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GM!
Right now’s prime information:
- Crypto majors fall 2-3% after FOMC and fee lower odds go to 0; BTC at $76k
- Large Tech earnings beat, CapEx thesis pays off; GOOG +7%, AMZN +3%
- Meta launches stablecoin payouts for creators utilizing USDC
- Sky posts its greatest quarter ever, token nonetheless falls
- MegaETH debuts its MEGA token, reaches $2B+ FDV on open
👋 Jerome Powell’s Last FOMC
Jerome Powell held what’s more likely to be his final press convention as Federal Reserve chair Wednesday after the FOMC voted 8-4 to carry charges regular at 3.50-3.75%. Notably there have been 4 dissents—a pointed sign to incoming Chair Kevin Warsh: Don’t assume this committee will comply with your lead.
The shock from the assembly got here from Powell, who introduced he’ll stay on the Fed’s Board of Governors past Could 15 for a interval he described as “to be decided,” citing the Trump administration’s ongoing investigations into the Fed. “We’ve been having to resort to the courts. We’ve been profitable thus far. However that’s not over.”
As for the financial system and the Fed’s subsequent actions, Powell mentioned the Fed faces an unusually tough state of affairs—4 provide shocks in fast succession (pandemic, Ukraine invasion, tariffs, and Iran battle), every able to driving inflation and unemployment greater concurrently. Odds of a fee lower in 2026 fell to 1% after his feedback (down from ~25% final week).
💰 Large Tech Earnings Don’t Disappoint
Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta all reported Q1 2026 outcomes Wednesday after the shut. The broad abstract is that AI capex is starting to justify itself, cloud development is accelerating, and the ROI debate that has hung over massive tech all yr is tilting constructive.
The one exception is Meta, whose inventory fell 6-7% in after-hours buying and selling regardless of beating on income after elevating its already-enormous 2026 capex steerage by one other $10 billion. Meta additionally missed on consumer development and blamed “web disruptions in Iran.”
Alphabet (Google) was the standout. Google Cloud grew 63% year-over-year to $20.1 billion, its quickest development since 2022. CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned enterprise AI options grew to become the first cloud development driver “for the primary time in Q1.” All 4 beat earnings, although the shares of every had various outcomes.
Key Particulars:
- Alphabet: Google Cloud +63% to $20.1B, internet earnings +81%, AI enterprise options “major cloud development driver for the primary time”; capex raised to $180-190B; inventory +7%
- Amazon: AWS income $37.59B (+28%), beat consensus by practically $1B, quickest cloud development in 3+ years; working earnings +23% to $14.16B; AI income run fee confirmed at $15B+ for first time; inventory +3%
- Microsoft: Azure +40%, beat expectations; mixed with Alphabet and AWS, cloud AI monetization is broadly on observe; inventory -2%
- Meta: income $56.31B (+33%), beat on EPS, robust advert metrics – however capex raised $10B at each ends to $125-145B; blamed Iran disruptions for consumer development miss; shares -9% AH on the capex elevate
💸 Meta Launches Stablecoin Payouts for Creators
Meta has quietly begun paying choose creators in USDC on Solana and Polygon, marking the corporate’s return to crypto funds 4 years after shutting down its Libra challenge underneath intense regulatory stress.
The rollout is at the moment restricted to creators in Colombia and the Philippines, who can hyperlink a MetaMask, Phantom, or Binance pockets to their Fb payout account and obtain earnings in Circle’s USDC. Stripe handles the backend infrastructure and crypto-specific tax reporting.
Meta is obvious it isn’t issuing its personal stablecoin; it’s plugging into USDC, and isn’t providing an off-ramp, that means creators should convert to native forex via a third-party alternate themselves.
📈 Sky Protocol (MakerDAO) Posts Its Finest Quarter Ever
Sky Protocol (the rebranded model of MakerDAO) posted report Q1 2026 monetary outcomes Tuesday. The $13 billion protocol generated practically $124 million in gross income and virtually $61 million in internet income within the first three months of the yr, the best earnings since MakerDAO launched in 2017.
