US spot Bitcoin ETFs have logged six consecutive weeks of net inflows, the longest such streak since a seven-week run that drew in $7.57 billion in the summer of 2025.

Strike CEO Jack Mallers argued that if Wall Street “kills” Bitcoin, then the asset was never going to succeed in the first place.

The sanctions could intensify US-China tensions, impact global supply chains, and influence crypto markets amid heightened geopolitical risks.

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The ceasefire's potential extension could stabilize geopolitical tensions, influencing crypto market dynamics and investor sentiment significantly.

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Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s stablecoin plans, warning of serious risks to financial stability, competition, privacy, and payments integrity.

Meta’s Stablecoin Trials Under Scrutiny

This week, US Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a new letter to Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, raising concerns about the company’s plans to integrate stablecoins into the platform.

In the letter, the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee highlighted recent reports suggesting that Meta was conducting a “small and focused” trial with a third-party stablecoin and that the company plans to begin its integration in the second half of this year.

As reported by Bitcoinist, Meta began rolling out USDC payouts for select creators in Colombia and the Philippines last month, using Solana and Polygon as supported blockchain rails.

Warren affirmed that it is “essential” for the US Congress to fully understand the implications of Meta’s integration plans as it considers the crypto-market structure bill, the CLAIRTY Act.

“Any attempt to control, influence, or preference a stablecoin on Meta’s platforms–even a stablecoin issued by a third party–could have serious implications for competition, privacy, the integrity of our payments system, and financial stability,” she argued.

The Senator also raised concerns about the lack of transparency, underscoring Meta’s failed attempt to launch its own stablecoin six years ago. For context, the company announced its Libra project in 2019, but it was ultimately shut down in 2022 after massive pressure from US regulators and politicians.

“It is critical that Meta be transparent with Congress and the public regarding its stablecoin-related plans. Beyond the failure of its previous attempt to issue its own global private currency, the company has struggled to safely offer its existing products and services (…). Any new products, especially related to payments and financial services, should be treated with skepticism,” she stated.

Warren’s Probe Intensifies

The latest inquiry follows a June 2025 letter in which Warren and Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned Meta over reports that the company was renewing its efforts to launch a private currency project.

At the time, the senators affirmed that Big Tech companies issuing or controlling private currencies would threaten competition across the economy, erode financial privacy, and cede control of the US money supply to “monopolistic platforms that have a history of abusing their power.”

Days before, Warren had warned that the GENIUS Act, the landmark stablecoin bill, included a major loophole that would allow Big Tech firms like Meta to re-enter the space with minimal oversight.

As the senator noted in her latest letter, the company’s initial response affirmed that there was no Meta-issued stablecoin, adding that it had no plans to issue one in the future. Given the recent reports, she has now pressed for details on the integration plan by May 20, including the nature of Meta’s trial and roadmap for a potential H2 2026 launch.

Moreover, she requested information on whether the company has selected or will select a third-party stablecoin, whether it intends to make any changes to the MetaPay wallet, how Meta has strengthened its illicit finance controls, what privacy guardrails it has in place ahead of the integration, and whether it still has no plans to issue a stablecoin.

Three of the United States’ largest crypto exchanges—Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini—are pushing lawmakers to make a significant change to the anticipated CLARITY Act, the long-awaited framework for the crypto market that has been delayed for months in Congress. 

According to a Friday report by POLITICO, the companies have urged lawmakers to scrap one key provision that would require exchanges to list only digital assets that are “not readily susceptible to manipulation.”

Small Crypto Assets Could Face Harder Listing Rules

The recommendation, shared with lawmakers earlier this year, was confirmed to POLITICO by three people familiar with the discussions. 

The provision they want removed is intended to mirror existing commodity-market safeguards, but the exchanges argue it could be difficult to apply fairly to crypto—especially to smaller tokens that trade less frequently.

Under the current approach of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), platforms seeking to list products tied to commodities such as oil or corn must self-certify that the underlying contracts are not easily manipulated or artificially inflated before they can begin trading. 

The exchanges’ objections center on a practical problem: the “readily susceptible to manipulation” standard could make it harder for exchanges to provide the certifications needed to offer smaller, lower-liquidity tokens. 

In the words of one of the people familiar with the matter, the proposed edit represented “a very large walk back” from earlier drafts of the bill. Another person said the exchanges want “light-touch regulation.” At the same time, the companies pushed back against the idea that they are trying to dilute investor protections.

