Crypto News: US Strikes Iran Targets

Good morning. The US targets Iranian military sites as the path toward a peace deal gets more rocky. How a Google engineer is said to have gamed Polymarket. And we’ve got your guide to landing a $250,000+ job at Anthropic—maybe. Listen to the day’s top stories.

— Lucy Meakin

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The US struck Iranian military targets for the second time this week and Kuwait said it responded to missile and drone threats, highlighting the fragility of the ceasefire. It leaves Donald Trump caught between two extremes: Tehran’s demand for financial relief and an end to attacks, and pressure from Republican hawks to not to sign a bad peace deal.

Back home, inflation is in focus ahead of US PCE data for April. Even before it’s released, Federal Reserve official Lisa Cook warned inflation is headed in the wrong direction and that she would be prepared to hike interest rates if that trend persists, but her colleague Philip Jefferson said he expects prices to cool this year.

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Congressional Democratic leaders lost a bid for a court order to block the Trump administration from prohibiting mail-in voting for anyone not on a pre-approved list of citizens compiled by the Department of Homeland Security. A federal judge ruled that a legal challenge is premature because the restrictions haven’t actually been put in place yet.

Trump isn’t backing down on his $10 billion libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its parent company News Corp. over an article about his alleged close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He filed a revised suit after a judge dismissed the original complaint for lacking sufficient claims that the story was filed with “actual malice” toward the president.

A Google software engineer was charged with insider trading on Polymarket. Michele Spagnuolo, who had access to company data that tracked user searches, is accused of making about $1.2 million by betting that singer and alleged murderer D4vd would be Google’s most-searched person in 2025. Here’s why insider trading is such a problem for prediction markets.

Deep Dive

Want to work at Anthropic? With the AI startup’s job ads frequently featuring $250,000-plus compensation packages, we don’t blame you, but it’s going to take more than big brains and an elite résumé.

Getting a recruiter’s attention is hard enough, but what follows is as many as five rounds of rigorous interviews and skills assessments (and no—you can’t use AI for help).
Some candidates shell out for private coaching, with the average Interviewing.io user who’s gotten in spending about $4,600 on prep. Mock interviews will cost you anywhere from $170 to $550 or more an hour.
The rewards are great though: The salaries advertised for key roles can reach as high as $850,000 and, should they stay through an initial public offering, many early employees will never have to work again.

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Opinion

Markets have ceased to be a factor in the president’s decisions over the war in Iran, John Authers writes. Strong US stock gains are bolstering confidence in the economy, strengthening hawkish Republican opposition and potentially delaying a peace agreement.

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WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump convened the meeting as reports released today say the U.S. economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, the first negative reading in three years, fueled by a massive surge in imports ahead of the administration's expected tariffs. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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Before You Go

A TikTok influencer holds a medley of popular fragrances.

100 times a day. That’s how often men should spritz, according to Overspray Jay, one of TikTok’s top male fragrance sellers. He’s part of a growing number of influencers cashing in on a surge in demand by men for perfumes and cologne as the luxury industry smells profit.

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