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Bitcoin, ether steady despite record stocks, falling oil and easing war fears

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Bitcoin, ether steady despite record stocks, falling oil and easing war fears

A convergence of record highs in global stocks, oil at multi-month lows and a tentative U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension did little to buoy bitcoin BTC$73,440.58 prices.

The largest token is still hovering near $73,000 after sliding nearly 6% on the week as institutional buyers wait on U.S. regulatory clarity rather than macro headlines.

Ether (ETH) traded just under at $2,000, down 6.4% on the week even after a 1.2% bounce on the day, while solana (SOL), XRP and DOGE$0.1009 each lost between 4.9% and 6.7% over the past seven days despite small gains in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk’s price page. Hyperliquid’s HYPE bucked the trend, up 5.8% on the week.

The macro tape, meanwhile, lit up. The MSCI All Country World Index, the broadest measure of global equities, climbed 0.3% to an all-time high, and Asian stocks rallied 2% to a record of their own, Bloomberg reported.

Brent crude slipped 0.5% to about $93 a barrel and is now down more than 18% in May, its worst month since March 2020, after the U.S. and Iran reached a tentative deal to extend their ceasefire by 60 days and reopen talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The deal still needs President Donald Trump’s signoff, and Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the memorandum of understanding had yet to be finalized.

That setup, in any other tape, prints money for crypto but didn’t this time.

Javier Martinez, CEO at sFOX, said in an email the market had already priced in a relief rally on the ceasefire news and that the trade unwound when bitcoin failed to break higher.

Institutional investors are now looking past Tehran headlines and toward Washington, he said, pointing to U.S. crypto market structure legislation like the CLARITY Act. “They’re waiting on regulatory confirmation, not just macro improvement,” Martinez said.

Analysts at FxPro said bitcoin has fallen below its 50-day moving average and the longer-running 200-day average is sloping lower, the kind of crossover that has tended to mark stretches of broader weakness. “The time for a long-term bull market has not yet come,” they wrote.

Earlier this week, Swissblock said bitcoin has slipped into a “high-risk zone” amid selling pressure and a fading bid from spot bitcoin ETFs, the institutional product that powered much of the 2024-2025 rally. Softer ETF demand and a market no longer trading every Iran headline leave crypto without an obvious near-term driver.

Bitcoin Buyers Stack $512M Bids Near $70K Support: Is A Reversal Ahead?

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Bitcoin Buyers Stack $512M Bids Near $70K Support: Is A Reversal Ahead?

Bitcoin (BTC) traders have placed new buy orders near $70,000 as the price approaches a key liquidity zone. Order-book data shows more than $500 million in bid liquidity between $72,000 and $70,000, creating a demand zone that could shape BTC’s next move.

BTC buy bids form key support zone

Data from CoinGlass shows dip buyers have placed 6,235 BTC in bid liquidity between $72,000 and $70,000. At current prices, the buy orders are worth roughly $443 million.

The largest cluster sits directly above $70,000, where buyers are positioned to absorb the current selling pressure. Bid liquidity refers to limit buy orders waiting below the market price. When price trades into those orders, it can slow a decline and trigger a sharp rebound if demand absorbs available BTC supply.

BTC/USD, one-day chart, buy liquidity analysis. Source: Velo chart

Below $70,000, the next notable pocket of demand sits at $68,505, where traders have placed another 1,012 BTC worth approximately $69 million. Outside that level, the order book thins considerably, with few visible bids below $68,500.

Meanwhile, liquidation heatmap data shows about $2 billion in cumulative long positions at risk near $70,000, compared to more than $5 billion in short positions around $78,000. Once BTC taps the bid cluster near $70,000, the larger liquidity pool may trigger a sharp rebound toward overhead liquidation zones. 

BTC liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass

Related: Bitcoin falls out of the global top 10 assets as market cap dips below $1.5T

RSI hits three-month low as daily BTC trend turns bearish

Bitcoin’s daily trend turned bearish after losing support at $74,800, confirming a pattern of lower highs and lower lows. The price is trading inside a descending channel and is currently testing support near the lower boundary around $72,000–$73,000.

The relative strength index (RSI) has fallen to roughly 33, its lowest level since Feb. 24. Momentum has stayed below the neutral 50 level throughout the recent decline, suggesting sellers still control the short-term price action.

