Today's top news highlights:
Binance: Those with at least 220 Alpha Points can claim an airdrop of 2000 BILL tokens.
GameStop plans to acquire eBay for $56 billion.
Tether CEO: WDK and QVAC may integrate to support Agent Card functionality.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard: Trump must choose between military action and a bad deal.
Regulation & Macro
The Iranian embassy posted a picture of Trump and questioned, "Pirate or president?"
The Iranian embassy in South Africa posted a picture of US President Trump on the social media platform X, with the caption: "Pirate or President?" This comes after Trump compared the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to piracy, calling it "a very profitable thing."
Bessant: Optimistic that Powell will eventually leave the Fed in the near future.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant expressed optimism that Powell would eventually leave the Federal Reserve in the near future. Powell's decision to remain on the Fed Board of Governors was unconventional, reflecting a very optimistic view of the Fed under Warsh's leadership. Iran's attempts to impose tolls on ships have had little effect, and it is not surprised by the increased passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz; futures markets predict a decline in oil prices.
Federal Reserve Chairman Neel Kashkari stated that it is necessary to remain open-minded about the future of interest rate policy, as the longer the war lasts, the greater the inflationary pressures will be. In some cases, the Fed may need to raise interest rates, even if the war were to end completely now, as supply chain recovery would take months. He expressed deep concern about the downside risks posed by the war, noting that the Fed faces uncertainty regarding the path of inflation, and looked forward to cooperation following Warsh's nomination, remaining open to some of the concerns expressed by Warsh.
Iran's latest negotiating proposal comprises three phases. The first phase includes: "transforming the ceasefire into a comprehensive armistice within 30 days"; "establishing principles for building an international mechanism to ensure the war never resumes"; "achieving a ceasefire across the entire region with both sides committing not to violate it again, including all of Iran's regional allies and Israel"; "gradually lifting the blockade on Iranian ports in a manner compatible with the gradual opening of the Strait of Hormuz"; "Iran's responsibility for mine clearance"; "readjusting Iran's previous proposals regarding compensation"; and "the withdrawal of US troops from waters surrounding Iran and a halt to new troop buildup." The second phase includes: "discussions on a complete halt to uranium enrichment for a maximum period of 15 years"; and "resuming uranium enrichment activities according to the zero-stockpiling principle after the stipulated period expires." The proposal opposes the dismantling or destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities, and for its existing highly enriched uranium stockpile, it proposes transferring it overseas or diluting the enrichment level. Furthermore, the proposal addresses the gradual lifting of economic sanctions against Iran. In the third phase, Iran will hold strategic talks with regional countries to discuss how to build a security system covering the entire region.
Iranian media: An Iranian supertanker has broken through the US blockade.
A supertanker belonging to the National Iranian Tankers Company has broken through the surveillance and blockade of a "foreign naval fleet," carrying more than 1.9 million barrels of crude oil. The report states that this demonstrates Iran's energy supply chain management and shipping strategies for evading US naval surveillance, and also proves Iran's practical capabilities in ensuring the security of energy transportation.
Federal Reserve Governor Barr stated that stress in the private lending sector could trigger a “psychological contagion,” leading to a broader credit crunch. He reiterated his warning that regulation of Wall Street should not be relaxed amid rising risks. Barr indicated that while the direct link between banks and private lending does not currently appear “particularly worrying,” other areas, such as the overlap between the insurance industry and private lenders, warrant attention. “There’s also a problem of psychological contagion,” he said. “When people see private lending, they might not say, ‘This is a particular problem, these are high-risk loans, the rest of the corporate sector is different,’ but rather, ‘Wow, our corporate sector seems to be cracking. Maybe there’s cracking in the corporate bond market over here too.’” He added, “Then there could be a credit contraction, and that could lead to even greater financial stress.”
Nick Timiraos, the Fed's mouthpiece, said that the Fed's autonomy, often referred to as its independence, stems from the establishment of the agency by Congress, which created a committee of officials with long and staggered terms, protection from being impeached, and gave the agency full control over its budget (and buildings).
