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Zest ADGM Appoints Zeid Barghouti as Senior Executive Officer to Scale Private Market Infrastructure

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Zest ADGM Appoints Zeid Barghouti as Senior Executive Officer to Scale Private Market Infrastructure

Zest Equity, a digital transactional infrastructure company powering private-market transactions, has appointed Zeid Barghouti as the Senior Executive Officer of its FSRA-regulated entity, ZE Transaction Solutions Limited (“Zest ADGM”).

Zeid Bargouti, SEO at Zest Equity

Barghouti, who has served as the Senior Executive Officer of the ADGM-based entity since its inception, also acts as the Head of Business Development and Partnerships at Zest Equity. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving commercial growth across the firm’s SPV platform, managing strategic partnerships, overseeing client relationships, and spearheading market expansion across the MENA region.

In his formalized role as Senior Executive Officer, Barghouti will oversee Zest ADGM and support the ongoing development of its escrow and transaction facilitation solutions tailored for private markets.

Scaling regulated products

Zest Equity is actively building its presence as a foundational digital transactional infrastructure company. Built in the UAE and anchored within the ADGM’s regulatory framework, the company develops its core technology within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Since its founding, the Zest Equity group has digitized more than $230million in transactions across over 200 deals. Furthermore, the firm has received authorization from the FSRA for Zest ADGM to offer both its Zest Arrange and Zest Escrow products. Zest ADGM is fully regulated to deliver the firm’s payment services and arranging deals in investment services to clients across the MENA region and beyond.

Zuhair Shamma, co-founder and CEO of Zest Equity, noted that the appointment actively reflects the company’s commitment to building institutional-grade leadership.

“Zeid has been instrumental to the commercial development of Zest Equity, and the regulatory remit he now assumes is the natural next step as we scale the digital infrastructure underpinning private-market transactions,” Shamma stated. “His combination of regulatory experience and commercial acumen is exactly what this stage of the business demands. His leadership will be central as we scale the institutional infrastructure private markets require.”

A record in regulated financial services

Barghouti brings an established record in regulated financial services across the Gulf region. Prior to joining Zest Equity, he served as the Senior Executive Officer at Capital Investments DIFC Ltd and held senior treasury and financial institution roles within the Capital Bank Group. He also holds an MBA from the University of Manchester and a BSc in Business Management from the University of Surrey.

Commenting on his appointment, Barghouti emphasized the firm’s unique market position.

“Zest Equity occupies a distinctive position in the regional private markets landscape and Zest is a genuine foundation for institutional growth in the region’s private markets,” said Barghouti. “I look forward to contributing further to its development and to the firm’s broader commercial expansion across the region’s private-market ecosystem.”

Swiss National Bank Bitcoin Reserve Push Fails as Campaign Falls Short

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Swiss National Bank Bitcoin Reserve Push Fails as Campaign Falls Short

A campaign to require the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin is set to lapse after failing to gather enough signatures to trigger a national referendum, Reuters reported.

The initiative sought to amend Switzerland’s constitution to require the central bank to hold Bitcoin (BTC) alongside gold and foreign currency assets, but organizers said they collected only about half of the 100,000 signatures required under Swiss law.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has repeatedly opposed adding cryptocurrencies to its holdings, saying digital assets do not meet its reserve management standards due to concerns about volatility and liquidity, Reuters reported.

Campaign founder Yves Bennaim told Reuters the effort was always considered unlikely to succeed, but said the initiative helped advance debate around Bitcoin’s role in global finance.

Supporters of the campaign said Bitcoin could help diversify Switzerland’s reserves away from dollar- and euro-denominated assets, which Reuters said account for roughly three-quarters of the SNB’s foreign currency holdings.

Related: Bitcoin profit-taking may ‘accelerate’ as price hits 3-month high: Analyst

Countries experiment cautiously with sovereign Bitcoin reserves

While 2025 saw a wave of publicly traded companies adopt Bitcoin treasury strategies, sovereign adoption of Bitcoin as a reserve asset has remained limited.

