Polygon co-founder steps down, will be 'cheering from the sidelines'

Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, has stepped down from his role at Polygon but suggests he will stay active in the crypto industry in some capacity.

His resignation drew reactions across Polygon and the wider crypto community, with several seeing it as a loss for Polygon, which has been tied to several major developments in recent months.

Bjelic winds down ‘day-to-day involvement’

“After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs,” Bjelic said in a May 23 X post.

“I’ll always be cheering from the sidelines and supporting however and whenever I can,” Bjelic added.

“As projects evolve and mature, it is natural for visions to evolve, and sometimes diverge. With this in mind, I can no longer contribute to Polygon to the best of my abilities.”

Fellow Polygon co-founder,

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Will Bitcoin bulls secure $110K before BTC’s $13.8B options expiry?

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin bulls aim to push BTC above $110,000 by May 30 to capitalize on $4.8 billion in call options.

Spot BTC ETF inflows and weak put positioning give bulls a strong edge in the monthly expiry.

Bitcoin (BTC) is approaching its largest monthly options expiry of 2025, with total exposure reaching $13.8 billion. This event gives bulls a chance to secure Bitcoin’s price above $110,000, as bears were caught off guard by a 25% rally over the past 30 days.

May 30 Bitcoin options open interest, USD. Source: Laevitas.ch

The open interest in Bitcoin put (sell) options stands at $6.5 billion, but 95% of these positions are set below $109,000. Therefore, if Bitcoin’s price holds near current levels, less than $350 million worth of put options will remain relevant at expiry.

Conversely, the open interest in Bitcoin call (buy) options up to $109,000 totals $3.8

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Solana 'will make everyone an investor' — Solana nCMO

The current structure of capital markets is failing to serve a broad base of investors, according to Akshay BD, non-chief marketing officer at the Solana Foundation. During a panel at the Accelerate 2025 conference, Akshay argued that blockchain technology could help address these shortcomings, claiming that Solana could “make everyone an investor or a dreamer over time.”

Akshay noted growing uncertainty among investors, citing concerns from investment managers who report heightened anxiety among clients. “You have low bond yields, you have asset price bubbles, and people don’t really know how the traditional asset allocation model works anymore,” he said. The 60-40 portfolio hasn’t delivered consistent returns in a long time.”

He attributed some of this tension to a widening gap between income earned through wages and wealth accumulated through asset ownership. Retail investors, he added, are often locked out of private markets, which are typically accessible only to accredited investors — a

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Onchain privacy is a necessity in the age of AI — Shielded CEO

Blockchain privacy tools such as zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs will become increasingly necessary to protect online user data in the age of artificial intelligence, according to Eran Barak, CEO of Shielded Technologies, the developer behind the Midnight privacy chain.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at Consensus 2025, Barak said corporate service providers and centralized servers are expected to become honeypots for AI-assisted hackers and malicious actors looking to steal valuable data, including private keys, financial metadata, medical records, and government documents.

Hackers targeting centralized entities have a “massive” return on investment (ROI) and are incentivized to hack centralized targets that contain millions of valuable records, the CEO told Cointelegraph. Barak added that ZK-proofs, a way of verifying onchain data without revealing it, solve this problem:

“Blockchain is going to improve cybersecurity around the world, because, for a hacker to get to actual data, they need to hack individual wallets, but

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Semler Scientific boosts BTC holdings with $50M purchase

Semler Scientific, a medical device company, purchased of $50 million worth of Bitcoin between May 13 and May 22, bringing the market value of the company’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings to $474.4 million, keeping it within the top 13 of BTC Treasury companies.

According to a May 23 disclosure, Semler bought a total of 455 BTC for an average purchase price of $109,801. To buy the Bitcoin, Semler Scientific used proceeds from an at-the-market stock offering program. So far, the company has sold roughly 3 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $115 million.

Semler Scientific’s shares have fallen 1.36% on the same day as the disclosure, though the decrease in its share price is largely in line with the Nasdaq’s performance. That index, which follows top tech stocks, is down 1% on the day.

