasy 5 jackpot.
[This story contains spoilers from So I Married an Axe Murderer.]
In 1993’s So I Married an Axe Murderer, Mike Myers thought he married an axe murderer (and then he didn’t, and then he did again, and then he found out, factually, that he did not). As it turns out, the killer was Amanda Plummer’s character, not Nancy Travis’, with the axe, in whatever room(s) in which she murdered Travis’ (onscreen) ex-husbands. Myers and Travis’ Charlie and Harriet live happily ever after, probably, with the exception that she has to spend the rest of her days listening to his beat poetry.
In the 2026 Netflix docuseries Should I Marry a Murderer?, Dr. Caroline Muirhead factually knows her Scottish fiancé Alexander McKellar killed an innocent man and buried him on a farm, but she moves back in with him anyway. The title is provocative and very easy to answer (“No!”), but it is posed as a legitimate question that Muirhead faces at least twice in the three-part documentary now streaming. If right about now you are wondering, “Was she on drugs?!” Yes, yes she was.
Muirhead, a young forensic pathologist, met McKellar on Tinder, and the two begin dating. After about a month, their whirlwind romance became a whirlwind engagement. It is the typical boy-meets-girl, boy-falls-in-love-with-girl, boy-confesses-to-girl-he-killed-a-bicyclist-and-dumped-the-body-in-an-animal-burial-pit tale. Is there no original storytelling left in Hollywood?
McKellar confesses to Muirhead that he struck bicyclist Tony Parsons, who was on a 100-mile ride from Fort William back to his hometown of Tillicoultry to raise money for a prostate cancer charity. Parsons, 63, was a prostate cancer survivor, as well as a grandfather and former navy officer. McKellar and his twin brother Robert McKellar were under the influence when their pickup truck hit Parsons under the cover of night. The brothers left Parsons there before returning with a new vehicle to bring him back to the sprawling farm they both worked and lived on. Parsons was not dead upon impact; the brothers buried him in a kill pit along with some of their hunting trophies.
Muirhead had Alexander show her where Parsons was buried, and she secretly marked the spot with a can of Sugar Free Red Bull — her signature non-alcoholic drink. She went to the cops with the information, but they proceeded slowly. She gathered more intel; they still moved slowly. Eventually, the McKellar boys figured out who the snitch was. But instead of getting stitches, they forgave her. She forgave them, and life goes on — for everyone but Parsons, of course — with heavy cocaine and alcohol abuse.
At some point, Muirhead sobers up. The boys go to prison and she goes to therapy — both, long overdue.
Muirhead has since moved on, and has filmed this documentary series, and is in a new romantic relationship. She says the new boyfriend is “kind,” which is code to say that he’s probably never killed anybody or buried them under deer skulls. You have to kiss a few frogs, I suppose…
Should I Marry a Murderer? premieres Wednesday, April 29, on Netflix.
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Based on Isabel Allende’s acclaimed 1982 novel and adapted for television by Francisca Alegría, Fernanda Urrejola and Andrés Wood, Prime Video’s “The House of the Spirits” is a spectacular and heart-wrenching saga that chronicles three generations of women in the Trueba family. Beyond blood, these women are tied together by destiny and the decisions of the violent and tyrannical men surrounding them. Gorgeously filmed, the series is about family, passion, revenge and political unrest. The first Spanish-language adaptation of Allende’s novel is sensational, and long overdue.
Set in a deeply conservative South American country, which is not named, but is based on Chile, “The House of the Spirits” begins in the 1970s amid a violent, terrifying military coup. Alba (Rochi Hernández) arrives bloody and beaten at the gates of her towering family home in the nation’s capital. Weeping and overcome with grief, Alba is guided by the spirit of her late grandmother, Clara (Dolores Fonzi), to an old trunk. Packed neatly in the case, Alba uncovers hundreds of notebooks that recount Clara’s life over half a century, and offers her the missing puzzle pieces to her own fractured and confusing origin story.
Pouring over the many pages of her grandmother’s writing, Alba and the audience are transported back to the 1920s into the childhood home of Clara del Valle (Francesca Turco). The youngest of her siblings, Clara is deeply cherished by her family who indulge her ethereal whimsy, telepathy, psychic abilities and endless curiosity. However, her favorite person is her eldest sister, Rosa (Chiara Parravicin). A stunning beauty with green hair, Rosa attracts countless suitors. Yet there is no one more determined to win her love than Esteban Trueba (Alfonso Herrera), who seeks his fortune in a gold mine in an effort to earn a good enough living to ask for Rosa’s hand in marriage. Tragically, their love story does not come to fruition, and a decade or so later, it’s Clara (now portrayed by Nicole Wallace) who finds herself wed to Esteban.
