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The Hong Kong SFC (Securities and Futures Commission) has warned sternly about a crypto scam using deep fake technology. The scam involves AI-generated videos of Elon Musk endorsing a fraudulent trading platform called ‘Quantum AI.’ This scam underscores the increasing use of AI in committing fraud. The SFC has taken a public stance against Quantum AI for making unrealistic promises to deceive potential victims and has taken proactive measures to mitigate the impact. The regulator has requested the Hong Kong Police Force to block access to websites and social media platforms linked to Quantum AI.

Cardano recently reached the $0.48 mark again amidst a recent rally, making addresses holding $2.71 billion worth of tokens profitable after suffering losses from previous declines. Now that the Cardano addresses purchased at an average price of $0.48 have finally broken even, a further rally will make these investments profitable. Analysts also suggest that Cardano is bracing for a rally due to ADA/BTC hitting the bottom lately.

In the latest report released by Ripple Labs Inc., total XRPL transactions increased by 108%, rising to 251 million from 121 million in Q4 2023. New applications and users drove this impressive growth. Additionally, its volume on the DEX increased by 5% from the previous quarter. Despite these developments, the number of new wallets on the protocol dropped by 11% compared to Q4 of the previous year.

The Ethereum-based zero-knowledge solution, ZkSync, has hinted at an expected airdrop of governance tokens by the end of June. The community has eagerly awaited this airdrop since March 23, when investors sent almost $8 million worth of tokens to ZkSync in anticipation. Since then, its TVL (Total Value Locked) has risen to $141 million, according to Defilama. ZkSync has announced that the upcoming v24 upgrade will be the last consecutive protocol upgrade before handing over network governance to the community. ZkSync is a layer-2 network designed to scale Ethereum, providing cheaper transactions through off-chain data storage and computing.

The persistent regulatory crackdown in the US on crypto businesses might drive miners away as they now eye the Middle East as the next region for growth. The Biden administration’s proposed 30% tax on electricity use for digital asset mining operations could devastate the industry in the US, raising concerns among crypto miners. The CEO of an Oman crypto mining firm claims that, compared to the US, the south of Oman offers several geopolitical advantages, including low-cost electricity, reduced political risk, and favorable weather conditions for data centers. As an energy-rich region with lower taxes and lenient environmental regulations, the Middle East might soon attract US crypto miners.

In a recent filing, the US led the global Bitcoin ETF inflow as US Spot BTC ETFs managed to pull in $10 billion in Assets Under Management in Q1, with a remarkable 937 institutional investors considering investing. Top American banking giants Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have recently surprised the industry by revealing their substantial Bitcoin ETF holdings. Millennium Management emerged as the largest institutional player with $2 billion invested. Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Boothbay Fund Management also made significant investments, underscoring substantial US participation in leading the successful ETF market.

Although Ethereum has underperformed year-to-date, Coinbase analysis suggests ETH will perform well in the latter half of 2024. There’s a 30-40% chance of potential approval for an ETH SPOT ETF and a high possibility of a successful lawsuit if rejected. Ethereum has strengthened its long-term positioning due to its unique advantages, such as a strong developer ecosystem and utility in DeFi. Additionally, Ethereum benefits from the narratives of “store of value” and “technology token,” which positions it for an upside later in 2024.

Vitalik Buterin recently published an article addressing MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) issues and balancing its minimization with containment. He highlights the need for strong solo staking and reducing node hardware requirements using Verkle trees and EIP-4444. Additionally, Buterin sheds light on ongoing efforts toward decentralization and the importance of maintaining Ethereum’s unique properties during scaling. His proposals aim to strengthen the ETH infrastructure and support a network that is more decentralized and accessible to its users.

LayerZero has concluded its Sybil self-reporting phase, identifying 803,093 potential Sybil addresses, down from over 2 million. Each self-reported address will receive 15% of its intended token allocation, with the remainder distributed to qualified users. A community bounty will also start on May 18th and last two weeks. This bounty aims to reward participants who report at least 20 sybil addresses. Successful reporters will receive 10% of the expected Sybil token distribution. The final sybil list will be published after the bounty hunt concludes on May 31st.

Thirteen of the 25 largest U.S. hedge funds bought Bitcoin ETFs in Q1 2024. Steven Cohen’s $34 billion hedge fund, Point72, held $77.5 million in the Fidelity Wise Origin Spot Bitcoin ETF. This investment trend also extends to other significant hedge funds like Paul Singer’s Elliott Capital and Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, which holds $2 billion. Data from brokerage River highlight that this increase in adoption among leading hedge funds indicates a growing institutional interest in BTC, holding it for market-making, hedging, and yield generation.

OKX’s Hong Kong subsidiary, OKLINK, noted that Hong Kong’s approval of a spot ETF for Ethereum (PoS) could pave the way for more Layer-1 tokens, such as Solana, to be accepted as ETFs. This step is expected to significantly enhance Hong Kong’s appeal to various crypto projects. Additionally, this approval indicates growing acceptance and regulatory support for several crypto assets. This development would position Hong Kong as a leading cryptocurrency investment and innovation hub.

The Fantom Foundation has announced Sonic Network, a new layer-1 blockchain connected to Ethereum through a native cross-chain bridge. FTM token holders can migrate to Sonic’s $S token at a 1:1 ratio, representing Fantom 2.0. Additionally, the Sonic chain pledges to provide improved performance with 2,000 TPS and single-second finality. Fantom will also support the transition with substantial funding for ecosystem development and governance votes to ensure community support. However, the existing Opera network will continue to receive support during this transition.

The crypto market continues to display a positive price action by adding over $70 Billion (+2.96%) to its global market cap within the past day. Furthermore, the price of BTC has successfully surpassed the $67,000 mark and recorded a 24-hour high of $67,459 during the early trading hours, highlighting a high possibility of a bullish outlook during the upcoming week. Despite adding $1,843 (2.80%) to its portfolio, Bitcoin has recorded a trading volume of $27.213 Billion, a drop of 8.92% within the past 24 hours.

The Nvidia-backed CoreWeave, an AI cloud-computing startup has made headlines after it raised a whopping $7.5 billion, with Blackstone Inc. leading the financing round for CoreWeave, including Coatue, Carlyle, and BlackRock among other investment giants. It aims to boost its investment in cloud data centers amid a worldwide push for developing and pioneering AI technology taking its AI journey to new heights. Investors are drawn to CoreWeave as it is a major supplier of Nvidia’s AI chips, which are crucial for running AI models. Also, CoreWeave’s access to Nvidia’s GPUs has made it highly sought after in the global AI market.