The US Senate will not vote on crypto’s most consequential piece of pending legislation before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess, leaving the digital-asset industry’s push for a formal market-structure law stalled for at least another six weeks. Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act lacked the votes to clear the chamber, with Democrats blocking floor action over an unresolved ethics provision tied to President Trump’s crypto business interests. The delay matters because the bill would settle one of the industry’s oldest disputes: whether tokens on established blockchains are regulated as commodities by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or as securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Exchanges, custodians and token issuers have been operating for years without that clarity, and Friday’s non-vote means they will continue to do so through the summer.

Bitcoin and market moves

Bitcoin itself traded in a narrow band on Friday, opening around $64,260 before recovering to roughly $65,140 by mid-morning in New York, according to Yahoo Finance market data — a move traders linked to a weaker-than-expected US jobs report rather than to the Senate news. Ether traded near $1,930, having gained close to 6% over the past month even as Bitcoin was roughly flat over the same period. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at approximately $2.3 trillion as of Thursday, with Bitcoin’s share of that figure around 56%, according to data aggregated by CoinGabbar. Sentiment gauges remain subdued: the Fear and Greed Index sat at 25, in “extreme fear” territory, even as prices held up reasonably well — a divergence that speaks to how cautious positioning has become after a volatile summer.

The biggest story: Clarity Act stalls again

The Clarity Act’s stall is the day’s biggest story because of what it reveals about the balance of power in the Senate, not just about crypto policy. The bill cleared the House in July 2025 by a wide 294-134 margin and passed the Senate Banking Committee in May with only token Democratic support. A revised Republican draft in late July added a temporary ban on federal officials issuing digital assets, an attempt to address concerns about Trump’s crypto ventures, but Democratic senators including Ruben Gallego and Republican Thom Tillis wanted firmer language and sent a counter-proposal to the White House that has gone unanswered. Digital Chamber chief executive Cody Carbone called the delay disappointing but said “the fight is far from over.” With the Senate not due back until September 14 and only three working weeks before midterm campaigning intensifies, industry lobbyists now put the realistic odds of passage this year close to a coin flip.

Regulation and institutional money

Regulatory uncertainty has not stopped institutional money from moving. Spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $754.69 million over the past week, their best showing since April, while spot Ether funds added roughly $92 million on Thursday alone after a brief stretch of outflows earlier in the week. On-chain data tracked by the analytics firm Santiment shows wallets in the 10-to-10,000 BTC range — typically described as whales and sharks — accumulated more than 20,000 BTC, worth about $1.2 billion, over the past ten days, even as smaller holders appear to have been selling into the strength. Nexo strategist Liya Kalchev cautioned that the buying looks “tactical rather than convicted,” with a sustained close above $65,000 needed before the market can credibly claim a recovery is under way. In other words, the people with the deepest pockets are positioning for a rebound, but they have not yet forced one.

The wider market

Elsewhere in the market, security remains a live concern. TRM Labs estimates that roughly $116 million in Bitcoin has been stolen from Coldcard hardware wallets since July 30, after attackers found a way to exploit a firmware bug dating to 2021 that weakened the randomness used to generate wallet seeds on some devices. Because the vulnerability lived in the seed itself rather than requiring physical access to the device, victims did not need to lose their hardware to lose their funds. Manufacturer Coinkite has released a fix for new wallets, but keys generated before the patch remain exposed, and TRM says stolen funds were still moving through the blockchain as of this week. It is a reminder that self-custody, often marketed as the safest way to hold crypto, carries its own operational risks when firmware or supply chains fail.

The broader DeFi sector continues to shrink. Total value locked across decentralized-finance protocols has fallen by roughly 39% so far in 2026 to around $70 billion, according to figures compiled by several trackers, as exploits totaling more than $900 million and softer yields push capital toward safer, or simply more liquid, alternatives. Stablecoins, by contrast, remain one of the year’s steadier growth stories, with total supply continuing to expand through 2026 as issuers benefit from a now-settled federal framework under the GENIUS Act, even if the broader market-structure debate in Washington drags on.

Macro and crypto

Macroeconomic developments were arguably more responsible for Friday’s price action than anything crypto-specific. The Labor Department reported that US employers cut 23,000 jobs in July, a sharp miss against forecasts for an 80,000-job gain, even as the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%. Equity markets rose modestly on the news — the Dow added about 0.1%, the S&P 500 0.3% and the Nasdaq 0.8% — as traders concluded that a softening labor market strengthens the case for the Federal Reserve to lean toward cutting interest rates. Crypto moved in the same direction for the same reason: weaker growth data increases the odds of easier monetary policy, which tends to support risk assets broadly, Bitcoin included. That said, not every crypto move this week traces back to the Fed; the ETF inflows and whale accumulation described above reflect idiosyncratic positioning that predates Friday’s data.

What the market is watching next

Looking ahead, two dates now anchor the market’s attention. The Senate returns September 14 with the Clarity Act expected to be an early order of business, and the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting follows immediately on September 15-16, when officials will update their rate projections in light of Friday’s employment data. The proximity of the two events means crypto markets will spend the next several weeks reading Fed commentary and Capitol Hill signaling almost simultaneously — a reminder that, for all the talk of decentralization, digital assets remain tightly bound to decisions made in Washington.

Market Snapshot

Bitcoin (BTC): approximately $65,100, roughly flat on the week

Ethereum (ETH): approximately $1,930, up about 6% over the past month

Total crypto market capitalization: approximately $2.3 trillion

Bitcoin dominance: approximately 56%

Weekly spot Bitcoin ETF flows: +$754.69 million (best week since April 2026)

Thursday spot Ether ETF flow: +$92.15 million

Fear & Greed Index: 25 (“extreme fear”)