BTC/USD, one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Crypto trader Ardi outlined a similar view. The analyst said the $74,500–$75,500 region now acts as resistance across multiple time frames. A rejection from that area could keep focus on the $71,500 region, while a move through channel resistance near $76,000 may challenge the ongoing downtrend.

Options markets show investors have also been preparing for a move toward $70,000. According to Glassnode, traders spent nearly $10 million on put options with a $70,000 strike during the recent dip. 

Put options rise in value when prices fall, making them a common hedge against downside risk. Recent flows show some easing in that protection demand as traders lock in profits, though the concentration of hedging activity highlights how closely the market is watching the $70,000 level.

BTC options market analysis at $70,000. Source: Glassnode/X

Related: Bitcoin’s major holders halt buys as demand slows: CryptoQuant

XRP rebounds above $1.30 after volume surge, but bears still control the bigger picture

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XRP rebounds above $1.30 after volume surge, but bears still control the bigger picture

XRP finally found buyers near the bottom of its range after spending much of May grinding lower, but the rebound hasn’t changed the broader setup yet. The move above $1.30 came with one of the strongest volume bursts in days, though price remains well below the levels that would signal a genuine trend reversal.

News Background

• XRP sentiment has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks, with on-chain data showing the average active trader sitting on roughly 47% unrealized losses.

• Analysts remain divided between a final washout lower and the start of a recovery phase, with several pointing to deeply negative sentiment readings that historically appeared near local bottoms.

• Derivatives activity has cooled from earlier peaks, although speculative positioning on Binance remains elevated relative to recent averages.

Price Action Summary

• XRP rose from $1.2959 to $1.3060 during the 24-hour session, recovering from lows near $1.2693.
• The strongest move came during the May 28 14:00 UTC session, when volume surged to 107.9 million XRP and pushed price through resistance near $1.29.
• Momentum faded later in the day, with XRP settling into a narrower consolidation range between roughly $1.30 and $1.32.

Technical Analysis

• The move higher broke a pattern of consecutive lower lows that had defined XRP’s recent weakness.
• Buyers stepped in aggressively near support, producing a sharp recovery from session lows and helping establish a series of higher lows.
• Even so, XRP remains trapped beneath several major resistance levels, including the broader $1.40 area and the more important $1.65 zone that has rejected rallies for months.
• The market is still compressing inside a larger triangle structure, suggesting the current rebound may be part of a broader battle rather than the start of a new trend.

What traders should watch

• $1.30 remains the key support zone. Holding above it keeps the recovery attempt alive.
• $1.32-$1.34 is the first area XRP needs to reclaim before momentum can improve meaningfully.
• A move above $1.40 would shift attention back toward the broader recovery narrative, while a break below $1.30 would reopen downside risk toward $1.20.
• The longer XRP stays compressed inside its multi-month range, the greater the odds of a larger volatility move once support or resistance finally gives way.

CME Group Launches 24/7 Crypto Futures and Options Trading

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CME Group Launches 24/7 Crypto Futures and Options Trading

CME Group announced it has expanded its crypto derivatives offering to around-the-clock trading, allowing traders to access Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options whenever they choose.

CME Group announced Friday that its cryptocurrency futures and options products are now available 24/7, eliminating previous trading hour restrictions. The move expands access to CME’s crypto derivatives lineup, which includes Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts, to traders seeking continuous market exposure across all hours.

The shift to round-the-clock trading aligns CME’s crypto derivatives with the always-on nature of spot cryptocurrency markets. Previously, CME crypto futures operated within defined trading windows; the 24/7 model removes those constraints, allowing institutional and retail traders to execute positions at any time.

CME’s crypto derivatives have become a major on-ramp for institutional capital into digital assets. The exchange operator has significantly expanded its digital asset offerings over recent years, including Bitcoin and Ethereum futures alongside options products. The around-the-clock availability may increase trading volume and improve price discovery across derivatives markets.

Sources: CME Group

Solana, Sui and Aptos wallet data targeted in TrapDoor package attack

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Solana, Sui and Aptos wallet data targeted in TrapDoor package attack

A new crypto-theft campaign is targeting the developers most likely to have wallet keys, cloud credentials and production access sitting on their machines.

Researchers at security firm Socket said earlier this week they identified a supply-chain attack called TrapDoor spread across three major open-source programming registries, with more than 34 malicious packages and hundreds of related versions and artifacts.

