SnapShot 259

Hello SnapShotters,

Crypto markets lost altitude in the past week as macro pressures broke BTC’s multi-week hold above the $80,000 threshold. BTC slid toward the $76,000 range as traders rapidly repriced the outlook for U.S. monetary policy following a string of hotter inflation readings and worsening energy market conditions tied to the Middle East conflict.

The release of the FOMC minutes from Jerome Powell’s final meeting as Fed Chair added pressure; although the Fed voted to keep rates unchanged at 3.50% to 3.75%, the minutes revealed a broad dissent against an “easing bias.”

Several participants warned that if inflation remains stubborn, the Fed may need to raise rates again.

Treasury yields surged after the minutes, with the 10-year reaching 4.66% and the 30-year closing at 5.17%, but crypto didn’t see a fresh breakdown. BTC was trading back in the $77,000 to $78,000 range, which might have indicated that the hawkish repricing was already absorbed during the earlier slide from $80,000. Spot BTC ETFs, however, still showed signs of de-risking, with investors pulling roughly $1.26 billion over five trading days, including a single-day outflow of about $635 million to $649 million.

The broader crypto board also showed pockets of recovery rather than blanket weakness. ETH, SOL, and XRP stayed in the $2,100, mid-$80s, and $1.36 to $1.40 ranges respectively, still well below recent levels. Zcash was the standout, jumping more than 16% in 24 hours as growing institutional interest and a fading SEC probe pushed it further into the spotlight.

Let’s look at the other headliners of the crypto world.

Amid shifting regulatory frameworks and a major transition at the U.S. Fed, the digital asset market faced intense macro pressures this week. Here are the key developments:

• 🔼 ETF Outflows Surge: U.S. spot BTC ETFs saw a $1.26 billion five-day withdrawal — including a $649 million single-day net outflow — as institutional investors de-risked.
• ⚓ Macro Drag Hits Altcoins: A hawkish monetary outlook forced BTC toward the $76,000 range, keeping ETH pinned below $2,200 while Solana and XRP erased prior recovery gains.
• 🛡️ Zcash Outperformance: Zcash (ZEC) extended its counter-market gains, jumping over 16% in 24 hours driven by growing institutional demand and a fading SEC probe.
• ⚖️ Minutes Show Fed Divide: Powell’s final FOMC minutes revealed a broad dissent against an "easing bias" and a 3.50% to 3.75% rate hold, sending Treasury yields soaring.

Let’s look at the other headliners of the crypto world.

Market Spotlight

Note: Market prices captured in USD at the time of sending. Explore more on Crypto‌.com/Price. 

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News Snaps

🌔 SpaceX IPO Filing Reveals 18,712 BTC Holdings
This makes SpaceX the seventh-largest corporate holder of BTC globally. SpaceX has also filed its S-1 with the SEC for an initial public offering targeting a $1.5 trillion valuation.

🪙 Strive Reaches 15,391 BTC After $30.3M Purchase
Strive, Inc. (ASST) boosted its BTC treasury to 15,391 BTC (approximately $1.2 billion) after acquiring 382 BTC at an average price of $79,348 over the past week.

🇮🇹 Italy's Largest Bank Doubles Crypto Holdings to $235M
Intesa Sanpaolo expanded its crypto exposure to $235 million in Q1 2026, adding to its BTC ETF positions. The Italian banking giant also diversified into ETH and XRP via U.S. spot ETFs and institutional trust vehicles, while almost entirely exiting its Solana staking positions.

🏛️ SEC to Propose Tokenized Stock Trading Framework
The U.S. SEC is poised to unveil an "innovation exemption" framework to allow trading platforms to tokenize and trade shares of giants like Apple and Tesla under a lighter regulatory structure.

💎 Exodus at the Ethereum Foundation Sparks Governance Scrutiny
A recent wave of high-profile departures — including co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak — has reignited community scrutiny over the foundation’s opaque leadership structure.

What’s Ahead

📅 May 28: U.S. Q1 GDP Revisions to Test Fed Resolve
The Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish its second estimate for Q1 2026 GDP, adjusting the initial 2.0% growth snapshot.

Number of the Week

Source: The Block

Chart of the Week

BitMine Goes From Buying to Yielding

The sudden drop-off in Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) purchasing volume in mid-May marks a stark contrast to its systematic accumulation strategy in prior months.

After vacuuming up more than 1 million ETH since January 2026, Chairman Tom Lee announced a deliberate slowdown, dropping from a 100,000 ETH weekly average to just 26,659 ETH last week.

It keeps the firm on a measured trajectory toward its goal of capturing 5% of the total circulating ETH supply.

Bitmine’s treasury now commands over 5.2 million ETH (roughly 4.31% of the circulation). Instead of leaving the capital idle, the firm deployed more than 90% of its stash — some 4.7 million ETH — into its proprietary MAVAN staking platform.

As of May 17, 2026

Sources: BitMineTracker.io, Crypto.com Research

Research & Insights

The Crypto Oracle: Predicting Wall Street Over Weekends

The 48-hour weekend closure of TradFi has historically left investors exposed to sudden macro shocks. However, a 52-week backtest by Crypto.com Research reveals that real-world asset (RWA) perpetual futures may act as a predictive oracle ahead of Monday’s opening bell.

• Why the Sunday "Golden Window" is the most accurate period, compared to Friday night and Saturday
• Why using weekend crypto trends to short mega-cap tech stocks (e.g., NVIDIA, Tesla) is often unprofitable
• Why price signals from commodities like gold and silver hold the most weight in revealing underlying macro realities

The study also noted a divergence between trading venues: RWA perpetuals on the Crypto.com Exchange demonstrated lower predictive error margins than decentralized alternatives like Hyperliquid.

Get the answers in the full RWA Perpetuals Research Report here.

Crypto Trivia

Which major stock market index became the first to be licensed for a 24/7 decentralized perpetual contract on-chain?

A) Nasdaq 100
B) Dow Jones Industrial Average
C) S&P 500

Find the correct answer at the end of this newsletter.

Product Updates

Introducing Pre-IPO Perpetual Contracts on Crypto.com

You can now trade perpetual contracts* for highly anticipated pre-IPO giants including OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic, allowing you to capture early market movements before they officially hit the stock exchange. To celebrate the launch, we are offering zero maker fees on all TradFi perpetual contracts from now until June 30, 2026. Find out more.

*Pre-IPO perpetuals are synthetic in nature; users are trading valuations, not shares.

This is informational content only and should not be considered as an investment recommendation. Some Crypto.com products may not be available in some jurisdictions.

Byte Sized

Three indexes make up 80% of the U.S. market value. Want a quick guide to them?

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Security Tips

Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Dubai Crypto Fraud Hub

A rare joint operation between police from China, the U.S., and the UAE disrupted a major international telecom and online fraud syndicate operating out of Dubai. The criminal groups utilized social media platforms to build fake romantic relationships with victims before directing them into fraudulent, "high-return” cryptocurrency projects.

The unprecedented tri-nation crackdown successfully dismantled nine fraud dens and resulted in 276 arrests.

How to Keep Funds Safe:

• Be highly cautious of online relationships that quickly shift toward investing
• Never send funds based on advice from someone unfamiliar online
• Verify investment opportunities independently before committing money

Source: crypto.news

Crypto Trivia Answer

C) S&P 500 ✅

The launch of the S&P 500 perpetual contract marked a pivotal moment when the “always-on” nature of crypto inched into TradFi. Historically, traditional equity markets have been bound by rigid opening hours and geographic boundaries.

That's it for this week's SnapShot. Want more? Find out what’s trending in the crypto world.