Morning Minute: NFTs Storm Back, Led by Bored Apes

Morning Minute is simply a regular newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The investigation and opinions expressed are his ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of Decrypt. And check retired our new regular quality show covering each of the apical stories successful 5 minutes oregon less, downloadable connected Apple Pod oregon Spotify.

📈 Blue-Chip NFTs Post Their Best Week of 2026

The NFT marketplace enactment up its strongest numbers successful months this past week, with astir each large blue-chip postulation gaining treble digits.

CryptoPunks crossed 30.95 ETH ($72,000) up 16.2% connected the week. Bored Apes are backmost supra 9.65 ETH aft 2 grail income successful the past 24 hours: a Gold Fur for 121.9 ETH and a Trippy Fur for 49 ETH.

The determination is broad. Azuki is up 49%. BAKC up 50.1%. Azuki Elementals up 37.5%. Otherside Koda up 32.2%. Meebits up 29.3%. MAYC up 24.2%. Nouns posted a 284.6% summation but connected conscionable 33 income and 51 ETH successful volume, truthful that fig needs context. The lone reddish connected the board: Hypurr, denominated successful HYPE, down 6.1%.

While Punks are inactive up top, it’s the Bored Apes starring the mode successful this run. They’re up astir 100% implicit the past period connected the backmost of their caller CEO and chatter of an IRL clubhouse, and they’re bringing vigor backmost into NFTs. Vibes are bully again (of people the greenish candles help).

As to wherefore NFTs are making their determination astatine this constituent of the cycle, galore are pointing to the extremity of the OpenSea farming program. Effectively, determination person been incentives to commercialized NFTs crossed marketplaces similar Blur, Magic Eden and OpenSea for astir of the past 3-4 years. And inducement programs person historically destroyed request for NFT collections.

Now those farming programs are implicit and a existent proviso and request economics tin footwear successful again. Let’s spot however beardown the request is…

💰 DeFi United Hits Its Target—Aave’s Bad Debt Crisis Has a Resolution

Six days aft the $292 cardinal Kelp DAO exploit astir broke DeFi’s largest lending protocol, Aave laminitis Stani Kulechov posted Saturday that the DeFi United betterment money has reached its target.

His nonstop words: “The betterment money has present been reached for the intent of afloat backing rsETH, taxable to pending votes, indicative agreements, and palmy execution.”

Arkham confirmed astir $160-161 cardinal raised against astir $200 cardinal needed. The largest contributors are Mantle and Aave DAO, unneurotic putting successful 55,000 ETH. Stani personally contributed 5,000 ETH (~$11.7M). EtherFi added different 5,000 ETH, Lido 2,500 ETH, and Golem Foundation 1,000 ETH. LayerZero, Ethena, Frax Finance, and Ink Foundation person indicative commitments inactive pending formalization.

The Arbitrum Security Council’s frozen $71.5M successful attacker funds adds a betterment buffer, though its disposition is besides pending a governance vote.

The caveat successful Stani’s station matters—this isn’t settled yet. Governance inactive has to play out. But the worst-case $230 cardinal atrocious indebtedness script appears disconnected the table.

DeFi United was designed specifically to debar a 15% depeg crossed each rsETH holders that would person near Aave with $124 cardinal successful unrecoverable atrocious debt. It looks similar it worked.

⚖️ DOJ Drops Powell Probe, Warsh Confirmation Now connected Track

The Department of Justice dropped its transgression investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell connected Friday, removing the past large obstacle to Kevin Warsh’s Senate confirmation.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who had vowed conscionable 2 days earlier to proceed the probe, announced she was closing the probe and referring the substance to the Fed’s ain inspector general, which had already been examining the cardinal bank’s multibillion-dollar office renovation since past summer.

The determination satisfied Sen. Thom Tillis, who dropped his confirmation clasp Sunday morning, telling NBC helium had received the assurances helium needed “to consciousness similar they were not utilizing DOJ arsenic a limb to endanger the independency of the Fed.” The Senate Banking Committee scheduled a confirmation ballot connected Warsh for Wednesday. Powell’s word arsenic Fed seat ends May 15.

The authorities astir each of this stay messy. Trump told CNBC Friday helium would beryllium “disappointed” if Warsh doesn’t chopped rates instantly aft taking the role. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the DOJ’s determination “just an effort to wide the way for Trump’s sock puppet.” And Powell has not said whether helium volition stay connected the Fed’s committee of governors aft his word arsenic seat ends (his committee spot runs until 2028). That question whitethorn get answered Wednesday erstwhile Powell holds what is expected to beryllium his last post-FOMC property conference.

💰 Western Union Is Launching a Solana Stablecoin Next Month

Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan utilized the company’s Q1 2026 net telephone past week to present a enactment that would person sounded absurd 5 years ago: “It is nary longer a question of if Western Union volition beryllium progressive successful integer assets. It is present however accelerated we tin scale.”

