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What to know:

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Crypto bulls are taking a breather, leaving bitcoin (BTC) in stasis near $103,000 ahead of the U.S. April inflation data, due at 8:30 a.m.

With U.S.-China trade tensions easing, markets are, for now, optimistic about a softer-than-expected inflation print, potentially stirring up calls for Fed interest-rate cuts.

This resulting risk-on sentiment could push bitcoin to new highs and accelerate the ongoing rotation of funds into alternative cryptocurrencies. The bitcoin dominance rate, or the largest cryptocurrency's share of total crypto market cap, has slipped 63% from 65%, indicating growing interest beyond bitcoin.

An important point to consider amid all this is that bitcoin has led swings in U.S. assets this year.

Notably, bitcoin peaked above $109,000 in January, weeks before the Nasdaq and dollar index reached their tops and entered bear markets, pricing the economic impact of rising trade tensions.

Similarly, BTC's early April bottom at around $75,000 happened weeks before the selling in the dollar index climaxed near 92 in late April. Since then, the index has rebounded to 102, challenging its bearish trendline (see Technical Analysis).

This price action raises a compelling question: Is bitcoin evolving to be a leading indicator for U.S. assets, while being part of the U.S. exceptionalism story, as CoinDesk noted in March? If yes, then days of tracking Nasdaq for cues on the next possible move in BTC are past. Stay alert!

Grayscale’s New Income-Focused ETFs

Grayscale, the world’s largest crypto-native asset manager, now offers two new income-focused ETFs:

• Grayscale Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (BTCC) seeks to maximize potential income generation, and is designed to serve as a complement to existing Bitcoin ownership.
• Grayscale Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BPI) seeks to balance upside participation with income generation, and is designed to serve as an alternative to direct Bitcoin ownership.

Through two different approaches to systematic covered call writing on Bitcoin, these two products deliver an alternative income stream for investors that’s less correlated to traditional income-oriented investments.

BTCC and BPI both offer monthly distributions for investors.* See the latest distribution amount on their respective product pages at etfs.grayscale.com

Important Disclosures

*The Funds intend to pay out dividends from net investment income, if any, and distribute any net unrealized capital gains to their shareholders at least annually.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about the Funds, please call (866)-775-0313 or visit our websites at etfs.grayscale.com/btcc and etfs.grayscale.com/bpi. Read the prospectuses or summary prospectuses carefully before investing.

Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal. There is no guarantee the investment strategy will be successful. The Fund is considered to be non-diversified. The Fund is actively managed and its performance reflects the investment decisions that the Adviser makes for the Fund.

Grayscale Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (“BTCC”) and Grayscale premium Income ETF ("BPI") (collectively, the "Funds") will not invest in digital assets directly. The Funds also will not invest in initial coin offerings. The Funds will, however, have indirect exposure to digital assets by virtue of its investments in derivatives on exchange-traded vehicles that hold digital assets as investments. Because the Funds will not invest directly in any digital assets, they may not track price movements of any digital assets.

BTCC and BPI are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC and Grayscale Advisors, LLC is the adviser. Foreside is not related to GSA or its affiliates.

Crypto:

• May 14: Neo (NEO) mainnet will undergo a hard fork network upgrade (version 3.8.0) at block height 7,300,000.

• May 14: Expected launch date for VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (ticker: NODE).

• May 16, 9:30 a.m.: Galaxy Digital Inc.’s Class A shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GLXY.

• May 19: CME Group is expected to launch its cash-settled XRP futures.

• May 19: Coinbase Global (COIN) will replace Discover Financial Services (DFS) in the S&P 500, effective before the opening of trading.

