Raydium (RAY), a decentralized exchange on the Solana (SOL) blockchain, said Wednesday that it had suffered a $1.34 million exploit tied to its retired automated market maker, or AMM, V3 program. Raydium Pools Drained The protocol said the attacker removed about 150,000 RAY, 5,600 SOL, and nearly 900,000 of Circle’s USDC stablecoin from Raydium pools involving RAY-SOL, USDC-RAY, and SRM-RAY. Raydium attributed the compromise to a weakness in how the older AMM V3 handled liquidity provider (LP) mints. The platform said the vulnerability “stemmed from insufficient validation of the LP mints, which in practice allowed the attacker to bypass intended proportion checks. Related Reading: Prediction Markets’ Wild West Days May Be Over: CFTC Drafts Its First Major Framework According to the description of the mechanism, because the legacy AMM V3 program did not properly verify the LP mint address, an attacker was able to create a new mint and use it as the LP token, letting it evade the checks that were supposed to control how assets could be accounted for in the Raydium pools. The exchange emphasized that the affected AMM V3 program was no longer available through Raydium’s interface, explaining that the legacy AMM V3 program was phased out in 2021 and was effectively unreachable via Raydium’s current user tools. Funds Traced Across Two Blockchains Details on the alleged laundering trail were provided by PeckShield, which described how the attacker’s funds were initially funded via KuCoin and then bridged from Solana to Ethereum (ETH). Related Reading: Treasury Stablecoin Proposal Draws Major Warning From Hyperliquid Policy Center–Here’s Why PeckShield said that 810 ETH had already been sent to Tornado Cash, and that 7 ETH had been moved to FixedFloat, framing both moves as part of an active effort to launder the Raydium funds. In Raydium’s own breakdown of the exploit, the firm reiterated that its current programs were unaffected by the incident, and said it is in the middle of security review work on all mainnet programs by Raydium core contributors. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC), together with venture capital firm Paradigm, submitted a joint comment to the US Treasury on Tuesday, urging the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to refine parts of its proposed stablecoin compliance rule tied to the GENIUS Act. The rule is intended to implement anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions requirements for “permitted payment stablecoin issuers” (PPSIs), a category the proposal says should be able to innovate in payment stablecoins while operating under an “appropriately tailored” regime designed to manage illicit-finance risk. Narrower Compliance, Less Burden While they did not oppose the overall goal of the framework, Paradigm and the Hyperliquid Policy Center argued that key elements of the proposal need clearer boundaries—especially where compliance obligations may unintentionally spill over into areas that do not fit the GENIUS Act’s structure or Congress’s intent. A major focus of the comments is how permitted payment stablecoin issuers’ duties should work in the secondary market, where PPSIs do not have a direct relationship with the underlying counterparties. In their view, the law makes clear Congress expected due diligence by PPSIs on their own customers, but did not intend a requirement for PPSIs to conduct additional diligence for trading that occurs in the secondary market. Related Reading: XRP May Reach $10 By 2027—But Bearish Conditions Could Push It Below $1, Expert Says The firms drew an analogy to traditional banking, saying that once regulated institutions run KYC when funds enter the system, they are not expected to monitor every spending event after cash is withdrawn. In the same way, Paradigm and the Hyperliquid Policy Center argued that decentralized peer-to-peer transfers of stablecoins—and other digital assets—should generally involve KYC only at the regulated on-ramps and off-ramps, with compliance costs focused where the relationship exists. They warned that a contrary approach could drive requirements for PPSIs to file large numbers of low-value suspicious activity reports (SARs), creating “noisy” reports with false positives that would impose costs on both PPSIs and FinCEN without clear public benefit. Hyperliquid Policy Center Urges Clarification The comment also addresses the way the proposed rule defines and assigns obligations related to “lawful orders.” Paradigm and the Hyperliquid Policy Center said the proposal defines “lawful order” by incorporating the GENIUS Act definition of “person,” which in turn determines who may have to build technological capabilities. They argued that, as drafted, the proposed rule could be interpreted too broadly, potentially pulling in developers of distributed ledger protocols, decentralized self-custodial interfaces, and other technologies that Congress excluded from the GENIUS Act’s definition of a “digital asset service provider.” The firms said this result would not align with Congress’s intent, and they recommended a clarification in the final rule to explicitly state that certain entities and technologies are not included within the scope of lawful order requirements. Related Reading: Dogecoin (DOGE) At $0.086–Two Scenarios Ahead, Including A New 32% Crash According to Paradigm and the Hyperliquid Policy Center, failing to make that clarification could unintentionally impose lawful order obligations on every validator on networks like Ethereum (ETH), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Solana (SOL), and Layer 2 systems that validate transactions involving PPSI-issued stablecoins. They argued the predictable outcome would be that US validator stakes would move offshore, US blockbuilding operations would relocate, and the US share of the chain validator base would decline—outcomes they said would undermine both the GENIUS Act’s onshoring objectives and broader US interests. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Monday’s Bitcoin (BTC) rebound—pushing back above the $63,00 area—has revived a major question: was last Friday’s drop to $59,000 the bottom for BTC? Seeking to answer that, market analyst Ali Martinez released a new technical note on X (formerly Twitter), arguing that Bitcoin appears poised to reach a market bottom while a “major macro accumulation cycle” begins to form. Why The Sell-off Could Signal A Bottom In Martinez’s view, BTC’s decline to its lowest level since 2024 served as an important cleansing function for the market—effectively shaking out “overleveraged premiums” across the board. That type of flush, Martinez argues, is often what makes bottoms possible: it removes leverage stress and forces late and speculative positions to unwind. Related Reading: Bitcoin Recovery Needs This To Happen, Glassnode Analyst Reveals A central part of his explanation is the role of long-term holders. Martinez claims that long-term investors distributed more than $3.25 billion worth of spot Bitcoin during the downswing. He says this distributed supply temporarily raised exchange reserves, which can translate into increased potential selling pressure as coins move closer to trading venues. Supporting that point, Martinez also cites data indicating that over 54,000 BTC have moved onto trading platforms over the past two weeks, which he frames as a further contributor to the selling dynamic. Next Bitcoin Targets Even with Monday’s recovery, Martinez emphasizes what happened at the downside. He points out that following the move down to $59,000, more than 10.46 million BTC are currently held at a loss. In his technical framework, that’s a key threshold to watch. Martinez notes that historically, when the “supply-in-loss” metric crosses the extreme 10 million BTC level, it has helped time macro bottoms with notable accuracy. From there, Martinez turns to the MVRV Pricing Bands, which he describes as offering “geometric targets” for where Bitcoin accumulation windows tend to mature. Related Reading: Dogecoin Will ‘Pump Hard’ After This Happens, Analyst Clocks Generational Entry According to his post, the most reliable accumulation periods historically occur when Bitcoin settles within the 1.0 to 0.8 MVRV bands. Martinez says those bands align with two specific target areas: approximately $53,900 and $43,150. In other words, if the bottom is indeed approaching or forming now, he suggests the market may gravitate toward those zones as the next stages in a broader consolidation-and-accumulation process. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin (BTC) extended its decline on Friday, sliding to levels not seen since early February, leaving the broader market under renewed pressure and deepening bearish sentiment. Since reaching its all-time high of $126,000 last October, Bitcoin is now down roughly 52%, reinforcing the sense that the sell-off is more than a short-term dip. Bitcoin Treasury Stocks Fall From $134B To $72B While traditional market weakness has been part of the story, whale activity has also played a major role in the most recent drop. One of the clearest signals that unnerved traders came from Strategy (MSTR). Related Reading: XRP Price Falls To 4-Month Lows—Charts Signal Sell, On-Chain Data Turns Bearish As previously reported by NewsBTC, Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in nearly four years. The company offloaded 32 BTC for approximately $2.5 million—an amount that may look small compared with overall market volumes. However, the real impact has been psychological. Watching the largest Bitcoin public holder and the face of the “never sell” narrative break that behavior sent a shockwave through crypto sentiment. The broader market’s reaction has been visible in equity-linked crypto holdings as well. Artemis data cited by Bloomberg shows that the combined market value of fully diluted Bitcoin treasury company stocks has fallen to about $72 billion, compared with nearly $134 billion at the most recent peak in early October. That means roughly $62 billion has been erased during the downturn. Support Could Form Between $54,000 And $50,000 Hayden Hughes, managing partner at Tokenize Capital, said the current environment forces difficult choices for these digital-asset treasuries. In his view, once prices unwind, companies face a stark decision: either default on their debt obligations or sell assets. Hughes added that this kind of forced selling damages the market’s earlier assumption that Bitcoin treasury holders would behave like permanent “buy and hold” participants. When that expectation breaks, sentiment can deteriorate quickly, making rebounds less likely under these conditions. Related Reading: Coinbase Reveals First Mortgage With Bitcoin Collateral Under Fannie Mae Coverage Market analyst Ali Martinez recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Bitcoin is approaching a market bottom. Martinez identified the MVRV Pricing Bands as a useful framework for determining where support could emerge. He stated that the next significant support level is between $54,000 and $50,000, which could serve as a floor for the cryptocurrency. However, this would require an additional 17% retracement from current trading levels of $60,444. