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  • Why Pilots Are Making a Comeback in the Streaming Era

    Why Pilots Are Making a Comeback in the Streaming Era

    Imagine this: Instead of committing tens of millions of dollars straight away to a full season of a TV show, you film one episode for a few million to see if it’s as good on-screen as it is on the page. If it is, you pick up more episodes. If it’s not, you move on. Sounds crazy, right?

    Well, kids, gather round, and let’s reintroduce you to the concept of the “pilot.” The idea of shooting a tester episode before committing to paying for an entire season is back in vogue during these belt-tightening times. And streamers, which once prided themselves on being the anti-networks, are once again taking a cue from the way TV used to be made.

    HBO Max has two pilots in contention: cop drama “American Blue” and the family drama “How to Survive Without Me.” Sarah Aubrey, head of original programming for HBO Max, says that her team is still highly selective when it comes to pilot orders, but the success of “The Pitt” — which has been renewed for a third season — was a big motivating factor for recent ones: “[It’s] born out of a desire to have shows with more episodes that return annually,” she says.

    Hulu, meanwhile, has several high-profile pilots in the works, including the drama “Foster Dade” from Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran. The streamer also has Ryan Coogler’s “X-Files” reboot, with Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel in a new iteration of the beloved paranormal procedural. “Coogler’s ‘X-Files’ is definitely at the top of my list,” one TV lit agent tells Variety. “He is absolutely on fire right now, and that IP has such a rabid fan base.”

    On the broadcast side, Variety previously reported on NBC’s mission to reintroduce pilots to the TV ecosystem. The network has commissioned eight pilots in its biggest return to a traditional pilot season in years. Leading the crop is the reboot of “The Rockford Files,” with David Boreanaz in the lead role, which has generated buzz since it was announced.

    Pilots have served a vital function practically since TV was invented. They give networks, studios and even creators the chance to make adjustments on a show before barreling headlong into full-scale production.

    But when the streaming arms race for talent was in full swing in the 2010s, pilots mostly fell by the wayside as fierce competition led to straight-to-series orders — handed out like Ted Lasso dispensing pun-heavy pearls of wisdom.

    “We all had such strong appetites in that gold-rush period,” says Simran Sethi, president of scripted programming at Hulu Originals, ABC Entertainment and Freeform.

    Now, falling episodic budgets and lower overall production have spurred those at the top to rethink how to approach pickups — thus the increase in pilot orders, both in streaming and at the broadcast networks.

    “I think that what we all learned with this adjustment to a slightly different volume is being a little bit more steady and focused on these bets that we’re making to really set ourselves up for long-running success,” Sethi says.

    The shift in strategy is already bearing fruit. Netflix picked up a sequel series to “A Different World” in 2025 after giving the project one of the only pilot orders in the streamer’s history. Hulu ordered its upcoming “Prison Break” reboot from Elgin James and the drama “Phony,” starring Connie Britton and Sam Nivola, following pilot orders. And FX, long an advocate for pilots, recently picked up a “Snowfall” spinoff and the Peter Gould drama “Disinherited” off pilot orders.

    Does this mean we’ll see a return to a time of 100-plus pilot orders in a given year? Don’t count on it.

    “It’s really for these shows where we’re in a certain budget model and trying to build a system that can sustain 15 episodes coming back annually,” Aubrey says. “Once you get up to a certain price point, it doesn’t really make sense financially for a really big effects-heavy show to make a pilot.”

  • Threads introduces ‘live chats’ for following live events

    Meta has introduced a new “live chats” feature to Threads, enabling people on the platform to participate in real-time conversations about live events they’re interested in. Live chats can be hosted within Threads communities, the topic-specific social spaces that Meta introduced last year.

    The new feature sounds a bit like Threads’ take on Instagram’s broadcast channels, but the latter only allows for one-way messaging. Live chats can be hosted by select creators, including Community Champions — users highly engaged within specific communities — and media personalities. Once a chat is launched or scheduled, the host chooses who is invited to contribute and can then share the link publicly.

    You can post photos, videos, links and emoji reactions as well as text-based messages. If you’re unable to send messages in a live chat that is at capacity, you can still watch it, react to others messages and vote in polls. Live chats remain open to view after they’ve ended, and you don’t need to be part of a community to join.

