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According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company Payward is laying off about 150 employees. This move is part of the company's optimization adjustments in preparation for its IPO, according to two insiders. A Kraken spokesperson stated in a statement: "We continuously evaluate and adjust our organizational structure to ensure we have the right structure and talent to achieve growth objectives and better serve our customers."Meanwhile, Payward is seeking a new round of financing at a valuation of $20 billion to support its pre-IPO expansion strategy. Recently, the company completed a $600 million acquisition of stablecoin payment company Reap and a $550 million acquisition of digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial. The previous largest acquisition occurred in 2025, when Payward acquired the U.S. retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, which also holds a CFTC futures broker license.Payward submitted a confidential S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 19, 2025, taking the initial steps toward going public. In March of this year, CoinDesk reported that the company had postponed its IPO plans due to a sluggish market environment, but insiders indicated that the company still plans to move forward with the IPO once market conditions improve. At the Consensus Miami conference, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the exchange's IPO preparations are "80%" complete.

According to a16z crypto, on May 14, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted in a bipartisan manner to advance the "Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act" (CLARITY), marking a historic step in the legislative framework for the U.S. crypto market. The CLARITY Act aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for blockchain networks and digital assets, with core content including: clarifying the regulatory boundaries between the SEC and CFTC regarding crypto assets, regulating the operations of crypto exchanges, protecting consumer rights, and providing a clear path for compliant operation of blockchain networks in the U.S.a16z pointed out that the U.S. has relied on "regulatory enforcement instead of legislation" over the past decade, which not only distorts the market and stifles innovation but also gives rise to a large number of regulatory arbitrage activities, leading many crypto projects to move overseas. The bill references the 2024 FIT21 Act and the 2025 House version of the CLARITY Act, and further improves upon them. Currently, the two drafts from the Senate Banking Committee and the Agriculture Committee will be merged into a unified bill, which will be submitted for a full Senate vote, and after passing, will also require approval from the House of Representatives and the President's signature to officially take effect.a16z compares this legislative progress to the historical significance of the 1933 Securities Act and cites the precedent of explosive growth in the industry following the passage of the GENIUS stablecoin bill, believing that once CLARITY is implemented, it will usher in a new wave of innovation for the U.S. crypto industry.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the prediction market Polymarket for the event "LoL: Weibo Team vs JD Gaming (BO3) - LPL Group Advancement," the win rate of the "over" option in the sub-market "Total Kills Exceed 25.5 in Game 2?" has experienced significant fluctuations, soaring from 30.5% an hour ago to the current 49.95% (a fluctuation of 19.45%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Brian Armstrong posted on the X platform that the vote on the Clarity Act is a significant opportunity to advance the U.S. financial system.Previously, Galaxy Digital stated that 7 Democratic senators on the Senate Banking Committee may play a key role in the advancement of the CLARITY Act; the bill will enter the committee review stage, and if passed, will be submitted for a full Senate vote.

According to Decrypt, Kraken's parent company Payward has announced a strategic partnership with asset management giant Franklin Templeton to bring some traditional financial products (including tokenized stocks and yield products) to the blockchain network. The two parties will integrate Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund BENJI into the Kraken platform as collateral and cash management tools for institutional clients.Payward's xStocks framework (which has processed over $30 billion in transaction volume since its launch last year) will collaborate with Franklin Templeton to explore new on-chain actively managed products, making its investment strategies available to institutions and some retail investors in specific jurisdictions. Franklin Templeton has also recently advanced its crypto business division, Franklin Crypto, by acquiring the crypto investment firm 250 Digital.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event "LoL: Top Esports vs Pajama Ninjas (BO3) - LPL Group Advancement" on Polymarket, the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Any Player Quadra Kill" has experienced a sharp fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 50% an hour ago to the current 75.5% (a fluctuation of 25.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

According to informed sources, Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency platform Kraken, is conducting a new round of capital financing at a valuation of $20 billion, to which Kraken declined to comment.The company has recently significantly increased its merger and acquisition spending—acquiring the stablecoin-focused payment company Reap for $600 million and the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, both transactions conducted at a $20 billion valuation.Its largest transaction was the $1.5 billion acquisition of the U.S. retail futures platform and CFTC-registered futures commission merchant NinjaTrader in 2025, which provided Kraken with a significant foothold in the U.S. derivatives market.Regarding IPO progress, Payward secretly submitted an S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. SEC on November 19, 2025. Although reports in March 2026 indicated that the company paused its IPO plans due to unfavorable market conditions, sources stated that the company still intends to go public, but may wait for market improvements.At last week's Consensus conference in Miami, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the trading platform is "80% ready" for an IPO.Additionally, Deutsche Börse (DB1) purchased approximately 1.5% of Payward's shares for $200 million through a secondary share sale in April 2026, valuing Payward at $13.3 billion (lower than the previous financing round's valuation of about $20 billion).In November 2025, Kraken completed an $800 million financing in two tranches to push traditional financial products onto the blockchain, with investors including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and Tribe Capital. Subsequently, Citadel Securities also made a strategic investment of $200 million at a $20 billion valuation.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market event on Polymarket "LoL: JD Gaming vs Anyone's Legend (BO3) - LPL Group Advancement," the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Any Player Quadra Kill" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 50.5% an hour ago to the current 90% (a fluctuation of 39.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

