This Week In Crypto – Solana, Drake, Ethereum, and Bitcoin

Gm, frens, welcome to our third news round-up for this month, and things are speeding right up.

Will memecoins pump again in 2026? Drake references BTC in his new “Iceman” album, as an Ethereum whale moves $157M worth of ETH after 9 years. Japan’s largest brokerages begin investing in crypto, Bitcoin stalls above $80K despite the CLARITY Act’s passage, and Revolut plans UK private banking for crypto investors. Finally, Zypto App marks 24 months of relentless expansion.

Let’s get to it.

Will memecoins pump again in 2026?

After a brutal collapse in 2025 that erased billions in value and crushed retail traders, memecoins, the crypto market’s most chaotic corner, is roaring back to life in 2026. Trading volumes are rising, market caps are recovering, and Solana-based memecoins are once again flooding timelines.

In the opening months of 2026, the sector added more than $8 billion back in market value, with some estimates placing the total memcoin market near $69 billion by the end of Q1. Several of the market’s biggest names posted strong gains.

Many of the tokens still attracting volume now have stronger ecosystems, deeper liquidity, and larger online communities. Some also generate meaningful transaction fee revenue through trading activity and token burns. At the same time, the market has become far more selective. Millions of tokens launched during the previous cycle disappeared almost immediately, leaving only a small group of projects with lasting traction.

Solana has become the main hub for meme token launches thanks to its low fees, fast transaction speeds, and simple launch tools like Pump.fun. By early 2026, Solana’s memecoin ecosystem had grown to roughly $6.7 billion in market value, while peak trading volumes crossed $2.5 billion.

Pump.fun has played a major role in that growth. Since launching, the platform has helped create more than 13 million tokens and generated hundreds of millions in revenue. The ease of launching tokens turned Solana into crypto’s memecoin factory almost overnight. Little wonder Solana-based tokens like BONK, WIF, POPCAT, and FARTCOIN became some of the biggest names of the latest rally.

The surge in memecoin trading also boosted activity across Solana’s broader ecosystem, driving DEX volumes to climb sharply in recent months. But the same speed that powers Solana’s memecoin economy also creates major risks. Tokens can launch in seconds, attract huge speculation within hours, and collapse just as quickly. That dynamic continues to make the sector feel more like a high-speed casino than a traditional market.

Drake references BTC in his new “Iceman” album

Global superstar Drake namedrops Bitcoin on his new album “Iceman,” released on May 15, 2026. On the track “Dust,” he identifies himself as a “BTC crypto big-timer.” The line lends fresh celebrity visibility to the leading digital asset.

The same album also references the imprisoned former FTX chief, Sam Bankman-Fried, and the exchange’s penthouse era. The verses tie Drake’s lyrics directly to one of the most prominent collapses in crypto history. The new lyric arrives as BTC consolidates well below its October 2025 all-time high above $126,000. Cultural references like Drake’s tend to coincide with periods of renewed retail attention.

For Drake, the bar continues a long pattern of using Bitcoin as a personal flex. He has previously placed multi-million dollar bets on sporting events denominated in BTC on Stake, infamously losing a six-figure sum on a Mavericks wager during a recent NBA Finals run.

Drake is not the first major artist to invoke Bitcoin. References to BTC have appeared across hip-hop, pop, and electronic music for nearly a decade. Each cycle pulls celebrity attention back to the asset.

Whether the “Iceman” name-check moves price action is doubtful. It does confirm that crypto’s biggest characters, from BTC bulls to disgraced founders, now sit comfortably inside mainstream pop lyrics.  

Ethereum whale moves $157M worth of ETH after 9 years

Ethereum whale activity increased sharply during the recent market retracement, with dormant holders returning to the network. According to Arkham, a whale that acquired 69,400 ETH during the 2015 ICO became active again after nine years. The wallet moved 69,878 ETH, worth nearly $157 million, across three newly created addresses.

The transfer may point to two possible scenarios. First, the whale may have relocated assets for security reasons following recent exploits involving dormant wallets. Second, the movement could signal preparations for future selling activity through smaller wallet distributions.

