Current Bitcoin Price: $8230 (as of 8:10 AM PST)

The crypto market is down a few percent over the last 24 hours, with Binance Coin (BNB, #18) as the only top-20 coin in the green. It’s not clear why the market hasn’t been performing too well over the last few weeks, but it’s hard to treat any theories as more than just speculation.

In terms of news, there’s another Coinbase story, another Verge (XVG, #31) exploit, and another Waltonchain (WTC, #51) partnership.

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 22nd May 2018

Coinbase looks to acquire US banking license

As one of the world’s favorite fiat exchanges, Coinbase receives no shortage of the spotlight on this newsletter. According to the Wall Street Journal, Coinbase recently spoke to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about obtaining a federal bank charter.

The move would allow Coinbase to work with just one federal regulator (as opposed to multiple) and offer more options to clients, both regular and institutional, especially with regard to the management of fiat funds.

Hackers find exploit to steal Verge (again)

Last month hackers found an exploit in the Verge cryptocurrency, allowing them to steal over 250,000 XVG. This month, the same glitch has allowed hackers to steal an estimated 35 million XVGs, worth over $1.5 million.

The exploit allows hackers to mine blocks 1 second apart using a scrypt algorithm.

Waltonchain appointed consultant of Huobi Business School

Waltonchain, which we recently introduced as a major supply chain coin, has announced yet another partnership in Asia, this time with Huobi Business School.

They will serve as a consultant for the school, which is a subsidiary of Huobi.com — the world’s 4th largest cryptocurrency exchange.