Cointelegraph

Argentina’s government is moving to restrict banks, payment firms and crypto providers from serving unauthorized online gambling platforms as part of a broader crackdown on digital betting.
The government presented a Bill for the Prevention of Gambling and Regulation of Online Gambling to Congress, according to an official notice from the Ministry of Health published on Tuesday.
The bill seeks to address gambling addiction by tightening rules on payments, advertising and access to betting platforms.
The legislation directly ties gambling regulation to financial infrastructure, including payment systems and crypto rails, potentially reshaping how unauthorized betting platforms access payment and crypto rails in Argentina.
Crypto and payments face direct restrictions
A central feature of the bill is its treatment of payment infrastructure, which includes traditional banking systems as well as crypto asset service providers.
According to the ministry’s statement, the bill would empower authorities to block transactions linked to unauthorized gambling platforms.
“It [the bill] establishes that financial entities, providers of payment services or virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) are prohibited from offering their services to unauthorized gambling operators,” the announcement states.
Source: CryptoNoticias
The measure would potentially extend compliance obligations to crypto intermediaries such as exchanges and fiat on-ramps, requiring them to identify and block transfers tied to gambling-related wallets or merchant flows. This could affect how users fund offshore betting platforms that rely on crypto deposits as their primary payment method.
Cointelegraph contacted MoonPay after the company appeared in onboarding materials reviewed by Cointelegraph from a local crypto gambling site, but had not received a response by publication.
A local court previously ordered a nationwide block of Polymarket
The bill would also expand enforcement beyond online betting to any platform facilitating unauthorized betting activity, including a ban on advertising across digital media. Platforms promoting unlicensed operators could face penalties or be required to verify the authorization status of the services they advertise.
The new legislation adds to Argentina’s broader push to curb illicit online betting and tighten oversight of digital gambling activity.
Local authorities have already taken action against prediction markets, with Argentina’s national communications and media regulator instructed by a court in March to block access to Polymarket. The case was brought by the Buenos Aires City Lottery, the state-owned entity responsible for regulating gambling in the city.
Restrictions on prediction markets have been increasingly emerging in multiple jurisdictions globally, with major platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi facing scrutiny over concerns that event-based trading may constitute unlicensed gambling activity.
Magazine: Should users be allowed to bet on war and death in prediction markets?

For years, crypto has thrived on speculative capital flows and the explosive popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens and applications.
That still holds true for rising sectors such as perpetual decentralized exchanges and prediction markets. But as Wall Street pushes deeper into tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), not all of the industry’s existing systems cater to the kinds of financial products institutions want to bring onchain.
An author of the newly finalized ERC-7943 (uRWA) token standard said that the fragmented infrastructure powering much of DeFi wasn’t designed for regulated financial assets, which often require identity frameworks and interoperability standards.
“If you want to bring regulated assets onchain, you can’t really escape regulations,” Dario Lo Buglio, co-founder and head of blockchain at tokenization platform Brickken, told Cointelegraph.
“You can still play your pirate game on DeFi without regulated assets.”
DeFi veterans have been wary of freezing functions in tokens, but the same controls appeal to institutions. Source: ethereum.org
Existing standards don’t cover every RWA use case
Another token standard, the ERC-3643 — also known as the T-REX or Token for Regulated Exchanges — is one of the dominant frameworks used for tokenized securities on Ethereum.
The standard already includes many of the compliance-oriented features institutions require, like identity-based permissions and mechanisms that allow issuers to intervene under specific circumstances.
The framework was designed primarily around securities and does not necessarily translate across the broader range of tokenized assets now entering blockchain markets, Lo Buglio said. Thus, interoperability is increasingly difficult as more institutions experiment with bringing traditional financial products onchain.
“As tokenization becomes easier, the harder problem is making those assets work across different compliance systems, custodians, exchanges, wallets and institutional platforms,” Markus Levin, co-founder of XYO, told Cointelegraph.
Levin said standards such as uRWA could help standardize how tokenized assets carry information tied to identity, permissions, compliance requirements and transfer rules across Ethereum-based systems.
“Done well, that makes regulated assets far easier to move, verify and integrate without every institution building its own isolated infrastructure,” he said.
Tokenized RWAs grew from roughly $6.4 billion at the start of 2025 to about $34 billion as of Thursday, according to RWA.xyz data. Standard Chartered estimates this value to pop to $2 trillion by the end of 2028, while the Boston Consulting Group projects $18.9 trillion by 2033.
In measurements that classify stablecoins as RWAs, the total market capitalization is approaching $340 billion. Source: RWA.xyz
Levin added that institutions have largely prioritized assets with predictable cash flows, real yield and established legal structures.
“The market is tokenizing what benefits most from faster settlement, programmable collateral and lower operational friction,” he said.
Privacy as the next institutional requirement
Privacy remains another major obstacle for institutions experimenting with onchain finance, particularly for firms unwilling to expose portfolio activity or transaction flows on public blockchains.
“We don’t want BlackRock listing their entire portfolio onchain transparently to everyone, but they still want to transact onchain,” he said.
BlackRock’s institutional liquidity fund is worth about $2.5 billion. Source: RWA.xyz
Lo Buglio argued that many existing tokenization frameworks were originally designed around public Ethereum-based systems and do not always translate cleanly to privacy-oriented chains, where transaction models and data structures often differ from traditional EVM environments.
Canton Network, which was launched with backing from firms including Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Cboe Global Markets, was designed around privacy-preserving financial coordination between institutions.
Unlike public blockchains where transaction activity is broadly visible across the network, Canton allows data to remain visible only to relevant participants while still synchronizing settlement between institutions.
Its architecture has irked some developers who argue the network lacks key characteristics associated with public blockchains, including a globally shared state.
The debate reflects a growing divide between crypto-native DeFi infrastructure and the types of blockchain systems many large financial firms appear more willing to adopt for regulated assets.
AI agents may push RWAs beyond TradFi
Much of the current conversation around tokenized RWA has centered on banks and institutional systems. But some builders believe the infrastructure now being developed for RWAs could eventually branch out to machine-driven financial systems.
“As AI agents begin to move capital autonomously, they will need assets that exist on-chain in a form they can read and act on,” Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at tokenization company Kula, told Cointelegraph.
According to Dhillon, many productive RWAs still remain largely disconnected from automated financial systems because they lack standardized digital infrastructure.
“The standards being built today need to work across jurisdictions and asset classes, not just within the existing corridors of established financial markets,” he said.
Lo Buglio similarly argued that ERC-7943 was designed less as a single dominant implementation and more as a framework allowing tokenized assets to move across increasingly interconnected blockchain environments.
ERC-7943 moved to the “final” stage in its Ethereum Improvement Proposal process on Wednesday, meaning developers can deploy contracts based on the standard without expecting further specification changes. The next phase will likely focus on adoption across tokenized asset platforms.
The emergence of another tokenization standard may not immediately solve the lack of standardization issue it aims to address.
Lo Buglio acknowledged that ERC-7943 was intentionally designed as a more flexible and less “opinionated” framework than some earlier standards.
Large financial institutions and blockchain developers continue to experiment with proprietary infrastructure and custom compliance systems.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?

