Decentral Block Post

Brokerage fintech Robinhood is reportedly developing a blockchain network that will enable retail investors in Europe to trade US securities.

According to a May 7 Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter, the move seeks to expand the company's local presence by offering trading of tokenized securities, such as stocks.

Two crypto firms, Arbitrum and the Solana Foundation, are reportedly vying to become partners in the project. Tokenization is the process of turning real-world assets, like stocks, real estate, or commodities, into digital tokens that can be traded on a blockchain.

Tokenizing securities instead of providing direct exposure can offer several advantages: reduced costs by eliminating traditional financial infrastructure, enhanced accessibility, faster settlement times, and quicker transactions. More brokerages and investment firms are exploring asset tokenization.

Robinhood has been preparing to enter the European market. In April 2025, it acquired a brokerage license in Lithuania that allows the firm to offer investment services throughout the European Union. Robinhood has also inked a deal in 2024 to purchase crypto exchange Bitstamp.

What to know:

Lyn Alden says a weaker dollar is necessary for the US to stabilize its financial system.

Bitcoin and gold are well-positioned to benefit from de-dollarization.

Sovereign wealth funds and various nations are already increasing their Bitcoin exposure as the dollar’s global dominance starts to wane.

The weakening of the US dollar (DXY) is no longer headline news. With mounting disruptions across the US economy, a declining greenback has become part of the backdrop. Since the start of 2025, the US Dollar Index has dropped 11%, now hovering around levels last seen in April 2022. Markets have largely responded with a shrug. After all, in times of deep restructuring, isn’t some dollar weakness to be expected?

Braden John Karony, the former CEO of crypto firm SafeMoon, made an out-of-court statement claiming innocence as his criminal trial began in New York.

In a May 6 X post after court proceedings had likely ended for the day, Karony said he was innocent and “did not commit fraud” in response to media coverage of his trial. The former CEO, as well as SafeMoon creator Kyle Nagy and former chief technology officer Thomas Smith, were charged in 2023 for having allegedly “diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars’ worth” of the platform’s SFM token.

According to reporting from the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) on May 6, Karony implied that Nagy, who reportedly fled to Russia after authorities filed charges, was responsible for some of the alleged fraud at SafeMoon. On the first day of the trial, after jury selection, Smith reportedly appeared as a witness for the prosecution with a SafeMoon victim.

The trial, expected to run until May 26, has arguably received less media attention and scrutiny than other crypto cases, such as the 2023 trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and the sentencing of former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Karony pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, and has been free on a $3 million bond since February 2024.

Related: What do crypto users want to happen to Alex Mashinsky?

Binance-affiliated BNB Chain has rebounded after a period of stagnation in 2023 amid accelerating institutional and decentralized finance (DeFi) adoption. 

During the past year, BNB Chain has benefited from multibillion-dollar inflows into DeFi, US exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and rising trading volume at affiliated centralized exchange (CEX) Binance. 

Consequently, the blockchain network’s native BNB token (BNB) has emerged as among the market’s most resilient cryptocurrencies, surpassing all-time highs in the first quarter of 2025 even as the broader crypto market trended downward. 

“This resilience isn't just about price action — strong fundamentals also back it,” Joao Wedson, CEO of investing analytics platform Alphractal, said in an April X post. “Binance has built a massive ecosystem where BNB is used extensively,” Wedson added.

Asset manager Standard Chartered expects the BNB token’s price to continue to rise, reaching highs of $2,775 by the end of 2028. As of May 7, BNB trades at around $600 per coin. It has a market capitalization of nearly $85 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Key takeaways:

Reclaiming the $2,200 level remains the first price challenge for ETH. 

ETH price could recover if the Pectra upgrade leads to a surge in DApp and Ethereum network activity. 

Ethereum successfully implemented a key network upgrade on May 7, but Ether (ETH) price and its derivatives metrics showed little response to the upgrade. The lackluster response surprised traders and led analysts to question whether ETH still has a real chance of climbing 22% to retake the $2,200 level.

The ETH futures premium has remained below the 5% neutral threshold, indicating a lack of appetite from leveraged bulls. More significantly, this indicator was unchanged at 3% after the Pectra upgrade, suggesting traders did not adjust their positions despite the upgrade’s successful deployment. 

