Crypto Volatility Amid Institutional Shifts (2026-05-23)

A whale placed a limit buy order for ETH in April, which was executed today for 3,942.3 ETH.

According to Ai Yi’s monitoring on May 23, an address placed a limit order for ETH with a price range of $1,840.90 to $2,076.38 on Cowswap on April 20, with a total value of $20.68M.

From early this morning to now, this buy order has traded 3,942.30 ETH, with a transaction amount of $8.15M and an average price of $2,067.00. When the address placed the order, the ETH price was approximately $2,276.00.

[PANews]

Trump: Will meet with negotiators to discuss Iran’s latest proposal

Trump stated that he would meet with negotiators later that day to discuss Iran’s latest proposal and would likely decide on Sunday whether to resume hostilities.

Trump said he was “50-50” on whether a “good” deal could be reached or whether Iran would be bombed.

[Jin10]

Schiff Slams MicroStrategy Again Amid Rising Leverage Concerns

Peter Schiff is renewing his attack on MicroStrategy (MSTR), arguing the company’s five-year Bitcoin accumulation strategy has produced a negative total return and that its STRC preferred stock structure depends on price appreciation that has not materialized. Schiff posted on X that MSTR has deployed approximately $64 billion into Bitcoin (BTC) since adopting its treasury strategy. The position’s total return remains negative as of May 23, he argued.

He added that the entire STRC framework depends on bitcoin appreciating roughly 30% per year to fund its 11.5% annual dividend. Strategy set its STRC dividend rate at 11.50% for March 2026, the seventh consecutive monthly increase since the preferred shares launched in July 2025. The rate is adjusted monthly to keep STRC shares trading near their $100 par value.

Schiff’s critique centers on the sustainability of that obligation. He contends that covering an 11.5% annual payout requires Bitcoin to compound at a rate far above historical averages. He also notes that ongoing STRC issuance raises that threshold each month as more shares enter the float.

Schiff has previously labeled MSTR a Ponzi scheme, arguing the structure is self-reinforcing on the downside. Under that reading, weak bitcoin performance reduces MSTR’s ability to issue new shares at a premium, limiting the capital available to fund dividends.

Not all observers accept the framing. One commenter argued that MSTR’s bitcoin holdings far exceed its dividend obligations and that a 2.5% compound annual growth rate would be sufficient to cover payments. Schiff rejected that figure, noting that bitcoin has not even reached that modest threshold since MSTR began accumulating. A separate participant raised a different issue, arguing the real problem is retail investors failing to grasp the volatility of a leveraged bitcoin proxy rather than any lack of disclosure.

Saylor has publicly challenged Schiff to defend his position, citing MSTR’s long-run price performance relative to traditional assets. Strategy holds 818,869 BTC at an average cost of roughly $75,540 per coin. With bitcoin trading near $76,800 on May 23, the position sits only marginally above its cost basis. Whether that margin justifies Schiff’s death-spiral warning or signals a temporary trough will depend on bitcoin’s trajectory. Strategy’s MSTR Bitcoin acquisitions continue, with Saylor yet to acknowledge any structural limit to the approach.

Iran proposes opening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for compensation from the United States

May 23 news, according to Jinshi’s citation of Saudi media Alhadath, Iran has proposed opening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for compensation from the United States.

Iran is demanding that sanctions and frozen funds be discussed before any agreement is signed.

[PANews]

SharpLink will be added to the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices, effective June 29.

On May 23, SharpLink (SBET), a Nasdaq-listed Ethereum treasury company, announced that it will be added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes. The adjustment will take effect at the U.S. market open on June 29, 2026—the same date as the Russell Indexes’ semi-annual rebalancing.

The Russell 3000 Index covers the 3,000 largest U.S.-listed companies by market capitalization, while the Russell 2000 Index comprises the 2,000 smallest companies within the Russell 3000 and serves as the core benchmark for U.S. small-cap stocks.

[PANews]

China’s computing power construction will shift from scale expansion to “equal emphasis on construction and application, and efficient operation”

May 23 news, according to CCTV Finance reports, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the demand for computing power exploding in more scenarios is also affecting the supply structure of computing power. Industry insiders said that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s computing power construction focused on making up for the shortcomings in scale, and the total amount of computing power continued to grow.

At the same time, problems such as the overall tight supply of computing power, regional supply and demand mismatch, and high usage costs still exist. Activating existing computing power resources and ensuring supply are the primary issues to be resolved in the construction of the computing power network. Recently, the three major domestic telecom operators have successively launched word element (Token) package products for individuals and enterprises, which are considered by the industry to be a sign of further improvement in the popularization of artificial intelligence.

Experts said that in the next stage, the development of computing power will shift from large-scale construction to a new stage of “equal emphasis on construction and use, and efficient operation.” Improving the utilization rate of computing power and realizing efficient scheduling of computing power have become inevitable requirements for promoting the development of the computing power network.