Standard Chartered says Ethereum’s network activity remains close to record levels even as Ether (ETH) trades far below last year’s highs, arguing that the gap between usage and price could eventually narrow.
Ethereum’s internal metrics, including transaction counts and total value locked in ETH terms, remain close to record levels, according to a Thursday report from Standard Chartered’s digital assets research team. ETH has fallen about 57% from its August 2025 peak of above $4,800 to under $2,000 at the time of writing, according to Coingecko data.
StanChart's global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, reaffirmed its price targets of $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by 2030, implying a return of the ETH/BTC ratio to its 2021 highs around 0.08.
The call comes as investors debate whether Ethereum’s growing dominance in stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets will eventually translate into stronger returns for ETH itself, despite persistent ETF outflows and weak price performance.
Kendrick likened the current disconnect to Amazon during the dot-com bust, arguing that “everything inside the company was going the right way” even as the stock price slumped.
ETH price over the last year. Source: Coingecko
Max Shannon, senior research associate Europe at Bitwise, agreed with Standard Chartered's Amazon analogy, telling Cointelegraph it relates to Ethereum's “lack of narrative” and “lack of value accrual from cheap layer-1 and later-2 transactions.”
He said value accrual can improve as onchain assets and their velocity grow and as users pay higher gas fees for premium services such as zero-knowledge transactions, pre-confirmations, maximal extractable value, and large institutional trades.
Ethereum main settlement layer for stablecoins and RWAs
The report highlights Ethereum’s role as the main settlement layer for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, projecting that stablecoin market capitalization will grow sixfold to about $2 trillion by 2028 and tokenized non-stablecoin assets will expand 50-fold to a similar size, with Ethereum currently hosting roughly half to two-thirds of each market.
Transactions on Ethereum reached an all-time high of more than 3.6 million on April 28 and have since dropped to around 2.2 million on Thursday, according to Etherscan. Total value locked in decentralized finance has dropped from around $97 billion in August to $41.65 billion on May 27, according to data from DeFiLlama.
Ethereum transactions per day, all time. Source: Etherscan
Justin d'Anethan, head of research at Arctic Digital, a crypto private markets advisory firm, told Cointelegraph that it is “heartwarming to see a traditional bank stick to their thesis,” despite overall disappointing market sentiment. He said that, in crypto, price is “often its own narrative,” and fundamental value is “an afterthought.”
Mixed signals across the market
Other market signals are more nuanced. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest public buyer of ETH by far, currently owning over 5,300,000 ETH, doubled down on its expectations of a supercycle this week, citing Wall Street’s interest in tokenization and artificial intelligence-powered agents.
ETH ETF outflows hit 11th consecutive day. Source: Farside Investors
That optimism contrasts with a wave of departures from the Ethereum Foundation and public skepticism from some long-time Ethereum commentators over how much of the network’s growth will ultimately accrue to ETH itself.
US spot ETH exchange-traded funds add another layer to the picture. Farside ETH ETF data shows the products posted a $67.1 million net outflow on May 27, marking 11 consecutive days of withdrawals, even after seeing stronger inflow sessions earlier in the year.
D'Anethan said the question remains whether Ethereum's tailwinds will outpace Bitcoin's in the long term, pointing out that previous cycles in which altcoins outperformed BTC no longer hold. “It'll be interesting to see where large trading firms, institutions, sovereign funds and nation-states ultimately place their bets,” he said.
Shannon said that Biwise's Factor Model shows the momentum has mostly been driven by Bitcoin and that approximately 80% of ETH price variation can be explained by BTC. “Macro, equities and fundamental drivers such as active addresses have all taken a back seat,” he said.
Market Moves: Why is Ethereum Foundation selling? BTC futures warning signs

