New revelations suggest that the arrest of Vladimir Smerkis, former Binance Russia chief and co-founder of crypto app Blum, may be linked to his involvement in earlier collapsed crypto ventures that left investors empty- handed. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court ordered Smerkis&#8217;s…

Vladimir Smerkis’s arrest is reportedly linked to $15M lost in two collapsed crypto ventures

Australian authorities have seized more than $4.5 million in assets from a 
Queensland man, who was linked to the 2013 theft of 950 BTC from a French 
crypto exchange. In a May 18 statement, AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation 
Taskforce said…

Australian federal police seizes $4.5M in assets tied to 2013 crypto theft

Bitcoin&#8217;s days of triple-digit annual returns may be behind it as growing 
institutional adoption flattens its long-term growth trajectory, on-chain 
analyst Willy Woo suggests. Once seen as a rocket fueled by internet hype and 
retail dreams, Bitcoin (BTC) may be…

Bitcoin’s institutionalization puts brakes on wild rallies, analyst says

El Salvador, the first country to introduce bitcoin as legal tender, has 
experienced significant success with its cryptocurrency experiment. President 
Nayib Bukele, a bitcoin enthusiast, has disclosed the revenue that the country 
has achieved with its &#8220;one bitcoin a day&#8221; reserve strategy. On social media, 
Bukele posted an image showing that El Salvador has $357 […]

Success: El Salvador Boasts Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin Revenue

Crypto investment products in the United States have attracted over $7.5 
billion worth of investment in 2025, with a fifth week of net positive inflows 
last week signaling growing investor demand for digital assets.
US-based crypto investment products attracted $785 million worth of investment 
last week, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) total to over $7.5 billion, 
according to a May 19 report by digital asset manager CoinShares.
The latest figure marks the fifth consecutive week of net positive flows, 
following nearly $7 billion in outflows during February and March.
_Weekly crypto asset flows, USD, million. Source: CoinShares_
The United States accounted for the bulk of inflows, with $681 million, 
followed by Germany at $86.3 million and Hong Kong at $24.4 million.
_Crypto flows by country. Source: CoinShares_
Investor demand for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies staged a significant 
recovery after the White House announced a 90-day pause on additional tariffs 
on May 12, which marked a 24% cut for import tariffs for both the US and 
China.
A day after the announcement, Coinbase exchange saw 9,739 Bitcoin (BTC) worth 
more than $1 billion withdrawn from the exchange &#8212; the highest net outflow 
recorded in 2025, signaling that institutional appetite was &#8220;accelerating,&#8221; 
according to Bitwise head of European research, Andre Dragosch.
_**Related:**__**Tether surpasses Germany &#8216;s $111B of US Treasury holdings**_
## Ethereum leads with $205 million in weekly inflows
Ether (ETH) was the top performer among crypto investment products, attracting 
$205 million in inflows last week. That brings its year-to-date total to more 
than $575 million.
The report attributed the $200 million to renewed investor optimism following 
the successful Pectra upgrade and the appointment of new co-executive director 
Tomasz Stańczak.
After initial delays, Ethereum&#8217;s Pectra upgrade went live on the mainnet on 
May 7, introducing improvements such as higher staking limits and account 
abstraction via EIP-7702.
By contrast, Solana (SOL) investment products were the only major assets to 
see net outflows, with $890,000 withdrawn over the past week.
_**Related:**__**Bitcoin breaks out while Coinbase breaks down: Finance 
Redefined**_
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a proposal to 
preserve trustless, censorship-resistant access to Ethereum, aiming to make 
Ethereum layer-1 scaling &#8220;more friendly&#8221; to users running local nodes for 
personal use.
&#8220;The plan would drastically reduce the 1.3TB data burden by allowing nodes to 
sync only relevant information, opening the door to broader participation,&#8221; 
Stella Zlatareva, Nexo Dispatch editor, told Cointelegraph.
_**Magazine:**__**Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra &#8216;s plan to win trust: 
Hodler&#8217;s Digest, April 13 &#8211; 19**_

US crypto funds top $7.5B inflows in 2025 as investor appetite grows

Revolut &#8212; a European neobank with crypto support &#8212; plans to invest more than 
1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in France and apply for a local banking license.
According to a May 19 Fortune report, Revolut representatives announced the 
initiative during the Choose France business summit hosted by President 
Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday. The London-based neobank also plans to set 
up its new European Union-serving headquarters in Paris, promising to invest 1 
billion euro and hire at least 200 people within three years.
Revolut spokespeople also said that the firm is in the process of submitting 
an application to the French banking regulator Prudential Supervision and 
Resolution Authority. According to an anonymous source cited by Fortune, the 
regulator has been pushing the neobank to get a license to improve supervision 
due to its popularity in France.
Revolut currently employs about 300 people and serves five million customers 
in France. This makes the nation the neobank&#8217;s top European Union market.
_**Related:**__**Revolut doubles profits to $1.3B on user growth, crypto 
trading boom**_
## Aiming for the stars
Revolut hopes to onboard 10 million users by the end of next year and then 
double that number by 2030. The firm already offers loans, trading and 
cryptocurrency support in its mobile-first banking platform.
The neobank has seen rapid growth ever since its founding in 2015. The company 
recently received a $45 billion valuation and reportedly served over 55 
million customers as of late May.
Revolut&#8217;s 2024 annual report release shows that the firm&#8217;s 2024 revenue was 
3.1 billion British pounds ($4 billion). A recent Financial News article also 
puts the company&#8217;s headcount at 10,133 employees as of Dec. 31, 2024.
_**Related:**__**Revolut expands crypto exchange to 30 new markets in 
Europe**_
## An increasingly regulated institution
Revolut obtained its UK banking license in late July 2024, where 11 million of 
its customers are located. Now, the neobank is aggressively looking to obtain 
similar permits across other jurisdictions, with 10 applications underway.
Revolut received the Prepaid Payment Instruments license from India&#8217;s central 
bank earlier this month. This license allows the bank to offer multi-currency 
forex cards and cross-border remittance services in India.
EU-based Revolut customers now leverage its Lithuania operations. The firm 
received a banking license in Lithuania at the end of 2018, enabling it to 
serve customers across the European Economic Area better.
_**Magazine:**__**Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it &#8216;s becoming them in 
stablecoin fight**_