OpenAI and the Maltese government have announced a world-first partnership to roll out ChatGPT Plus to all Maltese citizens, marking the first time a government has struck such a deal with the AI company.

Under the programme, citizens who complete a government-backed AI literacy course will receive free access to ChatGPT Plus for one year, OpenAI announced on Saturday. The course, developed by the University of Malta, covers what AI is, what it can and cannot do and how to use it responsibly at home and in the workplace.

“Malta is the first country to launch a partnership of this scale because we refuse to let our citizens stay behind in the digital age,” Maltese minister for economy, enterprise and strategic projects Silvio Schembri said, adding that the goal is to turn AI “from an unfamiliar concept into practical assistance for our families, students, and workers.”

The Malta Digital Innovation Authority will manage distribution to eligible participants when the first phase launches this month, with the programme set to expand as more residents and citizens abroad complete the course.

Related: Robinhood Invests $75M in OpenAI to Provide Equity Tokens for Users

OpenAI partners with governments worldwide

The deal is the latest under OpenAI’s broader OpenAI for Countries initiative, through which the company works with governments to move from early AI interest to national-level adoption. Unlike a standardised model, the programme is tailored to each country’s priorities, including areas like education, workforce training and public services.

Last year, OpenAI partnered with Estonia’s government to provide all secondary school students and teachers with access to ChatGPT Edu, a customized version of ChatGPT built for education systems. The firm has also launched “OpenAI for Greece” in partnership with the Greek government.

As Cointelegraph reported, OpenAI has also struck a deal with the US Department of Defense to deploy its AI models on classified military networks.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

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.

The crypto market lost nearly $90.3 billion in value in a single hour on May 16, pushing Bitcoin to $77,678 and triggering mass liquidations across the board.

The crypto market shed $90.3 billion in market cap in under an hour on May 16, with total valuation dropping 3.37% to around $2.59 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $77,678 while Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) each posted losses between 3.5% and 6%.

The sell-off was not crypto-specific. It was driven by a macro repricing event that spilled across global risk assets.

New U.S. PPI data released this week came in roughly 6% above analyst forecasts, the highest reading since December 2022, according to official data. April CPI had already printed at 3.8%. Together, the back-to-back inflation prints effectively ended near-term hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts, with CME FedWatch showing more than 44% probability of a rate hike by December. Traders sold risky assets fast.

Bitcoin has recently tracked the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), which follows small-cap U.S. stocks that are highly sensitive to rate expectations. As small-caps fell sharply on the inflation data, Bitcoin followed without delay.

Institutional selling compounded the macro hit

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $290 million in outflows on the day, ending a six-week inflow streak. BlackRock’s IBIT led withdrawals with roughly $136 million in redemptions. Total Bitcoin ETF outflows over the past week reached approximately $1.15 billion, according to SoSoValue data.

Analyst Ali Martinez posted on X that Bitcoin miners sold close to 800 BTC worth roughly $64 million over the four days prior, adding further supply pressure at exactly the wrong moment. “This increase in selling pressure could soon impact price action,” Martinez warned.

The combination of macro-driven selling and institutional redemptions removed two major demand layers simultaneously, leaving the market exposed to leveraged long positions built during the recent inflow streak.

Liquidation cascade accelerated the decline

Once spot prices began falling, the derivatives market amplified the move. According to CoinGlass data, nearly 154,000 traders were liquidated over 24 hours, wiping out roughly $696 million from the derivatives market. Bitcoin liquidations alone surged 125% to over $235 million. Total crypto derivatives open interest fell more than 25% as traders rapidly exited leveraged positions.

Crypto trader Ted Pillows warned on X that Bitcoin has broken below a major multi-month ascending channel on the daily timeframe, with two consecutive red candles confirming the breakdown. “If BTC loses the $78,000 level here, it could drop quickly to $74,000–75,000,” he said.

Analysts say the technical break, if sustained, opens the door to a deeper correction, with the $70,000–$68,000 region cited as the next meaningful downside target.