Bitcoin (BTC) has created its last classic price magnet as a staple chart feature disappears forever.
Key points:
Bitcoin is set to lose popular short-term price targets as CME Group's futures market goes 24-hour.
CME futures gaps will no longer be created over weekends.
Several open gaps still remain on the chart, with the lowest near $67,000.
Bitcoin futures gaps to disappear permanently
Starting on Friday, CME Group’s Bitcoin futures market will trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ending the phenomenon of futures “gaps.”
Futures trading on a 24-hour basis was announced in February.
“Client demand for risk management in the digital asset market is at an all-time high, driving a record $3 trillion in notional volume across our Cryptocurrency futures and options in 2025,” Tim McCourt, CME’s global head of equities, FX and alternative products, said in a press release at the time.
CME Bitcoin futures one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The result of the change is that weekends will not generate discrepancies between the end of one futures trading week and the start of another.
These have often resulted in a “gap” opening up in the market, with BTC/USD subsequently attempting to “fill” it by rising or falling once the new week begins. How long the process takes can vary, with some gaps staying unfilled for months or more.
Commenting, trader Daan Crypto Trades flagged three nearby gaps remaining, both above and below price.
“Closed last weekend's CME gap and is now trading in the big area between the other few remaining gaps,” he told X followers in a post on Thursday.
“This weekend, 24/7 trading starts for the Bitcoin CME futures so there won't be any new gaps created anymore going forward. The ones left standing will of course still sit there on the chart.”
CME Bitcoin futures four-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X
The lowest gap still in play lies at just above $67,000 — a level last seen in early April.
Whales give mixed outlook for BTC price action
Elsewhere in trading circles, commentators are eyeing shifting trends on major exchange Bitfinex.
In particular, the platform’s large-volume traders, or whales, could be pointing the way to renewed BTC price strength.
“Bitfinex whales' short positions in $BTC are shrinking further. Their short-term bearish bets are decreasing,” trader CW reported on X.
CW added that a “new uptrend could be beginning” based on whales’ stagnating long exposure, but subsequently showed that they were still adding positions.
Bitfinex BTC/USD long positions. Source: CW/X
Earlier, Bitfinex research flagged missing ingredients to support a full bullish trend reversal for Bitcoin.

XRP (XRP) price dropped to $1.26 on Thursday, its lowest in over 16 weeks. A bearish technical setup suggested that the pressure may extend into June.
XRP/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Key takeaways:
XRP's bear pennant pattern breakdown on the weekly chart targets $0.63.
XRP social sentiment hit a three-week low, while Net Unrealized Profit/Loss data shows rising fear and investors underwater.
XRP price bear pennant breakdown underway
XRP has been displaying several bottoming signals, including a falling MVRV ratio and rising XRP Ledger activity, which suggested that the price was extremely undervalued within the $1.40-$1.50 zone.
The latest drop, however, has seen the XRP/USD pair drop below this zone to enter the breakdown phase of its bear pennant setup, as shown on the weekly chart below.
XRP has dropped below the pennant’s lower trendline at $1.35, opening the way for a deeper move toward the measured target of the prevailing chart pattern at $0.63, a 50% drop from the current price.
XRP/USD weekly chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
XRP became “structurally bearish” with the latest breakdown below $1.30, analyst Egrag Crypto said in a Thursday post on X, adding:
“The bearish targets are $1.27, $1.1 and a possible capitulation wick toward $0.88.”
XRP daily chart. Source: Egrag Crypto
Technical analyst ChartNerd said that after breaching the support line at $1.30, the path is now clear for a drop toward $1 “sooner rather than later.”
XRP/USD daily chart. Source: X/ChartNerd
As Cointelegraph reported, XRP’s next major support level now lies at $1.27. If this level is lost, the XRP/USDT pair may plunge to $1.11 and then test $1 support.
XRP sentiment turns negative
XRP’s sentiment on social media has turned sharply negative over the last few days, according to data from Santiment.
Santiment’s Positive/Negative sentiment indicator, which measures the ratio of positive to negative social media mentions for a cryptoasset, shows XRP crowd FUD is at its highest level in three weeks.
The ratio of positive to negative commentary has dropped to “just 1.1 bullish comments for every 1 bearish comment,” the market intelligence data provider said in a recent post on X.
Santiment, however, pointed out that this kind of fear and skepticism has historically acted as a “contrarian signal for XRP’s price,” adding:
“When traders across social media become overly fearful, many weak hands have already sold, reducing selling pressure and creating conditions for a rebound.”
XRP’s Positive/Negative sentiment metric. source: Santiment
The chart above shows that previous dips into the “FUD zone” were followed by price stabilization or bounces shortly afterward.
However, XRP’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) is still oscillating between the capitulation and fear zones, suggesting that traders are still showing signs of fear.
XRP’s NUPL vs. price performance chart. Source: Glassnode
With more than 58% of XRP holders underwater at current prices, there is still room for more losses, based on past cycles. Such setups in 2018 and 2021 preceded sharp corrections, raising the possibility of similar pullbacks over the next few weeks.

Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS un Samsung Card kopā iegūs 4% daļu Dunamu, Dienvidkorejas kriptovalūtu biržas Upbit operatorā, darījumā, kas paplašina Samsung meitas uzņēmumu piekļuvi valsts digitālo aktīvu tirgum, ziņo vietējie mediji.
Trīs Samsung meitas uzņēmumi ceturtdien noturēja padomes sēdes un apstiprināja 1,39 miljonu Dunamu akciju iegādi, ko turēja Kakao meitas uzņēmumi par 612,8 miljardiem wonu (408 miljoni dolāru), saskaņā ar vietējiem ziņojumiem no Yonhap News Agency un ZDNet Korea. Samsung Securities iegūs 2% daļu, kamēr Samsung SDS un Samsung Card katrs iegūs 1%.

