The infrastructure supporting global computing is undergoing a massive shift. True computing power no longer belongs to isolated corporate data centers, but to open, global networks.

Speaking at the Proof of Talk summit in Paris, Bittensor co-founder and Crucible Labs partner Ala Shaabana highlighted the staggering math behind decentralized networks. To show the audience what distributed computing can do, he stacked the Bitcoin network up against traditional enterprise setups.

“We all know that Bitcoin really dwarfs the top 100 supercomputers,” Shaabana said. “Does anybody know, in comparison, what the hash rate is? It’s over 600,000 times the power of really what these supercomputers can do. And that’s just, really, it’s Bitcoin.”

To understand Shaabana’s comment, it helps to know what Bittensor actually is.

It is a Layer 1 protocol built on the same codebase philosophy as Bitcoin: a hard cap of 21 million tokens, halvings hardcoded into predetermined blocks, with no pre-mine, and no venture capital. Bittensor is a decentralized network that replaces Bitcoin’s hash-puzzle mining with running and validating artificial intelligence.

The same incentive architecture that turned Bitcoin into a computing force 600,000 times more powerful than the world’s top supercomputers is redirected by Bittensor toward AI, organized across 128 specialized problem-solving networks called subnets. Each subnet defines its own goal, and miners compete for TAO token rewards by meeting it, meaning the network’s intelligence is shaped entirely by what it chooses to reward. That design principle, borrowed directly from Bitcoin’s playbook, is the foundation of everything Shaabana argues below.

Shift in long-term bull case

Shaabana’s core logic is simple: if coordination and code could create the world’s most powerful financial computing engine, the exact same blueprint can be applied to AI. By breaking a network down into 128 individual problem-solving neighborhoods or subnets, developers can source global hardware and intelligence without a central tech monopoly.

The trick to making a distributed system work relies entirely on the incentive design. “Show me the subnet, and I’ll tell you what the miners are optimizing for,” Shaabens said, adapting a famous market quote. If you reward participants for raw compute speed, they optimize for speed. If you reward them for data storage, they optimize for storage.

By setting these programmatic goals, open networks naturally attract talent and computing power far more efficiently than standard corporations.

“The long-term bull case is no longer primarily technological,” Shaabana concluded. “It is driven by debt, liquidity, and declining trust in traditional sovereign systems. Subnets really create markets. Intelligence really is no longer locked behind issues of organization; signals will define the truth, and performance is really rewarded.”

A U.K. House of Lords committee said the Bank of England (BOE) should reconsider its proposed limits on consumer stablecoin holdings in a new report.

The cross-party Financial Services Regulation Committee of the U.K. Parliament’s second chamber also advised reconsideration of requirements for stablecoin issuers to hold at least 40% of backing assets in central bank deposits yielding no interest in its “Stablecoins: waiting for regulation” report published Wednesday.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to the value of a traditional financial asset, such as a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar or the pound sterling.

As central banks and lawmakers have constructed regulatory frameworks for the use and issuance of stablecoins in recent years, the Bank of England has stood out for proposing what many industry figures deemed unnecessarily stern restrictions.

The U.K.’s central bank proposed limits of 20,000 pounds ($27,000) per coin for individuals and 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) for businesses, which some observers said risked making the country uncompetitive compared to neighboring markets which would have no such limitations.

“Given the early stage of the GBP stablecoin market, rather than pre-emptively impose holding limits, the Bank should consider monitoring the growth of the market and imposing holding limits only if the financial stability risks clearly warrant it,” the House of Lords committee said.

The report questioned the rules on backing assets, saying they “could have a significant impact on the business viability of stablecoin issuers in the U.K.”

For its part, the BOE is planning to ease the proposed restrictions, with Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability, admitting they were “overly conservative,” last month.

The BOE is “looking very hard at whether there are different ways we can manage what we think is an important risk as stablecoins come into play,” Breeden said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin’s sharp 8% drop triggered $1.5 billion in forced liquidations, ending a tight two-month small-cap correlation.
• Worsening market sentiment was driven by $2.1 billion in Bitcoin ETF outflows and rising fears of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

Bitcoin (BTC) faced a sharp 9% drop over 48 hours, hitting the $67,000 support for the first time in two months. This correction wiped out a substantial $176 billion from the total crypto market cap in just two days, triggering $1.5 billion in forced liquidations for overleveraged long positions. 

Traders remain uncertain about the drivers behind crypto’s underperformance, especially since US equities have shown notable strength.

US Russell 2000 small cap equities index (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD. Source: TradingView

The tight correlation between Bitcoin and US small-cap stocks officially broke on May 21 after a solid two-month run. Worsening market sentiment was likely fueled by $2.1 billion in net outflows from US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs between May 12 and May 20, though derivatives data had already been hinting at a lack of institutional appetite.

Bitcoin 2-month futures basis rate. Source: Laevitas

The annualized BTC futures premium relative to spot markets has held below the neutral 4% threshold for over three months, confirming weak demand for bullish leverage. 

Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation pause and strength in AI investments

Strategy (MSTR US), led by Michael Saylor, also sparked mixed reactions after it chose to buy back convertible debt while pausing its signature weekly Bitcoin purchases.

Source: X/bjunjo

X user ‘bjunjo’ said that Strategy entered “survival mode for their debt holders and shareholders,” putting aside the sole mission to accumulate more Bitcoin. According to the analysis, the company will do whatever it takes to meet its financial obligations, as shown by a recent BTC 32 sale. Jeff Dorman, Chief Investment Officer at Arca, called the move “a complete balance sheet mismanagement.”

