Washington’s usual August lull disappeared this week.

The SEC unveiled its first crypto rulemaking proposal on Tuesday, President Donald Trump hosted industry executives at the White House on Wednesday, and the CFTC convened the inaugural meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on Thursday.

President Trump had a clear message for the crypto execs invited to the oval office: Pass the Clarity Act.

Industry leaders left Wednesday’s White House meeting with renewed optimism about the Clarity Act’s prospects, convinced that the Trump administration was fully committed to getting the bill across the finish line. In his public remarks, Trump urged Congress to pass a “fair version” of the bipartisan bill when lawmakers return next month, a reference to ethics provisions proposed by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). Trump has argued that some of the provisions unfairly single him out, while the dispute over them has become the main obstacle to securing bipartisan agreement.

Ethics was also a focus behind closed doors. Ahead of the public remarks, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, a16z Managing Partner Chris Dixon, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi met privately with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The discussion focused on the importance of passing the Clarity Act, including what it could mean for U.S. jobs, economic growth, and bringing crypto entrepreneurs and companies back onshore. The group also discussed the remaining hurdles, including ethics, and how the White House could help chart a path toward bipartisan agreement.

Another source with knowledge of the meeting said a concerted effort is underway to convince Trump’s closest allies who have his ear that accepting certain elements of the proposed ethics deal could ultimately be in the president’s own interest.

Getting crypto’s marquee legislation across the finish line was also a central theme at Thursday’s Innovation Advisory Committee meeting, which brought together leaders from traditional finance, crypto, prediction markets and AI.

“Passing Clarity is the surest way that we can prevent another Gary Gensler from running a rogue campaign of lawfare against the individuals and companies in this room today,” CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said, referring to the former SEC chief under whose leadership the agency brought 125 crypto-related enforcement actions.

But Selig also made clear that the commodities regulator is preparing to act if Congress fails to deliver.

“If Clarity continues to stall because of Democratic obstruction, the CFTC will utilize its existing authorities to begin establishing a regime for crypto asset markets,” he said, adding that he has already directed agency staff to begin exploring such rules.

Meanwhile, the SEC formally proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a new framework for crypto fundraising in the U.S. The proposal would allow certain offerings of up to $5 million over four years or $75 million annually without full SEC registration, create a conditional safe harbor for crypto assets once an issuer’s essential managerial efforts have ended, and preempt certain state securities registration requirements.

The way the proposal was approved was also notable. The Commission voted through a “seriatim” process, meaning commissioners voted individually outside a public meeting, according to an SEC spokesperson. The SEC had been scheduled to consider Regulation Crypto Assets at an open meeting last Friday, but fueled intrigue when it abruptly canceled the meeting, citing an “unforeseen scheduling issue.”

Crypto In America reported earlier this week that pressure from both the White House and Wall Street groups like SIFMA contributed to the cancellation. The White House was concerned that Regulation Crypto Assets and a separate innovation exemption for tokenization could complicate negotiations over the Clarity Act. It may also have been responding to legal concerns raised by Wall Street groups, which argued that changes of that scale should proceed through formal rulemaking rather than exemptions or no-action relief.

Semafor later reported that a “White House mix-up” also contributed to the cancellation, with officials confused about whether the SEC intended to advance Regulation Crypto Assets or the more controversial innovation exemption.

Can Banks Compete With Stablecoins? N3XT Thinks So

Former Signature Bank Chairman Scott Shay is taking another swing at changing how businesses move money, and he thinks his latest venture could ultimately be bigger than Signet, the blockchain-based payments network he helped pioneer at Signature.

N3XT, the Wyoming special purpose depository institution Shay co-founded after Signature was shut down in 2023, announced this week that it is expanding its N3XT Digital Dollar, or NDD, beyond the bank’s own customers.

N3XT describes NDD as a digitized U.S. dollar bank deposit that can move 24/7 using public blockchains. Unlike tokenized deposits that remain within a bank’s network, NDD can be sent to approved outside wallets, including those belonging to businesses that do not bank with N3XT.

“We have created a new category in not just crypto but finance writ large — a digitized actual USD that travels at the speed of crypto anywhere and anytime,” Shay told Crypto In America. “No pegs, no bridges, no interoperability — just money moving between two parties safely and securely. That’s what banking was supposed to do. We made it happen.”

There is an important distinction for outside holders. N3XT says non-customers holding NDD do not have a direct deposit claim against the bank or a customer relationship with N3XT. As a special purpose depository institution, N3XT is not FDIC insured and is prohibited from lending against customer deposits. Instead, NDD is fully backed one-to-one by cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries. The rights of non-customer holders will be governed by terms that have not yet been published.

Signet allowed commercial customers to move dollars instantly, 24/7, and ultimately processed hundreds of billions of dollars, but it remained a closed network. Shay is betting that allowing NDD to move beyond N3XT’s customers will make this model significantly more impactful.

The timing is also notable. As banks warn that stablecoins could pull deposits out of traditional financial institutions and lobby for changes to the Clarity Act, N3XT is testing whether banks can compete by adopting the same technology that helped make stablecoins successful.

Inside Crypto’s Next Venture Cycle

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Dragonfly general partner Rob Hadick to discuss the state of crypto venture investing.

Hadick joined Dragonfly the same week FTX collapsed. Today, the firm has closed a $650 million fourth fund, even as AI draws capital and founders away from crypto and deal activity falls to its lowest level since 2021.

We also discussed why founders are returning to the U.S., whether regulatory action can sustain innovation if the Clarity Act fails and why Dragonfly has invested in Polymarket four times. Hadick believes prediction markets are only in the “third inning,” with corporate hedging and other institutional uses poised to drive the next phase of growth.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Weekly Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories that made headlines this week.

• Bitcoin climbed to $79,400, its highest level since May, as the Treasury’s bond-buyback plan continued to fuel risk appetite.

• OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould said he expects to finalize the agency’s GENIUS Act rule by November, with changes based on feedback from the crypto industry.

• The U.S. national debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time.

• Fed minutes showed several officials favored a rate hike in July, while many said further tightening may be needed if inflation does not decline.

• A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 63% of Americans believe it was inappropriate for Trump and his family to profit from crypto while he is in office.

• Citi launched its Custody+ platform and plans to offer digital-asset custody later this year, starting with bitcoin.

• Nasdaq plans to launch overnight trading from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET on Dec. 6, subject to regulatory approval.

• Kalshi filed with the CFTC to offer perpetual futures tied to equity indexes, allowing traders to take leveraged long or short positions without owning the underlying stocks.

• TRON founder Justin Sun said a California federal judge rejected World Liberty Financial’s effort to force his individual claims into private arbitration, keeping them in open court.

• The CFTC resolved its cases against former FTX and Alameda executives Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, imposing five-year trading bans on both dating back to December 2022.

• Standard Chartered and HSBC completed the first live cross-border transaction using tokenized deposits on SWIFT’s blockchain-based ledger.

• Injective said its affiliate, Injective Institutional Services, is now registered with the SEC as a transfer agent.

• Stablecoin payments platform KAST launched a new rewards product offering users up to 12% on spendable USD balances, with the introductory program capped at $100 million.

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What you’ll read: The SEC postponed an open meeting that would have formally kicked off its crypto rulemaking process. What happened behind the scenes, what’s on Washington’s crypto policy agenda this week, and the top headlines you may have missed.

More drama in Washington’s ongoing crypto policy debate unfolded Friday when the Securities and Exchange Commission abruptly postponed a meeting that would have kicked off the formal rulemaking process for a new framework governing crypto fundraising in the United States, known as Regulation Crypto Assets.

The meeting had been announced just three days earlier and was widely viewed as the securities regulator taking the initiative to lay the groundwork for clearer crypto rules while the industry’s marquee legislation, the Clarity Act, remains in limbo until lawmakers return from recess in mid-September.

An SEC spokesperson attributed the cancellation to an “unforeseen scheduling issue” but provided no further details.

Talk to enough people in crypto policy circles with their ears to the ground, however, and you’ll hear additional details involving the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the White House.

First, some backstory: Over the past year, SIFMA, which represents many of Wall Street’s leading broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers, has repeatedly pushed back against broad regulatory relief for crypto and tokenized securities firms. In a June 2025 letter, the group urged the SEC not to make major changes to the rules governing tokenized securities and other parts of the securities markets through no-action letters or exemptions. Instead, it called for a public notice-and-comment process, warning that broad relief could create regulatory arbitrage, weaken investor protections and fracture market liquidity.

The SEC’s Crypto Task Force has been working for months on an innovation exemption that could give crypto firms more flexibility to trade tokenized securities without being subject to all the same rules governing traditional Wall Street firms. Bloomberg reported that the agency was considering unveiling details last Friday, potentially alongside its proposed framework for crypto fundraising. Unlike the fundraising proposal, the innovation exemption would rely on the SEC’s existing exemptive authority rather than go through formal rulemaking.

Multiple industry sources who spoke with Crypto In America say the White House asked the SEC to postpone Friday’s meeting over concerns that Reg Crypto Assets and, separately, the innovation exemption could complicate Clarity Act negotiations ahead of the Senate’s procedural vote in September. The bill addresses both crypto fundraising and tokenized securities.

But there may be another layer to the story.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, SIFMA discussed the possibility of legal action if it determined that the SEC had exceeded its statutory authority under federal securities laws, including through exemptions or no-action relief. The prospect of a legal challenge may have contributed to the White House’s decision to ask the SEC to postpone the meeting, the sources said.

Asked about the discussions around a potential legal challenge, a SIFMA spokesperson declined to address them, saying: “SIFMA does not comment on specious or hypothetical theories. In this situation in particular, it would be premature to comment on something that currently doesn’t exist.”

The White House and the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this reporting.

It remains unclear whether the SEC will reschedule the meeting before the Senate returns next month.

In the meantime, the White House and crypto’s top regulators are expected to keep the policy conversation going this week, with separate events on Wednesday and Thursday.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig will attend a White House event Wednesday alongside executives from across crypto, prediction markets and traditional finance, where President Trump is expected to deliver remarks.

Industry leaders expected to attend include Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, a16z crypto Managing Partner Chris Dixon, BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov, Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher and Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, among others.

On Thursday, Selig will host the inaugural meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, whose 43 members include several of the executives listed above. Futures Industry Association President and CEO Walt Lukken will chair the committee. The agenda includes crypto regulation, the growing roles of artificial intelligence and agentic finance, and, of course, prediction markets.

Meanwhile, lawmakers and their staff are expected to continue negotiating the Clarity Act’s unresolved issues ahead of a cloture vote scheduled for the afternoon of September 15. DeFi and developer protections, provisions in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s portion of the bill, and ethics rules for government officials all remain outstanding.

Negotiators will also have to contend with continued lobbying from the banking industry for changes to the bill’s stablecoin yield provisions. Despite that push, some of the country’s biggest bank CEOs still support seeing the broader legislation pass, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Citi CEO Jane Fraser.

“We have not given up on pushing to get some improvements made to the bill, but we would like to see a good bill go through,” Fraser told FOX Business in an interview last week. “I think it would be excellent for the system.”

👀 What To Watch This Week

Tuesday

The Wyoming Blockchain Symposium (SALT Conference) kicks off in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Crypto In America will be on the ground.

Wednesday

The SALT Conference continues in Jackson Hole.

2:00 p.m.: The Fed will publish the minutes from its July FOMC meeting.

2:30 p.m.: Executives from across crypto, prediction markets and traditional finance will gather at the White House to discuss financial innovation.

Thursday

1:00 p.m.: The CFTC will host its inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting to discuss crypto regulation, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

ICYMI: We sat down with Agora CEO and co-founder Nick Van Eck to discuss what the GENIUS Act could unlock for stablecoin adoption.

He tells us Agora is already working with some of the world’s largest companies as they prepare to use stablecoins across core parts of their businesses and explains why cross-border payments could be the first major market disrupted, why stablecoins are “100x more valuable” outside the U.S. and why he doesn’t expect the Clarity Act to have much impact on Agora’s business, whether it passes or not.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines.

• The Treasury Department issued proposed rulemaking on Section 3 of the GENIUS Act, which deals with licensing requirements and extraterritoriality for stablecoins.

• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Financial’s proposed trust company. The Trump-family-backed crypto venture issues the USD1 stablecoin and operates a DeFi platform.

• Kraken parent Payward reported $508 million in adjusted Q2 revenue, up 17% year over year despite an 18% decline in total platform transaction volume. Funded accounts rose 42% to a record 6.6 million.

• The Winklevoss twins’ Gemini posted its fourth consecutive quarterly net loss, losing $107.7 million as revenue climbed 37% year over year to $45.5 million.

• MSCI is revisiting whether to exclude “non-operating companies” from its global indexes, a move that could remove Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strategy and Metaplanet. Strategy responded: “Bitcoin doesn’t need MSCI. Neither does Strategy.”

• Bitwise partnered with Superstate to explore tokenizing shares of its Solana Staking ETF, BSOL, with other funds potentially following.

• KPMG U.S. completed Tether’s first full independent financial audit, giving its 2025 financial statements a clean opinion.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday and sometimes Friday!

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What you’ll read: The Senate punted a key procedural vote on the Clarity Act to September. How it happened, what comes next and why regulators are preparing to move ahead with crypto rules of their own. Plus, what we’re watching this week and the headlines making news.

There was light at the end of a dark week for the crypto industry when Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the Clarity Act in the early hours of Saturday morning, putting the bill on the Senate’s floor schedule when lawmakers return from August recess.

The filing likely tees up a key procedural vote for the afternoon of September 15, the day after the Senate reconvenes for a short three-week session before the midterms.

As Crypto In America reported Friday afternoon, Thune’s staff had told industry leaders to expect the filing before the Senate adjourned. Some characterized the move as a gesture of good faith meant to show that the Clarity Act remains a priority after the industry and the bill’s Republican champions were left angry and disappointed by news Thursday night that leadership would leave Washington without scheduling a long-awaited cloture vote.

“You all know me and how long and hard I’ve fought for this bill, so you can imagine how frustrated I am,” Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), the sponsor of the Senate version of the Clarity Act, said in a Friday statement. Lummis and her GOP colleagues had predicted the bill would be included among the Senate’s crowded slate of priorities before lawmakers departed for recess. Thune himself had said he expected it to get a vote, though he acknowledged the timing was uncertain.

So what happened?

It depends who you ask. By week’s end, the blame game looked something like the Spider-Man meme, with three Spider-Men pointing at one another: Republicans blamed Democrats for refusing to compromise and dragging out the process, Democrats blamed the White House for not coming to the table to negotiate a more palatable ethics agreement, and the White House blamed Democrats for rejecting the package already on offer.

Another Spider-Man for the banks would also be fitting. Their campaign to convince senators that the bill’s safeguards against stablecoin-driven deposit flight are insufficient has gained traction in recent weeks, with at least two Republican senators signaling that they are not prepared to support the Clarity Act as written.

The bill’s proponents have responded by blasting the banking lobby for slowing its progress. Sens. Lummis and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) went a step further Friday, signing on as co-sponsors of the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act, joining Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).

Banks fiercely oppose the measure because it targets their swipe-fee revenue and, they warn, could force them to scale back credit card rewards. The move was widely read as a shot across the bow from Lummis and Moreno over the banking industry’s efforts to delay Clarity.

But amid all the finger-pointing, most crypto policy wonks agree on one thing: Without a bipartisan ethics agreement, the bill likely lacked the 60 votes needed to advance, raising fears on both sides that it would fail at the first procedural hurdle. That gave Democrats leverage to keep negotiations going. Punchbowl News reported that they insisted on more time, warning that forcing a vote without a deal could kill the broader effort.

“Chuck Schumer got what he wanted,” one legislative aide said of the Senate minority leader. “He managed to keep all the Fairshake money on the sidelines for now.”

