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South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb posted 82.5 billion won ($61.1 million) in revenue for the first quarter, down 57.6% from the same period last year, according to a filing with South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service. Operating profit plunged 95.8% to 2.9 billion won ($2.1 million). The company also swung to a net loss of 86.9 billion won ($64.4 million).

Dunamu, the operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, reported a sharp decline in its first-quarter earnings, with operating profit plummeting 78% year-on-year to 88 billion won ($67.7 million), according to Pinpoint News. The company's operating revenue fell 55% to 234.6 billion won ($180.5 million), and net profit also dropped 78% to 69.5 billion won ($53.5 million). Dunamu attributed the poor performance to a decrease in digital asset trading volume amid a global economic slowdown.

The United States has rejected a written 14-point proposal from Iran aimed at ending the ongoing war, the Tehran Times reported on May 15. In its reply, the U.S. government reportedly dismissed the proposal and reaffirmed its hardline stance on the nuclear issue. The plan proposed by Iran was based on a two-stage negotiation process. The first stage aimed to end the war on all fronts, with the second stage initiating negotiations on the nuclear issue, contingent on Iran's conditions being met.

Bitcoin's rally is losing momentum as short-term holders (STH) sell their holdings at their break-even price, according to an analysis. On-chain analyst Axel Adler Jr. noted in a blog post that BTC has failed three attempts to retest its 200-day moving average, currently around $82,100. He observed a recurring pattern of STH selling near their cost basis. Adler explained that the price is currently trapped in a narrow range, with support at the one-week to one-month STH realized price of $77,900 and resistance at the 200-day MA, adding that breakout attempts have lacked sufficient trading volume. For a trend reversal, he said two conditions must be met: a breakout above the 200-day MA on the daily chart and the seven-day moving average of the STH Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) consistently remaining above one. Adler added that repeated breakout failures could lead to a pullback to $77,900, followed by a test of lower support levels.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for POL and GMT starting at 11:00 a.m. UTC on May 21 due to a Polygon hard fork.

Whales holding at least 10 million XRP now possess a total of 45.83 billion XRP ($68.5 billion), the largest amount since May 2018, according to Santiment. This figure represents 68.5% of the total XRP supply.

Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital (BTBT), a company heavily invested in Ethereum, reported a 13.6% quarter-over-quarter decrease in revenue to $27.9 million for the first quarter of this year, according to The Block. The company's ETH staking revenue fell 29.4% to $2.3 million, crypto mining revenue dropped 32.9% to $3.7 million, and cloud service revenue declined 13.1% to $16.8 million. Bit Digital recorded a net loss of $146.7 million, primarily due to cryptocurrency valuation losses. The firm staked approximately 70,000 ETH during the quarter and held around 154,444 ETH, valued at $327 million, as of the end of March.

Upbit has announced that it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for Hedera (HBAR) at 2:00 p.m. UTC on May 20 to support a network upgrade.

B2C2, the crypto market maker acquired by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings in 2020, has secured a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in Luxembourg, The Block reported. The license enables the firm to offer its over-the-counter (OTC) spot trading services to all EU member states and three countries within the European Economic Area (EEA).

In response to reports that Korea Investment & Securities is pursuing an acquisition of a stake in the South Korean crypto exchange Coinone alongside OKX, both companies have stated that nothing has been confirmed, The Korea Economic Daily TV reported. Coinone officially announced today that while it is in discussions with multiple companies regarding strategic equity investments and other partnerships, nothing has been finalized. Korea Investment & Securities also clarified that the matter is only in the internal review stage and that no concrete decision has been made.

The U.S. CLARITY Act could strengthen the dollar's influence and intensify the competition for stablecoin dominance with Asian markets, according to Hong Kong-based crypto exchange group HashKey. In an interview with CoinDesk, HashKey stated that if the bill passes, it will have a significant impact on the entire global crypto market, not just the U.S. The exchange group noted that the legislation would allow financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds to invest in cryptocurrencies under a clearer legal framework. This could increase the use of stablecoins by institutional investors and expand their adoption across Asia, particularly in payments, settlements, and treasury management. HashKey explained that Asian markets generally have currency structures vulnerable to external shocks. In an environment of rising dollar funding costs and increased volatility in emerging market currencies, dollar-pegged stablecoins serve as a flexible liquidity channel for businesses and investors. "Ultimately, the core of the competition is not about which region, the U.S. or Asia, becomes the regulatory hub, but rather who absorbs the global capital flows generated during the stablecoin adoption process," HashKey added.