Altcoins took heavier losses than Bitcoin. XRP, Solana, BNB, Hyperliquid, Zcash, Dogecoin, Chainlink, and Cardano all posted steep declines as market sentiment shifted decisively risk-off, consistent with the broader pattern seen each time macro data has turned hawkish this year.

TLDR:

• Stablecoin payment volume reached $400B in 2025, with 60% of transactions driven by B2B activity.
• Bridge covers 35 countries but holds zero local rail presence in APAC, exposing critical coverage gaps.
• Conduit operates at roughly 10 bps on FX, compared to Bridge’s fee of up to 1% per transaction.
• Fasset hit $32B annualized across 50-plus corridors after securing a $51M Series B funding round.

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Stablecoin payment volume reached $400 billion in 2025, with 60% driven by B2B transactions. Yet many fintechs still rely on a single US-based provider to cover global corridors.

The reality is that stablecoin infrastructure has splintered into regional specialists, each with deep local rail integrations, mobile money networks, and central bank relationships.

For cross-border operators, knowing who controls each corridor is now more critical than ever.

Regional Players Are Outpacing US-Centric APIs

The stablecoin orchestration landscape has shifted dramatically over the past three years. What once existed as a few US-based APIs has grown into a dense network of regional operators.

Each corridor now has its own pure-play infrastructure, built by teams with firsthand knowledge of local payment realities.

In Europe, MiCA-native providers like BVNK are processing $30 billion annualized. That figure reflects how quickly regulated regional operators have gained ground.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, providers like Bitso and dLocal have built around local systems such as PIX and SPEI.

As industry observer Gaspard Lezin noted on X, “every major payment corridor has its own pure-play, built by people who actually understand local rails, mobile money, central bank relationships, and FX realities on the ground.”

Africa presents a strong case for mobile money-stablecoin integration. Providers like Yellow Card, Conduit, and Kotani Pay are operating where traditional banking infrastructure remains thin. Conduit alone covers 23 African countries, offering substantially lower fees than global competitors.

Cost and Coverage Gaps Are Driving the Shift

Fee structures are one of the clearest reasons businesses are moving away from single-provider models. Bridge charges up to 1% on FX transactions, while Conduit operates at approximately 10 basis points. That difference compounds significantly at scale for B2B treasury teams.

Coverage gaps are equally telling. Bridge, which covers 35 countries, has no local rail presence in APAC. By contrast, StraitsX has processed roughly $30 billion in cumulative volume across Asia.

Fasset recently hit $32 billion annualized across 50-plus corridors in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East following its $51 million Series B.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Reap was acquired by Kraken for $600 million, further validating the region’s growth trajectory. FOMO Pay, Triple-A, and PhotonPay are also operating with deepening local integrations across the region.

For businesses managing multi-corridor supplier payments, the practical answer is a regional stack. A B2B treasury team paying suppliers across Lagos, São Paulo, Jakarta, and Dubai requires different infrastructure in each market.

Aggregation layers like Borderless.xyz are emerging to stitch these regional providers into a single API, reducing operational complexity without sacrificing local depth.

Spot Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) finished the week with $1.0 billion in net outflows, ending a six-week streak of inflows that had drawn roughly $3.4 billion in total. The week began with faint optimism as funds posted modest inflows, but selling pressure intensified through midweek, culminating in the heaviest outflow on Wednesday. Ether spot ETFs drove a parallel pattern, registering five straight days of red ink and erasing about $254 million from the sector’s assets.

According to SoSoValue, Monday saw a modest inflow of $27.29 million into spot Bitcoin ETFs. On Tuesday, investors pulled $233.25 million, and Wednesday delivered the largest single-day hit with outflows of $635.23 million. A temporary reprieve came on Thursday with inflows of $131.31 million, yet Friday reversed that progress, with another $290.42 million exiting the products. The week closed with net outflows totaling exactly $1 billion. The slide marks a pronounced reversal from the prior six weeks, during which spot BTC ETFs attracted steady inflows, the strongest being the week of April 17 at $996.38 million. By week’s end, total net assets across spot Bitcoin ETFs stood around $104.29 billion, with cumulative net inflows across all products at $58.34 billion.

