[PRESS RELEASE – London, United Kingdom, May 18th, 2026]

Quantography Labs announced the early-access release of Lock.com, a hardware-free crypto wallet built around an isolated, air-gapped security approach.

Lock.com is now available to early access users. The platform separates private key storage from network-connected systems, removing the need for dedicated hardware wallet devices.

Hardware wallets have long been the standard for protecting digital assets. But they come with a trade-off: users must trust the device, the manufacturer, and the supply chain behind it.

Lock.com removes that dependency by separating the signing environment from the broadcasting environment. Private keys remain on a fully offline signer, while transactions are created and broadcast on a connected device. Private keys never touch the internet. The system is designed to work with devices users already own, removing the need for purpose-built hardware.

Lock.com was built out of frustration with how crypto security works today. Too many people are still losing funds in ways that shouldn’t be happening, not because self-custody failed, but because the software environment around the hardware was never built to the same standard. Lock wanted to close that gap structurally

Lock.com is designed to function as an isolated crypto wallet without relying on third-party hardware manufacturers or proprietary device supply chains. The architecture integrates post-quantum cryptographic standards, specifically ML-DSA signatures and ML-KEM key encapsulation alongside the isolated signing model.

The early access phase is focused on gathering user feedback ahead of general availability. Early access enrolment is available at https://www.lock.com/

About Quantography Labs

Quantography Labs is an investment and technology firm focused on secure finance, digital assets, and applied research. The company develops privacy-focused, quantum-ready systems designed to advance the future of digital asset security and infrastructure. Lock.com is its first publicly released product.

Users can learn more about Lock.com’s isolated crypto wallet architecture: https://www.lock.com/

The post Lock.com Enters Early Access With Isolated Signing and Post-Quantum Architecture appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Ripple’s cross-border token headed south over the past few days, plunging to its lowest level since the start of the month.

However, numerous factors and indicators suggest that a rebound could be on the way, while many analysts remain optimistic that a bull run is knocking on the door.

No Need to Panic?

The past 24 hours have not been favorable for the cryptocurrency market, with many leading digital assets posting substantial losses amid renewed tensions between the US and Iran. Recall that American President Donald Trump threatened the Asian country that the clock is ticking, warning them to act fast, “or there won’t be anything left of them.”

The US leader went even further, depicting himself in a spacecraft outside Earth and pressing a red button as countless bombs detonate in the background.

Ripple’s XRP is not among the few exceptions in green today (May 18) as its price fell to around $1.38 (according to CoinGecko). This represents a 5% weekly decline, returning to a level last observed nearly three weeks ago.

The pullback hasn’t managed to spread fear across crypto X, where numerous analysts remain bullish that XRP is gearing up for a major pump. The one using the moniker CoinForge, for instance, claimed that the asset looks “insane” right now and stands at a critical level that sent it up 700% last time.

“The MACD has just done a deep golden cross, and it is primed for an expansion. The target is just south of $5, and that would be a 240% jump,” they added.

JAVON MARKS and Celal Kucuker also made highly optimistic forecasts. The former argued that XRP is still “holding broken out” against BTC and has the potential to outperform by nearly 800%.

“This fulfilling, which a breakout similar to this one has done before, can result in XRP being priced above $10,” their analysis reads.

For their part, Celal Kucuker thinks the asset is ready for a massive breakout, claiming the valuation could exceed the ridiculous (at least as of now) $15.

Further Insight

The substantial inflows into spot XRP ETFs lately reinforce the optimistic outlook. SoSoValue’s data shows that the last day when outflows dominated was April 30, while the past week was the strongest since December.

Since their launch, these financial products have generated a cumulative net inflow of almost $1.4 billion, signaling strong interest from institutional investors and potentially setting the stage for upward price momentum.

Next on the list is the declining amount of XRP tokens stored on Binance. According to CryptoQuant, the figure dropped to a monthly low of around 2.75 million coins, suggesting that investors have shifted toward self-custody methods, thereby reducing immediate selling pressure.

