Crypto Weekly Market Wrap 12th May: Institutional Activity and Policy Milestones Drive Market Optimism

The crypto market experienced a strong bullish wave last week, with the global market capitalization surging to highs last seen in February. The rally saw the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, climb above the $100K mark while other coins recorded significant gains.  

Amidst this positive market momentum, several strategic developments were witnessed across the market. In the section below, we will discuss this crypto weekly market wrap in depth, so ensure you read to the end to grasp what happened in the crypto sector fully.

Bhutan Rolls Out National Crypto Tourism System

Binance Pay and DK Bank played a role in launching Bhutan’s world-premiere crypto-based payment system for tourism. With this initiative, people can settle flights, hotel accommodations, visa fees, and local expenses with more than 100 crypto assets. Transaction through the Binance app is supported on both static and dynamic QR codes.

Experience #Bhutan with the world’s first national crypto tourism payment system!

Powered by Binance Pay and DK Bank, it offers seamless crypto payments for flights, hotels, local crafts, and much more.

Over 100 local merchants await on this cashless adventure. @tourismbhutan… pic.twitter.com/FUYVo4HYMe

— Binance (@binance) May 7, 2025

Settlements in the local currency happen instantly with DK Bank. Over 100 merchants throughout Bhutan are currently accepting payments in cryptocurrency. The list features monument entry locations, small roadside merchants, and tour services. The purpose of the new system is to minimize foreign exchange expenses and improve the traveler experience.

Officials described the project as an effort to advance financial inclusion. Furthermore, it marks Bhutan’s ongoing commitment to digital transformation and sustainable tourism.

Ethereum Activates Major Pectra Upgrade

The Pectra update went live on Ethereum on May 7, representing its most major upgrade after The Merge. Consequently, Pectra allows institutional stakers to stake up to 2048 ETH, up from 32 ETH, and cuts validator activation times dramatically, from 12 hours to 13 minutes.

The upgrade included EIP-7702, which offers conversion of wallets to smart accounts, accepts stablecoin payment for gas fees, and simplifies the wallet recovery process. The Pectra upgrade increased Ethereum’s data handling by raising the number of blobs per block from six to nine. As a result, rollup expenses are expected to decrease by up to 90%, with particular benefits for Layer 2 platforms like Arbitrum.

Additionally, EIP-7742 facilitated flexible blob size, increasing Ethereum’s scalability and reliability. This change lays the groundwork for enhanced growth in decentralized application development and infrastructure.

Arizona Establishes Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve

On May 7, Arizona passed House Bill 2749, which creates a digital asset reserve to hold unclaimed financial property profits. The reserve permits the state to keep Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies in their original formats.

Arizona Update:

HB 2749 has been signed into law, technically creating AZ's first crypto reserve.

It doesn't allow investment, but moves unclaimed assets, airdrops, and staking rewards into a reserve.

IMPORTANT: Shows Gov. Hobbs is willing to enact pro-crypto legislation pic.twitter.com/BeTRdD8GlD

— Bitcoin Laws (@Bitcoin_Laws) May 8, 2025

The reserve will be handled by the State Treasurer’s Office. In addition, the reserve will not be derived from tax payments, but from the recuperation of dormant accounts and unclaimed checks. Custody of the digital assets will be provided by approved U.S. custodian organizations. Staking rewards and airdrops allow the reserve to achieve passive income as well.

This measure makes Arizona among the first states in the U.S. to set up official crypto asset management. Moreover, the fund seeks to secure public resources against the effects of inflation and unstable markets.

Metaplanet Buys More Bitcoin and Issues Bonds

Metaplanet, based in Japan, bought 555 BTC on May 7 by spending roughly $89,000 per coin, resulting in holdings worth over $465 million. Currently, the Bitcoin holdings of Metaplanet are worth 5,555 BTC.

As part of efforts to raise Bitcoin reserves, the company issued ordinary bonds worth $21.25 million. The zero-coupon bonds are due to mature in November 2025. The full subscription of the bonds was done by EVO FUND. Metaplanet now ranks highest among publicly listed Bitcoin holders in Asia. By corporate Bitcoin holdings, it ranks among the top nine globally.

Kyrgyzstan Considers Bitcoin and BNB for Reserves

Binance co-founder CZ suggested using Bitcoin and BNB as reserve assets in Kyrgyzstan. He introduced the idea after accepting a position on the National Crypto Commission. In addition, the country is planning to release a gold-backed stablecoin referred to as USDKG.

