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Crypto.com secures EU license to launch crypto financial derivatives

Mobile-first crypto exchange and payment platform Crypto.com secured a license allowing it to offer cryptocurrency financial derivatives in the European Economic Area.

According to a May 21 announcement, Crypto.com secured a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) license.

“We have already expanded our brand presence in Europe since receiving our MiCA licence and we now look forward to providing customers across the region even more ways to engage with our platform through these new offerings,” said Crypto.com’s co-founder and CEO, Kris Marszalek.

Source: Crypto.com

The announcement followed Crypto.com receiving in-principle approval to operate across the European Union under a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in mid-January. The company received regulatory approval for its acquisition of Cyprus-based trading services firm A.N. Allnew Investments from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Crypto.com did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

A popular strategy

The company is not the first crypto

Bitcoin 'blow-off top' set at $128K with new all-time highs in sight

Key points:

Bitcoin tags $108,000 for the first time since the day of its current all-time highs in January.

Traders and analysts mention support extending toward $90,000, but the probability of a retest is fading.

Near-term upside targets include a “blow-off top” at $128,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to more than $108,000 on May 21, marking new four-month highs. Where will BTC/USD go next?

Crypto traders and analysts are lining up their forecasts with BTC price action less than 1.5% away from new all-time highs.

BTC price support test now “less likely”

Bitcoin continues to coil below what is now its most significant psychological resistance barrier, January’s all-time highs.

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

At $109,356 on Bitstamp, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, that seminal line in the sand is what bulls are attempting to bring back into play this week.

Volatility is picking up; BTC/USD

SEC’s Peirce says NFT royalties do not make tokens securities

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce said many non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including those with mechanisms to pay creator royalties, likely fall outside the purview of federal securities laws.

In a recent speech, Peirce said NFTs that allow artists to earn resale revenue do not automatically qualify as securities. Unlike stocks, NFTs are programmable assets that distribute proceeds to developers or artists. The SEC official said that mirrors how streaming platforms compensate musicians and filmmakers.

“Just as streaming platforms pay royalties to the creator of a song or video each time a user plays it, an NFT can enable artists to benefit from the appreciation in the value of their work after its initial sale,” Peirce said.

Peirce added that the feature does not provide NFT owners any rights or interest in any business enterprise or profits “traditionally associated with securities.”

SEC never prohibited NFT royalties

Oscar Franklin Tan,

South Korea tightens crypto rules ahead of institutional market entry

South Korea is tightening rules around digital asset transactions as it prepares to allow institutional players into its crypto market, introducing new guidelines for nonprofit crypto sales and stricter listing standards for exchanges.

On May 20, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea said during its fourth Virtual Asset Committee meeting that it had finalized sweeping new measures.

Set to take effect in June, the updated rules allow both nonprofit organizations and virtual asset exchanges to sell cryptocurrencies, but under new compliance standards.

Nonprofit entities must have at least five years of audited financial history to be permitted to receive and sell virtual asset donations. They will also need to establish internal Donation Review Committees to assess the appropriateness of each donation and the liquidation strategy.

To reduce risks of money laundering, all donations must be routed through verified Korean won exchange accounts, with verification responsibilities placed on banks, exchanges

Why crypto transfers can fail and what you must check before sending

Why crypto transfers can fail and what you must check before sending

Crypto transfers fail more often than most people realize, but user attentiveness can stop most losses.

What’s often marketed as a seamless, borderless system can become frustrating when transfers fail, with no customer service hotline to call and no easy recourse to reverse mistakes. In the crypto universe, the burden of getting it right falls squarely on the shoulders of the user.

But here’s the encouraging part: Most failures are preventable. Understanding why crypto transfers fail can help users avoid costly missteps, navigate the quirks of different networks and send funds with far greater confidence. With a little preparation, you can sidestep common pitfalls and take control of your crypto experience.

Did you know? According to a recent survey, 37% of people cite security risks as the most significant barrier to adopting crypto

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Theta Capital raises $175M to back early-stage blockchain startups

Amsterdam-based Theta Capital Management raised over $175 million for its latest fund-of-funds, aimed at supporting early-stage blockchain startups through specialized venture capital (VC) firms.

