BizwavemediaPersonal Finance and Crypto Updates

Iran’s stock market is set to resume trading on Tuesday after being shuttered for roughly 80 days. The reopening puts millions of retail investors back in the game, and the big question is whether they’ll calmly return to their positions or stampede for the exits.

What officials are doing to cushion the landing

Iranian authorities are reportedly preparing a suite of support measures designed to keep the reopening from turning into a freefall.

Among the tools on the table: tighter price limits on individual stocks, which would cap how far any single name can drop in a given session.

There’s also talk of possible market-maker interventions, essentially having designated participants step in to provide liquidity and absorb sell orders when natural buyers are scarce.

One unresolved question is whether the reopening will be phased, with certain sectors or stock categories resuming before others, or whether the entire market opens simultaneously.

The pent-up pressure problem

Analysts are warning that heavy sell pressure could materialize quickly once the opening bell rings. Investors who wanted to sell weeks or months ago finally get their chance. If enough of them act on that impulse simultaneously, the result could overwhelm whatever support mechanisms are in place.

Iran’s stock market has a particularly high proportion of retail participants compared to many global exchanges. That retail-heavy composition matters because individual investors tend to be more reactive and sentiment-driven than institutional players.

The bigger picture: sanctions, war, and uncertainty

Even setting aside the mechanics of the reopening, Iran’s stock market faces a genuinely difficult operating environment. The country remains under extensive US sanctions that restrict foreign investment and limit access to international capital markets.

War damage adds another layer of complexity. Companies listed on the exchange may have suffered physical destruction of assets, supply chain disruptions, or revenue losses that haven’t been fully disclosed. Prolonged conflict tends to make information gaps wider, not narrower.

Diplomatic relations with the US remain uncertain, which matters because any movement toward sanctions relief, or further escalation, would dramatically reshape the investment thesis for Iranian equities.

Two wallets tied to the entity known as Gammafund just moved 10,976 ETH, worth roughly $23.9M, into Binance within a single hour. When a fund parks that much Ethereum on a centralized exchange, it’s generally not there for the vibes. It’s there to sell.

The deposit, tracked on-chain via Arkham Intelligence, marks the latest in what appears to be a calculated profit-taking cycle from a fund that timed its Ethereum accumulation remarkably well.

The trade: buy low, deposit to exchange later

Here’s the backstory that makes this interesting. Back in March, Gammafund acquired 11,215 ETH at approximately $1,999 per token, spending roughly $22.4M in total. The fund also previously withdrew 9,000 ETH from Binance at about $1,984 per ETH, loading up on Ethereum in the sub-$2,000 range while much of the market was still licking its wounds from prior drawdowns.

With ETH trading around $2,178 based on the implied price of this deposit, a cost basis near $2,000 means the fund is sitting on meaningful unrealized gains. Nearly $24M moved to an exchange in an hour suggests this isn’t a test transaction or a wallet reorganization. This is positioning.

A pattern of systematic de-risking

This isn’t the first time Gammafund has taken chips off the table. The fund previously redeemed 5,555 ETH, worth approximately $12.53M, from the liquid staking protocol ether.fi and transferred that batch to Binance as well. On that portion alone, Gammafund reportedly realized around $2.87M in profit.

Rather than dumping everything at once, the fund has been methodically unstaking, redeeming, and moving ETH to Binance in tranches. Reports indicate Gammafund is in the process of redeeming another 5,500 ETH, likely earmarked for future sales. If that batch follows the same playbook, it would mean another $12M-plus headed toward exchange wallets in the near future.

The strategy reads as straightforward: accumulate ETH during periods of weakness, stake it to earn yield while waiting, then systematically unwind positions into strength.

What this means for ETH holders and the broader market

Gammafund used ether.fi to park its ETH productively while waiting for better exit prices. The ability to earn staking yield and then redeem quickly enough to sell into rallies gives funds a flexibility that lowers the opportunity cost of holding large ETH positions.

The next thing to watch: whether that additional 5,500 ETH redemption from ether.fi hits exchange wallets in the coming days, and whether ETH’s price can absorb the supply without giving back recent gains.

SpaceX shareholders have voted to approve a 5-for-1 stock split, a move that will multiply the company’s outstanding share count fivefold while cutting the per-share price by roughly 80%. The total valuation and individual ownership stakes remain unchanged, which is how stock splits work: more slices, same pie.

