pear

Global stablecoin payment infrastructure service provider WasabiCard today announced its participation as an official sponsor at WebX 2026, the top Web3 event in Asia, to be held on July 13-14 at the Prince Park Tower Hotel in Tokyo. As an industry flagship summit hosted by Japan's largest crypto media CoinPost, this year's WebX is expected to attract over 15,000 attendees to discuss the deep integration of Web3 and traditional finance.With the explosive growth of stablecoin applications in global commerce, WasabiCard is committed to connecting stablecoin liquidity with the traditional financial system, providing efficient and compliant cross-border payment channels for global enterprises. At booth S26, WasabiCard will focus on showcasing its core B2B solutions for enterprise-level scenarios, covering global corporate card issuance, real-time settlement of stablecoins and fiat currencies, as well as cross-border issuance capabilities that span over 200 countries and regions and support more than 30 fiat currencies.During the exhibition, WasabiCard's core executive team will be stationed at the booth to discuss customized white-label card issuance and global expansion plans with partners worldwide.

Citigroup Research stated in the U.S. Economic Weekly published on July 2 that the U.S. non-farm payroll data for June showed a significant weakening, strongly refuting the necessity for interest rate hikes. Citigroup believes that several factors that previously supported a hawkish stance, including rising oil prices, accelerated wage growth, and core PCE above target, have gradually faded, stating that "the reasons for rate hikes have disappeared."Data shows that in June, the U.S. non-farm payrolls added only 57,000 jobs, far below expectations, and the data for the previous two months was revised down by a total of 74,000 jobs. After revision, the average monthly growth of non-farm payrolls over the past three months has dropped to about 111,000, a significant decline from over 180,000 before the revision. The unemployment rate in June fell from 4.296% to 4.189%, but Citigroup believes this is mainly due to the labor participation rate dropping from 61.8% to 61.5%. If the participation rate remains unchanged, the unemployment rate would actually rise to above 4.5%.Regarding inflation, Citigroup stated that multiple factors are collectively suppressing price pressures. Oil prices have fallen back to pre-conflict levels, and July CPI and PCE data are expected to show a month-on-month decline; further slowing of housing rents will also drag down core CPI and core PCE. In addition, the revision of the core PCE methodology will adopt a more reasonable price adjustment approach for AI-related goods. Citigroup estimates that the year-on-year growth rate of the revised core PCE may be adjusted down by 20 to 30 basis points, which will be officially reflected in September.Citigroup maintains its baseline forecast, expecting the Federal Reserve to remain on hold at the FOMC meetings in July and September, with the first rate cut of 25 basis points occurring at the meeting on October 28, followed by another 25 basis points cut in December, bringing the federal funds rate range down to 3.0% to 3.25% by the end of the year. Citigroup also expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates three more times in 2027, with a terminal rate range of 2.75% to 3.0%.

Economist and gold supporter Peter Schiff posted on the X platform, stating that the market generally believes it is "almost impossible" for Bitcoin to drop to $20,000, but this judgment lacks basis.Bitcoin fell below the $20,000 level about 3.5 years ago, which is not too long ago, so the possibility of returning to that price range cannot be ruled out. Significant pullbacks in assets over a short period are not uncommon in financial markets.

According to on-chain detective ZachXBT's monitoring, it was found that signs of mixing appeared in the funds stolen from the Humanity Protocol and Kelp DAO vulnerability attacks one hour ago, indicating that there may be an overlap between the attackers of these two incidents.Based on this new evidence, it can be largely ruled out that the theft case of Humanity Protocol was committed by an insider.

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju stated that the phenomenon of Bitcoin driving funds into altcoins, which once boosted altcoin markets, has basically disappeared. He pointed out that since 2021, the trading volume of altcoins paired with BTC has significantly shrunk, and the market structure has undergone noticeable changes. Ki Young Ju believes that the era of "Bitcoin rising leading to a general rise in altcoins" may have ended, and in the future, altcoins may rely more on their own fundamentals, application scenarios, and independent capital inflows to drive price increases.

According to The Rage, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has approved the government's pre-trial plan, confirming that a retrial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to evade sanctions will take place this fall.Meanwhile, the Rule 29 post-trial motion filed by Storm is still awaiting a court ruling. This motion challenges the evidence and legal theories that were the basis for last August's conviction, and if the ruling is favorable to Storm, it may prevent the retrial from proceeding.

Famous trader Killa stated that after Bitcoin fell below $60,000, large buy orders appeared below the market price of BTC on Binance, referred to as the "plunge protection team" returning. Killa also demonstrated that after similar buy walls appeared previously, Bitcoin often experienced a rebound following a short-term suppression.

