TLDR:

• KelpDAO lost 116,500 rsETH in an April 18 exploit tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group via LayerZero.
• LayerZero’s 1-of-1 DVN setup was used by 47% of OApp contracts, contradicting claims it was unique to Kelp.
• KelpDAO intervened to block $100M in additional forged transactions before pausing its bridge contracts.
• KelpDAO is now migrating to Chainlink CCIP, which has processed over $30 trillion in value over 7 years.

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KelpDAO is migrating to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol following a major exploit on April 18, 2026.

The attack, linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, targeted LayerZero’s infrastructure and drained 116,500 rsETH from KelpDAO’s bridge.

The total losses across DeFi protocols exceeded $300 million. KelpDAO has since disputed LayerZero’s framing of the incident, calling the infrastructure failure a systemic issue within LayerZero’s own operations.

The Attack and Its Impact on DeFi

The April 18 exploit originated within LayerZero Labs’ off-chain infrastructure. Attackers compromised two RPC nodes used by LayerZero’s DVN and launched a DDoS attack on the remaining nodes.

This forced DVN signers to validate a non-existent transaction, producing fake token burns and flooding markets with unbacked rsETH.

Aave and other DeFi platforms were among the protocols affected by the unbacked rsETH. Two additional forged transactions worth over $100 million were also signed by the LayerZero Labs DVN.

KelpDAO’s team intervened in time to pause contracts and block those transactions before further damage occurred.

KelpDAO also flagged the exploit to LayerZero directly, as the latter’s monitoring systems had not detected it. According to KelpDAO, LayerZero’s team appeared unaware of any issue when first contacted. This raised concerns about the reliability of LayerZero’s internal alerting processes.

The Dispute Over the 1-of-1 DVN Configuration

LayerZero attributed the exploit to KelpDAO’s use of a 1-of-1 DVN configuration, calling it a risky manual setup. KelpDAO pushed back firmly on this claim.

According to Dune Analytics data, 47% of roughly 2,665 LayerZero OApp contracts used the same 1-1 DVN setup at the time.

KelpDAO also shared Telegram exchanges showing LayerZero team members explicitly approving the 1-1 configuration during pre-deployment reviews. Over 2.5 years of integration discussions, LayerZero reportedly raised no objections to the setup.

KelpDAO followed LayerZero’s own documentation and quickstart guides, which defaulted to the 1-1 LayerZero Labs DVN configuration.

A post from @CatfishFishy on April 24 drew attention to a December 2024 statement from LayerZero’s Bryan, who claimed no applications were using the LayerZero DVN as a 1-1 setup.

At that point, rsETH already held roughly $200 million in TVL across L2 deployments under that exact configuration. Independent security researchers, including @banteg, also confirmed through public reports that the exploit originated from LayerZero’s own infrastructure, not from KelpDAO’s settings.

KelpDAO’s Migration to Chainlink CCIP

Following the exploit, KelpDAO announced a full transition away from LayerZero. The protocol is now moving to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol and adopting Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Token standard for rsETH. The migration is currently being finalized by KelpDAO’s engineering team.

Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network has processed over $30 trillion in value across more than seven years of operation.

The network also remained functional during several major global outages, making it a more established option for cross-chain security.

KelpDAO stated that all rsETH cross-chain transfers will soon run through Chainlink CCIP across all supported chains.

After the exploit, LayerZero announced it would stop attesting messages for any app using a 1-1 DVN setup. KelpDAO noted that this policy change came only after the configuration had already caused hundreds of millions in losses.

The 1-1 configuration, however, reportedly still appears in LayerZero’s own documentation and default OFT deployment templates.

RootData’s new map shows 30 core Web3 partners plugging custody, trading, wallets, and infra into Hyperliquid’s L1 as it pushes toward an on-chain liquidity OS.

RootData’s latest ecosystem map shows Hyperliquid positioning itself as a performant L1 “optimized from the ground up” to run a full on-chain financial system, with user‑built applications plugging into native components like its orderbook perpetuals DEX.

How Hyperliquid’s partner network is structured

At the funding and settlement layer, Hyperliquid has integrated with major stablecoin issuers—Circle (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Ethena’s synthetic dollar stack—to ensure that its derivatives and DeFi rails are natively dollarized.

Under the hood, it connects to cross-chain and oracle infrastructure such as Chainlink, Axelar, deBridge, and Ripple‑related rails, giving external capital and data feeds standardized ways to reach Hyperliquid while keeping latency low enough to maintain its sub‑second block times.

