XRP finally forced its way through the $1.45 area that had capped rallies for weeks, and the move came fast. Volume arrived all at once during the breakout, which usually points to larger positioning rather than retail chasing, though the rally started losing momentum as price approached the psychological $1.50 level.

News Background

• Traders had been watching XRP’s tightening range for days as multiple analysts pointed to bull flag and triangle formations building beneath resistance.

• Thin liquidity conditions across major exchanges added to expectations that any confirmed breakout could produce exaggerated moves in either direction.

Price Action Summary

• XRP climbed from $1.4176 to $1.4524 during the 24-hour session, trading within a 6.5% range.
• The breakout accelerated during the May 10 16:00–17:00 window, when volume surged above 169M and pushed price through $1.4450.
• XRP later reached a session high of $1.5073 before pulling back toward the $1.45 area as traders locked in profits.

Technical Analysis

• The move above $1.45 matters because that level had repeatedly rejected upside attempts since April.
• Breakout volume was unusually strong, suggesting real participation behind the rally rather than a thin squeeze higher.
• Momentum cooled quickly near $1.50, where sellers stepped back in and triggered short-term liquidation pressure.
• Despite the pullback, XRP is still holding above the prior breakout zone, keeping the broader bullish structure intact for now.

What traders should watch

• $1.44-$1.45 is now the key support area. Holding above it keeps the breakout structure alive.
• $1.50 remains the immediate resistance level after the sharp rejection from session highs.
• A sustained move above $1.50 could reopen momentum toward $1.56 and potentially the $1.80 area highlighted by several analysts.
• Failure back below $1.44 would increase the risk of a retracement toward the $1.38-$1.40 range.

Bitcoin may have already bottomed in early February at around $60,000 and is unlikely to go lower this year, according to a crypto analyst, despite expectations of another downturn.

“The dozens of bottom signals only flashed in synchrony at the bottoms. They were not flashing in the middle. Yet they all flashed in Q1 2026 at 60k,” Matthew Hyland said in an X post on Friday.

“To compare the current price action to mid bear market price action has major visible flaws because you did not have bottom signals flashing in the middle; they flashed at the bottoms,” Hyland said, pointing to chart movements in prior cycles.

Source: Matthew Hyland

Analysts are divided over whether $60,000 was the bottom

Bitcoin (BTC) analysts have recently been divided over whether the asset already bottomed in February or if it still has further downside in this cycle.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt said in March that $60,000 may not be the lowest level for 2026, forecasting that Bitcoin could retest or even move “slightly lower” in September or October this year.

Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo said in an X post on March 17 that, from a liquidity perspective, Bitcoin is about one-third of the way “through the bear market.”

More recently, in an X post on Friday, MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe pointed to a forming pattern on Bitcoin’s short-to-long-term realized value ratio chart to argue that Bitcoin is nearing the end of the bear phase.

“The levels are hit again, which shows that we’re at the end of the bear market, and not at the start,” van de Poppe said.

Source: Michael van de Poppe

Bitcoin recently reached its highest price in three months

Bitcoin reached $82,499 on Wednesday, its highest price since Jan. 31. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $79,646, approximately 32.74% higher than the $60,000 level it reached in February, according to CoinMarketCap.

Related: Bitcoin bulls target $115K by December: Does data back the expectation?

Bitcoin analyst Kyle Chasse pointed out the price increase in an X post on Thursday, saying he expects further upside in the near term.

“$82,000 this week. Up 5% in five days. Crypto legislation is moving through Congress. Iran peace talks reducing risk-off pressure,” Chasse said.

“The technicals are clean. Bull-stacked moving averages. Shorts getting squeezed,” Chasse said, adding that the “next wall” is $85,000.

“Above that, the path to $100k opens back up,” Chasse said.

Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves

Digital Asset Holdings, the enterprise blockchain company behind the Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain network for financial institutions with privacy features, is reportedly raising fresh capital at a $2 billion valuation.

The $300 million round is being led by venture capital firm a16z crypto, and is expected to close in several weeks, according to Bloomberg, which cited unidentified people with knowledge of the deal.

The report comes less than a year after Digital Asset announced it had raised $135 million in a strategic funding round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets. A company spokesman on Sunday declined to comment in response to an email query from Cointelegraph.

In December, Digital Asset, the Canton Network and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced a partnership to enable the tokenization of DTCC-custodied assets on the Canton Network.

Canton Network topology. Source: Canton Network Whitepaper

Last week, DTCC announced plans to pilot trading of tokenized versions of some of the $114 trillion in liquid assets that it custodies beginning in July with a goal of a full service launch in October.

