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Enda Tamweel and The Hashgraph Association Launch Hedera-Powered Loyalty Program

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Enda Tamweel, a microfinance institution based in Tunisia, has officially teamed up with the Swiss-based non-profit The Hashgraph Association to launch a new Hedera-powered loyalty program. The initiative marks one of the very first microfinance deployments of Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) across Africa and the Middle East.

The newly introduced solution integrates directly with Enda Tamweel’s existing systems via application programming interfaces (APIs). This integration allows for a straightforward rollout while delivering a highly transparent, traceable, and scalable loyalty ecosystem where key transactions are securely recorded on the Hedera network. By leveraging Hedera’s DLT technology, the partnership aims to drive positive behavioral changes through incentives that are delivered with trustworthiness and transparency.

Driving sustainable financial inclusion
Mohamed Zmandar, chief executive officer of Enda Tamweel

Unlike traditional loyalty platforms that rely purely on transactional rewards, the new program introduces an impact-based model. While clients are actively rewarded for making timely loan repayments, the system also uniquely encourages responsible microfinance practices by recognizing positive social and environmental behaviors.

Mohamed Zmandar, chief executive officer of Enda Tamweel, emphasized the importance of looking beyond basic credit access. He explained that the system is designed to recognize financially reliable clients alongside those demonstrating strong engagement in social and environmental impact. Zmandar noted that sustainable financial inclusion requires fostering long-term customer relationships that drive meaningful outcomes, adding that embedding transparency at the core of the system strengthens trust and reinforces microfinance as a catalyst for sustainable growth.

Scaling across the continent

Across Africa and the MENA region, microfinance serves as an essential lifeline for communities and individuals who remain excluded from the traditional financial sector, particularly rural populations and small businesses. The broader African microfinance market is currently experiencing rapid growth and is projected to surpass $300billion by 2026.

Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association

In Tunisia specifically, Enda Tamweel operates as the country’s market leader, currently serving more than 544,000 active clients and representing 79 per cent of the national microfinance market. Through the new digital loyalty program, the institution expects to attract roughly 120,000 new clients annually via a newly embedded referral feature. Ultimately, the platform is designed to benefit Enda Tamweel’s 1.3 million historical beneficiaries, who have been supported through 5.6 million loans totaling $4.2billion in disbursements.

Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association, highlighted the platform’s broader regional potential. He stated that supporting Enda Tamweel in building a simple and trusted loyalty solution helps transform benefits into tangible, clearer rewards. Youssefi also noted that this Hedera-powered solution possesses the potential to be actively scaled across other industry verticals throughout the African continent.

TRUMP token down 5% as namesake handset begins shipping next week

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The TRUMP token, the official memecoin of U.S. President Donald Trump, is down 5%, according to CoinDesk market data, as Trump Mobile announced the long awaited T1 handset is set to begin shipments next week.

As CoinDesk previously reported, neither the Trump Mobile project nor the President’s memecoin has gone particularly well. Shipment dates for the handset have been repeatedly delayed — and customer support is limited — while the TRUMP token is down nearly 90%.

Another question is, what exactly is the T1 Phone? Trump Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator and doesn’t have the ability to design and manufacture its own handset. Instead, it has worked with an outside company to pick a handset and re-skin it to be Trump themed. This kind of arraignment is common; Solana re-skinned the Osom OV-1 for its first Saga phone.

The Verge got its hands on one of the T1 Phone handsets last month, and concluded that it “sure looks a lot like an HTC U24”, a handset that came out in 2024.

Exactly what company is manufacturing the Trump phone is unclear, as neither HTC nor Trump Mobile would give an answer to The Verge. Trump Mobile has previously confirmed that its phones have final assembly in the U.S. but originate overseas.

For buyers, the shipment update means the T1 may finally move from political merch concept to shipped consumer product.

For TRUMP holders, the 5% drop suggests the market is treating the phone less like a catalyst and more like another Trump-branded product trying to prove there is still demand after the first wave of hype.