Not my car, but the plate. Kyrgyzstan

Among other things, also gave my advice to make #BNB and #BTC as the two starting crypto for the National Crypto Reserve. https://t.co/ZhbGs2pWQu pic.twitter.com/ZewpPqZdQc

— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) May 5, 2025

The new stablecoin is tied to the U.S. dollar and has $500 million in gold backing it. Kyrgyz officials want to raise the reserve amount to $2 billion. USDKG’s initial use will be for trade within Central Asia, with the goal of extending support to Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian countries later.

Revolut Adds Lightning Network for Bitcoin Payments

Revolut launched Bitcoin payments across the Lightning Network for a number of European countries. By joining forces with Lightspark, Revolut now supports fast and affordable BTC transactions using its accounts.

Users are required to complete identity verification processes and hold BTC in their accounts. Revolut is leveraging Lightspark’s Money Grid to provide users with smooth and nearly immediate crypto transactions. The rollout will begin in the UK and certain European Economic Area nations, in line with growing acceptance of Layer 2 solutions in Bitcoin’s ecosystem in fintech domains.

Meta Reignites Stablecoin Ambitions

Meta is exploring partnerships with infrastructure firms to bring stablecoin integrations to its social media networks. Instead of choosing a specific stablecoin, Meta is leaving its alternatives available.

"According to five sources familiar with the matter, @Meta is in discussions with crypto firms to introduce stablecoins as a means to manage payouts, and has also hired a vice president of product with crypto experience to help shepherd the discussions." pic.twitter.com/vygflLha5S

— Mike Dudas (@mdudas) May 8, 2025

Spearheaded by Meta’s new VP of Product Ginger Baker, the effort is focused on payments. According to sources, Meta may allow Instagram creators to receive compensation in the form of stablecoins for cheaper international payments.

This new effort takes place following Meta’s unsuccessful endeavour with Diem. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, called Diem “dead” recently, but he highlighted the company’s continued interest in developing crypto applications.

New Hampshire Legalizes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to authorize investments in digital assets using state funds after signing House Bill 302 into law. State reserves can be employed for Bitcoin purchases, but the legislature forbids spending more than 5%.

Only those assets that cost over $500 billion qualify, so at this moment, Bitcoin is the only allowed asset. U.S. custodians, only if they have received regulatory approval, are to hold the assets. Legally allowed investment modes include state-owned multisig wallets and crypto ETFs that adhere to U.S oversight. In addition, Satoshi Action Fund was involved in designing the bill’s framework. The organization says this law may lead other states to use Bitcoin in their financial systems.

SEC Delays Decision on Litecoin ETF

The SEC decided to extend its evaluation period for the Canary Litecoin Trust ETF and invited the public to participate through comments. The offering is designed to allow retail investors to invest directly in Litecoin. This delay coincides with the postponement of similar applications, for example, those for XRP and Dogecoin. Experts anticipate that Litecoin could advance under the management of the new agency.

Paul Atkins, SEC Chair, has said that he is more willing to recognize digital assets. By dropping various enforcement actions recently, the agency appears to be creating a more supportive setting for ETF approvals going forward.

Robinhood Developing Blockchain Platform for the European Market

Robinhood is developing a blockchain solution to facilitatethe  trading of U.S. stocks in European markets. The company allegedly assesses Arbitrum and Solana as potential partners under discussion. The platform will enable users to exchange tokenized U.S. assets with the customer’s goal of lowering trading costs and enhancing transaction transparency.

BREAKING

Robinhood is planning to launch a blockchain-based platform that would allow users in Europe to trade U.S. securities pic.twitter.com/yIhmb6YWNU

— Crypto Beast (@cryptobeastreal) May 7, 2025

By launching this project, Robinhood is moving further into developing financial infrastructure based on blockchain technology. The strategy is reflective of a widespread institutional interest in digital asset tokens.

Futu Enables Crypto Recharge for Hong Kong Clients

Futu Securities added BTC and ETH wallet recharge services to its system. Clients in Hong Kong are now able to fund their accounts from personal wallets. Currently, the feature does not accept funds transferred from exchange wallets.

The USDT recharge tool is only available to professional investors. All cryptocurrency transfers are required to use HashKey’s technological infrastructure. At the moment, Futu does not support withdrawing digital assets. This development points to expanding financial support for crypto in regulated markets within Asia.

Coinbase Expands Futures Market to 24/7

Coinbase Derivatives started offering round-the-clock trading for BTC and ETH futures on May 9. The update aligns with the crypto market’s always-on nature. With this update, traders can respond without delay to price movements.

24/7 trading for futures is here in the US.

Trade Bitcoin and Ethereum futures on your time — any hour, any day. The market doesn’t sleep, and now, neither do your opportunities.

