Tether reported a huge $4.52 billion in profits made in the first quarter, confirming the huge footing the company holds in the global financial scene. The stablecoin giant holds $91 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, making it the 19th largest holder of treasuries in the world, right behind South Korea and Germany. Tether’s Bitcoin holding is also valued at $5.4 billion.

In a world in which even China has begun to pull back on its treasury holdings, Tether investments reinforce a new financial influence born by stablecoins. Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, for his part, sharply observed new demand for dollar-pegged monies and advocated for regulation to lock in the dollar’s place within the burgeoning field of digital assets.

This will change with major economies adjusting their treasury strategies, and the strong treasury engagement that Tether shows continues to solidify its market position and give additional strength to the US dollar in integration into the digital era, creating a reinforcing loop between the two.

CryptoSlate

In a striking development, dormant Ethereum (ETH) wallets tied to cofounder Vitalik Buterin have come alive, coinciding with the cryptocurrency’s price spike. A recent flurry of activity was observed when 200 ETH, valued at $600,000, were moved to Kraken, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange. This transaction has reignited interest in Ethereum’s robustness and Buterin’s visionary contributions.

The journey of these coins began nine years ago, starting from a wallet address known as “0x5eD,” which played a pivotal role in funding Buterin’s early Ethereum ventures. Initially, 2,000 ETH were transferred to another wallet “0x2FE” and sat untouched, illustrating the long-term confidence in Ethereum’s potential.

The resurgence of these funds into active trading underscores Ethereum’s enduring appeal and stability in the volatile crypto market, highlighting the strategic long-term holding by its early adopters.

X

Coinbase analyst David Han says that the market may be underestimating the potential for Ethereum, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) set to make decisions on May 23 and May 24 regarding spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds. Despite wide expectations that the SEC will not approve the fund, Han says, “It’s a question of when, not if,” along the lines of previously rejected spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Currently, the Ethereum-based decentralized prediction market Polymarket is estimating only a 16% chance of approval this May, while the Grayscale Ethereum Trust continues to trade at a 24% discount to its net asset value. Yet, Coinbase is even more bullish, estimating a 30-40% chance of approval, among other reasons, due to the long-standing appeal of Ethereum, which is both a store-of-value and a technology-token.

Han goes on to further explain his own bullishness on Ethereum: “Ethereum has many demand drivers and may well outperform in the back half of the year. While it has underperformed since the October peak, our view remains that Ethereum possesses a unique combination of (1) large and extremely diverse use cases; (2) a relatively mature developer ecosystem; and (3) substantial utilization in decentralized finance, which creates a strong stage for future price appreciation and defends against threatening ‘Ethereum killer’ narratives.”

Report

Rusty Russell, lead Lightning developer for Blockstream, is spearheading an ambitious initiative known as the Bitcoin script restoration project. This effort aims to restore and expand the functionality of Bitcoin’s script language, which was significantly limited in the early days of Bitcoin due to security concerns. In a recent interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Russell elaborated on the project’s goals and the potential it holds for the future of Bitcoin.

Rusty Russell and the Great Bitcoin Script Restoration Project (22:45) A Look Back: Why OpCodes Were Disabled

When Bitcoin was first launched, its script language included a variety of operational codes (opcodes) that enabled complex…

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