    Meta is debuting its new social feature in the NBAThreads Community during the Playoffs, with Malika Andrews, Rachel Nichols, Trysta Krick, David Rushing and Lexis Mickens named as hosts. Live chats will appear at the top of the NBAThreads Community feed, and can also be shared in a post that might appear on your main feed in Threads. You’ll also see a red ring around a host’s profile photo when they’re live.

    Meta says live chats will gradually be rolled out to more communities on Threads, with features like co-hosting, lock screen widgets and the ability to quote and share messages from a chat on your feed coming soon.

    Meta has been steadily expanding its X rival’s features since it launched in 2023. It started small with searchable topics (note: not hashtags) and custom feeds, before rolling out communities last year. It also started testing long-form text posts and just this week gave Threads a long-overdue facelift on web. Back in October, the company announced that its text-based social media platform now has 150 million daily users.

  • The Protocol: Kelp DAO exploited for $292 million

    The Protocol: Kelp DAO exploited for $292 million

    Network News

    KELP DAO EXPLOIT: A cross-chain bridge holding nearly a fifth of a restaked ether token’s circulating supply just got drained, and the fallout is moving through DeFi faster than Kelp DAO can pause contracts. An attacker drained 116,500 rsETH (restaked ether) from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge at 17:35 UTC over the weekend, worth roughly $292 million at current prices and representing about 18% of rsETH’s 630,000 token circulating supply tracked by CoinGecko. LayerZero is a cross-chain messaging layer, or the infrastructure that lets different blockchains send verified instructions to each other. Kelp DAO is a liquid restaking protocol, which takes user-deposited $ETH, routes it through EigenLayer to earn additional yield on top of standard Ethereum staking rewards, and issues rsETH as a tradeable receipt. The bridge that was drained held the rsETH reserve backing wrapped versions of the token deployed on more than 20 other blockchains. The attacker tricked LayerZero’s cross-chain messaging layer into believing a valid instruction had arrived from another network, which triggered Kelp’s bridge to release 116,500 rsETH to an attacker-controlled address. Kelp’s emergency pauser multisig froze the protocol’s core contracts 46 minutes after the successful drain, at 18:21 UTC. Two follow-up attempts at 18:26 UTC and 18:28 UTC both reverted, each carrying the same LayerZero packet attempting another 40,000 rsETH drain worth roughly $100 million. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.

    NORTH KOREA CRYPTO HEIST PLAYBOOK: Less than three weeks after North Korea-linked hackers used social engineering to hit crypto trading firm Drift, hackers tied to the nation appear to have pulled off another major exploit with Kelp. The attack on Kelp, a restaking protocol tied into LayerZero’s cross-chain infrastructure, suggests an evolution in how North Korea-linked hackers operate, not just looking for bugs or stolen credentials, but exploiting the basic assumptions built into decentralized systems. Taken together, the two incidents point to something more organized than a string of one-off hacks, as North Korea continues to escalate its efforts to hijack funds from the crypto sector. “This is not a series of incidents; it is a cadence,” said Alexander Urbelis, chief information security officer and general counsel at ENS Labs. “You cannot patch your way out of a procurement schedule.” More than $500 million was siphoned across the Drift and Kelp exploits in just over two weeks. At its core, the Kelp exploit did not involve breaking encryption or cracking keys. The system actually worked the way it was designed to. Rather, attackers manipulated the data feeding into the system and forced it to rely on those compromised inputs, causing it to approve transactions that never actually occurred. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

    AAVE AFFECTED BY KELP DAO HACK: An attacker exploited that setup by forging a transfer message that appeared valid. The system approved the transfer even though the tokens were never taken out of the sending chain, meaning new tokens were effectively created without backing, releasing 116,500 rsETH from the Ethereum-side bridge. Rather than selling the assets on the open market, the attacker deposited 89,567 rsETH into Aave as collateral and borrowed roughly $190 million in $ETH and related assets across Ethereum and Arbitrum, according to the report. This left Aave exposed to collateral whose backing may be significantly impaired. Aave Labs said it moved quickly to contain the risk. Within hours, the protocol froze rsETH markets across its deployments, set loan-to-value ratios to zero, and halted new borrowing against the asset. The outcome now depends largely on how Kelp handles the shortfall. If losses are spread across all rsETH holders, the token would face an estimated 15% depegging (meaning the value of the staked tokens would not match the value of actual $ETH), resulting in about $124 million in bad debt for Aave. If losses are instead isolated to Layer 2 networks, the impact would be far more severe, with bad debt rising to roughly $230 million and concentrated on networks such as Arbitrum and Mantle.— Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

