The White House announced that talks between the United States and China regarding a trade deal have made “substantial progress,” yet no official deal has been announced at this time, leaving investors in doubt.

According to a May 11 announcement from the White House, more details on the trade talks will be revealed on May 12.

“I am happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a joint statement with US trade representative Jamieson Greer.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the media that the US-China trade talks were productive. Source: Fox News

“We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” Bessent said.

Greer made mention of the deal but did not give any details on the talks, leaving investors in doubt about the substance of the announcement, as market participants continue to monitor the ongoing trade tensions for signs of relief for financial markets.

Related: Bitcoin nears $100K as Trump set to reveal trade deal with UK

Trump’s tariffs cause chaos in markets and draw widespread criticism

Although traditional financial and digital asset markets have recovered and retraced some of the value lost following the initial price shock brought on by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs, investor uncertainty still looms over asset markets.

The Trump administration has flip-flopped on its tariff policies, reversing course on trade proposals or softening its rhetoric several times, leaving investors on edge and uncertain about investing in riskier assets like tech stocks and crypto.

In April, the US Customs and Border Protection, at the behest of the Trump administration, announced that select tech products would be exempt from tariffs, including smartphones, processing chips, computers, and other electronics.

However, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the electronic tariff exemptions one day following the announcement.

Lutnick said that the tariff exemptions would only be temporary until administration officials decided on a comprehensive tariff regime that featured different tariff rates for economic sectors.

The lack of a comprehensive, decisive trade policy has called the Trump administration’s plans into question, with many observers saying that the trade tariffs will only create more discord in financial markets and the broader economy.

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle

Tech company Microsoft and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI are reportedly in talks to renegotiate the investment deal between the AI firm and Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s biggest financial backer.

According to a report from the Financial Times, Microsoft may give up a portion of its equity in OpenAI for continued access to the AI company’s products and models beyond 2030, when some of the original terms of a deal signed between the two companies expire.

Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, when it first acquired an interest in the artificial intelligence firm.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes the podium at the White House in January 2025 to discuss AI infrastructure investment in the United States. Source: The White House

OpenAI is attempting to restructure the company to shift its focus to profit-making. However, those plans have met with pushback from co-founders like Elon Musk and early investors.

The deal between OpenAI and Microsoft is critical to OpenAI’s restructuring and the future of the US-based AI startup company. Advancing artificial intelligence has also become a key policy objective for global leaders as the AI arms race heats up.

Related: OpenAI to stay nonprofit, scrap proposed overhaul

OpenAI faces staunch pushback against for-profit shift

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit entity in 2015 by Musk, tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, and AI researcher Ilya Sutskever.

However, in 2024, the company began mulling a corporate restructuring that would convert the company from a non-profit entity to a for-profit corporation.

Elon Musk has been one of the biggest critics of the plan, calling into question the legality of the proposed shift in a November 2024 legal filing.

Elon Musk and others file litigation against OpenAI to block its conversion to a for-profit company. Source: Court Listener

The tech billionaire also blasted the company’s focus on closed-source software development, which he said was not the original objective of OpenAI.

“OpenAI was actually started and was meant to be open source. I named it ‘OpenAI’ after open source, now it is, in fact, closed source. It should be renamed super closed source AI for maximum profit AI,” Musk told an audience at the New York Times DealBook Summit.

In February 2025, a group of investors led by Musk submitted a $97.4 billion bid to take over OpenAI. However, the deal was flatly rejected by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

More recently, on May 5, OpenAI announced it was abandoning its shift to a purely for-profit model and is choosing to shift to a public benefit corporation — a profit-driven structure with legal obligations to fulfill social or public goods objectives — controlled by a non-profit entity.

Magazine: Crypto AI tokens surge 34%, why ChatGPT is such a kiss-ass: AI Eye

Key points:

Bitcoin holds on to its recent gains, increasing the possibility of a retest of the all-time high at $109,588.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF records 19 days of successive inflows, showing solid demand. 

Select altcoins are showing strength, having broken out of their large basing patterns.

