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Memecoin Platform DxSale Drained for $7.3M Across 1,400 LPs

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Memecoin Platform DxSale Drained for $7.3M Across 1,400 LPs

Memecoin launch platform DxSale was drained of $7.3 million in funds in a cyberattack that affected around 1,400 liquidity providers (LPs) on the BNB Chain. 

The attacker’s address “0xC457” transferred $1.87 million worth of BNB (BNB) tokens into two main wallets and subsequently deposited them into multiple Binance deposit addresses, according to blockchain data platform PeckShield in a Friday X post.

Back in 2021, DxSale was used to lock in liquidity for tokens launched on the BNB Chain. Blockchain analyst Tahax estimated that the locker still holds liquidity from projects launched years ago and explained that the exploiter wallet was freshly created and funded through crypto exchange Bybit.

The exploit adds to the renewed concerns around decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks, which have stolen $52 million so far in May, down from $634 million in April, which marked an over one-year high last seen in February 2025, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.

Mounting cyberattacks have led to widespread concerns about whether the wider DeFi sector is unsafe, partly due to the growing use of AI by malicious actors. “I now consider *all* of DeFi unsafe,” Manuel Aráoz, founder of the blockchain security platform OpenZeppelin, said on Tuesday, citing AI’s growing ability to identify smart contract vulnerabilities.

Source: PeckShield

DxSale stolen funds are already untraceable: onchain analyst

The attacker has already moved some funds through infrastructure that may make tracing more difficult, according to Tahax.

The analyst said that the DxSale deployer quietly transferred ownership of the locker contract to a new wallet 269 days ago, alleging that a “backdoor was left in” without an official migration announcement.

Source: Tahax

The analyst pointed to onchain evidence of another 80 transactions that executed subsequent ownership hops for obfuscation, before contract ownership landed at wallet ‘0xC45,’ which started the mass BNB withdrawals.

Related: Mystery Bitcoin burn destroys 107 BTC worth about $8.5M

The backdoor in the deployer contract, paired with a backdated lock, enabled the hacker to exploit withdrawal loops and extract the BNB tokens, wrote Web3 security platform Coinsult, in a Friday X post, adding:

“A privileged setFee plus a backdated lock turned ‘locked’ deposits into a withdrawable balance.”

Cointelegraph has approached DxSale for comment on the exploit and the final number of affected liquidity providers.

The exploit adds to more than $17 billion in crypto exploit losses tracked by DefiLlama, including about $7.8 billion from DeFi protocols.

Magazine: Agent wastes 14 hours of scammers’ time, LLMs ‘poisoned’ by Iran: AI Eye

Paxos wins SEC approval to clear U.S. stocks on blockchain

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Paxos wins SEC approval to clear U.S. stocks on blockchain

Paxos Securities Settlement Company, LLC (PSSC) has received full registration to provide clearing and settlement services by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Stablecoin issuer Paxos said the regulatory milestone makes its subsidiary the first blockchain firm authorized to operate as a central securities depository (CSD) for traditional equities in the U.S., positioning it alongside legacy post-trade frameworks like the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

The approval clears a bottleneck for Paxos’ goals for institutional tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), providing market participants with a pipeline to clear and settle digital asset trades involving traditional equities, per SEC’s response to Paxos on March 11.

Paxos, which already holds licenses from the OCC in the U.S., Singapore’s MAS, and Europe’s FIN-FSA. said the central clearinghouse designation also allows it to bundle regulated stock clearing with its existing white-label infrastructure tools used by PayPal and Mastercard.

The SEC first granted Paxos no-action relief in 2019, allowing the firm to develop a live settlement pilot in February 2020, which allowed it to integrate traditional finance (TradFi) giants such Bank of America, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale to clear daily U.S. equities transitions.

Paxo’s newly registered status enables it to bypass legacy settlement infrastructure entirely. With blockchain as the clearing rail, PSSC can settle eligible securities on a same-day or nearly instantly, eliminating the traditional settlement window and freeing up locked capital for institutional participants.

In traditional capital markets, stock trades execute in milliseconds, but final settlement, the actual exchange of cash for legal asset ownership, is processed through a centralized clearing house, typically, the DTCC.

While the U.S. equity markets transitioned to a T+1 (one business day) standard settlement cycle in 2024, legacy financial plumbing continues to be restrained to structural delays, trapped collateral and counterparty risks.

