News & Research

The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 50.36% long, 49.64% short - Binance: 53.54% long, 46.46% short - OKX: 51.89% long, 48.11% short - Bybit: 50.46% long, 49.54% short

Tushar Jain, co-founder of crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital, stated on X that he has been accumulating large amounts of the privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) since February. He explained that while Bitcoin (BTC) is censorship-resistant, making it difficult to freeze or restrict, it does not solve the issue of government taxation. Jain added that there is growing market demand for assets with true privacy features, and he believes Zcash most directly meets this need.

Asset tokenization protocol KAIO announced it will conduct its Token Generation Event (TGE) today. The total supply of KAIO is 10 billion tokens, with the largest portion (37.5%) allocated to community and liquidity incentives. The foundation will receive 17%, while the team, early investors, and pre-TGE sale participants account for a combined 45.5%. This 45.5% allocation will be fully locked at the TGE and will unlock over 24 months following a 12-month cliff. Of the community and liquidity funds, 12.5% will be immediately available for liquidity provision at the TGE. The rest will be subject to a six-month cliff followed by a 60-month linear unlocking period.

U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is about 80% ready for its initial public offering (IPO), CoinDesk reported. The statement was made by Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi at the Consensus 2026 conference while announcing a partnership with MoneyGram. Kraken has reportedly filed a confidential listing application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is waiting for favorable market conditions to proceed.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) has reiterated that it may sell Bitcoin if doing so is advantageous for the company. During an earnings call, founder Michael Saylor outlined several strategic points: - Increase BTC holdings per share - Boost demand for and add features to its preferred stock product, STRC - Reduce debt, such as convertible notes, based on market conditions - Set the size of its dollar reserves according to STRC demand and credit risk - Adjust related leverage in line with market conditions - Sell BTC when deemed profitable for the company Late last year, MicroStrategy had stated it might sell some BTC as a last resort if other financing options were unavailable. The company has only sold its holdings once, on Dec. 22, 2022, when it sold 704 BTC and immediately repurchased 810 BTC. It has not sold any of its holdings since. MicroStrategy currently holds 818,334 BTC ($66.3 billion) at an average purchase price of $75,535.24. The company's unrealized profit on its BTC holdings is approximately $4.532 billion.

KelpDAO has claimed that a LayerZero (ZRO) employee approved the 1:1 validator configuration blamed for a $292 million rsETH hack. According to CoinDesk, this assertion contradicts a post-mortem analysis released by LayerZero on April 19. In its report, LayerZero stated that it had recommended a multi-DVN setup with multiple validators, but KelpDAO's rsETH application configured LayerZero Labs as the sole validator. KelpDAO countered by stating that it was never warned that a single-validator setup could pose a significant security risk during eight discussions held over a period of more than two and a half years.

The U.S. banking industry is divided over a proposed compromise on stablecoin interest within the crypto market structure bill, according to Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America. She noted that large banks with consumer-facing business divisions are raising objections, while banks without such operations are more receptive. Terrett added that some regional banks have expressed support for the measure, whereas the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), which represents smaller banks, is also voicing concerns.

Blockchain-based online lending platform Figure is entering the U.S. home mortgage market, CoinDesk reported. The company claims its proprietary blockchain platform can reduce lending costs by approximately 91% compared to traditional methods. Figure explained that applications for Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) can be approved within five minutes and funded within three days, a significant reduction from the standard 30 to 45 days. The company is primarily targeting the market for loans under $300,000 and is also pursuing increased profitability through DeFi integration and a shift to a marketplace model.

The Solana Foundation has partnered with Google Cloud to develop Pay.sh, a new payment system for AI bots. According to The Block, the system enables AI bots to search, access, and pay for API usage with stablecoins on the Solana network without needing to create accounts or pay subscription fees to online service providers. The system utilizes the x402 protocol, an open AI payment standard developed by Coinbase, as its gateway service.

Coinbase has invested millions of dollars in Centrifuge, selecting the firm as a key tokenization partner, The Block reported. The partnership will see Centrifuge serve as a core platform for converting traditional assets into tradable on-chain assets on Base, the blockchain developed by Coinbase. Specific details of the investment were not disclosed.