TL;DR

• Hyperliquid (HYPE) holds near $42 with a bullish structure above $40.
• The bullish structure is supported by rising futures Open Interest and positive funding rates. 

Hyperliquid (HYPE) trades above $42 on Monday, sustaining its upward trajectory from an ascending trendline. 

While the broader trend remains constructive, signs of cooling retail interest contrast with a steady buildup in leveraged positions, creating a mixed near-term outlook for the decentralized exchange token.

Retail momentum fades as social dominance drops

Retail-driven momentum appears to be weakening. Data from Santiment shows Hyperliquid’s social dominance has declined sharply to 0.137%, down from 0.688% at the height of the US-Iran conflict in late March. 

The drop suggests reduced retail attention as geopolitical tensions ease, removing a key narrative driver that previously fueled speculative interest in the DEX.

In contrast, derivatives activity is heating up. According to CoinGlass, HYPE futures Open Interest (OI) has climbed roughly 3% over the past 24 hours to $1.65 billion, signaling an increase in outstanding leveraged positions.

Funding rates remain positive at 0.0077%, indicating that long positions continue to dominate. This persistent positive funding over the past month reflects growing bullish conviction among leveraged traders, even as spot-driven retail enthusiasm cools.

HYPE price outlook: Rising wedge puts $40 support in focus

The HYPE/USD 4-hour chart is bullish and efficient as HYPE is consolidating within a rising wedge.

The token remains supported above both its 50-day EMA at $38.98 and 200-day EMA at $34.90, reinforcing the underlying bullish structure.

Momentum indicators suggest steady but controlled upside. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits at 56, pointing to positive but not overbought conditions, while the MACD is trending higher toward a bullish crossover, hinting at fading downside pressure.

If the bulls push higher, they would encounter immediate resistance at the $43.71 level, which caps the current recovery and aligns with the upper wedge boundary near $46.80. A decisive break above this zone could trigger a stronger bullish continuation.

However, if the market undergoes a correction, the ascending trendline support near $41.21 remains critical. 

A breakdown below this level would likely expose the 50-day EMA at $38.98, with the 200-day EMA at $34.90 acting as a deeper demand zone if selling pressure intensifies.

While Hyperliquid’s structure remains bullish above $40, the divergence between fading retail interest and rising leverage suggests the next move could be determined by whether momentum expands or reduces.

Project Eleven, the quantum cybersecurity startup backed by Coinbase Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Castle Island Ventures, and Variant, awarded a one bitcoin (BTC) prize last week to a researcher who claimed to have broken a 15-bit elliptic curve key on IBM Quantum hardware.

However, despite a Project Eleven press release framing it as the largest public quantum attack on the cryptography securing “Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over $2.5 trillion in Elliptic Curve Cryptography-secured digital assets,” several independent reviewers managed to replicate the feat using non-quantum, classical computing tactics like random number generation.

Indeed, within hours of the news, independent Bitcoin developers reproduced the supposed breakthrough on home computers.

Using no quantum computing, they showed that the prize winner basically repurposed a fancy random number generator.

Replicating a quantum prize win with home hardware

Researcher Yuval Adam ran one of the replication experiments using the public code of prize winner Giancarlo Lelli, a specialist whose GitHub repository hosts the winning submission.

However, Adam swapped Lelli’s IBM Quantum backend for a far more basic random number source, Linux kernel’s /dev/urandom.

Adam mostly left the rest of the setup alone, then opened a pull request against Lelli’s repository, documenting the outcome.

Finally, Adam asserted that random data from a non-quantum laptop provided a classical computer as much brute force energy as Lelli’s “IBM Quantum” backend for the goal of recovering a cryptographic private key from a public key.

He posted the summary on X: “I replaced the quantum computer with /dev/urandom. It still recovers the key.”

In the end, Linux’s urandom helped a regular computer recover the key in an comparable number of attempts to the supposed quantum backend.

Classical computations wearing quantum costumes

Former Bitcoin Core maintainer Jonas Schnelli claimed to have reproduced the prize-winning pipeline in roughly 20 lines of Python without any quantum hardware. 

Schnelli summarized, “The quantum computer contributed nothing (noise)! The answer was recovered by a classical checker sifting random noise.”

