Increased USDC minting on Solana amid geopolitical tensions highlights stablecoins' role as safe-haven assets, potentially boosting Solana's market.

The post Circle mints $9.2B USDC on Solana amid US-Iran tensions appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Market fragility and geopolitical tensions could trigger significant liquidations, impacting Bitcoin's stability and investor confidence.

The post $6.8B in Bitcoin long positions at risk if price falls $5,000 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The ETF Bitcoin purchase signals growing institutional trust, potentially driving broader crypto adoption and influencing market dynamics.

The post ETFs buy $630M Bitcoin, boosting institutional interest and market confidence appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Cleveland's playoff journey highlights the impact of talent gaps and strategic defensive plays on their performance.

The post Zach Lowe: Cleveland’s playoff performance isn’t embarrassing, Toronto’s defense disrupts their rhythm, and the Cavaliers have matchup advantages against Detroit | Bill Simmons appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The EU's naval deployment could stabilize energy markets by ensuring secure passage through a critical global oil transit route.

The post EU naval deployment aims to secure Strait of Hormuz by June appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

From NYSE Gut Punch to ‘One App for Money’: Exodus Bets Self‑Custody Can Power Everyday Life

On stage, co-founder and CEO JP Richardson opened by talking about the company’s derailment at the New York Stock Exchange in May 2024, when Exodus flew 130 employees, friends, and family to Manhattan only to learn the night before that regulators had pulled its listing. 

He described the reversal as a rule change at “the 11th hour” that left a room of supporters stunned and forced the company back into private status despite having, in his telling, followed the playbook. 

That episode ended months later after the U.S. election, when Exodus finally listed on NYSE American in January with the same team, ticker, and business, but under a new administration more open to digital asset companies.

Richardson framed that saga as proof that Exodus can absorb political and regulatory shock while holding to a single principle: money belongs under user control.

Exodus, founded in 2015 in Omaha, built a self-custodial wallet that stores keys on user devices and routes swaps across multiple liquidity providers, offering access to Bitcoin and other assets without ever holding customer funds in company accounts.

Fixing the “pub test” and app sprawl

The CEO argued that crypto still fails normal users on basic usability. He recounted an early experience helping a friend download four different wallets and write a 12-word seed phrase on a cocktail napkin, a ritual he said still defines too many products a decade later. Richardson called this the “pub test”: if a friend in a bar cannot safely set up a wallet without resorting to napkins, the industry has missed the mark. 

He extended that critique to chain tribalism, insisting that consumers do not care whether payments settle on Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Base as long as the experience works.

To make the point concrete, he asked the audience to pull out their phones and count how many apps they use for money. The typical screen, he said, shows a bank app, person-to-person payment apps, a brokerage account, and often a separate crypto wallet. 

He cast this fragmentation as a structural problem that leaves consumers juggling providers who do not share their interests. 

Exodus wants to replace that cluster with “one app” that holds digital assets, connects to card networks, and routes payments while keeping users in self-custody.

Owning the rails: Monavate, Baanx and Exodus Pay

A central reveal at the summit was the closing of the Monavate and Baanx UK acquisitions, a move that shifts Exodus from “renting the rails to owning them,” in Richardson’s phrase. 

Monavate and Baanx supply regulated card issuing, acquiring, and processing infrastructure in the UK and EU, including BIN sponsorship, Visa and MasterCard membership, and fraud systems that already support crypto brands such as Ledger and MetaMask. 

Exodus previously agreed to acquire their parent, W3C Corp, in a roughly $175 million deal aimed at building an on-chain payments stack; the company later enforced a $70 million secured loan against that group in UK receivership to protect its position.

With those assets, Exodus gains the ability to issue and process cards directly rather than acting as a program that rides on third-party rails. 

CFO James Gernetzke said the combined platform now supports six layers of activity, from the core wallet and swap engine to stablecoin issuance, card programs, and banking rails, giving Exodus “owner economics” on each step of a transaction. 

On stage, he walked through a £100 purchase example, explaining that where Exodus once retained a fraction of the economics as a client of Monavate and Baanx, it now captures a larger share through interchange, processing fees, and interest on float.

Richardson and Gernetzke both made it clear that Exodus is trying to grow past a trading‑centric model after a peak year in 2025, when it generated $121.6 million in revenue and $11 million in adjusted EBITDA on a base of roughly 1.5 to 1.6 million monthly active users.

In early 2026, the limits of that dependence on crypto cycles came into sharper focus: preliminary first‑quarter results show revenue falling to $22.7 million from $36.0 million a year earlier, a $36.4 million net loss on digital assets, and a 22% quarter‑over‑quarter drop in exchange volume to $1.18 billion, even as monthly active users held at 1.5 million and funded users slipped to 1.4 million.

Gernetzke described the tight correlation between trading revenue and Bitcoin’s price as a ceiling the company needs to break. 

Exodus Pay, now live in all 50 states, is the clearest expression of that strategy. Embedded in the core wallet, it lets users spend USD‑backed stablecoins, Bitcoin, and other assets anywhere Visa or Apple Pay works, while keeping keys in self‑custody and turning every checkout into interchange, processing, and float income. 

Later in the Summit at a fireside chat, Richardson cast that stack as infrastructure not only for today’s users but for AI agents that will execute autonomous payments across the same rails.

This post From NYSE Gut Punch to ‘One App for Money’: Exodus Bets Self‑Custody Can Power Everyday Life first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy (MSTR) Stock Pops 9% As Bitcoin Price Pumps Back to $78,000

Shares of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) surged roughly 9% on Friday as Bitcoin clawed back to the $78,000 level.

This movement comes just days after Executive Chairman Michael Saylor delivered a headline-grabbing keynote at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas.

MSTR climbed above $180 per share during Friday’s session, building on a prior close near $165. The move tracked Bitcoin’s intraday advance, which pushed BTC to $78,961 as of Friday afternoon, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

The rally is building up a welcome reprieve for MSTR investors who have endured a brutal stretch — the stock remains down more than 70% from its November 2024 all-time high above $457.

The price action comes amid a broader recovery in Bitcoin that has been grinding higher since a sharp pullback to the mid-$60,000s earlier this year. Bitcoin surged past the $78,000 mark last week as well, propelled by short liquidations and improving macro sentiment following reports of progress in U.S.-Iran diplomatic negotiations. 

Polymarket contracts on May 1 BTC pricing showed 100% confidence the asset would finish in the $78,000–$80,000 range.

As a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin, MSTR tends to amplify BTC’s moves in both directions. Strategy currently holds approximately 818,334 Bitcoin on its balance sheet — roughly 3.9% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist — acquired at an average cost of around $66,385 per coin.

Saylor: Strategy’s STRC is booming

The stock pop also comes on the heels of fresh enthusiasm generated by Saylor’s keynote at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week.

Rather than focusing on Bitcoin price targets or more Bitcoin purchases, Saylor’s pitch centered on STRC — Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed preferred stock — and a sweeping thesis that digital credit is poised to cannibalize trillions of dollars in the legacy credit market.

“The world’s $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world’s roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market, and Strategy has built the first product to bridge the two,” Saylor argued during the keynote.

STRC, which pays an 11.5% monthly variable dividend and trades on Nasdaq, has grown to approximately $8.5 billion in notional value in under nine months — larger, Saylor claimed, than the entire existing universe of monthly-paying preferred securities combined. 

“This is going viral,” he told the audience.

BlackRock’s iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a roughly $210 million position in STRC.

Saylor said STRC has financed the acquisition of approximately 77,000 BTC year-to-date in 2026, roughly ten times the net inflow of all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs combined over the same period. 

This post Strategy (MSTR) Stock Pops 9% As Bitcoin Price Pumps Back to $78,000 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Exodus (EXOD) Announces Official UFC Deal and Revised, Self-Custody Money App

JP Richardson, co-founder and CEO of Exodus Movement (NYSE American: EXOD), opened part of the Exodus Summit today in Omaha, Nebraska, with an announcement about where he thinks the company’s customers already are.

Exodus is becoming the official payments partner of the UFC, Richardson said, with the partnership going live June 1. 

This launch coincides with the UFC staging its “Freedom 250” fight event on the White House lawn to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, making it the first UFC event held on those grounds. Branding will appear inside the octagon, in broadcast spots, and through activation footprints at the venue itself.

“As the fans walk through the gates, you’re gonna see Exodus activation footprints everywhere at the White House,” Richardson said.

Richardson framed the deal in two dimensions: brand exposure and trust. For a financial application, trust is not a marketing metric but rather a result of a solid product. 

Consumers do not experiment with unrecognized brands when their money is involved, and Richardson argued that the UFC’s reach, 700 million fans across 165 countries, provides the kind of repeated, high-stakes visibility that accelerates that trust-building at a scale few media properties can match.

The deal is multi-year. Richardson described the target demographic as crypto-curious, young and digitally native — one that already aligns with what Exodus has spent over a decade building toward. 

A deep dive into Exodus Pay

Later in the day, Ain Sonayen, Chief Product Officer, delivered what amounted to a formal retirement notice for the wallet category, at least as Exodus defines it.

Sonayen’s argument was precise: a wallet is a starting point, not a destination. Exodus began as a wallet because that was the primary entry point for people getting into Bitcoin and crypto in 2014. That era, he said plainly, is over. 

The company is repositioning as a money platform — what Sonayen called a “money OS,” or operating system for money — built around three core experiences: stablecoin cash for everyday spending, crypto for ownership, and expanded utility for more sophisticated users.

Exodus Pay is the first layer of that platform. It ships now, available across all 50 states, with global expansion planned later in 2026. Users can fund the app via Apple Pay, bank transfer, or existing crypto balances. 

Spending works anywhere Visa is accepted. Peer-to-peer sends are free and instant, requiring only a phone number — including to recipients who have not yet installed Exodus, who receive the funds upon signup.

The self-custody distinction matters here more than it might appear. Competing payments products hold user balances on their own balance sheets. If a company freezes an account, the money stops. Exodus Pay keeps private keys on the user’s device; the company never takes custody of the funds. 

In a post-GENIUS Act regulatory environment, that architecture carries both compliance and competitive weight. The stablecoin market exceeded $300 billion in circulation earlier this year, and Exodus Pay said it is among the first consumer products to launch within that framework.

Sonayen also outlined the revenue logic. Payments businesses do not win on transaction volume alone; they win on balances. 

Exodus Pay is engineered to keep money inside the ecosystem — users add funds, earn rewards in any asset including Bitcoin, spend with their card, and earn again. The revenue stack includes stablecoin balances, card interchange, foreign exchange, on-ramps, and utility expansion over time.

CFO James Gernetzke, quoted in the company’s press release, called Exodus Pay “recurring, scalable, and fully ours” following record Q4 earnings — language that signals the company views this launch as the beginning of a fundamentally different business model, not a feature release.

This post Exodus (EXOD) Announces Official UFC Deal and Revised, Self-Custody Money App first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Galoy Pushes Deeper Into U.S. Banking With All-in-One Bitcoin Platform

Galoy is widening its push into U.S. banking at a moment when many institutions still wrestle with how, or whether, to bring Bitcoin into their product stack. 

Ahead of this week’s Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Galoy unveiled an expanded version of its Bitcoin-native core banking platform, aiming to turn a fragmented set of experiments into something closer to a coherent operating model for banks and credit unions.

