Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Ethereum Foundation Restructures Protocol Team as Sharplink, Galaxy Launch $125 Million Onchain Yield Fund

Payward, the parent company of crypto platform Kraken, is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation as it prepares the ground for a future public listing. The fundraising round arrives as the firm accelerates an acquisition push that recently included the $600 million purchase of stablecoin payments specialist Reap and the $550 million takeover of derivatives venue Bitnomial. Payward confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November, and co-CEO Arjun Sethi said at Consensus Miami last week that the exchange is roughly 80% ready to go public once market conditions improve.　　Galaxy and Ethereum treasury firm Sharplink are preparing to launch the Galaxy Sharplink Onchain Yield Fund, a private vehicle with $125 million in initial commitments aimed at deploying staked Ether into decentralized finance strategies. Sharplink will contribute $100 million from its staked treasury, while Galaxy commits $25 million and serves as fund manager overseeing protocol selection and exposure sizing. CEO Mike Novogratz framed the structure as a response to growing institutional demand for blockchain-based yield products that mirror traditional finance risk tools. Sharplink already holds more than 868,000 ETH, one of the largest corporate Ethereum stashes worldwide.　　The yield fund announcement landed alongside

05-12Ethereum

Seadrill Limited (SDRL) Lifts Revenue Forecast as Contract Backlog Hits $3.1 Billion

Seadrill achieves Q1 adjusted EBITDA of $97M while expanding contract pipeline beyond $3.1B.Shares of SDRL advance 3.05% following upgraded 2026 financial projections.Offshore driller secures fresh rig agreements spanning Brazil, Angola, and Gulf of Mexico operations.First-quarter net loss shrinks as improved dayrates strengthen operational performance.Intraday trading shows early volatility despite positive earnings metrics and enhanced outlook.　　Seadrill Limited delivered improved first-quarter financial performance while announcing contract wins that pushed its total backlog past the $3.1 billion threshold. Shares of SDRL closed at $49.79, marking a 3.05% increase, though the stock retreated from intraday peaks near $53. The quarterly report highlighted strengthening rig market conditions, upgraded forecasts, and extended revenue certainty through 2026.　　Seadrill Limited, SDRL　　Offshore Driller Elevates 2026 Financial Projections　　Seadrill recorded operating revenue of $358 million during the first quarter, representing a slight decline from the prior quarters $362 million. Despite this modest revenue dip, adjusted EBITDA climbed to $97 million compared with $88 million previously. The offshore driller also expanded its adjusted EBITDA margin, excluding reimbursables, reaching 27.9%.　　The company narrowed its quarterly net loss to $7 million from $10 million in the preceding period. Diluted loss per share decreased to 11 cents versus 16 cents previously. Operating expenditures declined to $334 million

05-12Industry

Anchorage Steps Back From Robinhood and Kraken-Backed USDG Stablecoin Consortium

Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, is dialing back its prominent role inside the Global Dollar (USDG) stablecoin consortium that counts Robinhood, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, OKX, Visa, Worldpay and Bullish among its members. Chief executive Nathan McCauley said the firm will adopt a posture of “increased neutrality” rather than actively promoting a single token. USDG, issued by Paxos Digital Singapore under Monetary Authority of Singapore supervision, carries a circulating supply of roughly $3 billion. Anchorage remains a consortium participant, but with as many as 20 banks and tech firms exploring white-label stablecoin issuance through its rails, the custodian is recalibrating incentives to avoid favoring any one issuer.　　Macro investor and former hedge fund manager Jordi Visser disclosed a fresh Ether position, framing the trade as a bet on tokenization and autonomous AI agent payments. Visser argued that AI agents lack access to bank accounts and traditional credit, leaving stablecoins and Ether as their natural settlement layer. Autonomous online payments have already cleared more than $24 million on the Coinbase x402 standard over the past month, while the Algorand Foundation partnered with Google on the AP2 Agentic Payments Protocol. Ethereum commands more than 60% of tokenized