    COINBASE COMMISSIONS PAPER ON QUANTUM COMPUTING RISKS: A new report commissioned by Coinbase sounds a cautious, but urgent, alarm: Quantum computing won’t break crypto tomorrow, but the industry can’t afford to wait. The 50-page paper, authored by an independent advisory board that includes prominent cryptographers and academics like Dan Boneh of Stanford University, Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation and Sreeram Kannan of Eigen Labs, concludes that while today’s blockchains remain secure, a future “fault-tolerant quantum computer” capable of breaking widely used encryption is increasingly plausible, and preparation must begin now. In recent months, concerns around quantum risk have moved further into the mainstream. Google researchers have published estimates suggesting that a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could one day break Bitcoin’s cryptography. Major crypto ecosystems have already started mapping out their responses. The Ethereum Foundation has proposed new types of digital signatures that are designed to be safe against quantum computers, while Solana and others are experimenting with quantum-resistant wallet designs. The report stresses that current quantum machines are far from powerful enough to crack the cryptography underpinning Bitcoin, Ethereum and other networks. Breaking standard encryption would require vast computational overhead, a milestone still considered a major engineering challenge. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

    In Other News

    • A chunk of the Kelp DAO haul is no longer going anywhere. Arbitrum’s Security Council froze 30,766 $ETH worth roughly $71 million on Monday night, moving funds linked to Saturday’s $292 million rsETH exploit into an intermediary wallet that can only be accessed through further Arbitrum governance action. The council said it acted on law enforcement’s input regarding the exploiter’s identity and executed the freeze “without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.” The transfer completed at 11:26 p.m. ET on April 20, according to Arbitrum’s statement on X. The stolen funds are no longer under the control of the address that originally held them. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.
    • A Polymarket contract on whether Kelp DAO will spread the losses from the weekend’s $292 million exploit beyond those directly affected is pointing to a clear answer: probably not. Bettors are giving a 14% chance that Kelp will “socialize the losses,” or implement a mechanism forcing rsETH holders on Ethereum, which wasn’t hit, to share the pain of users on other chains. The attackers drained roughly 116,500 rsETH from a LayerZero-powered bridge that held the reserves backing the token across more than 20 blockchains. That left parts of the system undercollateralized, with some holders effectively owning tokens no longer fully backed by ether ($ETH). “Socializing the losses” would mean Kelp redistributes the shortfall across all rsETH holders, including those on the Ethereum mainnet, rather than leaving losses concentrated among users and protocols tied to the compromised bridge. The most widely cited precedent of this approach came in 2016, when Bitfinex imposed losses on all users after a $60 million hack, effectively mutualizing the hit to avoid shutting down. — Sam Reynolds Read more.

    Regulatory and Policy

    • April appears to be a lost cause for the crypto Clarity Act, but a U.S. Senate committee hearing sometime in May could keep the critical market structure legislation alive, as long as it can reach a final vote of the overall Senate by July, according to lobbyists and a lawmaker aide focusing on the market structure bill’s sluggish progress. The legislative calendar is running out of room for this year, but a Senate aide told CoinDesk that a potential new delay of a couple of weeks — allowing Republican Senator Thom Tillis to finish discussions with bankers over stablecoin-yield concerns — is not yet pushing this work past the point of no return. The aide also said that earlier negotiations over decentralized finance (DeFi) protections are effectively settled, leaving few other impediments in the way of a committee approval.One of the chief problems the crypto industry faces (if it can leap the stubborn hurdle of the banking sector’s objections about stablecoin rewards) is that the Senate Banking Committee hearing that the bill needs to clear would be only a first step of many. — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
    • Tron creator Justin Sun sued World Liberty Financial, the stablecoin and crypto firm backed by members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s family, on Tuesday, alleging that the project had unfairly locked up his $WLFI holdings, made fraudulent misrepresentations, and threatened and defamed Sun. The lawsuit filed, which includes a line about Sun’s support for Trump himself, alleged that World Liberty’s leadership had engaged “in an illegal scheme to seize property” in the form of Sun’s tokens, which Sun alleged he had purchased after being solicited by the World Liberty team in 2024. “At that pivotal time for World Liberty, Mr. Sun invested $45 million to purchase $WLFI tokens from World Liberty not only because of the project’s claims that it would promote adoption of decentralized finance — an issue Mr. Sun cares deeply about and to which he has devoted much of his life’s work — but also because of the Trump family’s association with the project,” the suit said.— Nikhilesh De & Sam Reynolds Read more.

