Clarity Act misses pre-recess window as ethics fight and market uncertainty grip crypto

Clarity Act likely misses pre-recess deadline as ethics debate deepens Senate Majority Leader John Thune predicted the crypto bill won't pass before the August recess, sharply reducing its 2026 passage odds. Seven Senate Democrats rejected the latest ethics draft over conflict-of-interest rules, while Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon broke with Wall Street by publicly backing the legislation. 123

DeFi loses over $35M in a day as AFX Trade and Verus bridges exploited AFX Trade's USDC custody bridge on Arbitrum was drained of $24M, while Verus Bridge suffered a $7.5M exploit in its second major breach this year. AFX offered a 30% bounty, reigniting debate on whether generous white-hat offers are incentivizing further attacks. 45

SEC's Peirce warns on-chain vaults and lending may trigger securities laws Commissioner Hester Peirce cautioned that professionally managed crypto vaults and lending strategies could fall under U.S. securities laws depending on management control. The warning comes as the $131B vault market expands with major entrants like Coinbase and Bitwise. 67

BlackRock, Coinbase, and Strategy launch $15M consortium for Bitcoin quantum security Nine major firms including BlackRock, Coinbase, Fidelity, and Strategy formed the Bitcoin Security Consortium, pledging $15M over three years to fund post-quantum cryptography research and open-source development. Members retain independent control over funding allocations. 8

Ondo Finance wins FINRA clearance to offer tokenized equities in the US Oasis Pro Markets, Ondo's SEC-registered broker-dealer, received regulatory authorization to operate a compliant platform for tokenized corporate equities, ETFs, and funds. The approval enables US institutional and retail investors to access tokenized securities through existing broker channels. 9

Russia to allow retail crypto purchases through regulated intermediaries The Bank of Russia clarified rules for a new law effective September 1, allowing unqualified investors to buy top cryptocurrencies after passing a test, capped at 300,000 rubles annually. A regulated infrastructure of crypto exchanges and digital depositories will be created, though use as payment remains banned. 10

Tokenized RWA in DeFi rebounds to $3.8B after KelpDAO shock Active use of tokenized real-world assets in DeFi has recovered to nearly pre-April levels less than 100 days after the KelpDAO exploit triggered a $13B market slide. Ethereum anchors 53% of the active collateral, with stablecoins and gold-backed tokens leading the recovery. 11

Bitcoin holds $65K as ETF inflows hit $818M and macro risks loom Bitcoin consolidated near $65K as U.S. spot ETFs recorded six straight days of inflows totaling $818 million. The market remains in a stalemate as rising oil prices, a rate hike outlook, and a 23% drop in crypto trading volume cap risk appetite. 121314