Decentral Block Post

World Network, the digital identity and crypto project of Sam Altman’s OpenAI, has alarmed privacy activists ahead of its United States launch, with observers concerned over its data collection and protection practices.

World “is the opposite of privacy. It’s a trap,” said Nick Almond, CEO of FactoryDAO, on X. While the project claims to protect user privacy in the age of proliferating AI, it’s faced a slew of regulatory concerns across the globe.

Formerly known as “Worldcoin,” the iris-scanning technology and its crypto token payout scheme are being probed by authorities in India, South Korea, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, Portugal, Kenya and Indonesia. In Spain, Hong Kong and Brazil, it’s outright banned.

World’s latest foray into the US could prove to be CEO Sam Altman’s biggest challenge yet, where privacy concerns are heightened by a patchwork of enforcement that differs state by state.

Varying privacy laws could leave World users open to discrimination

On April 30, Altman announced that World would set up in “key innovation hubs” in five states in the US: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco. Would-be verified humans can scan their irises at these hubs, giving World unique biomedical markers. 

Crypto venture capital deals in the first quarter of 2025 saw deal values jump even as the number of deals sank from the same quarter a year ago, says PitchBook.

The venture research firm said in its May 14 Crypto VC Trends report for Q1 that 405 deals were made in the quarter, down 39.5% from the 670 deals made in Q1 2024, but slightly up from the 372 made in Q4 last year.

However, the total value of deals in Q1 more than doubled from a year ago, jumping to $6 billion compared to $2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024 and doubling from $3 billion in Q4 2024.

PitchBook's senior crypto research analyst Robert Le said that despite macroeconomic turmoil over the quarter, “capital continued to seek crypto’s core utility rails.”

VCs poured nearly $2.55 billion across 16 deals into businesses like crypto asset managers, exchanges, and financial services at a rate that far surpassed any other segment.

Once a go-to swapper for hackers and drainers, eXch was shut down by German police in April — but continued activity suggests the story isn’t over.

Without Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, eXch wasn’t your typical crypto exchange. It acted more like an instant swapper, allowing bad actors and cybercriminals to fly under the radar for years.

Among its clients was the Lazarus Group. The North Korean state-backed hacking unit thrust eXch into the spotlight back in February, when it used the platform to funnel some of the $1.4 billion it stole from Bybit. When Bybit traced its stolen funds to eXch, it requested assistance — but the platform refused.

This led to a fierce discussion over privacy versus security, but ultimately, eXch announced it would close its doors on April 17; on April 30, German authorities made it official.

But according to security firm TRM Labs, the platform may have continued operating in stealth mode after the takedown. Here’s the rise, fall and afterlife of alleged crypto laundromat eXch.

Two former executives of the bankrupt crypto lending service Cred have pleaded guilty to wire fraud connected to the company’s collapse.

Former Cred CEO Daniel Schatt and chief financial officer Joseph Podulka admitted to wire fraud as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, according to a May 13 text filing in a California District Court.

District Judge William Alsup accepted the plea deals and set a sentencing hearing for Aug. 26. Wire fraud can carry up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for individuals and $500,00 for businesses.

Law360 reported that as part of the plea agreement, Schatt and Podulka admitted to selectively presenting positive “information [while] failing to disclose negative news” as part of a plan to “induce customers to lend their US currency and digital currencies to Cred.”

Federal prosecutors have reportedly submitted a possible sentence range of up to 72 months for Schatt and up to 62 months for Podulka. Schatt and Podulka were facing 13 charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

Bitcoin-buying medical device firm Semler Scientific has seen its share price drop after the bell as its first-quarter revenues fell and losses deepened from the year-ago quarter.

In its Q1 earnings report released May 13, Semler reported its total revenues fell 44% from the year-ago quarter to $8.8 million, with its net losses hitting $64.7 million compared to a net income of $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2024.

Shares in Semler Scientific (SMLR) closed the May 13 trading session up over 5% but fell 1.91% to $36 after the bell with its earnings announcement, according to Google Finance. Semler’s stock is down over 32% so far this year.

