The crypto community celebrated Dogecoin Day
On April 20th, the crypto community traditionally celebrates Dogecoin (DOGE) Day. The date, 4/20, was chosen deliberately – it highlights the ironic origins of the meme token and its connection to internet culture. In 2026, the project's status changed significantly: Dogecoin began to look much more "serious." In January, the first spot ETF with the ticker TDOG was launched on Nasdaq, and in March, US regulators classified the asset as a digital commodity.
Shortly before the holiday, social network X added a feature for tracking cryptocurrency prices, including DOGE. However, despite the positive news background, significant growth has not occurred – at the time of writing, the token is trading around $0.094–$0.095 (up 1% in 24 hours).
Dogecoin Day has repeatedly experienced high volatility. In 2021, expectations of a rise to $1 gave way to a sharp decline, cementing the "buy the rumor, sell the fact" scenario. This is often the day when major players lock in profits.
If April doesn't bring momentum, the community has an alternative date: December 6th, the day the network launched in 2013. Since then, DOGE has gone from a Shiba Inu joke to an asset attracting the attention of institutional investors.
The Fear and Greed Index rose to 46
The crypto market's Fear and Greed Index has risen to its highest level since January, according to Alternative.me. The index has risen 14 points in 24 hours, reaching 46 out of 100—levels last seen at the beginning of the year. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading around $77,600. Over the past 24 hours, the price has fallen 0.8%, but on a weekly basis, the asset has gained 4.2% and previously reached around $78,000.
Ripple plans to create a quantum-proof XRP ledger
Ripple has unveiled a phased strategy for preparing the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for threats from quantum computing. The full transition to a resilient infrastructure is planned for completion by 2028.
According to the roadmap, the network will transition to quantum-resistant cryptography in four stages. The developers note that the threat is not yet urgent, but accelerating research requires advance preparation. The main risk is the "harvest now, decrypt later" scenario, in which data is intercepted today with the expectation of decryption later.
The plan includes two components: a gradual migration and a backup scenario in the event of a Q-day event. In an emergency, the network will be able to forcibly transfer funds to protected addresses.
In the first stage (the first half of 2026), new cryptographic mechanisms will be tested on testnets in parallel with current ones. This will be followed by a controlled transition with the implementation of more complex solutions, including zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption. The final stage involves the complete transition of the network to new standards by 2028.
Investors withdrew $8.6 billion from Aave after the Kelp hack
In two days, Aave's TVL fell from $26.3 billion to $17.7 billion, according to DefiLlama data. The AAVE token fell more than 15% to $91, while its market cap fell to $1.3 billion. Aave v3's USDT and USDC pools are completely depleted—approximately $5.1 billion in assets are effectively locked and available for withdrawal only with an influx of liquidity or loan repayments.
The reason for this was a hack of the Kelp protocol: on April 18, attackers withdrew 116,500 rsETH (~$293 million) through a LayerZero-based bridge. These tokens were used as collateral on Aave, borrowing approximately $196 million. The total volume of positions in Aave, Compound, and Euler reached $236 million, leaving a deficit of approximately $195 million, according to Lookonchain.
Initially, the team promised to cover losses through the Umbrella fund, but later announced they were "searching for solutions." Several projects, including Curve and Ethena, suspended operations with the Kelp DAO. The liquidity outflow also affected Solana: USDC rates on Kamino skyrocketed, and the Prime Market ($178 million) was completely depleted, with other pools exceeding 95%.
Quantum breakthrough: researcher received 1 BTC for cracking an ECC key
Independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli has successfully calculated a 15-bit ECC-based cryptographic key using a publicly available quantum computer, according to the startup Project Eleven. To do this, he applied a modified Shor's algorithm to a space of 32,767 possible solutions. This method solves the discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curves, the basis of digital signatures used in most blockchains.
For his achievement, Lelli received 1 BTC as part of the Q-Day Prize program, launched by Project Eleven in 2025 for cracking keys up to 25 bits long. Earlier, in September, engineer Steve Tippeconnick was able to extract only a 6-bit key on a 133-qubit IBM device—this was considered the first public quantum attack of its kind.
Lelli's experiment increased the scale of the problem by more than 500 times and became the largest demonstration of breaking ECC using quantum technology to date. However, the result is still far from practical: Bitcoin uses 256-bit cryptography. Project Eleven acknowledges the gap, but considers it more of an engineering challenge than a fundamental limitation.
Tether froze $344 million in USDT
Tether announced the freezing of approximately $344 million in USDT from two addresses linked by US authorities to illegal activity. The company clarified that the operation was conducted in cooperation with the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This is not the first such case: Tether has previously worked with regulators. In February, the Department of Justice thanked the issuer for its assistance in stopping a "pig butchering" scheme in North Carolina, which resulted in the seizure of approximately $61 million.
At the same time, the company reported that the total amount of frozen funds linked to illegal activity had reached $4.2 billion. USDT remains the largest stablecoin in the market, with a market capitalization of approximately $69 billion. USDC ranks second, with a market capitalization just over $15 billion.
