Newsticker mit dem Neuesten aus aller Welt

Key takeaways:

• Short-term Bitcoin holders realized $11.6 billion in profit over the past 30 days, suggesting a potential pause or local top in the market.

• Technical indicators show cooling momentum as retail investor sentiment falls to a 90-day low and liquidity data points to price volatility.

Bitcoin (BTC)price recently hit a new all-time high of $111,800, but the bullish momentum may slow down as onchain data from Glassnode reveals significant profit-taking by short-term holders (STHs), potentially signaling a market "breather."

Glassnode analysis shows that STHs, often considered traders rather than long-term investors, have realized a staggering $11.6 billion in profits over the last 30 days. This follows a sharp rebound in Bitcoin’s price, pushing past the STH cost-basis of $93,000. The profit-taking peaked at $747 million daily, a rapid increase from the $1.2 billion realized in the last 30-day period, highlighting a shift in new investor sentiment. 

The STH Realized Profit/Loss Ratio has spiked, with profits now significantly outweighing losses, and only 8% of trading days have seen this ratio at a higher level.

This level of profit-taking is typical during bullish trends but often precedes local market tops. Excessive profit-taking can overwhelm new demand, creating overhead supply resistance and halt Bitcoin’s upward trajectory. 

Crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr noted that Bitcoin’s 30-day price momentum has already slowed by 38%, currently sitting at 19%. Adler described it as a “technical cooldown” after the recent peak. The Bitcoin researcher suggested the market needs a “breather” before potentially resuming its rally.

Similarly, analysis from Hyblock Capital advised caution as the previous three months outlined Bitcoin consistently targeting short liquidity zones above current prices, driving its recent highs. 

However, retail sentiment is at a 90-day low, with only 31.59% of retail accounts holding long positions. Meanwhile, open interest is at a 90-day high, and combined order books sit in the 91st percentile, signaling high liquidity and potential volatility.

Related: US Bitcoin ETFs near record month after $1.5B inflows in 2 days

Bitcoin open interest dropped by $1.2 billion as BTC fell under $110,000

Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline, dropping to $108,000 from $111,300 before the New York trading session opened on May 23. US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 50% tariff on European Union imports, effective June 1, 2025, triggered the price dump, which sparked global market uncertainty.

The price plunge resulted in a significant $1.2 billion open interest reduction in Bitcoin positions, signaling a wave of deleveraging as traders reduced futures exposure.

🚨LATEST: #Bitcoin open interest exhibits a $1.2 billion position flush after $BTC drops below $110,000. pic.twitter.com/0ee46BiHGD

— Cointelegraph Markets & Research (@CointelegraphMT) May 23, 2025

Despite the initial sell-off, Bitcoin rebounded above $109,000, with speculators dismissing the sell-off period. Regarding the current market trend, crypto trader Honey pointed out that any corrections could be potential buying opportunities. The trader said,

“As expected we pumped and now that the golden cross has happened on BTC, we generally see a market-wide pullback so I’d be cautious here. Dips are for buying.”

Related: Bitcoin price drops 4% as Trump EU tariff talk liquidates over $300M

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Key points:

• Bitcoin slipped below $109,588, but technical charts suggest traders are buying each dip.

• Excessive leverage in Bitcoin futures increases the risk of a quick correction.

• Select altcoins have turned down from their respective overhead resistance levels, signaling that the bears remain sellers on rallies.

Sellers have pulled Bitcoin (BTC) back below the breakout level of $109,588, but lower levels are likely to attract buyers. Investor interest remains strong, with the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds witnessing inflows of $934 million on May 22 and $608 million on May 21, according to SoSoValue data.

Glassnode noted that the all-time high above $109,588 led to a total profit-taking volume of roughly $1 billion, far more muted than the $2 billion when the price rose above $100,000 in December. That shows the investors expect the up move to continue.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt said in a post on X that Bitcoin was on target to hit between $125,000 and $150,000 by the end of August.

A strong rally attracts speculators who load up on leverage. CoinGlass data shows that Bitcoin futures open interest rose to just over $80 billion on May 23. Excessive leverage increases the risk of forced liquidation when prices witness a sharp pullback. Therefore, traders should exercise caution.

What are the critical support levels for Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price prediction

Sellers are trying to sustain the price below the breakout level of $109,588, which may trap the aggressive bulls. That could pull the price to the 20-day exponential moving average ($103,652).

A solid bounce off the 20-day EMA suggests that the sentiment remains positive and traders are buying on dips. The bulls will then again attempt to resume the uptrend by pushing the price above $111,980. If they can pull it off, the BTC/USDT pair could dash toward the target objective of $130,000.

The first sign of weakness will be a break below the 20-day EMA. That clears the path for a drop to the psychologically crucial level of $100,000. Buyers are expected to fiercely defend the $100,000 level because a break below it could sink the pair to the 50-day simple moving average ($94,001).

Ether price prediction

Ether (ETH) turned down from the $2,738 resistance, indicating that the bears are vigorously defending the level.

The ETH/USDT pair could drop to the 20-day EMA ($2,388), which is a vital support to keep an eye on. If the price rebounds off the 20-day EMA with strength, the bulls will again try to clear the $2,738 hurdle. If they do that, the pair could soar to $3,000. There is resistance at $2,850, but it is likely to be crossed.

This positive view will be invalidated in the near term if the price continues to fall and breaks below the 20-day EMA. The pair could plunge to $2,323 and then to $2,111.

XRP price prediction

XRP (XRP) remains stuck inside the $2.65 to $2 range, indicating a balance between supply and demand.

The 20-day EMA ($2.35) is flattening out, and the RSI is near the midpoint, suggesting that the XRP/USDT pair may extend its stay inside the range for a few more days.

A break and close above $2.65 will complete a bullish inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, which has a target objective of $3.70. Alternatively, a break below the $2 level suggests that the bears have overpowered the bulls. That increases the likelihood of a drop to $1.60 and subsequently to $1.27.

BNB price prediction

BNB (BNB) turned down sharply from the $693 resistance on May 23, signaling aggressive selling by the bears.

The BNB/USDT pair bounced off the 20-day EMA ($647), as seen from the long tail on the candlestick. That shows solid buying at lower levels. The bulls will again try to thrust the price above $693. If they manage to do that, the pair could skyrocket to the $732 to $761 resistance zone.

Instead, if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it suggests that the bulls are booking profits. The pair may then plummet to the 50-day SMA ($612).

Solana price prediction

Solana (SOL) climbed above the $180 resistance on May 23, but the bears are posing a strong challenge at $185.

The upsloping 20-day EMA ($167) and the RSI in the positive zone indicate the path of least resistance is to the upside. If buyers sustain the price above $185, the SOL/USDT pair could rally to $210 and later to $220.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it suggests that the bulls are rushing to the exit. That heightens the risk of a drop to the 50-day SMA ($147).

Dogecoin price prediction

Dogecoin (DOGE) turned down from the $0.26 overhead resistance on May 23, indicating that the bears are fiercely defending the level.

The DOGE/USDT pair could descend to the 20-day EMA ($0.21), which is an important support to watch out for. A solid bounce off the 20-day EMA signals a positive sentiment, improving the prospect of a break above $0.26. If that happens, the pair could rally to $0.35. There is resistance at $0.29, but it is likely to be crossed.

This optimistic view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below $0.21. That suggests a possible range-bound action between $0.14 and $0.26.

Cardano price prediction

Cardano (ADA) bounced off the neckline of the inverse H&S pattern, but the bulls could not clear the overhead obstacle at $0.86.

If the price continues lower and breaks below the neckline, it shows that the bears are active at higher levels. The ADA/USDT pair could drop to the 50-day SMA ($0.69) and later to the solid support at $0.60.

Contrarily, a solid bounce off the 20-day EMA ($0.75) shows demand at lower levels. The bulls will then again attempt to kick the price above $0.86. If they succeed, the pair could ascend to $1.01.

Related:Bitcoin's new all-time high has traders asking: Is BTC price overheating at $111K?

Sui price prediction

Buyers failed to push Sui (SUI) above the overhead resistance of $4.25 on May 22, indicating that the bears are aggressively defending the level.

