Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

As the self-custody wallet market matures past a single selling point, traders holding assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP are evaluating meaningfully different architectures — each with genuine trade-offs

For most of crypto’s history, the case for self-custody fit in four words: not your keys, not your coins. In 2026, that argument is largely won. The question traders are now asking when managing assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins like USDT and USDC, and other cryptocurrencies is a harder one: which wallet, and why.

The numbers tell two stories at once. Fifty-nine percent of crypto wallet users globally say they prefer non-custodial solutions — but Ledger estimates that only 30 million of 400 million crypto users worldwide actually practice self-custody, and just 10 million do so securely. The gap between stated preference and practice has a cause: friction. Non-custodial swap volumes still rose more than 340% year-over-year through early 2026, hardware wallet sales reached $560 million in 2025, and the non-custodial wallet market is projected to grow from $4.8 billion to $18.3 billion by 2033. The infrastructure being built to close that friction gap is also what makes the differences between current wallet options matter.

Five wallets currently represent meaningfully different approaches.

Vymopay is a Telegram-native non-custodial wallet — no separate app download — built around a problem most self-custody options leave unaddressed: what happens to a trader’s wallet identity at the moment they withdraw from a centralized exchange. Its Shield Address feature generates an intermediate receiving address — funds sent there are automatically screened for AML risk, then forwarded to the user’s actual wallet without disclosing the destination to the sender or the originating exchange. This is designed to reduce the risk of linking on-chain activity to a CEX-verified identity while keeping compliance intact.

Shield Address — private forwarding with automatic AML screening; real wallet never disclosed to sender or exchange Exchange — market and limit orders executed from the same interface, with instant fill notifications Crypto loans — stablecoin liquidity against crypto collateral, without a taxable disposal of the underlying asset Staking — stake and unstake supported assets directly from the bot; rewards tracked in one place Up to 500 dedicated deposit addresses per asset — per-customer or per-transaction attribution without manual reconciliation Freeze Alert — continuous wallet monitoring with real-time alerts and recurring AML reports The trade-offs are real: Vymopay has a shorter track record than MetaMask or Ledger, its distribution is Telegram-dependent, and its chain coverage is narrower than Trust Wallet’s.

MetaMask is the default entry point for EVM-chain activity, particularly Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum-compatible assets, with more than 30 million monthly active users and deep integration across DeFi protocols. Keys are stored locally in the browser extension or mobile app; no registration is required. Its limitation is structural: MetaMask is EVM-only by default, carries no AML screening, and does nothing to manage the address-linkage problem when a user withdraws from a centralized exchange. The destination address is recorded by the exchange regardless.

Trust Wallet covers the broadest chain range of any mobile-native option — 100-plus blockchains, including major networks used for assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), 220 million users, built-in DEX access. Setup is the fastest of any option listed here, which is part of why it is typically the first wallet a trader encounters after leaving an exchange. The trade-off mirrors MetaMask’s: no compliance tooling, no mechanism to separate on-chain activity from exchange-verified identity at the withdrawal stage.

Ledger hardware wallets hold private keys entirely offline, which is why they remain the standard recommendation for long-term storage of high-value holdings such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and other major crypto assets. Ledger Live supports most major chains and staking from the same interface. The cost is ergonomic: signing any transaction requires the physical device. For traders managing active positions, that friction accumulates quickly. The device itself can also be lost, damaged, or confiscated — risks that software wallets don’t carry in the same form.

Exodus offers a multi-chain desktop and mobile experience with built-in exchange and staking, no account required, and a design that prioritises accessibility over technical depth. Keys are stored on the device rather than on hardware, which places it below Ledger on the cold-storage security spectrum. It has no compliance tooling, and its developer ecosystem is narrower than MetaMask’s for DeFi integrations.

No single option dominates across all dimensions. Cold storage security points to Ledger. Chain breadth and mobile ease point to Trust Wallet. EVM-native DeFi integration points to MetaMask. Business-grade address management with compliance tooling built in points to Vymopay — alongside the caveat that a newer platform carries less historical evidence of resilience under pressure.

About Vymopay Vymopay is a non-custodial digital asset platform built inside Telegram. It is designed for individuals, traders, businesses, and payment providers who need to manage, exchange, protect, and grow digital assets including widely traded cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without switching between multiple applications. Users retain control of their keys and funds at all times. AML compliance is built into the platform, not bolted on.

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Leading cryptocurrencies rose on Monday ahead of the much-anticipated Senate vote on cryptocurrency legislation.

Crypto Market RisesBitcoin jumped to an intraday high of $79,568 before facing stiff resistance, even as trading volume more than doubled in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum spiked past $2,600, only to reverse course and retreat to the $2,500 region. Meanwhile, XRP and Dogecoin recorded sharp upticks.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said President Donald Trump agreed to additional ethics restrictions ahead of Tuesday’s CLARITY Act vote. Polymarket currently places the CLARITY Act’s passage odds at 18%.

Cryptocurrency-related stocks also lifted, with Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BMNR) closing up 4.56% and 2.92%, respectively. 

Over $340 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, mainly in bearish short positions, according to Coinglass data.

Bitcoin’s open interest spiked 1.84% in the last 24 hours, matching the increase in spot price. An increase in open interest, along with a price increase, typically indicates long positions are being built up.

Top Gainers (24 Hours) 

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization climbed to $2.65 trillion, up 1.02% over the last 24 hours.

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Stocks in the RedMajor indexes kicked off the week with losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 152.09 points, or 0.29%, to end at 52,421.20. The S&P 500 slid 0.48% to end at 7,619.98, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.56% to settle at 26,186.41.

Trending

AI safety fears spooked the market after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI companies to slow advancements, following warnings from researchers about potential catastrophic risks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk endorsed his call.

Meanwhile, the CME Group’s FedWatch tool projected a 92% chance that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at the policy meeting starting Tuesday.

‘Stay Patient’ With Bitcoin, Says AnalystOn-chain analytics firm Santiment noted a shift in Bitcoin’s market sentiment from “caution” to “chase” mode.

The firm highlighted that whales holding 10-10,000 BTC reduced their positions by 0.20% over the past three weeks, while retail wallets “stopped dumping and slowly added.”

“This mix has often marked overheated local tops,” Santiment added. “Stay patient while Bitcoin’s market value stays in this $75,000 to $80,000 range, and don’t overreact.”

Leading chartist and on-chain researcher Ali Martinez highlighted that Ethereum, worth $350 million, was withdrawn from exchanges in the last 4 days, suggesting investors’ preference to hold rather than trade.

“With less ETH available on exchanges, potential sell-side pressure is declining, strengthening the case for a bullish breakout,” the analyst added.

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© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee has formally endorsed Bitcoin as a scarce, non-sovereign store of value, drawing a direct parallel to gold and recommending it as a legitimate portfolio allocation for clients across the risk spectrum.

What the allocation framework actually looks like The GIC’s recommended Bitcoin exposure ranges from 0-2% for balanced growth portfolios and climbs to 2-4% for clients with a higher risk tolerance and a more opportunistic mandate. Those numbers were formalized in October 2025 and reflect the committee’s view that Bitcoin’s fixed supply and low current penetration make it a credible long-term holding.

Morgan Stanley estimates Bitcoin’s market cap represents roughly 2% of a $130 trillion addressable market. That market is defined as the combined value of global M2 money supply and gold.

