NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy are in advanced discussions about a merger that would create a combined utility valued at roughly $400 billion including debt, with a structure described as primarily stock-based. A formal announcement could arrive as early as May 18, 2026, while the deal would still need FERC and multiple state approvals that analysts expect could take 12 to 24 months.

CME Group said its crypto futures and options will begin trading 24/7 on May 29, after the product line reached $3 trillion in notional volume in 2025 and is running 46% above that pace year-to-date. ICE's NYSE is also developing a tokenized securities platform designed for round-the-clock operation and stablecoin-based funding, pending regulatory approval. The moves come as CME and ICE reportedly urge US officials to rein in Hyperliquid, whose WTI-linked perpetuals have posted large volumes and sparked market-integrity concerns.

On May 14, 2026, Kraken said it is deprecating its current cross-chain provider and moving its wrapped-asset suite, starting with kBTC, to Chainlink CCIP as its exclusive cross-chain infrastructure. The exchange cited a defense-in-depth design with independent node operators, built-in rate limits, and certifications including ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2, following a reported $292 million LayerZero exploit. The rollout covers Ethereum, Ink, Unichain, and Optimism, with more networks expected in later phases.

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.

BlackRock's crypto ETFs logged roughly $653.9 million in net outflows across five trading days from May 11 to May 15, led by withdrawals from its Bitcoin and Ethereum products. IBIT recorded about $461.2 million in outflows, while ETHA and ETHB together saw around $192.7 million pulled, as Bitcoin fell below $80,000 and Ethereum traded near $2,100.

A new Manhattan federal court filing seeks to force Tether to move 344,149,759 USDT (about $344 million) that was frozen on two Tron addresses designated by OFAC as tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Plaintiffs ask the Southern District of New York to order Tether to zero the blocked wallets and reissue the same USDT amount to a wallet controlled by their counsel, arguing the issuer’s freeze powers amount to effective control of the asset.

Stellar logged 86% year-over-year growth in total developers in Q1 2026, reaching 4,400+ builders worldwide and extending a 171% expansion over three years. In the same quarter, the network surpassed $2 billion in tokenized real-world assets and processed $5.5 billion in payment volume, while XLM traded at $0.151521 at 06:57 UTC on May 17, 2026. Weekly indicators cited in the report show bearish bias from Parabolic SAR, with RSI near historically watched levels on both XLMUSD and XLMBTC.

Bitcoin has fallen below $80K after more than $100 billion was wiped from major crypto assets in under 72 hours, with traders increasingly watching for a possible $60K retest. The Federal Reserve is set to inject $26.3 billion into the financial system, beginning with a $6.5 billion operation on May 18, but a stronger DXY and rising Treasury yields could limit any boost to risk assets.