Repeated failure to cross the $4.25 level may have tempted short-term buyers to book profits. That pulled the price below the 20-day EMA ($3.73). If the price sustains below the 20-day EMA, the SUI/USDT pair could plummet to the 50-day SMA ($3.09).

On the contrary, if the price turns up from the 20-day EMA and breaks above $4.25, it indicates the resumption of the up move. The pair could climb to $5 and eventually to $5.37, where the bears are expected to step in.

Hyperliquid price prediction

Hyperliquid (HYPE) soared above the stiff overhead resistance of $28.50 on May 22, indicating the start of the next leg of the up move.

The bulls pushed the price above the $35.73 resistance on May 23, but the long wick on the candlestick shows the bears are trying to defend the level. If buyers do not cede much ground to the bears, the HYPE/USDT pair could surge to $42.25.

Time is running out for the bears. If they want to make a comeback, they will have to swiftly drag the price back below the 20-day EMA ($26.32). That signals the pair has formed a local top near $37.59.

Chainlink price prediction

Chainlink (LINK) closed above the resistance line of the descending channel pattern on May 22, but the bulls are finding it difficult to maintain the momentum.

The bears are trying to pull the price back into the descending channel. If the price skids below the neckline, it suggests that the breakout above the resistance line may have been a bull trap. The LINK/USDT pair could sink to $13.20, keeping the price stuck inside the channel for some more time.

Conversely, a solid bounce off the resistance line indicates that the bulls are trying to flip the level into support. The pair could rise to $18 and thereafter to $19.80.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Risk appetite across traditional and cryptocurrency markets saw a sharp rise this week, helping United States cryptocurrency funds recover the capital lost to the correction of February and March, amassing over $7.5 billion worth of weekly inflows.

Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed its old all-time high on May 21, two days after President Donald Trump confirmed ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in a May 19 X post.

Meanwhile, popular analyst and Global Macro Investor CEO Raoul Pal warned of more fiat currency debasement, urging investors to gain more exposure to cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as these assets “will never be this cheap again.”

Exponential currency debasement: “You don’t own enough crypto, NFTs”

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs can help investors protect their eroding purchasing power during an era of exponential currency debasement, according to analysts and industry leaders.

Investing in digital assets is becoming increasingly important in the “world of the exponential age and currency debasement,” according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.

“You don’t own enough crypto. When you do, you don’t own enough NFT’s, as art is upstream of wealth. Both will never be this cheap again,” Pal said.

NFTs are “the single best long term store of wealth I know and you get to buy it before network effects kick in,” he added in another response.

“There is some validity to the statement that NFTs, and in extension art, become a vehicle for the wealthy once a certain level of wealth is reached,” wrote Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at Nansen, calling it a “natural move” for asset diversification.

“For traders and investors, further down the wealth curve, NFTs are partially about speculating on future returns,” he told Cointelegraph, adding that NFTs also benefit from the allure of strong communities, beyond just wealth creation.

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US crypto funds top $7.5 billion inflows in 2025 as investor appetite grows

Crypto investment products in the United States have attracted over $7.5 billion worth of investment in 2025, with a fifth week of net positive inflows last week signaling growing investor demand for digital assets.

US-based crypto investment products attracted $785 million worth of investment last week, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) total to over $7.5 billion, according to a May 19 report by digital asset manager CoinShares.

The latest figure marks the fifth consecutive week of net positive flows, following nearly $7 billion in outflows during February and March.

The United States accounted for the bulk of inflows, with $681 million, followed by Germany at $86.3 million and Hong Kong at $24.4 million.

Investor demand for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies staged a significant recovery after the White House announced a 90-day pause on additional tariffs on May 12, which marked a 24% cut for import tariffs for both the US and China.

A day after the announcement, Coinbase exchange saw 9,739 Bitcoin worth more than $1 billion withdrawn from the exchange — the highest net outflow recorded in 2025, signaling that institutional appetite was “accelerating,” according to Bitwise’s head of European research, André Dragosch.

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VanEck to launch Avalanche ecosystem fund

VanEck plans to launch a private digital assets fund in June targeting tokenized Web3 projects built on the Avalanche blockchain network, the asset manager said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

The VanEck PurposeBuilt Fund, available only to accredited investors, aims to invest in liquid tokens and venture-backed projects across Web3 sectors, including gaming, financial services, payments, and artificial intelligence. 

Idle capital will be deployed into Avalanche (AVAX) real-world asset (RWA) products, including tokenized money market funds, VanEck said.

The fund will be managed by the team behind VanEck’s Digital Assets Alpha Fund (DAAF), which oversees more than $100 million in net assets as of May 21. 

“The next wave of value in crypto will come from real businesses, not more infrastructure,” Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager for DAAF, said in a statement.

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Yield-bearing stablecoins surge to $11 billion, now 4.5% of market: Report

Yield-bearing stablecoins have soared to $11 billion in circulation, representing 4.5% of the total stablecoin market, a steep climb from just $1.5 billion and a 1% market share at the start of 2024.

One of the biggest winners is Pendle, a decentralized protocol that enables users to lock in fixed yields or speculate on variable interest rates. Pendle now accounts for 30% of all yield-bearing stablecoin total value locked (TVL), roughly $3 billion, according to a report from Pendle compiled by analysts from Spartan Group and Modular Capital shared with Cointelegraph.

The report noted that stablecoins make up 83% of its $4 billion total value locked, a sharp rise from less than 20% just a year ago. In contrast, assets such as Ether (ETH), which historically contributed 80%–90% of Pendle’s TVL, have shrunk to less than 10%.

Traditional stablecoins like USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) do not pass on interest to holders. With over $200 billion in circulation and US Federal Reserve interest rates at 4.3%, Pendle estimates that stablecoin holders are missing out on more than $9 billion in annual yield.

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Tether surpasses Germany’s $111 billion of US Treasury holdings

Tether, the $151 billion stablecoin issuance giant, has surpassed Germany in United States Treasury bill holdings, showcasing the benefits of a diversified reserve strategy that has helped the firm navigate the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT, has surpassed Germany’s $111.4 billion worth of US Treasurys, data from the US Department of the Treasury shows.

Tether has surpassed $120 billion worth of Treasury bills, the firm shared in its attestation report for the first quarter of 2025. That makes Tether the 19th largest entity among all counties in terms of T-bill investments.

“This milestone not only reinforces the company’s conservative reserve management strategy but also highlights Tether’s growing role in distributing dollar-denominated liquidity at scale,” wrote Tether in the report. 

During 2024, Tether was the seventh-largest buyer of US Treasurys across all countries, surpassing Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Norway, Hong Kong and numerous other countries, Cointelegraph reported in March 2025.

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DeFi market overview

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.

Worldcoin (WLD) rose over 32% as the week’s biggest gainer in the top 100, followed by the Hyperliquid (HYPE) token, up over 30% on the weekly chart.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.

It’s been 30 years since computer scientist Ben Goertzel wrote his first line of AI code, already convinced that artificial intelligence should be decentralized. Today, as the world approaches the dawn of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), who leads this breakthrough could have profound consequences for the future of humanity.

Speaking with Cointelegraph at the Consensus conference in Toronto, Canada, Goertzel said, “We’re likely to be able to launch AGI that can think and generalize beyond its training and programming within the next one to three years.”

His project, SingularityNET, is a decentralized ecosystem building a global marketplace for AI services. Along the way, it has secured partnerships with Mind Network and Filecoin Foundation, invested $53 million in a modular supercomputer dedicated to decentralized AGI, and completed a token merger with Ocean Protocol and Fetch.ai to unify efforts in decentralized AI development.

In 2024, Goertzel founded the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance, the world’s largest open-source initiative dedicated to decentralized AGI.

SingularityNET and the ASI Alliance are “probably the only serious AGI R&D team outside of Big Tech, certainly the only one in the crypto space, and I don't mean any slight against others doing cool AI stuff in the crypto space,” Goertzel said. 

For Goertzel, these milestones represent a return to first principles. After decades spent developing AI and championing decentralization, the broader tech world is finally catching up, turning once-radical ideas into drivers of multi-trillion-dollar industries. 

The substance behind decentralization

“In ’93, ’94, ’95, it became clear to me AI should be decentralized,” Goertzel said.

