Happy Thursday!

Bitcoin remains in hibernation as AI markets roar back. No wonder the market is so sleepy, with spot volumes at multi-year lows. What is going on?

IREN is up a cool 10% today after Microsoft approved the first of four AI data center deals, worth almost $10 billion. Here’s what you need to know about that.

Plus, is the AI trade back, or dead? With bond yields and the rate-hike debate hanging over everything, Chris Capre gives his read this Sunday at 1:00 PM ET, including the setups he's watching. Reserve Your Free Spot.

TOP STORY

Bitcoin Ignores Good Inflation Data As Demand Stays Absent: What's Going On?

Bitcoin is stuck in one of its quietest markets in years, with spot trading volume at its lowest level since 2019 and price trapped between $63,000 support and $68,700 resistance.

Glassnode says sellers are getting tired, but buyers still haven’t shown up — even with tame inflation, record-high equities and slightly positive ETF flows.

The real risk is leverage: derivatives traders have been net long for months while spot demand dries up, leaving BTC vulnerable if the range breaks toward the $58,500 June low.

SPECIAL OFFER

Bond Yields vs. The AI Trade

Is the AI trade back, or dead?

With bond yields and the rate-hike debate hanging over everything, Chris Capre gives his read this Sunday at 1:00 PM ET, including the setups he's watching. Free, replay included.

MARKET MINUTES

Bitcoin may finally be looking at a bear market bottom in the next two months as several key indicators start to align. Here’s what you need to watch.

Crypto is living through a ‘revenue revolution’, according to Bitwise’s Matt Hougan. Here are the tickers he says will benefit from that.

Ethereum sentiment is as good as it’s been in a long time. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the price though, because it hasn’t moved in weeks. What is going on?

FINTECH FOCUS

IREN Jumps 10% As Microsoft Accepts First AI Data Center Under $9.7 Billion Deal

IREN shares ripped more than 10% after Microsoft formally accepted the company’s first AI data center deployment — a key checkpoint in its five-year, $9.7 billion cloud deal.

The approval lets IREN begin invoicing Microsoft for Horizon 1, a 50-megawatt Nvidia GB300 buildout in Texas, and gives investors real proof that its pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure is moving beyond the pitch deck.

The upside is massive, with management targeting more than $4 billion in AI Cloud run-rate revenue by year-end, but so is the bill: roughly $5.8 billion in GPU and equipment costs.

BENZINGA TRIVIA CHALLENGE

The race is on for the Top 4 spots as we near the end of the week. If you haven't played yet — or missed a day — there's still time to climb the leaderboard by taking today's quiz and catching up on earlier quizzes from this week.

Compete for awesome prizes, including Benzinga PRO (a $500 value) and Benzinga EDGE subscriptions. Put your market knowledge to the test with today's 30-second trivia challenge.

Remember, only your highest quiz score counts, so one great round can make all the difference. To maximize your chances of winning, take the quiz every day and keep climbing towards the top of the leaderboard.

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