The post Ripple (XRP) Slumps 5% Weekly Yet Analysts Predict Major Rally Ahead: Details appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced that its Ethereum holdings have risen to 5.28 million ETH. This gives the company ownership of about 4.37% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply of 120.7 million ETH.

The company said its combined crypto, cash, and “moonshot” holdings now total $12.6 billion as of May 17.

Bitmine Closes In on ‘Alchemy of 5%’

Over the past week alone, Bitmine added 71,672 ETH, while its total staked Ethereum holdings reached 4,712,917 ETH, which is worth approximately $10.3 billion based on an ETH price of $2,191. The company said nearly 89% of its ETH treasury is now staked, generating annualized staking revenues of around $289 million, with a reported 7-day staking yield of 2.80%.

In its latest press release, Bitmine revealed that it is now 87% of the way toward its long-term target of acquiring 5% of Ethereum’s total supply, a goal Chairman Tom Lee believes could be reached sometime in 2026. In addition to its ETH treasury, the company also holds 202 Bitcoin, $685 million in cash, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, and an $83 million position in Eightco Holdings, which it described as one of the few publicly traded companies offering indirect exposure to OpenAI.

Bitmine recently launched MAVAN, short for Made in America VAlidator Network, its institutional-grade Ethereum staking platform designed to support its treasury operations and eventually expand to custodians, institutional investors, and ecosystem partners. A portion of the company’s ETH is already staked through the platform.

ETH Weakness

Ethereum (ETH) briefly dropped to a low of $2,097 on Monday, its weakest level since April 7, as selling pressure continued across the crypto market. At press time, ETH was trading around $2,132, down nearly 3% over the past day. Reacting to the decline, Lee believes rising oil prices have been one of the main reasons behind the second-largest crypto asset’s recent weakness. On X, Lee explained that ETH’s inverse correlation with oil is now at its highest level ever, and added that Ethereum prices have moved lower during the past six weeks as oil climbed higher.

As such, a reversal in oil prices could help ETH recover in the short term. Still, he said the recent slump does not change ETH’s broader outlook, which he believes remains supported by tokenization growth and increasing demand from agentic AI systems. He also views the recent pullback as an “attractive opportunity.”

The post Bitmine’s Ethereum Hoard Surges Past 5.28 Million ETH as Company Nears 5% Supply Target appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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XRP price has dropped by 2% to below its $1.40 support, yet institutional money flow beneath is anything but quiet. Citadel’s name is now attached to XRP exposure across multiple products, and a confirmed $500 million Ripple funding round adds hard infrastructure to what could otherwise read as speculative positioning.

Reports circulating across research desks indicate Citadel Advisors has built $1.7 million in XRP ETF and trust exposure spanning Bitwise, Canary, Franklin, and Grayscale XRP Trust calls. However, primary 13F filings have not yet confirmed the exact positions.

What is confirmed, though, is that Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group co-led a $500 million strategic round in Ripple on November 5, 2025, valuing the company at $40 billion. That capital targets custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage infrastructure. If the ETF filing is confirmed, Citadel has two very different bets that point in the same direction.

Meanwhile, XRP investment products pulled in approximately $81.59 million in net inflows during April, with spot ETFs logging consecutive heavy-flow days of $25.80 million and $18.52 million in mid-May. The SEC’s active review of NYSE Arca’s crypto ETF proposals, which bundle XRP alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, also adds a regulatory catalyst.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

Can XRP Price Break Toward $1.55 This Week?

XRP is consolidating in the $1.37–$1.41 range, a zone that has absorbed multiple test runs without a decisive breakdown. Support sits near the $1.35 area, and that floor appears increasingly well-defended as net inflows remain positive week-over-week.

Derivatives and technical analysis desks have flagged a potential 12% upside breakout setup, with short-term targets clustering around the low-double-digit percentage move from current levels, implying a path toward $1.55. Institutional desks cited in ETF-flow coverage argue that sustained net inflows above tens of millions per week would materially strengthen the breakout case.

