"Fed Microphone": The discussion of interest rate cuts is almost over, and the Fed has begun to seriously discuss the possibility of raising interest rates
According to BlockBeats news, on May 21, Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos, known as the "Fed's mouthpiece," said that Fed officials have almost stopped discussing the issue that has dominated the policy debate over the past two years, that is, whether interest rates should be cut, but began to consider the opposite direction more seriously at last month's meeting: whether interest rates need to be raised.
The minutes of the April policy meeting showed: "Most participants emphasized that further policy tightening may become appropriate if inflation continues to remain above 2%." The April meeting was Powell's last meeting as Fed chair, and its minutes highlighted how the Middle East conflict has reshaped the outlook for the Interest Rate Decision-Making Committee.
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Blockbeats and 1 source
Analysis: There are more than 3 directors who have turned to more hawkish, and the policy tendency is unanimous in deeasing easing
BlockBeats reported on May 21 that Greg Michalowski, an analyst at the U.S. financial website investinglive, stated that the vote at the April meeting was 8 to 4, with one person voting for a 25 basis point rate cut (i.e., Milan, who has resigned from the Fed), and another 3 voted to end the easing stance. The Fed minutes mentioned that "many" participants wanted to end their easing stance, indicating that more than three may be willing to take a more hawkish stance. I believe that if the vote were renewed today, policy leans more consistently toward ending easing.
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Blockbeats and 4 sources
Federal Reserve meeting minutes: It may be necessary to maintain the current policy stance longer than expected
BlockBeats News, May 21, Federal Reserve meeting minutes: Participants generally agreed that persistently high inflation and uncertainty about the Middle East situation may require maintaining current policy stances longer than expected.
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Blockbeats and 6 sources
OpenAI即将提交IPO申请
According to BlockBeats news, on May 21, OpenAI is preparing to submit an initial public offering (IPO) application in the coming days or weeks.
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Blockbeats and 1 source
Analysis: Bitcoin reversed after hitting resistance at the 200-day EMA, bearish trend remains
BlockBeats reported that on May 21, CryptoQuant analysts stated that after Bitcoin touched resistance at the 200-day moving average, it reversed and its current trend is highly similar to March 2022: when Bitcoin rebounded 43% before hitting the 200-day moving average and then resuming its downward trend. After breaking through $80,000 in this round of Bitcoin, overall demand has turned to contraction—speculative demand for perpetual futures has sharply reversed, spot surface demand is shrinking at a faster pace, and US spot ETFs have also turned to weekly net selling, with 30-day demand growth dropping to its lowest in nearly a month. The three major demand indicators reversed simultaneously, completely removing the foundation supporting the April and May rebound.
The continued absence of demand from U.S. investors further intensified bearish sentiment. The Coinbase Bitcoin premium remained negative throughout both the rebound and pullback, indicating that U.S. institutions and retail buyers remain in a risk-averse stance. The Bull Market Rating Index has fallen from 40 to 20, entering an extreme bearish range, consistent with the deep bear market readings seen when Bitcoin fell to $60,000–$66,000 in February-March 2026. If the pullback continues at $70,000, it will become the primary support level, which has historically served multiple times as a key bear market support/resistance boundary.
The custom on-chain stablecoin USDF on Solana has been launched
BlockBeats reported that on May 20, the on-chain customized stablecoin USDF, jointly launched by Coinbase and Flipcash, has been launched.
USDF leverages Coinbase's infrastructure to complete issuance, compliance, and settlement. It is part of Coinbase's "Custom Stablecoins" program, enabling enterprises/protocols to easily issue their own branded USD stablecoins for payments, payroll, cross-border settlements, and more, while maintaining regulatory compliance.
K3 Capital withdrew 7,930 ETH from Binance, valued at $16.88 million
According to BlockBeats news on May 20, according to OnchainLens monitoring, a K3 Capital address withdrew 7,930 ETH from Binance, valued at $16.88 million.
Last week, the U.S. saw the largest decline in the EIA Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventory
According to BlockBeats, on May 20, U.S. EIA crude oil inventories for the week ending May 15 were -7.863 million barrels, compared to the expected -2.942 million barrels and the previous value -4.306 million barrels. Last week, the US saw the largest decline in the EIA Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) inventory. (Jin Shi)
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Blockbeats and 2 sources
The US-Iran agreement text entered its final polishing phase, US stocks surged, and spot gold and silver prices rose
According to BlockBeats news on May 20th, according to Bitget market data, affected by "the text of the US-Iran agreement has entered the final editing stage, and the next round of negotiations is expected to be held in early June". The three major U.S. stock indexes rose, with the Nasdaq 100 index rising to 1%, the S&P 500 index rising 0.6%, and the Nasdaq rising nearly 1%.
Spot silver rose 3.00% on the day and is now trading at $75.90 per ounce. Spot gold broke through $4,510 per ounce, up 0.63% on the day.
According to BlockBeats news, on May 20th, Perp DEX Variational completed a $50 million Series A financing, led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures.
It focuses on decentralized derivatives trading protocols, aiming to bring traditional financial market liquidity to the blockchain rather than relying on crypto-native liquidity pools. The platform provides in-depth market-making services for real-world assets (RWAs, crude oil and commodities) by aggregating the liquidity of large crypto trading platforms and traditional financial market makers, solving the problem of "cold start" of on-chain order books.
