AI integration in finance is reshaping enterprise systems, enhancing efficiency and transforming user interactions globally.

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Ripple's expansion in Dubai underscores the Middle East's growing influence in the blockchain sector, potentially reshaping global finance dynamics.

The post Ripple expands headquarters in Dubai’s financial hub as regional demand accelerates appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

OKX's protocol could revolutionize AI-driven commerce by enabling autonomous transactions, potentially reducing human intervention in business operations.

The post OKX publishes open protocol enabling AI agents to quote, escrow and settle autonomously appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The ongoing blockade heightens geopolitical tensions, potentially driving up oil prices and increasing market volatility amid diplomatic uncertainty.

The post Trump rejects Iran proposal, keeps naval blockade amid nuclear deal stalemate appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The incident underscores vulnerabilities in US air defenses, potentially prompting more aggressive military strategies and policy shifts.

The post Iranian jet bombs US base in Kuwait, challenges air defense systems appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

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.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy and Blockstream CEOs Paint Vision of Bitcoin’s Financial Future

Strategy CEO Phong Le and Blockstream CEO Adam Back appeared Wednesday on a panel moderated by Natalie Brunell, covering Bitcoin treasury strategy, tokenization, digital credit, and the enduring mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto. 

The conversation drew a picture of a financial system in transition, with Bitcoin at its center.

Le opened with a striking observation about Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings. The company now holds 818,334, putting it second behind only one entity. 

“There is only one individual entity with more Bitcoin than Strategy,” Le said. “That’s Satoshi.” 

The firm is on pace to reach 1 million BTC in the next couple of months, a milestone that would cement its place in financial history.

Digital credit in the bitcoin space

Much of the discussion centered on Stretch, or STRC, Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock that pays an 11.5% annual dividend with proceeds used to purchase Bitcoin.

Le was direct about why the product matters. “This product does good,” he said, contrasting it with industries like tobacco and processed food. 

Investors use STRC as a place to park short-term money, and it has served as a lower barrier for people seeking BTC exposure. Layer 2 products and DeFi protocols are now being built on top of it, Le said, describing STRC as “the most important credit product of all time” and a cornerstone for bringing BTC and DeFi together.

Back addressed the intersection of cypherpunk ideology and institutional finance, a tension the Bitcoin community has long wrestled with. 

He said BTC’s acceptance by sovereign wealth funds and private funds is “a sign of success,” not a compromise. Cypherpunks, he explained, believed in capital formation and free markets, not just cryptographic privacy. 

Back said treasury companies exist to grow Bitcoin per share, and when they do, individual holders benefit too.

Le reinforced the point, saying he learned much from Back when they first met. “Cypherpunks are gifted minds who understand the markets very well,” Le said, framing the movement as one that has always operated at the intersection of technology and capital.

On tokenization, both men saw it as the next structural shift. Le described it as “the digitalization of markets,” with blockchain providing the transparency layer.

He pointed to tap-to-pay as an analogy. “Why can’t you do that to a stock, peer to peer?” he asked. Back added that tokenization enables 24/7 trading, use of assets as collateral, and unlocks value in assets that are hard to discover or trade, like private notes and contracts.

When asked if major banks would compete in bitcoin digital credit, Le said he expected them to. He compared it to Amazon reshaping retail and forcing Walmart to respond. 

Then he added: “I’d love to see Morgan Stanley on that list” regarding massive bitcoin companies. 

The panel closed on a lighter note. Brunell asked Back about a New York Times investigation published earlier this month that named him as Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Back, who denied the claim when the story broke, did not address it directly. “We are in a very good place regarding people adopting the technology,” he said. 

This post Strategy and Blockstream CEOs Paint Vision of Bitcoin’s Financial Future first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Morgan Stanley Executive on Bitcoin: ‘We Are Still So Early on This Journey’

Morgan Stanley launched its bitcoin exchange-traded product, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), into a market it believes is still in its infancy. 

At a panel on Wednesday moderated by Tyler Evans, Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s head of digital assets, spent the better part of an hour making a case for bitcoin that few clients have heard in full, and said that gap is the industry’s most urgent problem.

“We have to start with bitcoin,” Oldenburg told the audience, citing the asset’s roughly 1.5 trillion dollar market cap and its distance from the rest of the crypto landscape. 

She was careful to draw a line between bitcoin and crypto as a broad category, a distinction she said most retail and institutional clients still do not make with confidence. The firm wants to see that distinction anchored in fundamental research, not just narrative.

Oldenburg: Bitcoin has an education problem 

The education problem, she said, runs deep. Many investors still associate bitcoin with its early history of use by bad actors, and struggle to see past that frame when weighing an allocation. 

Oldenburg said that when clients ask about yield or structured exposure, her team tries to be direct: “you can present it as a yield, but the underlying asset is bitcoin.” That clarity, she said, is still missing from most conversations in the market, and there is “so much more work to do.”

MSBT pulled in more than $100 million in its first week of trading, a strong early signal for a product the bank describes as designed for the full spectrum of its client base rather than a narrow segment. 

But Oldenburg was quick to put that number in context. All of the initial flows came through self-directed accounts, because the fund had not yet been made available on the advisory platform.

She noted that the bank has announced a 2–4% crypto allocation recommendation, and that even with that guidance in place, take-up through advisors has been slow. The product, she reminded the audience, has been on the market for less than a year.

To bridge that gap, Morgan Stanley is working from the inside out. Oldenburg said the firm is rolling out internal training so that financial advisors can speak to clients on bitcoin with confidence, and that her team spends “hour after hour after hour” on the phone walking clients through models and allocation frameworks. 

She said the bank designs products for clients with different needs and wants its platform to cover each of those needs, including clients who want a direct ETP wrapper, and that spot crypto trading is coming for those on the wealth management side.

On custodians, Oldenburg acknowledged the complexity of the decision. The market has no shortage of providers, and choosing among them was not straightforward, which led the firm to work with more than one. Morgan Stanley ultimately tapped Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians for MSBT.

When the conversation turned to high-beta bitcoin plays, Oldenburg called Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led company formerly known as MicroStrategy, “a good friend of Morgan Stanley,” and said the bank has worked alongside it through its evolution. 

She said most of the exposure in that vehicle so far is coming from retail and that “digital credit” as a category will take time to develop.

Morgan Stanley buying bitcoin is “not out of the question”

On the question of banks holding bitcoin on their balance sheets, Oldenburg said it is “not out of the question” if regulatory progress continues, but was measured in framing it. 

The U.S. needs greater alignment among its financial regulators, she said, and for a global firm like Morgan Stanley, the picture is more complex still — each jurisdiction comes with its own framework.

She closed where she began: on the need for research with reach. The market has commentators and personalities that investors trust and follow, she said, and the work ahead is to bring that kind of accessible, grounded analysis into the mainstream. 

“We are still so early on this journey,” she said. “So little allocation. It’s still really early.”

This post Morgan Stanley Executive on Bitcoin: ‘We Are Still So Early on This Journey’ first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin, WikiLeaks, and a Film the Streamers Wouldn’t Touch: Jack Dorsey and Eugene Jarecki Make Their Case

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki and tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey took the stage Wednesday to discuss The Six Billion Dollar Man, Jarecki’s documentary on Julian Assange, and the role the bitcoin community may play in getting it to the public — a conversation that stretched from censorship and surveillance to Satoshi Nakamoto and the original principles of the internet.

Dorsey joined the panel virtually. The setting itself carried weight: Jarecki told the crowd that the casino sitting close to where he stood had ties to the private security firm that spied on Assange while he lived inside London’s Ecuadorian Embassy — a revelation the documentary places at the center of its surveillance narrative.

Dorsey: Bitcoin embodies a gatekeeper-free, open network

Jarecki said he went to Dorsey first for money. He needed help distributing a film that, despite premiering at Cannes and earning recognition on the festival circuit, found no takers among major streaming platforms. Dorsey shifted the conversation. 

Rather than write a check, he told Jarecki that the bitcoin community represented something larger than a funding source — a constituency built around the same principles Assange had fought to defend.

“Bitcoin is an open protocol for money transmission,” Dorsey said. “It routes around the gatekeepers — Visa, Mastercard, the banks.” 

He described the community as one that views Assange as a hero, someone who stood for the idea that information should remain free and open, values he traced back to the founding culture of the internet itself.

Dorsey pointed to 2011 as a proof of concept. After financial institutions cut off WikiLeaks from donation channels under pressure from the U.S. government, bitcoin stepped in as the only payment rail that could not be blocked.

He called WikiLeaks adopting bitcoin out of necessity one of the most significant moments in the protocol’s early history — not because it was planned, but because it revealed an immediate, real-world use case under conditions of state pressure.

He then drew a line between Assange and Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin. Dorsey said what matters most about bitcoin is that its founder walked away. He called that exit a selfless act — one that made the network founderless, and therefore resistant to the kind of pressure that governments and institutions can apply when a single person stands at the center of a project. 

He placed Assange and Edward Snowden in the same category: people who trusted the technology they used, put their lives at risk for principles larger than themselves, and paid for it.

Jarecki said making the film carried its own risks. While shooting in Russia, he said his crew felt they were being followed and monitored — a layer of pressure that shaped the production from the inside. He described the mutual regard between Assange and Snowden, two figures who understood each other’s positions with precision, as one of the documentary’s most striking undercurrents.

A pay-per-view watch party in less than 60 days

The film’s distribution model is the most unusual element of the project. Dorsey proposed a global private pay-per-view watch party as an alternative to the traditional release pipeline. Ticket buyers at thesixbilliondollarman.com receive a credit line on the film itself, turning the audience into participants in the project rather than passive consumers. 

Jarecki framed it as a test of whether a community organized around open financial infrastructure could do what media gatekeepers would not — get a film about press freedom in front of the people who need to see it.

Dorsey said the website and the viewing model offer a way to crowdfund and bring the community together around a shared cause. 

At the panel, Jarecki showed never-before-seen clips from the documentary — behind-the-scenes footage that gave the audience a direct look at material that has not circulated publicly.

Jarecki and Dorsey are betting that the bitcoin community, which absorbed that argument in 2011 when it mattered most, will carry the film where the streaming industry declined to go.

This post Bitcoin, WikiLeaks, and a Film the Streamers Wouldn’t Touch: Jack Dorsey and Eugene Jarecki Make Their Case first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Eric Trump, John Koudounis Call Bitcoin a Global Reserve Asset, Float $1M Price Target

At Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas, Eric Trump and Calamos Investments CEO John Koudounis sat down with Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas for a panel that covered bitcoin’s maturation from speculative instrument to global reserve contender. 

The conversation ranged across institutional adoption, government debanking, currency debasement, and the challenge of winning over ordinary investors who still view bitcoin as too risky, too complex, or both. 

It was a panel that reflected how much the room has changed — a mix of long-time bitcoin believers and fresh institutional money that, a decade ago, would have dismissed this gathering entirely.

Trump: Bitcoin is a sticky, limited supply asset

Trump opened on a structural theme, arguing that bitcoin has become “sticky.” The U.S. government now holds approximately 300,000 bitcoin and will not sell, he said, a claim consistent with the creation of a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve. 

