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2026.05

[Research Brief] Apr 22 | A Regulatory Inflection Point and Full-Scale On-Chain Reshuffle…Expanding into AI Payments, RWAs, and Mining Infrastructure

As negotiations in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee emerge as the key variable for the CLARITY Act—central to U.S. crypto regulation—Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins are entering a May inflection point, supported by institutional inflows and policy catalysts. At the same time, DeFi is being reshaped around real-world assets (RWAs) and yield-bearing stablecoins, while infrastructure competition is accelerating in areas such as AI agent payment rails and standardization of Bitcoin mining software

[Research Brief] Apr 22 | A Regulatory Inflection Point and Full-Scale On-Chain Reshuffle…Expanding into AI Payments, RWAs, and Mining Infrastructure
This week’s digital asset research focused on three core themes: clearer U.S. regulation, market repricing driven by institutional capital, and the expansion of RWA- and AI-based infrastructure. Exilist and Crypto.com assessed the most realistic legislative timeline for U.S. digital asset market structure rules and highlighted key price levels for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Ripple (XRP) to gauge market direction. Additional multi-layered analyses covered intensifying competition over AI agent payment standards, open-sourcing of Bitcoin mining operations, the linkage between exchange equity valuations and Bitcoin, and DeFi’s restructuring around RWAs. Go to TokenPost Research

■ Exilist

CLARITY Act: The Real Bottleneck Is the Senate Banking Committee…July 2026 as the Biggest Inflection Point

Exilist argues that after the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) passed the House in July 2025 by a vote of 294–134, the true bottleneck is not the full Senate but the Senate Banking Committee. Key variables include stablecoin reward provisions, securing Democratic votes, adjusting DeFi-specific language, and conflict-of-interest safeguards. Exilist points to July 2026 as the most realistic window for passage—implying that the direction of the U.S. crypto regulatory framework may be effectively decided through this summer’s Senate negotiations.

Research | Article

■ Crypto.com

Bitcoin at $80K, Ethereum at $2,400…A May Turning Point for Crypto

Crypto.com notes that Bitcoin (BTC), after reaching $79,449 in late April, is testing a breakout above $80,000 as U.S. spot ETFs recorded more than $2 billion in net inflows for nine consecutive trading days. For Ethereum (ETH), ten straight weeks of ETF inflows and upgrade expectations are highlighted; for Solana (SOL), $1 trillion in Q1 trading volume and rising Wall Street exposure; and for XRP, the May 21 regulatory calendar and RLUSD’s $1.56 billion market cap are cited as key catalysts. Whether major assets can decisively break resistance is expected to be a turning point that could translate late-Q2 institutional adoption expectations into a full trend shift.

Research | Article

■ Tiger Research

The AI Agent Payments War Accelerates…Commerce Is Here, “Pay-per-call” Awaits Takeoff

Tiger Research reports that more than eight AI agent payment standard protocols have emerged over the past year, with Google, OpenAI, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and Coinbase competing to dominate the discovery, payment, and settlement layers. Incumbents are also reshaping strategies around agentic commerce and pay-per-call markets, citing figures such as Google’s $262.7B in ad revenue, Visa’s $14T annual payment volume, and Coinbase’s $7.2B in 2025 revenue. As AI agents increasingly become economic actors, control of payment infrastructure standards may define the next digital commerce order.

Research | Article

■ MEXC Ventures

Tether Unveils the MDK…Spotlight on Standardizing Bitcoin Mining Software and AI Automation

MEXC Ventures evaluates Tether’s Mining Development Kit (MDK), released on April 27, 2026, as a key open-source infrastructure that could reduce vendor lock-in across the mining industry. Composed of a JavaScript-based MDK Core and a React-based UI kit, it supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, and is designed to provide a unified control environment from home rigs to gigawatt-scale facilities. If standardization in mining operations converges with real-time, data-driven AI automation, both hash-rate decentralization and operational efficiency gains could accelerate.

Research | Article

■ Kaiko Research

Even as More Exchanges IPO, Stocks Track Bitcoin…A “Levered BTC” Character Emerges

Kaiko Research compares valuations across regulated exchanges such as Coinbase, Bullish, Gemini, and Kraken, finding that share prices are more tightly linked to Bitcoin (BTC) than to operating performance. Coinbase’s spot market share fell from 63% in 2021 to 37.27% in Q1 2026, while stock-to-Bitcoin correlation coefficients were measured at 0.9707 for Coinbase, 0.9331 for Gemini, and 0.8726 for Bullish. This suggests exchange equities are increasingly viewed less as standalone business exposures and more as proxy instruments for amplified Bitcoin price exposure—a pattern likely to persist.

Research | Article

■ Tiger Research

High-Yield DeFi Is Over…RWAs and Yield-Bearing Stablecoins Are Driving the On-Chain Reshuffle

Tiger Research argues that DeFi’s legacy high-yield model is structurally weakening, noting Aave V3’s USDC deposit rate at 2.7% (as of April 2026), below the 4.3% yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury. In its place, new yield engines are emerging: EigenLayer’s TVL surged from below $400M to $18.8B in roughly six months, while RWA and yield-bearing stablecoin products—such as BlackRock’s BUIDL, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI, and Ethena’s sUSDe—are gaining prominence. DeFi is moving beyond a reflexive “tokens supporting tokens” structure and entering a phase of evolution toward real financial infrastructure, combining external cash flows with clearer responsibility-sharing mechanisms.

Research | Article