ECB's Lagarde Rejects Euro Stablecoin In Favor of Digital Euro

ECB President Christine Lagarde used remarks in Spain to reject the idea that euro stablecoins are the right answer to Europe’s monetary ambitions, even as the global market has grown past $317 billion. She said the euro area should not copy the US model now taking shape.

Lagarde argued that stablecoins may create short-term demand for euro safe assets, but called their structural weaknesses too serious to ignore. She highlighted two main dangers: sudden redemption runs that threaten stability, and deposit migration from banks that could weaken credit creation and monetary policy transmission.

That stance drew immediate pushback from industry executives, who warned Europe is yielding onchain payments to dollar-linked rivals just as Washington hardens its lead. Critics said regulation invited private builders into the market, only for the ECB to signal that fully compliant euro stablecoins still lack political backing.

Lagarde said Europe already knows its destination and should focus instead on deeper capital-market integration, stronger shared safe assets, and digital euro infrastructure built around open standards. The message was blunt: monetary sovereignty will not be defended by copying stablecoins, but by building settlement rails on Europe’s own terms.

Sen. Warren Requests Meta Stablecoin Details By May 20

Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a formal letter to Mark Zuckerberg requesting full transparency regarding Meta’s upcoming digital asset partnerships. This inquiry aims to protect consumer privacy and maintain financial stability before the Senate holds a final vote on the high stakes Clarity Act within the next few months.

The tech giant recently launched creator payouts in USDC and reportedly plans broader integration for its 3.5 billion users later this year. Warren wants detailed answers by May 20 concerning any arrangements with third party issuers. These questions address fears that private currencies could undermine the global payments infrastructure.

LayerZero Admits 1-of-1 Mistake in Kelp's $292 Million Hack

LayerZero Labs issued a public apology for allowing its verification infrastructure to secure high value assets through a vulnerable configuration. The firm acknowledged failing to police the specific setup that North Korean hackers exploited to drain $292 million from the Kelp protocol during the recent market breach.

Management announced a permanent end to single verifier services while migrating all default pathways to a more secure multi signer model. This adjustment follows the mass migration of $700 million in tokenized assets to competitors like Chainlink. Security teams also rotated internal wallets after identifying unauthorized trades.

Kraken Parent Payward Seeks National Bank Charter Approval

Payward, Kraken’s parent, filed for a national trust bank charter with the OCC to expand federally regulated custody for institutions. The proposed trust would complement Kraken Financial, its Wyoming-chartered bank. Management cast the filing as another pillar in a broader regulated banking strategy for digital assets.

The application arrives as Kraken pushes deeper into infrastructure, following a $600 million agreement for Reap Technologies and a $550 million Bitnomial deal. It also follows a confidential IPO filing. Federal approval would strengthen Kraken’s bid to serve institutions nationwide under one charter more directly.

Data of the Day

Major trading platforms including Binance and Gemini recorded a combined outflow of 100,000 Bitcoin valued at over $8 billion recently. This synchronized decline pushed exchange reserves to their lowest levels since 2023 as supply on centralized venues continues to shrink. Large investors are moving tokens into private wallets.

Long term accumulators increased their holdings by 60% over two weeks while the market recovered toward $80,000. This trend indicates stronger buying activity from dedicated holders rather than speculative retail traders. Declining balances on desks could amplify price reactions if spot demand returns to the market.

More Breaking News

• A Manhattan judge unblocked 30,766 ether previously frozen inside Arbitrum for transfer to Aave while terrorism judgment creditors maintain their legal claim to the stolen digital assets.
• Swiss activists dropped their constitutional initiative to force the national bank to hold Bitcoin reserves after gathering only half of the required 100,000 signatures for national voting.
• Crypto security firm CertiK reported that violent physical assaults known as wrench attacks resulted in $101 million in total losses during the first four months of 2026.
• Police in New South Wales seized 52.3 Bitcoin worth over $4.2 million during Ingleburn raids targeting an alleged darknet marketplace operator facing money laundering and drug charges.
• The South Korean National Assembly passed an amendment requiring local businesses to register with the government before transferring cryptocurrency assets to any foreign entities or overseas accounts.
• Michael Saylor signaled that Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy will resume purchasing BTC this week following an earnings call where executives discussed potential future asset dividend payments.
• ZachXBT posted a $10,000 bounty for information regarding the founder of project LAB following allegations of massive market manipulation on several major centralized crypto exchanges.
• Revolut users reported a technical glitch where Bitcoin prices briefly displayed as 2 cents before the platform corrected the error and restored accurate market data for traders.
• Coinbase restored full trading functionality across its mobile applications after an Amazon Web Services outage in Northern Virginia forced the exchange to place its markets in cancel-only.

For the latest updates on digital asset markets, follow us on X @Datawalletcom.