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  • How Camper Became the Go-To R&B Producer for Victoria Monét, Kehlani and Jill Scott

    How Camper Became the Go-To R&B Producer for Victoria Monét, Kehlani and Jill Scott

    Over the past year, Camper has quietly been steering the sound of contemporary R&B. The producer, whose real name is Darhyl Camper Jr., has sat behind the boards for tracks from Justin Bieber, Coco Jones, Mary J. Blige, Ty Dolla $ign and Victoria Monét, among many others. So when it came time for him to release his debut album “Campilation” in early January, it came as no surprise that the tracklist read like an R&B fever dream, touting features spanning Stevie Wonder and Jill Scott to Tank and Brandy.

    How exactly did Camper become your favorite R&B artist’s favorite producer? “At the end of the day, I’m doing all this work and I know I have the work ethic. I know that I’m equipped to do the job,” he explains. “I just needed just to connect the dots and have a year that I’m having. I didn’t plan on it. I put in the work and it’s starting to all happen for me now. And I’m just very grateful and humbled that I’ve lived long enough to see this type of shift.”

    For nearly two decades, Camper has gradually built out his discography on R&B’s main stage. Just this year, he produced Scott’s “The Math” on her comeback album “To Whom This May Concern,” helmed Monét’s latest single “Let Me” and, last week, popped up in the liner notes of Kehlani’s eponymous fifth album for his work on “Still.” But it was with “Campilation” that he took his first real step into the spotlight, pulling together a slate of tracks he recorded along the way and contributing his own vocals to songs like “Love Me” featuring Wonder on the harmonica.

    The 35-year-old explains that his solo foray was a matter of timing, where he could have continued producing for other artists or tapped into the resources sitting in front of him. He began asking collaborators to return the favor when they were in the studio, and started to amass what would become a full body of work. “Everybody that I work with wants to see me win,” he says. “I’m just happy that I get to pay it forward and show them that. And the response that I’m getting with the album is surreal. Even with Stevie Wonder, I’m still pinching myself.”

    That standout feature came about when Camper was at the Los Angeles radio station 102.3 KJLH, appearing on host Tammi Mac’s show. He credits it to kismet: Mac asked him who was on his dream list of collaborators and right as he mentioned Wonder, the legendary artist happened to walk through the door. “I’m like, is this fucking really happening right now?” he says with a laugh. “I know God works fast, but I ain’t never seen him work that fast before.” Wonder joined the conversation and they exchanged information, leading to a session the next day. “I was probably crying for like a month straight” after they hit the studio, he says.

    What distinguishes Camper, at least musically, is his deference to classic R&B signifiers without kowtowing to pastiche. His production feels timeless yet crisp and familiar, a style he’s refined over the years in working with artists. “Music can start anywhere. That’s the special thing about it,” he says. “The keyboard’s up and running, you start playing chords, something might hit you right there and then boom.” Or, he says, it blossoms from a conversation with an artist about their current state of mind. “Just jamming out with my musician friends, I might hear a loop or something or a sample like Stevie before the studio. It doesn’t matter. I draw inspiration from anything because anything and everything inspires me in some way, shape or form.”

    If 2026 feels like the year of sudden ubiquity for Camper, it wasn’t without a long road to get there. Camper grew up in New Jersey and fell into music after his grandmother and father forced him to take piano lessons. He gradually warmed to the instrument and began playing in church, where he met Jordan “Infinity” Suecof, who had worked with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. Together, he secured his first placement on Bow Wow and Omarion’s “Hoodstar” and continued to contribute to records from R. Kelly and Backstreet Boys.

    Camper split off from Suecof and went solo, producing tracks for Mariah Carey (“Dedicated” featuring Nas), Keyshia Cole (“Trust and Believe”) and Elle Varner (“Refill”), the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. Since then, he’s worked across genre lines to collaborate with H.E.R., Mary J. Blige, and Ye and Ty Dolla Sign, contributing to a third of their “Vultures 1” project.

    At this point, Camper is aware that he has the luxury of being picky as a producer, a freedom that many musicians fail to achieve. These days, his litmus test for working with an artist is that “I would have to believe you. If I don’t believe you, I’m not doing it.” And while he tends to work with artists for a few songs on a project, he’s exploring full-length collaborations following the release of “Campilation,” noting that he’s producing the entirety of Monét’s upcoming album.

    But for now, his main objective is to steer the sound of R&B in a new direction, however he can. “We need to push it forward. I get sampling and all of that, but 2026 needs a fresh sound,” he says. “I just know what R&B means. And the more that I grow, the more that the cure gets to spread if we’re in a world filled with viruses.”

