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Ondo Finance announced on X that the total value locked (TVL) in Ondo Global Markets' stock tokens has surpassed $1.5 billion. The market views this as a key growth area leading a shift in how U.S. stocks are accessed. According to Ondo Global Markets, the top assets are CRCLon (Circle), IVVon (S&P 500 ETF), MUon (Micron), NVDAon (Nvidia), and IBITon (Bitcoin ETF). These five assets account for approximately 25% of the entire tokenized stock market.

According to on-chain data, a specific whale address has purchased an additional 4,677 ETH over the past 24 hours. The purchase, valued at approximately $9.94 million, is believed to have been made from the Swiss cryptocurrency exchange Shapeshift. This brings the address's total ETH holdings to 133,666 ETH, worth an estimated $281 million.

Bitwise has announced a plan to use 10% of the management fees from its Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP) for HYPE token buybacks. The firm explained that Hyperliquid has a community-focused structure that uses 99% of its blockchain revenue for HYPE buybacks and burns. Bitwise described this as a model where the protocol's success directly translates to the community's success. The company added that it shares the philosophy that HYPE holders should be the core beneficiaries if Hyperliquid grows into a powerful platform within the financial industry, and confirmed that Bitwise itself will also be purchasing HYPE.

Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former researcher at ChatGPT developer OpenAI, has significantly increased his investments in AI infrastructure and BTC mining companies. According to U.S. SEC filings, his public stock position grew from $5.5 billion at the end of last year to $13.67 billion by the end of March this year. His key investments include BTC mining and AI data center infrastructure firms such as IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, Bitfarms, Bitdeer, and Hive Digital. The market has taken note of these companies' transition into key suppliers for the AI industry, leveraging their power, data center, and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Conversely, Aschenbrenner has also established put option positions totaling $7.46 billion against Nvidia, Broadcom, Oracle, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF.

According to data from Token Terminal, there are now 23 tokenized U.S. Treasury funds with market capitalizations exceeding $100 million, bringing the total value of such assets to approximately $13.7 billion. Circle's USYC, which operates on BNB Chain, is the largest with a market cap of around $2.9 billion. It is followed by Franklin Templeton's Ethereum-based iBENJI ($1.4 billion), BlackRock's BUILD ($1.2 billion), and Invesco's JTRSY ($1.1 billion).

Aave (AAVE) announced it has upgraded SavingsGHO to a new vault structure, offering an AaveSavingsRate (APR) of approximately 4.25%. The project also explained that rewards for the existing SavingsGHO (stkGHO) will end in about seven weeks, and users must manually migrate to the new vault to continue receiving them. The upgrade also includes the GhoRouter, which allows users to swap assets between USDC, GHO, and SavingsGHO in a single transaction. The migration and deposit functions are now available on the AaveApp.

According to a post on X by Walter Bloomberg, the EU is set to lower its growth forecast and raise its inflation outlook due to the war in Iran. EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis described the situation as a "stagflationary shock." He explained that with international oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel and ongoing concerns about supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, the bloc is facing a combination of slowing growth, rising prices, and a reduced capacity for policy response. The EU also warned that a prolonged conflict could worsen energy supply bottlenecks, with inventory and price pressures potentially extending into 2027.

The White House has rejected a revised ceasefire proposal from Iran, deeming it insufficient to reach an agreement, a senior U.S. official told Axios. The official stated that the proposal lacked any substantive improvements.

The state of Minnesota has signed a bill allowing banks and credit unions to provide cryptocurrency custody services. This enables local financial institutions to legally offer storage for virtual assets like BTC. The legislation aims to create a clear regulatory framework for financial institutions to participate in the digital asset business and to expand the scope of crypto services within the traditional financial sector. Under the bill, these institutions must establish policies for risk management, cybersecurity, internal controls, and business continuity, and they will be supervised by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

Pump.fun has transferred 91,708 SOL, worth approximately $7.76 million, to Kraken, Onchain Lens reported. This brings the total amount of Solana moved to the exchange today to 174,400 SOL, valued at around $14.76 million.

The cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin, has seen a downturn as expectations for a rate cut under new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh have diminished, Walter Bloomberg noted in a post on X. BTC has fallen about 2% to around $76,660 after hitting a high of $82,000 last week, with the market now watching the $78,000 level as key support. Bloomberg added that inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs are also slowing. He emphasized that data from prediction market Kalshi indicates a 34.3% probability of a Fed rate cut before 2027, reinforcing a "higher for longer" outlook in the market.

Approximately two-thirds of all stablecoin payment volume originates from Asia, with Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan accounting for the largest shares, Unfolded reported via X. The analysis showed that North America's share is around 25%, while Europe accounts for about 13%. In contrast, the combined transaction volume from Latin America and Africa is less than $1 billion, representing a very limited portion of the overall market.

According to Glassnode, more than 7.8 million BTC are currently in a state of unrealized loss with the price at approximately $76,700. The analytics firm noted that a significant supply overhang from investors who bought near the cycle high remains in the market. Glassnode's analysis suggests that for a structurally sustainable uptrend to form, the market must first absorb this selling pressure.

