Institutional investors are estimated to hold close to 3.9 million BTC, accounting for about 18.5% of Bitcoin's total supply. Exchange-traded funds and public companies continue to drive most of the net buying and remain the primary sources of accumulation.

Dormant Bitcoin last active 5–15 years ago has started moving again in 2026, with transfers totaling about $7.6B. Over the past 48 hours alone, 665 BTC—worth roughly $48M—left wallets dating back to 2014–2015, fueling concerns of fresh sell pressure below $74,000. @jamieCrypto has the full story.

INSIGHT: Institutional holders now control roughly 3.88 million bitcoin:native, equal to 18.5% of Bitcoin's 21 million supply cap. Public companies account for about 1.24 million bitcoin:native (5.9%), with @Strategy holding approximately 844,000 bitcoin:native, or around 4% of total supply. ETFs hold about 1.32 million bitcoin:native (6.3%), led by @BlackRock's IBIT at roughly 811,000 bitcoin:native. Governments hold an additional ~650,000 BTC (3.1%).

Blockchain data shows a transfer of 918 BTC (67,870,155 USD) from Coinbase Institutional to a newly created wallet with no known owner.

CME Group plans to extend trading hours for its regulated cryptocurrency futures and options to nearly continuous trading, a shift that could diminish the significance of the long-followed "CME gap" on bitcoin charts. Starting May 29, pending regulatory review, CME will offer 24/7 access to crypto futures and options via Globex and ClearPort. The exchange said the change is designed to let clients manage exposures at any time within a regulated marketplace. Under the new setup, trades executed from Friday evening through Sunday evening will be assigned the next business day's trade date. Clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting for those trades will also be handled on the following business day. Why the "CME gap" matters to traders The classic CME gap emerged because CME's bitcoin futures historically paused over the weekend while spot bitcoin kept trading. Large moves between Friday's close and Monday's reopen often left a visible gap on the futures chart, which many traders used as a technical reference. A March 2025 CoinDesk Research note found 79 of the prior 80 CME bitcoin gaps were filled, implying a 98.75% fill rate for that sample. Other broader analyses have estimated a longer-term fill rate around 70% to 80%. CME gap dynamics were not a "mystical" price force, but a market-structure effect: when a major regulated derivatives venue is offline while global spot markets continue price discovery, the reopening can drive convergence between futures, spot and basis trading, making the gap appear "magnetic." Operating schedule and maintenance pauses CME will still run short maintenance windows, including a two-minute daily pause from 4:00–4:02 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, and a two-hour window on Saturdays from 2:00–4:00 a.m. CT. These brief pauses could create minor chart discontinuities, but they are not expected to produce the multi-day weekend gaps that traders have historically tracked. What it means for the market The change is primarily structural rather than a direct bullish or bearish signal for bitcoin. A widely watched technical feature may lose relevance, and strategies built around weekend gap behavior may need to adjust. CME also framed the move as a response to institutional demand. The exchange said client appetite for digital-asset risk management is at an "all-time high," citing a record $3 trillion in notional volume across its crypto futures and options in 2025. CME reported 2026 year-to-date average daily volume of 407,200 contracts, up 46% year over year, and average daily open interest of 335,400 contracts, up 7%. Bitcoin was trading at $72,844 at press time. Bottom line By moving to near round-the-clock trading, CME is bringing regulated crypto derivatives closer to the always-on rhythm of spot markets, reshaping a long-standing technical reference point and underscoring growing institutional demand for crypto risk management.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) transferred more than 411 Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime on May 29, a move that reignited debate over Michael Saylor's financing framework. Arkham Intelligence data shows two outbound transactions of about 205.3 BTC and 206.2 BTC from wallets associated with Strategy before the coins arrived at a destination address linked to Coinbase. The company has not confirmed any sale. Strategy has previously shifted BTC between wallets for custody management, sparking speculation that later appeared tied to internal wallet restructuring. This time, on-chain observers flagged differences in the routing and address type. ForeDex Proof said the BTC first moved from two Strategy-linked wallets into newly created addresses, then was transferred again—an extra step that diverges from earlier migrations that typically ended after the first hop to a new address. ForeDex also noted that Strategy has historically used Coinbase Custody and Native SegWit addresses starting with "bc1q", while this transfer involved a destination beginning with "3", a P2SH format. The analyst argued the pattern resembles Coinbase Prime flows often seen in over-the-counter activity, raising the possibility of preparation for a small BTC sale. Even if that interpretation proves correct, the amount is minor