uPEG Market Cap Surges Past $23 Million, Setting New All-Time High

May 2nd — Coinglass data shows Coinbase’s Bitcoin Premium Index flipped from negative to positive after four days, currently at 0.0037%. This signals a resurgence in U.S. market buying interest. BlockBeats Note: The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index tracks the gap between Bitcoin’s price on Coinbase (a leading U.S. exchange) and the global market average. It’s a key metric for monitoring U.S. capital inflows, institutional investor sentiment, and shifts in market mood. A positive premium (Coinbase price > global average) typically implies: strong U.S. buying demand, active inflows of institutional/compliant funds, ample USD liquidity, and predominantly bullish sentiment. A negative premium (Coinbase price < global average) often reflects: heavy U.S. selling pressure, reduced investor risk appetite, higher market risk aversion, or capital outflows.

Per Cloverpool data, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty dropped 2.3% to 132.47T on May 2 at block height 947,520—roughly one hour prior to this update. The network’s seven-day average hash rate currently stands at 965.99 EH/s.

**Apple Raises Mac Mini Starting Price to $799, Discontinues $599 Base Model** On May 2, Apple Inc. increased the starting price of its Mac Mini desktop from $599 to $799, addressing inventory shortages and chip supply constraints spurred by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) features. The price hike stems from discontinuing the $599 base configuration, which included an M4 chip and 256GB of storage. The new base model keeps the M4 chip but upgrades storage to 512GB. The M4 Pro Mac Mini’s starting price remains unchanged at $1399. The $599 configuration is sold out at most retail locations and no longer available. For other Mac Mini models, online store shipments are delayed by weeks or even months, and in-store supplies at Apple Retail Stores are extremely limited. (Source: Jinse)

May 2 (FXStreet) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of an Iranian port amid U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran was “kind of like pirates.” He made the comments while referencing the U.S. military’s seizure of a ship days earlier. In a Friday night speech, Trump stated: “We seized that ship, the cargo, the oil — it’s a very profitable business. We’re like pirates. Kind of like pirates, but we’re not playing games.”

On May 2, official sources confirm the Billions Foundation — the first human-AI hybrid consensus network — announced its Token Generation Event (TGE) will take place on May 4. Additionally, Coinbase will add support for Billions (BILL). Users in supported regions can now generate a deposit address for BILL, though deposits won’t be tradable until the asset issuer unlocks transfers.