Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the House Armed Services Committee on April 30 that the Pentagon is running classified Bitcoin programs on two operational tracks — enabling the technology and countering it — and that those efforts provide the United States leverage against China “in a lot of different scenarios.”

Pete Hegseth made the remarks at an April 30 House Armed Services Committee hearing in response to questions from Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden about whether the US is securing a strategic advantage in Bitcoin. Crypto Integrated confirmed the confirmation of the classified effort, with Hegseth telling lawmakers: “I am a long enthusiast of Bitcoin and crypto potential. A lot of the things we are doing, enabling it or defeating it, are classified efforts that are ongoing inside our department, which do provide us a lot of leverage in a lot of different scenarios.” Gooden said Bitcoin has “evolved from a fringe asset into a matter of national security,” pointing to Iran’s Bitcoin toll at the Strait of Hormuz, North Korean ransomware activity, and China’s accumulation strategies.

As crypto.news reported, INDOPACOM Admiral Paparo confirmed in earlier Senate testimony that US Indo-Pacific Command is running a live Bitcoin node and conducting operational protocol tests, describing Bitcoin as a computer science system built on cryptography and proof-of-work with potential to impose costs in cybersecurity environments. The joint Hegseth-Paparo picture represents the most explicit public framing of Bitcoin as a defense instrument that the US government has produced. As crypto.news documented, Trump signed an executive order establishing a US strategic Bitcoin reserve earlier in 2026, seeded with approximately 200,000 government-held coins from forfeitures. As crypto.news tracked, Iran’s decision to demand Bitcoin for Strait of Hormuz transit directly linked the cryptocurrency to the active military conflict that has been Hegseth’s primary operational theatre throughout 2026. DL News noted that Russia now accounts for approximately 16% of global Bitcoin mining hashrate, while China retains roughly 12% through offshore operations, positioning Bitcoin mining geography as a direct strategic variable in the US-China competition Hegseth described.

Pi Network confirmed its sponsorship of Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 5 to 7, with co-founders Dr. Chengdiao Fan and Nicolas Kokkalis each scheduled to speak at the Convergence Stage, marking the project’s most prominent mainstream industry appearance as its Protocol 23 smart contract launch on May 11 approaches.

Pi Network confirmed it is an official sponsor of Consensus 2026 in Miami. As crypto.news reported, both co-founders are scheduled as named speakers at the Convergence Stage, with Dr. Fan addressing the intersection of verified identity and the AI era and Dr. Kokkalis joining a panel directly on the problem of distinguishing real humans from AI-generated accounts online. The event runs May 5 to 7 and is expected to draw over 20,000 attendees including institutional investors, developers, and government representatives.

The Pi Core Team posted on April 28: “526 million human KYC validation tasks have already been completed on Pi. By over 1 million verified people. AI is advancing quickly. But the hardest part of building reliable systems is still deeply human.” Fan’s Consensus session positions that verified infrastructure as a direct answer to one of the most pressing AI governance challenges of 2026.

As crypto.news documented, Protocol 22.1 deadline passed April 27, disconnecting non-compliant nodes and laying the technical foundation for Protocol 23. The May 11 Protocol 23 date creates a concentrated sequence: the largest public stage appearance in Pi’s history on May 6 and 7, followed four days later by the upgrade that transforms Pi from a mobile mining network into a programmable blockchain. As crypto.news tracked, PI climbed more than 5% on April 29 as traders positioned ahead of the Consensus week, with the token’s pattern of conference-driven price moves followed by selloffs a recurring dynamic the Protocol 23 substance will need to break.

Riot Platforms posted $167.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, with its newly launched data center segment contributing $33.2 million. The results show a company pivoting from a pure-play Bitcoin miner to a revenue-generating data center operator, even as its core mining business faced pressure from weaker Bitcoin prices and a stronger global hash rate. Riot produced 1,473 BTC in the quarter, while mining costs rose slightly as the company navigates a shifting profitability landscape.

The quarterly results also highlighted a strategic partnership expansion with AMD, which doubled its contracted capacity to 50 megawatts during Q1, after initially contracting 25 megawatts. Riot described this as validating its ability to execute at institutional scale as it scales its data center footprint.

