Crypto News
‘Dark stablecoins’ could emerge as regulations tighten
Censorship-resistant “dark stablecoins” could come in increasing demand as governments tighten their oversight of the industry. Stablecoins have been used for various groups to store assets due to a lack of government interference; however, with regulations pending, that could soon change, Ki Young Ju, CEO of crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, said in a May 11 X post.“Soon, any stablecoin issued by a country could face strict govt regulation, similar to traditional banks. Transfers might automatically trigger tax collection through smart contracts, and wallets could be frozen or require paperwork based on government rules,” he said.“People who used stablecoins for big international transfers might start looking for censorship-resistant dark stablecoins instead.”On the heels of US President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration assuming power earlier this year, lawmakers are weighing stablecoin legislation, which seeks to regulate US stablecoins, ensuring their legal use for payments. The European Union has already brought in its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which, among other measures, mandates that stablecoins be regulated and transparent.Source: Ki Young JuJu speculates that a dark or private stablecoin could be created as an algorithmic stablecoin, with the value maintained through algorithmic mechanisms rather than being pegged to an external asset like gold, which makes it susceptible to interference from authorities. “One possible example could be a decentralized stablecoin that follows the price of regulated coins like USDC using data oracles like Chainlink,” he said.Another way would be stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor financial transactions, or, for example, if Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations in the future.“USDT itself used to be considered a censorship-resistant stablecoin. If Tether chooses not to comply with US government regulations under a future Trump administration, it could become a dark stablecoin in an increasingly censored internet economy,” Ju said.Privacy technology in crypto is already being usedZcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR) — while they aren’t stablecoins —already shield transactions and allow users to send and receive funds without revealing their transaction data on the blockchain.Related: Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: ReportSeveral projects are also working on using similar technology for stablecoins, such as Zephyr Protocol, a Monero fork that hides transactions from being revealed on the blockchain. PARScoin also hides user identities, transaction values, and links to past transactions.The market cap of US dollar-denominated stablecoins has continued to grow, crossing $230 billion in April, a report from investment banking giant Citigroup found. That’s an increase of 54% since last year, with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC) dominating 90% of the market.Meanwhile, total stablecoin volumes hit $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express
Published Date: 2025-05-12 02:55:08Creator: Cointelegraph by Stephen Katte
Read More
Ledger secures Discord after hacker bot tried to steal seed phrases
Hardware wallet provider Ledger has confirmed its Discord server is secure again after an attacker compromised a moderator’s account to post scam links on May 11 to trick users into revealing their seed phrases on a third-party website.“One of our contracted moderators had their account compromised, which allowed a malicious bot to post scam links in one channel,” Ledger team member Quintin Boatwright wrote on the Ledger Discord server. “The issue was quickly contained: the compromised account was removed, the bot was deleted, the website was reported, and all relevant permissions were reviewed and secured.”Some members in Ledger’s Discord channel claimed the attacker abused moderator privileges to ban and mute them as they tried to report the breach, possibly slowing Ledger’s reaction.Boatwright said the security breach was an isolated incident and that Ledger has taken additional measures to strengthen its security on Discord, a chat platform many crypto projects use to share protocol developments and engage with their community. Using the compromised Ledger community manager account, the hacker told Ledger Discord members that there was a recently discovered vulnerability in the firm’s security systems and strongly urged all users to verify their recovery phrases with a scam link, according to several screenshots shared on X. Ledger users were asked to connect their wallets and follow on-screen instructions.Source: ecurrencyholderIt isn’t clear whether anyone was affected by the security