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South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone announced today that its recurring investment service is now available on the KakaoBank app, Edaily reported. The collaboration allows users to access the service directly within KakaoBank's 'Investment Tab,' where they can set investment rules and monitor returns in real-time without switching to the Coinone app. The service supports 10 cryptocurrencies, and each user can create up to 20 investment plans. The investment amount per transaction can be set from a minimum of 5,000 won (around $3.70) to a maximum of 5 million won (around $3,700).

Bumo Sarang, the seventh-largest mutual aid company in South Korea, lost 49.3 billion won last year after investing 59.5 billion won of its operating funds into a leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF), Hankyung reported. The ETF was designed to track twice the daily return of Bitmine (BMNR), an Ethereum-themed stock. According to a comprehensive review of 2025 audit reports for 75 mutual aid companies conducted by the newspaper, 42.7% of the firms have total assets that are less than the advance payments owed to customers. This indicates that these companies would be unable to provide full refunds if all clients were to cancel their contracts at once.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has proposed a plan to build a next-generation financial infrastructure combining artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, CoinPost reported today. The proposal was presented by a project team under the party's Policy Research Council focused on next-generation AI and on-chain finance. The plan aims to automate and integrate payments, lending, and asset management, enabling 24/7 operations. Under the initiative, finance will be designated as Japan's 18th growth investment sector, to be jointly developed by the public and private sectors. Key projects mentioned include the joint issuance of a stablecoin by the country's three megabanks and the tokenization of Bank of Japan current account deposits.

The passage and implementation of the U.S. Clarity Act would be the most significant inflection point in the history of the cryptocurrency market, according to a new report from Asian Web3 research and consulting firm Tiger Research. The firm argued that the act's implementation would extend beyond the U.S., as resolving regulatory uncertainty would pave the way for institutional capital to enter the market. The report identified the potential for scale-ups and mass adoption as key advantages, while citing increased costs and a slowdown in innovation as potential drawbacks. Tiger Research highlighted several promising business areas that could emerge, including: - Exchanges and crypto apps - Large-scale traffic platforms and traditional card companies - DeFi - Token issuance infrastructure platforms - Issuance advisory firms and large-scale venture capital - Qualified investor matching services

Echo Protocol, a Monad (MON)-based DeFi project that suffered a hack today, announced on X that it has regained control of the compromised private key. The project stated that a key related to eBTC on the Monad network was stolen this morning, leading to unauthorized minting and a loss of funds. After collaborating with ecosystem partners to restore access, the team burned the remaining 955 eBTC held by the attacker. Earlier, blockchain security firm Beosin had analyzed that the incident was caused by a private key leak.

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. are pushing to permanently ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Cointelegraph reported. The provision is included in an amendment to the ‘21st Century Housing Roadmap Act,’ which is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives this week. While a Senate version of the bill proposed banning CBDC issuance until the end of 2030, the House amendment removes this deadline to make the prohibition permanent. U.S. Representative Tom Emmer, a Republican, argued that a Fed-issued CBDC must be completely banned, warning that it could become a tool for the government to monitor and control citizens' financial activities.

According to CoinDesk, Nasdaq-listed AI Financial (formerly Alt5 Sigma), a major holder of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens, has warned that its ability to continue operating is uncertain. In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company stated it has only $10.5 million in cash, while a significant portion of its assets—$706 million in WLFI tokens—are contractually locked and cannot be sold. AI Financial, which also has a related-party loan from World Liberty Financial, noted that this liquidity crunch raises doubts about its survival. The company warned it may not make it through the year. Last year, AI Financial raised approximately $1.5 billion to purchase $1.46 billion worth of WLFI tokens, which are associated with a DeFi project linked to the Trump family. The value of these tokens has since fallen by more than half, while the company's first-quarter fintech revenue was just $4.7 million.