[PANews]

Fenwick Agrees to Pay $54 Million to Settle FTX Customer Claims

Fenwick & West, FTX’s former lead outside counsel, agreed to pay $54 million to settle claims alleging that the firm helped enable the exchange’s $8 billion fraud. The federal court filed the preliminary settlement in Miami and requires judicial approval. Litigator David Boies, representing the plaintiffs, said the deal was reasonable and would spare both sides prolonged, complex litigation.

Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick advised FTX as it grew into one of the largest crypto platforms globally before its November 2022 collapse. Plaintiffs alleged the firm went beyond routine legal counsel, arguing Fenwick crafted strategies that enabled FTX’s fraud and built legal structures that allowed customer funds to be commingled with those of Alameda Research, FTX’s sister trading firm. Fenwick pushed back, maintaining the firm had no knowledge of wrongdoing at FTX. In a statement, the firm said it looks forward to moving past the matter.

The $54 million deal forms part of a broader second wave of agreements in the legal saga. It follows earlier asset-recovery lawsuits targeting former executives and counterparties. A separate $525 million suit against Fenwick and its partners remains active, leaving significant exposure unresolved.

The court sentenced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in 2024 to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers. He has appealed his conviction. The bankruptcy estate has since distributed over $5 billion to creditors as part of its structured recovery plan, completed a third creditor repayment round in September 2025, and operated under a court-approved FTX compensation plan that formalized the victim recovery process.

Whether the Fenwick agreement signals further settlements from other professional advisors tied to FTX remains to be seen as the litigation’s second wave continues.

F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun: The Mars flyby mission is to promote the process of “multi-planetary survival”

On May 23rd, Wang Chun, co-founder of F2Pool, posted on the X platform, detailing the core motivation for taking the SpaceX Starship on its first manned Mars flyby mission, clearly placing Mars above the Moon and personally promoting the human “multi-planetary survival” process.

Wang Chun stated that the debut of Starship V3 brings humanity closer to multi-planetary survival; reviewing Fram2 training, the team discussed the reliability of Phobos tethered landing the most, in addition to the Dragon spacecraft, highlighting the technical focus on the Mars system.

Although three months ago, Musk announced that SpaceX would shift its focus to the Moon and believed that AI data centers might become a viable path for space commercialization, Wang Chun insisted that the goal must be Mars, not the Moon. He admitted that he was not sure whether humans could land on Mars within the life cycle of this generation, so he hoped to personally promote this process.

[PANews]

$751 million liquidated across the entire network in the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for over $700 million

According to CoinAnk data, over the past 24 hours, the total amount of liquidations across the entire network reached $751 million. Long liquidations accounted for approximately $706 million, while short liquidations were approximately $45.6 million.

Among these, Bitcoin liquidations totaled approximately $300 million, and Ethereum liquidations totaled approximately $178 million.

[Foresight News]

Curve Finance will undergo a database upgrade on May 25th, and the front-end interface will be temporarily unavailable.

Curve Finance announced that it will initiate a database upgrade maintenance at 9:00 a.m. CEST (Central European Summer Time) on May 25, expected to last between 20 minutes and 1 hour.

The official statement emphasized that during the maintenance period, the Curve frontend interface will be temporarily inaccessible; however, the underlying blockchain smart contracts will operate fully normally, with no impact on the protocol’s core functionality.

[PANews]

Ionic Digital mined 20.45 BTC in April, with a total holding of 2,836.4 BTC.

On May 23, according to GlobeNewswire, Ionic Digital released its unaudited mining operations report for April 2026. Due to the complete shutdown of the GXD hosting mining facility in Oklahoma, the company’s average daily hashrate declined by 26.2% month-on-month, and Bitcoin output for the month totaled 20.45 BTC, down 27.1% month-on-month. Currently, only four mining facilities in Midland remain operational.

The company maintains a zero-debt financial position. In April, it sold no BTC and increased its BTC holdings by 19.9 BTC month-on-month, bringing its total BTC holdings to 2,836.4 BTC.

[PANews]

U.S. media: The crypto industry has established a command center in Washington to accelerate regulatory legalization.

The U.S. crypto industry is accelerating its “legitimization” strategy in Washington, with multiple crypto companies, industry associations, and lobbying firms establishing a tighter coordination network to collectively advance key legislative agendas—including stablecoin regulation, crypto market structure bills, and ETF-related legislation.

Reports indicate that, as the Trump administration adopts a friendlier stance toward crypto and support within Congress grows stronger, the industry is seizing this window of opportunity to formally integrate crypto assets into the mainstream U.S. financial system. Some industry insiders have even dubbed the current phase “a pivotal moment for the crypto industry’s entry into the core of U.S. institutional frameworks.”

The report also notes that leading institutions such as Coinbase and a16z crypto are continuously expanding their policy influence in Washington—through political donations, dedicated lobbying teams, and industry coalitions—to shift the regulatory framework from “crackdown” to “regulation and acceptance.”

