Key Takeaways

• SanDisk exceeded Q3 projections with $5.95 billion in revenue, representing a 97% year-over-year increase, yet shares declined over 6% after market close
• The company’s Datacenter division revenue soared more than 300% to reach $1.47 billion during Q3
• Over the past year, Seagate and Western Digital shares have climbed approximately 600% and 850% respectively
• Bank of America characterizes the hard disk drive industry as an “oligopoly,” providing Seagate and Western Digital substantial pricing leverage
• Artificial intelligence-powered data storage requirements continue exceeding available supply, enabling pricing increases across the sector

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SanDisk delivered impressive third-quarter results, yet investors responded with skepticism rather than enthusiasm. The company generated $5.95 billion in quarterly revenue, representing a 97% jump from the prior year and substantially exceeding the $4.70 billion analyst projection. On an adjusted basis, earnings reached $23.41 per share, significantly outperforming the $14.54 Wall Street forecast.

Sandisk Corporation, SNDK

Despite previously climbing approximately 350% throughout the current year, shares tumbled more than 6% during Thursday’s extended trading session.

Management’s Q4 revenue outlook of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion substantially surpassed the $6.49 billion analyst consensus estimate. Similarly, adjusted earnings guidance ranging from $30 to $33 per share exceeded the $22.70 Wall Street expectation by a considerable margin.

What triggered the selloff? Cerity Partners analyst Michael Ashley Schulman offered a straightforward explanation — the forward guidance lacked the compelling “wow factor” necessary to sustain the stock’s upward trajectory. Western Digital experienced a similar fate, declining nearly 8% during the same trading session despite also exceeding estimates and issuing above-consensus guidance.

Chief Executive David Goeckeler characterized the period as transformational. “This quarter marks a fundamental inflection point for Sandisk — where our technology leadership is enabling a deliberate shift in our mix toward the highest-value end markets, led by Datacenter,” he stated.

The Datacenter division emerged as the clear performance leader, generating revenue that increased more than threefold during Q3 to $1.47 billion. Artificial intelligence applications require massive volumes of flash storage capacity, and current demand significantly outstrips available supply — allowing SanDisk to implement premium pricing strategies.

Artificial Intelligence Sparks Storage Infrastructure Race

The storage industry has emerged as one of the most obvious beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion. Data centers require high-capacity storage solutions to archive, train, and manage extensive AI datasets. While graphics processing units provide computational power, hard disk drives and flash memory handle data management — and this requirement shows no signs of moderating.

Seagate announced fiscal 2025 annual revenue totaling $9.10 billion, reflecting a 39% year-over-year expansion. The company’s most recent quarterly performance reached $3.11 billion, up 44% and surpassing the $2.95 billion analyst estimate. Adjusted earnings per share of $4.10 exceeded the $3.50 consensus projection.

Western Digital reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $9.52 billion, representing a 51% year-over-year increase. Second-quarter revenue of $3.02 billion topped the $2.98 billion Wall Street forecast. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.13 surpassed the $1.95 expectation.

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan characterized the hard disk drive sector as an “oligopoly,” featuring minimal competition and virtually no threat from new market entrants. This market structure provides Seagate and Western Digital considerable pricing authority as major technology companies compete for storage capacity.

Strategic Contracts and Innovative Technologies

Mohan also highlighted long-term supply contracts as representing a transition toward more stable, predictable revenue streams. Both Seagate and Western Digital are progressively securing customer commitments rather than depending exclusively on transactional hardware sales.

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology represents another positive development. This innovation enables manufacturers to increase data density on existing drive platforms, reducing material expenses while expanding storage capacity.

Mohan’s optimistic scenario projects Seagate earnings approaching $45 per share by 2028, supporting a $700 price objective. For Western Digital, his analysis suggests potential earnings of $33 per share with a corresponding $495 price target.

SanDisk shares had appreciated roughly 350% during 2025 prior to Thursday’s after-hours decline.

A Nordic Bitcoin education group has released an open-source AI database designed to generate evidence-backed responses to common criticisms about Bitcoin’s environmental impact and energy use.

According to Bitcoin Beyond 66, the tool, called “The Bitcoin Evidence Base,” has been built in response to what it describes as a growing volume of peer-reviewed research on Bitcoin mining, while public narratives continue to rely on outdated or incomplete data.

The group said misinformation often spreads faster than research, leaving users without quick access to credible counterpoints during online discussions.