Corporate treasury buyers like Strategy and Metaplanet, which surpassed 40,000 bitcoin in holdings by the end of the first quarter of 2026, are doing the same. The world’s largest financial platforms — Trump named Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley — have also moved in. 

American Bitcoin, the company Trump co-founded, is mining bitcoin and holding every coin rather than selling. 

“We are compressing bitcoin,” Trump said. “There is a limited supply.”

The argument, in essence, is that the natural sellers are leaving the market while a new class of permanent holders takes their place.

Koudounis put the bitcoin supply compression argument in the context of a broader capital shift. He cited research projecting that 124 trillion dollars in wealth will transfer across generations through 2048, and said the 60 billion dollars that have moved into spot bitcoin ETFs so far represent a fraction of what is coming. 

For context, 60 billion dollars is roughly the size of a mid-tier U.S. asset manager’s total book. Set against a 124 trillion dollar transfer of accumulated Boomer wealth to Millennial and Gen Z inheritors who are far more comfortable with digital assets, it reads as a starting line.

Koudounis told the audience that the institutional conversation has already moved on. “The question used to be, ‘Are you buying bitcoin?'” he said. “Now it’s, ‘What percent are you allocating?'”

And his conclusion on what full institutional entry means for the asset: “Once institutions get involved, it’s game over.”

How can bitcoin attract retail clients?  

Balchunas pressed both men on the retail challenge, asking how they would sell bitcoin to his mother — a stand-in for the generation of older investors who remain nervous about volatility and complexity. It is a question the industry has never fully answered. 

Bitcoin’s price history, with its 80% drawdowns and euphoric recoveries, is not a comfortable pitch to someone managing a fixed retirement income. 

In response to this quandary, Koudounis said that Calamos has built a line of protected bitcoin ETFs that cap downside and smooth returns, turning a perceived deterrent into a feature for conservative investors who want exposure without the full ride. 

The goal, he said, is to add bitcoin exposure to products that already feel familiar to traditional investors. 

Trump’s answer to the same question was more direct. Fixed income, he argued, is not a genuine alternative at current yields. 

“Do yourself a favor, go invest in fixed income at 4%,” he said. “I’ll invest in bitcoin. I’ll ride out the volatility and we’ll see who wins that equation in a 10-year period of time.” 

He claimed BTC has averaged roughly 70% annual growth per year over the past decade and called it “a better gold,” adding that “every country in this world needs it.”

The macro case Trump made was not only about returns. He pointed to currency weakness and geopolitical instability — citing Iran specifically — as reasons traditional store-of-value assets are under pressure, and argued that BTC’s ability to transfer value across borders without a bank intermediary is a feature that becomes more valuable the more fragile existing systems look.

Currency debasement, he said, is real and ongoing, and bitcoin is designed to resist it. “Would you rather have the euro,” he asked, “or would you rather have bitcoin, an asset that’s grown at 70% a year on average, year over year for the last decade? It’s not even close.”

Koudounis: Banks can ‘debank’ you at any time

On the question of why he became an advocate at all, Trump’s answer was personal. He described how major banks shut down hundreds of Trump Organization accounts — covering buildings, golf courses, and restaurants — following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

JPMorgan has since confirmed it closed those accounts. Trump and the Trump Organization later filed suit against Capital One over similar closures.

“They threw us away like dogs,” Trump said on stage. 

The debanking experience, combined with what he described as slow, friction-heavy bank wire transfers, pushed him toward bitcoin’s censorship-resistant architecture. “That’s why I advocate like hell for this industry,” he said. 

On usability, Trump conceded that early crypto technology was clunky, but said banks entering the space will be the force that finally makes the experience simple.

“The industry will grow,” he said, “when the user experience is simple and easy and not torturous.”

Koudounis broadened the debanking argument beyond the Trumps. He drew on personal history, recounting Greece’s 2015 debt crisis, when the government imposed daily withdrawal limits on bank accounts that lasted roughly four years before capital controls were fully lifted. 

Citizens woke up one day to find the state had placed a ceiling on how much of their own money they could access. 

“You don’t have to be the Trumps to be targeted by banks,” Koudounis said. “This can happen to anybody. You, me, any of us.” 

Banks told you to stay away, then ‘snuck into’ bitcoin

Koudounis then turned the spotlight on the financial industry’s own behavior. While banks spent years publicly dismissing BTC and warning customers away from it, they were constructing the infrastructure to invest in it out of sight. 

“Banks got the clue,” he said, and delivered a pointed summary to the crowd: “You guys won.”

Trump closed with three statements that drew the loudest reaction of the panel. He called government spending “dangerous” and pointed to a federal investigation that found some government spending to be fraudulent, citing it as evidence for why a transparent, programmable, decentralized form of money has real-world value beyond trading.

If fraud of that scale is hard to eliminate in the best-administered country on earth, he argued, it is a structural problem that BTC’s transparent ledger is built to address. He acknowledged the macro backdrop has been rough for holders over the past three months but told the audience to stay the course.

And then he closed his remarks in plain terms: “I have absolute conviction that bitcoin is going to hit one million dollars… I’ve never been more bullish on this asset class in my life.”

This post Eric Trump, John Koudounis Call Bitcoin a Global Reserve Asset, Float $1M Price Target first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Libra launched in 2019, rebranded to Diem, and sold its blockchain assets to Silvergate Bank in 2022, three years of work that ended when regulators pushed back, and bank partners withdrew.

On Apr. 29, Meta announced USDC payouts to eligible creators through compatible crypto wallets on Solana and Polygon, starting with selected creators in Colombia and the Philippines.

Meta is plugging creator payouts into dollar-stable rails that Stripe, Circle, and others have spent years building. The current rollout asks eligible creators to connect a compatible wallet and receive USDC directly from Meta's creator payout system.

Goldman Sachs pegged the creator economy at roughly $250 billion in 2023 and projected it could reach $480 billion by 2027, spanning roughly 50 million creators whose income flows from brand deals, platform ad revenue shares, subscriptions, tips, and direct payments.

Goldman found that brand deals account for about 70% of creators' revenue, meaning most creator income flows through business-to-creator payment pipelines.

A 10% slice of a $250 billion creator economy represents $25 billion annually, roughly $2.1 billion per month, flowing over stablecoin rails. By 2027, 10% of Goldman's projected $480 billion market puts that figure at $48 billion annually, or $4 billion per month.

These TAM scenarios are pegged to the broader creator economy's total payment flow and calibrate the scale of what this pilot could open up at modest penetration rates.

According to a BIS report, payment-related stablecoin flows in 2025 reached roughly $390 billion. The amount is distinct from the $35 trillion in total on-chain stablecoin volumes, most of which are for trading and settlement.

A $25 billion to $48 billion annual creator economy flow would equal between 6.4% and 12.3% of all current real economy stablecoin payments, large enough to visibly move the real-payments share of stablecoin activity if adoption materializes.

Why the infrastructure is ready

The Libra window closed partly because stablecoin infrastructure did not exist at scale.

Stripe now explicitly markets stablecoin payouts as practical for creators, freelancers, and remote teams, offering USDC on networks including Solana and Polygon, the same chains Meta chose, with KYC/AML onboarding and reach into more than 60 countries.

Stripe says stablecoin cross-border payments settle in minutes. Businesses in 101 countries previously unsupported by Stripe Treasury can now hold dollar-denominated balances and move money across stablecoin rails.

A platform that runs USDC payouts can reach a creator in Manila or Bogotá faster and with less friction than a traditional wire transfer, while settling the transaction in dollars.

The choice of Colombia and the Philippines traces to that logic, since both markets combine meaningful creator economies with real-world friction in cross-border payouts and demonstrated appetite for dollar-denominated savings.

Because roughly 98% of stablecoins are dollar-denominated, any meaningful expansion of creator payouts over these rails would effectively move more internet income onto dollar infrastructure. This is digital dollarization of the internet labor market, settling cross-border creator income in dollars with fewer intermediaries between the payer and the creator.

Meta's own help page language walks creators through compatible wallets, blockchain network choices, and security steps, far from the interface a typical brand-deal creator would navigate without guidance.

Stripe flags the same friction, noting that assets sent across incompatible chains can vanish without recourse, and apparent low transaction costs can rise once on-ramps, off-ramps, compliance overhead, and local exchange conversion are factored in.

The BIS frames the macro version of that same problem when noting that out of the $35 trillion in total stablecoin volumes in 2025, only $390 billion traced to real-economy payments.

Paths for stablecoins in the creator economy

In the bull case, wallet abstraction advances quickly enough that creators receive USDC the way they receive Venmo payments, while off-ramps in key markets become cheap and instant.

In that setup, the 10% scenario looks conservative. Once a major platform normalizes stablecoin payouts, gig platforms, affiliate networks, brand deal intermediaries, and subscription tools all have an incentive to offer the same option.

Creator payments would become one of the first large non-trading stablecoin categories, and the real-payments share of stablecoin activity would grow in a way that cannot be explained by crypto-native volume alone.

In the bear case, wallet confusion and off-ramp friction keep crypto-native adoption at bay. Meta's pilot stays a niche feature for creators who already hold digital assets or who work in corridors where payout speed and dollar access justify the friction of managing a wallet.

The BIS's $390 billion real-payments estimate is the best evidence for that path. The rails exist, but mainstream adoption has not kept pace with the infrastructure behind them.

Between those two outcomes, the deciding variable is abstraction. If the wallet disappears from the user experience, adoption follows commerce, and the creator economy becomes a real-world stress test for stablecoins.

If creators have to manage private keys and choose networks, adoption stays inside the existing crypto base, and Meta's pilot becomes a footnote.

The post Meta’s USDC pilot shows how stablecoins could capture billions in creator payouts appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The old Bitcoin playbook ran on the simple logic that when global M2 expands, capital flows into risk assets, and Bitcoin captures a disproportionate share.

That relationship powered the 2020-2021 bull market, and crypto Twitter spent the better part of 2024 charting M2 overlays as proof that the next leg was imminent.

Now, the global M2 has been expanding while Bitcoin has continued to underperform.

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Bitcoin breaks from M2 money supply as dollar strength overrides global cash growth

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Apr 1, 2026 · Gino Matos

March 2026 US M2 printed at nearly $22.7 trillion, up 4.6% year over year, and Bitcoin spent much of the first quarter unable to hold above $76,000, a level that Real Vision chief crypto analyst Jamie Coutts identified as key resistance on CryptoQuant's Unbiased podcast.

Coutts' diagnosis was that the transmission mechanism had changed, as the kind of liquidity now determines if the expansion actually reaches financial assets.

In the post-2008 QE era, the Federal Reserve bought assets directly, flooding the system with bank reserves that had nowhere to go but into equities, credit, and eventually crypto.

Today, Treasury issuance, reserve management, cash balance swings, and bank credit creation have replaced the central bank's balance-sheet firehose.

The plumbing problem

The US public debt closed the fourth quarter of 2025 at over $38.5 trillion, up 6.3% year over year. Meanwhile, US M2 grew by 4.6% over the same period.

Based on the most basic numbers available, debt is outpacing broad money by nearly two percentage points annually. The debt stock now equals roughly 1.70x total M2, a ratio with no modern precedent in a supposedly accommodative monetary environment.