    Calendar

    • May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
    • June 2-3, 2026: Proof of Talk, Paris
    • June 8-10, 2026: ETHConf, New York
    • Sept. 29-Oct.1, 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
    • Oct. 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
    • Nov. 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
    • Nov. 15-17, 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
  • BREAKING: Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Lists a Surprise Altcoin

    BREAKING: Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Lists a Surprise Altcoin

  • ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Is Open to a Taylor Frankie Paul Return

    The door is open for Taylor Frankie Paul to return to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, but it’s up to her, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

    On Tuesday, it was revealed that production on season five of Mormon Wives will resume following a filming pause initiated by an internal investigation surrounding Paul and her ex Dakota Mortensen. Details on when cameras will pick up were not outlined, nor were any cast details, including Paul’s status with the series.

    Speculation on if Paul would return was swift. Per a source close to Paul, THR has learned that the ball is in her court. The team behind the show wants her to return and has been supportive of Paul amid the turbulence she’s faced over the past few months, but only if and when she is ready.

    Earlier on Wednesday, when People reported that production was picking back up without Paul and Mortensen, Paul disputed in Instagram comments, “Interesting, that’s not the call I got.”

    News of production resuming on Mormon Wives arrived a day before Hulu‘s Gel Real House on Wednesday, which will spotlight the streamer and ABC’s unscripted slate.

    Reports that the Emmy-nominated Hulu series halted filming on its fifth season broke in mid-March, amid an alleged domestic incident involving the then-Bachelorette star and her ex. At the time, a spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department told People there was an open domestic assault investigation between Paul and Mortensen, with allegations made in both directions.

    A video of the events leading up to Paul’s prior 2023 arrest was then leaked, showing the reality star throwing barstools at Mortensen while her daughter was present. Hours later, ABC decided to pull her 22nd season of The Bachelorette only three days before it was scheduled for a March 22 premiere.

    The next day after the video published on TMZ, NBC News obtained audio of a Zoom call held on March 7 with the Mormon Wives cast and three Disney executives, where they voiced concerns of continuing the series with Paul amid the investigation. THR confirmed that Mormon Wives production launched their own internal investigation into the conflicting claims, and that Mormon Wives filming was to remain paused until that probe concluded.

    On March 25, NBC News reported that Paul was under investigation for an alleged third domestic violence incident, also involving her ex Mortensen, that allegedly occurred in 2024. (All three alleged incidents have involved Paul and Mortensen.)

    However, on April 7, Paul filed a temporary restraining order against Mortensen, which she was granted. In Paul’s filing, which THR obtained, she recounted several alleged abusive incidents involving Mortensen, including a Feb. 23 event where she says he “became physically violent,” and slammed her head on the dashboard of his truck. (The filing included photos of Paul’s bruises and screenshots of text messages between the two.)

    Then on April 14, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office revealed they would not pursue new charges against Paul following the separate investigations led by the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department.

    Hulu has not yet commented on Paul’s status with filming now back up, and ABC has not made any statements about if her Bachelorette season could be revived.

  • Morning Minute: Bitcoin Passes $78k as Trump Extends Ceasefire Indefinitely

    Morning Minute: Bitcoin Passes $78k as Trump Extends Ceasefire Indefinitely

    Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes or less, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.

    GM!

    Today’s top news:

    • Crypto majors rally as Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely; BTC +2% at $78.3k
    • Coinbase quantum report says ETH and SOL more at risk than Bitcoin
    • Kalshi and Polymarket both tease perps launches on same day
    • New York’s AG sued Coinbase and Gemini over their prediction market products
    • USD AI’s CHIP token debuts and soars to $800M fdv

    📈 Bitcoin Hits 11-Week High as Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire Indefinitely

    Bitcoin climbed above $78,000 Wednesday morning, its highest level in 11 weeks, after President Trump announced he would extend the Iran ceasefire indefinitely, reversing his earlier statement that it would expire Wednesday.

    Trump cited Tehran’s government as “seriously fractured,” and said the extension would remain in place until Iran’s leadership submits a “unified proposal” to end the war. The announcement came after Iran refused to send negotiators to a second round of talks in Islamabad and reports surfaced that Vice President Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan had been put on hold.

