Decentral Block Post

A hacker involved in the $4.67 million exploit of the decentralized finance lending protocol Voltage Finance in 2022 has moved some of the stolen Ether to Tornado Cash after a short hibernation. 

Blockchain security firm CertiK said in a May 6 post to X that the 100 Ether (ETH), worth $182,783 at current prices, was moved from a different address initially used in the exploit but can be traced back to the hacker.  

In March 2022, the exploiter took advantage of a “built-in callback function” in the ERC677 token standard and allowed them to drain the platform’s lending pool through a reentrancy attack, according to CertiK.

After the exploit, Voltage Finance reported that the hacker stole various stablecoins and other crypto, including USDC (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), and Ethereum tokens. 

The address used by the hacker to get the funds to Tornado Cash had been dormant since November, with the last transaction occurring 166 days ago, Etherscan data shows.

Key takeaways:

Large Bitcoin holders have accumulated 81,338 BTC over the past six weeks, showing confidence in a future price uptrend.

Wallets with less than 0.1 BTC sold around 290 BTC, indicating smaller retail investors are either panic selling or selling out of boredom. 

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen $4.41 billion in inflows since March 26.

While larger Bitcoin holders remain confident and continue accumulating the asset, data from a crypto analytics platform shows that smaller retail investors have been shedding BTC amid the asset’s prolonged consolidation below the $100,000 price level.

Investors have been piling into BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund for over three weeks straight, culminating in the asset’s run up to $97,000 on May 7.

The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust has seen 16 days of inflows for the spot BTC ETF, with a further 280 Bitcoin (BTC) or around $36 million piling into the fund on May 6, according to HODL15Capital.  

The inflow streak was noted by ETF Store President Nate Geraci, who also observed on X that the fund was approaching $5 billion in new capital. 

“I remember when naysayers didn’t think spot Bitcoin ETFs would take in $5 billion in total last year,” he added. 

The BlackRock fund (IBIT) has seen around $4.7 billion in inflows since its last outflow day on April 9.

South Korea’s Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung has reportedly become the latest presidential candidate to promise the approval of spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other crypto-friendly measures, should he be elected.

Lee announced his crypto promises on May 6 as part of a broader initiative to provide more investment opportunities for Korea’s youth, one of the main target demographics for the fast-approaching June 3 election.

“I will create a safe investment environment so that young people can [build] assets and plan for the future,” The Korea Economic Daily (KED) quoted Lee as saying in Korean.

He also promised the legalization of spot crypto ETFs, lower transaction fees, and more consumer protection measures.

Lee’s Democratic Party of Korea is the favorite to win the presidential election with 42% support, according to a survey conducted by Korea’s National Barometer Survey between April 24 and 30. Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, came in second at 13%.

Trump family-backed crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is proposing to airdrop a small amount of its new US dollar-pegged stablecoin to reward early WLFI holders in a test of its airdrop mechanism.

With over 99% of votes in favor of the proposal already, the airdrop will distribute a small amount of USD1 to eligible holders of the WLFI token, according to the May 6 proposal in the WLFI governance forum.

“Testing the airdrop mechanism in a live setting is a necessary step to ensure smart contract functionality and readiness. This distribution also serves as a meaningful way to thank our earliest supporters and introduce them to USD1,” the proposal states. 

“This will allow World Liberty Financial to validate the technical functionality of its airdrop system in a live environment while thanking early supporters of the project.”

The amount of USD1 is still to be determined but will be based on the total eligible wallets and budget, according to the proposal.

Coinbase has introduced a new payments protocol for online payments that enables stablecoin transfers over standard internet protocols and AI agents to transact autonomously.  

On May 6, Coinbase announced that it is launching a protocol called x402 for instant stablecoin payments directly over the internet communication protocol HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).

It allows Application Programming Interface (APIs), apps, and AI agents to transact seamlessly, “unlocking a faster, automated internet economy,” the firm stated. 

