South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed Senate Bill 163 into law on Tuesday, advancing one of the most crypto-friendly state-level frameworks in the country.
The bill, which previously passed the Senate 38-1 and the House 110-1, bans state agencies from accepting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), protects the rights of crypto users and miners, and clears regulatory hurdles for businesses operating in the space.
On CBDCs, the law bars any state agency or political subdivision from accepting, requiring payment in, or participating in Federal Reserve-led digital currency trials, including any pilot programs run by federal agencies.
It also protects crypto self-custody rights, preventing governments from restricting the use of hardware and self-hosted wallets while barring higher taxes on crypto transactions than comparable payments made in US dollars.
Related: Senate Crypto Bill Might Pass as Late as August: NYDIG
South Carolina protects Bitcoin miners
The bill gives Bitcoin miners operating in industrial zones specific protections. Local governments cannot impose restrictions on mining businesses that do not apply to other industrial operations in the same area, and cannot set mining-specific noise limits beyond what general pollution rules already require.
“A political subdivision shall not change the zoning of a digital asset mining business without going through the proper notice and comment. A digital asset mining business may appeal a change in zoning to the proper court of jurisdiction,” the bill reads.
Source: South Carolina State House
The law also exempts several activities from money transmitter licensing requirements, including mining, node operation, blockchain software development and crypto-to-crypto trading. Mining-as-a-service and staking-as-a-service providers are excluded from securities classification.
Related: Polish lawmakers back revised crypto bill after repeated vetoes
More states pass crypto-friendly bills
South Carolina joins a growing list of states staking out pro-crypto positions. Kentucky passed the Bitcoin Rights bill in March last year, guaranteeing self-custody rights and shielding mining operations from discriminatory local rules.
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Louisiana and Arizona are among the states that have passed similar pieces of crypto legislation in recent years.
Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week under pressure as support levels fade and macro gloom intensifies.
Key points:
Bitcoin falls below a key 21-week trend line after the weekly close, but hopes of a “bear trap” rebound remain.
US-Iran war rhetoric continues to push oil higher, pressuring crypto markets.
Those tensions could still be countered by strong PMI and Nvidia earnings data in the coming days.
Bitcoin whales are acting as if the bottom is already in, per new analysis.
Despite this, a surge in exchange inflows from a key investor cohort raises alarm over “capitulation.”
BTC price analysis sees relief bounce after sub-$77,000 dip
Bitcoin felt the pressure as the new weekly candle began, dropping to $76,500 — its lowest levels since May 1, per data from TradingView.
After several support retests, BTC/USD began to fall through recently recovered ground, which included the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) at $78,660.
BTC/USD one-day chart with 21-week EMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
With it, price fell back below the bull market support band.
“Another weekly close at it for now, but to confirm a proper breakout you’d need to see a bounce now,” trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote in X analysis before the trip toward month-to-date lows.
“If this ends up falling back below that $75K-$76K area and closes there on the weekly, then this was just a big deviation/dead cat bounce in my eyes.”
The downside cost BTC long positions, with cross-crypto long liquidations for the 24 hours to the time of writing passing $670 million.
Data from CoinGlass also shows potential liquidations building either side of spot price, providing fuel for liquidity grabs both up and down.
BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass
Commenting, trading account Cryptic Trades saw a bounce coming next due to the magnitude of liquidated longs.
“$BTC has just tapped into the prior Breakout Zone at $75K-$76K,” it told X followers.
“Expecting a bounce here, as the longs I covered in my prior alert also got flushed.”
BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Cryptic Trades/X
At the weekend, Cryptic Trades suggested that any downmove would have the markings of a classic “bear trap,” given rising open interest and negative funding rates.
“This shows us that bears are DOUBLING DOWN right now and betting on a breakdown,” it wrote.
“It also shows that even though the market structure remains intact, bears are shorting as if a breakdown already happened. That’s generally how bear-traps are formed.”
US bond markets “collapsing in real time”
While light on US macro data, the coming week is already shaping up to be a tricky one for crypto traders.
Tensions over the US-Iran war are returning, with the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz oil route fully opening still absent.
In a post on Truth Social over the weekend, US President Donald Trump wrote that the “clock is ticking” for Iran, without giving specific details.
Source: Truth Social
Additional reports claimed that Trump was convening a security meeting to discuss “military options in Iran,” per trading resource The Kobeissi Letter.
Oil futures reacted sharply at the weekly open, with WTI crude reaching near two-week highs of $104.45.
“The impact on energy prices from the war in the Middle East is pushing inflation to its highest level in years,” analytics resource Mosaic Asset Company commented in the latest edition of its regular newsletter, The Market Mosaic.
