The crypto firm tied to President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial Inc., was again a focus of political scrutiny in a congressional hearing in which the chief of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency suggested the only political pressure his agency feels on its decision of whether or not to give the firm a bank charter comes from Democrats, not Trump.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould’s rebuttal had come in response to Representative Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, who asked during the Thursday hearing whether Gould is “working for the American people or working as a Trump fixer, which is it?”

“Your attempts to continue to pressure me are the only political pressure I’ve felt from anyone other than your Senate colleagues,” Gould said, referring to similar questions he’d heard from Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren. “That is very unfortunate and unprecedented,” he added, insisting that his agency will do its job under the statute governing charters.

Democrats continue to argue that World Liberty’s connection to foreign investors and crypto partners that have been previously associated with illicit behavior — including global exchange Binance — suggest that it’s not fit for a U.S. banking charter, and they’ve argued it’s inappropriate for a Trump appointee to be deciding whether to give such a benefit to a business partially owned by the president and his family.

Amid Thursday’s verbal sparring, Gould said his agency is following ethics laws in the application for a national trust-bank charter for World Liberty Trust Company.

The Trump-tied business is also a stablecoin issuer, which was a central topic of the hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, at which the U.S. supervisors of the banking and credit union industries explained where they’re at on implementing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

The regulators have already issued several proposed rules to put the new law into place, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Travis Hill said another is coming soon, saying his agency and others will propose a rule requiring “customer identification programs” for stablecoin issuers “in the very near future.”

Kyle Hauptman, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, touted the U.S. rise of stablecoins in his testimony.

“As stablecoins are more widely adopted, we Americans may no longer be made fun of for speaking about how many ‘business days’ a payment will take to settle. Every day is a business day with stablecoins,” he said. “Tax refunds may eventually arrive on Sundays or holidays. And if we ever have a repeat of the COVID outbreak in March 2020, Americans should be able to receive emergency stimulus funds in a more timely and secure manner.”

But Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who routinely speaks against the risks of crypto, said, “I can’t think of a worse idea” than allowing government payments in stablecoins. “It would sanctify an alternative to the U.S. dollar, an alternative designed to facilitate a tax-evasion economy.”

Sherman also argued that the GENIUS Act “requires that there be no interest paid on stablecoins,” and he contended that “the smartest, or at least the best-paid lawyers in the country” are trying to figure out ways to evade that prohibition, so the regulators need to “write regulations that withstand that.”

Also at the hearing, a lawmaker asked Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman about the Fed master account granted to crypto exchange Kraken.

Bowman said the approval granted only “very limited access to the payments system” and for an initially narrow duration of 12 months, during which she said the Fed will be watching it closely to educate itself in preparation for formal rules for providing such accounts. The rest of the crypto industry is also keenly interested in the outcome of the Fed’s policy work on opening such access to the central bank’s payments system and services, commonly known as “skinny” master accounts.

Read More: U.S. Senator Warren rebuffed on delay of World Liberty bank charter over Trump ties

Plume and Ether.fi have launched a yield-bearing real-world asset vault with a $100 million exclusive allocation from Ether.fi.

According to the press release, the allocation comes from ether.fi’s liquidity provider base, including funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. Charles Mountain, ether.fi’s head of ecosystem, said in the press release that the capital also includes managed funds from Ether.fi’s liquid ETH, liquid USD, and liquid BTC vaults, which hold about $300 million in total value locked.

Ether.fi adds RWA yield through Plume

Mountain said Ether.fi is seeing strong demand for earn products with institutional-grade risk and less exposure to DeFi complexity. Through the new product, ether.fi users can access tokenized real-world asset yield directly inside the ether.fi app.

According to Mountain, the integration of Plume Nest Vaults gives users access to institutional-grade real-world asset yield through a platform they already use. He said such products were previously available mainly to select investors.

Plume said users have been looking for more stable yield options after periods of volatility and exploit risks across DeFi. The company described the vault as part of a changing on-chain yield market, where investors want structured products with clearer risk controls.

Plume built Vaults around Ether.fi demand

Plume co-founder and CEO Chris Yin told The Block that Plume spent several months studying demand from ether.fi and its users. After that process, Yin said Plume sourced assets, completed due diligence, and built vaults that matched ether.fi’s needs as a partner and platform.

