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Some observers view Morgan Stanley's entry into the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this month as a catalyst to end the current crypto bear market, citing the large distribution capability of the Wall Street giant's $8 trillion wealth advisory network. However, Blockstream CEO and early Bitcoin community contributor Adam Back stated that "it won't happen that quickly."Back was recently speculated by The New York Times to be the anonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, which he denied. Back indicated that from a positive market signal perspective, the Bitcoin ETF could be the most significant development in recent times, even more important than a pro-crypto U.S. government, but this process is slower than most people realize.Back stated, "I think one thing people might be miscalculating is that institutional adoption is very slow. So the ETF has been bought, but when BlackRock suggested allocating 2% to 4% in its general stock portfolio, fund managers had not done that yet. They will, but slower than people expect." He mentioned that investors will not rush in overnight, and the accumulation process could take a year or even 18 months.Regarding prices, Back noted that the cyclical nature of Bitcoin's four-year halving cycle needs to be considered. He pointed out that even if some commentators believe the four-year cycle is breaking down, "people expect it to happen, so they sell to make it actually happen," and a decline could still occur. This logic will only change when people see the market strengthen, which is currently manifesting in the form of institutional capital inflows.Back stated that regarding recent comments about the accelerated development of quantum computing hardware potentially threatening Bitcoin's cryptography, institutions are more systematic in risk management and will focus on tail risks, while retail investors view it as a distant future risk.

According to official news, Monad's official X account (@monad), which was banned yesterday, has now been restored.ChainCatcher previously reported that Monad co-founder Keone Hon posted on the X platform stating that the Monad account was frozen without any warning, and he speculated that it was due to a system error. Monad did not engage in any abnormal operations or violate API usage. They have contacted the X platform support team through various channels and expect the account to be restored soon.

According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase has appointed former Goldman Sachs executive Oliver Harris as the head of its blockchain division Kinexys.Harris officially joined the bank earlier this month and will primarily be responsible for advancing the commercialization of applications under Kinexys and deepening partnerships with institutional clients.

Jack Dorsey's Block Inc has purchased an additional 114.89 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 8,998.Bitcoin ranks 14th.

According to Arkham data, the suspected Block Street team address transferred tokens to the Bybit deposit address (0xEcB8...0D51) in the past two hours, totaling 5 million BSB tokens, with a total value of approximately $3.6534 million.The tokens from the sending address previously originated from the BSB team's multi-signature address. Currently, the circulating supply of BSB is 207.75 million tokens, and the total amount received by this address accounts for about 2.41% of its total circulating supply. BSB is currently priced at $0.7595, with a 24-hour decline of 9.11%, and its circulating market capitalization is approximately $15.78 million.

Nasdaq-listed company Republic Power Group Limited announced the completion of a definitive transaction, having acquired a 10% stake in NVC Partners Limited, and entered into a technical service and platform cooperation agreement with NVTH Limited and its affiliate NVTHK Limited, officially entering the RWA tokenization and blockchain infrastructure market.According to the agreement, RPGL will gain access to real-world asset tokenization systems, secondary trading infrastructure, and related technology development, support, and maintenance services. The company stated that this move will promote its expansion of institutional-level digital finance and capital market solutions, leveraging its customer base in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia to advance the implementation of related applications.

According to official news, Block has released a proof of reserves, stating that by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company holds a total of 28,355.05 bitcoins, valued at approximately 2.2 billion dollars. Among them, customer holdings are 19,357.16 bitcoins (approximately 1.5 billion dollars), and the company's treasury holds 8,997.89 bitcoins (approximately 696 million dollars).

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour cited a Bloomberg report on X stating that Kalshi has completed its first customized block trade, with Jump Trading providing liquidity support for the transaction. This trade was facilitated by Greenlight Commodities this month, representing an environmentally-focused hedge fund based in Houston that seeks exposure to a contract tracking whether a specific price will be realized in the carbon emissions allowance auction taking place in California in May.Mansour stated that the institutional application of prediction markets could be a $10-15 trillion market, with even greater growth potential depending on how widely they are adopted compared to products currently exclusive to Wall Street.

According to Blockchain for Europe, the European Blockchain Association, in collaboration with Dr. Ulrich Bindseil, former Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments at the European Central Bank, and Erwin Voloder, Director of Research and Strategy at the Association, jointly released a report titled "Reforming MiCA to Support Euro Stablecoins."The report recognizes the significance of MiCA as a milestone regulatory framework, but also points out that some of its design choices may place Europe in the unfavorable range of the regulatory "Laffer curve"—excessively stringent requirements could weaken the EU's market competitiveness and drive related businesses outside the EU.The report proposes a series of targeted and pragmatic reform suggestions aimed at fostering a more competitive, resilient, and globally influential euro stablecoin ecosystem under MiCA, and calls on policymakers, industry participants, and various stakeholders to actively engage in discussions to jointly promote the continuous improvement of the MiCA framework.

The Block announced the appointment of senior media and technology executive Steve Chung as CEO to drive the company's institutional expansion. At the same time, Foresight Ventures committed to an additional $10 million investment to support its next phase of development.Former CEO Larry Cermak will continue to serve as president, focusing on research and product operations. Steve Chung's career began at Goldman Sachs, where he served as Chief Growth Officer at Fox Corporation, Chief Digital Officer at Fox Television, CEO of CJ ENM America, and Chief Operating Officer at Azuki. He stated that he will leverage AI to enhance the depth, speed, and practicality of insights, transforming The Block into a global platform for digital asset investors and decision-makers.Foresight Ventures partner Zac Tsui stated that Steve's background in capital markets, media, and the crypto industry makes him the ideal leader to guide the company in becoming a global institutional platform.

