OVERVIEW

Crypto Markets Hit Snooze Button Until Fed Wakes Them Up Wednesday 😴

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:

Source: Santiment

And here’s a look at crypto’s total market and altcoin market cap charts:

Source: TradingView

NEWS
Odds Of A Rate Cut DOUBLED 🤣 

The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) is scheduled to announce their decision on current interest rates this Wednesday (May 7, 2025). 📆 

In last Friday’s Litepaper, we looked at what Polymarket is showing as the odds of a rate hike:

Friday May 2, 2025, Source: Polymarket

The odds stood at 1%.

And since then odds of a 25 bps cut, have doubled.

To 2%.

Source: Polymarket

Be prepared for a lot of ‘meh’ until Wednesday. 🤷 

TETHER
Tether’s AI Project: Because Taking Over Stablecoins Wasn’t Ambitious Enough 🤖

Tether ($USDT.X ( ▲ 0.0% )), apparently bored with dominating stablecoins, is now jumping into AI with the upcoming launch of Tether AI – a decentralized, peer-to-peer platform that’s basically crypto-meets-Skynet (but hopefully nicer). 😁 

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino X

Tether is a major stakeholder ($200m in 2024) in Blackrock Neutrotech (not associated with the Black Rock we all know). This Blackrock specializes in implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) designed to restore essential functions for those with paralysis or neurological disorders.

Their flagship MoveAgain BCI system snagged an FDA Breakthrough Designation in 2021, underscoring the serious, life-changing potential of their tech.

This open-source AI platform will run without centralized servers or pesky API keys and integrates payments directly with USDT and Bitcoin.

CEO Paolo Ardoino is promising a system that’s resilient, privacy-focused, and designed to operate on any hardware, including your outdated laptop. The project aligns with Tether’s broader pivot to AI, part of a restructuring that’s clearly about showing the tech giants what decentralized AI really looks like.

With Tether posting a billion-dollar quarterly profit, clearly, they think they’ve got enough cash to turn this AI experiment into reality. 💵 

COTI
ECB Picks Crypto Firm COTI 🕵️‍♂️ 

The European Central Bank (ECB), clearly tired of pretending crypto doesn’t matter, picked the COTI Network to help develop its digital euro. 💶 

COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen’s X

$COTI.X ( ▲ 2.93% ), known for privacy-focused, lightweight Web3 solutions, got the nod after proving itself with the Bank of Israel’s digital shekel project. 

The ECB, traditionally skeptical of crypto, finally seems to realize you can’t ignore blockchain forever, now planning to leverage COTI’s tech to balance user privacy with identity verification.

The project is part of ECB’s broader push to maintain Europe’s monetary sovereignty, especially as US policies aggressively favor dollar-backed stablecoins. Crypto critics might not like this, but the ECB finally admitting blockchain is useful means crypto just scored another major credibility win. 👍️ 

ON-CHAIN ANALYSIS
Burnt Bag Briefing 🔥 

Want to know whether the bulls or bears are feeling the most pain today? Well, this is the place to look. 👀

24-Hour Liquidation Heat Map – Source: coinglass – Click to enlarge.

In the past 24 hours, 79,500 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations reaching nearly $231.88 million.

The largest single liquidation occurred on HTX, an ETHUSD pair valued at $2.36 million.

Longs lost $65.47 million, while shorts were hit for $153.31 million. 🤕

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E-mail me here: jmorgan@stocktwits.com

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Crypto News 📰

🏝️ Maldives Drops $8.8 Billion Blockchain Bet to Dodge Debt Disaster

Facing economic headwinds and crushing debt, the Maldives just went all-in on crypto, unveiling an $8.8 billion blockchain mega-project aiming to become the next global crypto haven. The Maldives International Financial Centre (MIFC) – tax-free, obviously – plans to outshine even Dubai by luring Web3 companies, token issuers, and digital asset exchanges. CryptoSlate.

🎭 Trump’s Meme Token Crashed 85%, But He “Hasn’t Even Looked”

Donald Trump’s official meme token exploded, crashed, drained altcoin liquidity, and now sits around 85% off its January highs – but the President claims he’s “not profiting” and hasn’t even checked the price. Meanwhile 80% of tokens locked by companies and entities with insider knowledge and access to the President – but that’s nothing new. CoinPaper.