Related: Canton, ZKsync clash over how blockchains enforce rules

Financial institutions are onboarding or experimenting with Canton Network

While the Canton Network has drawn mixed reactions from the crypto community over its role in the blockchain ecosystem and its level of decentralization, it continues to onboard global financial institutions, banks and government entities.

In March, financial rating agency Moody’s deployed its ratings data on the network, allowing financial institutions to use the data directly within blockchain workflows, making it the first credit ratings firm to publish its data onchain, according to an announcement from the firm.

In April, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), a financial clearinghouse and settlement service for equities, commodities and derivatives, announced it was testing onchain government bonds on the Network.

More specifically, JSCC is testing whether ownership of Japan’s government bonds can be transferred onchain and used as digital collateral. 

The Canton Coin’s price action since December 2025. Source: CoinMarketCap

Earlier this month, Swiss crypto bank Amina, announced custody and trading support for Canton Coin, the utility token of the Canton Network.

Amina is the first bank regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to announce support for the Canton token, according to an announcement from the crypto bank.

Magazine: One metric shows crypto is now in a bear market: Carl Moon

Bitcoin briefly dipped before surging over $82,000 on Sunday as US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s counteroffer to a peace deal, which could prolong tension in the Middle East. 

“I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE, Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Sunday after reading Iran’s proposal to end the war. Iran has previously requested that the US pay for war reparations and unfreeze blocked Iranian financial assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell from $81,430 to $80,520 within 45 minutes of Trump’s post before whipsawing nearly 2.3% to $82,347 less than three hours later, according to CoinGecko data. Bitcoin’s rise also resulted in nearly $64 million worth of short positions being wiped out over the last four hours, according to Coinglass data.

Bitcoin’s change in price over the last 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko

The US-Iran war and dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz — which handles one-fifth of oil trade — has caused significant disruption in the financial markets over the past ten weeks, particularly in oil markets, which rose another 4.6% to $98.7 per barrel on Trump’s latest comments.

The S&P 500 futures index has risen 0.13% since the market opened about two hours after Trump’s post.

Trump’s refusal to accept Iran’s counteroffer dashes hopes of an imminent end to the war on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the war won’t be over until Iran’s uranium sites are dismantled.

Source: Rapid Response 47 

Bitcoin could see more regulatory momentum in US this week

Bitcoin’s strength at the $80,000 level could be supported by two favorable decisions in the US Senate this week, 10x Research CEO Markus Thielen told Cointelegraph.

“Two catalysts stand out this week,” a Senate vote on Monday for Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as Federal Reserve chair and the Senate Banking Committee’s markup on the CLARITY Act on Thursday, Thielen said.

Related: Bitcoin price may dip toward $70K as Fed estimates hotter inflation print 

Thielen noted that while “Warsh is widely regarded as more hawkish on inflation” than the current Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, his confirmation would remove “uncertainty overhang.”

Thielen described the CLARITY Act as the “most significant piece of crypto legislation in years,” adding that it could be a “turning point for regulatory certainty across digital assets.” 

“Both events lean bullish for Bitcoin: regulatory clarity reduces institutional friction, and a smooth Fed leadership transition avoids the policy uncertainty that typically pressures risk assets.”

Bitcoin up 29.7% since the US-Iran war began

Despite the US-Iran conflict, Bitcoin has now risen 29.7% since the US-Iran conflict started on Feb. 28, when a US airstrike killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Bitcoin has outperformed the S&P 500 and gold since the US-Iran war started, clawing back some lost ground from October when Bitcoin hit a high of $126,080.

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

A bitcoin whale came back to life Sunday, moving coins worth $40 billion to a new address after more than a decade of inactivity.

The transfer took place at around 19:16 UTC, according to blockchain tracking service Whale Alert. The coins were moved from address “1KAA8GGhVjjUjVTz1HKAjCyGNzAKQd882j” to “bc1qm6m6d33d02edr0k8yj9jgt027zl6dvx6thjrxy.”

The wallet had remained inactive since November 2013, when BTC was originally acquired and subsequently held untouched for more than a decade.

The reason behind the latest transfer remains unclear. Large holders often move coins between wallets for address management or security purposes, though such activity can also precede sales or transfers to exchanges. In this case, the destination address does not appear to be linked to a known exchange wallet.

Dormant bitcoin wallets have increasingly resurfaced since BTC first crossed the $100,000 mark in late 2024. Several early investors and miners have moved long-held coins over the past year, with some ultimately taking profits after bitcoin’s massive rally.

The trend was most intense in July last year, when blockchain analytics firms flagged eight Satoshi-era wallets, each holding 10,000 BTC, moving their coins for the first time in 14 years. Those transfers came as bitcoin traded above $100,000 and hovered near all-time highs.

