On April 23, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas noted that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF flows had turned positive across every rolling period he tracks simultaneously — one day, one week, one month, three months, and year-to-date — marking the first time that has occurred in 2026. The streak behind it ran eight consecutive trading sessions through April 23, accumulating $2.43 billion in net inflows for April alone — nearly double March's $1.32 billion haul. April 22 was the strongest single session, with $335 million in net inflows; April 23 added another $223.21 million, with BlackRock's IBIT accounting for roughly 75% of that day's volume at $167.49 million. By April 23, IBIT's total Bitcoin holdings reached a record 806,700 BTC — added over nine straight inflow sessions — and the fund now controls approximately 49% of all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF assets. Lifetime cumulative inflows across all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs stand at $58.55 billion, closing in on the previous all-time record of $62.8 billion. The all-periods-green signal matters analytically because it eliminates the interpretive ambiguity inherent in any single timeframe: when flows are positive across one day, one week, one month, and the full year-to-date simultaneously, it rules out the possibility that the reading reflects a short-term technical bounce rather than a sustained shift in institutional positioning.

At a Washington event on April 22, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) delivered a precise ultimatum: the Clarity Act must clear Congress by end of May or the bill risks being shelved indefinitely. Congress breaks for Memorial Day recess on May 21, leaving fewer than four weeks of operational legislative time after Moreno's statement. The following day, a coalition of more than 100 crypto firms — anchored by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, and including Coinbase and Ripple — sent a joint letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott urging an immediate markup. The letter frames the situation as a narrow window: after July, the legislative calendar tightens further as the chamber approaches a midterm election cycle that sponsors say will make legislating exponentially harder. For Bitcoin specifically, passage would confirm BTC as a CFTC-regulated commodity, removing the legal ambiguity that has made some institutional custodians cautious about offering direct Bitcoin exposure. Four sequential steps still separate the bill from the President's desk after a successful Banking Committee markup: a 60-vote Senate floor threshold, reconciliation between the Senate Agriculture and Banking Committee versions, reconciliation with the House-passed text from July 2025, and a presidential signature. Polymarket odds for passage in 2026 moved from 38% to 46% after Moreno's statement; Galaxy Research places the probability closer to 50-50 — or lower if the markup slips past mid-May.