Bitcoin (BTC) made a decisive move above the psychologically crucial $100,000 level during the week, signaling that the bulls are back in the game. Buyers are trying to hold on to the 10% weekly gains over the weekend.

Bitcoin’s rally has been backed by solid inflows into the BlackRock spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (IBIT). According to Farside Investors’ data, the fund stretched its inflows streak to 19 days, with the latest trading week attracting $1.03 billion in inflows.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

The rally was not limited to Bitcoin alone, as several altcoins also moved higher. That has prompted analysts to announce the start of an altseason, with some predicting sharp rallies in altcoins over the next few months. However, not everyone believes that an altseason has started because the altcoins have only made modest moves compared to the massive price erosion from their respective all-time highs.  

Could Bitcoin break out to a new all-time high and maintain it? If it does, let’s study the charts of the cryptocurrencies that may move higher in the near term.

Bitcoin price prediction

Bitcoin has been gradually inching toward the all-time high of $109,588, indicating that the bulls are in no hurry to book profits.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The rally has pushed the relative strength index (RSI) into the overbought zone, suggesting a correction or consolidation in the near term. Any pullback is expected to find support between $100,000 and the 20-day exponential moving average ($96,626). If the price rebounds off the support zone, it increases the possibility of a break above $109,588. If that happens, the BTC/USDT pair could surge toward $130,000.

Time is running out for the bears. If they want to make a comeback, they will have to swiftly yank the price below the 20-day EMA. If they succeed, the pair could plunge to the 50-day simple moving average ($88,962).

BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The pair continues to climb higher, but the bears are expected to fiercely defend the $107,000 to $109,588 zone. If the price turns down from the overhead zone, the 20-EMA is likely to act as strong support. A bounce off the 20-EMA signals that the bullish momentum remains intact. That enhances the prospects of a breakout above $109,588.

Sellers will have to tug the price below $100,000 to weaken the positive momentum. That opens the doors for a fall to $93,000 and subsequently to $83,000.

Ether price prediction

Ether (ETH) skyrocketed from $1,808 on May 8 to $2,600 on May 10, indicating aggressive buying by the bulls.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The up move pushed the RSI into the overbought territory, indicating a minor pullback or consolidation is possible in the near term. The first support on the downside is $2,320 and then $2,111. If the price turns up from the support levels, the ETH/USDT pair could extend the rally to $2,850 and later to $3,000.

The optimistic view will be invalidated in the near term if the price breaks below $2,111. That could result in a range formation between $1,754 and $2,600.

ETH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bulls pushed the price above the $2,550 resistance but could not sustain the higher levels. A minor positive in favor of the bulls is that they have not ceded much ground to the bears. That suggests the bulls are holding on to their positions as they anticipate the up move to continue. If the price turns up from the current level of the 20-EMA and breaks above $2,609, the rally could reach $3,000. 

A deeper correction could begin if the price continues lower and plummets below the 20-EMA. That could sink the pair toward the solid support at $2,111.

Dogecoin price prediction

Dogecoin (DOGE) soared above the $0.21 overhead resistance on May 10, indicating a change in the short-term trend.

DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The rally is facing selling at $0.26, which could result in a retest of the breakout level of $0.21. If the price rebounds off $0.21 with strength, it suggests a change in sentiment from selling on rallies to buying on dips. That increases the likelihood of a rally to $0.31. 

If buyers want to prevent the upside, they will have to pull the price below the 20-day EMA ($0.19). If they do that, the DOGE/USDT pair could swing inside a large range between $0.26 and $0.14 for a while. 

DOGE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The pair has turned down from $0.26, with immediate support at $0.22 and then at $0.21. If the price rebounds off the support zone, it suggests a positive sentiment where dips are being purchased. The bulls will then again try to resume the uptrend by pushing the price above $0.26.

Conversely, a drop below $0.21 signals that the bulls are rushing to the exit. That could pull the price to the 50-day SMA.