05-12Industry

European Council restores full trade ties with Syria after 14 years

The European Council restored fuller trade ties with Syria on Monday, ending the partial suspension of a cooperation agreement that had limited parts of the relationship since 2011.　　The Council said the decision reinstates the full application of the EU Syria Cooperation Agreement and marks an important step toward strengthening bilateral relations. The move repeals the 2011 decision that suspended trade provisions after Bashar al Assad‘s regime cracked down on anti government protests at the start of Syria’s civil war.　　The decision sends a clear political signal that the EU is willing to re engage with Syria and support its economic recovery, the Council said. The reinstated provisions cover trade related measures that had removed quantitative restrictions on imports of certain Syrian goods, including oil, petroleum products, gold, precious metals, and diamonds.　　The move comes 18 months after al Assad was removed from power in December 2024, opening a new chapter between Brussels and Damascus. EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani, launching a high level political dialogue with the countrys new government.　　The EU had already moved to loosen its economic restrictions on Syria. In 2025, the Council lifted economic sanctions on the country, except

05-12Industry

IREN Nvidia deal worth $3.4B over five years

IREN has signed a $3.4 billion IREN Nvidia deal to deploy up to 5 gigawatts of AI infrastructure over five years.IREN will provide Nvidia with managed GPU cloud services worth $3.4 billion over five years for the chipmakers internal AI and research workloads.Nvidia received a five-year warrant to purchase up to 30 million IREN shares at $70 each, representing a potential $2.1 billion equity stake.The partnership builds on IRENs prior $9.7 billion agreement with Microsoft, pushing the companys total committed revenue past $15 billion.　　Bitcoin miner turned AI infrastructure provider IREN has announced a five-year, $3.4 billion AI cloud contract with Nvidia, alongside a broader strategic partnership to build out 5 gigawatts of next-generation infrastructure. The deal was disclosed alongside IRENs third-quarter FY2026 earnings on May 7.　　IREN will provide Nvidia with managed GPU cloud services for its internal AI and research workloads. The partnership centres on deploying Nvidia‘s DSX architecture across IREN’s global data center pipeline, starting at its 2-gigawatt Sweetwater campus in Texas.　　What the Nvidia warrant means　　As part of the deal, Nvidia received a five-year warrant to purchase up to 30 million IREN ordinary shares at $70 each. If fully exercised, that represents a potential equity investment of $2.1 billion,

05-12Industry

Clarity Act Senate Vote Scheduled for Thursday as Stablecoin Yield Fight Reaches Boiling Point

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold its long-awaited vote on the Clarity Act this Thursday, a market structure bill that would formally legalize the majority of crypto activity in the United States. After months of negotiation, industry leaders are voicing rare optimism, though unresolved disputes over stablecoin rewards, ethics provisions covering presidential business dealings, and protections for DeFi software developers continue to threaten the package. A compromise from Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks would restrict some stablecoin yield programs while permitting activity-based rewards, but banking groups argue the language still contains exploitable loopholes ahead of Thursdays committee markup.　　Binance disclosed that its in-house security stack blocked roughly $10.5 billion in user losses between the start of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, attributing the result to more than 100 deployed machine-learning models. The exchange said it intercepted 22.9 million phishing and scam attempts in the opening quarter of this year alone, safeguarding an estimated $1.98 billion in customer funds, with the bulk of attempted theft routed through compromised wallets and cross-blockchain bridges. Internal research pegs annual crypto-related fraud at $17 billion in 2025, a 30% year-over-year jump, while recovery operations returned $12.8 million across 48,000 cases.　　Morgan Stanley‘s

05-12Industry

Datavault AI (DVLT) Stock: Ambitious 48K-GPU Edge Network Eyes National Rollout

Datavault AI tied its infrastructure initiative to anticipated Senate Banking Committee action on the CLARITY Act. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott scheduled the bills markup session for Thursday, May 14, 2026, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. This legislation pursues more transparent federal frameworks for digital asset regulation and market structure.　　The CLARITY Act endeavors to establish distinct jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC in overseeing digital asset activities. The House approved this bipartisan measure in July 2025 with strong 294-134 support. Senate advancement would move the legislation closer to reconciliation discussions with the House-passed version.　　Datavault AI indicated that enhanced regulatory clarity might accelerate adoption of tokenization platforms, protected data operations, and distributed computing services. The firm delivers solutions spanning data monetization, digital credentialing, customer engagement tools, and real-world asset tokenization capabilities. Therefore, management views regulatory certainty as a potential catalyst for broader digital infrastructure deployment.　　Expansive GPU Fleet for Metropolitan Coverage　　Datavault AI intends to construct a geographically dispersed edge infrastructure through its collaboration with Available Infrastructure spanning major American cities. The initiative aims to reach beyond 100 metro regions before 2026 concludes. Plans also encompass deploying 1,000 urban micro-edge neocloud facilities throughout the nation.　　The organization anticipates achieving full commercial operation