A key takeaway is that attackers are becoming more focused. In addition to social engineering, which targets individuals holding key information, supply-chain attacks are built not to catch random retail users but developers. Those are the very people who may have wallet files, SSH keys, GitHub tokens, cloud credentials and production access on the same machine they use to build crypto and AI tools.

Socket did not identify victims or stolen funds, but said the packages were live across npm, PyPI and Crates.io and contained payloads that could steal wallet data, exfiltrate credentials, test AWS and GitHub tokens and leave behind files to keep access active.

The packages programmed in JavaScript, Python and Rust were disguised as developer helpers, security scanners, wallet tools, Solidity utilities, AI prompt packages and Sui or Move build helpers.

Boring by design

The names were boring by design. Packages were named “wallet-security-checker,” “defi-risk-scanner,” “solidity-build-guard,” “move-compiler-tools” and “llm-context-compressor,” looking like the kind of small utilities a crypto or AI developer might install without much thought.

Once installed, however, the payloads tried to pull far more than package data.

In the npm packages, the malware searched a developer’s machine for private keys, passwords, GitHub tokens and cloud logins. It also tested some stolen credentials, tried to move into other systems through SSH keys and left behind files that could keep the infection active.

SSH keys are login files that developers use to access servers, code repositories and other machines. If stolen, they can let an attacker move from one compromised laptop into a company’s wider infrastructure.

The attack also uses files such as .cursorrules and claude.md, which allow developers to give project-specific instructions to AI coding tools. Socket said the campaign planted hidden instructions using zero-width Unicode characters, apparently trying to make future AI assistant sessions run fake “security scans” that collected and exfiltrated secrets.

That turned the attack from a normal package stealer into something closer to developer-environment malware. The package install is only the first step, with the real target being the workstation, such as wallets, repos, browser data, cloud keys, SSH access and whatever AI coding tools read next.

The Rust packages used malicious build.rs scripts to run during compilation, targeting sui and move developers. PyPI packages executed remote JavaScript on import. Packages on npm used postinstall hooks.

Socket said it reported the packages to affected registries and classified the campaign packages as malicious. The company also warned that the attacker opened pull requests to AI and developer projects, trying to add .cursorrules and CLAUDE.md files through normal open-source contribution paths.

STRC slips below par as Strategy’s (MSTR) cash reserves face growing scrutiny

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STRC slips below par as Strategy’s (MSTR) cash reserves face growing scrutiny

Disclosure: The author of this story owns shares in Strategy (MSTR).

Strategy’s perpetual preferred security, Stretch (STRC), fell as low as $97.11 on Thursday as bitcoin BTC$73,483.69 slipped to the $73,000 mark.

STRC tends to face selling pressure during bitcoin drawdowns and in the days immediately following its ex-dividend date, as seen on Nov. 20 and Feb. 5. The ex-dividend effect typically results in a price adjustment reflecting the value of the dividend, while periods of bitcoin weakness can reduce investor appetite for Strategy-related securities. Together, these factors have historically created short-term pressure on STRC’s market price.

The company has structured STRC to trade near its $100 par value, as maintaining that level enables Strategy to continue issuing shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program and raise additional capital efficiently.

Strategy repurchased $1.5 billion of its 0% convertible senior notes due 2029 recently, reducing its overall debt burden. However, the buyback was funded using cash from the company’s U.S. dollar reserve. Strategy’s cash balance declined from approximately $2.25 billion to $871 million as a result.

Based on the company’s current annual preferred dividend obligations of roughly $1.7 billion, the remaining cash reserve now provides only about six months of coverage but was initially implemented to cover the dividend obligations for 24 months.

Executive Chairman Michael Saylor discussed several potential sources of capital that could be used to meet dividend obligations and support the balance sheet in a recent interview with CoinDesk Senior Analyst James Van Straten. These include selling bitcoin, issuing additional MSTR equity when the stock trades above a 1.22x multiple to net asset value (NAV), or raising capital through STRC issuance. Saylor emphasized that management evaluates these decisions through the lens of bitcoin per share, prioritizing actions that are accretive to shareholders.

Competing bitcoin treasury company Strive Asset Management (ASST) has taken a different approach. The company recently announced daily dividend payments for its perpetual preferred security, SATA. For the past two weeks, SATA has remained tightly anchored around its $100 par value while offering a dividend yield of approximately 13%, even during bitcoin’s decline.