[ChainCatcher]

Galaxy: Bitcoin ETPs saw $1.2 billion in net outflows this week, the third-worst weekly performance so far this year.

Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy, posted on X that spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) continued to experience fund outflows this week, with a net outflow of $1.2 billion—marking the third-worst weekly performance so far in 2026—reflecting further escalation in market risk-aversion sentiment.

Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy, stated on X that spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products experienced continued fund outflows this week, reaching a net outflow of $1.2 billion—the third-worst weekly performance to date in 2026—indicating that market risk-aversion sentiment remains intensifying.

[PANews]

Adam Back Challenges Mark Cuban’s Bitcoin Data After Billionaire Sells His Holdings

Blockstream CEO Adam Back has disputed Mark Cuban’s claim that Bitcoin (BTC) has “lost the plot,” saying the billionaire’s critique does not align with recent market data. Cuban recently disclosed he had sold most of his BTC holdings, citing Bitcoin’s failure to act as an inflation and geopolitical hedge when gold surged while the token declined.

Back said the numbers contradict Cuban’s reading regarding Bitcoin’s performance since the conflict onset. Since Middle East tensions escalated, BTC climbed 25-30% from a low of roughly $60,000. The S&P 500 gained 11% over the same window, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5%, and gold dropped 14%.

Cuban’s frustration centers on an earlier period when Bitcoin fell more than 40% as gold surged to $5,000. He argued that every time the dollar weakened, Bitcoin should have risen, but it did not. This is not Cuban’s first criticism of Bitcoin’s investment case, as he also said he remains more optimistic about Ethereum going forward.

Some long-term model followers argue that Cuban’s disappointment reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the asset. They say Bitcoin’s price trajectory has remained consistent since its earliest days, cycling through predictable phases at different scales. The asset’s structural behavior, they contend, has not changed.

Back attributed the earlier drop to what he called the “10/10 event” and halving-period cyclicality, describing both factors as unrelated to gold’s geopolitical gains. The Bitcoin safe-haven debate has persisted for years, and Back’s reply centers on the time horizon rather than any single data point. Bitcoin’s risk-adjusted returns over multiple years have consistently outpaced those of equities, gold, and real estate. Whether Cuban timed his exit poorly or identified a genuine shift in Bitcoin’s role may only be resolved over the next market cycle.

Monero GUI 0.18.5.0 “Fluorine Fermi” version is online, completing function optimization and bug fixes.

PANews, May 23: Privacy coin project Monero has released its graphical user interface (GUI) wallet software version 0.18.5.0, “Fluorine Fermi.” This release is the officially recommended update and focuses on resolving multiple security vulnerabilities.

Key optimizations in this update include:
– Relocating the P2Pool installation path on Windows systems to the local application data directory;
– Improving the parsing logic for extreme-edge cases involving Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs);
– Disabling offline transaction creation when using long payment IDs.

Additionally, the QR code scanning module now includes insecure text escaping handling; the P2Pool program has been upgraded to version 4.15, and several minor software bugs have also been fixed.

[PANews]

The US “Clarity Act” may drive the growth of a new yield-as-a-service business model.

PANews, May 23: According to CoinDesk, industry insiders believe that the U.S. Clarity Act could drive growth in the “Yield-as-a-Service” (YaaS) segment of the crypto sector. Relevant provisions of the bill prohibit yield-generation models based solely on holding assets, thereby compelling the industry to abandon passive interest-bearing token-holding products and shift toward compliant, active capital deployment strategies.

Industry professionals anticipate that AI-driven fund management tools and collateralized lending platforms will become foundational infrastructure for the sector. The bill has already passed review by the Senate Banking Committee and is expected to undergo a full Senate vote in July, followed by a one-year implementation period.

This comprehensive regulatory framework will clarify supervisory responsibilities and authorities over digital assets, potentially alleviating institutional concerns about market entry and attracting substantial traditional capital.

[PANews]

The spokesperson of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that significant differences still exist between Iran and the United States.

On May 23, according to Jinshi citing Iranian state television, the Iranian Foreign Minister held a second meeting with the Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, following discussions on the Iranian proposal.

A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the differences between the two sides (US and Iran) remain significant.

[PANews]

The TON bridge-v3 cross-chain bridge is scheduled to permanently close on September 1st, and users need to complete asset recovery in advance.

Toncoin announced that its Bridge-v3 cross-chain bridge is scheduled to be permanently shut down on September 1, 2026. During the transition period before shutdown, all proportionally charged cross-chain fees have been waived. Users who have previously used this bridge are reminded to promptly check their wallets and withdraw any unprocessed or unredeemed assets before the deadline.

If you hold Wrapped TON on Ethereum or BNB Smart Chain, you must re-bridge it back to the TON network before the deadline; if you hold tokens such as jUSDT, jUSDC, jDAI, or jWBTC, you must bridge them back to the Ethereum network. Users must complete all asset migrations before the deadline to avoid losing cross-chain functionality for those assets; after September 1, the cross-chain bridge will cease all transfer functionality.

[PANews]