HTX denies UK sanctions allegations as new data flags $7.6B Russia-linked flowsUK sanctions Huobi Global S.A., operator of HTX, over alleged role in Russia’s “A7” shadow network, as new analysis claims the exchange handled billions in high‑risk flows.Sanctioned crypto exchange HTX is pushing back against the United Kingdom’s decision to blacklist Huobi Global S.A., the Panamanian company behind the platform, over allegations it helped Russia move money through a shadow “A7” network.In its latest Russia sanctions package on May 26, the UK accused Huobi Global of providing financial services and economic resources to entities already under restrictions for supporting Moscow’s war economy.The government said it was targeting “crypto and illicit finance networks” exploited by Russia, including the Kremlin-backed A7 “shadow” system that helps channel funds into the country’s war economy.Read more

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StakeDAO exploit creates 5.4 trillion vsdCRV but nets only $91KPeckShield said the attacker bridged 43.7 ETH to Ethereum after minting trillions of vsdCRV, while EmberCN said most of the remaining tokens had insufficient liquidity to sell.An attacker minted more than 5.4 trillion vsdCRV on Arbitrum after a suspected compromise of a StakeDAO-linked deployer key, though thin liquidity limited the realized proceeds to about $91,000.Blockchain security firm PeckShield said Wednesday the attacker swapped part of the minted vsdCRV for 43.7 Ether (ETH), worth about $91,000, and bridged the funds to Ethereum. Onchain analyst EmberCN said the attacker swapped about 16.83 million vsdCRV, while the remaining tokens had little meaningful liquidity to exit.EmberCN estimated the 5.4 trillion vsdCRV at about $763 billion on paper, though the figure does not represent the attacker’s realized profit or the protocol’s confirmed loss.Read more

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Here’s what happened in crypto todayNeed to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, Web3 and crypto regulation.Today in crypto, Banca Sella gets MiCA clearance for crypto services in Italy, President Donald Trump backed the CFTC in its jurisdiction battle over prediction markets, and Bitcoin mining stocks rallied on Tuesday as more miners pivot to AI.Italian bank Banca Sella announced that it has completed its notification process with the Bank of Italy under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, allowing it to offer crypto-asset services.On Wednesday, the bank said it is the first bank in Italy authorized to offer crypto-asset services, adding that the approval will allow it to launch a solution focused on the custody, transfer and receipt of digital assets in 2026, aimed at “selected categories” of customers.Read more

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Falcon Finance, SoFi unveil stablecoin products tied to banking infrastructureWhile Falcon’s new fUSD is built for institutional trading and collateral workflows, SoFiUSD targets consumer banking users through SoFi’s app.Falcon Finance has launched a dollar-backed stablecoin, fUSD, through Anchorage Digital Bank’s federally regulated issuance platform, according to a Wednesday announcement. The companies said the stablecoin is backed by short-dated US Treasurys, cash and Treasury-backed repurchase agreements.Read more

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BTC Prague 2026: Europe’s leading Bitcoin conference expands its cultural reachBTC Prague, Europe’s premier Bitcoin conference, returns to the PVA Expo Prague on June 11-13, 2026.Prague, Czech Republic, May 18, 2026 - BTC Prague, Europe’s premier Bitcoin conference, returns to the PVA Expo Prague on June 11-13, 2026. Entering its fourth edition, BTC Prague welcomes 8,500 attendees, uniting entrepreneurs, developers, investors, educators, and newcomers in the industry. This year, BTC Prague adds its new Bitcoin Living Masterclass track, a dedicated stage for talks on health, biohacking, financial sovereignty, AI, parenting, and more, from renowned experts in their fields on top of its best-in-class Bitcoin program.Without abandoning its Bitcoin-only philosophy, BTC Prague now broadens its appeal, including a wider range of topics very much in vogue among the Bitcoin community. The result is a three-day program of keynotes, panels, debates, and networking across four different stages surrounded by Europe’s largest Bitcoin expo.BTC Prague is a meeting point for those building Bitcoin’s future. More than a conference, it’s a festival for everyone. From the newly curious to die-hard advocates, the event’s setup is meant to unite the vastly different ideological, technical, and business enclaves that exist in Bitcoin. A BTC Prague ticket ensures people can interact with experiences and content made for and by the Bitcoin community.Read more

