The European Central Bank told EU finance ministers on Friday that proposals to expand euro stablecoin issuance could weaken bank lending and make monetary policy harder to run. The discussion followed a Bruegel paper presented at a two-day Ecofin meeting in Nicosia that suggested easing liquidity rules for issuers and potentially giving them access to ECB funding.

The SEC has approved Nasdaq's plan to list cash-settled, European-style Bitcoin index options on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange under the ticker QBTC. The contracts are tied to the Nasdaq Bitcoin Index and are designed to settle in cash at expiration rather than delivering Bitcoin. Trading still cannot begin until the CFTC grants exemptive relief.

Japan's large brokerages are gearing up to offer crypto investment trusts to retail clients, with SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities building products internally and Nomura planning to join after rules are set. The push comes as the Financial Services Agency is working toward changes by 2028 that would explicitly let investment trusts hold cryptocurrencies, potentially expanding access via existing securities accounts.

THORChain confirmed a $10 million exploit and introduced a self-custodial recovery portal that lets impacted users revoke malicious token approvals and file refund claims backed by an equally sized refund pool. The portal says the incident was detected at 02:14 UTC on May 11 and ultimately involved 36.75 BTC (about $3 million) plus roughly $7 million in tokens across BNB Chain, Ethereum and Base, affecting 12,847 wallets. Users have 21 days to submit claims, with the window closing on June 4.

South Korean investors' crypto holdings slid from 121.8 trillion won ($83.3 billion) at the end of January 2025 to 60.6 trillion won ($41.4 billion) by the end of February 2026. Daily trading volume on the five largest local exchanges also fell to $3 billion by February from $11.6 billion in December 2024, alongside a decline in won deposits held on exchanges.

A Manhattan federal judge allowed Arbitrum DAO to transfer $71 million in frozen Ether to Aave, while keeping terrorism victims' claims attached to the assets. The order, issued Friday by Judge Margaret Garnett, amends a restraining notice so an onchain vote can move the funds to a wallet controlled by Aave LLC and shields participants from violating the freeze.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a sixth straight week of net inflows, with the six-week stretch from the week of April 2 through Friday totaling $3.4 billion. Weekly inflows ranged from $22.34 million (week of April 2) to $996.38 million (week of April 17), while the latest week added $622.75 million.

OpenFX raised $94 million in a Series A round to grow its stablecoin-powered foreign-exchange and remittance payments network. The company said it will deploy the capital to add liquidity, expand into new markets and scale operations across Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm RedotPay said it has consolidated teams to boost efficiency while scaling, after a report highlighted executive departures and China-linked sensitivities. The company is exploring raising up to $150 million and previously considered a US IPO that could exceed $1 billion in proceeds and a $4 billion valuation, but it insists there is no urgent need for new capital. RedotPay, founded in 2023, now employs more than 250 staff globally and offers a stablecoin spending app paired with a Visa card, along with yield and remittance services.