Why is bitcoin price down? BTC at $79,000 as Xi warns Trump on Taiwan conflict

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Bitcoin’s $80,000 floor cracked under back-to-back inflation shocks, and Xi Jinping’s Taiwan warning further dampened expectations of a recovery.

BTC traded at $79,200 in Asian hours Thursday, down 2.3% over 24 hours and 2.2% on the seven-day, after slipping below the $80,000 level that had served as the floor for most of the past week, per CoinGecko data.

Solana (SOL) led the cohort lower with a 5.6% drop to $90, giving back most of the weekly gains that had made it the standout altcoin for the past two weeks. Ether dropped 2.1% to $2,250 and is now down 3% on the seven-day, the second-weakest performer among the majors after BTC.

BNB shed 1.6% to $660 but held a 3.9% weekly gain, while XRP slipped 1.7% to $1.43. Dogecoin held in green territory at $0.1126, up 0.9% on the day, the only major in the cohort to post a 24-hour gain.

The sell pressure built around the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, the first visit to China by a sitting U.S. president in nearly a decade. Xi pressed Trump on Taiwan in their first meeting at the Great Hall of the People, warning of a potential “collision or even clashes” if the issue is mishandled.

China’s readout of Xi’s remarks appeared to be released before the meeting had concluded, thrusting the self-ruled island into the spotlight and rattling risk sentiment globally.

Asian equities swung between gains and losses on the back of the friction. MSCI’s Asia Pacific index slipped 0.1% after rising as much as 0.8% in early trading.

Mainland Chinese shares fell 1.3%, having touched their highest level since 2021 ahead of the talks. The offshore yuan edged up for an 11th day, the longest winning streak since September 2017, suggesting capital is starting to position for whatever comes out of the summit.

The crypto sell-off compounded pressure from Wednesday’s producer price index print, which came in at 1.4% month-over-month against a 0.5% forecast and 6% year-over-year.

That followed Tuesday’s CPI reading of 3.8%, the hottest inflation print in almost three years. The back-to-back inflation surprises complicate the Federal Reserve’s path to easing rates later this year, removing one of the structural tailwinds crypto has been pricing in.

Not everything broke down, however. Cisco shares jumped 20% in extended trading after a stronger-than-expected sales outlook, and a gauge of Asian technology shares climbed as much as 2.3% to a record high. Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.2%. The AI trade is still bid even as the broader risk tape turns choppy, which is the same divergence that has been running for the past three weeks.

The next test for bitcoin sits at the $78,000 level, which marked the early-May low before the rally to $82,000. A break below that would put the late-April capitulation zone in play. Holding above keeps the structural buyers’ case intact heading into the next round of macro data and the back end of the Trump-Xi talks.

$11.77T Charles Schwab Launches Spot Bitcoin Trading

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Charles Schwab has begun rolling out spot bitcoin trading to retail clients in the United States, marking a major expansion of crypto access through one of the country’s largest brokerage firms.

The company announced Tuesday that an initial group of eligible customers can now trade bitcoin through its new platform, Schwab Crypto. The launch gives retail investors direct access to digital assets inside Schwab’s existing brokerage ecosystem, rather than through third-party exchanges or exchange-traded funds.

Charles Schwab said the rollout follows plans first outlined last year and confirmed in April. The firm previously limited crypto exposure to ETFs, futures, and other indirect investment products.

The new platform allows customers to buy and sell spot bitcoin while maintaining a separate crypto account connected to their Schwab brokerage profile. Charles Schwab Premier Bank will act as custodian, while Paxos will handle trade execution and sub-custody services.

According to Schwab’s FAQ materials, the service carries a 75-basis-point trading fee and is available in every U.S. state except New York and Louisiana. The company said some clients may not qualify for access during the first phase of the rollout.

TradFi’s bitcoin bandwagon

The move places Schwab among a growing list of traditional financial firms expanding into digital assets after years of cautious engagement with the sector. The company reported $11.77 trillion in client assets and 39.1 million active brokerage accounts at the end of March, giving the launch potential reach across a large base of retail investors.

