Bitcoin News
Maelstrom chief investment officer Arthur Hayes argues that escalating AI capital expenditure and the ongoing Iran conflict will force both Washington and Beijing into accelerated fiat issuance, setting up a powerful tailwind for Bitcoin. In a fresh commentary, he frames the AI race as a national security imperative that politicians will fund through printed money and bank loans, calling the combination a perfect environment for crypto. Hayes maintains that a return to the prior all-time high and a $126,000 target is a foregone conclusion, citing BTC’s roughly 31% rebound from its February low near $62,822 and its outperformance versus gold and US tech equities since late February.
Charles Schwab has switched on its long-awaited Schwab Crypto platform, opening direct bitcoin and ether trading to its first wave of eligible retail clients on Tuesday. The brokerage giant, which managed $11.77 trillion in client assets and 39.1 million active accounts at the end of March, will charge a 75-basis-point trading fee and operate the service in every US state except New York and Louisiana. Clients hold a separate crypto account custodied by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, with Paxos handling execution and sub-custody. The launch marks Schwab’s leap beyond ETF and derivatives exposure into a fully integrated spot venue for mainstream investors.
Block-owned Square has crossed roughly one million US merchants enabled to accept Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network, a milestone driven by an auto-enrollment wave that began March 30. At peak pace, a new business was activating the feature every eight seconds, with customers paying in BTC while sellers receive automatic USD settlement to neutralize currency risk. Block also unveiled a tap-to-pay NFC flow with zero processing fees through 2026, Cash App rewards offering 5% Bitcoin back at Square locations, and an upgraded Bitkey hardware wallet. A Q1 proof-of-reserves disclosure showed Block holding 28,355 BTC, worth roughly $2.2 billion at current prices on exchange screens.
Kevin Warsh cleared a key Senate hurdle on Tuesday, winning confirmation to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in a 51-45 vote that puts the bitcoin-friendly former governor one step away from succeeding Jerome Powell as chair when his term expires Friday. Warsh has publicly described Bitcoin as an important asset and a good policeman for monetary policy, and disclosed an equity stake in Lightning payments startup Flashnet alongside ties to Bitwise and stablecoin venture Basis. Though historically an inflation hawk, his recent calls for regime change at the Fed and openness to lower rates have markets pricing easier policy ahead.
A federal appeals panel in Washington heard oral arguments in the Bitcoin Fog case, scrutinizing whether prosecutors stretched US money transmission and venue law by charging alleged operator Roman Sterlingov in DC despite the mixer running offshore. Defense counsel argued the government manufactured venue by sending undercover agents to use the service from the district, while one judge pressed prosecutors on the statistical reliability of the FBI’s IP overlap analysis used to link Sterlingov to the platform. The dispute lands as lawmakers debate narrowing Section 1960 liability in the Clarity Act to defendants acting with specific intent to launder criminal funds.
MARA Holdings unloaded roughly $1.5 billion of Bitcoin in the first quarter, including a $1.1 billion block used to retire convertible notes, marking a decisive pivot from pure-play miner to AI and power infrastructure operator. The company sold 20,880 BTC and ended the period with 35,303 coins, slipping from the second to the fourth-largest publicly traded holder. Revenue fell 18% year over year to $174.6 million and the firm posted a $1.3 billion net loss after a mark-to-market hit on digital assets. Capital is being redirected toward the pending $1.5 billion Long Ridge acquisition in Ohio, anchoring up to 600 megawatts of AI compute capacity.
BTC trades near $81,058 with a 24-hour gain of 0.24% on $14.1 billion of turnover and a market capitalization of roughly $1.62 trillion. Immediate support sits at $80,506, then $79,166 and a deeper $77,541 line that bulls must defend to keep the sideways structure intact. Resistance stacks at $81,414, $82,942 and a far $89,065 target. RSI at 61 leans bullish but is not yet overbought, while a bearish MACD signal warns rallies may struggle without fresh catalysts. A clean break above $82,942 on rising volume would validate a leg toward $89,065; a daily close beneath $79,166 invalidates the constructive setup.
Source: https://en.coinotag.com/bitcoin-holds-81k-schwab-square-mara-warsh-hayes
