Today in crypto: Bitcoin Holds Firm Amid US Attack on Venezuela, BitMine Immersion Technologies has staked another 82,560 Ether. Meanwhile, a crypto executive stresses that the US CLARITY Act requires time to be done correctly.
Bitcoin holds firm amid US attack on Venezuela
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) held steady at above $90,000 amid a US attack on Venezuela that culminated in the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Although BTC initially reacted slightly to the news, the price barely budged, quickly climbing back above the $90,000 level, despite the attack dominating media headlines.
“The US bombed a country and captured its leader, on a weekend no less, and yet Bitcoin has barely moved,” Nic Puckrin, market analyst and founder of the crypto media company Coin Bureau, said in an X post.
Risk-on assets, including Bitcoin, tend to experience sudden and sometimes violent price declines following geopolitical incidents or macroeconomic events, as investors sell riskier holdings for perceived safe-haven assets like government securities and cash.
BitMine stakes $259M more ETH, pushing validator entry queue near 1M Ether
BitMine Immersion Technologies has added another 82,560 Ether, worth roughly $259 million, to Ethereum’s staking system, intensifying congestion in the network’s validator entry queue as institutional demand for yield continues to build.
Data from Arkham shows that the Ether (ETH) treasury firm sent multiple large deposits to Ethereum’s BatchDeposit contract within the past few hours. With the new stake, BitMine’s total staked ETH has climbed to 544,064 Ether, valued at approximately $1.62 billion at current prices, according to onchain analyst Lookonchain.
BitMine first started staking ETH on Dec. 26, transferring nearly $219 million worth of ETH to staking-related contracts on the Ethereum network.
In November, BitMine revealed plans to begin staking Ether in the first quarter of 2026 through an internal infrastructure known as the Made-in-America Validator Network (MAVAN). The company said it had selected three institutional staking providers for an initial pilot, deploying a limited amount of ETH to evaluate performance, security and operational reliability before expanding the program.
Coinbase exec defends CLARITY Act delay: ‘I completely understand’
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, is moving along the right pathway, despite the crypto industry’s growing impatience, according to a Coinbase executive.
“I completely understand why this is taking longer,” Coinbase Institutional head of strategy John D’Agostino said during an interview on CNBC on Friday.
“It’s the kind of bill that is quite frankly more foundational for the growth of crypto or any real asset class,” he said, emphasizing that it makes sense for the process to take some time.
He said that the CLARITY Act is a lot more complex than the Genius Act, the stablecoin legislation that was passed into US law in July.