On the user entry side, RootData highlights wallets and interfaces including Phantom, Rabby Wallet, and DeBank as key partners, lowering friction for both retail and power users to interact with Hyperliquid’s L1 and its DeFi protocols.

DeFi protocols and institutions around Hyperliquid liquidity

RootData notes that more native DeFi protocols have begun to cluster directly on Hyperliquid, including Pendle-style yield products, Felix, HypurrFi, and HyperBeat, which collectively extend the chain’s use cases from perpetuals into structured yield, credit, and other on-chain instruments.

Across its ecosystem map, RootData counts 145 “quality projects” integrated with or built on Hyperliquid, from cross‑chain bridges and oracles to trading tools and prime brokers such as HyperLink and Hybra Finance, indicating that builders increasingly treat Hyperliquid as a base liquidity layer rather than a single‑app venue.

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On the institutional side, custodians like Anchorage Digital, BitGo, and Fireblocks appear among the 30 highlighted partners, a sign that Hyperliquid connectivity is being wired into the same infrastructure large funds use to hold and move assets across chains.

Trading platforms, quant shops, and market‑making firms—including Bybit, trade.xyz, and IMC Trading—are listed as ecosystem participants, helping deepen order books and making it easier to route size into and out of Hyperliquid markets.

More detail on the partner breakdown and categories is available in RootData’s Chinese-language archive entry: Hyperliquid Crypto Business Partner.

Toward an on-chain CEX-style operating system

Taken together, RootData argues that Hyperliquid is “continuously expanding around on-chain liquidity,” effectively trying to replicate the ecosystem model of a centralized exchange—market structure, funding currencies, custody, front-ends, and institutional access—but with the core no longer being an internal account ledger.

Instead, every order, cancel, trade, and liquidation is executed on-chain at Hyperliquid’s base L1, with external partners plugging into that shared state rather than into siloed CEX databases, aligning custody providers, wallets, and DeFi protocols around the same liquidity backbone.

RootData places this Hyperliquid map alongside earlier ecosystem illustrations for players like Mastercard and Crypto.com, arguing that public visualization of partner networks has become a key way for crypto projects to improve transparency and market trust.

The platform explicitly “welcomes Web3 projects to claim their information” and continues to open more disclosure channels for business relationships, using ecosystem maps to nominate Web3 partners for upstream clients such as Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase—and now, increasingly, on-chain liquidity hubs like Hyperliquid.

BlackRock, JPMorgan, Stripe, and PayPal all launched crypto products. The game changed. And the opportunity window you thought was still open? It already closed.

The Moment Everything Changed

In 2025, something unprecedented happened. It wasn’t Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high. It wasn’t another bull run or a promising new altcoin.

It was JPMorgan Chase offering crypto products to clients. It was BlackRock managing hundreds of billions in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. It was Stripe and PayPal integrating crypto payments. It was Mastercard, Visa, and traditional finance institutions treating blockchain like critical infrastructure.

The crypto era didn’t begin. It ended.

Not in the way the pessimists meant—crypto isn’t failing. It’s the opposite. Crypto has become so integrated into traditional finance that it’s no longer revolutionary. It’s just… finance.

And everyone who’s still talking about ‘getting in early’ missed the moment they should have been watching.

The Numbers That Tell The Story

The data is overwhelming:

$175 billion sits in Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETF products alone. These aren’t speculative crypto exchanges. These are traditional financial institutions managing institutional capital in crypto assets.

$46 trillion in annual transactions flow through stablecoins. That’s not retail trading. That’s institutional settlement. That’s the financial system actually using blockchain.

3,400+ transactions per second on major blockchains—100x growth in the last five years. This isn’t a niche technology anymore. This is infrastructure.

The institutions that spent years dismissing crypto as a bubble are now racing to offer it to their clients. BlackRock doesn’t launch products in categories that are about to crash. Fidelity doesn’t build infrastructure for failing technology.

What Mainstream Adoption Actually Means

Here’s what most people miss: when crypto goes mainstream, the game fundamentally changes.

Early adoption was about finding the next Bitcoin. About believing in something different. About risk and conviction and willingness to look stupid for a few years until you were right.

Mainstream adoption is about safety. Regulatory clarity. Integration with existing financial systems. Lower returns because the risk premium evaporated.

When JPMorgan offers crypto to their wealth management clients, those clients aren’t getting rich. They’re getting portfolio diversification. The explosive 10x, 100x returns that defined early crypto? Those are gone.

You can’t make life-changing money when the thing you’re buying is offering the same returns as traditional assets. And that’s what’s happening now.

