It has been a busy day in terms of news, so let us catch you up on the latest and greatest.

Today’s Agenda:

• Market Watch
• Highlights of the Day
  • Biden’s Tax Plan Pushes Capital Gains Rate to 44.6%
  • Meta Releases its First Quarter Earnings
  • Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested
• Project of the Day
• Crypto Corner
• Market Predictions & Sentiment
• Business & Political Insights 

Market Watch

Top Gainers

• EOS ($EOS): +5.6%
• Gate ($GT): +1.9%
• TRON ($TRX): +1.1%

Top Losers

• Hedera ($HBAR): -20.1%
• Zebec Protocol ($ZBC): -17.3%
• Bonk ($BONK): -12.0%

Trending Crypto Sectors/Categories

• Base Meme Coins
• Liquid Restaking Tokens
• Restaking

Total Crypto Market Cap – 2.501 Trillion

Fear and Greed Index – 72

Top NFT Sale

• CryptoPunks #9149 Sold for 43.2 ETH 

Highlights of the Day

Biden’s Tax Plan Pushes Capital Gains Rate to 44.6%

President Joe Biden has announced a proposal to increase the capital gains tax rate to 44.6% for 2025, marking the highest rate in over a century. This substantial increase could lead to heavier tax burdens for investors and family businesses. When combined with existing state capital gains taxes, the proposed federal rate could push the overall tax rate to over 50% in several states.

Tax Hikes in the Budget

In addition to the capital gains tax hike, President Biden is pushing for a corporate tax rate increase to 28%. Collectively, his proposed budget includes approximately $5 trillion in tax hikes over the next ten years. The significant rise in capital gains taxes plays a central role in these planned increases.

Meta Releases its First Quarter Earnings

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, delivered strong first-quarter financial results, showing significant growth in revenue and net income. The company’s revenue climbed 27% year-over-year, reaching $36.5 billion, slightly surpassing analyst expectations. Meanwhile, Meta’s net income more than doubled to $12.4 billion, demonstrating strong profitability.

Market Performance

Despite the positive earnings report, Meta’s shares fell over 11% in after-hours trading. This decline came after the company provided an outlook indicating increased spending, particularly in its investment in AI technologies. The stock had closed the regular trading session at $493.50 before the earnings announcement.

Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested

US authorities have arrested the founders of Samourai Wallet, a Bitcoin mixer, charging them with conspiracy to commit money laundering. The arrests reflect a broader effort by law enforcement to target services designed to obscure cryptocurrency transactions.

Charges and Seizures

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the founders of Samourai Wallet, were charged with running a cryptocurrency mixer that allegedly facilitated over $2 billion in unlawful transactions. The indictment also claims that the mixer played a role in laundering more than $100 million through illegal dark web markets. Following the arrests, authorities seized Samourai Wallet’s server and web domain as part of the ongoing investigation.

Project of the Day

EOS

EOS ($EOS) is an open-source blockchain platform designed to address scalability issues faced by decentralized applications (dApps). The ecosystem facilitates the development, hosting, and execution of commercial-scale dApps, offering a variety of features that make it easier for businesses and individuals to build these applications similarly to traditional web-based apps.

In terms of price movement, $EOS is currently sitting at a market cap of over $1.03 billion, with a price hovering around $0.92. In the past week, $EOS has experienced a positive trend, gaining over 25%. This price movement indicates a slight bullish sentiment around $EOS in the cryptocurrency market. However, despite the recent uptick, social activity around the EOS network has been declining, suggesting that the project might be losing traction among users and developers.

Crazy Day in Crypto

• Bitcoin recently completed its first difficulty adjustment after its fourth halving, resulting in a 1.99% increase, indicating enhanced network security but posing greater challenges for miners.
• Cryptocurrency hedge funds are drawn to the high returns of memecoins, marking the first cycle where these funds are investing in meme-themed cryptocurrencies.
• Block has launched a new Bitcoin mining system, featuring a three-nanometer chip for improved efficiency, as well as to address industry challenges, foster decentralization, and engage the community in system development.

Market Predictions & Sentiment

• Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan forecasts a 50% reduction in Bitcoin volatility as institutional adoption grows, while maintaining that Bitcoin could still reach $250,000 in the coming years.
• Industry veteran Arthur Hayes is optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, maintaining his bullish stance and asserting that Bitcoin’s path to a $1 million valuation is still on track.

Business Talks & Political Insights

• BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, has made it into the top 10 all-time ETFs with the longest streak of daily inflows, recording 70 straight days without outflows.

Robinhood has added $SHIB, $AVAX, and $COMP to its cryptocurrency offerings for New York users, bringing the total number of tradable cryptocurrencies on the platform to 11 in the state.