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Bitcoin is the biggest gainer as reports of an imminent US-EU trade deal emerge ahead of Donald Trump’s August 1. BTC price is marching on toward $118,500 while the rest of the market makes a valiant attempt to mirror the largest cryptocurrency. BTC Price Gains After A Rough Trading Day According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin
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Ripple partners: Blockchain payment platform Ripple has announced that leading UAE financial platforms Zand Bank and Mamo Pay have adopted Ripple Payment, its blockchain-powered payment solution, to improve cross-border payments. Why’s New Partnership Is Important for Ripple? Ripple shared the announcement in a blog post on Monday, May 19. The partnership comes shortly after Ripple became the first blockchain-powered payment solution to receive a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The license allows the payment infrastructure provider to tap into market opportunities in the Middle East, as well as operate legally in the region. Source: X Interestingly, the new license and partnerships with Zand Bank and Mamo Pay allow Ripple to provide round-the-clock payment services and handle payment processes on behalf of its customers in the UAE. Additionally, thanks to these local partners, Ripple says settlement time will be reduced to a few minutes, making it easier to… Read More at Coingape.com
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Alex Mashinsky faces up to 20 years in jail as the US DoJ (Department of Justice) pursues the Celsius founder and former CEO for orchestrating a years-long campaign of lies and self-dealing.
Prosecutors are pushing for such an extreme punishment, citing Mashinsky as an example of the repercussions of crypto misconduct.
The US DoJ issued the request in a sentencing memo filed on Monday, April 28, asking the court for a 20-year jail term for Alex Mashinsky.
The prosecution calls Mashinsky out for “deliberate, calculated” fraud, which resulted in the loss of almost $7 billion in customer funds.
Despite this report, CEL, the powering token for the Celsius Network, is up by over 70%. As of this writing, data on CoinGecko shows CEL was trading for $0.1507.
This request comes five months after Mashinsky’s guilty plea, following fraud charges, including CEL token market manipulation, and avoiding a January trial. Commodities fraud and price manipulation were among the schemes linked to Celsius’s collapse.
According to the DoJ, while Mashinsky pled guilty, he still refuses to accept responsibility. Instead, he is reportedly shifting blame to regulators, market conditions, and even his victims.
“Mashinsky’s crimes were not the product of negligence, naivete, or bad luck. They were the result of deliberate, calculated decisions to lie, deceive, and steal in pursuit of personal fortune,” the DoJ contends.
Meanwhile, this case traces back to July 2023 when the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) sued Celsius and Mashinsky. The securities regulator cited the two defendants for:
Beyond the DoJ and SEC, other agencies, including the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission), FTC (Federal Trade Commission), and the US Government, had also filed similar charges against Celsius and Mashinsky.
“SEC, DOJ, CFTC, and FTC all sued/charged Celsius and Mashinsky in the past hour. Rough day,” db reported at the time.
Notably, this happened a year after Mashinsky stepped down as CEO of Celsius. Over the years, a key highlight in the case includes Mashinsky claiming to have withdrawn $10 million ahead of the platform’s bankruptcy.
Notwithstanding, the judge froze his assets and recently turned down his request to dismiss fraud charges.
Meanwhile, efforts to make victims whole have included unstaking the platform’s Ethereum (ETH) holdings. In January 2024, Celsius informed its followers on social media that it was working to compensate victims.
“The significant unstaking activity in the next few days will unlock ETH to ensure timely distributions to creditors,” read the post.
More recently, Celsius announced the second payout to creditors, citing $127 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and US dollars based on eligibility.
Mashinsky’s sentencing is set for Thursday, May 8. If the court agrees to the US DoJ’s push for a 20-year sentence, Alex Mashinsky would have received a lesser sentence than FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) 25-year jail term.
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Bitcoin has posted seven consecutive weeks of gains, pushing its price above $100,000. However, new signals suggest this bullish streak might soon end.
Identifying the precise moment of a price reversal is challenging. However, certain signs may indicate rising risks, particularly for investors who have not established strong positions yet.
The first notable sign is that wallets with large balances have stopped accumulating and have started distributing their coins.
Glassnode data confirms this trend. In May, the accumulation score for wallets holding over 10,000 BTC dropped from around 0.8 to below 0.5. This shift is visually represented by a change in color from blue to orange.
“The group of wallets holding the most BTC has started distributing,” Thuan Capital stated.
Additionally, wallets between 1 BTC and 10,000 BTC show weaker accumulation behavior, as seen through gradually fading blue tones. Only wallets with less than 1 BTC are showing a clear shift from distribution to strong accumulation, triggered by Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high.
These data points reflect a profit-taking tendency among large investors. At the same time, smaller retail investors appear driven by FOMO (fear of missing out) as they chase short-term opportunities.
Another warning sign comes from Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs). UTXOs are a technical mechanism that ensures each individual BTC can only be spent once on the blockchain. They also provide a way to evaluate unrealized profit across all unspent BTC.
CryptoQuant data shows that when 99% of UTXOs are in profit, it usually signals a market overheating phase. Historically, such phases often precede price corrections. Whether the correction is short- or long-term, this signal still highlights a growing risk for buyers.
“Right now, it’s hard to say we’re in a euphoric phase. The broader macroeconomic context and the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s policy direction make it difficult for investors to flip fully risk-on. When this 99% signal drops, unrealized profits shrink and can trigger more profit-taking and push latecomers to capitulate and sell at a loss,” analyst Darkfost said.
As of now, Bitcoin’s rally has paused around $108,000. There are no clear signs of a correction yet. BeInCrypto reports a strong wave of Bitcoin accumulation among corporations worldwide. Many experts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s future price.
“A tidal wave of institutional demand is reshaping bitcoin’s market dynamics: Wealth‐management platforms poised to roll out access to bitcoin ETFs, corporate treasuries adding bitcoin to boost shareholder returns, and sovereigns diversifying reserves into bitcoin to hedge geopolitical risk. Together, these forces are creating a structural supply/demand imbalance—and over the next 18 months, bitcoin is set to cement its role as a global store of value,” Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise Asset Management, told BeInCrypto.
Therefore, while these short-term indicators could hint at a pullback from current highs, they don’t seem to affect analysts’ broader expectations for this year and next.
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