Former SSA Chief O’Malley: Social Security Isn’t a Ponzi, But Bitcoin Might Be
In response to criticisms labeling Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, Martin O’Malley, former Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, firmly defended the program’s integrity. He emphasized that Social Security has been a stable and reliable system for nearly nine decades, operating on a pay-as-you-go basis where current workers fund the benefits of retirees.
O’Malley noted that as long as Americans continue to work and contribute, the system remains financially sound. He also pointed out that recent economic growth has boosted the program’s finances, pushing the projected depletion of the trust fund reserves to 2035.
This all started after significant staffing cuts and operational changes within the SSA, attributed to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.
These changes include the elimination of over 7,000 jobs and the closure of field offices, leading to increased wait times and service disruptions for beneficiaries. O’Malley warned that such drastic reductions could lead to a system collapse, possibly interrupting benefit payments within months.
The nomination of Frank Bisignano to lead the SSA has further fueled the debate. Bisignano is a seasoned financial services executive and self-professed DOGE person with no prior government experience. During his confirmation hearing, concerns were raised about his commitment to the agency’s mission and the potential for further disruptions under his leadership.
O’Malley took a jab at Bitcoin, saying that while Social Security isn’t a Ponzi scheme, the cryptocurrency might be.
This is likely because the crypto enthusiasts always state that decentralized systems like Bitcoin are necessary since they don’t rely on trust in government institutions or centralized entities.
With how things are going, a good deal of Millennials and Gen Z investors already believe Social Security may not exist for them when they retire. As such, the younger demographics can be pushed toward crypto as an alternative store of value, and Bitcoin, being the biggest cryptocurrency, comes as a first choice.
While there are no direct connections to crypto and the current SSA situation, the ongoing controversy could have big political ramifications. Depending on the SSA outcome, it’s expected that there will be lasting implications for the millions of US citizens who depend on Social Security for their financial well-being.
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Shiba Inu Investors Take Note: 2 Compelling Reasons to Buy SHIB in 2025
The price of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) memecoin has remained quite subdued since the beginning of 2025. The dog-themed memecoin, currently priced at $0.000012, dropped below key support levels and traded sideways for four months. However, there are reasons to believe a breakout might be around the corner for the token.
SHIB last saw a major rally after US President Donald Trump’s election victory, his inauguration, and the past Bitcoin halving event. Since then, Shiba Inu has failed to deliver the desired results to investors.
The memcoin has often capitalized on other financial developments in the market, raising concerns among investors. They are worried that SHIB has become a risky bet with little chance of turning their investments into wealth.
However, two key factors show that SHIB can still ignite a major rally before the year ends. The first is that Shiba Inu has a rich circulating supply of 589.2 trillion SHIB tokens. This means anyone can accumulate the coin without worrying about scarcity.
If the SHIB supply is not reduced through burns, the price of the meme coin could remain stagnant for years or even decades.
Secondly, it is important to note that the Shiba Inu team consistently performs routine token burns. If trillions of tokens are burned by sending them to dead wallets, SHIB has a good chance of dramatically surging in price.
As outlined in our recent blog post, the SHIB burn rate soared by 33%, leading to expectations of an 81% spike in price. Data from Shibburn revealed 410,745,405,123,635 tokens removed from circulation, reducing the available supply to 584,352,721,200,140 SHIB.
Together, the circulating supply and SHIB burn define Shiba Inu’s prospects. Thus, investors need to monitor them closely.
As of press time, the SHIB price was changing hands at $0.00001248, a 3.04% decline in the last 24 hours. Despite the price decline, SHIB investors are still actively engaging with the coin as indicated by the spike in trading volume. The metric inked a 17% uptick to $142.4 million over the previous day.
The current data for SHIB suggests that the memecoin is in a critical consolidation zone. However, if SHIB receives ecosystem support and holders refrain from selling, the price could soar. If SHIB rises above $0.000013, it could welcome a bigger breakout. Many holders who were previously at a loss may decide to hold instead of sell.
Other ecosystem developments could add appeal for the SHIB memecoin. In a previous article, we discussed Shiba Inu’s introduction of a crypto payment service known as SHIB Pay. The service allows direct wallet-to-merchant crypto payments without intermediaries or permissions.
Additionally, Shiba Inu developers recently launched a Shibarium DApp Store, with over 1,200 decentralized applications. As mentioned in our report, the platform has surpassed 1 billion transactions on its Layer 2 blockchain.
Bitcoin outperforms stocks during market selloff, but fails to decouple fully: VanEck
Bitcoin showed flashes of independence from equities in April, renewing hopes that it’s evolving into a true macro hedge. However, VanEck’s recent data tell a different story.
In a monthly recap published on Monday, analysts at VanEck say that the flagship crypto asset still trades closely with traditional markets, as it quickly re-synced with major indices after a brief divergence.