Next up: Perpetual futures. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/q4OXMjr8pn

— Coinbase Futures (@cbFutures) May 9, 2025

Coinbase’s trades are settled in collaboration with Nodal Clear. Liquidity providers include Virtu Financial. Firms like ABN AMRO and Wedbush have come aboard to assist with the rollout. Next, the company intends to add perpetual futures for traders in the United States. These products remain popular globally and have no expiration date.

A day prior to this launch, Coinbase revealed its $2.9 billion purchase of Deribit. The acquisition is expected to be final by the end of the year. Crypto options and perpetual contracts are the main products of Deribit. The deal enables Coinbase to integrate futures, options, and spot trading onto a single platform.

LockBit Ransomware Group Faces Major Data Breach

Hackers in Prague managed to breach LockBit’s admin panel on the dark web on May 7, resulting in the exposure of over 59,000 Bitcoin addresses and admin passwords. Along with Bitcoin addresses and passwords, the attack exposed chat logs, ransomware builds, and user credentials.

The hackers’ release included internal procedures and tools used for affiliates and negotiations with victims. A PHP vulnerability, CVE-2024-4577, was indicated by analysts as the most likely route taken by the attackers. LockBit notified that the security incident affected only its lightweight admin panel. No decryptors or keys were compromised during the attack. Law enforcement officials are continuing their investigation, having frozen over 200 wallets. 

The group acknowledged that the incident has harmed its reputation. At the same time, the group said it is working on restoring operations. Such incidents follow ongoing efforts to arrest and dismantle parts of the ransomware operation.

Florida Fails to Pass Bitcoin Reserve Bills

Florida has abandoned its proposals to establish a crypto reserve fund. On May 6, both House Bill 487 and Senate Bill 550 were pulled from consideration. Though the committees backed the bills, they did not make it to a vote.

The bills aimed to permit public funds up to 10% to be invested in BTC. Both bills emphasized secure custody and regulatory compliance. In the end, the legislature did not move forward with any crypto policy.

Florida and Oklahoma have both been unable to approve laws aimed at creating digital asset reserves. Though the interest was high in a number of states, only a small number of states passed laws.

Stripe Expands Global Access to Stablecoin Accounts and AI Payment Tools

Stripe’s new feature allows companies in 101 countries to store and exchange digital dollars through stablecoins. Support for USDC and USDB in the accounts provides a way for users to bypass unstable local currencies and optimize global payments.

Stripe also introduced a payments AI tool, trained by analyzing billions of transaction records, as part of the launch. By monitoring subtle payment characteristics, the system improves fraud detection and raises the proportion of approved transactions. Patrick Collison, CEO, believes that stablecoins and AI are driving changes in the financial system, especially among entrepreneurs who experience currency volatility and scarce banking services.

Digital Asset Investment Products Market Overview

Digital asset products recorded $882 million in inflows last week, marking four straight weeks of gains, according to data from CoinShares. Year-to-date inflows have reached $6.7 billion, moving closer to the $7.3 billion peak seen in early February. Analysts attribute this surge to increasing global liquidity, stagflation concerns, and new U.S. state-level Bitcoin adoption.

Bitcoin led inflows with $867 million, maintaining strong dominance over other digital assets. U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs hit a new cumulative milestone of $62.9 billion since January 2024. This figure has now surpassed the previous high of $61.6 billion recorded earlier this year.

US ETFs reached a record US$62.9bn in cumulative net inflows

Digital asset investment products saw inflows of $882m last week, with @Bitcoin seeing inflows of US$867m. We can also note inflows from @ethereum, @SuiNetwork of $1.5m and $11.7m respectively. Meanwhile, @solana… pic.twitter.com/V8SVFvDZIW

— CoinShares (@CoinSharesCo) May 12, 2025

Regionally, the United States saw $840 million in inflows, followed by Germany’s $44.5 million and Australia’s $10.2 million. Meanwhile, Canada and Hong Kong faced outflows of $8 million and $4.3 million, respectively. These trends reflect varying investor sentiment across global markets.

Sui outperformed major altcoins with $11.7 million in inflows last week. On a yearly basis, Sui’s inflows reached $84 million, surpassing Solana’s $76 million. In contrast, Solana saw $3.4 million in weekly outflows. Ethereum’s performance remained modest, attracting only $1.5 million during the same period.

Bitcoin Price Performance

Bitcoin price recorded massive gains last week after retracing above the $100K level. BTC closed the week above the $103K mark, igniting the broad market to rally. This recent surge raised its gains on the weekly and monthly charts to 10% and 22%, respectively. Moreover, its market capitalization and trading volume surged above $2 trillion and $50 billion.

Technical indicators on the daily chart signal a trend reversal as the price chart starts to form red candlesticks at the $105K level. The RSI has dropped from the overbought region and currently hovers around the 50 index, indicating a neutral market sentiment.