Author: John Smith
The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced two bipartisan bills on April 23 that would give Congress direct oversight authority over US AI chip exports to China and other adversaries, in a direct challenge to the Trump administration’s handling of advanced semiconductor sales. Summary The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced two bipartisan bills on April 23 targeting AI chip exports to China, including the AI Overwatch Act and the Chip Security Act. The AI Overwatch Act would give Congress 30 days to review and potentially block export licenses for advanced chips to adversarial countries, similar to existing arms sale review authority.…
Pi Network co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis will take the stage at Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 7, joining a panel titled “How to Prove You’re Human in an AI World (Without Doxing Yourself)” at the Convergence Stage, as Pi positions its KYC-verified user base as a direct answer to one of the most urgent problems in the AI era. Summary Nicolas Kokkalis will speak at Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 7 from 10:15 to 10:45 AM EDT on the challenge of verifying human identity online without exposing private data. Co-founder Chengdiao Fan will separately speak on May 6 on…
Ripple’s latest market overview confirms that US spot XRP ETFs have accumulated $1.53 billion in assets under management and 773 million XRP in custody, with Goldman Sachs leading all institutional holders through a $153.8 million position spread across four separate funds. Summary US spot XRP ETFs have reached $1.53 billion in AUM and 773 million XRP in custody less than six months after the first products launched in late 2025. Goldman Sachs disclosed a $153.8 million position across four XRP ETFs in its Q4 2025 13F filing, making it the largest known institutional holder and accounting for roughly 73% of…
Polymarket catapulted Waller’s Fed chair odds from 27% to 85% after reports the DOJ will drop its criminal probe into Jerome Powell, clearing a key Senate roadblock. Summary Polymarket traders now assign an 85% chance that Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller will be confirmed as Fed chair before May 15, up from 27% earlier in the day. The move follows reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to drop its criminal investigation into current Fed chair Jerome Powell, removing a key obstacle in the Senate. Senator Thom Tillis had vowed to block any committee vote on President Trump’s…
Solana is trading within an ascending channel, with $90 capping its upside over the past week and acting as a key breakout level. Summary Solana trades within an ascending channel, with $90 acting as a key resistance level that has capped upside for nearly a week. Price has stabilized in the $85–$86 range after dropping from $89, while technical indicators point to building bullish momentum. A breakout above $90 could open upside toward $94–$96, while rejection may lead to a retest of the $80 support zone. According to data from crypto.news, Solana (SOL) dropped from its Wednesday high of $89…
China’s DeepSeek is making waves again by claiming its new V4 models are now just months away from catching up to industry leaders like OpenAI and Google. Summary DeepSeek launched V4-Pro and V4-Flash preview models, claiming performance just 3 to 6 months behind leading systems from OpenAI and Google. The open-source V4-Pro leads rival open models in maths and coding benchmarks, while V4-Flash offers similar reasoning with faster speeds and lower cost. The rollout follows the impact of DeepSeek-R1 and comes amid rising regulatory scrutiny and a narrowing US-China AI performance gap, according to the Stanford AI Index 2026 report.…
Crypto prices stayed muted with major assets, including Bitcoin, experiencing slight declines on Friday as hopes of peace between the U.S. and Iran began to fade. Summary Crypto prices remained subdued as fading U.S.-Iran peace hopes kept Bitcoin range-bound and weighed on overall market sentiment. Ongoing naval blockade and stalled negotiations pushed oil prices higher, raising macro uncertainty and keeping investors in a wait-and-watch mode. Analysts remain divided, with derivatives data signaling caution while some expect a potential short squeeze if Bitcoin breaks key resistance near $80,000. Bitcoin (BTC) price traded sideways between $77,000 and $79,000 over the past 24…
Morgan Stanley has introduced a new portfolio designed to hold stablecoin reserves within its money market fund structure. Summary Morgan Stanley has launched a stablecoin reserve portfolio that allows issuers to place backing assets into its money market fund while earning yield. The fund invests in cash, short-term US Treasuries, and repo agreements, with a $10 million minimum and a 0.15% fee. According to Morgan Stanley, the “Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio” allows issuers to place backing assets into its Institutional Liquidity Funds trust while earning yield without compromising liquidity or capital stability. The fund, listed as MSNXX, is structured to maintain…
The FTX bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in Cursor for $200,000 in April 2023. Summary FTX estate sold its 5% Cursor stake for $200K during bankruptcy asset liquidation in 2023. Cursor’s $60B SpaceX-linked valuation now puts the former FTX stake near $3B in value. The sale has renewed scrutiny over FTX estate asset sales and missed upside from early exits. The sale matched the original amount Alameda Research invested in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in April 2022. The stake has drawn fresh attention after Cursor’s reported valuation rose sharply. SpaceX said it secured the right to acquire Cursor…
Deloitte and Touche LLP has completed a SOC 2 Type 2 examination for Chainlink’s CCIP and Data Feeds, making Chainlink the only data and interoperability oracle platform in the blockchain industry to hold SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 1, and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certifications simultaneously, the full stack of security credentials that institutional risk teams require before deployment. Summary Deloitte and Touche LLP completed a SOC 2 Type 2 examination for Chainlink CCIP and Data Feeds on April 21, 2026, announced by Chainlink via X on April 21. The certification covers Chainlink Price Feeds, SmartData feeds including Proof of…