The bank’s research projects annualized returns for Bitcoin across several adoption scenarios. A flat-adoption environment produces returns in the neighborhood of 3%. A baseline scenario tied to steady population growth points toward 6-7% annually. Accelerated adoption could push returns closer to 10%. These are scenario-based return estimates grounded in user-growth modeling frameworks typically applied to emerging technology platforms.

Amy Oldenburg walked through the digital gold thesis and the allocation framework in a Bitcoin Magazine interview on September 14, 2026.

The MSBT ETP: putting product behind the thesis In April 2026, the bank launched MSBT, a spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product. By September 14, 2026, the product had gathered approximately $609 million in assets under management.

Morgan Stanley’s emphasis on client education is deliberate. The bank frames Bitcoin’s case around attributes that traditional asset allocation frameworks can engage with: fixed supply, the absence of sovereign control, and a large but underpenetrated addressable market.

What this means for institutional adoption This is a formal allocation recommendation from a Global Investment Committee, backed by a proprietary ETP and communicated publicly through media appearances. A 2% allocation in a balanced portfolio is small enough to be positioned as a diversification hedge rather than a speculative bet.

The focus on Bitcoin specifically, rather than the broader digital asset universe, is notable. Morgan Stanley’s research zeroes in on Bitcoin’s monetary properties and store-of-value characteristics rather than treating it as part of a broader crypto basket.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

A bill proposing the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within the US federal government may be put to a vote in the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, according to reports.

Bill H.R. 8957, titled the “American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026,” was introduced to the House of Representatives on May 21, 2026, and referred to the Financial Services Committee. Sponsors of the bill include Alaska Representative Nick Begich, as well as numerous Republican and some Democratic members from various states.

The bill proposes establishing a separate “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” within the U.S. Treasury Department to store Bitcoins held by the federal government. If the law passes, the Treasury Secretary will have 180 days to create a secure Bitcoin storage infrastructure.

In addition, a separate “Digital Asset Stock” is planned for crypto assets other than Bitcoin. It is envisioned that all eligible Bitcoins acquired by the federal government will be transferred to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, while other digital assets will be transferred to this separate stock structure.

According to the bill, the Treasury Department will have the authority to sell, exchange, or convert digital assets other than Bitcoin into other assets. The proceeds from these transactions will only be permitted to be used to increase the amount of Bitcoin in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve or to reduce the U.S. national debt.

The text highlights Bitcoin’s limited supply, decentralized nature, and recent global adoption, arguing that Bitcoin is a digital-age asset that, similar to gold, could diversify the U.S. national reserves. Lawmakers suggest that a Bitcoin reserve could strengthen the U.S. dollar’s position in the global financial system and enhance the country’s financial resilience.

The management and supervision of reserves will be the responsibility of the Treasury Department. Additionally, coordination with the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and industry experts is planned regarding physical and cybersecurity.

The bill also states that the transactions to be carried out should be transparent and auditable, and envisages the creation of a “reserve proof” system that will allow public verification of reserve assets.

According to the latest reports, H.R. 8957 is expected to proceed to a committee vote on Wednesday. If the bill passes the committee, it will be moved to the House of Representatives General Assembly.

*This is not investment advice.

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Another day, another data breach. 

Swiss Bitcoin Pay, a non-custodial bitcoin payment processor, said that it had to temporarily shut down its servers following a data breach on Monday. 

The Neuchâtel, Switzerland-based company said that user funds were safe but customer email addresses, bitcoin addresses and IBANs, transaction history, and hashed passwords were believed to be breached. 

A malicious user has likely gained access to Swiss Bitcoin Pay’s internal systems. As a precaution, we are temporarily shutting down our servers while we investigate and secure our infrastructure.

At this stage, we believe they may have accessed customer email addresses, Bitcoin…

— 🇨🇭 Swiss Bitcoin Pay (@SwissBitcoinPay) September 14, 2026 The announcement comes amid a run of breaches hitting bitcoin and fintech firms. Revolut confirmed last week that it handed customer passports, driver’s licenses, verification selfies and transaction histories to an unauthorized party that sent fraudulent requests from a legitimate government agency’s email domain. 

And top hardware wallet manufacturer Trezor last week warned that a data breach at the third-party marketing platform it uses for sending newsletters was leading criminals to target customers with phishing attacks. 

“A malicious user has likely gained access to Swiss Bitcoin Pay’s internal systems …As a precaution, we are temporarily shutting down our servers while we investigate and secure our infrastructure.” Swiss Bitcoin Pay said on Monday. 

The company added that; “User funds are safe, and any amounts owed to users will be fully returned.”

Swiss Bitcoin Pay did not immediately respond to Bitcoin Magazine’s request for comment. 

The company lets businesses accept Bitcoin payments quickly and easily using both on-chain transactions and the Lightning Network. 

Criminals have increasingly been targeting data in 2026. Scammers in January were able to get hold of customer information via crypto wallet Ledger’s payment processor Global-e to send phishing emails. 

Crypto wallet provider SafePal last month also announced a data breach that involved unauthorized access to about 39,798 customers’ order information, ‌including personal details such as names, addresses and purchase data.

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.

KULR Technology Group has sold its entire remaining Bitcoin stash of approximately 764 BTC for roughly $58.6 million, bringing the company’s Bitcoin holdings to a clean zero. The sales took place in open-market transactions between August 20 and September 11, 2026, at a weighted average price of about $76,633 per coin.

The full unwind Back in July 2026, the company offloaded roughly 333 BTC for about $21.5 million at an average price of $64,538 per coin. That earlier batch of proceeds went almost entirely toward paying off a $20 million credit facility with Coinbase, which had been collateralized against KULR’s Bitcoin holdings.

Repaying that loan freed up the remaining coins, which KULR then sold over the following weeks at notably higher prices. Getting $76,633 per BTC on the second batch versus $64,538 on the first represents a roughly 19% improvement in execution price. Combined, the two rounds of sales generated about $80.1 million in gross proceeds from approximately 1,097 BTC. At its peak during 2026, KULR’s holdings had exceeded 1,000 BTC, built up through a combination of direct purchases, mining operations, and the Coinbase credit facility.

From treasury asset to balance sheet burden KULR’s Bitcoin adventure began in late 2024, joining a wave of smaller public companies that followed MicroStrategy’s playbook of converting treasury cash into Bitcoin. The company scaled its holdings past the 1,000 BTC mark and dabbled in Bitcoin mining operations, layering another crypto revenue stream onto its battery technology business.

For a company with KULR’s market capitalization, which sat at roughly $2.38 per share on the filing date, the swings in Bitcoin’s price created outsized impacts on the balance sheet. KULR’s decision to liquidate the July tranche specifically to retire that $20 million loan tells you everything about how the company’s leadership was thinking about risk by mid-2026.

What KULR does now With roughly $58.6 million in fresh liquidity from the final sale, KULR is positioned to reinvest in its actual business. The company specializes in battery safety and thermal management technology, serving sectors like aerospace, defense, and electric vehicles. The company hasn’t disclosed specific plans for deploying the proceeds.

Alongside the Bitcoin sale filing, KULR disclosed a grant of 200,000 time-based Restricted Stock Units to CFO Michael Kimel. The RSUs vest over four years starting September 10, 2026.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Summary The House Financial Services Committee marks up the ARMA bill on Wednesday, September 16, 2026. The bill would lock federal Bitcoin holdings for at least 20 years, sellable only to pay down national debt. Washington already controls roughly 328,372 BTC, almost all of it seized in criminal cases. ARMA’s 1 million BTC purchase goal depends on a funding study, not a guaranteed mechanism. The House Financial Services Committee will open a markup and committee vote on H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, on Wednesday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The bill, introduced in May by Representative Nick Begich (R-AK) with Maine Democrat Jared Golden as co-lead, would write a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into federal law and hand the Treasury a mandate to hold, consolidate, and eventually expand the government’s Bitcoin. This is the first time the reserve concept moves from executive order into a binding legislative process, and the committee vote decides whether it reaches the full House floor at all.