Fairshake and its affiliates recently reported nearly $129 million in combined cash on hand. With no vote, the industry’s biggest super PAC network lacks a fresh roll call to guide its general election spending, likely putting major commitments on hold until at least September. As one industry source put it, “That leaves the industry with plenty of frustration but no obvious target for its political firepower.”

What’s Next?

Senators will be back in their respective states for the next five weeks. By most accounts, Hill staffers, lobbyists and industry leaders are planning to take a breather before getting back to work.

“I think everyone’s going to wait to see if there’s any ethics movement,” Cody Carbone, CEO of the crypto trade association Digital Chamber, said. “We plan to keep doing what we’ve been doing for the next month, but everyone is sort of in ethics limbo right now.”

Reaching a deal everyone can live with on President Trump’s crypto dealings will undoubtedly remain the biggest hurdle, but further negotiations over the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and the commodities portion of the bill are also expected, according to two sources close to the talks. It remains to be seen whether any changes will be made to the bill’s stablecoin yield provisions to win over Republicans wary of being forced to choose between the crypto industry and community banks.

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told reporters Friday that he thought the bill’s odds of passage would “drop precipitously” as the midterm elections approach.

As of Friday, the White House had not publicly responded to the bipartisan ethics counteroffer put forward by Tillis and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). The proposal would give state attorneys general a role in enforcing the ethics rules and, according to Bloomberg, require President Trump to divest from crypto-related business interests.

Trump told Punchbowl News that he didn’t oppose placing his family’s crypto businesses in a blind trust but objected to being singled out by the proposed ethics language.

“In the bill, they want me to be different than everyone else,” he said.

Regulatory Relief on the Horizon?

As Senate staff spend at least part of the August recess pursuing bipartisan compromises on the bill’s outstanding issues, the crypto regulators are expected to remain active as well.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that it will hold an open meeting on August 14 to consider proposing a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets, a vote that could formally launch the rulemaking process.

The notice identified the proposal as Regulation Crypto Assets, one of the agency’s top crypto priorities, which is expected to create registration exemptions and safe harbors for certain crypto offerings.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the proposal would likely build on the SEC and CFTC’s March joint interpretation, which established a five-category token taxonomy and clarified when an investment contract involving a crypto asset begins and ends.

The source added that action on tokenized securities may also be coming. But the meeting notice does not mention the agency’s long-awaited tokenization innovation exemption, leaving its timing and path forward unclear. The SEC’s rulemaking agenda also includes proposals addressing asset custody and broker-dealer and transfer-agent rules for crypto.

Formal rulemaking is not the agency’s only avenue. The SEC has also issued guidance and no-action letters this year aimed at providing greater clarity and targeted relief.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins has outlined even broader ambitions for the agency, saying in May that it was considering rules governing onchain exchanges, brokers and dealers, clearing agencies and crypto vaults. He and fellow commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda have repeatedly said they do not want to front-run Congress as lawmakers work to pass the Clarity Act. But with the bill’s prospects now uncertain, the agency’s calculus may be shifting.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“[T]he work of bringing clear rules to digital assets isn’t waiting on Congress,” Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad wrote on X. “The Trump Administration’s financial regulators continue to use the authorities they have to provide greater clarity and enable responsible adoption of blockchain technology, while governments and financial institutions around the world are moving ahead as well.”

For its part, the CFTC announced Monday that its Innovation Advisory Committee will hold its inaugural meeting on August 20. The panel includes leaders from Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini, Polymarket, Kalshi, CME, Nasdaq and other major crypto and traditional finance firms.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

Bitdeer (BTDR) and Sharplink (SBET) report earnings pre-market.

Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), Bakkt (BKKT) and Exodus (EXOD) will report earnings after the closing bell.

Tuesday

eToro Group (ETOR) reports earnings before the opening bell. CoreWeave (CRWV) reports after the closing bell.

Wednesday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the July Consumer Price Index, a closely watched gauge of inflation.

Securitize (SECZ) reports earnings post-market.

Thursday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the July Producer Price Index, another closely watched inflation measure.

Gemini Space Station (GEMI) reports earnings after the closing bell.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department releases its July retail sales report.

10:00 a.m.: The SEC will hold an open meeting to consider proposing tailored rules for certain crypto investment contracts.

The University of Michigan releases its preliminary consumer sentiment reading for August.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines.

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that its inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting will take place on August 20.

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined an updated roadmap that makes quantum safety, stronger privacy and native rollups top priorities for the network.

• Strategy sold 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million and used the proceeds to repurchase STRC preferred shares. The company separately raised $653 million through MSTR share sales, lifting its U.S. dollar reserve to $4.65 billion.

• Exodus posted an $18.6 million Q2 net loss, swinging from a $37.7 million profit a year earlier.

• Grayscale withdrew its S-1 registration statements for proposed Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot ETFs, according to SEC filings.

• Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, is unwinding multiple deals with crypto exchange Crypto.com, including plans for a CRO-focused digital asset treasury company. The firm also disclosed that it held 14,139 BTC worth approximately $891 million as of July 31.

• Crypto exchange Bybit is suing North Korea and the Lazarus Group over the $1.5 billion hack it suffered in 2025 and has secured a preliminary court order freezing certain identified stolen assets.

• The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, sharply missing expectations for an 80,000 gain, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%.

• Crypto market maker Wintermute’s U.S. arm has registered as a broker-dealer, clearing the way for it to trade U.S. stocks and options for its own account and provide liquidity to crypto-linked ETFs.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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Of all the weeks that have been deemed “crucial” for the Clarity Act, this one arguably takes the cake.

What happens over the next few days could determine whether the bill has enough momentum and political capital to cross the finish line. Under Senate rules, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) would need to file cloture on Tuesday to set up a Thursday vote if senators still expect to depart for the August recess on time.

But Thune told reporters Monday that he plans to keep the Senate in session until it finishes a laundry list of outstanding business. That list includes a continuing resolution to fund the government, a Russia sanctions bill, a nominations package, a possible vote on a college sports bill and a cloture vote on crypto market structure legislation — even as eleventh-hour negotiations continue over the bill’s three biggest issues: ethics, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and provisions in the Senate Agriculture portion of the text.

“I think market structure we’ll get a vote on,” he said. “Whether we can get on it or not, we’ll see.”

Translation from Senate-speak: Thune isn’t sure Republicans can secure the 60 votes needed to formally begin debate and consider amendments to the bill. That’s where the focus now turns.

The elephant in the room is that the White House has yet to respond to the ethics counteroffer sent last week by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The revised proposal builds on an earlier agreement between the White House and two Senate Republicans and includes an enforcement role for state attorneys general, a provision Democrats have pushed for but the White House has resisted.

That silence could prove significant.

Without a bipartisan agreement on ethics, the bill is unlikely to attract enough Democratic support to secure the 60 votes needed to advance. Tillis has signaled that he will not support it without stronger ethics provisions, while other Republicans have expressed unease about the bill’s stablecoin yield language.

Some industry advocates who have remained largely optimistic throughout the process are now privately voicing concerns that Clarity could fail a procedural vote. If that happens, the bill’s path forward gets murky.

Others are taking a longer view.

“Big bills don’t move in straight lines. They stall, then get pulled back for another round of negotiation. Votes get scheduled and then don’t happen,” said Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute. “This is normal, though still frustrating.”

Smith pointed to the GENIUS Act, which failed cloture before passing the Senate 68-30 weeks later and becoming law, as evidence that a procedural setback does not necessarily kill a bill. Others note two important distinctions: there was no summer recess between the GENIUS votes, giving opponents less time to potentially pick apart the legislation, and the bill moved in a nonelection year.

With the midterms looming, political calculations are playing a much larger role this time around.

Fairshake and its affiliates reported nearly $129 million in combined cash on hand as of June 30, giving the network a formidable war chest ahead of the midterms. That’s led some industry observers to suggest that a vote could help clarify where both Senate Democrats and Republicans stand and inform the super PAC network’s spending decisions ahead of November.

While Fairshake has already spent in several primaries this year, some Washington lobbyists believe the crypto money machine is still biding its time, waiting to see how lawmakers vote on Clarity before making its biggest midterm bets.

“It’s time to put people on the record,” Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Crypto In America in a recent interview. “They’ll be given a choice: You either accept a bill that’s twice its original size because, at your request, we negotiated additional law enforcement, DeFi and ethics protections, or face the consequences of never getting to yes, no matter how much time we spend on this bill.”

For now, we’ll see whether Thune takes the first procedural step and files cloture as soon as today.

Coldcard Hack Rattles Bitcoin Community as Losses Top $100 Million

The security failure involving Coldcard, a popular Bitcoin-only hardware wallet used to store bitcoin offline, has now resulted in more than $100 million in losses, according to the latest analysis from Galaxy Research.

Coldcard, made by Canadian Bitcoin security firm Coinkite, is designed for self-custody, meaning users control the keys to their bitcoin rather than entrusting their assets to an exchange or another intermediary. The device had long been regarded as one of the more security-focused options among experienced bitcoin holders.

Until last week, when attackers began exploiting a software flaw dating to 2021 that made certain Coldcard recovery phrases easier to predict, allowing them to access the bitcoin without ever possessing the devices.

Galaxy, which has been tracking the thefts through onchain activity, says it has “high confidence” that 1,596 bitcoin was stolen from roughly 7,300 addresses across three major waves and 14 smaller incidents. Including suspected but unconfirmed activity, the potential losses climb to approximately $130 million, or 2,000 bitcoin.

What makes the breach particularly alarming is that victims weren’t phished and their devices weren’t remotely compromised. Coinkite believes AI may have helped uncover the flaw in its publicly available code, though that remains unconfirmed.

“The Coldcard hack has rattled the core of the Bitcoin community precisely because it hit people who did everything right,” Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s head of research, who is leading the firm’s analysis of the thefts, told Crypto In America. “They believe in the long-term vision, they stack bitcoin and they store it themselves. They didn’t lose their keys, they didn’t get phished, they didn’t speculate and lose their coins.”

“This is also a reckoning for the bitcoin and broader crypto security communities about the need for deep and continuous code audits, particularly in the age of AI,” he added.

In the days since the first thefts, Coinkite says it has released patched firmware, paused shipments and destroyed its remaining inventory containing the vulnerable software. But the company warns that installing the update will not secure an existing recovery phrase. Affected users must generate a new one and move their bitcoin.

The breach adds to a difficult stretch for the crypto industry, marked by a bear market, sector-wide layoffs, fading optimism over the passage of the Clarity Act and a string of major hacks. TRM Labs documented a record 207 crypto hacks during the first half of 2026, resulting in roughly $1 billion in losses before the Coldcard incident.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The Senate is in session. The House is out.

American Bitcoin (ABTC) reports earnings pre-market.

Tuesday

Hut 8 (HUT) reports earnings pre-market.

4:00 p.m.: The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a roundtable on the growth of prediction markets.

Wednesday

Circle (CRCL), Galaxy Digital (GLXY), Riot Platforms (RIOT) and TeraWulf (WULF) report earnings pre-market.

4:05 p.m.: Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will speak at an event hosted by the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation in Alaska.

Block (XYZ) reports earnings after the closing bell.

Thursday

10:15 a.m.: The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing titled “Empowering Main Street by Unlocking Access to Capital.”

CleanSpark (CLSK) and MARA Holdings (MARA) report earnings after the closing bell.

Friday

8:30 a.m.: Jobs Friday: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the July jobs report and unemployment rate.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

News Flash

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The Dow closed at a record high of 53,178 Monday, while Amazon surpassed $3 trillion in market value for the first time.

• Japan’s two-year bond yield hit 1.57%, a roughly 30-year high, following a rare joint U.S.-Japan intervention to support the yen after it sank to a 40-year low against the dollar.

• Crypto layoffs continued Monday, with FalconX cutting 10% of its global staff. Separately, a CoinDesk reporter said her role was eliminated as part of a restructuring at parent company Bullish.

• Tyler Williams, the Treasury’s chief crypto adviser, departed Friday and is returning to the private sector.

• Apple said it briefly removed Telegram from the App Store after finding content that violated its policies against child sexual abuse material. The app has since been restored.

• Strategy sold 1,638 bitcoin, reducing its holdings to 842,138, according to an SEC filing. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said he has never sold any of his personal bitcoin.

• A former FBI agent has been charged with stealing nearly $1 million in crypto from wallets tied to a foreign target under investigation after reporting his own conduct to colleagues, according to Virginia federal court filings.

• Franklin Templeton joined the Canton Network as a Super Validator, making it the largest asset manager to take on the governance and infrastructure role.

• FinCEN hit UBS Financial Services with a record $125 million fine for repeat anti-money-laundering violations, following a similar penalty in 2018.

• Hashdex is closing its $14.7 million spot Bitcoin ETF after determining its asset base did not justify the operating costs. Trading is set to end August 17.

• BlackRock launched two tokenized money market products designed to qualify as stablecoin reserves under the GENIUS Act: an Ethereum-based share class of BSTBL and BRSRV, a new multichain fund.

• American Bitcoin reported $67 million in Q2 revenue, up 8% from the previous quarter, while its net loss narrowed to $57.2 million. The Eric Trump-backed miner produced a record 932 bitcoin and grew its holdings 14% to 8,002.

• Capital One said anti-money-laundering concerns, not politics, drove its 2021 decision to close more than 300 accounts linked to the Trump Organization.

• Minnesota’s statewide crypto ATM ban took effect August 1 after 134 scam complaints were tied to nearly $1 million in losses.

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This weekend will be a high-stakes waiting game for supporters of the Clarity Act as the White House considers a new ethics counteroffer that will likely determine the fate of the bill in the Senate next week.

The proposal is the culmination of weeks of bipartisan negotiations between Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Arizona Democrat Ruben Gallego, both of whom have called for a stronger ethics package than the one agreed to by the White House and two Senate Republicans last week. According to three sources familiar with the negotiations, that initial offer did not pass muster with Tillis, Gallego and several other key Democrats. They want state attorneys general to be able to sue the Department of Justice if it fails to enforce ethics laws against federal officials.

The proposed mechanism is similar to one contained in the Laken Riley Act, which became law in 2025 and allows state attorneys general to sue federal officials over certain immigration enforcement failures that harm their states or residents.

It’s unclear what, if any, additional provisions were added to address White House concerns that state AGs could go too far in their enforcement.

Industry leaders and lobbyists also put in the legwork this week, making a flurry of calls to White House officials and influential allies urging them to reach an ethics compromise and help bring the Clarity Act to a long-awaited cloture vote before senators are scheduled to leave town Thursday.

It has been largely quiet publicly on the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty front since it returned to the news earlier this week, when the White House and Treasury Department rejected a proposal backed by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and two prosecutors’ groups. The proposal would have removed language requiring prosecutors to prove that software developers intended to facilitate money laundering before they could face criminal liability.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also weighed in with a lengthy X post endorsing the BRCA, saying it “does nothing other than codify longstanding Treasury Department policy... non-custodial builders and developers are not, and have never been, subject to registration obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act.”

Another law enforcement group, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, came out in support of the bill, joining the National Fraternal Order of Police and at least two other groups that have publicly backed it. The National Sheriffs’ Association reentered the debate Friday with a lengthy letter calling for the BRCA to be deleted entirely or, failing that, narrowed through Cortez Masto’s proposal.

While ethics is widely considered the issue most likely to make or break the bill, a Democratic strategist who spoke with Crypto In America cautioned that it’s not the only obstacle. The BRCA and concerns with the agriculture section remain equally critical to securing the Democratic votes needed to reach 60.

“All three have to be locked in together if this bill is going to become a reality,” the strategist said.

On the Republican side, a handful of senators have raised concerns long voiced by the banking lobby that the stablecoin yield provisions are not strong enough to prevent deposit flight. They include Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), James Lankford (R-OK) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), the latter of whom has been an ardent supporter of community banks.

