Today's news tips:
- South Korea's Financial Services Commission: Non-profit organizations and exchanges can sell virtual assets under specific rules starting in June
- Trump: Plans to impose 100% tariff on all imported foreign films
- Indonesia suspends Worldcoin and WorldID services due to illegal operations
- OKX upgrades DEX aggregator, adds AI analysis, smart fund tracking and Meme mode
- PumpFun’s annual fee income exceeds Ethereum
- Kyrgyzstan to launch USDKG stablecoin in Q3, backed by national gold reserves
- BitGo announces partnership with SOL Strategies to expand Solana institutional staking services
- Canary Capital’s Litecoin ETF faces SEC decision soon, analysts expect delay
- Bloomberg: Israeli trading platform eToro may launch US IPO as early as this week
- IOTA Rebased mainnet upgrade launched today, users need to use new wallets to access assets
Regulatory/Macro
According to Korean media reports, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea has recently finalized the draft guidelines, which will allow non-profit companies and virtual asset exchanges (exchanges) to sell virtual assets held under certain conditions from June 2025. According to the new regulations, eligible non-profit organizations (such as those that need to undergo external audits, set up internal donation review committees, etc.) will be allowed to sell virtual asset donations received (immediate cashing is required, and only assets traded on more than three Korean won exchanges). Registered virtual asset exchanges are allowed to sell some of their own virtual assets (only the top 20 assets by market value) to cover operating costs, but there are daily quota limits and sales through their own platforms are prohibited. In addition, the FSC plans to establish customer verification measures for transactions between non-profit organizations and exchanges by May, and revise transaction support best practices to prevent "currency manipulation" and deal with "zombie coins". In the second half of the year, it is also planned to issue real-name accounts to listed companies and professional investors.
Trump: Plans to impose 100% tariff on all imported foreign films
According to Jinshi Data, US President Donald Trump said he plans to authorize the US Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to immediately initiate relevant procedures to impose tariffs of up to 100% on all films produced abroad and entering the United States.
Indonesia suspends Worldcoin and WorldID services due to illegal operations
According to an official announcement from Indonesia, the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Digital (Komdigi) recently announced that it has temporarily revoked the Electronic System Operator Registration Certificate (TDPSE) related to Worldcoin and WorldID services. Officials pointed out that this decision was based on preliminary investigations that found that the relevant services were suspected of violating Indonesian electronic system regulations. The investigation showed that PT. Terang Bulan Abadi, which was allegedly responsible for the operation, was not registered as an electronic system operator (PSE) as required and did not hold the required TDPSE certificate; it was also found that Worldcoin-related services were actually operated using the registration certificate of another legal entity, PT. Sandina Abadi Nusantara. The Ministry of Communications and Digital said it plans to summon relevant personnel from the two companies to further investigate and deal with the violation.
Canary Capital’s Litecoin ETF faces SEC decision soon, analysts expect delay
According to Golden Finance, citing Cointelegraph and Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, the first resolution deadline for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the Litecoin (LTC) spot ETF application submitted by Canary Capital is today (May 5). It is worth noting that unlike most other cryptocurrency ETF applications, the Litecoin ETF application has not previously undergone an extended review by the SEC. This situation has sparked market speculation that the ETF may be approved earlier. However, despite the lack of previous extension records, analysts (such as James Seyffart) generally expect that the SEC will most likely choose to postpone the final decision this time, rather than directly approve or reject it.
According to reports, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently publicly called on the Senate to suspend deliberations on a key digital asset (stablecoin) regulatory bill (such as the GENIUS Act) due to concerns that the bill may involve potential conflicts of interest related to the family of current President Trump. Warren specifically pointed out that a U.S. dollar stablecoin project operated by the Trump family business World Liberty Financial was related to a $2 billion deal with the UAE investment company MGX. MGX allegedly plans to use the stablecoin to assist it in completing its investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Warren called it a "suspicious crypto transaction" that may involve a foreign government providing huge funds to the Trump family. At the same time, the GENIUS Act, which aims to establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, is facing a legislative deadlock in the Senate. Due to differences over the amendments proposed by the Republicans, several Democratic senators expressed opposition, which hindered the bipartisan negotiations. Warren's concerns about conflicts of interest have undoubtedly added more variables to the future of the bill.
