Haun Ventures has raised $1 billion to back early- and late-stage crypto startups, while expanding into artificial intelligence for the first time.

The funds will focus on three areas: crypto financial infrastructure, tokenization and AI agents. The firm’s founder, Katie Haun, called these areas the “new economy.” 

“I’ve been following the flow of assets my entire career, and this is the most dynamic period in technology and finance I’ve ever witnessed,” said Haun, a former US government prosecutor turned crypto executive, in a blog post on Monday.

“The foundations of capital, commerce and trust are undergoing meaningful structural changes,” she added. “The founders who can see across all of it, and build accordingly, will be defining entrepreneurs of this era.”

It’s a significant shift for Haun Ventures, as it is the first time the crypto-focused firm has looked to invest in AI startups, joining a rush of venture firms that are moving into the growing industry.

Crunchbase reported in April that AI firms received a record $242 billion in venture funding in the first quarter of 2026, capturing 80% of the total global venture funding over the quarter, which hit an all-time record of $300 billion.

Haun’s vision for AI agents 

Haun said that AI agents, software that autonomously performs tasks, will “increasingly begin to conduct economic activity on our behalf,” and new products and services would need to be “developed for a world in which computers are the customers.”

AI agents currently make a small number of payments, around $1.6 million worth over a 30-day period as of early March, according to Andreessen Horowitz partner Noah Levine, a number that the Boston Consulting Group expects to rise to $2.4 trillion a year by 2029.

Source: Katie Haun

“Every supporting layer will need to be rearchitected for this world: fraud prevention, credit, insurance, identity, privacy, provenance, reputation, and verification all require native versions designed for how agents transact, and cryptographic tools will be important here,” she added.

Related: DTCC eyes October tokenized securities launch with 50 DeFi and TradFi giants

Meanwhile, Haun said that “the core plumbing of global finance” was being shifted to accommodate an always-on digital world, and noted tokenization as a technology that allowed traditional assets such as gold and oil to be “borderless, always on, and programmable.”

She told Bloomberg on Monday that her company wants to focus on the cross-section of AI agents and crypto infrastructure, wanting to invest in “AI that is in our lane.”

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

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Bitcoin BTC$80,819.40 continues to rally in a move that defies the typical inflation playbook, raises the question of whether the cryptocurrency has quietly crossed over from risk asset to inflation hedge.

The leading cryptocurrency by market value has risen 19% in just over a month, topping $80,000 on Monday for the first time since January. The rally comes as oil hovers above $100 and Bloomberg’s commodity futures index has jumped to a decade high, pointing to inflation in the pipeline. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer inflation expectations are surging.

In the standard playbook, this combination is considered bearish for bitcoin. Rising inflation means the Federal Reserve is likely to keep interest rates higher for longer, while higher rates mean attractive returns on supposedly safe assets such as U.S.

Treasury notes and less incentive to invest in yield-less assets like bitcoin. This logic has worked several times before, most notably in 2022, when the Fed hiked rates aggressively to tame inflation, which partially catalyzed that year’s bitcoin crash.

This time is different

But this time, bitcoin is not following that script. Some analysts are acknowledging the disconnect plainly, raising questions about the durability of the rally. Others say something more fundamental is happening.

“Macro signals remain divided, with commodities pricing supply-side stress while risk assets continue to trade higher. This divergence highlights a growing disconnect across asset classes and raises questions about the durability of the current risk-on environment,” analysts at prominent and long-running exchange Bitfinex said in a report shared with CoinDesk.

Inflation hedge

A different interpretation is gaining traction, suggesting a shift in how BTC is used: from a risk asset to an inflation hedge. And this interpretation is not just circumstantial but backed by renewed inflows into the spot ETFs.

Since March, the 11 U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have raised $4.45 billion in investor capital, nearly reversing the massive outflows during the autumn that weighed on the spot price at the time. Most of these inflows are seemingly bullish directional bets rather than the once-popular non-directional arbitrage play, which has not fallen out of investor favor.

“The more interesting shift is happening on the institutional side. Continued inflows into bitcoin ETFs point to a broader change in how hedging is approached. Gold is no longer the default — digital assets are increasingly being considered alongside it, not after it,” Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said in an email.