The new vehicle, Theta Blockchain Ventures IV, will channel capital into crypto-native VC firms with a track record of backing blockchain innovation, Theta’s managing partner and chief investment officer Ruud Smets told Bloomberg.

Smets said the strategy focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist investors in the earliest funding rounds.

“We’ve always been looking for areas where specialization and active management provide a sustainable edge,” Smets noted. He said that the experience and positioning of dedicated crypto VCs “has compounded over time,” creating barriers for less focused investors trying to enter the space.

Founded in 2001, Theta shifted its focus to digital assets in 2018 and now manages about $1.2 billion. The firm has backed leading crypto investment names such as Polychain Capital, CoinFund and Castle

SEC delays decision on Ether staking and XRP ETFs, as analysts expected

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision on Bitwise’s application to add staking to its Ether exchange-traded fund and on Grayscale’s XRP ETF bid, which analysts had expected.

The SEC said on May 20 that it needed to extend its decision on Bitwise’s application by 45 days to “consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.” The agency needed to either decide or punt its decision by May 22.

The agency also delayed deciding on Grayscale’s XRP (XRP) tracking ETF and Bitwise’s Solana (SOL) tracking fund while it seeks public comments and begins “proceedings to allow for additional analysis” of the proposals to ensure they meet regulatory standards.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on X that both delays were expected because the SEC “typically takes the full time to respond to a

KindlyMD shareholders OK merger with Trump-linked Bitcoin firm

Shareholders of the healthcare services provider KindlyMD, Inc have approved a proposed merger with Bitcoin holding company Nakamoto Holdings, founded by US President Donald Trump’s crypto adviser, David Bailey.

KindlyMD and Nakamoto Holdings, a newly formed company that focuses on creating a network of Bitcoin-related entities, will both file information statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, KindlyMD said in a May 20 statement.

The merger is expected to take place 20 days after both companies have shared the information statement with KindlyMD’s shareholders, with the transaction expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2025.

Google Finance shows shares in KindlyMD (KDLY) closed the May 20 trading session up 9% at $15.22 and gained another 4.8% after the bell as the announcement of the approved merger came after the trading session ended. KDLY is up over 979% so far this year.

Shares of KindlyMD were up

Blackstone buys $1M worth of Bitcoin ETF in first crypto bet

Blackstone, which bills itself as the “the world’s largest alternative asset manager,” disclosed its first-ever crypto-related purchase, buying shares in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

However, Blackstone’s investment, reported in a May 20 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, only totaled around $1.08 million — a fraction of the asset manager’s $1.2 trillion portfolio.

Blackstone reported holding 23,094 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) as of March 31.

The IBIT shares were added to Blackstone’s Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), which holds $2.63 billion worth of assets, Google Finance data shows.

The filing shows Blackstone also bought 4,300 shares in crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot Inc. (BTM) for a total cost of $6,300 and spent $181,166 scooping up 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO).

Despite its claim as an “alternative asset manager,” Blackstone has largely stayed away from crypto. In September 2019, Blackstone CEO

‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

Haliey Welch, better known as the “Hawk tuah girl,” says the Federal Bureau of Investigation briefly probed her after her “memecoin disaster” — the failed launch of a token in her image that she promoted.

Welch said in a May 21 episode of her “Talk Tuah” podcast that the FBI showed up at her grandmother’s house looking to speak to her over the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) crypto token, which many crypto commentators have called an exit scam.

“After the coin launch, the feds came to granny’s house and knocked on her door, and she called me, having a heart attack, saying: ‘The FBI is here after you, what have you done?’”

Welch said she handed over her phone to the FBI and met with agents who “interrogated me, asking me questions and everything else related to crypto.”

“They cleared me, I was good to go,” Welch said.

Welch went viral for

Read More at https://cointelegraph.com/news/hawk-tuah-girl-haliey-welch-fbi-probed-over-hawk-memecoin?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound