Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Why Yat Siu says the metaverse is over

Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu told Consensus Miami 2026 that the metaverse is over as a consumer destination, and that 100 billion AI agents will become blockchains primary users.Yat Siu said the pandemic-era vision of humans living in virtual worlds was wrong, and that the metaverse was a proof of concept for AI agent infrastructure rather than a consumer product.He predicted 50 to 100 billion AI agents will eventually operate on the internet, outnumbering humans and transacting autonomously on blockchain networks.Animoca announced a $10 million investment initiative for developers building AI agent applications through its Animoca Minds platform.　　Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu told Consensus Miami 2026 on Thursday that the metaverse, as the crypto industry imagined it during the pandemic, was never really built for humans.　　“Where were landing is that the metaverse, the blockchain-based one, was really the proof of concept for agents,” he said. “In other words, it was never really destined for humans as a prime consumer.”　　The remarks mark a clean break from Animocas earlier positioning. The firm was among the most prominent advocates of the pandemic-era metaverse vision, which assumed users would spend growing amounts of their social and economic lives in immersive virtual environments.　　Siu attributed that

05-08Industry

Shopify Inc Stock Climbs 3.55% on Renewed Earnings Focus

Shopify Inc., SHOPShopify Inc Stock Rebounds After Earnings Reassessment　　Shopify released its Q1 2026 results on May 5 and exceeded analyst estimates for revenue and earnings per share. The company reported Gross Merchandise Volume above $100 billion for the second consecutive quarter. It also maintained healthy free cash flow margins and reported growth in Merchant Solutions revenue.　　However, the stock declined on May 5 and May 6 after management issued softer second-quarter revenue guidance. Executives projected slower growth compared with the first quarter, which prompted short-term selling pressure. Despite that reaction, the May 7 rebound indicated that traders reassessed the guidance in context with overall performance.　　Shopify highlighted higher AI-driven order volumes during the quarter, reflecting expanded product capabilities. The company also continued to grow its fintech offerings and international operations. Management emphasized disciplined cost control and sustained margin performance during its earnings call.　　Sector Performance and Market Activity Support Gains　　The broader Software & IT Services sector advanced 2.16% during the same session. Microsoft Corp climbed 2.76%, while Palantir Technologies Inc gained 4.58%. Meta Platforms Inc added 1.66%, placing them among the top three stocks by turnover in the sector.　　Analysts responded to the earnings report by adjusting certain price targets while maintaining favorable ratings.

05-08Industry

Nvidia Stock Advances 3% Ahead of Earnings Report

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDANvidia Stock Rises as Goldman Backs $250 target　　Goldman Sachs reaffirmed its Buy rating on Nvidia and kept a $250 price target on the shares. The bank said demand for data center products continues to support upside potential. It also stated that investors may focus on the possible upside to Nvidias $1 trillion data center guidance.　　The firm expects a “beat-and-raise” quarter based on current supply and demand trends. However, it said expectations remain high, setting a strong bar for further gains. Goldman added that valuation could improve if hyperscalers show stronger profitability and broader enterprise adoption increases.　　The bank also cited opportunities linked to agentic systems and server central processing units. It said these trends could expand Nvidias reach beyond traditional large-scale buyers. The company will release its quarterly earnings results later this month.　　AI Spending Plans Support Nvidia Stock Outlook　　Large technology companies recently increased capital expenditure forecasts for 2026. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft raised combined spending projections to about $725 billion. Analysts at Bank of America and Evercore estimate total capital expenditure could exceed $1 trillion by 2027.　　This level of spending supports continued demand for Nvidias graphics processing units. These chips remain central to artificial intelligence workloads in

05-08Industry

Brad Garlinghouse Explains What CLARITY Act Means For Ripple and XRP

The post Brad Garlinghouse Explains What CLARITY Act Means For Ripple and XRP appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News　　The CLARITY Act passing would be good for crypto and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes that. Garlinghouse said Ripple has actively leaned into supporting the CLARITY Act.　　“If we want the largest economy in the world, the United States, to lean into crypto in the way that helps, its good for Ripple if that happens,” he said. “But XRP has clarity.”　　The distinction matters. Ripple is not lobbying for the CLARITY Act because it needs it. It is supporting it because the broader crypto industry does, and because a healthy US crypto regulatory environment is ultimately good for everyone operating in the space, including Ripple.　　Garlinghouse also pointed to a concern he hears repeatedly from bank CEOs and senior financial executives. They are nervous. Not about XRP specifically, but about what happens when the current regulatory leadership changes. Paul Atkins is at the SEC today. But guidance is not law, and guidance can change the moment a new administration arrives.　　“If you‘re a big financial institution that’s had to deal with an SEC that has fined them billions of dollars, they dont want to take a

05-08Industry

Prediction markets debate closes Consensus Miami

Prediction markets closed out Consensus Miami 2026 as the subject of a live debate on whether they are regulated financial derivatives or gambling products operating outside state law.The closing Consensus Miami 2026 session debated whether prediction markets are CFTC-regulated financial instruments or unlicensed gambling under state gaming laws.CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the fight could reach the Supreme Court, as the agency has already sued five states for treating its registered exchanges as gambling platforms.Kalshis valuation surged from $22 million in 2024 to $22 billion by March 2026, with sports contracts now accounting for 85% to 90% of its trading volume.　　Prediction markets closed out Consensus Miami 2026 on Thursday as the subject of the conference‘s final debate, pitting the CFTC’s position that event contracts are swaps against a growing coalition of state attorneys general who argue the platforms are unlicensed gambling businesses.　　The session brought the conferences policy agenda to a head after three days of regulatory and legislative sessions.　　CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, who attended Consensus for the first time this year, has made the prediction markets jurisdictional fight a defining feature of his tenure.　　“We expect these matters to go up to the Supreme Court,” Selig said, as the agency has

