Autor Cointelegraph by Amin Haqshanas

Trump Media & Technology Group posted a $405.9 million net loss in the first quarter of 2026, up from $31.7 million a year earlier, amid growing unrealized losses on its crypto holdings.The parent company of Truth Social booked $244 million in unrealized losses on its Bitcoin position and a further $108.2 million in investment losses tied mostly to equity securities, with nearly $370 million of the quarter’s total losses stemming from digital asset and equity markdowns, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).The losses mostly trace back to Bitcoin purchases made at last summer’s market peak. Trump Media bought roughly 9,500 Bitcoin at an average cost of around $108,519 per coin. By March 31, the company held 9,542 Bitcoin with a cost basis of $1.13 billion but a fair value of just $647 million, a gap of nearly $500 million. The position has since recovered somewhat, now worth around $770 million with Bitcoin trading above $80,000.The company also holds 756 million Cronos (CRO) tokens, purchased for $113.9 million as part of a Crypto.com deal last year, which were worth just $53 million at quarter-end. Of the firm’s Bitcoin holdings, 4,260 BTC is pledged as collateral for convertible notes and another 2,000 BTC is held against covered call options to hedge against price swings.Related: UAE firm bought 49% of Trump-linked crypto startup for $500MCash flow stays positive despite mounting crypto lossesDespite the losses, Trump Media still generated $17.9 million in operating cash flow during the quarter, helped by selling options tied to its pledged Bitcoin. Total financial assets reached $2.1 billion, three times the level from a year ago.Revenue came in at $871,200, up just 6% from $821,200 in Q1 2025, with media revenue of $810,100 and $61,100 in management fees from Truth.Fi ETF offerings.The results arrive after a turbulent stretch for the company. CEO Devin Nunes stepped down on April 22, and the stock has lost more than 90% of its value since peaking at $97.54 in early 2022, last changing hands around $8.93.Trump Media shares. Source: Yahoo! FinanceRelated: Trump-linked American Bitcoin energizes 11,298 new ASICsAmerican Bitcoin posts $82 million quarterly lossAs Cointelegraph reported, American Bitcoin, the crypto mining company co-founded by Eric Trump and backed by Donald Trump Jr., posted an $81.7 million net loss in the first quarter of 2026, narrowing from a $100.6 million loss a year earlier.Revenue came in at $62.1 million, a 400% jump from $12.3 million in Q1 2025 but a step down from $78.3 million in the prior quarter, missing analyst estimates by 17%. The company also reported a loss of 8 cents per share, well above Wall Street’s estimate of 1 cent.Despite the miss, American Bitcoin mined a record 817 Bitcoin during the quarter, up from 783 in Q4 2025.Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Bitcoin miner TeraWulf posted a net loss of $427 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from the $61.4 million loss recorded in the same period a year earlier.Total revenue for the quarter came in at $34 million, with high-performance computing (HPC) lease revenue accounting for $21 million, roughly 60% of the total and a 117% jump from the prior quarter, according to a Friday announcement. Bitcoin mining revenue fell 50% to around $13 million.The HPC revenue was driven by 60 megawatts of operational critical IT capacity at Lake Mariner, one of North America’s largest HPC campuses, leased to Core42. TeraWulf is also coordinating infrastructure delivery with Fluidstack and Google, with additional capacity buildings on track for delivery in 2026.  The company ended the quarter with approximately $3.1 billion in cash.“Our capital structure is designed to align long-term financing with contracted cash flows, supporting disciplined growth while maintaining financial flexibility,” chief financial officer Patrick Fleury said.Related: CoreWeave shows how crypto-era infrastructure quietly became AI’s backboneTeraWulf accelerates AI transitionIn October last year, TeraWulf announced a 25-year lease deal with Fluidstack, backed by Google, worth around $9.5 billion in contracted revenues, an expansion of an earlier 10-year commitment. The miner is also building out a national pipeline of power-advantaged sites, including a newly acquired 480 MW site in Hawesville, Kentucky, a 300 MW project in Lansing, New York, and a 210 MW site in Morgantown, Maryland, with potential to scale to 1 gigawatt.“We are building a power-advantaged platform that we believe is increasingly differentiated in a market constrained by access to power,” CEO Paul Prager said, noting that the company’s Abernathy joint venture, a 168 MW HPC project under a 25-year lease, remains on track for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2026.Shares of WULF closed the day down 2.6%, though the stock has gained more than 105% since the start of the year and is up over 30% in the past month.TeraWulf shares decline. Source: Yahoo! FinanceRelated: Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer Liquidates Entire BTC Treasury, Holdings Fall to ZeroRiot’s data center business generates $33 million in revenueAs Cointelegraph reported, Riot Platforms posted $167.