The Protect Progress political action committee, linked to the Fairshake PAC, has deployed a substantial media spend in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, targeting the Democratic primary contender for a U.S. House seat. Data filed with the Federal Election Commission show the group and its affiliates have spent more than $4 million to influence the outcome of Jasmine Clark’s bid for elected office, signaling how crypto-aligned interest groups are expanding their electoral footprint ahead of midterm cycles. The development arrives amid heightened scrutiny of crypto lobbying in public policy and the regulatory environment surrounding digital assets.

As Georgia voters head to the polls in the primary race for the state’s 13th district, Clark faces competition within her party. The spending by Protect Progress amounts to a sizable portion of the primary-era media campaigns and underscores the ongoing strategy by crypto-adjacent groups to push policymakers toward legislative and regulatory outcomes favorable to digital assets. According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Clark has been the beneficiary of more than $4.2 million in media spending tied to Protect Progress ahead of the primary, illustrating the scale at which crypto-aligned groups seek to influence elections in pivotal districts.

Clark’s public messaging on digital assets has attracted attention. She appears to have deleted a March social media post that framed digital assets as a future tool for unbanked communities, a post referencing the U.S. Congress’s consideration of a crypto market structure bill. In parallel, she completed a questionnaire from Stand With Crypto, a Coinbase-aligned organization that has asserted she is “a candidate who expressed strong support for establishing clear legislative and regulatory frameworks for digital assets in the United States.”

Protect Progress and its affiliates Fairshake and Defend American Jobs project continued and enhanced spending in 2026 to back candidates seen as friendly to crypto policy, while opposing those who are not. In 2024, Fairshake reportedly invested more than $130 million in media and advertising, a figure Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong cited as contributing to what he called the “most pro-crypto Congress ever.” Coinbase has been a backer of Fairshake as part of its broader engagement with crypto advocacy groups.

Related reporting shows crypto-focused PACs have intensified activity in multiple states. A Cointelegraph feature highlighted ongoing spending in five states ahead of midterm elections, illustrating how crypto-aligned groups mobilize across jurisdictions. Not all efforts yield victories; for example, in Illinois, Fairshake-backed spending opposed Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton in a U.S. Senate primary, yet Stratton secured the nomination with substantial voter support. Stand With Crypto’s public stance remains that robust advocacy and voter information efforts can shift outcomes toward candidates perceived as pro-crypto, though results remain mixed across races.

“From a Stand With Crypto perspective, we are going to do everything we can to give our advocates the tools they need to make sure that they make an informed vote and they’re able to cast their ballot on election day for the candidate that is pro-crypto they care about,” Stand With Crypto executive director Mason Lynaugh told Cointelegraph. “If everyone makes their voices heard […] we will have a more pro-crypto Congress than we did this past year.”

Cointelegraph sought comment from Fairshake ahead of the Georgia voting but did not receive an immediate response. The conversation around crypto-influenced advertising and candidate support continues to illustrate the pragmatic alignment between political action committees and policy advocates seeking to shape the regulatory landscape for digital assets.

Key takeaways

• Crypto-aligned PACs have deployed multi-million-dollar media campaigns in state primaries, with Protect Progress reporting over $4 million in Georgia to influence Jasmine Clark’s candidacy for the U.S. House.
• Clark’s public statements and a Stand With Crypto questionnaire point to an alignment with pro-crypto regulatory frameworks, highlighting the interplay between candidate positioning and crypto advocacy groups.
• Affiliates Fairshake and Defend American Jobs have signaled continued substantial spending in 2026 to back pro-crypto policymakers while opposing those perceived as unsupportive of the industry.
• Past performance by Fairshake—over $130 million in media spending in 2024—has been cited by industry observers as contributing to a highly favorable congressional environment for crypto policy, attracting both support and skepticism from regulators and lawmakers alike.
• In other races, crypto-focused spending has produced mixed outcomes; the broader strategy remains to influence regulatory direction, licensing, and enforcement through legislative outcomes.