A committee vote Wednesday, then three more gates A markup is the stage where a committee debates a bill line by line, amends it, and votes on whether to send it forward. Passing the Financial Services Committee would push ARMA to the House floor. From there it still needs a full House vote, Senate approval, and the President’s signature before any of it becomes law. Wednesday is a gate, not a finish line, and the amendments attached during markup often reshape the final text more than the original draft did.

The timing is deliberate. Lawmakers are moving ARMA alongside the CLARITY Act, the broader market-structure bill for digital assets, in a coordinated push ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans hold the committee, and with more than a dozen co-sponsors from both parties on the bill at introduction, it enters the room with momentum. Whether that survives contact with the funding questions is the real test.

Why the lockup runs 20 years, and what can still break it ARMA’s defining clause forces any Bitcoin placed in the reserve to stay there for a minimum of 20 years. No sales, no swaps, no auctions, no collateral. The single carve-out lets the Treasury sell reserve Bitcoin only to reduce the national debt, which sat above $39 trillion when the bill was introduced. The point of the lockup is to strip the reserve of political discretion. Right now, what the government does with seized Bitcoin depends on whoever holds the White House, and administrations have swung between auctioning coins off and sitting on them.

That discretion is exactly the target. The current reserve rests entirely on Executive Order 14233, signed in March 2025. A future president could unwind it with a signature. ARMA aims to make that impossible by putting the reserve on a statutory footing a single executive cannot dismantle.

The lockup carries a market consequence traders have already flagged. Removing hundreds of thousands of coins from any possible circulation for two decades tightens the effective supply of an asset capped at 21 million units. That is a scarcity argument, not a price prediction, and the bill’s backers lean on it heavily.

328,372 coins the Treasury seized but never bought The federal government is the largest known state holder of Bitcoin on the planet. On-chain analytics attribute roughly 328,372 BTC to US government-linked wallets, worth somewhere in the low $20 billion range at recent prices depending on the day. Almost none of it was bought. It came in through law enforcement.

Estimated composition of US government Bitcoin

Prince Group seizure
~127,271 BTC

Largest forfeiture in DOJ history, late 2025

Bitfinex hack recovery
~94,600 BTC

Coins laundered from the 2016 exchange breach

Silk Road recoveries
~94,000 BTC

Includes the James Zhong and “Individual X” cases

Miscellaneous DOJ / IRS cases
~11,800 BTC

Assorted smaller enforcement actions

Total government holdings
~328,372 BTC

Figures are estimated composition; overlapping case categories mean the four sources do not sum exactly to the total.

ARMA would order every federal agency to hand its Bitcoin and other digital assets to centralized Treasury custody within a set window after the reserve becomes operational. Agencies used to controlling their own forfeited assets tend to resist that kind of consolidation, one of the quieter friction points buried in the bill.

The $42.22 gold gap that pays for the buying, on paper The most contested part of ARMA is how it pays for the Bitcoin it wants to buy. The bill sets a target of up to 1 million BTC, acquired at up to 200,000 coins per year over five years, roughly 5% of the total supply. It also bars new taxes, deficit spending, and fresh borrowing to get there. So where does the money come from?

The headline answer is gold. The Treasury still carries its gold certificates at a statutory price of $42.22 per ounce, a figure frozen since 1973. Gold trades near $4,300 an ounce in September 2026, roughly a hundred times the book value. Revaluing those certificates to market price would produce an enormous paper gain, and proponents argue that accounting capacity could bankroll Bitcoin purchases without touching the deficit.

Here is the part the headlines skip. ARMA does not flip that switch. The bill directs a Treasury study into budget-neutral acquisition strategies rather than enacting the gold revaluation outright. Marking the gold to market would require separate legislation and drags in accounting and constitutional questions Congress has not resolved. The 1 million BTC goal is a direction of travel, not a scheduled purchase, which is why analysts caution against treating the target as buying already on the books.

Keys split across air-gapped vaults, audited four times a year ARMA carries the most detailed Bitcoin custody language ever written into a congressional bill. It requires private keys distributed geographically across air-gapped facilities, multi-signature governance that needs sign-off from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and an independent third agency, plus investment in quantum-resistant cryptography. The Treasury would also publish quarterly proof-of-reserve reports backed by independent third-party audits, a transparency standard the current executive-order reserve entirely lacks.

The bill splits the structure in two. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve holds Bitcoin only. A separate Digital Asset Stockpile warehouses seized non-Bitcoin assets such as Ethereum or Solana, and anything sold from that pile can only fund more Bitcoin or pay down debt. A further provision protects ordinary citizens’ right to self-custody their own keys, a nod to privacy advocates who feared a government reserve might creep toward restricting private ownership.

From a Nashville campaign line to a reversible order The reserve began as a campaign promise. Trump floated the strategic reserve at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville in 2024, courting crypto holders as a voting bloc, and followed through with Executive Order 14233 in March 2025. ARMA is the attempt to convert that campaign-era gesture into durable law. The distinction matters: an executive order is reversible by the next occupant of the White House, precisely the fragility the bill’s backers cite when they argue for statute.

Executive Order 14233 · in force today

Legal basis

Presidential order

Reversibility

Revocable by the next president

Active buying

None announced

Transparency

No audit requirement

Holdings scope

Seized Bitcoin only

ARMA · proposed H.R. 8957

Legal basis

Federal statute

Reversibility

Requires new legislation to undo

Active buying

Up to 1M BTC targeted via study

Transparency

Quarterly proof-of-reserve plus audits

Holdings scope

Seized coins plus potential purchases

The state-storage clause that may outlast the 1M BTC headline A committee vote does not put a single coin on the Treasury’s balance sheet. Even a clean markup leaves ARMA facing the full House and a Senate where the 60-vote filibuster threshold makes the bipartisan cover Golden provides structural rather than optional. Should the bill clear the House this fall, attention shifts to whether it moves with the CLARITY Act or gets stranded on a crowded Senate calendar.

For the states, the practical hook is already visible. ARMA lets individual states park their own Bitcoin in the Treasury’s secure storage while keeping those holdings segregated, which slots neatly into the reserve laws already passed in New Hampshire, Arizona, and Texas and pending in more than a dozen other statehouses. That federal-state plumbing, more than the 1 million BTC headline, may be the provision that survives markup intact and starts shaping how public money touches Bitcoin over the next few years.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

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Bitcoin traded near $78,700 on Monday, September 14, while XRP changed hands around $1.41.

Both advanced as traders awaited Tuesday’s U.S. Senate procedural vote on the CLARITY Act. The crypto market is up +1.32% to $2.65T in 24h, primarily driven by regulatory optimism ahead of a key U.S. Senate vote.

The Senate outcome could shape regulatory expectations, although it would not make the proposal law. Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision adds another test for a market sensitive to interest rates.

What’s To Expect Ahead of Tomorrow’s CLARITY Act The Senate can consider the CLARITY Act cloture motion from 2:15 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, September 15. Advancing the measure through cloture generally requires 60 votes, and the result would allow broader Senate debate.

