Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “SEC Delays Decision on XRP and Dogecoin ETF | Story Empowers AI Music IP”

On May 21, BTC and ETH continued to fluctuate sideways; the SEC delayed the approval of the XRP and Dogecoin ETFs; Story empowered the Virtuals ecosystem AI music platform MUSIC, allowing users to generate on-chain music IP with a hot tweet; after the Pectra upgrade: the number of active users on Ethereum DEX significantly rebounded by 73%, but growth still faces challenges.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

Mining Popular Tokens

Swarms SWARMS (+2.40%, Market Cap $31.18 million)

According to Gate market data, the current price of Swarms token is $0.03136, with a 24-hour increase of 2.4%.

Swarms (SWM) is a decentralized computing network built on artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology, aimed at solving the high costs and low efficiency of distributed computing resources. Its core vision is to become the world's leading decentralized AI computing platform, providing efficient and low-cost computing services by integrating global idle computing resources, blockchain incentive mechanisms, and AI optimization algorithms. Swarms addresses industry challenges such as resource waste, data privacy, and centralized computing power monopolies through its core products, offering secure and scalable decentralized computing solutions for developers, enterprises, and researchers.

The SWM token can be used to pay for computing services, participate in governance, or stake for rewards. In news, the AI agent protocol Swarms tweeted that its enterprise-level Python client for the API is now live, featuring production-level capabilities that can integrate multi-agent AI system functionalities into Python applications, achieving enterprise-level reliability and performance.

LQTY Liquity (+7.18%, Market Cap $92.2483 million)

According to Gate market data, the current price of LQTY token is $0.9437, with a 24-hour increase of 7.18%.

Liquity (LQTY) is a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform built on artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology, dedicated to solving the high costs and complexities of traditional lending markets. Its core vision is to become the leading decentralized lending protocol in the Ethereum ecosystem, providing 0% interest loans and efficient stablecoin lending experiences through smart contracts and algorithmically adjusted fee mechanisms. Liquity addresses industry challenges such as high-interest loans, governance complexities, and centralized risks through its core products (like the LUSD stablecoin, Stability Pool, and LQTY staking mechanism), offering users secure, low-cost lending services and passive income opportunities.

In news, the centralized lending platform Liquity tweeted that Liquity V2 has relaunched on the Ethereum mainnet. Users can borrow ETH and LST (like Lido Finance's wstETH and Rocket Pool's rETH) at the highest LTV with customizable interest rates; the BOLD stablecoin provides yield and supports instant conversion to ETH and LST. Liquity V2 has reached licensing agreements with nearly 20 friendly forks on EVM chains, including Felix Protocol, QuillFi, and OrkiFi, with fork projects rewarding some tokens to BOLD stable pool depositors and liquidity providers.

Alpha Interpretation

SEC Delays Decision on XRP and Dogecoin ETF

On May 20, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the delay of its decision on the ETF proposals for the XRP trust fund submitted by 21Shares and Grayscale, as well as the Grayscale Dogecoin trust fund ETF proposal. The SEC stated in its documents that this move is based on the legal and policy issues involved in these proposals and emphasized that it does not represent a conclusion on the relevant issues. Additionally, the SEC also delayed its decision on Bitwise's proposal to allow staking for the Ethereum ETF.

The SEC's delay on the XRP and Dogecoin ETF decisions reflects its cautious attitude towards emerging crypto assets, emphasizing compliance, anti-fraud measures, and investor protection. This indicates that other projects applying for ETFs need to pay more attention to the transparency of the legal framework and market maturity, such as providing detailed custody arrangements and price tracking mechanisms. Furthermore, XRP has a clearer regulatory background due to the resolution of the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit (ending in March 2025), which may give it an advantage in approval over "meme coins" like Dogecoin. Other projects should learn from XRP, strengthen communication with regulators, and optimize proposal structures.

Story Empowers Virtuals Ecosystem AI Music Platform MUSIC, Allowing On-Chain Music IP Generation via Twitter Hot Posts

The programmable IP protocol Story announced that it will serve as the infrastructure partner for the Virtuals ecosystem AI music platform MUSIC, officially supporting the launch of its AI music IP minting feature Bangers, allowing users to generate and mint on-chain music IP with a single click via a hot tweet. Users can @musicbyvirtuals in their tweets and attach prompts, allowing AI to automatically generate music or MV, with rights confirmation, registration, and tokenization achieved through Story. Each Banger token includes a 1% transaction tax to incentivize original IP owners, content creators, and distributors. Story provides complete on-chain rights confirmation and profit-sharing support within this mechanism.

This collaboration represents not only a showcase of Story's programmable IP capabilities but also a practical application in the field of digital copyright confirmation and profit-sharing. The integration with the MUSIC platform expands Story's application boundaries and is expected to attract more creators and IP projects.

For the Virtuals ecosystem, the launch of the AI music platform MUSIC and its Bangers feature significantly enhances its content generation and community interaction capabilities. By lowering the barriers to music creation, ordinary users can also participate in the generation and ownership of AI music IP, which is expected to attract a large number of non-professional users and further expand its influence. The collaboration with Sony and Tencent's joint venture label Liquid State, as well as the integration of over 1,000 AI agents, demonstrates the ambition of the Virtuals ecosystem in driving large-scale generation and distribution of community-driven music IP.

Pectra Upgrade: Significant Rebound of Active Users on Ethereum DEX by 73%, but Growth Still Faces Challenges

The user activity on Ethereum decentralized exchanges (DEX) has recently seen a significant rebound. As of May 20, daily active users reached approximately 64,000, a 73% increase from the low point on May 4, marking a three-month high. This indicates that user trading interest is warming up, possibly related to the rise in ETH prices and improved market sentiment. Uniswap dominates this space, contributing approximately $13 billion in trading volume and accounting for 97% of user activity.

However, despite the increase in user activity, the total monthly trading volume on DEX remains at $15 billion, suggesting that trading is primarily composed of small orders, with limited participation from institutions or large trades. Additionally, according to Glassnode data, the Pectra upgrade launched on May 7 did not significantly enhance network participation: the number of new addresses decreased by 1.8% from the year's peak, and the number of revived addresses fell by 8.4%, indicating that new user growth and returning users were not significantly stimulated by the upgrade. However, the user churn rate decreased by 8.5%, showing an improvement in the retention rate of existing users.

Overall, the surge in DEX user activity reflects short-term enthusiasm for the Ethereum ecosystem, but the trading volume structure reveals insufficient institutional participation, which somewhat limits the overall expansion of the ecosystem. The deflationary effect and improved user retention brought by the Pectra upgrade lay the foundation for long-term development, but its short-term appeal for attracting new and revived users is limited. In the future, the continued growth of the Ethereum ecosystem will depend on the adaptation speed of DApps to the upgrade, the adoption rate of Layer-2 solutions, and the alignment with macro market cycles. If market sentiment continues to improve and the technical optimization process accelerates, DEX activity and network participation are expected to rise in tandem; otherwise, the market may still maintain a pattern of "retail enthusiasm, institutional coldness" in the short term.

Related: SEC Delays Decision on Ethereum (ETH) Staking and Ripple (XRP) ETF, Analysts: Expected

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