The company said it purchased 894 Bitcoin (BTC) over Q1 and held 3,192 BTC at a fair value of $263.5 million at the end of the quarter, which reflected a cumulative decrease of $16.9 million.

Semler added that between the end of Q1 and May 12, it purchased 616 BTC for a total cost of $59.6 million, increasing its holdings to 3,808 BTC at a fair value of $387.9 million at a purchase cost of $340 million.

Thailand’s Ministry of Finance reportedly plans to issue $150 million worth of digital investment tokens, allowing retail investors to buy government bonds.

The Bangkok Post reported on May 13 that Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira announced the initiative at a briefing after the cabinet endorsed the plan. He added that the tokens will be launched within the next two months.

The so-called “G-tokens” will be used to raise funds from the public under the current budget borrowing plan, said Patchara Anuntasilpa, director-general of the Public Debt Management Office. He added that these were not debt instruments.

“One big selling point of the token is that it allows more retail investors to become part of the digital economy,” he said, adding that for as little as $3, “they can invest in government bonds.” 

Until recently, retail investors have been limited or excluded from large investment product offerings in Thailand, which are predominantly aimed at institutional and wealthy investors.

Crypto and stock trading platform eToro has boosted the size of its initial public offering to $620 million by pricing its shares above its previously suggested range.

The platform and its backers sold over 11.92 million shares for $52 each, which are slated to start trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 14 under the ticker symbol ETOR, eToro said in a May 13 press release.

Initially, the firm aimed to raise $500 million by offering 10 million shares priced between $46 to $50 each.

The share offering will remain open until at least May 15 and consists of more than 5.9 million shares sold by eToro and 5.9 million shares sold by specific existing shareholders.

The Israel-based eToro will go public as a rival to Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD), which went public in July 2021 and whose shares are up over 67% year to date, according to Google Finance. 

A Colorado-incorporated firm has been linked to a Chinese illicit marketplace that has served scammers in Southeast Asia and has been used to channel billions of dollars worth of crypto.

The marketplace, called Xinbi Guarantee, has received $8.4 billion, primarily in Tether (USDT) stablecoin transactions to date, blockchain security firm Elliptic reported on May 13. 

Merchants on the Chinese-language, Telegram-based illicit marketplace sell technology, personal data, and money laundering services to Southeast Asian scammers who target victims using pig butchering scams. 

On its website, Xinbi describes itself as an “investment and capital guarantee group company” and claims to operate through Xinbi Co. Ltd, a Colorado-incorporated company incorporated in 2022. 

“In January 2025, the corporation was updated to ‘Delinquent’ for failing to file a periodic report,” Elliptic reported.

Disclaimer: This article contains a video that may be disturbing for some readers.

A brazen attempt to kidnap the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, the co-founder and CEO of French crypto exchange Paymium, was foiled after the daughter and passersby reportedly fought off the kidnappers.

Three masked men attacked Noizat’s daughter and a male partner on May 13 while she was walking with her son in Paris’ 11th district. The assailants tried to force Noizat’s daughter and her son into a waiting van, the French state-owned media outlet France24 reported on May 13.

The accompanying male partner was assaulted when he tried to intervene, but Noizat’s daughter resisted and managed to take one of the guns off an assailant in a scuffle and throw it away, police said.

En plein Paris, un homme a été violenté par des individus cagoulés, habillés tout en noir. Ils tentaient de l'enlever. Un homme a surgi, extincteur à la main, pour les faire fuir. →https://t.co/P0qV6PR40v pic.twitter.com/9f4r2Gi7ho

Stablecoin issuer Tether bought $458.7 million worth of Bitcoin for Twenty One Capital, a Bitcoin investment firm it backed that’s awaiting the completion of a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with Cantor Equity Partners.

