US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a $1 billion net outflow over the past week, ending a six-week stretch of inflows and equating to roughly 14,000 BTC leaving the funds. Bitcoin fell about 3% over the same period to $78,074 at press time as markets digested hotter inflation readings and shifting expectations around Fed policy.

Bitcoin broke below $80,000 after hotter-than-expected US inflation data and briefly dipped to $78,725 before rebounding to around $79,500. The move has concentrated leverage near $78,000, where a further drop could trigger about $1 billion in long liquidations, while a rebound toward $80,458 could put roughly $640 million of shorts at risk. Spot demand indicators have softened alongside reported spot Bitcoin ETF outflows of more than $800 million this week.

Bitcoin is trading just under $80,000 as President Donald Trump arrives in Beijing for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with traders treating the summit as a key risk-sentiment catalyst in a week already pressured by inflation and rising yields. April data showed CPI at 3.8% year over year and PPI at 6% year over year, while Wintermute flagged a leverage-led move as open interest rose from $48 billion to $58 billion in a month. BTC was down 1.42% over the past 24 hours at the time of publication.

Morgan Stanley's spot Bitcoin ETF, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), finished its first trading month with no daily net outflows after launching on April 8. The fund has taken in about $193 million in net inflows and manages over $240 million in assets, while US spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively attracted more than $3 billion across six straight weeks of net inflows through May 8.

BlackRock submitted May 8 paperwork to the SEC seeking to launch two tokenized money market funds, including a blockchain share class for the $6.1 billion BSTBL treasury fund and a new vehicle called BRSRV. The tokenized BSTBL class is slated for Ethereum, while BRSRV is designed for multi-chain deployment and targets short-term US government obligations.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to mark up the CLARITY Act on May 14, opening a public amendment process for the long-stalled crypto market-structure proposal. The session will test whether a negotiated stablecoin-rewards compromise can withstand pressure from banking groups, crypto firms, and Democrats pushing for tougher ethics provisions.

Bitcoin moved back above $68,000 on March 31 after comments attributed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian fueled bets that the Iran-US-Israel War could de-escalate. The wider crypto market added about $40 billion in value, with BTC up nearly 2% and Ethereum rising 3% to around $2,100. Risk assets also jumped as the DXY Dollar Index fell almost 1% and the S&P 500 gained 2.5%.

The Pentagon has asked the White House for $200 billion in additional funding for the Iran war, an amount that translates to 2,915,451 BTC at a Bitcoin price of about $68,600. The comparison is presented as a sizing tool rather than a claim that the US would fund military spending with crypto. The article also contrasts the implied BTC figure with holdings reported for the US government, major funds, corporates, and Binance, plus Bitcoin's remaining issuance.

US lawmakers are escalating efforts to restrict prediction markets after hundreds of millions of dollars were wagered on Iran-related military and political events. Several Democratic members of Congress are advancing bills to prohibit war and death-linked contracts and to bar senior officials from trading event derivatives, while the CFTC develops a new rulemaking framework. The clash is sharpening the divide between regulated US venues and offshore crypto platforms as institutional interest and trading volumes continue to grow.