Source: X/ScroogeCap

Meanwhile, X analyst ScroogeCap noted that Google’s (GOOG US) decision to raise equity rather than debt suggests that private equity is effectively dead as liquidity dries up. The analysis highlights that the Oracle (ORCL US) debt-to-equity ratio remains unusually high, while Meta (META US) might be forced to tap more capital due to “irrational spending.” 

Jim Bianco of Bianco Research reportedly said, “We have not seen the market this concentrated around a single theme in 150 years.” Additionally, JPMorgan research found that 41 AI-related stocks account for half of the S&P 500’s market value.

Related: Bitcoin gets new $50K target after BTC price crashes 6% in a day

Interest rate target probabilities for the Sept. FOMC meeting. Source: CME Group

Traders became increasingly risk-averse as the war in Iran showed no sign of imminent relief, explaining the broader sell-off across cryptocurrency markets. US government bonds are now pricing in a 23% probability of the US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates by September, up from 0% just one month prior according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Ultimately, the cryptocurrency market crash on Tuesday reflects heavy outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs, an extreme capital concentration in AI investments and a macroeconomic environment signaling stricter monetary policy for longer than the market had previously anticipated.

Strive Asset Management (ASST) has acquired 2,500 bitcoin for roughly $185.2 million at an average price of $74,092 per coin, between May 23 and June 1, the company reported in an 8-K filing released Tuesday.

The new purchase was at a lower average price than Strive’s last disclosed acquisition of 1,109 BTC at $76,989 on May 22, suggesting the company bought into the dip that has taken bitcoin from above $74,000 last week to roughly $70,800 by Tuesday morning, per CoinDesk data.

Strive disclosed its quarter-to-date BTC yield at 23.0% and year-to-date yield at 36.7%, metrics that measure growth in bitcoin holdings on a per-share basis after accounting for dilution from new share issuance. The company also reported an amplification ratio of 57.0%, indicating shareholders’ bitcoin exposure grew faster than bitcoin’s underlying price appreciation. The company said it also raised cash reserves to maintain an 18-month dividend reserve.

The purchase lifts its total holdings to 19,000 BTC, data shows, and pushes the bitcoin treasury company further into the top 10 of publicly traded corporate holders.

The filing comes as its peer, and the largest corporate bitcoin holder, Strategy (MSTR), disclosed its first publicized sale of 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 on Monday, sparking a selloff in BTC and the broader crypto market since.

Meanwhile, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer initiated coverage on Strive with a Buy rating and a $32 price target on Tuesday, implying roughly 93% upside even after the company’s Class A shares fell 3.59% to $16.58 in pre-market trading.

TLDR:

• The CFTC approved the first perpetual futures contract on a US regulated venue on May 29, 2025.
• Perpetual futures use a funding rate mechanism to keep contract prices aligned with the spot market.
• Regulated platforms Kalshi and Polymarket stand to benefit from the CFTC’s new regulatory framework.
• The approval marks a step toward DeFi platforms like Hyperliquid gaining access to US-based users.

The CFTC perpetual futures approval on May 29 marks a turning point for US derivatives markets. For the first time, a perpetual futures contract has received regulatory clearance on a domestic venue.

The move follows crypto’s growing influence on traditional finance, after stablecoins and tokenized assets led the way. It also opens a path for decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid to eventually reach American users.

Crypto Exports Another Innovation to Traditional Finance

The digital assets industry has steadily introduced new financial instruments to mainstream markets. Stablecoins were the first major export, offering dollar-pegged utility across global payment rails.

Tokenized assets followed, bringing real-world value onto blockchain infrastructure. Now, perpetual futures complete a third wave of crypto-native innovation entering regulated finance.

Grayscale noted the progression in a post on X, pointing to the CFTC approval as a continuation of that trend. The firm described it as another step in DeFi platforms reaching US users over time.

This framing places the CFTC decision within a broader structural shift, not just a regulatory footnote. Traditional finance is increasingly drawing from a crypto playbook built over the last decade.

The approval also benefits regulated US platforms operating in prediction and derivatives markets. Kalshi and Polymarket stand to gain from clearer regulatory footing under this framework.

Additionally, the CFTC provided guidance allowing Coinbase Financial Markets to offer access through a Foreign Futures framework. That guidance further broadens the scope of who can participate under US oversight.

The timing of this approval aligns with a more open regulatory environment in Washington. Regulators have shifted toward engagement rather than enforcement in recent months.

As a result, market participants are now better positioned to structure compliant perpetual futures products. That shift creates room for more instruments to move from crypto-native venues into mainstream trading infrastructure.

How Perpetual Futures Work and Why They Matter

Unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures carry no expiration date and require no physical delivery. That structure makes them more flexible for traders seeking continuous exposure to an asset or price index.

They function similarly to total return swaps in traditional finance. The key difference is the funding rate mechanism that keeps contract prices anchored to the spot market.

The funding rate involves periodic payments exchanged between long and short position holders. When the futures price rises above spot, longs pay shorts to discourage further premium.

When it falls below, shorts pay longs to close the discount gap. The larger the price divergence, the bigger the payment in either direction.

This mechanism creates a built-in correction system without requiring contract settlement. It keeps market prices honest while allowing open-ended exposure for participants.

Traders can hold positions indefinitely, adjusting based on funding costs rather than expiry calendars. That flexibility has made perp futures the dominant derivative product across crypto markets globally.

The CFTC’s move now brings that structure into a compliant US framework for the first time. It sets a precedent for how crypto-native instruments can be adapted for regulated domestic venues.

Over time, it may also ease the path for DeFi-native platforms to extend services to US-based users. The approval is a structural development with long-term reach across both crypto and traditional finance markets.