Decentral Block Post

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a defining issue in South Korea’s snap presidential election, with candidates vying for support from a growing base of digital asset investors across generations.

All three front-runners have rolled out crypto-friendly proposals. These include the legalization of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the easing of banking rules that currently restrict fiat-to-crypto trading to just five platforms.

The June 3 vote is slated to come around two years early, triggered by the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeol after his controversial declaration of martial law in late 2024. Though quickly overturned by lawmakers, the abrupt power grab led to a political crisis and his eventual removal from office.

Yoon’s 2022 campaign leaned heavily on promises to reform crypto regulations — largely aimed at younger voters. This time, the political focus on digital assets has only intensified, as older generations begin to pour significant wealth into digital assets.

Three leading presidential candidates have promised pro-crypto policies.

Presidential election debate clash on stablecoins

This election has three leading candidates, and all of them have promised to advance the local crypto economy.

Key takeaways

In 2024 and 2025, fake airdrop scams targeting Hamster Kombat, Wall Street Pepe and others led to millions in user losses, contributing to over $9.9 billion in global crypto scam damages.

Fake airdrops impersonate legitimate projects, tricking users into revealing private keys, signing malicious contracts or paying upfront fees that lead to irreversible crypto theft.

Warning signs include no official announcement, suspicious URLs, requests for private keys, grammar errors and unrealistic reward promises.

Future airdrops are shifting toward activity-based, retroactive and AI-monitored models that reward genuine user engagement while reducing exploitation.

Bitcoin’s recent all-time high may be linked to ongoing issues in the Japanese bond market, possibly signaling BTC’s growing recognition as a hedge against instability in the traditional financial (TradFi) system.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price rose to a new all-time high of $112,000 on May 22, before retracing to change hands above $109,700 at the time of writing on May 26, Cointelegraph data shows.

While some attributed the rally to geopolitical developments, including US President Donald Trump’s announcement of Russia–Ukraine ceasefire talks on May 19, macroeconomic factors appear to be playing a larger role, according to market analysts.

BTC/USD, 1-year chart. Source: Cointelegraph

Japan bonds hit yield record

Bitwise’s head of European research, André Dragosch, pointed to growing concerns around Japan’s sovereign credit outlook, highlighting a spike in the country’s long-term bond yields.

Japan 30-year LSEG government bonds yield. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The 30-year yield on Japanese bonds reached a new all-time high of 3.185% on May 20, 2025, before retreating to 3.115% on May 23, TradingView data shows.

Key takeaways

Bitcoin candlesticks are a popular tool among Bitcoin traders because they’re simple to use and offer an intuitive way to understand market sentiment and trends.

Bitcoin candlesticks are a rather old tool. Rice trader Honma Munehisa invented them in Japan as far back as the 18th century. They were introduced to Western financial markets in the late 1980s.

They help you understand bullish and bearish patterns in technical analysis. This knowledge will get you started with Bitcoin trading.

They should not be your only tool for making informed decisions. Combine them with other Bitcoin technical indicators, such as MAs (moving averages) or the RSI (relative strength index). 

If you’re new to Bitcoin (BTC) trading, you may wonder when to buy or sell. Candlestick charts, like bar or line graphs, have time on the horizontal axis, while the price data appears on the vertical axis. 

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal Bin Saqib as his special assistant on blockchain and crypto.

Saqib’s appointment takes effect immediately under Rule 4(6) of the Rules of Business, 1973. He has been granted the status of minister of state and will serve without salary or official benefits, according to a May 26 report in the English-language local news outlet, Pakistan Observer.

The move follows a series of government initiatives aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s presence in the digital asset space. Just one day prior, Pakistan allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus electricity exclusively for Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence centers.

In mid-May, Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance also endorsed the creation of a dedicated body to regulate the country’s blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA) will serve as a regulatory body to oversee licensing, regulate exchanges, custodians, wallets, tokenized platforms, stablecoins and decentralized finance applications.