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, with its newly launched data center business contributing $33.2 million, helping offset a decline in Bitcoin mining revenue, which fell to $111.9 million from $142.9 million a year earlier.Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI infrastructure as shrinking margins push the industry toward more predictable revenue, with Core Scientific, MARA Holdings, Hive, Hut 8 and Iren converting mining facilities into data centers or acquiring AI compute assets.Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

A Manhattan federal judge has allowed Arbitrum DAO to move $71 million in frozen Ether to Aave, clearing the path for the DeFi protocol’s recovery effort following a North Korea-linked exploit.Judge Margaret Garnett of the Southern District of New York issued the order on Friday, modifying a restraining notice that had locked the assets inside Arbitrum DAO. The modification permits an onchain governance vote to send the funds to a wallet controlled by Aave LLC, and explicitly protects anyone who participates in the transfer from being held in violation of the freeze.The order still keeps the terrorism victims’ legal claim on the funds, meaning Aave can’t use the funds freely and could be forced to hand them over if the court ultimately rules in the terrorism victims’ favor.Judge allows Arbitrum to move funds to Aave. Source: CourtlistenerThe decision came after Arbitrum delegates showed strong support for the move through an off-chain Snapshot vote as part of Aave’s broader recovery plan following last month’s North Korea-linked rsETH exploit. Any actual transfer still requires a separate binding onchain governance vote.Related: Arbitrum vote to release $71M in frozen Kelp exploit ETH set to passAave asks court to lift freeze on fundsLast week, Aave filed an emergency motion in a New York court seeking to vacate a restraining notice that had blocked Arbitrum DAO from transferring the funds to victims of the Kelp DAO exploit. The notice was served by Gerstein Harrow LLP, which represents families holding $877 million in unpaid terrorism judgments against North Korea and claims the funds belong to its clients because North Korean hackers stole them during the April 18 hack.Aave pushed back hard, arguing that a thief doesn’t gain lawful ownership of stolen property and that attributing the hack to North Korea relies on little more than internet speculation. It also warned that if the court upholds the restraining notice, it could deter future DeFi recovery efforts and give bad actors a roadmap to exploit legal uncertainty following hacks.Gerstein Harrow has previously pursued similar claims. In January, they sued Railgun DAO, alleging the privacy protocol was used to launder proceeds from prior North Korean hacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit exploit.Related: Aave deposits fall by $15B as Kelp exploit sparks flight from DeFi lenderKelp exploit leaves $174 million hole in rsETH backingThe Kelp DAO exploit left rsETH’s backing with a significant shortfall. The hack caused 116,500 rsETH to be released on Ethereum without a corresponding burn on the source side, leaving only 40,373 rsETH in the adapter contract against confirmed backing for 152,577, a gap of roughly 76,127 rsETH, worth around $174.5 million at current prices.The 30,765 ETH frozen by Arbitrum has been flagged as a meaningful step toward closing that gap, with proponents arguing that even partial restoration of rsETH’s backing would help stabilize conditions for users across Arbitrum and the wider DeFi ecosystem.Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia Express

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have recorded a sixth consecutive week of net inflows, marking the longest such streak since August 2025.The current six-week run stretches from the week of April 2 through Friday, pulling in a combined $3.4 billion, according to data from SoSoValue. The strongest week came in mid-April, when inflows hit $996.38 million for the week of April 17, while the streak’s weakest showing was the week of April 2 with just $22.34 million. The most recent week logged $622.75 million.The run marks the longest streak of consecutive net weekly inflows in more than nine months, when a 7-week ran from June 13 to July 18, 2025, drew in roughly $7.57 billion, including $2.72 billion for the week of July 11 and $2.39 billion the following week.Bitcoin ETFs weekly inflows. Source: SoSoValueNotably, last week ended on a sour note, with outflows of $277.50 million on Thursday and $145.65 million on Friday. Monday and Tuesday had led the week strongly, pulling in $532.21 million and $467.35 million respectively, before Wednesday’s inflows slowed sharply to $46.33 million ahead of the late-week reversal.Related: Bitcoin ETFs Extend Rally as Two-Day Inflows Near $1 BillionMarkets on edge as jobs data looms: AnalystMarkets entered Friday cautiously as investors braced for the US April Non-Farm Payrolls report, with consensus estimates pointing to payroll growth of just 62,000, well below the previous reading of 178,000, reinforcing expectations of a cooling labor market, Bitunix analysts wrote in a note shared with Cointelegraph.The analysts noted that a stronger-than-expected ADP report of 109,000 jobs earlier in the week complicated the picture, leaving traders uncertain about the true state of employment heading into the release.