Crypto Vesting

The US government has asked a federal judge to impose a two-year sentence for Eric Council Jr., the individual who helped post a fake message announcing the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) X account.

In a May 12 filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, prosecutors recommended Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentence Council to two years in prison for his role in posting a message to the social media platform X suggesting that the SEC had approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the first time in January 2024. The fake announcement, which shook markets in the roughly 24 hours before the regulator actually approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, led to the arrest of Council.

“This case deserves a guidelines range prison sentence,” said US prosecutors. “Defendant profited through a sophisticated fraud scheme involving fraudulently produced

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Blockchain technology could enable “a broad swath of novel use cases for securities” and foster “new kinds of market activities that many of the Commission’s legacy rules and regulations do not contemplate today,” Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said.

During his keynote address at the Commission’s May 12 roundtable on tokenization and digital assets, Atkins welcomed “a new day at the SEC,” adding that “policymaking will no longer result from ad hoc enforcement actions. Instead, the Commission will utilize its existing rulemaking, interpretive, and exemptive authorities to set fit-for-purpose standards for market participants.”

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

A key priority will be to “develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the

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Key points:

Bitcoin price saw profit booking near $105,819, signaling that bears remain active at higher levels.

Select altcoins have continued to move higher, indicating increased investor interest.  

The SPX and the DXY are playing catch-up to Bitcoin following the US-China trade deal.

Bitcoin (BTC) has started the new week on a cautious note, falling below $103,000, but the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the US Dollar Index (DXY) have risen sharply following the announcement of the US-China trade agreement. One of the reasons could be that other assets are trying to play catch up with Bitcoin, and the sharp rally in the US dollar may be acting as headwinds for Bitcoin in the near term.

Bitwise European Head of Research André Dragosch said in a post on X that the firm’s proprietary indicator has reached its highest level since 2024. Historically, high levels of

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced partnerships between the city and financial firms as part of his crypto plans.

In a May 12 press conference at Gracie Mansion, the the city’s official mayoral residence, Adams said June Ou, founder of financial services company Figure, and Richie Hecker, CEO of private equity firm Traction and Scale, would be assisting the city in its crypto efforts. He spoke of Ou and Hecker acting as advisers for New York City’s next steps in “economic development and opportunities to serve the public using digital assets.” 

“We are focused on the long-term values of these technologies for our city and its people, not chasing memes or trends,” said Adams, adding:

“If you’re in the crypto, blockchain, Web3 or the fintech space, New York City is open for business.”Eric Adams addressing reporters on May 12. Source: Yedda Araujo/Cointelegraph

Adams made digital assets a large

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Key takeaways:

Bitcoin lags as investors shift toward stocks after the US and China strike a deal that could end the current trade war.

Macroeconomic conditions are swinging away from gold investing and back to stocks. 

Bitcoin (BTC) reached its highest price in over three months at $105,720 on May 12, but was unable to maintain its bullish momentum. Interestingly, the drop to $102,000 came after a temporary easing in the US-China tariff conflict. This has left traders puzzled as to why Bitcoin reacted negatively to what seemed like positive developments.

The 90-day truce reduced import tariffs, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that the agreement could be extended, provided there is a genuine effort and constructive dialogue. According to Yahoo Finance, the topics under discussion include “currency manipulation,” “steel price dumping,” and restrictions on semiconductor exports.

Bitcoin/USD (orange)

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Emerging technologies, including quantum computing, could potentially render the cryptography securing Bitcoin and other blockchain networks ineffective, asset manager BlackRock said in a regulatory filing. 

On May 9, BlackRock updated the registration statement for its iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). The revised version addressed potential risks to the integrity of the Bitcoin network posed by quantum computing, the filing shows.

“[I]f quantum computing technology is able to advance […] it could potentially undermine the viability of many of the cryptographic algorithms used across the world’s information technology infrastructure, including the cryptographic algorithms used for digital assets like bitcoin,” BlackRock said.

It is the first time the asset manager has explicitly flagged this risk in its IBIT disclosures. The IBIT ETF is the largest spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, with approximately $64 billion in net assets, according to its website. 

Quantum computing is an emergent field

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Tether’s USDt (USDT) surpassed a $150 billion market capitalization for the first time on May 12, marking a new milestone amid growing stablecoin adoption.

USDt’s circulating supply has expanded by over 36% in the past year, with growth accelerating in November following the election of US President Donald Trump.

USDt’s market cap growth over the past year. Source: CoinMarketCap

At its current supply, Tether accounts for 61% of the global stablecoin market, according to CoinMarketCap data. It’s followed by Circle’s USDC (USDC), which accounts for nearly 25% of the stablecoin market. 

As the world’s largest stablecoin, Tether is widely viewed as a barometer for cryptocurrency demand, given its central role in providing liquidity and funding for crypto trading.

Tether is part of a broader trend toward digital fiat currencies, with recent data from Dune and

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Key takeaways:

Possible de-risking ahead of the May 13 CPI print could be playing a role in today’s BTC price correction.

Bitcoin market structure and qualitative fundamentals remain bullish, suggesting today’s correction could be short-lived.

Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly stumbled on May 12, falling to $102,388 after hitting an intraday high at $105,819 during the US trading session. At first glance, the abrupt correction seemed unexpected given the positive news of the day. Since Sunday evening (May 11), mainstream media headlines have reported on the positive headway made in the US-China trade talks occurring in Switzerland, and throughout the evening, President Trump ran his victory lab via Truth Social posts heralding the positives of the deal. 

BREAKING: U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva pic.twitter.com/JjgvYAvAGe

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2025

As news of the tentative deal broke, US equity futures markets soared, and these gains materialized

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Patel Real Estate Holdings (PREH) has launched a $100 million tokenization fund on the Chintai blockchain, aiming to give accredited investors access to institutional-grade real estate opportunities.

The new PREH Multifamily Fund is a tokenized investment vehicle focused on vintage Class A multifamily units across the top 20 US growth markets, the company told Cointelegraph on May 12.

“The entire structure is digital-native from the start — compliant onboarding, reporting, capital calls, and (potential) secondary market transfers,” a PREH spokesperson said.

The fund is part of a broader $750 million investment vehicle co-developed by PREH and several institutional firms, including Carlyle, DRA Advisors, Walton Street Capital, RPM and KKR. Initially, the company said that $25 million of the $100 million allocation would be tokenized on Chintai. 

According to PREH, the tokenization structure helps alleviate many transparency and liquidity constraints investors typically face in private market placements.

Founded in 2010, PREH is a national real estate

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Opinion by: Robin Singh, CEO of Koinly

Is there a catch for Bitcoin hodlers, with the asset’s price up over 600,000% since the beginning of 2013? 

Perhaps — if governments keep waking up to Bitcoin’s value, the whole “you only pay tax when you sell” mantra could soon be a thing of the past.

What if a wealth tax is the answer for revenue-hungry tax agencies with no time to lose? It’s a yearly tax on a person’s total net worth — cash, investments, property and other assets — minus any debts, applied whether or not those assets are sold or generating income. The idea is to boost public revenue and curb inequality, mainly by taxing the ultra-rich. A wealth tax takes a clip off what you own, not what you earn.

Countries such as Belgium, Norway and Switzerland have had wealth taxes baked into their tax systems for ages, yet some of the

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