Now a well-to-do patrón and landowner of a thriving farm, Las Tres Marías, Esteban appears to have it all. Unfortunately, as Clara begins to understand, he is consumed by rage because he never got to possess Rosa as he desired. This anger crackles around him like a smoldering fire, igniting and engulfing everyone from the workers on his farm, his meek sister Férula (Fernanda Castillo), to Clara and, eventually, to their daughter, Blanca (Sara Becker and later Fernanda Urrejola), Alba’s idealistic mother.
On the surface, “The House of the Spirits” is a typical family epic tracing shifts in tradition. It focuses on the rise of women’s autonomy and how that progression affects not only familial dynamics but also a swiftly changing country as a whole, as its citizens try to unshackle themselves from the chains of machismo and conservatism. Still, this eight-episode series, which is executive produced by Isabel Allende, Eva Longoria and Courtney Saladino, is much more than that. Miraculous to behold, especially following the ill-conceived 1993 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder and a majority-white cast, the show is as beautiful to watch as it is fascinating.
As Alba narrates Clara and Blanca’s stories before cracking open her own memories, the viewer can see how small choices made either in selfishness, greed or wicked depravity help shape the three women’s lives. Though “The House of the Spirits” has plenty of joyous moments, it is also full of volatile and depraved sequences. It does not shy away from the brutal assaults, sexual violence and anguish that the people, but namely the women around Esteban, endure either at his hand or under his watch. It’s an insidiousness that Clara first witnesses as a child when she interrupts an act of necrophilia.
“The House of the Spirits” is exceptional, not simply because of Allende’s eloquent and timeless storytelling, but because of the actors who have brought these characters to life in the way they should have always been rendered. The narrative is a reminder that cruelty is not fixed; it often tumbles outward, smothering those who had no tangible connection to it to begin with. Additionally, it is a recognition of the hearts and power of women, who are often the cultural carriers and waymakers in families determined, no matter how few resources they have, to forge a better path for those who come after them.
The first three episodes of “The House of the Spirits” debut April 29 on Prime Video, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays.
“Jeopardy!” contestant Jamie Ding‘s winning streak came to an end on Monday, April 27 after 31 victories and $882,605 earned, which puts him in the number five spot on the list of most consecutive games won and highest all-time winnings in regular-season play. Ding’s beloved run on the show earned him legions of fans on social media, and he told People magazine after his defeat that it was more important than ever for an immigrant “Jeopardy!” contestant to unite viewers.
“I kept hearing how it was bringing people together, and I love that very much,” Ding said. “I’ve heard people say, ‘It’s nice to have something positive on TV!’ As an immigrant and a person of color, I was able to become part of the history of an American institution.”
Ding added, “‘Jeopardy!’ really is an institution and America’s turning 250 years old and the federal government is going after immigrants in a way unlike anything that we’ve seen in the recent past. So I hope that immigrants can be seen in a positive light too.”
Ding joined the “Jeopardy!” history books during his run on the show. The only players to have won more consecutive games than Ding are James Holzhauer (32 games in 2019), Matt Amodio (38 games in 2021), Amy Schneider (40 games in 2022) and Ken Jennings (74 wins in 2004), the latter of whom now hosts the game show.
“I think my last game is unusual, because I was a super champ, but I also lost in a runaway, which I feel like is the first time that ever happened,” Ding told People about being defeated by 13,990 points in his final game. “It almost makes me feel better about the thing because there wasn’t really one clue or whatever that everything hinged on. It being a runaway means that I got to write a goodbye message instead of nothing at all. I wouldn’t have done that if there had even been a chance of me coming out with the victory.”
Ding signed off from the show by writing a farewell note on his final “Jeopardy!” answer that read: “TTFN,” short for “ta ta for now.” The contestant will surely return for the next Tournament of Champions.
BlackRock-backed Securitize and Computershare are bringing parts of the $70 trillion U.S. stock market onchain via tokenized equities, in a move that pushes traditional Wall Street infrastructure closer to blockchain rails.
The agreement allows listed firms to add tokenized equity — called Issuer-Sponsored Tokens (ISTs) — alongside existing shares, giving investors the option to hold stock through traditional systems or in a digital wallet.
The effort is part of a broader push to make tokenized shares work within current market rules while offering new ways to hold and move assets, from wallet-based ownership to faster settlement. Transfer agents like Computershare sit at the center of that system, maintaining shareholder records and handling corporate actions.
By integrating at that layer, the companies aim to avoid a common crypto workaround, in which tokens represent claims on shares rather than the shares themselves.
Securitize is a blockchain-based firm, enabling real-world assets, such as equities and funds, to be issued, traded, and managed in tokenized form on blockchain networks.
Under the setup, Computershare will act as transfer agent for tokenized shares just as it does for traditional ones. That includes managing records and processing events like dividends or stock splits across both formats.