  • The Scariest Horror Shorts of the Overlook Film Festival

    The Scariest Horror Shorts of the Overlook Film Festival

    The Overlook Film Festival, held in New Orleans earlier this month, didn’t simply cast looming shadows with its feature film selection. The festival also offered bite-sized terror with an array of short films that brought a sense of unease to the Big Easy.

    Of course, short films have become the lifeblood of the horror industry and blockbuster filmmakers like Fede Alvarez and David Sandberg made names for themselves in that medium. Because of the accessibility of hosting sites like YouTube and Vimeo, short films, and the filmmakers behind them, have developed increasingly loyal fanbases, with viewers going back through the films to look for answers or pieces of lore, and make entire Reddit threads dedicated to seven-minute works. Studios are catching onto this trend more quickly than they ever have before. Many of the filmmakers behind some of horror’s most recent hits, and this year’s most anticipated films, built their audience through shorts: RackaRacka (Bring Her Back), Markiplier (Iron Lung), Curry Barker (Obsession), Damian McCarthy (Hokum), Kane Parsons (Backrooms) and Casper Kelly (Buddy).

    The 26 short horror films showcased at the Overlook Film Festival were categorized by “Feral,” “Freaky,” and “Static.” The Feral category offered films about sexual and gender-centric horror ranging from the romantic to the taboo. Freaky delivered on what is more commonly perceived as horror from monsters to folklore. And Static wandered into liminal spaces, the inexplicable, and terrors sometimes best left unspoken. Every film offered something to admire – an image, sound, or performance that stuck with me. And there’s no doubt that many of these directors will get prominent billing in front of major feature films in the coming years. These eight short films were my favorites:

    Haint Dir. Jahmil Eady – Freaky

    As gentrifiers take over her neighborhood, a Gullah Geechee woman, Annabelle (Melanie Nicholls-King) calls on ancestral knowledge, which has dire consequences for the newcomers who have begun to take over the land, ignorant of its history.  What Annabelle unleashes puts her at odds with her policewoman daughter, Kassie (Imani Lewis) as both women are confronted by the means in which they’ve chosen to protect the community. With a strong sense of setting and a standout performance by Nicholls-King, Haint feels like the perfect concept for a feature film, especially in the post-Sinners horror scene.

    Nail-Biter Dir. Joseph Burch – Freaky

    On her 18th birthday, an anxious young woman, Amy (Alexa Swinton) is faced with a family curse that has ravaged her bloodline. Despite her mother’s (Amy Cropsey) insistent warnings, she cannot stop biting her fingernails. Is Amy merely a subject to her mentally ill mother’s control issues, or does the curse portend a more awful revelation. Nail-Biter captures the ageless quality of gothic folklore and creates a great sense of space in Amy’s dimly lit house, allowing the shadows to play their tricks until the well-earned climax.

    Scissors Dir. Hannah Alline – Feral

    A man (Ethan Embry) with a grudge against women crashes a bachelorette party prepared to brutally kill everyone there. As he comes to find out, this group of women, portrayed by Georgia Bridgers, Jenna Kanell, Najah Bradley, Hannah Alline, Anissa Matlock, and Hannah Aslesen, are all queer and none of them take him seriously. Scissors is a clever and funny romp that turns the tables on the slasher format and deconstructs the phallic symbolism associated with the genre.

    Ghoststory Dir. Alex Jacobs – Static

    On an old VHS recording of a woman (Gabriella Ortega Ricketts) talks about a ghost she saw in the woods by her house growing up. This footage is interspliced with haunting images of a low-res ghost (Luke Chamberlain) slowly approaching the camera. Ghoststory is deceptively simple and the woman’s refusal to ever fully tell the ghost story may seem frustrating. But as she starts and restarts her story, each time with a different tone of voice and different emphasis on the words, the feeling of dread about what’s being left unsaid grows. Ghoststory feels like something fans of Jane Schoenbrun and Kyle Edward Ball would enjoy.

    Man Eating Pussy Dir. Lee Lawson – Feral

    Freddie (Julian Richings), a dying, elderly man pays a visit to a mysterious sex worker, Kitty (Grace Glowicki) who offers him a release of both pain and pleasure. I did not expect the title to be quite so literal, but Man Eating Pussy is a wild example of body horror that is simultaneously beautiful, gross, and strange. Incredible special effects work and voice acting make for a creature that is both empathetic and alarming. It’s certainly one of the most original and memorable shorts from the festival.

    Superconscious Dir. Christianne Hedtke – Static

    In the early 1970s, two individuals, Cybil (Nathalie Boltt) and Harvey (Matt Olson) attend a human potential center to conduct a scientific study on psi-energy. As Cybil and Harvey wonder about the boundaries of her psi capabilities, she undergoes a secret mission to breach a realm beyond human knowledge. As the longest short of the festival, at 22 minutes, Superconscious feels the most complete in terms of narrative and characterization. There’s maturity to the storytelling and the time is well spent creating a connection to the characters and the central mystery. Superconscious feels like the perfect springboard for a film set in the world of psi-energy.

