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Mobile-first crypto exchange and payment platform Crypto.com secured a license allowing it to offer cryptocurrency financial derivatives in the European Economic Area.

According to a May 21 announcement, Crypto.com secured a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license.

“We have already expanded our brand presence in Europe since receiving our MiCA licence and we now look forward to providing customers across the region even more ways to engage with our platform through these new offerings,” said Crypto.com’s co-founder and CEO, Kris Marszalek.

Source: Crypto.com

The announcement followed Crypto.com receiving in-principle approval to operate across the European Union under a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in mid-January. The company received regulatory approval for its acquisition of Cyprus-based trading services firm A.N. Allnew Investments from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Crypto.com did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Key points:

Bitcoin tags $108,000 for the first time since the day of its current all-time highs in January.

Traders and analysts mention support extending toward $90,000, but the probability of a retest is fading.

Near-term upside targets include a “blow-off top” at $128,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to more than $108,000 on May 21, marking new four-month highs. Where will BTC/USD go next?

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce said many non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including those with mechanisms to pay creator royalties, likely fall outside the purview of federal securities laws.

In a recent speech, Peirce said NFTs that allow artists to earn resale revenue do not automatically qualify as securities. Unlike stocks, NFTs are programmable assets that distribute proceeds to developers or artists. The SEC official said that mirrors how streaming platforms compensate musicians and filmmakers. 

“Just as streaming platforms pay royalties to the creator of a song or video each time a user plays it, an NFT can enable artists to benefit from the appreciation in the value of their work after its initial sale,” Peirce said. 

Peirce added that the feature does not provide NFT owners any rights or interest in any business enterprise or profits “traditionally associated with securities.”

SEC never prohibited NFT royalties

Oscar Franklin Tan, chief legal officer of Enjin core contributor Atlas Development Services, told Cointelegraph that the recent remarks by Peirce on NFTs and creator royalties have been widely misunderstood. 

South Korea is tightening rules around digital asset transactions as it prepares to allow institutional players into its crypto market, introducing new guidelines for nonprofit crypto sales and stricter listing standards for exchanges.

On May 20, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea said during its fourth Virtual Asset Committee meeting that it had finalized sweeping new measures.

Set to take effect in June, the updated rules allow both nonprofit organizations and virtual asset exchanges to sell cryptocurrencies, but under new compliance standards.

Nonprofit entities must have at least five years of audited financial history to be permitted to receive and sell virtual asset donations. They will also need to establish internal Donation Review Committees to assess the appropriateness of each donation and the liquidation strategy.

To reduce risks of money laundering, all donations must be routed through verified Korean won exchange accounts, with verification responsibilities placed on banks, exchanges and the nonprofits themselves.

Amsterdam-based Theta Capital Management raised over $175 million for its latest fund-of-funds, aimed at supporting early-stage blockchain startups through specialized venture capital (VC) firms.

The new vehicle, Theta Blockchain Ventures IV, will channel capital into crypto-native VC firms with a track record of backing blockchain innovation, Theta’s managing partner and chief investment officer Ruud Smets told Bloomberg.

Smets said the strategy focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist investors in the earliest funding rounds.

“We’ve always been looking for areas where specialization and active management provide a sustainable edge,” Smets noted. He said that the experience and positioning of dedicated crypto VCs “has compounded over time,” creating barriers for less focused investors trying to enter the space.

Founded in 2001, Theta shifted its focus to digital assets in 2018 and now manages about $1.2 billion. The firm has backed leading crypto investment names such as Polychain Capital, CoinFund and Castle Island Ventures.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on Bitwise’s application to add staking to its Ether exchange-traded fund and on Grayscale’s XRP ETF bid, which analysts had expected.

The SEC said on May 20 that it needed to extend its decision on Bitwise’s application by 45 days to “consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.” The agency needed to either decide or punt its decision by May 22.

The agency also delayed deciding on Grayscale’s XRP (XRP) tracking ETF and Bitwise’s Solana (SOL) tracking fund while it seeks public comments and begins “proceedings to allow for additional analysis” of the proposals to ensure they meet regulatory standards.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on X that both delays were expected because the SEC “typically takes the full time to respond to a 19b-4 filing.”

“Almost all of these filings have final due dates in October,” and an early decision would be “out of the norm,” Seyffart added. 

Shareholders of the healthcare services provider KindlyMD, Inc have approved a proposed merger with Bitcoin holding company Nakamoto Holdings, founded by US President Donald Trump’s crypto adviser, David Bailey.

KindlyMD and Nakamoto Holdings, a newly formed company that focuses on creating a network of Bitcoin-related entities, will both file information statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, KindlyMD said in a May 20 statement.

The merger is expected to take place 20 days after both companies have shared the information statement with KindlyMD’s shareholders, with the transaction expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2025.

Google Finance shows shares in KindlyMD (KDLY) closed the May 20 trading session up 9% at $15.22 and gained another 4.8% after the bell as the announcement of the approved merger came after the trading session ended. KDLY is up over 979% so far this year.