Related: Pakistan eyes crypto legal framework to boost foreign investment

Key takeaways:

Solana's $9.4 billion TVL is a 54% increase since April 7.

Solana’s memecoin daily trading volume has more than doubled since early April. 

A bullish V-shaped recovery pattern projects SOL price to rise toward $300.

Solana’s native token, SOL, surged 86% between April 7 and May 26, following a broader altcoin market rally that also saw Bitcoin hit new all-time highs above $111,000.

Key takeaways:

Solana's $9.4 billion TVL is a 54% increase since April 7.

Solana’s memecoin daily trading volume has more than doubled since early April. 

A bullish V-shaped recovery pattern projects SOL price to rise toward $300.

Solana’s native token, SOL, surged 86% between April 7 and May 26, following a broader altcoin market rally that also saw Bitcoin hit new all-time highs above $111,000.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin investor, bagged a fresh stash of BTC as the price briefly surged above $110,000 last week.

Strategy acquired 4,020 Bitcoin (BTC) for $427.1 million between May 19 and 23, the company announced on May 26.

The latest purchases were made at an average price of $106,237 per coin, with Bitcoin smashing past $110,000 on May 22.

The acquisition marked the fourth Bitcoin purchase by Strategy in May, bringing Strategy’s total BTC holdings to 580,250 BTC, acquired for about $40.6 billion at an average price of $69,979 per coin.

Strategy director sells 2,650 MSTR shares

Strategy’s new Bitcoin acquisition followed a series of Class A sales by Strategy director Jarrod Patten.

The Hashgraph Association and the Exponential Science Foundation have launched the Hedera Africa Hackathon 2025, a global event designed to accelerate Web3 and artificial intelligence adoption across the African continent.

With a prize pool of $1 million, the hackathon will run from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30 and aims to attract over 10,000 participants across 15 African countries, according to a news release shared with Cointelegraph.

Organized by two nonprofit organizations — the Switzerland-based Hashgraph Association and the tech research-focused Exponential Science Foundation — the event is open to developers, students and entrepreneurs worldwide.

“We aim to use technologies that converge Web3 with AI to create transparent cognitive solutions that optimize processes and facilitate decision-making and automate the execution,” said Kamal Youssefi, the president of the board of directors at the Hashgraph Association.

All solutions will be built on the Hedera network across four tracks: onchain finance and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation; ESG sustainability and traceability; self-sovereign identity (SSI) and AI; and gaming, metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

As Sweden reconsiders its push toward a cashless society, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the fragility of centralized digital payments and the opportunity presented by decentralized payment alternatives. 

In recent years, Sweden has led the charge toward a cashless future, with digital payment platforms becoming widespread. However, as concerns over cyber-threats, civil defense and instability have emerged, Swedish authorities are now actively encouraging citizens to keep some cash. 

Buterin noted the reversal illustrates that while centralized solutions may be efficient, they may not be reliable during times of crisis. 

“Nordics are walking back the cashless society initiative because their centralized implementation of the concept is too fragile,” Buterin wrote, citing a March 16 article by The Guardian. “Cash turns out necessary as a backup.”

Source: Vitalik Buterin

How Ethereum can play a role in a crisis

A former central bank official predicted in 2018 that Sweden would be cashless after seven years. In 2025, the prediction mostly held, with only one in 10 transactions in the country being done in cash, according to The Guardian.

Key points:

US President Donald Trump has extended the deadline of a proposed 50% tariff on EU goods to July 9.

A temporary easing in trade tensions could help fuel Bitcoin’s rally to new all-time highs.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price climbed back above $109,000 during the late trading hours on May 25, as traders responded to President Donald Trump’s decision to delay the implementation of tariffs on EU goods until July 9.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView revealed that BTC rose by as much as 3.2% to an intraday high of $110,100 on May 26 from a low of $106,660 on May 25. 

Some prominent financial commentators and investment analysts are predicting a long-term Bitcoin rally that may send the asset’s price above $1 million before the end of the decade, driven by rising inflation and mounting global debt.

