BlackRock Bitcoin ETF clocks 16 days of inflow as BTC reclaims $97K

Investors have been piling into BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund for over three weeks straight, culminating in the asset’s run up to $97,000 on May 7. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust has seen 16 days of inflows for the spot BTC ETF, with a further 280 Bitcoin (BTC) or around $36 million piling into the …

South Korea presidential front-runner pledges to approve Bitcoin ETFs

South Korea’s Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung has reportedly become the latest presidential candidate to promise the approval of spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other crypto-friendly measures, should he be elected. Lee announced his crypto promises on May 6 as part of a broader initiative to provide more investment opportunities for Korea’s youth, one …

World Liberty Financial floats USD1 airdrop to WLFI holders

Trump family-backed crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is proposing to airdrop a small amount of its new US dollar-pegged stablecoin to reward early WLFI holders in a test of its airdrop mechanism. With over 99% of votes in favor of the proposal already, the airdrop will distribute a small amount of USD1 to eligible …

Coinbase x402 payments protocol to make AI agents more autonomous

Coinbase has introduced a new payments protocol for online payments that enables stablecoin transfers over standard internet protocols and AI agents to transact autonomously.   On May 6, Coinbase announced that it is launching a protocol called x402 for instant stablecoin payments directly over the internet communication protocol HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). It allows Application Programming …

Bitcoin must hold above $95K or face short-term rejection: Bitfinex

Key takeaways: Bitcoin must maintain above $95,000 to have a chance at retesting its $109,000 all-time high; failure to hold could lead to a deeper correction, crypto analysts warn. Several crypto analysts told Cointelegraph in March that Bitcoin may have a chance of reaching new all-time highs in June. The upcoming Federal Reserve decision on …

Zerebro dev’s death in question as ‘proof’ surfaces on X

Members of the crypto community are circulating apparent “proof” that Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu faked his suicide as he promoted his new memecoin during a Pump.fun livestream on May 4. The belief appears to come from an unverified private letter supposedly sent by Yu to a Zerebro investor, trading activity linked to crypto wallets owned …

Democrats aim at Trump’s crypto profits with a 3-prong pincer move

US Democrat lawmakers have launched a multi-angle attack on President Donald Trump’s crypto ventures with two bills and a subcommittee inquiry aimed at cutting his ability to profit from the initiatives.    The Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement Act, or the MEME Act, aims to prevent federal officials from using their position to profit from memecoins, …

Bitwise throws NEAR ETF in race for SEC approval with S-1 filing

Digital asset manager Bitwise has filed to list a spot Near exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, adding to a growing list of altcoins currently vying to win regulatory approval. The Bitwise Near (NEAR) ETF will track the price movements of the NEAR token, minus expenses, through a traditional brokerage, Bitwise’s May …

US regulator moves to drop appeal against Kalshi

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking permission from the court to drop an appeal against prediction market Kalshi. The move could allow the platform to offer political event contracts to users without contest. In a May 5 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, lawyers for …

Tether adds Chainalysis tokenization platform for compliance, monitoring

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap USDt (USDT), has announced a partnership with Chainalysis that will integrate the company’s compliance and monitoring tools onto Tether’s tokenization platform. The move comes amid expanding oversight across the crypto industry. Launched in November 2024, the Hadron by Tether platform is designed for institutions, …