Support For CFTC Power Comes With Conditions

In a joint statement provided to POLITICO, Coinbase and Kraken and Gemini said they support comprehensive oversight for digital asset markets, including giving the CFTC expanded authority. 

The exchanges said that many Americans participate in crypto markets without the federal protections they believe should apply. They added that their legislative engagement has been aimed at expanding oversight, not reducing it.

Coinbase Federal Policy Director Robin Cook described the debate as a “chicken-and-egg problem.” The issue, she said, is how a token can generate enough trading volume and interest to demonstrate it is not a manipulation risk if the token can’t be listed in the first place. 

Cook said the company supports the “readily susceptible to manipulation” standard in traditional futures and swaps markets, but argued that importing that same standard into spot crypto could unintentionally limit what the CFTC, the industry, and consumers can do.

The exchanges’ suggested change was submitted as part of a broader set of recommendations to lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee, the panel that oversees the CFTC and is responsible for half of the CLARITY framework. 

Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

In a May 8 speech, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the agency could consider a limited “innovation pathway” for on-chain trading systems in the near future.

Meanwhile, the agency will reserve formal notice-and-comment rulemaking to determine how crypto platforms fit inside the exchange definition. Atkins tied that idea directly to the SEC's handling of electronic trading in the 1990s.

The SEC spent years issuing ad hoc no-action letters as electronic trading challenged the exchange framework, then built Regulation ATS in 1998. The rule was a middle path that allowed alternative trading systems to operate as broker-dealers under specific conditions as the market matured.

The original adopting release described the framework as designed to “encourage market innovation” while preserving investor protections. Atkins is pointing at that sequence of targeted guidance first, fit-for-purpose architecture second, as a template for on-chain finance.

The two-step reading makes the speech different from generic crypto-policy rhetoric.

Atkins appears to be preparing the SEC to allow certain on-chain trading systems to operate inside the regulatory perimeter under conditions, while a longer rulemaking process settles how exchange, broker-dealer, clearing, and transfer-agent definitions apply to software-based markets.

For crypto firms that spent years facing enforcement before rules existed, that sequence would represent a genuine departure from recent agency posture.

Why on-chain markets force a new architecture

Traditional SEC rules were built around separate actors performing separate regulated functions, such as exchanges matching orders, broker-dealers routing and executing them, clearing agencies settling them, and transfer agents recording ownership.

A single on-chain protocol can perform all of those functions automatically, often within seconds, without distinct intermediaries at each step.

Applying a rulebook designed for that separation to software that collapses it produces legal uncertainty that firms and regulators alike are trying to escape, and Atkins acknowledged that friction directly.

Clean compliance requires the SEC to do more than declare existing rules apply. Some functions that appear to be exchange activity in on-chain form also resemble broker-dealer or clearing activity, or both simultaneously.

A limited pathway is intended to address this problem by giving firms a route to operate inside the perimeter before the more difficult definitional rewrites are complete.

This pathway could take the form of exemptive relief, conditional no-action letters, a pilot program, a tailored registration framework, or a registration-lite model for certain on-chain venues.

The sequence is near-term conditional access, then formal rulemaking to future-proof the framework.

The SEC has already been operating with temporary tools in this space. On Apr. 13, the Division of Trading and Markets issued a staff statement offering conditional relief to certain self-custodial crypto interfaces, calling it an “interim step” while broader regulatory questions are considered.

Between Mar. 17 and May 4, the SEC's Crypto@SEC page recorded five market structure or tokenization actions, and Atkins' speech serves as the policy frame that connects those operational moves into a coherent sequence.

Commissioner Hester Peirce pointed to specific design levers in December 2025, asking whether the SEC should tailor Form ATS for crypto alternative trading systems, revise public-versus-non-public disclosure requirements, and rethink ATS reporting in light of public blockchains.

The February FAQ clarified that pairs trading of securities and non-security crypto assets is permissible, confirmed that current ATS forms can accommodate crypto disclosures, and established that broker-dealer ATS operators may perform certain clearing and settlement functions under applicable law.

The pathway Atkins is hinting at appears to build on those components.

Bridge or funnel

The optimistic reading is that the SEC is preparing a true Reg ATS-style bridge, with formal conditional pathways for on-chain venues, purpose-built disclosure frameworks, and explicit recognition that some on-chain clearing and settlement can sit inside broker-dealer activity.

