Crypto Property Rights & ETF Realignment (2026-05-24)

Man sentenced to 12 years and 7 months for stealing 4 BTC; Fuzhou court finds that stealing Bitcoin constitutes theft.

The People’s Procuratorate of Cangshan District, Fuzhou City, disclosed that a man was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison for stealing 4 Bitcoin and illegally profiting approximately 900,000.00 元, and fined 300,000.00 元 for the crime of theft. The second instance upheld the original judgment.

The case shows that at the end of 2020, Wang entrusted Lin to help him realize the Bitcoin he held. During the process of contacting Wang’s Bitcoin wallet hard drive and computer, Lin stole the wallet “secret key” and related data, and transferred 4 Bitcoin to his name, and then sold them one after another for profit. In 2024, Wang discovered the abnormality of the assets and called the police. Lin was subsequently arrested by the police.

The procuratorate stated that although current regulations clearly stipulate that virtual currency does not have the status of legal tender, Bitcoin has the general characteristics of “property” in the criminal law due to its value, manageability, and transferability, and belongs to the object of property crime. Related torts will also be subject to criminal liability.

[ChainCatcher]

SkyBridge Capital’s crypto fund posted losses for two consecutive quarters, weighed down by market volatility.

SkyBridge Capital’s flagship fund, the SkyBridge Opportunity Fund—founded by Anthony Scaramucci—recorded losses for the second consecutive quarter, primarily driven by significant volatility in cryptocurrency-related assets.

According to disclosed data, this approximately $1.3 billion fund declined by 12.9% in Q1 2026; currently, roughly 64% of its holdings are tied to cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

Although the fund posted a modest 0.45% rebound in March of this year, it was insufficient to offset earlier losses in the quarter.

[Bloomberg]

Tiger International Clarifies: Did Not “Confront Regulation Head-On,” Will Strictly Follow the Guidance of Regulatory Authorities for Rectification

On May 23, Tiger Brokers issued a statement clarifying that recent claims regarding Tiger Brokers “refusing to cooperate with regulators” or “defying regulators” are entirely inconsistent with the facts.

“We respectfully urge everyone to rely on complete information officially released by regulatory authorities and our company to avoid misunderstandings arising from one-sided dissemination. We sincerely thank everyone for your continued attention and support.” Tiger Brokers stated that the company will strictly carry out rectifications in accordance with guidance from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and other relevant regulatory bodies, adhering to the development philosophy of “compliance first,” and rigorously complying with applicable laws and regulations in all countries and regions where it operates, conducting all business activities lawfully and in compliance.

Currently, the company’s operations across all regions remain stable.

[Odaily]

Bitget will soon launch TAG Simple Earn, offering up to 25% APR.

Bitget will soon launch TAG financial products. The campaign period runs from 18:00 (Beijing Time) on May 23 to 18:00 (Beijing Time) on August 21.

During the campaign, users can subscribe to the corresponding products via the “Simple Earn” section, with a maximum APR of 25%. For more details, please refer to the official Bitget platform.

[Foresight News]

A man was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months for stealing 4 BTC. The Fuzhou court determined that stealing Bitcoin constitutes the crime of theft.

The People’s Procuratorate of Cangshan District, Fuzhou City disclosed that a man was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months of fixed-term imprisonment for theft, and fined RMB 300,000, after stealing 4 Bitcoin from others and illegally profiting approximately RMB 900,000; the second-instance court upheld the original verdict.

According to case details, at the end of 2020, Wang entrusted Lin with assisting in cashing out his Bitcoin holdings. During the process of handling Wang’s Bitcoin wallet hard drive and computer, Lin stole the wallet’s “private key” and related data, transferred the 4 Bitcoin into his own name, and subsequently sold them incrementally for profit. In 2024, after Wang discovered anomalies in his assets, he reported the incident to the police; Lin was subsequently apprehended by law enforcement.

The procuratorial organ stated that although current regulations explicitly clarify that virtual currencies do not possess legal-tender status, Bitcoin exhibits value, manageability, and transferability—characteristics consistent with the general definition of “property” under criminal law—and thus qualifies as an object of property-related crimes; accordingly, such infringing acts will also incur criminal liability.

[Odaily]

Bitcoin ETF outflows hit $1.26B as Santiment sees buy signal

Bitcoin ETF outflows reached $1.26 billion over six sessions, but Santiment says the streak signals a buying opportunity. The 11 US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded net outflows in each of six sessions from May 15 through May 22, totalling $1.26 billion according to Farside data.

“Sustained ETF outflows have historically correlated with conditions favorable for patient accumulation rather than panic,” Santiment said in a published report. The analytics firm argued that ETFs disproportionately reflect retail conviction rather than smart money positioning, making large outflows a counter-signal. Santiment’s analysis rests on a historical pattern: Bitcoin’s strongest rallies have followed periods of heavy ETF withdrawals. The firm said retail investors grew less patient after Bitcoin failed to hold $80,000, with the current streak resembling a healthy market reset.

ETF analyst James Seyffart noted that Bitcoin ETFs have clawed back most of the $9 billion in outflows seen between October 2025 and February 2026. Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund led individual redemptions within the streak. BlackRock’s IBIT saw outflows on multiple sessions, and Morgan Stanley’s MSBT attracted positive flows on some days during the period.

