Today's Crypto Pulse
Bitcoin slides below $70k as energy‑price worries spark $1.8B in liquidations
Bitcoin fell under $70,000 amid heightened energy‑price uncertainty linked to U.S.–Iran tensions. The dip triggered roughly $1.8 billion in crypto liquidations, while institutional investors pulled more than $4.2 billion from digital‑asset positions.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Strive acquires 2,500 Bitcoin for $185.2M
Bitcoin Underperforms Risk Assets as Record 9th Day of ETF Outflows Signal Waning Demand
Bitcoin hovered around $73,500 on May 29, roughly 10% below its monthly peak of $81,000, as new buying pressure stalled. Long‑term holder supply rose to a record 15.8 million BTC, suggesting coins are being hoarded rather than traded. Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a ninth straight day of net outflows, indicating waning institutional demand. Meanwhile, broader risk assets gained on optimism that U.S.–Iran talks could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting a divergence between crypto and traditional markets.
Bitcoin Avoided an Inflation Shock, Now It Has to Prove the Rally Isn’t Over
The BEA’s April PCE report showed headline inflation at 3.8% YoY and core inflation at 3.3%, matching expectations and removing a potential macro shock for Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency slipped below $75,000, now hovering in a $73k‑$75k support zone, while spot...
Fidelity's Digital Asset Division Grows Into One of the Largest Institutional Crypto Operations
Fidelity Investments has expanded its digital asset division, now ranking among the world’s largest institutional crypto operations. The move builds on a decade‑long effort that began with Bitcoin mining in 2015 and adds custody, trading and research services for institutional...
Bitcoin and Stablecoins Are Not Money in South Africa
South Africa’s central bank and financial regulator have jointly confirmed that crypto assets, including Bitcoin and stablecoins, are not considered money, funds, or legal tender under the National Payment System Act. The clarification means domestic crypto payments do not require...
Google Engineer Charged with $1.2 M Insider Trading on Polymarket
Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo was indicted on federal charges for allegedly profiting more than $1.2 million by betting on Polymarket using confidential Year‑in‑Search data. The case, the second high‑profile insider‑trading prosecution linked to prediction markets, puts pressure on crypto‑based platforms...
Tagus Bytes (29.05.26)
Hyperliquid’s synthetic SpaceX perpetual contract briefly priced the private rocket maker at over $2.5 trillion before a 45% flash crash wiped out roughly $1.5 million of leveraged positions. Bloomberg reports suggest SpaceX now targets an IPO valuation near $1.8 trillion, while Anthropic is...
OKX Ventures, Korea Investment & Securities to Buy 19.6% Coinone Stake for $106M
South Korean exchange Coinone will sell a 19.6% stake to OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities for roughly $106 million. The transaction, pending regulatory approval, combines secondary share purchases with newly issued shares, making the two investors joint third‑largest shareholders...
New Lawsuit Claims Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Is “Lost Property” Worth Under $10 per Wallet
A New York lawsuit filed by a pseudonymous plaintiff, Noah Doe, and two Wyoming entities seeks legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses, including wallets linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. The addresses contain roughly 3.8 million BTC—about 18% of the total supply—valued...
Datavault AI Signs Exchange Agreement with Perpetuals.com, Opening Gold, Copper, Geothermal Energy, and Critical Minerals to 24/7 Global Trading Across...
Datavault AI announced a mutual services agreement with Perpetuals.com to list its real‑world asset token programs on the EU‑licensed Perpetuals exchange, beginning with the MTB Copper project. The deal covers more than $328 million of targeted issuance across gold, copper, geothermal...
Brazil Nixes Settlement for Stablecoin eFX
Brazil’s central bank issued Resolution 561, prohibiting fintechs and payment providers from settling cross‑border transactions with stablecoins such as USDT or USDC. The rule takes effect on Oct. 1, restoring traditional bank spreads, correspondent fees and longer settlement times. While stablecoins...
Bitcoin’s Major Holders Halt Buys as Demand Slows: CryptoQuant
CryptoQuant reports that Bitcoin whale accounts (1,000‑10,000 BTC) posted the fastest annual balance contraction this year, while dolphin holdings (100‑1,000 BTC) have flat monthly growth since February. Long‑term holder supply reached a record 15.8 million BTC, but 40% of the total...