The launch arrives as major financial institutions compete to integrate digital assets into mainstream investment products and services. Firms across banking and brokerage sectors have increased crypto offerings following the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs and rising demand from retail and institutional clients.

BlackRock’s IBIT alone held roughly $54 billion in assets under management by early 2026, with institutions disclosing holdings of more than 513,000 BTC through exchange-traded funds — a figure that grew as professional ETF ownership surged 32% across 2025. 

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF products pulled in approximately $2.44 billion in net inflows during April 2026 alone, the strongest monthly total of the year, with nine consecutive trading days of net positive flows extending into May. Each net inflow translates into Bitcoin removed from the open market and delivered to custodians, a dynamic analysts say is creating structural price support independent of speculative trading activity.

The banking sector’s posture toward Bitcoin has shifted in parallel. Nearly 60% of the largest U.S. banks either offer Bitcoin-related services or plan to, according to research from River, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citi all expanding custody, trading, or ETF product lines in recent months. 

Morgan Stanley has signaled ambitions to operate as a full crypto bank, while Goldman Sachs filed an application for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF and Citi launched an institutional custody initiative — moves that Wall Street analysts say reflect a structural, compliance-driven integration rather than a tactical hedge. 

Franklin Templeton’s director of digital asset research said in late April that institutional demand, underpinned by clearer regulation, was the primary reason the firm expects Bitcoin to reclaim the $100,000 level before the end of 2026.

Bitcoin traded near $80,000 during Tuesday trading.

Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Sell Pressure Eases as Traders Monitor CLARITY vote

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Bitcoin (BTC) traders expected a quick move toward $90,000 after the upcoming CLARITY Act vote on Thursday, as improving market conditions and easing short-term sell pressure support an upside move.  

Bitcoin market signals potential breakout above $80,000

Bitcoin has traded around the $80,000 level over the past week, while the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) remains key overhead resistance. More than $3 billion in leveraged long positions are clustered between $79,000 and $78,000, suggesting BTC could briefly retest that range before attempting another breakout above the 200-day EMA. 

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

MN Capital founder Michaël van de Poppe remained bullish and said,

“If this continues to grind upwards, with the upcoming CLARITY Act tomorrow, I would assume we might see a fast move to $90K in a matter of days for Bitcoin.”

Onchain data also points to improving market conditions. Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. said short-term holder loss pressure has remained at zero percent for five straight days. This metric measures whether recent Bitcoin buyers are holding BTC below their purchase price.

Adler Jr. also noted that the share of Bitcoin supply held by short-term traders dropped to 22.2%, its lowest level in 90 days. This suggests that less recently bought BTC is being sold, which could boost the chances of a breakout.

Bitcoin STH loss pressure (%). Source: Axel Adler Jr.

However, crypto trader Zord warns that Bitcoin could face resistance between $83,400 and $84,600 after reclaiming the 50% Fibonacci retracement level near $78,983. 

According to the chart, the $83,400–$84,600 range is the next Fibonacci resistance zone of 0.618-0.65, where traders may begin taking profits and slow Bitcoin’s rebound.

BTC/USD one-day chart analysis by Zord. Source: X

Related: Bitcoin to $100K in Q2? Strategy’s STRC unlocks potential to buy 3K BTC in two days

CLARITY ACT vote draws market attention

The CLARITY Act is a proposed US bill that would set clearer rules for how regulators oversee the crypto market and stablecoins. 

As Cointelegraph reported, members of the US Senate Banking Committee submitted more than 100 amendments to the bill ahead of Thursday’s discussion. Most of the proposed changes focus on stablecoins, crypto developers, and ethics-related concerns.

A version of the bill leaked on Monday suggests that crypto exchanges and other platforms may no longer be allowed to offer stablecoin rewards that work like interest from a traditional savings account.

Crypto research firm XWIN Japan said the proposal appears aimed at separating stablecoins used for payments from products that behave more like bank deposits.