As of writing, bitcoin changed hands near $80,700, down over 1% since midnight UTC, according to CoinDesk’s market data.

Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury vehicle co-founded by Michael Saylor, signaled it would resume BTC purchases this week after its first-quarter earnings call, during which executives floated selling portions of its Bitcoin reserve to fund dividends on its corporate credit facilities. Saylor, who has historically marked new buys with an X post, sent a Sunday message: “Back to work, BTC.” The cadence has often preceded fresh accumulation.

The last known buy occurred on April 27, when Strategy purchased 3,273 BTC for roughly $255 million, lifting total holdings to 818,334 BTC. Strategy’s own purchases page at the time valued the stash at about $61.8 billion. The company had paused its BTC buying streak for one week ahead of the Q1 2026 earnings call, where management indicated it could periodically sell portions of BTC to fund dividends on its debt instruments.

Key takeaways

• Strategy plans to resume BTC purchases this week after pausing ahead of its Q1 2026 earnings call, continuing a pattern that has accompanied prior buying waves.
• During the earnings call, executives flagged the possibility of selling portions of its Bitcoin to fund dividends on corporate credit instruments, marking a shift from an earlier stance against selling.
• Strategy’s BTC stake stands at about 818,334 BTC, roughly 4% of the total supply, with the group asserting purchases and sales should not meaningfully move Bitcoin’s price.
• Reaction within the crypto community has been mixed: some view periodic sales as a way to finance future buys, while others warn of potential price pressure or a “doom loop” for the spot market.
• The firm cited an estimated $1.5 billion per year in dividend-equivalent payments, arguing Bitcoin’s high daily liquidity—over $60 billion on average—could absorb such demand without destabilizing prices.

Strategy restarts BTC purchases as a revised treasury playbook

On the earnings call, Strategy executives indicated that the company could periodically liquidate portions of its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividends on its corporate credit products. In a direct nod to this approach, Saylor told the call that the firm would “probably sell some Bitcoin to fund a dividend, just to inoculate the market, just to send the message that we did it.” The remark underscored a strategic pivot toward treasury management that blends accumulation with targeted selling for yield support.

The move drew a spectrum of responses from investors and observers. Some supporters argued that measured sales could provide a predictable mechanism to nurture future BTC purchases, effectively broadening Strategy’s financing toolkit. Others cautioned that even small, regular sales could add selling pressure to a market already sensitive to large holders’ actions.

Industry voices highlighted differing interpretations of the plan. Samson Mow, a prominent Bitcoin advocate, argued that Strategy’s sales would grant the firm additional optionality in the financial landscape. Critics, meanwhile, raised concerns about potential market implications and referred to the risk of reinforcing negative sentiment if sales appeared episodic or unpredictable. Strategy’s leadership tried to temper these concerns, with CEO Phong Le stressing that any sales would occur in specific, defensible circumstances—such as dividend distributions or tax deferral—while insisting that neither the company’s actions nor their timing should materially move Bitcoin’s price.

Le also framed the size of the operation in context: Strategy owns about 4% of the total BTC supply, and he pointed to Bitcoin’s substantial daily trading volume as a cushion. In an interview with CNBC, Le noted that the market’s liquidity could readily absorb the targeted cash flow associated with annual dividend payments—roughly $1.5 billion—without creating outsized price volatility. He reinforced the message that the firm does not intend to manipulate prices and that its buying and occasional selling are not expected to move the market significantly.

Market context, risks, and what to watch next

Strategy’s approach sits at the intersection of treasury policy and market dynamics. By expanding the toolbox beyond passive holding to include strategic liquidations, the firm aims to sustain its BTC holdings while delivering yields to creditors. Yet the decision to monetize a portion of the reserve raises questions about long-term price discovery for Bitcoin and the potential signaling effect for other large holders contemplating similar moves.

Analysts and traders will be watching several factors: the cadence and size of any future BTC sales, how the dividends on Strategy’s credit instruments are structured, and whether other institutions with sizable BTC treasuries adjust their strategies in response. The company’s reported scale—standing around 4% of the total supply—ensures that even modest shifts can become meaningful talking points for market participants. At the same time, observers point to Bitcoin’s liquidity as a mitigating factor; with daily volumes well north of $60 billion, the market could theoretically absorb substantial on-chain activity tied to dividends without a wholesale price revaluation in the near term.