El Salvador was the first country to formally adopt Bitcoin as part of a sovereign reserve strategy after President Nayib Bukele began government BTC purchases in 2021 alongside the country’s move to make Bitcoin legal tender. The country currently holds 7,645 BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.com.

Source: Nayib Bukele

Source: Nayib Bukele

Bhutan, also one of the world’s largest sovereign holders of Bitcoin, built much of its treasury through state-backed mining operations powered by surplus hydroelectric energy as part of a broader strategy to turn renewable energy into a digital export and expand the country’s role in crypto finance.

However, data from Arkham Intelligence shows Bhutan-linked wallets have sharply reduced their holdings in recent months, with reserves falling from around 13,000 BTC at the end of 2024 to roughly 3,654 BTC by April 2026 following a series of large transfers and apparent sales.

Unlike El Salvador and Bhutan, which actively accumulated Bitcoin through purchases or mining, the three largest sovereign Bitcoin holders — United States, China and the United Kingdom — primarily acquired their holdings through criminal seizures and forfeiture proceedings.

Top 5 countries holding Bitcoin. Source: Bitcointreasuries.net
Top 5 countries holding Bitcoin. Source: Bitcointreasuries.net

Top 5 countries holding Bitcoin. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.net

On March 6, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve capitalized with government-held Bitcoin, stating that BTC held by the reserve “shall not be sold” and would be maintained as reserve assets of the United States.

While the executive order allows Treasury and Commerce officials to explore budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin, the reserve is initially backed by BTC already held by the government through forfeiture proceedings.

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

Bulldog Federal Credit Union Partners with FMSI to Modernize Branch Experience

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Bulldog Federal Credit Union Partners with FMSI to Modernize Branch Experience

WHY THIS MATTERS

The partnership between FMSI and Bulldog Federal Credit Union (BFCU), announced on May 7, 2026, represents a critical shift for community-chartered financial institutions moving toward “lobby optimization.” For Bulldog Federal—which has grown from a specialized lender for Mack Truck employees to a $300 million asset institution—the implementation of RelationshipOS is designed to eliminate a legacy friction point: manual visit management. By integrating appointment scheduling and lobby management directly into a major website upgrade, BFCU is moving away from the “reactive” service model that many small credit unions have struggled with since the pandemic.

This deal is part of a broader “rebranding” of the 58-year-old institution. By adopting FMSI’s platform, BFCU is effectively “professionalizing” the branch experience to match the expectations of a modern, digitally-native membership. In a 2026 landscape where branch footprints are being scrutinized for their ROI, lobby management systems are no longer just administrative tools; they are data-rich platforms that provide visibility into member intent before they even walk through the door. For FMSI, which relaunched in late 2025 and already serves over 140 institutions, this partnership underscores the demand for “intentional” branch experiences that bridge the gap between digital discovery and in-person service.

FMSI, a provider of branch workforce management and lobby optimization solutions for financial institutions, today announced a new partnership with Bulldog Federal Credit Union, a community-chartered credit union serving Washington County, Maryland since 1968.

Bulldog Federal, with approximately $300 million in assets, selected FMSI’s RelationshipOS for both appointment scheduling and lobby management as part of a broader website upgrade and member experience initiative. The credit union, which grew from its roots serving Mack Truck employees to a full community institution with 50 staff members, identified appointment scheduling as a long-standing gap — one that became especially apparent when COVID-era branch closures forced staff to manage visits manually with no scheduling infrastructure in place.

“We recognized that scheduling an appointment was an area that needed improvement,” said Stacy Wright, CEO of Bulldog Federal Credit Union. “With our website upgrade underway, the timing was right to fix that. Based on what we’ve seen from FMSI so far, I’m confident we’ll be happy with both the service and the product. I’d encourage any credit union CEO to reach out and see what FMSI can do for them.”

