Bitcoin Depot, once the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America with 9,276 kiosks across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and news says its shutting down entirely.

The Atlanta-based company, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker BTCD, filed voluntarily in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Monday and has already taken its entire ATM network offline.

Q1 results told the terminal story: revenue collapsed 49% year-over-year, gross profit fell 85% to $4.5 million, and the company swung from a $12.2 million profit to a $9.5 million loss in a single quarter.

Bearish signal for the physical crypto infrastructure sector.

The bankruptcy raises a direct question for the broader retail on-ramp market: as Bitcoin trades near $76,860, who absorbs the cash-to-crypto demand that Bitcoin Depot’s 9,276 kiosks once served, and at what fee structure?

Discover: Find the Best Crypto Exchanges With the Lowest Fees for 2026

Bitcoin News: How the High-Fee ATM Model Actually Collapsed, and Why the Regulatory Stranglehold Is the Real Story

The mechanism here is worth understanding precisely. Bitcoin Depot’s business model charged retail users fees ranging from 8% to 20% per transaction, a premium justified by the convenience of cash-to-crypto conversion at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies.

That premium was defensible in 2020 and 2021, when mobile exchange alternatives were intimidating to mainstream users and Bitcoin ATMs represented genuine access infrastructure for the underbanked.

By 2024, that logic had inverted. Coinbase, Cash App, and regulated exchange apps had made sub-1% fee on-ramps frictionless on any smartphone.

The ‘convenience’ of a Bitcoin ATM kiosk became a fee trap rather than a feature, and retail volume dried up accordingly.

Maintaining 9,276 physical machines, with logistics, security, cash handling, and software overhead, against collapsing transaction volume produced a fixed-cost structure that crushed margins even before regulators arrived.

Then the regulatory pressure hit simultaneously from multiple directions. CEO Alex Holmes stated in the bankruptcy filing that “states have imposed increasingly stringent compliance obligations, including new transaction limits, and in some jurisdictions, outright restrictions or bans on BTM operations.”

Holmes added directly: “These developments have materially affected Bitcoin Depot’s business and financial position. Under these circumstances, the Company’s current business model is unsustainable.”

The legal exposure compounded the operational collapse. Bitcoin Depot faces a high-profile lawsuit from attorneys general in Massachusetts and Iowa over alleged facilitation of crypto scams.

Connecticut’s Department of Banking issued a temporary cease-and-desist in April 2026, moving to revoke the company’s money transmission license.

The company’s Canadian subsidiary BitAccess also faced an $18.47 million arbitration award tied to an agreement with bankrupt U.S. kiosk operator Cash Cloud, a liability disclosed via SEC Form 8-K in November 2025.

Crypto ATM fraud reached a record $389 million in reported losses last year, a 58% increase from 2024, which drew exactly the regulatory attention Bitcoin Depot could not survive.

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Physical Bitcoin ATM infrastructure and digital exchange infrastructure are not the same thing. Bitcoin Depot bet on the former at scale, using a SPAC merger with GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp to go public on Nasdaq in 2023, near the top of the market’s appetite for crypto infrastructure narratives.

The market was already shifting beneath the thesis before the ink dried.

The post Is It All Over For Bitcoin ATMs? Bitcoin Depot ATM Empire Collapses into Bankruptcy appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Your day-ahead look for May 18, 2026

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Bitcoin and ether sank after the U.S. president told Iran the “clock is ticking,” sending oil higher and triggering broad crypto liquidations.

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Key Takeaways

• SpaceX executed a five-for-one stock split in preparation for its upcoming initial public offering, potentially valuing the company at $2 trillion
• The public offering could generate $75 billion in capital, with investor presentations scheduled for early June
• Elon Musk’s compensation structure includes up to 260 million shares tied to performance milestones, potentially valued at $500 billion
• Special voting rights attached to Musk’s shares will ensure he maintains majority control of the aerospace company
• Stocks across the commercial space industry rallied during Monday’s premarket session after Musk discussed the IPO timeline

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Elon Musk’s aerospace venture has completed a five-for-one stock split as it advances toward what may become one of the most significant public offerings in corporate history. Fresh information regarding the company’s ownership structure, executive compensation, and investor implications continues to emerge.

