Autor Cointelegraph By Martin Young

Bitcoin fell to its lowest level in almost two months on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies continue to diverge from traditional equity markets.Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a low of $70,023 on Coinbase early on Tuesday, its lowest level since April 7, marking a daily decline of more than 4% and a weekly loss of 8%, according to TradingView. Bitcoin is down 44% from its October peak of $126,000. US stock markets such as the S&P 500 have meanwhile hit a record high of just over 7,600 points on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq peaked at over 27,000 points.Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph that some analysts have noted that Bitcoin is the only major asset in contraction right now, and the divergence is notable.“It shows Bitcoin is trading more like a high-beta risk asset tied to macro sentiment rather than an independent hedge,” he added.  “This gap highlights current weakness, but it also sets up potential for stronger relative performance once macro conditions improve. I view it as a temporary phase in the cycle, not a permanent shift.”Analytics platform Santiment said on Monday that “the gap between traditional equities and crypto has become increasingly difficult for traders to ignore.” “This divergence has led to a growing preference among investors for stocks over alternative assets like Bitcoin and altcoins,” it added. Crypto and equity divergence widens. Source: SantimentRelated: Bitcoin bulls eye fresh positions after BTC price drops under $71KSantiment said the performance gap between sectors can create a “self-reinforcing cycle,” and when traders see equities consistently generating better returns with lower volatility, “capital often rotates away from crypto and into stock markets.”However, Santiment said that this pattern won’t last forever, and “mainstream influencers” discussing stock dominance over crypto is often a good sign that the crowd is leaning too far into the “equity FOMO and crypto FUD.” Markets generally move opposite to the majority of traders’ expectations, it added.Bitcoin is approaching a major long-term resistance level at the 200-week exponential moving average (EMA), which is currently around the $69,000 price zone.Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?

The Open Network says it is planning to rebrand its Toncoin (TON) token to Gram (GRAM), the original name of the network’s cryptocurrency in its first white paper.“Gram was the original name of TON’s currency in the first white paper,” Telegram and TON founder Pavel Durov posted to Telegram on Monday. “We’re returning to our roots — and starting a new chapter.”The rebranding will “pave the way for what comes next,” and the transition will take around three weeks, he added. The change revives the original token name from TON’s 2018 whitepaper, which Telegram abandoned after the US Securities and Exchange Commission blocked its $1.7 billion initial coin offering (ICO) in 2020.The move follows Telegram’s takeover from the TON Foundation as the network’s primary driver and largest validator in May. The Open Network launched a vote on the proposal on Monday, explaining that there is no swap, migration, bridge, claim or conversion, and every balance, address, contract and position stays exactly as it is currently. At the time of writing, there were 1.8 million TON, or almost 80%, pledged in favor of the rebrand. Voting for TON rebranding is underway. Source: The Open NetworkDurov has positioned the token rebrand as part of the “Make TON Great Again” roadmap. The rebrand is the fourth stage of the roadmap, with the first three coming earlier this year that included an upgrade to Catchain in April to boost blockchain speed, a decrease in transaction fees, and the Telegram takeover. “These changes mark a milestone for the network — and a natural moment to refresh how the token is known publicly,” TON stated. The endgame is to power a seamless Web3 “super app” experience inside Telegram for its one billion users, turning the messenger into a global platform for payments, mini-apps, digital ownership, AI agents, and more.Related: TON Pay aims to turn Telegram into a crypto checkout layer for TONTON prices reacted strongly to the announcement, surging more than 15% from around $1.95 to top $2.25 in late trading on Monday.The token had retreated by Tuesday morning, falling back to $2.07, and it remains down 75% from its June 2024 all-time high of $8.25, according to CoinGecko.Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

Losses from exploits of crypto platforms fell to $68.3 million in May, down almost 90% from the $650 million lost in April, says crypto security company CertiK.“After a particularly bad April, May is now the third month of 2026 to record losses under [$100 million],” CertiK posted to X on Sunday. Around $2.6 million of the total crypto stolen in May was due to phishing attacks, while roughly $9.4 million was recovered or returned, it added.Excluding the $1.5 billion hack on Bybit in February 2025, April saw the highest losses recorded in a month since March 2022, with the largest loss that month coming from a $291 million exploit of Kelp DAO.An exploit of Verus Protocol’s cross-chain bridge on May 18 was the largest in terms of losses last month, with $11.5 million stolen. THORChain was second after an exploit in mid-May saw $10.1 million stolen from the protocol.Code vulnerabilities were the category with the highest value of losses over the month, with about 66% of the total, or around $45 million lost. Wallet or private key compromises were the second-most costly, with $13.7 million stolen.Cross-chain bridges were the most targeted, with $28.6 million, or 42% of the total monthly losses, followed by decentralized finance protocols. Crypto exploit losses in May reached $68.3 million. Source: CertiKRelated: Scammers make $400K through fake Uniswap ads on GoogleDeFiLlama data shows that there were 29 incidents in May, seven of which involved compromised private keys.The latest two incidents, reported on May 30, were the Alephium Bridge and Gravity Bridge, which were respectively exploited for $815,000 and $5.4 million due to compromised private keys.Malware developed with artificial intelligence assistance has also been on the rise as malicious actors targeted crypto and AI developers in May by compromising code repos and tricking AI coding assistants.Magazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

