Since the start of the 2026 Iran war, Bitcoin has outpaced gold by about 35–36% on a relative basis, as the BTC/gold ratio surged.BTC is up roughly 7–10% over the conflict period, while gold has been flat to down, a sharp reversal of the traditional “gold as safe haven” pattern.Analysts say ETF inflows, the “digital gold” narrative, and macro positioning helped Bitcoin behave more like a risk‑sensitive alternative store of value than a classic crisis hedge.

At Consensus 2026, Consensys CEO and Ethereum co‑founder Joseph Lubin praised Ethereum Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) vehicles such as Strategy, SharpLink, and BitMine as “profound innovations” that build “long-term permanent capital” for Ethereum without leverage.He warned that “weak assets and copycat DATs” could damage the ecosystem, arguing that only disciplined, unlevered ETH treasuries truly align with Ethereum’s long‑term health.Lubin also highlighted Consensys’ and his own commitment of 30,000 ETH to DeFi United’s rsETH recovery effort after the KelpDAO exploit, and stressed that Ethereum has an embedded roadmap toward quantum-safe cryptography—unlike Bitcoin, which he said faces thornier property issues migrating quantum‑vulnerable addresses.

Spot bitcoin and ETH ETFs both flipped to net outflows Thursday, ending a five-day inflow streak as Iran ceasefire doubts resurfaced and BTC pulled back below $80,000.April nonfarm payrolls came in at 115,000, nearly double, supporting a near-term risk-on read without resolving the macro ceiling driven by persistent energy inflation.

Next week marks the Senate Banking Committee’s second attempt to hold a markup after it cancelled one in January.Ethics could be the next hurdle if the Senate Banking Committee ultimately votes yes to advance the bill.

Samsung SDS will turn KSD’s token securities testbed into a production-ready blockchain platform by 2027.South Korea’s new rules will recognize distributed ledgers as legal securities registries under KSD oversight.The project aligns Samsung’s blockchain infrastructure role with Korea’s tokenized asset market launch timeline ahead.

QVAC MedPsy squeezes clinical AI onto a smartphone, beating Google's MedGemma-27B on real-world scenarios while using three times fewer compute resources.

CTR will be capped at a fixed supply of 10 billion, with 12% for initial claims distributed during a Genesis Airdrop, 25.16% for a xCTR-governed treasury, and 22.83% set aside for ecosystem growth.The remaining 40% will go to early investors and contributors, subject to a four-year lock-up with a one-year cliff.Citrea is using a “gauge” system to direct voting towards pools of capital, and a vote-escrow staking model that primarily rewards active governance participation.

Senators had hoped the issue, which has plagued crypto legislation for months, had been put to bed with a proposed compromise last week.

In Bouck v. Meta, a Northern California federal court denied Section 230 immunity after finding that Meta’s AI ads tools materially shaped fraudulent investment content rather than passively hosting it.The ruling opens Meta and other platforms to securities fraud claims under Rule 10b-5, where a platform whose AI assembles ad content could be considered the legal “maker” of the fraudulent statement.Alphabet, Snap, TikTok, and X all deploy generative AI in their advertising products and face the same potential exposure under the Ninth Circuit’s material contribution test.

Kalshi raised $1bn in a Series F round led by Coatue at a $22bn valuation, doubling the $11bn it achieved just five months ago.Institutional trading volume on the platform surged 800% in six months, while annualized trading volume tripled from $52bn to $178bn.Kalshi accounts for over 90% of US prediction market activity and reports $1.5bn in annualized revenue with two million monthly users.

Investors allege the rapper misled buyers about the token’s real-world utility.

The tokenization layer is being used as a liquidity wrapper, rather than a purely speculative venue.The following is excerpted from The Block’s Data and Insights newsletter.

Around 93% of GameFi projects are now effectively “dead,” with tokens down an average of 95% from their all-time highs.Studio funding for Web3 games has plunged more than 90% from 2022 peak levels as venture money rotates into AI, RWAs, and infrastructure.Even Animoca Brands has sharply reduced its gaming exposure, tilting its portfolio and strategy toward stablecoins and other financial primitives.

The two companies will jointly set up and run Solana validator servers across APAC, anchored by Pacific Backbone, Solana Company’s institutional infrastructure network.They also want to develop Solana staking products based on JitoSOL for larger financial firms like asset and wealth managers based in Asia.