Disclaimer: The opinion expressed here is not investment advice – it is provided for informational purposes only. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of BitMaden. Every investment and all trading involves risk, so you should always perform your own research prior to making decisions. We do not recommend investing money you cannot afford to lose.

Tether Acquires 7.7 Tons of Gold to Back XAU₮ Token, $770M Market Cap, Regulated in El Salvador

Tether has announced the acquisition of 7.7 tons of gold to back its XAU₮ token, also known as Tether Gold. The company released its first official attestation for the first quarter of 2025, showing that each of the 246,523 XAU₮ tokens in circulation is backed 1:1 by one troy ounce of physical gold, stored in Switzerland. The market capitalization of XAU₮ stands at $770 million, with the token priced at $3,123.57 per token. XAU₮ reached an all-time high of $3,423 on April 21, representing a 9.6% increase since the end of the first quarter. This development comes amidst a backdrop of growing global economic uncertainty and heightened demand for safe-haven assets like gold, which has seen a notable rally in recent years. To continue reading this as well as other DeFi and Web3 news, visit us at thedefiant.io Bitcoin.com

---

Monero Price Jumps Double Digits Due To Massive $330 Million Bitcoin Theft

Privacy-centric coin Monero (XMR) soared as much as 50% on Monday, and on-chain investigators have pointed to a theft event as the likely culprit. Early on Monday, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT flagged a “suspicious transfer” of 3,520 BTC (worth approximately $330.7 million) made from a potential victim’s wallet. Soon after, the loot was laundered through over six exchanges and converted to Monero to obscure the activity. ZachXBT believes this was theft due to the high fees paid and the suspicious activity after the funds had been moved. The transfer sparked an immediate 50% surge in XMR’s price due to the large-scale conversion and the platform’s limited liquidity. Nine hours ago a suspicious transfer was made from a potential victim for 3520 BTC ($330.7M) Theft address bc1qcrypchnrdx87jnal5e5m849fw460t4gk7vz55g Shortly after the funds began to be laundered via 6+ instant exchanges and was swapped for XMR causing the XMR price to spike… — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 28, 2025 The on-chain sleuth later noted in follow-up posts that it is “highly probable” the theft was not orchestrated by the infamous North Korean hackers, and that the victim was a longtime Bitcoin holder . While ordinary blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum allow users to track all transactions on the network, Monero’s privacy-preserving nature hides wallet addresses and transactions, making it harder for law enforcement to trace and recover illicit funds. As such, it remains attractive to nefarious actors who want unlinkable and untraceable transactions. According to data from CoinGecko , XMR vaulted 50% higher in response to hit an intraday high of $347.72 — a level not seen since May 2021. At the time of publication, Monero is priced at $276.22, still up 22% over the last 24 hours. The Monero community recently celebrated the coin’s 11th anniversary. Notably, XMR has lost a lot of ground in recent years due to the increasing marginalization of privacy coins. Due to intensifying regulatory pressure, leading crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, have been forced to delist Monero in various jurisdictions in an effort to fight dark net markets. Bitcoin.com