aster

The decentralized derivatives trading protocol Aster announced the official launch of BTCU and ETHU perpetual contracts through permissionless token listing voting, and introduced a trading event with a total prize pool of $50,000 $U. The official statement indicates that this is one of the world's first perpetual contract trading pairs priced in $U.It is reported that the event will take place from May 27, 10:00 UTC to June 2, 14:00 UTC. During the event, trading BTCU and ETHU will enjoy a 1.5 times weight bonus.The total prize pool of $50,000 will be evenly divided between the two trading pairs (each $25,000), distributed according to the proportion of trading fees generated by users in the corresponding trading pairs, with a maximum individual reward cap of 3% of the corresponding prize pool. Participating users must generate more than $5 in fees on a single trading pair to qualify.In addition, $U (United Stables) is a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by United Stables Limited, aimed at building a unified liquidity layer across trading, payments, DeFi, institutions, and the AI sector.

According to official news, Aster has launched BTCU and ETHU perpetual contracts at 18:00 Beijing time on May 27, becoming one of the first perpetual trading pairs to go live through the Listing Vote process approved by Aster validators.To celebrate the launch, Aster will hold a total trading reward event of $50,000 $U from 18:00 Beijing time on May 27 to 22:00 on June 2. Each trading pair, BTCU and ETHU, will have a reward pool of $25,000 $U, and rewards will be distributed based on the proportion of fees generated by users in the corresponding trading pairs. During the event, the BTCU and ETHU perpetual trading pairs will also receive a 1.5x points bonus.

According to BBX data, yesterday global payment giants and publicly listed treasury companies made key progress in obtaining compliance licenses and strategic asset allocation, with the core dynamics as follows:Mastercard secures compliance entry ticket in the U.S.: Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: $MA) subsidiary Mastercard Transaction Services (U.S.) LLC has officially obtained a cryptocurrency business license (BitLicense) issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), allowing it to legally conduct digital asset-related business in the state. This approval marks Mastercard's full-scale efforts in on-chain payment and settlement infrastructure centered around stablecoins and tokenized deposits.DDC treasury holdings rise to 2,714 coins: DDC Enterprise Limited (NYSE: $DDC) officially announced an additional purchase of 131 bitcoins. As of now, the company's total bitcoin holdings have reached 2,714 BTC, with an overall average purchase cost of $79,135. Benefiting from recent capital operations, its year-to-date bitcoin yield has reached 43.5%.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, the whale 0xaa92 spent 1.81 million dollars 20 days ago to purchase 4.21 billion Ethereum ecosystem meme coins ASTEROID. Its current value is only 649,000 dollars, resulting in an unrealized loss of 1.16 million dollars.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, whale 0xaa92 spent 1.81 million dollars 20 days ago to purchase 4.21 billion ASTEROID, a meme coin in the Ethereum ecosystem. Its current value is only 649,000 dollars, resulting in an unrealized loss of 1.16 million dollars.

According to CoinDesk, Mastercard Transaction Services (U.S.) LLC, a subsidiary of Mastercard, has been granted a BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), allowing it to conduct digital asset-related business in the state. This approval is part of its strategy to build a blockchain-based payment and settlement infrastructure, focusing on stablecoins and tokenized deposits.The New York BitLicense requires licensed institutions to meet strict standards in areas such as capital, cybersecurity, compliance, and consumer protection. Mastercard stated that this license will support its layout in digital currencies such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits, while continuing to adhere to the compliance and operational standards of its global payment network, promoting the parallel development of traditional financial systems and blockchain payment tracks.

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the address that once spent $2.53 million to become the largest holder of ASTEROID is now facing an unrealized loss of $675,000.During the period from April 19 to April 25, he purchased 8.4 billion ASTEROID at an average price of $0.0003013. As the market capitalization of the token has fallen below $100 million, his assets have shrunk by 26.7%.

According to GMGN monitoring, the Solana ecosystem meme coin ASTEROID rose this morning, with its market cap rebounding to $15.1 million, currently reported at $13.8 million, a 48% increase over 24 hours, with a relatively low trading volume of about $740,000. The current market cap has fallen about 25.9% from its historical high. The Ethereum chain ASTEROID briefly dipped in the past hour, with its market cap nearing $91 million at one point, now reported at about $99 million, a 24-hour decrease of 18.6%, with trading volume exceeding $11.7 million during the same period.Additionally, monitoring shows that in the Ethereum version of ASTEROID, trader (0x68a) sold a large amount of 1.515 billion tokens (approximately $363,600) in the past hour, which may have put pressure on the price to decline, making it the largest selling address in the past 24 hours. Previously, they bought the token with $1.07 million in funds, and as of the time of writing, they have sold a total of $829,000 worth of positions, with a total profit and loss of approximately -$136,000.ChainCatcher reminds users that meme coin trading is highly volatile, largely relying on market sentiment and speculative hype, and has no actual value or use case, so investors should be aware of the risks.

