Bitcoin Over $95k, US Lawmakers Delay Transparency Act
Cryptocurrency markets posted a broad recovery this week, with major coins gaining, even as investors' attention focused on uncertainty over pending US crypto legislation.
Bitcoin (BTC) rallied more than 5% last week to hit $95,000, while Ether (ETH) rose 6.6% on gains linked to top Ethereum cryptocurrencies.
US spot Bitcoin Exchange-Treaded Funds (ETFs) also returned well, with the fund posting four consecutive days of net positive inflows totaling around $1.7 billion, according to Farside Investors.
Despite the price recovery, market sentiment was shaped by changes in Washington. US Senator Cynthia Lammis said the Senate Banking Committee is expected to mark the long-awaited CLARITY Act, which aims to establish a market structure framework for digital assets.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is among those who have expressed concern over several provisions related to tokenized shares and decentralized finance in the existing bill.
Senator Lummis expects a delay in the structure of the crypto market: Bloomberg
US Senator Cynthia Lammis expects the US Senate Banking Committee to delay hearings on the crypto market structure legislation after Coinbase withdrew its support for the bill.
There was some grumbling about the CLARITY Act's Senate markup delay on Wednesday, which was amplified following an X post from Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis on Wednesday night. Dennis said:
“Loomis has given me her advice and the expectation is that the signal will be pulled for now. It's a call from bank chairman Tim Scott.”
The Senate briefing was scheduled for Thursday at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Cointelegraph reached out to Scott's office for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Lawmakers have been deliberating for several weeks on the CLARITY Act's provisions, along with members of the banking and crypto industry.
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BitMine is set to invest $200 million in YouTuber MrBeast's Beast Industries.
BitMine Immersion Technology, an entertainment company founded by YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, also known as Mr. Best, has agreed to invest $200 million in a deal that is one of BitMine's largest non-prime equity investments to date.
BitMine will make a $200 million equity investment in Beast Industries, the company announced Thursday.
Donaldson operates a network of YouTube channels with more than 450 million subscribers, according to publicly available figures.
“MrBeast and Beast Industries, in our view, is the leading content creator of our generation, with unmatched reach and engagement with GenZ, GenAlpha and Millennials,” said BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee. “Beast Industries is the world's largest and most innovative platform and our corporate and personal values are strongly aligned.”
The company did not disclose the amount of shares BitMine will acquire, Beast Industries' valuation or any management rights associated with the investment.
The companies said the agreement is expected to be completed next Monday.
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Perp DEXs Will “Eat Up” Expensive TradFi By 2026: Delphi Digital
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) promise lower costs and fewer intermediaries than traditional centralized venues as traders switch to blockchain-based platforms.
Perp DEXs are blockchain-based venues for trading perpetual futures contracts, which allow traders to bet on the price of an underlying asset with leverage and no expiration date.
Crypto research firm Delphi Digital says that with its outlook for 2026, each of the DEXs is poised to overtake traditional financial products in market share. He argued that decentralized infrastructures are more efficient than legacy systems, which are fragmented and expensive to operate.
“Now HyperLiquid is building indigenous lending. PerpDix can be a broker, exchange, custodian, bank and clearinghouse all at once,” Delphi Digital wrote in Tuesday's X-Post.
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The Trump-linked Freedom of the World brings $3.4 billion in stablecoins to crypto lending markets
World Liberty Finance, a decentralized finance project linked to the family of US President Donald Trump, has entered the cryptocurrency lending market amid renewed interest in on-chain lending as regulatory transparency improves.
The new product, called Global Liberty Market, went live on Monday and will allow users to borrow and lend digital assets, according to a Bloomberg report. The platform is built around USD1, a stablecoin backed by the World Freedom US Dollar, along with its management token, WMFI.
Users can post bonds including Ether. The platform is designed to support both lending and borrowing activity within a single chain marketplace.
World Liberty co-founder Zach Folkman told Bloomberg that additional collateral types will be added over time, which could include real-world assets (RWAs). He also said the company is exploring partnerships with prediction markets, cryptocurrency exchanges and real estate platforms.
The loan transfer follows World Liberty's recent application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter. The company said the charter will expand support for USD1, which is already being used for cross-border payments and operations for Kasana's treasury.
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DeFi is quietly parting ways with Discord as scams flood public channels.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are abandoning public Discord servers, arguing that the platform has become more of a liability than a community center.
The change drew attention on Wednesday after DeFi lending protocol Morpho said it had moved its public Discord server to read-only mode, instead directing users to alternative support channels. The move reflects concerns that Discord has become a preferred hunting ground for scammers targeting crypto users.
The concern is not limited to morpho. According to 0xngmi, the anonymous founder of Defy Data Platform, Defy is quietly reducing its reliance on Discord in favor of more controlled communication tools.
Many developers say the goal is to move away from always-on chat rooms to structured support systems designed to maximize user engagement.
Source: Anton Cheng
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Overview of the DeFi market
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
The privacy-defending Dash (DASH) token was the biggest gainer of the week, up 136%, followed by Monero (XMR), which rose 49% last week.
Total value is locked in DeFi. Source: Defillama
Thanks for reading this week's roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and lessons about this dynamic and evolving space.
