WU News & Events

Bitcoin touched $80,000 for the first time since January on a confluence of $630M in spot ETF inflows, Iran-related geopolitical de-escalation, and a bipartisan CLARITY Act stablecoin compromise, while corporate treasury activity dominated the SEC filing calendar: Strategy posted its second zero-buy week since late March, Strive crossed the 15,000 BTC milestone, and BitMine disclosed it now holds 4.29% of all circulating ether with 84% of that stake actively generating validator yield. Western Union launched its first stablecoin on Solana, Hut 8 refinanced its bitcoin-backed credit facility at a 200 basis-point improvement, and on-chain signals offered a mixed read — strong ETF momentum offset by a leveraged short squeeze on Hyperliquid and a dormant whale moving bitcoin to Kraken. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with "Crypto Currents," daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.BITCOIN TESTS $80,000:Bitcoin(BTC-USD)briefly touched $80,393 early Monday, its highest print since January 31st, before pulling back. The move catalyzed by a Truth Social post by the U.S. President Donald Trump suggested geopolitical de-escalation, approximately $630M in Friday spot ETF inflows, and anticipation of Strategy's(MSTR)Q1 2026 earnings report due Tuesday.also cited a banking-and-crypto industry compromise on stablecoin yield provisions in the CLARITY Act as a legislative tailwind, a development with direct implications for Coinbase(COIN)and stablecoin-linked public issuers. Bitcoin futures open interest entered Monday near $57.6B,per CoinGlass data cited by MEXC, an elevated positioning level at a key resistance band that raises liquidation-cascade risk for high-beta names including MARA Holdings(MARA)and Riot Platforms(RIOT).STRATEGY ZERO-BUY WEEK:Strategyconfirmed in its weekly 8-Kzero bitcoin acquired in the April 27-May 3 window, the second zero-purchase week since late March. The company holds 818,334 bitcoin at an aggregate cost basis of $61.81B and an average purchase price of $75,537, while simultaneously raising $82M during the same period by selling 492,210 MSTR shares through its at-the-market equity program.Strive(ASST)crossed 15,000 bitcoin in its corporate treasury as of May 1,per a regulatory filing, up from 14,557 on April 24, with $97.9M cash and $50.4M in Strategy STRC preferred stock also on the balance sheet. The preferred stock position makes Strive a layered proxy on both bitcoin spot price and the Strategy preferred-equity ecosystem, adding structural correlation between the two names.BITMINE'S ETH CONCENTRATION:BitMine Immersion Technologies(BMNR)reported its ether(ETH-USD)treasury reached 5,180,131 ether as of May 3 at $2,336 per coin, representing 4.29% of total circulating ether supply, with 200 bitcoin, $700M cash, and other positions bringing the combined portfolio to $13.1B,per a company press release. A 4.29% concentration of total supply at a single publicly traded entity carries meaningful price-impact and validator-influence implications for the Ethereum network.Cash on the BitMine balance sheet fell to $700M, down from $940M week-over-week, consistent with continued ether accumulation funded from treasury,per the concurrent filing. The filing discloses that approximately 84% of ether holdings, or 4,362,757 ether, have been moved into staking through MAVAN, adding validator yield to the treasury's return profile and deepening the company's operational exposure to the Ethereum staking ecosystem.WESTERN UNION STABLECOIN LAUNCH:Western Union(WU)officially launched USDPT, a U.S. dollar-backed payment stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank and built on Solana(SOL-USD), initially targeting the Philippines and Bolivia before expanding to 40-plus countries through 2026,per a company press release. In a concurrent release, Western Unionnamed Fireblocks as its infrastructure partnerfor wallet, settlement, and financial operations underpinning USDPT, illustrating how incumbent remittance operators are opting for third-party institutional custody infrastructure rather than building in-house blockchain capability.MINING AND BLOCKCHAIN INFRA:Hut 8(HUT)replaced its prior bitcoin-backed credit facility with Coinbase Credit with a new $200M, 364-day line from FalconX at a fixed 7.0% rate, a 200 basis-point improvement that simultaneously frees approximately 3,300 bitcoin worth roughly $260M from collateral,as stated by the company.Broadridge Financial Solutions(BR)reported its Distributed Ledger Repo platform processed $368B in average daily volume in April, a 268% year-over-year increase and nearly 4% sequential gain from March,totaling nearly $8T for the month. Separately, BitGo Holdings(BTGO)wasappointed as an additional custodian for the Virtune Stablecoin Index ETPin the EU and EEA under its MiCA license, adding regulated European institutional custody mandates to its footprint.CURRENC FY25 RESULTS:Currenc Group(CURR)reported$37.8M in FY25 revenuewith a net loss narrowed to ($18.5M), as the entity executes a strategic pivot toward Web3 and AI that includes a previously announced reverse merger with Animoca Brands. If the transaction closes, Animoca's blockchain asset portfolio would arrive on the books of a publicly traded U.S.-exchange issuer alongside the newly reported financial profile.WHALE FLOWS AND ON-CHAIN SIGNALS:U.S spot bitcoin ETFs logged $630M in net inflows on May 1,per Ambcrypto, tracking toward the roughly $1.9B to $2.4B monthly pace seen in April, supporting BlackRock's(BLK)bitcoin ETF AUM and custody revenue at Coinbase. On Hyperliquid, a tracked wallet known as 'pension-usdt.eth' held a 1,000 bitcoin short entered near $67,992 at 3x leverage,with unrealized losses expanding past $10M as bitcoin approached $80,000.PRICEE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at$80,224.61, while ether was trading at$2,369.71,according to price data from TipRanks.

Western Union announced the launch of USDPT, its U.S. dollar-denominated payment stablecoin. "USDPT reinforces Western Union's role as a global payments platform," said Devin McGranahan, Western Union's President and CEO. "By integrating a regulated digital dollar directly into our network, we're creating a more efficient settlement layer that supports partners, agents and future consumer use cases - all while preserving the trust and scale that define our brand."

Western Union has selected Fireblocks, the enterprise platform securing more than $14T in digital asset transactions, to provide the core infrastructure behind USDPT, Western Union's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Fireblocks' platform, along with Dynamic's embedded wallet and TRES' financial platform, both recently acquired by Fireblocks, will power Western Union's ability to settle with agents in USDPT across Western Union's global network this year. Fireblocks provides the unified infrastructure that lets Western Union operate USDPT at scale in markets where access to U.S. dollars is limited, local currencies are volatile or formal banking is out of reach. The platform provides custody, policy controls and the Payments Engine for issuance and movement, with the Fireblocks Network connecting Western Union to 2,400+ institutional counterparties across 100+ countries for liquidity and settlement. USDPT operations on Fireblocks will roll out initially across two markets, the Philippines and Bolivia, with expansion across Western Union's global network through 2026.

Reports Q1 revenue $983M, consensus $962.88M. "First quarter results reflect the continued challenges in our Americas retail business as well as a few discrete items affecting the quarter," said Devin McGranahan, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Looking ahead, the pending acquisition of Intermex is expected to strengthen our retail capabilities in the Americas, our stablecoin launch will modernize our payment systems, and continued investment in our digital channel is preparing us for a more digitally-focused future."