Digital assets maintained bullish momentum this week, led by institutional moves, strategic partnerships, and continued ETF drama. Bitcoin broke $103K, Coinbase dominated headlines, and altcoin ETF developments captured market attention.

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1. Coinbase Makes Bold Moves: Deribit Acquisition + S&P 500 Inclusion

Coinbase made headlines with two major milestones this week. It acquired a majority stake in Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange by volume, cementing its footprint in derivatives markets. Simultaneously, Coinbase was announced as a new entrant to the S&P 500, marking its official arrival into traditional financial benchmarks. Bloomberg

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Key Points:

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Impact: These twin moves enhance Coinbase’s strategic relevance, driving derivative expansion and triggering passive inflows from S&P index trackers. A clear bullish signal for COIN and market legitimacy.

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2. Twenty One Capital Buys $459M in BTC, Becomes 3rd-Largest Holder

Newly formed investment firm Twenty One Capital, backed by Tether, SoftBank, and Bitfinex, acquired 4,812 BTC in a single PIPE deal worth $459M. The firm now holds 42,000 BTC, making it the third-largest public holder after MicroStrategy and Marathon. Cryptopolitan

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Impact: This represents the biggest institutional Bitcoin buy of 2025 so far, underscoring deep confidence from TradFi and crypto-native giants in BTC’s long-term role as a treasury and macro hedge asset.

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3. ONDO and JPX Link Partner to Tokenize U.S. Treasuries for Japan

ONDO Finance has teamed up with JPX Link, a Japan Exchange Group subsidiary, to offer tokenized U.S. Treasury products to Japanese institutions. This collaboration brings real-world assets (RWAs) into compliance-aligned DeFi infrastructure across Asia. ONDOblog

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Impact: A major step in RWA globalization. ONDO’s utility as a protocol is enhanced, and Japan's institutional appetite for tokenized finance gets a powerful on-ramp.

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4. ETF Filings and Delays: TRX, SOL, DOGE, LTC, and BTC Updates

The SEC once again delayed decisions on Solana and Litecoin ETFs, while opening comment periods for 21Shares' Dogecoin ETF and BlackRock’s Bitcoin redemption upgrade. In parallel, TRON surpassed Ethereum in USDT supply (73.7B vs. 71.3B) for the first time in six months, driven by Asian demand.

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ETF activity ramped up this week with mixed signals:

• Canary filed for a Staked TRX ETF with CBOE (May 13)
• Grayscale’s Spot SOL and LTC ETFs were delayed (May 14)
• 21Shares’ Dogecoin ETF filing was acknowledged by the SEC
• SEC delayed a decision on in-kind redemptions for BlackRock’s Spot BTC ETF

With these three delays, about 11 Crypto ETFs have been delayed in a month.

Impact: Regulatory uncertainty continues to cap altcoin ETF momentum. While the TRX ETF filing introduces novel exposure, delays across major altcoin ETFs (SOL, LTC, DOGE) and structural tweaks (BTC redemptions) keep investors in limbo. Regulatory clarity remains a key unlock for capital rotation into altcoins.

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Week 20: Institutions Expand, ETFs Pause, and Asia Tilts On-Chain

This week highlights strategic accumulation and structural maturation in the crypto space. With Coinbase, BlackRock, ONDO, and TRON all making bold moves, the digital asset market is increasingly bridging TradFi and global adoption.

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Outlook: Watch for progress on altcoin ETF approvals, follow-through on BTC’s price strength, and growing institutional use of tokenized real-world assets.

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