Standard Chartered’s digital assets team forecasts $4 trillion in tokenized assets on-chain by end-2028. Stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA) should each account for half of that pool, with the forecast positioning DeFi as the native back-end for that capital.

The report comes from Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, who argues composability gives leading protocols a structural advantage that traditional finance cannot replicate.

Standard Chartered Pushes Composability as the Multiplier

Kendrick describes composability as the property that lets a single on-chain position earn yield. The same position can simultaneously serve as collateral and remain tradable.

Off-chain, the same exposure requires separate intermediaries and legal agreements. He points to BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, with about $2.7 billion in assets, as an example.

The tokenized Treasury product earns roughly 4% in yield and backs stablecoins. It also serves as collateral on lending markets such as Aave.

“Tokenized assets will reach $4T by the end of 2028 (half in stablecoins and half in RWAs). This rapid increase in assets on-chain will require a huge uplift in throughput on DeFi protocols. Well-established DeFi protocols with strong risk metrics and governance should benefit the most. The asset prices of these DeFi protocols will benefit accordingly,” Kendrick stated.

In TradFi, the same multi-use profile requires splitting capital across intermediaries and siloed systems.

Standard Chartered estimates the configuration lowers the effective cost of capital meaningfully.

Three Channels for Throughput

The bank identifies three drivers for protocol revenue, with each lever compounding the others:

• More assets move on-chain
• A higher share of those gets deposited into DeFi
• A higher share again is then borrowed against.

Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) offers a working example. Its market cap and the share lent across DeFi venues are rising together.

Protocols with conservative risk metrics and professional governance stand to capture most of the inflows.

Catalyst Watch

Kendrick flags the CLARITY Act as the next major trigger for institutional migration into lending rails. Polymarket traders currently price the bill’s 2026 passage near 64%.

Standard Chartered estimates around 1,000 times more value sits off-chain than on-chain today.

Established protocols with proven risk frameworks should capture most of the upside. Newer or less audited platforms would carry sharper drawdown risk under institutional scale.

The next test will be whether large institutional treasurers begin parking tokenized funds inside open lending venues at scale.

Volume in that direction would confirm Kendrick’s framework. It would shift DeFi’s role from speculative trading venue to institutional infrastructure.

The post $4 Trillion Tokenized Assets by 2028 Could Ignite DeFi Boom, Standard Chartered Says appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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BSC’s quantum-security test worked, but bigger transaction data slowed network throughput by about 40%.

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• EMCD and Vnish launched an integrated mining solution combining pool services with ASIC firmware optimization.
• The partnership gives miners chip-level autotuning, live performance monitoring, dynamic load balancing, and reject-rate tracking.
• The companies say the setup can improve effective hashrate, lower energy use, and reduce losses tied to downtime or poor configuration.

EMCD, a leading crypto mining pool and digital asset services provider, announced a partnership with Vnish, the largest third-party ASIC firmware provider on the market. 

The collaboration brings EMCD pool services and Vnish firmware optimization into one mining setup aimed at stronger uptime, better chip-level control, and improved profitability. New clients using both services will also receive special partner terms, giving miners added cost benefits alongside performance gains.

For miners, poor firmware settings, unstable pool connections, high reject rates, and downtime can cut into output before coins reach the wallet.

According to EMCD-reported data cited by Cryptopolitan, stock firmware configurations can reduce potential mining performance by up to 25%, while latency-related rejected shares can account for another 2% to 5% of monthly revenue loss. Separately, 1% downtime in a year equals about 3.65 days of lost operating time.

These losses carry real costs for operators. 

A Joint Setup for Better Hashrate and Lower Losses

The EMCD and Vnish partnership brings pool performance and ASIC firmware optimization into one mining setup.

Vnish firmware gives miners chip-level autotuning, dynamic load balancing, and real-time performance monitoring. Operators can track machine behavior, connection quality, and reject rates in the same environment used for pool activity.