Ethereum's native token, Ether (ETH), slipped below $2,000 for the first time since March, but retail traders have not reacted with panic yet.
Key takeaways:
Ethereum retail data shows rising "buy the dip" sentiment, which may lead to more downside ahead.
Macro data, such as ETF net flows and whale behavior, show institutions are selling ETH.
Retail FOMO warns of further ETH price dips
As of Thursday, "buy the dip" calls on social media were surging after ETH lost the key psychological support level, according to data resource Santiment.
That suggests retail traders are treating the decline as a discount opportunity rather than a warning sign.
Historically, excessive crowd optimism after a sharp drop can signal more downside ahead, as retail sentiment often peaks before prices stabilize. A stronger contrarian buy signal may emerge only when FOMO fades and panic takes over.
"There will be an opportunity to buy Ethereum, but ideally you will want to wait for the majority to cool down their FOMO and begin to show panic," Santiment said in a Thursday post, adding:
"This way, you will be buying while there is true blood in the streets."
Institutional selling is overpowering bullish retail
Larger Ethereum investors appear to be moving against retail dip buyers.
Harvard University's endowment fund recently liquidated its entire $87 million ETH position, while Bankless co-founder David Hoffman, one of Ethereum’s advocates, also disclosed that he had sold his ETH holdings.
US spot Ether ETFs have witnessed consistent outflows since May 7, recording more than $470 million in withdrawals in the past two weeks.
US Spot ETH ETF daily net flows. Source: Glassnode
Ethereum's mega-whales, wallets that hold over 10,000 ETH, are also reducing exposure. So far in 2026, they have cut their balances by more than 5%, according to Glassnode data.
Ethereum mega-whale net position change and balance vs. ETH price. Source: Glassnode
Tom Lee’s BitMine remains the key counterweight, holding about 5.21 million ETH, or roughly 4.31% of supply, as part of its push to own 5% of the network.
Lee has argued that Ethereum is entering a long-term “supercycle” driven by Wall Street tokenization and AI agents using neutral public blockchains.
But that bet is now deeply underwater. BitMine’s average ETH purchase price sits near $3,484, while ETH trades around $1,990, leaving the firm with an estimated $8.07 billion unrealized loss, according to DropStab.COM.
Bitmine's Ethereum portfolio performance chart. Source: DropStab.COM
ETH price may retest the $1,750 macro low
As of Thursday, ETH had fallen as much as 3% intraday to around $1,965. The move also left Ethereum down more than 40% from its 2026 high near $3,400.
The latest decline followed a breakdown from what appeared to be a rising wedge, a bearish reversal pattern formed by two ascending, converging trend lines.
ETH/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingView
Such setups typically resolve when price breaks below the lower trend line, with the downside target measured by subtracting the wedge’s maximum height from the breakdown point.
ETH entered the breakdown phase on Saturday and has since extended its losses, putting the measured downside target near $1,750 back in focus, down about 18.5% from the current levels.
In his Thursday post, analyst Ardi also projected $1,750 as the next ETH downside target.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) posted its second-largest daily outflow on record as US Bitcoin funds extended an eight-day redemption streak during a sharp pullback in the cryptocurrency to below $75,000.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw $527.8 million in net outflows on Wednesday, helping push total withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin ETFs to $733.4 million for the day, according to data from Farside Investors.
The outflows marked IBIT’s second-largest daily loss since launch, slightly below the fund’s record $528.3 million outflow on Jan. 30, 2026.
The latest pullback extended a streak of eight consecutive trading days of net outflows across US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs, with cumulative withdrawals reaching roughly $2.6 billion over the period.
The sustained withdrawals come as several market indicators point to weakening Bitcoin demand, with analysts at CryptoQuant reiterating that $70,000 could emerge as the next major BTC price support level if selling pressure continues.
Bitcoin ETFs flip back to negative territory
The latest wave of withdrawals has pushed US spot Bitcoin ETFs back into negative territory for the year, reversing strong inflows seen earlier in 2026.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs now show about $596 million in net outflows year to date according to SoSoValue data, with May alone accounting for roughly $2.1 billion in withdrawals, the largest monthly outflows so far this year.
Monthly flows of US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: SoSoValue
Although BlackRock’s IBIT saw near-record outflows on Wednesday, total daily withdrawals across US spot Bitcoin ETFs were still well below the worst day on record.
According to Farside data, the sharpest sell-off was recorded on Nov. 13, 2025, when the funds recorded about $866.7 million in outflows, with losses spread across nearly all issuers.
Analysts warn of institutional demand shift amid Strategy cash concerns
Outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs come as analysts warn of a potential shift in institutional Bitcoin demand, with some pointing to weakening support from key corporate buyers.
Much of that support is linked to Strategy, the largest publicly listed Bitcoin holder, according to crypto market intelligence platform 10x Research.
Source: 10XResearch
In an X post on Tuesday, 10x Research analysts said Strategy could face pressure within months if it needs to fund dividend obligations, raising the possibility it may no longer act as a steady source of Bitcoin demand.
Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor raised the possibility of selling Bitcoin in mid-May, saying that sticking too rigidly to a “never sell” approach could ultimately work against the very asset the company is built to accumulate and hold.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?

An unknown entity burned 107 Bitcoin, worth about $8.5 million at the time, effectively removing them from spendable circulation and sparking numerous theories after holding the funds for over 12 years.
On Monday, five Bitcoin (BTC) addresses sent a total of 107 BTC to the old burn address starting "11111," rendering them provably unspendable, according to onchain data shared by Galaxy Research in a Wednesday X post.
The transfer brought the total amount of Bitcoin sent to the burn address to 807 BTC, worth about $59 million at press time, according to blockchain data platform Arkham.
The transfers mark one of the largest reported Bitcoin burns so far in 2026 and came as a shock, given that most of the BTC was acquired about 12 years ago, when it was trading below $600. Bitcoin’s price has risen by 12,700% since the acquisition, according to TradingView data.
Unlike Ether or BNB, Bitcoin doesn’t have an in-built native burn mechanism to remove coins from circulation. Instead, destroying circulating BTC is achieved by sending coins to a provably unspendable address, which has no known private keys.
This means that the Bitcoin sent to the address is still theoretically in circulation, but recovering it from the address is impossible without the private keys. This particular address was previously used for proof-of-burn by projects such as Stacks, which burned 40 Bitcoin in September 2015 for namespace registration.
Source: Galaxy Research
$8.5 million Bitcoin burn sparks tax loss harvesting, rogue AI agent theories
While analysts have yet to find a definitive answer, the curious burn sparked numerous theories.
Galaxy Research speculated that the 107 Bitcoin may have been burned due to tax loss harvesting, or destroyed for being the product of illicit activity. However, there was no clear link found between the funds and prior hacks or cyberattacks.
The research company also said that the burn may have been a mistaken transfer by an artificial intelligence (AI) agent, who transferred the coins to the wrong address.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also said that the burn may have been conducted by a “rogue AI agent,” or executed due to a potential kidnapping, or tax-related reasons.
Conor Grogan, the head of product business operations at Coinbase exchange, said that the burn was “most likely an exchange that messed up their cold storage transfers” in a Thursday X post.
Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16

