Geopolitical Jolts Spark Crypto Volatility (2026-05-23)

White House Shooting Disrupts High-Stakes Weekend as Trump Pushes Iran Peace Deal

A shooting outside the White House on Saturday briefly locked down the presidential complex and disrupted a critical weekend of negotiations around a potential US-Iran peace agreement. The incident came just hours after President Donald Trump claimed a deal to end the war with Iran had been “largely negotiated.”

According to the Secret Service and multiple US media reports, a gunman opened fire near a security checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW shortly after 6 p.m. ET. Secret Service agents returned fire, wounding the suspect, and a bystander was also reportedly injured. The White House North Lawn was evacuated as reporters were rushed into the press briefing room; journalists on-site described hearing between 15 and 30 gunshots. The lockdown was lifted less than an hour later.

The FBI is assisting the Secret Service investigation. Authorities said the suspect had previously been subject to a “stay-away order” connected to the White House area, though no motive has been officially confirmed. The security scare unfolded during one of the most politically sensitive weekends of Trump’s presidency.

Earlier in the day, Trump announced that a framework agreement with Iran was nearing completion and said reopening the Strait of Hormuz was part of the negotiations. The proposed deal is being mediated in part by Pakistan and Gulf states following months of conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. However, key disagreements reportedly remain over sanctions relief, Iran’s nuclear program, and long-term enforcement terms.

Saturday’s shooting also adds to growing security concerns around Trump and the White House. The incident follows the April 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting and another armed confrontation involving Secret Service agents near the National Mall earlier this month. Financial markets initially reacted positively to Trump’s Iran comments earlier in the day, with Bitcoin rebounding from a one-month low below $75,000 and several altcoins rallying sharply. However, the White House shooting injected fresh uncertainty into an already tense political environment.

Gunshots were heard near the White House in the United States; the suspect died after being taken to the hospital.

Local time on the 23rd, gunshots were heard near the White House in the United States. The U.S. Secret Service cleared the North Lawn of the White House. Due to the gunshots, the White House was placed on lockdown.

Federal Secret Service personnel have subdued a gunman, and civilians have been injured. The suspect in the shooting near the White House died after being taken to the hospital.

[PANews]

Individual stock leveraged ETFs are set to enter the South Korean market, potentially intensifying index volatility due to retail investor enthusiasm.

On May 24, South Korea will launch its first batch of individual stock leveraged ETFs. These products are linked to chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and are designed to achieve daily returns of two times the positive or negative performance of the underlying stocks. Analysts expect these ETFs to attract strong demand from South Korea’s more than 14 million retail investors.

However, against the backdrop where intraday volatility of 5% in the KOSPI index has become increasingly common, this enthusiasm may further exacerbate market fluctuations. The CEO of Singapore’s Fibonacci Asset Management stated, “These ETFs will exacerbate existing concentration risks, which poses a structural challenge for long-term investors because index volatility will remain high, making the Korean market difficult to navigate.”

Daewoo Future Asset analyst Yoon Jaehong expects that the 14 leveraged ETFs betting on Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix, which are scheduled to be listed at the end of May, could see net inflows of up to 5.3 trillion won. He noted that in the first two months of this year, the number of investors who completed the mandatory online training before investing in leveraged products reached 300,000, exceeding the total for the entire year of 2025.

[TechFlow]

MoonPay Adds Support for USDH and USDC on Hypercore

MoonPay has added support for USDH and USDC on Hypercore, allowing users to directly purchase USDH and USDC with fiat currency.

This feature is available in the UK and the US, excluding New York.

[Foresight News]

ZachXBT: Related contracts of European stablecoin issuer StablR suspected to have been attacked, with losses potentially exceeding $3.00 million

On May 24, “on-chain sleuth” ZachXBT disclosed on his personal channel that two contracts related to the European stablecoin issuer StablR are suspected of being attacked, with potential losses exceeding $3 million (EURR and USDR). The attacker’s funds were sourced through the CCTP platform on Noble.

In addition, ZachXBT has released 7 attacker addresses currently associated with this security incident.

