The Smart Money has accumulated a total of 6,627.79 ETH over the past three days, worth $14.276 million.

On May 19th, Echo Protocol announced it is investigating a security incident affecting its cross-chain bridge on the Monad network. All cross-chain transactions have remained suspended throughout the ongoing probe. Earlier reports from PeckShield’s monitoring indicate Echo Protocol was targeted in an attack on Monad. The attacker minted 1,000 eBTC—valued at roughly $76.7 million—and deposited 45 eBTC (~$3.45 million) into Curvance using a pre-tested process. After that, the attacker used these assets as collateral to borrow around 11.29 WBTC (approximately $867,700), bridged the WBTC to Ethereum, converted it into ETH, and ultimately transferred 384 ETH (about $821,700) to the privacy mixer Tornado Cash. SlowMist founder Cao Yin noted that Echo Protocol may have been compromised due to a leaked admin key.

May 19 — Per monitoring from Hyperinsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight), the HYPE token has been rallying steadily, trading above $48 as of this morning. On Hyperliquid, prominent trader “Loracle” added to his HYPE short exposure to flatten a portion of his position, accumulating roughly 200,000 tokens worth around $9.4 million. Currently, using 5x leverage, Loracle holds a short position of 1.443 million HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $68.1 million. His average entry price for the short has risen from $41.8 to $42.55, resulting in an unrealized loss of $6.76 million (a -47% decline). Separately, the market has long suspected the largest HYPE long-position holder to be the "HYPE listing insider" whale, and this wallet continues to hold a sizeable long position. Currently employing 5x leverage, it is long 1.38 million HYPE tokens, valued at around $65.3 million, with an average entry price of $38.67 and an unrealized gain of $11.9 million. Wallet addresses:

May 19 – Coinglass data shows the Coinbase Bitcoin premium has been widening steadily since May 15, even as Bitcoin’s price pulled back from $80,600 to its current level of $76,800. This recent price decline appears to be driven primarily by U.S. investors.

On May 19, X launched Creator Connect, an AI-driven tool for matching brands with platform creators. The solution intelligently pairs creators based on brands’ marketing goals, audience interests, and real-time trends, and is built using xAI technology. X will manage the full end-to-end process—including creator selection, outreach, content creation, and distribution—while brands can review and approve decisions at every stage. Mitchell Smith, X’s Global Head of Content Partnerships, said the platform is entering its “Creator Era” and is focused on building a healthy, sustainable creator economy. Monique Pintarelli, xAI’s Global Advertising Lead, added that Creator Connect’s combination of AI and X’s real-time broadcasting capabilities helps brands reach consumers more efficiently. The tool rollout is part of X’s “Year of the Creator” plan. The platform has previously launched creator-focused features such as Creator Subscriptions 2.0, Exclusive Threads, and doubled creator revenue

As of May 19th, HTX market data shows Bitcoin is trading at $76,638.07, down 0.66% over the last 24 hours. Ethereum, meanwhile, is priced at $2,123.19, up 0.05% in the same period. Looking at funding rates across major centralized exchanges (CEXes), Bitcoin rates are clustered at the lower end of the bearish territory, while Ethereum rates show wide variation across platforms—an overall sign of cautious market sentiment. For Bitcoin, exchanges like Binance have funding rates mostly in the 0.004% to 0.006% range—all sitting below the 0.01% benchmark. While BTC funding rates haven’t dipped fully negative yet, they’re still under the benchmark, pointing to a lack of bullish momentum and no clear bullish signals. For Ethereum, most Binance funding rates land in the 0.007% to 0.008% range—close to but still below the 0.01% benchmark. Platforms like OKX have notably lower ETH funding rates, making Ethereum’s cross-exchange variations more stark than Bitcoin’s. While some major exchanges s

On May 19th, Francisco Blanch, Head of Commodity and Derivatives Research at a U.S. bank, noted that hitting an average Brent crude price of $90 per barrel for the rest of the year would be the "best-case scenario." He highlighted that global crude oil markets still face a daily supply gap of 14% to 15%—equal to 14 to 15 million barrels. If the Strait of Hormuz’s "double blockade" holds, Brent prices could climb to $120 to $130 per barrel by late June or early July. Should the conflict worsen and disrupt oil infrastructure entirely, prices could jump even more sharply, Blanch warned. Given the Strait of Hormuz crisis shows no signs of easing anytime soon, multiple Wall Street firms have revised up their oil price forecasts. Goldman Sachs already bumped its full-year Brent target to roughly $90, while JPMorgan chimed in with a darker note: if this critical maritime chokepoint stays shut for four weeks, the globe could face a "catastrophic" oil shortfall. Royal Bank of Canada analyst He