The early crypto adopter who bought Bitcoin at $100 and held to $100,000 made life-changing money. The person buying Bitcoin at $70,000 through a BlackRock ETF is just… diversifying their portfolio. Same outcome. Completely different risk/reward ratio.

The Institutions Won

This is the moment that matters: traditional finance didn’t lose to crypto. Crypto lost to traditional finance.

Bitcoin didn’t replace the dollar. Ethereum didn’t disrupt banking. Blockchain didn’t eliminate middlemen—it became a tool that middlemen use.

Instead of crypto being a revolution against the system, crypto became part of the system. The revolutionaries got hired by the incumbents. The radical technology became enterprise infrastructure.

And now JPMorgan’s clients can buy Bitcoin through the same brokerage interface they use to buy Apple stock. With the same regulatory protection. The same insurance. The same boring, predictable, institutional-grade safety.

It’s elegant, actually. The institutions couldn’t kill crypto, so they integrated it. They took the technology, stripped away the revolutionary messaging, and turned it into a commodity they could offer their clients.

What This Means For Getting In Early

If you’re still hearing people talk about ‘getting in early’ to crypto, they’re playing a different game than they think.

Because here’s what ‘early’ meant:

• 2011-2012: Bitcoin was $5. You were insane to buy it. Now you’re a genius.
• 2013-2014: Ethereum didn’t exist. You were a cultist to invest in a technology that didn’t work yet. Now it’s a $3 trillion asset class.
• 2017-2018: ICOs were obviously scams. You were stupid to participate. Some people became billionaires.
• 2021-2022: Everyone thought crypto was dead. You were an idiot to buy the dip. The market recovered.

But 2025? When JPMorgan is offering crypto and regulatory clarity exists and stablecoins settle $46 trillion annually?

That’s not ‘early.’ That’s normal. That’s the market that exists.

‘Getting in early’ now means finding the next emerging blockchain category that institutional finance hasn’t integrated yet. Decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN). Real-world assets (RWAs) tokenized on-chain. Decentralized AI.

But even then—once those categories get Big Money attention, the explosive returns evaporate. Because the risk premium collapses the moment you have regulatory clarity and institutional capital.

The Category That Won

If crypto went mainstream, something else happened simultaneously: traditional finance learned how to extract value from it.

The institutions that offer crypto products aren’t trying to disrupt themselves. They’re capturing the upside of blockchain technology while eliminating the downside (volatility, regulatory risk, operational complexity).

A traditional investor can now get Bitcoin exposure through a Fidelity ETF. Zero volatility shock. Zero learning curve. Zero community idealism. Just… returns.

That’s efficient. That’s stable. That’s boring.

And boring is what kills revolutionary returns.

What Comes Next

This is the inflection point where crypto transformed from a revolutionary technology into enterprise infrastructure.

The people who made generational wealth from crypto did it before 2023. The ones who got rich between 2023-2025 were either early enough on specific emerging sectors or lucky enough to time volatility perfectly.

But if you’re reading this in 2025, thinking ‘I should get into crypto,’ you’re already late. Not because crypto isn’t valuable. It is. But because the explosive upside that defined the first era of crypto is mathematically impossible now that institutional capital has integrated.

You can still make returns. But you’ll make them like traditional assets—steady, correlated to broader markets, with the risk premium already priced in.

The question isn’t whether to get into crypto. You probably should, via a Fidelity ETF, as a portfolio hedge.

The question is: what’s the next frontier? What technology is currently dismissed as a scam/dead-end/too risky but will be integrated into institutional finance in 5 years?

That’s where the early adoption opportunity actually lives now.

But it won’t be crypto. That era already happened.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here’s what the crypto community doesn’t want to admit: crypto won by losing.

We wanted to disrupt the financial system. Instead, the financial system adopted our technology and turned it into a tool that reinforces their control.

Bitcoin was supposed to be ‘digital gold’ that couldn’t be censored or controlled. Now it’s a holding in institutional portfolios, priced in USD, traded through traditional brokers, regulated by the SEC.

Ethereum was supposed to be a decentralized world computer. Now it’s a blockchain infrastructure platform that processes institution-grade transactions.

The technology won. The revolution failed.

And everyone who’s still waiting for crypto to go to the moon is waiting for something that already happened. The moon landing occurred in 2024-2025. Now we’re just building infrastructure.

The Real Opportunity

If you missed early crypto, you didn’t miss the opportunity. You missed an opportunity.