Key takeaways

• Total Q1 2026 revenue: $167.2 million, with data center revenue contributing $33.2 million and engineering services at $22.2 million.
• Bitcoin mining revenue declined to $111.9 million from $142.9 million a year earlier, amid lower BTC prices and a 24% increase in the global network hash rate; Riot produced 1,473 BTC in the quarter.
• Mining costs rose, with the all-in cost to mine one BTC at $44,629 versus $43,808 in Q1 2025.
• Riot’s Bitcoin treasury remained sizable, ending the quarter with 15,679 BTC valued at roughly $1.1 billion (based on March 31 pricing). The company held $282.5 million in cash, with $76.9 million restricted, and said it sold more than $250 million of Bitcoin during the quarter.
• Riot’s stock moved higher on the earnings release, closing up 7.3% intraday; the company continues to diversify revenue through its data-center strategy as the mining environment evolves.

Riot redefines its growth engine around data centers

In its quarterly update, Riot outlined a clear shift in its business mix. While Bitcoin mining remains a core activity, the company emphasized that its data center unit is now a substantive revenue stream. Riot’s engineering services, which cover infrastructure support and related deployments, grew to $22.2 million, underscoring a diversification away from solely mining hardware economics toward a more balanced services and capacity play.

CEO Jason Les framed Q1 2026 as an inflection point: “The first quarter of 2026 marks a definitive inflection point for Riot, as we officially transitioned into an active, revenue-generating data center operator.” The announcement also confirmed AMD’s expansion of contracted capacity to 50 megawatts, following an option exercise that increased the installed capacity Riot can utilize to service its AI, HPC, and general data-center workloads.

The emphasis on data centers aligns Riot with a broader industry trend where Bitcoin miners are repurposing assets to host AI infrastructure. Industry peers have moved along similar lines, with Core Scientific converting part of its Pecos site into an AI-focused data center campus and other players such as MARA Holdings broadening exposure to AI infrastructure firms like Exaion.

Bitcoin mining metrics and treasury posture in flux

Riot ended the quarter holding 15,679 BTC, valued at roughly $1.1 billion based on March 31 pricing, with 5,802 coins pledged as collateral. The company also noted it held $282.5 million in cash, of which $76.9 million was restricted. Riot disclosed it had sold more than $250 million of Bitcoin during the quarter, a move that reflects ongoing treasury management in a volatile macro environment.

From a mining perspective, Riot’s quarterly Bitcoin production of 1,473 coins came as the company faced a tougher margin backdrop. The all-in cost to mine a single BTC rose to $44,629, up from $43,808 a year earlier, while the price environment and a roughly 24% uptick in global hash rate applied ongoing pressure on mining revenue, which totaled $111.9 million for the quarter.

Riot’s broader cash and liquidity stance remained solid, with a substantial Bitcoin treasury and a sizable cash position. The company’s data center push is intended to diversify revenue streams and offer more stable, contract-backed income as the economics of dedicated Bitcoin mining continue to vary with price cycles and network competition.

Industry backdrop: miners gravitate toward AI-scale infrastructure

The Riot narrative sits within a wider industry drift as miners explore AI-centric data centers to stabilize revenue across cycles. Reports have highlighted efforts by Core Scientific to convert significant mining capacity into AI-ready capacity, including a plan to repurpose hundreds of megawatts of power and thousands of acres for AI workloads. Other miners, including MARA Holdings and Hive, have pursued similar transitions, acquiring stakes in AI infrastructure ventures or expanding data-center footprints to host AI workloads. This trend underscores a broader market reallocation of physical assets from purely crypto-mining to AI-enabled computing.

Related reporting in industry coverage emphasizes how these shifts could redefine the sector’s profitability envelope and bias eventual investor returns toward durable, contract-backed data-center revenue rather than naked mining margins. For further context, readers may review Cointelegraph’s reporting on the CoreWeave infrastructure shift and related industry moves.

Investors will want to watch how Riot’s data center initiatives perform in the coming quarters, especially as AMD capacity comes online and as Bitcoin price dynamics and network hash rate continue to influence mining economics. The convergence of mining and AI data centers could set the tone for how crypto miners monetize physical assets in an era of tighter margins and rising equipment costs.

For additional context on the broader market dynamics driving these shifts, see Riot Platforms’ quarterly results and strategic highlights from their official release and coverage of peer activity in the sector.

Looking ahead, readers should monitor Riot’s ability to scale its data-center operations, the utilization of the 50 MW AMD capacity, and how treasury management strategies evolve alongside crypto price trends and network activity.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a CLARITY Act roundtable for May, bringing together SEC and CFTC officials with crypto industry representatives to debate digital asset market structure jurisdiction, one of the final regulatory steps before the Senate Banking Committee’s expected markup the week of May 11.

