The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially greenlighted Ether spot ETFs to trade on national securities exchanges.
Multiple 19b-4 applications to list the product were approved on Thursday, just days after the SEC began rapidly engaging with issuers on the matter in an unexpected positive turn for the crypto industry.
Ether ETFs Are On The Way
The approval follows the arrival of Bitcoin spot ETFs in January, which launched one day after the SEC’s greenlight following a years-long legal battle against the agency to push them through.
Unlike their Bitcoin counterparts, Ether ETFs won’t launch immediately after today’s approval. Though exchanges have approved multiple issuers’ 19b-4 application forms, their S-1 registration statements for the products

The United States House of Representatives voted on Thursday in favor of barring the Federal Reserve from directly issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to its citizens.
The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act bill garnered support from 213 Republicans and 3 Democrats, making the final tally 262 ‘yea’ to 192 ‘nay’.
Republicans Pass Another Crypto Bill
The bill, introduced by pro-crypto Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), marks the third crypto-focused legislation approved by Congress this month – and has been largely celebrated by the online crypto community that favors trustless, decentralized currencies such as Bitcoin.
“My legislation ensures that the United States’ digital currency policy remains in the hands of the American people so that any development of digital money

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Monday that will provide long-sought-after legal clarity around how crypto assets should be classified, registered, and custodied.
The bill, titled the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), received near unanimous support from Republicans alongside 71 additional votes from Democrats, resulting in a final tally of 279 ‘yea’ to 136 ‘nay’.
A ‘Historic’ Step For Crypto Regulation
Crypto industry leaders widely praised the legislation as a first step towards clear, fit-for-purpose rules pertaining to digital asset trading and registration.
“Americans want to know their representatives are protecting their rights to use crypto, creating clear rules to protect consumers, and won’t let the lack

Bitwise executives have secret information about massive financial players who are investing in BTC – but they won’t specify which ones.
During an interview published on Tuesday, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley discussed how institutional and regulatory acceptance of Bitcoin as an investable asset is evolving faster behind the scenes than most realize.
The Secret Bitcoin Buyers
For one, Horsley confirmed what he’d hinted at in a previous tweet: that a certain nation’s sovereign wealth fund has already broken into Bitcoin mining.
“A remarkable component of the moment is that there are so many important investors, firms, and businesses that are moving into Bitcoin, but a lot of them want to fly under the radar for now,” Horsley explained.
Horsley also eluded to a “large

Ether (ETH) surged 10% on Monday in the span of a few minutes following credible rumors that the asset could receive its own spot ETF in the United States within days.
ETH traded for $3150 on Monday at 17:44 UTC, before surging to $3450 within 25 minutes.
This followed a tweet from Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas at 17:20 UTC that he and his partner, James Seyffart, were upping their odds of ETH ETH approval this month from 25% to 75%.
“Hearing chatter this afternoon that SEC could be doing a 180 on this (increasingly political issue), so now everyone scrambling (like us everyone else assumed they’d be denied),” he explained.
Earlier this month, the US House and Senate passed H.J.Res.109 – a resolution to scrap an anti-crypto banking rule previously established by the

A UK judge has officially ruled that Craig Wright is guilty of forgery “on a grand scale” following the computer scientist’s decisive court loss in March.
In a written judgment published on Monday, High Court Justice James Mellor said Wright lied “extensively and repeatedly” in court to support his “biggest lie” – his claim to be Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Wright’s Overwhelming Forgeries
“Dr. Wright presents himself as an extremely clever person,” wrote Mellor. “However, in my judgment, he is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is.”
The statement is a follow-up to Mellor’s decisive remarks immediately following a six-week trial against Wright earlier this year, after which he concluded Wright was not Bitcoin’s creator in response to “overwhelming”

