A Federal Reserve report says 10% of Americans used cryptocurrency in 2025, the highest share since 2022, while overall crypto still finished 2025 down 7.85%. The same report suggests most usage remains tied to investing or trading rather than payments, with only small shares using crypto for transactions where normal banking services are available.

Bitcoin is facing renewed downside pressure as short-term holder indicators weaken and U.S.-Iran strike concerns lift oil toward $110 per barrel. ETFs opened the week with nearly $650 million in net outflows after $1 billion+ redemptions last week, with ARKB and IBIT each seeing about $310–$324 million leave. Despite heavier selling, sentiment gauges have rebounded from fear to neutral, keeping the capitulation case unresolved.

As the CLARITY Act edges toward becoming law, Ethereum is being framed as a leading beneficiary based on a five-point decentralization checklist. Yet reported Q1 institutional trimming—JPMorgan (-89%), Fidelity/FMR (-84%), Goldman Sachs (-62%), and Royal Bank of Canada (-39%)—alongside softer DeFi signals, suggests expectations may be outpacing positioning.

Bitcoin fell 5.8% last week from the $82k area, and on May 17 it broke below $77k, triggering $630 million in liquidations with roughly 90% coming from long positions. While Coinbase Premium stayed negative and BTC ETFs turned to net outflows, on-chain data showed long-term holders at their highest levels since 2025, with LTH supply reaching 15.26 million BTC. The mixed signals frame the move as a potential deleveraging reset rather than a broader breakdown, even as some traders watch the $60k zone.

Markets are increasingly pricing in passage of the U.S. CLARITY Act in 2026, with Polymarket putting the probability above 75% even as some TradFi executives warn about risks from yield-bearing stablecoins. U.S. dollar stablecoins have reached a record $320 billion market cap—about 12% of the $3 trillion crypto market—while projections and growing global competition are pushing more institutions toward stablecoin issuance and infrastructure.

Harvard Endowment has fully sold its $86.8 million stake in BlackRock’s spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF, after first disclosing the position in Q4 2025. ETH has slid nearly 8% this week and is watching $2,000 and $1,700 as key downside levels, while the article notes large holders increasingly taking short positions.

Bitcoin has fallen below $80K after more than $100 billion was wiped from major crypto assets in under 72 hours, with traders increasingly watching for a possible $60K retest. The Federal Reserve is set to inject $26.3 billion into the financial system, beginning with a $6.5 billion operation on May 18, but a stronger DXY and rising Treasury yields could limit any boost to risk assets.

BTC/XAU has risen 19% in Q2 and is nearing a mid-January resistance level as macro uncertainty builds. The setup echoes Q1, when Bitcoin fell more than 30% from $93K to about $62K by mid-February and BTC/XAU later saw a 28% correction. With April inflation around 3.8%, Treasury yields above 4.5%, and Japan’s Q1 Treasury sales highlighted as a liquidity factor, some warn a similar pullback risk remains.

Solana is seeing stronger stablecoin inflows, with total stablecoin supply up over 6% this week, even as USDT and USDC remain negative. USDe has risen over 1,300% on Solana in the past month and its trading volume doubled to around $300 million overnight, while TVL fell below $6 billion and SOL posted a 9.3% weekly drop. The mix of higher leverage, weaker DeFi lock-up, and reported Q1 unrealized losses at two SOL treasury firms is being framed as a fragile setup heading into Q2.