The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rescinded a long-standing policy that prevented it from accepting a lawsuit settlement if the defendant denied the agency’s allegations.

The CFTC said on Wednesday that it scrapped the policy, first adopted in 1998, because it “may have created an incorrect impression that the Commission is trying to shield itself from criticism.”

The language was similar to that provided by the US Securities and Exchange Commission when it rescinded a similar policy in May. 

“For nearly three decades, the Commission has refused to settle cases unless the defendant promised not to publicly deny the Commission’s allegations,” CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said. “I am pleased that we are rescinding the no-deny policy consistent with regulators throughout the government.”

Crypto companies that have faced enforcement action by the CFTC or SEC have criticized the rule, claiming it restricted their right to free speech.

Source: CFTC

The CFTC said the policy change now gives it more flexibility when settling enforcement actions.

However, it will not enforce existing no-deny provisions and could still require some defendants to admit certain facts or liabilities when settling enforcement actions.

Under the Trump administration, the CFTC and SEC have rolled back enforcement actions taken against crypto companies that were launched under the Biden administration.

On Thursday, the CFTC sought to vacate its $5 million settlement with crypto exchange Gemini, a case that Selig claimed was “politically targeted.”

Tim Massad, who headed the CFTC under the Obama administration, told Cointelegraph on Friday that the agency’s choice to reverse the settlement was “extraordinarily unusual.”

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Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

TLDR:

• NEAR Protocol’s Buy/Sell Pressure Delta crossed from deeply negative to +112.107 at $1.50.
• Standard chart signals, funding rates, and derivatives gave no warning ahead of NEAR’s move.
• NEAR Intents now connects 30+ chains, with private transactions making up nearly half of activity.
• Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP inflows point to growing institutional interest in the protocol’s growth.

---

NEAR Protocol has surged approximately 89% in recent weeks, rising from $1.50 to $2.83. The move attracted attention after on-chain data flagged a shift in buying pressure before any major price action was visible.

Analysts and alert systems that track order flow data caught the rotation early. The broader crypto market largely missed the setup, as traditional chart signals and derivatives data offered little warning ahead of the move.

On-Chain Data Flagged the Move Before Markets Reacted

NEAR’s 90-day Buy/Sell Pressure Delta had remained deeply negative for roughly five months. During that period, sell pressure dominated as price drifted from $4.00 down to $1.50. Most market participants had written off the asset by that point.

The shift came when the delta crossed from negative to positive territory. According to Alphractal, the current reading stands at Buy 7.692 against Sell 2.142, with the delta sitting at +112.107. The crossover was driven by actual aggressive market orders, not sentiment.

Alphractal noted in a post that standard chart signals showed nothing notable at the time the cross fired. CEX volume appeared unremarkable, funding rates were neutral, and derivatives positioning gave no leading signal.

The platform described the Buy/Sell Pressure Delta crossover as one of the cleaner mid-cap rotation signals in its data stack. It tracks order flow directly, making it less susceptible to narrative-driven noise that often misleads traders.

Fundamentals Add Weight to the Technical Picture

Beyond order flow, NEAR Protocol’s underlying activity has also shifted meaningfully. Analyst Rain noted on X that NEAR is up 72% year-to-date, carrying a market cap of approximately $3.36 billion and ranking 28th globally.

NEAR Intents, which connects over 30 chains through automated cross-chain swaps, has expanded the protocol’s cross-chain functionality considerably. This infrastructure development has drawn attention from traders looking at AI agent use cases.

Private transactions went live recently and already account for nearly half of all platform activity. That adoption rate points to substantial existing demand for privacy features within decentralized finance.

On the institutional side, the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP has recorded growing inflows. That trend suggests institutional capital is beginning to track the protocol’s on-chain developments more closely.

Price Structure and Key Levels to Watch

NEAR broke out from a support base established around $2.10 during May. That level has since become a reference point for traders assessing the sustainability of the current move.

The next resistance level sits at $3.14, according to Rain’s analysis. A clean break above that level could open the door to further upside, though the asset must hold its recent support first.

The price structure following the May breakout reflects a typical mid-cap rotation pattern. Strong initial demand absorbed existing supply before price found a new trading range above prior resistance.