The Treasury's own borrowing estimates called for $574 billion in net marketable debt in the January-March 2026 quarter and another $109 billion in April-June, while maintaining a cash balance above $1 trillion.

The Treasury General Account, which sits at the Federal Reserve, held roughly $1 trillion in the latest H.4.1 data. Cash parked at the Fed drains reserves from the banking system even as M2 continues to tick up.

Reserve balances fell to about $2.9 trillion in the Fed's Apr. 22 release, down approximately $355 billion from a year earlier.

Broad money expands on paper while the plumbing that actually moves reserves into financial markets tightens at the margin.

Bank credit is still expanding, with commercial loans and leases reaching roughly $13.7 trillion by mid-April, while that credit appears to be flowing into real-economy absorption.

At the Apr. 29 FOMC meeting, the policy rate was held at 3.5%-3.75%, and total assets stayed around $6.7 trillion. Officials cited inflation as their primary restraint, with no balance sheet expansion on the agenda.

Why the old chart broke

Coutts argued on the podcast that Bitcoin's underperformance reflects plumbing friction.

The selloff from late 2024 into early 2025 drew on tightening reserve conditions in the fourth quarter, Treasury dynamics tied to a government shutdown, derivatives-driven deleveraging, and the expanding role of ETF and derivatives markets in Bitcoin's price structure.

None of those forces appear in a global M2 overlay, as they are features of a financial system in which Treasury supply, reserve management, and funding conditions have become the real battleground.

Gold offers the clearest cross-market confirmation. Central banks bought 244 tonnes of gold in the first quarter, up 3% year over year, with total gold demand reaching 1,231 tonnes and a record $193 billion by value, per the World Gold Council.

Official institutions are hedging sovereign debt credibility at scale, but they are doing it through gold, an asset central banks can legally hold.

The IMF's latest Fiscal Monitor found that global public debt now looks set to reach 100% of GDP by 2029, with the US and China driving most of the acceleration.

The Congressional Budget Office projects a $1.9 trillion federal deficit in FY2026 and debt held by the public expanding from 101% of GDP to 120% by 2036, a structural supply overhang that will continue to compete with risk appetite for the same pool of reserves and capital.

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Two outcomes

In the bull case, inflation cools toward the Fed's projected path, the Treasury cash balance declines, reserves rebuild, and bank credit continues to expand without a growth scare.

In that setup, the “liquidity is still expanding” thesis regains traction. Bitcoin can re-rate quickly because the debt-to-liquidity mismatch prevents the tightening of financial conditions at the margin.
Coutts treated the $60,000 zone as a value floor and put the odds that the cycle low is already in at better than 50-50.

In the bear case, debt issuance stays heavy, inflation stays sticky, Treasury funding strain persists, and the Fed cannot ease without reigniting the inflation it has spent two years suppressing.

Bitcoin then behaves less like a monetary hedge and more like a high-beta risk asset exposed to rates, funding conditions, and periodic deleveraging.

The April flash PMI from S&P Global already described growth running close to a 1% annualized pace. This fragile expansion does not need to tip into recession to generate the kind of funding shocks that hit Bitcoin hardest.

Coutts separates the long-term monetary case for Bitcoin from the medium-term price behavior that reserve flows actually drive.

In a regime where debt outpaces broad money, where the Fed manages from a restrictive floor, where Treasury cash balances drain reserves even as M2 ticks up, the operative question for investors is whether that expansion is running fast enough to absorb debt, reserves, and Treasury supply simultaneously.

Until debt and reserve conditions turn decisively in Bitcoin's favor, the asset will keep delivering the sharp drawdowns and frustrating consolidations that define a market caught between a constructive long-run thesis and a tighter-than-expected short-run funding environment.

The post Bitcoin’s next risk is hiding in the gap between debt and liquidity appeared first on CryptoSlate.

This month, Israel and Pakistan supplied a quieter test for crypto than the one playing out in US capital markets. What if the more important 2026 shift is happening where digital assets meet local money and bank accounts?

Israeli crypto firm Bits of Gold said Israel's Capital Market Authority approved the issuance and distribution of BILS, a shekel-pegged stablecoin, after a two-year pilot. Days earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan issued BPRD Circular Letter No. 10 of 2026, replacing its 2018 virtual-currency prohibition.

The Pakistan circular allows regulated entities to open bank accounts for PVARA NOC or licensed VASPs and their customers under defined compliance conditions.

Those two moves sit far from the US spot ETF cycle. Yet they point to the operational layer that decides whether crypto becomes more than an investment wrapper. The US has supplied legitimacy, liquidity, and a powerful digital-dollar debate.

Other jurisdictions are testing a different operating layer: whether crypto can connect to local money, bank accounts, merchant checkout, and enforceable market rules.

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Perhaps we need to rethink how global adoption should be evaluated. A Bitcoin ETF lets investors buy exposure. A regulated shekel stablecoin lets users hold a domestic currency on-chain.

A central bank circular that lets licensed crypto firms open accounts gives the sector a bridge back into supervised banking. The first validates an asset class. The second and third test whether crypto can become usable financial infrastructure.

The test remains early. BILS still needs proof of issuance and usage. Pakistan still needs licensed VASPs with actual bank relationships. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s new stablecoin licensees still need business launches, while the UAE, South Korea, Japan, the UK, and the EU are each testing different parts of the same adoption stack: payment tokens, merchant checkout, market conduct, authorization, and supervisory rules.

The UAE still needs clearer public mapping between dirham-token announcements and Central Bank register entries. Still, the pattern is becoming harder to dismiss: in 2026, the practical crypto work is increasingly about where digital assets touch money, banks, merchants, and settlement systems.

Local money and bank access

Bits of Gold says the approved BILS project is a shekel-pegged stablecoin designed initially on Solana, with Fireblocks, QEDIT, EY, and the Solana Foundation involved in the pilot.

The policy signal is the local-currency component. BILS brings the shekel into an on-chain market still dominated by dollar stablecoins and asks whether a national currency can gain a programmable version without ceding the entire payments layer to USD tokens.

That is monetary-sovereignty. Dollar stablecoins have become the working unit of much of crypto's settlement activity.

A shekel token, if issuance and adoption follow approval, gives Israel a way to test domestic-currency rails inside that same infrastructure. The result would be measured less by market attention and more by whether wallets, exchanges, payment firms, and regulated counterparties find a reason to use it.

Pakistan supplies the banking half of the opening. The State Bank of Pakistan circular is concrete because it replaces FE Circular No. 3 of 2018 and permits SBP-regulated entities to open accounts for PVARA NOC or licensed VASPs and their customers.

The circular also ties access to bank controls, documentation, monitoring, customer-risk checks, and compliance with Pakistan's virtual-asset framework.

That changes the operating surface for licensed crypto firms. Bank accounts are basic financial plumbing. They determine whether a regulated VASP can hold client money, reconcile flows, satisfy due diligence, and bring activity into monitored channels.

For a market such as Pakistan, which Chainalysis ranks among leading crypto adoption countries, banking access can decide whether usage remains informal or moves into traceable institutional structures.

Hong Kong offers a licensing comparator for the same rails-first pattern. On April 10, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted stablecoin issuer licenses to Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

The HKMA register lists both with effective dates of April 10, 2026. That moves the jurisdiction from policy design to named licensed issuers, while leaving the business-launch and user-adoption tests ahead.

The active map is straightforward*:

* These focus on 2026. Brazil, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines are also moving pieces of crypto into regulated financial channels, from VASP licensing and stablecoin rules to tokenized settlement, tourist payments, and bank-supervised activity.

Rulebooks are becoming operating layers

The same movement shows up in conduct rules. Japan's Financial Services Agency has published materials pointing toward a shift from Payment Services Act treatment to Financial Instruments and Exchange Act-style oversight for crypto-assets.

The working-group report recommends information provision, crypto-asset service-provider controls, market-abuse rules, insider-trading rules, SESC powers, and stronger user protection. The FSA's weekly review also notes draft Acts submitted to the Diet tied to FIEA and PSA amendments.

Japan's signal is about classification and conduct. Crypto assets are being pulled toward a framework where disclosure, surveillance, and misconduct rules shape participation. That makes access conditional on behavior, supervision, and accountability.

It also shows why regulatory design can be a form of infrastructure. Markets use law as a routing layer when participants need to know who can list assets, who can custody them, who can market them, and which forms of trading behavior create liability.

The UK is building a similar operating layer with a longer runway. The FCA says firms that want to carry on new regulated cryptoasset activities can apply from Sept. 30, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027.

The new regime is expected to come into force on Oct. 25, 2027. A related consultation notice shows the regulator moving through authorization, supervision, consumer-duty, custody, prudential, and market-abuse work.

Europe already has the broader framework in place. ESMA says MiCA establishes uniform rules for crypto-assets covering transparency, disclosure, authorization, supervision, consumer information, market integrity, and financial stability.

Our broader global regulatory map has already shown regulation moving as a multi-market process. The 2026 layer adds a sharper point: rulebooks are starting to decide how crypto products enter ordinary financial channels.

The UAE adds a payment-token example, but scope remains the constraint. The Central Bank's Payment Token Services Regulation provides the rulebook for payment-token activity, while a February CBUAE register provides a public check on licensed entities.

Separately, an ADX-hosted release says IHC, Sirius, and FAB received CBUAE approval to launch the dirham-backed DDSC on ADI Chain for institutional payments, settlement, treasury, and trade flows.

For now, the evidence points to a regulated payment-token framework and institutional settlement ambition; broad retail usage would need separate evidence.

South Korea adds a merchant layer. Crypto.com and KG Inicis said in March that they would integrate Crypto.com Pay across KG Inicis's merchant network for foreign travelers and K-commerce users, with merchants able to receive fiat or digital assets.

South Korea's K Bank partnership with Ripple points to another rail where bank and payments activity intersects with crypto. Both examples still need transaction data.

Their relevance is that they move the adoption debate toward checkout, settlement, remittance, and consumer-facing access.

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Usage is the harder test

The US-centered interpretation remains powerful because the numbers are large. On April 29, total crypto market capitalization stood near $2.59 trillion, with Bitcoin around $1.56 trillion.

Dollar stablecoins still dominate the working liquidity layer, with Tether‘s 24-hour volume near $111.50 billion and USDC near $47.84 billion.

Those figures explain why US policy and dollar rails keep pulling attention. The dollar stablecoin system is already large. US capital markets supply legitimacy at scale.

The CLARITY Act stablecoin fight shows that the US debate is also about who captures the economics of digital dollars. That benchmark remains essential, because global crypto infrastructure still depends heavily on dollar liquidity.

Usage data complicates that benchmark. Chainalysis said adjusted stablecoin economic volume reached $28 trillion in 2025, with a baseline projection of $719 trillion by 2035 and a catalyst scenario approaching $1.5 quadrillion.

As projections, those figures are scenario math rather than proof of future payment flows. Their direction changes the operating question: stablecoins are being evaluated as payments infrastructure, treasury infrastructure, and settlement infrastructure, alongside their role as trading collateral.

