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Ripple’s $25 million donation to a crypto education fund has reignited conversations about how blockchain projects are building influence through academia—but in the latest episode of Byte-Sized Insight, Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu says that money alone isn’t enough. 

Instead, real-world use cases like student loans backed by DeFi may be crypto’s most convincing value proposition to date.

DeFi student loans

On April 30th, Pencil Finance, a project supported by Animoca Brands and its education arm Open Campus, announced a $10 million student loan financing initiative aimed at providing cheaper, blockchain-backed loans. Siu believes this type of infrastructure investment goes further than symbolic funding.

“What our industry needs a lot more is these kinds of positive-sum use cases that everyone else understands,” Siu said in the interview. “If students can receive better, cheaper and more effective opportunities and interest rates through crypto student loans, what happens? They’re going to be more pro-crypto.”

Related: The Giving Block starts disaster fund for California wildfire victims

The Ethereum Foundation, the nonprofit that supports development across the Ethereum blockchain, distributed $32.6 million in grants in the first quarter of 2025. 

In an allocation update, the organization reported spending on various initiatives through its Ecosystem Support Program (ESP). 

Categories included community and educational grants, zero-knowledge and cryptography. Other allocations included execution layers, developer experience and tools, layer-2 networks and overall ecosystem growth and support. 

Ethereum Foundation focuses on education and community

Of the 101 grants awarded, 32 went to community and education-focused initiatives. Recipients included educational content creators, conference organizers, bootcamps and hackathons such as ETHPrague and ETHiopia.

Sixteen projects focused on improving the developer experience and tooling. Beneficiaries included projects focusing on creating software-development kits (SDKs), building analytics platforms and validator tooling. 

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has received regulatory approval to expand crypto derivatives trading across Europe.

Gemini secured a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), allowing the exchange to offer crypto derivatives in the European Union, it announced on May 9.

“Once we commence business activities, we will be able to offer regulated derivatives throughout the EU and EEA [European Economic Area] under MiFID II,” said Gemini’s head of Europe, Mark Jennings.

According to the exec, the MiFID II license is a big milestone in Gemini’s European expansion, putting it one step closer to offering derivatives to both retail and institutional users.

Advanced traders will get perpetual futures

Gemini’s upcoming derivatives offering in the EU and EEA will include perpetual futures and other derivatives, which will be available to advanced users of Gemini, Jennings noted.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott blamed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act’s failure on partisan politics during a Senate speech on May 8.

Scott said the vote, which failed to reach cloture in the Senate, was expected to mark a step toward greater affordability and innovation. Instead, he said, political divisions took precedence.

“Instead, we witnessed a disappointing display of political gamesmanship that puts partisan politics above policy, and obstruction above innovation, “Scott said.

The bill had previously undergone multiple amendments to address concerns raised by Democrats, including stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers and further provisions for Anti-Money Laundering.

Related: Trump tricked into pushing XRP for crypto reserve: Report

Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun has called on the government to consider adding Bitcoin to its national reserves, suggesting it could serve as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.

Ko, a legislator at-large in Taiwan’s legislative body, the Legislative Yuan, took to X on Friday to report that he had advocated Bitcoin (BTC) investment by the Taiwanese government at the National Conference on May 9.

In his remarks, Ko cited Bitcoin’s potential to become a hedge amid global economic risks and urged Taiwan to recognize the cryptocurrency alongside gold and foreign exchange reserves to boost its financial resilience.

Source: Ko Ju-Chun

Ko’s announcement came shortly after the legislator held talks with Samson Mow, who advocates for Bitcoin adoption by states like El Salvador at his BTC tech firm Jan3.

Taiwan is an export-oriented economy

Ko highlighted that Taiwan is an export-driven economy that has experienced significant fluctuations in its national currency, the New Taiwan dollar, amid global inflation and intensifying geopolitical risks.

Key points:

Bitcoin (BTC) is at its highest levels since January, and traders are eyeing key levels to watch for what’s next.

After hitting $104,000, BTC/USD is retracing to establish support, but the fate of $100,000 is among the concerns for market participants.

Current price action represents an important battleground, as measured from the $75,000 lows this year.

” Headline driven” BTC price gains draw scrutiny

Just $6,000 from new all-time highs, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, BTC price action has stunned the market by jumping 10% in days.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin was up 4.3% on May 9, after breaking $100,000  for the first time since February.

BTC price gains trigger $800 million in short liquidations, the largest since 2021.

