Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin mining firm American Bitcoin is going public through a merger with crypto mining firm Gryphon Digital Mining, the companies announced on May 12.

Under the terms of the deal, Gryphon Digital Mining will acquire American Bitcoin in a stock-for-stock transaction. After the merger, the new company will operate under the American Bitcoin brand and be led by its board of directors, which includes Eric Trump, son of US President Donald Trump.

News of the merger coincided with a sharp rise in Graphon Digital Mining’s stock price, which climbed from $0.52 on May 9 to $2.15 at the time of writing, a gain of more than 313%, according to Google Finance.

The announcement follows early April reports that American Bitcoin was considering an initial public offering (IPO).

Gryphon Digital Mining share price. Source: Google Finance

American Bitcoin is a majority-owned subsidiary of energy infrastructure, crypto mining, and data center firm Hut 8. Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said the company aims to make American Bitcoin “a purpose-built vehicle for low-cost Bitcoin accumulation at scale.” He added:

“By taking American Bitcoin public, we expect to unlock direct access to dedicated growth capital independent of Hut 8’s balance sheet, while preserving long-term exposure to Bitcoin upside for our shareholders.”

Related: Top Bitcoin miners produced nearly $800M of BTC in Q1 2025

Key takeaways

Though Bitcoin doesn’t support native staking, holders can earn yield through centralized lending platforms, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on Ethereum, and Bitcoin-related networks like Babylon and Stacks.

WBTC allows BTC holders to participate in lending, liquidity pools and yield farming on Ethereum-based DeFi platforms like Aave and Curve but introduces bridge and smart contract risks.

Protocols like Babylon and Stacks use mechanisms like native time-locked scripts or stacking to offer rewards without removing BTC from the Bitcoin blockchain.

Custodial, smart contract and regulatory risks persist. Bitcoin’s community also remains divided on whether Bitcoin yield generation features align with its decentralized and trust-minimized ethos.

Unlike proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains like Ethereum or Cardano, Bitcoin relies on proof-of-work (PoW) mining for network security. However, with the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and layer-2 innovations, Bitcoin (BTC) holders can now generate passive income through various yield-generating methods. These include centralized lending, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on Ethereum, and layer-2 solutions like Babylon and Stacks.

A 90-day tariff agreement between the US and China may set the stage for a broader recovery of stock and cryptocurrency markets, as investors look ahead to a potential tax relief package.

The White House announced on May 12 that the two countries will reduce their respective tariffs to 10% for an initial 90-day period beginning May 14 — a 24% cut from current levels.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both governments are aligned on avoiding further economic decoupling.

“The consensus from both delegations is neither side wants to be decoupled,” Bessent said. “What has occurred with these very high tariffs was an equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that. We do want trade. We want more balance in trade.”

Joint statement on US-China meeting in Geneva. Source: The White House

Related: Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

Update (May 12, 1:25 pm UTC): This article has been updated to reflect that Strategy lifted its 2025 Bitcoin yield target from 15% to 25% in early May.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy purchased a fresh batch of Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency pushed above $100,000 last week.

Strategy acquired 13,390 Bitcoin (BTC) for $1.34 billion between May 5 and May 11, the firm announced in its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission published on May 12.

The acquisition has increased Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings by 2.4% to a total of 568,840 BTC, acquired for about $39.4 billion at an average price of $69,287 per coin.

An excerpt from the Form-8 by Strategy filed on May 12. Source: Strategy

The newly announced purchases were made at an average price of $99,856 per BTC, with Bitcoin reclaiming the psychological mark of $100,000 on May 8.

Healthcare services provider KindlyMD has merged with Bitcoin-native holding company Nakamoto Holdings to build a BTC treasury.

According to a May 12 announcement, Nakamoto Holdings — a new company founded by David Bailey, a crypto adviser to US President Donald Trump — plans to build the first global network of Bitcoin (BTC) treasury companies in partnership with BTC Inc. Bailey said:

“Traditional finance and Bitcoin-native markets are converging. The securitization of Bitcoin will redraw the world’s economic map. We believe a future is coming where every balance sheet – public or private – holds Bitcoin.”The website of the new Nakamoto company. Source: Nakamoto

Long-term, the firm’s plan includes developing an ecosystem of Bitcoin-native companies, including media, advisory and financial services, all aiming to accelerate Bitcoin adoption and utility. The company resulting from the new merger aims to accumulate Bitcoin and grow the BTC held per share.

Related: Trump crypto adviser David Bailey raises $300M for Bitcoin investment firm

Not the first kid on the block

Much like Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the new firm plans to leverage equity, debt and other offerings to achieve its objectives. The announcement promises that the company will provide “market exposure to Bitcoin within a compliant, transparent structure.”

The creator of the non-fungible token (NFT) collection DeGods announced that he has stepped down as the CEO of the project amid an uptick in sales. 