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom, announced on June 4 that he has exited his entire positions in both Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and NEAR Protocol — reversing two of his most publicly stated high-conviction long calls — citing five macro and geopolitical factors he believes will weigh on risk assets between now and early Q3 2026. Related Reading: Smart Money Keeps Buying HYPE Despite Rising Market Fear – Price Holds Above $70 Level The exit marks a significant about-face for Hayes, who had publicly identified HYPE as one of his two largest positions outside Bitcoin earlier this year — alongside ZCash — with a stated price target of $150 by August 2026, per reporting of his Consensus Miami remarks. HYPE had already delivered returns well above his entry price following a 55% weekly surge that pushed the token above $56 before analyst Ali Martinez flagged an overheated technical setup at the $59–$60 resistance zone. Hayes, it appears, agreed with the diagnosis. HYPE's price records important losses on the daily chart. Source: HYPEUSD on Tradingview The Five Reasons He Cited In the X post, Hayes offered a five-point TLDR ahead of a full essay titled “Reality Test,” which he said will drop on Tuesday. The reasons are specific and macro-driven rather than project-specific — a signal that the exit is a portfolio-level risk management decision rather than a loss of conviction in either HYPE or NEAR as assets. The first factor is higher energy prices driven by the ongoing Iran war and inventory restocking — a dynamic Hayes has consistently flagged as a macro headwind for risk assets throughout 2026. The second is the pipeline of three mega AI initial public offerings he anticipates between now and early Q3, which he expects will absorb significant institutional risk capital that might otherwise flow into crypto. The third is a prediction that President Trump will pivot to an anti-AI political stance ahead of the midterm elections — a move Hayes believes would be used to win Republican seats and could create further uncertainty for technology-adjacent risk assets. The fourth is a broader view that market highs across asset classes will occur between now and September — implying the risk-reward of holding leveraged positions into that window is unfavorable. The fifth is personal: Hayes said he wants to take profit and enjoy what he called a “two-step in beefa” — a reference to time in Ibiza — without the psychological weight of open positions. What The Exit Signals For HYPE The position reversal arrives at a technically sensitive moment for HYPE. The token had delivered 130% in year-to-date returns at the time Ali Martinez flagged the TD Sequential sell signal and overbought RSI at the $59–$60 resistance zone — the same area Hayes appears to have used as his exit window. With one of the most prominent public bulls now fully out, the near-term price action for HYPE will depend heavily on whether the institutional demand documented in Hyperliquid’s Q1 2026 report — $215 million in gross revenue, 71.5 percentage points of alpha over Bitcoin, four HYPE ETF filings from Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, and Bitwise — provides sufficient structural support to absorb the sentiment impact of Hayes’ public exit. Related Reading: XRP Price To See Violent Discontinuous Repricing And $10 Could Only Be The Start Hayes was clear that the exit is tactical rather than fundamental. A full explanation of his reasoning will arrive in Tuesday’s essay — and given his track record of macro calls, the crypto market will be reading every word. Cover image from Grok, HYPEUSD chart from Tradingview
Mastercard said Wednesday it plans to open its global card-settlement network to regulated stablecoins, a move designed to let card issuers and acquirers clear card transactions directly on-chain. The company says the service will operate across eight different blockchains, extending on what it describes as “real-world utility” for digital assets. Alongside the expanded on-chain settlement approach, Mastercard also plans to introduce intraday, weekend, and holiday settlement cycles. Mastercard Moves Toward On-Chain Settlement In its announcement, Mastercard said the stablecoins include Tether’s rival, Circle, and its USDC stablecoin, which Mastercard noted is already supporting early on-chain settlement activity in select markets. Mastercard also listed stablecoins issued by Paxos, including PYUSD, USDG, and USDP. In addition, the company cited Ripple’s RLUSD and SoFi’s SoFiUSD as part of the initial stablecoin lineup for the network. Related Reading: Bitcoin Crash Explained: Binance Research Blames Outflows Toward US Equities The stablecoins will be enabled across a broad set of supported blockchain networks, including Arbitrum (ARB), Base, Canton, Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (POL), Solana (SOL), Tempo, and the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Mastercard did not describe any changes to the type of partners who can benefit from the network, but it said the plan will allow customers to use both traditional payment settlement and digital-asset-based settlement through the same infrastructure they use today. More Networks And Assets Planned Through 2026 Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Mastercard, said the company views the next stage of stablecoin adoption as being about practical use in areas where timing and liquidity matter. The executive pointed specifically to settlement as a key factor, and he described intraday and weekend options as a way for partners to better manage liquidity in an always-on digital economy. Related Reading: Crypto In 401(k)s: Senators Sanders, Warren Letter Warns $14 Trillion At Risk From DOL Proposal Mastercard added that the expanded capabilities will roll out globally “subject to regulation.” The company said the initial deployment will be limited to “parts of the United States and Latin America.” The payment giant indicated that additional regions, partners, and regulated stablecoins will be added through 2026, as its stablecoin settlement offering expands beyond the initial rollout areas. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
The Bitcoin price fell hard on Tuesday, hitting $67,289—its lowest level since April—reshaping sentiment toward a more bearish outlook as bulls lose key support zones. CoinGecko data shows the selloff isn’t isolated to one timeframe. Bitcoin has retraced across all-time horizons, reflecting widespread bearish sentiment and persistent selling pressure. The Bitcoin price is down about 6% over the last 24 hours and roughly 15% on the monthly timeframe. After the drop, Bitcoin is around 47% below its all-time highs of $126,000 set during last year’s rally. What’s Next For The Bitcoin Price? On X (previously Twitter), market analyst Ali Martinez argued that the Bitcoin price has broken below several major levels that traders typically use as a line in the sand. Martinez pointed to the loss of channel support, the loss of the 100-day simple moving average (SMA), and the move below the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement level around $71,300. Related Reading: Bullish Shift For TON: Price Breaks Above $2 Following Telegram CEO’s Gram News The analyst said that once all three were lost, the odds of downside acceleration rose sharply, pointing to $65,000 as the next likely move. From current levels, that potential retrace would mean an additional pullback of about 3.4%. BTC To $48,000 By September Market expert Nonzee claimed “history is repeating itself,” describing a bear-trap pattern that previously went from $97,000 to $83,000, and then the expert charted a continuation of the crash for the Bitcoin price with another leg: $65,000, then $61,000, $58,000, $55,000 and a potential bottom at around $48,000. Related Reading: Binance Unveils Trading Access To Over 7,000 US Stocks, ETFs—And Adds A New Tokenization Plan In that scenario, the “next stops,” according to Nonzee, include “$60,000 in days,” and $48,000 by September. Short Bitcoin price bounces may happen, but he argued that waiting for a full bull market right now would be a mistake. Not everyone is calling for the same exact path, but the tone across these forecasts is clearly cautious. Tony Research, for example, said he expects a bounce from $67,000 into the $74,000 area, yet the larger message remains that the main trend is still bearish. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Toncoin (TON) roared higher on Monday, climbing about 11% and pushing above roughly $2.30 earlier in the day before cooling slightly. The jump came after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov announced that The Open Network’s native token will be renamed from Toncoin to “Gram” over the next three weeks. TON Shift To ‘Gram’ Durov said the rebranding is more than marketing. “TON’s native currency is becoming Gram,” he wrote, adding that “Gram was the original name of TON’s currency in the first white paper.” In his message, he described the move as a return to the network’s roots and the start of what he called “a new chapter.” He also framed the rename as “step 4 of 7 to Make TON Great Again,” referring to a broader roadmap he has disclosed in his personal Telegram channel since May. Durov stated that the blockchain will remain called TON, and that the three-week transition will not require holders, validators, or DeFi integrations to take action. Existing TON balances, he said, will continue to function normally and will trade under the GRAM ticker once exchanges and wallets update their systems. Related Reading: BNB Extended Price Target Says $780 Is Coming, But What About $1,000? As reported by The Defiant, the Gram label carries the heaviest legal baggage in TON’s timeline. Telegram previously raised about $1.7 billion in two presale rounds in 2018 for “Gram” tokens that were never ultimately issued. Later, in October 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained an emergency action halting the offering, describing it as an unregistered securities sale. The legal fallout continued into a later resolution. A settlement reached in June 2020 required Telegram to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay an $18.5 million penalty. Three More Steps Coming Durov’s announcement also points to “step 4” as part of a sequence of upgrades he pushed through after taking over validator responsibilities in May. Under those earlier steps, the network rolled out Catchain 2.0, aimed at enabling sub-second block finality. Durov also highlighted Telegram’s role in validation, saying that Telegram itself became the network’s largest validator with millions of tokens staked via the messenger’s own infrastructure. Related Reading: Pundit Shares Why Most People Will Miss The XRP Run Still, there is more to come. Durov said three additional steps remain in his seven-step roadmap, though he has not publicly outlined what those steps will involve. Since Durov’s announcement earlier in the day, TON trades at $2.11 at the time of writing. Even with the pullback, the token is still showing major gains—up about 56% over the monthly period—though it remains roughly 75% below its all-time high of $8.25. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
