Today's top news highlights:

Regulation & Macro

Vietnam's Deputy Finance Minister: Vietnam may launch a cryptocurrency market in Q3

Vietnam's Deputy Finance Minister stated that the country may officially launch its cryptocurrency market in the third quarter of 2026.

The Hong Kong High Court has approved the freezing of HK$8.9 billion in assets belonging to Prince Group's Chen Zhi and others.

The Hong Kong High Court granted the Department of Justice's application to freeze HK$8.93 billion in assets belonging to 42 individuals, including Chan Chi, and their companies. The assets include deposits, properties, and stocks. Chan Chi alone has assets exceeding HK$6.36 billion, including HK$2.2 billion in deposits, a Tsim Sha Tsui commercial building valued at HK$3 billion, and a Peak villa valued at HK$1 billion. Zhou Yun, who assists in managing these assets, has total assets exceeding HK$2 billion, with accounts holding HK$15.92 million worth of Hong Kong dollars, euros, and Bitcoin. The court will reconvene on August 3 to decide whether to extend the restraining order.

US senators have submitted a new amendment to explicitly prohibit cryptocurrencies from being used as fiat currency.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed submitted amendments ahead of the stablecoin bill's consideration, proposing to explicitly prohibit cryptocurrencies from being used as fiat currency, including banning tax payments in the form of crypto assets. Senator Elizabeth Warren submitted over 40 amendments, one of which would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing master accounts to cryptocurrency companies. Another amendment, jointly submitted by Reed and Smith, aims to incorporate bank restrictions on stablecoin yields into the bill.

Members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee have submitted more than 100 amendments to the crypto bill.

Members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee have submitted more than 100 amendments to the crypto bill, which will be considered on Thursday.

Project Updates

Binance will delist ATA, FARM, MLN, PHB, and SYS.

Binance will cease trading and delist Automata (ATA), Harvest Finance (FARM), Enzyme (MLN), Phoenix (PHB), and Syscoin (SYS) on May 27, 2026 at 11:00 AM (UTC+8).

BlackRock has filed a new application for a tokenization fund with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and has once again chosen to partner with Securitize.

BlackRock has filed a new tokenized fund structure application with the SEC, again selecting Securitize as its infrastructure provider. This is its second product after launching its first tokenized fund, BUIDL (with approximately $2.3 billion in assets under management), in 2024. The fund plans to combine blockchain-based ownership records with regulated transfer agents and investor access systems.

Data: Over 1 million US merchants now accept Bitcoin payments through Square.

Block's Square has automatically enabled Bitcoin payments for approximately one million US merchants, allowing customers to pay with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network while merchants settle in USD. This feature has been available by default to eligible US sellers since March 30th, with a new merchant activating it every 8 seconds at peak times.

Charles Schwab has begun rolling out crypto accounts to retail clients, enabling direct purchases of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Charles Schwab announced that its Schwab Crypto account is gradually opening to retail clients, with the first batch of clients able to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum and manage them alongside other investment products.

Legend has decided to shut down after two years of operation and will officially go offline on July 12.

Legend CEO Jayson Hobby announced the company's closure after two years of operation. While the product found an audience, it failed to reach a sustainable scale. Mainstream users were less concerned with on-chain functionality and more focused on better returns, faster payments, and greater control over their funds. The app will remain operational for 60 days, officially shutting down on July 12th, before users can withdraw their funds.

YZi Labs has announced the third cohort of EASY Residency graduates, covering seven major areas including on-chain finance and AI agents.

YZi Labs announced the graduating teams for the third quarter of its EASY Residency program, with 25 projects covering various sectors including new on-chain financial market structures, AI agents and verifiable intelligence, RWA and new asset classes, prediction and event-driven markets, privacy and compliance, on-chain financial consumer layers, programmable infrastructure, and vertical AI. Teams include Bank of AI, Brief Tech, Cournot, Datatal, Flap, GEMINT, LayerV, LunarBase, L7, Möbius, Nemesis, Newsliquid, Openstocks, PokerFi, Polysights, Renaiss, TermMax, 0xBow, Functor, Isaac, MARGIN X, Orbswap, SilentSwap, Taco AI, and Vibe.fun.

Virtuals Protocol launches EconomyOS, a full-stack identity and finance suite for AI agents.

Virtuals Protocol has launched EconomyOS, a full-stack identity and finance suite for AI agents, providing dedicated Visa cards, wallets, emails, and identity information.

Telegram usernames and premium phone numbers sold for millions of dollars, triggering phishing attacks.

Recently, several Telegram usernames and virtual numbers sold at record-breaking TON prices. @danbao sold for 1.58 million TON (approximately $2.1 million), @boss for 500,000 USDT, the premium number +888 8222 for 520,000 TON, and +888 8899 for 423,900 TON. Following these transactions, a targeted attack using counterfeit USDT occurred, resulting in a Chinese collector losing the premium number +888 8321, valued at over $800,000. A crypto trader lost approximately $200,000 on Ethereum, Base, and BSC after creating a wallet through the Telegram bot SIGMA. Security companies point out that criminals are increasingly using Telegram bots and mini-programs for crypto theft.

