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7 May 2026, 12:07

White House Targets July 4 for Clarity Act Passage: Crypto Adviser

Senate Banking Committee markup is planned for this month, leaving four working Senate weeks in June for floor passage, said Patrick Witt.

7 May 2026, 10:35

The Odds Don’t Favour a Ripple IPO — Here’s Why

David Schwartz Reveals Why Ripple Still Has No Legal Path to an IPO Ripple’s long-speculated IPO (initial public offering) is running into a hard legal reality. While market chatter continues, executives have made it clear that a public listing isn’t a near-term priority, and former CTO David Schwartz argues the core issue is simpler: the current legal framework still doesn’t support it. The discussion intensified after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently explained that the company is taking a cautious stance toward an IPO. Garlinghouse pointed to the underwhelming post-listing performance of crypto firms like Gemini and Kraken as examples of why Ripple is not rushing toward the public markets. Now, David Schwartz has added a new dimension to the debate, noting that Ripple stock is already classified as a security under current U.S. law. This designation, he explains, introduces major legal constraints that make tokenizing Ripple equity or enabling it to trade like a crypto asset far more complex than many investors assume. His remarks also highlight a common misconception in the market: Ripple equity and XRP are fundamentally different instruments, governed by entirely separate rules and legal frameworks. Why Ripple Still Has No Clear Legal Path to Go Public XRP and Ripple equity serve fundamentally different roles. More notably, XRP is a digital asset used within Ripple’s payments network, while Ripple equity represents actual ownership in the company. As a result, this difference is critical because equity falls under strict U.S. securities laws regulated by the SEC. David Schwartz noted that there is no workable legal framework today that would allow Ripple to simply tokenize its shares for open trading in crypto markets. Current securities regulations tightly control how private company stock can be issued, transferred, and sold, particularly when it involves access by retail investors. Even so, Ripple equity already changes hands on secondary markets, where accredited investors can access private shares. The catch is that participation is tightly restricted, shaped by strict regulations governing private securities. Earlier this year, Ripple President Monica Long reiterated that the company’s near-term focus remained compliance, infrastructure expansion, and institutional adoption rather than a 2026 listing. Still, market interest in Ripple’s valuation hasn’t cooled. Research firm CB Insights has previously projected that a public debut could place Ripple’s worth at close to $40 billion, underscoring just how closely investors are watching its next move. For now, however, the company seems more intent on regulatory clarity than a Wall Street debut.

7 May 2026, 10:29

Bitcoin Operates Outside the Regulatory System: Arthur Hayes Take on Crypto and Clarity Act

