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The Crypto Minute
Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Crypto Rollercoaster.
CoinBrain
May 05, 2025 • Reading Time: 10 minutes
Welcome to a new issue of Crypto Minute by CoinBrain! Once again, charts are greener than the grass outside 💚
☕️ Let’s dive into the big stories shaking up the blockchain world this week.
⤵️ Today’s Agenda:
🇪🇺 EU tightens AML regulations for CEXs, banning privacy coins.
TON Chain integrates Ethena stablecoins and tokenizes debt pools
Sam Altman’s Worldcoin launches in the US 🇺🇸
Tether dives into AI waters with open-source AI Agent runtime.
📊 Weak Job market data boost crypto in expectation of rate cuts.
And more…
📊 Market Snapshot
| $94,100BTC-1.3% | $1,850ETH-0.4% | $2.93TCrypto Market Cap-1.2% | 49 (Neutral)Fear & Greed Index-2 from last week |
📅 Crypto Events You don’t want to Miss
Wednesday, May 7th: This Wednesday, the spotlight’s on the Fed with a hat trick of major events ✨
Federal Funds Rate decision at 1:00 am UTC
FOMC Statement at 6:00 pm UTC
FOMC Press Conference at 6:30 pm UTC
❓️ Why care? Because interest rates are like the volume knob on the global economy, and when the Fed speaks, markets (including crypto) listen.
The Federal Funds Rate is the benchmark for borrowing costs. If they hike it, expect risk assets like crypto to flinch 📉
If they pause or hint at cuts, we could see green across the board 📈
The FOMC Statement drops the official tone. It’s where traders scan every word for dovish or hawkish hints.
🐋Smart Money Tracker
Tuesday, Apr 29th: A wallet linked to the $TRUMP team deposited 1,346,000 $TRUMP ($19.58M) into Binance, OKX, and Bybit on this day.
Wednesday, Apr 30th: This trader turned $239 into $2.2M, a 9,228x return. Absolute legend! 🔥
A month ago, they bought 25.77M $HOUSE for only $239, sold 1.91M $HOUSE for $58.8K, and still hold 23.85M $HOUSE($2.15M).
They used to trade ~10 coins daily but have hardly traded after buying $HOUSE.
Thursday, May 1st: After holding $ai16z for 3 months, this whale finally capitulated, selling part of $ai16z at a loss of $1.92M.
3 months ago, they spent 18,000 $SOL ($3.68M) to buy 6.51M $ai16z at $0.57.
Today they sold 4M $ai16z ($1.05M) at $0.26 to stop loss, leaving 2.51M $ai16z($702K).
Saturday, May 3rd: This whale has been long $BTC, $ETH, $SOL, $LTC, $XRP, $LINK, and 16 other tokens in the past month, with a total profit of more than $9M 📈
Additionally, this whale bought 309 $BTC ($24.68M) at an average price of $79,792, currently sitting on unrealized profits of more than $5M.
Saturday, May 3rd: This trader lost $111K on $POPE in under 5 minutes.
They spent 200K $USDC to FOMO buy $POPE, but right after his purchase, the price dropped sharply.
In a panic, they sold for just $89K, burning $111K in minutes 🫠
Source: Lookonchain
📰 News Recap (Apr 29 to May 5)
📉 Bad Jobs = Crypto Pump?
U.S. job data came in soft, and crypto markets said “let’s ride!” 🚀
With unemployment ticking up, traders are betting the Fed might cut rates sooner.
BTC/USD Source: Coingecko
Bitcoin and ETH bounced, reminding us once again: macro drama = crypto gains (sometimes).
Bad news never looked so bullish.
📱TON Secures Major Financial Partnerships
Telegram's blockchain TON scored two significant financial integrations this week, bringing crypto functionality to its massive user base 🚀
Ethena introduced its yield-bearing stablecoin sUSDe to the ecosystem, allowing Telegram users to earn 10% yield through the messaging app.
A partnership with Libre Capital launched the $500M Telegram Bond Fund to tokenize Telegram bonds 📊
"Our vision is to make crypto as easy as sending a text."