Polymarket’s vice president of engineering, Josh Stevens, clarified that the prediction market platform is not adding mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) checks to its existing service, after a report said the company had considered user verification requirements.
Stevens said in an X response that Polymarket is launching a new beta product for a select group of users and that KYC is required only to access the beta during its early test period. “No KYC is being added to any part of existing polymarket.com with this launch,” Stevens wrote. He said that once the product is out of beta, no KYC will be required to use it.
He later addressed questions about whether KYC could be added later, saying “no” and clarifying that he was “just highlighting” that identity checks are tied to early access for a new beta product rather than a broader move away from pseudonymous trading on Polymarket’s main prediction market.
The clarification followed a report from The Information that said Polymarket had considered mandatory user verification requirements amid growing pressure from regulators.
Cointelegraph reached out to Polymarket and Josh Stevens for more information but had not received a response by publication.
Source: Josh Stevens
Polymarket restrictions grow amid regulatory scrutiny
Polymarket’s clarification comes as the platform faces widening access restrictions across several jurisdictions.
As of Thursday, Polymarket listed dozens of restricted jurisdictions, including countries where users are blocked from placing orders and others where access is limited to closing existing positions.
In April, Brazil moved to block 27 prediction market platforms, including Polymarket and Kalshi, after authorities said the services operated outside the country’s legal framework.
In May, Spain’s gambling regulator also blocked local users from Polymarket and Kalshi as a “precautionary measure” while authorities pursued legal proceedings over alleged unlicensed gambling activity.
Despite the restrictions, Polymarket has continued to pursue expansion in major markets. In April, the company was reportedly in talks with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission over a broader US relaunch, and in May, it was reportedly seeking entry into Japan despite the country’s strict gambling laws.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released a report Wednesday on Project Agorá, an experimental prototype for cross-border wholesale payment.
The BIS said the report shows how seven central banks and more than 40 regulated financial institutions can settle cross-border wholesale payments in seconds once liquidity is locked, while reducing credit and settlement risk through atomic settlement using tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits.
The initiative marks one of the broadest collaborations yet between central banks and private lenders, exploring how tokenization could modernize global payments infrastructure.
The project, convened jointly by the BIS and the Institute of International Finance, targets the slow and costly nature of international transactions that continue to burden global trade and financial activity. Cross-border payments totaled $195 trillion in 2024 and are projected to reach $320 trillion by 2032, according to FXC Intelligence, cited in the report.
Project Agorá uses a two-layer blockchain architecture, combining tokenized central bank reserves on jurisdictional ledgers with tokenized commercial bank deposits on a shared unifying ledger, enabling so-called atomic settlement in which all balance updates occur simultaneously or not at all.
The BIS said the approach preserves the “two-tier banking system” and safeguards the “singleness of money,” which it called “fundamental to financial stability,” distinguishing the project from stablecoin alternatives.
The platform also allows institutions to conduct anti-money laundering, sanctions and fraud screening in parallel rather than sequentially, which the BIS said could reduce the high false-positive rates that plague today’s cross-border payment system.
Project Agorá moves to real-value testing
The project is advancing to real-value testing with actual transactions involving certain currencies and participants, though the BIS didn’t provide a timeline for implementation.
The report identified areas requiring further development, including liquidity saving mechanisms, cybersecurity posture and governance frameworks covering settlement finality, data governance and risk management.
Settlement occurs in seconds once funds are locked, and the platform is designed to operate around the clock, mitigating delays caused by misaligned operating hours across jurisdictions.
Wholesale cross-border payments today vs Project Agorá. Source: BIS
“The prototype also enhances transparency. All parties to a transaction have access to real-time payment status, while maintaining privacy from non-participating entities,” the BIS stated in the report, adding that, in the future, such visibility could be extended to end users, including debtors and creditors.
Participating central banks include the Banque de France representing the Eurosystem, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York via its New York Innovation Center and the Bank of England.
Earlier this month, the Bank of England proposed extending settlement hours for its RTGS and CHAPS systems as part of a broader push toward near-24/7 settlement.
Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden also said shared ledgers and tokenization could make payments and settlement faster and cheaper, with fewer intermediaries and shorter settlement windows.
Cointelegraph reached out to the BIS media team for comment on implementation timelines and governance plans, but had not received a response by publication.
Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs — Mid-2026