With order flow metrics still positive and institutional products gaining traction, NEAR Protocol remains in focus for market participants watching cross-chain and privacy infrastructure narratives develop.

Zcash developers temporarily suspended Orchard transactions after discovering a critical vulnerability in the privacy-focused blockchain’s latest shielded pool, then restored functionality through an emergency network upgrade.

On Wednesday, the Zcash Foundation said the vulnerability affected Orchard’s zero-knowledge proof circuit and could have allowed invalid state transitions within the pool. However, the Foundation said there was no evidence that the bug was exploited, no unauthorized value creation was detected, and user privacy was not affected.

The fix was carried out through a two-step emergency upgrade. Zebra 4.5.3 temporarily disabled Orchard actions, while Zebra 5.0.0 activated the NU6.2 upgrade to re-enable Orchard with a corrected circuit, according to the Foundation. 

The emergency response shows how a bug in core privacy infrastructure can require coordinated action across miners, exchanges and node operators, even when user funds and total supply are not affected.

The upgrade also appeared to have caused confusion across parts of the Zcash ecosystem. One Zcash block explorer showed block 3,364,601 as the latest block mined at 5:27 am UTC, while the page listed it as mined about four hours earlier, prompting reports on X that the Zcash network was down. 

Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL)-affiliated contributor Tatyana said the network experienced “a brief period of instability” as miners upgraded and converged on new consensus rules. The post did not directly name the block explorer or wallet issues, but said network stability had been fully restored by about 3:00 am Eastern Time on June 2.

Cointelegraph reached out to the Zcash Foundation for comment but had not received a response by publication. 

Zcash Block Explorer showing the last mined block four hours ago. Source: Zcash Block Explorer

According to the Zcash Foundation, the vulnerability was discovered on May 29 by independent security researcher Taylor Hornby during an ongoing protocol audit for Shielded Labs. The issue was disclosed to ZODL core engineers, who confirmed it and began preparing remediation options.

Zcash incident sparks confusion among community members

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana infrastructure firm Helius, disputed the reports, saying the network was “not down” and that some explorer apps were connected to a bad node. 

Pseudonymous community member Zerodarts echoed the sentiment, saying that “blocks are being mined” and that most block explorers need to update their nodes.

Related: Zcash is ‘running its own bull market’ as ZEC price paints 88% rally setup

However, community member Railgoon said Zcash miners and developers had frozen the Orchard shielded pool to patch a vulnerability before a hard fork. He said the network was therefore “partially intentionally down” at the time, but had since recovered. 

Zcash’s ZEC token briefly fell below $600 to $599 after reaching a daily high of $637, according to CoinGecko data. However, it had recovered to $614 at the time of writing. 

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Retail investors will soon be able to participate in US initial public offerings (IPOs) at the offering price through a new tokenized equities program from Payward Services, a Kraken-affiliated company.

In a Wednesday announcement, Payward Services said customers of Kraken and select members of its xStocks Alliance will be able to express interest in US-listed IPOs before companies go public and receive allocations of tokenized shares on listing day.

According to the company, the shares will be issued at the IPO offering price and backed 1:1 by the underlying stock held in custody by a regulated entity, allowing eligible retail investors to access allocations that are typically reserved for institutional clients.

The launch marks one of the latest efforts to use blockchain infrastructure to broaden access to traditional financial products amid a global push for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

Bringing IPO allocations onchain

Under the proposed process, participating exchanges will open an indication-of-interest window in the weeks before an IPO, allowing customers to submit non-binding requests to purchase shares within the expected pricing range.

Payward will aggregate demand from participating platforms and work with an underwriting syndicate before allocations are finalized on the company’s public listing day.

Source: Payward Services

The resulting shares will be tokenized and distributed through partner exchanges, enabling investors to receive exposure to newly listed companies without opening accounts with traditional brokerage providers.

First availability expected in coming weeks

The first tokenized IPO offerings are expected to become available to customers of Kraken and other xStocks Alliance members in the coming weeks, with Payward planning to add more launch partners and markets over time.

“Going public should mean public to everyone,” said Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, adding that getting in at the IPO price has been a “privilege of geography and net worth” for decades.

