The crypto market reflected significant losses as the US officially entered the Iran-Israel war late Saturday night. According to President Trump, the US has bombed notable nuclear sites in Iran, signaling its first active strike in this geopolitical conflict.
The crypto market reacted with notable liquidations across the altcoin sector. Ethereum dropped over 5% following the news, trading below $2,300 for the first time in a month.
Also, Cardano is nearing a 3-month low following the news – down 6% today. AI agent coins suffered the biggest blow, as VIRTUAL and FET dipped nearly 10%.
Crypto Market Liquidations After US Strikes Iran. Source: Coinglass
While Bitcoin still holds above $102,500, indicators suggest it could potentially fall below the $100,000 psychological level if further escalations are reported over the weekend.
As of now, the market will be cautiously looking at Iran’s response. President Trump has stated that any response from Iran would result in further US actions.
Overall, crypto liquidations exceeded $670 million today, and further escalation could very well signal a short-term bearish cycle.
Justin Sun is rumored to be attending President Trump’s exclusive dinner next month. An HTX cold storage wallet registered for the TRUMP holder leaderboard currently occupies the first place.
Sun himself posted a cryptic message on social media, possibly suggesting he wishes to attend. Whether or not the rumor is true, a spot on the leaderboard is well within his means if he wants it.
Rumors have been circulating about many different aspects of the stunt, but a new one is gaining traction. Some users believe that Justin Sun is currently the largest TRUMP holder on the official leaderboard.
Arkham Intelligence first promulgated this claim. Specifically, it noticed that a cold wallet was added to the leaderboard.
Arkham flagged this wallet as belonging to HTX, an exchange associated with Sun, and it now holds more TRUMP than any registered user.
The wallet itself has been transferring TRUMP for the last three months. Its TRUMP holdings only increased once since the announcement, and its portfolio includes hundreds of different cryptoassets.
In other words, it’s quite plausible that this is an exchange’s ordinary cold wallet. After all, registering for the TRUMP leaderboard won’t compromise its actual tokens.
Users quickly began claiming that Sun was behind this wallet, as this would give him a guaranteed spot at the dinner. He and President Trump have a history together, and Sun invested $30 million in WLFI shortly after the last election. Since then, the SEC moved to settle a civil fraud case against him.
The Tron founder himself posted a cryptic message after the rumors began:
This could be interpreted as a sign that Sun indeed plans to attend Trump’s dinner. Regardless of the rumor’s veracity, this goal is quite achievable for a man of Sun’s means.
Yesterday, some users claimed it would require $400,000 worth of TRUMP coins to make the cut, but this was inaccurate.
As the leaderboard clearly shows, users must manually register to be considered. This has dropped the price floor considerably. Still, this plan would guarantee Sun a spot at Trump’s table, and potentially a private White House tour.
Binance recently conducted a survey of its Asia-based users on the topic of security, and the results were encouraging. Over 80% of these users employ 2FA, and 73% double-check their transfers.
The poll concluded that user education is the most effective way to take advantage of growing security enthusiasm. Exchange-led scam simulations may be a potential solution to make anti-fraud knowledge accessible.
Binance was very clear that increasing 2FA (two-factor authentication) usage is unambiguously good. Still, there are a few key holes in the community’s preferences.
Most of the other important user-end security practices have very low rates of adoption, which Binance blames on insufficient awareness. It described a few measures to foster security education:
“As the industry evolves, so do the tactics of bad actors. We’re investing heavily in localized anti-scam education that is practical, accessible, and tailored to users’ real needs. We’re also working closely with regulators and law enforcement… to better protect user assets,” claimed Jimmy Su, Binance’s Chief Security Officer.
This education question touches on several different topics. For one thing, most of Binance’s Asian users claimed that existing security guides are “too technical and difficult to understand.”
However, they’re ready to learn. Over 60% said they would participate in anti-scam simulations, especially if this was gamified or paired with rewards.
The survey also noted a key data point in an age-old debate: whether or not to self-custody assets. Binance reported that its users have a growing expectation that exchanges actively manage security.
Meanwhile, 62.5% believe that CEXs are responsible for intercepting high-risk transactions in real time, and more than half would “immediately” contact an exchange over scam attempts.
Still, as with the firm’s previous surveys, it’s important to remember the participants’ demographics. Binance only questioned Asian users on their security preferences, and it identified regional variations even within this sample. For example, depending on the respondent’s location, they may give four different answers to the question, “What platform spreads the most scams?”
In other words, Binance or other firms may need to conduct follow-up polls over a wider net to corroborate this security data. In this isolated form, though, the Asian user data is still very useful.
Hopefully, it can help craft beneficial anti-fraud policy and educational resources for a global audience.