NASDAQ-listed Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings has initiated a consent solicitation process for holders of its $600 million senior secured notes to amend certain covenant terms.MARA had previously signed an agreement on April 29 to acquire 100% of the parent company of Long Ridge. Since this transaction would trigger the "change of control" clause in the notes, it theoretically requires a cash buyback of all outstanding notes at 101% of the price. MARA is seeking the consent of noteholders to exclude this transaction from the definition of "change of control" and to designate MARA and its affiliates as "permitted holders."

Bitget officially launched a new educational series called "Panoramic Trading Room UEX Roundtable." This series focuses on advanced traders, with the core concept of "Beyond the Chart," covering professional topics such as advanced technical analysis, cross-asset allocation strategies, order flow interpretation, and risk control system construction. The series invites industry veteran analysts to deeply analyze real trading cases, helping traders overcome the critical threshold from "reading charts" to "execution," gradually establishing a more systematic trading framework.The product manager of Bitget UEX stated: The crypto market is never short of information; what is truly scarce is a mature trading system. Most traders are overwhelmed by a vast amount of market signals daily, making it difficult to efficiently identify and apply them. The "UEX Roundtable" adheres to a theme for each session, relying on practical case analysis methodology to ensure that the content is understandable, reusable, and applicable.The first episode of "Panoramic Trading Room UEX Roundtable" premiered on YouTube and is simultaneously covered on community channels such as X platform and Telegram. At the same time, a topic voting mechanism for the audience is open, encouraging content co-creation and continuously delivering professional content that aligns with market dynamics and focuses on practical application, empowering advanced traders continuously.

According to market news, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings has initiated a holder consent solicitation process regarding Long Ridge Energy's $600 million senior secured notes to amend the relevant covenant terms.MARA had previously signed an agreement on April 29 to acquire 100% of the parent company of Long Ridge. Since this transaction would trigger the "change of control" clause in the notes, it theoretically requires a cash buyback of all outstanding notes at 101% of the price. MARA is seeking the consent of the noteholders to exclude this transaction from the definition of "change of control" and to list MARA and its affiliates as "permitted holders."

TD Cowen pointed out that the disagreements surrounding the stablecoin yield mechanism remain difficult to bridge, which may delay the advancement of the U.S. crypto market structure bill and even affect its chances of passing within the year.Several banking organizations, including the American Bankers Association, have formally opposed the relevant compromise proposals, arguing that allowing crypto platforms to offer stablecoin yields to users would impact traditional banks. Analysts state that the positions of banks and crypto platforms on this issue are opposed, and in the short term, "there is unlikely to be a middle ground," which has become a key obstacle in the current legislative process.

Alex Thorn, the research director at Galaxy, posted on the X platform that after in-depth discussions with several individuals in the Bitcoin industry regarding quantum computing and Bitcoin issues, he believes that the market is gradually reaching a consensus: First, the approximately 1.1 million BTC held by Satoshi Nakamoto (distributed across about 22,000 P2PK addresses) should not be casually used. If their property rights are infringed upon to address quantum risks, it could undermine the core value proposition of Bitcoin. Even in extreme cases where these BTC are transferred, the market has a strong absorption capacity and can further mitigate risks through solutions like "Hourglass."Second, promoting research, testing, and signature compression of new cryptographic technologies such as quantum-resistant (PQ) cryptography for Bitcoin is a positive direction. It can prepare emergency plans in advance, but care should be taken to avoid causing a consensus deadlock or introducing inadequately verified new risks by prematurely pushing for protocol layer implementation. Even if the quantum threat has only a 1% chance of impacting Bitcoin, it is worth continuing to invest in research.

