Key takeaways:

XRP could be headed down to $2 following a breakdown of a classic head-and-shoulders pattern.

Declining open interest in XRP futures signals weakening trader confidence.

The XRP (XRP) price is flashing warning signs as a bearish technical pattern resolves on lower timeframes, coinciding with massive long liquidations and decreasing open interest.

XRP H&S pattern hints at a 14% price drop

XRP price action has formed a head-and-shoulders (H&S) pattern on its four-hour chart since May 9, projecting a likely down-move.

The head-and-shoulders pattern is a bearish reversal pattern that can signal a change in trend. It consists of three peaks: a higher peak (head) and two lower peaks (shoulders). 

It is resolved when the price breaks below the neckline (the line connecting the lows of the left and right shoulder), confirming the pattern and suggesting a potential sell signal.

In XRP’s case, the pattern was validated following a break and close below the neckline at $2.33 during the early Asian trading hours on May 19.

If the price stays below the neckline, the XRP/USD pair could slide further to $2.25 (where the 200-day simple moving average currently sits) and then to the pattern target of $2.00. This would bring the total losses to 14% from the current levels.

XRP/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

As Cointelegraph reported, a possible decline to as low as $2.00 is currently in play as bullish momentum has decreased.

For analyst Egrag Crypto, XRP price “must hold” the support at $2.30, which aligns with the H&S neckline, to avoid a breakdown toward these targets. 

Related: XRP price path to $3.40 remains intact — Here is why

The analyst shared a chart showing that a drop below $2.30 could trigger a massive sell-off, with the initial target set around $2.15 and then going as low as $1.60.

Source: Egrag CryptoXRP open interest down $1 billion in 5 days

XRP open interest (OI) has decreased by 18% to $4.49 billion over the last five days. This decline in OI signals reduced trader confidence and liquidity, which drives prices down.

XRP futures open interest. Source: CoinGlass

The latest drawdown in XRP price has also triggered liquidations over the last day, where long positions valued at $12 million were forcibly closed, compared to just $1.4 million in shorts. 

Total XRP liquidations across all exchanges. Source: CoinGlass

This reflects heightened selling pressure as bullish traders are forced to sell at a loss, pushing prices lower.

Importantly, XRP’s 3% drop over the last 24 hours is accompanied by a 70% increase in daily trading volume to $4.1 billion. Trading volume increases amid a price decline can be interpreted as increasing bearish momentum or repositioning by crypto traders as they wait for XRP’s next move. 

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

A court decision in Australia could open the door to as much as $640 million in capital gains tax (CGT) refunds on Bitcoin transactions after a judge ruled that crypto should be treated as money rather than a taxable asset. 

On May 19, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the decision arose within a criminal case involving federal police officer William Wheatley, who allegedly stole 81.6 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2019. At the time, the assets were worth roughly $492,000. At current market prices, the tokens are valued at more than $13 million.

In the case, Judge Michael O’Connell of Victoria ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as a form of money rather than property, likening the digital asset to Australian dollars rather than to shares, gold or foreign currency.

The interpretation could set a legal precedent, potentially placing Bitcoin transactions outside the scope of Australia’s current CGT regime.

New court ruling challenges Australian crypto tax laws

In an AFR interview, tax lawyer Adrian Cartland said the verdict “totally upends” the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) current position. 

Since 2014, the ATO has classified crypto assets as CGT assets. This means that users must pay tax when selling or trading them. Under the ATO’s guidance, any disposal of Bitcoin, including selling it for fiat, exchanging it for another crypto or using it to purchase goods or services, constitutes a CGT event. 

This framework has been the basis for taxing cryptocurrency transactions in Australia for over a decade. However, the recent ruling challenges the approach by suggesting that Bitcoin functions more like money than property. This potentially exempts it from CGT.

Related: Australian feds seize mansion, Bitcoin allegedly linked to crypto exchange hack

Tax refunds could reach $640 million

Cartland said it was held that Bitcoin is Australian money. “That is, it is not a CGT asset. Therefore, acquisitions and disposals of Bitcoin have no tax consequences,” the tax lawyer added. 

If the ruling is upheld on the appeal, Cartland estimates that there could be potential tax refunds totalling 1 billion Australian dollars ($640 million). 

However, while Cartland thinks there could be up to a billion in refunds, the ATO said there were no official figures that confirm the amount to be potentially refunded if the case changes how Bitcoin is taxed in Australia. 

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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 — the highest net outflow recorded in 2025, signaling that institutional appetite was “accelerating,” according to Bitwise head of European research, André Dragosch.

Related: Tether surpasses Germany’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’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 “more friendly” to users running local nodes for personal use. 