Onchain sleuth and security analyst ZackXBT claims to have identified an additional $45 million in funds stolen from Coinbase users through social engineering scams in the past seven days alone.

According to the onchain detective, the $45 million figure represents the latest financial losses in a string of social engineering scams targeting Coinbase users, which ZackXBT said is a problem unique among crypto exchanges:

Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase but was unable to get a response by the time of publication.

The claims made by ZackXBT place the total amount lost by Coinbase users to social engineering scams at $330 million annually and reflect the growing number of sophisticated attack strategies employed by threat actors to defraud crypto holders.

Related: $330M Bitcoin social engineering theft victim is elderly US citizen

Speaking at a hearing, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested support for two crypto-related bills moving through Congress.

Bessent addressed lawmakers at a May 7 hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, saying that the United States should be the “premier destination for digital assets” in response to a question about American dominance over China in crypto-related innovation. The Treasury Secretary added that “good market structure” and “stablecoin legislation” could help ensure this outcome.

Bessent’s remarks echoed those of other Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump, who initially claimed he wanted to make the US the “crypto capital of the world” during his 2024 campaign. The Treasury Secretary was likely referring to the draft of a digital asset market structure bill released by House Republicans on May 6 and the GENIUS bill to regulate stablecoins, expected to be taken up for a vote in the Senate on May 8.

The Treasury Secretary, a Trump nominee, has stood by the president for significant announcements in crypto-aligned policy, including an executive order to establish a sovereign wealth fund and as a member of a working group to explore federal regulations for stablecoins and a national crypto stockpile. He suggested during a confirmation hearing that he would oppose the creation of any US-issued central bank digital currency while in office.

Related: Bitcoin ‘Realized Cap’ hits $890B as BTC traders focus on recapturing $100K

Threat group COLDRIVER is using new malware to steal documents from Western targets, according to a May 7 report from Google Threat Intelligence. The malware, called LOSTKEYS, shows the evolution of the group from credential phishing to more sophisticated attacks.

According to the Google report, the new malware is installed through four steps. The process involves a “lure website” with a fake CAPTCHA, a PowerShell script downloaded to the user’s clipboard, some device evasion, and retrieval of the final payload. Lastly, the malware is installed.

LOSTKEYS is capable of stealing files from extensions and directories. It can also send system information and running processes back to COLDRIVER. The address from which the parts of the attack come is “165.227.148[.]68” according to Google.

The company says it has already taken steps to mitigate any damage the LOSTKEYS malware will cause, including adding the malicious websites to the company’s “Safe Browsing” feature.

According to Google, COLDRIVER is a Russian-backed threat group that typically engages in phishing attempts at high-profile Western targets, such as former diplomats, and journalists. In January 2024, it started an attack with a malware called “Spica,” which can execute arbitrary shell commands and download or upload software.

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin’s realized capitalization hit a record $890 billion, reflecting strong investor conviction as long-term and short-term holders increased allocations.

Large Bitcoin holders with over 1,000 BTC have accumulated significantly since March 2025, reflecting the Q1 2024 trend.

Bitcoin (BTC) price saw a short-squeeze above $97,000 on May 6, shortly after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that trade talks would commence with China on May 10. At the same time, BTC’s realized capitalization, a metric adding the dollar value of all coins at their last moved price, soared to a new all-time high of $890 billion on May 7, 2025. The surge also marks the metric’s third consecutive week of record-breaking growth.

The realized cap’s rise highlights the total investment held by Bitcoin owners, with long-term holders (LTHs) and short-term holders (STHs) increasing their positions. It reflects investors’ conviction, signaling a potential anticipation for a price breakout. 

Strive Asset Management, founded by entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, has revealed plans to transition into a Bitcoin treasury company.

According to a May 7 announcement, Strive is going public through a reverse merger and plans to use the combined company’s stock to accumulate Bitcoin (BTC).

The deal will see Strive merging with Asset Entities — a social media marketing company listed on the Nasdaq. The combined entity will operate under the Strive brand and use its access to the public equity markets to finance Bitcoin purchases, the company said. 

