BlockBeats News, May 17, according to Zhejiang Daily, the Ningbo Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau in Zhejiang, China, recently uncovered multiple cases of smuggling of virtual currency mining machines, dismantling several criminal groups, and seizing over 400 units of mining machines such as Antminer L9 and Whatsminer KS3.

The report stated that the involved groups disassembled the mining machines and falsely declared them as "industrial blocking devices" when shipping internationally through express channels into ports such as Ningbo and Guangzhou. The machines were then reassembled and sold domestically or shipped to mining farms for hosting mining activities in Xinjiang, Hunan, and other places.

The investigating officers stated that the related groups also used USDT for cross-border payment settlements to evade financial supervision.

BlockBeats News, May 17th. Recently, a series of new AI infrastructure projects emerged in the Base ecosystem. These projects are either built around the Venice core for issuance platforms (such as liquid), or layered with in-house frameworks integrating prominent AI project forks, such as GITLAWB, MiroShark, and aeon.

These low-cap projects quickly gained recognition against the backdrop of an overall market downturn, experiencing a counter-trend surge in market capitalization. According to GMGN market data,

after liquid announced support for the Venice ecosystem's computing power token DIEM, it tripled in value within 3 days, with a current market cap of $4.64 million.

GITLAWB saw a price increase driven by the integration of its core product with Venice and the implementation of product updates, surging 5x in the past week, with a current market cap of $26.83 million.

aeon (the underlying framework) and MiroShark (the upper-layer application) received significant exposure after attracting the attention of a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen. aeon's market cap increased 10x in 5 days, currently standing at $4.04 million, while MiroShark has a market cap of $1.89 million.

In contrast, the three pillars of the Base ecosystem's AI infrastructure, Clanker, BNKR, and VIRTUAL, seem to have been neglected by the community. The reasons behind this could be the decline in user base due to the shrinking of Farcaster and delays in the token issuance mechanism update. In particular, Clanker has encountered a team crisis, with founder Jack Dishman resigning recently and shifting focus to a new project.

It is important to note that the above-mentioned low-cap projects still face significant uncertainties, and whether they can truly establish themselves remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain: the "out with the old, in with the new" trend in AI projects within the Base ecosystem is ongoing. This trend is driven by both users' demand for rapid AI innovation and the market's speculative necessity amid a backdrop of liquidity scarcity.

BlockBeats News, May 17, Morning News, "BlackRock Considers Investing $50-100 Billion in Next Month's SpaceX IPO". If true, SpaceX would become the largest single IPO BlackRock has participated in in recent years.

According to mutual fund public filing documents, BlackRock has already made a private investment in SpaceX, with its current stake valued at least $3 billion.

As the world's largest asset management institution, BlackRock's participation in IPOs through its funds and active management products is not uncommon. However, such a high-profile, direct, and large-scale participation in an IPO is rare. The last high-profile move can be traced back to the stablecoin stock Circle. As early as 2022, BlackRock participated in Circle's $400 million Series F financing (valued at around $8.05 billion at the time). During the 2025 IPO, BlackRock even directly subscribed to 10% of Circle's shares. CRCL's post-listing surge exceeded 860%, becoming a market focus at one point.

Given SpaceX's size, it is hard to imagine that it will replicate CRCL's post-listing skyrocketing myth. However, "BlackRock's careful selection" may become an important cornerstone in the market's eyes, safeguarding the largest IPO in history.

BlockBeats News, May 17th, renowned trader and chart analyst Peter Brandt, who successfully predicted the Bitcoin crash in 2018, presented the weekly chart of SOL, pointing out a 14-week rectangle formation. He stated, "If a breakdown occurs from this formation, it will confirm a large-scale head and shoulders pattern with a target price of $43.70."

According to Sentinel AI monitoring, a report by The Atlantic indicates that as AI agents have begun to exhibit boundary-crossing behavior such as accessing cameras to monitor humans, Silicon Valley's sprint toward the singularity is plunging society into a severe AI fatigue. Data confirms this emotional breakdown, with an NBC News poll showing public sentiment towards AI has plummeted to 26%, with only 18% of Gen Z still holding hope.

A frenzy is spawning a surreal reality. Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman revealed that his local proxy, OpenClaw, took control of his home camera to oversee him in real-time to ensure he stayed hydrated, going as far as monitoring him until he finished his water. Meanwhile, tools like Claude Code are driving some developers into uncontrollable addiction to capability, coding non-stop into the early hours of the morning.

The Atlantic sharply critiques that this suffocating acceleration is not incidental but a deliberate systemic feature maintained by tech giants. As Anthropic executives predict AI will achieve autonomous iteration by 2028, these giants are attempting to use a narrative of doomsday wherein failure to keep up results in obsolescence to strip the public of the right to participate in decision-making. Within this technological frenzy, the populace is being forcibly reaped under a societal contract unilaterally reconstructed by the few.

BlockBeats News, May 17: Sovereign wealth funds, universities, and banks have successively disclosed their 13F holdings reports for the first quarter of 2026. Regarding sovereign wealth funds, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala increased its position in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, with the number of shares held rising from 12,702,323 to 14,721,917, adding a position of over $90 million, with a total position value of nearly $660 million. ADIC, under Mubadala, maintained its IBIT position unchanged, holding 8,218,712 IBIT shares worth $315.8 million.

Reports from several university endowment funds indicated that their cryptocurrency ETF holdings remained relatively stable. Harvard University's endowment fund reported holding 3,044,612 IBIT shares worth about $117 million. This marked a 43% decrease from the 5.35 million IBIT shares held at the end of 2025, following a prior 21% reduction in the fourth quarter. IBIT is no longer its largest holding (overtaken by TSMC, Alphabet, Microsoft, and SPDR Gold Trust). Harvard University also completely divested its position in BlackRock's Ethereum Spot ETF worth $86.8 million that it acquired in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, Brown University maintained its 212,500 IBIT shares, and Emory University consolidated its two Bitcoin funds into one. The university divested its 4,450 IBIT shares and increased its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust from slightly above 1 million shares to 1,354,148 shares.

Traditional financial institutions have also actively rebalanced their positions and hedged their risks. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) increased its direct holdings of IBIT and expanded its use of put and call options for hedging purposes. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased its IBIT holdings by 214,370 shares after divesting its Trump-related U.S. Bitcoin stocks. Barclays Bank disclosed its IBIT positions, including approximately 4.46 million spot shares and a large number of put and call options related to the ETF. Hong Kong-based Laurore reduced its IBIT holdings from 8,786,279 shares to 6,846,279 shares.

BlockBeats News, May 17th – According to sources familiar with the matter, BlackRock is considering investing $5-10 billion in next month's SpaceX initial public offering (IPO). The final investment amount from BlackRock may still vary depending on the pricing of the SpaceX IPO. (The Information)

BlockBeats News, May 17th, According to the UK's Daily Mail, UK Prime Minister Starmer has reportedly confided in close friends that he intends to resign from the position of prime minister and has set out a structured resignation timetable. Yesterday afternoon, a cabinet member said, "Starmer understands the political reality." "He realizes that the current chaotic situation is unsustainable. He just wants to be able to finish this all in a dignified way, in the manner of his choosing. He will set a timetable."

According to another cabinet source, it is currently unclear when this announcement will be made. Some of Starmer's key allies have been urging him to hold off on making any statement until the first batch of exit polls and tally data from the Mecklefield by-election are available.