breach. Cointelegraph has reached out to Ledger for comment. Ledger scammers were sending physical letters last month In April, scammers were mailing physical letters to owners of Ledger hardware wallets, asking them to validate their private seed phrases in a bid to access and empty the wallets.The letter used Ledger’s logo, business address and a reference number to feign legitimacy and asked users to scan a QR code and enter the wallet’s recovery phrase.One Ledger user who received the letter speculated whether scammers were sending letters to Ledger customers whose data was leaked in July 2020.Related: Jameson Lopp: Most don’t realize how easy self-custody has becomeThat incident saw a hacker breach Ledger’s database and dump the personal information of over 270,000 of its customers online, which included names, phone numbers and home addresses.The following year, several Ledger users claimed to have been mailed fake Ledger devices that were tampered with and designed to install malware upon use, Bleeping Computer reported at the time.Magazine: ChatGPT a ‘schizophrenia-seeking missile,’ AI scientists prep for 50% deaths
Published Date: 2025-05-12 00:29:20Creator: Cointelegraph by Brayden Lindrea
Read More
White House claims 'substantial progress' on China trade deal
The White House announced that talks between the United States and China regarding a trade deal have made "substantial progress," yet no official deal has been announced at this time, leaving investors in doubt.According to a May 11 announcement from the White House, more details on the trade talks and the proposed "agreement" will be revealed on May 12.“I am happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a joint statement with US trade representative Jamieson Greer.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the media that the US-China trade walks were productive. Source: Fox News"We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive," Bessent continued, without mentioning the word "deal" once in his statement.Greer made mention of the deal but did not give any details on the talks, leaving investors in doubt about the substance of the announcement, as market participants continue to monitor the ongoing trade tensions for signs of relief for financial markets.Related: Bitcoin nears $100K as Trump set to reveal trade deal with UKTrump's tariffs cause chaos in markets and draw widespread criticismAlthough traditional financial and digital asset markets have recovered and retraced some of the value lost following the initial price shock brought on by US President Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs, investor uncertainty still looms over asset markets.The Trump administration has flip-flopped on its tariff policies, reversing course on trade proposals or softening its rhetoric several times, leaving investors on edge and uncertain about investing in riskier assets like tech stocks and crypto.In April 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection, at the behest of the Trump administration, announced that select tech products would be exempt from tariffs including, smartphones, processing chips, computers, and other electronics.However, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walked back the electronic tariff exemptions one day following the announcement.Lutnick said that the tariff exemptions would only be temporary until administration officials decided on a comprehensive tariff regime that featured different tariff rates for economic sectors.The lack of a comprehensive, decisive trade policy has called the Trump administration's plans into question, with many observers saying that the trade tariffs will only create more discord in financial markets and the broader economy.Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
Published Date: 2025-05-11 21:19:23Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
Read More
Microsoft and OpenAI renegotiate investment deal: Report
Tech company Microsoft and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI are reportedly in talks to renegotiate the investment deal between the AI firm and Microsoft, which is OpenAI's biggest financial backer.According to a report from the Financial Times, Microsoft may give up a portion of its equity in OpenAI for continued access to the AI company's products and models beyond 2030, when some of the original terms of a deal signed between the two companies expire.Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, when it first acquired an interest in the artificial intelligence firm.