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The ethics provisions in the revised Clarity Act, a U.S. cryptocurrency regulatory bill agreed by Republicans and the White House, are as follows: - The president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges and other public officials, including their spouses, would be barred through Jan. 20, 2029, from receiving compensation to issue or sponsor digital assets while in office. - Public officials would be required to sell their cryptocurrency holdings and equity stakes in crypto companies, place them in a blind trust they do not control, or take both steps. - The measure would grant the U.S. Department of Justice civil enforcement authority over ethics-rule violations. That would include the authority to sue exchanges that intentionally list prohibited tokens. - It would require disclosure of crypto sales by public officials exceeding $1,000 and direct the U.S. Government Accountability Office to conduct a study reviewing additional loopholes in the ethics rules.

The U.S. cryptocurrency industry directly employs 34,000 people and is expected to contribute more than $55 billion to U.S. GDP in 2026, The Block reported, citing a report from the National Cryptocurrency Association. Of that total, about $31 billion is estimated to accrue as worker wages and income. The report said the 34,000 direct jobs include 10,100 in software, blockchain and data engineering; 5,450 in compliance, finance and business operations; and 5,100 in executive and management roles. Citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the report added the crypto industry is larger in employment terms than coffee and tea manufacturing, which directly employs 28,400 people, and cement manufacturing, which employs 15,300. By region, California had the most jobs at 57,600, followed by New York with 53,700, Texas with 26,500 and Washington state with 15,000.

A proposed amendment to the Clarity Act, a U.S. crypto-regulation bill under Senate review, is expected to include a provision barring federal public officials, including President Donald Trump, from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies, CNBC reported. Republicans released the amendment on July 22, according to the report. The bill is seen as the first major U.S. legislation to comprehensively regulate digital assets. An amendment obtained by CNBC also includes a provision restricting the president from profiting from cryptocurrencies. CoinNess had earlier reported that the White House and Republican lawmakers had reached agreement on the bill's ethics provisions.

Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl said Bitcoin may have already passed its bottom if the Federal Reserve does not deliver additional rate hikes and economic growth remains solid. In a report published today titled 'Bitcoin: 4-year cycle or macro asset?', Pandl said market participants generally hold two views on Bitcoin’s bear market: the “four-year cycle” theory and the view that Bitcoin is a macro asset affected by changes in the broader economic environment. Under the four-year cycle view, Bitcoin could face further downside, with its average cumulative drawdown at around 80% and a bottom potentially forming in September or October. Grayscale, however, sees Bitcoin as a more mature asset that is now influenced by macroeconomic conditions like most major assets. From that perspective, Pandl said Bitcoin may have already bottomed if the Fed refrains from further rate hikes and the economy keeps growing.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said Bitcoin is likely to rebound if early holders, or OGs, refrain from selling. In a post on X, Balchunas said OGs had weighed on Bitcoin’s price gains over the past nine months, while BTC has risen 8% since July 4 and has outperformed other major assets. He added that spot ETFs saw $750 million in net inflows over the past week. Balchunas said it is hard to believe this rally is a "real rebound," but also hard to imagine Bitcoin never rebounding at some point, adding that the market will ultimately need to wait and see.

The UK government’s tokenized gilt project is unlikely to gain traction without expanded on-chain settlement infrastructure, CoinDesk reported. According to the outlet, industry experts agree the success of the UK tokenized gilt market depends on resolving on-chain cash settlement issues. CoinDesk said institutional adoption of digital bonds has remained stagnant over the past seven years because of a lack of on-chain cash settlement infrastructure. In other words, the project will require a standardized on-chain settlement method, a pound sterling-pegged stablecoin, and a clear regulatory framework to succeed, while pilot programs alone are unlikely to create an actual capital market.

Ethereum validator withdrawal queue has fallen to zero, meaning staked ETH can now be unstaked without any additional delay beyond the protocol’s minimum processing time, Wu Blockchain reported. The withdrawal queue had reached 2.6 million ETH in September last year, but has now been fully cleared. By contrast, about 2.48 million ETH is waiting to be newly staked, with the estimated queue time standing at around 43 days.

Violent crimes including robbery and kidnapping aimed at forcing victims to transfer cryptocurrency or stealing their holdings have surged this year, Bloomberg reported. In a recent report, blockchain security firm CertiK said it identified 52 physical attacks worldwide targeting holders of digital assets, or cryptocurrencies, in the first half of this year, up 33% from a year earlier. Total losses and ransom demands reached $124 million, with France accounting for the most cases at 33. CertiK added that home-invasion robberies rose sharply, as criminals increasingly see physical intimidation as a way to generate larger proceeds, reshaping the economics of such crimes.

Bitcoin faces a major resistance zone near $68,000, where a heavy supply cluster has formed, and the area could act as a key test for the asset’s next directional move, The Block reported. In related analysis, U.S.-based crypto exchange Bitfinex said buyers’ average entry price over the past five months has been concentrated near $68,000. Bitfinex said this means many buyers currently sitting on losses would return to break-even in that range, and historically short-term buyers have often opted to exit at break-even under those conditions. As a result, strong selling pressure could be triggered around $68,000, Bitfinex said.