Developed as a searchable response engine, the database allows users to input claims or links and receive structured replies grounded in published research, industry reports, and energy data. Bitcoin Beyond 66 said the system regularly references studies, such as an April 2025 report from the University of Cambridge, which found that more than 52% of Bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy sources.

Data cited within the platform also compares Bitcoin’s energy mix with other sectors, stating that its renewable share exceeds that of the traditional banking system. The group added that over 22 peer-reviewed studies have documented potential environmental benefits tied to Bitcoin mining, including its role in utilising stranded or excess energy.

Explaining the motivation behind the project, Bitcoin Beyond 66 said most users do not have the time to review dozens of academic papers or datasets before responding to claims online. 

“The problem is that most people don’t have time to read 22+ peer-reviewed papers, Cambridge reports and ERCOT data. When someone posts criticism on social media, you need a credible response — fast,” the group stated.

How the tool approaches Bitcoin criticism

The database incorporates a communication framework attributed to Bitcoin environmental advocate Daniel Batten, which combines factual rebuttals with a tone designed to avoid confrontation. Bitcoin Beyond 66 said the system encourages users to acknowledge earlier concerns about Bitcoin’s energy use before addressing newer data that may challenge those views.

Users can choose between direct, balanced, or softer response styles, depending on the context of the discussion. Bitcoin Beyond 66 said this approach is intended to keep conversations constructive, noting that attempts to win arguments often lead to defensive reactions rather than engagement. 

“If you’re trying to ‘own’ someone, you’ll trigger their defenses and accomplish nothing,” the group said.

Ongoing debate around Bitcoin’s environmental footprint has drawn scrutiny from institutions including the United Nations and several governments, which have raised concerns over energy consumption and its link to climate change. 

Daniel Batten has argued in separate research that a growing share of Bitcoin mining now relies on lower-carbon and renewable sources, challenging earlier assumptions about its environmental cost.

To expand its dataset, Bitcoin Beyond 66 said contributors can submit research papers and verified sources for review before inclusion, allowing the database to evolve alongside new findings and industry data.

Key Takeaways

• Polymarket has formed a strategic alliance with Chainalysis for insider trading detection and prevention
• Federal authorities arrested a US military member for allegedly using secret intelligence to place bets on the platform
• The Senate approved new regulations prohibiting lawmakers from participating in prediction market trading
• The platform aims to secure $400 million in funding at a $15 billion company valuation while pursuing CFTC authorization for US operations
• Prediction market trading activity reached $25.7 billion in monthly volume during March 2026

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The decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket has formed a strategic collaboration with Chainalysis, a leading blockchain intelligence company, to strengthen its defenses against insider trading and fraudulent market activities. The partnership was officially revealed on Thursday.

Through this collaboration, Chainalysis will deliver advanced analytical capabilities to identify abnormal trading behaviors and generate blockchain-backed documentation for governmental and regulatory investigations.

“Polymarket has zero tolerance for insider trading, fraud, and market manipulation in any form. We are committed to identifying and removing bad actors from our platform,” the company declared in its official statement.

This strategic move follows multiple incidents where traders allegedly leveraged confidential information related to real-world developments to generate profits.

Recently, federal prosecutors charged an on-duty US Army servicemember with exploiting classified military intelligence to make profitable wagers on Polymarket prior to the apprehension of Venezuela’s former leader Nicolás Maduro.

The partnership announcement coincides with Polymarket’s efforts to obtain $400 million in investment capital at a proposed $15 billion company valuation, as reported by The Information.

Intensifying Regulatory Environment

Simultaneously, the company is actively seeking regulatory clearance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to restore full operations within the United States. Polymarket reached a settlement agreement with the CFTC in 2022 over accusations of providing unauthorized binary options trading products.

Subsequently, the platform purchased QCEX, a derivatives trading venue with CFTC registration, and introduced an American version of its marketplace last year.

This Thursday, the US Senate approved a modification to its Standing Rules that establishes an immediate prohibition on senators engaging in prediction market transactions.

Meanwhile, New York state authorities have initiated legal proceedings against Coinbase Financial Markets and Gemini Titan, alleging their prediction market offerings constitute illegal gambling activities under state legislation.

Trading Activity Continues Upward Trajectory

Despite mounting regulatory challenges, prediction market platforms have experienced explosive growth in user activity. Trading volumes climbed to $25.7 billion for the month of March 2026, according to joint research from Bitget Wallet and Polymarket.

Individual retail participants represent the primary force behind this expansion, with behavioral patterns shifting from sporadic wagering to sustained engagement.