05-08Industry

MAGNE.AI and MarsCat Partner to Build a Complete Privacy Stack for Web3

The use of Web 3 has always been about a promise of privacy, with some apps and dApps still having at least some dependency upon centralized servers, centralized clouds, or third-party data. On May 7th, 2026, MAGNE.AI announced a collaboration with MarsCat whereby they are creating an “end-to-end” privacy layer where MarsCat manages the infrastructure for the network and MAGNE.AI constructs devices that are secured upon that network.　　What Each Side Brings to the Table　　MarsCat is a distributed connection network and a decentralized Web3 application engine that allows decentralized applications to function in a privacy-first, serverless manner with no dependency on centralized servers. This ensures secure communication, using decentralized peer to peer networks to eliminate the need for a central data relay/notification and therefore allow peers to communicate directly with each other.　　The use of encryption and temporary data storage through RelayX will improve the reliability of communication. The RelayX project is backed by an investment of $3 million from Animoca Brands, Cogitent Ventures and Cryptogram Venture (CGV), giving it both financial legitimacy and a solid institutional network to grow.　　MAGNE.AI has shifted to the hardware solution side to solve similar issues that other firms are working on with software. The US-based technology

05-08Industry

Kalshi Hits $22 Billion Valuation After Massive $1 Billion Series F Funding Round

The $22 billion figure doubles the companys valuation from the previous funding round in December, when it reached $11 billion.　　will the funds raised to “scale adoption across hedge funds, asset managers, proprietary trading firms, and insurance companies,” aiming to entice these institutions to enter and attract trillions in capital. To this end, the company will expand its trading suite to include products tailored to satisfy institutional demand.　　Institutional demand has skyrocketed, as total volumes traded by institutions have increased 800%. Also, s annualized volume has reached $178 billion, more than tripling the amount registered in the first 6 months of 2025.　　The fund injection comes at a pivotal time for the company, which is currently battling several lawsuits across America as state regulators seek to apply local gambling laws to prediction markets. Nonetheless, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) argues it has exclusive oversight over event markets.　　Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, estimated that the prediction markets still had room for growth, as they have not yet hit mainstream adoption.

05-08Industry

CoinGecko Report Shows Tokenized RWAs Surged to $19.3B In Q1 2026

The market for real world assets (RWAs) is really taking off now that big investors are getting involved. CoinGecko latest report shows that tokenized real world assets are worth $19.3 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2026. It is one of the most impressive growth stages for blockchain financial products, marking a significant surge.　　INSIGHT: RWAs have more than tripled in market cap since 2025 — hitting $19.3B by the end of Q1 2026.　　While only 6.4% compared to the size of stablecoins, RWAs growth outpaced stablecoins over the last year, climbing up from 2.7% at the beginning of 2025. pic.twitter.com/pNUDkMPq90　　— CoinGecko (@coingecko) May 7, 2026　　The report has observed that the number of tokenized offerings of the RWAs has grown by 256.7% within a span of about a year and a half. The sectors value was $5.42 billion at the start of 2025.　　As of March 31, 2026, that number had nearly quadrupled with an increased demand from the crypto native community and traditional financial institutions participating in the tokenization of Treasurys, commodities, stocks, and ETFs.　　2025 is a pivotal year for tokenization, according to industry analysts. Early blockchain use cases with asset creation slowly gained traction and scale. This provided

05-08Industry

XRP Price: Time to Buy, Sell, or HODL Near Critical Support?

Tech　　XRP Price: Time to Buy, Sell, or HODL Near Critical Support？XRP tests $1.38 support as a descending triangle keeps price action tightly compressed.Glassnode data shows new XRP addresses dropped 85% from December 2024 network levels now.Binance spot markets net-sold over $35M in XRP as buyers absorbed heavy pressure lately.　　Market attention has shifted to XRP as the token trades near a key technical zone after failing to clear its upper trendline. XRP remains close to support as on-chain data shows weaker network activity compared with late 2024 levels.　　As of press time, XRP is trading around $1.39 and down by 2.19% over the past 24 hours and remains inside a tight $1.38 to $1.42 range. The token is now testing the lower support line of a multi-month descending triangle on the 2-hour chart.　　XRP Price Tests $1.38 Support　　The support area sits near $1.38. XRP moved into this zone after it failed to break above the upper side of the pattern. The XRP price is still holding above the blue moving average, which is acting as short-term support.　　Resistance remains near the red moving average between $1.40 and $1.4199. A clear move above that region could shift attention back to the triangle top near $1.4525.

05-08Industry

Nvidia Stock Advances 3% Ahead of Earnings Report

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDANvidia Stock Rises as Goldman Backs $250 target　　Goldman Sachs reaffirmed its Buy rating on Nvidia and kept a $250 price target on the shares. The bank said demand for data center products continues to support upside potential. It also stated that investors may focus on the possible upside to Nvidias $1 trillion data center guidance.　　The firm expects a “beat-and-raise” quarter based on current supply and demand trends. However, it said expectations remain high, setting a strong bar for further gains. Goldman added that valuation could improve if hyperscalers show stronger profitability and broader enterprise adoption increases.　　The bank also cited opportunities linked to agentic systems and server central processing units. It said these trends could expand Nvidias reach beyond traditional large-scale buyers. The company will release its quarterly earnings results later this month.　　AI Spending Plans Support Nvidia Stock Outlook　　Large technology companies recently increased capital expenditure forecasts for 2026. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft raised combined spending projections to about $725 billion. Analysts at Bank of America and Evercore estimate total capital expenditure could exceed $1 trillion by 2027.　　This level of spending supports continued demand for Nvidias graphics processing units. These chips remain central to artificial intelligence workloads in

05-08Industry