Ethereum posted the largest increase in tokenized ETF market capitalization among major blockchains over the past year, with ETH-based products rising by $327 million, according to Token Terminal. Solana and BNB Chain saw increases of $83 million and $62 million, respectively, while Arbitrum was the only network to post a decline, down $29 million. Unfolded said the trend is a positive sign of expanding institutional inflows into the Ethereum ecosystem, while adding that the inflows do not necessarily translate into future growth in total value locked or a rise in ETH prices.

The Financial Action Task Force said in a report that most decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms are decentralized in name only and are actually controlled by specific entities, making them subject to FATF regulation. In its July 21 report, “Call for Action to Address New Risks Emerging from DeFi,” the FATF said national regulators should identify those controlling parties and regulate them as virtual asset service providers, or VASPs. It added that, as a last resort, authorities could consider banning platforms from operating in their jurisdictions if they do not cooperate with regulation. The report also identified several major centralized features in DeFi, including concentrated governance token ownership, admin privileges, protocol upgrade authority, and fee and reward structures that accrue to insiders.

U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said simply depositing crypto assets on-chain does not automatically place related activity outside the scope of federal securities laws. Peirce said crypto vault and lending strategies that use smart contracts to allocate assets on-chain and generate yield could qualify as ordinary businesses, investment companies or securitized debt if specific individuals or teams determine parameters such as staking, lending allocations, interest rates, eligible assets, loan-to-value ratios and liquidation thresholds. Peirce added, "업계 관계자들이 SEC와 규제 준수 방안을 논의하고 볼트 및 온체인 대출을 수용할 수 있도록 기존 규정을 어떻게 수정할수 있을지에 대한 의견을 환영한다".

Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, announced on its official X account the addition of direct SUI staking support on its platform.

Ostium, a decentralized tokenized asset perpetual futures platform on Arbitrum, announced it will resume all trading at 2:00 p.m. UTC on July 23 after suspending operations to investigate a hacking incident that occurred last week. Immediately after trading resumes, risk-management functions and reduce-only orders will be activated first, with all features set to be restored in stages. Earlier, blockchain security firm Blockaid said Ostium appeared to have suffered a vault attack, with estimated losses of about $18 million. Ostium had also said it was investigating the compromised vault and halting all trading functions.

Iran said it would retaliate against U.S.-linked infrastructure in the Middle East if the United States attacks Iranian bridges or power plants, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which cited a source. Potential targets for retaliation include bridges and energy facilities.

Tron’s daily active users rose 10% from the first quarter, while USDT supply on the layer-one blockchain reached a record 90.3 billion in the second quarter, accounting for about 47% of total USDT supply, according to CoinDesk. Over the same period, Tron’s share of the stablecoin market across blockchains increased to 28.7% in the second quarter from 27.3% in the first quarter. TRX was recently trading at $0.3293, up 0.31%, according to CoinMarketCap.

U.S. investment bank Benchmark has lowered its forecast for Coinbase's second-quarter results, which are scheduled to be released next week, The Block reported. The revision was attributed to weak cryptocurrency trading volume. Benchmark added that investors may be underestimating the potential value the CLARITY Act could bring to Coinbase and said the bill may matter more than the company's second-quarter earnings.

U.S. federal prosecutors said they are pursuing civil forfeiture of about $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to romance and investment scams. The funds are linked to an international fraud scheme targeting victims in the U.S. and Canada, CoinDesk reported. The U.S. Department of Justice said it has recovered more than $800 million so far through a dedicated task force launched last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is investigating the death of a U.S. service member and Iran will pay a price.

Sandy Kaul, head of innovation at global asset manager Franklin Templeton, said AI agents could become the next "Killer App" for blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Cointelegraph reported. Kaul said an AI agent economy would expand demand for machine-to-machine micropayments, and blockchains such as Aptos (APT), Solana (SOL) and BNB Chain would be better suited than traditional card networks with high fees and slow settlement speeds. Kaul added wider adoption of AI agents would significantly increase demand for related blockchain infrastructure.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower today. - S&P 500: -0.19% - Nasdaq: -0.54% - Dow Jones: -0.07%

Sui said on X it has launched the Hashi testnet, a Bitcoin-collateralized lending primitive. Hashi provides on-chain collateral functions that can be used for institutional investors’ lending, borrowing and credit services, and is designed to help developers test Bitcoin-based financial applications ahead of its mainnet launch.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes deposited 1.25 million USDC into Cumberland, according to Onchain Lens.

Crypto-friendly U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said on X that about $40 billion was wiped out in Terra’s collapse, and most of the remaining assets disappeared during the bankruptcy process itself. Lummis said the CLARITY Act would not simply distinguish between reserve-backed assets and experimental algorithm-based assets, but would also help ensure customer assets do not become first-priority creditor claims even if a project fails.

Solana has begun validator registration for its Alpenglow upgrade aimed at improving network speed, BeInCrypto reported. The upgrade is scheduled to be rolled out to mainnet in stages from August through October, with a goal of cutting block finality time to around 150 milliseconds from about 12 seconds. The change is expected to improve transaction processing efficiency and enhance performance for payments, DeFi and trading services.