Decentral Block Post

Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC (USDC), is still planning an initial public offering (IPO), but the company is also in informal talks with Ripple and Coinbase about a sale, according to a report from Fortune.

Circle is seeking at least $5 billion, which is its target for the IPO, according to the four banking and private equity sources Fortune cited. Ripple tried to purchase Circle on April 30, but the $4 billion to $5 billion bid was rejected as being too low.

If Ripple or Coinbase were to buy Circle, the details of a purchase would differ. Ripple would pay using cash and XRP (XRP), a cryptocurrency that Ripple created. Coinbase, on the other hand, would use cash and stock.

Coinbase and Circle have a relationship dating to 2018, when they launched the Centre Consortium. That venture was meant to establish standards for fiat-backed stablecoins, including USDC. Coinbase also has an agreement with Circle to put USDC onto its exchange.

Circle filed for an IPO on April 1 with a goal to complete the process by the end of that month. The company backpedaled slightly on April 4, indicating it might delay its IPO due to economic uncertainty.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin buying in the spot and futures markets helped BTC price keep its upward momentum despite $170 million in margin liquidations.

Weak stablecoin demand in China and the limited use of futures leverage suggest Bitcoin’s current rally is sustainable.

Bitcoin (BTC) price has displayed strength at the $102,000 support level on May 19, following the $170 million in liquidations of leveraged positions. The abrupt $5,000 correction after hitting $107,090 may have been unexpected, but it does not mean the odds of reaching an all-time high in the near term are lower, especially since Bitcoin derivatives metrics have shown resilience.

Bitcoin 1-month futures annualized premium. Source: laevitas.ch

The annualized one-month futures premium for Bitcoin remained close to 6% despite the retest of $102,000 support. This current level is within the 5% to 10% neutral range, which has been the norm over the past week. While at first glance such data might suggest a lack of optimism, at the same time, it proves that the buying pressure is coming from the spot market rather than from leveraged bets.

Quantum Biopharma has purchased an additional $1 million worth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the Canadian biotechnology company said. 

The buys take Quantum’s total cryptocurrency holdings to approximately $4.5 million, according to a May 19 press release. The biotech company plans to stake a portion of its crypto to generate revenue. 

Quantum expects that holding a treasury of Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets will “provide a return on investment for shareholders and […] provide some hedge against the Canadian dollar,” it said. 

Shares of Quantum’s stock, QNTM, rose by approximately 25% following the announcement, according to data from Google Finance. 

Quantum Biopharma’s stock rose on the announcement. Source: Google Finance

Related: Basel Medical shares down 15% on $1B Bitcoin buying plans

In one of his first speeches since becoming chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, Paul Atkins addressed some of the regulatory concerns around the cryptocurrency industry.

In prepared remarks for a May 19 speech, Atkins said it was a “new day” for the crypto industry under the current leadership of the SEC. He suggested that the financial regulator would be more open to “adapt to and accommodate new developments” while still abiding by its statutes.

“The crypto markets have been languishing in SEC limbo for years,” said Atkins, adding:

“While I have directed Commission staff across our policy Divisions to begin drafting rule proposals related to crypto, the staff continue to ‘clear the brush’ through staff-level statements.”

Even before Atkins stepped into the role of SEC chair, the commission’s actions under Donald Trump suggested that it would radically depart from the direction of former chair Gary Gensler. In 2025, the SEC has dropped several investigations and enforcement actions against crypto companies and issued guidance on memecoins and security tokens.

Related: CFTC commissioner to leave agency on May 31

Crypto.com and asset manager Canary Capital are launching a US investment fund designed to provide exposure to the Cronos blockchain’s native token, CRO, the cryptocurrency exchange said in a statement.

The Canary CRO Trust will hold the Cronos (CRO) token in a regulated fund wrapper, Crypto.com said, adding that the trust is not an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and is only available to accredited investors. 

Creating regulated funds such as CRO Trust is part of Crypto.com’s plan for “further mainstreaming crypto,” Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer of Crypto.com, said in a statement.

In March, the crypto exchange partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group, a company affiliated with US President Donald Trump, to launch a series of Trump-branded ETFs, including one holding CRO.

The Trump Media ETFs are still awaiting approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has not yet authorized any CRO ETFs for US trading, Crypto.com said.

Key points:

Bitcoin’s rejection at $107,000 shows sellers are active at higher levels, but the recovery from the intraday low shows solid buying.