Paul Howard, senior director at crypto liquidity provider Wincent, also sees bitcoin as an inflation hedge and has a price target for it. “As both an inflation hedge and a highly liquid store of value, bitcoin possesses several characteristics that could support a 3.5 times increase in price over the next three years,” he said in an email.

The view that BTC is an inflation hedge is no longer confined to crypto circles.

Last week, Paul Tudor Jones, one of the most respected macro traders alive, the man who correctly called and traded the 1987 stock market crash, came out with the most direct endorsement of the bitcoin inflation hedge thesis heard from a Wall Street heavyweight.

“Bitcoin is, unequivocally, the best inflation hedge there is,” Jones said in an interview on the Invest Like the Best podcast. “More than gold.”

His reasoning is structural. Unlike gold, whose supply increases by a couple of per cent each year, bitcoin has a finite supply that can be mined. In a world where central banks have demonstrated a clear willingness to boost the money supply, own the thing they cannot print more of.

Don’t forget stocks

Here is the honest caveat that the bullish inflation hedge narrative needs to reckon with.

Right now, U.S. equities are on a tear, and that is offering positive cues to bitcoin and the broader risk complex, as we noted Monday. In this environment, it is therefore genuinely difficult to draw a definitive conclusion that BTC has evolved into an inflation hedge and that the hedging bid, rather than the risk-on bid, is driving BTC higher.

“After a solid April, BTC has begun May on firm footing, breaking above $80k for the first time since January 31. The move appears aligned with equities, reinforcing a broader trend as BTC’s correlation with US stocks climbing back toward 2023 levels, signaling a renewed linkage with risk assets broadly,” Singapore-based digital assets trading firm QCP Capital said in a market note.

The real test of the inflation hedge narrative comes if and when equities turn lower. If bitcoin holds or rises during an equity sell-off, the narrative gets confirmed. But if it falls alongside equities, the risk asset label will stick.

That test has not arrived yet. Until then, the inflation thesis remains compelling.

GSR has secured a strategic investment from SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered, according to a Tuesday announcement. 

The deal makes SC Ventures the first external strategic shareholder in GSR since the crypto capital markets firm was founded in 2013.

The companies said the partnership will focus on digital asset market infrastructure, tokenization and institutional access. GSR provides market making, over-the-counter trading, advisory, asset management and liquidity services to crypto firms and financial institutions.

GSR and Standard Chartered target tokenization

The deal builds on a wider push to connect traditional finance with crypto markets. GSR said the partnership would support its role across advisory, liquidity and asset management, while SC Ventures brings banking and fintech investment experience.

“Institutional digital asset markets are maturing rapidly,” noted GSR CEO Xin Song.

He added that firms best placed to lead will combine capital markets experience with trusted banking infrastructure, with tokenization as a starting point.

The investment follows GSR’s recent move into Libeara, a tokenization platform backed by SC Ventures. That earlier investment gave GSR clients another path to tokenize assets and linked both firms before the latest shareholder deal.

SC Ventures deepens crypto infrastructure bets

SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson said, “The next phase of the digital asset evolution will be defined by the strength of infrastructure.” He said the investment supports SC Ventures’ focus on institutional ecosystems with deeper liquidity and more resilient market activity.

The move also fits Standard Chartered’s wider digital asset strategy. crypto.news reported in March that SC Ventures led Keyrock’s Series C round, valuing the crypto market maker at $1.1 billion. The report said Keyrock planned to scale trading, options, asset management and acquisition activity.

SC Ventures has become one of the more active bank-backed players in digital assets. Its related activity includes backing crypto firms, preparing a $250 million digital asset fund and advancing a crypto prime brokerage through SC Ventures.

GSR expands beyond market making

GSR has also moved into token lifecycle services. The firm expanded that business after acquiring Autonomous and Architech earlier this year. The company now positions itself as a provider that can support token projects from planning to post-launch market making.

The firm has also entered crypto ETF issuance. crypto.news reported that GSR launched the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF, ticker BESO, on Nasdaq. The fund targets Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, uses weekly rebalancing, charges a 1% fee and adds staking rewards where allowed.

