Flare is launching a new way to give XRP DeFi capabilities, without relying on unsafe blockchain bridges.

XRP takes real step into DeFi with Flare’s FAssets upgrade

Crypto and stock trading platform eToro has seen its share price gain nearly 
30% during its debut on the Nasdaq after the company made a last-minute boost 
to its initial public offering.
Shares in eToro Group Ltd (ETOR) closed May 14 trading at $67, up 28.9% from 
its initial offering price of $52, according to Yahoo Finance. It brings the 
company&#8217;s market value to over $5.5 billion.
Its stock price shot to a high of $74.26 during the trading day before cooling 
and has also slightly dipped by 0.7% after the bell to $66.53.
_EToro shares shot up and then traded sideways on the company &#8216;s debut US 
offering. Source: __Yahoo Finance_
The day before, on May 13, eToro boosted its IPO to $620 million after pricing 
its shares above its previously suggested range of between $46 to $50 each.
Initially, the firm aimed to raise $500 million by offering 10 million shares, 
but the company and its backers sold over 11.92 million shares at its IPO, 
split evenly between eToro and some existing shareholders.
Some BlackRock-managed funds and accounts had signalled interest in buying up 
to $100 million worth of shares at IPO, eToro said in a May 5 filing with the 
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD), a rival to eToro that went public in 2021, saw 
its share price sink 1.9% to $61.39, with its losses extending by 1.63% after- 
hours to $60.39, Yahoo Finance shows.
In its regulatory filing, eToro reported its total 2024 crypto revenue, from 
sources such as trading fees and withdrawals, was $12.1 billion, up from $3.4 
billion in 2023. It also expected crypto to account for 37% of its commission 
from trading activity in the first quarter of 2025, down from 43% in Q1 2024.
The offering was led by Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, UBS Investment Bank and 
Citigroup.
## IPOs rebound after tariff turmoil
EToro&#8217;s public debut marks a rebound for public offerings in the US after many 
firms put their plans on hold as US President Donald Trump&#8217;s sweeping tariffs 
tanked global markets.
EToro made confidential filings with the SEC in January for a public offering 
and publicly announced the plans on March 24, but delayed its IPO after 
Trump&#8217;s April 2 &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariff plans, which put a stop to many in- 
the-works public offerings.
_**Related:**__**8 major crypto firms announce US expansion this year**_
The stock and crypto trading house was founded in 2007 and previously bid to 
go public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company at a 
valuation of $10 billion.
It canned that plan a year later, in 2022, after stock and crypto markets took 
a massive hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic and sticky inflation that caused 
central banks to quickly hike interest rates.
Crypto exchange Kraken is considering going public this year, as is stablecoin 
issuer Circle, which filed with the SEC on April 1 but paused its plan a day 
later due to Trump&#8217;s tariffs.
Crypto fund manager Bitwise predicted in December that, alongside Kraken and 
Circle, crypto exchange Figure, crypto bank Anchorage Digital and blockchain 
analytics firm Chainalysis would also go public this year.
_**Trade Secrets:**__**Metric signals $250K Bitcoin is &#8216;best case,&#8217; SOL, HYPE 
tipped for gains**_