Related: Ethereum to $10K ‘can’t be ruled out’ as ETH price makes sharp gains vs. SOL, XRP

Pepe price prediction

Pepe (PEPE) rallied sharply from the 50-day SMA ($0.000008) and broke above the $0.000011 overhead resistance on May 8.

PEPE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The rally has pushed the RSI into the overbought zone, signaling a pullback may be around the corner. The PEPE/USDT pair could drop to the breakout level of $0.000011. If the price rebounds off $0.000011, it suggests that the bulls have flipped the level into support. That improves the prospects for a rally to $0.000017 and then to $0.000020.

This optimistic view will be negated in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA ($0.000009).

PEPE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The 4-hour chart shows that the bears are aggressively defending the $0.000014 level. That could pull the price down to the 20-EMA, which is a vital level to keep an eye on. If the price rebounds off the 20-EMA, the bulls will make another attempt to shove the pair above $0.000014. If they can pull it off, the pair could ascend to $0.000017.

On the contrary, a break and close below the 20-EMA could sink the pair to $0.000011. Buyers are expected to defend the $0.000011 level with all their might because a slide below it may extend the pullback to the 50-SMA.

Cosmos price prediction

Cosmos (ATOM) broke out of the large base when it closed above $5.15 on May 10. That signals a potential trend change.

ATOM/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

However, the bears are unlikely to give up easily. They will try to pull the price back below the $5.15 level. If they manage to do that, the aggressive bulls may get trapped, pulling the price to the moving averages. 

Alternatively, if buyers sustain the price above $5.15, the ATOM/USDT pair could pick up momentum and rally to $6.50. Sellers will try to halt the up move at $6.50, but if the bulls prevail, the pair could rally to $7.50.

ATOM/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The sharp rally has pushed the RSI into the overbought zone on the 4-hour chart, suggesting a short-term correction or consolidation. The bulls will have to defend the critical $5.15 level if they want to keep the positive momentum intact. If they manage to do that, the pair could rally to $6.60.

Contrarily, a break and close below $5.15 could pull the price down to the 20-EMA. This is an important level to watch out for because a break below it may sink the pair to $4.70.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The Lido Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), the entity that governs the Lido liquid staking protocol, has initiated an emergency vote to rotate a compromised oracle, a bridge that connects real-world data to blockchain systems.

According to members of the Lido DAO, an address belonging to the Chorus One oracle was compromised, and the Ether (ETH) balance associated with that oracle was drained in an incident still being investigated.

Lido Finance emphasized that the issue is restricted to the Chorus One oracle and is not system-wide. The team also said the problem was not due to a coding problem in any particular blockchain oracle or software.

Source: Lido Finance

Chorus One added that the exploit was likely attributable to a hot wallet private key leak, but is also setting up a new machine to ensure security moving forward.

The incident highlights the need for robust cybersecurity measures in decentralized finance (DeFi) as the world’s monetary, trade, and business systems move onchain in ever more complex digital systems that have large attack surfaces.

Related: Mobius Token smart contracts on BNB Chain exploited, $2.1M drained

Cybersecurity remains a critical issue for crypto and DeFi

Hacks, cybersecurity exploits, and other malicious attack vectors remain a major problem for crypto. As digital finance expands to encompass more services, attack methods become more sophisticated.

Cybersecurity firm Hacken released a report outlining the damage done by hacks, scams, and cybersecurity exploits in Q1 2025 and found that over $2 billion in crypto was lost due to malicious activity.

The vast majority of the stolen funds were attributed to the $1.4 billion Bybit hack in February 2025, which skewed the findings of the report.

A graphic breaking down the crypto lost to hacks, cybersecurity exploits, code vulnerabilities, and scams in Q1 2025. Source: Hacken

According to the cybersecurity firm, crypto hacks were responsible for $357 million in losses in April 2025, a significant increase from losses incurred in March.

Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin told Cointelegraph at Token2049 that the crypto industry needs to adopt more robust cybersecurity and code auditing measures to stem the tide of hacks and exploits plaguing the asset sector.

