Crypto Morning News: Grayscale urges SEC to approve staked Ethereum ETF, SIGN airdrop now claimable
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Crypto Morning News: Grayscale urges SEC to approve staked Ethereum ETF, SIGN airdrop now claimable
The Arizona State Legislature has passed the Bitcoin reserve bill, awaiting the governor's signature to take effect.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TechFlow
Yesterday's Market Developments
Source: Trump Focused on Reaching Broader Trade Deals
According to Jin10 News, two sources within the Trump administration said that former President Donald Trump is aiming to reach larger-scale trade agreements with multiple countries, which explains why the White House needs more time before announcing any outcomes.
The sources added that these deals go beyond simply rolling back Trump’s latest tariffs. Japan, Vietnam, Argentina, the UK, South Korea, and the European Union are the countries most frequently mentioned by Trump and his trade team. The White House stated last week that its trade team had received “18 written proposals,” though it did not specify which countries submitted them.
Arizona Legislature Passes Bitcoin Reserve Bill, Awaiting Governor's Signature
According to The Block citing Bloomberg Government, on Monday, the Arizona legislature passed the "Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act," which has now been sent to the governor’s office for signature.
The bill would allow the state treasury and retirement systems to allocate up to 10% of their available funds toward digital assets, particularly bitcoin. If signed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, Arizona would become the first U.S. state mandating public investment in bitcoin. The bill was jointly introduced by Republican Senator Wendy Rogers and Representative Jeff Weninger.
Analysis: U.S. Consumer Stock Market Confidence Hits Record Low, Risk-Aversion Rises
According to The Kobeissi Letter, a recent University of Michigan survey shows American consumers’ pessimism about the stock market has reached an all-time high. A record 12% of Americans now believe there is zero chance of stock market gains over the next 12 months — a figure that has tripled over the past two months and exceeds peak levels seen during market bottoms in 2022, 2009, and earlier periods.
Meanwhile, 44.5% of consumers expect the stock market to decline over the next year — the highest level since 2022 and the second-highest in 14 years. Market sentiment is exceptionally bearish.
Analysts note this sharp drop in confidence stems from growing concerns about recession, inflationary pressures, and unstable trade relations. This pessimism may prompt investors to pull capital from equities, reduce market liquidity, shift funds into defensive sectors or cash holdings, and further amplify market volatility.
Standard Chartered: Expects Bitcoin to Surpass $120,000 in Q2
According to The Block, Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Global Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered, stated in a new report that bitcoin could reach a new all-time high of approximately $120,000 in Q2 2025, maintaining the bank’s year-end 2025 price target of $200,000. Kendrick believes now is the time to buy bitcoin, as multiple indicators support rising prices, including U.S. investor demand for non-U.S. assets, continuous accumulation by "whale" investors, and ETF flows shifting from gold to bitcoin as a safer hedge. He emphasized that due to its decentralized nature, bitcoin serves as a more effective hedge against risks in the existing financial system than gold.
Grayscale Urges SEC to Approve Ethereum ETF Staking, Says $61 Million in Gains Already Lost
According to Bitcoin.com, Grayscale met with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force in Washington, D.C., on April 21 to discuss regulatory changes regarding staking for Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs).
Grayscale noted that U.S.-listed Ethereum ETPs currently manage $8.1 billion in assets but have collectively missed around $61 million in potential staking rewards since launch through February 2025 due to inability to stake.
The company proposed amending the 19b-4 filings for Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE) and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF to permit staking activities. Grayscale stressed that enabling staking would enhance Ethereum network security while generating additional returns for shareholders.
Coinbase to Launch Bitcoin Yield Fund, Available Only to Non-U.S. Institutional Investors
According to Bloomberg, Coinbase Asset Management announced it will launch the "Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund" on May 1, designed to generate recurring yield on clients’ bitcoin holdings. The fund targets an annualized net return of 4% to 8%, with yields paid in bitcoin. Notably, this investment product will only be available to institutional investors outside the United States.
MILK Tokenomics Released, Airdrop Share at 10%
Officially, MilkyWay Foundation, the team behind the Celestia liquid staking protocol, has released the tokenomics for MILK, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Distribution details are as follows: Core Contributors – 200 million MILK (20.00%); Early Private Round Investors – 134.2 million MILK (13.42%); Early Supporters – 35.5 million MILK (3.55%); Foundation – 80 million MILK (8.00%); Community Round – 52.5 million MILK (5.25%); Binance Exclusive TGE (Token Generation Event) – 20 million MILK (2.00%); Binance Web3 Wallet Marketing – 20 million MILK (2.00%), allocated to future marketing campaigns via Binance Wallet, with specifics to be announced later; Ecosystem Growth – 165 million MILK (16.50%); Massdrop – 100 million MILK (10.00%), allocated to early users including mPoint holders, Moolitia NFT holders, and milkINIT testers, released in four phases; Community Growth – 192.8 million MILK (19.28%).
