Standard Chartered expects DeFi protocols to gain importance as $4 trillion in tokenized assets move on-chain. The bank says stablecoins and real-world assets could expand protocol activity through deposits, lending, and capital efficiency.

Nine linked Polymarket accounts earned over $2.4 million with an unprecedented 98% win rate by betting on the exact timing of U.S. military operations in Iran.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to release an innovation exemption for tokenized stocks as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter speaking with Bloomberg.

Galaxy Digital secured a Bitlicense and Money Transmission License from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) on May 18, allowing the company to offer regulated digital asset services to institutions across New York State.

BTC’s slide toward $76,000 pushed bitcoin sentiment into bearish territory, according to Santiment. The firm said retail pessimism hit its weakest level in nearly four weeks, a setup it views as supportive for a potential rebound.

After approaching $40 per petahash per second (PH/s) in hashprice terms, bitcoin’s latest price decline triggered a pullback in hashprice, reducing mining profitability since May 14. Conditions tightened further the next day when the difficulty adjustment arrived, pushing mining difficulty 3.12% higher than the previous epoch.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has renewed his assault on Bitget, accusing the exchange of knowingly enabling market makers to run supply control manipulation schemes on retail traders, the latest move in a months-long campaign targeting what he has called a “Chinese CEX cartel.”

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The litigation arm of the Prime Trust bankruptcy estate filed a 94-page adversary complaint against Swan Bitcoin on May 15, 2026, seeking to recover approximately $970 million in assets the company allegedly withdrew before Prime’s collapse.

Bitcoin fell to $76,000 on the morning of May 18, reversing a brief relief rally and causing its total market cap to drop to $1.53 trillion. The nearly 2% decline triggered $722 million in total long liquidations across the crypto economy.

Goldman Sachs exited its XRP and solana ETF positions during Q1 2026 while sharply reducing exposure to ether funds. The bank maintained sizable bitcoin ETF holdings and increased investments in several crypto-linked equities.

Victoria, Seychelles, May 18, 2026 — Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Excha

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed HF 3709 into law this past week, authorizing state-chartered banks and credit unions to hold bitcoin and other virtual currencies on behalf of customers.

A sharp reversal saw bitcoin funds snap a six-week inflow streak, recording $1 billion in net outflows. Ether products also remained under pressure, while XRP and solana ETFs emerged as relative bright spots, continuing to attract fresh institutional capital.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies now holds 5.28 million ethereum tokens worth more than $11.5 billion, putting the company within reach of controlling 5% of the entire ETH supply.