Market Summary

Bitcoin Price: US$ 36,552.97 (-7.90%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 2,747.97 (-6.55%)

Lido Leads, Crypto Unicorns Launches, STEPN Sprinting Away

• Lido overtook Curve today to become the leading protocol by TVL. This came as risk assets deposited in Lido (mostly ETH/SOL) moved up post-FOMC talks.
• Lido has gained a lot of TVL over the past year as more users prefer to have ETH2 yield exposure through liquid staking. Lido now holds 32% of all ETH staked in the ETH2 deposit contract.
• Curve, on the other hand, has seen its TVL start to decline slowly since the start of the year. Users started moving away from Curve and Convex as yields started declining. Opportunities for higher yields on other chains have also siphoned away some liquidity.
• However, the lead is not set in stone yet. 4pool is currently deployed on Curve with ~$4M in TVL. With the next voting period coming, the 4pool will be heavily incentivized as Frax, Terra and the other 4pool alliances will be directing rewards to 4pool. We can expect 4pool to boost Curve’s TVL as capital will swarm in to yield farm.

Bitcoin drops to $35.5K as 1,000 point Dow correction marks the worst trading day since 2020

• Global financial markets plunged into disarray on May 5 as the Dow Jones saw a 1,063 point drop and Bitcoin (BTC) price plummeted to $35,571 on Binance.
• The widespread weakness comes as traders have had more time to digest the recent half-point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, the largest hike since 2000, which was done in an attempt to corral record high inflation.

Argo Blockchain facility in West Texas expects to start mining Bitcoin in May

• Crypto mining company Argo Blockchain’s plans to open a data center in West Texas are likely nearing completion following an inauguration ceremony.
• In a Thursday announcement on Twitter, Argo said it expects to begin mining operations at its Helios facility in Dickens County, Texas starting next week. The announcement came more than a year after the mining firm purchased a 320-acre land plot to construct the facility, first breaking ground on the 200-megawatt data center in July 2021.
• Argo CEO Peter Wall told Cointelegraph the facility was built in Dickens County due to access to renewable energy sources in the company’s aim to “mine Bitcoin in the most eco-friendly way possible.” As of August 2021, the company said that its crypto operations had become “climate positive” for some classifications of greenhouse gas emissions, with a plan to eventually become carbon neutral.
• “A lot of [the available power] is somewhat stranded, meaning there is not a lot of local demand or local load to use that power, so we felt that this was a strong opportunity to help stabilize the grid,” said Wall.

Sen. Warren asks Fidelity to address the risks to put Bitcoin in 401(k)s

• The United States government is growing increasingly concerned about Bitcoin (BTC) in retirement savings, with two senators flagging some issues in Fidelity Investments’ plans to include Bitcoin (BTC) in 401(k) accounts.
• Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota expressed concerns over Fidelity’s decision to add BTC to its 401(k) investment plan in a letter to Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson.
• Dated May 4, the letter suggests that Fidelity’s latest Bitcoin plan has a potential conflict of interest, noting that Fidelity has been deeply involved in crypto since it began experimenting with BTC and Ether (ETH) mining operations and integrating Coinbase accounts back in 2017.
• On April 26, Fidelity announced plans to allow retirement savers to allocate up to 20% of their portfolio in BTC, citing high client demand. Senators Warren and Smith, however, argued that there was not enough client demand for this opportunity, stating:
• “Despite a lack of demand for this option — only 2% of employers expressed interest in adding cryptocurrency to their 401(k) menu — Fidelity has decided to move full speed ahead with supporting Bitcoin investments.”

Opera browser enables direct access to BNB Chain-based DApp ecosystem

• Crypto-friendly browser Opera integrated BNB Chain, a decentralized blockchain ecosystem formerly known as Binance Smart Chain, to enable BNB Chain-based decentralized apps (DApps) on Android, iOS and desktop versions of its Crypto Browser.
• The integration will enable Opera’s 350 million users to purchase BNB (Build N Build) token with fiat and send and receive it via the built-in Opera crypto wallet, as well as access DApps on the BNB Chain ecosystem. The list includes decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like PancakeSwap, 1inch and BiSwap, as well as decentralized finance (DeFi) products like DRIP Venus, Tranchess, Treehouse, ApeSwap and AutoShark Finance.
• The Opera Crypto Browser’s BNB Chain integration follows the beta release of a Web3 browser for iOS devices, iPhone and iPad, in April. Opera began the Crypto Browser project earlier this year to focus on Web3 and facilitate navigation across DApps, games and metaverse platforms. The browser company has since expanded support for nine major blockchain ecosystems: Bitcoin, Solana, Polygon, StarkEx, Ronin, Celo, Nervos Network and now BNB Chain.

Gucci the latest luxury brand to accept crypto payments in store

• The Italian high-end fashion label Gucci has announced it will begin accepting cryptocurrency payments by the end of the month in five of its United States stores, with plans to extend the service to all of its 111 stores in North America.
• Gucci will accept 12 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE) and five U.S. dollar stablecoins, according to Vogue Business.
• Customers paying with crypto in-store at the pilot locations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas will be sent an email with a QR code to pay via their digital asset wallet. Employees have started to undertake training and education on crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 in preparation for the launch.