Leading Crypto Industry Research and Analysis

Most CeFi yields rest on a single lending spread. Coinhold runs on four revenue streams, including fee income from a top-seven Bitcoin mining pool, and the difference shows up in both the rate and the risk profile.

As prediction markets gain broader market attention, Hyperliquid is preparing to integrate outcome-based trading directly into HyperCore. HIP-4 could turn event contracts into a native part of the platform’s trading stack, creating a more capital-efficient model for binary outcomes, hedging, and new derivatives-like products.

Institutional capital, tokenized assets, and new licensing regimes are pulling crypto exchanges into territory long held by brokers and banks. The result is a generation of multi-asset platforms competing directly with the traditional financial system they once sat alongside.

In May 2026, tracked DEX volume across chains reached $178.0B.

A new wave of token unlocks is approaching, and several projects still have a significant portion of their supply allocated to venture capital investors. This creates additional supply-side risk, especially in a market environment with limited liquidity.

Amid institutional adoption, the growth of spot ETFs, and declining trust in fiat currencies, major investors and macro analysts continue raising their BTC price targets.

May 2026 marked a decisive rebound in crypto fundraising after the spring slowdown. Total capital raised jumped to $3.52B across 83 VC rounds, driven by several mega-rounds including Kalshi’s $1.2B Series F. The surge reflected renewed investor confidence, particularly in Prediction Markets, AI, and market-infrastructure sectors. M&A activity also spiked, anchored by Bullish’s $4.2B acquisition of Equiniti, signaling continued strategic appetite.

May marked the first meaningful stabilization across crypto trading markets after several months of declining activity. Spot volume stopped falling, Futures trading returned to growth, and Perp DEXs recorded the strongest recovery among all major trading segments. This report analyzes Spot CEX, Futures, Perp DEX trading volumes, CEX listing activity, and the relationship between listings and broader market participation.

May was not a broad risk-on month for crypto. Instead, capital continued rotating selectively across individual narratives.