Cybersecurity threats in crypto have become so pronounced, particularly from hacking groups associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK), that G7 countries could discuss the impact of the hackers and how to neutralize these threats at the next G7 Summit.

Magazine: Crypto-Sec: Evolve Bank suffers data breach, Turbo Toad enthusiast loses $3.6K

Opinion by: Sean Li, co-founder of Magic Labs

Crypto markets run 24/7. Human traders don’t. As AI agents begin to manage liquidity, optimize yield, and execute trades at all hours, they’re quickly becoming essential infrastructure for decentralized finance’s (DeFi) future. While AI agents are evolving from niche tools for quant traders into mainstream financial operators, they’re rapidly outpacing the wallets meant to secure them. 

Advancements in account abstraction and smart contract wallets have emerged, but most DeFi platforms still predominately rely on externally owned account wallets that require manual approvals at every step. Early-stage programmable solutions exist but remain fragmented, costly on layer-1 networks and adopted by only a tiny fraction of users.

As AI agents increasingly operate in DeFi, this infrastructure limitation becomes critical. We need standardized infrastructure that allows for secure, cost-effective automation with verifiable guardrails across multiple blockchain ecosystems. 

Automation needs guardrails, not guesswork

The rise of autonomous agents opens new possibilities: hands-free DeFi strategies, real-time portfolio optimization and crosschain arbitrage. Without programmable permissions and onchain visibility, however, delegating control to AI can expose users to catastrophic risk. Malicious bots, hallucinating agents and poorly designed automation can drain wallets before a human notices.

We’ve already seen what happens when agent infrastructure fails. In September 2024, users of the Telegram-based trading bot Banana Gun lost 563 Ether (ETH) (approximately $1.9 million) through an exploited oracle vulnerability that allowed attackers to intercept messages and gain unauthorized access to user wallets. More recently, attackers breached Aixbt’s dashboard and issued commands to transfer funds directly, resulting in the loss of 55.5 ETH worth over $100,000. These aren’t isolated incidents — they are warning signs of systemic vulnerability in our automation infrastructure. 

Legacy wallets can’t support autonomous agents

Despite years of wallet innovation, the architecture remains static mainly: sign a transaction, broadcast it, repeat. Most wallets aren’t built to understand “intent,” verify that automation matches user-defined rules, or restrict activity by time, asset type or strategy. 

This rigidity creates an all-or-nothing dynamic: either you maintain manual control and miss out on fast-moving opportunities or you hand over access entirely to opaque third-party systems. For AI-powered DeFi to scale securely as it builds more utility, we need programmable, composable and verifiable infrastructure. 

Programmable permissions are the new trust layer

As smart contracts encode logic into DeFi protocols, wallet infrastructure must encode logic into user control. That means enabling session-based permissions, cryptographic verification of agent actions and the ability to revoke access in real-time.

Recent: AI and blockchain — A match made in heaven

With these features in place, users can delegate trading, rebalancing or strategy execution without giving up complete control. This approach doesn’t just mitigate risk — it expands access. Advanced DeFi strategies could become accessible to users without technical knowledge and managed securely by agents operating within verifiable constraints. 

Programmable infrastructure makes DeFi scalable

Programmable wallet infrastructure doesn’t just make DeFi safer — it makes it scalable. Fragmentation across chains and protocols has long been a barrier to automated strategies. A universal keystore protocol that syncs permissions across networks can streamline crosschain delegation and open the door for interoperable agent ecosystems. 

As institutional interest in DeFi grows, secure automation will be non-negotiable. Most firms won’t allow AI agents to interact with capital without verifiable guardrails. Just as zero-knowledge proofs are becoming essential to privacy and compliance, programmable wallet permissions may become standard for agent-based security. 

The future of DeFi

Some may argue that AI can’t be trusted with financial autonomy, but traditional markets have already adopted algorithmic trading and black box automation. DeFi isn’t immune — it’s simply unprepared. 

If crypto is to maintain its transparency and user sovereignty principles, it must build infrastructure that keeps AI agents in check. That starts with rebuilding wallets as interfaces and operating systems for the autonomous, multichain economy. 

