More than $3 trillion in digital assets could eventually become vulnerable to theft within the next four to seven years, according to a new report from Project Eleven.

Project Eleven focuses on post-quantum security and migration for digital assets and recently announced a collaboration with the Solana Foundation to prepare its network against the threat of quantum computing.

“The digital asset industry holds over $3 trillion in aggregate value, and virtually all of it is secured by the same class of cryptographic primitive: elliptic curve digital signatures,” which are vulnerable to quantum computing attacks, the report said.

But it is not only crypto that is at stake here. The report states that the same public-key cryptography security used by bitcoin, ether and stablecoins also underpins banking systems, cloud infrastructure, authentication networks and military communications.

The 110-page report by Project Eleven, whose CEO Alex Pruden was on stage at Consensus Miami 2026, also states that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could use Shor’s algorithm to derive private keys from public keys, allowing attackers to forge signatures and take over control of wallets and digital accounts secured by the elliptic curve cryptography.

This means blockchains, banking infrastructure, cloud systems, military comms and other digital identity systems are also vulnerable, not just bitcoin, ethereum, stablecoins, and other blockchains, the report emphasizes.

Project Eleven says a “Q-Day” scenario, the arrival of cryptographically relevant quantum computer cable of breaking widely used public-key cryptography, could be as early as 2030, no later than 2033.

“Our analysis suggests that, based on current trends, Q-Day is more likely to occur than not by 2033, and potentially even as soon as 2030,” the report reads. “The window for the world to migrate to post-quantum cryptography is narrowing.”

And here is why it is becoming so complicated, the report explains: large systems often take between five to more than 10 years to migrate, depending on how complex their networks are.

Another difficult challenge is how the transition actually takes place, as migrating all quantum vulnerable systems and blockchains to secure networks involves a process that requires a coordinated, simultaneous transition from all users, exchanges, custodians, wallet providers and miners.

Read more: To freeze or not to freeze: Satoshi and the $440 billion in bitcoin threatened by quantum computing

“The gap is not technical,” the report says. “The gap is entirely coordination, urgency, and willingness to accept the costs of migration.”

When it comes to Bitcoin, things get even more complicated because upgrades historically move slowly and often become politically contentious.

“The Bitcoin SegWit upgrade — a relatively modest change compared to PQC migration — took over two years from proposal to activation (2015-2017) and triggered a contentious chain split,” the report recalled.

Read more: What the Fork? Why Bitcoin Tech Changes Impact Price

“The distributed nature of blockchain networks means that migration to post-quantum cryptography may take the better part of a decade, longer than other centralized systems.”

Pruden, who authored the report along with CTO Conor Deegan, warned that Bitcoin’s migration to post-quantum cryptography could prove even harder than Taproot because it would require coordinated action across users, exchanges, custodians and miners. He also said he personally leaned toward “recycling” the 5.6 million to 6.9 million vulnerable BTC tokens, worth up to roughly $500 billion at current prices back into the bitcoin’s supply curve rather than allowing a quantum attacker to eventually sweep them.

The report by Pruden’s Project Eleven ultimately acknowledges that the issue creates tension between bitcoin’s fixed-supply ethos and its commitment to property rights.

Read more: Bitcoin’s quantum debate splits as Adam Back pushes optional upgrades over forced freeze

1. Copy Fail: The Linux vulnerability affecting crypto infrastructure security

A recently uncovered security flaw in Linux is drawing concern from cybersecurity specialists, government agencies and the cryptocurrency sector. Codenamed “Copy Fail,” the vulnerability affects many popular Linux distributions released since 2017.

Under specific circumstances, the flaw could let attackers escalate privileges and gain full root control of affected machines. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added the issue to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, highlighting the serious threat it poses to organizations worldwide.

For the crypto industry, the implications go well beyond a standard software bug. Linux powers much of the underlying infrastructure for exchanges, blockchain validators, custody solutions and node operations. As a result, an operating system-level vulnerability could create significant disruptions across large parts of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

2. What is “Copy Fail”?

“Copy Fail” refers to a local privilege-escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel, identified by security researchers at Xint.io and Theori.

In simple terms, it allows an attacker who already has basic user-level access on a Linux system to elevate their permissions to full administrator or root control. The bug stems from a logical error in how the kernel handles certain memory operations within its cryptographic components. Specifically, a regular user can influence the page cache, the kernel’s temporary storage for frequently accessed file data, to gain higher privileges.

