Ex-Celsius CEO files motion to vacate sentence after lawyers withdrawFormer CEO Alex Mashinsky filed documents seeking to vacate his 12-year sentence, which included claims involving FTX and a “hostile takeover” by a former Celsius executive, who was sentenced to time served.Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, has filed a motion in a New York court to vacate his 12-year sentence for fraud and market manipulation. In a Tuesday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mashinsky filed a motion to vacate his 144-month sentence, set by Judge John Koeltl in May 2025. The former Celsius CEO filed the paperwork without additional counsel, having announced on May 5 that he would be proceeding pro se in his case.Although Mashinsky pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud related to “manipulative and deceptive devices,” he filed a motion to vacate on the grounds that he had ineffective counsel and “fruit of [the] poisinous [sic] tree,” a legal doctrine referring to evidence tainted by authorities’ misconduct.Read more

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Bitcoin plums new six-week lows as analyst eyes BTC price dip 'end' at $72KBitcoin saw its lowest levels since the middle of April as BTC price action continued ot diverge from thriving US stock markets.Bitcoin (BTC) deepened six-week lows at Friday’s Wall Street open as US stock markets diverged to all-time highs.Key points:
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Coinbase brings global crypto derivatives markets to US institutional clientsThe exchange's integration with Deribit gives eligible US institutional investors access to global crypto options and perpetual futures markets.Coinbase Financial Markets has begun offering US institutional clients access to global crypto options and perpetual futures markets through a regulated futures commission merchant, including connectivity to Deribit's crypto options platform.Coinbase said the launch follows guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that allows a regulated futures commission merchant to connect US clients with global crypto derivatives liquidity. The company said Coinbase Financial Markets is the first CFTC-regulated futures commission merchant to offer such access.Deribit, which Coinbase acquired in August 2025 as part of its expansion into crypto derivatives, is the largest crypto options exchange by open interest. Read more

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Sui network temporarily stalls again after Thursday's outageThe outage was caused by the same network update software bug that disrupted the protocol on Thursday, which resulted in nearly six hours of downtime.The Sui layer-1 blockchain experienced another disruption on Friday, causing a “network stall” that temporarily halted block production, before normal activity resumed, according to the Sui team.Network activity “may be paused,” the Sui team said. The network disruption lasted for over three hours and 30 minutes at the time of publication, according to the Sui network’s uptime dashboard.Sui's mainnet validators experienced disruptions on both Thursday and Friday. Source: SuiRead more

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CFTC backs crypto perpetual contracts, issues advisory on 24/7 tradingThe CFTC issued notices affecting platforms seeking to offer cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts, including a no-action position for Coinbase and approval for Kalshi.The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) took positions on cryptocurrency perpetual futures contracts and how the industry may be more suited for “24/7 trading, clearing, and settlement.”In a Friday notice, the CFTC said it had approved perpetual futures contracts tied to the spot price of Bitcoin for prediction markets platform Kalshi. The company announced at about the same time that it would launch the perpetual futures contracts on its platform in a move closer to a derivatives exchange.“​​The Order was based on representations and submissions made by Kalshi in support of its request for Commission approval, including its explanation and analysis of the BTCPERP Contract’s terms and conditions, the nature of the underlying commodity market, and the BTCPERP Contract’s compliance with applicable provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s regulations thereunder, including the Core Principles applicable to [Designated Contract Markets],” said the CFTC.Read more

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‘Extraordinarily unusual’ for CFTC to reverse Gemini settlement deal: Ex-chairAs the CFTC and Gemini work together to seek a court's reversal of a 2025 settlement, one of the agency’s former chairs said the public “deserves a better explanation.”A former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) responded to the agency’s move to vacate a $5 million settlement with cryptocurrency company Gemini.In a Wednesday motion filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the CFTC joined the Gemini Trust Company in seeking relief from the judgment of a case initially filed in June 2022. The company reached a $5 million settlement with the CFTC in January 2025 while the agency was under former US President Joe Biden.“[T]he CFTC’s action in reversing itself on a settled case is extraordinarily unusual,” Tim Massad, a former CFTC chair and research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, told Cointelegraph. “The explanation seems to be that the staff got it wrong, not that the law was unclear.”Read more