Coldcard founder NVK read the source code and reached the same verdict, calling the demonstrations “classical computations wearing quantum costumes.” 

Lelli’s own README conceded the point in plain text: “When shots >> n, random noise alone can recover d with high probability.”

Project Eleven’s three-judge panel awarded the BTC anyway.

A debate has started in the crypto market after researcher Giancarlo Lelli received a 1 BTC reward from Project Eleven. 

The prize followed his reported success in cracking a 15-bit ECC key using a cloud-based quantum computer.

Project Eleven said Lelli used a modified version of Shor’s algorithm for the test. The group also said its challenge had moved from 6-bit keys to 15-bit keys within seven months, showing faster progress in quantum testing.

Adam Back disputes quantum breakthrough claim

Blockstream CEO Adam Back challenged the idea that the test marked a real quantum attack on crypto. He argued that the result did not prove a useful quantum method against Bitcoin or modern cryptographic systems.

Back said the test looked closer to statistical guessing than a technical breach. In his view, the quantum computer did not solve the kind of hard problem that protects Bitcoin private keys.

Meanwhile, the main criticism focused on the small 15-bit key size. A key of that size has a limited search space, which makes it far easier to test possible answers than real Bitcoin keys.

Former Bitcoin Core developer Jonas Schnelli also questioned the result. He said the researcher checked about 20,000 possibilities out of 32,497, giving the method a high chance of success without quantum advantage.

Schnelli described the result as similar to “flipping a coin.” He also said, “Quantum computing contributed nothing useful here,” arguing that the experiment did not show a real threat to crypto security.

Bitcoin security debate continues

The claim has raised fresh discussion about quantum computing and Bitcoin. Some market watchers see the Project Eleven result as a step toward future risks, while critics say it does not apply to full-strength cryptography.

Back maintained that Bitcoin remains far from the reach of current quantum machines. He said quantum systems would likely target state secrets or banking systems before becoming a practical concern for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin uses far larger key sizes than the one tested in the experiment. For that reason, Back and other skeptics view the challenge as a small-scale test rather than proof that Bitcoin faces an immediate quantum threat.

The episode shows growing interest in post-quantum security across crypto. However, experts remain divided on whether the Project Eleven result marks real progress or only a controlled experiment with limited market relevance.

Key Takeaways

• Verizon shares climbed approximately 4% during premarket hours following stronger-than-expected Q1 results
• Company reported 55,000 net postpaid phone subscriber additions — marking the first positive first quarter since 2013
• Adjusted earnings per share reached $1.28, surpassing Wall Street’s $1.21 forecast
• 2026 full-year EPS outlook increased to $4.95–$4.99 range from previous $4.90–$4.95 guidance
• Service outage in January temporarily impacted wireless revenue due to $20 customer compensation credits

Verizon delivered quarterly earnings on Monday that exceeded Wall Street expectations, sending shares higher in early trading. The telecommunications company saw its stock climb approximately 4% before market open, hitting $48.33.

Verizon Communications Inc., VZ

The carrier reported adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share, topping the FactSet analyst consensus estimate of $1.21. Total revenue reached $34.4 billion, representing a 2.9% increase compared to the same period last year, although falling just short of the anticipated $34.8 billion.

While the earnings beat drew praise, the real story centered on customer growth. Verizon brought in 55,000 net postpaid phone subscribers during the first quarter. Wall Street analysts had projected losses ranging from 81,000 to 88,000 customers.

This marks the first time Verizon has delivered positive postpaid phone customer growth during a first quarter since 2013. For a telecom giant working to revitalize its wireless operations, this represents a significant achievement.

Behind the Customer Growth Revival

CEO Dan Schulman attributed the turnaround to strategic changes in customer approach. “We are beginning to reclaim our market leadership by putting the customer at the center of everything we do, reducing friction to increase loyalty and create genuine value,” he explained.

A key component of this approach involved aggressive targeting of competitors’ customers. Verizon provided enhanced incentives to consumers who presented bills from AT&T and T-Mobile, successfully converting rival subscribers to its network.

The company has also expanded its focus on bundled offerings — pairing home internet services with wireless packages — a tactic AT&T has successfully employed to improve customer retention. Early indicators suggest this strategy is delivering results.