Although the daily dividend mechanism has not yet been implemented, investors may view it as a stabilizing feature that helps keep the security trading close to par.

Strive has also eliminated all debt inherited through its acquisition of Semler Scientific, a balance-sheet strategy that mirrors the direction Strategy appears to be pursuing through its recent debt repurchases.

The market performance gap between the two companies has been notable. Over the past three months, Strive shares have gained approximately 110%, compared with a 12% rise in MSTR and an 8% increase in bitcoin. This divergence suggests investors may be rewarding Strive’s cleaner balance sheet and higher-yielding preferred structure.

‘Extraordinarily Unusual’ for CFTC to Reverse Gemini Settlement Deal: Ex-chair

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‘Extraordinarily Unusual’ for CFTC to Reverse Gemini Settlement Deal: Ex-chair

A former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) responded to the agency’s move to vacate a $5 million settlement with cryptocurrency company Gemini.

In a Wednesday motion filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the CFTC joined the Gemini Trust Company in seeking relief from the judgment of a case initially filed in June 2022. The company reached a $5 million settlement with the CFTC in January 2025 while the agency was under former US President Joe Biden.

“[T]he CFTC’s action in reversing itself on a settled case is extraordinarily unusual,” Tim Massad, a former CFTC chair and research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, told Cointelegraph. “The explanation seems to be that the staff got it wrong, not that the law was unclear.”

According to the CFTC’s motion, the agency sought relief based on claims that a whistleblower was found “not to be credible” and evidence was concealed by the commission’s previous leadership.

The motion alleged that the whistleblower, Gemini’s former chief operating officer, made false statements related to the company’s Bitcoin futures pre-certification review. The CFTC’s complaint against Gemini included allegations that the company reported inflated trading activity and volumes, misrepresenting user demand.

“Based on the CFTC’s comprehensive review, the CFTC concurs that there were significant deficiencies in [the Division of Enforcement’s] evidence and the Complaint should not have been filed,” said the filing.

Amended motion by CFTC filed in SDNY on Thursday. Source: PACER

Related: Prediction markets legal battles heat up in Minnesota, Rhode Island

Although the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped several enforcement actions and investigations into crypto companies after Donald Trump assumed the office of the presidency, there had been no filings on the public docket in Gemini’s case since January 6, 2025.

Massad added:

“I know of nothing like this happening before, and I think the public deserves a better explanation.”

Gemini co-founders tied to the current administration

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini, each donated $1 million to Trump’s 2024 election campaign. The two have also met with Trump and attended White House events, including the signing ceremony for the stablecoin-related GENIUS Act. 

Source: Brian Quintenz

According to a text chain made public in September 2025 by former CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz, Tyler Winklevoss raised the CFTC’s litigation as Quintenz was set to be considered for Trump’s nomination to head the agency. Trump later withdrew Quintenz’s nomination, leading to his pick, Michael Selig, being confirmed as chair and the agency’s current sole commissioner.

Notably, some of the language in the CFTC’s motion to vacate was similar to that in the Winklevoss text chain, including “abuse” of regulatory authority and “false whistleblower.” Cointelegraph reached out to Gemini for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

Kalshi follows CFTC in suing Minnesota over its law criminalizing prediction markets

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Kalshi follows CFTC in suing Minnesota over its law criminalizing prediction markets

Prediction market Kalshi filed a federal lawsuit against a Minnesota bill to criminalize operating, hosting or promoting such a platform in the state starting Aug. 1.

The filing follows a motion filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on May 19, the day after the law was signed by Governor Tim Walz, arguing that the legislation violated the U.S. Constitution by criminalizing at the state level the operation of prediction markets governed by federal regulators.

In its filing, Kalshi claimed the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the constitution, which says the federal Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) grants the CFTC “exclusive jurisdiction” over derivatives and swaps traded on designated contract markets (DCMs).

The platform also challenged a provision that criminalizes the marketing or advertising of prediction markets, saying it violated the First Amendment.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said it was critically important that the CFTC maintain sole authority over prediction markets, echoing CFTC Chair Michael Seligl.

Kalshi has recently won similar preliminary injunctions against enforcement attempts in New Jersey and Arizona.

Prediction markets are facing challenges outside the U.S. and in the past week have been banned in countries including Indonesia, Spain and India.

The U.S. government is conducting a probe into prediction markets, with a House of Representatives committee investigation being confirmed last week.

