Decentral Block Post

Strategy, a Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company, is accumulating Bitcoin at a faster rate than total miner output, giving the supply-capped asset a -2.33% annual deflation rate, according to CryptoQuant CEO and market analyst Ki Young Ju.

"Their 555,000 BTC is illiquid with no plans to sell," the analyst wrote in a May 10 X post. "Strategy's holdings alone mean a -2.23% annual deflation rate — likely higher with other stable institutional holders," Ju continued.

Michael Saylor, the co-founder of Strategy, is an outspoken Bitcoin advocate who evangelizes the scarce digital currency to potential investors and has inspired many other companies to adopt a Bitcoin treasury plan.

Additionally, Strategy acts as a bridge between Bitcoin and traditional financial (TradFi) markets by funneling funds from TradFi investors into Bitcoin through selling corporate debt and equity, which the company uses to finance more BTC purchases. According to Michael Saylor, over 13,000 institutions hold Strategy stock directly in their portfolios.

Bitcoin investors continue to watch the company and its effect on Bitcoin market dynamics. Strategy leads the charge toward institutional adoption of Bitcoin, further restricting the supply of available coins and raising BTC prices, while dampening volatility.

Opinion by: Kevin Rusher, founder of RAAC

It’s a volatile world out there. This year, we’ve seen stocks take a wild ride as gold has pumped and crypto has been caught somewhere in the middle. Investors have dumped risk assets and scrambled for safe havens. Gold is leading the charge.

While gold is safe, it is not very hard-working. Unlike cash and treasuries, the yellow metal does not generate income. Now, more than ever, investors need to be able to earn yield on gold — particularly in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

The only way to make money from gold is to buy low and sell high. Most investors don’t tend to buy gold like this. That’s for good reason — over the long term, gold’s performance is typically consistent, if not without a few peaks and troughs here and there, as we have recently seen.

For example, after the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold soared 148% but stagnated for nearly a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered another rally, and it's likely we will see gold hold, if not fall from it's new record high once markets revive. While it remains an excellent hedge, gold’s long-term track record is not a growth story.

After 4chan was hacked on April 14 and vast troves of user and moderator data were leaked online, the controversial website quickly went down, and many believed it would never recover. However, less than two weeks later, the imageboard was back online, defiant as ever.

“4chan is back,” an official blog post proclaimed. “No other website can replace it, or this community. No matter how hard it is, we are not giving up.”

The imageboard has left its mark on the world in many consequential ways, birthing countless memes and conspiracy theories, serving as a platform for political movements ranging from the alt-right to Anonymous, and acting as a dumping ground for leaks and hacks of all sorts. 

Crypto is no exception, with 4chan also a historically influential gathering place to share altcoin alpha, coordinate campaigns to pump tokens, share price prophesies and more.

With the imageboard back from the dead, here are just a few of the ways it has influenced the crypto space during its storied history.

On April 29, UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves unveiled plans for a “comprehensive regulatory regime” aimed at making the country a global leader in digital assets.

Under the proposed rules, crypto exchanges, dealers, and agents will be regulated similarly to traditional financial firms, with requirements for transparency, consumer protection, and operational resilience, the UK Treasury said in a statement released following Reeves’ remarks.

Per the statement, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Order 2025 introduces six new regulated activities, including crypto trading, custody, and staking.

Rather than opting for a light-touch regime similar to the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), the UK is applying the full weight of securities regulation to crypto, according to UK-based law firm Wiggin. That includes capital requirements, governance standards, market abuse rules, and disclosure obligations.

“The UK’s draft crypto regulations represent a meaningful step toward embracing a rules-based digital asset economy,” Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy at Circle, told Cointelegraph.

Hong Kong-based fintech firm RedotPay has reportedly launched its cryptocurrency-enabled payment cards in South Korea, positioning itself as a potential disruptor in a market dominated by traditional credit card firms and mobile payment services.

The company’s crypto debit cards — both physical and virtual — are now accepted at all Korean merchants that support Visa, according to a May 9 report by The Korea Economic Daily.

The move marks RedotPay’s latest step in global expansion, following its earlier partnership with Visa and BIN sponsor StraitsX in February 2025 to enhance cross-border crypto payment capabilities.