Georgia and beyond: policy context and regulatory implications

The Georgia primary case underscores a broader trend in which crypto-affiliated committees deploy significant media budgets to shape political trajectories and policy debates around digital assets. The spending intersects with a complex regulatory backdrop at the U.S. federal level, where federal agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Department of Justice assess enforcement and compliance with evolving asset-class rules. While U.S. policy remains fragmented relative to some international frameworks, ongoing debates around licensing, AML/KYC requirements, and disclosure obligations continue to affect how crypto firms engage with political actors and the public sector.

Separately, a Texas run-off in the 18th Congressional District has highlighted parallel dynamics. In March, Protect Progress reportedly spent more than $1.5 million opposing Representative Al Green in the primary. Federal filings show Protect Progress allocated more than $2.8 million on media opposing Green—who voted against certain industry-supported measures—while roughly the same amount was spent in support of Christian Menefee, who has publicly endorsed blockchain technology. The Texas contest mirrors Georgia in illustrating how PACs with crypto affiliations calibrate messaging and candidate alignment to advance preferred policy outcomes, particularly around digital-asset regulation and industry access to banking services.

The regulatory implications extend beyond house races. The involvement of crypto-linked PACs in candidate selection and policy advocacy raises questions about disclosure, campaign finance integrity, and the degree to which industry interests can shape regulatory conversations. Analysts and compliance teams within exchanges, banks, and crypto firms increasingly monitor these developments to assess risks related to policy risk, licensing requirements, and the potential for enforcement actions tied to political activity disclosures. The evolving policy environment, including cross-border considerations and the potential synchronization with broader regulatory initiatives, remains a critical uncertainty for market participants and policymakers alike.

Closing perspective

As crypto advocacy and political influence converge, the focus for regulators and industry participants will be on transparency, compliance with disclosure obligations, and the practical implications of policy shifts on licensing, AML/KYC programs, and cross-border operations. The Georgia and Texas examples illustrate a persistent trend: well-funded, crypto-aligned committees are actively pursuing policy outcomes in a landscape where enforcement priorities and regulatory definitions continue to evolve. Monitoring forthcoming regulatory moves, enforcement actions, and legislative developments will be essential for institutions seeking to navigate this dynamic environment.

Bitcoin failed to sustain a rally above $82,000, slipping back toward the mid-$70,000s as traders reassessed the risk/reward at current levels. A subsequent retest of around $76,000 helped spark roughly $400 million in liquidations on bullish, leveraged bets over a four-day stretch, underscoring the fragility of routine gains in a market navigating rising macro yields and a heavy debt burden in the United States. The episode leaves the door open for a re-acceleration toward the $80,000 level, but signals that the path higher remains data- and reaction-driven rather than assured.

Key to this dynamic has been Strategy (MSTR), whose aggressive bitcoin accumulation has become a focal point of the market narrative. Over the past week, Strategy disclosed a successful push to add BTC at scale, with reports indicating roughly $2 billion of BTC purchased in that period. The activity, steered by Michael Saylor, highlights a broader shift among crypto bulls toward ways to finance, or refinance, positions in a system where capital costs and liquidity remain critical considerations. The company has repeatedly shown a willingness to tap equity markets—via common stock or STRC preferred equity—to fund bitcoin buys, a strategy that some investors view as a pragmatic hedge against capital costs in a volatile market. More detail on the $2 billion BTC haul and its timing was reported in coverage that cites Strategy’s recent holdings expansion.

In a separate but related move, Strategy continued to address its balance sheet by repurchasing $1.5 billion of debt maturing in 2029. The debt-management step reduces potential future dilution for current shareholders and helps clear runway for additional capital raises and further BTC purchases. Taken together, Strategy’s debt reductions and continued accumulation of bitcoin underscore a deliberate approach to navigating a softer market while maintaining exposure to the crypto rally thesis.

From a macro view, the backdrop for bitcoin’s next leg hinges on a stubbornly steep yield curve and a government debt load that complicates policy options. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 4.60%, its highest in roughly 16 months, a move that tends to tilt allocations toward scarce, high-escape-value assets when conventional fixed income or cash yields look unattractive. The market narrative increasingly factors in roughly $2 trillion of long-term debt maturing in 2026, creating both a challenge for the Treasury and a potential tailwind for non-sovereign stores of value like bitcoin as investors hunt for hedges against continued financial fragility.