Crypto liquidity provider and trading firm Wintermute says it is providing liquidity on prediction markets as the industry continues to expand.The firm, which handles $3.5 trillion in annual trading volume, said on Friday that it is extending its institutional trading to prediction markets and would provide “two-sided markets across event contracts on leading venues,” without specifying the platforms. Jake Ostrovskis, head of OTC trading at Wintermute, said prediction markets have the “demand profile” of a major asset class but the liquidity profile of an “early-stage one.”“For these markets to become a reliable real-time source of probability estimates, they need sustained two-sided liquidity. That depth tightens spreads, supports larger trade sizes, and in turn improves the signal embedded in market prices,” he added.Wintermute said prediction markets are moving from a “niche forecasting tool” into a broader venue for trading event risk, and it will be posting continuous bid and offer prices across event contracts.Source: WintermuteThis helps reduce spreads, support larger trade sizes, and improve the reliability of market-implied probabilities, it said.Wintermute added that the market also overlaps with its existing crypto infrastructure, as it already manages spot, derivatives, decentralized finance and over-the-counter crypto markets.The move could accelerate integration between prediction markets and broader DeFi protocols for collateral reuse, yield strategies on locked capital, or oracle feeds derived from prediction market prices.Related: Kalshi backs prediction markets lobby group with former Trump officialThe two leading prediction markets, Kalshi and Polymarket, have a notional weekly volume of around $5.8 billion, with almost 400,000 active markets and 42.7 million weekly transactions, according to DeFiRate. Kalshi, which is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has the largest market share of the volume with 70%. Politics and sports dominate the betting on both platforms. Comparison of stats between Kalshi (green) and Polymarket (purple). Source: DeFiRateMagazine: HYPE chases $100 target, ETH could dump below $1800: Market Moves

Blockchain infrastructure platform and stablecoin issuer Paxos says it has become the first “blockchain-native” firm that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has granted registration as a clearing agency.Paxos said on Thursday that its subsidiary, Paxos Securities Settlement Company, has become “the only blockchain-native firm” that the SEC approved to provide clearing and settlement services as a central securities depository in the US.The approval represents a “critical piece of financial market infrastructure” as blockchain technology and traditional capital markets continue to converge, the company added. Clearing agencies ensure securities trades are executed cleanly. Stock buyers and sellers do not trade directly and need clearing and settlement providers that verify the trade, match the buyer and seller, and then ensure the actual exchange of money and securities happens correctly.A registered, SEC-approved blockchain clearinghouse removes barriers for banks and brokerages to build crypto-based infrastructure.In October 2019, the SEC issued a no-action letter allowing Paxos to pilot a blockchain-based settlement service for US equities, and the service launched in February 2020.Paxos said the pilot demonstrated that blockchain-based post-trade infrastructure could deliver same-day settlement, reduce costs and improve operational efficiency within a fully regulated framework.“Our clearing agency registration is the result of seven years of work with the SEC, beginning with our No-Action Letter in 2019 and the settlement pilot we operated with some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated financial institutions,” said Paxos co-founder and CEO Charles Cascarilla.Related: Paxos Labs to use $12M raise toward yield, lending, issuance toolsPaxos is the issuer of several stablecoins and digital assets, including PayPal USD (PYUSD), Global Dollar (USDG) and Pax Gold (PAXG).The company has had a rocky history with the SEC under its former chair, Gary Gensler, having received a Wells Notice in 2023, with the agency planning to recommend an enforcement action over the issuance of Binance USD (BUSD), a stablecoin tied to the crypto exchange Binance, which the SEC considered an unregistered security.Around the same time, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) ordered Paxos to stop minting new BUSD. The SEC closed its investigation in 2024 and issued a formal termination notice, stating it would not pursue enforcement action. Paxos also reached a $48.5 million settlement with NYDFS in August 2025 over Binance and BUSD compliance issues.Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?