In that version, firms that have operated offshore or in legal ambiguity would have a practical route to register, disclose, and operate domestically.

The Nasdaq tokenized-securities approval, the NYSE tokenized-securities filing, and the HQLAx no-action relief are all operational evidence that the SEC can structure conditional accommodations without waiting for Congress.

Conditional accommodation and deregulation are distinct outcomes. The original Regulation ATS brought new trading venues inside the SEC's perimeter and imposed conditions on their operation.

A crypto equivalent would impose requirements on disclosure, recordkeeping, custody standards, routing transparency, and conflict-of-interest controls, with a framework built around how on-chain protocols actually function.

The practical benefit to the industry would be a compliance route built on an on-chain architecture.

The pessimistic reading is that the pathway materializes primarily for intermediated or hybrid actors, leaving autonomous protocols and decentralized systems in the same legal uncertainty they face today.

The conditional relief it offers applies only to providers that hold no customer assets, take no orders, route no transactions, execute no trades, and solicit no specific user activity. That exclusion list covers most of what makes an automated market-maker or lending protocol function.

A pathway designed around those parameters would help firms closest to the traditional broker-dealer model while doing little for parts of on-chain finance that have no obvious broker-dealer analog.

Atkins also used the speech to urge Congress to send the CLARITY Act to President Donald Trump's desk, and the legislative backdrop helps explain why SEC action carries independent weight.

CLARITY Act faced a February stalemate over stablecoin rewards provisions, an April push from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and a May 1 deal on a key provision that may restore Senate momentum.

That stop-start trajectory means the SEC must act with its own tools while Congress negotiates, and Atkins said in January that statute alone leaves operational questions for the agency to answer.

His FTX reference closed the political argument, noting that regulatory voids displace risk offshore, leaving American investors exposed.

FTX operated outside the US, yet American customers still lost money. A domestic pathway brings activity inside the system before the next structural failure makes the gaps undeniable.

The speech is best taken as a marker that the SEC appears to be moving from a classification argument about crypto fitting the old rulebook to a design exercise about what conditions a bridge for on-chain venues would actually require.

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Toncoin (TON) surged from roughly $1.32 on May 1 to an intraday high of $2.90 by May 7, pushing its market cap to approximately $7.8 billion.

The catalyst was Pavel Durov's announcement that Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as the network's primary driving force and become its largest validator within two to three weeks.

Alongside that, ton.org was updated to state that the domain is “controlled by MTONGA.” Traders took the combination as confirmation that TON had, in substance, become Telegram's chain. This means being directed by the same company whose 1 billion users would determine its value.

In January 2025, Telegram and TON formalized exclusivity agreements that went far beyond branding.

TON became the sole blockchain infrastructure for Telegram Mini Apps, TON Connect became the required wallet-connection standard for blockchain-enabled mini apps, and Toncoin became the only cryptocurrency accepted for Telegram Stars, Premium, Ads, Gateway, and certain developer and channel-owner payouts.

Those terms gave TON a structural claim on every financial transaction running through Telegram's platform. What the early-May post added was a governance layer on top of that commercial position.

The practical effect of the January deal became apparent only once Telegram began building the product stack to exploit it.

TON Pay launched in February 2026, institutional stablecoin access came through SCRYPT in April, embedded wallet infrastructure arrived via Dynamic and Fireblocks in late March, and sub-second finality went live on mainnet in April, cutting confirmation times from roughly ten seconds to approximately one second, with blocks arriving every 400 milliseconds.

Those releases assembled an in-app payments architecture fast enough to feel invisible inside a chat window.

Distribution, data, and more to cover

TON's payments thesis shows that consumer crypto adoption wins by embedding inside surfaces where users already spend time. This argument becomes a product roadmap when Telegram's 1 billion-plus active users are on that surface.

Durov's announcement provided traders with a specific trigger, but the trade was a bet that Telegram could convert its user base into a payment network, with TON as the settlement layer.

DefiLlama showed $152.9 million in decentralized exchange volume for the seven days ended May 7, up 1,054% week-over-week, and $12.4 million in perpetuals volume over the same period, up 3,200%. App fees reached $1.48 million for a single day.