Rohun Vora, known online as “Frank DeGods” on X, said he has stepped down as the project’s CEO, concluding a three-year stint as the head of one of the most popular Solana-based NFT collections. 

He identified pseudonymous figures 0x_chill and Pastagotsauce as the new leaders of DeGods. “There are no investigations, because I have never done anything illegal. That’s the boring truth,” Vora wrote, addressing speculation about his departure.  

The announcement came as the NFT collection started gaining traction on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. 

Source: Frankdegods

DeGods’ sales are up 101% on Solana

Data tracker CryptoSlam shows that in the last seven days, DeGods NFTs have seen a significant increase in sales. 

Crypto exchange Backpack announced that customers of the defunct crypto exchange FTX EU can begin reclaiming their funds through its service.

According to a May 12 X post, Backpack now allows FTX EU users who selected it as the redistribution platform to claim their euro balance. Users must first complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

Backpack’s support page also said that the KYC details on the platform must match the ones provided to FTX EU:

“If they do not, you will need to contact Backpack EU support at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to update your Backpack EU account to reflect the same information used for your FTX EU claim. This ensures a smooth verification process and avoids delays in accessing your distribution.”

Related: Former FTX exec’s wife says gov’t ‘induced a guilty plea’

FTX EU claims process begins

Backpack opened the claims process for former FTX EU exchange users on April 1. To access their claims through the platform, users had to create an exchange account and go through the aforementioned KYC checks. No deadline has been set for users going through the process.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in cross-border cryptocurrency payments flow globally, driven primarily by speculative investment, according to a recent report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The BIS study, published May 8, found cross-border payments using the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and the two largest stablecoins, USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), totaled about $600 billion during the second quarter of 2024, the final observation period covered by the analysis.

“Our findings highlight speculative motives and global funding conditions as key drivers of native crypto asset flows,” the BIS said.

Cross-border crypto asset flows by quarter. Source: BIS

Still, the report noted that stablecoins and low-value Bitcoin transactions are frequently driven by practical use cases, particularly as alternatives to traditional remittances. The researchers pointed out that geographical barriers have less influence on cryptocurrency transactions compared with traditional financial systems.

Related: Spar supermarket in Switzerland starts accepting Bitcoin payments

Cryptocurrency investment products continued receiving healthy inflows last week, attracting $882 million as global crypto funds approached all-time high asset levels.

Global crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $6.3 billion of inflows in the past four weeks, accounting for 93% of total inflows year-to-date (YTD), according to data from European crypto investment firm CoinShares.

Total YTD inflows now stand at $6.7 billion, closing in on the record $7.3 billion posted in early February, according to CoinShares’ head of research James Butterfill.

Weekly crypto ETP inflows since late 2024. Source: CoinShares

Amid strong investor demand, crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States reached a record $62.9 billion in cumulative net inflows since launch in January 2024, surpassing the previous high of $61.6 billion set in February, Butterfill noted in a May 12 fund flows update.

Total AUM nears historic record of $173 billion

The continued inflow streak has brought total assets under management (AUM) in global crypto funds to $169 billion, just 2.5% below the historic record of $173.3 billion seen in the last week of January, according to CoinShares data.

Bitcoin (BTC) launches into US CPI week with new multimonth highs as traders dig in for volatility.

BTC price action is giving increasingly bullish signals, joined by a key cross on the weekly MACD indicator.

The weekly close fell just short of expectations, raising doubts over whether price discovery will return in the immediate future.

CPI and PPI headline the week’s US macro data drops, but markets are all about the US-China trade deal and its implications.

Bitcoin supply in loss drops below 2% in a rare test of hodlers’ staying power.

Ether’s market capitalization surged 42% in five days following the successful launch of Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade on its mainnet. 

On May 12, the company data tracker 8marketcap showed Ether (ETH) surpassing Coca-Cola and Alibaba, ranking as the world’s 39th-largest asset by market capitalization. ETH was trading at about $2,550 at publication time, with a market cap exceeding $308 billion. 

By comparison, Coca-Cola stock trades at around $70, giving it a market cap of $303.5 billion. Alibaba stock trades at about $125, with a market capitalization of $303.7 billion. 

ETH’s recent price action comes on the heels of a network upgrade that improved the storage of layer-2 scaling data, validator user experience and smart account wallet user experience features. 

Ether surpasses Coca-Cola and Alibaba in market capitalization. Source: 8marketcap

Ethereum implements Pectra upgrade on mainnet

Originally scheduled for March 2025, Pectra faced delays after technical challenges arose during testing.

Goldman Sachs-backed cryptocurrency custody firm BitGo is the latest cryptocurrency company to secure regulatory approval to operate across the European Union.

Germany’s financial regulator, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), granted BitGo Europe a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) license to provide digital asset services in the EU, the firm announced on May 12.

The license allows BitGo to offer services to crypto-native firms and traditional finance institutions, including banks and asset managers within the EU.

