Autor Cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai

Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun introduced a new open bounty platform where users have posted crypto rewards for bizarre promotional tasks, such as tattooing the ticker symbols of memecoins, quitting their current job live on camera or skydiving into a World Cup match.Pump.fun introduced the new platform on Thursday, positioning it as an open marketplace to “complete bounties for ANY task and leverage the power of humans & money across the globe.” The submissions are reviewed by Pump.fun while funds are in escrow. If accepted, the bounty is paid out to the submitter. Pump.fun said that bounties that “may be deemed as spam by X are not allowed” in its Terms and Conditions document.Some of the highest-paid tasks included a bounty of about $57,000 to skydive into a World Cup match in a memecoin mascot, a $25,000 bounty to interview the family of Henry Nowak’s killer, and $3,000 to quit your job live on camera.Some listings reviewed by Cointelegraph offered thousands of dollars for risky or degrading promotional acts, raising questions about moderation, safety and legal exposure“This is a horrible market. It’s like playing with poor people’s lives and paying them to entertain you,” commented X user Old Hawk. “Yep, reminds me of Squid Game,” wrote crypto investor Fabiano.sol in response.Source: Pump.funUsers can rank open bounties by highest reward, time left, or those that have received the most submissions so far.Open bounties are launched with an expiration date and include descriptions of the exact deliverables needed to fulfill the task and qualify for the payout.Bounty to interview Henry Nowak’s Killer’s family. Source: Pump.funAt the time of writing, the platform showed an unclaimed pool of $115,000 across 225 live bounties and 509 total bounty submissions.Related: South Korea police probe Polymarket users over illegal gambling claims: ReportCrypto rewards fund viral stuntsThe new bounty platform has already attracted listings seeking to fund unusual memecoin marketing stunts.One task offered a $3,572 bounty to spray paint the ticker symbol “$memecoin” on a car and set it alight, with 29 days left to complete the challenge while wearing a memecoin mascot and filming the entire process.Bounty to spray a $memecoin car & explode or set it alight. Source: Pump.funAnother task offered a $2,630 bounty for users to tattoo the ticker symbol “$boutywork” on their foreheads, requesting video proof of the action. So far, the task has received four submissions with people completing the tattoo.Bounty to tattoo memecoin ticker symbol on the forehead. Source: Pump.funMagazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23 

Some of the largest US banks are reportedly planning to launch a tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027 in response to growing competition from blockchain companies expanding into traditional finance. The network will be operated by The Clearing House, the bank-owned payments operator, and will connect traditional payment rails with digital asset infrastructure for 24/7 settlement, CEO David Watson told The Wall Street Journal.The Clearing House is co-owned by some of the largest US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, BNY and Wells Fargo, among others, according to its website.The plan shows how banks are trying to keep deposits inside regulated banking channels while offering some of the speed and programmability that have made stablecoins attractive for settlement and treasury use.Cointelegraph reached out to The Clearing House for comment but had not received a response by publication.US banks have pushed back against US crypto market legislation, which could allow stablecoin issuers to pay users yield on their holdings, similar to interest on traditional bank deposits.The report comes after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the banking industry would continue to “fight” against the current version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY) and said that crypto companies that want to offer yield-bearing products should apply for banking charters, Cointelegraph reported in late May.The comments followed a May committee vote to advance the CLARITY Act in the Senate Banking Committee, but the bill still needs to pass through both chambers of Congress before going to US President Donald Trump.The Clearing House, owner banks. Source: TheClearingHouse.orgThe plan shows that banking giants are “reacting to where value is already moving,” Carl Grimstad, CEO of digital asset infrastructure provider Lydian, said, adding:“This announcement shows that 24/7 programmable settlement is becoming increasingly important.”While banks have experimented with tokenization in controlled environments, public blockchain networks have settled value at a global scale, said Grimstad, adding that the real question is how value will move across an “increasingly fragmented mix of bank ledgers, public chains and digital assets.”Related: US financial markets ‘poised to move on-chain’ amid DTCC tokenization greenlight Wall Street participants accelerate tokenization initiativesOther Wall Street banks are also accelerating tokenization initiatives.On March 24, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to develop blockchain-based trading infrastructure for Wall Street by enabling the minting of tokenized shares of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).Days earlier, on March 18, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the regulatory green light to Nasdaq’s pilot proposal to support the trading of tokenized versions of high-volume stocks and securities.  Earlier in January, the NYSE’s parent company, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), shared plans for a tokenized securities venue designed for 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding and onchain settlement.  Over in Asia, South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a pilot project that will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout set for the fourth quarter of 2026, Cointelegraph reported on April 16. Magazine: Can Robinhood or Kraken’s tokenized stocks ever be truly decentralized? 