Bitcoin inflows to Binance from retail investors have plummeted to an all-time low, according to an analysis by on-chain analyst Darkfost. He noted that the average monthly inflow to the exchange from wallets holding under one BTC was just 314 BTC recently. This figure is significantly lower than the 1,800 BTC seen during the current cycle's bottom and the 1,200 BTC recorded in March 2024. For comparison, retail investor inflows were 5,400 BTC in 2018 and 2,600 BTC in 2021. The volume has dropped from around 1,000 BTC in January of this year to less than a third of that level. Darkfost suggested that some investors may have exited the market or are now participating indirectly through spot Bitcoin ETFs.

According to a weekly report from Glassnode, Bitcoin's (BTC) upward momentum is slowing despite a recent rebound from the high $60,000s to over $82,000, with the price correcting to the $77,000 range. The firm's analysis points to several indicators of weakening sentiment, including a sharp 848.7% decrease in Spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD), which signals a significant rise in selling pressure. Although spot trading volume increased by 4.2%, the activity was not driven by strong buying conviction. In derivatives, futures open interest (OI) fell by 2.9%, suggesting a slight pullback in leverage. Conversely, a 136.6% jump in funding rates for long positions indicates some traders are still betting on a price increase. However, the options market shows a 42.8% rise in the 25-delta skew, reflecting greater demand for downside hedging. Glassnode also noted that slowing net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are further dampening institutional investor sentiment.

The Monad network itself was not affected by the recent EchoProtocol hacking incident and is operating normally, Monad (MON) co-founder Keone Hon said on X. Security researchers have determined that the Echo Protocol exploit resulted in the theft of approximately $816,000 in eBTC. Onchainlands had previously reported that the Monad-based EchoProtocol was suspected of suffering an exploit.

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 stays in a certain range for an extended period or moves significantly. Brighter areas may act as potential 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 represents orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line indicates large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

Alchemix has shut down its legacy cross-chain bridge and completed a transition to its V3 architecture, significantly enhancing security and efficiency, Odaily reported. The project has officially discontinued its older alUSD/alETH bridges on Optimism and Arbitrum, introducing a new architecture compatible with its V3 Alchemist. As part of the update, Alchemix has revised its cross-chain transaction verification (DVN) settings while maintaining a 2/3 multi-signature confirmation mechanism. Additionally, the project has onboarded telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom as a new verification service provider.

One in 10 U.S. adults held or used cryptocurrency for payments in 2025, according to a new report from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed). Cointelegraph notes that this figure is an increase from 2023–2024 and approaches the all-time high of 12% recorded in 2021. The report found that 9% of respondents used crypto for investment purposes, while 2% used it as a payment method. Among those who used crypto for payments, 25% stated they did so because businesses preferred it for its speed and lower costs. The rate of cryptocurrency use for payments was three times higher among the unbanked population (6%) compared to the general adult population (2%).

An early Solana backer who has been staking SOL for over five years sold an additional 30,000 SOL, worth $2.56 million, eight hours ago, Lookonchain reported. This individual initially staked 991,079 SOL five years ago and began selling off the position a year ago. To date, the backer has sold a total of 965,274 SOL at an average price of $143. They continue to stake 381,140 SOL.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $86.4 million in net outflows on May 18, marking the sixth consecutive day of net outflows, according to data compiled by Trader T. - BlackRock's ETHA: -$55.4 million - Fidelity's FETH: -$14.7 million - Grayscale's ETH: -$10.1 million

On-chain analyst Lookonchain has suggested that Pump.fun (PUMP), a Solana-based memecoin issuance platform, may have resumed selling its SOL holdings. According to the analyst, a wallet presumed to belong to Pump.fun deposited 174,408 SOL, worth approximately $14.76 million, to Kraken about 13 hours ago. Subsequently, a new anonymous address withdrew 117,877 SOL (around $9.96 million) and exchanged it for 9.96 million USDC at an average price of $84.52. This USDC was then also deposited to Kraken. Lookonchain noted that this activity could be part of Pump.fun's move to sell its SOL. Previously, the analyst had pointed to a deposit of 82,700 SOL ($7.02 million) to Kraken by a Pump.fun address, suggesting a resumption of sales for the first time in about nine months since Aug. 12 of last year.

