WuBlockchain Weekly: Negative Growth of US GDP in the First Quarter, OKX Launches a Payment Wallet, US Accelerates Its Support for Bitcoin Mining, etc

May 02, 2025

1. Unexpected Weakening of US Economic Data: April ADP Employment Below Expectations, Q1 GDP Records Negative Growth, and Recession Risk Rises to 74% link

The ADP employment in the United States increased by only 62,000 in April, the smallest increase since July 2024, which is significantly lower than the expected 115,000 and the previous value of 155,000. The initial value of the annualized quarterly rate of real GDP in the first quarter of the United States was -0.3%, a new low since the second quarter of 2022, compared with the expected 0.3% and the previous value of 2.40%. The unexpected contraction of the US GDP in the first quarter has led to a soaring risk of economic recession. At present, the US financial trading and forecasting market platform Kalshi expects that the probability of a US economic recession this year is 74%.

2. US Commerce Secretary: The US Will Go All Out to Promote the Development of the Bitcoin Mining Industry at Home link

The US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has stated that the US will “accelerate the progress of Bitcoin mining”. Through the “Investment Accelerator” program, the US plans to support mining companies in building their own power infrastructure to reduce reliance on the public power grid. He pointed out that the US will allow miners to build power plants and data centers near natural gas fields to further improve energy efficiency. Lutnick also disclosed that the Department of Commerce is considering incorporating Bitcoin into the national economic accounts and said that the current government is a firm supporter of Bitcoin and is creating a “Bitcoin strategic reserve”.

3. The Arizona House of Representatives Passes Two Bitcoin Reserve Bills link

The Arizona House of Representatives has passed two Bitcoin reserve bills, SB 1025 and SB 1373, which have now been submitted to Governor Katie Hobbs for signature.

SB 1373 establishes a digital asset strategic reserve fund managed by the state treasurer. The sources of funds include seized assets and legislative appropriations. Up to 10% of the funds can be invested in digital assets such as Bitcoin each fiscal year, and borrowing can be carried out without increasing risks on the premise.

SB 1025, on the other hand, allows the state treasury and pension systems to invest up to 10% of the available funds in virtual currencies, with a focus on Bitcoin.

4. The Cryptocurrency Innovation Council (CCI) Calls on the SEC to Relax Staking Regulations link

The Cryptocurrency Innovation Council (CCI), together with more than 30 institutions such as a16z, Paradigm, and Kraken, has sent a letter to the SEC, calling for cryptocurrency staking to be regarded as a technical activity rather than a securities transaction. The CCI emphasizes that staking is crucial for network security and decentralization, and it demands the introduction of clear regulatory guidelines to prevent excessive regulation from hindering innovation.

5. The UK Releases a Draft of Cryptocurrency Asset Regulations, Proposing to Include Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Others in the Regulatory System link

The UK has released a draft regulation on crypto — assets, planning to bring crypto exchanges, dealers, agencies and others into the scope of financial services regulation. The new regulations require crypto — enterprises to follow the standards of transparency, consumer protection and operational resilience. Meanwhile, through the upcoming UK — US Financial Regulatory Working Group meeting, the UK and the US will discuss cooperation to support the use and development of digital assets.

6. Tether CEO: A New Stablecoin Product May Be Launched in the US by the End of This Year or at the Latest, Early Next Year link

In an interview, Tether CEO Paul Ardoino said that Tether is preparing to launch a new stablecoin product in the United States as early as the end of this year or at the latest, early next year. Ardoino said that Tether’s plan to enter the US market will depend on the progress of stablecoin legislation in the US Congress. He emphasized that Tether is actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies to seek regulatory support, and said that the current USDT is “one of the most successful export products of the United States”. He revealed that Tether is developing a product “different from the existing USDT” for the United States to better adapt to local market regulations and demands.