The United States Senate passed a resolution on Tuesday to scrap a de facto ban preventing the nation’s banks from offering crypto custody services.
The vote drew cautious optimism from Bitcoin’s most fervent supporters online and in Congress, who are still wary of a likely veto by the presidential office.
Will Crypto Banking Be Possible In The US?
As voted on Thursday afternoon, H.J.Res.109 certifies congressional disapproval of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121), which was published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two years ago.
The bulletin provides accounting guidance for publicly traded banks aiming to provide services safeguarding their customers’ crypto assets.
Critics of SAB 121 call it a “rule” merely disguised as “guidance” which makes it

More than 19 months after Ethereum’s historic Merge upgrade, the data is clear: the network’s native asset, Ether (ETH), is not keeping up with Bitcoin (BTC).
The ETH/BTC price ratio tapped another three-year low on Thursday at 0.044, with Ether last experiencing less market dominance against Bitcoin in May of 2021.
Why Does ETH Keep Dumping Against BTC?
The trend has been offputting and confusing for Ethereum bulls, of whom many assumed ETH would become a more appetizing investment than Bitcoin following the September 2022 Merge.
At the time, the upgrade introduced a proof of stake consensus mechanism, and lowered ETH’s inflation rate by 90%.
Combined with Ethereum’s previously implemented transaction fee-burning mechanics, this meant ETH was now both an investment with

The Shiba Inu ecosystem is migrating its native decentralized exchange to Shibarium in the form of ShibaSwap 2.0.
The DEX will now be usable on both Ethereum and Shibarium – the layer 2 blockchain of the SHIB ecosystem focused on scalable, fast, and cheap transactions.
Per a press release shared with CryptoPotato, ShibaSwap 2.0 will include new features like improved user processes for adding and reducing liquidity, staking and trend analysis.
It will also feature discovery charts for new and trending tokens, and foster onboarding for new tokens into the ShibaSwap market.
Transaction fees will be partially paid out to liquidity providers, enhancing the value of their LP tokens used in swap transactions.

“[ShibaSwap 2.0] “is the redesigned beating heart of a freshly forked

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz thinks Bitcoin’s price action is in for a lengthy sleeper period until the market “narrative” can rear its head.
That narrative can come in one of two forms: either the central bank cuts interest rates, or regulators clear the air on crypto.
Bitcoin Needs A New Narrative
During a company earnings call on Tuesday, Novogratz said he believes crypto is in a “consolidation phase” after a strong first quarter, and he expects Bitcoin’s price to float between $55,000 and $75,000 until “the next set of market events brings us higher.”
“Bitcoin always needs a narrative,” elaborated Novogratz during an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. “If you think of Bitcoin as digital gold, there’s always two narratives: one is the macro, and two is

Crypto asset management giant Grayscale says there’s a “renaissance” in Bitcoin development, with several new Layer 2s (L2s) worthy of keeping an eye on.
In a new investor report, Grayscale analyst Michael Zhao argued how these technologies may both bring new use cases to Bitcoin and foster more market demand for BTC.
Rollups On Bitcoin
Zhao first named Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM) among Bitcoin’s “most anticipated” next generation of applications.
Published by Robin Linus in October, BitVM is a new computing model for verifying computations on Bitcoin, opening the network to smart contract functionality more familiar to Ethereum.
One of the leading applications of BitVM in development is optimistic Bitcoin rollups, letting users batch fast, cheap transactions together

Crypto is now a partisan issue in the United States, and there’s a clear reason as to why, according to a former Coinbase executive.
Author and entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan argued this weekend that digital assets appeal to “American conservatives” and “Chinese Liberals” – demographics that generally aren’t represented by the Democratic party.
Crypto Versus Rich Democrats
In a tweet this Sunday, Balaji said that crypto is for “small countries and dispossessed minorities,” providing a new form of power to those who lack the influence of the state.
“Democrats and Communists control powerful states, so they don’t benefit from crypto,” Balaji wrote. “But everyone else does.”
The entrepreneur highlighted how employees of the nation’s top employers – including Microsoft,

