Decentral Block Post

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin’s realized cap has grown by $30 billion since April 20, reflecting steady investor confidence and new capital inflows.

A Bitcoin price consolidation pattern forecasts a potential 10% breakout by next week.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to show strong bullish momentum as fresh capital inflows signal potential new price highs in the coming week. In an X post, Glassnode reported that Bitcoin’s Realized Cap, which measures the total value of BTC based on the price at which each coin last moved, grew by $30 billion since April 20, growing at a 3% monthly rate in May. The current realized cap is $900 billion.

Though slower than the 8% spike in late 2024 when BTC hit $93,000, this growth reflects steady investor confidence and new capital entering the market.

Tanim Rasul, chief operating officer at Canadian crypto exchange NDAX, said Canada “got it wrong” categorizing stablecoins as securities in 2022, and the country needs to realize that every other regulatory regime is looking at stablecoins as payment instruments.

Rasul made the remarks during a panel on May 13 at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto, pointing to Europe's crypto regulatory framework as a model for Canada to consider:

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) classified stablecoins as “securities and/or derivatives” in December 2022, following “recent events in the crypto market,” such as the dramatic collapse of crypto exchange FTX just a month before.

Related: What Canada’s new Liberal PM Mark Carney means for crypto

The agency elaborated on stablecoin rules in February and October of 2023, placing such tokens under the umbrella of “value-referenced crypto assets.”

Key points:

Bitcoin continues to range around $103,000 as bulls struggle to keep upside momentum going.

Traders favor short-term BTC price gains eventually returning, while overall faith in the bull market varies.

Fed rate cuts seem increasingly far off despite encouraging inflation data.

Bitcoin (BTC) hugged familiar territory around the May 14 Wall Street open as traders awaited fresh US macro cues.

Update (May 14 at 6:58 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from the Blockchain Association.

Summer Mersinger, one of four commissioners currently serving at the US financial regulatory body Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will become the next CEO of the digital asset advocacy group the Blockchain Association (BA). 

In a May 14 notice, the Blockchain Association said its current CEO, Kristin Smith, would step down for Mersinger on May 16, allowing an interim head of the group to work until the CFTC commissioner assumes the role on June 2. Though her term at the CFTC was expected to last until April 2028, the BA said Mersinger is set to leave the agency on May 30.

The departure of Mersinger, who has served in one of the CFTC’s Republican seats since 2022, opens the way for US President Donald Trump to nominate another member to the financial regulator. Rules require that no more than three commissioners belong to the same political party. 

Like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the CFTC is one of the significant US financial regulators whose policies impact digital assets. Lawmakers in Congress are currently working to pass a market structure bill to clarify the roles each agency could take in overseeing and regulating crypto.

Opinion by: Mike Cahill, co-founder and CEO of Douro Labs

Despite the institutional frenzy around crypto and the ubiquitous narrative of democratized access to investing, most of the world population is still barred from traditional wealth-building. 

Take the US, for example — here, the top 10% of earners own more than 90% of all stocks. On a global scale, it gets even worse: Billions of individuals don’t have the financial literacy, digital tools or minimum funds required to even access the most basic investment opportunities. 

Traditional institutions must do more than just invest in crypto to ameliorate this disparity — they must start employing digital assets for new use cases altogether. 

The facet of TradFi that is most ripe for disruption is equities. Investing in shares of private companies is an opportunity historically reserved only for the wealthy and hyper-connected. It is often siloed within the most economically advanced nations. Enhancing access to equities worldwide can be achieved, however, by injecting decentralized technology into three fundamental components of our financial system: price, execution and settlement.

The French interior minister reportedly plans to meet cryptocurrency professionals in the aftermath of a violent kidnapping attempt on the family of a crypto exchange executive in Paris.

According to a May 14 France24 report, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has invited crypto professionals to meet him after a brazen attempt to kidnap the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, the co-founder and CEO of French crypto exchange Paymium.

”I will assemble businesspeople working in cryptocurrencies, and we have a few of those in France, at the interior ministry to work with them on their security,” Retailleau reportedly told the Europe 1/CNews broadcaster.

On May 13, three masked men attacked Noizat’s daughter while she was walking in Paris’ 11th district with a man and her son. The attackers tried to force Noizat’s daughter and her son into a white van.

Related: Teens kidnap Las Vegas man at gunpoint, stealing $4M in crypto

Passersby intervened, with one scaring the assailants while brandishing a fire extinguisher before throwing it at them as they fled. The event is now being investigated by local authorities, with the vehicle used being found abandoned nearby on the same day.

