Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong returned to Capitol Hill, calling the CLARITY Act "at the one-yard line." Senate Republicans released new ethics language Trump agreed to, though no Democrats have signed on yet.
Former CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo says there's a "greater than 50%" chance the bill fails, and calls that outcome "okay."
For XRP, the price debate is stark: one analyst's long-term target is $27, another predicts sub-$1 within 5 years. XRP trades at $1.13 today.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/xrp-clarity-act-make-or-break-talks-coinbase-ceo/
Former CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo says there's a "greater than 50%" chance the bill fails, and calls that outcome "okay."
For XRP, the price debate is stark: one analyst's long-term target is $27, another predicts sub-$1 within 5 years. XRP trades at $1.13 today.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/xrp-clarity-act-make-or-break-talks-coinbase-ceo/
$2 trillion. That's the annual transaction volume Ripple just got a potential route into. 🔓
Ripple invested in Notabene and launched Ripple Mint, aiming to push RLUSD deeper into institutional finance. But CoinMarketCap has a warning buried in the good news: "the story got better, but the price didn't."
XRP ETFs pulled in $1.47B through late June, yet price kept falling, a sign institutions can use Ripple's infrastructure without ever touching XRP itself. Getting to $6 would need a 466% move from today's $1.06.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/xrp-price-ripple-opens-rlusd-to-2t-network-coinmarketcap-warning/
Ripple invested in Notabene and launched Ripple Mint, aiming to push RLUSD deeper into institutional finance. But CoinMarketCap has a warning buried in the good news: "the story got better, but the price didn't."
XRP ETFs pulled in $1.47B through late June, yet price kept falling, a sign institutions can use Ripple's infrastructure without ever touching XRP itself. Getting to $6 would need a 466% move from today's $1.06.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/xrp-price-ripple-opens-rlusd-to-2t-network-coinmarketcap-warning/
BOLTS Technologies co-founder Yoon Auh says blockchains are betting too much on any single quantum-resistant algorithm, "there's no provably secure modern cipher," not even AES, RSA, or elliptic curve.
His fix, QFlex, lets asset owners hot-swap between algorithms transaction by transaction instead of needing a network-wide upgrade. Trump's June executive order already moved federal quantum deadlines up from 2035 to as early as 2028.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bolts-co-founder-warns-blockchains-betting-unproven-quantum/
His fix, QFlex, lets asset owners hot-swap between algorithms transaction by transaction instead of needing a network-wide upgrade. Trump's June executive order already moved federal quantum deadlines up from 2035 to as early as 2028.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bolts-co-founder-warns-blockchains-betting-unproven-quantum/
280 settlements in 2024/25. 222 in 2025/26. But the total value went up, not down. 📊
Per Coin Bureau, HMRC's average settlement jumped 70% in a year, from ~£12,654 to ~£21,553, suggesting it's now targeting bigger undisclosed positions, not just casting a wider net.
CARF reporting went live in January across 40+ countries. The real deadline: HMRC gets full 2026 transaction data from every platform by May 2027.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/hmrc-recovers-8m-crypto-investors-crypto-tax-settlements/
Per Coin Bureau, HMRC's average settlement jumped 70% in a year, from ~£12,654 to ~£21,553, suggesting it's now targeting bigger undisclosed positions, not just casting a wider net.
CARF reporting went live in January across 40+ countries. The real deadline: HMRC gets full 2026 transaction data from every platform by May 2027.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/hmrc-recovers-8m-crypto-investors-crypto-tax-settlements/
Seven Senate Democrats just said no to the latest #CLARITY Act draft, even after Republicans added new ethics language.
Their five demands: stronger ethics rules, more consumer protection, tougher anti-money-laundering safeguards, real conflict-of-interest limits, and better market-integrity provisions. The bill needs 60 votes to advance, so these seven senators hold real leverage.
