Qatar’s LNG tanker passes through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time in about 70 days
Shipping tracking information updated on October 10 by the “Maritime Traffic Website” shows that a Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz and has entered the Gulf of Oman, heading toward Pakistan. It is reported that this is the first Qatari LNG tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran approximately 70 days ago.
The vessel’s track map indicates that it used a newly activated maritime route recently introduced by Iranian authorities. On October 9, the LNG tanker transmitted its position via the Automatic Identification System (AIS), showing that it had entered the Strait of Hormuz; thereafter, it ceased transmitting positional signals for an extended period. The shipping tracking information updated on October 10 confirms that the vessel has successfully transited the strait and entered the Gulf of Oman.
[Odaily]
Analysis: Bitcoin May Face Correction Pressure, Market Sentiment Turns Cautious Ahead of CPI Release
Market analysis indicates that Bitcoin may face increased downward pressure ahead of the release of the U.S. April CPI data on May 12. The latest forecast from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland suggests that the U.S. April headline CPI could rise year-on-year to 3.56%, up from 3.3% in March, potentially reinforcing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will struggle to cut interest rates in the near term—thus exerting downward pressure on risk assets such as Bitcoin.
The analysis notes that although Bitcoin has remained strong following several prior inflation readings that came in above expectations, current market support has weakened compared to earlier periods. This is especially true after Strategy paused its Bitcoin purchases, reducing institutional absorption capacity for newly minted Bitcoin supply—potentially re-escalating market sensitivity to the upcoming CPI data.
Technically, Bitcoin’s daily chart is forming a classic “rising wedge” pattern. If the price breaks below the critical support level of approximately $84,000, it could fall further toward the $70,000 region; conversely, a successful breakout above the 200-day moving average resistance could open an upside range of $90,000 to $95,000.
[Cointelegraph]
Whale Loracle.hl closed positions in TON, BTC, and CL, profiting $3.90M, while also significantly shorting HYPE.
On May 10, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, the whale Loracle.hl has closed its positions in TON, BTC, and CL, realizing a profit of $3.9 million.
In addition, the whale also closed approximately 96% of its ZEC long positions, while increasing its 1,239,834 HYPE (5x leverage) short position to a value of $53.23 million. Its current total profit is now approaching $37 million.
[PANews]
The case involving Malaysian police officers suspected of robbing a Chinese citizen of 50,000 USDT is progressing slowly; the victim’s lawyer has warned that the matter will be reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
On May 10, according to a report by the New Straits Times, the victims’ legal counsel criticized the police for excessive delays in investigating the case involving “12 Malaysian police officers allegedly colluding to rob eight Chinese nationals of 50,000 USDT” that occurred in February this year. The counsel also warned that if internal cover-ups are found, they will file a complaint with Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission.
Previously, the police were accused of forcibly entering the victims’ residence under the pretext of an “anti-fraud raid” and coercing the victims into transferring their crypto assets—despite having no evidence of criminal activity. The Inspector-General of Police’s latest response stated that the investigation is still pending technical reports and requires additional time.
The 12 implicated officers have been suspended and placed under supervision.
[PANews]
VanEck: Bitcoin Could Reach a New All-Time High Within 12 Months as Central Banks Adopt It as a Reserve Asset
On May 10, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, stated in an interview with CNBC that he expects Bitcoin to retest its all-time high within the next 12 months.
He noted that BTC’s correlation with the Nasdaq is currently near a five-year high. U.S. equities’ resilience has driven this rally; however, the derivatives market still lacks clear bullish sentiment. Futures and options markets reflect more short-covering and safe-haven demand. Thus, from a contrarian perspective, the rally may have further room to run.
Matthew Sigel also remarked that a central bank has already announced it will add Bitcoin to its foreign exchange reserves this year—signaling BTC’s gradual evolution into a global asset for large-scale cross-border transaction settlement. He views this as a major trend.
[PANews]
Circle: To Release Q1 Earnings Before US Market Opens Tomorrow, Current Market Cap is $28.10B
Circle announced that USDC issuer Circle will release its Q1 earnings before the U.S. market opens on May 11, and will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 p.m. Beijing time on May 11 to discuss financial results and business progress.
Market expectations for Q1 revenue are approximately $715 million, down ~7% sequentially from $770 million in Q4 2025 and up ~11% year-over-year; GAAP EPS is expected to be $0.18, while adjusted EPS is expected to be $0.27.
The average analyst price target is $144.36; Oppenheimer maintains a “Buy” rating with a $152 price target, while Needham maintains a “Buy” rating but lowers its price target from $190 to $130. Circle’s current market cap is $28.1 billion, and its current share price is $113.67.
