Author: Isabella Taylor
The US banking lobby is mounting a last-minute push to stall the CLARITY Act just days before its scheduled Senate Banking Committee markup on May 14. Summary Five major banking groups jointly rejected the Tillis-Alsobrooks stablecoin yield compromise, calling it insufficient days before the May 14 markup. Senators Lummis and Tillis publicly defended the deal, warning that banking opposition may be aimed at killing the CLARITY Act altogether. Prediction markets currently price the bill’s odds of becoming law in 2026 at over 60%, with the White House targeting a July 4 presidential signature. The American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy…
Coinbase x402 is now native to Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, letting AI agents pay for services in USDC without human input Summary AWS launched Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments on May 7, with Coinbase x402 and wallet infrastructure embedded to give AI agents autonomous USDC payment capability. Agents settle transactions on Base in roughly 200 milliseconds at less than a fraction of a cent per transaction, with enterprise spending controls and compliance checks built in. The x402 protocol has processed more than 169 million payments across 590,000 buyers in its first year, and both AWS and Coinbase are founding members of the…
The Pentagon released 162 UAP files on May 8, including NASA Apollo moon photos and 1965 astronaut audio Summary The Department of War posted 162 UAP files on May 8 at war.gov/ufo, covering sightings from 1942 to 2025, with 108 of the files containing some redactions. The most notable documents include NASA transcripts and photographs from the Apollo 12 and 17 moon missions, with three unexplained lights visible above the lunar surface in the Apollo 17 image. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed more files will follow in rolling tranches, with the Pentagon opening a formal investigation into the Apollo 17…
Connecticut SB5 passed both chambers on May 1 and heads to the governor, making it one of the most comprehensive state AI laws in the US. Summary Connecticut SB5 passed 131-17 in the House and 32-4 in the Senate on May 1, with Governor Lamont confirming he will sign the bill. The law covers AI companions, synthetic media transparency, automated employment decision tools, and frontier model developers, with staggered effective dates from October 2026. The law takes effect despite the Trump administration’s executive order urging states to avoid burdensome AI regulation, making Connecticut the latest state to defy federal pressure.…
Morgan Stanley has launched E*Trade crypto trading at 0.5%, undercutting Coinbase, Schwab, and Robinhood in a pilot set to reach 8.6 million users. Summary Morgan Stanley launched an E*Trade crypto pilot on May 6, charging 50 basis points per trade for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana via infrastructure partner Zerohash. The 0.5% fee undercuts Charles Schwab at 75bps, Fidelity at 1%, and Coinbase retail fees that can exceed 0.5% depending on tier and payment method. All 8.6 million E*Trade clients are set to gain access later in 2026, alongside a proprietary digital wallet expected in the second half of the year.…
OpenAI has crossed $25bn in annualized revenue and is actively preparing its OpenAI IPO for as early as the fourth quarter of 2026. Summary OpenAI crossed $25bn in annualized revenue in February 2026, up from $6bn at the end of 2024, driven by ChatGPT subscriptions and enterprise adoption. The OpenAI IPO is being prepared with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley advising, targeting a potential filing in the second half of 2026. OpenAI is not yet profitable and projects annual cash burn reaching $57bn by 2027, making public capital access a financial necessity rather than a choice. OpenAI has crossed…
Meta launched Muse Spark on April 8, its first fully closed AI model, abandoning its open-source Llama strategy Summary Meta launched Muse Spark on April 8, the first product from its Meta Superintelligence Labs unit, built from scratch by Alexandr Wang’s team after a $14.3bn Scale AI deal. The model is fully proprietary with no open weights, a direct reversal of the Llama strategy that reached 1.2 billion downloads by early 2026. Meta stock rose 9% on launch day, and the model will roll out across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger in the coming weeks. Meta launched Muse Spark on…
The Senate Banking Committee is expected to hold a formal CLARITY Act vote as early as next week, Coinbase said at Consensus 2026. Summary The Senate Banking Committee is preparing to notice a markup for the CLARITY Act the week of May 11, with draft text already circulated to industry. Coinbase VP Kara Calvert said the bill needs at least 60 Senate votes and warned that bipartisan backing is essential to advance it. A HarrisX survey shows 70% of voters believe the US should have already passed federal crypto legislation. Coinbase says the CLARITY Act is heading for a Senate…
The S&P 500’s push to a record near 7,400 confirms a late‑cycle, full‑risk‑on regime where Bitcoin and major crypto assets are again trading as high‑beta extensions of U.S. equities rather than as independent hedges. Summary The S&P 500 has pushed to a new all‑time high near 7,400, up roughly 0.8% on the day, extending a powerful risk‑on rally in U.S. equities. Bitcoin and major crypto assets have increasingly traded as high‑beta plays on the same macro cycle, with BTC–S&P correlations hitting 0.7–0.9 in recent months. A record‑high stock market generally supports the bull case for crypto in the near term,…
Trump has abandoned his Iran war maximalist demands as polls drop and peace talks remain deadlocked Summary Trump has quietly dropped demands for Iran’s unconditional surrender and regime change, two of his stated original goals at the start of the war. His approval rating on the Iran war has fallen from 39% in early March to 30% in the latest YouGov survey. A Pew Research survey found 62% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict, a number that has held steady since March. Trump has abandoned his Iran war maximalist demands as polls drop and peace talks remain…