XRP has just tested a powerful support zone where multiple technical signals converge. A successful hold here may pave the way for a fresh rally toward key resistance levels, including a run at $3.00. Ripple (XRP) dipped to the lower…

Ripple reclaims 200-day MA and Fib support: is a rally toward $3.00 in play?

The Securities and Exchange Commission&#8217;s (SEC) enforcement approach on crypto 
firms has left a lasting &#8220;regulatory overhang&#8221; within the industry, according 
to Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Finzer said that during Biden&#8217;s administration the 
agency unfairly targeted good actors in the crypto space, including OpenSea. 
&#8220;There&#8217;s all sorts of digital assets, you know, you shouldn&#8217;t treat them all 
the same. That&#8217;s obvious. But I think the approach that the prior SEC was 
taking was kind of this, you know, very, very generic.&#8221;
The SEC issued a Wells notice &#8212; a formal notification that is often a 
precursor to enforcement action &#8212; to OpenSea in 2024, alleging that the NFT 
marketplace was operating as an exchange for unregistered securities. At the 
time, Finzer criticized the SEC for taking an approach of &#8220;regulation by 
enforcement&#8221; and said that OpenSea was prepared to &#8220;stand up and fight.&#8221;
With the SEC under new leadership by Chair Paul Atkins, Finzer is hopeful for 
a more balanced regulatory framework. &#8220;Good crypto regulation needs to 
balance, sort of, protecting consumers but also preserving the ability to 
innovate,&#8221; Finzer said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not just a one-size-fits-all problem, right?&#8221;
Under the Trump administration, the SEC has scaled back enforcement actions 
against several crypto firms, marking a policy shift in the US after years of 
enforcement actions led by former Chair Gary Gensler.
For instance, the agency has withdrawn legal challenges against exchanges 
Coinbase and Kraken, NFT companies Yuga Labs and OpenSea, and decentralized 
finance protocol Uniswap &#8212; most of them opened during Gensler&#8217;s term. The SEC 
has even dismissed its years-long case against Ripple.
During the 2024 US election cycle, the crypto industry widely backed then- 
candidate Donald Trump, who promised to make the United States &#8220;the crypto 
capital of the planet.&#8221; Overall, crypto super political action committees, or 
PACs, donated over $119 million into the coffers of pro-crypto candidates, 
helping shape the elections.
_**Related:**__**Crypto &#8216;s debanking problem persists despite new 
regulations**_
## NFTs: Low trading volume, high innovation
The SEC crackdown on crypto firms had weighed on the markets downturn 
following FTX collapse in November 2022, driving investors away from crypto 
products such as nonfungible tokens
Since then, NFT trading volume has plummeted from its 2021 peak, affecting 
protocols and platforms such as OpenSea. In 2023, the company laid off 50% of 
its staff amid the market turmoil.
Finzer says the NFT space is still flourishing, with innovation and new 
applications coming to life &#8212; especially in the gaming industry and art 
collectibles. Despite this, OpenSea has started exploring other areas, seeking 
to diversify its business to become a destination for all onchain trading 
beyond NFTs.
&#8220;I mean, for the first time in the history of the internet, people have the 
ability to own digital stuff, right, in a real way,&#8221; Finzer said. &#8220;[&#8230;] you 
can move them around between different applications and take them with you 
wherever you go on the internet. And that&#8217;s something that&#8217;s really powerful.&#8221;
_**Related:**__**OpenSea denies NFT airdrop rumors, calls website a test 
page**_

