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Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine (BMNR) and co-founder of Fundstrat, has identified rising oil prices as the biggest short-term factor behind Ethereum's recent weakness. He stated on X that the surge in oil prices over the last six weeks has been a primary driver of ETH's price decline, noting that the inverse correlation between the two assets is at an all-time high. Lee suggested that if oil prices reverse their trend and begin to fall, ETH could experience a price recovery. He clarified, however, that this is a short-term dynamic. For the medium to long term, Lee believes growth in areas like tokenization and AI agents could fuel a rise in ETH, adding that the cryptocurrency will show stronger performance this year.

Hyperliquid's (HYPE) perpetual futures platform, TradeXYZ, is emerging as a new way to value unlisted companies after listing pre-market perpetuals for Cerebras Systems (CBRS) and SpaceX (SPCX), The Block reported. The analysis highlighted that during the Cerebras listing, Hyperliquid's pricing closely mirrored the real-time opening price, expanding investment opportunities for retail investors. Amir Hajian, a researcher at Keyrock, commented that perpetual futures markets could solve the low liquidity and leverage trading issues that have been problematic for unlisted stock trading. However, concerns persist regarding potential price manipulation and regulatory risks associated with derivatives, as they do not grant actual stock ownership. TradeXYZ currently records a daily trading volume of $6 billion within the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $182.96 million liquidated (88.25% longs) - ETH: $257.45 million liquidated (95.08% longs) - SOL: $27.94 million liquidated (95.9% longs)

South Korea's digital asset industry is facing a severe crisis under the leadership of Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Lee Eog-weon, The Fact reported. The situation has escalated following poor first-quarter earnings from major South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb, and a decision by Coinone to enter a legal battle against sanctions from financial authorities. This has created an unprecedented situation where all three of the country's major exchanges are engaged in administrative lawsuits with financial authorities. A series of sanctions by the FSC's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is seen as a direct blow to the exchange industry. Additionally, a provision in the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, championed by Chairman Lee, that would limit the equity stakes of major shareholders in exchanges has been identified as a key obstacle to industry development. People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon noted that a staggering 160 trillion won (approx. $115.9 billion) in domestic capital flowed to overseas markets in 2025. He described this as a "painful indicator" of how far the country's capital market efficiency and institutional capacity lag behind global standards.

The Bitcoin DeFi protocol Alex (ALEX) has submitted a governance proposal to overhaul its token economy mechanism. The proposal includes three key changes: ending ALEX community incentive payments, formally concluding the 2024 Treasury Grant Program (TGP 2024), and introducing a token buyback and burn mechanism funded by protocol revenue. The plan aims to reduce the circulating supply of ALEX and increase the token's value. The governance vote on the proposal began today, May 18, and will conclude on June 1.

The passage of the CLARITY Act would satisfy 90% of the conditions required by the cryptocurrency industry, said Patrick Witt, a U.S. White House cryptocurrency advisor, Cointelegraph reported.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov announced on X that the WETH loan-to-value (LTV) ratio has been restored to its pre-hack levels on all networks affected by the recent rsETH exploit. The restoration applies to six platforms: Aave V3 Ethereum Core, Ethereum Prime, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, and Linea. As a result, users can once again use WETH as collateral for borrowing and for collateral and debt swaps without restrictions.

According to PeckShield, the hacker behind the Verus Ethereum cross-chain bridge exploit has swapped the stolen assets for approximately 5,402.4 ETH. The initial theft included 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC. CoinNess previously reported that the hack resulted in damages of $11.58 million.

Current cryptocurrency market trading volume has contracted to levels below the 2022 bear market bottom, according to on-chain analyst EmberCN. The analyst noted that while major cryptocurrency prices remain well above their December 2022 lows, trading volume has fallen sharply. For Bitcoin, the average daily trading volume for the BTC/USDT pair on Binance has dropped from approximately $2 billion in December 2022 to around $500 million. Although Bitcoin's price is about 4.5 times higher than it was at the 2022 low, its trading volume is just one-fourth of that level. Ethereum's average daily trading volume has also halved from $400 million to $200 million over the same period. EmberCN suggested that if the magnitude of the previous cycle's decline were applied to the current market, this cycle's bottom could be around $31,000 for Bitcoin and $1,150 for Ethereum.