Gary Plummer, Chief Design Director at Bulldog Federal, said the decision came down to more than features. “We spoke with multiple vendors. FMSI came in better prepared and more professional, and the connection was real. When we invest in a partnership, we need that total buy-in from the other side and we felt it. This is part of a bigger story we’re telling about what Bulldog Federal Credit Union is in 2026 and beyond. We’ve been here since 1968, and we’re reintroducing ourselves to the community in a way that reflects who we are today.”

Bulldog Federal plans to go live with the new website and integrated scheduling in October. The credit union is currently in a testing phase, using the live site as a working platform to identify improvements before the full launch.

“Bulldog Federal has been serving their community for nearly 60 years, and they know their members well,” said Jacob Reeves, General Manager of FMSI. “What stood out to us was how intentional they are about this next chapter. They’re not just adding a scheduling tool. They’re rethinking how members experience the branch from the moment they decide to visit. That’s the right way to approach it.”

FF NEWS TAKE

FMSI is successfully positioning itself as the “member experience layer” for credit unions that are modernizing their physical and digital touchpoints simultaneously. The decision by BFCU to launch in October—using the live site as a working test platform—shows a sophisticated, agile approach to implementation that is rare for community credit unions of this size. Gary Plummer’s focus on the “professionalism and connection” of the FMSI team suggests that for mid-market institutions, the vendor relationship is just as important as the feature set.

However, the real test for Bulldog Federal will be in how they use the data generated by RelationshipOS. While a scheduling tool solves the immediate problem of manual tracking, the long-term value lies in workforce optimization—ensuring the right staff are available for high-value appointments like mortgages or commercial loans. If BFCU can leverage FMSI’s analytics to drive revenue and improve member retention, it will serve as a powerful case study for other $300M–$500M credit unions looking to “reintroduce themselves” to their communities in the late 2020s.

Bitcoin Continues Its $80K Battle as US Jobs Data Smash Expectations Despite Iran

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Bitcoin Continues Its $80K Battle as US Jobs Data Smash Expectations Despite Iran

Bitcoin (BTC) struggled with an $80,000 reclaim at Friday’s Wall Street open as strong US jobs data added to headwinds.

Key points:

  • Bitcoin crisscrosses $80,000 as US jobs data notionally reduces the odds of US interest-rate cuts.
  • US jobs vastly outpace expectations, adding almost twice the anticipated number of jobs in April.
  • Traders avoid giving up on the local uptrend, seeing a “healthy” support retest.

Bitcoin stays undecided on fate of $80,000

Data from TradingView showed ongoing BTC price volatility as buyers and sellers sparked gyrations around the key $80,000 mark.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

US nonfarm payrolls revealed that the economy added far more jobs than expected in April, despite ongoing inflation pressure thanks to the Iran war.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 115,000 jobs — far beyond the expected 65,000.

“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised down by 23,000, from -133,000 to -156,000, and the change for March was revised up by 7,000, from +178,000 to +185,000,” an accompanying news release stated.

“With these revisions, employment in February and March combined is 16,000 lower than previously reported.”

US civilian unemployment rate. Source: BLS

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%.

Bitcoin initially fell on the numbers, as outperformance implied less need for the Federal Reserve to relax financial policy.

As Cointelegraph reported, the Fed made it clear at its latest meeting on interest rates that conditions were conducive to tightening, and that rate cuts were unlikely.

The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool reflected market expectations of a potential rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting on June 17.

Fed target rate probabilities for June 17 FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group

BTC price sees “healthy bullish backtest”

Among traders, the mood was one of cautious optimism with acceptance that recent gains may not hold for long.

Related: Bitcoin Bollinger Bands push key breakout as creator acts on positive signal

“Retesting the highs from the previous consolidation,” Daan Crypto Trades summarized in his latest X analysis. 

“Good bounce so far but this is a key level for the bulls to hold.”

BTC/USDT perpetual contract 12-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Trading account Cryptic Trades saw Bitcoin retesting its bull market support band, an area formed by two daily moving averages.