A bull flag on the weekly chart suggests a $182,200 target, with analysts predicting Bitcoin’s price can go as high as $1 million in 2025.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price is up 4.3% on May 9 as a fresh liquidity cascade sent BTC price soaring above $100,000 for the first time in over 90 days.

German law enforcement seized 34 million euros ($38 million) in cryptocurrency from eXch, a cryptocurrency platform allegedly used to launder funds stolen after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack.

The seizure, announced on May 9 by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Frankfurt’s main prosecutor’s office, involved multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Dash (DASH). The move marks the third-largest crypto confiscation in the BKA’s history.

The authorities also seized eXch’s German server infrastructure with over eight terabytes of data and shut down the platform, the announcement added.

eXch exchanged crypto without AML

In the statement, the BKA described eXch as a “swapping” service that allowed users to exchange various crypto assets without implementing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures.

The platform had operated since 2014 and reportedly facilitated about $1.9 billion in crypto transfers, some of which were believed to be of “criminal origin,” including assets laundered during the Bybit hack.

Solana does not yet have “convincing signs” that it could overtake Ethereum as the blockchain of choice for institutions, as its revenue is seen as unstable due to its memecoin concentration, according to crypto bank group Sygnum.

In a May 8 blog post, Sygnum said that the current sentiment around Ethereum “remains poor,” with the market focused on Solana’s “transaction volumes and its recent dominance in fee generation.”

However, Sygnum said “the medium-term outlook will primarily be shaped by traditional financial institutions’ platform choices to bring their product offerings,” not by sentiment.

“We do not yet see convincing signs that Solana would be the preferred choice as Ethereum’s security, stability and longevity are highly prized,” it added.

Sygnum argued that institutions could choose Ethereum over Solana as the market has viewed the latter’s revenue generation as “less stable” due to being “highly concentrated in the memecoin sector.”

American fast food outlet Steak ‘n Shake has announced it will begin accepting Bitcoin as payment at all locations starting on May 16.

The firm said on X on May 9 that it was making the cryptocurrency available to more than 100 million customers, adding that “the movement is just beginning,” before signing off as “Steaktoshi.” 

The fast food chain initially hinted at accepting Bitcoin (BTC) in March when it posted “Should Steak ‘n Shake accept Bitcoin?” on social media. 

The tweet drew the attention of the crypto community and Bitcoin proponents such as Jack Dorsey, who rapidly replied with a “yes.” 

The firm has built momentum since then with Bitcoin-themed marketing, Tesla promotions, and visual hints on its social media feeds.

Fresh off its most recent Bitcoin purchase, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet is raising more funds through another bond issue to expand its growing crypto treasury.

Through a $21.25 million issue of “0% Ordinary Bonds,” the firm said in a May 9 statement that the “funds raised will be allocated to the purchase of Bitcoin.”

Zero-coupon bonds don’t offer any interest to the holder. Most of the time, they are issued at a steep discount from their normal value, and when they mature, the holder receives the full value.

Following a board of directors meeting, the firm said it will issue a 14th Stock Acquisition Rights to EVO Fund, an investment management firm in the Cayman Islands, with a redemption date of Nov. 7.

Source: Metaplanet

At current prices, Metaplanet could buy 206 Bitcoin (BTC) if it raises the full $21.25 million, according to CoinGecko. The firm first flagged plans to buy Bitcoin last April. 

Ether surged 20% in the past 24 hours following the launch of the Pectra upgrade, with some crypto traders suggesting the growing number of ETH long positions could mark a “turning point” for the asset that has faced uncertain sentiment throughout most of 2025.

At the time of publication, Ether (ETH) is trading at $2,230, up 19.6% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data. Pseudonymous crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades said it was a “pretty insane candle.” Over the same 24 hours, Ether Open Interest (OI) spiked 21%. 

Ether price pump caught traders offside

The surge followed the long-awaited Pectra Upgrade, which went live on May 7, introducing new wallet features, increased staking limits and scalability improvements to Ethereum.

Popular crypto trader Alex Kruger said on May 8 that Ether’s price spike was primarily due to “new longs.”

If Ether were to fall back to $2,000, approximately $2.06 billion in long positions would be at risk of liquidation, according to CoinGlass data. The price surge caught many traders offside, with approximately $328 million in Ether short positions liquidated over the same period.

AI decentralized apps (DApps) have seen a spike in user activity and could soon challenge gaming and DeFi for the top spot in the DApp ecosystem, according to blockchain analytics platform DappRadar.

