Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, announced a $2 billion settlement agreement with bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Genesis, which will help maximize compensation for investors. As Genesis had previously declared bankruptcy, the settlement agreement requires review and approval by a bankruptcy court. The settlement agreement will establish a victim fund to assist defrauded investors, including at least 29,000 New Yorkers who contributed over $1.1 billion to Genesis through Gemini Earn investments. Additionally, the settlement agreement prohibits Genesis from operating in New York. This is the largest settlement agreement in New York history against a cryptocurrency company.

According to official sources, Uniswap Labs and Across Protocol have proposed a new cross-chain intent standard, ERC-7683, and established a unified framework for specifying cross-chain operations based on intent. This standard allows for the implementation of a standard API for cross-chain transaction execution systems. The standard provides a common CrossChainOrder structure and a standard ISettlementContract smart contract interface.

The crypto fund Thanefield Capital has proposed a buyback plan for the Gnosis DAO native token. The proposal aims to deploy $30 million for regular token buybacks within six months. Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann supports the proposal but warns that buybacks should be tied to growth plans. Since the proposal went live, Gnosis' price has risen by over 20%, reaching a high of $320, and is now trading at $308.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has officially announced that its overseas subsidiary, ICBC (Asia) located in Hong Kong, has built a complete service system for digital renminbi exchange, circulation, and redemption. At the same time, ICBC Asia has launched a digital renminbi experience activity for local individual customers in Hong Kong.

Optimism has released its Q1 2024 report, which shows that the number of daily active addresses has reached 89,000 (a 23% increase compared to the previous period), and the daily transaction volume has increased to 470,000 (a 39% increase compared to the previous period). These indicators are slightly lower than the historical high point in Q3 2023.

LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer exchange for trading privacy coin Monero (XMR), has disabled all trades and will be taken down in six months, according to parent company AgoraDesk. The company cited a combination of internal and external factors for the decision, but did not provide specifics. The move follows a trend of P2P crypto trading platforms shutting down due to regulatory challenges, including LocalBitcoins and Paxful. LocalMonero's closure also comes amid pressure from regulatory authorities on privacy coins, with exchanges including Binance and Coinbase delisting tokens like Monero and Zcash.

On May 16th, Morgan Stanley disclosed in its Q1 13F filing with the SEC that it had invested $269.9 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to gain exposure to physical bitcoin ETFs. According to Fintel's data, this investment made it one of the largest holders of GBTC, after Susquehanna International Group (which invested $1 billion). Morgan Stanley is also one of many global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) that have disclosed investments in physical bitcoin ETFs, including Royal Bank of Canada, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, and UBS Group.

Coinbase is developing a service that will target Australia's self-managed pensions sector, according to the exchange's Asia-Pacific Managing Director John O'Loghlen. The move comes as self-managed funds in Australia have increasingly held crypto, with nearly A$1 billion ($664 million) allocated to crypto as of the latest data from the Australian Taxation Office. O'Loghlen stated that Coinbase's offering will aim to service these clients on a one-off basis and retain their business. The interest in crypto within the self-managed pensions sector may be driven by the recent momentum gained after spot-ETF approvals in the U.S. and the possibility of similar approvals in Australia this year.

The game is currently available in early access on the Epic Games Store.

Barcelona-based startup GFAL has secured $3.2 million in seed funding from investors including Supercell Ltd and Mitch Lasky. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team and accelerate its game production plans, which leverage AI and Web3 technology for immersive gameplay. GFAL's Elemental Raiders mobile game soft-launched in March 2023, with plans to build on this for a 2024 launch. CEO Manel Sort expressed gratitude for the investment and excitement to work with former colleagues from Digital Chocolate.