Bitcoin “Flash Crash” To $73,000 Puts Crypto Risk Appetite Back on Watch:
Bitcoin dropped more than 3.5% overnight, sliding from about $77,000 to $73,200, triggering roughly $744 million of long liquidations in 12 hours. The sell‑off tests the post‑ETF market structure, showing that institutional exposure does not shield the asset from rapid, leveraged...
Wyoming LLC Provides Tax‑Free, Private Crypto Protection
Wyoming offers no state income tax, charging order creditor protection, attorney client privilege, and registered agent anonymity. Nobody can tell you own the entity from a public search. A registered agent handles the address requirement. For crypto holders in restrictive...
Crypto Platforms Unlock Global, On‑chain Access to US Stocks
.@arjunsethi is calling it a shadow stock exchange running on permissionless rails 🕶️ Hyperliquid sitting at $2.5B in open interest. TradeXYZ doing $22B in volume. Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon all trading onchain. People just want access and leverage to US stocks...
BitGo CFO Reginelli Highlights 440% Revenue Jump and Debt‑Free Balance Sheet
BitGo posted $6.2 billion in Q4 2025 revenue, up 440% year‑over‑year, driven by digital‑asset trading, subscriptions and its new Stablecoin‑as‑a‑Service. CFO Edward Reginelli emphasized the company’s debt‑free capital structure while warning that staking fees will fall as crypto prices stay pressured.
Strategy Moves 411.5 BTC to Coinbase, Likely Sell by 2026
Company Strategy transferred 411.5 BTC ($30.3M) to Coinbase Prime exchange. Strategy is expected to sell part of its BTC holdings by December 31, 2026, with a 91% probability (based on Polymarket betting odds). https://t.co/rVNvHXwU0m
Private On‑Chain Payroll and Payments with TrezuApp
Running payroll? Paying invoices? Receiving payments? Historically doing this on-chain meant all the key company information was visible to everyone in the world. With @TrezuApp using confidential intents you can now keep this information private as it's suppose to be.
Crypto Coin Minute for May 29th, 2026 at 05:15 AM Pacific Time.
Crypto markets showed modest movement on May 29, 2026. Bitcoin slipped 0.06% to $73,260.88, while Ethereum rose 0.73% to $1,998.11. Binance Coin, XRP and Solana each posted gains above 0.7%. Meanwhile, a Bitcoin whale increased a long position to $94 million, Cardone Capital...
Base Launches Azul Upgrade, Takes Step Toward Stage 2 Decentralization
Coinbase‑incubated Layer 2 network Base launched the Azul upgrade on mainnet, introducing multiproofs that blend trusted execution environment (TEE) and zero‑knowledge (ZK) proof systems. The new architecture allows withdrawals to Ethereum to finalize in as little as one day and automatically...
Polymarket Adds NBA Game Contracts as Hyperliquid Launches Macro Outcome Bets
Polymarket introduced binary contracts on the NBA Western Conference Finals Game 5 between the Spurs and Thunder, while Hyperliquid expanded its HIP‑4 product line to include real‑world macro events such as U.S. inflation and Fed rate decisions. The moves pit...
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust Sells $1.3 B in One Day, Dragging Bitcoin Below $76K
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) executed a $1.289 billion dark‑pool sale of 29.2 million shares on May 26, pushing Bitcoin down nearly 2% to about $75,680. The outflow marks the largest single‑day redemption for any U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF and adds to...
Mastercard Secures NY BitLicense, Accelerating Stablecoin Push
Mastercard Transaction Services (U.S.) LLC has been granted a New York BitLicense, allowing the payments giant to run stablecoin and other digital‑asset services in the state. The approval comes as Mastercard finalizes a $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, underscating its aggressive...
White House Pushes Fed for Crypto Master Accounts
The White House is pushing the Fed to consider opening master account access to crypto and fintech firms. KK Bos, Jessi Brooks, and Vy Le walked through what it could mean for banks, stablecoins, and who controls the dollar. On...
Three Multisig Safeguards: Fast Pause, Timed Updates, Delayed Collateral
"To stop the bleeding, you have a fast freeze. To update parameters, a short time lock. To upgrade contracts, a long time lock" Isaac on the three multisigs every DeFi protocol should have "You should have a very low threshold emergency pause...