What stands out about this vulnerability is how easy it is to exploit. A compact Python script, requiring minimal changes, can reliably trigger the issue across a wide range of Linux setups.

According to researcher Miguel Angel Duran, it only requires roughly 10 lines of Python code to gain root access on affected machines.

3. Why this vulnerability stands out as particularly risky

Linux security issues range from highly complex attacks that require chained exploits to simpler ones that need just the right conditions. “Copy Fail” has drawn significant attention because it requires relatively little effort after an initial foothold.

Key factors contributing to the vulnerability include:

• It affects most mainstream Linux distributions.
• A working proof-of-concept exploit is publicly available.
• The issue has existed in kernels going back to 2017.

This mix makes the vulnerability more concerning. Once exploit code circulates online, threat actors can quickly scan for and target unpatched systems.

The fact that such a critical flaw stayed hidden for years underscores how even well-established open-source projects can contain subtle vulnerabilities in their foundational code.

Did you know? The Bitcoin white paper was released in 2008, but Linux dates back to 1991. That means much of today’s crypto infrastructure is built on software foundations older than many blockchain developers themselves.

4. How the “Copy Fail” exploit works

It is important to first understand what full “root” control means on a Linux server. Root access is essentially the highest level of authority over the machine.

With it, an attacker could:

• Add, update or delete any software
• View or steal confidential files and keys
• Modify critical system settings
• Access stored wallets, private keys or authentication credentials if they are present on the affected system
• Turn off firewalls, monitoring tools or other defenses

The exploit takes advantage of how the Linux kernel manages its page cache. The system uses a small, fast memory area to speed up file reading and writing. By abusing how the kernel handles cached file data, an attacker can trick the kernel into granting higher privileges than intended.

Crucially, this is not a remote attack that can be launched from anywhere on the internet. The attacker first needs some form of access to the target machine. For instance, they could gain access through a compromised user account, a vulnerable web app or phishing. Once they have that initial foothold, the attacker can quickly escalate their permissions to full root control.

5. Why this matters for the cryptocurrency industry

Linux is widely used across cloud, server and blockchain node infrastructure, making it important to many crypto operations.

Core parts of the crypto ecosystem run on it, including:

• Blockchain validators and full nodes
• Mining farms and pools
• Centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges
• Custodial services and hot/cold wallet infrastructure
• Cloud-based trading and liquidity systems

Because of this deep dependence, a kernel-level vulnerability like “Copy Fail” can create indirect but serious exposure across the crypto world. If attackers successfully exploit it on vulnerable servers, the possible consequences include:

• Stealing private keys or administrative credentials
• Compromising validator nodes to disrupt operations or support broader network attacks
• Draining funds from hosted wallets
• Causing widespread downtime or launching ransomware
• Exposing user data stored on affected systems

While the vulnerability does not attack blockchain protocols directly, breaching the underlying servers that support them can still lead to major financial losses, reputational damage and operational disruption.

Did you know? Major crypto exchanges rely on large-scale cloud, server and Kubernetes infrastructure to process trading activity, run blockchain nodes and support market-data operations around the clock. Coinbase, for example, has publicly described infrastructure tied to blockchain nodes, trading engines, staking nodes and Linux production environments. 

6. Why initial access still poses a major threat in crypto environments

Some users downplay this vulnerability because it requires a certain level of existing access to the target system. However, most real-world cyberattacks unfold in multiple phases rather than striking all at once.

A typical attack sequence looks like this:

1. Attackers first break in using phishing campaigns, leaked passwords or infected applications.
2. They secure a basic foothold with ordinary user-level rights.
3. They then use flaws like “Copy Fail” to quickly escalate to full administrator privileges.
4. From there, they expand their reach across the network.

This pattern is especially dangerous in the cryptocurrency space, where exchanges, node operators and development teams are prime targets for phishing and credential theft. What starts as a minor breach can quickly escalate into a full takeover when reliable privilege-escalation tools are available.

7. Why security teams are particularly concerned

CISA’s decision to include “Copy Fail” in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog signals that the flaw is viewed as a high-priority risk.

Red flags include the public release of working exploit code. As soon as proof-of-concept scripts become widely available, threat actors begin automated scans to look for unpatched systems to target.