    Carousel Dir. Christopher Kosakowski – Freaky

    An aspiring actor, Charlie (Samuel Dunning) stuck with a clown gig receives a zoetrope for his birthday from his strange co-worker Mickey (David Sitler). His reality descends in a nightmare as the images seen in the zoetrope manifest in his apartment. Short, scary, and built around a single concept, Carousel is reminiscent of the early works of James Wan and it’s easily to imagine the clown zoetrope becoming the cursed artifact in a feature film.

    Homemade Gatorade Dir. Carter Amelia Davis – Freaky

    Susie (Carter Amelia Davis) is looking for a buyer on social media for her homemade Gatorade, which she describes as creamy and filling. She gets a message from Daniella (Lauren Davis), who wants to buy every gallon, if Susie can deliver it. On her five-hour road trip, Susie receives increasingly weird messages from Daniella, none of which are threatening but the vibes are certainly off. And they only get more unnerving as Susie approaches her destination. Homemade Gatorade, the only animated short of the festival, was made with both photoshop and After Effects, giving the film an uncanny look that’s accentuated by great vocal performances that highlight the strangeness of what’s shown on screen. Homemade Gatorade feels like an artifact from the early internet, or something you might find a link to on a sleepless night at three in the morning. There’s something vile, yet attractive about the film, an encapsulation of the fact that people and the internet are downright weird.

  • Luke Tennie on His Busy Spring With ‘Shrinking,’ ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’

    It’s been nearly impossible to not see Luke Tennie on a television screen over the last few months.

    The 31-year-old actor returned to Apple’s hit television show Shrinking for season three, starring as Sean. The series, which has already been renewed for a fourth season, has allowed the actor to grow into his character over the years. Tennie’s become comfortable in the role, even pitching a potential story idea for Sean to the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence.

    Tennie says he pitched his character Sean becoming a leader in his own way through a veterans’ therapy group, and Lawrence ended up incorporating it into the series. “[I pitched] that Sean would now be a sort of leader in his own sort of category, his own crew, and making sure that other vets like him have help,” he says.

    “We’ve watched this character for so long. He’s somebody that really seems like purpose is something that gives him a reason to get up out of bed. And now he’s got the girl, he’s got the friend, he’s got the job, with food, he’s even got the hobby, with the martial arts,” the actor adds. “What’s that thing that’s going to get him out of bed when he really doesn’t feel like it? Helping others just like Jimmy. The fact that he incorporated that; I will be proud of for the rest of my life.”

    Tennie quickly jokes that he pitched Lawrence another idea that the writer and executive quickly shot down. “I feel very happy with where Sean’s at, largely in part because it’s a great show, and I’m happy with where everyone’s at,” the actor says. “But also largely in part because one of the premier showrunner, creator, writers in Hollywood thought I had a good idea. That makes me feel nice.”

    Being given the chance to grow in the character of Sean has seemingly been a blessing for Tennie, and it’s allowed the character to take on Tennie’s own interests and for Tennie to take on some of Sean’s interests. “We ended up exchanging things. The writers asked me what [I thought] would be fun to explore as Sean, and I suggested cooking. That’s something that I gave him,” he explains.

    “Something that he gave me was martial arts,” Tennie adds. “I now train in Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu because when I did it as Sean, I thought it was nice and wanted [to] keep doing it. I have my blue belt in jiu-jitsu now.”

    Sean is the character the actor’s been with the longest, he notes. “He’s the character that has grown the most, not just because of the time I’ve played him, but because he’s somebody who it was clear to the writers, he needed to grow,” he says. “I feel like we both helped each other grow.”

    There’s a bit of security in knowing the show is continuing on, and it’s not always a guarantee, but Tennie notes that’s there’s a bit of anxiety that comes along with furthering the story. “We did a great thing with season three, but I’m starting to feel these nerves [about] how we responsibly revisit these characters’ lives and tell a story that’s true to our original plan, and at the same time, make sure that our message still comes through,” he explains, adding that the characters can not just be the same people.

    “When Bill told us there was going to be a season four, which that dude got the utmost confidence — He hollered at us before we wrapped season three. He was like, ‘The writers and I, we in the room grinding all this, but it’s going to be different, guys,’” Tennie recalls.

    The actor says that Lawrence told the cast that the last people would want to see is for the first episode of season four to have the characters be doing the same thing they were doing in the first episode of the series.

    “That excites me and also terrifies me,” he admits. “I’ve really figured out Sean and season four Sean, he’s going to be a different dude.”

