Morning Minute is a daily newsletter authored by Tyler Warner. The views and analyses presented are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt. And be sure to check out our daily news show 'FOMO HOUR' for coverage of the leading stories and market movements.
Good morning!
Here are the main headlines today:
- Major cryptocurrencies experience a pullback as the chances of the Clarity Act's passage decrease; BTC is priced at $77k
- Democratic opposition to the Clarity Act's ethics provisions pushes its odds down to 18%
- Strategy acquires $139 million in STRC and refrains from purchasing Bitcoin; Strive buys $36 million
- Robinhood announces plans for in-kind redemption and voting rights for tokenized stocks
- Robinhood's onchain leadership surges following comments from Vlad; Standard is set for a significant launch
🏛️ Democrats Hesitate on Ethics as Clarity Act Vote Approaches
On Monday, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia stated that the new ethics provisions are far from resolution, causing Polymarket's predictions for the Clarity Act's enactment this year to plummet from nearly 35% to 18%. The Senate is scheduled to vote on whether to advance the bill today at 2:15 p.m. ET.
Senator Warner acknowledged some progress on the bill but pointed out that three issues have remained unresolved for six to eight weeks, questioning why they weren’t addressed sooner. Senator Adam Schiff elaborated, telling Politico that the provisions “don’t go far enough” and would likely not apply to the Trump family in their current form, covering federal employees with the exception of the president.
Myriad: Will Congress pass the Clarity Act? Make your prediction here.In response, Senate Democrats convened for an evening meeting to formulate a counterproposal to the text released by Republicans, which they dubbed their final offer.
Senator Cynthia Lummis expressed her frustration publicly, claiming that Democrats would not support the bill “regardless of what we include in the text.” She added that Democrats had secured over 100 amendments, including self-custody protections, a best execution mandate, and the establishment of a new Office of the Retail Commodity Advocate. If the bill fails, these provisions would also be lost.
For the vote to proceed, a cloture motion requires 60 votes. Republicans currently hold 53 seats, with at least two expected to vote against the bill, meaning approximately nine Democrats would need to support it. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who was previously a vocal opponent of the ethics provisions, is reportedly advising her colleagues to vote in favor while continuing negotiations on the Senate floor.
Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, who previously advanced the bill in committee in May with the expectation of improved ethics, have remained silent. Additionally, eight banking trade organizations wrote to demand stricter limits on stablecoin rewards, opening another avenue of contention.
As the significant voting day approaches, the bill appears to be facing considerable challenges. We’ll see if a surprising turn of events occurs in the crypto space…
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Leading cryptocurrencies are down as the odds for the Clarity Act diminish; BTC -1% at $77k; ETH -1% at $2,480; SOL -1% at $101; HYPE -1% at $79; ZEC +1% at $1,140
- Top altcoin movers include PONS (+12%), Uni (+7%), and AVAX (+2%)
- Oil remains stable at $103; Gold is down 0.2% at $4,322
- Stock futures are lower as the 10-year yield reaches a 19-year peak; DOW -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.1%
- Robinhood announced in-kind redemption and voting rights for its stock tokens following the AMC situation, while Brian Armstrong noted that voting rights will also be introduced for Coinbase’s tokenized stocks, which already allow 1:1 redemption and dividends
- MetaMask introduced new scam protections to flag similar addresses, first-time recipients, and investment or romance scams, along with an Added Protection feature that automatically reverts transactions not matching their previews
- Bernstein suggested that a positive surprise from the Clarity Act is "definitely not priced in" following Republican concessions on ethics enforcement and community-bank deposits, while TD Cowen maintained its odds at 25% and Beacon Policy Advisors increased its estimates to between 30% and 40%
- Six wallets holding World Liberty insider tokens entered a vesting contract in May, resulting in a 10% burn at entry and establishing a two-year cliff, allowing the approximately $800 million stake, aligned with Trump's disclosed allocation, its first opportunity for sale
- Kaiko expanded its Series B funding to $110 million with backing from S&P Global, BNP Paribas, Nasdaq, RBC, Coinbase Ventures, and Stellar, aimed at enhancing data infrastructure for continuous tokenized markets
- CoinEx is shutting down after nearly nine years, citing low trading volumes and increasing compliance costs, with spot trading concluding on September 29 and withdrawals available until December 22
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs recorded $160 million in net inflows on Monday, while ETH ETFs saw $121 million in inflows and continue to lead on a market-cap-adjusted basis
- Strategy repurchased $139.3 million worth of STRC and did not acquire Bitcoin for the second consecutive week, maintaining 845,050 BTC as USD Cash declined from $1.44 billion to $1.30 billion
- Strive purchased 469 BTC for $36.6 million at an average price of $77,954, bringing its total to exactly 25,000 coins
- Bitmine added $68 million in Ethereum as Tom Lee highlighted potential upward catalysts, continuing its weekly acquisition towards a 5% supply target
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme leaders showed slight declines; DOGE -1%, SHIB -1%, PEPE +1%, PENGU -1%, TRUMP -1%, SPX -2%
- Robinhood chain leaders saw gains after Vlad Tenev confirmed the upcoming voting rights for tokenized stocks; Pons rose 12% to $440 million; AI increased by 22% to $300 million; Cashcat grew by 3% to $154 million; new launch Standard surged to $54 million, with BONER up 40% and Shroom up 80% leading the top movers
- Solana top movers included Biketyson with a 40% increase, Wetcoin (+38x), and Stonk10 (+290%)
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- Pumpfun generated $9.27 million in protocol fees last week, burning $4.37 million of PUMP, which brings total buybacks to $446 million, representing 16.4% of total supply
- Hyperliquid led in protocol revenue for the day with $2.19 million, followed by Pump at $1.44 million, Pons at $1.05 million, and Stonkfun at $588k
🚚 NFT Updates
- NFT leaders displayed mixed results; Punks down 1% at 29.3 ETH, BAYC up 2% at 6.8 ETH, Pudgy down 2% at 3.36 ETH
- OCH Ringbearer (+70%) and OTC Desks (+60%) topped the movers list