Bitcoin remained under pressure below $78,000 as ETF outflows, U.S.-Iran deal speculation, and a busy macro calendar kept traders cautious. Yet the market story is not simply one of weaker demand.
Capital is rotating across crypto products, regulatory debates around stablecoins are intensifying in Europe, and major institutions are still moving forward with tokenized deposits, stablecoin settlement, RWA infrastructure, and curated DeFi yield products.
Welcome to a new week in crypto.
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Bitcoin holds below $78K as ETF outflows meet macro uncertainty
Bitcoin traded below $78,000 as markets weighed U.S.-Iran deal headlines, holiday-thinned liquidity, and a heavy week of U.S. macro data. The move followed $1.26 billion in net outflows from spot bitcoin ETFs during the week of May 18–22, marking a second consecutive billion-dollar redemption week despite BTC briefly clearing $82,000.
The headline outflows do not necessarily mean institutional demand has disappeared. Analysts pointed to a rotation rather than a broad exit: while bitcoin products saw redemptions, XRP ETFs attracted $22 million, Solana ETFs added $16 million, and newly launched Hyperliquid ETFs pulled in $72 million. Ethereum ETFs, meanwhile, lost $216 million as sentiment was hit by delays around tokenized stock trading plans.
Options markets suggest traders are preparing for range-bound but fragile conditions. Bitcoin and ether implied volatility drifted lower as spot stayed pinned in a narrow band, while put skew remained elevated. With major open interest around the $75,000 BTC put, $80,000 BTC call, and $2,100 ETH put, the May 29 expiry could become an important short-term volatility point if macro headlines force a repricing.
This week’s U.S. personal spending, core PCE, and Q1 GDP readings will likely determine whether the current consolidation holds. A positive U.S.-Iran deal could lower crude prices and support risk assets, but unresolved questions around uranium enrichment, the Strait of Hormuz, and regional security keep the outlook unstable.
ECB rejects euro stablecoin support as Europe debates digital money strategy
The European Central Bank pushed back against a proposal that would have relaxed liquidity requirements for euro stablecoin issuers and allowed them to access ECB liquidity. The proposal, presented by Bruegel to EU finance ministers and central bank governors, argued that Europe needs a more permissive regime to avoid falling further behind dollar-denominated stablecoins.
ECB President Christine Lagarde and other central bankers rejected that logic, warning that a larger euro stablecoin market could pull deposits out of European banks, raise funding costs, and weaken credit creation. The idea of providing a central bank backstop to stablecoin issuers also drew resistance, as such access has traditionally been reserved for supervised banks.
The debate captures Europe’s core dilemma. Policymakers want to avoid “digital dollarization,” but the ECB remains skeptical of private euro stablecoins as the answer. Lagarde continues to favor tokenized commercial bank deposits, wholesale settlement projects such as Pontes and Appia, and eventually the digital euro.
Private institutions are not waiting for consensus. Qivalis, a consortium of 37 banks across 15 countries, is preparing a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin for launch in the second half of the year. The result is a widening gap between central bank caution and private-sector urgency.
Kraken advances UAE expansion with VARA approval
Kraken’s parent company Payward received preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for a broker-dealer, investment, and management license. The authorization gives Kraken a path to offer regulated spot, margin, OTC trading, staking, and institutional access through Kraken Prime in the UAE.
The approval reflects Kraken’s strategy of building locally regulated operations in major financial hubs rather than relying on offshore access alone. UAE clients will be able to trade through Kraken’s global order books while funding and withdrawing in dirhams through a locally regulated Payward subsidiary.
The move also fits into Kraken’s broader global expansion. The company recently rolled out CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading in the U.S., pursued a national trust charter application with the OCC, and agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million.
Dubai continues to position itself as one of the more active jurisdictions for regulated crypto infrastructure. For Kraken, local supervision and fiat rails strengthen its institutional offering in a region where exchanges, payment firms, and custodians are competing for long-term market share.
MoneyGram becomes remittance validator for Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo blockchain
MoneyGram was named the Anchor Remittance Validator for Tempo, the Layer 1 blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm. In this role, MoneyGram will validate remittance transactions and integrate stablecoin settlement into its global flows, including with Stripe.
Tempo is designed for stablecoin payments, swaps, remittances, retail commerce, and corporate treasury use cases. MoneyGram joins an early validator group that includes Stripe, Visa, and Zodia Custody, giving the network a strong institutional payments foundation from launch.
The partnership is another sign that stablecoins are being embedded into existing remittance infrastructure rather than competing with it from the outside. MoneyGram has already been expanding its crypto footprint through fiat offramps, Kraken integration, and Fireblocks-powered stablecoin settlement for global wires.
For Tempo, MoneyGram adds real-world distribution and operational experience. For MoneyGram, the validator role gives it a deeper position in the stablecoin settlement stack as payments firms move from experimentation to production.
AllUnity plans Swedish krona stablecoin and agentic payment layer
AllUnity, the regulated European stablecoin issuer backed by DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy, announced plans to launch SEKAU, a fully reserved Swedish krona-pegged stablecoin. The token will be issued under MiCA as an e-money token, backed 1:1 by Swedish krona reserves, and redeemable at par.
The product extends AllUnity’s stablecoin portfolio beyond euro and Swiss franc tokens, targeting institutions, fintechs, and enterprises that need 24/7 settlement, programmable finance, and cross-border payment capabilities. Sweden’s advanced cashless economy makes it a natural market for a regulated krona-denominated digital money instrument.