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Blockbeats and 1 source
Brevis Vera, a Brevis image traceability tool, is open to introduce zero-knowledge proofs in image traceability
BlockBeats reported that on May 20, Brevis officially launched its image traceability tool, Brevis Vera, which is now available to all users. Users can use cameras or phones supporting the C2PA standard to capture images, complete cropping, exposure, color adjustment, and other editing operations in Vera, then generate a zero-knowledge proof file that can be independently verified by any third party in the browser. This allows complete proof of the image's source and processing chain without revealing the source media or editing process privacy. Brevis Vera debuted in March this year as an interactive concept demonstration. The full version introduced a zero-knowledge proof mechanism into the C2PA protocol stack, designed to serve as a complementary primitive to existing editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, rather than a competing alternative.
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Blockbeats and 3 sources
Morgan Stanley has submitted revised filing documents for Solana spot ETFs
According to BlockBeats news, on May 20th, Morgan Stanley has submitted a revised filing document for its Solana spot ETF today, with the trading code to be used as MSOL, and management fees and other details have not yet been disclosed.
One address spent $463,000 to buy 489,000 Ethereum meme coins (SATO).
BlockBeats reported that on May 20, according to on-chain analyst Aunt Ai (@ai_9684xtpa), an address spent $463,000 in the past two hours to buy 489,000 Ethereum meme coin Sato tokens, at an average purchase price of $0.9465. Currently, it holds 2.69% of the tokens, making it the largest holding address.
BlockBeats reminds users that meme coins often have no real use cases, their prices fluctuate greatly, and investment should be conducted with caution.
There may be more than three people within the Fed who want to take a more hawkish stance
According to Coin.com, analyst Greg Michalowski said that the number of people within the Fed who want to shift to a more hawkish stance may be more than 3 people who voted. The vote at the April meeting was 8 to 4, with one person voting for a 25 basis point rate cut (that is, Milan, who has resigned from the Fed) and another three people voting for the cancellation of the easing tendency. The Fed minutes mentioned that "many" participants wanted to undo the easing bias, suggesting that there may be more than 3 people who want to shift to a more hawkish stance. He believes that if a vote is resumed today, the policy bias may shift more consistently towards the removal of the easing bias.
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币界网 and 2 sources
Federal Reserve officials noted that the labor market remained stable in April
According to Bijie.com, Fed officials noted that the labor market was more stable in April, and analysts say one factor supporting a tighter Fed outlook is signals of improvement in the labor market. At the Federal Reserve's March meeting, the latest data officials had was a poor February employment report. According to the minutes from the March meeting, many officials at the time were concerned that "labor market conditions seem vulnerable to adverse shocks." But according to the latest April meeting minutes, by the time of the meeting, Fed officials had already received a more optimistic March report, and most viewed these data as evidence of stabilization. Following the Fed's April meeting, the strong April employment report released earlier this month further confirms that the labor market may be stabilizing.
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ChainCatcher and 2 sources
The Fed minutes showed that almost all participants supported keeping interest rates unchanged
ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi, the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting show that almost all participants support keeping the target range of the federal funds rate unchanged at this meeting.
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ChainCatcher and 4 sources
Federal Reserve meeting minutes show a slightly stronger economic outlook
According to ChainCatcher and Jin Shi, the Fed meeting minutes show that Fed staff's economic outlook forecasts are slightly stronger than those at the March meeting.
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ChainCatcher and 1 source
Fed meeting minutes, the conflict in the Middle East may affect the policy path
According to ChainCatcher and Jin Shi, the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting show that participants generally believe that the Middle East conflict could have a significant impact on risk balance and the appropriate policy path.
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ChainCatcher and 2 sources
The minutes of the Fed meeting showed that some participants were worried about the solidification of inflationary pressures
ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi, the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting showed that some participants expressed concern about a scenario where high energy prices and tariffs could lead to a broader solidification of inflationary pressures.
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Blockbeats and 1 source
Former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad: Despite Trump's public opposition, the U.S. is studying CBDCs behind closed doors
BlockBeats reported that on May 20, at the 2026 Digital Currency Summit held in London, former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Timothy Massad stated that although President Trump strongly opposed central bank digital currencies or government-backed dollar-pegged stablecoins before his inauguration, global market dynamics made them an inevitable trend.
Massad pointed out that although the CBDC topic is extremely sensitive in Washington, related discussions are taking place behind closed doors. He emphasized that the United States is a participant in the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) key initiative, the "Agora Program," which brings together seven central banks. Despite Washington's public opposition, closed-door efforts are ongoing. He added that no U.S. central bank governor will publicly discuss wholesale or retail CBDCs, but that does not mean the U.S. is not exploring how to create one.
Mark Gould, head of the Federal Reserve's payments business, declined to discuss central bank stablecoins at the same event, stating, "This is currently outside our area of responsibility." But when asked whether government-backed digital dollars fall under the Fed's responsibility, he gave an affirmative answer, though he said it was not currently involved.
In March 2024, nine months before his re-inauguration, Trump vowed to ban the creation of CBDCs. In March this year, an initiative to ban the Federal Reserve from issuing digital dollars was approved by a bipartisan majority of 89 to 10 in the Senate, but it remains part of the housing bill and may be blocked in the House.
Massad believes that central bank experiments with stablecoins are quietly forcing the US to establish government-backed on-chain fund settlement tracks to avoid falling behind Europe. After the meeting, he stated that although the Trump administration publicly stated that formal retail CBDCs are not under consideration, the evolution of tokenized finance will force government-backed alternatives.