SOL’s 30% Open Interest Drop Puts $68 Back In Focus

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SOL’s 30% Open Interest Drop Puts $68 Back In Focus

Solana (SOL) futures dropped sharply in May as traders reduced leveraged exposure across all exchanges. SOL open interest (OI) dropped to $1.90 billion on Thursday from $2.75 billion on May 11, a 30% decline, while funding rates remained close to neutral. The combination points to weakening investor sentiment as SOL eyes a retest of its yearly low at $68. 

SOL spot demand offsets futures market weakness

The aggregated funding rate for Solana futures held near -0.005, showing balanced positioning between longs and shorts. SOL traders have not built aggressive directional bets despite the recent price slide to $80.

SOL price, aggregated open interest, and funding rate. Source: velo chart

At the same time, the aggregated futures volume cumulative volume delta (CVD) for stablecoin-margined orders fell to a yearly low of -$13 billion. The CVD tracks whether buyers or sellers are more active over time. The decline signals stronger sell-side pressure in futures markets through May.

BTC price, aggregated spot and futures CVD. Source: Coinalyze 

However, spot activity paints a steadier picture. Spot CVD has improved to $350 million since March, showing that buyers have continued to absorb supply on spot exchanges even as derivatives positioning has weakened. 

The positive flows into spot SOL exchange-traded funds (ETFs) added to that trend. The monthly net inflows reached $113 million in May, marking the strongest monthly total for SOL ETFs in 2026.

The split between futures selling and steady spot accumulation often points to a lower level of speculative appetite rather than panic selling. This indicates that leveraged traders reduced risk exposure, while spot buyers continued to add positions gradually.

Spot SOL ETF netflows. Source: SoSoValue

Related: Three key XRP metrics suggest ‘explosive price expansion’ is next

SOL retests the $80 price floor of a three-month range

From a technical standpoint, SOL continues to trade inside a broad range between $80 and $95. The range formed after Solana fell 42% during Q1. The price returned to the lower boundary on Wednesday after another rejection near the resistance level.

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

A move below $80 places focus on the yearly low near $68. The liquidation heat maps show more than $800 million in cumulative long leverage sitting near that zone, making it an important liquidity pocket if downside pressure increases.

Crypto trader Cold Blooded Shiller described SOL as one of the weaker large-cap charts in the market. In a post on X, the trader said SOL has been in a downtrend since October and lacks strong support below the current price level of $80.

Crypto commentator Zoe also placed bids near $67, closely aligning with the yearly low and the largest cluster of leveraged liquidations identified on the open leveraged positions heatmap. 

SOL liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass

Related: HYPE chases new highs as ETF inflows, institutional adoption accelerate

Crypto and stocks go their separate ways as bitcoin’s failed breakout continues to weigh

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Crypto and stocks go their separate ways as bitcoin’s failed breakout continues to weigh

Bitcoin BTC$73,563.18 added as much as 0.4% since midnight UTC on Friday and was recently just 0.07% higher after slumping to its lowest level since early April the day before.

Thursday’s drop extended a decline that has emerged over the past three weeks after a failed attempt to climb above $83,000. There is now a chance that the rejection will have contributed to a series of lower highs dating back to October — a key characteristic of a bear market.

Ether (ETH) tracked bitcoin. It fell to $1,965 on Thursday before staging a recovery back above $2,000.

U.S stocks continued to outperform the crypto market on Friday, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures both posting 0.15% gains as the equity gauges approached fresh record highs.

There is no clear explanation why the crypto market is struggling against sectors it has historically been correlated with. The divergence since early October, however, aligns with a leverage wipeout that the market has failed to fully recover from.

Derivatives positioning

  • BTC open interest sits at $20.05 billion, up from $19.7 billion a week ago, with speculative positioning showing slight growth.
  • Funding rates remain positive across multiple venues at under 10% annualized. The exception is Deribit, where they spiked to 44%.
  • The three-month annualized basis pushed closer to 3%, led by Deribit, rising from 2.2% last week, pointing to a mild improvement in institutional risk appetite.
  • Options positioning shows mixed signals: one-week 25-delta skew ticked up to 12.85% from 12.4%, suggesting slightly higher demand for downside protection.
  • Front-end implied vol (DVOL) compressed to about 36 – the lowest since September — while the 1 month–6 month term structure slope sits at -6%, keeping the curve in contango. Markets are pricing near-term calm alongside longer-dated uncertainty.
  • Coinglass data shows $224 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 54-46 split between longs and shorts. BTC ($46 million) and ETH ($43 million) were the leaders in terms of notional liquidations. The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $72,280 as a core liquidation level to monitor, in case of a price drop.