The fact that JPMorgan now offers crypto products means the barrier to entry collapsed. You can get Bitcoin or Ethereum exposure today through any major brokerage. That’s incredible.

But you need to accept that the returns from here will look like traditional assets, not speculative bets. Because the risk is priced in. The regulatory uncertainty is gone. The volatility is dampened.

What you should actually be looking for: what’s the technology that’s currently where crypto was in 2015? What’s the thing that’s obviously stupid but might be revolutionary?

DeFi protocols? Too obvious now. NFTs? Already tried that. Privacy coins? Increasingly regulated.

DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure)? Possibly. AI agents on-chain? Maybe. Decentralized prediction markets? Gaining traction.

But even then—the moment you identify the next frontier, you have maybe 2-3 years before institutions catch on. Then the explosive returns compress.

That’s the crypto cycle. Not Bitcoin going to $1M. The cycle of each new frontier being discovered, adopted by believers, integrated by institutions, and priced into normalized returns.

What This Means For You

If you’re reading this and feeling late: you are. But not to crypto. You’re late to the revolution. Crypto as a technology that would disrupt finance didn’t happen.

But you’re not late to making returns. Bitcoin and Ethereum will probably outperform traditional assets over the next decade. Not because they’re going to take over the world. Because they’re mature technology with real utility that’s now integrated into institutional portfolios.

That’s boring. That’s also realistic.

The people telling you that crypto is still a bet on revolution are selling you something. The people telling you it’s already over and you missed it are also selling you something.

The truth: crypto went mainstream. The revolution failed. The technology won anyway.

Your job now is to separate the narrative from the actual opportunity. And accept that the era of 100x returns from pure conviction is gone.

The next 100x will come from something else entirely. Something that’s currently impossible. Something that doesn’t exist yet.

That’s actually the bigger opportunity. But it’s not crypto anymore.

What technology looks like crypto did in 2015? Drop your predictions below—but make them grounded in fundamentals, not hype.

Rapper Iggy Azalea is facing a class-action lawsuit in the US, accusing her of misleading investors about the real-world utility and future development of her Solana-based memecoin Mother Iggy (MOTHER).

The complaint filed by plaintiff Kenneth Kolbrak in a Manhattan federal court on Monday claimed Azalea, whose real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, made representations about the token having real-world utility, commercial integrations and continuing development that never materialized.

“Those representations were limited, incomplete, contradicted, temporary, or not delivered in a durable way,” the complaint said. “The terms and effects of the market support arrangements were never disclosed to consumers.”

Azalea’s MOTHER was one of the buzzier tokens launched amid a frenzy of celebrity-tied memecoins in 2024. The token was launched in May 2024 and reached a peak market value of over $136 million by mid-June. Its market capitalization is now sitting at $1.3 million, according to CoinGecko.

Unlike other celebrities who launched memecoins, Azalea has remained involved with the token, interacting with supporters on social media and promoting it on X.

Kolbrak, the lead plaintiff, claimed he lost “several hundred dollars” investing in MOTHER, which the lawsuit said he would not have done, or would have paid less for, if not for Azalea’s promotions.

According to the complaint, Azalea promoted the token as “the native currency of an expanding ecosystem of real businesses controlled or co-founded by Azalea, including a telecommunications company, an online casino, a luxury gifting marketplace, a merchandise store, and entertainment integrations.”

Source: Burwick Law

The lawsuit claimed that Azalea promoted the online casino MOTHERLAND, which was marketed as being “powered by $MOTHER,” but when it launched in January 2025, the platform used Tether (USDt) for its “wagering, bonus accounting, and settlement.” 

The complaint also claimed that Azalea said MOTHER could be used to buy phones and mobile plans through the provider Unreal Mobile, however, “no durable, publicly observable MOTHER payment integration exists on the Unreal Mobile platform” as of the filing of the lawsuit.

It further accuses Azalea of not telling tokenholders about the terms or risks involved when crypto market makers Wintermute and DWF Labs were brought on to manage MOTHER’s trading. 

Related: World Liberty sues Justin Sun for defamation in WLFI dispute

The lawsuit seeks damages for MOTHER buyers who lost money, along with attorney fees and costs.

The class is represented by Max Burwick of Burwick Law, who has helped launch multiple class-action lawsuits against crypto projects.

Information on Azalea’s lawyers was not available at the time of writing. Azalea and her management could not be reached for comment.

Magazine: Meet lawyer Max Burwick — ‘The ambulance chaser of crypto’

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

The line separating crypto derivatives from traditional finance has all but dissolved, and the two markets are now so intertwined that perpetuals, once a purely crypto instrument, could soon be as much a stock trading product as a crypto one.