New York Attorney General Letitia James leads a bipartisan coalition of 17 other attorneys general opposing the current bill. They argue it could limit states’ ability to prosecute crypto fraud and protect investors. The coalition also objects to provisions letting the Securities and Exchange Commission preempt state registration requirements.

18 State AGs Push Back on CLARITY Act Ahead of Key Senate Vote

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a bipartisan coalition of 17 other state attorneys general urging Congress to oppose the current version of the CLARITY Act ahead of Tuesday’s key procedural vote. The… pic.twitter.com/wQwmqjUTMj

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 14, 2026

The attorneys general want Congress to preserve state enforcement, registration powers and cooperation with federal regulators. Their intervention complicates the market’s optimistic reading of the vote. A failed procedural vote could delay legislation without settling the underlying regulatory debate.

FOMC Decision Puts September Rate Hike in Focus The Federal Open Market Committee meets September 15–16 and is scheduled to announce its decision Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern. A press conference follows at 2:30 p.m., alongside updated economic projections.

The current federal funds target range is 3.50%–3.75%. Interest rate traders favor a 25-basis-point increase, which would lift that range to 3.75%–4.00%. That remains an expectation, not an announced decision.

Fed tool Higher rates can strengthen yields and reduce demand for speculative assets. Bitcoin and XRP could therefore react to the Fed’s projections and policy language, even if it delivers the expected hike.

Bitcoin and XRP ETFs Show Diverging Investor Demand U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted about $463 million in net withdrawals during the September 7–11 reporting week. The result ended a three-week inflow streak, suggesting institutional demand weakened before the policy decisions.

Spot XRP ETFs drew $18.98 million in fresh capital during the same period. Over the past four weeks, inflows to the Ethereum products have been positive, with $197 million flowing in this week. Solana funds were the ones that saw about $10.30 million, which indicates the disparity in demand for crypto assets.

Source: Sosovalue data ETF flows are not the same as the actual positioning of each investor. However, continued flows out of Bitcoin may prevent a rally, and continued flows in to XRP could help dampen pullbacks.

XRP and Bitcoin Price Prediction: Key Levels to Watch Bitcoin faces near-term resistance around $78,850, its recent intraday high. Clearing that level could put $80,000 within reach. A stronger advance might then test the $82,000 area.

Failure to hold $78,000 would shift attention toward $76,400, near the recent intraday low. Losing that floor could expose the $75,000 area, especially if the Senate vote disappoints.

XRP/USDT 4-hour chart: TradingView For the XRP price, $1.42 marks immediate resistance, followed by $1.45 and $1.50. Holding above $1.40 would support an attempt higher. Below $1.34, the near-term outlook would weaken, opening a possible move toward $1.30.

These levels describe possible reactions rather than guaranteed targets. Senate negotiations, ETF demand, and Fed guidance could rapidly change the outlook for both assets.

There is roughly $16.6 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum options sitting on Deribit’s books, all scheduled to expire on September 25, 2026. Bitcoin options account for the bulk of that figure at approximately $14.63 billion, with Ethereum options adding another $1.93 billion.

The call-heavy tilt that defines this expiry Options come in two flavors: calls, which profit when prices rise, and puts, which profit when prices fall. For Bitcoin, the put/call open interest ratio sits at 0.52. For Ethereum, it is 0.57. Both numbers below 1.0 mean there are roughly twice as many call contracts outstanding as put contracts.

With Bitcoin trading near $78,000 as of September 14, the concentration of call positions at higher strike prices suggests many traders are positioned for a move beyond current levels before the September 25 settlement. The estimated max-pain level for the expiry sits between $72,000 and $75,000, meaning the price at which the largest number of open contracts expire worthless is meaningfully below the current spot price.

Why max pain matters and why traders ignore it anyway Max pain is a concept borrowed from traditional options markets. The theory holds that, heading into expiry, prices tend to gravitate toward the level where options sellers face the smallest total payout. For this September 25 expiry, that level is in the $72,000 to $75,000 range for Bitcoin, while the current spot price near $78,000 sits above that zone.

Deribit’s dominance and what that concentration means Deribit processes the overwhelming majority of Bitcoin and Ethereum options volume globally. As September 25 approaches, the hedging activity of large market makers on Deribit will have an outsized effect on spot prices. When call options move into the money and market makers need to delta-hedge their books, they buy the underlying asset, which can amplify upward price moves. When puts move into the money, the hedging flows go the other way.

Ethereum’s $1.93 billion slice of that total carries a put/call ratio of 0.57, mirroring the bullish bias seen in Bitcoin.

For traders watching the September 25 date, the key variables to track are any shift in the put/call ratio in the days ahead, movement in implied volatility as the expiry approaches, and whether Bitcoin holds above the $75,000 max pain zone. A sustained break below that level would flip the hedging math for a market that has positioned itself with calls dominant at a 0.52 to 0.57 put/call ratio.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) should remain one’s biggest crypto position, followed by Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and a smaller Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) allocation, according to prominent analyst Kevin Capital.

"It’s worked for me more than once," Kevin wrote on X on Sunday, saying “life-changing gains” can be made with such an allocation in a bull cycle.

Prominent investor Mark Moss echoed the upbeat sentiment in a separate interview with Scott Melker on Saturday.

Moss said the recent rally did not come without warning, citing CryptoQuant data that showed wallets holding more than 10,000 Bitcoin added roughly $2.9 billion in BTC over 60 days.

Wallets holding 10 Bitcoin or less reportedly sold nearly 10,000 BTC during the same period.

At the same time, institutional filings showed growing exposure:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF position by about 25% during the second quarter. Paul Tudor Jones reportedly raised his Bitcoin exposure by 18.9%. Stanley Druckenmiller’s family office added positions in Bitcoin miners expanding into artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Trending

Why Bitcoin Looks Good After the RallyMoss further pointed to Bitcoin’s response to negative headlines as a major bottom signal. Hacks, data breaches and concerns about Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) selling Bitcoin failed to push the asset below its range.

Markets stop falling when sellers run out, Moss argued. Institutions defending the $60,000 area helped absorb supply before the rally triggered short liquidations and momentum buying.

He also linked the move to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s plan to expand bond buybacks — an announcement that is a signal that policymakers will intervene to contain bond-market stress and support liquidity.

Suppressing yields could weaken the dollar’s purchasing power and increase demand for scarce assets.

Moss now places an 80% probability on $58,000 marking the cycle low. He sees a possible retest near $65,000 to $69,000 but does not expect Bitcoin to break its former bottom.

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XRP: XRP remains in post-breakout consolidation above $1.33–$1.35, with a break above $1.45 needed to reopen the path toward $1.50–$1.55.

Zcash (ZEC): ZEC retains strong bullish momentum above $1,050 despite extreme volatility, while a breakout above $1,200–$1,280 could trigger another price-discovery move.

Bitcoin (BTC): Bitcoin remains structurally bullish while holding $76,000–$77,000, but buyers need to clear the $80,000–$82,000 resistance zone to resume the broader rally.

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Ethereum (ETH): Ethereum continues to consolidate bullishly around $2,500, with a confirmed breakout above $2,560 potentially opening the way toward $2,650–$2,700.

Short-term dynamic changesFollowing a dramatic August breakout that drastically altered its short-term market structure, XRP is trying to stabilize around $1.40. The token is still having trouble establishing a distinct continuation pattern, but it is currently trading close to $1.398, well above a number of significant moving averages.

