CoinPhoton

BlackRock’s IBIT leads U.S. ETF inflows as Bitcoin surpasses $110K

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded the highest inflows among all U.S. ETFs on May 22 after Bitcoin reached a new all-time high above $110,000.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas reported that IBIT attracted $877.18 million in a single day, far exceeding traditional ETFs like Vanguard’s VOO, which saw $558 million and ranked fifth.

Balchunas also noted May 21 was IBIT’s second-largest trading day ever. The surge extended to other Bitcoin ETFs, with trading volumes nearly doubling due to rising institutional demand.

Total net inflows into Bitcoin ETFs now exceed $44.5 billion, with IBIT alone pulling in around $8 billion in the last five weeks.

Solana launches SAS to enhance on-chain identity verification

On May 23, Solana introduced the Solana Attestation Service (SAS), an open-source and permissionless protocol for verifying off-chain data like KYC, investor status, and wallet reputation without revealing sensitive information.

SAS uses signed attestations to protect user privacy and allows for reusable verification across multiple applications. Supported by Civic, Trustalabs, and Solana Identity, the launch signals a broader move toward decentralized identity and verifiable credentials in blockchain.

HSBC launches Hong Kong’s first blockchain-based payment service

HSBC has introduced Hong Kong’s first blockchain-based settlement service, enabling real-time HKD and USD transfers between corporate wallets. The tokenized deposit program converts traditional deposits into blockchain-based digital tokens, improving payment speed and reducing costs.

Initially available only in Hong Kong, the service will expand to Asia and Europe later this year. Ant International, affiliated with Alibaba, was the first to complete a live transaction on the system, built on Ant’s Whale platform. HSBC is working under HKMA’s supervisory incubator for distributed ledger technology and aims to support more digital settlement use cases.

GM

The U.S. SEC has delayed reviews of several crypto ETF filings, including XRP ETFs from Bitwise and CoinShares, a Litecoin ETF from CoinShares, and Fidelity’s in-kind Bitcoin ETF proposal. Meanwhile, the SEC has officially acknowledged the filing for Canary’s Staked TRX ETF, marking the beginning of formal review for a TRON-based staking ETF product.

UK court throws out most of $13.3B BSV lawsuit against Binance
The UK Court of Appeal dismissed most claims in a $13.3B class action accusing Binance and other exchanges of harming Bitcoin SV by delisting it in 2019. The court ruled that the damages were speculative and unsupported. However, smaller claims for access loss or forced selling may still proceed.
Source: https://assets.caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d-743f21b8-491d-4120-9c30-94e70cfeb772/d-743f21b8-491d-4120-9c30-94e70cfeb772.pdf

Several tokens in the Sui ecosystem have plunged sharply following an incident involving the Cetus Protocol. Tokens like LOFI and HIPPO dropped over 50% within an hour, while CETUS fell 50% on DEXs. Lookonchain reports around $260 million was drained, with $60 million USDC bridged to Ethereum. Cetus confirmed the smart contract has been paused for investigation. Some say it’s an oracle issue, not a typical hack.

XRP posts second consecutive quarter of growth, outpacing BTC, ETH, and SOL

In Q1 2025, XRP's market cap rose 1.9% to $121.6B, while BTC, ETH, and SOL saw a combined 22% drop.

Network activity surged: daily active addresses jumped 142% to 134,600.

Growth was fueled by Trump’s hint at adding XRP to a crypto reserve and SEC-Ripple settlement progress. RLUSD stablecoin also reached $244.2M in market cap.

Messari expects continued growth in Q2 as XRPL prepares smart contract upgrades and DeFi support.

15th Anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day: 10,000 BTC Pizza Now Worth Over $1.1 Billion

On May 22, 2025, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $111,800 — exactly 15 years after “Bitcoin Pizza Day,” when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made the first-ever commercial BTC transaction by buying two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010.

Back then, the BTC was worth about $40. Today, it's valued at over $1.1 billion — a symbol of Bitcoin's extraordinary rise from cypherpunk code to a global asset.

Despite being labeled as “missing out on a fortune,” Hanyecz said the transaction made Bitcoin real for him, marking a turning point in BTC’s journey to real-world use.

ETH

Whales Accumulate Aggressively as ETH Eyes $3,250 Amid Record Exchange Supply Drop

Ethereum (ETH) rose 2% during the early Asian session on Thursday, reclaiming the key $2,500 level driven by strong whale buying.

According to CryptoQuant, ETH exchange balances fell to 18.73 million ETH on Wednesday — the lowest since August 2024. Over 1 million ETH has moved off exchanges since April 24, suggesting growing long-term accumulation.

Wallets holding 10,000–100,000 ETH added 670,000 ETH in the past nine days, while smaller wallets shed 110,000 ETH. Despite the demand, ETH remains range-bound near $2,500, a level that continues to attract heavy volume on each breakout attempt.

In the last 24 hours, ETH futures liquidations reached $106.52 million, reflecting heightened volatility without clear direction. RSI hovers near the overbought zone, and MACD is showing signs of weakness if it crosses below the average line.

To establish a clear trend, ETH needs to break above $2,850 for a push toward $3,250 or fall below $2,100 to confirm downside momentum.

VanEck is set to launch the PurposeBuilt Fund in June, a private digital assets fund focused on tokenized Web3 projects built on the Avalanche blockchain. Available only to accredited investors, the fund will invest in liquid tokens and venture-backed projects in sectors like gaming, financial services, payments, and AI. Idle capital will be allocated to Avalanche’s real-world asset (RWA) products. This move marks a strategic shift from speculative hype to real-world utility in the crypto ecosystem.

