Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari has shifted from penciling in one or two 2026 cuts to a data‑dependent stance as the Iran war and higher oil muddy the inflation path.

According to Jinshi’s summary of recent remarks, Federal Reserve official Neel Kashkari said that before the Iran conflict escalated, he believed inflation would likely decline enough to make “one or two” interest rate cuts appropriate later this year.

From “one or two cuts” to data‑dependent caution

That view is consistent with comments he made in early March, when he told Reuters it was reasonable to expect a single 2026 cut as inflation pressures eased and the job market softened modestly.

However, he also emphasized in that interview that the Iran war is a “new shock” for the global economy, saying the Fed now has to assess “the duration and magnitude” of the conflict and its impact on energy prices before firming up any rate‑cut path.

March data “not enough” to change the statement

In a January appearance covered by CNBC, Kashkari argued that policy was “quite close to a neutral position” and warned that inflation remained “excessively high,” even as the economy proved more resilient than he had expected.

Kashkari has repeatedly highlighted energy costs as a key swing factor.
Speaking at a Bloomberg Invest event in New York, he said the central question now is how persistent higher oil prices will be and whether they materially slow progress toward the Fed’s 2% inflation target.

At the same time, he has stressed in interviews reported by Morningstar and Reuters that the Fed must “watch both sides of our dual mandate,” warning that if policymakers push rates too high for too long, they risk unnecessary damage to employment.

Before the latest geopolitical shock, Kashkari said he saw inflation running in the 2.5%–3% range and expected it to trend lower, but he has now adopted a more explicitly data‑dependent stance, saying the war has “obscured” the policy outlook and that it is “too soon” to know whether the Fed can safely deliver the cuts he once penciled in for 2026.

TLDR:

• XRP leverage ratio is trending low while price remains elevated, creating a rare market divergence.
  
• CryptoQuant analyst PelinayPA warns the calm market is quietly building strong upward potential energy.
  
• Historically, low-leverage and high-price gaps in XRP resolve with fast, squeeze-driven price expansions.
  
• If the leverage ratio turns upward, new long positions could trigger a sharper-than-expected XRP rally.

XRP investors are watching a key on-chain metric closely. Data from CryptoQuant shows a widening gap between XRP’s leverage ratio and its price.

Analysts say this pattern has historically preceded sharp price moves. The current setup points to a market where speculative excess has cleared out.

Yet, the price has not collapsed. This combination is drawing attention from traders who track market structure signals.

Low Leverage and Steady Price Create an Unusual Setup

The leverage ratio for XRP is currently low and moving sideways. At the same time, the price is holding at relatively elevated levels.

This gap between the two metrics is what analysts call a divergence. It shows the market is no longer being driven by borrowed positions.

When leverage is flushed out of the market, it often means a cleaner base is forming. Traders are not piling in with excessive risk. So, the price is being supported by something other than speculation. That is a notable shift in market behavior.

CryptoQuant analyst @PelinayPA noted that such divergences rarely last long. Either the price pulls back to meet the ratio, or the ratio rises quickly.

When the ratio rises, it is usually tied to a strong price move higher. The current structure leans toward the latter scenario.

Historically, low-leverage environments like this one act as a reset. They reduce the chance of a cascade of liquidations on the way up.

As a result, any new rally tends to move faster and with more force. That is what the data is currently pointing toward.

Potential Energy Is Building in the XRP Market

According to PelinayPA, the market looks calm on the surface. However, beneath that calm, potential energy is accumulating.

This is a common setup before aggressive price expansions. The divergence between price and leverage is the clearest sign of this buildup.

If the leverage ratio starts trending upward, fresh long positions will enter the market. That new demand tends to push prices higher quickly.

The move is often sharper than what most traders expect. A squeeze-driven rally becomes more likely in this kind of environment.

The key point is that leverage has already been reduced. Speculative positions have been unwound without a major price collapse.

That means the market has absorbed selling pressure well. It also means there is room for new buying without immediate resistance from underwater longs.

Periods like this one have preceded some of the more sudden price expansions in XRP’s history. The setup is not a guarantee, but the structure is in place.

Traders watching the leverage ratio will be looking for the first signs of an upward trend. That shift could be the trigger for the next significant move.

Key Highlights

• CoreWeave shares climbed approximately 2.5% during premarket hours following Citi’s price target increase from $126 to $155
• Analyst Tyler Radke maintained his Buy recommendation while projecting 35-40% quarter-over-quarter backlog expansion
• A recently announced partnership with Jane Street and Meta is scheduled to scale through the conclusion of 2027
• This strategic partnership may propel CoreWeave beyond its $30 billion annual recurring revenue objective
• The company enhanced its SUNK platform with additional self-service capabilities and introduced the SUNK Anywhere functionality

CoreWeave experienced a premarket gain of roughly 2.5% on Thursday following Citi’s announcement of an upgraded price target, moving from $126 to $155.

CoreWeave, Inc. Class A Common Stock, CRWV

Tyler Radke, the covering analyst, maintained his Buy recommendation while highlighting an increasingly robust demand environment for artificial intelligence infrastructure solutions.

