Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The views and analysis shared here are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt. Also, be sure to check out our new daily news show that covers all the biggest stories in just 5 minutes—available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
GM!
Here’s what’s making headlines today:
- Major crypto assets are mostly flat, with HYPE leading gains; BTC sits at $76.8k
- HYPE up 5% after the SEC signals it will permit third-party platforms to tokenize stocks
- Strategy reveals a $2 billion Bitcoin purchase from last week; STRC dips below $99
- Citi cautions that Bitcoin faces a greater quantum computing threat than ETH
- Echo Protocol suffers an exploit on Monad, but regains control of its keys overnight
🔄 The SEC Just Changed Its Stance on Tokenized Stocks
The SEC is moving toward permitting third-party platforms to tokenize stocks without needing approval from the issuing companies, according to a report from Bloomberg Law on Monday.
This marks a major shift from the agency’s guidance on January 28, which drew a clear distinction between tokenization backed by issuers and third-party offerings, cautioning that the latter usually delivered only synthetic exposure rather than actual equity ownership.
If this becomes official policy, it would open the door to an entirely new model for tokenized equities. Under the January rules, only firms that formally incorporated blockchain into their official shareholder registries—such as DTCC’s planned July rollout—could provide legitimate tokenized stock exposure. Third-party services like Kraken’s xStocks, Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based tokenized equities, and OKX’s private company perps were all operating in a legal gray area. The updated stance, as reported by Bloomberg Law, would let those platforms move forward without waiting for issuers to get involved.
That’s a huge development, and the implications are massive. The tokenized securities market has surged 200% year-over-year to $30 billion, with DTCC, BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Franklin Templeton all filing or launching tokenized products in just the past month.
Hyperliquid is likely the biggest near-term winner, and the market reacted by pushing its token to $48 and a new local high.
📉 Strategy Snaps Up $2 Billion in Bitcoin—And BTC Still Drops
Strategy acquired 24,869 BTC between May 11 and May 17 for roughly $2.01 billion, paying an average of $80,985 per coin. The purchase was funded almost entirely through $1.949 billion in STRC preferred stock sales, plus $83.7 million from MSTR common shares.
Surely that sent Bitcoin soaring, right? Right??
Nope—in fact, Bitcoin traded about 5% lower on Monday compared to Saylor’s average purchase price from the prior week. The ETFs didn’t lend a hand either, as spot Bitcoin ETFs saw around $1 billion in net outflows last week—the worst weekly drain of 2026. IBIT, FBTC, and GBTC all recorded outflows as US 30-year Treasury yields pushed past 5% and CME FedWatch began assigning a 44% probability to a rate hike at an upcoming 2026 FOMC meeting.
Now STRC is trading below its par value, and Saylor is likely tapped out for a few weeks. So Bitcoin will need to find support from other sources…
🚢 Iran Rolls Out Bitcoin-Powered Maritime Insurance
Over the weekend, Iran unveiled a government-backed maritime insurance platform named “Hormuz Safe,” enabling sanctioned shippers to pay premiums in Bitcoin for instant coverage on Strait of Hormuz transits.
The platform completely bypasses SWIFT and traditional banking: coverage kicks in as soon as a Bitcoin transaction is confirmed, and claims are settled on-chain. Iranian officials project more than $10 billion in annual revenue if the service captures a meaningful share of the 20% of global seaborne crude oil that still passes through the strait.
Iran is building infrastructure that cements Bitcoin as its primary financial workaround, giving it a
A revenue stream that doesn’t rely on the Strait of Hormuz reopening. Every shipowner who purchases a Hormuz Safe policy triggers a Bitcoin payment directed to the Iranian government—and exposes themselves to potential OFAC sanctions, regardless of whether the premium actually reaches its intended recipient. For the moment, the potential downsides appear to outweigh the benefits.
💰 Nine Polymarket Accounts Won $2.4 Million on Iran, With a 98% Win Rate
According to a Bubblemaps investigation first reported by 60 Minutes, a group of nine connected Polymarket accounts collectively earned $2.4 million by wagering almost entirely on US military actions involving Iran.
All of the anonymous accounts were set up just days before the US launched its first strikes on Iran in late February. Out of more than 80 wagers, they were correct 98% of the time, including precise predictions about when the first US strikes would occur, the removal of Supreme Leader Khamenei, and the declaration of a ceasefire.
Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman remarked: “This could be the most extraordinary pattern we’ve ever uncovered on Polymarket. Pure chance simply doesn’t account for these results.”
The accounts only lost money on a few occasions, each time small sums in the hundreds of dollars—losses that Bubblemaps argues were deliberate, designed to mislead anyone tracking their activity. Profits were eventually funneled to Bybit, Binance, and HTX, though the accounts can’t be publicly linked to any specific individuals.
The idea that insider knowledge on prediction markets was a feature rather than a flaw is now being put to the test on a very public stage.
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Major cryptocurrencies are mostly unchanged with Hype out front; BTC steady at $76.8k; ETH steady at $2,112; SOL steady at $84; HYPE up 7% at $48.10
- Ondo (+12%), INJ (+10%) and ZEC (+8%) were the top gainers
- Oil up 1% at $103.5; Gold down 0.25% at $4,533
- Stock futures are in the red, with the Nasdaq off 0.6%, nearing three consecutive losing sessions
- Citi cautioned that Bitcoin is more vulnerable to quantum computing threats than Ethereum, since its conservative governance structure makes protocol upgrades slow and hard to coordinate
- The Prime Trust bankruptcy estate filed a $970 million clawback lawsuit against Swan Bitcoin, claiming Swan leveraged insider knowledge to pull out 11,994 BTC before Prime’s 2023 collapse
- Vitalik Buterin spoke at the Japan Dev Conference, making the case that AI can formally verify and audit smart contracts, positioning it as a security asset rather than a danger
- HIVE Digital reached its highest share price of 2026 on Monday after unveiling plans for a 125-acre Northern Ontario site to house an AI gigafactory that could scale to 3 gigawatts, powered by co-located hydroelectric energy
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
Meme Coin Tracker
- Leading meme coins were mixed; DOGE flat, SHIB +1%, PEPE +1%, PENGU +4%, TRUMP -1%, BONK +1%, SPX +1%, FARTCOIN +1%
- Degencoin (+21x), Manifest (+44%) and Goblin (+25%) were the standout performers on Solana
- Base gainers included TSG (+255x), KellyClaude (+100%), Nock (+46%) and Robotmoney (+90%)
📈 Myriad Market of the Day
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- The share of ETH that is staked has climbed to 31% despite the token’s price decline
- The Echo Protocol on Monad was briefly hacked for roughly $816,000 on Monday before the team regained control of its keys
🚚 What is happening in NFTs?
- Top NFT collections were mixed, with Punks in the lead; Punks +2% at 34 ETH, BAYC -3% at 9.57 ETH, Pudgy flat at 4.82 ETH; Hypurr’s flat at 330 HYPE
- v1 Punks (+35%) and TTT (+30%) were among the biggest movers
- Two large Punk sales took place overnight, with a Top Hat fetching 130 ETH ($277k) and a Clown Hair selling for 50 ETH
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