Global crypto market on May 24: Bitcoin reclaims $77,000 on Trump-Iran peace signals, BTC dominance near 60%

Global crypto market on May 24: Bitcoin reclaims $77,000 on Trump-Iran peace signals, BTC dominance near 60%

On Sunday, May 24, 2026, the global crypto market saw a quiet but strategically important day. Bitcoin recovered above the $77,000 level after Saturday's lower readings around $74,300, when signs emerged that a US-Iran peace memorandum had been largely agreed and President Trump publicly confirmed progress in negotiations. BTC traded in a $76,087-$78,152 range mid-session with a modest -1.05% move on 24h. Ethereum at $2,098.17 (-1.2%), XRP $1.35 (-1.5%), Solana $85.34 (-2.0%). BTC dominance held near the 60% level and reinforced the multi-week flight-to-quality trend. Fear & Greed improved to 39 (Fear zone) from 35 the previous day. This is Norriwire's daily review of the global crypto market on May 24 - top 15 coins, stablecoins, the NFT segment, ETF flows, and key market signals.

Market overview

May 24 was a Sunday, so trading volumes across major exchanges were roughly 30-35% lower than the weekday average. The day was politically significant - Saturday evening Trump statements about a US-Iran peace memorandum "largely agreed" by both sides allowed crypto to recover part of the prior week's losses. Bitcoin lifted off Saturday's $74,326 lows (per Cryptonews) during the Asian session, jumping back above $77,000 and holding that level through the day. Total crypto market cap on May 24 ranged $2.52-$2.55 trillion - light range without firm direction. BTC dominance ~60% - a small step back from the 60.81% peak on May 20, but still a multi-month high. Altcoin Season Index near 39/100 - firmly Bitcoin Season territory. Bitcoin is still down roughly 23% year-to-date, indicating crypto is not the leading risk asset class in 2026.

Top 15 coins on May 24

Prices compiled from Fortune, CoinDesk, Cryptonews, CoinCodex, and CoinMarketCap on May 24.

1. Bitcoin (BTC) - approx. $77,000, -1.05% 24h

Bitcoin recovered Sunday from Saturday lows and held a $76,087-$78,152 range for most of the day. The key catalyst was Trump's public statements on a US-Iran peace memorandum, which calmed institutional risk-off flows. Technically, the $77,000 pivot remains resilient - the market has returned to it four days in a row after each dip. ATH is still $126,198 (Oct 6, 2025); current drawdown from peak is -39%. Year-on-year BTC -23%, weaker than S&P 500 (+9% YoY) and gold (+18% YoY). Sunday stood out for low liquidity - trading volume ~$110 billion vs. weekday average $175-180 billion.

2. Ethereum (ETH) - $2,098.17, -1.2% 24h

ETH continued to underperform BTC on Sunday. ETH/BTC ratio dropped to 0.0272 on May 24 - a new year-to-date low confirming BlackRock IBIT and other spot BTC ETF rotation away from ETH products. The biggest institutional headline: Tom Lee's BitMine Immersion Technologies bought 60,000 ETH in the prior 24 hours for ~$126 million, raising total holdings above 5.33 million ETH (more than 4.3% of circulating ETH supply). A strong institutional signal that's still not enough for a short-term price catalyst. Ethereum Foundation internal turbulence continues - two more researchers (Carl Beek and Julian Ma) announced departures this week, bringing 2026 senior research talent losses to 8.

3. Tether (USDT) - $0.9999, stable

USDT market cap held around $190 billion on May 24 - $0.3 billion higher than May 20. Tether dominance in the segment remains at 58.76%. Peg stable, no notable deviation.

4. XRP - $1.35, -1.5% 24h

XRP lost more than BTC on Sunday, reflecting weaker spot XRP ETF interest after last week's record readings. Cumulative spot XRP ETF inflows still exceed $1.42 billion. Grayscale Ripple Trust conversion to a spot product still awaits SEC approval - the next big watch item for XRP holders.

5. USDC - $1.00, stable

USDC circulation on May 24 stood at ~$78.96 billion - a new peak above the $78 billion mark. In the May 3-10 week, USDC attracted $1.61 billion in fresh inflows - one of the strongest weekly prints since 2024. Circle USDC supply is up 220% since late 2023.

6. BNB - approx. $638, -0.7% 24h

BNB lost the $640 support Sunday but held a $635-642 corridor on 24h. Grayscale published an analysis this week noting BNB Chain among potential CLARITY Act winners alongside Ethereum, Solana, and Canton Network ecosystems. The Binance Maxwell Upgrade remains a medium-term technical catalyst.

