CoinDesk Poll: Only 1% of U.S. Voters List Cryptocurrency as Top Issue for Midterm Elections
On May 3, a survey commissioned by CoinDesk and conducted among 1,000 U.S. registered voters revealed that only 1% of respondents listed cryptocurrency as the most important issue in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections—ranking nearly last among all concerns.
In contrast, cost of living (36%), jobs and the economy (13%), and Social Security and Medicare (11%) emerged as the top issues for voters.
The survey also found that U.S. voters hold largely negative views toward cryptocurrency: only 27% of respondents reported having invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency, while another 27% said they might participate in the future.
[PANews]
Bessent: Optimistically believes Powell will ultimately leave the Fed in the short term
May 3rd news, according to Jinshi reports, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he is optimistic that Powell will eventually leave the Federal Reserve in the short term. Powell’s decision to remain as a Fed governor violated convention and is very optimistic about a Fed led by Walsh.
Iran has had little success in trying to collect tolls on ships, and is not surprised that more ships are passing through the Strait of Hormuz, with futures markets predicting that oil prices will fall.
[PANews]
Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex’s founding family has close ties with senior officials, and trading remains active during the war.
Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was founded by members of the Kharrazi family, who have close ties to Iran’s supreme leadership. Investigations show that the exchange was created by brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, who used the surname “Aghamir” to conceal their association with the Kharrazi family, which has long been closely linked to Iran’s political core, including historical ties to Ali Khamenei and his successors.
Nobitex currently serves over 11.00 million users, dominates the Iranian crypto market, and continues to operate during Iran’s conflicts with the United States and Israel, even processing transactions during nationwide internet disruptions. Analysts say its transaction volume exceeded $100.00 million during wartime, with significant capital outflows overseas.
In addition, multiple on-chain analysis firms have pointed out that the platform has processed transactions related to sanctioned entities, estimated to range from $22.00 million to $366.00 million. Other data shows that wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets to Nobitex in 2025, believed to be used to circumvent financial sanctions. Nobitex has denied any association with the government, saying that illegal transactions account for only a small portion of its overall business.
[Cointelegraph]
Jack Dorsey’s Cash App launches Bitcoin reserve proof feature
On May 3rd, billionaire Jack Dorsey’s crypto finance platform Cash App officially launched its Bitcoin reserve proof function, open to over 60 million users. It allows independent verification of the platform’s Bitcoin holdings to achieve a 1:1 full reserve, ensuring that assets are real and controllable.
Market commentators say this move is a key step for the crypto industry in terms of transparency, user trust, and self-custody standards, laying an important foundation for the industry’s long-term healthy development.
[PANews]
CoinDesk Poll: Only 1% of US Voters Rank Cryptocurrency as Top Issue in Midterm Elections
A survey commissioned by CoinDesk and conducted among 1,000 registered U.S. voters found that only 1% of respondents listed cryptocurrency as the most important issue in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections—ranking nearly last among all concerns.
In contrast, cost of living (36%), jobs and the economy (13%), and Social Security and Medicare (11%) emerged as the top issues for voters.
The survey also revealed that U.S. voters hold a generally negative view of cryptocurrency: only 27% of respondents reported having invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrency, while another 27% indicated they might participate in the future.
[Foresight News]
Iranian Embassy releases Trump’s photo, questioning: “Pirate or President?”
May 3rd news, according to Jinshi reports, the Iranian Embassy in South Africa posted a picture of US President Donald Trump on the social platform X, with the caption asking: “Pirate or President?”
Previously, Trump had compared the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to piracy, calling it “a very lucrative thing.”
[PANews]
Bessent: U.S. energy exports are currently at a record high.
On May 3, according to JIN10, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that the United States’ current energy exports have reached a record high; the only factor limiting U.S. energy exports is infrastructure.
The U.S. is a “big winner” in the energy market.
[PANews]
Reuters: Iran’s Largest Crypto Exchange Nobitex Deeply Tied to Supreme Leader System
May 3rd news, according to Cointelegraph, Reuters released an in-depth investigation revealing the core background and operating model of Iran’s largest crypto trading platform, Nobitex.
The platform was founded in 2018 by the two brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi of the powerful Iranian Kharrazi family. The two have long used the pseudonym “Aghamir” to operate the platform, deliberately downplaying their connection with the core of power.
[PANews]
CryptoQuant analyst: Models indicate that BTC’s decline to $59,000 is required to mark the beginning of a medium- to long-term bottoming process.
CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr. posted on the X platform that the Adjusted Realized Price Bands model, based on the current circulating supply of Bitcoin, shows that Bitcoin needs to fall to the key range of $59,000.0 to start a real medium-to-long-term bottoming process.
Bottoming is not a short-term process and will not be completed in one to two weeks. The baseline scenario is expected to take about 6 months.
Axel Adler Jr. emphasized that although Bitcoin has risen recently, the core driver of market stabilization is not sentiment repair or a partial rebound, but the return of long-term real demand. That is, the bottom can only be truly established when the market starts to price future value again and spot buying continues to recover.
[Odaily]
Iranian media reported that a super-large Iranian oil tanker broke through the U.S. blockade.
On May 3, according to Jinshi citing Iran’s Fars News Agency, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) belonging to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) broke through the monitoring blockade of the “extraterritorial naval fleet,” and the oil tanker was loaded with more than 1.90 million barrels of crude oil.
The report said that this shows Iran’s energy supply chain management and shipping strategy to evade monitoring by the U.S. Navy, and once again proves Iran’s practical ability to ensure the safety of energy transportation.
[PANews]
Tether CEO: WDK and QVAC may be integrated to support Agent Cards functionality
On May 3rd, stablecoin issuer Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed on the X platform that Tether may promote the integration of WDK (Wallet Development Kit) and QVAC (Local AI SDK) in the future to provide core support for its Agent Cards related functions.
Analysts believe that this direction will help improve the connection layer between AI agents and crypto payment infrastructure, and provide more efficient underlying support for automated application scenarios.
[PANews]
Founder of Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, has ties to the Supreme Leader’s family.
According to a Reuters investigation, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was founded by members of the Kharrazi family, who have close ties to Iran’s supreme leadership. The investigation revealed that the exchange was created by brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, who used the surname “Aghamir” to conceal their connection to the Kharrazi family, which has long been closely linked to Iran’s political core, including historical ties to Ali Khamenei and his successors.
The report points out that Nobitex currently serves over 11 million users, dominates the Iranian crypto market, and continues to operate even during conflicts between Iran and the United States and Israel, even during nationwide internet disruptions. Analysts say its transaction volume exceeded $100 million during wartime, with a large amount of capital flowing overseas.
In addition, several on-chain analysis firms have pointed out that the platform has processed transactions related to sanctioned entities, estimated to range from $22.00 million to $366.00 million. Other data shows that wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets to Nobitex in 2025, believed to be used to circumvent financial sanctions. Nobitex has denied any association with the government, saying that illegal transactions account for only a small portion of its overall business.
[ChainCatcher]
Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader: Trump’s Recent Words and Deeds Can Hardly Conceal “White House Disillusionment”
PANews reported on May 3 that Ali Akbar Velayati, the Supreme Leader of Iran’s foreign affairs advisor, posted on social media on May 3, saying that the US withdrawal of troops from Germany, the weakening of NATO, and the frequent technical problems of US warships are all regarded as “signs of the White House’s disillusionment,” and US President Trump’s recent words and deeds can hardly conceal the reality.
Velayati said: “Trump recently threatened Iran with famine, but ignored the fact that world food security and fertilizer supply chains are controlled by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, which reflects Trump’s lack of awareness of the world’s economic and political situation.”
He also said that international politics is not making movies, “any act of playing with the lifeline of the world will only lead itself into a deadlock in the end.”
[Golden Ten Data APP]
Figure founder predicts blockchain will reshape Wall Street’s credit infrastructure
Mike Cagney, founder of Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR), stated that the company is driving the reconstruction of traditional credit market infrastructure via blockchain—bringing loans, real-world assets (RWA), and even equities on-chain—with the goal of enabling credit to flow independently of traditional intermediaries, thereby establishing “Wall Street’s new infrastructure.”
Data shows that Figure’s monthly loan origination volume exceeded $1.0 billion for the first time in March this year; its total loan origination in Q1 2026 reached $2.9 billion, representing an annualized volume of approximately $12.0 billion.
Mike Cagney noted that loan tokenization can significantly reduce securitization costs and eliminate traditional intermediary fees, while enhancing liquidity through continuously updated, real-time credit markets—and enabling on-chain credit assets to integrate directly into the DeFi ecosystem, broadening investor participation. Its Forge platform packages loans into standardized asset pools and converts them into tokens usable as collateral across DeFi protocols.
