Bitcoin Drifts Toward $74K as Texas Forms BTC Reserve Panel and CFTC Clears Kalshi for Bitcoin Perpetuals
Texas has formally seated its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee, a five-member panel created under Senate Bill 21 to help oversee one of the first state-level Bitcoin treasury efforts in the U.S. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock on Thursday named four outside members tasked with advising on valuation, custody and risk controls as the comptroller's office prepares to move the reserve's $10 million seed allocation out of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and into directly held Bitcoin. The appointees are CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli, Cormint Data Systems CEO Jamie McAvity, SMU law professor Carla Reyes and investment executive Laurie Dotter.
In Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi to list perpetual futures linked to Bitcoin's spot price. The order, issued Friday, makes Kalshi the second U.S.-regulated venue cleared for crypto perps after Bitnomial received similar approval in December. Kalshi said it is targeting a launch within the next month. CEO Tark Mansour called the approval the company's biggest expansion since its event contracts, positioning Kalshi as a regulated derivatives exchange competing more directly with Polymarket and Hyperliquid. Perpetuals have generated roughly $90 trillion of offshore trading volume over the past year.
The derivatives milestone comes as U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs extend their longest streak of outflows on record. The group saw another $223 million in net redemptions on Thursday, stretching the run to nine consecutive sessions and bringing total withdrawals to about $2.84 billion. That surpasses the prior eight-session streak set in February 2025, though it remains below the $3.2 billion that left during that earlier risk-off period.
BlackRock's IBIT has accounted for most of the recent drain, with about $2.04 billion in outflows from May 15 through Thursday. A $527.8 million redemption on May 27 was IBIT's second-largest single-day outflow, just under the $528.3 million record set on January 30, 2025. Even so, IBIT remains the category's anchor, holding roughly 792,000 BTC, about 62% of assets across U.S. spot Bitcoin funds, amplifying the impact of its daily flow swings on headline ETF totals.
Flows suggest some rotation rather than a wholesale retreat. Newly launched Hyperliquid ETFs have attracted more than $100 million of net inflows since debuting on May 12. Spot XRP funds have also posted a series of positive sessions, indicating investors are testing new altcoin vehicles while trimming concentrated Bitcoin exposure. Equity-linked crypto treasury vehicles such as Strategy are also drawing renewed scrutiny as premiums to NAV compress and investors weigh dilution dynamics against softer spot pricing.
Regulatory developments continued on other fronts. The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Paxos' registration as a clearing agency via its Paxos Securities Settlement Company subsidiary, making it the only blockchain-native firm cleared to operate as a central securities depository in the U.S. In separate remarks at Georgetown Law, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce defended privacy-preserving cryptographic tools, arguing that financial privacy is being undervalued in current rulemaking and that such technologies can support investor protection.
Bitcoin was trading around $74,019 after rising 1.51% over the past 24 hours, though the broader trend remains bearish with price capped below the $75,046 resistance level. RSI at 37.75 sits in oversold territory without confirming a reversal, while MACD continues to show a bearish cross. Bulls need to reclaim $75,046 and then $76,616 to reopen a move toward $78,592. A break below $72,953 would likely accelerate downside toward $71,504 and the $70,280 structural floor. A daily close above $76,615 would negate the near-term bearish setup.