Aave, the decentralized finance protocol, has filed an emergency motion in a New York court to vacate a restraining notice that would block Arbitrum DAO from transferring 30,766 Ether to the victims of the Kelp DAO exploit. Gerstein Harrow LLP served the notice on Arbitrum DAO last Friday, claiming its clients hold default judgments against North Korea worth about $877 million and that the Kelp hacker group had possession of the stolen tokens, giving a legal claim over the Ether. Aave contends that theft does not confer ownership and argues that North Korea is only suspected to be involved, calling the notice “logically and legally incoherent.”

Meanwhile, Arbitrum DAO has been voting on whether to release the Ether to support DeFi United, an industry-wide coordination effort aiming to restore rsETH holders and backing after the roughly $292 million Kelp DAO hack on April 18. The voting window closes on May 7, with the outcome shaping how the DeFi ecosystem responds to the incident.

Key takeaways

• Aave filed an emergency motion to vacate a restraining notice intended to stop Arbitrum DAO from moving 30,766 ETH to Kelp exploit victims, arguing the claim rests on disputed ownership and questionable attribution to North Korea.
• The restraining order stems from Gerstein Harrow’s assertion that its clients hold default judgments against North Korea amounting to roughly $877 million tied to the incident.
• Arbitrum DAO’s vote to unfreeze the Ether is part of a broader effort, DeFi United, to make rsETH whole and restore the token’s backing after the April hack.
• Aave warns that delays could inflict “irreparable harm” on users and the broader DeFi ecosystem, potentially destabilizing collateral arrangements tied to immobilized assets.
• Gerstein Harrow has pursued similar recoveries in the past, including funds linked to the 2023 Heco Bridge hack and the 2025 Bybit exploit, setting a legal backdrop that readers should watch for in upcoming court actions.

Aave challenges restraining orders as it seeks to protect users

In its emergency motion, Aave argues that the court should vacate the restraining notice because the alleged ownership transfer does not follow the legal logic of property rights. The motion contends that a thief cannot lawfully convert stolen assets into property that can be restrained or redirected by a third party, especially when the rightful ownership remains with the protocol’s users who were harmed during the exploit on April 18, 2026.

Another core contention is that North Korea is only suspected of involvement, and the claim that the thief’s acts automatically confer legitimate ownership is inconsistent with established principles of property and criminal law. Aave’s lawyers describe the claim as “defies logic, common sense and the law,” noting that the immobilized Ether belongs to Arbitrum DAO’s user base, not to any state actor or the alleged hacker group.

The emergency motion also raises concerns that allowing the restraining notice to stand could deter future recovery efforts for North Korea–related hacks by inviting additional legal challenges to recover funds. Aave warns that delays in unfreezing assets could hamper the protocol’s ability to restore value for users who relied on rsETH and other DeFi positions that may incorporate those assets as collateral. If the assets remain frozen, the firm argues, the broader DeFi ecosystem could face cascading collateral and liquidity issues that cannot be cured by damages alone.

“The immobilized assets do not belong to North Korea or any affiliated entities. Instead, the immobilized assets belong to the users of the Aave protocol who were victimized when a third-party thief effectively stole their assets during a cyber exploit April 18, 2026.”

The move comes as Aave seeks to ensure that a court decision—whichever way it rulings—does not set a precedent that could complicate future asset-recovery efforts across DeFi. If the court does not immediately vacate the notice, Aave has asked for a bond—reportedly $300 million—to sustain the restraining order until a ruling is reached.

Arbitrum DAO’s vote and the DeFi United effort

The Arbitrum DAO vote to unfreeze the 30,766 ETH is tied to a coordinated industry response named DeFi United, aimed at protecting rsETH holders and stabilizing the backing that supported rsETH after the incident. The initiative seeks to marshal community resources and align recovery efforts to restore trust and liquidity within the Arbitrum ecosystem and broader DeFi networks. The outcome of the vote, expected by May 7, could determine how quickly a significant tranche of Ether could be redirected to affected users and how much leverage the DeFi community has in guiding asset recovery during a legal dispute.

The debate underscores the tension between legal seizures or restraints tied to high-profile cyber incidents and the operational realities of DeFi protocols, which rely on the trust and accessibility of user funds. Proponents of unfreezing the Ether argue that rapid action is necessary to prevent further value erosion and to fulfill promises made to rsETH holders who may have relied on the asset’s corroborated backing. Critics worry about potential misuse or setting a precedent that could tempt external actors to cause disruption in the service of complex legal battles.