Key macro tensions shaping the backdrop

Dollar trajectory and inflation expectations loom large as investors reassess the Fed’s path. The prospect that the Federal Reserve may need to maintain bond-buying or maturity-management to support liquidity could weaken the dollar and tilt demand toward scarce, hard-asset exposures. In this framing, gold and bitcoin sometimes compete for the same flight-to-safety or diversification niche, though the two assets have historically followed different catalysts. Recent price action suggests growing confidence in bitcoin as a potential hedge within this macro mix, even as gold has shown periods of strength and retracement amid shifting risk sentiment.

Beyond macro forces, energy markets add another layer of complexity. Brent crude climbed to around $113 as negotiations to reopen strategic chokepoints faced headwinds, with supply concerns mounting amid broader geopolitical tensions in the region. The energy backdrop matters for risk appetite: persistent high energy costs can complicate inflation trajectories and, by extension, influence central-bank policy expectations. In this environment, traders watch how shifts in commodity markets interact with crypto risk-on dynamics to set the tone for bitcoin’s near-term trajectory.

The conversation around whether a potential US-Iran accord could alter risk appetite remains a live variable. While not a baseline scenario, such a deal—if reached or even advanced in negotiations—could reintroduce appetite for risk assets and potentially nudge bitcoin above the $80,000 level. Analysts stress that inflation, energy prices, and geopolitical risk all feed into a broader decision matrix for investors: stay content with traditional assets or embrace crypto as a relatively scarce, non-sovereign store of value within a volatile macro landscape.

In late-February, bitcoin demonstrated notable momentum, ascending from the $65,000 range to roughly $76,500 in a matter of weeks as confidence in the crypto narrative strengthened. The shift contrasted with a period when gold had captured attention on earlier headlines, yet bitcoin’s rally showcased durable hands-on demand from strategic buyers and a willingness among market participants to price in a degree of resilience for the asset class even amid macro headwinds.

Looking ahead, traders will be watching how bitcoin behaves around the $80,000 threshold and whether Strategy’s capital deployment pattern continues to scale. The balance sheet adjustments—paired with ongoing macro considerations and potential geopolitical developments—could set up a testing ground for whether BTC can sustain a new leg higher or remain range-bound until fresh catalysts emerge. As always, these dynamics hinge on liquidity conditions, funding costs, and the ever-shifting risk preferences of large market players.

Related context: analysis and ongoing coverage on whether Bitcoin’s current setup supports a sustainable move beyond $80,000

As the market digests these developments, readers should monitor how continued corporate BTC accumulation, debt management moves, and macro forces interact with evolving global risk sentiment. The coming weeks will reveal whether the confluence of tight liquidity, rising yields, and geopolitical risk translates into a renewed appetite for bitcoin—or if traders opt for caution until clearer directional cues emerge.

What to watch next: the resilience of BTC around the 80k level, the trajectory of the 10-year yield, and any fresh signals from Strategy regarding further BTC purchases or balance-sheet actions. The balance between risk-on optimism and macro constraints will likely define the near-term path for bitcoin and the broader crypto market.

Digital infrastructure company Soluna Holdings reported strong first-quarter revenue growth as expanding data center operations helped offset weaker returns from cryptocurrency mining.

Revenue rose 58% from a year earlier to $9.4 million and increased 2% from the previous quarter, according to the company’s earnings report released Monday. It was Soluna’s fourth-consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth.

The gains were driven by additional capacity coming online at the company’s Dorothy and Kati sites in Texas. Data center hosting generated $6.7 million in revenue, while cryptocurrency mining contributed roughly $2.2 million, down from nearly $3 million the year before, as Bitcoin mining economics deteriorated. 

Despite higher revenue, Soluna remained unprofitable. A net loss widened to $17.9 million from $10.5 million a year earlier, primarily due to higher stock-based compensation, interest expense and financing costs. Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed modestly to $2.1 million.