As lawmakers advance the crypto bill closer to completion, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon attacked Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and criticized the CLARITY Act on Friday. Dimon Predicts Clash Over CLARITY Act Speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum, Dimon said banks “will not accept” the CLARITY Act in its current form. He also suggested that efforts by crypto proponents are unlikely to produce a broad consensus with traditional financial institutions. “It will be fought. No one’s gonna bow down to this guy, or that company,” Dimon said, referring to the act and Armstrong. Dimon continued: “He’s the only one, and he’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington on this thing… He’s full of shit.” Related Reading: Treasury Secretary Urges CLARITY Act Passage, Saying The US Should Be Home For Crypto As reported by NewsBTC on Thursday, the bill advanced in the Senate earlier this month. The Senate Banking Committee approved its portion, building on earlier progress from January, when the Agriculture Committee successfully voted on its version of the legislation. After a full Senate vote, lawmakers would need to complete the reconciliation steps required to finalize the measure and then secure agreement between the House and the Senate. Only after those steps would the final text move to the president for consideration. Yield And Compliance Provisions Concerns Dimon argued that the bill contains fundamental problems. He said the legislation would allow banks to earn interest on deposits, stablecoins, or related instruments “without the protection they should have,” and he also contended that it fails to address anti-money laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act requirements sufficiently. “It allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins, or something like that, without the protection they should have. And it does not do anything for AML/BSA,” Dimon said. Related Reading: Ethereum (ETH) Drops Below $2,000—Why Standard Chartered Still Expects $40,000 By 2030 The executive further emphasized that the pushback would not be limited to a single type of institution or one segment of the industry. He said banks of different sizes would oppose the CLARITY Act as currently written, arguing that unity spans both large and smaller players. “The banks will not accept it that way,” Dimon said. “The ABA [American Bankers Association], the small banks, the credit unions. It’s not just the big guys.” Featured image from CNBC; chart from TradingView.com
Ethereum (ETH) has followed Bitcoin (BTC) and much of the wider crypto market lower over the past 48 hours, dropping below the key $2,000 support level and reigniting concerns among some investors that a longer bear phase could be underway. Even with the recent slide, Standard Chartered’s Digital Assets Research Head, Geoff Kendrick, says the bank is not backing away from its bullish long-term outlook for Ethereum. Ethereum Price Will Catch Up In a note to investors on Thursday, Kendrick reaffirmed Standard Chartered’s core projection for Ethereum’s performance over the next four years, including its end-2030 target of $40,000 for ETH. He linked the current weakness to something investors may eventually look back on as a confusing, even misleading, signal. Rather than treating the price drop as proof that the network is weakening, Kendrick argued that Ethereum’s usage metrics are continuing to improve even as the token’s market value loses ground. Related Reading: Hyperliquid (HYPE) In The Spotlight: Grayscale’s Latest Report Says What Comes Next To illustrate the gap between price action and underlying progress, Kendrick drew a comparison to Amazon during the 2001 dot-com bust. His argument echoes a line often attributed to Jeff Bezos: that while a company’s stock can go the wrong way, “everything inside the company” can still be moving in the right direction. Kendrick specifically said that Ethereum will “catch up” to those improving internal metrics and suggested that investors are effectively watching a delay between operational strength and market pricing. ETH Upside Signals Standard Chartered’s view leans heavily on measurable indicators that Kendrick says support Ethereum’s position in key parts of the crypto economy. One of the bank’s central points is Ethereum’s role in stablecoins. Kendrick noted that 54% of all stablecoins are currently issued on the network. He also said stablecoins make up around one-third of all Ethereum transactions in 2026 year-to-date. Based on that momentum, Standard Chartered projects the stablecoin market cap could increase sixfold from current levels by the end of 2028. Related Reading: Perfect Crypto Week In Texas: 6 Candidates Backed, 0 Misses—What To Track Next A second major pillar of the bullish case is Ethereum’s position in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Kendrick said Ethereum hosts around 62% of RWAs and about 68% of active on-chain loans. He projected that the non-stablecoin RWA sector could grow about 50 times to reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028. For Standard Chartered, tokenized RWAs are likely to expand in a way that brings Ethereum a significant share of the activity. Kendrick’s projections suggest Ethereum could still capture roughly half to two-thirds of both tokenized assets and the related category of growth, with Ethereum hosting an estimated 50% to 65% of those segments. Kendrick’s analysis keeps the forecast unchanged: ETH at $4,000 by the end of 2026 and then $40,000 by the end of 2030. In the same reaffirmation, Standard Chartered lays out an extended path through the intervening years, projecting $10,000 by end-2027, $18,000 by end-2028, and ultimately $40,000 by end-2030. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $1,991, having retraced by 5% in the weekly timeframe. This means that the altcoin is now trading 59% below its all-time high of $4,964, reached last year. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Political efforts tied to the crypto industry scored another set of wins in Texas, strengthening the case that the sector’s influence in US politics remains strong under a more pro-digital asset administration. According to reporting from Eleanor Terret of Crypto In America, the crypto industry went 6-for-6 backing winning candidates in the Texas primary runoffs held Tuesday night. Anti-Crypto Hits At The Ballot Box One of the biggest results came from the Democratic primary runoff in Texas’s 18th Congressional District. In that race, Terret reported that Rep. Christian Menefee defeated 20-year incumbent Rep. Al Green. Fairshake, the industry’s leading super political action committee (PAC), took credit for the win after spending roughly $6.5 million on the race, largely through advertisements supporting Menefee. Related Reading: Will XRP Price Ever Reach $200? Top Expert Discloses What Must Happen First A Fairshake spokesman, Geoff Vetter, argued that Green’s loss showed how anti-crypto positions can have real electoral consequences, noting that Green was the first Democratic incumbent this cycle to lose his seat. Vetter also said Fairshake would continue to “aggressively back” leaders such as Menefee. Elsewhere in Texas, several other races also went in the direction favored by crypto-aligned groups. Candidates Alex Mealer, Tom Sell, John Bonck, and Carlos De La Cruz all won their respective runoffs. In total, Fairshake reportedly spent roughly $1.8 million backing those candidates. Crypto-related efforts were also part of some Republican outcomes. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s upset victory over Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary runoff reportedly drew support from crypto-aligned money as well. California Top-Two Primary Beckons With Texas now behind them, Terrett reported that crypto political groups are already looking ahead to the next targets. The next state on Fairshake’s radar appears to be Maryland. There, state lawmaker Adrian Boafo is running in the June Democratic primary for the state’s 5th Congressional District, and Fairshake has already spent about $2.12 million supporting him. Related Reading: Ethereum (ETH) Next Rally Could Start With These Two Triggers, Top Analyst Says Beyond that, the industry is also expected to focus on California’s top-two primary in the state’s 32nd Congressional District next week. In that race, long-time crypto critic Rep. Brad Sherman faces Jake Levine, a former Biden White House official, as both compete to advance to November’s general election. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
The odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law this year are fading, according to TD Cowen, even after the bill cleared key legislative hurdles in the Senate. While the measure successfully passed through the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, a full Senate vote—and the final approval needed to send the bill to the finish line—now looks increasingly unlikely before year’s end. CLARITY Act Momentum Hits New Wall TD Cowen managing director Jaret Seiberg, writing in a Tuesday note from the firm’s Washington Research Group, said his team remains pessimistic that the CLARITY Act will be enacted this year. In his view, the main challenge is political: whether Democrats can support the bill if it includes provisions aimed at addressing presidential conflicts of interest. Related Reading: Ethereum Price Roadmap For The Rest Of 2026: Bull, Base, And Bear Scenarios Unpacked At the same time, Seiberg warned that Republicans could become more reluctant to advance the legislation if doing so requires them to vote against amendments intended to target or respond to Trump-related concerns. Seiberg said the progress in the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month does not necessarily signal a broad agreement across parties. Although the committee advanced the bill despite objections from Democrats and banks, he described that outcome as shifting the fight to the full Senate rather than resolving the underlying disputes. Seiberg also pointed to several Trump-related developments he says are making the political environment tougher for the CLARITY Act. One driver, he noted, is a legal case involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that has already been resolved. Washington Tensions Rise The dispute resulted in the creation of a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund and permanently bars the IRS from auditing past tax returns for Trump, his family, and related companies. Seiberg’s takeaway is that the fallout from that dispute is likely to further raise the temperature in Washington, making it harder to find consensus on legislation like the already delayed CLARITY Act. Seiberg also cited a recent New York Times investigative report alleging that prediction markets and crypto-related interests may have influenced efforts aimed at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He stressed that, as of his note, the claims have not been confirmed. Still, he pointed to a response from CFTC Chair Michael Selig, who told the New York Times that the agency is focused on major wrongdoing and is not “playing favorites.” Related Reading: XRP, ETH, SOL, LINK Look Cheap—The Catalysts That Could Drive The Next Leg Up Another factor cited in the TD Cowen note involves government financial disclosures released earlier this month. Those reports indicated that roughly 3,600 stock trades were executed on Trump’s behalf during the first three months of 2026. Seiberg argued that the surrounding controversy makes it more likely that lawmakers choose delay over action—especially as the midterm election approaches and the political calendar narrows the window for additional postponements. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
A new report from market expert Sam Daodu argues that several large-cap cryptocurrencies, including XRP, are still “undervalued” relative to the activity and infrastructure building underneath them. In Daodu’s view, the altcoin market hasn’t fully recovered from the drawdown that pushed crypto into bear territory—an environment where most major tokens have fallen much harder than Bitcoin (BTC) and have struggled to regain momentum. The Ethereum Puzzle The expert starts with Ethereum (ETH), pointing out an interesting disconnect; the price is down, yet the network’s usage remains strong. Ethereum is trading about 57% below its August 2025 all-time high of $4,946. But he stresses that on-chain fundamentals don’t line up with that level of weakness. Related Reading: XRP Channel Pattern Points To $5, Says Korean Analyst Ethereum, he says, holds roughly $43 billion in total value locked (TVL) across its decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols—more than any other blockchain—while also maintaining the largest pool of DeFi capital, the widest stablecoin base, and some of the deepest trading infrastructure in the ecosystem. Daodu links part of that valuation gap to an upgrade schedule aimed at improving performance. He points to Glamsterdam, targeted for mid-2026, as a potential catalyst that could address the longstanding complaints that have kept ETH below current peaks despite record on-chain activity. CLARITY Act Momentum For XRP XRP is another centerpiece of the report, and Daodu’s case is built on the idea that the ledger is seeing increased activity even as price consolidation continues. He says XRP has spent much of 2026 trading between $1.30 and $1.50, sitting around 62% below its July 2025 high of $3.65. While that looks like a stagnant range on charts, Daodu argues the XRP Ledger has been “busier than ever.” He points to daily transactions hitting 3 million in March, driven by new trading pools, stablecoins, and real-world assets (RWAs) moving onto the chain. Then came a regulatory turning point. On May 14, the US Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in a 15-9 vote. He describes the bill as one that would permanently classify XRP as a commodity under federal law, with the next step being consideration on the Senate floor. Daodu emphasizes that while the joint SEC-CFTC ruling already gave XRP commodity status at the agency level, an agency ruling can be reversed by a future administration—whereas legislation is harder to undo. That difference, he says, is part of why institutions continue accumulating XRP even as the token’s price has struggled. He adds that Standard Chartered expects the bill could bring an estimated $4 billion to $8 billion into spot XRP ETFs and push the token to at least $8. Solana’s ‘Price Vs Fundamentals’ Case Solana’s section follows a similar price vs. fundamentals theme. Daodu says SOL peaked at $295 in January 2025, then slid nearly 70% to $85. Even with that pressure on the chart, he argues the network’s trajectory remains constructive. He highlights the March 17, 2026 SEC-CFTC guidance that classified XRP and Ethereum as digital commodities, noting that the guidance also covered Solana and cleared the security label that had kept large funds cautious. On top of that regulatory backdrop, Daodu points to developer growth and usage metrics. Solana reportedly added more than 11,500 new developers in the first nine months of 2025, second only to Ethereum. Why Chainlink Looks Cheap Chainlink, Daodu suggests, may be undervalued precisely because it doesn’t always dominate mainstream retail conversations. He says LINK trades around $9.50, down 82% from its May 2021 all-time high of $52.99. But he argues that Chainlink’s role in the market is far bigger than its spot price reaction. Daodu points to Chainlink’s price feeds and its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), describing how these tools underpin the real-world asset (RWA) economy. Related Reading: The Bitcoin Billion-Dollar Dump: Here’s Why The BTC Price Keeps Crashing He also points to scale and volume. Daodu says Chainlink secures over $75 billion in total value across crypto, and that CCIP alone moves around $18 billion in transfer volume every month. Analysts, he adds, project the oracle sector could grow tenfold by 2030, and that if the prediction holds, Chainlink would be positioned as the backbone of that expansion. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
Chainlink (LINK) has spent much of the past year in a holding pattern, lingering around the 18th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and pulling back roughly 43% year-to-date. Still, zooming out on LINK’s longer-term picture, the oracle’s native token remains far from its peak. LINK is roughly 82% below its all-time high of $52, trading at about $9.509 at the time of writing. Despite the weak price action, Leo Sun of The Motley Fool has published a report arguing that LINK could still see substantial upside over the next five years. How LINK’s Circulation Could Drive Big Gains The core of Sun’s outlook is that the token’s trajectory may benefit from changes in both supply dynamics and real-world adoption—especially as Chainlink’s ecosystem continues to expand. Sun points to token circulation as a key part of the long-term picture. When LINK last reached its record level in 2021, it had a circulating supply of about 410 million tokens. Since then, the circulating figure has risen to approximately 727 million as of the time of the report. Related Reading: Hyperliquid (HYPE) Breaks New All-Time High—Surges Past $62 As Momentum Spikes Sun argues that this growth in circulation could bring LINK much closer to its supply limit within the next five years. If demand continues to rise while the supply of newly available tokens tightens, the token price would have room to move significantly—particularly if new demand arrives faster than supply expansion. Another major element of Sun’s thesis is Chainlink’s growing role in regulated finance and payments infrastructure. Over the past year, Chainlink has partnered with roughly two dozen major financial institutions, including organizations such as UBS, Euroclear, and the SWIFT network. The purpose of these relationships, according to Sun, is to help accelerate money transfers, automate transaction workflows, and support the tokenization of real-world assets. If Chainlink becomes a core piece of infrastructure for tokenized finance, the report suggests LINK’s value could rise further as the ecosystem’s usage expands. What Needs To Change For Chainlink? At the heart of the argument is the way LINK is positioned in the crypto market. Sun notes that LINK can’t be valued using a “scarcity model” in the same way Bitcoin (BTC) is often approached, since the mechanics of token distribution and market structure differ. Instead, Chainlink is described more as a developer-driven asset—closer to how investors think about Ethereum (ETH) rather than a pure scarcity narrative. Related Reading: Bitcoin Miners Warn No Bottom Yet, CryptoQuant Says—What On-Chain Metrics Reveal In that framework, LINK’s long-term prospects depend less on fixed scarcity alone and more on continued relevance to developers, integration into real financial systems, and the degree to which market interest returns. Finally, the report ties the $20 billion market cap idea to broader macro conditions. If the overall cryptocurrency market improves over the next five years—as Sun suggests could happen when the macro environment becomes more favorable—Chainlink’s market cap could move up materially. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Hyperliquid (HYPE) has notched a fresh all-time high as activity across parts of the broader crypto market appears to be consolidating rather than accelerating. While many competitors have stayed relatively range-bound, HYPE has pushed higher and is now inching toward Dogecoin (DOGE), the tenth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. At the moment, DOGE still holds a sizable lead—about a $2 billion gap—though Hyperliquid’s latest move has put it back in the spotlight. HYPE Hits A New Peak At the time of writing, HYPE was trading around $61.94. During the day, it briefly surged to $62.80, setting a new record peak for the platform’s native token. The price action has been accompanied by strong performance across several time horizons. On a weekly basis, the token is up roughly 48%. Over the past thirty days, the gains expanded to about 54%. Year-to-date, HYPE has recorded triple-digit growth, with a 134% increase so far. Related Reading: Bitcoin Could Hit Near $95,000 If It Holds Above This Critical Support, Top Analyst Says Part of the narrative around HYPE lately has been the alignment of bullish catalysts highlighted over the past few weeks by NewsBTC. The latest surge comes as investors appear to be responding to a growing set of market drivers aimed at Hyperliquid’s ecosystem—especially within the Hyperliquid ETF space. Institutional interest beyond this nascent sector is also being framed as a key element of the current momentum. LookOnChain flagged large purchases tied to Grayscale, reporting that the firm was loading up on HYPE. In one hour alone, Grayscale was said to be buying 115,733 HYPE, worth roughly $6.65 million. Looking across a longer window, the same tracking indicated Grayscale has accumulated 682,190 HYPE over the past week, totaling about $34.9 million. Is Hyperliquid Undervalued? Meanwhile, developments on the infrastructure side may also be adding to the bullish case. Coinbase has been named as Hyperliquid’s official USDC liquidity provider, strengthening the stablecoin plumbing around the platform. In addition, Coinbase is reportedly set to acquire USDH brand assets, a move that could further reshape how Hyperliquid’s token and stablecoin components fit together. Related Reading: Solana ETF Falls Behind As XRP Collects More Cash—Here’s The Catalyst Driving The Split Even with all of this, Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan suggested earlier this week that the market may not yet be fully pricing Hyperliquid’s broader value proposition. Hougan said Hyperliquid appears to be caught in what he described as a “pricing error”—with investors treating it as little more than a perpetual futures exchange. His view is that the market still hasn’t recognized the platform’s longer-term trajectory, despite the growing wave of activity and institutional demand. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Market analyst Aletheia released a report on Wednesday, taking a close look at the first six days of trading for Hyperliquid ETFs launched by 21Shares and Bitwise. The analysis focuses on how early inflows are stacking up across major crypto assets and what those moves may signal for demand going forward. First Six Days Under The Microscope In market-cap-adjusted terms, Aletheia found that the Hyperliquid ETFs generated more flows than Bitcoin (BTC) on three of the first six trading days. The same comparison also showed strength versus Ethereum (ETH): Hyperliquid’s ETF products logged higher inflows than Ethereum on five out of six days. Related Reading: Bitwise Bullish on Hyperliquid: HYPE Labeled ‘Undervalued’ As It Rallies 20% The Solana (SOL) spot exchange-traded fund sector produced a different picture. According to the report, Solana posted higher market-cap-adjusted flows than Hyperliquid on four of the first six trading days. On Tuesday, however, Hyperliquid spot ETFs recorded materially stronger inflows than any of their peers. The analyst emphasized that it’s still too early to say whether this spike is the start of a sustained trend, or whether it reflects a short-term burst of demand that may normalize over the coming days. Hyperliquid Near Bull-Run Highs Beyond the raw inflow numbers, the report reveals another layer: the Hyperliquid spot ETFs are competing with the Assistance Fund — the platform’s economic structure for token buybacks — in terms of market buying pressure. In the first six trading days, the ETFs bought 2.5 times as much HYPE as the Assistance Fund bought and burned. The “burning” element is important context, since it differs from a straightforward accumulation mechanism. Still, when the discussion is framed around buying pressure and market impact, Aletheia argues that the ETFs are clearly adding to the fuel. Related Reading: Solana ETF Falls Behind As XRP Collects More Cash—Here’s The Catalyst Driving The Split The combination of ETF-driven activity and increasing token demand has moved Hyperliquid close to current price peaks of $59 reached during last year’s bull run. Data from CoinGecko shows the altcoin trading at $51.88 when writing is up 33% over the past week alone. At this level, the token is only 12% below its current record, leaving room—at least in relative terms—for a potential “discovery” phase if the ETF-related inflows continue to build. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan issued a strongly bullish view on Hyperliquid and its native token, HYPE, shortly after Bitwise launched a HYPE exchange-traded fund (ETF) last week. In his comments, Hougan argued that the market is mispricing Hyperliquid’s broader business model—treating it as essentially just another perpetual futures venue. Hyperliquid As A Global Super App Hougan said Hyperliquid appears to be caught in what he described as a “pricing error,” with investors valuing the platform as little more than a perpetual futures exchange. In contrast, he framed Hyperliquid as a global financial “super app,” one that is moving beyond the boundaries of crypto and expanding into areas such as stocks, commodities, foreign exchange, and prediction markets. Related Reading: The Bitcoin Meltdown: What’s Behind The Drop To $76,000, And What’s Next As part of his valuation perspective, Hougan estimated the platform’s annual revenue could be in the range of about $800 million to $1 billion, suggesting room for the business to scale well beyond how it’s currently categorized by the market. A key element of Hougan’s case involves Hyperliquid’s fee model. He pointed to a structure in which 99% of trading fees are directed toward HYPE token buybacks, describing it as a mechanism that helps support value rather than simply extracting revenue without a token-linked benefit. That, he said, aligns incentives in a way that differs from what investors may be assuming when they treat Hyperliquid as a standard trading platform. HYPE Approaches All-Time Highs Hougan also emphasized that HYPE’s recent performance does not change his view that the token remains undervalued. He noted that HYPE is up by 77% this year, yet he believes the market still hasn’t fully credited Hyperliquid’s long-term trajectory. In his view, Hyperliquid’s real opportunity is not just to grow as a rapidly expanding crypto perpetual exchange, but to evolve into a broader trading super app spanning stocks, pre-IPO assets, commodities, prediction markets, and crypto assets. Related Reading: Zcash, Bitcoin, And Solana—Catalysts Ahead That Could Fuel Another Upswing Before May Ends The bullish remarks come as interest in HYPE gained another boost from ETF activity. Along with Bitwise’s launch of a Hyperliquid ETF tied to HYPE, 21Shares introduced its own HYPE ETF earlier in the month. Following those launches, HYPE surged—recording massive gains of nearly 20% in the past week alone. At the time of writing, HYPE was trading just above the key $48 mark, only 18% below all-time high levels of $59 reached last year. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs has made a notable shift in its crypto-related exchange-traded (ETF) fund positions, according to a recent filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The update shows the firm exiting XRP- and Solana (SOL)-linked ETF exposure, while also trimming its Ethereum (ETH) ETF holdings. At the same time, the filing shows it opened a new position tied to one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Goldman Sachs Exits XRP And Solana ETFs The story starts with Goldman’s XRP ETF exposure going into the end of Q4 2025. At that point, the bank held nearly $154 million worth of XRP-related ETFs from issuers including Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, and 21Shares. Those holdings made Goldman Sachs one of the largest institutional holders of XRP ETF products at the time. The latest SEC disclosure, however, shows that its XRP ETF positions were removed entirely, reflecting a full exit during the first quarter. Related Reading: Hyperliquid (HYPE) To $100? Expert Forecasts Major Rise Before Summer 2027 A similar change appears with Solana-linked products. Goldman Sachs had previously disclosed that it held exposure across multiple Solana investment products, including the Grayscale Solana Trust ETF, the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, and the Fidelity Solana Fund. However, just like XRP, those Solana-related ETF positions also disappeared in Goldman’s Q1 filing. In other words, Goldman fully exited both XRP- and Solana-linked ETF holdings by the first quarter of 2026, with no remaining trace of those positions in the updated portfolio disclosure. Even with these exits, Goldman Sachs did not leave the crypto ETF space entirely. The firm still held roughly $700 million in Bitcoin ETFs. Still, its posture toward Ethereum was more cautious: Goldman cut its Ethereum ETF exposure by about 70%, bringing the total down to approximately $114 million. New Bet On Hyperliquid What makes the change more interesting is that Goldman Sachs appears to be redeploying at least some of that capital into other parts of the crypto market. Alongside the ETF reductions and exits, the bank opened a new position tied to Hyperliquid (HYPE). According to the filing, Goldman acquired roughly 654,630 shares of Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), valued at about $3.3 million. Related Reading: Zcash (ZEC) Rockets 1,200%—Expert Says ZEC Could Soon Outgrow Cardano (ADA) Beyond Hyperliquid, Goldman Sachs’ trading activity also shows a new wave of exposure across several crypto-linked equities. The bank increased positions in Circle (CRCL), Galaxy (GLXY), and Coinbase (COIN) shares. At the time of writing, Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, was trading at around $45. It has been one of the best-performing tokens over the past month, with gains of 10% in the last two weeks alone. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin (BTC) dropping below the $80,000 mark is starting to undo some of the optimism that followed a major step forward for the industry. After the Senate Banking Committee markup for the CLARITY Act on Thursday, the market’s gains have since faded. Now, fresh inflation data is arriving with a potentially heavier hand, and analysts say it could further cool sentiment that traders had hoped would carry into stronger price action. The concern is not limited to Bitcoin: the same macro pressure could spill into Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), where conditions often translate into sharper day-to-day moves. ‘Broadly Bearish’ For Bitcoin Market expert Alex Carchidi of The Motley Fool frames April’s inflation reading as particularly difficult to absorb. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on May 12, prices rose 3.8% year over year. A key driver was energy, which jumped 17.9% as costs climbed amid the US-Iran conflict. Related Reading: Bitcoin And XRP Climb On CLARITY Act News—But Clear Path To Law Isn’t Done Yet In Carchidi’s view, the inflation impulse is not just another routine print—it reflects real supply disruption. The analysis points specifically to the blocking of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, an event that has helped push energy prices higher and, in turn, lifts overall inflation. The report also showed core inflation, which excludes food and energy, moving higher than many expected. Core CPI increased to 2.8% year over year, edging above forecast. Taken together, Carchidi describes the figures as broadly bearish for Bitcoin and the broader crypto sector, but he stresses that the effect will not be identical across major coins. Risk-On In The Spotlight Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana are all likely to face consequences, yet their market positioning relative to inflation and liquidity differs enough to matter. One major reason Bitcoin may be more resilient—at least in theory—is that crypto markets often respond to the cost and availability of capital. Carchidi notes that “crypto thrives on cheap capital.” However, with the macro backdrop changing, the expectation is that the “spigot” for liquidity could be tightening rather than widening. That brings the Federal Reserve into focus. The Fed has kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75% across three consecutive meetings. Still, traders are watching for a shift in policy expectations, pricing in roughly a 30% probability of a rate hike by the end of the year. Carchidi says this matters more for Ethereum and Solana than for Bitcoin. His rationale is tied to how these assets are commonly perceived by the market. ETH and SOL, in the expert’s words, are typically treated as risk-on holdings, and they do not have an established “inflation hedge” story that investors can fall back on during periods of persistent inflation pressure. Bitcoin, by contrast, has long been positioned—by supporters—as a scarce asset that could act as an inflation hedge, which can provide a different kind of narrative support when traditional assets and macro assumptions shift. Near-Term Warning For Ethereum And Solana Cardichi suggests that if the energy shock eventually leads to broader monetary loosening, Bitcoin’s scarcity-based argument could become more compelling again over a multiyear horizon. Related Reading: Zcash (ZEC) Rockets 1,200%—Expert Says ZEC Could Soon Outgrow Cardano (ADA) Even then, he emphasizes that this is conditional—an “if, not a when”—and that the market would need data-driven confirmation for the renewed case to feel convincing. For Ethereum and Solana, the near-term picture is less optimistic in his conclusion. Their value, according to Carchidi, depends more on the networks gaining traction with users and attracting capital to their platforms. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Cryptocurrency markets rallied sharply on Thursday after the Senate Banking Committee delivered a major win for the industry by advancing the long-anticipated CLARITY Act. The market reaction was visible across the largest coins: Bitcoin (BTC) jumped to $81,899 at the time of writing, representing about a 2.7% gain, while XRP led among the top ten cryptocurrencies, surging above $1.50 with gains of more than 6%—a level not seen since March of this year. Even with the momentum, the bill is still not law, and it faces multiple political and procedural hurdles before it can be finalized. Next Steps For The CLARITY Act The committee’s action—passing the CLARITY Act by a 15–9 vote—means the next step is a full Senate vote, which would require roughly 60 votes to pass. If it clears that threshold, the process would move into the next phase, typically involving House–Senate talks to reconcile differences between versions, followed by a potential presidential signature, which could further boost crypto prices. Related Reading: Hyperliquid (HYPE) To $100? Expert Forecasts Major Rise Before Summer 2027 At the same time, several Democrats voiced reservations about whether the CLARITY Act strikes the right balance. As earlier reported by Bitcoinist, the hearing included discussion of Democratic amendments aimed at concerns such as stablecoin yields and AML. Those amendments were either voted down or rejected by Scott on the basis that they were not written correctly and therefore could not be offered in that process. XRP Reclaims $1.50, Bitcoin Nears $82,000 Beyond the CLARITY Act, the market’s chart-driven response turned into a question of whether XRP and Bitcoin can continue to convert momentum into follow-through. With XRP reclaiming the $1.50 area, a decisive weekly close above $1.50 is now being watched as a potential trigger for further upside. Some projections point toward targets in the $1.65 to $1.70 range, and a more aggressive bullish extension could carry expectations toward $1.85 if the rally gains additional strength. Related Reading: Coinbase CEO Unpacks The Crypto Bill’s Biggest Promise For The US Financial System For Bitcoin, traders have been focused on a specific resistance level: $83,000. That level has been a key barrier recently, as it prevented continued upside after last week’s move. Earlier in the week, Bitcoin also experienced a pullback that took it below $79,000 on Wednesday, before rebounding again toward $82,000 on Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the CLARITY Act committee vote. In other words, the market is celebrating today’s progress, but the next technical test remains close by. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
The first Hyperliquid (HYPE) ETF debut in the US on Tuesday drew attention quickly after the fund reportedly logged more than $1 million in inflows on day one. However, trading conditions changed fast. On Wednesday, HYPE’s price fell about 4%, sliding to roughly $38 as the broader crypto market stayed under pressure throughout the week and extended the downturn. Failed Attempts At $45 Despite the near-term weakness, one analyst believes the altcoin still has a clear path to substantially higher levels once the current market cycle improves. In a Wednesday post on social media site X (formerly Twitter), market analyst McKenna argued that HYPE’s recent movement resembles a local top on the altcoin’s daily chart. Related Reading: First Hyperliquid ETF Launch: Day One Volume Hits $1.8M–Key Details According to the analysis, HYPE has tried twice to break above the closest resistance level around $45, and failed both times. McKenna pointed to what he described as a “large range” forming between roughly $35 and $50, suggesting the token may remain trapped in that band for a while as traders accumulate again. The broader weakness in the Hyperliquid token could be linked to the continuing bear-market narrative. With Bitcoin (BTC) not showing a convincing breakout from current levels, the bear thesis is still playing out. Two Views On Hyperliquid Looking further ahead, McKenna’s outlook is significantly more optimistic on a fundamentals-based horizon. He said he expects HYPE to eventually push into “three digits” before summer 2027. If Hyperliquid were to hit $100 in the coming year, that would be an increase of over 163% from current trading levels and almost double HYPE’s current price record from the previous year’s bull run, when the cryptocurrency reached about $59. Related Reading: Coinbase CEO Unpacks The Crypto Bill’s Biggest Promise For The US Financial System Still, the near-term picture may be even more challenging. Another analyst, Umair Orakzai, warned on X that the chart signals are turning increasingly bearish. Orakzai said the trendline has “broken,” and that the appearance of large candles indicates the trend is no longer intact—adding that “panic” may be starting to spread. He suggested that the “real panic” could begin if HYPE falls below $38.8. For the moment, Hyperliquid investors should focus on $35 as the next major support level. If that floor gives way, levels not seen since March—around $29—could follow. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
The first Hyperliquid ETF officially began trading on Tuesday, and early signs suggest it cleared a key hurdle for a new product: a strong first day relative to typical exchange-traded product launches. The fund was approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was created by crypto asset manager 21Shares, with the ETF now trading under the ticker $THYP on the Nasdaq. Hyperliquid ETF Launch Recap Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart weighed in on the debut Hyperliquid ETF debut, offering what amounted to a clear-but-cautious read on the numbers. In a Tuesday post on X, Seyffart said $THYP finished the day at $1.8 million in trading, describing it as “very very solid” and stronger than an average ETF launch—though not in a category that he would label as extraordinary. Related Reading: Circle Banks $200M From Giants Like BlackRock In Arc Token Presale, CRCL Jumps 15% Alongside the trading activity, 21Shares also shared key launch disclosures. The firm set the fund’s management fee at 0.3%. By comparison, Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, $MSBT, carries the lowest fee at 0.14%. In addition to pricing, 21Shares disclosed $1.2 million in net inflows on day one for its Hyperliquid ETF, giving investors another datapoint for how quickly demand may have formed after the launch. Even so, the broader market context may complicate near-term performance expectations. At the time of writing, Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, was down 3.5%, testing the $40 level as support. This decrease coincides with a period of market uncertainty brought on by Bitcoin’s recent retrace after failing to breach $83,000 during last week’s surge. If the $80,000 support breaks, some analysts believe this might lead to a new correction. If sentiment worsens again, it could potentially weigh on demand for 21Shares’ Hyperliquid ETF offering as well—particularly if inflows soften after the initial launch period. Bitwise And Grayscale Update HYPE ETF Filings Looking beyond 21shares’ Hyperliquid ETF launch, attention is now turning to other issuers. The market is watching Bitwise and Grayscale, both of which have updated their spot HYPE ETF filings, strengthening the sense that additional products could follow soon. Related Reading: Bitmine ETH Holdings Cross 5.2 Million—CEO Announces New Phase For Crypto Markets The expectation is that these Hyperliquid ETF efforts by the two asset managers may benefit from the current regulatory environment in the country, with a now pro-crypto Securities and Exchange Commission led by Paul Atkins. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