Vnish firmware can reduce energy consumption by up to 25%, improve efficiency by 8% to 20% compared with stock firmware, and increase hashrate by up to 24%. 

Meanwhile, EMCD says its pool environment adds up to 99.9% uptime and low-latency connectivity.

“Mining today is defined by operational efficiency rather than nominal hashrate,” said Konstantin Zherebtsov, General Manager of Mining Pool EMCD. “Our partnership with Vnish is focused on providing miners with a proven, integrated solution that improves performance, reduces losses, and potentially might increase overall profitability.”

The value of the setup comes from managing both sides of mining performance at once. Firmware controls how efficiently each ASIC works. Pool connectivity affects how much of that work reaches the network and turns into accepted shares. Weak settings, unstable connections, and high reject rates all reduce real output.

Bradley Peak, Global Head of Sales at Vnish, said the partnership responds to a market where miners are being forced to protect every percentage point of profitability.

“With Bitcoin’s price and nBits where they are today, many miners are simply shutting off. Staying profitable now comes down to maximising miner efficiency while also minimising firmware and pool fees. This partnership enables both.”

By combining Vnish firmware with EMCD’s pool services, miners get more control over the full performance path,” said Bradley. “They can see how each machine performs, how the connection behaves, where rejects appear, and where tuning can improve returns. The goal is higher efficiency and stronger profitability without additional hardware investment.”

What Comes Next

EMCD and Vnish plan deeper product integration, more automation, stronger monitoring, and flexible pricing for different miner segments.

For miners, the announcement fits a market where margins depend on effective hashrate, energy use, uptime, and pool stability. Better returns now come from the full operating setup, including the ASIC, firmware, monitoring tools, and pool connection.

About EMCD

EMCD is a global crypto mining pool and digital asset platform. It combines mining pool services with wallet, P2P, yield, liquidity, and white-label tools.

Founded in 2017 as an industrial BTC mining operation in Europe, EMCD now serves individuals and businesses worldwide. Users manage digital assets on the platform, while businesses use EMCD APIs for branded Web3 products.

About Vnish

Vnish is a developer of ASIC firmware solutions for cryptocurrency mining. Its firmware helps miners optimize machine performance through chip-level autotuning, voltage and frequency control, thermal management, and flexible performance profiles.

According to the Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report, Vnish held the largest share among third-party ASIC firmware providers in 2025, with 26.4% of the surveyed firmware market. Vnish also provides monitoring and management features that help operators track device health, stability, errors, and efficiency across mining fleets.

The post EMCD and Vnish Bring Pool and Firmware Optimization Into One Mining Setup appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Key takeaways

• PI is up by nearly 2% as bulls attempt to push the price above $0.1500.
• The ongoing token unlock could still put further pressure on the coin. 

Bulls look to push PI above $0.1500

Pi Network (PI) has been one of the worst performers among the leading cryptocurrencies in recent days. 

The coin is down 12% in the last seven days, underperforming compared to the broader crypto market. However, it has slightly bounced back after adding 2% to its value since Monday.

PI is now trading at $0.1507 on Tuesday, thanks to the outflows from Centralized Exchanges (CEXs). 

Despite that, PI could continue to face selling pressure as the mainnet migration surpasses CEX withdrawals.

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Data obtained from PiScan reveals that 2.55 million PI tokens left exchanges over the last 24 hours, a figure that typically signals a surge in buying activity. 

While the outflow to CEXs will reduce selling pressure on PI, it is still not enough to absorb the migration tokens. 

Migration statistics reveal that 4.36 million PI tokens were transferred from testnet to mainnet on Tuesday, enabling holders to deposit this unlocked supply on CEXs. 

This latest development comes after 7.65 million PI tokens were migrated on the previous day.

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Will the $0.1500 support level hold?

The PI/USD 4-hour chart remains bearish and efficient despite PI adding 2% to its value in the last 24 hours. 

The short-term recovery might not hold as the selling pressure is currently outweighing the demand. 