Bitcoin briefly showed signs of decoupling from US equities during the week ending April 6, when former President Trump announced new tariff measures that rattled global markets. While equities and gold declined, Bitcoin climbed from $81,500 to over $84,500 at week’s end, hinting at a potential shift toward independent price action.
This divergence fueled hopes that Bitcoin might break away from traditional risk asset behavior and push toward new highs. However, the momentum did not last long, and the asset soon resumed trading in line with equity markets.
Offering more context in this area, VanEck—drawing on data from VanEck Research and Artemis XYZ—notes that Bitcoin has not meaningfully decoupled from the stock market.
Although the 30-day moving average correlation between BTC and the S&P 500 briefly dipped below 0.25 in early April, it quickly rebounded to around 0.55 by the end of the month.
Still, Bitcoin outperformed the major stock indices during the month. It gained 13%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1% and the S&P 500 posted only a slight increase.
Perhaps most notably, Bitcoin’s volatility declined by 4% in April, even as volatility in equity markets doubled amid rising geopolitical and trade tensions.
According to VanEck, despite the fact that Bitcoin still behaves like a risk asset in the short term, structural tailwinds, including aggressive corporate BTC accumulation, may be setting the stage for long-term divergence.
Analysts suggest that as individuals, corporations, and central banks increasingly view Bitcoin as a sovereign, uncorrelated store-of-value, its long-term behavior could break free from that of traditional risk assets.
Russia and Venezuela, which have already begun embracing Bitcoin’s utility in international trade, are early examples of this transformation, according to analysts.
Corporate-level Bitcoin accumulation was active in April. To recap, Strategy added 25,400 BTC to its holdings, while Metaplanet and Semler Scientific also made significant purchases.
A key highlight of the month was the launch of a new venture, XXI (Twenty One), formed by Softbank, Tether, and Cantor Fitzgerald, with the goal of acquiring over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin.
This signals Bitcoin’s growing role on corporate balance sheets, as institutional exposure shifts from speculative bets to long-term strategic positioning.
Bitcoin dodged the tariff fallout, but altcoins were not lucky.
Layer 1 networks led the decline, with Ethereum, Solana, and Sui all posting heavy drawdowns from their January highs, falling between 66% and 68%, according to VanEck. The MarketVector Smart Contract Leaders Index (MVSCLE) dropped 5% in April and is now down 34% year-to-date.
The slump followed a global equity selloff triggered by new trade tariffs, compounded by unlock fatigue and heavy losses in speculative sectors like DeFi AI, DeSci, and AI Agents. Meme coin trading volume also collapsed by 93% between January and March.
Yet some chains managed to buck the trend, including Sui, Solana, and Stacks, according to VanEck.
Solana rose 16%, lifted by network upgrades and growing institutional treasury interest. Ethereum, meanwhile, slipped another 3%, underperforming its peers as fee erosion and layer 2 competition continued.
Solana’s April was quiet but constructive. The network released SIMD-0207, a compute upgrade that sets the stage for future throughput gains. The Solana Foundation also began phasing out underperforming validators reliant on delegation, aiming to prioritize those offering ecosystem value.
With roughly 18% of staked SOL managed through the Foundation, validator dynamics remain a key part of the chain’s governance. While some question meme coin sustainability, Solana’s unmatched throughput continued to dominate trading activity. In April, meme coins accounted for 95% of all DEX activity on the chain, excluding SOL and stablecoins.
Sui’s strength goes beyond its price. In April, its daily DEX volumes jumped 45%, placing it among the most active chains. It entered the top 10 in smart contract platform revenue and posted the highest stablecoin turnover ratio at 716%. Core developer Mysten Labs earned praise for product velocity and responsiveness in an increasingly crowded layer 1 sector.
Ethereum, by contrast, faces mounting pressure. Its share of layer 1 fee revenue slid to around 14%, down from 74% two years ago. Developers proposed major changes, including a shift to RISC-V architecture for faster zk-proofs, a 100x gas limit increase via EIP-9698, and parallel transaction execution under EIP-9580.
But Ethereum’s layer 2s continued to siphon users and activity. Flashbots’ deployment on Base and Optimism cut confirmation times to 200 milliseconds, while Arbitrum introduced gas payments in non-ETH tokens, further undermining ETH’s role. The core dilemma remains: Layer 2s rely on Ethereum’s security while eroding its fee base.
Meanwhile, Tron and Hyperliquid took the top spots in average daily blockchain revenue, earning more than both Solana and Ethereum.
Tron’s dominance in stablecoin transfers and Hyperliquid’s niche in perpetual trading helped them generate $1.7 million and $1.4 million daily, respectively, according to VanEck.
Speculative energy continued to fade. Meme coins, which once drove volumes across chains, saw trading activity and sentiment plunge. The MarketVector Meme Coin Index has fallen 48% year-to-date, though meme coins still made up 35% of Solana’s DEX activity in April.