“For now, this looks like a healthy bullish backtest before a continuation higher,” it wrote on the day.

BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Cryptic Trades/X

Earlier, Cointelegraph noted signs that a local top could be in for BTC/USD, notably an “overbought” warning on the relative strength index indicator.

Crypto Money Floods US Politics As PACs Spend $7.2M Across 5 States

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Crypto Money Floods US Politics As PACs Spend $7.2M Across 5 States

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

With less than six months until US voters pick their next Congress, political action committees backed by crypto are making clear they intend to shape who gets elected — and who doesn’t.

A War Chest With Deep Pockets

Fairshake, a PAC funded by crypto companies, and two of its affiliates reported $7.2 million in media spending this week alone, targeting congressional races in Georgia, Alabama, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Texas.

The money came through two separate arms: Protect Progress, which backs Democratic candidates, and Defend American Jobs, which supports Republicans. Together, they reflect a deliberate effort to build influence on both sides of the aisle.

The numbers behind Fairshake are hard to ignore. According to federal filings, the group held more than $190 million as of January. In the 2024 election cycle, its affiliates burned through more than $130 million on political advertising.

That spending is widely credited with shifting the composition of the current Congress — the same body now weighing crypto legislation.

Kentucky Republican Andy Barr pulled in the largest single chunk of this week’s spending. Defend American Jobs directed more than $3.5 million in media support toward his US Senate campaign.

Barr has been a consistent advocate for crypto-friendly policy in Congress, voting in favor of both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.

Targeting An Incumbent

Not all the money is going toward friendly faces. Protect Progress has set its sights on Representative Al Green of Texas, a Democrat seeking a 12th term in office.

The PAC pledged $1.5 million to block his return to Congress, calling him hostile to Texas’s crypto community. Green faces a May 26 runoff against Christian Menefee, who has received about $1.6 million in combined PAC support alongside Georgia Democrat Jasmine Clark.

BTCUSD currently trading at $80,223. Chart: TradingView

Clark faces her own primary on May 19 in Georgia’s 13th Congressional district. Both candidates were backed through Protect Progress filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission this week.

Reports indicate Defend American Jobs also spent around $514,000 earlier this cycle supporting Republican James Baird’s reelection bid in Indiana — a race Baird went on to win.

Legislation As The Measuring Stick

The CLARITY Act — a digital asset market structure bill — is shaping up to be a key issue heading into November.

The bill recently cleared a Senate hurdle after lawmakers reached a compromise on stablecoin yield rules, though the Senate Banking Committee had not yet scheduled a markup vote as of Thursday.

Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, a crypto advocacy group, told reporters the stakes are high.

“I do think it is critically important that every single member of Congress have a position on crypto,” he said. “It’s part of their election campaign and their platform, and voters are going to be paying attention to this.”

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

Bitcoin Slips To $79,500 As $277 Million Exits Spot ETFs

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Bitcoin Slips To $79,500 As $277 Million Exits Spot ETFs

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Bitcoin has seen a pullback to levels below $80,000 as netflow data related to the US spot ETFs shows the exit of a notable amount of capital.

Bitcoin Spot ETF Netflow Has Broken Its 5-Day Green Streak

According to data from SoSoValue, the Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have just registered a red day. The spot ETFs refer to investment vehicles that allow investors to gain indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency. Whenever a trader invests into one of these products, the fund buys and custodies the digital asset on their behalf. This makes it so that the holder still gains exposure to the cryptocurrency’s price movements without having to interact with any blockchain element at all.

In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the spot ETFs back in January 2024. Since the spot ETFs allow for indirect investment, they have gained popularity among the more traditional traders like institutional entities, who can be cautious about digital asset infrastructure like wallets and exchanges. This traction has made the spot ETFs one of the cornerstones of the sector despite being active for only 2+ years.

Below is a chart that shows how the netflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETFs has changed over the last few months.