Coinbase stated that a key disagreement regarding the yield terms for stablecoin holdings has been resolved with traditional banks, clearing the way for the U.S. Senate to advance the cryptocurrency market structure bill.Previously, banks had lobbied to restrict or prohibit exchanges from providing yields to stablecoin holders, mainly concerned about funds flowing out of the banking deposit system. Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad indicated that the final plan, while adding some restrictions, still preserves the space for users to earn rewards through crypto platforms and networks based on actual use cases. This progress is expected to push the "Clarity Act" into the voting process in the Senate Banking Committee, further clarifying the division of responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC in the regulation of crypto assets.

The cryptocurrency market structure bill may advance in mid-May.This Wednesday, a key figure in the cryptocurrency bill negotiations, North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, stated that he has requested Senate Banking Committee Chairman, South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, to expedite the scheduling of a hearing for the bill to be revised and voted on. Additionally, another negotiator this week, Angela Alsobrooks, indicated that if lawmakers want a bipartisan vote in the Senate Banking Committee, they need to address issues of illegal financing and ethics. However, Senate Chairman Scott stated that he believes the ethics provision does not need to be reviewed by his committee. It is currently unclear where the provision will go next, whether it should be reviewed by other committees, but it will likely need to be discussed before being submitted for a vote by the full Senate.

The legislative process for the structure of the U.S. cryptocurrency market is accelerating, with Congress pushing for the earliest possible review stage. However, uncertainties remain regarding ethical issues and the cryptocurrency interests related to Donald Trump, which complicate the path forward.One of the main proponents, Senator Thom Tillis, stated that he has requested Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to arrange hearings and advance the amendment and voting process, while also hoping to release a new version of the bill text before the review. However, Tillis emphasized that he would oppose the bill's passage if it does not include clear ethical provisions. With the midterm elections approaching, related ethical issues are expected to become a key focus for the Democratic Party.

KelpDAO has announced that it has completed its committed contribution to the recovery fund and has provided 2000 ETH in treasury funds to the DeFi United recovery plan led by Aave, aimed at restoring the peg support for rsETH and promoting the system's return to normal operation.This funding is a one-time investment intended to restore rsETH to its nominal exchange rate. Following the events of April 18, DeFi United, in collaboration with multiple ecosystem participants (including Mantle, Consensys, Arbitrum, Lido Finance, LayerZero, etc.), has formulated a recovery path that includes re-capitalization of the bridging treasury, restoration of oracle functionality, and addressing funding gaps in the affected markets.Kelp stated that its investment helps accelerate the overall repair process. Kelp emphasized that the internal commitment before any public statement is that "rsETH holders will not be abandoned," and noted that this contribution is a direct manifestation of that commitment.As funds from various parties gradually come into place, the collateral support for rsETH will gradually return to normal, and the company will continue to update the community on progress.

According to Cointelegraph, the cross-chain protocol ZetaChain disclosed that the security issues involved in its recent approximately $334,000 vulnerability attack event had been reported in advance by researchers in the bug bounty program but were deemed "expected behavior" by the project team at that time and were not addressed.According to the official incident review, this attack originated from a combination of three design flaws that initially appeared to be independent and low-risk: the Gateway contract allowed anyone to send any cross-chain instructions; the receiving end could execute calls on almost any contract, and the blacklist restrictions were too narrow; some wallets retained unlimited approvals for a long time without being cleared. The attacker ultimately combined these flaws to instruct the Gateway to transfer tokens directly to their controlled address, thus completing the asset transfer.ZetaChain stated that this attack involved 9 transactions across four chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and BSC, with the stolen funds all coming from wallets controlled by ZetaChain, and user funds were not affected. The official noted that the attack showed clear premeditation. The attacker funded the wallet through Tornado Cash three days before the attack and deployed a dedicated Drainer contract in advance, while also implementing an Address Poisoning attack.Currently, ZetaChain has begun pushing repair patches to the mainnet nodes, permanently disabling the arbitrary call function and changing the unlimited approval mechanism in the deposit process to "exact amount authorization."

According to Cointelegraph, the Canadian House of Commons has passed the second reading of Bill C-25, which aims to prohibit political parties and candidates from accepting cryptocurrency political donations.The bill is part of electoral law reform, aimed at enhancing transparency, strengthening enforcement, and reducing the risk of foreign interference. It will subsequently enter committee review and may still be amended, with no fixed review date currently available. Meanwhile, Canada is advancing a regulatory framework for stablecoins and improving rules related to cryptocurrency investment funds, custody, and cold storage.

According to the official announcement from the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), all virtual asset services are included under PVARA's regulatory scope and must obtain prior authorization before commencing operations or making public announcements.PVARA welcomes responsible innovation and encourages relevant parties to engage in communication as early as possible. Innovation can be conducted through compliance pathways such as regulatory sandboxes, No-Action Relief Letters, and No Objection Certificates (NOC).