This zone has drawn buyers on several occasions in September and closely aligns with the long-term moving average that can be seen on the daily chart. In recent sessions, XRP briefly fell below the area but swiftly recovered, indicating that sellers have not yet taken control.

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe first significant resistance is between $1.42 and $1.45 above the current price. Multiple September rallies have stalled there. The structure would be significantly improved by a decisive daily close above $1.45, which could lead to another attempt at $1.50–$1.55.

Beyond that, the August wick at $1.70 continues to be the main local extreme, though XRP would require much greater momentum to overcome it. Momentum currently appears fairly balanced. After the August rally, the daily RSI fell precipitously from overbought territory and is currently at about 56.

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Because XRP has maintained the majority of its breakout gains while eliminating the extreme momentum readings, that cooling process is beneficial. The downside structure is straightforward. The current consolidation would be weakened if $1.33 were lost, and focus would shift to about $1.28, where a rising moving average offers additional possible support.

If that support also fails, the $1.20–$1.25 region would become significant. Rather than confirming a new leg higher, XRP is currently in post-breakout consolidation. Bulls are in a good position if price holds between $1.33 and $1.35, but $1.45 must be cleared before another significant expansion is likely.

Zcash's momentum is thereAfter its massive rise from below $500 in August to a peak of about $1,280 in September, Zcash continues to be one of the market's most extreme momentum trades. ZEC is currently trading close to $1,147, indicating that despite significant volatility around the highs, the token has maintained a sizable portion of the move.

ZEC/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe daily structure remains very bullish. ZEC trades significantly above all major moving averages, with the shortest average rising to about $950. Longer averages remain significantly lower at $800, $680, and $550, demonstrating how quickly prices have moved away from their prior equilibrium.

That distance, however, also poses a significant correction risk. ZEC has already experienced heavy selling between $1,200 and $1,280. Long intraday ranges and a number of large daily candles show fierce competition between buyers and profit-taking sellers.

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The price range of $1,160 to $1,200 is the immediate resistance. The recent $1,250–$1,280 high would come back into focus if $1,200 were recovered. Another price-discovery phase could be established by a clear breakout above $1,280, with $1,300 serving as the first psychological level above the current high.

About $1,050–$1,080 is the first significant support area on the downside. Following its most recent rejection, ZEC has already recovered in this area. A test of the psychological $1,000 level would become more likely if $1,050 were lost, followed by the sharply rising short-term moving average at $950.

Although volatility is very high, ZEC's trend remains bullish. The current action looks like consolidation following a vertical advance above $1,050. A deeper correction toward $1,000–$950 becomes much more likely below that level.

Bitcoin's consolidationAfter its strong August comeback, which took it from about $63,000 to over $80,000 in a matter of weeks, Bitcoin is consolidating around $78,250. Although the initial momentum has subsided, bulls still have a significant advantage on the daily chart: Bitcoin is still trading comfortably above its major moving averages.

BTC/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe immediate structure revolves around the $76,000–$77,000 support area. Since the beginning of September, Bitcoin has tested this area multiple times, but buyers have consistently prevented a more serious decline.

The short-term moving average is also approaching this zone, providing additional technical support. The first significant barrier on the upside remains $79,000–$80,000. Although Bitcoin has frequently traded above $80,000, it has not been able to sustain acceptance at that level. The next significant barrier is the recent peak between $81,500 and $82,000.

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The current consolidation would be resolved and the broader recovery could resume if the daily close were above that level. Momentum has significantly stabilized. After entering overbought territory during the August breakout, the RSI has moved back toward the mid-50s. As a result, BTC no longer exhibits the same overheated momentum conditions, but it also shows less buying pressure than during the initial rally.

There has been a major improvement in the broader technical structure. Bitcoin is currently trading above the long-term moving average at $73,000, while the medium-term averages are rising below the price.

Ethereum jumps to $2,500After one of its biggest recent upside expansions, Ethereum is still trading close to $2,500. ETH jumped from about $1,880 in August to over $2,500, and in contrast to many strong rallies, the asset has given back comparatively little of the gain.

Right now, ETH is trading at about $2,503, with price action forming a tight consolidation between about $2,400 and $2,550. This range has been the main technical structure on the daily chart for a number of weeks. The bullish argument stems from where this consolidation is taking place.

ETH/USDT Chart by TradingViewEthereum remains well above all of the main moving averages. While the medium-term averages are between $2,200 and $2,260, the shortest average has risen to $2,400. Following the August breakout, ETH has held onto its high price range rather than immediately retreating toward those averages.

Resistance remains concentrated between $2,520 and $2,560. Ethereum has tested this area several times without a convincing daily breakout. If $2,560 is eventually cleared, one notable wick reaches about $2,660, making that level the next important target. Momentum has decreased without turning bearish.

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The RSI entered overbought territory before settling in the mid-50s. This normalization will allow ETH to extend further if buyers return. The primary support is now $2,400–$2,440. The consolidation would be weakened if that area were lost, exposing the $2,300 level, followed by the rising moving-average cluster between $2,200 and $2,250.

For the time being, Ethereum's structure favors continuation over reversal. The market has absorbed the August rally without a significant decline. A confirmed break above $2,560 would significantly strengthen that setup and bring the $2,650–$2,700 area into focus.

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Bitcoin struggled to maintain price levels above $80,000 after its recent rally, but CoinMarketCap Head of Research Alice Liu stated that the leading cryptocurrency is unlikely to revisit the lower price points seen earlier this year.

Bitcoin holds gains above yearly lowsLiu referred to Bitcoin touching a low near $59,000 in June, which reflects a 53% decline from its October all-time high of $126,100. She remarked that this drop may have marked the cycle’s bottom, suggesting that significant retracements are now less likely.

Bitcoin recently reached $81,600 at the beginning of September, representing about a 28% rebound since mid-August. This price move pushed the CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear & Greed Index—which monitors collective market sentiment for cryptocurrencies—back into the Greed zone after months of showing widespread caution in the market.

CoinMarketCap, a widely used crypto data aggregator, is known for publishing metrics such as market capitalization, trading volume, and sentiment indices across major digital assets.

While Bitcoin’s recovery has dominated headlines, Liu shifted her focus to emerging trends outside of the core cryptocurrency market. She pointed to growing activity in the field of tokenized real-world assets and perpetual futures contracts.

Competition intensifies in RWA perpetuals and DEXsLiu highlighted developments around Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives trading platform. She emphasized that network activity and token price can move independently and noted increased attention to real-world asset (RWA) perpetuals—derivatives backed by tokenized stocks, ETFs, and indices.

She reported that Hyperliquid initially captured a large share of trading volume for these RWA perpetuals. However, after Binance—the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume—launched its own RWA perpetuals, much of this activity shifted to Binance, which now accounts for about 50% market share. Despite this, Liu said Hyperliquid remains the leader among decentralized exchanges (DEXs) for these products.

Mini dictionary: Hyperliquid is a decentralized derivatives trading platform, allowing users to trade perpetual contracts on-chain, with an emphasis on real-world asset (RWA) integration and high on-chain liquidity.

PlatformMarket Share (RWA Perpetuals)Binance50%HyperliquidLeading among DEXsHyperliquid’s native token, Hype, is up 47.50% over the past 30 days. Liu attributed recent price gains to significant token buybacks, citing more than $400 million spent on buybacks as a key factor supporting momentum. She added that the limited supply of unlocked tokens could further influence price movements as new tokens continue to be gradually released to the market.