The update bundles six core use cases into a single system: Bitcoin-backed lending, Lightning payments, stablecoin payments aligned with emerging legislative frameworks, Bitcoin exchange under the OCC’s riskless principal model, custody options, and embedded wallet infrastructure. 

Rather than replacing existing core systems, Galoy said the software acts as a “sidecar,” a layer that sits alongside legacy rails. That framing reflects a reality inside most institutions, where replacing core infrastructure remains a multi-year effort few are willing to undertake.

For many banks, the most tangible entry point may be BTC-backed lending. The logic feels familiar. Lenders already understand collateralized loans tied to equities or real estate. Bitcoin introduces volatility, but the structure maps onto existing credit practices. 

What has been missing is tooling that can handle real-time collateral monitoring and liquidation triggers without adding operational strain. Galoy’s platform leans into that gap, offering LTV tracking, accounting systems, and approval workflows that resemble traditional credit processes.

Addressing bitcoin uncertainty

The company also introduced three tools meant to address a quieter obstacle: uncertainty. 

Regulatory posture in the U.S. has shifted in tone but remains complex. Galoy’s “Regulatory Radar” aggregates guidance from federal and state agencies into plain language summaries, a nod to compliance teams that need interpretation as much as raw information.

Meanwhile, its “Portfolio Analyzer” and “LTV Risk Scenarios” tools speak to a deeper concern inside banks: how BTC exposure behaves under stress. By pre-loading data from thousands of U.S. financial institutions, the analyzer allows executives to see how a Bitcoin lending book might fit within their balance sheet. 

The risk scenarios tool pushes further, modeling how sharp price moves could ripple through collateral and capital.

Behind the product expansion sits a broader shift in tone across the industry. A few years ago, Bitcoin in banking often lived in innovation labs or pilot programs. Now, the conversation has moved closer to revenue lines and risk committees. That shift brings a different kind of scrutiny. 

Last year, Galoy launched Lana, software that enables smaller banks to offer bitcoin-backed loans, aiming to expand access and drive down high borrowing rates as more institutions enter the market. 

This post Galoy Pushes Deeper Into U.S. Banking With All-in-One Bitcoin Platform first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strike CEO Jack Mallers Announces Lending Proof-of-Reserves, Volatility-Proof Loans, and Backs Tether Merger Plan

Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced a series of product updates and strategic moves Wednesday, including the launch of lending proof-of-reserves, a new “volatility-proof” bitcoin-backed loan structure built with Tether, and a $2.1 billion credit facility. 

He also said he supports a proposal by Tether Investments to merge Strike with Twenty-One Capital and bitcoin miner Elektron Energy.

Mallers said Strike’s bitcoin-backed loan and line-of-credit business has grown since launch, with users drawn to the ability to borrow against bitcoin rather than sell it. 

He described bitcoin as a savings account for many customers and said Strike cut its rate tiers across the board. Pricing now ranges from approximately 10.5% APR for loans under $250,000 to approximately 7.49% APR for loans above $5 million.

Strike announced the first iteration of its lending proof-of-reserves, which gives borrowers the ability to verify that their collateral is present and segregated in a distinct on-chain address. 

“We want you to trust us and know that we are who we say we are,” Mallers said. The disclosure mechanism was developed in partnership with Tether, which Mallers credited with helping Strike build the transparency infrastructure.

The two companies also jointly developed what Mallers called “volatility-proof” bitcoin-backed loans, a structure that removes the risk of forced liquidation when bitcoin prices fall or broader markets drop. 

Mallers said the segregated collateral product is available now through Strike’s private client desk, and the volatility-proof loan feature is available to customers as part of the bitcoin-backed lending suite.

Mallers announced that Strike has secured a $2.1 billion credit facility, which he said gives the company capacity to meet demand at any order size within its lending business.

Merger proposal

Earlier Wednesday, Tether Investments published a proposal to merge Twenty-One Capital with Strike and Elektron Energy, a large-scale bitcoin mining operator that manages approximately 50 EH/s, or roughly 5% of the current Bitcoin network hashrate. 

Tether said the combined entity would integrate bitcoin treasury holdings, mining, financial services, lending, and capital markets under a single listed platform.

Mallers said he backs the plan. “Simply put, I think it’s a great idea,” he said, adding that building a Bitcoin company — not a narrow payments app — was his founding goal. Elektron founder Raphael Zagury has been proposed as President of the combined entity under the plan.

The bitcoin company quadrant and Maller’s vision

Mallers used a quadrant framework onstage to argue that the Bitcoin industry has a gap at the intersection of high conviction and high operating income. 

He placed crypto exchanges in the high-income, low-conviction corner, saying they run profitable businesses but list many coins and build products across asset classes. He placed bitcoin treasury companies in the high-conviction, low-income corner, describing them as deeply committed to bitcoin but limited in operating business scope. 

He cited Coinbase as an exchange that could carry more bitcoin on its balance sheet, and praised MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor while drawing a distinction between a treasury strategy and a product strategy. “I love him and his company,” Mallers said of Saylor, “but I want to build bitcoin products.”

His answer to the gap was a four-pillar model: a financial services arm covering brokerage, custody, lending, payments, treasury, and prime services; bitcoin infrastructure spanning energy, power generation, mining, hardware, and hosting; a capital markets operation built around loan-book securitization, mining revenue securitization, bitcoin-backed debt, and structured products; and a mergers-and-acquisitions function targeting profitable bitcoin businesses across software, custody, payments, energy, and distribution. 

The stated goal of the M&A arm, as presented on his slide, is to give “every dollar of operating income one job: buy more Bitcoin.”

Mallers closed by saying a platform of that scope could “change the world with its products” and cited a phrase he has used throughout his career: “Fix the money, fix the world.”

This post Strike CEO Jack Mallers Announces Lending Proof-of-Reserves, Volatility-Proof Loans, and Backs Tether Merger Plan first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

The most dangerous stablecoin scam probably looks nothing like what most people picture. There's no anonymous founder, no Discord full of bots, no promise of returns that defy basic economic logic.

Instead, it has a professional ticker, institutional branding, and a name that tens of millions of people have trusted with their savings for generations. That's the premise at the center of a regulatory alert Hong Kong's monetary authority issued this week, and it deserves considerably more attention than a fraud warning typically receives.

On April 28, the HKMA warned the public that tokens carrying the tickers “HKDAP” and “HSBC” had appeared in the market without being issued by or associated with any licensed stablecoin issuer, and that both licensed issuers had confirmed they hadn't released any regulated stablecoins yet.

The institutional gravity those names carry in the minds of ordinary consumers, built over more than a century of banking history, was the vehicle for the deception, and that's a fundamentally different kind of scam from anything the stablecoin market has had to contend with before.

The HSBC scam that doesn't need to promise anything

To understand why this is so structurally different from ordinary token fraud, it helps to know what HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial actually represent in this context.

On April 10, the HKMA granted its first stablecoin issuer licences to the two institutions under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which took effect in August 2025. From a pool of 36 applicants, only these two were approved, a roughly 5.6% approval rate that shows just how demanding the regime was at launch.

CryptoSlate covered the passage of the enabling legislation in May 2025 and the activation of the licensing regime that August. The framework was built around credibility as its central premise: full reserve backing, identity-verified wallets, and ongoing disclosure requirements embedded from the outset.

HSBC plans to launch a Hong Kong dollar-denominated stablecoin in the second half of 2026, fully backed at all times by high-quality liquid assets held in segregated accounts, integrated into its PayMe platform and the HSBC HK Mobile Banking App. PayMe alone serves over 3.3 million users, giving the bank an immediate retail distribution channel the moment the product goes live.

Anchorpoint, a joint venture backed by Standard Chartered, Animoca Brands, and HKT, is targeting a phased rollout of its HKDAP token from the second quarter of 2026, with each token backed 1:1 by high-quality HKD-denominated reserves. CryptoSlate reported on the formation of the Anchorpoint joint venture and its early HKMA filing as the licensed HKD stablecoin competition first took shape.

As of the HKMA's April 28 alert, neither product has reached a single consumer. The fake tokens appeared in a window that the real ones hadn't filled yet. Crypto scams usually depend on psychological pressure: extravagant promises, manufactured urgency, and the gradual erosion of a target's skepticism.

But bank-name fraud is completely different. The institutional gravity is already established in the public mind; the scammer simply rents it. A consumer who'd scroll past an unknown token might pause at one bearing the HSBC name, an institution with US$3.2 trillion in assets and a 160-year operating history.

They probably won't think to check whether the licensed stablecoin has actually launched yet, because the licensing announcement was real, widely covered, and entirely legitimate, and that genuine legitimacy does most of the scammer's work for them.

Why is Hong Kong particularly exposed?

The HKMA had flagged this risk category as early as July 2025, warning publicly that any entity claiming licensed status was misrepresenting itself and that transacting with unlicensed stablecoins would be done entirely at the user's own risk.

The regulators anticipated the problem well in advance. The fraudulent tokens appeared on schedule anyway, which tells you something important about the limits of legal deterrence when the underlying incentive structure is this favorable to scammers.

Under Hong Kong's Stablecoins Ordinance, violators face fines of up to HK$5 million and possible prison sentences of seven years for unauthorized issuance or false claims of licensed status. The penalties are severe, and the framework is sophisticated on almost every dimension.

What makes Hong Kong's situation particularly delicate is that the territory's entire digital asset strategy rests on public confidence in exactly the kind of regulatory credential these scammers are imitating. A

The city has been building out a regulated digital asset ecosystem with considerable ambition and consistency: spot ETFs in 2024, stablecoin licensing in 2025, and ongoing work on derivatives frameworks and tokenized capital structures. The whole architecture depends on the public understanding that “licensed” carries a specific, verifiable guarantee that separates legitimate products from the rest of the market.

The HKMA granted licences to Anchorpoint and HSBC specifically because they demonstrated the capability to manage risks properly, with credible use cases and development plans, in addition to meeting the relevant licensing requirements under the Ordinance.

HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue framed the milestone as an important step toward digital assets that could address real pain points in economic activity and support Hong Kong's position as a serious financial centre.

Fake HSBC tokens undermine that positioning before the real product has reached a single user, which is a particularly costly form of reputational damage in a jurisdiction whose value proposition depends so heavily on being seen as a trustworthy, well-governed hub.

There's also a timing vulnerability here. Both HSBC and Anchorpoint are still in preparatory phases, completing technology testing, implementing risk management systems, and building compliance infrastructure before any regulated token goes to market.

The HKMA expects regulated stablecoins in Hong Kong to launch around the mid to second half of 2026. The gap between getting a license and actually launching a stablecoin is a period of heightened exposure: the institutional legitimacy is already public knowledge, and the consumer-facing verification tools aren't yet in use.

The authentication problem that scales

For HSBC and Anchorpoint, this is a preview of a challenge that'll only intensify as bank-issued stablecoins become more common globally. In traditional finance, a banking brand conveys something legally specific: regulatory oversight, consumer protections, a named institution with audited balance sheets, and supervisory accountability.

In crypto markets, a token ticker is a string of characters that anyone can replicate and distribute within minutes. That asymmetry persists even within the most rigorous licensing regimes in the world, because those regimes bind institutions while the imitation operates purely on names.

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said Hong Kong's push into stablecoins and tokenized deposits could “lay the foundation for a new era of digital trade settlement.” That's quite ambitious, and it depends heavily on consumers being able to distinguish the real product from imitations in a market where that distinction isn't always obvious.

