The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

As of May 1st, CME Group’s FedWatch Tool shows a 5.1% chance the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in June, with a 94.9% probability rates will remain unchanged.

Bloomberg, via the OneMillion AI Monitor Telegram channel, reported that a powerful U.S. Senate committee is advancing legislation requiring OpenAI, Meta Platforms (META.O) and other AI firms to bar minors from using AI chatbots—amid growing public concern over the harm the fast-evolving technology poses to children and teenagers. In the deeply polarized Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans and Democrats have set aside partisan divides to back the bill unanimously. The legislation would mandate strict age-verification systems for AI companies, prohibit them from offering AI companionship services to minors, and block chatbots from sending harmful messages to young users.

May 1st — Syndicate Labs confirmed a private key leak led to a malicious upgrade of its cross-chain bridge contract on two blockchains, with only one specific chain impacted (other networks were unaffected). The attacker transferred and sold roughly 18.5 million SYND tokens (valued at ~$330,000) plus ~$50,000 in user-held tokens. Syndicate noted the attack involved multi-stage reconnaissance, infrastructure mapping, and precise execution — signaling high technical sophistication — and ruled out insider involvement. Root causes included storing the private key in a password manager without an extra encryption layer, plus an upgrade process lacking multi-signature/hardware signing, specific upgrade alerts, or circuit breakers. The team announced full compensation for all affected users (including returning the 18.5 million SYND plus additional relief) and affected app chain customers. Security upgrades are underway: stronger private key encryption, tighter access controls, plans

May 1st, per Coinglass data, Bitcoin posted a slight dip, and current funding rates across major centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges still reflect a predominantly bearish market. Specific funding rates are included in the attached image. BlockBeats Note: Funding rates are set by crypto exchanges to keep contract prices aligned with spot prices, typically for perpetual contracts. They facilitate fund transfers between long and short traders—exchanges do not collect this fee. The mechanism adjusts the costs or profits of traders holding contracts to narrow the gap between contract and spot prices. A 0.01% rate serves as the baseline: rates above 0.01% signal a generally bullish market, while rates below 0.005% indicate a bearish trend.

A Verge analysis references TechCrunch reporting that Salesforce believes it’s found a strategy to stay competitive even as AI’s future direction remains uncertain: the CRM software giant is crowdsourcing its AI product roadmap in real time. Salesforce isn’t the only company partnering closely with customers to collect product feedback, but its massive scale, rapid pace of new product launches and existing product iterations, and high level of customer engagement make this approach particularly representative. These interactions are no longer annual or even quarterly—some customers connect with Salesforce on a weekly basis.

As of May 1, Coinglass data shows total crypto network liquidations hit $373M over the past 24 hours—with $273M in long positions liquidated and $100M in short positions.