Hyperliquid remains a venue where substantial liquidity is concentrated and much of the scale in RWA perpetuals is driven.

Alice Liu weighs in on AI-crypto tokensAccording to Liu, the price outlook for Hype depends on ongoing project revenue to sustain buybacks. Although she maintains a positive stance on Hyperliquid, Liu expressed caution toward the broader narrative of AI-focused crypto tokens, especially those that peaked in popularity in late 2023 with limited real-world utility.

She argued that many meme-inspired AI tokens face intense competition from major technology and AI companies and may struggle to maintain value. “For previous cycle meme-ified AI tokens that lack tangible utility or infrastructure, there is a possibility they could become worthless,” she noted.

Liu acknowledged that some AI-related infrastructure projects in crypto show promise and provide utility, but she expects even these may trade at discounted valuations compared to expectations.

While discussing Bitcoin’s long-term prospects, Liu described the flagship cryptocurrency and the larger market as underestimated destination for investment in the current economic climate. She offered a more conservative perspective than Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, who have both suggested Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2030. Liu concluded that while such heights are not impossible, she prefers a cautious outlook.

Strategy, the company led by Michael Saylor, has not added to its Bitcoin holdings for three consecutive weeks, according to its latest SEC 8-K filing. Instead, the firm acquired $139.3 million worth of its own STRC preferred stock, focusing recent financial efforts on share repurchases rather than further cryptocurrency accumulation.

Bitcoin holdings remain unchangedStrategy’s Bitcoin reserves stand at 845,050 BTC, unchanged since the company purchased 4,603 additional Bitcoins for nearly $370 million on August 31. Earlier this year, the company paused Bitcoin acquisitions for a 10-week stretch before resuming in late August.

Publicly available data from Bitcoin Treasuries shows that it cost Strategy about $63.73 billion to assemble its Bitcoin stash, with the average price per Bitcoin at approximately $75,412. At current market value, the firm’s Bitcoin holdings are assessed at about $66 billion.

The company did not liquidate any bitcoins or use its at-the-market equity program in the recent filing period, and its MSTR common stock remained untouched for back-to-back weeks.

Between September 8 and 13, Strategy repurchased 1,420,467 STRC preferred shares, aiming to bring the share price closer to the $100 par value. On September 13, STRC closed at $98.64, below the par threshold. Management considers any buyback below $100 as immediately accretive since retiring the shares at a discount avoids future dividend obligations.

STRC is a preferred stock instrument that holds seniority over the company’s common shares and is characterized as short-duration “digital credit” backed by Strategy’s cash and Bitcoin. However, holders do not have a direct claim on the underlying Bitcoin.

The company funded its recent buybacks using its USD Cash pool, which is one of its two dollar reserves. As of September 13, Strategy reported a USD Reserve of $5.10 billion, set aside for preferred dividends and debt interest, and $1.30 billion in USD Cash.

Reserve TypeAmountPurposeUSD Reserve$5.10 billionPreferred dividends, debt interestUSD Cash$1.30 billionGeneral useBuyback program expansion and future plansRecently, Strategy’s board approved an increase in its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program, doubling the ceiling to $2 billion. The announcement followed a previous week’s buyback of $176.3 million in STRC shares, involving a total of 1,810,885 shares.

As of the latest update, $1.05 billion remains available for preferred share buybacks and $1.0 billion for purchases of MSTR common stock.

On the company’s credit dashboard, Michael Saylor reported that STRC’s “BTC Credit” stood at 57 basis points, with a USD duration of 3.9 years. These numbers assume a 10% annualized bitcoin return, 40% volatility, and a Bitcoin price of $77,266.

Strategy has pursued significant repurchases of its STRC preferred shares, allocating $139.3 million in the recent week while maintaining its sizable Bitcoin holdings at 845,050 BTC.

Industry position remains strongStrategy continues to rank as the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, ahead of competitors such as Twenty One Capital, Metaplanet, and MARA Holdings. The most recent closing price for MSTR, the company’s common stock, was $130.97.

Michael Saylor, the founder and executive chairman, continues to lead the firm’s strategy focused on maintaining a large Bitcoin treasury and optimizing shareholder returns through dynamic buybacks.

Mini dictionary: STRC preferred stock, a class of stock issued by Strategy, offers holders a higher claim on assets and earnings than common shares but does not provide direct rights to the company’s Bitcoin reserves. STRC is promoted as a “digital credit” instrument with defined payout and redemption characteristics.

B. Salman Banaei, General Counsel at Plume Network, contributes a breakdown of four key advantages that tokenization offers for asset management, appearing in a report published by Bitcoin Suisse on September 13, 2026.

What Banaei actually argues Testifying before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on March 25, 2026, he argued that tokenized securities should be evaluated through the same economic risk lens as their traditional counterparts. Regulators, in his view, should resist the temptation to build parallel frameworks when existing structures can handle the underlying risks just fine.

His testimony also carried a geopolitical edge. He warned that the United States risks falling behind Switzerland and Singapore, both of which have moved faster on tokenization-friendly regulatory environments.

On the question of where to start, Banaei pointed to fixed-income and debt markets as the highest-priority targets for tokenization efforts.

The four advantages Banaei outlines in the Bitcoin Suisse report follow logically from that prioritization. Tokenization improves settlement efficiency by replacing multi-day clearing cycles with near-instant finality. It expands access by allowing fractional ownership of assets that previously required large minimum investments. It enhances transparency through on-chain audit trails that regulators and investors can verify independently. And it reduces counterparty risk by encoding compliance rules directly into the token’s smart contract logic, making certain failure modes structurally impossible rather than merely prohibited.

Plume’s own numbers tell part of the story Plume Network launched its Ethereum Layer 2 mainnet in June 2025, and by early 2026 the platform was hosting more than 220 tokenization projects with a combined asset value exceeding $350 million.

Approximately 260,000 real-world asset wallets are now associated with the Plume network.

The platform focuses specifically on real-world asset tokenization, meaning the underlying collateral consists of things like private credit, real estate, and trade finance receivables rather than synthetic crypto assets. Transfer restrictions, investor accreditation checks, and jurisdictional rules get embedded at the contract level.

Bitcoin Suisse’s broader report framing Bitcoin Suisse, which manages more than $3 billion in digital assets, makes a quantitative case for Bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier. Backtesting data in the report suggests that allocating between 1% and 2.5% of a portfolio to Bitcoin could improve annual returns from 6.2% to as high as 7.2%, compared to traditional bond-heavy allocations.

The report frames Bitcoin’s appeal partly as a response to concentration risk building up in AI-adjacent equity investments.

Bitcoin Suisse received MiCAR licensing in June 2026, giving it a regulatory passport for broader operations across European Union markets.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Bitcoin treasury Strategy held off buying bitcoin again last week. The Nasdaq-listed company said it instead bought $139 million of its preferred stock STRC. 

A Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday showed that the company repurchased 1.42 million STRC preferred shares for around $139.3 million between September 8 and September 13. 

The company still owns 845,050 bitcoins worth $66.2 billion at today’s prices, and has two cash balances: USD Reserve and USD Cash, holding $5.1 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively. 

Strategy, which is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, this year switched from predictably buying the biggest cryptocurrency this week to buying back its stock and building a cash reserve. 

On some occasions, the company even sold small bits of its BTC stash — despite founder and chairman Michael Saylor famously preaching to “never sell your bitcoin.” 

After a 10-week hiatus, the company started buying bitcoin again in the final week of August, scooping up nearly $370 million in the leading cryptocurrency. 