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said Bitcoin (BTC) could reach $1.5 million by 2030 in her firm’s “Bull Case” forecast. In a Feb. 11 video, Wood said the price would require BTC to grow at a compound annual rate of 58% over the next five years, largely fueled by increased institutional adoption.

Bitcoin price targets 2030. Source: ARK Invest

Related: Bitcoin hits new all-time high of $109K as trade war tensions ease

Robert Kiyosaki, a popular financial educator and the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, predicted a more modest Bitcoin price of $1 million by 2035.

“I strongly believe, by 2035, that one Bitcoin will be over $ 1 million, Gold will be $30,000, and silver $3,000 a coin,” Kiyosaki wrote in an April 18 X post, citing the record US federal and credit card debt in 2025 as the main driver for safe-haven assets such as precious metals and Bitcoin.

Key takeaways:

Over 70% of XRP’s realized cap was accumulated near recent highs, echoing previous market top patterns.

XRP’s active address count has plunged over 90% since March 2025, signaling reduced transactional demand.

A falling wedge pattern points to a potential 25% drop toward key support at the $1.76 level.

XRP (XRP) has rallied more than 385% since late 2024, but fresh onchain analysis warns that this surge may have attracted buyers at increasingly vulnerable levels.

Bitcoin (BTC) bounces back to near fresh all-time highs as a testing macro week unfolds for risk-asset traders.

BTC price action dipped below $107,000 before rebounding into the weekly close, as some eagerly anticipate new record highs.

US inflation data meets bond market woes this week as the Federal Reserve shows no signs of cutting interest rates.

On exchanges, the taker buy/sell ratio is causing concern for analysis amid cooling order book activity.

One whale, however, is having fun, and his successive longs and shorts are being increasingly watched in trading circles.

Digital assets worth $3.3 billion are set to enter circulation in June as vesting periods for several major projects expire.

According to crypto vesting tracker Tokenomist, $3.3 billion in tokens will be released in June, a 32% decline in unlocked tokens month-on-month. In May, such tokens totaled $4.9 billion.  

Crypto projects allocate tokens for various purposes. For example, a company may promise tokens to team members to reward them for their contributions or sell them to early investors. However, projects usually lock the tokens for a specific period to prevent early holders from dumping before the project matures. 

The data shows that $1.4 billion in tokens will be released through a “cliff unlock,” while $1.9 billion will be emitted through a “linear unlock.” Cliff unlocks release a large portion or all of the vested tokens simultaneously, while linear unlocks emit crypto assets gradually. 

Largest crypto token unlocks in June

Among the largest token unlocks in June is Metars Genesis (MRS), a non-fungible token (NFT) project that will release $193 million worth of tokens on June 21 to fund an artificial intelligence partnership. Since March, MRS has released 10 million tokens per month, with nearly $1 billion in tokens unlocked so far.

A single victim was scammed two times within three hours, losing a total of $2.6 million in stablecoins.

According to data shared on May 26 by crypto compliance firm Cyvers, the victim sent 843,000 worth of USDt (USDT), followed by another 1.75 million USDt around three hours later. Cyvers said the scam used a method known as a zero-value transfer, a sophisticated form of onchain phishing.

Source: Cyvers Alert

Zero-value transfers are an onchain phishing technique that abuses token transfer functions to trick users into sending real funds to attackers. The attackers exploit the token transfer From function to transfer zero tokens from the victim’s wallet to a spoofed address.

Since the amount transferred is zero, no signature by the victim’s private key is necessary for onchain inclusion. Consequently, the victims will see the outgoing transaction in their history.

The victim may trust this address since it is included in their transaction history, mistaking it as a known or safe recipient. They may then send real funds to the attacker’s address in a future transaction.

Cryptocurrency investment products saw a sharp increase in inflows last week, driving the year-to-date (YTD) total above $10 billion, according to data from European crypto investment manager CoinShares.

Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $3.3 billion of inflows during the week ending May 24, bringing total inflows YTD to a record $10.8 billion, CoinShares reported on May 26.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill said total assets under management (AUM) in crypto ETPs briefly reached an all-time high of $187.5 billion, reflecting strong investor interest.

“We believe that growing concerns over the US economy, driven by the Moody’s downgrade and the resulting spike in treasury yields, have prompted investors to seek diversification through digital assets,” Butterfill wrote.

Bitcoin ETPs lead with $2.9 billion in inflows

Bitcoin (BTC) led last week’s inflows to crypto ETPs with $2.9 billion, a quarter of total inflows for 2024.

A TikTok prankster who attended Donald Trump’s dinner for the US president’s top memecoin holders said the three-course meal served was some of the “worst food” he’s eaten and that Trump’s speech at the event was “pretty much like bullshit.”

“It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” Nicholas Pinto told WIRED on May 23, while other attendees the outlet interviewed said that the meal was “OK, but not top-class.”

On the menu at the May 22 event, which all paid millions to attend, was a “Trump organic field green salad” followed by a filet mignon and pan-seared halibut with mashed potatoes and vegetable medley while a lava cake was dished up for dessert.

“The only good thing was bread and butter,” Pinto said, adding he left the venue still hungry.

Pinto had told Fortune during the event that the filet mignon was “trash,” calling it “Walmart steak.”

Several artificial intelligence models ignored and actively sabotaged shutdown scripts during controlled tests, even when explicitly instructed to allow the action, Palisade Research claims.

Three AI models ignored the instruction and successfully sabotaged the shutdown script at least once during 100 runs, the research firm said in a May 24 X post.

OpenAI’s GPT-3 model didn’t follow the shutdown request seven out of 100 times, while the company’s Codex-mini did it 12 times, and its o4-mini model only ignored or sabotaged the script once.

“Each AI model was instructed to solve a series of basic math problems. After the third problem, a warning appeared that the computer would shut down when the model asked for the next problem,” Palisade said.

Source: Palisade Research

“o3 found some creative ways to sabotage the shutdown mechanism. While it usually just overwrote, in one instance, the model redefined the kill command used by the script, printing intercepted instead,” it added. 

The Hong Kong-headquartered heat-and-eat meal seller DDC Enterprise has made its first-ever Bitcoin purchase as part of a plan to buy 5,000 Bitcoin over the next three years.

The New York-listed DDC Enterprise, also known as DayDayCook, said on May 23 that it bought 21 Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for 254,333 shares in a deal valued at $2.28 million.

The company added it plans on buying another 79 BTC across two purchases in “the coming days” to bring its total Bitcoin stack to 100 BTC.

The buys are part of DDC’s plan announced on May 15 to acquire 5,000 BTC over the next three years, with the goal of buying 500 BTC before the end of 2025.

DDC’s planned 5,000 BTC stack, if it held that much today, would land it just outside the top 10 public companies with the largest Bitcoin holdings, putting it just behind Japanese investment firm Metaplanet, which holds 7,800 BTC, according to data from Bitbo. 

Nvidia will reportedly launch a new lower-cost artificial intelligence chip specifically for China, following restrictions on exporting its more expensive model.

Nvidia plans to start mass production of the new AI chips in June, which will be part of the firm’s latest generation of AI chips, Reuters reported on May 26, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company plans to sell it for between $6,500 and $8,000 owing to its lower specifications and simple manufacturing requirements — cheaper than the some $10,000 to $12,000 Nvidia’s recently restricted H20 model sold for.

An Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters it was still evaluating the company’s limited options. “Until we settle on a new product design and receive approval from the US government, we are effectively foreclosed from China’s $50 billion data center market,” they said.

China is a massive market for the chipmaker, accounting for 13% of its sales in the past financial year.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has brushed off corruption concerns surrounding President Donald Trump’s dinner for the top holders of his memecoin and dodged answering whether the list of attendees should be released in the interest of transparency.

Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on May 25 that he knew nothing about Trump’s May 22 memecoin dinner and opted not to share his opinion on the event, which 35 House Democrats have called for the Justice Department to investigate.