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman takes the podium at the White House in January 2025 to discuss AI infrastructure investment in the United States. Source: The White HouseOpenAI is attempting to restructure the company to shift its focus to profit-making. However, those plans have met with pushback from co-founders like Elon Musk and early investors.The deal between OpenAI and Microsoft is critical to OpenAI's restructuring and the future of the US-based AI startup company. Advancing artificial intelligence has also become a key policy objective for global leaders as the AI arms race heats up.Related: OpenAI to stay nonprofit, scrap proposed overhaulOpenAI faces staunch pushback against for-profit shiftOpenAI was founded as a non-profit entity in 2015 by businessman Elon Musk, tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, and AI researcher Ilya Sutskever.However, in 2024, the company began mulling a corporate restructuring that would convert the company from a non-profit entity to a for-profit corporation.Elon Musk has been one of the biggest critics of the plan, calling into question the legality of the proposed shift in a November 2024 legal filing.Elon Musk and others file litigation against OpenAI to block its conversion to a for-profit company. Source: Court ListenerThe tech billionaire also blasted the company's focus on closed-source software development, which he said was not the original objective of OpenAI."OpenAI was actually started and was meant to be open source. I named it 'OpenAI' after open source, now it is, in fact, closed source. It should be renamed super closed source AI for maximum profit AI," Musk told an audience at the New York Times DealBook Summit.In February 2025, a group of investors led by Musk submitted a $97.4 billion bid to take over OpenAI. However, the deal was flatly rejected by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.More recently, on May 5, OpenAI announced it was abandoning its shift to a purely for-profit model and is choosing to shift to a public benefit corporation — a profit-driven structure with legal obligations to fulfill social or public goods objectives — controlled by a non-profit entity.Magazine: Crypto AI tokens surge 34%, why ChatGPT is such a kiss-ass: AI Eye
Published Date: 2025-05-11 19:39:28Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
Read More
Ethereum chart pattern supports 'moon shot' rally to new price highs if confirmed — Trader
Key Takeaways:Veteran trader Peter Brandt suggests a potential Ethereum rally to $3,800–$4,800 if ETH breaks above a rising wedge pattern.A short-term pullback may occur as the taker buy-sell ratio drops below one, signaling caution from futures traders.Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) opened its weekly candle at $1,807 on May 7, and now it is close to recording its highest 7-day returns of 38% since December 2020. Ether also surpassed its realized price for accumulating addresses ($1,900), which is the average cost basis for holders, signaling profits for users. As illustrated in the chart, most of the buying pressure for ETH came from Binance, which is currently the most active exchange for ETH traders. Ethereum realized price. Source: CryptoQuantElevated activity at Binance and an uptick in outflows reflect strong trader confidence, liquidity, and sustained bullish momentum in the current market. “Moonshot” rally to new highs for EthereumIn a recent X post, veteran trader Peter Brandt highlighted a developing market structure that could pave the way for an Ethereum rally, provided the altcoin breaks through a key "congestion" pattern. Brandt identified a rising wedge formation on the chart—a pattern often considered bearish. Ethereum analysis by Peter Brandt. Source: X.comHowever, he suggested that a breakout above this pattern could propel Ethereum’s price toward the descending resistance line, targeting a range between $3,800 and $4,800. This analysis marks a notable shift in Brandt’s outlook from 2024, aligning with the renewed optimism for the altcoin. Ethereum futures saw a 42% surge in open interest (OI), climbing from $21.3 billion to $30.4 billion between May 8 and May 11, 2025. Nearing its all-time high of $32 billion, this spike reflects heightened market activity and growing trader engagement. The rapid increase in OI signals strong interest in Ether futures, potentially paving the way for increased price volatility.Ethereum futures open interest. Source: CoinGlassRelated: Altseason is coming, 40% daily gains to become ‘new normal’ — AnalystEthereum’s higher-time frame (HTF) chart reflects a price rise on the weekly chart, where the altcoin has jumped toward the 50 and 100-week exponential moving averages (EMAs) over the past couple of weeks. Historically, such a recovery marks a price bottom but could also signal the beginning of a small correction period after the EMAs retest.Ethereum weekly chart analysis. