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According to The Block, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has released a latest report indicating that as the gray market peptide industry scales surpasses an annualized $100 million, leading suppliers are accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin and stablecoins as primary settlement tools.In Q1 2026, cryptocurrency inflows into the industry reached $32 million, a month-on-month surge of 159%. Due to traditional banks and credit card payment channels generally imposing bans on prescription-grade compounds and unregulated substances, a large number of Chinese chemical manufacturers are turning to cryptocurrency to complete transactions, with high-value orders particularly favoring stablecoins to avoid price volatility risks.

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on June 4 the abolition of the "no denial" policy that had been in place for nearly 30 years. This policy, in effect since 1998, required defendants to commit to not publicly denying the CFTC's allegations when settling.CFTC Chairman Mike Selig stated that this move aligns with the overall direction of various government regulatory agencies and grants the commission greater flexibility in enforcement settlements. Previously, the SEC had taken the lead in abolishing a similar policy in May.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan posted on the X platform, stating that institutions are like large oil tankers, which have now adjusted their course to support cryptocurrencies, tokenization, and stablecoins.He believes that this trend will not slow down, regardless of price performance.

FalconX stated that Hyperliquid's trading volume has exceeded Ethereum on certain trading days, and institutional funds are shifting from Bitcoin and Ethereum to HYPE tokens, primarily due to the weak performance of mainstream assets affected by ETF outflows and macroeconomic uncertainties.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, the "ShapeShift mysterious whale" has purchased 6,688 ETH in the past 8 hours, spending 12.78 million dollars. Currently, the whale holds 149,286 ETH, worth 277.59 million dollars, and may continue to buy more ETH.

According to CoinDesk, FalconX stated that on certain trading days, its trading volume on the decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid has surpassed that of Ethereum. Institutions and hedge funds are shifting from the range-bound Bitcoin and Ethereum to more volatile assets such as HYPE, Zcash, Venice, and AI concept tokens.FalconX pointed out that amid macro uncertainty and the outflow of funds from spot ETFs, the implied volatility of BTC and ETH is close to historical lows, and funds are seeking higher volatility targets. Hyperliquid attracts institutional funds looking to trade diverse assets in a 24/7 crypto-native environment by offering perpetual contracts for pre-IPO companies like SpaceX, tokenized stocks, commodities, and prediction markets. The platform's revenue is projected to be around $800 million in 2025.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, the mysterious whale of ShapeShift bought 2,078 ETH, worth 4.04 million dollars. Currently, this whale holds 144,675 ETH, worth 280.83 million dollars.

According to Cointelegraph, the Texas Comptroller's Office has released a request for proposals, planning to transfer its $10 million strategic Bitcoin reserve from the BlackRock-owned IBIT spot ETF to directly held Bitcoin. The winning bidder must complete the transition of the IBIT holdings to directly held Bitcoin within 60 days after the contract is executed and will be responsible for purchasing, holding, managing, and reporting the state's Bitcoin and other eligible cryptocurrency assets, while also establishing a public website to disclose the reserve holdings.In addition, the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee has been officially formed to provide recommendations on custody arrangements, risk management, and investment strategies.

Yuga Labs CEO Michael Figge posted on the X platform that the team will make some adjustments to ApeCoin. Yuga Labs and ApeCo previously adopted a parallel coordination model due to unclear regulations, resulting in lower efficiency.As the regulatory environment changes, the team has decided to simplify the structure and eliminate the independent ApeCo leader role. ApeCo leader Cam will depart, and the core technology and BD teams of ApeChain will work directly with Yuga Labs, while other members will also leave, with the transition to be completed by June 5.

According to The Block, the publicly listed company Sequans Communications in Paris, France, announced the completion of all convertible debt redemptions related to Bitcoin reserves, selling approximately 80% of its Bitcoin holdings to repay the debt, and currently only 658 BTC remain, which are fully unrestricted.The company's CEO Georges Karam stated that this move marks a strengthening of the company's balance sheet and a simplification of its capital structure, and in the future, the company will fully focus on the scaled expansion of its 4G/5G IoT semiconductor, RF transceiver, and defense wireless application businesses.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that he will no longer write regular blog posts and has decided to try writing some science fiction stories on the theme of decentralized governance.According to the link he posted, he has completed the first and second chapters of the science fiction novel.