Those numbers show the distance TON still has to cover, as Solana recorded $6.37 million in app fees on a comparable day and holds $15.4 billion in stablecoins, compared with TON's $752.5 million.

TRON, built on dollar-denominated stablecoin transfer volume, has $89.6 billion in assets. TON's payment-rail footprint lags far behind the chains it would need to displace for the Telegram thesis to pay out at scale.

The more honest peer comparison sits closer to Sui, which shows $567.2 million in stablecoins, $120,600 in app fees per day, and over $4 billion market cap.

The difference between TON's current on-chain scale and its Telegram-narrative valuation is what the market is pricing in Telegram's ability to close. If Mini App payments and TON Pay generate real adoption, that premium holds.

The centralization problem at the center of the bull case

The uncomfortable dimension of Durov's announcement is that the feature traders are buying runs structurally opposite to what most blockchain projects sell as their core value.

Durov framed Telegram's validator role as a net positive, arguing that a credible anchor would attract more participants and lock more TON into staking at roughly 20% APR.

The case for decentralization-through-concentration relies on Telegram executing on its commitments without extracting monopoly rents from the network it now leads.

The Financial Times reported earlier this year that Telegram's revenue was already tied to Toncoin-linked exclusivity agreements, and that a writedown in Toncoin's value contributed to a net loss.

That entanglement means Telegram's balance sheet and TON's price move together, which is the same corporate dependency that makes the bull case intuitive, and it is also what makes Telegram a self-interested steward. Telegram has direct economic reasons to deepen TON's value, making it a financially invested principal with skin in every price move.

Three near-term risks could end that acceptance before the bull case proves itself.

DefiLlama flags a May 24 unlock of approximately 36.58 million TON, worth roughly $93.65 million at current prices, or 1.36% of float. For a rally built on an announcement, that supply overhang arrives at a vulnerable moment.

Durov's legal exposure adds another layer of uncertainty, as he received a Russian criminal summons naming him as a suspect, and earlier reporting documented an ongoing French inquiry.

A founder whose personal freedom is contested cannot provide the stable governance anchor that Telegram's central validator role requires.

The 2-to-3-week timeline Durov cited for the validator transition also means the market bought an announced intention, one that only settles once on-chain stake data confirm the move, and sell-the-news dynamics could punish any delay.

The bear case rests on the market's conclusion that Telegram control warrants a centralization discount and prices TON based on current fundamentals.

At that point, TON's stablecoin base, app fees, and validator structure place it in mid-tier territory, priced for a future that has yet to materialize.

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The share of profitable Pump.fun traders climbed to 73.28% in April 2026, the fourth consecutive month above 50%. CoinGecko data shows the metric has more than doubled from its low of 30.08% in June 2025.

Profitable wallets had collapsed steadily through 2025 as retail traders absorbed heavy losses on Solana meme coins.

Pump.fun Wallets Stage Historic Profitability Comeback

Pump.fun launched on Solana in January 2024 and quickly became the dominant meme coin launchpad. By late 2024, monthly active wallets had grown into the millions. Most of those traders walked away with realized losses each month.

Profitable traders accounted for less than 50% of active wallets each month from June 2024 through December 2025. The metric hit a low of 30.08% in June 2025. That month, roughly 70% of them booked monthly losses.

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The trend changed in January 2026. The share of profitable traders climbed from 50.08% that month to 73.28% by April.

“While we cannot conclusively explain this reversal, we hypothesize it reflects a natural exodus of unprofitable traders from the platform. This is supported by the continuous decline in monthly active wallets from its peak of 5.2M in May 2025 to 1.8M in December 2025,” CoinGecko researcher Loke Choon Khei wrote.

Modest Gains Dominate the Comeback

In April 2026, 3.14 million active wallets transacted on Pump.fun. Of those, 2.30 million ended the month profitable. The wins, however, were heavily skewed toward small amounts.

“This study only accounts for Realized PnL; this means that it excludes bagholders who never sold their tokens even if it crashes to zero,” the report added. 

About 2.05 million wallets, or 65.14% of the total, recorded gains between $1 and $500. Meanwhile, another 87,127 wallets booked profits between $500 and $1,000. Only 168,795 wallets, or 5.37%, cleared more than $1,000.

Losses followed a similar small-size pattern. About 792,724 wallets lost between $1 and $500, while just 24,538 took realized losses above $1,000. 