RedotPay, founded in 2023, has rapidly scaled since the soft launch of its crypto card program in late 2024. It now serves more than 4 million users worldwide.

In South Korea, users can receive a virtual card for $10 or a physical card for $100, with minimal verification requirements, including name, address, and ID.

Robert Kiyosaki, businessman and best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is once again sounding the alarm on the dangers of centralized monetary policy, urging his followers to abandon what he calls “fake money” and adopt alternatives like Bitcoin, gold, and silver.

In a May 10 post on X, Kiyosaki backed a hardline stance against central banking systems, particularly the Federal Reserve, while quoting former US Congressman Ron Paul.

Ron Paul, a longtime critic of the Fed and author of End the Fed, described interest rate setting by central banks as “price fixing,” equating it to socialist and Marxist economic control.

Paul warned that such mechanisms erode personal wealth and undermine economic freedom — a sentiment that aligns closely with Kiyosaki’s long-held concerns.

“Fake money leads to dishonest money, dishonest statistics, dishonest accounting, dishonest balance sheets, dishonest compensation, dishonest relations, dishonest leaders, and corruption in everyday life,” Kiyosaki wrote.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) capped off the trading week with another day of inflows, pulling in $356.2 million on May 9. The fund has now extended its inflow streak to 19 consecutive days — its longest run of inflows so far this year.

IBIT’s inflow streak has been ongoing since April 14, and has coincided with a volatile Bitcoin (BTC) market, with the asset trading between $83,152 and $103,000 over the period.

However, market sentiment has been increasing after the asset reclaimed and held above the $90,000 price on April 23 before reclaiming the $100,000 price on May 8 for the first time since Feb. 1.

Bitcoin ETFs ticking along as Bitcoin price spikes

Over the past trading week alone, IBIT posted $1.03 billion in inflows, according to Farside data.

Prior to the current 19-day streak, IBIT’s longest inflow streak in 2025 was a nine-day stretch surrounding US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, spanning from Jan. 15 to Jan. 28.

A group of Democratic senators has reportedly sent a letter to leadership at the US Department of Justice and the Treasury Department expressing concerns about US President Donald Trump’s ties to cryptocurrency exchange Binance and potential conflicts of interest in regulating the industry.

According to a May 9 Bloomberg report, Democratic senators asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to report on the steps Binance had taken as part of its November 2023 plea agreement with US authorities, amid reports that Trump and his family had deepened connections with the exchange.

That settlement saw Binance pay more than $4 billion as part of a deal with the Justice Department, Treasury, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and had then-CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao step down.

However, since Trump won the presidency in 2024, many lawmakers have accused the president of corruption from profiting off crypto while being in a position to influence laws and regulations over the industry.

Trump has launched his own memecoin — which earns the project millions of dollars in transaction fees — and offered the top tokenholders the opportunity to attend an exclusive dinner in Washington, DC.

Sovereign Wealth Funds are already gaining exposure to Bitcoin, but significant allocations won’t happen until the United States establishes clearer regulations for the digital assets industry, says SkyBridge founder Anthony Scaramucci.

“I think they are buying it, I think they are buying it on the margin,” Scaramucci, former White House director of communications during US President Donald Trump’s first term, said on Anthony Pompliano’s podcast on May 8.

Legislation will lead to “large blocks of buying”

“I don’t think it is going to be a gigantic groundswell of buying until we greenlight legislation in the United States,” he added. Scaramucci previously said in a February interview with the Financial Times that he expects the US government to propose crypto legislation in November.

SWFs are government-owned investment funds that manage national savings, often built from surplus revenues like oil profits or trade gains. Norway has the largest SWF in the world, with approximately $1.73 trillion in assets under management, followed by China with $1.33 trillion, according to data from Visual Capitalist.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) market cap is approximately $2.05 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor says Bitcoin hasn’t reached $150,000 yet because holders without a long-term outlook have been selling off while a new cohort of investors are beginning to enter the market.

“I think we’re going through a rotation right now,” Saylor said on the Coin Stories podcast with Natalie Brunell on May 9.

The lack of “10-year investor mindset” led to Bitcoin sell-off

Saylor said “lots of non-economically interested parties are rotating out of the asset.” However, at the same time, “a new cohort of investors are entering.”