Momentum indicators reinforce this pressure, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering just above oversold territory near 34. 

PI’s Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line on the 4-hour chart also remains slightly negative below the zero line, adding further confluence to the bearish narrative. 

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If the sellers continue to dominate, PI could drop below the $0.1500 and test the support levels at $0.1440 and $0.1345 in the near term. 

However, if the bulls regain control and push the price above the $0.1605 resistance level, it could allow PI to extend its rally towards the 100-period EMA at roughly $0.1684.

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CoinShares data shows investors are rotating into listed products based on XRP and SOL while bitcoin and ethereum products posted heavy weekly outflows.

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SBI Holdings has filed for Japan’s first spot Ripple XRP ETF, deliberately skipping Ethereum and targeting $32 billion in institutional assets. It is seen as a structural decision that reflects Japan’s regulatory environment and SBI’s decade-long XRP infrastructure investments as much as it does pure market preference.

The filing reveals two distinct products: a Crypto-Assets ETF tracking Bitcoin and XRP together, and a Digital Gold Crypto ETF allocating more than 50% to gold with added crypto exposure for risk-sensitive investors. Neither product includes Ethereum.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency has been advancing a framework that would reclassify crypto more explicitly as financial products. A shift that makes regulated ETF wrappers structurally viable for pension funds and insurance capital for the first time ever.

Why Ripple Over Ethereum? The Regulatory and Infrastructure Logic Behind SBI’s Decision

SBI’s choice is not an endorsement of XRP’s technology over Ethereum’s. It is a product of institutional infrastructure and regulatory fit that has been building in Japan for years.

SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture between SBI Holdings and Ripple, has operated in Japan since 2016, giving SBI deep XRP liquidity access, established custody rails, and pre-existing compliance frameworks tied to Ripple’s payment network. Ethereum carries none of that domestic institutional weight in Japan’s specific market structure.

Yoshitaka Kitao, SBI Holdings’ CEO, has been one of Ripple’s most visible corporate advocates in Asia, and is making the XRP ETF filing a logical extension of a strategic relationship. SBI isn’t launching a Japan Crypto product opportunistically; it is converting existing infrastructure into a regulated investment wrapper.

The U.S. market moved from Bitcoin ETF to Ethereum ETF approval in sequence, partly driven by SEC precedent and Ethereum’s regulatory classification as a commodity. Japan’s FSA is navigating a different framework, one where XRP’s deep local adoption and SBI’s Ripple partnership make it a more straightforward regulatory argument than Ethereum would be.

If approved, the XRP-linked ETF would be a first for Japan, giving local investors regulated spot-style exposure without the risk of offshore exchange.

The regulatory clarity developing in major markets has accelerated institutional timelines globally, and Japan is moving on its own terms.

Discover: Top Crypto Assets for Portfolio Diversification in 2025

XRP Price Impact: $32 Billion Institutional Demand

The SBI filing is a medium-term demand catalyst, not an immediate price trigger. ETF approval timelines in Japan are measured in months, and the FSA’s reclassification framework is still in process. But the directional signal for institutional investment in XRP is unambiguous.

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Japan’s FSA could advance the crypto reclassification framework by this year, so the $32 billion addressable market begins converting.

Broader altcoin ETF momentum is also building globally. Grayscale and VanEck are both advancing BNB ETF filings in the U.S., confirming that regulated altcoin exposure is now a product category, not an experiment. SBI is positioning Japan at that frontier.

Discover: Best Crypto Presales With Early-Mover Upside in 2025

The post The Ripple Factor: Why SBI Is Prioritizing XRP Over Ethereum for Japanese ETFs appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Ethereum (ETH) price is stalling near $2,140 as a sharp DeFi erosion since January now matches a bearish chart structure carved out over the past seven weeks.

The lag against Bitcoin and a sliding holder cohort suggest the price weakness may be more than a routine pullback. The structure on the daily chart and the on-chain data tell the same story from different angles.

