SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Wallets holding 100K+ ETH now control 17.41M tokens, a 9-week high reached as ETH trades near $2,002 after a 6% weekly drop. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ethereum-whales-17-4m-eth-accumulation-9-week-high-may-2026/

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce publicly defended crypto privacy tools, warning fellow regulators not to treat privacy-enhancing technologies as inherently suspicious. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/sec-peirce-defends-crypto-privacy-tools-may-2026/

Crypto exchange Gemini is plugging Grok into its prediction market product to push personalized AI-curated feeds, following a broader exchange shift toward AI features. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/gemini-grok-ai-prediction-market-feeds-may-2026/

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent restated the administration's opposition to a US central bank digital currency, leaving stablecoins as the dollar's digital path. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/treasury-bessent-reaffirms-anti-cbdc-stance-may-2026/

Ether fell below $2,000 on May 28 as ETH futures open interest hit a record 16 million ETH, a leverage build that often precedes sharp liquidation events. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ether-below-2000-futures-open-interest-16m-eth-record-may-2026/

Falcon Finance is issuing fUSD through Anchorage Digital as a GENIUS Act-compliant payments stablecoin, separate from its synthetic USDf. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/falcon-finance-anchorage-fusd-genius-act-stablecoin-may-2026/

Foreign holdings of US Treasuries in Fed custody dropped to $2.68T, the lowest in years, as Bitcoin fell below $73K and ETH lost 4.6% on May 28. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/foreign-fed-treasury-custody-2-68t-low-crypto-selloff-may-2026/

United Texas Bank, which clears about $10B a month for crypto firms, completed its conversion to an OCC-chartered national bank with direct Federal Reserve access. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/united-texas-bank-occ-national-charter-fed-access-crypto-may-2026/

Pumpfun's cumulative SOL sales have reached 4.46 million tokens worth $780M at an average price of $175, with the platform still drip-selling into a weak market. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/pumpfun-cumulative-sol-sales-780m-may-2026/

US-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a $733M net outflow on May 27, per SoSoValue data, as BTC traded near $72,967 with crypto Fear & Greed at 31. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-spot-etf-733m-single-day-outflow-may-2026/

Bitcoin slipped under $75,000 in a sharp four-hour move, wiping out more than $150M in long positions. Here is what the data shows and what changed. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-breaks-75000-150m-longs-liquidated-may-2026/

Tencent connected PayPal to WeChat Pay's QR-code merchant network, letting US users pay at Chinese stores via PayPal balances for the first time. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tencent-paypal-wechat-pay-us-merchants-china-may-2026/

A Google software engineer faces US insider trading charges over trades on a prediction market, with prosecutors alleging roughly $1 million in gains. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/google-engineer-prediction-market-insider-trading-may-2026/

The CFTC has filed to vacate its $5M settlement with Gemini, telling the court the deal it struck in 2025 no longer meets its standard of fairness. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/cftc-gemini-settlement-erase-request-may-2026/

Bitcoin slips to $74,377 and ether falls 2.7% after fresh US strikes on Iran follow drone attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/crypto-selloff-us-strikes-iran-hormuz-reversal-may-2026/

BIS and seven central banks including the Fed and ECB will move Project Agorá from prototype to live transactions, with HSBC, Citi, JPMorgan, Visa and Mastercard participating. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bis-project-agora-live-tokenized-cross-border-payments-may-2026/

Cumulative volume on crypto-linked payment cards has hit $7.8B with monthly throughput at fresh highs, a quiet adoption signal as token prices wobble. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/crypto-card-volume-record-7-8-billion-cumulative-may-2026/

Mastercard has been granted a New York BitLicense to operate stablecoin and digital asset payment infrastructure, opening direct rails for tokenized money in the US. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/mastercard-new-york-bitlicense-stablecoin-payments-may-2026/

HTX denies UK sanctions allegations and says it refused to list a ruble-pegged stablecoin offered by a Russia-linked issuer earlier this year. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/htx-uk-sanctions-ruble-stablecoin-refusal-may-2026/

CoinDesk reports crypto PACs spent $9M in Texas primaries, backing winning candidates in both parties as the industry sets up for the 2026 midterms. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/crypto-pacs-9m-texas-primaries-2026-midterms-may-2026/

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfrost flags an 81% drop in Bitcoin spot trading volume since October 2025, with BTC at $75,889 on May 27, 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-spot-volume-81-percent-decline-cryptoquant-may-2026/

South Korean crypto trading volume has collapsed to roughly 10% of local stock market activity, a sharp reversal for what was once the world's most retail-heavy market. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-crypto-trading-one-tenth-stock-market-may-2026/

The stablecoin market reached $322B on May 27, 2026, and policy researchers are escalating warnings that issuer reserves resemble pre-FDIC banking risk. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/stablecoin-market-322b-bank-run-warnings-may-2026/

Seoul prosecutors filed the country's first criminal indictment over a decentralized exchange rug pull, setting a precedent for on-chain fraud cases. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-first-dex-rug-pull-arrest-prosecution-may-2026/

Bernstein puts the tokenized real-world asset market at $51B, with Figure's $18B in tokenized private credit leading by a wide margin over treasuries. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/rwa-market-51b-figure-private-credit-bernstein-may-2026/