Today's top news highlights:
Upbit will list its TRAC token on the Korean Won, BTC, and USDT markets.
A hacking group profited over $14 million by hacking into X accounts and promoting their tokens.
Trump issues military threat against Iran; military action options discussed on Tuesday.
Regulation & Macro
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has released a proposed rule outlining operational and risk management standards for NCUA-licensed payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. NCUA President Kyle Hauptman stated that the proposed rule aims to ensure credit unions are not disadvantaged in terms of standards and to align with proposed standards for bank subsidiaries. The proposed rule has been published in the Federal Register, and the comment period ends on July 17, 2026.
Trump issues military threat against Iran; military action options discussed on Tuesday.
In a call with Axios, US President Trump said Iran's "time is running out" and warned that if the Iranian regime does not offer a better deal, "they will suffer even heavier blows." US officials say Trump wants an agreement to end the war; however, military options have been brought back to the table because Iran has rejected many of his demands and refused to make substantial concessions on its nuclear program. According to two US officials, Trump is expected to meet with his senior national security team in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss options for military action.
The United States has made the unfreezing of up to 25% of Iran's frozen assets a condition.
The United States has made the unfreezing of up to 25% of Iran's frozen assets a condition, and has also demanded that Iran hand over 400 kilograms of enriched uranium. Sources say that the US, in its response to Iran, stipulated that Iran must retain only one operational nuclear facility, and that the US has made it clear that it will not pay any compensation to Iran.
Project Updates
French listed company Capital B (ALCPB) announced that it has acquired 192 bitcoins for €13 million, bringing its total holdings to 3,135 bitcoins. Its year-to-date bitcoin yield is 1.82%.
Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas to phase out its operations. CEO Alex Holmes stated that changes in the regulatory environment have made the current business model unsustainable, with states implementing stricter compliance obligations, including new transaction limits, and some jurisdictions even directly restricting or prohibiting Bitcoin ATM operations. In April, the company suffered a security breach that resulted in the theft of $3.7 million. Last week, the company stated that it was unable to deliver its first-quarter financial report on time due to a "significant flaw" in cash transport reconciliation. Preliminary unaudited data shows that first-quarter revenue fell 49.2% year-over-year, with a net loss of $9.5 million, compared to a net profit of $12.2 million in the same period last year. Founded in 2016, the company operates the largest Bitcoin ATM network in North America, with over 9,000 machines worldwide. ZachXBT commented that it recently revealed a three-day time lag in Bitcoin Depot's reporting of the $3.6 million attack and pointed out that its Bitcoin ATM business relied on predatory practices such as user fraud.
Upbit will list its TRAC token on the Korean Won, BTC, and USDT markets.
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit will list TRAC tokens on the Korean Won, BTC, and USDT markets, with trading commencing at 16:00 local time on April 20.
Blockaid monitoring has revealed that the Verus-Ethereum cross-chain bridge (verus.io) is under attack, resulting in approximately $11.58 million in losses so far.
Iran launches Hormuz Safe, a marine insurance platform settled in Bitcoin.
Iran has launched Hormuz Safe, a state-backed digital marine insurance platform that provides marine insurance for vessels transiting the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, settling transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The Iranian government believes that if the platform captures a significant share of the Persian Gulf shipping insurance market, it could generate over $10 billion in revenue. Hormuz Safe aims to bypass the SWIFT network and Western intermediaries, reducing Iran's reliance on traditional financial infrastructure. The biggest hurdle facing the platform is international recognition; interaction with the platform by shipowners, trading companies, or port authorities could trigger secondary sanctions.
A hacking group profited over $14 million by hacking into X accounts and promoting their tokens.
Anonymous blockchain researcher Specter revealed that a hacking group earned over $14 million by compromising accounts on the X platform to promote its own tokens and laundering money across blockchains. The group was involved in attacking the X accounts of investor Keith Gill, Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie, and the WinRAR project, with fund flows spanning five networks: Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Tron, and Hyperliquid. The group is also suspected of involvement in a 2024 phishing attack that resulted in victims losing $2.45 million in wstETH. The researcher analyzed that bnbshare.fun, a token issuance platform on the BNB Chain, may have been a key tool in this scam, as the transaction flow of the platform's creator, SHARE token, was linked to the hackers' wallets.
Binance Alpha will list Zest Protocol (ZEST) on May 19th.
