TLDR

• 21Shares launched the 21Shares Canton Network ETF on Nasdaq under the ticker TCAN.
• The ETF provides direct exposure to Canton Coin, the native token of the Canton Network.
• The Canton Network focuses on privacy-preserving blockchain infrastructure for institutional finance.
• Major firms, including Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and DTCC, support Digital Asset, the network’s primary developer.
• The launch adds to a growing list of crypto exchange-traded funds in the United States.

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A new Crypto ETF began trading on Nasdaq as 21Shares launched the 21Shares Canton Network ETF under ticker TCAN. The fund offers direct exposure to Canton Coin, the native token of the Canton Network. The listing expands the range of crypto-linked exchange-traded products in the United States.

Crypto ETF Expands Access to Canton Coin

21Shares listed the 21Shares Canton Network ETF on Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker TCAN. The Crypto ETF gives investors direct exposure to Canton Coin, which powers the Canton Network. The firm said the product marks the first U.S. ETF tied directly to the token.

Canton Coin serves as the utility token for the Canton Network, which focuses on institutional finance use cases. The network supports privacy-preserving transactions and data management across financial markets. Major firms, including Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and DTCC, support Digital Asset, the network’s primary developer.

Andres Valencia, executive vice president of investment management at 21Shares, addressed the launch in a statement. He said, “The Canton Network has attracted strong institutional interest given its focus on privacy-preserving infrastructure for capital markets.” He added that backing from Nasdaq, Moody’s, and Deloitte reflects confidence in shared blockchain infrastructure.

Valencia stated, “When you see names like Nasdaq, Moody’s, and Deloitte supporting a common blockchain infrastructure, you are looking at infrastructure that has the potential to reshape how data and capital move across global markets.” He linked the ETF launch to that institutional support. The company confirmed that TCAN seeks to track the performance of Canton Coin.

TCAN joins a growing list of crypto exchange-traded funds that launched over the past year. Fund issuers have introduced products tied to SOL, XRP, DOGE, HBAR, and Polkadot. As a result, the U.S. market now offers broader access to digital asset exposure through regulated vehicles.

Regulatory Shift Fuels Crypto ETF Growth

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission oversees approvals for exchange-traded funds, including crypto products. Since January 2025, the agency has taken a more supportive stance toward digital assets. President Donald Trump returned to office that month and appointed Paul Atkins as SEC Chairman.

Chairman Atkins has moved to clarify the agency’s position on cryptocurrencies. The SEC issued guidance stating that most cryptocurrencies do not qualify as securities. That position has influenced the pace of Crypto ETF filings and approvals.

Market participants have responded with new applications and product launches. As a result, issuers continue to expand offerings across different blockchain networks and tokens. The debut of TCAN adds another fund to the expanding lineup of crypto-linked ETFs trading on U.S. exchanges.

Michael Saylor’s comment this week that Strategy might sell portions of its Bitcoin holdings, is a decision that gives the BTC treasury company Strategy, optionality, according to BTC advocate Samson Mow.

“Never selling limits optionality. Public markets are war. In war, you need all available tools at your disposal,” Mow said after company co-founder Saylor’s comment during Strategy’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. That the company might sell some BTC in the future, Mow added:

“The more tools Strategy holds, the fewer angles its adversaries have. A company with real optionality is hard to game: it might sell, hedge, issue, or buy. A company that has publicly vowed to only ever do one thing has handed a map to short sellers and arbitrageurs.” 

Strategy is the largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company, according to BitcoinTreasuries, and holds 818,334 BTC at the time of this writing, and any potential sales could weigh on spot BTC market prices, according to some crypto market analysts.

Strategy’s total BTC holdings over time. Source: Strategy

Related: Strategy takes Bitcoin buying breather ahead of Q1 earnings report

As he signals potential BTC sales, Saylor says company can fund dividends “forever” on BTC alone

“We’ll probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend, just to inoculate the market, just to send the message that we did it,” Saylor said during the earnings call.

He said that if the price of BTC appreciates by more than 2.3% annually, the company can fund its dividends “forever” and would also allow Strategy to pay dividends “without selling a single share of stock.”

“We could stop selling MSTR common stock right now,” Saylor said, adding, “We can fund the dividends with Bitcoin sales.”