He wrote his first decentralized AI code the following year using a beta version of Java, then founded his first AI company in New York in 1997.

At the time, the internet Goertzel was working with was itself decentralized, so it seemed only natural that AI should be, too.

“What I didn’t foresee then was that the internet would become so centralized, actually, because at that point the internet really was decentralized,” he said.

The internet’s subsequent evolution watered down the foundation of decentralization. “Later on, what happened is, you have Google, you have Facebook, you have Tencent — you have these companies making huge centralized mirrors of the internet on these massive data centers,” he said. 

However, for the next leap into AGI, Goertzel sees decentralization as a foundational safeguard against the monopolization and misuse of the technology. That principle is embedded in the architecture of SingularityNET, Hyperon, and the upcoming ASI Chain, a modular blockchain designed for decentralized AI.

His argument is that AGI must be decentralized from the ground up, not adopted later, if it is to benefit humanity rather than serve concentrated power.

“The way the post-AGI period goes may be quite different depending on whether the decentralized ecosystem plays a role in it or not,” he said, adding:

“We are hoping that we, in collaboration with other decentralized teams, will be the first or among the very first to make it happen.”

Related:The next frontier for crypto will be decentralizing AI

A brief foray into decentralized money

Perhaps due to his anarchist leanings and desire to “make anarchism real in cyberspace,” Goertzel explored the idea of decentralized money back in the 90s.

As interesting as it sounded back then, Goertzel and his friends concluded that transaction times would be too slow and expensive, rendering the idea impractical.

Just a few decades later, a person or entity named Satoshi Nakamoto created the first successful implementation of decentralized money known as Bitcoin (BTC). Ironically, its transactions are still slow and expensive — perhaps by design or due to its growing popularity — so Goertzel’s early skepticism wasn’t entirely misplaced. 

He also admitted that, at the time, he and his friends simply “weren’t good enough at business to hit on the idea of money laundering, selling drugs and guns online and so forth as a business model.” 

He was perhaps half-joking in a nod to the darknet marketplace Silk Road, which enabled anonymous transactions using Bitcoin until it was seized by authorities in 2013.

Magazine:Advanced AI system is already ‘self-aware’ — ASI Alliance founder

Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin’s performance in the current bull market and a new cohort of buyers reflect a maturing market and widening adoption.

• A 50% rise in hashrate and a 63% jump in Realized Cap highlight investors’ confidence in Bitcoin.

A recent report from Fidelity Digital Assets explored how the current Bitcoin market cycle reflects a shift toward a maturing market where the rate of adoption deepens and expands.

At block height 892,500—marking 25% progress into the current halving epoch—Bitcoin traded between $82,500 and $85,000, representing a 31% increase from its value on April 19, 2024, when the fourth halving reduced block rewards to 3.125 BTC.

Fidelity’s senior research analyst Daniel Gray emphasized Bitcoin’s network resilience, noting a 50% surge in hashrate since the halving. This increase signals strong miner commitment despite reduced rewards. Unlike previous cycles marked by post-halving rallies, the 2024–2025 phase has been characterized by steadier, more measured growth.

The Puell Multiple—an indicator of miner revenue relative to Bitcoin’s price—has stabilized, suggesting that the market is adjusting to lower issuance without significant volatility. The report explains,

“Bitcoin’s more muted returns likely reflect a market that is digesting several extrinsic tailwinds and headwinds, which have inevitably caused some uncertainty.”

Historically, this mid-epoch phase has coincided with new all-time highs—an event that occurred this week. Fidelity noted that this growth could extend into Q2 2025, potentially redefining Bitcoin’s position as a credible asset class in modern portfolios.

Bitcoin's Realized Cap is a significant indicator of this evolution, which measures cumulative net capital inflows. Since the 2024 halving, the Realized Cap metric has surged 63%, climbing to $915 billion from $561 billion, underscoring the scale of capital entering the market.

This trend fits within Bitcoin’s long-term trajectory, where Realized Cap has risen with each halving, indicating a maturing asset with substantial growth progression.

Key drivers behind this Bitcoin bull market

The current bull market cycle is also distinguished by record-breaking levels of institutional investor and corporate-level participation. The approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US in January 2024 has ushered in $134 billion in inflows, while monthly trading volumes on platforms like Binance soared past $1 trillion in March 2024—a massive leap from just $11 billion in January 2018.

Public companies' strategic accumulation of Bitcoin, most notably Strategy, now holding 576,230 BTC, also sets a new industry blueprint. Firms like Metaplanet Inc., Bitcoin Group SE, and Semler Scientific have since followed suit, validating Bitcoin’s role as a corporate treasury asset this cycle.

Thus, Gray asserts that Bitcoin’s fundamentals and global recognition are “stronger than ever,” signaling a cycle of growth, institutional anchoring, and market resilience.

Related: Bitcoin's new all-time high has traders asking: Is BTC price overheating at $111K?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Web3 developer platform Alchemy has acquired HeyMint, a California-based non-fungible token (NFT) launchpad, in a move designed to enhance the company’s smart wallet infrastructure. 

The undisclosed funding deal will see HeyMint’s infrastructure embedded within Alchemy as it seeks to simplify user onboarding for Web3 applications, the company disclosed on May 23. HeyMint’s co-founder and chief technology officer, Flor Ronsmans De Vry, joins Alchemy as part of the deal. 

While not a household name in crypto, HeyMint attracted more than 1 million users over its first two years of operations. It was the launchpad behind $38 million in NFT sales and supported the Web3 efforts of major brands, including The Sandbox, Universal Music Group and Ubisoft. 

In 2023, HeyMint facilitated NFT sales for the Partnership for Central America, a private sector coalition that included Mastercard.

The HeyMint acquisition is Alchemy’s second funding deal this month. The company recently acquired Dexter Lab, a real-time data infrastructure provider for Solana, for an undisclosed amount. 

Related:VC Roundup: 8-figure funding deals suggest crypto bull market far from over

Crypto mergers, acquisitions are heating up

2025 is shaping up to be a more active year for crypto mergers and acquisitions (M&As), especially in the United States, where regulatory clarity and a pro-industry administration are encouraging dealmaking.

There has been a flurry of high-profile deals in recent weeks, including Robinhood’s acquisition of Canadian digital asset operator WonderFi for $179 million and Coinbase’s $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his crypto exchange is eyeing more M&A opportunities.

One of the biggest acquisitions was completed in April when Ripple purchased prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion — a deal the payments company said would expand its horizons within institutional finance. 

Beyond M&As, crypto venture capital funding has also been on the rise. PitchBook data revealed that, while the number of deals declined last quarter, the value of investments more than doubled compared to a year earlier.

Magazine:TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in RWAs: Inside story 

Key points:

• Bitcoin joins risk assets in a knee-jerk reaction to the latest instalment of the US trade war, this time focused on the EU.

• BTC price action dives up to 4% before recovering with $110,000 now a resistance level.

• Traders demand that price holds higher levels going forward to protect bullish momentum.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw flash volatility into the May 23 Wall Street open as news headlines liquidated longs.

Bitcoin trips as Trump says EU talks “going nowhere”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting lows of $107,367 on Bitstamp before rebounding.

This marked daily losses of up to 4% as markets reacted to comments from US President Donald Trump over tariffs on the European Union.

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

“Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”

US stocks reacted immediately at the open, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index down 1% and 1.2%, respectively, at the time of writing.

Reflecting on the latest developments, crypto market participants were unsurprised, given the existing precedent for tariff-related volatility.

“Nice aggregate flush of long leverage & de-risk selling from spot,” popular trader Skew summarized in a post on X.

“All driven by headlines once again.”

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass put 4-hour liquidations at nearly $350 million, with the 24-hour tally at over $500 million.

“There's the break from the compression with a push from Trump. Markets worldwide obviously not liking the news,” fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades continued. 

“Will have to see where this settles today and how BTC ends up performing relative to equities now the trade uncertainty is back.”

Commenting on the macro outlook, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter suggested that the Trump administration was caught between a rock and a hard place.

“We have now learned: Too much tariff pressure causes the basis trade to unwind. Too little tariff pressure causes inflation expectations to rise,” it wrote in part of an X response. 