relative to Strategy's reported 843,738 BTC treasury. Still, the timing drew attention: the transfer occurred during a week when Strategy paused new Bitcoin purchases, moved to repurchase convertible debt, and told investors that selling Bitcoin could be used as part of its financing toolkit if market conditions or dividend commitments demanded it. STRC pressure tightens the margin for error The Coinbase-linked movement comes as Strategy's preferred-stock structure faces added stress from a shrinking dollar reserve and weaker trading in STRC, its variable-rate preferred instrument intended to trade around a $100 par value. In recent months, Strategy has leaned on preferred issuance as part of a broader funding loop designed to raise capital, buy Bitcoin, and manage liabilities without relying solely on common equity or convertible notes. Market participants have pointed out that the structure depends heavily on confidence that Strategy can keep paying dividends, maintain cash coverage, and retain access to capital markets. That confidence has been tested as STRC has traded below par since mid-month. Strategy recently moved to repurchase nearly $1.5 billion face value of its 0% convertible senior notes due 2029 for about $1.38 billion in cash. The deal reduced future liabilities and retired the notes at a discount, but it also consumed cash that some investors viewed as a buffer for preferred dividends and other obligations. Glenn Cameron, Onramp Bitcoin's global head of institutional, said Strategy's dollar reserve fell from $2.25 billion on Feb. 1 to $871 million on May 25, roughly mirroring the cash spent on the convertible-note repurchase. Cameron estimated the company's annual cash obligation at about $1.66 billion, including preferred dividends, convertible interest, and software business burn. He said STRC alone represents about $1.23 billion of that total at an 11.5% dividend rate. Based on that estimate, the remaining dollar reserve covers roughly 6.3 months of annualized obligations. Cameron added that the reserve had been pitched to STRC subscribers as providing about 2.5 years of coverage for preferred dividends and debt interest before the cash cushion was reduced by the repurchase. The math has heightened concerns around the funding structure. If STRC stays below par, Strategy may need to increase the dividend rate to restore demand. Any rate increase applies across the full outstanding STRC balance, adding to future cash burden. Crypto analyst Ragnar said Strategy needs to rebuild its cash reserve quickly and suggested STRC's weakness may reflect investor unease with the shrinking coverage ratio. He floated the idea that Strategy could sell higher-cost BTC lots to replenish cash, pointing to buys of 220 BTC at $123,561, 430 BTC at $119,666, and 6,220 BTC at $118,940 as potential candidates if the company trims exposure at the margin. That approach would fit a tactical sale that leaves Strategy's broader holdings largely intact. Selling higher-cost coins could raise cash and reduce the overall cost basis, while signaling a meaningful shift in how investors interpret Saylor's Bitcoin strategy: even limited selling would demonstrate that a portion of the BTC stack can be used to support the capital structure when conditions tighten. A four-month test Joao Wedson, CEO of Alphractal, argued the pressure reflects a deeper issue tied to Strategy's timing. He said a company with such a large Bitcoin position could have achieved a materially lower average entry price by accumulating more aggressively during the 2022–2023 bear market, instead of ending up with an average purchase price near the mid-$70,000 range after heavy buying from 2024 through 2026. Wedson said longer-term holders were distributing during the later phase of Strategy's accumulation, leaving the firm with a less attractive risk-reward profile. The critique challenges a core assumption of the model: that repeated capital raises can keep improving shareholder exposure as long as proceeds are converted into Bitcoin. As preferred dividends grow, the cost basis becomes more consequential. A lower average price would give Strategy greater flexibility to sell a small portion while still realizing gains across the treasury. A higher cost basis narrows the buffer between market price, investor confidence, and the obligations attached to the preferred stack. Jeff Dorman, CIO at Arca, said Strategy has entered its first major bind among common shareholders, Bitcoin holders, and preferred investors. He argued the firm could have preserved cash to fund dividends, but instead used a large share of reserves to retire 0% debt. Dorman said the company now faces two primary paths if pressure persists: sell Bitcoin to help cover preferred dividends—supporting preferred holders while weakening the accumulation narrative—or stop paying dividends, preserving the Bitcoin stack while undermining confidence in the preferred securities. Raising new capital remains an option, but it depends on market access. STRC's design assumes the company can issue near par; if demand softens, Strategy may need to offer higher yields, increasing future obligations against the same Bitcoin pool. Dorman said the tension could play out over the next four months, shaping whether Strategy can keep its funding loop intact while Bitcoin remains volatile, STRC trades below par, and the reduced dollar reserve leaves less room for error.

