Crypto’s Week: Legislation Survives, Wall Street Expands, and Bitcoin Faces a Security Test

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act failed to secure a Senate vote before the August recess, but the crypto market structure bill remains alive and is expected to get another opportunity once lawmakers return in September. The industry had hoped for a procedural vote ahead of the break and expressed frustration when it didn’t happen, though analysts suggested forcing a vote without sufficient support could have been riskier than waiting.

The outcome carries significant weight beyond the current session of Congress. If the bill fails to pass and must be rewritten next year, three Democratic women who have generally approached digital assets with skepticism could gain greater influence over the next version of the legislation.

Meanwhile, regulatory agencies continue working independently. The Securities and Exchange Commission delayed a planned innovation exemption for tokenized securities following concerns raised by both the White House and Wall Street, partly out of worry that moving too quickly could complicate ongoing Clarity Act negotiations.

Bitcoin Sends Mixed Signals as Strategy Sells and Whales Buy

Bitcoin markets showed conflicting trends throughout the week. Strategy sold 1,690 bitcoin, raising 653 million dollars through common stock sales, marking its fifth sale of the year and bringing its total 2026 sales to roughly 7,000 BTC. This marks a notable shift for a company long associated with a buy-and-hold approach to bitcoin treasury strategy.

Speculation also surrounded a 320 million dollar bitcoin movement linked to Tokyo based Metaplanet, though CEO Simon Gerovich denied the company was selling. Trump Media reported 360.6 million dollars in first-half losses tied to its digital asset holdings, with its bitcoin position slipping slightly to 9,477 BTC by the end of June. Separately, Trump Media, Crypto.com, and Yorkville Acquisition abandoned plans for a publicly traded CRO treasury company and a related ETF partnership.

Public bitcoin miners added an estimated 1.78 billion dollars in selling pressure during the week. Despite this, some indicators pointed to growing bullishness, including wallets holding more than 10,000 BTC reaching a six-month high, and hedge funds on the CME shifting from short to net-long positioning.

Wall Street Deepens Crypto Involvement, But Selectively

Traditional finance continued expanding into digital assets, though with a more selective approach. Fidelity proposed adding staking and quarterly payouts to its nearly 900 million dollar ether ETF, with 85 percent of staking rewards going to the fund and 15 percent to service providers. Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire NEOS for 2.25 billion dollars, expanding its footprint in derivatives-based ETFs tied to bitcoin income products.

Mastercard also completed its previously announced 1.8 billion dollar acquisition of stablecoin firm BVNK. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan noted that even modest institutional allocations toward bitcoin could unlock trillions of dollars in future inflows.

Security Scare Triggers Major Bitcoin Movement

The week’s most significant bitcoin activity may not have been related to selling at all. Roughly 210,000 bitcoin moved out of long-term holder wallets, the largest such movement since December 2024, according to Glassnode data. The shift was traced back to an unauthorized attack targeting Coldcard’s offline hardware wallets, prompting affected users to move funds into new wallets or toward regulated custodians and exchange-traded funds. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs absorbed roughly 754 million dollars in inflows during the same period.

Separately, Bitcoin’s network faced a technical challenge of its own, as a contested fork tied to Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 mined only two blocks before stalling out.