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The Big Story
CLARITY Act Momentum is Fading as The Clock Runs Out —
The Senate has set September 15 as the date for a procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, but Polymarket odds of passage have collapsed below 20% from a high of 58%.
With the market already heading into a historically weak September alongside a key FOMC decision, the CLARITY Act vote could become another major catalyst for the next move.
Ripple's legal chief called the September 15 vote a critical test of the bill's chances, while the White House signaled it remains "optimistic and bullish" and will continue engaging with Democrats ahead of the vote.
Breaking News
SEC Proposes Two Registration Exemptions for Crypto Fundraising —
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed several new rules for the crypto industry under a framework formally known as Regulation Crypto Assets, with a 60-day commentary period.
Arthur Hayes Returns With a New AI Agent Network And Token —
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is returning to an active role in crypto as CEO of Flop Labs, announcing on August 18 that he will lead the company building the Flop Network and its native $FLOP token.
PayPal Adds Pi Network to Its Crypto Checkout Program — PayPal has quietly updated its official developer ecosystem to include Pi Network ($PI) in its crypto payment options.
Polkadot is the Surprise Name in Today's Market Movement — Polkadot's $DOT token is one of the more unexpected movers in today's market, posting a 5% bounce after prolonged slide.
Top Stories
Hyperliquid Wants Investors To Trade Before Companies Go Public —
The Hyperliquid Policy Center and trade[XYZ] submitted a comment letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on August 18, urging the agency to build a regulatory framework around what they are calling IPOPs, or pre-IPO perpetual contracts.
The move marks one of the most direct pushes by a decentralised finance platform to bring an on-chain product into the U.S. regulatory conversation.
Neuberger Berman & Securitize Launch High-Yield Tokenized Fund on Avalanche —
Securitize and Neuberger Berman have launched the Neuberger Securitize High Income Tokenized Fund (HINC), bringing an actively managed high-yield fixed income strategy onto public blockchains, with the fund launching on August 18.
The fund will invest mainly in high-yield bonds and issue interests across Avalanche and Sui networks.
Arbitrum is Now The Second Biggest Perps Market — Arbitrum has climbed to the No. 2 spot among major perpetual futures markets, recording approximately $1.48 billion in 24-hour perps volume on August 18. Open interest on the network reached $1.834 billion on the same day, according to shared market data.
Deep Dive of the Week
Inside Zcash's Ironwood Upgrade and the Rush Into Its New Shielded Pool — Zcash activated its Ironwood upgrade on July 28, 2026, replacing Orchard, the network's main privacy pool, with a new pool called Ironwood after researchers found a bug that could have allowed counterfeiting. The technical deep dive examines the upgrade mechanics, migration patterns, and what the network changes mean for privacy infrastructure.
By the Numbers
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$297.56M — Net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs on Monday, snapping a three-session losing streak, with BlackRock's IBIT leading at $160.23M.
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3,351 TPS — Stellar's theoretical maximum throughput now stands at 3,351 transactions per second (TPS), marking a significant jump in the payment network's processing capacity.
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17,200% —The Polkadot network recorded a dramatic single-day transaction surge on August 18, with on-chain data showing activity jump 17,200%, from just 6 transactions to 1,456, according to Chainspect analytics.
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$345.33B — Total tokenized real-world asset value currently stands at roughly $345.33B, but most of the value sits on chains where ordinary investors cannot hold or transfer tokens directly.
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137x — Hedera is carrying a market cap of roughly $2.96 billion while its on-chain DeFi total value locked (TVL) stands at just $21.6 million, producing a market cap-to-TVL ratio of approximately 137x, meaning well over 99% of token value sits outside DeFi protocols.
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4.6 billion — Sui Network has crossed 4.6 billion total on-chain transactions, setting a new all-time record and cementing its place among the most active Layer-1 blockchains.
On Our Radar
Canton Network Expansion — Interstice and FalconX launched a Cross-Chain Swap Engine connecting Canton Network with Ethereum, Solana, and Robinhood Chain for institutional asset swaps.
Trust Wallet Network Purge — Trust Wallet will drop 25 blockchain networks from its app on September 15, 2026, affecting holders on several once-prominent chains.
World Liberty Bank Charter —The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved World Liberty Financial's application to establish a national trust bank, which will operate under the name World Liberty Trust Company, according to the OCC filing.
Monad and Avalanche Join AI Payments Alliance — Monad Foundation and Avalanche have signed on as founding members of the Agentic Payments Alliance, a new coalition focused on agent-driven commerce infrastructure.
Until Friday.