“Now a retail investor in Medellín, Madrid, or Malaysia can have similar access to a US-listed IPO, and Payward Services’ xStocks infrastructure is finally making that possible for the masses,” the executive added.

Related: Binance launches SpaceX-linked perpetual futures ahead of IPO

The announcement comes as interest in tokenized RWAs continues to grow, with Bernstein Research estimating the RWA market has reached $51 billion after expanding 42% this year.

Payward Services said xStocks processed more than $30 billion in transaction volume during its first year, including over $6 billion settled onchain, across more than 125,000 holders globally. Kraken acquired xStocks operator Backed Finance in late 2025.

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Israel’s voluntary disclosure program for cryptocurrency profits has yet to deliver the revenue uplift anticipated by authorities, even as the policy offers immunity from criminal proceedings for filers who correct their crypto tax reports. The program, launched in August 2025, targets taxpayers with crypto holdings below the equivalent of $522,000 as of December 2024, provided they file accurate reports and settle all taxes by August 31, 2026. However, uptake appears modest relative to projections, with disclosures totaling only about $50 million in crypto capital reported to date, according to a Globes briefing.

Globes’ reporting highlights a widening gap between policy incentives and taxpayer participation. The article notes that the tax authority had anticipated as much as $1 billion in taxes from voluntary disclosures, but current filings suggest a fraction of that potential. Iftach Simhony, a CPA who heads the tax department at the Prof. Bein Law Office, told Globes that the lack of an anonymous track complicates voluntary disclosure in practice. “In the cryptocurrency field, the difficulty of the absence of an anonymous track is even more acute,” he said. “When the risk assessment of some taxpayers is not high, and the procedure itself does not offer certainty or anonymity in the first stage, the incentive to undergo voluntary disclosure is weakened.”

“In the cryptocurrency field, the difficulty of the absence of an anonymous track is even more acute,” said Iftach Simhony, a CPA and head of the tax department at the Prof. Bein Law Office, Globes reported. “When the risk assessment of some taxpayers is not high, and the procedure itself does not offer certainty or anonymity in the first stage, the incentive to undergo voluntary disclosure is weakened.”

The voluntary disclosure framework was announced by the Israel Tax Authority and provides immunity from criminal charges if the reported holdings stay under the threshold and all taxes are paid in full by the deadline. Globes notes that only 58 filers had begun correcting their taxes under this program, indicating a slow pace of engagement amid the policy’s perceived trade-offs between transparency, privacy, and enforcement certainty.

Related context from Israel’s broader crypto policy environment shows continued regulatory interest. For instance, a coverage link discusses how the Israeli crypto industry has pushed for regulatory changes amid strong public support, underscoring ongoing policy evolution as lawmakers weigh how to tax and regulate digital assets.

On the market side, the Bank of Israel’s financial stability report covering January to June 2024 estimated that Israelis held roughly $1 billion in crypto assets, underscoring the potential tax base that could be affected by disclosure policies and future regulatory changes. The figure, cited in the central bank’s report, reflects a sizable household exposure to crypto that regulators are seeking to monitor and regulate as part of broader financial stability considerations.

Key takeaways

• The Israeli voluntary disclosure program offers criminal-immunity incentives for crypto tax corrections, subject to holding thresholds and timely full tax settlement.
• Uptake to date appears modest relative to projections, with disclosures totaling about $50 million in crypto capital and only 58 filers having attempted corrections.
• Experts caution that the absence of anonymity in early stages may blunt participation, even when the policy promises future clarity and enforcement alignment.
• Bank of Israel data indicates a substantial crypto asset base among Israeli households, highlighting potential revenue and policy impact from tax regulatory changes.
• In the United States, proposed de minimis exemptions for crypto transactions signal a contrasting regulatory approach that could influence cross-border compliance and reporting expectations.

Regulatory framing and cross-border considerations

The Israeli case underscores how tax authorities are balancing enforcement with incentives to improve disclosure in the crypto ecosystem. The program’s design—immunity contingent on accurate reporting and timely tax settlement—aims to close gaps in a sector historically characterized by opaque holdings and complex valuation. Yet the early response suggests that the incentive structure may require additional assurances around privacy, data handling, and the perceived certainty of outcomes to overcome taxpayer risk aversion. For tax authorities, this points to a broader challenge: aligning voluntary disclosure with robust AML/KYC standards while preserving taxpayer confidence in the process.

