Heecheol Yang

There are forecasts that the trend of global traditional financial institutions actively adopting digital assets and blockchain technology will accelerate even further. According to Cointelegraph on the 13th (local time), Jenny Johnson, the CEO of Franklin Templeton, emphasized in an opinion piece for Fortune magazine, "The advantages of blockchain are extremely powerful, so the transition to digital asset technology will never be slow or gradual," adding, "The changes to the financial industry over the next five years will be greater than those of the past fifty years." Interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain among traditional financial institutions is growing rapidly. BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, has launched Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) ETFs, and has been actively communicating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). JPMorganChase also entered the cryptocurrency market in 2020 by launching the dollar-pegged stablecoin 'JPM Coin', and recently announced plans to allow crypto ETFs as collateral for loans.

Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital, a leading U.S. bond investment firm, warned that "The enormous U.S. debt burden and interest costs have reached an unsustainable level," and stated, "U.S. Treasuries are no longer genuinely 'flight-to-quality' assets." On the 11th (local time), according to Bloomberg, Gundlach said at the Bloomberg Global Credit Forum, "Long-term U.S. Treasuries are no longer considered legitimate and reliable risk-free investments," adding, "We can now see a clear erosion of trust in the market for U.S. Treasuries. The moment of liquidation is approaching." He pointed out, "As U.S. government debt approaches $37 trillion, the interest burden is rapidly increasing, and as low-rate bonds mature and are reissued at higher rates, the problem is worsening." He also advised, "Global funds that had flowed into U.S. assets may gradually exit," and suggested, "It is necessary to reduce the proportion of dollar assets and increase allocation to non-dollar assets."

In the cryptocurrency market, positions worth approximately $314 million (USD) were forcibly liquidated. According to Binance News on the 12th (local time), based on Coinglass data, a total of $314 million worth of positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with liquidations of long positions reaching $221 million. By coin, it was found that long positions worth $107 million in Ethereum, $52.22 million in Bitcoin, $12.38 million in Solana, and $10.62 million in Dogecoin were each liquidated.

The total amount of Tether (USDT) transfers processed on the TRON Network in May surpassed $700 billion (approximately ₩940 trillion), setting another record following April. According to CryptoQuant on the 12th (local time), recently the amount of stablecoin transfers on the TRON Network has seen significant growth. Notably, 59% of Tether transactions in May were over $1 million, with $411 billion (approximately ₩551 trillion) moved solely by whale wallets. TRON currently holds the largest amount of stablecoins among all chains. The amount of USDT deposited and circulating on the TRON Network (TRC-20) reached $75.7 billion, topping the list, followed by $71.4 billion circulating on the ERC-20, and $4.1 billion on other networks. Large-scale issuances of over $1 billion have also been increasing. So far this year, there have been 17 new issuances of USDT over $1 billion on TRON (TRC-20).

The number of traders in the Ethereum non-fungible token (NFT) market has recently surged to around 40,000, returning to levels seen in June 2022. According to The Block on the 11th (local time), following the completion of beta testing and the official launch of OpenSea's next-generation platform OS2, the introduction of a new rewards program, 'Voyages', has led to a significant increase in NFT traders. The 'Voyages' program provides users with 'XP' as rewards for engaging in various activities on the platform. This XP is expected to be used to determine eligibility for future airdrops of OpenSea's native token (SEA). As a result, OpenSea’s monthly active users reached 467,322 as of May 2025, marking the highest figure since 2022. The recent move by major NFT companies to expand practical utilities beyond simple collectibles has also contributed to the increase in NFT traders. It is noted that, while a significant portion of speculative traders shifted to other markets such as meme coins in 2021, the current user base is more focused on utility. Orange Cap Games, the developer of the Vibes trading card game, recently acquired the Moonbirds collection IP and hinted at the possibility of releasing a third card game utilizing Moonbirds. Mythical Games also announced plans to introduce digital assets featuring the Adidas brand in the soon-to-be-released FIFA Rivals and to build on the success of its own NFL Rivals mobile game.

Ethereum (ETH) whale investors have recently withdrawn large amounts from major exchanges, indicating accumulation activity. According to Lookonchain on the 10th (local time), based on Arkham data, whale address 0xc097 withdrew 13,037 ETH (approximately $35,500,000) from Binance in the past 24 hours. In addition, another major investor, Abraxas Capital, withdrew a total of 44,612 ETH (about $123,000,000) from Binance and Kraken over the past 14 hours. Such large withdrawals are typically interpreted as a sign of long-term holding intentions, which is viewed as a positive signal for the market.

The number of Fortune 500 companies planning to adopt or expressing interest in stablecoins has tripled compared to the previous year. According to Cointelegraph on the 11th (local time), a Coinbase survey released the previous day found that 29% of executives at the top 500 US companies showed interest in either adopting or utilizing stablecoins. This figure has more than tripled from last year (8%). Companies cited the slow transaction speed and high fees of traditional payment methods as reasons for their interest in stablecoins, while 7% of respondents already reported using or holding stablecoins. Among small and medium-sized businesses, interest in stablecoins is also spreading rapidly. Of 251 finance managers at US SMBs with fewer than 500 employees, 81% expressed interest in adopting stablecoins, and 46% said they planned to use cryptocurrencies within the next three years. Coinbase commented, “The results reflect the belief among Fortune 500 companies, SMBs, and clients that stablecoins help address financial challenges.” This growing interest is already being mirrored in actual stablecoin adoption and increasing transaction volume. According to Coinbase, monthly stablecoin transfers have also risen sharply, reaching a record high of $719 billion USD in December 2024 and $717 billion in April 2025. In addition, total stablecoin transactions last year amounted to $27.6 trillion, surpassing 7.7% of the combined transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard. The number of stablecoin holders has also continued to grow, exceeding 161 million as of May this year.