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Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) posted a $405.9 million net loss for the first quarter of 2026, dominated by non-cash losses.

Unrealized losses on digital assets and equity securities reached $368.7 million, almost the entire shortfall. Stock-based compensation added $11.8 million, alongside $11.5 million of accreted interest.

Bitcoin Treasury Drives Paper Losses as Prices Drop

TMTG’s crypto treasury is valued at $821.9 million against a $1.24 billion cost basis, per CoinGecko data. The position is roughly $423.06 million underwater overall.

The treasury contains 9,542 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $767 million, acquired at an average cost of $118,529 per coin. TMTG’s Bitcoin balance dropped by 2,000 BTC in late February, down from 11,542 BTC.

Bitcoin fell roughly 22% during Q1 2026, marking its worst quarter since 2018. The company also holds 756 million Cronos (CRO), worth $54 million. 

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Trump Media’s Financial Assets Climb to $2.1 Billion as Revenue Stays Thin

Meanwhile, the operator of Truth Social produced just $0.9 million in revenue. Operating cash flows totaled $17.9 million, marking the company’s fourth straight positive quarter.

The firm’s total assets reached $2.2 billion. The figure nearly tripled from $759 million a year earlier.

“Trump Media is using its strong balance sheet and positive operating cash flow to continue growing all our businesses and platform infrastructure. Even as we work toward advancing our proposed merger with TAE Technologies as quickly as possible, we’re identifying new growth opportunities and new ways to increase shareholder value,” Interim CEO Kevin McGurn said.

Trump Media also said it is developing new Truth Social features, including prediction-market tools, a sports section, expanded use of artificial intelligence across the platform, and more.

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ETH, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum ecosystem, rose 0.95% during Friday’s U.S. market hours to trade at $2,312. The buying pressure gained its current momentum following the traditional U.S. stock market as indices like S&P500 and NasDaq hit new high. The coin price gained additional momentum from the steady buying pressure from treasury firms like BitMine. After relentless buying the company is close to its self claimed target of owning 5% of all Ethereum in existence. Once achieved, will BitMine go silent in accumulation of more ETH and how it may impact Ethereum price.

Origin of the Strategy

BitMine’s Ethereum obsession began on a high note. The company has closed a $250 million private placement that it used to instantly invest in ETH, doubling its stake within days of closing. Thomas “Tom” Lee, a founder of the Fundstrat, is the architect behind this and has been chairman of BitMine, the public face of the Ethereum believers. 

Lee’s thesis was simple yet brave: copy the MicroStrategy Bitcoin, but this time with Ethereum. MicroStrategy’s continuous Bitcoin buying fueled its growth into what analysts described as a “sovereign put”: If a nation-state wanted to buy 5% of the Bitcoin network, it would find it easiest to purchase MSTR. 

Lee said that the same could happen for ETH as it did for Bitcoin, which he called the “Wall Street put.” For any institutional level exposure to Ethereum that could be meaningful, you would eventually have to go through BitMine.

The 5% Target and the Buying Machine

The number “5%” has never been a random figure. It was the tipping point that Lee and BitMine had determined their investments would become strategically significant enough for sovereign wealth funds, Wall Street institutions and nation-states to care about. Today, BitMine holds more than 4.29% of the total Ethereum circulating supply of 120.7 million tokens, and says it is 82% the way to the milestone.

The pace of buying has been staggering. The company alone has purchased 71,524 ETH during the past week, the highest single-week purchase since December 2025. At this rate, the 5% finish line isn’t far away. It’s just a matter of weeks.

BitMine Is Becoming Ethereum’s MicroStrategy

Markets are based on supply and demand and BitMine has been an amazing, reliable demand. The firm has been coming into the market week after week with hundreds of millions of dollars in buy orders, making it what traders call a “persistent bid,” or a known, recurring buyer that sets a floor under the price. 

This is no hypothetical scenario. The purchase of Bitcoin by MicroStrategy was largely responsible for setting a psychological and structural support level for BTC, during an accumulation period. For ETH, BitMine has done the same. In addition to the raw buying BitMine also debuted MAVAN, the Made in American Validator Network, an institutional-grade staking platform. 

Much of its ETH is already locked up, taken out of circulation and not available to be sold. Staking on this scale not only keeps price up, it actually constricts supply.

