The Senate blocked the Clarity Act in a 49-50 vote, triggering $571 million in crypto futures liquidations and dragging down digital asset markets. Despite the regulatory setback and broader market pressure, institutional interest persisted as Deutsche Bank sought approval for a European crypto custody service and Circle launched its Arc blockchain. Meanwhile, Bitcoin dropped below $76,000 as investors prepared for an expected Federal Reserve rate hike.
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Trump agrees to stricter ethics rules for Clarity Act crypto bill
Empowering state attorneys general to sue exchanges directly shifts crypto compliance risk from centralized federal regulators to fragmented, politically driven state enforcement litigation.
The United States Senate voted 49 to 50 to block the Clarity Act, falling short of the 60 votes required to advance the market structure bill. Exchanges liquidated about $571 million in bullish positions as the legislative defeat triggered a broad market . and ether longs absorbed the heaviest damage with roughly $190 million wiped out in each token. Crypto-linked suffered steeper losses than major tokens as Coinbase and Circle shares dropped about 9%. The bill derailed after last-minute negotiations broke down over ethics provisions concerning profits earned by senior government officials and their families in the digital space. Regulatory momentum now shifts entirely to the executive branch and independent agencies including the SEC and the CFTC.
Deutsche Bank Awaits Regulatory Approval to Launch Institutional Crypto Custody
MiCA licensing allows traditional European banking giants to absorb digital asset custody into standard institutional asset servicing, shifting crypto holding from specialized venues to legacy bank balance sheets.
Deutsche Bank plans to launch a digital custody service for European institutional and corporate clients by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approval. The service will initially support , ether, and including USDC and EURC. Germany's largest bank expects to receive its custody license in October under the European Union Markets in Assets framework. Standard Chartered and BBVA already offer comparable regulated crypto custody services.
Paying network fees directly in USDC eliminates gas token volatility for institutional adopters like Visa and BlackRock, turning blockspace into a predictable operational expense.
coindesk.com reports that Circle launched its Arc on Wednesday, expanding beyond its $74 billion USDC. Arc is designed as an economic operating system for payments, tokenized financial markets, lending, and trading. The network debuted with over 100 institutions and ecosystem companies, including BlackRock, Mastercard, Visa, BNY, and HSBC. Transaction fees on the network are paid in USDC rather than a volatile native token. Circle completed the genesis mint of its initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens this week, though the token is not yet publicly available. The network currently uses permissioned validators, while Circle explores a shift to proof of stake in 2027 that could give the ARC token a role in security and governance.
Traders fleeing to stablecoins rather than holding digital assets through macro policy events shows crypto remains a risk-on proxy rather than a safe-haven hedge.
traded below $76,000 as markets braced for a interest-rate decision with nearly 93% odds of a 0.25% . The expected move would bring the federal funds rate to 3.75-4%. investors rotated into to reduce risk ahead of the announcement, while buying conviction for bitcoin dropped to 3% from 10%. Onchain support has formed at $68,000, with additional potential floors identified between $62,000 and $65,000.
US House Committee Releases Crypto Tax Bill Draft Ahead of Hearing
Exempting network fees from capital gains accounting removes the primary tax barrier converting blockchain protocols from speculative investment vehicles into functional payment rails.
coindesk.com reports that the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee published the 114-page Digital Tax Certainty Act ahead of a Wednesday markup hearing. The bill addresses de minimis transactions, gain and loss accounting, transfers, wash sale rules, mining, , and broker requirements. It eliminates taxes on de minimis network or transaction fees under $10, excluding individuals who engaged in more than 5,000 transfers over the prior year. The legislation directs the U.S. secretary and Internal Service to develop new rules. Lawmakers will debate and vote on whether to advance the measure, though it is unlikely to become law this year before the House breaks until after the November election.
Anchorage Digital Expands Institutional Custody to Etherlink and Tokenized Uranium
Using a federally chartered bank to hold raw commodity tokens shifts physical supply-chain settlement into regulated banking rails, removing traditional physical storage requirements for institutional capital.
cointelegraph.com reports that Anchorage Digital Bank added custody support for Etherlink and seven on the Tezos layer-2 network, including the xU3O8 token representing physical uranium. The integration gives institutional clients custody for the assets through segregated accounts at the federally chartered bank. The supported list also includes wrapped XTZ, liquid token stXTZ, USDT, USDC and USDSM, and wrapped Ether. The xU3O8 token provides investors exposure to physical uranium without direct storage, holding a just above $9 million. Hex Trust previously integrated Etherlink for xU3O8 custody in August 2025. Tokenization allows the to settle in minutes rather than weeks.
Payward Plans to Launch US Onchain Perpetual Futures on Hyperliquid
Routing CFTC-regulated perpetuals through a public L1 order book tests whether US compliant leverage can migrate from offshore venues to fully transparent, onchain clearing infrastructure.
coindesk.com reports that Payward plans to offer U.S. clients access to onchain perpetual on Hyperliquid. Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated his firm plans to be the first registered U.S. exchange to launch perpetuals on Hyperliquid. The contracts would operate under CFTC-regulated Bitnomial Exchange, while NinjaTrader Clearing would carry approved client accounts. Perpetuals are products that allow investors to place positions on the price movements of an underlying digital without owning the asset itself. Unlike traditional futures contracts, perps do not expire and can be maintained indefinitely. Traders make or receive periodic funding payments to keep their positions open. The markets will run on Hyperliquid's public , whose onchain order book matches and records trades. Payward acquired Bitnomial in May for $550 million. It bought NinjaTrader Clearing for $1.5 billion in 2025. Payward has not disclosed a launch date, fees or projected trading volume.
Institutional infrastructure continues to expand via new custodial offerings and specialized blockchains despite harsh legislative hurdles and impending rate hikes. The key unresolved question is whether pending tax clarity and new derivative products can offset ongoing headwinds from higher borrowing costs.
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