Ethereum Price Mirrors DeFi TVL Collapse Since January Peak

Ethereum has carved an inverted cup pattern on the daily chart between March 29 and May 18. The current rebound looks more like a handle of the inverted cup.

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The formation is a bearish setup where price peaks in the middle of a rounded top and then forms a brief recovery handle. The pattern signals continuation lower if the cup’s neckline breaks.

The price structure tracks the network’s deteriorating DeFi position. Ethereum DeFi TVL has fallen from $106.687 billion on January 15 to $62.957 billion as of May 18, a drop of nearly 41% in four months.

The damage extends into the same window that produced the bearish pattern. Around late March, just before the inverted cup began forming, the network’s DeFi TVL stood near $80.32 billion. It has shed roughly $17 billion since, mirroring the cup’s descent on the price chart. This fundamental erosion could be the reason why Bitcoin is up 2% month-on-month but ETH is down 8%. That explains the 10% lag between the top two cryptocurrencies.

The handle now forming shows a brief bounce. Whether this rebound has legs depends on whether the underlying network activity stabilizes, or whether other holder cohorts confirm the same caution.

Mid-Term Holders Cut Stake as DeFi Stress Spreads

On-chain data from Glassnode reinforces the weakness. The HODL Waves indicator, a metric that tracks the share of Ethereum supply held across different age buckets, shows the 3-month to 6-month cohort has dropped sharply.

The cohort held 18.63% of total ETH supply on April 7, when the inverted cup was still forming its right side. As of May 18, the same cohort holds just 12.73%, a roughly six-percentage-point decline in six weeks.

The drop matters because the 3m-6m bucket captures mid-term holders, often a steadier base than short-term speculators. Their decision to either spend ETH or let them age out without rebuilding the bucket suggests possible loss of conviction, tied to the same DeFi erosion playing out across the network.

With both Ethereum DeFi TVL and a steady holder cohort sliding together, the case for a deeper move has built quietly underneath an ETH price chart that still looks indecisive. The chart now becomes the decider.

Ethereum Price Levels That Decide the 19% Risk

Ethereum price needs to clear $2,132 immediately to keep the handle’s bounce alive. A break above $2,210, the 0.382 Fibonacci level drawn from the $1,799 swing low to the $2,464 swing high, would mark the first sign of returning strength.

The pattern only begins to weaken if ETH reclaims $2,307. It is fully invalidated above $2,464, the prior peak that defines the cup’s rim.

On the downside, a failure at $2,132 exposes $2,087, the neckline of the formation. A daily close below $2,087 would confirm the breakdown.

The measured-move target then sits at $1,690. This level is roughly 19% below neckline and carries the full risk built up by the cup’s depth.

The pattern nuance worth flagging is that inverted cup and handle setups only confirm on a clean break below the neckline. Until that happens, the handle bounce remains in play. The $2,087 floor separates a recovery toward $2,210 from a measured slide toward $1,690.

The post Ethereum Price Slips 10% Behind Bitcoin as DeFi Engine Loses $43 Billion appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Fundamental Background

As a result of the military conflict between the United States and Iran, the combined volume of halted oil production in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain reached 10.5 million barrels per day in April, triggering record declines in global oil inventories. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts a drop in global inventories of 8.5 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026 before supplies through the strait begin to recover.

An additional structural factor came from the UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC, which took effect on 1 May 2026 and reduced the cartel’s available spare production capacity. On the diplomatic front, negotiations continue without clear progress: according to available reports, Iran is prepared to accept a long-term nuclear freeze, but not the full dismantling of its nuclear programme, while both sides continue discussing conditions through intermediaries.

Technical Picture

Since the sharp acceleration recorded on 9 March 2026 amid a peak surge in vertical volume, WTI crude has formed a symmetrical contracting triangle on the daily timeframe. The upper boundary of the pattern extends from the March high near 120 and continues to be actively tested by price action. The triangle boundaries are gradually converging, creating conditions for a future impulsive breakout from the formation.