“Now, President Trump must find a middle ground to maintain tariffs but also suppress treasury yields WITHOUT Fed cuts.”

Kobeissi referred to the Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to hasted interest rate cuts despite declining inflation — a key ingredient in further risk-asset upside.

Related: Bitcoin buyer dominance at $111K suggests 'another wave' of gains

Elsewhere, traders eyed key BTC price levels to preserve going forward as the market sought a rebound.

“We need to hold the green zone,” trader Crypto Caesar argued alongside a chart showing an area of interest immediately below $110,000.

Another trader, Poseidon, acknowledged the comparative lack of resistance above spot price, keeping the door open to easy upside.

Don’t forget: above here, it’s nothing but thin air. No resistance in sight.$BTC pic.twitter.com/ugQEGQIcpD

— Poseidon (@CryptoPoseidonn) May 23, 2025

“Front ran $110K tag,” Skew continued alongside a chart of order book liquidity concentrations.

“Important level from here for the market to auction above (key for continuation).”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Opinion by: Grigore Roșu, founder and chief executive officer of Pi Squared

For some, the audacity of questioning the primacy of blockchain in Web3 is borderline heretical. The idea that decentralization and progress could exist without blockchains seems absurd to those who built careers around Bitcoin, Ethereum, and their descendants. Given blockchain's well-documented scaling limits, however, there is an argument to be made that Web3 doesn't actually need blockchains to thrive. Instead, it requires payment systems and verifiable settlement systems that are super fast. Blockchains are just one way to achieve that, not the only way.

While blockchain solved the double-spending problem, it introduced its own architectural burden: the rigid fixation on total ordering, dictating that every transaction must wait its turn in a global queue, processed through a monolithic consensus mechanism. Initially, this made sense in the context of payments, where security and simplicity were paramount. Still, in the context of Web3, where complex applications require speed, flexibility, and scale, this same mechanism has become a constraint. It imposes a kind of serialized tyranny, throttling throughput and locking developers into a narrow lane of design options. 

The undeniable influence of FastPay

Mobile remittance app FastPay proved that double-spending can be avoided differently without a total order. This inspired systems like Linera, which use independent local orderings while maintaining global verifiability, proving that a different, more scalable future is possible and already underway. FastPay also inspired the likes of POD and Sui's single-owner objects protocol. If FastPay had been invented before Bitcoin, blockchain might never have captured the cultural or technical imagination in the way that it did.

Recent:Beijing to invest in blockchain, integrate into infrastructure

Some will no doubt argue that total ordering is essential for financial integrity or that without blockchains, decentralization itself unravels. These concerns, however, mistake a particular implementation of trustlessness for trustlessness itself. What truly underpins decentralized systems is the verifiability of a transaction, not the precise order in which it happened relative to every other global transaction. 

Blockchain's growing pains are still on display

While Ethereum's Dencun upgrade sought to improve transaction throughput through "blobs," the core architecture remains tied to total ordering. Even with Solana's introduction of the Lattice system, the network continues to suffer outages caused by bugs and excessive load. Additionally, the explosion of L2s is more a workaround than a solution, offloading transactions from mainnets only to reintroduce them later in delayed batches, resulting in an endless cycle of what is essentially congestion management.

The rise of flexible payment and settlement protocols

Like in legacy tech circles, the “evolve or die” mantra certainly applies to investors and builders anchored to traditional blockchain architectures. Moving forward, protocols prioritizing flexible, verifiable payment systems and settlement over rigid total ordering will unlock far greater throughput and better user experiences. As decentralized applications evolve and autonomous agents driven by AI begin interacting with blockchains, the cost of sequencing everything in order will become a competitive liability.

There have already been signs of this tectonic shift taking place, with the growing adoption of modular blockchain frameworks like Celestia underscoring a broader recognition that classical blockchains are too inflexible. Data availability layers, execution shards and offchain verification mechanisms are all attempts to decouple blockchain's trusted validation from its limiting sequencing model. While these efforts may not break entirely from the past, they point unmistakably toward a future of more adaptable infrastructure.

A new role for blockchain

This doesn't mean blockchain will disappear, but it must evolve. Looking ahead, its most enduring role may be as a universal verifier, less a master ledger and more of a decentralized notary within a broader, more agile stack. While this is a necessary evolution, unfortunately, it's hard to see how that shift will be smooth, as too much capital, ideology and career risk is tied up in the legacy narrative. 

Many venture funds, DeFi protocols, and "Ethereum killers" are financially and reputationally invested in keeping the blockchain central. But history has little mercy for technological incumbents that cling to yesterday's model. Just as the internet outgrew its early walled gardens, Web3 is poised to move beyond the rigidity of block-based sequencing. The fruits from the next wave of infrastructure will belong to those who understand and capitalize on this inflection point. 

Opinion by: Grigore Roșu, founder and chief executive officer of Pi Squared.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

The top 220 holders of US President Donald Trump’s memecoin met yesterday at the president’s golf course in Virginia for an exclusive dinner and purported meet-and-greet.

Attendees spent a grand total of $148 million for an “ultra-exclusive VIP reception with the president,” which crypto industry advocates and critics alike saw as a potential opportunity to discuss crypto policy with the president. 

The crowd contained a number of foreign crypto executives and influencers who otherwise would not have access to the US president, raising questions around corruption and foreign influence. 

Concerns were further augmented when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to release a list of attendees, stating that the event was a private affair outside of Trump’s presidential duties.

However, some attendees spoke to the press or took to social media to talk about the dinner. Here are just a few:

Justin Sun

Tron founder Justin Sun was the largest TRUMP tokenholder at the gala, which was reportedly enough to earn him a special watch, presented in a special ceremony. 

Sun’s presence at the event was particularly controversial. Last year, he faced a lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the alleged “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting of crypto asset securities.”

The SEC asked for a reprieve in late February, just over a month since Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent 180 in federal agencies’ approach toward regulating crypto. 

Outside the crypto dinner, Sun posted on May 21 that he would be spending a week in Washington, DC to have “meaningful conversations that will help shape the next chapter of blockchain’s future” in the United States.

Kain Warwick

Kain Warwick, founder of crypto exchange operator iFinex, told The New York Times on May 12 that he was attending the event after stocking up on enough TRUMP to break the top 25 investors on the leaderboard. 

Warwick said he wanted to have a shot at meeting the president, or someone on his team, to talk crypto — specifically decentralized finance (DeFi), which is getting less attention in the current crop of crypto bills circulating the US Congress.

“If you assume Trump and 10 people within the Trump team are there, now you’ve got a one in 15 shot of having a conversation with one of them,” he said.

Vincent Liu

Vincent Liu, chief investment officer of crypto trading, VC and market-making firm Kronos Research, attended the event, posting pictures of the menu and Trump’s brief speech.

Liu wrote, “Simply by holding the Trump token, individuals have an unprecedented opportunity to meet the President of the United States.” 

He had previously told Cointelegraph, “The decision to acquire the [TRUMP] token was not political. It was based on identifying early momentum, cultural relevance and potential market catalysts.”

Related:US lawmaker introduces anti-corruption bill ahead of Trump's dinner

His firm stated that “alpha” — i.e., exclusive or difficult-to-obtain information that could move markets — was “on the menu.” 

Lamar Odom

Also in attendance was two-time National Basketball Association champion Lamar Odom. While many other crypto entrepreneurs in the audience were focused on policy, Odom used news of his attendance to plug his own memecoin, ODOM.

Odom launched his memecoin less than a week before the dinner on May 14. The anti-addiction-themed memecoin (Odom had a public battle with substance addiction) is issued on the Solana blockchain.

The coin itself had a 20% “Trump Dinner Program” staking scheme, where TRUMP holders could stake their coins with Odom’s project, ostensibly to enable him to attend the dinner event, and receive ODOM airdrops in return. Odom himself will hold 5% of all ODOM.

Sangrok Oh

CEO of Seoul- and Tokyo-based cryptocurrency management firm Hyperithm, Sangrok Oh was the 13th-largest TRUMP holder with a wallet containing over $3 million worth of the token, according to the Straits Times. 

