Today's Crypto Pulse
Morpho secures $175M to expand institutional DeFi lending
DeFi lending protocol Morpho raised $175 million in a financing round co‑led by a16z crypto, Paradigm and Ribbit Capital. The capital will be used to broaden its institutional lending infrastructure. Morpho already manages over $11 billion in deposits and serves major crypto firms such as Galaxy, Anchorage Digital, Bitwise, Coinbase, Kraken and Binance.
Also developing:
By the numbers: BitMine Immersion Technologies acquires 126,971 ETH for $207M
How CLARITY Act Survived a Chaotic Senate Markup After Warren, Banks and Democrats Tried to Slow It Down
The Senate Banking Committee approved the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act 15‑9 after a chaotic markup marked by procedural fights, Senator Elizabeth Warren’s opposition, and banking‑lobby warnings about stablecoin yields. Republicans secured a bipartisan “peel‑off” to win the vote, while Democratic amendments on security, DeFi liability, and retirement accounts all failed. The bill now moves to the Senate floor but faces a 60‑vote filibuster hurdle. The episode underscores a deep partisan split over how to regulate the fast‑growing crypto sector.
i.AM Innovation Lab Lays Groundwork for Wider ILS Investor Base with Reusable Tokenisation Platform
i.AM Innovation Lab has upgraded its tokenised insurance‑linked securities (ILS) solution from a 2024 pilot with Schroders Capital and Hannover Re to a reusable, institutional‑grade platform. The new system supports larger transactions, allowing funds and pension managers to invest via digital...
Cardano Whales Now Hold 67% of ADA Supply in Highest Share Since 2020
Cardano’s largest holders—wallets with at least one million ADA—now control 25.09 billion tokens, roughly 67% of the circulating supply, the highest concentration since July 2020. This accumulation has continued despite a 71% drop in ADA’s market cap over the past nine months,...
Strive Rallies 5.8% as It Clears Debt in Q1, Unveils Daily Dividends
Strive announced it will become a “Daily Dividend Company,” issuing its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock (SATA) with a 13% annual dividend paid every business day starting June 16. The firm also reported it cleared all outstanding debt in Q1...
Bitcoin ETFs Lose $635M in One Day as Alt‑Coin Funds Pull In Millions
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a combined $635 million net outflow on May 13, led by BlackRock’s IBIT, while niche Solana and XRP ETFs drew modest inflows. The debut of the Hyperliquid ETF added $1.2 million, underscoring a shift in investor focus within...
BlackRock Urges OCC to Drop 20% Cap on Tokenized Reserve Assets
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is lobbying the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to scrap a proposed 20% ceiling on tokenized reserve assets. The firm says the limit would stifle expansion of its $2.6 bn BUIDL tokenized‑reserve...
ADI Foundation and Settlemint Deploy $30.9 B ADGM Tokenization Rail on ADI Chain
ADI Foundation and Settlemint announced the launch of an ADGM‑compliant tokenization rail on the ADI Chain, enabling the issuance, trading and servicing of roughly $30.9 billion in real‑world assets. The platform uses the ERC‑3643 security‑token standard and aims to close institutional...
Judge Delays Consolidation as Exchanges Push Case Unification
SDNY update in PM cases: - Coinbase and Gemini want to consolidate their cases with CFTC vs. NY. - Judge Marrero will not consider consolidation until after he rules on NY's motion to remand. - Kalshi now wants to designate all cases as...
Staking-Enabled APIs Boost Viability of Data Scrapers
Agents that scrape data on tokens and other things… and have a solid API accessible by staking…. Are much more viable now than they were.
Wall Street Crypto Groups Press SEC for Clearer Digital Asset Registration Rules
On May 13, the SEC’s Crypto Task Force held separate meetings with the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and Copper Technologies. Both groups pressed the agency for clearer registration guidance on tokenized securities, stablecoins, and collateral‑mobility platforms, arguing that current rules...