Concerns are growing that the Australian government's proposed capital gains tax reform could weaken incentives for long-term investment, Cointelegraph reported. The reform, included in the ruling Labor Party's 2027 fiscal year budget, would abolish the 50% tax discount for assets held over 12 months and introduce a minimum 30% rate. Robin Singh, CEO of local crypto tax calculation platform Koinly, explained that the new system only allows deductions for inflation. He argued this offers minimal tax savings for high-growth assets like crypto and could increase the tax burden for low-income investors by up to threefold. Meanwhile, Jonathon Miller, Managing Director of Kraken Australia, pointed out that reducing long-term holding benefits would inevitably lead to more short-term trading in a market that operates 24 hours a day.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has transferred 50.25 ETH, worth $113,000, to Privacy Pools, Onchain Lens reported on X.

Major cryptocurrencies are outperforming the U.S. stock market this month, CoinDesk reported via X. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and BNB have risen 6% in May, surpassing the S&P 500's 4.3% gain. The media outlet attributed this trend to strengthening accumulation, evidenced by a flow of stablecoins into exchanges alongside continued withdrawals of major cryptocurrencies. For instance, Binance has seen a net inflow of stablecoins but a net outflow of major cryptos. Such exchange withdrawals are typically interpreted as moves to self-custody or institutional accumulation. Looking at the broader market, net inflows to exchanges have reached $3.3 billion. CoinDesk noted that this figure, being larger than the $1.51 billion in net inflows to ETFs, suggests that traders, rather than institutions, are currently driving the market. This dynamic is similar to a period last October when, despite ETF outflows after a BTC high of $124,000, prices continued to rise for several weeks, buoyed by demand on exchanges.

LAB fell from $5.50 to below $3 at one point, marking a drop of as much as 50% over the past 24 hours, ai_9684xtpa reported. The token has recently faced allegations from the crypto community that insiders gained control of over 95% of the supply before pumping the price. According to CoinMarketCap, LAB is trading at $3.57.

Daily trading volume for MicroStrategy's (MSTR) perpetual preferred stock, STRC, reached an all-time high of $1.5 billion on May 14, Cointelegraph reported. Based on this volume, the company could raise up to $735.4 million, an amount sufficient to purchase 9,066 BTC.

Spot gold and silver prices are both falling. Spot gold is down 2%, while spot silver has plunged 6.4%.

The Spot CVD chart analyzes the order book for the BTC/USDT spot pair. The top section shows the Volume Heatmap, and the bottom section shows the Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD). - The Volume Heatmap at the top tracks the volume of trades at specific price levels. The background color becomes brighter when the price remains in a certain range for an extended period or moves significantly. These brighter areas can potentially act as support or resistance levels. - The Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) indicator at the bottom represents buy and sell orders categorized by trade size. As buy orders increase, the corresponding colored line rises. The yellow line indicates orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line represents large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

BTC perp long/short ratios on top exchanges by open interest The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 50.29% long, 49.71% short - Binance: 51.63% long, 48.37% short - OKX: 51.34% long, 48.66% short - Bybit: 49.96% long, 50.04% short

Korea Investment & Securities and global crypto exchange OKX are in discussions to each acquire an approximately 20% stake in South Korean crypto exchange Coinone, Yonhap News reported. The investment is expected to be structured around a new share issuance rather than the sale of existing shares to maximize capital inflow. The report suggests the move is primarily a financial investment that would not involve a change in Coinone's management control.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission will announce detailed regulations and guidelines for security tokens this July, ahead of their planned implementation next February, Money Today reported. Security tokens are securities issued and managed using distributed ledger technology like blockchain, which digitally records rights such as ownership and dividends, similar to stocks or bonds, and can be traded through securities firms. Financial authorities are pursuing measures that include allowing the issuance of fractional investment securities by pooling multiple underlying assets, establishing a roadmap for tokenizing traditional assets like stocks and bonds, and expanding trading limits on over-the-counter exchanges.

The rising yields on U.S. Treasurys are increasing the opportunity cost of holding Bitcoin (BTC), CoinDesk reported. The outlet noted that the appeal of BTC and gold is diminishing as investors can now secure higher, risk-free returns from government bonds. Expectations for monetary easing have faded, and the market is now beginning to price in the possibility of further tightening by the Federal Reserve. The two-year Treasury yield has climbed to 4.05%, its highest level in 12 months. Inflation concerns have also resurfaced after both the April Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) came in higher than expected. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a December rate hike has surged to 44% from 22.5% in just one week. This marks a sharp reversal from expectations at the start of the year for at least two rate cuts by year-end. Meanwhile, BTC is trading sideways around $81,000, below its 200-day moving average of approximately $82,000.

The South Korean won-U.S. dollar exchange rate has once again surpassed the 1,500 won mark.

Kenyan mobile payment app Tando has launched a new service based on the Lightning Network that allows users to send Bitcoin (BTC) using just a mobile phone number, CoinDesk reported. The recipient then receives the funds in Kenyan Shillings (KES) directly into their mobile money account. The service enables transfers from anywhere in the world, and recipients do not need a cryptocurrency wallet or to undergo know-your-customer (KYC) verification. Funds are deposited into existing accounts like M-PESA.

The Korea Exchange has triggered a sell-side sidecar after the KOSPI 200 futures index fell 5%.