Binance has partnered with Philippine fintech BlockShoals Technologies to return to the Southeast Asian market through a regulatory sandbox. The deal arrives years after the local Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved to block the exchange.

Announced Tuesday, the deal names BlockShoals as the approved local Crypto Asset Intermediary under the SEC’s StratBox sandbox. Binance contributes global technology, security systems, and compliance experience.

Inside the Binance Philippines Sandbox Setup

BlockShoals, a Philippine-incorporated company, secured in-principle SEC approval under Memorandum Circular No. 9 in November 2025.

The StratBox framework allows new digital-asset models to be tested under supervision, mirroring other Philippine crypto regulation moves.

The testing window starts in the second half of 2026 and runs for at least two years. BlockShoals serves as the locally accountable participant.

Binance supplies infrastructure, product capabilities, and operational support from other regulated markets.

“The Philippines is one of the most dynamic digital economies in Southeast Asia, with a highly engaged and digitally native population that continues to drive adoption of emerging financial technologies,” read an excerpt in the announcement, citing Seker, Head of APAC at Binance.

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Why the 2024 Block Happened

The Philippine SEC first warned investors after a 12-page Infrawatch complaint in 2022.

“…we pray that this Honorable Commission undertakes the following actions: Conduct motu proprio proceedings on the illegal operations of Binance in the Philippines; Issue a cease and desist order to stop all operations of Binance, its affiliates, and partners in the Philippines; Impose the maximum fine or penalty against Binance and its workforce; and Reject any and all future applications of Binance and/or Binance affiliates to register with the SEC,” Infrawatch PH, a Filipino think tank,” wrote to the SEC.

The regulator then moved to ban Binance entirely in March 2024 over unregistered securities offerings and absent local licensing.

App stores then removed Binance from Philippine listings, though many users kept access through VPNs. The sandbox route is the company’s first compliance-led pathway back.

Operational responsibility now sits with a domestic counterpart rather than an offshore entity.

The Philippines has planned a CBDC launch and tightened broader oversight, placing it among Asia’s more structured crypto markets.

Whether the trial earns a full Crypto Asset Service Provider authorization depends on BlockShoals meeting milestones over two years.

The post Binance Finds a Backdoor to Return Into the Philippines After Its 2024 Ban appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Rising short positions across American stocks are starting to shape a different conversation around Bitcoin’s role in global markets.

According to CryptoQuant contributor XWIN Japan, a market increasingly built on hedging, concentrated AI trades, and heavy leverage could push more institutional capital toward BTC if liquidity conditions improve later in the year.

Wall Street Hedging and Bitcoin’s Changing Behavior

XWIN Japan argued in a market update published earlier today that the rise in US equity short interest does not necessarily point to outright bearish sentiment. Instead, hedge funds appear to be stacking defensive positions while keeping long exposure intact.

Per the crypto research institution, hedge fund gross leverage has climbed to around 293%, alongside record S&P 500 short exposure and elevated Days-to-Cover metrics.

Much of that pressure appears tied to heavy concentration in a handful of AI-related megacap stocks, while weaker sectors and smaller companies have been attracting shorter bets.

That backdrop matters for Bitcoin because it has historically traded closely with equities during market panics. For example, during the COVID-19 selloff in 2020, BTC fell alongside stocks rather than acting as a safe haven.

But according to XWIN, that relationship started to shift in 2025. While the S&P 500 has traded in a relatively tight range, BTC has shown larger swings tied to ETF demand, leverage activity, and crypto-native liquidity flows.

It concluded that going forward, Bitcoin may become a hybrid asset, still exposed to macro liquidity conditions, but more capable of moving on its own terms.

“If future conditions include Fed easing, weaker dollar conditions, and renewed ETF inflows,” XWIN wrote, “Bitcoin could become a secondary liquidity destination rather than simply a correlated tech-like asset.”

The OG crypto asset had fallen over the weekend to around $74,000 but rebounded above $77,000 as reports suggested developments toward a potential ceasefire agreement between the USA and Iran.

But as of the time of writing, data on CoinGecko showed it had dropped back below $77,000 by a few hundred dollars, leaving it down almost 30% over the past year.

