Russian Ministry of Finance: Considered excluding USDT from the cryptocurrency regulatory framework, but did not proceed due to lack of industry support.
According to TASS, Ivan Chebeskov, Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia, stated during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that the Ministry of Finance had considered excluding USDT from the cryptocurrency regulation bill. However, nearly all industry participants—including financial intermediaries and representatives of the crypto industry—indicated that such exclusion was unnecessary and expressed their willingness to assume the risks associated with this instrument using technical means.
He added that, given the industry’s clear opposition to creating an exemption and the fact that USDT is already widely used by citizens and enterprises, such a ban is currently not under consideration.
[Foresight News]
A whale deposited 602 BTC into Binance, profiting approximately $30.66 million
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale that had been dormant for 5 years deposited 602.26 BTC into Binance.
The deposit is valued at approximately 37.81 million USD, resulting in a profit of about 30.66 million USD.
[Foresight News]
ADA: A Misread “Governance Crisis” — The Growing Pains of Decentralization’s Victory, Not a Collapse in Fundamentals
The real value of this crash is that it forces the market to answer one question: how decentralized do you actually want a blockchain to be? If a founder publicly admits that he cannot control the budget, cannot influence price, and cannot make decisions on behalf of the community — and you sell the asset because of that statement — then perhaps you never truly wanted a decentralized system in the first place. What Cardano is teaching the market at this moment is worth more than anything a Summit could teach.
Moody’s warns: The Fed may be forced to raise interest rates as inflation expectations surge significantly.
Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi pointed out that although US GDP has risen this year and the economy appears resilient, warning signs are already flashing. The Federal Reserve faces challenges under new Chairman Kevin Walsh, as the Fed is currently unable to implement policies to boost the economy and support job growth, namely, cutting interest rates.
During the Iran war, US inflation expectations surged. Zandi stated that if inflation expectations continue to rise, it could force the Fed to raise interest rates, even if it triggers a full economic recession, as policymakers will prioritize controlling inflation.
[JIN10]
Man Who Stole $11M From Charles Schwab Just Escaped Prison, Ripple Ex-CTO Reacts
Arthur Cofield, a 34-year-old Atlanta man already serving time for prior convictions, stole $11 million from a Charles Schwab brokerage account using a contraband cellphone, then escaped from a Georgia federal prison on May 26. The case drew a wry response from David Schwartz, former Chief Technology Officer at Ripple, who wrote on X that he could not determine whether to be more shocked or impressed.
Cofield was already incarcerated when federal prosecutors filed new charges against him in December 2020. He was serving time for armed robbery in Butts County, Georgia, and faced an attempted murder charge in Fulton County. Cofield used a smuggled phone to steal the identity of a Schwab client, identified in court documents only as “S.K.” A co-conspirator supplied S.K.’s driver’s license and a utility bill. Cofield used those documents to impersonate the victim and open a checking account in their name.
Charles Schwab then wired $11 million from the victim’s account to an Idaho precious metals dealer. The funds purchased 6,106 American Gold Eagle coins. A private security firm transported the coins from Idaho to Atlanta, where they were converted into a $4 million mansion near West Paces Ferry. He was sentenced in 2024 to more than 11 years for identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and bank fraud. The court ordered him to pay restitution to the victim.
On the afternoon of May 26, authorities at the Federal Correctional Institution in Jesup found Cofield missing from the minimum-security camp. The FBI has since announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to his capture. He is classified as armed and dangerous.
The story spread quickly in crypto circles. Charles Schwab is competing for crypto market share against digital-native brokers, and a fraud of this scale at the firm draws attention from the industry. The firm’s crypto custody expansion plans through 2027 have raised its profile further. Whether Cofield is recaptured in the coming days, the scheme raises a persistent question for federal authorities. A cellphone and a stolen identity, it turns out, can go a long way.
Ethena considers including AAA-rated CLOs in USDe reserves
Ethena announced plans to include AAA-rated Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) in its USDe reserve assets.
Risk committee member LlamaRisk has completed independent due diligence and approved the tokenized AAA CLO fund issued by asset manager Janus Henderson via Centrifuge as a qualified reserve asset, with a single position cap of approximately $310.00 million. The relevant deliberation results will be officially effective after being published on the Ethena governance forum.
