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  • Coinbase brings USDC borrowing to UK users with Morpho powered crypto loans

    Coinbase has launched crypto backed $USDC loans for users in the UK, allowing customers to borrow against Bitcoin, Ethereum, and cbETH without selling their holdings.

    The product is powered by Morpho on Base, with Coinbase saying loans can be issued in under a minute and used either onchain or converted into fiat for spending.

    The move expands a lending product Coinbase first rolled out in the US in January 2025. At launch, the US version let eligible users borrow $USDC against Bitcoin through Morpho, with variable rates set by onchain markets rather than a fixed repayment structure.

    Coinbase now says total loan originations through Morpho have surpassed $2.17 billion $USDC as of April 14, 2026, suggesting solid early traction before the product’s first international expansion.

    In the UK, the product initially supports BTC, ETH, and cbETH as collateral, with Bitcoin backed loans available up to $5 million $USDC depending on the amount pledged. Coinbase said interest rates are variable, update with Base block production, and there is no fixed repayment schedule, though positions can be liquidated if the loan value rises too far relative to posted collateral.

    The launch fits into Coinbase’s broader effort to make the UK a larger part of its consumer finance strategy. Over the past year, the company secured UK VASP registration from the Financial Conduct Authority, launched a GBP savings account with ClearBank, and expanded DEX trading access for British users. The new borrow product adds another piece to that push, this time centered on turning idle crypto balances into usable liquidity.

    Coinbase’s borrow product does not rely on a traditional internal loan book. Instead, it routes borrowing through Morpho’s onchain lending infrastructure on Base, giving Coinbase a faster way to scale credit access while leaning on open market liquidity. Morpho has described the Coinbase integration as one of the largest DeFi distribution moves to date.

  • Blue Origin Rocket Launches, Then Loses AST SpaceMobile BlueBird Satellite

    Blue Origin Rocket Launches, Then Loses AST SpaceMobile BlueBird Satellite

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  • Christina Applegate Breaks Silence Amid Hospitalization Reports to Give Health Update

    Christina Applegate Breaks Silence Amid Hospitalization Reports to Give Health Update

    Christina Applegate has offered an update on her health on the heels of reports she was hospitalized in Los Angeles amid an ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis.

    “Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” the actress shared on Instagram Monday. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.”

    She shared the post with a picture of a coffee mug and the words “Kissy Kissy” written on it, placed on top of her new memoir You With the Sad Eyes, which was published last month.

    The update comes after TMZ reported last Thursday, April 16, that the veteran star had been hospitalized since late March. The actress had not commented on the report and her only Instagram post in April was an update on her memoir becoming a New York Times audio bestseller. After the report got picked up widely, Applegate’s rep issued a statement declining comment on whether or not “she is in the hospital or what her medical treatments are.”

    The rep added, “She’s had a long history of complicated medical conditions that she has been refreshingly open about, as evidenced in her memoir and on her podcast.”

    More to come.

  • Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Return as Sister Witches in ‘Practical Magic 2’

    Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman Return as Sister Witches in ‘Practical Magic 2’

    Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are charming sisters and witches passing their magical skills to their kids in the trailer for Practical Magic 2, which dropped on Monday and is directed by Susanne Bier (The Perfect Couple, Bird Box).

    Bullock and Kidman reprise their roles from the 1998 original, which follows orphaned sisters Sally and Gillian Owens as they are raised by their witch aunts Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Aunt Franny (Stockard Channing). After avoiding witchcraft most of their lives, the pair work to learn how to use their powers to ward off a curse that threatens women in the family over the generations from finding love, and leaves men they fall in love with dead. 

    “Everyone we love dies,” Bullock says at one point in the teaser. Kidman then adds: “A really horrible death. I mean, it’s just — it’s not great for the Tinder bio.” Wiest and Stockard also return to a reassembled Coven for the long-awaited sequel, along with new cast members Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod.

    “Practical Magic 2 returns to a world steeped in moonlit mischief and powerful ancestral magic, as the Owens sisters must confront the dark curse that threatens to unravel their family once and for all in a must-see cinematic event of fun, magic and mayhem,” a synopsis from the producers states.

    Based on the novel entitled The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman, Bier directed a script penned by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett. Denise DiNovi, Bullock and Kidman share the producer credits, while Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Donald Sabourin and Hoffman are executive producers.