The Chainalysis adoption work shows why emerging markets sit near the center of that debate. It ranked India first, followed by the US, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Brazil, and described adoption as broad-based across income brackets.

It also tied durable adoption to on-ramps, regulatory clarity, and financial and digital infrastructure. Those are the variables being tested by Pakistan's banking circular and by local-currency stablecoin efforts such as BILS.

The IMF adds the risk side. Its March paper on stablecoin inflows and FX spillovers finds that stablecoin flows can affect parity deviations, local currency depreciation, dollar premia, and financial stability.

Put simply, stablecoins become more consequential once they start behaving like a segment of the FX market.

That creates live policy tension. Local-currency stablecoins can help keep domestic units relevant in on-chain finance. Banking access can pull VASPs into monitored channels.

Payment integrations can move crypto from portfolio exposure to checkout and settlement. Each rail also creates new supervisory demands around reserves, redemption, money laundering controls, market abuse, and currency pressure.

The evidence points to a specific split. US ETFs and Wall Street adoption have helped financialize crypto by improving access to exposure. The harder adoption test is happening where regulators decide whether crypto can touch local money, bank accounts, merchants, and FX markets.

That test is still early. BILS needs issuance and usage. Pakistan needs licensed VASPs operating through bank accounts. Hong Kong's new licensees need launches. Japan, the UK, and the EU need rules that work under market stress.

The UAE needs clean issuer and register mapping. South Korea needs merchant activity beyond announcements.

If those signals appear, the global crypto map will look less like a US-led investment-product cycle and more like a set of regional financial systems absorbing crypto under local rules. If they fail to appear, the dollar and US capital markets will keep doing most of the work.

The next test is usage, measured against attention.

The post Everyone is watching America’s crypto boom but Israel and Pakistan may be showing what comes next appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The 10 largest AI stocks now make up about 41% of the S&P 500, according to a BofA Global Research chart circulated online.

That puts the AI basket at the same concentration level that tech and telecom reached around the dot-com peak. The BofA chart put the Nifty Fifty at 40% in the 1970s and Japan at 44% in the late 1980s.

The comparison turns a stock-market concentration warning into a stress test for a corner of crypto that has spent the past year selling investors a new identity.

The market concentration is the stress trigger. Miner disclosures and mining reports supply the exposure map.

Public Bitcoin miners increasingly trade as hybrid infrastructure companies with BTC exposure. Many have signed AI or high-performance computing contracts, raised capital for denser data centers, converted premium power sites, or shifted investor attention toward long-term lease economics.

If the AI infrastructure premium fades, those companies face a different kind of pressure. The risk moves from hashprice alone into debt, contract durability, construction execution, and equity multiples.

At the same time, Bitcoin gets a second-order test. A weaker AI buildout could ease the scramble for power, rack space, interconnections, cooling equipment, and GPUs.

That would hurt miners whose new valuations depend on AI growth, while possibly helping remaining miners if scarce infrastructure becomes easier to secure.

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Miners Have Repriced Themselves Around AI

The miner pivot is now measurable in revenue forecasts. A projected revenue mix cited by S&P Global Market Intelligence showed listed miners, including IREN, Riot Platforms, Core Scientific, HIVE, Cipher, and TeraWulf, shifting into AI and HPC workloads.

The projected revenue mix is already large enough to change how these companies are assessed.

Visible Alpha expected HPC to account for 71% of 2026 revenue at IREN and Core Scientific, 70% at TeraWulf, 34% at Cipher, 15% at HIVE, and 13% at Riot.

That spread shows the sector has split into cohorts. Some miners are becoming data-center operators with Bitcoin exposure.

Others are preserving mining as the core business while keeping AI optionality at sites that have power and grid access.

The scale shows up in miner economics. Public miners have announced more than $70 billion in aggregate AI/HPC contracts, according to CoinShares.

The firm also said WULF, Core Scientific, Cipher, and Hut 8 are effectively becoming data-center operators that still mine Bitcoin.

That changes the market link from an AI stock selloff. A falling AI multiple would flow through miner equities because investors have assigned value to the HPC pipeline.

Lower AI demand would also pressure the financing case for projects built around long-duration tenants, higher-density cooling, and premium grid positions.

Mining margins would still depend on BTC price and difficulty, but the equity case would have another variable.

The leverage data points in the same direction. CoinShares said several miners had taken on large debt loads for AI buildouts, including $3.7 billion in convertible notes at IREN, $5.7 billion in total debt at WULF, and $1.7 billion in senior secured notes issued by Cipher.

CryptoSlate has separately tracked how miners have been funding the AI pivot with debt while selling BTC. Put simply, the AI pivot has added a credit cycle to a business that already lived with a Bitcoin cycle.

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The table below mixes 2026 revenue estimates, 2025 company disclosures, and contract updates, so each row signals exposure across different time horizons.

Cipher's rebrand toward HPC adds another example of the shift. TeraWulf's Fluidstack expansion shows how miners have paired large power portfolios with AI tenants and credit support.

The Risk Is In The Sites, Contracts, And Capital Stack

Core Scientific is the clearest example of the shift from mining sensitivity to infrastructure execution. In its fourth-quarter 2025 results, the company said it had energized about 350 MW under its CoreWeave contract and remained on track to deliver about 590 MW by early 2027.

It also reported that Q4 colocation revenue rose to $31.3 million from $8.5 million a year earlier, while digital asset self-mining revenue fell to $42.2 million from $79.9 million.

That is the pivot in operating form. Power and buildings once tied mainly to Bitcoin production are being monetized through colocation.

Core Scientific also said $226.2 million of its $279.2 million in fourth-quarter capital expenditures was funded by CoreWeave under existing agreements. That customer funding reduces some capital strain, but it also shows how deeply the buildout depends on an AI tenant's growth path.

The conversion also introduces accounting complexity. Core Scientific said it was restating prior financial statements after identifying improper capitalization of assets committed to demolition during facility conversion from mining to HPC colocation infrastructure.

The issue was company-specific, but it illustrates a broader point. Moving from mining halls to high-density AI infrastructure goes beyond marketing language.

Core Scientific's canceled CoreWeave merger agreement shows that AI-linked value already sits inside shareholder decisions.

CoreWeave's 2025 Form 10-K adds counterparty context, including large contracted power commitments and disclosed risks tied to AI demand.

The miner exposure is, therefore, linked to both site delivery and the financial health of the AI cloud ecosystem.

TeraWulf shows the same shift at a larger contracted scale. In its full-year 2025 results, the company reported long-term data center lease agreements totaling 522 critical IT MW, more than $12.8 billion in long-term credit-enhanced customer contracts, and $6.5 billion in long-term financings.

It said HPC hosting had become its primary growth engine while it continued to operate legacy mining infrastructure opportunistically.

CoinShares reported that WULF mined 262 BTC in Q4 alongside $9.7 million in HPC lease revenue. The same report said WULF's cost-per-BTC figures were distorted by the company's transition, including interest, SG&A, and depreciation linked to the new infrastructure base.

That distinction is crucial. Once a miner becomes an AI infrastructure company, per-BTC cost metrics can distort the business unless the balance sheet is separated from the rest of the mining fleet.

Riot's Corsicana decision shows how AI optionality can alter Bitcoin's capacity path before a final AI contract even exists. The company's Corsicana update said it was evaluating AI/HPC uses for about 600 MW of remaining power capacity, halting a previously announced 600 MW Phase II Bitcoin mining expansion, and cutting expected year-end 2025 self-mining capacity from 46.7 EH/s to 38.4 EH/s.

IREN adds a different exposure type. Its October 2025 AI cloud update targeted more than $500 million in annualized AI cloud revenue from 23,000 GPUs by the end of Q1 2026, with 11,000 GPUs contracted for about $225 million of ARR on average two-year terms.

That creates a faster repricing channel than long-term colocation. GPU cloud economics can shift as hardware supply, utilization, and customer budgets change.

Power Scarcity Sets Bitcoin's Side Of The Trade

The Bitcoin side of the trade is less direct. A weaker AI infrastructure cycle would first pressure AI-exposed miners through equity valuation, funding costs, and contract expectations.

Bitcoin's network would feel the change through the industrial base that competes for the same power and sites.

The AI-mining link is physical. Bitcoin mining remains the larger aggregate revenue pool in key BTC price scenarios, while AI has become an immediate economic risk to the network's industrial security base.

AI and mining compete for land, grid interconnections, substations, cooling design, financing, and management attention.

Energy demand from AI explains why the competition is durable. The IEA estimated that data centers consumed about 415 TWh of electricity in 2024 and projected that global data-center consumption would roughly double to 945 TWh by 2030 in its base case.

AI-driven accelerated servers account for a major share of the increase. Data centers can be built faster than power systems can add transmission, substations, and generation, which makes location and grid access valuable.

A North America data-center trends report adds the market bottleneck behind that argument. Low vacancy and high preleasing make power-ready capacity more valuable.

For miners, the scarce asset is often the energized site, with the ASIC fleet only one part of the stack.

As of press time, Bitcoin market data show BTC trading near $76,800, with a market cap of around $1.5 trillion, a current block reward of 3.125 BTC, and a network hashrate above 1.1 ZH/s.

CryptoSlate's aggregate market page shows Bitcoin's dominance at around 60% of the $2.6 trillion crypto market. Those figures put miner economics under pressure even before AI competition is considered.

BTC price, fees, difficulty, and energy costs still determine how much security Bitcoin can support.

A cooling AI cycle could ease one part of that pressure. If hyperscaler demand, GPU scarcity, or data-center preleasing weaken, miners that stayed closer to Bitcoin could find power sites and infrastructure less contested.

Difficulty could adjust if capacity exits mining, raising hashprice for remaining operators. That mechanism appears in CryptoSlate's analysis of miners as AI utilities.

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That relief has limits. The fee and cost picture keeps the upside qualified, with fees near zero and cost pressure near $80,000 per BTC.

Difficulty relief alone leaves weak miner economics unresolved. Long-term AI leases, customer-funded buildouts, interconnection agreements, equipment specialization, and site conversion costs also create lag.

An AI unwind would release capacity unevenly, and some of it may remain unusable for mining at attractive returns.

Two Outcomes Depend On AI Demand

The market risk signaled by the AI concentration chart leads to two different outcomes for miners.

In the first, AI demand holds. Public miners with high-quality power campuses keep signing HPC contracts because AI tenants can offer longer revenue visibility than Bitcoin mining.

Premium sites keep drifting toward AI, while mining concentrates around flexible power, demand response, stranded energy, and geographies where interruption is acceptable.

In that scenario, public miner equities become less reliable proxies for BTC because enterprise value comes from leases and data-center execution as much as mined Bitcoin.

In the second, AI infrastructure prices. The miners most exposed to AI growth face pressure through leverage, equity multiples, contract assumptions, and construction pipelines.

Debt raised for data-center buildouts becomes harder to carry if expected AI returns fall. GPU cloud contracts with shorter terms can reset faster.

Long-term colocation leases may offer more protection, although they also lock sites into a path that may take years to reverse.

Bitcoin's possible benefit sits downstream from that damage. The upside is a loosening of scarce inputs, lower competition for power, and a better hashprice environment for operators still focused on mining.

