Decentral Block Post

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. 

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. 

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.

A recent proposal that aims to change Bitcoin’s base unit to make it easier to understand as a payment tool has run into opposition, with critics saying Bitcoin’s satoshis are no more confusing than the dollar’s cents.

Bitcoin developer John Carvalho introduced Bitcoin Improvement Proposal-177 on April 23, which seeks to eliminate the concept of satoshis, of which there are 100,000,000 in 1 Bitcoin (BTC), and effectively split Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million into 21 quadrillion units.

It follows a 2017 proposal from Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song to create “bits,” representing one-millionth of 1 Bitcoin. However, Carvalho said Song’s approach would still require Bitcoin users to think about decimals and “shifts complexity rather than eliminating it.”

Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey is among those calling for the change, saying in a May 18 X post that satoshis, or sats, are too confusing for newcomers.

“Bits of Bitcoin is better, and just Bitcoin is best,” Dorsey said.

A group of Coinbase users from Illinois have filed a class-action lawsuit against the crypto exchange, alleging that its identity checks violate the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

Plaintiffs Scott Bernstein, Gina Greeder and James Lonergan claimed in the May 13 lawsuit filed in a federal court that Coinbase’s “wholesale collection” of faceprints for its Know Your Customer requirements violates BIPA, as they weren’t notified.

The group claimed Coinbase failed to notify users in writing of the collection, storage, or sharing of their biometric data and the purpose and retention schedule for their data.

“Coinbase does not publicly provide a retention schedule or guidelines for permanently destroying Plaintiffs’ biometric identifiers as specified by BIPA,” they alleged. 

The complaint said Coinbase requires users to verify their identity by uploading a government-issued photo ID and a selfie, which is then sent to a third-party facial recognition software to scan and extract facial geometry. 

Bitcoin has notched its highest-ever weekly close as crypto market momentum continues and the cryptocurrency is again nearing its all-time high.

Bitcoin (BTC) has closed at a weekly gain for the past six weeks in a row, and its most recent close at midnight UTC on May 18 was its highest weekly close ever at just below $106,500, according to TradingView.

Its last highest weekly close was in December when it reached $104,400. It later went on to reach an all-time high of $109,358 on Jan. 20, according to TradingView. 

Bitcoin is now less than 3% away from its peak price and has gained 2% over the past 24 hours to trade around $104,730 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin also posted its highest-ever close in a 24-hour period on May 18. However, this is not the largest daily gain Bitcoin has made.

An Australian man from the state of Queensland has forfeited Bitcoin, a waterfront mansion and a Mercedes-Benz car after Australian Federal Police claimed the assets could be linked to the proceeds of crime.

The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) said in a May 18 statement that it seized nearly 25 Bitcoin (BTC), alongside the mansion and car, which are together worth a total of 4.5 million Australian dollars ($2.88 million).

The AFP said its investigation began in September 2018 after law enforcement in Luxembourg shared information about suspicious Bitcoin transactions that the agency claimed were connected to the Queensland man, who was previously convicted of hacking a US gaming company.

The AFP claimed its investigation also linked the man to the theft of 950 Bitcoin stolen from a French crypto exchange in 2013.

No criminal charges were laid over the Bitcoin theft; however, the AFP obtained a court forfeiture order of the property, car and Bitcoin in April under the claim that they could not be linked with “identifiable legitimate earnings.”

Vladimir Smerkis, a co-founder of the Telegram-based crypto project Blum, has reportedly been arrested in Moscow, Russia, on fraud allegations, amid Blum confirming he is no longer affiliated with the project.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow approved a request from investigators to keep Smerkis in custody while he is being investigated, Russian state-owned news outlet TASS reported on May 18.

Smerkis — who previously ran operations for Binance in Russia — is suspected of committing fraud on a “large scale,” pursuant to Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, violations of which can result in imprisonment ranging from two to 12 years.

It isn’t clear if charges have been filed against Smerkis.

Russian news outlet Mash tied the fraud allegations against Smerkis to his involvement in The Token Fund and Tokenbox crypto ventures that he co-founded in 2017, where investors reportedly suffered combined losses of around $15 million.

Key points:

Bitcoin’s rally to $105,980 has traders predicting new all-time highs this week.

Traders lift their end-of-year Bitcoin price targets to $200,000 based on technical factors and institutional investor adoption. 

Bitcoin (BTC) has been stuck in a narrow range for the past few days, but the rally above $105,500 on May 18 increases the possibility of an upside breakout. Popular trader Alan said in a post on X that Bitcoin could soar to $116,000 early next week.

Another bullish voice was that of Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan. While speaking to Cointelegraph, Hougan said that a supply shock due to increased institutional demand could propel Bitcoin to $200,000 by the end of 2025. He expects seller exhaustion to occur at the $100,000 level.

Attorneys for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm filed a motion asking the court to reconsider the motion to dismiss the case due to the prosecution withholding exculpatory evidence in the form of communications with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) dating back to 2023.

According to a May 16 letter from Storm's attorneys to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, the FinCEN documents show that non-custodial crypto mixers do not fall under the legal definition of a "money transmitting business" and that prosecutors have known this since at least 2023.

Despite having knowledge of the FinCEN guidance on crypto mixers, state prosecutors still proceeded with cases against the Samourai Wallet developers and Tornado Cash, the attorneys alleged.

US prosecutors denied they withheld the evidence, claiming they submitted the FinCEN communications within the stipulated timeframe to produce the documents for the defense and the court during legal discovery.