That’s the core takeaway from the panel “Digital Asset Derivatives: Building Ecosystems and Establishing Opportunities” at Consensus 2026 in Miami this week. Krista Lynch, senior vice president of ETF Capital Markets at Grayscale; Mike Harvey, head of Franchise trading at Galaxy and Griffin Sears, head of derivatives at FalconX – three executives from different market lanes – all converged on that same point, with the case grounded in working infrastructure rather than hype or vision.

Harvey made a bold expression of where that convergence leads. “There has been a lot of talk about tokenized equities, and within the next two or three years, the volume of offshore traded equity perps will be greater than crypto perps,” Harvey said.

Perps, a short for perpetual futures, are a type of derivative widely used in crypto markets, especially on offshore unregulated exchanges. They are similar to traditional futures, but with one key difference: they don’t have an expiration date. As the name suggests, you can hold the perpetual contract forever.

By early 2026, derivatives made up more than 70% of global crypto trading, led by perpetual futures. Monthly volumes regularly reach into trillions of dollars. While perpetuals linked to traditional assets like oil, equity indices, and single stocks have seen a pickup in interest on platforms like Hyperliquid and Binance, particularly during periods of geopolitical volatility, their share of total activity remains limited.

Harvey expects this segment to become dominant in the coming years. His point is that the necessary infrastructure to bring equities to blockchain rails is already in place, and it doesn’t care what asset sits on or trades on top of it. Daily operations at Galaxy underscore that reality.

“As dealers, we’re the glue that holds those markets together. We have to have the ability to move natively between an offshore exchange, an onshore exchange, futures, ETFs,” he said.

In other words, the boundaries between different markets and venues have been operationally dissolved, and what remains is for volume to follow.

The regulatory groundwork facilitating convergence is more advanced than most market participants realize, Regular clarity has been the single biggest driver, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission’s generic listing standards, which she said drew formal attention to the link between derivatives and spot ETF eligibility, Lynch said.

“Having a derivative on an underlying crypto token is kind of indicative that it should also be available in the spot format,” she added. The standards establish three paths for a protocol to become ETF-eligible in spot form, two of which run directly through derivatives. One requires a futures market that has been in existence and under a regulator’s surveillance for a defined period. The other, which Lynch acknowledged, is a “little bit hairier,” allows spot eligibility if an ETF already delivers meaningful exposure to an underlying asset through swaps or similar instruments.

“There’s a lot of continuity between those two worlds,” she said.

FalconX’s Sears pointed in the same direction throughout the panel. Crypto venues, including decentralized exchanges, are already offering contracts tied to precious metals and commodities as an extension of their perpetual offerings, he noted. But the more structural opportunity, Sears said, lies in cross-margining, where a trader can use different asset classes as collateral against each other within the same account. Talk about unlocking capital efficiency by bringing TradFi assets on blockchain rails!

“What’s really powerful for all of the participants in the space is going to be the cross-margining potential that RWA [real-world asset tokenization] can unlock,” Sears said. “And I think that benefits the industry as a whole.”

Sears expects a traditional finance asset to rank among the top five by volume on a crypto exchange. His closing call went a step further. “Not only will the trading volume grow, but I think we’re also going to see direct IPOs, direct listings of equities on chain instead of traditional venues,” Sears said. “And that’s going to be an extremely exciting moment to see billion-dollar IPOs happen completely onchain.”

The panelists also pushed back on the conventional framing of this convergence. The common assumption is that traditional finance is taking over crypto and blockchain, that is, banks, asset managers, and exchanges are adopting digital assets on their own terms.

“It’s crypto actually bringing the TradFi rails on chain and forcing all these traditional exchanges to innovate up to the level of where crypto derivatives are,” he said.

The 24/7 trading and settlement model that crypto markets pioneered is now something every major traditional exchange has publicly aspired to replicate, a sign that the innovation is flowing in one direction.

The IBIT options market offers perhaps the sharpest illustration of that speed. In under two years, options on BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF became a top-five ETF globally by options volume, Sears noted.

European currencies are showing restrained movement, remaining in a range-bound phase following last week’s heightened volatility. Meetings of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, along with comments from policymakers, triggered sharp swings: EUR/USD and GBP/USD initially declined, followed by a rapid rise that pushed them beyond previous ranges. However, this move proved to be a false breakout, and the return of prices into prior corridors points to the formation of market equilibrium after the failed attempt to break higher.