Soluna ended the quarter with $68.6 million in cash as it continued to expand its infrastructure footprint, including plans to grow its AI and high-performance computing business.

A snapshot of Soluna’s quarterly crypto mining revenues. Source: Soluna Holdings

Related: Paradigm reframes Bitcoin mining as grid asset, not energy drain

Crypto miners pivot toward AI infrastructure

Soluna is participating in a broader shift among Bitcoin (BTC) miners seeking new revenue streams as mining margins come under pressure. Mining economics have tightened significantly since the 2024 halving, with the recent decline in BTC prices adding further strain.

A March report from CoinShares found that as many as 20% of Bitcoin miners could be operating at a loss, particularly those using older, less efficient machines. The report also noted that Bitcoin hashprice — a key measure of miner revenue — fell to a post-halving low in February.

In response, several publicly traded miners, including HIVE Digital Technologies and TeraWulf, have redirected capital toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

Analysts at Bernstein recently said IREN is expected to derive most of its future value from AI infrastructure rather than digital asset mining. The firm cited IREN’s growing AI cloud business and long-term agreement with Microsoft as key drivers of that transition.

A Bernstein analysis shows how even large-scale miners like IREN are expected to generate the bulk of their revenues from AI. Source: Bernstein

Related: Core Scientific plans $3.3B debt raise to fund AI data center push

TLDR:

• Every Sui transaction deposits storage fees into a protocol-level fund that validators draw rewards from.
• The Storage Fund stakes its holdings and pays validators only from returns, keeping its principal fully intact.
• Network growth increases fund size, which reduces SUI in active circulation against a hard 10 billion cap.
• Users who delete on-chain data receive partial fee refunds, reinforcing the fund’s deflationary supply design.

The Sui blockchain operates on a tokenomics model that goes beyond its widely cited 10 billion token supply cap.

At the center of this model is a mechanism called the Storage Fund — a self-sustaining pool designed to align incentives between past users and future validators.

Understanding how it works may change how investors think about SUI’s long-term supply dynamics.

How the Storage Fund Creates a Self-Sustaining Cycle

Every transaction on the Sui network that adds data to the chain requires the user to pay a storage fee. That fee does not flow directly to validators. Instead, it enters the Storage Fund, a growing pool of SUI tokens held at the protocol level.

The fund then participates in network staking. It earns staking rewards like any other participant. Those rewards are distributed to validators as compensation for storing historical chain data.

This structure solves a problem that most blockchain networks have not addressed. When a new validator joins Sui, it must store all historical data from transactions it never processed.

The Storage Fund covers that cost, drawing from fees paid by the original users who created the storage demand.

As crypto analyst @2xnmore noted, “Past users who created the storage requirements in the first place funded the pool. Future validators get compensated from that pool indefinitely.”

The fund pays out only its staking returns, not the principal. That design means it cannot be drained over time.

The Direct Connection Between Network Growth and Circulating Supply

The Storage Fund has a direct effect on SUI’s circulating supply. As network activity grows, more transactions occur. More transactions mean more storage fees entering the fund.

As the fund grows, it holds a larger share of the total SUI supply. That SUI is effectively removed from active circulation.

With total supply capped at 10 billion, any sustained reduction in circulating tokens against steady or growing demand creates upward pressure on price.

The Sui documentation addresses this directly, framing deflation as a built-in protocol feature rather than a side effect.

There is also a deletion mechanic worth noting. Users who remove data they stored on-chain receive a partial refund of their original storage fees. This rewards responsible chain usage and further ties economic behavior to supply management.

@2xnmore pointed out that “most people holding SUI today are pricing the speed narrative,” referencing parallel transaction processing, sub-second finality, and Move language safety.

However, the storage fund’s effect on circulating supply has not yet been widely factored into market pricing.

The gap between documented protocol mechanics and current market awareness is where long-term investors tend to find early positioning.

The Storage Fund is not new information — it is in the official documentation. Most retail participants have simply not read it yet.

