The stakes extend beyond this Congress. If the legislation collapses and lawmakers have to start over next year, Democrats are likely to have a more prominent role in writing the next version of the bill. There are three Democratic women who could gain greater influence over the next round of crypto legislation. All have generally approached digital assets with considerable skepticism.
Meanwhile, the regulatory train trundles on, leaving U.S. crypto policy moving on two tracks. While Congress is still trying to write the broad market structure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (and its sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) is beginning to work on rules within its own ranks.
But even that process is proving messy. The SEC said it’s delaying a planned “innovation exemption” for tokenized securities after concerns from both the White House and Wall Street, including fears that moving too aggressively could complicate Clarity Act negotiations and reshape market structure without a full rulemaking process.
For an industry that spent years complaining that nobody would tell it what the rules were, that is progress. September will show whether Congress can actually agree on them.
2. Markets: Strategy sold bitcoin — just as some of bitcoin’s biggest holders were accumulating
Bitcoin spent the week sending contradictory signals: Strategy (MSTR) sold, miners unloaded coins, and corporate treasury losses piled up. At the same time, whales accumulated and hedge funds became more bullish.