Asset classes with insufficient liquidity or pricing transparency, such as private credit and long-duration fixed income, are explicitly excluded.
[Foresight News]
Michael Saylor: The Bitcoin community is splitting into four major factions, and any faction going to extremes will be detrimental.
Bitcoin Treasury Company founder and executive chairman Strategy, Michael Saylor, published an article on the X platform stating that the Bitcoin ecosystem is gradually differentiating into four core ideologies: Bitcoin Maximalists, Bitcoin Capitalists, Bitcoin Technologists, and Bitcoin Fundamentalists.
Among them, Maximalists emphasize Bitcoin as the dominant global digital currency network; Capitalists advocate for Bitcoin’s deep integration into banking, enterprises, and capital markets; Technologists support cautious advancement of protocol upgrades to enhance scalability, security, and functionality; Fundamentalists focus on self-custody, node operation, decentralization, and protocol immutability.
Saylor believes that the four ideologies correspond to four forces: “belief, adoption, innovation, and guardianship.” Bitcoin’s future should not be a choice between purity and adoption, or innovation and stability, but should achieve balance through “disciplined expansion”: maintaining the stability and decentralization of the underlying protocol while placing most innovation on Layer 2 networks, custody, credit, and capital market infrastructure.
[ChainCatcher]
Bitcoin struggles for attention as traders chase stock and pre IPO contracts: report
Bitcoin and Ethereum trading activity has fallen to multi-quarter lows on Hyperliquid, while volume in equity-linked and pre-IPO perpetual contracts has climbed sharply. Risk sentiment around the two largest cryptocurrencies has continued to weaken, even as speculative demand remains active in other parts of the market.
The research firm pointed to its in-house Bitcoin and Ethereum Risk Appetite Indexes, which have moved lower over the past week alongside declines in both assets. Recent weakness in crypto majors has coincided with several market developments. Block Scholes noted that Strategy sold $2.5 million worth of Bitcoin from its holdings, a move that came after years of public commitment from Executive Chairman Michael Saylor to continue accumulating the asset. The report also highlighted the longest streak of outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs since their launch.
Rather than viewing Bitcoin’s drop toward the low $60,000 region as a sign of fading interest across the entire digital asset market, Block Scholes argued that trading activity has become concentrated in a different set of instruments. Data from Hyperliquid shows that daily Bitcoin perpetual futures volume has remained near $2 billion, while Ethereum volumes have stayed around $600 million to $700 million, levels Block Scholes described as multi-quarter lows.
At the same time, activity tied to equity and commodity markets has expanded rapidly on the platform. The three most actively traded non-crypto perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid are XYZ100, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, SP500, an S&P 500-linked product, and CL, a contract tied to WTI crude oil. Combined daily volume across those three markets has reached approximately $1.3 billion, generating $27.1 billion in notional trading volume over the past month. Block Scholes said that total equals about 112% of Ethereum perpetual volume and roughly 38% of Bitcoin perpetual volume on the exchange during the same period.
The report said the development does not necessarily represent a dollar-for-dollar migration of capital from Bitcoin and Ethereum. Instead, the report argued that trader attention and speculative activity that previously supported crypto majors are increasingly being directed toward alternative markets available through the same trading venue.
Beyond stock index and commodity products, Block Scholes identified pre-IPO perpetual contracts as another area attracting crypto-native traders. The ratio of pre-IPO perpetual volume relative to Ethereum perpetual volume increased from roughly 0.1% to a peak near 3.0% in recent weeks. Daily trading volume in the segment has climbed from less than $5 million to more than $50 million, with contracts linked to SpaceX accounting for much of the increase. Block Scholes said the rise has been abrupt and concentrated, with activity accelerating into late May and early June while Bitcoin and Ethereum volumes remained subdued.
The firm’s risk appetite data also showed a divergence among digital assets. While sentiment tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum has weakened, Block Scholes reported that Hyperliquid’s HYPE token is one of the few major crypto assets where its risk appetite indicator continues to move higher.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Binance Research recently published a report noting that capital has been flowing toward a concentrated group of U.S. equity sectors, including artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductor companies, defense contractors, energy firms, and commodities. Strong performance in those sectors has historically reduced liquidity available to Bitcoin and other alternative assets. Using the CBOE Dispersion Index as a measure of market concentration, Binance Research noted that the indicator recently reached 42, its third-highest reading on record. The firm argued that periods of concentrated equity leadership have often coincided with weakness in Bitcoin as investors direct funds toward a smaller group of high-performing themes.