According to Golden Finance, citing Jinshi Data, US President Donald Trump made it clear in a TV interview (NBC's "Talk to the Press" program) aired on May 4 local time that he would not seek to continue to serve as president after the end of this term. Trump directly said in the interview: "I will be president for 8 years, two terms." This statement confirmed his position that he does not intend to seek a third presidential term. At the same time, he also specifically mentioned the current Vice President James Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, believing that they are rising stars in the Republican Party, who are expected to inherit the mantle of conservatives and continue to promote the "Make America Great Again (MAGA)" policy agenda, and regarded them as potential successors.
Kyrgyzstan to launch USDKG stablecoin in Q3, backed by national gold reserves
According to an interview with CoinDesk during the Token2049 conference in Dubai, the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan is planning to officially launch a stablecoin called Gold Dollar with a token code of USDKG in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025. Gabriel Guerra, a consultant for the project, introduced that USDKG will be a stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio, and its value will be supported by the physical gold reserves held by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Finance. In the initial stage, $500 million worth of gold will be used as reserves, and the subsequent plan is to expand the reserve to $2 billion and ensure transparency through independent audits. In order to cope with the risk of gold's own price fluctuations, USDKG will adopt an over-collateralized design. Its main goal is to promote cross-border payments and international trade. The initial market focus of USDKG is Central Asia, and plans to expand to Southeast Asia and the Middle East in the future. It is worth noting that USDKG aims to anchor the value of the US dollar rather than track the price of gold (unlike PAXG, etc.), and holders can redeem it for physical gold, other crypto assets or withdraw it for legal currency in the future.
According to Cointelegraph, after the Australian Labor Party won re-election in the general election on May 3, several representatives of the country's cryptocurrency industry publicly called for the new government to make the formulation of digital asset-related laws a priority during its term and implement them as soon as possible. Industry insiders including those from Binance, Coinbase, BTC Markets and other companies pointed out that Australia has lagged behind the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, which has implemented MiCA regulations, in terms of cryptocurrency regulation. They emphasized that in order to avoid the continued flow of talent and capital to markets with clearer regulation and to provide certainty for the healthy development of the industry, the Australian government urgently needs to speed up the pace of legislation. Although the Australian Treasury Office has stated that it plans to release relevant draft legislation for public comment this year and prefers to use the existing Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) framework to regulate digital asset platforms and payment-based stablecoins, the industry is still concerned about the specific timetable and generally believes that after a long period of discussion and preparation, now is a critical period for decisive action.
Project News
Bloomberg: Israeli trading platform eToro may launch US IPO as early as this week
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, eToro Group Ltd., an online trading platform headquartered in Israel, is reportedly considering launching its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in the United States as early as this week (the week of May 5). Previously, eToro had submitted an IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in late March 2024, but then suspended the listing process in April due to market volatility caused by tariff-related announcements. The source also emphasized that no final decision has been made on the specific launch time of the IPO, and the company may still postpone the listing depending on market conditions.
