THE WEEKLY WRAP
Crypto investors are seeing a lot of green this week, with the total crypto market cap up 12% to 2.91T USD, and Bitcoin holding dominance at roughly 58% market share.
Market sentiment is leaning green, with the Fear and Greed Index at 79, firmly in the greed sector.
The Clarity Act Failure
After more than a year of negotiations, on September 15th the US Senate failed to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The bill was intended to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets in the US, similar to that of the recently introduced Travel Rule in Australia. Whilst the Travel Rule and Clarity Act are not equivalent regulations, they share a similar fundamental objective: creating clearer and more consistent obligations for businesses handling digital assets. The Clarity Act had a much broader focus, seeking to define how digital assets, exchanges, and market activities would be regulated across the United States. Senator Tim Scott said of the bill, “This legislation brings digital assets into the sunlight with clear rules, stronger safeguards, and better tools to stop bad actors.”
So if the bill had such great intentions and was heavily supported by crypto powerhouses, why did it fail to pass the Senate? Well, that’s complex, but here’s a snapshot.
The Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the bill, which falls below the 60 votes required to overcome the procedural hurdle, meaning the bill won’t continue to a final vote on the legislation itself; the result prevented the Senate from formally opening debate on the bill.
The legislation was caught between several unresolved issues:
- Political ethics: Democrats argued that the proposed restrictions did not delve into President Donald Trump and his family’s crypto interests.
- Stablecoin rewards: Banks feared that interest-like rewards offered on stablecoins could draw deposits away from community banks.
- Legal enforcement: Some senators wanted stronger ‘powers’ to pursue illicit activity and clearer rules.
There’s currently a motion to reconsider, with Clarity Act supporters hoping that there is potential to move forward with a revised version of the bill and continue with regulatory advances for the industry, bringing forth more trust and security.
BTC vs GOLD vs NASDAQ vs ETH vs VAS
🟡 Gold: +0.61%
🔵 Nasdaq: +21.62
🔴 Vanguard Australian Shares: +1.40%
🟠 Bitcoin: -2.12%
⚪ Ethereum: -8.25%
Performance was mixed across major markets, with the Nasdaq leading the way at +21.62%. Vanguard Australian Shares rose 1.40%, while gold recorded a modest 0.61% gain. Crypto lagged behind traditional assets during the period, with Bitcoin falling 2.12% and Ethereum declining 8.25%.
Source: TradingView, BTC, GOLD, NASDAQ, VAS, ETH
BTC:
Bitcoin surged to hit its highest level since January, reaching $86,000 USD. While Bitcoin is still well off chasing its all-time high, it continues to look positive for investors, rising more than 8% in the past week and 34% in the last 3 months alone. Leaving commentators hopeful gains will turn green for the year.
After a volatile week with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and the Senate failing to pass the Clarity Act, Bitcoin initially fell below $76,000 USD, clearly recovering quickly, which indicates traders were well prepared and positioned to shrug off the bad news.
This leaves traders with the burning question: are things starting to look bullish?
SOLANA:
Solana made headlines this last week, trading at approximately $117.70 USD, a 7-day performance increase of 12.3 - 13.6%.
Major developments continue to advance Solana. On the 18th of September, Solana reduced its target time slot from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds. Meaning the network now targets four slots every second, giving exchanges, wallets and trading applications more current information about transactions.
Another positive signal for Solana comes with US Solana exchange-traded products recording their 12th consecutive week of inflows, reportedly attracting a further US$13.2 million during the week ending 18 September. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF was the only product with individually disclosed inflows and gained 12.12% across the five days.
ALTCOINS:
Dogecoin surged 5.31% in 8 hours, seemingly driven by a Bitcoin short squeeze, showing an elevated interest in DOGE through both sentiment data and social buzz.
SUI has been a strong performer this last week. With teasers of an upcoming financial product, rising approximately 25% and reached its own four-month high.
Zcash holders voted to support faster blocks while maintaining the existing Bitcoin-style halving schedule. The planned NU7 network upgrade is looking to come into effect in November, and is expected to reduce block times to approximately 25 seconds, potentially making private payments up to three times faster. The proposal helped strengthen interest in ZEC, which reportedly climbed around 23% in one session during the broader crypto recovery.
THIS WEEK’S INSIGHTS:
The Crypto Dictionary: 25 Terms That Actually Help You Understand Crypto
Some terms explain how blockchains actually work; others started as typos, memes, or internet slang and somehow became part of everyday crypto conversation. So, if you've ever read a crypto post and wondered what half the words meant, this is your cheat sheet.