Bessant: U.S. energy exports are currently at record levels.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant stated that U.S. energy exports are currently at record levels; the only factor limiting U.S. energy exports is infrastructure. The U.S. is a "big winner" in the energy market.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard: Trump must choose between military action and a bad deal.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard stated that Trump must choose between an impossible military operation or a bad deal with Iran. The United States' decision-making space has shrunk.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Gives the Pentagon a deadline to lift the blockade
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has given the Pentagon a final deadline to lift the blockade against Iran.
Trump's disapproval rating reached 62%, the highest in his two terms.
A recent ABC/Washington Post/Ipsos poll shows that Trump's disapproval rating has reached 62%, the highest in his two terms.
Project Updates
Doubao's App Store page has displayed a notice regarding a paid version service, announcing plans to launch a paid version with value-added services on top of the free service. Subscriptions are divided into three tiers: Standard (68 RMB/month, 688 RMB/year), Enhanced (200 RMB/month, 2048 RMB/year), and Professional (500 RMB/month, 5088 RMB/year). Doubao officially responded that the free service will continue to be offered, with paid features primarily targeting complex tasks and high-productivity scenarios, such as PPT generation, data analysis, and film production. Sources close to Doubao revealed that as model capabilities upgrade, complex and high-value tasks require more computing power and inference time, hence the introduction of paid services to meet this demand. As a core large-scale model under ByteDance, Doubao has long operated on a free model. Volcano Engine data shows that as of March this year, the daily token usage of Doubao's large-scale model has exceeded 120 trillion, doubling in the past three months. The launch of this paid model may signal the end of the "free era" for large-scale models.
Binance Futures will launch three USDT-margined perpetual contracts on May 6, 2026: AMDUSDT, QCOMUSDT, and USARUSDT, all supporting up to 10x leverage. The AMDUSDT perpetual contract will launch at 21:30, tracking the stock price of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMD); the QCOMUSDT perpetual contract will launch at 21:35, tracking the stock price of QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM); and the USARUSDT perpetual contract will launch at 21:40, tracking the Class A stock price of USA Rare Earth, Inc. (Nasdaq: USAR).
Binance: Those with at least 220 Alpha Points can claim an airdrop of 2000 BILL tokens.
Binance Alpha launched Billions Network (BILL) and opened trading on May 4th at 15:00 Beijing time. Users holding at least 220 Binance Alpha points can receive a 2000 BILL token airdrop reward on a first-come, first-served basis. If the reward pool is not fully distributed, the points threshold will automatically decrease by 5 points every 5 minutes.
Phi, an on-chain identity protocol, announced that it will shut down on May 25.
Phi, an on-chain identity protocol, announced that it will officially shut down its platform http://phi.box and related services on May 25, 2026. Users need to complete operations such as reward collection, staking asset withdrawal, and NFT consolidation before then. Phi stated that its governance token $PHI will remain on-chain and can be traded through Aerodrome, but liquidity may gradually decrease. Founded in 2022, Phi launched Phi Land, an on-chain activity visualization product based on ENS, attracting 296,000 users and partnerships with over 65 protocols, and minting over 4.3 million NFTs. Previously, Phi received strategic funding led by Neoclassic Capital to develop a decentralized on-chain identity credential system, but due to financial problems, the team significantly scaled back in January of this year, and after unsuccessful attempts to transform its business, it ultimately decided to cease operations.
Sonic Labs: $1 million allocated for S token buybacks on Binance
Sonic Labs has allocated $1 million to buy back $S tokens on the Binance platform. These tokens will be deployed in batches for user onboarding activities in partnership with Binance.
Tether CEO: WDK and QVAC may integrate to support Agent Card functionality.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed in a post on the X platform that Tether may further integrate its WDK (Wallet Development Kit) with QVAC (Native AI SDK) in the future, providing core support for the functionality of its Agent Cards. Analysts believe this direction will help improve the connection layer between AI agents and crypto payment infrastructure, providing more efficient underlying support for automated application scenarios.
Michael Saylor: No purchases this week, back to work next week.