Gaming and DeFi are both sitting on 21% dominance in April, judged by percentage of unique active wallets, while AI has climbed to 16%, up from the 11% recorded in the February report, data in DappRadar’s April industry report shows.

“As user interest in artificial intelligence tools grows across industries, AI-powered DApps are steadily carving out their place in the decentralized ecosystem,” DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas said. 

“If this trend continues, AI could soon challenge the traditional dominance of DeFi and Gaming, signaling a new era in the DApp landscape.”

AI DApps have seen a jump in market dominance this month, while market leaders have declined slightly. Source: DappRadar

At the same time, AI DApp activity surged over 26% to reach 3.8 million daily unique active wallets (dUAW), up from the 2.6 million dUAW recorded in February.

Apple is reportedly working on its own microchips across multiple product categories, including smart glasses and artificial intelligence — a hint at what’s next for the massive Silicon Valley-based tech giant.

A May 8 report from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said the company is working on new processors to power its future devices, including its first smart glasses to rival Meta’s Ray-Bans, more powerful Macs, and artificial intelligence servers.

The smart glasses — a first for Apple — would rely on a specialized chip codenamed N401. The processor is based on Apple Watch chips but is further optimized for power efficiency and designed to control multiple cameras planned for the glasses, the sources said. 

Apple’s smart glasses will initially be non-augmented reality versions that will include cameras, microphones and integrated AI, much like rival offerings from Meta. They would presumably have similar functions like snapping photos, recording video and offering translation options, the report added. 

The product may also integrate a visual intelligence feature for scanning the environment and describing objects, looking up information about products and providing directions.

The 22-year-old developer of Zerebro, who apparently committed suicide during a livestream on May 4, is actually alive, according to a San Francisco news outlet that claims they spoke to Yu outside his family home. 

The San Francisco Standard reporter George Kelly claimed on May 8 that he briefly spoke with Yu outside of his family’s two-story home, where the crypto influencer refused to discuss the suicide allegations and whether he had financially benefited from it. 

Instead, Yu reportedly said: “You can see the PTSD in my eyes, right?” before asking the reporter to leave.

He was reportedly wearing a T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops and wire-rimmed glasses, possibly similar to the ones he had on while appearing to shoot himself to death during the livestream.

Jeffy Yu speaking about the future of crypto AI agents in a January 2025 podcast on Bankless. Source: Bankless

The SFS didn’t share an image of Yu outside his family’s house. 

A man from the US state of Virginia will spend over three decades behind bars after being convicted of sending crypto to the terrorist organization commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Federal Judge David Novak sentenced Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa to 30 years and four months in prison on May 7 for sending over $185,000 to the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said on May 8.

Prosecutors said that from around October 2019 until October 2022, the 35-year-old Chhipa collected and sent money to female Islamic State members in Syria, which helped them escape prison camps and funded fighting.

The Justice Department said Chhipa would raise funds for the United Nations-designated terror organization through social media — receiving money online, or traveling hundreds of miles to accept donations in person. 

He’d convert the money into crypto and send it to Turkey for it to be smuggled to Islamic State members across the border in Syria, prosecutors said.

Rumble’s pro-crypto founder and CEO has confirmed that the firm will launch its Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet in the third quarter of this year, aimed at giving the Coinbase Wallet a run for its money. 

The Rumble Wallet will be launched in partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether and compete directly with Coinbase, Chris Pavlovski said in a May 9 X post.

“Our goal is to become the most prominent non-custodial Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet, powering the creator economy,” he added. 

He continued to state that the Rumble Wallet will be the “vehicle to help monetize creators better than most advertisers, especially in international markets,” though he did not provide further details other than it may support Tether Gold (XAUT) as well. 

Rumble Wallet. Source: Chris Pavlovski

The video streaming platform, founded in late 2013 as a YouTube alternative for small content creators, first announced the launch of a Tether (USDT) wallet for creators in March. Tether invested $775 million in Rumble in December 2024.

Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings (MARA) nearly tripled its Bitcoin holdings over 12 months, according to its newly released Q1 results.

However, its Bitcoin production fell, and total earnings slightly missed Wall Street estimates in Q1.

MARA, formerly Marathon Digital, saw its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings increase to 47,531 BTC, up 175% from the 17,320 BTC the firm was holding at the end of Q1 2024.

MARA holdings inch closer to $5B after Bitcoin pump

MARA holds the second-largest amount of Bitcoin among all publicly traded companies, according to CoinGecko data. Strategy (MSTR) holds the number one spot with 555,450 Bitcoin.

