News

This week, bitcoin climbed steadily to reach nearly $100K, amid hopes for a China-U.S. trade and better macroeconomic conditions ahead.

Institutions like Mastercard and BlackRock made important digital asset announcements.

An historic stablecoin bill neared completion in the U.S. Congress. (A former prime-mover in the House said to expect a “wicked hot summer” of legislation.)

And the Trump Family continued to dominate the crypto news cycle, raising serious conflict-of-interest questions.

At CoinDesk, however, the biggest story concerned Movement, a once-hot startup that now seems deeply troubled.

Deputy managing editor Sam Kessler published an eye-opening scoop showing that Movement Labs may have been misled into signing a market-making agreement that granted a middleman control over 66 million MOVE tokens. That deal was said to have triggered a $38 million selloff, which dumped on retail investors who had faithfully bought in. The story was especially resonant as Movement is backed by World Liberty Financial, a company tied closely to the Trump Family.

Following the story Wednesday, Coinbase suspended listing MOVE, Nik De reported, and Binance banned the market-marker Web3Port. By Thursday evening Movement Labs had suspended flamboyant co-founder Rushi Manche (Sam Reynolds reported) amid ongoing investigations into the project’s “organizational governance.”

It was quite a fall from grace for a startup that had been hotter-than-Miami Beach a few weeks ago.

In other significant news, Sam Altman's blockchain project, World announced plans to deploy 7,500 eye-scanning orbs in U.S. cities by the end of the year and add crypto-backed loans, prediction markets, and a Visa debit card for spending WLD tokens to its product offerings. Cheyenne Ligon and Margaux Nijkerk had that news.

Meanwhile, Ligon also reported on the trial of Avraham Eisenberg, who was convicted last year on charges of wire fraud, commodities fraud and commodities manipulation charges related to the $110 million hack of Mango Markets. The new conviction relates to Eisenberg possessing child sexual abuse material in 2024.

Earnings season brought mixed results for major exchanges and facilitators. Robinhood said it expected a Q1 pullback in crypto-related revenue (Helene Braun reported). Kraken said its revenue was up 29% in the same period (Francisco Rodrigues). Strategy reported a first-quarter loss of $4.2 billion on declining bitcoin prices. But it’s still planning to raise more than $50 billion for bitcoin-buying over the next 32 months (James Van Straten).

Where do we go from here? Market signals look promising, especially if tariff fears wane. But Movement may have some crisis management to look into.

As the Dubai Token2049 conference concludes, one key takeaway is that the narrative around bitcoin (BTC) is swiftly expanding beyond its traditional role as a store of value to a potential DeFi asset competing with Ethereum and Solana.

Prominent industry players like Franklin Templeton view this development as a positive step, confident it will enhance bitcoin’s utility without diluting its core appeal as a store of value as purists or maximalists fear.

"I don’t think focusing on Bitcoin DeFi will dilute or complicate Bitcoin’s core narrative," Kevin Farrelly, managing principal of blockchain venture capital at Franklin Templeton and VP of Digital Assets, explained during his keynote speech at the Bitlayer side event this week. "Instead, it expands Bitcoin’s utility for a specific type of investor — one with enough technical sophistication to optimize for yield, security, or custom portfolio needs."

"These users aren’t replacing the 'store of value' thesis; they’re building on it," Farrelly added. "It's not narrative dilution, it's infrastructure evolution."

Franklin Templeton is an investor in Bitlayer, a BitVM that serves as Bitcoin's computational layer while preserving the mainnet's security. It offers features such as faster transaction processing, lower fees, and new functionalities like smart contracts or advanced DeFi integrations, areas that base-layer Bitcoin alone doesn't natively support.

Franklin Templeton's bitcoin ETF (EZBC) has registered net inflows of $260 million since its debut on Jan. 11 last year. As of May 1, the fund held 5,213 BTC, more than $500 million in assets under management at bitcoin's current price of just above $97,000.

Expanding beyond the store of value appeal

Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision for the Bitcoin blockchain was driven by creating a decentralized financial system that promotes financial sovereignty and privacy, eliminating the need for transaction intermediaries. Over a decade since its inception, however, the blockchain's native cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has quickly garnered a reputation as digital gold — a reliable store of value — and this narrative has served it well.

