​Banking secrecy lifted, loans to better the country, and inflation down, we will go over all the important financial developments happening to our beloved country.

​Next up, we will talk about Paul Atkins, who's been appointed as chairman of the SEC. With his positive stance on Bitcoin and deep ties in the industry, he could be a pivotal figure in shaping the future of crypto.

​Finally, with Bitcoin's outperformance over the last year and BTC.d hitting levels not seen since 2021, it's a great time to pay attention to the orange coin and utilize it in DeFi directly on chain, we will talk about Apollo Protocol, and what it brings to the game.

​After years of turmoil, Lebanon has finally taken a series of significant steps toward financial stabilization and reform over the past few weeks.

​These efforts, lead by the new government under Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, aim to restore international confidence, attract foreign support, and begin repairing the country's broken financial and public service sectors.

​Arguably one of the most important milestones came in few days ago on April 24th, when Lebanon’s parliament passed a long overdue amendment to the country's banking secrecy law.

​This legislation, previously blocked twice, now grants judicial authorities, the central bank, and independent auditors the right to access banking records going back ten years.

​The reform is intended to boost transparency, facilitate investigations into corruption, and create the necessary conditions for a broader financial rescue plan.

​It is no doubt, a significant victory for those advocating for accountability, led largely by Minister Khalil and supported by Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri.

​In parallel, Lebanon secured a $250 million loan from the World Bank aimed at rehabilitating our exhausted electricity sector, which has been plagued by inefficiency and corruption.

​The agreement, finalized during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., focuses on improving electricity bill collection, reducing losses, and expanding solar energy projects.

​Energy Minister Walid Fayad emphasized that the reforms could save the country approximately $40 million per year and drastically reduce Lebanon’s dependence on costly private generators (El Hamdellah!).

​And to add to this pile of wins, our CPI data showed Lebanon’s inflation rate in a sharp decline, reaching 14.2% in March 2025 the lowest figure recorded since early 2020. Just a year ago, inflation had topped at a staggering 70%, but it seems we are well on the way towards a more stable economy.

​While we aren't out of the woods yet, these positive developments give us hope that Lebanon is beginning to lay the foundation for a more stable future. The road to full recovery remains long and challenging, but we will maintain these efforts and persevere.

​Like we always do.

​On the 21st of April, Paul S. Atkins was appointed as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission AKA the SEC.

​This actually isn't his first time, as he was chair in the past, from 2002 to 2008. But now, he is in the spotlight for a very important reason; his stance on crypto.

​Atkins is no stranger to the world of financial innovation. As the founder and CEO of Patomak Global Partners, he has advised firms across the crypto and fintech sectors on compliance and risk management.

​Some would say this would be a conflict of interest... but honestly? He just sounds like a chill guy to me.

​His return to the SEC, this time as its top official, comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy to position the U.S. as a global hub for cryptocurrency development and blockchain adoption.

​Ideally, Atkins's deregulatory approach would signal a shift in how digital assets are governed in the United States.

​In recent public remarks, Atkins emphasized the importance of providing legal clarity to crypto businesses, particularly around whether specific tokens should be classified as securities or not, which has been an issue for quite some time and often gets the SEC involved.

​The implications of this change in leadership are already being felt. Industry leaders and crypto investors view Atkins as a stabilizing force who could reduce regulatory uncertainty and attract more institutional capital to the space.

​Furthermore, with coordinated efforts from other regulatory bodies such as the Department of Justice and banking regulators easing their stances on crypto, the SEC under Atkins is now at the forefront of what could be a shifting moment for blockchain-based finance in the U.S.

​With Bitcoin putting on a show lately, it's a great time to hold some in your portfolio, but what if you didn't have to have it sitting on an exchange or ledger doing nothing?

​Last March, Zeus Network unveiled Apollo, the first fully decentralized Bitcoin on-chain exchange built on Solana. This launch introduced $zBTC, a permission-less, 1:1 Bitcoin-pegged asset, enabling Bitcoin holders to access Solana's DeFi ecosystem without relying on centralized wrapped solutions.

​During its private mainnet phase, Apollo demonstrated significant traction, recording over $40 million in on-chain volume and successfully minting 50 zBTC ahead of launch. The platform integrates zBTC into various Solana DeFi protocols, including trading on Jupiter, providing liquidity on Meteora, and lending on Kamino.

​Best part? All of those positions are incentivized as a part of their campaign to kickstart the launch of $zBTC. With over 200k $ZEUS token distributed to DeFi users.

​Looking ahead, Zeus Network plans to expand Apollo's capabilities by enabling swaps between zBTC, cbBTC, and wBTC, and allowing withdrawals back to native Bitcoin. Zeus also only supports Taproot for now, but will expand to Segwit in the future.

​The roadmap also includes integrating other UTXO-based assets like Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Kaspa, and onboarding institutional liquidity partners to further enhance Bitcoin liquidity on Solana. Zeus is pushing to become a driving force of native Solana assets, and so far so good.

​So if you have some orange coins, why not put them to work on Solana?

[All topics are meant to be educational only. None of it is financial advice, please do your own research.]

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