Many organizations, particularly in finance and crypto infrastructure, also tend to delay kernel updates. They prioritize system stability and avoid potential downtime or compatibility issues. However, this approach can leave systems exposed for longer during critical vulnerability windows, giving attackers more time to strike.

Did you know? In simple terms, “root access” is like having the master key to an entire building. Once attackers gain it, they can potentially control nearly every process running on the system, change protected files and interfere with core security settings.

8. The AI connection: Why this vulnerability could signal bigger challenges ahead

Copy Fail was disclosed at a time when the cybersecurity world is increasingly focused on the role of artificial intelligence in vulnerability discovery.

The timing coincides with the introduction of Project Glasswing, a collaborative effort backed by leading tech organizations such as Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and the Linux Foundation. Participants in the project have highlighted how rapidly advancing AI tools are becoming better at identifying and weaponizing weaknesses in code.

Anthropic has stressed that cutting-edge AI models are already outperforming many human experts when it comes to finding exploitable bugs in complex software. The company says these systems could greatly speed up both offensive and defensive cybersecurity work.

For the cryptocurrency industry, this trend is particularly concerning. Crypto systems are high-value targets for hackers and are often built on layered open-source technologies, making them potentially more exposed as AI-driven attack methods evolve.

9. What this means for everyday crypto users

For most individual crypto holders, the direct risk from this specific Linux issue remains low. Everyday users are unlikely to be personally singled out.

That said, indirect effects could still reach users through:

• Breaches or downtime at major exchanges
• Compromised custodial platforms holding user funds
• Attacks on blockchain validators or node providers
• Disruptions to wallet services or trading infrastructure

Self-custody users should take note if they:

• Run their own Linux-based blockchain nodes
• Operate personal validators or staking setups
• Maintain crypto-related tools or servers on Linux

Ultimately, this situation highlights an important reality: Strong crypto security is not just about secure smart contracts or consensus mechanisms. It also depends heavily on keeping the underlying operating systems, servers and supporting infrastructure up to date and protected.

10. How to stay protected

“Copy Fail” is a reminder of how quickly underlying operational vulnerabilities can escalate into major security threats in the digital space. The positive side is that most of these risks are manageable. Organizations and users can significantly reduce their exposure by applying security updates promptly, enforcing stricter access controls and maintaining strong overall cybersecurity practices.

For cryptocurrency organizations and infrastructure teams

Companies running Linux-based systems should prioritize these steps:

• Deploy official security patches as soon as they become available
• Minimize and strictly control local user accounts and permissions
• Regularly audit cloud instances, virtual machines and physical servers
• Set up strong monitoring for unusual privilege-escalation attempts
• Strengthen SSH access, key-based authentication and overall login security

For everyday crypto users

Individual holders can lower their exposure by:

• Keeping operating systems and software fully updated
• Avoiding downloads from unverified sources or unofficial crypto tools
• Using hardware wallets for significant holdings
• Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible
• Isolating high-value wallet activities from everyday computers and browsers

For node runners, validators and developers

Those managing blockchain nodes or development environments should:

• Apply kernel and system updates without delay
• Closely follow Linux security bulletins and advisories
• Review container setups, orchestration tools and cloud permissions
• Limit full administrator rights to the bare minimum

The XRP price prediction picked up serious momentum after Ripple, JPMorgan, Mastercard, and Ondo Finance completed the first cross border, cross bank redemption of a tokenized US Treasury fund on the XRP Ledger, as reported by CoinDesk. The pilot settled in under five seconds outside normal banking windows, plugging a public blockchain into JPMorgan’s $3 trillion Kinexys settlement platform.

This is the kind of plumbing that turns XRP from a payments narrative into live institutional infrastructure, with JPMorgan delivering US dollars to Ripple’s Singapore bank in the same flow that cleared the asset side on XRPL.

XRP trades at  $1.38 today after a 2.34% pullback. While XRP price watchers track whether $1.45 breaks first, Pepeto is drawing capital from wallets that know presale entries reprice the moment a Binance listing arrives. With $9.86 million already raised at $0.0000001869, the math is too clean to ignore.

XRP Price Prediction Gets a Major Boost as Tokenized Treasury Settlement Lands Live on XRPL

The Ondo OUSG redemption used the XRP Ledger as the asset rail, with Mastercard’s MTN routing instructions and JPMorgan delivering dollars across borders. The pilot is the first time a public blockchain and global banking infrastructure handled a cross border tokenized fund redemption as one continuous flow.

