MARA Holdings sold $1.5 billion in bitcoin in Q1 2026, dropping to the fourth largest public BTC holder.

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) sold 20,880 bitcoin during Q1 2026 at an average price of $70,137 per coin, generating approximately $1.5 billion in proceeds. The company used $1.1 billion of that near quarter-end to repurchase convertible notes and improve its liquidity position as it repositions away from pure bitcoin mining.

As a result, MARA dropped from the second to the fourth largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, ending March with 35,303 BTC worth approximately $2.4 billion. First-quarter revenue fell 18% year over year to $174.6 million, and the company posted a $1.26 billion net loss, largely driven by a 22% decline in bitcoin’s price during the quarter.

How MARA is repositioning itself

In its Form 10-Q filing, MARA now describes itself as “a digital infrastructure company built to convert energy into high-value compute workloads,” placing AI and high-performance computing alongside bitcoin mining rather than treating it as a secondary focus.

Management said up to 90% of its non-hosted mining capacity could ultimately be redirected to AI and critical IT workloads, and confirmed the company has no current plans to purchase additional bitcoin mining hardware.

The Starwood Capital joint venture, announced in Q4 2025, is progressing toward active development, with MARA contributing power-rich sites and Starwood leading design, tenant sourcing, and construction. The structure allows MARA to preserve mining operations on available capacity while scaling AI infrastructure selectively.

After quarter-end, MARA also agreed to acquire Long Ridge Energy and Power, a 505-megawatt combined-cycle gas plant in Ohio, in a $1.5 billion transaction. The campus sits on 1,600 contiguous acres and could support more than one gigawatt of total AI and computing capacity over time.

Context: mining-to-AI pivot across the sector

MARA’s shift reflects a broader trend among publicly traded miners. Core Scientific is converting its Pecos, Texas, site into a 1.5-gigawatt AI data center campus, while IREN completed a $3.4 billion deal with Nvidia in May. Public miners have collectively signed more than $70 billion in AI infrastructure contracts since late 2024.

Fred Thiel, MARA’s chairman and CEO, has framed the pivot as an extension of the company’s core competency. “Bitcoin mining is not a legacy business we are moving away from.

It is the operational foundation on which we are building,” he said. MARA also acquired a controlling interest in French AI and HPC data center operator Exaion for $174.5 million during the quarter.

TLDR:

• The CLARITY Act passed the House with 78 Democratic votes but remains stalled in the U.S. Senate after ten months.
• Binance clears nearly 40% of global spot crypto volume while Coinbase, the top U.S. exchange, handles only 6%.
• Senators Gallego and Torres are pushing crypto legislation to serve working-class Black and Latino constituents.
• Tokenization on public blockchains could extend American financial products to billions of people who lack U.S. brokerage access.

The CLARITY Act remains stuck in the U.S. Senate despite strong bipartisan support in the House. Mike Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital, is urging Democrats to act on crypto regulation.

He argues that inaction is pushing American crypto activity offshore. With 55 million Americans owning crypto, the stakes for U.S. financial leadership are high.

The longer the Senate delays, the more ground the U.S. cedes to rival financial hubs like Singapore, Dubai, and London.

Senate Inaction Drives Crypto Activity Offshore

The CLARITY Act passed the House last July with backing from 78 Democrats. However, the bill has not advanced in the Senate, leaving American crypto companies without clear legal footing. Novogratz points to this regulatory vacuum as a key driver of offshore activity.

Binance, which holds no formal headquarters but operates under an Abu Dhabi license, now clears nearly 40% of global spot crypto volume.

Meanwhile, Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based exchange, handles roughly 6%. The gap between these numbers tells the story clearly.

The U.S. poured $2.4 trillion into crypto markets in a single year — nearly four times the next country. Yet without domestic rules, that capital flows through foreign platforms.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand crossed party lines in 2022 to introduce a bipartisan crypto framework. Writing on X, Novogratz noted that “the Senate’s job now is to finish it.”

Novogratz frames the delay not as a policy disagreement but as a posture problem. A vocal segment of the Democratic caucus views crypto legislation as a corporate giveaway. That view, he says, is producing the opposite of its intended effect — an unregulated offshore market.