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewUsing Fibonacci retracement levels, ETH has retested the 0.5 to 0.618 range (orange box), which aligns with a price level of $2,500. This retest represents the first leg of the recovery, but a short-term pullback may occur before further bullish action unfolds.With ETH prices moving at a parabolic rate over the past few days, liquidation heatmaps noted higher buy-side liquidity between $2,200 and $2,400, after a short-squeeze took prices up to $2,608.Ethereum taker buy-sell ratio. Source: CryptoQuantSimilarly, the taker buy-sell ratio is beginning to slow down and dropped below 1 on May 10. The ratio of buy volume divided by sell volume of takers in perpetual swap trades indicates futures sentiment, and a ratio below 1 implies short-term bearishness. Thus, traders could approach the coming days more cautiously, with ETH consolidating under the $2,500 level. Related: Ethereum price greenlit for further upside after surprise 29% ETH rallyThis article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-11 19:25:57Creator: Cointelegraph by Biraajmaan Tamuly
Read More
Bitcoin price inches closer to new all-time high as ETH, DOGE, PEPE and ATOM rally
Key points:Bitcoin holds on to its recent gains, increasing the possibility of a retest of the all-time high at $109,588.BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF records 19 days of successive inflows, showing solid demand. Select altcoins are showing strength, having broken out of their large basing patterns.Bitcoin (BTC) made a decisive move above the psychologically crucial $100,000 level during the week, signaling that the bulls are back in the game. Buyers are trying to hold on to the 10% weekly gains over the weekend.Bitcoin’s rally has been backed by solid inflows into the BlackRock spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (IBIT). According to Farside Investors’ data, the fund stretched its inflows streak to 19 days, with the latest trading week attracting $1.03 billion in inflows.Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360The rally was not limited to Bitcoin alone, as several altcoins also moved higher. That has prompted analysts to announce the start of an altseason, with some predicting sharp rallies in altcoins over the next few months. However, not everyone believes that an altseason has started because the altcoins have only made modest moves compared to the massive price erosion from their respective all-time highs. Could Bitcoin break out to a new all-time high and maintain it? If it does, let’s study the charts of the cryptocurrencies that may move higher in the near term.Bitcoin price predictionBitcoin has been gradually inching toward the all-time high of $109,588, indicating that the bulls are in no hurry to book profits.BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe rally has pushed the relative strength index (RSI) into the overbought zone, suggesting a correction or consolidation in the near term. Any pullback is expected to find support between $100,000 and the 20-day exponential moving average ($96,626). If the price rebounds off the support zone, it increases the possibility of a break above $109,588. If that happens, the BTC/USDT pair could surge toward $130,000.Time is running out for the bears. If they want to make a comeback, they will have to swiftly yank the price below the 20-day EMA. If they succeed, the pair could plunge to the 50-day simple moving average ($88,962).BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe pair continues to climb higher, but the bears are expected to fiercely defend the $107,000 to $109,588 zone. If the price turns down from the overhead zone, the 20-EMA is likely to act as strong support. A bounce off the 20-EMA signals that the bullish momentum remains intact. That enhances the prospects of a breakout above $109,588.Sellers will have to tug the price below $100,000 to weaken the positive momentum. That opens the doors for a fall to $93,000 and subsequently to $83,000.Ether price predictionEther (ETH) skyrocketed from $1,808 on May 8 to $2,600 on May 10, indicating aggressive buying by the bulls.ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe up move pushed the RSI into the overbought territory, indicating a minor pullback or consolidation is possible in the near term. The first support on the downside is $2,320 and then $2,111. If the price turns up from the support levels, the ETH/USDT pair could extend the rally to $2,850 and later to $3,000.The optimistic view will be invalidated in the near term if the price breaks below $2,111. That could result in a range formation between $1,754 and $2,600.ETH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe bulls pushed the price above the $2,550 resistance but could not sustain the higher levels. A minor positive in favor of the bulls is that they have not ceded much ground to the bears. That suggests the bulls are holding on to their positions as they anticipate the up move to continue. If