The current fundamental backdrop remains neutral following a reassessment of expectations regarding future Federal Reserve policy. Geopolitical factors have temporarily faded from focus, while market participants have adopted a wait-and-see approach, assessing prospects in the absence of clear catalysts.

EUR/USD

EUR/USD continues to trade within the 1.1660–1.1750 range, holding between key support and resistance levels. The return into the previously broken corridor reinforces the importance of these boundaries, where a zone of balance and liquidity accumulation is forming. The base scenario remains continued sideways movement until a new fundamental driver emerges.

A sustained break above 1.1750 could open the way for a test of the important 1.1800 level. Conversely, a move below 1.1660 in the coming sessions may lead to a deeper downward correction.

Key events for EUR/USD:

• today at 10:15 (GMT+3): Spain services PMI
• today at 10:30 (GMT+3): speech by Bundesbank Vice President Buch
• today at 10:55 (GMT+3): Germany services PMI

GBP/USD

GBP/USD is forming a similar range structure, remaining within the 1.3500–1.3600 corridor after an unsuccessful attempt to break higher. The current price action reflects a balance between buyers and sellers amid the absence of a clear fundamental direction.

If buyers manage to secure a position above the upper boundary, the pair could revisit the recent high near 1.3660. A break below support at 1.3500 may trigger a decline towards 1.3460.

Key events for GBP/USD:

• today at 11:30 (GMT+3): UK services PMI
• today at 15:15 (GMT+3): US ADP non-farm employment change
• today at 20:00 (GMT+3): speech by Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee

Overall, the market is in a consolidation phase following a false breakout, forming a period of accumulation ahead of the next impulsive move. Upcoming macroeconomic data could act as a catalyst for a breakout from the range: depending on the outcome, this may lead either to renewed upward momentum or to a resumption of pressure on European currencies.

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The crypto market was volatile late on Tuesday after Strategy (MSTR) chairman Michael Saylor declared that his company could sell bitcoin BTC$82,164.36 in order to pay dividends from the STRC instrument, prompting short-lived panic in price action.

BTC however regained the $82,000 mark during the European morning Wednesday having risen by around 1.3% since midnight UTC, spurred mainly by a weakening U.S. dollar, which is down by 0.5% over the same period.

Dollar weakness comes after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said America had “achieved its military objectives” and was “not interested in further escalation, leading to a drop in oil prices as well.

Risk assets like the crypto market were poised to react well to the news as it means the Fed could start a rate cutting cycle, as opposed to any hikes being floated at the start of the war to combat inflation.

Ether (ETH) trades at $2,380 having risen by around 0.8%, although it crucially remains below the April 17 high of $2,460 after underperforming against bitcoin.

Derivatives positioning

• Positioning in bitcoin futures remains elevated, with open interest hovering near a record high of 800K BTC. Still, perpetual funding rates remain flat to slightly positive, suggesting the market is anything but overheated or overcrowded. That’s a healthy sign of the market being led higher by steady demand, rather than speculative fervor.
• The same can be said for the ether market, where open interest has jumped to 14.5 million ETH, the highest since March 28.
• The standout among the top five is SOL, where open interest rose 6% over the past 24 hours to 61.79 million tokens. However, zooming out, that level still marks only a three-week high.
• Speaking of the broader market, TON is registering sharp capital inflows, as evidenced by a 6% surge in open interest to 213 million tokens. Open interest has hit a new peak for the third consecutive day. But once again, funding rates remain low and barely positive, pointing to continued hedging by spot buyers.
• The broader picture has flipped from bearish to bullish over the past 24 hours. As of writing, the OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) for most coins, except HBAR and CC, is positive. This indicates that buyers are driving trading activity by placing more market orders than sellers, rather than relying on passive limit orders. This marks a sharp contrast to the previous day, when most coins had negative CVD.
• Bitcoin and ether volatility compression continues, with the ETH index, EVIV, falling to 55% earlier today, a level last seen on Jan. 31. The persistent decline supports bullish spot price action.
• On Deribit, bitcoin call options, or bullish bets, at strikes ranging from $82,000 to $115,000 were among the most traded contracts over the past 24 hours. Risk reversals, however, still show a slight overall put bias across time frames.

