Today's top news highlights:
1. Macroeconomic Outlook for Next Week: Warsh to Take Over as Fed Chair, Gold Awaits CPI "Verdict"
2. Binance: Emerging market users are viewing cryptocurrency exchanges as banking applications.
3. The WorldCoin team transferred 30 million WLD tokens, worth $8.17 million, to Bitgo.
4. Garrett Jin deposited over $250 million in Ethereum into Binance.
5. Coinbase and Kraken together account for 22% of AI citations in the crypto category.
6. Aave obtains judge's permission to transfer $71 million in ETH related to the North Korea hack.
Regulation & Macro
Macroeconomic Outlook for Next Week: Warsh to Take Over as Fed Chair, Gold Awaits CPI "Verdict"
This week, although retaliatory strikes triggered by the US-Iran conflict initially heightened tensions, geopolitical risks eased slightly following the announcement of a three-day ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The US dollar index fluctuated throughout the week, closing at 97.84 on Friday, marking its second consecutive week of decline. Gold closed at $4715.49 per ounce on Friday, up 2.17%. Global commodities and currency markets experienced significant volatility this week. In the international crude oil market, geopolitical risk premiums collapsed significantly. Brent crude oil , influenced by rising expectations of a US-Iran ceasefire, saw a rapid shift in market sentiment, falling below $95, while WTI crude oil also dipped to the $90 mark. The following are key points to watch in the market this week (all times are Beijing time):
- Monday 09:30, China's April CPI year-on-year rate;
- At 3:15 PM on Tuesday, Williams, a permanent voting member of the FOMC and president of the New York Federal Reserve, participated in a panel discussion on monetary policy.
- At 20:15 on Tuesday, the weekly change in US ADP employment figures for the week ending April 25 will be released.
- US April CPI data will be released at 20:30 on Tuesday.
- At 04:30 on Wednesday, the API crude oil inventory data for the week ending May 8 will be released.
- Final reading of France's April CPI month-on-month rate at 14:45 on Wednesday;
- At 20:30 on Wednesday, the US April PPI year-on-year and month-on-month rates will be released.
- At 14:00 on Thursday, the UK will release its preliminary Q1 GDP annual rate, March three-month GDP monthly rate, March manufacturing output monthly rate, March seasonally adjusted goods trade balance, and March industrial production monthly rate.
- Thursday 22:00, US March Business Inventories Month-on-Month Rate;
- Federal Reserve Governor Barr will speak at 5:30 a.m. on Friday.
- At 21:15 on Friday, the US April industrial production month-on-month rate will be released.
Next week will see a major personnel change at the Federal Reserve. Chairman-designate Kevin Warsh is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday and officially take over from Powell on May 15. On the data front, Tuesday's US CPI inflation report is the highlight. As of Friday, a new surge has propelled the S&P 500 up 8% year-to-date in 2026, continuing its climb after three consecutive years of double-digit returns. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has risen nearly 13% year-to-date, with both indices hitting record highs. Although the first-quarter earnings season is nearing its end, corporate reports will remain a key driver of stock prices in the coming days.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, said that SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s speech about balancing regulation and innovation seemed to point to prediction market ETFs, which may be launched soon.
A U.S. judge approved the transfer of approximately $71 million in ETH previously frozen on Arbitrum to Aave, but the legal freeze on the funds remains in effect. These funds are alleged to be linked to North Korean-related hacking attacks and are under judicial review as part of civil claims by victims of terrorism. This ruling is merely a technical step and does not alter the existing arrangements regarding asset freezes and claims rights.
Project Updates
The WorldCoin team transferred 30 million WLD tokens, worth $8.17 million, to Bitgo.
The WorldCoin team sent 30 million WLDs, worth $8.17 million, to the Bitgo Custody address. This wallet currently holds 153.65 million WLDs, worth $41.35 million.
Echelon will delist kAPT and stkAPT core collateral pool assets.
Echelon has announced the phase-out of kAPT and stkAPT in the Aptos core pool. Deposit and borrowing functions are currently disabled. Starting May 20th, the related E-Mode collateral ratio will be reduced to 0%, and they will be removed from E-Mode on May 27th. The liquidation threshold will be reduced to 0% on June 3rd. Users are advised to close or migrate their positions as soon as possible to avoid liquidation risks.
Opinions & Analysis
Binance: Emerging market users are viewing cryptocurrency exchanges as banking applications
Binance research shows that 77% of its platform users are from emerging markets, and these users are using crypto exchage as an alternative financial infrastructure for savings, payments, and investments. 83% of users using two or more products simultaneously are from emerging markets, with savings rates approximately twice that of developed markets. About 36% of emerging market users with balances exceeding $10 allocate at least half of their assets to stablecoins, compared to 28% globally. With approximately 1.3 billion adults worldwide still lacking financial services and 4.7 billion lacking credit, the increasing use of stablecoins in cross-border remittances and savings has raised concerns from the IMF and Moody's about monetary sovereignty and financial resilience.
Trader Eugene stated that if BTC breaks through $80,000, most Altcoin may begin a new upward trend.
Trader Eugene, affectionately known as "Dove," stated on his personal channel that several crypto assets have shown signs of bottoming out, and with Bitcoin hovering around $80,000, the coming week may be a crucial period for market direction. He believes that most tokens currently have low trading volumes and open interest (OI), requiring only minimal marginal buying to drive prices up, and the market as a whole remains under-allocated.
Eugene points out that if BTC effectively breaks through $80,000 and drives a new upward trend in mainstream tokens such as Ethereum, Solana, and HYPE, many Altcoin are expected to break through their current consolidation range.
Important data
Garrett Jin deposited over $250 million worth of Ethereum into Binance.
Garrett Jin, an agent of the "1011 Insider Whale," deposited 108,169 ETH, equivalent to approximately $250 million, into Binance.
A whale who previously profited approximately $86.36 million by short a basket of Altcoin is currently experiencing a paper loss of about $4.06 million on its 29 short positions. The short assets include 28 Altcoin such as ZEC, TON, NEAR, and LIT, as well as crude oil contracts, with a total position of approximately $47.66 million, and the whale has been continuously adding to its positions. It was still showing a profit before May 4th, but subsequently turned into a loss due to the overall market rally.
Coinbase and Kraken together account for 22% of AI citations in the crypto category.
According to market analysis reports, Coinbase and Kraken together account for 22% of all AI citations in the crypto category, with Coinbase at 13% and Kraken at 9%, a lead of more than three times that of other US trading platforms. Gemini ranks third with 5.5%, Robinhood Crypto ranks fourth with 5%, and BlackRock's spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund IBIT ranks fifth with 4.5%, dominating in questions related to "Bitcoin ETF".
Furthermore, hardware wallets are gaining less influence in AI responses. While Ledger and Trezor still dominate questions related to “crypto wallets,” AI is increasingly recommending regulated trading platform custody solutions for the question of “best way to store crypto assets.”
Analyst Tom Wan stated on the X platform that despite LayerZero's apology, several protocols with a combined TVL of approximately $2 billion have announced their migration to Chainlink CCIP, including KelpDAO ($1.5 billion), SolvProtocol ($600 million), and re ($200 million). Furthermore, leading assets currently using the LayerZero OFT standard include: USDe/sUSDe (Ethena), weETH (Etherfi), USDT0 (Tether), thBILL (Theo), and WBTC (Bitgo). The specific migration progress is subject to official announcements from the project teams.
Previously , LayerZero Labs apologized for the security incident and disclosed corrective measures.