Good actors were 'unfairly targeted' by SEC — OpenSea's CEO

US President Donald Trump&#8217;s crypto businesses are drawing increased scrutiny 
on Capitol Hill and beginning to influence the progress of US digital asset 
legislation. As Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives 
unveiled their draft of a digital asset market structure bill on May 5, 
Democrats prepared for a united response to Donald Trump&#8217;s deepening 
connections with the industry.
Speaking to Cointelegraph on May 5, a Democratic staffer with knowledge of the 
matter said that House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine 
Waters planned to lead some members of her party out of a Republican-led 
hearing discussing digital assets. The May 6 hearing, entitled &#8220;American 
Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets&#8221; and led by Committee Chair French 
Hill, could address draft legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers to 
establish a crypto market regulatory structure.
In a May 5 statement, Rep. Hill and three top Republicans unveiled the draft 
bill, which could clarify the treatment of digital assets by the US&#8217;s 
financial regulators: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Hill and others echoed some of 
Trump&#8217;s talking points on crypto &#8212; e.g, making the US a &#8220;crypto capital of 
the world&#8221; &#8212; suggesting deference to the president&#8217;s previously announced 
policies.
The draft bill included a provision requiring the SEC and CFTC to issue joint 
rules defining digital commodities. According to the text, transactions 
involving digital commodities &#8220;shall be deemed not to be an offer or sale of 
an investment contract&#8221; as long as the purchaser did not have &#8220;an ownership 
interest or other interest in the revenues, profits, or assets.&#8221;
According to the Democratic staffer, rules required all members of the House 
Financial Services Committee to agree to move forward with the digital asset 
hearing, suggesting that Waters intended to block the Republican-controlled 
event and conduct a shadow hearing to explore Trump&#8217;s and his family&#8217;s ties to 
the crypto industry. At least nine Democrats have reportedly considered a 
similar move to oppose a proposed stablecoin bill in the Senate.
## Calls for impeachment, criticism from both sides
Some members of Congress have already called for Trump&#8217;s impeachment after he 
offered the opportunity for some of his top memecoin holders to tour the White 
House and attend a private dinner. In addition to the memecoin, the 
president&#8217;s family has backed the firm World Liberty Financial, which recently 
launched its own stablecoin, and an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm used the 
USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance.
_**Related:**__**US Senator calls for Trump impeachment, cites memecoin 
dinner**_
Waters, according to the staffer, requested that Hill and Republicans amend 
any proposed legislation to explicitly prevent potential conflicts of interest 
in which Trump could personally enrich himself through crypto ventures. 
Cointelegraph reached out to Hill&#8217;s office but did not receive a response at 
the time of publication. The Arkansas lawmaker reportedly said in March that 
the Trump family&#8217;s involvement in the crypto industry makes related 
legislation &#8220;more complicated.&#8221;
Republican lawmakers in the United States currently have control of the House, 
Senate, and presidency. At least two senators supportive of Trump have 
criticized his memecoin dinner, hinting that the president was selling access 
to his office. It&#8217;s unclear at the time of publication who among the memecoin 
holders could attend the May 22 dinner in person.
_**Magazine:**__**Trump &#8216;s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider 
trading questions**_
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it 
becomes available.

Trump’s crypto dealings face scrutiny as House Republicans unveil digital asset bill

**Key takeaways:**
 * Bitcoin price slips, but BTC dominance is on the rise.
 * Sizable purchases by Strategy and the spot BTC ETFs highlight institutional investors&#8217; appetite for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin&#8217;s (BTC) price has dropped by 4.3% in the last three days after nearly 
reaching $97,900 on May 2. Despite showing resilience at the $94,000 level on 
May 5, some traders are disappointed that strong institutional inflows have 
not been enough to maintain bullish momentum. However, several encouraging 
signs suggest that a new all-time high for Bitcoin in 2025 remains within 
reach.
_Bitcoin market share excluding stablecoins. Source: TradingView / 
Cointelegraph_
Bitcoin&#8217;s dominance over the broader cryptocurrency market has surged, 
currently standing at 70%, its highest since January 2021. This has occurred 
despite a wave of new token launches, including several top-50 projects such 
as SUI, Toncoin (TON), PI, Official Trump (TRUMP), Bittensor (TAO), Ethena 
(ENA), and Celestia (TIA). This dominance makes riskier altcoins less 
appealing to new market entrants.
The spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $4.5 billion in net inflows between April 22 
and May 2. At the same time, the increasing appetite for Bitcoin futures 
signals growing institutional adoption regardless of whether leverage is used 
for downside protection or bullish bets.
_Bitcoin futures aggregate open interest, BTC. Source: CoinGlass_
According to CoinGlass, the total open interest in Bitcoin futures markets has 
reached 669,090 BTC, a 21% increase since March 5. Even after Bitcoin&#8217;s price 
crashed below $75,000 in early April, demand for leveraged positions remained 
strong. The open interest in BTC futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange 
(CME) alone exceeds $13.5 billion, indicating robust institutional demand.
Several factors explain why Bitcoin has struggled to reclaim the $100,000 
level. Traders who bought in anticipation of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve 
bill on March 6 are growing increasingly frustrated, as the government has yet 
to disclose its BTC holdings or announce plans for further purchases. 
Additionally, similar state-level Bitcoin bills have repeatedly failed, 
including the latest setback in the US state of Arizona.
## Strategy doubles its plans for BTC acquisitions despite the global trade 
war
Over the past three months, gold has outperformed most assets, rising 16%, 
while Bitcoin has declined by 5% and the S&amp;P 500 has corrected by 6.5%. This 
has challenged the notion of Bitcoin as an uncorrelated asset, as the 
cryptocurrency has repeatedly failed to decouple from the S&amp;P 500 amid rising 
economic risks. The global trade war has led investors to favor fixed-income 
assets and cash positions.
_5-year US Treasury yield (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView 
/ Cointelegraph_
Bitcoin&#8217;s recent drop to $94,000 is particularly concerning given that 
Strategy, a US-listed company led by Michael Saylor, announced the acquisition 
of 1,895 BTC on May 5, after doubling its capital increase plan to fund 
further Bitcoin purchases. However, since investors were previously uncertain 
about Strategy&#8217;s ability to raise additional capital, the announcement of an 
$84 billion plan on May 1 has reduced some of this risk.
For Bitcoin to reach a new all-time high, investors will likely need 
reassurance that US-China trade relations are improving, as tariffs have 
negatively impacted overall risk appetite. Nevertheless, the key elements for 
a BTC bull run above $100,000 appear to be in place.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and 
should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and 
opinions expressed here are the author&#8217;s alone and do not necessarily reflect 
or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin sell-off to $93.5K is a brief hiccup — Data still supports new BTC highs in 2025