[PANews]

Strategy’s counterparties’ Ethereum long positions were all liquidated, and some Bitcoin short positions were liquidated.

Hyperbot data shows that Strategy’s newly opened Ethereum long positions were all liquidated this morning, and 40x leverage Bitcoin short positions were partially liquidated and reduced.

Currently, it only holds 8.332 BTC, and the overall position has turned from profit to loss, with a current ROI of -73.05%.

[Odaily Planet Daily]

Aave Founder: Will Continue to Execute Revenue-Oriented Strategies in the Next 12 Months

On May 24, Aave founder Stani Kulechov reiterated the “revenue-oriented” protocol strategy, emphasizing that revenue is the key to sustainable development for DeFi. Data shows that Aave V3’s revenue has significantly outperformed other lending protocols over the past year.

Stani stated that over the next 12 months, Aave’s strategic focus will be on diversifying revenue streams, increasing profit margins through GHO, and building the Aave App into a distribution layer controlled by AAVE holders to further strengthen the protocol’s profitability and user stickiness.

[TechFlow]

Today’s Fear & Greed Index has fallen to 25, and the market has shifted to a state of “Extreme Fear”.

According to Alternative.me data, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to 25 today (yesterday the index was 28 “Fear”).

The index indicates that the market has shifted from “Fear” to “Extreme Fear”.

[Foresight News]

ECB warns EU finance ministers that easing euro stablecoin rules would weaken banks: Reuters

The European Central Bank rebuffed a proposal Friday that would have eased liquidity requirements for euro stablecoin issuers and opened a path for them to tap ECB liquidity, according to a Reuters report citing three people familiar with the closed-door discussions.

The pitch came from a policy brief by Brussels think tank Bruegel, presented to EU finance ministers and central bank governors at a two-day informal meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus. The authors, Lucrezia Reichlin, Bo Sangers, and Jeromin Zettelmeyer, argued that more permissive rules and a backstop from the ECB are needed to grow a euro stablecoin market that remains a rounding error in a sector dominated by dollar tokens.

ECB President Christine Lagarde and several other central bankers pushed back on the proposal in the room. They argued that letting stablecoin issuers pull deposits out of European banks at scale would raise lenders’ funding costs and curb their capacity to extend credit. Several officials also balked at the idea of turning the ECB into a backstop for stablecoin firms, a role traditionally limited to supervised banks. Finance ministers themselves were reportedly split on the proposal.

The intervention extends a position Lagarde laid out earlier this month at a Banco de España forum, where she argued that any benefit a euro stablecoin might bring to the currency’s international standing is outweighed by the risks to financial stability and monetary-policy transmission. She has instead pointed to tokenized commercial bank deposits and the ECB’s Pontes and Appia wholesale settlement projects as the right onchain plumbing for Europe. “The case for promoting euro-denominated stablecoins is far weaker than it appears,” she said.

Bruegel framed the question as a competitiveness one. The think tank’s authors warned that keeping EU rules tougher than the US GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, will push issuance and trading offshore and accelerate what they called “digital dollarization.” Central bankers at the meeting played down that concern. Instead, several pushed for redemption restrictions on stablecoins regardless of where they are issued, arguing that without such limits a European arm could face a run on reserves if foreign holders cashed out at scale.

The pushback lands as the European Commission reviews its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), in force since 2024, which requires stablecoin issuers to hold a large share of reserves in bank deposits and other liquid assets. The US framework imposes lighter requirements, an approach supporters frame as a way to lock in dollar dominance through regulated tokens.

The political fight is playing out as private issuers race to fill the euro-denominated gap on their own terms. The Qivalis consortium, an Amsterdam-based joint venture pursuing authorization from De Nederlandsche Bank, has grown to 37 banks across 15 countries and plans to launch a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin in the second half of this year. The group counts BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, and Danske Bank among its founders, and recently added ABN Amro, Rabobank, Nordea, and Intesa Sanpaolo. Reuters cited the Qivalis launch alongside earlier, smaller efforts from Societe Generale as evidence that European banks are not waiting for the regulatory debate to settle.

