Crypto

The US Senate’s cloture vote on September 15 on the CLARITY Act failed to clear the 60-vote threshold needed for passage, marking a significant legislative setback for this key bill that the crypto industry had long awaited. The core obstacles to passage were the ethics controversy over President Trump’s family crypto wealth and the long-standing partisan divide over the regulatory boundary between the SEC and CFTC. The result will directly affect compliance expectations of US-based crypto firms, market structure choices of stablecoin issuers, and the pace at which major global economies borrow from each other’s crypto legislative paths.

The US House Ways and Means Committee released a sweeping crypto tax bill ahead of Wednesday’s markup, establishing tax treatment rules across crypto payments, stablecoins, mining, and staking, while introducing a $10 de minimis exemption for small crypto payments. The bill will shape US crypto industry compliance costs, tax architecture, and retail crypto payment adoption, and may become a baseline text for subsequent Senate legislation and bipartisan crypto legislative negotiations.

CoinDesk reported on September 14 that the long-anticipated Dogecoin exchange-traded funds have suffered a serious shortfall of inflows since their simultaneous launch in the United States and Hong Kong in early September. In the first week of trading, net inflows into Dogecoin ETFs totaled less than $120 million, far below the $500 million threshold that industry analysts had expected before launch. In sharp contrast, the XRP and Solana ETFs launched at the same time together pulled in more than $3 billion in their first month, with the XRP funds alone attracting more than $1.7 billion and the Solana funds about $1.3 billion. The cold start for Dogecoin ETFs reflects that, in the eyes of professional institutional investors, Dogecoin is still regarded as a ‘retail-driven’ token, and its long-term value-store capability and institutional-money compatibility are being fundamentally questioned. The incident has also led the market to revisit the product-design logic of crypto ETFs, token-selection criteria and institutional-money flow trends.

Senate Republicans on September 14 released the ‘final draft’ of the long-pending Clarity Act for digital assets, while the White House confirmed that President Trump has accepted most of the bill’s ethics provisions. The new draft makes significant adjustments to digital-asset classification, the allocation of regulatory authority between the SEC and CFTC, stablecoin reserve requirements and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Industry analysts say the release breaks a multi-month stalemate that had previously been described by industry observers as a Schrödinger-style legislative limbo, and could clear the path for a full Senate vote in the coming weeks.

The Block, citing Reuters, reported on September 13 that Mexican authorities raided a hidden cryptocurrency mining operation on suspicion of power theft and money laundering. The site, located near a local hydroelectric dam, is the fourth crypto farm discovered in the area since early 2025. The incident reflects rising tension in Latin America between energy-intensive crypto mining activity, local power supply stability, and regulatory compliance.

CoinDesk reported on September 13 that as the U.S. Senate returned from summer recess, the Crypto Clarity Act still lacks a clear schedule for advancement in the Senate. The bill has already passed the House, but the Senate remains significantly divided over core provisions on digital-asset classification, the allocation of regulatory authority and stablecoin reserve requirements. Several industry observers have described the bill as being in a Schrödinger-style state of simultaneous life and death, stressing that until the Senate majority leader signals that it will be placed on the priority agenda, the bill’s ultimate fate remains highly uncertain.

The Block reported on September 12 that major Swiss crypto financial service provider Bitcoin Suisse plans to cut nearly half of its Swiss domestic workforce and shift part of its business overseas. The company will close its Copenhagen IT site while maintaining its Bratislava site and opening a new operations center in Vietnam to reduce operating costs.

Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream has publicly refused to pay a ransom and demanded that attackers return approximately 600 BTC withdrawn following the Liquid network exploit. Blockstream stated in its announcement that the company will not engage in any form of negotiation with the attackers and is pursuing asset recovery through technical tracing and legal channels. Liquid has resumed trading, but peg-outs remain suspended pending further recovery and review work.

US asset manager Bitwise has announced the closure of its Dogecoin exchange-traded fund BWOW launched in November 2025. The fund recorded approximately USD 3 million in trading volume at launch, but its trading activity never sustained itself, ultimately prompting the asset manager to initiate liquidation.

ESMA has formally questioned the EU operating status of prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi, warning of potential authorization gaps under MiFID II and MiCA frameworks. The move signals stricter regulatory scrutiny ahead for the prediction market sector in the European Union.