South Korean police have reportedly launched the country’s first illegal gambling probe into local Polymarket users, widening regulatory scrutiny of the decentralized prediction market.The investigation is led by Gangwon Provincial Police and was requested by the National Police Agency, according to ChosunBiz. Users may face fines of up to 10 million won ($6,500) under Article 246 of the Criminal Act covering gambling and habitual gambling. Under current law, Sports Toto is the state-authorized sports betting platform, while unauthorized online betting can be prosecuted under South Korean gambling laws.The reported probe adds to a broader global crackdown on prediction markets, with several jurisdictions blocking or restricting access to Polymarket. Some countries have completely blocked or prohibited Polymarket, including Singapore, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil and Indonesia. Polymarket remains accessible in South Korea.The news comes after President Lee Jae Myung’s ruling Democratic Party swept most major local elections held on Wednesday, while conservative Oh Se-hoon won another term as mayor of Seoul, Reuters reported.Prediction market on whether Lee Jae-myung would be out as president of South Korea in 2026. Source: Polymarket.comOne Polymarket contract on whether Lee Jae-myung would be out as president saw nearly $54,000 in total trading volume, data shows.Related: Polymarket users cry foul after Strategy sale market resolves to ‘no’Political betting faces growing scrutinyThe latest probe adds to the growing regulatory scrutiny of political betting on Polymarket.In January, US lawmakers proposed legislation aimed at restricting political prediction market trading by government officials after a Polymarket user netted over $400,000 on a contract related to the removal of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, fueling insider trading concerns.In May, the chair of the US House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent letters to the CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket, questioning their response to the insider trading allegations on the platforms.In response to the growing scrutiny, Polymarket said it was weighing the implementation of a mandatory identity verification system more in line with global Know Your Customer (KYC) verification standards, Cointelegraph reported on May 27.Polymarket list of geoblocked countries and regions. Source: Polymarket.comPolymarket said it was entirely geoblocked in 35 regions at the time of writing.Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23

Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings fell deep into paper-loss territory as BTC traded below the company’s average purchase price, renewing scrutiny of Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury model.Strategy holds 843,706 Bitcoin (BTC) acquired at an average price of $75,699 per coin, with a total cost basis of $63.8 billion. However, the latest Bitcoin downturn sank the value of Strategy’s Bitcoin reserve to $52.6 billion, pushing its unrealized loss to $11.2 billion, according to the company’s dashboard.Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred stock, STRC, has also declined below its intended $100 value and is traded at $94.6 at the time of writing. Strategy’s (MSTR) stock price was down 1.5% in pre-market trading to $124.7 on Thursday, Yahoo Finance data shows.The paper loss adds to scrutiny of Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury model as BTC trades below the company’s average acquisition price, while the downturn in STRC price could complicate future preferred-stock issuance to fund its Bitcoin acquisitions. It comes days after Strategy announced the sale of 32 BTC, its first sale since 2022.Strategy dashboard with key metrics on its Bitcoin reserve. Source: Strategy.comSaylor pushed back on the bearish read Thursday, saying that mounting exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows are “pressuring BTC,” and capital markets have poured $400 billion into AI infrastructure over the past six months.“This is a capital rotation, not a Bitcoin impairment. Volatility creates opportunity,” said Saylor in an X post.Source: Michael SaylorBitcoin’s price is down around 4.7% in the past 24 hours and 13.8% in the past week. The cryptocurrency traded at $63,157 at the time of writing, down over 20% in the past month, according to TradingView. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have logged $4.4 billion in outflows in the past 13 trading days, Cointelegraph reported earlier on Thursday.BTC/USD, 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewSome market watchers said the STRC move was not unusual.“STRC’s $100 par value is not a price floor. It’s the stated value used for liquidation preference and certain redemption provisions,” wrote popular investor and podcast host Scott Melker, adding:“A 5% discount to par is not evidence that something is broken. It’s evidence that investors are demanding a higher yield, pricing risk, or reacting to market conditions – exactly what preferred stocks do.”Others were less optimistic. Gold bug and long-time Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff said that the lower the STRC price falls, the higher MSTR will be forced to increase dividend payments to “bring the share price back up to $100,” which means that “MSTR will run out of cash much sooner, pulling forward Bitcoin sales to fund payments.”Related: Capital B seeks $122B funding mandate to buy more BitcoinStandard Chartered says Bitcoin bottom near, depending on Strategy’s next moveDespite the sell-off, Standard Chartered predicted that the Bitcoin market bottom may be near, depending on Strategy’s next purchase. “I would see it as a tentative sign the low has been printed, and given that logic, suspect selling over the weekend will be muted,” said Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered.Kendrick said a purchase of 320 BTC or 3,200 BTC, equal to 10 times or 100 times the recent sale, could signal a market bottom.Following Strategy’s prior tax-loss sale of 704 BTC in 2022, the company purchased 810 BTC just two days later.Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16 

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said he dumped his Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near Protocol (NEAR) token holdings, reversing course after previously assigning aggressive upside targets to both assets.Hayes cited higher energy prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, three forthcoming “mega AI IPOs” by the third quarter of 2026 and predictions that US President Donald Trump would turn “anti-AI” to help Republicans win the US midterm elections. “I think highs in mrkts will happen btw now and September,” wrote Hayes in a Thursday X post, adding that it was “time to take profit.”The sales mark a drastic pivot from Hayes, who previously assigned aggressive bullish price targets for both altcoins. He predicted that HYPE could reach $150 by August and NEAR may see a 20x rally by 2027. Blockchain data platform Onchain Lens confirmed that Hayes sold 247,334 HYPE for about $18 million and an unknown amount of NEAR, adding that the sales came shortly after Hayes publicly challenged Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani to a $100,000 charity bet, claiming that HYPE will outperform every top-10 cryptocurrency by the end of 2026.Source: Arthur HayesHYPE fell 8.4% to $65, while NEAR fell 17.4% to $2.34 over the past 24 hours, according to TradingView data.HYPE and NEAR, one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewCould AI IPOs drain crypto market liquidity ahead of Q3 2026?Hayes’s selling comes as investors eagerly anticipate three long-awaited AI company initial public offerings (IPOs), including from ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.SpaceX reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO in early April, with anonymous sources saying that the IPO could be finalized as early as June. SpaceX filed an S-1 registration statement in May, as part of its bid to become a public company on June 12.Related: Polymarket users cry foul after Strategy sale market resolves to ‘no’Anthropic reportedly selected Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to lead its IPO and is weighing going public as soon as October, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.OpenAI IPO on prediction market by odds. Source: Polymarket.com OpenAI has also been preparing a confidential IPO filing and could go public as early as September, Reuters reported on May 20.While the timeline is still unclear, 74% of traders expect OpenAI’s IPO to occur by December 31, while only 35% expect it to occur before September 30, data from prediction market Polymarket shows.Still, some industry participants worry that the AI IPOs could spell bad news for Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency markets, as the growing interest in the offerings may drain more liquidity from the cryptocurrency market. Magazine: NEAR price may ‘grow 20X,’ Bitcoin ETFs post 10-day outflow streak: Hodler’s Digest, May 24 – 30