Analyst Murphy (@Murphychen888) posted on social media that from May 15 to 19, Bitcoin fell for five consecutive trading days. Previously, the market sentiment, which was once worried about missing out, quickly shifted, and some investors began to expect prices to fall back to the range of $40,000 to $50,000. However, from the on-chain chip structure, the attitude of large funds presents a different picture.According to the data from May 15, $66,000 and $78,000 are the two price levels with the most concentrated turnover, clearly reflecting the entry positions of large funds. It is worth noting that the chip column in the range of $80,000 to $82,000 is relatively low. Although Bitcoin's price stayed in this range for nearly a week, the turnover was sparse, indicating that after the price returned above $80,000, funds began to become cautious.By May 19, as the price fell, the chip column at $78,000 not only did not decrease but actually increased. The most significant change was at the $76,000 price level; previously, when the price broke through this position, the chips at this level were just over 200,000, but when the price fell back to this position, the chips had increased to about 380,000. Analysts believe this indicates that the funds that entered at $78,000 did not panic and flee due to breaking below their cost. When the price fell to $76,000, new funds chose to enter and support, showing a clear attitude.From the chip structure, a reasonable correction range is roughly between $78,000 and $66,000. A second retest into this range and completing the turnover is expected to give the structure stronger resilience. Although the final price low is still difficult to predict, the attitude of funds starting to act around $76,000 indicates a clear willingness to support the market below.

According to official news, Gate Europe CEO Giovanni Cunti attended the Digital Assets Forum 2026 held in Malta on May 14 and participated in a roundtable discussion titled "Do We Need a MiCA 2.0? The Industry's Perspective," alongside OKX CEO Erald Ghoos, Crypto.com Executive Vice President Mariana Kushev, and Blockchain.com Non-Executive Director and European Policy Advisor Giles Swan. They discussed the regulatory practices, industry opportunities, and future development directions of the European crypto industry following the implementation of MiCA.Giovanni shared the phased achievements of Gate Europe in advancing the compliance process in Europe, as well as the challenges and opportunities the industry faces under the MiCA framework. He stated that Gate will continue to be at the forefront of compliant crypto asset service providers in Europe and actively promote the standardized development of the industry.As an important forum focusing on European digital asset regulation and industry trends, the Digital Assets Forum 2026 gathered regulators, industry executives, and practitioners to review the key progress made in the 18 months since the implementation of MiCA. Currently, Gate's Malta company, Gate Europe, has obtained European MiCA and PI licenses under the supervision of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). As the European digital asset regulatory framework matures, Gate is deepening its compliance layout in the European market and enhancing its influence in the global digital asset industry through active participation in industry dialogue and regulatory practices.

According to SoSoValue data, as of 8 AM Eastern Time on May 11, 2026, the total net purchase of Bitcoin by publicly listed companies worldwide (excluding mining companies) for the week was $45.08 million, a decrease of 83.5% compared to two weeks ago.Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) announced an investment of $43 million (a decrease of 83.1% compared to two weeks ago) to purchase 535 Bitcoins at a price of $80,340, bringing its total holdings to 818,869 Bitcoins.The Japanese listed company Metaplanet did not purchase any Bitcoin last week.In addition, four other companies purchased Bitcoin last week. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced on May 7 that it had increased its holdings by 1,103 Bitcoins, with the specific expenditure not disclosed, bringing its total holdings to 16,949 Bitcoins; fintech company Block announced on May 7 that it had increased its holdings by 149 Bitcoins, with the specific purchase amount not disclosed, bringing its total holdings to 9,032 Bitcoins; Bitcoin company American Bitcoin announced on May 6 that it had purchased approximately 1,600 Bitcoins, with the specific amount not disclosed, bringing its total holdings to approximately 7,021 Bitcoins; and the UK Bitcoin company The Smarter Web Company announced on May 5 that it had invested $2.08 million to purchase 27 Bitcoins at a price of $77,087, bringing its total holdings to 2,805 Bitcoins.Capital B announced the completion of a €15.2 million financing round, with participants including global institutional investors and strategic investors Adam Back and TOBAM, aimed at accelerating Bitcoin purchases.As of the time of publication, the total amount of Bitcoin held by the publicly listed companies included in the statistics (excluding mining companies) is 1,088,090 Bitcoins, an increase of 0.3% compared to two weeks ago, with a current market value of approximately $88.32 billion, accounting for 5.4% of Bitcoin's circulating market value.