05-12Industry

CLARITY Act Vote Faces Scoring Pressure Ahead of Senate Banking Markup

Senate Banking Markup Puts CLARITY Act Scorecard in Focus　　Senate Banking Committee members face new scorecard pressure ahead of the May 14 CLARITY Act markup. Digital asset advocacy group Stand With (SWC) said on May 11 that it will score recorded votes tied to the bill. The group said it represents more than 2.9 million U.S. advocates as senators consider whether to advance market structure legislation from committee.　　The committees executive session is scheduled for May 14. Members are expected to consider H.R.3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025. The measure would create a regulatory system for digital commodities involving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It also includes provisions tied to central bank digital currency restrictions. Stand With stated:　　“On behalf of more than 2.9 million U.S. advocates, Stand With is notifying senators that it will score the Senate Banking Committees May 14th markup vote on the CLARITY Act.”　　Earlier advocacy work helped build pressure before the markup. On April 28, Stand With called for Senate Banking action on the bill. The group later delivered a petition to Washington after more than 28,000 Americans signed it that week. Its campaign framed the markup as the

05-12Industry

OpenAI spins out DeployCo with $4B funding to embed AI engineers directly into enterprises

OpenAI is no longer content just building the models. Now it wants to install them too, on-site, with its own engineers sitting in your office.　　The company has launched The Deployment Company, or DeployCo, a joint venture backed by more than $4B from a consortium of 19 investors. The venture carries a $10B valuation and is led by Brad Lightcap, OpenAIs COO. Its mission: send OpenAI engineers directly into enterprise clients to wire up AI systems across sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond.　　Whos writing the checks　　The investor roster reads like a private equity all-star lineup. TPG leads the consortium, with Brookfield, Bain Capital, SoftBank, and Dragoneer among the 19 firms participating. OpenAI itself is committing up to $1.5B to the venture, giving it meaningful skin in the game.　　Here‘s the thing that makes this deal unusual: investors are being guaranteed a 17.5% annual return over five years. OpenAI maintains control of the entity through super-voting shares, meaning the PE firms get their guaranteed returns but don’t get to steer the ship.　　The consulting firm wearing a tech companys clothes　　The model here is less “software-as-a-service” and more “engineers-as-a-service.” DeployCo will embed OpenAI deployment engineers on-site at client companies, many of which sit inside the

05-12Industry

DOGE Price Prediction: $0.12 Breakout or $0.10 Collapse Within 30 Days

The Immediate Setup　　Dogecoin trades in a state of technical limbo at $0.11, showing minimal movement with a modest 0.37% daily gain that barely registers as meaningful price action. The meme coin finds itself compressed within an extremely tight range, with daily volatility shrinking to just $0.01 – a condition that historically precedes significant directional moves in either direction.　　Current momentum indicators paint a picture of neutrality rather than conviction. The relative strength index sits comfortably in the middle zone while momentum oscillators hover near equilibrium, suggesting neither bulls nor bears have established clear control. This sideways grinding action often represents an accumulation phase where larger players position themselves before the next major move.　　The $149 million in daily trading volume indicates institutional participation remains active despite the lackluster price performance. Blockchain.news technical analysis suggests these consolidation patterns typically resolve within 2-4 weeks, making the coming month critical for determining DOGEs next chapter.　　Critical Price Levels　　The technical landscape reveals a coin balanced precariously between competing forces. Overhead resistance at $0.12 represents the immediate hurdle that must be cleared for any bullish continuation, while the coin currently trades below its longer-term moving averages – a condition that keeps the broader trend questionable despite recent stability.　　Support

05-12Industry

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