“The plan would drastically reduce the 1.3TB data burden by allowing nodes to sync only relevant information, opening the door to broader participation,” Stella Zlatareva, Nexo Dispatch editor, told Cointelegraph.

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Revolut, a European neobank with crypto support, 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. 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’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’s 2024 annual report release shows that the firm’s 2024 revenue was 3.1 billion British pounds ($4 billion). A recent Financial News article also puts the company’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’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.

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Dubai’s crypto regulator has given licensed digital asset companies until June 19 to comply with its updated activity-based Rulebooks to enhance market integrity and risk oversight. 

On May 19, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced that it had released Version 2.0 of the Rulebooks. 

The regulator said it had strengthened controls around margin trading and token distribution services, harmonised compliance requirements across all licensed activities and given clearer definitions for collateral wallet arrangements. 

VARA’s team will engage with licensed entities and expects the companies to comply with the updated rules after a 30-day transition period.

“In line with global regulatory best practices, a 30-day transition period has been granted to all impacted virtual asset service providers [VASPs], with full compliance required by 19 June 2025,” VARA wrote.  

VARA enhances supervisory mechanisms

VARA highlighted that it had enhanced supervisory mechanisms across several regulated activities. This includes advisory, broker-dealer, custody, exchange, lending and borrowing, virtual asset (VA) management and investment, and VA transfer and settlement services. 

A VARA spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the updates will bring consistency across all activity-based rules defining core operational terms. The spokesperson gave examples of terms like “client assets,” “qualified custodians,” and “collateral requirements” as some of the terms more consistently defined in the update.  

The update also aligned risk management and disclosure obligations, where activities overlap, in areas like brokerage, custody and exchange.

“The aim was to reduce ambiguity and help VASPs navigate cross-functional compliance more easily,” VARA told Cointelegraph. 

Related: Dubai gov’t agencies to link real estate registry with property tokenization

Dubai regulator tightens leverage thresholds for margin trading

As for margin trading, the VARA spokesperson said they tightened leverage thresholds, mandated clearer collateralisation standards, and enhanced the monitoring obligations for VASPs offering this feature. 

Margin trading allows traders to control large positions with smaller amounts of capital. It amplifies both gains and losses. Tightening the leverage traders use helps limit the risks of widespread liquidations in a market downturn. 

The crypto regulator introduced a new section on token distribution that sets out licensing prerequisites, investor protections and marketing restrictions. The spokesperson emphasized the marketing restrictions, especially for “retail-facing offers.” 

“It’s about aligning with global conduct expectations and closing observed regulatory gaps,” the VARA spokesperson said. 

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

Dubai’s crypto regulator has given licensed digital asset companies until June 19 to comply with its updated activity-based Rulebooks to enhance market integrity and risk oversight. 

On May 19, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced that it had released Version 2.0 of the Rulebooks. 

The regulator said it had strengthened controls around margin trading and token distribution services, harmonised compliance requirements across all licensed activities and given clearer definitions for collateral wallet arrangements. 

VARA’s team will engage with licensed entities and expects the companies to comply with the updated rules after a 30-day transition period.

“In line with global regulatory best practices, a 30-day transition period has been granted to all impacted virtual asset service providers [VASPs], with full compliance required by 19 June 2025,” VARA wrote.  

VARA enhances supervisory mechanisms

VARA highlighted that it had enhanced supervisory mechanisms across several regulated activities. This includes advisory, broker-dealer, custody, exchange, lending and borrowing, virtual asset (VA) management and investment, and VA transfer and settlement services. 

A VARA spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the updates will bring consistency across all activity-based rules defining core operational terms. The spokesperson gave examples of terms like “client assets,” “qualified custodians,” and “collateral requirements” as some of the terms more consistently defined in the update.  

The update also aligned risk management and disclosure obligations, where activities overlap, in areas like brokerage, custody and exchange.

“The aim was to reduce ambiguity and help VASPs navigate cross-functional compliance more easily,” VARA told Cointelegraph. 

Related: Dubai gov’t agencies to link real estate registry with property tokenization

Dubai regulator tightens leverage thresholds for margin trading

As for margin trading, the VARA spokesperson said they tightened leverage thresholds, mandated clearer collateralisation standards, and enhanced the monitoring obligations for VASPs offering this feature. 

Margin trading allows traders to control large positions with smaller amounts of capital. It amplifies both gains and losses. Tightening the leverage traders use helps limit the risks of widespread liquidations in a market downturn. 

The crypto regulator introduced a new section on token distribution that sets out licensing prerequisites, investor protections and marketing restrictions. The spokesperson emphasized the marketing restrictions, especially for “retail-facing offers.” 

