Thousands gathered in the convention center of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas to hear industry leaders, lawmakers, and charismatic figures from around the world discuss their views on Bitcoin, and, to a lesser extent, other cryptocurrencies. 

By far the biggest draw of the event was US Vice President JD Vance, who traveled to Nevada to attend a reported $1 million-per-head fundraiser ahead of his appearance at the Bitcoin (BTC) conference. Vance, who has largely taken second chair to President Donald Trump in terms of crypto policies, called on Bitcoiners to get more involved in politics, suggesting they could potentially influence the 2026 midterm elections in the United States.

The vice president was not the only speaker at the event to include “freedom” in his messaging. Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor mentioned the word no fewer than three times during his “21 Ways to Wealth” speech, and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was released from prison roughly four months ago after receiving a pardon from Trump, focused on the subject when addressing supporters.

“So long as we can agree that we deserve freedom and that decentralization is how we secure it, then we can be united, we can have each other’s backs, just like you had mine,” said Ulbricht, referring to Bitcoiners, whom he credited for helping with his release.

Emphasis on Bitcoin and crypto policy

As with many US-based crypto events since Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference during his presidential campaign, many speakers focused on regulation, policies, and laws as they could impact investors’ bottom lines. 

Hester Peirce, one of the leading crypto advocates at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, spoke on the future of the agency under the leadership of Chair Paul Atkins. Lawmakers from the US Congress, including Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representatives Bryan Steil, Byron Donalds, and Tom Emmer, spoke on panels about the efforts to pass legislation for a digital asset market structure and payment stablecoins.

“As we get closer and closer to two key pieces of legislation, both market structure and stablecoins, I wanted to come out and make sure the people understand how transformative these pieces of legislation will be,” Steil told Cointelegraph on why he spoke at the event. 

Related: Eric Adams calls for Bitcoin bond in NYC, end to state BitLicense

Bo Hines and David Sacks, presidential advisers on crypto, represented the current administration and discussed Trump’s views on Bitcoin at the event. Amid the government looking at ways to establish a national BTC stockpile, Sacks suggested there was a “budget-neutral” way for the US to acquire more of the cryptocurrency.

Representatives from other countries, including the mayor of Panama City, Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, and the head of Pakistan’s crypto council each made announcements related to adoption. Pakistan’s government is moving toward establishing its own BTC reserve; Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi proposed a Bitcoin-friendlier approach for ships passing through the country’s canal; and Farage said his party would begin accepting crypto donations in preparation for the next UK general election.

“No wonder so many people are going for Bitcoin and going for crypto — because they can’t close you down, and that is the ultimate freedom,” Farage said.

Since the start of the conference on May 27, the price of Bitcoin has fallen roughly 5% to $104,745 at the time of publication from more than $110,000.

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Xend Finance, a decentralized finance project backed by Binance and Google, is launching a platform in Africa to offer tokenized access to global real estate and stock markets.

Partners in the launch include Risevest, a digital wealth management platform that offers individual and institutional investors exposure to global markets. The company recently acquired a broker-dealer license in the United States.

According to a May 30 announcement, the new platform will allow users to invest in international real estate and stock markets by purchasing fractional shares via tokenization. The entry barrier is low, starting at $5 when investors use stablecoins such as USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC).

“This partnership with Xend Finance allows us to offer fractional, dollar-based assets like real estate and US stocks in a seamless, blockchain-powered format,” Risevest CEO Eke Urum said in a statement. “It’s a game-changer for young Africans looking to build wealth securely, transparently, and without barriers.”

The platform’s launch comes as Web3 projects are increasingly looking at Africa as a key market for real-world tokenization (RWA).

Some of the ongoing RWA projects on the continent are LIDO NATION’s attempt to tokenize and verify goods, Empowa using the Cardano blockchain to tokenize financial instruments in Kenya, and the development of the Africa Tokenization Council. 

Xend Finance, founded in 2019 and based in Nigeria, built its DeFi platform on the BNB Smart Chain.

Related: How African innovators are using blockchain to solve real problems

Crypto in Africa: a growing market

According to Chainalysis’s 2024 Geography of Crypto Report, Nigeria, where both Xend Finance and Risevest are based, ranks No. 2 out of all countries in crypto adoption. Other Sub-Saharan countries — Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa — made the top 30.

The report shows that Africans are adopting crypto for a variety of reasons, including business payments, as a hedge against inflation, and for smaller transactions. The continent may benefit from crypto’s practical use cases.

Stablecoins, especially those pegged to a major fiat currency like the US dollar, might be one such use case. Stablecoins act as a hedge against inflation and allow businesses to transact with other businesses and even customers at a lower cost. Stablecoins account for 43% of all crypto volume in Sub-Saharan Africa.

RWA tokenization is another use case that may spur crypto adoption in Africa, allowing individuals to access the global financial system.