CFDs on WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Like others, Mosaic tied high oil prices to surging US inflation prints.
“While a spike in energy prices are helping drive inflation higher, the most recent reports continue a trend of growing price pressures,” it continued.
US bond markets, meanwhile, continue to sum up the about-turn in market sentiment, as “unsustainable” yield growth wipes out the odds of interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
“On Friday, the 30-year Treasury yield jumped above the 5% level which is the high tested several times over the past couple years. A sustained breakout could have serious implications at a time when federal debt and deficit spending is surging,” Mosaic warned.
US 30-year treasury yield chart. Source: Mosaic Asset Company
Kobeissi described the US bond market as “collapsing in real time.”
“And, in a sudden turn of events, the odds of rate cuts have collapsed to 2% this year and US inflation is nearing 4%+,” it noted on X.
PMI, Nvidia earnings give crypto bulls hope
Amid the chaos, a silver lining could come in the form of manufacturing data.
The latest S&P Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) report, due out on Thursday, should ideally continue a breakout that began earlier in 2026.
Bitcoin and risk assets reacted positively to the development, which ended several years of PMI contraction.
Global PMI versus GDP data (screenshot). Source: S&P Global
Major tech earnings are also lining up to potentially offer markets a boost in the event that they surpass expectations. Nvidia will report on Wednesday — something that Kobeissi even calls the “biggest earnings event of the quarter.”
Commenting on the outlook for market volatility, independent macro and market strategist Michael J. Kramer cautioned that bulls may ultimately suffer.
“NVIDIA once again finds itself heavily overloaded with call positioning, and unless the stock sees a meaningful pullback ahead of earnings that helps reengage put demand, I think the most likely outcome is another post-earnings sell-off,” he wrote in an X thread on Sunday.
Kramer predicted a surge in implied volatility toward Friday’s options expiry event.
“So unless NVIDIA is able to truly blow traders away with its results, the stock likely faces the usual ‘sell-the-news’ reaction, or, as I like to call it, the mechanical unwind,” he reiterated.
Bitcoin whales brush off hawkish Fed signals
In its latest market overview, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant examined the relationship between Fed policy and the actions of Bitcoin whales.
These large-scale investors, often tied to “smart money” and a key yardstick for long-term market trajectory, could be signalling that the outlook is not as bad as sentiment shows.
“Tracking their moves offers us a backdoor view into how the biggest players are reading the room, which in turn helps us stress-test and refine our own market thesis,” contributor Joohyun Ryu wrote in a QuickTake blog post this week.
“To cut straight to the chase, the good news is that whale wallet balances haven’t shown any dramatic shifts.”
BTC holdings per address tier (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant
Analyzing whale holdings, Joohyun argued that despite the odds of rate cuts disappearing for both 2026 and 2027, there appears to be no real cause to reduce risk exposure. Some cohorts are even adding to their holdings.
“On top of that, the ultimate mega-whales—those holding over 10K—are finally seeing their bags recover to levels we haven’t seen since last year,” he continued.
“Judging by these trends, it looks like the whales are betting that the market has officially bottomed out. That said, this isn’t a full-blown buying frenzy just yet, so it’s still wise to proceed with caution.”
Traditionally, financial tightening and an inflationary environment pressure crypto prices — a phenomenon most recently seen during the 2022 bear market.
Long-term holders lose their nerve
For the time being, however, sell-side pressure remains a key threat to Bitcoin.
Related: Bitcoin price history suggests 77% odds of new all-time high within a year
Specifically, CryptoQuant notes a pronounced uptick in exchange inflows from wallets that bought BTC between six and 12 months ago.
“Bitcoin is not facing a simple short-term correction, but a structurally driven crisis fueled by cascading leverage liquidations and deep spot-market fear.,” contributor Easy OnChain warned.
“On-chain data shows a clear ‘cascading dumping’ pattern, where capitulation from long-term holders triggers panic selling among short-term investors.”
Bitcoin exchange inflows data (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant
The former cohort, hodling for up to 12 months, has accounted for 10.54% of exchange inflows since May 14 — more than 10 times normal levels.
For CryptoQuant, this signals “large-scale capitulation.”
“Historically, this reflects investors locking in major losses and exiting the market, creating severe spot-market selling pressure,” Easy On Chain continued, noting contagion spreading to speculators.
“The current decline is therefore an internally driven market crisis caused by derivative liquidations, large-scale long-term holder capitulation, and cascading panic from short-term participants,” it added.