Arthur Hayes told Consensus 2026 that the Clarity Act fundamentally misunderstands what Bitcoin is, and any attempt to fold it into a federal regulatory framework destroys the only thing that makes it valuable. The argument landed while BTC traded above $82,000, with institutional ETF inflows accelerating, suggesting the market and the ideology are currently pointing in opposite directions. Bitcoin (BTC) 24h 7d 30d 1y All time Arthur Hayes Opinions Matter Hayes argues that Bitcoin’s value derives from operating outside any regulatory apparatus, and he also noted that legislation like the Clarity Act doesn’t clarify anything . “This is the value that bitcoin provides outside of the regulatory apparatus,” Hayes told the audience. “It’s precisely the reason that it does not adhere to the regulatory regime that some of you wish to put it under with bills like the Clarity Act and other things.” On price, Hayes kept it equally blunt. “If you want to talk about the price of bitcoin and what the fair value is, all that matters is how many units of fiat there are today.” His year-end BTC target sits at $125,000, tied entirely to global monetary expansion, not legislative outcomes. Regulation, in his framework, is simply irrelevant to the price calculation. LATEST: Arthur Hayes told Consensus Miami 2026 that fiat money creation, not politics or regulation, is the only driver of Bitcoin's price. pic.twitter.com/AD94CtJwtO — CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) May 6, 2026 Hayes went further, arguing that enthusiasm for the Clarity Act inside the industry reflects the interests of centralized incumbents with Washington lobbying operations, not the decentralized ecosystem Bitcoin was built to circumvent. “People who own centralized companies want regulation because it benefits their business,” he said. In Hayes’s view, the DeFi ecosystem and privacy-focused infrastructure get nothing from this bill except a federal licensing framework they cannot technically comply with. “People who own centralized companies want regulation because it benefits their business.” His position stands in direct contrast to the dominant tone at Consensus 2026. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been lobbying aggressively for the Senate to advance the legislation before the May 21 Memorial Day recess. Discover: The best crypto to diversify your portfolio with Does the Bitcoin Agree With Hayes? Bitcoin climbed 8% in a week to $82,600 following Hayes’s remarks at Consensus Miami 2026, extending a run that has kept BTC above $80,000 through weeks of legislative uncertainty. Spot Cumulative Volume Delta surged 199% over the same window, showing aggressive buy pressure. Bitcoin ETFs added $532M in a single session as the Clarity Act advanced through committee, pushing cumulative ETF AUM past $59 billion with total institutional exposure exceeding $106 billion. An anonymous analyst noted that Bitcoin is entering a commodity supercycle driven by structural monetary debasement, which aligns with Hayes’s fiat-supply thesis even as the ETF narrative suggests that institutional players want the regulatory architecture Hayes opposes. Bitcoin trading above $81,000 with record ETF inflows doesn’t prove Hayes wrong. Discover: The best pre-launch token sales The post Bitcoin Operates Outside the Regulatory System: Arthur Hayes Take on Crypto and Clarity Act appeared first on Cryptonews .

7 May 2026, 10:25

Bitcoin Confirms $80K Base: Is $85K the Next Target? (May 2026 TA)

Nothing stops this train! Bitcoin is holding nicely above what is now major support at $80,600, and the next surge could be in the development stage. As the $BTC price continues to disappoint the shorts, could $85,000 be a realistic target? $BTC price retests support and heads higher Source: TradingView A huge 27% up from the bottom of the bear flag, equal to nearly $18,000, and the $BTC price is still showing no signs of slowing down. The small ascending channel that guided the price out of the bear flag is still doing its job. After hitting the top of this channel with an $82,800 local high, the price has retested the bottom, which aligns with the major horizontal support, and is now heading higher. With the 4-hour Stochastic RSI indicators having reset perfectly at the bottom of their range, the $BTC price could be good for the next upside leg of this journey - fingers crossed that the news coming out of the US/Iran conflict does not take a turn for the worse. Daily RSI vs 200-day SMA Source: TradingView When surveying the daily time frame there are two major factors, besides the breakout of the bear flag and major resistance, that tell an important story - one bullish and one bearish. The bullish story, and it really is bullish, is that the RSI indicator line has pushed above a descending trendline that has been respected all the way back to November 2024 . If the $BTC price can take hold above this trendline, confirming the break, this is a very strong signal for a continuation of this rally. The bearish tale has as its antagonist the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) . This is likely to impede the price from going higher, or at least provide a strong barrier that the bulls will need to battle their way through. That said, if the RSI indicator line is still above the trendline at the end of this week, this is the bullish signal that can win out over the 200-day SMA. Two bear market trendlines Source: TradingView It can be seen that the $80,600 horizontal level is still a resistance level in this very high 2-week time frame. The end of three more days will tell us if the current candle for the $BTC price is able to close above and flip this level into support, setting the scene for a potential huge rally. Especially when looking at the very high time frame, simplicity is often the best strategy for technical analysis. Just one descending trendline can tell the major part of the directional story. Back in the last bear market, which lasted through the best part of 2022, once the bear market trendline was broken, the bull market was able to begin. It does have to be acknowledged though that in that particular bear market there was a retest and confirmation of the trendline breakout, and this did take the price down a further 25%. Zoom forward to today and we can see that not only has the bear market trendline been broken, but a big rally occurred as soon as the break was made. Could there still be a retest of the trendline? This is not off the table. If the current rally fails and there is a crash, a 25% fall could end more or less exactly at a retest of the trendline. This is a scenario that cannot be ignored. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

7 May 2026, 10:23

Safety first: Why Adam Back says Bitcoin is winning the 'DeFi security war'

The Blockstream CEO told Consensus Miami 2026 that sovereigns, pension funds and treasury companies will join the next wave of bitcoin adoption.