    In addition to his continued work on Shrinking, Tennie’s found himself in a rare situation for an actor — he’s featured in three major, buzzy television shows at the same time with a recurring spot on Abbott Elementary and a place The Pitt’s night shift.

    The HBO Max medical drama is a show that Tennie and his wife would devour after their kids were asleep. “I have never had the opportunity to play a doctor, but I’ve always heard from everybody my whole life that I could have been one,” he says.

    “I didn’t have the intelligence, but my parents named me Luke from the Bible, who was a doctor, so they always would call me Dr. Luke. There’s this weird sort of thing I was satisfying in this audition, living up to what my parents had sort of envisioned for me. I had that dog in me for that audition,” he continues.

    Tennie says he never expected to hear back after the audition. He says he wasn’t sure the scheduling would even work out, given his other roles, but that he just looked at it as a “cool” audition. When he actually received the offer, he realized he and his team actually had to figure out how to make it work. It ended up working out perfectly, he notes, in terms of scheduling.

    “Everybody on that set is extremely professional. They don’t give sides,” he says. The actor says that he assumed it was a sustainability initiative.

    He later learned it was simply about the actors truly knowing the lines they were delivering. “We would do our rehearsals, nobody has sides. We all just know it,” he continues. “It was a really cool experience, and I really hope they bring me back.”

    There was chatter online about the potential of a night shift spinoff, particularly after Ayesha Harris, who plays a night shift doctor on the series, was promoted to series regular for the show’s upcoming third season. But Noah Wyle, show’s star and executive producer, recently told Deadline that while anything’s possible, it’s unlikely a night shift-centric show is on the way.

    On Abbott, Tennie jokes that the biggest thing he has to prepare for is staying locked in during the scenes. “Sometimes just reading those scripts will split my sides. I just try to be a professional at work and not break,” he says, noting that comedy is oftentimes the harder genre to pull off.

    “Anyone who is any sort of performer would be out of their mind to say that drama is harder than comedy. I think that drama is incredibly challenging, [but any performer] would say it’s way harder to go in there when someone is expecting to laugh and get a laugh,” the actor says. “What they’re doing is incredibly challenging, so for me, joining that, yeah, it’s hard, but when you’re on the court and Michael Jordan is your teammate, how hard is the game?”

  • Google Employees Demand CEO Block Military AI Contracts in Open Letter

    Google Employees Demand CEO Block Military AI Contracts in Open Letter

    In brief

    • Over 560 Google employees have signed an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to block military use of the company’s AI technology.
    • Workers cite ethical concerns about AI systems being used for lethal autonomous weapons.
    • The letter demands transparency on existing Pentagon contracts and creation of an ethics board with employee representation.

    More than 580 Google employees have signed an open letter demanding CEO Sundar Pichai block the Pentagon from using the search giant’s artificial intelligence technology for military applications, escalating Silicon Valley’s internal battles over defense work.

    The letter calls for an immediate moratorium on deploying Google’s AI for military purposes. “We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways,” the employees wrote in the document.

    The signatories, who include more than 18 senior staff ranging from principals and directors to vice presidents, specifically express concerns about the company’s cloud computing services and machine learning tools potentially powering lethal autonomous weapons systems. They demand greater transparency around existing Pentagon contracts and want Google to establish a permanent ethics board with employee representation to review future military partnerships.

    Employees pointed to Google’s 2018 withdrawal from Project Maven—a Pentagon program that used AI to analyze drone footage—as precedent for the company declining military work on ethical grounds.

    The Google employees’ action follows a high-profile clash between the Pentagon and Anthropic, which saw the Department of Defense drop the AI startup two months ago after the company declined to remove contractual restrictions on domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons use.

    The Defense Secretary subsequently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, prompting the White House to order federal agencies to phase out its tools. A federal judge temporarily blocked the ban in March.

    The pushback comes as the Pentagon increasingly views AI as central to future military operations. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine has described autonomous weapons as a “key and essential part of everything we do” going forward.

    Despite the U.S. government’s dispute with Anthropic, the NSA has reportedly been granted access to Mythos Preview, an AI model that Anthropic has restricted to a small cadre of researchers and cybersecurity organizations. President Donald Trump recently suggested tensions may be easing, describing Anthropic as “shaping up.”

    Google’s employee revolt reflects broader tech industry tensions over the AI industry’s partnerships with the military. Anthropic faced scrutiny after its AI was used in Iran strikes, while OpenAI has defended its Pentagon partnership despite user concerns about compromised safety guardrails.