TLDR:

• XRP daily transaction count has dropped 20% over three months, now sitting at just 1.78 million.
• Binance funding rates turned negative at -0.003, reflecting a mild bearish lean among perpetual traders.
• XRP’s Estimated Leverage Ratio on Binance stands at 0.173, far below its six-month peak of 0.260.
• Daily liquidations collapsed 99%, pointing to a deeply de-risked and low-volatility market structure.

XRP is consolidating near the $1.38–$1.43 range amid a sharp drop in both on-chain activity and derivatives market participation. Total daily transaction counts on the XRP network have fallen 20% over three months, now sitting at 1.78 million.

Funding rates on Binance have turned negative at -0.003, and daily liquidations have collapsed by 99% to just a few thousand dollars. The market is waiting for a catalyst.

Derivatives Data Points to a De-Risked Market

The most telling signal comes from the Estimated Leverage Ratio on Binance, which currently stands at 0.173. That figure sits well below its six-month peak of 0.260, showing how much speculative activity has exited the market. Traders have broadly reduced their exposure, leaving very little leverage on either side of the book.

The near-total absence of liquidations backs this up further. When funding rates go negative without a surge in liquidations, it rules out aggressive over-leveraged shorting.

Instead, it reflects a mild bearish lean among perpetual traders, not a crowded short trade. The market has essentially run out of speculative fuel.

This kind of structural exhaustion is what analysts refer to as a “Volatility Vacuum.” According to CryptoOnchain, these periods of low liquidity and flushed leverage have historically preceded major directional moves. The market is resetting, not collapsing.

A definitive macroeconomic or fundamental catalyst would likely be the trigger needed to break XRP out of this quiet phase. Until that arrives, price action may remain compressed.

Technical Structure Keeps Range-Bound View Intact

On the technical side, XRP is trading within a broad corrective triangle structure. The recent attempt to break higher failed to show impulsive behavior, which keeps range-bound expectations in place.

More Crypto Online noted in a post that the “move higher lacked impulsive behavior,” leaving the broader structure unchanged.

The preferred technical reading still allows for a larger triangle to develop. A potential C-wave extension could push prices toward key resistance levels at $1.55, $1.60, and $1.66. However, that move has not yet materialized with any conviction.

On the downside, $1.28 is the level to watch. A sustained break below that area would weaken the triangle structure considerably. Support below that sits at $1.26, with a broader range floor between $1.16 and $1.26.

For now, XRP remains range-bound with no clear breakout catalyst in sight. The technical and derivatives data are both telling the same story. The market is pausing, building pressure for the next significant directional move.

Payward, Kraken’s parent, grew Q1 2026 adjusted revenue 3% to $507m as derivatives jumped 51%, even while Bitcoin, market cap and spot volumes all saw steep double‑digit drops.

The outperformance was driven in large part by derivatives, where Payward’s futures business saw daily average revenue trades jump 51% year-on-year. Management attributed that surge to the expansion of NinjaTrader and Breakout, as well as the broader build-out of Kraken’s derivatives franchise, which is increasingly offsetting cyclicality in spot trading.

Despite the revenue growth, adjusted EBITDA declined to $18 million in the quarter as the company leaned into spending. Payward said it is deliberately prioritizing mergers and acquisitions, product development and regulatory infrastructure over near-term profitability, characterizing the current bear-market stretch as the right time to invest.

Market share gains and user growth

The company’s strategic push appears to be translating into real market-share gains. Payward disclosed that Kraken’s spot market share has climbed from about 3.5% in mid-2025 to 5.2% in March 2026, a meaningful jump in a market where incremental share is typically hard-won.

User metrics are also moving sharply higher: the number of funded accounts on Kraken grew 47% year-on-year to 6.1 million in Q1 2026, while total client assets on the platform rose to $40 billion. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi framed that performance as validation of the firm’s long-term strategy, saying, “While other companies choose to contract, we choose to continue investing.”

Revolut launched its first physical crypto card on May 18, a Dogecoin-themed LED card for the UK and EEA.