the price turns up from the current level of the 20-EMA and breaks above $2,609, the rally could reach $3,000. A deeper correction could begin if the price continues lower and plummets below the 20-EMA. That could sink the pair toward the solid support at $2,111.Dogecoin price predictionDogecoin (DOGE) soared above the $0.21 overhead resistance on May 10, indicating a change in the short-term trend.DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe rally is facing selling at $0.26, which could result in a retest of the breakout level of $0.21. If the price rebounds off $0.21 with strength, it suggests a change in sentiment from selling on rallies to buying on dips. That increases the likelihood of a rally to $0.31. If buyers want to prevent the upside, they will have to pull the price below the 20-day EMA ($0.19). If they do that, the DOGE/USDT pair could swing inside a large range between $0.26 and $0.14 for a while. DOGE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe pair has turned down from $0.26, with immediate support at $0.22 and then at $0.21. If the price rebounds off the support zone, it suggests a positive sentiment where dips are being purchased. The bulls will then again try to resume the uptrend by pushing the price above $0.26.Conversely, a drop below $0.21 signals that the bulls are rushing to the exit. That could pull the price to the 50-day SMA.Related: Ethereum to $10K 'can't be ruled out' as ETH price makes sharp gains vs. SOL, XRPPepe price predictionPepe (PEPE) rallied sharply from the 50-day SMA ($0.000008) and broke above the $0.000011 overhead resistance on May 8.PEPE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe rally has pushed the RSI into the overbought zone, signaling a pullback may be around the corner. The PEPE/USDT pair could drop to the breakout level of $0.000011. If the price rebounds off $0.000011, it suggests that the bulls have flipped the level into support. That improves the prospects for a rally to $0.000017 and then to $0.000020.This optimistic view will be negated in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA ($0.000009).PEPE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe 4-hour chart shows that the bears are aggressively defending the $0.000014 level. That could pull the price down to the 20-EMA, which is a vital level to keep an eye on. If the price rebounds off the 20-EMA, the bulls will make another attempt to shove the pair above $0.000014. If they can pull it off, the pair could ascend to $0.000017.On the contrary, a break and close below the 20-EMA could sink the pair to $0.000011. Buyers are expected to defend the $0.000011 level with all their might because a slide below it may extend the pullback to the 50-SMA.Cosmos price predictionCosmos (ATOM) broke out of the large base when it closed above $5.15 on May 10. That signals a potential trend change.ATOM/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewHowever, the bears are unlikely to give up easily. They will try to pull the price back below the $5.15 level. If they manage to do that, the aggressive bulls may get trapped, pulling the price to the moving averages. Alternatively, if buyers sustain the price above $5.15, the ATOM/USDT pair could pick up momentum and rally to $6.50. Sellers will try to halt the up move at $6.50, but if the bulls prevail, the pair could rally to $7.50.ATOM/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe sharp rally has pushed the RSI into the overbought zone on the 4-hour chart, suggesting a short-term correction or consolidation. The bulls will have to defend the critical $5.15 level if they want to keep the positive momentum intact. If they manage to do that, the pair could rally to $6.60.Contrarily, a break and close below $5.15 could pull the price down to the 20-EMA. This is an important level to watch out for because a break below it may sink the pair to $4.70.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-11 18:35:07Creator: Cointelegraph by Rakesh Upadhyay
Read More
Lido DAO initiates emergency vote to swap compromised oracle
The Lido Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), the entity that governs the Lido liquid staking protocol, has initiated an emergency vote to rotate a compromised oracle — a bridge that connects real-world data to blockchain systems.According to members of the Lido DAO, an address belonging to the Chorus One oracle was compromised, and the Ether (ETH) balance associated with that oracle was drained in an incident still being investigated.Lido Finance emphasized that the issue is restricted to the Chorus One oracle and is not system-wide. The team also said the problem was not due to a coding problem in any particular blockchain oracle or software.Source: Lido FinanceChorus One added that the exploit was likely attributable to a hot wallet