Stablecoin ERC20 active addresses. Source: CryptoQuant

Meanwhile, stablecoin activity and adoption have continued to rise across crypto networks. For example, ERC-20 stablecoin active addresses have been seeing parabolic growth in recent years.

XWIN Japan added that stablecoins remain the main source of money moving through crypto markets, and wider adoption of stablecoins and blockchain-based financial products could support more long-term investment in Bitcoin.

EUR Stablecoins Hit $774.2M All-Time High, With 66% on Ethereum: Token Terminal

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The onchain market cap of euro-denominated stablecoins reached a new record of $774.2 million, with Ethereum commanding two-thirds of the total supply.

The combined onchain market cap of EUR stablecoins reached an all-time high of $774.2 million as of May 13, 2026, according to Token Terminal data. Ethereum dominates the euro stablecoin ecosystem, hosting 66.2% of all tokenized euro stablecoins across its network.

The surge in euro stablecoin adoption reflects growing demand for blockchain-based fiat currency alternatives in the EU, with multiple issuers and chains competing for market share. Token Terminal’s analysis tracked assets, issuers, and chains contributing to the milestone, highlighting Ethereum’s continued dominance in the stablecoin infrastructure space.

Sources: Token Terminal

This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.

ING Appoints Andrea Burnett as UK Head of Network Sector Coverage

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WHY THIS MATTERS

The appointment of Andrea Burnett as the UK’s first-ever Head of Network Sector Coverage, announced on May 12, 2026, marks a structural shift in ING’s strategy to challenge Tier-1 global banks in the City. While ING is already a powerhouse in European corporate banking, the creation of this role signals a pivot toward capturing the high-velocity “corridor business”—multinational clients moving capital between the UK, EMEA, and beyond. By recruiting a heavyweight with experience from J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, and Santander, ING is betting that its “Network Sector” model can serve as a primary differentiator against domestic UK lenders that lack the same global footprint.

This move comes at a strategic time for ING UK. Under the leadership of Alexandra MacMahon, the bank is aggressively pursuing “capital-light” growth by focusing on advisory and cross-border transaction services. Burnett’s mandate is to operationalize this by ensuring that a client in London can seamlessly access ING’s deep sector expertise and liquidity in markets like the Benelux, Poland, and Turkey. In an era where corporate treasurers are consolidating their banking relationships, Burnett’s task is to position ING not just as a lender, but as the central “orchestrator” for international financial operations.

ING has appointed Andrea Burnett as UK Head of Network Sector Coverage, a newly created role designed to support the bank’s growth ambitions with multinational clients through its global network.

Based in London, Andrea will lead ING’s UK Network Sector Coverage team, and her focus will be deepening cross‑border relationships with existing and prospective corporate clients. 

She will also support complex international transactions and lead execution of ING’s Network Sector Coverage Strategy in the UK, leveraging ING’s global network as a key differentiator for clients. 

Alexandra MacMahon, UK Country Head at ING, said:

“Andrea brings deep experience in advising multinational clients on complex, cross‑border transactions, and a strong track record of delivery.

This new role reflects our ambition to accelerate growth by making even better use of ING’s international network, and Andrea will play a key role in doing exactly that for our clients.” 

Andrea joins ING from Banco Santander, where she was an executive director in Corporate & Investment Banking. 

She previously held senior roles at J.P. Morgan, Lloyds Banking Group and Bank of America. 

Andrea Burnett, UK Head of Network Sector Coverage at ING, added:

“ING’s global network and sector expertise are powerful differentiators for multinational clients.

I’m excited to join at a time of strong momentum, with a clear focus on cross‑border collaboration and international growth.” 

Andrea will join ING on 1 June. She will report hierarchically to the UK Head of Sectors, with a functional reporting line to Victor Abad, Global Head of Network Sector Clients.