XRPL adoption keeps building. RLUSD handled the bridging while a fraction of XRP paid the network fee, which proves what XRP holders always pointed at: when banks plug in, the network underneath gets repriced.

But the XRP price barely moved on the news, up just 1% before pulling back, because an $80 billion network gets revalued slowly.

XRP Price Prediction Versus the Pepeto Setup at Presale Entry

Smart capital does not chase the headline coin. It looks for the next setup that mirrors what worked, and Pepeto is that setup right now, lining up with projects that delivered three figure returns within twelve months of hitting Binance.

The exchange is already live, with three pieces shipping today instead of sitting in a roadmap. PepetoSwap clears swaps on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana at zero cost so the position lands intact, and the cross chain bridge ships tokens between networks without taking a cut. The contract scanner sits in front of every wallet approval and reads the code first, catching risky approvals at the door instead of after the loss.

The track record turns presale conviction into actual returns. The original Pepe cofounder who pushed a meme launch from zero to $11 billion on a 420 trillion supply leads the build, while a former Binance executive runs the listing path, so the people steering this presale already know how to land a meme token on a tier one exchange.

SolidProof audited the codebase before any dollar entered, $9.86M is locked in, 175% APY staking compounds every position daily, and at $0.0000001869 the entry sits where it does only until the Binance listing flips trading live.

XRP Price Forecast: Where Does XRP Go From  $1.38?

XRP trades at  $1.38 today per CoinMarketCap, sitting above the $1.40 breakout zone with $1.45 to $1.47 capping upside. The XRP price prediction for 2026 targets $2.80 per Standard Chartered, roughly a 2x from here, with $8 in play if the CLARITY Act passes this summer.

XRP ETF inflows have continued and the JPMorgan settlement deepens institutional confidence, but the move from  $1.38 to $2.80 plays out over months, and 2x is not the 100x a presale to listing event delivers.

Conclusion

The XRP price prediction for 2026 keeps strengthening as Ripple, JPMorgan, and Mastercard tie XRPL into live institutional banking, but the early days of XRP returns ended a long time ago. Picture the trader who watched Shiba Inu trade at fractions of a cent and said the entry would be there next month.

Picture the wallet that found Dogecoin in the early rounds and waited one more week before locking in. From  $1.38, even the most bullish XRP targets pay a fraction of what those entries delivered, and the same window is open right now on a project that has not seen its first Binance candle.

No other 2026 project combines the Pepe cofounder track record, a working exchange with audited tools, and meme coin energy at presale pricing. The Pepeto page is where this entry stays open until the listing flips live, and once that switch is thrown the wallets reading and waiting are the ones who read about it next month and ask what they were doing today.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What is the XRP price prediction for 2026 after the JPMorgan tokenized treasury settlement?

XRP trades at  $1.38 with Standard Chartered targeting $2.80 in the moderate case and $8 if the CLARITY Act passes the Senate. Pepeto at presale targets 100x from one Binance listing.

Why is Pepeto considered the strongest crypto presale right now?

Pepeto is the presale exchange combining zero fee swaps, a cross chain bridge, and an AI risk scanner at $0.0000001869, with $9.86M raised and SolidProof audit complete. The XRP price prediction shows 2x while Pepeto targets 100x on listing day.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Executives from MoonPay, Ripple, and Paxos said at Consensus Miami 2026 that stablecoin regulation has accelerated institutional adoption but that major infrastructure and privacy gaps still block mainstream use.

Top executives at three of the most active stablecoin companies told the Consensus Miami 2026 audience on May 8 that new US regulation has fundamentally changed the competitive landscape for dollar-pegged tokens, bringing traditional financial institutions into a market that was previously difficult for them to enter. The shift, however, has exposed a new set of problems the industry has yet to solve.

Richard Harrison, MoonPay’s vice president of banking and payment partnerships, said the passage of the GENIUS Act gave firms across traditional finance a regulatory framework to operate within. “What GENIUS brought us was clarity,” Harrison told the panel, noting that traditional finance firms are now entering stablecoins at a faster pace because compliance is easier to evaluate.

Harrison compared the current state of stablecoin adoption to electric vehicles: the core product works, but mass-market take-up depends entirely on the supporting infrastructure. “How do you use stablecoin to pay your rent?” he said. “How do you use it to buy a cup of coffee?”