Saylor discusses paying dividends using BTC appreciation. Source: Strategy

If the company can issue more of its STRC preferred stock and BTC rises above the breakeven level, it would be able to fund dividends indefinitely, while also continuing to increase the amount of BTC it holds, Saylor said during the earnings call.

The average cost of Strategy’s BTC holdings is $75,537 apiece, according to the company’s website. At last look on Thursday, Bitcoin was changing hands at about $79,976, according to CoinMarketCap.

Strategy funds its BTC purchases through a mixture of corporate debt and equity instruments, a practice that has raised concerns with some investors over shareholder dilution and leverage-fueled buying.

Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘biggest bull catalyst’ would be Saylor’s liquidation: Santiment founder

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.

Coinbase (COIN) shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading Thursday after the crypto platform reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results as falling crypto prices weighed on trading activity, one of the company’s main sources of revenue.

The company posted a loss of $1.49 per share, compared with analyst expectations for a $0.27 profit. Revenue came in at $1.41 billion, below estimates of $1.52 billion.

Transaction revenue totaled $755.8 million, missing analyst expectations of $805.2 million. Subscription and services revenue, a segment investors closely watch as Coinbase tries to reduce its reliance on trading fees, totaled $583.5 million, below expectations of $619.3 million.

Crypto markets weakened sharply as bitcoin BTC$79,891.58 and other digital assets fell. Lower prices and reduced volatility typically lead to weaker spot trading volumes across exchanges. Investors had expected a slowdown after the crypto selloff early in the quarter, even though bitcoin rebounded roughly 12% in March.

Coinbase has spent the past several years expanding beyond its core trading business into stablecoins, staking, derivatives and blockchain infrastructure. The company said Wednesday that its global crypto trading volume market share rose to 8.6%, a record high, driven partly by growth in derivatives trading.

Trailing 12-month derivatives trading volume increased 169% year over year, while retail derivatives revenue surpassed an annualized run rate of $200 million for the first time, Coinbase said.

The company also pointed to growth in prediction markets and stablecoin activity. Coinbase said its prediction markets business surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue within its first two full months following its U.S. launch.

Meanwhile, Coinbase said its Base blockchain processed 62% of global onchain stablecoin transaction volume during the quarter.

Earlier this week, Coinbase said it would cut about 700 jobs, or roughly 14% of its workforce, as part of an AI-driven restructuring effort. The company also cited the broader crypto downturn as a factor behind the layoffs.

Investors are increasingly focused on whether Coinbase’s subscription and infrastructure businesses can offset the cyclical swings of crypto trading revenue during weaker markets.

Prediction markets closed out Consensus Miami 2026 as the subject of a live debate on whether they are regulated financial derivatives or gambling products operating outside state law.

Prediction markets closed out Consensus Miami 2026 on Thursday as the subject of the conference’s final debate, pitting the CFTC’s position that event contracts are swaps against a growing coalition of state attorneys general who argue the platforms are unlicensed gambling businesses.

The session brought the conference’s policy agenda to a head after three days of regulatory and legislative sessions.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, who attended Consensus for the first time this year, has made the prediction markets jurisdictional fight a defining feature of his tenure.

“We expect these matters to go up to the Supreme Court,” Selig said, as the agency has already sued Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin for attempting to regulate CFTC-registered exchanges under state gambling law.

Why states are pushing back

The core disagreement is structural. Kalshi and Polymarket argue their platforms operate like futures markets, with no house setting odds and no counterparty absorbing all risk.

DraftKings president Paul Liberman acknowledged the consumer experience is identical to sports betting. “For the end user, yes,” he said, “whether they’re putting a bet on the sportsbook or whether they’re doing a trade on the Celtics here, they definitely feel as though it’s the same.”

Wisconsin filed complaints against Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, and Robinhood in April, arguing their contracts meet the state’s legal definition of a bet.

A bipartisan coalition of 41 state attorneys general has separately called for federal clarity on jurisdiction. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for May 20, sitting directly between the Consensus debate and the Senate’s CLARITY Act markup window.

As crypto.news reported, Selig has offered platforms a framework: the CFTC will fight state interference, but exchanges must accept surveillance, insider trading enforcement, and a derivatives-style rulebook in return.

Large corporations looking to modernize payments and AI agents making autonomous transactions are emerging as the two biggest growth drivers for stablecoins, executives of Bridge and Deus X Capital said Thursday at Consensus 2026 in Miami.