FF NEWS TAKE

ING is making a play for the “Middle Market Multinationals.” By creating a dedicated lead for Network Sector Coverage, the bank is signaling that it no longer wants to be just a “support bank” for large UK corporates—it wants to be the Lead Left on their international transactions. Andrea Burnett brings the institutional “DNA” of bulge-bracket firms, which is essential for ING to move up the value chain into more complex, cross-border structured finance and M&A.

However, the “Network Sector” strategy is only as strong as the internal collaboration between regional offices. Burnett’s dual reporting line to Victor Abad (Global Head of Network Sector Clients) and the UK Head of Sectors is designed to break down geographic silos. If she can successfully leverage ING’s Terra approach (sustainability-linked lending) as part of this cross-border push, ING could capture a significant “Green Premium” from multinational clients looking to harmonize their ESG goals across multiple jurisdictions.

Blockaid Launches Real-Time Compliance Suite As Institutions Deepen Crypto Exposure

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Blockchain security firm Blockaid has introduced Risk Exposure, a real-time compliance infrastructure suite built for institutions that now operate inside crypto and decentralized finance but still answer to regulators.

The launch extends Blockaid’s platform beyond scam and exploit prevention into what the company calls programmable, real-time compliance for institutional onchain finance, a category it argues has no adequate solution today.

The need is real. Banks, asset managers, custodians, and payment processors have moved from occasional crypto experimentation into continuous onchain operations. They hold positions in liquidity pools, run stablecoin settlement across multiple chains, and manage treasury exposure through DeFi protocols around the clock. 

A wallet or pool that screens clean at 9 a.m. can carry tainted exposure by noon — without the institution touching a single transaction — as stolen funds move through bridges, mixers, and smart contracts faster than any compliance team can track.

The numbers behind that risk are substantial. Over the past 18 months, North Korean-linked actors moved more than $1.5 billion through the Bybit hack. Exploits at Cetus, Balancer, and KelpDAO pushed combined losses past $600 million. In most cases, tainted funds spread across wallets, liquidity pools, and counterparties before legacy compliance systems flagged anything. The forensic model — tag addresses after the fact, file a report — was not designed for this environment.

Real-time crypto compliance

Risk Exposure is built around three functions. A Risk Screening API evaluates inflows before funds are accepted, returning structured verdicts with exposure categories, dollar amounts, and severity scores formatted for audits and SAR filings. A Cosigner Policy Engine embeds AML thresholds into multisig workflows, rejecting transactions that breach preset limits even after internal approvals have cleared. DeFi Toxicity Monitors track protocols, liquidity pools, and counterparty positions throughout the day, sending alerts when exposure to sanctioned entities, stolen crypto funds, scam infrastructure, or mixers crosses defined thresholds.

Blockaid also points to a parallel threat: AI-driven “pig butchering” fraud has pushed crypto investment scams into the tens of billions of dollars each year. The FBI’s Operation Level Up found that roughly 8 in 10 victims never file a report, which means compliance tools that rely on law enforcement records to tag addresses miss the bulk of that activity. 

Blockaid’s system uses transaction simulation, behavioral analysis, and AI-driven threat identification to surface exposure earlier — before scam proceeds enter institutional systems undetected.

The firm screens more than 500 million transactions each month for clients including Coinbase, MetaMask, Uniswap, Fireblocks, Polymarket, and OKX, processing hundreds of transactions per second with verdicts returned in under 300 milliseconds at 99.99% accuracy. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $83 million from Ribbit Capital, Sequoia, Greylock, and others.

For Bitcoin specifically, the implications are pointed. As BTC custody, BTC-backed lending, and Bitcoin treasury strategies move deeper into institutional balance sheets, the compliance infrastructure those institutions carry will determine how far that integration can go. 

Risk Exposure is the kind of tooling that lets a regulated bank or asset manager maintain onchain exposure without asking a regulator to accept ambiguity in return.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Clarity Act ‘Closer Than Ever’

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is supporting the latest version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY) ahead of the US Senate’s markup of the crypto market structure bill on Thursday. 