The vote, reported on May 15, comes as SpaceX sits comfortably among the most valuable private companies on Earth, with a valuation that reached approximately $180B in late 2023 and early 2024.

What a stock split actually does (and doesn’t do)

A 5-for-1 split means every existing shareholder receives four additional shares for each one they hold, with each share priced at one-fifth of its pre-split value.

For a publicly traded company, stock splits are often cosmetic, designed to make share prices look more approachable to retail investors. Amazon and Google parent Alphabet both ran splits in 2022 for precisely this reason.

But SpaceX is not publicly traded. In private markets, shares don’t trade on an exchange where buyers and sellers can match instantly. Instead, transactions happen through tender offers, secondary market platforms, and negotiated deals. By splitting shares 5-for-1, SpaceX effectively lowers the minimum ticket size for secondary transactions. A share that might have traded at, say, $100K pre-split would trade at roughly $20K post-split.

The employee equity angle

SpaceX has historically run tender offers, allowing employees to sell a portion of their holdings to pre-approved buyers. A lower share price makes these programs mechanically easier to administer and gives employees more flexibility in choosing how many shares to sell.

Why crypto markets are paying attention

SpaceX doesn’t issue tokens. It doesn’t operate a blockchain. It builds rockets and satellite internet infrastructure.

Musk’s influence on speculative digital assets, particularly Dogecoin, is well-documented. Any major corporate action involving Musk’s companies tends to generate reflexive interest in DOGE and other meme tokens. SpaceX news tends to correlate with broader risk-on behavior in tech and speculative assets, and crypto trades heavily on sentiment tied to such developments.

A company valued at roughly $180B is actively taking steps to improve share liquidity in private markets, which suggests confidence in sustained or growing demand for its equity.

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is cutting about 150 jobs as part of a streamlining effort tied to its planned initial public offering, according to a CoinDesk report.

The layoffs are part of a pre-IPO optimization plan, with Kraken’s workforce currently standing at roughly 3,000 employees.

The move comes as Payward is reportedly seeking a new financing round at a valuation of about $20 billion while accelerating its acquisition and expansion strategy. The company has acquired stablecoin payments firm Reap, derivatives platform Bitnomial, and US futures platform NinjaTrader.

Kraken filed confidentially for a US IPO in November 2025, laying the groundwork for a potential public listing. The company did not disclose the offering size, valuation, or timing at the time of the filing.

The latest job cuts show Kraken continuing to tighten operations while positioning itself for public markets. Payward plans to restart the IPO process once market conditions improve, according to the report.

Copper just hit a price that would have seemed absurd a few years ago. Comex copper futures climbed to a record range between $6.53 and $6.69 per pound in mid-May, driven by a perfect storm of supply disruptions, chemical shortages, and demand that shows no signs of slowing down.

The metal has risen more than 10% to 15% year-to-date, with some reports pegging the 2025 rally at nearly 40% at its peak.

What’s squeezing supply

Mine disruptions across major producing regions have constrained output at a time when the world desperately needs more of the stuff.

But here’s the less obvious bottleneck: sulfuric acid. About one-fifth of the world’s mined copper supply depends on sulfuric acid for processing, and that chemical is currently in short supply.

China, the world’s largest copper refiner, has seen weaker refined output, adding another layer of tightness to global markets.

Demand that won’t quit

Three mega-trends are converging to make copper one of the most sought-after commodities on the planet.

First, power grid upgrades. Aging electrical infrastructure across the US, Europe, and Asia needs massive investment. Second, renewable energy. Solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage systems all require significantly more copper per unit of energy produced than fossil fuel generation does. Third, artificial intelligence. AI data centers are extraordinarily power-hungry facilities, and every megawatt of capacity they add requires copper for wiring, cooling systems, transformers, and grid connections.

China remains a dominant source of buying activity, supported by its own infrastructure investments and manufacturing output.

The tariff wildcard

Expectations for potential US tariffs on refined copper imports have created a significant price premium for Comex futures compared to London Metal Exchange pricing.

The premium also incentivizes physical copper to flow toward the US market, which could tighten supply elsewhere and push LME prices higher over time.