“It’s about aligning with global conduct expectations and closing observed regulatory gaps,” the VARA spokesperson said. 

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

Tether, the $151 billion stablecoin issuance giant, has surpassed Germany in United States Treasury bill holdings, showcasing the benefits of a diversified reserve strategy that has helped the firm navigate the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDt (USDT), has surpassed Germany’s $111.4 billion worth of US Treasurys, data from the US Department of the Treasury shows.

Foreign countries by US Treasury holdings. Source: Ticdata.treasury.gov

Tether has surpassed $120 billion worth of Treasury bills, the firm shared in its attestation report for the first quarter of 2025. That makes Tether the 19th largest entity among all counties in terms of T-bill investments.

“This milestone not only reinforces the company’s conservative reserve management strategy but also highlights Tether’s growing role in distributing dollar-denominated liquidity at scale,” wrote Tether in the report. 

Related: Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

During 2024, Tether was the seventh-largest buyer of US Treasurys across all countries, surpassing Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Norway, Hong Kong and numerous other countries, Cointelegraph reported in March 2025.

Source: Paolo Ardoino

Treasurys are debt securities issued by the US government, considered some of the safest and most liquid investments available worldwide. Tether invests in Treasurys as an additional reserve asset for its US dollar-pegged stablecoin.

Related: Paolo Ardoino: Competitors and politicians intend to ‘kill Tether’

Tether’s Treasury, gold portfolio “almost offset” crypto market volatility losses for Q1 2025

Tether’s traditional reserve assets helped the stablecoin giant weather the downside volatility of the crypto market during the first quarter of 2025.

Tether reported over $1 billion in operating profit from “traditional investments” during the first quarter of the year, “driven by solid performance in its US Treasury portfolio, while the performance of Gold has almost offset the volatility in crypto markets,” according to the firm’s attestation report.

Growing clarity around US stablecoin regulations could lead to more investments in Tether’s dollar-denominated stablecoin, part of which will be used to further bolster the firm’s Treasury reserves.

The industry is currently awaiting progress on two pieces of legislation. The Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act currently awaits scheduling for debate and a floor vote in the House of Representatives, after it passed the House Financial Services Committee on April 2 in a 32-17 vote.

However, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, stalled on May 8 after failing to gain support from key Democrats, some of whom voiced concerns about US President Donald Trump’s potential financial interest in clearer crypto regulations, due to his family’s digital asset ventures.

On May 14, at least 60 of the top crypto founders gathered in Washington, DC, to support the GENUIS Act, which seeks to establish collateralization guidelines for stablecoin issuers and requires full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws.

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Key takeaways:

Bitcoin dropped over 4.5% on May 19, confirming a bearish divergence and threatening a break below $100,000.

Analysts highlight $97,000–$98,500 as key support that the bulls must hold.

A potential inverse head-and-shoulders pattern points to a retest of $91,000 before any bullish continuation.

Bitcoin (BTC) is down over 4.5% from its intraday high on May 19, falling to around $102,000 in its worst daily drop in over a month.

BTC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

BTC’s drop accompanied downside moves elsewhere in the risk market, prompted by Moody’s latest downgrade of the US government due to a rising budget deficit and the lack of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.

The decline confirms a bearish divergence and, combined with other technical factors, raises the risk of a BTC price breakdown below $100,000, a key support level.

Bitcoin’s bearish divergence hints at sub-$100K

Bitcoin’s price action showed technical weakness ahead of its May 19 sell-off.

On May 19, BTC pushed to a new local high above $107,000, but its relative strength index (RSI) printed a lower high, confirming a classic bearish divergence.

Source: Bluntz

This discrepancy between price and momentum is often a precursor to a trend reversal, and in this case, it played out with a swift 4.5% intraday decline. Analyst Bluntz warned traders to “be careful with [placing] longs.”

Swissblock analysts observed that Bitcoin “grabbed liquidity” above the $104,000–$106,000 resistance range but failed to sustain a breakout.

Bitcoin’s price vs. BTC onchain and trading volume. Source: Swissblock

The rejection pushed the price back into a prior volume-heavy zone, with immediate support between $101,500 and $102,500 now under pressure.

Swissblock identifies the $97,000–$98,500 range as a key downside target based on historical onchain volume and trading activity if the $101,500-102,500 area fails to hold.

Bitcoin’s H&S pattern targets $91,000

On the three-day chart, Bitcoin is forming the right shoulder of a potential inverse-head-and-shoulders pattern.

While typically bullish in the long term, this setup implies a short-term retest of the 50-period exponential moving average (50-period EMA; the red wave) near $91,000.