    Markets reacted quickly. BTC was up roughly 2.2% over 24 hours and 5% on the week by Wednesday morning, with short sellers caught on the wrong side – approximately $240 million in leveraged shorts were liquidated. ETH was up 3% to $2,390 on a solid day of ETF inflows ($43M). Stock futures are opening green as well.

    On-chain signals are turning constructive for the first time in months. Bitcoin’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss metric turned positive for the first time since early January, which analysts read as confirmation the bearish trend has ended. And whales are apparently accumulating at the fastest pace since July 2025.

    Strong momentum starting to build for crypto’s flagship asset…

    🏛️ Warsh Faces Senate Over Crypto Holdings, Fed Independence

    Kevin Warsh appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearing as Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair.

    The hearing covered three main areas: his relationship with Trump on interest rates, his broader monetary policy views, and his financial disclosures (which include stakes in Solana, Polymarket, Tenderly, and other crypto and DeFi funds).

    • On rates, Warsh said Trump “never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions, nor would I ever agree to do so.” He pushed back on suggestions he would simply cut rates on demand, calling himself an “independent actor” and saying he would “absolutely not” serve as anyone’s political instrument.
    • On inflation, he said the trajectory is “improving, but there’s more work to do.” He wants a smaller Fed balance sheet, less reliance on quantitative easing, and fewer post-FOMC press conferences – noting that “truth-seeking is more important than repetition.”

    Markets didn’t love it. The hawkish undertone sent crypto stocks lower. COIN fell 6%, HOOD 4.5%. BTC slid toward $75K.

    But 21Shares research strategist Matt Mena argued the read may be too short-term. Warsh has spent years publicly arguing the Fed keeps rates too high based on lagging data, and his direct exposure to digital assets — he views bitcoin as “the new gold for people under 40” — makes him the most crypto-friendly Fed Chair nominee in history.

    If he eases in H2 2026, analysts say that the liquidity environment could push BTC back toward $100K.

    ⚛️ Coinbase: Proof-of-Stake Has a Quantum Problem Bitcoin Doesn’t

    Coinbase’s Independent Advisory Board published a quantum risk report Tuesday with a finding that’s getting less attention than BIP-361 but arguably matters more. And the concern impacts Ethereum and Solana the most.

    Proof-of-stake chains like Ethereum and Solana use cryptographic signatures to secure consensus. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could break those signature schemes.

    Unlike Bitcoin, where the quantum risk is primarily about exposed wallet public keys, PoS chains face an additional attack surface: the core consensus mechanism itself. Compromise one-third of Ethereum validators and the network can’t finalize transactions. Two-thirds and an attacker can rewrite chain history.

    Coinbase’s board said plainly: “the challenge for proof-of-stake isn’t just upgrading wallets; parts of the core consensus mechanism itself may need to be redesigned.” No current quantum computer can do this, yet. But the “harvest now, decrypt later” threat means the planning window is now, not when Q-Day arrives.

    📊 Kalshi and Polymarket Launch Perps

    Kalshi announced on Tuesday that it’s planning to launch perpetual futures across crypto and other assets. By afternoon, Polymarket announced the same, saying “We’ve priced the future – now you can actually trade it.”

    Incredible lockstep between these 2 prediction market giants, once again (even their announcement hype videos looked the same).

    Kalshi’s launch is codenamed “Timeless,” goes live April 27 in New York, and starts with BTC perpetuals using USD as collateral. Kalshi’s edge here is leveraging its CFTC licenses and a margin trading approval secured last month.

    Polymarket’s early-access waitlist is live at polymarket.com/perps, and they’re teasing perps across assets like BTC, NVDA, and gold with up to 10x leverage.

    Notably, this comes at a time when the CME and Hyperliquid are leaning into launching prediction markets. It appears the prediction markets are fighting back…

    🏴‍☠️ Scammers Are Charging Bitcoin for Hormuz Safe Passage

    Who had crypto getting tied up in a Strait of Hormuz scam on their bingo card?

    Greek maritime risk firm MARISKS warned Monday that unknown actors posing as Iranian authorities have been contacting shipping companies stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding Bitcoin or USDT in exchange for “transit clearance.”

    The fraudulent messages told ships that Iranian Security Services will assess your eligibility, then pay the fee in BTC or USDT, and your vessel can transit at a pre-agreed time.

    MARISKS said it believes at least one vessel paid the fraudulent fee—and then was fired on while attempting to transit anyway. The scam mirrors a real policy that Iran proposed back in March, that they’d charge BTC/USDT transit tolls of roughly $1 per barrel.

    🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

    • Crypto majors are very green after Trump extended the Iran ceasefire indefinitely; BTC +2% at $78.3k; ETH +3% at $2,390; SOL +3% at $88; HYPE flat at $41
    • PENGU (+11%), M (+6%), and SKY (+5%) led top movers
    • Oil +4% at $90; Gold -1% at $4,760
    • Stock futures are green again, up 0.5%
    • A four-star admiral and head of US Indo-Pacific Command told the Senate on Tuesday that Bitcoin has significant potential as a national security asset
    • Tron founder Justin Sun filed a federal lawsuit against World Liberty Financial in California court Tuesday, alleging the Trump-backed project froze roughly $776 million worth of his WLFI tokens, stripped his voting rights, and threatened to burn his holdings after he declined to keep investing
    • New York AG Letitia James sued Coinbase and Gemini Tuesday over their prediction market products, calling them illegal gambling operations under state law
    • DoorDash will pay its delivery workers in stablecoins across 40+ countries using Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo blockchain, which launched its public mainnet in March
    • Jefferies analyst Andrew Moss warned Tuesday that the $293M Kelp DAO exploit may prompt Wall Street firms to slow or pause their blockchain and tokenization plans as they reassess infrastructure risk

    Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

    Meme Coin Tracker

    • Meme leaders were green on the day; DOGE +3%, SHIB +2%, PEPE +3%, TRUMP +4%, BONK +5%, PENGU +11%, SPX +10%, FARTCOIN +2%
    • MAGA (+130%), Peace (+30%), Spike (+30%), and Cards (+30%) led notable movers
    • Meteora’s MET token jumped 30% to $100M

    💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

    • USD AI launched its CHIP token, which soared to $800M fdv in its debut
    • AAVE has now seen $15B in outflows since the KelpDAO exploit
    • MegaETH confirmed the 3 more apps are launching this week, meaning 9 of the 10 required to launch per their KPIs have launched (TGE coming after the 10th)

    🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

    • NFT leaders were very green with Bored Apes leading the weay; Punks +5% at 28.1 ETH, Pudgy +5% at 4.46 ETH, BAYC +16% at 9.14 ETH; Hypurr’s even at 386 HYPE
    • BAKC (+16%) and MAYC (+9%) led notable movers

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

    Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

  • Top Law Firm Admits to AI ‘Hallucinations’ in Bankruptcy Filing Tied to Alleged Scam Network

    Top Law Firm Admits to AI ‘Hallucinations’ in Bankruptcy Filing Tied to Alleged Scam Network

    In brief

    • Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell has admitted that a recent filing in a high-profile case included AI “hallucinations.”
    • The firm said AI output was not properly verified and included fabricated citations.
    • The case involves efforts by court-appointed liquidators to pursue claims linked to sanctioned outfit Prince Group.

    Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell has admitted to a U.S. bankruptcy court that a recent filing in a high-profile case contained errors generated by artificial intelligence, including fabricated citations.

    “We deeply regret that this has occurred,” Andrew Dietderich, the firm’s restructuring head, wrote to Judge Martin Glenn, saying the document included AI “hallucinations” that produced fictitious authorities and distorted existing ones.

    The disclosure came in a letter to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, where the firm represents court-appointed liquidators from the British Virgin Islands. The mistakes appeared in an April 9 motion and the firm said its rules on AI use were not followed during preparation.

    The case involves efforts by those liquidators to pursue claims tied to Prince Group and its owner, Chen Zhi. Prosecutors allege Chen directed scam compounds that targeted victims worldwide and have sought to recover billions of dollars in cryptocurrency they say is linked to the activity. He was detained earlier this year in Cambodia and later repatriated to China.

    Through Chapter 15 proceedings in the U.S., the liquidators are seeking recognition of their authority to act on behalf of creditors and alleged victims. Prince Group, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, has been linked by U.S. authorities to large-scale fraud operations in Southeast Asia and sanctioned by the UK and U.S. governments.

    According to a corrected submission, the April filing misstated case law in multiple places and included citations that did not support the propositions attributed to them, while some appeared to have no basis at all. The firm withdrew the original motion and has filed a revised version.

    Lawyers for Prince Group and Chen at Boies Schiller Flexner initially identified the errors. They said language attributed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code could not be found and that several authorities were mischaracterized or misidentified. In one instance, they said, a cited case referred to a different decision in another circuit.