On-Chain Activity Cools While Traders Watch Key Levels

Meanwhile, the current consolidation phase has seen Bitcoin’s network activity drop off sharply, with crypto analyst Ali Martinez revealing that active addresses fell nearly 40% in two weeks, from 821,000 to 494,000.

According to him, weaker activity during sideways price action often indicates short-term traders leaving the market, while longer-term holders retain supply.

He added that derivatives traders are increasingly positioned for a breakout, with funding rates recently touching 0.4%, their highest level in more than two months. On-chain data also showed large holders redistributing more than 18,000 BTC during the consolidation period.

Martinez identified resistance around $78,000 and support near $76,000, with a move above resistance, in his opinion, possibly opening the door toward $85,000, while losing support may send Bitcoin toward the mid-$60,000 range.

The post The Hidden Bitcoin Bull Signal Buried in Wall Street’s Big Short appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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TLDR

• Benjamin Cowen said Bitcoin is still following its historical four-year cycle.
• Cowen argued that Bitcoin has not reached its final market bottom yet.
• Bitcoin’s rebound to $82,800 stalled near the 200-day simple moving average.
• Cowen compared the latest rejection with similar patterns seen in 2018 and 2022.
• Analyst Sykodelic expects Bitcoin to rally above $90,000 in June.

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Bitcoin has remained within its historical four-year cycle, according to Into The Cryptoverse founder and CEO Benjamin Cowen, who says the latest rebound has not confirmed a market bottom.

Cowen said in a recent post on X that Bitcoin’s current structure still fits the cycle pattern that has guided previous bull and bear market phases. He argued that Bitcoin respected the four-year cycle during its October 2025 peak near $126,200, so traders should not assume the bottom will break from the same timeline.

The analyst said past Bitcoin bear markets ended late in midterm years, including November 2022 and December 2018. Based on that comparison, Cowen maintained that the latest decline has not reached its final low.

His comments came after Bitcoin recovered to a multi-month high of $82,800. While some traders viewed the move as evidence that selling pressure had eased, Cowen treated the rebound as another part of the same cycle.

Cowen Says Bitcoin Has Not Reached Its Final Low

According to Cowen, Bitcoin’s market cycle peak and bottom return-on-investment charts continue to follow earlier patterns. He said the bottom ROI has stayed close to prior cycle behavior, even though Bitcoin has not delivered the same size of gains seen in older cycles.

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The four year cycle for Bitcoin is not dead.

Bitcoin topped when it always topped (to within 1 week when measure from low-to-high), so why can’t it bottom near the end of the midterm year, just as it generally has? (1/x) pic.twitter.com/Spoh4s6NRG

— Benjamin Cowen (@benjamincowen) May 25, 2026

Cowen also said Bitcoin’s ROI from the previous cycle peak has held up better than in some past bear markets. However, he added that the chart still shows similar behavior to previous cycle declines.

In his view, the latest rally did not weaken the bear-market case. Cowen said Bitcoin’s move to $82,800 stopped near the 200-day simple moving average in early May. He compared that level with similar rejections in 2018 and 2022, which came before Bitcoin made another downward move.

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The analyst also pushed back against claims that the current consolidation has lasted too long for another decline to follow. Cowen said previous countertrend rallies continued for more than 20 weeks, while the latest one has lasted about 16 weeks.

With those comparisons, Cowen said there is still enough evidence to support the four-year cycle view. He expects Bitcoin to remain under pressure until later in the year, based on the timing of prior market bottoms.

Analysts Split Over Bitcoin’s Next Move

In an earlier analysis, Cowen said Bitcoin’s next leg lower could begin this month and continue into June. He projected that the move could take Bitcoin below its February 6 low of $60,000 before the market forms a stronger base.

Several market analysts have treated the February 6 level as the cycle bottom, but Cowen disagreed with that view. He said Bitcoin’s historical cycle timing leaves room for another decline before the final low appears.

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Meanwhile, analyst Sykodelic offered a different outlook. Sykodelic said Bitcoin could rally in June and move above $90,000 after retesting its break-of-structure level.

