Blackrock, the largest asset management company in the world, has led a strategic funding round of $47 million in Securitize, a capital markets digitalization company. The round, which had the participation of other financial markets and crypto native companies, shows Blackrock is betting on the transformative capabilities of tokenization for global capital markets.

Tether, one of the largest cryptocurrency companies, has recently released an attestation of its financial activity corresponding to Q1 2024. Tether registered a record-breaking $4.52 billion in profits, and disclosed its net equity levels, reporting $11.37 billion as of March 31, 2024. Tether issued over $12.5 billion <a class=\\\"lar-automated-link\\\" href=\\\"https://buy.bitcoin.com/?utm_source=News\\\" 312012 target=\\\"_blank\\\">USDT</a> during this period.

Standard Chartered Bank has warned that bitcoin&#x2019;s price could potentially decline to $50,000. The head of digital asset research at the bank attributed this forecast to a mix of crypto-specific factors and broader macroeconomic influences. Additionally, he warned about the risk of liquidation for some spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) positions, emphasizing that over half of them are currently underwater.

PRESS RELEASE.</strong> As a part of Bitcoin Asia Week 2024, the &#8220;Scaling Bitcoin Together&#8221; event will take place on May 11, 2024, in Hong Kong. This event will bring together top blockchain experts to discuss how to grow the Bitcoin ecosystem.</p> <p>The &#8220;Scaling Bitcoin Together&#8221; aims to foster discussions that propel the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem. The event will feature a series of keynotes, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, focusing on critical topics such as Bitcoin East &amp; West, Bitcoin Scalability, and Bitcoin DeFi.</p> <p><strong>Distinguished Co-hosts

JPMorgan has highlighted a significant increase in selling and profit-taking across equity and crypto markets, driven largely by retail investors. The global investment bank also observed institutional momentum traders and quantitative funds reducing positions, particularly in stocks, bitcoin, and gold.

The layer-two initiative known as BOB, short for &#x2018;Build on Bitcoin,&#x2019; has declared its mainnet operational with over 40 apps launching in the initial phase. Notably, the BOB application that facilitates bridging and access to the ecosystem is geo-blocked in the United States.

On Thursday, Zksnacks, the developer behind Wasabi Wallet, announced its decision to cease its coinjoin services following regulatory measures in the U.S. The company stated that the wallet will now operate as a standard non-custodial bitcoin wallet without the coinjoin feature.

Recently, Messari&#8217;s founder and CEO, Ryan Selkis, has expressed strong opinions about the potential impact of a Joe Biden reelection on the cryptocurrency industry in the United States. On Thursday, Selkis voiced his concerns on the social media platform X, stating that a “second Biden term will lead to mass wealth confiscation and crypto seizures.”

Coinbase, a leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, has finally announced the implementation of the lightning network, a Bitcoin layer 2 scaling solution. Coinbase will now allow its users to take advantage of this scaling protocol to avoid paying high fees for Bitcoin transactions, enhancing the utility of crypto for customers using Coinbase&#x2019;s services.

PRESS RELEASE. </strong><strong>Road Town, British Virgin Islands — May 2, 2024</strong>.</p> <p><a href=\\\"https://eywa.fi\\\">EYWA</a>, a consensus bridge that secures transactions across multiple protocols, has raised a total of $7 million as it delivers the new era of Web3 interoperability.</p> <p>The investment has been led by Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov — with the project recently attracting two new backers: Fenbushi Capital and GBV Capital. They joined a seed round alongside Big Brain Holdings, Marshland Capital, Mulana Capital and others.</p> <p>EYWA and Curve are working together to develop a trustless bridge that relies on a consensus of the most reliable messaging protocols available — eliminating dependence on a single bridge for moving large liquidity positions.</p> <p>Michael Egorov says: &#8220;EYWA builds a very interesting solution — it’s not just your typical bridge. They solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation between chains by creatively composing Curve meta pools and the actual bridge. Having one liquidity pool working across multiple chains sounds like magic, and it is exciting to have Curve AMMs in the core of this magic.&#8221;</p> <p>At the heart of this quest to make cross-chain magic a reality is <a href=\\\"https://crosscurve.fi\\\">CrossCurve</a> — an innovative DEX conceived through EYWA and Curve&#8217;s partnership.</p> <p>It facilitates low-slippage cross-chain swaps of various asset types, supported by Curve’s deep liquidity in the billions of dollars. CrossCurve supports the seamless transfer of multiple token types — from stablecoins to liquidity provider and liquid staking tokens.</p> <p>The overall goal is to reshape the DeFi landscape, make cross-chain transfers more intuitive and less painful, and create a one-stop-shop for traders.</p> <p>Major blockchains including Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum and Optimism are now under one roof — with support planned for more.</p> <p><strong>Gaining momentum

David Marcus, the former president of Paypal and the current CEO of Lightspark, envisions bitcoin as the primary currency for artificial intelligence (AI) in the future. He describes bitcoin as &#x201C;maximally neutral,&#x201D; highlighting its advantages over conventional fiat currencies like the euro or the U.S. dollar.

A new study by Fidelity Digital Assets reveals that as bitcoin matures, its volatility is decreasing, making it less volatile than several S&P 500 stocks. &#x201C;As the asset class matures and its total market cap grows, the inflow of capital is expected to have a smaller impact because it will be flowing into a larger capital base,&#x201D; the report notes.

On May 1, 2024, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs experienced their most significant single-day outflows since their inception on Jan. 11, 2024.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) lead the world in the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies because governments in the region actively promote digital transformation in their strategic future visions, according to Faisal Al Monai, chairman and co-founder of Droppgroup. This commitment by governments in the region &#8220;creates a favourable environment for the growth of Web3 solutions overall,&#8221; he said.

Unknown attackers recently siphoned digital assets valued at just under $1.6 mil