NYC Mayor Eric Adams launches crypto advisory council

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will create a digital advisory council to attract jobs and investment to the Big Apple and position it as the “crypto capital of the globe.”

“This is not about chasing memes or trends,” Adams told the inaugural New York City Crypto Summit on May 20. “We want to use the technology of tomorrow to better serve New Yorkers today.”

“We have experts right here, and they are going to help us navigate solutions that serve our city,” he added. “The age of tokenization, which includes crypto and blockchain and other fintech innovations, that age is here, and we’re going to continue to move forward with it.”

Adams didn’t share further details on the advisory group, but said a council chair and key policy recommendations would follow in the next few weeks.

We’re taking the next step in becoming the Crypto Capitol of the

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SEC charges Unicoin and executives for alleged $100 million fraud

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged crypto platform Unicoin and three of its executives, alleging they made false and misleading statements about its crypto assets that raised $100 million from investors.

The SEC said on May 20 that it charged Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, board member Silvina Moschini, and former investment chief Alex Dominguez with misleading investors about certificates that conveyed rights to receive Unicoin tokens and stock.

Mark Cave, associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, claimed the trio “exploited thousands of investors with fictitious promises that its tokens, when issued, would be backed by real-world assets including an international portfolio of valuable real estate holdings.” 

Related: SEC crypto task force to release first report ‘in the next few months’

“The real estate assets were worth a mere fraction of what the company claimed, and the majority of the company’s sales of rights certificates

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Strive targets 75,000 Bitcoin from Mt. Gox claims to build Bitcoin treasury

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive is looking to build its Bitcoin holdings by purchasing distressed Bitcoin claims at a discount, starting with claims tied to 75,000 Bitcoin at the bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox.

Strive said in a May 20 regulatory filing that it partnered with 117 Castell Advisory Group LLC to target claims to Bitcoin (BTC) that have received definitive legal rulings but are still awaiting distribution.

The company said buying the claims would allow it to purchase Bitcoin at a discount and grow its Bitcoin per share ratio ahead of its planned reverse merger with Asset Entities — which is expected to be completed sometime mid this year.

Strive hasn’t disclosed any Bitcoin holdings but claims it will face fewer restrictions on purchasing Bitcoin than companies going public through Special Purpose Acquisition Company mergers.

Advantages of going public via a reverse merger

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Justin Sun to attend Trump's dinner with memecoin backers

After weeks of speculation among crypto enthusiasts and news outlets, Tron founder Justin Sun has claimed he owns the wallet that purchased the largest amount of Donald Trump’s memecoin, allowing him to qualify for a dinner and reception with the US president.

In a May 19 X post, Sun said he had received an invitation to attend Trump’s dinner at his golf club outside Washington, DC, as part of a reward for the top 220 memecoin holders. The Tron founder claimed he controlled the top wallet on the TRUMP token leaderboard under the username “Sun,” which held roughly $19 million worth of the memecoin at a price of $13.20.

According to Sun, he plans to network at the May 22 memecoin dinner, “talk crypto,” and “discuss the future” of the industry. It’s unclear why the Tron founder chose to announce his planned presence at the event now, when the

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Bitcoin open interest hits record high as bulls stampede toward new BTC price highs

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin futures open interest hit a record $72 billion, signaling rising use of leverage among institutional investors.

$1.2 billion in shorts at $107,000 to $108,000 are at risk of liquidation, boosting BTC’s breakout odds.

The aggregate open interest in Bitcoin (BTC) futures surged to a record high on May 20, raising questions about whether bearish positions are now at risk. Despite repeated failures to break above the $107,000 level since May 18, the sheer volume of leveraged positions could propel Bitcoin to a new all-time high.

Bitcoin futures aggregate open interest, USD. Source: CoinGlass

The total open interest in BTC futures climbed to $72 billion on May 20, marking an 8% increase from $66.6 billion just a week earlier. Institutional demand continues to be a major driver of this leverage, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) leading at $16.9 billion in BTC futures, followed by Binance, which

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Ethereum price gained 90% the last time this indicator turned bullish

Key Takeaways:

Ethereum is forming a bull flag on the daily chart, with a potential breakout above $3,600.