It is an industrial-security argument, with BTC price sitting outside the direct claim.

That is why the AI concentration chart belongs in a discussion of Bitcoin-miner balance sheets. The chart raises the possibility that the AI trade has become crowded.

The miner data shows which crypto companies have built around that trade. The unresolved test is whether those AI/HPC contracts remain durable enough to justify the shift, or whether the same infrastructure that pulled public miners away from Bitcoin becomes a source of stress.

For Bitcoin, the result would be mixed instead of clean. A repricing could weaken some of the best-capitalized public miners while making energy and data-center inputs less scarce for the miners that remain.

The next signal will come less from AI rhetoric than from financing terms, tenant delivery schedules, new power contracts, and hashprice. Those are the variables that will show whether miners bought a stronger business model or imported a second cycle into Bitcoin's security base.

The post Concentration of AI stocks inside S&P 500 hits dot-com bubble peak – and Bitcoin miners are now exposed appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin is trading near $76,600 after reversing from an earlier intraday push toward $78,000, while crude oil trades near $103 and the S&P 500 fell as the US stock market opened.

Before the US cash session, Bitcoin rose even as crude oil kept climbing, suggesting crypto-specific positioning was strong enough to resist the oil-inflation trade for part of the day.

After the open, the picture turned back toward equities. The chart below shows Bitcoin rolling over as the S&P 500 moved lower, while crude oil remained elevated.

That leaves two signals in tension: Bitcoin can trade independently of stocks while cash equities are closed, but US equity risk appetite can still pull it back once the main session begins.

Broader market data shows roughly $2.6 trillion in crypto market cap, about $122 billion in 24-hour volume, and Bitcoin dominance near 60%.

CryptoSlate's Bitcoin market page showed Bitcoin in the upper-$77,000s earlier today up about 1.6% over 24 hours, with market cap around $1.56 trillion. The latest chart shows why that intraday strength fell off: the US open turned the move from a simple oil-shock divergence into an equity follow-through test.

The open made equities the trigger

The first phase of the session weakened the simple April template that higher oil automatically means lower Bitcoin. Crude oil climbed through the $100 area, yet Bitcoin still moved toward $78,000 before US cash equities opened.

The second phase restored the equity branch of the trade. Once the S&P 500 fell at the open, Bitcoin slipped back toward the mid-$76,000s even as crude oil pushed higher.

Bitcoin showed it can resist the oil shock for part of a session. The same session also showed that the equity open can pull the asset back into the broader risk trade.

This is also consistent with prior CryptoSlate coverage. On Apr. 23, Bitcoin's drop below $78,000 looked more like an equity and risk-appetite impulse than a direct oil move, because crude was comparatively flat while the S&P 500 softened.

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Today's chart adds a sharper version of that setup. Oil is rising, Bitcoin initially resisted the pressure, and the S&P 500 open then became the event that pulled Bitcoin lower.

Oil still controls the outer boundary

The oil channel has already been built into Bitcoin's April setup. On Apr. 24, Bitcoin held near $78,000 as oil climbed past $100, turning the asset into a test of whether scarce-asset demand could survive a stronger dollar, higher real-yield pressure, and weaker liquidity conditions.

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A separate analysis of the global oil shock and the Fed said fuel, freight, and input costs can move from commodity screens into realized inflation.

That channel can keep setting rates and liquidity conditions even when Bitcoin finds a short-term bid.

The official inflation data keeps that risk concrete. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said March CPI rose 0.9% from February and 3.3% from a year earlier.

Energy rose 10.9% on the month, led by a 21.2% jump in gasoline. The New York Fed's March survey then showed year-ahead gas-price expectations at 9.4%, the highest reading since March 2022.

Energy-market structure adds another caveat. The Energy Information Administration described a wider Brent-WTI spread and disrupted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as part of the global crude-market backdrop. Crude stress can move from commodity pricing into inflation expectations, which keeps the Fed channel open.

The calendar concentrates that pressure. The Federal Reserve calendar places the Apr. 28-29 FOMC meeting directly over this cross-asset move.

The BEA schedule lists Q1 GDP and March Personal Income and Outlays for Apr. 30. That same late-April window had already been framed as a volatility cluster around options, oil, and the Fed.

The next policy and data prints can still decide whether the oil move becomes a persistent financial-conditions problem.

Flows are the offset, equities are the confirmation

The counterweight is demand. CoinShares' latest weekly report showed digital asset investment products taking in $1.2 billion, the fourth positive week in a row.

Bitcoin accounted for $933 million of that total. CoinShares also said the Apr. 28-29 FOMC decision was likely adding caution at the margin.

On Apr. 28, fund flows and spot demand were strong enough to rebuild the bid, but the Fed still had the next hard test.

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That helps explain the pre-open resilience. Bitcoin can rise even while crude oil stays elevated when fund demand, positioning, or crypto-specific liquidity is strong enough for a session. The post-open reversal shows why that alone is incomplete.

CME's E-mini S&P 500 futures remain a strong follow-up check for whether the equity branch supports or undermines the next Bitcoin move.

The Apr. 22 setup gave this move a useful threshold. It said Bitcoin holding flat or firming around $78,000 while oil stayed high would weaken the war-era template that higher oil automatically means lower Bitcoin.

So far today, Bitcoin met that test before the US equity open and then lost momentum once the S&P 500 turned lower.

A later Apr. 28 bond-market analysis placed the Bitcoin battleground around the $78,100 to $80,100 area.

Below that zone, sellers can argue that the rally is another failed attempt into resistance. Above it, flows have a better chance of turning the recent rebound into a durable demand signal.

CME FedWatch remains the live market-implied check on how rate expectations are moving through that test.

Two scenarios follow from the updated chart. In the flow-led case, crude oil stays elevated but does not accelerate, the S&P 500 stabilizes, and Bitcoin reclaims the upper-$77,000s before testing the $78,100 to $80,100 band.

In the macro-pressure case, crude keeps inflation expectations warm, Fed pricing moves against risk assets, the S&P 500 weakens, and Bitcoin remains below the upper-$77,000s. That would restore the familiar April sequence: oil pressure first, equity stress second, Bitcoin liquidity last.

Bitcoin ignored crude oil long enough to prove the oil shock is not the only intraday force. Once the US market opened, equities became the trigger that pulled Bitcoin back. The regime test now depends on whether flows can rebuild the bid while crude oil and the Fed keep pressure on risk assets.

The post Bitcoin surges alongside oil as BTC price finally decouples from the war narrative… until US markets opened appeared first on CryptoSlate.

As of April 30, 2026, the primary driver of market sentiment is the $2.44 billion net inflow into US spot Bitcoin ETFs. This figure nearly doubles March’s performance, suggesting that the "institutional winter" is over. Furthermore, the U.S. SEC has recently issued a statement clearing the path for decentralized user interfaces to operate without broker-dealer registration, a massive win for the DeFi sector.

Institutional Resurgence: The Bitcoin ETF Boom

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) have dominated the headlines. IBIT alone captured over 70% of the month's total inflows, bringing its total holdings to approximately 812,000 BTC.

• April Net Inflows: $2.44 Billion
• Total AUM for US Spot ETFs: ~$102 Billion
• Market Leader: BlackRock (IBIT) holding 49-62% of the ETF market share.

This structural shift indicates that large-scale capital is now absorbing supply faster than daily mining output, providing a strong floor for the Bitcoin price.

SEC Regulation: A Win for Decentralized Finance

In a surprising move this month, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a "no-action" stance regarding "Covered User Interface Providers." This allows software developers to offer interfaces for trading crypto asset securities without the burden of registering as traditional brokers, provided they do not exercise discretion over transactions.

This development is a significant milestone for the DeFi ecosystem, reducing the legal risks for developers of self-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges.

Altcoin Watch: Ethereum and Solana Market Trends

While Bitcoin leads, Ethereum is holding steady near $2,270. Despite a slight dip today, analyst sentiment remains bullish, with long-term Ethereum price predictions suggesting a climb toward $8,000–$10,000 as staking ETFs gain traction.

Meanwhile, Solana is making waves in the real-world utility space. South Korea’s Shinhan Card has begun testing stablecoin payments on the Solana network, highlighting the chain's growing dominance in the payments sector.

Comparison of Key Assets (April 30, 2026)

Global Impact: Expansion and Security

The crypto industry's reach continues to expand globally. The payments network Mesh recently announced a major expansion into the Asia-Pacific region after reaching a $1 billion unicorn valuation. On the security front, the FBI led a successful global operation, arresting 276 individuals involved in "pig butchering" scams, a move praised by the community for cleaning up the industry's reputation.

Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly preparing to launch stablecoin payouts for content creators across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. According to recent industry reports and internal leaks surfacing in April 2026, the social media giant is targeting the second half of 2026 for a rollout that leverages third-party infrastructure rather than a proprietary token.

Meta’s New Crypto Strategy: Distribution Over Issuance

Unlike the ill-fated Libra (Diem) project, Meta’s new approach is focused on being a "distribution channel." By integrating existing, regulated stablecoins—likely USDC—Meta aims to solve the high-cost friction of international creator payments.

This "arm's length" strategy allows Meta to avoid the regulatory hurdles that crushed its previous attempts to act as a currency issuer. Instead, the company has issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to external infrastructure firms to handle the heavy lifting of compliance and settlement.

Will Stripe be Part of Meta Crypto Payments?

The leading candidate for this partnership is Stripe, specifically utilizing its Bridge platform. This connection is bolstered by the fact that Stripe CEO Patrick Collison joined Meta’s board in 2025. Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion and its recent OCC approval for a national trust bank charter position it as the ideal bridge between Web2 social platforms and Web3 liquidity.

Why Will Meta Use Stablecoins as Crypto Payments?

For Meta, the primary motivation is the efficiency of the engagement flywheel. Currently, creators in emerging markets receiving small payouts (around $100) lose a significant percentage to wire fees and foreign exchange margins.

• Traditional Payouts: 1–3 business days with 3%–7% fees.
• Stablecoin Payouts: Near-instant settlement with estimated fees below 1%.

By lowering these barriers, Meta ensures that creators remain on its platforms rather than migrating to rivals like Telegram or X, which have already made strides in crypto-integrated payments.

Fed Rate Decision Today

Today, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release its third interest rate decision of the year. This specific meeting carries historic weight as it marks the final policy announcement and press conference for Jerome Powell before he concludes his tenure as Fed Chair.

What to Expect at 2 PM ET

Market participants are currently pricing in a near 99% certainty that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at the current target range of 3.50% to 3.75%. However, the "early query" for crypto investors isn't the rate itself, but the language used regarding inflation and the transition to incoming leadership.

• Announcement Time: 2:00 PM ET (Statement release)
• Press Conference: 2:30 PM ET (Jerome Powell’s final Q&A)
• Crypto Context: Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $77,200, showing a "wait-and-see" approach.