Despite the attention around the transfer, the movement itself appeared neutral for Ethereum’s market structure. The tokens had not entered exchanges at press time, meaning circulating sell-side pressure had not increased yet. At the same time, broader exchange activity still pointed toward accumulation.

Exchange Netflow turned negative, dropping to -11.9k, reflecting rising outflows from trading platforms. Negative Exchange Netflow usually indicates that buyers moved assets off exchanges and into private wallets. That shift suggested that some market participants were still accumulating ETH despite recent weakness.

Japan’s biggest brokerages to begin crypto investment

Japan’s largest online brokerages are moving into digital assets. SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities are building in-house Bitcoin and Ethereum investment trusts for retail customers.

According to Nikkei, these trusts remove that friction. Investors could gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum through brokerage accounts they already use for stocks, bonds, and funds. The product would feel closer to buying a mutual fund than trading on an exchange. 

SBI Securities plans to sell products developed by group company SBI Global Asset Management. Rakuten Securities is following a similar path through Rakuten Investment Management.

Both groups already run licensed exchanges, so the infrastructure and regulatory relationships are largely in place. The momentum reflects clearer rules ahead. In a Nikkei survey of 18 firms, 11 others, including Nomura, Daiwa and Mizuho Securities, said they would consider entering once the regulatory framework is finished.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency is driving this change. It is reportedly weighing rules that would let investment trusts and exchange-traded funds hold crypto under the Investment Trust Act.

Japan now wants to bring crypto closer to its mainstream wealth management industry.

For retail investors, that means familiar protections handled through regulated financial groups they already trust. Also, millions of people who already hold SBI or Rakuten accounts could gain exposure to Bitcoin or Ethereum without needing to sign up. 

The trade-off is real, too. Holding units in a trust means investors do not own the Bitcoin directly.

Bitcoin stalls above $80K despite CLARITY Act pass 

Bitcoin’s Thursday rally last week to $82,000, buoyed by the Senate Banking Committee’s advancement of the CLARITY Act, has stalled amid stiff overhead resistance and weakening demand. Still, analysts said that BTC’s upward momentum may increase if key conditions are met.

Data from TradingView showed BTC tested overhead resistance at $82,000, which has rejected the price since last week. Note that this is where the 200-day simple moving average (EMA) and the 200-day exponential moving average (SMA) converge, reinforcing the importance of this level.

“If Bitcoin is going to go higher, it should really break above the 200 EMA now at $82,000 and hold it. Reject again here, and I think we will get a deeper retrace, $74k-$77k levels,” analyst Sykodelic said in a post on X.

Analysts at Galaxy Trading said that the price has been trading below these moving averages since October 2025, and breaking them will be “another bullish confirmation” for Bitcoin.

The last time BTC price broke convincingly above the moving averages with strong volume was in April 2025, triggering a 48.5% rally to its current all-time high of $126,000. 

Bitcoin’s cost-basis distribution heatmap reveals another major level of resistance, sitting further up, between $84,000 and $85,400, where investors acquired roughly 1.05 million BTC. 

Analyst Sherlock said this is “one of the biggest supply clusters” that the BTC market must absorb to continue higher. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s liquidation heatmap shows heavy ask orders at $82,000-$83,000, highlighting the bears’ main line of defense.

One factor that could trigger a BTC breakout is a resurgence in institutional demand, which has faltered amid inconsistent inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Data from Farside Investors shows that spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped a five-day inflow streak totalling nearly $1.7 billion, with $269 million in outflows on May 7 as Bitcoin dipped below $80,000.

Strong and consistent inflows must return for Bitcoin to continue its recovery, Glassnode affirmed in its newsletter. Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin treasury holder, is one of the few companies consistently buying, adding 535 BTC for $43 million some weeks ago. This brought Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 818,869 BTC.