They didn't walk away though, negotiations are still active.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/senate-democrats-reject-clarity-act-draft-stronger-crypto-rules/
Their five demands: stronger ethics rules, more consumer protection, tougher anti-money-laundering safeguards, real conflict-of-interest limits, and better market-integrity provisions. The bill needs 60 votes to advance, so these seven senators hold real leverage.
They didn't walk away though, negotiations are still active.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/senate-democrats-reject-clarity-act-draft-stronger-crypto-rules/
"Power has become more valuable than computing chips."
That's MARA CEO Fred Thiel explaining why #Bitcoin miners are pivoting toward AI data centers. Long-term hosting contracts offer predictable revenue that mining, tied to volatile BTC prices and network difficulty, simply can't match.
MARA already sold 20,000 BTC. Less mining competition could mean bigger rewards for remaining miners, but also raises questions about network concentration.
BTC holds near $65K ahead of the Fed's rate decision.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-mara-ceo-ai-data-centers-mining/
That's MARA CEO Fred Thiel explaining why #Bitcoin miners are pivoting toward AI data centers. Long-term hosting contracts offer predictable revenue that mining, tied to volatile BTC prices and network difficulty, simply can't match.
MARA already sold 20,000 BTC. Less mining competition could mean bigger rewards for remaining miners, but also raises questions about network concentration.
BTC holds near $65K ahead of the Fed's rate decision.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-mara-ceo-ai-data-centers-mining/
Coinbase just co-founded the Bitcoin Security Consortium with BlackRock, Fidelity, Block, Blockstream, and Strategy. 🔐
The goal: get #Bitcoin ready for quantum computers before they're powerful enough to break its cryptography. Coinbase's own engineer puts the odds of that happening by 2030 at 10-25%, treating it as real risk management, not sci-fi.
Three workstreams: a post-quantum key management system (covering ~99.9% of customer assets), funding for BIP-360, and a Stanford working session in August with core Bitcoin developers.
Meanwhile, trader Crypto Rover just floated $500K BTC and $20K ETH by 2032, "stupid or genius?"
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-500000-coinbase-bitcoin-quantum-security-consortium/
The goal: get #Bitcoin ready for quantum computers before they're powerful enough to break its cryptography. Coinbase's own engineer puts the odds of that happening by 2030 at 10-25%, treating it as real risk management, not sci-fi.
Three workstreams: a post-quantum key management system (covering ~99.9% of customer assets), funding for BIP-360, and a Stanford working session in August with core Bitcoin developers.
Meanwhile, trader Crypto Rover just floated $500K BTC and $20K ETH by 2032, "stupid or genius?"
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-500000-coinbase-bitcoin-quantum-security-consortium/
🇨🇦 Canada clears C$424B every business day, yet still lacks a national real-time payment rail.
Tetra Digital Group CEO Didier Lavallée says the country should leapfrog legacy upgrades and move directly to stablecoin infrastructure.
In this exclusive CCN interview with Dr. Guneet Kaur, Didier Lavallée also discussed how QuadrigaCX reshaped Canada's crypto regulations 🔐, why Tetra launched CADD across Ethereum, Base & Tempo, and whether AI agent payments are ready for real-world adoption.
👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/canada-leapfrog-real-time-payments-stablecoins-tetra-ceo/
Tetra Digital Group CEO Didier Lavallée says the country should leapfrog legacy upgrades and move directly to stablecoin infrastructure.
In this exclusive CCN interview with Dr. Guneet Kaur, Didier Lavallée also discussed how QuadrigaCX reshaped Canada's crypto regulations 🔐, why Tetra launched CADD across Ethereum, Base & Tempo, and whether AI agent payments are ready for real-world adoption.
👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/canada-leapfrog-real-time-payments-stablecoins-tetra-ceo/
Circle just became America's largest blockchain patent holder overnight, acquiring nearly 1,000 IBM patents across banking, payments, and enterprise infrastructure. 📜
The twist: IBM is also a backer of Open USD, the 140-partner stablecoin consortium built to challenge USDC's market share. Circle just bought IP from a company still helping its biggest rival.