private key leak but is also setting up a new machine to ensure security moving forward.The incident highlights the need for robust cybersecurity measures in decentralized finance (DeFi) as the world's monetary, trade, and business systems move onchain in ever more complex digital systems that have large attack surfaces.Related: Mobius Token smart contracts on BNB Chain exploited, $2.1M drainedCybersecurity remains a critical issue for crypto and DeFiHacks, cybersecurity exploits, and other malicious attack vectors remain a major problem for crypto. As digital finance expands to encompass more services, attack methods become more sophisticated.Cybersecurity firm Hacken released a report outlining the damage done by hacks, scams, and cybersecurity exploits in Q1 2025 and found that over $2 billion in crypto was lost due to malicious activity.The vast majority of the stolen funds were attributed to the $1.4 billion Bybit hack in February 2025, which skewed the findings of the report.A graphic breaking down the crypto lost to hacks, cybersecurity exploits, code vulnerabilities, and scams in Q1 2025. Source: HackenAccording to the cybersecurity firm, crypto hacks were responsible for $357 million in losses in April 2025, a significant increase from losses incurred in March.Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin told Cointelegraph at Token2049 that the crypto industry needs to adopt more robust cybersecurity and code auditing measures to stem the tide of hacks and exploits plaguing the asset sector.Cybersecurity threats in crypto have become so pronounced, particularly from hacking groups associated with the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK), that G7 countries could discuss the impact of the hackers and how to neutralize these threats at the next G7 Summit.Magazine: Crypto-Sec: Evolve Bank suffers data breach, Turbo Toad enthusiast loses $3.6K
Published Date: 2025-05-11 17:06:19Creator: Cointelegraph by Vince Quill
Read More
Ethereum to $10K 'can't be ruled out' as ETH price makes sharp gains vs. SOL, XRP
Key takeaways:Ether has rebounded from key parabolic and triangle support levels, reviving the case for a $10,000 breakout.Historical fractals and RSI recovery mirror past pre-rally setups seen in 2016 and 2020.Altseason signals and strength against rivals like SOL and XRP boost Ethereum’s potential to outperform.Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, has soared over 44% in just three days to surpass $2,600 on May 11, fueling fresh speculation of a run toward $10,000 in the coming months. A mix of fractal setups as well as Ether’s potential to outperform its top-ranking rivals, Bitcoin (BTC), Solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP), are serving as some catalysts behind the five-figure price prediction.ETH's “up band” target is around $10,000Ether’s long-term price action continues to follow a parabolic curve that has defined its major market cycles since 2015. As of May 2025, ETH has rebounded from the curve’s lower boundary near $2,100 — a historically significant support zone that has previously triggered major rallies. ETH/USD monthly price chart. Source: TradingViewIf this parabolic trajectory holds, Ethereum’s next move could be toward the upper boundary of the curve, which currently intersects near the $10,000 level. Supporting this view, analyst MilkyBull Crypto highlights a similar setup on Ethereum’s monthly chart, noting that ETH’s rally to $10,000 “can’t be ruled out technically.”Source: MilkyBull Crypto Combined with RSI recovery from a multi-year support zone near 40, the setup adds further weight to the five-figure price target.ETH looks set to outperform top crypto rivalsThe bullish outlook for Ethereum is gaining traction as analysts anticipate an altcoin season in the coming months. Chartist Mister Crypto, for instance, argues that altcoins like ETH may rally 40% in a single day amid capital rotation from Bitcoin. Source: Mister CryptoThe Altcoin Season Index, which has broken out of a downtrend just below the 29 level, signals a potential shift away from Bitcoin dominance. While still in “Bitcoin Season” territory (below 25), the breakout suggests altcoins like ETH may soon begin to outperform.Additionally, Ethereum’s top blockchain rival, Solana, is painting a rising wedge pattern against Ether, furthering its potential to decline in the coming weeks.Related: Solana lacks ‘convincing signs’ of besting Ethereum: SygnumSOL/ETH weekly and XRP/ETH three-day performance chart. Source: Wolf/TradingViewThe same picture can be seen against XRP, suggesting that more capital may flow toward Ethereum from rival altcoins in the coming days or weeks. Ether symmetrical triangle hints at above $10,000As of May, Ether is reclaiming the lower trendline of its multi-year symmetrical triangle after a brief breakdown in March, while bouncing off its 200-2W exponential moving average (200-2W EMA; the blue wave) support. ETH’s rebound confirms a bullish rejection, validating the ongoing consolidation structure.ETH/USD two-week price chart. Source: TradingViewThis setup closely resembles ETH’s past macro consolidations, namely the 2016 bull flag and the 2018–2020 falling wedge, both of which preceded major breakouts to new all-time highs.A breakout above the current triangle consolidation could follow a similar trajectory, increasing the probability of ETH reaching the $10,000 mark — and even $20,000 if the breakout pans out per the rules of technical analysis.ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingViewThis article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-11 16:02:26Creator: Cointelegraph by Yashu Gola
Read More
AI agents are coming for DeFi — Wallets are the weakest link
Opinion by: Sean Li, co-founder of Magic LabsCrypto markets run 24/7. Human traders don’t. As AI agents begin to manage liquidity, optimize yield, and execute trades at all hours, they’re quickly becoming essential infrastructure for decentralized finance’s (DeFi) future. While AI agents are evolving from niche tools for quant traders into mainstream financial operators, they’re rapidly outpacing the wallets meant to secure them. Advancements in account abstraction and smart contract wallets have emerged, but most DeFi platforms still predominately rely on externally owned account wallets that require manual approvals at every step. Early-stage programmable solutions exist but remain fragmented, costly on layer-1 networks and adopted by only a tiny fraction of users.As AI agents increasingly operate in DeFi, this infrastructure limitation becomes critical. We need standardized infrastructure that allows for secure, cost-effective automation with verifiable guardrails across multiple blockchain ecosystems. Automation needs guardrails, not guessworkThe rise of autonomous agents opens new possibilities: hands-free DeFi strategies, real-time portfolio optimization and crosschain arbitrage. Without programmable permissions and onchain visibility, however, delegating control to AI can expose users to catastrophic risk. Malicious bots, hallucinating agents and poorly designed automation can drain wallets before a human notices.We’ve already seen what happens when agent infrastructure fails. In September 2024, users of the Telegram-based trading bot Banana Gun lost 563 Ether (ETH) (approximately $1.9 million) through an exploited oracle vulnerability that allowed attackers to intercept messages and gain unauthorized access to user wallets. More recently, attackers breached Aixbt’s dashboard and issued commands to transfer funds directly, resulting in the loss of 55.5 ETH worth over $100,000. These aren’t isolated incidents — they are warning signs of systemic vulnerability in our automation infrastructure. Legacy wallets can’t support autonomous agentsDespite years of wallet innovation, the architecture remains static mainly: sign a transaction, broadcast it, repeat. Most wallets aren’t built to understand “intent,” verify that automation matches user-defined rules, or restrict activity by time, asset type or strategy. This rigidity creates an all-or-nothing dynamic: either you maintain manual control and miss out on fast-moving opportunities or you hand over access entirely to opaque third-party systems. For AI-powered DeFi to scale securely as it builds more utility, we need programmable, composable and verifiable infrastructure. Programmable permissions are the new trust layerAs smart contracts encode logic into DeFi protocols, wallet infrastructure must encode logic into user control. That means enabling session-based permissions, cryptographic verification of agent actions and the ability to revoke access in real-time.Recent: AI and blockchain — A match made in heavenWith these features in place, users can delegate trading, rebalancing or strategy execution without giving up complete control. This approach doesn’t just mitigate risk — it expands access. Advanced DeFi strategies could become accessible to users without technical knowledge and managed securely by agents operating within verifiable constraints. Programmable infrastructure makes DeFi scalableProgrammable wallet infrastructure doesn’t just make DeFi safer — it makes it scalable. Fragmentation across chains and protocols has long been a barrier to automated strategies. A universal keystore protocol that syncs permissions across networks can streamline crosschain delegation and open the door for interoperable agent ecosystems. As institutional interest in DeFi grows, secure automation will be non-negotiable. Most firms won’t allow AI agents to interact with capital without verifiable guardrails. Just as zero-knowledge proofs are