Morning Minute is a daily newsletter curated by Tyler Warner. The views and analysis expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt. Also, check out our new daily news show summarizing the top stories in just 5 minutes, available on Apple Pod or Spotify.

Good morning!

Highlights of today’s news include:

  • Leading cryptocurrencies decline by an additional 2%, with HYPE performing best; BTC is priced at $75,900
  • A dark pool trader executed a sale of $1.3B in IBIT in one transaction
  • HYPE ETFs achieve over $100M in net inflows during their initial ten sessions
  • Strategy successfully reduced $1.5B in debt without purchasing any Bitcoin
  • OpenZeppelin co-founder warns that the entire DeFi sector is unsafe and advises withdrawals

Strategy's Debt Reduction and Dark Pool Sale

Last week, Strategy opted not to acquire Bitcoin. Instead, the firm conducted a $1.5 billion repurchase of its 0% Convertible Senior Notes due December 2029, paying around $1.38 billion in cash at an 8% discount.

This action reduced its USD reserves from $2.25 billion to $871 million, while its total convertible debt decreased from $8.2 billion to $6.7 billion.

On a positive note, Strategy still possesses 843,738 BTC, has lowered its immediate liabilities, and generated a BTC Yield of 0.7%, translating to 4,391 BTC in value created through this deleveraging process. CEO Phong Le described this as a proactive approach to capital management.

However, concerns arise regarding the shrinking cash reserves. With only $871 million available for dividends and debt servicing against an annual obligation of about $1.2 billion across STRC and other preferred instruments, there is less than nine months of coverage without new STRC issuances. This indicates that additional cash will need to be secured imminently.

Moreover, the market is now facing significant selling pressure, as a dark pool trader recently sold $1.3B worth of IBIT in a single transaction, with no bids from Saylor to absorb the impact. Consequently, Bitcoin experienced a 2% drop, settling at $75,850.

💰 Hyperliquid Targets Polymarket

Hyperliquid expanded its HIP-4 outcome market system to accommodate prediction-style contracts related to offchain real-world events, starting with US inflation data and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions. This marks the first time it directly competes with Polymarket and Kalshi.

The structural distinction lies in how markets are resolved. Polymarket utilizes UMA, which is an external oracle protocol that employs an optimistic dispute system. In this setup, a proposed settlement remains unless contested, at which point UMA token holders vote on the final result (this has caused issues previously). The WSJ reported that 60% of active UMA voters had financial interests in the outcomes they were resolving, raising conflict-of-interest concerns that Polymarket is still addressing.

In contrast, Hyperliquid manages market resolutions through its own validator set, which processes news, determines market listings, and votes on settlement outcomes. This approach eliminates the need for external oracles and third-party dispute forums, meaning that the same validators securing the Layer 1 network also handle the prediction markets.

Hyperliquid’s unique feature allows traders to place directional bets on prediction market outcomes (for instance, predicting inflation decreases) while simultaneously taking long positions on cryptocurrencies like BTC or tokenized stocks like NVDA, all from a single platform. It remains to be seen how many traders will utilize this capability.

Ondo Finance Founder Nathan Allman Passes Away

Ondo Finance announced on Monday the unexpected death of founder and CEO Nathan Allman. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

Ian De Bode, the company’s long-serving president who has overseen strategy, product, and daily operations for over two years, will take over as CEO immediately.

We are deeply saddened to share the unexpected passing of Nathan Allman, Ondo's founder. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Nate’s brilliance, humility, and dedication influenced every aspect of what Ondo is today. He firmly believed in the potential of technology to create a…

— Ondo Finance (@OndoFinance) May 25, 2026

Allman, a graduate of Brown University and a former member of Goldman Sachs’s digital assets team, founded Ondo in 2021, driving its growth into a leading tokenized real-world asset platform in the crypto space. Under his leadership, the total value locked (TVL) reached $3.86 billion, with products such as USDY, a yield-bearing stablecoin, and OUSG, a tokenized US Treasury fund. He established partnerships with major players in traditional finance (JPMorgan, BlackRock, Mastercard, Franklin Templeton, among others). Last month, the company achieved a significant milestone by participating in the first near-real-time cross-border tokenized Treasury settlement, reflecting the vision Allman had pursued for five years.

De Bode joined Ondo as Chief Strategy Officer in 2023 from McKinsey, where he led initiatives in digital assets and fintech, before being promoted to president in November 2025. The company stated he has been integral to daily operations and that this transition will be seamless.

🤖 AI Tokens Outperform Bitcoin Significantly

The shift from BTC to AI tokens that began last week intensified over the Memorial Day weekend.

NEAR has surged 54% over the past week. GRASS has skyrocketed 67% in the same timeframe. RENDER has risen by 21%, and Akash has gained 15%. The crypto AI tracker basket has shown double-digit growth over the week, contrasting with Bitcoin’s -12% YTD performance and stagnant price movements since mid-May.

This time, the fundamentals appear solid. NEAR, Bittensor, Render, Akash, and Grass all have viable revenue models in areas such as compute marketplaces, bandwidth monetization, and GPU rental, benefiting from the surge in AI infrastructure spending, as evidenced by Nvidia’s impressive quarterly results and the US government’s $2B quantum computing grant. Thus, these are not merely speculative trades like previous AI crypto favorites.

With the overall crypto AI market cap hovering around $11B, many speculate it is poised for significant revaluation. Time will tell…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

  • Major cryptocurrencies are mostly down, with HYPE leading; BTC -2% at $75.9k; ETH -1% at $2,090; SOL -1% at $84; HYPE +3% at $63
  • RAIN (63%), ICP (+8%) and M (5%)
  • Oil dropped 2% to $90.7; Gold fell 2% to $4,450
  • Stock futures are positive with the Nasdaq up 0.6% following a +20% gain for Micron and a decline in oil prices
  • Trump stated that the CFTC should maintain oversight over prediction markets and allow the sector to flourish
  • A dark pool trader executed a $1.3B sale of IBIT shares in a single transaction on Monday, marking one of the largest single sales ever
  • TeraWulf acquired the Muskie Data Campus in Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, a 285-acre hyperscale AI and HPC development site capable of supporting over 1 gigawatt of data center capacity; WULF surged 13% following the announcement
  • The UK sanctioned Huobi Global S.A. (HTX) on Tuesday, as part of an 18-entity package targeting crypto exchanges alleged to have facilitated $1.5 billion for Moscow
  • Indonesia restricted access to Polymarket on Tuesday due to gambling regulations, joining South Korea, China, and Thailand in a growing crackdown across Asia on prediction market platforms

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

📈 Myriad Market of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 NFT Developments

  • NFT leaders saw slight declines again; Punks -0.5% at 32.8 ETH, BAYC -3% at 8.67 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 4.64 ETH; Hypurr’s +6% at 324 HYPE
  • Ringers (+31%) and Freaks (+150%) stood out with significant gains

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