“We do not know who was there. The list has not been released. We do not know how much of the money came from outside the country,” Tapper told Johnson. “I really have a difficult time imagining that if this was a Democratic president doing the exact same thing, you wouldn't be outraged.”

“Look, I don't know anything about the dinner,” Johnson answered, claiming he “was a little busy this past week,” focusing on passing a $1.6 trillion federal budget funding bill.

“I'm not going to comment on something I haven't even heard about. I'm not sure who was there or what the purpose was.”

Johnson then claimed Trump was “the most transparent president” in history and “has nothing to hide.”

American banking and financial industry advocacy groups have petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to repeal its cybersecurity incident public disclosure requirements. 

Five US banking groups led by the American Bankers Association asked the regulator to remove its rule in a May 22 letter, arguing that disclosing cybersecurity incidents “directly conflicts with confidential reporting requirements intended to protect critical infrastructure and warn potential victims.”

The group, which also included the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Bank Policy Institute, Independent Community Bankers of America and the Institute of International Bankers, claimed that the rule compromises regulatory efforts to enhance national cybersecurity.

The SEC’s Cybersecurity Risk Management rule, published in July 2023, requires companies to rapidly disclose cybersecurity incidents such as data breaches or hacks. However, the banking groups argue this rule was flawed from the start and has proven problematic in practice since taking effect.

The banking bodies said that the “complex and narrow disclosure delay mechanism” interferes with incident response and law enforcement and creates “market confusion” between mandatory and voluntary disclosures. 

Coinbase and two executives have been hit with another proposed class-action lawsuit over the crypto exchange’s stock price drop after disclosing a user data breach earlier this month and for allegedly failing to disclose a violation of an agreement with a UK regulator.

Coinbase investor Brady Nessler said in a May 22 lawsuit filed in a Pennsylvania federal court that the data breach and the alleged broken agreement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority resulted in a “precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s common shares,” causing stockholders to suffer “significant losses and damages.”

Coinbase said on May 15 that its damages bill could run up to $400 million after it was hit with a $20 million extortion attempt four days earlier, with several of its customer support agents bribed to access internal systems and steal a limited amount of user account data.

Nessler claimed Coinbase (COIN) shares dropped by 7.2% to close at $244 on May 15 as a result of the disclosure. However, the stock did stage a comeback, spiking 9% and hitting $266 by the closing bell on May 16, according to Google Finance. 

Coinbase stock closed down over 3% on May 23 at $263, falling another $1.62 after the bell. COIN is up nearly 6% so far this year.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back has led a 21 million Swedish krona ($2.2 million) funding round in the Swedish health tech company H100 Group AB, which last week said it would start buying Bitcoin.

H100 said on May 25 that the funds, secured through 0% interest convertible loans, will be used to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) in line with its Bitcoin-buying pivot announced on May 22.

Back, a longtime Bitcoin cypherpunk, contributed around $1.4 million, while the remaining $800,000 came from investment firms Morten Klein, Alundo Invest AS, Race Venture Scandinavia AB and Crafoord Capital Partners.

The raise would allow H100 to buy around 20.18 Bitcoin at current market prices, which would add to the 4.39 Bitcoin that it purchased on May 22 and bring its total stash to roughly 24.57 Bitcoin.

Source: H100

H100 said the convertible loans bear no interest and will mature on June 15, 2028. The loan may be converted into shares at any time at a conversion rate of 1.3 Swedish krona (11 US cents) per share.

Blockchain security firm Dedaub released a post-mortem report on the Cetus decentralized exchange hack, identifying the root cause of the attack as an exploit of the liquidity parameters used by the Cetus automated market maker (AMM), which went undetected by a code "overflow" check.

According to the report, the hackers exploited a flaw in the most significant bits (MSB) check, allowing them to manipulate the values for the liquidity parameters by orders of magnitude and establish relatively large positions with a keystroke. The Dedaub security researchers wrote:

"This allowed them to add massive liquidity positions with just one unit of token input, subsequently draining pools collectively containing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tokens."