U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of approximately $648.6 million (976.1 billion won) on May 18, according to data compiled by Trader T. This marks the second consecutive trading day of net outflows. - BlackRock IBIT -$448.4 million - Fidelity FBTC -$63.4 million - Ark Invest ARKB -$109.6 million

Zona's lending market, ZonaLend, has launched on the Pharos mainnet. ZonaLend will serve as the native lending layer for the Pharos ecosystem, enabling the utilization of liquidity from idle real-world asset (RWA) tokens.

Three figures from France's local cryptocurrency industry have argued in a joint op-ed that creating a legal framework for stablecoin payments is an urgent priority, French daily Le Monde reported. The contributors called for tax reform to encourage the adoption of stablecoin payments, noting a surge in online transactions conducted by AI agents that are predominantly settled in stablecoins. They criticized France's current tax system as outdated, arguing it is irrational now that the European Central Bank (ECB) legally recognizes regulation-compliant stablecoins as "e-money." The op-ed compared the current law to a hypothetical tax levied every time a user transfers money from a PayPal account to a bank account. This tax structure, they claimed, incentivizes French investors to hold their profits in stablecoins rather than converting them to euros. The authors concluded that France is being left behind as stablecoin infrastructure is built out globally.

Beosin Alert has analyzed that the recent $76.7 million hack of Ecoprotocol was caused by a private key leak. According to Beosin, the protocol utilized a single-signature method and lacked a timelock for large token minting events. The security firm also noted that 955 eBTC are currently stored in a single address.

The ratio of staked Ethereum (ETH) to its circulating supply has climbed to 31%, continuing its upward trend, Wu Blockchain reported. The figure had dropped to 26% at the start of the year before moving sideways around the 29% level. Wu Blockchain noted that this ratio reflects the confidence of long-term holders and is a factor in reducing the circulating supply. The firm added that the future expansion of spot ETH ETFs and the on-chain tokenization trend could attract institutional funds to the staking ecosystem. However, it explained that the reflection of these factors in ETH's price will depend on actual capital allocation by institutions.

Binance has announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for Moonbeam (GLMR) at 12:00 p.m. UTC on May 20 to support a network upgrade.

American Bitcoin (ABTC) has purchased an additional 200 BTC, placing it 15th among publicly traded companies worldwide by Bitcoin holdings, Eric Trump, son of U.S. President Donald Trump, announced on X. He also highlighted that American Bitcoin is operating nearly 90,000 Bitcoin miners, an achievement reached in just eight months. As of May, the company holds over 7,500 BTC.

South Korea's National Tax Service (NTS) is completely overhauling its system for seizing, holding, and selling virtual assets, Field News reported. The NTS announced today that it is upgrading its virtual asset management system, focusing on three core principles: stability, connectivity, and expertise. According to the agency, the move aims to address existing limitations, including inadequate measures for handling private wallets, a reliance on manual seizure processes based on official documents sent to exchanges, and a lack of on-site expertise. The overhaul follows a major security incident in February, when the NTS lost approximately 6 billion won ($4.4 million) in seized crypto. The assets were stolen after the agency inadvertently exposed sensitive information in a press release publicizing a seizure from a high-value tax delinquent.

U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase announced on its official X account that trading volume for its stock and precious metal-based perpetual futures has surpassed $1.5 billion within two months of launching. The exchange highlighted its 24/7 trading availability as a key advantage, noting that while traditional markets limit stock and precious metal trading to specific weekday hours, Coinbase allows users to trade these products at any time. Coinbase added that it currently supports over 20 real-world asset-based perpetual futures and plans to continue expanding its offerings.