Banking brands that took generations to build can be cloned in a token name in minutes, which means the authentication infrastructure around bank-branded tokens has to be treated as a core product requirement alongside reserves and compliance frameworks, not as an afterthought addressed after launch.

That means wallet-level verification of authentic tokens, public registries kept current and accessible, coordination with exchanges to flag unauthorized use of institutional names, and sustained consumer education that makes checking a licensed issuer's register feel as natural as checking an FDIC badge on a bank's website.

The HKMA already maintains a public register of licensed stablecoin issuers, and the legal framework is designed to refer consumers there as the first point of verification. The harder institutional work is making that register something ordinary people actually consult before transacting, rather than a compliance tool that operates in the background.

The broader implication extends well beyond Hong Kong. As more jurisdictions develop regulated stablecoin frameworks and more financial institutions enter the space, the menu of credible names available for imitation grows alongside the legitimate market.

The global stablecoin market was sitting at roughly $315 billion in total market capitalization at the time of the HKMA's warning, dominated almost entirely by dollar-denominated tokens from Tether and Circle.

Bank-branded alternatives are still a small and largely unlaunched category. The scammers, it seems, are already treating them as the next opportunity.

The post Fake HSBC bank stablecoins hit the market showcasing dangerous new crypto scam wave appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Christopher Harborne is British-born, Cambridge-educated, and has lived in Thailand since 1996. He goes by the Thai name Chakrit Sakunkrit, holds Thai citizenship, and controls a reported 12% stake in Tether, the stablecoin issuer behind roughly $184 billion in circulating USDT.

According to the Guardian's investigation, he's also the single largest donor in the history of UK party politics, having directed more than £24 million toward Reform UK and its predecessor movements since 2019.

So, a man who doesn't live in the UK, whose fortune is tied to a global crypto infrastructure company operating outside any single jurisdiction, has been bankrolling a party that leads current opinion polling with a platform built around sovereign identity and anti-establishment politics.

Whether that looks hypocritical or like rational self-interest depends entirely on your view of what political money is supposed to represent, and that question is exactly what the UK government has now moved to resolve. The way it's gone about doing so reveals just how poorly existing political finance law was designed for the crypto era.

A stake in Tether, a stake in politics

Harborne's wealth is rooted in early crypto. According to the Guardian, he began buying Bitcoin in 2011 and became a major Ethereum holder by 2014, with those early positions now accounting for a substantial portion of his net worth.

His reported 12% stake in Tether is where the numbers get really, really big. The company generates roughly $10 billion in annual profit and has been described as one of the most profitable companies per employee in history, meaning even a minority stake translates into serious wealth. Harborne's lawyers have stressed that he's a passive investor with no executive role and no control over company policy, a distinction that matters when assessing what his donations to a UK political party actually represent.

What we know from these reports is pretty thin: Harborne is a wealthy individual whose fortune happens to be tied to crypto infrastructure, and he's chosen to direct a significant portion of that fortune into UK politics. His £9 million donation in late 2025, confirmed by the Electoral Commission, set a record as the largest single contribution by a living person to a UK political party. A further £3 million followed in March 2026, according to the Guardian, bringing his total to more than £24 million since 2019, which represents roughly two-thirds of all funding Reform UK has ever received.

The convergence between Harborne's financial interests and Reform's political platform deserves attention. Nigel Farage has made crypto advocacy a central element of his pitch to voters, promising a state-owned Bitcoin reserve, a 10% flat capital gains tax on crypto, and significant deregulation of the digital asset sector. Reform has pushed back against the Bank of England's proposed stablecoin limits, arguing that privately issued stablecoins should be encouraged and that a state-backed digital currency would give the Bank “unprecedented control” over financial activity. The party has also been among the first UK political groups to accept donations in BTC and other digital assets.

Reform has denied that donors have influenced policy decisions. What these facts tell us, clearly enough to have drawn regulatory attention, is how closely the interests of the party's dominant financial backer and its official political platform happen to align.

What the UK government just changed

The Rycroft Review, an independent inquiry commissioned by the government in December 2025 and published on March 25, 2026, provided the formal basis for the new measures. Led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft, the review found that the UK faces a persistent and worsening problem of foreign financial interference in its political system.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed told the House of Commons that the threat “has become arguably more acute,” citing the complexity of tracing overseas funds and the opacity of cryptocurrency ownership as the two most significant vulnerabilities in the existing framework.

The government's response covered both. British citizens living abroad who remain on the UK electoral register now face an annual cap of £100,000 on political donations, including loans and other regulated transactions. All crypto donations to political parties are subject to an immediate moratorium, effective from March 25, with no threshold and no exceptions. Both measures are being written into the Representation of the People Bill with retrospective effect, giving political parties 30 days from the legislation's passage to return any donations that fall outside the new rules, after which criminal enforcement begins.

The crypto moratorium is framed as a holding measure, with the conditions for lifting it tied to regulatory progress. The Electoral Commission had previously acknowledged that digital assets “present particular challenges and risks in meeting electoral law requirements,” and Rycroft stopped short of calling for a permanent ban.

Given that crypto regulation in the UK is still being developed, with the FCA slowly working through frameworks for stablecoins, custody, and staking, meeting the traceability threshold the government has set is going to take time.

Electoral reform advocates have argued the measures still don't go far enough: in the year before the 2024 general election, UK political parties received 18 separate donations of £1 million or more. The overseas cap addresses one pathway into that system. The domestic donation landscape, where large contributions from UK-resident individuals remain entirely uncapped, is a separate problem the government hasn't moved on from.

What this means for insurgent parties, future donors, and elections

The impact falls most immediately on Reform UK. Harborne's contributions have represented such a disproportionate share of the party's total funding that the £100,000 annual cap would reduce his permissible donations by more than 99% going forward.

The party currently holds eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and has depended on major donations to operate at a national scale in ways its membership base and fundraising infrastructure couldn't otherwise support on their own. The next general election is scheduled for 2029, and the gap between where Reform's donor base is now and where it needs to be for a credible national campaign is significant.

The structural issue extends well beyond Reform. Newer parties face the same foundational challenge everywhere: they don't have the union networks, legacy business relationships, or decades-old donor pipelines that established parties rely on.

A single major donor can compress years of organizational development into a single transaction, funding staff, advertising, and event infrastructure in a way that lets a small party compete nationally almost immediately. Capping overseas donors at £100,000 closes a specific version of that pathway, and the broader questions about donor concentration in democratic politics remain open.

The residency question is where the policy gets philosophically interesting. Citizenship has traditionally been treated as the primary marker of belonging to a political community, and Harborne retains his British citizenship in full.

The new framework treats residency as the more meaningful standard when it comes to political funding at scale, reasoning that people who live under the daily consequences of a country's laws and policies should carry greater weight in shaping its elections. It's a defensible position, and it reflects a coherent democratic intuition. It's also one that will face growing pressure as crypto wealth continues to internationalize, producing a class of globally mobile investors whose political affiliations and financial interests span multiple jurisdictions at once.

The Rycroft Review flagged threats from Russia, China, Iran, and allied countries alike, recognizing that financial interference in democratic processes is a broad and evolving risk. Crypto's foundational architecture is decentralized, pseudonymous, and designed to function across borders without institutional intermediaries.

Those properties are what make USDT useful for moving value globally, and they're what make regulators uncomfortable about tracing the origins of large political donations made in digital assets.

As crypto wealth scales and enters more political systems through direct party funding, media ownership, and advocacy groups, democracies are going to need clearer answers about what they're actually trying to regulate: foreign interference, donor concentration, crypto opacity, or all three simultaneously.

The UK's new rules represent a credible early attempt at drawing that line, and the 2029 election will tell us whether it was enough.

—

The Guardian's reporting on Christopher Harborne formed the basis of the reported facts in this article. CryptoSlate has not independently verified all elements of that reporting.

The post A Tether-linked billionaire poured £22M into UK politics – Now new donation rules may close the door appeared first on CryptoSlate.

XRPL currently holds about $3.6 billion in real-world assets, excluding stablecoins, split roughly between $1 billion in distributed assets and $2.6 billion in represented assets.

That 71% tilt toward represented assets means XRPL's RWA growth is concentrated in a model in which blockchain serves as a record-keeping and reconciliation layer, with tokens anchored to real-world contracts and commitments held within controlled platform structures.

RWA.xyz defines distributed assets as tokenized assets that can be moved off the issuing platform and transferred peer-to-peer. Represented assets stay inside the issuing platform, with blockchain recording and reconciling claims tied to real-world assets.

Most RWA coverage focuses on the distributed category. XRPL's $2.6 billion in represented assets sits in the infrastructure-and-recordkeeping segment of the market.

RWA.xyz's asset page shows JMWH with a total value of $1.76 billion, up 104.79% over 30 days, and an inception date of Jan. 13.

Each JMWH token represents one real megawatt-hour of energy backed by energy companies. That single asset accounts for roughly half of XRPL's total RWA value and about 70% of its represented RWA segment.

Why energy fits this model

Commodities, and energy in particular, present operational problems that go well beyond investor access.

Production allocation, contract execution, delivery confirmation, consumption tracking, billing, ESG reporting, and audit trails are the core workflows, and they require shared, trustworthy records among parties with different back-office systems.

Justoken, the issuer behind JMWH, focuses on commodities, energy, and natural resources. Its Enertoken product, developed in partnership with Argentine energy producer YPF Luz, positions blockchain as infrastructure for energy production and trading.

A March 2026 announcement described Enertoken as enabling companies and large consumers to contract, manage, and monitor energy digitally, integrating cost simulation, contract execution, consumption tracking, billing, and real-time reporting while improving auditability and ESG compliance.

RippleX's Luke Judges described in an interview that JMWH's design is a verifiable record of ownership and fulfillment, with the blockchain serving as the ledger for those commitments.

Why XRPL fits this use case

XRPL's native feature set aligns with controlled institutional commodity workflows.

Its Multi-Purpose Token documentation describes compliance, control, and metadata as embedded directly into the token layer, with native authorization, freeze, clawback, rich metadata, and delegated administration capabilities.

For energy operators, the ability to freeze or restrict token movement fits the represented-asset model.

Metadata embedding supports the traceability and certification data that energy and sustainability workflows demand.

Tokenized commodities across all networks now stand at $8.1 billion in distributed and represented counts, up 7.43% over 30 days, while tokenized US Treasuries sit at nearly $15 billion.

Commodities are already large enough as a category that a single energy-linked represented asset can materially shift a network's RWA profile.

XRPL's current composition of 301 RWA projects and $150.8 million in 30-day RWA transfer volume reflects a network-building effort focused on commodity and energy infrastructure.

Evolving as a commodity hub

If JMWH proves to be an entry point for a broader shift in the category, more energy, commodity, and natural resource workflows will adopt the same represented asset model on XRPL.

Issuers needing compliance controls, audit trails, metadata, and low-complexity delegated administration have a functional fit within XRPL's native feature set.

YPF Luz is a major Argentine energy producer. If the Enertoken model scales or attracts comparable partnerships in other markets, XRPL's RWA value could push toward $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion over the next one to two quarters.

RWA.xyz's 30-day data show commodities growing across multiple networks, and the Enertoken model offers a documented proof of concept for what energy-sector blockchain adoption can look like when the goal is operational infrastructure.

One-hit wonder

JMWH alone accounts for roughly half of XRPL's total RWA value and the majority of its represented asset segment.

If the growth reflects a single large-scale tokenization phase by one issuer, XRPL's position in the RWA league table could stall or reverse as rapidly as it rose.