DeFi is on the edge of an automation revolution. The question isn’t whether agents will participate. Whether we give them the rails, they need to act in service of users, not in spite of them.

Opinion by: Sean Li, co-founder of Magic Labs.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Crypto services platform Nexo shared its plans to reenter the United States market on Monday, marking the eighth major crypto firm to announce such plans since US President Donald Trump took office at the start of the year.

Firms like Circle, Binance and OKX are banking on favorable regulatory clarity in 2025 to herald their US expansion. Bills like the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act are advancing in Congress, which, if implemented, will lay the groundwork for swift success.

Trump and his family are actively involved in some of these planned expansions. Nexo’s recent announcement was backed by Donald Trump Jr., who said, “We see the opportunity for the financial sector and want to ensure we bring that back to the US.”

Amid concerns of conflicts of interest and blatant token shilling by the Trump family, it remains to be seen whether these upcoming regulations will adequately protect everyday investors. Regardless, these are the eight firms that have banked on big bucks in the US this year.

Binance.US resumes USD services; CZ seeks clemency 

Binance.US officially reinstated USD deposit and withdrawal services less than a month into Trump’s presidency. 

They were halted on June 13, 2023, on the back of a civil enforcement action by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), claiming willful evasion of US laws and operating illegally in the country. Binance later settled for $2.7 billion; then-CEO Changpeng Zhao paid $150 million.

Soon after halting USD on- and off-ramps, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and its then-CEO, Changpeng Zhao, with a lawsuit. The agency claimed Zhao and Binance “engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law.”

In November 2023, Binance and CZ agreed on a settlement with the Department of Justice that included pleading guilty to federal charges, including violating Anti-Money Laundering laws, a $4.3-billion fine, CZ’s dismissal as CEO and a prison sentence.

Zhao has sought clemency from President Trump, who has pardoned a number of crypto executives. 

Zhao (right) discusses his clemency request. Source: Farokh RadioeToro files for US IPO after 2024 enforcement action

Online trading platform eToro publicly filed its registration statement for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “ETOR.” The IPO is anticipated to occur as early as Q2 2025, pending market conditions, with eToro seeking a $4-billion valuation with plans to raise $500 million by offering 10 million Class A shares. 

The trading platform ran into some trouble with the SEC in 2024, when the agency claimed eToro “operated an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency in connection with its trading platform that facilitated buying and selling certain crypto assets as securities.”

As a result, eToro paid a fine and agreed to reduce its crypto offerings for US customers to Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH).

The move signals growing investor confidence in the future of retail cryptocurrency trading platforms in the US as the jurisdiction reorients its rules defining cryptocurrencies and loosens restrictions that made it more difficult for such platforms to receive banking services. 

OKX relaunches in the US months after $500-million settlement

OKX, a major global cryptocurrency exchange, announced its reentry into the US market in April 2025. The company is implementing a phased rollout plan throughout the year and has established a new regional headquarters in San Jose, California. The firm also named Roshan Robert, recently of Barclays, as head of its US operations. 

Edit the caption here or remove the text

The relaunch comes just months after the firm announced a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). US attorneys alleged that the platform “knowingly violated anti-money laundering laws and avoided implementing required policies to prevent criminals from abusing our financial system” for over seven years.

OKX paid a hefty $500-million fine, pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and agreed to pay for an external compliance consultant. In a statement, OKX said, “There were no allegations of customer harm, no charges against any Company employee and no government appointed monitor as part of the settlement.

Related: OKX to restart DEX with anti-abuse upgrades after Lazarus ‘misuse’

Robert told Fortune that the firm was ramping up its compliance and risk management infrastructures ahead of the relaunch.

He also cited the improving regulatory landscape as a contributor to the relaunch. “The rulemaking will take some time, but there is a path that we can see,” he said.

Nexo returns to US markets after deadlock with regulators

Nexo, a global digital assets wealth platform, announced its return to the US market on April 28, 2025, at an event in Sofia, Bulgaria. According to industry media, US customers will have access to Nexo’s asset-backed credit lines, crypto savings accounts and advanced trading options.