Democratic Lawmakers and Tokenization Could Redefine U.S. Financial Power

Senator Ruben Gallego, Arizona’s first Latino senator, took up crypto policy directly because his constituents were asking about it. Many of them are working-class, Hispanic, or Black Americans with a growing interest in digital assets.

In a statement referenced by Novogratz, Gallego made his position clear: “If your constituents are showing interest in this, then you should show interest in it too.”

Representative Ritchie Torres, who grew up in public housing in the Bronx, represents one of the poorest congressional districts in America.

He has publicly argued that blockchain technology can “liberate the lowest income communities from the high fees of the traditional financial system.” Both lawmakers are actively legislating while much of the caucus remains on the sidelines.

Beyond domestic regulation, Novogratz sees a larger opportunity in tokenization. Public blockchains could allow American equities, Treasury bonds, and investment funds to reach billions of people globally who will never open a U.S. brokerage account. The CLARITY Act could make that possible.

Passing the bill, Novogratz argues, is not just a financial decision — it is a projection of American economic power. Countries like Singapore and the UAE are already moving.

Novogratz put it plainly: “Pass the CLARITY Act. Show up. This is how Democrats win. This is how America wins.” The U.S. has the capital markets, the demand, and the legal infrastructure to lead. What it needs now is legislative follow-through.

CryptoQuant signal has flipped Bitcoin into early bull territory for the first time since March 2023, analysts say.

CryptoQuant’s Bull-Bear Market Cycle Indicator entered bullish territory on May 12 for the first time since March 2023, signaling what analysts describe as a potential transition away from bear-market behavior. The indicator is built on CryptoQuant’s Profit and Loss Index, which aggregates the MVRV ratio, NUPL, and a comparison of Long-Term Holder and Short-Term Holder SOPR ratios.

CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno wrote on X that the shift “often suggests that the worst phase of the correction has already passed and that market structure is beginning to recover.” Bitcoin was trading above $80,000 when the indicator flipped, having rebounded roughly 35% from February’s $60,000 lows.

Why analysts are not calling a confirmed bull market yet

The last confirmed green reading came in March 2023 and held continuously until August 2024, covering a period during which Bitcoin climbed from roughly $20,000 to an all-time high above $73,000. The March 2022 signal is the critical exception: the indicator briefly turned green that month before Bitcoin extended its downtrend well into 2023.

Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, described the indicator as a regime-shift tool rather than a predictive crystal ball. “Historically, it has been most useful for identifying when bitcoin stops behaving like a bear-market asset,” he said. Sustained demand, liquidity, and price acceptance at higher levels are still required before the signal can be treated as validated.

Moreno flagged several secondary metrics showing exhaustion in the current setup. Bitcoin must decisively break the $82,000 resistance level, which has rejected multiple rally attempts, before the signal can be considered confirmed by price action.

What supporting data shows and what Hayes sees

Supporting the regime-shift thesis, April ETF inflows into spot Bitcoin products reached $2.44 billion, the strongest single-month institutional accumulation since October 2025. Glassnode’s RHODL ratio currently sits at 4.5, the third-highest reading in Bitcoin’s history, with the only comparable prior readings occurring at the 2015 and 2022 cycle bottoms.

Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom, argued separately that Bitcoin already found its cycle bottom at $60,000 earlier in 2026 and identified $90,000 as the threshold at which any rally would turn explosive toward the prior all-time high of $126,000. Bitget Wallet analyst Lacie Zhang said Bitcoin is “positioned for a potential breakout toward $85,000 to $90,000,” citing strong institutional support and continued ETF inflows.

TLDR:

• Bitcoin surpassed $80,000 for the first time since January, briefly reaching $83K before pulling back slightly.
  
• Open interest surged from $48B to $58B while spot volumes hit two-year lows, signaling leverage-driven movement.
  
• Bitcoin ETF inflows added $623M, with Morgan Stanley’s new BTC ETF pulling $194M in its debut month alone.
  
• Tuesday’s CPI print and the Fed chair transition from Powell to Warsh are the next key macro triggers to watch.
  