The United States Department of the Treasury has sanctioned a Myanmar militia 
group known as the Karen National Army (KNA), accusing it of crypto-related 
scams and other criminal activities.
According to a May 5 press release issued by the agency, the Karen National 
Army has been orchestrating a variety of crypto scams, including the infamous 
&#8220;pig butchering&#8221; scam, which lures victims into contributing more and more to 
fake crypto schemes. Americans &#8220;have collectively lost billions of dollars&#8221; 
from scams such as those emanating from Myanmar, the release reads, without 
specifying an amount.
&#8220;Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control 
(OFAC) sanctioned the Karen National Army (KNA), a militia group in Burma, as 
a transnational criminal organization, along with the group&#8217;s leader Saw Chit 
Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, for their role in 
facilitating cyber scams that harm U.S. citizens, human trafficking, and 
cross-border smuggling,&#8221; the release reads.
Many international bodies, including the US, continue to refer to &#8220;Burma,&#8221; the 
country&#8217;s former name, to demonstrate that they don&#8217;t recognize the military 
regimes that have been in power at various times since a 1989 coup in which 
the military changed the name to Myanmar. The KNA operates in southeastern 
Myanmar, along the Thailand border.
The Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued numerous 
sanctions against crypto-offenders over the past few years, including Middle 
East-based terrorist groups, cybercrime units operating overseas, and privacy- 
focused crypto technology like Tornado Cash.
_**Related:**__**FBI warns of North Korean &#8216;social engineering&#8217; schemes to 
steal crypto**_
## Crypto scams target US residents
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Americans lost $9.3 
billion to crypto scams in 2024, an increase of roughly 66% from 2023. The 
most affected group is formed by individuals over the age of 60, who reported 
a cumulative loss total of $2.8 billion.
Pig butchering scams are known for their significant impact on victims, both 
in the crypto space and beyond. The scam consists of a long-term financial 
fraud where scammers build trust with victims over time, often through social 
media or messaging platforms, before convincing them to invest in fake or 
manipulated crypto schemes. According to TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence 
company, these scams accounted for well over $4.4 billion stolen in 2023.
According to the Treasury Department&#8217;s press release, this type of scam is 
currently common in Southeast Asia, primarily involving trafficked individuals 
defrauding victims. The Karen National Army is allegedly engaged in 
orchestrating both pig butchering scams and human trafficking networks that 
enable them to operate at scale.
_**Magazine: Influencers shilling memecoin scams face severe legal 
consequences**_

US Treasury sanctions Myanmar militia group for alleged crypto scams

U.S. stocks slipped Monday, ending a historic rally as investors grew cautious 
over renewed trade tensions and awaited signals from the Federal Reserve. The 
S&amp;P 500 dropped 0.64% to 5,650.38, breaking a nine-day winning streak — its 
longest since 2004.…