Coinbase said that x402 “is fixing the internet’s first mistake.” The protocol resurrects the experimental HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code to create a seamless payment system native to the internet.

The firm noted that traditional payment rails, such as credit cards, bank transfers and subscriptions, “were built for a pre-internet world.” 

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin must maintain above $95,000 to have a chance at retesting its $109,000 all-time high; failure to hold could lead to a deeper correction, crypto analysts warn.

Several crypto analysts told Cointelegraph in March that Bitcoin may have a chance of reaching new all-time highs in June.

The upcoming Federal Reserve decision on May 7 could influence Bitcoin’s price movement over the coming days.

Bitcoin needs to continue to hold above the $95,000 level for a chance to climb back and retest its all-time high, or face an even deeper correction, crypto analysts say.

Members of the crypto community are circulating apparent “proof” that Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu faked his suicide as he promoted his new memecoin during a Pump.fun livestream on May 4.

The belief appears to come from an unverified private letter supposedly sent by Yu to a Zerebro investor, trading activity linked to crypto wallets owned by Yu, and the removal of his obituary from Legacy.com.

Others speculate that Yu used a tool to pass off a pre-edited video as if it were filmed in real-time during the Pump.fun livestream.

The unverified letter from Yu to an early investor states that he deliberately created a livestream pretending to shoot himself as it was the only “viable exit” from persistent harassment, blackmail, threats and hate crimes.

“Being fully doxxed has placed me under constant fear of robbery and physical harm. There have been numerous notable figures in the crypto community which have undergone armed robberies in their homes recently.”

US Democrat lawmakers have launched a multi-angle attack on President Donald Trump’s crypto ventures with two bills and a subcommittee inquiry aimed at cutting his ability to profit from the initiatives.   

The Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement Act, or the MEME Act, aims to prevent federal officials from using their position to profit from memecoins, Democrat Senator Chris Murphy said in a May 6 statement. 

If passed, the MEME Act prohibits the president, vice president, members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, their spouses and children from issuing, sponsoring, or promoting a security, future, commodity, or digital asset, according to the bill’s description. 

Today I’m introducing a bill - the MEME Act - to ban a President or Member of Congress from issuing a meme coin.

The Trump Coin is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the White House. @RepLiccardo and I are determined to put an end to this corruption - for good. pic.twitter.com/nQL9ZfIYYV

Violators could face civil penalties of up to $250,000 and be required to fork over any profits to the US Treasury. Criminal penalties could also apply, including fines and up to five years behind bars. 

Digital asset manager Bitwise has filed to list a spot Near exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, adding to a growing list of altcoins currently vying to win regulatory approval.

The Bitwise Near (NEAR) ETF will track the price movements of the NEAR token, minus expenses, through a traditional brokerage, Bitwise’s May 6 registration statement shows.

Bitwise named Coinbase Custody as the proposed custodian of the Bitwise NEAR ETF. The management fee, ticker and stock exchange it seeks to list on weren’t named yet. 

Bitwise must also file a 19b-4 filing with the SEC to kickstart the regulator's approval process for the fund. The crypto native asset manager indicated it would make such a filing when it registered a trust linked to the NEAR ETF in Delaware on April 28.

NEAR joins a pile of spot crypto ETFs on the SEC’s desk

The SEC now has at least a dozen spot crypto ETFs to review in 2025, including applications for Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Hedera (HBAR), Polkadot (DOT), Chainlink (LINK), Avalanche (AVAX), Aptos (APT) and Sui (SUI).

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking permission from the court to drop an appeal against prediction market Kalshi. The move could allow the platform to offer political event contracts to users without contest.

In a May 5 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, lawyers for the CFTC filed an unopposed motion for voluntary dismissal, suggesting an agreement with Kalshi. The motion, subject to approval by the court, could end the CFTC’s appeal against a federal court ruling that the financial regulator could not bar Kalshi from listing political event contracts, i.e., bets on elections.

