Tether Gold (XAUT) continued its expansion in the first quarter of 2026, with its total market capitalization exceeding $3.3 billion. This growth was driven by record-high gold prices and heightened macroeconomic uncertainty, leading to a significant increase in investor demand for safe-haven assets. Quarterly data shows that its underlying gold reserves increased by 36% quarter-over-quarter, reaching approximately 707,747 ounces as of March 31st. This translates to a 1:1 peg to gold in circulation for XAU₮ tokens, with a total market capitalization of approximately $3.303 billion. It is understood that all XAUT's gold reserves are currently held in Swiss vaults and comply with London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) standards. Each token represents one ounce of physical gold and is subject to regular independent third-party audits. Compared to approximately 520,000 ounces of reserves at the end of 2025, the significant increase in gold holdings this quarter reflects a continued inflow of funds into physical gold digital products. Against the backdrop of high inflation and geopolitical risks, investors are accelerating their search for on-chain programmable and highly liquid exposure to gold. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that XAU₮ is proving that tokenized commodities can meet institutional-grade reserve standards, enabling gold to maintain physical backing while possessing the transparency and transferability offered by blockchain.

Rain, a stablecoin infrastructure startup, is now valued at $1.95 billion and has announced a partnership with payment giant Mastercard to issue credit and prepaid cards and explore stablecoin payment settlement pathways. Previously, Rain primarily relied on the Visa network for card issuance; this partnership with Mastercard signifies its entry into a "dual-card network" strategy, further expanding its institutional client market. Rain stated that this collaboration will focus on serving large institutional clients already deeply integrated with a single payment network, enabling them to introduce stablecoin settlement capabilities without altering their existing payment systems. Meanwhile, stablecoin applications continue to expand across industries, with institutions such as Stripe and Coinbase promoting the integration of stablecoin payments and settlements, indicating an accelerating convergence of traditional finance and crypto payment infrastructure. Analysts believe that as the regulatory framework becomes clearer, stablecoins are rapidly transforming from trading tools into enterprise payment and cross-border settlement infrastructure. (Fortune)

The delayed regulatory review, spearheaded by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has prevented the launch of the first batch of prediction market-related ETFs, postponing their listing dates. Several institutions, including Roundhill Investments, GraniteShares, and Bitwise Asset Management, submitted applications for more than 20 prediction market-related ETFs in February, covering event-driven products such as election results, economic recessions, tech layoffs, and commodity prices. Under SEC rules, ETFs typically become effective automatically within 75 days of submission unless further review is requested by the regulator. This round of products was originally expected to launch this week, but the listing was postponed due to the SEC's requirement for issuers to supplement product mechanisms and disclosure details. Sources indicate that the delay may be a short-term adjustment. These ETFs typically track the probability of "yes/no" events, such as election results or economic indicators, through derivative instruments and are linked to prediction market platforms regulated by the CFTC (such as Kalshi). Each contract pays $1 if the event occurs, otherwise it goes to zero. While prediction market trading has recently seen rapid growth due to increased activity driven by political events and geopolitical conflicts, it has also raised regulatory concerns about insider trading and market manipulation. Bitwise's chief investment officer stated that innovative financial products typically require lengthy regulatory cycles, but ultimately may still be successfully launched, emphasizing that prediction market ETFs could become a new channel for retail investors to access event trading. (Reuters)

Jefferies has revised its price target for Apple, increasing it to $299.88 from $294.91, while maintaining a Hold rating. According to NS3.AI, this adjustment follows Apple's announcement of its Q2 2026 financial results. The tech giant reported revenue of $111.18 billion and earnings per share of $2.01. Additionally, Apple revealed a $100 billion stock buyback plan and announced a 4% increase in its dividend.

According to market sources, Strategy has paused its Bitcoin accumulation last week, while raising approximately $82 million through a stock offering. Its total Bitcoin holdings remain at 818,334 coins. Analysts believe that despite the short-term pause in accumulation, Strategy continues to raise funds in the capital markets to support its long-term Bitcoin reserve strategy. This financing primarily came from equity sales rather than debt expansion. The market is widely focused on this first temporary halt after multiple rounds of accumulation, which may reflect a more flexible capital allocation strategy at the current price range, but the overall "Bitcoin balance sheet" strategy remains unchanged.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed the launch of more than 24 prediction market exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. According to NS3.AI, the delay comes after the SEC requested additional information from the applicants. Roundhill Investments, GraniteShares, and Bitwise initially filed for these funds in February. The automatic approval deadline of 75 days was set to expire this week. Sources familiar with the situation anticipate that the delay will be temporary.

