rns

According to Cointelegraph, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that U.S. authorities should prepare short-term, targeted emergency plans in advance for the potential collapse of future U.S. Treasury demand. He stated that once a crisis occurs, the impact will be severe. The U.S. Treasury market is seen as the cornerstone of the global financial system, and if it becomes unstable, it could affect the pricing of corporate bonds, mortgages, and stocks.The report pointed out that if a crisis weakens confidence in the dollar, it could drive funds toward alternative value storage assets like Bitcoin and gold; however, Tether, which uses U.S. Treasuries as its main reserve asset, may also face redemption and de-pegging risks.

According to Globenewswire, the American law firm Bernstein Liebhard has announced that it has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit on behalf of investors against the Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Space Station, alleging that Gemini made false statements regarding its business operations and prospects in its prospectus and related disclosures, particularly accused of exaggerating the viability of its core cryptocurrency platform business. Investors wishing to serve as lead plaintiffs must submit their applications by May 18, 2026.It is reported that Bernstein Liebhard is a well-known investor relations law firm that has previously filed class action lawsuits against companies such as Ruhnn, Apple, and AsiaInfo-Linkage.

According to official social media news, Huobi HTX will hold a live broadcast today at 20:00 (UTC+8) on the theme "Collapse of US-Iran Negotiations, Return of Macroeconomic Uncertainty: Can Bitcoin Still Serve as a Safe Haven?" At that time, crypto KOLs such as Oxpink, Domingo, Michill, Amber, AlanSun, and Qie Ge will be invited to attend and discuss hot topics such as the impact of geopolitical conflicts, oil price fluctuations, and increased uncertainty in Federal Reserve policies on the crypto market, as well as whether the market has entered an "institution-led phase."

According to Jinshi reports, the International Monetary Fund stated that if the Middle East war continues, asset prices may further decline significantly.

JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum stated during the earnings call that if regulatory rules are not aligned with traditional bank deposits, stablecoins may evolve into a "regulatory arbitrage" tool. He pointed out that some stablecoin models already exhibit deposit-like characteristics, such as providing incentives similar to yields, but are not subject to banking regulatory requirements like capital, liquidity, and consumer protection, which could create an unfair competitive environment. "If the same products are not regulated equally, it will open up arbitrage opportunities," Barnum said.Currently, U.S. legislation is pushing for a cryptocurrency regulatory framework, including the Clarity Act, to clarify the regulatory division of labor between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and to regulate the development of the stablecoin market. Additionally, whether to allow stablecoins to distribute reserve earnings to users has become a point of contention. Cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, support "interest-bearing stablecoins," while banks believe this would bring them closer to deposit products but lack corresponding regulatory constraints. JPMorgan expressed support for regulatory clarity but emphasized that "regulatory consistency" takes precedence over speed. At the same time, the bank is advancing product layouts, including JPM Coin and tokenized deposits, through its blockchain division Kinexys to modernize the payment system.

According to Theblock, the analyst team at research and brokerage firm Bernstein predicts that by 2030, the annual trading volume of prediction markets will reach $1 trillion, citing reasons such as regulatory clarity, mainstream distribution partnerships, and structural liquidity advantages compared to the traditional gaming market.It is reported that the trading volume of Kalshi and Polymarket has reached a total of $60 billion so far this year, with analysts expecting the trading volume to reach $240 billion by 2026 and maintain an 80% compound annual growth rate by the end of 2030.Sports betting contracts currently account for up to 62% of the trading volume in prediction markets, but analysts predict that this proportion may slow to around 31% by the end of 2030, as cryptocurrency, macroeconomic, political, and economic contracts will become larger long-term opportunities. They stated that sports events are just the entry point, not the ultimate goal.

According to Cointelegraph, Bernstein stated that the previous pullback of Bitcoin has to some extent reflected the market's concerns about the risks of quantum computing, believing that this threat is "real but manageable," and is not yet an imminent systemic risk.Although research, including that from Google, suggests that future quantum computers could potentially crack commonly used blockchain encryption algorithms quickly under extreme conditions, advancements in zero-knowledge proofs and post-quantum cryptography have formed a hedge to some extent.Bernstein believes that Bitcoin developers still have about 3 to 5 years to advance the post-quantum upgrade path and mentioned the current BIP-360 proposal, which could reduce some quantum exposure risks through a soft fork. Additionally, institutional investors (including ETF issuers and corporate holders) are expected to play an active role in promoting consensus for the upgrade.However, industry opinions point out that the main challenge of the post-quantum upgrade lies in user migration and consensus formation, rather than the technical implementation itself.

