Vexing volatility persists
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 8th May 2026.
The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.
Don’t invest in crypto unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.
What’s up
Kalshi On A Heater
After hitting an all-time intraday high on Thursday, the S&P 500 began to slide before the close. Not surprisingly, oil prices, at that same time, spiked yet again, with Brent crude futures returning to above $100 per barrel.
We’re blaming the fog of peace as traders and prediction market bettors grope for some sense that an end to the war in the Middle East is within sight. Back in mid-April, the Kalshi platform showed a 70% chance the U.S. and Iran would reach a nuclear deal by June. Kalshi traders now see a 58% chance that a deal is reached by next year (CNBC).
Meanwhile, Wall Street and Silicon Valley heavies appear to like the odds that relatively friendlier federal officials, and not states, will continue to solely regulate prediction markets. Kalshi, a centralized marketplace currently overseen by the CFTC, just closed a $1B “Series F” funding round that pegs Kalshi’s valuation at $22B, according to Cointelegraph. A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that Kalshi’s annualized revenue run rate has surpassed $1.5B.
What's down
Nope, Definitely Not Altcoin Season
Bitcoin continued to slide throughout the day on Thursday as it veered closer to losing hold of its $80K handle. ETH, XRP and SOL were all flat or slightly down as they battled for key levels. The latter, SOL, briefly touched $90 but then pulled back to $89.
A slew of altcoins have had stupendous weeks. This cadre includes ONDO, up 35% to $0.35, and TON, which doubled to $2.75. But a handful of big gainers does not an alt season make. The Altcoin Season Index from BlockchainCenter reads 35, well below the 75 alt season threshold, BeInCrypto said. The index measures whether 75% of the top 50 coins outperformed BTC over the past three months.
What's next
AI Agents Get Power Of The Purse
Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Thursday announced "Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments," a system that allows AI agents to use stablecoins to automatically pay for online services during the course of completing tasks. This could include the procurement of APIs, data feeds and web content.
The launch is significant because it puts stablecoin-based micropayments directly into AWS’s AI agent platform, Decrypt explained.
And it does so right as tech companies are "racing to build autonomous AI agents capable of completing tasks and making transactions online,” Decrypt said.
Developed with Coinbase and Stripe, the system is seeking to eliminate the need for developers to build custom billing systems for each service integration.
According to Decrypt, Amazon plans to integrate additional protocols, and will further support emerging protocols “at the platform level.”
Once configured, agents can automatically pay for services during execution. The initial release focuses on payments for APIs, AI tools, MCP servers and walled-off content. Future versions could support things such as booking flights and reserving hotel rooms.