    Warner Bros. plans a Sept. 11, 2026 theatrical release.

  • Strategy Adds $2.5 Billion in Bitcoin as STRC Dividend Traders Drive Largest Buy Since 2024

    Strategy Adds $2.5 Billion in Bitcoin as STRC Dividend Traders Drive Largest Buy Since 2024

    In brief

    • Strategy made its largest Bitcoin purchase in over 16 months, scooping up $2.54 billion last week.
    • One former Strategy bear speculated that traders using leverage piled into Strategy’s flagship preferred share to capture its upcoming dividend.
    • On Friday, Strategy’s Michael Saylor proposed semi-monthly dividends for the preferred share to “stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand.”

    Strategy reported its largest Bitcoin purchase in over 16 months on Monday, scooping up $2.54 billion worth of BTC last week as traders snapped up its flagship preferred share to receive an upcoming dividend.

    The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm said that it purchased roughly 34,200 Bitcoin, lifting its stockpile to a total of around 815,000 Bitcoin. With Bitcoin trading close to $75,400, the sum was valued at around $61.4 billion, according to CoinGecko.

    The Bitcoin-buying firm announced that it had issued nearly $2.2 billion worth of STRC, Strategy’s dividend-paying preferred share, which currently pays 11.5% in monthly dividends and is designed to trade around the $100 mark.

    STRC’s ex-dividend date passed last Wednesday, representing the day on which investors buying the dividend-paying product no longer receive the next scheduled payment. Leading up to that threshold, STRC traded at or above the $100 mark for 10 straight trading days, indicating that the preferred share now valued at $8.5 billion saw consistent demand.

    Andy Constan, a former Strategy bear and founder of research firm Damped Spring Advisors, wagered that STRC saw heightened demand from dividend-capture traders, who typically buy stocks immediately before the ex-dividend date and sell shortly after.

    “Dudes I know were all in [STRC] leveraged long last night and have never done a div capture trade in their life,” he said in an X post last week.

    Before Monday’s opening bell, the company’s stock had fallen 2% to $163, according to Yahoo Finance. On Friday, Strategy’s shares surged nearly 12% to $166, as the Bitcoin-buying firm’s industry-leading stockpile showed a profit on paper for the first time in months.

    On Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt parent company Dastan, traders foresaw a 13% chance Strategy would pare its holdings this year. On Feb. 1, when Strategy’s stockpile plunged underwater, traders foresaw a 31% chance of Strategy tapping its stash.

    On Sunday, Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor told followers to “Think Even Bigger” in an X post, hinting at the size of the company’s recent purchase. A day before, he flicked at conflict in the Middle East, noting it’s “impossible to blockade Bitcoin.”

    Following STRC’s ex-dividend date last week, the company proposed semi-monthly dividends for the preferred share. “These proposed changes are intended to stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand,” Saylor said in an X post.

    Strategy’s latest buy represents its largest since November 2024. Days before, the company said that it had sold $3 billion worth of convertible bonds due in 2029, which grant holders the option of exchanging bonds for common shares should they reach $672.40 apiece.

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  • D4vd Charged With Murder in Death of Teen Girl Celeste Rivas

    D4vd Charged With Murder in Death of Teen Girl Celeste Rivas

    D4vd has been charged with murder following his arrest last Thursday for the murder of a teen girl whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla.

    At a press conference on Monday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that the singer, whose real name is David Burke, would face a first-degree murder charge which could potentially make him eligible for the death penalty. He will also face charges for lewd acts with a child and for dismembering the girl’s body.

    The victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, went to Burke’s home in the Hollywood Hills on April 23, 2025, Hochman said. That was the last time she was seen alive, he said. Her body was found five months later. Hochman declined to say how Rivas was killed, but said the coroner’s report would be released shortly.

    “There is physical evidence and there is forensic and digital evidence that we intend to present in court to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hochman said.

    Hochman alleged that Burke was having a sexual relationship with Rivas, who was 14 when she died and 13 when she ran away from home.

    Burke is accused of murder with multiple “special circumstances” that make the case eligible for either the death penalty or life without parole. Those include “lying in wait,” murder for financial gain, and murdering a witness to a crime — as Rivas is considered a witness to the lewd acts charge.

    At the press conference, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell defended the decision not to release details of the investigation sooner.

