Crypto Week Ahead is a comprehensive list of what's coming up in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, as well as the major macroeconomic events that will influence digital asset markets.
Three tests land inside one week. The first is jobs data, with April payrolls print coming, the first read after a delay caused by the 2025 federal shutdown.
A weaker-than-expected print gives the Federal Reserve cover to cut sooner. A strong one delays it. The second is additional insight into the bitcoin treasury trade.
Strategy, Coinbase, MARA, CleanSpark, Hut 8 and Core Scientific all report Q1 earnings inside the week. Riot already sold 3,778 BTC last quarter at an average $76,626. MARA sold 15,133.
The third is the Fed itself. San Francisco Fed CEO and President Mary Daly and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speak on central bank independence at Hoover on Friday, the same week Jerome Powell exits his chair role (but not the Fed itself) under White House pressure.
“Investors aren’t heavily positioned and volatility remains low, creating an asymmetrical setup: markets appear stable on the surface but could react quickly to any catalyst that forces a repricing of risk,” Jennifer Hanny, a partner at Echo Base, told CoinDesk.
What to Watch
(All times ET)
Crypto
May 4: Coinbase to delist dai (DAI) and convert remaining tokens to USDS.
May 4, 11:30 p.m.: Reserve Bank of Australia Interest Rate Decision est. 4.35% (Prev. 4.1%)
May 5, 09:00 a.m.: U.S. JOLTs Job Openings for March(Prev. 6.882M)
May 5, 09:00 a.m.: U.S. ISM Services PMI April est. 54 (Prev. 54)
May 6, 4:00 a.m.: Euro Area Producer Price Index YoY for March (Prev. -3%); MoM (Prev. -0.7%)
May 6, 07:15 a.m.: U.S. ADP Employment Change for April (Prev. 62K)
May 6, 06:50 p.m.: Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes
May 7, 07:30 a.m.: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for period ending May 2 (Prev. 189K)
May 7, 03:30 p.m.: U.S. Fed Balance Sheet for period ending May 6 (Prev. $6.700T)
May 8, 7:30 a.m.: Canada Unemployment Rate for April (Prev. 6.7%)
May 8, 07:30 a.m.: U.S. Non Farm Payrolls for April est. 73K (Prev. 178K)
May 8, 07:30 a.m.: U.S. Unemployment Rate for April est. 4.3% (Prev. 4.3%)
May 8, 07:30 a.m.: U.S. Average Hourly Earnings MoM for April est. 0.3% (Prev. 0.2%); YoY (Prev. 3.5%)
May 8, 09:00 a.m.: U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Prel for May (Prev. 49.8)
May 8, 06:30 p.m.: U.S. Fed Presidents Mary Daly and Austan Goolsbee to participate in a conference on “Independence, Structure, and Risks Ahead for Central Banks”
Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
May 5: Strategy (MSTR), post-market, -$12.95
May 5: PayPal Holdings (PYPL), pre-market, $1.27
May 5: Cipher Digital (CIFR), pre-market, -$0.08
May 5: MARA Holdings (MARA), post-market, -$0.45
May 6: Hut 8 (HUT), pre-market, -$0.34
May 6: Core Scientific (CORZ), post-market, -$0.04
May 7: Coinbase Global (COIN), post-market, $0.26
May 7: Block (XYZ), post-market, $0.60
May 8: TeraWulf (WULF), pre-market, -$0.19
May 8: CleanSpark (CLSK), post-market, -$0.23
Token Events
Governance votes & calls
Lido DAO is voting on a time-sensitive proposal to temporarily lower the EarnETH first-loss protection trigger to below the standard 1% threshold, ensuring full compensation for users if the rsETH shortfall is resolved via DeFi United. Voting ends May 6.
Beefy DAO is voting to authorize its Treasury Council to conduct private, discretionary BIFI buybacks whenever the token's price falls below its calculated "fair value." Repurchased tokens will be held as non-circulating supply. Voting ends May 6.
World Liberty Financial is voting to restructure vesting for locked WLFI tokens. Early supporters will receive a 4-year vesting schedule, while insiders must burn 10% of their allocation and accept a 5-year vest. Voting ends May 6.
Arbitrum DAO is voting to release 30,766 ETH frozen by its Security Council after the Kelp DAO exploit to the DeFi United recovery fund. Voting ends May 7.
CoW DAO is voting on whether to use its Legal Defense Reserve to reimburse users who lost $1.2 million in the April 14 cow.fi domain hijack. Voting ends May 7.
Mantle DAO is voting to lend up to 30,000 ETH to Aave as a structured 36-month credit facility, benchmarked to Lido's stETH staking return plus a 1% spread, as part of the DeFi United rsETH recovery. Voting ends May 8.
Unlocks
May 5: Ethena (ENA) to unlock 2.12% of its circulating supply worth $17.34 million.
May 6: Hyperliquid (HYPE) to unlock 0.18% of its circulating supply worth $17.5 million.
Token Launches
May 5: Virtual Protocols’ OPG airdrop snapshot expected to take place.
May 8: SoSoValue’s final testnet airdrop expected to complete.
May 4-10: BNB’s 35th quarterly burn expected to occur.
While ETF inflows have resumed, the recovery has yet to match last fall’s peak.
What to know:
U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs have attracted $3.29 billion over the past two months, bringing cumulative net inflows since their January 2024 launch to $58.72 billion, still below the $61.19 billion peak reached in October.
The current rebound in ETF demand has not yet fully offset the $6.38 billion in outflows...