Macro

• May 13, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases April consumer price inflation data.
  • Core Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.1%
  • Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.8% vs. Prev. 2.8%
  • Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. -0.1%
  • Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.4% vs. Prev. 2.4%
• May 14, 3 p.m.: Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Census releases April inflation data.
  • Inflation Rate MoM Prev. 3.7%
  • Inflation Rate YoY Prev. 55.9%
• May 15, 8 a.m.: The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics releases March retail sales data.
  • Retail Sales MoM Prev. 0.5%
  • Retail Sales YoY Prev. 1.5%

• May 15, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases April producer price inflation data.
  • Core PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. -0.1%
  • Core PPI YoY Est. 3.1% vs. Prev. 3.3%
  • PPI MoM Est. 0.2% vs. Prev. -0.4%
  • PPI YoY Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.7%

• May 15, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Census Bureau releases April retail sales data.
  • Retail Sales MoM Est. 0% vs. Prev. 1.5%
  • Retail Sales YoY Prev. 4.9%

• May 15, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Department of Labor releases unemployment insurance data for the week ended May 10.
  • Initial Jobless Claims Est. 230K vs. Prev. 228K

• May 15, 8:40 a.m.: Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell will deliver a speech ("Framework Review") in Washington. Livestream link.

Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)

• May 13: Semler Scientific (SMLR), post-market

• May 14: Bitfarms (BITF), pre-market

• May 14: IREN (IREN), post-market

• May 15: Bit Digital (BTBT), post-market

• May 15: Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR), pre-market

• May 15: Fold Holdings (FLD), post-market

• May 15: KULR Technology Group (KULR), post-market

• May 28: NVIDIA (NVDA), post-market

Governance Votes & Calls

Unlocks

Token Launches

By Shaurya Malwa

📍Over 11,700 tokens were launched on LetsBONK.fun in the past 24 hours, nearly half the number created on Pump.fun during the same period — a sign of major user migration to the relatively new token-issuance platform on Solana.

📍The platform generated 5,884 SOL in fees ($1.02 million) on Monday, pushing total fee revenue past 16,000 SOL ($2.78 million) since its late April launch, widely followed trader @theunipcs told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

📍LetsBONK.fun now controls 31% of the Solana memecoin launchpad market by volume, rapidly closing in on dominant players despite its relative youth.

📍The total number of tokens created on LetsBONK.fun now exceeds 38,000, with the majority launched in the last few days.

📍Many of the platform’s competitive features and catalysts have yet to go live, suggesting upside potential as planned tools and gamification roll out, @theunipcs pointed out in the X post.

📍BONK prices are up more than 25% in the past week as LetsBONK's metrics contributed to the momentum.

Spot BTC ETFs

Spot ETH ETFs

• The market cap of stablecoin tether (USDT) has hit a record high of $150 billion, climbing 4% in less than a month.

•  

  The ever-increasing supply could keep the market well supported on dips, if any.

📈 Bitcoin Crossing $2T in Market Cap Triggers Wave of New Buyers, but Key Players Tread Cautiously, On-Chain Data Show (CoinDesk): While first-time buyers are showing strong interest, momentum buyers remain weak, suggesting there's potential for price consolidation.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Crypto Investor Animoca Plans U.S. Listing as Trump Lures More Groups (Financial Times): Animoca, which has backed OpenSea, Kraken and Consensys, sees the crypto-friendly U.S. regulatory regime as a chance to pursue a listing in the country.

🎯 Goldman Raises S&P 500 Targets on Lower Tariff, Recession Risks (Bloomberg): Strategists raised their 12-month target for the S&P 500 index to 6,500 from 6,200, citing easing recession and tariff risks. Higher duties could still erode corporate margins, they said.

🇨🇳 Investment Banks Lift China Growth Outlook After Surprise Trade Deal With U.S. (CNBC): UBS raised its 2025 China growth forecast to as high as 4% from 3.4%, while Nomura upgraded Chinese equities and trimmed Indian exposure in favor of China.

🇪🇺 EU Readies Capital Controls and Tariffs to Safeguard Russia Sanctions (Financial Times): Brussels is weighing alternative legal tools to renew sanctions on Russia beyond July if Hungary follows through on threats to veto an extension.

🚀 Pump.fun Launches Revenue Sharing for Coin Creators in Push to Incentivize Long-Term Activity (CoinDesk): Pump.fun launched a revenue-sharing model that pays coin creators 5 basis points of trading volume, aiming to curb pump-and-dumps and reward credible developers with recurring income.

CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets.

L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal.

Edited by Sheldon Reback

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