Circle Launches Agent Marketplace for DeFi-Native Service Discovery and Integration
Circle unveiled its Agent Marketplace, a platform that lets autonomous crypto agents discover, evaluate, and integrate DeFi‑native services. The marketplace embeds programmable, usage‑based payment flows, shifting service access from static APIs to on‑chain economic transactions. It is the latest component...
Stablecoins Shift From Payments to Agentic Economy
Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) is the Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of @circle, the issuer of USDC — a stablecoin with nearly $80 billion in circulation and a core piece of the broader stablecoin market, which has grown from zero to more...
Dartmouth Endowment Invests in Solana ETF, Holds $14M in Crypto Exposure
Dartmouth College’s $9 billion endowment disclosed a $14.5 million crypto exposure in a recent SEC filing, including $3.3 million in Bitwise’s Solana staking ETF, $3.5 million in Grayscale’s Ethereum staking ETF, and $7.7 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF. The holdings represent a modest increase...
XRP Price Spikes when Dark‑pool Liquidity Dries Up
Dark pools allow large XRP purchases directly between counterparties with no market impact. Kraken runs this service. Both parties get KYC and KYB verified, the trade settles privately, and the price never moves. Once dark pool supply runs dry, institutions...
USD Stablecoins Extend US Short‑term Funding, Burden Others
USD Stablecoins will allow US to fund at short end for longer than many previously believed possible. So if/when long end blows out, rest of world, who cant fund at short end, will feel the pain first. At same time...
Ex-Celsius Exec Sentenced to Time Served After Guilty Plea
Former Celsius chief revenue officer Roni Cohen‑Pavon was sentenced by a New York federal judge to time served and one year of supervised release for manipulating the price of the platform’s CEL token and committing fraud. He pleaded guilty a...
Clarity Act Clears Committee, Sparks Potential Bull Market
The Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee today and moves forward to the Senate. It's the biggest, and historical, bill for the entire industry and can be a strong trigger for the upcoming bull market. What's next? - The committee vote was...
0x Co-Founder Will Warren Steps Down as Co-CEO
Will Warren, co‑founder of the 0x decentralized exchange protocol, has stepped down as co‑CEO while remaining a major shareholder and board member. Amir Bandeali now assumes sole leadership of the protocol, which processes billions of dollars in monthly on‑chain trading...
US Senate Banking Committee Votes to Advance CLARITY Act
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted 15‑yes to 9‑no to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY). The bill, championed by Republicans, seeks to create a unified regulatory framework for crypto assets, emphasizing consumer protection and law‑enforcement authority. Democrats...
Clarity Act Clears Senate Banking Committee
The Senate Banking Committee voted 15‑9 to approve the markup of the Clarity Act, a long‑awaited framework for crypto and DeFi market infrastructure. All Republicans backed the bill, joined by Democrats Gallego and Alsobrooks, while Democratic amendments were rejected. Negotiated...
Hyperliquid Retains 50% Perps Share Amid Downturn
🎯 "Hyperliquid commands a very comfortable 50% share of the perps market, even through this crypto downturn. It's proven itself through a barrage of attacks on its market share." Late 2024 the whole space bet against Hyperliquid. Every exchange backed perp...
The Institutional Case for ZKsync with Alex Gluchowski
In this episode, Alex Gluchowski, founder and CEO of Matter Labs, explains how ZK‑Sync and its new product, Previdium, aim to bring zero‑knowledge proof technology to institutional finance. He argues that blockchains’ true value lies in their incorruptibility—enforcing rules without...
Senate Panel Is Advancing a Sweeping Crypto Regulation Bill over Democratic Objections
The Senate Banking Committee voted 15‑9 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, marking the first time a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework has cleared a congressional panel. The vote split largely along party lines, with only one Democrat, Rep....
Grove Launches Basin With up to $1 Billion in Daily Liquidity for Tokenized Real-World Assets
Grove has introduced Basin, a DeFi protocol that supplies up to $1 billion of daily stablecoin liquidity for tokenized real‑world assets. The platform enables instant on‑chain settlement of assets such as real estate and commodities, converting them into stablecoins for immediate...
