merge

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 Business Wire, the special purpose acquisition company Quantum Leap announced the completion of a $200 million initial public offering (IPO) and will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "QLEPU." The raised funds will be used to support its pursuit of acquisition or merger transactions in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and blockchain.

According to official news, Aave LLC has submitted an emergency motion requesting the withdrawal of the asset freeze notice issued to Arbitrum DAO on May 1, 2026. This notice attempts to seize approximately $71 million worth of ETH, which belongs to the victims of the attack on April 18.Aave stated that attackers do not gain legal ownership of stolen property merely by stealing it, as the law clearly stipulates. The assets being recovered are intended to be returned to users affected by the attack on April 18, 2026. Freezing these assets harms the users that the recovery efforts are supposed to protect.Aave has requested the court to hold an emergency hearing and temporarily lift the freeze order, while continuing to work with the Arbitrum community and DeFi United to compensate the affected users.

MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe stated that Bitcoin may not need a new story or catalyst to drive it back to $100,000—Bitcoin has not reached that price for nearly five months. In a post on X on Friday, van de Poppe posed the question, "What kind of narrative can push Bitcoin to $100,000?" He then stated, "No narrative is needed to push the price." He added, "Prices rise, and narratives will emerge. That’s why relying solely on math, statistics, and logic is enough to win, and why the current ranges of Bitcoin are still good accumulation zones."Many participants in the crypto market still believe that Bitcoin needs a strong narrative to drive prices upward. Recently, the market's focus has been on potential catalysts such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions, regulatory progress in the U.S., and inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs. Some participants also pointed to the potential passage of the CLARITY Act as a factor that could drive Bitcoin upward. However, veteran trader Peter Brandt stated that the CLARITY Act is a positive step for the industry but is unlikely to be the main catalyst for pushing Bitcoin prices higher. Brandt said, "Is this a macro development that shakes the world? No. It's certainly necessary, but it is not an event that should redefine value." Meanwhile, White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt stated this week at the Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas that a "major announcement" regarding President Trump's Bitcoin reserves will be made in a few weeks.

Special Purpose Acquisition Company Forefront Tech announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO) pricing, with a total size of $100 million, and will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FTHAU." It is reported that the funds raised will be used to explore merger and acquisition opportunities in the fields of blockchain, fintech, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

Special Purpose Acquisition Company Forefront Tech Holdings Acquisition Corp announced the completion of its initial public offering (IPO) pricing, with a total scale of $100 million, and will be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker "FTHAU." It is reported that the funds raised will be used to explore merger and acquisition opportunities in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence, fintech, and other emerging technologies.

Tether Investments proposed to optimize the structure of Twenty-One Capital (XXI) through a series of merger transactions, including a merger with Bitcoin financial services company Strike, and further integration with Bitcoin mining company Elektron Energy.If the transaction is completed, the merged entity will combine financial services platforms, global distribution and compliance infrastructure, as well as large-scale mining capabilities and computational resources, forming a comprehensive platform covering Bitcoin reserves, mining, and financial services, with plans for Elektron founder Raphael Zagury to serve as president.

According to CCTV News, the Office of the Foreign Investment Security Review Mechanism has legally made a decision to prohibit the foreign acquisition of the Manus project, requiring the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction. Manus was initially developed by the Chinese company Butterfly Effect and became an overnight sensation after its release in March 2025. In June of the same year, it moved its headquarters to Singapore and ceased domestic operations, and in December 2025, it was announced by the American company Meta that it would acquire it for approximately $2 billion.Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Ministry of Commerce's Academy, stated that Manus moved the project to Singapore through funding and corporate transfer before selling it to an American company, which raises suspicions of intentionally evading regulation. If such practices are not controlled, more companies will follow suit, harming national development interests and security.Zhou Mi emphasized that China has consistently maintained an open attitude towards foreign investment but takes a cautious stance on sensitive investments involving key technologies and data security, stating that "evading regulation in a malicious manner will ultimately not achieve the intended purpose."

The on-chain analysis platform Santiment tweeted that six days after the Kelp event outbreak, there were obvious signs of "refugee trade" in the market.The Spark token SPK skyrocketed from $0.029 to $0.058 within 48 hours, an increase of over 100%. Meanwhile, whale transactions (over $100,000) surged from an average baseline of about 30 per day to 183 today.In contrast, the price of the AAVE token continues to decline, currently hovering around $92, even though Bitcoin had previously broken through $79,000 earlier this week.Santiment pointed out that this event did not solely cause destruction but led to a reallocation of funds— a liquidity crisis for one protocol turned into a bull market for another protocol.Note: "Refugee trade" is a metaphorical term in the crypto/DeFi space, specifically referring to the phenomenon where funds flee in large amounts from damaged or high-risk protocols, similar to refugees, and move to another protocol that is relatively safe and lower risk.