If ETH reclaims the 2-week Gaussian Channel mid-line, a 90% rally could occur.

Ethereum (ETH) price is consolidating between $2,400 and $2,750 on its daily chart, forming a bull flag pattern with sights on the $3,000 to $3,100 resistance zone. A bull flag is a continuation pattern that follows a sharp rally (black flagpole) to $2,730 from $1,900, with the current range forming the flag. 

Ethereum 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A bullish breakout above $2,600 could target $3,600, which is calculated by adding the flagpole height to the breakout point, but the immediate key area of interest remains between the resistance range at $3,100-$3,000. 

The 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) supports the lower range. The relative strength index (RSI), although still near the overbought region, has significantly cooled over the past few days. 

An ETH breakout with rising RSI

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Bancor files patent infringement lawsuit against Uniswap over DEX tech

Bancor, the creator of a smart contract-based automated market maker, is suing Uniswap for patent infringement, alleging the decentralized finance exchange has used its technology without permission and profited significantly from it.

According to the May 20 announcement of the lawsuit, Bancor designed the technology in 2016 and patented it in January 2017. The technology underpins the “constant product automated market maker,” which involves using mathematics to add or withdraw resources from a liquidity pool. The application subsequently led to two issued patents.

Bancor alleges that Uniswap used the invention to create its protocol, launched in November 2018. The two organizations are considered competitors in the sector of decentralized finance (DeFi).

“When an organization continuously uses our invention without our authorization and does so as a means of competing with us, we must take action,” said Mark Richardson, project lead at Bancor.

At the time of publication, Uniswap had not publicly responded to the

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Bitcoin ready to ‘vaporize’ shorts once price discovery above $110K begins

Key takeaways:

An end-of-month Bitcoin price close above $102,400 would set the highest monthly close ever, proving the bull market continues at a rapid pace.

Over $3 billion in Bitcoin short positions are vulnerable above $107,000, creating a “liquidation magnet” that could send BTC price to new highs.

Bitcoin (BTC) is 11 days from potentially setting its highest monthly candle close in history. After achieving a record weekly close of $106,407 on May 18, BTC could secure a new monthly high by closing above $102,400 this month.

Bitcoin 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

With respect to its current market trend, Bitcoin is inches away from a ‘price discovery’ period, as noted by crypto trader Jelle.

Price discovery in this context refers to the process where buyers and sellers interact at an undefined or non-traded range to determine the market price of an asset.

A break above Bitcoin’s all-time high of $110,000 would initiate a price

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Coinbase CEO's journey from no 'political causes' to hiring DOGE staff

Five years ago, Brian Armstrong wanted employees of his cryptocurrency exchange to refrain from expressing political views at work. Now, the Coinbase CEO seems to be open to involvement with Republican figures, including members of US President Donald Trump’s inner circle.

In a May 13 X post, Armstrong said members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, spearheaded by Elon Musk, though not set up as an actual department, would be welcome to implement cost-cutting changes at Coinbase after leaving the US government.

Armstrong offered to set up an accelerated onboarding process with the exchange, responding to an interview in which at least one DOGE staffer felt ostracized from Harvard University, where he had been enrolled.

“If you are looking for your next mission after serving your country, consider helping create a more efficient financial system for the world at Coinbase,” Armstrong said.

Since assuming a government

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Validation Cloud deploys Web3 AI engine on Hedera

Artificial intelligence platform Validation Cloud has launched a new large language model on the Hedera network, potentially giving decentralized finance users the ability to reach blockchain data in a more accessible way.

The Mavrik-1 AI engine has been deployed on Hedera, with several other planned integrations expected during a public rollout later this year, Validation Cloud’s team told Cointelegraph. 

The AI engine is designed to allow users to interact with DeFi protocols and access blockchain data through natural language queries without needing technical expertise or knowledge. 

Mavrik-1 uses live onchain data trained for DeFi, stablecoins and other blockchain applications. 

Hedera DeFi metrics, including total value locked (TVL), decentralized exchange volume and stablecoin activity. Source: DefiLlama

“Despite DeFi accounting for over 50% of all onchain activity, accessing and interpreting that data remains a major hurdle for most users and institutions,” Validation Cloud told Cointelegraph, asserting that existing blockchain data tools like Dune, Flipside

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