7. Solana (SOL) - $85.34, -2.0% 24h

SOL was among the weakest top-10 prints on May 24. Strategically, Solana retains a favorable institutional profile - spot Solana ETF attracted +$55.1 million last week and sits on its 11th consecutive inflow day. SOL/BTC ratio hits multi-week lows, which historically often precedes SOL rebound setups.

8. Dogecoin (DOGE) - $0.1095, -0.9% 24h

DOGE held the $0.108-$0.112 range for the eighth day in a row. Sunday trading volume around $580 million - low even by DOGE standards, signaling retail caution.

9. TRON (TRX) - $0.3535, -0.4% 24h

TRX just below $0.355 on Sunday. USDT settlement franchise remains the main TRX fundamental driver - more than $85 billion in USDT circulating on the TRON chain. Justin Sun two days ago posted on Twitter about a $100 million top-up to TRON DAO Reserve - bullish signal medium-term.

10. Cardano (ADA) - $0.2470, -1.2% 24h

ADA lost the $0.25 level Sunday and is closing in on $0.24 support. The main event - Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson publicly warned that the network could lose key scientists and research capacity if a 32.9 million ADA treasury proposal (~$8.1 million at current price) fails to pass the vote. The proposal would fund post-quantum cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, scalability, and university research work. As of now ~81% of active dRep stake votes against the proposal - far below the required 67% approval threshold. Extra pressure on ADA price short-term.

11. Hyperliquid (HYPE) - approx. $44.80, -1.8% 24h

HYPE continues to face regulatory pressure - CME and ICE are actively lobbying the CFTC for stricter rules on perpetual DEX products. Hyperliquid ETFs are a potential next catalyst - several issuers filed this month.

12. SUI - $1.18, -2.5% 24h

SUI pulled back Sunday after a strong week, on profit-taking. Monthly performance still +25% - one of the best top-15 reads.

13. Chainlink (LINK) - $9.28, -1.1% 24h

LINK held the $9 mark. DeFi oracle base remains stable - LINK is still the most important oracle protocol globally.

14. Avalanche (AVAX) - $9.18, -1.2% 24h

AVAX weak structure persists. Technical resistance in the $10.5-$11 zone remains hard to reach.

15. Polkadot (DOT) - $1.31, -1.5% 24h

DOT prints historically low monthly readings. Market attention has shifted to Solana and Sui ecosystems.

Stablecoins - segment stabilizes near $323 billion

The stablecoin segment held the ~$323 billion peak on May 24 - the level first hit early in May and stable since. USDT dominates with ~$190 billion and 58.76% share. USDC (Circle) hit a new peak of $78.96 billion - ~24.5% of the segment. The rest (DAI, FDUSD, PYUSD, USDe, RLUSD, and new bank-issued stablecoin candidates) together total ~$54 billion or 16.7%. Strategically important: on May 24, Hong Kong's first officially approved stablecoin completed a technical milestone on the Ethereum chain, opening the path for Asia-regulated stablecoins to integrate into DeFi infrastructure. First public signal that APAC is becoming a strategic competitor to USD stablecoin hegemony.

NFT market - quiet Sunday without catalysts

The NFT segment on May 24 saw standard Sunday dynamics - total 24h trading volume around $18.4 million across chains (low even by NFT standards). OpenSea retains 67% market share across chains. Magic Eden still dominates Solana NFT. No bigger catalysts this week - the segment is waiting for a CryptoPunks or BAYC scale move to reignite interest in "blue chip" collections. Meanwhile, utility NFTs (RWA tokenization, membership NFTs) continue moderate growth.

ETF flows - Sunday without data, but weekly signals clear

With May 24 being a Sunday and US markets closed, there are no fresh spot BTC or ETH ETF flow prints. Weekly context, though, remains clear. Spot BTC ETF lost roughly another $740 million last week (through May 22) - the fourth-weakest week of 2026. BlackRock IBIT NAV fell to $43.07 on May 22 (-1.96% on the day), with YTD -11.32% - a sharp underperformance signal vs. BTC itself. Bank of America on May 23 published a Q1 2026 portfolio update - total IBIT holdings rose to ~$37 million, showing that large banks continue selective accumulation even in a falling price environment. Spot Solana ETF holds +$55.1 million weekly and sits on its 11th consecutive positive day. Spot XRP ETF weekly is slightly softer after the $60.5 million record - typical profit-taking.