Legal backdrop and what it means for DeFi recovery efforts

Gerstein Harrow has built a portfolio of cases where they claim an interest in funds allegedly stolen in North Korea–linked incidents and subsequently frozen by crypto firms. The framework of these cases includes earlier disputes over assets linked to the 2023 Heco Bridge hack and the 2025 Bybit exploit. The firm’s approach—asserting ownership rights on behalf of plaintiffs tied to state-backed or state-actor–assisted hacks—has drawn responses from affected protocols that argue such claims risk overreach and misalign with the actual ownership landscape of DeFi assets.

Aave’s legal response emphasizes that the chain of ownership, especially in a decentralized setting, does not automatically transfer to third parties based on circumstantial attribution. The case hinges on whether a restraining notice can be sustained when the underlying premise is contested, and whether a court should permit continued immobilization of assets intended to restore value to users who were harmed by a criminal act. The outcome could influence how DeFi protocols navigate similar recoveries in the future, particularly when the alleged perpetrators are subject to jurisdictional complexities or international sanctions considerations.

As the hearing date remains unannounced, observers are watching not only the immediate fate of the Arbitrum Ether in question but also how courts will handle asset-freeze requests in cross-border, high-stakes cybercrime scenarios. The proceedings could shape how quickly DeFi projects can mobilize recovered assets to support token holders and maintain collateral integrity across ecosystems.

Context and precedent worth watching

Beyond the current dispute, the legal strategies employed by Gerstein Harrow reflect a broader pattern of claims aimed at recovering stolen crypto, especially in cases where wrongdoing is attributed to state actors or state-backed entities. The linkage to North Korea’s alleged involvement has been a recurring theme in related coverage and legal filings, underscoring the challenge of attributing cyber theft in a global, decentralized market.

For investors and builders, the key takeaway is that the legal status of recovered assets—whether they can be restrained, redirected, or used to compensate victims—depends on nuanced interpretations of ownership, theft, and the jurisdiction in which disputes are heard. The Aave motion and the Arbitrum DAO vote illustrate how the industry is trying to balance rapid value restoration for users with complex, sometimes speculative, legal claims. The coming weeks will reveal whether the court grants temporary relief, vacates the notice, or imposes further conditions on asset handling during ongoing litigation.

As a reminder of the ongoing legal landscape, the case references publicly available materials, including the underlying court filings and related analyses. For instance, the CourtListener filing referenced by the parties provides detailed context on the restraining notice and the arguments presented by both sides. Meanwhile, industry observers note that the debate over NK attribution remains central to how aggressively courts will weigh similar requests in the future.

Readers should monitor the next scheduled developments: a judge’s ruling on the emergency motion and the May 7 conclusion of the Arbitrum DAO vote, both of which could recalibrate expectations for asset recovery programs across DeFi and impact how protocols approach recoveries in future incidents.

Source notes: The Kelp DAO incident and the 30,766 ETH figure are tied to the ongoing recovery effort. Aave’s position is documented in its emergency filing, which argues against the restraining notice on grounds of ownership and identity attribution. Related coverage includes references to DeFi United’s rsETH restoration plan and prior cases pursued by Gerstein Harrow, such as the Heco Bridge and Bybit exploits.

Ripple is now sharing its internal threat intelligence on North Korean hackers with the crypto industry, the company said Monday, in a move that reframes how the sector is responding to a shift in DPRK attack methodology.

The Drift hack was not a hack in the way most people think of one.

Nobody found a bug or exploited a smart contract. North Korean operatives spent months befriending Drift’s contributors, slipped malware onto their machines, and walked off with the keys. By the time the $285 million moved, every system that was supposed to catch a hack had nothing to flag.

That is the version of events Ripple and Crypto ISAC, the crypto industry’s threat-sharing group, laid out Monday alongside news that Ripple is now sharing its internal data on North Korean threat actors with the rest of the sector.

The 2022-24 wave of more DeFi hacks was centred on exploiting code, with attackers finding smart contract vulnerabilities and draining protocols in minutes.

