Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Reports come out that Ripple tried to buyout the worlds largest stablecoin, crypto influencer Pomp is looing to IPO, Robinhood sees Q1 crypto struggles amongst good earnings, April sees nearly 9-figures of stolen digital assets, monthly stablecoin transactions skyrocket, and so much more.

Happy Thursday - Bring on the Q2 bull run. Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• Bitcoin's rise above $95,000 reversed following U.S. economic data that came in worse than expected - more on this below

• Marco: Q1 GDP contracted for the first time since 2022, while the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge aligned with expectations from experts

  • Private-sector employment increased by only 62,000 jobs in April, below the anticipated 108,000 and sharply lower than March’s 147,000, according to ADP Employment figures

  • Analysts said the Fed could implement cut rates at its policy meeting in May following the latest economic update

Headline Roundup
^{_{The major headlines driving crypto markets}}

• Q1 U.S. GDP declined by -0.3%, marking the first negative reading since 2022, (vs. expected 0.2% growth) - a full breakdown of yesterday’s sour economic report here

• Ripple attempted to buy Circle for up to $5B (TB)

• Robinhood beats earnings but stock dips after crypto revenue miss - see full Q1 earnings breakdown here

• Crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano filed for a $200M IPO for ProCap Acquisition Corp., a SPAC targeting investments in tech or digital assets (BBG)

• Crypto giant Galaxy Digital preps Nasdaq select market debut (DT)

• An media firm has acquired the film rights for the man behind the $800M lost bitcoin fortune buried in a Welsh landfill since 2013 (TB)

• Solana ETF approval odds hit 90% in new Bloomberg report (CT)

• Semler scientific buys another $15.7M in bitcoin (BM)

• Coinbase joins fight against IRS in major supreme court case on user data (CD)

• Solana’s bold plan: put wall street on the blockchain (TB)

• Blackrock’s next move according to SEC filing: $150b tokenized bond offering (CD)

• Telegram fund to tokenize $500M debt on ton (DF)

• Visa to power new USDC cards with Baanx (CD)

• Ubisoft joins crypto gaming innovation push with LayerZero (BW)

• Mercado Bitcoin brings tokenized assets to wormhole (TB)

• CZ now advising countries on crypto reserve strategies (DT)

• Coinbase now offering bitcoin loans up to $1m after big 9 figure surge (TB)

• Coinbase roadmap includes Worldcoin listing and trading on Optimism (DF)

• Former Messari exec joins ultra-exclusive crypto network Medici as president (DT)

• Elon musk could make X the next crypto super app according to Scaramucci (TB)

• Survey discovers 60% of crypto users juggle multiple wallets (DT)

• Eric Trump says banks against crypto will become extinct (WG)

• Arthur Hayes doubles down on $1M bitcoin call by 2028 (TB)

Venture Capital

• Re7 capital launches new $10M fund focused on 30 SocialFi startups (TB)

• Terminal 3 announces $8M financing led by Illuminate Financial and CMCC Titan Fund for web3 data privacy (FS)

• Stablecoin startup Zar lands $7M seed led by A16Z, VanEck, and Dragonfly Capital (YF)

• Decentralized AI project Gata closes $4M seed round from investors Yzi Labs, Gate Blockchain, and many more (PA)

• Borderless Capital and GEODNET co-lead $2.6M seed for DePIN platform ROVR Network (CS)

• Kaia receives venture backing from Blockchain Capital, 1kx and many others (AI)

Launches

• Visa teams with Bridge to launch stablecoin-backed cards (TB)

• Flappy bird returns (again) but without crypto features on Telegram version (DT)

• Sony partners with Plume to offer on-chain access to RWA markets (TB)

Regulation

• PayPal’s stablecoin clears a major regulatory hurdle as SEC drops probe (DT)

• North Carolina votes to allow crypto in 5 state funds (DF)

• Australia finance watchdog cracks down on inactive crypto exchanges to weed out illegitimate players (CT)

Cybersecurity

• $92M total lost in April crypto hacks as defi hacks spike (TB)

• KuCoin pledges $2B to crypto security trust project (CD)

Extra Reads

• Nations love to compete for assets and many are calling the next frontier the 'The Bitcoin Space Race'

  
  Here’s a rundown of why the U.S. risks falling behind its rivals when it comes to Bitcoin being treated as a strategic asset
  

• Stablecoins are the talk of the town and regulation is on the horizon

  
  Here’s a full look at what’s at stake with the two major stablecoin bills working their way through Washington

Chart of the Day

Stablecoin transaction volume hits record monthly high in April, nearing $1.9T

Meme Dump

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