Said TON Foundation CEO Max Crown, as the network has grown from 4 million to 41 million active accounts in just one year 💸
👁️ Worldcoin Invades the U.S.
Sam Altman’s eyeball-scanning crypto project is going mainstream with the U.S. launch! 🇺🇸
They are bringing a new Visa card and even a Tinder partnership (yep, biometric dating is here), Worldcoin is pushing boundaries… and comfort zones.
World is now launched in the US, the country where it all started.
— World (@worldcoin)
10:55 PM • May 3, 2025
At the same time, World (as they call it now) got fined for alleged regulatory violations in Indonesia.
Is it innovation or Black Mirror IRL? You decide.
🤖 Tether dives into AI with an open-source runtime
The stablecoin giant's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, announced "Tether AI" - a fully open-source system designed to run on any hardware without central control points.
It will feature USDT and Bitcoin payment capabilities through their Wallet Development Kit 💰 💳
This project aims to create "an unstoppable peer-to-peer network of billions of AI agents", Ardoino proclaimed.
Not much else is known at this time; however, we know that the AI-agent landscape is becoming more than competitive 🚀
🌍️ Story of the Week
🚨🔐 EU Tightens Crypto Privacy Rules with New AML Regulations
Privacy-focused crypto users in Europe are under pressure.
New EU anti-money laundering (AML) rules, set to take effect by 2027, will ban anonymous accounts and privacy coins like Monero.
📕 The European Crypto Initiative’s AML Handbook says crypto service providers (CASPs) won’t be allowed to offer:
“any mechanism that enables enhanced obfuscation of transactions, including through anonymity-enhancing coins.”
These rules target tools that hide transaction traces. The EU sees anonymous crypto as a serious risk for criminal misuse.
📉 The impact could be big. Just last week, hackers converted $330 million in stolen Bitcoin into Monero. XMR’s price jumped 50%.
XRM/USD Source: Coingecko
🔍 Privacy coins are popular for hiding transaction trails.
But CASPs will soon need to verify users, track crypto origins, and monitor self-hosted addresses, even if the wallets are user-controlled.
By July 2027, the EU’s new AML authority will oversee up to 40 large CASPs across at least six countries.
More oversight is expected.
These new rules come after the MiCA regulation, which already led to Tether’s USDT being delisted on major EU exchanges.
🔒 Major Token Unlocks of the Week
$ATEM - 4.7% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 6, 2025.
$HFT - 1.7% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 7, 2025.
$TKO - 2% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 7, 2025.
$HYPC - 1.9% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 8, 2025.
$ARB - 1.2% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 9, 2025.
$NYM - 3.9% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 11, 2025.
$DIMO - 2.5% of the total supply will enter circulation on May 12, 2025.
Explore more unlocks with full vesting details.
🗞️ From our Blog
💡 1 Minute Learning: Fake Airdrops
Who doesn’t love free tokens? 🎁 But before you ape into the next airdrop you see on X, let’s talk about fake airdrops, one of the most common traps in crypto nowadays.
🚨 What’s a Fake Airdrop? A scam technique that promises victims they can claim free tokens.
Scammers trick users into:
Clicking malicious links
Connecting wallets to shady dApps
Revealing seed phrases or private keys (NEVER do this)
Once you interact, it can be game over. Tokens drained, NFTs gone, tears flowing 😢
🕵️♀️ What a Fake Airdrop Can Look Like:
X replies or DMs claiming “You’ve been selected for an exclusive airdrop!”
Impersonator accounts mimicking real projects — e.g., @Arbitrum_Official_ instead of @arbitrum
Too-slick websites asking you to “Connect Wallet” immediately
Tokens mysteriously showing up in your wallet, and links urging you to “claim” more
🔒️ Pro tip: If a token shows up uninvited in your wallet, DO NOT INTERACT. It’s likely a scam designed to bait a click.
And that’s a wrap! 🎉 Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Got any ideas or feedback? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email at [email protected].
DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make financial decisions. Always do your own research and stay safe out there.