The SEC roundtable follows the agency’s March 17 joint taxonomy with the CFTC, which named 16 digital assets as commodities and provided the framework that the CLARITY Act would convert into permanent federal statute. CoinGape reported that the SEC plans to host the roundtable in May 2026, with the Senate Banking Committee simultaneously targeting a markup the week of May 11 — the first legislative action on the bill since the Senate returned from recess. As crypto.news reported, the April markup deadline was missed because the Warsh confirmation consumed the Banking Committee’s calendar, compressing the remaining window to eight working days before the May 21 Memorial Day recess.

As crypto.news documented, Senator Lummis warned at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference that the current political alignment enabling the CLARITY Act is rare and fragile, and that failure before May 21 pushes the next opportunity to 2030. That framing makes the SEC roundtable not just an informational exercise but a public signal from the regulator that it is ready to implement the legislation, which is one of the conditions Senate Republicans cite for moving forward. Senator Scott said on Fox Business that he now has Tillis and additional Republicans on board and is targeting 13 of 13 Republican votes, though Senator Kennedy remains a holdout. As crypto.news tracked, Tillis added a new hurdle on May 1 by saying lawmakers must address law enforcement concerns about the DeFi developer liability provision before a markup can proceed — a complication that was not publicly flagged until this week.

Riot Platforms posted $167.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, with its newly launched data center business contributing $33.2 million.

The data center revenue helped offset a decline in Riot’s core Bitcoin mining business, which fell to $111.9 million from $142.9 million in Q1 2025, driven by lower average Bitcoin prices and a 24% rise in the global network hash rate. Riot produced 1,473 Bitcoin during the quarter, down from 1,530 a year earlier, while the average cost to mine one coin increased to $44,629 from $43,808, according to an announcement.

“The first quarter of 2026 marks a definitive inflection point for Riot, as we officially transitioned into an active, revenue-generating data center operator,” CEO Jason Les said, adding that AMD’s decision to double its contracted capacity to 50 megawatts during the quarter validated the company’s ability to execute at institutional scale.

AMD had initially contracted 25 megawatts before exercising an option to expand, bringing total contracted capacity to 50 megawatts of critical IT infrastructure.

Related: CoreWeave shows how crypto-era infrastructure quietly became AI’s backbone

Riot holds $1.1 billion in Bitcoin

Riot ended the quarter holding 15,679 Bitcoin, valued at roughly $1.1 billion based on a March 31 price of $68,222, with 5,802 coins held as collateral. The company maintained $282.5 million in cash, of which $76.9 million is restricted. Riot also said it sold more than $250 million worth of Bitcoin during the quarter.

Meanwhile, engineering revenue, which covers infrastructure services, rose to $22.2 million from $13.9 million year-over-year, adding another layer of diversification to the company’s revenue mix.

Riot’s stock closed up 7.31% at $18.50 on Friday, surging on the earnings release. The stock slipped 0.57% in after-hours trading to $18.40.

Riot shares surge on earnings news. Source: Yahoo! Finance

Related: Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer Liquidates Entire BTC Treasury, Holdings Fall to Zero

Bitcoin miners shift to AI

Bitcoin miners are increasingly shifting toward AI infrastructure as tightening mining margins push the industry to seek more stable revenue streams. As Cointelegraph reported, Core Scientific is converting its Pecos, Texas site into a 1.5-gigawatt AI-focused data center campus, repurposing 300 megawatts of Bitcoin mining capacity and acquiring over 200 acres of land to support the buildout.

Among other miners, MARA Holdings has acquired a majority stake in French AI infrastructure firm Exaion, while Hive, Hut 8, TeraWulf and Iren are also converting mining facilities into data centers.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has pushed back against a resurfaced 2017 post in which he said XRP could not stay “dirt cheap,” rejecting the community’s reading of it as a price guarantee and separately dismissing claims that Ripple holds any hidden mechanism to massively reprice the token.

David Schwartz addressed the resurging controversy on X after a user accused him of deliberately misleading XRP holders and questioned whether he would delete the 2017 comments. As crypto.news reported, the original post had argued that XRP could not be “dirt cheap” if it were to support large-scale global transactions. Schwartz clarified the post was about market mechanics: if XRP trades at $1, a user needs one million tokens to move $1 million; if XRP trades at $1 million, one token moves the same value. “I think it’s very simple,” Schwartz said. The number of tokens needed changes with price, but the underlying economic logic about transaction capacity does not.

He declined to delete the old post, saying it would remove useful context and add confusion to an already contentious discussion. On the more recent claim that Ripple possesses a hidden lever to drive XRP dramatically higher, Schwartz was direct. “Maybe there was one time when you could semi-plausibly argue that Ripple had some easy way to shoot up the price of XRP massively for good but was just waiting for the right time,” he wrote on X on May 1. “But boy, it’s hard to argue that today.” He posed a blunt market question to the community: “If there were a few very rich, very rational people who truly believed there was a 1% chance that XRP could reach $10,000 in 10 years, they would bid the price of XRP at least at $20 today. Why aren’t they? Conspiracy?”