7. Strategy Announces Its First Quarter 2025 Earnings Report link

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) announced its first — quarter 2025 financial results. As of April 28, the company held a total of 553,555 bitcoins, with a total cost of $37.9 billion, an average cost per bitcoin of approximately $68,459, and a book value of approximately $52 billion. Year — to — date, it has achieved a BTC Yield of 13.7%, a BTC Gain of 61,497 bitcoins, and a BTC $ Gain of $5.8 billion. The company has raised its 2025 BTC Yield target from 15% to 25% and its BTC $ Gain target from $10 billion to $15 billion, and announced a new $21 — billion — scale common stock ATM financing plan. During the quarter, the company adopted the new fair value accounting standard ASU 2023–08 and recorded an unrealized asset loss of $5.9 billion.

8. Morgan Stanley Plans to Launch Cryptocurrency Spot Trading on E*Trade Next Year link

Morgan Stanley is planning to launch cryptocurrency spot trading on its ETrade platform next year, allowing clients to buy and sell bitcoin and ether, and is considering partnering with one or more crypto — companies. ETrade already supports the trading of crypto — ETFs and their derivatives, and spot trading is seen as the next step in expansion. Meanwhile, Charles Schwab also plans to launch similar services within the next 12 months. Against the background of a relaxed regulatory environment, many institutions including SoFi and Bank of New York Mellon are also re — advancing their digital asset businesses.

9. The Ethereum Foundation Releases the Development Focus for the Coming Year, Focusing on Expansion and the Construction of the Application Ecosystem link

In April 2025, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced that Hsiao — Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak would serve as the new co — executive directors. In the coming year, the EF will adhere to the core values of censorship resistance, open — source innovation, privacy protection, and security. It will focus on promoting the expansion of the Ethereum mainnet (L1) and Layer 2 (L2), enhancing the user experience (UX), and building the application layer. Through the improvement of operational management, standard — setting, and ecosystem coordination, it will support the growth of developers, applications, and users.

In addition, Vitalik Buterin released his key personal focus areas for 2025, covering two major directions: 1) The development of the Ethereum foundation: focusing on the long — term roadmap of L1 (such as single — slot finality, statelessness, long — term VM evolution, etc.) and the technical realization of full — stack security, decentralization, and privacy — friendliness. 2) Decentralization acceleration (d/acc) from a macro perspective: including the design of communication tools, social and governance mechanisms, cryptography, operating systems, hardware infrastructure, and biodefense. He also stated that the directions of short — term expansion (such as the increase of Gas Limit), peer — to — peer network, and block construction have been advanced by others.

10. OKX Announces the Official Launch of Payment Tool OKX Pay link

OKX has announced the official launch of its payment tool, OKX Pay, which supports self-custody, seamless global payments, and daily automatic rewards, and offers zero transaction fees. OKX CEO Star tweeted that the product is currently in its first version stage. Although there are still some minor issues, it has already been put into operation.

OKX stated that it has adopted the method of private key sharding management, splitting the private key into two halves. One half is stored in the user’s Passkey, and the other half is stored by OKX. OKX Pay will focus on stablecoin payments and supports USDT and USDC in its initial phase. A new feature called passive income will be launched soon, through which deposits will automatically generate earnings. In terms of the transaction experience, OKX Pay relies on the X Layer public blockchain, resulting in zero transaction costs. With mechanisms such as Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Multisignature (Multisig), in case users forget their passwords, they can use the Account Abstraction (AA) and Zero-Knowledge Email (ZK Email) functions to recover them.

Fundraising

Nous Research has completed a $50 — million Series A financing round, led by Paradigm. link
Alpaca has announced the completion of a $52 — million Series C financing round. link
Next Generation has secured $5 million in seed — round financing. link
The privacy — blockchain project Miden has completed a $25 — million seed — round financing. link
The cryptocurrency startup Camp Network has completed a $25 — million Series A financing round. link
Unto Labs has raised $14.4 million to advance the RISC — V — based blockchain project Thru. link
The decentralized map platform ROVR Network has completed a $2.6 — million seed — round financing. link
Terminal 3 has completed an $8 — million seed — round financing. link
The stablecoin startup Zar has announced $7 million in funding. link
The decentralized AI project Gata has announced the completion of a $4 — million seed — round financing. link
The blockchain — finance company Dinari has announced the completion of a $12.7 — million Series A financing round. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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