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Bitcoin price threatens $75K loss as US-Iran peace progress sparks new stocks recordsBitcoin disappointed bulls by dropping below $75,000 on Iran peace deal reports while US stocks hit new all-time highs and oil saw one-month lows on Hormuz hopes.Bitcoin (BTC) fell back below $75,000 at Wednesday’s Wall Street open as relief over a US-Iran peace deal bypassed crypto.Key points:
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Prediction markets enter the derivatives era: XBIT DEX opens whitelist for prediction leverage, launching a 35,000 USDC campaignXBIT DEX takes the lead in introducing leverage to on-chain prediction markets, prioritizing the 2026 FIFA World Cup for its initial category. The whitelist application is now live.XBIT DEX takes the lead in introducing leverage to on-chain prediction markets, prioritizing the 2026 FIFA World Cup for its initial category. The whitelist application is now live.May 27, 2026 - On-chain prediction markets are undergoing explosive growth. In March 2026, monthly trading volume surpassed $25 billion, a more than 20-fold increase compared to the same period last year. Polymarket has become the official prediction market partner for X, and Coinbase has launched prediction contracts across all 50 US states. However, while users and capital are flooding in, product architecture has yet to keep pace.Currently, mainstream prediction market platforms still predominantly rely on a spot logic of full-amount purchasing and waiting for settlement. Users lack tools to add positions, hedge, or flexibly adjust risk exposure through leverage. The crypto market went through a similar phase until the emergence of perpetual contracts in 2016, which led to derivatives trading volume completely overtaking spot volume in less than four years.Read more

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Mastercard secures New York BitLicense for crypto operationsThe payments giant can now legally conduct digital asset business activity in New York as it deepens its focus on blockchain-based settlement systems.Mastercard’s US transaction services unit has received a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), allowing the payments giant to conduct regulated digital asset business activity in the state.The company announced the license approval on Wednesday, but did not unveil any new consumer-facing crypto products. Instead, Mastercard said it plans to continue developing payment and settlement infrastructure tied to digital assets, focusing specifically on stablecoins and tokenized deposits.New York’s BitLicense is widely regarded as one of the strictest state-level crypto regulatory frameworks in the United States. Companies offering certain crypto-related financial services to New York residents are generally required to obtain the license.Read more

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Price predictions 5/27: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, SOL, DOGE, HYPE, ZEC, ADA, XMRBitcoin briefly lost the $75,000 level after net flows into spot BTC ETFs turned negative. Do technical charts point to a BTC and altcoin recovery?Key points:Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $75,000 on Wednesday, indicating that the bears are slowly taking charge of the crypto market. Institutional investors seem to be on a selling spree, with BTC exchange-traded funds recording net outflows of $1.88 billion since May 15, per Farside Investors' data. Glassnode said in a post on X that persistent net outflows from BTC ETFs on nearly every trading day since May 7 add “to the supply side without a visible demand offset.”BTC’s weakness has sent it tumbling below its long-term valuation average, according to Bitwise. The asset management firm said in a recent report that in the past, only 36% of BTC’s market-value-to-realized-value (MVRV) readings were lower than the current level of 1.42. In comparison, roughly 99% of historical Nasdaq-100 price-to-book ratios were below their present levels, signaling the widest valuation gap on record between BTC and US tech stocks.Read more

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Ether bears at risk of $2B squeeze as short positions build around $2KEther futures positioning tightened near $2,000 as rising open interest and dense short liquidity increased focus on a possible squeeze above $2,150.Ether (ETH) remains under pressure after failing to reclaim the $2,150 resistance level. Despite the decline, ETH's aggregate open interest has increased by roughly 350,000 ETH, suggesting new short positions are entering the market.With more than $1.5 billion in bearish positions clustered above $2,150, a successful defense of the $2,000 support zone could trigger a sharp short squeeze and a relief rally for ETH. ETH has failed to reclaim $2,150 after dropping below it on May 17. The resistance capped the price from February to April, limiting a strong breakout. Read more