As crypto.news documented, Schwartz has also recently pushed back against theories that Ripple’s NDA agreements with banking partners indicate hidden government or central bank XRP adoption plans, calling them standard commercial confidentiality arrangements. As crypto.news tracked, Schwartz stepped back from his day-to-day CTO role at the end of 2025 and now holds a CTO Emeritus position and board advisory role, though he remains one of the most active and direct communicators in the XRP ecosystem on X. XRP was trading near $1.38 at the time of Schwartz’s latest posts.

The Ethereum Foundation has completed a third over-the-counter sale of ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies, offloading 10,000 ETH at an average of $2,292 per coin — roughly $22.9 million. The move continues a pattern of regular Foundation exits into a single counterparty, with the latest transaction following a similar 10,000 ETH sale completed just a week earlier at $2,387 per ETH. In total, the Foundation has moved about $47 million worth of ETH to BitMine over the past week, according to an official post on X.

The Foundation said the proceeds will support its core operations and activities, including protocol research and development, ecosystem development, and community grant funding. The disclosure comes after the Foundation unstaked 17,035 ETH last week, worth about $40 million, a move that appears to undercut a previously stated target of reaching 70,000 ETH staked. The evolution of the Foundation’s treasury activities has kept market observers watching how the ETH reserve is used and whether the sales reflect broader treasury management choices at a time of shifting staking dynamics.

Key takeaways

• The Ethereum Foundation’s latest OTC sale to BitMine delivered 10,000 ETH at an average of $2,292, adding to a prior week’s 10,000 ETH sale at $2,387 and a March sale of 5,000 ETH at around $2,043 — the Foundation’s combined BitMine transactions total about $47 million in a short span.
• BitMine Immersion Technologies remains the largest Ethereum treasury holder, approaching 5 million ETH, and has boosted its staking share dramatically to 83% of holdings (about 4.19 million ETH), equating to roughly $9.5 billion staked based on recent prices.
• The Foundation’s unstaking of 17,035 ETH last week highlighted tensions around its stated goal for on-chain staking and raised questions about liquidity management versus long-term staking commitments.
• ETH currently trades near $2,303, holding a fraction of its all-time high and illustrating the ongoing structural and regulatory considerations surrounding ETH’s use as a treasury asset and its role within large-scale staking ecosystems.

EF’s sales pattern: liquidity needs, not liquidation alarms

Through three consecutive OTC dispositions to the same counterparty, BitMine, the Ethereum Foundation has created a recurring liquidity channel that funds ongoing protocol work and ecosystem initiatives. The most recent 10,000 ETH sale at $2,292 per ETH, combined with the previous week’s 10,000 ETH sale at $2,387, indicates a consistent price band in the low-$2,000s over this period. A first sale in March of 5,000 ETH at around $2,043 establishes a broader context of the Foundation adjusting its balance sheet while attempting to preserve core operational funding.

In aggregate terms, the Foundation’s ETH withdrawals have generated roughly $47 million in the last week alone, underscoring how treasury management has shifted from broad public fundraising or grant activity to a more targeted, bilateral approach with BitMine. The Foundation described the proceeds as supporting core activities, highlighting R&D work on protocol improvements, ecosystem development, and community funding — a reminder that treasury strategies can directly influence the pace of Ethereum’s ongoing evolution.

Unstaking, policy signals, and what remains uncertain

Last week’s unstaking of 17,035 ETH — valued at about $40 million at current prices — adds nuance to the Foundation’s risk calculus. The move appears to temper a stated objective of reaching 70,000 ETH staked, suggesting a recalibration of how much liquidity the Foundation is comfortable offloading versus the amount it wants to lock into staking as a governance-backed security for Ethereum’s long-term security model. Even as the Foundation has previously signaled intentions to limit sales, its current activity shows a willingness to monetize a portion of its holdings to fund ongoing work, a strategy that continues to draw scrutiny from community members and market watchers who weigh treasury transparency against long-term protocol commitments.

Industry observers have noted that the Foundation’s treasury policy has evolved over time. A prior stance to cap or slow sales has given way to a more nuanced approach that balances funding needs with the stability of ETH’s market and the broader governance of the project. While staking remains a cornerstone of Ethereum’s security model, the ETF-like dynamics of large-scale ETH treasuries—whether from foundations, funds, or corporate treasuries—continue to raise questions about market concentration, liquidity, and potential implications for price discovery during periods of heavy selling pressure.

