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Following the surprise collapse of Olaf Scholz’s coalition, Friedrich Merz has taken charge as Germany’s new Chancellor. But his first major appointment has left the entire nation in disbelief: Markus Braun, the disgraced former Wirecard CEO, has been chosen as the new Minister of Finance. The decision, announced in an early-morning press conference, sparked an immediate media frenzy. Braun, currently serving a prison sentence for his role in the Wirecard fraud scandal , is set to take office next week. “Germany needs financial expertise,” Merz stated, “and who knows more about financial creativity than Markus Braun?” Markus Braun was the mastermind behind Wirecard’s meteoric rise and catastrophic collapse, which resulted in a €1.9 billion hole in company accounts. Critics argue that appointing him as finance minister is like hiring a fox to guard the henhouse. However, Merz defended his choice: “Mistakes were made, sure, but Markus has the kind of outside-the-box thinking we need in German finance.” Reports suggest Braun will work remotely from prison, managing Germany’s budget via a high-security laptop provided by the government. His first task? A complete restructuring of Germany’s tax system —though insiders joke he may start by “accidentally misplacing” a few billion euros. Germans took to social media to express a mix of outrage, confusion, and dark humor. The hashtag #Braunomics is already trending, with users joking about “the best money laundering techniques for 2025.” Meanwhile, Wirecard’s former investors are thrilled, seeing this as a sign that Braun could finally “pay them back.” Some even speculate that his appointment might be a secret plan to recover the missing billions. The European Central Bank, however, issued a formal warning: “Germany’s financial stability should not be treated as an experimental playground.” If you’ve read this far and believed even a part of this story—congratulations, you’ve been April Fooled! 🎉 While Friedrich Merz might have some bold ideas for Germany’s economy, appointing a convicted fraudster as finance minister is definitely not one of them (at least, we hope not!). April 1st is a time for wild and ridiculous headlines, and we couldn’t resist joining in. But this is also a reminder: always double-check your sources before believing breaking news—especially in politics and finance! Now that you’re in on the joke, share this with your friends and see if they fall for it too! 😆

Nansen Research has highlighted the macroeconomic factors and cues this week that the firm says could confirm the probability of a crypto bottom between April and June. Nansen principal researcher Aurelie Barthere shared the outlook on April 1, 2025, noting that this week will see notable data releases and policy announcements. The macroeconomic factors that investors across the markets will focus on this week include the Federal Reserve policy, tariffs and U.S. growth via signals such as manufacturing and jobs data. According to Nansen, this “Liberation Week” is set to see key data disclosures and potential political announcements, which when combined with prevailing market sentiment, could provide an indicator to the price trajectory of Bitcoin ( BTC ) and crypto. Barthere has a similar forecast for other financial assets, with equities having suffered in recent weeks. Tariff jtters also continue to dictate crypto and risk assets movement. Recent 25% auto tariffs announcement, as do potential reciprocal tariffs, is a key concern. However, Nansen researchers say flexibility that sees “constructive negotiations” and concessions from the world’s largest economies, including the Eurozone, Japan and China, will be positive. The same applies to a balancing act from the Fed, with chair Jerome Powell set to speak on Friday. According to Nansen, clarity on the odds of three rate cuts for the year is expected across the market. On what investors might want to get from Powell’s speech, Nansen said: “We would like to hear Fed Chair Powell reiterate his FOMC’s press conference rather dovish stance, e.g. concerns over growth will be prioritized and the Fed will be comfortable with cutting rates even with core inflation close to 3% YoY.” In terms of employment data out on Friday, Nansen says non-farm payroll numbers for March between economist consensus at 139k and the six-month average of 191k and an unemployment rate of 4.3% will be good news for investors. This is key as growth concerns amid the recent 11% drop for the S&P 500 weigh down on investors. Technical indicators for BTC are also not encouraging, with price failing to break above the 200-day moving average. Altcoins are also in sell-off mode, with most posting dead crosses to suggest a fragile market sentiment that will fancy any “good news”. Overall, Nansen sees a positive outlook this week as one that will confirm the analytics platform’s 70% probability that crypto will track a bottom between April and June.

GameStop to use convertible bond proceeds to buy $1.48B worth of Bitcoin GameStop (GME) is said to be planning to use $1.48 billion in convertible bond proceeds to purchase Bitcoin ( $BTC ), according to a report by crypto and finance news account @solidintel_x via X.

Wintermute-linked wallet offloads multiple memecoins on PancakeSwap A wallet linked to market maker Wintermute has sold several memecoins via PancakeSwap, including $160,000 in BABYDOGE, $140,000 in MUBARAK and $40,000 in TUT, according to The Data Nerd on X, citing data from

Cambrian Network raises $5.9M seed round led by a16z AI infrastructure protocol Cambrian Network announced via its official Medium that it has raised $5.9 million in a seed round led by a16z’s Crypto Startup Accelerator, with participation from Blockchain Builders and angels in