Lindsey Einhaus — who leads strategy and operations at stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion — said the next two years will likely bring a wave of institutional stablecoin adoption, especially for cross-border payments and internal treasury operations.

“Large institutions are looking to utilize stablecoins to manage cross-border flows and really collapse a lot of their account management into stablecoins,” Einhaus said.

She pointed to payment-focused blockchains like Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, as key enablers for broader adoption. Existing blockchains historically lacked features common in traditional payments systems, such as refunds, chargebacks and private transactions, she argued.

The next growth area may come from AI-powered micropayments.

According to Einhaus, blockchain-based stablecoin rails could finally make tiny internet payments economically viable by removing costly intermediaries and reducing transaction fees. Historically, micropayments failed because transaction costs often exceeded the value being transferred, while crypto payments introduced price volatility that discouraged spending.

“With stablecoin-native blockchains, you’re going to dramatically reduce transaction costs,” she said.

Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital, said agentic payments — autonomous AI systems transacting with each other — may become one of the strongest crypto use cases yet, partly because consumers intuitively understand the need for machines to move money online.

“We’re underestimating the agentic payment boom that’s about to happen,” Grant said.

At the same time, he cautioned that the infrastructure remains fragmented across multiple blockchains and wallets, while regulation around autonomous financial activity is still evolving.

Grant struck a more cautious tone overall on the pace of stablecoin adoption. While he was optimistic in the long term, he argued that the industry still faces hurdles around regulation, consumer onboarding and institutional coordination.

Still, he acknowledged that institutional sentiment has shifted meaningfully as regulators become more supportive.

“Before, you had to push institutions to pay attention,” Grant said. “Now they’re pulling.”

TLDR

• Vitalik Buterin’s XDB token swap triggered a sandwich attack from the JaredfromSubway MEV bot on Ethereum.
• The bot executed more than $1 million in trades before and after Buterin’s transaction confirmed.
• Blockchain data showed the sandwich attack happened in Ethereum block 24993038 on April 30.
• JaredfromSubway used SushiSwap and Uniswap V2 pools to manipulate XDB prices during the trade.
• Reports showed the bot likely lost money after paying more than $5 in gas fees.

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Ethereum mempool activity exposed another sandwich attack involving Vitalik Buterin earlier this week. Blockchain data showed the JaredfromSubway bot targeted Buterin’s small XDB token trade on April 30. The transaction triggered more than $1 million in temporary trading volume across decentralized exchanges.

Vitalik Buterin Trade Triggered Automated MEV Activity

Etherscan data showed Buterin swapped 26,544 XDB tokens for 0.00197 ETH during block 24993038. The transaction carried an estimated value between $3.86 and $4.56. However, the JaredfromSubway bot detected the pending trade before block confirmation.

The bot then executed about $1.14 million in wrapped Ether transactions through SushiSwap and Uniswap V2. Those trades temporarily changed XDB liquidity prices before Buterin’s transaction completed. Afterward, the bot reversed the positions and captured a small spread from the movement.

CoinDesk analysis showed the bot likely earned only a few cents from the sequence. Gas costs reportedly reached $5.14 during the operation. Therefore, the bot appeared to lose money on the isolated transaction.

Blockchain records still showed the bot completed the full sandwich sequence despite the limited profit opportunity. Analysts said the behavior reflected automated scanning across Ethereum’s public mempool. The system searched continuously for transactions that matched preset trading conditions.

A sandwich attack places trades before and after another user’s pending transaction. The strategy raises the asset price before execution and sells immediately afterward. As a result, victims receive weaker execution prices during swaps.

JaredfromSubway Continues Expanding Ethereum MEV Operations

JaredfromSubway gained attention during the 2023 meme coin trading surge on Ethereum. The bot targeted traders dealing with tokens including PEPE and WOJAK. During April 2023, the bot briefly generated 7% of Ethereum gas usage.

Reports estimated the operation extracted more than $7 million from trading activity over hundreds of thousands of transactions. Developers and researchers tracked the wallet through several blockchain monitoring tools. The bot also survived contract upgrades and filtering attempts from builders.

Ethereum developers continue discussing methods to reduce toxic maximal extractable value activity. Buterin recently promoted encrypted mempools within Ethereum’s developing 2026 roadmap. He argued public mempools expose regular traders to hidden trading costs.