Bitget officially launched the "Blockchain4Youth Learning Center" with its first course, aimed at providing a systematic blockchain learning path for young people and further connecting knowledge learning with career development. After completing the course and passing the assessment, students will receive a certificate of completion issued by Bitget's Chief Marketing Officer Ignacio Aguirre Franco, serving as an official certification of their Web3 capabilities. Certificate holders can gain more industry exposure and priority employment opportunities among the partner employers of the Blockchain4Youth Talent Alliance.To bridge the gap from learning to employment, Bitget has partnered with the Web3 recruitment platform Bondex to provide students with a transparent job-seeking channel and a talent pool connection mechanism. Bondex co-founder Ignacio Palomera stated that the project aims to address the real issues faced by learners, such as "lack of industry connections after completing the course, insufficient effective certification, and unclear job-seeking paths," building a more direct bridge between young talent and recruiting companies.So far, the Bitget Blockchain4Youth series of projects has attracted over 15,000 young participants. Bitget CMO Ignacio Aguirre Franco pointed out that the goal of the learning center is to transform young people's interest in Web3 into a tangible entry path. As the program continues to advance, Blockchain4Youth is gradually evolving from a single event project into a long-term infrastructure focused on Web3 education, career guidance, and talent development.

According to Insight Korea, South Korea's digital bank K Bank has established a strategic partnership with blockchain company Ripple to advance the verification of next-generation cross-border remittance technology based on blockchain.Both parties will focus on assessing the optimization potential in remittance speed, cost structure, and transaction transparency through Ripple's global payment network and infrastructure. The current collaboration includes proof of concept based on digital wallets, joint development of cross-border remittance models, and expansion in the digital asset field. The ongoing second phase of testing has simulated the connection between the bank's internal systems and customer accounts, testing on-chain fund transfers aimed at the UAE and Thailand. K Bank is also evaluating the adoption of Ripple's SaaS digital wallet Palisade to enhance compliance and deployment efficiency.

Blockchain Capital partner Spencer Bogart posted on X platform that the total transaction volume of Kalshi and Polymarket is nearly equal, both around $12 billion (the former at $12.29 billion and the latter at $12.22 billion). Excluding sports-related transactions, Polymarket's non-sports category transaction volume is $7.5 billion, while Kalshi is only $1.6 billion.Despite the positioning differences between the two in the prediction market, it is strange that they are still classified in the same category.

Litecoin disclosed in a post on platform X that a recent zero-day vulnerability had caused a DoS attack, affecting the operation of major mining pools. Mining nodes that were not updated allowed an invalid MWEB (MimbleWimble Extension Block) transaction to be executed, enabling the related tokens to be withdrawn to a third-party DEX.The Litecoin network rolled back these invalid transactions through a reorganization (reorg) of 13 blocks, confirming that they would not be included in the main chain. All valid transactions during this period were unaffected, and the vulnerability has been completely fixed, with network operations restored to normal.

According to The Block, AWS Marketplace has integrated data services such as Chainlink's Data Feeds, Data Streams, and Proof of Reserve, supporting developers in connecting AWS's computing, storage, database, and API capabilities with blockchain smart contracts.AWS stated that the Chainlink oracle infrastructure provides a secure two-way connection between AWS resources and on-chain smart contracts, making it easier for institutions to develop applications that interact with tokenized assets and smart contracts in a familiar AWS environment.

The Web3 asset data platform RootData has outlined 30 business partners of Fireblocks, spanning multiple key areas such as DeFi protocols, payment settlement, compliance analysis, trading institutions, and multi-chain infrastructure: * Settlement Layer: Represented by Circle, TripleA, and Lynq, responsible for stablecoin issuance and payment clearing. * Liquidity and Trading Layer: Includes market makers and trading institutions such as Wintermute, Amber Group, GSR, and Wootton, responsible for fund distribution and market depth. * On-chain Application Layer: Covers DeFi and application tools like Aave, Morpho, and MetaMask, which support the actual operation scenarios of funds. * Compliance and Risk Control Layer: Service providers like Chainalysis, Elliptic, and Coincover form an important supplement to its regulatory adaptation capabilities. By 2025, Fireblocks is expected to handle over $200 billion in stablecoin transactions per month, a year-on-year increase of 300%. Fireblocks' positioning is evolving from a "custody and security service provider" to a central hub for on-chain fund flows and institutional asset circulation. Currently, Fireblocks supports over 150 public blockchain networks, and its partnership network has expanded to over 2,500 global institutional participants, including banks, asset management firms, exchanges, market makers, and fintech companies. Related compilation: [Fireblocks Web3 Partner Network Compilation (Continuously Updated)](https://cn.rootdata.com/Archives/detail/Fireblocks%20Crypto%20Business%20Partner?k=NDc2MTU1) Cryptocurrency projects actively showcasing their partner networks have become a key way to enhance transparency and market trust. It is reported that RootData welcomes Web3 project parties to [claim information](https://www.rootdata.com/Projects/submit?ft=claimApply) and continues to track and open more project business relationship disclosure channels. The platform has continuously released multiple issues of the cryptocurrency project ecosystem map, nominating Web3 ecosystem partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase. **If you wish to nominate your project in future ecosystem maps, please fill out the [RootData 2026 Industry Ecosystem Mapping](https://forms.gle/tWArmXcpSfZJkh1r8) form to supplement your important clients and partners.**

According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency venture capital firm Blockchain Capital is simultaneously raising two new funds, with a total target size of $700 million, namely its seventh early-stage fund and its second growth fund.Insiders revealed that the firm has begun deploying some of the newly raised capital, and the entire financing round is expected to be completed within five to six months.