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Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin demand is driven by investors’ macroeconomic fears, not just spot BTC ETF netflows.

• Global bond market volatility is boosting Bitcoin’s safe-haven appeal, with interest rate cuts and rising inflation triggering a shift into risk assets.

Crypto analysts say investors’ interest in Bitcoin (BTC) is increasingly tied to its role as a hedge against geopolitical and financial instability.

In a recent X post, independent market analyst Adam noted that the primary driver for Bitcoin’s upside is not institutional investors purchasing of the spot BTC ETFs, but the broader macroeconomic shifts sparked by rising inflation, bond market volatility, and the uncertainty caused by economic policies like US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Adam highlighted that Bitcoin has rallied over 50% since Q1, coinciding with the imposition of new tariffs. This performance has reinforced the view of Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset amid intensifying geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. Analysts like Capital Flows argue that the current bull case is fundamentally rooted in macroeconomic conditions rather than ETF flows.

Related: Bitcoin eyes ‘healthy pause’ around $106K before price picks up steam

Macro tailwinds impact Bitcoin demand

Global macro researcher Capital Flows pointed out that the ongoing BTC rally has mirrored a significant rise in credit expansion and a shift in bond market dynamics. Central banks, including the European Central Bank (ECB), have started to cut rates despite rising inflation in segments like eurozone services. While the ECB’s policy may reflect concerns over broader economic softness, markets are interpreting these moves differently.

For instance, 30-year interest rate swaps in Europe have risen, suggesting higher nominal growth and inflation expectations. Cointelegraph reported that the US long-term Treasury yields have also surged — 30-year rates touched 5.15% in May, while the 10-year rate stood at 4.48%. This “bear steepening” of the yield curve typically indicates that markets are pricing in more vigorous economic activity, not recession.

In Japan, bond market stress is also emerging. The 30-year government bond yield recently hit 3.185%, amid concerns over Japan’s high debt-to-GDP ratio. Combined with the US debt outlook and continued fiscal expansion, investors are increasingly questioning the long-term viability of traditional sovereign debt as a safe store of value.

Bitcoin, by contrast, is gaining attention as a non-sovereign, deflationary asset. In the US, easy financial conditions, captured by the National Financial Conditions Index, have encouraged risk-taking, benefiting Bitcoin. Rising debt levels and the potential for renewed Federal Reserve balance sheet expansion further support the case for crypto assets. 

Thus, these factors underscore a broader macro narrative: Bitcoin is emerging as a hedge not only against inflation and currency debasement but also against instability in sovereign debt markets. This trend, coupled with a projected $420 billion in investment inflows, may continue to drive capital into BTC through the current cycle.

Related: Bitcoin bull market ‘great validator’ comes as James Wynn loses $100M

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The MEXC crypto exchange observed a 200% quarter-over-quarter surge in fraudulent trading activity between January and March 2025, it said in its quarterly report.

According to the exchange, 80,057 organized fraud attempts from over 3,000 fraud syndicates were identified in Q1. The fraudulent activity included market manipulation, wash trading, and automated trading bots exploiting users through “unfair” trading execution.

MEXC said that the rise in fraud was most pronounced in India, with the exchange flagging nearly 27,000 accounts for suspicious activity, followed by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region and Indonesia, which had 6,404 and 5,603 accounts flagged, respectively.

Tracy Jin, chief operating officer at MEXC, said the fraudulent activity was fueled by a steady stream of unsuspecting victims funneled through social engineering scams. Jin added:

“While 2021 was marked by DeFi exploits, 2025 is increasingly characterized by socially engineered market manipulation. We have observed a growing number of so-called ‘educational’ trading groups that appear to be coordinated efforts to mislead users.”

A lack of education about cryptocurrencies and trading was the root cause of the increase in fraud, with many new users in these countries entering markets before understanding common scams and financial engineering pitfalls targeting crypto users, MEXC said.

The recent findings from the exchange highlight the need for education and awareness of common scams targeting crypto users to avoid falling prey to malicious actors.

Related: Industry exec sounds alarm on Ledger phishing letter delivered by USPS

Social engineering attacks amplify in the first half of 2025

In April 2025, onchain detective ZackXBT revealed incident details about an elderly individual who lost $330 million in Bitcoin (BTC) in a social engineering scam.

According to a later update from ZackXBT, the Binance Security team and other blockchain security firms helped freeze $7 million of the $330 million.

Crypto exchange Coinbase disclosed a data breach and subsequent ransom attempt, potentially impacting up to 70,000 customers of the exchange, in May 2025.

The threat actors made off with customer identification data, including names, addresses, and telephone numbers, but no private keys or user funds were compromised during the data breach.

However, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington warned that the data breach likely put investors in physical danger by revealing their contact information.

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