Texas has formally seated its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee, a five-member panel created under Senate Bill 21 to help oversee one of the first state-level Bitcoin treasury efforts in the U.S. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock on Thursday named four outside members tasked with advising on valuation, custody and risk controls as the comptroller's office prepares to move the reserve's $10 million seed allocation out of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and into directly held Bitcoin. The appointees are CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli, Cormint Data Systems CEO Jamie McAvity, SMU law professor Carla Reyes and investment executive Laurie Dotter. In Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi to list perpetual futures linked to Bitcoin's spot price. The order, issued Friday, makes Kalshi the second U.S.-regulated venue cleared for crypto perps after Bitnomial received similar approval in December. Kalshi said it is targeting a launch within the next month. CEO Tark Mansour called the approval the company's biggest expansion since its event contracts, positioning Kalshi as a regulated derivatives exchange competing more directly with Polymarket and Hyperliquid. Perpetuals have generated roughly $90 trillion of offshore trading volume over the past year. The derivatives milestone comes as U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs extend their longest streak of outflows on record. The group saw another $223 million in net redemptions on Thursday, stretching the run to nine consecutive sessions and bringing total withdrawals to about $2.84 billion. That surpasses the prior eight-session streak set in February 2025, though it remains below the $3.2 billion that left during that earlier risk-off period. BlackRock's IBIT has accounted for most of the recent drain, with about $2.04 billion in outflows from May 15 through Thursday. A $527.8 million redemption on May 27 was IBIT's second-largest single-day outflow, just under the $528.3 million record set on January 30, 2025. Even so, IBIT remains the category's anchor, holding roughly 792,000 BTC, about 62% of assets across U.S. spot Bitcoin funds, amplifying the impact of its daily flow swings on headline ETF totals. Flows suggest some rotation rather than a wholesale retreat. Newly launched Hyperliquid ETFs have attracted more than $100 million of net inflows since debuting on May 12. Spot XRP funds have also posted a series of positive sessions, indicating investors are testing new altcoin vehicles while trimming concentrated Bitcoin exposure. Equity-linked crypto treasury vehicles such as Strategy are also drawing renewed scrutiny as premiums to NAV compress and investors weigh dilution dynamics against softer spot pricing. Regulatory developments continued on other fronts. The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Paxos' registration as a clearing agency via its Paxos Securities Settlement Company subsidiary, making it the only blockchain-native firm cleared to operate as a central securities depository in the U.S. In separate remarks at Georgetown Law, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce defended privacy-preserving cryptographic tools, arguing that financial privacy is being undervalued in current rulemaking and that such technologies can support investor protection. Bitcoin was trading around $74,019 after rising 1.51% over the past 24 hours, though the broader trend remains bearish with price capped below the $75,046 resistance level. RSI at 37.75 sits in oversold territory without confirming a reversal, while MACD continues to show a bearish cross. Bulls need to reclaim $75,046 and then $76,616 to reopen a move toward $78,592. A break below $72,953 would likely accelerate downside toward $71,504 and the $70,280 structural floor. A daily close above $76,615 would negate the near-term bearish setup.

Bitcoin reversed earlier declines and climbed back above $74,000 after President Donald Trump said the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has ended.