At present, the price is testing the upper boundary of the triangle above the upper edge of the profile. The market volume profile covers the 88–106 range.

The point of control (POC) is located within the 98–99.5 range and remains the main obstacle for sellers. Current vertical trading volume remains moderate and continues to decline relative to the March peaks. The nearest resistance level stands at 113, while the key support level is located at 82.

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The RSI + MAs indicator shows readings of 58, 54 and 56 — all readings remain above the neutral 50 level, although without a strong directional impulse. All three lines are clustered together, with neither buyers nor sellers holding a clear advantage.

Key Takeaways

The current price structure is shaped by a balance between the risk premium linked to potential supply disruptions through the strait and uncertainty surrounding the timing of supply restoration. The flat RSI dynamics and the fact that price remains trapped within the triangle continue to support a wait-and-see market stance.

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Bitcoin price is holding its $77,000 support in a brutal week that sees it falling from $83,000 to as low as $76,000 despites analysts calling for a single bullish prediction. However, for now, Iran has launched a state-backed, bitcoin-settled maritime insurance platform for cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s a move that could redefine how sanctioned economies interact with crypto infrastructure. The full operational details remain thin at the moment, but the implications for Bitcoin’s role in global trade finance are anything but.

Iran’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance rolled out a platform called Hormuz Safe around May 16–18. The service allows Iranian shipping companies and cargo owners to pay insurance premiums in Bitcoin, with policies described as “cryptographically verifiable” and activating upon on-chain confirmation.

The report notes that coverage is initially restricted to Iranian entities, explicitly excluding vessels linked to states involved in the US-Israeli conflict. Officials cite potential annual revenues exceeding $10 billion if Hormuz Safe captures meaningful traffic through a chokepoint handling roughly 20% of global seaborne crude.

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Bitcoin Price Prediction: $80,000 Before Summer With The Help Of Geopolitical Demand

Bitcoin current price is consistent with a coiling consolidation pattern that has been flagged across multiple desk notes. Volume remains moderate, suggesting the move hasn’t yet attracted a decisive wave of momentum buying.

Key support sits in the $75,000 zone, a region that served as hard resistance through March and April before flipping to a base. Overhead resistance clusters between $80,000–$81,000, just below its local high this month.

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Bitcoin’s price action has already shown sensitivity to geopolitical headlines, and Iran’s Hormuz Safe announcement injects a new demand narrative for sovereign-level Bitcoin adoption in energy trade settlement.

What bulls want is for ETF inflows to remain supportive, macro conditions to hold, and the Hormuz Safe story to drive institutional FOMO. If all those happen, BTC could re-tests $80,000 resistance soon

Longer-horizon price models point toward the $80,000–$100,000 range for the next impulse leg if the bull cycle resumes. However, the path there depends heavily on whether catalysts like Hormuz Safe translate into sustained demand or regulatory noise.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

Bitcoin Hyper to Run as BTC Tests Institutional Limits

Here’s the uncomfortable truth for Bitcoin bulls: the Hormuz Safe announcement exposes exactly what holds Bitcoin back at scale. Slow settlement, high fees during congestion, and near-zero programmability make raw BTC a clunky rail for complex financial products like insurance contracts.

Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is positioning itself as the infrastructure fix of Bitcoin. It is billing itself as the first-ever Bitcoin Layer 2 with full Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) integration, designed to deliver faster smart contract execution than Solana itself while preserving Bitcoin’s security and trust model.

The project has raised $32 million in its ongoing presale, with tokens currently priced at $0.0136. A Decentralized Canonical Bridge handles BTC transfers natively, while high 35% APY staking rewards early participants for locking tokens.

Hyper’s use case is precise: fast, low-cost, programmable Bitcoin. It offers exactly what an insurance settlement rail requires.

Research Bitcoin Hyper before the next price tier comes.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Iran Starts BTC-backed Shipping Insurance for Hormuz appeared first on Cryptonews.

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