Bitcoin Stalls Near $73K as $1.26B IBIT Block Hits, Kraken Plans US Perps

Bitcoin News

A $1.26 billion off-exchange block sale of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust executed on May 26 appears to reflect a single large investor seeking a rapid exit rather than a hedge-fund unwind. Roughly 29.21 million IBIT shares changed hands at $43.16, a $1.01 discount to the prevailing $44.17 market price — a 2.3% concession totaling about $29.5 million in execution cost. Research circulated this weekend noted that the magnitude of the discount points to a seller prioritizing speed and certainty over price. The transaction cleared through the FINRA/Nasdaq TRF Carteret venue, which institutions typically use for privately negotiated trades.

Analysts pushed back on the theory that the trade represented a closed basis position. Such a strategy — long spot Bitcoin via ETF, short CME futures — would have lost meaningful expected return at a 2.3% execution haircut. The IBIT block was equivalent to roughly 3,700 CME futures contracts, yet only 91 contracts traded during the minute the cross printed, with no abnormal spike in volume. The exit also coincided with relentless redemptions across the spot Bitcoin ETF complex, which posted net outflows every trading day from May 15 through May 29. Total assets across the category slid from $107.75 billion to $94.17 billion.

Kraken said it expects to launch CFTC-regulated perpetual futures contracts for U.S. clients within 30 days, moving immediately after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission cleared the instrument for institutional trading on Friday. The contracts are intended to list on Bitnomial Exchange, a CFTC-registered venue acquired earlier by parent company Payward in a deal valued at up to $550 million. While Kraken's statement said a filing had been submitted, no specific perpetual Bitcoin contract was visible in Bitnomial's public CFTC docket as of Sunday, consistent with the common practice of requesting confidential treatment until launch.

Rivals reacted within hours. Coinbase Financial Markets moved first, offering U.S. institutional clients access to global options and perpetual futures through Deribit, the dominant crypto options venue by open interest that Coinbase folded into its derivatives stack in August 2025. KalshiEX, which had originally sought confidential treatment for its application, secured the same CFTC clearance on Friday morning. The result is an intensifying race among U.S.-regulated venues for institutional perp flow that has historically routed offshore. Onshore perpetual access could deepen liquidity, narrow funding spreads, and bring sizeable open interest into the regulated exchange perimeter.

Bitcoin spent the weekend pinned near $73,500, on track to close May down roughly 3% and stamp a red monthly candlestick beneath 2025's yearly lows. U.S. equities, by contrast, finished the week at fresh all-time highs, with the disconnect underscoring how risk-on capital has rotated away from crypto. Easing geopolitical tensions — including reported progress on a U.S.–Iran ceasefire — also failed to lift BTC. Traders are now watching the monthly print closely. Analysts widely flagged $73,000 as the line that must hold on the close to avoid technical confirmation of a deeper structural breakdown into the third quarter.

Macro positioning will be tested next week as U.S. labor and manufacturing prints dominate the calendar. The May reading of the Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Managers' Index lands first, followed by JOLTS, ADP, and nonfarm payrolls. Recent PMI surprises have repeatedly anchored short-term BTC volatility, and a softer-than-expected manufacturing print could revive the rate-cut narrative and broader risk-appetite trade. One European research head argued that if Bitcoin still tracks global growth and risk appetite, current pricing leaves ample room for a repricing higher, provided macro data cooperates. A hot inflationary surprise would cut decisively the other way.

Spot trades at $72,996, holding 1.2% lower on the day with support stacked at $72,593, $70,280, and $66,863. Resistance begins at $73,701 and extends to $75,164 and $76,442. RSI at 34.27 is approaching oversold territory but has not flipped, while MACD remains bearish in line with the prevailing downtrend. A daily reclaim of $73,701 with rising volume would invalidate the immediate bearish setup and open a path toward $75,164. Failure to defend $72,593 likely accelerates a probe of the $70,280 shelf, and confirmation below $72,000 on the weekly close hands momentum decisively to sellers heading into June.