FreedmanCrypto[互关版]

This afternoon, news came from South Korea that the Samsung union officially announced the breakdown of negotiations, and the strike plan remains unchanged, scheduled to start on May 24. The management urgently applied for mediation in the afternoon, but the union directly rejected it—"No sincerity, a waste of time." $BTC $79,062 is standing still, but there is a detail to note 👇 South Korea is one of Asia's largest crypto markets. If the Samsung strike triggers a depreciation of the Korean won and economic turmoil in South Korea, Korean retail investors' crypto assets might be forced to be sold to cover positions. The last time the Korean "kimchi premium" disappeared, BTC dropped $2,000 directly. If history repeats itself this time... Moreover, South Korean regulators have recently been cracking down on crypto exchanges, and a strike like this will only give them more justification to tighten policies. Honestly, with this kind of macro black swan event, you never know when it will explode. The best short-term move is to keep your ammo ready and avoid going naked. Have you noticed that every time something big happens in Asia, BTC seems to take a hit? Do you think this time will be different? #韩国三星劳资谈判破裂

#SouthKoreaSamsungLaborNegotiationsBreakdown Last night before bed, I came across a piece of news that immediately woke me up—— Samsung's labor negotiations have completely collapsed, with 41,000 workers ready to strike at any moment, wiping out $66 billion in market value intraday, and the stock price plummeting 5% in a single day. Even more outrageous, the South Korean Prime Minister personally stepped in to call for "must stop," acting as if the nation's economic lifeline is hanging by a thread. My first reaction wasn’t Samsung stock, but to check my wallet for $RNDR and $RPL—cryptos that rely entirely on GPU computing power. If Samsung really stops producing HBM memory, global AI chip production capacity will be directly cut off, graphics card prices will soar, and mining costs will skyrocket. What keeps me awake even more is the timing. Right now, the AI craze is driving GPU demand through the roof, and suddenly the world’s largest chip manufacturer is in internal conflict and halting production. A $2.9 billion halt can’t be stopped—both institutions and retail investors are frantically hoarding chip stocks. If the strike becomes real, the crypto world’s computing power and AI concepts will all need to be repriced. Honestly, I’m a bit anxious. The AI sector positions I hold are now in a dilemma. Cut losses? Afraid of missing out on the upcoming computing power shortage. Hold on? What if the Samsung strike is just the opening act of a big drama, and the entire tech stock valuation needs to be reshaped. South Korea is a semiconductor powerhouse, accounting for over 40% of global DRAM capacity. If things get serious, it’s not just Samsung that’s doomed—the entire tech supply chain will shake. Right now, I’m watching two signals: one, whether Samsung’s union shows signs of softening; two, whether the South Korean government will enforce mediation. Any stir on either side will immediately affect $RNDR and $RPL. Do you have AI computing power-related positions? What’s your take these days? Is this Samsung turmoil a crisis or an opportunity? Share your thoughts in the comments—I need to see what everyone thinks. #SamsungStrike #AIChip #HBMMemory #CryptoMarket

Taking a break at work to scroll through my phone, I was stunned for several seconds by a piece of news. Coinbase cooperated with the police to solve a kidnapping case where the victim was forced to transfer cryptocurrency, and Coinbase directly helped the FBI recover the money. Honestly, my first reaction was: so on-chain tracking really works. I used to think cryptocurrencies were anonymous and tools for criminals, but this incident showed me another side—they can also be a shield for ordinary people. Of course, looking at it from another angle, it’s chilling. On-chain records exist permanently, and every transaction you make is being watched; most people just don’t realize it. The line between privacy and security has never been that clear. BTC current price $76,697, ETH $2,110, the market has been moving sideways these days with little volatility. But this feeling of "calm on the surface, undercurrents off-chain" is actually more sleepless than the candlestick charts. What do you all think? Do you feel cryptocurrencies offer more protection or pose greater risks to ordinary people?

While waiting at a red light, a push notification popped up on my phone—an American company specializing in providing IT systems for funeral homes spent $33 million on cryptocurrency, and now their holdings are almost worthless. My first thought was: if that money had been used for employee year-end bonuses, how many years could it have covered? Later, I looked into it more carefully. The company is called Storage Technology; I don’t remember the full name exactly, but it’s roughly a company that makes cemetery management systems and corpse tracking software. Their main business has nothing to do with cryptocurrency, but apparently some CFO read a few articles about "institutions entering crypto" and impulsively decided to gamble the company’s operating funds. Then the market dropped, and the $33 million just vanished. I’m not trying to be sarcastic. I just want to point out one thing—the penetration of cryptocurrency has gone beyond our crypto trading circles. Funeral IT companies, pension funds, local municipal bonds... these players who seem completely unrelated to the "crypto world" are all entering the market in various ways. Meanwhile, those of us who watch the market every day feel like the minority. The market has been hovering around $76,700 for almost two weeks now, with very low volatility, yet long contract positions keep increasing. Institutions are waiting for a direction, while retail investors are waiting for a big bullish or bearish candle. But the really interesting thing is: those who originally shouldn’t be in the crypto space are changing the market structure in their own way. Do you have friends outside the financial industry suddenly starting to talk about cryptocurrency? How are they doing now?