Nexo left the US in 2022 after 18 months of negotiations with federal regulators reached an impasse. Eight different state regulators had charged Nexo with allegedly failing to register its Earn Interest Product.

Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev credited the crypto-friendly approach of President Trump with his firm’s relaunch: “America is back — and so is Nexo.”

“Nexo is returning to America — stronger, smarter, and determined to win,” he added.

Circle relocates to NYC ahead of IPO

Circle, the issuer of the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, is relocating its global headquarters from Boston to New York City in early 2025. The move to One World Trade Center aligns with Circle’s plans for an initial public offering and reflects its commitment to integrating with traditional financial markets. 

Circle filed for its IPO on April 1 and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are serving as lead underwriters. The firm is seeking a $5-billion valuation. 

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said, “Our new headquarters near the top of One World Trade Center is a symbol of the trust, security and stability we’re building as a critical infrastructure provider for the future of finance.”

Circle initially sought to go public via a blank-check firm in 2022, but the deal fell through. The deal would have valued Circle at $9 billion at the time. 

Crypto.com introduces stock and ETF trading

Crypto.com is expanding its services in the US throughout 2025, including introducing trading for stocks and ETFs. 

The company is rolling out these offerings in phases as part of its 2025 roadmap, including significant expansions of its banking, crypto, stock and credit card services for US customers. 

The plan shows the company’s broader strategy of integrating crypto with traditional finance, a theme recurring with many crypto and finance firms operating in the US.

Travis McGhee, Crypto.com managing director and head of global capital markets, said that the firm is letting clients “marry up that capability [trading stocks and ETFs] with your crypto trading, as well as your crypto derivative trading.” 

McGhee added that “there’s a lot of tailwinds” pushing the industry ahead, including an “administration that is […] looking to put a regulatory framework into place.” 

“That just bodes well for a strong market and a strong future for crypto.”

a16z returns to US after initial UK move

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced that it is closing shop in the UK and focusing its efforts on the US. 

In a Jan. 24 X post, Anthony Albanese, chief operating officer of Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, said the firm will be closing its UK branch despite the “enthusiasm for crypto building and adoption” in the country.

According to Sifted, the UK government had spent five years wooing a16z to move to London, just for the firm to leave 18 months after it opened its offices there.

Related: A16z leads $25M funding for Miden blockchain project

A16z launched offices in London in 2023, citing the regulatory environment under former President Joe Biden as too unfriendly to the blockchain industry. Albanese said there was “strong momentum” behind the crypto industry with the inauguration of President Trump.

Per TechCrunch, other factors driving a16z’s relocation were the slow progress on crypto in the UK and the Labour government shifting its priorities away from digital assets.

Coinbase acquires Deribit in bid to capture derivatives market

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase bought crypto derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion on May 8. 

The merger makes Coinbase the largest crypto derivatives platform by open interest, per an exchange blog post. 

The deal comes as major crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood jockey to dominate the growing global crypto derivative market. On the day of the announcement, Coinbase’s international derivatives exchange saw $10 billion in trading.

Source: Coinbase

Magazine: ChatGPT a ‘schizophrenia-seeking missile,’ AI scientists prep for 50% deaths: AI Eye

Worldcoin’s latest hardware, the Orb Mini, aimed at enabling portable human verification, has been met with ridicule across social media.

Launched with the slogan “It goes where you go,” the device has instead triggered dystopian comparisons and widespread mockery for its unsettling implications and unclear use case.

“The thing about humans is they can tell when a human is in front of them,” Alicia Katz from decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform Euler Finance wrote on X.

“When something is slightly off, they can experience the uncanny valley, an uncomfortable feeling similar to when your date tries to scan your eyeball,” she added.

Another user quipped, “Is this so you can register your friends?” likening the device to a sci-fi prop rather than a serious identity solution.