The quarter also represents Verizon’s first financial report including Frontier, following the acquisition’s completion on January 20.

One notable challenge: wireless service revenue faced pressure from $20 customer credits distributed after a roughly 10-hour service disruption in January. These compensation payments, issued to hundreds of thousands of affected customers, modestly reduced overall revenue.

Upgraded Full-Year Outlook

Verizon increased its full-year adjusted earnings per share projection to a range of $4.95–$4.99. This revision moves up from the company’s prior $4.90–$4.95 target and exceeds the $4.90 analyst consensus at the midpoint.

The telecommunications provider also indicated it now anticipates total retail postpaid phone net customer additions for 2026 will fall within the upper half of its 750,000 to 1 million forecast range.

While subtle, this represents a significant upgrade in confidence. Verizon isn’t merely celebrating one strong quarter — management is signaling sustained momentum ahead.

S&P 500 futures traded relatively flat on Monday as investors awaited earnings reports from major technology companies.

LILPEPE nears presale completion after raising over $28 million as investor interest continues to grow.

The LILPEPE coin is close to wrapping up its presale with a total amount of funds collected surpassing the mark of $28 million. Although the project itself could be considered one of the newcomers on the market, it now appears among the most interesting to observe during the presale in the crypto world. At the moment, the coin’s price is $0.0022, with $0.0023 expected for stage 14.

The pricing strategy used by the Little Pepe coin has been quite instrumental in building momentum for the project. Early investors have been rewarded while simultaneously pressuring late investors into getting involved in the investment project. As the presale process winds down, there has been a marked increase in the number of buys that the coin has experienced as investors try to lock in their gains in anticipation of the price increase.

Utility, ecosystem strength, and $777k giveaway rewards

One of the key reasons why Little Pepe continues to have traction in the crypto space is that the coin seeks to shift focus away from the memecoin concept and incorporate real utility in its ecosystem. 

The Little Pepe coin is developed on an Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 blockchain network. These include rapid transactions, low gas prices, and scalability, all of which help make it more practical and effective for investors. In addition, it features zero taxation trade, anti-sniper mechanism for bots, staking benefits, meme launchpad, and DAO governance — all meant to improve its usability in the long term. Unlike most newly launched memecoins, one of the distinguishing factors about Little Pepe is its focus on utility, and this aligns with the prevailing industry trends.

Another appealing feature is a $777,000 giveaway for ten lucky individuals who can each get $77,000 of the LILPEPE token. Secondly, there is a 15+ ETH giveaway, where the top three buyers would be rewarded 5 ETH, 2 ETH, and 3 ETH. Adding on to it, some random 15 buyers will be rewarded 0.5 ETH as part of the giveaway program. These giveaways help investors to engage more in the presale race.

Late-stage demand and outlook beyond the presale

Now that the presale is drawing to a close, market factors are already starting to shift according to their well-known patterns. In particular, investors who might not have participated until now are joining the fray in greater numbers due to the scarcity of tokens and the upcoming rise in their price. These are typical behaviors for successful presales, which, if continued until the end of the process, will help to achieve a successful close. Meanwhile, the overall environment on the crypto market is favoring projects at an earlier development stage because of the flow of funds toward smaller projects that have higher chances of growth than larger-cap projects. 

At present, Little Pepe is enjoying these trends, thanks to its impressive funding and growing popularity. As the presale is wrapping up, Little Pepe will soon be facing its first real test as a project: its performance on the market after launch. Provided that the ongoing positive trend holds true, Little Pepe will complete its presale with strong results and become one of the most promising projects on the crypto market.

For more information about Little Pepe, visit the official website, X, and Telegram.

Luxembourg-based Banking Circle has begun offering regulated stablecoin settlement services after receiving a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization from Luxembourg’s financial regulator on April 15. The move expands the bank’s fiat-to-stablecoin and stablecoin-to-fiat settlement capabilities for institutional clients, marking a notable step in Europe’s push to build compliant digital-asset infrastructure under the MiCA regime.

