Bitcoin hovered above $77,000 as more than $1.8 billion in BTC and ETH options were set to expire on May 22. Derivatives positioning showed longer-term bullish targets near $90,000 even as institutions added short-term downside hedges into month-end.

XRP saw 4,300 newly created wallets in a single day, ranking as its fourth-largest daily network-growth surge of 2026. The move came as XRP traded around $1.36 on May 22, down 1% in 24 hours while weekly and monthly losses reached 7.5% and 6.5%, respectively.

Iran has rolled out a maritime insurance platform linked to cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with reports saying related payments can be settled in Bitcoin. The initiative, promoted by Iranian state-linked outlets, is presented as an alternative to dollar-based infrastructure while raising unresolved questions around sanctions exposure and legal protections.

Bitcoin traded slightly above $80,000 as $2.6 billion in crypto options were set to expire on Deribit, with traders bracing for near-term volatility. BTC again failed to retake $82,000 while ETH struggled around $2,300; at press time on May 15 BTC was $80,347.48, up 0.9% in 24 hours. The setup came after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in a 15-9 vote on May 14.

Grove has introduced Basin, a blockchain-based liquidity facility supported by firms including BlackRock and Janus Henderson, aimed at speeding up redemptions for tokenized Treasury funds. The system is designed to offer investors access to as much as $1 billion in stablecoin liquidity per day while traditional settlement continues in the background. BlackRock's $2.2 billion BUIDL and the $1.1 billion Janus Henderson Anemoy Treasury Fund (JTRSY) are the first connected products.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose sharply after a quiet weekend, jumping from about $67,000 to nearly $69,600 within hours as broader risk sentiment shifted. The move followed reports of potential U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks, while a separate debate over Bitcoin’s long-term returns resurfaced alongside Strategy’s latest 4,871 BTC purchase for roughly $330 million.

CaixaBank has obtained authorization under the EU's MiCA framework to operate as a crypto-asset service provider. The approval enables the Spanish bank to offer customers crypto custody, trading-related order execution, and transfers, with a rollout planned in the coming months through its digital banking platform.

Drift Protocol suspended deposits and withdrawals after an exploit drained about $280 million via admin-level access. The Solana-based DEX said the attacker took over Security Council permissions using pre-approved transactions, then removed withdrawal limits and added a malicious asset. The incident underscores how governance, multisig approvals, and signing workflows can become key DeFi attack surfaces.

SWIFT says it is building a working version of a shared-ledger system that lets banks coordinate cross-border payments around the clock using tokenized deposits. The organization expects an MVP to process real transactions later this year while keeping existing banking rules and compliance frameworks in place.