Token talk

  • Stellar (XLM) was the top-performing altcoin on Friday, rising by 25% in the past 24 hours and 4.5% since midnight UTC after it was announced that The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is planning to connect its tokenized securities platform to the network.
  • There were also double-digit gains for ALGO, INJ, HBAR and HYPE over the past 24 hours as the altcoin market showed strength while the major cryptocurrencies showed weakness.
  • One asset that continued its woeful performance of late was BCH$299.57. The token that spawned out of a Bitcoin fork in late 2017 lost 7.2% of its value in the past 24 hours and has now shed 20% in the past week alone.
  • DeFi tokens are also losing their luster, with ENA, JUP and UNI dropping as much as 18% over the past week.
  • CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator reflected the weakness on Friday, falling to 34/100 from 37/100.

Early Bitcoin Dip Buyers Show Up But Will They Reverse The Trend?

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Early Bitcoin Dip Buyers Show Up But Will They Reverse The Trend?

When Bitcoin (BTC) finally escaped from its channel pattern and secured a multiple-day close above the $77,000 resistance, traders rejoiced and declared the downtrend over. 

Fast-forward to the present and BTC has fallen below multiple support levels and appears at risk of retesting $70,000, a 16% decline from its range highs. 

While billion-dollar spot BTC ETF outflows, resumption of combat between the US and Iran, concerns over rising inflation and growing fear that the CLARITY Act will not pass in the Senate are all factors in Bitcoin’s crumbling strength, the real question is whether spot and futures demand will kick in and stem the price decline.

Since falling below $75,000 in February 2026, the level has served as an important support/resistance level. With $60,000 agreed upon by analysts as the cycle bottom for BTC, longer-term leverage was built around the $70,000 to $75,000 zone, and much of that is being cleared out this week. 

Liquidation heatmap data from Hyblock highlighted this dynamic, and in a post on X, the analysts said,

“On the higher lookback (1 month of liquidity), we continue stairwelling down, taking another large long liq cluster.” 

BTC/USDT one-month liquidation heatmap data. Source: Hyblock

While revisiting the lower boundaries of Bitcoin’s 2026 range is far from ideal for bulls, a silver lining has emerged. As BTC fell below $73,000 on Thursday, the BTC/USDT bid-ask ratio metric at Hyblock printed candles above zero, a first since April 12. 

Set to 10% order-book depth, the bid-ask ratio at 0.03 shows bids becoming dominant in order books as BTC price dropped below $73,000, an early indication that traders are buying in spot markets. 

At the same time, the true retail longs-and-shorts accounts metric, which shows the percentage of retail futures accounts holding long positions, has risen above 64%. 

BTC one-hour chart showing bid-ask ratio and retail longs/shorts accounts. Source: Hyblock

According to Hyblock analysts, 

“If you long every single 15m candle that had true retail accounts long percentage above 64% (the current value), then 927 out of 1,056 (88%) of those candles results in positive 7d forward returns.” 

Bitcoin forward returns data based on true retail accounts. Source: Hyblock

The data suggest that despite the negative sentiment surrounding negative news flow, the spot ETF dynamics and fragile geopolitics, the retail investor cohorts within the spot markets view the current pricing as discounted. 

Related: Bitcoin funding spike shows longs defending $70K: Will ETF outflows reverse bulls’ efforts?

A similar view is displayed by the spot and futures aggregate cumulative volume data at Binance where “dip buyers” are seen generating $185.58 million and $62.8 million in volume over the last 10 hours. 

BTC/USDT one-hour chart spot and futures cumulative volume delta. Source: TRDR.io

Top Talent Is Leaving the EF. What Happens to ETH Now?

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Top Talent Is Leaving the EF. What Happens to ETH Now?

🎙️ Listen to Interview 📺 Watch Video… Read the full story at The Defiant

UTXO Enters Bitcoin Staking On Stacks, Targets BTC Yield

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UTXO Enters Bitcoin Staking On Stacks, Targets BTC Yield

Bitcoin-native asset management company UTXO Management has become one of the first institutional participants in Bitcoin Staking on the Stacks network, marking a notable shift in how corporate Bitcoin holdings may be used.