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Bitcoin treasury company Nakamoto falls nearly 67% YTD after reverse stock split The company owns 5,058 Bitcoin, ranking it as the 20th largest publicly traded BTC treasury company, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries.Nakamoto (NAKA) is trading down more than 10% on Wednesday just days after the Bitcoin treasury company completed a 1-for-40 reverse stock split undertaken to stay compliant with the Nasdaq stock exchange’s listing criteria. NAKA stock is down by about 67% year-to-date (YTD) and by more than 99% since its May 2025 peak of about $34 per share, reaching a low of about $0.16 per share in April before the reverse stock split on Friday.Nasdaq warned the company in December that its shares would be delisted after trading below $1 for at least 30 consecutive days, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.Read more

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PACs laud Texas primary wins, look to back more pro-crypto candidatesWhile crypto industry-backed candidates won runoffs in Texas on Tuesday, industry PACs have less of a stake in California races next week.After six Republican and Democratic candidates supported by cryptocurrency-backed interest groups won primaries for US House of Representatives and Senate seats in Texas, one of the biggest political action committees (PACs) said it would “aggressively back leaders” supporting crypto policies in the future.On Tuesday, candidates notched six wins for congressional runoff primaries in Texas, supported by media spending and endorsements by the crypto industry-affiliates Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, Protect Progress, Blockchain Leadership Fund and Fellowship PACs.Democrat Christian Menefee primaried incumbent Al Green for Texas’ 18th congressional district and Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton won against incumbent Senator John Cornyn with more than 63% of the vote. Four other Republican candidates — Tom Sell, Alex Mealer, Jon Bonck and Carlos De La Cruz — also won in smaller districts after being the beneficiaries of thousands of dollars in media spending by Defend American Jobs.Read more

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Orca, Streamex roll out secondary trading infrastructure for tokenized securitiesAccredited investors can buy and sell the gold-backed GLDY token through permissioned liquidity pools operating on the Solana blockchain.Tokenized commodities platform Streamex said it is launching a Solana-based marketplace for trading tokenized assets in partnership with Orca, a decentralized exchange built on Solana.According to a Tuesday announcement, the trading infrastructure will allow verified accredited investors to buy and sell Streamex’s yield-bearing, gold-backed GLDY token through regulated onchain trading pools operating around the clock. The system uses identity and compliance checks tied to Streamex’s KYC and accreditation process to restrict trading access to approved investors while enabling secondary market liquidity for regulated digital assets.Read more

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Polymarket weighs KYC requirements amid global crackdown on prediction marketsThe predictions market operator reportedly explored mandatory user verification requirements, breaking from its policies of allowing traders to access its services using pseudonyms.Prediction markets platform Polymarket is reportedly considering measures to verify users in response to pressure from global authorities over sanctions violations and other areas of legal risk to the company.According to a Wednesday report by The Information, Polymarket has considered mandatory user verification requirements more in line with Know Your Customer (KYC) standards. The move comes as multiple countries have blocked or restricted access to the predictions market platform over concerns about illegal gambling.Source: PolymarketRead more

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Bitcoin miner inflows to Binance soar as BTC struggles to hold uptrend: Is $70K next?Weakening spot demand, miner inflows to exchanges and freshly opened shorts put downside pressure on Bitcoin price.Bitcoin (BTC) miner inflows to Binance crossed 20,000 BTC for only the second time this year, placing fresh pressure on Bitcoin’s daily uptrend near the $75,000 support zone. Will BTC defend its higher-timeframe bullish structure, or is the market on the verge of a broader bearish trend shift? Crypto analyst Amr Taha said miners transferred roughly 21,000 BTC to Binance on May 18, close to the 23,150 BTC sent on Feb. 5. Large miner deposits are often tied to potential selling activity as miners move BTC to exchanges to cover operating costs. Media Read more