According to Jinshi News, analyst Eamonn Sheridan pointed out that the minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting show a clear change in its stance, emphasizing that the previous wording of responding "flexibly and swiftly" based on economic data has been replaced by new phrasing. Persistently high inflation and the uncertainty of the conflict in Iran may mean that the policy needs to remain on hold for a longer period.The inflation situation faced by Waller is complex, with officials noting that high fuel costs are being passed on to areas such as shipping rates and airfare prices, spreading inflationary pressures. The market expects that if inflation does not decline, the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates again by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

According to BIT analysis, during the bull market from 2020 to 2021, smart contract platforms were widely expected to reshape some of the infrastructure and business processes in the traditional financial system. However, the high expectations did not materialize, and Ethereum's market share in the digital asset ecosystem has continued to decline. Currently, Ethereum's market share has once again fallen below 10%, shrinking by more than half compared to two years ago.This shows that ETH's relative position in the crypto market continues to decline. For investors with heavy ETH holdings, this trend is worth noting. The continuous decline in ETH's market share indicates that funds are flowing towards other narratives or ecosystems. If this trend continues, ETH may still face pressure and maintain a relatively weak position.

The latest market intelligence report released by the digital asset trading firm Wintermute shows that global financial markets are undergoing a large-scale macroeconomic repricing, with the market narrative shifting from discussions about the timing of interest rate cuts to preparing for potential rate hikes. This structural shift has been triggered by unexpectedly strong economic data and reignited inflationary pressures, creating significant headwinds for digital assets.The report notes that Bitcoin saw a sharp decline after briefly breaking through $83,000, giving back significant gains within a week, while mainstream alternative tokens experienced double-digit percentage drops. Global wealth managers are actively de-risking under macro constraints, highlighting the fragility of digital asset expansion. On-chain trading indicators suggest that the previous price increases were not driven by genuine spot market demand or organic retail accumulation, but rather primarily from short squeezes in the perpetual futures market.The total open interest in Bitcoin derivatives rapidly expanded by $10 billion to $58 billion within a month, while the underlying spot trading volume simultaneously fell to a two-year low. When Bitcoin broke through $80,000, a large number of short positions were forcibly liquidated, triggering a brief buying frenzy, but failed to establish a lasting structural bottom.The main driving factor behind the current market reversal is that global CPI data continues to exceed expectations, reigniting widespread concerns about interest rate hikes. At the same time, ongoing uncertainty surrounding the nomination of the next Federal Reserve chair has injected unpredictability into the market. Despite long-term positive signals, including a recent net inflow of $623 million into spot ETFs and Bitcoin reserves on trading platforms dropping to a seven-year low, Wintermute emphasizes that these long-term trends are insufficient to alleviate recent structural risks.As international asset managers shift capital towards short-term sovereign debt instruments, digital platforms are struggling to maintain momentum. The near-term outlook for the tokenized market will depend on whether genuine spot buyers return to stabilize the weak liquidity gap.

Mastercard has abandoned its investment plan for the cryptocurrency infrastructure company Zerohash, which had previously agreed in March to acquire the UK stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for $1.8 billion. Mastercard had considered a strategic investment in Chicago-based Zerohash in January of this year. At that time, Zerohash was seeking to raise $250 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion, while the company is currently advancing a new funding round at a higher valuation. Founded in 2017, Zerohash primarily provides APIs and developer tools for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized products.Meanwhile, recent transactions involving Kraken's parent company Payward and Bullish indicate that consolidation in the digital asset infrastructure sector is ongoing. In terms of stablecoin payment arrangements, Mastercard has acquired BVNK for $1.8 billion and may pay an additional $300 million in performance-based compensation. BVNK currently serves payment and payroll platforms like Worldpay and Deel for cross-border payments, fund settlement, and financial management.Mastercard plans to integrate BVNK's technology into its Mastercard Move network to support 24/7 stablecoin settlement for payment institutions and merchant acquirers, and to explore adding stablecoin checkout functionality in payment gateways. Analysts believe that this transaction will further intensify the competition between Mastercard and Visa in the networked strategy of payment networks and accelerate the evolution of traditional cross-border clearing systems towards stablecoin settlement models.