Bitcoin’s return above $80,000 has drawn attention from market analysts, with trading firm Wintermute raising concerns about what is driving the move.

While the price milestone marks the first time BTC has traded at this level since January, Wintermute warns that the rally may not be as solid as it appears on the surface.

Short Squeeze Mechanics Behind Bitcoin’s Price Move

Bitcoin climbed to approximately $83,000 last week, breaking above its 200-day moving average for the first time in seven months.

The move coincided with a broader equity rally, with the Nasdaq gaining 4.5% and the S&P 500 rising 2.3% to fresh all-time highs. U.S. nonfarm payrolls also beat expectations, coming in at 115,000 against a consensus of 65,000.

Wintermute, however, pointed to the mechanics behind BTC’s price action as a reason for caution. Open interest in Bitcoin futures jumped from $48 billion to $58 billion over the past month. At the same time, spot trading volumes fell to two-year lows.

The firm noted on X: “BTC ground above $70k, nobody believed it, shorts piled in, got liquidated, and had to be covered by buying.” That dynamic, rather than fresh demand, appears to be what pushed prices higher.

Funding rates remain predominantly short, which means additional squeeze pressure could still push prices up. That said, Wintermute was clear that forced covering is not the same as genuine market conviction.

Institutional Flows Offer a More Constructive Long-Term View

Despite the short-term concerns, longer-term indicators tell a different story. Bitcoin ETF flows added $623 million during the period, and Morgan Stanley’s new BTC ETF pulled in $194 million in its first month without a single day of outflows. Exchange reserves remain at seven-year lows, pointing to steady accumulation by long-term holders.

Wintermute noted that whale accumulation and ETF inflows continue to absorb supply at current levels. However, the firm also observed that the institutional bid tends to reduce in size as prices move higher, which limits upside pressure over time.

The near-term focus now turns to macroeconomic events. Tuesday’s CPI release will offer the first clear look at how energy prices have fed into inflation.

Additionally, Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s term ends Thursday, with Kevin Warsh’s confirmation expected to follow.

Wintermute stated that if Bitcoin holds above $80,000 through a macro shock, that would serve as genuine confirmation of a trend change.

A selloff in line with equities, however, would suggest the short squeeze was the primary driver all along. RSI is currently entering overbought territory, and spot demand needs to step in for the rally to hold.

TLDR:

• Ethereum’s Clear Signing standard now displays transactions in plain language instead of unreadable hex data. 
• Blind signing has contributed to billions in ecosystem losses, prompting this open standard’s coordinated launch. 
• ERC-7730 and ERC-8176 are the two core frameworks introduced to support human-readable transaction signing. 
• Contributors include Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, Fireblocks, and WalletConnect, coordinated by the Ethereum Foundation.

Ethereum has officially launched the Clear Signing open standard, marking a major step forward in transaction security.

The initiative converts unreadable hexadecimal data into plain, human-readable text during transaction approvals. The Ethereum Foundation coordinated the effort alongside key industry contributors.

Together, they aim to address one of the most persistent security vulnerabilities in the Ethereum ecosystem. Blind signing has cost the industry billions of dollars over the years.

What the Clear Signing Standard Brings to Ethereum

The Ethereum Foundation announced the launch via its official X account on May 12, 2026. The post stated that clear signing is now live as an open standard to end blind signing.

It described the development as a major upgrade to both user experience and transaction security on Ethereum.

Until now, signing a transaction often meant approving a string of unreadable hex data. This practice, known as blind signing, has contributed to billions in losses across the ecosystem. Users had no way to verify what they were actually approving before confirming transactions.

The new standard changes that by displaying transaction details in plain language. Instead of raw technical data, users now see clear descriptions of what each transaction does. This gives people better control and awareness before they confirm any on-chain action.

The Ethereum Foundation noted the effort builds on existing clear signing work already present in the ecosystem. In particular, it acknowledged the approach pioneered by Ledger as a foundation for this broader, unified standard.