OKX upgrades DEX aggregator, adds AI analysis, smart fund tracking and Meme mode
According to the official announcement of OKX, cryptocurrency exchange OKX (Ouyi) announced today that it has made a major functional upgrade to the DEX aggregator built into its self-hosted wallet OKX Wallet. The update aims to enhance users' on-chain transaction analysis and execution experience. The main highlights include: 1. Real-time on-chain market analysis: Introducing a trading dashboard across 130+ chains, integrating AI insights, key address (such as smart money, whale) trend tracking, capital flow analysis and custom alert functions. 2. Smart Money Tracking: Added the function of tracking up to 100 top wallets, providing a "Smart Money Ranking" based on real-time profit and loss and win rate, and pushing real-time trading signals for high-performance addresses. 3. Enhanced trading tools: Added a "simple mode" to simplify operations, and a "Meme mode" designed for Meme coin traders that supports fast configuration and execution. OKX said that the upgraded DEX aggregator will continue to integrate the liquidity of more than 500 DEXs and more than 130 chains, and retain core technical advantages such as X Routing cross-chain routing and MEV protection.
IOTA Rebased mainnet upgrade launched today, users need to use new wallets to access assets
According to the IOTA official blog announcement, the IOTA Rebased mainnet upgrade was officially launched today (May 5, 2025) at 9 am Central European Summer Time (4 pm Beijing/Tokyo time). This upgrade marks the migration of the network from the original Stardust mainnet to the new IOTA network.
Mattel suspends release of new “Hot Wheels Virtual Garage” NFT series
According to Cointelegraph, toy manufacturing giant Mattel recently announced that it will suspend the release of new series and feature updates for its "Hot Wheels Virtual Garage" NFT project to re-evaluate its digital collectibles strategy. According to a statement on Mattel's official website, no new Hot Wheels NFT series or related features will be launched from 2025 and in the foreseeable future. However, Mattel promises that during 2025, users' existing Hot Wheels NFT collections, the official "Mattel Digital Collectibles Marketplace" (which allows users to continue to buy, sell and trade NFTs they already hold) and related community channels (such as Discord) will remain in normal operation.
BitGo announces partnership with SOL Strategies to expand Solana institutional staking services
According to official news from BitGo, digital asset custody and staking service provider BitGo recently announced that it has selected SOL Strategies, Inc. as its Solana (SOL) validator partner. The cooperation aims to strengthen Solana staking services for institutional investors. Through this cooperation, customers can take advantage of BitGo's secure custody infrastructure while staking SOL through the high-performance, high-yield, ISO-27001-certified Solana validator operated by SOL Strategies. Both parties stated that they will work together to expand Solana's staking ecosystem to meet the needs of institutional growth.
PumpFun’s annual fee income exceeds Ethereum
According to @WuBlockchain, citing data from the Token Terminal platform, PumpFun, the Solana ecosystem Meme coin issuance platform, has performed strongly in terms of protocol fee income this year. Data shows that as of now (May 5, 2025), PumpFun has collected a total of $294 million in protocol fees this year, which has exceeded the fees captured by the Ethereum network during the same period ($249 million). In addition, from a weekly data perspective, PumpFun's weekly fee income level has also exceeded Ethereum for 9 consecutive weeks.
BlackRock BUIDL Fund reaches $2.7 billion, dominates the tokenized U.S. debt market
The tokenized fund BUIDL (US Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund), launched by BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, has rapidly grown its asset management scale to US$2.7 billion, demonstrating its dominance in the tokenized US Treasury market. Launched in March 2024, the BUIDL fund is a tokenized money market fund for institutional investors. By issuing blockchain tokens anchored 1:1 to the US dollar, it enables investors to invest in highly liquid assets such as cash, US Treasury bonds and repurchase agreements, and obtain daily dividends in the form of tokens. Currently, about 92% of the fund's assets are deployed on the Ethereum network. In addition, BlackRock has expanded the deployment of BUIDL to seven other blockchain networks including Solana, Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon.
Tether CEO: Tether.ai is coming soon and plans to support USDT and Bitcoin payments
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, recently posted on his X platform account, announcing that a new project called Tether.ai will be launched soon. According to Ardoino's description, Tether.ai's core product, "Personal Infinite Intelligence", will be a completely open source AI Runtime. Its design goal is to be able to adapt and run on any hardware and device, without the need for API keys, eliminating centralized failure points. It is worth noting that the AI Runtime will integrate WDK to support payments using stablecoins USDT and Bitcoin. Ardoino expects that Tether AI technology aims to eventually build a peer-to-peer network consisting of billions of AI agents.