According to Coindesk, Hunter Horsley, co-founder and CEO of Bitwise, stated at the Miami Consensus 2026 conference regarding the "recent negative sentiment in the DeFi sector," "I believe DeFi is still doing very well." The recent specific event is operational security issues, not smart contracts being hacked. He also believes that the crypto industry is rapidly entering the mainstream, and DeFi and on-chain treasuries need to respond to this moment; treasuries have only been around for two years, "not all treasuries are equally reliable, and early entrants need to do more homework." Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of eToro, also stated that DeFi "is the inevitable future."In the roundtable discussion, several guests made predictions about DeFi TVL over the next five years: eToro CEO Yoni Assia gave a figure of $5 trillion; Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley provided $500 billion; a16z Crypto partner Guy Wuollet declined to give a specific number, only stating, "My number is up and to the right."

According to Politico, Poland's major cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto is facing a serious fraud investigation. Its former CEO went missing in 2022, taking with him the private keys to a cold wallet containing 4,500 bitcoins (currently worth over $340 million). The current CEO has admitted to being unable to access the wallet and has recently been reported to have fled to Israel. Prosecutors estimate potential losses for customers to be around $97 million.On-chain data shows that the bitcoin balance in the platform's hot wallet has plummeted by 99.7% since mid-2024, with users generally reporting difficulties in withdrawing funds. Polish Prime Minister Tusk estimates that up to 30,000 users may be affected.Tusk publicly accused the platform of being funded by Russian-linked money, used to finance opposition lawmakers to obstruct Poland's cryptocurrency regulatory legislation. He bluntly stated that this is a "Polish version of a Ponzi scheme" and criticized the president for vetoing the localization of the EU MiCA framework twice, making Poland a "paradise for scammers."The platform's board stated that they failed to obtain "verifiable information" from the missing CEO and have collectively resigned. The founder has been missing since 2022, and the previously mentioned "suspect kidnapping allegations" case is still under investigation. This incident is expected to prompt Poland and the EU to strengthen regulatory scrutiny of cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to CriptoNoticias, after Western Union launched the official stablecoin U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) on Solana, at least 24 counterfeit USDPT tokens have appeared on the Solana network.DEXTools data shows that some of these counterfeit tokens were created on platforms like Pump.fun and Raydium, with some created just an hour ago, while others were generated as early as 6 months ago. DEXTools data indicates that one of the counterfeit tokens has seen its price increase by about 100% in the past 24 hours. Such counterfeit tokens carry the risk of a "Rug Pull," leading to a rapid drop in token prices, putting investors at risk of losing their entire principal.

According to Jinshi News, Asian stock markets are expected to perform weakly when they open on Tuesday, as investors turn their attention to the earnings reports of U.S. tech giants with a total market capitalization of nearly $16 trillion. Walter Todd, president and chief investment officer of Greenwood Capital Associates, stated that the U.S. stock market has rebounded to historical highs, seemingly ignoring the ongoing geopolitical risks, mainly due to upward revisions in earnings expectations and improved market sentiment. He warned that any cracks in optimistic expectations could pose significant risks to market trends.

Arkham posted on the X platform that Avi Eisenberg, the attacker who profited approximately $110 million in 2022 by manipulating the price oracle of Mango Markets, has recently signed a transaction with his on-chain address, drawing widespread attention from the community.Avi Eisenberg previously exploited a vulnerability in Mango Finance to conduct "high-profit trades," and later threatened to attack Aave. He was also liquidated on Curve while attempting to liquidate others' positions, and was arrested and imprisoned after the incident. Now, his address has reappeared with on-chain activity, leading the market to speculate whether he has returned to the crypto market, although no further details have been disclosed yet.

Recently, during the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, at the "CypherAsia Smart Crypto Finance Forum" hosted by institutions such as Fosun Wealth Holdings, FinChain, and exSat, guests including ME Group President Vito Luo, FinChain CTO Lance Liu, SBVA Executive Director Wang Yinzhen, Solana Foundation Solutions Architect Mike Ma, Copilot Venture Studio Co-founder Yang Linyuan, and NeoSoul Co-founder Kaelan discussed the development trends of AI and crypto finance.During the forum, NeoSoul Co-founder Kaelan stated that the AI industry is still in the early stages of rapid evolution. When evaluating AI projects, it is important to look not only at the current products but also at whether the team can continuously keep up with the changes in the underlying model capabilities.Kaelan pointed out that AI entrepreneurship requires both groundedness and vision. Groundedness means that the team must have the ability to implement engineering, design products, and understand the market to create perceivable products; vision means that the team should build in line with the evolution of large models.He believes that some early AI products may seem like toys, but in emerging industries, the existence of toy-like forms should be allowed. Many truly new paradigms often first appear as experimental products.