SIGN Opens Airdrop Claim
Sign announced on social media that its airdrop claim portal is now open.
Ethereum Foundation Announces Three Updates from Board and Management Team
On April 28, the Ethereum Foundation announced three key updates from its board and management team. The first update, co-published by Aya Miyagotchi and Vitalik Buterin, reaffirms and refreshes the foundation’s vision, principles, and values for a new era. The foundation emphasized its mission to strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem and uphold its core values — not only driving critical progress itself but also fostering leadership across the broader ecosystem. As a nonprofit supporting Ethereum, it will continue collaborating with the wider community to improve the protocol, grow the community, and advocate for Ethereum’s development.
Grafana Responds to Earlier Hacker Incident: No Evidence of Code Tampering or Customer Data Breach Found
Grafana’s official X account stated that its investigation so far has found no evidence of code modifications, unauthorized access to production systems, exposure of customer data, or compromise of personal information.
Earlier, SlowMist reported that the open-source data visualization tool Grafana might have been hacked, with attackers possibly injecting malicious code.
Project Previously Infected with Malicious Code Likely QuantMaster; Developer Rules Out AI Involvement
Thomson, developer of DeFi trading and asset management project QuantMaster, responded on social media confirming he was the victim of the earlier incident involving employee-planted malicious code, where part of his proprietary funds showed signs of code injection. With assistance from SlowMist founder Yu Xian (Cosine), a police report has already been filed. The suspect has been largely identified — the malicious code was submitted via a specific GitHub account (an employee), and the submitting device was unique. Cursor logs show complete local AI records were reviewed, ruling out the possibility of AI-generated code tampering.
Previously, a member of the crypto community disclosed that a Web3 project’s smart contract might have been compromised by an insider planting malicious code, resulting in losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Market Data
Suggested Reading
Interview with Gavin Wood: Speculative Narratives Are Built Upon Real Value Narratives
This article features an interview with Gavin Wood, discussing the current state, challenges, and future direction of the cryptocurrency industry. Gavin Wood criticizes excessive hype and misallocation of resources in the space, while sharing his vision for Polkadot and thoughts on the JAM protocol. His disappointment stems from the industry’s focus on speculation rather than creating tangible value, and he highlights the philosophical contrast between Web3’s ideals and AI.
CoinMarketCap Q1 Report: Total Market Trading Volume Down 20%, Fear Dominates Sentiment
This article summarizes the performance of the cryptocurrency market in Q1 2025, covering price trends of bitcoin and ethereum, market sentiment, altcoin performance, and activity on Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains. The report notes that fear dominates market psychology, the altcoin winter intensifies, and bitcoin maintains dominance. It also looks ahead to Q2, suggesting possible signs of capital rotation beginning to benefit altcoins.
From Cantor to Securitize: How Crypto Is Buying Washington
This article explores the deepening ties between the cryptocurrency industry and U.S. political and business elites, particularly focusing on the Trump family and their associates’ involvement in crypto. It details the partnership between Wall Street giant Cantor Fitzgerald and Tether, and how Trump-era digital currency policies influenced the market. It also mentions BlackRock’s collaboration with crypto firm Securitize and the Trump family’s crypto investment strategies.
This article examines global asset manager Hamilton Lane’s strategic moves in digital assets and tokenization. As digital assets gain traction, traditional financial institutions are accelerating their entry into blockchain and tokenized finance. Through technological innovation, Hamilton Lane is driving liquidity transformation in private markets and emerging as a leading example of traditional finance transitioning into the digital age.
Eight Major Projects Betting on MCP — Is the AI Agent Hype About to Surge Again?
This article focuses on recent developments among multiple projects building around MCP (the Agent Communication Protocol) and its implications for AI agents. It explains MCP’s crucial role in connecting AI agents with the real world and lists companies and projects leveraging MCP technology, such as DeMCP, Cookie.fun, and OpenServ. Additionally, it highlights MCP’s potential applications in payments, voice recognition, and other fields.
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