The vault is designed to bundle several institutional asset strategies into one product, according to Plume. Rather than requiring users to manage different positions manually, the structure allows deposits and withdrawals through a single vault product.

Plume said its RWA vaults work in a similar way to structured income products. The company said the vaults provide exposure to a basket of institutional assets, including overcollateralized credit pools, AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations, and total bond market exchange-traded funds.

Tokenized asset products gain traction

The launch comes as tokenized real-world assets continue attracting large financial institutions. Plume said the assets used in its vaults come from managers that collectively oversee more than $10 trillion.

Over the past year, firms such as Apollo, WisdomTree, Hamilton Lane, and BlackRock have expanded tokenization work as investors seek blockchain-based access to traditional financial products.

Vault products have become one route for packaging tokenized yield opportunities, according to Plume. The company said this model can reduce the need for users to interact with several protocols separately.

Plume said its vaults are non-custodial and built with compliance controls. The company linked that approach to its Bermuda Monetary Authority license and its Securities and Exchange Commission transfer agent approval through Kimber Transfer Agency.

Meanwhile, Ether.fi’s role gives the vault immediate access to one of the better-known restaking and crypto yield user bases. Ether.fi is also one of the largest crypto card providers, according to the company.

Though there’s no new sign of progress on the U.S. Senate’s Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the crypto industry’s Blockchain Association held an online event Thursday with involved lawmakers continuing to make the case for support — especially in the law enforcement community — as the bill’s advocates contend with a narrow Senate window.

Throughout the months of Clarity Act negotiations, the legislation’s provisions that contend with cryptocurrency abuse in illicit finance have remained among the top concerns of Democratic lawmakers, and a number of Democrats who’ve worked on the bill have so far held back their support while some law-enforcement groups have been hesitant to embrace the bill.

The current version recently advanced by the Senate Banking Committee is “the most highly negotiated bipartisan — or nonpartisan — sophisticated piece of a regulatory framework for digital assets that’s ever been presented to the public in this country,” said Senator Cynthia Lummis, who spoke at the event. Lummis, who heads the panel’s digital assets subcommittee and has been a leading Republican negotiator on the legislation, highlighted that the “current status quo is that digital asset exchanges are subject to lower Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements today than they would be if Clarity passes.”

As advocates seek the necessary 60 yes votes it’ll need to pass the Senate, Lummis argued that the timing is urgent.

“If we don’t get it done this year, we’re probably looking at about 2030 before this bill could ever have a shot again of being considered,” she said. The Senate has fewer than eight weeks of floor time available on its calendar before a summer break that will begin the midterm elections season in earnest.

Though the association produced a pro-Clarity Act letter from 160 former law enforcement officials this week and then set up meetings for some of them with Senate lawmakers, the Revolving Door Project — an organization that targets improper ties between the government and corporate interests — accused the Blockchain Association of trying to “hoodwink senators” with its list of former officials, pointing out many of them work for crypto companies. And the Revolving Door Project also contends the crypto organization disregarded “honest concerns expressed by the National Sheriffs’ Association and a host of other law enforcement associations in early May.”

“The cryptocurrency industry is so assured of its complete control over the U.S. Senate that it believes this farce is sufficient to assuage the concerns of senators who were alerted to the flaws of the Clarity Act by actual law enforcement officials,” said Jeff Hauser, the Revolving Door Project’s executive director.

But Patrick Witt, the White House’s chief adviser on crypto, said during Thursday’s online event, “We’re putting real regulatory constraints on businesses and actors that currently live in a state of uncertainty.”

His message to reluctant law enforcement officials: “You should be the biggest cheerleaders for this bill, because this is really what is missing.”

Clarity proponents are walking a tightrope to insist on strong illicit-finance protections while also saying it won’t target crypto developers. Lummis said the bill “allows law enforcement to prosecute bad actors who publish code with the specific intent — and that’s the key — with the specific intent that their code be used to facilitate money laundering.”

Read More: Amid the Clarity Act fanfare is some worry over how a last-minute deal may punch DeFi

TLDR:

• Binance Research projects crypto exchanges will channel $2T and 300M investors into equities by 2031.
• Over 93% of Binance stock trading users come from emerging markets facing traditional brokerage barriers.
• Stablecoins cut cross-border off-ramp costs by an average of 3.6% and roughly $40 per transaction.
• AI themes captured over 70% of total fund inflows on Binance, reflecting strong early adopter awareness.

