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According to Jinshi reports, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Schnabel stated that as price pressures spread beyond energy and the risk of inflation expectations becoming unanchored rises, the European Central Bank can no longer ignore the inflation impact brought about by the war in Iran.She pointed out that the destruction of energy infrastructure and global supply chains has changed price dynamics in a more lasting way, and policymakers may need to respond. Schnabel emphasized that the current shock is different from past energy crises, driving up production costs around the world.

According to Bloomberg, European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel stated that stablecoins pose multiple risks to financial stability and monetary policy, and the best response from the European Central Bank is to ensure that public money continues to serve as the anchor of the system.She pointed out that while private monetary innovations like stablecoins can bring "significant benefits," they may also increase the risk of runs on the financial system, weaken the transmission effects of interest rate decisions, and reinforce the international dominance of the dollar. Schnabel emphasized that the European Central Bank's strategy relies on the digital euro as a retail central bank digital currency and tokenized central bank money as wholesale CBDC.She noted that many advantages of stablecoins stem from their underlying technology rather than the characteristics of the instruments themselves. The day before Schnabel's remarks, Federal Reserve Governor Waller stated that the global spread of stablecoins could expand the influence of U.S. central bank policies and questioned CBDCs, calling them "a stupid thing."

According to Cointelegraph, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene expressed starkly different views on the prospects of stablecoins at the Dubrovnik Economic Conference. Waller stated that the growth in the use of dollar-backed stablecoins could enhance the global influence of U.S. monetary policy, describing stablecoins merely as payment tools, "neither evil nor dangerous," and only bringing competition to the payment sector.Greene, on the other hand, held an opposing view, believing that tokenized deposits could replace stablecoins within a few years, stating, "In five years, we might wonder why we were talking about stablecoins." Greene compared central bank digital currencies to "turtles," stablecoins to "rabbits," and tokenized deposits to "rhinos," predicting that the rhino would ultimately prevail.

According to Viet Nam News, the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam proposed in the revised draft of the "Support Law for Small and Medium Enterprises" to allow small and medium enterprises to use digital assets, virtual assets, intellectual property, intangible assets, and future formed assets as collateral for bank loans, in order to improve the financing availability for private enterprises and technology startups.The draft also encourages credit institutions to issue loans more based on credit ratings, business plans, market expansion potential, and corporate cash flow, reducing reliance on traditional collateral such as real estate. The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam stated that this policy aims to unleash private economic resources and is consistent with Resolution No. 68 - NQ / TW.

According to official news, Laser Digital has obtained preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Laser Digital National Trust Bank. This entity will serve as a federally regulated trust institution, providing services to institutional clients.Once officially licensed, its business scope will include foreign exchange and stablecoin intermediation, cross-margin collateral management for digital and traditional assets, as well as multi-asset trust custody for tokenized and traditional assets.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea plans to no longer advance the mandatory suspicious transaction reporting (STR) requirements for large cross-border virtual asset transfers and personal wallet transfers, but will continue to expand the regulatory coverage of the Travel Rule and further strengthen the tracking of digital asset transactions.

Binance founder CZ stated on social media, "The AI industry will persist and grow exponentially. However, most AI companies will go bankrupt because there are simply too many.Even the companies that ultimately survive will experience very volatile stock prices. Moreover, new survivors will continuously emerge. This is actually consistent with the development patterns of any emerging industry."

It has been reported that banks in the Hong Kong region are tightening account openings. According to informed sources, in accordance with the requirements of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, some banks in the Hong Kong region will start tightening the opening of investment accounts from May 26, including the need to sign paper declarations, but there is currently no impact on savings accounts.

According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated today that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) will not be launched during the Trump administration. However, the House of Representatives has passed the "ROAD to Housing Act," which only includes a temporary ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a CBDC, set to expire in December 2030. The bill has not yet passed in the Senate.Senate Republican leader Thune stated that pushing for a permanent ban may face resistance from Democrats. Some House Republicans believe that the expiration of the ban may reopen the space for the Federal Reserve to explore a CBDC. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh stated that as long as he has the authority to stop it, he will not allow the Fed to advance a CBDC.

According to Decrypt, analysts at Standard Chartered Bank pointed out in a report on Thursday that the current price of Ethereum does not reflect the growth in its on-chain transaction volume, nor does it reflect the value of digital assets deposited in DeFi applications. The price of Ethereum has "significant room" to catch up with its internal metrics, as its native network is expected to benefit from Wall Street's steady migration to digital assets.Ethereum has dominated the stablecoin and tokenization markets, which are set to experience rapid growth. Analysts reiterated a year-end target price of $4,000 for Ethereum, predicting it could reach $40,000 by 2030. This would bring the price ratio of Ethereum to Bitcoin back up to 0.08. Standard Chartered stated that year-to-date, stablecoins have accounted for 33% of Ethereum transactions.The "Economic Zone" supported by the Ethereum Foundation will launch this summer, further enhancing on-chain activity. As real-world assets go on-chain, if RWAs grow as expected by 50 times, the importance of Ethereum will increase dramatically, with transaction volume and total locked value continuously setting new historical highs.