German Government Sold 49,858 BTC in 2024, Missed Nearly $2.5B in Profit

Between June 19 and July 12, 2024, the German government sold 49,858 Bitcoin at an average price of $57,600, earning approximately $2.87 billion. However, with Bitcoin reaching $106,951 by May 21, 2025, the government missed out on about $2.46 billion in potential gains, reflecting an 85.6% price increase in under a year.

According to the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office, the sale was classified as a "Notveräußerung" (emergency sale) under German law to avoid a potential drop of over 10% in BTC value. The BTC was offloaded in small tranches via OTC trades to limit market disruption.

The 2025 price rally was also driven by sovereign reserve accumulation and reduced supply in the Bitcoin market.

4 Whales Bet with 40x Leverage on Hyperliquid, One Shorts $88M BTC

According to Lookonchain, four crypto whales are actively trading Bitcoin on the DeFi platform Hyperliquid using up to 40x leverage. Three addresses are long with a combined $1.03 billion position: 0x5078 is up $14 million, while 0xc653 and 0x46e3 are down $216,000 and $302,000, respectively. Meanwhile, another whale (0x51d9) holds an $88 million short position and is currently up $291,000.

As of May 21, Bitcoin is trading around $107,000, amid predictions it could dip to $80,000–$85,000 before potentially rallying to $180,000–$250,000 driven by institutional flows and global liquidity trends.

Ripple CEO Slams Sen. Lummis for Canceling Meeting, Urges Support for All of Crypto
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Chair of the Senate Digital Assets Subcommittee and a well-known crypto advocate, canceled a planned meeting with him and has refused to reschedule.
Garlinghouse urged Lummis — a senator from one of the most crypto-friendly states — to "be a leader for ALL of crypto," and invited her to join him for a virtual or public conversation to support the Trump administration’s vision of making the U.S. the global crypto capital.
He also told his followers on X that he is heading to Washington to support "sensible pro-crypto" legislation focused on stablecoins and market structure, noting that it’s encouraging to see lawmakers embrace crypto as a multichain industry.
On May 19, the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) is scheduled for Senate debate. Introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the bill is co-sponsored by Senators Lummis, Tim Scott (R-SC), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
The bill has faced opposition, particularly from Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, partly due to its association with the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin.
Ripple has also been making headlines:
On May 15, a federal court denied Ripple’s motion for settlement in its long-running securities case with the SEC.
On May 19, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) officially launched XRP futures, marking a major milestone for the token’s institutional adoption.

Several gold-tick verified X (formerly Twitter) accounts are spreading fake XRP airdrop scams using deepfake videos of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. These posts, often under the name “Ripple News,” attract tens of thousands of followers and are boosted by bot comments. Although some accounts have been removed, the threat remains. With the SEC lawsuit settled, excitement in the XRP community has made users more vulnerable. Stay vigilant—do not click unknown links and trust only official sources.

Binance launches Xterio (XTER) airdrop on Alpha platform

On May 19, Binance announced the official launch of the Xterio (XTER) project on the Binance Alpha platform. Eligible users — those with at least 194 Alpha points — can claim 294 XTER tokens through the airdrop starting at 08:00 AM UTC on May 19.

Claiming the airdrop will cost 15 Alpha points, and users must confirm their claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours — by 08:00 AM UTC on May 20. Failure to confirm within the time limit will result in forfeiture of the airdrop eligibility.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has proposed a new improvement aimed at making it easier for average users to run Ethereum nodes without expensive hardware. His proposal suggests that nodes should only store the data they need, while historical data older than 36 days would be distributed across multiple nodes—similar to a library system where books are shared between branches. This “local-first” model reduces operational costs while improving privacy and censorship resistance. It forms part of Ethereum’s ambitious Pectra upgrade roadmap. While technical challenges remain, the proposal is seen as a key step toward preserving decentralization and reducing reliance on large infrastructure providers.

#Ethereum #VitalikButerin #Blockchain #Decentralization #EthereumNode #Pectra #Web3

Source: https://ethresear.ch/t/a-local-node-favoring-delta-to-the-scaling-roadmap/22368

Bitcoin’s Open Interest Delta is showing a pattern similar to the early stages of the 2024 bull run. The 30-day consolidated Delta has reached its highest point since BTC broke above $73,000. Analysts typically describe the OI cycle in two phases: Phase 1, where leveraged positions rapidly build (positive Delta), followed by Phase 2, where positions are closed and Delta turns negative. Current data suggests we may be entering a new Phase 1.

From a mid-term view, the 180-day Delta is hovering near zero — a potential sign of accumulation by large investors. Historically, when this Delta turned negative, it marked the market bottom and start of a bullish phase.

However, OI growth this time appears more subdued, indicating whales are moving cautiously. Nonetheless, this may still be the beginning of a new upward trend.

Solana Records $1.2B in App Revenue in Q1, Pump.fun Leads the Surge

Solana logged its best quarter in 12 months, generating $1.2 billion in application revenue in Q1 2025 — a 20% increase from the previous quarter. January alone accounted for nearly 60% of that revenue, driven by a surge in speculative activity.

Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun led the pack with $257 million, followed by Phantom ($164 million), Photon ($122 million), Bullx ($87 million), and Jupiter ($80 million). Jupiter posted the highest revenue growth rate at 79%.

According to Messari, the revenue spike was closely tied to increased trading speculation ahead of the U.S. presidential inauguration, especially during the launches of the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens. Average daily DEX volume in January hit $8.3 billion, up 153% from Q4 2024.