Bitcoin (BTC) sold off into the early Asian Trading session on Thursday as the drop to $72,600 produced significant liquidation of leveraged positions across the crypto market.
Key takeaways:
Bitcoin price deviated 4.5% from its daily high of $76,050 on Wednesday, dropping to a six-week low of $72,620.
Overleveraged crypto traders were liquidated out of nearly $935 billion in the past 24 hours.
Traders say Bitcoin needs to hold above $70,000 to avoid a deeper correction toward $65,000 or lower.
Bitcoin price hits a 6-week lows below $73,000
The BTC/USD pair fell as low as $72,620 on Thursday, reversing all gains made since April 13 after the US reportedly carried out a new wave of military strikes on Iran.
BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
This was accompanied by significant drops in other top-cap cryptocurrencies, wiping out more than $80 billion from the crypto market over the last 24 hours.
The derivatives market suffered a similar fate. More than $874 million in long positions were liquidated, with Bitcoin accounting for $348.5 million of that total. Ether (ETH) followed with $228.5 million in long liquidations.
Across the board, a total of $935.6 million was wiped out of the market in short and long positions, as shown in the figure below.
Crypto liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass
The single biggest liquidation occurred on Hyperliquid, where a $15.34 million BTC-USD long position was closed.
Additional data from CoinGlass showed a slight drop in Bitcoin’s futures open interest (OI) over the last 24 hours across all exchanges. The decline was more pronounced on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and BingX, whose Bitcoin OI has fallen by 9.8% and 9% over the last 24 hours, respectively.
Even though futures longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers) are always matched, declining OI suggests reduced leverage and market participation, often signaling bearish sentiment. For example, a 30% decrease in OI between Jan. 14 and Feb. 6 was accompanied by a 38% drop in BTC price.
Meanwhile, US-based spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to post heavy outflows, indicating waning institutional interest. These ETFs have recorded outflows for eight consecutive days, totaling $2.6 billion. The $733 million in net outflows recorded on Wednesday marked the largest withdrawal since Jan. 29.
Spot Bitcoin ETF flows chart. Source: SoSoValue
As Cointelegraph reported, global Bitcoin investment products also posted outflows totaling $1.3 billion last week, adding to BTC’s headwinds.
$70,000 is now Bitcoin’s last line of defence
Bitcoin’s 4% drop over the last 24 hours has seen it lose the crucial $75,000 support, as the bears gained momentum.
Traders are now watching key support areas on the downside, including the 100-day simple moving average (SMA) at $73,000 and the demand zone above $70,000.
“Renewed US-Iran fighting overnight sent us lower with mass liquidations,” analyst Nicrypto said in a Thursday X post, adding:
“We have fallen well below the previous $75K support zone & are now at the critical $73K support.”
MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe referred to Bitcoin’s latest sell-off as a “standard approach” typical of the final days of the month, “where markets correct as rebalancing takes place among asset managers.”
The analyst said, “Bitcoin showing weakness isn't a recipe for a new low,” unless it drops under the $71,400-$73,400 support area as shown in the chart below.
“This is my last stance of an important support zone; otherwise, I'd expect lower $60Ks to be tested for support.”
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Michael van de Poppe
A daily candlestick drop below $70,000 could trigger another sell-off episode toward the target of an inverted V-shaped pattern at $65,000, as shown on the daily chart below. This would represent an 11.4% drop from the current price.
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
As Cointelegraph reported, after losing support at $74,000-$76,000, BTC may then descend to the support line near $70,500, which is likely to attract buyers.

Nearly half of the organizations onboarded into the crypto industry in 2026 are operating at alerting standards that would have made them industry leaders only a few years ago, according to Chainalysis.
In a preview of a report published on Wednesday, Chainalysis said that the crypto industry’s compliance baseline around alert severity, trigger sensitivity and minimum dollar detection floors is tightening, with about 47% of organizations onboarded this year using alerting standards that would have placed them in the top 10% of strictness in 2020.
It added that companies have become more uniform in direct monitoring, where funds arrive immediately from a known illicit source, but there is still a gap with indirect monitoring, where the funds pass through intermediary addresses.
Compliance-alerting standards have improved significantly across the industry over the last few years. Source: Chainalysis
The industry has been raising its security and compliance in response to stricter regulations and growing threats from hackers. North Korean-affiliated hackers alone were responsible for an estimated $2 billion in crypto losses in 2025.
Chainalysis said that in 2020, the industry was still establishing norms, with only 10% meeting the top requirements. However, the rate started increasing in 2023, and now “newer entrants are launching with more aggressive monitoring.”
“This is a sign of rapid ecosystem maturation. Standard compliance configurations today would have been considered industry-leading just five years ago. The industry financial institutions are joining has already built substantial compliance infrastructure, and the bar continues to rise.”
Crypto has a gap in indirect monitoring
Legacy financial institutions have lower triggering thresholds for indirect exposure to both illicit and non-illicit fund flows and are alerted to smaller sums. On average, crypto exchanges set much higher alerting thresholds, and the thresholds vary across categories, according to Chainalysis.
Categories such as ransomware, fraud shops, scams and darknet markets often have indirect thresholds 10 to 20 times higher than their direct equivalents.
“The industry’s gap between direct and indirect monitoring creates an opening for illicit actors to exploit. Organizations that close this gap improve their regulatory defensibility and differentiate themselves as trustworthy counterparties,” the Chainalysis team said.
“The data in this chapter point to an industry in transition, one that has professionalized its approach to direct exposure but which may not yet be treating indirect risk with equivalent rigor.”
Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23