But as security gets tighter, the modus operandi shifts from technology to people. Rogue operatives apply for jobs at crypto firms, pass background checks, show up on Zoom calls and build trust for months. Then they deploy attacks that no traditional security tool was built to catch, because the attacker is already inside.

Ripple is now feeding Crypto ISAC the kind of profile data that makes that pattern legible across companies. LinkedIn profiles, email addresses, locations, contact numbers — or the connective tissue that lets a security team recognise the candidate they just interviewed as the same operative who failed background checks at three other firms last week.

“The strongest security posture in crypto is a shared one,” Ripple posted on X. “A threat actor who fails a background check at one company will apply to three more that same week. Without shared intelligence, every company starts from zero.”

Lazarus Group’s reach across the crypto sector is now visible enough that it has begun reshaping legal proceedings as well as security ones.

On Monday, an attorney representing victims of North Korean terrorism served restraining notices on Arbitrum DAO, arguing that the 30,765 ETH frozen after April’s Kelp bridge exploit is North Korean property under U.S. enforcement law.

Lending company Aave has since disputed that filing in support of Arbitrum, arguing that a “thief does not gain lawful ownership of stolen property simply by taking it.”

The Kelp breach had drained $292 million in ether (ETH) and was also publicly attributed to Lazarus Group operatives, putting April’s Drift and Kelp losses together at more than half a billion dollars tied to a single state actor in the span of a single month.

Whether industry-level intelligence sharing actually slows the campaigns is the open question. The same operatives may already be in the next round of interviews somewhere.

K Wave Media has redirected up to $485 million from its Bitcoin treasury strategy into artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

The Nasdaq-listed media and entertainment company disclosed the change in a May 4 Form 6-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The capital will now support data center investments, GPU compute and rental operations, and possible acquisitions in AI infrastructure. 

The funds come from an amended securities purchase agreement with Anson Funds, which had earlier backed the company’s Bitcoin treasury plan.

Bitcoin treasury plan loses priority

The amended deal changes a prior $500 million equity purchase facility. That facility had been designed to support K Wave Media’s Bitcoin treasury strategy, which the company announced in 2025 as part of a wider capital markets shift.

K Wave Media had earlier linked its plans to Korean cultural intellectual property, digital assets and tokenized securities. The latest filing moves the company’s main funding plan away from Bitcoin and toward AI infrastructure, while keeping the focus on a new corporate structure.

Meanwhile, KWM shares fell after the announcement. Latest available market data showed the stock at $0.3071, down 24.75% from the previous close. The stock opened at $0.309, traded between $0.28 and $0.587, and recorded volume of more than 10.2 million shares.

The drop came as investors weighed the company’s move from a Bitcoin treasury plan to an AI infrastructure strategy. 

Restructuring targets debt reduction

K Wave Media said its board approved the planned sale of Play Co., Ltd., its largest wholly owned subsidiary, back to the unit’s previous owner. The company expects the sale to remove about $48 million in debt and related contingent liabilities.

The company also said it may rebrand as “Talivar Technologies,” subject to shareholder approval. The vote is expected at its annual meeting in early July 2026. Chief executive Ted Kim said, “This marks a defining inflection point for KWM.”

Crypto treasury trend faces new test

The reversal comes after several public firms adopted crypto treasury plans in 2025. crypto.news reported in October that Asian companies including Top Win, Quantum Solutions and K Wave Media were raising capital to expand Bitcoin positions.

The move also fits a wider shift among crypto-linked firms toward AI infrastructure. crypto.news reported that Bitcoin miner Hut 8 secured $150 million from Coatue in 2024 to build an AI infrastructure platform. K Wave Media is now trying a similar direction through data centers, GPU operations and AI-related acquisitions.

Bitcoin BTC$80,974.31 just gave the options desks the breakout they were positioning for.

The largest crypto crossed $81,000 in Asian hours Tuesday, its highest level since late January, up from $79,000 at the end of U.S. trading hours on Monday and 5.3% higher on the week.

Other majors traded mixed. Ether held $2,379, off 0.1% on the day but up 4.0% on the week. XRP slipped 0.9% to $1.40. Solana dropped 0.9% to $84.84. BNB sat at $626. Dogecoin gave back 1.0% to $0.1117 after last week’s run, though it remains the standout on the seven-day tape at 12.4% as futures open interest continues to sit at year-highs.