“A lot of Bitcoin, for whatever reason, was left in the hands of the governments and the hands of lawyers, and in the hands of bankruptcy trustees,” he added.

Saylor said that many of these trustees do not have a “10-year investors mindset,” and as Bitcoin’s (BTC) price began to rally, they took advantage and “thought this is a good exit point to get liquidity.”

Key takeaways:

ETH price rallied by 22% on May 8, but demand for spot ETH ETFs and derivatives remains muted. 

President Trump’s reversal on certain altcoins aligns with ETH’s renewed outlook. 

Ether (ETH) posted an impressive 29% gain between May 8 and May 9, likely marking the end of a 10-week bear market that bottomed out at $1,385 on April 9. This sharp move triggered the liquidation of over $400 million in short (sell) ETH futures positions, suggesting that whales and market makers were caught off guard.

Despite the surge, traders have maintained a neutral stance in ETH derivatives. Whether this apparent lack of conviction reflects a genuine trend reversal or merely precedes another test of the $2,000 level remains to be seen.

The newly launched DOOD token from Ethereum-based NFT project Doodles has seen a steep drop in market capitalization following its May 9 airdrop on the Solana network.

According to data from DEX Screener, DOOD’s market cap fell from over $100 million shortly after launch to around $60 million at the time of writing.

Overall, the much-anticipated airdrop was “[d]efinitely underwhelming,” a crypto commentator said in a May 9 X post. 

Related: Doodles NFT sales surge 97% ahead of DOOD token airdrop

Falling NFT values

Joining the trend, NFTs in Doodle’s flagship collection sharply dropped in value on May 9.

Key Takeaways:

Solana's 15% surge and potential close above the 50-week EMA signal strong bullish momentum, which previously led to a 515% rally in 2024.

The $120 million in liquidity bridged to Solana reflects growing network confidence.

Solana (SOL) price gained 18% this week, signaling rising bullish momentum. The altcoin is approaching a pivotal point, with a potential close above the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA), a level that has historically catalyzed significant rallies.

In March, SOL dipped below the 50-week EMA and briefly dropped under $100 on April 7. Since then, Solana has staged a strong recovery, reclaiming key EMA levels (100W and 200W), with the 50-week EMA (blue line) now in focus.

Wall Street giant BlackRock met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Crypto Task Force to discuss staking within crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) and tokenization of securities. The discussion could advance institutional interest in the crypto industry.

According to a May 9 memo published by the task force, BlackRock sought to “[d]iscuss perspectives on treatment of staking, including considerations for facilitating ETPs with staking capabilities.” The company has previously said that Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds, while successful, are less perfect without staking.

Other crypto ETF issuers share that view. On Feb. 15, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a rule change to introduce staking services for Grayscale’s spot Ether ETFs. In April, the SEC delayed a decision on whether to approve or disapprove the rule change. BlackRock and Grayscale are behind the largest Ether ETFs by market capitalization, according to Sosovalue.

Many blockchains rely on proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms that allow users to lock their native coins for yield. A potential SEC approval of staking for Ether ETFs could lead to future requests among altcoins, including Solana (SOL) ETFs.

Tokenization on the agenda

BlackRock also discussed “tokenization of securities under federal securities regulatory framework.” Securities are traditional financial instruments where the investor expects monetary gain, such as bonds and stocks. Tokenizing securities has many benefits, including faster settlement times, lower costs than with traditional finance infrastructure, and 24-hour markets.

US Vice President JD Vance will speak at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, roughly a year after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at the same event.

According to a May 9 notice from the event’s organizers, Vance will address conference attendees in person on May 28, making him the first sitting US vice president to speak at a digital asset conference.

Trump provided a pre-recorded video of himself from the White House to the organizers of the Digital Asset Summit in March — his first appearance at a crypto event since taking office in January — and spoke in person at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville while campaigning.

Though Vance is a Bitcoin (BTC) holder — he holds $250,000 to $500,001 worth of the cryptocurrency, according to a financial disclosure filed in August 2024 — it’s unclear whether the vice president intends to make a substantive policy statement at the event. Cointelegraph reached out to Vance’s office for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.

Related: Resurfaced clip shows Trump’s VP pick slamming Gensler’s approach to crypto

Key points:

Bitcoin holding $100,000 as a level of support would confirm the current trend change.