Ethereum’s Biggest Buyer Is About to Exit

Here is where the story gets complicated. When BitMine reaches 5% it will switch from accumulation to stewardship as per its mandate. The buying machine switches off. This presents a new challenge for the ETH market as its biggest recurring customer vanished suddenly. 

Such a pattern exists in financial markets and there’s no fun in any of the examples. The end of quantitative easing programs by central banks is almost always followed by volatility. Large rebalancing events in major index funds are correlated with stocks reverting a portion of their gains. 

The mechanism is the same here. ETH’s price has somewhat factored into BitMine’s buying schedule. Once that pace slows down, the market will have to work hard to fill the demand shortfall, and it is not certain they will be willing to pay the same price.

BitMine May Stop Buying — But Not Sell

The bear case theory is that when people stop purchasing, they start selling. However, that’s what BitMine has indicated. The firm’s claim is that it will keep and stake — and with 5% of the supply, staking rewards are a strong financial engine. 

At the current Ethereum network rates, 5% of the locked ETH will generate the passive income of hundreds of millions of dollars per year. That yield can be reinvested in the system, can be used to finance system operations, or can be returned to shareholders – all without the sale of any token. 

Further, the ownership of 5% could itself become a price catalyst. According to BitMine’s thesis, once this milestone is achieved, it will become the “Wall Street put”, meaning that institutional and sovereign buyers will likely buy the BMNR stock as the best way to gain exposure to ETH, increasing demand for BMNR shares and indirectly for ETH.

BitMine’s ETH Empire Carries Systemic Risk

However, Optimism must be tempered as it hasn’t been easy for BitMine. At one point during Ethereum’s 40% correction from its August 2025 peak, the company was sitting on roughly $4 billion in unrealized losses — a sobering reminder that holding 5% of an asset does not protect you from that asset’s volatility. 

The hold strategy could be overcome by the pressure from the shareholders to sell the shares if the share price dips far below the NAV of BitMine’s ETH position. This is exactly what has occurred with other crypto asset treasury firms as their stock fell below NAV and their only option was to repurpose funds from crypto sales for share repurchases. 

This is not going to be a soft landing for a forced BitMine, it’s a supply shock.

Ethereum Price Drives Steady Recovery Within Channel Pattern

Since early February 2026, the Ethereum price has witnessed a steady recovery within two parallel trendlines, indicating the formation of a rising channel pattern. These two trendlines act as dynamic resistance and support for traders, driving a series of higher high and higher low in daily chart.

Currently, the Ethereum price seeks stability above the $2,250 support and 50-day exponential moving average. If the support holds, the buyers could push a 10% surge to challenge the channel resistance at $2,573. A potential breakout from this barrier would further intensify the buying pressure and target $2,721 and $3,045 resistance.

Alternatively, if the sellers continue to defend the overhead trendline, the Ethereum price may revert for another pullback and seeks support at $2,150.

According to on-chain data, popular financial institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity are selling their Ethereum holdings despite the stability in the overall crypto market, raising questions about their motive. 

According to Lookonchain, BlackRock has reportedly deposited 11,475 Ethereum (Ether), worth of $26.27 million, on Coinbase Prime around 3 hours ago. On the same day, Fidelity has also moved 23,919 Ethereum, worth around $54.44 million, into Coinbase Prime just a few minutes ago.

Why are BlackRock and Fidelity Selling Ethereum?

This dumping of Ethereum tokens is raising questions about its intention as it is coming while the crypto market is giving positive signs with impressive performance in the last few days. 

These on-chain transactions come after U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded major outflows of around $104 million on May 7. In this major outflow, Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund (FETH) has experienced a withdrawal of around $62 million. On the other hand, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has witnessed an outflow of around $26 million. A similar trend of outflows was also witnessed in the other funds. This has created a reversal pattern after getting constant inflows in the last few days. 

The pattern of deposits of Ethereum tokens on Coinbase Prime by leading ETF issuers like BlackRock and Fidelity is part of their regular operations, as it is working as their major custodian for U.S. investors to balance investor outflows of funds. These kinds of transactions help them to keep their portfolio healthy, along with liquidity. 

BitMine Reduces the Speed of Accumulation of Ethereum

While BlackRock and Fidelity are selling their ETH holdings, the biggest Ethereum holding public company, BitMine, is rapidly growing its Ethereum treasury by buying ETH on a weekly basis. However, Tom Lee recently revealed that the company might reduce the speed of accumulation as it is now approaching to accumulte 5% of the total Ethereum supply.