Bitcoin ETFs suffer record 9-day outflow streak as $2.8 billion exits funds

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Bitcoin ETFs suffer record 9-day outflow streak as $2.8 billion exits funds

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have now recorded nine consecutive trading days of net outflows, marking the longest withdrawal streak since the products listed in January 2024. SoSoValue data

Over the nine-session run, investors pulled roughly $2.8 billion from the funds, surpassing any previous period of sustained selling pressure.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have shed approximately $1.3 billion this week, extending a run of three consecutive weeks of net outflows, according to data tracked by SoSoValue. Monthly withdrawals now stand at roughly $2.3 billion.

The outflows have coincided with a sharp decline in bitcoin, which has fallen from roughly $80,000 to $73,000 over the period. However, the broader backdrop extends beyond bitcoin’s own price action. Since the start of the year, bitcoin has lagged many of the market’s best-performing assets, particularly AI-related equities, semiconductor and memory-chip stocks, which have continued to attract capital amid growing enthusiasm around AI infrastructure spending.

Signs of institutional selling have also emerged beneath the surface. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded its largest single-day outflow since launch earlier this week, driven largely by a sizeable dark pool transaction. While the precise motivation behind the trade is unknown, the scale of the redemption suggests some investors may be reallocating capital away from bitcoin exposure and toward sectors that have recently generated stronger returns.

Sustained ETF outflows have often historically coincided with periods of market stress that later developed into local bottoms. Glassnode data shows that the 14-day moving average of ETF flows tends to trough near significant turning points. Similar patterns emerged during the correction in early February, when bitcoin briefly fell toward $60,000, and again in November, when ETF outflows accelerated around bitcoin’s post-all-time-high pullback and local low near $85,000.

Sui Restarts After Back-to-Back Mainnet Halts Tied to Software Bug

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Sui Restarts After Back-to-Back Mainnet Halts Tied to Software Bug

The Layer 1 blockchain blamed two stoppages in as many days on its 1.72 upgrade and said validators have now deployed a permanent fix. SUI slid about 15% in the past seven days.

Sui, the 31st-largest cryptocurrency by market value, said its mainnet is processing transactions again after two halts in two days knocked the Layer 1 blockchain offline, with validators rolling out what the team described as a long-term fix.

Activity resumed and transactions are “flowing normally,” Sui said in a post on X on Friday. The first stall, on Thursday, lasted close to six hours, according to the network’s status page. A second halt hit Friday morning after an interim patch relapsed. SUI fell roughly 5% over the past 24 hours to around $0.92, according to data from CoinGecko.

The repeated downtime cuts against Sui’s pitch as a high-speed network built to handle financial transactions at scale. It marks the chain’s second major outage of 2026 and renews questions about reliability that have dogged faster Layer 1s, most notably Solana, which suffered a string of stoppages in earlier years.

Bug Froze Blocks

Sui traced both incidents to the interaction between its 1.72 release, which introduced a feature called Address Balances, and the network’s gas-charging logic, the code that meters transaction fees. A crash bug in that logic froze block production and checkpoint updates, halting transactions across the chain.

The bug surfaced first on Thursday. Validators deployed an interim fix to bring the network back, but Sui said the patch “had a known issue with a low probability of causing a halt.” On Friday morning, the network hit a variant of that issue and stalled again.

No Funds Lost

Sui said validators have since implemented a long-term solution that fully addresses the underlying bug, and that the network is operating normally.

No user funds were lost in either incident, and certified transactions were not rolled back, according to the network. Public access points that let wallets and applications read the chain stayed online during the outages, so users could still view balances even as transfers were frozen. Several apps on Sui, including lending protocols, paused deposits and withdrawals as a precaution.

Downtime Pattern

Sui launched its mainnet in May 2023, developed by Mysten Labs, a company founded by former Meta engineers who worked on the Diem blockchain project. The network is designed for subsecond finality and low fees.

It has stalled before. The chain went offline for about six hours in January and for roughly two and a half hours in November 2024, when validators were caught in a crash loop.

The outages land during a stretch of expansion for the ecosystem. Sui’s total value locked hit a record $2.6 billion in October, and the chain recently added USDsui, a native stablecoin issued by Stripe subsidiary Bridge.

What’s Next

Sui said a detailed incident review is forthcoming. Validators on the mainnet were still listed as operating under degraded performance after the restart, according to the network’s status page.

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