Source: Alicia Katz

The Orb Mini is a portable iris-scanning device that creates a unique World ID for users stored on the blockchain. Resembling a smartphone with visible eye sensors, it’s a smaller, more accessible version of Worldcoin’s original Orb.

Unveiled at the “At Last” event in San Francisco on April 30, the device is part of a broader push by Tools for Humanity, which also plans to roll out 7,500 Orb units across the US by year-end.

Related: Sam Altman’s eye-scanning crypto project World launches in US

Crypto users question Orb Mini’s practicality

Several prominent voices raised concerns over security, ethics, and basic practicality.

“What real-life problem does this solve?” one user asked, while others mocked its vulnerability to spoofing, with one tweet suggesting the device “could be fooled by a half-decent AI render of a human.”

In the same thread, one user sarcastically recommended a “rectal probe” for more secure identity checks, claiming, “Every human’s anal print is unique.”

Critics also slammed the device’s social implications. Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten called the Orb Mini a “creepy dystopia-shilling” tool, suggesting the product reflects insecurity among its creators rather than solving any real trust issue.

Source: Cory Klippsten

Related: Brazil’s data watchdog upholds ban on World crypto payments

Worldcoin faces resistance

Worldcoin’s push to make biometric identity tools mainstream continues to face resistance, especially as privacy advocates raise questions about decentralization, surveillance, and bodily autonomy.

On May 5, the company, backed by Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity, faced challenges in Indonesia after local regulators temporarily suspended its registration certificates.

Several global regulators have pushed back on World’s operations since its launch in July 2023, with governments like Germany, Kenya and Brazil expressing concerns over potential risks to the security of users’ biometric data.

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes ‘crazy numbers,’ JD Vance set for Bitcoin talk: Hodler’s Digest, May 4 – 10

Hackers drained over $2.15 million from Mobius Token ($MBU) smart contracts on the BNB Chain in a targeted exploit detected early May 11, according to security firm Cyvers Alerts.

The attacker deployed the contract from address 0xb32a53… at 07:31:38 UTC and initiated the exploit at 07:33:56 UTC, draining funds from the victim wallet 0xb5252f…

Cyvers confirmed to Cointelegraph that the attacker used contract 0x631adf… to execute a series of malicious transactions. The smart contract drained 28.5 million MBU tokens and converted them into stablecoins, resulting in a net loss of $2,152,219.99 for the victim.

In total, the attacker stole 28.5 million MBU tokens and converted them to $2.15 million worth of USDT.

Cyvers labeled the exploit as “critical” and noted the attacker’s use of suspicious contract code and abnormal transaction patterns.

The attacker’s wallet remains active and has retained the stolen funds as of publication. Mobius Token’s team has not yet released an official statement.

“Two minutes prior to the exploit, our system identified a deployment of a malicious smart contract that eventually targeted the Mobius Token smart contracts,” Cyvers wrote on X.

Source: Cyvers Alerts

Related: Bybit hacker launders 100% of stolen $1.4B crypto in 10 days

Crypto losses near $360 million in April 

In April 2025, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that the space saw nearly $360 million in digital assets stolen across 18 hacking incidents. 

April’s losses show a 990% increase compared to March, when crypto lost to hacks totalled about $33 million. The largest chunk of the losses came from an unauthorized Bitcoin transfer. 

On April 28, blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged a suspicious transfer of $330 million in BTC. The investigator later confirmed that the transfer was a social engineering attack targeting an elderly individual in the United States. 

Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live

Altcoin markets are flashing early signs of a breakout, with several analysts calling for a potential surge over the next few months.

Crypto commentator Mister Crypto predicts the next 3 to 6 months could be “life-changing,” suggesting daily gains of up to 40% may soon become the norm.

In a May 11 post on X, he pointed to a chart from BlockchainCenter.net that shows whether the crypto market favors Bitcoin (BTC) or altcoins.

When the index is below 25, it’s considered “Bitcoin Season,” meaning Bitcoin is outperforming most altcoins. When it’s above 75, it’s “Altcoin Season,” meaning altcoins are doing better than Bitcoin.