The initiative introduces a structure that allows institutions to earn bitcoin-denominated yield without transferring custody or moving assets off the Bitcoin base layer. 

For treasury managers holding large BTC reserves, the model presents a new option that preserves core Bitcoin properties while addressing rising pressure to generate returns.

Bitcoin Staking on Stacks requires participants to lock BTC in a Bitcoin timelock alongside a smaller allocation of STX, the Stacks network’s native token, in what the protocol defines as a “protocol bond.” 

The BTC remains under the participant’s control throughout the process, while the STX component determines the scale of participation in the system. The initial bonding period is set at six months.

The yield target for the protocol is near 3% annual percentage yield, paid in bitcoin. Unlike lending-based models, the return does not rely on counterparty borrowing. Instead, it is derived from Stacks’ Proof-of-Transfer consensus mechanism. 

Under this model, miners bid BTC to secure the right to produce blocks on the Stacks network, and that BTC is distributed to eligible participants, including those engaged in Bitcoin Staking.

Proof-of-Transfer has operated for several years and has distributed more than 4,200 BTC since 2021. Bitcoin Staking builds on this framework, extending its reward structure to a broader class of participants.

The protocol is expected to reach mainnet later this summer, opening with an initial bootstrapping phase managed by the Stacks Endowment.

Staking tradeoffs as bitcoin gains traction

The model introduces trade-offs that institutions must evaluate. Participants must hold STX equal to about 5% of the BTC position, which creates exposure to a second asset. The bonded BTC remains illiquid during the lockup period, though an early exit option exists for the BTC portion. Yield levels depend on network dynamics, including miner demand and STX market conditions, which introduces variability.

Despite these factors, UTXO’s participation signals growing institutional interest in productive Bitcoin strategies that maintain self-custody. 

The structure avoids lending desks and synthetic wrappers, both of which require relinquishing some control or altering the nature of the underlying asset.

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries have expanded in recent years. The top 100 companies now hold more than 1.2 million BTC, representing about 5% of total supply. 

Executives see Bitcoin Staking as a response to that scrutiny. Tyler Evans, Chief Investment Officer of Nakamoto and UTXO, described the model as a way to generate yield while preserving Bitcoin’s settlement and custody features. 

Stacks founder Muneeb Ali framed the development as a step toward transforming idle Bitcoin into productive capital within a secure framework.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin Magazine is published by BTC Inc, a subsidiary of Nakamoto Inc. UTXO Management is also a subsidiary of Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA)

Enterprise AI Agents Still Lack Independent Audit Trails. Theta and XYO Want to Change That

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Enterprise AI Agents Still Lack Independent Audit Trails. Theta and XYO Want to Change That

Theta Labs and XYO are developing a blockchain-based verification layer for AI agents running on Theta EdgeCloud, aiming to give enterprises an independent record of whether agent workloads were executed on reliable infrastructure.

The partnership brings together two long-running DePIN projects.

Theta operates a hybrid cloud-edge computing platform for AI, video, rendering and gaming, while XYO has built infrastructure around cryptographic proof for real-world data and recently expanded into a data-focused Layer 1 network.

The companies said XYO nodes will monitor Theta EdgeCloud workloads and record quality-of-service data, including uptime, latency, speed and throughput.

Those measurements will be written to XYO Layer One and XYO Data Lakes, creating tamper-evident attestations for AI agent activity.

The goal is to address a growing problem in enterprise AI: agents are being given more autonomy, but their execution records often remain inside systems controlled by the same provider responsible for running the infrastructure.

That creates a weak point for procurement, compliance and incident review.

“Enterprises don’t deploy infrastructure on good faith. They require auditable records, defensible performance data, and clear accountability chains,” Markus Levin, Co-founder of XYO, said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain.

“This collaboration gives organizations running AI agents on EdgeCloud independently verified, tamper-evident attestations settled on XYO Layer One. For compliance teams, procurement leads, and anyone responsible for infrastructure decisions, that’s non-negotiable. That’s the standard that agentic AI deployments now need to meet,” Markus added.

Why does it matter?

AI agents are moving from experimental tools to production systems.

McKinsey’s 2025 global AI survey found that 88% of organizations used AI in at least one business function, while 23% were scaling agentic AI systems somewhere in their enterprise.

That shift raises a practical question.

When an autonomous system gives a wrong answer, misses a step, overspends, or fails to respond, companies need to know whether the failure came from the model, the data source, the workflow, or the underlying compute layer.