The holdings represent a total value of approximately $4.9 billion, based on Bitcoin’s current price of $102,660 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin’s price spiked 4.86%.

A crypto-skeptical commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission has blasted her agency over its settlement letter that could finally end the Ripple legal saga.

The SEC and Ripple filed a joint settlement letter in a New York court asking for the August 2024 injunction against Ripple to be dissolved and $75 million of the $125 million in civil penalties held in escrow to be returned to the crypto firm, according to a May 8 statement from the SEC.

SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw blasted the pending deal in a May 8 statement, saying it would damage the regulators’ ability to keep crypto firms in line and undermine the court’s ruling.

Source: James Filan

“This settlement, alongside the programmatic disassembly of the SEC’s crypto enforcement program, does a tremendous disservice to the investing public and undermines the court’s role in interpreting our securities laws,” she said.

“In the meantime, the settlement joins a line of dismissals that collectively erode the credibility of our lawyers in court who are being asked to take legal positions today contrary to the ones taken just months ago.”

Crypto exchange Coinbase’s total revenue fell 10% quarter-over-quarter to $2 billion in Q1, missing industry estimates by 4.1% as trading activity slowed across the market.

Coinbase’s net income was sliced by 95% from a near-company record $1.29 billion in Q4 to $66 million, in a large part due to Coinbase marking a $596 million paper loss on its crypto holdings.

The firm’s earnings per share of $1.94, however, managed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.85 for the quarter.

Coinbase’s May 8 results also showed that transaction revenue fell 18.9% quarter-on-quarter to $1.26 billion, as did trading volumes, which dipped 10.5% to $393 billion as crypto market cap dropped by double digits over the quarter, partly attributed to the Trump administration’s tariffs. 

In contrast, US President Donald Trump’s election win in November was considered one of the main catalysts behind the rising market prices in Q4. 

Tech company Meta is reportedly exploring integrating stablecoin payments into its platforms after a three-year hiatus from cryptocurrencies, Fortune reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Facebook parent held talks with several crypto infrastructure firms in consultation but has not chosen a decisive course of action, according to the report.

One source said the company may take a multi-token approach and integrate support for popular stablecoins such as Tether's USDt (USDT), Circle's USD Coin (USDC) and others.

Meta is the latest tech firm to integrate or explore the use of stablecoins for payments, as they increasingly attract institutional interest and investment, causing the stablecoin market capitalization to soar past $230 billion.

An overview of the stablecoin market. Source: RWA.XYZ

Related: US Stablecoin bill blocked as Democrats withdraw support

Wellgistics Health, a healthcare infrastructure company, will integrate XRP (XRP) and related technologies into its payment network to streamline transactions between pharmacies, medical suppliers and prescription medication manufacturers, the company said in an announcement on May 8.

Wellgistics cited the finality time of XRP transactions and reduced transaction costs, which are fractions of a penny, compared to legacy financial architecture like automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments or wire transfers, as reasons for using XRP. Brian Norton, CEO of Wellgistics Health, said in the announcement:

"I believe that the future winners in healthcare will not be the companies with the biggest buildings, they will be those with the fastest rails, cleanest data, and most efficient platforms. We are betting on infrastructure — not inertia.”

The integration of XRP will reduce cross-border friction and allow transactions between different businesses in the supply chain to settle instantly, in real time, the announcement reads.

Blockchain payment rails and cryptocurrencies can significantly reduce international transaction costs, giving rise to business opportunities that were previously out of reach or too expensive to implement and opening up global trade for residents in developing economies.

Related: Can XRP price reach $4 in May? Analysts are watching these key levels

Coinbase’s agreement to buy Deribit highlights the increasing importance of financial derivatives for cryptocurrency exchanges, according to industry executives. 

On May 8, Coinbase, the US’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, agreed to acquire crypto derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion in the crypto industry’s largest corporate acquisition to date.  

The deal reflects increasing competition among digital asset exchanges and brokerages — including Coinbase, Kraken and Robinhood — to dominate the burgeoning crypto derivatives market. 

"Global derivatives trading is a key driver of growth for Coinbase,” Spencer Yang, co-founder of Fractal Bitcoin, a Bitcoin scaling solution, told Cointelegraph.

Coinbase agreed to buy Deribit on May 8. Source: Coinbase

The merger established Coinbase as the world’s largest crypto derivatives platform by open interest, the exchange said in a blog post announcing the deal. 

Key takeaways:

97% of the $8.3 billion in Bitcoin put options expire worthless at a $102,000 BTC price.