Stock Division and Public Offering Schedule

The aerospace manufacturer implemented a five-for-one share division prior to its anticipated market debut. This adjustment positions the private market valuation at approximately $100 per share. Analysts project the actual IPO pricing could reach closer to $160.

⚡️LATEST: Elon Musk says he has no plans to sell SpaceX shares as the company prepares a 5-for-1 stock split ahead of a reported $1.75 trillion IPO, per Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/WINsNAZRyn

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) May 16, 2026

The organization submitted its registration documents confidentially to the Securities and Exchange Commission during late March or early April. Market participants anticipate complete disclosure of these filings within the coming days. Investor presentations are scheduled to commence in early June, with the offering expected to finalize before the end of July.

This public debut could secure $75 billion in funding while establishing a market capitalization approaching $2 trillion. Individual retail investors are projected to constitute a substantial portion of demand, particularly those who already maintain positions in Tesla shares.

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Companies typically execute stock splits after becoming publicly traded entities. The decision by SpaceX to implement this division before its IPO represents an uncommon approach. This reduced per-share price point should facilitate access for retail investors with smaller investment budgets.

Executive Compensation Structure and Governance Rights

Musk has opted for zero cash salary. His compensation consists entirely of up to 260 million shares contingent upon achieving defined milestones. These objectives encompass expanding SpaceX’s valuation to $7.5 trillion, establishing human settlements on Mars, and deploying artificial intelligence infrastructure in orbital environments.

Should all performance benchmarks be met, this equity compensation could reach approximately $500 billion in value. Combined with his existing holdings, Musk’s total ownership stake could approach $3.5 trillion.

This compensation framework parallels his existing arrangement with Tesla. Tesla’s shareholders previously authorized a package granting Musk over 420 million shares contingent upon expanding that company’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion.

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Musk’s equity holdings will include enhanced voting privileges, ensuring his majority governance authority over SpaceX. He has publicly stated his desire for 25% voting control at Tesla to maintain strategic direction at that organization.

SpaceX representatives did not provide responses to inquiries regarding either the stock division or the compensation arrangement.

Commercial Space Sector Market Response

Equities throughout the commercial space industry experienced upward momentum during Monday’s premarket session following Musk’s public statements about accelerating the IPO process. He delivered these remarks while visiting Texas.

EchoStar shares increased 6.3%. Intuitive Machines surged 5.1%. Rocket Lab climbed 3.4%. AST SpaceMobile appreciated 2%. Viasat advanced 1.4%. York Space Systems rallied 6.5%, while Firefly Aerospace gained 3.9%.

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These market movements occurred in anticipation of SpaceX releasing its complete S-1 registration filing with the SEC this week.

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Warren Buffett and Greg Abel walkthrough the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

David A. Grogen | CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway‘s revamp of its portfolio sent certain stocks higher in early trading Monday, while others slipped as investors parsed the company’s latest bets and exits disclosed in the conglomerate’s quarterly filings.

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The Omaha-based conglomerate published its quarterly U.S. stock portfolio on Friday, under new CEO Greg Abel, who took the helm at the start of the year from legendary investor Warren Buffett.

The latest filing showed that Berkshire purchased 39.8 million shares in Delta Airlines, valued at $2.6 billion, making it the company’s 14th largest holding by the end of March. Delta was last up 2.5% in premarket trading.

This comes after Buffett sold Berkshire’s entire billion-dollar portfolio of U.S. airlines during the Covid-19 pandemic, including Southwest, American, United, and Delta due to changed consumer travel behaviour.

Google parent Alphabet saw the biggest investment of 58 million shares, up 224%, making it Berkshire’s seventh largest holding. The tech giant was down 0.6% in early trading Monday.

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Other moves included a new stake in Macy’s, a 35% reduction in Chevron, including selling $8 billion worth of shares, and selling Mastercard and Visa. Macy’s was last up 5% in premarket trading, while Chevron, Mastercard and Visa were trading just below the flatline.