Beyond market mechanics, regulatory and macro considerations loom. If Strategy proceeds with a measurable program of sales, nearby observers will scrutinize tax treatment, dividend timing, and the broader implications for corporate treasury strategies in the crypto space. As always with Bitcoin’s largest treasury holders, the balance between long-term accumulation and opportunistic monetization will shape both the price narrative and the strategic calculus of other institutions contemplating similar moves.

For now, the sequence is clear: Strategy intends to resume BTC purchases this week, while leaving open the possibility of measured sales to support its credit instrument dividends. The coming weeks will reveal how the market prices this nuanced treasury playbook and whether Strategy’s approach becomes a blueprint for a new era of corporate crypto treasury management.

Three of DeFi’s relatively young applications — Hyperliquid, EdgeX and Pump.fun — collectively returned $96.3 million to token holders over the last 30 days, according to data compiled by DefiLlama. The results underscore a shift in the sector’s focus from pure on-chain activity to actual earnings that can be distributed to holders.

Hyperliquid led the pack, distributing $50.95 million in revenue to token holders for the period, with zero incentives spent, DefiLlama’s figures show. Pump.fun ranked second, returning $22.09 million to holders from $38.81 million in total revenue. EdgeX distributed $23.26 million to holders from $8.26 million in protocol revenue, a pattern that suggests the project is leveraging reserves or alternative income streams to reward its holders.

On an annualized basis, the momentum is even more pronounced: Hyperliquid has generated $945.87 million in revenue over the past year, all returned to holders; Pump.fun sits at $481.15 million; and EdgeX at $236.42 million.

Across the broader DeFi landscape, other major protocols reported distributions as well: Chainlink returned $4.63 million to holders, Aerodrome $3.53 million and Uniswap $3.29 million, spread across 44 chains. PancakeSwap generated $3.94 million in revenue, but returned $2.48 million to holders while spending $905,260 on incentives.

Related: DeFi can freeze stolen funds, but not everyone agrees it should

Crypto community now focuses on revenue

The data comes as revenue is becoming the metric that matters most in crypto, with token holders pushing protocols to justify their valuations through actual earnings rather than transaction volumes or network growth figures.

“Nobody cares that your chain does 10x the TPS anymore,” wrote Robbie Klages, co-founder of The Rollup, in a widely cited post on X. “The market is ‘show me the money right now.’ Treat it like a business, not a network-growth thesis.”

Another commentator on X framed the shift as potentially permanent: the move from a narrative-driven backdrop to a transparency of earnings could reprice projects that fail to demonstrate real revenue, especially in a rising-rate environment where capital becomes more expensive for speculative assets.

Top DeFi protocols by Holders Revenue. Source: DefiLlama

DeFi is becoming backend for onchain economy

Andre Cronje, founder of Yearn.Finance, described a future where DeFi resembles essential financial infrastructure rather than a speculative playground. In his view, stablecoins have grown into a $320 billion market led by Tether and Circle, decentralized exchanges are processing over $160 billion in monthly spot volume, and perpetuals are handling roughly $540 billion in monthly volume. Lending protocols like Aave, Morpho and Maple Finance collectively support around $28 billion in active loans, while real-world assets increasingly appear as on-chain collateral. “DeFi is no longer just competing for APY. It is becoming the backend for the onchain economy,” Cronje wrote on X.

The broader context is shaping how market participants assess risk and opportunity in the sector. As traditional finance channels scrutinize on-chain revenue and the sustainability of distributed earnings, observers are watching whether more protocols will translate engagement into verifiable cash flows that can be shared with holders.

For readers seeking deeper context on DeFi’s evolving role, Cointelegraph’s coverage on related topics remains a useful resource, including discussions around recovery plans and real-world asset integration within DeFi ecosystems.

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

Notes: This article relies on data from DefiLlama for revenue distributions and is intended to reflect observed patterns in the DeFi sector. Citations include public posts and prior reporting from industry figures and outlets referenced above.

What to watch next: as more protocols publish holder distributions and audited revenue figures, investors will increasingly evaluate projects on earnings quality and sustainability rather than growth narratives. The next several quarters could reveal whether the current revenue-centric approach endures, or if broader market dynamics reintroduce balance between on-chain activity and real-world cash flows.

Digital Asset Holdings, the firm behind the Canton Network, is reportedly raising about $300 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation, according toBloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. The round is said to be led by a16z crypto and could close in the coming weeks, signaling continued investor appetite for enterprise-grade, privacy-forward blockchain rails designed for regulated finance.

The potential financing would come less than a year after Digital Asset disclosed a $135 million strategic round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets to accelerate Canton Network adoption. The fresh capital would help scale Canton Network’s ecosystem as financial institutions explore on-chain workflows that preserve privacy and governance controls while enabling asset-tokenization use cases.