Currently, the chart shows a breakout from a downward trend just below the 29 mark, suggesting a possible shift away from Bitcoin dominance. This breakout hints that altcoins may start gaining momentum, potentially entering a period where they outperform Bitcoin.

Source: Mister Crypto

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This Altseason may be different

Others see the rally but warn it’s not the same as previous cycles. Analyst 2Lambroz agrees that the altseason may have arrived, but says the dynamics have changed.

“People want to bid but lack belief in any strong narrative,” he wrote on X. He noted that, unlike 2021, there’s no sign of retail investors entering the market. Traders are rotating capital faster, with little incentive to hold long-term positions.

Technical trader Moustache offered a more optimistic view. He shared a chart showing repeating altcoin accumulation phases followed by explosive growth. According to him, the current structure mirrors those of 2016 and 2020. “Altseason 2025 has officially begun,” he said.

However, skeptics remain. Commentator Rekt Fencer pointed out that most altcoins have been down 90% since December. A modest 10% bounce this week sparked exaggerated optimism, prompting him to mock the rally. “This is the ALTSEASON we’ve all been waiting for,” he joked.

Source: Rekt Fencer

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Crypto market rallies on global optimism

Crypto markets started the weekend with strong bullish momentum, driven by renewed investor confidence. Bitcoin surged to $104,900, just 4% below its all-time high after President Donald Trump announced positive developments in US-China trade talks.

The rally extended beyond Bitcoin, with Ether (ETH) posting one of its best daily performances in weeks. Memecoins also rebounded sharply, signaling renewed risk appetite across the broader altcoin market.

“Crypto rallied on a wave of global optimism,” Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph. “Ceasefire talks between India and Pakistan eased regional tensions, while news on U.S.-China trade tariffs signaled renewed cooperation between major economies.”

Huang added that Ether’s strong rally added fuel, lifting altcoins across the board. “Bitcoin surged to $105K as investors returned to risk assets, clarity replaced uncertainty,” he noted.

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Coinbase reportedly considered adopting a Bitcoin investment playbook like Michael Saylor’s Strategy on multiple occasions, but decided against it each time out of fear that it would kill the firm’s crypto exchange, Bloomberg reported.

“There were definitely moments over the last 12 years where we thought, man, should we put 80% of our balance sheet into crypto — into Bitcoin specifically,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg in a May 9 video call.

Armstrong said the Bitcoin (BTC) strategy could have risked the company’s cash position and potentially killed the crypto exchange. “We made a conscious choice about risk,” he added.

Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas, who also attended the video call, added that the firm didn’t want to be seen as directly competing against its customers over which cryptocurrencies would outperform. 

“Rest assured, we are not stopping there,” Haas said, as Coinbase reported purchasing another $153 million worth of crypto assets in its first quarter results statement on May 8, which was primarily concentrated in Bitcoin.

According to BitcoinTreasuries.net, Coinbase holds 9,480 Bitcoin, worth $988 million at current market prices, which makes up the majority of its $1.3 billion crypto asset holdings.

Armstrong’s crypto exchange is the ninth-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, trailing the likes of Strategy, Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings and Tesla.

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Several companies have begun copying Saylor’s Bitcoin playbook, funding purchases through stock and debt sales on the bet that Bitcoin’s price appreciation will boost their share prices.

Over 100 public companies have now reported holding Bitcoin around the world, while another 40 exchange-traded fund issuers, 26 private firms and 12 nation states have also reported holding the cryptocurrency.

Source: Mitchell AskewCoinbase deepens derivative offerings through Deribit acquisition

On May 8, Coinbase agreed to acquire crypto derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion, marking the industry’s largest corporate acquisition to date. 

The acquisition will expand Coinbase’s footprint in the crypto derivatives market immensely, which previously had been limited to its Bermuda-based platform.

Coinbase noted that Deribit facilitated over $1 trillion in trading volume in 2024 and has around $30 billion of current open interest.

The deal now makes Coinbase the “global leader” in crypto derivatives trading, the firm said.

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