Kalshi stipulated in a joint filing that the company would “bear its own costs, court fees and attorney fees incurred” if the court granted the CFTC’s motion to dismiss. The platform said that “election markets are here to stay” in a May 6 X post following the filing.

The betting platform initially filed a lawsuit against the CFTC in 2023 in response to the regulator ordering Kalshi to stop offering political event contracts. The company won in the lower court, prompting the appeal by the CFTC in September 2024.

Motion to drop the appeal after the change in administration?

The case was handled mainly before the US election and the appointment of acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham under President Donald Trump. CFTC Commissioner Summer Mersinger, nominated by former President Joe Biden, reportedly echoed Kalshi’s sentiment in February, claiming that election prediction markets were “here to stay.”

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap USDt (USDT), has announced a partnership with Chainalysis that will integrate the company’s compliance and monitoring tools onto Tether’s tokenization platform. The move comes amid expanding oversight across the crypto industry.

Launched in November 2024, the Hadron by Tether platform is designed for institutions, corporations and governments, entities that may be interested in tokenizing real-world assets ranging from financial instruments and real estate to debt and commodities.

The months following the launch have seen increased adoption of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. According to RWA.xyz, the total RWA market amounts to $22.1 billion, up 10.5% in the past 30 days. There are a total of 100,115 holders of RWA tokens, up 5.6% in the same time frame.

“By integrating Chainalysis directly into the platform, we’re offering institutional-grade transparency, compliance, and risk mitigation without compromising on decentralization or control,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement.

According to the announcement, Hadron by Tether users will now have risk detection, real-time transaction monitoring, and Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) support. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tether raked in $13 billion in profits in 2024, and posted $1 billion in operating profit for Q1 2025.

A group of crypto traders reportedly purchased millions of dollars worth of Melania Trump’s memecoins minutes before she announced the launch on social media.

According to a May 6 Financial Times report, the crypto traders earned roughly $100 million from buying $2.6 million worth of MELANIA tokens before the public launch on Jan. 19. Shortly after Trump announced the memecoin launch on social media, the price surged from roughly $2.00 to $12.95 — a 550% increase. The traders reportedly sold their holdings within 12 hours.

“In total, the 24 accounts bought up 16.7mn of the 200mn total $MELANIA tokens scheduled for sale during the launch period,” the Financial Times reported. “[...] the run of sales that started pre-launch continued. About $900,000 worth of tokens bought by an additional 22 accounts in the 42 seconds after the launch.”

The memecoin started trading roughly two days after then-president-elect Donald Trump announced the launch of his own TRUMP coin. Both tokens have come under scrutiny from lawmakers, alleging conflicts of interest and corruption due to the potential for bribery and foreign influence.

Memecoin dinner prompts call for impeachment

Much of the scrutiny and criticism from US lawmakers over the memecoins seems to be directed at the president rather than the first lady. After Trump announced some of the top TRUMP tokenholders would be offeried the chance to get access to him at a private dinner and tour, one senator called for his impeachment.

Key Takeaways:

The Fed may pause rates but inject liquidity. Crypto could rally as a recession hedge.

The weak US dollar and gold rally signal a shift to scarce assets.

The US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decision on May 7 will be a defining moment for risk-on assets, including cryptocurrencies. While the consensus points to no change in interest rates, Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins could see gains if the US Treasury is compelled to inject liquidity to stave off an economic recession.

A more accommodative monetary policy could stimulate activity, but the Federal Reserve (Fed) is also contending with a weakening US dollar. Some analysts argue that a US interest rate cut may fail to stimulate growth as recession risks persist, potentially creating an ideal environment for alternative hedge assets such as cryptocurrencies.

21Shares has launched an exchange traded product (ETP) in Europe, providing investors with exposure to Crypto.com’s Cronos token, the asset manager said. 

