During a speech Sunday (May 31) in Croatia, Waller said the global spread of stablecoins could increase the influence of U.S. central bank policy.

“Countries that adopt it, it’s like a fixed exchange rate system,” said Waller, whose comments were reported by Bloomberg News. “You are going to import U.S. monetary costs, so it’s broadening the reach of U.S. monetary policy in countries that use more stablecoins.”

Waller made similar remarks last year, the report added, when he argued that he supports stablecoins as they are likely to help the U.S. dollar’s role as a reserve currency, while also calling for clear guidelines around the tokens.

The report added that Waller also criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), arguing there’s nothing that “requires a CBDC and only a CBDC to fix” while also calling them a “solution in search of a problem.”

That’s why “almost every major central bank in the world has just stopped” pushing for CBDCs, Waller said. “They just can’t find a reason for this.”

Waller added that “only the ECB and the Chinese” are pursuing CBDCs, speaking during a panel led by incoming European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President Boris Vujcic.

“Two banks, and nobody in China uses the thing anyway — they like WhatsApp and Alipay, they don’t even use the stupid thing,” he said.

Vujcic pushed back against one of Waller’s claims, the report added, pointing out that there were “21 western central banks” in the euro area that “have decided to go with the CBDC.”

As Bloomberg noted, officials in Europe including ECB President Christine Lagarde have been critical of stablecoins. In a speech earlier this month, Lagarde said that even a euro-denominated version of the stablecoin would place financial stability and monetary-policy transmission at risk.

In other stablecoin news, PYMNTS wrote last week about recent developments showing that the technology around these coins is working as planned. Now, that report argued, the digital dollar space is heading to a more difficult phase, one measured by whether businesses and consumers can use these assets without added friction, complexity or cost.

“The first challenge was proving that value can move on chain,” PYMNTS wrote. “The next challenge is figuring out how that value becomes economically useful once it moves off chain.”

Futures Open Interest Across Exchanges

Total exchange BTC futures open interest stands at roughly $42.6 billion, down sharply from the $90 billion-plus peak reached in early October 2025 when bitcoin traded a hair above $126,000.

Binance leads all venues with 141,100 BTC ($10.40 billion) in futures open interest, accounting for 19.14% of the market, coinglass.com logs show. CME Group holds second position at 102,330 BTC ($7.55 billion), or 13.88% of the total, signaling that institutional participation through regulated futures remains significant even as spot prices have pulled back.

Gate holds 65,620 BTC ($4.84 billion, 8.9%), Bybit carries 63,860 BTC ($4.71 billion, 8.66%), and MEXC shows 75,980 BTC ($5.60 billion, 10.3%). OKX sits at 44,310 BTC ($3.27 billion, 6%), while the decentralized perps exchange Hyperliquid holds 29,730 BTC ($2.19 billion, 4.03%).

24-hour OI changes worth noting:

• Bybit dropped 0.69% over 24 hours, the most of any top exchange
• BingX fell 44.18% in 24-hour OI, a significant flush
• Gate gained 2.08%, and OKX added 0.63%

The OI-to-24-hour volume ratio for Kucoin reads 9.57, the highest on the tape today, which points to relatively thin volume against its open position stack.

Bitcoin Options Open Interest

Total BTC options open interest sits near $40 billion, per Coinglass data, a steep pullback from the $65 billion-plus highs logged in late November 2025.

Calls dominate at 59.25% of total options OI, representing 248,395 BTC. Puts account for 40.75%, or 170,837 BTC. A 59/41 split favors upside positioning but is not an extreme imbalance. Twenty-four-hour volume is similarly skewed, with calls at 53.27% (9,120 BTC) against puts at 46.73% (8,000 BTC).

Top Open Interest Contracts on Deribit

The single largest open interest position on Deribit is a bet that bitcoin hits $120,000 by December 2026, with 7,089.4 BTC tied to that contract. Some predictions are aligned with this perspective. The second largest is a protective position sized for a drop to $60,000 by that same date, carrying 6,509.4 BTC, which tells you that not everyone is positioned for a year-end rally.

Two other notable positions sit closer in. Traders hold 5,769.4 BTC on a contract that pays out if bitcoin reaches $80,000 by July 31, 2026, and another 5,657.5 BTC on a contract targeting $90,000 by June 26. Both suggest a cluster of bullish bets aimed at levels well above the current spot before summer ends.