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  • How Camper Became the Go-To R&B Producer for Victoria Monét, Kehlani and Jill Scott

    How Camper Became the Go-To R&B Producer for Victoria Monét, Kehlani and Jill Scott

    Over the past year, Camper has quietly been steering the sound of contemporary R&B. The producer, whose real name is Daryhl Camper Jr., has sat behind the boards for tracks from Justin Bieber, Coco Jones, Mary J. Blige, Ty Dolla $ign and Victoria Monét, among many others. So when it came time for him to release his debut album “Campilation” in early January, it came as no surprise that the tracklist read like an R&B fever dream, touting features spanning Stevie Wonder and Jill Scott to Tank and Brandy.

    How exactly did Camper become your favorite R&B artist’s favorite producer? “At the end of the day, I’m doing all this work and I know I have the work ethic. I know that I’m equipped to do the job,” he explains. “I just needed just to connect the dots and have a year that I’m having. I didn’t plan on it. I put in the work and it’s starting to all happen for me now. And I’m just very grateful and humbled that I’ve lived long enough to see this type of shift.”

    For nearly two decades, Camper has gradually built out his discography on R&B’s main stage. Just this year, he produced Scott’s “The Math” on her comeback album “To Whom This May Concern,” helmed Monét’s latest single “Let Me” and, last week, popped up in the liner notes of Kehlani’s eponymous fifth album for his work on “Still.” But it was with “Campilation” that he took his first real step into the spotlight, pulling together a slate of tracks he recorded along the way and contributing his own vocals to songs like “Love Me” featuring Wonder on the harmonica.

    The 35-year-old explains that his solo foray was a matter of timing, where he could have continued producing for other artists or tapped into the resources sitting in front of him. He began asking collaborators to return the favor when they were in the studio, and started to amass what would become a full body of work. “Everybody that I work with wants to see me win,” he says. “I’m just happy that I get to pay it forward and show them that. And the response that I’m getting with the album is surreal. Even with Stevie Wonder, I’m still pinching myself.”

    That standout feature came about when Camper was at the Los Angeles radio station 102.3 KJLH, appearing on host Tammi Mac’s show. He credits it to kismet: Mac asked him who was on his dream list of collaborators and right as he mentioned Wonder, the legendary artist happened to walk through the door. “I’m like, is this fucking really happening right now?” he says with a laugh. “I know God works fast, but I ain’t never seen him work that fast before.” Wonder joined the conversation and they exchanged information, leading to a session the next day. “I was probably crying for like a month straight” after they hit the studio, he says.

    What distinguishes Camper, at least musically, is his deference to classic R&B signifiers without kowtowing to pastiche. His production feels timeless yet crisp and familiar, a style he’s refined over the years in working with artists. “Music can start anywhere. That’s the special thing about it,” he says. “The keyboard’s up and running, you start playing chords, something might hit you right there and then boom.” Or, he says, it blossoms from a conversation with an artist about their current state of mind. “Just jamming out with my musician friends, I might hear a loop or something or a sample like Stevie before the studio. It doesn’t matter. I draw inspiration from anything because anything and everything inspires me in some way, shape or form.”

    If 2026 feels like the year of sudden ubiquity for Camper, it wasn’t without a long road to get there. Camper grew up in New Jersey and fell into music after his grandmother and father forced him to take piano lessons. He gradually warmed to the instrument and began playing in church, where he met Jordan “Infinity” Suecof, who had worked with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. Together, he secured his first placement on Bow Wow and Omarion’s “Hoodstar” and continued to contribute to records from R. Kelly and Backstreet Boys.

    Camper split off from Suecof and went solo, producing tracks for Mariah Carey (“Dedicated” featuring Nas), Keyshia Cole (“Trust and Believe”) and Elle Varner (“Refill”), the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. Since then, he’s worked across genre lines to collaborate with H.E.R., Mary J. Blige, and Ye and Ty Dolla Sign, contributing to a third of their “Vultures 1” project.

    At this point, Camper is aware that he has the luxury of being picky as a producer, a freedom that many musicians fail to achieve. These days, his litmus test for working with an artist is that “I would have to believe you. If I don’t believe you, I’m not doing it.” And while he tends to work with artists for a few songs on a project, he’s exploring full-length collaborations following the release of “Campilation,” noting that he’s producing the entirety of Monét’s upcoming album.

    But for now, his main objective is to steer the sound of R&B in a new direction, however he can. “We need to push it forward. I get sampling and all of that, but 2026 needs a fresh sound,” he says. “I just know what R&B means. And the more that I grow, the more that the cure gets to spread if we’re in a world filled with viruses.”

  • Industry leaders are pouring hundreds of millions into a rescue plan for Aave users after massive crypto hack

    Industry leaders are pouring hundreds of millions into a rescue plan for Aave users after massive crypto hack

    In the often-fractured world of decentralized finance, crises tend to expose fault lines. This time, they’re also revealing an unusual level of coordination.

