Strategy continued expanding its Bitcoin exposure this week through STRC perpetual preferred shares and MSTR stock activity. However, company executives also reduced personal holdings through recent stock sales filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, MSTR stock extended weekly losses as Bitcoin prices remained under pressure across broader crypto markets.

Strategy Executives Reduce Shareholdings

Strategy chief financial officer Andrew Kang disclosed several stock transactions through recent SEC filings this week. Kang received 12,500 MSTR shares after restricted stock units vested under company compensation agreements. He sold 5,597 shares one day later to satisfy tax withholding requirements tied to the vesting event.

The transactions carried a combined value of about $927,866 based on filing disclosures. The reported sale prices ranged between $163.98 and $166.00 per share during the trading sessions. Meanwhile, Kang still controls roughly 33,675 MSTR shares alongside several preferred stock positions connected to Strategy.

SEC filings also showed additional sales from Kang during the previous three months. The filings listed earlier disposals totaling 916 shares and another 2,373 shares before this week’s transactions. Consequently, market participants linked the continued selling activity with pressure surrounding Strategy’s recent stock performance.

Strategy director Jarrod Patten also reduced his exposure through several recent share sales. Patten sold 5,250 MSTR shares during the last few trading sessions, according to regulatory disclosures. Following the transactions, Patten retained direct ownership of 28,000 Class A common shares.

Patten continues to hold several Series A perpetual preferred stock positions tied to the company. Besides executive sales, broader market weakness added pressure on Strategy shares throughout the week. Analysts also noted concerns surrounding continued share dilution connected to Strategy’s Bitcoin acquisition model.

Strategy has repeatedly used equity offerings and preferred shares to finance additional Bitcoin purchases. The company remains one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin despite prolonged volatility across crypto markets. However, continued financing activity has increased concerns surrounding dilution among market participants.

MSTR Stock Extends Weekly Decline

MSTR stock closed 0.58% lower on Thursday as weakness spread across both equity and crypto markets. The stock finished the session at $164.85 after trading between $162.40 and $168.71 intraday. Trading volume also remained below the average daily level of approximately 18 million shares.

Premarket trading showed additional weakness as MSTR slipped another 0.20% before Friday’s opening bell. The stock has now declined more than 9% during the last trading week. However, MSTR still holds a gain of roughly 5% since the beginning of the year.

The stock remains significantly lower on a yearly basis despite earlier rallies connected to Bitcoin strength. MSTR has fallen almost 58% over the past twelve months, according to recent market data. Consequently, traders continued reacting to broader pressure affecting both technology stocks and digital assets.

Several Wall Street firms maintained positive long-term targets despite the recent weakness in Strategy shares. TD Cowen retained its buy rating and increased its MSTR price target to $400 this week. Meanwhile, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani maintained a separate 12-month target price of $450.

Bitcoin prices also remained under pressure during Friday trading across global crypto exchanges. Bitcoin traded near $77,384 after moving between $76,655 and $78,004 during the previous 24 hours. Options market data also indicated expectations for a potential decline toward the $75,000 level amid ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical pressure.

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) displayed strength on Friday, rising 34% over the last 24 hours to $2.32, leading artificial intelligence-based tokens in a rally fueled by NEAR’s network upgrades and NVIDIA’s bullish revenue forecast. 

NEAR is trading 50% higher than its price seven days ago and has gained a whopping 115% over the last 90 days.

Key takeaways:

• NEAR price surged 50% in seven days, hitting six-month highs as AI crypto tokens rallied on strong market momentum.
• NEAR Protocol upgrades focused on AI, privacy and scaling boosted investor confidence and trading volume above $1 billion.
• A breakout from a multi-year wedge pattern puts $5.75 in focus if NEAR clears resistance between $2.60 and $3.

NEAR price rallies to six-month highs

Data from TradingView shows that NEAR’s recovery began on Monday, rising 58% to a six-month high of $2.34 on Friday from a low of $1.48. 