Theta and XYO are targeting the infrastructure part of that chain.

The partnership does not verify whether an AI answer is factually correct. Instead, it focuses on whether the workload ran under measurable service conditions.

That distinction matters.

For enterprise users, verifiable uptime, latency and throughput data can support service-level agreement checks, vendor reviews, insurance claims, regulatory reporting and post-incident investigations.

Theta brings production AI agent use cases

Theta EdgeCloud is already being used in sports and entertainment.

Theta has already done AI agent deployments or planned deployments involving Olympique de Marseille, the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia Union, San Jose Earthquakes and other sports organizations.

The Houston Rockets partnered with Theta Labs on “ClutchBot,” an AI agent for the team’s official website.

The New Jersey Devils also launched an AI chatbot powered by Theta EdgeCloud, describing it as an educational and entertainment resource for fans.

“As our AI agents handle thousands of fan interactions across the NBA, NHL, MLS and beyond, independent verification of infrastructure performance is becoming a baseline expectation,” Mitch Liu, CEO of Theta Labs, said.

“XYO brings exactly that to EdgeCloud. A third-party attestation layer that gives our customers, and their fans, confidence that every interaction is backed by infrastructure performing as promised,” Mitch added.

Theta’s broader network also includes enterprise validators such as Google, Samsung and Sony.

The compliance angle

The timing is relevant because AI governance rules are becoming more demanding.

The EU AI Act requires high-risk AI systems to support automatic event logging over their lifetime. Article 26 also requires deployers of high-risk AI systems to keep logs for at least six months where those logs are under their control.

That does not mean every AI chatbot will fall under high-risk rules.

But it does show where enterprise AI governance is heading: more traceability, clearer responsibility and better records of system behavior.

For DePIN networks, this creates a possible opening.

Decentralized compute projects have often competed on cost, GPU access and availability. Theta and XYO are trying to add another layer: independent proof that the infrastructure performed as claimed.

The idea is part of a broader move toward verifiable compute and tamper-evident records

Space and Time, a Microsoft-backed verifiable data warehouse, uses Proof of SQL to let users prove that database queries were executed correctly without tampering. Google Cloud has also described Space and Time’s work as verifiable compute for Web3 developers.

Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve takes a related approach in digital assets, using oracle infrastructure to provide automated verification of reserves backing tokenized or wrapped assets.

In AI governance, open-source tools are also appearing.

Asqav, for example, signs AI agent actions and chains them into a tamper-evident audit trail.

Theta and XYO’s effort differs by focusing on infrastructure performance for agent workloads, rather than database queries, asset reserves, or internal action logs.

The larger test

The partnership gives Theta a way to differentiate EdgeCloud beyond cheaper or decentralized compute.

It gives XYO a new enterprise use case for its proof infrastructure.

But adoption will depend on whether enterprises treat third-party blockchain attestations as useful evidence in real procurement and compliance workflows.

However, the move reflects a larger shift in AI infrastructure.

As AI agents get more autonomy, companies are no longer asking only whether the model can perform a task. They are also asking whether every part of the system can be independently verified when something goes wrong.

The above article “Enterprise AI Agents Still Lack Independent Audit Trails. Theta and XYO Want to Change That” was first published on AlexaBlockchain. Read the complete article here: https://alexablockchain.com/theta-xyo-build-blockchain-audit-trail-for-enterprise-ai-agents/

Read Also: Is India Moving From Crypto Uncertainty Toward a Clearer Policy Framework?

Disclaimer: The information provided on AlexaBlockchain is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Read complete disclaimer here.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Canva, Wiki Commons

OKX Ventures buys $53 million stake in Korea’s Coinone exchange

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OKX Ventures buys $53 million stake in Korea’s Coinone exchange

OKX Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange OKX, will invest 80 billion won ($53 million) for a 19.6% stake in South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone, the companies announced Friday, marking one of the largest recent investments by a global crypto firm into Korea’s digital asset sector.

Korea Investment & Securities (KIS), one of South Korea’s largest brokerages, will make an identical investment and also hold a 19.6% stake upon completion of the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval.

The combined 160 billion-won deal will be structured through a mix of secondary share purchases from existing shareholders and subscriptions for newly issued shares, according to a company statement.