Token talk

• The altcoin market showed signs of strength on Wednesday with a slew of assets posting double-digit gains. Among those were popular privacy coins zcsah (ZEC) and dash (DASH), which are up by 14% and 16% respectively since midnight UTC.
• Without a clear news catalyst, it appears investor confidence is driving the rally after a period of consolidation between early February and the start of May, which led to persistent oversold conditions.
• The altcoin-dominant CoinDesk 80 (CD80) Index was the top performing benchmark on Wednesday, rising by 3.5% while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) lagged it at around 1.5%.
• The early week rally in memecoins is now beginning to cool with capital rotating to other sectors, notably components of the CoinDesk Computing Select Index (CPUS) which include chainlink LINK$9.8848 and bittensor (TAO), which are up by 3.1% and 2% respectively.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said the nation’s Caribbean coast has the potential to become a Bitcoin mining hub, leveraging its surplus renewable energy to attract foreign investment and spur economic development.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Petro said the Caribbean cities of Barranquilla, Santa Marta and Riohacha could host Bitcoin (BTC) mining facilities and tap the country’s clean energy sources, following a path similar to Venezuela and Paraguay in recent years.

“It’s an immense boost to the development of the Caribbean,” Petro said, proposing that the Wayúu community — Colombia’s largest Indigenous community, which mainly resides on the Caribbean coast — could be co-owners of the project.

Bitcoin mining analysts such as Hashlabs managing partner Jaran Mellerud have said the industry can have a sizable economic impact on emerging countries looking to convert otherwise unused electricity into cash flow.

There’s also an opening for countries with low electricity costs to capture a larger share of the Bitcoin network hashrate as US commercial miners continue expanding into AI and high-performance computing in pursuit of higher-margin opportunities. 

Petro’s remarks were made in response to a post from Luxor Technology’s Alessandro Cecere, who noted that Paraguay’s share of global Bitcoin hashrate has risen to 4.3% since tapping into hydroelectric energy at its Itaipu dam.

The small, landlocked South American country is now the fourth-largest Bitcoin mining country by hashrate, behind the US, Russia and China.

Global Bitcoin hashrate map. Source: Hashrate Index

A World Bank report published in April 2024 found that Colombia generates as much as 75% of its electricity from renewable energy — more than twice the global average. 

Tapping these renewable sources would mitigate concerns flagged by Petro that Bitcoin mined with fossil fuels contributes to global warming and potential “climate collapse.”

Petro’s presidential term ends in August 

Petro has served as Colombia’s president since August 2022 and has adopted a relatively neutral stance on Bitcoin and the crypto industry.

Related: K Wave Media abandons Bitcoin treasury push for AI infrastructure 

Petro only has another three months to lead the Bitcoin mining initiative as his presidential term comes to an end in August.

He is not running in Colombia’s forthcoming presidential election on May 31 due to constitutional limits.

Data from prediction market Kalshi suggests that left-leaning Senator Iván Cepeda Castro and Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative lawyer and free-market advocate, are the clear front-runners to replace Petro.

Neither candidate has made significant public comments on Bitcoin or digital assets to date. 

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Those looking to trade bitcoin’s price rise might want to pay attention to a simple but useful roadmap. It consists of three months of price data from Velo, which shows the recovery from the early February lows under $63,000 to over $80,000 has not been evenly distributed across the day.

Specific sessions, hours, and days have consistently outperformed and knowing those windows could sharpen traders’ approach to the market.

Data source Velo breaks the trading day into three eight-hour sessions: APAC from 00:00 to 08:00 UTC, covering Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, and Sydney; Europe from 08:00 to 16:00 UTC, covering London and Frankfurt; and the U.S. from 16:00 to 00:00 UTC, covering New York.

The session picture: APAC and the U.S. are leading the rally

APAC and U.S. hours have done the heavy lifting throughout the roughly 31% price rise since Feb. 6. APAC has produced a return of 13%, with the U.S. at 11.5% and Europe lagging significantly at just 6.5%.

The U.S. session’s contribution is particularly notable because it was not always the leader. For most of February and March, returns during U.S. hours were mostly flat to negative, while APAC led the recovery. But that suddenly changed in early April, with the U.S. session flipping decisively positive.

Overall, the data shows that liquidity and momentum are strongest in APAC and the U.S. While this does not guarantee the continuation of trends, it does highlight when price discovery has been most active in the ongoing phase of the cycle, which some traders may find useful for market timing and risk management.

Best and worst hours

The next obvious question is which hours are optimal for trading during these best-performing sessions.

The answer to that is the midnight UTC candle, which represents the price action between 00:00 and 01:00. This has been the best hour, producing an average return of 0.10% over three months.

That’s a particularly interesting time window because it sits right at the intersection of two sessions: the late U.S. trading hours and early APAC, when fresh liquidity enters the market.