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Crypto card monthly transaction volume surges 230% from 2025Payment volume on crypto-linked credit and debit cards has been steadily increasing since 2024, reaching about $7.8 billion in cumulative transactions this month. Monthly payment volume on crypto-linked debit and credit cards is up about 230% over last year, amid a proliferation of crypto-related payment products.Cumulative volume on crypto-linked payment cards reached $7.8 billion this month, according to The Kobeissi Letter, a market research publication.Payments giant Visa is capturing about 90% of crypto card transactions through partnerships with onchain native companies like Jupiter Global, analysts at The Kobeissi Letter said. Read more

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Bitcoin falls further as BTC miners pivot to AI, pro-crypto legislation stallsBitcoin’s underperformance of stocks deepens as BTC miners pivot to AI and pro-crypto regulation in the United States stalled.Key takeaways:Bitcoin’s (BTC) rejection at $78,000 on Thursday marked a decoupling from traditional markets after two months of strong correlation. Wednesday’s decline below $75,000 happened while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index jumped to an all-time high.The factors behind Bitcoin’s underperformance are unlikely to fade in the near term, reducing the odds of a bullish breakout above $82,000.Read more

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Kraken rolls out Bitcoin vault product for holders to earn yieldWithin the first 10 hours of launch, the Kraken Earn BTC Vault raked in $30 million worth of Bitcoin deposits from 4,000 unique wallets.Crypto exchange Kraken has launched a non-custodial Bitcoin product, giving a 2.5% yearly yield, adding to the company’s yield product offerings amid a rising investor demand for crypto reward products.Kraken unveiled the product on Wednesday with the support of crypto yield infrastructure provider Veda, which said the offering seeks to remove “the headaches that come with wrapping Bitcoin, moving assets, or managing a crypto wallet.”Kraken’s offering comes as Bitcoin (BTC) holders' demand for yield products has risen, but have seen limited development as the Bitcoin blockchain does not have mechanisms for users to generate yield compared to blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana.Read more

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US charges Google employee with insider trading bets on PolymarketThe Justice Department and the CFTC allege that Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo profited $1.2 million on Polymarket after accessing non-public information at work. US authorities have charged a Google employee with allegedly using information from the company to make bets on Polymarket and profit $1.2 million.The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it unsealed charges against Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo, accusing him of accessing unreleased internal information at Google and placing 25 bets worth $2.7 million on markets related to the most searched individuals on Google in 2025.Prosecutors said Spagnuolo owned the Polymarket account “AlphaRaccoon”, which profited $1.2 million on “outcomes that the market treated as unlikely” when Google published information on the most searched individuals in December.Read more

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Bitcoin funding spike shows longs defending $70K: Will ETF outflows reverse bulls’ efforts?Bitcoin dropped closer to a critical support level as spot and long futures traders’ efforts to hold $75,000 failed. Is sub-$70,000 BTC next?Bitcoin’s (BTC) rising funding rate and aggregated open interest suggest bullish investors are opening longs in an attempt to defend the range lows and an important support at $70,000, but another day of spot ETF outflows has investors concerned that the institutional stance on BTC is shifting.As shown in the chart below, Bitcoin open interest remains relatively stable despite the day-over-day selling, further re-enforcing the view that long positions are either topping up to stay open or newly created. The cross-exchange funding rates (the last indicator at the bottom of the chart) are also mostly positive to neutral, indicating a long-leaning bias among investors.  Media Read more

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CFTC seeks to reverse settlement deal with GeminiThe CFTC claimed that its settled complaint filed under the Biden administration relied heavily on a whistleblower’s allegations that Gemini inflated trading activity to distort user demand.The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asked a federal court to vacate its $5 million settlement with crypto exchange Gemini, claiming that the agency’s enforcement action was based on flawed allegations.Gemini settled with the CFTC and paid a $5 million fine in January 2025 in the final weeks of the Biden administration after the agency accused it of making false or misleading statements related to a Bitcoin futures contract.The CFTC filed a joint motion with Gemini in a Manhattan court on Wednesday seeking to vacate the settlement, adding in a statement that it had reviewed the matter and concluded that the “complaint should not have been filed — and would not have been under current enforcement standards.”Read more

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