“On the geopolitical front, although the US and Iran have once again exchanged fire around the Strait of Hormuz, both sides continue to leave room for negotiations,” Bitunix wrote, adding that reports suggest the US and Iran may have reached a partial understanding on certain maritime issues.In crypto, Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 on Thursday, with liquidation heatmaps showing heavy liquidity clustering around $78,000. A breakdown below that level could trigger cascading liquidations, while dense short positioning between $82,000 and $83,000 keeps the market stuck in a tug-of-war, the analysts wrote.Related: Bitcoin Slips Below $80K As Spot ETF Inflows Top $1BEther ETFs post $70 million in weekly inflowsMeanwhile, Ether ETFs returned to positive territory for the week ending May 8, posting $70.49 million in net inflows after the previous week logged $82.47 million in outflows. The rebound follows a strong three-week run from April 10 to April 24, which drew in a combined $617.91 million, peaking at $275.83 million the week of April 17.On a daily basis, Thursday saw $103.52 million in outflows, nearly wiping out gains built earlier in the week. Monday and Tuesday attracted $61.29 million and $97.57 million in inflows, respectively, before Wednesday slowed to $11.57 million. Friday’s $3.57 million recovery left the week positive.Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs — Mid-2026

South Korea’s Finance Ministry has confirmed that a long-delayed tax on crypto gains will take effect as scheduled in January 2027.Moon Kyung-ho, director of the ministry’s income tax division, announced at an emergency parliamentary forum on virtual asset taxation held at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Seoul on Thursday, according to South Korea news outlet Edaily. The forum was hosted by Representative Park Soo-young of the People Power Party and the Korea Tax Policy Association.“We will proceed with virtual asset taxation as scheduled in January next year,” Moon said in what appears to be the first public confirmation from the ministry that the crypto tax framework will move forward after multiple postponements.Under the current Income Tax Act, profits generated through the transfer or lending of virtual assets will be categorized as “other income” beginning Jan. 1, 2027. Investors earning more than 2.5 million Korean won ($1,800) annually from crypto activities will face a 22% tax, including a 20% income tax and 2% local tax. The rule applies to an estimated 13.26 million investors.Related: Bithumb wins temporary court stay on South Korea suspension: ReportSouth Korea prepares tax guidanceMoon said the National Tax Service is currently finalizing guidance on the new system and has held several working-level meetings with South Korea’s five major exchanges, including Dunamu (Upbit), Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, to prepare a draft notice.He added that the notice would be published for legislative review during 2026. Speaking to reporters after the forum, Moon walked back his use of the word “soon,” clarifying that the notice would arrive sometime this year, not imminently.Moon Kyung-ho at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. Source: Edaily.South Korean regulators have delayed the crypto tax twice before, pushing the start date from 2025 to 2027 amid political disagreement and industry pushback over exchange readiness and the threshold level. More recently, the ruling People Power Party proposed a bill to scrap the tax altogether before its 2027 rollout.Related: Samsung SDS wins deal to build South Korea’s blockchain securities system: ReportSouth Korea’s crypto industry pushes back on AML rulesAs Cointelegraph reported, proposed changes to South Korea’s anti-money laundering (AML) rules have drawn sharp criticism from the country’s crypto industry. DAXA, an industry body representing 27 registered virtual asset service providers, warned that requiring exchanges to flag all overseas-linked transfers of 10 million won or more as suspicious would increase reported cases by 85 times, from around 63,000 last year to over 5.4 million, making compliance unworkable in practice.The Financial Services Commission and Financial Intelligence Unit proposed the amendments on March 30, with a public comment period running through May 11 and final rules expected in July.Magazine: South Korea gets rich from crypto… North Korea gets weaponsCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.