According to CoinDesk, Elena Carletti, an executive at UniCredit Bank in Italy, warned that Europe may struggle to cope with the financial shocks related to crypto companies and banks. Carletti pointed out that when Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed in 2023, the United States decided to protect all deposits, including funds held by stablecoin issuers, a measure that helped stabilize the crypto market.Carletti stated that Europe cannot easily take the same measures. The EU's MiCA regulations require stablecoin issuers to hold reserve assets in liquid assets such as bank deposits and government securities, which ties them more closely to traditional banks. However, the European deposit guarantee system typically only protects up to €100,000 per bank per depositor. If large stablecoin reserve accounts come under pressure, this limit may not be sufficient to absorb the shock. Carletti described this as a "double weakness."

Insiders revealed that the cryptocurrency trading and brokerage firm FalconX has secretly submitted an S-1 registration draft to the U.S. SEC and has hired investment firms such as Cantor Fitzgerald to provide advisory services for its IPO. However, due to market volatility, FalconX expects to advance its listing no earlier than later this year. Founded in 2018, FalconX primarily provides digital asset trading, liquidity, clearing, and credit services to hedge funds, asset management firms, and market makers. The company completed a $150 million Series D funding round in 2022, with a valuation of $8 billion at that time.Reports indicate that as market sentiment cools, trading volumes decline, and the performance of some cryptocurrency IPOs post-listing has been weak, several cryptocurrency companies, including Kraken's parent company Payward, Consensys, Ledger, and Grayscale, have postponed their listing plans. Meanwhile, Blockchain.com also secretly submitted its IPO application to the U.S. last week.

United Texas Bank announced that it has received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to convert its state bank charter into a national bank charter, allowing it to directly access the Federal Reserve payment systems (ACH and Wire) while maintaining FDIC insurance coverage. This will provide a more stable dollar banking channel for cryptocurrency exchanges, OTC desks, and stablecoin-related businesses, addressing the dollar settlement and liquidity issues in the cryptocurrency market.

According to The Block, Standard Chartered Bank believes that the recent sharp decline in ETH prices does not reflect the continuous improvement of internal indicators on the Ethereum network, comparing it to Amazon's phase after the tech bubble burst in 2001. The bank maintains its ETH price targets: $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by the end of 2030, and expects the ETH/BTC exchange rate to rebound to about 0.08 by the end of this decade.The bank stated that Ethereum dominates the stablecoin and RWA (real-world asset tokenization) sectors, expecting the market value of both stablecoins and non-stablecoin RWAs to increase to about $2 trillion by 2028, which will drive Ethereum's trading volume and TVL to new highs, pushing ETH prices upward.

According to monitoring by Lookonchain, the swing whale "pension-usdt.eth" turned a profit after holding a short position in ETH for nearly two months, closing the ETH short position today with a profit of 1.13 million USD.In addition, this whale still holds a long position of 1,000 BTC (73 million USD), currently with an unrealized loss of 4.98 million USD.

The Spanish Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has requested internet service providers to temporarily block the prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi.The regulatory agency believes that both platforms are offering prediction trading products based on the outcomes of future events to local users without obtaining a gambling license in Spain, which may violate local gambling laws. The Spanish authorities stated that unlicensed platforms lack necessary consumer protection measures such as identity verification, protection for minors, and self-restriction mechanisms.Reports indicate that the relevant investigation is expected to last 3 to 4 months. During the investigation, Spanish users will receive risk warnings when accessing the relevant websites. The regulatory agency may subsequently impose fines, permanent restrictions, or require applications for local licenses.

According to Bloomberg, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and its partners are about to launch a real-value transaction test for the digital cross-border payment project Project Agorá. This project involves the BIS, seven central banks, and more than 40 regulated institutions, including the New York Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, as well as JPMorgan, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and others.The prototype adopts the concept of a "unified ledger," utilizing blockchain technology to complete interbank transfers between different countries in seconds, trading in an "atomic" manner. The system retains existing sanctions enforcement and anti-money laundering screening mechanisms. The BIS stated that tokenization can safely and effectively address the inefficiencies of wholesale cross-border payments. The Bank of Canada has joined the project, and more private institutions are expected to join as well.

According to CoinDesk, United Texas Bank (UTB) has received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to convert from a state-chartered bank to a national-chartered bank, becoming one of the first banks to complete the OCC conversion since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed 15 years ago. The bank's CEO Scott Beck stated that this move gives it the same federal license and direct access to the Federal Reserve payment system as large banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.The bank currently clears about $10 billion monthly for global crypto enterprises and has launched the AI-driven real-time payment network UTB Atomic and the compliance platform UTB Prism Sentinel to restore 24/7 crypto liquidity. The bank also plans to launch a digital asset custody and trust services division this summer.