    Aave, one of DeFi’s largest lending protocols, is at the center of a broad recovery effort following losses tied to the Kelp DAO exploit, drawing in capital and credit commitments from across the industry. The effort, informally dubbed “DeFi United,” has raised about $303 million in commitments as of Monday, according to its website, with much of the capital still pending governance approval.

    The exploit, which rippled into rsETH markets and created risk across lending positions on Aave, has prompted what is shaping up to be one of the most coordinated industry responses to a DeFi incident.

    “There’s a shared priority around supporting users and restoring normal market conditions,” an Aave Labs spokesperson told CoinDesk. “Many of these participants are deeply connected to DeFi, whether through infrastructure, capital, or user access, and have a direct interest in ensuring markets function as expected.”

    At the core of the effort is Aave itself. A governance proposal outlines a plan for the DAO to allocate up to 250,000 $ETH as part of the recovery. Founder Stani Kulechov has separately indicated he would donate 5,000 $ETH personally. Other contributors within Aave’s orbit are also stepping in, including Aave’s Emilio Frangella (500 $ETH), BGD Labs’ Ernesto Boado (100 $ETH), BGD Labs (250 $ETH), and KPK’s Marcelo Ruiz de Orlano (100 $ETH).

    ‘Long-standing’ relationships

    But the response has quickly extended beyond Aave, and in some cases began with direct outreach.

    Following the April 18 bridge hack that impacted rsETH, Kulechov reached out to Consensys and other ecosystem participants early to help coordinate a response, according to a Consensys spokesperson.

    The firm, alongside its founder Joseph Lubin, agreed to commit up to 30,000 $ETH in financial support to help advance the recovery and protect users. Sharplink played a strategic advisory role in those discussions, the spokesperson said.

    “The Ethereum ecosystem has always been at its best when it moves together,” Lubin said in a statement. “DeFi United is exactly that, a broad, coordinated response to protect users and strengthen the infrastructure we’ve all helped build. Consensys is proud to contribute alongside other stewards in the ecosystem.”

    The effort has also drawn smaller contributions from across the community.

    Lido has put forward a proposal to allocate up to 2,500 stETH, while EtherFi is discussing a 5,000 $ETH plan aimed at supporting users and limiting bad debt across DeFi. Mantle has proposed a 30,000 $ETH credit facility loan, adding to a growing pool of backstop liquidity. Compound also put forward a proposal to give up to 3000 $ETH to the fund.

    Other contributions are taking the form of deposits into Aave itself. Babylon Foundation plans to deposit $3 million in USDT, while Renzo has supplied more than $10 million from its treasury. Circle Ventures is purchasing AAVE tokens, and additional deposits have come from entities including Avalanche Foundation, Solana Foundation, and Justin Sun, according to Aave Labs.

    The list of participants continues to grow. Entities that have not publicly specified the size of their commitments include Ethena, LayerZero, Frax Finance, and Ink Foundation, alongside Tyro.

    “These are long-standing Aave relationships across the ecosystem,” the Aave Labs spokesperson added. “Teams like Consensys, Sharplink, and others have been in close contact throughout.”

    Not all contributions are structured the same way. Some participants are offering grants, others deposits, and several are extending credit lines, highlighting different approaches to balancing support with risk management.

    In parallel, Aave Labs has put forward a proposal asking Arbitrum governance to approve the release of roughly 30,765.67 $ETH immobilized by the network’s Security Council into the coordinated remediation effort, with the goal of “making affected rsETH holders whole” and restoring rsETH’s backing.

    Much of the capital remains subject to governance approval, and several proposals are still under discussion. Even so, the breadth of participation underscores how widely the exploit’s impact has been felt across DeFi.

    “The Ethereum ecosystem has always been at its best when it moves together,” Lubin said. “DeFi United is exactly that: a broad, coordinated response to protect users and strengthen the infrastructure we’ve all helped build.”

    Ian Allison contributed reporting.

    Read more: Why DeFi is not dead after the KelpDAO exploit

  • White House crypto advisor hints at ‘big announcement’ on Trump’s strategic bitcoin reserve in coming weeks

    White House crypto advisor hints at ‘big announcement’ on Trump’s strategic bitcoin reserve in coming weeks

  • ‘Verity’ Trailer: Anne Hathaway Warns Dakota Johnson of “Darkness Ahead” in First Look at Colleen Hoover Film Adaptation

    ‘Verity’ Trailer: Anne Hathaway Warns Dakota Johnson of “Darkness Ahead” in First Look at Colleen Hoover Film Adaptation

    Darkness is ahead for Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett in the first look at Verity.

    Based on the bestseller from author Colleen Hoover, Johnson stars in the film adaptation that teases lingering secrets and a dark sinister mystery awaiting to be solved.

    “Even with my continuous warning, you’re going to continue to ingest my words. But know one thing: There is no light where we’re going,” Hathaway teases in the official teaser trailer released Monday.