Michael Saylor, founder of Bitcoin treasury company Strategy, posted on the X platform: No purchases this week, back to work next week.
Jack Dorsey's Cash App launches Bitcoin proof-of-reserves feature.
Cash App, the cryptocurrency platform owned by billionaire Jack Dorsey, has officially launched its Bitcoin Proof-of-Reserve feature, available to over 60 million users. This feature allows users to independently verify their Bitcoin holdings, ensuring a 1:1 full reserve and guaranteeing the authenticity and controllability of their assets. Market observers consider this a crucial step forward for the cryptocurrency industry in terms of transparency, user trust, and self-custody standards, laying a vital foundation for the industry's long-term healthy development.
Investment and financing news
Kraken's parent company, Payward, has completed its acquisition of Bitnomial, thereby obtaining a full derivatives license from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including licenses for Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), Designated Contract Market (DCM), and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO). Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the company will initially launch spot margin services on Kraken, followed by perpetual contracts and options products. Bitnomial, a Chicago-based crypto-native exchange, holds all three CFTC licenses, allowing it to operate a full-stack domestic digital asset derivatives business. The acquisition is expected to be worth up to $550 million, including cash and stock, valuing Payward at $20 billion. Payward plans to expand the Bitnomial team and continue operating its derivatives business under existing licenses and regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, Payward revealed that it previously received a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse Group and is preparing for a potential public listing.
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is close to finalizing a joint investment agreement totaling approximately $1.5 billion with several Wall Street firms, including Blackstone and Goldman Sachs. Sources indicate that Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman are expected to each invest approximately $300 million, with Goldman Sachs also participating. This collaboration aims to establish a new joint venture focused on providing AI tools to private equity-backed companies.
GameStop plans to acquire eBay for $56 billion.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen announced plans to acquire eBay for approximately $56 billion in cash and stock, aiming to make it a strong competitor to Amazon. Cohen stated that GameStop already holds about 5% of eBay's shares and plans to offer $125 per share, a premium of about 20% over Friday's closing price. Furthermore, GameStop has secured a commitment of approximately $20 billion in debt financing from TD Bank. Cohen stated his intention to transform eBay into a multi-billion dollar company. While the two companies have overlapping businesses in the collectibles and pre-owned goods sectors, analysts believe the deal is unlikely to succeed due to the potential for significant equity dilution and execution risks. Currently, GameStop's market capitalization is approximately $12 billion, while eBay's is approximately $46 billion. Cohen also revealed that he will pursue a proxy fight to bring the acquisition proposal to a shareholder vote if necessary.
SpaceX's imminent large-scale initial public offering (IPO) has triggered a flurry of portfolio adjustments by major Wall Street funds. Reports indicate that about a week ago, a private plane bearing the SpaceX logo carried nearly 200 investors from large Wall Street funds to southern Texas for a multi-day roadshow hosted by company executives. Due to overwhelming demand, the plane was even unable to accommodate all interested investors. As the IPO of this company, comprised of Musk's rocket and AI businesses, draws near, the market is discussing which tech stocks to sell to free up funds for SpaceX shares, potentially leading to a multi-billion dollar sell-off in tech stocks.
Opinions & Analysis
A crypto KOL posted on the X platform questioning the security of a Binance address starting with the number "3," which is the top-ranked Bitcoin richest person holding over 200,000 BTC. The KOL expressed concern that the concentration of large amounts of assets in a single address poses a risk of private key collision attacks. In response, Binance founder CZ (Changpeng Zhao) directly stated: "Addresses starting with 3 are probably multi-signature addresses, right? To find more than three private keys? Trust the math." Analysis indicates that Bitcoin addresses starting with 3 are P2SH multi-signature addresses, requiring multiple private keys to authorize transfers, commonly using combinations like "2-of-3" and "3-of-5." Even if a private key collision is theoretically possible, the actual probability of a successful attack is close to zero, making their security level far higher than single-signature addresses.