“I don’t think it’s ever been in a stronger or more bipartisan position,” he said about the latest iteration of the market structure bill.

Armstrong said that the banking and crypto industry lobbies have reached a “healthy compromise” on stablecoin yield, which was one of the main issues that stalled the market structure bill in January. He added:

“I think there was a healthy compromise there, brokered by Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks. And you know, it was a good compromise because both sides left a little bit unhappy, but at least we got to a place that we can all live with.”

The latest version of the CLARITY bill also improved provisions surrounding decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized stocks, and the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate crypto markets, he said.

Source: Brian Armstrong

The comments and the bill’s pending markup follow months of back-and-forth negotiations between the banking sector and the crypto industry over the bill, which stalled in January 2025 after crypto industry players, led by Coinbase, rejected the initial draft.

Related: Latest version of crypto market structure bill raises eyebrows ahead of Senate markup

About 20% of the US population owns crypto, according to industry advocacy groups

About one in five Americans, or 20%, owns cryptocurrency, according to the National Cryptocurrency Association’s 2025 State of Crypto Holders report, which surveyed 54,000 US residents.

The survey found that about 67% of US crypto owners are below the age of 45, while about 15% are over 55 years old.

A demographic breakdown of crypto users in the United States. Source: National Cryptocurrency Association

The top-ranked use case for cryptocurrency was as an investment, with 52% of holders indicating that they use digital assets to “invest in their financial future,” according to the survey.

A HarrisX poll conducted earlier this month also found that 52% of the 2,008 registered US voters surveyed supported passing the CLARITY Act into law, while just 11% opposed the passage of the legislation.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Bitmine Slows Ether Buy, Targets 5% ETH Supply by December

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Ether treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies has slowed the pace of its Ether purchases after previously increasing its buying rate and acquiring more than 100,000 tokens over the last three weeks.

Bitmine said on Monday that it purchased 26,659 ETH over the last week, down from the over 100,000 tokens a week it was previously maintaining, but that it was still on track for its goal to buy 5% of the token’s 120.7 million circulating supply by the end of the year. 

“We have decided to slow down our pace of weekly accumulation from >100,000 per week as we originally targeted reaching the ‘alchemy of 5%’ target in late 2026,” Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said. “Our previous pace of >100k weekly buys would have us reach 5% by mid-July.”

Bitmine is the largest Ether treasury company and one of the most frequent buyers of the token, a business model it adopted from Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy.

Bitmine estimates it will reach its goal of holding 5% of the Ether supply by the end of 2026. Source: Bitmine

Bitmine plans staking of entire Ether stash

Bitmine’s total staked Ether stands at over 4.7 million, and the company estimates its annual staking rewards will be roughly $352 million once its entire stash is staked. Blockchain explorer beaconcha.in has tracked over 38 million Ether staked as of Sunday.

Lee said the goal is for Bitmine to eventually stake its entire stash.

“We intend to hold and stake our ETH holdings, which means our ETH holdings are essentially reducing available supply of ETH and removed 4.3% of ETH supply since June 30th, 2025. In other words, ETH supply has been disinflationary since June 2025,” he said.

Bitmine has staked over 4.7 million Ether. Source: Bitmine

Ether hit an all-time high of $4,946 in August 2025, but it dropped in line with the rest of the crypto market toward the end of last year. It’s still down 52% from its peak and has been drifting between $2,274 and $2,411 over the last seven days, according to CoinGecko.

Crypto spring in full swing

Lee also doubled down on his belief that a so-called “crypto spring” has started and pointed to Ether’s price rising in correlation with software stocks as further evidence. 

“Crypto spring has commenced and we wanted to highlight the importance of owning ETH as a source of diversification, and the likely drivers of this coming ‘crypto bull’ cycle,” he added.

“If ETH closes above $2,100 at the end of May 2026, this would be the third consecutive monthly gain – this has never been seen in a crypto bear market. Thus, a close above $2,100 would validate ‘crypto spring’ has arrived.”

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs — Mid-2026