💵 Cardano’s Fiat-Backed Stablecoin (USDM) Officially Opens Retail Minting

Cardano’s own fiat-backed stablecoin, USDM, just opened the gates to retail minting, letting everyday users in 19 states (more coming) turn cold, boring USD into shiny Cardano-backed digital cash. It’s straightforward: do KYC, send a wire, and voilà—you’ve minted USDM. If you’re bored of USDT drama or just bullish on ADA’s future, this might finally be your stablecoin upgrade. Monerta’s X.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
AI, Stablecoins, & Privacy News 🕵️ 

🤖 YoBoyRoy Launches AI Twin: Fans Can Now Chat With His Personality 24/7

Well this is creepy. Streamer YoBoyRoy partnered with Theta Labs to create his AI Twin, letting fans experience his energy, catchphrases, and sponsor shout-outs anytime. Powered by Theta’s decentralized GPUs, Roy’s bot is always online, delivering personalized conversations and meme-laden wisdom. Theta Network.

🤖 Kava AI Unveils DeFi Co-Pilot: Because Trading Bots Needed More Autonomy

If Skynet had a crypto hedge fund, this is exactly how it would start. Kava AI’s latest update introduces fully autonomous DeFi agents that not only spot alpha but also trade around the clock, making human traders look about as useful as flip phones. Built with decentralized privacy at its core, Kava promises transparency while bots quietly out-trade you. Kava.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) News 🪙 

🛠️ Centrifuge RWA Launchpad: Now Even TradFi Can Pretend to Understand Crypto

Centrifuge unveiled its RWA Launchpad, a toolkit that lets institutions tokenize everything from private credit to stablecoins without breaking the blockchain (or hiring an army of Solidity devs). By offering modular, plug-and-play contracts, Centrifuge promises rapid deployment and fewer heart attacks over custom smart contract audits. Who knew bringing legacy finance on-chain would just involve fewer clicks – and less thinking? Centrifuge.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
DeFi, DEX, & Lending Protocol News 🏦

🔌 Gelato vs. Reactive: Picking the Right Automation Before Your dApp Picks a Fight

Gelato keeps it simple, automating tasks quickly on single-chain dApps without dev headaches – but debugging is about as clear as Vitalik’s singing choices. Reactive Smart Contracts, meanwhile, thrive in multi-chain chaos, with real-time event responses that adapt dynamically. Gelato is your Toyota Corolla: reliable but limited. Reactive is the Tesla Cybertruck: powerful, complex, and probably smarter than you. Reactive Network.

🔗 NEAR Adds EdDSA Signatures

Cross-chain just got less painful, unless you count the existential pain of multi-chain portfolio tracking. NEAR just upgraded Chain Signatures with EdDSA support, meaning your NEAR wallet can now sign transactions directly on Solana, Stellar, Aptos, and more. Forget juggling 17 seed phrases – NEAR lets you lose all your crypto from just one convenient place. Near Protocol.

⚙️ Avalanche’s Tesseract: Making Cross-Chain Swaps Easier Than Finding the Remote

Yield Yak’s new project Tesseract acts like a universal liquidity router across Avalanche’s subnets, simplifying cross-chain transfers to “just give me the best price already.” Built open-source, it lets anyone integrate and plug into Avalanche’s massive liquidity pool. For once, crypto infrastructure might actually be useful instead of just complicated. Avalanche.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🤯 VanEck files for BNB ETF, first in US

🥷 Next Assassin’s Creed Shadows update announced

🚕 Inside the Waymo factory building a Robotaxi future

📜 Cardano CEO: Key crypto bills could pass by September ´25

🏘️ Real-estate software firm acquires Solana validator for $3.5M

⛏️ Semler Scientific adds 167 Bitcoin, bringing holdings to 3,634 BTC

😯 Deribit sets sights on US market amid President Trump’s pro-crypto approach: Report

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Author Disclosure: The author of this newsletter holds positions in ADA, IMX, COPI, MIN, AGIX, ALGO, ZEC, XLM, and NEAR. 📋