Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Kevin OLeary says Congress will revisit Clarity early next year as crypto tax bill advances

SummaryKevin OLeary expects lawmakers to revisit the Clarity Act after the midterm elections.He pointed to the House Ways and Means Committees crypto tax bill as a key reason he believes market-structure legislation will return.“Once you tax, you‘ve got to have policy,” O’Leary said, arguing that rules for taxing activities such as staking will increase pressure for regulatory clarity.　　Shark Tank host and veteran investor Kevin O‘Leary said he’s convinced the Clarity Act will eventually advance in the Senate and could return as soon as the first quarter of next year.　　Speaking at the Avalanche Summit in New York on Thursday, O‘Leary said he didn’t expect the bill to advance on Tuesday, when it received 49 of the 60 Senate votes needed to proceed.　　“The chances of Clarity passing, in my view, were zero, and that‘s what happened,” O’Leary said.　　The legislation sought to establish a broader federal framework for crypto markets, including the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).　　But OLeary sees the failed vote as a delay rather than the end of the bill. He pointed to a separate crypto tax bill that advanced in the House this week as one reason he believes lawmakers will

09-18Industry

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Says AI Wont Doom Crypto Security

In briefVitalik Buterin rejected the idea that AI-powered hacking means cybersecurity is doomed.He argued that AI could make formal verification practical across entire software systems.The comments build on Ethereums push toward AI-assisted security, privacy, STARKs, and quantum resistance.　　Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says AI does not spell the end of cybersecurity, arguing instead that advanced models could help make crypto software harder to break.　　In a Wednesday post on X, Buterin argued that AI will not give hackers an insurmountable advantage, adding that crypto holders—including himself, with roughly 90% of his net worth in crypto—are betting that security defenses can keep pace.　　Myriad: Ethereums next move？ Click to make your prediction.　　“Its an increasingly common take that AI hacking means cybersecurity is doomed,” Buterin wrote. “I disagree. I think cybersecurity is naturally defense-favoring once people get their shit together.”　　Buterin argued that AI could make formal verification—the use of mathematical proofs to establish that software is secure—practical even for complex systems.　　“If AI can prove Navier-Stokes and FLT, then AI can prove the statement ‘this program is secure’ as a mathematical theorem,” he wrote. “Even if the program is very complicated.”　　In other words, Buterin believes AI sophisticated enough to solve famously difficult mathematical problems could also

09-18Industry

SEC, CFTC and FDIC accelerate U.S. crypto adoption amid CLARITY Act delays

Although the CLARITY Act – a proposed legislation in the United States aimed at regulating the cryptocurrency industry – stalled in a major Senate vote earlier this week, key federal regulators – including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – have declared actionable and rule-based initiatives to speed up crypto market adoption in the country.　　On September 17, 2026, the U.S. SEC announced that it has granted a temporary and conditional exemptive relief to Tokenized Securities Venues (TSV) such as Robinhood Markets, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOOD) and Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN). The agency said that these exemptions are set to expire five years, or September 17, 2031.　　“The division stands ready to work with interested parties seeking to operate a TSV and field questions from investors and market participants,” Jamie Selway, Director of the SEC Division of Trading and Markets, highlighted.　　On Thursday, the CFTC issued indefinite industry-wide no-action relief protecting non-custodial software and wallet developers from registration as introducing brokers or associated persons. As such, tech providers routing users to CFTC-regulated exchanges without holding customer funds will not face enforcement action for operating without traditional broker registrations.　　Additionally, the FDIC cleared the