Global stablecoin supply expanded by roughly a third in 2025 to $300 billion, per Artemis data cited in the Bruegel paper. Euro-pegged tokens make up just 0.3% of that total, with Circle’s EURC the largest of the bunch. Europe-based stablecoin activity nonetheless punched above its weight in the final quarter of 2025, accounting for 38% of global transaction volume.

The ECB still aims to launch a digital euro by 2029, and EU finance ministers reaffirmed at the Nicosia meeting that work on the project will continue. European banks have separately resisted that initiative on grounds that retail CBDC adoption could pull deposits out of the system, mirroring the funding concerns now being raised against private euro stablecoins. For the ECB, that tension is the point. Lagarde’s preferred design keeps deposit-based money inside supervised banks while letting tokenized representations of those deposits ride on distributed-ledger rails alongside a future digital euro, leaving private stablecoin issuers outside the central bank’s protective perimeter.

[Reuters]

Aave Founder: Continue executing the revenue-oriented strategy for the next year, focusing on revenue diversification

Aave founder Stani Kulechov posted on the X platform reiterating the “revenue-driven” protocol strategy, and said that revenue is the key to the sustainable development of DeFi.

Stani said that in the next 12 months, Aave will focus on promoting the diversification of revenue sources, improving profit margins through GHO, and building the Aave App into a distribution layer controlled by AAVE holders to further enhance protocol profitability and user stickiness.

[PANews]

ZachXBT: Two contracts related to the euro stablecoin issuer StablR were attacked

On-chain investigator ZachXBT stated that two contracts associated with the euro-pegged stablecoin issuer StablR have been attacked, with potential losses exceeding $3.00 million.

[Foresight News]

This Week in Crypto: Bitcoin Swing, Iran Deal, Cardano Risk and More

Bitcoin ended a volatile week with a sharp recovery after peace-deal signals between the US and Iran eased some of the pressure on global markets. The rebound followed several days of selling driven by hawkish Federal Reserve comments, oil shock fears, and weak risk appetite. At the same time, crypto traders moved into selective altcoin themes. AI tokens, privacy coins, and institutional blockchain plays gained attention, while Cardano faced a governance fight over its research funding.

Bitcoin recovered from a one-month low after President Donald Trump said a US-Iran peace memorandum had been largely negotiated. The comment helped calm markets after days of concern over a wider conflict in the Middle East. BTC moved back toward $77,000 as traders returned to risk assets. AI and privacy coins also rallied, with NEAR, Worldcoin, Zcash, ONDO, Morpho, and Hyperliquid among the stronger performers. The recovery showed how closely crypto remains tied to geopolitical risk. A final deal would still need clearer terms around sanctions, the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran’s nuclear program.

Earlier in the week, Bitcoin fell below $77,000 after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller warned that future rate hikes could not be ruled out if inflation stays high. Markets reacted quickly. Traders began pricing in the possibility of a 25 basis point hike by October 2026, which put pressure on risk assets. The move reflected a familiar pattern. Higher real yields and a stronger dollar tend to weigh on Bitcoin, especially when investors already face weak consumer sentiment and rising energy-price risk.

Regulatory clarity also shaped the week’s crypto narrative. Grayscale said Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and Canton Network could be among the biggest winners if the CLARITY Act passes. The asset manager said institutional capital will likely move first toward chains with strong activity in tokenized assets, stablecoins, DeFi, and regulated finance. Ethereum and Solana remain obvious candidates because of their liquidity and developer depth. Canton stands out for a different reason. It is built for regulated financial institutions and already has links to major firms including DTCC, J.P. Morgan, HSBC, and Visa.

Outside crypto, SanDisk emerged as the most profitable investable asset of 2026 so far. The stock rose 509% between January 1 and May 20, driven by demand for memory chips used in AI data centers. The rally showed how AI infrastructure continues to pull capital into traditional equities. Seagate, Intel, oil, and copper also ranked among the year’s stronger performers. Bitcoin looked weaker by comparison. The asset was down nearly 23% year-to-date, showing that crypto has not led the 2026 risk rally so far.