Institutional demand versus real-world usability

Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president for stablecoins, told the panel that institutional clients are focused less on market capitalisation and more on practical details: regulatory compliance, custody security, and whether stablecoins can do something useful beyond trading.

McDonald said Ripple continues to concentrate on treasury operations, collateral management, and cross-border payment settlement as the primary enterprise use cases, arguing that utility must drive adoption rather than speculative interest.

Harrison added that stablecoins currently represent a relatively small share of global remittance flows, though he projected the figure could reach around 10% of the market over the next five years as payment rails improve and more merchants integrate digital dollar services.

Stablecoin-based cross-border transfers already settle near-instantly at fees below one dollar, compared with traditional banking fees that can exceed 6%.

Brent Perrault, a senior staff software engineer at Paxos, said privacy remains the sector’s most persistent unresolved problem. Public blockchains expose transaction amounts and the flow of funds, which creates compliance and confidentiality concerns for businesses handling sensitive financial data.

Perrault warned that partial privacy solutions are insufficient because users inevitably move between private and public blockchain environments. He said competitive differentiation among stablecoin issuers is now increasingly driven by trust, distribution partnerships, and user incentives rather than technical specification alone.

Distribution gaps and what comes next

Perrault pointed to PayPal USD’s growth and Charles Schwab’s use of Paxos infrastructure as evidence that demand from established financial institutions is real and expanding beyond crypto-native firms.

The challenge, he said, is that even well-capitalised issuers with strong compliance records face significant friction when trying to connect stablecoin rails to the everyday payment systems consumers and businesses already use.

The panel’s comments at Consensus Miami came as the CLARITY Act moves toward its Senate Banking Committee markup on May 14. As crypto.news reported, five major banking trade groups rejected the Tillis-Alsobrooks stablecoin compromise language just days before the vote.

The executives at Consensus did not directly address the markup, but their remarks underscored why the regulatory outcome matters to companies building stablecoin payment products at scale.

The stablecoin market currently sits at approximately 317 billion dollars in total value. Western Union announced its USDPT stablecoin on Solana earlier in May, with issuance through Anchorage Digital.

That entry reflects exactly the dynamic Harrison described: regulation has lowered the barrier, but the infrastructure needed to make stablecoins work in everyday consumer contexts is still being built.

Swiss campaigners will drop a bid to get the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold bitcoin BTC$80,399.78 in its reserves after collecting only about half of the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a national referendum.

The initiative sought to change Switzerland’s constitution so the SNB would hold bitcoin alongside gold and foreign-currency reserves. The group had 18 months to gather signatures and push for the country’s direct democracy to vote on the subject.

The Federal Chancellery listed the proposal as an amendment to the country’s Federal Constitution, requiring part of the SNB’s monetary reserves to be held in gold and bitcoin. The text did not specify an allocation.

The campaign had framed bitcoin as a neutral reserve asset and a hedge against exposure to dollar- and euro-denominated holdings. Supporters said those currencies make up roughly three-quarters of the SNB’s foreign-currency reserves, according to Reuters.

The SNB had already rejected the idea last year, when it opposed adding bitcoin to its reserves over concerns surrounding the cryptocurrency’s liquidity and volatility.

Bitcoin miner TeraWulf posted a net loss of $427 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from the $61.4 million loss recorded in the same period a year earlier.

Total revenue for the quarter came in at $34 million, with high-performance computing (HPC) lease revenue accounting for $21 million, roughly 60% of the total and a 117% jump from the prior quarter, according to a Friday announcement. Bitcoin mining revenue fell 50% to around $13 million.

The HPC revenue was driven by 60 megawatts of operational critical IT capacity at Lake Mariner, one of North America’s largest HPC campuses, leased to Core42. TeraWulf is also coordinating infrastructure delivery with Fluidstack and Google, with additional capacity buildings on track for delivery in 2026.  The company ended the quarter with approximately $3.1 billion in cash.

“Our capital structure is designed to align long-term financing with contracted cash flows, supporting disciplined growth while maintaining financial flexibility,” chief financial officer Patrick Fleury said.

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

TeraWulf accelerates AI transition

In October last year, TeraWulf announced a 25-year lease deal with Fluidstack, backed by Google, worth around $9.5 billion in contracted revenues, an expansion of an earlier 10-year commitment. The miner is also building out a national pipeline of power-advantaged sites, including a newly acquired 480 MW site in Hawesville, Kentucky, a 300 MW project in Lansing, New York, and a 210 MW site in Morgantown, Maryland, with potential to scale to 1 gigawatt.