    In a separate filing, defendants said at least 28 citations were erroneous, including quotations attributed to the court that do not exist. They argued the timing of the correction was prejudicial because the revised filing came after they had submitted objections, and asked the court to adjourn a scheduled hearing and hold a status conference.

    Sullivan & Cromwell said its policies require lawyers to complete training before using AI tools and to independently verify all output.

    “Before any Firm lawyer is granted access to generative AI tools, the lawyer must complete two required training modules, completion of which is tracked and verified. The training repeatedly emphasizes the risk of AI ‘hallucinations,’ including the fabrication of case citations, misinterpretation of authorities, and inaccurate quotations,” it said.

    “It instructs lawyers to ‘trust nothing and verify everything’ and makes clear that failure to independently verify AI-generated output constitutes a violation of Firm policy.”

    The firm said a broader review found additional minor drafting issues in other filings, which it attributed to human error rather than AI. It did not identify the lawyers who prepared the original motion.

    AI in the dock

    The incident adds to a growing list of AI-related missteps in legal practice as firms test tools designed to speed research and drafting. Courts have recently sanctioned or criticized lawyers for submitting filings with fabricated or inaccurate references produced by AI. In Australia, one lawyer was stripped of their ability to practise as a principal lawyer due to AI use last year.

    Law schools are beginning to require instruction on the technology, while senior judges have warned that misuse could affect the integrity of proceedings.

    Recent rulings have also addressed how AI fits within existing legal frameworks, including whether interactions with such tools are protected by privilege. At the same time, some courts are piloting AI systems to help manage heavy caseloads.

    Daily Debrief Newsletter

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  • ‘Leviticus’ Trailer: Neon Horror Movie Unleashes a Gay Conversion Therapy Nightmare

    ‘Leviticus’ Trailer: Neon Horror Movie Unleashes a Gay Conversion Therapy Nightmare

    Neon has released the trailer for “Leviticus,” the highly anticipated conversion therapy horror film that had a buzzy debut at Sundance.

    The film marks the feature directorial debut of writer-director Adrian Chiarella. According to the official plot description, “Leviticus” is about “two star-crossed teenage boys [who] must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other.”

    “Leviticus” stars Joe Bird as Naim and Stacy Clausen as Ryan, the film’s two lead characters. Mia Wasikowska also appears as Naim’s emotionally stunted mother, joined by Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie and Davida McKenzie.

    Originally premiering in the midnight section at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, “Leviticus” was bought by Neon for a sales price reported to be in the seven-figure range.

    Variety’s review of “Leviticus” described the movie as “a tightly conceived, gripping queer horror that reaches for unassuming brilliance through a supernatural premise that’s as terrifying as it is thematically relevant.” Marked as Critic’s Pick for 2026, the review further stated: “’Leviticus’ does seem bound to earn a place in the pantheon of notable queer horror.”

    Titled after the book in the Bible that features what some devotees interpret as a condemnation of homosexuality, the film combines gripping horror with social commentary, set in a small and desolate Australian town that’s filled with a close-knit and Christian community.

    “Leviticus” was produced by A Causeway Films and Salmira Productions. The film’s producers include Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton and Hannah Ngo. The executive producers are Salman Al-Rashid, Sam Frohman, Simmons Frazier, Daniel Negret, Robert Connolly, Liz Kearney, Dale Roberts and Wasikowska.

    “Leviticus” is in theaters on June 19.

    Watch the trailer below.

  • Katherine LaNasa, Pom Klementieff, Matthias Schweighöfer, Micheál Neeson Join Action-Comedy ‘Mister’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    Katherine LaNasa, Pom Klementieff, Matthias Schweighöfer, Micheál Neeson Join Action-Comedy ‘Mister’ (EXCLUSIVE)

    Katherine LaNasa, Pom Klementieff, Matthias Schweighöfer and Micheál Neeson have joined the cast of the upcoming action-comedy “Mister.” The film marks the directorial debut of legendary second unit and action director Wade Eastwood, who has worked on the likes of “Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning” and “Jumanji: The Next Level.”

    Rising child actress Serenity Grace Russell will also appear in the film. The project, which was first announced at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, stars Emmy winner Walton Goggins (“The White Lotus”) along with Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass”). Principal photography began in Madrid and the Canary Islands in March.

    “Mister” is about a man (Goggins) who wakes up in a strange house covered in blood and comes to realize his true identity while fighting off contract killers from his past. The list of people who want him dead ranges from his exes to his best friend. To get out, he teams up with his estranged daughter (Moretz) who has also ended up in the family business, but they will need to repair their relationship in order to survive.

