Today's top news highlights:
Trump rejects Iran peace plan, calling it "completely unacceptable."
Digital Asset is raising $300 million at a $2 billion valuation, with a16z crypto leading the round.
Regulation & Macro
Australia plans to adjust capital gains tax, impacting cryptocurrency investors.
Australia plans to abolish the 50% capital gains tax discount on assets held for more than 12 months, replacing it with a tax on inflation-adjusted real gains, effective July 2027. This move could double the tax burden on long-term cryptocurrency gains, raising concerns about investor withdrawals.
Trump rejects Iran peace plan, calling it "completely unacceptable."
Trump and Iran rejected each other's latest peace proposals, with Trump calling Iran's response "completely unacceptable." Netanyahu stated that the US-Israeli military operation against Iran is not over. More than 40 countries will discuss escort missions to ensure the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Energy Secretary Wright: The U.S. has briefly suspended the "Freedom Project" initiative.
U.S. Energy Secretary Wright stated that the U.S. has temporarily suspended the "Freedom Project" and that reaching an agreement with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz through negotiations is the best outcome.
Trump will pay a state visit to China from May 13 to 15.
Iran's response to the US proposal to end the war has been delivered through Pakistan.
Project Updates
Futu's overseas brand, moomoo, has obtained a U.S. prediction market compliance license, becoming one of the first online brokerages authorized to offer event trading services to retail users. moomoo plans to launch event trading in the U.S. soon, covering sports, economics, politics, and culture. Product details and launch date will be announced later.
Binance Alpha will open for airdrops and trading on May 11th at 17:00. Users holding at least 241 Binance Alpha points can apply, on a first-come, first-served basis.
SlowMist is issuing a warning to TRON wallet users: attackers have created fake TronLink Chrome extensions, using homophones for spoofing. These extensions remotely load phishing pages to steal mnemonic phrases, private keys, and other sensitive information, which are then transmitted back via Telegram Bot. We recommend immediately uninstalling any suspicious extensions and transferring your assets.
Strategy CEO Phong Le stated that software revenue grew by 12% in Q1, while cloud revenue grew by 59%, the best performance in nearly a decade. The company's Bitcoin treasury synergizes with its software business, and it recently built the AI data platform Mosaic, anticipating leveraging AI to restructure internal processes over the next year.
Strategy founder Michael Saylor has once again released information related to Bitcoin Tracker. Based on previous patterns, Strategy may disclose its increased holdings data next week.
Grayscale plans to launch the Cardano ETF by the end of 2026.
Grayscale plans to launch a Cardano ETF (ticker symbol GADA) by the end of 2026, converting the existing Cardano Trust into an ETF. If regulatory filings are activated in August, trading could begin as early as October 2026. Grayscale recently increased Cardano's weighting in its smart contract fund to 18.33%.
Microsoft's security team has discovered that attackers are using fake macOS troubleshooting guides to trick users into running malicious commands that steal encrypted wallets, iCloud data, and browser passwords. The malware can steal wallet keys for Exodus, Ledger, and other wallets; Apple has already added protection features in macOS 26.4.
Mysten Labs co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun said that confidential transactions will be launched on the Sui network this year, enabling large-scale, free, and privacy-protected payments.
Investment and financing news
Digital Asset is raising $300 million at a $2 billion valuation, with a16z crypto leading the round.
Digital Asset, the developer of Canton Network, is raising $300 million at a valuation of approximately $2 billion, led by a16z crypto, and is expected to close in the coming weeks. Canton Network is a public blockchain designed to allow users to retain some privacy of their information, targeting mainstream financial transactions.
Opinions & Analysis
Vitalik: ZKPay may become the next global standard
Vitalik Buterin stated that ZK payments may become the next key standard in the global digital economy, and that crypto payments need to shift from pseudonyms to default privacy. He proposed that transactions based on ZK proofs enable AI agents to make private payments, and that low-cost privacy transactions can be achieved through recursive SNARKs.
Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor stated that even when the company occasionally sells small amounts of Bitcoin, it quickly replenishes the holdings by buying back 10 to 20 Bitcoins for every 1 sold, maintaining its position as a net Bitcoin accumulator. Strategy announced last week that it would consider using its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividends on its STRC perpetual preferred stock.
ETH/BTC has fallen by more than 35% over the past year. Technical analysis shows that selling pressure continues. If the weakness continues, the next key support level is around 0.0176 BTC, which still represents a potential downside of about 40% from the current level.
At the Consensus conference, Google Cloud and PayPal executives stated that AI agents cannot use traditional bank accounts, and that encrypted payment rails are machine-readable payment interfaces. Google launched the Agentic Payments Protocol, and PayPal's PYUSD is seen as a naturally programmable payment layer.
CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said that Bitcoin's total network hashrate has fallen below the annual average, reflecting intensified competition among miners, and some mining companies may have shut down or adjusted their business models.
Bitcoin traded in a narrow range above $80,000 over the weekend, but many traders believe the correction is not yet over. The market is focused on the key support level of $80,000; if this level is breached, $74,000 may become the next area to watch. The upcoming US April CPI data may also influence the market.
Google Cloud and PayPal executives stated that the AI Agent economy will operate on a crypto track, with stablecoins and on-chain payments forming core infrastructure. Google launched the AP2 protocol, and PayPal's PYUSD provides a programmable layer for AI-native payments. Multi-party escrow will be crucial; AI agents should not control full private keys.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has three advantages: AI research and development, high-end manufacturing chain and international finance. Hong Kong will play its role in industrial synergy and rule connection, and become an international interface and standard conversion platform for the landing of emerging industries.
Important data
Last week, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw net inflows of $623 million, marking the sixth consecutive week of net inflows. BlackRock's IBIT saw net inflows of $596 million, and ARKB saw net inflows of $53.09 million; Grayscale's GBTC saw net outflows of $62.28 million. The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $106.61 billion, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $59.34 billion.
Last week, digital asset investment products saw net inflows of $857.9 million, marking the sixth consecutive week of net inflows, bringing total assets under management to $160 billion. Bitcoin saw inflows of $706.1 million, Ethereum $77.1 million, and Solana $47.6 million. The United States saw inflows of $776.6 million.
Matrixport withdrew 5,000 ETH from Binance, equivalent to approximately $11.67 million.
A whale converted 40 BTC into 1,384.6 ETH and transferred the funds via Tornado Cash.
Next week, CONX will unlock approximately 1.32 million tokens (approximately $18.1 million), AVAX approximately 1.67 million tokens (approximately $16.5 million), ARB approximately 92.65 million tokens (approximately $13 million), APT approximately 11.31 million tokens (approximately $12.4 million), and STRK approximately 127 million tokens (approximately $6.8 million).
Garrett Jin, a whale, deposited all 578,000 ETH ($1.35 billion) into Binance within four days. Most of these ETH were exchanged from BTC at a price of $4,591 eight months ago, and he has now lost approximately $1.3 billion.
The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) saw a net inflow of $193.6 million in its first month of trading, with no days experiencing net outflows, and its net assets reached $239.6 million. Its management fee of 0.14% is the lowest among US spot Bitcoin ETFs.
