Clarity Act Advances as Bitcoin Pulls Back on Inflation and ETF Inflows Surge
Bitcoin whipsawed markets this week after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee passed the long-awaited Clarity Act in a bipartisan 15-9 vote, sending BTC briefly to $82,000 before a sharp reversal erased much of the gain. The bill, which would assign digital commodities to the CFTC and digital securities to the SEC, cleared the committee with support from two Democratic senators and now heads to the full Senate floor, where 60 votes will ultimately be required for passage. CNBC reported the cryptocurrency industry notched a key win, though law enforcement groups and major labor organizations including the AFL-CIO warned the legislation does not do enough to prevent illicit financial activity.
The rally tied to that legislative progress evaporated on Friday when surging U.S. bond yields and resurgent inflation fears rattled risk assets across the board. Bitcoin tumbled to as low as $78,600, down roughly 4% from its Thursday high, before stabilizing just above $79,000. The broader selloff hit crypto-linked equities hard, with Coinbase, Circle, Strategy, and several Bitcoin miners each falling between 5% and 10% during the session. WTI crude oil simultaneously crossed $100 per barrel as investors repriced Federal Reserve rate expectations toward additional tightening.
Dartmouth Joins Endowments Pouring Capital Into Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Despite the Friday turbulence, institutional demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs has remained one of the defining stories of May. Dartmouth College allocated $14.5 million to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs earlier this week, becoming one of the first Ivy League endowments to take a direct position in the products. The move underscores a broadening trend: spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $1 billion in inflows during a single trading session earlier this month, with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust continuing to dominate institutional order flow.
In April alone, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed approximately 19,000 BTC over a nine-day streak, nine times the amount of new Bitcoin mined during that same period. Morgan Stanley also recently expanded crypto trading access through its E-Trade platform, offering Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana to millions of retail brokerage clients. Senator Bernie Moreno added further urgency to the legislative calendar, warning that crypto market structure legislation must be completed by the end of May or risk stalling digital asset regulation for the foreseeable future.