It’s unclear whether those concerns will translate into “no” votes, but some industry lobbyists believe they could lead to further tweaks to Section 404, also known as the Tillis-Alsobrooks stablecoin yield compromise. Whether any changes materialize or prove sufficient to satisfy the banks remains an open question.

“If stablecoin products are permitted to attract and retain balances through interest-like rewards or other holding-based incentives, the local funding base that supports this lending could be weakened by hundreds of billions,” state banking officials wrote in a letter to Senate leadership this week.

If the Clarity Act ultimately fails, the GENIUS Act provisions will remain in place. Those provisions prohibit stablecoin issuers from paying yield but do not prevent crypto firms from offering rewards to customers, leaving banks with fewer protections against potential deposit flight than the current Clarity Act language would provide.

Binance.US Takes Its Comeback Bid to the CFTC

Binance.US plans to apply to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to become a Designated Contract Market next month, CEO Stephen Gregory told Crypto In America this week.

The designation would allow Binance.US to operate a regulated derivatives exchange and seek to list event contracts, the latest battleground for U.S. crypto platforms. Gemini secured DCM status late last year, while Coinbase offers event contracts through a partnership with Kalshi.

Applying for DCM status does not guarantee approval. The CFTC reviews applications under a 180-day statutory process, which can take longer if an application is incomplete.

The move is part of Binance.US’s broader comeback strategy, centered on lower trading fees and an expansion beyond spot trading into prediction markets and perpetual futures. Binance.US is separate from the global Binance exchange, though both share common majority ownership. It’s now mounting a U.S. comeback after nearly two years as a crypto-only platform and the loss of several state licenses following Binance global exchange’s $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. regulators over anti-money laundering and sanctions violations.

Gregory, a former Gemini executive, believes Binance.US can regain ground by responding quickly to customer demand and capitalizing on the next major product opportunity.

“I don’t think this is a super crowded market. The cool thing about crypto is that it’s not static,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of changes even over the last few months, so with the next product, we could grab a bunch of market share and compete with them.”

Beyond the Rate Decision

The Federal Reserve was back in the spotlight this week after holding interest rates steady, with Chair Kevin Warsh continuing his pullback from forward guidance by declining to signal where policy may be headed next. But monetary policy isn’t the only area where the central bank is undergoing change.

Eleanor sat down with Sunayna Tuteja, the Fed’s first Chief Innovation Officer, at the Injective Summit, where she took us inside her five years trying to transform the institution from within. She explains why the Fed was a “target-rich” environment for AI, her role in helping develop payment accounts for crypto firms and how she navigated the years of the so-called “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Weekly Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, with Chair Kevin Warsh saying policymakers will continue to monitor market reactions and incoming data before making future rate decisions.

• Circle secured a limited-purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services for its subsidiary, Circle Internet Trust Company.

• Strategy reported an $8.2 billion Q2 loss after Bitcoin’s decline produced an $8.3 billion unrealized loss on its holdings. The company also disclosed that it has sold $218 million worth of Bitcoin this year to help fund preferred stock dividends.

• Robinhood reported record Q2 revenue of $1.3 billion, driven by record equity, options and prediction market activity. Net deposits also reached a record $22 billion.

• Coinbase reported a $360 million Q2 loss as revenue fell 19% to $1.22 billion, even as the exchange said trading volume market share reached a record 10.3% and prediction market revenue more than doubled from Q1.

• MoonPay launched PayBox, allowing people to use ChatGPT or Claude to move, trade and spend money just by asking.

• Morgan Stanley launched spot Ethereum and Solana ETPs on NYSE Arca.

• Visa is cutting about 2,600 jobs, or roughly 7% of its workforce, as it streamlines operations and ramps up investment in AI and other growth areas.

• A federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation ban on prediction markets, finding that federal law likely preempts the state from prohibiting many contracts offered by platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket.

• FTX will begin distributing another $900 million to creditors today, with claims valued using crypto prices at the time of its November 2022 collapse rather than current prices.

• A new Wintermute report found that institutions accounted for a record 72% of its spot crypto trades in the first half of 2026, contributing to lower volatility, more selective investment in altcoins and growth in tokenized assets.

• JPMorgan warned that further delays to the Clarity Act could allow traditional financial firms to capture the growth of tokenization and blockchain technology at the expense of public crypto networks.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday and sometimes Friday!

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you'll read: Senate Majority Leader Thune wants to get a Clarity Act vote underway before the August recess. Will Republicans have the votes to finish it? Plus, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joins Crypto In America to discuss her latest warning on crypto vaults, what we're watching this week, and the weekend's top headlines.

The crypto industry is hoping Senate Republicans can get the ball rolling this week on a floor vote for the Clarity Act.

That would begin with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) filing cloture on the motion to proceed, setting up a vote (typically two session days later) that would require 60 votes to advance. If cloture is invoked, the Senate could then spend up to 30 hours debating the motion before voting on whether to proceed to the bill itself.

The problem: That timeline runs headfirst into the August recess, with senators scheduled to leave Washington on August 7.

The solution: Despite Thune saying last week that he did not think the Clarity Act could get done before the break, plugged-in crypto policy watchers say Senate leadership has discussed keeping members in town for the first few days of the recess to finish the job if the votes are there.

Whether they are is the bigger question. As of now, the bill likely does not have the 60 votes needed to advance, and Senate Republicans will spend this week working to shore up support on issues ranging from ethics to DeFi after seven key Democrats said the updated text “fell short” following its release last week.

Since then, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has called for stronger ethics provisions than those agreed to by the White House and his GOP colleagues, has been leading bipartisan talks aimed at finding a version of the proposal that Democrats can back.

Across-the-board Republican support isn't guaranteed either. With such a narrow margin and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expected to remain absent, the GOP has little room for defections. Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rand Paul (R-KY), both of whom voted against the GENIUS Act last year, remain question marks.

A notable endorsement: On Friday, the National Fraternal Order of Police, which had been engaged in discussions over the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, endorsed the latest version of the Clarity Act. In a letter to Senate leaders, the group said it now believes the BRCA, which exempts certain non-custodial software developers from registering as money transmitters, does not limit law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute crypto crimes, while also praising the bill’s broader law enforcement provisions.

It remains to be seen whether the endorsement will move the needle with Democrats such as Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Mark Warner (D-VA), both of whom have said their support depends on whether the bill adequately addresses law enforcement concerns.

Crypto Mom Says Some Vaults May Be Securities

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, affectionately known in the crypto industry as "Crypto Mom," is warning firms that putting a yield-generating product onchain doesn't automatically place it outside the SEC’s remit.

Speaking to Crypto In America on Friday, Peirce said crypto vaults, which pool users' assets to generate yield, could trigger securities laws depending on how they're structured. In some cases, she said, they could effectively function as onchain investment funds that must register or qualify for an exemption.

The key question is who is making the investment decisions. Peirce drew a distinction between traditional DeFi pools, where smart contracts execute transactions automatically, and curated vaults, where a person or entity actively decides how users' assets are invested.

“When you have a third party involved in deciding how different assets are being allocated and invested, that’s really a situation where you have to start asking: Do the securities laws apply?

Custody is one factor the SEC could consider, but Peirce said it isn’t necessarily the central issue. Active management of users’ assets, or issuing something that resembles a note, could also be enough to raise securities law questions.

Peirce, a longtime champion of software developers and onchain privacy, said the SEC isn’t looking to regulate developers simply for writing code, but moving a traditional financial activity onchain doesn’t entitle firms to a different rulebook.

“We don’t want to live in a world where, if you do something onchain, you get a different set of rules simply because you’ve decided to do it onchain,” she said, warning against “bad regulatory arbitrage.”

Her advice: Don’t assume you’re outside the SEC’s reach. Work with counsel, evaluate the services you’re actually providing, and engage with the agency early.

Peirce stopped short of promising formal guidance but said the SEC has had productive conversations with industry participants and remains open to exemptions where appropriate.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The Senate returns. The House begins recess.

Deadline to submit final comments on the Federal Reserve’s proposed “payment accounts,” also known as “skinny” master accounts.

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.: The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for July.

Wednesday

SoFi (SOFI) reports earnings premarket. Robinhood (HOOD) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) report after the close.

9:15 a.m.: Day 1 of the Rare Evo conference kicks off in Las Vegas. Crypto In America will be on the ground.

2:00 p.m.: The Federal Open Market Committee meets to make its next interest rate decision, followed by a press conference with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh. Rates are expected to remain unchanged at 3.75%.

Thursday

Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR) report earnings after the close.

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department releases its latest estimate of Q2 GDP and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

BitMEX says it will settle and delist 35 derivatives contracts as part of the exchange’s scheduled wind-down.

Friday

Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) reports earnings after the close.

10:00 a.m.: The University of Michigan releases its final Consumer Sentiment Index for July.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Crypto exchange BitMart said it will wind down its platform after nine years, sending its exchange token down nearly 60% following the announcement. The move comes after BitMEX announced last week that it would also shut down operations.

• Strategy announced a $25 million buyback of its STRC preferred stock while selling approximately 5.4 million shares of MSTR common stock.

• The National Fraternal Order of Police endorsed the Clarity Act, saying the amended text released last week addresses its previous concerns and preserves law enforcement’s ability to investigate crypto crimes.

• The Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation sent a letter to Senate leaders urging them to bring the Clarity Act to the Senate floor.

• The State Department launched the Freedom Tech Excellence Program with founding partners Bitcoin Policy Institute, Palantir and Anduril to advance diplomatic efforts around “digital freedom and freedom of expression.”

• London-based fintech Wise plans to resubmit its application for a national trust bank charter under the GENIUS Act framework after the OCC denied its initial application.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

A lot has happened since Monday, when the Clarity Act appeared nowhere near ready for the Senate floor.

The White House agreed to an ethics package, and Senate Republicans released the long-awaited, 616-page updated bill text. Crypto stakeholders largely welcomed it. Senate Democrats did not.

Seven key Democrats whose support could determine whether the bill clears the 60-vote procedural threshold, including Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), say they cannot support it in its current form, arguing it falls short in several areas, including ethics and illicit finance. Bipartisan negotiations are set to continue through the weekend as Republicans hope to begin the floor process next week amid a serious time crunch, with just nine legislative days remaining before the August recess.

The industry push: The Digital Chamber, Crypto Council for Innovation and Blockchain Association are ramping up pressure on Senate leadership.

In a new joint letter to Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), first reported by Crypto In America, the groups’ CEOs praise the updated text for strengthening law enforcement’s ability to combat illicit finance and establishing the first comprehensive federal consumer protection framework for crypto markets.

“These improvements reflect engagement with policymakers across both parties and demonstrate that a well-crafted market structure framework can promote innovation while also bolstering national security,” they wrote.

While the bill currently lacks the votes to advance, the groups argue Senate leaders should begin the floor process as soon as possible, even as bipartisan negotiations continue.

“For the United States to maintain its position as the global leader of financial innovation, there is no substitute for the long-term certainty of durable market structure legislation,” the letter says.

Who’s in, who’s out: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon broke with some of his fellow bank CEOs and major banking groups, saying he supports the Clarity Act and wants to see it move forward.

The banking lobby remains one of the loudest critics of the latest text. The American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute and Independent Community Bankers of America say it still does not go far enough to prevent stablecoin rewards from draining bank deposits and reducing local lending. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce echoed those concerns in a letter this week. Some banking advocates are also flagging changes they say would weaken the application of Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements to certain DeFi platforms.

The DeFi Education Fund, which advocates for DeFi developers and users, praised the updated text for preserving the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and adding new tools for law enforcement to combat crypto crime.

Matthew Hogan, a Connecticut State Police detective who leads the agency’s crypto working group, praised the bill’s new grants, financial sector liaisons and tools for freezing stolen funds. But he said it falls short on returning assets to victims and streamlining how crypto scams are reported.

“Overall, this is an improvement from the previous versions,” Hogan told Crypto In America.

What’s next: Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) is leading bipartisan talks over ethics after Democrats rejected a White House-backed package that would give enforcement authority to the Justice Department instead of state attorneys general. Tillis called the proposal “a step in the right direction” but has signaled his support hinges on stronger guardrails to prevent government officials from profiting from crypto.

It’s unclear whether Senate leadership can secure the votes needed to begin the floor process next week. Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral, which many Senate Republicans are expected to attend, could disrupt the schedule early in the week and leave the timing of any cloture vote uncertain.

Digital Chamber Sues to Block Illinois Crypto Tax

The Digital Chamber has become the first trade association to sue over Illinois’ new digital asset tax, filing a lawsuit seeking to block the nation’s first state tax targeting crypto business activity before it takes effect next year.

The complaint argues the law, which slaps a 0.2% tax on certain digital asset business activity, unconstitutionally singles out blockchain-based transactions for different treatment from comparable transactions conducted through traditional financial rails. The group alleges the tax violates the Illinois Constitution’s uniformity and due process protections, the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause and a federal prohibition on discriminatory taxes targeting electronic commerce.

At issue: The tax applies whenever a digital asset is exchanged, transferred or stored, even if no profit is made or the asset never changes hands. It covers Illinois businesses as well as out-of-state firms that generate more than $100,000 from customers in the state.

Critics say the levy, which is expected to generate roughly $60 million in annual revenue, is punitive enough to drive crypto businesses out of Illinois.

“Taxes should be carefully considered, not only for the revenue they produce but for the fairness of those being taxed,” said Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone. “That was not the case here, as the provision slipped into legislation the night before the bill’s final consideration.”

The lawsuit asks the court to strike down the tax and block Illinois from enforcing it.

From CFTC Commissioner to Blockchain Association: Summer Mersinger's Year Inside the Room Where It Happens

This week on the podcast, Jacquelyn sat down with Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger at the Injective Summit to reflect on her first year leading the trade group after leaving the CFTC and the view of Washington from the other side of the table.

Mersinger discusses the fight over the Clarity Act, her frustration with the banking industry’s pushback on stablecoin rewards and why she believes developer protections are essential. She also weighs what happens if the bill fails and what’s next for the Blockchain Association in her second year.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Weekly Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX will shut down in September after nearly 12 years in operation, following a strategic review by its parent company.

• Strategy launched the Bitcoin Security Consortium alongside partners including BlackRock, Coinbase and Fidelity, with the group committing $15 million over three years to address long-term threats to the network, including risks posed by quantum computing.

• SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that crypto vaults and lending strategies may still be subject to federal securities laws depending on how they are structured.

• The SEC will pay $150,000 to settle a Coinbase-backed FOIA lawsuit over its loss of former Chair Gary Gensler’s text messages.

• The House passed a bill that would restrict members of Congress and their immediate families from trading individual stocks while in office.

• Strike CEO Jack Mallers resigned as CEO of Twenty One Capital as plans for a three-way merger involving Twenty One, Strike and Elektron Energy were abandoned.

• White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt announced his National Guard training has been deferred, allowing him to remain in his role and oversee the Clarity Act’s path through the Senate.

• S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital launched a new digital asset index focused on tokens and companies with real-world utility and actual revenue, rather than price momentum or popularity.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

⚽️ First things first: Congratulations to Spain on winning the World Cup! It made the sting of England’s last-minute semifinal loss to Argentina a little less painful. A great summer of “football” all around, nonetheless.

What you’ll read: It’s coming down to the wire for the Clarity Act as the White House has yet to sign off on ethics provisions and industry stakeholders await updated legislative text. Plus, what’s on tap this week and the top stories you need to start the day.

The third week of July is upon us and there are still no signs that the Clarity Act is ready to come to the Senate floor.

Much to the chagrin of the crypto industry, no date has been set for a vote, updated legislative text has yet to be released, and negotiations over the bill’s most contentious issues remain ongoing, with only 14 working days left before senators depart Washington for the August recess.