The measurement uncertainty around the dashboard jump adds to that risk. If part of the step-up reflects data normalization or reclassification, the true growth in committed real-world energy value may be smaller than the headline number implies.

The represented asset model also carries a structural ceiling. Tokens held within controlled platforms prioritize auditability, compliance, and reconciliation. Capital is drawn to on-chain yield and DeFi composability, driving flows toward open distribution models, leaving commodity infrastructure plays to compete on operational fit.

If the RWA market continues rewarding open distribution, XRPL's commodity niche could remain exactly that, with total RWA value drifting back toward $2.4 billion to $3 billion if represented-asset growth fails to broaden beyond a handful of controlled programs.

The evidence supports an infrastructure thesis for XRPL, and any XRP token demand beyond network fees and settlement mechanics stays indirect and hard to quantify.

Whether Justoken and YPF Luz expand Enertoken beyond its current phase, and whether comparable issuers in energy, agriculture, or other commodity sectors adopt XRPL's represented-asset infrastructure, will determine XRPL's positioning.

A pipeline of new programs across multiple commodity categories would confirm durable category specialization. A market dominated by JMWH alone would confirm concentration risk and leave the network's RWA profile exposed to a single issuer's roadmap.

The post Why XRP Ledger is becoming a $3.6B hot spot for tokenized energy commodities appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Global equity funds pulled in over $15 billion in the week through Apr. 1, then $23.47 billion, $31.26 billion, and finally $48.72 billion in the week through Apr. 22.

Global money-market funds simultaneously bled a $173.24 billion outflow in the week through Apr. 15, the biggest single-week exit from cash since at least September 2018.

Together, the figures create a roughly $292 billion risk-on signal, combining $118 billion of global equity fund inflows across four weeks with a separate $173 billion weekly exit from cash.

Coinbase and Glassnode's Q2 Institutional Outlook puts BTC's daily return correlation with the S&P 500 at 0.58 in the fourth quarter of 2025, while its relationship with gold stays negligible.

When capital flows toward risk, it flows toward the asset class Bitcoin currently behaves like.

The more pointed detail comes from Coinbase's survey of 91 global investors, comprising 29 institutions and 62 non-institutions, conducted between Mar. 16 and Apr. 7.

Among institutional respondents, 75% view Bitcoin as undervalued, while 61% of non-institutional crypto investors hold the same view. Only 7% of institutions and 11% of non-institutions see BTC as overvalued.

Those numbers describe a market where buyers of size still see room to the upside. Capital rotating into risk meets an asset that its most sophisticated holders still consider cheap, held by a market yet to rewire itself for euphoria.

The on-chain picture

BTC supply moved within the last three months fell 37% during the first quarter, while supply that had not moved for more than a year rose 1%.

Speculative holders who bought at higher prices cycled out through the drawdown, and long-duration holders accumulated.

The Puell Multiple fell to 0.7 in the first quarter, implying miner revenue ran about 30% below its one-year baseline, a zone that has historically coincided with accumulation periods.

Long-term holder balances rose while exchange balances fell, and stablecoin supply climbed from $308 billion to $320 billion, meaning dry powder stayed inside the crypto market during the selloff.

Options open interest grew 2.4%, and perpetual futures open interest recovered roughly 8.6%, painting a market that absorbed its deleveraging and rebuilt at a measured pace.

The bull case

If April's equity rotation continues to broaden into high-yield credit, private credit, and emerging-market risk, Bitcoin sits in the path of that capital.

EPFR described a “marked increase in risk appetite,” with high-yield bond funds posting their first inflow since mid-February and private credit flows hitting an eight-week high.

In that scenario, institutional conviction in undervaluation and cleaner on-chain positioning create a repricing path with genuine room to run. Coinbase's survey respondents are positioned for caution, which means an improving macro backdrop catches them under-owned.

A 12% to 20% gain from current levels over the rest of the second quarter would put BTC in the $87,500 to $94,000 range and could be driven solely by sustained institutional rotation.

The dollar softening, already visible in last week's intervention-driven move, which pushed the dollar index down 0.8%, adds a secondary tailwind.

Bitcoin has tended to track global dollar liquidity closely, and softer financial conditions favor risk assets at the margin.

The bear case

Coinbase's own formal stance for the second quarter stays neutral, and the conditions it would need to see before turning more constructive, such as a definitive end to the Middle East conflict, oil retreating, and inflation easing, have yet to arrive.

Oil staying elevated and the Fed kept pinned by persistent inflation would flip Bitcoin's equity correlation from tailwind to headwind. If macro desks rotate back toward cash, as they did in early March, BTC trades as a liquidity beta on the way down.

In that setup, macro dominance overrides the conviction of institutional undervaluation. Survey respondents may believe BTC is cheap and still sit on the sidelines as geopolitical uncertainty drives their positioning.

The on-chain accumulation data would hold as a longer-term constructive read, but a renewed macro shock would overwhelm those readings in the short run.

A drawdown of 8% to 15% from current levels, to roughly $66,500 to $72,000, is consistent with the scale of prior macro-driven BTC corrections and would require only a return to March's defensive flow pattern.

The rest of the quarter pivots on whether April's equity and credit rotation proves durable or snaps back on the next geopolitical headline, and whether Bitcoin's correlation with equities stays elevated or drifts toward a more independent path as crypto-specific flows begin to dominate price action.

The constructive case rests on broader markets taking on more risk again, while Bitcoin's most informed holders remain under-owned for a clean recovery.

The post Wall Street’s $292 billion risk-on rotation just created a new bullish setup for Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoSlate.

XRP's estimated leverage ratio has flattened at low levels, while price has held near $1.39, with a market cap of $85.7 billion and roughly $1.75 billion in daily volume.

CryptoQuant analyst PelinayPA flagged that traders reduced speculative exposure, and the price didn't follow them down. When leverage runs hot into a rally, crowded longs introduce fragility, and the unwind tends to mirror the move.

CoinGlass puts XRP open interest at roughly $2.48 billion, sizable and distributed across a market that has shed the crowded positioning that dominated earlier rallies, meaning a fresh positioning that can return to a cleaner book.

New long-side leverage entering a cleaned-up market can push price harder and faster, with less stale positioning to shake out first.

Meanwhile, spot weakness can also close the difference if demand fades and leverage stays subdued, price drifts lower until spot and derivatives reach a new equilibrium.

Institutional rails and a cleaner legal backdrop

CME launched XRP futures in May 2025, with more than $19 million in notional volume on the first day, and CME XRP options are live as well.

Those products expand the ways traders can express views, hedge positions, and re-enter leveraged positions on regulated rails, representing a structural upgrade over the retail-dominated derivatives environment that characterized XRP's earlier volatile episodes.

The regulatory backdrop has also cleared since the SEC ended its case against Ripple and Franklin Templeton filed for an XRP ETF in early 2025, reflecting asset manager appetite extending beyond Bitcoin.

XRP's market structure now operates without the legal uncertainty that once pushed major venues to delist the token and kept institutional allocators on the sidelines.

CoinShares reported $119.6 million of XRP product inflows in the week of Apr. 7, the largest weekly figure since mid-December 2025.

The following week saw $56 million in outflows, and the week ending Apr. 24 saw inflows return to $25 million, with year-to-date XRP flows at $147.8 million and assets under management at nearly $2.6 billion.

There is active institutional engagement, present and capable of scaling, with enough room for further accumulation.

Network activity on the XRPL adds another dimension to the coiled condition. In March, daily payments climbed to roughly 2.7 million, AMM pools grew to about 27,000, and tokenized asset value jumped 35% in 30 days.

Leverage meets depth and liquidity

Fresh long-side positioning, returning to a market that has already absorbed its speculative excess, creates the mechanics for a faster move.

CME's regulated rails provide institutional participants with a cleaner entry mechanism, and year-to-date product inflows stay positive.

Kaiko's market structure work found that XRP carried the highest average 1% market depth among major ETF applicants in mid-2025, with its share of US spot volume climbing to its highest level since before the SEC lawsuit triggered widespread delistings.

Depth and liquidity mean that returning leverage can find real size to work with.

How quickly XRP can re-lever once sentiment turns is shown in Binance data, as XRP open interest climbed to $450 million over the past 24 hours, up 1.7%.

In a bull resolution, a working range of roughly $1.55 to $1.80 over the next four to eight weeks is plausible, driven by cleaner derivatives positioning, expanding institutional access, and a broader crypto market that CoinShares data shows still attracting net year-to-date inflows.

Retail fails to absorb leverage unwind

The divergence between low leverage and firm price holds only while buyers defend the range.

A sustained drop in spot demand closes the gap to the downside, as leverage stays low, buyers thin out, and prices fall toward a level where derivatives and spot realign.

The mixed April product flows show how quickly institutional sentiment can pivot into a week of $56 million in outflows occurring between two inflow weeks, with no obvious catalyst.

A CoinGecko report stated that the total crypto market cap fell 20.4% in the first quarter, and spot trading volume on centralized exchanges dropped 39.1%.

XRP's calmer leverage profile is emerging in a market still healing from a difficult quarter, with geopolitical risk and Fed rate expectations capable of rotating capital toward safety.

A cleaned-up book also carries fewer buyers positioned to defend a breakdown, a market with less crowded positioning moves fast in either direction. In a bear resolution, XRP retreats toward roughly $1.15 to $1.28, consistent with prior macro-driven corrections at this scale.

Two signals frame whether open interest climbs back above recent highs across multiple consecutive weeks, and whether institutional product flows turn consistently net positive.

Several consecutive inflow weeks, with open interest climbing through them, would confirm that institutional positioning has turned.

The post XRP’s leverage has been flushed out while price holds – and the next move is now wide open appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The dream of becoming a crypto millionaire often centers around high-utility tokens like XRP. As we navigate through May 2026, Ripple’s native asset remains one of the most discussed tokens in the digital finance space. With its deep integration into global banking systems and the resolution of long-standing regulatory hurdles, investors are asking: is it still possible to hit the seven-figure mark with XRP this year?

Current Market Status: The $1.40 Consolidation Phase

As of May 3, 2026, XRP is trading at approximately $1.39, showing a steady consolidation pattern. For the past several months, the price has been oscillating within a tight range between $1.30 and $1.45.

This sideways movement is often viewed by technical analysts as a "coiling" phase. Historically, when XRP spends significant time consolidating after a macro-uptrend, it builds the necessary liquidity for a breakout. Current on-chain data shows that whale transactions exceeding $100,000 have stabilized, and while the Network Value to Transactions (NVT) ratio spiked recently, the overall sentiment remains cautiously optimistic as Ripple expands its banking partnerships to over 13,000 institutions.

XRP Price Prediction 2026: The Road to $3.00

Looking toward the end of 2026, many analysts set a "bull case" target for XRP at the $3.00 mark. This would represent more than a 115% increase from current levels.

Why $3.00 is the Target:

• Institutional Adoption: Ripple's transition into a premier treasury platform for cross-border payments.
• Post-Halving Dynamics: The trailing effects of the Bitcoin halving often reach their peak in the second year (2026), lifting the entire altcoin market.
• ETF Inflows: Speculation regarding a spot XRP ETF has provided a consistent floor for the price.

While $3.00 is a significant psychological and technical resistance level—flirting with its all-time high—it is a realistic ceiling for the 2026 calendar year according to current market trends.

