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Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, has stepped down from his role at Polygon but suggests he will stay active in the crypto industry in some capacity.

His resignation drew reactions across Polygon and the wider crypto community, with several seeing it as a loss for Polygon, which has been tied to several major developments in recent months.

Bjelic winds down ‘day-to-day involvement’

“After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs,” Bjelic said in a May 23 X post.

“I’ll always be cheering from the sidelines and supporting however and whenever I can,” Bjelic added.

“As projects evolve and mature, it is natural for visions to evolve, and sometimes diverge. With this in mind, I can no longer contribute to Polygon to the best of my abilities.”

Fellow Polygon co-founder, Sandeep Nailwal, commended Bjelic’s contributions over the years, adding that Bjelic has always been “a force behind so much of what makes Polygon what it is today.”

Bjelic said that he remains “as passionate as ever” about crypto, and suggested he will stay active in the crypto industry.

“You will likely still see me around,” Bjelic said.

Aave-chan Initiative founder Marc Zella said it was a “Big L for Polygon.” Polygon’s head of marketing Leon Stern said the company is going to miss Bjelic. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for Polygon, and best of luck,” Stern said. Meanwhile, Skale Network CEO Jack O’Holleran said Bjelic should “be very proud” of all he has accomplished at Polygon and is excited to see what he does next.

Over the past two years, two of Polygon Labs’ early founders, Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun, also stepped away from the company.

Arjun’s departure coincided with the Polygon spin-off Avail, a Web3 data availability and consensus layer, becoming an independent entity, with Arjun taking the lead.

Bjelic has yet to reveal his next plans.

Related: Crypto market cycle permanently shifted — Polygon founder

Bjelic’s resignation follows several major announcements tied to Polygon this year.

On March 25, Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform DigiShares announced it would bring tokenized real estate trading to Polygon with the launch of RealEstate.Exchange, also known as REX.

Just two months before, on Jan. 16, Jio Platforms, an Indian mobile network operator owned by Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, partnered with Polygon Labs to upgrade some of its existing offerings with Web3 and blockchain capabilities.

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Key takeaways:

• Bitcoin bulls aim to push BTC above $110,000 by May 30 to capitalize on $4.8 billion in call options.

• Spot BTC ETF inflows and weak put positioning give bulls a strong edge in the monthly expiry.

Bitcoin (BTC) is approaching its largest monthly options expiry of 2025, with total exposure reaching $13.8 billion. This event gives bulls a chance to secure Bitcoin’s price above $110,000, as bears were caught off guard by a 25% rally over the past 30 days.

The open interest in Bitcoin put (sell) options stands at $6.5 billion, but 95% of these positions are set below $109,000. Therefore, if Bitcoin’s price holds near current levels, less than $350 million worth of put options will remain relevant at expiry.

Conversely, the open interest in Bitcoin call (buy) options up to $109,000 totals $3.8 billion. Still, this imbalance does not mean every call option holder was betting on Bitcoin’s rise. Some traders may have sold these options as a way to hedge their exposure above certain price levels.

Among the most significant option strategies traded at Deribit in the past two weeks is the “short call,” which is often used by investors seeking a fixed-income return as long as Bitcoin’s price stays above a particular threshold. Similarly, the “bull call spread” strategy hedges against downside risk by sacrificing gains above a certain price.

Strong Bitcoin ETF inflows reduce the odds of further price decline

If Bitcoin maintains the $109,000 level, most bullish strategies should deliver positive results in the May options expiry. However, bears may try to influence BTC futures markets to limit their losses as the expiry date approaches.

The total open interest in Bitcoin futures is currently $79 billion, showing strong demand for short (sell) positions. Still, this strategy could backfire if Bitcoin rises above $110,000, as bears might be forced to close their positions.

Net inflows of $1.9 billion into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) between May 20 and May 22 indicate that demand above $105,000 remains robust. Ultimately, bears’ main hope lies in a weaker macroeconomic environment, which could increase risk aversion and reduce demand for Bitcoin.

Related: Bitcoin hits new highs in the absence of ‘unhealthy’ leverage use — Will the rally continue?

Bitcoin bulls aim for $110,000 by May 30

Below are four likely scenarios based on current price trends. These outcomes estimate theoretical profits based on open interest imbalances and do not account for complex strategies.

• Between $102k and $105k: $2.75 billion in calls (buy) vs. $900 million in puts (sell). The net result favors the call instruments by $1.85 billion.

• Between $105k and $107k: $3.3 billion calls vs. $650 million puts, favoring calls by $2.65 billion.

• Between $107k and $110k: $3.7 billion calls vs. $350 million puts, favoring calls by $3.35 billion.

• Between $110k and $114k: $4.8 billion calls vs. $120 million puts, favoring calls by $4.7 billion.

Bulls can maximize their gains by driving BTC above $110,000, which could help set a new all-time high. However, the ongoing bullish momentum depends on developments in the ongoing tariff war, which has been a key focus in recent weeks.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

The current structure of capital markets is failing to serve a broad base of investors, according to Akshay BD, non-chief marketing officer at the Solana Foundation. During a panel at the Accelerate 2025 conference, Akshay argued that blockchain technology could help address these shortcomings, claiming that Solana could “make everyone an investor or a dreamer over time.”