[Block Scholes]
Deutsche Bank raises Robinhood target price to $98.00
Deutsche Bank raised its target price for Robinhood (HOOD.O) from $88.00 to $98.00.
[Odaily]
Privacy Coin ZEC’s Dilemma: Privacy Is Its Selling Point — and Its Fatal Weakness When It Cannot Prove Innocence
The fact that the vulnerability was discovered by AI pushes the question beyond a single coin and toward the entire industry: when the cost of “finding vulnerabilities” is sharply reduced by frontier models, the risk hanging over every high-TVL protocol rises. How to rebuild security and trust in a new environment reshaped by AI-driven offense and defense may be the most important question Zcash’s crisis leaves for the industry.
Polymarket CMO exposed for paying over $2.50 million to more than 800 influencers without disclosing the paid promotional relationships
According to Politico, Polymarket Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Modabber transferred over $2.50 million to more than 800 individuals via his personal PayPal account between January 2025 and February 2026. Approximately 24 influencers, whose identities could be verified, posted Polymarket-related content on the X platform after receiving payments, with a cumulative total of over 490 posts. None of them disclosed the paid promotion relationship.
The recipients included content creators with different political stances, such as conservatives and progressives. Some posts presented Polymarket odds data using news-like phrasing such as “BREAKING” and “NEW”.
In response, a Polymarket spokesperson stated that collaborating with influencers is a standard business practice for the company but declined to comment on disclosure policies and Modabber’s use of a personal account for transactions. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission mandates that influencers have an obligation to disclose “material connections” with brands they promote.
[Foresight News]
Polymarket was exposed for paying influencers through personal accounts to covertly promote its prediction market.
According to POLITICO, Matthew Modabber, Chief Marketing Officer of the prediction market platform Polymarket, transferred approximately $2.50 million to over 800 people via his personal PayPal account between January 2025 and February 2026.
At least $350,0000 of this flowed to content creators such as Nick Shirley, Alex LoRusso, Brian Krassenstein, and Riley Gaines.
[PANews]
Today’s Market Pulse
Crypto markets face mounting regulatory scrutiny globally as trader attention migrates toward traditional financial instruments, creating a bifurcated landscape where major cryptocurrencies struggle while alternative assets capture speculative interest.
Key Themes
Regulatory Crosswinds
Russia’s reconsideration of USDT regulation, despite industry pushback, highlights ongoing tensions between decentralized finance and national regulatory frameworks. Meanwhile, Moody’s warning about potential Fed rate hikes due to inflation expectations underscores the macroeconomic risks facing crypto markets. The Polymarket influencer payment scandal further intensifies regulatory scrutiny on marketing practices in the digital asset space.
Market Attention Migration
Notably, Bitcoin and Ethereum trading volumes have fallen to multi-quarter lows as speculative activity shifts toward equity-linked and pre-IPO perpetual contracts. This migration isn’t necessarily a capital exodus but rather a reallocation of risk appetite toward more familiar markets. Robinhood‘s rising target price reflects traditional finance’s growing influence on crypto-native platforms.
Protocol Evolution Challenges
The Cardano governance situation exemplifies the growing pains of truly decentralized systems, while Michael Saylor identifies four ideological factions emerging in the Bitcoin ecosystem. These developments suggest a fundamental tension between purity and practicality that will shape protocol development for years to come. Ethena’s consideration of AAA-rated CLOs in USDe reserves reflects the search for yield in increasingly competitive stablecoin markets.
Security in the AI Era
The Zcash vulnerability discovered by AI represents a new frontier of security challenges in crypto. As AI-driven offense capabilities advance, protocols must develop corresponding defense mechanisms, potentially reshaping the risk calculus for all high-value digital assets.
RichSilo Verdict
Smart money should monitor regulatory developments in key jurisdictions as they will likely determine market structure in the coming months. The migration of trader attention toward traditional financial instruments suggests that crypto markets may remain under pressure until macroeconomic conditions improve. Watch how protocols balance decentralization with practical functionality, as this will be a key differentiator in the next market cycle. The most significant risk remains regulatory overreach, particularly in jurisdictions where traditional finance feels threatened by crypto innovation.