According to BBX data, yesterday the layout of traditional payment institutions in the cryptocurrency infrastructure showed divergence, with institutions having clear differences in their views on ETH and the altcoin sector. The core dynamics are as follows:Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: $MA) signed an acquisition agreement for the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK on March 17 for a maximum of $1.8 billion (including $300 million in performance-based payments), which directly led Mastercard to abandon its previously pursued strategic investment plan in Zerohash (a privately held company). According to CoinDesk on May 19, Mastercard exited negotiations with Zerohash after the completion of the BVNK acquisition, and Zerohash is currently seeking to initiate a new financing round with a valuation of over $1.5 billion (higher than the $1 billion valuation established during the D-2 round of financing of $104 million in September 2025); the strategic logic behind Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK is that BVNK has a stablecoin payment infrastructure covering over 130 countries and a difficult-to-replicate combination of multi-country payment licenses; Mastercard's Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert stated that the goal is to integrate stablecoins into the core network of Mastercard Move cross-border payments, rather than treating them as a peripheral experiment.JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: $JPM) analysts cited by CoinDesk on May 19 released the latest research report indicating that in the current market environment, Ethereum and the broader altcoin sector will continue to lag behind Bitcoin, primarily due to three structural weaknesses: weak network activity, stagnation in DeFi ecosystem growth (Solana's TVL has dropped from a peak of $13.1 billion in 2025 to about $5.5 billion), and limited real-world adoption scenarios; analysts believe that for the altcoin sector to catch up with Bitcoin's performance, a "significant network activity explosion" is a prerequisite, and this condition currently lacks visible short-term catalysts.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed that the Federal Reserve has issued a notice for public comment and proposed rulemaking regarding payment accounts (i.e., "streamlined master accounts"), allowing eligible fintech and crypto companies to access the Federal Reserve's payment system for clearing and settlement. This is the next formal action following the end of the public comment period in February and the implementation process of payment accounts by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller.The Federal Reserve also encourages regional Federal Reserve Banks to suspend processing new "Tier 3" master account access requests (most crypto companies fall into this category) until December 2026 to enhance system consistency while finalizing the framework.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the largest ASTEROID holder on Solana, 8Qef2u, purchased 10.04 million VIRL, worth $17,700. This address holds 25.03 million ASTEROID, worth $301,600, and purchased VIRL after following the official Solana account @virlfun.

On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order titled "Incorporating Financial Technology Innovation into the Regulatory Framework," directing the Federal Reserve to assess proposals that would allow fintech companies and cryptocurrency firms direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment systems.The order urges the federal government to eliminate overly burdensome policies on financial technology innovation and requires the Federal Reserve to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the regulatory framework for non-bank companies' access to reserve bank payment accounts and services. Additionally, the order instructs the Federal Reserve to clarify whether the 12 Federal Reserve Banks have the legal authority to independently grant or deny access to payment accounts and services, and it requires the Federal Reserve to submit a report to the President within 120 days.

The decentralized trading platform Aster announced that it officially launched the ZESTUSDT perpetual contract trading pair at 22:30 Beijing time on May 19 (14:30 UTC), and simultaneously opened the "Rocket Launch" Phase 9 trading incentive activity.It is reported that Zest Protocol is a Bitcoin-native lending protocol that allows BTC holders to earn yields or borrow stablecoins by collateralizing their assets. The protocol currently has a TVL of 100 million dollars and has received support from Draper VC and YZi Labs.According to the official statement, the duration of this trading activity is from May 19 to May 26. During the event, users participating in ZESTUSDT perpetual contract trading will share a prize pool of ASTER tokens worth 50,000 dollars based on their proportion of generated trading fees.