Waiting at a red light while driving, a news push popped up on my phone—BTC fell below $76,700, breaking under $77K for the first time in 5 days. I glanced at the dashboard; it was 10:30 AM, and the radio was broadcasting the latest updates on tariff negotiations. Honestly, when I saw that number, my first reaction wasn’t "should I buy the dip," but that the altcoin positions in my account had already started to ache slightly. The $XRP and $SOL I just bought last week, which were up 8% last night, have now been dragged down by BTC. This drop of BTC below $77K is superficially due to macro sentiment dragging it down—US Treasury yields soaring, tariff expectations fluctuating—but essentially it’s continuous ETF fund outflows. Data shows nearly $1 billion net outflow from BTC ETFs in the past 24 hours; institutions are retreating, retail investors are taking over. Interestingly, after BTC fell below $76K, $SOL and $XRP didn’t follow the drop; $SOL even slightly turned green. Big money seems to be signaling: BTC’s decline is the prelude to altcoin season. But I don’t dare to move. Last time $LAB surged, I hesitated with the mindset of "waiting for a pullback to enter," and watched it soar from $0.8 to $1.4. If I wait again this time, I might miss out once more. Brothers, do you still dare to make a move now? $BTC $ETH

At the gym, just after finishing a set of squats, a notification popped up on my phone—Deloitte acquired Blocknative. At first, I thought I misread it. One of the Big Four accounting firms acquiring a small Web3 company that does Gas monitoring? Upon closer inspection, I found out that the entire Blocknative team joined Deloitte, their API was shut down on June 19, and Gas Network was directly closed. This wasn’t a business acquisition, it was a talent acquisition. Simply put, Deloitte didn’t want to build a Web3 team from scratch, so they took the whole team at once. What does Blocknative do? They monitor on-chain Gas fees and research Ethereum MEV. They are considered a somewhat influential technical team in the Ethereum infrastructure circle. In recent years, large institutions wanting to enter Web3 have been most lacking in talent who understand both blockchain and compliance execution. Building a team themselves is too slow; acquiring a team is the fastest path. The Big Four have already started poaching talent. What about you? Have you noticed other big institutions competing for Web3 talent?

At 3 a.m., my phone suddenly vibrated. Half-asleep, I checked it—CoinDesk notification: North America's largest Bitcoin ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, has filed for bankruptcy, and all 12,000 machines are offline. My first reaction wasn’t "oh," but a chill down my spine. Last year, while shopping at the mall, I casually bought 0.05 BTC and stored it in an ATM, thinking it was convenient. Now they tell me the operator is bankrupt—are my coins still there? Who do I contact? Who do I call? I looked it up: Bitcoin Depot has over 12,000 ATMs in the U.S., accounting for a large share of BTC ATMs nationwide. Most users are small buyers seeking convenience, buying amounts in the tens or hundreds. Now that the machines are all shut down, there’s not even a way to check balances. What’s more ironic is that just this week, Bitcoin dropped to a two-week low, with the market hovering around $76K. Coupled with the $76M Echo Protocol hack, liquidity has exceeded $500 million. Big players are buying, while retail investors are holding in the least convenient way. I just bought some BTC around $76K and put it in my wallet. When Bitcoin ATMs completely shut down, at least my wallet will still be there. Have you ever used a BTC ATM? How did you handle it afterward?

Woke up in the middle of the night and checked my phone, saw a news piece and almost thought I wasn’t fully awake — North America’s largest Bitcoin ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, has filed for bankruptcy, and all its machines are offline. Honestly, this keeps me up at night even more than my account going to zero. At its peak, Bitcoin Depot had deployed over ten thousand machines across the US, specifically for ordinary people to buy BTC with cash. I have a friend who got into crypto through this; he always said, "Buying coins at an ATM feels more real, like withdrawing money from an ATM." Now that the machines are gone, I don’t know if he’s been able to retrieve the few hundred dollars he’s stuck with. This bankruptcy isn’t an isolated case. The entire crypto ATM industry is collapsing — according to recent FBI data, Americans lost over $388 million to crypto ATM scams in 2025. What does that mean? It’s several times more than in 2024. The scam is simple: scammers get you to deposit money at an ATM, promising high returns, but it’s just a bait-and-switch. The industry’s problems run deeper. Crypto ATM fees are outrageously high — sometimes the buy-sell spread exceeds 10%. During bull markets, people don’t mind, but when the bear market hits, who’s willing to pay that extra cost? Plus, with increasing regulation and soaring KYC costs, small companies simply can’t survive. Interestingly, traditional financial institutions are moving against the trend — Italy’s largest bank just disclosed increasing holdings of BTC, ETH, and XRP in Q1, and Japan is promoting a household savings Bitcoin ETF. The entry of bank-managed funds is becoming more apparent. Crypto ATMs have fallen, but Bitcoin hasn’t. What’s collapsing are the middlemen who made quick money off information asymmetry. After the industry reshuffles, will the channels for ordinary people to buy coins become more centralized or more decentralized? It’s too early to say. Do people around you still use crypto ATMs? What channels do you use to buy coins?