A Reuters in-depth investigation reveals the core background and operating model of Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange: Founded in 2018 by Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, two brothers from the powerful Kharrazi family, the platform operated under the pseudonym "Aghamir" to deliberately downplay its connection to the core of power. The Kharrazi family is deeply intertwined with Iran's Supreme Leader system: the family has close ties to both Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba Khamenei; the brothers' grandfather was a member of the Council of Experts responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader and was Mojtaba's mentor; their father was involved in the creation of the Iranian political organization Hezbollah and assisted in the formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Nobitex currently boasts over 11 million users and continued operating even during Iran's nationwide internet shutdown and the war. Analysis estimates that the platform processed over $100 million in cryptocurrency transactions during the conflict, with a significant amount of funds flowing overseas. On-chain data shows discrepancies in the scale of sanctions-related transactions across platforms: Elliptic estimates approximately $366 million, while Chainalysis estimates approximately $68 million. Furthermore, in 2025, wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets to Nobitex, which has been cited as a key route for Iran to circumvent financial sanctions.
Important data
According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $154 million last week (April 27 to May 1, Eastern Time). The BlackRock ETF (IBIT) saw the largest net inflow of $136 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $65.5 billion. The Ark & 21 Shares ETF (ARKB) followed with a net inflow of $49.9842 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $1.66 billion. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) saw the largest net outflow of $73.7115 million, bringing its historical total net outflow to $26.29 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $103.78 billion, with an ETF net asset value ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of total Bitcoin market capitalization) of 6.66%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $58.72 billion.
South Korea's KOSPI index closed up 5.1% at 6936.99 points, setting a new record high. Meanwhile, SK Hynix shares surged 12.5%, reaching a record closing price and pushing its market capitalization above 1000 trillion won for the first time. Additionally, the MSCI Asia Pacific index rose 2.3%, also hitting a record high during the session.
According to on-chain analyst AiYi, address 0x55e…3DF26 deposited a total of 6,200 ETH, worth approximately $14.54 million, to Binance in the past 24 hours, at an average price of $2,346. Currently, this address still holds $17.84 million worth of ETH in the lending protocol Spark.
SK Hynix rose 9.8%, with its market capitalization surpassing 1,000 trillion won for the first time.
SK Hynix shares rose 9.8% today, hitting a new intraday high of 1,412,000 won. The company's market capitalization surpassed 1,000 trillion won for the first time, setting a new all-time record.
According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin has broken the $80,000 mark again after three months. In the past hour, total liquidations across the network reached $110 million, with short positions accounting for approximately 98%, amounting to $108 million. Of this, $70.28 million was liquidated in BTC and $25.31 million in ETH. The largest single liquidation occurred on Binance - ETHUSDT, with a liquidation amount of $11.7717 million.
According to Token Unlocks data, ENA, OPN, RED, and other tokens will see large-scale unlocks next week. Ethena (ENA) will unlock approximately 171 million tokens at 3 PM Beijing time on May 5th, representing about 2.12% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $17.3 million; Opinion (OPN) will unlock approximately 32.09 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on May 5th, representing about 12.22% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $5.3 million; RedStone (RED) will unlock approximately 40.85 million tokens at midnight Beijing time on May 7th, representing about 12.20% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $5.5 million; and Space and Time (SXT) will unlock approximately 387 million tokens at 9 PM Beijing time on May 8th, representing about 23.20% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $6.1 million.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino shared the latest data from Memento Research on the X platform, showing that monthly spending on crypto payment cards has climbed to $600 million, a six-fold increase year-over-year, indicating strong overall industry growth. Currently, the cumulative on-chain transaction volume of crypto payment cards has reached $7.2 billion, with 24 million transactions covering 1.36 million wallet addresses. Data shows that approximately 90% of transactions are completed via the Visa network, making Visa a core circulation channel for crypto payments. On the settlement side, 62.5% of transactions are completed via USDT, with stablecoins continuing to solidify the underlying infrastructure for daily consumer payments. On-chain data also shows that the Solana ecosystem contributed $348 million in transaction volume, and Jupiter Global saw a month-over-month increase of 660%, demonstrating significant growth momentum from emerging public chains and their supporting payment service providers.
