Riot reported 33 million dollars in its first data center revenue, alongside an update that AMD has doubled its contracted capacity with the company. The figures highlight early commercial traction for Riot's data center business and a larger long term commitment from AMD under the existing agreement.

The CLARITY Act—widely viewed as the U.S. government's most ambitious push yet to establish a formal regulatory framework for digital assets—is entering a decisive stretch that lawmakers and the crypto industry see as make-or-break. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said the bill is now in the "red zone," signaling it is close to advancing. Scott expects a committee markup in May, with a potential Senate floor vote in June or July. He also said he anticipates the legislation could reach the president's desk this summer, reflecting rising momentum in Washington. Other senators echoed the upbeat tone. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference, Senator Cynthia Lummis said crypto market structure legislation will be marked up in May, adding, "We are gonna get it to the finish line." Senator Tillis urged leadership to move the bill ahead. Senator Bernie Moreno cautioned that failing to hit an end-of-May milestone could push the effort into a far tougher part of the political calendar later in the year. Industry leaders and prediction markets are tracking the timeline closely. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently moved his outlook from April to May, warning that the bill has only a few weeks to progress: "If it doesn't pass now… it's NOT HAPPENING anytime soon." Polymarket currently prices a 46% chance the bill is signed in 2026, down from 82% in February. Kalshi puts the odds of approval at 19% before July and 37% before August. Several policy and political complications remain. One area appears closer to resolution: stablecoin yield. A ban may apply to "passive yield" arrangements where holders earn returns simply by holding stablecoins, while reward programs tied to user activity would still be permitted—an approach seen as less disruptive to existing stablecoin business models. Another flashpoint is the so-called Coin Act. Democrats are pushing to bar senior officials, lawmakers, and their families from owning or profiting from crypto while in office. Critics say the effort is aimed at Trump-linked projects such as WLFI and the TRUMP memecoin. Some Democrats may condition support for the CLARITY Act on passage of the Coin Act, creating a potential obstacle to securing votes and potentially complicating President Trump's willingness or ability to sign the bill. Market participants generally expect the next major waypoint to be a Senate Banking Committee markup around the week of May 11. Even if that proceeds, the CLARITY Act still must clear multiple hurdles before reaching the Oval Office: committee approval, a 60-vote threshold on the Senate floor, reconciliation with the Senate Agriculture Committee version passed in January, alignment with the House version passed last July, and final presidential approval.

A new report from crypto exchange Bitso shows that USD-pegged stablecoins are taking a growing share of Latin American crypto activity. The study said that in 2025, about 40% of the region's cryptocurrency trading volume went into USDC and USDT, compared with 18% for Bitcoin. Bitso said that in markets pressured by persistent inflation, currency depreciation and limited access to traditional banking, stablecoins provide a practical way to store value and make payments in U.S. dollar-equivalent terms. While Bitcoin's share of purchases has eased, the report said it remains central as a long-term savings vehicle. Bitcoin is still expected to be the region's main long-term digital store of value, accounting for 52% of crypto portfolio holdings in 2025, down slightly from 53% a year earlier. (Source: Foresight News)

May 1 — Data tracked by Farside shows U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $2.021 billion in net inflows over April. By fund, flows were: BlackRock IBIT +$2.013 billion; Fidelity FBTC +$163 million; Bitwise BITB +$34.3 million; Invesco BTCO +$1 million; Franklin EZBC +$4.4 million; ARK ARKB +$138 million; CoinShares BRRR +$8.1 million; VanEck HODL +$24.7 million; Morgan Stanley MSBT +$194 million; Grayscale GBTC -$278 million; Grayscale Mini BTC +$99 million.

ChainCatcher cited Farside data showing U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in a combined $2.021 billion in net inflows in April. By fund, BlackRock's IBIT led with $2.013 billion, followed by Fidelity's FBTC at $163 million, Bitwise's BITB at $34.3 million, Invesco's BTCO at $1 million, Franklin's EZBC at $44 million, ARK's ARKB at $138 million, CoinShares' BRRR at $8.1 million, VanEck's HODL at $24.7 million, Morgan Stanley's MSBT at $194 million, Grayscale's GBTC at $278 million, and Grayscale Mini BTC at $99 million.