“At our current buying pace of 100,000 ETH a week, we’re going to be there [at 5%] in like six weeks,” Lee said during a keynote presentation. “I think we’re deciding perhaps we want to accumulate at a somewhat slower pace.” 

While the overall cryptocurrency market is filled with positive sentiments, large outflows in ETH ETFs and growing geopolitical tension after fresh conflict between Iran and the U.S. have sparked fears about a potential downfall in the ETH price.

According to CoinMarketCap, Ethereum is currently trading at around $2,282.93 with an impressive market capitalization of around $275.66 billion. 

The cryptocurrency is expected to face resistance around $2,300. On the other hand, it has a strong support zone at around $2,200 to $2,250. According to the current price chart, the short-term price chart is giving a neutral to bearish signal. The reason behind this is that most of the moving averages are giving sell signals.

Quantum Threat Creates Panic Among Ethereum Investors

In the long run, there is a quantum threat looming over blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. While keeping this in mind, Ethereum developers are actively working on methods to counter such quantum computing threats; still, users are looking at this threat as the quantum threat is approaching rapidly with every passing day, after impressive growth in the AI sector. 

According to the latest report, the quantum threat is expected to hit by 2030. The report stated, “This progress profile means quantum computing advancement may potentially follow a ‘nothing-and-then-all-at-once” exponential trajectory not unlike other emerging technologies such as AI. Our analysis suggests that, based on current trends, Q-Day is more likely to occur than not by 2033, and potentially even as soon as 2030.”

“This timeline is a consequence of the fact that small improvements in error correction efficiency, higher qubit connectivity, or better code design create potential feedback loops leading to order-of-magnitude reductions in the resources needed for cryptanalysis. What appears as incremental hardware progress today might rapidly converge to a CRQC with little warning. Waiting until that point is clearly on the horizon risks insufficient time for post-quantum cryptography to be selected, tested, and deployed,” stated in the report.

Last month, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled a detailed plan to take countermeasures against quantum threats. In this plan, he stated that Ethereum should integrate quantum-resistant cryptographic methods. This includes methods like Winternitz signatures and the zero-knowledge proof technology.

Also Read: LayerZero Risks Escalate as Developers Push Security Debate

As Bitcoin (BTC) defends a pivotal support level, Tom Lee has called for the end of the crypto winter, setting massive year-end outlooks for the flagship crypto and Ethereum (ETH).

Tom Lee Shares $200,000 Bitcoin Target

Tom Lee, the chairman of Ethereum’s largest treasury firm, Bitmine Technology, shared bold end-of-year price predictions for the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

During a quick-fire round of questions at Consensus 2026, the executive affirmed that Bitcoin could soar “well past all-time highs” by year’s end, forecasting that its price may trade between $150,000 and $200,000 in late 2026.

He also predicted that Ethereum could rally into year-end, potentially reaching new highs between $9,000 and $12,000. Lee said his bullish outlook is based on his belief that the crypto winter is over and that a recovery rally could unfold over the coming months.

“Crypto Spring, in our view, has commenced, and like past cycles, investor sentiment and conviction are muted and bearish even as crypto prices strengthen,” he asserted earlier this week, adding that the potential passage, or even failure, of the crypto market structure bill confirms the arrival of crypto spring.

The chairman’s bold predictions come as the flagship crypto defends a crucial support zone. Notably, Bitcoin had been trading between $74,000 and $79,000 since mid-April, finally breaking out of this range earlier this week.

The flagship crypto soared past the $80,000 resistance on Monday for the first time since January. It then rallied during the first half of the week toward the key $82,500 resistance before rejecting on Thursday. Now, Bitcoin is trading between the $79,000-$80,000 area, which some analysts suggest could make or break BTC’s rally.

 BTC At Most Crucial Support

Rekt Capital highlighted that Bitcoin has successfully held the 21-week EMA, around the $78,000 level. However, he warned that “this move through this resistance area hasn’t been very sustainable thus far, which opens up the possibility for yet another retest of the 21-week EMA going forward.”

As a result, BTC needs to successfully retest the 21-week EMA again to avoid being completely rejected from the resistance area, between the 21-week EMA and the 50-week EMA, and dropping into the mid-$70,000s.