Bitcoin’s market cap today exceeds $1.9 trillion, accounting for nearly 60% of the total digital asset market value of $3.12 trillion, per CoinDesk data. It's the most liquid cryptocurrency, averaging several billion dollars in daily trading volumes worldwide, and several publicly listed companies have adopted it as a reserve asset.

Moreover, several regulated alternative investment vehicles tied to BTC have emerged over the years, allowing traditional market participants to take exposure to the cryptocurrency.

For instance, according to data source Farside Investors, the 11 spot ETFs listed in the U.S. have amassed nearly $40 billion in investor money since their debut in January last year. Meanwhile, ether ETFs have seen net inflows of just under $3 billion.

The strong institutional uptake for BTC has been widely attributed to its simple, compelling narrative as digital gold—an asset that’s easy to understand relative to complex platforms like Ethereum or Solana. These platforms support a wider array of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and use cases, helping their native token holders earn additional yields on top of their spot market holdings.

"At its core, it’s seen as a digital store of value," Farrelly told CoinDesk. "Unlike more complex crypto projects, Bitcoin doesn’t require deep technical explanation — it has a clear, focused purpose. That clarity may be part of what makes it easier to understand, easier to model, and with the ETF, easier to allocate. "In a landscape full of complexity and speculative narratives, Bitcoin offers a kind of signal — and that, increasingly, seems to resonate," he continued..

As a result, many purists resist the idea of introducing features similar to DeFi directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, fearing it could dilute its core appeal.

The buzz around Bitcoin DeFi at the Bitlayer event and the main Token2049 conference was tangible, highlighting the growing demand among BTC holders for additional yield opportunities.

“Bitcoin DeFi with trust minimized bridge, sustainable yield products for onchain bitcoin holders is becoming very important for bitcoin asset holders and the network maintainers,” Charlie Yechuan Hu, co-founder of Bitlayer told CoinDesk.

“At Bitlayer we are building important infrastructures which can empower the Bitcoin DeFi with our BitVM technologies," Hu added. "A lot of interesting Bitcoin DeFi use cases can make bitcoin assets more valuable, give users more reason to hold and use in the future”

This BTC DeFi trend could also benefit miners, who are rewarded for mining blocks. While the per-block reward is halved every four years, increased on-chain activity driven by DeFi applications could help offset this reduction through higher transaction fees, supporting the network’s security and sustainability.

"Importantly, Bitcoin DeFi also introduces new transaction fees — a critical component for the network’s long-term sustainability and security as block rewards continue to decline," Farrelly said.

Hu voiced a similar opinion, saying the rising network hashrate means miners need more activities, like Bitcoin DeFi, to remain profitable.

“We would need to build good Bitcoin Rollup with security verification capacity, which can contribute fees back to Bitcoin,” Hu noted.

Huione Group, the Cambodia-based conglomerate that the U.S. Treasury Department wants to cut out of the U.S. financial system, received $98 billion worth of crypto since 2014 through illicit schemes like money laundering, pig butchering and online scams, according to blockchain security firm Elliptic.

The company, which has links to the Asian country's ruling Hun family, runs a Telegram-based marketplace where users can purchase personal data, money laundering services and even electric shackles intended for use on human beings.

“Huione Group has come under intense scrutiny this week, with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identifying the Cambodia-based conglomerate as an entity [of] primary money laundering concern," Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson told CoinDesk.

In January, the company introduced its own stablecoin that, unlike third-party assets like Tether's USDT, cannot be frozen by external organizations. The stablecoin, USDH, was created to "avoid transfer restrictions of traditional digital currencies.”

Despite rolling out the stablecoin, Robinson said FinCEN's move to clamp down on Huione is a "significant blow" to the conglomerate.

"This should serve as a wake-up call for the broader financial ecosystem to strengthen the detection and disruption of cross-border laundering networks," he added.

Huione also received $150,000 worth of crypto from North Korean hacker Lazarus Group, which stole around $3 billion worth of crypto between 2018 and 2024, according to a report from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

An attempt to contact the company by email was not answered by publication time.