[Odaily]
Iran’s Supreme Leader Issues New Tough Action Orders to the Armed Forces
On May 10, according to JINSHI citing Iranian media Fars News, Abdollahi, Commander of the Central Command of Iran’s Armed Forces, met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued new guidelines to Abdollahi, Commander of the Central Command of Iran’s Armed Forces, urging continued operations and resolute confrontation against adversaries.
[PANews]
Planet Afternoon News
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Trump Media Group reported a Q1 net loss of $406 million, with unrealized losses on crypto assets weighing on performance;
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Polymarket: Multiple “ghost trading” account clusters have been identified and banned, and the banning mechanism will be strengthened;
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Wasabi Protocol updated the progress on handling the security incident: A final user compensation plan has not yet been reached;
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Whale Loracle.hl increased its short position in HYPE by $53.23 million, with cumulative profits nearing $37 million;
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ETH-chain ecosystem token sato hit an all-time high, surging over 77% intraday;
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An account with losses exceeding $1.96 million purchased a $156,000 bet on UFC 328 Flyweight Championship bout: Tatsuro Taira to defeat Joshua Van;
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Seven major Bitcoin mining pools joined the Stratum V2 Working Group to jointly develop an open pool communication standard;
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The WorldCoin team transferred 30 million WLD tokens to a BitGo custodial wallet, valued at approximately $8.17 million.
South Korea crypto holdings crash 50% as investors chase stocks
South Korean investors cut their crypto holdings by more than half over the past year as capital moved toward the stock market. Bank of Korea data submitted to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun showed holdings fell from 121.8 trillion won, or $83.3 billion, at the end of January 2025 to 60.6 trillion won, or $41.4 billion, by the end of February 2026.
Daily trading volume also dropped across Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Gopax. The figure fell to about $3 billion in February from $11.6 billion in December 2024, showing lower activity among retail traders. The decline came as Korean investors turned toward equities during a strong stock market run. Lower crypto prices also reduced the value of assets held on local exchanges.
Won deposits at exchanges also fell. The balance dropped from 10.7 trillion won at the end of 2024 to 7.8 trillion won, pointing to weaker cash demand for crypto trading. Moreover, stablecoins moved differently from the broader crypto market. Holdings rose from $60 million in July 2024 to $597 million in December, before falling back to $41 million in February.
As previously reported, stablecoins made up nearly half of South Korea’s crypto outflows in Q1 2025, as users moved funds to overseas exchanges. That trend shows why regulators are watching cross-border crypto flows closely. South Korea is also preparing tougher AML rules. Transactions above 10 million won involving overseas exchanges or private wallets could be flagged as suspicious from August.
Crypto.news also reported that Samsung SDS will build the Korea Securities Depository’s token securities platform before South Korea’s new tokenized securities framework takes effect in February 2027. That shows the country is tightening crypto oversight while building regulated blockchain market infrastructure.
[Crypto.news]
Data: CONX, AVAX, ARB and other tokens will usher in large unlocks next week, with CONX unlocking approximately $18.10 million worth of tokens.
Token Unlocks data shows that tokens including CONX, AVAX, and ARB will undergo large-scale unlocks next week.
Connex (CONX) will unlock approximately 1.32 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing Time on May 15, representing roughly 1.49% of the circulating supply and valued at approximately $18.1 million.
Avalanche (AVAX) will unlock approximately 1.67 million tokens at 8:00 a.m. Beijing Time on May 12, representing roughly 0.31% of the circulating supply and valued at approximately $16.5 million.
Arbitrum (ARB) will unlock approximately 92.65 million tokens at 9:00 p.m. Beijing Time on May 16, representing roughly 1.71% of the circulating supply and valued at approximately $13 million.
Aptos (APT) will unlock approximately 11.31 million tokens at 2:00 a.m. Beijing Time on May 13.
[PANews]
Analyst: Bitcoin retail investors and whales are simultaneously increasing their holdings on a large scale, and the market structure continues to improve.
On May 10th, analyst Murphy posted on the X platform, citing on-chain data, that retail addresses holding less than 1 BTC have cumulatively increased their holdings by 23,074 Bitcoins in the past 30 days, completing three rounds of concentrated accumulation at the $66,000.00, $70,000.00, and $80,000.00 levels.
At the same time, whales holding over 10,000 BTC have initiated large-scale accumulation since $66,000.00, with a peak net increase of 140,699 coins in 30 days, marking the largest single-round net increase in nearly two years, clearly signaling position building.
Analysts believe that current remaining investors have experienced multiple bull and bear cycles, coupled with the continuous entry of whale funds, the overall market is moving towards a direction with less selling pressure and lower upward resistance.
[PANews]
South Korea’s National Tax Service pilots entrusting the management of seized virtual assets to private custody institutions for the first time.