Oh told The New York Times that he had arrived with a batch of red “Make Crypto Great Again” hats to give away at the dinner and expected to speak directly with the president. “It’s kind of a fund-raiser [...] And he’ll always be good to his sponsors.”

Oh has been critical of the slow regulatory progress for crypto in the countries where his company operates. 

Anonymous attendees

In addition to crypto execs and sports stars, the event also noted a few anonymous or pseudonymous crypto traders and entrepreneurs in attendance. 

Among them was “Ice,” co-founder of the Singaporean crypto company MemeCore. Their company’s chief business development officer, Cherry Hsu, told Sherwood News that Trump’s rise “represents the power of memes to influence culture, perception, and movements — principles that align with MemeCore’s vision of a decentralized, community-driven future.”

“Ogle,” a cybersecurity adviser to Trump’s own World Liberty Financial crypto enterprise, as well as the pseudonymous co-founder of blockchain ecosystem Glue, also attended. Ogle said they were going out of curiosity, more than anything, and did not endorse Trump personally. “I’m hoping it’ll be fun — and hoping they’ll serve McDonald’s.”

Another anonymous attendee was “Cryptoo Bear,” a crypto trader and occasional news reporter who posts primarily in Japanese. Cryptoo Bear made no political statements about the event, mainly posting about the swag and the food. They did say they were promised a photo op with the president, but it didn’t pan out. 

Dinner “guests” across the picket line

Outside the country club, US senators and former staffers attended the event as part of a protest.

Bloomberg reported that protestors shouted “Shame!” and “I hope you choke on your dinner!” at attendees. Critics of the event widely consider it to be a glaring example of corruption in Washington and within the Trump administration. 

Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, joined the protest. “The spirit of the Constitution was that no one elected would be selling influence to anyone,” he said, “because it’s to be government by and for the people.”

Ken Papaj, a former Treasury Department official, said, “Every time there’s a transaction, he gets a transaction fee? Just unconscionable what he’s doing.”

The dinner comes at a pivotal time for the crypto industry in the US, where the industry is pushing hard for Congress to pass friendly regulations. Trump’s ties may complicate matters, however, as lawmakers have introduced anti-corruption bills targeting crypto and politicians.

Senate Democrats are also taking aim at the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, introducing a slew of amendments addressing Trump’s crypto businesses. 

Magazine:AI cures blindness, ‘good’ propaganda bots, OpenAI doomsday bunker: AI Eye

Key takeaways:

• Ethereum is forming a bull flag on the daily chart, with a potential breakout to $4,000.

• If Ethereum’s network activity and total value locked continue to grow, ETH price may see further gains.

Ether’s price printed a “bull flag” on the daily chart, a technical chart formation associated with strong upward momentum. Could a strengthening technical setup and increasing transaction fees signal the continuation of ETH’s rally toward $4,000?

Ethereum transaction fees rising is bullish

Marketwide recovery, fueled by Bitcoin’s rise to new all-time highs and improving macroeconomic conditions, saw Ether’s (ETH) price rise by nearly 56% to an eight-week high of $2,734 on May 23, from a low of $1,750 on May 6. 

This strength in price is reflected in onchain activity, with Ethereum’s daily transaction count rising by 37% over the last 30 days. These levels were last seen in January 2024, when the hype around the approval of US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs pushed ETH price above $4,000 for the first time since December 2021.

Ethereum's daily average transaction fees also skyrocketed, reaching a 90-day high of 0.0005 ETH ($1.33) on May 22. 

High transaction count and fees suggest that more users are interacting with the network, whether for DeFi, NFTs, or other DApps. It suggests high network activity, often correlating with increased interest and market confidence. 

Related:Ethereum holders back in profit as ETH price enters 'crucial area' for $3K breakout

Historically, Ether’s price has surged during high-usage periods. For example, during the 2021 DeFi boom, fees spiked to as high as 0.015 ETH due to high demand. 

As such, high utilization periods with high fees indicate growth in network activity or bullish sentiment, as more ETH is needed for gas, pushing its price upward.

Increasing TVL supports ETH price bulls

The increase in Ethereum’s network activity is also evident when analyzing the total value locked (TVL) on the network’s smart contracts. 

Ethereum’s TVL has risen to $65.3 billion on May 23 from $45.26 billion on April 22, an increase of over 44% in almost 30 days.

Positive signs include a 51% increase in deposits on Pendle, a tokenization protocol, and 48% growth on Ether.fi and EingenLayer.

Ethereum remains the undisputed leader by TVL, with a market dominance of 54%. In comparison, Solana’s dominance stands at 8%, and BNB Chain commands only 5% dominance in TVL among layer-1 chains.

In addition, US-listed spot Ether ETFssaw a total of $249 million in net inflows between May 13 and May 22, adding to demand-side tailwinds.

Ether’s bull flag hints at $4,000

ETH price has formed a bull fag chart pattern on the daily chart, as shown below.  

A bull flag pattern is a bullish setup that forms after the price consolidates inside a down-sloping range following a sharp price rise.

The flag resolved after the price broke above the upper trendline at $2,550 and could now rise by as much as the previous uptrend’s height. This puts the upper target for ETH price just below $4,000, up 56% from the current price.

Crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe said that the ETH price needs to hold the $2,400 support to increase the chances of moving toward $3,500 and beyond.

As Cointelegraph reported, Ether’s uptrend is likely to continue toward $3,600 in May if key support levels hold.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize more than $24 million in cryptocurrency from Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov, a Russian national accused of developing the Qakbot malware.

According to a May 22 announcement, the DOJ unsealed charges against the 48-year-old Moscovite with a federal indictment. Gallyamov is allegedly the malware developer behind the Qakbot botnet.

“Today’s announcement of the Justice Department’s latest actions to counter the Qakbot malware scheme sends a clear message to the cybercrime community,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s criminal division.

Galeotti highlighted that the DOJ is “determined to hold cybercriminals accountable.” He added that the department will “use every legal tool” to “identify you, charge you, forfeit your ill-gotten gains, and disrupt your criminal activity.”

Related:Microsoft takes legal action against infostealer Lumma

Over $24 million forfeited

US Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California explained that “the criminal charges and forfeiture case announced today are part of an ongoing effort” to “identify, disrupt, and hold accountable cybercriminals.” He added:

“The forfeiture action against more than $24 million in virtual assets also demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to seizing ill-gotten assets from criminals in order to ultimately compensate victims.”

Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said that Qakbot was crippled by the agency and its partners in 2023. Still, Gallyamov allegedly continued deploying alternative methods to offer his malware to potential partners.

Related:Chinese printer maker spread Bitcoin stealing malware — Report

Qakbot used in global ransomware attacks

Gallyamov allegedly operated the Qakbot malware as far back as 2008. In 2019, he allegedly used it to infect thousands of victim computers to establish a so-called botnet.

Access to computers that were part of the botnet was sold to others who infected them with ransomware, including Prolock, Dopplepaymer, Egregor, REvil, Conti, Name Locker, Black Bast and Cactus. In 2023, a US-led international operation disrupted the Qakbot botnet and malware.

At the time, over 170 Bitcoin (BTC) and over $4 million in USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) stablecoins were seized from Gallyamov. According to the indictment, he and his collaborators continued the activity after it was disrupted, adopting new techniques, including directly deploying Black Basta and Cactus ransomware.

Magazine:Report on Crypto Exchange Hacks

The bounty offer to recover stolen funds from Sui-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Cetus closely resembles a successful strategy used by a Solana project three years ago.

It turns out that Cetus shares the same development team as Crema Finance, a Solana-based DeFi project that suffered a $9-million hack in 2022 but recovered most of the funds by negotiating with its hacker. Now, Cetus is relying on the same strategy.

Cetus is asking the hacker to return all but $6 million, or 2,324 Ether (ETH), of the stolen funds in exchange for a promise not to pursue legal action. The protocol lost $223 million to an exploit on May 22.

The size of the bounty has sparked backlash from users, with many calling for a formal compensation plan instead. Several community members argue that even if funds are recovered, most of the damage has already been done — especially to holders of the CETUS token, which plummeted in value following the incident.

Meanwhile, Sui validators are also under fire for their role in freezing the funds. The move is aimed at aiding recovery, yet critics say it exposes centralization risks in the network.