From a compliance perspective, the Israeli example has implications for exchanges, custodians, and other crypto service providers. Firms operating in or with Israeli customers must remain vigilant about evolving reporting obligations, potential KYC augmentation, and the need to support clients who pursue voluntary disclosures through official channels. As the crypto ecosystem grows in scale, regulators may increasingly link tax reporting to on-chain analytics, formal disclosures, and regulatory oversight, reinforcing the importance of rigorous recordkeeping and transparent tax positions for individuals and institutions alike.

On the international stage, the PARITY Act introduced in May by U.S. lawmakers directs the Internal Revenue Service to study establishing a de minimis exemption for digital assets. The proposal would carve out a threshold below which small crypto transactions would not be subject to mandatory reporting. While the aim is to reduce administrative burden and focus limited enforcement resources on material activity, the move also highlights how policy is diverging across jurisdictions. The legislation, noted by Cointelegraph in coverage of the PARITY Act, reflects ongoing debates about how to classify, tax, and report crypto activity in a way that preserves tax integrity while avoiding undue compliance friction for ordinary or incidental transactions.

These developments sit against a broader policy backdrop that includes regulatory oversight and licensing considerations for crypto firms, as well as ongoing dialogue about stablecoins, banking interfaces, and cross-border tax cooperation. For institutional traders, banks, and asset managers with international footprints, such divergences in reporting regimes can complicate global tax planning, compliance programs, and risk assessment frameworks. Analysts and compliance teams will need to monitor how jurisdictions balance transparency with privacy, how enforcement priorities shift, and how prospective exemptions could affect tax revenue, enforcement resources, and investor behavior.

Closing perspective

Israel’s voluntary disclosure initiative illustrates the practical challenges of converting policy promises into measurable tax collection, especially in a market where on-chain activity often outpaces conventional reporting channels. The slow uptake, coupled with robust household exposure to crypto assets, points to an ongoing assessment of how best to align incentives, enforcement, and privacy in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. As regulators abroad weigh similar questions—whether to carve out exemptions or tighten reporting—watch for further policy calibrations that could redefine compliance norms for crypto firms and institutional investors alike.

Helium Mobile has been acquired by Noble Mobile, a U.S.-based telecom startup founded by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, while the Helium Network and its native HNT token have remained under existing operational structures.

According to announcements from both companies, Noble Mobile has taken control of Helium Mobile’s wireless service business, gaining access to an existing subscriber base and a network relationship that allows traffic to be routed through Helium’s decentralized wireless infrastructure.

🚨 Big news: Helium Mobile has been acquired by @andrewyang‘s @joinnoblemobile

Noble Mobile shares our core belief that connectivity should be affordable and accessible for every American. By joining forces, we can deliver on that promise for more people than either of us could… pic.twitter.com/Wl3pbRKbYs

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— Helium Mobile ☁️ (@helium_mobile) June 2, 2026

The transaction has generated debate among community members, with some users questioning whether a decentralized project could effectively be sold.

Nova Labs and Helium executives have since clarified that the deal covers only Helium Mobile, a consumer-facing service, and does not include ownership of the Helium Network itself.

Noble Mobile currently operates by leasing spectrum from T-Mobile. Through the acquisition, the company has committed to using connectivity provided by the Helium Network, which relies on more than 138,900 community-operated hotspots to deliver wireless coverage.

Data cited by Blockworks shows the Helium ecosystem burns roughly $50,000 worth of data credits each day. Because data credits are created by burning HNT, continued network usage contributes to token demand through Helium’s mint-and-burn economic model. Additional data from the platform also indicates the token’s rolling seven-day deflation rate stands at 9.72%.

The acquisition has not changed Helium Network operations

Community concerns intensified shortly after the announcement, prompting Helium co-founder Amir Haleem to explain the distinction between Helium Mobile and the Helium Network.