Why the Fed Announcement Matters for Crypto Today

Cryptocurrencies are widely categorized as "risk-on" assets. Their prices are heavily influenced by global liquidity conditions, which are directly controlled by the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

When the Fed keeps rates high, borrowing becomes more expensive, and the US Dollar typically strengthens, which can put downward pressure on $Bitcoin and altcoins. Conversely, if Powell’s tone today leans "dovish"—suggesting that the peak of the rate cycle is behind us—it could provide the fuel needed for Bitcoin to break past the $80,000 psychological resistance level.

How does the Fed Rate Affect Crypto Prices

Historically, the minutes following a Fed announcement see "stop-hunting" behavior, where prices swing wildly in both directions before establishing a trend.

The Powell "Swan Song" Factor

Jerome Powell’s final appearance adds a layer of uncertainty. Analysts at major institutions, such as JPMorgan, suggest he may use this meeting to solidify his legacy as the Chair who tamed the 2020s inflation surge, potentially maintaining a hawkish stance to ensure price stability.

BTC and ETH Levels to Watch

• BTC Support: $74,500 remains a critical support zone.
• BTC Resistance: A move above $78,200 post-announcement could signal a new rally.
• Altcoin Impact: Ethereum and smaller caps often follow BTC's lead but with higher percentage swings.

The "Digital Gold" Divergence: Why Bitcoin Just Crashed

The relationship between Gold and Bitcoin has reached a fever pitch in 2026. Historically, these two assets have been viewed as siblings in the "store of value" category, but their recent price action tells a more complex story of liquidity rotation and market psychology.

When Gold recently peaked at an all-time high of $5,589 per ounce on January 28, 2026, the crypto market didn't celebrate. Instead, Bitcoin [BTC] experienced a sharp -33% correction, sliding toward the $81,000 mark. While this might look like a decoupling, historical cycles suggest this "shakeout" is often the precursor to an explosive bull run for digital assets.

Does Bitcoin Always Drop When Gold Peaks?

Not "always," but the correlation often turns negative at critical structural peaks. In August 2020, Gold hit what was then a record high, and Bitcoin immediately cooled off with a -21% retracement. Fast forward to January 2026, and we see a similar script: Gold reaches a parabolic peak, and Bitcoin sheds roughly a third of its value.

The pattern indicates that at the height of a Gold rally, liquidity is often "tapped out" or moving into defensive postures before rotating back into higher-risk, higher-reward assets like $Bitcoin.

Comparing the 2020 and 2026 "Gold Peaks"

To understand where we are going, we have to look at where we’ve been. The current market structure bears a striking resemblance to the 2020 cycle.

The Liquidity Rotation Theory

In finance, "Liquidity Rotation" refers to capital moving from one asset class to another. When Gold reaches a "blow-off top" (a rapid increase in price followed by a steep drop), investors often take profits. That "sideline cash" doesn't stay idle for long. In 2020, that capital flowed directly into the crypto market, fueling a 559% rally that took BTC from $11,000 to over $60,000 in less than a year.

Why the -33% Bitcoin Drop Matters Now

The 2026 drop has been more severe (-33% vs -21%) due to the increased presence of institutional leverage and Spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, the fundamental "why" remains the same:

• Profit Taking: Investors hedging with Gold and BTC simultaneously often sell the "winner" (Gold) and reduce exposure to the "volatile" (BTC) during a macro shift.
• Margin Calls: When Gold fell nearly 10% in a single day in late January, it forced liquidations across multi-asset portfolios, dragging BTC down with it.
• The "Spring" Effect: Much like a compressed spring, Bitcoin's deep corrections during a secular bull market often provide the necessary energy for the next leg up.

Strategic Positioning: Is the Bottom In?

Analysts suggest that the current Bitcoin/Gold valuation is at historic lows. This typically marks a "generational bottom" for the Bitcoin-to-Gold ratio. If the 2020 fractal repeats, the -33% drop we just witnessed is the final hurdle before Bitcoin targets the $150,000 - $200,000 range.

What to Watch Next

• The $80,000 Support: BTC must hold this level to validate the "2020-style" recovery.
• Gold Consolidation: If Gold continues to bleed toward $4,500, expect BTC to start outperforming as the "risk-on" alternative.
• ETF Inflows: Watch for a reversal in ETF outflows, which peaked at $800 million during the January crash.

Ethereum vs. NVIDIA: Which is the Better Investment in 2026?

Title: Ethereum vs NVIDIA: Which Asset is the Better Long-Term Investment? slug: ethereum-vs-nvidia-investment-comparison teaser: Ethereum or NVIDIA? We compare the 5-year and 10-year returns of ETH and NVDA to see which asset wins the battle for your portfolio in 2026. keywords: ethereum vs nvidia, eth price performance, nvda stock returns, crypto vs stocks, investing in ai, ethereum investment 2026, nvidia price today

Protocol vs. Processor

The investment debate in 2026 centers on two powerhouses: Ethereum ($ETH), the backbone of decentralized finance, and NVIDIA (NVDA), the hardware engine of the AI revolution. While both represent "frontier" technology, their returns vary wildly depending on your entry point.

Which ROI Comparison

NVIDIA has dominated the last five years due to the AI boom. Conversely, Ethereum remains the superior long-term play for those who entered a decade ago.

• 5-Year Winner: NVIDIA (+1,300%)
• 10-Year Winner: Ethereum (+459,900%)

The 5-Year Window: NVIDIA’s AI Dominance

Since 2021, NVIDIA has outperformed almost every major asset class, including Bitcoin.

• NVIDIA: A $100,000 investment in 2021 is now $1,400,000. Growth is driven by Blackwell chip demand and a $4.5 trillion market cap.
• Ethereum: A $100,000 investment in 2021 is worth $85,000 today. Despite the 2024 ETF launch, ETH has faced significant price stagnation compared to high-growth equities.

The 10-Year Window: The Power of Early Crypto

When extending the horizon to 2015, the "crypto multiplier" becomes evident.

• ETH: $100,000 invested in 2015 = $460 Million.
• NVDA: $100,000 invested in 2015 = $60 Million.

While NVIDIA’s 600x return is legendary for a stock, Ethereum’s 4,600x return highlights the asymmetric upside of successful blockchain protocols compared to centralized corporations.

Cash Flow vs. Network Utility

• NVIDIA (NVDA): A centralized company with record revenues ($215B in FY2026). Its value is tied to hardware sales and AI compute demand.
• Ethereum (ETH): A decentralized settlement layer. Its value is tied to network usage, the EIP-1559 burn mechanism, and its role as the primary platform for tokenized Real World Assets (RWA).

Performance Drivers in 2026

NVIDIA’s current lead is fueled by tangible earnings and the race for "AI Sovereignty." Major tech firms continue to buy GPUs at scale, keeping NVDA margins high.

Ethereum, however, is transitioning from a speculative asset to a utility-driven one. While the exchange comparison shows lower retail trading volume for ETH compared to previous cycles, institutional staking and Layer-2 scaling are at all-time highs. For long-term holders, securing these assets in hardware wallets remains the priority as the network matures.

Ethereum vs. NVIDIA: Growth or Moonshot?

• Better for Stability: NVIDIA. Its growth is backed by massive institutional contracts and a clear monopoly on AI hardware.
• Better for Asymmetric Gains: Ethereum. As the world’s financial rails move on-chain, ETH’s potential to repeat its "10-year" style growth remains higher than a stock already valued in the trillions.

Alphabet and Microsoft crushed Q1 estimates on the same day, with Google Cloud up 63% and Microsoft's AI business hitting a $37 billion run rate.

The Labor Department unveils an online hub to help workers and employers build AI skills amid a quickly changing jobs market.

The AI model analyzes subtle tissue changes on routine CT scans invisible to human specialists, detecting pancreatic cancer up to three years earlier than doctors can.

Thom Tillis, a swing GOP vote on the Senate Banking Committee, says his colleagues should take up a months-delayed vote on the crypto bill.

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta is now offering stablecoin payouts to content creators in certain countries.

XRP gains momentum following integration with Rakuten wallets as hype surrounding the event has pushed its social sentiment to reach the highest level in two years.

XRP "Genesis" wallets in spotlight over quantum risk but billions of tokens still deemed safe.

Cardano's volume increase might not translate into something more meaningful.

A dormant 'Ryoshi-era' whale holding 16% of all Shiba Inu coins just moved 800 billion SHIB. Is the mysterious founder cashing out, or is this a liquidity play?.

Major cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase set to delist selected crypto assets in May, with Ethereum based stablecoin affected.

Key Highlights

• Ripple establishes Dubai base to drive blockchain payment adoption in MEA
• Regional headquarters targets growing enterprise crypto demand in UAE
• Dubai financial district office positions Ripple for MEA market expansion
• DIFC headquarters marks strategic UAE commitment for regional scaling
• Dubai hub strengthens Ripple’s Middle East and Africa service delivery

The blockchain payments provider has launched a regional headquarters in the UAE’s financial capital. This strategic move enhances Ripple‘s ability to deliver compliant blockchain-based payment infrastructure. The company targets accelerating enterprise adoption throughout Middle Eastern and African territories.

DIFC Office Anchors Regional Growth Strategy

Ripple positioned its new headquarters within Dubai International Financial Centre to serve as its MEA operational nerve center. This facility enables increased service capacity and supports workforce growth across strategic markets. The company intends to expand its regional team by 100 percent to address mounting client requirements.

This development follows Ripple’s initial Dubai market entry established in 2020. Throughout the intervening period, the company’s regional footprint has expanded alongside accelerating blockchain infrastructure adoption. Middle Eastern markets now constitute a substantial portion of Ripple’s worldwide client portfolio.

The firm maintains deepening partnerships with financial institutions throughout the territory. Its partner network encompasses Zand Bank, Ctrl Alt, Garanti BBVA, Absa Bank, and Chipper Cash. These collaborations demonstrate continuing institutional integration of Ripple’s payment technologies.

Licensing Achievements Bolster Market Position

Dubai Financial Services Authority granted Ripple comprehensive operational authorization in March 2025. This regulatory approval enables the company to provide licensed international digital payment services operating from DIFC. The milestone established Ripple as Dubai’s inaugural blockchain payments entity holding this regulatory designation.

Ripple’s stablecoin initiatives also progressed through regulatory recognition. DFSA designated RLUSD as an approved crypto asset within DIFC jurisdiction. Licensed financial entities can now incorporate RLUSD into compliant operational workflows across the region.

These regulatory achievements underpin Ripple’s comprehensive infrastructure buildout approach. They simultaneously validate Dubai’s emergence as a structured jurisdiction for digital asset enterprises. Ripple maintains strategic alignment between its service offerings and evolving regional compliance frameworks.

Market Momentum Shapes Expansion Blueprint

The Dubai headquarters launch addresses rising enterprise requirements for regulated blockchain payment systems across developing economies. Organizations throughout Middle Eastern and African markets increasingly implement digital financial infrastructure. Ripple is expanding operational capacity to align with this upward market trajectory.

Dubai’s regulatory authorities interpret Ripple’s expansion as validation of the emirate’s institutional framework effectiveness. The city consistently attracts international blockchain enterprises seeking regulatory transparency and operational infrastructure. Ripple’s enhanced presence strengthens Dubai’s standing as a worldwide blockchain innovation center.