Once the deal closes, Strive plans to issue approximately $1 billion in equity and debt and use the proceeds to accumulate BTC. The asset manager “intends to use all available mechanisms to build a Bitcoin war chest […] and build a long-term investment approach designed to outperform Bitcoin,” it said.

Strive plans to allow “Bitcoin holders to contribute Bitcoin in exchange for public stock through a structure that is intended to be tax-free,” it said. As of May 7, the company manages approximately $2 billion in net assets across a variety of funds. 

Key points:

Bitcoin price hangs near $97,000 as traders await today’s FOMC minutes.

Bitcoin holding $95,000 as support is key for bullish price expansion in the short term.

Select altcoins are holding their respective support levels, opening the gates for a short-term rally.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are trying to knock down the immediate resistance at $97,895 and challenge the all-important $100,000 level. Crypto analytics platform Santiment said in a post on X that Bitcoin wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin are positive about further gains as they have acquired 81,338 Bitcoin over the past six weeks.

The Bybit exchange has recovered its liquidity to pre-hack levels just 30 days following the February 2025 attack that drained nearly $1.5 billion in funds.

According to a report from crypto research and analytics firm Kaiko, Bitcoin's (BTC) 1% market depth, a measure of liquidity, returned to pre-hack levels of around $13 million per day in March 2025.

Altcoin liquidity levels on the exchange have been slower to recover than Bitcoin but have rebounded to around 80% of the pre-hack levels. The authors of the Kaiko report added:

Overall, the exchange's trading volumes remain in recovery; however, the report notes that this drop reflects the broader market trend in response to the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty that has rattled risk asset markets and is not an effect of the biggest hack in crypto history.

Related: Hacken CEO sees ‘no shift’ in crypto security as April hacks hit $357M

At least some of the top holders of Donald Trump’s memecoin who apply to attend a private dinner with the president could be based outside the United States.

According to a May 7 Bloomberg report based on an analysis of the top TRUMP tokenholders, 19 of the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard used foreign exchanges that exclude US-based customers, suggesting either foreign nationals or Americans living abroad. In addition, more than half of the top 220 holders — the group eligible to apply for a dinner with the president — also used exchanges in other countries.

As of May 7, the identities of the top tokenholders and those who might choose to apply for the May 22 Trump dinner and “special VIP tour” were unknown. However, the project stated that anyone who applied could not bring guests, had to pass a background check, and “can not be from a [Know Your Customer] watchlist country.” 

The implications of having dozens or hundreds of memecoin holders potentially tied to foreign governments and interest groups have raised ethics concerns from some US lawmakers, claiming that Trump was engaging in “pay-to-play” corruption. At least one senator has called for the president’s impeachment, saying Trump was “selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him.”

Memecoin concerns are slowing crypto legislation

Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate have already been pushing back against considering any crypto-related legislation until Republicans address concerns around “Trump’s crypto corruption.” The Senate is expected to vote on a bill regulating stablecoins on May 8, and House Republicans recently introduced a discussion draft of a digital asset market structure bill.

Key points:

Bitcoin investors are making the most of the highest price levels in several months by cashing out profits.

These are averaging $1 billion per day, leading to concerns that the market comeback may stall or even reverse.

Institutional participation has not led to a change in mindset, CryptoQuant says.

Bitcoin (BTC) risks a “local top or sharp correction” if current levels of profit-taking continue, new research warns.

Opinion by: Anurag Arjun, co-founder of Avail 

On paper, SocialFi is a no-brainer. It promises to shift the balance of power in social media — giving people control over how their content and personal data are used and monetized. It even offers users a stake in the $200+ billion social media advertising market, a pie currently devoured almost entirely by giants like Meta.

And yet, SocialFi platforms today feel more like digital ghost towns than the bustling hubs of Web2. Friend.tech, hailed as a breakout star in 2023, peaked at just 80,000 daily active users before falling below 10,000. What's holding SocialFi back? Why does it seem to be following Friend.tech's fade into obscurity rather than rising to rival Facebook's dominance?

The harsh reality is that decentralized social networks have largely failed to attract and retain mainstream users despite genuine enthusiasm from Web3 communities. The fundamental promise of user ownership, data portability, and monetization remains compelling — but deep structural issues bottleneck adoption.