09-18Industry

Bitcoin coils near $76.5K as US stocks rebound from Fed rate hike

Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $76,500 after Thursdays Wall Street open as investors snapped up US stocks following their recent dip.　　Key points:Bitcoin consolidated after dropping below $76,000 on the back of a 0.25% interest-rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.US equities rebounded, with the Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 1.5% as analysis saw upside continuation.Bitcoin price analysis retained its bullish slant on market conditions, with CryptoQuants Bull Score Index circling 60/100 on Thursday.　　Bitcoin halts losses as US stocks turn green　　Data from TradingView showed that BTC price volatility was cooling over the last 24 hours, with only modest moves to take nearby liquidity.　　BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView　　Data from CoinGlass showed both bid and ask liquidity thickening around the current spot price, a typical feature of rangebound trading conditions.　　BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap (Binance). Source: CoinGlass　　US equities gained on the day, as investors sought to capitalize on the local downside that followed policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 Index and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively.　　Nasdaq Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView　　On Wednesday, the Fed voted to increase benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75-4%. This was its first hike since July 2023, and signaled an end

09-18Industry

WisdomTree, MoonPay team up to expand US access to tokenized money market fund

WisdomTree and MoonPay are partnering to expand US investor access to a tokenized Treasury money market fund, which MoonPay also plans to use as part of its stablecoin reserves.　　According to a Thursday announcement from the companies, the fund issuer is using MoonPay‘s technology to develop an access point for its WisdomTree Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX), a tokenized money market mutual fund that seeks to maintain a $1 share price. The companies said the arrangement would give WisdomTree access to MoonPay’s network of more than 35 million accounts.　　MoonPay, a financial technology company that provides infrastructure for moving between fiat and digital assets, plans to use WTGXX as part of its stablecoin reserve management stack.　　MoonPay launched its enterprise stablecoin business in November 2025 and issues dollar-denominated stablecoins across several blockchains, backed by US dollars and other high-quality liquid assets held in segregated accounts.　　The collaboration could expand to additional tokenized funds, including in markets outside the United States, according to WisdomTree, which manages about $176.7 billion in assets.　　On Thursday, the tokenized US Treasury market stood at about $15.4 billion, with WTGXX accounting for about $1.23 billion, according to RWA.xyz data.Tokenized US Treasury Funds. Source: RWA.xyz　　The fund has logged net flows of

09-18Industry

Clarity Act failure may hamper U.S. crypto as industry seeks legal clarity elsewhere

Gracy Chen, CEO of exchange Bitget, took a more cautious view of whether the vote will move market activity to Asia.　　“I wouldnt look at it as volume suddenly moving from the U.S. to Asia because of one vote,” she said. “Crypto is inherently a global market, and traders will continue to go where they can find the products, liquidity and access they need.”　　The vote extends uncertainty around U.S. market structure and the treatment of digital assets, Chen said. But Bitgets plans to enter the country with the appropriate licenses and structure do not depend on the bill passing, she added.　　For Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, the failed vote is more of a speed bump than a roadblock.　　“It would have been better if it had passed,” Hougan said. “With it failing, I think the road ahead is bumpier. But the trend is still good, and I don‘t think it’s changed too much from where it was Monday, before the vote.” He said that there are still two and a half years left in President Donald Trumps pro-crypto administration, and a lot can still happen.　　Hougan said he does not expect the result to stop investors from considering smaller

09-18Industry

Is there any chance left to save the CLARITY Act？

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink may be the sentiment of the crypto industry, lobbyists and lawmakers whove spent the last year trying to get the CLARITY Act over the line.　　No shortage of negotiations, amendments or political wrangling; yet not enough to get the bill moving through the Senate.　　The CLARITY Act may have rammed into a Senate-shaped hurdle this week, but it isn‘t dead on arrival yet — let’s go with walking wounded.　　Theres still a chance for the digital asset market structure bill to scramble together the 60 votes it needs to clear the Senate.　　When Republican Senator Thom Tillis switched his vote from yes to no at the last minute, he did so on procedural grounds. It may have looked like a swing against CLARITY, but it was really a parliamentary maneuver, allowing him to file a motion to reconsider and preserve a route back to the Senate floor.　　The Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI)s director of US federal affairs, Ryan Eagan, tells Magazine:　　“Senator Tillis‘s motion to reconsider would provide an opportunity to revisit CLARITY’s cloture vote at any point this session. Specific timing regarding next steps is not clear, but that desire to preserve that opportunity is