Key Components and Contributors Behind the Initiative

Several prominent names in the crypto industry contributed to the Clear Signing initiative. Wallet and hardware contributors include Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, WalletConnect, and ZKnox. On the security side, Cyfrin participated, while Fireblocks and Zama represented infrastructure. Sourcify and Argot contributed tooling support.

The standard introduces ERC-7730, which provides an open framework for human-readable transaction descriptions.

Alongside it comes a neutral, mirrorable descriptor registry for broader accessibility. An attestation framework under ERC-8176 allows auditors to verify the integrity of transaction descriptors.

Open developer tooling has also been released for wallets, protocols, and auditors to use. These tools make it easier for developers to integrate the standard across different platforms. The goal is to drive adoption and expand coverage across the Ethereum ecosystem consistently.

The Ethereum Foundation confirmed the work is ongoing and not a one-time release. Contributors will continue expanding coverage, refining tooling, and pushing for wider adoption.

As more wallets and protocols integrate the standard, blind signing risks are expected to decrease steadily across the network.

Kraken parent Payward will plug Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenized money market fund into its platform as collateral and cash management, letting clients earn yield on idle dollars on‑chain.

Kraken’s parent company Payward and Franklin Templeton have announced a strategic partnership to tokenize traditional financial products and distribute them through Kraken’s exchange infrastructure, according to reporting by Decrypt.

BENJI meets xStocks in a $30B tokenization partnership

The immediate deliverable is an integration of Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenized money market fund into the Kraken platform, where it will function as collateral and a cash management tool for institutional clients — effectively letting professional traders park idle capital in a yield-bearing, on-chain dollar instrument without leaving the Kraken ecosystem.

BENJI, which Franklin Templeton launched in 2021 on the Stellar blockchain before expanding to Polygon, Arbitrum and other networks, is one of the longest-running tokenized money market funds in the industry and a direct competitor to BlackRock’s BUIDL, which recently crossed $2.3 billion in assets under management. By embedding BENJI into Kraken’s collateral framework, Franklin Templeton gains a distribution channel that reaches both institutional desks and the exchange’s large retail base in jurisdictions where the product is available, while Kraken gains a regulated, yield-generating dollar instrument it can offer as an alternative to idle USDT or USDC balances sitting in trading accounts.

Beyond BENJI, the two firms plan to use Payward’s xStocks framework as the foundation for new on-chain actively managed products, making Franklin Templeton’s investment strategies available to institutions and retail investors in specific jurisdictions. xStocks, a previous crypto.news story noted, has processed over $30 billion in transaction volume since launching last year, building a tokenized equity infrastructure that now spans more than 50 U.S. stocks and ETFs and positions Kraken as one of the leading venues for on-chain traditional asset exposure outside of dedicated RWA platforms like Ondo Finance.

Franklin Crypto, 250 Digital and the race to own on-chain distribution

The Payward partnership is one piece of a broader push by Franklin Templeton to build a vertically integrated crypto and tokenization business. The firm has advanced its dedicated crypto division, Franklin Crypto, through the acquisition of crypto investment firm 250 Digital, adding research, portfolio management and distribution capabilities that complement its existing tokenized fund products. Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ spot ETF also led Monday’s XRP ETF inflow data with $13.6 million in a single day, making it the top product in a five-fund cohort that collectively pulled in $25.8 million — the largest daily XRP ETF inflow since January 5, 2026 — as covered in a recent crypto.news story.

Taken together, Franklin Templeton now has a spot XRP ETF, a tokenized money market fund on multiple chains, a crypto investment arm via 250 Digital, and a distribution partnership with one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. That stack puts it in a structurally different position from most traditional asset managers, which are still debating whether to file a single tokenized product rather than building an end-to-end on-chain distribution network. As a crypto.news story on BlackRock’s second tokenized fund SEC filing with Securitize showed, the race among the largest traditional asset managers to own on-chain distribution is now openly competitive, with BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity all moving simultaneously on tokenized product lines that would have been considered experimental as recently as 2023. For Kraken, landing Franklin Templeton as a product partner rather than just a custody client is the clearest signal yet that xStocks is evolving from a tokenized equity venue into a full institutional financial product platform with Wall Street names behind it.