By midday trading, shares extended their gains, with CRWV trading more than 7% higher.

Radke’s analysis projects backlog expansion ranging between 35% and 40% on a sequential quarterly basis for the current period. He attributed this growth trajectory to an increasingly diversified customer portfolio spanning hyperscalers, artificial intelligence laboratories, and enterprise organizations, suggesting enhanced sustainability in the company’s growth narrative.

“The stars continue to align for AI infrastructure leaders like CRWV,” Radke wrote in a note to clients.

This evolving customer diversification strategy is increasingly capturing investor attention. Reduced dependency on individual clients mitigates concentration exposure, addressing a longstanding concern among market participants.

Strategic Partnership with Jane Street and Meta Enhances Growth Trajectory

A newly established agreement involving Jane Street and Meta is projected to scale operations through fiscal year 2027. According to Radke, this partnership alone possesses the capacity to elevate CoreWeave beyond its $30 billion annual recurring revenue milestone.

The analyst additionally highlighted Anthropic as representing potential upside optionality, indicating additional growth opportunities should that commercial relationship expand.

From a capital structure perspective, newly secured investment-grade financing is reducing CoreWeave’s cost of capital. Radke indicated this development could trigger upward earnings per share estimate revisions extending through fiscal 2026.

Pricing dynamics surrounding next-generation Blackwell hardware may deliver incremental revenue opportunities. CoreWeave appears to have preserved strategic flexibility within its fiscal 2026 capital expenditure allocation, potentially enabling the company to capitalize on these favorable conditions.

Platform Enhancement: SUNK Receives Significant Upgrades

CoreWeave announced substantial enhancements to its SUNK platform this week, incorporating self-service functionalities alongside the newly launched SUNK Anywhere capability.

SUNK Anywhere was engineered to accelerate cluster deployment processes for customers. The feature enables artificial intelligence workloads to operate seamlessly across diverse cloud infrastructure providers.

These platform improvements enhance accessibility for enterprise clients seeking to expand AI infrastructure deployments while minimizing manual configuration requirements.

CoreWeave’s year-to-date performance reflects approximately 55.84% appreciation based on available market data. Current market capitalization stands at roughly $61.34 billion.

Average daily trading volume registers at approximately 27 million shares, demonstrating sustained market interest in the equity.

Technical sentiment indicators currently signal a Strong Buy designation for CRWV.

Citi’s revised $155 price objective represents substantial upside potential relative to the stock’s trading levels prior to the research note’s publication.

CoreWeave’s projected 35-40% sequential backlog growth remains the primary metric under analyst scrutiny approaching the upcoming earnings announcement.

Romance scammers are reportedly using AI generated images of attractive women to dupe followers and attendees of this week’s XRP Las Vegas conference.

The “women,” invariably pictured in glamorous cocktail dresses in front of the event’s official banner, were flagged by an XRP Ledger validator on Friday morning.

Their job was to slide into the DMs of visitors and XRP aficionados who they hope will be predisposed to welcome otherwise unusual conversations about the crypto.

Attendees of the event, which is billed as “the Largest XRP conference in the world,” and features speakers including Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and XRP Ledger co-creator David Schwartz, will likely have spent hundreds of dollars on their tickets and even more on travel and accomodation.

This makes them potentially rich pickings for criminals, specifically “pig butcherers,” who attempt to dupe gullible investors into romantic chats that eventually turn into crypto donation or investment scams.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at XRP Las Vegas on April 30 that if the CLARITY Act does not clear the Senate Banking Committee before the Memorial Day recess on May 21, the bill could be shelved until 2030, as the current tri-branch alignment between the House, Senate, and White House on crypto legislation is uniquely fragile.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse framed May 21 as a hard ceiling at XRP Las Vegas, warning that the political conditions enabling the CLARITY Act are rare in Washington and may not survive a midterm election realignment. The 247 Wall St. analysis notes that XRP has spent most of 2026 waiting on this single catalyst, and that failure before May 21 effectively removes the largest institutional adoption driver for the year. Senator Tillis confirmed he will ask Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott to schedule a markup when the Senate returns May 11.

As crypto.news reported, the April markup deadline was missed because the Kevin Warsh confirmation consumed the Banking Committee’s calendar throughout April, and the committee broke for its weeklong recess before any markup notice was posted. That delay compresses the remaining window to roughly eight working days between May 11 and May 21. The five steps that must happen in sequence include a committee markup, a committee vote, a 60-vote Senate floor vote, reconciliation between the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committee versions, and a second reconciliation with the July 2025 House text. Each step takes days that the calendar no longer has to spare.

As crypto.news documented, Senator Lummis made the political fragility argument explicitly at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference on April 27, saying the current simultaneous alignment of House, Senate, and White House on crypto legislation “is rare in Washington and may not last.” She chairs the Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets and is not seeking re-election, making her one of the few senators with no electoral incentive to delay. As crypto.news tracked, Novogratz said on a podcast this week the bill “probably gets done in May,” but Galaxy Research puts overall 2026 passage odds at 50-50 or lower and Polymarket prices it at approximately 46%.