Starknet's encapsulated version of privacy Bitcoin, strkBTC, has officially launched.

Starknet has launched strkBTC, a privacy-preserving Bitcoin asset. Users can convert BTC to strkBTC in their wallets and hide parts of their balance and transaction history using the "shield" function, which can be "unshielded" to restore public visibility if necessary. This feature is based on the STRK20 privacy framework, providing protocol-level privacy transfers and supporting auditable privacy. When users enable privacy, they share the viewing key with an independent third-party auditing firm.

The x402 protocol supports bulk settlement, enabling a large number of small payments.

Jesse Pollak, head of the Base protocol, stated that the x402 protocol already supports bulk settlement, enabling a large number of small payments, with individual transactions as low as less than $0.0001, suitable for on-demand payments of instant resources such as computation and inference.

The first phase of the rsETH technical recovery plan has been completed, and related operations will gradually resume over the next few days.

Aave announced that the first phase of its rsETH technical recovery plan has been completed, including the destruction of rsETH held by attackers on Arbitrum. LayerZero OFT adapters will be gradually replenished and operations will resume over the next few days. Kelp expects to replenish 117,132 rsETH from Aave Recovery Guardian and Kelp Recovery Safe to the mainnet LayerZero OFT adapters within two weeks, with withdrawals resuming within 24 hours of the initial replenishment. Kelp has completed security hardening for all LayerZero cross-chain configurations, requiring verification of four independent provers, increasing the block confirmation count from 42 to 64, and abandoning all L2-to-L2 paths. These changes have been audited by BailSec and are being migrated to CCIP.

CME Group partners with Silicon Data to launch computing power futures market

CME Group has partnered with data and analytics company Silicon Data to launch the first computing power futures market, supporting artificial intelligence.

eBay's board of directors rejected GameStop's acquisition offer of approximately $56 billion.

eBay's board of directors rejected GameStop's approximately $56 billion acquisition offer, calling it "neither credible nor attractive."

DTCC and Chainlink partner to launch blockchain collateral management platform

Global settlement giant DTCC announced that its blockchain-based Collateral AppChain will integrate Chainlink infrastructure for risk control processes such as collateral pricing, valuation, margin management, optimization, and settlement. The platform, based on the Besu blockchain, tokenizes traditional asset collateral, enabling automated collateral allocation and settlement across markets and time zones 24/7 through smart contracts. Chainlink provides the data and orchestration layer. DTCC plans to launch the new tokenized service this October.

21Shares launches Hyperliquid spot ETF on Nasdaq

21Shares launched an ETF (ticker symbol THYP) on Nasdaq that is backed by physical HYPE tokens and allows staking. The management fee is 0.30%, and pricing data is provided by FTSE Russell.

Investment and financing news

Anthropic is in talks to raise at least $30 billion at a valuation of $900 billion.

Anthropic is in preliminary talks with investors to raise at least $30 billion in new funding, valuing the company at over $900 billion, potentially marking its largest funding round to date.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic raises $120 million to value the company at $670 million.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has raised $120 million in a new funding round, valuing the company at approximately $670 million. The round was led by One Peak Partners, with participation from Deutsche Bank, Nasdaq's venture capital arm, and British Business Bank, as well as existing shareholders including JPMorgan Chase. Elliptic provides crypto transaction monitoring and anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance tools to financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, screening over 1 billion transactions weekly for more than 700 clients.

Stablecoin yield project Osero raises $13.5 million, led by Sky Ecosystem.

Osero, a stablecoin yield infrastructure project, has completed a $13.5 million funding round led by Sky Ecosystem (formerly MakerDAO) with participation from Plasma. The round was structured in a SAFT format, and the valuation was not disclosed. Incubated by Stablewatch, Osero provides savings infrastructure for Sky's ecosystem stablecoins USDS and sUSDS, and is integrated with Sky Savings Rate through the Osero App and Osero Earn. $10 million of this funding is earmarked as a risk reserve, and deployment will require compliance with Sky's risk assessment framework based on Basel III.

Opinions & Analysis

Wintermute: Bitcoin's rally is fragile amid weak spot demand; a short-term reversal may be imminent.

A Wintermute report points out that Bitcoin's break above $80,000 was primarily driven by a short squeeze in perpetual futures, rather than spot demand. While futures open interest increased by approximately $10 billion to $58 billion over the past month, spot trading volume fell to a two-year low. This rally, lacking spot support, is fragile and may face a short-term reversal. In the long term, recent net inflows into spot ETFs totaled $623 million, and exchange-traded Bitcoin holdings fell to a seven-year low, but this is insufficient to offset short-term risks. Higher-than-expected US CPI and uncertainty surrounding the Fed Chair nomination could also exacerbate the pressure.