BitMine’s expanding ETH portfolio and staking posture

BitMine Immersion Technologies sits at the center of these developments as the single largest Ethereum treasury holder, with close to 5 million ETH on its books. The company’s recent activity includes a move earlier in the year that added 101,901 ETH in what was described as its largest weekly purchase of the year, signaling aggressive accumulation even as some holders exit or reallocate.

The firm has simultaneously scaled its staking activity. Data cited by market observers indicate that roughly 83% of BitMine’s ETH holdings are now staked — about 4.19 million ETH — a share that translates into significant ongoing network security and rewards potential. At current price levels, this stake equates to approximately $9.5 billion in value, highlighting the scale of BitMine’s influence within the Ethereum ecosystem and the potential impact on liquidity and staking yield dynamics as the year progresses.

The rapid uptick in staking from roughly 70% the prior week signals a realignment in BitMine’s strategy, moving toward deeper participation in Ethereum’s consensus mechanism. This level of commitment has broad implications for ETH’s yield environment, validator economics, and the potential for further concentration of staking power among a handful of large holders who are actively stacking ETH for longer durations.

Market context and what to watch next

ETH prices have hovered around $2,303, broadly flat on the day and down more than half from the all-time high near $4,953 achieved last August. The price backdrop matters, not only for retail traders but for large treasury decisions that hinge on the relative value of ETH for both sale proceeds and staking economics. As the Ethereum Foundation continues to balance operations funding with the broader security and development agenda of the network, investors will be watching for any shifts in treasury policy, including whether further OTC sales appear or if the Foundation pivots more decisively toward reinvestment via ecosystem programs or protocol work.

For BitMine, the combination of a near-5 million ETH portfolio and an 83% staking rate reinforces the firm’s prominence in the Ethereum space. Investors and developers alike will want to monitor whether BitMine broadens its stake further, potentially affecting liquidity and validators’ distribution. On the regulatory side, heightened scrutiny of large cryptocurrency treasuries and the mechanisms through which they deploy capital could shape how similar entities manage risk, disclosures, and governance in the months ahead.

As the market digests these developments, readers should watch for any formal updates from the Ethereum Foundation regarding treasury policy or new disclosures about their liquidity planning. Additionally, changes in staking dynamics, particularly if BitMine’s share continues to climb or if other major holders adjust their posture, could influence ETH’s price trajectory and the pace of ecosystem funding over the near term.

The Ethereum Foundation has completed a third over-the-counter (OTC) sale of ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies, offloading another 10,000 ETH at an average price of $2,292 per coin, worth roughly $22.9 million.

“This sale funds the Ethereum Foundation’s core operations and activities, including protocol R&D, ecosystem development, community grant funding and more,” the Foundation wrote in a Friday post on X.

The sale follows a nearly identical 10,000 ETH transaction completed just one week earlier at $2,387 per coin. The Foundation’s first sale to BitMine came in March, when it sold 5,000 ETH at around $2,043. Combined, the Foundation has sold approximately $47 million worth of ETH to BitMine in the past week alone.

Ethereum Foundation sells 10,000 ETH. Source: Ethereum Foundation

The move also comes after the foundation unstaked 17,035 ETH worth roughly $40 million last week, apparently dropping its stated goal of 70,000 staked ETH.

Related: These 3 Ethereum metrics favor an ETH price rally to $6K

EF under scrutiny over ETH sales

The repeated sales have drawn criticism from the community. “Why do you need $46 million in 2 weeks?! How much are you guys burning and what for? Why is no one from the devs taking ETH directly as payment?!” one user wrote in response to the announcement.

The Foundation has faced scrutiny over its ETH sales before, and at one point last year said it planned to limit them. It has since moved to offset some of that pressure by staking a portion of its holdings.

ETH is currently trading at around $2,303, largely flat over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. However, the token is down by more than 53% compared to its all-time high of $4,953 registered in August last year.

Related: Ether treasuries need liquid staking edge to beat ETFs, says Lido exec

BitMine nears 5 million ETH

BitMine, chaired by Tom Lee, is the largest Ethereum treasury company by holdings, with nearly 5 million ETH on its books. The milestone was reached after the firm added 101,901 ETH in its biggest weekly purchase of the year.

The company has also been aggressively staking its holdings, with 83% of its cumulative ETH, around 4.19 million coins worth roughly $9.5 billion, now staked as of Thursday, up from about 70% the previous week.

Magazine: Your guide to surviving this mini-crypto winter

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.