Cryptocurrency markets have shed around $80 billion in value over the past 24 hours, with losses accelerating after the US reportedly carried out a new wave of military strikes on Iran.
The US ​military carried out new strikes late on Wednesday targeting ‌an Iranian military site and shooting down four Iranian attack drones, which a ​US official told Reuters posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz.
“These actions were measured, ‌purely ⁠defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” the official said. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly released a statement saying that it has retaliated by attacking a US airbase in Kuwait.
The strikes came during negotiations to end the war that began on Feb. 28 with US and Israeli attacks. US President Donald Trump said at a White House cabinet meeting on Wednesday that he was “not satisfied” with a deal with Iran and alluded to further military action.
The US strikes sent crypto markets tumbling to their lowest level since mid-April, after the market had climbed earlier this week after Trump hinted that a peace deal would soon be finalized.
Bitcoin has lost 3.5% on the day, falling to $72,646 on Coinbase, its lowest level since April 13.
Bitcoin fell to a six-and-a-half-week low after US strikes on Iran on Wednesday. Source: TradingView
LVRG Research director Nick Ruck told Cointelegraph on Thursday that markets sold off as investors priced in heightened geopolitical risk, potential oil supply disruptions, and a flight to safety.
“Bitcoin and Ethereum, despite their long-term narrative as hedges, continue to behave more like high-beta risk assets during periods of uncertainty,” he said.
“Traders are now monitoring escalation risks in the Middle East, and any effects on inflation and Fed policy as crypto liquidity quickly thins, and leveraged positions get flushed out.”
Ether (ETH) also fell on news of the strikes, collapsing below the psychological $2,000 level, slumping more than 4% to $1,976 at the time of writing. The asset is at its lowest level since late March.
Crude oil prices also reacted with a 3.5% increase as WTI topped $92 while Brent climbed to $98 per barrel.
Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asked a federal court to vacate its $5 million settlement with crypto exchange Gemini, claiming that the agency’s enforcement action was based on flawed allegations.
Gemini settled with the CFTC and paid a $5 million fine in January 2025 in the final weeks of the Biden administration after the agency accused it of making false or misleading statements related to a Bitcoin futures contract.
The CFTC filed a joint motion with Gemini in a Manhattan court on Wednesday seeking to vacate the settlement, adding in a statement that it had reviewed the matter and concluded that the “complaint should not have been filed — and would not have been under current enforcement standards.”
The CFTC said the complaint, brought under the Biden administration, was “largely based on a whistleblower’s account known to be lacking in credibility.”
“Accordingly, the CFTC determined that continuing enforcement of the consent order’s prospective provisions serves neither the CFTC’s mission nor the public interest,” it said.
Source: CFTC
The CFTC’s request adds to a string of crypto lawsuits and investigations that the agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission have abandoned under US President Donald Trump.
Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss each donated $1 million to Trump’s election campaign in 2024.
The CFTC’s motion comes after Trump’s former CFTC chair nominee, Brian Quintenz, in September shared on X messages from Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss, who asked if he would review the agency's case against the company if he were made chair.
Trump later withdrew Quintenz’s nomination and instead backed Mike Selig, a former lawyer for crypto companies who has taken a supportive stance toward the crypto industry.
The CFTC’s request seeks to end ongoing obligations imposed on Gemini under the settlement, including an injunction barring it from making false or misleading statements to the agency.
“Applying the remaining provisions — including injunctive relief — prospectively would not be equitable,” the agency said. It noted that Gemini has already paid a $5 million fine, but it was not clear if the agency would refund the penalty.
The case stemmed from allegations that Gemini made misleading statements in 2022 during the review of a Bitcoin futures contract, particularly regarding its auction volumes and liquidity.
The CFTC said these claims were relevant to assessing risk and the contract’s approval.
The CFTC’s complaint relied on allegations from a whistleblower in 2017, who claimed that Gemini inflated trading activity and volumes to distort user demand.
The agency argued in its latest filing that the whistleblower’s allegations were based on statements from Gemini’s former chief operating officer and a subordinate, who allegedly made threats against Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and was allegedly known to lie about material facts.
The CFTC also argued that Gemini was a victim of fraud, claiming that two customers exploited Gemini’s “preferential fee structures through a coordinated rebate-fraud scheme.”
It also alleged that the two customers admitted defrauding Gemini of $7.5 million through this scheme, but the past leadership “did nothing with those admissions.”
Cointelegraph contacted Gemini and the CFTC for comment.
Magazine: eToro founder timed Bitcoin top perfectly due to belief in 4 year cycles

ASV varas iestādes ir apsūdzējušas Google darbinieku, ka viņš it kā izmantojis uzņēmuma informāciju, lai veiktu likmes Polymarket un gūtu peļņu 1,2 miljonu dolāru apmērā.
Tieslietu departaments trešdien paziņoja, ka ir atklājuši apsūdzības pret Google programmatūras inženieri Mišelu Spagnuolo, apsūdzot viņu par piekļuvi neizlaistai iekšējai informācijai Google un 25 likmju ielikšanu, kuru kopējā vērtība ir 2,7 miljoni dolāru, uz tirgiem, kas saistīti ar visvairāk meklētajiem indivīdiem Google 2025. gadā.
Prokurori teica, ka Spagnuolo piederēja Polymarket konts “AlphaRaccoon”, kas nopelnīja 1,2 miljonus dolāru uz “iznākumiem, kurus tirgus uzskatīja par maz ticamiem”, kad Google publicēja informāciju par visvairāk meklētajiem indivīdiem decembrī.

Key takeaways:
Bitcoin’s drop below $75,000 marks a sharp decoupling from a record-breaking stock market fueled by the AI boom.
Crypto trader sentiment remains weak as key US regulatory acts face ongoing delays.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) rejection at $78,000 on Thursday marked a decoupling from traditional markets after two months of strong correlation. Wednesday’s decline below $75,000 happened while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index jumped to an all-time high.
The factors behind Bitcoin’s underperformance are unlikely to fade in the near term, reducing the odds of a bullish breakout above $82,000.
Russell 2000 Index (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView
The US small-cap Russell 2000 Index reached a record high on Wednesday, signaling that traders are not particularly worried about the macroeconomic environment. Despite the war in Iran nearing the 3-month mark, strong earnings momentum in the artificial intelligence sector has contributed to generalized optimism in the stock market.
The exact rationale behind the weaker demand for Bitcoin might never emerge, but it likely includes recent BTC reserve sales by publicly listed miners and their subsequent pivot toward AI infrastructure. The latest example includes TeraWulf (WULF US) announcing the addition of a 1-gigawatt high-performance computing capacity in Kentucky.
Pro-crypto regulation stalls
Further bearish sentiment emerged after Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT US) transferred 2,650 BTC, worth $205 million at the time, to a cryptocurrency exchange address on Friday, according to Lookonchain data. The media conglomerate controlled by President Donald Trump’s family had previously accumulated 11,542 BTC at a cost basis above $118,500.
The lack of regulatory progress in the legislature has also negatively affected traders’ sentiment. The Digital Asset PARITY Act overhauls cryptocurrency taxation by exempting mining and staking rewards from being taxed until sold. The proposal was formally introduced in May, but is not yet scheduled for hearings or votes.
Similarly, the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act awaits a full Senate floor vote, but no official date has been set. The bill creates a comprehensive market structure framework for digital assets, dividing oversight between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while complementing the already-passed GENIUS Act for stablecoins.
Fed policy trajectory puzzles investors
Investors likely anticipated a stronger balance sheet expansion from the US Federal Reserve (Fed), expecting continued US Treasury buying and additional liquidity for the markets. However, the prevailing trend from previous months faded in April as the Fed’s total assets stabilized.
US Federal Reserve total assets, USD billion. Source: St Louis FED
The Fed's decision to act more cautiously was likely driven by a surge in oil prices, which raises inflation. Expansionary measures could further exacerbate the issue and negatively impact economic growth. The Fed's total assets have remained stuck near $6.7 trillion since April 15.
Bitcoin’s weak performance also contrasts with a massive surge in demand for AI infrastructure companies.
Top 7-day gains among world’s 100 largest assets. Source: 8marketcap
Memory chipmakers SK Hynix (000660 KS) and Micron (MU US) surged past a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time ever, joining multiple stocks that gained 20% or more over the past week alone.