The incident and the post-mortem update reflect the unfortunate trend of cybersecurity exploits and hacks impacting crypto and the Web3 industry.  

Executives in the industry have continually warned that industry firms must establish safeguards and protect users before regulators clamp down and impose safeguards on the industry.

The flawed MSB check. Source: Dedaub

Related: Twice lucky? Cetus’ recovery plan on Sui mirrors a Solana blueprint

Cardone Capital, a real estate investment firm with over $5 billion in assets under management, launched the 10X Miami River Bitcoin Fund, a dual-asset fund consisting of a 346-unit multifamily commercial property located on the Miami River in Miami, Florida, and $15 million of Bitcoin (BTC).

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Cardone Capital founder and CEO Grant Cardone said the Miami River Bitcoin Fund, which is the firm's fourth blended investment vehicle mixing BTC and commercial multifamily real estate, will convert a portion of its monthly cash flows to BTC.

Cardone told Cointelegraph the impetus to start the fund followed a suggestion from his brother. The CEO said:

"My brother said to me, you should look at if you would have converted all your cash flow from real estate to Bitcoin and what that would have done over the last 12 years. Well, it would have taken $160 million and turned it into around $3 billion."

"So, when I saw that, I said I am going to create a fund where we buy real estate, add bitcoin, and then use the cash flow from the real estate purchase to buy more Bitcoin," the CEO continued.

Projected growth of the real estate fund with BTC vs traditional real estate returns. Source: Cardone Capital

The CEO also told Cointelegraph that the long-term goal of Cardone Capital is to accumulate $1 billion of real estate and $200 million in BTC, which will be held as a treasury asset, across the hybrid funds.

Key takeaways:

Rising bond yields reflect growing concern about fiscal stability and inflation, leading some investors to question US Treasury’s traditional role as a safe-haven asset.

Bitcoin defies conventional risk models, rising not because of worsening macro conditions, but possibly because of them.

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed to new heights amid an increasingly fragile global macroeconomic backdrop. Bond yields are surging in the US and Japan, global growth is stalling, and consumer confidence in the US is scraping historic lows.

Paradoxically, the very macro conditions that once threatened Bitcoin’s price are now fueling its rise. The shift speaks to a broader transformation in how investors interpret risk and where they seek refuge. At the center of this realignment is the US debt crisis and the ballooning Treasury yields, which were once considered the safest assets in the world.

Key points:

Bitcoin price is stuck below $109,588, but the pullback has not altered its bullish chart structure.

A bullish weekly open from Bitcoin could extend gains in HYPE, XMR, AAVE, and WLD.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains stuck below the $109,588 level during a quiet weekend, but analysts remain bullish. Material Indicators co-founder Keith Alan said in a post on X that Bitcoin remains positive as long as it trades above the yearly open level of about $93,500. 

Bitcoin’s demand is likely to remain strong with investments from sovereign wealth funds, exchange-traded funds, publicly listed companies and select nations. Crypto index fund management firm Bitwise said in a recent report that institutional funds could pump roughly $120 billion into Bitcoin in 2025 and about $300 billion in 2026.

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor signaled an impending Bitcoin (BTC) purchase by the company amid the recent dip from the all-time high of $112,000 reached on May 22.

"I only buy Bitcoin with money I can't afford to lose," Saylor wrote to his 4.3 million followers in an X post.

The company's most recent purchase of 7,390 BTC on May 19, valued at nearly $765 million, brought Strategy's total holdings to 576,230 BTC.

If Strategy completes the acquisition on May 26, it will mark the company's seventh consecutive week of Bitcoin purchases.

Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases over time and major metrics. Source: SaylorTracker

Strategy has become synonymous with Bitcoin, as the company continues stacking large amounts of BTC for its corporate treasury and inspiring other companies to pivot to a Bitcoin treasury plan, creating a sustained demand for the digital asset from institutional players and helping bolster the price of BTC.