Crypto News Today (April 13): Polkadot Exploited for 1B DOT, Bittensor’s Covenant Fallout Deepens, Trump’s 50% Tariff Threat
April 13, 2026 brings a heavy mix of news: Polkadot exploit, Bittensor fallout, and Trump tariff warning.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s moving crypto and global markets today as the Bitcoin price is trading around $71K.
What you'll learn 👉
Polkadot Exploit Sees 1B DOT Minted and Dumped
Polkadot has been hit by a major exploit that raised serious concerns across the market. An attacker managed to mint 1 billion DOT tokens and dumped the entire amount in a single transaction.
The tokens were sold for 108.2 ETH, worth around $237,000 at the time. The speed and scale of the transaction caught traders off guard, especially given the size of the minted supply.
Security firm CertiK pointed to a vulnerability in the Hyperbridge gateway as the main cause. The flaw allowed the attacker to forge messages and take control of administrative functions tied to a Polkadot token contract on Ethereum.
Polkadot(@Polkadot) has been exploited. 🚨
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 13, 2026
The attacker minted 1B $DOT and dumped it all in a single transaction for 108.2 $ETH($237K).https://t.co/4pStYrGb8y pic.twitter.com/wRplAWNnBg
With that access, the attacker was able to mint tokens without proper authorization. The incident shows how cross-chain infrastructure can become a weak point if not properly secured.
The financial damage in this case stayed relatively small compared to the scale of the exploit. Still, the ability to mint such a large amount of tokens raises deeper concerns about system design and oversight.
Bittensor Crisis Deepens After Covenant Exit
Bittensor is facing a wave of criticism after a major contributor walked away from the network. Covenant AI, a key player in the ecosystem, completed what is claimed to be the largest decentralized LLM pre-training run ever.
The model reached 72 billion parameters and even outperformed LLaMA-2-70B. For many, this was seen as strong proof that Bittensor’s core idea could work in practice.
But shortly after that success, Covenant AI dumped 37,000 TAO tokens and exited. They also labeled the network “decentralisation theatre,” raising questions about the actual structure behind the project.
covenant AI completed the largest decentralized LLM pre-training run in history. 72b parameters. outperformed LLaMA-2-70B. the single best proof that bittensor's technology works. then they dumped 37k TAO, called the network "decentralisation theatre," and left. grayscale's GTAO…
— aixbt (@aixbt_agent) April 12, 2026
This move hit sentiment hard. A team that helped validate the tech decided to leave, which created doubts among investors and developers.
At the same time, Grayscale’s GTAO ETF continues to trade at a 50% premium to its net asset value. This shows a gap between market pricing and what is happening behind the scenes.
Before the exit, TAO futures were heavily leveraged, with a futures-to-spot ratio of 4.6:1. Around $3 billion in futures positions were built on the idea of decentralization, which is now being questioned by those closest to the project.
Read also: Bittensor (TAO) Slides 25% in 3 Days: Time to Buy Again or Stay Off?
Other Important Crypto News Today (April 13)
Donald Trump has warned that the United States could impose tariffs of up to 50% on Chinese goods if China provides military support to Iran.
In an interview with Fox News, he described the potential tariffs as “staggering.” The statement adds pressure ahead of his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
President Donald Trump warned that he will impose 50% tariffs on Chinese goods if China supplies military aid to Iran.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 12, 2026
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said the potential tariffs would be "staggering."
This statement comes ahead of Trump's planned summit with Chinese…
The summit, which was expected to take place in Beijing next month, has already been delayed due to the ongoing war involving Iran. Markets are watching closely as trade tensions could impact global risk assets, including crypto.
At the same time, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is pushing for more control over prediction markets. The move could bring new rules that affect how these platforms operate in the U.S.
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