“We are building a power-advantaged platform that we believe is increasingly differentiated in a market constrained by access to power,” CEO Paul Prager said, noting that the company’s Abernathy joint venture, a 168 MW HPC project under a 25-year lease, remains on track for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Shares of WULF closed the day down 2.6%, though the stock has gained more than 105% since the start of the year and is up over 30% in the past month.

TeraWulf shares decline. Source: Yahoo! Finance

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

Riot’s data center business generates $33 million in revenue

As Cointelegraph reported, 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, helping offset a decline in Bitcoin mining revenue, which fell to $111.9 million from $142.9 million a year earlier.

Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI infrastructure as shrinking margins push the industry toward more predictable revenue, with Core Scientific, MARA Holdings, Hive, Hut 8 and Iren converting mining facilities into data centers or acquiring AI compute assets.

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

Emerging markets accounted for 77% of Binance users in 2026, up from 49% in 2020, as users in those countries increasingly used the exchange for savings, payments and investment access, the exchange said.

Binance Research’s latest report frames crypto adoption as a financial-access story rather than a trading story. Binance said 83% of users engaging with two or more products on the platform are based in emerging markets, while users in those markets show savings rates more than twice as high as users in developed markets.

About 36% of emerging-market Binance users with balances of at least $10 hold at least half of their portfolio in stablecoins, according to the report, which points to the pattern as “consistent with savings-oriented usage.” Globally, 28% of users meet that threshold, up from 4% in 2020.

The data points to growing use of crypto platforms as substitute financial infrastructure in markets where banking access remains limited.

The World Bank says 1.3 billion adults still lack access to financial services, while 900 million unbanked adults own a mobile phone and 530 million own a smartphone.

Binance said 4.7 billion adults lack access to credit or loans, 3.6 billion adults in low- and middle-income countries do not use digital payments or cards, and 1.4 billion savers in those countries earn no interest on deposits.

Stablecoins are central to the argument. Binance said transfers on high-performance networks can cost as little as $0.0001 and settle almost instantly, compared with a minimum of $20 for cross-border SWIFT transactions. The World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database puts the global average remittance cost above the UN target of less than 3%.

Stablecoins are, in fact, increasingly being used in emerging markets for remittances, savings and cross-border commerce, while also drawing warnings from Moody’s, the IMF and other institutions over monetary-sovereignty and financial-resilience risks.

Data from Brazil’s tax authority, for example, has shown stablecoins drive 90% of the country’s crypto volume.

The US banking lobby is mounting a last-minute push to stall the CLARITY Act just days before its scheduled Senate Banking Committee markup on May 14.

The American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute, the Consumer Bankers Association, the Financial Services Forum, and the Independent Community Bankers of America issued a joint statement this week rejecting the compromise stablecoin yield language drafted by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks. The coalition said the proposed language falls short of its policy goals and leaves dangerous loopholes that could trigger deposit flight from traditional banks.

The banking groups argue that Section 404 of the CLARITY Act still permits crypto platforms to offer rewards tied to account balances and how long users hold assets, which they say amounts to offering deposit interest under a different name. “Research demonstrates that yield-earning stablecoins could reduce all consumer, small-business, and farm loans by one-fifth or more,” the coalition said in its joint statement, adding that it is “imperative that Congress get this right.”

Lummis and Tillis push back

The response from the bill’s sponsors was immediate. Senator Cynthia Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets, posted on X that the finalized bipartisan text “is the culmination of months of hard work to deliver a compromise on yield we can all live with.” Senator Tillis, who co-authored the deal, was sharper in his pushback, warning that certain factions within traditional finance may simply oppose any version of the CLARITY Act and are using the stablecoin yield debate as a mechanism to stall the legislation indefinitely.

Tillis’s closing line in his public defense left little room for ambiguity: “Some in the banking industry may not want either of these things to happen, and we respectfully agree to disagree.” The synchronized public defense from Lummis and Tillis signals the bipartisan coalition behind the compromise is holding firm as the markup window narrows.

The CLARITY Act cleared the House 294 to 134 in July 2025 and passed the Senate Agriculture Committee in January 2026, but has repeatedly stalled in the Senate Banking Committee over the stablecoin yield dispute. As crypto.news reported, senators including Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno have said that failure before the May 21 Memorial Day recess could push the next viable window to 2030.

