Breaking News Preview:
Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China;
Pyth Network (PYTH) will unlock approximately 2.13 billion tokens at 10 PM Beijing time on May 19th, representing approximately 36.96% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $95.5 million.
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on May 20th, representing about 5.07% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $33.4 million.
Nvidia will release its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 at 5:00 AM Beijing time on May 21.
Y Combinator will be conducting its first in-person interviews with crypto and fintech startups in New York on May 21.
Coinbase will suspend trading of 12 perpetual contracts, including KAITO, on May 21.
May 18
Macroeconomics:
The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting was held from May 18 to 19.
Exchange:
Coinbase will launch four AI infrastructure stock perpetual contracts on May 18.
Coinbase announced that it will launch four perpetual contracts for AI infrastructure stocks on May 18, including Cerebras Systems (CBRS), TSMC, Nebius Group (NBIS), and Bloom Energy (BE). These contracts support long or short positions, leveraged trading, and 24/7 trading, and will be available to retail and institutional traders in regions with sufficient liquidity.
Binance Futures will launch multiple USDT-margined TradFi perpetual contracts on May 18th.
According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will launch perpetual contracts at the following time:
May 18, 2026, 21:55 (UTC+8): FLNCUSDT perpetual contract, with leverage up to 10x.
May 18, 2026, 22:00 (UTC+8): DRAMUSDT perpetual contracts, with leverage up to 20x.
May 18, 2026, 22:05 (UTC+8): RKLBUSDT perpetual contract, with leverage up to 10x.
Binance Futures will launch a BTCUSD1 perpetual contract on May 18th at 09:00 UTC (17:00 Beijing time), with leverage up to 100x. This is reportedly the first perpetual contract trading pair on the Binance Futures platform to use USD1 as the trading unit.
Meanwhile, USD1 has reached the highest collateral level in Binance Futures' Portfolio Margin system, with a collateralization ratio of 99.99%. This means that within Binance Futures' unified account system, USD1 can not only be used as a stablecoin asset, but also further possesses efficient margin and collateral attributes. After this update, USD1 is beginning to form a more complete trading loop on leading trading platforms, serving as both a trading pricing currency and a margin asset and unified account collateral.
Binance plans to suspend token deposits and withdrawals on the Enjin Coin (ENJ) network at 21:35 (UTC+8) on May 18, 2026, to support its network upgrade. The project team will conduct the network upgrade at block height 15,543,000 (estimated at 22:35 UTC+8 on May 18, 2026).
Project Updates:
VOOI, a decentralized exchange backed by YZi Labs, announced on the X platform that VOOI Light will cease operations on May 18th due to OneBalance's decision to discontinue its Chain Abstraction (CA) solution. Users must close all outstanding orders and withdraw funds from the designated page before May 18th, otherwise their funds may be lost. VOOI stated that it is currently working with a new provider, and further information regarding VOOI stakers and airdrop recipients will be announced separately.
Token unlocking:
YZY (YZY) will unlock approximately 20.83 million tokens at 11:00 AM Beijing time on May 18th, representing approximately 4.46% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $6.2 million.
May 19
Macroeconomics:
Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China.
According to CCTV News, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China from May 19 to 20.
At 8:00 PM on Tuesday, May 19th, Federal Reserve Governor Waller will speak at a European Central Bank research conference;
Project Updates:
Base has announced the winners of the Batches 003 accelerator program and will host a live demo day on May 19th.
Base has announced the 12 projects selected for its Base Batches 003 accelerator program. These include Blockrun.ai (AI agent infrastructure), Stealth (prediction market), 4Mica (AI agent payment infrastructure), OPAL (privacy-focused DEX), Onsight (gamified social prediction platform), Credifi (collateral-free lending protocol), Tomorrow (collateralized stablecoin lending platform), Agently (AI-coordinated and executed transaction routing layer), Nivo (on-chain forex hedging platform), JPEG App (opinion marketplace), Floe Labs (credit services for AI agents and institutions), and Liminal (digital bank). The selected projects will receive dedicated mentorship, resources, and funding opportunities, culminating in a live Demo Day on May 19th in San Francisco.
Token unlocking:
Pyth Network (PYTH) will unlock approximately 2.13 billion tokens at 10 PM Beijing time on May 19th, representing approximately 36.96% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $95.5 million.
May 20
Macroeconomics:
At 7:00 AM on Wednesday, May 20th, Paulson, a 2026 FOMC voting member and President of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, will deliver a speech.
Meta Platforms plans to lay off approximately 10% of its workforce, or about 8,000 jobs, on May 20, in an effort to improve operational efficiency while increasing investment in AI.
Project Updates:
Senator Warren sent a letter to Zuckerberg, requesting Meta to provide an explanation of its stablecoin integration plan by May 20.
