Week 31, July 20–26, 2026 Crypto legalization in the US has stalled over restrictions on officials. The Senate published the final version of the Clarity Act with a ban on officials issuing tokens. The market is now less confident the bill will pass. Regulators are selling pardons faster than they are writing rules: the SEC case against Coinbase has been settled, and the one-year deadline for stablecoin rules has been missed. Ethics became a bargaining chip in the Clarity Act On July 21, the White House reached an agreement with Republican senators Bernie Moreno and Cynthia Lummis on a ban on officials issuing digital assets. The final text extends the ban to the president, vice president, members of Congress, and their spouses until January 20, 2029 — they can still invest in crypto assets. Democrats were not persuaded by the concessions: Senator Angela Alsobrooks refused to support a bill that would place oversight with the US Department of Justice rather than state prosecutors. Polymarket cut the probability of the bill passing in 2026 from 41% to 31% in one day. Regulators are settling faster than they are writing rules The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled Coinbase’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuits: $150,000 in cost compensation. On the eve of the review of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) injunction, Gemini transferred $10 million in BTC to Trump’s political committee — CFTC Chair Michael Selig called the case against the Winklevoss brothers political persecution from the Biden era. The one-year deadline under the GENIUS Act for stablecoin rules expired on July 18, and no regulator has adopted final regulations. Crypto pioneers are leaving, traditional exchanges are moving into their niche Infrastructure is shifting on both sides of the market. BitMEX, the oldest crypto derivatives venue, will shut down on September 23 after 11 years of operation. A buyer had been sought since February 2025, following a $100 million fine in the US. The London Stock Exchange, by contrast, is adopting the crypto-market model: due to competition from 24-hour platforms, it will launch overnight trading in the first half of 2027, following a similar project by the NYSE. A UK parliamentary group has launched an investigation into banking access restrictions for crypto companies.