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Bitcoin dip buyers place $500M in bids as $70K retest loomsOver $500 million in Bitcoin bids now sit near $70,000, while options traders and futures positions converge around the same level.Bitcoin (BTC) traders have placed new buy orders near $70,000 as the price approaches a key liquidity zone. Order-book data shows more than $500 million in bid liquidity between $72,000 and $70,000, creating a demand zone that could shape BTC’s next move.Data from CoinGlass shows dip buyers have placed 6,235 BTC in bid liquidity between $72,000 and $70,000. At current prices, the buy orders are worth roughly $443 million.The largest cluster sits directly above $70,000, where buyers are positioned to absorb the current selling pressure. Bid liquidity refers to limit buy orders waiting below the market price. When price trades into those orders, it can slow a decline and trigger a sharp rebound if demand absorbs available BTC supply.Read more

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Bitcoin retail sentiment still matters, says Swan Bitcoin CEOSwan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten said it is important to pay attention to retail sentiment around Bitcoin, as ownership is still far from concentrated and “it’s not like Blackrock owns the Bitcoin.”Despite the growing institutional presence in crypto, retail sentiment is just as important as it was when Wall Street was largely on the sidelines, according to Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten.“It still does. You have to remember it's not like BlackRock owns the Bitcoin and Fidelity owns the Bitcoin. It's a bunch of retail accounts mostly that actually buy that,” Klippsten said during an interview with Cointelegraph published to YouTube on Tuesday. Media Read more

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US has seized nearly $1 billion in Iranian crypto, Treasury secretary saysUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, double the figure disclosed in late April.The United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday, adding that some of the wallet owners may not yet know the funds are gone.“I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,” Bessent said while speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum. “Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed,” he added.Bessent said the seizures are part of the US financial pressure campaign against Iran, known as Operation Economic Fury. Launched in March 2025, the operation has targeted Iranian assets across multiple fronts, seizing cryptocurrency, freezing bank accounts and working with European allies to confiscate properties.Read more

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Bitcoin treasury space still has fair share of ‘carnival barkers’: BSTR founderBSTR co-founder Sean Bill says many Bitcoin treasury companies lack the “ability to actually deploy Bitcoin.”The Bitcoin treasury company space is becoming more divided between firms with actual financial strategies and those leaning more on promotion, according to one industry executive.“I think a lot of them don't have the right capital structure, right. They don't have the ability to actually deploy Bitcoin,” Sean Bill — co-founder of Bitcoin treasury company BSTR, alongside Adam Back  — said during an interview with Cointelegraph published to YouTube on Tuesday.“They're really planning on having Bitcoin do all the talking for them,” Bill said. “I do think that you have a lot of carnival barkers in this space,” Bill said.Read more

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Spot Bitcoin ETFs see record 10-day outflow streak, analyst calls it ‘contrarian indicator’Spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a record 10-day outflow streak totaling nearly $3 billion, while Ether ETFs bled for 14 consecutive sessions. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have logged outflows for ten consecutive trading days, with total net redemptions exceeding $2.97 billion since May 15, a streak that one analyst says may signal a market bottom is near.According to data from SoSoValue, daily outflows ranged from $70 million to $733 million across the period, with the steepest single-day exodus recorded on Wednesday at $733.43 million. Total net assets held across spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs have dropped from $104.29 billion on May 15 to $94.17 billion as of Friday, a decline of roughly $10 billion in two weeks.The current streak broke the previous record of eight consecutive outflow sessions, which was recorded in early last year and saw $3.2 billion in withdrawals, on Thursday, before extending to 10 days on Friday.Read more

