Prediction markets are quietly becoming a new on-ramp to crypto. A 90-day Bitget Wallet study tracking onchain activity from 857,000 active Polymarket users found that about 60% of people who placed their first World Cup bets on the platform had never interacted with blockchain protocols before.

Separately, US crypto policy is still moving—albeit amid political crosswinds—after Donald Trump canceled the signing ceremony for a housing bill that includes a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Meanwhile, Ethereum’s ecosystem is seeing fresh institutional positioning efforts, including new research-and-development backing aimed at supporting the network’s next adoption phase.

Key takeaways

Bitget Wallet data suggests prediction markets can draw first-time crypto users without requiring prior blockchain familiarity.
Trump’s delay of a housing bill highlights how CBDC-related provisions may remain entangled with broader US legislative priorities.
New backing for an Ethereum R&D nonprofit, Ethlabs, targets “institutional adoption” readiness as ecosystem funding concerns persist.
Crypto market coverage this week also pointed to growing scrutiny of US regulatory proposals and ongoing pressure on large holders’ liquidity management.

Prediction markets as a practical crypto on-ramp

According to the Bitget Wallet study, roughly six in ten Polymarket users who made their first World Cup bets had no prior experience with blockchain protocols. That pattern matters because onboarding into crypto has historically focused on teaching users the mechanics—wallets, custody, signing transactions—or at least easing those steps through better interfaces.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan said earlier onboarding approaches often assumed users would still need to learn how crypto works before they could participate. Prediction markets, he argued, change the incentive: users arrive because they already have a view about what could happen in the real world, and the crypto component becomes secondary to the outcome betting.

“Prediction markets shifted that dynamic. Users show up because they have a view on something happening in the world,” Kan said.

The implication for the broader industry is straightforward: if prediction markets can repeatedly attract people who have never touched crypto, they may function like a bridge between mainstream “event-driven” behavior and onchain settlement. For builders, the operational question is how well these first-time users can be retained after the initial activity—whether they continue using wallets, understand transaction flows, and eventually seek out other onchain services beyond betting.

US housing bill CBDC ban delayed amid SAVE America Act linkage

US President Donald Trump canceled the signing ceremony for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a measure that had already passed the US House and Senate and includes a provision barring the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a CBDC—or a digital asset “substantially similar”—until the end of 2030.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said the signing would be postponed “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE America Act.” He has previously indicated he would not sign other bills until that voting-related legislation moves forward.

Coverage noted that the housing bill had been widely expected to be signed without complications, but the president’s stated approach ties the CBDC-adjacent timeline to a separate political objective in Congress. The SAVE America Act would require proof of US citizenship in person to register, a point that critics argue could disenfranchise eligible voters.

For crypto stakeholders, the immediate takeaway is less about the final fate of the housing bill and more about pacing: even when legislation includes concrete restrictions on CBDCs, political sequencing can still reshape when (and whether) the public policy signal fully lands.

Ethereum pushes for institutional readiness as funding pressures persist

Ethereum-related efforts this week centered on institutional readiness. Sharplink—backed by former Ethereum Foundation contributors and funded by Bitmine and Joe Lubin among others—announced the launch of Ethlabs, a new research and development nonprofit designed to help prepare Ethereum for what it described as a “next phase of institutional adoption.”

The group framed the moment in terms of market convergence: stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds, and autonomous AI commerce are increasingly moving on-chain, and Ethlabs aims to ensure Ethereum can absorb the demand “at scale.”

The launch arrives against a backdrop of ecosystem concern about development resources. Cointelegraph previously reported warnings from former Ethereum Foundation contributor Trenton Van Epps about a potential core development funding crisis, and the Ethereum Foundation has also faced notable leadership departures, including the exit of co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang reported earlier.

What’s particularly relevant for investors and protocol participants is that Ethlabs signals parallel capacity-building outside the Foundation structure—an approach that may be increasingly common as the ecosystem searches for sustainable long-term funding models. However, readers should watch how these R&D efforts translate into measurable improvements—whether in scaling, privacy, security, or censorship resistance—rather than only in organizational announcements.

Strategy’s dividend strain revives liquidity and purchasing debate

While not tied to a single legislative or institutional headline, CryptoQuant’s analysis highlighted stress points in one of the largest Bitcoin treasury strategies. The analytics firm said Strategy’s dividend coverage fell to about 14 months from seven years, and recommended the company led by Michael Saylor pause Bitcoin purchases while replenishing its cash reserve, which it estimated has fallen 38% year-to-date.

CryptoQuant said Strategy’s dividend obligations have nearly quadrupled to $1.2 billion after the firm issued new STRC preferred stock with an 11.5% yield. In a Wednesday X post, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju urged a systematic framework for when Bitcoin purchases occur and also called for a “disciplined selling framework” for the next bull cycle.

Cointelegraph had earlier reported that Strategy repurchased $1.5 billion of its 2029 senior notes at a discount on May 26, and that its cash coffers recovered later after selling MSTR shares and adding $300 million to its US dollar reserve. Even so, CryptoQuant framed the remaining runway as near a record-low level of funds available to cover dividends.

For market participants, the broader lesson is that even in a Bitcoin-linked thesis, capital allocation discipline and liquidity planning remain the real constraints. Dividend mechanics can change the shape of risk regardless of long-term asset convictions.

Going forward, the most important thing to monitor is how these separate threads interact: whether prediction markets continue to widen crypto access without losing first-timers, whether US policy timelines involving CBDC restrictions accelerate or stall, and whether Ethereum’s new institutional readiness push can address ongoing development funding concerns with concrete, network-impacting outcomes.