According to an article in the American Bankers Association (ABA) Journal, experts including the ABA's chief economist point out that the recent research report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) on the issuance of yield from payment stablecoins raises the wrong questions and may mislead policymakers.The CEA report mainly explores "how prohibiting the issuance of yield from payment stablecoins will affect bank lending," concluding that banning yields would only increase bank lending by about $1.2 billion, with minimal impact.However, the ABA believes that the real policy concern is not the consequences of "prohibition," but the risks that may arise from "allowing" the issuance of yield from payment stablecoins: accelerating deposit outflows, allowing yields to stimulate households and businesses to move funds from bank deposits (especially community banks) to stablecoins, which would have a significant impact when the market size expands to $1-2 trillion. ABA analysis shows that loans in Iowa alone could decrease by $4.4 billion to $8.7 billion as a result.Impact on community banks: Deposit outflows will force community banks to replace funding with higher-cost wholesale financing (such as Federal Home Loan Bank advances), raising their funding costs and thereby reducing loans to local households and small businesses. It is not a harmless "reshuffling": The CEA believes that deposits are merely "reshuffled" within the banking system, with overall impact being minimal.However, the ABA points out that deposits flowing from community banks to a few large institutions or stablecoin reserve accounts will harm sectors that rely on relationship-based bank lending. The ABA believes that prohibiting the issuance of yield from payment stablecoins is a prudent protective measure that allows stablecoins to mature as a tool for payment innovation rather than becoming a source of economic risk that substitutes for insured deposits.

Aave founder Stani posted on X, outlining the strategic direction following the approval of the AWW proposal. Stani stated that Aave will shift to a model fully centered around the $AAVE token, where holders will not only have economic rights to the protocol but also to the brand, users, and the integrated ecosystem. All application and product revenues (including Aave Pro, Aave App, Horizon, and Aave Kit) will flow back to the DAO treasury, with the exchange functions of Aave.com and Aave Pro generating an additional $10 to $20 million in new revenue.On the product level, Aave App will attract millions of users with a fintech-level experience, with each user enjoying a $1 million account protection and the launch of a bank card; Aave Pro will cater to advanced users; Horizon will expand RWA support. Stani emphasized the goal of growing Aave from a $40 billion protocol to over $1 trillion, positioning it as the foundational credit and repurchase market for the entire $400 trillion traditional financial asset space.

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that the United States should not continue to delay the legislative process of the CLARITY Act, or it may take nearly four years to push for improvements in the regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry again.She posted on social media platform X, saying, "This is our last chance to pass the CLARITY Act before at least 2030," and emphasized that "we cannot let the future of American finance be put at risk." The bill aims to provide a clearer regulatory structure for the cryptocurrency industry, clarifying the responsibilities of regulatory agencies to promote industry innovation and market development. With the U.S. midterm elections approaching, there are concerns that congressional priorities may shift, slowing down the legislative process.Former White House AI and cryptocurrency affairs head David Sacks also expressed support for advancing the bill as soon as possible, stating, "Now is the time for action," and anticipated that the relevant market structure legislation would ultimately be signed into law by the president. In the industry, several individuals, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, have recently called for an expedited legislative process, believing that clear rules will promote innovation and increase market participation. On the regulatory side, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins also expressed support for advancing comprehensive market structure legislation to avoid ongoing regulatory uncertainty affecting industry development.

As Robinhood accelerates its layout in the prediction market, it has proactively excluded certain contract products due to concerns that they may foster market manipulation and insider trading risks. Robinhood UK President Jordan Sinclair stated that the company is highly attentive to market abuse issues and will not offer all prediction markets or event contracts to users, but will selectively launch products that are more suitable for customers.Recently, several "precise betting" incidents have raised regulatory concerns. For example, there were unusually large bets placed on Polymarket before U.S. actions against Iran; Israeli regulators have also sued two individuals who used confidential information to place bets. Additionally, "mention markets" (such as words that will appear in a speech being bet on) have been explicitly excluded from Robinhood's product range due to their susceptibility to manipulation.Currently, Robinhood primarily provides compliant prediction market services through partnerships with Kalshi and ForecastEx, prioritizing regulated platforms to reduce information abuse and cross-border compliance risks. In contrast, the less regulated Polymarket allows users to trade through cryptocurrency wallets with relatively loose identity verification.Robinhood previously anticipated that prediction markets would become an important growth engine, with CEO Vlad Tenev stating that this business could become one of the fastest-growing segments by 2025, potentially driving the formation of a trillion-dollar annual trading scale in the future.