Key takeaways:

Ethereum’s market dominance has hit overbought RSI levels not seen since May 2021, historically followed by major pullbacks.

ETH/USD is showing a bearish divergence on the four-hour chart, hinting at a potential 10–15% price correction.

Despite the near-term risks, some analysts view a pullback as a “buy-the-dip” setup before a possible move toward $3,500–$3,800.

Ether (ETH) has surged over 50% month-to-date in May, vastly outperforming the broader crypto market’s 15.25% gain. The rally has pushed Ethereum’s market dominance (ETH.D) toward the critical 10% threshold for the first time since March.

South Korea could soon follow Hong Kong in legalizing spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as the country’s top presidential candidates have expressed pro-crypto positions.

Still, some industry observers remain cautious about the likelihood of near-term regulatory change.

“All three major South Korean presidential candidates support #Bitcoin ETFs and institutional investment,” Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of onchain data platform CryptoQuant, wrote in a May 14 X post.

Currently, Bitcoin ETFs and institutional crypto investments are banned in South Korea, meaning that “100% [of the] volume comes from retail,” Ju added.

Related: Bitcoin more of a ‘diversifier’ than safe-haven asset: Report

An artificial intelligence training image data set developed by decentralized AI solution provider OORT has seen considerable success on Google’s platform Kaggle.

OORT’s Diverse Tools Kaggle data set listing was released in early April; since then, it has climbed to the first page in multiple categories. Kaggle is a Google-owned online platform for data science and machine learning competitions, learning and collaboration.

Ramkumar Subramaniam, core contributor at crypto AI project OpenLedger, told Cointelegraph that “a front-page Kaggle ranking is a strong social signal, indicating that the data set is engaging the right communities of data scientists, machine learning engineers and practitioners.“

Max Li, founder and CEO of OORT, told Cointelegraph that the firm “observed promising engagement metrics that validate the early demand and relevance” of its training data gathered through a decentralized model. He added:

Li also said that OORT plans to release multiple data sets in the coming months. Among those is an in-car voice commands data set, one for smart home voice commands and another for deepfake videos meant to improve AI-powered media verification.

Bitcoin’s fluctuating correlation with US equities is raising questions about its role as a global safe-haven asset during periods of financial stress.

Bitcoin (BTC) exhibited a strong negative correlation with the US stock market when analyzing the short-term, seven-day trailing correlation, according to new research from blockchain data provider RedStone Oracles, shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.

However, RedStone said that the 30-day indicator signals a “variable correlation” between Bitcoin price and the S&P 500 index, with the correlation coefficient ranging from -0.2 to 0.4.

This fluctuating correlation suggests that Bitcoin “doesn’t consistently function as a true hedge for equities” due to its lack of a strong negative correlation below -0.3, which is needed for “reliable counter movement during market stress,” the report said.

Related: $1B Bitcoin exits Coinbase in a day as analysts warn of supply shock

Key takeaways

Fake crypto investment platforms give themselves away in a few obvious ways.

Many use fake reviews, incorrect contact information and unrealistic promises to lure you in.

The best approach is a healthy dose of skepticism. Watching for these red flags will keep you safe while investing.

The burgeoning cryptocurrency market, with its lack of centralized authority and a constant flow of inexperienced users, makes digital assets a prime target for scammers. Fake crypto investment platforms are a common scam method, masquerading as useful services for crypto traders.

Before signing up for any crypto investment platform, it’s essential to learn the telltale signs of a scam. 

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, may become the top publicly traded equity one day, according to a Strategy analyst.

Strategy will be the “number one publicly traded equity in the entire market” because of its future financial strength enabled with Bitcoin (BTC), Strategy analyst Jeff Walton predicted in the new Financial Times documentary, Michael Saylor’s $40 billion Bitcoin bet.

The company currently holds about 568,840 Bitcoin, worth roughly $59 billion, and Walton said that advantage could push it past all other publicly listed firms in the future.

“Strategy holds more of the best assets and the most pristine collateral on the entire planet than any other company, by multiples,” Walton said.

Strategy raised $12 billion in 50 days

The analyst pointed to the firm’s ability to rapidly raise capital as another indicator of its strength. In November 2024, Strategy raised $12 billion in just 50 days.

Kazakhstan has the potential to become a leading crypto hub in Central Asia if regulatory restrictions are eased, according to Kanysh Tuleushin, the country’s first vice minister of digital development, innovation and aerospace industry.

In a recent op-ed for the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper, Tuleushin said digital mining and smart policy shifts could position Kazakhstan as a regional leader in blockchain innovation.