Anza, a core development team for Solana, recommended on May 18 via its official X account that mainnet validators upgrade to Agave 4.0. The upgrade includes XDP for Turbine, QUIC-based TPU data access, replay stage optimization, and SIMD features. Anza explained that tests with large mainnet validators showed Turbine retransmission latency dropped from approximately 600ms to around 0.8ms after implementing XDP. The company stated this provides Solana with the performance headroom to scale to one billion Compute Units (CU) per block. Additionally, Agave 4.0 removes UDP-based transaction access, making QUIC the sole method for transaction submission. The team added that replay performance has been improved by making Proof of History (PoH) verification and Ed25519 signature verification asynchronous. Other SIMD features, such as p-token, Stake Program v5, SBPFv3, prefunded account creation, and the BLS12-381 syscall, are scheduled to be activated in phases.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin predicted that AI-based formal verification technology could significantly enhance the security of cryptocurrency and internet infrastructure, CoinDesk reported. Formal verification is a method of mathematically proving that software operates as intended. Buterin explained that recent advancements in AI are making the process of writing code and verification proofs much more efficient. He stated that while AI can rapidly generate large amounts of inaccurate code, formal verification can re-establish its accuracy. He believes its importance will grow in areas such as smart contracts, zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, consensus mechanisms, and quantum-resistant cryptography. However, Buterin added that formal verification is not a panacea and cannot solve all issues, such as those stemming from incorrect assumptions or hardware vulnerabilities.

The Hyperliquid token (HYPE) is forming a bullish "cup and handle" pattern, with a potential upside of up to 55%, Cointelegraph reported. Market analysis indicates that a breakout above the key resistance zone of $45–$47 could pave the way for a rise to the $71–$72 range. This outlook is supported by on-chain data showing significant accumulation. An address suspected to be linked to a16z has acquired a total of 2.11 million HYPE (approximately $90.87 million) over the past month. Notably, this address purchased an additional 372,000 HYPE (worth around $16.91 million) within the last three hours. Market sentiment is reportedly being bolstered by expectations of growing institutional demand, driven by factors such as a potential U.S. spot HYPE ETF, infrastructure support for USDC from Coinbase and Circle, and anticipation of the U.S. CLARITY Act. Trader Pentoshi predicted that a more regulation-friendly environment could increase Hyperliquid's revenue five to tenfold due to inflows from hedge funds and asset managers.

The Bank of England (BoE) and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are pursuing plans to expand the operating hours of key payment and clearing systems to a near 24-hour schedule in preparation for the growth of tokenized financial markets. According to Cointelegraph, the BoE has proposed adding weekend and extended operating hours to its Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and CHAPS payment systems. The bank explained the move is intended to support new tokenization-based payment and settlement models, as well as cross-border payments. Additionally, the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has released guidelines proposing that the same regulatory standards be applied to tokenized financial products if they have legal rights and risk structures similar to existing financial instruments. Katie Harries, head of Europe policy at Coinbase, commented that the UK is presenting a clear vision for the tokenization of wholesale financial markets, adding that it could expand opportunities for accessing new capital. Meanwhile, the FCA is currently developing a comprehensive cryptocurrency regulatory framework, which includes rules for stablecoin issuance, trading, custody, and staking, with a target for full implementation before 2027.

Iran has stated that under no circumstances will it make concessions on its nuclear program in exchange for an end to the war, Tasnim News Agency reported, citing a source from the negotiating team.

Shares of Bitcoin mining firm HIVE Digital surged more than 35% in early trading after the company announced plans to build a 320 MW AI gigafactory in Toronto, Canada. The company stated that upon completion, the project will operate as a large-scale AI data center capable of housing over 100,000 GPUs, with a total investment of approximately 3.5 billion Canadian dollars ($2.55 billion). The target operational date is the second half of 2027. HIVE has recently been focusing on expanding its AI infrastructure business, including converting part of its BTC ASIC mining facility in Sweden into an AI data center and pursuing the development of a GPU cluster in Paraguay. The company is reported to have secured approximately 850 MW of global power capacity across its operational and planned facilities.

BNB Chain has officially launched its BNBAgent SDK on the BSC mainnet, the project announced on its official X account. The SDK aims to provide the core infrastructure for the large-scale implementation of blockchain-based AI agents. The BNBAgent SDK is composed of four modules: - Identity and trust, based on ERC-8004 - Business and custody, based on ERC-8183 (APEX) - Automatic payments, based on MPP and x402 - Memory and storage, based on BNB Greenfield BNB Chain explained that developers can use these modules to implement features such as authentication, collaboration, automatic settlement, and memory persistence for AI agents. Initial partners in the initiative include Google, AWS, Virtuals, Binance Pay, Trust Wallet, and Binance Wallet.

Approximately $1.771 billion in cumulative short positions on major centralized exchanges would be liquidated if BTC breaks through $80,634, according to data from Coinglass. Conversely, a price drop below $73,578 could lead to the liquidation of around $1.635 billion in long positions.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig has announced the appointment of DJ Hennes as the new director of the agency's Market Participants Division. Selig noted that Hennes brings experience in governance, risk, and compliance from the financial services industry, as well as expertise in cryptocurrency and prediction markets. Hennes previously served as a managing director in KPMG's financial services risk and compliance advisory practice and worked at Promontory Financial Group for approximately 15 years prior. The appointment comes as the CFTC has recently been strengthening its regulatory framework for prediction markets and cryptocurrencies.

Pump.fun has transferred 82,703 SOL, worth around $7 million, to Kraken, according to Onchain Lens.

On-chain analyst ZachXBT has offered a bounty of up to $10,000 for information on alleged market manipulation by the Hong Kong-based market maker Heisenberg Guru (HSBG) on centralized exchanges (CEXs). He described some market makers active on exchanges like Bitget, Binance, and Gate.io as a cancer on the industry, claiming that Asian exchanges are neglecting the issue. ZachXBT stated he would use his personal funds to encourage tips from whistleblowers. The move comes as allegations of CEX market manipulation involving certain tokens, such as RIVER, have recently resurfaced.

Galaxy Digital has obtained a BitLicense and a Money Transmitter License from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), according to Foresight News. The move allows the company to legally provide digital asset trading and custody services to institutional clients in compliance with the state's strict regulations.