CRCL rose as much as 5.3% on the news.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/circle-ibm-blockchain-patents-usdc-open-usd/
The twist: IBM is also a backer of Open USD, the 140-partner stablecoin consortium built to challenge USDC's market share. Circle just bought IP from a company still helping its biggest rival.
CRCL rose as much as 5.3% on the news.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/circle-ibm-blockchain-patents-usdc-open-usd/
Spot #Ethereum ETFs just logged a third straight week of inflows, pulling in ~$104M even as ETH sits 60% below its 2025 high. 📊
BlackRock's ETHA drove nearly all of it ($96.3M), while Fidelity's FETH saw outflows. ETH funds actually outpaced Bitcoin ETFs 3-to-1 this week ($104M vs $34M), suggesting some rotation from BTC into ETH.
Price hasn't caught up yet though, ETH only gained ~2% over the same stretch.
Read more ⬇️
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/ethereum-price-breakout-spot-eth-etfs-104-million-inflows/
BlackRock's ETHA drove nearly all of it ($96.3M), while Fidelity's FETH saw outflows. ETH funds actually outpaced Bitcoin ETFs 3-to-1 this week ($104M vs $34M), suggesting some rotation from BTC into ETH.
Price hasn't caught up yet though, ETH only gained ~2% over the same stretch.
Read more ⬇️
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/ethereum-price-breakout-spot-eth-etfs-104-million-inflows/
Stablecoin supply just fell $7.7B in June, the biggest monthly drop since Terra collapsed in 2022. Transaction volume hit a record $1.79T at the same time. 🤔
The twist: this isn't a crisis, it's a shift. The GENIUS Act bans yield on payment stablecoins, so capital is migrating into tokenized Treasuries (~$16B now, up from $11B in March) instead of sitting idle.
USDC's doing more with less, $1.21T in June volume vs USDT's $576B, despite a much smaller supply.
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/stablecoin-market-biggest-drop-since-terra-record-volume/
The twist: this isn't a crisis, it's a shift. The GENIUS Act bans yield on payment stablecoins, so capital is migrating into tokenized Treasuries (~$16B now, up from $11B in March) instead of sitting idle.
USDC's doing more with less, $1.21T in June volume vs USDT's $576B, despite a much smaller supply.
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/stablecoin-market-biggest-drop-since-terra-record-volume/
Bitcoin sits at $64,248, just 0.3% below a historical stress threshold, ahead of Kevin Warsh's second Fed decision as chair. Markets are unusually split: ~70% price a hold, but hike odds have jumped to ~30% from just 10.7% a week ago, with Citadel Securities expecting a surprise hike.
Options traders have bought $2.5B in call spreads betting on a move to $72,000. Historically, Bitcoin has recovered from this exact stress zone 100% of the time within a year.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-64k-warsh-fomc-decision/
Options traders have bought $2.5B in call spreads betting on a move to $72,000. Historically, Bitcoin has recovered from this exact stress zone 100% of the time within a year.
Full breakdown 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/bitcoin-price-64k-warsh-fomc-decision/
"The wallet connection scares people far more than the number of steps does."
Aurora Labs CEO Declan Hannon told CCN why Solflare's new Bridge skips the usual dApp-connect flow entirely. Instead of routing through an external bridge, users get a permanent deposit address, send Bitcoin or Ethereum like they would to an exchange, and Aurora Intents handles the rest in the background.
EVM transfers settle in under a minute, Bitcoin in about 14. Head of Product Armand Didier told CCN each transfer carries a locked minimum output before it fills, "a bad route means the fill does not happen, not that the user eats the difference."
🔎 Read more
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/solflare-bridge-bitcoin-ethereum-transfers-solana/
Aurora Labs CEO Declan Hannon told CCN why Solflare's new Bridge skips the usual dApp-connect flow entirely. Instead of routing through an external bridge, users get a permanent deposit address, send Bitcoin or Ethereum like they would to an exchange, and Aurora Intents handles the rest in the background.