Have AI Agents Made the Entire $148 Billion DeFi Sector Unsafe?
AI coding agents are dramatically speeding up smart‑contract vulnerability discovery, prompting OpenZeppelin co‑founder Manuel Aráoz to urge investors to exit DeFi positions. Over the past year hacks have cost more than $1.1 billion, driving total value locked from $172 billion to $148 billion....
User Safety Requires Multisig Timelocks, Not Just Decentralization
"It's not against the principles of decentralization to protect users. "You shouldn't have one multisig with no timelocks that can instantly upgrade the contracts and change behavior. That's not a decentralization issue. That's a user safety issue." -- Isaac Patka Tune...
VanEck Debuts VBNB: The First U.S. ETF for Spot BNB Exposure
VanEck launched the VanEck BNB ETF (VBNB) on May 28, marking the first U.S. exchange‑traded product that offers direct spot exposure to Binance Coin (BNB). The ETF stores BNB in cold‑storage with a qualified custodian, mitigating hacking and exchange‑failure risks....
Central Bank-Backed Tokenization Pilot Exposes Settlement Problem Assets Alone Cannot Solve
Australia’s Reserve Bank and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre completed Project Acacia, a wholesale‑scale pilot that examined how tokenised assets settle across four money forms – traditional RBA exchange settlement accounts, a pilot wholesale CBDC, tokenised commercial‑bank deposits and...
FDIC Proposes First AML Rule for Stablecoin Issuers Under BSA
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) board approved a notice of proposed rulemaking that would extend Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and sanctions compliance to FDIC‑supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs). The rule, required by the GENIUS Act, mandates AML/CFT programs,...
Pope’s AI‑Crypto Encyclical Ties Directly to Bitcoin Whitepaper
The first American pope released an encyclical on AI and crypto, and Austin Campbell made the case on Bits + Bips that it connects directly to the Bitcoin white paper. Genuinely one of the more unusual conversations the show has...
DTCC to Link Tokenized Securities Platform to Stellar Network by 2027
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced it will integrate its tokenized securities service with the Stellar public blockchain, targeting rollout in the first half of 2027. The move positions Stellar as a key infrastructure layer for tokenized stocks, ETFs...
DeFi Security Unpacked: Experts Reveal Real Threat Landscape
On Tuesday, Manuel Araoz tweeted that he considered “all of DeFi unsafe,” sparking an intense conversation about how safe DeFi is in the age of AI and in-person social engineering by DPRK. On the next episode of Unchained, Laura Shin...
SEC Grants Clearing Agency Registration to Paxos Securities Settlement Company
Paxos announced that its subsidiary, Paxos Securities Settlement Company (PSSC), has been granted SEC registration as a clearing agency under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act. The approval caps a seven‑year effort that began with a 2019 no‑action letter and...
Regulation Sparked Creation of Multi‑Strategy Crypto Fund
The new crypto regulation forced us to stop advising on our clients' portfolios. Three years ago, I was advising individuals on their crypto portfolios through my consultancy. I saw what worked, what didn't, and how most people were making the...
Tempo L1 Hits 3.9M Transactions in Two Months
Tempo, a Stripe‑incubated Layer 1 blockchain, has recorded 3.9 million transactions across 177,000 addresses since its March 18 mainnet launch. The network’s native TIP‑20 stablecoin standard now supports a circulating supply of over $25 million, spread among several issuers and yield‑bearing variants. Unique to...
Google Engineer Charged with $1.2 Million Insider Trading on Polymarket
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo for allegedly turning internal search‑trend data into a $1.2 million profit on the cryptocurrency‑based prediction market Polymarket. Prosecutors say he placed bets under the alias “AlphaRaccoon” before the information...
Circle and Nium Link USDC to Payouts in 190 Countries
Circle has partnered with global payments platform Nium to enable USDC settlement in more than 190 countries and 100 currencies. The integration promises just‑in‑time payouts, reducing the need for businesses to pre‑fund accounts in multiple jurisdictions and accelerating stablecoin use...
The Quantity Theory of Crypto: What Is Bitcoin Worth as a Medium of Exchange?