Meanwhile, Berkshire completely exited its investment in Amazon, selling 2.3 million shares in the first quarter, which was all that remained after it sold 7.7 million of its 10 million share holding in the fourth quarter. Amazon was down 0.7% in premarket.

Some of the moves are likely related to efforts to unwind positions tied to former investment manager Todd Combs, who left the company at the end of 2025 to join JPMorgan. Combs had been personally recruited by Buffett to manage Berkshire’s equity portfolio, alongside Ted Weschler, who still oversses 6% of the holdings.

Abel previously revealed that he continues to consult 95-year-old Buffett on investment decisions.

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“He’s in the office every day, so we’re talking every day if I’m in Omaha, we’re always connecting,” Abel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in March. “If I’m traveling, like I was yesterday, I often check in just to catch up on what he’s seeing, what he’s hearing, what am I feeling. So if it’s not every day, it’s every couple days.”

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Grayscale and VanEck both amended their spot BNB Crypto ETF applications with the SEC on Friday, marking a concrete procedural advance in what is shaping up as a two-issuer race for the first US-listed BNB exchange-traded product.

The simultaneous updates drew immediate attention from ETF analysts, who flagged the amendments as evidence of active SEC engagement rather than a filing sitting dormant in the regulatory queue.

For traders watching the broader expansion of the altcoin ETF pipeline, the coordinated timing carries signal weight beyond either filing in isolation.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart characterized the updates as reflecting direct SEC feedback, stating there is “definitely movement at the SEC” on BNB and that the amendments suggest the regulator is actively commenting on product mechanics and disclosures rather than letting filings age.

That framing matters: amendments generated by SEC comment letters indicate a live review process, not a speculative placeholder. This is a bullish signal for BNB and the altcoin spot ETF category.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

How the BNB Crypto ETF Process Actually Works, and Why Active SEC Feedback Is the Real Story

The mechanism here is worth understanding precisely. A spot crypto ETF in the US requires two parallel regulatory tracks to clear before trading can begin.

The first is the S-1 registration statement filed with the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, which covers fund structure, custody arrangements, risk disclosures, and investor-facing mechanics.

The second is a 19b-4 filing made by the listing exchange with the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, seeking approval to change exchange rules to accommodate the new product type.

Amendments to the S-1 are generated when the SEC issues comment letters identifying deficiencies or requesting clarification.

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Each amendment round narrows the gap between the draft product and an approvable structure. VanEck’s latest update is understood to be Amendment No. 5 in its filing sequence, a number that indicates sustained, iterative dialogue with the SEC rather than a first-pass submission awaiting initial review.

Both filings are structured as direct spot BNB products and do not include staking at launch. That design choice is not incidental.

Staking has been a persistent regulatory pressure point in crypto ETF design; earlier ether ETF discussions were complicated significantly by staking economics and yield-bearing mechanics.

By launching without staking, both issuers are following the same path spot ether ETFs took: get the base product approved first, revisit yield features later.

Both issuers have also designated Coinbase as custodian in their current drafts, consistent with the institutional custody model used across most US crypto ETP proposals.

Amendments to the S-1 and approval of the 19b-4 are not the same milestone, and conflating them leads to the wrong analytical conclusion about where these filings actually stand.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

The post Grayscale and VanEck Amend Spot BNB ETF Crypto Filings in Latest SEC Process Step appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Key Takeaways

• Nvidia shares dropped 4.42% to $225.32 on May 15, triggering a broader semiconductor sector decline
• UBS cautioned that 8 of 12 major semiconductor firms represent “extremely crowded long” trades
• TD Cowen boosted NVDA’s price target from $235 to $275, pointing to a $1 trillion+ Blackwell and Rubin order backlog
• Bank of America increased its price target to $320 while Wells Fargo lifted its forecast to $315, maintaining positive outlooks
• Nvidia’s Q1 FY2027 results arrive Wednesday, May 20 — market participants seek confirmation of sustained Blackwell momentum

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With Wednesday’s quarterly report looming, Nvidia finds itself navigating increased selling pressure, with shares retreating 4.42% to $225.32 as of May 15. However, the pullback hasn’t dampened Wall Street’s enthusiasm.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

The decline wasn’t isolated to Nvidia alone. A widespread semiconductor sector retreat saw Micron plunge 6.62%, Intel slide 6.18%, AMD decrease 5.69%, Broadcom fall 3.32%, and Marvell decline 3.12%.