CME Options: Puts Still Running Heavy

Cryptoquant data on CME options OI stacked by position shows puts consistently outpacing calls since late November 2025, even as BTC’s price has begun recovering from its February 2026 lows near $65,000. That put-heavy posture among CME participants, who tend to be institutional hedgers and asset managers, reflects caution at current price levels rather than conviction in a near-term breakout.

CME’s stacked-by-expiration logs show near-term (1 to 2 months) contracts dominating the current structure, with very limited longer-dated OI compared to the October and November 2025 buildup period.

Max Pain: Deribit, Binance, OKX

Deribit max pain for the June 26, 2026, expiry sits near $77,500 to $78,000, with notional value for that date approaching $9 billion. The furthest-dated expiry shown, March 2027, shows max pain collapsing to roughly $70,000, which would represent a roughly 4.9% move lower from the current price.

Binance max pain for June 26 hits around $85,000, well above spot, with notional value for that date reaching approximately $757 million. The curve climbs from $74,000 near-term to a peak near $85,000 before easing back toward $77,500 for later expirations.

OKX max pain tells a different story. The curve runs relatively flat near $74,000 through June 12 before climbing to approximately $78,000 by late June 26. It then holds between $75,500 and $78,000 through late 2026, before jumping sharply to near $80,500 by March 2027, the highest of the three exchanges for far-dated max pain.

Max pain theory holds that option sellers, who represent the majority of options market makers, benefit most when the underlying asset expires at the price where the maximum number of contracts finish worthless. With BTC spot at $73,600, the majority of max pain levels across all three exchanges sit above the current price for the June 26 expiry, which some traders read as gravity pulling the price higher going into that settlement.

What Traders Are Watching

The June 26 expiry is the largest single settlement date by notional value across Deribit, Binance, and OKX. Deribit alone shows roughly $8.5 billion in notional value tied to that date. How the price behaves in the days leading up to that expiry could determine whether the bulk of open call positions expire in the money or turn to dust.

CME futures OI remains near $7.55 billion despite the broad decline in total market OI since late 2025, suggesting institutional desks have not walked away from bitcoin exposure. The put-heavy positioning on CME may reflect hedged long strategies rather than outright bearish bets.

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Solving the Privacy Challenge for Institutional DeFi

Americanfortress has launched the beta version of its compliant privacy infrastructure on Arbitrum, introducing tools designed to support institutional and high- volume decentralized finance ( DeFi) activity on the Layer 2 network. The system enables users to send assets using human-readable names while automatically generating stealth addresses that shield recipient information onchain.

The company said the design preserves auditability between counterparties without relying on mixers or custodial transaction-obfuscation services. Arbitrum secures more than $15 billion in total value locked and hosts major DeFi trading ecosystems, including GMX. As institutional activity increases, firms have raised concerns about transaction visibility and wallet transparency in public blockchain environments.

“Financial infrastructure cannot scale institutionally if every transaction exposes counterparties, balances and trading behavior in real time,” said Michal Pospieszalski, CEO and CTO of Americanfortress. “Arbitrum has become one of the most important execution environments in crypto markets, and this implementation delivers a privacy layer designed for serious financial activity without relying on mixers or compromising compliance requirements.”

The beta introduces send-to-name functionality, allowing users to transact via Fortressnames rather than exposing wallet addresses. Americanfortress said the system is compatible with existing blockchain infrastructure and reduces visibility that can contribute to front-running and trade surveillance.

The launch follows new cryptographic research from the company outlining a patent-pending post-quantum security architecture for hierarchical deterministic wallets. Americanfortress said its broader stack integrates privacy-preserving transactions, naming infrastructure, and quantum-resistant wallet security into a unified framework for digital asset custody and settlement.

As part of the rollout, the firm is launching a “Receive on Arbitrum Privately” campaign encouraging users to test private receiving features through the beta wallet. The first 500 eligible participants will receive a lifetime FortressName. The campaign will target Arbitrum-native DeFi communities, including perpetual traders, liquidity providers and active onchain market participants.

“Privacy and usability are increasingly important as more sophisticated financial activity moves onchain,” said Chase Allred, senior partnerships manager at Offchain, the service provider for Arbitrum. “Infrastructure that improves operational security while remaining compatible with compliant blockchain ecosystems represents an important area of development for the wider industry.”

Americanfortress said the system is designed to support emerging automated financial workflows, including AI-driven agents transacting autonomously onchain. The company expects privacy-preserving execution environments to become increasingly necessary as algorithmic capital allocation and machine-driven trading expand across decentralized networks.