becoming essential to privacy and compliance, programmable wallet permissions may become standard for agent-based security. The future of DeFiSome may argue that AI can’t be trusted with financial autonomy, but traditional markets have already adopted algorithmic trading and black box automation. DeFi isn’t immune — it’s simply unprepared. If crypto is to maintain its transparency and user sovereignty principles, it must build infrastructure that keeps AI agents in check. That starts with rebuilding wallets as interfaces and operating systems for the autonomous, multichain economy. DeFi is on the edge of an automation revolution. The question isn’t whether agents will participate. Whether we give them the rails, they need to act in service of users, not in spite of them.Opinion by: Sean Li, co-founder of Magic Labs.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Published Date: 2025-05-11 15:00:00Creator: Cointelegraph by Sean Li
Read More
Bitcoin must close the week above this level to start 'price discovery 2'
Key points:Bitcoin analysis identifies the all-important price point to hold into the weekly close as all-time highs loom.Liquidity is tightly clustered around current spot price, with $106,000 the likely next battleground.Some traders are expecting the bid to enter price discovery to fail.Bitcoin (BTC) preserved giant gains into the May 11 weekly close as analysis flagged the key level to hold next.BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewAnalysis: BTC price can “kickstart the breakout process”Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed weekend upside volatility, delivering new multimonth highs of nearly $105,000.A lack of liquidity during “out of hours” trading contributed to the move, which once more came on the back of positive rumors over a US-China trade deal.$BTCalmost tagging $105K off again headlinesmarkets will want to see fruition of Trumps comments regarding a path forward with trade between US & ChinaShipping data does already suggest insiders know hence container volume has briefly picked up again pic.twitter.com/AijqalylwS— Skew Δ (@52kskew) May 10, 2025Now, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital confirmed that Bitcoin could even kickstart a return to all-time highs and price discovery.The all-important weekly close level to flip to support, he said, lay at around $104,500.“Can Bitcoin do it? Can Bitcoin Weekly Close above the Range High of its recently reclaimed Re-Accumulation Range to kickstart the breakout process?” he queried in a post on X alongside an explanatory chart.“Bitcoin is on the cusp of beginning Price Discovery Uptrend 2.”BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/XAn additional update calculated the current Bitcoin bull market as 85.5% complete, yet with the most erratic upswings still to come.#BTC Bull Market Progress:▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░ 85.5%(Progress will speed up on Parabolic advances)$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Qe88NVmo2z— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) May 9, 2025A look at the latest exchange order book data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed a large cloud of asks clustered around the area immediately below $106,000 at the time of writing.Bids were laddered down to $102,000, creating a thickening band of liquidity around spot price into the weekly close.BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlassBitcoin can still retrace “entire move”Some market participants remained bearish on short timeframes.Related: Is Bitcoin about to go parabolic? BTC price targets include $160K nextOn X, popular trader HTL-NL argued that the current push toward all-time highs would end as a “fakeout” to trap late longs.“Will $BTC close/open the week remaining within the range, will it do a 'fake out (UTAD)' or was this really a reaccumulation range as many want to believe,” he wrote on the day. “To be honest, although I still favour the first 2 options based on M/Q charts, it being reaccumulation is not impossible.”BTC/USDT 1-hour chart. Source: HTL-NL/XAnother voice of caution, one all too familiar in Bitcoin trading circles, came in the form of fellow trader Il Capo of Crypto.In his latest X updates, the pseudonymous commentator warned that BTC/USD could correct to the extent that its entire rebound disappears.“This is the time to scale out, not in,” he argued on May 10. “Strong resistances are being tested, and if this is just a correction of the downtrend since January, the entire move could eventually be fully reversed.”Il Capo of Crypto originally gained notoriety for his $12,000 BTC price targets at the start of the bull market in 2023.This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Published Date: 2025-05-11 13:31:39Creator: Cointelegraph by William Suberg
Read More