Meanwhile, market analyst Ali Martinez affirmed that Bitcoin is currently trading around the most important resistance level as the average cost basis of new whales, the entities that bought in the last 155 days, currently sits at $80,300.

He explained that “when Bitcoin trades below this average cost basis, these whales are holding at a loss,” which means that new whales will be “incentivized to sell just to break even and avoid further losses” if BTC fails to hold the $80,300 area as support.

Martinez warned that this panic to exit would create a wave of selling pressure that pushes prices much lower. On the contrary, if the flagship crypto turns this level into support, it’d signal that selling pressure has exhausted.

“Once these whales are back in the green, they stop selling and start holding for higher targets, which is exactly how new uptrends begin,” he concluded.

Ethereum has lost ground below $2,300 as the market cools after weeks of cautious recovery. The price is retreating — but a CryptoQuant report tracking Binance derivatives activity has identified a dynamic beneath the surface that complicates the bearish reading considerably.

The data shows that derivatives traders on Binance have been aggressively betting against Ethereum throughout the recent rebound — and they are still adding to those positions even as the price pulls back. Cumulative net taker volume has dropped to approximately -$585 million, its deepest negative reading since March 27, when the metric reached around -$340 million. In the weeks between those two readings, the short-selling pressure has not only persisted — it has intensified.

That intensification is happening simultaneously with rising open interest on Binance, which has climbed from approximately $2.46 billion to $2.9 billion during the first week of May. Rising open interest alongside deeply negative taker volume describes a specific market structure: traders are not simply reducing long positions. They are actively building new short exposure into a market that has been recovering.

The significance of that setup is counterintuitive. Heavy short positioning during a recovery does not straightforwardly confirm the bearish case. It creates the conditions for the opposite — a market structure where the shorts themselves become the fuel for a move higher if Ethereum proves capable of absorbing the selling pressure they are generating.

The Shorts Are Paying to Bet Against Ethereum. The Market Is Not Giving Them What They Need

The CryptoQuant report draws the distinction that makes the current setup structurally significant. Taker selling pressure at -$585 million is meaningfully stronger than the -$340 million reading from March 27, the previous comparable downside reference. The selling is not simply persisting. It is deepening. And yet Binance open interest has risen from $2.46 billion to $2.9 billion simultaneously, confirming that the negative taker flow reflects new short positions being actively built rather than existing longs being closed.

That combination creates a specific fragility. When traders build short exposure aggressively, and the price fails to decline in response, the shorts are not being validated — they are becoming trapped. Each session that Ethereum absorbs the selling pressure without breaking lower adds to the eventual cost of unwinding those positions.

The CVD reading adds the stabilizing context. Cumulative volume delta has held around $4.4 billion throughout this period. Suggesting the underlying spot demand has not collapsed despite the derivatives pressure.

The funding rate picture completes the argument. Ethereum funding on Binance has remained negative since early February — months of persistent bearish conviction that has now deepened below the levels recorded around April 7, 2025. Traders are paying to stay short against an asset that keeps refusing to deliver the decline they are positioning for.

The report’s conclusion is precise and honest. The rally is being doubted. The doubt is being expressed through real capital committed to short positions. And if Ethereum continues absorbing that pressure rather than breaking under it, the doubt itself becomes the mechanism for the next move higher.

Ethereum Consolidates Below Resistance As Structure Tightens

Ethereum is trading around $2,280 on the daily chart, consolidating just below the $2,300–$2,400 resistance band that has capped every recovery attempt since the February breakdown. Price action shows a clear transition from impulsive selling to controlled compression, with higher lows forming steadily from the March bottom near $1,800.

The recovery has reclaimed the 50-day moving average and is now interacting with the 100-day moving average, both of which are flattening after trending lower. This flattening reflects a loss of downside momentum rather than confirmed bullish expansion. Meanwhile, the 200-day moving average remains above price and continues to slope downward, reinforcing the overhead resistance structure.

Volume has declined compared to the capitulation phase in February. Indicating that the current range is driven more by positioning adjustments than aggressive participation. This aligns with a market that is waiting for a catalyst rather than committing to direction.

Structurally, Ethereum is compressing into a tightening range. A decisive break above $2,400 would shift momentum and open a move toward higher levels. Failure to break would likely extend consolidation, with $2,100–$2,150 acting as the first support zone, followed by stronger demand near $2,000.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com