Sui’s Cetus devs have a phantom exchange on Solana

A similar negotiation strategy used by the Cetus team on Sui was successfully employed years ago to recover funds for Crema. The Solana project hasn’t posted on its X account since March 2023, and its trading platform now sees negligible volume, but it still didn’t end well for the hacker.

Crema suffered an approximately $9-million hack in 2022. Much like the Cetus case, the Crema hacker was offered a deal to return the funds while keeping $1.6 million in exchange for not reporting the attack to law enforcement.

The hacker is believed to have been caught and sent to prison. In April 2024, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York sentenced Shakeeb Ahmed to three years in prison for hacking two separate cryptocurrency exchanges. One was identified as Nirvana Finance, while the other was not named.

Related:Which senators invest in crypto? 11 lawmakers have blockchain-related investments

The details of the unnamed exchange’s case match Crema’s hack, including the exact date of the exploit and the terms of the agreement. 

Norbert Bodziony, founder of Nightly App, claims the Cetus team was behind Crema Finance.

Bodziony declined to disclose how he learned of the relationship to Cointelegraph but added that the connection is “commonly known” in Sui’s developer circles. 

Cointelegraph reached out to Cetus to confirm the connection between the two projects, but the team had not responded by publication.

Cointelegraph has separately learned that both projects are founded by Henry Du.

Save Cetus; centralize Sui

Sui’s validators have collectively blocked transactions from the hacker’s addresses, effectively freezing $162 million of the stolen funds on Sui. Around $63 million had already been bridged to Ethereum before these controls were implemented.

Although the coordinated effort has been effective in preventing the funds from being laundered, the cryptocurrency community has criticized Sui for being too centralized.

“SUI’s validators are colluding to CENSOR the hacker’s TXs right now! Does that make SUI centralized? The short answer is YES; what matters more is why? The ‘founders’ own the majority of supply & there are only 114 validators!” Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, wrote on X.

As Bons pointed out, Sui has just 114 validators — far fewer than its more established smart contract peers. Ethereum has over 1 million validators, while Solana has 1,157.

Meanwhile, members of the Sui community defended the move, arguing that this is how real-world decentralized chains should function.

“Decentralization isn’t about standing by while people get hurt, it’s about the power to act together, without needing permission,” said one member of the Sui community.

Related:WLFI’s DeFi credentials under fire after Sui partnership

Following the hack, Sui developers committed code for a proposed function that would have allowed specific transactions to bypass all signing and safety checks by adding them to a whitelist. 

While the function could have been used to help recover stolen funds, it also raised concerns about centralized control and the erosion of decentralization. The code was ultimately not merged and is not live on the network.

Sui and Cetus backlash contrasts recent hacks

The Cetus exploit has spotlighted the persistent security challenges in DeFi while raising deeper questions around who holds the reins in supposedly decentralized networks like Sui.

The team’s $6-million offer to the hacker mirrors the playbook it used with Crema — but this time, the crypto community isn’t as forgiving. With CETUS tanking, trust fractured and validators freezing funds, critics are asking whether Sui’s decentralization is more appearance than reality.

The debate over decentralization isn’t unique to Sui. When Bybit lost $1.4 billion in a February hack linked to North Korean state actors, security experts and users urged platforms like THORChain and eXch to block the funds. 

In that case, THORChain received some backlash for not stepping in, which is the exact opposite of what Sui is being criticized for now.

As of now, the hacker hasn’t accepted Cetus’ offer. Two Ethereum wallets tied to the exploiter still hold over $60 million in ETH, with no movement at the time of writing. The Sui addresses remain paralyzed.

Magazine:TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in RWAs: Inside story

In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, on Decentralize with Cointelegraph, we break down a pivotal moment for US crypto legislation. 

In a 66–32 procedural vote on May 19, the US Senate advanced the GENIUS Act, a landmark bill aimed at establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. Meanwhile, across the Capitol, Representative Tom Emmer reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, backed by bipartisan support.

Breaking down GENIUS

The GENIUS Act — short for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act” — seeks to answer foundational questions around stablecoin issuance and oversight.

“It defines this idea of a payment stablecoin,” explained Rashan Colbert, director of US policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation, in this week’s interview. Colbert emphasized that the bill doesn’t stop at definitions. 

“It outlines in a robust way just who’s allowed to do this and what they need to look like.” 

By this, he’s referring to guidelines on who can be permitted issuers like bank subsidiaries, credit unions and approved non-bank entities.

Related:Interest groups, lawmakers to protest Trump’s memecoin dinner

This bipartisan momentum seen backing the GENIUS Act is both exciting and significant. 

“There has been latent support within Congress, including within the Democratic caucus,” Colbert said. “They just haven’t had the opportunity to take meaningful votes.”

Blockchain dev protection

On the House side, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, co-sponsored by Representatives Emmer and Ritchie Torres, aims to give legal clarity to developers and service providers who don’t custody customer funds.

“It clarifies that they are not money transmitters,” said Colbert. “That’s the clarity these builders and entrepreneurs need to continue operating successfully.”

With crypto adoption on the rise — particularly among minority communities — Colbert said the pressure is on. “Something like one in five Americans hold crypto. That number is even larger in the Black, Latino and Asian-American communities,” he noted.

Looking ahead, the push toward broader market structure reform will be more complex. Colbert’s advice? Get involved. “It really is, at the end of the day, the people making their voices heard,” he said. “Crypto is a big deal — and Capitol Hill is finally starting to listen.”

Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! 

Magazine:Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Today in crypto, Changpeng Zhao has responded forcefully to The Wall Street Journal’s latest report linking the former Binance CEO’s crypto dealings with the Trump-back decentralized finance platform World Liberty Financial, United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Summer Mersinger said crypto perpetual futures could soon come to the US, and lawmakers plan to amend the GENIUS Act to bar sitting presidents from profiting off stablecoins.

CZ refutes claims in latest WSJ article on Trump-linked crypto dealings

Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal, calling it a “hit piece” filled with inaccuracies and negative assumptions. 

In an X post, Zhao criticized the publication’s portrayal of his alleged involvement with World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by a business entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump. Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. —are involved in the management of the company.

Zhao said the WSJ article portrayed him as acting as a “fixer” for the WLF team and its co-founder Zach Witkoff during foreign trips. 

The article suggested Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings for WLF leaders during foreign trips, including a visit to Pakistan that reportedly resulted in a memorandum of understanding with a local official.

“I am not a fixer for anyone,” Zhao said, firmly denying that he connected Pakistani official “Mr. Saqib” with WLF or organized any engagements abroad. “They had known each other way back, whereas I only met with Mr. Saqib for the first time in Pakistan.” 

Crypto perp futures coming “very soon” to US: CFTC’s Mersinger

Outgoing Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger said on May 22 that the regulator could greenlight crypto perpetual futures contracts “very soon.”

“We’re seeing some applications, and I believe we’ll see some of those products trading live very soon,” she told Bloomberg TV, adding it would be “great to get that trading back onshore in the United States.” 

Crypto perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate, often with high leverage, on the price of a cryptocurrency without actually owning it and can be held indefinitely.

Mersinger, who will leave the CFTC at the end of May to join the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association as CEO, said having crypto derivatives trading and regulated in the US would be a “really good thing for these markets and would be really beneficial to the industry broadly.”

Senators plan to amend GENIUS Act to address Trump family's stablecoin

Though a majority of members of the US Senate voted to advance a bill to regulate payment stablecoins on May 20, high-ranking Democrats are planning to propose an amendment to the legislation to address President Donald Trump’s connections to the cryptocurrency industry.

According to a May 22 Axios report, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley will file an amendment to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, to block a US president from profiting from stablecoins. The proposed amendment would come after 18 Democrats sided with Republicans in the Senate in voting to advance the bill on May 20 after it failed a procedural vote on May 8.

“Passing the GENIUS Act without our anti-corruption amendment stamps a Congressional seal of approval on Trump selling access and influence to the highest bidder,” Merkley said in a May 22 X post.

Trump and his three sons are involved in the crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which launched its USD1 stablecoin in March. Critics have pointed out that the president could continue to personally benefit from legislation that helps recognize stablecoins like USD1 as financial instruments in the US. 

Key takeaways

• ChatGPT-powered AI agents automate trading tasks using natural language prompts and API integrations, improving speed and consistency.

• Successes occur when ChatGPT is used as a support tool, not a fully autonomous trading system.

• Failures happen when traders over-rely on ChatGPT without real-time data, proper risk management or manual oversight.

• Regulatory focus on AI in trading is increasing, with new frameworks emerging to ensure transparency, accountability and compliance.

What if a crypto trader didn’t need to constantly check charts, worry about emotions, or stay up all night watching for sudden price swings? What if those tasks could be handled by an intelligent agent that understands instructions in plain English — and reacts within milliseconds? That’s where ChatGPT-powered AI agents come in.

These tools combine natural language processing with real-time trading logic to automate decision-making in one of the world’s most volatile markets. From rebalancing portfolios to reacting to market sentiment, ChatGPT is being adapted to act as a trading assistant, risk manager and market analyst — all rolled into one. 

But can it truly match or even outperform human intuition? This article explores how far these agents have come, where they shine and where they still fall short.

How ChatGPT-powered AI agents operate in cryptocurrency markets

ChatGPT-powered AI agents are changing how people interact with crypto markets. These tools combine ChatGPT’s language abilities with external trading tools and APIs to help users monitor prices, understand trends and even place trades automatically. Instead of just reacting to charts or numbers, ChatGPT can understand plain language commands like “Buy Ethereum if the price drops below $2,000” or “Sell Bitcoin if RSI goes above 70.”

These AI trading assistants can work with major platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, OKX and other centralized or decentralized exchanges and can also tap into decentralized finance (DeFi) tools and smart contracts. With the right setup, ChatGPT can help automate trading strategies based on both technical data and market news.

Success stories vs. failures in ChatGPT-powered crypto trading

Some traders have used ChatGPT to assist in automating parts of their crypto trading processes, particularly for strategy generation and sentiment analysis. For example, a user shared on Reddit that they used a ChatGPT-based AI agent for technical analysis on Ether (ETH), feeding it four-hour and daily chart screenshots. By interpreting market sentiment, support and resistance zones, and other indicators, they managed to make $6,500 in profits.

Similarly, in the broader crypto sector, ChatGPT has been applied to support project development activities such as drafting white papers and marketing content. A notable example is the launch of the “TURBO” memecoin, which reportedly reached a market capitalization of over $50 million in 2024. In this case, ChatGPT was used to streamline documentation and communication rather than manage trading activity, illustrating its usefulness as a support tool in crypto-related initiatives.

However, limitations are evident when ChatGPT is applied beyond its core design. While ChatGPT could suggest a trading portfolio and explain its reasoning clearly, it lacks access to real-time market data and couldn’t respond to sudden volatility. In one instance, ChatGPT was allocated $100 across multiple tokens but failed to actively manage the portfolio as prices fluctuated. This resulted in missed opportunities and underperformance compared to dynamic algorithmic strategies.

Individual experiences reinforce these observations. A Redditor exposed a scam where a YouTuber promoted a “ChatGPT trading bot” tutorial that led users to deploy malicious smart contracts. The contracts, generated using ChatGPT and passed off as safe, were designed to drain user wallets once funded. Victims collectively lost $17,240 in ETH, highlighting the danger of blindly trusting AI-generated code without proper auditing.

Even when asked, “If I use ChatGPT to build an AI agent for crypto trading, can I become a millionaire?” ChatGPT responded with a realistic outlook — acknowledging that while it’s possible, success depends on having a profitable strategy, disciplined risk management, and the ability to scale effectively.

Here is ChatGPT’s response:

These cases suggest that while ChatGPT can support certain elements of the trading process, it should not be treated as a standalone solution for autonomous crypto trading.

AI in crypto trading: Key benefits and limitations

AI tools like ChatGPT are increasingly being integrated into crypto trading workflows to improve speed, accuracy and efficiency. While they offer important advantages, they also carry specific limitations that traders must actively manage. Below are the main benefits and challenges:

Key benefits of using AI for crypto trading

• AI bots can execute trades in milliseconds, crucial for capturing opportunities in fast-moving crypto markets.

• Bots follow pre-programmed rules precisely, eliminating emotional biases that often affect human traders.

• Crypto markets are always open, and AI bots can monitor and act around the clock without interruption.

• A single bot can manage multiple trading pairs, exchanges and strategies simultaneously.

• ChatGPT can understand specific prompts like “Rebalance every Monday” or “Set stop-loss at 5%,” allowing flexible automation.

Limitations of ChatGPT in cryptocurrency trading

• ChatGPT does not access live market data unless specifically integrated with external APIs (e.g., TradingView, CoinMarketCap or exchange websockets).

• Instructions must be clear and unambiguous; ChatGPT may misinterpret vague or complex commands.

• Improperly secured API keys or lack of two-factor authentication (2FA) can expose trading accounts to unauthorized access.

• ChatGPT’s cloud-based infrastructure can introduce latency, which could impact performance during highly volatile periods.

• ChatGPT does not monitor regional compliance rules; users must manually enforce trading limits based on local regulations.

Ethical and regulatory implications of AI in crypto trading

As AI becomes more integrated into trading systems, it raises significant ethical and regulatory concerns that stakeholders across the financial sector are beginning to address.

• Accountability: If an AI agent executes a harmful or unlawful trade, questions arise around legal responsibility. It remains unclear in many jurisdictions whether liability falls primarily on the developer, the trader using the AI system or the platform facilitating the transactions.

• Market manipulation risks: Autonomous AI bots could unintentionally engage in activities such as spoofing (placing and canceling fake orders to mislead the market) or wash trading (creating artificial volume), especially if not properly programmed with compliance safeguards.

• Regulatory oversight: Financial authorities, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority, are actively studying the implications of AI and algorithmic trading. These agencies have recognized that traditional trading regulations may not fully account for autonomous decision-making by AI systems.

• Policy developments: In January 2024, the European Commission released updates to its Digital Finance Strategy, which included references to AI-based financial services. While not yet finalized, these draft regulations under the broader Digital Finance Package signal a move toward stricter compliance expectations for firms deploying AI in financial markets.

Meanwhile, ethical crypto platforms are beginning to voluntarily disclose the use of trading bots in their systems. In parallel, open-source communities are advocating for clearer audit trails, improved model transparency and the establishment of ethical guidelines for AI applications in finance to ensure accountability and fairness.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Digital asset lender Ledn is transitioning to fully collateralized Bitcoin lending and discontinuing support for Ethereum, in moves designed to consolidate its BTC-focused business and further safeguard client assets against credit risks.

In adopting a full custody structure for Bitcoin (BTC) loans, Ledn will no longer lend out client assets to generate interest, the company disclosed on May 23. Instead, Bitcoin collateral will remain under full custody by Ledn or one of its designated funding partners. 

“This means assets aren’t rehypothecated, reused, or loaned out to generate yield,” Ledn co-founder and CEO Adam Reeds told Cointelegraph.

Reeds said the move brings the company back to its roots and aligns more closely with Bitcoin’s founding principles.

“Bitcoin was created as a direct response to the risks of fractional reserve banking and unchecked use of client assets to generate interest,” said Reed, adding:

“Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation. Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model. That’s why we’ve moved away from this approach entirely. 

Reed told Cointelegraph that the company is ending support for Ether (ETH) as “part of a broader strategic shift,” as Bitcoin represents over 99% of Ledn’s client activity.

“Rather than fragmenting the platform to chase marginal volume, we’re going all-in on Bitcoin and simplifying our stack to reflect what our clients actually value,” said Reed.

Founded in 2018, Ledn has emerged as one of the largest lenders in the digital asset space with a loan book value of $9.9 billion, according to Galaxy Research. The company enables Bitcoin holders to borrow against their assets, giving them access to liquidity without having to sell their holdings or trigger a taxable event.

This approach is commonly used by wealthy investors, who take out low-interest loans against stocks, real estate, and other assets to access cash.

