Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Blackrock’s bitcoin ETF is reeling in investors, Brian Armstrong is starting a new company and it has nothing to do with crypto, Eric Trump confirms how much crypto Donald Trump holds, the GENIUS act is beginning it’s legislation process today, South Korea’s potential President is making a big crypto promise, and so much more.

For anyone attending: The Bitcoin Conference is getting ready to set a world record ✍

Happy almost Friday, let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• In the morning Bitcoin rose +2.8% in Asia after U.S. and Chinese trade representatives announced plans to hold an ice-breaker meeting in Switzerland this weekend

• The U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday at a range between 4.25% and 4.50%

  • The committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities

  • LATE NIGHT UPDATE: Bitcoin jumped above $99,000 after new trade deal optimism

Headline Roundup
^{_{The major headlines driving crypto markets}}

• Movement Labs has fired co-founder Rushi Manche and rebranded as 'Move Industries' following a token dumping scandal that rocked the whole space (DC)

• Consumer crypto platform Abstract posts 55M transactions in the first four months – see the new startups’ incredible stats here

• Landmark stablecoin bill GENIUS act', that requires bipartisan support to pass, happens in the Senate today (TB)

• Credit Suisse pleads guilty with massive fine to the IRS for trying to hide $4B+ in 475 offshore accounts – the entire scandal breakdown here

• 75% of the top 25 TRUMP token holders are foreigners looking to get a VIP tour of the White House (CT)

• Eric Trump confirms his father owns a ‘substantial amount’ of Bitcoin while speaking to Bloomberg at the TOKEN2049 in Dubai (DF)

• The world record of Bitcoin payments in 8 hours is ready to be broken at The Bitcoin Conference (BM)

• Blackrock Bitcoin ETF has a current 16 day inflow streak (CT)

• Former Hudson River Trading exec Brad Vopini joins top crypto exchange to lead institutional expansion (TB)

• Crypto.com makes strategic move with new D.C. office to deepen policymaker engagement (NB)

• Trump’s World Liberty Financial opens snapshot voting for possible USD1 airdrop to WLFI token holders (TB)

• Faster bitcoin transaction speeds are coming to the UK because of a partnership between Revolut and Lightspark (TB)

• Billionaire Tim Draper says businesses not adopting Bitcoin are irresponsible and makes massive 2025 price prediction – full statements here

• Metaplanet confirms with new 555 BTC purchase that it won’t stop buying Bitcoin even as it nears $100k (BM)

• Public bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific releases earnings showcase $580M net profit in Q1 (TB)

• Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF stays ahead of the top world’s largest gold fund in year-to-date inflows (CD)

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Venture Capital

• Coinbase CEO raises $130M for new anti-aging biotech startup (DT)

• Singapore stablecoin payment startup Xweave completes $3M seed round led by Jungle Ventures and Lightshift (PA)

• Tokenized real estate startup Alt DRX raises $2.7M pre-Series A financing from Qatar Development Bank, Brand Capital, and others (ET)

• Arcanum Ventures announces backing of modular EVM startup AppLayer (AV)

• Visa follows the likes of Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global making a strategic investment in stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK (CD)

Launches

• Jack Maller’s Strike launches 'Strike Lending', Bitcoin-backed loans for eligible U.S. customers (BT)

• Ethereum developers launch Pectra upgrade live on mainnet with 11 updates implemented (BL)

Regulation

• South Korea’s leading presidential candidate promises crypto ETFs if elected (TB)

• Binance enters partnership with the country of Bhutan for tourism payments (DT)

• The state of Arizona singed a law to be able to keep any unclaimed crypto after 3 years (CT)

• 21Shares and Bitwise continue to push for altcoin ETFs and investment vehicles during regulatory delays (CY)

Cybersecurity

• April sees 18 hacks costing $357M in total stolen assets – a breakdown of the largest victims here

• A $50M bounty pool goes live on Web3bounty.io to discover $456M misappropriated TrueUSD funds (TB)

• Bybit liquidity restored to pre-$1.5B-hack levels (TB)

Extra Reads

• Michael Saylor is on a mission to convert as many companies as possible to Bitcoin

  A breakdown of Michael Saylor explaining why Microsoft should be the next blue chip to at Bitcoin to its balance sheet

• Today’s blockchains are more like nervous systems without a brain — wiring without will, but advancements in AI have completely turned the everything upside down

  Will AI make blockchains conscious?

Chart of the Day

Blackrock’s IBIT stands as the 6th largest ETF based on year-to-date inflow 💰

Upcoming Events

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Hear from the founders of Uniswap, Infinex, LayerZero, and more. 3 days. 1 mission: ship real things.

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