The Daily: The Clarity Act faces a tough road ahead, and more

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

Happy Wednesday! Having gained slightly at the start of the day, bitcoin slipped back below $64,000 after an in-line CPI print bought the Fed time but gave crypto little reason to break out, analysts said.

In today's newsletter, Sarah Wynn takes a look at what's next for the Clarity Act, Bitwise cuts 14% of staff, Harmony confirms an exploit, and more.

Meanwhile, the bitcoin market is in "hibernation" mode as perp trading activity sinks to a three-year low, according to K33.

👀 P.S. Don't forget to check out today's reader poll on bitcoin miners later in the newsletter, and congratulations to the 53% of you in last Wednesday's poll who correctly guessed the Clarity Act would stall before the Senate's August recess.

⛰️ Reminder: We'll be on the ground at SALT's Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole Aug. 17-20, with exclusive interviews and coverage of the biggest stories shaping crypto and global finance.

What's next for the Clarity Act as September brings a tough road ahead

The outlook for the Clarity Act is growing increasingly bleak after Majority Leader John Thune pushed the initial vote to September, with TD Cowen putting the odds of it becoming law in the next few months at just 25%.

• Thune filed for a Sept. 15 cloture vote, leaving lawmakers only a few weeks after they return to clear the procedural hurdle and potentially pass the bill before sending it to the House.
• The stablecoin-rewards fight has flared up again, with banks and the ABA pushing to tighten Section 404 even after Sens. Alsobrooks and Tillis had struck a compromise on the issue.
• Ethics remains the biggest sticking point, with President Trump weighing a proposal that would let state attorneys general enforce a ban on officials and their spouses issuing or sponsoring digital assets.
• Illicit-finance concerns also linger, and one industry source said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is expected to stay a "no," with other senators potentially following her lead.
• A compressed September calendar, with both chambers out all of October ahead of the midterms, adds pressure, while the SEC and CFTC continue to advance their own crypto rulemaking.

Bitwise cuts 14% of staff as crypto layoffs mount during market downturn

Crypto asset manager Bitwise cut 14% of its staff amid the market downturn, trimming its global team to around 155.

• CEO Hunter Horsley said the move still "equips us well for the ongoing growth" the firm has seen this year, pointing to crypto's deepening integration into the global economy.
• The cuts add to a wave of crypto layoffs, following Polygon Labs, BitGo, and Coinbase, as firms grapple with weak markets and lean harder into AI.
• Meanwhile, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said bitcoin's resilience to bad news, including the Clarity Act delay and Strategy's selling, suggests the bear market may have bottomed.

Harmony confirms exploit involving unauthorized minting of 4 billion ONE tokens

Layer 1 blockchain Harmony confirmed it was exploited Wednesday, after an attacker minted 4 billion ONE tokens without authorization.

• Onchain sleuth Juiceberg, who first flagged the incident, said the attacker minted the tokens using empty blocks and has already moved about 97% of them to exchanges, with roughly 115 million ONE left to sell.
• ONE fell 34% over 24 hours to below $0.0008, putting the stolen haul at roughly $3.2 million.
• Harmony said it's working with exchanges to try to freeze the funds while evaluating patch and rollback options, though it hasn't yet disclosed the exploit's root cause.

Attackers keep hitting the wrong house in rural France after crypto millionaire moved

A French couple in the Somme who bought a former crypto millionaire's house were targeted in three home invasions, with attackers after roughly €1 million ($1.15 million) in crypto they don't own, according to local reports.

• The previous owners' tax details and address had leaked onto the dark web, and the raiders kept targeting the property even after the wealthy holders had moved out.
• During one June break-in, attackers restrained one resident, assaulted the other, and streamed it on Snapchat before realizing they had the wrong people and fleeing.
• An Amiens court sentenced two men over the third attempted break-in.
• France remains the epicenter of a rising wave of crypto "wrench attacks" — at least 30 incidents this year, per Chainalysis, with the interior minister citing more than 70 overall.

Florida man charged by CFTC over $397 million crypto Ponzi scheme

The CFTC charged Florida man Christopher Delgado and his firm Goliath Ventures over an alleged $397 million crypto Ponzi scheme that drew in more than 1,600 customers.

• Delgado allegedly lied about deploying the funds into DeFi liquidity pools, instead using new customers' money to fake returns and pocketing millions for his own personal use, including a yacht, luxury clothes, and grooming for his pets.
• Delgado, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in June, faces up to 20 years on each fraud count, and up to 10 years for money laundering.

Reader poll

Bitcoin miners are pivoting hard to AI. Smart move or mission drift?

SMART MOVE

MISSION DRIFT

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

In the next 24 hours

• UK GDP data are due at 2 a.m. ET on Thursday. U.S. PPI and jobless claims figures follow at 8:30 a.m.
• U.S. FOMC member Thomas Barkin will speak at 8:40 a.m.
• Acelerando Bitcoin 2026 and Blockchain Rio continue.

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