Ethics continues to be the elephant in the room, and finding a viable solution that Democrats, as well as some Republicans, can support will likely determine whether the Clarity Act sees floor time this month.

But Democrats say they have been left largely in the dark about ethics discussions in recent weeks, including a White House meeting last Thursday afternoon aimed at securing the president’s support for provisions designed to prevent government officials from profiting from digital assets.

President Trump met privately in the Oval Office with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Counsel David Warrington, Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH).

While it remains unclear what was discussed or what, if anything, the president agreed to, sources familiar with the negotiations tell Crypto In America that, as of this morning, the White House still had not made clear what ethics parameters it would support, potentially further delaying Republicans’ release of an updated version of the bill.

Without new text, the industry, too, has been left guessing about changes made over the past two months to key provisions, including the fate of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), as well as language in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s portion of the bill addressing conflicts of interest arising from crypto exchanges’ vertical integration, affiliate trading and the preemption of state law.

“I think the BRCA will remain intact, and I think the Banking piece is probably not going to change when the bill comes out,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger told Crypto In America. “They’re still negotiating text in the Agriculture Committee. They made it sound like they were down to technical edits at this point.”

One potential complication for the BRCA is public opposition from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which released a video last week calling cryptocurrency “the cartel currency of choice” and arguing that the Clarity Act would facilitate criminal activity and make law enforcement’s job much harder, a narrative that proponents of the bill, including the White House and Acting Attorney General Blanche, have spent months trying to counter.

It’s unclear what this will mean for efforts to secure the votes of Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Mark Warner (D-VA), who have signaled that their support could hinge on whether concerns raised by law enforcement and the Department of Justice about illicit finance are addressed in the final bill.

“I want America to lead in digital assets, but if we get it wrong, the downside ramifications could be huge as well,” Warner said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week.

Industry leaders are still holding out hope for a vote on the Clarity Act as early as this week, though the volume of unresolved issues makes that highly unlikely. The prevailing view on Capitol Hill is that negotiators have until the end of this week to tee up a cloture vote on the motion to proceed, which would require 60 votes to advance the bill to the Senate floor.

If the Clarity Act does not reach the floor next week, the window for passage before the August recess will effectively close.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House and Senate return.

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.: Day One of the Out East Summit kicks off on Long Island’s North Fork. The invitation-only conference brings together leaders in institutional digital assets. Crypto In America will be on the ground.

The House Financial Services Committee hosts an oversight hearing of FinCEN.

Wednesday

CME Group (CME) and Nasdaq (NDAQ) report earnings before the market opens.

12:30 p.m.: The Center for American Progress will host Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) for a panel titled “Stopping Trump’s Crypto Corruption,” focused on “the risks of the Clarity Act to democracy and national security.”

Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL) report earnings post-market.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for three Trump administration nominees, including Brian Johnson, the president’s pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Friday

Deadline to submit comments on the OCC’s proposed GENIUS Act rules, which would apply anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance standards to supervised stablecoin issuers.

Robinhood Has 27 Million Accounts. Now It Wants to Bring Them Onchain | Johann Kerbrat

ICYMI: Last week on the podcast, we sat down with Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International, to discuss the company’s push to bring its 27 million accounts onchain.

We dug into the early activity on Robinhood Chain, with memecoins leading the way, the firm’s expansion into tokenization and DeFi, and what could happen if Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• U.S. regulators, including the Treasury Department, OCC, FDIC and Federal Reserve, missed the GENIUS Act’s one-year deadline on Saturday to finalize rules for stablecoin issuers.

• Rapper Drake lost a $1.5 million USDT bet after backing Argentina to beat Spain in regulation in the World Cup final. The wager would have paid out more than $5 million.

• The Senate unanimously passed a resolution stating that convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a presidential pardon.

• JPMorgan tokenized shares of the Invesco QQQ Trust, creating a blockchain-based representation of the ETF.

• Stripe and Advent International have offered more than $53 billion to acquire PayPal, but the company’s board considers the bid inadequate, according to Reuters.

• Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE completed its rollout of spot trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana through its partnership with Zerohash.

• Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities invested $400 million in Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation, marking the exchange’s first institutional funding round.

• The SEC proposed making electronic delivery the default method for issuers, broker-dealers, investment advisers and other market intermediaries to provide required regulatory information.

• T. Rowe Price launched its Active Crypto ETF ($TKNZ), offering actively managed exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Hyperliquid.

• Visa launched a stablecoin platform that allows banks, fintechs and crypto firms to mint, move and manage digital dollars across its network of more than 200 million merchants.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday.

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Patrick Witt, the White House's top crypto adviser, will begin a months-long leave of absence later this month to comply with orders requiring him to report for training with the Georgia Army National Guard, Crypto In America has learned.

Witt, 37, who worked at the Defense Department for two years before taking on his current role last August, is expected to wrap up his work at the White House next Friday before reporting for mandatory training in the Guard's Judge Advocate General, or JAG, program on July 27. Upon completion, he will qualify to serve as a JAG officer, a military attorney who provides legal counsel on matters ranging from military justice to operational and administrative law.

Witt and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move comes at a critical moment for the Clarity Act, the crypto industry's landmark market structure legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, as Senate Republicans race to bring it to the floor before Congress leaves for its August recess, a deadline many crypto policy observers view as the last realistic opportunity to pass the bill this Congress.

Sources familiar with the matter say that while the timing of Witt's leave is not ideal, it was unavoidable. The Georgia native applied to the JAG program last spring as part of a longstanding ambition to serve before taking over as executive director following Bo Hines' departure to stablecoin giant Tether. After receiving orders to report for training, Witt postponed the start of the program, originally scheduled for April, so he could remain at the White House as Clarity Act negotiations stretched on longer than expected. A second postponement was not an option.

Even so, the White House will be without its chief negotiator as the legislation enters a pivotal phase.

As executive director, Witt served as the administration’s top liaison on the bill, leading months of talks with lawmakers and industry stakeholders over some of its most contentious issues. Those efforts included helping broker a compromise between the crypto industry and banks over stablecoin yield, navigating partisan disputes over ethics provisions, and securing the support of law enforcement groups concerned the bill could make it harder to investigate and prosecute illicit activity.

His looming departure raises the stakes for the next two weeks as lawmakers and the White House work to resolve the Clarity Act's remaining sticking points, particularly negotiations over ethics provisions aimed at addressing President Trump's crypto business interests after financial disclosures showed he earned more than $1 billion from crypto-related ventures last year.

In Witt's absence, the crypto council's deputy director, Harry Jung, is expected to assume his responsibilities, though Witt intends to remain as involved as possible during his military training, according to sources familiar with the plans. The transition is expected to provide a measure of continuity because Jung has worked alongside Witt over the past year and been in the room for many of the same negotiations. Still, it comes at a particularly delicate moment for legislation that still faces significant political hurdles.

It remains unclear whether Witt intends to return to the role full time after completing his training.

Beyond his work on the Clarity Act, Witt has also led the administration's efforts to implement the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and has been a leading voice on a range of other crypto policy priorities, including implementation of the GENIUS Act and efforts to modernize the tax treatment of digital assets.

What you'll read: Congress is back in session, Clarity text is expected, Custodia petitions the Supreme Court, and what we’re watching this week.

Cue The Final Countdown. The Senate is back in session, and the clock is officially ticking.

Lawmakers now have roughly four weeks to schedule, debate, vote on, and potentially pass the Clarity Act before leaving Washington for the August recess, a deadline many plugged-in crypto policy watchers see as the last realistic opportunity to get comprehensive crypto market structure legislation across the finish line this year.

But if getting to this point has been difficult, getting the 60 votes needed to advance the bill could prove even tougher. Negotiations over several major issues are still active, and with the Republican conference shrinking, Democratic support has become more important than ever.

The next big milestone could come this week. Industry stakeholders are awaiting updated legislative text merging the Senate Banking and Senate Agriculture Committee versions of the bill, hoping it will provide the clearest picture yet of where negotiations stand, what made the cut, and which issues still need to be resolved before the bill is ready for the Senate floor.

What we know

Meetings took place throughout the July 4 recess, but concrete resolutions on some of the thorniest issues remain elusive.

One of the biggest question marks is the final status of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which would clarify that non-custodial software developers should not be treated as money transmitters for publishing code. It's still unclear whether the provision will remain in the form advanced by the Senate Banking Committee in May or whether it will be revised in an effort to address concerns from law enforcement groups and, by extension, the Democratic senators whose support could hinge on those changes.

The other major, and arguably most important, sticking point is ethics. Sources tell Crypto In America that a deal establishing guardrails around conflicts of interest for government officials, particularly as they relate to President Trump’s crypto business interests, has still not been reached with the White House. Many observers believe the bill's path to 60 votes hinges on an ethics agreement, with Democrats and some Republicans, including Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), seeking to rein in Trump's crypto profits after his financial disclosure showed he earned more than $1 billion from crypto-related ventures last year.

Complicating matters further, the death of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over the weekend, coupled with the continued absence of Mitch McConnell (R-KY), leaves Republicans with little room for error, increasing the importance of both keeping Republicans on board and winning Democratic votes if the bill is to reach the 60-vote threshold.

A tale of two outlooks

Ask industry stakeholders how they’re feeling heading into this critical stretch and you’ll get two very different answers. Some believe the remaining issues are difficult but solvable, and that the bill is still on track for a floor vote before the August recess.

“Nothing in Congress is ever certain, but I’m confident we have a real path to getting the Clarity Act signed into law,” Solana Policy Institute President Kristin Smith told Crypto In America. “With members returning to the Capitol this week and updated bill text taking shape, momentum is certainly building toward a floor vote. There’s progress happening on the remaining critical items, and I like where things stand heading into this critical window.”

Others are less convinced, warning that every additional round of negotiations eats into an already narrow legislative window.

“The next four weeks are likely Clarity’s last chance to pass in the 119th Congress,” said Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn. “If we don’t pass Clarity into law, innovation will continue abroad and America will be left behind.”

Thorn has become increasingly cautious about the bill's prospects. Last month, he cut his estimated odds of passage to 50%, citing the shrinking legislative calendar and a lack of meaningful progress on several of the bill's outstanding issues. He also pointed to competing Senate priorities, including the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the upper chamber is expected to begin considering this week, potentially consuming valuable floor time in the weeks ahead.

Custodia Bank Asks the Supreme Court to Take Up Its Fight With the Fed

Wyoming crypto bank Custodia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its years-long battle with the Federal Reserve, setting up a potential showdown over who ultimately decides which banks gain direct access to the central bank’s payments system.

The bank has officially filed a certiorari petition asking the justices to decide whether regional Federal Reserve Banks have the discretion to deny otherwise eligible state-chartered banks access to master accounts. Custodia argues the case reaches far beyond its own application, raising broader questions about the balance of power between state and federal banking authority, the discretion of regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents, and whether innovative state-chartered banks can access the Fed's payment rails.

To make its case, Custodia has assembled a heavyweight legal team that includes white shoe law firm Davis Polk.

The filing is the latest escalation in Custodia CEO Caitlin Long's years-long fight with the Kansas City Federal Reserve, which denied the bank a master account in 2023. It comes after both a Wyoming federal district court and a divided Tenth Circuit panel sided with the Fed's interpretation of the Monetary Control Act, finding the central bank has broad discretion to deny master accounts.

Long did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the petition, reviewed by Crypto In America, the Kansas City Fed based its denial on concerns over Custodia's crypto-centric business model, a move many in the crypto industry have long pointed to as a defining example of "Operation Choke Point 2.0," a term critics use to describe what they believe was a coordinated effort by banking regulators to limit crypto companies' access to the financial system.

Whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case remains to be seen. The Court accepts only a small fraction of the thousands of petitions it receives each year. But if it does, the outcome could help define the limits of the Federal Reserve's discretion over master accounts and provide much-needed clarity for innovative state-chartered banks seeking access to the U.S. financial system.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House and the Senate are back in session.

5:25 a.m.: The Fed’s Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman speaks at a roundtable hosted by Bank Policy Institute on modernizing financial regulation.

12:30 p.m.: Fed Governor Christopher Waller will give a speech on the economic outlook at the New York Association for Business Economics.

Tuesday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the June Consumer Price Index (CPI).

10:00 a.m.: Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will testify on the semi-annual monetary report before the House Financial Services Committee.

12:30 p.m.: The Fed will host its semi-annual “Next-Gen Financial Inclusion” Conference with speeches from Governors Barr and Cook on artificial intelligence and Vice Chair for Supervision Bowman on responsible innovation.

Wednesday

BlackRock (BLK) reports earnings before the opening bell.

8:30 a.m.: The BLS will release the June Producer Price Index (PPI).

10:00 a.m.: Warsh will testify before the Senate Banking Committee. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought will give the semi-annual report on the state of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the House Financial Services Committee.

1:00 p.m.: Fed Governor Lisa Cook will give a speech on the economic outlook.

2:00 p.m.: The Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book, a snapshot of economic conditions across the country based on anecdotal reports from businesses and regional Fed banks.

Thursday

8:30 a.m.: The Census Bureau will release June retail sales data, offering a closely watched snapshot of consumer spending and the overall strength of the U.S. consumer.

10:00 a.m.: Injective kicks off its Summit in Washington, D.C., bringing together policymakers, lawmakers, and industry CEOs. Crypto In America will be on the ground covering the event.

7:00 p.m.: Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will deliver remarks in Stanford, California, on navigating economic shocks.

Friday

10:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Committee will hold a field hearing in New York City on how the Clarity Act unlocks innovation.

10:00 a.m.: The University of Michigan releases its preliminary consumer sentiment for July.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• A temporary ban on central bank digital currencies became law Friday at midnight when the Senate's Housing bill took effect after President Trump declined to sign the legislation in protest over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act.

• The Federal Open Market Committee's meeting minutes showed inflation remains elevated, citing higher memory chip prices, tensions in the Middle East, and the impact of tariffs.

• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted Circle full approval to become a national trust bank after issuing conditional approval in December. Sony also received conditional approval to establish a U.S. trust bank, paving the way for its plans to issue a dollar-backed stablecoin.

• The Federal Reserve appointed Andreessen Horowitz partner Marc Andreessen as an adviser to a new task force examining AI’s impact on productivity, jobs, and monetary policy.

• Backpack launched 24/7 trading for tokenized U.S. equities on Solana, allowing international investors to trade tokenized shares of U.S. companies, including SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk.

• In a note, JPMorgan said Bitcoin faces a greater risk from blockchain adoption being hindered by permissioned infrastructure than from potential sales by Strategy.

• Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, who led the company through its lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will step down at the end of the month and move into an advisory role.

• The White House pushed back on claims that it is dragging its feet on nominating Democrats to the vacant minority seats at the SEC and CFTC, saying Senate leadership did not respond to its request for a list of recommended candidates to fill the positions.

• The CFTC stayed CME Group's self-certification for 24/7 crude oil futures pending further review, delaying the launch of the contract while the agency evaluates its compliance with federal law.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Thursday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you'll read: Ethics and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act remain the biggest obstacles to getting the Clarity Act to the Senate floor, and signs of progress remain scarce; is a former CFTC commissioner getting a look for the SEC? Kraken reignites the Operation Chokepoint 2.0 conversation, and former SWIFT CIO Tom Zschach joins the podcast.

As the final week of the July 4 recess winds down, the crypto industry is watching for signs that negotiators made enough progress behind the scenes to clear the way for a Senate floor vote on the Clarity Act later this month.

Before the break, one of the bill's lead negotiators, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), said updated compromise text would be released during the recess to give industry stakeholders time to review it ahead of a potential floor vote. But with lawmakers set to return next week, no revised text has emerged.

What do we know? Publicly, not much. But sources close to the negotiations say discussions have continued in recent days between Trump administration officials and law enforcement groups over the fate of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The provision has emerged as one of the most contentious pieces of the legislation and is widely viewed as key to securing bipartisan support on the Senate floor.