Alongside SEKAU, AllUnity launched Agentic Payments, a settlement layer designed for payments initiated by AI agents across content, data, and digital services. The system is powered by the x402 protocol and will allow businesses to accept agentic payments while settling directly to bank accounts in local currency.
This combination is notable. AllUnity is not only issuing fiat-backed tokens; it is also building payment infrastructure for a world where transactions may increasingly be initiated by software rather than humans.
European Commission opens MiCA review as global regulatory competition intensifies
The European Commission opened a formal consultation on whether MiCA remains fit for purpose as digital asset markets evolve. The review covers crypto-asset issuers, asset-referenced tokens, e-money tokens, and crypto-asset service providers, with feedback open until August 31.
The timing matters. MiCA gave Europe an early lead in comprehensive crypto regulation, but the global landscape has changed quickly. The U.S. has moved forward with stablecoin legislation and broader market structure discussions, while several Asian jurisdictions are developing their own digital asset frameworks.
Industry participants are calling for targeted improvements rather than a full rewrite. Coinbase’s European policy team described MiCA as a strong foundation, but argued that Europe must now combine safeguards with competitiveness as crypto and traditional finance converge.
The consultation comes ahead of the July 2026 deadline for firms operating under transitional regimes to secure full MiCA authorization. It also follows growing support for centralizing supervision of major cross-border crypto firms under ESMA, which would represent one of the biggest structural shifts in EU crypto oversight since MiCA’s introduction.
→ What Is MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets)? Crypto Regulatory Framework 2026
Bank of England frames tokenization as the future of UK finance
Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said the UK’s future financial system should include multiple interchangeable forms of money, including tokenized bank deposits, regulated stablecoins, and possibly a retail CBDC. The message was clear: tokenization is no longer a side experiment, but part of the Bank’s long-term modernization agenda.
Breeden emphasized the potential for shared ledger technology to make payments cheaper and faster, while smart contracts can add automation, conditionality, and customization. The Bank is also preparing draft rules for systemic stablecoins next month, with final rules expected by year-end.
The UK is moving forward through several channels. The Bank-FCA Digital Securities Sandbox is already allowing firms to build live trading venues and settlement systems for tokenized securities, with 16 firms preparing to launch from late 2026. Participants include Euroclear, HSBC, and London Stock Exchange Group.
The Bank also continues to support the Digital Gilt pilot and will present conclusions from its digital pound design phase later this year. The strategy is cautious but practical: bring tokenization into regulated finance, keep bank money central, and test infrastructure in live but controlled environments.
RWA market cap passes $65B as blockchains compete for institutional issuers
The tokenized real-world asset market has climbed above $65 billion, up from roughly $45 billion at the start of the year. The growth shows how quickly traditional asset managers are bringing assets onchain, from credit and money market products to tokenized securities and structured instruments.
Ethereum remains the largest venue, holding around 33% of the RWA market, supported by liquidity, tooling, and institutional familiarity. Provenance follows with around 27%, helped by its focus on financial services and Figure Lending’s presence in its ecosystem. BNB Chain, XRP Ledger, and Solana each hold approximately 6%.
The competitive dynamic matters because RWA liquidity tends to be sticky. Once asset managers build tokenization infrastructure on a specific chain, switching costs can become meaningful. That means early institutional wins may compound over time.
The market has not yet consolidated around one dominant venue. Chains are competing on compliance tooling, settlement finality, cost structure, distribution, and institutional relationships. As RWAs scale, this race could become one of the most important drivers of long-term blockchain positioning.
Stablecoin supply stalls as USDT absorbs market share
Total stablecoin supply has crossed $300 billion, but the headline figure masks a slowdown in net growth. Over the past month, Tether added more than $5 billion in USDT supply, while USDC, USDe, and PYUSD collectively declined by roughly $4.2 billion. Net category growth was just about $900 million.
The result is less a broad stablecoin expansion than a market-share shift toward USDT. Every marginal dollar entering the system is effectively a USDT dollar replacing liquidity that has left other stablecoins. That reinforces Tether’s dominance at a time when newer, regulated, or yield-bearing alternatives have struggled to scale.
USDe’s decline is especially important. Ethena’s synthetic dollar is down sharply over the past month and year-to-date as compressed perpetual funding rates weaken the yield model. Since its return depends on positive funding, the post-deleveraging environment has made USDe less competitive against overcollateralized alternatives.
The early performance of bank-linked and GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoins has also been harder than expected. To take meaningful share from USDT, issuers may need stronger distribution, yield advantages, or regulatory positioning that Tether cannot easily replicate. So far, none has clearly broken through.
Wintermute launches Armitage as institutional DeFi vaults gain momentum
Wintermute launched Armitage, a DeFi vault curation platform that allows curators to design non-custodial vaults across different risk profiles. Users retain control of their assets, and the platform does not require KYC for depositors.
Vaults are becoming an important part of the institutional DeFi stack. Platforms such as Morpho and Kamino have shown how curated strategies can make lending and yield generation easier to access, while firms including Apollo and Kraken have already begun deploying vault-based approaches.
The appeal is operational. Curators manage allocation, risk parameters, rebalancing, and exposure across lending, liquidity, and restaking strategies, allowing institutions to access DeFi without manually managing every position. Smart contracts provide additional transparency and execution discipline.
Wintermute brings a different profile to this market. As a major market maker with more than $10 billion in daily trading volume and deep experience across exchanges and chains, it can support collateral types and liquidation processes that other curators may avoid. Armitage positions Wintermute not only as a liquidity provider, but as an infrastructure player for institutional DeFi yield.
At Finery Markets, we continue to monitor how liquidity dynamics, institutional flows, and infrastructure development are redefining digital asset markets. This newsletter is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
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