EVM transfers settle in under a minute, Bitcoin in about 14. Head of Product Armand Didier told CCN each transfer carries a locked minimum output before it fills, "a bad route means the fill does not happen, not that the user eats the difference."
🔎 Read more
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/solflare-bridge-bitcoin-ethereum-transfers-solana/
60 hours. That's how long it took Anthropic's unreleased Claude Mythos model to find a flaw in HAWK-256 that survived two years of expert human review.
The target was a NIST post-quantum signature candidate, not anything used in #Bitcoin today, BTC's ECDSA and BIP-360's planned migration path are both untouched. But the model found the break faster than Anthropic's own researchers could verify it was real, taking several hundred hours just to confirm the math.
Anthropic disclosed the finding to NIST and the algorithm's authors before publishing.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/anthropic-ai-breaks-hawk-256-bitcoin-quantum/
The target was a NIST post-quantum signature candidate, not anything used in #Bitcoin today, BTC's ECDSA and BIP-360's planned migration path are both untouched. But the model found the break faster than Anthropic's own researchers could verify it was real, taking several hundred hours just to confirm the math.
Anthropic disclosed the finding to NIST and the algorithm's authors before publishing.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/anthropic-ai-breaks-hawk-256-bitcoin-quantum/
"Clarity act would give banks statutory authority to use digital assets and distributed ledgers without prior notice or approval needed, ranging for custody, staking and lending."
That's Aave founder Stani Kulechov, adding a new argument to the #CLARITY Act debate. Section 401 of the bill puts bank custody authority beyond dispute after years of contested guidance, and explicitly permits staking and lending as custodial services.
The catch: Democrats led by Cory Booker still call the bill insufficient, and the sharpest fight is whether ethics violations get enforced by DOJ alone or state AGs too.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/aave-stani-kulechov-clarity-act-crypto-banking/
That's Aave founder Stani Kulechov, adding a new argument to the #CLARITY Act debate. Section 401 of the bill puts bank custody authority beyond dispute after years of contested guidance, and explicitly permits staking and lending as custodial services.
The catch: Democrats led by Cory Booker still call the bill insufficient, and the sharpest fight is whether ethics violations get enforced by DOJ alone or state AGs too.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/aave-stani-kulechov-clarity-act-crypto-banking/
$1.08-$1.09. That's the level deciding #XRP's next move. 📊
XRP bounced off the $1.02-$1.04 zone but remains stuck below its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, still inside a longer-term downtrend. A daily close below $1.02 opens the door toward $0.89. Clearing $1.09 could send it toward $1.16-$1.18.
Analyst ChartNerd is watching the exact same trendline right now: "failure to break above this trendline will result in a bearish retest back towards the local lows."
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/xrp-price-critical-test-bears-target-below-1/
XRP bounced off the $1.02-$1.04 zone but remains stuck below its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, still inside a longer-term downtrend. A daily close below $1.02 opens the door toward $0.89. Clearing $1.09 could send it toward $1.16-$1.18.
Analyst ChartNerd is watching the exact same trendline right now: "failure to break above this trendline will result in a bearish retest back towards the local lows."
https://www.ccn.com/analysis/crypto/xrp-price-critical-test-bears-target-below-1/
₿ Bitcoin was built to make the Fed irrelevant
So why can a few words from its chair wipe billions from BTC’s market cap? 🏦📉
The surprising answer: Bitcoin largely ignored monetary policy before 2020. Then everything changed.
Now, a 1-basis-point hawkish surprise can push BTC down 0.25%—but ETF flows and global demand may finally be breaking the link. 🔗⚡️
Full analysis and experts comments 👇
https://www.ccn.com/education/crypto/fed-interest-rates-impact-bitcoin-price/
So why can a few words from its chair wipe billions from BTC’s market cap? 🏦📉
The surprising answer: Bitcoin largely ignored monetary policy before 2020. Then everything changed.