As markets stabilize and bitcoin claws its way back above $100k, Kevin O’Leary – also known as “Mr. Wonderful” – is doubling down on digital assets and calling for clear regulation to unlock crypto’s next chapter. “I consider crypto to be the 12th sector of the economy within five years,” he told CoinDesk in a wide-ranging interview ahead of his keynote at Consensus 2025 in Toronto on May 15.

The O’Leary Ventures Chairman outlined his approach to crypto, which is grounded in traditional portfolio construction and a very deliberate plan to prepare for institutional capital he believes is about to flood into the industry.

Crypto: A 19% Allocation

O’Leary holds a 19% weighting in crypto and related equities. That includes direct exposure to crypto and shares in major crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Robinhood and WonderFi. “Volatility is good for an exchange," he said. “No matter what crypto is doing, up or down, the exchange is making money because it’s the infrastructure.”

For yield, he favors USDC over bank deposits. “The yield on that this morning is 3.822%. That’s better than a savings account.” (O’Leary disclosed he is a shareholder in Circle.) Still, O’Leary follows a strict strategy: never more than 5% in one position and never more than 20% in any sector, including crypto.

No to Bitcoin ETFs, No to MicroStrategy

Despite being long BTC, O’Leary is not a fan of the ETF wrapper. “I never understood why anybody would buy bitcoin in an ETF and pay fees. That’s insane,” he said. “If I want vol on crypto, just buy bitcoin.” (Bitcoin ETFs were introduced in the U.S. in January 2024 and have attracted about $115 billion in investment so far.)

He also opted out of Strategy, saying Michael Saylor is “a great strategist, no question. But why don’t I just own bitcoin outright?”

Regulation is the Missing Piece

Institutional adoption of crypto hinges on regulation and compliance, he said. Large funds can't buy in until their internal systems can account for digital assets the same way they do equities or bonds. “There are trillions of dollars waiting on the sidelines. But they can’t move until it’s regulated and the compliance infrastructure is there.”

That’s why he’s optimistic about stablecoin legislation in the U.S., which he expects to pass soon. If that happens, he said, “you want to own the exchanges.”

“The era of the crypto cowboy is over,” he said. “They’re all in jail or felons. What we need now is compliance.”

Kevin O’Leary will be sharing more about his crypto strategy at Consensus 2025 in Toronto on May 15. Get your tickets here.

Wall Street analysts are standing firmly behind Strategy’s (MSTR) aggressive escalation of its bitcoin (BTC) acquisition strategy after the company unveiled plans to double its capital-raising ambitions.

"While the number of companies that have sought to replicate Strategy’s bitcoin acquisition strategy has continued to grow rapidly … MSTR yesterday issued a reminder of the extent of its first-mover advantage and how its ability to accelerate its accumulation of bitcoin has continued to increase as its platform has scaled," wrote Benchmark's Mark Palmer, reiterating his buy rating and $650 price target.

Though MSTR trades at more than double the value of its bitcoin holdings, Palmer says that level is "attractive" thanks to Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and team's "demonstrated ability to create shareholder value through its treasury operations."

Alongside reporting its first quarter results Thursday evening, Strategy announced an expansion of its recent 21/21 plan — raising $42 billion via issuance of common stock and debt (or debt-like securities) — to a total of $84 billion.

TD Cowen's Lance Vitanza, meanwhile, acknowledged the ambition of the updated strategy, calling it “aggressive perhaps but by no means out of the question.” The firm noted that Strategy has already raised $28.3 billion under the original 21/21 Plan and that the company’s significantly larger $111 billion market cap and deep trading liquidity bolster the credibility of the new fundraising efforts. With average daily share volume of $5.6 billion, Vitanza — reiterating his buy rating and $550 price target — suggested that raising another $56.7 billion over the next 32 months is realistic.

Both analysts also praised Strategy’s decision to increase its bitcoin-related performance targets, including raising its 2025 BTC Yield target to 25% (from 15%) and BTC $ Gain to $15 billion (from $10 billion). Benchmark's Palmer pointed out that the company has already achieved ~90% of its original BTC Yield target in just four months.

MSTR shares are higher by 1.8% to $388 early Friday as bitcoin continues to tread water just below the $97,000 level.