On the Ether ETF front, the five-day pattern was uniformly negative. Outflows hit every trading day, led by Tuesday’s $130.62 million, followed by $65.65 million on Friday, $36.30 million on Wednesday, $16.89 million on Monday, and $5.65 million on Thursday. The cumulative effect left Ether ETF assets at approximately $12.93 billion by week’s end, with a five-day net decrease of about $254.46 million.

The latest flow data arrives amid broader market shifts that analysts say are shaping risk appetite for crypto products. In a note, the research firm Bitunix described a pronounced capital rotation toward the AI growth narrative and the institutionalization of crypto assets. The backdrop includes a rally in major tech beneficiaries such as NVIDIA, Google, and Apple, with AI-related players like Cerebras spiking intraday on its IPO debut. The dynamic underscores how macro themes are increasingly filtering into crypto allocation decisions, even as spot crypto prices remain volatile.

Key takeaways

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $1.0 billion in weekly net outflows, ending six consecutive weeks of inflows that had accumulated about $3.4 billion.
• Daily flow pattern for BTC ETFs showed modest Monday inflows, heavy midweek outflows peaking Wednesday, a Thursday rebound, and continued Friday selling.
• Total spot BTC ETF assets stood at roughly $104.29 billion, with cumulative inflows across all related products at about $58.34 billion.
• Ether spot ETFs faced a five-day stretch of outflows totaling about $254 million, reducing assets to around $12.93 billion.
• Macro themes—AI-driven capital rotation and evolving crypto regulation—are shaping near-term risk appetite, with regulatory developments and price action providing directional signals.

Markets in the crosswinds of AI and regulation

Beyond the ETF flows, investors have been weighing the interplay between technology-driven narratives and policy shifts. Bitunix’s note highlights a sentiment shift toward AI-related growth and the institutionalization of crypto markets, a combination that could sustain capital inflows or trigger selective reallocation depending on macro data and tech sector momentum. In the broader stock space, several AI-heavy names pushed toward fresh highs, while select AI-chipmakers demonstrated notable intraday strength on debut, illustrating the sector’s capacity to influence crypto risk sentiment through cross-asset dynamics.

On the regulatory front, developments such as the CLARITY Act have been closely watched. The bill is widely viewed as one of the most significant pieces of crypto market structure legislation in the United States. Following the Senate Banking Committee’s movement on the measure, Coinbase shares rallied as investors priced in potential regulatory clarity, and Bitcoin hovered near the $82,000 level. Analysts caution that Bitcoin’s price action remains sensitive to macro liquidity and the ongoing tug-of-war between AI-driven demand themes and regulatory framing. Traders also noted a cluster of short liquidity in the $82,400–$82,600 range with the $80,000 level identified as a critical support anchor to monitor in the near term.

These developments sit alongside ongoing policy debates and market structure reforms that could influence ETF flows and crypto trading volumes in the coming weeks. For instance, coverage of regulatory milestones continues to shape investor expectations and the perceived safety of crypto exposure within diversified portfolios. Related reporting has highlighted how public filings and regulatory chatter can translate into quickly shifting trading dynamics, including moves in large-cap crypto equities alongside the sector’s ETF products.

As traders digest these crosscurrents, the market will be watching for whether inflows resume or outflows intensify, and for more concrete signals about how policymakers intend to balance investor protection with sector growth. The coming weeks could reveal whether current price levels are a temporary pause in a broader uptrend or a prelude to renewed volatility driven by macro data, regulatory decisions, or shifts in the AI narrative that continue to reverberate through risk markets.

Further context on regulatory developments and market reactions can be found in related coverage, which notes ongoing attention to the CLARITY Act and its potential implications for crypto market structure and investor access.

Looking ahead, investors should watch how liquidity dynamics evolve around key support levels for spot BTC and how the evolving regulatory environment affects appetite for crypto exposure within traditional portfolios. The balance of AI-driven demand, geopolitical considerations, and policy clarity will likely continue to shape ETF flows and price action in the weeks ahead.