    Verity follows Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), who is hired by Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett) to ghostwrite novels for his bestselling author wife, Verity (Hathaway), who’s unable to finish after an accident. However, while residing at the Crawfords’ home to work on the book, Lowen begins to realize not everything is as it seems and uncovers Verity’s disturbing truths.

    Throughout the trailer, Johnson’s Lowen is seen having a romantic relationship with Hartnett’s Jeremy — only a bedridden Hathaway’s Verity is never far.

    The trailer opens with Johnson and Hartnett kissing, only for Hathaway’s character to take his place with a smirk as the two pull away.

    The footage of the film was first unveiled during Amazon’s presentation for theater owners and distributors in Las Vegas for CinemaCon.

    Michael Showalter, who previously worked with Hathaway on The Idea of You, directs with Nick Antosca writing the script following the previous work of scribes Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna and the team of Will Honley and April Maguire.

    Hathaway, Hoover, Showalter, Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher and Jordana Mollick produce.

    Verity marks the next adaptation from Hoover’s book universe following the success of It Ends With Us, Regretting You and Reminders of Him. Hoover self-published Verity in 2018 before Grand Central Publishing acquired it in 2021. The author serves a producer on the new film.

    Verity releases on Oct. 2, 2026.

  • NBA announces early entry candidates for NBA Draft 2026

    NEW YORK, April 27, 2026 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that 71 players have filed as early entry candidates for NBA Draft 2026, which will be held Tuesday, June 23 (First Round) and Wednesday June 24 (Second Round) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

    Players who have applied for early entry have the right to withdraw their names from consideration for the Draft by notifying the NBA of their decision in writing no later than 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 13. Under NCAA rules, in order to retain college basketball eligibility, college players who have entered NBA Draft 2026 must withdraw by Wednesday, May 27.

    Early Entry Candidates For NBA Draft 2026

    Below is the list of non-international players from colleges who have applied for early entry into NBA Draft 2026.

    Player School or Team Height Status
    Matt Able North Carolina State 6-6 Freshman
    Darius Acuff Jr. Arkansas 6-3 Freshman
    Amari Allen Alabama 6-8 Freshman
    Nate Ament Tennessee 6-10 Freshman
    Christian Anderson Jr. Texas Tech 6-3 Sophomore
    Alijah Arenas USC 6-6 Freshman
    Flory Bidunga Kansas 6-10 Sophomore
    Finley Bizjack Butler 6-4 Junior
    John Blackwell Wisconsin 6-4 Junior
    Shane Blakeney Drexel 6-5 Junior
    Anton Bonke Charlotte 7-2 Junior
    Cameron Boozer Duke 6-9 Freshman
    Mikel Brown Jr. Louisville 6-5 Freshman
    Rowan Brumbaugh Tulane 6-4 Junior
    Brayden Burries Arizona 6-4 Freshman
    Elliot Cadeau Michigan 6-1 Junior
    Cameron Carr Baylor 6-5 Sophomore
    Chris Cenac Jr. Houston 6-11 Freshman
    Rueben Chinyelu Florida 6-10 Junior
    Jacob Cofie USC 6-10 Sophomore
    Cruz Davis Hofstra 6-3 Junior
    Kennard Davis Jr. BYU 6-6 Junior
    Keanu Dawes Utah 6-9 Junior
    AJ Dybantsa BYU 6-9 Freshman
    Gabe Dynes USC 7-5 Junior
    Eian Elmer Miami (OH) 6-6 Junior
    Isaiah Evans Duke 6-6 Sophomore
    Jeremy Fears Jr. Michigan State 6-2 Sophomore
    Kingston Flemings Houston 6-4 Freshman
    Colby Garland San Jose State 6-0 Junior
    Allen Graves Santa Clara 6-9 Freshman
    Juke Harris Wake Forest 6-7 Sophomore
    Isiah Harwell Houston 6-6 Freshman
    Lou Hutchinson Alabama A&M 6-7 Junior
    Morez Johnson Jr. Michigan 6-9 Sophomore
    Acaden Lewis Villanova 6-2 Freshman
    Aday Mara Michigan 7-3 Junior
    Milan Momcilovic Iowa State 6-8 Junior
    Malachi Moreno Kentucky 7-0 Freshman
    Paulius Murauskas Saint Mary’s 6-8 Junior
    Ebuka Okorie Stanford 6-2 Freshman
    Dennis Parker Jr. Radford 6-6 Junior
    Koa Peat Arizona 6-8 Freshman
    Darryn Peterson Kansas 6-6 Freshman
    Labaron Philon Jr. Alabama 6-4 Sophomore
    Jayden Quaintance Kentucky 6-10 Sophomore
    Sebastian Rancik Colorado 6-11 Sophomore
    Billy Richmond III Arkansas 6-6 Sophomore
    Hannes Steinbach Washington 6-11 Freshman
    Andrej Stojakovic Illinois 6-7 Junior
    Dailyn Swain Texas 6-8 Junior
    Tyler Tanner Vanderbilt 6-0 Sophomore
    Meleek Thomas Arkansas 6-5 Freshman
    Aiden Tobiason Temple 6-5 Sophomore
    Bryson Tucker Washington 6-7 Sophomore
    Henri Veesaar North Carolina 7-0 Junior
    Keaton Wagler Illinois 6-6 Freshman
    LeJuan Watts Texas Tech 6-6 Junior
    Caleb Wilson North Carolina 6-10 Freshman
    Tounde Yessoufou Baylor 6-5 Freshman