Crypto is emerging as a hot topic in the U.S. presidential election this year, with many voters looking forward to hearing their candidates takes on the asset class.
Per a Digital Currency Group (DCG) survey of 1201 registered voters conducted last month, about one in five voters view crypto as a major issue in the 2024 election.
Roughly 40% of voters said they want their candidates to talk more about crypto, with most respondents agreeing that crypto regulation needed an “overhaul.”
The interest is even though only 14% of voters said they have crypto exposure, and 69% said they don’t yet feel knowledgeable about the asset class.
“Most voters do not trust elected officials to understand innovative technology like crypto, and more than half are concerned about policymakers

Bitcoin’s price fell 2.5% to $60,300 on Friday as Federal Reserve officials weighed their options for combatting stubborn price inflation in the United States.
Bitcoin traded for $63,400, at noon UTC on Friday, before plummeting below $61,000 over the next few hours.
According to Coinglass, the volatility triggered $175 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours. The single largest liquidation took place on a Binance BTC/USDT trade for $3.56 million.
Speaking at a Louisiana Bankers Association conference in New Orleans this week, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan suggested it may be “too early to think about cutting rates,” according to Reuters.
“I need to see some of these uncertainties resolved about the path that we’re on, and we need to remain very flexible,” Logan

Canada has imposed a fine against Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange – for running afoul of the nation’s anti-money laundering rules last year.
Per a public notice published on Thursday, the federal government said Binance didn’t comply with rules and registrations related to operating as a foreign money services business (FMSB).
Binance Fined $4.4 Million By Canada
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) wrote:
“Binance Holdings Limited was imposed an administrative monetary penalty of $6,002,000 CAD on May 7, 2024, for committing 2 violations. The violations were found during the course of a compliance activity in 2023.”
Aside from failing to register as an FMSB, the regulator said Binance failed to report the receipt of

.A Republican-led effort to free American banks to provide crypto custody services has been shut down by the Democrat-led White House.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives discussed and prepared to vote on House Resolution 109 (H.J. Res. 109), which would strike down prior accounting guidance from regulators to banks planning to offer the service to customers.
Hours before the vote began, however, the Biden Administration stated its intention to veto the resolution if it manages to pass through the House and Senate.
A Major Blow To US Crypto Banking
As explained in the White House’s statement, Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 – the guidance that Republicans intend to invalidate – reflects the views of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff regarding the

One of crypto’s most powerful government nemeses believes journalists question him about the burgeoning asset class way more than necessary.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler appeared for a nine-minute interview with CNBC on Wednesday and blamed the host for asking for such an “outsized ratio” of crypto-focused questions.
Gensler Is Tired Of Crypto Questions
Gensler’s interviewer, Andrew Ross Sorkin, suggested that journalists’ focus on the industry may be proportionate to the SEC’s attention to the space. The chairman disagreed.
“No, it’s a function of where your attention is,” Gensler countered. “I’ve been on your show – what a dozen times – and every show you ask about crypto.”
Gensler noted how crypto – which currently boasts a market cap

Robinhood Markets Inc. has become the next crypto trading platform to receive a threat of legal action from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adding to the sizable list of industry giants on the agency’s hit list.
In a Form 8-K filed on Saturday, the company said it received a Wells Notice from the SEC on May 4.
Allegations Against Robinhood
Specifically, SEC staff disclosed that they’d reached a “preliminary determination” to recommend the agency to file a lawsuit “alleging violations of Sections 15(a) and 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”
Per the SEC’s website, Section 15(a) makes it unlawful for broker-dealers to effect or induce the purchase or sale of securities unless that broker is registered with the SEC. Meanwhile, Section 17A pertains to

