The Clarity Act could give banks, brokers and asset managers a clearer rulebook, but financial firms have already moved far enough into digital assets that failure may slow adoption rather than stop it.
U.S. Senator Lummis says Democrats won't quit asking for more on crypto Clarity Act
One of the top crypto market structure negotiators in Washington says she’s run out of gas on new revisions for the bill she’s worked on for more than five years.
Trump's $800 million stake into World Liberty Financial's token now has a timeline to becoming sellable
Onchain records show that an $800 million crypto stake that matched Donald Trump’s holding was moved into a vesting contract, locking any sales until 2028 after a mandatory 10% token burn.
Trump Crypto Ethics Deal Fails to End CLARITY Act Objections
The CLARITY Act is heading for a crucial US Senate procedural vote on Tuesday after President Donald Trump agreed to most of a bipartisan proposal to strengthen ethics restrictions around public officials’ crypto interests, according to various reports.
However, the latest compromise hasn’t resolved all of the opposition, with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general now urging senators to reject the bill over concerns that it would weaken state oversight of the crypto industry.
A coalition of 18 state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, argued in a letter to Senate Banking committee leaders that the CLARITY Act would make it harder for states to take action against crypto companies accused of fraud or other misconduct.
“While the current draft of the CLARITY Act reserves certain powers for states to prosecute fraud, the language is often ambiguous, unclear, or confined in ways that either create the opportunity to challenge state police powers or outright deprive the states of their ability to continue to combat the scam epidemic,” the letter said.
Their opposition adds another complication for the legislation. While the revised bill would give state attorneys general a role in enforcing new ethics restrictions, the group argues that other provisions would weaken their authority to police the crypto industry.
The CLARITY Act is considered a landmark piece of US crypto legislation that would establish a federal market structure for digital assets, clarify when crypto assets fall under securities or commodities laws and delineate oversight responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
As Cointelegraph reported, Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed the cloture motion on CLARITY last month after lawmakers failed to advance the legislation before leaving Washington for their August recess. Tuesday’s procedural vote will determine whether the bill advances to Senate debate.
Related: CLARITY Act vote meets Fed rate hike: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week
Trump agrees to tougher crypto ethics rules
The state AGs weighed in just as lawmakers appeared to be making progress on another major sticking point in the CLARITY Act. The Associated Press reported Sunday that Trump had agreed to “about 80%” of a proposal from Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego, according to a senior GOP aide.
The bill already barred federally elected officials, their spouses and federal judges from issuing digital assets, but the latest compromise would go further. Officials with a “significant” financial interest in a crypto issuer would be required to divest or place the interest in a blind trust. State attorneys general would also be given a role in enforcing the restrictions.
The concessions address some of the concerns raised by Democrats and Tillis, who had argued that earlier ethics provisions did not go far enough to address potential conflicts involving Trump’s crypto holdings and business interests.
Crypto in America, a publication co-hosted by Eleanor Terrett, said the weekend developments sparked a “renewed sense of optimism” across the digital asset industry. Republicans described the revised legislation as their “last, best and final offer” to Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
The crypto industry has pushed for the CLARITY Act to establish a federal market structure framework for digital assets, including clearer boundaries between the regulatory roles of the SEC and the CFTC.
Related: BofA, Citi, Goldman Sachs among 21 institutions planning stablecoin launch
EU Cyber Rules Put Crypto Wallet Makers on 24-hour Reporting Clock
The EU is telling cryptocurrency hardware and software wallet providers that they have 24 hours from awareness to report actively exploited bugs or severe security vulnerabilities affecting their products.
The measure is part of the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which took effect on Friday, according to an announcement from the European Commission.
Manufacturers must submit an early warning for severe vulnerabilities within 24 hours, followed by a full notification within 72 hours. A final report will be required 14 days after corrective or mitigating measures are available and within one month for severe incidents.
The EC said the new reporting requirements aim to better protect consumers and businesses from cyber threats. The measure extends to all products “with digital elements made available in the EU” and builds on the EU’s broader cybersecurity strategy.
Cointelegraph has approached the European Commission for more details surrounding the cybersecurity measures.