Long-Stalled Crypto Market Bill Wins Key Senate Committee Vote
The Senate Banking Committee voted 15‑9 to advance the "Clarity Act," a landmark bill that would make the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the primary regulator of most crypto activities while leaving digital securities under the Securities and Exchange Commission. The...
Hybrid On‑chain Repos: Paper + Contracts Boost Scalability
The DeFi purists will hate this. On-chain repo doesn't need to live entirely in a smart contract. Sign the paper, then let smart contracts run the rest. That's the version that actually scales. "It doesn't all necessarily have to be done...
Yield Receipts Masquerade as Stablecoins, Not the Same
"Ethena, Spark, syrupUSDC, these are receipts for a yield sharing strategy. Sometimes people consider them stablecoins. They're not." 🪙 USDe, USDS, syrupUSDC are not stablecoins. They're yield strategy receipts wearing a stablecoin costume. The industry keeps calling them the same thing...
Pepperstone Deploys Fireblocks’ Full Digital‑Asset Stack to Launch Institutional Crypto Exchange
Pepperstone, a leading forex and CFD broker, has rolled out Fireblocks' complete digital‑asset infrastructure—including MPC custody, compliance APIs and DeFi execution—to power its new spot crypto exchange for Australian customers. The partnership underscores the shift of regulated finance firms toward...
BitGo Q1 2026 Revenue Jumps 113% as Derivatives Drive Mix Shift, CFO Says
BitGo Holdings posted $3.8 billion in first‑quarter revenue, up 113% year over year, while adjusted EBITDA turned negative. CFO Edward Reginelli attributed the surge to a rapid shift from spot trading to a newly launched derivatives platform, even as GAAP net...
Bitcoin Holds Key Support for $85K Breakout as S&P 500 Hits New All-Time High
Bitcoin surged back to the $80,000 level on Thursday, coinciding with the S&P 500 posting an all‑time high close and the Dow Jones breaking the 50,000‑point barrier. The rally came despite the release of the strongest U.S. inflation reading in...
Circle's Token Presale Boosts Stock, Raises Value‑Accrual Question
Circle is the first public company to run a token presale, and its stock went up on the news. Ram Ahluwalia, Austin Campbell, and Chris Perkins ask the one question that matters: where does the value actually accrue? On Bits...
Is Europe Is Falling Behind in the Global Crypto Race? Fireblocks Policy Director Shares Insider Insight on Digital Asset Development...
Europe’s crypto framework, anchored by the Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) regulation, gives the bloc a clear legal baseline but is hampered by fragmented implementation and cautious policy signaling. While the EU’s single market of 450 million people offers scale, U.S. regulators...
Crypto Markets Are Massively Underpricing Clarity Act Passing – Hashdex Warns
Hashdex’s CIO Samir Kerbage warns that crypto markets are severely underpricing the impact of the CLARITY Act, a bill that cleared the House and now faces a Senate vote. The legislation would codify stable‑coin reward rules, AML standards and a...
Fidelity International Launches FILQ, a Chainlink‑powered Tokenized Fund for Government Securities
Fidelity International unveiled FILQ, its first tokenized fund, on May 13, 2026. Powered by Chainlink’s oracle network and tokenized by Sygnum, the fund offers investors real‑time, 24/7 exposure to short‑term government securities. The launch signals a major asset manager moving...
Crypto ETFs: Blockchain Equities Reemerge
Crypto equity ETFs have re‑emerged as a thematic complement to spot‑bitcoin ETFs after the 2024 launch of direct Bitcoin ETPs. While miners once dominated the space, the broader blockchain universe now includes exchanges, stable‑coin issuers, digital‑asset banks, payment platforms, AI‑linked...
Stablecoins Move From Crypto Niche to Payments Infrastructure
Stablecoins are moving beyond crypto‑centric speculation to become a core component of modern payments infrastructure. A new Payments Association report highlights their ability to deliver instant, programmable settlement across tokenised assets, cross‑border transfers, trade finance and emerging AI‑driven agentic commerce....
