Stocks

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to publish an “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks as early as this week. The framework would let traditional market institutions test blockchain-based tokenized securities without completing the full registration process. In recent months, the SEC has also approved related rule changes involving Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, alongside a three-year DTCC authorization for tokenizing certain liquid assets.

Bitcoin hovered below $83,000 on May 18, 2026, after a multi-month surge that left it struggling to clear the $82,000–$83,000 band. The advance followed progress on the CLARITY Act and the Senate confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair, but momentum cooled as inflation worries resurfaced. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $836 million by Thursday, including a $630 million withdrawal on May 13.

Japan's major brokerages, including SBI and Rakuten, are ramping up plans for Bitcoin and Ethereum-focused investment trusts, signaling a shift away from crypto exposure being dominated by native exchanges. Regulatory changes approved in April 2026 moved major cryptocurrencies under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and were paired with a tax change toward a flat 20% rate. A 2026 Nomura survey also found nearly 80% of professional investors plan crypto allocations of 2% to 5%, while ETF rollout timelines could still slow broader retail uptake.

In Q1 2026, Goldman Sachs exited positions tied to XRP and Solana ETFs and reduced its ether ETF exposure by about 70%. By the end of March, the bank's spot bitcoin ETF holdings totaled roughly $700 million, while ether-linked exposure stood near $114 million. The filing also showed increased stakes in crypto-related equities such as Coinbase, Circle, and Galaxy Digital, alongside trims in Strategy and several bitcoin miners.

U.S. stocks delivered an average 10.1% annual return from 1926 through 2025, outpacing Treasurys (3.3%) and roughly 3% inflation. But strategists cite high valuations and heavy concentration in a few mega-cap tech names, with Research Affiliates projecting just over 3% annualized for the S&P 500 over the next 10 years. They say diversification—potentially beyond a market-cap weighted S&P 500 approach—could matter more for investors with shorter time horizons.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies said that as of May 18, 2026 it held 5,278,462 ETH valued at $2,191 per token, describing the position as 4.37% of Ethereum's 120.7 million circulating supply. Chairman Tom Lee said the company added 71,672 ETH over the past week and expects Bitmine to reach its "alchemy of 5%" milestone sometime in 2026. The company also reported staking 4,712,917 ETH, with annualized staking revenue of $289 million based on a seven-day yield of 2.80%.

On May 18, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) stepped up Bitcoin selling after its six-week streak of cash inflows ended. The fund moved 2,221 BTC to Coinbase Prime, worth about $170.59 million at press time, while BTC was down 4.61% over seven days to around $77,410 and its market cap fell by $22.3 billion over 24 hours to about $1.5 trillion.

Options tied to the U.S. bond market saw a surge in activity Friday as 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields climbed to the highest levels in more than a year. Trading in iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) ran at more than three times the past month’s average daily volume, led by put buying that positions for a drop in TLT and higher yields.

On May 17, 2026, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said Anthropic’s Claude refused a stock-screening prompt while xAI’s Grok, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT returned results. The post, shared on X, triggered renewed debate over whether strict safety constraints could hurt competitiveness as Anthropic reports annualised revenue rising from $9 billion (late 2025) to $30 billion by April 2026.

Bitcoin Depot filed for Chapter 11 protection on May 18, 2026, and its entire fleet of 9,276 Bitcoin ATM kiosks went offline that day. The company reported preliminary Q1 2026 revenue of $83.5M, down 49.2% year-over-year, alongside a $9.5M net loss.