PSA: @helium_mobile is an MVNO, a consumer cellular product. subscribers pay in fiat currency and get a phone number, a SIM card, etc

the @helium Network is a network of community owned Hotspots that serve cellular traffic for multiple carriers including AT&T, Telefonica, and… https://t.co/3NLM8Cto8y

— amir 🇺🇸 (@amirhaleem) June 3, 2026

Haleem stated that the decentralized network remains under Nova Labs’ stewardship and will continue operating as before. Hotspot operators are still expected to earn HNT rewards for providing coverage and data transfer services that can be used by telecom providers, including large carriers such as AT&T.

For existing Helium Mobile subscribers, the transition is not expected to bring immediate service disruptions. Company guidance states that customers can retain their current phone numbers and continue using the service without changes during the migration process.

Pricing remains one area where uncertainty persists. While Helium Mobile’s published FAQ states that affordability will remain a priority, the company said future pricing details will be communicated as the transition progresses.

HNT price remains under pressure despite network demand growth

Market reaction to the acquisition has been relatively muted. Helium (HNT) gained roughly 1.7% over the past 24 hours, though the token continues to trade within a longer-term downtrend.

Technical analysis of the daily chart shows HNT recently broke below the lower boundary of a falling wedge pattern that had been developing since February. While falling wedges often resolve to the upside, the bearish breakdown suggests sellers remain in control of price action.

Momentum indicators continue to support that view. The MACD remains below its signal line with negative histogram readings, indicating persistent downside momentum. Meanwhile, the Aroon indicator shows Aroon Down at 100% and Aroon Up at 0%, a configuration that typically signals a strong bearish trend.

The breakdown has pushed HNT toward support near $0.60. If that level fails to hold, traders may begin watching the psychological $0.50 area as the next major downside target.

On the upside, the former wedge support between $0.65 and $0.70 now acts as the first resistance zone that bulls would need to reclaim to improve the technical outlook.

Despite continued growth in network usage and data credit burns, the chart suggests traders remain cautious as HNT searches for a stable bottom.

BitMine has moved to raise $300 million through a preferred stock sale as the Ethereum treasury firm turns to dividend-paying securities for fresh capital.

According to a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, BitMine Immersion Technologies is offering 3 million shares of Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at a stated value of $100 each. The company said the shares will carry a 9.5% annual dividend rate, with payments expected weekly in cash, subject to board approval.

The preferred stock is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMNP, subject to listing approval, according to the filing. BitMine did not state how it plans to use the proceeds from the offering.

BitMine Follows Strategy’s Funding Path

The filing shows BitMine adopting a financing model already used by Strategy, the bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy. Strategy has issued several classes of preferred equity to raise capital outside common stock sales and debt markets.

Other crypto treasury firms have also moved in the same direction. Strive and Metaplanet have issued dividend-paying preferred shares as digital asset treasury companies look for capital while crypto prices remain under pressure.

BitMine, led by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, is applying that structure to an Ethereum-focused treasury strategy. The company has become one of the most aggressive ETH buyers in the sector, according to its recent disclosures.

Ethereum Treasury Faces Heavy Paper Loss

According to the company’s filing, BitMine has accumulated more than 5.3 million ETH, valued at about $10 billion. The filing said the holdings represent roughly 4.5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

The same filing showed BitMine’s Ethereum position carrying an estimated $9 billion unrealized loss after ETH fell from about $ 5,000 to below $ 1,800 in October. The company’s exposure makes the preferred stock sale closely tied to investor confidence in its Ethereum treasury model.

The preferred shares can be redeemed by BitMine at premiums that decline from 10% to 0%, depending on when the redemption takes place, according to the filing. Investors will also have repurchase rights if specific corporate changes occur.

Earlier ETH Purchase Lifted Holdings

As previously reported by crypto.news, BitMine bought 26,497 ETH over the past week, lifting its Ethereum holdings to 5.42 million tokens. The purchase moved the company closer to its stated 5% target for Ethereum supply.

BitMine said its crypto, cash, and “moonshots” holdings totaled $11.6 billion as of May 31. The company reported 5,416,901 ETH, 203 Bitcoin, $446 million in cash, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, and a $93 million stake in Eightco Holdings.

The timing of BitMine’s preferred stock filing comes as Strategy’s own preferred equity model faces fresh scrutiny. STRC, one of Strategy’s preferred stocks, fell about 5% below its $100 par value on Wednesday.