Aave Labs said its UK units, Push Labs Ltd. and Push Virtual Assets Ltd., were registered by the FCA as cryptoasset exchange providers, alongside an existing Electronic Money Institution authorization. The company said the setup is intended to support regulated payments infrastructure and a planned zero-fee fiat on- and off-ramp that would let users move funds from bank accounts into Aave within the app.

Base has rolled out its Azul upgrade on mainnet, bringing multiproofs and a rebuilt client stack as the Coinbase-incubated Ethereum layer 2 moves toward Stage 2 decentralization. The multiproof design combines TEE and zero-knowledge proofs and can cut withdrawal finality to as little as one day when both agree. The release also shifts the network to new execution and consensus clients, and Base says it has reduced empty blocks by roughly 99% while sustaining bursts of 5,000 TPS.

Zama has acquired TokenOps to add Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to token vesting, airdrops and cap table workflows for institutional issuers. The companies said the setup uses onchain encryption, including the ERC-7984 confidential token standard, to reduce signaling and front-running risks tied to transparent releases. The FHE-based distribution is already running in production, including deployments for KAIO and Zama's own (ZAMA) confidential vesting on Ethereum.

Bernstein said the Senate's 15-9 Clarity Act markup vote on May 14 and its stablecoin yield compromise could reinforce Circle's USDC model by limiting passive interest while allowing activity-based rewards. Analysts also pointed to an all-time-high dollar stablecoin supply above $300 billion and said adjusted stablecoin volumes are running at $15 trillion per month, with annualized volumes at $100 trillion.

Sky Mavis' gaming chain Ronin is set to move from an independent Ethereum sidechain to an OP Stack-based Layer 2 on May 12, with about 10 hours of planned network downtime. Transfers, swaps and smart contract interactions will pause during the window, and onchain actions for games such as Axie Infinity and Pixels are also expected to stop. Ronin says the hard fork will also change RON's tokenomics, reducing annual inflation from above 20% to below 1%.

Circle Internet Group said it raised $222 million in a presale of Arc tokens valuing the project at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation, with a16z crypto, BlackRock, Apollo and others participating. Released alongside Circle's Q1 2026 results, the company reported $694 million in total revenue and reserve income, while USDC supply rose 28% to $77 billion. Onchain USDC transaction volume totaled $21.5 trillion and adjusted EBITDA was $151 million, even as net income fell to $55 million amid higher operating expenses.

Wallet in Telegram has launched in-app perpetual futures trading for its 150M+ users via an integration with Ethereum-based DEX Lighter. Users can take leveraged long or short positions on 50+ assets and place trades inside Telegram with up to 50x leverage. Availability is not global, with access restricted in jurisdictions including the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Uniswap Foundation said it ended 2025 with $85.8 million in assets and expects its current funding to cover operations into early 2027. It disclosed holdings as of Dec. 31, 2025, including $49.9 million in cash and stablecoins, 15.1 million UNI, and 240 ETH. The group also outlined allocations of about $106.2 million for grants and incentives and $26.3 million for operating costs and employee token awards.

Bitcoin started Monday around $66,000 after a thin-liquidity weekend dip toward $64,000, then climbed nearly 2% to trade near $68,000 following President Donald Trump’s comments about “serious discussions” with what he called a new Iranian regime. Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged $296 million in net outflows from March 23–28, while Ethereum ETFs saw $206.58 million outflows over the same window. Analysts said geopolitical uncertainty and a busy U.S. data calendar are keeping risk appetite restrained and pushing investors toward yield and defensive positioning.