As Crypto In America reported last week, one group, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), officially endorsed the legislation, while another, the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), shifted its position from opposed to neutral.

But other influential organizations, including the National Sheriffs’ Association, National Association of Police Organizations, and the Fraternal Order of Police, have yet to signal their support. Whether they ultimately come on board, and whether doing so will require further revisions to the legislation, remains to be seen.

Why does law enforcement support matter? Some Democrats, including Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Mark Warner (D-VA), have indicated their support for the bill is contingent on adequately addressing law enforcement's fears that the BRCA could create gaps in their ability to investigate and prosecute illicit activity. At the same time, there are concerns that some Republican senators may also hesitate to back the legislation if major law enforcement organizations remain opposed.

At least one Democrat is publicly backing the provision. In a welcome development for the crypto industry on Wednesday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to Senate leaders urging them to preserve the BRCA, as passed by the Senate Banking Committee, in any version of the Clarity Act brought to the floor.

Wyden, who co-introduced the standalone BRCA with Senator Lummis in January, argued the provision would codify existing federal policy by making clear that non-custodial software developers should not be treated as money transmitters solely for publishing software, while preserving the DOJ’s and FinCEN’s authority to pursue illicit actors.

Whether that support extends to the broader Clarity Act remains unclear. Wyden has opposed previous crypto legislation, voting against both the GENIUS Act and the congressional resolution overturning the IRS’s DeFi broker rule.

Ethics. Ethics. Ethics.

Now widely viewed as the biggest question mark hanging over the bill, any sign of an ethics agreement with the White House remains elusive.

Multiple industry participants told Crypto In America they believe an ethics agreement is the key to unlocking the rest of the negotiations, arguing that once ethics is resolved, other sticking points, including law enforcement support and differences over the Agriculture Committee's text, become much less likely to stand in the way of a final deal.

Many echoed the same sentiment: "If we can get ethics, the rest of the bill will come together."

But that’s a big if. Little is known about the parameters Democrats are now pursuing after a tentative agreement fell apart last month, when Senate Republicans and White House officials backed away from a proposal that would have allowed state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice for failing to enforce laws preventing conflicts of interest.

Before the recess, Lummis floated an alternative proposal that would instead allow state attorneys general to sue exchanges for listing tokens issued by government officials. But it remains unclear what Democrats might be willing to accept now that the earlier compromise is off the table, particularly as pressure has mounted in recent weeks following the release of the president’s latest financial disclosure, which showed he reported more than $1 billion in income from various crypto-related businesses last year.

And it's not just Democrats. Some Republicans have also drawn a hard line on conflicts of interest. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), a key player in the negotiations who helped broker the stablecoin yield compromise between the crypto and banking industries, said in April he would vote against the legislation unless it includes ethics language.

Ultimately, the fate of the Clarity Act may come down to one person: President Trump and whether he is willing to accept ethics provisions that could constrain his own crypto-related business interests.

The answer to that question, and whether more than a year of negotiations culminates in a Senate floor vote this month, should become clearer in the coming days.

Is Christy Goldsmith Romero in the running for SEC commissioner? One market watchdog is trying to make sure she isn't.

Financial watchdog Better Markets CEO Dennis Kelleher launched an aggressive public campaign against former CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero on Tuesday, urging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer not to recommend her for one of the SEC’s vacant Democratic commissioner seats.

The attack comes as calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to fill vacant minority seats at the agencies overseeing digital assets have grown louder ahead of a possible Senate floor vote on the Clarity Act later this month. The legislation would give both the SEC and CFTC expanded responsibility for overseeing the $2 trillion industry, fueling speculation that the White House is preparing to make long-awaited nominations.

That speculation intensified Thursday after the White House pushed back on Senate Democrats’ claims that the administration has refused to nominate Democratic commissioners to independent agencies. In a letter to Senate leaders, the White House said it requested recommendations from Senate Democrats for vacancies at both the SEC and CFTC but “has not received names in response.”

Goldsmith Romero, who was previously nominated to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the waning days of the Biden administration, had not publicly emerged as a contender for an SEC seat before Kelleher’s post, unlike a handful of other names that have circulated in recent months.

In a blog post, Kelleher called Goldsmith Romero “unqualified and untrustworthy,” accusing her of helping pave the way for the expansion of prediction markets by backing the CFTC’s decision to drop its lawsuit against Kalshi. He also argued that her potential nomination could give Democratic senators political cover to support the Clarity Act, which Kelleher described as a “bad crypto bill.”

The attack drew swift pushback from the crypto industry, with many pointing out that Better Markets and Kelleher himself had enthusiastically backed Goldsmith Romero just two years ago when she was under consideration to chair the FDIC. At the time, Better Markets described her as “uniquely highly qualified,” praising her experience across banking, securities, derivatives and law enforcement.

Kelleher rejected the comparison, arguing circumstances have changed since Better Markets endorsed her in 2024.

Whether Goldsmith Romero ultimately receives a nomination remains to be seen. She declined to comment when reached by Crypto In America.

Washington is setting the rules for digital assets.

Taking place in the heart of the nation’s capital, the Injective Summit brings together the policymakers shaping the future of digital assets and the builders putting finance onchain.

Featured speakers include:

• Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Gabe Evans (R-CO), William Timmons (R-SC)

• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

• Harry Jung, Deputy Director, President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets

• Joseph Chalom, Co-CEO, Sharplink

Crypto In America will be on the ground bringing you the interviews and insights you won’t want to miss. Applications close this week.

Apply to attend here.

Kraken's $22M Arbitration Win Against Former Auditor Revives Operation Choke Point 2.0 Claims

Kraken's parent company, Payward Inc., has asked the Delaware Court of Chancery to enter final judgment against auditing firm Forvis Mazars after winning a $22 million arbitration award over the firm's withdrawal from the exchange's nearly completed 2022 audit.

According to the arbitration ruling, Mazars' exit triggered what the arbitrator described as a "licensing crisis" for Kraken, delaying its efforts to obtain state money transmitter licenses and ultimately contributing to its acquisition of TradeStation Crypto, a licensed crypto brokerage with money transmitter licenses in 47 states.

In a blog post accompanying the filing, Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi characterized the dispute as another chapter in what the crypto industry and Republican lawmakers have dubbed "Operation Choke Point 2.0," a term largely associated with claims that crypto firms were cut off from banking services under the Biden administration. Sethi argues the campaign extended beyond banks to auditors and other critical service providers.

Kraken CEO Dave Ripley echoed that sentiment in a post on X, writing that the case is "worth surfacing" because "only a fraction of the stories from that era have ever been told," suggesting the Mazars dispute was one example of a broader effort to cut the crypto industry off from essential financial services.

Mazars cited legal uncertainty following the Securities and Exchange Commission's 2023 lawsuit accusing Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange when it withdrew from the engagement weeks later. Sethi, however, argues the decision reflected a broader retreat from the crypto industry, noting the firm had already exited its proof-of-reserves business earlier that year.

“The firm was not walking away from bad clients,” Sethi wrote. “It was walking away from an industry that had become politically expensive to serve. We were the collateral damage.”

A spokesperson for Mazars did not respond to a request for comment.

The SEC's lawsuit against Kraken was dismissed with prejudice in March 2025 after new leadership took over the agency under President Trump's second term and began unwinding many of the crypto enforcement actions brought during the Biden administration. Sethi argues the case illustrates why the industry is pushing Congress to pass the Clarity Act to create durable rules for crypto, rather than relying on shifting regulatory priorities from one administration to the next.

“We won this fight. Now our congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle need to come together to finish the bigger one. Pass the Clarity Act,” Sethi said.

The Biggest Problem in Tokenization Isn't Technology. It's Trust.

Tokenization has become Wall Street’s favorite crypto buzzword, but why hasn’t it scaled?

This week, we sat down with former SWIFT Chief Innovation Officer Tom Zschach to discuss the biggest hurdle facing tokenized assets today, why trust matters more than technology, and what needs to happen before traditional finance embraces tokenization at scale.

We also dive into SWIFT’s role in global finance, why the long-running narrative that blockchain would replace SWIFT missed the mark, how AI is likely to reshape financial markets, and why the next chapter of finance will be built by modernizing existing infrastructure rather than replacing it.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The SEC released its 2026 regulatory agenda, including a target timeline for “Regulation Crypto,” a potential rulemaking that could create fundraising registration exemptions for certain crypto products, establish a safe harbor for issuers, and allow limited fundraising under existing rules.

• Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who also presided over the SEC v. Ripple Labs case, ruled that New York's lawsuit against prediction market platform Kalshi can proceed after finding that the state's gambling laws, as applied to Kalshi's sports event contracts, are not preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act. Kalshi has appealed the decision to the Second Circuit.

• Ripple partnered with Kansas Athletics to bring the XRP logo to its jerseys, marking what the school says is the first time a major college athletics program has featured a cryptocurrency brand.

• Asset management giant Vanguard is hiring a Head of Digital Assets for its Personal Wealth business, marking its latest move into crypto after rolling out access to spot crypto ETFs for its brokerage clients earlier this year.

• Crypto VC firm Paradigm raised a $1.2 billion fund focused on AI and robotics.

• BonkDAO suffered a $20 million hack after attackers used a malicious governance proposal to drain its treasury.

• The White House says work on the long-awaited Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is ongoing.

This is our last Wednesday edition. Starting next week, the Crypto In America newsletter will drop every Monday and Thursday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

What you'll read: Clarity Act negotiations continue this week as ethics remains the biggest hurdle and Democratic calls to rein in President Trump's crypto business interests grow. Plus, what to watch this week and the top stories shaping crypto policy and markets.

The White House’s target of signing the Clarity Act into law by July 4 has come and gone, and if you’ve been following Crypto In America’s reporting, you’ll know why that timeline was always a long shot.

With all eyes now on August 6 as the next deadline, little has emerged publicly to suggest meaningful progress toward resolving the handful of outstanding issues needed to bring the bill to the Senate floor as lawmakers enter the second week of recess.

One notable exception has been the emergence of two letters from law enforcement organizations that have become key stakeholders in negotiations over the Clarity Act, both first reported by Crypto In America. The first, from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), formally endorsed the legislation, while the second, from the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), shifted to a neutral position, citing continued discussions with administration officials last week.

NOBLE also became the first major law enforcement organization to publicly back the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, a section of the legislation that has become the primary sticking point for other law enforcement groups involved in the negotiations. Those groups argue the provision could create oversight gaps that criminal actors could exploit. NOBLE, however, said the bill “does not alter the longstanding federal criminal authorities that investigators and prosecutors rely upon every day,” including statutes governing money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting businesses.

MCSA, meanwhile, said its discussions with administration officials presented an opportunity to “further strengthen the legislation in ways that support responsible innovation and the practical needs of state and local law enforcement.” That suggestion has raised concerns among some industry leaders that the BRCA section, which many view as essential to securing support from the crypto industry, could ultimately be watered down to win broader law enforcement support.

Elsewhere, no agreement has yet emerged on ethics provisions as political pressure continues to build following President Trump’s financial disclosures, which revealed he generated more than $1 billion in crypto-related income last year, including more than $600 million from his TRUMP memecoin.

That pressure was evident on Friday, when Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) renewed her call for ethics rules prohibiting the president, members of Congress, and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. The proposal drew pushback from some industry leaders, including BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, who argued any ethics rules should apply equally across all asset classes because the problem is politicians' conduct, not crypto itself.

Gillibrand’s latest push also comes amid scrutiny following reports that her son, Theodore, has raised funding to launch a perpetual futures exchange. The platform is not expected to involve crypto or blockchain technology, according to those reports, although it counts Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen among its backers.

Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), the two Democrats who voted to advance the Clarity Act out of the Senate Banking Committee in May and have said their continued support hinges on a strong ethics agreement being reached before a Senate floor vote, have also reacted sharply to President Trump’s financial disclosures.

“Trump is using the presidency to profit off the American people,” Gallego wrote in a post on X. “I’ll keep doing everything I can to crack down on his corrupt crypto dealings.” Alsobrooks told reporters that Trump and his family are “the most corrupt we’ve ever seen in the White House,” adding that an ethics provision is “desperately needed.”

Negotiations are expected to continue this week ahead of lawmakers returning from recess on July 13. If consensus is reached on the remaining issues, the Clarity Act could be brought to the Senate floor as soon as the week of July 20.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.'s Bitcoin mining company, American Bitcoin (ABTC), will continue trading on the Nasdaq after a 1-for-15 reverse stock split reduced its outstanding shares from roughly 1.09 billion to about 73 million.

Tuesday

SpaceX (SPCX) is set to join the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Wednesday

2:00 p.m.: The Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes from its June meeting, giving investors a closer look at policymakers' thinking on interest rates, inflation and the economy.

3:00 p.m.: The Federal Reserve publishes its consumer credit report, which measures how much Americans are borrowing outside of mortgages.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 3,588 BTC for approximately $216 million to fund distributions on its preferred stock and replenish the U.S. dollar reserves used to make those payments. The move marks a dramatic step up from last month’s sale of just 32 bitcoin.

• Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion purchased 42,197 ETH, worth roughly $74 million, lifting its ETH holdings to about $10 billion.

• Tokenization platform Securitize debuted on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ while simultaneously tokenizing $295 million worth of its own shares.

• Stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June, up 63% from May, according to Visa.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

What you'll read: Wall Street is looking beyond the crypto bear market, betting on the industry's long-term future. Plus, President Trump's latest financial disclosure is drawing fresh criticism from Senate Democrats as negotiations over ethics provisions in the Clarity Act continue. TRON DAO's Adrian Wall joins the podcast, and we round up the week's top stories.

Bitcoin just wrapped up a bruising start to the year, posting losses in both the first and second quarters for just the third time in its history.

Analysts have attributed the latest market slump to a confluence of factors, including nearly $5 billion in spot ETF outflows, a strengthening dollar, expectations that the Federal Reserve could resume raising interest rates, capital rotating into AI-related equities and uncertainty over whether Congress will pass crypto market structure legislation this year.

Still, many institutional investors view the downturn as little more than a bump in the road, using the slowdown to build for what they see as the next phase of market growth.

At a conference hosted by crypto infrastructure firm ZeroHash at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, institutional conviction in crypto was on full display. Executives from Morgan Stanley, Citi, BlackRock, DTCC and others gathered at one of traditional finance's most iconic venues to tout how they're bringing financial services onchain through tokenization and stablecoins.

“The value proposition is very, very obvious to people — atomic settlement, composability and borderless, frictionless payments,” said William Su, Head of Digital Assets Research at BlackRock, which has become one of Wall Street's leading proponents of tokenization. “I think you just have this big primordial goop that leads to that Cambrian explosion for tokenization to really take off and grow in the coming years.”

BlackRock was among more than 140 organizations named as partners by Open Standard, a newly formed independent company preparing to launch a stablecoin designed to compete with market leaders Circle and Tether.

ZeroHash CEO and founder Edward Woodford, whose firm counts Wall Street giants like BlackRock and Morgan Stanley among its partners, said one of the biggest shifts he's seen during this market downturn is institutions increasingly viewing crypto as a technology, rather than simply an asset class.

“It’s a broader understanding that this is a technology that can disrupt the way that value is moved, whether that be the way that dollars are moved or any other fiat currency, or fundamentally the way that securities and everything else is moved onchain globally," he said.

As traders look ahead to the second half of the year, they’ll be watching for the catalysts that have historically marked the end of previous crypto winters, including looser monetary policy, regulatory clarity and growing institutional adoption.

On that last point, some market watchers believe Wall Street’s continued engagement with the space could eventually translate into renewed demand.