A comprehensive academic investigation examining all Polymarket transactions spanning 2023 to 2025 revealed that merely 3.14% of user accounts demonstrated consistent profitability.

This elite segment, combined with professional market makers, accumulated over 30% of total platform profits despite representing less than 3.5% of all registered accounts.

Shayne Coplan, CEO of Polymarket, emphasized that the Chainalysis collaboration enhances the platform’s inherent blockchain transparency. “This alliance combines our transparent infrastructure with sophisticated monitoring and enforcement capabilities,” he stated.

Competing platform Kalshi has similarly implemented measures to prevent insider trading as both organizations compete for multi-billion dollar market valuations.

Crypto wallet startup Oobit has introduced a Visa-backed virtual card that allows AI agents to execute payments in USDT without human input.

According to Oobit, the new “Agent Cards” draw funds directly from Tether’s treasury, removing the need for fiat conversion or on-ramps when AI systems initiate transactions. 

The company said these cards enable automated spending across online services, including subscription renewals, advertising budgets, and cloud infrastructure provisioning triggered by pre-set workflows.

Oobit stated that each card is assigned to a single AI agent, ensuring a traceable identity and a clear audit trail across transactions. 

Spend limits and merchant-level restrictions are enforced within the transaction layer, which the company said keeps activity confined to approved parameters after businesses complete know-your-business compliance checks.

Integration with major AI frameworks allows the system to operate across commonly used tools. Oobit confirmed compatibility with solutions from OpenAI, Claude, AutoGen, and LangChain, enabling businesses to deploy agents that can act on operational instructions without manual oversight.

Oobit advisor Alex Obchakevich said in a post on X that these agents could also extend beyond payments to trading crypto and equities.

Oobit said the Agent Cards have been issued to a founding group of businesses, with onboarding set to expand gradually through June 30. Access remains restricted as the company evaluates usage and compliance requirements before a wider release.

Industry leaders have increasingly pointed to AI agents as future participants in digital payments. 

“There will be more AI agents transacting online than humans very soon,” said Brian Armstrong, while Jeremy Allaire added in January that “literally billions of AI agents” could be transacting on-chain within three to five years. 

Oobit said the next trillion internet users would be AI-driven systems.

Earlier developments show how the company has been linking crypto wallets to traditional payment networks. 

In January, Oobit added support for Phantom, connecting Solana-based assets to Visa’s infrastructure and allowing users to spend digital assets across more than 80 million merchants. The integration used its DePay system to settle payments directly from non-custodial wallets, converting crypto into fiat at checkout while merchants received local currency.

Key Highlights

• Real-world asset tokenization expanded by more than 420% between January 2025 and April 2026, reaching $30.2 billion
• US Treasury tokens dominated the sector, soaring from $3.9 billion to beyond $15 billion
• Gold-backed tokens generated $90.7 billion in spot trading volume during Q1 2026
• Europe’s MiCA regulation provided the clarity needed to attract traditional finance institutions
• Equity tokenization exploded from $2 million to approximately $487 million in market capitalization

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The market for tokenized real-world assets has experienced explosive expansion, climbing from $5.8 billion in early January 2025 to surpass $30.2 billion by late April 2026, data from analytics provider RWA.xyz reveals. This represents an increase exceeding 420% across approximately 16 months.

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The primary catalyst behind this remarkable expansion was tokenized US Treasury securities. This asset category surged from $3.9 billion to more than $15 billion, establishing itself as the dominant force within the tokenized asset ecosystem. Treasury tokens now represent over half of the sector’s entire market capitalization growth during this timeframe.

BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, commonly referred to as BUIDL, debuted in March 2024. The product provides institutional participants with blockchain-based exposure to short-duration US government securities. Fidelity entered the market in September 2025, introducing the Fidelity Digital Interest Token as its competing tokenized offering.

According to Dominick John, a research analyst at Zeus Research, tokenized Treasury products essentially transform blockchain infrastructure into a distribution mechanism for institutional money. He noted that capital flows have pivoted away from speculative positions toward yield-generating strategies.

Legislative developments have contributed significantly to this momentum. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation has facilitated the entry of conventional financial institutions into blockchain-based products. Zhong Yang Chan, head of research at CoinGecko, observed that tokenization activity has “noticeably accelerated” as pilot programs evolved into mainstream operational standards.

Gold Tokens Experience Dramatic Growth Amid Global Uncertainty

Tokenized commodity products have emerged as another high-performing segment. Their combined market capitalization reached $5.55 billion by the conclusion of Q1 2026, representing a 289% increase from $1.43 billion. Tether and Paxos gold-backed token products comprise 89.1% of this category.