Securitize provides the underlying technology, but like other recent efforts in the space, the blockchain component sits mostly in the background. The tokens are designed to represent direct ownership, not derivatives layered on top of existing stock.
“ISTs do not rely on derivative tokens that sit on top of underlying shares,” said Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo. “They provide U.S. issuers with the ability to create direct equity ownership in token form.”
Computershare’s reach could give the effort scale. The firm serves more than 25,000 companies and acts as a transfer agent for about 58% of the S&P 500.
The structure also keeps issuers in control of their shareholder base, a key requirement for public companies. “Our focus has been to empower U.S.-listed companies to issue tokenized equity while retaining control,” said Ann Bowering, CEO of issuer services at Computershare North America.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) was “bent, not broken” after a $292 million exploit on April 18 exposed systemic risks, according to investment bank Standard Chartered.
The attack on KelpDAO spilled into $AAVE, the largest DeFi lender, after stolen tokens were used as collateral to borrow other assets. The episode sparked a sharp liquidity crunch, with the liquidity protocol seeing deposits fall by roughly 38% and active loans by 31%, in what the bank described as a bank-run dynamic.
Despite the shock, tokenized real-world assets are still expected to reach a $2 trillion market cap by end-2028, driven by continued growth in DeFi lending and stablecoin liquidity, the report said.
“We still project that tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) will reach a market cap of $2 trillion by end-2028, up from $35 billion in October 2025,” wrote Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, in the Wednesday report.
Hacks and exploits remain a core risk in crypto, undermining trust in systems built on code rather than intermediaries. Smart contract bugs, phishing and cross-chain bridge flaws can expose large pools of locked assets, where a single weak point can trigger outsized losses.
These risks are amplified by the complexity and interconnected nature of blockchain infrastructure. Cross-chain bridges, while expanding functionality, also widen the attack surface and have accounted for billions in losses due to intricate designs, shared systems and, in some cases, weak validation.
Beyond the immediate damage, repeated exploits erode confidence across the ecosystem. Major hacks can push users and institutions to the sidelines, invite tighter regulation and slow adoption, making security a key constraint on crypto’s growth.
$AAVE and a coalition of DeFi firms moved quickly, committing more than $300 million to stabilize the system. According to the report, the intervention helped normalize conditions, with yields easing and deposits recovering.
The bank added that the incident is accelerating structural upgrades. $AAVE’s V4 upgrade and the forthcoming Ethereum Economic Zone aim to reduce reliance on cross-chain bridges, a frequent target in major crypto hacks, including this one.
Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said hacks and stagnant capital levels in decentralized finance continue to weigh on DeFi’s institutional appeal, highlighted by a $20 billion hit from the KelpDAO exploit.
Read more: JPMorgan says persistent security flaws curb DeFi’s institutional appeal
Alliance for Women in Media Foundation is adding more star power to the 51st annual Gracie Awards. The gala, set to take place at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on May 19, will see a Gracies Icon Award be presented to Andie MacDowell while the ceremony will feature a performance from Mickey Guyton and be hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown.
Per the organization, the icon trophy is designed to honor a woman “whose impact extends far beyond entertainment” to how women are seen, what they can be and how they influence audiences. Rather than award it based on a particular role or performance, it is doled out for a body of work “defined by authenticity, resilience and an unwavering sense of self in an industry that rarely makes space easy.”
MacDowell qualifies thanks to a resumé that includes Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Green Card, Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Maid (in which she starred opposite her daughter Margaret Qualley), and the current series The Way Home. In 2025, she celebrated a 40th consecutive year as spokesperson for L’Oréal Paris.
“Andie MacDowell belongs in the company of the legends who have carried this award before her,” said AWMF president Becky Brooks. “She has shown us what it looks like to lead with integrity, to grow with intention, and to stay fully, unapologetically herself, and she has done it in a way that has opened doors for women across the industry. We are honored to recognize her at the 51st Annual Gracie Awards.”
Mickey Guyton
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Brown is back at the show after having won a Gracie herself. She’s a two-time Emmy nominee whose credits include Community, Dreamgirls, Tropic Thunder, Avengers: Endgame, Inside Out 2, Zootopia 2 and the recent Code 3. She hosts the Lemonada podcast series Squeezed with Yvette Nicole Brown.
“My first Gracie for my work in Community was my first acting award — other than a certificate in high school drama,” Brown said. “For it to be an award named after the amazing Gracie Allen meant the world to me. And to return this year as a Gracie winner myself, for Squeezed, a podcast close to my heart, makes this evening even more special. I hope it’s a fun, celebratory love letter to all the winners and to Gracie Allen herself.”
Guyton is a four-time Grammy-nominated country music star. With her debut album Remember Her Name, she became the first Black female artist nominated for best country album, country song and country solo performance, and the first Black woman to perform on the Grammy stage. She was also once named CMT’s breakout artist of the year.
The full list of Gracie Award winners can be found here.