Accompanying NEAR’s price growth is an uptick in its trading volume, which has increased by 190% to $1.15 billion over the last 24 hours, reinforcing the intensity of the buyers.

NEAR/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The altcoin’s jump above $2.30 triggered over $9.85 million in short liquidations, as those betting against the price were caught off guard.

The gains come after NEAR Protocol announced of major upgrades focused on privacy, AI integration, and network scaling.

Source: X/NEAR Protocol

Aurora, the Ethereum-compatible scaling solution built on NEAR, also announced the update of its Aurora Intents Widget. The update integrated ADI Chain as a new entry point, enabling smoother cross-chain swaps, deposits, and application flows for users.

Source: Aurora

These developments demonstrate ongoing technical progress within the NEAR Protocol ecosystem, potentially increasing demand for blockspace and the NEAR token.

NEAR price rallies as AI tokens recover

NEAR is not the only AI-themed token outperforming the crypto market today. Other cryptocurrencies in the AI sector have witnessed impressive 24-hour gains, including Grass (GRASS), OpenServe (SERVE) and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET), which have gained over 27%, 21% and 11% over the day, respectively.

Performance of top AI tokens by market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap

Notably, the surge in AI tokens has also been accompanied by an increase in their total market value. The market capitalization of AI and big data crypto projects and tokens has risen by 8% over the past 24 hours to $21.44 billion at the time of publication, reflecting renewed investor confidence in the sector.

Market capitalization and volume of AI and big data tokens market. Source: CoinMarketCap

Broader sector momentum was fueled by positive signals from Nvidia’s AI dominance and revenue forecasts. Nvidia, which maintains an 81–90% share of the AI accelerator market,  reported massive profits of approximately $81.6 billion in Q1 2026 and raised its projected revenue opportunity through 2027 to $1 trillion.

Source: X/Cointelegraph

Historically, Nvidia events have triggered strong rallies in NEAR price, as seen in February when the altcoin soared 58% following the company’s Q4 2025 earnings report. 

How high can NEAR price go?

NEAR’s latest rally saw it break out of a multi-year falling wedge that has capped the price since late 2024.

The NEAR/USD pair now faces stiff resistance at the $2.60-$3.0 supply zone, where major moving averages sit, as shown on the weekly chart below.

A break above this level would clear the path toward the measured target of the wedge at $5.75, roughly 160% above the current price. The relative strength index has increased to 63, indicating increasing upward momentum.

NEAR/USD weekly chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

In an X post on Tuesday, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said NEAR is displaying “one of the most bullish charts” in the market, adding that a continuation was in the cards as long as it held $1.40 as support.

“The first real resistance zones for $NEAR are at $2 and $2.25-$2.50,” Van de Poppe said in a follow-up post on Thursday, adding “it’s clearly trending higher,” with the next target near $2.75.

NEAR/USD daily chart. Source: X/Michael van de Poppe

Chun Wang, the Chinese-born Maltese-Kittitian crypto investor who co-founded F2Pool, has been named Mission Commander for SpaceX’s first commercial human spaceflight interplanetary mission to Mars, crucial to Elon Musk’s plans to send one million people to the Red Planet.

Wang, whose mining pool controls roughly 11.3% of the global Bitcoin network hashrate and whose personal bitcoin assets are estimated to exceed $300 million, will take a two-year leave from his current role securing digital ledgers to leading humanity’s next frontier in deep space.

The SpaceX announcement comes as the company owner Elon Musk’s aggressive plans to colonize the Red Planet and establish a multi-planetary civilization continue to accelerate.

A two-year trek into the unknown

The ambitious, multi-phase timeline will take Wang on a a week-long circumlunar fly-by within approximately 125 miles of the moon’s surface alongside Dennis and Akiko Tito before launching on the historic Martian trajectory.

Target launch windows are currently driving technical preparations for a planned 2026 departure. Once launched, the crew will spend two consecutive years in space. The deep-space itinerary includes a full external exploration of the Earth-Moon system, a high-altitude fly-by of Mars, and a complex return trajectory back to Earth.

