• The Fed held rates steady for a third straight meeting, but the tone of the statement shifted noticeably.
• For the first time since 1992, four members dissented. Three of them opposed keeping the “tilt toward easing” language, signaling resistance to market expectations of rate cuts.
• Inflation wording was upgraded from “somewhat elevated” to simply “elevated,” reflecting increased concern.
• The Fed also explicitly highlighted Middle East tensions as a source of “very high uncertainty” and flagged rising energy prices as a risk.
After the community reacted to Strategy saying it may sell BTC to cover dividends, Michael Saylor stepped in to clarify the situation and avoid misunderstanding.
In April, Strategy raised $3.2B through STRC to buy more BTC, while its dividend obligation was only around $80M–$90M.
In other words, the company would only need to sell 1 BTC to maintain cash flow, while using the same structure to acquire another 10–20 BTC.
Based on the calculation, BTC needs to rise more than 2.3% per year for Strategy to generate enough upside to offset the dividends paid to investors. Otherwise, the company would have to absorb the loss.
LayerZero $ZRO has issued an apology after days of criticism over its slow response and lack of transparency regarding the infrastructure issue affecting KelpDAO.
However the apology may have come too late. Several major projects have already started migrating to Chainlink CCIP.
Current list includes:
• KelpDAO: around $1.5B TVL
• Solv Protocol: around $600M TVL
• re: around $200M TVL
In total nearly $2B in TVL is moving away from the LayerZero ecosystem.
Some major names still rely on LayerZero including Ethena’s USDe, EtherFi’s weETH and Tether’s USDT0.
The real question now is whether LayerZero can restore trust fast enough to keep these key partners from leaving too.
DOJ is now looking into a series of oil trades that look almost too perfectly timed.
According to reports, the DOJ and CFTC are probing at least four major short positions placed right before key geopolitical announcements linked to Iran and oil markets.
The pattern is what caught Wall Street’s attention:
Around $500M in bearish oil bets before Trump delayed strikes on Iran.
Nearly $1B short before a temporary ceasefire announcement.
About $760M placed shortly before Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open again.
Another $430M short before the ceasefire extension.
In total, these trades involved more than $2.6B in positions betting on oil prices falling.
The big question now is simple: was this just a fund with an insanely sharp macro read, or did someone trade with access to information the market did not have yet?
For now, there is no public proof of insider trading and the traders behind the positions have not been identified. But the timing is so precise that regulators are clearly taking it seriously.
Online rumors have already started pointing fingers, but no verified evidence has linked any named individual to the trades. This is still an investigation, not a conclusion.
Zcash is back in the spotlight as the quantum-resistant narrative heats up.
The project has revealed plans to launch a quantum-resistant wallet within the next month. The idea is simple: if quantum computers ever become powerful enough to break today’s encryption, Zcash users would still have a safe path to move their funds into a stronger security standard.
The bigger roadmap is even more ambitious. Zcash wants the whole network to become quantum-resistant within the next 12 to 18 months, while also pushing transaction speed toward the level of Visa and Mastercard.
At Consensus Miami, CEO Josh Swihart said Bitcoin now fits more as an ETF asset and long-term store of value because its transparency is too high. Zcash, on the other hand, is leaning fully into private money and financial privacy.
$ZEC has already surged more than 110 percent in the past 30 days, helped by the return of privacy coin interest, Multicoin Capital openly accumulating a large $ZEC position, and new demand from Near Intents, which lets users swap BTC, SOL, or USDC directly into private ZEC.