Nevertheless, these equities have experienced remarkable rallies. From March 30 forward, Intel rocketed 164% higher, Micron climbed 125%, AMD advanced 116%, Marvell gained 101%, and Nvidia itself appreciated 36%. Such momentum virtually guaranteed eventual profit-taking.

UBS highlighted positioning concerns in a recent research note. Their examination revealed 8 of the 12 largest global semiconductor firms by market capitalization represent extremely crowded long positions. The firm also cautioned that as cloud hyperscalers transition from asset-light to asset-heavy infrastructure models, cash flow return on investment may deteriorate throughout the next three years.

They specifically referenced Nvidia’s CFROI, projected to reach 82% this year. The risk: historically, merely 0.09% of worldwide equities have maintained returns exceeding 50% for five consecutive years, and only 0.02% for ten years.

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Wall Street Maintains Optimistic Stance Heading Into Results

Despite UBS’s reservations, most prominent analysts continue supporting Nvidia.

TD Cowen’s Joshua Buchalter — positioned 69th among 12,243 Wall Street analysts with a 72% accuracy rate — elevated his price objective to $275 from $235. He highlighted that Nvidia’s leadership team estimates its combined Blackwell and Rubin order pipeline surpassing $1 trillion, representing potential upside beyond current consensus forecasts. He anticipates Nvidia will exceed quarterly revenue guidance by $1 billion to $2 billion.

Bank of America’s Vivek Arya, ranked 80th with a 65% accuracy rate, increased his target to $320 from $300, maintaining Nvidia as his preferred sector selection. His projection employs a 28x price-to-earnings multiple applied to his 2027 forecast, falling within Nvidia’s historical forward P/E corridor of 25 to 56. BofA also projects the AI data-center marketplace potentially expanding to $1.7 trillion by 2030.

Wells Fargo elevated its target to $315 from $265.

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The Post-Earnings Decline Pattern

Here’s the peculiar situation Nvidia confronts: shares frequently decline even following impressive earnings performances.

CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged this phenomenon directly following Q3 FY2026 results. “If we delivered a bad quarter, it is evidence there’s an AI bubble. If we delivered a great quarter, we are fueling the AI bubble.” It creates an impossible narrative framework that complicates sentiment management.

Deutsche Bank’s Ross Seymore recently cautioned that Nvidia’s anticipated growth throughout the coming two years seemingly already factors into current valuations, complicating the delivery of meaningful positive surprises.

Nvidia’s most recent quarterly disclosure demonstrated record revenue reaching $68.1 billion accompanied by a non-GAAP gross margin of 75.2%.

BofA’s identified downside scenarios include gaming sector weakness, custom silicon competition, China export limitations, irregular enterprise purchasing patterns, and heightened regulatory oversight.

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All attention turns to Wednesday.

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Your look at what’s coming in the week starting May 18.

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Ethereum price is down, just barely holding $2,100, and a fresh protocol risk has just handed another bearish prediction. A cross-chain bridge exploit drained over $11 million just now, rattling sentiment at exactly the wrong moment.

The Verus-Ethereum bridge was the target. An attacker extracted 103.6 tBTC, 1,625 ETH, and 147,000 USDC before swapping the haul into 5,402.4 ETH, worth just over $11 million. The exploit follows a brutal pattern: Kelp DAO lost $293 million in April via LayerZero’s cross-chain messaging system, and the Drift attack earlier this year added $270 million to the industry’s running tab.

All these bridge exploits consistently produce the largest individual losses in any given year. Oracle and protocol vulnerabilities remain a systemic threat, too.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

Ethereum Price Prediction: Reclaim $2,200 Before Bears Take Control

ETH is grinding through a bearish-to-neutral consolidation zone with limited near-term catalysts to reverse it. The current price is $2,110, with the RSI at 34, indicating weak overall momentum.