The technical hurdles

Blockchain infrastructure was never designed for the high-throughput, low-latency demands of social networking. Social media users expect instant results when posting pictures, liking comments, or following new accounts — actions that generate hundreds of millions of transactions daily across platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X.

Safeheron, a digital asset infrastructure provider based in Singapore, has introduced an open-source Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) framework. This solution could bolster security and privacy for Web3 in sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi), payment services, and decentralized autonomous organizations.

The TEE framework is the first built upon the native Intel SGX SDK and developed using modern C++, a general-purpose object-oriented programming language often used for operating systems, game development, and high-powered computing.

Safeheron decided to open-source the framework because the company had seen growing concerns across the industry about closed, opaque systems, especially as security incidents have become more widespread.

Related: Fully onchain AI agents can be the key to a more open AI future — Here’s why

“We’re not threatened by competitors,” Safeheron CEO Wade Wang told Cointelegraph. “What worries us is slow innovation due to closed systems.”

Key takeaways:

XRP price is up 2% on May 7, buoyed by US-China trade talk optimism, with key support at $2.08 critical for sustained recovery.

Whale accumulation signals XRP price strength.

XRP price must hold above $1.83–$2.00 support to continue upside, analysts say.

XRP (XRP) price displayed strength on May 7, rising 2% over the last 24 hours after news of possible US-China trade talks flipped investor sentiment. 

Payments behemoth Visa has invested in BVNK, a London-based startup focused on stablecoin payment infrastructure, signaling continued interest in digital asset innovation.

According to a May 7 BVNK announcement, the startup “secured a strategic investment from Visa through their Visa Ventures arm.” Furthermore, while the company does not explain fully what it entails, it refers to the investment as “more than capital” and describes it as a partnership. The company’s CEO, Jesse Hemson-Struthers, wrote:

Rubail Birwadker, head of products and partnerships at Visa, explained that “stablecoins are fast becoming a part of global payment flows.” He said that Visa invests in new technologies and builders, such as BVNK, who are involved in “what’s next in commerce to better serve our clients and partners.”

Related: Stablecoin fever: 5 major stablecoins are growing crypto adoption

BVNK is on a roll

Visa’s investment in BVNK follows the stablecoin infrastructure company closing a $50 million Series B funding round led by Haun Ventures at the end of 2024, with plans to expand into the United States. The round saw the participation of industry heavyweights including Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW VC, and existing investors Avenir and Tiger Global.

In an industry filled with complexity, jargon and mistrust, women in Web3 say that the way to attract more women into the crypto space starts with clarity, education and community. 

At the Blockchain Baddies side event during Token2049 in Dubai, women shared personal experiences of entering the Web3 world and why they believe more female participation is essential for the future of crypto.

In interviews with Cointelegraph, community members said the path forward begins with simplifying technical concepts and fostering environments where women can learn and grow.

From providing clarity to building skills 

From simplifying technical language to creating safe spaces for learning, women in Web3 said that demystifying crypto and making tools more intuitive can unlock more opportunities for women to enter the Web3 industry. 

Caroline York, the marketing director of Web3 firm Serotonin, said that making the space more welcoming to women starts with clarity. “In order to attract more women, we’ve got to make the information much more digestible and a lot clearer,” she said.

USD1, the US dollar stablecoin launched by the President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has become the seventh-largest stablecoin worldwide in just two months since its launch.

WLFI’s snapshot vote for a USD1 airdrop proposal is underway, and USD1’s market capitalization has continued to climb.

Launched in early March with a $3.5 million supply, USD1 has expanded into a market cap of $2.2 billion at the time of writing, leaving rival stablecoins First Digital USD (FDUSD), PayPal USD (PYUSD) and Tether Gold (XAUT) behind, according to data from CoinGecko.

Although rising fast, the USD1 market cap is still far from the market value of major stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), whose market caps are worth $149 billion and $61 billion, respectively.

BNB Chain drives USD1 issuance

Trump-backed USD1 is almost exclusively issued on Binance-backed BNB Chain. According to data from BscScan, as much as $2.1 billion of all USD1 supply is issued on BNB Chain, accounting for more than 99% of its total circulating supply, while an Ethereum-based version accounts for just $14.5 million, according to Etherscan.