Société Générale-Forge, the cryptocurrency subsidiary of the French financial group Société Générale, announced the launch of USD CoinVertible (USDCV), a US dollar-pegged stablecoin on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. According to Cointelegraph on the 10th (local time), USDCV is the second fiat-pegged stablecoin released by Société Générale-Forge, following the euro-pegged stablecoin (EURCV) launched in April 2023. The custodian has been designated as the UK financial company BNY Mellon. The company stated, "USDCV will support 24/7 transactions between fiat and cryptocurrencies, as well as exchange between dollars and euros, enabling real-time trading for both currencies," adding, "It will be used for various purposes, including on-chain transactions, foreign exchange, cross-border payments, collateral, and cash management."

Recently, the stock prices of U.S.-listed companies rose in tandem, driven by the increase in Bitcoin prices. According to Cointelegraph on the 10th (local time), stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) saw its stock price surge 7% intraday and close at $117.79, while strategy firm strategy (MSTR) rose 4.71%, and continued to climb by over 1% after hours to reach $396.61. Cryptocurrency mining company Core Scientific (CORZ) was up 4.27%. Competitors CleanSpark (CLSK) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) both jumped over 3%, with additional gains of more than 1% after the close, while Riot Platforms (RIOT) increased 2.74% and then gained another 1.2% after hours. The media explained, "Bitcoin's 4% rise was driven by improved market sentiment as a result of the U.S.-China trade talks held in the United Kingdom, which eased market uncertainties." Public companies are also actively accumulating Bitcoin. Mining equipment rental firm Bitmain has acquired 100 BTC, and following this news, its shares climbed 5.2% in after-hours trading. Energy management company KULR Technology Group announced it would further purchase $13 million worth of Bitcoin, driving its stock up by 4.2%.

Bitcoin-focused investment platform Parataxis Holdings is seeking public listing through a $200 million merger with Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) SilverBox Corp IV. According to Cointelegraph on the 9th (local time), SilverBox, a SPAC listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has signed a non-binding letter of intent for a merger with Parataxis. The outlet reported, "Parataxis's entry into the public market reflects growing institutional investor interest in virtual assets," and added, "If the merger is successful, the newly formed company will support institutions in investing in Bitcoin and virtual assets."

With easing U.S.-China trade tensions boosting investors' risk appetite, crypto asset (cryptocurrency) fund holdings reached record highs in May. According to Reuters on the 9th (local time), Morningstar data showed that last month, $7.05 billion flowed into 294 crypto asset funds, pushing total assets under management to $167 billion—a record high since last December. The outlet reported, "Investors' risk appetite is strengthening. Some investors are using digital assets as a hedge against market volatility and as a means of diversification, which is driving inflows into crypto asset funds."

Ethereum-based next-generation real-time blockchain scaling solution Rise (RISE) has secured an additional $4 million investment from Galaxy Ventures, bringing its total funding to $8 million. According to Daily Hodl on the 9th (local time), key industry figures such as Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, and Stani Kulechov, founder of AAVE, also participated as early investors in Rise. With this funding round, Rise plans to continuously expand blockchain performance and accelerate the development of next-generation blockchain applications. Rise, which has secured the ultra-low latency technology 'Shreds' specialized for advanced DeFi scenarios such as options, high-frequency trading, and market making, processed 2 billion transactions on its testnet released this month—including a single block that handled over 50,000 transactions in just one second.

Paul Atkins, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), strongly advocated for the right to 'self-custody' while criticizing the previous Gary Gensler administration's cryptocurrency policies. At the 'DeFi and the American Spirit' meeting hosted by the SEC Cryptocurrency Task Force on the 9th (local time), Chair Atkins emphasized, "Self-custody is a fundamental American value," and that "market participants should be granted greater flexibility to hold crypto assets directly without intermediaries." He added, "If unnecessary transaction costs are created due to intermediaries or if there are limitations in Staking or Onchain activities, market participants should be provided with greater flexibility to manage digital assets themselves."

Thanks to Dubai regulators' real estate tokenization policies, the local real estate market recorded sales of $18.2 billion in May. Among this, blockchain real estate transactions amounted to $3 billion. According to the real estate platform Property Finder, Dubai's real estate sector achieved total sales of approximately $18.2 billion (USD) in May, with 18,700 transactions completed. The transaction value increased by 44% year-on-year, while the number of sales grew by 6%. Scott Thiel, CEO of the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform Tokinvest, said, "Such record-breaking deal volume lays a solid foundation for local and international buyers to fractionalize real estate assets," adding, "The real estate tokenization market is expected to become even more active going forward."

Coinbase, the global crypto asset (cryptocurrency) exchange, announced that it is utilizing machine learning models to address the issue of unnecessary account freezes on its platform. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, stated on X (formerly Twitter) on the 6th (local time) that upgrades to the machine learning model infrastructure have solved 82% of the unnecessary account freeze issues. CEO Armstrong said, "Account freeze issues are a top priority for Coinbase to fix, and we plan to announce further improvements to our machine learning model infrastructure moving forward." Coinbase recently experienced a major data breach, resulting in the loss of information from approximately 70,000 customer accounts.