MEV refers to profits earned through transaction ordering on blockchain networks. Bots monitor pending transactions and insert trades before confirmation. Sandwich attacks currently represent about 51% of Ethereum MEV activity.

Current estimates placed cumulative Ethereum MEV extraction above $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, developers continued testing systems designed to limit front-running opportunities. Blockchain records from April 30 still showed JaredfromSubway executing the sandwich around Buterin’s transaction.

Political action committees (PACs) affiliated with the cryptocurrency company-backed Fairshake reported spending millions of dollars to support candidates in five races, with less than six months until US voters decide on their representatives in Congress.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission this week, the Protect Progress PAC reported about a combined $1.6 million in expenditures for Jasmine Clark and Christian Menefee, Democrats running to represent Georgia’s 13th Congressional district and Texas’ 18th district, respectively. 

The reported media buys came before Clark will face a May 19 Democratic primary and Menefee a May 26 runoff against Representative Al Green, who is running for a 12th term in office. Protect Progress claimed that Green was “actively hostile towards a growing Texas crypto community,” pledging to spend $1.5 million to oppose his reelection to Congress.

Protect Progress, a Fairshake affiliate, typically focuses on Democratic candidates, while another affiliate, Defend American Jobs, supports Republicans. The Defend American Jobs PAC similarly reported spending $5.6 million on candidates in Georgia’s 1st and 14th districts, Nebraska’s 3rd district and US Senate races in Alabama and Kentucky. All four US states are scheduled to hold May primaries.

Related: Americans distrust crypto, AI as industry super PACs flood midterms, poll finds

Among Defend American Jobs’ expenditures, Andy Barr, running for the US Senate in Kentucky and currently a US House representative for the state’s 6th district, received the most support, with more than $3.5 million in media. Barr has made many public statements favoring pro-crypto policies while in Congress, and voted in favor of legislation, including the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act.

Source: Andy Barr

Fairshake, which reported holding $193 million as of January, has already spent millions of dollars in an attempt to influence voters through the media in the 2026 primaries. The Defend American Jobs PAC spent about $514,000 on advertising supporting Republican James Baird’s reelection in Indiana, and poured millions into media for Texas and Illinois races this year.

Crypto market structure bill could impact candidates’ midterm chances

For many crypto-supporting lawmakers and industry leaders, the progress of a digital asset market structure bill, called the CLARITY Act, could prove to be a litmus test for the 2026 midterm elections. Fairshake and its affiliates spent more than $130 million on media to support or oppose candidates in 2024, potentially influencing voters and changing the makeup of the current Congress, which will decide crypto-related laws.

“I do think it is critically important that every single member of Congress have a position on crypto, it’s part of their election campaign and their platform, and voters are going to be paying attention to this,” Cody Carbone, CEO of crypto advocacy organization The Digital Chamber, told Cointelegraph.

Last week, lawmakers in the US Senate announced a compromise on stablecoin yield that could allow the CLARITY Act to move forward for markup in the Senate Banking Committee, whose approval is necessary before a full floor vote. As of Thursday, the committee had not scheduled a markup on the bill.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

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MIAMI – Coinbax won the $20,000 grand prize at Consensus Miami’s PitchFest after pitching a system designed to help banks and financial firms manage compliance for stablecoin payments.

The company, founded by former Jack Henry executive Peter Glyman, builds programmable escrow infrastructure that adds controls to wallet-to-wallet crypto transactions. The software is meant to reduce the risks financial institutions face when moving funds onchain.

“Banks want to use stablecoins for payments, but they need to get their compliance people comfortable with the idea of moving money onchain,” Glyman said during his presentation.

He described a future where “wallet addresses [are] associated with every bank account,” with transactions moving between banks, fintech firms and self-custody wallets. In that environment, he argued, compliance checks need to happen directly onchain rather than only through traditional banking intermediaries.

Coinbax uses smart contracts to hold funds in escrow while third-party services verify identity, sanctions screening and transaction risk. Funds settle only after conditions are met.

“We provide a trust layer,” Glyman said. “We provide programmable escrow that adds the control layer to these payments.”

The startup launched in October, closed a seed round in December and is already live on Base mainnet, according to Glyman. He said the company is working with banks, custody firms and wallet providers on pilot programs.

Second place went to Tashi, a decentralized infrastructure project focused on coordinating and managing AI systems across distributed networks.