#Web3 Today’s Must-Read | April 27

Today’s Overview
• Powell’s farewell, and the Federal Reserve policy handover faces challenges.
• The White House warns that regulatory lag will threaten national security.
• Iran accepts Bitcoin payments for Strait of Hormuz tolls.
• OCC stablecoin rules—four days left in the window.
• A key decision for U.S. crypto legislation is coming in May.
• Aave raises 80% of the funds to cover $200 million in bad loans.
• MicroStrategy’s holdings’ market value breaks past $60 billion to a new high.
• U.S. stock ETF inflows hit a record, boosting crypto expectations.
• Coinb builds a full-service prime broker platform.
• The Ethereum Foundation unlocks $40 million worth of ETH from staking.

Today’s Analysis
Powell’s farewell performance is not just a change of position—it marks the point where the global liquidity game officially enters the “deep-water zone.” Put simply, Kevin Warsh is no longer taking over an old world that could be dealt with by simply printing money. Instead, he inherits a complicated endgame with highly sticky inflation, and with cryptocurrencies already deeply embedded in the macroeconomy’s “nervous system.” The curtain call of the Powell era, at its core, is the Fed’s transfer of power over the crypto market—from “ignoring it” to “having to guard against it.” The signals behind this shift are very clear: cryptocurrencies have moved from being marginal alternative assets at the edge to becoming a key variable that can influence the direction of macro policy.
What’s interesting is that while the Fed is busy with leadership transitions, the White House and Iran—each from opposite ends—have put their stamps on the “strategic attributes” of cryptocurrencies. The White House elevates regulatory legislation to the level of national security, even citing China as a reference—this is essentially a kind of “anxious push” from regulators. Iran, meanwhile, directly announces that it will accept Bitcoin payments for Strait of Hormuz tolls—this is a truly epic endorsement of Bitcoin’s payment role. This is no longer a celebration for a small circle; it is a reality in which sovereign nations, under sanctions pressure, are forced to adopt Bitcoin as a hardcore settlement tool. When an asset begins to take on the responsibilities of settling bulk commodities and engaging in national security games, it has already moved beyond a simple logic of price up and down.
The real highlight is that Wall Street is wrapping up the final “compliance road-clearing” work in tight succession. The OCC’s window for stablecoin rules is about to close, meaning that bringing stablecoins into the U.S. banking system has entered the last four days of the countdown. Coupled with Coinb quietly completing the build of an institutional-grade full-service prime broker platform, you can see that the barriers to big money entering are being systematically and forcefully cleared. In the past, institutions didn’t enter because they “couldn’t invest” or “didn’t dare to invest.” Now, from legal frameworks and banking interfaces to trading tools, the entire suite of infrastructure is in place. Record-breaking inflows into U.S. stock ETFs are just the appetizer—the real liquidity migration is only just beginning. Even in the face of the $200 million in bad debt left by the Kelp DAO attack, the governance resilience shown by native DeFi protocols like Aave is genuinely impressive.
By raising nearly 80% of funds through DAO governance in a short time, this kind of self-healing capability is something traditional financial institutions can hardly imagine. Add to that MicroStrategy’s holdings reaching a historical high, with market value topping $63 billion, and these fragments of information connect into a very clear picture: on one side, sovereign states and regulators are competing over discourse power; on the other, Wall Street and top protocols are solidifying their foundations. The Ethereum Foundation’s release from unstaking may bring short-term volatility, but against the backdrop of this grand narrative, it is only a ripple on the surface.