Kevin Warsh is set to be sworn in at the White House on May 22, 2026, after the Senate confirmed him 54-45 on May 13 to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair. The article says markets are watching for Warsh's first comments on rates and the balance sheet, viewing them as a potential catalyst for weekend crypto trading.

Dogecoin traded around $0.105 after rising about 2% in 24 hours, as on-chain metrics showed large holders accumulating 525 million DOGE over the past 96 hours. The buying window coincided with claims about SpaceX moving toward an IPO, while traders watched $0.11–$0.12 as a key resistance zone and $0.095 as nearby support.

Polymarket suffered an exploit on Polygon targeting its UMA CTF Adapter smart contract, with losses reported near $600,000. On-chain investigator ZachXBT flagged the incident and linked activity to wallet 0x8F98075db5d6C620e8D420A8c516E2F2059d9B91, while users were warned to pause platform activity. On-chain data showed 5,000 $POL being removed roughly every 30 seconds during the drain phase.

A large Deribit block trade sold 1.5 million XRP call contracts and 1.5 million put contracts at the $1.40 strike, taking in $224,500 in premium and positioning for XRP to stay near that level through June 26. The structure is described as a short-strangle that can encourage spot-price "pinning" via dealer hedging, while any strong catalyst before expiry could push price away from $1.40 and pressure the trade.

Hester Peirce, the SEC commissioner widely known in crypto as "Crypto Mom," is set to depart the agency and begin as an associate professor at Regent University School of Law in November 2026. Regent University announced the hire on May 19, and Peirce's move follows her March 2025 statement that she would not seek another nomination after her term expired in June 2025. Her planned exit comes as key crypto rule areas—including stablecoins, tokenization, and exchange registration—remain unsettled.

CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno says Bitcoin's current setup resembles March 2022, with sentiment indicators leaning bearish despite limited short-term upside potential. BTC previously met resistance near the 200-day moving average around $82,000 and pulled back toward $76,000, while U.S. spot ETFs reportedly turned net sellers by about 4,000 BTC after buying up to 64,000 BTC in the prior 30 days.

XRP has remained capped below $1.40 even as derivatives activity accelerates, with futures volume staying above $2 billion alongside about $400 million in spot volume. CME-listed XRP futures have reached $63 billion in notional volume within their first year, totaling 1.32 million contracts representing 28.6 billion XRP as of mid-May. Traders are watching whether a move above $1.50 can shift the downtrend narrative or keep price stuck in consolidation.

On May 21, SpaceX's pre-IPO filing disclosed 18,712 BTC valued at $1.45 billion, as Hyperliquid's fully diluted valuation climbed to $54 billion and its HYPE token rose 20%. Separately, South Korean funeral firm Bumo Sarang reportedly lost $33 million in customer prepaid funds after a 2x leveraged bet on the BitMine ETF turned against it.

Japan plans a broad crypto policy overhaul, including a June 1 framework that permits foreign trust-type stablecoins to operate as regulated electronic payment instruments. Policymakers are also discussing replacing the current top 55% treatment of many crypto gains with a flat 20% rate, a shift that would likely require reclassifying major tokens under the FIEA and could enable spot and derivatives ETFs run by licensed operators.