Tether snapped up 4,812.2 Bitcoin (BTC) at $95,319 each and transferred it to an escrow wallet on May 9, Cantor Equity Partners disclosed in a May 13 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

It brings Twenty One’s total Bitcoin holdings to 36,312 BTC, as Cantor Equity Partners holds 31,500 BTC on behalf of the firm, which will trade under the ticker XXI once the SPAC merger is complete.

Twenty One’s CEO, Jack Mallers, said on May 13 that they’re already in the approval process of the merger, but didn’t give an exact estimate on when the transaction would be complete.

Twenty One is already the third largest corporate Bitcoin holder, trailing only Strategy and Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings at 568,840 Bitcoin and 48,237 Bitcoin, respectively, BitcoinTreasuries.net data shows.

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin price holds above $100,000, driven by "risk-on" sentiment after the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped to 20.

The Bitcoin Bull Score Index surged to 80, and the Fear & Greed Index suggests growing optimism, with historical patterns indicating potential for further price gains.

Bitcoin (BTC) price continues to consolidate higher above $100,000 after the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped to its 30-year average of 20, down from a peak of 60 earlier in 2025. This decline follows a US-China trade deal on May 12, which introduced a 90-day tariff pause and a 115% reduction on both sides.

The agreement has fueled a "risk-on" sentiment, boosting Bitcoin and equities as investors lean into higher-risk assets, according to Bitcoin network economist Timothy Peterson. The analyst said, 

Two US senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “exercise [the department’s] authority” and change a provision affecting taxes on corporate holdings of digital assets.

In a May 12 letter, Senators Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno suggested Bessent had the authority to change the definition of “adjusted financial statement income” under existing US law in a way that could reduce what digital asset companies pay in taxes. The proposed adjustment was suggested as a way to modify a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022.

“Our edge in digital finance is at risk if US companies are taxed more than foreign competitors,” said Lummis in a May 13 X post.

According to the two senators, the proposed modification would provide “relief to corporations that invest in digital assets.” Lummis has been one of the most outspoken digital asset advocates in Congress, while Moreno took office in January after crypto-backed political action committees spent roughly $40 million to support his 2024 Senate race.

Related: Arizona governor kills two crypto bills, cracks down on Bitcoin ATMs

CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm with offices in the United States and Europe, said its net profit fell to $24 million in the first quarter of 2025, a 42.2% decrease from the same period a year ago.

Although CoinShares’s profits and EBITDA remained positive in Q1 2025, the margins declined compared to the same period in 2024. Last year, CoinShares posted a net profit of $41.5 million and an EBITDA of $35.5 million in the first three months. Year-over-year, CoinShares’s net profit dropped 42.2% and its EBITDA fell 15.5%.

The firm’s ETPs contributed to the quarter's performance. For Q1 2025, CoinShares’s ETPs saw net inflows of $268 million, with $202 million coming from its Physical Bitcoin (BITC) ETP. Revenue related to assets under management increased from $24.5 million to $29.6 million, a rise of 20.8%.

Year-to-date, CoinShares’s stock is down 9.4%, according to Google Finance.

In a letter to shareholders, the company's CEO, Jean-Marie Mognetti, said macroeconomic headwinds during the quarter exceeded market movements. “What we are witnessing is not mere market volatility — it is a wholesale transformation of the global economic order.”

Coinbase has partnered with Canadian stablecoin issuer Stablecorp in a bid to expand access to tokenized Canadian dollars, a company executive told Cointelegraph during the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto.

According to Coinbase Canada's CEO, Lucas Matheson, the exchange is investing an undisclosed amount in Stablecorp and will help market its fiat-collateralized stablecoin, QCAD.

“It’s really important that we have a stablecoin for Canadians,” Matheson told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview on May 13, adding that stablecoins are especially urgent because the country has “no peer-to-peer [payment] rail” and “wire transfers cost $45 and take 45 minutes of paperwork.”

“With stablecoins, 24/7, instant, borderless payments become possible — this is already feasible with existing tech,” he said. 

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

Key takeaways:

Solana's $10.9 billion TVL surpassed the entire Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem.

Solana’s 30-day fee revenue ($43.4 million) rose 109% compared to the previous month.

