[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Elizabeth Warren argues approvals for crypto firms including Ripple and Coinbase are improper

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said that granting national trust bank charters to crypto firms such as Ripple and Coinbase is inappropriate.

According to Odaily, in a letter sent to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on May 18, Warren claimed that the OCC had improperly granted national trust bank charters to at least nine crypto companies since December 2025.

Warren argued that these firms’ business plans go beyond the limited functions permitted for national trust banks, and said they are effectively crypto banks attempting to evade the basic safeguards and obligations imposed on banks.

Companies that reportedly received approval or conditional approval include Ripple, Circle, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, Coinbase, Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe, and Crypto.com.

Earlier, the American Bankers Association urged the OCC in February to delay the review of such charter applications. Warren warned that these approvals could weaken consumer protection and increase the risk of regulatory arbitrage.

Odaily, citing Al Hadath Breaking, reported that according to an Israeli assessment, President Trump has decided to strike Iran and that execution is only a matter of time.

If tensions in the Middle East escalate, volatility in global financial markets and the crypto market could increase.

According to WuBlockchain, Wintermute said Ethereum is not an asset well-suited to the current macro environment amid rising yields and renewed inflation concerns.

Wintermute explained that ETH fell 10.2% this week, continuing to underperform in both spot and derivatives markets, while the ETH/BTC ratio dropped to around 0.0275.

It also pointed out that buying BTC aggressively at current levels amounts to betting that institutional investors will return despite rising Treasury yields and a reacceleration in inflation.

According to WuBlockchain, JPMorgan said Ethereum has lagged behind Bitcoin in both price performance and institutional capital inflows since October 2025.

Analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said that unless network activity, DeFi adoption, and real-world use cases recover meaningfully, Ethereum and the broader altcoin market may struggle to catch up with Bitcoin.

According to Odaily, the United Nations raised its 2026 global inflation forecast from 3.1% to 3.9%.

The revision reflects the view that price pressures may persist longer than expected, potentially affecting major central banks’ monetary policy and risk-asset sentiment.

President Trump said the rise in U.S. gasoline prices is “minor” and “very temporary.”

Energy prices such as gasoline are key variables affecting inflation and consumer sentiment, and markets are closely watching their implications for inflation trends and monetary policy.

According to Odaily, Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini urged U.S. senators to remove certain provisions from a digital asset market structure bill.

The provisions would restrict trading platforms from listing tokens deemed vulnerable to market manipulation.

In a comment letter, the exchanges argued that the standard is derived from traditional commodity futures regulation and could make it difficult for low-liquidity small-cap tokens to be listed on compliant exchanges, thereby limiting innovation in the industry.

According to WuBlockchain, the Zcash Foundation said in its Q1 2026 report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended its investigation into the foundation and did not recommend enforcement action.

The foundation also said that most of the development team had departed due to governance conflicts at the Electric Coin Company. The closure of the investigation is being interpreted as a factor that somewhat reduces regulatory uncertainty surrounding Zcash.

According to Whale Alert, 2,071 BTC was transferred from an anonymous wallet to Coinbase Institutional.

The transfer was worth approximately $158.99 million.

Large transfers to exchange or institutional accounts can be interpreted by the market as a sign of potential selling pressure. However, it has not been confirmed whether this transfer led to an actual sale.

PANews, citing OKX market data, reported that Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $77,000.

According to the report, BTC was trading at $77,009.30, up 0.63% on the day.