The rollout supports Circle’s USDC, Paxos’ USDG, and Banking Circle’s own euro stablecoin EURI, widening the bank’s digital-asset settlement footprint beyond its initial EURI launch in August 2024. In its announcement, Banking Circle said it serves more than 750 payment companies, financial institutions and marketplaces that move and convert over 1.5 trillion euros (about $1.7 trillion) each year across its network. Chief digital asset officer Kirit Bhatia framed stablecoins as a natural extension of the bank’s infrastructure, underscoring their potential to cut costs and boost efficiency in settlement flows.

The development arrives as Europe’s regulated stablecoin ecosystem intensifies competition among banks, fintechs and crypto-native players who seek compliant rails for cross-border settlements under MiCA.

Key takeaways

• Banking Circle secures a CASP license from Luxembourg’s regulator, enabling its new stablecoin settlement services for institutions.
• The service supports Circle USDC, Paxos USDG, and Banking Circle’s EURI, expanding from the August 2024 EURI launch.
• The move signals growing institutional adoption of regulated stablecoins for fiat-to-stablecoin and stablecoin-to-fiat settlement within the European framework.
• European euro-stablecoin activity is heating up, with multiple banks and fintechs pursuing MiCA-aligned tokens and settlement rails, including large-scale launches and multi-chain expansions.
• The landscape features a blend of traditional banks, crypto natives and consortia pursuing interoperability, custody and tokenization infrastructure ahead of broader adoption.

Regulatory momentum and a crowded European playbook

The CASP authorization fits into a broader European momentum to formalize stablecoin issuance and settlement under MiCA, the EU’s ambitious framework designed to bring crypto assets into a regulated, bank-like regime. France’s Société Générale group, through its SG-FORGE unit, has been a prominent early entrant in euro-stablecoin issuance with EURCV, launching on Ethereum in April 2023 and later expanding to additional networks as part of a multi-chain strategy. In mid-2023 and 2024, SG-FORGE continued integrating its MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin into mainstream wallets and infrastructure, including a recent move to bring USDCV into MetaMask, broadening access to a regulated dollar stablecoin issued by a European bank.

Euro-stablecoin activity has also deepened on the custody and tokenization front. Sygnum added EURCV to its B2B platform in January 2025 to serve institutional clients, while a growing consortium of European lenders—ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank among them—has spurred the Qivalis project to issue a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin with a planned launch in the second half of 2026. The consortium has since expanded to 12 banks and has partnered with Fireblocks to provide custody and tokenization infrastructure ahead of launch.

Beyond traditional banks, crypto-native infrastructure players are accelerating similar capabilities. Circle, the issuer of USDC, announced the Circle Payments Network in April 2025 as a managed settlement service for banks and payment providers, and Coinbase’s April 2025 partnership with Nium enables businesses to fund cross-border transfers with USDC and settle in USDC or fiat across a network spanning more than 190 countries.

Banking Circle’s emphasis on EURI as a bank-issued MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin provides a unique in-house option that complements the broader euro-stablecoin ecosystem now taking shape across Europe. The CASP license positions the bank to offer regulated settlement rails for both fiat-to-stablecoin flows and stablecoin-to-fiat conversions, a capability that could reduce pre-funding and liquidity costs for institutional users navigating cross-border payments.

Banking Circle’s strategy in a competitive market

Banking Circle’s admission to the CASP framework reinforces its broader strategy to become a utility-layer provider for digital-asset settlement across Europe. With more than 750 counterparties and a daily footprint that covers a substantial share of European cross-border payment volumes, the bank’s new service could become a preferred on-ramp and off-ramp for institutions seeking compliant, bank-backed stability rails. The combination of USDC, USDG and EURI expands the pool of stablecoins that institutions can utilize to optimize liquidity, settlement speed, and cost efficiency in diverse jurisdictions.

Industry observers note that the European stablecoin space remains highly competitive and uncertain in some respects, given regulatory developments, interoperability considerations, and the cadence of new deployments. While the leading euro-stablecoin players push multi-chain strategies and deep integration with wallets and custodians, banks like Banking Circle are betting on regulated, bank-issued tokens to provide trusted rails for big-ticket settlements. The ongoing evolution of MiCA-compliant stablecoins—alongside continued convergence between fiat-backed tokens and traditional payments rails—could redefine how institutions move value across borders in the near term.