Tokenized equities and stablecoin-settled stock trading are reshaping global market access. Binance Research projects that crypto exchanges could channel US$2T in capital and 300 million new investors into global equity markets by 2031.

The report maps structural demand from emerging markets, where brokerage barriers and geographic restrictions have historically locked out most retail investors. Stablecoins are emerging as the settlement layer of choice for 24/7 equity exposure.

Emerging Markets Drive Demand for Global Equity Access

Close to 93% of Binance stock trading users originate from emerging markets. This signals deep structural demand that traditional brokerages have largely failed to serve.

Geography, brokerage requirements, and currency barriers have kept participation rates below 20% across most non-US markets.

In contrast, roughly 62% of Americans hold equities through direct ownership or retirement accounts. Meanwhile, US equities account for approximately half of total global equity market capitalization.

Foreign investors hold only around 18% of that market, creating a sharp asymmetry in capital allocation globally.

Fractionalization is a key enabler in this context. Stocks like SNDK and MU reached share prices of US$1,716 and US$1,064 respectively in 2026.

The average worker across Africa and Southern Asia earns below US$300 per month, making single-share ownership effectively out of reach without fractionalization.

Crypto exchanges functioning as financial super-apps remove the friction between holding capital and deploying it.

A portfolio with just 5% allocated to Bitcoin delivered 82% cumulative returns between 2020 and 2026, compared to 60% without. The Sharpe ratio also improved from 0.52 to 0.63 over that period.

Stablecoins and Tokenized Equities Reshape Market Infrastructure

Stablecoins eliminate an average 3.6% and roughly US$40 per transaction in off-ramp costs for cross-border users.

They also remove the need to route funds through local banks before reaching separate brokerage accounts. This positions stablecoins as a practical settlement layer for continuous equity exposure.

TradFi-linked perpetuals have grown from a negligible base to approximately 10% of total stablecoin trading volume. Direct stock trading is expected to deepen this further.

The integration of spot equities on the same platform as derivatives also simplifies funding rate arbitrage execution considerably.

Tokenization adds another layer of utility that traditional equity structures cannot replicate. Staked tokenized shares reduce circulating supply, requiring custodians to purchase equivalent underlying shares.

According to the Inelastic Markets Hypothesis, the realistic market value uplift for a large-cap equity sits at an estimated US$0.30 to US$1 per US$1 locked.

Semiconductors and equipment captured roughly one-third of total fund inflows on Binance’s platform, generating 3.3 times the trading volume of the next sector.

AI-related themes captured over 70% of total fund inflows, reflecting strong financial awareness among early adopters on the platform.

US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) extended their sell-off Wednesday to a record 13 consecutive trading days as Bitcoin demand continued to weaken.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $396.6 million in net outflows on Wednesday, bringing cumulative withdrawals to roughly $4.4 billion since the streak began, according to data from SoSoValue.

The current run exceeds the previous record of eight consecutive trading days of outflows in February 2025, which saw roughly $3.2 billion exit the funds.

Bitcoin price briefly dipped below $63,000 on Thursday. Source: CoinGecko

Since the outflow streak began on May 15, Bitcoin has fallen about 21% from to $63,400 from about $80,000 as of publication, according to CoinGecko. Analysts have pointed to weakening ETF demand, long-term holder selling and miner pressure as possible drivers of the decline.

BlackRock IBIT leads outflows with $3.3 billion

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for the bulk of redemptions during the 13-day streak, recording about $3.3 billion in outflows, according to Farside Investors data. The amount represents roughly 75% of total withdrawals.

Fidelity’s Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) was the second-largest contributor with about $456.6 million in outflows, followed by Grayscale’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) at roughly $303.6 million.

Bitcoin ETF flows, AUM and Bitcoin holdings as of June 2, 2026. Source: WalletPilot

Over the past 30 days, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have shed 51,726 BTC in outflows, or nearly $5 billion, according to WalletPilot data. As of Tuesday, IBIT held about 786,800 BTC, followed by FBTC with 181,770 BTC and GBTC with 146,400 BTC.

Analysts split over Bitcoin demand slump

Bitcoin’s recent outflows and price decline come amid a sharp contraction in demand comparable to the post-Terra/Luna collapse period in 2022, according to CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno.

He said overall demand has dropped by about 501,000 BTC over the past month, marking the fastest monthly drop since May 2022.