Binance Wallet announced that Binance Alpha will list Zest Protocol (ZEST) on May 19. Eligible users can use Binance Alpha Points to claim an airdrop on the Alpha event page after trading begins. More details will be announced soon.
xAI's official creative ambassador, Dogan Ural, released a concept design image of a new feature for the X platform. The screenshot shows that users may be able to view their interaction history and overall interaction score with any account over the past 90 days, including detailed statistics such as likes, replies, and shares. If this feature is ultimately launched, project teams, exchanges, and marketing teams may be able to more efficiently screen highly active users and build more accurate fan profiles and community behavior analysis systems. The market believes that this feature may further strengthen the data operation capabilities of the crypto community, while also potentially sparking discussions about user privacy and the transparency of social data.
Aave updates rsETH technical recovery plan: WETH LTV has recovered to pre-event levels.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov announced that the next step in the rsETH technical recovery plan has been completed, and the WETH loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for all affected networks has returned to pre-incident levels. Users can now borrow and lend on Aave again using WETH as collateral, including through collateral and debt swaps. According to the Aave announcement, this recovery involves deployments on Aave V3 Ethereum Core, Ethereum Prime, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea networks.
Opinions & Analysis
Analysis: Bitcoin is testing a key support level, while Ethereum has triggered a bearish signal.
A 10x Research report states that since the CPI data release on May 13th, Bitcoin ETF holders have sold over $1 billion, market sentiment has plummeted from 87% to 45%, and bond yields have continued to climb (30-year yield to 5.12%). Inflation is back in focus, and cryptocurrencies are feeling the pressure. Bitcoin is testing its 30-day moving average; a confirmed break below this level would indicate a deterioration in momentum. Key levels to watch are $79,125 (short-term bull/bear dividing line) and $76,922 (major support level). Ethereum has triggered a bearish signal. The current pattern is one of "two steps forward, one step back," but a cycle bottom has appeared.
Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat and chairman of BitMine, stated that Ethereum is currently facing selling pressure, primarily due to rising oil prices, with the negative correlation between ETH and oil prices at an all-time high. Ethereum's price fell during the past six weeks of rising oil prices, and is expected to rebound if oil prices fall. Lee believes this is a short-term tactical fluctuation, and that Ethereum's bigger drivers are tokenization and AI agents; these structural factors are in place, and he expects Ethereum's price to strengthen in 2026.
Binance Research's chart analysis this week points to the same conclusion from four on-chain signals: supply is tightening and selling pressure has been exhausted. **Long-Term Dormant:** Nearly 60% of the BTC supply has not moved for over a year, far higher than the 27% in 2012. The dormancy rate peaked at 69.5% in January 2024 when the spot Bitcoin ETF was approved, and has remained near historical highs since. **SLRV Ratio:** The Short-Term to Long-Term Holder Value Ratio is deep in historical lows, indicating lukewarm market sentiment. Long-term holders dominate supply, and short-term speculators have largely exited. Historically, this ratio has accompanied every cycle bottom into the current area. **Exchange Balance:** Since peaking at 17.6% during the pandemic, the exchange balance has fallen to 15.0%, with approximately 500,000 BTC permanently leaving exchanges, and seller supply dropping to a 6-year low. **STH MVRV Ratio:** Since November 2024, the BTC short-term holder MVRV ratio has remained below 1.0 for most of the time, gradually exhausting selling pressure. Currently, the ratio has rebounded to 1.0, and short-term holders are beginning to re-accumulate unrealized gains. Since profit accumulation is still in its early stages, a new round of selling pressure is unlikely to emerge immediately; historically, this pattern has often occurred before a sustained recovery.
Chain analyst Yu Jin wrote that current market trading enthusiasm is lower than at the bottom of the last bear market (December 2022), and the prices of several major cryptocurrencies are actually far higher than at that time. Regarding BTC, the average daily trading volume of Binance BTC/USDT at the bottom of the last cycle was about $2 billion, while it is currently only about $500 million; the current price is 4.5 times that of the last bottom, the previous correction was -75%, and the current correction is -38% from the high, suggesting a bottom of about $31,000. Regarding ETH, the average daily trading volume at the bottom of the last cycle was about $400 million, while it is currently about $200 million; the current price is 1.7 times that of the last bottom, the previous correction was -75%, and the current correction is -54%, suggesting a bottom of about $1,150. Regarding BNB, the average daily trading volume at the bottom of the last cycle was about $50 million, and it is similar currently; the current price is 2.7 times that of the last bottom, the previous correction was -65%, and the current correction is -50%, suggesting a bottom of about $450.
CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler wrote that Bitcoin has recently tested the $82,000 level three times, but has fallen back each time. Data shows that during each rebound, the STH-SOPR indicator rose to around 1.0 and then weakened again, indicating that short-term holders are taking advantage of the upward trend to take profits and exit the market, rather than continuing to hold their positions. $82,000 is not only a key resistance level in terms of technical aspects, but also an important selling pressure zone in terms of market behavior. At present, this position coincides with the 200-day moving average (200D SMA) of Bitcoin. Before the STH-SOPR SMA (7) has been firmly above 1.0 for several consecutive days and the BTC daily line has effectively broken through the 200-day moving average, the market rebound may still be regarded as a selling opportunity. On the macro level, the escalation of the situation in the Middle East continues to suppress market risk appetite. Affected by the conflict in Iran, rising oil prices and the expectation of "high interest rates being maintained for longer", US stocks closed lower across the board on Friday, WTI crude oil futures rose by more than 4%, and the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to about 4.6%, a new high for the year.
Bitcoin recently fell below $79,000, after encountering significant selling pressure near $82,000. Market analysts believe that the current BTC price movement is highly correlated with the US small-cap stock index, indicating that it is still viewed as a "risk asset" rather than a safe-haven asset. Escalating tensions in Iran, rising oil prices, and concerns about a global economic recession are continuing to dampen market risk appetite. Meanwhile, the recent negative funding rates for Bitcoin perpetual contracts suggest insufficient demand for leveraged long positions, with traders remaining cautious about short-term gains. However, in the medium term, large-scale outflows from the fixed-income market may actually benefit BTC. As global government bond yields rise to multi-decade highs, investors are gradually withdrawing from the bond market, and some liquidity may flow back into risk assets, including Bitcoin. Currently, yields on 10-year US and European government bonds have risen to multi-year highs, while Brent crude oil prices have broken through $100, exacerbating market concerns about inflation and economic pressures.
Important data
The wallet 0xb5E4, associated with a16z, bought another 372,000 HYPE tokens (US$16.91 million) in the past 3 hours. Since April 14, the wallet has accumulated purchases of 2.11 million HYPE tokens (US$90.87 million).
Two wallets spent $2.33 million to buy over 656,000 UNI tokens in the past 5 hours.
The two wallets spent $2.33 million to buy 656,338 UNI tokens in the past 5 hours.
As of mid-May 2026, there have been eight major cross-chain bridge attacks in the crypto space, with hackers stealing a total of approximately $328.6 million from cross-chain protocols.
Last week (May 11-15, Eastern Time), Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $1.039 billion. The Ark & 21Shares ETF ARKB experienced the largest net outflow at $324 million, with a historical total net inflow of $1.39 billion. This was followed by the BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a weekly net outflow of $317 million and a historical total net inflow of $65.78 billion. The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) saw the largest net inflow at $12.604 million, with a historical total net inflow of $2.3 billion. As of press time, Bitcoin spot ETFs have a total net asset value of $104.29 billion, a net asset value ratio of 6.58%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $58.34 billion.
Address 0xB4d…B186a has sold another $15.46 million worth of WBTC, bringing its total token sales to $35.73 million in the past three days. This address has frequent interactions with block builder Titan builder and currently holds $125 million in assets on the blockchain, 95% of which are ETH and WBTC, and may continue to sell.
Following the sudden market downturn, Huang Licheng (@machibigbrother)'s 25x ETH long position was completely liquidated. He then quickly reopened a new 25x ETH long position. His cumulative losses have exceeded $32.4 million.
PYTH, ZRO, MBG, and other tokens will see large-scale unlocks next week. Specifically: Pyth Network (PYTH) will unlock approximately 2.13 billion tokens at 10 PM Beijing time on May 19th, representing about 36.96% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $95.5 million; LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on May 20th, representing about 5.07% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $33.4 million; MBG By Multibank... Group (MBG) will unlock approximately 27.15 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on May 22nd, representing about 8.09% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $8.7 million; KAITO (KAITO) will unlock approximately 17.6 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on May 20th, representing about 4.70% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $7.9 million; YZY (YZY) will unlock approximately 20.83 million tokens at 11 AM Beijing time on May 18th, representing about 4.46% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $6.2 million; SoSoValue (SOSO) will unlock approximately 13.32 million tokens at 5 PM Beijing time on May 22nd, representing about 4.17% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $5 million.
A whale associated with Matrixport continued to increase its long ETH position during the market downturn. It currently holds 120,000 ETH ($254 million), with a paper loss exceeding $17.5 million.
The whale that shorted 300,000 HYPE tokens added another 75,000 HYPE tokens tonight, bringing its latest holdings to 375,033.14 tokens, worth $16.02 million. The average opening price was $43.298, and the unrealized profit is $225,000.