On-chain detective ZachXBT posted a warning stating that "choosing to gamble on Spartans is itself an IQ test," and questioned the long-term harvesting behavior of the operators behind Spartans. ZachXBT pointed out that Gurhan Kiziloz, a figure related to Spartans, previously operated BlockDAG Network, which has not launched its mainnet or mining products for years, yet still promoted a presale with "300 times returns" and has raised at least $350 million from inexperienced retail investors.He further stated that BlockDAG has recently shifted to casino operations and suspects that the related casino platform may be used to "legitimize BlockDAG funding sources," including circulating funds by paying high fees to employees and KOLs. Previously, several community members and content creators have also publicly questioned Spartans' marketing model and operational transparency, warning users of potential "rug pull" risks.

Glassnode stated that the signals from various Bitcoin derivatives markets are diverging, and the overall structure is beginning to weaken. A significant shift in selling pressure has been observed, with the cumulative volume delta (CVD) for spot trading plummeting by 848.7%. Nevertheless, spot trading volume has increased by 4.2%, indicating a rise in trading activity, but this may stem more from trading interest rather than bullish sentiment. Open interest has slightly decreased by 2.9%, reflecting a cautious attitude towards leverage in an uncertain environment. However, the funding rate paid by the long side has surged by 136.6%, showing a rebound in demand for long positions and an increase in bullish sentiment among traders. Yet, the CVD for perpetual contracts has sharply declined by 278.7%, highlighting significant selling pressure and indicating that bearish sentiment still dominates.The 25-Delta Skew for options has risen by 42.75%, as traders seek more downside protection, with the market clearly turning bearish. Meanwhile, open interest and volatility spreads for options have increased by 1.7% and 124.52% respectively, indicating heightened market participation and increased expectations for future price volatility. The MVRV of the US spot ETF has decreased by 6.1%, with net flows for the ETF deteriorating sharply, reflecting a decline in institutional confidence. However, ETF trading volume has risen by 7%. On-chain activity presents a mixed picture: the number of active addresses has decreased, while the adjusted transfer volume has increased, suggesting relatively low network usage, but large amounts of capital continue to move.Overall, as momentum, spot demand, and speculative positions weaken across the board, the Bitcoin market structure is beginning to soften. Options traders are increasingly hedging against downside risks, liquidity and profitability indicators continue to cool, and the market structure remains relatively stable, but stable liquidity and the strength of long-term holders still provide some resilience to the market.

The ALEX Lab Foundation submitted governance proposal AGP-8, which plans to make structural adjustments to the ALEX protocol, including stopping the emission of ALEX community tokens, closing the treasury grant program TGP, and introducing a protocol-driven token buyback and burn mechanism. Currently, the circulating supply of ALEX is approximately 973 million tokens, close to the cap of 1 billion tokens.If the proposal is approved, the next 32 cycles will be the final ALEX emission cycles, after which there will be no new token emissions. Approximately 1.568 million STX remain unclaimed in the TGP 2024 treasury, and after a 30-day grace period, the ALEX Lab Foundation will use these funds to buy back and burn ALEX tokens at market price. Future protocol revenue will also be used for ongoing buybacks and burns after covering operational costs. This proposal aims to shift ALEX from an inflationary model to a deflationary model.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, during the rapid market decline, the ShapeShift mysterious whale invested $5.88 million to buy the dip of 2,656 ETH. This giant whale now holds 129,667 ETH, worth $274.78 million. It is worth noting that this giant whale was previously thought to be associated with ShapeShift founder Erik Voorhees, but he has since denied it.

Web3 security company CertiK has released the "Skynet North Korea Cyber Threat Report." The data shows that since 2016, North Korean hacker groups have plundered approximately $6.75 billion in digital assets. In 2025 alone, the losses from thefts they orchestrated reached as high as $2.06 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of the total losses in the global cryptocurrency industry for the entire year (including the $1.5 billion Bybit theft case). As of early 2026, this threat trend continues, with losses accounting for about 55%.The report emphasizes that the attack patterns of North Korean hackers have undergone a fundamental shift, evolving from simple code vulnerability exploitation to a national-level attack system that combines social engineering, deep supply chain attacks, and "physical infiltration." In the recent Drift protocol incident, attackers even spent six months lurking at offline industry conferences, establishing trust through real funds and interpersonal interactions before executing their attack.CertiK security experts warn that in the face of such systemic attacks, simple technical defenses have become weak. Cryptocurrency institutions urgently need to fully implement a "zero trust" hiring model, strengthen third-party supply chains, establish fund circuit breaker mechanisms, and collaborate with professional security organizations to build a comprehensive lifecycle defense system covering code audits, round-the-clock risk monitoring, and on-chain anti-money laundering/KYT (Know Your Transaction) fund tracking.