1⃣ A US warship transited the Strait of Hormuz and collided with Iran, raising geopolitical risks again. BTC dropped below $80,000 to around $79,815, down about 1.4% in 24 hours, while ETH traded around $2,286, down about 1.6%.
2⃣ Coinbase reported a net loss of $394 million in the first quarter, with approximately $482 million of that loss related to crypto investments, while revenue decreased 31% year-on-year. Profit volatility on the platform is becoming clearer.
3⃣ Block reported a $173 million loss from its bitcoin revaluation in the first quarter, but maintained its full-year growth forecast. The company currently holds 28,355 BTC.
4. Kraken's parent company, Payward, will acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payment company Reap Technologies for $600 million, further strengthening its strategy to expand into cross-border payments markets in Asia.
5⃣ AWS, Coinbase, and Stripe have launched infrastructure for AI agent payments, enabling AI agents to pay directly in USDC for APIs and online services.
6⃣ The US crypto market structure bill, CLARITY, could be XEM by the Senate Banking Committee as early as next week. Complexity in tax reporting XEM a major barrier to institutional adoption.
7⃣ A wallet linked to Matrixport sold an additional 100,000 HYPE tokens, bringing the total number sold to 200,000, generating approximately 8.447 million USDC. Profit-taking pressure on hot Token remains present.
8⃣ Vitalik's entire Token transaction, worth approximately $4 USD, was also affected by the sandwich attack. The trading bot ultimately lost money, but this incident once again highlights the persistent danger from MEVs on the chain.
9⃣ US stocks have corrected after recent peaks, with the S&P 500 down about 0.5%, the Nasdaq down 0.9%, and the Dow down 0.1%. Markets continue to adjust to changes in the Iran narrative.