The split leaves traders watching whether Bitcoin can move past the 200-day simple moving average with strength. For Cowen, failure at that level keeps the historical-cycle argument alive. For analysts with a bullish outlook, a June move above $90,000 would challenge his bearish timeline.

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Base announced the launch of Base MCP, a new gateway enabling AI agents to connect directly to user Base accounts and execute onchain transactions. The protocol allows agents to swap, trade, and manage digital asset portfolios while integrating plugins from major DeFi applications on the Base… Read the full story at The Defiant

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Shares of Enhanced Group (ENHA), the company behind the Peter Thiel-backed Enhanced Games, fell by as much as half on Tuesday after a six-hour Las Vegas debut produced only one unofficial world record.

The startup went public this month at a $1.2 billion valuation and has now shed hundreds of millions in market value over the past three weeks.

Vegas Debut Delivers One Record

The Enhanced Games held a single-night competition on May 24 at Resorts World Las Vegas, paying out a $25 million purse.

Roughly 42 athletes competed, with the company’s own monitoring data showing 91% used testosterone, 79% used human growth hormone, and 62% used stimulants like Adderall & modafinil ahead of the event.

“Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. spent millions to create a steroid Olympics. They promised to “redefine human limits” and put up $25M in prize money…the whole pitch was that drugs would shatter the limits of clean sport. Instead, they proved the gap between juiced and clean…the only thing they actually proved was how good the clean athletes already are. You think the Enhanced Games exposed anything or just embarrassed themselves?” one researcher posed.

Only one unofficial world record fell. Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev clocked 20.81 seconds in the men’s 50-meter freestyle, beating Cameron McEvoy’s 20.88-second mark and earning a $1 million bonus.

Sprinter Fred Kerley, who had predicted Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second 100-meter mark would be “destroyed,” won in 9.97 seconds, a time that would not have qualified for the Paris Olympics final.

Clean athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Hunter Armstrong, took three events outright.

Silicon Valley Loses to Biology

After closing at $5.36 on Friday, ENHA opened near $2.67 on Tuesday, a roughly 50% intraday slide that wiped out close to $800 million in market value.

Market cap has fallen from $981 million on May 7 to roughly $655 million.

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The setup echoes another recent venture-backed spectacle. A week earlier, Figure AI staged a 10-hour “Man vs. Machine” contest in which a human intern beat its F.03 humanoid robot 12,924 packages to 12,732.

When a single live-streamed proof point misses, the equity story tends to unravel in hours, not quarters.

With backers like tech investor Peter Thiel historically quick to rotate out of stalling bets, ENHA’s path to a second event now depends on public-market patience.

The post Peter Thiel-Backed Stock Crashes 50% After ‘Superhuman Sports’ Dream Collapsed appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Five transactions broadcast on May 26 sent a combined 107 Bitcoin (BTC) to Bitcoin’s well-known burn address, permanently removing the funds from circulation. Blockstream CEO Adam Back called the incident an “accidental quantum bounty” on X, drawing immediate attention across the crypto community.

The burn address, 1111111111111111111114oLvT2, has no corresponding private key, making any BTC sent there irrecoverable under current cryptographic assumptions. The 107 BTC adds to over 403 BTC already locked at the address across more than 146,000 prior transactions, all permanently withdrawn from the circulating supply.

Back’s Remark Revives a Long-Running Debate

Back’s comment pointed to one of the more unusual theoretical scenarios in Bitcoin’s quantum security debate. The address’s public key is mathematically derivable from its structure. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could, in theory, compute the corresponding private key and claim those funds.

Back has been active in discussions about quantum preparedness throughout 2026. In April, he pushed for optional quantum-resistant upgrades to Bitcoin over forced wallet freezes. His framing of the burn event as a bounty illustrates why that debate carries real stakes, even if the technology to collect such a prize remains distant.

Quantum Risk to BTC Has Grown More Concrete

ARK Invest has outlined five quantum risk stages for Bitcoin, with early stages already influencing how large investors manage BTC exposure. Separately, Caltech researchers found that Bitcoin may need far fewer qubits to crack than earlier models assumed. That finding has compressed the theoretical threat window considerably.

