Cryptocurrency Fund Manager McCann Under Investigation, Previously Fiancée's Death Case Questioned

**April 16 (Cointelegraph) — France is prepping new measures to protect cryptocurrency holders, French Interior Ministry spokesperson Jean-Didier Berger announced at Paris Blockchain Week.** The government has launched a prevention platform that’s signed up thousands of users. Officials are also teaming up with Interior Minister Laurent Nu?ez on a comprehensive response plan, set to roll out in the coming weeks. Key stats: - As of 2026, France has recorded 41 crypto-related kidnapping cases — an average of one every 2.5 days. - In 2025, global “plumber attacks” (targeted crypto-linked incidents) rose 75% year-over-year. France was Europe’s hardest-hit country, accounting for roughly 40% of all EU-wide incidents.

April 16: Bitget has announced the listing of its USD-margined GENIUS perpetual contract, with leverage options ranging from 1x to 20x. A contract trading BOT will also be available at launch.

April 16th — Per Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale dormant for over 2.5 months has opened a 20x leveraged long position using 1,663 oz of gold and 43,870 oz of silver, totaling $11.5M in value.

April 16th CoinDesk analyst James Van Straten notes Bitcoin’s funding rate has hit its most negative level since 2023 — a signal history ties to temporary market bottoms, per Glassnode data. The seven-day moving average of the rate now sits around -0.005%. Perpetual contract funding rates are fees longs and shorts pay each other to align contract prices with spot markets: positive rates mean longs pay shorts (bullish sentiment), negative rates mean shorts pay longs (bearish lean). Notably, Bitcoin rallied from $60k-$65k to ~$75k between March and April this year — even as funding rates stayed negative. History links deeply negative funding rates to Bitcoin’s temporary lows: March 2020 (COVID crash, ~$3k), 2021 (China mining ban, $30k), November 2022 (FTX collapse, ~$15k), 2023 (Silicon Valley Bank crisis, briefly below $20k), August 2024 (yen carry trade unwind), and April 2025 ("Liberation Day" sell-off). Persistent negative rates now signal shorts remain elevated despi

April 16 – Credibility infrastructure platform TruthX, in partnership with Animoca Brands, has released the *2026 Q1 Top 220 KOL Report: Crypto Industry Trend Summary & Forecast*. In Q1 2026, the crypto market saw significant turbulence: Geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty deepened, the overvaluation-fueled old narrative quickly faded, and emerging areas like AI infrastructure and real-world assets (RWA) gained traction. Amid sharp volatility and rapid shifts, trend analysis became extremely challenging due to information overload. The collective insights of the world’s top 220 crypto KOLs have emerged as a critical reference for contextualizing the industry. TruthX analyzed their content via structured data and delivered forward-looking projections on upcoming trends, opportunity windows, and risk factors. This report allows users to quickly build a trend framework amid volatile markets and capitalize on opportunities in the next phase.

April 16 — Blockstream CEO Adam Back advocated for an opt-in upgrade to add quantum resistance to Bitcoin during Paris Blockchain Week on Wednesday, diverging from a previously proposed mandatory freeze solution. “Being prepared in advance is critical to driving changes in a controlled manner, rather than reacting hastily to security issues in a crisis,” Back said. He also highlighted Bitcoin’s existing emergency coordination capabilities: “Vulnerabilities have been identified and fixed within hours in the past. When things become urgent, focus will shift, and consensus will form.” Back’s stance contrasts with BIP-361, a proposal co-drafted by Jameson Lopp and five other developers. Updated April 15 in Bitcoin’s official codebase under the theme “Post-Quantum Migration and Legacy Signature Deprecation,” the plan calls for phasing out quantum-vulnerable addresses over five years via a soft fork—ultimately freezing assets (including Satoshi Nakamoto’s bitcoins) that haven’t complet