It hasn’t bought any bitcoin since. 

Its Nasdaq-listed shares (MSTR) were 3% trading higher on Monday. The stock has lost over 75% of its value since notching a record in November 2024 — one month before bitcoin passed the once mythical and long-awaited $100,000 mark. 

Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — is an enterprise software company that pivoted to buying and holding bitcoin in 2020. 

It first bought the cryptocurrency to protect its shareholders from inflation but has since aggressively bought the asset and pivoted to being a bitcoin treasury.

Strategy has defended its recent bitcoin sales, with CEO Phong Le saying that the company now has a “bullet-proof balance sheet.” 

In the company’s quarterly earnings in July, Strategy posted a $8.22 billion loss. But Le reassured investors that the firm’s current paper loss was nothing to worry about.

“We’re the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy, so whether we sell 1,000 bitcoin out of 840,000 to me is irrelevant to the conversation,” Le said in a subsequent interview. 

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.

A cutout of US President Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin is displayed on a group of servers during The Bitcoin Conference at The Venetian Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Ian Maule / AFP) (Photo by IAN MAULE/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

“Democrats got what they wanted; now they need to take yes for an answer,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said in a statement released at 10:01 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, alongside a 635-page final draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Bettors moved on the text before a single Democrat had answered it.

Polymarket’s contract on whether the bill is signed into law this year sat at 21.5% in the hour before the text dropped and traded at 34.5% by 04:36 UTC on Monday, on $908,126 of volume in 24 hours. On Wednesday it was at 14.5%. Bitcoin was at $77,575, up 0.5%, with the cloture vote at 2:15 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday and a Federal Reserve decision on Wednesday.

‘Toughest Ethics Restrictions In U.S. History’“President Trump voluntarily agreed to new ethics provisions holding every federally elected official, judge, and their spouses to some of the toughest ethics restrictions in U.S. history,” Lummis posted on X, and Division C of the text goes further than earlier drafts. A covered official may not, “in exchange for consideration, issue a digital asset,” nor sponsor one, and anyone holding “any class of equity interest worth not less than $15,000” in a business that earned most of its revenue from issuing or sponsoring digital assets in any of the past three years must “divest the significant financial interest” or “place the significant financial interest in a qualified blind trust.” Penalties run to 20% of the money received or $500,000, whichever is larger, and a state attorney general who can show residents lost more than $100 gets standing to sue the U.S. attorney general for an injunction.

President Donald Trump’s disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics on June 30, listed about $515 million from the sale of tokens released by World Liberty Financial, $65 million from selling equity in WLF’s holding company, and $635 million in royalties from “Celebration Coins,” which Bloomberg tied to his memecoin business. World Liberty issues USD1, the stablecoin that reached the global top five in under a year. The text does not name him; whether any remaining stake meets the $15,000 test is left to the supervising ethics office.

‘Last, Best And Final’“Republicans are calling it their ‘last, best and final’ offer to Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s cloture vote,” Eleanor Terrett, the journalist who hosts Crypto in America, reported minutes after the release, adding that Trump had agreed to what “a GOP aide describes as ‘80%’ of the Tillis-Gallego ethics proposal” and to a role for state attorneys general, “something which the White House had previously balked at.”

“You’re not getting 60 votes no matter what without an ethics resolution,” Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, said in a CoinDesk interview clip posted Saturday night, before the text existed. “The White House is going to have to come out and say something on the ethics proposal from Senators Tillis and Gallego.” What he wanted, he said, was “some smoke from the White House.”

‘Falls Short’Politico reported that Trump met advisers on Friday and that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer convened his caucus on Sunday evening. By 05:00 UTC on Monday none of the Democratic negotiators had published a response, so their standing position is the one seven of them signed on July 22. “The Republican-proposed text of the CLARITY Act as it currently stands falls short,” Sens. Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner and five colleagues said then, listing “ethics for elected officials” first among the sections that “must be strengthened.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was blunter that week. “Someone can call it an ethics provision,” she said in remarks reported by Fox News. “But if it doesn’t stop the president from profiting off of crypto, and using it as a way to take bribes right out in public.”

‘Fear Of Competition’The stablecoin fight was settled with a tripwire rather than a ban. If the Treasury Secretary makes “a written determination that deposit flight is occurring from community banks on a substantial scale,” Treasury is directed to write rules restricting stablecoin rewards, an authority that expires 18 months after enactment. The bank lobby wanted a hard ban on yield even as banks circled the stablecoin market themselves.

“I hesitate to use the word stalemate right now, but a little bit of friction, let’s say, between the bank lobbyists and the crypto companies in Washington where they’re debating the Clarity Act,” Ali Tager, of the National Cryptocurrency Association, said on the On The Margin podcast in April. The association was founded with a $50 million Ripple grant; Ripple is also a top donor to the super PAC network running ads against banks. Her polling found a lopsided split: “Four times as many voters believe they should have the opportunity and ability and freedom to earn rewards on stablecoins. And they also believe that the bank lobbyists are pushing back not because of consumer protection, but actually because of fear of competition.”

‘The Bill Makes It To The Floor’Republicans hold 53 seats and cloture needs 60, so the motion fails unless at least seven Democrats or independents vote to open debate, and the new text “would be offered as an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute” only if it does.

Prediction markets have front-run Washington before this year, and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz called this one on Saturday, before the caucus and before the text: “Clarity isn’t dead!! Lots of negotiating over the weekend. My instinct is the bill makes it to the floor. It all depends on if we get the White House to move on ethics to see if we get a law.”

In brief Strategy repurchased 1,420,467 shares of its STRC preferred stock for $139.3 million between September 8 and 13, funded entirely from its USD Cash reserve. The company bought no Bitcoin for a second straight week, holding steady at 845,050 BTC acquired for $63.73 billion at an average of $75,412 per coin. Roughly $1.05 billion remains under Strategy's $2 billion digital credit securities repurchase program, alongside $1 billion still available for MSTR stock buybacks. Strategy repurchased 1,420,467 shares of its STRC preferred stock for $139.3 million in the week to September 13, according to an 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

That pulled back from the $176.3 million the Bitcoin treasury company spent the previous week, when its board doubled the authorization behind its digital credit securities repurchase program to $2 billion. Every dollar came out of USD Cash, the liquidity pool management taps for buybacks, dividends and Bitcoin purchases alike.

Myriad: How much Bitcoin will Strategy hold? Click to make your prediction.The company bought and sold no Bitcoin during the period, leaving its holdings unchanged at 845,050 BTC for a second consecutive week. Strategy acquired that stack for $63.73 billion at an average price of $75,412 per coin, inclusive of fees.

Strategy repurchased none of its STRF, STRK, or STRD preferred shares, and bought back no MSTR common stock either. About $1.05 billion remains available under the $2 billion digital credit securities program, while a separate $1 billion authorization for MSTR stock sits untouched.

The company's dollar balances stood at $5.10 billion in the USD Reserve, which backs preferred dividends and interest payments, and $1.30 billion in USD Cash as of September 13. That's down from $1.44 billion a week earlier, tracking almost exactly with the $139.3 million spent buying back STRC.

Per Strategy's own credit dashboard, STRC's BTC Credit spread—the risk premium implied by pricing the security against Strategy's Bitcoin collateral—sits at roughly 57 basis points, assuming a 10% annualized Bitcoin return, 40% volatility and Bitcoin near $77,266.