Research confirms that quantum computing is reshaping Bitcoin allocations among institutional investors well before any machine poses a direct threat. ARK’s broader estimates put roughly $480 billion in BTC at long-term risk due to publicly visible keys. That category includes funds sitting at all known burn addresses.

Whether those 107 BTC remain permanently lost or become an early benchmark for quantum progress is an open question. The answer depends on how quickly hardware development narrows the gap between theoretical capability and practical key derivation.

The post Adam Back Calls 107 BTC Burn an “Accidental Quantum Bounty appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Vatican, on June 11, 2025.

Massimo Valicchia | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Pope Leo warned over the weekend about a “social calamity” that could come from mass unemployment due to the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies. Prediction market traders appear to think that worry isn’t misplaced.

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In his first encyclical, a document that is a form of teaching by the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo urged the world to regulate AI. He also warned about the effects it may have on the labor market. 

“The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good,” he wrote. 

Traders on Kalshi place 60% odds that U.S. unemployment will cross 8% at some point before 2030. They also give a 47% chance it will cross 9% in the same period. 

A 9% unemployment rate would likely stem from a severe recession or displacement of workers. Not including the Covid-19 recession in 2020, there have only been three economic contractions that have pushed the unemployment rate in the U.S. above 9% since World War II. 

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Kalshi traders think there’s a low chance of a recession in 2026, with odds just at 16%. However, in 2027, they see those odds climbing to 45%. There are no contracts about potential recessions in 2028 or 2029. 

At the same time, traders think AI is driving layoffs right now. Traders place a 78% chance that AI is the number one reason for job cuts in May, which will be confirmed or denied by data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo wrote that “unemployment is a grave evil.” He acknowledged that any new technology leads to temporary labor displacements — a view supporters of the AI buildout have acknowledged too even while reassuring workers that they project there won’t be a mass labor disruption by automation.

But the pope still worries about what the consequences of any disruption may be. 

“Work remains a fundamental dimension of the human experience, for not only is it a means of sustenance, but it is also a context for expression, relationships and contributing to the community,” Leo wrote. “A society that guarantees employment to only a small fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity, a lack of responsibility and the absence of daily tasks and stimuli, resulting in human and cultural impoverishment.”

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Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.

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Ethereum price is grinding sideways while an indirect institutional catalyst might be building in the background. Onchain data shows that BitMine Immersion Technologies, the biggest Ether treasury company chaired by Tom Lee, has added another 60,000 ETH to its holdings, withdrawing those funds from Kraken. Although it is not yet confirmed by either Bitmine or Tom Lee officially.

FTSE Russell simultaneously placed BitMine on its preliminary Russell 3000 inclusion list, and Lee is publicly flagging that the company’s $10.15 billion market cap clears the $5.7 billion threshold required for Russell 1000 eligibility.

It is not baseless as BitMine’s market cap comfortably exceeds the Russell 1000 minimum, and Lee posted on X that “many active managers only buy equities on the Russell 1000.” His estimate: passive index funds and ETFs typically hold 20% to 25% of any included stock’s market cap.

FTSE Russell will publish updated lists on June 5, June 12, and June 18, with reconstituted indexes taking effect after market close on June 26. Every one of those dates is a potential volatility event for BMNR, and indirectly, for ETH.

Meanwhile, Ethereum ETF flows, regulatory overhang from the SEC’s delayed tokenized-stocks proposal, and Ethereum Foundation governance shifts are all unresolved. This backdrop has been keeping ETH pinned.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

Ethereum Price Outlook: Russell 1000 Tailwinds vs. Sideways Grind

ETH volume has been uninspiring during this sideways phase, and Tom Lee’s framework provides the longer-range scaffolding. Lee has publicly outlined Ethereum price targets of $12,000, $22,000, and even $62,000 depending on Bitcoin’s trajectory, historical ETH/BTC ratios, and Ethereum’s expanding role in tokenization and payments.

These figures are long-cycle projections, not near-term calls, but they establish the directional bias held by one of Wall Street’s most visible crypto advocates.