Last night before going to bed, I habitually checked the market; BTC was still hovering around $76,600. This morning when I woke up, my social feed was flooded with a chart—CoinDesk's headline read "XRP and Solana funds attract inflows as bitcoin outflows hit nearly $1 billion." $1 billion. The figure is bigger than I imagined. It's not retail investors bottom-fishing; institutional funds are redeploying. This signal is very interesting: BTC is still sideways at a high level, and the money flowing out of ETFs hasn't left the crypto space but has instead turned into funds for XRP and SOL. Big money never sleeps. I've always thought SOL was overvalued, but data doesn't lie. The original CoinDesk article mentioned institutions increasing their Solana-related positions, while XRP benefits from improving regulatory expectations. Looking at these two directions together, the logic is clear: funds are shifting from "faith holdings" to "flexible assets." In other words, people are starting to take risks. But is it really a good time to enter XRP and SOL now? Or are institutions just doing a cyclical portfolio adjustment, waiting for BTC to pull back before returning? What do you think? In the current market situation, would you follow the institutions or continue holding BTC?

On May 20th, two major events will happen on the same day. The Fed meeting minutes + Nvidia earnings report, both the US stock market and the crypto market will face a double test on the same day. After work, I saw this news on the subway, and my first thought was: May 20th, something big is going to happen in the market. First, let's talk about the Fed. What the market cares about most now is: will there still be a rate cut? Last week Powell said to "be patient," but the CPI data isn't cooperating. If the minutes contain any wording like "rising inflation concerns," it's highly likely the dollar will strengthen and crypto will come under pressure. Next, Nvidia. $NVDA has been the bellwether for tech stocks these past two years, carrying the AI narrative. If the earnings continue to beat expectations, risk appetite funds in tech stocks and crypto will likely soar together; but if growth slows or guidance falls short, panic could quickly spread to the entire financial market. My own judgment is: with these two events combined, volatility will most likely spike. It's not certain the market will fall, but if the Fed minutes lean hawkish + Nvidia earnings disappoint, the market on the evening of May 20th will probably be very intense. My strategy is: for the next few days, take a light position and observe, don't blindly add positions. Wait for the minutes to be released, wait for the earnings report, and wait for the market to digest the first wave of emotions before making decisions. Better to miss out than to be wrong. Are you planning to watch the market on the evening of May 20th? Share your response strategy in the comments. #美联储会议纪要+英伟达财报：5月20同日公布

Just got home and opened my account, habitually checked $BTC first — $76,479, then the group suddenly exploded saying tariffs are going up to 245%, almost dropped my phone. Last Friday $ETH was still around $2,200, thinking of buying the dip, but today it dropped to $2,108, feeling like a sucker. The worst is $SOL, crashing straight down from $83, a brother in the group who was leveraged long blew 30,000U, saying "Once the tariffs came out, it was like the electronics factory shut down, suddenly no shifts." Tariffs always cause this kind of reaction — even though everyone is mentally prepared, when it actually happens, everyone is still stunned, feeling the altcoins in hand are much more fragile than expected. Now not sure how long the few altcoins left in my account can hold up, feels like they could be swept away anytime by the panic in the broader market. Have you recently been affected by the tariff news in your holdings? Do altcoins or the mainstream handle these black swan events better? $BTC $ETH

I came across a news article during my commute: Bitcoin Depot, the largest BTC ATM operator in North America, has filed for bankruptcy, and all its ATMs are offline. Bitcoin Depot, the biggest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America, is done for. At its peak, this company had over 5,000 BTC ATMs across the U.S., accounting for about 12% of the entire market share, and now all have ceased operations. When I saw this news on the subway, I almost dropped my coffee—not for any other reason, but because my first thought was: what about the elderly folks who bought BTC at airports and convenience stores? Are their ATM receipts still valid now? This bankruptcy is no accident. Tightened regulations, the significant crypto market volatility since 2024 began, combined with frequent wire fraud cases, have caused U.S. authorities to clamp down on the entire industry with anti-money laundering laws more and more strictly. Ironically, on the very same day Bitcoin Depot went down, Iran announced it would use BTC to settle shipping insurance for the Strait of Hormuz, aiming for $1 billion in revenue. At the same time, with such extreme polarization, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry. $BTC has dropped from nearly $84,000 in April to $76,370 now, a two-week low. $ETH at $2,105 is following the downward trend. ETF funds have seen net outflows for six consecutive weeks, with nearly $1 billion withdrawn in just one week. This is just the beginning. The collapse of ATM operators often signals shrinking retail participation—the easiest way to buy coins suddenly disappears. The industry is being cleared out, but not in the way we hoped. Have you ever bought coins at a BTC ATM? That machine is gone now. How do you plan to handle it? @OKX星球