Following the investment, Coinone CEO Cha Myunghun is expected to remain the exchange’s largest shareholder with a 27.8% stake and retain management control. Com2uS Holdings and its affiliates will hold 25%, while OKX Ventures and KIS will become joint third-largest shareholders.

The deal formalizes discussions first reported by Yonhap earlier this month, which said OKX and KIS were considering acquiring roughly 20% stakes in Coinone.

Bitcoin Price Falls 5.5% In 5 Days To Below 73,000

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Bitcoin Price Falls 5.5% In 5 Days To Below 73,000

Bitcoin price has fallen more than 5.5% over the past week, sliding from above $77,000 to around $72,600 on Thursday as risk sentiment weakened. The move extends a broader pullback from early May’s highs above $82,000, leaving bitcoin price trading near 6–7% lower week-on-week as surging spot ETF outflows and US‑Iran tensions pressure prices.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust recorded $527.84 million in net outflows on Wednesday, its second-largest single-day withdrawal since the fund launched in January 2024 — falling short of the all-time record by roughly $500,000. The figure lands within a broader retreat across the U.S. spot bitcoin ETF complex, which together shed $733.43 million that day, the largest combined daily outflow since late January.

Despite the headline numbers, context matters. IBIT remains up more than $2 billion in year-to-date flows and has accumulated $64 billion in lifetime net inflows since launch, placing it in the top 2% of all ETFs by cumulative flows. Wednesday’s $528 million draw represents less than 1% of that total.

The outflow did not occur in isolation. Bitcoin price fell through the $73,000 level during Asian trading hours Thursday, declining 3.4% over 24 hours to $72,978. The immediate catalyst was a fresh round of U.S. airstrikes on an Iranian military site near the Strait of Hormuz, reigniting geopolitical risk that markets had begun to discount.

As investors redeemed ETF shares, BlackRock and other issuers were forced to sell underlying bitcoin to settle those exits, feeding the price decline and the outflow data in a loop.

Alongside IBIT, Grayscale’s GBTC shed $104.76 million and Fidelity’s FBTC lost $60.30 million on the same day. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT was the only spot bitcoin ETF to post positive flows, drawing in $4.3 million, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

The massive Bitcoin block trade

One factor feeding Wednesday’s outflow number was a transaction that took place Tuesday. A single investor sold $1.29 billion of IBIT shares in a dark-pool block trade — a privately negotiated transaction designed to let large players move substantial size without tipping off the broader market. Bitcoin price was around $78,000 at the time.

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas flagged the trade, noting it involved 29.2 million IBIT shares and helped push total bitcoin ETF volume on Tuesday to $4.4 billion, the highest since April 17.

A dark-pool sale is not the same as a net outflow. Buyers absorb the other side of the transaction, so the fund itself does not necessarily see redemptions. IBIT’s actual net outflow on Tuesday came to $192.44 million — large, but separate from the block trade headline. The two events together point to institutional players reducing bitcoin exposure, whether through direct redemptions or secondary market exits.

Lacie Zhang, Research Analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Bitcoin Magazine that the reported $1.3 billion IBIT block sale showed “the market absorbed it without disorder,” highlighting how ETF infrastructure has “changed Bitcoin’s liquidity profile” by routing large trades through institutional channels rather than triggering a visible crash.

She added that continued outflows signal “a period of institutional cooling,” with Bitcoin consolidating in the $74K–$79K range as “Wall Street’s market plumbing acted as a shock absorber,” while a move above $80K is needed to restore upside momentum.

The outflow data reflects a trend that has been building through May. Net ETF accumulation across the year had thinned to approximately 4,500 BTC, and May flipped from the steady buying seen in March and April into net distribution. 

Bitcoin price has fallen from above $82,000 on May 6 to under $73,000, and the ETF channel that drove much of the 2025 bull run has spent the past several weeks pulling capital in the opposite direction.

Bitcoin price debasement 

JPMorgan added another layer to the picture Wednesday, noting that the pandemic-era “debasement trade” — the thesis that bitcoin and gold serve as hedges against currency erosion — appears to be cooling. 

The bank suggested that institutional futures positions and ETF outflows in both assets reflect investors pricing in a potential U.S.-Iran resolution before one materializes.

IBIT has weathered extended outflow streaks before during this cycle without a permanent reversal, with capital returning each time the macro backdrop cleared. Whether this episode follows that pattern depends on the trajectory of Middle East tensions and whether the rotation out of crypto into equities proves short-lived or structural.

At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is near $72,800.

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