09-18Industry

Bitcoin Bounces as Markets Brace for the Feds Next Move

In briefThe Fed raised its benchmark rate 25 basis points to 3.75%-4% on a unanimous 12-0 vote Wednesday, its first hike since July 2023, after traders priced in a 93% chance of the move.Bitcoin briefly touched $76,499 after the announcement before settling near $76,300, roughly flat on the day as the broader crypto market held above $2.6 trillion.Zcash surged as much as 23% toward $1,425 after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed his firms ZEC stake, calling the token “a private complement to Bitcoin.”　　Bitcoin traded near $76,300 on Thursday, largely unmoved a day after the Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate hike since July 2023.　　The Fed lifted its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75% to 4%, a move all 12 Federal Open Market Committee members backed. Traders had priced in a 93% probability of the hike heading into the decision, per CMEs FedWatch tool.　　Myriad: Where does Bitcoin go next？ Click to make your prediction.　　Wall Street‘s reaction ran hotter than crypto’s. The Dow sank about 1.2% and the S&P 500 slid 0.4% to 0.5% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield had topped 5% earlier in the week, its highest since 2007, as oil pushed above

09-18Industry

WisdomTree, MoonPay Team Up On Tokenized Fund

WisdomTree and MoonPay have announced a strategic collaboration to make the WisdomTree Treasury Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX), a tokenized money market mutual fund, more accessible to everyday investors in the United States. The two companies disclosed the agreement in a September 17 press release, saying MoonPay plans to use WTGXX as part of its stablecoin reserve management while WisdomTree builds a new access point for its tokenized funds on MoonPays technology and platform.　　How the Fund Access Point Works　　WisdomTree (NYSE: WT) said the planned access point will use MoonPay‘s blockchain technology, letting it reach individual investors beyond the channels served by its broker-dealer, WisdomTree Securities, Inc., a FINRA member. MoonPay’s network hosts more than 35 million accounts and serves more than 1,700 partners, and the fund is distributed by WisdomTree Securities. The move builds on WisdomTrees earlier push to make the fund tradeable, including round-the-clock trading for WTGXX with real-time settlement. WisdomTree has positioned WTGXX as a bridge between traditional money market investing and on-chain settlement, and reported roughly $176.7 billion in global assets under management as of its last reportable period.　　Stablecoin Reserves and Institutional Reach　　MoonPay‘s plan to hold WTGXX as part of its stablecoin reserve management ties a regulated

09-18Industry

Prompt Sampling Reinforcement Learning Boosts LEEPS Efficiency

Researchers have introduced a new method called LEEPS that could make one of the most stubborn inefficiencies in AI model training a lot less costly. The approach targets a specific bottleneck in prompt sampling reinforcement learningpipelines used to sharpen the reasoning skills of large language models, and early benchmark results suggest it delivers measurable gains without slowing training down.　　Key takeawaysLEEPS is a Latent-Guided Explore-Exploit Prompt Sampler built to balance reuse of known informative prompts with continued exploration of uncertain ones during reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards.Across six mathematical reasoning benchmarks, LEEPS posted the highest average scores at both the Qwen2.5-Math-1.5B and Qwen2.5-Math-7B scales.Relative gains over the strongest baseline reached 2.6% for the 1.5B model and 3.7% for the 7B model.LEEPS also topped three out-of-distribution general-reasoning benchmarks at both model scales.The method adds only about 2 seconds of online sampling overhead per training step, a small cost for the performance it delivers.　　Introduction to LEEPS and its role in reinforcement learning　　LEEPS is a prompt sampling method designed to balance exploration and exploitation during reinforcement learning training for large language models. That balancing act sits at the center of a problem researchers have flagged with reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards, or RLVR, a

09-18Industry

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