Storm's defense cited the same legal documents and the same argument the Samourai Wallet developer’s attorneys posed to the court in a May 5 legal letter. Storm's attorneys wrote:

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said he rejected pressure from a European Union (EU) country to censor political content on the social media platform ahead of the May 18 presidential elections in Romania.

According to Durov, a Western European government, which he hinted at with a baguette emoji, approached the platform and requested it censor conservative voices, which he flatly denied. Durov wrote in a May 18 Telegram post:

The Telegram founder is an ardent defender of free speech, who is highly regarded in the crypto community for his stances on freedom of expression, autonomy, privacy, and individual liberty.

Related: Pavel Durov says Telegram would exit markets before betraying users

Durov thrust into the spotlight following arrest in France

Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August 2024, sparking widespread condemnation from the crypto community and free speech advocates worldwide, who accused the French government of orchestrating a politically-motivated arrest.

Crypto industry executives are beefing up personal security and demanding more bodyguard services in response to a recent string of kidnapping and ransom attempts worldwide — particularly in France — targeting investors and professionals in the sector.

According to a Bloomberg report, Infinite Risks International, a private security firm based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is seeing more inquiries into bodyguard services and more long-term clients signing up for a private security detail.

Additionally, French law enforcement officials recently announced enhanced security measures for crypto entrepreneurs and investors, following at least three separate kidnapping incidents so far in 2025.

The measures include security briefings and expedited access to police lines in the case of emergencies for the entrepreneurs and their families.

French law enforcement authorities also advised crypto investors not to advertise their wealth or wear crypto-branded clothing, lessening their chances of becoming targets. The disturbing string of incidents highlights the need for proactive safety measures and vigilance for crypto investors and industry professionals.

Key points:

Ether price rose 3% to $2,550 on May 18, triggering $22 million in short ETH liquidations.

A bull flag on the chart suggests a $3,700 target, with analysts predicting Bitcoin’s price to go as high as $5,000 in May.

Ether’s (ETH) price was up on May 18, rising more than 2.5% over the last 24 hours to trade at $2,536. This recovery reinforces the optimism among traders that ETH price could hit $3,000 in May, citing strong technicals.

Ether wipes out $7.5 million shorts in an hour

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Bitsamp shows that ETH rose by more than 4.5% to an intraday high of $2,551 on May 18 from a low of $2,440 the previous day.

Opinion by: Igor Mandrigin, co-founder and CTPO of Gateway.fm

Every couple of weeks, it seems another layer 2 rolls out, much to the chagrin of some Web3 industry commentators who are concerned about fragmentation. A recent Gemini Institutional Insights report actually noted how a new Ethereum L2 solution is launched approximately every 19 days. In response to the seemingly endless conveyor belt of new zkEVMs and optimistic rollups coming to market, the chorus of criticism continues to grow louder: “This is definitely the saturation point, no more chains are needed.”

Some of the most outspoken critics of L2s argue that L2s are redundant, but this is narrow thinking. In many ways, the idea that creating new L2s should be slowed down is like arguing that there were too many websites in 1998. The proliferation of L2s is not causing the Web3 space to become overly bloated or fragmented at all. The number of chains today isn’t too many. It’s laughably few, and right now is the early innings of a multi-decade explosion in specialized, modular blockchain infrastructure.

The rise of L2s is far from a passing fad

While some contend that this L2 surge we’ve been experiencing is merely a temporary frenzy led by DeFi degenerates, it’s really an enterprise-grade infrastructure expansion, as banks (including Deutsche Bank), game studios (gaming activity on some L2 blockchains rose by over 20,000% in February 2025), logistics networks and global manufacturers get on board. 

Industries like banking and logistics, which are typically risk-averse, don’t make major tech pivots lightly. They do so because they have to, and in many cases, public blockchains do not meet their needs. Returning to their inherent risk-averse DNA, large enterprises and institutions in these sectors generally won’t want to build on shared, general-purpose L1s. Instead, they’ll want to deploy their own chains where they can enjoy custom performance, predictable costs, jurisdictional compliance and granular-level privacy.

Key points:

Bitcoin is convincing traders that an upside breakout is around the corner, with all-time highs in sight.

One target demands $116,000 next week, moving BTC/USD firmly out of its narrow range.

A quick dip before continuing higher is among the options for BTC price action into the new week.

Bitcoin (BTC) reduced volatility to a minimum into the May 18 weekly close as traders bet on a fresh breakout.

Economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, has weighed in on the ongoing debate over spam inscriptions on the Bitcoin network, suggesting he would “throw in a few sats” to fund a full-time developer focused on making Bitcoin spamming more difficult and expensive.

Ammous made the remarks in response to a thread initiated by the pseudonymous developer GrassFedBitcoin, who called for Bitcoin Core to merge pull request #28408, which would enable node operators to filter inscriptions more easily.

According to GrassFedBitcoin, the lack of inscription filtering tools contributes to unnecessary blockchain bloat and undermines Bitcoin (BTC)’s role as a monetary protocol.

“No one running a node wants to relay inscriptions,” he wrote, arguing that the OP_RETURN limit increases were justified in the past under false assumptions. He pushed for a configurable, default policy discouraging the use of Bitcoin for storing JPEGs rather than monetary data.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back challenged the proposal, describing inscription filtering as an “arms race.” He noted that spam data embedded in Bitcoin transactions can be endlessly modified using code structures, requiring constant updates to filtering tools.