“If all restrictions were lifted and digital asset trading was allowed across Kazakhstan, the impact could be significant,” he wrote.  

“Kazakhstan might become Central Asia’s crypto hub,” Tuleushin added, suggesting that broader legalization and taxation could add hundreds of billions of the country’s tenge currency to the national budget.

He called for nationwide crypto rules, transparent exchanges and legal crypto ATMs.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pushed back its decision on a proposed spot Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), with the cryptocurrency industry now looking to the deadlines for the Polkadot and XRP-based ETFs in June.

The SEC pushed its decision on listing Grayscale’s spot Solana (SOL) Trust ETF on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to October 2025, according to a May 13 filing by the securities regulator.

The decision came the week after the SEC delayed its ruling on Canary Capital’s Litecoin (LTC) ETF, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart wrote in a May 5 X post.

Spot ETFs are viewed as key drivers of liquidity and institutional adoption for digital assets. For Bitcoin (BTC), the US spot Bitcoin ETFs accounted for an estimated 75% of new investment after launching, which helped BTC recapture the $50,000 mark in February 2024, a month after the ETFs debuted for trading.

While a Solana ETF may generate only a fraction of the inflows of Bitcoin ETFs, it could increase Solana’s institutional adoption in the long term by offering investors a “regulated investment vehicle” that may still attract billions of dollars in capital, Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, told Cointelegraph.

High-net-worth clients across Asia are gradually pivoting away from US dollar-based investments, favoring gold, cryptocurrencies and Chinese assets instead, according to financial services giant UBS Group.

“Gold is getting very popular,” Amy Lo, the Swiss bank’s co-head of wealth management for Asia, said during Bloomberg’s New Voices event held in Hong Kong on May 13.

She cited rising geopolitical uncertainty and persistent market volatility as primary factors behind the shift. Investors, traditionally concentrated in US-centric assets, are now seeking broader exposure across alternative asset classes, including crypto, commodities and other currencies.

Lo said “volatility is definitely here to stay,” prompting clients to rebalance toward perceived safe havens and growth opportunities in new regions.

China, after years of muted interest, is also regaining traction among the ultra-wealthy. Lo noted that clients who previously avoided exposure to China are now proactively asking about investment opportunities.

Key points:

Bitcoin miners have stopped selling their BTC in what may signal the end of a lengthy distribution streak.

Over the past month, miner wallet balances have increased by around 2,700 BTC.

Hash Ribbons data shows good times continuing for both miners and BTC price strength.

Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation by miners is back as network participants swap selling for hodling at $75,000 lows.

Global bank Standard Chartered has beefed up its banking support to the cryptocurrency industry by inking a new partnership with the crypto prime broker FalconX.

Standard Chartered will provide a comprehensive suite of banking services to FalconX’s global institutional clients following the strategic partnership announced on May 14.

As part of the collaboration, FalconX will initially integrate Standard Chartered’s banking infrastructure and access to a range of diverse currency pairs for its institutional clients.

The partnership ultimately aims to include a broader range of offerings and mutual opportunities, the announcement noted.

Crypto support beyond banking

The partnership is expected to “expand beyond banking” into additional products and services designed to meet evolving crypto demand from both FalconX and Standard Chartered’s institutional clients.

Former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler may not have been as hostile to crypto behind closed doors as he appeared to be in public, according to former US Representative Patrick McHenry.

In a May 13 appearance on the Crypto in America podcast, McHenry revealed that during private meetings with Gensler, the former regulator expressed a far more nuanced view of digital assets.

“Did he come across, or was he as anti-crypto in private as he did in public?” McHenry was asked. His response: “No… Nope.”

McHenry noted that Gensler “saw the value of digital assets” and acknowledged the potential of blockchain technology during his time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Gerald Gallagher, general counsel at Sei Labs, also noted that Gensler played a role in developing the concept of the airdrop during his academic work, calling it a largely forgotten chapter in his background.

Decentralized settlement protocol Kima has integrated into Mastercard’s sandbox program, enabling stablecoin-powered top-ups for prepaid cards directly from self-custody wallets.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, Mastercard partners can now rely on Kima’s settlement infrastructure to enable their prepaid cards to be topped up with stablecoins, including USDC (USDC) and Tether’s USDt (USDT), from self-custody wallets across more than 10 blockchains.

Kima CEO Eitan Katz said the integration shows that stablecoins can be practical for everyday use, removing friction and intermediaries from crypto-to-fiat conversions while expanding crypto usability.

“Our goal at Kima is to eliminate barriers between digital assets and traditional finance,” Katz said.

Related: Mastercard tokenized 30% of its transactions in 2024