Revolut plans UK private banking for crypto investors 

Revolut reportedly plans to launch a UK private banking unit this summer with a £500,000 ($630,000) deposit threshold, a move that could deepen its appeal to crypto-focused wealth clients after fresh approvals from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The proposed arm would target mass-affluent customers sitting between retail banking and traditional private banks. It may pair leveraged products, discretionary portfolio management and private wealth advisory services with Revolut’s existing crypto stack used by more than 10 million customers.

Those FCA approvals reshape what the company can build for higher-tier UK clients. The structure should support portfolios that blend crypto with traditional assets, staking exposure, and managed solutions within a regulated, FSCS-protected environment.

The reported £500,000 threshold would target a segment that traditional private banks have walked away from. Coutts recently moved its minimum to £3 million ($3.9 million), while UBS sets its bar at £1 million ($1.3 million) in investable assets, leaving a wide gap.

Many of those clients hold meaningful crypto positions and want institutional-grade tools without leaving the Revolut ecosystem. The company is positioning the launch ahead of a potential Nasdaq listing in 2028. Reports point to a $150 billion to $200 billion valuation target.

Zypto App marks 24 months of relentless expansion 

Zypto App has spent the last 24 months expanding far beyond the boundaries of a typical crypto wallet app, building a connected ecosystem designed to bring trading, payments, spending, and utility into a single user experience.

Over that period, the app’s multichain reach has expanded to more than 20 blockchains and over 24,000 supported digital assets, reflecting a strategy focused on both breadth and usability. Zypto has built cross-chain functionality into the app, with more than 1,000,000 swap routes designed to help users move between ecosystems without relying on fragmented external tools.

The expansion has not been limited to wallet infrastructure. Zypto has continued to add layers of real-world crypto utility, including swaps, DEX access, fiat onramps and offramps, crypto cards, stablecoin support, bill pay, mobile top-ups, gift card marketplace, rewards, and cold storage integration through the Vault Key Card. By combining these tools in one environment, the company is positioning the app as a broader crypto utility ecosystem rather than a single-purpose product.

A major part of that strategy has been the growth of Zypto’s card offering. The company’s crypto card stack includes physical and virtual cards, with premium cards offering spending limits of up to $1 million per month and broad acceptance anywhere Visa is accepted. 

Zypto has also expanded its payment utility through crypto bill pay and mobile services. Its bill pay infrastructure now supports payments in more than 120 countries. In comparison, mobile top-up services reach more than 180 countries and over 800 network providers, pushing crypto use further into daily financial activity.

Alongside product growth, Zypto has continued to deepen its presence across the broader digital asset industry through partnerships and integrations. The company highlights ecosystem relationships with MoneyGram, Stellar, KuCoin Pay, Algorand, Dash, and Electroneum, and also connects infrastructure across platforms such as Uniswap, PancakeSwap, ShibaSwap, Aftermath, and Chainlink CCIP.

That combination of wallet infrastructure, cross-chain functionality, payment rails, and real-world spending tools is what increasingly sets Zypto apart in a market where many crypto apps still specialize in a single category.

Find out more here.

Closing remark

Memecoin’s rebound comes with a familiar question hanging over the market. Is this the start of a more mature memecoin cycle, or just another speculative frenzy waiting to collapse?

Parts of the crypto community read Drake’s verse as a bullish signal for Bitcoin’s cultural acceptance. The reference joins earlier nods from artists, athletes, and brands that have made the asset shorthand for status.

Despite the Ethereum whale’s large transfer, on-chain data shows no immediate sell pressure, with continued exchange outflows suggesting ongoing accumulation. The Japanese top brokerage crypto investment move reflects regulatory progress and could accelerate mainstream adoption.

For Bitcoin, a sustained breakout will likely depend on renewed institutional demand, particularly consistent inflows into spot ETFs, which have recently turned negative.

How regulators treat leveraged crypto exposure inside a regulated private bank will shape Revolut’s reach. The next twelve months and beyond could reveal how far it can spread across Europe and across the world.

By bringing wallets, swaps, spending, payments, and protection into one connected application, Zypto has spent the last two years building an ecosystem designed to make crypto more usable, more integrated, and more practical in everyday life.

There’s so much to unpack this week, so what’s your favorite?

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