According to a report by Reuters, Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency exchange approved for a master account with the Federal Reserve, but the account is restricted, only allowing its banking operations to access the Fedwire payment system and maintain a limited balance, without the ability to earn interest or obtain emergency loans. This move has raised concerns about risks and transparency in the U.S. financial system, including a call from Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, for more disclosure on account details.Regulatory experts point out that lightly regulated crypto companies having direct access to the Federal Reserve payment system may pose operational and financial stability risks. The Federal Reserve stated that the related restrictions are intended to mitigate liquidity shocks and credit risks, but the banking industry warns that this could affect liquidity in the banking system and exacerbate money laundering and operational loopholes. Kraken stated that its banking reserves are fully supported and comply with bank-level anti-money laundering and customer identification requirements.

Kraken becomes the first cryptocurrency exchange approved for a main account by the Federal Reserve, but the account is restricted, only allowing its banking operations to access the Fedwire payment system and maintain a limited balance, without the ability to earn interest or obtain emergency loans. This move has raised concerns about risks and transparency in the U.S. financial system, including calls from House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters for more disclosure on account details.Regulatory experts point out that lightly regulated crypto companies having direct access to the Federal Reserve payment system could pose operational and financial stability risks. The Federal Reserve stated that the related restrictions are intended to mitigate liquidity shocks and credit risks, but the banking industry warns that this could affect liquidity in the banking system and exacerbate money laundering and operational loopholes. Kraken stated that its banking reserves are fully supported and comply with bank-level anti-money laundering and customer identification requirements.

According to Fortune, BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ticker ETHB) launched today, with a management fee of 0.25% (temporary promotional rate of 0.12%). It also charges an 18% commission on the total staking yield from approximately $318 million in staked ETH, which is shared between BlackRock and Coinbase.Based on the current staking yield of about 2.74% for ETH, the 18% commission roughly equates to a total return of 49 basis points. Falconedge CEO Roy Kashi believes that this 18% covers costs such as custody, risk of forfeiture, validator fees, and brand premium, estimating the operational cost baseline for the staking ETF to be around 5%. Richard Shorten, founder of GlobalStake, pointed out that there are still many hidden fees before the yield reaches the ETF.Ethan Buchman, co-founder of Cosmos, stated that 18% is not outrageous for institutional products but expects it to compress to 15% or even 10% in the future. Harriet Browning, Vice President of Sales at Twinstake, warned that excessive fee competition could lead some providers to lower standards in security and transparency. Currently, this commission is still lower than the maximum 25% rate that retail investors pay for directly staking ETH on mainstream crypto platforms. Financial advisor Tyrone Ross questioned whether it is worth ceding 18% of staking yields to BlackRock and Coinbase.

Former Google quantum hardware chief and 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics winner John Martinis warned that Bitcoin could become one of the first real targets for quantum computing attacks. He stated that recent research from Google shows that advanced quantum computers could derive Bitcoin private keys in a matter of minutes, significantly lowering the computational security barriers that the network currently relies on.Since Bitcoin relies on elliptic curve cryptography and the network upgrades slowly and is decentralized, this makes the quantum threat harder to address than in traditional financial systems. The public key exposure window when broadcasting Bitcoin transactions could be exploited by quantum computers to intercept funds before the transaction is finally confirmed. John Martinis emphasized that while building such quantum computers remains an extremely challenging engineering task, the community should not be complacent and should plan for quantum-resistant upgrades as soon as possible, anticipating that related threats will gradually emerge within 5 to 10 years.

The Department of Homeland Security's official account pointed out that "token scams" are emerging one after another, especially illegal financial activities such as "holding tokens to get rich" and "making profits from off-exchange trading," which may be exploited by foreign espionage and intelligence agencies to harm national economic security. In the face of new technologies and applications, we must actively embrace and effectively utilize them while also preventing risks and ensuring safety, including risks of leakage and hijacking, risks of forgery and tampering, and risks of fraud traps.In the face of the token craze, we must view its value rationally, pay attention to information security and privacy security, and enhance our awareness of safety precautions, ensuring that we understand tokens and use them wisely.

According to a report by Jinshi, Derek Halpenny, a foreign exchange analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, stated that the dollar's response to the surge in energy prices has been mild, highlighting that the current foundation of the U.S. economy is weaker compared to the inflation shock in 2022. He pointed out that since the outbreak of the conflict, although oil prices have risen nearly 60%, the dollar index has only strengthened by about 2.5%. The current price shock may have a greater impact on the U.S. economy than expected, undermining business confidence and employment.