Tokenized Collateral Set to Release Considerable Capital and Improve Liquidity Practices : Research
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) released a white paper with Finadium showing how tokenized versions of traditional assets can dramatically improve capital efficiency and liquidity management. The report highlights DTCC’s Collateral AppChain, an interoperable ledger platform slated for...
ETF‑BTC Correlation Collapses, Structural Demand Thesis Ends
The Bitcoin ETF correlation just broke. Headlines are about Wednesday's $635M outflow — biggest single-day since January 29. The buried number is the one that matters: 0.16. That's the 90-day rolling correlation between ETF flows and BTC price action, down...
STRC Hits Record Volume, $1.53B Liquidity, Stable Price
All-time high volume. $1.53B of liquidity. Two cents of volatility. Closed at par. $STRC https://t.co/aS0dSlkm7d
The S&P 500 Hitting Another All-Time High Just Exposed Bitcoin’s Real Problem
The S&P 500 hit a fresh all‑time high on May 13, but the rally was narrow, driven mainly by AI‑focused megacap stocks such as Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, which now account for roughly 36 % of the index’s market value. Bitcoin slipped below...
Short Bitcoin Faces Bigger Liquidations Than Longs
Imagine shorting Bitcoin today 24h total liquidations $240.40M 24h Long liquidations $92.92M 24h Short liquidations $147.47M https://t.co/hwLlBxm0L5
RsETH Withdrawals Restored Across Kelp and Aave
rsETH milestone update: - Kelp unpaused rsETH enabling withdrawals for rsETH (bridging also enabled) - Aave unpaused rsETH across all relevant markets enabling rsETH withdrawals from Aave Last steps of the major recovery operation under way.
CME Group Adds Avalanche and Sui Futures, Expanding Regulated Crypto Derivatives
CME Group announced the launch of futures contracts on Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI), with initial block trades executed by FalconX and G‑20 Group. The contracts, offered in both micro and standard sizes, will trade continuously from May 29, 2026, giving institutional...
Senate Advances Law to Unlock Blockchain‑Powered Financial Clarity
CLARITY is emerging - digital tokens and blockchain protocols, read/write/own, stablecoin utility, open infra that the whole financial industry can build own. We are thrilled with the progress of the Senate Banking Committee towards enacting this critical law that will...
AI-Driven Payments and Stablecoin Adoption Shape Future Finance
Just in time for @thestablecon next week, our second quarterly State of Stables report with @artemis is out. This quarter’s edition dives into: • Agentic finance and machine-native payments • Stablecoin adoption across global markets • Regulatory questions emerging around AI-driven...
Senate Revives Crypto Clarity Act Amid Aggressive Bank Lobby to Stall Bill
The U.S. Senate has reintroduced the Crypto Clarity Act, a market‑structure bill governing stablecoins, just as the American Bankers Association launched a coordinated lobbying blitz urging banks and their employees to contact senators. Crypto firms see the bill as a...
Crypto Clarity Act Markup Begins, Potential Turning Point
The Bitcoin & Crypto Clarity Act markup is officially underway in Congress right now. This could be the moment everything changes. 👀 https://t.co/CEUl7l7Wbj
Aave Raises Bug Bounty Caps Across All Contracts
Aave has increased bug bounty program caps across all smart contract surfaces and the broader application stack. Grateful to all bug bounty participants helping to make DeFi more resilient.
Anonymous On-Chain Voting Decides Retroactive Zcash Grants
Anonymous on-chain coin-weighted voting will be used to determine if these builders get retroactive grants for the work they've done to support Zcash: https://t.co/XMw4Se2Tia https://t.co/1Hw0zgFitN
Bipartisan Momentum Grows for Digital Asset Legislation
WATCH: 🇺🇸 House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill says he is encouraged by bipartisan progress on digital asset legislation ahead of today’s Senate Banking Committee markup of the Clarity Act https://t.co/1nDpXoG02W