That keeps the security in investment-grade territory on Strategy's own scale, which flags anything under 150 basis points that way. The same dashboard puts Strategy's aggregate Bitcoin reserve at $66.2 billion against a blended breakeven annualized return of 2.48%, with a duration of 40.3 years.

To put this in simple terms, a basis point is basically a way for finance experts to talk about tiny percentages—one basis point is equal to 0.01%, so 57 basis points is 0.57%. Think of the "Bitcoin Credit spread" as a safety gap: it represents the extra cost or risk associated with this investment compared to a safer investment.

Strategy has a rule that as long as this risk stays below 150 basis points (1.5%), they consider the investment very safe, or ​"investment-grade."​

The breakeven return of 2.48% is the minimum amount Strategy needs their Bitcoin to grow each year to cover their costs, and the 40.3-year duration means they have a very long time to reach that goal, giving them a massive cushion against short-term price drops.

So, at least on paper, things look OK, especially if Bitcoin keeps going up.

The buyback slowdown comes as Strategy awaits word on an MSCI proposal that could strip "non-operating companies" like Strategy from its global equity benchmarks.

Feedback on that consultation closes September 30, with a decision due October 16 — a date that could move billions of dollars in passive fund flows tied to Strategy's index weighting.

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Strategy Inc., formerly known as MicroStrategy, has repurchased approximately $139 million of its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC), according to Decrypt Media. This buyback comes amid a two-week period where the company’s Bitcoin holdings have remained unchanged at 845,050 BTC. The decision to allocate corporate cash towards STRC rather than altering its Bitcoin position suggests a strategic focus on supporting preferred stock. The market response indicates an increase in perceived confidence in STRC’s potential performance.

Key Takeaways Strategy’s repurchase of $139 million in STRC suggests strong confidence in the asset’s potential, which could be driving market participants to increase the perceived likelihood of STRC hitting $100. The unchanged Bitcoin holdings for a second consecutive week may indicate a strategic shift in capital allocation, focusing resources on preferred stock rather than expanding Bitcoin assets. Market pricing suggests a moderate increase in the odds of STRC achieving the $100 mark by the end of 2026, with current odds at 80.5% for December 31. What to Watch Observers will be monitoring any further announcements from Strategy regarding additional buybacks or changes in Bitcoin holdings, as these could significantly impact market perceptions and pricing. The upcoming resolution date for STRC hitting $100 by September 30, currently priced at 33% YES, will be a key indicator of short-term market sentiment. Further developments or strategic announcements from CEO Michael Saylor could influence the market’s outlook on both STRC and Bitcoin.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 80.5% 0.0¢ $2K View market → September 30 43.5% +9.5¢ $2K View market → Updated 4min ago

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Oman has moved to stop the sale of cryptocurrency mining equipment to unlicensed operators, with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion warning companies and individuals against supplying hardware to buyers who have not secured the required permits, according to Gulf News. The ministry said it had detected cases in which mining equipment was sold or supplied to individuals and entities that lacked the licences, permits and approvals needed to run mining operations, and it issued a formal notice to close that gap and tighten the rules.

New Restrictions on Equipment Sales Under the notice, sellers are prohibited from completing any transaction involving cryptocurrency mining equipment unless the buyer is legally authorised to carry out mining activities. Suppliers must verify before every sale that the purchaser holds all required licences, permits and approvals from the competent authorities, and must establish that the buyer is legally eligible to undertake mining in the Sultanate. The ministry warned that companies and individuals who fail to comply with these checks could face legal and administrative action under the laws and regulations currently in force in the country. The requirement effectively shifts the burden of due diligence onto vendors, which must now screen buyers against licensing records before transferring any hardware.

Tightening a State-Led Mining Push The enforcement move builds on Oman’s effort to bring mining under official control rather than leave it to informal operators. Earlier this year the Sultanate mandated a state-run Bitcoin mining pool that consolidated roughly 10 exahashes per second under government oversight, a move aimed at channelling the industry into regulated channels. The new equipment-sales rules extend that licensing logic to the supply chain, making it harder for unregistered miners to obtain hardware through domestic vendors and pushing the sector toward licensed, state-aligned participants only.

Energy and Enforcement Across the Region The clampdown also reflects the energy sensitivity of mining, which draws heavy power loads that regulators across the Middle East and beyond are scrutinising. Similar pressures have already forced operators elsewhere to scale back or unwind projects, as seen when Tether’s Bitcoin mining push in Uruguay unravelled over energy concerns. By policing the equipment supply chain, Oman is signalling that unlicensed mining will not be tolerated, while continuing to promote its own licensed mining agenda as part of a broader digital-economy strategy.

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Key Takeaways Table of Contents

Major AI semiconductor companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel experienced significant declines following executive warnings about rapid AI advancement dangers Technology companies Adobe and ServiceNow saw gains, indicating potential sector rotation rather than wholesale AI exit Brent crude surged beyond $108 per barrel following attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s critical energy infrastructure and pipeline shutdown Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline transports approximately 4 million barrels daily, making this disruption a significant supply threat Bitcoin enters a critical macroeconomic period as Federal Reserve rate increase expectations intensify The semiconductor sector experienced substantial turbulence Monday as leading AI chip manufacturers saw sharp selloffs triggered by industry leader warnings regarding the pace of artificial intelligence advancement.

Nvidia’s shares declined over 3% during trading. Meanwhile, AMD, Intel, and Marvell each posted losses ranging from 5% to 6%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index registered a decline approaching 6% during intraday trading.

These losses followed public statements from influential AI industry figures advocating for more measured development of advanced AI systems, citing potential hazards. Market participants immediately began reassessing whether the substantial capital investments flowing into chips and infrastructure might decelerate.

Sector Rebalancing Rather Than Broad Exodus The broader technology landscape showed divergent patterns. Adobe and ServiceNow posted gains during the same session, suggesting capital reallocation within AI-exposed stocks rather than wholesale abandonment of the theme.

Declaring the AI investment cycle finished would be premature. However, Monday’s price action indicates investors are adopting a more discriminating approach when allocating capital.

Semiconductor manufacturers had been among the primary beneficiaries of AI-driven investment flows. Monday’s reversal served as evidence that this trend faces headwinds and volatility.

Crude Prices Jump Following Saudi Infrastructure Strike Energy commodities experienced dramatic movement after strikes targeted Saudi Arabian energy facilities. Brent crude pushed back above the $108 threshold following the temporary closure of the nation’s East-West pipeline system.

This critical pipeline infrastructure handles roughly 4 million barrels daily, directing crude toward Red Sea export terminals. Any interruption to these volumes immediately captures market attention.

The incident compounded already elevated energy market tensions. Crude prices had been advancing for weeks before this development provided additional upward momentum.

Rising oil prices compound inflationary pressures already commanding Federal Reserve attention. Financial markets have now increased probability assessments for additional monetary tightening in upcoming meetings.

Cryptocurrency Faces Critical Assessment Period Bitcoin confronts this challenging macroeconomic backdrop with significant tests approaching. Escalating interest rate expectations combined with equity volatility typically pressure risk-oriented assets, a category where Bitcoin frequently trades.

Cryptocurrency market participants view the upcoming period as among the most significant macro inflection points this year for digital asset valuations.

Bitcoin’s performance trajectory depends substantially on Federal Reserve communications and broader market reactions to energy supply disruptions and technology sector weakness.

Market participants monitoring both traditional and cryptocurrency markets now face multiple simultaneous pressure points, with limited clarity on near-term resolution for any single catalyst.