Crypto hackers have claimed another major victim, fooling him into sending $68 million to a wallet he thought was somebody else’s.
Blockchain data indicates that a once-wealthy Ethereum user lost all of his Bitcoin holdings after hackers contaminated a recipient’s wallet history. The user now holds just $1.6 million in crypto at his address.
The Danger Of Address Poisoning
According to Etherscan, the sending wallet’s remaining assets include 0.89 ETH ($2,747) and 1.63 million dollar-pegged DAI stablecoins.
The assets stolen from the victim included 1155 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) – a token that operates like a stablecoin for Bitcoin on the Ethereum network, mirroring the price of the dominant digital asset. Naturally, WBTC is vulnerable to the many hacks and exploits common in

MicroStrategy has proposed a new Bitcoin-based strategy for combatting online spam – though Bitcoiners are skeptical as to whether it’s a good idea.
During the annual MicroStrategy World conference on Wednesday, the company’s executive chairman Michael Saylor unveiled “MicroStrategy Orange” – an open-source decentralized identity solution built on Bitcoin.
What is MicroStrategy Orange?
MicroStrategy described their technology as an “enterprise-grade platform for implementing Decentralized Digital Identifiers (DIDs)” across any organization.
One of the platform’s core services will be ”Orange for Outlook,” which provides an orange check for emails verifying that they’re from an authentic person or entity, rather than spam. It would be a bit like Twitter’s yellow check, but

The crypto market has faced a massive correction over the past month – and new investors are proving incapable of stomaching the volatility.
Blockchain data show that 2024 Bitcoin buyers, who entered a raging early-year bull market in which Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a new all-time high, are now panic selling at a loss as the asset’s price reverses course.
Paper Hands Bitcoin Buyers
According to Glassnode, on-chain “realized losses” have surged over the past two months during periods of high volatility, one of which includes today.
Realized losses are tracked by examining the price at which coins are moved on a specific day, compared to when those specific coins were last moved. The discrepancy is presumed to represent a capital gain or loss depending on how Bitcoin’s current

The Federal Reserve decided to maintain its benchmark interest rate of 5.25%% to 5.5% at the highly anticipated Federal Open Market Committee Meeting (FOMC) on Wednesday, following a fearsome 6% drawdown in Bitcoin’s price earlier that day.
Within five minutes of the announcement, Bitcoin’s price rose from $57,300 to $57,700
Per a press release, the central bank said it also plans to slow down the rate at which it sells US Treasury securities starting in June, reducing its monthly redemption cap from $60 billion to $25 billion.
Market participants overwhelmingly expected the Fed to maintain its interest rate at 5.25% heading into the meeting, expecting cuts to potentially take off in Q4.
However, words from the central bank confirmed market fears that the central bank may

Changpeng Zhao (aka “CZ”) – the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange giant Binance – has been sentenced to 4 months in prison after a hearing in a Seattle courthouse on Tuesday.
The sentencing follows CZ’s guilty plea to running afoul of know-your-customer and anti-money laundering requirements at his exchange in November.
During the hearing, Judge Richard Jones acknowledged tht CZ had “accepted responsibility” for his actions, and that his actions at Binance were of a “mitigating nature.”
“There’s no evidence that the defendant was ever informed [of illegal activity at Binance]” the judge said, as reported by journalist Nikhilesh De.
Jones was immediately skeptical of the Department of Justice (DOJ), for arguing that CZ should be sentenced to three years – twice the

Bitcoin miners are beginning to feel the adverse effects of the latest halving, with industry revenues at their lowest point since early 2023.
The tighter profit margins raise questions about which industry firms can stay afloat during Bitcoin’s next halving epoch, as well as how Bitcoin’s market price might be impacted.
Steep Decline In Miner Revenue
According to data shared by on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, Bitcoin’s “Puell Multiple” plummeted sharply immediately after the halving between April 19 and April 20.
The Puell Multiple is a ratio that compares the value of daily BTC issuance in USD terms to the 365-day moving average of that same metric. Since the number of new BTC issued to miners has fallen from 6.25 BTC per block to 3.125 BTC per block, the Puell