For ETH, FTSE Russell confirmation on BitMine’s Russell 1000 inclusion would trigger forced buying from passive ETFs. The 20–25% passive ownership estimate translates to billions in mandated exposure, some of which flows through to ETH’s price indirectly as BitMine accumulates further.

Ethereum (ETH)

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At the moment, the ETF flow dynamic remains the most underappreciated variable in Ethereum’s near-term setup. The index calendar is the clock now.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

LiquidChain Targets Early-Mover Upside as Ethereum Tests Key Levels

Ethereum’s consolidation is a familiar pattern for cycle-aware investors, and history suggests the sharpest gains in a bull phase often accrue not at the large-cap level, but one layer deeper in the infrastructure stack. That’s the window LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is positioning to exploit.

LiquidChain is a Layer 3 infrastructure project with a specific, technically grounded thesis: fuse Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single execution environment. One deployment, all three ecosystems. That’s not a vague cross-chain promise.

The architecture centers on a Unified Liquidity Layer, Single-Step Execution, Verifiable Settlement, and Deploy-Once Architecture. These are components designed to eliminate the fragmentation that currently forces developers to choose chains rather than combine them.

Capital rotation into on-chain infrastructure has been accelerating as ETH-adjacent narratives heat up — and LiquidChain’s presale reflects that momentum. The numbers speak for themself. Currently priced at $0.01463, Liquid has managed to grow its IPO with more than $800K raised to date, approaching the $1 million milestone.

Research LiquidChain’s presale terms before the next pricing tier moves.

The post Ethereum Price Stuck Sideways as Tom Lee Hints at Russell 1000 Inclusion: Passive ETF Flows Could Boost ETH USD appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin just blew past a $1.7 billion market cap milestone, one of the fastest stablecoin ascents since its December 2024 launch, yet the XRP price stalls.

RLUSD’s expanding share of settlement activity on the XRP Ledger signals genuine adoption beyond early users. Yet analysts confirm that almost none of RLUSD’s growth is translating into buy pressure on XRP. The stablecoin’s rise and XRP’s sideways grind are, for now, two separate stories.

With compressed volatility, a symmetrical triangle tightening on the daily chart, and a critical resistance band dead ahead, XRP is approaching a true decision point.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

Can XRP Price Break $1.45 This Week?

XRP price is wedged inside a multi-week consolidation corridor that has compressed price action into an increasingly tight range. The symmetrical triangle forming on the daily timeframe reflects a near-perfect equilibrium between buyers and sellers.

Immediate resistance clusters between $1.38–$1.42, with a stronger ceiling at $1.45 where the 100-day moving average converges with the upper boundary of a long-term descending channel. That confluence makes the $1.40–$1.45 zone the most consequential technical level on XRP’s chart right now.

Xrp (XRP)

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Support is equally defined. The $1.30–$1.32 band has held as a floor through multiple tests, but a clean break below opens a direct path to $1.20, a level that would reset the structure bearishly.

Analysts tracking the consolidation note that low volatility environments like this historically precede sharp directional moves.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

Maxi Doge Targets Early Mover Upside as XRP Tests Key Levels

XRP’s stall at current levels raises an uncomfortable question for holders: how much upside remains in an asset with a $80 billion+ market cap that still can’t clear $1.45? Waiting for a breakout that may not arrive for weeks has a real opportunity cost, especially when early-stage assets are raising capital fast.

Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is one presale capturing attention in the current cycle. Built on Ethereum (ERC-20), it positions itself as the meme token for the 1000x leverage trading mindset, a 240-lb canine juggernaut embodying the relentless grind of bull market culture. The tagline says it bluntly: never skip leg day, never skip a pump.

The numbers are concrete. $MAXI is priced at $0.000282, with more than $4.7 million raised to date. The project also offers 65% APY staking, holder-only trading competitions with leaderboard rewards, and a Maxi Fund treasury earmarked for liquidity and partnerships.

Meme-first marketing with gym-bro viral energy rounds out the community engine.

Research Maxi Doge at the official presale.

The post XRP Price is yet to Recover as RLUSD Breached $1.7 Billion Market Cap: Will XRP Follow? appeared first on Cryptonews.

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