eToro jumps 30% on Nasdaq debut after upsized IPO

Too many crypto startups are pricing themselves out of venture capital funding 
by chasing valuations far exceeding their revenues, according to Dan Tapeiro, 
the CEO of crypto-focused venture capital firm 10T Holdings.
&#8220;For some reason, founders and CEOs think that they should be raising capital 
at 50 to 80 times revenue. So that makes it very hard for us to make a return 
for our liquidity providers,&#8221; Tapeiro said while speaking in a panel 
discussion at the Consensus conference in Toronto on May 14.
&gt; &#8220;So a lot of those deals we just pass almost automatically, even businesses 
&gt; that we really like, we won&#8217;t invest in if the price isn&#8217;t reasonable in the 
&gt; beginning.&#8221;
10T Holdings has passed on over 200 companies for similar reasons, including 
the now-bankrupt FTX, BlockFi and Celsius, Tapeiro said.
Tapeiro said 10T Holdings looks for crypto projects that have valuations above 
the $400 million to $500 million range with a valuation-to-revenue ratio of 
10x or less.
_Host of Crypto In America Eleanor Terrett (left) moderating a discussion with 
Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead (middle) and Dan Tapeiro (right) at the 
Consensus conference. Source: Cointelegraph_
VCs often prefer lower valuations because they offer more upside potential 
with less risk.
Realistic valuations often make follow-on funding rounds more attractive to 
investors while also simplifying the exit process.
&#8220;Valuation is very important,&#8221; Tapeiro said.
Despite Tapeiro&#8217;s comments, it appears that crypto startups have had no 
problem attracting VC funds, as PitchBook reported on May 13 that the total 
value of crypto venture capital deals rose over 100% quarter-on-quarter to $6 
billion in Q1 2025, while the number of deals only increased by 8.8%.
## VCs should diversify their bags
Also speaking alongside Tapeiro was Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead, who said 
more VCs should opt to receive a mix of private equity and tokens when 
investing in crypto startups.
&#8220;Each one has their pros and cons, and then they go in these wild pendulum 
swings where sometimes tokens are really expensive and ventures cheap. 
Sometimes it&#8217;s the opposite.&#8221;
_**Related:**__**Crypto VC deals drop in Q1, but funding more than doubles: 
PitchBook**_
&#8220;So as an investor, I always advocate people investing in a wide spectrum of 
tokens and ventures.&#8221;
Morehead&#8217;s Pantera has taken a more aggressive approach than 10T Holdings over 
the years and seen considerable success, making a return on 86% of the 
startups it invested in, with 22 of those reaching unicorn 
status****(companies reaching $1 billion valuations).
_**Magazine:**__**Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to 
institutions: Sky Wee**_

Crypto startups scaring away VCs with 80x valuations: 10T Holdings

The U.S. banking system is officially primed for a digital evolution as the 
OCC confirms its readiness to support blockchain, stablecoins, and crypto- 
powered financial services. OCC Endorses Crypto Future for US Banks, Calling 
System ‘Well Positioned’ The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), 
the federal agency that supervises national banks and federal savings […]

OCC Declares US Banking System ‘Well Positioned’ to Embrace Crypto

On-chain data suggests this upcoming Dogecoin level could prove to be a 
resistance wall based on the investor cost basis distribution. A Large Amount 
Of Dogecoin Was Last Purchased At $0.36 In a new post on X, analyst Ali 
Martinez has talked about Dogecoin levels that appear significant on the UTXO 
Realized Price Distribution (URPD) of the memecoin. The &#8220;URPD&#8221; refers to an 
on-chain indicator that basically tells us about how much of the asset&#8217;s 
supply was last purchased at which price levels. The metric determines this 
cost basis for each token by checking its transaction history to see its last 
transfer price. Related Reading: Dogecoin Open Interest Up Despite Price 
Pullback, Data Shows Here is the chart shared by the analyst that shows the 
latest URPD data for Dogecoin: As displayed in the above graph, there are no 
levels immediately nearby to the current Dogecoin price that hold the break- 
even mark of a significant portion of the supply. The closest level that 
stands out in the URPD is around $0.21, which hosts the acquisition point of 
7.5% of the DOGE supply. For the up direction, there aren&#8217;t any notable cost 
basis centers until all the way to $0.36, where investors last bought about 
3.8% of all tokens in existence. Now, what&#8217;s the relevance of these levels to 
Dogecoin? To know the answer to that question, investor psychology needs to be 
understood first. To any holder, their cost basis is naturally an important 
level, so they can be prone to showing some kind of reaction when a retest of 
it happens. Whatever this reaction be, it&#8217;s not of significant to the 
cryptocurrency if only a few investors are showing it. For retests of levels 
that host the cost basis of a large amount of holders, however, the story can 
be different. The aforementioned levels could be important ones from this 
perspective. Generally, investors tend to react by buying if the retest is 
happening from above, granted the mood in the market is bullish. This is 
because these holders, who were in profit prior to the retest, might look at 
the price decline as just a &#8216;dip.&#8217; Related Reading: Bitcoin Sharks &amp; Whales 
Continue To Accumulate: Stage Set For New All-Time High? On the other hand, 
the holders who were in loss before the retest may decide to sell their 
Dogecoin, as they could fear that this might be their last opportunity to exit 
at their break-even for a while. As such, major supply walls below the DOGE 
spot price can act as potential support zones, while those above it may prove 
to be resistance areas. Given that the closest two such levels are at $0.21 
and $0.36 for the asset right now, they may be where the coin could be the 
most probable to encounter strong support and resistance, respectively. DOGE 
Price At the time of writing, Dogecoin is floating around $0.237, up more than 
37% in the last seven days. Featured image from Dall-E, Glassnode.com, chart 
from TradingView.com