The Millionaire Math: What Your Investment Returns

To understand if $XRP can make you a millionaire, we must look at the cold, hard numbers. If we assume the price hits the optimistic $3.00 target by December 2026, here is how various investment tiers would perform starting from today's price of ~$1.40:

As the table demonstrates, even a substantial $50,000 investment would "only" yield around $107,000. While a 100%+ return outperforms almost any traditional stock market index, it is far from the "millionaire maker" status many retail investors hope for in a single year.

What is Actually Needed to Become an XRP Millionaire?

To hit a $1,000,000 valuation by 2026, one of two things must happen: either a massive increase in capital or an unprecedented (and unlikely) price surge.

• The Capital Requirement: To have $1M when XRP hits $3.00, you would need to own approximately 333,333 XRP. At today’s price of $1.40, that requires an initial investment of roughly $466,666.
• The Price Requirement: If you only have $10,000 to invest today, XRP would need to reach a price of $140 per token for you to become a millionaire.

Final Verdict

Can XRP make you a millionaire in 2026? If you are starting with a small or moderate amount of capital (under $10,000), the answer is likely no. However, XRP remains a strong candidate for steady, institutional-backed growth. It is a "wealth builder" rather than a "lottery ticket."

Coinbase announced that a "bipartisan deal" has been reached on a pivotal provision within the long-awaited crypto market structure bill, known as the CLARITY Act. This breakthrough addresses one of the most contentious sticking points between the crypto industry and traditional banking sectors: the treatment of stablecoin rewards.

For years, the absence of a federal regulatory framework has kept trillions of dollars in institutional capital on the sidelines. With this compromise, the path to a regulated, transparent, and highly liquid U.S. crypto market is clearer than ever.

What Happened to Crypto Today?

Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, confirmed on May 1, 2026, that a compromise was finalized by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks. The deal specifically resolves disputes over how stablecoin issuers can offer rewards without being classified as interest-bearing bank deposits. By bridging this gap, the CLARITY Act is now expected to move forward in the Senate, potentially ending the "regulation by enforcement" era that has dominated the SEC's approach to digital assets.

What is the CLARITY Act?

The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act is a comprehensive market structure bill designed to:

• Define Jurisdictions: Clearly delineate the boundaries between the SEC and the CFTC.
• Establish Disclosure Regimes: Mandate transparency for token issuers and exchanges.
• Regulate Stablecoins: Provide a federal framework for stablecoin issuance and reserves.
• Protect Consumers: Implement anti-fraud and anti-manipulation measures similar to traditional equity markets.

Why This Deal Unlocks Trillions

The primary barrier to institutional entry hasn't been a lack of interest in Bitcoin or Ethereum, but a lack of legal certainty. Large asset managers and pension funds cannot risk capital in a "regulatory gray area."

Reducing Market Manipulation

The bill introduces rigorous oversight of crypto exchanges. By mandating wash-trading prevention and transparency in order books, the bill aims to reduce the volatility caused by bad actors. For institutions, this means a "cleaner" market that mirrors the safety of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Stablecoin Reward Compromise

The "bipartisan deal" mentioned by Coinbase focuses on stablecoin yields. Banks feared that high-yield stablecoins would drain their deposit bases. The compromise allows for rewards based on platform usage and activity rather than "passive yield" that mimics a bank account.

"We protected what matters—the ability for Americans to earn rewards based on real usage of crypto platforms," stated Faryar Shirzad.

Clarity Act and Crypto Prices: What's the Relation?

Regulatory clarity is historically a bullish catalyst for the crypto market. When the U.S. provides a "seal of approval" via legislation, it often triggers a global domino effect.

• Increased Liquidity: Institutional "on-ramps" will become more robust.
• Product Innovation: Banks may soon offer native crypto custody and trading services directly to retail customers.
• ETF Expansion: Clearer rules could lead to a wider variety of crypto-based financial products beyond just BTC and ETH.

Timeline: What’s Next for the Bill?

The bill still faces a race against time. With the 2026 midterms approaching, the Senate Banking Committee must move to a markup vote before the summer recess. However, with backing from the Treasury Department and now major industry players like Coinbase, the momentum is at an all-time high.

The "deadline" for significant progress is widely considered to be May 25, 2026. If the CLARITY Act passes this hurdle, the U.S. could officially become the global hub for digital finance by the end of the year.

On May 3, 2026, the cryptocurrency market witnessed one of the most drastic "u-turn" price movements of the year. LAB token, the native asset of the Lab Network, experienced a catastrophic 70% decline within 24 hours of reaching its all-time high.

After a relentless 364% rally that propelled the token from under $0.70 to a peak of $3.64, the multi-chain trading terminal's ecosystem suddenly buckled under intense selling pressure. For many retail investors who entered during the peak of the hype, the rapid descent has sparked urgent questions regarding the project's long-term viability and the mechanics behind the crash.

Why Did LAB Crash?

The primary reason for the $LAB token crash was a textbook "sell the news" event triggered by the launch of the Lab Network mobile application. Investors had been accumulating the token in anticipation of the May 3 release, but once the product went live, large holders (whales) began liquidating their positions to realize profits, overwhelming the remaining buy orders.

"LAB reached an all-time high of $3.64 before a flash crash plunged the price by over 80% in specific trading pairs, with 24-hour contract liquidations surpassing major platforms."

What is the Lab Network?

The Lab Network is a browser-based and mobile trading terminal designed to aggregate execution across multiple blockchains, including Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain.

Founded by Dubai-based entrepreneur Vova Sadkov, the project aims to simplify the DeFi experience. Instead of switching between Raydium, Uniswap, and PancakeSwap, users can execute spot, limit, and perpetual trades from a single interface. The LAB token serves as the utility backbone, offering:

• Fee Discounts: Reduced costs for active traders.
• Buyback & Burn: 80% of protocol revenue is allegedly used to buy back LAB from the market.
• Governance: Voting rights on future chain integrations.

Why did LAB Token Crash 70%

The crash was not a single event but a sequence of technical and psychological triggers that decimated the token's market cap in hours.

1. Parabolic Exhaustion

The 364% surge leading up to the crash pushed the Relative Strength Index (RSI) into extreme overbought territory. Technical analysts often view an RSI above 80 as a signal that a correction is imminent. As the price hit $3.64, the lack of fresh capital to sustain the vertical move made the "glass floor" extremely fragile.

2. Strategic "Exit Liquidity"

On-chain data tracked by analysts suggested that institutional backers, including those from earlier funding rounds involving Amber Group and Cypher Capital, may have been moving assets. While the team advocates for a "deflationary flywheel," the sudden influx of millions of tokens onto exchanges provided the necessary exit liquidity for early participants at the expense of late-coming retail buyers.

3. High-Frequency Liquidations

Because LAB offers perpetual futures with up to 40x leverage, the initial price dip triggered a "liquidation cascade." Long positions were forced to sell automatically as prices dropped, creating a self-reinforcing downward spiral that was further exacerbated by the token's relatively low circulating supply of 230.4 million.

LAB Token Snapshot

LAB Coin Future: Can LAB Recover?

Vova Sadkov and the Lab Network team have remained active on social media, claiming that the crash is a "natural market correction" and that the protocol's fundamentals remain strong with over $800M in lifetime volume.

However, the "pump and dump" optics are difficult to shake. For the token to recover, the project must prove that its AI-driven transaction optimization and fee-sharing models can generate enough organic demand to offset the massive supply of 1 billion tokens.

Crypto Regulation News: Why Stablecoin Yield Is Back in Focus

Crypto regulation news is becoming one of the most important market drivers again, especially as Bitcoin continues to hold near the $78,000 level while traders wait for the next major catalyst. The latest focus is the CLARITY Act, a US crypto market structure bill that could reshape how stablecoins, exchanges, and crypto platforms operate.

The main issue is stablecoin yield. According to recent reports, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks reached a compromise on language that would restrict crypto companies from offering bank-like interest or yield simply for holding stablecoins. However, the text reportedly still allows rewards connected to real platform activity, such as payments, transfers, or usage-based incentives.

This distinction matters because it could decide how stablecoins compete with traditional banks. If crypto platforms can reward users for active usage but not passive holding, the industry may still keep an important growth tool while avoiding the direct comparison with bank deposits.

What the CLARITY Act Could Change for Stablecoins

The latest draft reportedly includes a section focused on prohibiting interest and yield on payment stablecoins. The goal is to stop stablecoins from acting like interest-bearing bank accounts, especially when users are simply holding tokens without any real transaction activity.

At the same time, the compromise appears to leave room for activity-based rewards. This means crypto companies may still be able to offer incentives linked to platform usage, payments, transfers, or other “bona fide activities.”

For the crypto market, this is not a small detail. Stablecoins are one of the biggest bridges between traditional finance and digital assets. They are used for trading, payments, liquidity management, DeFi, and exchange settlement. Any rule that changes how stablecoin rewards work could directly affect user behaviour, exchange revenue, and capital flows across the market.

Why Banks Are Watching Stablecoin Yield Closely

Banks have pushed back against stablecoin yield because they see it as a potential threat to deposits. If users can hold dollar-backed stablecoins and earn attractive rewards, some money could move away from traditional bank accounts and into crypto platforms.

That is why the new compromise tries to draw a line between passive yield and activity-based incentives. Passive yield looks more like bank interest. Usage-based rewards look more like loyalty points, payment incentives, or platform benefits.

This is where the crypto industry may have gained some ground. A full ban on all stablecoin rewards would have been much more restrictive. But a framework that allows rewards tied to actual usage could help exchanges, payment companies, and stablecoin platforms continue building products under clearer rules.

Why This Matters for Bitcoin

At first glance, stablecoin regulation may not look directly connected to Bitcoin. But it is.

Bitcoin rallies often need liquidity, confidence, and clear market structure. Stablecoins are a major source of liquidity across crypto exchanges. If the US moves closer to a clearer regulatory framework, it could improve institutional confidence and reduce uncertainty around crypto platforms.

Bitcoin is currently trading around $78,000, with a market cap near $1.57 trillion, according to the latest market data shown on TradingView. The asset has remained relatively stable, but the broader market is still waiting for a reason to break higher. A regulatory breakthrough could become that reason if traders believe it will support long-term crypto adoption.

The key question is whether this bill becomes a positive catalyst or another source of uncertainty. If the market sees the CLARITY Act as a balanced framework, Bitcoin could benefit from renewed confidence. If traders believe the rules are too restrictive, especially for stablecoin businesses and exchanges, the reaction could be more cautious.

Could Stablecoin Rules Trigger the Next Bitcoin Move?

The stablecoin yield compromise could trigger the next Bitcoin move because it touches three major market themes: regulation, liquidity, and institutional adoption.

First, clearer rules could reduce the fear that US regulators will continue handling crypto through enforcement instead of legislation. Second, stablecoin clarity could support deeper liquidity across exchanges and payment platforms. Third, institutional investors may be more comfortable entering the market when the rules around stablecoins, exchanges, and token classification become easier to understand.

This does not guarantee an immediate Bitcoin breakout. However, it gives traders a new catalyst to monitor while BTC consolidates near key levels.

If the Senate Banking Committee moves forward with the markup and the bill gains stronger political support, crypto regulation news could quickly become one of the biggest drivers of the market in May.

What Crypto Traders Should Watch Next

The first thing to watch is whether the CLARITY Act moves forward smoothly in the Senate. Any delay, political conflict, or change in the stablecoin language could affect market sentiment.