Strategy and Metaplanet continue to accumulate Bitcoin, adding steady buy-side pressure to BTC price. 

Select altcoins have pulled back, but they have not yet turned negative.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) attempt to challenge the all-time high faced a strong rejection near $107,100 on May 19, signaling that the bears are unlikely to give up without a fight. However, the long tail on the candlestick shows solid buying at lower levels.

Before discovering Bitcoin (BTC), Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo found success shorting the Venezuelan Bolivar as it rapidly lost value against the stronger US dollar. Now, with the US dollar depreciating against Bitcoin, borrowing against Bitcoin instead of selling it has become a more viable strategy.

“Prior to Bitcoin, my most successful investment was shorting the Bolivar with dollars,” di Bartolomeo told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview at the Consensus conference in Toronto, Canada. 

“I was borrowing Bolivars and buying dollars with them, holding the hard dollars and having a borrow [position] on the weaker currency,” he said.

The arrival of Bitcoin-backed loans means investors can now effectively implement the same strategy by using a harder currency as collateral. 

Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo, right, and Cointelegraph’s Sam Bourgi at Consensus. Source: Cointelegraph

This was part of the motivation behind launching Ledn, a Cayman Islands-based company that gives Bitcoin holders the ability to access dollar liquidity without having to sell their BTC. 

Ripple, the creator of cryptocurrency XRP (XRP), launched cross-border blockchain payments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a development that could spur the adoption of cryptocurrency in a country receptive to digital assets.

Zand Bank, the UAE’s first all-digital bank, and Mamo, a fintech company that offers a digital payment platform for businesses, will be the principal users of the blockchain payments system, according to a May 19 Ripple announcement.

Zand Bank and Mamo will use “Ripple Payments” to facilitate cross-border blockchain payments.

Ripple Payments is a platform that combines stablecoins, cryptocurrency, and fiat to enable payments and quick settlement times, a feature of Web3 that cross-border traditional finance payment systems often lack. Ripple was licensed to offer crypto payments by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) in March.

Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa, said acquiring this license “enables Ripple to better serve the demand for solutions to the inefficiencies of traditional cross-border payments, such as high fees, long settlement times, and lack of transparency, in one of the world’s largest cross-border payments hubs.”

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin recovered from its sharp sell-off from $107,000, suggesting it functions as a hedge against uncertainty for investors reacting to Moody’s recent downgrade of US debt.

Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating to Aa1, citing a $36 trillion debt and rising deficits, causing market turbulence and a spike in US Treasury yields.

Despite short-term pressure from macroeconomic shifts, Bitcoin’s long-term outlook remains bullish due to cautious shorting and a weakening US dollar.

Bitcoin (BTC) price faced a sharp 4% correction during the Asian trading session on May 19, tumbling from an “important level” as noted by Glassnode. The data analytics platform indicated that Bitcoin’s surge stalled just below $106,600, a critical level where 31,000 BTC are held. This supply cluster, formed on Dec. 16, 2024, reflects firm holder conviction, as investors have neither sold nor averaged down despite price fluctuations.

Key points:

BTC price action retargets $105,000 after the Wall Street open, rising 2.5% from the day’s lows.

Volatility continues, leading market participants to varying conclusions over what will happen to BTC/USD next.

Perspectives include the Bitcoin bull market being in its final stages.

Bitcoin (BTC) sought a rebound from a 4% dive at the May 19 Wall Street open as traders diverged on bull market strength.

Kazakhstan, the Maldives and Pakistan have recently outlined ambitions to position themselves as crypto hubs and build out their digital economies.

Historically, these countries haven’t been top of mind for global crypto firms — though Kazakhstan did have a brief moment in the spotlight as a go-to destination for Bitcoin (BTC) miners after China’s mining ban.

Meanwhile, established financial centers are now in a race to become the world’s leading crypto hub by finding the right balance of regulation, talent, capital and infrastructure.

Here’s how five of them are backing their crypto dreams.

Singapore is the crypto hub with parental guidance

Singapore has long stood out as a financial hub, bolstered by its AAA credit rating, low corporate tax rates and pro-business regulations. With the emergence of digital assets, the Lion City is among the front-runners in the crypto hub race.

Opinion by: Darius Moukhtarzadeh, Research Strategist at 21Shares

A new wave of crypto fundraising is emerging, changing how Web3 projects launch and who can invest at an early stage: Community Sales. At first glance, community sales may seem reminiscent of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) era from 2016–2017. Yet, they represent a significant evolution that better aligns with crypto's core values of democratization, transparency, and inclusivity.