According to News1, the Korean National Tax Service is piloting the consignment of seized virtual assets to private crypto custody institutions for safekeeping and management for the first time. The relevant bidding was announced on April 29, and the deadline for bidding is May 12. The pilot operation is scheduled to run until the end of this year.
Major Korean custody institutions such as KODA, KDAC, Hecto WalletOne, BDACS, and InfiniteBlock are preparing to participate. Although the budget for this pilot project is only about $5,800.00 USD, the industry believes that obtaining a “Korean National Tax Service project” reference case has symbolic significance.
[Foresight News]
Analyst: BTC retail investors and whales have both increased their holdings recently, with whales holding over 10,000 BTC seeing their largest accumulation in two years.
According to analyst Murphy’s post on the X platform, data shows that retail addresses holding less than 1 BTC have cumulatively increased their holdings by 23,074 BTC in the past 30 days, with three rounds of significant increases previously occurring near Bitcoin’s prices of approximately $66,000.00, $70,000.00 and $80,000.00.
At the same time, whale addresses holding more than 10,000 BTC have begun to increase their holdings on a large scale since around $66,000.00, with the peak balance increasing by 140,699 BTC in 30 days, the largest net increase in nearly two years, showing obvious signs of building positions.
Analysts believe that most of the investors currently participating in Bitcoin trading in the market have experienced multiple cycles, and the large-scale inflow of whale funds also reflects that the market is evolving in a direction with less resistance.
[Odaily]
USDT0 Announces Security Architecture Details: Implements a 3/3 Verification Mechanism and Launches a $6.00 Million Bug Bounty Program
In the wake of the Kelp security incident, Tether asset interoperability protocol USDT0 has released details of its protocol security architecture. The system currently employs a proprietary DVN (Decentralized Verification Network) and holds a message veto power, requiring three independent validators based on different codebases to reach a 3/3 consensus before cross-chain messages can be settled.
Current validation nodes include the USDT0 proprietary DVN, LayerZero, and Canary, with future plans to expand to 4/4 and 5/5 verification mechanisms.
USDT0 also stated that all multi-signature transactions must undergo multiple reviews by internal teams, external security teams, and auditing firms before signatures are submitted. The relevant contracts have been audited by institutions such as Guardian and OpenZeppelin, and a $6 million bug bounty program has been launched on Immunefi.
[Foresight News]
Today’s Market Pulse
Bitcoin faces critical technical and fundamental crossroads as CPI data looms, with whale accumulation signaling potential upside despite short-term correction risks, while institutional adoption narratives gain traction.
Key Themes
Bitcoin’s Contradictory Signals
Bitcoin’s daily chart forms a rising wedge pattern with support at $84,000, potentially targeting $70,000 on breakdown, while retail addresses and whales have accumulated over 163,000 BTC in the past month—the largest whale accumulation in two years. This conflicting technical and on-chain dynamic creates uncertainty ahead of the May 12 CPI release, where expectations of 3.56% YoY inflation could reinforce Fed rate cut delays, pressuring risk assets like Bitcoin.
Institutional Adoption vs. Market Realignment
VanEck projects Bitcoin will reach new all-time highs within 12 months as central banks adopt it as a reserve asset, yet South Korean crypto holdings crashed 50% as investors chased equities. This divergence suggests institutional adoption may be accelerating while retail capital reallocates, potentially creating a two-tiered market structure. Circle’s Q1 earnings report today may further reveal institutional sentiment shifts, with expectations of $715M revenue and $0.27 EPS.
Geopolitical Tensions & Crypto Infrastructure
Iran’s Supreme Leader issuing new military orders coincides with a Qatari LNG tanker successfully transiting the Strait of Hormuz after a 70-day hiatus using a new Iranian route, potentially signaling regional stability. Meanwhile, South Korea prepares stricter AML rules for cross-border crypto flows while implementing private custody solutions for seized assets, indicating regulatory maturity despite capital flight. Token unlocks for CONX ($18.1M), AVAX ($16.5M), and ARB ($13M) next week add supply-side pressure to watch.
RichSilo Verdict
Smart money should monitor whether Bitcoin holds $84,000 support as CPI approaches, with a break potentially accelerating downside toward $70,000. The whale accumulation pattern suggests institutional players may be positioning for a post-CPI rally, particularly if VanEck’s central bank reserve thesis materializes. Key catalysts include Circle’s earnings today, South Korea’s regulatory framework evolution, and whether geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalate, potentially boosting Bitcoin’s safe-haven appeal. The most bullish signal would be a CPI print below expectations triggering a relief rally, while the most concerning would be a breakdown below key technical levels accompanied by reduced institutional absorption post-Strategy’s Bitcoin purchase pause.