[[IMG_1]]

Spot trading activity for tokenized Gold products hit $90.7 billion throughout Q1 2026 alone. This quarterly figure exceeded the entire 2025 annual volume of $84.64 billion. Market observers attribute the dramatic increase to climbing Gold valuations sparked by international conflicts and expanded listing availability on major platforms including Binance.

Trading activity demonstrates significant variability. Volumes peaked above $21 billion during October 2025 when physical Gold prices reached all-time highs, before declining to approximately $14 billion in the subsequent month.

Equity and Fund Tokenization Shows Promise Despite Limited Scale

The tokenized stock market expanded from a modest $2 million valuation in mid-2025 to approach $487 million by the end of Q1 2026. Circle leads this category with $173 million, while Tesla holds $61.7 million, Nvidia commands $42.6 million, and Alphabet represents $36.9 million.

Notwithstanding this substantial percentage growth, tokenized equity trading activity continues to represent under 1% of conventional financial market volumes.

Tokenized exchange-traded fund products climbed to nearly $300 million by Q1 2026’s close, up sharply from merely $620,000 in July 2025.

John from Zeus Research indicated that continued expansion will hinge on whether tokenized equity products, investment funds, and private credit instruments can achieve meaningful scale. ARK Invest forecasts that the broader digital asset market could expand to $28 trillion by 2030.

Bitcoin could be setting up for a multimonth price decline, after a rally in April driven mainly by futures traders while spot demand declined, according to the crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant.

Bitcoin gained around 20% in April, rising from $66,000 to a peak of $79,000 in a rally “driven entirely by growth in perpetual futures demand,” CryptoQuant said in a report on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, spot demand for Bitcoin contracted throughout the rally, “indicating that the market’s marginal buyer was speculative, not fundamental,” it said.

“The divergence between rising price and contracting spot demand is one of the clearest on-chain signals that price gains are speculative rather than structural,” CryptoQuant added.

Bitcoin is trading around $77,000 at the time of writing, rising 2.1% over the past 24 hours. CryptoQuant said Bitcoin’s correction from $79,000 last month is consistent with rallies led only by strong futures demand.

Current demand for Bitcoin mirrors a pattern at the start of the 2022 bear market, when futures demand surged while spot demand dropped, a setup that “ultimately preceded a sustained price decline.”

Source: CryptoQuant

Related: Bitcoin price hits one-week low as $100 oil sparks fresh Asia crisis fears

“History suggests this setup carries meaningful downside risk as Bitcoin remains in a bear market regime,” CryptoQuant said.

The report is in contrast with a note on Tuesday from Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, which said the Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has been the “single biggest factor” in Bitcoin’s recent rally.

“There have been multiple drivers of the recent rally, including strong buying from ETFs [exchange-traded funds], $3.8 billion since March 1, and renewed purchases by long-term holders. But Strategy has been the single biggest factor,” Hougan argued.

CryptoQuant added that its Bull Score Index, which analyzes market and network activity to gauge market sentiment on a scale of 100, fell from 50 to 40 in April despite the price increase.

“The Bull Score returning back to 40 indicates conditions are ‘getting bearish’ and places the market in the same range that historically preceded continued price weakness,” CryptoQuant said.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

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Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded bitcoin BTC$76,987.97 holder, has maintained an 11.5% dividend rate for May on its perpetual preferred stock, Stretch (STRC), marking a third consecutive month at that dividend rate.

The volume weighted average price (VWAP) during April came in at $99.76, which was close enough to its $100 par value to justify holding the rate unchanged.

STRC has seen a series of increases since listing in July 2025 with a 9% dividend as the company aims to reduce volatility and keep the price anchored near its $100 par value.

Strategy markets STRC as a short-duration, high-yield savings alternative, paying monthly cash distributions.

STRC is currently trading at $99.75 and has remained below par since April 15. Based on historical patterns, a return to $100 for STRC is expected next week.

MSTR common stock has also shown signs of recovery, closing April at $165, up 33%, its first positive month in nine.

The stock fell fell 75% across eight consecutive losing months from August 2025 to March 2026, according to TradingView data.

Bitcoin also rose 12% in April, its best monthly performance since April 2025.

In addition, Strategy is considering a shift to semi-monthly dividend payments for STRC, moving away from its current monthly distribution structure to further reduce volatility.

Read More: Why Michael Saylor’s Strategy decided to make STRC’s dividend bi-monthly