Short covering above $105,000 could trigger a Bitcoin price rally to new highs.

Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $101,000 on May 8, reaching its highest level in over three months. The 4.6% daily BTC price gain triggered $205 million in liquidations of bearish futures positions and eroded the value of nearly every put (sell) option. Traders now question whether Bitcoin is poised to break its $109,354 all-time high in the near term.

Bitcoin put (sell) options open interest for May-June-July, USD notional. Source: Laevitas.ch

The aggregate Bitcoin put (sell) option open interest for the next three months stands at $8.3 billion, but 97% of those have been placed below $101,000 and will likely expire worthless. Still, this does not mean every put options trader was betting on Bitcoin’s downside, as some may have sold those instruments and profited from the price gains.

Michelle Bond, the wife of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame, who faces federal campaign finance charges, is pushing for dismissal on the grounds that US prosecutors deceived her husband in a plea deal.

In a May 7 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bond’s lawyers reiterated some of the claims Salame made in opposing his plea deal with the government, which ultimately still led to him serving time in prison. She claimed that prosecutors obtained a deal with Salame through “stealth and deception” by allegedly agreeing they would not file charges against Bond. 

“Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond’s attorneys were advised that the agreement to cease investigating Ms. Bond could not be placed within the four corners of the Salame plea or other written agreement, but the government still offered it as an inducement to induce the plea,” said the filing, adding:

“At a minimum, enough exists to demonstrate a legitimate factual dispute as to the nature and scope of the promises made to Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond to induce his guilty plea such that a hearing with discovery is required.”May 7 filing requesting a dismissal of one charge for Michelle Bond. Source: Courtlistener

Prosecutors charged Bond in August 2024 with conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and receiving an unlawful corporate contribution, and causing and receiving a conduit contribution related to her failed run for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2022. Salame, who pleaded guilty to two felony charges in 2023 and was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison, attempted to void his deal with prosecutors, claiming it had included an agreement not to charge Bond.

Related: Former FTX executive Ryan Salame’s prison sentence reduced by 1 year

The US federal court for the Southern District of New York has sentenced former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky to 12 years in prison for fraud.

Mashinsky’s legal team sought a light sentence. They highlighted his spotless record before the Celsius incident, along with his military service and willingness to plead guilty. But US prosecutors were less inclined to leniency, suggesting on April 28 that the judge deliver a 20-year sentence for his actions.

Betting markets predicted a light sentence ahead of the May 8 hearing. Polymarket showed only 11% odds for a 20-year sentence or higher.

Source: Polymarket

President Donald Trump began his second term with high-profile pardons of crypto executives, signalling that his administration may bring leniency to crypto fraudsters like Mashinsky. His sentencing today, however, suggests otherwise.

Trump’s DOJ wants Mashinsky sentence to serve as a warning

Crypto-related crimes have their limits, according to the current US Department of Justice. Jay Clayton, the Trump-nomianted US attorney leading the prosecution, said on April 28 that the suggested 20-year sentence serves as a “critical warning to other entrepreneurs, executives, and promoters in the cryptocurrency industry and in any future industry as-yet unconceived: that fraud will be punished severely, regardless of the technology or industry in which it occurs.”

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin rallies to $101,707 against a backdrop of strong fundamentals in the regulatory and traditional finance space.

Traders are confident that $100,000 will hold as support.

Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied above $100,000 on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a “trade deal” with the UK, which could possibly include the removal of the blanket 10% tariff on all imports. 

Frequent social posts from President Trump and public comments from White House cabinet members have hinted at a handful of trade deals in negotiation with various countries, and markets have responded positively to the messaging. In addition to the UK trade deal, the US is set to meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland on May 10.

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins of 2025 Act, known as the GENIUS Act, failed to pass cloture in the United States Senate on May 8, dealing a slight blow to cryptocurrency regulation in the country.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Hagerty and co-sponsored by Senators Tim Scott, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cynthia Lummis and Angela Alsobrooks, received last-minute pushback from Democrats, who took aim at the bill and raised concerns about US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures.

To address the concerns of Senate Democrats, the bill had already been amended to include stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers for further provisions for Anti-Money Laundering.

The GENIUS Act was seen as a bipartisan effort to increase regulatory clarity for digital assets in the United States. The focus of the bill, stablecoins used for payments, was looked at as extending dollar dominance internationally and straying away from more controversial crypto topics.

After the procedure failed, Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized Democrats, saying, “Democrats have been accommodated every step of the way […] frankly, I just don’t get it.”