Polkadot Bridge Hack Triggers 1B DOT Mint on Ethereum; Bitcoin Tops $74,000 as Institutions Add BTC and ETH

Market highlights Polkadot bridge incident: A bridge-related vulnerability was exploited on Ethereum, where 1 billion DOT were minted and sold, sending the token's price from about $1.22 to near zero. The activity occurred on Ethereum bridge assets rather than Polkadot's native chain. Polkadot has not issued an official statement as the situation develops. Hong Kong stablecoin licensing: Hong Kong Monetary Authority Deputy Chief Executive Chan Wai-man said the timing for a second batch of licenses is undecided and will hinge on the operating performance of the first two licensees. He added that the eventual number of licenses will be very limited. Aave governance: Aave DAO approved a $25 million stablecoin grant proposal for Aave Labs under the "Aave Will Win" framework. Bitcoin: BTC pushed above $74,000, up about 5% over 24 hours. South Korea enforcement: Exchange Coinone was ordered to suspend part of its operations for three months and was fined roughly $3.56 million for antimoney-laundering violations. Institutional flows Strategy: The company said it bought 13,927 BTC last week at an average price of about $71,900, spending roughly $1 billion. It reported a 2026 YTD BTC yield of 5.6%. As of April 12, 2026, Strategy held 780,897 BTC, acquired for about $59.02 billion at an average cost of roughly $75,577 per BTC. BitMine: The firm said it added 71,524 ETH last week. As of 3:30 p.m. ET on April 12, 2026, it reported holdings of 4,874,858 ETH and 198 BTC, plus $719 million in cash, a $200 million investment in Beast Industries, and an $85 million investment in Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq: ORBS). BitMine said its ETH position represents 4.04% of total ETH supply (120.7 million ETH), and its total holdings of crypto, cash and the "Moonshot" portfolio reached $11.8 billion. Macro and cross-asset moves Bitcoin steadies above $74,000 amid geopolitical risk: ChainThink said BTC rose about 5% on Monday to around $74,300, recovering from a weekend drop that briefly took prices from $73,000 to $70,600. The market sees the pullback as notably smaller than the roughly 12% plunge seen at the start of the war in late February, reinforcing the view that $70,000 has become a near-term support zone. Traders are watching whether easing oil prices and revived rate-cut expectations could keep upside momentum intact. U.S. equities rebound: The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung from down more than 400 points to close up 301 points. The S&P 500 rose 1.02% to 6,886.24, while the Nasdaq gained 1.23% to 23,183.74, led by technology stocks. The VIX ended at 19.12. Oil whipsaws on Strait of Hormuz concerns: WTI briefly jumped above $104 on Sunday evening following reports tied to the Strait of Hormuz, then retreated Monday to close near $93 after comments interpreted as leaving room for negotiations. ChainThink described the market focus as a "dual blockade" scenario, combining pressure on transit through the strait with U.S. sanctions on Iranian ports. Some institutions warned that a prolonged blockade increases the odds of Brent averaging above $100 this year. Gold consolidates: Gold slipped 0.3% to $4,733 per ounce on Monday. Risk-off demand has supported prices, while a stronger U.S. dollar has weighed. Institutions said gold's next move depends on whether oil prices normalize and how the Federal Reserve's rate path evolves, with upside seen above $5,000 if energy pressures fade and downside risk if high oil forces a more hawkish stance. Regulation and policy Circle on USDC freezes: According to The Block, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Circle will not freeze USDC wallets unrelated to legal proceedings. He addressed criticism over whether Circle should have frozen USDC during the Drift incident, in which Drift suffered a $280 million attack. Onchain analysts, including ZachXBT, criticized Circle for not freezing about $230 million in USDC that was allegedly moved from Solana to Ethereum via Circle's cross-chain transfer protocol. CFTC on prediction markets: CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said the agency has "exclusive regulatory authority" over prediction markets and that states cannot override federal derivatives rules. He cited CFTC lawsuits against Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut. Selig also pointed to final digital asset classification guidance issued last month jointly with the SEC, outlining boundaries between tokenized securities and commodities. Industry and corporate developments Zcash roadmap: Josh Swihart, founder of the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), outlined a strategy focused on post-quantum security, secure scaling and user experience. The team said Zcash is entering a "Zcash IV" phase aimed at building infrastructure to support scaling the protocol and applications to billions of users while advancing private transactions. JPMorgan and Canton Network: Cointelegraph reported JPMorgan plans to expand JPM Coin to the Canton Network this year via Kinexys. The network processes more than $350 billion in U.S. Treasury repo settlements daily. Japan AI consortium: Kyodo News reported a new AI company backed by SoftBank, NEC, Honda and Sony Group, with support from the Japanese government, to develop a domestic foundation model. The venture, "Japan AI Foundation Model Development," aims to assemble about 100 AI developers. Nippon Steel, Kobe Steel, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank also joined the funding. SoftBank and NEC will lead development; Honda plans to apply results to autonomous driving; Preferred Networks is also involved. The model is expected to be available broadly to Japanese companies beyond the investors, with plans to expand into robot-control AI. Hong Kong stablecoin accounts at PayMe: HSBC PayMe head Li Guankang said any PayMe user can open a stablecoin account to transfer funds, pay merchants or invest in stablecoin-pegged products. Users within the HSBC app cannot open such accounts directly and must wait to be identified as eligible. PayMe requires Hong Kong residency. Under Hong Kong's current framework, only Hong Kong residents can engage in virtual asset transactions, so mainland customers are not eligible to apply for a stablecoin account even if they use HSBC mobile payments in Hong Kong. South Korea's NXC trims crypto exposure: ChainThink cited NXC's consolidated audit report saying that as of end-2025 it held crypto assets worth KRW 147.6 billion, including 2,356 BTC and 22,400 ETH, down 15.2% from KRW 174 billion a year earlier. NXC sold its stake in Bitstamp and removed it from subsidiaries, and in February passed a board resolution to dispose of all shares in Korbit. Also in February, it used subsidiary NXMH to acquire shares in European industrial solutions company CLI Group as part of diversification. Aave DAO grant details: The proposal passed with 522,780 AAVE votes for and 175,310 against, about 75% support. Aave Labs will receive $25 million in stablecoin grants, including an immediate 5 million aEthLidoGHO allocation and a 20 million aEthLidoGHO stream to be distributed over six and twelve months. Aave DAO will also allocate 75,000 AAVE (about $6.8 million) from the ecosystem reserve, unlocking linearly over 48 months. The Aave Chan Initiative voted 166,200 AAVE against. ParaFi Capital (190,000 AAVE) and luggis.eth (123,580 AAVE) were among supporters. Disbursement is scheduled for Monday afternoon to an Aave Labs-controlled address. Market commentary Liquid Capital founder Yi Lihua said he believes the war will end and that the moment a deal is reached could trigger a strong rally. He added that markets are increasingly positioning defensively for the possibility of a large-scale financial crisis, citing high cash ratios among large holders and sovereign accumulation of gold. In that scenario, he said a renewed crisis would test Bitcoin's safe-haven properties and could create attractive accumulation opportunities. He also argued AI is lowering the cost of building global products for small teams, creating opportunities for experienced repeat entrepreneurs in an "AI Age of Exploration."