Monthly Review of May 2025

This monthly review looks at the most important cryptocurrency-related news from May. The most significant cryptocurrency news in May was related to U.S. states establishing bitcoin reserves and the popularity of Bitcoin ETFs, the advancement of cryptocurrency companies in the stock market, corporate bitcoin holdings, hacks targeting cryptocurrency actors, and Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade.

              
May in the cryptocurrency markets
May was an excellent time for cryptocurrency price movements. Among cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin drew the most attention as its price rose to a new all-time high in dollar terms during May. Bitcoin peaked on May 22 at nearly $112,000 and over €99,000. Its previous all-time high was around $109,500 at the end of January this year. May was also an excellent month for Ethereum, with its price increasing by more than 40 percent during the month. Of the other high market cap cryptocurrencies in Northcrypto’s selection, the best performers in May were the peer-to-peer lending service Aave and Quant, which specializes in blockchain interoperability, with their prices rising about 50 and 43 percent respectively.
Two U.S. states creating bitcoin reserves
May began with a historic moment for cryptocurrencies in the U.S., as for the first time, two states passed laws allowing them to establish bitcoin reserves. In practice, this means that the states can start owning bitcoin. First was New Hampshire in the northeastern U.S., followed a few days later by Arizona in the southwester U.S.. In addition to these, several other U.S. states have similar legislative proposals advancing through decision-making bodies.
Popularity of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs remains high
The popularity of the Bitcoin spot ETFs approved in January 2024 was exceptionally high in May. This popularity is considered one of the drivers behind Bitcoin’s recent price increase. A net total of approximately $5.2 billion flowed into all U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs during May. Unsurprisingly, the most popular was the ETF from the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, using the IBIT ticker, which attracted a net inflow of around $5.9 billion in May. The discrepancy between this number and the total is due to net outflows from some ETFs during the month.
Cryptocurrency companies advancing in the stock market
U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) was added to the S&P 500 stock index on May 19, becoming the first crypto sector company to be included in the world’s most well-known stock index. The S&P 500 tracks the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. Coinbase’s stock rose more than 15 percent in May following the listing announcement.
Another noteworthy piece of stock market-related news emerged from the U.S. crypto sector in May. Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar, announced at the end of May its plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker CRCL. The IPO (Initial Public Offering) would bring Circle’s shares to the broader public market for the first time.
Positive news about corporate bitcoin holdings
Several announcements about bitcoin holdings were made in May:
U.S. company Strategy bought 26,695 bitcoins, raising its total holdings to 580,250 bitcoins
U.S. video game retailer GameStop made its first purchase of 4,710 bitcoins
Japanese investment firm Metaplanet bought 2,800 bitcoins, raising its holdings to 7,800 bitcoins
U.S. medical technology company Semler Scientific bought 630 bitcoins, incmain (PSG), one of the best in the world and winner of the Champions League in late May, anreasing its holdings to 4,264 bitcoins
French football club Paris Saint-Gernounced at a U.S. Bitcoin conference that it had added bitcoin to its holdings last year
Northcrypto’s parent company GreenMerc announced a Bitcoin strategy and ownership of 6.2 bitcoins
Trump Media and Technology Group, the social media company of U.S. President Donald Trump, announced raising nearly $2.5 billion, primarily for bitcoin purchases
Hacks targeting cryptocurrency actors
Despite being added to the S&P 500 index, May wasn’t entirely positive for Coinbase, as the company announced a mid-month breach involving customer data theft. According to Coinbase, cybercriminals exploited customer service agents working outside the U.S. to gain access to some customers’ personal data. As a result, cybercriminals stole an estimated $180–400 million from Coinbase customers. Coinbase stated it would reimburse the affected users.
In addition to Coinbase, another hack occurred in May. Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) on the smart contract platform Sui, which has gained popularity this year, was hacked in late May. The attack resulted in losses exceeding $200 million for Cetus Protocol users. The exploit targeted a vulnerability in the smart contract mechanism behind Cetus Protocol’s pricing system. Most of the stolen funds were frozen by Sui network validators, which led several experienced cryptocurrency experts to criticize Sui for its centralized governance.
Ethereum successfully underwent the Pectra upgrade
Ethereum received its most significant update since the 2022 Merge upgrade on May 8, with the successful implementation of the Pectra upgrade. Ethereum’s price also saw a sharp increase after the update, rising by around 50 percent over six days. Key improvements of the Pectra upgrade included:
Wallets can temporarily function like smart contracts, improving user experience in several ways
The staking maximum was increased from 32 ethers to 2048 ethers, and starting and ending staking became easier and faster
Reduced transaction fees for Layer 2 scaling solutions and improved data handling
Various technical improvements to increase Ethereum’s speed and scalability
Summary
Many of May’s most significant cryptocurrency news stories were U.S.-focused. New Hampshire and Arizona became the first U.S. states to pass laws enabling bitcoin reserves. With similar legislation advancing in many other states, it’s nearly certain these won’t be the last, and similar laws are likely to be seen soon in more states. It will also be interesting to see which state is the first to take the next step by actually acquiring bitcoin.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies also advanced in May within traditional U.S. investment markets. The popularity of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs, especially that of BlackRock, was exceptionally high. Since institutional players primarily invest in bitcoin via ETFs, this reflects growing institutional interest. The progress of Coinbase and Circle in the stock market can be seen as major steps in the broader adoption of cryptocurrencies in mainstream investing.
Corporate bitcoin holdings have likely been the most widely reported topic in the crypto market this year, and May was no exception. Even more news emerged about the topic, showing businesses’ growing interest in Bitcoin. The rest of the year will show whether this trend continues to accelerate and whether the increased demand from businesses becomes even more visible in the price movements of Bitcoin.
Negative cryptocurrency news in May focused on the Coinbase and Sui-related hacks. In hindsight, both incidents could likely have been prevented, providing valuable lessons for the industry. Going forward, crypto sector actors will likely pay more attention to both human-related risks and technical vulnerabilities in smart contracts.
Ethereum received a significant upgrade in May with the Pectra upgrade, enhancing user experience, scalability, and staking flexibility. The upgrade was also reflected in the price of Ethereum, which saw strong gains in May. It will be interesting to see whether the price of Ethereum continues toward its 2021 all-time high, just as Bitcoin did last year.

Ville Viitaharju
Cryptocurrency specialist