The move came despite Brent crude paring just to $113 a barrel after surging 5.8% Monday on Iran’s disputed missile claim, with WTI near $104.

The macro picture has not actually improved, even as developments in the ongoing U.S.-Iran seem to be losing their grip on bitcoin.

U.S. destroyers Truxtun and Mason transited the Strait of Hormuz overnight, escorting two U.S.-flagged vessels through under what U.S. Central Command described as “coordinated threats.” A VTTI oil terminal in Fujairah was struck in an aerial attack. President Donald Trump told Salem News Channel the war may last another two to three weeks, meaning a previously announced four-week ceasefire is fraying.

Options markets are showing a flurry of action with bets on higher prices in the days ahead, Nomura’s market making arm Laser Digital flagged in a note shared with CoinDesk on Tuesday.

Bitcoin volatility has been quiet for most of the past week. Traders were not buying much in the way of options protection, and the price was not moving fast enough to justify it. When desks did pay for protection, they paid more for puts (bets on the price falling) than calls (bets on it rising) – the standard playbook in a market that is more worried about a drop than excited about a rally.

But underneath that, there has been quiet demand for cheap upside bets, structured through what traders call call ratio strategies. The trade involves buying call options that pay off if bitcoin rallies a little, and financing those by selling other call options that only pay off if bitcoin rallies a lot. The setup costs almost nothing upfront and benefits if bitcoin grinds higher without ripping past the upper level.

“Should the spot price experience a decisive breakout above $80K, the currently negative BTC risk reversal is expected to move into positive territory,” the note said.

A risk reversal is the difference in implied volatility between equally out-of-the-money calls and puts. When it sits negative, the market is pricing more fear of a drop than greed for a rally.

A flip to positive would be the first signal that options markets have actually shifted from cautious to constructive.

All major central banks held rates last week, which Laser Digital said reduces the right-tail distribution of rates and keeps U.S. financial conditions in their current range. Strategy reports earnings Tuesday, and the U.S. nonfarm payrolls print drops Friday. Both can move bitcoin if the surprise is large enough.

Haun Ventures has raised $1 billion in new funds to back founders working across crypto, finance and artificial intelligence. 

The firm announced the raise on May 4, saying it will continue supporting companies building the next stage of digital markets.

The firm, led by Katie Haun, said the funds will target three areas. These include crypto financial infrastructure, tokenization and AI agents. Haun described these sectors as part of a new economy that is forming around digital assets and automated software.

Katie Haun links crypto with AI agents

Haun said the market is changing across capital, commerce and trust. She wrote, “I’ve been following the flow of assets my entire career, and this is the most dynamic period in technology and finance I’ve ever witnessed.”

She also said AI agents will start taking part in economic activity for users. In her view, future services will need to support a world where computers become customers. That focus marks a shift for Haun Ventures, which has mostly backed crypto companies since launch.

Haun Ventures said financial services such as money, payments, banking, capital markets, insurance, identity and reputation are changing quickly. The firm also pointed to stablecoin volume, digital assets and tokenized markets as areas where new companies can build infrastructure.

Tokenization remains central to the firm’s plan. Haun said assets such as currencies, securities, gold and oil can become borderless, always available and programmable when moved onto digital rails. This aligns with rising interest from banks, asset managers and crypto firms in real-world asset markets.

Rising AI payments activity

Recent crypto.news reports show more firms building tools for AI agent payments. OKX launched an Agent Payments Protocol that lets AI systems handle quoting, escrow, settlement, usage tracking and dispute handling in one framework.

Coinbase-backed x402 also launched Agentic.market in April. The platform helps AI agents find, access and pay for online services. crypto.news reported that the x402 ecosystem has support from firms including Google, Microsoft, AWS, Visa and Stripe.

MoonPay has also moved into AI payments. The company introduced MoonAgents Card, a virtual Mastercard product that lets AI agents and users spend stablecoins from on-chain wallets. The card supports real-time crypto-to-fiat conversion at checkout.

