Bitcoin Gains as Clarity Act Hopes Rise Amid AI Stock Selloff

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market are outperforming traditional assets as investors grow more optimistic about progress on the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, while concerns about slower artificial intelligence development pressure technology stocks.

Polymarket traders now put the odds of the Clarity Act being signed into law in 2026 at roughly 30%, up sharply from just 12% at the beginning of September. The legislation, designed to establish a clearer federal regulatory framework for digital assets, faces a key procedural vote in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Improving expectations for crypto regulation have helped support digital asset prices. Bitcoin (BTC) gained more than 1% over the past 24 hours to trade near $77,800, while Ethereum (ETH) climbed about 2% to around $2,500.

The gains contrast with weakness across AI and technology stocks. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called over the weekend for slowing the development of advanced frontier AI models because of safety concerns. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk also backed greater caution around AI development.

A slower pace of AI advancement could have significant consequences for companies across the technology supply chain. Delays in developing increasingly powerful models could reduce near-term demand growth for advanced semiconductors, cloud computing capacity and new data centers.

That possibility is raising questions about companies that have committed billions of dollars to AI infrastructure based on expectations of rapid and sustained expansion. Existing computing demand may remain strong, but slower growth could put pressure on valuations and extend the time needed for infrastructure investments to generate returns.

AI-linked crypto mining and infrastructure stocks were among the casualties. CoreWeave (CRWV) and Cipher Digital (CIFR) dropped about 6% in premarket trading, while MARA Holdings (MARA) declined 5% and IREN (IREN) fell 4%.

The divergence highlights a shifting market narrative: regulatory optimism is providing a tailwind for Bitcoin and crypto just as uncertainty surrounding the pace of AI development weighs on technology shares.