Coindesk

The U.S.-listed spot bitcoin BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $667.4 million in net inflows on May 19, the largest single-day total since May 2, signaling renewed institutional interest. Nearly half of these inflows, $306 million, went into iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), now at $45.9 billion in net inflows, according to data source Farside Investors.The renewed demand follows bitcoin’s strong price performance, having traded above $100,000 for 11 consecutive days, which has helped restore market confidence. Additionally, the annualized basis trade, a strategy where investors go long on the spot ETF and simultaneously short bitcoin futures contracts on the CME, has become increasingly attractive, with yields approaching 9% almost double what was seen in April. According to Velo data, this...

Crypto markets extended their climb with ether (ETH) jumping 8% and bitcoin (BTC) inching back toward the $106,000 mark in the past 24 hours, despite broader risk-off sentiment in equities and gold.The resilience is in contrast to Friday’s surprise credit downgrade of the U.S. by Moody’s, which cited persistent fiscal deficits and political gridlock. Yet while equities sagged and gold extended its recent decline, falling nearly 7% from May highs, bitcoin held ground and even rallied briefly to $107,000 late Sunday before retracing.“Bitcoin’s ability to rally over the weekend despite a risk-off tone in equities following the Moody’s downgrade reinforces its positioning as a legitimate store of value,” QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast late Monday.The firm pointed to...

DigiAsia Corp (FAAS) plans to raise up to $100 million to seed a bitcoin treasury reserve (BTC), joining a growing list of publicly traded companies looking to diversify their corporate balance sheets with bitcoin.The announcement on Monday (which emphasized plans rather than executed actions) helped push DigiAsia’s shares up 91% during regular trading to 36 cents, before pulling back 22% after hours. The stock is still down more than 50% year-to-date.The company said its board had approved a strategy to allocate up to 50% of future net profits toward BTC purchases and was “actively exploring” a capital raise of up to $100 million, according to a press release.It also plans to pursue yield-generating strategies on its bitcoin holdings, including institutional...

XRP futures contracts began trading on CME Group’s derivatives platform on May 19, recording at least $1.5 million in trading volume during the first session, a modest but notable debut for the major token.CME data shows 4 standard contracts (each representing 50,000 XRP) traded on day one, totaling around $480,000 in notional volume at an average price of $2.40. The majority of activity came from 106 micro contracts (2,500 XRP each), accounting for over $1 million in additional volume.The contracts are cash-settled and benchmarked to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which is published daily at 4:00 P.M. London time. CME’s dual contract structure is designed to attract both institutional players and smaller participants, offering flexibility for various hedging and...

The U.S. Senate voted to move ahead on stablecoin legislation Monday night, removing a procedural barrier to ultimately passing the bill out of the body entirely.Senators easily cleared the 60-vote threshold for the vote, which is intended to just move the legislation to a period of further debate before a final vote series to pass it out of the Senate. The House of Representatives is working its way through its own version of stablecoin legislation, which is intended to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins and their issuers in the U.S. The Senate previously failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill during a vote on May 8, after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about consumer protection and national...