The Daily: Metaplanet ramps up bitcoin buys as Strategy slows down, global Ethereum funds see best inflow run since 2024, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.I hope you had a good weekend, folks. Bitcoin is hovering at a psychological and technical pivot point that could "make or break" the next bull run, according to BTC Markets crypto analyst Rachael Lucas, who argues momentum is starting to wane, although the longer-term outlook remains optimistic.In today's newsletter, Metaplanet ramps up its bitcoin buys as Strategy slows down, Ethereum investment products witness their strongest inflow run since 2024, Consensys leads a $425 million private placement for SharpLink's ETH treasury plans, and more.Meanwhile, we take a look at the 47 key crypto hires, moves, and exits in May.Let's get started.Metaplanet ramps up bitcoin buys as Strategy slows downMetaplanet ramped up its bitcoin buying, announcing a fresh 1,088 BTC purchase for $117.5 million, outpacing its prior set of acquisitions and pushing its total holdings to 8,888 BTC ($928 million).The Japanese investment firm has now acquired 7,126 BTC in 2025 alone and is accelerating fast toward its original 10,000 BTC year-end goal.Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has cited Strategy's bitcoin plan and co-founder Michael Saylor as key inspirations for the company's treasury adoption.Strategy's pace of bitcoin buys is slowing — it added just 705 BTC for $75.1 million last week — down sharply from 4,020 BTC the week prior and one of its lowest this year.Analysts at K33 attribute this to a sharp decline in MSTR's premium to bitcoin holdings — potentially forcing the firm into more moderate at-the-market raises — as well as the plethora of new treasury initiatives in the bitcoin accumulation race.Nevertheless, Strategy is already way ahead of the competition with total holdings of 580,955 BTC — worth over $60 billion — equivalent to around 2.8% of bitcoin's total 21 million supply.Ethereum investment products see strongest inflow run since 2024Global crypto investment products added another $286 million worth of net inflows for the seventh consecutive week, according to asset manager CoinShares.Ethereum-based funds led the pack, adding $321 million to a six-week streak totaling $1.2 billion — their strongest run since December 2024 — amid a "decisive improvement in sentiment," Head of Research James Butterfill said.Meanwhile, the usually dominant Bitcoin-based funds slumped to $8 million in net weekly outflows globally as a 34-day positive run for BlackRock's IBIT came to an end.Regional interest widened beyond the U.S., with record weekly inflows of $54.8 million in Hong Kong.Consensys leads $425M private placement for SharpLink's ETH treasury plansConsensys led a $425 million private placement to support SharpLink's aim to build the largest Ethereum treasury among publicly traded firms.SharpLink plans to use the funds to acquire ETH as a reserve asset and engage in staking and DeFi, partnering with ParaFi and Galaxy for asset management.Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin joined SharpLink's board as chairman following the deal.However, SharpLink's stock (SBET) is down over 37% on Monday following the announcement, with a market cap of $34 million.ZachXBT flags suspicious $11.5M outflows from BitoProOnchain sleuth ZachXBT flagged $11.5 million in suspicious outflows from Taiwan-based crypto exchange BitoPro's hot wallets across multiple blockchains, exposing an apparent unreported exploit last month.BitoPro later confirmed the hack, attributing it to a wallet system upgrade and claiming no user funds were affected.However, BitoPro waited 25 days before acknowledging the breach, only issuing a statement after ZachXBT's findings went public.The stolen assets were funneled through Tornado Cash, bridged to Bitcoin via Thorchain, and deposited to Wasabi — mirroring laundering tactics used in the record $1.4 billion Bybit hack.Stablecoin supply surpasses $250 billionThe stablecoin market cap has surpassed $250 billion for the first time, led by USDT ($153 billion) and USDC ($61 billion) amid rising DeFi use and clearer U.S. regulations on the horizon.Backed by President Trump, the U.S. Senate recently advanced the GENIUS Act to create legal frameworks for dollar-pegged stablecoins.Meanwhile, the total volume on DEXs, largely denominated in stablecoins, hit a record 25% share of global spot trading compared to centralized exchanges.In the next 24 hoursEurozone CPI inflation data are released at 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday.U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will speak at 1 p.m.EigenLayer is set for a token unlock.Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5/4 and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.