    LaNasa is best known for her portrayal of E.R. charge nurse Dana Evans on HBO’s “The Pitt,” a performance that earned her the Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama, as well as a Critics’ Choice Award for the same category and an Actor Award for ensemble drama. Her credits include Apple TV+’s “Truth Be Told,” Netflix’s “Imposters,” ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” FX’s “Justified” and “Daredevil: Born Again.” Her film work includes Jay Roach’s “The Campaign,” Garry Marshall’s
    “Valentine’s Day” and Stephen Soderbergh’s “Schizopolis.”

    Klementieff played Mantis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring in box office hits including “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” She also worked with Eastwood on the final two “Mission: Impossible” films. She has appeared in “Westworld” and “Black Mirror” and made her Hollywood debut in 2013 in Spike Lee’s remake of “Oldboy.”

    Schweighöfer is known for directing, producing and starring in Netflix’s “Army of Thieves,” the prequel to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” in which he also starred. Recently, he led the MGM+ thriller “Vanished” alongside Kaley Cuoco. He starred in Netflix’s “Brick”; he produced and starred in “The Life of Wishes,” and he loaned his voice to Pixar’s “Elio.” Additional credits include Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Netflix’s “Family Switch” opposite Jennifer Garner.

    Neeson is an actor and producer whose credits include Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux,” Adam Dunn’s “Big Dogs” and Olivia West Lloyd’s psychological thriller “Somewhere Quiet.”

    Mediacrest, a Spanish production company, has joined as co-producer. Cristian Liarte, CEO and producer of the Spanish outfit, is co-producing the film. Bright White Light’s Nicki Cortese, who wrote the film, and Wayne Marc Godfrey are producing and financed the production. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee are also producing alongside Goggins. Executive producers include Will Flynn, Sophie Meyer, Chase Vergari, Ibrahim Mohammed, Denis Pedregosa for Mediacrest, Luke Taylor, Matthew Helderman, Welly Yang, Eric Handler, Lee Broda, Mark Holden and Alexis Garcia. Black Bear International handled international sales and CAA Media Finance repped Domestic.

    Emmy nominee Henry Braham is attached as cinematographer. Jenny Jue served as casting director.

    LaNasa is represented by WME, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox; Klementieff by CAA and Agence Adequat; Schweighofer by UTA and Untitled Entertainment; Neeson by Artists Rights Group and Gersh; and Russell by CESD Talent Agency and Brave Artists Management. Bright White Light and Thunder Road are repped by CAA.

  • Bitcoin breaks Strategy’s STRC ex-dividend date slump for the first time in six months

    Bitcoin breaks Strategy’s STRC ex-dividend date slump for the first time in six months

    Strategy’s (MSTR) perpetual preferred stock, STRC, is now one week past its April 15 ex-dividend date. With bitcoin now at $79,000 this marks the first time in six months that $BTC has risen in the week following the payout event.

    At the time of the ex-dividend date, bitcoin was around $75,000, highlighting continued strength in $BTC despite the typical post dividend adjustment in STRC. STRC over the past few months has served as an aggressive funding instrument for the company’s bitcoin purchases.

    Like most dividend paying securities, STRC declines on its ex-dividend date by approximately the value of the payout, since new buyers are no longer entitled to receive it.

    Following that drop, the shares tend to recover gradually, often taking about two weeks to move back toward their $100 par value. STRC is currently trading at $99.47.

    This recovery is important because once the stock returns to par, Strategy the largest publicly traded company holding bitcoin, can utilize its at the market (ATM) program, issuing new shares at and use the proceeds to buy additional bitcoin.

    Strategy shares are more than 9% higher on Wednesday at $178 at the time of writing, with the company likely tapping its common stock ATM program to fund additional bitcoin purchases.

    Strategy disclosed the third largest bitcoin purchase ever of 34,164 $BTC, while the price initially stayed within its $75,000 range.

    However, the bitcoin rally appears driven in part by positioning. Perpetual futures funding rates remain negative, meaning short sellers are paying long positions to hold their trades, a signal that bearish sentiment still dominates.

    As prices rise in that environment, shorts are forced to close positions, creating a short squeeze that accelerates gains.

    At the same time, a persistent Coinbase premium, where bitcoin trades slightly higher on the U.S. exchange than offshore platforms, points to steady spot demand.