This week, the US military told Congress that Bitcoin is a tool of power projection. Four-star Admiral Samuel Paparo testified that Bitcoin is critical to US cybersecurity.
Most people still think of Bitcoin as money, but inside the Pentagon it is now being framed as national security infrastructure. In the physical world, deterrence works because conflict is expensive, but in cyberspace attacks have always been cheap.
Bitcoin changes that equation by forcing participants to expend real-world energy, turning electricity into proof of work. The United States now holds the largest share of global hashrate within its borders and is beginning to capitalize on what that means.
Other top stories from the week include:
Largest quantum attack on Bitcoin to date is being dismissed as a farce.
South Africa wants to limit how much Bitcoin citizens are allowed to own.
Charles Schwab advises clients to take their largest Bitcoin allocation yet.
Latest News
Adoption
Schwab releases Bitcoin risk management video ahead of planned direct BTC trading launch in coming weeks, recommending investors consider allocations of up to 7% within diversified portfolios.
Fold launches Fold Business, enabling employers to offer recurring Bitcoin bonuses via payroll, with conversion, custody, and vesting handled entirely in-platform.
Project Eleven awards its 1 BTC Q-Day Prize for a 15-bit ECC “break,” but follow-up analysis says the result is effectively classical brute force on a trivial key rather than a quantum cryptography breakthrough.
Regulation
Tether freezes $344M in USDT in coordination with OFAC and U.S. law enforcement, marking its largest freeze to date, linked to Iran-related activity.
DOJ targets global crypto scam networks, seizing $700M+ in cryptocurrency and charging operators tied to Southeast Asian “pig butchering” schemes defrauding American victims.
South African Reserve Bank proposes sweeping crypto controls, including forced sales, transaction limits, and disclosure rules, raising major concerns over property rights and financial freedom
Markets
Kraken files 56M crypto tax forms for 2025, with 74% under $50; calls for inflation-adjusted de minimis exemption and flexible staking tax rules to reduce compliance burden
Investors have pushed US spot Bitcoin ETF flows back into positive territory in 2026, with roughly $2.4 billion in inflows over 10 of the past 11 days.
Financial Conduct Authority cracks down on “illegal” P2P crypto trading in the UK, inspecting eight London sites in first coordinated operation, issuing cease-and-desist orders.
Treasury
Metaplanet raises $50 million via 0% ordinary bonds to buy more bitcoin.
Pantera Capital urges UK BTC treasury company Satsuma Technology to sell remaining Bitcoin and return cash after shares plunged ~99%, leaving its market value below its ~$50M BTC holdings
Chinese billionaire Li Lin targets Hong Kong Bitcoin demand via Bitfire Group, launching an asset management strategy aiming to attract 10,000+ BTC ($760M) in inflows within a year
Mining
American Bitcoin completes energization of 11,298 additional mining ASICs at the Drumheller site in Alberta, Canada to expand production and boost its Bitcoin treasury strategy.
Inventor unveils Bitcoin-mining filament dryer delivering 6 TH/s at 140W, repurposing ASIC heat to dry material during printing, turning essential 3D printing process into productive, dual-use mining setup
Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree establishing a specialized crypto-mining district in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named “Besqala Mining Valley.”
Politics
Russia’s State Duma advances bill to legalize and regulate digital currency market in first reading, defining crypto as property, setting rules for service providers, while also restricting its use for domestic payments.
French Ministry of Economy and Finance official arrested for selling crypto investors’ data to criminal networks; 41 kidnappings linked since January 2026 highlight insider threats and rising security risks.
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The Bitcoin Bid Is Getting Harder to Ignore
This week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh all-time highs, while gold continues consolidating just below $5,000. Risk assets are strengthening, but Bitcoin sentiment still feels strangely hesitant.
That hesitation is understandable. Price remains well below its previous all-time high, as many public mining companies face pressure, selling bitcoin or reallocating capital toward AI infrastructure. Public miners sold over 32,000 BTC in Q1 alone, more than in all of 2025.
But that is exactly what makes this week so interesting.
The Forced Sellers Are Visible, But The Structural Buyers Are Bigger.
Strategy acquired 34,164 BTC for $2.54B last week, bringing total holdings to 815,061 BTC, with a single purchase roughly matching an entire quarter of public miner selling.
At the same time, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have flipped back into positive momentum in 2026, with recent inflows reaching billions and marking their longest streak of net positive flows this year.
That changes the feeling of this market.
There Are Bear Markets, And There Is This One
In 2022, the dominant narrative was forced selling, contagion, and collapsing balance sheets. Today, stress remains, but it’s being met by a very different kind of demand: ETFs, corporate treasuries, preferred-stock-funded accumulation, and increasingly mainstream rails like Charles Schwab.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the path is straight up. Strategy’s flywheel is receiving scrutiny from broader market participants, ETF flows can still reverse, and miner capitulation may continue. The key point is that Bitcoin is no longer relying solely on retail demand to absorb supply.
The visible sell-side pressure is real, but the bid is even larger and, this time, visible to everyone.
Maybe this is how better times actually begin: not with euphoria, but with supply quietly shifting from weak hands to long-term holders.
- Bam