Semler Scientific share price. Source: Google Finance

In its Q1 2025 earnings report released on

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Semler Scientific boosts BTC holdings with $50M purchase

Semler Scientific, a medical device company, purchased of $50 million worth of Bitcoin between May 13 and May 22, bringing the market value of the company’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings to $474.4 million, keeping it within the top 13 of BTC Treasury companies.

According to a May 23 disclosure, Semler bought a total of 455 BTC for an average purchase price of $109,801. To buy the Bitcoin, Semler Scientific used proceeds from an at-the-market stock offering program. So far, the company has sold roughly 3 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $115 million.

Semler Scientific’s shares have fallen 1.36% on the same day as the disclosure, though the decrease in its share price is largely in line with the Nasdaq’s performance. That index, which follows top tech stocks, is down 1% on the day.

Semler Scientific share price. Source: Google Finance

In its Q1 2025 earnings report released on

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Texas governor signals support for Bitcoin reserve bill

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signaled support for a bill recently passed by the state House of Representatives that would establish a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.

In a May 22 X post, Abbott posted a Techstory article about Texas state lawmakers’ efforts to create a Bitcoin (BTC) reserve. The story pointed out that the decision for the passage of SB 21, the bill in question, now rests on Abbott’s shoulders, roughly three months after it was introduced. 

Since taking office, Abbott referred to himself as a “crypto law proposal supporter” in 2021 and suggested that he would support policies to establish Texas as a “crypto capital” in 2024. Texas was one of a handful of state-level governments that proposed setting up a strategic crypto reserve after the 2024 federal elections.   

Related: Ukraine strategic Bitcoin

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Crypto Biz: From shorting the Venezuelan Bolivar to shorting the US dollar

When Venezuela was experiencing hyperinflation, Ledn co-founder Mauricio di Bartolomeo hedged against the collapsing local currency by shorting it in favor of the more stable US dollar. Today, he’s using a similar strategy — this time borrowing against his Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge against the crumbling US dollar.

Di Bartolomeo connected with me during Canada Crypto Week in Toronto, where he talked about the advantages of Bitcoin-backed loans and the rapid growth of collateralized BTC lending. In our interview, he made a compelling case for continuing to stack sats, even as Bitcoin’s price keeps rising.

This week’s Crypto Biz dives into our conversation with the Ledn co-founder and covers the latest business news from the blockchain world.

A lesson from hyperinflation

Before Bitcoin, di Bartolomeo’s most successful investment was shorting the Bolivar with US dollars, referring to his experience in Venezuela during the hyperinflationary 2010s. 

“I was borrowing Bolivars

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US House members call for investigation into Trump's memecoin dinner

Members of the US House of Representatives called for the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s May 22 dinner for his top memecoin investors, citing concerns about “foreign influence over US policy decisions” and “potential corruption and emoluments clause violations.”

In a May 22 letter to the Justice Department, 35 House members asked the public integrity section acting chief, Edward Sullivan, to launch an inquiry over the memecoin dinner to determine whether it violated the federal bribery statute or the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution. 

Under the emoluments clause, a US president is barred from accepting any gift from a foreign state without the approval of Congress. Bloomberg reported that a majority of the attendees at the memecoin dinner were likely foreign nationals based on their connections to crypto exchanges. 

“US law prohibits foreign persons from contributing to US political campaigns,” said the letter. “However, the $TRUMP memecoin,

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Bitcoin price ‘breather’ expected as short-term traders realize $11.6B in profit

Key takeaways:

Short-term Bitcoin holders realized $11.6 billion in profit over the past 30 days, suggesting a potential pause or local top in the market.

Technical indicators show cooling momentum as retail investor sentiment falls to a 90-day low and liquidity data points to price volatility.

Bitcoin (BTC) price recently hit a new all-time high of $111,800, but the bullish momentum may slow down as onchain data from Glassnode reveals significant profit-taking by short-term holders (STHs), potentially signaling a market “breather.”

Glassnode analysis shows that STHs, often considered traders rather than long-term investors, have realized a staggering $11.6 billion in profits over the last 30 days. This follows a sharp rebound in Bitcoin’s price, pushing past the STH cost-basis of $93,000. The profit-taking peaked at $747 million daily, a rapid increase from the $1.2 billion realized in the last 30-day period, highlighting a shift in new investor sentiment. 

Bitcoin entity-adjusted short-term holder.

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