SnapShot 268: Will the CLARITY Act Pass Before the August Recess?

Hello SnapShotters,

The final stretch of July is coming alive with regulatory advancements. Japan is reclassifying crypto as financial products alongside a large-scale adoption of the yen-based JPYC stablecoin. Vietnam is tightening rules for trading on unlicensed platforms. And in Washington, President Donald Trump agreed to sweeping new ethics provisions restricting officials' personal crypto holdings.

Despite Brent crude’s spike, BTC pushed past $66,000. ETH eyed a break for the $2,000 mark, and XRP caught a breakout as Ripple executives lobbied lawmakers directly. 

Alphabet and Tesla kicked off big techs’ Q2 earnings releases, and left the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in a volatile churn.

Will the CLARITY Act eventually clear one of its biggest legislative hurdles before Congress breaks for its August recess?

Let's look at this week's biggest stories.

Market Spotlight

Note: Market prices captured in USD at the time of sending. Explore more on Crypto‌.com/Price. 

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News Snaps

🌊 U.S. spot BTC and ETH ETFs booked combined net inflows of over $250 million as of July 22.

🇺🇸 One year after the GENIUS Act came into law, the U.S. stablecoin rulebook remains unfinished, as federal agencies missed the deadline to finalize issuer regulations.

🇯🇵 A major Japanese logistics firm is bringing stablecoins to payroll, using the yen-pegged JPYC stablecoin to speed up payments and ease labor woes.

🔀 Input Output will hand over control of Cardano’s infrastructure to external specialist teams, including its Haskell node, Plutus smart-contract platform, and Hydra scaling technology.

🥇 Tether Gold secured regulatory recognition in Abu Dhabi. Licensed firms can now offer regulated products tied to the tokenized gold.

🌍 Grayscale filed for the first U.S. spot Worldcoin ETF, which would hold WLD directly.

🟣 Tokenized asset volume on Solana jumped 114% to $5.8 billion in Q2, extending its winning streak to six consecutive quarters.

📅 What's Ahead

• July 28 to 29: FOMC policy meeting
• July 29 to 30: Earnings report from Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon
• July 30: Q2 U.S. GDP, June Core PCE inflation
• August 1: July Nonfarm Payrolls and unemployment rate
• August: BIP-110 deadline (Bitcoin OP_RETURN proposal)

Chart of the Week

Bitcoin's Long-Term Holders Are Stirring, But May Yet Be Heading for the Exit

The RHODL Ratio recently climbed to one of its highest levels on record before easing; older tokens are beginning to move while the market remains locked in a months-long consolidation. 

Similar onchain patterns have historically emerged before the next major leg of the cycle.*

See what Bitcoin's latest RHODL signal could mean for the market and your BTC beliefs

*Past performance is not indicative of future results.

As of July 19, 2026 | Sources: CryptoQuant, Crypto.com Research

Crypto Trivia

Spain was one of the first EU nations to fast-track enforcement of the EU's landmark crypto framework. What’s MiCA, and what does it actually do?

A) Markets in Crypto-Assets: A framework requiring crypto providers to hold licenses, maintain minimum capital reserves, and meet strict consumer-protection standards.

B) Monetary Integration for Crypto Authority: A system that forces all European banks to back digital currencies with physical gold and/or fiat reserves.

C) Mutual Investment in Cyber-Assets: A mandate requiring retail traders to hold accredited-investor status before purchasing tokens. 

Find the correct answer at the end of this newsletter.

Byte Sized

A reminder that the people who got ahead in this space didn't have better forecasts. They just started building before everyone else felt ready. Need more of this on your feed?

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Security Tips

Gen Zs, Beware: Your Next Trade May Not Be What It Seems

Fraudsters are getting brazen with impersonation scams on platforms like WhatsApp, catching the attention of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Read more and avoid falling for this highly realistic scam

Crypto Trivia Answer

A) Markets in Crypto-Assets: A framework requiring crypto providers to hold licenses, maintain minimum capital reserves, and meet strict consumer-protection standards. ✅

That's it for this week's SnapShot. Want more? Find out what’s trending in the crypto world.

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