    “My duty is not to fuel speculation,” he said. “It’s to deliver justice, and that requires patience and discipline on everybody’s part. This investigation was driven by a single purpose — to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her.”

    Burke was arrested and held without bail last week following a lengthy investigation by the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division.

    The case began back in September 2025, when LAPD officers were called to the Hollywood tow yard to investigate a foul odor emanating from the car, which had been in the yard for days. The police found the decomposed body placed inside of a bag in the front trunk of the Tesla, which was registered in Hempstead, Texas to D4vd. The car was impounded the previous week after being abandoned in the Hollywood Hills, where neighbors complained of a rotting smell.

    Early reports indicated that D4vd was cooperating with the investigation. A week after he was linked to the body’s discovery, he canceled the remaining dates of his U.S. tour.

    The body was soon identified as Rivas, who was reported as missing in 2024 when she was 13. In November, the LAPD confirmed that they were investigating a trip that D4vd had taken to the Santa Barbara area sometime during the spring of 2025 following Hernandez’s disappearance, and the medical examiner’s office said the LAPD had blocked the office from releasing details about the death.

  • Channing Tatum’s ‘Magic Mike’ Live Show Sets Global Expansion With $45 Million Capital Raise (EXCLUSIVE)

    Channing Tatum’s ‘Magic Mike’ Live Show Sets Global Expansion With $45 Million Capital Raise (EXCLUSIVE)

    Finally, an answer to one of life’s great questions: can $45 million fit in the waistband of a man’s G-string?

    That would be a yes, as Channing Tatum’s experiential business Free Association Live has pulled off a significant capital raise to fund the global expansion of “Magic Mike Live” – a theatrical revue of skilled and sexy male dancers adapted from Tatum’s film franchise “Magic Mike.”

    FA Live, co-founded by Tatum, Peter Kiernan, Reid Carolin, and Vincent Marini, has raised $45 million in debt and equity financing to mount more “Magic Mike” shows around the world. The experience has already staged sold-out runs in London and Las Vegas, with New York and Australia up next. A multi-year tour across Asia and Europe is also in the works.

    The fundraise includes a strategic investment from Jeff Bewkes and Kevin Tsujihara’s Alignment Growth, a media and entertainment investor, and debt financing from East West Bank. 

    “Our incredibly successful and beloved London and Las Vegas experiences have made it clear that ‘Magic Mike Live’ has tapped into something powerful,” said Kiernan, CEO of FA Live.  “This investment comes at a pivotal moment for the company — it enables us not only to expand the IP globally, but also to think more ambitiously about how we leverage our track record and infrastructure in live entertainment to develop new IP, new formats, and bold new ways of engaging audiences worldwide.”

    Since its debut in 2017, the live show has entertained over 2 million guests from 70+ countries with over 6,000 performances across engagements in Miami, Dallas and Berlin. Earlier this year, Tatum appeared on “Today’ to announce the NYC residency, which counts strong pre-sales for its October debut. Tatum has also personally invested in this latest raise for FA Live, which operates independently from his film and TV production company. FA Live also counts COO Kosha Shah Eisenberg and chief brand officer Cody Carolin.

    “Experiential entertainment continues to be one of our highest-conviction investment themes, fueled by a sustained shift toward immersive, memorable experiences over material goods,” said Tsujihara, managing partner at Alignment Growth. “FA Live has built one of the most successful live entertainment franchises of the past decade.”

    East West Bank managing director Todd Steiner said the institution was “excited to partner with FA Live as they expand. As the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California, East West Bank brings decades of experience in developing financing strategies tailored to the unique creative and operational complexities of the entertainment industry.

    Next in development is a collaboration with Lionsgate on a live show inspired by the “Step Up” film franchise, set to debut in 2027.

    The Raine Group, Eisner Law, and VirtuGlobal served as advisors to FA Live, which is repped by CAA. Granderson De Rochers served as advisor for Alignment Growth and Loeb & Loeb served as advisor to East West Bank.

  • Ball x Pit’s next update adds 11 more balls to the fray on April 27

    It’s been a whole month since I’ve played some Ball x Pit after the mobile versions went live in March, but I’ll surely be jumping back in again next week. The latest update will arrive on April 27, bringing a host of goodies to the wonderful brick-busting roguelite, which was one of Engadget’s favorite games of 2025.