Related:‘Before Bitcoin, my most successful investment was shorting the Bolivar’ — Ledn co-founder

Digital assets are disrupting TradFi

Bitcoin’s genesis block was mined in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008, offering the world a sound money alternative to the inflation-prone fiat monetary system. 

Bitcoin now thrives within traditional finance, especially after the successful launch of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024.

While financial institutions are increasingly embracing Bitcoin, some members of the banking lobby are reportedly concerned about other blockchain innovations disrupting their business models. 

Specifically, the banking lobby is “panicking” over yield-bearing stablecoins, which can pay higher interest rates and other financial incentives that traditional banks have largely abandoned, according to New York University professor Austin Campbell. 

Referring to banks as a “cartel,” Campbell said financial institutions rely on fractional reserves to maximize profits while offering depositors minimal interest. 

Magazine:Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States are heading for a record-breaking month, helping push Bitcoin to new all-time highs amid rising institutional demand.

The US-listed spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded more than $1.5 billion in combined inflows over a two-day period, with $608 million on May 21 and $934 million on May 22, according to data from Sosovalue.

A repeat performance of the past two days’ inflows would see monthly inflows surge to $6.68 billion, surpassing the monthly record of $6.49 billion from November 2024.

Related:German gov’t missed out on $2.3B profit after selling Bitcoin at $57K

ETF inflows helped Bitcoin rise to a new all-time high of $112,000 on May 22 before retracing to above $110,700 on May 23, up over 19% in the past week, TradingView data shows.

The “robust” ETF inflows and Bitcoin’s rise to new all-time highs signal growing institutional demand and rising realized profits “without increased sell pressure,” Nexo dispatch editor Stella Zlatareva told Cointelegraph.

“Institutional inflows, corporate balance sheet moves, and macro dislocation converge into a clear message: Bitcoin is no longer the alternative — it’s becoming the benchmark,” she added.

Recent surges in ETF demand coincided with $1 billion worth of Bitcoin being withdrawn from Coinbase on May 9 — a move analysts view as a signal of increasing institutional appetite.

Related:Exponential currency debasement: ‘You don’t own enough crypto, NFTs’

Institutional inflows to push Bitcoin to $200,000 in 2025

The “structural” inflows from institutions may help Bitcoin surpass the $200,000 “base case” before the end of 2025, according to Bitwise’s head of European research, André Dragosch.

“So the base case is $200,000, conditional on the US government not stepping in. If they step in, it will move closer toward $500,000,” Dragosch told Cointelegraph, referring to the US government’s proposition to make direct Bitcoin acquisitions through “budget-neutral” strategies.

Bitwise’s “in-house prediction” for 2029 is a $1 million Bitcoin price target, as Bitcoin’s market cap will surpass the market capitalization of gold, as the leading safe-haven asset, Dragosch explained.

However, gold’s $22.3 trillion market capitalization is still over 10 times larger than Bitcoin’s $2.2 trillion, which makes BTC the world’s fifth-largest asset, according to CompaniesMarketCap data.

Magazine:Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Singapore-based artificial intelligence firm Genius Group has added more Bitcoin to its corporate treasury after being temporarily banned from doing so.

In a May 22 announcement, Genius Group explained that it has resumed accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) following a favorable ruling by the US Court of Appeals. It follows Genius Group being temporarily barred from expanding its Bitcoin treasury after a US court order had banned it from selling shares, raising funds and using investor funds to buy more BTC.

Genius Group announced it increased its Bitcoin Treasury 40% with the purchase of 24.5 BTC, worth around $2.7 million. The company now holds 85.5 BTC acquired for a total of $8.5 million, at an average price of $99,700 per coin.

“We are pleased to be able to begin the task of rebuilding shareholder value from the damage caused by the legal actions of third parties, and delivering on our 2025 plan,” the company’s CEO, Roger Hamilton, said.

Related:Swedish health firm jumps 37% on first Bitcoin buy, China EV seller to buy 1K BTC

A long-term commitment

Hamilton said that Genius Group is “committed to educating students on the ABCs of the Future: AI, Bitcoin and Community.” He claimed that the firm is preparing the world for the upcoming digital workforce and digital economy, adding:

“Building our Bitcoin Treasury is a key part of that plan.”

Genius Group is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a current market cap of $24.34 million. Google Finance data shows that the company’s stock is trading at under half of the value it had when starting the year, at $0.34 at the time of writing, dropping over 8% in the last trading day from $0.41.

Related:Bitcoin open interest hits record high as BTC slips below $111K

The many firms following in MicroStrategy’s footsteps

By accumulating Bitcoin, Genius Group is following the lead of the world’s top corporate Bitcoin treasury company, Strategy, previously known as MicroStrategy. Strategy now holds well over 2% of the total Bitcoin that will ever be created and continues buying more. The firm acquired nearly $765 million in Bitcoin last week.

Genius Group is not the only company following in the Strategy’s footsteps. Earlier this month, a Bahrain-based, listed catering company with a $24.2 million market cap adopted a Bitcoin treasury strategy in partnership with investment firm 10X Capital.

Also this month, shares of luxury watchmaker Top Win surged more than 60% in premarket trading after the company said it would adopt a Bitcoin accumulation strategy and had changed its name to AsiaStrategy.

Magazine:Metric signals $250K Bitcoin is ‘best case,’ SOL, HYPE tipped for gains: Trade Secrets

Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal, calling it a “hit piece” filled with inaccuracies and negative assumptions. 

In an X post, Zhao criticized the publication’s portrayal of his alleged involvement with World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by a business entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump. Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. —are involved in the management of the company.

Zhao said the WSJ article portrayed him as acting as a “fixer” for the WLF team and its co-founder Zach Witkoff during foreign trips. 

The article suggested Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings for WLF leaders during foreign trips, including a visit to Pakistan that reportedly resulted in a memorandum of understanding with a local official.

“I am not a fixer for anyone,” Zhao said, firmly denying that he connected Pakistani official “Mr. Saqib” with WLF or organized any engagements abroad. “They had known each other way back, whereas I only met with Mr. Saqib for the first time in Pakistan.” 

WSJ reports on Steve and Zach Witkoff

Zhao’s response follows a WSJ investigation highlighting a complex string of diplomatic and business interests involving WLF. 

The report raised concerns about the blurred lines between public duties and private interests and focused on diplomatic and business dealings involving WLF co-founders Steve Witkoff and his son, Zach Witkoff. Steve Witkoff serves as the US Special Envoy to the Middle East under the Trump administration, while Zach Witkoff has been involved in securing a reported $2 billion crypto deal.

The report raised questions about whether diplomatic efforts overlapped with private crypto ventures, and implied Zhao may have been attempting to curry favor with the Trump administration

On May 6, Zhao confirmed that he is seeking a pardon from the Trump administration for his earlier money laundering conviction. 

The report also highlighted that WLFI, which raised over $600 million in token sales, does not disclose the names of all its investors aside from some publicly known ones like Tron founder Justin Sun, who attended Trump’s memecoin dinner on May 22. 

Trump hosted the dinner for the largest investors of his Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin. Sun, Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu and BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia were among attendees and shared photos of the event.

Related:Binance scores legal win as UK court partially dismisses Bitcoin SV lawsuit

Zhao claims the WSJ report is an “attack” on crypto 

Zhao claimed the WSJ submitted a list of questions containing what he described as “wrong and negative assumptions.” He and his public relations team responded by pointing out several factual inaccuracies, he said, but concluded that the article was “built on a flawed narrative.”

Zhao slammed the WSJ, calling it a “mouthpiece” for anti-crypto forces in the United States. He said the forces behind the publication want to hinder efforts to make the US a crypto capital. 

“They want to attack crypto, global crypto leaders and the pro-crypto administration,” CZ claimed, saying the article is part of a broader effort to stifle the industry’s growth in the US.

This is not the first time Zhao has clapped back at the WSJ recently. In an April 11 report, the publication cited anonymous sources alleging that Zhao agreed to testify against Tron founder Justin Sun as he settled with US prosecutors. 

CZ dismissed the report, saying that people who become government witnesses don’t go to prison and are protected. CZ also claimed that someone paid WSJ employees to smear his name.

Magazine:Crypto scam hub expose stunt goes viral, Kakao detects 70K scam apps: Asia Express

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