Key levels define the near-term range. Support sits just at $2,100; a close below that opens the door to further downside with few obvious technical floors. Resistance clusters at $2,200, then $2,250 if ETH manages a convincing breakout.

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• Bull case: ETH holds $2,100, volume picks up, reclaims $2,250, with analysts projecting $2,425 in average.
• Base case: Sideways chop between $2,100 and $2,200 as the market digests the exploit and awaits ETF flow data.
• Bear case: A close below $2,100 on elevated volume invalidates the consolidation thesis entirely, with the next meaningful support significantly lower.

On-chain liquidity and DeFi market structure suggest the exploit adds friction to any recovery. Rotation out of smaller DeFi names is already visible. ETH needs a catalyst, not just a bounce.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

LiquidChain Targets Early Mover Upside as Ethereum Tests Key Levels

ETH consolidating near six-week lows while cross-chain infrastructure keeps getting exploited raises an uncomfortable question for DeFi participants: what does a safer, unified liquidity architecture actually look like?

The current fragmentation of assets siloed across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana is precisely what makes bridges high-value attack surfaces. To put it into perspective, the $293 million Kelp DAO loss was a LayerZero messaging failure, not a smart contract bug.

LiquidChain is a Layer 3 infrastructure project building what it calls the Cross-Chain Liquidity Layer, fusing BTC, ETH, and SOL liquidity into a single execution environment. The architecture centers on four components: a Unified Liquidity Layer, Single-Step Execution, Verifiable Settlement, and a Deploy-Once model that lets developers access all three ecosystems without redeploying across chains.

The presale token, $LIQUID, is currently priced at $0.0146, with $770K raised to date. The project is also currently giving a 1500% APY staking bonus only for early buyers.

Research LiquidChain and review the presale details here.

The post Ethereum Price Prediction: Verus DeFi Protocol Exploit Drains $11 Million appeared first on Cryptonews.

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In the latest XRP News, Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has made a personal financial contribution in XRP to John Deaton’s Senate campaign, publicly confirming his support for the pro-crypto lawyer who rose to national prominence defending XRP holders during the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit.

The donation positions Schwartz as one of the most senior crypto executives to directly back Deaton’s political bid using the very asset at the center of that regulatory fight.

Bullish signal for crypto-aligned political momentum. When a principal architect of the XRP Ledger puts his own tokens behind a Senate candidate, the symbolic weight compounds the financial one.

Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with

XRP News: Why a Personal XRP Donation Is Not the Same as a PAC Check, and Why That Distinction Matters

The mechanism here is worth understanding precisely. Schwartz’s contribution is a personal donation, not a disbursement from a corporate super PAC.

Those are not the same thing. Ripple, the company, has already pledged $25 million to the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake, which operates independently of any candidate campaign and can raise and spend unlimited funds.

A personal contribution to a federal campaign is subject to FEC individual donor limits, must be reported by the campaign, and is valued in USD at the time of receipt, meaning the XRP is converted to a dollar figure on the books even if it arrives as a digital asset.

That compliance structure matters for what this move signals. Schwartz is not routing money through an intermediary.

He is attaching his name, his title, and his preferred asset directly to Deaton’s campaign in the public record. For the XRP community, which tracked every courtroom development in the SEC litigation, that personal identification carries a different register than a line item in a PAC disclosure.

Deaton’s campaign has leaned into small-donor and community-driven optics, positioning him in contrast to industry-heavy PAC infrastructure.

Schwartz’s XRP donation threads both narratives: it is personal and community-adjacent, while also coming from a figure whose technical decisions shape a $30-billion-plus asset class. That combination is deliberately difficult to dismiss as either grassroots noise or pure corporate capture.

The political target is equally specific. Deaton is challenging Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, one of Washington’s most vocal critics of the crypto industry and the architect of what supporters of the sector have labeled the “anti-crypto army” posture in the Senate.

Warren’s regulatory pressure has been a direct backdrop to the broader legislative battles over digital asset frameworks now moving through Congress. A competitive Senate race in Massachusetts puts that pressure point on the electoral map.

Discover: The best pre-launch token sales

The post XRP News: Ripple CTO Backs John Deaton’s Senate Bid with XRP Donation appeared first on Cryptonews.

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