Source: Julio Moreno

Industry observers are divided on what is driving the selling pressure. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said long-term institutional buyers, including Bitcoin ETFs and Michael Saylor’s Strategy, have remained net accumulators.

“Forget the boomers, someone needs to ‘call the OGs’ — they are behind this,” Balchunas said.

Some market commentary has pointed to derivatives positioning and exchange activity as potential drivers of the price decline, arguing that limited on-chain selling suggests leverage and liquidations may be amplifying volatility.

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju said recent selling by early Bitcoin holders and miners reflects a broader transfer of supply to US institutions, including ETFs and traditional investors. He said the shift in ownership could strengthen long-term demand, even as the market moves away from early “cypherpunk” holders.

Related: Strategy’s Bitcoin sale causes clash for $80M in Polymarket bets

Despite the outflows, Standard Chartered head of digital assets research Geoffrey Kendrick said in a Thursday statement sent to Cointelegraph that Bitcoin ETF holdings have remained broadly stable since February, suggesting more structural resilience than previously expected despite market volatility.

Kendrick also pointed to recent corporate selling as reinforcing a bearish narrative in the short term, noting that Strategy’s 32 BTC sale “fit the DAT naysayer thesis,” and said the timing was unfortunate given Bitcoin was already under pressure.

Magazine: NEAR price may ‘grow 20X,’ Bitcoin ETFs post 10-day outflow streak: Hodler’s Digest, May 24 – 30

A disputed Polymarket contract on whether Strategy sold Bitcoin by May 31 resolved to “No” after two dispute rounds, despite Strategy later disclosing that it sold 32 BTC during the market’s covered window.

UMA Optimistic Oracle (UMA) token holders voted to settle the market in “no” following a second resolution cycle that closed at 12:34 am UTC on Thursday, blockchain data shows. An overwhelming 98.6% of the 607 participants voted for the market to resolve in “no,” while only 1.4% voted “yes,” data from Betmoar shows.

Polymarket said that no information, onchain data or credible reporting confirmed a Strategy sale within the market’s timeframe, adding that confirmation achieved “outside of the market’s time frame does not qualify.”

Strategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31, but disclosed the sale in a Monday filing, after the market’s deadline.

The resolution adds to concerns about Polymarket’s token-weighted dispute resolution system, where the wallets with the largest UMA token holdings have proportionally more voting power. 

Multiple users cried foul, arguing that the market should have resolved based on when the sale occurred rather than when it was confirmed. One unfortunate trader reported a $500,000 loss tied to their event contract. Over $80 million had been wagered on whether Strategy would sell Bitcoin by May 31, Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday.

Polymarket dispute on Strategy selling Bitcoin by May 31. Source: Betmoar

“Prediction markets should price what happens, not how the oracle will reinterpret rules after the fact,” as resolution integrity “trumps any single outcome,” said Galaxy Research in a Wednesday X post, adding:

“We outline clear fixes: lock criteria at listing, deterministic resolution for verifiable events, and structural changes ahead of CFTC regulation.”

Galaxy also disclosed a financial interest in the market, adding that it bought “yes” shares as part of its strategy to routinely hedge prediction market positions.

Related: Polymarket team says user funds safe as exploit losses climb above $600K

Polymarket’s dispute resolution system raises concerns

The largest vote in the dispute came from blockchain wallet borntoolate.eth, which held 3.11 million UMA tokens, followed by Kevin Chan with wallet “0xd2a,” who held 1.53 million tokens.

Dispute resolution can be profitable for large token holders. Wallet borntoolate.eth netted over $299,000 from voting on event contract disputes, while the Kevin Chan-tagged wallet bagged over $370,000.

UMA token holders who voted on the disputed Strategy market. Source: Betmoar

Critics also pointed to earlier disputed Polymarket resolutions as evidence of broader concerns with UMA’s token-weighted voting model.

An event contract on whether Ukraine agrees to US President Donald Trump’s mineral deal before April 2025 was resolved as “yes” in March, following two rounds of disputes, despite the agreement being signed only on April 30.

Multiple users called it a “governance attack and whale manipulation but Polymarket did nothing with it,” commented Polymarket trader fr1ko.eth in a Tuesday X post.

The developments come a day after nine Democratic Party lawmakers in the US House of Representatives called on the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate how prediction markets advertise to customers and how they present themselves to regulators.

Magazine: The legal battle over who can claim DeFi’s stolen millions