What comes next

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott confirmed the markup hearing for May 14 at 10:30 am. The White House has set a July 4 target for passage, with crypto adviser Patrick Witt describing the stablecoin yield deal as closed. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at Consensus Miami 2026 this week that the past week represented a “big positive shift” in Senate momentum.

Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn has estimated the bill’s passage odds at roughly 50-50, while prediction markets currently put the figure above 60%. A HarrisX poll released this week found that 52% of registered US voters support the CLARITY Act, with 47% saying they would consider backing a candidate outside their preferred party if that candidate supported the legislation and theirs did not.

For the bill to reach the president’s desk, it must clear the Senate Banking Committee markup, survive a 60-vote floor threshold, be reconciled with the Senate Agriculture Committee version, and then reconciled with the House-passed text. Each of those steps carries its own risk of failure.

Key Highlights

• Shares of APH declined 6.29% as investors took profits after a robust earnings-driven rally
• First quarter 2026 earnings per share reached $1.06 versus analyst expectations of $0.95; sales totaled $7.62B against forecasts of $7.08B
• Analysts at Wall Street Zen and Zacks moved their ratings to “Hold” from “Buy”
• Chief Executive Richard Norwitt offloaded more than 515,000 shares during February for approximately $75.9M
• Average analyst price target stands at $176.53 supported by 13 Buy recommendations and 2 Hold ratings

Shares of Amphenol (APH) tumbled 6.29% on Friday, beginning the session at $127.72, as market participants retreated following a sustained period of appreciation.

Amphenol Corporation, APH

The decline seems driven by profit-taking dynamics rather than fundamental deterioration in the company’s operations. APH had experienced a significant run-up prior to its earnings announcement, prompting some investors to lock in gains.

The company’s first quarter 2026 performance exceeded expectations across key metrics. Earnings per share landed at $1.06, comfortably surpassing the Wall Street consensus of $0.95. Revenue figures impressed at $7.62 billion, substantially outpacing the anticipated $7.08 billion — representing a remarkable 58.4% year-over-year increase.

Looking ahead to Q2 2026, management provided earnings guidance between $1.14 and $1.16 per share. The Street’s current projection for full-year earnings stands at $4.76 per share.

Despite the impressive quarterly performance, market participants appear to be reassessing valuation levels. APH currently commands a price-to-earnings multiple of 36.70 alongside a PEG ratio of 1.20.

Analyst Rating Adjustments Create Headwinds

Wall Street Zen downgraded APH from “Buy” to “Hold” over the weekend. Zacks implemented an identical rating change in March, pointing to valuation considerations as the primary rationale.

However, the overall analyst community maintains a constructive outlook. Among the 15 firms covering the stock, 13 maintain Buy recommendations while only 2 assign Hold ratings. The consensus price objective rests at $176.53.

Evercore boosted its price target to $180 with an “Outperform” stance following the earnings release. Truist demonstrated even greater confidence, elevating its target to $200 while maintaining its “Buy” rating. Barclays similarly preserved its “Overweight” recommendation with a $180 price target.

Executive Share Sales Raise Questions

Chief Executive Officer Richard Adam Norwitt divested 515,281 shares throughout February at a mean price of $147.27, generating proceeds of approximately $75.9 million. This transaction reduced his direct stake by 21.09%.

Collectively, company insiders have disposed of 646,056 shares during the past 90 days — generating combined proceeds near $94.6 million.

While insider transactions don’t necessarily indicate problems ahead, the magnitude and timing of these sales have caught investors’ attention.

Institutional investors continue to maintain substantial holdings at 97.01% of outstanding shares. Multiple smaller investment firms established new positions during Q4 and Q1, though at relatively modest scale.

An additional consideration affecting investor sentiment involves a recent senior notes offering that elevated the debt-to-equity ratio to 1.18. While not particularly concerning, this development adds another variable for balance sheet-focused investors to monitor.

The stock’s 52-week trading range extends from $80.32 to $167.04. The 50-day moving average currently sits at $137.31, while the 200-day moving average registers at $139.35 — both positioned above the present trading price.

APH has generated a year-to-date return of 1.30%, and technical indicators continue to flash a Buy signal. The company maintains its regular quarterly dividend distribution.