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

On May 1, Farside data showed U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $2.021 billion in April. The breakdown by individual ETF is as follows: - BlackRock’s IBIT: +$2.013 billion - Fidelity’s FBTC: -$163 million - Bitwise’s BITB: +$34.3 million - ProShares’ BTCO: -$10 million - Franklin Templeton’s EZBC: -$4.4 million - ARK Investment’s ARKB: +$138 million - CoinShares’ BRRR: +$8.1 million - VanEck’s HODL: -$24.7 million - Morgan Stanley’s MSBT: +$1.94 billion - Grayscale’s GBTC: -$2.78 billion - Grayscale’s BTC Mini: +$99 million (Note: Corrected "Btwise" to the standard institutional name "Bitwise" for accuracy.)

May 1st: Per Arkham Monitor, the trader known as "Buddy" has lost $4.42 million this week, with a sharp 77% drop in value over just four days. Over seven and a half months, he has accumulated a total loss of $75.60 million. As of now, he still holds long positions in Ethereum and Bitcoin.

On May 1, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)—one of Canada’s largest institutional investment managers—disclosed in an April 30 regulatory filing that it holds $219 million in equity in a Strategy protocol. This marks one of the largest direct investments by a sovereign wealth fund in a crypto “middleware” protocol. AIMCo framed the move as a strategic play for Real World Assets (RWA) tokenization and automated liquidity provision. The Strategy platform offers institutional investors yield opportunities compliant with KYC/AML standards, while its governance and equity structure lets it benefit from transaction fees tied to institutional capital inflows. Analysts note the investment also serves as a defensive hedge against slumping traditional fixed-income returns. The investment is expected to act as a catalyst for other Canadian and global pension funds. With ~$160 billion CAD in assets under management (AUM), AIMCo’s move signals large fiduciary institutions see

On May 1, per Greeks.live data: - 23,000 BTC options expired, with a put/call ratio of 1.13, max pain at $76,000, and notional value of $17.4 billion. - 175,000 ETH options also expired the same day, with a put/call ratio of 0.94, max pain at $2,325, and notional value of $4 billion. Greeks.live analyst Adam noted this week saw muted market volatility, with Bitcoin (BTC) hovering around $78,000. Sentiment is gradually cooling: short-term implied volatility (IV) has plummeted, and nearly a quarter of position margin has been released amid this week’s monthly settlement. Main-term option IVs dropped sharply this week: - BTC’s main-term IVs are all below 40% across the board. - ETH’s main-term IVs fell even further: short-term IV dipped below 50%, while medium- to long-term IVs are all under 60%. Key option data highlights: - Skew remains stable, signaling a slight bearish directional bias. - Only 6% of options expire this week; ~25% open interest remains through end-

May 1 Analyst Murphy reports that on-chain holdings of new Bitcoin buyers—short-term holders—continue to climb, up from a temporary low of 3.38 million BTC to 3.68 million BTC. While this figure is still over 1 million BTC below the peak of the last bull market, analysts note that investors’ risk appetite is gradually picking up as the macro environment improves. In historical cycles, current new buyer holdings are roughly on par with mid-August 2022 levels (late bear market phase). Back then, BTC prices rebounded from a low of ~$19,000 to $24,000, a roughly 26% gain. By contrast, in the current cycle, BTC has rebounded from $62,000 to $79,000—a similar ~27% gain. Notably, while the capital needed to accumulate the same amount of BTC is now 3-4x higher than previously, plenty of robust new buyers are still entering the market. This trend shows Bitcoin’s market depth, capital capacity, and participant base have fundamentally shifted, further cementing its status as a mainstream

May 1st According to official sources, users with at least 237 Binance Alpha Points can claim 95 UAI tokens via an airdrop on the Alpha Event page—first-come, first-served. If the event stays ongoing, the points threshold will drop by 5 points every five minutes. Note: Claiming the airdrop uses 15 Binance Alpha Points. Users must confirm their claim via the Alpha Event page within 24 hours; failing to do so counts as waiving the airdrop.