“Every crypto conversation we’re having with traditional investors is focused on the long term and on several different topics — stablecoins, tokenization, prediction markets, regulation... the list goes on and on,” Ryan Rasmussen, Head of Research at Bitwise, told Crypto In America. “That’s distinctly different than at this same point in past cycles, when the only thing investors were focused on was negative price action.”

Rasmussen said he sees that as a positive sign for the months ahead.

“It tells me that Wall Street hasn’t left crypto by the wayside, and points to a second half of the year in which investor attention and appetite for crypto reaccelerates.”

Clarity Act Negotiations Continue

Major financial firms like Fidelity and industry leaders, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, believe passage of the Clarity Act could provide a meaningful catalyst for the crypto market.

The question now is whether lawmakers can get it across the finish line before time runs out.

Negotiations between industry stakeholders, lawmakers, congressional staff and administration officials are continuing this week as they work to prepare the bill for a Senate floor vote later this month. That included a meeting Monday between several law enforcement groups and administration officials as supporters continued their efforts to win over organizations that remain opposed to key provisions of the legislation.

According to sources briefed on the meeting, representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police, National Association of Police Organizations, National Sheriffs’ Association, Major Cities Chiefs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police attended.

However, major sticking points, including the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, were not discussed, sources said. Instead, the meeting focused on educating attendees about other provisions of the bill that supporters say would strengthen law enforcement's ability to fight onchain crime. The discussion also covered other law enforcement priorities unrelated to the legislation.

That effort comes as two of the organizations represented at Monday's meeting — the National Sheriffs' Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police signed a letter to the administration last week following weeks of similar meetings, including at least one with Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. The groups argued the BRCA could create oversight gaps that criminal actors could exploit to facilitate illicit activity, drawing pushback from the Department of Justice, which said the letter "contains factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizes Administration policy."

Discussions are expected to continue, with the hope, sources say, that some of these groups will move from opposing the Clarity Act to a position of neutrality, potentially easing concerns among Democratic lawmakers who have cited law enforcement's objections as a reason for withholding their support.

Meanwhile, President Trump's latest financial disclosure, which shows he made more than $1 billion from his family's various crypto ventures last year, is prompting fresh scrutiny from Senate Democrats as ethics remains one of the top issues to resolve before the bill reaches the Senate floor.

According to the disclosure, in addition to holding more than $50 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum, Trump reported more than $695 million in royalties related to his meme coin. His family's DeFi venture, World Liberty Financial, also generated more than $500 million from token sales and related transactions.

“The crypto legislation heading to the Senate floor must stop the President and his family from continuing to profit off crypto,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote in an X post on Tuesday.

Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), a member of the Senate Agriculture and Judiciary Committees who until recently was closely involved in negotiations over establishing ethics guardrails for the president in the Clarity Act, called it "the cost of corruption."

Washington is setting the rules for digital assets.

Taking place in the heart of the nation’s capital, the Injective Summit brings together the policymakers shaping the future of digital assets and the builders putting finance onchain.

Featured speakers include:

• Sunayna Tuteja, the Federal Reserve’s first Chief Innovation Officer

• Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Gabe Evans (R-CO), U.S. House of Representatives

• Christopher Perkins, Franklin Templeton

Crypto In America will be on the ground bringing you the interviews and insights you won’t want to miss. The most anticipated onchain finance event of the year is less than a month away.

Apply to attend here.

The “Clean Slate” Proposal That Could Rewrite Crypto’s Past

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Adrian Wall, Senior Director of U.S. Policy at TRON DAO and Managing Director of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, for a wide-ranging conversation on the Clarity Act and what’s happening behind the scenes as lawmakers race to finish the consequential piece of crypto market structure legislation.

Adrian breaks down why he’s still optimistic about the bill’s chances, explains the “Clean Slate” proposal he wants included in the final text, and delivers one of his sharpest critiques yet of the banking industry’s stablecoin lobbying effort, saying JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s public comments criticizing the bill were “a kick in the teeth” after months of private negotiations.

We also discuss the future of stablecoins, bringing crypto innovation back onshore, and why the most transformative blockchain applications likely haven't been invented yet.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• Bitcoin ended the second quarter down 14%, marking its second consecutive quarterly loss.

• Citi cut its 12-month Bitcoin price target to $82,000 from $112,000, citing negative crypto ETF flows and uncertainty surrounding the Clarity Act.

• JPMorgan emphasized the importance of adding strong safeguards to crypto market structure legislation in a company blog post.

• U.S. consumer sentiment rose in June, helped by moderating oil prices.

• Robinhood launched Robinhood Chain, enabling tokenized stock trading in more than 120 countries.

• Ethereum Institutional, a new nonprofit backed by BitMine, SharpLink and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, has launched to accelerate institutional adoption of Ethereum.

• President Trump’s financial disclosure shows he holds more than $50 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum and reported over $635 million in royalties tied to the TRUMP meme coin. World Liberty Financial generated more than $500 million from token sales and related transactions.

• Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD), a stablecoin launching with support from more than 140 partners, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and Coinbase, aiming to compete with Circle and Tether.

• Ripple proposed the XRPL Lending Protocol, which would let institutions borrow against tokenized assets onchain.

• BNY expanded its relationship with Circle, making USDC the first stablecoin available on the bank’s Digital Asset Custody platform.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you'll read: Why the next two weeks are critical for the Clarity Act, what to watch this week and the top headlines.

With the Senate now in recess until July 13, the fate of the Clarity Act hinges on the work set to take place behind the scenes over the next two weeks.

Staff from both parties, administration officials and industry stakeholders are now on the clock to resolve the remaining issues, including reconciling the Banking and Agriculture Committee texts and reaching agreement on ethics and illicit finance. More on that below.

When senators return, the focus will shift from negotiations to procedure and preparing the bill for Senate floor consideration.

Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said he wants to prioritize the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the must-pass defense bill, during the week of July 13. If that timeline holds, the Clarity Act could receive floor consideration later that month or during the first week of August before Congress breaks for its summer recess.

Conventional wisdom is that the Clarity Act must pass the Senate before the August recess if it stands a chance of becoming law this year. For that to happen, the bill would need the support of at least 60 senators, including at least seven Democrats, assuming all 53 Republicans vote in favor, which is not guaranteed since during floor consideration of the GENIUS Act, Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rand Paul (R-KY) voted no.

The support of many Democrats, including two who voted to advance the bill out of the Senate Banking Committee last month, is likely to hinge on whether the White House agrees to a strong ethics framework addressing President Trump’s crypto businesses, which have generated more than $2 billion in new wealth for him since returning to office, according to Reuters.

As of now, sources close to the negotiations say no final agreement has been reached among the parties. However, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told reporters last week that a new draft of the bill could include a revised proposal allowing state attorneys general to sue crypto exchanges that list tokens issued by public officials in violation of the act, a provision aimed at addressing Democratic concerns. Ultimately, though, President Trump will need to sign off on any compromise, making him the final arbiter of the dispute.

Meanwhile, key law enforcement groups continue to oppose the inclusion of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act in Section 604 of the bill, arguing that, as currently drafted, it would make it harder to investigate and prosecute onchain crime. Some industry participants have indicated they would support targeted revisions, raising the possibility that lawmakers will continue negotiating the language in hopes of winning over senators whose votes may depend on addressing law enforcement’s concerns.

Ironing out outstanding issues in the Agriculture Committee's text also remains a top priority over the coming days, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Among the sticking points are federal preemption of state law, how crypto exchanges should manage conflicts of interest and what restrictions should apply to affiliate trading.

Whether pro-crypto lawmakers can surmount the long list of remaining tasks and pass the bill through the Senate before the next recess remains to be seen, and optimism depends on whom you ask.

Some industry leaders believe the time crunch will prove to be a forcing function, creating the right conditions for a deal.

Others worry the calendar could prove to be the bigger challenge, with little time remaining and uncertainty over whether Republicans can secure the 60 votes needed to pass the bill through the Senate.

Still, Crypto In America has learned that Republican senators have a renewed sense of urgency to get the bill passed, driven by heightened political pressure following President Trump's decision to cancel the Housing bill signing, as well as the realization that time is running short.

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👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The House is in. The Senate is out.

The U.S. Supreme Court enters the final week of its current term and is set to hand down several major decisions, including whether Fed Governor Lisa Cook and former FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter can keep their jobs after President Trump’s efforts to fire them, as well as cases involving voting rights, birthright citizenship and more.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is expected to send the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to President Trump’s desk where he will either sign it, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. The bill includes a temporary ban on a central bank digital currency that would expire in 2030.

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.: We’ll get another read on consumer sentiment as the Conference Board releases its latest Consumer Confidence Index.

Binance is set to stop serving EU clients after failing to secure a license under the bloc’s MiCA framework, with the EU’s transitional period for crypto firms expiring on June 30.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m.: Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is set to speak at the European Central Bank’s annual symposium in Portugal.

Thursday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the number of jobs added in the month of June and the unemployment rate.

Tokenization firm Securitize is set to begin trading on the NYSE after completing its merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed SPAC.

Friday

🇺🇸 Happy 4th of July weekend!

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Bitcoin is entering the final week of the month below $60,000, while Ether remains below $1,600.

• Michael Saylor's Strategy announced a new capital framework and a $2 billion share buyback aimed at preserving its long-term Bitcoin exposure. The company also raised the dividend on its STRC preferred stock to 12%.

• The U.S. dollar is on track for its best month in nearly a year, gaining about 2.5% in June as investors weigh Middle East tensions and await U.S. jobs data.

• Bitcoin ETFs are heading for their worst month on record, with nearly $4 billion in net outflows.

• XRP ETFs brought in nearly $23 million in net inflows last week.

• Tokenization firm Securitize expects to raise $400 million through its merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed SPAC before beginning trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on July 2.

• A group of 17 Democratic senators has asked the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee to block the CFTC from using federal funds to sue states over prediction market regulation.

• A new report from Multicoin Capital projects HYPE could surge more than 400% to $319 by 2028, arguing the market is significantly undervaluing Hyperliquid as it evolves into an "everything exchange."

• BitGo said it will lay off 15% of its workforce, citing the need to sharpen its focus on security, trading, stablecoins and AI-powered infrastructure.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you'll read: Interest groups raise concerns about a key Clarity Act provision, crypto-backed candidates rack up primary wins, and what to watch at this morning's House Financial Services hearing on the future of payments.

Law enforcement groups that have emerged as key stakeholders in Senate negotiations over the Clarity Act remain unconvinced that the bill contains adequate safeguards against illicit finance, according to a letter sent to administration officials on Tuesday.

The missive, signed by representatives from the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs’ Association, cites lingering concerns over Section 604 of the bill, better known as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The groups argue the provision could create oversight gaps that criminal actors could exploit to facilitate narcotics trafficking, fraud, child exploitation, sanctions evasion and terrorist financing.

“Regulatory certainty should not come at the expense of accountability, transparency, victim protection, or public safety,” the groups stated.

The letter was addressed to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, both of whom met with representatives from the organizations as recently as last week.

The opposition comes despite weeks of outreach from the administration, members of Congress and crypto advocacy groups aimed at winning support for the BRCA, a key provision originally sponsored by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). Supporters argue the measure would protect non-custodial software developers from money transmitter laws and help keep innovation in the United States.

“Our concern is not with individuals who merely write or publish software code, nor with responsible technological innovation,” the letter stated. “Rather, our concern is with broad exemptions that may shield individuals or entities whose activities facilitate the movement of digital assets, create obstacles to legitimate oversight, or weaken longstanding investigative and enforcement authorities relied upon by law enforcement.”

The letter goes beyond the BRCA, arguing the bill does not establish safeguards commonly applied to other financial intermediaries, including suspicious activity monitoring and reporting requirements, while potentially exempting some crypto participants from key AML/CFT obligations.

Notably, the National Fraternal Order of Police and the National Association of Police Organizations, both of which have been involved in the ongoing discussions, did not sign the letter.

At the same time, opposition to the BRCA appears to extend beyond traditional law enforcement groups. A coalition of Catholic organizations led by the Alliance to End Human Trafficking sent a similar letter to Senate leadership warning the provision could “weaken safeguards against illicit finance and create vulnerabilities that traffickers and transnational criminal organizations may exploit.”

So far, the industry has largely treated the BRCA as a red line in negotiations over the Clarity Act. But with support from certain Democratic lawmakers potentially dependent on winning over law enforcement groups, advocates are increasingly signaling a willingness to consider narrow changes that preserve the provision’s core protections.

Miller Whitehouse-Levine, founder and CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, who has been involved in discussions with lawmakers and staff around the BRCA, said there may be room for targeted revisions aimed at addressing concerns around criminal intent and bad actors, but drew a hard line against changes that would narrow the scope of the provision's exemptions.

“To the extent, for example, we can clarify the rule of construction to address potential concerns around specific intent or knowingly trying to do something illicit, I’m completely open to that,” he said.

However, Whitehouse-Levine said he would oppose “fundamental changes” to the provision or the categories of developers it protects, arguing such revisions would undermine the measure’s core purpose.

Crypto Cash Fuels Another Round of Primary Wins

Crypto-backed candidates came out on top in Tuesday’s slate of primaries in Maryland, New York and Utah.

Adrian Boafo, 32, declared victory in Maryland's 5th Congressional District Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House's longest-serving Democrat, for whom Boafo once served as campaign manager.

Boafo, who introduced pro-crypto legislation in the Maryland state legislature, benefited from significant outside spending, including $5.5 million from crypto-backed super PAC Fairshake affiliate Protect Progress, which touted its role in the win.

“We went big and we went early,” a Fairshake spokesman said in a statement. “We did our part to move Adrian Boafo from fifth place to the halls of Congress. He is poised to be a leader in the largest pro-crypto Congress in history.”

Boafo, who also received individual contributions from three Coinbase executives, appears eager to embrace the crypto policy mantle.

“Digital assets play an increasing role in our everyday lives, and I look forward to supporting policies that help build generational wealth in this evolving economy,” Boafo told Crypto In America.

He will face Republican nominee Chris Chaffee in November.

Protect Progress also spent $516,000 backing Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, where she defeated former Rep. David Trone to secure the Democratic nomination for another term. Delaney holds an “A” rating from Stand With Crypto after voting in favor of both the GENIUS Act and the Clarity Act in the House.

Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), who also holds an "A" rating from Stand With Crypto, received $400,000 from Fairshake affiliate Defend American Jobs in his successful bid to fend off a primary challenger in Utah's 2nd Congressional District.

Over in New York, one of Congress’ most outspoken crypto advocates, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), cruised to victory in the Democratic primary in the 15th Congressional District with substantial backing from industry-aligned groups and donors.

Protect Progress spent roughly $1.4 million supporting Torres’ campaign, while Fellowship PAC, funded by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital and associated with stablecoin issuer Tether, added another $300,000. Executives from Andreessen Horowitz, Ripple, Galaxy Digital, Coinbase, Solana Labs, Gemini and Robinhood chipped in more than $280,000 through individual donations.

Washington is setting the rules for digital assets.

Taking place in the heart of the nation’s capital, the Injective Summit brings together the policymakers shaping the future of digital assets and the builders putting finance onchain.

Featured speakers include:

• Sunayna Tuteja, the Federal Reserve’s first Chief Innovation Officer

• Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Gabe Evans (R-CO), U.S. House of Representatives

• Christopher Perkins, Franklin Templeton

Crypto In America will be on the ground bringing you the interviews and insights you won’t want to miss. The most anticipated onchain finance event of the year is less than a month away.

Apply to attend here.

Is August 7th the Real Deadline for the Clarity Act?

This week on the podcast, Eleanor and Gerald sit down with Solana Policy Institute founder and CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine, who explains why he believes August 7 is the Senate’s last real opportunity to pass crypto market structure legislation this Congress and why he’s grown frustrated with calls for more time after 18 months of negotiations.