Bitcoin's current market structure is starting to look like the bottoming pattern seen in 2022, according to on-chain metrics and technical analysis shared by widely followed analyst Ali Martinez. The setup suggests potential upside before another steep decline, but analysts warn that heavy whale activity could complicate the bullish case. Martinez notes that during the 2022 bear market, BTC briefly pushed toward $25,000 in August/September before suffering a major rejection and sliding to lows below $16,000. He argues the present chart carries similar characteristics. If the move continues to track that historical path, bitcoin could rally toward the $80,000$82,000 area, face a sharp rejection, and then drop below $55,000. The $79,000$80,000 zone is also seen as a major technical ceiling due to large sell walls from whales, as highlighted by analyst CW. Bitcoin has stalled near $79,500 multiple times in recent weeks, and each pullback has erased several thousand dollars from the price. Another bearish signal comes from exchange flows. Martinez says large holders have sent more than 10,000 BTC to centralized exchanges recently, roughly $770 million at current prices, a pattern often associated with positioning to sell. Separately, Crypto Tony expects bitcoin's bounce to $77,600 over the past 12 hours to be followed by another rejection. Still, momentum has improved on a monthly basis. CoinGlass data shows bitcoin finished April up 11.87%, marking its strongest April performance since April 2025.

ChainCatcher reports that on April 30, the Seoul Administrative Court approved Bithumb's request to stay enforcement of a sanction issued by South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The court ordered that the FIU's six-month "partial suspension" measure against Bithumb be put on hold until a final judgment is reached. The FIU had previously alleged that Bithumb breached the Specific Financial Information Act, citing about 6.65 million violations. These included failures in customer due diligence and transactions with unregistered cryptocurrency operators. The regulator also imposed a KRW 36.8 billion fine. The sanction was designed to limit new users from transferring crypto assets to external addresses. With enforcement now suspended, Bithumb can continue its current operations while the case proceeds.

U.S. inflation accelerated to 3.5% year over year, the fastest pace since May 2023, as gasoline prices rose amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Monthly PCE inflation surged 0.7%, the largest increase since mid-2022. Investors are recalibrating expectations for the Federal Reserve's next moves, with potential rate cuts increasingly seen as pushed back while inflation pressures stay sticky.

A South Korean court has halted Bithumb's six-month partial business suspension, Yonhap News reported Thursday. Citing legal sources, Yonhap said Judge Gong Hyeonjin of the Seoul Administrative Court's 2nd Administrative Division granted Bithumb's request for a stay of execution on the day it was filed. It was not immediately clear whether the 36.8 billion won ($24.6 million) fine was also put on hold. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), South Korea's anti-money laundering watchdog, imposed the suspension and fine in March, accusing the exchange of extensive breaches of domestic AML rules. Authorities said the sanctions were based on violations of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. According to the FIU, Bithumb logged about 6.65 million compliance violations. Of these, 3.55 million involved failures to conduct required customer identity verification, and 3.04 million related to cases in which the exchange did not properly block transactions that should have been blocked. The court decision offers near-term relief for one of the country's largest crypto exchanges, but comes as broader scrutiny intensifies. Recent reports said the Personal Information Protection Commission has opened an investigation into Upbit, Bithumb and other platforms over the sharing of order-book data with overseas platforms. Regulators have stepped up enforcement across the sector. In 2025, the FIU imposed a three-month partial suspension and a 35.2 billion won fine on Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, over compliance shortcomings. Rival Korbit received a smaller 2.73 billion won penalty along with institutional warnings. Founded in 2014, Bithumb remains one of South Korea's highest-volume exchanges, according to CoinGecko. The court's move also comes roughly two months after Bithumb mistakenly distributed billions of dollars' worth of bitcoin to users.