Is the Bitcoin bear market already starting to rear its head? One new piece of market data suggests this could be the case.
As of Monday, Bitcoin is entering what could be its fifth negative weekly close in a row. Historically, Bitcoin has never closed five consecutive weeks in the red outside of a bear market environment.
A Slow But Steady Pullback
Twitter user MisterCh0c took notice of the pattern on Monday, and was quick to receive backlash from more bullish followers.
Some noted that the severity of the drawdown, which has persisted throughout April, is mild compared to previous bull markets. Closing at a weekly high of roughly $71,400 on March 31, the coin closed this Sunday at roughly $63,000 – about a 12% drop.
Lead Glassnode analyst James Check backed that

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has published a report on the history of Lazarus Group – the infamous North Korean hacking group responsible for some of the largest crypto thefts in the industry’s history.
The article tracks 25 hacks affecting individuals and companies in crypto through which Lazarus laundered $200 million from digital assets to fiat between 2020 and 2023.
Lazarus Group’s $200 Million Money Trail
The analyst examined several six-figure crypto wallet hacks over the past several years, including hacks on several crypto exchange hot wallets in 2020. That includes $370,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) stolen from former Canadian exchange Coinberry in August 2020, and $750,000 stolen from CoinMetro in October 2020.
Funds from Coinberry, CoinMetro, and others were

The Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer has published a whitepaper with new details about its soon-to-launch Eigen token, which will be airdropped to community members next month.
According to the Eigen Foundation’s website, season 1 of the airdrop will distribute 5% of the token supply. Eligible airdrop recipients include those who staked directly with EigenLayer, and those who staked using Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs).
Meanwhile, people who interacted with EigenLayer-related DeFi positions may be eligible for airdrops in season 2.A total of 15% of the EigenLayer token supply will go out to stakers over the long term. Another 15% will go to community initiatives and another 15% to ecosystem development.
That leaves 29.5% of the token supply allocated to investors,

Bitcoin could be headed to $1 million after a tsunami of newly printed cash drives up all asset prices, according to Strike CEO Jack Mallers.
The executive, whose payments app lets people remit fiat currency around the world on Bitcoin rails, said in a Friday interview that money printing will be required to bail out the U.S. bond market, which he claims is “in trouble for the first time in modern financial history.”
A Recipe For Money Printing
According to Mallers, the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have two options: either let the banking system fail, or print their way out of the mess.
“I think historically, governments and empires have picked inflation running hot,” he said. “I expect inflation to run hot, and the currency to be debased.”
The CEO claimed that

Crypto.com has produced a new commercial with the famous rapper Eminem that’s due to showcase during the NBA playoffs this weekend.
The ad follows similar television marketing efforts from Coinbase, indicating that major sports leagues may be rewarming to the crypto industry.
Crypto.com’s New Sport Ad Campaign
As shared on the famous rapper’s Twitter page on Friday, the ad begins with a bird’s eye view of the Crypto.com Arena – the multi-purpose sports arena in downtown Los Angeles formerly known as the Staples Centre.
The arena is scheduled to host the basketball competition during the 2028 Summer Olympics, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers versus Denver Nuggets playoff game on Saturday, where its ad will first air.
“They ignored your potential, dissed your achievements,

Blockchain developers have come one step closer to launching rollups on Bitcoin, enabling “unlimited smart contract functionality” and scaling once foreign to the OG crypto network.
On Friday, BitcoinOS published the whitepaper for “BitSNARK and Grail”, a system for bridging Bitcoin to layer 2 rollups and blockchains in a trust-minimized way.
Rollups On Bitcoin: Is It Possible?
The new rollup system is an outgrowth of BitVM – the Bitcoin-based computing paradigm discovered by Robin Linus last year.
Among BitVM’s most notable applications was its ability to verify “Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge” (SNARKs) on Bitcoin. By extension, this opened the possibility for Bitcoin Rollup Bridges, and scaling technologies similar to Optimism or Arbitrum on Ethereum.