In December, Digital Asset, the Canton Network, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced a collaboration to tokenize DTCC-custodied assets on Canton Network, underscoring a concrete path to moving regulated instruments onto a private, interoperable ledger.

DTCC’s latest push adds to a broader momentum around on-chain asset handling. The clearinghouse said it would pilot trading of tokenized versions of a portion of the $114 trillion in assets it custody, with activity slated to begin in July and a full-service launch planned for October, according to reports linked to the initiative.

Meanwhile, Moody’s announced in March that it had deployed its ratings data on the Canton Network, enabling financial institutions to use independent credit analysis directly within blockchain workflows. The move marked Moody’s as the first credit ratings agency to publish data on-chain for use in a financial-infrastructure context.

In April, the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) announced that it would test the use of on-chain government bonds on Canton Network, evaluating whether ownership of Japan’s sovereign bonds can be transferred on-chain and used as digital collateral.

Swiss crypto bank Amina disclosed custody and trading support for Canton Coin, the network’s utility token, becoming the first FINMA-regulated bank to back the token, according to an announcement from Amina.

As the Canton Network pushes deeper into regulated rails, it has drawn mixed reactions within the broader crypto community regarding its approach to decentralization and governance. Yet institutional actors—from clearinghouses to credit-rating agencies—continue to experiment with Canton as a bridge between traditional assets and on-chain processes.

Key takeaways

• Fresh funding at a $2 billion valuation signals ongoing investor confidence in Canton Network’s enterprise-use case and privacy-oriented design for regulated finance.
• The ecosystem is expanding beyond pilots to tangible tokenization workflows, with DTCC’s collaboration, Moody’s on-chain data, and JSCC’s government-bond testing illustrating a broadening operational agenda.
• Regulated adoption is advancing alongside the Canton Coin ecosystem, highlighted by Amina’s custody and trading support as a FINMA-regulated bank.
• The funding cycle comes amid persistent debates about decentralization versus controlled, permissioned rails in the traditional-finance layer of the crypto stack.
• Investors will watch how the upcoming DTCC tokenization pilots and related on-chain implementations perform in real markets and how regulators respond to tokenized assets and on-chain collateralization.

Enterprise rails in motion: what’s changing for investors and users

The reported $300 million round, if completed, would place Digital Asset in a clearer position to accelerate Canton Network’s commercial ambitions. By drawing capital into a permissioned, privacy-preserving ledger tailored for banks, asset managers, and other financial institutions, the project aims to reduce counterparty risk and operational friction traditionally associated with moving complex assets onto public blockchains. The leadership by a16z crypto—an investor with a broad portfolio in infrastructure and selective, enterprise-grade blockchain bets—underscores a continuing tilt toward assets and workflows that require regulatory-grade controls.

Meanwhile, the DTCC collaboration and its tokenization agenda are particularly noteworthy. Tokenizing DTCC-custodied assets on Canton could serve as a proving ground for how institutional-grade custody, settlement, and risk management operate when assets exist as tokenized representations on a private, auditable ledger. The announced July pilot and October full rollout set clear milestones for market participants watching for scalable, on-chain settlement and collateral frameworks.

Moody’s on-chain data integration adds a complementary dimension: credit analytics flowing into blockchain workflows could streamline risk assessment and due diligence across tokenized instruments. The once-dominant silos between credit ratings and settlement infrastructure may gradually blur as data becomes clickable within tokenized processes. The on-chain access to independent credit analysis signals a maturation of the use cases anchored in Canton’s network design.

The on-chain government-bond experiments by JSCC push further the notion that sovereign debt can function as digital collateral within a regulated, interoperable environment. If successful, such tests could influence how central-bank-like operations or cross-border collateral agreements evolve in a hybrid of traditional and digital finance.

Finally, Amina’s Canton Coin custody and trading support marks a visible step for regulated banks toward integrating native network tokens into their custody and liquidity frameworks. As the first FINMA-regulated bank to back Canton Coin, Amina’s move may serve as a reference point for other regulated banks considering similar digital-asset rails, while also inviting regulatory scrutiny and clarity about tokenization standards and custody risk.

Taken together, these developments illustrate a broader shift: institutional finance is quietly exploring controlled, auditable, and privacy-conscious blockchain networks as the backbone for on-chain asset tokenization, while investors seek clarity on governance and long-term decentralization dynamics.

As the Canton Network ecosystem pursues live deployments and scale, readers should watch how regulatory signals unfold around on-chain assets and collateral, how tokenized workflows perform in real-market conditions, and which traditional institutions partner most aggressively to harness private-ledger innovation.