The second thing to watch is how major crypto companies respond. Coinbase and other platforms have a direct interest in how stablecoin rewards are defined, especially if rewards linked to usage remain allowed.

The third thing to watch is Bitcoin’s reaction. If BTC holds above the $78,000 area while regulatory clarity improves, the market could start pricing in a stronger move toward higher resistance levels. But if Bitcoin fails to react positively, it may suggest that traders are still more focused on macro risks, liquidity conditions, and broader risk appetite.

Conclusion: Stablecoin Regulation Could Be Bitcoin’s Next Catalyst

Crypto regulation news is no longer just a background story. The latest stablecoin yield compromise in the CLARITY Act could become a major turning point for the market.

By blocking bank-like passive yield while allowing activity-based rewards, US lawmakers may be trying to create a middle ground between protecting banks and allowing crypto innovation to continue. For Bitcoin, the impact depends on whether traders see this as a step toward real regulatory clarity.

With BTC still holding near $78,000, the next major move may not come from charts alone. It could come from Washington.

$BTC, $ETH, $USDT, $USDC

As we enter May 2026, the cryptocurrency market stands at a critical technical junction. After a period of consolidation, the "Big Four"—Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Cardano—are displaying setups that suggest a massive volatility expansion is imminent. While individual narratives like ETF inflows and network upgrades provide local support, the overarching theme remains Bitcoin’s dominance and its role as the market's primary liquid engine.

Is the Bull Run Resuming?

Traders are currently asking if the recent sideways price action is a distribution phase or a re-accumulation for the next leg up. Technical indicators suggest the latter. If Bitcoin successfully clears the psychological hurdle of $80,000, it will likely trigger a waterfall effect across the altcoin sector, starting with Ethereum and eventually trickling down to high-cap assets like XRP and Cardano.

Bitcoin (BTC) Prediction: The Road to $90,000

Bitcoin is currently the linchpin of the entire crypto ecosystem. As of early May 2026, the BTC price has shown remarkable resilience, holding support above the $75,000 mark.

• The Catalyst: Renewed institutional demand and easing selling pressure from spot ETFs.
• The Target: Once BTC breaks the $80,000 resistance, the lack of historical overhead supply suggests a swift move toward $90,000.
• The Risk: A failure to maintain the $75,000 floor could delay this rally, as the altcoin market is not yet ready to decouple from Bitcoin's price action.

Ethereum (ETH) Forecast: Breaking the $2,400 Barrier

Ethereum has been trailing Bitcoin in terms of percentage gains, but the technical structure of ETH is tightening.

• Immediate Resistance: The $2,400 level has acted as a multi-month ceiling.
• Breakout Potential: A clean daily close above $2,400 shifts the focus toward $2,800.
• Network Utility: Increased activity on Layer 2 solutions continues to burn ETH supply, providing a deflationary tailwind that supports a higher price floor.

XRP and Cardano (ADA): The Lagging Giants

While BTC and ETH lead the charge, XRP and Cardano (ADA) are currently in a "lagging" phase, characterized by horizontal accumulation.

XRP: The $1.50 Springboard

XRP is currently consolidating within a rising channel. Analysts expect XRP to continue lagging until it breaks the $1.50 resistance. Once this level is cleared, historical price action suggests a "short squeeze" or "fomo" effect that could catapult the price to $2.00 very quickly.

Cardano (ADA): Waiting for $0.28

Cardano remains in a tight range. The key level to watch is $0.28. If ADA can flip this resistance into support, the path to $0.40 becomes clear. However, like XRP, ADA requires a stable or bullish Bitcoin environment to find the necessary volume for such a move.

The "Bitcoin Contingency" Rule

It is vital to understand that these predictions are not independent events. The cryptocurrency market in 2026 remains highly correlated.

Important Note: The targets for ETH, XRP, and ADA are strictly contingent on Bitcoin maintaining its bullish momentum. If Bitcoin faces a significant correction, the "lagging" altcoins are likely to see deeper retracements before any breakout occurs.

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While the pressure on some assets is easing, XRP, HYPE and ETH might enter an extended downtrend.

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BlackRock’s European Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) has achieved a massive milestone, quietly accumulating approximately 14,200 Bitcoin to push its total valuation to exactly $1.1 billion.

TLDR

• Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee believes cryptocurrency markets and approximately 50% of equities have completed an unnoticed bear cycle
• Short interest has climbed to depths normally observed at bear market bottoms rather than at cyclical tops
• Real Vision’s Raoul Pal characterizes recent price action as a mid-cycle pullback rather than a terminal phase
• The Crypto Fear and Greed Index dropped to 8, marking its most extended period under 10 in its history
• Cryptocurrency investment products experienced $445 million in redemptions over the past week, with Ethereum absorbing the largest share at $222 million

Tom Lee, who co-founded the investment research company Fundstrat, believes the cryptocurrency sector has already navigated through the majority of its bearish territory. He shared these insights during a conversation on Fundstrat’s research platform.

Lee explained that approximately half of equity markets alongside the entire cryptocurrency space have already completed what he described as an obscured bear market phase. He referenced significant selloffs in software equities and noted that digital assets mirrored these downward movements due to identical liquidity constraints.

He further observed that bearish positioning has swelled to magnitudes typically associated with mid-bear-market conditions rather than standard cyclical peaks. According to Lee, this distinction carries weight because it indicates the bulk of downside pressure has likely already materialized.

Lee noted that investor sentiment deteriorated more rapidly than negative news flow. Market participants adopted defensive postures even as forward-looking economic indicators were finding stability. He interprets this divergence as evidence of a possible inflection point instead of the beginning of deeper losses.

He distinguished between routine cyclical credit tension and systemic financial risk. The recent turbulence in private credit markets, according to Lee, appears more consistent with standard credit cycle dynamics rather than a crisis comparable to 2008. He suggested major banking institutions could actually gain from this transition.

Macroeconomic Indicators Signal Mid-Cycle Position, Not Peak

Raoul Pal, who founded Real Vision, expressed a comparable assessment. He cited global M2 money supply reaching record levels, dollar weakness, and strengthening Institute for Supply Management data.

“The current move does not look like the end of the cycle but a mid-cycle correction,” Pal said in an interview.

Pal also drew attention to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index. The indicator plummeted to 8 and has remained beneath 10 for an unprecedented duration compared to even the 2022 bear market.

He interpreted this extreme fear reading as a potential bottom signal rather than a harbinger of additional declines. The sustained nature of this fearful sentiment, he contended, actually increases the probability of a market bounce.

Investment Fund Flows Paint a Cautious Picture for Now

Despite these optimistic perspectives, actual capital movements remain negative. Cryptocurrency investment vehicles recorded $445 million in redemptions during the previous week.

Ethereum experienced the steepest single outflow totaling $222 million. This represents tangible evidence of continued investor caution.

Lee introduced a forward-looking argument centered on artificial intelligence. He suggested that stablecoin payment systems and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure could emerge as the foundational layer that AI agents utilize at meaningful scale.

This convergence, he maintained, could channel capital back toward Bitcoin and Ethereum once macroeconomic headwinds subside.

Whether a genuine recovery takes hold hinges on the pace of liquidity expansion. It also depends on whether market sentiment continues to trail the actual economic fundamentals.

The latest concrete indicators remain the $445 million in weekly redemptions and the Fear and Greed Index resting at 8 — representing its most extreme and prolonged fear reading in recorded history.

The post Fundstrat’s Tom Lee: Crypto’s Bear Market Already Behind Us, Raoul Pal Concurs appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• ETH maintains its position above the $2,350 mark and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average
• Price reached a peak of $2,387 during recent sessions before entering consolidation
• Critical resistance zone lies at $2,400, with potential for extension to $2,500 upon breakout
• Large holders added more than 140,000 ETH (approximately $322 million) over 96 hours
• Rising U.S.-Iran tensions have sparked institutional migration into cryptocurrency markets

Ethereum has successfully pushed above the $2,350 threshold after experiencing renewed buying momentum that lifted the asset from a swing bottom at $2,220 to a session top of $2,387. Currently, the price action shows consolidation beneath this recent high.

The digital asset is presently maintaining support above the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement measurement from the recent upward swing, while continuing to trade above its 100-hour Simple Moving Average. Technical charts reveal a bullish trendline providing support in the vicinity of $2,340 on hourly timeframes.

Traders should monitor the initial resistance barrier at $2,385, with the crucial $2,400 threshold representing the next significant hurdle. Should bulls manage a decisive push above $2,400, price targets would extend to $2,420, with $2,500 emerging as the subsequent major objective.

Market analyst Ted Pillows provided commentary on current market structure, observing that ETH continues to trade in a sideways pattern. His analysis suggests that until Ethereum successfully reclaims the $2,400 level, the asset will exhibit continued fragility, cautioning that losing the $2,150–$2,200 support band could trigger a decline beneath $2,000.

Large Holders Increase Positions

Data from on-chain specialist Ali Charts indicates that major holders have acquired in excess of 140,000 ETH during the past 96-hour period, representing roughly $322 million in capital deployment. This magnitude of accumulation by institutional-sized wallets provides a bullish foundation for the existing price structure.

This buying activity has occurred while Ethereum maintains stability above essential support zones amid broader market ambiguity.

Should the $2,350 threshold continue to hold firm, bullish participants may initiate another attempt at conquering the $2,400 barrier. Successful penetration of that level would establish $2,420 as the initial target, with $2,500 and $2,550 representing additional upside objectives.

Conversely, rejection at the $2,400 resistance could result in a retreat toward $2,340 support. Breaking below that floor would shift attention to the $2,300 level, followed by the 50% Fibonacci retracement zone and the $2,220 swing low.

Global Political Climate Influences Markets

Intensifying geopolitical friction between the United States and Iran has introduced heightened volatility across global financial markets. Iranian missile strikes targeting U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia, combined with reports of potential American ground operations, have created turbulence in traditional investment vehicles.

Washington has additionally frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency holdings connected to Iranian entities. These geopolitical developments have prompted institutional capital to seek refuge in digital assets, generating increased ETF capital inflows and providing underlying support for elevated ETH valuations.

Ethereum’s pricing on May 3 demonstrated robust conviction in maintaining levels above $1,800, with the present $2,350 support positioned substantially higher than that benchmark.

Current market data confirms ETH trading above $2,350 with sustained whale accumulation and the $2,400 resistance representing the immediate critical test for continuation of the uptrend.

The post Ethereum (ETH) Price: Major Whales Accumulate $322M as Bulls Eye $2,400 Level appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• BTC surged past $80,000 on Sunday evening with a 2.6% gain over 24 hours
• Institutional investors poured $153.87 million into US spot Bitcoin ETFs for the fifth consecutive week
• Geopolitical developments between the US and Iran continue influencing market risk appetite
• Technical analyst Michael van de Poppe identifies $86–88K and $92–94K as critical resistance zones
• Caution persists among some market participants citing potential liquidity traps

The leading cryptocurrency shattered the $80,000 barrier during Sunday’s late trading session, finally breaking through a ceiling that had contained upward movement throughout the weekend. The rally unfolded as market participants monitored developing diplomatic discussions between the United States and Iran alongside consistent institutional accumulation via exchange-traded funds.

BTC, the flagship digital asset by market capitalization, registered a 2.6% increase across a 24-hour period, reaching $80,150 by 11:40 p.m. ET on Sunday. Meanwhile, Ether posted a stronger 3.6% advance to $2,382, while XRP recorded a modest 2% uptick to $1.41.