Important data
According to Coinglass data, in the past week (approximately from April 28 to May 4), the major cryptocurrency exchanges it tracks have seen a cumulative net outflow of approximately 15,710 BTC.
A whale created a new wallet and withdrew 500 bitcoins (worth about $47.82 million) from Binance
According to @lookonchain, about 12 hours ago (around early morning of May 5th, Beijing/Tokyo time), a cryptocurrency whale executed a large Bitcoin withdrawal operation. The whale first created a new wallet address and then withdrew 500 Bitcoins from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance to the new address. Based on the price at the time, the value of this Bitcoin was approximately US$47.82 million.
A whale went long on GRIFFIN and suffered a floating loss of $550,000
According to @OnchainDataNerd, a whale address (starting with 0x0af) has shown a firm determination to hold the GRIFFIN token in its investment, which can be called a "diamond hand". The address previously opened a 1x leveraged (i.e., unleveraged spot) long position of GRIFFIN at a price of $0.249. Although it is not leveraged, due to the subsequent price drop, the position is still in a floating loss state, with a book loss of approximately $550,000. The monitoring information also mentioned that when the price of GRIFFIN fell to $0.026, the floating loss of the position was as high as about $1 million. Even so, the whale address has not chosen to close the position so far, and continues to hold the long position in the loss.
According to data released on May 4 by asset allocation platform HODL15Capital, last week (approximately from April 28 to May 4), US spot Bitcoin ETFs showed strong purchasing power, and their purchases far exceeded the mining output of Bitcoin in the same period. Statistics show that in the past week, spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the United States purchased a total of about 18,644 Bitcoins. During the same period, considering the mining efficiency of Bitcoin after halving (about 450 per day), global miners only produced about 3,150 Bitcoins in total. This means that the purchase volume of ETFs is almost 6 times the output of miners in the same period.
other
Hackers use New York Post official X account to send fraudulent private messages to crypto users
According to Cointelegraph, several crypto community users recently reported that the official X platform account of the US media New York Post has been hacked by malicious actors and used to carry out fraudulent activities. The report shows that the intruder is using the official certified account to send private messages (DM) to cryptocurrency users on the X platform. These private messages are usually disguised as interview invitations from New York Post reporters and instruct the recipients to further contact through the Telegram application. Security researchers pointed out that scammers will immediately block users from replying after sending private messages to avoid the New York Post team from noticing abnormalities.
Economist Peter Schiff: Bitcoin is not digital gold
Peter Schiff, a long-time gold advocate and economist, recently posted on the social platform X, reiterating his view that Bitcoin is not "digital gold." Schiff pointed out that in the recent market context of the decline in US stock index futures and the US dollar index, the price trends of gold and Bitcoin have shown diametrically opposite trends. He said that the price of gold rose by about 1%, behaving like a safe-haven asset; while the price of Bitcoin fell by about 2%, and its trading pattern was more like a risky asset. Based on this market performance, Schiff commented: "Obviously, Bitcoin is not digital gold."
French police successfully rescued the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire in a coordinated raid on Saturday night, according to multiple French media reports. The victim was kidnapped in Paris last Thursday. The kidnappers reportedly demanded a ransom of 5 million to 7 million euros in cryptocurrency from the victim's family after the kidnapping, and cut off one of the victim's fingers to exert pressure. Police eventually located and rescued the victim in a rental property in the Essonne area south of Paris, arresting five suspects in their twenties on the spot. Authorities confirmed that no ransom was paid before the rescue operation. The incident is the third cryptocurrency-related kidnapping in France this year and another example of a so-called "wrench attack," similar to the kidnapping of the co-founder of hardware wallet company Ledger in January this year.