On-chain analyst Tom Wan noted that ETH utilization has fallen below 90%, with the ETH borrowing rate (APY) dropping to 1.9%. He explained that following the hack of the rsETH LayerZero bridge, deposits of wstETH and weETH decreased by approximately $1.2 billion and $1.76 billion, respectively. However, Wan added that the profitability of looping leverage strategies based on wstETH and weETH has recently turned positive again, making the potential recovery of ETH leverage demand a key point for the market to watch. He also mentioned that there is speculation in the market that some funds could move to alternative lending protocols such as Spark and Morpho.

Kelp DAO, which was previously affected by a $292 million hack, announced on its official X account that it will no longer support rsETH bridging on 20 cross-chain bridges after June 15. The discontinuation will affect bridging on OP, MANTA, Mode, SCR, X Layer, ZK, ZRC, SWELL, HEMI, BERA, S, HyperEVM, Unichain, TAC, AVAX, XPL, STABLE, MEGA, MON, and MOVE. Kelp DAO advised users holding rsETH on these chains to bridge their assets to the Ethereum mainnet. It added that a fee of 100 USDC per address will be charged for bridging after the deadline.

Three X account hacks over the past month, including that of GameStop meme stock figure Roaring Kitty, were carried out by the same organization, according to on-chain analyst Specter. Specter stated on X that after Roaring Kitty's account was compromised on May 11, the Solana memecoin RKC was issued. The hackers, who had pre-loaded several wallets with the token, sold off their holdings as the price surged, netting over $600,000. "By tracing the wallet fund flows, it was determined that this group had accumulated over $14 million by issuing fraudulent tokens like USOR and VDOR using the same method," Specter explained. The analyst added that the group uses influencers to promote their schemes on platforms like Telegram and then uses the resulting retail buying pressure as exit liquidity. The fund trail also overlaps with a $2.45 million wstETH phishing attack from 2024. "This is an organization that will use any means, including phishing and hacking, to find opportunities to make money," Specter warned, advising users not to connect their wallets to unknown platforms.

A Bitcoin whale address starting with 0xB4d has sold an additional $15.46 million worth of WBTC, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684 xtpa. This brings the address's cumulative sales over the past three days to $35.73 million. The address, known for its frequent interactions with block builder Titan builder, still holds approximately $125 million in on-chain assets. About 95% of these holdings are reportedly in ETH and WBTC.

The Verus Ethereum cross-chain bridge has been targeted in a suspected hack, resulting in approximately $11.58 million in losses, Blockaid reported on X.

Binance Research has analyzed four on-chain indicators suggesting that selling pressure on Bitcoin is weakening. The firm pointed to several factors: - Over 60% of addresses have held BTC for more than one year. - Long-term holders are dominating the market. - The supply of BTC on exchanges is decreasing. - Short-term holders have moved out of unprofitable positions. The analysis notes that the amount of dormant supply is at an all-time high, speculative short-term traders have largely exited the market, and a recent partial price recovery has allowed short-term holders to return to profitability, alleviating sell-side pressure. Binance Research added that these indicators suggest a low probability of new selling pressure emerging, concluding that the current market phase exhibits a typical pattern often seen before a sustained rebound.

Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin has explained that regarding the issue of state storage, even if only a hash (Merkle root) is stored on-chain while users hold the actual data, the data needed for proof verification must still be stored and updated. On X, Buterin added that the size of this verification data could eventually approach the size of the entire state. "Solutions exist, but they require significant trade-offs and complex components compared to Ethereum's current structure," he noted. His comments follow an explanation from DeFi content creator marilyn100x.eth, who previously highlighted Ethereum's long-term state storage cost problem. The creator explained that EIP-8037 addresses this by increasing the cost of creating new contracts, accounts, and storage slots, rather than imposing a continuous storage fee.

Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital and known as the 'New Bond King,' said there will be no interest rate cut at the next Federal Reserve policy meeting. According to BlockBeats, he argued that a rate cut is impossible with the U.S. two-year Treasury yield trading about 50 bp above the federal funds rate. Gundlach predicted that due to rising oil prices from the war in Iran, U.S. inflationary pressures are building again, forecasting that the next Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading will be in the 4% range, based on DoubleLine's model. Commenting on the stock market, he noted that valuations are very expensive and speculative, but corporate earnings continue to exceed expectations and are fueling a speculative frenzy.

