White House Pressure Mounts as Clarity Act's Passage Chances Plummet
The US Congress's handling of crypto-related regulatory legislation is proceeding cautiously, as evidenced by the ongoing debate surrounding the Digital Asset Market Structure Act (Clarity Act). The White House has engaged with industry leaders to apply pressure behind the scenes. Coinbase and Ripple were among those invited to meet with President Donald Trump, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins at the White House on Aug 19.
The Clarity Act's passage is now estimated to have a mere 10% chance of happening this year, down from 82% in February. Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn pointed out that if the Senate doesn't move into a vote immediately after returning, the time available for processing would shrink further. The Senate has only 2-3 weeks it can use.
Bitcoin traded around $63,000 throughout the week, with the weekly relative strength index (RSI) sliding to 39.64. Technical weakness appeared, and instability in the Middle East added downward pressure. Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone warned that bitcoin could fall to $10,000, citing a drying up of ETF inflows and bitcoin's lagging performance versus U.S. stocks.