Related: German finance ministry proposes 25% crypto tax starting 2028: Report
Fines could reach $17 million
Companies that fail to adhere to the cybersecurity measures under Articles 13 and 14 may face an administrative fine of up to 15 million euros ($17.3 million) or 2.5% of worldwide annual turnover, depending on which figure is higher, according to the penalties section of the final draft.
Supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information will also subject companies to an administrative fine of up to 5 million euros.
Excerpt from Final Text, European Cyber Resilience Act. Source: European-Cyber-Resilience-Act.com
The measure was revealed weeks after two popular hardware wallet providers disclosed user data breaches that could lead to phishing or social engineering attempts.
On Sept. 4, hardware wallet provider Trezor revealed that an additional 67,000 US customers were at risk from the data breach suffered by its shipping provider, ShipMonk, exceeding the initially estimated 14,000 users.
On Wednesday, Trezor and BitBox warned users about phishing emails disguised as urgent security notices after suspected compromises involving third-party email services.
In June, Layer-1 blockchain network Zilliqa warned that a vulnerability in the Zilliqa Ledger app could allow attackers to recover users’ private keys using publicly available onchain data.
Cointelegraph has approached wallet makers Trezor and Ledger for comment on how wallet providers would comply with the new reporting requirements.
Magazine: How Hong Kong is turning tokenized bonds into real market infrastructure
Bitmine Stakes 5M ETH as Treasury Holdings Reach $15.8B
Bitmine Immersion Technologies added to its Ether holdings last week while projecting hundreds of millions of dollars in annual staking revenue, highlighting how its massive ETH treasury could generate income even during volatile market conditions.
In a Monday announcement, Bitmine said it acquired 27,180 ETH last week, bringing its holdings to more than 5.95 million ETH, worth roughly $15.4 billion and representing about 4.9% of Ether’s circulating supply. Including cash and other crypto assets, Bitmine reported total holdings of approximately $15.8 billion.
Bitmine said more than 5.06 million ETH is now staked, generating an estimated $334 million in annualized staking revenue at current rates.
With roughly 85% of its ETH now staked, Bitmine is turning its crypto treasury into a potentially significant source of recurring revenue. For comparison, Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE), the first spot Ether US exchange-traded product, has 84.6% of its Ether holdings staked, according to the fund’s webpage.
The company’s strategy also offers a key advantage over Bitcoin treasury companies, whose core BTC holdings do not generate native staking yield.
Bitmine shares were little changed on Monday, trading just below $25 in morning trading. The stock has gained nearly 38% over the past month but remains down year to date, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Related: Bitmine buys 28k ETH, completes 97% of treasury accumulation goal
Strategy skipped Bitcoin purchases last week
While Bitmine continued adding to its Ether treasury, Michael Saylor’s Strategy went a second consecutive week without buying Bitcoin (BTC), directing capital toward its preferred stock instead.
Strategy repurchased about 1.42 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for $139.3 million between Sept. 8 and Sept. 13. The company also bought back $176.3 million worth of STRC the previous week, according to a Monday filing.
Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged at 845,050 BTC as of Sept. 13. Its last purchase came in late August, when the company acquired 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million.
In the final week of August, Strategy purchased 4,603 BTC for roughly $370 million, marking its first Bitcoin purchase since June. The subsequent pause, alongside the significant STRC buybacks in recent weeks, shows how the company is balancing Bitcoin accumulation with support for its preferred stock.
Related: Crypto Biz: AI took a back seat when Bitcoin started climbing
Dogecoin ETFs struggled for buyers while rival XRP and Solana funds pulled in $3 billion
Bitwise’s BWOW dogecoin ETF will close after 10 months, adding to weak demand across DOGE funds and raising a harder question for altcoin ETFs: What problem are they actually solving?
Bitcoin climbs to $78,000 as crypto sits out the AI selloff
Bitcoin rose 1.9% since midnight UTC while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 1.65% on calls to slow AI development and crude gained almost 4% on a Saudi pipeline closure.
UK FCA seeks views on fund rule exemptions for tokenized gold
The FCA said uncertainty over whether some tokenized gold products fall under UK fund rules could affect adoption and investor access.
Fed, BOE, BOJ interest-rate decisions: Crypto Week Ahead
Your look at what’s coming in the week starting Sept. 14.