SOL’s 8% funding rate shows healthy leverage demand from bulls.

Solana’s native token SOL (SOL) surged 24.8% between May 6 and May 10, following the broader altcoin market rally after Bitcoin broke above $100,000. Since then, SOL has struggled to stay above $180, but derivatives and onchain data still suggest further gains are in store.

Proponents of a bill to regulate stablecoins in the US Congress will likely take up another vote on the legislation in a matter of days without responding to concerns about President Donald Trump’s financial ties to the cryptocurrency industry.

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, failed to get enough votes to pass in the US Senate on May 8 amid calls from some Democratic lawmakers to halt any legislation related to digital assets until Republicans could address Trump’s potential conflicts of interest.

Immediately following the vote, some lawmakers from both parties suggested they could reconsider the bill as early as this week, but without agreeing on a bipartisan path forward.

After the GENIUS Act failed to proceed in a 48 to 49 vote in the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune made a motion to reconsider, setting up a possible vote on the matter within days. A source familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph Republicans who backed the bill were unlikely to modify it to block Trump or any member of his administration from investing in digital assets, claiming it was beyond Congress’s authority under the Constitution.

“[...] this delay is not inherently detrimental,“ said Liat Shetret, vice president of global policy and regulation at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. “We can expect the bill to return to the floor, with this pause giving both parties time to clarify provisions and address lawmakers’ concerns.”

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin price maintains its bullish momentum, but a sentiment indicator suggests the market could be overheating. 

Data highlights Bitcoin traders taking profits and a lopsided market angled toward longs.

Analysts warn of a potential short-term correction, especially if gold weakens or seasonal trends play out.

Optimism has returned to the crypto markets, and many traders believe Bitcoin (BTC) price is on the path to new all-time highs. In just one month, Bitcoin surged 39%, briefly crossing the $105,000 mark. According to Glassnode analysts, “there are signs of renewed market strength, and the market is trading within a profit-dominated regime.”

Key Takeaways:

Declining Bitcoin dominance and rising strength in altcoins and memecoins could be a sign that it’s altseason.

USDT dominance could drop to 2022 lows, indicating an accelerating capital rotation into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The cryptocurrency market shows signs that an altseason, a period where altcoins significantly outperform Bitcoin (BTC), could be on the horizon. Technical charts and market sentiment align to suggest that May 2025 might start a broader altcoin rally, driven by key indicators and shifting capital flows.

The TOTAL2 chart, representing the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, excluding Bitcoin, has broken above a downtrend line in place since January 2025. This breakout is accompanied by a bullish break of structure (BOS) on the daily chart, forming higher-low patterns.

Investment firm VanEck is launching a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) fund that offers exposure to US Treasury bills, developed in partnership with tokenization platform Securitize. The initiative places VanEck among a growing number of traditional finance firms entering the RWA tokenization space.

The fund, called VBILL, will be initially available on Avalanche, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Solana blockchains, VanEck said in a May 13 statement. The fund's minimum subscriptions start at $100,000 for investments running on Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Solana, while the minimum subscription on Ethereum is $1 million.

VanEck joins a burgeoning field of traditional financial firms that have launched RWA tokenized funds, with competitors including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton. In January, Apollo, an investment firm with $751 billion in assets under management, also launched a private credit tokenized fund.

With a market capitalization of $6.9 billion, US Treasurys are among the largest asset classes in tokenized funds, second only to private credit, according to data from RWA.xyz.

VanEck’s partner, Securitize, has tokenized over $3.9 billion in assets. In May 2024, it raised $47 million in a strategic funding round led by BlackRock.

Key points:

Bitcoin fails to capitalize on lower-than-expected US CPI data, seeing a Wall Street sell-off for a second day.

Traders see BTC/USD buying time before its next move, and a trip below $100,000 is on the cards.

Bitcoin is showing “undeniable” momentum against gold and stocks, Binance’s Richard Teng says.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw a repeat sell-off at the May 13 Wall Street open as bears ignored positive US inflation data.