Earnings call highlights

“The adoption of the Bitcoin standard by more companies is beneficial, legitimizing bitcoin and attracting more capital," said Saylor on the post-earnings conference call Thursday evening. "As more companies join, it stabilizes and drives up bitcoin's price," he continued. "Each market needs its own BTC companies, and as more join, it accelerates the transition to the bitcoin standard, pressuring others to join.”

Addressing concerns over dilution, CEO Fong Li emphasized the accretive nature of the equity raises:

“Issuing equity at greater than one times mNAV [the multiple of the company's net asset value] is accretive, not dilutive," said Li. "As mNAV rises, equity issuance becomes more like fixed income, and we aim to make the fixed income market more efficient.”

Acknowledging the company's $5.9 billion unrealized loss in the first quarter due to bitcoin’s price decline under newly adopted fair value accounting, CFO Andrew Kang remained unfazed:

“Despite the volatility, we believe the transparency is vital… We expect more positive swings over time, aligning with our long-term strategy.”

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2786.55, down 0.4% (-11.45) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Four of 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: BCH (+1.8%) and BTC (+0.4%).

Laggards: SUI (-5.9%) and AVAX (-2.4%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Tether, the company behind the $148 billion stablecoin USDT, plans to launch its U.S.-focused stablecoin later this year or early 2026 depending on the nation's stablecoin legislation, CEO Paolo Ardoino told CNBC in an interview.

"Realistically, it depends on the timeline of the final legislation on stablecoins, but we are looking at [launching the product] by the end of this year or early next year at the fastest,” he said.

Ardoino said that the firm's flagship USDT token is catered towards users in emerging markets with limited access to U.S. dollars, and the new offering would be a different product.

"In the U.S., you have to create a payment product, something that could be used by institutions, something that can be used as a competitor of PayPal's CashApp," he said in the interview. "That is what we are aiming for."

Tether's U.S.-based stablecoin plans highlight the firm's growing presence in the U.S. as Donald Trump's return to the White House allayed regulatory pressure on crypto firms.

Ardoino toured the U.S. earlier this year, giving interviews and speaking at events including at a conference by Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor manages Tether's over $100 billion U.S. Treasury holdings, while former CEO Howard Lutnick now serves as Secretary of Commerce in the Trump administration.

Competition is also increasing in the stablecoin market as U.S. federal legislative efforts to regulate stablecoins advance. It's a big opportunity: Citi projected that the sector could grow to a multi-trillion dollar by the end of the decade.

Read more: U.S. Senate Moves Toward Action on Stablecoin Bill

Rival firm Circle, issuer of the $62 billion USDC token, last month announced plans of creating a cross-border payments and remittances network.

In the first look at the employment picture since last month's Liberation Day tariff announcements sent markets tumbling and supply chain professionals into never-imagined areas of uncertainty, the U.S. jobs market for the time being remained reasonably strong.

The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Nonfarm Payrolls Report. That topped analyst estimates for 130,000 and March's 185,000 (revised from an originally reported 228,000).

The unemployment rate for April was 4.2% versus 4.2% forecast and March's 4.2%.

In rally mode for the last two weeks since the initial panic over the tariffs, the price of bitcoin (BTC) was modestly lower at $96,700 in the minutes following the report. Also in rally mode since that initial panic, U.S. stock futures added to gains after the news, with the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 each higher by 0.7%

This morning's report will likely cool the idea of imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts. While market participants had written off the idea of any Fed move in May, they had priced in about a 60% chance of rate cut in June and more than a 90% chance of one or more rate cuts by the July central bank meeting, according to CME FedWatch.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose four basis points to 4.27% on the better than expected numbers.

Checking other report data, average hourly earnings were up 0.2% in April, shy of forecasts for 0.3% and March's 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, average hourly earnings rose 3.8% versus 3.9% expected and 3.8% in March.

A bitcoin (BTC) breakout earlier this week has traders eyeing the $100,000 level in the coming days, a euphoric trade that could be short-lived as May’s seasonality approaches.

“Historically, the next couple of months have been weak for financial markets, with many investors abiding by the Sell in May and Walk Away adage,” Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

“That being said, markets have significantly underperformed over the last few months, but this year could buck the trend, with Bitcoin hitting $97K and other growth stocks coming back over the last few weeks. This past week's weak GDP numbers coming out of the US indicate some risk, as another report of negative GDP growth next quarter would indicate a recession, but rate cuts could lead to a rebound as well,” Mei added.