Source: BitGo

“This license underscores our commitment to the highest standards of security, transparency, and trust,” BitGo Europe managing director Harald Patt said.

BitGo set up the EU headquarters in 2023

Founded in 2013 in Palo Alto, California, BitGo is a major platform in the cryptocurrency industry specializing in crypto custodial services, holding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) on behalf of its clients. 

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin broke above $105,700 after the US and China agreed to slash tariffs.

A confirmed bull flag breakout on the weekly chart projects $150,000.

Bitwise’s sentiment index warns of potential short-term overheating.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls cheered a major development in the ongoing US-China tariff talks, with the cryptocurrency climbing over the $105,700 mark on May 12 for the first time in four months, further confirming a bullish continuation setup with a $150,000 price target.

US federal prosecutors have rebutted claims they suppressed evidence in their case against the co-founders of the crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet, arguing their disclosure of a conversation with Treasury Department staff was made within the required timeframes. 

In a May 9 letter to a Manhattan federal court, prosecutors opposed a request for a hearing, claiming they handed over “all known substantive communications” between them and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regarding Samourai “months in advance of pretrial motions and trial.”

“The defendants will have seven months to make use of the information before trial,” they wrote. “Nothing more is warranted.”

On May 5, Samourai co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill asked the court for a hearing, claiming that prosecutors were late to disclose that FinCEN representatives told them six months before they charged the pair that under the agency’s guidance, the service “would not qualify as a ‘Money Services Business’ requiring a FinCEN license.”

However, prosecutors still charged the pair in February 2024 with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy, unsealing the charges and arresting the pair in April that year. They have both pleaded not guilty.

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has hit a whopping $3 trillion in aggregate all-time volume, the first decentralized exchange to hit the number. 

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams noted the achievement in an X post on May 12, which included a screenshot of a Dune Analytics dashboard counting down to the milestone. 

Uniswap also has a current daily volume of $3.3 billion, according to Dune. DeFillama meanwhile shows Uniswap is the leading DEX with a 23% market share in daily volumes, which it reports as slightly lower at $3 billion over the past 24 hours. 

The second-largest DEX in volume is PancakeSwap, with $2.7 billion and a 21% DEX market share. 

Uniswap has a current total value locked of just under $5 billion. However, this figure is around half of its 2021 all-time high, as overall DeFi total value locked (TVL) is about half of what it was in late 2021.

Crypto users could be looking for a more sustainable yield this cycle, as total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending continues to hit new highs while decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have lagged in comparison.

DeFi lending protocols are currently the leading DeFi vertical in TVL at $53.6 billion, representing 43% of the $124.6 billion locked across all DeFi protocols. The figure also surpasses liquid staking.

Multichain lending protocol Aave currently holds $25 billion of locked value, accounting for nearly half of the DeFi lending market.

Change in crypto lending protocol TVL since 2019. Source: DeFiLlama

In stark contrast, DEXs, which once held nearly double the TVL of their closest competitor, have dropped from $85.3 billion in November 2021 to $21.5 billion today.

Explaining the rise in DeFi lending and fall in DEX TVL, the founder of crypto fund Apollo Capital, Henrik Andersson, told Cointelegraph that lending is arguably the “only sustainable way to produce yield” in DeFi, as DEX liquidity pooling has largely become unprofitable due to impermanent loss.

Three teenagers have been accused of kidnapping a man at gunpoint after he was returning from a crypto event in Las Vegas, before driving him an hour outside of the city and robbing him of $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens.

According to police, the incident occurred last November. The victim had finished hosting a crypto-related event in downtown Las Vegas, and when he returned home, the suspects forced him into a vehicle and drove him to a remote desert area an hour away from the city. 

There, they forced him to hand over passwords to his accounts, according to a May 10 report from Las Vegas local news outlet 8 News Now. 

The man was allegedly told to comply with the teens’ demands if he wanted to “live to see another day,” and because they also “had his dad and would kill him,” according to the report. 

It’s also alleged that a fourth person may have been communicating with the three young men through a phone call during the incident, which the victim could hear through a speakerphone.

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has added another $129 million to its Bitcoin treasury, pushing its total holdings past the Bitcoin-stacking country of El Salvador. 

“Metaplanet now holds more Bitcoin than El Salvador. From humble beginnings to rivaling nation-states, we’re just getting started,” said CEO Simon Gerovich on X after the latest purchase announcement. 

On May 12, the Tokyo-listed firm announced that it had acquired 1,241 Bitcoin (BTC) for 14.8 million yen ($101,843) per coin.

The total buy, at its highest ever purchase price, is worth around $129 million at current market prices. 

This brings the firm’s total holdings to 6,796 Bitcoin, currently worth around $707 million, and the average purchase price is $91,000 per Bitcoin. Metaplanet started its BTC accumulation strategy in April 2024.