Projects should include community sales as a core element of their fundraising strategy, besides raising from angel investors and VCs. Professional investors should embrace community sales as they highly increase the chances of sustainable success of Web3 projects. 

The ICO era

The original ICO boom promised broad retail participation and democratized investment opportunities previously reserved for well-connected insiders. The lack of clear regulatory frameworks led to widespread fraud, rug pulls, and market manipulation. This chaotic environment, rampant exploitation, and regulatory uncertainty eventually forced projects to abandon ICOs, shifting instead to private rounds accessible to well-connected angel investors and venture capitalists. 

Private funding problems

While private funding initially brought much-needed stability and credibility, it also introduced new problems. Over the past two years, many tokens have launched at excessively high FDVs (Fully Diluted Valuation) with a low circulating token supply. These tokens entered exchanges with the majority of supply locked and sky-high valuation, which did not meet the demand. Retail investors, attracted by initial hype, often became collateral damage. The result? Devalued tokens and damaged trust. Most of these tokens will most likely never recover. This market dynamic discouraged investments in new projects and undermined community-building efforts, weakening the overall sustainability of Web3 projects.

Chinese printer manufacturer Procolored distributed Bitcoin-stealing malware alongside its official drivers, according to local media reports.

Chinese news outlet Landian News reported on May 19 that Shenzhen-based printer company Procolored has been distributing Bitcoin-stealing (BTC) malware alongside official drivers. The company reportedly used USB drivers to distribute malware-ridden drivers and uploaded the compromised software to cloud storage for global download.

A total of 9.3 BTC worth over $953,000 have been stolen, according to the report. Crypto tracking and compliance firm Slow Mist described how the malware operates in a May 19 X post:

“The official driver provided by this printer carries a backdoor program. It will hijack the wallet address in the user’s clipboard and replace it with the attacker's address.“Source: MistTrack

Related: Massive supply chain attack targeting small number of crypto companies: Kaspersky

YouTuber flags malware in Procolored drivers

Landian News recommended users who downloaded Procolored printer drivers in the past six months to “immediately perform a full system scan using antivirus software.” Still, given the hit or miss nature of antivirus software, a full system reset is always the better option when in doubt:

Franklin, a hybrid cash and crypto payroll provider, is launching a new initiative that aims to turn idle-sitting payroll into an opportunity for yield.

The new solution, dubbed Payroll Treasury Yield, uses blockchain lending protocols to help firms earn returns on payroll funds that would otherwise sit idle, the company told Cointelegraph in an exclusive statement.

Franklin said its new offering integrates Summer.fi, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform, to allow companies to deposit stablecoin-denominated payroll reserves into smart contract-based lending pools.

These funds are lent to vetted borrowers, and companies earn yields while retaining access to their capital. Companies maintain full custody throughout the process, and smart contracts used are audited to reduce risk.

“The problem that Franklin solves for is two-fold,” Megan Knab, founder and CEO of Franklin, told Cointelegraph. For companies that have already integrated crypto onto their balance sheets, Franklin helps them use those assets to manage their operations, she said.

The Cardano Foundation is preparing to release an audit report on its treasury holdings after fresh allegations surfaced claiming misappropriation of roughly $600 million worth of ADA tokens.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is facing renewed scrutiny from community members, including non-fungible token artist Masato Alexander, who alleged that Hoskinson manipulated the Cardano ledger using a “genesis key to rewrite it and take control” of $619 million worth of Cardano (ADA) during the network’s 2021 Allegra hard fork.

Source: Masato Alexander

Related: Nasdaq-listed GDC plans to buy Bitcoin and TRUMP memecoin for $300M

A secondary, “Move Instantneous Rewards” transaction dated Oct. 24, 2021, shows a transfer of over 318 million ADA tokens, which enabled the funds to flow from reserve pools into staking or treasury allocations.

318 million ADA MIR transactions. Source: Cardanoscan

However, ADA redemptions stayed open for another three years after the transaction, responded Hoskinson, adding that the “vast majority of that 350 million ADA was redeemed by the original buyers,” a process that took a total of seven years.

Understanding a Bitcoin liquidation map is imperative in dealing with the inherent volatility of the crypto market. The visual tool showcases probable liquidation levels, indicating where large orders may cause cascading price changes. 

This post explores how to interpret a Bitcoin liquidation map, allowing you to trade smarter in the volatile world of cryptocurrency.