Whitehouse-Levine breaks down the final hurdles standing in the bill’s way, including the fight over the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, why he believes the provision is critical to protecting software developers from criminal liability, and how ongoing negotiations with law enforcement groups could shape the bill’s path forward.

The conversation also explores the crypto industry’s growing political influence, why durable legislation matters more than temporary regulatory relief, the rise of developer-focused advocacy in Washington, and what could happen to innovation in the United States if Congress fails to act before the window closes.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

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Beyond Stablecoins: The Battle Over Crypto Bank Charters

This morning, the House Financial Services Committee will take up the future of payments in a hearing expected to cover stablecoins, bank charters and the evolving role of digital assets in the U.S. financial system.

Ahead of the hearing, I caught up with Rachel Anderika, Anchorage Digital’s Head of Global Operations and one of the witnesses set to be in the hot seat alongside representatives from Stripe, the Bank Policy Institute, Davis Polk and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

While stablecoins and implementation of the GENIUS Act are likely top of mind for lawmakers, Anderika argues the more consequential debate may be about who gets access to the U.S. banking system as crypto companies increasingly seek federal charters.

“There are voices on both sides,” Anderika told me. “We’re going to be talking about stablecoins, how they’re regulated, and what they mean for innovation in payments. But we’re also going to be talking about chartering.”

The hearing comes amid growing tensions between traditional banking groups and crypto-native firms over access to national trust bank charters and the Federal Reserve's payment rails through master accounts. Banking trade groups have argued that crypto firms are seeking bank-like benefits without the same regulatory obligations imposed on traditional banks. Anderika rejects that characterization, arguing federally chartered trust banks remain subject to rigorous federal oversight and examination.

“A national trust bank is a national bank. Period. Full stop,” she said, noting that while trust banks cannot take deposits and make loans in the same way as traditional banks, they remain subject to federal supervision and examination.

At the heart of the debate is whether stablecoin issuers are fundamentally different from traditional banks.

Unlike traditional banks, which use customer deposits to extend credit, stablecoin issuers generally hold full reserves in cash and Treasuries, allowing users to redeem their holdings on demand. That distinction, Anderika argues, should be part of the conversation as lawmakers consider how payment innovation fits into the existing regulatory framework.

When it comes to competition, Anderika, herself a former bank examiner, pushed back on the notion that banks and crypto firms are headed for a winner-take-all showdown.

“I don’t really know a bank that’s not pursuing either a stablecoin strategy or a tokenized deposit strategy, or both,” she said.

That observation may end up being one of the most important themes of today’s hearing. While the public debate is often framed as banks versus crypto, many of the largest financial institutions are simultaneously exploring the same technologies crypto firms are building, making the question less about who wins and more about whether the two can coexist.

You can watch the hearing live at 10:00 a.m. ET here.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you'll read: Crypto PACs pour millions into Maryland's 5th District race and Rep. Ritchie Torres' primary, the Clarity Act takes center stage before Congress leaves for recess, what to watch this week, and more.

Crypto campaign cash returns to the spotlight this week as Fairshake affiliate Protect Progress racks up another major spend in support of Maryland State Delegate Adrian Boafo’s bid to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District.

With Democratic primaries set for Tuesday, the pro-crypto super PAC has spent roughly $5.5 million backing Boafo so far, while the Blockchain Leadership Fund, established by crypto firms Anchorage Digital and Chainlink, has also thrown its support behind his campaign.

Boafo, who previously served as Hoyer’s campaign manager, will face more than 20 other Democratic candidates but enters the race with an edge, with traders on Kalshi and Polymarket giving him roughly a 80% chance of victory. He has also secured several high-profile endorsements, including from Hoyer himself, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, and freshman Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), a key architect of the GENIUS and Clarity Acts.

Boafo, for his part, is also running as a pro-crypto candidate after introducing legislation aimed at providing regulatory clarity for digital assets and blockchain technology in Maryland.

“I’m proud to be a strong advocate for policies that create new economic opportunities for Marylanders in the 5th Congressional District, and digital assets are no exception,” Boafo told Crypto In America.

Another race to watch on Tuesday is New York’s 15th Congressional District, where Protect Progress has spent roughly $1.4 million backing pro-crypto incumbent Rep. Ritchie Torres as he enters the Democratic primary as the overwhelming favorite against former Assemblyman Michael Blake and a handful of lesser-known challengers.

Fellowship PAC has also reported spending roughly $300,000 on ads supporting Torres, a longtime crypto supporter who co-founded the Congressional Crypto Caucus with Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN). Executives from several major crypto firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Ripple, Galaxy Digital, Coinbase, Solana Labs, and Robinhood, have contributed more than $275,000 to Torres through individual donations.

Last week, Fairshake notched its biggest spend of the cycle, pouring roughly $12 million into helping Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) defeat former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson in Alabama's Republican Senate primary runoff. The group also noted it still has roughly $150 million in cash on hand to "continue driving the construction of the largest pro-crypto caucus in history."

Clarity Crunch Time

Pro-crypto senators and industry advocates are expected to push to make as much progress as possible on the Clarity Act before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess on Thursday.

Member meetings and staff-level negotiations aimed at resolving outstanding issues on provisions in the Agriculture Committee text, ethics language, and illicit finance, are expected to continue throughout the week.

Meanwhile, industry advocates will maintain a strong presence on Capitol Hill. The Digital Chamber will host an advocacy day Tuesday, bringing more than 50 members to meetings with senators and staff to advocate for passage of the Clarity Act. The group will follow that effort Wednesday with a tax-focused fly-in, during which members will meet with House offices to discuss crypto tax clarity and recent legislative drafts from the Ways and Means Committee.

“The urgency to act on Clarity is increasing as the legislative calendar shrinks,” Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone told Crypto In America. “We remain committed to getting market structure to the President’s desk this year, ensuring the U.S. has a robust regulatory foundation for digital assets.”

National, tribal, and state gaming groups are also expected to be active on Capitol Hill this week as they lobby senators to include language in the Clarity Act that would prohibit sports betting on prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

Sources close to the negotiations say prediction market-related provisions are unlikely to gain traction as lawmakers focus on resolving other outstanding issues before bringing the Clarity Act to the Senate floor after recess.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The SEC and CFTC open a 60-day joint public comment period seeking feedback on ways to harmonize and streamline reporting requirements across the swap and security-based swap markets.

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.: The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on affordability.

The Digital Chamber will hold a “fly-in” on market structure.

Wednesday

10:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the future of payments.

The Digital Chamber will hold another “fly-in” focused on tax policy.

Thursday

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department releases its final estimate of Q1 GDP, along with the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index for May.

10:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on “The Future of How America Invests.”

2:00 p.m.: The House Oversight Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs will hold a roundtable on the national security implications of digital assets, including their role in promoting financial freedom under authoritarian regimes.

Friday

10:00 a.m.: The University of Michigan releases its final June consumer sentiment survey.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Bitcoin is hovering around $65,000 to start the week, while the broader crypto market is mixed as investors weigh progress in U.S.-Iran talks after the two sides agreed to a 60-day roadmap toward a final deal.

• Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who led the U.S. central bank from 1987 to 2006, died Monday at the age of 100.

• Crypto exchange OKX has launched a joint venture with New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange, with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set to lead the effort.

• Franklin Templeton filed for the Franklin U.S. Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF, which would reinvest stock dividends into bitcoin exposure.

• Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) introduced legislation to ban lawmakers and their families from placing bets on political and policy outcomes in prediction markets.

• Crypto, blockchain analytics firms and payment companies including PayPal, TRM Labs, Chainalysis and Luno commit to disrupt financial flows linked to the illegal wildlife trade.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now

What you'll read: The latest push to bring the Clarity Act to the Senate floor; Governor JB Pritzker signs a controversial crypto tax into law in Illinois; Rep. Dusty Johnson joins the podcast; and a roundup of the week's top stories.

With just over a week remaining before the Senate leaves for the July 4 recess, pro-crypto senators and administration officials are continuing behind-the-scenes negotiations to position the Clarity Act for a floor vote when lawmakers return.

According to sources familiar with the proceedings, a bipartisan group of senators from the Banking and Agriculture Committees is expected to meet this morning to discuss outstanding issues. Later today, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is scheduled to meet with law enforcement groups as the administration continues its push to build support for the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, a key yet controversial provision of the bill.

The measure would clarify that certain non-custodial software developers are not liable for how third parties use their code unless they knowingly intended it to facilitate illicit activity, something law enforcement officials worry could hamper their ability to pursue bad actors operating onchain. As Crypto In America has reported, law enforcement buy-in could prove critical to securing the support of several Democratic senators who have made clear they want those concerns addressed before backing the legislation.

Meanwhile, industry advocates are keeping the pressure on from the outside. On Wednesday, Stand With Crypto organized a Capitol Hill "fly-in" that brought advocates from more than a dozen states to meet with 18 Senate offices and push for final passage of the Clarity Act. The Digital Chamber is expected to host a similar lobbying day on Tuesday.

“The urgency to act on Clarity is increasing as the legislative calendar shrinks,” said Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone. “Our fly-in next week is timed to bring the world’s leading founders, builders, and innovators to DC to make the case for why the U.S. should lead on crypto and pass Clarity now.”

The advocacy push comes as lawmakers race to resolve outstanding issues amid growing concerns that the bill's prospects could diminish significantly once Congress turns its attention to the midterm elections.

“We have got to close this out before August otherwise that door will shut for far too long,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Digital Assets Subcommittee, told Crypto In America. “We cannot count on the lame duck session to do it.”

'A Tollbooth on the Internet': Illinois Signs First-of-Its-Kind Crypto Tax Into Law

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the state’s $56 billion budget into law Wednesday, including a controversial new crypto tax that has industry advocates comparing the measure to a “tollbooth on the internet.”

Pritzker’s signature clears the way for Illinois to impose a 20 basis point, or 0.2%, tax on certain digital asset business activities beginning January 1, 2027. The tax will apply to firms that exchange, transfer or store digital assets on behalf of customers rather than being tied to income, profits or capital gains. The measure is expected to generate roughly $60 million in annual revenue for the state.

According to people familiar with the legislation, the measure was added late in budget negotiations without input from industry stakeholders or any public economic study examining its potential impact.

Critics argue the measure singles out the crypto industry because there is no comparable state tax on the exchange, transfer or custody of stocks, bonds or derivatives anywhere in the country.

“Illinois has created a toll on a road it didn’t build and doesn’t maintain,” said Trish Turner, Tax Director at Crypto Tax Girl and a former IRS Digital Asset Senior Advisor “Stocks, bonds, and derivatives face nothing like it.”

Turner questioned how lawmakers arrived at the 0.2% rate, suggesting it was "reverse-engineered" to meet a predetermined revenue target. She also joined a growing chorus of crypto leaders warning the measure could trigger an exodus of crypto businesses from the Prairie State.

“Illinois just put a tollbooth on the internet,” she said. “The result could be developers relocating, exchanges routing around the state and the blockchain innovation ecosystem that Illinois could have cultivated growing elsewhere. You don’t build a digital economy by taxing the infrastructure layer.”

As for options to overturn the measure, the industry's path forward appears limited. Illinois lawmakers are out for the remainder of the year, leaving potential litigation and public pressure as the most likely avenues for challenging the tax before it takes effect.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has already begun rallying opposition to the measure. In a post on X, he called the tax "remarkably bad" and encouraged Coinbase's more than 1.5 million Illinois customers — whom he pointedly referred to as "voters" — to contact their representatives through Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Rep. Dusty Johnson Warns Senate: Pass the Clarity Act Before August

This week on the podcast, Eleanor and Gerald sat down with Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Digital Assets Subcommittee, for a wide-ranging conversation on the Clarity Act, DeFi regulation, CFTC funding and why he believes the window for passing crypto market structure legislation is rapidly closing.

The South Dakota congressman also discusses the biggest hurdles standing between the bill and President Trump’s desk, why he sees parallels between crypto and the early days of the internet and what happens if the Senate sends the House a version of the legislation it can’t support.

Catch the full episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday, with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh declining to provide guidance on future rate hikes even as several Fed officials continue to project one additional increase this year.

• The U.S. and Iran signed a peace deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but crypto markets largely ignored the news amid a hawkish Fed.

• Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) won the Republican primary runoff for Alabama's open Senate seat, defeating former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson after receiving a significant boost from crypto-backed spending. Fairshake alone spent more than $12 million on the race.

• CME CEO Terry Duffy, who will step down next year to become executive chairman, says the exchange plans to sue the CFTC over its decision to approve perpetual futures contracts.

• Binance is reportedly preparing to halt services for customers across Europe after a key licensing application appears headed for rejection, according to Reuters. The exchange pushed back on the report, saying it remains committed to European users and is continuing to pursue authorization under MiCA.

• A provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency until 2030 has been included in a bicameral housing package set for consideration this week.

• Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Uniswap's UNI token with a $100 price target by 2030, implying roughly 40x upside from current levels as tokenized assets increasingly move onchain.

• BlackRock launched BITA, a bitcoin income fund designed to give investors exposure to bitcoin while generating monthly yield through covered calls.

• A bipartisan coalition of senators urged Treasury to maintain a pathway for state-regulated stablecoin issuers, arguing that states should continue to play a meaningful role in overseeing the growing sector.

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Here's what you'll read: A July 4 signing for the Clarity Act may be a long shot, but many in Washington and the crypto industry still believe the bill has a path to becoming law before year-end. Plus, a look at the week ahead and the top stories we’re watching.

Over the past year, the crypto industry has been given no shortage of target dates for when the Clarity Act might become law. So far, none have hit the mark, and the latest is unlikely to be any different.

During an interview at CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami conference in May, White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt said the administration was targeting passage of the legislation by July 4, calling it a “tremendous birthday present” for America’s 250th anniversary.

Since then, the Senate Banking Committee has advanced the bill, with two Democrats supporting it on the condition that stronger ethics guardrails related to President Trump be included in the final legislation. As of last week, negotiations over those provisions were described by one participant as “rocky” and remained ongoing, while lawmakers continue to work through other outstanding issues in the bill.

In an interview with Crypto In America on Friday, Witt said he remains optimistic that the July 4 timeline can still be achieved, pointing to continued behind-the-scenes efforts to resolve issues in the Agriculture Committee's text, finalize an ethics agreement with Democrats, and win support from law enforcement groups on illicit finance provisions, including the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.

But even if all of those outstanding issues were resolved this week, there simply isn’t enough time left on the legislative calendar to make a July 4 signing logistically possible.

It’s not an opinion, it’s just math.

To make that timeline work, the Senate would first need to merge the Banking and Agriculture Committee texts, secure the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, achieve cloture on a manager’s amendment, adopt that amendment, and pass the legislation. The House, which is out this week, would then need to approve the Senate’s changes and pass the bill again before it could be sent to President Trump’s desk for signature.

All of that would need to happen in just nine Senate working days — a tall order for a bill that still has several major policy disputes left unresolved.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of the bill’s chief architects, appeared to acknowledge those challenges in an interview with Crypto In America earlier this month.

“We have to wrap the Banking Committee bill with the Ag Committee’s bill, with the ethics provisions, with some changes to the Genius Act,” Lummis said. “And so to get all of those pushed into one bill and then get the 60 votes necessary for cloture on the floor of the Senate might take a little more time than the Fourth of July.”

Meanwhile, senators appear to recognize that the Clarity Act is not yet ready for floor consideration and are focusing on other priorities. Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said last week he was optimistic that Congress could send a bipartisan housing affordability bill to President Trump's desk “in the next week or so.”

This week, the Senate is expected to consider the nomination of former SEC Chair Jay Clayton to serve as Director of National Intelligence, while lawmakers continue working toward a bipartisan agreement to reauthorize FISA Section 702, a key national security surveillance authority that expired Friday.

Many in the crypto industry, and on Capitol Hill, view the August recess as the more meaningful benchmark for getting the Clarity Act across the finish line. Even then, some believe the legislation has enough political momentum to continue advancing beyond that point and through the remainder of the year.