The 170-year-old wealth transportation elephantine confirmed its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, USDPT, is successful last mentation and volition spell unrecorded successful May, up of its archetypal first-half 2026 target. USDPT is built connected Solana, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank (a federally chartered crypto custodian), and backed 1:1 by US dollars.

The stablecoin thesis is straightforward for WU: SWIFT is slow, expensive, and closed connected weekends. Solana settles successful seconds astatine sub-cent fees. For a institution that processed 4.5 cardinal transactions successful 2024, the outgo savings compound quickly. McGranahan is besides pitching USDPT arsenic a mode for Western Union to “own the economics linked to stablecoins”—capturing float, speech spreads, and transaction fees that presently spell to third-party stablecoin issuers similar Tether and Circle.

Alongside USDPT, Western Union is launching a Digital Asset Network connecting crypto wallets to its 360,000+ retail currency payout locations successful 200 countries via API. A USD Stable Card, letting consumers clasp and walk dollar-denominated stablecoin balances anyplace cards are accepted, is planned for aboriginal successful 2026, with high-inflation markets similar Argentina arsenic the archetypal target.

📉 Trump Hosts $TRUMP Meme Coin Holders astatine Mar-a-Lago

Saturday’s Mar-a-Lago gathering brought unneurotic the apical 297 $TRUMP token holders for what the organizers billed arsenic “the astir exclusive crypto and concern league successful the world.”

The apical 29 got a backstage champagne reception with the president. Attendees included Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, task capitalist Tim Draper, and ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood.

Trump gave a 45-minute keynote successful which helium vowed helium would not fto banks derail the Clarity Act. “The crypto manufacture was created successful America, its maturation has been led by America, and its aboriginal volition beryllium made successful America,” he said. He besides touched connected AI, the Iran war, and Trump-branded sneakers.

The token fell 14% connected Saturday contempt the event. $TRUMP is present down astir 47% year-to-date and much than 90% from its January 2025 peak. Meanwhile, Reuters separately recovered that the Trump household has taken successful much than $1 cardinal from crypto plus sales, including astatine slightest $336 cardinal tied to meme coin income successful the archetypal fractional of 2025.

Token holders are losing, portion the Trump household is winning…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are somewhat reddish aft an overnight selloff; BTC -0.4% astatine $77.8k; ETH -0.7% astatine $2,320; SOL -2% astatine $85; HYPE +3% astatine $42.4
• Stable (+8%), Pengu (+6%), and JUP (+5%) led apical movers
• Oil -1% astatine $95; Gold +0.1% astatine $4,710
• Stock futures are level up of the Monday open
• Bitcoin notched its highest play adjacent since January past nighttime astatine $78,450
• Chainlink listed its Data Feeds, Data Streams, and Proof of Reserve services connected the AWS Marketplace Thursday, giving millions of AWS developers nonstop access to blockchain oracle infrastructure done modular unreality procurement
• Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX) Thursday, a authorities wealth marketplace money built specifically for stablecoin issuers to parkland the reserves backing their tokens
• More quantum progress as an autarkic researcher broke a 15-bit elliptic curve cryptography cardinal connected a publically accessible IBM quantum machine Thursday, winning Project Eleven’s 1 BTC Q-Day Prize

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

• The Bitcoin ETFs saw $14M successful nett inflows on Friday, with $813M successful full for the past week; the ETH ETFs saw $23M successful inflows and $155M successful full for the week
• Metaplanet issued 8 cardinal yen (~$50M) successful zero-interest bonds Thursday, its 20th consecutive enslaved issuance, with proceeds going straight to Bitcoin purchases

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were mostly reddish but Pengu; DOGE -1%, SHIB -2%, PEPE -2%, TRUMP -6%, BONK -2%, PENGU +6%, SPX flat, FARTCOIN -1%
• Henry (+100%), Belka (+100%) and Cards (+30%) led notable movers

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

• Werstern Union is going to launch its stablecoin USDPT connected Solana adjacent month
• Litecoin suffered a 13-block concatenation reorganization Saturday, reversing astir 32 minutes of web activity after attackers exploited a vulnerability successful its MimbleWimble Extension Block (MWEB) privateness furniture to propulsion invalid transactions done unpatched mining nodes

🚚 What is happening successful NFTs?

• NFT leaders were precise greenish connected the wek, up 15-20%; Punks +6% astatine 31 ETH, BAYC +22% astatine 9.6 ETH, Pudgy +20% astatine 5.26 ETH; Hypurr’s -6% astatine 365 HYPE
• Nouns (+240%), BAKC (+50%), MAYC (+40%) and Azuki (+40%) were notable play winners
• There were aggregate 6-figure NFT sales in the past week spanning golden Bored Apes, an Ether Rock, a Lost Robbie and 3 Skulls of Luci; determination also was a $600,000 loan against an XCOPY “Last Selfie”