The adage “Sell in May and go away” is a long-standing seasonal saying in traditional financial markets.

It suggests that investors should sell their holdings at the beginning of May and return to the market around November, based on the belief that equity markets underperform during the summer due to lower trading volumes, reduced institutional activity, and historical returns data.

The phrase dates back to the early days of London Stock Exchange and was originally “Sell in May and go away, come back on St. Leger’s Day,” referencing a mid-September horse race.

What data shows

Historically, U.S. stock markets have shown weaker performance from May through October than from November through April, leading to the strategy becoming a seasonal rule-of-thumb for some investors.

Bitcoin also shows recurring seasonal patterns, often influenced by macro cycles, institutional flows, and retail sentiment. CoinGlass data show the asset’s May performance has been negative or muted recently.

In 2021, BTC dropped 35%, one of its worst months that year. In 2022, May was again negative, with a 15% drop amid Luna’s collapse. In 2023, BTC was flat to mildly positive, reflecting muted volatility.BTC popped up 11% last May and ended May 2019 up 52% — a standout performance from all months following 2018, when crypto markets are generally thought to have matured after that year’s altcoin cycle.

Red May months are followed by more declines in June, the data shows, with four of the past five June months ending in red.

These patterns don’t guarantee future performance, they suggest that crypto markets may be increasingly reacting to the same macro and seasonal sentiment as equities, especially as more institutional capital enters the space.

Sign of caution?

Traders may grow cautious based on historical price seasonality and fading momentum after strong Q1 rallies. Altcoins, especially meme coins, may be particularly vulnerable to pullbacks, given their recent hype-driven rallies and speculative flows.

“Since 1950, the S&P 500 has delivered an average gain of just 1.8% from May through October, with positive returns in about 65% of those six-month periods—well below the stronger performance seen from November through April,” Vugar Usi Zade, COO at crypto exchange Bitget, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

Over the past 12 years, average Q2 returns (April–June) for BTC have stood at 26%, but with a median of only 7.5% — a sign of outlier-driven performance and recurring volatility.

By Q3 (July–September), the average return drops to 6%, and the median turns slightly negative, suggesting a pattern of post-Q2 fatigue or consolidation, Zade added, citing data.

“This seasonality overlap suggests caution heading into May. Historically, Q4 marks Bitcoin’s strongest seasonal period, with an average return of +85.4% and a median of +52.3%, whereas Q3 tends to deliver more muted or negative outcomes,” Zade said.

In short, while Wall Street calendars don’t bind crypto, market psychology still responds to narratives, and “Sell in May” could become a self-fulfilling prophecy — especially if technicals start to crack and sentiment flips.

Crypto exchange Kraken reported $472 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2025, up 19% from a year earlier despite a softening crypto market. The exchange's adjusted EBITDA (profit before deductions) reached $187 million, a 17% rise year-over-year.

Trading volume on the platform, rose 29% year-over-year, and funded accounts grew by 26%, while assets on the platform dropped 2% to $34.9 billion. Kraken attributed the drop to a decrease in the value of these assets.

The headline of the quarter, however, was Kraken's completed acquisition of NinjaTrader, a retail-focused futures and derivatives trading platform.

“This transaction marks the largest-ever deal combining traditional finance (TradFi) and crypto. More than an expansion of our business, this strategic acquisition strengthens our position in derivatives for both TradFi services and crypto,” the exchange wrote in a report.

The deal positions the exchange to serve traders looking to access both asset classes in one place. It will allow for crypto traders to access traditional futures contracts, while NinjaTrader users will gain access to the crypto market.

The move advances Kraken’s ambition to become a multi-asset platform. It came during the same quarter Kraken launched a feature allowing for cross-border payments, Kraken Pay. It will be boosted with the introduction of crypto debit cards, in partnership with Mastercard.

Kraken also completed a Proof of Reserves attestation for the cryptocurrencies custodian by the exchange as of March 31. The firm, which allows users to verify their assets independently on-chain through a Merkle tree proof, said it plans on publishing these proofs quarterly.