     

    Below is the list of international players who have applied for early entry into NBA Draft 2026.

    Player Team/Country of Team Height Status
    Mohammad Amini Nancy (France) 6-7 2005 DOB
    Pavle Backo Mega (Serbia) 7-0 2007 DOB
    Bassala Bagayoko Bilbao (Spain) 6-10 2006 DOB
    Francesco Ferrari Virtus Bologna (Italy) 6-9 2005 DOB
    Marc-Owen Fodzo Dada Nancy (France) 5-11 2006 DOB
    Vsevolod Ishchenko Lokomotiv (Russia) 6-3 2005 DOB
    Jack Kayil Alba Berlin (Germany) 6-3 2006 DOB
    Sergio de Larrea Valencia (Spain) 6-6 2005 DOB
    Karim Lopez New Zealand Breakers (Australia) 6-8 2007 DOB
    Alexandros Samodurov Panathinaikos (Greece) 6-11 2005 DOB
    Luigi Suigo Mega (Serbia) 7-2 2007 DOB
  • MemeCore Price Crashes 10% After Hitting ATH 3 Days Ago

    MemeCore Price Crashes 10% After Hitting ATH 3 Days Ago

    On April 27, MemeCore (M) price experienced a correction after a 10% drop on a daily chart, breaking its upward momentum.

    In the last 30 days, the MemeCore has soared by around 82%, helping its value to soar from $2.16 to $4.0. This drop in the cryptocurrency was expected after experiencing a month-long rally despite serious allegations on the project from ZachXBT, one of the popular on-chain sleuths.

    At the time of writing this, MemeCoreM-11.57% is trading at around $4.02 with a drop of around 8% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The cryptocurrency currently holds a market capitalization of around $5.2 billion with a daily trading volume of $19.38 million, which has soared by around 47%.

    MemeCore Price Dips As Crypto Market Turns Cautious

    The drop in M price comes after facing a rejection at $4.40. There are many factors behind the crash in the M price. It comes with a correction in the overall crypto market after a long rally in the last few weeks.

    M has surged more than 20% in a single day and more than 50% across some weeks earlier in April. This surge was mainly supported by network developments, including a hard fork, which reduced gas fees.

    Amid such major developments on the network, traders have started accumulating the cryptocurrency. They are selling their tokens to book profits. This is a very common pattern in the memecoin sector, where the cryptocurrency soars sharply and then falls dramatically.

    Adding to this, there is another controversy brewing in the crypto sector. Recently, the prominent on-chain investigator, ZachXBT, has raised some serious questions about its token distribution and tokenomics, sparking fear in its community.

    He questioned why insiders or team-linked wallets appear to control a very large share of the supply, with some analyses citing figures as high as 90%. He challenged the project to explain its multi-billion dollar valuation, but real circulating liquidity remains thin. This sparked fear in the crypto community, and some people have started comparing it to other meme tokens like RAVE that collapsed after similar scrutiny.

    However, the MemeCore team has not officially responded to this claim. The team is continuously expanding its network with the new development.

    Apart from this, the overall crypto market has also pulled back as Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped by around 1.64%, slipping below $77,000 amid rising geopolitical tensions, including developments involving the United States and Iran.

    MemeCore Price Chart Shows Classic Correction After Parabolic Move

    MemeCore price is currently following a classic correction pattern after hitting the all-time high. According to TradingView’s price chart, the cryptocurrency is currently breaking out of a tight ascending channel that has held since early April, with higher lows forming on each pullback.

    After the M price touched the $4.84 level, the upward momentum started losing its momentum as sellers stepped in to book profits.

    The chart has not broken major support levels around $3.80, but the speed of the drop shows that the rally had become overextended.

    According to the current price chart, the 14-day relative strength index is currently revolving around 16, reaching the extreme oversold territory.

    Apart from this, the short-term moving averages are giving a sell signal, while longer averages like the 20-period and 50-period remain supportive of the overall uptrend.