ETHMilan, Italy's leading Web3 conference, will return for its fourth edition on May 21–22, 2026, at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan. According to BeInCrypto, the event is expected to attract over 2,000 attendees, featuring more than 100 speakers and over 10 sponsors, including MoonPay as the Title Sponsor. Key themes include DeFi, Real World Assets, and AI. The conference will also offer exclusive museum access to registered attendees, emphasizing the connection between technological heritage and blockchain innovation.

According to an official announcement, Bitget's CFD trading volume has exceeded $8 billion in a single day. Driven by the global macroeconomic environment and asset allocation needs, the activity of gold-related products surged, contributing approximately 95% of the trading volume increase and becoming the core engine driving cross-asset trading. In terms of regional distribution, a positive trend of global coordinated growth is evident. Specifically, the Chinese-speaking region contributed 42% of the trading volume increase, the European market accounted for 27%, and the Southeast Asian market accounted for 16%, with these three core markets contributing a combined 85% of the increase.

An attorney representing victims with approximately $877 million in unpaid judgments against North Korea has informed Arbitrum delegates that 30,765 ETH, frozen following the rsETH exploit, cannot be transferred to a recovery effort. According to NS3.AI, Charles Gerstein has filed a restraining notice under New York law, asserting that the frozen ETH is North Korean property due to U.S. authorities' connection of the Lazarus Group to the exploit. Delegates are currently evaluating this claim against objections that the ETH is stolen property and should be returned to the original rsETH depositors.

ZachXBT, a self-proclaimed "chain detective," published an article on the X platform publicly criticizing Tokenlon and imToken, stating that they have become high-risk channels for illicit fund flows and indicating that further action will be taken against these platforms. He alleged that a large portion of Tokenlon's trading volume originates from "pig butchering" scams, investment fraud, and various illegal market activities, and directly stated that its co-founder, Ben He, should "be held legally responsible for related activities." He stated that he will continue to investigate and crack down on the Tokenlon and imToken systems. Tokenlon has virtually no genuine trading demand outside of Southeast Asia, and a significant proportion of its on-chain activities are related to illicit fund flows, a problem that has clearly worsened since 2022. Furthermore, ZachXBT also named several so-called "large offshore trading and aggregation platforms," ​​including Butter Network, HiFiSwap, Bridgers/SWFT, and Tokenlon, stating that they should be subject to stricter regulation and crackdown due to potential criminal activities.

For developed countries, that layer is still bank deposits and account relationships; for developing countries, that layer is cross-border payments, capital flows, and monetary sovereignty.

X's head of Product Nikita Bier has just revealed that crypto is the topic most likely to be muted by X users, as fewer and fewer users want to see crypto-related news on their "For You" page.

OpenAI is trying to patch the vulnerabilities, but the lives lost continue to test the boundaries between technology and humanity.

Singapore is testing AI with five banks and agencies to spot scam transactions earlier using shared data. The trial aims to improve detection and reduce losses, with plans to expand if it works well.

The XRP community has been hit by a new kind of threat—and this time, it unfolded in real time during a live event.

Morgan Stanley added another 286.7 Bitcoin worth about $22.5 million, bringing its total holdings to around 2,620 BTC valued at roughly $205 million.

Brazil has banned foreign exchange providers from using stablecoins and cryptocurrencies to settle cross-border payments, forcing them to use traditional banking channels instead. Crypto trading remains legal, but firms using blockchain for remittances must change their systems by deadlines running to 2027.

The long-stalled CLARITY Act is now on the brink of a decisive breakthrough, with U.S. senators reaching a critical compromise that could push the landmark crypto bill to a floor vote as early as May.

Nobitex, Iran’s dominant cryptocurrency platform, has been thrust into the spotlight after a Reuters investigation revealed it was founded by individuals linked to one of the country’s most powerful political families—raising fresh questions about the intersection of crypto infrastructure and state influence.

Russia is planning to charge about $2 per gigabyte for international internet use, a move that would make VPN use much more expensive for everyday users. It is also raising licence fees for small internet providers and expanding surveillance systems, which could force most smaller firms out and increase state control over the internet.