The ETP is listed on Euronext’s Paris and Amsterdam exchanges, 21Shares said in a May 6 announcement. 

Cronos (CRO) is a layer-1 blockchain network affiliated with Crypto.com, a centralized exchange. 

The chain is designed to integrate with the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems and support “decentralised finance (DeFi), NFTs, and Web3 applications,” 21Shares said. 

The ETP aims to provide investors with a “straightforward way to integrate CRO into their portfolios through traditional banks and brokers, eliminating the need to directly handle digital wallets or exchanges,” 21Shares said. 

Key Takeaways:

Data shows Bitcoin bulls opening margin long positions from $94,400.

A $189 million increase in Bitcoin futures open interest and a 15% increase in trading volume show sustained buying interest.

BTC momentum tends to slow before FOMC meetings and then turns volatile afterward. The same could happen following this week’s Federal Reserve statements.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are holding strong around the $94,500 level as the market awaits the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on May 7. Bitcoin analyst Axel Adler Jr. noted BTC’s price strength and pointed out a bullish cluster of long positions forming around $94,400 in the futures market. A similar cluster was observed at the end of April, which pushed BTC prices to $97,500.

Key takeaways:

Solana’s stablecoin supply rose by 156% in 2025, to hit a new record at $12 billion.

Solana’s TVL grew by 25% to $7.65 billion, with 27.7% decentralized exchange volume share, leading Ethereum and BNB Chain.

SOL price formed a bull flag, with a price target at $220.

Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL) failed to maintain its bullish momentum after reaching $156 on April 25, but an assortment of data points suggests that the altcoin’s upside is not over.

New Hampshire became the first US state to allow its government to invest in crypto currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), after Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a bill passed by the legislature into law.

In a May 6 notice, Ayotte announced on social media that New Hampshire would be permitted to “invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals” through a bill passed in the state Senate and House of Representatives. House Bill 302, introduced in New Hampshire in January, will allow the state’s treasury to use funds to invest in cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion, eliminating many tokens and memecoins.

“The Live Free or Die state is leading the way in forging the future of commerce and digital assets,” said New Hampshire Republicans in a May 6 X post.

With the signing of the bill into law, New Hampshire becomes the first of several US states considering passing legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, including an initiative with the federal government. A similar bill in Arizona passed the state’s House in April but was vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs on May 2, and Florida’s government withdrew two crypto reserve bills from consideration on May 3.

Related: Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset gains traction in US as states adopt

Asset manager Standard Chartered predicts that Binance’s ecosystem token, BNB, could more than double in price this year, according to an analyst report reviewed by Cointelegraph. 

The asset manager sees BNB’s price rising to approximately $1,275 per token by the end of 2025 and as high as $2,775 by the end of 2028, according to the research report. 

As of May 6, BNB trades at nearly $600 per coin, for a fully diluted value (FDV) of approximately $84 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

“BNB has traded almost exactly in line with an unweighted basket of Bitcoin and Ethereum since May 2021 in terms of both returns and volatility,” Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, wrote in the research note. 

“We expect this relationship to continue to hold, driving BNB’s price from around USD 600 currently to USD 2,775 by end-2028.”

Key Takeaways:

The Bitcoin Risk-Off signal dropped to 23.7, its lowest since March 2019, indicating low correction risk and a high likelihood of a bullish trend developing.

Despite the recent decline in network activity, bullish macro indicators like the Macro Chain Index (MCI) suggest Bitcoin could soon rally above $100,000.

On May 5, the Bitcoin Risk-Off signal, an indicator that uses onchain and exchange data to assess correction risk, dropped to its lowest level (23.7) for the first time since March 27, 2019, when Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $4,000. The signal is currently in the blue zone, which historically suggests low correction risk and a high probability of a bullish trend. When the oscillator rises above 60 or turns red, it implies a high risk of bearish movement. 

In 2019, the same signal preceded a staggering 1,550% rally that saw Bitcoin soar above $68,000 in 2021.