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Bit Digital buys $20M worth of Ethereum, expands treasury to 158K ETHThe purchase pushed the Nasdaq-listed company ahead of Coinbase Global to become the fourth-largest public corporate holder of Ether, according to CoinGecko data.Bit Digital purchased $20 million worth of Ether earlier this month, increasing its holdings to roughly 158,462 ETH. The Nasdaq-listed company said Thursday it acquired 8,568 ETH (ETH) on May 11 at an average price of $2,334.25 per token.CEO Sam Tabar said the purchase reduced Bit Digital’s average ETH acquisition cost and was part of the company’s strategy to grow net asset value per share through Ethereum accumulation, AI infrastructure and acquisitions.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, spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a record 10-day outflow streak totaling nearly $3 billion, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a Bitcoin perpetual futures contract for prediction markets platform Kalshi. Meanwhile, on Thursday, spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a record nine-day outflow streak totaling $2.84 billion.Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have logged outflows for ten consecutive trading days, with total net redemptions exceeding $2.97 billion since May 15, a streak that one analyst says may signal a market bottom is near.According to data from SoSoValue, daily outflows ranged from $70 million to $733 million across the period, with the steepest single-day exodus recorded on Wednesday at $733.43 million. Total net assets held across spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs have dropped from $104.29 billion on May 15 to $94.17 billion as of Friday, a decline of roughly $10 billion in two weeks.Read more

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SEC charges Texas man with $12.3M crypto fraud using fake AI trading botsThe SEC charged Texas man Nathan Fuller with raising $12.3 million from 150 investors through a crypto fraud scheme built around fake AI trading bots.The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Texas man with running a crypto fraud scheme that raised $12.3 million from roughly 150 investors by falsely claiming to use AI-powered trading bots to generate guaranteed returns.Nathan Fuller, a resident of Cypress, Texas, operated the scheme through his company Privvy Investments, LLC, and under the assumed business name Gateway Digital Investments between at least October 2022 and mid-2024, according to the SEC’s complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.Fuller allegedly promised investors returns of 40% to 50% within 30 to 45 days, with some told they could make guaranteed profits exceeding 100% in as little as 21 days. To back up the pitch, he claimed investor funds were secured by a surety bond, insured by the  Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and protected by a professional liability insurance policy. None of it was true, the SEC alleges.Read more

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Circle freezes $12.6M of USDC linked to privacy protocol ZamaThe $12.6 million in USDC was likely frozen in connection with an ongoing but unrelated civil court case, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.Stablecoin issuer Circle froze $12.6 million in USDC dollar-pegged tokens linked to privacy protocol Zama’s confidential USDC smart contract on Saturday, according to onchain sleuth ZachXBT.The smart contract is “publicly labeled” on block explorers and the privacy protocol’s technical documentation, ZachXBT said. The exact reason for the freeze is “unclear,” he said, adding that wallets linked to the Overnight Finance decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol deposited $12.4 million into the Zama protocol on May 11, 2026. He said:Read more

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Senator Lummis says China will 'write the rules' of the new financial era if CLARITY failsThe Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act in May, but it must still pass both chambers of Congress before heading to the president's desk.The United States will lose its leadership position in crypto to other countries, including China, if US lawmakers fail to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY), a crypto market structure bill, according to Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.Passing a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework would “ensure” that other countries “do not write the rules of the next financial era,” Lummis said. She added in a separate X post:In May, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act after the legislation had stalled for months, reviving crypto industry hopes that the bill might be codified into law in 2026.Read more

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Bitcoin is at ‘pivotal level’ as $65K downside risk looms: AnalystWhile Bitcoin is hovering around $73,000, a crypto trader says the current setup is “different from the previous breakdown in February.”Bitcoin could fall toward its February yearly low if it fails to maintain support above the $70,000 level, according to a crypto analyst.“Bitcoin is at a pivotal level, and if it doesn't hold, we're buying at <$65K,” MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said in an X post on Saturday. Bitcoin (BTC) reached a yearly low of $60,000 in early February before recovering to $73,873 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.It comes as crypto market participants are divided over whether Bitcoin's early February price of $60,000 marked the bottom of the cycle, or if further downside still lies ahead.Read more

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