Revolut announced on May 18 that it is launching its first physical crypto card, a Dogecoin-themed debit card with an LED display that illuminates at the point of payment. The card works anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted, with an initial rollout in the UK and EEA.

The firm said there are no additional exchange fees on crypto payments, though transactions are subject to real-time exchange rates at the point of purchase and may create tax obligations depending on local rules. Revolut converts users’ crypto to fiat automatically at checkout, meaning merchants receive standard settlement currency without touching digital assets directly.

Revolut crypto card takes crypto to checkout

The physical card links to users’ crypto balances and handles the conversion in the background. That removes the primary friction point that has kept crypto spending separate from everyday consumer finance: the need to manually convert before each purchase. Spending limits include a £100,000 cap per transaction and a maximum of 100 exchanges within any 24-hour period.

As crypto.news reported just days earlier, Revolut also secured FCA permissions for leveraged investment products, discretionary portfolio management, and advisory services.

The crypto card launch sits within a broader regulatory and product expansion that also includes its full UK banking licence received in March 2026 and a US banking charter application filed the same month. Revolut serves over 70 million users globally.

What the card means for crypto mass adoption

Revolut’s distribution scale is the headline fact here. As crypto.news documented in its crypto cards guide, consumer appetite for crypto-linked debit products has grown steadily in 2026 alongside regulatory clarity. Adding a physical card to a 70-million-user platform creates a potential mass adoption vehicle that most crypto-native card products have lacked.

The company’s earlier US banking licence application signals the card will eventually expand beyond the UK and EEA, potentially bringing crypto spending to one of the world’s largest consumer markets.

Tax treatment remains the main practical barrier: crypto payments are taxable sale events in most jurisdictions, meaning frequent spenders need clear record-keeping infrastructure to manage cost basis and gains.

Kevin Warsh is set to be sworn in as the next chair of the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Friday amid speculation about whether he’ll do what US President Donald Trump hopes he does: Lower interest rates once in office.

On Wednesday, the US Senate voted largely along party lines to confirm Warsh as the next Fed chair, succeeding Jerome Powell. While Trump nominated both Fed governors in different terms, the president repeatedly threatened to fire Powell in recent months, saying that the Fed chair “should be lowering interest rates.”

Source: Kalshi

With Warsh expected to assume his role as Fed chair on Friday, prediction market platforms like Kalshi are offering users 38.2% chances on event contracts betting that the central bank will lower interest rates before 2027, dropping from 96% in February. In contrast, CME FedWatch shows a 98.8% probability that the Fed would not change its interest rates, currently at 3.50% to 3.75%, until the end of June, with a more than 94% chance of the same through July.

As Fed chair, Warsh will have significant influence in helping policy makers determine federal interest rates. With Powell, Trump repeatedly called for the Fed chair to cut rates on social media and said in April he would be disappointed if Warsh didn’t immediately move to do the same if confirmed. The next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, at which interest rates could be changed, is scheduled for June 16. 

Related: Bitcoin, stocks risk ‘months’ of losses as Kevin Warsh Becomes Fed chair

At Warsh’s confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said confirming him could result in the Fed “granting special accounts to [the Trump family’s] crypto company or bailouts to his friends on Wall Street if they get into trouble.” Warsh disclosed more than $100 million in assets ahead of the April hearing, including investments in AI and crypto companies.

US lawmakers awaiting CFTC nominations

With Warsh set to be sworn in on Friday, lawmakers are still looking to Trump to announce nominations for the US federal commodities regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Since December, the CFTC has been led solely by Trump’s pick Michael Selig, who took over from acting chair Caroline Pham. The federal regulator has since taken a strong position on attempting to exclusively oversee prediction markets platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket amid US state authorities filing lawsuits against the companies over sports betting.

On Friday, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Committee on Agriculture called on Trump to “nominate a full panel” of CFTC commissioners, citing “urgent regulatory issues.” Specifically, the lawmakers voiced concerns about CFTC rulemaking if the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY), a bill to establish market structure for cryptocurrencies, became law.

Magazine: ETH stalls at $2.4K five times, SOL to rally to $120: Market Moves