Senate Democrats Signal CLARITY Act Support, BNB Chain Outearns Ethereum, Morgan Stanley Launches Cheapest ETH and SOL ETFs

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The Big Story

Ten Democrats in the Senate Support Clarity Act

Between seven and ten Senate Democrats have signaled a willingness to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, according to Bloomberg, marking a critical breakthrough for landmark crypto legislation that has spent years working its way through Congress. The Senate's 53-47 Republican majority means the bill needs at least seven Democrats to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and that number may now be within reach. The shift comes after SEC Chair Paul Atkins reaffirmed the agency's support for the bill, though the Senate has delayed floor consideration to prioritize Russia sanctions and federal nominations first.

Breaking News

BNB Chain out-earns Ethereum on fees: BNB Chain quietly edged past Ethereum in 30-day fee revenue, generating roughly $45 million compared to Ethereum's $40 million, according to Chainspect data.

Morgan Stanley Expands Digital Suite With $ETH And $SOL ETPs: Morgan Stanley launched spot Ethereum (MSSE) and Solana (MSOL) ETPs on NYSE Arca with a 0.14% fee, the lowest in each category.

OSL Group Becomes First Licensed Hong Kong Exchange To Launch Retail XRP Trading: OSL Group became the first SFC-licensed exchange in Hong Kong to open $XRP trading to retail investors, marking a regulated first for the territory.

Russia Puts Telegram Founder Pavel Durov On International Wanted List: Russia's FSB charged Telegram and Toncoin co-founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, placing him on an international wanted list.

Fundstrat Managing Partner Tom Lee says passage of the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act could be the single biggest catalyst for institutional capital entering the crypto market. Speaking on Global Money Talk, Lee argued that regulatory clarity would remove the primary barrier preventing traditional finance from committing serious capital to digital assets. The comments come as the bill faces a critical Senate floor vote that could determine whether the US establishes clear crypto market structure rules or leaves the industry in regulatory limbo.

Vitalik Buterin Unveils New Diamond iO Cryptography Design

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has published the second installment of his cryptographic obfuscation series, introducing Diamond iO, a novel take on indistinguishability obfuscation that aims to make encrypted program execution more feasible. The design represents a significant theoretical advance in cryptography, with potential applications spanning privacy-preserving smart contracts to encrypted computation. Buterin's work continues Ethereum's long-term focus on cryptographic innovation beyond its immediate protocol roadmap.

Crypto VC is narrowing to a smaller circle of firms

The pool of active crypto venture investors has shrunk dramatically, with CryptoRank data showing unique investors at roughly 152 in July 2026, down from 244 in June and 452 last October. The peak, reached in May 2022, stood at 1,177 unique investors. A separate quarterly reading placed unique active investors at just 651 in Q2 2026, down from 733 the prior quarter, signaling a consolidation around a core group of specialist firms willing to deploy capital through the cycle.

Deep Dive of the Week

What Is the Ondo Network?

The Ondo Network is a new execution layer built by Ondo Finance that integrates institutional-grade compliance directly into blockchain infrastructure rather than bolting it on afterward. The architecture uses hardware security enclaves to enforce permissioning at the validator level, creating what Ondo describes as a chain purpose-built for real-world asset tokenization and regulated finance.

By the Numbers

200 million: Ethereum crossed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time, according to Santiment, marking a significant adoption milestone for the network.
$10 billion: Robinhood Chain surpassed $10 billion in cumulative Uniswap Protocol trading volume in less than a month since its July 1 mainnet launch.
$6.7 billion: BNB Chain's bStocks platform recorded cumulative trading volume exceeding $6.7 billion, surging past the $2 billion milestone reached just days earlier.
133 million transactions: Internet Computer processed 133 million transactions in a single 24-hour window, ranking second globally in on-chain activity on Chainspect with 1,538 TPS average throughput.
3.66 million $ZEC: Zcash activated its Ironwood network upgrade, sealing the Orchard shielded pool that held approximately 3.66 million $ZEC and migrating users to new privacy infrastructure.
37 months: Justin Ryan Schmidt, manager of Austin-based crypto hedge fund Translunar, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for hiding millions in income from the IRS.

On Our Radar

Claude Mythos breaks quantum crypto: Anthropic's Frontier Red Team published cryptanalysis results from Claude Mythos Preview that weakened a quantum-resistant candidate in 60 hours, marking AI's first original cryptanalysis results in advanced mathematical research.
1inch deploys Aqua across 13 chains: 1inch publicly launched its shared liquidity protocol Aqua across 13 EVM-compatible blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain.
Solflare launches native Bridge: Solflare officially launched Bridge, a native cross-chain feature built to remove friction from moving assets onto Solana using NEAR intents infrastructure.
Ethereum L2 TVL hits two-year low: Total value locked in Ethereum Layer 2s slid back to roughly $5 billion, a level last seen in 2023, reversing most of the capital buildup from 2024.

Until Friday.