Bitcoin Spot ETFs

The value of the metric seems to have just turned negative | Source: SoSoValue

As displayed in the graph, the Bitcoin spot ETFs have mostly seen net inflows recently, a behavior convergent with the wider trend of recovery in the digital asset sector. April only witnessed net outflows on seven days, with the scale of withdrawals involved being notably lower than the average inflows for the month.

The month ended with a three-day net outflow spree, but the start of May came with a return of bullish momentum as these funds went on a 5-day green streak. Alongside this spike in interest from institutional traders, BTC observed a rally toward the $83,000 level.

In the past day, however, market winds have changed once more. From the chart, it’s visible that spot ETFs have broken their positive netflow run with a notable red spike. In total, $277 million exited across the funds with these outflows. The Bitcoin price has retraced back below $80,000 alongside the development.

While the outflows aren’t negligible in size, they have still not been enough to overturn the net inflows that the spot ETFs have enjoyed recently; this week’s netflow still stands at a positive $768 million.

The US Ethereum spot ETFs also saw a red spike on Thursday, with over $103 million in capital exiting the funds.

Ethereum Spot ETFs

How the daily netflow has looked for the ETH funds | Source: SoSoValue

Unlike for Bitcoin, though, the outflows have been strong enough to neutralize the recent inflows for Ethereum as the weekly netflow has dropped to a value of just $66 million.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $79,800, up 3.5% over the past week.

Bitcoin Price Chart

The trend in the price of the coin over the last five days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

LayerZero Admits Mistake in 1/1 DVN Setup Tied to $292M Kelp Hack

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LayerZero Admits Mistake in 1/1 DVN Setup Tied to $292M Kelp Hack

LayerZero Labs acknowledged a Lazarus Group attack on internal RPCs and a multisig signer’s unauthorized personal trade, impacting 0.36% of assets on the protocol.

LayerZero on Thursday issued a public apology for its handling of the April 18 exploit that drained roughly $292 million from Kelp DAO’s rsETH bridge, conceding it should not have allowed its own validator to operate as the sole verifier securing high-value transactions.

In a blog post which begins by stating “first things first: an overdue apology,” the interoperability protocol said its internal RPC nodes — used by the LayerZero Labs Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN) — were compromised by North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which “poisoned” their source of truth, while its external RPC provider was simultaneously hit by a DDoS attack. LayerZero said the underlying protocol itself was not affected.

“We believe developers should choose their own security configurations, but we made a mistake by allowing our DVN to act as a 1/1 DVN for high-value transactions,” the company wrote. “We didn’t police what our DVN was securing, which created a risk we simply didn’t see. We own that.”

The incident impacted a single application — about 0.14% of applications built on LayerZero — and roughly 0.36% of the value of assets across the network, according to the post. LayerZero said more than $9 billion has moved across the protocol since April 19, the day after the exploit.

Previous Finger-Pointing

The apology is a shift from LayerZero’s earlier postmortem, which said the protocol “functioned exactly as intended” and pointed to Kelp’s manual configuration as the root cause. Kelp DAO publicly disputed that account, alleging LayerZero had approved the 1-of-1 DVN setup, and announced it would migrate its bridge infrastructure to Chainlink’s CCIP. Solv Protocol followed days later with plans to move more than $700 million in tokenized bitcoin tech off LayerZero.

LayerZero outlined a series of changes since April 19. The LayerZero Labs DVN no longer services 1/1 DVN configurations. Default settings on all pathways are being migrated to 5/5 where possible, with a minimum of 3/3 on chains where only three DVNs are available — a notable shift given that a recent Dune analysis found 47% of active LayerZero OApps still ran a 1-of-1 setup. The team is also building a second DVN client in Rust for client diversity and has reconfigured RPC quorums to mix internal, dedicated-external, and shared-external nodes.

Unreported Incident

The post also disclosed a separate, previously unreported incident from three and a half years ago, in which a multisig signer used the company’s multisig hardware wallet to execute a personal trade rather than a personal device. LayerZero said the signer was removed, wallets were rotated, and that the company has since added anomaly-detection software to signing devices.