Akshay noted growing uncertainty among investors, citing concerns from investment managers who report heightened anxiety among clients. “You have low bond yields, you have asset price bubbles, and people don’t really know how the traditional asset allocation model works anymore,” he said. The 60-40 portfolio hasn’t delivered consistent returns in a long time.”

He attributed some of this tension to a widening gap between income earned through wages and wealth accumulated through asset ownership. Retail investors, he added, are often locked out of private markets, which are typically accessible only to accredited investors — a dynamic that may be contributing to overheated public markets.

Akshay warned that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence could further deepen existing economic divides. “The question is, which way do we go?” he asked. “Is it […] universal basic income, where we’re essentially creating a welfare economy to support those unable to keep jobs or own assets? Or is it what we propose, universal basic ownership, where everybody with a mobile phone can own assets?”

He outlined a vision in which crypto infrastructure enables broader asset ownership, allowing individuals to invest in everything from energy companies to local coffee shops through tokenization. In this model, acquiring an ownership stake could be as easy as scanning a QR code.

In the Solana ecosystem, the “Non-Chief Marketing Officer” (nCMO) is a role within the Solana Foundation that focuses on supporting the Solana community’s marketing efforts.

Related: Fractionalization of real world assets: Is this the holy grail of blockchain tech?

Markets remain above historical averages

Public equity markets in the US have been trading above their historical valuation norms for a long time. According to data from market analytics firm Multpl, the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has consistently remained above 19.6 since December 2018, higher than the index’s historical average P/E ratio of around 16.1 and suggesting that investors have been willing to pay a premium for earnings in recent years.

Zooming out, the S&P 500’s average valuation has been gradually rising for decades, driven by factors such as low interest rates, growing corporate gains, and investor optimism about technology. However, high valuations have also coincided with periods of market corrections, like the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

According to Akshay, a way to combat this overheating is to open up certain markets to retail investors, a lofty goal that some sectors of crypto, like RWA tokenization, aim to facilitate. Akshay noted that some entrepreneurs had tried this before, but the available technology didn’t support this view. “[Crypto] starts with the game, and very quickly becomes profound.”

“What it gives you is the ability for you to financialize all the productive assets in an economy, so you can have anybody who participates in that economy be an owner of that economy,” he said.

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Blockchain privacy tools such as zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs will become increasingly necessary to protect online user data in the age of artificial intelligence, according to Eran Barak, CEO of Shielded Technologies, the developer behind the Midnight privacy chain.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at Consensus 2025, Barak said corporate service providers and centralized servers are expected to become honeypots for AI-assisted hackers and malicious actors looking to steal valuable data, including private keys, financial metadata, medical records, and government documents.

Hackers targeting centralized entities have a “massive” return on investment (ROI) and are incentivized to hack centralized targets that contain millions of valuable records, the CEO told Cointelegraph. Barak added that ZK-proofs, a way of verifying onchain data without revealing it, solve this problem:

“Blockchain is going to improve cybersecurity around the world, because, for a hacker to get to actual data, they need to hack individual wallets, but their ROI would be one record instead of millions — not worth it. They are going to go elsewhere.”

Privacy solutions have become a major focus for many Web3 developers, as the need to shield metadata from AI algorithms grows and large institutions demand privacy tools to protect sensitive data as a prerequisite to bringing their business operations onchain.

Related: EU to ban anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins by 2027

Cardano’s Hoskinson teases multichain airdrop

Speaking at Consensus 2025, Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson announced an upcoming Midnight token airdrop for holders of Avax (AVAX), XRP (XRP), Bitcoin (BTC), Brave Attention Token (BAT), and others. Midnight is a partner chain of the Cardano network.

Hoskinson the multichain airdrop will unite the industry through cooperative tokenomics and will promote collaboration. “We have a chance to come together again, and I think in this divisive era, the industry absolutely needs that.”

Barak also told Cointelegraph that Midnight would invite interested users across the entire Web3 ecosystem to mine the Midnight token following the initial multichain airdrop.

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Semler Scientific, a medical device company, purchased of $50 million worth of Bitcoin between May 13 and May 22, bringing the market value of the company’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings to $474.4 million, keeping it within the top 13 of BTC Treasury companies.

According to a May 23 disclosure, Semler bought a total of 455 BTC for an average purchase price of $109,801. To buy the Bitcoin, Semler Scientific used proceeds from an at-the-market stock offering program. So far, the company has sold roughly 3 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $115 million.

Semler Scientific’s shares have fallen 1.36% on the same day as the disclosure, though the decrease in its share price is largely in line with the Nasdaq’s performance. That index, which follows top tech stocks, is down 1% on the day.

In its Q1 2025 earnings report released on May 13, the company revealed a 44% drop in revenue year-over-year. Despite the claimed success of its Bitcoin treasury plan, Semler Scientific’s shares have dropped 18% in 2025, according to Google Finance.

Bitcoin treasury companies, or companies that traditionally sell equity or issue debt to buy BTC, had been drawing the interest of investors looking for exposure to Bitcoin price fluctuations.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy debuted its BTC reserve in August 2020, when it started purchasing Bitcoin. Bitcoin is up 181.6% year to date, while Semler Scientific shares rose 53% since announcing the BTC approach in May 2024.

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