Where’s Next Major Dogecoin Resistance? On-Chain Data Points To This

**Key takeaways:**
 * Google search data and app rankings show retail Bitcoin investor demand near 6-month lows.
 * Retail investor interest typically peaks 1 week after BTC breaks all-time highs.
Bitcoin (BTC) retail traders are known for entering the market during periods 
of euphoria, typically after strong monthly gains or a new all-time high. This 
time is no different, with Bitcoin approaching $104,000 on May 14 while 
general public interest and retail activity continue to lag.
Analysts estimate that in 2025, retail investors were the largest net sellers 
of BTC, while institutions were the main buyers. But if historical patterns 
hold, a surge in retail appetite is likely to occur about one week after 
Bitcoin surpasses the $109,350 mark.
_Source:__X/River_
According to River&#8217;s estimates, individual investors sold a total of 247,000 
BTC throughout 2025, equivalent to $23 billion based on the average price 
during the period. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor&#8217;s Strategy accounted for 77% of 
the 157,000 BTC acquired by businesses that year.
## Retail interest for Bitcoin nears 6-month lows
Current search trends for the term &#8220;Bitcoin&#8221; match levels last seen in June 
2024, when BTC was trading around $66,000 after three months of failing to 
break above $73,000.
_Search trends for Bitcoin. Source: Google_
Likewise, the Coinbase app now ranks 15th in the US App Store within the 
finance category&#8211;comparable to its 20th-place ranking in June 2024, based on 
data from The Block.
_Coinbase app ranking in US App Store &#8211; Finances. Source: TheBlock_
If mobile app rankings and Google search trends for &#8220;Bitcoin&#8221; can serve as 
proxies for retail interest, demand last peaked on Nov. 15, 2024, when the 
Coinbase app jumped from the 40th to the 5th position in under two weeks. At 
the same time, search activity spiked to its highest level in over two years.
_Bitcoin/USD performance in November 2024. Source: TradingView / 
Cointelegraph_
The retail excitement coincided with Bitcoin breaking its previous all-time 
high of $73,757 on Nov. 6, 2024, with excitement peaking nine days later. 
Although retail traders missed most of the gains from the $67,000 level a 
month earlier, the bullish trend persisted as Bitcoin surged to $107,000 by 
mid-December 2024.
_**Related:**__**Bitcoin bulls aim for new all-time highs by next week as 
capital inflows soar**_
## Buying Bitcoin near an all-time high is a sub-optimal strategy
A comparable spike in retail demand occurred on March 9, 2024, when the 
Coinbase app rose to the fourth most downloaded in the US finance category, up 
from 35th place just two weeks earlier. At the same time, Google search 
interest for &#8220;Bitcoin&#8221; hit its highest level in 20 months, roughly six days 
after Bitcoin surpassed its prior record daily close of $68,000 from November 
2021.
The retail interest jump in March 2024 followed a 56% price increase in just 
30 days, with BTC climbing from $43,100 to $68,100. In contrast to the 
November 2024 breakout, the following seven months saw erratic price 
movements, with Bitcoin struggling to maintain levels above $70,000. Retail 
traders tend to react to previous all-time highs, but this often means they 
miss out on most of the upside.
The net outflows from retail investors while Bitcoin trades 5.5% below all- 
time high reinforce the &#8220;Bitcoin&#8221; search trends and Coinbase app rankings, 
supporting the idea that retail demand emerges roughly one week after a 
previous all-time high is surpassed.
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.