The second strongest hour is 15:00 UTC, deep in the European session, and the worst single hour is 06:00 UTC.

The best day to place a bullish bet: Monday

On a day-of-week basis, the data is unambiguous. Monday has been the strongest day of the week by a wide margin over the past three months, averaging a return of approximately 1.5%. Wednesday is a distant second at around 0.65%, and Friday is mildly positive at around 0.3%.

Thursday is the worst single day, averaging around negative 0.55%. Across the full three months, weekdays overall average approximately positive 0.4% while weekends average negative 0.25%.

To conclude, for bulls looking to time market entries, Monday has been the clearest edge in the data.

Key Takeaways

• Intel shares rocketed 13% to close at $108.19, peaking at $110.48 intraday, with trading volume hitting 191 million shares — 65% higher than typical levels.
• Apple reportedly engaged in preliminary discussions with Intel regarding potential U.S.-based manufacturing of core device processors.
• The chipmaker received antitrust approval for its SambaNova acquisition and delivered first-quarter earnings of $0.29 per share, crushing the $0.01 Wall Street forecast.
• A senior Intel executive offloaded approximately 40,000 shares valued at roughly $4 million in early May.
• Wall Street consensus stands at “Hold” with a mean price objective of $74.47 — significantly under current trading levels.

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Shares of Intel experienced a dramatic 13% surge Tuesday, settling at $108.19 after reaching an intraday peak of $110.48. Trading activity exploded to 191 million shares — representing a 65% increase over normal daily volume.

Intel Corporation, INTC

This rally propelled Intel’s market capitalization to an unprecedented $544 billion. The semiconductor giant now ranks as the 17th largest U.S. company by market cap, surpassing both Oracle and Johnson & Johnson — a remarkable climb from 56th position at 2025’s conclusion.

Since early 2026, the stock has tripled in value. This year’s performance is approximately eight times stronger than the top-performing Magnificent Seven stock, Alphabet, which has climbed 24% year-to-date.

Potential Apple Partnership Sparks Investor Enthusiasm

The primary driver behind Tuesday’s explosive move was news that Apple conducted preliminary discussions with Intel — alongside Samsung — regarding domestic production of its flagship device processors. Such a partnership would represent a transformative opportunity for Intel’s foundry operations, the centerpiece of CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s strategic revival plan.

Intel also secured antitrust clearance for its planned SambaNova acquisition. This regulatory green light eliminates a significant uncertainty and reinforces Intel’s ambitions in the enterprise AI acceleration space.

On the talent acquisition front, the company recruited Qualcomm veteran Alex Katouzian to oversee its PC division and emerging “physical AI” initiatives. This strategic hire signals Intel’s commitment to AI-powered edge computing and consumer applications — sectors poised for substantial growth in coming years.

Broader market dynamics provided additional support. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached fresh record highs Tuesday, powered by strength across AI semiconductor stocks and diminishing geopolitical tensions. Intel benefited from this sector-wide momentum.

Strong Q1 Performance Provides Foundation

Intel’s first-quarter financial results, unveiled April 23rd, supplied fundamental support for the rally. The company reported earnings per share of $0.29, dramatically exceeding the $0.01 analyst consensus. Revenue totaled $13.58 billion, topping the $12.32 billion estimate — representing a 7.4% year-over-year improvement.

Foundry gross margin expansion is also gaining traction, a crucial development. This division has historically weighed on Intel’s overall profitability, making any operational improvements particularly significant for bullish investors.

For the second quarter, Intel projects EPS of $0.20. Wall Street anticipates full-year earnings per share of $0.63.

Skepticism remains, however. A senior Intel executive divested 40,256 shares on May 1st at an average price of $99.53 — totaling slightly over $4 million and representing a 27.7% reduction in her holdings.

Analyst sentiment has been cautious. RBC maintained a neutral stance with an $80 price target. New Street Research elevated its target from $50 to $80 while keeping a neutral rating. Truist increased its objective from $49 to $81, also maintaining a hold recommendation.

Among 41 analysts monitored by MarketBeat, 25 rate the stock Hold, 11 recommend Buy, one suggests Strong Buy, and four advise Sell. The consensus price target stands at $74.47 — nearly $34 beneath Tuesday’s closing price.

Intel’s 50-day moving average rests at $54.62, while the 200-day moving average sits at $45.91. The stock is trading well above both technical benchmarks.

The company exhibits a beta of 2.18 and a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.51. Institutional investors control 64.53% of outstanding shares.