Navigating deep-space risks

Operating in deep space for 24 months introduces severe operational risks, including severe hardware fatigue and the volatile thermodynamics of managing cryogenic fuel during extended coasts in deep space.

To mitigate these hazards, SpaceX is debuting its next-generation Starship V3 architecture. The upgraded vehicle features vacuum-jacketed header feed lines, high-voltage cryogenic recirculation systems, and 60 integrated custom avionics units capable of handling distributed fault isolation up to 9MW of peak power.

The crew will faces acute biomedical dangers when gathering critical diagnostic telemetry. One of Wang’s team key tasks is performing advanced behavioral health tracking and capturing the first-ever human X-ray images in microgravity to evaluate long-duration physiological deterioration.

The path to a multi-planetary future

Wang’s mission is designed to deliver the crucial operational data required to transition Mars exploration from short-term novelties to permanent, self-sustaining habitats.

The data crew is expected to return to Earth, which will directly stress-test Starship’s autonomous navigation matrix, deep-space radiation shielding, and in-space propellant transfer mechanisms.

The SpaceX team’s findings will be vital to achieving Musk’s ultimate objective: verifying rapid vehicle reuse and validating the logistical baseline required to safely transport millions of tons of cargo and eventually a million citizens to the Martian surface.

The journey to Mars announcement comes as SpaceX, the satellite and space rocket company, confidentially filed for its public offering targeting a valuation upwards of $1.75 trillion, the largest in history. It also comes as Musk’s company officially revealed, for the first time, its bitcoin holdings, totaling 8,285 BTC.

TLDR

• Trump Media transferred 2,650 bitcoin worth about $205 million to Crypto.com.
• The transaction took place during late U.S. evening hours based on blockchain data.
• Trump Media originally purchased 11,542 BTC for about $1.37 billion at a higher average price.
• Bitcoin currently trades well below the company’s acquisition cost, leading to large unrealized losses.
• The company now faces an estimated $455 million loss on its bitcoin holdings.

Trump Media has transferred 2,650 Bitcoin worth about $205 million to Crypto.com. The move adds pressure on its crypto strategy as losses deepen. Trump Media now faces an estimated $455 million unrealized loss on its bitcoin holdings.

The transaction occurred late in U.S. evening hours, according to blockchain data. Analytics firm Lookonchain reported the transfer publicly.

Trump Media Bitcoin Transfer Raises Pressure on Crypto Strategy

The latest transfer involved 2,650 BTC moved to Crypto.com. Bitcoin traded near $77,341 during the transaction window.

Trump Media previously moved 2,000 BTC four months earlier. That earlier transfer was valued at about $175 million.

The company originally bought 11,542 BTC for about $1.37 billion. Its average purchase price stood at $118,522 per bitcoin.

Bitcoin now trades well below that acquisition level. This gap has led to a large unrealized loss.

Based on current prices, losses total around $455 million. The figure reflects the difference between purchase and market value.

Blockchain records confirm the timing and destination of the transfer. Lookonchain shared the data through a public update.

Financial Strain and ETF Withdrawal Follow Crypto Moves

The transfer comes days after Trump Media withdrew its spot bitcoin ETF application. Analysts said economics, not regulation, likely drove the decision.

ETF analysts stated the sector has seen weaker returns recently. They suggested profitability concerns influenced the withdrawal.

Trump Media has not issued a detailed statement on the ETF move. The company has also not clarified the purpose of the Bitcoin transfers.

Financial results show mounting pressure on the business. The company reported a first-quarter net loss of $405.9 million.

Revenue for the same quarter totaled just $871,200. That compares with a $31.7 million loss in the prior year period.

The widening loss reflects increased costs and investment exposure. Crypto holdings appear to contribute to financial volatility.

The company continues to hold a large bitcoin position despite recent transfers. Remaining holdings still exceed several thousand BTC.

Bitcoin price have remained below the firm’s average purchase level. This has kept unrealized losses elevated.

The latest blockchain transaction marks the most recent update in Trump Media’s crypto activity. No further transfers have been confirmed since the reported move.

Tanya Denisova, chief operating officer of Robinhood Crypto, is leaving the firm, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Denisova had been employed by the popular trading platform for over five years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Neither Robinhood nor Denisova responded to requests for comments.

The departure comes amid Robinhood missing its first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates, mainly due to weaker crypto trading activities. Crypto-related revenue, one of Robinhood’s biggest sources of transaction income, fell 47% year over year to $134 million, down from $252 million. The drop comes as the company works to reduce its reliance on crypto market swings and reposition the business beyond price-cycle volatility.

Robinhood enables users to trade stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, and cryptocurrencies through a mobile-first app. The company also offers retirement accounts, cash management services, and market insights designed to simplify investing and broaden access to financial markets.

The firm has expanded its presence in crypto by offering commission-free trading for major digital assets, including bitcoin BTC$75,716.87, ether (ETH), solana (SOL), and DOGE$0.1050, directly within its app.

The company also provides crypto wallets, onchain transfers, staking services in select markets, and educational tools aimed at newer investors. As part of its broader strategy to bridge traditional finance and digital assets, Robinhood has continued to grow its crypto offerings internationally while positioning itself as a simple, low-cost entry point into the crypto market

Read more: Robinhood stock falls 8% after big earnings miss due to weak crypto trading revenue

Seasoned crypto investor Kevin Warsh took his oath as the 17th Chair of the world’s most powerful central bank this morning. President Donald Trump presided over the oath at the White House, the first such ceremony there since Alan Greenspan’s initiation in 1987. 

Crypto investors are excited.

Warsh is 56 years old and disclosed roughly $190 million worth of assets earlier this year, including stakes in more than 20 crypto projects.

Jerome Powell, his predecessor, had very little interest in crypto and no disclosed crypto investments.

Warsh’s Office of Government Ethics disclosure from April, in stark contrast, was 69 pages long. It cataloged joint holdings with his wife, Estée Lauder heiress Jane Lauder.

Two positions in Stanley Druckenmiller’s funds were worth more than $50 million apiece.

A diversified investor, Warsh’s crypto exposure is smaller by allocation yet broad in scope. His disclosure names Solana, Optimism, dYdX, Compound, Polychain, Polymarket, DeSo, and Flashnet. Warsh holds most of these positions through the venture vehicles.

He’s committed to divest any conflicting positions and will also accept a one-year cooling-off period to ensure his investment management practices are long-term oriented. 

Crypto enthusiasts interpreted his portfolio as a resume.

Warsh’s Senate confirmation vote was a slim 54-45, the narrowest margin for an incoming Fed chair since at least the 1970s.

Kalshi is backing a new advocacy group to fight the gaming lobby over prediction market regulation.

The new organization, Americans for Fair Markets, launched on May 22 to shape federal policy on prediction markets and federally regulated exchanges. It will run paid and earned campaigns to counter what it describes as false narratives spread by sportsbook and casino interests.

AFM has tapped Taylor Budowich, who most recently served as Deputy White House Chief of Staff under Susie Wiles, as its strategic advisor. The hire signals Kalshi’s deepening ties to Republican political circles as the prediction market industry faces intensifying regulatory scrutiny.

Why Kalshi is escalating its lobbying effort

The launch comes as the gaming lobby mounts its own offensive. FairPredicts, a new group backed by casino interests and led by former Governor Chris Christie through the American Gaming Association, recently began a six-figure ad campaign targeting Kalshi directly.

“We’re not going to be outspent or out-organized by entrenched interests protecting their monopolies,” said John Bivona, AFM board member and Kalshi’s Head of Government Relations.

AFM will join the existing Coalition for Prediction Markets but focus specifically on campaign-style tactics. Kalshi has seen 32x growth in annualized trading volume, and the broader industry now represents roughly $500 billion in assets.