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Three scenarios worth tracking:

• Bull case: ETF inflows remain elevated, SEC review delivers positive signals, XRP clears local resistance and tests $1.55+ within days.
• Base case: Consolidation continues in the $1.37–$1.45 band for another one to two weeks as the market digests institutional positioning data.
• Bear/invalidation: A confirmed break below mid-$1 support on elevated volume resets the structure and delays any breakout thesis considerably.

Momentum is leaning constructively, but XRP has delivered false breakouts before. The Citadel disclosure, confirmed or not, is less important than the ETF inflow cadence.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

LiquidChain Eyes Early Positioning as XRP Consolidates at Key Levels

XRP price consolidation is a familiar story: strong institutional narrative, legitimate inflow data, but near-term upside capped by a market cap already north of $85 billion. That math limits the multiple. For traders who’ve already made the XRP trade and are scanning for asymmetric early-stage exposure, the infrastructure layer feeding the next cycle of cross-chain activity is drawing attention.

LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is a Layer 3 execution environment that fuses Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single unified layer. It’s a direct infrastructure play on the fragmentation problem that plagues multi-chain DeFi.

The project’s Unified Liquidity Layer enables single-step execution and verifiable settlement across all three ecosystems; developers deploy once and access all. The presale is currently priced at $0.0146, with $770K raised to date and a huge 1400% APY staking bonus for early buyers.

Research LiquidChain and assess whether the infrastructure thesis fits your risk profile.

The post XRP Price Could Rally Soon: Institutional Funds Keep Flowing In as Citadel Joins the Race appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Minnesota-based banking institutions and credit unions are set to offer some crypto custody services beginning in August.

On Friday, Governor Tim Walz signed House File (HF) 3709 into law, permitting “certain virtual-currency custody services to be offered and performed” by financial institutions in the US state.

One of the original sponsors in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Bernie Perryman, said in March that the bill was intended to ensure that “Minnesota-based financial institutions are allowed to evolve alongside their customers and members rather than forcing Minnesotans to rely on unregulated, out-of-state or offshore providers for services.”

The new law authorizes banks and credit unions to provide virtual-currency custody services in a nonfiduciary capacity from Aug. 1. The law amended Minnesota’s statutes to allow the financial institutions to engage “third-party service providers or subcustodians to facilitate virtual-currency custody services,” provided the funds were “legally and operationally segregated” from the bank’s or credit union’s assets and not treated as its property.

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Source: Minnesota legislature

The crypto custody law could potentially affect operations at all the financial institutions in the state.

The state’s government information portal shows that, as of May 2025, there were 240 commercial insured banks operating in Minnesota, with about $128 billion in assets, and 82 member-owned credit unions under the Minnesota Credit Union Network. The country’s seventh-largest bank by total assets, U.S. Bancorp, is based in Minneapolis.

Related: Bitcoin Depot stock crashes 71% premarket after Chapter 11 filing

In addition to the crypto custody law, Minnesota lawmakers advanced a bill to ban digital asset kiosks and ATMs across the state in response to incidents of residents being scammed.

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Crypto companies look to federal regulators for banking, custody services

Earlier in this month, Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, said it had filed with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust company charter. According to the company, it planned to establish Payward National Trust Company with “fiduciary custody and other services primarily for digital assets” if approved.

Payward’s move was one of many by crypto-related companies attempting to secure federal approval under the Trump administration. The OCC approved or conditionally approved similar charter applications for Ripple Labs, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos in December, and is considering a charter for World Liberty Financial, the company co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his sons.

Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16

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Bitcoin has fallen below $78,500 and is consolidating near the $76,500 support level, with a bearish trend line forming resistance at $77,700 on the hourly chart.

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An active exploit on the Verus-Ethereum Bridge has resulted in $11.58 million in losses, according to security firm Blockaid.

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The European fintech giant is launching a physical debit card that lets users spend the popular meme coin anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted with zero extra exchange fees.

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