Institutional curiosity in on-chain yield merchandise continues to develop, and Sky’s real-world asset collateral mannequin, which generates income from mortgage stability charges, liquidation charges, and peg stability module charges, is benefiting straight from that demand.
Regardless of the bullish outcomes, the SKY governance token fell about 2.4% on the information. It serves as a painful reminder for token holders, that income data don’t mechanically translate to token holder worth (except the tokenomics dictate it through buybacks or different routes).
🥩 Steak ‘n Shake’s Bitcoin Technique Is Truly Working
The 91-year-old burger chain started accepting Bitcoin funds in Could 2025 throughout all U.S. areas. Since then, same-store gross sales rose “dramatically.”
Cost processing charges dropped 50% in contrast with bank cards through the Lightning Community. The corporate routed all customer-paid Bitcoin straight right into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve relatively than changing it to money, formalized a $10 million treasury buy in January, added one other $10 million in April forward of the Bitcoin 2026 convention, and simply launched a Bitcoin-themed milkshake . In March, it started paying hourly workers a 21-cent-per-hour Bitcoin bonus funded from the reserve.
COO Dan Edwards describes the mannequin as a self-reinforcing cycle: clients pay in Bitcoin, gross sales rise, Bitcoin income funds restaurant upgrades and worker bonuses, and higher shops appeal to extra clients. With 210 BTC in its treasury and counting, and gross sales rising, Stake ‘n Shake is popping into one in all Bitcoin’s greatest shopper success tales.
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Crypto majors fell after FOMC and odds of a fee lower in 2026 went to 0; BTC -2% at $76k; ETH -3% at $2,260; SOL -2% at $83; HYPE -4% at $39
- LUNC (+3%), POL (+2%), and TRON (+1%) led prime movers
- Oil +2% at $105; Gold +2% at $4,640
- Inventory futures are inexperienced after earnings beats from Large Tech and Eli Lilly
- Jack Maller’s Twenty One Capital surged on Wednesday after majority proprietor Tether proposed merging XXI with Strike and Bitcoin miner Elektron Power, uniting treasury, mining, funds, and capital markets underneath one public firm; XXI holds 43,514 BTC (~$3.3B), third amongst public firms
- Visa expanded to 5 extra blockchains on Wednesday, including Base, Polygon, Canton, Circle’s Arc, and Stripe’s Tempo to its stablecoin settlement pilot; this system has hit a $7 billion annualized run fee, up 50% from final quarter
- MoonPay acquired Israeli agency Sodot for $100 million in inventory and used the deal to launch MoonPay Institutional, a brand new division for banks and asset managers led by former CFTC Appearing Chair Caroline Pham
- Alex Mashinsky was completely banned from crypto underneath a $10 million FTC settlement on Wednesday; a $4.72 billion judgment was entered however largely suspended
Company Treasuries & ETFs
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme leaders had been very crimson; DOGE -3%, SHIB -3%, PEPE -5%, PENGU -6%, TRUMP -4%, BONK -4%, SPX -7%, FARTCOIN -7%
- WISH (+71x), Bio (+33%) and testicle (+15%) led notable movers
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- MegaETH’s MEGA token debuted this morning, opening at $0.18 and a $200M market cap ($1.8B FDV)
- Pump Enjoyable launched Charity Cash as a solution to clear up the difficulty of charity-related memes not getting proceeds to the fitting locations
- Hyperliquid printed the payment construction for HIP-4 Wednesday, its prediction market proposal that lets customers commerce binary end result contracts throughout the similar margin account as their present perps; no open-position charges, prices apply solely at shut or settlement
🚚 What is occurring in NFTs?
- NFT leaders had been inexperienced led by Bored Apes; Punks even at 30.9 ETH, BAYC +10% at 10.8 ETH, Pudgy +1% at 5.34 ETH; Hypurr’s even at 350 HYPE
- Azuki Elementals (+25%), Kodas (+22%) and MAYC (+12%) led notable prime movers
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