LayerZero said it has built a custom multisig called OneSig and plans to raise its own multisig threshold from 3-of-5 to 7-of-10 across all supported chains. OneSig hashes transactions locally on the signer’s machine to prevent backend tampering, and each signer runs a private anomaly checker. The company said it is also rolling out Console, a platform for asset issuers to configure and monitor deployments, with built-in detection for unknown DVNs, ownership changes and unsafe configurations.

LayerZero said an official post-mortem will be published once its external security partners conclude their work. The hack also left Aave with an estimated $124 million to $230 million in bad debt, and a coalition of DeFi protocols has outlined a technical path to restore rsETH’s backing.

Senate Banking Committee plans to hold Clarity Act hearing on Thursday

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Senate Banking Committee plans to hold Clarity Act hearing on Thursday

The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold its long-awaited markup hearing for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (otherwise known as the Clarity Act) on Thursday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m.

The Clarity Act was largely in limbo after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the exchange was pulling its support over stablecoin yield and other provisions in January. Last week, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks released a compromise text addressing yield, which would prohibit crypto companies from offering yield on static stablecoin reserve holdings but allowing rewards for stablecoins involved in activities, seemingly resolving one of the key issues blocking the bill from advancing.

The committee did not release the full text of the updated bill publicly as of press time.

The banking industry groups said they had issues with this compromise text and would provide feedback. A letter published by multiple banking trade associations, including the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Independent Community Bankers of America, National Bankers Association and Consumer Bankers Association on Friday said “additional work is needed to arrive at text that embraces the innovation represented by digital assets while also protecting consumers.”

The letter includes recommendations with specific edits to the text of the provision released last week.

The scheduling of a markup hearing suggests lawmakers are ready to move ahead with the current version of the text regardless of these concerns.

There are still other outstanding issues — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a longtime champion of the crypto industry, told the audience at Consensus Miami this past week that the Clarity Act needs an ethics provision barring senior government officials from profiting off of the crypto industry while regulating it. Her office reiterated that position in a press release on Thursday, which cited CoinDesk-commissioned polling data which found that 73% of registered U.S. voters believe senior government officials should not have business ties to the industry.

However, this issue may not be addressed in the Senate Banking version of the bill; after the Banking markup, the Senate will need to merge this version of the bill with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version before the overall Senate can vote to advance the bill.

ParaScript® Partners with ABBYY to Deliver End-to-End Document Intelligence

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ParaScript® Partners with ABBYY to Deliver End-to-End Document Intelligence

ParaScript, an AI-powered document processing company, today announced an alliance with ABBYY, combining ABBYY’s OCR and intelligent document processing (IDP) platform with ParaScript’s handwriting recognition and fraud detection capabilities to deliver a unified document intelligence solution that improves accuracy, reduces manual review and strengthens fraud prevention. 

ABBYY is a global provider of IDP and AI-powered OCR technology, widely used by enterprises to extract and process data from documents at scale. Together, the companies deliver a comprehensive approach to document automation, addressing the full spectrum of document types from printed text and structured forms to handwritten content, signatures and payment instruments. Customers benefit from a unified workflow that accelerates processing, reduces operational complexity and improves decision accuracy without replacing existing systems. 

The alliance is designed to support organizations across financial services, banking, healthcare, insurance and government sectors, where high-volume document processing and accuracy are critical. Use cases include check and remittance processing, loan documentation, identity verification and complex records management requiring consistent, high-quality data extraction.

“Document workflows are becoming more complex, and organizations need solutions that can adapt without increasing operational burden,” said Bruce Orcutt, Chief Marketing Officer at ABBYY. “Our collaboration with ParaScript reflects a shared focus on helping enterprises move beyond fragmented approaches and build more intelligent, scalable automation strategies for the future.” 