These developments show why Haun Ventures is adding AI agents to its crypto thesis. The firm is not moving away from blockchain. Instead, it is backing systems where crypto payments, identity, fraud checks and tokenized assets can support autonomous software. A16Z has made a similar case, saying AI agents may need blockchain rails for micropayments, identity and smart contract execution.

Ondo price surged sharply on May 4, as strong fundamentals and rising demand for real-world asset exposure pushed the altcoin higher.

According to data from crypto.news, Ondo (ONDO) price jumped nearly 13% over the past day, climbing from an intraday low near $0.27 to test resistance around the $0.30 level at press time. The move was accompanied by a sharp increase in activity, with trading volume rising more than 75% in the last 24 hours.

Multiple catalysts appear to be driving ONDO’s rally today.

First, the token is benefiting from strong fundamental growth. Ondo reported solid Q1 2026 performance, with revenue reaching $13.26 million, while total value locked climbed to $3.53 billion. The steady expansion in both revenue and TVL points to increasing adoption of its tokenized finance products.

Second, institutional integration has added credibility to the project. Major financial and payments firms such as Fidelity Investments, PayPal, Mastercard, and JPMorgan have integrated Ondo’s offerings over the past quarter. This growing institutional footprint has strengthened its position as a key player in the tokenized real-world assets sector.

Third, investors are positioning ahead of a potential fee-switch mechanism expected in the second half of 2026. The proposal could allow token holders to earn a share of protocol revenue, a move that may materially change ONDO’s value accrual model and attract longer-term capital.

Fourth, Ondo’s expansion plans are adding to the bullish momentum. The project is preparing to extend its ecosystem to the Solana network, with plans to bring more than 200 tokenized stocks and ETFs to a broader retail user base. This could significantly increase accessibility and trading activity across its platform.

Finally, Ondo continues to dominate the tokenized equity niche. The protocol is estimated to control roughly 60% to 70% of the market share in this segment, reinforcing its position as one of the leading platforms in the rapidly growing RWA space.

Prediction markets are moving closer to institutional finance as large investors seek direct ways to trade event risk, according to a May 4 Bernstein report. 

The firm said these markets can help investors track outcomes tied to tariffs, elections, policy decisions and geopolitics through clear yes-or-no contracts. 

Bernstein pointed to Kalshi’s first bespoke institutional block trade as a key step. A block trade is a large private deal arranged between market players. In this case, the contract was built around the clearing price of California’s May carbon allowance auction. 

Kalshi trade draws institutional attention

The Kalshi deal was brokered by Greenlight Commodities. It involved a Houston-based environmental hedge fund, with Jump Trading acting as the liquidity provider. The structure showed how prediction markets can serve a specific hedging need, rather than only broad retail speculation. 

“We believe the introduction of block trading and bespoke contracts could expand participation from institutional investors seeking targeted exposure to event risks,” Bernstein analysts wrote.

The report framed custom contracts as a possible entry point for investors that need defined outcomes and larger trade sizes. 

Clear Street’s partnership with Kalshi also added a regulated access route for larger investors. The deal covers clearing, settlement, block trading, swap services and trading tools for institutional clients. Clear Street said it became the first institutional Futures Commission Merchant to join Kalshi’s exchange and clearing house. 

Retail still leads market volume

Despite rising institutional interest, prediction markets remain largely retail-driven. A Bitget Wallet and Polymarket report found that Polymarket recorded $25.7 billion in March trading volume. It also found that most users were smaller traders, with 82.8% trading under $10,000. 

Bernstein said wider institutional use could push prediction markets toward a much larger industry by the end of the decade. However, the sector still faces questions about regulation, risk controls and whether event contracts should sit closer to financial markets or betting markets. 

U.S. regulation remains uneven

Kalshi operates under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while Polymarket received conditional approval in late 2025 to offer event contracts in the U.S. through regulated channels, according to the Bernstein report. 

Regulators and lawmakers continue to review the market. Reuters reported on May 4 that the SEC delayed more than two dozen proposed prediction-market ETFs while asking issuers for more information on mechanics and investor disclosures. 

The U.S. Senate also voted on April 30 to ban senators, staff and officers from using prediction markets. Lawmakers cited concerns over public officials trading on real-world events while holding access to sensitive information.