Currently, Figure is advancing these initiatives within the Solana ecosystem and plans to expand to Ethereum. Additionally, the company has launched YLDS—a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by traditional assets such as U.S. Treasury securities—with a current scale of approximately $600 million—and is exploring equity tokenization and on-chain staking-based lending. Mike Cagney emphasized that blockchain will be one of the most transformative technologies, fundamentally redefining the architecture of future financial markets.
[Odaily]
Cash App, a crypto financial application by Jack Dorsey, plans to launch Bitcoin reserve proof.
Jack Dorsey’s billionaire-backed crypto finance app platform, Cash App, officially launched its Bitcoin proof-of-reserves feature this week, verifying to its over 60 million users that all Bitcoin holdings on its platform are fully backed on a 1:1 basis.
The market views this move as a significant step forward for the crypto industry in terms of transparency, user trust, and self-custody standards—and it is also seen as a positive signal for the industry’s long-term healthy development.
[Odaily]
Iranian Revolutionary Guard: Trump must choose between military action and a “bad deal”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated, “Trump must choose between an impossible military operation or a bad deal with Iran. The U.S.’s decision-making space has narrowed.”
[Odaily]
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Gives Pentagon Deadline to Lift Blockade
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has stated that it is giving the Pentagon a deadline to lift the blockade against Iran. [CCTV News]
[Odaily]
Michael Saylor: No purchases this week, back to work next week
May 3 news: Michael Saylor, founder of Bitcoin treasury company Strategy, posted on X: “No purchases this week; resuming operations next week.”
[PANews]
Figure Founder: Blockchain Is Becoming Wall Street’s New Infrastructure, Aiming to Reconstruct the Credit Market
On May 3, according to CoinDesk, Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR) founder Mike Cagney said that the company is restructuring the traditional credit market infrastructure through blockchain, promoting the on-chaining of real-world assets (RWA), lending, and even stocks, to create “new plumbing” for Wall Street.
Figure achieved a single-month loan origination volume of over $1.00B for the first time in March this year, with a total origination volume of $2.90B in the first quarter, which is approximately $12.00B on an annualized basis.
[PANews]
Today’s Market Pulse
Despite growing institutional adoption, crypto remains politically irrelevant in U.S. elections, while Iran’s sanctioned economy demonstrates crypto’s utility in circumventing traditional financial systems. The market faces a critical inflection point between transparency initiatives and geopolitical volatility.
Key Themes
Mainstream Rejection vs. Niche Adoption
U.S. voter sentiment reveals crypto’s political irrelevance, with only 1% listing it as a top election concern. This disconnect between Wall Street’s growing crypto adoption and retail/political awareness suggests a bifurcating market where institutional drivers increasingly diverge from retail sentiment. Near-term, this may limit regulatory tailwinds despite industry progress.
Sanctions Evasion & State-Sponsored Crypto
Iran’s Nobitex exchange, tied directly to the country’s supreme leadership, processed over $100 million in transactions during wartime and facilitated sanctioned entity transactions. The Central Bank of Iran transferred hundreds of millions in crypto to Nobitex, demonstrating how sanctioned economies weaponize crypto for capital flight. This accelerates the need for regulatory frameworks that balance national security with innovation.
Traditional Finance Integration Accelerates
Figure Technology achieved $1 billion monthly loan origination, signaling blockchain’s irreversible entry into Wall Street’s core infrastructure. By tokenizing loans and enabling on-chain credit assets, traditional finance is being rebuilt on distributed ledgers, creating new yield opportunities and challenging legacy intermediaries. This trend represents the most significant catalyst for mainstream crypto adoption.
Transparency Standard Emerges
Jack Dorsey’s Cash App launching Bitcoin reserve proof sets a precedent for custodians, allowing users to verify 1:1 backing. This transparency initiative addresses the industry’s trust deficit but may create compliance burdens as regulators scrutinize reserve attestations. Market watchers should expect other custodians to follow suit, potentially becoming differentiators in a competitive landscape.
RichSilo Verdict
Smart money should monitor the convergence of institutional adoption and geopolitical risks, particularly how sanctioned economies leverage crypto for capital flight versus how Wall Street integrates blockchain infrastructure. The Bitcoin market appears vulnerable to a retest of $59,000 before establishing a proper bottom, while transparency initiatives like reserve proofs may become regulatory requirements rather than competitive advantages. The most significant near-term catalyst is the accelerating on-chain tokenization of real-world assets, which could unlock trillions in traditional capital for crypto-native protocols.
