Crypto
crypto
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Mining company doesn’t mine bitcoin, so it’ll buy $500 million of it instead

Another day, another company adding bitcoin to its reserve. While bitcoin bulls continue waiting for Trump to announce a national bitcoin strategic reserve, more companies are joining MicroStrategy in stockpiling bitcoin.

Today, mining company Critical Metals announced it will have access to “up to $500 million” to buy bitcoin as part of a convertible-note financing, becoming the “the first Nasdaq-listed critical minerals company to adopt bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset.” 

Tony Sage, executive chairman and CEO, said adopting bitcoin will provide inflation protection. “This strategy aligns with broader Western government initiatives around bitcoin adoption, including President Trump’s recent advocacy for a national bitcoin stockpile,” he said. 

MicroStrategy still leads the corporate bitcoin-stashing pack by far with 461,000 bitcoin in its coffers. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor applauded Critical Metals’ decision:

Meanwhile, energy-management platforms company KULR Technology also increased its bitcoin holdings, saying it bought $8 million worth of bitcoin on January 21. KULR now holds 510 bitcoin and is committed to holding “up to 90% of its surplus cash reserves to be held in bitcoin.”

Finally, companies like MARA Holdings — second to MicroStrategy in bitcoin holdings — are joining efforts to create a national bitcoin strategic reserve. Momentum is also gaining at the state level, with 11 states introducing such legislation.

On January 21, SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda announced the launch of the much anticipated “crypto task force,” which crypto bullish Commissioner Hester Peirce will lead.

Meanwhile, energy-management platforms company KULR Technology also increased its bitcoin holdings, saying it bought $8 million worth of bitcoin on January 21. KULR now holds 510 bitcoin and is committed to holding “up to 90% of its surplus cash reserves to be held in bitcoin.”

Finally, companies like MARA Holdings — second to MicroStrategy in bitcoin holdings — are joining efforts to create a national bitcoin strategic reserve. Momentum is also gaining at the state level, with 11 states introducing such legislation.

On January 21, SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda announced the launch of the much anticipated “crypto task force,” which crypto bullish Commissioner Hester Peirce will lead.

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Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
6h
Bitcoin and crypto industry can’t hold CLARITY Act bump as it heads to Senate

While bitcoin, Coinbase, Circle, and Strategy all gained right after the CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee, the momentum reversed on Friday and crypto slumped.

Crypto Currencies Exchange In Poland.
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
What had happened was
5/14/26
We talked to the man who says Claude helped recover $400,000 worth of bitcoin locked in wallet for over a decade

“I was taking pictures of school notebooks and sent them to Claude, trying everything to piece anything together. I also said how I make passwords. I gave Claude context,” X user Cprkrn told us.

Bitcoin symbol
crypto
Sage D. Young

Crypto IPOs hit pause as “appetite has been sold to AI”

The rule of three means we can now declare 2026 will not be the year of crypto IPOs:

  • Ethereum development firm Consenys,

  • Security hardware company Ledger,

  • And crypto exchange Kraken are pausing plans to go public, according to reports from CoinDesk.

The companies have delayed their IPOs due to tough market conditions, the report said, including declined trading volume in digital assets, weak price performance of tokens, and investor interest in other sectors.

Kay Kyeongsik Woo, the founder of blockchain ride-hailing application Tada, told Sherwood News, “The market is cooled down and investors’ appetite has been sold to AI.”

Just today, AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems went public and is this year’s largest IPO so far, and investors are excited about potential IPOs for OpenAI and Anthropic as their valuations soar.

“It’s a fair decision on behalf of all the crypto firms,” according to Kairos Research cofounder Ian Unsworth. “For one thing, they will ultimately be dwarfed by some of the other massive IPOs coming up.”

Unsworth also pointed to how the CLARITY Act, if passed, could be a strong tailwind for these companies. “A better regulatory environment could make these companies more appealing to potential investors,” he said.

Consensys, Ledger, and Kraken did not confirm to Sherwood if they had put their IPO plans on hold. A Consensys spokesperson told Sherwood, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on market speculation,” while a Ledger representative declined to comment on the story.

Meanwhile, Lauren Post, Kraken’s vice president of corporate communications, told Sherwood that the company did not put out any public statements on freezing IPO plans.

crypto
Sage D. Young

XRP tops 24-hour chart on South Korean crypto exchange

XRP is among South Korea’s favorite coins.

In the last 24 hours, XRP saw the highest trading volume on South Korean exchange Upbit at over $105.3 million, a figure exceeding bitcoin’s $102.6 million, ethereum’s $62.9 million, and dogecoin’s $27.7 million, data from CoinGecko shows.

Meanwhile, spot XRP ETFs saw $5.3 million worth of inflows on Tuesday, bringing monthly inflows to more than $65.3 million, according to SoSoValue.

The activity has not, however, translated into positive momentum for the token, with XRP remaining flat at the $1.43 level in the period.

Prediction market-implied odds of XRP rising above $1.50 in May (a level that hasn’t been surpassed in over two months) now stand at 70%, up from as low as 9% at the start of the week.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

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XRP returning to Upbit’s leadership position in trading volume follows the news earlier this week that Ripple’s prime brokerage unit secured a $200 million debt facility from global investment management firm Neuberger Berman to aid with the unit’s margin financing solutions.

Elsewhere, the XRP Ledger notched a new record of 332,000 addresses holding at least 10,000 tokens, worth $14,300, per data analytics platform Santiment. “Historically, rising numbers of mid-to-large wallets suggest increasing conviction from investors who are less focused on short-term price swings and more interested in long-term positioning,” Santiment posted Tuesday night on X.

“This is especially notable because XRP has spent much of 2026 trading below previous highs, meaning many holders appear willing to accumulate during fear rather than chase momentum,” Santiment added.

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XRP returning to Upbit’s leadership position in trading volume follows the news earlier this week that Ripple’s prime brokerage unit secured a $200 million debt facility from global investment management firm Neuberger Berman to aid with the unit’s margin financing solutions.

Elsewhere, the XRP Ledger notched a new record of 332,000 addresses holding at least 10,000 tokens, worth $14,300, per data analytics platform Santiment. “Historically, rising numbers of mid-to-large wallets suggest increasing conviction from investors who are less focused on short-term price swings and more interested in long-term positioning,” Santiment posted Tuesday night on X.

“This is especially notable because XRP has spent much of 2026 trading below previous highs, meaning many holders appear willing to accumulate during fear rather than chase momentum,” Santiment added.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
5/13/26
CLARITY Act could help reshape bitcoin’s narrative for second half of 2026

“Thursday isn’t the finish line, it’s the gate. A clean markup is what tells institutional capital it’s safe to come off the sidelines.”

EL SALVADOR-ECONOMY-CRYPTOCURRENCY-BITCOIN

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