The Daily: Clarity Act's odds sink to 23% as key deadline nears, Circle's Q2 results, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Wednesday! A quick heads-up: we'll be on the ground at SALT's Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole later this month, with exclusive interviews and coverage of the biggest stories shaping crypto and global finance.

In today's newsletter, Bitwise says crypto "will be fine" even if the Clarity Act fails to pass, Circle names BlackRock among Arc validators amid its Q2 results, Eliza Labs' founder declares its native token "dead," and more.

Meanwhile, Cloudflare kicked off a stablecoin wallet rollout for AI agents to pay for APIs and online content.

👀 P.S. Don't forget to check out our latest reader poll on the Clarity Act later in the newsletter.

Crypto 'will be fine' even if Clarity fails to pass this week, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said crypto "will be fine" even if the Clarity Act fails to pass this week, saying the industry will "find a way forward" regardless.

• The Senate has just a few days to advance the bill before its Aug. 10 to Sept. 11 recess, as President Trump's alleged crypto conflicts of interest remain a sticking point.
• Hougan said the Securities and Exchange Commission under Chair Paul Atkins is willing to step in with rules that address many of the same issues if needed, and is likely to be more crypto-friendly than a bipartisan bill.
• However, he cautioned that a future administration could install a less friendly SEC chair to reverse those rules, but said crypto would have at least two and a half years to cement its progress first.
• Hougan said the bill would enter a "walking dead" state if it fails to pass, unable to be killed but lurching along and possibly folded into year-end omnibus legislation.
• Polymarket odds now give the bill just a 23% chance of passing in 2026, down from about 75% in mid-May.

Circle names BlackRock, DTCC among Arc validators as Q2 revenue hits $701 million

Circle named BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, and DTCC among 11 major financial institutions as validators for Arc, a structure Circle argues lets Arc meet the compliance and operational standards required.

• Currently in private mainnet, Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain that uses USDC as its native gas token, on track for a Sept. 16 public launch, with apps including Aave, Uniswap, Kraken, and MetaMask.
• Circle reported Q2 total revenue and reserve income of $701 million on Wednesday, up 7% year-over-year, with USDC in circulation reaching $73.3 billion.
• Net income came in at $48 million, representing a $530 million swing from the same quarter in 2025, when IPO-related stock compensation drove a loss.

Eliza Labs founder declares native token 'dead,' winds down foundation after Burwick Law settlement

Following a class-action settlement with Burwick Law, Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters said the project's native token is "completely dead," adding that the related foundation is now also winding down.

• Burwick Law filed the lawsuit in April, claiming the project marketed itself as an autonomous, AI-run venture fund when insiders were really in control, accusing holders of being diluted during its ai16z-to-ElizaOS token migration.
• Walters called the claim "ridiculous" but said he lacked the capital to legally fight it, and agreed to hand over the remainder of the project's funds to settle the suit.
• While vowing to continue the project as an open-source AI agent framework, Walters ruled out any future Eliza-linked token, and said holders should expect no further support, buybacks, or supply measures.

'Panic visible onchain': Bitcoin activity hits 2026 high amid Coldcard attack as K33 flags potential bottoming pattern

Bitcoin's onchain activity hit a 2026 high, with about 890,000 BTC moved over the past week amid the ongoing Coldcard attack, according to research and brokerage firm K33.

• Head of Research Vetle Lunde said the surge was likely driven by the Coldcard incident itself, plus jittery owners of other hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor transferring funds to centralized custodians or multisig setups.
• The spike occurred despite subdued price action, with bitcoin logging its narrowest 30-day trading range since 2023, and realized volatility falling below the Nasdaq 100 during the period.
• "Panic is visible onchain," Lunde said, though he noted that similar bursts of activity have coincided with local bottoms.

BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF to undergo 1-for-3 reverse share split in October

BlackRock plans to implement a one-for-three reverse share split for its spot Ethereum ETF (ETHA) on Oct. 6, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

• The move will increase the fund's per-share net asset value without changing the value of investors' holdings or the fund's assets, and should reduce ETHA trading costs.
• "This will lower cost to trade from 7bps to 2bps-ish," Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas said.
  ETHA remains the largest Ethereum ETF with over $5 billion in assets under management, though its price is down about 40% year-to-date at around $14.

Reader poll

Will the Senate advance the Clarity Act before its Aug. 10 recess?

YES, IT ADVANCES

NO, IT STALLS

One click records your pick. We'll share the answer in a later edition.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. jobless claims data are released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
• Aerodrome Finance and Hyperliquid are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.