The latest Bitcoin (BTC) rally is already showing signs of losing momentum, and several analysts warn that a larger correction may be closer. AlejandroBTC—posting on X (formerly Twitter)—called the current price behavior “a dead cat bounce,” suggesting the recent rebound may be near its end and that Bitcoin could be set up for a much deeper drop. Bear Market Still In Play? In AlejandroBTC’s “most optimistic” framing, the move above $82,000 could have actually marked the top for the cryptocurrency. If that scenario plays out, he warned it could trigger a major downturn. His estimate points to a potential 50% decline toward the $40,000 region. In his view, that area would not just be another dip, but potentially where a more durable “solid base” could form—effectively implying a market bottom could be built from there rather than continuing to spiral lower. Related Reading: Dogecoin Price Set To Hit $5 Amid New Influx From Smart Money? Another analyst, CryptoCon, offered a different way of thinking about where Bitcoin might be in its cycle. CryptoCon cited the average timeline for past bear markets, saying that based on the historical average of 391 days, the current bear market is estimated to be 55% complete. According to his calculation, the market is 216 days into the cycle. He added that the lowest drawdown point so far is around -52%, which he described as about 25% higher than the previous cycle’s low. Put plainly, CryptoCon argues that, if history is the guide, Bitcoin may not yet be near the typical drawdown levels many past bear markets eventually reached—and that means there’s still room for additional downside before the “usual” worst-case territory appears. Why This Week Could Mark ‘The Top For Bitcoin’ That bearish case was echoed by market expert CryptoRover, who suggested that this week “might be the top for Bitcoin.” Rover’s point was not only about current price behavior, but also about historical repetition. He pointed to examples from past years: the pattern played out in 2014, leading to a 65% crash; in 2018, leading to a 64% crash; and in 2022, leading to a 52% crash. Based on that track record, Rover implied there are reasons to think something similar could occur again. To support his view that risk may be rising as the cycle matures, CryptoRover also outlined three catalysts he says could contribute to downside if they align with the current timing. The first is an open interest (OI) spike. He said Bitcoin recorded the largest monthly OI spike of 2026, and that the same pattern appeared in altcoins as traders try to chase the latest momentum. In his framework, when OI rises this quickly, it can often be followed by a liquidation cascade—especially if prices reverse and heavily leveraged positions get forced out. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Breakout Setup Strengthens As Bulls Regain Full Control The second factor is the likelihood of a new Federal Reserve (Fed) chair being confirmed this week. Rover claimed that every time a new Fed chair has been confirmed, Bitcoin has tended to drop. The third factor is stock euphoria. CryptoRover said equities have been “absolutely parabolic” recently and that a cooldown is likely. He pointed out that when stocks hit new all-time highs, Bitcoin and altcoins stayed well below their own highs. He concluded that if stocks undergo a correction, crypto—still lagging compared to the sector’s performance—could face increased pressure. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Coinbase (COIN) opened the quarter with a rough financial showing. After the exchange reported major losses in its first-quarter earnings, Barclays responded by cutting its price target for COIN, while Bank of America trimmed its target more modestly. Two Wall Street Takes On Coinbase Barclays lowered its Coinbase price target to $107 from $140, maintaining an Underweight rating following the company’s release. Bank of America, by comparison, reduced its target to $218 from $234 while keeping a Buy rating. Barclays anchored its downgrade on what it said was a significant miss across both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. It noted that even though certain segments of Coinbase’s activity came in above expectations, overall quarter-to-date transaction revenues still fell well below Street estimates. Related Reading: Hyperliquid Q1 Report—The ‘House Of All Finance’ Is Nearer Than Ever, Here’s Why The message from Barclays was that the upside in specific trading pockets wasn’t enough to offset the broader weakness in Coinbase’s core performance. Bank of America’s reasoning focused more on the pressure on expenses, as well as the demand environment Coinbase is facing. The firm flagged higher tech and development spending and said that consumer volumes declined 36% quarter over quarter, a drop it linked to depressed asset prices. Despite that, Bank of America stayed positive, pointing to the company’s strategic push toward crypto-as-a-service and arguing that those efforts could create more durable revenue streams over time. Net Loss, Crypto Investment Losses The financial results themselves showed the seriousness of the quarter. Coinbase reported a net loss of $394.1 million, or $1.49 per share, compared with a profit of $65.6 million, or $0.24 per share, in the year-ago period. It also showed softness beyond pure trading activity: revenue from the subscription and services unit—which includes businesses outside of trading—fell 13.5% to $583.5 million in the first quarter. Related Reading: JPMorgan Says Strategy Could Buy Up To $30B In Bitcoin This Year– TD Cowen Lifts Target To $395 Overall adjusted EBITDA dropped to $303.3 million from $929.9 million a year earlier, underscoring how steep the earnings decline was compared with the prior-year baseline. Trading-related revenue also weakened. Coinbase said transaction revenue fell 40% year over year to $755.8 million. In addition, it recorded a loss on crypto assets held for investment, reporting a loss of $482.4 million on those crypto assets versus a loss of $596.7 million in the prior year. Following the release of its Q1 report, Coinbase’s stock, COIN, saw a 5% drop to $192 per share. However, the stock closed this week’s trading session at $201, marking an 8% surge in the last 24 hours. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Strategy—formerly known as MicroStrategy—could meaningfully accelerate its Bitcoin-buying pace this year, according to analysts at JPMorgan. The firm, led by well-known Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, is already one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies, and JPMorgan believes its next move may be a larger, faster round of acquisitions. Strategy Could Outpace Past Bitcoin Buying Strategy currently holds more than 818,000 Bitcoin, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. Purchases have been active throughout 2026: the company reportedly added over 145,000 BTC in just five months, which is estimated at roughly $11 billion. JPMorgan analysts, however, said that amount could rise substantially. Under their view, Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases this year could reach $30 billion over the course of the year. At today’s implied annualized pace, that would put 2026 purchases far above the roughly $22 billion acquired across 2024 and 2025 combined. Related Reading: VanEck Forecast: Bitcoin Could Climb To $1,000,000 By 2031, Research Head Says JPMorgan pointed to a change in momentum in April, saying Strategy “appears to have re-accelerated its bitcoin purchases.” The analysts tied the behavior to what they described as an increasingly opportunistic buying pattern. The optimism around Strategy’s plan also showed up in analyst price targets. On Thursday, TD Cowen raised its target price for the company’s stock, MSTR, from $385 to $395. As of the time of writing, MSTR closed at $179, translating to an 18% gain since the beginning of the year. If TD Cowen’s forecast were to play out, the implied move would represent about a 120% jump from current levels. Net Loss Vs. Big Forecast Analysts also highlighted the financing approach by Strategy behind the acquisitions. They say the firm’s increased use of STRC (variable-rate perpetual preferred stock) to fund Bitcoin purchases could improve capital efficiency, making it more attractive relative to prevailing market pricing. Still, the company’s latest financial picture includes major losses. Strategy reported a net loss of $12.54 billion for the quarter, driven largely by an unrealized decline in Bitcoin fair value of $14.46 billion. Related Reading: This New Move Just Opened XRP To 44 Million New Users Looking ahead, the base case and scenarios for Strategy reflect a bullish outlook. The firm’s base case is that Bitcoin could reach approximately $140,000 by the end of 2026, with an upside scenario of about $175,000. Separately, Joseph Vafi at Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating on May 7, lifting his MSTR price target from $185 to $224. Canaccord noted that since Bitcoin has rebounded—moving up from its roughly $62,000 low to more than $80,000—Strategy has continued to “weather another perceived storm. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin is trading just above the $81,000 level as the market waits to see whether the next move will push higher or pull back. Against that backdrop, Matthew Siegel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, reiterated his bullish view on the leading cryptocurrency. In a Wednesday interview with CNBC, Siegel again pointed to a dramatic upside scenario, saying he expects Bitcoin to potentially reach $1,000,000 within the next five years. Why Bitcoin May Persist Siegel compared Bitcoin’s staying power to a familiar arc from the tech world. “It’s going to be like the video game industry.” In the same spirit, Siegel argued that investors do not simply abandon Bitcoin and move on. “People don’t quit; they also don’t quit Bitcoin.” He added that the market is also being shaped by a larger structural shift, noting that the first central bank has begun buying Bitcoin for its reserves, which he called a “mega trend,” even if it will be “very volatile along the way.” Related Reading: Ripple CEO Warns: If CLARITY Act Markup Slips, Chances Fall ‘Precipitously’ Siegel also pointed to specific market conditions that he believes are helping support the current momentum. One factor is Bitcoin’s relationship with broader risk assets—particularly technology stocks. He said Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has risen to a five-year high, helping explain why recent gains have appeared alongside a wider macro move. In other words, rather than Bitcoin moving in isolation, it has been trading more like a high-beta asset tied to technology-heavy indices. Another part of his argument focuses on the derivatives market. Siegel said he sees an absence of froth in derivatives, which he interprets as a sign that the rally is being driven more by short covering than by speculative overexuberance. Near $3 Million By 2050? VanEck’s research head has also made an even longer-term projection earlier this year, suggesting Bitcoin could climb to as much as $2.9 million per coin by 2050. That estimate, Siegel implied, is tied to a valuation framework based on Bitcoin’s potential role across two major markets: as a medium of exchange (MoE) and as a reserve asset for central banks. Related Reading: Strategy Reports Q1 Results: Over $12 Billion In Red Ink—Here Are The Key Figures Looking ahead to 2050, he predicted that Bitcoin would settle between 5% and 10% of global international trade, while also accounting for 5% of domestic trade transactions. Siegel further explained that, under a scenario where Bitcoin captures 20% of international trade and 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the model could produce an extremely high implied value—he said it could rise to $53.4 million per coin. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Strategy, the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) holder, released its first-quarter (Q1) financial results on Tuesday, and the headline number was stark: more than $12 billion in losses. Strategy Q1 Financial Snapshot In its report, the company said its operating loss for Q1 2026 totaled $14.47 billion, compared with $5.92 billion in Q1 2025. Strategy also broke out the main driver of that operating loss, stating that Q1 2026 operating loss included an unrealized loss on the company’s digital assets of $14.46 billion. Related Reading: XRP Near $1.40—What Could Spark A Move To $1.70, And How The CLARITY Act Fits In Strategy’s net loss for the first quarter of 2026 came in at $12.54 billion, or $38.25 per common share on a diluted basis. That compared with a net loss of $4.22 billion, or $16.49 per common share on a diluted basis, in the prior-year quarter. The company also provided an update on liquidity. As of March 31, 2026, Strategy reported cash and cash equivalents of $2.21 billion, compared with $2.30 billion as of December 31, 2025. On the revenue side, Strategy recorded total revenues of $124.3 million in Q1 2026, up from $111.1 million in Q1 2025—an increase of 11.9% year over year. Bitcoin Numbers Disclosed Strategy also included a Bitcoin performance snapshot. Through 2026 year-to-date, the company reported a BTC yield of 9.4%. It also reported a BTC dollar gain of $4.97 billion for 2026 year-to-date. As of May 3, 2026, Strategy said its digital assets were comprised of approximately 818,334 Bitcoin. The company reported an original cost basis and market value of $61.81 billion and $64.14 billion, respectively. Related Reading: DTCC Tokenized Securities Roadmap: Pilot In July, Scale Up In October—With Big Names Like Ripple For Strategy, that translates to an average cost per Bitcoin of approximately $75,537 and an average market price per Bitcoin of approximately $78,374 as of May 1, 2026. On Tuesday, Strategy’s stock, which trades under the ticker name MSTR, closed the trading session at $186, marking a 3% increase for the day, as Bitcoin surpassed the $81,000 mark. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced on Tuesday, May 5, that the company will reduce its workforce by approximately 14% — a move Armstrong described as “sudden and harsh” but necessary to position the exchange for what he called a new phase of AI-driven operations. Related Reading: Why is Crypto Up Today? Bitcoin Price Faces ‘Real Test’ At This Key Level In a post on X shared with employees, Armstrong outlined two converging forces behind the decision: the persistent volatility of crypto market cycles and the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence on how the company operates internally. Based on Coinbase’s last disclosed full-time employee count of 4,951 as of December 31, 2025, the reduction is estimated to affect approximately 693 people, according to reporting by Stocktwits. Coinbase Uses AI to Reshape The Equation? Armstrong framed the cuts not as a defensive market response, but as a structural redesign. According to Bitcoin Magazine’s coverage of the announcement, engineers at Coinbase are now shipping in days what previously required full teams working for weeks, a shift Armstrong attributed directly to AI tools. The company has already required engineers to adopt platforms including GitHub Copilot and Cursor, with a stated target of 50% AI-written code. Armstrong also described experiments with “AI-native pods” — including what he called “one person teams” — where engineering, design, and product responsibilities converge into a single role. The restructuring targets flatter organizational structures, fewer management layers, and a tighter focus on small, high-impact teams, per the announcement. A Pattern With A New Argument This is not the first time Coinbase has moved aggressively on headcount. The exchange cut 18% of its workforce in June 2022 as crypto prices collapsed, then eliminated another 20% — approximately 950 employees — in January 2023 following the FTX implosion. Each prior reduction was a market response. The 2026 round carries a different stated rationale: operational redesign around AI, not survival through a downturn. Affected US employees will receive at least 16 weeks of base pay, two additional weeks per year of service, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA health coverage, per the announcement. Armstrong stated the company remains “well-positioned to weather any storm.” Related Reading: Solana, TRON, XRP, and BNB Make Debut at Moscow Exchange, These Top Altcoins Will Follow As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at around $79,500, with the broader market showing little immediate reaction to the Coinbase news. BTC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview Cover image from Grok, BTCUSD chart on Tradingview
Two US senators introduced the Prediction Market Act of 2026, which would create a more complete regulatory framework for prediction markets and event contracts. The legislation is being presented as a bipartisan effort, sponsored by Republican Senator Dave McCormick and Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and it lays out a series of rule changes intended to modernize oversight in the sector. The Prediction Market Act’s Safety Checklist At the core of the bill is an effort to reduce uncertainty by clearly defining key terms. The Prediction Market Act would define what an event contract is, what qualifies as public interest, and other relevant terminology. The goal is to narrow ambiguity in how these markets operate, especially when they relate to matters that could carry higher stakes. Related Reading: Hyperliquid Jumps Into The Betting Boom With New ‘Outcome Tokens’ For Real-World Events The proposal also includes a requirement for additional scrutiny for certain contracts. Under the bill, event contracts involving enumerated activities—including violence—would require individual review, using newly established criteria to determine how the public interest standard should be applied. The bill further aims to strengthen how these markets are offered to the public. It would establish enhanced certification standards for exchanges that list event contracts, along with disclosures designed to be easier for retail customers to understand. Beyond disclosures, the Prediction Market act would require exchanges such as Polymarket and Kalshi to implement additional operational safeguards, including measures related to advertising, and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements, with the intent of improving protections around how they interact with customers funds. Key Institutional Pieces Of The Bill The Prediction Market Act also includes conflict-of-interest rules for public officials. It would prohibit lawmakers and high-ranking government officials from owning event contracts. The act would also establish a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Office of the Retail Advocate to support retail investors’ interests. It would also form an Advisory Council on Consumer Protection, tasked with analyzing potential gaps in safeguards and recommending additional protections for customers. Related Reading: US Rep. Calls Bitcoin A ‘Geopolitical Weapon Used By Multiple Adversaries’ In addition, the act would create an Innovation Advisory Committee to advise the commission on policy questions at the intersection of technology and finance, reflecting the way these markets rely on modern systems. Finally, the Prediction Market Act would require the CFTC to stay on top of changes by studying and reporting back to Congress on developments in these fast-moving markets. The intent, according to the framing of the bill, is to ensure oversight keeps pace with how prediction markets evolve rather than lag behind new practices. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
A new crypto crime report by TRM Labs paints a stark picture of how North Korean hacking groups have been operating in 2026 so far. Through April, they were responsible for 76% of all losses tied to crypto hacks, but the report emphasizes that this outcome wasn’t driven by a steady stream of attacks. Instead, the massive share of stolen value comes down to just two incidents whose combined haul—about $577 million—far outweighed everything else that year. Two Crypto Hacks, Nearly $600M Stolen The first breach highlighted by TRM Labs took place on April 1: the Drift Protocol hack. The report puts the value stolen at $285 million. The second incident followed on April 18, when the KelpDAO bridge exploit reportedly resulted in $292 million in losses. Related Reading: Hyperliquid Jumps Into The Betting Boom With New ‘Outcome Tokens’ For Real-World Events What’s striking is that these two events account for only about 3% of the total number of crypto incidents in 2026 during that period. Yet together, they represent 76% of the stolen value, underlining a pattern the report says has defined North Korea’s approach across most years since 2017—relatively few attacks, but extremely outsized payouts. The report also charts how North Korea’s share of crypto hack losses has grown over time. It notes that the figure was under 10% in 2020 and 2021, then rose to 22% in 2022, 37% in 2023, 39% in 2024, and 64% in 2025. The 76% figure through April 2026 is described as the highest sustained share on record, suggesting that the pattern seen in recent years is not just continuing, but accelerating. April Sets New Record Of Incidents TRM Labs details how the Drift Protocol hack was carried out, focusing on the time and preparation that preceded the actual drain. The crypto hack involved about three weeks of pre-attack staging. It also included months of social engineering intended to compromise protocol signers. Once the attackers were in position, the full drain reportedly took place in roughly 12 minutes, showing how planning can turn into rapid theft at the moment of execution. Related Reading: A Stealth Force In Derivatives—Why Bitcoin Can’t Punch Past $80,000 Yet The KelpDAO hack, dated April 18, followed a very different technical path. According to TRM Labs’ crypto crime report, the exploit centered on a flaw in a single-verifier design used in a LayerZero bridge. After the breach, the attackers moved quickly into laundering: they routed proceeds through THORChain after more than $75 million was frozen on the Arbitrum blockchain (ARB). The findings align with another data point from the broader crypto ecosystem. DeFiLlama, which tracks activity and incidents in decentralized finance (DeFi), flagged April as the most-hacked month in crypto history by number of incidents. Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com