Cardano entered the spotlight after Charles Hoskinson warned that the network could lose key scientists and research capacity if a 32.9 million ADA treasury proposal fails. The proposal would fund work on post-quantum cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, scalability, and university-linked research. Hoskinson argued that these areas are central to Cardano’s long-term competitiveness. Still, opposition remained strong. At the time of reporting, about 81% of active dRep stake opposed the proposal, leaving it far below the 67% approval threshold needed to pass.

Draft of US-Iran agreement revealed: Iran to have billions of dollars in frozen funds unfrozen, US military plans to withdraw from neighboring regions.

The draft agreement, which is about to be finalized, includes: ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon; unfreezing billions of dollars of Iranian frozen funds; lifting the US naval blockade and opening the Strait of Hormuz; and the withdrawal of US troops from areas adjacent to Iran.

After that, the two sides will have 30 days to agree on nuclear issues, which can be extended with the consent of both sides. During these 30 days, passage through the Strait will be facilitated.

Iran said that the management of the Strait of Hormuz is a matter between Iran and Oman, and consultations are underway with Oman.

[Odaily]

Namibian court revokes bail for 8 defendants in a cryptocurrency fraud and human trafficking case

On May 24, according to Bitcoin com, the High Court of Windhoek, Namibia, revoked the bail of 8 absent defendants in a crypto scam and human trafficking case and confiscated approximately $29,800.00 in bail money.

Prosecutors said the 8 people included 6 Chinese nationals, 1 Vanuatu national, and 1 Singaporean national, of which the 6 Chinese suspects have been tracked to China, and Namibian authorities have requested Interpol’s assistance in locating them.

The criminal group operated through a shell company called Raylon Investments between December 2022 and October 2023. The gang is suspected of recruiting unemployed Namibians and forcing them into labor.

[PANews]

Former FTX law firm and auditing firm agree to pay $66 million to settle fraud allegations

FTX’s former primary external law firm, Fenwick & West, has agreed to pay $54.00 million to settle claims that it helped facilitate Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraudulent activities. In addition, auditing firm Prager Metis agreed to pay $11.75 million, and former Miami Heat player Udonis Haslem, as a former FTX promoter, will pay $420,000.00, totaling approximately $66.00 million.

The above settlement is the second round of settlements in the FTX class action lawsuit, and related documents were filed in Miami federal court on Friday. Fenwick denies any wrongdoing and states that it had no knowledge of FTX’s fraudulent activities. It is worth noting that the law firm still faces another $525.00 million civil lawsuit in Washington, D.C., and this settlement does not involve that case.

FTX collapsed in November 2022, and Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing approximately $8.00 billion in customer funds and is currently appealing. The FTX bankruptcy estate has returned over $5.00 billion to creditors.

[ChainCatcher]

The Cosmos ecosystem chain Evmos ceased operations about a week ago.

The Cosmos ecosystem chain Evmos has passed the “Evmos Shutdown” proposal on May 15 and will cease block production and node operations at block height 37,318,000 (around May 18).

Currently, the Evmos block explorer, official website, and other services are inaccessible.

[Foresight News]

Suspect in shooting near White House dies in hospital

US media reported on the 23rd, citing the Secret Service, that the suspect in the shooting near the White House died in the hospital.

[Odaily]

GameStop Seeks to Increase Authorized Shares, Continues to Pursue Acquisition of eBay

On May 24, GameStop (GME), a publicly listed video game and collectibles retailer, filed documents with the SEC requesting shareholder approval to increase its authorized common shares from 1 billion to 2.5 billion to enhance financial flexibility.

This proposal is one of five items to be voted on at the company’s annual general meeting scheduled for July. The move could potentially strengthen the company’s position in acquiring eBay, following its previous rejection.

[PANews]

US Official: US-Iran Agreement Close to Being Reached, Differences Only in “Wording” of Key Terms

According to a report by the American Axios news website on the 23rd, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said that the United States and Iran are close to reaching an agreement aimed at ending the war, and the remaining differences between the two sides are mainly focused on the “wording” of several key terms.

However, the official also emphasized that U.S. President Trump has not yet made a final decision, and he may still veto the agreement and order a new strike against Iran.

[Odaily]