The Blockchain Bulletin, Apr 12: Arizona and Florida Lead Crypto Progress

Hey folks! Welcome to the latest edition of The Blockchain Bulletin. Over the past 24 hours, the crypto landscape witnessed significant developments, with Arizona and Florida leading the charge. While Arizona passed the Bitcoin Mining Rights Bill, Florida approved a Bitcoin Reserve Bill. Awaiting Governor Katie Hobbs’ approval, Arizona’s bill aims to protect Bitcoin mining operations from local governmental restrictions, particularly energy usage, thereby preventing a ban on mining activities.  

Florida’s bill cleared the Insurance and Banking Committee with unanimous support and will allow allocation of 10% of state funds to Bitcoin. The bill has to face three more House Committees before a full vote and Senate consideration. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has signed the first-ever crypto bill into law, repealing the IRS DeFi broker rule, rolled out by the Biden administration. The rule mandated decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to submit user data and issue tax forms for non-employment income.

Further, the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on tariffs marks a temporary reprieve for U.S. Bitcoin miners. The downgrading of tariffs to 10% will make it more feasible for miners to import mining rigs before the tariffs come back in July 2025. Notably, the 9-0-day pause is a short-term boost for U.S.-based miners compared to international ones.

In an innovative move, Lomond School in Scotland garnered global attention for receiving tuition fees via Bitcoin. The institution is teh first school in the UK to implement cryptocurrency payments. The school collaborated with CoinCorner and Bitcoin payment service Musqet for the integration. The school is planning to create a Bitcoin reserve after the UK fully accepts crypto transactions. 

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However, not all news has been positive. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed that $382 million in unemployment benefits were fraudulently paid to ineligible recipients since 2020. Among the fraudulent claims, $59 million was distributed to individuals over 115 years old, despite the oldest living American being 114, and $254 million went to individuals between 1 and 5 years old. 

On the institutional side, Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, has unveiled a new ‘privacy roadmap’ for Ethereum to safeguard users without actually changing the Layer-1 consensus of the network. The roadmap will focus on improving confidentiality of payments, interaction with decentralized applications, and data protection, hence ensuring that Ethereum remains a competitive player in the market as a privacy-first blockchain.

Meanwhile, BNB Chain’s Lorentz hard fork on its testnet has improved blockchain performance significantly. The upgrade has reduced block times to 1.5 seconds on BSC testnet and increased opBNB’s speed by 0.5 seconds, positioning BNB Chain as one of the fastest blockchains in the industry. 

In a major legal victory, Helium Network’s long-standing battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended with the SEC dismissing all charges against Nova Labs, the team behind Helium. Earlier, the SEC had accused Nova Labs of issuing unregistered securities with its Helium (HNT), IOT, and MOBILE tokens. 

To enhance crypto regulations, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James suggested that Congress could implement measures for safeguarding investors against fraud, thereby ensuring financial stability in the digital asset space. Her voice is now coming at a time when many are calling for regulation to curb fraud in cryptocurrency. 

Meanwhile, the former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been moved to the Victorville Medium 2 Federal Correctional Institution in Southern California. Known for its harsh conditions, the relocation follows Bankman-Fried’s prolonged stay at several correctional facilities. His legal journey continues as he faces charges for his role in the collapse of the FTX exchange. Also, Do Kwon’s legal battle continues despite the DOJ’s crypto shift. 

According to a memo from the DOJ, which was released on April 7, 2025, it stated that regulatory actions against crypto firms would now be handled by agencies, as opposed to departments representing criminal justice. Further, the U.S. prosecutors confirmed that there are no changes to the charges against the Terraform Labs founder.

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On the market side, Bitcoin whale activity has triggered market speculation. About 10,407 BTC worth $830M was transferred from an anonymous wallet to another.  Such transactions usually cause drastic price shifts, and within this period, Bitcoin’s value ranged between $78,626 and $82,213, creating speculations about the potential direction of the market. Even with huge transfer amounts, major sell-offs were absent, indicating that investors were cautious toward the market.

In a nutshell, these events highlight the rapidly changing nature of cryptocurrency with the integration of global finance and the political system. With regulatory changes, legal victories, and technological advancement, the industry will witness a massive transformation in the upcoming years. 

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