The spot price of gold has fallen below $4,500 per ounce for the first time since late March, dropping 0.85% on the day.

Iran has launched "Hormuz Safe," a state-run platform that issues maritime insurance for vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and settles claims in Bitcoin (BTC), Crypto Briefing reported. The system uses blockchain for instant settlement, bypassing the SWIFT network and Western intermediaries as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on the dollar-based financial infrastructure. The outlet noted that some within the Iranian government project potential revenues of over $10 billion if the platform captures a significant share of the Persian Gulf's maritime insurance market. The biggest obstacle is that regulatory authorities in major ports like Rotterdam and Singapore may not recognize "Hormuz Safe" insurance certificates. Crypto Briefing also analyzed that shipowners, trading companies, and port authorities that transact with the platform could face U.S. secondary sanctions, potentially cutting them off from the U.S. financial system.

Ripple (XRP) is likely entering a technical consolidation phase, which could lead to increased volatility in the coming weeks, U.Today reported. The outlet noted that XRP has been under strong downward pressure for several months while consolidating in the $1.3 to $1.4 range. Price action is now compressing between support and resistance levels, suggesting a significant breakout or breakdown is likely. While XRP has repeatedly attempted to break resistance near its 100-day moving average, bullish momentum remains limited. According to the analysis, a bullish breakout above the $1.49-$1.55 resistance zone could push the price toward $1.7. Conversely, a bearish breakdown below the $1.38-$1.4 support level could trigger a sharper decline. U.Today also forecast a bullish trend for Dogecoin (DOGE), identifying $0.12 as the next major resistance, and a bearish outlook for Toncoin (TON), which could fall to $1.7 if it loses the $1.9 support level.

The Korea Exchange has activated a sell-side sidecar after the KOSPI index fell by more than 5%.

According to data from Tokenomist, the major token unlocks scheduled for this week (May 18–24) are as follows: - PYTH: 2.1 billion tokens ($94.90 million), representing 36.96% of circulating supply, at 1:00 p.m. UTC on May 19 - ZRO: 25.71 million tokens ($33.16 million), representing 5.07% of circulating supply, at 11:00 a.m. UTC on May 20 - KAITO: 17.60 million tokens ($8.51 million), representing 4.70% of circulating supply, at 12:00 p.m. UTC on May 20 - MBG: 27.15 million tokens ($8.82 million), representing 8.09% of circulating supply, at 12:00 p.m. UTC on May 22 - SOON: 21.88 million tokens ($3.44 million), representing 4.60% of circulating supply, at 8:30 a.m. UTC on May 21 - SOSO: 13.32 million tokens ($4.98 million), representing 4.17% of circulating supply, at 9:00 a.m. UTC on May 24

A whale associated with BIT (formerly Matrixport) has opened a long position totaling 120,000 ETH, worth $254 million, across four addresses, Lookonchain reported. The whale expanded its position after the recent market downturn and is currently facing an unrealized loss of approximately $17.5 million.

The following are the key global macroeconomic events scheduled for the third week of May. All times are in UTC. - May 19, 12:00 p.m.: Speech by U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Waller - May 19, 12:15 p.m.: U.S. ADP Weekly Employment Change report - May 20, 1:00 a.m.: People's Bank of China May Loan Prime Rate - May 20, 1:15 p.m.: Speech by Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr - May 20, 2:30 p.m.: U.S. crude oil inventories - May 20, 6:00 p.m.: Fed meeting minutes - May 21, 12:30 p.m.: U.S. initial jobless claims - May 21, 1:45 p.m.: U.S. May Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) - May 21, 8:30 p.m.: Fed balance sheet - May 22, 2:00 p.m.: Speech by Fed Governor Waller

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran that time is running out for negotiations and signaled the possibility of further military action, Axios reported. In an interview with the outlet, Trump said the clock is ticking for Iran and that the regime will face a much stronger attack if it does not present a better deal. Axios added that while Trump wants a peace agreement, the military option is being reconsidered because Iran has rejected many U.S. demands and has not made concessions regarding its nuclear program.