There has been a sharp decline in daily active addresses across Smart Contract Platforms (SCPs) in recent months, raising concerns among investors and developers.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade could be the turning point, with crypto analyst Jamie Coutts calling the current state a cleansing of the ecosystem.
SCPs See Sharp Decline in Active Users
Jamie Coutts, who built Bloomberg Intelligence’s crypto research product, says this is the worst decline ever recorded in the history of SCPs.
He also notes that it is far worse than the 2022-2023 bear market, with daily active addresses dropping 40.5% in just five months.
“This is the largest usage collapse in SCP history,” wrote Coutts.
Coutts’ analysis provides a deeper look at the broader crypto ecosystem, which is simultaneously witnessing an uptick in global liquidity and an all-time high in stablecoin market cap.
While the sector seems to be experiencing a shakeout, Coutts says this decline does not indicate the death of smart contract platforms. Rather, it is a necessary cleansing of the ecosystem.
The analyst attributes the drop in daily active addresses to several key factors, including the rise of artificial activity.
“Much of the past cycle’s growth was artificial: Usage inflated by bots and Sybil farms, Incentive programs created temporary traction without stickiness. The unwind reflects a cleansing of fake activity, not the death of the sector,” Coutts explains.
The rise of bots and Sybil attacks, where bad actors create multiple fake identities to manipulate a platform’s usage metrics, has artificially inflated the activity numbers across various smart contract platforms.
Now, as these fake users are being weeded out, the real growth potential of SCPs is becoming clearer.
Moreover, this trend suggests that SCPs with weak application ecosystems or limited use cases will face significant valuation compression. This is especially true without stablecoin integration or real-world asset (RWA) applications.
Coutts notes that many SCP tokens risk valuation compression if their platforms do not offer high throughput, low-cost, and real settlement capabilities.
The market will likely reward mature platforms capable of supporting real economic activity. These include stablecoin transactions, payments, and AI-native applications.
“…going forward, value will concentrate in platforms that enable high-throughput, low-cost, real settlement and agentic automation,” he added.
Ethereum Staking Surge Post-Pectra
Interestingly, these predictions align with the recent Ethereum Pectra upgrade, which went live on May 7, 2025.
The Pectra upgrade introduces key features that could help Ethereum, the largest smart contract platform, stay ahead in this playing field. Specifically, the upgrade improves Ethereum’s staking model and validator operations.
CryptoQuant recently indicated a notable spike in ETH staking around the Pectra Upgrade news. Specifically, before the Pectra upgrade news, ETH staking saw a net outflow of around 1.02 million ETH, reflecting uncertainty.
However, after the news, staking rebounded with a 627,000 ETH inflow, signaling renewed market confidence in the Ethereum staking ecosystem.
“Before Pectra News (Nov 16 – Feb 15): ETH staking dropped from ≈34.88M to 33.86M ETH, a net outflow of ~1.02M ETH. This period reflects market uncertainty and mild unwinding of staking positions ahead of the upgrade. After Pectra News (Feb 16 – May 16): Total ETH staked rose from 33.78M to 34.41M ETH — a net inflow of ~627K ETH. Indicates renewed confidence in the staking process following the upgrade,” wrote CryptoQuant analyst Kripto Mevsimi.
ETH Staking before and after Pectra Upgrade news. Source: CryptoQuant
In the same tone, Bohdan Opryshko, co-founder and COO at Everstake, told BeInCrypto that the Pectra upgrade may be Ethereum’s most institution-friendly update. He says the upgrade is the clearest signal that Ethereum is ready for conservative capital.
“For the first time, institutions can stake at scale with operational clarity and reduced complexity. It’s a green light for conservative capital to get involved in native Ethereum staking,” Opryshko told BeInCrypto.
Further, Pectra’s introduction of smart accounts allows Ethereum wallets to execute smart contract logic. This could drive stablecoin integration.
At the same time, it could enhance scalability. This would make Ethereum better suited to handle real economic activities such as payments and financial transactions.
Nevertheless, Coutts highlighted a divergence between price action and network activity, a common phenomenon in the crypto space. While markets stabilize, activity on many SCPs remains stagnant.
Coutts notes that this divergence will not last. More sophisticated capital will increasingly flow toward platforms that anchor real economic behavior, especially via stablecoin flows and payments.
“Markets may be stabilizing, but activity is not,” More sophisticated capital will increasingly rotate toward chains that anchor real economic behavior, especially via stablecoin flows, payments, and AI-native applications,” Coutts says.
Finally, Coutts predicts that a liquidity-driven rally will return, fueled by the significant liquidity expected to enter the system in the coming months.
However, he cautions that the value will likely accrue to a subset of SCPs that can deliver tangible value through real-world applications and stablecoin integration. This sentiment aligns with the structural upgrades brought by Ethereum’s Pectra fork.
(@justinsuntron) 