Through its enlarged regional team, Ripple intends to intensify client relationships and service delivery. The organization will broaden support spanning payment processing and digital asset custody capabilities. With accelerating market adoption, Ripple positions itself as a cornerstone participant within the region’s maturing digital finance landscape.

The post Ripple Establishes Regional Hub in Dubai to Accelerate MEA Blockchain Growth appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• U.S. Army grants Lockheed Martin an undefinitized contract action valued at up to $1.13 billion
• Agreement includes full-rate production of 17 HIMARS M142 rocket launchers with additional support elements
• Delivery destinations include U.S. Army, Marine Corps, plus allied nations: Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan
• Expected completion date set for April 30, 2028
• LMT shares have declined 17.22% in the last four-week period

The U.S. Army selected Lockheed Martin for a contract valued at up to $1.13 billion on April 29, 2026. This agreement encompasses full-rate manufacturing of 17 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) M142 launchers alongside associated support components.

$1.1 billion HIMARS contract awarded to Lockheed Martin for Army, USMC and FMS customers, including Canada.

This is Production Lot 17, and also includes:

Australia
Estonia
Sweden
Taiwan https://t.co/6xf78j6qtS pic.twitter.com/U5Qvfvkl6v

— Colby Badhwar (@ColbyBadhwar) April 29, 2026

This procurement falls under the category of an undefinitized contract action, which means specific terms, production sites, and financial allocations will be finalized as individual orders are placed.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, LMT

These advanced artillery systems will be distributed across several military organizations. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps will receive units, while international partners in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan will obtain systems through foreign military sales channels.

The Pentagon justified this procurement by referencing “urgent needs.” The Army Contracting Command serves as the contracting authority for this action.

The deadline for fulfilling this contract is projected to be April 30, 2028. The maximum contract ceiling is established at $1.13 billion.

The HIMARS platform has emerged as a highly sought-after weapon system in contemporary military acquisition. Its unique blend of tactical mobility and accurate fire capabilities has positioned it as a top priority for American military branches and partner nations worldwide.

This new agreement strengthens Lockheed’s revenue stream within its Missiles and Fire Control division, the business unit responsible for HIMARS production along with other precision munitions platforms.

Allied Nations Drive International Sales Component

The foreign military sales portion of this deal encompasses a diverse customer base. Five allied nations—Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan—are designated recipients under this procurement action.

Both Estonia and Sweden, as NATO alliance members, have significantly increased their defense budgets in recent times. Taiwan’s participation underscores continued U.S. security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific theater.

Australia and Canada maintain deep security partnerships with the United States through the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, and both nations have prioritized enhancements to their ground-based rocket artillery capabilities.

Recent Stock Performance Shows Weakness

Notwithstanding this significant contract award, LMT stock has experienced downward momentum. Shares have retreated 17.22% during the previous four-week trading period.

The company maintains a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, positioning it above sector peers. Lockheed’s current market capitalization reaches approximately $117.54 billion.

According to GuruFocus metrics, LMT receives a GF Score of 88 out of 100, demonstrating solid profitability (8/10) and growth (8/10) ratings. The financial strength metric registers at 5/10, indicating concerns related to debt burden.

Recent insider trading activity during the past three months reveals one sale transaction involving 2,410 shares, with zero purchase transactions recorded.

The contract announcement coincided with the award date of April 29, 2026.

The post Lockheed Martin (LMT) Secures $1.13 Billion HIMARS Production Deal from U.S. Army appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• U.S. Army grants Lockheed Martin an undefinitized contract action valued at up to $1.13 billion
• Agreement encompasses full-rate manufacturing of 17 HIMARS M142 launchers with additional support provisions
• End users include U.S. Army, Marine Corps, plus international partners: Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan
• Completion timeline extends through April 30, 2028
• LMT shares have declined 17.22% in the previous four-week period

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract with a maximum value of $1.13 billion. This agreement encompasses full-rate manufacturing of 17 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) M142 launchers, along with associated support requirements.

$1.1 billion HIMARS contract awarded to Lockheed Martin for Army, USMC and FMS customers, including Canada.

This is Production Lot 17, and also includes:

Australia
Estonia
Sweden
Taiwan https://t.co/6xf78j6qtS pic.twitter.com/U5Qvfvkl6v

— Colby Badhwar (@ColbyBadhwar) April 29, 2026

This agreement takes the form of an undefinitized contract action, which means specific terms, work sites, and financial allocations will be established as individual orders are placed.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, LMT

Multiple recipients are designated for these HIMARS platforms. Beneficiaries encompass both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, in addition to international military purchasers from Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan.

The Army justified this contract by referencing “urgent needs.” Army Contracting Command serves as the responsible contracting authority.

The projected completion deadline for this contract is April 30, 2028. The ceiling value has been established at $1.13 billion.

HIMARS platforms have emerged as highly sought-after assets in contemporary defense acquisitions. The system’s blend of tactical mobility and precision strike capabilities has elevated it to priority status among U.S. military branches and partner nations.

This deal supplements Lockheed’s current revenue backlog within its Missiles and Fire Control division, which oversees the HIMARS program along with additional precision weaponry platforms.

Global Customer Base Extends Across Allied Partners

The international sales portion of this agreement encompasses multiple nations. Australia, Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and Taiwan are all designated as recipients within this consolidated contract action.

Estonia and Sweden, both NATO alliance members, have been bolstering their defense budgets in recent periods. Taiwan’s presence underscores continuing U.S. security partnerships across the Indo-Pacific theater.

Australia and Canada maintain long-established Five Eyes intelligence relationships, with both nations enhancing their ground-based rocket artillery capabilities.

LMT Shares Face Recent Headwinds

Notwithstanding this contract announcement, LMT stock has experienced downward momentum. Shares have fallen 17.22% during the preceding four-week stretch.

Lockheed maintains a P/E ratio of 24.69, positioning it above industry benchmarks. The company’s market capitalization currently stands near $117.54 billion.

According to GuruFocus metrics, LMT holds a GF Score of 88 out of 100, demonstrating robust profitability (8/10) and growth (8/10) ratings. Financial strength registers at 5/10, indicating higher leverage ratios.

Insider trading activity during the most recent three-month window reveals one sale transaction, totaling 2,410 shares, with zero purchase activity documented.

The contract announcement coincided with its award date of April 29, 2026.

The post Lockheed Martin (LMT) Secures $1.13 Billion Contract for HIMARS Production appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• A forged cross-chain message released $292M in unbacked rsETH due to a single-DVN bridge misconfiguration.

• Ether.fi pinned message libraries and raised DVN verification to a unanimous 4/4 threshold on all chains.

• weETH bridging will be deprecated on Scroll, Swell, Bera, zkSync, Mode, Blast, Morph, and Sonic by June.

• Ether.fi joins DeFi United and contributes 5,000 ETH to support coordinated cross-chain security response.

Ether.fi has disclosed its full response to the April 18 rsETH exploit that affected Kelp DAO. A forged cross-chain message released approximately $292 million in unbacked rsETH during the incident.

No systems on the platform were directly compromised. The EtherFi Liquid vaults also had no direct exposure to rsETH.

The event exposed a critical vulnerability in DeFi cross-chain messaging infrastructure. This led the protocol to execute a protocol-wide security hardening across all 20 chains where weETH is deployed.

Three-Layer Security Hardening Deployed Across weETH Pathways

The root cause of the exploit was a single-DVN configuration lacking redundancy. Ether.fi’s bridge had previously enforced two or more DVNs on all pathways. Still, the incident triggered a full review and three concrete hardening measures.

The first fix involved message library pinning on every weETH pathway. Ether.fi pinned the SendUln302 and ReceiveUln302 addresses into weETH’s OApp-specific configuration slot.

This blocked LayerZero’s multisig from swapping in a library that bypasses DVN verification. The fallback path has been fully closed across all chains.

The protocol then pinned its four-DVN set and raised the verification threshold to 4/4. Every inbound weETH message now requires attestation from all four DVNs.

A single malicious or unavailable DVN halts the message rather than being bypassed. LayerZero independently reviewed and confirmed the updated configuration.

Furthermore, the platform tightened per-route rate limits across all bridge contracts it controls. Each source and destination pathway now enforces a conservative inbound and outbound weETH cap.

These limits sit on contracts fully controlled by the protocol. They remain effective regardless of upstream bridge provider behavior.

Chain Deprecations and the Formation of DeFi United

Beyond the immediate fixes, the protocol is evaluating a second independent bridge provider to reduce systemic risk. Chainlink CCIP and Wormhole are currently under consideration alongside LayerZero.

Cross-chain weETH messages would then require attestation from a quorum of providers. This move eliminates single-provider dependency entirely.

Following a systematic L2 risk assessment, ether.fi is deprecating weETH bridging on eight networks. Scroll, Swell, Bera, zkSync, Mode, Blast, Morph, and Sonic will be deprecated effective end of June. 

To close the coordination gap in DeFi, ether.fi is joining the DeFi United collective. The coalition brings together Aave, Kelp DAO, LayerZero, and ether.fi.

Shared security standards and coordinated incident responses are its core focus. This approach ensures no protocol faces a cross-chain failure alone.

The EtherFi Foundation is contributing 5,000 ETH to a dedicated DeFi United relief vehicle. Other partners in the collective are also contributing alongside ether.fi. When future failures occur, the coalition aims for the ecosystem to respond as one.

The post Ether.fi Hardens weETH Bridge Security Across 20 Chains After $292M rsETH Exploit appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• SoftBank is launching Roze AI, a robotics and artificial intelligence venture aiming for a $100 billion market cap
• The company will deploy autonomous robots to streamline data center construction processes
• A U.S. stock market listing is planned for the second half of 2026 at the earliest
• Roze AI may incorporate SoftBank’s energy holdings, infrastructure portfolios, and the recently acquired ABB Robotics division
• KPMG has been engaged for IPO preparation, with a Texas investor event scheduled for July to generate market enthusiasm

SoftBank is gearing up to launch Roze AI, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence and robotics enterprise that could debut on American stock exchanges before the end of 2026.

According to the Financial Times, which referenced confidential sources with knowledge of the initiative, the new company is seeking a market capitalization approaching $100 billion.

Masayoshi Son, the conglomerate’s chief executive, is spearheading this initiative, positioning AI and robotics as SoftBank’s “next frontier” in technological innovation.

The core mission of Roze AI centers on revolutionizing how AI infrastructure gets built. The strategy involves deploying autonomous robotic systems to accelerate and optimize data center development.

SoftBank plans to consolidate several of its current holdings into this new corporate structure. This includes various energy assets, real estate properties, infrastructure investments, and ABB Robotics, which SoftBank purchased in a $5.4 billion transaction finalized last year.

ABB Robotics ranks among the globe’s premier providers of industrial automation and robotic systems. SoftBank’s vision is to integrate this hardware expertise with advanced AI capabilities.

While SB Energy, SoftBank’s energy division, could supply power for Roze’s operations, it will continue operating as an independent business unit.

KPMG has been brought on board to compile the necessary financial documentation for the public offering. Bilal Safeer, currently an executive at SoftBank subsidiary Arm, is filling the role of interim chief financial officer for Roze.