7 May 2026, 10:01

Monaco opens Zondacrypto probe as Poland alleges pyramid scheme

Law enforcement authorities in Monaco have opened an investigation into Zondacrypto, the failed Polish exchange known for multiple sponsorships in the Principality. News of the Monacan probe comes amid a growing scandal in Poland, where the collapse of the coin trading platform left thousands of users without access to their funds and raised serious questions about its role on the country’s political scene. Monaco to check Zonda for money laundering The crash of the Polish-rooted digital-asset exchange Zondacrypto is reverberating across the Old Continent, far beyond its main market. The Estonia-licensed crypto trading platform, which was one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, is now under investigation in Monaco. The Prosecutor’s Office of the small but very rich city-state on the French Riviera has opened a money laundering case against Zonda, local media reported Wednesday. Law enforcement officials decided to act based on materials published in the foreign press and a filed complaint, according to News.mc and Monaco-Matin. Representatives of the office confirmed the probe for the publications, while noting they haven’t yet received an official request for assistance from Poland. What happened with Zondacrypto? The saga started early last month, when Polish sites like WP Wiadomości, Wirtualna Polska, and Money.pl revealed that Zonda clients were unable to withdraw their assets. The news outlets also quoted a research by the market intelligence firm Recoveris, according to which the platform’s crypto reserves had plummeted by 99% in a matter of months. While rejecting claims his company was on the brink of insolvency, its CEO admitted it didn’t have access to 4,500 BTC worth over $330 million at the time. Przemysław Kral blamed founder Sylwester Suszek for not handing over the keys to the wallet when he transferred management to a new owner in 2021. Suszek established the crypto service provider as BitBay in 2014 and sold it in 2021, when it was rebranded to Zondacrypto. He disappeared in early 2022. While some reports suggest the exchange was acquired by a U.S. investor, an article quoting Polish intelligence recently unveiled it was controlled by the Russian mafia. Kral himself went missing shortly after his last social media comment on the state of the cryptocurrency firm in mid-April. He is believed to have fled to Israel, of which he is a citizen, too. Sponsored entities distance themselves from Zonda While focused mainly on the Polish market, Zondacrypto tried to expand its business and grow its popularity both within the country and beyond, relying on active advertising. Like in Poland , the exchange became a recognizable name in Monaco through various sponsorship deals in sports, including with the AS Monaco football club, which named a lounge at its Louis II Stadium after the exchange. It was also the jersey sponsor of the AS Monaco basketball team in the EuroLeague and became the main sponsor of the Top Marques Monaco supercar show. All of these organizations are now removing the toxic partner’s logo, Monaco-Matin noted. Polish official calls Zonda a pyramid scheme In its home country, Zondacrypto was accused of backing initiatives and representatives of the opposition to lobby against government-proposed crypto regulation. A bill drafted by the liberal cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk was vetoed twice by President Karol Nawrocki and stopped in parliament by his nationalist and conservative allies. Amidst the heated political clash in Warsaw, representatives of the ruling coalition have blamed Zonda’s crash on the lack of proper rules to protect its customers. Critics have alleged, however, that the Polish legislation is far stricter than the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) rules it’s supposed to introduce. Against the backdrop of an ongoing probe for fraud, money laundering and political interference, the country’s Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek commented for the Polsat News channel: “We certainly need to investigate this for the prohibited lobbying of someone who created a pyramid scheme, the purpose of which was fraud and extortion, not fair investment by our citizens.” According to Żurek, up to 30,000 Poles may have become victims of the collapse of the exchange, which is believed to have well over a million active users worldwide. Meanwhile, as reported by Bitcoin[.]pl, the government is preparing to resubmit this week its draft law to the Sejm after adding tougher penalties for people and platforms defrauding crypto investors. Your bank is using your money. You’re getting the scraps. Watch our free video on becoming your own bank