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A petition on the South Korean National Assembly's website calling for the repeal of virtual asset taxes has gathered over 50,000 signatures, meeting the threshold for it to be officially referred to a parliamentary committee for review. The petition, which was posted on May 13, met the requirement in about eight days. The petitioner argued that the current crypto tax system requires a fundamental review rather than simple amendments or another postponement. They stressed that imposing taxes without a sufficient institutional foundation, investor protection measures, and consideration for international equity and market conditions would likely only burden the public and hinder the industry's growth.

Mastercard announced it has acquired UK-based stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for $1.8 billion. BVNK supports stablecoin payments in over 130 countries and holds payment licenses in multiple nations. Through the acquisition, Mastercard plans to integrate stablecoins into the core infrastructure of its international remittance network, "Mastercard Move." Meanwhile, the company has halted its previously considered plan for a strategic investment in crypto firm Zerohash.

David Hoffman, host of the crypto podcast platform Bankless, announced that he has sold all of his ETH holdings. He did not disclose the specific amount.

Kalshi Inc. has raised an additional $200 million from new investors on top of a previous $1 billion funding round, Bloomberg reported. Venture capital firm Layer Global and British asset manager Baillie Gifford invested in Kalshi for the first time through this round.

A hack has occurred at RetoSwap, a Monero-based decentralized exchange (DEX), according to PeckShield. The attack resulted in the theft of 7,000 XMR, valued at $2.7 million.

Prosecutors in the U.S. state of Missouri have filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency ATM operator CoinFlip, accusing the company of facilitating and profiting from fraudulent transactions, Cointelegraph reported. The state's prosecutors allege that CoinFlip was involved in scams targeting consumers, including elderly individuals and military veterans. This legal action follows an investigation into CoinFlip and several other crypto ATM companies that authorities launched last December. CoinFlip currently operates 136 crypto ATMs in Missouri and 4,229 across the United States.

An address believed to belong to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the largest known external holder of HYPE, has purchased an additional 2.597 million HYPE, worth $13.29 million, over the past 24 hours, according to AmberCN.

According to Lookonchain, two addresses linked to Grayscale have purchased and staked 510,387 HYPE, valued at $24.95 million, over the past two weeks. Grayscale has previously filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot HYPE exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Blockchain project TAC has published a post-mortem report on a $2.85 million Ton (TON) bridge exploit that occurred on May 11. According to the report, the attacker bypassed the bridge's code hash verification using a counterfeit contract that mimicked a jetton wallet. This exploit tricked the bridge into processing false inputs as legitimate USDT deposits, leading to the issuance of uncollateralized assets on the TAC side and the draining of locked assets from the TON side. The stolen funds were laundered across multiple networks via LayerZero and were immediately detected by security firm Hypernative, though initial recovery efforts failed. TAC stated that it has recovered most of the funds through direct negotiations and will use foundation funds to cover the remaining balance, ensuring all users are fully compensated. The project added that the patched sequencer will be gradually reactivated following external audits and peer reviews.

Comprehensive payment company NHN KCP is conducting a proof-of-concept (PoC) to test the viability of blockchain-based stablecoins, Newsis reported. The trial is being conducted on a payment-focused mainnet built in collaboration with the global blockchain platform Avalanche. Through a link with its simple payment service PAYCO, the company aims to introduce the industry's first comprehensive stablecoin payment ecosystem that bridges both online and offline transactions.

Plume, a blockchain project focused on regulated real-world assets (RWA), announced today that its Bermuda-based subsidiary, KDAB, has obtained a Class M Digital Asset Business License from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The move makes Plume one of a select group of global crypto firms licensed in Bermuda, alongside companies like Circle, Coinbase, and Kraken. According to the announcement, KDAB has now become the industry's first operator of a regulated on-chain vault. Plume CEO Chris Yin stated that the KDAB vault operates with regulated funds and high-quality assets from the U.S., Hong Kong, and other major countries. He added that the company is bringing the ETF model, which he described as the last major structural innovation in asset management, to an on-chain environment.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $78,000. BTC is trading at $78,000.05 on the Binance USDT market.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has initiated a public comment period for prediction market ETFs, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. He suggested that the SEC is deliberating on whether to approve the launch of these products and needs more time and market feedback. Balchunas added that, much like crypto ETFs, this is an entirely new type of product, and the commission appears to be seeking a full understanding before making a decision.

A buy-side sidecar has been triggered on the KOSPI after the index surged 5%.