Shares of KindlyMD were up 4.8% after-hours on news that shareholders approved a merger with Nakamoto Holdings. Source: Google Finance.

The companies first announced the merger on May 12, saying the merged entity will use equity, debt, and other offerings to develop a slew of Bitcoin-native companies. Additionally, the company will also bolster its treasury by accumulating Bitcoin (BTC).

Blackstone, which bills itself as the “the world’s largest alternative asset manager,” disclosed its first-ever crypto-related purchase, buying shares in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

However, Blackstone’s investment, reported in a May 20 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, only totaled around $1.08 million — a fraction of the asset manager’s $1.2 trillion portfolio.

Blackstone reported holding 23,094 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) as of March 31.

The IBIT shares were added to Blackstone’s Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), which holds $2.63 billion worth of assets, Google Finance data shows.

The filing shows Blackstone also bought 4,300 shares in crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot Inc. (BTM) for a total cost of $6,300 and spent $181,166 scooping up 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO).

Despite its claim as an “alternative asset manager,” Blackstone has largely stayed away from crypto. In September 2019, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman said he liked the concept of blockchain but thought its use for money was “pretty odd.”

Haliey Welch, better known as the “Hawk tuah girl,” says the Federal Bureau of Investigation briefly probed her after her “memecoin disaster” — the failed launch of a token in her image that she promoted. 

Welch said in a May 21 episode of her “Talk Tuah” podcast that the FBI showed up at her grandmother’s house looking to speak to her over the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) crypto token, which many crypto commentators have called an exit scam.

“After the coin launch, the feds came to granny’s house and knocked on her door, and she called me, having a heart attack, saying: ‘The FBI is here after you, what have you done?’”

Welch said she handed over her phone to the FBI and met with agents who “interrogated me, asking me questions and everything else related to crypto.”

“They cleared me, I was good to go,” Welch said. 

Welch went viral for her response about an oral sex technique in a vox pop interview posted to YouTube in June. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will create a digital advisory council to attract jobs and investment to the Big Apple and position it as the “crypto capital of the globe.”

“This is not about chasing memes or trends,” Adams told the inaugural New York City Crypto Summit on May 20. “We want to use the technology of tomorrow to better serve New Yorkers today.”

“We have experts right here, and they are going to help us navigate solutions that serve our city,” he added. “The age of tokenization, which includes crypto and blockchain and other fintech innovations, that age is here, and we’re going to continue to move forward with it.”

Adams didn’t share further details on the advisory group, but said a council chair and key policy recommendations would follow in the next few weeks.

We're taking the next step in becoming the Crypto Capitol of the WORLD, hosting our city's first-ever Crypto and Digital Assets Summit! Join us LIVE as we get started: https://t.co/iwO6ThkaSB

Update May 21, 4:32 am UTC: This article has been updated to add more information from the SEC’s complaint.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has sued crypto investment platform Unicoin and three of its executives, alleging they made false and misleading statements about their crypto assets that raised over $100 million from investors.

The SEC said on May 20 that it charged Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini and former investment chief Alex Dominguez with misleading over 5,000 investors about certificates that conveyed rights to receive Unicoin tokens and stock.

SEC Division of Enforcement associate director Mark Cave claimed that starting in 2022, the trio “exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings.”

“The real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates were illusory,” Cave added.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive is looking to build its Bitcoin holdings by purchasing distressed Bitcoin claims at a discount, starting with claims tied to 75,000 Bitcoin at the bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox.

Strive said in a May 20 regulatory filing that it partnered with 117 Castell Advisory Group LLC to target claims to Bitcoin (BTC) that have received definitive legal rulings but are still awaiting distribution.

The company said buying the claims would allow it to purchase Bitcoin at a discount and grow its Bitcoin per share ratio ahead of its planned reverse merger with Asset Entities — which is expected to be completed sometime mid this year.

Strive hasn’t disclosed any Bitcoin holdings but claims it will face fewer restrictions on purchasing Bitcoin than companies going public through Special Purpose Acquisition Company mergers.

Advantages of going public via a reverse merger compared with a SPAC merger. Source: Strive

Strive said it would need shareholder approval to pursue Mt. Gox claims. The company said it intends to lodge a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to outline the full terms of the proposed transaction. A proxy statement would then be sent to shareholders to seek their approval.

After weeks of speculation among crypto enthusiasts and news outlets, Tron founder Justin Sun has claimed he owns the wallet that purchased the largest amount of Donald Trump’s memecoin, allowing him to qualify for a dinner and reception with the US president.

In a May 19 X post, Sun said he had received an invitation to attend Trump’s dinner at his golf club outside Washington, DC, as part of a reward for the top 220 memecoin holders. The Tron founder claimed he controlled the top wallet on the TRUMP token leaderboard under the username “Sun,” which held roughly $19 million worth of the memecoin at a price of $13.20.

According to Sun, he plans to network at the May 22 memecoin dinner, “talk crypto,” and “discuss the future” of the industry. It’s unclear why the Tron founder chose to announce his planned presence at the event now, when the leaderboard was finalized on May 12.

Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for Sun for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Source: Justin Sun

Though not a surprise to many who speculated that Sun was the individual behind the memecoin purchases, his attendance at the dinner only deepens his ties to the Trump administration and the president’s family. In addition to the dinner for the 220 tokenholders, Trump said he would hold a reception and “VIP tour” for the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin futures open interest hit a record $72 billion, signaling rising use of leverage among institutional investors.

$1.2 billion in shorts at $107,000 to $108,000 are at risk of liquidation, boosting BTC’s breakout odds.

The aggregate open interest in Bitcoin (BTC) futures surged to a record high on May 20, raising questions about whether bearish positions are now at risk. Despite repeated failures to break above the $107,000 level since May 18, the sheer volume of leveraged positions could propel Bitcoin to a new all-time high.

Bitcoin futures aggregate open interest, USD. Source: CoinGlass

The total open interest in BTC futures climbed to $72 billion on May 20, marking an 8% increase from $66.6 billion just a week earlier. Institutional demand continues to be a major driver of this leverage, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) leading at $16.9 billion in BTC futures, followed by Binance, which holds $12 billion in open interest.

Key Takeaways:

Ethereum is forming a bull flag on the daily chart, with a potential breakout above $3,600.

If ETH reclaims the 2-week Gaussian Channel mid-line, a 90% rally could occur.

Ethereum (ETH) price is consolidating between $2,400 and $2,750 on its daily chart, forming a bull flag pattern with sights on the $3,000 to $3,100 resistance zone. A bull flag is a continuation pattern that follows a sharp rally (black flagpole) to $2,730 from $1,900, with the current range forming the flag. 

Ethereum 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A bullish breakout above $2,600 could target $3,600, which is calculated by adding the flagpole height to the breakout point, but the immediate key area of interest remains between the resistance range at $3,100-$3,000. 

Bancor, the creator of a smart contract-based automated market maker, is suing Uniswap for patent infringement, alleging the decentralized finance exchange has used its technology without permission and profited significantly from it.

According to the May 20 announcement of the lawsuit, Bancor designed the technology in 2016 and patented it in January 2017. The technology underpins the “constant product automated market maker,” which involves using mathematics to add or withdraw resources from a liquidity pool. The application subsequently led to two issued patents.

Bancor alleges that Uniswap used the invention to create its protocol, launched in November 2018. The two organizations are considered competitors in the sector of decentralized finance (DeFi).

“When an organization continuously uses our invention without our authorization and does so as a means of competing with us, we must take action,” said Mark Richardson, project lead at Bancor.

At the time of publication, Uniswap had not publicly responded to the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Key takeaways:

An end-of-month Bitcoin price close above $102,400 would set the highest monthly close ever, proving the bull market continues at a rapid pace.

Over $3 billion in Bitcoin short positions are vulnerable above $107,000, creating a “liquidation magnet” that could send BTC price to new highs.

Bitcoin (BTC) is 11 days from potentially setting its highest monthly candle close in history. After achieving a record weekly close of $106,407 on May 18, BTC could secure a new monthly high by closing above $102,400 this month.

Bitcoin 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

With respect to its current market trend, Bitcoin is inches away from a ‘price discovery’ period, as noted by crypto trader Jelle.

Five years ago, Brian Armstrong wanted employees of his cryptocurrency exchange to refrain from expressing political views at work. Now, the Coinbase CEO seems to be open to involvement with Republican figures, including members of US President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

In a May 13 X post, Armstrong said members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, spearheaded by Elon Musk, though not set up as an actual department, would be welcome to implement cost-cutting changes at Coinbase after leaving the US government.

Armstrong offered to set up an accelerated onboarding process with the exchange, responding to an interview in which at least one DOGE staffer felt ostracized from Harvard University, where he had been enrolled.

“If you are looking for your next mission after serving your country, consider helping create a more efficient financial system for the world at Coinbase,” Armstrong said.

Since assuming a government position at the White House in January, Musk and the DOGE team have faced criticism from both sides of the aisle over their cuts, which often forced out or fired experienced employees without proper notice.

Artificial intelligence platform Validation Cloud has launched a new large language model on the Hedera network, potentially giving decentralized finance users the ability to reach blockchain data in a more accessible way.

The Mavrik-1 AI engine has been deployed on Hedera, with several other planned integrations expected during a public rollout later this year, Validation Cloud’s team told Cointelegraph. 

The AI engine is designed to allow users to interact with DeFi protocols and access blockchain data through natural language queries without needing technical expertise or knowledge. 

Mavrik-1 uses live onchain data trained for DeFi, stablecoins and other blockchain applications. 

Hedera DeFi metrics, including total value locked (TVL), decentralized exchange volume and stablecoin activity. Source: DefiLlama

“Despite DeFi accounting for over 50% of all onchain activity, accessing and interpreting that data remains a major hurdle for most users and institutions,” Validation Cloud told Cointelegraph, asserting that existing blockchain data tools like Dune, Flipside and Nansen are harder to grasp for users who aren’t well versed in the industry.