Now, a 1-basis-point hawkish surprise can push BTC down 0.25%—but ETF flows and global demand may finally be breaking the link. 🔗⚡️
Full analysis and experts comments 👇
https://www.ccn.com/education/crypto/fed-interest-rates-impact-bitcoin-price/
We asked 4 AI models where #Bitcoin ends August. Their targets ranged from $50,000 to almost $100,000. 🤖
ChatGPT: $60,500 base case (55% probability), needs to clear $68,500-$70,000 to break the downtrend.
Gemini: no fixed target, watching $65,300-$65,500 resistance.
Claude: skeptical of forecasts generally, sees a realistic $60,000-$74,000 range.
Grok: most bullish, citing external models averaging near $80,500.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/ai-bitcoin-price-prediction-august-2026/
ChatGPT: $60,500 base case (55% probability), needs to clear $68,500-$70,000 to break the downtrend.
Gemini: no fixed target, watching $65,300-$65,500 resistance.
Claude: skeptical of forecasts generally, sees a realistic $60,000-$74,000 range.
Grok: most bullish, citing external models averaging near $80,500.
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/ai-bitcoin-price-prediction-august-2026/
1 million calls and emails have flooded senators' offices backing the #CLARITY Act, per Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer.
Senators Tillis and Gallego have reportedly finalized a new bipartisan ethics compromise, though the text isn't public yet and still needs White House sign-off. One insider expects it modeled on the Laken Riley Act, letting state AGs sue the DOJ but not the president directly.
Senator Lummis says the bill already includes 100+ Democrat-driven compromises. Seven days remain before August recess.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/clarity-act-passing-7-days-ethics-deal-1m-calls-emails-fuel-optimism/
Senators Tillis and Gallego have reportedly finalized a new bipartisan ethics compromise, though the text isn't public yet and still needs White House sign-off. One insider expects it modeled on the Laken Riley Act, letting state AGs sue the DOJ but not the president directly.
Senator Lummis says the bill already includes 100+ Democrat-driven compromises. Seven days remain before August recess.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/clarity-act-passing-7-days-ethics-deal-1m-calls-emails-fuel-optimism/
"The fix isn't fighting stablecoins. It's building stablecoins designed for banking."
Patrick Gerhart, President of Telcoin Digital Asset Bank, tells CCN why he believes community banks, regulated infrastructure, and compliance will drive the next phase of digital asset adoption.
https://www.ccn.com/education/crypto/patrick-gerhart-community-banks-stablecoins/
Patrick Gerhart, President of Telcoin Digital Asset Bank, tells CCN why he believes community banks, regulated infrastructure, and compliance will drive the next phase of digital asset adoption.
https://www.ccn.com/education/crypto/patrick-gerhart-community-banks-stablecoins/
BlackRock clients pulled ~$60M from its Bitcoin fund and bought $20M+ of ETH in one week. Bitcoin bulls, don't panic yet. 📊
BlackRock's crypto wallets still hold $47B in Bitcoin vs $5.55B in ETH, still overwhelmingly BTC-dominant. But the 10-day picture flipped further: Ethereum funds pulled $113.8M while Bitcoin lost $27.6M over the same stretch.
Standard Chartered still targets $4,000 ETH by year-end, $40,000 by 2030. Citi's far more skeptical: just $2,240.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/ethereum-price-4000-blackrock-bitcoin-eth-coin-bureau-bullish-shift/
BlackRock's crypto wallets still hold $47B in Bitcoin vs $5.55B in ETH, still overwhelmingly BTC-dominant. But the 10-day picture flipped further: Ethereum funds pulled $113.8M while Bitcoin lost $27.6M over the same stretch.
Standard Chartered still targets $4,000 ETH by year-end, $40,000 by 2030. Citi's far more skeptical: just $2,240.
Read more 👇
https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/ethereum-price-4000-blackrock-bitcoin-eth-coin-bureau-bullish-shift/