What happened in crypto today: Bitcoin-led rally, CLARITY Act repricing and more

Today in crypto, the market mostly moved upward as investor confidence improved. From a technical standpoint, total crypto market cap saw nearly $40 billion in intraday inflows, with around 75% flowing into Bitcoin [BTC], making the move clearly BTC-led. BTC itself gained about 1.66%, breaking back above the $80k level for the first time since losing it in early January. Overall, the market is back in a risk-on mode, but sentiment still doesn’t fully align yet. The Fear & Greed Index is still sitting below the “greed” zone by roughly 12 points, which is usually where strong accumulation phases start showing up, especially after BTC breaks a key supply level. If sentiment doesn’t catch up soon, a short-term cooling or reset can’t be ruled out.  That said, there are a few key trends developing across the crypto market.  According to AMBCrypto, these trends could act as a strong macro catalyst for broader flows across different sectors. The Real World Assets (RWA) narrative continues to strengthen, with total value crossing $27 billion and hitting a new all-time high, showing clear capital rotation into tokenized assets on-chain. However, the move doesn’t stop with RWA alone. AI narrative strengthens as Solana leads momentum The AI sector within crypto is showing strong momentum both technically and fundamentally. Solana [SOL], for instance, is building strong hype ahead of the Accelerate event starting on the 5th of May at the Miami Beach Convention Center, where AI is expected to be a key theme. Solana’s official account has also dropped cryptic posts hinting at major announcements, which has added to market buzz. On the technical side, the AI sector is up over 2.5% intraday, pushing back toward the $20 billion market cap level, a zone it hasn’t been able to reclaim since losing it in early January 2026. In this context, Solana’s move looks like a clear attempt to ride the growing momentum, positioning itself at the center of capital inflows as the broader market stays in a risk-on mode. So aside from the RWA narrative, AI is now emerging as one of the key trend drivers in crypto. Notably, the stablecoin market is showing a similar setup. According to DeFiLlama, it remains near the $320 billion all-time high market cap, reinforcing strong liquidity support behind both technical momentum and broader sector rotation across crypto. The timing, overall, couldn’t have landed better. CLARITY repricing and key crypto narratives lift overall sentiment 2026 is already shaping up to be a big year for the DeFi sector. On the bearish side, the three major DeFi exploits have resulted in over $600 million in user losses, and the broader impact is still working its way through the market. Even with some short-term recovery, total value locked (TVL) remains nearly $15 billion below the early $100 billion pre-crash high. A 1.9% uptick in the last 24 hours shows mild recovery, but it still reinforces a cautious tone across the sector. In this context, the latest repricing of the CLARITY Act odds on Polymarket stands out, with probability jumping back above 60%+ for the first time in over a month.  Against this backdrop, crypto momentum has picked up further intraday. Overall, while sentiment still leans cautious, the bigger picture is still driven by key structural themes. RWA, AI, and stablecoins continue to attract steady capital flows this cycle, acting as major catalysts that help support Bitcoin’s move above the $80k zone, even as macro uncertainty remains in the background.  Final Summary Crypto is going up, led by Bitcoin, but overall sentiment is still a bit cautious. Big themes driving the market are AI, RWA, and stablecoins, which are attracting money even as DeFi risks and uncertainty remain.