According to Nick Ruck, who directs research at LVRG Research, the breakthrough “places near-term momentum firmly as bullish and confirms buyer strength after the earlier pullback.” Dominick John from Zeus Research characterized the movement as a technical short squeeze penetrating what he termed a “major” psychological resistance threshold.

Data from Bitcoin Archive reveals that leveraged short positions exceeding $108 million were forcibly closed within a single hour as BTC maintained its position above $80,000.

Institutional Capital Continues Flowing Into Bitcoin Funds

According to data compiled by SoSoValue, US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their fifth straight week of positive net flows, accumulating $153.87 million in fresh capital during the most recent week. Friday’s session alone witnessed approximately $630 million entering these investment vehicles.

Ruck emphasized that the persistent inflows “highlight growing institutional support and confidence in bitcoin as a strategic asset in portfolios.”

Trading expert Michaël van de Poppe shared his perspective on X, highlighting Friday’s substantial ETF activity as a significant indicator. His analysis established $79K as a critical threshold to overcome, followed by initial resistance between $86–88K, with a subsequent target zone of $92–94K should bullish momentum persist.

Market analyst Ted Pillows observed on X that BTC initially breached $79,000 but encountered selling pressure before ultimately securing the level. He suggested that recapturing the $80,000 mark increases the probability of Bitcoin advancing to fill the unfilled CME futures gap positioned at $84,000.

Middle East Geopolitical Developments Under Close Watch

The upward price action coincided with President Trump’s announcement of “Project Freedom” via Truth Social—a program designed to facilitate the safe passage of stranded commercial vessels through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Trump additionally indicated that US negotiators were engaged in “very positive discussions” with Iranian counterparts.

Nevertheless, Iranian representative Ebrahim Azizi issued a statement cautioning that any American intervention in the waterway would constitute a breach of the existing ceasefire agreement. Energy markets responded with Brent crude advancing to $108.49 per barrel.

A weekly close above $78,670 would have represented Bitcoin’s strongest weekly finish since the final days of January. The decisive break above $80,000 pushed that achievement even higher.

Despite the bullish price action, several traders maintained a circumspect outlook. Crypto Tony identified accumulating liquidity beneath current price levels. JDK Analysis characterized the current configuration as “typically bearish,” noting fresh long positions entering at elevated prices while observing potential signs of demand exhaustion.

Market participants are closely monitoring Thursday’s initial jobless claims release, ongoing diplomatic developments between Washington and Tehran, and continued ETF flow data as primary catalysts heading into the upcoming trading week.

The post Bitcoin (BTC) Surges Past $80,000 Amid Continued ETF Inflows and Geopolitical Uncertainty appeared first on Blockonomi.

The XRP price prediction conversation just received its strongest tailwind of the year, with Ripple opening its biggest XRP Las Vegas event ever and Yellow Network’s Steven Zeiler framing XRP as a future global reserve asset, per CoinMarketCap. Ripple-backed firm Evernorth named OpenAI CFO Robert Kaiden to its board, sliding $1 billion and 473 million XRP behind a planned Nasdaq listing.

While the XRP price prediction firms up at $1.38, the cycle’s smaller-cap play is at $0.0000001868. Pepeto presale just crossed $9.77 million raised, and the case for why this entry could deliver returns XRP cannot reach follows.

CoinMarketCap confirmed XRP Las Vegas opened May 1 with Ripple’s largest ever marketing campaign, billboards across the Strip, and a panel arguing for XRP’s path beyond payments. Evernorth’s filing names Robert Kaiden as independent director, locking AI governance into XRP treasury operations.

Both signals are bullish for sentiment but capped on size. XRP carries an $85 billion market cap, which translates institutional validation into modest percentage gains, not the multiplier returns early cycle wallets are hunting.

Top Cryptocurrencies Worth Positioning Before the Recovery Phase

Pepeto (PEPETO) at $0.0000001868 With $9.77M Raised and Binance Listing Closing In

While XRP traders track a $1.45 swing, Pepeto opens a return corridor of an entirely different scale. The presale price sits at $0.0000001868, the project just crossed $9.77 million raised, and that capital backs a SolidProof audit, the cofounder who took Pepe to $11 billion, and a former Binance executive driving the listing path.

One housekeeping note before going deeper. With the project picking up speed, the original Pepeto.io domain has come under sustained copycat and phishing attack, so the team has activated a new Pepeto official website for direct presale access. Bookmark that link and ignore anything else.

PepetoSwap handles zero-fee meme coin trades across Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana, the bridge moves tokens at no cost, and the contract risk scanner flags scam designs before any capital leaves the wallet. Staking compounds at 176% APY, locking in $17,600 a year on a $10,000 entry. The 100x to 300x math depends on the market valuing this token at a fraction of what Pepe achieved on the same supply.

XRP Price Prediction: Reserve Currency Push Lifts Sentiment but Multiples Stay Capped

XRP trades near $1.38 according to CoinMarketCap, with the May 1 Las Vegas spike stalling at $1.45 resistance. Bitget targets $1.80 on a daily close above $1.45, and Standard Chartered places its 2026 ceiling at $2.80.

Even the most aggressive XRP price prediction caps the upside at roughly 2x while the CLARITY Act markup waits for May 11. The thesis keeps strengthening, but $1,000 in XRP buys 724 tokens whose ceiling sits inside the same $85 billion cap.

Solana (SOL) Holds $83.74 as Tokenized Asset Volume Triples Across the Network

Solana (SOL) traded at $83.74 on May 1 per The Block, gaining 1% on the day and 12% on the month. CoinGecko’s Q1 report shows tokenized assets tripling to $19.3 billion since 2025, with BlackRock BUIDL, Apollo’s ACRED, and Visa’s stablecoin layer hosted on Solana.

Resistance sits at $90 and a clean break opens $115. Yet a recovery to $140 prints only a 67% spread across 2026.

Conclusion

Ripple keeps trading every week regardless of where the XRP price prediction settles. The Pepeto presale window will close. Las Vegas lifted XRP toward $1.45 resistance and Evernorth’s Nasdaq listing is locked in the calendar, yet those signals only prove the explosive multiplier window on XRP shut cycles ago. A $1,000 XRP position buys 724 tokens with at best 2x left from $1.38, while the same $1,000 in Pepeto picks up 5.35 billion tokens chasing $140,000 at a fraction of Pepe’s all-time high market cap.

Crypto cycles end the same way every time, and the path forward splits in two from here. On one road, an investor commits to Pepeto before the window closes and sees the portfolio transform the moment Binance opens the order book. On the other, another saw Pepeto at the same time but waited for one more signal, the same way the early Shiba Inu skeptics did, and carried that regret through every bull run that followed. The presale is still live, but the demand could close that window within days. That call gets made on the Pepeto official website.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What does the XRP price prediction look like after Ripple’s Las Vegas reserve currency push?

The XRP price prediction targets $1.80 on a clean daily close above $1.45 per Bitget, with Standard Chartered placing the 2026 ceiling at $2.80. XRP’s $85 billion cap delivers percentage gains, while Pepeto presale at $0.0000001868 targets multiplier returns once Binance opens the order book.

Why is Pepeto called the strongest presale of 2026?

Pepeto is the strongest presale of 2026 because it ships a working zero-fee exchange, a SolidProof audit, the cofounder behind Pepe, and a confirmed Binance listing path priced at $0.0000001868. The project just crossed $9.77 million raised at 176% APY, and the Pepeto official website is now the verified entry point.

The post XRP Price Prediction Targets $1.80 Breakout as Ripple Las Vegas Frames XRP as Reserve Currency, Pepeto Crosses $9.77M appeared first on Blockonomi.

Why is crypto up today and what does this rally mean? Bitcoin climbed past $78,000 after spot ETF products posted $1.97 billion in April inflows, the strongest monthly total of 2026 according to SoSoValue. The total crypto market cap sits at $2.68 trillion, and BTC dominance holds at 58.5% as capital returns to the sector.

The green candles are back, and Pepeto at presale pricing with a Binance listing approaching is the entry that separates a recovery from a year that changes everything.

Why is crypto up today starts with institutional money. Yahoo Finance reported that Bitcoin spot ETFs pulled in $1.97 billion through April, with BlackRock and Fidelity driving the largest single-day sessions since October 2025.

Bitcoin rose 12% during April and opened May above $78,000 for the first time since February, according to CoinMarketCap. Ethereum added 1.6% to $2,296 on the same session. The Fear and Greed Index reads 26, deep in fear, which means most traders missed this move while institutions bought through ETFs. That is why crypto is up today.

Why Is Crypto Up Today and How Pepeto Turns This Rally Into a Wealth Event

Pepeto: The Presale Running a Full Exchange While the Market Turns Green

Crypto is up today, the charts show strength, and the Pepeto presale still sits at $0.0000001868, the kind of price that early meme coin holders locked in before tokens turned small positions into seven figure returns.

The full exchange platform processes trades right now. PepetoSwap clears every trade at zero cost across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana, keeping full position value on each swap. The token scanner runs a contract check on every project before it reaches the trading floor, and the cross-chain bridge connects all three networks without taking any fee from the transfer. A Pepe cofounder who built the original token into an $11 billion market cap leads the project alongside a senior Binance operations veteran.

Over $9.7 million flowed into this presale while the market sat in fear, and that number shows the commitment behind these positions. SolidProof completed a full audit before the first dollar entered. Staking pays 176% APY that compounds daily, and the Binance listing timeline continues to tighten.

Large caps that hold billions in market cap recover in percentages. Pepeto at presale cost with a working exchange and a Binance debut approaching is where the distance that changes financial outcomes gets built, and the wallets entering now through the Pepeto presale are positioning for that moment.

Cardano (ADA) Price at $0.2482 as Van Rossum Hard Fork Targets Q2 Launch

Cardano (ADA) trades at $0.2482 according to CoinMarketCap, down 0.57% over the past 24 hours. ADA has stayed flat since the start of 2026, unable to clear the $0.28 resistance that opens a path toward $0.40.

The Van Rossum hard fork scheduled for Q2 2026 brings Protocol Version 11 and improved smart contract tools, giving Cardano its strongest technical catalyst in months.

Changelly targets $0.80 to $1.50 for Cardano price prediction in 2026, but that move requires multiple catalysts landing at once. ADA needs a breakout while Pepeto needs one listing day.

Canton (CC) Price at $0.1498 as Institutional Partnerships Expand

Canton (CC) trades at $0.1498 according to CoinMarketCap, down 0.11% in 24 hours and sitting 23% below its all-time high. Canton holds a $5.7 billion market cap backed by Northern Trust and Euroclear partnerships.

Support sits at $0.139 with resistance near $0.17, but a $5.7 billion cap limits how fast gains build from here.

Conclusion:

Why is crypto up today? Record ETF money is flowing in, BTC holds above $78,000, and the charts are green across the board. Cardano (ADA) is moving higher. Canton (CC) is holding ground. The market feels strong again. But a green day and real wealth are two different things.

Every cycle, the portfolios that performed best held their large caps and added one early entry before the rest of the market caught on. The Pepeto presale is still accepting entries. The Binance listing is close. The gap between a portfolio that only recovered and one that produced life-changing gains is one presale position at $0.0000001868, priced below where SHIB sat before it made millionaires.

The listing sets the whole move in motion. And the wallets that entered first will be the ones that everyone else spends 2026 wishing they had followed.

