Crypto Morning Brief: Coinbase Reports $394 Million Net Loss in Q1; Kalshi Secures $1 Billion Funding Round
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Crypto Morning Brief: Coinbase Reports $394 Million Net Loss in Q1; Kalshi Secures $1 Billion Funding Round
Block reported a $173 million bitcoin revaluation loss for Q1 but raised its full-year earnings guidance.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TechFlow
Yesterday’s Market Updates
Iran Introduces New Regulations for Strait of Hormuz Transit; Vessels Must Submit Applications to Ensure Safe Passage
According to CNN, Iran has introduced new regulations governing transit through the Strait of Hormuz, requiring vessels to submit applications to ensure safe passage.
Trump’s 10% Tariff Faces Legal Setback, Though Ruling Lacks Broad Applicability
According to CNN, as cited by Golden Ten, a federal court ruled on Thursday that President Trump’s imposition of a 10% across-the-board tariff was unlawful—placing the policy in jeopardy. A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 2–1 that the government lacked statutory authority to impose the tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The ruling orders the government to cease collecting these tariffs from the plaintiffs—a group of small businesses and several Democratic-led states—and to refund previously collected amounts. However, the tariff measures remain in effect for all other importers until July. Reports indicate the court has currently blocked the tariffs only for the two plaintiff companies and the state of Washington.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice Investigating $2.6 Billion Oil Trades Linked to Potential Iran Conflict
According to ABC News, sources revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a series of suspicious oil market trades that occurred shortly before major statements by former U.S. President Donald Trump regarding potential conflict with Iran. The DOJ and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are jointly probing at least four such trades, in which traders collectively bet over $2.6 billion on falling oil prices ahead of anticipated price declines.
Specific trades include:
— Over $500 million traded 15 minutes before Trump announced the postponement of an attack on Iran’s power grid on March 23;
— $960 million traded hours before the announcement of a temporary ceasefire on April 7;
— $760 million traded 20 minutes before Iranian Foreign Minister announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on April 17;
— $430 million traded 15 minutes before Trump announced the extension of the ceasefire on April 21.
21Shares Launches First U.S. ETF Tracking Canton Network’s Native Token
According to The Block, 21Shares’ Canton Network ETF began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker symbol TCAN. This fund marks the first U.S.-listed ETF offering direct exposure to Canton Coin—the native utility token of the Canton Network. Canton Network is a privacy-preserving blockchain ecosystem built for institutional finance, with core developer Digital Asset backed by Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and DTCC. Over the past year, multiple crypto-asset ETFs tracking SOL, XRP, DOGE, HBAR, and Polkadot have launched in the U.S. market.
Zcash Foundation Assumes Governance of Three Core Community Assets
The Zcash Foundation has formally assumed stewardship of three core Zcash community assets: the Zcash GitHub organization, the z.cash website and domain, and the X (formerly Twitter) account @Zcash. The GitHub organization hosts key repositories including librustzcash, zips, lightwalletd, and zcashd. The Zcash Foundation stated this move unifies protocol infrastructure and community asset management, improving coordination efficiency and clarifying long-term accountability. Meanwhile, z.cash has ceased independent operations and now redirects to zechub.wiki; day-to-day management of @Zcash and related community assets will be handled by ZecHub under multi-year funding support.
mETH Protocol to Phase Out Liquidity Restaking Token cmETH, Minting to Cease on May 7
mETH Protocol announced it will gradually phase out its liquidity restaking token cmETH to enhance long-term protocol consistency, while all other products remain fully operational. Per the schedule: minting of cmETH will halt on May 7, 2026; existing holdings remain unaffected; unstaking and cross-chain bridge functionality remain available; the final EigenLayer reward distribution will occur in mid-June 2026; rewards generated but not yet distributed before October 20, 2025, remain claimable; and the reward claim window for prior cmETH campaigns closes on November 7, 2026. mETH Protocol urges cmETH holders to continue unstaking or bridging their tokens, and advises partners relying on cmETH to verify continued platform support.
AWS Partners with Coinbase and Stripe to Launch AI Agent Stablecoin Payments, Enabling Microtransactions in USDC
According to The Block, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has partnered with Coinbase and Stripe to launch Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, enabling AI agents to execute transactions using stablecoins. Coinbase stated developers can build “agent-based payment” solutions using the x402 protocol, allowing AI agents to make microtransactions in USDC. This feature enables AI agents to pay instantly for web content, APIs, MCP servers, and other agents. AWS noted developers may choose between Coinbase and Stripe wallets and fund them using either stablecoins or fiat currency.