According to Reuters, the Greek maritime risk management company MARISKS warned that some shipping companies stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz received messages impersonating Iranian authorities, demanding payment of a "toll fee" in Bitcoin or Tether (USDT). This information is a scam and not officially released by Iran.MARISKS stated that the scam messages claimed that documents must be submitted and evaluated by the "Iranian security department" before determining the cryptocurrency fees. Currently, approximately hundreds of vessels and about 20,000 seafarers are stranded in the Gulf. During a brief opening of the strait on April 18, at least two vessels (including one tanker) were forced to turn back after being fired upon by Iranian ships.

According to Cointelegraph, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that U.S. authorities should prepare short-term, targeted emergency plans in advance for the potential collapse of future U.S. Treasury demand. He stated that once a crisis occurs, the impact will be severe. The U.S. Treasury market is seen as the cornerstone of the global financial system, and if it becomes unstable, it could affect the pricing of corporate bonds, mortgages, and stocks.The report pointed out that if a crisis weakens confidence in the dollar, it could drive funds toward alternative value storage assets like Bitcoin and gold; however, Tether, which uses U.S. Treasuries as its main reserve asset, may also face redemption and de-pegging risks.

According to The Block, Josh Stark, a key figure at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), announced his resignation after five years and will officially step down at the end of the month. Stark joined the Ethereum Foundation in 2019, initially working in the special projects team, and later rose to leadership, collaborating with EF Chair Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, and co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Bastian Aue.He is one of the most prominent members of the foundation's external image and has led several significant advancements in Ethereum, including the "The Merge" upgrade that transitioned from proof of work to proof of stake, as well as subsequent upgrades like Dencun, Fusaka, and Pectra. During last year's leadership adjustments at the foundation, he was appointed as the "co-manager" of the EF board and recently took on the role of co-chair of the "trillion-dollar security" initiative.Last month, Stark co-authored a strategic blog post on Ethereum with Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, outlining Ethereum's latest scaling direction and its relationship with the Layer 2 ecosystem. Stark stated, "I haven't planned for the future yet; I just want to take a good rest and spend time with family and friends." This resignation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing changes at the Ethereum Foundation.Last year, the foundation underwent significant leadership adjustments, refocusing its strategic priorities on scaling the Ethereum mainnet and core cypherpunk values; Tomasz K. Stańczak also resigned from his co-executive director position at the end of February this year, having served for less than a year. On the same day, Trent Van Epps also announced his departure from EF to fully dedicate himself to Protocol Guild, the independent funding organization for Ethereum core developers that he founded.

The dominance of the US dollar has always been a topic of concern, but Franklin Templeton believes that the dollar will remain the preferred currency. The Chief Investment Officer of the company's fixed income department, Sonal Desai, wrote in a report that the dollar's status is supported by three main pillars: the size of the world's largest economy, the depth of the market, and its institutional credibility.Sonal Desai pointed out that there are currently no reliable alternative assets, and it will take decades to establish the institutional infrastructure needed to support such a currency. The debate over the dollar's dominance has intensified, as Trump's erratic trade, geopolitical, and fiscal policies have weakened the appeal of US assets. Some analysts believe that the euro and gold are likely to become preferred reserve assets.

Crypto analyst Ali published a lengthy analysis on the X platform, pointing out that rather than debating whether Bitcoin has bottomed out, it is better to focus on whether the current volatility constitutes a "generational entry opportunity." Based on indicators such as long-term trend lines, on-chain liquidity, and cost distribution, the core "value range" of this cycle is defined.In terms of support, the UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD) shows that there is a significant concentration of chips in the range of approximately $63,111 to $70,685, forming the current main support zone; if it falls below $63,111, the market may enter a liquidity vacuum. From a long-term trend perspective, Bitcoin is approaching the key upward trend line of the past decade (approximately $56,000 to $60,000), which historically has often corresponded to accumulation phases before major upward movements.

The Solana Foundation stated that it is launching a series of security enhancement initiatives, including a STRIDE security assessment and monitoring system led by Asymmetric Research, as well as a SIRN response network for handling security incidents.Among them, STRIDE will conduct independent assessments of ecological protocols and provide ongoing operational security (opsec) and proactive threat monitoring, offering formal verification support for projects with a TVL exceeding $100 million. SIRN is composed of multiple security agencies and research teams to collaboratively carry out real-time security incident responses.

European crypto asset management company CoinShares has completed its merger with SPAC company Vine Hill Capital and will begin trading on Nasdaq today under the ticker symbol CSHR.The transaction values the company at approximately $1.2 billion and includes a $50 million investment from institutional investors.

Sources close to the White House say that as the Iran war enters its second month, senior White House aides and government officials are discussing the possibility of oil prices soaring to $150 a barrel or even higher records.Two industry officials in contact with the White House indicated that White House officials are assessing the impact of high oil prices on the economy and considering measures to reduce costs, including the use of additional emergency powers. Trump has also received reports from the Treasury Department regarding the recent outlook for energy prices. The U.S. Treasury currently believes that oil prices may remain above $100 a barrel for some time.Sources say the government views this figure as a "baseline" and does not rule out the possibility of oil prices rising to $200 a barrel. Another informed official revealed that the government is trying every possible idea to alleviate oil prices, including exercising emergency powers and responding to supply chain disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz for defense reasons.