Visit Pepeto to Enter the Presale Before the Listing Closes This Window

FAQs

What is the Cardano price prediction for 2026?

The Cardano price prediction for 2026 ranges from $0.80 to $1.50 according to Changelly. ADA trades at $0.2482 with $0.28 resistance and a Van Rossum hard fork due in Q2 2026 as the main catalyst.

What is Pepeto and why is the presale attracting attention?

Pepeto is a meme coin presale at $0.0000001868 backed by a live exchange platform that handles trades at zero cost. The project raised $9.7 million with 176% APY staking, a SolidProof audit, and a Binance listing approaching.

The post Why Is Crypto Up Today: BTC Holds $78,000 on Record ETF Month as Pepeto Presale Nears Binance Debut appeared first on Blockonomi.

Bitcoin’s price has moved past the major psychological resistance level of $80,000.

The cryptocurrency did this today for the first time since January, sparking hopes of a renewed rally and higher highs.

The move comes on the back of an increase in the broader cryptocurrency market, as altcoins are also trading well in the green over the past 24 hours.

The sector’s total capitalization is up to $2.74 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance at 58.6% according to CoinGecko.

Liquidations are also elevated at $357 million – an increase of around 100% for the past 24 hours, which is more or less to be expected during a sudden move like this.

Is Bitcoin’s Move Sustainable?

While the bulls take this as a cause for celebration, it might be pre-emptive to call quits to the bear market yet, at least according to some analysts. As CryptoPotato reported earlier, CryptoQuant offered insights into what drove April’s rally and whether May can offer similar outcomes.

“The divergence between rising price and contracting spot demand is one of the clearest on-chain signals that price gains are speculative rather than structural. Apparent demand stayed negative across the full April price surge, confirming the absence of fundamental demand support.” The firm said.

That said, it’s interesting to see if the move beyond $80,000 can be sustained.

It’s also important to note that it’s Monday – this is usually when Strategy announces whether or not it has bought any BTC during the past week, so the sudden spike might have also been caused by them, although this remains to be seen later through the day.

The post Bitcoin Price Pushes Above $80,000 for First Time Since January appeared first on CryptoPotato.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X on April 29 that Washington’s sanctions campaign is now going after Iran’s “access to crypto,” alongside oil exports, shipping networks, and shadow banking channels.

It is the first time the Treasury has named digital assets so explicitly in the context of the Iran pressure campaign, and it puts crypto squarely in the middle of a geopolitical dispute that has already been moving Bitcoin’s price for weeks.

Treasury Links Crypto to Iran Sanctions Push

In the post, Bessent said the Treasury, through what he called “Economic Fury,” had targeted Iran’s shadow banking system, crypto access, weapons procurement networks, and the Chinese “teapot” refineries that buy Iranian crude.

According to him, the measures had disrupted “tens of billions of dollars of revenue” that otherwise would have been used to fund terrorism, adding that Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, was nearing storage capacity, a situation he said could force production cuts worth roughly $170 million a day in lost revenue.

Still, the crypto mention is what stood out, as for years, sanctions enforcement focused on banks, oil traders, and shipping firms. Putting digital assets in the same sentence as shadow banking and weapons procurement is a signal that Treasury believes crypto is being used not just for small transfers but as part of actual trade settlement infrastructure.

According to market analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera, the latest action designated 35 entities and individuals under two existing executive orders. He named UK-registered Shuqun Ltd, which allegedly transferred more than $70 million for Iranian crude on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company through 2024, and Fratello Carbone Trading Limited, which reportedly moved more than $20 million.

The total number of Iran-related targets under Economic Fury has now passed one thousand since February 25. Perera’s reading of Bessent’s language was that the warning was not primarily directed at Tehran. It was directed at every bank, exchange, and intermediary anywhere in the world that processes Iranian flows.

Why Crypto Keeps Coming Up in the Hormuz Dispute

This is not the first time crypto and Iran have collided in the markets this month, with the Financial Times reporting on April 8 that Iranian officials were demanding Bitcoin payments for ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz. When those reports emerged, BTC ran from around $68,000 to nearly $73,000.

Since then, the situation has continued to change, including information coming out on April 27 that Iran had submitted a new peace proposal through Pakistani mediators. This sent Bitcoin briefly to a 12-week high near $80,000 before it got rejected and fell back hard.

However, yesterday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran had entered a “state of collapse,” pushing oil past $100 a barrel and pulling BTC below $76,000.

Those price moves show how closely crypto now trades with geopolitical risk, energy supply concerns, and sanctions policy, and if Washington can disrupt crypto-linked settlement channels tied to Iranian trade, it may reduce one workaround for sanctions. But if alternative rails keep operating, the campaign may simply push more transactions away from the dollar system and into the yuan or digital assets.

The post Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Says the US Is Targeting Iran’s Access to Crypto appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The leading stablecoin issuer has released its attestation report for the first quarter of 2026, revealing a net profit of more than $1 billion. The company was able to generate such profit despite broader volatility and unstable market conditions. This development comes as stablecoins evolve into major dollar infrastructure globally, especially in markets with limited access to USD banking systems.

According to a press release, the leading independent accounting firm, BDO, prepared the attestation, confirming the accuracy of Tether’s financial figures and reserves report.

Tether Releases Q1 2026 Attestation Report

While generating a net profit above $1.04 billion, Tether’s excess reserve buffer hit a record $8.23 billion. The reserve base is concentrated in short-duration, high-quality liquid instruments. By March 31, the firm’s direct and indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bills had reached $141 billion, making Tether the 17th-largest holder of U.S. Treasuries globally. Tether says short-dated sovereign exposure remains central to its reserve strategy.

In addition to the Treasury bills, Tether’s reserves include precious metals, consisting entirely of $20 billion in physical gold and $7 billion in bitcoin. The goal is to maintain a balance between liquidity, resilience, and exposure to macro assets that perform under stressful conditions.

“Our responsibility is to make sure USD₮ works without compromise. That means building a system that behaves the same way in any market condition, not just when things are stable. The focus is on keeping the structure simple, liquid, and resilient by design, so it does not depend on favorable environments or external support,” Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, said.

USDT Grows by $5B

Overall, Tether had over $191.7 billion in assets and $183.5 billion in liabilities as of March 31, 2026. The entity’s assets exceed its liabilities by more than $8.2 billion.

Noteworthily, Tether’s proprietary investments are not included in its USDT reserves. They are fully segregated and funded from the firm’s excess capital and profits. The company claims the investments do not affect the quality, liquidity, or transparency of USDT reserves.

USDT in circulation has grown significantly, expanding by $5 billion in the second quarter of the year. The stablecoin’s market cap hovered above $189 billion at the time of writing.

“People should not have to question whether the system works; it just has to work,” Ardoino added.

The post Tether Records $1B Net Profit in Q1 Attestation Report appeared first on CryptoPotato.

April ended with bitcoin (BTC) posting a 12% increase – the biggest such gain in a year. Although the asset had corrected slightly to $75,000 by the last day of the month, market participants wondered whether the rally was structural or speculative.

To that end, the market research firm CryptoQuant has offered insights into what drove the rally and the possibility of a similar trend in bitcoin’s price in May.

On-chain Metrics Point to Speculative Action

According to the latest CryptoQuant weekly report, demand from the perpetual futures market drove bitcoin’s price movement in April. At the same time, spot demand remained in contraction. This dynamic indicated the absence of organic buying during the surge, suggesting that leverage, rather than fresh coin accumulation, drove the price increase.

Based on historical data, rising futures demand alongside contracting spot demand is associated with unsustained price gains during bear seasons. These kinds of situations highlight the lack of the structural foundation required to sustain price gains.

Throughout April, Bitcoin’s apparent demand indicator, which tracks the 30-day change in estimated on-chain spot buying activity, remained in negative territory. Conversely, the metric monitoring perpetual futures demand continued to expand as speculative positioning increased.

“The divergence between rising price and contracting spot demand is one of the clearest on-chain signals that price gains are speculative rather than structural. Apparent demand stayed negative across the full April price surge, confirming the absence of fundamental demand support,” CryptoQuant explained.

Is a Multi-Month Price Decline Incoming?

Furthermore, CryptoQuant analysts revealed that the current demand structure is identical to that observed at the start of the 2022 bear market. At the time, the dynamic preceded a sustained multi-month price decline, bringing significant downside risk to BTC. It is worth noting that the similarity between past and present demand structures does not guarantee identical outcomes. However, such a dynamic is usually a bearish precedent and a reliable early indicator of price fragility.

If Bitcoin’s apparent demand does not reverse from negative to positive in the near term, price rallies toward the $79,000 region will lack the support needed for a sustained breakout.

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant’s Bull Score Index fell from 50 to 40 in April, signaling a return from neutral to bearish territory. Such a move shows that on-chain fundamentals deteriorated after the price action driven by speculative futures demand.

The post Was Bitcoin’s April Surge Speculative or Structural? CryptoQuant Offers Insights appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin managed to rebound swiftly from the February low at $60,000, posting gains for two consecutive months. This prompted some analysts to speculate that the cycle’s low is already in and that BTC won’t go below $60,000.

Others were even more optimistic, suggesting that the real bull market might be close to commencing, while Ali Martinez outlined the most important levels for BTC going forward.

What to Look For

The monthly candle closure for April showed that bitcoin had charted its biggest 30-day increase in about a year, gaining almost 12%. Nevertheless, the broader scale still shows that the asset has been trapped within a consolidation phase between $65,000 and $80,000 for the past couple of months.

Ali Martinez said the market is seeing “significant clusters of orders building up,” making them the “most important levels to watch for larger-scale liquidation events.”

The overhead barrier is at $80,000, a level not seen since early February. It serves as the primary psychological and technical ceiling, and there’s a “massive wall of short-side liquidity” there. If BTC pushes through it, $84,000 is likely to be reached rapidly. If that resistance holds, as it has during the past couple of breakout attempts, bitcoin could find its way slipping to lower liquidity pools at $75,000, $73,000, or even $70,000.

“The market is currently in a tug-of-war phase. Watch these levels closely; a decisive daily close outside of this $75,000 – $80,000 range will likely define the trend for the rest of the month,” advised Martinez.

Meanwhile, fellow analyst CW said BTC is close to entering the rainbow’s green zone within 1-2 weeks, which would suggest the start of a ‘real bull market.’ They believe there hasn’t been a ‘real’ rally in this cycle, but it could be right around the corner.

It appears that $BTC will re-enter the green zone within 1-2 weeks.

Enter to a real bull market is very close.

The rally that follows is the real bull rally of this cycle. There has been no real rally in this cycle. pic.twitter.com/69reNt6oZ1

— CW (@CW8900) May 3, 2026

Or Maybe Not

Crypto Rover outlined a different perspective, basing his bearish view on the narrative that BTC is still in a bear market and it has never closed three consecutive months in the green in such conditions.

In two of the three major previous such instances, 2014 and 2022, bitcoin had two months in a row in the green, but the third one was quite a painful rejection, including a 17% drop in April 2022. The analyst predicted that “this time likely won’t be different,” which could prove the old saying true, ‘sell in May and go away.’

$BTC HAS NEVER CLOSED 3 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS IN THE GREEN DURING A BEAR MARKET YEAR

(2014, 2018, 2022).

It has NEVER happened.

This time likely won’t be different.

Bearish for Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/8iRfISt95C

— Crypto Rover (@cryptorover) May 2, 2026

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