Bitcoin (BTC) has long been branded as “digital gold,” a store of value for believers in scarcity, decentralization and self-sovereignty. As institutional interest grows, geopolitics shift, and new layers emerge on Bitcoin’s stack, is it time for the narrative to evolve? 

In this episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, hosts Nathan Jeffay and Gareth Jenkinson speak with longtime Bitcoiner and entrepreneur Dan Held, who argues that Bitcoin’s next chapter may unlock broader functionality, from programmable use cases to more nuanced messaging that reaches far beyond crypto-native circles.

Political shifts

With US President Donald Trump openly backing Bitcoin — and reportedly owning it himself — Held said he sees a regulatory and reputational change. 

“We have the most open administration toward Bitcoin in the United States,” he said. 

“It kind of feels weird… Normally in the press, Bitcoin mining is destroying the environment. It’s being used by money launderers… And instead, you’ve got the president encouraging Bitcoin.”

Held traced Bitcoin’s unlikely rise through moments of adversity, from China’s mining crackdowns to the Biden administration’s strict approach to crypto banking. Yet despite those challenges, roughly 25% of Americans now own Bitcoin, he said.

DeFi on Bitcoin

What comes next may push the asset into a new phase. Held and Jenkinson are proponents of building decentralized finance (DeFi) tools on top of Bitcoin, functionalities traditionally associated with blockchains like Ethereum or Solana.

“If we could bring [DeFi] back to Bitcoin, then Bitcoin could utilize not just spot speculation… but these other speculative games then would allow bitcoin to grow even faster.” 

That includes borrowing, lending, and staking, all mechanisms that allow users to interact with Bitcoin beyond simple holding or trading.

Related: How crypto payments can become the new ‘tap-and-go’ — Pulsar co-founder

Jenkinson echoed the potential, highlighting a shift in attitude: “If you can use [Bitcoin] and bring DeFi to it, you’re basically allowing people to use digital gold as the underlying asset… It’s a very hard thing to do, because most hardcore Bitcoin maximalists don’t want people to give up their Bitcoin for something else.”

That tension between so-called “Bitcoin puritans” and more moderate voices is not new, Held noted. He recounted the 2017 Bitcoin Cash fork, describing it as “a civil war… brother against brother.” But unlike that contentious split, today’s evolution is happening without rewriting Bitcoin’s base rules. “No one’s proposing to change the rules of Bitcoin,” Held said. “This is innovation built on top.”

To hear the full conversation on The Clear Crypto Podcast,  listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! 

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Cryptocurrency mining firm Hut 8 increased its hashrate by 79% during the first quarter of the year.

According to Hut8’s latest quarterly report released on May 8, the firm saw a net loss of $134.3 million despite revenue of $21.8 million. The firm’s CEO, Asher Genoot, explained that this was a result of large-scale investments.

“As reflected in our results, the first quarter was a deliberate and necessary phase of investment,” Genoot said. “We believe the returns on this work will become increasingly visible in the quarters ahead.”

Hut 8 operations reached a total energy capacity of 1,020 megawatts as of March 31, enough to power well over 800,000 average homes in the United States. The company also has the right to scale up its operation by another 2,600 MW.

Related: Bitcoin mining — Institutions boost investments amid favorable US climate

Hut 8 is scaling up operations

Genoot said the financial results follow large-scale investments by Hut 8, including upgrading the firm’s application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) fleet and launching the majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8, American Bitcoin.

American Bitcoin was announced at the end of March, with several members of the US President Donald Trump’s family as partners. According to the announcement, the new venture “aims to become the world’s largest, most efficient pure-play Bitcoin miner while building a robust strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Early April reports also revealed that American Bitcoin has plans to raise additional capital, including through an initial public offering. In today’s quarterly earnings announcement, Genoot stated:

“The streamlined capital allocation framework made possible by the American Bitcoin launch reinforces our ability to scale lower-cost-of-capital businesses such as high-performance computing.“

Related: Browser-based crypto mining in 2025: Still viable or virtually dead?

Future expansion plans

Talking about future plans, Hut 8’s CEO noted that the company is pushing ahead with its plans for 2025. Those include the energization of the Vega data center, the initial sitework at the River Bend data center and the development of the firm’s utility-scale power portfolio. Genoot added:

“We believe these initiatives will further accelerate our ability to generate resilient near-term cash flows while building toward enduring leadership across next-generation digital infrastructure markets.”

Hut 8 stock is trading at $12.66 after seeing a 2.2% increase on the trading day on the Nasdaq. However, it is down by over 38% from $20.49 at the start of the year.

Hut8 year-to-date price chart. Source: Google Finance

The announcement follows Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Core Scientific posting a net profit of $580 million in its first quarter results, missing analyst revenue estimates after a drop in its mining profits.

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Sweat, a move-to-earn platform that rewards users for physical activity, has launched a personalized AI agent and expanded its multichain infrastructure. The update is designed to improve user onboarding by offering interactive guidance and simplifying asset management across blockchains.

The AI agent, named Mia (short for Movement in Action), is powered by Near.AI — an open-source AI model platform with crosschain capabilities. Integrated into the Sweat wallet, Mia helps users to bridge, swap and manage their crypto rewards without needing deep crypto knowledge..

Sweat is rolling out support for Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum and BNB Chain. Within the app, users can now bridge assets and swap native tokens across networks, with the option to pay gas fees in Sweat (SWEAT) tokens.

Sweat co-founder Oleg Fomenko told Cointelegraph: “We’ve shifted to championing the Movement Economy — an expansive, multichain ecosystem where movement is not only rewarded but also unlocks access to financial tools, health experiences and self-sovereign identity.”

Mia in Sweat wallet Source: swe.at

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Personalized AI agents aim for a simpler interface

Move-to-Earn is an emerging model that rewards users for physical activity by combining movement with technology. Apps like StepN, Plena and Sweat are exploring ways to integrate AI to enhance their platforms. StepN, for example, employs AI to improve anti-cheating mechanisms, while Sweat focuses on using AI to streamline the user experience and enable multichain decentralized finance (DeFi) functionality.

Sweat uses the move-to-earn model, rewarding users for about every 7,600 steps taken. Users can exchange their token rewards for products, donate them or convert them into a currency of their choice.

Related: How 10,000 steps can earn you up to $6.20 a day

Fomenko told Cointelegraph that Mia is more like “a helpful friend” than a technical dashboard. It focuses on “guiding users through tracking how steps convert into Sweat tokens, earning staking rewards, or performing onchain actions like swapping or bridging tokens.”

According to Sweat, the wallet has 20 million users and over 19 million tokenholders. Mia will also personalize in-app recommendations based on each user’s behavior and preferences, including surfacing relevant offers, setting reminders, or explaining new wallet features.

Related: StepN Go app lets users share digital sneakers and split earnings

Privacy and security remain priorities

As AI-driven tools become more integrated with crypto wallets, concerns around data privacy and misuse have grown. Fomenko told Cointelegraph that the risks are addressed through “a combination of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)-compliant data handling practices, secure anonymization protocols and frequent external audits”.

“By aligning with the highest privacy standards and prioritizing user sovereignty, Sweat ensures that AI serves as a helpful, secure, and trustworthy assistant in the Web3 journey,” Fomenko added.

However, as AI agents scale, the risk of AI-driven phishing attacks increases, with bots sending personalized messages that closely mimic legitimate communications. To address these concerns, Fomenko said, “Mia operates transparently, providing clear, explainable prompts where users remain in control — they can accept, reject, or override suggestions at any time.”

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