Mastercard has abandoned its investment plan for the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Zerohash, which had previously agreed in March to acquire the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for $1.8 billion. Mastercard had considered a strategic investment in Chicago-based Zerohash in January of this year. At that time, Zerohash was seeking to raise $250 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion, while the company is currently advancing a new funding round at a higher valuation. Founded in 2017, Zerohash primarily provides APIs and developer tools for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized products.Meanwhile, recent transactions involving Kraken's parent company Payward and Bullish indicate that consolidation in the digital asset infrastructure sector is ongoing. In terms of stablecoin payment arrangements, Mastercard has acquired BVNK for $1.8 billion and may pay an additional $300 million in performance-based compensation. BVNK currently serves payment and payroll platforms like Worldpay and Deel for cross-border payments, fund settlement, and financial management.Mastercard plans to integrate BVNK's technology into its Mastercard Move network to support 24/7 stablecoin settlement for payment institutions and merchant acquirers, and to explore adding stablecoin checkout functionality in payment gateways. Analysts believe that this transaction will further intensify the competition between Mastercard and Visa in the networked strategy of payment networks and accelerate the evolution of traditional cross-border clearing systems towards stablecoin settlement models.

According to GMGN data, ASTEROID on the Ethereum chain has risen over 16% in 24 hours, with a market cap reaching $139 million and a 24-hour trading volume of $14 million.It is reported that the narrative of the meme coin ASTEROID originates from a 15-year-old girl, Liv Perrotto. Her biggest wish in life was to meet Musk, and she participated in designing a Shiba Inu-shaped doll named "Asteroid." After the girl passed away, her mother publicly wrote to request Musk's attention, which was recounted and spread by well-known media personality Glenn Beck on his show. On April 19, Musk agreed for Asteroid to become the mascot of SpaceX.In terms of news, today a whale address 0x02e spent 629 ETH (approximately $1.4 million) to buy 4.2 billion ASTEROID at a price of $0.0003329.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the whale "0x02e" spent 629 ETH (worth 1.4 million dollars) to purchase 4.2 billion ASTEROID at a price of 0.0003329 dollars.

According to GMGN market data, the meme coin "Haqimi" on the BNB Chain has a market capitalization exceeding $18 million, with a 10-minute increase of 62.52%.According to the Aster official website, it will launch "Haqimi" spot trading at 20:00.

According to the official announcement, the digital asset trading platform Websea has reached an investment intention with a strategic investor and will officially open withdrawals on May 18 at 16:00 (UTC+8), while also announcing specific withdrawal arrangements.It is reported that this strategic investment comes from a family fund in the Middle East. Both parties have conducted multiple rounds of in-depth communication on core issues such as the platform's asset status, business structure optimization, recovery path design, and long-term development planning, ultimately reaching a consensus for cooperation. Currently, the investor is advancing the capital injection process according to procedures, while simultaneously carrying out final confirmation work such as legal review, agreement signing, and equity arrangements.Websea CMO Herbert R. Sim stated that Websea has gone through an exceptionally difficult time, but in the face of many doubts from the industry, the platform team members have been working silently and have finally welcomed new life. He believes that this test is both a challenge and an opportunity for the platform. He also mentioned that with the entry of the investor, the platform will publish proof of reserves (Proof of Reserves, POR) and conduct regular disclosures to further enhance user asset transparency and market confidence. The platform will also continue to optimize its product structure and ecological mechanisms to promote long-term stable development.

According to GMGN monitoring, the market capitalization of the Solana ecosystem meme coin MAGA rebounded by 52% today, reaching a high of $9.3 million, currently reported at $8 million, with a trading volume of $1.8 million during the same period.It is reported that U.S. Congressman Eric Burlison revealed in a program yesterday that the White House plans to release a batch of new documents approximately every two weeks. This is slightly faster than the official description of "every few weeks," with 6 days having passed since the last release.Since April 17, when Trump publicly stated his intention to release government documents related to UFOs, UAPs, and possible extraterrestrial life, the market capitalization of this token peaked at $33 million but has significantly declined after the recent first round of UFO document releases.ChainCatcher reminds users that meme coin trading is highly volatile, largely relying on market sentiment and speculative hype, and has no actual value or use case; investors should be aware of the risks.

Marc, the head of cryptocurrency donations at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, stated that the hospital received a donation of 0.5% of the total supply of ASTEROID tokens about two years ago. However, due to a lack of compliant exchange channels at that time, the related assets have remained in the on-chain wallet.He mentioned that as the market value of ASTEROID rose from approximately $20,000 to over $150 million, the hospital's holdings were once valued between $500,000 and $1 million. To avoid impacting community liquidity, the hospital ultimately sold the related holdings in 12 batches over two days while continuously monitoring the liquidity situation.Marc stated that they ultimately exchanged for over 290 ETH, valued at approximately $676,000, and the related funds will be used to support the treatment and research of childhood diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.