“I think it has a lot of momentum now,” Lummis said. “The fact that it came out of the Banking Committee on a bipartisan vote, and now we’re getting lots of support from Treasury, from the White House ... these are the kind of things that give it the momentum to keep us going.”

Adam Minehardt, Chief Policy Officer at Hyperliquid Policy Center and a former congressional staffer, expressed a similar view.

“A lot has been made about deadlines, but in my opinion there is enough political capital invested in this effort that it would be hard to see it falling off the agenda for the remainder of the 119th Congress,” he said.

Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told Punchbowl News that there was still "plenty of time" to get the bill done and that passage during the lame-duck session following the midterms remained a possibility.

Still, if the Clarity Act isn't signed into law by the end of this year, its biggest challenge may shift from policy to politics. The question then becomes whether the bipartisan coalition supporting the bill can hold together should Democrats take control of the House or Senate following the November midterm elections.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

The Senate is in session this week, while the House is out on a district work period.

The CFTC opens a 45-day public comment period on its proposed rulemaking for prediction markets.

Tuesday

11:00 a.m.: The Solana Policy Institute kicks off its Washington x Wall Street policy event in Chicago. Crypto In America will record a live episode on stage with Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD).

Alabama voters will head to the polls to decide who will advance in the race to fill Senator Tommy Tuberville's open Senate seat. The Republican primary runoff is between Rep. Barry Moore and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson.

Wednesday

2:00 p.m.: The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its next interest rate decision, with the CME FedWatch Tool indicating that the central bank is expected to hold rates steady at 3.5%–3.75%.

2:30 p.m.: Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will hold his first press conference.

Friday

U.S. equity markets and federal government offices will be closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

Iran is expected to sign a ceasefire agreement.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Bitcoin is trading above $66,000, lifting the broader crypto market, following Sunday's news of a preliminary peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.

• After its record-breaking public debut on Friday, SpaceX is now the eighth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin.

• The SEC proposed rescinding Regulation NMS Rules 611 and 610(e) to cut costs and let competition, innovation, and other market forces “drive the evolution of U.S. equity markets.”

• The SEC approved T. Rowe Price’s Active Crypto ETF, which could hold as many as 15 digital assets including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and Dogecoin.

• Crypto data and research firm Blockworks has acquired rival Messari in a deal reportedly valued at over $10 million.

• Citigroup will begin rolling out tokenized shares of private companies.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

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What you'll read: The two biggest hurdles standing in the way of a Clarity Act floor vote are getting attention this week, though progress on one has been rocky so far. Plus, House lawmakers turn to crypto taxes; Eleanor sits down with Jenny Johnson and Adam Back at Proof of Talk to discuss the convergence of Wall Street and crypto; and a breakdown of the headlines shaping the industry this week.

Senate lawmakers working to reach an ethics agreement as part of efforts to advance the Clarity Act to a floor vote came away empty-handed after a closed-door meeting Tuesday, as first reported by Crypto In America.

It was the first time a bipartisan group of senators — including Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) — along with White House Crypto Council Executive Director Patrick Witt, had reconvened since reaching a tentative ethics agreement ahead of the Senate Banking Committee’s markup of the bill in May.

According to sources familiar with the discussions, key elements of that agreement — including a provision that would have allowed state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice over a failure to enforce ethics provisions related to President Trump — were walked back by Republican members and the White House during the meeting amid concerns from senators outside the negotiations that such authority could also be used by both parties to target members of Congress.

The proposal has raised constitutional questions among legal experts.

“It’s fine for states to sue the federal government when it acts unconstitutionally, but the idea that state AGs could force DOJ to take action is just bonkers from a constitutional perspective,” J.W. Verret, an associate professor at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, told Crypto In America.

As an olive branch, Republicans proposed limiting enforcement authority to the Attorney General, and floated impeachment as an alternative potential remedy for ethics violations. Still, the offers were not enough to satisfy Democrats, who characterized them as an “about face” from the tentative agreement reached before the Banking Committee markup. Participants left the meeting frustrated, with one source describing the state of the negotiations as “rocky.”

The group is expected to reconvene Thursday in another attempt to break the impasse.

Ethics remains one of two major hurdles standing in the way of a floor vote, with Democrats, including Gallego and Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), indicating that their continued support for the legislation depends on the inclusion of strong ethics guardrails addressing President Trump’s crypto business interests. Since returning to office, Trump and his family have generated an estimated $2.3 billion from those ventures, according to Reuters.

Winning Over Law Enforcement

The other major hurdle is winning the support of law enforcement groups, which remain concerned that certain provisions in the Clarity Act could hinder their ability to investigate and prosecute criminals who use blockchain technology to facilitate money laundering and other illicit activity.

In an effort to address those concerns, the White House Crypto Council will host representatives from the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, National District Attorneys’ Association and other groups on Wednesday alongside officials from the Department of Justice, Treasury, FinCEN, and members of Congress.

The meeting is expected to focus on Section 604 of the bill, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which would clarify that certain non-custodial software developers are not liable for how third parties use their code unless they intended it to facilitate illicit activity. Some law enforcement groups worry the provision could make it harder to pursue bad actors operating onchain. Administration officials are expected to argue the language does not shield criminals from prosecution and preserves law enforcement's ability to combat money laundering, sanctions evasion, and other illicit activity.

Just as resolving the ethics debate is key to winning Democratic support for the bill, so too is addressing concerns from law enforcement. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), have signaled they will not support the legislation unless law enforcement believes those concerns have been adequately addressed.

Meanwhile, time is of the essence. The Senate has just 31 session days remaining before the August recess, which many lawmakers and lobbyists view as the unofficial deadline for passing the Clarity Act before Congress turns its focus to the midterm elections.

The Third Leg of the Stool: Crypto Taxes

The House Ways and Means Committee turned its attention Tuesday to what many in the crypto industry view as the final piece of the policy puzzle after stablecoins and market structure: taxes.

During a hearing on digital asset taxation, Congress’ chief tax-writing committee examined six Republican-led bills and a discussion draft aimed at modernizing how crypto is treated under the U.S. tax code.

The proposals address everything from mining and staking rewards to reporting requirements, crypto donations, tax treatment parity, voluntary disclosure, and the application of existing anti-abuse rules to digital assets. A separate discussion draft targets the use of offshore crypto tax shelters.

The three-hour hearing underscored growing momentum behind efforts to address long-standing tax issues facing the industry, but also revealed a more measured approach among Democrats, several of whom stressed the need to move deliberately before rewriting portions of the tax code to accommodate digital assets.

“We’re wading into a novel topic with a degree of caution, which is an important consideration,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA).

Despite broad support for Congress tackling crypto taxes, not all industry participants were satisfied with the proposals. Among the biggest complaints was the absence of a de minimis exemption for small Bitcoin transactions, which would allow users to make small purchases with the asset without triggering capital gains reporting requirements. Others argued the package leaves several key areas of the digital asset ecosystem without clear guidance.

"Yesterday's Ways and Means hearing delivered real substance," said Trish Turner, Tax Director at Crypto Tax Girl and a former IRS Digital Asset Senior Advisor. "The voluntary disclosure program and staking clarity are meaningful wins. But DeFi, fraud victims, and the broader international tax framework remain largely unaddressed."

Industry leaders are expected to continue working with lawmakers on the proposals, but time is not on their side. With the midterm elections approaching and control of the House up for grabs, it remains unclear whether Congress can forge a bipartisan consensus before legislative priorities shift elsewhere.

Crypto compliance isn’t slowing teams down anymore. It’s becoming a growth lever.

Sumsub is the identity verification and compliance platform trusted by 4,000+ companies, including 8 of the 10 largest crypto exchanges.

Their free State of the Crypto Industry 2026 report covers how the industry has shifted into a regulated maturity era: smarter fraud, higher expectations, and a new playbook for teams that want to scale. Inside: how to balance friction and conversion, where Travel Rule gaps remain, and why verification is now a competitive edge, not a checkbox.

Data from 4M+ fraud attempts and 300+ crypto companies surveyed. See how your peers are adapting here.

Does Crypto Need Wall Street, or Does Wall Street Need Crypto?

This week on the podcast, we air Eleanor’s interview from the 2026 Proof of Talk Conference in Paris with Blockstream co-founder Adam Back and Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson.

The conversation explores the convergence of Wall Street and crypto, including whether institutional adoption is at odds with Bitcoin’s original cypherpunk vision or simply the next stage of its evolution. Back and Johnson discuss the rise of crypto ETFs, tokenization, self-custody, and wallet-native finance, and why some of Wall Street’s hesitation to move onchain stems from the fact that blockchain technology threatens many of the business models that traditional finance relies on today.

They also dive into the future of tokenized money market funds, the growing use of digital assets as collateral, the debate over stablecoin yield, and why both speakers believe the lines between traditional finance and crypto will continue to blur in the years ahead.

Watch this episode on all platforms here.

Midweek Recap

ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.

• The CFTC unveiled its first proposed rule for prediction markets, outlining how the agency would determine whether event contracts violate federal restrictions on markets tied to areas such as war, terrorism, assassination, illegal activity, and gaming.

• CME Group launched Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures tied to a basket of leading cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, bitcoin cash, and XLM.

• Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says Robinhood Securities has won approval to underwrite IPOs and plans to be "disruptive" in the market.

• SpaceX's IPO has reportedly attracted more than $250 billion in investor demand, nearly four times the $75 billion the company is seeking to raise.

• Sam Bankman-Fried has formally applied for a pardon from President Trump, two years after being convicted of fraud in connection with the collapse of FTX.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

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What you'll read: Crypto taxes take center stage this week as negotiations over the Clarity Act drag on. Plus, what we're watching this week and a roundup of weekend headlines.

The House will turn its attention to crypto tax reform this week as Senate lawmakers continue negotiations to bring the Clarity Act to the floor.

The lower chamber’s chief tax-writing committee, Ways and Means, will take up the issue Tuesday afternoon in a hearing featuring experts from Fidelity, Coinbase, Coin Center and New York University. The committee will also examine seven discussion drafts that would overhaul how digital assets are taxed in the United States.

The bills effectively break apart the broader Digital Asset PARITY Act introduced in December by Reps. Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV), along with similar legislation from Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), into a series of standalone proposals covering stablecoin transactions, mining and staking, crypto lending, wash sale rules, charitable donations and taxpayer disclosures.

The move has received praise from some of the industry's leading advocacy groups, including The Digital Chamber, The Blockchain Association and the Crypto Council for Innovation. The Digital Sovereignty Alliance, which promotes ethical innovation in blockchain, described the effort as one of the most consequential developments yet in U.S. crypto tax policy.

“Breaking the PARITY Act into seven standalone drafts on staking, mining, lending, and wash sales gives lawmakers a clearer path to get the details right rather than rushing an omnibus,” the group said.

The reaction has not been uniformly positive. Some industry participants have privately raised concerns about specific provisions in the package, though none were willing to speak publicly ahead of Tuesday's hearing.

Illinois Crypto Tax Backlash

The federal tax debate comes as Illinois prepares to implement a sweeping $56 billion state budget that includes a controversial 0.2% tax on certain digital asset transactions, a measure industry groups warn could drive crypto businesses and investment out of the state.

“I think the legislature, by adding this 20 basis point tax…is truly telling you to pack your bags and move,” Olta Andoni, executive director of the Illinois Blockchain Association, told Crypto In America.

In a joint letter, the Illinois Blockchain Association and the Digital Chamber called the legislation substantively unsound, procedurally deficient, and economically destructive, urging the legislature to reconsider the measure.

Illinois is home to more than 300 startups and established firms focused on crypto and blockchain technology. Its largest city, Chicago, is a global hub for futures and derivatives trading, with institutions such as CME Group and Cboe offering regulated crypto products and exposure to digital assets.

The state budget has cleared the legislature and now awaits Governor JB Pritzker’s signature.

Clarity Act Negotiations Roll On

Efforts to bring the Clarity Act to the Senate floor are set to continue this week as lawmakers and the White House work to close remaining gaps on ethics and DeFi and reconcile the Banking and Agriculture Committee texts.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Crypto In America on Wednesday that while a vote before the July 4 recess remains possible, the bill is more likely to be taken up after lawmakers return on July 13.

“We have to wrap the Banking Committee bill with the Ag Committee’s bill, with the ethics provisions, with some changes to the Genius Act,” Lummis said. “And so to get all of those pushed into one bill and then get the 60 votes necessary for cloture on the floor of the Senate might take a little more time than the Fourth of July.”

The GENIUS Act changes Lummis referenced stem from an amendment offered by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) during the Banking Committee markup that makes a number of technical revisions to the legislation passed last year.

Although ethics provisions and securing law enforcement buy-in for the current DeFi language remain top priorities, the debate over stablecoin yield continues to simmer beneath the surface. Banking groups are ramping up their campaign against the Clarity Act’s stablecoin yield compromise, with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently signaling that banks remain opposed to the bill’s current approach.

At the heart of the dispute is whether stablecoins will pull deposits away from traditional banks. Banking groups argue the bill's yield compromise could still lead to deposit migration, while supporters say those fears are overblown and that banks can benefit from integrating digital asset services into their existing offerings.

Last week, former Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, who served as ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, spoke at a Republican lunch on the importance of passing the Clarity Act. According to sources familiar with the remarks, Toomey sought to reassure lawmakers that banks’ fears of deposit migration are largely overstated as the banking lobby works to convince senators that supporting the bill could come at the expense of local banks.

Lummis echoed that view, arguing that the growth of stablecoins has not come at the expense of the banking system.

“If you look at the statistics, as stablecoins have been issued and become embedded in our economy, deposits in banks have gone up,” Lummis said. “Those are the kind of facts that we need to share… so they can see that these types of financial products can coexist.”

Meanwhile, the industry's lobbying campaign is also intensifying. On Monday, more than 200 crypto organizations signed a letter urging Senate leaders to quickly bring the Clarity Act to the floor.

👀 What To Watch This Week

Monday

10:15 a.m.: SEC Chair Paul Atkins will speak at the National Investor Relations Institute conference in Chicago.

ETHConf kicks off its three-day event in New York City.

Tuesday

9:30 a.m.: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce kicks off its Capital Markets Summit, which will feature discussions on the future of banking as well as a panel on "nonbank systemic risk" featuring Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Kim.

2:00 p.m.: The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on crypto tax reform.

Wednesday

8:30 a.m.: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the May Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation gauge.

Thursday

10:00 a.m.: The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on artificial intelligence.

Friday

10:00 a.m.: The University of Michigan publishes its May consumer sentiment survey.

11:00 a.m.: The House Financial Services Committee's Task Force on Monetary Policy holds a hearing examining the structure of the Federal Reserve System.

Weekend News Flash

ICYMI: The biggest headlines from Friday and the weekend.

• Bitcoin is back above $63,000 as corporate buyers continue to accumulate, with Strategy adding $100 million worth of bitcoin and Vivek Ramaswamy's Strive acquiring 32 BTC.

• Grayscale filed for a Canton spot ETF.

• JPMorgan, Citi and other major U.S. banks are planning a tokenized deposit network aimed at competing with the growing influence of stablecoins and crypto-native firms.

• Better and Coinbase have issued the first Fannie Mae-backed U.S. mortgage using bitcoin as collateral.

• The Fed's Beige Book shows steady employment and modest economic growth across the U.S., though inflation is beginning to rise amid higher energy prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East.

• CME data now implies just a 4% chance of a Fed rate cut this year following a stronger-than-expected jobs report that showed the U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May while unemployment held steady at 4.3%.

• Coinbase is launching pre-IPO trading exposure, starting with a perpetual futures contract tied to SpaceX.

Remember: New editions of the Crypto In America newsletter drop every Monday and Wednesday.

If you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to subscribe!

Subscribe now