CoinDesk
Bitcoin rose above $77,000 on Monday even as technology shares sold off after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called over the weekend for a slower pace of frontier AI development, citing safety concerns. Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly backed the call, even as Anthropic reportedly tapped Nasdaq for its anticipated IPO. Crypto-related equities were not spared: CoreWeave (CRWV) and Cipher Digital (CIFR) fell 6% in premarket trading, MARA Holdings (MARA) dropped 5%, and IREN lost 4%.
Why it matters
The decoupling is the story. Crypto is outperforming broader markets, lifted by rising odds that the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act will become law. Polymarket puts the 2026 passage probability at roughly 30%, up from 12% at the start of September, ahead of a procedural Senate cloture vote scheduled for Tuesday. A clearer federal framework for digital assets has been the most consistent missing piece for US institutional crypto allocation, and the rotation is showing up in price even as AI-exposed equities bleed.
Market impact
The split has a long tail on both sides. A slowdown in frontier model development would delay orders for advanced chips and ease the urgency to lock in new computing capacity, weighing on specialist cloud providers and data-center operators that crypto miners and AI labs both depend on. Companies committing billions to infrastructure could face longer waits for revenue, putting pressure on valuations built on relentless-expansion assumptions. CoreWeave, Cipher Digital, MARA, and IREN all traded down in premarket, a reminder that the AI-crypto linkage runs through compute as much as through capital flows. The offset sits in tokenized equities: Binance's bStocks unit hit roughly $118.5M in two months, now the second-largest issuer and capturing about 90% of on-chain equity DEX volume, with RWA inflows leading the broader recovery.
Frequently asked questions
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What is the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act?
It is a federal bill intended to define a regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States. It faces a procedural Senate cloture vote scheduled for Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
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Why did AI and tech stocks sell off on Monday?
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called over the weekend for a slower pace of frontier AI development, citing safety concerns. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly backed the call, weighing on AI-exposed equities.
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How did crypto-related stocks perform on the AI slowdown news?
They did not dodge the spillover. CoreWeave (CRWV) and Cipher Digital (CIFR) fell 6% in premarket trading, MARA Holdings (MARA) dropped 5%, and IREN lost 4%.
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What are Polymarket's odds for the Clarity Act passing in 2026?
Polymarket puts passage probability at roughly 30%, up from a low of 12% at the start of September 2026.
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How are tokenized equities performing amid the broader selloff?
Tokenized equities are leading RWA inflows in the recovery. Binance's bStocks unit hit roughly $118.5M in two months, capturing about 90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.
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