What is liquidation in crypto trading?

In cryptocurrency trading, liquidation happens when an exchange forcefully closes a trader's leveraged position due to insufficient margin to pay losses. This usually occurs when the market moves sharply against the position. 

Long liquidations occur when prices fall, affecting traders who bet on an uptrend. Short liquidations happen when prices unexpectedly rise, impacting those who bet on a decline. 

Did you know? In crypto, a single liquidation cascade can wipe out millions in minutes, triggered not by hacking but by traders using too much leverage at the wrong time.

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, the top corporate Bitcoin holder, acquired nearly $765 million of Bitcoin last week. The purchase came as the company faced a class-action lawsuit.

According to a May 19 announcement, Strategy acquired 7,390 BTC for about $764.9 million at an average price just under $103,500. Strategy reported a Bitcoin yield of 16.3% year-to-date. Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor made his usual hint at the purchase in a May 18 X post.

Source: Michael Saylor

According to a May 19 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company was also the recipient of a class-action lawsuit. The suit accuses Strategy officials of having failed to represent the nature of Bitcoin investments accurately.

As of May 18, Strategy holds 576,230 BTC acquired for around $40.2 billion at an average price of $69,726 per coin. At current prices, the company’s total holdings are valued at more than $59.2 billion, representing an unrealized gain of $19.2 billion, or 47%.

According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin traded at around $102,615 at the time of writing, up 20.3% over the last month.

Key takeaways:

XRP could be headed down to $2 following a breakdown of a classic head-and-shoulders pattern.

Declining open interest in XRP futures signals weakening trader confidence.

The XRP (XRP) price is flashing warning signs as a bearish technical pattern resolves on lower timeframes, coinciding with massive long liquidations and decreasing open interest.

XRP H&S pattern hints at a 14% price drop

XRP price action has formed a head-and-shoulders (H&S) pattern on its four-hour chart since May 9, projecting a likely down-move.

A court decision in Australia could open the door to as much as $640 million in capital gains tax (CGT) refunds on Bitcoin transactions after a judge ruled that crypto should be treated as money rather than a taxable asset. 

On May 19, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the decision arose within a criminal case involving federal police officer William Wheatley, who allegedly stole 81.6 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2019. At the time, the assets were worth roughly $492,000. At current market prices, the tokens are valued at more than $13 million.

In the case, Judge Michael O’Connell of Victoria ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as a form of money rather than property, likening the digital asset to Australian dollars rather than to shares, gold or foreign currency.

The interpretation could set a legal precedent, potentially placing Bitcoin transactions outside the scope of Australia’s current CGT regime.

New court ruling challenges Australian crypto tax laws

In an AFR interview, tax lawyer Adrian Cartland said the verdict “totally upends” the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) current position. 

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.

Weekly crypto asset flows, USD, million. Source: CoinShares

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.

Crypto flows by country. Source: CoinShares

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.

Revolut, a European neobank with crypto support, plans to invest more than 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in France and apply for a local banking license.

According to a May 19 Fortune report, Revolut representatives announced the initiative during the Choose France business summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The London-based neobank also plans to set up its new European Union-serving headquarters in Paris, promising to invest 1 billion euro and hire at least 200 people within three years.

Revolut spokespeople also said that the firm is in the process of submitting an application to the French banking regulator Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority. According to an anonymous source cited by Fortune, the regulator has been pushing the neobank to get a license to improve supervision due to its popularity in France.

Revolut currently employs about 300 people and serves five million customers in France. This makes the nation the neobank’s top European Union market.

Related: Revolut doubles profits to $1.3B on user growth, crypto trading boom

Dubai’s crypto regulator has given licensed digital asset companies until June 19 to comply with its updated activity-based Rulebooks to enhance market integrity and risk oversight. 

On May 19, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced that it had released Version 2.0 of the Rulebooks. 

The regulator said it had strengthened controls around margin trading and token distribution services, harmonised compliance requirements across all licensed activities and given clearer definitions for collateral wallet arrangements. 

VARA’s team will engage with licensed entities and expects the companies to comply with the updated rules after a 30-day transition period.

“In line with global regulatory best practices, a 30-day transition period has been granted to all impacted virtual asset service providers [VASPs], with full compliance required by 19 June 2025,” VARA wrote.  

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 (USDT), has surpassed Germany’s $111.4 billion worth of US Treasurys, data from the US Department of the Treasury shows.