According to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Senate Minority Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren recently sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, requesting responses to seven questions regarding the stablecoin integration plan by May 20th. These questions cover topics such as the name of the pilot stablecoin, the launch timeline, changes to the MetaPay wallet, business arrangements with third-party issuers, privacy protection measures, and potential illegal financial controls. In the letter, Warren warned that Meta's integration or prioritization of a single stablecoin on its platform with 3.5 billion daily active users could have serious implications for competition, privacy, the integrity of the payment system, and financial stability. She also mentioned that Meta told Congress last year that it had no intention of issuing a stablecoin, but failed to disclose its business relationships with third-party stablecoin issuers.
Previous reports indicated that Meta plans to re-enter the stablecoin market in the second half of this year, intending to integrate third-party vendors to support stablecoin payments and launch a new wallet. Sources familiar with the matter stated that Meta has already extended product request invitations to third-party companies, with long-term partner Stripe being a potential candidate for the pilot program.
Token unlocking:
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on May 20th, representing about 5.07% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $33.4 million.
KAITO will unlock approximately 17.6 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on May 20th, representing about 4.70% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $7.9 million.
May 21
Financial Report:
Nvidia will release its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 at 5:00 AM Beijing time on May 21.
Macroeconomics:
At 2:00 AM on Thursday, May 21, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its monetary policy meeting.
Exchange:
Coinbase will suspend trading of 12 perpetual contracts on May 21.
Coinbase will suspend trading of the following perpetual contracts around 21:00 (Beijing time) on May 21: KAITO, SENT, SAHARA, CAKE, TOSHI, AKT, VET, ANIME, THETA, ZK, KERNEL, and BARD. Any open positions will be automatically settled at that time, with the final settlement price calculated based on the average index price over the 60 minutes prior to the trading suspension. Funding rates for the final settlement period will be set to zero.
Developer activities:
Y Combinator will hold its first-ever in-person interview session in New York, focusing on crypto and fintech startups. Selected teams will join the San Francisco round in the summer of 2026 and receive a standard $500,000 investment in exchange for a 7% equity stake. YC previously offered the option to distribute investments through the Circle stablecoin USDC. The interviews will be held in New York on May 21st. YC states that New York is becoming a key ecosystem for stablecoins, asset tokenization, trading, proxy e-commerce, and capital markets. Nemil Dalal, the visiting partner responsible for crypto, stated that more self-proclaimed "non-crypto" fintech teams will also utilize on-chain infrastructure in the future.
May 22
Special attention:
The UK High Court held an asset disposal hearing on February 16-17 regarding a money laundering case involving approximately 60,000 bitcoins. More than 11,300 applicants from China, representing only about 8.8% of the 128,400 victims, filed for recovery. The bitcoin funds originated from the illegal fundraising case of Tianjin Lantian Gree Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. The main perpetrator, Qian Zhimin, fled to the UK with the cryptocurrency. His purchase of a luxury home triggered an anti-money laundering investigation, ultimately leading to an 11-year and 8-month prison sentence. His more than 60,000 bitcoins were frozen by UK authorities. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, victims of the Lantian Gree case are allowed to register their evidence with the High Court before May 22 to assert their rights to recover the frozen assets.
Project Updates:
A New York judge postponed Aave's emergency motion to unfreeze $71 million in ETH, requiring both parties to submit supplementary statements by May 22.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett of the Southern District of New York postponed her ruling on Aave's emergency motion, ordering both the plaintiff and defendant to submit supplementary statements by May 22. A new hearing is scheduled for June 5. The judge stated that Aave's previous filings did not adequately explain the potential for "compound losses" to user funds if the restraining order remained in place. Therefore, she requested supplementary arguments from both parties on several legal issues, including the applicability of New York State's asylum doctrine, the legal distinction between fraud and theft, debt priority, the applicability of a constructive trust, and whether individual victims can be identified and assets returned proportionally.
Token unlocking:
MBG By Multibank Group (MBG) will unlock approximately 27.15 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on May 22, representing about 8.09% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $8.7 million.
SoSoValue (SOSO) will unlock approximately 13.32 million tokens at 5 PM Beijing time on May 22, representing about 4.17% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $5 million.
May 23
Project Updates:
Cardano's ecosystem NFT marketplace, JPG Store, has announced it will close on May 23.
Cardano's ecosystem NFT marketplace, JPG Store, announced on the X platform that due to its inability to continue operating, both JPG Store and the Comet platform will shut down on May 23. The website will cease service, but the smart contracts will continue to run. NFTs held in self-custodial wallets and the JPG Store contract will remain the property of the users and can be accessed through other aggregation platforms or the Cardano command-line interface. Users using social login wallets must transfer their assets to their self-custodial wallets within 30 days. The platform will remain functional for the final 30 days to assist users with the transition.
May 24
None available