“Until this toxic supply is fully absorbed and sentiment stabilizes, a rapid V-shaped recovery remains unlikely.”
Publicly, the U.S. has fiercely opposed a Central Bank Digital Currency, but former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad said it is inevitable and there will be one sooner or later.
Qivalis, a stablecoin initiative backed by a group of European banks, aims to issue a stablecoin later this year to deepen the euro’s role in tokenized finance.
US investment bank Goldman Sachs sharply reduced its exposure to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the first quarter of 2026.
No XRP-linked ETFs appeared in Goldman Sachs’ Q1 Form 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In its Q42025 13F filing, Goldman Sachs reported holding nearly $154 million worth of XRP-related ETFs from Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale and 21Shares.
Goldman Sachs was the largest institutional holder of XRP-related ETFs as of Dec. 31, 2025. Source: James Seyffart
Quarterly 13F filings are closely watched by crypto investors because they provide a rare look into how major institutional asset managers are allocating capital across digital-asset investment products. The bank pulled back from XRP products, even as broader institutional interest in digital-asset ETFs remains intact.
Early pullback from new crypto ETFs
Goldman Sachs no longer reported any holdings in Solana-linked ETFs either.
The bank previously disclosed positions in Solana-linked ETFs, including the Grayscale Solana Trust ETF (GSOL), the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) and the Fidelity Solana Fund (FSOL).
Both XRP- and Solana-linked ETFs launched in late 2025, when issuers began rolling out a new wave of crypto funds beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Solana ETFs began trading in late October 2025, with additional funds rolling out in November. The first spot XRP ETFs hit the market in mid-November as issuers raced to bring new altcoin products to investors.
Goldman Sachs trims Bitcoin ETF exposure, but still holds more than $700 million
While no longer reporting ETF exposure to XRP and Solana, Goldman Sachs continued to hold significant positions in Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, along with equity tied to crypto companies.
The bank held about $690 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and another $25 million in the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), even after reducing both positions by roughly 10% during the quarter.
Goldman Sachs also cut its position in the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) by about 70%, leaving it with roughly 7.2 million shares valued at around $114 million.
Related: JPMorgan piles into BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF in Q1 2026
In crypto equities, Goldman Sachs increased its exposure to several names, led by a 249% jump in Circle Internet Group (CRCL) and a 205% rise in Galaxy Digital (GLXY), while also adding to positions in Coinbase Global (COIN), Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and PayPal Holdings (PYPL) during the quarter.
At the same time, it reduced stakes in major mining and infrastructure names, including BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), Bit Digital (BTBT) and Riot Platforms (RIOT). It reduced positions in Strategy (MSTR) and IREN (IREN).
Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has introduced Delta Neutral Mode within its Unified Trading Account, adding a new risk management feature designed for traders using hedging and arbitrage strategies across spot, margin, and futures markets. The feature applies differentiated auto-deleveraging (ADL) ranking treatment to eligible hedged positions when accounts meet predefined delta neutrality criteria.
Delta Neutral Mode allows users to combine spot, cross margin, and cross futures trading under a single unified account structure while the system evaluates directional exposure at both the account and asset levels. Eligible positions that satisfy the neutrality thresholds receive lower ADL priority during extreme market conditions, helping reduce the likelihood of auto-deleveraging for properly hedged strategies.
The feature is designed for traders running funding rate arbitrage, basis trading, market-neutral strategies, and quantitative hedging models. It supports USDT-M, USDC-M, and Coin-M futures across live trading and demo trading environments, with ongoing rollout across web, app, and API access channels.
“Trading infrastructure continues evolving toward more sophisticated multi-strategy environments where users actively manage exposure across spot, derivatives, and onchain markets simultaneously. Delta Neutral Mode adds more flexibility for traders using hedging and arbitrage strategies while improving how risk treatment is handled within a unified account structure,” said Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget.
The launch expands Bitget’s broader Unified Trading Account framework, which was developed to improve capital efficiency and simplify cross-market trading execution. The system evaluates account neutrality using delta exposure calculations relative to total account equity, while also verifying whether futures positions are effectively hedged by spot holdings in the same underlying asset.
The introduction of Delta Neutral Mode follows Bitget’s continued expansion of institutional-style trading infrastructure across its Universal Exchange ecosystem, including multi-asset trading access, tokenized financial products, and cross-market collateral functionality. Bitget has continued developing tools that support more advanced trading strategies while maintaining unified account management across multiple market types.
For more information, visit here.
About Bitget
Bitget is the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 100+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships with LALIGA and MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently leads in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry’s lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.
Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.
Source: Bitget
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