Foreign countries by US Treasury holdings. Source: Ticdata.treasury.gov

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. 

Related: Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week with a long-awaited breakout from a narrow trading range around $103,000. 

BTC price action grabs liquidity before reversing to its starting position, liquidating many an emotional trader on the way. A fakeout or a taste of things to come?

The May 18  daily and weekly close nonetheless became Bitcoin’s highest ever.

US trade deals remain high on the list of macro volatility triggers for risk asset traders this week.

Crypto’s correlation with stocks paints a mixed picture, adding to uncertainty over how macro developments will influence Bitcoin and altcoins going forward.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit said it had involved team members, including an executive, to fix a glitch that affected a single user who could not go through an Apple-based know-your-client (KYC) system.

In a May 18 X post, the Bybit China Team said it received reports about users experiencing withdrawal restrictions on the Bybit platform due to a KYC verification anomaly when logging in with an Apple ID. The team claimed to have immediately responded and taken action involving multiple departments, including the firm’s chief operating officer, Helen Liu.

Other people involved in the operation were the heads of customer service, risk control, the Chinese-language division, product managers and the technical team. The exchange coordinated its actions with the user.

After an internal investigation, Bybit concluded this was a “unique case affecting an individual user, not a systemic issue.” The account’s KYC information was not tampered with and the funds in the account remained secure at all times.

Bybit had not answered Cointelegraph’s request for comment at the time of writing.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin dropped over 4.5% on May 19, confirming a bearish divergence and threatening a break below $100,000.

Analysts highlight $97,000–$98,500 as key support that the bulls must hold.

A potential inverse head-and-shoulders pattern points to a retest of $91,000 before any bullish continuation.

Bitcoin (BTC) is down over 4.5% from its intraday high on May 19, falling to around $102,000 in its worst daily drop in over a month.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled a proposal to preserve trustless, censorship-resistant access to Ethereum, even as the network scales. 

On May 19, Buterin shared a post outlining how to make Ethereum’s layer-1 scaling “more friendly” to users running local nodes for personal use. The Ethereum co-founder highlighted the importance of independent users running nodes, saying that a market dominated by a few Remote Procedure Call (RPC) providers risks censorship. 

RPC providers let wallets, users and apps interact with the blockchain without running their own nodes. Crypto wallets are usually connected to an RPC provider behind the scenes. Buterin said there are risks to this setup. 

“A market structure dominated by a few RPC providers is one that will face strong pressure to deplatform or censor users. Many RPC providers already exclude entire countries,” Buterin wrote. 

Source: Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes 

In addition to censorship, Buterin argued that reasons like expensive fully-trustless cryptographic solutions and metadata privacy show that there’s value in ensuring greater ease for those running a personal node. 

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has made its second-largest single Bitcoin purchase ever, scooping up more than 1,000 Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency came within 3% of its all-time high.

Metaplanet said on May 19 that it purchased 1,004 Bitcoin (BTC) for a total cost of around 15.2 billion yen ($104.6 million), bringing its total holdings to 7,800 Bitcoin worth around $807 million at current market prices.

It is the second-largest purchase the firm has made following its buy of 1,241 BTC for $129 million on May 12 in a move that pushed its Bitcoin holdings above that of El Salvador.

Metaplanet has the largest Bitcoin holdings of a public company in Asia and has the tenth largest holdings among public firms globally, according to BiTBO data.

The firm reported a first-quarter BTC Yield of 95.6% and a yield of 47.8% so far in the second quarter, which measures the ratio of percentage change in Bitcoin holdings per fully diluted share.

Coinbase has been hit with a flood of lawsuits after it recently disclosed its user data was breached, with users accusing the crypto exchange of mishandling the incident.

At least six lawsuits were filed against Coinbase between May 15 and May 16, which all made various claims that the exchange failed to keep stringent security protocols to protect user data and handled the data breach aftermath poorly.

In one of the lawsuits, filed in a New York federal court on May 16, plaintiff Paul Bender argued that Coinbase failed to protect the sensitive personal information of millions of users during the data breach. 

Users are suing Coinbase, alleging the exchange failed to protect their sensitive data. Source: PACER

Coinbase reported on May 15 that four days earlier it had been hit with a $20 million extortion attempt after cybercriminals bribed several of its customer support agents to access internal systems and steal a limited amount of user account data.

The stolen data included names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, the last four digits of Social Security numbers, some bank account identifiers, driver’s licenses, passports and some account data, such as balance snapshots and transaction history.