Anchorage Policy Leader: Five Gaps Remain in Institutional Encryption Infrastructure After CLARITY Approval

Kevin Wysocki, policy director at Anchorage Digital, predicts that the CLARITY Crypto Market Structure Act will receive conditional support from some Democratic senators on the Senate Banking Committee, with key controversies revolving around ethics and anti-money laundering provisions. The bill elevates existing SEC and CFTC regulatory guidelines to codified law and establishes temporary registration and a "de facto safe harbor." Even if passed, it will still lack five key provisions: the Federal Reserve master account, financial privacy legislation, AI-assisted payment rules, comprehensive tokenization legislation, and a dedicated crypto tax law.

Important data

Bitcoin treasury firm KULR Tech transferred 300 BTC to Coinbase Prime

Bitcoin treasury firm KULR Tech transferred 300 BTC ($24.36 million) to Coinbase Prime two hours ago. Since December 2024, the company has allocated 90% of its surplus cash to BTC, accumulating 1021 BTC ($101 million) in reserves by July 2025, with an average price of $98,923. It currently has a loss of $18.25 million. Its stock price surged nearly tenfold to $43.92 after the announcement of the BTC reserves, before subsequently falling to $3.19, a drop of 92.7%.

Solana Treasury subsidiary Upexi's net loss widened to $109 million in the third fiscal quarter.

Upexi, the Solana treasury company, reported a widening net loss of $109 million in its third fiscal quarter, primarily dragged down by a $92.3 million unrealized loss on digital assets. Total revenue increased 46% year-over-year to $4.6 million, mainly from staking income. As of March 31, Upexi held 2.5 million Solana tokens, valued at over $238 million, making it the second-largest Solana treasury entity. Following the earnings release, the stock price fell 8.16%. The CEO stated that the company is improving its fundamentals through share buybacks and convertible note financing.

Whale Loracle.hl opened a $12.66 million short position in BTC, with total unrealized profits exceeding $41 million across all positions.

Whale Loracle.hl opened a 20x short position of 156 BTC, worth $12.66 million. Two days earlier, its 10x SNDK short position had a floating profit of over $648,000, and its 5x HYPE short position had a floating profit of over $2.3 million, for a total floating profit of over $41 million.

A trader once again opened long positions in ETH and BTC with 20x leverage, bringing the total position size to over $80 million.

Trader 0x049b again opened a long position of 17,410 ETH ($40.07 million) and 493.43 BTC ($40.01 million) with 20x leverage. The liquidation price for ETH was $2,227.81 and for BTC it was $78,009.69. This trader has profited $7.83 million through this 20x long/short trade in BTC and ETH.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $233 million yesterday, with Fidelity FBTC experiencing the largest net outflow at $86.1294 million.

On May 12th, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $233 million. The Morgan Stanley ETF (MSBT) saw a net inflow of $6.0195 million, with a historical total net inflow of $226 million; the Fidelity ETF (FBTC) saw a net outflow of $86.1294 million, with a historical total net inflow of $11.045 billion. The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $107.312 billion, with a net asset value ratio of 6.64%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $59.134 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $131 million yesterday, with BlackRock's ETHA experiencing the largest net outflow at $102 million.

On May 12, Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $131 million. BlackRock's Staked ETH ETF (ETHB) saw a net inflow of $11.7469 million, with a historical total net inflow of $517 million; BlackRock's ETH ETF (ETHA) saw a net outflow of $102 million, with a historical total net inflow of $11.897 billion. The total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs was $13.393 billion, with a net asset value ratio of 4.86%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $11.939 billion.

Huang Licheng has lost $2.16 million in the past week, and his long positions in BTC and ETH are currently showing a floating loss of $484,000.

After taking profits, the largest long position holder on Hyperliquid added to their ETH holdings, bringing their total position to 108,000 ETH.

The US CPI rose 3.8% year-on-year in April, the highest level since May 2023.

The U.S. unadjusted CPI rose 3.8% year-on-year in April, the highest since May 2023, and higher than the expected 3.7%; the core CPI rose 2.8% year-on-year, the highest since September 2025, and higher than the expected 2.7%.

Bakkt's revenue plummeted 77% in the first quarter, accelerating its bets on stablecoin infrastructure.

Bakkt's crypto services revenue in Q1 2026 fell 77% to $243.6 million from approximately $1.07 billion in the same period last year, and net profit turned into a loss of $11.7 million from a profit of $7.7 million. At the end of the period, it held $82.6 million in cash and had no long-term debt. Bakkt is shifting from crypto transaction infrastructure to stablecoin payments and "agentic AI," having completed the acquisition of Distributed Technologies Research and signed a memorandum of understanding with stablecoin payment company Zoth.

ETH falls below $2,500, down 3.70% on the day

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