Coinbase Posts $394M Q1 Net Loss; CEO Signals Shift Toward Multi-Asset Platform
According to The Block, Coinbase released its Q1 2026 financial results, reporting a net loss of $394 million—including a $482 million loss on its crypto asset holdings. Total revenue for the quarter stood at $1.41 billion, down 31% year-on-year; trading revenue fell 40% to $756 million; subscription and services revenue declined 14% to $584 million; stablecoin revenue rose 11% to $305 million. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $303 million, sharply down from $930 million a year earlier.
CEO Brian Armstrong stated the company is transitioning from a spot crypto exchange into a comprehensive platform supporting derivatives, commodities, futures, and prediction markets—and emphasized the underlying strength of onchain economic fundamentals. Following the earnings release, Coinbase shares fell ~6% in after-hours trading to $182.
Block Records $173M Bitcoin Revaluation Loss in Q1, Yet Raises Full-Year Guidance
According to The Block, Jack Dorsey’s fintech firm Block Inc. reported its Q1 2026 financial results, recording a non-cash $173 million bitcoin revaluation loss due to fair-value accounting, resulting in a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $309 million. Block currently holds 28,355 BTC, valued at approximately $2.2 billion. Despite this, overall operational performance remained robust: gross profit rose 27% year-on-year to $2.91 billion; Cash App gross profit increased 38% to $1.91 billion; adjusted operating margin hit a record high of 25%; and adjusted diluted EPS grew 52% to $0.85.
Notably, Cash App’s bitcoin business declined 31% year-on-year, and crypto-related contributions to gross profit were negligible. Block also raised its full-year guidance, forecasting gross profit growth of 19% and adjusted diluted EPS growth of 62% for 2026.
Kraken Parent Payward to Acquire Reap Technologies for $600M
According to Bloomberg, Kraken’s parent company Payward Inc. has agreed to acquire Hong Kong–based Reap Technologies for $600 million in cash and stock. Reap Technologies specializes in stablecoin-based cross-border and commercial payments. Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, stated the equity issued by Payward in the transaction is valued at $20 billion. The acquisition aims to expand Payward’s footprint in Asia.
Kalshi Closes $1B Funding Round Led by Coatue Management
According to The New York Times, prediction market platform Kalshi announced a new $1 billion funding round led by Coatue Management, valuing the company at $22 billion.
The report notes this is Kalshi’s third funding round within the past seven months—and each round has nearly doubled its valuation. Kalshi currently offers prediction markets for sports, politics, weather, and other events, and stated large financial institutions are a key focus for future expansion.
Market Data
Recommended Reading
xAI Leases Compute Capacity to Anthropic: Musk’s Compute Empire Begins to Leak
https://www.techflowpost.com/zh-CN/article/31444
This article provides an in-depth analysis of the strategic pivot by xAI—the AI company founded by Elon Musk—from an anti-AI-model entity into an AI cloud infrastructure provider. It examines the background and rationale behind xAI leasing its core training cluster Colossus 1 to rival Anthropic, explores implications for both parties, and reveals broader industry trends toward compute capacity consolidation and its potential consequences.
The AI Intermediary Business Is So Lucrative Even the U.S. President’s Family Has Joined In
https://www.techflowpost.com/zh-CN/article/31453
This article introduces World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a crypto project backed by the Trump family, and details the operational model, pricing strategy, competitive landscape, and USD1 stablecoin ecosystem underpinning its AI intermediary product WorldClaw. It analyzes the project’s commercial logic alongside its controversies and challenges.
Interview with Robinhood’s Head of Crypto: Tokenization Is Unlocking Global Markets—Stocks on Chain Are Just the First Step
https://www.techflowpost.com/zh-CN/article/31456
This article features an exclusive interview with Johann Kerbrat, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto at Robinhood, covering topics including tokenization, prediction markets, perpetual contracts, stablecoin yield, and emerging trends in the crypto industry. It further details Robinhood’s product architecture, its relationship with Hyperliquid, and its vision to become a global financial super-app.
Are NFTs Making a Comeback? A Layman’s Guide to Slonks—Up 60x in Six Days
https://www.techflowpost.com/zh-CN/article/31458
This article introduces Slonks, an innovative NFT project recently surging in the crypto market. Its unique mechanism leverages AI models to generate “mis-pixelated” images—errors transformed into valuable tokens ($SLOP). Through token-NFT swaps, scarcity engineering, and economic design, the project has attracted massive trading volume and attention.
GameStop CEO Sells Socks: $56B Bid for eBay, Starting With a Pair of Socks
https://www.techflowpost.com/zh-CN/article/31461
This article recounts GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s unsolicited, non-binding $56 billion offer to acquire eBay—structured as a 50/50 mix of cash and GameStop stock. Market skepticism abounds. Cohen’s ultimate goal is to drive GameStop’s market capitalization to $100 billion to unlock substantial equity incentives. The acquisition bid appears more theatrical than transactional—designed to generate short-term liquidity and attention rather than close a deal.
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