For readers watching next, the key questions revolve around adoption and interoperability: Will more banks and payment networks formalize stablecoin settlement programs under CASP licenses? How quickly will MiCA-compliant euro tokens gain traction in settlement pipelines versus multi-chain opposition? And how will custody and tokenization partners like Fireblocks, Sygnum, and others influence deployment timelines and risk management practices as the market matures?

As the European regulatory and market landscape continues to crystallize, Banking Circle’s CASP-backed stablecoin settlement push provides a tangible signal of momentum for institutions seeking regulated, scalable digital-asset settlement rails. The next several quarters should reveal how deeply these rails are being woven into mainstream payment networks and what that means for liquidity, cost, and the speed of cross-border transfers.

Key Highlights

• Micron (MU) shares have surged over 70% in the current year while maintaining a modest 8.4x forward P/E ratio
• The company’s entire 2026 high-bandwidth memory inventory has been secured through long-term customer agreements
• HBM4 manufacturing commenced in April 2026, delivering 2.8TB/s bandwidth and 20% enhanced energy efficiency versus HBM3E
• The memory chipmaker is advocating for stricter U.S. restrictions on semiconductor equipment exports to China
• Hard drive leader Seagate (STX) reports complete 2026 allocation for its data center nearline storage products

Micron Technology (MU) has experienced remarkable momentum throughout the past twelve months, delivering year-to-date gains exceeding 70%. Even after this substantial rally, shares continue trading at an attractive 8.4x forward earnings multiple that market analysts view as compelling.

Micron Technology, Inc., MU

The primary catalyst behind this performance has been the company’s high-bandwidth memory portfolio. HBM technology utilizes vertical chip stacking architecture instead of traditional horizontal layouts, enabling dramatically superior data transfer rates compared to conventional DRAM solutions. Micron’s HBM3E variant achieves 1.2TB/s data movement while consuming 30% less energy than competing offerings.

Nvidia selected Micron as a key HBM provider for its Blackwell graphics processing unit series. This partnership has generated demand levels that far exceed current production capabilities. Micron’s complete 2026 HBM manufacturing capacity has been committed through extended customer contracts.

Volume manufacturing of Micron’s advanced HBM4 technology started in April 2026. The new generation delivers bandwidth exceeding 2.8TB/s while boosting energy efficiency by over 20% compared to HBM3E. Market pricing for this cutting-edge product has climbed more than 50%.

Policy Advocacy Creates Competitive Implications

Micron has been engaging with U.S. policymakers to strengthen export restrictions on sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing equipment destined for China. Company leadership frames these efforts around national security concerns. The initiative also carries strategic business implications.

Limiting equipment exports to Chinese semiconductor manufacturers would constrain capacity expansion for competitors including Samsung, SK Hynix, and Chinese domestic DRAM producers. This scenario would reinforce Micron’s established position in artificial intelligence memory markets. Conversely, enhanced restrictions might reduce Micron’s market access within China and potentially trigger retaliatory measures.

Market observers have identified elevated non-cash earnings components and recent insider stock sales as factors deserving continued scrutiny alongside regulatory developments.

Seagate Benefits from Parallel Trends

Seagate Technology (STX) is capitalizing on the identical AI infrastructure expansion cycle. As the global leader in hard disk drive manufacturing, Seagate addresses distinct storage requirements. Approximately 90% of AI-created data ultimately resides on HDD systems, which deliver per-terabyte costs up to six times lower than solid-state alternatives.

Seagate’s heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology powers its Mozaic product line, achieving storage density exceeding 4TB per platter — an industry-leading specification. This capability enables data center operators to more than double storage capacity within existing physical infrastructure.

Seagate’s nearline drive portfolio, consisting of high-density units deployed in data centers, has reached full allocation through 2026.

Both organizations count hyperscale cloud providers — including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon — among their principal customers. Capital spending commitments from these technology giants represent a critical variable for future performance. Any deceleration in hyperscaler infrastructure investment could rapidly alter demand dynamics for Micron and Seagate.

Micron launched volume HBM4 production in April 2026, with pricing elevated over 50% compared to previous technology generations.