BTC/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingView

The chances of such a drop have increased since BTC failed to close above the critical $107,000 neckline level, the same zone that triggered bearish reversals in December 2024 and January 2025.

Related: Metaplanet scoops 1,004 Bitcoin in 2nd-biggest buy ever

A rebound from the $91,000 zone toward the neckline at around $107,000 could increase Bitcoin’s odds of rising toward $150,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin dropped over 4.5% on May 19, confirming a bearish divergence and threatening a break below $100,000.

Analysts highlight $97,000–$98,500 as key support that the bulls must hold.

A potential inverse head-and-shoulders pattern points to a retest of $91,000 before any bullish continuation.

Bitcoin (BTC) is down over 4.5% from its intraday high on May 19, falling to around $102,000 in its worst daily drop in over a month.

BTC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

BTC’s drop accompanied downside moves elsewhere in the risk market, prompted by Moody’s latest downgrade of the US government due to a rising budget deficit and the lack of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.

The decline confirms a bearish divergence and, combined with other technical factors, raises the risk of a BTC price breakdown below $100,000, a key support level.

Bitcoin’s bearish divergence hints at sub-$100K

Bitcoin’s price action showed technical weakness ahead of its May 19 sell-off.

On May 19, BTC pushed to a new local high above $107,000, but its relative strength index (RSI) printed a lower high, confirming a classic bearish divergence.

Source: Bluntz

This discrepancy between price and momentum is often a precursor to a trend reversal, and in this case, it played out with a swift 4.5% intraday decline. Analyst Bluntz warned traders to “be careful with [placing] longs.”

Swissblock analysts observed that Bitcoin “grabbed liquidity” above the $104,000–$106,000 resistance range but failed to sustain a breakout.

Bitcoin’s price vs. BTC onchain and trading volume. Source: Swissblock

The rejection pushed the price back into a prior volume-heavy zone, with immediate support between $101,500 and $102,500 now under pressure.

Swissblock identifies the $97,000–$98,500 range as a key downside target based on historical onchain volume and trading activity if the $101,500-102,500 area fails to hold.

Bitcoin’s H&S pattern targets $91,000

On the three-day chart, Bitcoin is forming the right shoulder of a potential inverse-head-and-shoulders pattern.

While typically bullish in the long term, this setup implies a short-term retest of the 50-period exponential moving average (50-period EMA; the red wave) near $91,000.

BTC/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingView

The chances of such a drop have increased since BTC failed to close above the critical $107,000 neckline level, the same zone that triggered bearish reversals in December 2024 and January 2025.

Related: Metaplanet scoops 1,004 Bitcoin in 2nd-biggest buy ever

A rebound from the $91,000 zone toward the neckline at around $107,000 could increase Bitcoin’s odds of rising toward $150,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled a proposal to preserve trustless, censorship-resistant access to Ethereum, even as the network scales. 

On May 19, Buterin shared a post outlining how to make Ethereum’s layer-1 scaling “more friendly” to users running local nodes for personal use. The Ethereum co-founder highlighted the importance of independent users running nodes, saying that a market dominated by a few Remote Procedure Call (RPC) providers risks censorship. 

RPC providers let wallets, users and apps interact with the blockchain without running their own nodes. Crypto wallets are usually connected to an RPC provider behind the scenes. Buterin said there are risks to this setup. 

“A market structure dominated by a few RPC providers is one that will face strong pressure to deplatform or censor users. Many RPC providers already exclude entire countries,” Buterin wrote. 

Source: Vitalik ButerinVitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes 

In addition to censorship, Buterin argued that reasons like expensive fully-trustless cryptographic solutions and metadata privacy show that there’s value in ensuring greater ease for those running a personal node. 

In the proposal, Buterin’s solution relies on a novel type of node called “partially stateless nodes.” They are designed to help users maintain privacy-preserving access to blockchain data without the heavy resource demands of running a full node. 

As Ethereum scales and the gas limit increases, running a full node requires more storage and bandwidth. Buterin said partially stateless nodes address the issue by allowing users to verify the blockchain and serve local data, but only store a subset of the Ethereum state, based on the user’s needs.

Vitalik Buterin’s graphic of partially stateless nodes. Source: Vitalik Buterin

Related: Ethereum Foundation unveils security initiative to supplant legacy systems

A new node type to validate blocks “statelessly”

The nodes would operate by validating blocks statelessly. This means they don’t require the storage of the full Merkle proofs or the entire blockchain history. They can selectively keep certain parts of the state up to date. 

This means that users could configure their nodes only to save data related to their accounts, the decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and their commonly used tokens like stablecoins and Ether (ETH). 

The rest of the data will be left out, and queries beyond the stored subset will fail or be routed through an RPC solution. 

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee