Data: The US economy is now heavily reliant on artificial intelligence, with 67% of economic growth driven by AI in the last quarter.

On May 8, stablecoin compliance infrastructure firm Coinbax won a $20,000 prize at the PitchFest pitch competition held during Consensus 2026 in Miami. Founded by former Jack Henry executive Peter Glyman, the company aims to help banks and financial institutions mitigate compliance risks tied to stablecoin payments. Coinbax has built a programmable custody infrastructure that adds a control layer to encrypted wallet-to-wallet transactions. Its smart contracts hold funds during third-party identity verification, sanctions screening, and transaction risk assessments—settling only once all conditions are met.

May 8th Per monitoring data from HyperInsight, on-chain metrics show the largest whale holding ETH long positions—affiliated with digital financial services firm BIT (formerly Matrixport)—with a $224.7 million holding, has returned near its cost basis. The whale strategically allocated its position across four addresses on the Hyperliquid platform, holding a total of 99,000 ETH in long positions. These positions were significantly expanded on April 30, with roughly 18x leverage overall. Using a fund-weighted average across the four addresses, the whale’s average entry price is approximately $2,270. Following a retracement in ETH prices, the whale saw roughly $12.9 million in unrealized gains erased over two days, and incurred a total funding fee loss of $350,000. The addresses belong to BIT, which has repeatedly received transfers from within its ecosystem. Previously, the addresses held multi-million-dollar ETH long positions that generated over $50 million in profits. A

May 8 — Associated Press (AP) reports that investment firm Multi Investment has wrapped up a 480 million Swiss franc fundraising round and will speed up its diversified strategic expansion. The company intends to use the new capital to expand into new investment areas and business segments, with potential focuses including digital assets, technology, or traditional finance. This financing round signals a new phase in its strategic transformation, and more details are expected in upcoming announcements.

**May 8** South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance confirmed it will tax cryptocurrency trading profits starting Jan. 1, 2027, ending years of political debate and repeated delays over the digital asset tax framework. The announcement came from Moon Kyung-ho, director of the Income Tax Division, at a virtual asset tax emergency forum held at the Seoul National Assembly. Under South Korea’s *Income Tax Act*, profits from crypto transfers or lending will be classified as “other income” beginning in 2027. Annual gains exceeding 2.5 million South Korean won (≈$1,800) will face a 22% combined tax rate—20% national income tax plus 2% local income tax. The government estimates roughly 13.26 million crypto investors will be affected. Despite calls from the opposition party and some industry figures to scrap the tax entirely or delay it further (citing unfair treatment compared to the stock investment income tax abolished at the end of 2024), the government says it will proceed as

All Coinbase markets have resumed trading as of May 8th, per an official announcement.

On May 8, Arkham released its latest report ranking the top 10 wealthiest individual on-chain cryptocurrency holders of 2026. The rankings, based on net worth estimates from publicly available on-chain data, show top holders primarily built their wealth through early Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) holdings—with Satoshi Nakamoto still holding a decisive lead at No. 1. - **Satoshi Nakamoto**: The anonymous Bitcoin creator tops the list with an estimated $89 billion, all from BTC mined between 2009 and 2010 across roughly 22,000 addresses. This fortune lands him in the global top 25 richest people. - **Justin Sun**: Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun comes in at ~$1.5 billion, holding 18 billion TRX (~$610 million) plus stETH, BTC, and other assets. - **James Howells**: The “tragic figure” holds ~$650 million. The Welsh IT worker mined ~8,000 BTC in 2010 but accidentally tossed the hard drive with private keys in 2013—now buried in a landfill and unrecoverable. - **Rain Lohmus**: Est