Strategy Q1 Revenue Below Expectations... Plans to Issue $210 Million in Stocks
The Blockchain reported that Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) announced its first-quarter results. During this period, Strategy's per-share net loss was $16.49, which was attributed to the significant decline in BTC price in the first quarter. Revenue was $111 million, a 3.6% decrease from the same period last year ($115 million), falling about 5% below market expectations. As of March 31 (local time), the company's cash and cash equivalents were $60.3 million. Strategy purchased an additional 80,715 BTC in the first quarter of this year. This brings their total BTC holdings to 553,555 (approximately $5.2 billion). The company also announced plans to issue stocks worth $210 million.
The Blockchain Group Plans to Accumulate 260,000 BTC by 2034
Following Strategy's model and accumulating BTC since last year, the French company The Blockchain Group disclosed through a public filing that they plan to acquire a minimum of 170,000 BTC and a maximum of 260,000 BTC by 2034. This represents approximately 1% of Bitcoin's total supply. The company aims to increase its Bitcoin holdings to 1,000-3,000 this year. Currently, they hold 620 BTC.
Tether Holds $7.6 Billion in BTC
The world's largest stablecoin issuer, Tether, released a report announcing that they currently hold Bitcoin worth $7.6 billion. Tether's total assets are $149.2 billion, with liabilities at $143.6 billion.
CIA Deputy Director: "Bitcoin is Another Battlefield with China"
Michael Ellis, Deputy Director of the CIA, stated that "Bitcoin is one of the areas where the United States must gain an advantage in competition with China." According to Decrypt, in a podcast interview with the founder of Pomp Investments, he emphasized, "Bitcoin is both a tool and a target of competition. We can prevent enemies from using certain technologies and use these technologies to gather intelligence about our adversaries." He concluded by saying, "Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will exist forever. More institutions are accepting Bitcoin, which I personally think is a very good trend."
North Carolina Senate Passes BTC Strategic Reserve Bill
The North Carolina State Senate passed a Bitcoin strategic reserve bill, as reported by Watcher Guru's X account.
Kraken Q1 Revenue $470 Million... 19% Increase Year-on-Year
Kraken reported that its first-quarter revenue was $471.7 million, a 19% increase from the previous year. According to Bloomberg, the exchange's adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter increased by 17% to $187.4 million. Trading volume increased by 29%. Average monthly revenue per user decreased by 11% year-on-year and 17% quarter-on-quarter, which the exchange attributed to new user influx.
Kraken: "North Korean Hackers Attempted to Infiltrate by Disguising Employment"
Kraken reported detecting a recent attempt by North Korean hackers to infiltrate the company's internal systems by applying for engineering positions. According to The Blockchain, the exchange stated that instead of immediately reporting or canceling support, they pursued the hiring process to understand the hackers' strategy. They requested location information, government-issued ID submission, and even asked for recommendations of famous restaurants in the claimed city of residence. As a result, they discovered that an individual had created multiple forged identities to apply for cryptocurrency and related industry jobs. Many had previous employment histories, and some were on sanction blacklists.
Tether CEO: "European MiCA Law Poses Risks to Stablecoins"
Tether (USDT) CEO Paolo Ardoino told Cointelegraph that they did not register as a business in Europe because the local cryptocurrency regulation MiCA is dangerous for stablecoins. He explained that while crypto companies must comply with regulations, there are growing concerns among European companies about compliance risks. Particularly with MiCA, he believes it poses risks to stablecoins and small to medium banks by requiring 60% of stablecoin reserves to be held as cash in European banks, potentially leading to bank failures within years.
Robinhood: "B2C2 and Wintermute to Handle Crypto Market Making"
Robinhood, the US stock and cryptocurrency trading app, disclosed in SEC filings that B2C2 and Wintermute are handling their cryptocurrency trading market making. This is the first time Robinhood has publicly revealed its market makers. Wintermute accounted for 11% of Robinhood's cryptocurrency trading revenue in the first quarter, while B2C2 accounted for 12%.
Robinhood CEO: "Plans to Reduce Dependence on Crypto Trading Volume"
Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev stated in a conference call that "cryptocurrency trading volume will continue to fluctuate. We are exploring business diversification beyond cryptocurrencies to reduce our dependence on crypto trading volume." According to DL News, Robinhood announced that its first-quarter cryptocurrency trading volume was $46 billion, down from $71 billion in the previous quarter. Cryptocurrency trading-based revenue was $252 million.
DeFi Development, 'SOL Reserve Asset', Plans to Raise $24 Million
A US-listed company, DeFi Development (formerly Jeanover), which adopted SOL as a strategic reserve asset last April, announced plans to raise a total of $24 million through PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity). Previously, the company had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue securities up to $1 billion to purchase Solana (SOL) and register up to 1,244,471 common shares for existing shareholders to resell.
US House Representative Proposes Cryptocurrency ATMs in All Government Buildings
Lance Gooden, a Texas state representative, proposed to the US General Services Administration (GSA) director to install cryptocurrency ATMs in all government buildings. In a letter, he emphasized, "This measure aligns with Donald Trump's vision to make the US a global leader in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Since the GSA has already installed cryptocurrency ATMs in some buildings, I hope they will consider expanding this across the United States."
Coinbase to Discontinue MOVE Trading on 5/15
Coinbase announced via its official X (formerly Twitter) that it will discontinue trading support for Movement (MOVE) on May 15th at 2 PM ET. The exchange explained that they regularly monitor assets to verify compliance with listing criteria.
MapleStory N to Launch on Avalanche on 5/15
According to Decrypt, Nexspace will launch the Web3 game MapleStory N on Avalanche on the 15th (local time). The game's unique feature is that players can own and trade in-game assets as cryptocurrency assets on the Avalanche blockchain. Nexspace reported that approximately 1 million wallets were registered during the MapleStory N test period.
TRON Surpasses 10 Billion Cumulative Transactions
Cryptoquant shared on X that TRON (TRX) has exceeded 10 billion cumulative transactions, with an average daily transaction volume of around 8.4 million.
US Stock Indices Close Higher
US stock indices closed with gains:
S&P500: 0.63%
Nasdaq: 1.45%
Dow: 0.20%
BTC Tops $97,000
According to Coinness market monitoring, BTC has surpassed $97,000. On the Binance USDT market, BTC is trading at $97,014.56.
