crtypto & forex news

Tether’s latest move in South Korea goes beyond protecting a product name. The company behind the world’s largest stablecoin filed seven trademark applications with the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service on May 19, covering not just its tokens but its company name, official logo, and gold-backed asset Tether Gold, known as XAUT. A Shift In Strategy That’s a departure from how Tether has approached South Korea before. Earlier filings were limited to stablecoin product names. Covering the broader brand signals something bigger — a possible push toward establishing an actual business presence in the country, not just protecting a label. Timing is everything here. South Korea is in the middle of drafting new rules under the second phase of its Digital Asset Basic Act. Tether is quietly trademarking itself in South Korea before the rules land @tether filed seven trademarks in South Korea, covering its name, logo, and Tether Gold (XAUT), per Seoul...

US authorities are reportedly stepping up efforts to disrupt Iran’s cryptocurrency activity, as Washington works to choke off financial channels linked to the regime amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.  ‘Breadcrumbs’ In Crypto A FOX Business report released Wednesday points to new figures from a threat-detection data firm estimating that Tehran controls roughly $7.7 billion in digital assets.  Officials and analysts behind the crackdown argue that, despite claims by foreign adversaries that cryptocurrencies can help them evade sanctions, the technology can still leave clear trails that investigators can follow. Chris Perkins, the CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management, is quoted in the report describing why crypto can be useful for law enforcement to monitor.  He said investigators repeatedly found that adversaries using digital assets inadvertently create “breadcrumbs,” making transactions easier to track than some might expect.  Iran Advances Hormuz Insurance Using Bitco...

More of XRP’s supply is being chipped away, as whales continue to accumulate the token, increasing their control of the cryptocurrency. According to new reports from on-chain analytics platform Santiment, Whales are currently holding over 450 billion coins, setting a record 8-year high. With more tokens being swallowed up by this group of investors, speculation about a fresh bull run is emerging, one that could propel the price from its current downtrend to new highs. XRP Whales Now Control Over 68% Of Token’s Supply On May 18, Crypto analyst Zach Humphries posted on X that large holders now control a whopping 68.5% of XRP’s total circulating supply. Santiment’s data has also shown that the whales in question own wallets with at least 10 million XRP.  Combined together, these whales own approximately 45.83 billion tokens. Humphries said this substantial figure matches levels the market has not seen since May 2018, about four months after the altcoin recorded its all-time high of...

Project Eleven, a company focused on post-quantum cryptography, said Tuesday that it has partnered with Ripple to support post-quantum readiness on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) blockchain.  The announcement arrives amid intensifying concern across the crypto sector over the security of the cryptographic systems used by major networks like Bitcoin (BTC), as advances in quantum computing raise the possibility that sufficiently powerful quantum machines could eventually threaten the cryptographic foundations. XRP Ledger Targets Quantum Readiness As outlined in Project Eleven’s disclosure , the work with XRPL will begin with a comprehensive assessment of key parts of the network. The partnership plans to conduct a full audit covering XRPL’s validator, custody, networking, and wallet layers to identify potential quantum-related vulnerabilities.  After the audit phase, the parties plan to move toward deployment of hybrid signatures. In practice, that means adding quantum-resistant cryptography...

US President Donald Trump appears to have quietly shifted his crypto focus from meme coins to Bitcoin (BTC). While his self-titled meme coin, Official Trump (TRUMP), continues to trade in the market after a more than 80% crash, new federal disclosures reveal that the President and his family have been investing in firms with direct ties to BTC . The trades, made in the first quarter of 2026, targeted major global companies built around bitcoin mining, holding, and trading. The move reveals Trump’s deeper push into the crypto market ahead of a clearer regulatory landscape .  Trump Expands Exposure From Meme Coins To Bitcoin Firms New government records show that Trump and members of his family made a series of investments in crypto-linked stocks during the first three months of this year. The disclosures, which immediately caught the attention of investors and analysts, were submitted to the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and made public this week. The document, known as an...

Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking a new aim at the crypto industry, now challenging how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has handled national trust bank charters for digital asset firms.  Her latest concern centers on the OCC’s approvals—some granted on a conditional basis over recent months—at a time when the conventional banking sector has already been raising objections throughout the year. Warren Challenges OCC On Crypto Charters Bloomberg reports that Warren’s argument is that at least some of the companies appear to be “seemingly ineligible” for the type of charter they are receiving.  In her letter to Jonathan Gould, the head of the OCC, the Senator said the regulator has approved at least nine national trust charters for crypto companies that, in her view, “appear to go far beyond the narrow set of activities permitted by law.” Warren went further, describing what she sees as an “apparent violation of the National Bank Act.” Among the approvals mention...

The entire crypto market opened the week on a turbulent note, with Bitcoin (BTC) giving back about 6% over the past seven days. Even with the broader market’s pullback, Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, stood out from the competition.  HYPE Jumps On Bitwise’s 10% Fee-To-Token Plan One of the key drivers behind the altcoin’s Monday strength came from Bitwise. In a post on X (previously Twitter), the asset manager said it plans to devote 10% of the management fees from its Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF, BHYP, to holding HYPE on its balance sheet.  Bitwise also said the newly launched fund provides investors with indirect exposure to HYPE tokens, along with staking rewards, giving the product a linkage to the token’s broader value proposition rather than simple spot exposure. The result was a noticeable lift in the token’s price action during the session. At the time of writing, the token was hovering near the $50 mark, trading around $46, and edging closer to last year’s all-ti...