“ParaScript and ABBYY each bring more than 30 years of experience in recognition and extraction technologies, reflecting reliability, flexibility and proven performance,” said David Gerber, SVP of Sales at ParaScript. “This alliance enables organizations to improve accuracy, reduce manual review and better manage complex document workflows, all while continuing to leverage the ABBYY infrastructure they already trust.” 

ParaScript’s SDK solutions are already integrated with ABBYY FlexiCapture, ABBYY’s IDP platform, and will soon be available within ABBYY Vantage, its cloud-based IDP platform, enabling faster deployment through pre-built connectors and streamlined implementation.

Bitcoin Rally Stalls At $80K But Bulls Anticipate A Pro-Crypto Fed Chair

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Bitcoin Rally Stalls At $80K But Bulls Anticipate A Pro-Crypto Fed Chair

Key takeaways:

  • A weakening US dollar and higher government debt favor scarce assets, even as spot Bitcoin ETF outflows and low retail demand spark some concern.
  • Traders expect Kevin Warsh to become Fed Chair, which could benefit Bitcoin.

Bitcoin (BTC) stagnated near $80,000 on Friday following a rejection at $82,500. Traders grew anxious after US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted $268 million in net outflows on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, $270 million in leveraged bullish Bitcoin futures positions were liquidated within 24 hours, forcing investors to evaluate whether a sustained bear market is finally taking hold.

Bitcoin US-listed spot ETFs daily net flows, USD. Source: SoSoValue

The reversal in Bitcoin spot ETF flows on Thursday broke a four-day positive streak. This shift is particularly notable because the S&P 500 Index surged to an all-time high on Friday. There is no evidence of a broad derisking trend across traditional markets, as the US small-cap Russell 2000 Index remains within 2% of its own record peak.

Are Bitcoin retail traders jumping ship?

Underwhelming earnings reports from Coinbase and Robinhood indicated a sharp drop in retail engagement, sparking concerns about Bitcoin’s bull run sustainability. Coinbase recorded a 31% revenue decline compared to the first quarter of 2025, while crypto-related revenue on Robinhood plummeted by 47% over the same period. 

Exchanges’ top traders Bitcoin long-to-short ratio. Source: CoinGlass

Top traders at Binance have slashed their Bitcoin longs to the lowest levels in over four weeks. In contrast, whales and market makers at OKX added bullish exposure as the Bitcoin price broke above $80,000 on Tuesday, but they subsequently reduced those positions on Friday.

Overall, the 0.27 long-to-short ratio among top traders at OKX remains a far cry from the 1.20 mark seen just ten days prior.

Weaker US dollar and odds of Strategic Bitcoin Reserves

While Bitcoin derivatives show moderate bearishness, two distinct factors support a sustained bull run. The US dollar has weakened against other major fiat currencies over the past two months. Whether intended by the US administration or not, this move reduces incentives to hold US Treasuries, especially given the current high oil prices.

Brent crude oil, USD (left) vs. US dollar strength index (right). Source: TradingView

The growing US government debt creates an environment favoring scarce assets. Even if the stock market and gold remain the primary options for most investors, Bitcoin tends to benefit from a weaker US dollar.

Regardless of the macroeconomic environment, expectations are rising that the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve could start adding BTC, and Kevin Warsh is expected to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell in the near term. Warsh recently reported significant holdings in cryptocurrency assets and companies and has previously expressed pro-Bitcoin views.

Related: Bitcoin bulls target $115K by December–Does data back the expectation?

Odds of the US adding any amount of Bitcoin to its reserves by 2027. Source: Polymarket

While still considered a long shot, the path to budget-neutral strategies for acquiring Bitcoin has been cited by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the past. Consequently, potential outflows from fixed-income investments due to a weaker US dollar and higher inflation increase the odds of sustained bullish momentum in Bitcoin.

The recent outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs do not necessarily indicate that a bear market is underway, even if top traders’ current positioning signals a lack of confidence in a short-term rally.

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