John Lewis applies the quantity theory of money to Bitcoin, treating it solely as a medium of exchange. He shows that Bitcoin's price equals the value of transactions it supports divided by its fixed supply and velocity, revealing that current...
Crypto Liquidations Near $1 Billion in 24 Hours as Leverage Unwinds
Crypto markets saw a massive liquidation event, with $934.24 million wiped out in a single 24‑hour window. The cascade erased roughly 167,400 leveraged accounts, dominated by long positions that bet on price rebounds. Bitcoin contributed $363 million and Ethereum $240 million of the...
Stablecoins Were Supposed to Bypass Credit Cards, but Now Visa Is Winning Crypto Card Payments
Crypto‑card spending has surged to roughly $600 million per month, with $7.2 billion in cumulative on‑chain volume across 24 million transactions. About 90 % of these transactions are settled through Visa, and USDT alone represents 62.5 % of the volume. Jupiter Global’s USDC‑backed card saw...
DeFi’s Automated Yield Protocols Were Built for Retail, Now They Just Add Another Layer of Risk
Automated yield vaults like Stake DAO’s vsdCRV promised one‑click exposure to Curve’s boosted returns, but a breach on Arbitrum allowed an attacker to mint 5.4 trillion counterfeit vsdCRV tokens and swap about 43.8 ETH (≈$88 k) before liquidity caps limited the haul. The...
Crypto Capital Flows to US, UAE as EU Cracks Down
🇪🇺EU LAUNCHES MASSIVE CRYPTO CRACKDOWN €10,000 cash ban. €1,000 crypto KYC threshold. Privacy coins fully banned. AMLR rules take effect July 1, 2027. All exchanges must verify ID above €1,000. Monero, Zcash, and Dash will be completely removed from EU platforms. Meanwhile: 🇺🇸 US pushing...
Use Hardware Wallets and Blue‑chip Protocols for DeFi Safety
Tips for DeFi users who want to transact onchain: "Don't use hot wallets. Use hardware wallets or a large, trusted custodian. And don't interact with protocols that are new, unless you are an extreme power user. Use blue chip protocols." --...
Influence360 Debuts AI-Driven Web3 KOL Platform with Real Attribution
Influence360 has launched the first AI‑powered, data‑rich Web3 KOL platform, offering global creator discovery, smart‑contract escrow and real‑time performance tracking. The debut follows a benchmark of 143 KOLs that highlighted payment gaps and the need for measurable campaigns, positioning the...
Fast Freeze, Short Timelock, Long Timelock: Protect Users
🔥🔥🔥 "To stop the bleeding, you have a fast freeze. To update parameters, you have a short timelock, to upgrade your contracts, you have a long timelock." -- Isaac Patka giving amazing advice on how teams should set up their...
Garlinghouse Claims Courts, Voters, Trump Beat Anti‑crypto Army
JUST IN: Brad Garlinghouse says the anti-crypto army was defeated by the "Courts, Voters, and Trump"
SoFi Launches SoFiUSD, the First U.S. National‑bank‑issued Stablecoin for 15 Million Users
SoFi Technologies has made its dollar‑backed stablecoin, SoFiUSD, available to roughly 15 million members of its banking app, becoming the first U.S. national bank to embed a stablecoin directly into a retail platform. The token is redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars...
Zero‑fee Fiat On‑ramp Expands Aave’s Regulated DeFi Access
Aave users will be able to move fiat into Aave through a vertically integrated zero-fee on-ramp, making DeFi more accessible to the mainstream. The FCA approval in the UK, combined with our CBI MiCA license for the EEA/EU, is a strong...
Kalshi Faces Federal Insider‑Trading Probe as Enforcement Unit Ramps Up Investigations
Kalshi, the top U.S. prediction‑market platform, is under a federal insider‑trading probe as its enforcement chief Robert DeNault declares monitoring the "No. 1 priority." The firm says it launched more than 200 investigations in 2025 and has already exceeded that count...
Stablecoins, AI Agents, and The Future of Global Banking
In this episode, a16z partner Angela Strange talks with Dalip Tasman, founder and CEO of Jeeves, about how the company is building a stablecoin‑native financial operating system for global enterprises. Tasman explains Jeeves' rapid growth—10x revenue and 8x volume—driven by...