Kim Nam-guk, a Democratic Party candidate for the June 3 parliamentary by-election in the Ansan Gap district of Gyeonggi Province, has been accused of violating the Public Official Election Act over an allegedly false declaration of his cryptocurrency holdings. According to The Fact, Kim's asset declaration submitted to the National Election Commission on May 14 for the by-election reported total assets of approximately 357.44 million won (about $263,000), which included 350 million won ($257,000) in debt, and virtual asset holdings of about 623.55 million won ($458,000). However, a previous disclosure made public in January by the Public Service Ethics Committee—required due to his former position as Secretary for Digital Communication in the Presidential Office—listed total assets of around 968.89 million won ($712,000), including 349.30 million won ($257,000) in debt, and virtual assets valued at approximately 1.21756 billion won ($895,000).

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has risen to 39, an increase of six points from yesterday. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of the top 100 coins, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against Bitcoin over the last 90 days. An altcoin season is declared when 75% of these coins outperform Bitcoin over that period, while the opposite is considered a Bitcoin season. A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

BitForex founder Garrett Jin has opened a 5x long position on BTC worth 504.4 BTC ($59.11 million), Lookonchain reported. He also simultaneously purchased 42,524 HYPE, valued at $2.33 million.

Polaris Office, the developer of Polaris Share (POLA), has been selected to lead a government artificial intelligence (AI) project with a total budget of approximately 9.6 billion won ($7.0 million), Newsis reported today. The company will jointly manage the project with Handysoft. According to the company, the project is part of the "Development of Technology to Overcome Limitations of Lightweight, Low-Power AI" program, supported by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). The specific goal is to develop ultra-efficient, lightweight AI models specialized for document collaboration to ensure digital sovereignty. The research is expected to last approximately three years and nine months, concluding in 2029. Meanwhile, POLA was recently placed on a delisting watchlist by the South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb. Bithumb stated that a comprehensive review revealed significant deficiencies in the project's business progress, token adoption, and community activity.

Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator (YC) has launched "YC Crypto Deals," a program designed to provide crypto infrastructure support to startups. Partners in the program include Coinbase, Stripe, Circle, the Ethereum and Solana foundations, Tempo, and Phantom, which will offer support in the form of ecosystem grants, gas credits, and crypto infrastructure.

The following is an analysis of the BTC/USDT spot pair order book using the Spot CVD chart as of 12:00 a.m. UTC on May 21. The top section represents the Volume Heatmap, while the bottom shows the Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD). - The Volume Heatmap 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. Brighter areas can potentially act as support or resistance levels. - The Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) indicator shows buy and sell orders categorized by trade size. As buy orders increase, the corresponding colored line rises. The yellow line represents orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line indicates large orders between $1 million and $10 million, among others.

The Fear & Greed Index from crypto data provider CoinMarketCap stands at 39, unchanged from yesterday. This reading indicates that market sentiment remains in the fear category. The index measures market sentiment, where a value closer to 0 signifies extreme fear and a value closer to 100 represents extreme optimism. CoinMarketCap calculates its index based on several factors, including the price movements of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives market data such as the put-call ratio, the Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR), and the platform's own search data.

Two new Solana (SOL) wallets, both less than a day old, have accumulated a total of $9.67 million worth of the token, according to an analysis by Onchain Lens. One new address, starting with 8qBMv, received 88,004 SOL (approximately $7.56 million) from FalconX before transferring the funds to another address. Another new wallet, starting with ECgwn, withdrew 24,560 SOL (around $2.11 million) from Binance and subsequently staked the tokens. According to CoinMarketCap, SOL is currently trading at $86, up 2.03% from yesterday.

The unrealized profit for a whale address (starting with 0x082e) has surpassed $21.7 million. The address opened a 5x long position on Nov. 11 of last year, acquiring 1.38 million HYPE at an average price of $38.6 for approximately $53.38 million, and has held it since. Meanwhile, HYPE has continued its upward trend after reclaiming the $50 mark yesterday evening and is currently trading at around $54.37.

Zach Pandl, Head of Research at cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale, said on X that the decentralized AI sector represents a remaining opportunity for 1,000-fold returns.

The U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled a proposal on May 20 for a new type of 'payment account' designed for specific financial institutions to use exclusively for payment processing. The Fed, which announced the plan on its official website, is now seeking industry feedback. The proposed account is a simplified version of the 'master account service' that the central bank offers to commercial banks. Its purpose is to increase payment speeds and reduce costs, though it would not be recognized as a full master account. CoinDesk noted that gaining access to the Fed's payment system has been a long-standing goal for the cryptocurrency industry.