What this means for investors

Mining stocks and copper-linked ETFs have already responded to the price surge. A nearly 40% move in a single year is the kind of rally that invites profit-taking.

The structural demand story, however, is hard to argue with. AI infrastructure spending is accelerating. Renewable energy targets are getting more ambitious, not less. Grid modernization programs span multiple years.

When you’re running the most talked-about AI company on the planet and preparing for one of the most anticipated IPOs in recent memory, the last thing you want is Congress poking around your personal portfolio. Sam Altman is getting exactly that.

Republican lawmakers have launched an investigation into OpenAI’s CEO, zeroing in on his personal investments and whether they created conflicts of interest that influenced the company’s business decisions.

What Congress wants to know

The core question is straightforward: did Sam Altman use his position at OpenAI to benefit companies he personally invested in? Specifically, lawmakers are focused on Altman’s stakes in Helion Energy and Stoke Space, two private ventures that reportedly became intertwined with OpenAI’s strategic direction.

The allegation is that Altman pushed OpenAI to back these companies, effectively tying their valuations to OpenAI’s own success. In English: if OpenAI’s endorsement or partnership boosted the value of companies Altman personally held stakes in, that’s a textbook conflict of interest.

The House Oversight Committee is leading the charge, requesting information directly from OpenAI about these potential entanglements. Six state attorneys general have also joined the fray, pressing for a Securities and Exchange Commission review of the situation.

The governance question that won’t go away

This isn’t the first time Altman’s relationship with OpenAI’s decision-making structure has raised eyebrows. His brief and dramatic removal from OpenAI’s board in late 2023, followed by a swift reinstatement after employee revolt and investor panic, already put the company’s governance under a microscope.

That episode ended with Altman back in charge and OpenAI’s board restructured, but it left a lingering question: who actually holds this company accountable? OpenAI started as a nonprofit with a mission to develop AI safely for the benefit of humanity. It has since evolved into a capped-profit entity attracting billions in investment, with an IPO on the horizon.

Why this matters for the IPO

IPOs require a level of corporate hygiene that private companies can often avoid. Public markets demand transparent governance, clear disclosure of conflicts, and confidence that management is acting in shareholders’ interests rather than their own.

The SEC involvement adds another layer. If state attorneys general succeed in prompting a formal review, OpenAI could face regulatory questions that delay or complicate its public offering.

Investors watching this space should pay close attention to whether the House Oversight Committee’s requests produce substantive disclosures, whether the SEC takes any formal steps, and how OpenAI addresses governance reforms in its IPO filings. How OpenAI handles the related-party transaction disclosures will tell investors more about the company’s governance culture than any press release or blog post ever could.

Vladimir Smerkis, who once ran Binance’s operations across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Moscow court. The charge: large-scale fraud under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code.

The case centers on an almost comically straightforward allegation. Smerkis allegedly took approximately $110,000, or 8.8 million rubles, from crypto blogger and trader Oleg Polunin in exchange for advertising and promotional services. Those services, prosecutors say, were never delivered. The money was reportedly spent on personal expenses instead.

What happened

The arrangement between Smerkis and Polunin was supposed to be a traffic-boosting deal. Polunin paid for promotion services designed to increase his user reach. The difference here is that the work apparently never materialized.

Prosecutors argued that Smerkis pocketed the funds and used them for his own benefit. The court agreed, handing down the five-year sentence.

The verdict is not yet final. Smerkis retains the right to appeal.

There is no indication that Binance as a company is connected to or implicated in the charges. This appears to be a personal legal matter tied to Smerkis’s individual conduct, not his corporate role. The fraud allegations relate to a private arrangement between Smerkis and Polunin rather than any exchange-level activity.

From Binance executive to Blum co-founder

Smerkis led Binance’s Russia and CIS division from early 2022 until September 2023. He subsequently co-founded Blum, a Telegram-based mini-game in the crypto community.

For Binance, this is a non-event in any direct sense. The exchange has dealt with far larger legal battles, including its $4.3B settlement with US authorities in 2023. A former regional head catching a fraud conviction for personal conduct barely registers on that scale.

Investors in Blum or anyone doing business with Smerkis’s associates should monitor whether the appeal proceeds and on what timeline. A successful appeal would change the narrative entirely. A failed one cements a five-year absence from the industry for a figure who, until recently, was actively building in the space.