    Designer Kenny Sun spilled most of the beans about the update on the PlayStation Blog, revealing that it will add two new characters, 11 more balls with special powers, four passive upgrades and a new building. If you opt to play as The Tiptoer, you’ll be able to get close to enemies without fear of them attacking you, but you’ll have lower health and damage. She could be a good partner for The Shieldbearer, so you can right in front of bosses to rapidly bounce back balls and ramp up the damage in no time at all. As for The Tunneller, that character fires balls that wrap around the edge of the screen and return from the other side.

    The latest balls and evolutions include Venom, which slows down targets and can paralyze them in place after hitting them enough times. Other new time-based balls can freeze enemies too. Erosion saps away a percentage of a target’s health, which could weaken bosses very quickly, and the Warp ball jumps to a random place and increases in speed every time it hits an enemy. I can’t wait to see how effective these are after merging them with area-of-effect abilities or ones that spawn more balls with the same powers.

    The Sniper ball sounds interesting too. That will reward precision as it cuts through every enemy in a straight line until it hits a boundary. I prefer a more chaotic approach, though.

    As such, the Full Metal Rapier passive ability seems like one I’ll want. It scales up the damage of each ball depending on how many enemies and baby balls (i.e. ones that don’t inherently have special abilities) are on screen. The Arrow of Fate passive is intriguing as well, as it turns every enemy projectile that hits you into a smattering of baby balls. I smell some synergy between those two.

    On top of that, the new Guildhall building that you can place in the citybuilder side of the game allows you to change upgrades that you’ve already chosen for your character. Looking forward to seeing how that plays out in practice.

    This is the second of three free updates that Sun and publisher Devolver Digital have announced for Ball x Pit. The first one, which introduced more upgrades and an endless mode, dropped in January. The third one is expected in July.

  • The FAA grounds Blue Origin New Glenn rocket after failure to put payload in orbit

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket following an incident during Sunday’s launch from Cape Canaveral, according to reporting by Orlando Sentinel and others. The rocket looked good on the way up but was ultimately unable to put its payload into the correct orbit.

    The FAA is calling the incident a “mishap” and is beginning an investigation to “enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again.” The organization said in a statement that a “return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system, process or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety.”

    The company hasn’t provided any information as to what happened with New Glenn that made it mess up the positioning. It was supposed to position a satellite into a 285 mile orbit after completing two burns, but telemetry data shows that the satellite only reached a 95 mile orbit, which is not sustainable.

    This was New Glenn’s third mission, and not the first time the rocket has been grounded by the FAA. Blue Origin was unable to land it after the debut launch and it wasn’t allowed to fly again for nearly three months. The agency hasn’t announced when the rocket will be cleared to fly this time, so we don’t know if it will put a crimp in Blue Origin’s plans to launch a bunch of Amazon Leo broadband satellites. That mission is currently scheduled for later this year and will use the New Glenn rocket.

    The FAA has grounded several rockets due to mishaps in recent years, including the smaller Blue Origin New Shepard. It has also grounded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Starship.

  • An Altcoin Will Be Blamed for the Major Crypto Hack That Occurred Over the Weekend – Revealed in the Memos

    An Altcoin Will Be Blamed for the Major Crypto Hack That Occurred Over the Weekend – Revealed in the Memos

    A new development has emerged in the large-scale security breach crisis originating from KelpDAO. According to an internal memo reviewed by CoinDesk, KelpDAO is allegedly preparing to shift responsibility for the approximately $292 million rsETH breach that occurred on Saturday to LayerZero.

    According to the memo, KelpDAO stated that it relied on LayerZero’s documentation, default configurations, and team guidance when building its bridging infrastructure. Therefore, it is implied that the infrastructure and integration processes used were at the root of the security breach.

    Related News JUST IN: U.S. President Donald Trump Makes a Statement on the Iran Ceasefire – “The Likelihood of an Extension Is Very Low”

    As you may recall, the security breach on the rsETH bridge triggered a chain reaction in the DeFi ecosystem, leading to liquidity pressure and “bad debt” concerns in many protocols, particularly Aave. Following the incident, billions of dollars worth of assets were withdrawn from Aave, and utilization rates in some pools reached 100%.

    KelpDAO’s move, which points to LayerZero, has raised potential legal and technical liability issues, but neither party has yet issued an official and detailed statement.

    *This is not investment advice.