Santiment’s contrarian framing does not eliminate further downside risk. If Bitcoin breaks below $74,000, the outflow streak would need reassessment as a buy signal.

[Crypto.news]

FDIC issues new rule aimed at establishing Bank Secrecy Act and economic sanctions compliance standards for stablecoin companies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has issued new rules aimed at establishing Bank Secrecy Act and economic sanctions compliance standards for stablecoin companies.

The new rules require stablecoin issuers to comply with all applicable anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), economic sanctions programs, and reporting requirements regulations, including those issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The rule will also establish regulatory and enforcement provisions for AML/CFT programs, as required by FinCEN.

[Foresight News]

The Kinexys platform, owned by JPMorgan, has processed over $1.5 trillion in transactions since its launch in 2020.

JPMorgan stated that its blockchain platform, Kinexys, has processed over $1.5 trillion in cumulative transaction volume since its launch in 2020, with daily transaction volume exceeding $2 billion.

Additionally, JPMorgan applied in May 2026 to launch a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund built on the Kinexys blockchain infrastructure, designed to meet the reserve asset requirements for stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. Its Q3 2025 13F filing shows that JPMorgan increased its holdings in the iShares Bitcoin Trust by 64% to 5.28 million shares, valued at approximately $343 million.

Meanwhile, Kinexys and Digital Asset plan to integrate JPM Coin onto the Canton Network in 2026 to enable institutional deposit token settlement on public infrastructure.

[financefeeds]

F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun: Participating in flyby Mars mission is to remind SpaceX not to deviate from its vision, and should not leave the landing plan to the next generation

F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun posted on the X platform to explain the reasons for his decision to take the Starship for its first manned flight to Mars. He stated that with the debut of Starship V3, humanity is one step closer to “multi-planetary survival.” During Fram2 training, in addition to Dragon spacecraft-related content, one of the most discussed topics among the team was “how to reliably stay and land on Phobos.”

Although Elon Musk announced three months ago that SpaceX would shift its focus more towards the moon and believed that with the development of AI data centers, space commercialization might eventually find a viable path, he should focus on Mars rather than the moon. He is currently not sure whether humans can truly land on Mars within the life cycle of this generation, so he hopes to personally promote this process.

Wang Chun added that he hopes to give SpaceX a reason to “not forget Mars” by purchasing a Mars flyby mission, and emphasized that “the Mars plan should not be postponed to the next generation.” Although this mission will not attempt to land on Phobos, all great explorations begin with the first step. “I hope this mission can prove to the public that Mars is not just a spot of light in a telescope, but a real world that humans can reach and safely travel to and from.”

[Odaily]

Morgan Stanley increased its holdings by 14.33 Bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 3486 Bitcoins.

On May 23, according to Arkham monitoring, Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) MSBT acquired 14.333 BTC, valued at $1.11 million.

As of now, its total Bitcoin holdings have reached 3,486 BTC, valued at $260 million.

[PANews]

Uniswap Foundation Initiates New Proposal to Expand Protocol Fees and UNI Burning Scope

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams posted that the Uniswap protocol fee mechanism is running on 9 blockchains and is designed to burn UNI.

The Uniswap Foundation has launched a new proposal to extend the protocol fee mechanism of V2 and V3 to BNB Chain, Polygon, and Celo. This move will further increase the amount of UNI burned and reduce the total supply of UNI.

[PANews]

USDC circulating supply increased by approximately 400 million tokens over the past 7 days.

PANews, May 23: According to official data, in the 7-day period ending May 21, Circle issued approximately $8.1 billion worth of USDC and redeemed approximately $7.7 billion worth of USDC, resulting in a net increase of roughly $400 million in circulating supply.

The total USDC circulating supply stands at $76.9 billion, with reserves totaling approximately $77.1 billion—comprising approximately $45.7 billion in overnight reverse Treasury repurchase agreements; approximately $18.6 billion in U.S. Treasuries with maturities under three months; approximately $12.2 billion in deposits at systemically important institutions; and approximately $600 million in deposits at other banks.

[PANews]

Fuzhou Procuratorate: A man sentenced to 12 years and 7 months for stealing 4 Bitcoin

On May 23, news reports indicated that the Cangshan District People’s Procuratorate in Fuzhou announced that a man was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months of fixed-term imprisonment for theft, and fined RMB 300,000, after stealing the “private key” and related data of another person’s Bitcoin wallet during physical access to the victim’s hard drive and computer. He stole 4 Bitcoin and obtained illicit gains of approximately RMB 900,000. The second-instance court upheld the original verdict.

The procuratorial authorities stated that although current regulations explicitly clarify that virtual currencies do not hold legal-tender status, Bitcoin possesses value, manageability, and transferability—features consistent with the general definition of “property” under criminal law—and therefore qualifies as an object of property-related crimes. Accordingly, such infringing acts will also incur criminal liability.

[PANews]

Binance Alpha to launch Solstice (SLX) on May 25

Binance Wallet posted on X that Binance Alpha will launch Solstice (SLX) on May 25. Eligible users can go to the Alpha page to use Alpha points to claim the airdrop after trading opens.

More details will be announced soon.

[PANews]