Privacy coins - Zcash ETF story doesn't fade

The privacy segment on May 24 saw moderate consolidation after several strong prints earlier in the week. Zcash (ZEC) held above $70 - a multi-month high range. The key strategic element: Grayscale on May 12 filed the first spot Zcash ETF with the SEC, which would be the first US privacy-coin ETF. Additionally, on May 22, Zcash developers published a new technical roadmap targeting a 300% speed boost in the upcoming Halo 2 upgrade. Monero (XMR) and Dash (DASH) held modest 24h gains. The segment remains strategically important against the backdrop of US-Iran politics and China's digital yuan expansion.

Security incidents - 2026 cumulative loss approaches $2.2 billion

No major new protocol exploits in the last 48 hours - a relatively positive signal after the active mid-May attack week. Still, 2026 cumulative theft already exceeds $2.1 billion and is closing on $2.2 billion - the highest since 2022. Recent week echoes:

• Verus-Ethereum bridge (May 18): PeckShield and Halborn analyses confirm attackers exploited a validation gap between the two sides - 1,625 ETH, 103.6 tBTC, and 147,000 USDC released without proper backing on Verus. Assets later swapped to 5,402 ETH ($11.3 million at May 24 ETH prices).
• Echo Protocol (May 18): Minting of 1,000 synthetic Bitcoin (eBTC) on the Monad chain, ~$76.7 million loss.
• 2026 bridge exploits total: ~$329 million per PeckShield - bridges remain the largest vulnerability in DeFi infrastructure.

Regulatory news - CLARITY Act advances

The regulatory environment is dominated by CLARITY Act and GENIUS Act storylines. CLARITY Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025) cleared the US Senate Banking Committee on May 14 by a 15-9 bipartisan vote. The bill splits digital assets into three categories: digital commodities (CFTC oversight), investment contracts (SEC oversight), and permitted payment stablecoins (banking regulators per the GENIUS Act). Grayscale this week published analysis noting Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and Canton Network as the biggest potential winners if CLARITY passes the full Congress - which explains selective institutional rotation into those ecosystems. GENIUS Act stablecoin piece: on May 1, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks proposed a compromise barring crypto firms from paying interest/yield on stablecoin balances in a manner economically or functionally equivalent to a bank deposit, while activity-linked rewards remain allowed.

Another key story: on May 29, CME Globex will launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading with only a ~2-hour weekend maintenance window. A major institutional signal that aligns crypto derivatives with global continuous-market models and shrinks weekend liquidity gaps.

Macroeconomic context - Trump-Iran peace signals are the main driver

The main macro theme on May 24 is the US-Iran peace memorandum. Trump on Saturday evening posted on Truth Social that the memorandum is "largely agreed" and Persian Gulf stabilization is closer than ever. The result:

• Brent crude fell from a $112 peak to $106-$108 range (war premium contraction)
• DXY dollar index slipped from 109.8 to 109.1 - slightly softer haven bid
• S&P 500 futures (Monday open) +0.4% - moderate risk-on
• Gold pulled back from a $4,482 peak to ~$4,460

Second key theme - US inflation and Fed policy. Powell speaks on the "economic outlook" Monday (May 25) - one of the most important macro test moments of the week. The market keeps pushing rate cut expectations from Q2 to Q3, but if Powell is hawkish, that could slide to Q4 or early 2027.

Third theme - asset class rotation. Crypto underperforms gold (+18%), S&P 500 (+9%), and even Treasury bills (+2.1%) this year - historically a rare setup that signals capital has moved to safer assets amid macro uncertainty.

Headline numbers - May 24

• BTC: ~$77,000 (-1.05% 24h / +1.5% week / -23% year)
• ETH: $2,098.17 (-1.2% / -3.5% week / -17.5% year)
• ETH/BTC: 0.0272 (new YTD low)
• Total market: ~$2.52-$2.55 trillion
• BTC dominance: ~60% (held the peak range)
• Stablecoin segment: ~$323 billion (USDT 58.76%, USDC new peak $78.96 billion)
• Spot BTC ETF: -$740 million (week through May 22)
• Spot SOL ETF: 11th consecutive inflow day
• Fear & Greed: 39 (Fear zone, improved from 35 the day before)
• Main event: Trump-Iran peace memorandum signals
• BitMine Immersion (Tom Lee): +60,000 ETH ($126 million)
• Bitcoin trading volume: ~$110 billion (low Sunday)
• 2026 DeFi cumulative theft: ~$2.1-2.2 billion

This is Norriwire's daily global crypto market review. All price data verified against Fortune, CoinDesk, Cryptonews, CoinCodex, BlockchainReporter, KuCoin, and CoinMarketCap. Model: claude-opus-4-7. Author and reviewer: Toms Abeltins.