Ether leads among altcoins, and DeFi tokens could follow.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke above the psychologically critical $100,000 level on May 8, and the bulls are trying to hold on to the level on May 9. In an X post, CoinGlass said that Bitcoin’s rally resulted in $837.80 million in short liquidations in a 24-hour period, the largest since 2021.

Bitcoin’s rally also lifted several major altcoins, which soared above their respective overhead resistance levels. The altcoin rally was led by Ether (ETH), which surged roughly 22% on May 8, triggering a $328 million liquidation of Ether short positions.

Mining firm TeraWulf reported a net loss of approximately $61.4 million in its earnings for the first quarter of 2025, further deteriorating from the same period last year.

Revenue fell to $34.4 million from $42.4 million in the same period of 2024, according to the company's earnings report, published May 9. Cost of revenue rose sharply to $24.5 million, up from $14.4 million a year earlier.

As a result, TeraWulf's cost of revenue accounted for 71.4% of total income from operations in Q1 2025, more than double the 34% recorded in the prior-year quarter. In Q1 2024, the company posted a net loss of $9.6 million.

TeraWulf attributed the decreased revenue to Bitcoin's (BTC) post-halving economics that reduced the block subsidy from 6.25 BTC per block mined to 3.125 BTC per block mined, rising network difficulty, and severe weather in the upstate New York area that is home to a TeraWulf mining facility.

The company is not alone in posting losses for the quarter, as the already competitive mining industry faces reduced block rewards and the macroeconomic uncertainty of geopolitical trade tensions that have created turmoil for financial markets and businesses alike.

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade doesn’t pose a threat to decentralization, according to Mallesh Pai, senior research director at blockchain software firm Consensys, describing the update as a cleanup of the behind-the-scenes “busy work” currently handled by validators.

During a May 9 Cointelegraph X Space, Pai said a validator’s chances of proposing a block or earning rewards remain tied to how much ETH they hold, adding that larger validators don’t gain any new advantages under the upgrade:

Pectra is Ethereum’s most extensive network upgrade since the Merge took place in September 2022. Pectra allows validators to stake as much as 2,048 ETH, up from the previous limit of 32 ETH. The new standard has raised community concerns about the risks of centralization on the network.

According to Pai, the Pectra upgrade has taken “a bunch of busy work that the network was doing behind the scenes and removed it.”

Pai noted that while there are about a million technical validators on Ethereum, many aren’t truly distinct — large validators often operate numerous virtual keys from a single physical machine. With the Pectra upgrade, those keys can now be consolidated — something he says they are already seeing.

A group of Democratic senators has reportedly sent a letter to leadership at the US Department of Justice and the Treasury Department expressing concerns about US President Donald Trump’s ties to cryptocurrency exchange Binance and potential conflicts of interest in regulating the industry.

According to a May 9 Bloomberg report, Democratic senators asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to report on the steps Binance had taken as part of its November 2023 plea agreement with US authorities, amid reports that Trump and his family had deepened connections with the exchange.

That settlement saw Binance pay more than $4 billion as part of a deal with the Justice Department, Treasury, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and had then-CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao step down.

However, since Trump won the presidency in 2024, many lawmakers have accused the president of corruption from profiting off crypto while being in a position to influence laws and regulations over the industry.

Trump has launched his own memecoin — which earns the project millions of dollars in transaction fees — and offered the top tokenholders the opportunity to attend an exclusive dinner in Washington, DC. His family-backed crypto venture World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, MGX, would settle a $2 billion investment in Binance using the platform’s USD1 stablecoin.

Law enforcement detained the wrong person for a 2022 scam that pilfered more than $1 million worth of Bored Ape non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cybersecurity researcher ZachXBT said. 

In a May 9 X post, ZachXBT said he identified the wallet behind the scam and linked it to an X account that has since been deleted. 

But in 2023, law enforcement detained Sam Curry, a former Yuga Labs security researcher, at an airport as a suspect in the incident, ZachXBT said. Yuga Labs is the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. 

“It’s unfortunate to see how a security researcher was detained when stronger leads on a threat actor potentially responsible exist,” ZachXBT said.

Related: Crypto sleuth ZachXBT says he unmasked 50x Hyperliquid whale