As U.S.-Iran escalations drag on, the crypto market has been surprisingly resilient, with a major boost coming from institutional flows.
On the regulatory front, U.S. President Donald Trump has sided with crypto supporters, slamming banks for undermining his crypto agenda by keeping the CLARITY Act hostage.
Here’s a full breakdown of top headlines that shaped crypto in the past 48 hours.
Bitcoin defies Iran escalations
Bitcoin has stayed within the $65K-$70K price range, shrugging off the Iran escalations.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, renewed demand from U.S. spot BTC ETFs has been the key stabilizing factor.
Balchunas noted that BTC ETFs saw $1.5 billion in inflows in the past five days, calling it the ‘biggest haul.’
“Biggest haul in a while, just about all of the original ten spot ETFs seeing action too = breadth and depth. This is after a 50% drawdown and most underwater. Even I’m impressed.”
On Tuesday, the products saw $225.15 million in net daily inflows, marking the second day of green this week after another $458 million in net daily inflows on Monday.
BTC’s strength has reinforced broader market resilience, with Ethereum trading tightly near $2K while SOL traded at $87. It remains to be seen how the Iran crisis will further affect oil, inflation, and global risk sentiment.
CFTC to approve crypto perps next month
The U.S. may be gearing up for another crypto win. In a recent meeting at the Milken Institute, CFTC chair Mike Selig said the regulator will approve perpetual derivatives (perp) as part of Project Crypto.
“We’re working towards getting perpetual futures, true perpetual futures, not long-dated contracts, here in the U.S. within the next month or so...”
He added,
“We’re also working towards onchain markets, so we’re looking to have clear guidance as to what sort of digital wallets would implicate our regulations.”
Crypto perps have become one of the hottest trends over the past two years, propelling Hyperliquid to its current moat. But they are largely a grey legal area, especially for perps on DEX platforms.
Reacting to the update, Hyperliquid Policy Center CEO Jake Chervinsky hailed the move as a step forward towards regulated DeFi perps.
“I’m guessing this means perps offered on centralized exchanges only. Right now, “perps” on CEXes are actually long-dated futures, a different product. Approval for DeFi perps will likely take longer.”
However, a Messari analyst argued that the update could also drive competition against Hyperliquid and could be net bearish for the DEX in the long run.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear how the broader crypto perps market will be affected if the approval comes through as projected by the CFTC.
Trump slams banks for delaying the CLARITY Act
Still on regulation, Trump has slammed banks for ‘undermining his crypto agenda.’
The President warned that the banks should not hold the CLARITY Act hostage or undercut the stablecoin law, the GENIUS Act. The stablecoin yield issue has been a key obstacle to the bill’s progress.
But Trump urged the banking industry to make a “good deal with the crypto industry” because that’s what’s best for the American people.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse supported his stance, echoing that crypto has been pushing for what’s best for the people.
Trump’s statement follows a recent hardline stance by JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, who insisted that stablecoins paying yield should be regulated like banks.
“If you’re going to be holding balances and paying interest, that’s a bank. You should be regulated like a bank.”
But Trump’s crypto advisor, Patrick Witt, discredited Dimon’s argument as ‘deceit,’ stating that stablecoin issuers do not lend out the balance like banks to warrant the strict regulation.
Despite the back-and-forth on stablecoin rewards, the CLARITY Act still had a decent 74% chance of being passed into law this year.
Final Summary
- Institutional flows have helped Bitcoin and the broader crypto market stabilize despite Iran’s escalations dragging on.
- Trump has warned banks against holding the CLARITY Act ‘hostage’ and undermining his crypto agenda.