Investor Presentation and Market Debut Strategy

SoftBank has organized an analyst presentation at one of its Texas data center locations scheduled for July. This gathering aims to build momentum and attract institutional investors before the company goes public.

Several SoftBank leaders have characterized these objectives as highly ambitious. Geopolitical tensions, particularly ongoing Middle East conflicts, represent potential variables that could alter the valuation expectations or launch timeline.

Son’s AI spending trajectory has intensified considerably in recent periods. This year alone, SoftBank pledged $30 billion to OpenAI as part of a massive $122 billion capital infusion. The commitment positions SoftBank among OpenAI’s most significant financial backers.

Market observers have questioned SoftBank’s strategy for financing its expanding AI portfolio, especially considering OpenAI’s continued lack of profitability. A lucrative Roze IPO could provide financial relief against these substantial commitments.

Capital Raising and Portfolio Adjustments

To generate liquidity for its recent technology bets, SoftBank has explored divesting a portion of its Intel holdings.

In the previous year, the firm liquidated its complete Nvidia stake, generating $5.8 billion to support its OpenAI investment.

SoftBank has simultaneously broadened its data center footprint through the DigitalBridge acquisition and its involvement in Stargate, a collaborative AI infrastructure initiative with OpenAI and Oracle, though this project has encountered various challenges.

The Texas analyst day for Roze AI is confirmed for July 2026.

The post SoftBank’s $100 Billion Gamble: Roze AI to Revolutionize Data Center Construction with Robotics appeared first on Blockonomi.

Although the US Federal Reserve kept the interest rates unchanged as essentially everyone expected, BTC still dipped to a multi-day low of just under $75,000 before it rebounded by a grand.

Ethereum and HYPE have lost the most value from the larger-cap alts, while RAIN has defied the trend with a notable 6% surge.

BTC Rebounds After FOMC Dip

Although the US delegation was stopped from going to Pakistan for potential peace talks with Iran over the weekend and there was an alleged attempt on Trump’s life at a White House event, BTC began the business week on the right foot. After trading sideways around $77,500 on Saturday and most of Sunday, the asset flew to $79,500 on Monday morning.

However, the bears were quick to intercept the move and pushed it south immediately to its starting point. Hours later, the cryptocurrency plunged again, this time to $76,500. The selling pressure continued on Tuesday, and BTC dipped below $76,000 before it rallied to almost $78,000 before the highly anticipated third FOMC meeting on Wednesday.

Once it concluded and it became known that the Fed won’t change the rates, as expected, bitcoin slid once again, this time to just under $75,000. It has recovered around a grand since then, but it’s still down by over 1%. Its market cap has slipped to $1.520 trillion, while its dominance over the alts remains at 58% on CG.

WLFI, PI Drop

Most larger-cap alts are in the red today, with ETH sliding by roughly 3% to $2,250. HYPE has lost the $40 support after a 2.5% decline. BNB, XRP, SOL, ADA, BCH, and LINK have posted losses of 1-2%.

WLFI has plunged the most from the top 100 alts today after recent reports about a suspicious partnership. The token is down by over 16% to $0.06. Pi Network’s native token follows suit, as a 11% drop has pushed it to $0.175. Recall that the asset challenged the $0.20 resistance yesterday, where it was violently rejected.

RAIN has defied the overall market correction with a 6% pump to almost $0.008.

The total crypto market cap is down by over $60 billion since yesterday’s high to $2.620 trillion on CG.

The post Pi Network’s PI and WLFI Dump the Most, BTC Recovers From Post-FOMC Dip: Market Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, United States, April 30th, 2026]

Kite today announced the launch of its mainnet and the Kite Agent Passport, an identity and payment infrastructure built specifically for autonomous AI agents.

The launch marks Kite’s transition from testnet to production, introducing a payments and settlement layer purpose-built for agent-driven transactions. The infrastructure combines three layers into a single platform: a stable native settlement layer (Kite Chain), a core agent service (Kite Agent Passport), and the Agent Interface & Experience.

The Kite Agent Passport gives AI agents a programmable, secure wallet to hold funds and make purchases on behalf of users—while users retain full control over spending limits and authorized destinations. For example, users can purchase physical goods, have them shipped home, and let their agent handle payments, all within Claude, with spending limits enforced by the Passport. Kite Chain serves as a stable native settlement layer, processing payments in digital dollars and connecting to traditional banking systems for everyday consumers. The Agent Interface & Experience enables agents and developers to interact with the system through agent registration, agent harnesses, and service discovery.

“The launch is just the beginning,” said Chi Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Kite. “Our mission is to create the trusted backbone for agent-driven economies—where every autonomous agent operates with verified identity, programmable permissions, and seamless settlement. This is the infrastructure that will finally let agents do everything for you. We’re thrilled to be building it.”

Now integrated with over 90 service providers, the platform enables users to explore a wide range of agentic payment use cases—from shopping and travel planning to DIY automated agentic workflows using paid agentic services.

Kite is also positioning itself as a unified hub for major payment protocol standards, including the x402 payment standard, Google’s AP2 protocol, Stripe’s Machine Payment Protocol (MPP), and Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP). The company is also a member of the Linux Foundation’s Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF).

Kite has raised $35 million in funding led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. Pilot integrations with PayPal and Shopify are underway, extending Kite’s payment infrastructure into real-world commerce.

The Kite Agent Passport is available now. Interested parties can try it today https://agentpassport.ai/or read how to get started https://agentpassport.ai/quickstart/

About Kite

Kite is building the payment infrastructure for the agent-native web — a foundational layer where autonomous AI agents can operate with verifiable identity, programmable governance, and native stablecoin settlement

Users can learn more about Kite: https://gokite.ai/

The post Kite Launches Kite Chain and Kite Agent Passport, Enabling Autonomous AI Agent Payments appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Perhaps driven by some of the positive developments within its ecosystem, Pi Network’s native token defied the overall market sluggishness over the past several days and posted some impressive gains.

However, it all came to a screeching halt as the bears reemerged and pushed it south hard.

PI Plummets

The Core Team behind the project has announced some major protocol changes in the past few months, which upgraded it from v19.6 to v21 by mid-March. The subsequent one, version 22, is also rumored to be deployed, but there’s no official confirmation from the team yet.

In addition, they have made strides in different directions, such as AI and verifications. In fact, as reported yesterday, they managed to combine AI and human input to complete over 526 million verification tasks.

These are among the likely reasons behind the native token’s impressive performance by yesterday. Its rally began from $0.17, where it traded by April 26, before it skyrocketed to $0.20 by April 29. This became its highest price tag in over a month and prompted some analysts to speculate about an even more profound pump that could drive it north by 1,400%.

However, the $0.20 resistance was too strong, and the subsequent rejection has been quite brutal. PI first retreated to $0.19 before it nosedived again to just over $0.17. It found some support there and now trades above $0.175. Nevertheless, its daily losses are still over 10%, and its market cap has plunged to $1.830 billion.

Perfect Setup for Long Liquidations

Popular X user Dao World weighed in on PI’s latest rejection, noting that the $0.20 resistance is where the 200-day MA is located. The retracement drove it south to the 100-day MA, which serves as the first major support.

They explained that the number of high-leveraged long positions had started to build up during the rally, which “made it a perfect setup for a long liquidation.”

The other factor that could have contributed to the correction was the overall market state. As reported yesterday, bitcoin and most altcoins dumped after the FOMC meeting, in which the Federal Reserve maintained the key interest rates unchanged.

Nevertheless, Dao World reassured the PI community that the asset had not dropped below the 100-day MA, which could result in a more impressive rebound if market sentiment improves.

The post Pi Network’s (PI) Rally Comes to an End With Massive 10% Daily Drop appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Six years after establishing its first office in Dubai, Ripple has now doubled down on its presence in the region and in Africa by setting up a regional headquarters in the city’s International Financial Center (DIFC).

DIFC’s chief executive officer commented that Ripple’s expansion is a “strong signal of the confidence that world-leading digital assets firms have in Dubai as a global hub for blockchain technology.”

Ripple said the new HQ will increase its capacity to grow its local team as demand for regulated blockchain-powered payment and custody solutions continues to accelerate across the region.

The statement reads that it has been roughly six years since Ripple established its MEA regional HQs in Dubai in 2020, and it has grown its presence throughout the entire Middle East since then, which now represents a “significant share” of its global customer base.

Aside from setting up offices in Dubai, the company also secured in-principal approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority a couple of years back to expand its operations within the DIFC. In 2025, it became the first blockchain payments provider to be fully licensed by the DFSA, while its stablecoin, RLUSD, was recognized as a crypto token.

The new office will allow Ripple to expand support for clients and partners across the Middle East and Africa, such as already existing ones like Zand Bank, Ctrl Alt, Garanti BBVA, Absa Bank, and Chipper Cash.

“In recent years, the Middle East has become an increasingly vital driver of Ripple’s global growth. Our new regional headquarters is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to playing our part in the region’s upward trajectory. From our earliest days in the UAE, we have seen first-hand the appetite from local businesses for regulated, blockchain-powered payment infrastructure, an appetite that is only growing.

A larger team, based here in Dubai, will enable us to go further in supporting our clients and partners across the region and beyond,” commented Ripple’s Managing Director for the region, Reece Merrick.

The post Ripple (XRP) Drops Major Announcement for Middle East and Africa Clients appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cardano’s native token, once part of crypto’s elite top 10 club, has been among the worst-affected digital assets during the ongoing bear market.

Its price has plummeted by 65% over the past year, but that hasn’t affected the optimism of many analysts who believe a major resurgence could be on the horizon.

ADA is Dead or…?

As of this writing, the asset trades at around $0.25, while the last time it touched the $1 milestone was roughly a year ago. And while some believe that ADA won’t be able to reclaim its former glory, X user Sssebi argued that “whoever thinks Cardano is dead has clearly not been through other bear markets.”

The analyst noted that underperformance during such phases is normal, but added that 200-300% pumps can occur within weeks once sentiment turns bullish.

“Don’t get fooled by an overall bad sentiment across all markets,” they stated.

The post triggered mixed reactions, with some sharing the same theory. The non-custodial staking infrastructural provider Everstake, for instance, predicted that Cardano “is set to surprise everyone this year.”

Others remain disappointed with the asset’s performance, doubting it will stage a meaningful recovery and advising investors to take profits should one occur.

JAVON MARKS is another analyst who recently gave their two cents on ADA. The market observer suggested that over the past few years, the token might have formed a base similar to the one that preceded a major rally in 2021.

Still Awaiting the Major Move

Earlier this month, the renowned analyst Ali Martinez opined that ADA has reached the “make-or-break” level at $0.243. He explained that this area has historically served as a key pivot and a launchpad for major price swings.

Holding this zone could pave the way for a move to $0.30, but losing it might signal structural weakness and potentially drag the valuation to as low as $0.10. Despite a short-lived drop to $0.24 on April 20, bulls have mostly defended that area.

Meanwhile, ADA’s recent exchange netflows have been mostly negative. This means that investors continue to shift tokens from centralized platforms to self-custody methods, thereby reducing immediate selling pressure.

The post Top Cardano (ADA) Price Predictions as of Late appeared first on CryptoPotato.