Sovereign Funds Keep Buying Bitcoin

Welcome back to The Warmup.

Happy Monday! This is how my gf looks at me after I buy more Bitcoin instead of taking us to Europe.

Here’s what we’re watching:

• Market Snapshot

• Sovereign Funds Keep Buying Bitcoin

• Bitcoin Rejected at Daily EMA200

• BNB ETF Race Is Heating Up

• Calendar

Market: Crypto and equities are both pulling back as risk appetite weakens, while the VIX moves higher and traders turn more cautious short term.

Sovereign Funds Keep Buying Bitcoin

What’s going on:

New 13F filings revealed that sovereign wealth funds continued adding Bitcoin ETF exposure during Q1.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala increased its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF ($IBIT) position from 12.7M shares to 14.7M shares by March 31.

At current prices, that stake is worth roughly $660M.

Meanwhile, Harvard reportedly exited its Ethereum ETF exposure during the quarter.

What it means:

Bitcoin ETFs are increasingly becoming institutional infrastructure.

While retail sentiment swings back and forth, sovereign funds and large allocators continue quietly building long-term Bitcoin exposure.

Bitcoin Rejected at Daily EMA200

What’s going on:

Bitcoin just got rejected from the daily EMA200 around $81.8K, a level many traders were closely watching.

Price is now pulling back toward the mid-$70Ks after failing to reclaim the trend indicator.

Key levels we’re watching:

• Resistance: $81.8K → daily EMA200 rejection zone

• Support: $75K–$76K → key short-term support area

• Breakdown risk: losing support could accelerate downside

Directional Bias: Short-term cautious

BTC needs to reclaim the daily EMA200 before bulls regain momentum. Until then, this still looks like a rejection from a major resistance level.

What we’re waiting for:

• Strong reclaim above EMA200

• Buyer reaction around support

• Confirmation before getting aggressive long

BNB ETF Race Is Heating Up

What’s going on:

VanEck and Grayscale both filed updated paperwork for spot BNB ETFs on May 16, signaling the race to launch a US-listed BNB ETF is accelerating.

VanEck’s proposed ETF would trade under the ticker $VBNB, while Grayscale’s version would use $GBNB.

The filings likely mean both firms are actively responding to SEC feedback and pushing toward a potential launch.

What it means:

If approved, BNB could become the next major crypto asset to get a spot ETF after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The ETF narrative is expanding beyond BTC and ETH.

And if BNB gets approved, it could strengthen the case for a broader wave of altcoin ETFs over time.

Key Events this Week

Tue (May 19):

• April Pending Home Sales: Tracks signed contracts for home purchases → useful read on future housing demand. Higher pending sales suggest buyers are returning; lower sales point to a cooling housing market.

Wed (May 20):

• Fed Meeting Minutes: Detailed notes from the latest Fed meeting → helps investors understand how officials are thinking about inflation, rates, and the economy.

Thu (May 21):

• May Philly Fed Manufacturing Index: Measures manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region → positive readings signal expansion; negative readings point to weakness in factory activity.

Fri (May 22):

• May Michigan Consumer Sentiment: Measures household confidence → stronger sentiment suggests consumers feel better about the economy and may keep spending.

• May Michigan Consumer Expectations: Tracks how consumers feel about the future → important for inflation expectations, spending behavior, and Fed policy outlook.

Major Earnings Releases:

• Wed (May 20): Nvidia

• Standard Chartered to absorb Zodia Custody's crypto business into its own operations

• Bitmine lifts ether treasury to 5.28M ETH as total holdings top $12B

• Weekly crypto ETP outflows top $1B, ending six-week positive streak amid Iran-linked risk-off

Crypto is quietly becoming financial infrastructure.

Major banks and asset managers are no longer debating whether blockchain matters. They’re already building digital asset teams and launching real products on top of it.

And the focus has shifted away from speculation toward practical applications like payments, tokenized assets, digital savings accounts, and cheaper financial rails.

Even during brutal market crashes, institutional interest reportedly kept growing behind the scenes. That may be one of the clearest signs this cycle is different.

— The Warmup Team

Always do your own research. This newsletter is supplemental material to help educate readers as they make their own decisions. Projects mentioned here are provided to give a potential early-mover advantage.