A group of banks, led by Deutsche Bank from Germany and Standard Chartered from the UK, is exploring the possibility of expanding their cryptocurrency operations into the U.S. This move, reported by The Wall Street Journal, highlights the growing interest among major financial institutions in the U.S. crypto space. While the exact plans are still under consideration, the expansion would mark a significant shift for these global banks into the rapidly evolving digital asset market.
Ethereum (ETH) is down by 11% since recording a swing high of $2,700 on March 29. Despite this drop, three different charts suggest that an Ethereum price rally to $4,000 may still be intact, and the momentum remains bullish. ETH price remains up by 27% in one month, with the price fluctuating between $2,400 and
Last week, US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded net inflows exceeding $600 million.
While this marked a continuation of positive capital movement into digital asset products, it also had the lowest weekly inflow figure in the past month, signaling investor caution or profit-taking at higher levels.
ETF Inflows Slow as Price Consolidation Cools Investor Appetite
Between May 12 and May 16, inflows into spot BTC ETFs totaled $603.74 million. Although this was a net positive in terms of inflow into these funds, last week’s figure was the lowest weekly inflow in the past month. This highlights a more cautious but sustained capital movement into the market.
Total Bitcoin Spot ETF Net Inflow. Source: SosoValue
The slowdown in ETF inflows can be linked to BTC price consolidation during the five-day period under review. Throughout that period, BTC traded sideways, facing resistance at around $104,971 while finding consistent support at $102,711.
This lack of clear movement likely led some investors to be more cautious, resulting in reduced capital inflows into BTC ETFs last week.
BTC Eyes Fresh Highs
Still, bullish momentum persists in the BTC market. The king coin briefly surged to a three-month high of $107,108 during Monday’s early Asian trading session. While it has since corrected to trade at $104,956, the bullish bias toward the coin remains significant.
BTC’s price uptick comes alongside a rise in its futures open interest. This stands at $70.03 billion at press time, climbing 7% over the past day.
Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as futures or options, that have not been settled. When open interest rises alongside price, it typically signals that new money is entering the market. This supports the strength of BTC’s ongoing trend and could trigger a sustained price uptick in the near term.
Moreover, options market data further supports this optimistic outlook. Today, the demand for call options has outpaced puts, pointing to a growing demand for bullish positioning.
Retail company GameStop (GME) has announced plans to raise up to $1.3 billion to buy Bitcoin for its treasury. This comes just a day after the company announced BTC’s addition to its treasury reserve holdings. Meanwhile, the GME stock price has dropped following this announcement.
GameStop To Raise $1.3 Billion To Buy Bitcoin
In a press release, GameStop revealed plans to raise up to $1.3 billion to buy Bitcoin. The company announced that it intends to offer $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 0.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2030 in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers.
Furthermore, the retailer company also intends to grant the initial purchasers of the notes an option to purchase, within a 13-day period beginning on and including the date on which the notes are first issued, up to an additional $200 million aggregate principal amount of notes.
GameStop stated that it expects to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including acquiring Bitcoin in a manner consistent with the company’s Investment Policy. This move comes just a day after the company updated its investment policy to add BTC as a treasury reserve after the board’s approval.
MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor commented on this move. In an X post, he raised a poll, questioning the minimum amount of Bitcoin GME needs to buy to be respected by Bitcoiners. Interestingly, the company looks to be adopting MicroStrategy’s model of raising funds to buy Bitcoin through stock offerings.
The company has a lot of catching up to do to match MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin stack. Saylor’s company recently purchased 6,911 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 506,137 BTC. Meanwhile,
GME Stock Drops Over 6%
MarketWatch data shows that GameStop’s stock has dropped over 6% amid the company’s plans to offer its convertible notes. The GME stock had surged over 30% between yesterday’s announcement and the early hours of trading today.
However, this drop has occurred amid concerns that the offering of these notes could lead to a dilution of existing shares. The stock price could still surge in the long term, especially considering how MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Strategy has positively impacted the MSTR stock price.