Mēneša maksājumu apjoms uz kripto saistītajām debet- un kredītkartēm pieaudzis par apmēram 230% salīdzinājumā ar pagājušo gadu, kripto saistīto maksājumu produktu pieauguma apstākļos.
Kumulatīvais apjoms uz kripto saistītajām maksājumu kartēm šomēnes sasniedza $7.8 miljardus, saskaņā ar The Kobeissi Letter, tirgus pētījumu publikāciju.
Maksājumu gigants Visa kontrolē apmēram 90% kripto karšu darījumu, sadarbojoties ar uz onchain balstītām kompānijām, piemēram, Jupiter Global, teica analītiķi no The Kobeissi Letter.
Kumulatīvais kripto karšu apjoms no 2023. līdz 2026. gadam.

Bitcoin (BTC) miner inflows to Binance crossed 20,000 BTC for only the second time this year, placing fresh pressure on Bitcoin’s daily uptrend near the $75,000 support zone. Will BTC defend its higher-timeframe bullish structure, or is the market on the verge of a broader bearish trend shift?
BTC miner supply meets weaker demand
Crypto analyst Amr Taha said miners transferred roughly 21,000 BTC to Binance on May 18, close to the 23,150 BTC sent on Feb. 5. Large miner deposits are often tied to potential selling activity as miners move BTC to exchanges to cover operating costs.
BTC miners to exchange flow data. Source: CryptoQuant
However, Taha explained that the market reaction has stayed relatively controlled so far. Bitcoin avoided a sharp breakdown after the transfer, while Binance’s BTC reserve climbed to nearly 634,000 BTC by May 26 from roughly 618,600 BTC on May 6. The exchange added around 15,400 BTC in reserves over the period without triggering aggressive downside continuation.
Glassnode’s onchain data painted a similar picture of slowing momentum rather than panic selling. The realized profit/loss ratio currently sits near 1.56, well below the 2-5 range commonly seen during stronger bull-market phases. The metric measures realized profits relative to losses across the network and points to moderate buying conviction during the recent rebound.
BTC realized profit/loss ratio 30-day moving average. Source: Glassnode
Additionally, Glassnode added that spot demand also weakened over the past two weeks. The spot volume delta slipped back into net sell-side territory after Bitcoin rejected near the low-$80,000 range. The analytics platform noted,
“If BTC is going to push meaningfully higher from here, spot demand likely needs to step back in. Without that, the market risks drifting back into the same choppy, seller-dominated conditions that capped upside earlier in the year.”
Related: Bitcoin price threatens $75K loss as US-Iran peace progress sparks new stocks records
BTC uptrend faces key test at $75,000
Bitcoin’s higher-time-frame trend still depends on holding above the $75,000 level. The level served as a consistent demand zone throughout May and closely aligns with the neckline support on the daily chart.
However, a developing head-and-shoulders pattern has begun to form after repeated failures near the $80,000-$81,000 range. The latest lower high near $78,000 now shapes the potential right shoulder of the setup.
BTC/USDT, one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
A momentum indicator also leans bearish. The daily relative strength index (RSI) has remained below the neutral 50 level for the past few days, indicating limited strength during recent rebounds. A decisive move below $75,000 could expose the next major support near $70,400.
Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. highlighted the $74,500 area as a critical support level, which currently aligns with the lower boundary of Bitcoin’s 21-day Donchian channel. The Donchian channel tracks the highest and lowest price range over a selected period and is often used to identify trend support and breakout zones.
If the price is holding near the lower band, it usually signals that buyers are defending the recent trading range, while a breakdown below it can signal rising downside pressure.
Adler noted that Bitcoin’s composite trend signal recently shifted back into a “high bear” zone following a sharp three-week reversal from the May highs near $82,500. BTC now trades only slightly above the $74,500 support band, placing the $74,500-$75,000 region at the center of current market attention.
Bitcoin price structure. Source: CryptoQuant
Related: Sold in May and went away? Bitcoin risks another 10% drop as month turns red

Prediction markets platform Polymarket is reportedly considering measures to verify users in response to pressure from global authorities over sanctions violations and other areas of legal risk to the company.
According to a Wednesday report by The Information, Polymarket has considered mandatory user verification requirements more in line with Know Your Customer (KYC) standards. The move comes as multiple countries have blocked or restricted access to the predictions market platform over concerns about illegal gambling.
Source: Polymarket
As of Wednesday, Polymarket had “geoblocked” 35 countries, restricting residents from placing orders on the platform. These jurisdictions included Iran, Russia and North Korea, which are under sanctions from many countries over military conflicts.
Polymarket users are allowed to operate under pseudonyms, generally preventing the public from knowing their identities and opening the platform to potential legal risks over bets on controversial event contracts. For example, a US soldier was revealed to be the Polymarket user who bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, allegedly using classified information that resulted in a $400,000 payout.
Cointelegraph reached out to Polymarket for comment on The Information report but did not receive an immediate response.
Trump weighs in on federal regulation of prediction markets
US President Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday to express his support for the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) having “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets.
His statements were in line with those of CFTC Chair Michael Selig — Trump’s pick to the regulator — who has filed lawsuits against state-level authorities cracking down on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is a strategic adviser to Kalshi and an adviser to Polymarket.
The president’s public support for the CFTC came after lawmakers in the US House of Representatives announced a probe into Kalshi and Polymarket, citing the risks of elected officials engaged in insider trading. Polymarket listed several event contracts related to the US-Israel war with Iran.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?