The cryptocurrency market erased more than $20 billion after fresh geopolitical tensions pushed traders toward safer assets. Bitcoin led the decline as oil prices climbed sharply following new comments from U.S. President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, liquidations accelerated across major digital assets before key United States economic events.

Trump’s Remarks On The Strait Of Hormuz Deepen Pressure Across Risk Markets

President Donald Trump increased market uncertainty after discussing the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing tensions involving Iran. He stated that the United States would take control of protecting the strategic shipping route. Consequently, energy markets reacted quickly as geopolitical risks intensified.

Brent crude advanced above $79 per barrel after gaining nearly 5% during renewed military developments. At the same time, reports indicated continued exchanges between the United States and Iran across the region. Iran also announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, although U.S. Central Command rejected that claim.

Higher oil prices added fresh pressure across global financial markets and reduced demand for risk-sensitive assets. As a result, cryptocurrencies joined broader market declines during the trading session. The latest developments also extended uncertainty surrounding international trade and energy supplies.

The market weakness followed separate reports involving American Bitcoin, the mining and treasury company backed by Eric Trump. Bloomberg reported that the company’s shares had declined more than 95% from their previous peak. The decline also reduced the value of Eric Trump’s reported stake by more than $600 million.

American Bitcoin reportedly closed at a record low of $6.13 on July 10. The company had recently completed a one-for-15 reverse stock split before reaching that level. As a result, the broader crypto sector faced additional negative sentiment alongside geopolitical concerns.

Rising energy costs often increase inflation expectations and reduce demand for speculative assets. Therefore, cryptocurrencies experienced additional selling pressure as market participants adjusted their positions. The combination of geopolitical uncertainty and higher oil prices strengthened the broader risk-off environment.

Bitcoin Leads Crypto Decline As Liquidations Accelerate

Bitcoin fell more than 3% during the selloff and traded near $62,389 during the latest session. Earlier, the cryptocurrency reached an intraday low of approximately $62,120 after trading above $64,300. The decline reflected broad weakness across the digital asset market.

Ethereum also moved lower as selling pressure spread across major cryptocurrencies. XRP, BNB, Solana, Hyperliquid, Zcash, and Cardano declined between 2% and 6% during the session. Consequently, losses expanded across both large-cap and alternative digital assets.

According to CoinGlass, the crypto market lost nearly $20 billion in value during the downturn. The data provider also reported almost $40 million in liquidations across multiple digital asset positions. Furthermore, approximately 73,000 traders faced liquidations within the previous 24 hours.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Hyperliquid, SPCX, SNDK, and MU positions recorded notable forced liquidations. Leveraged positions amplified losses as prices declined across the broader market. Therefore, liquidation activity accelerated throughout the trading session.

CoinGlass also reported the largest single liquidation on the Hyperliquid platform. The closed XYZ: SKHX position carried an estimated value of approximately $4.86 million. That transaction highlighted the impact of leverage during periods of heightened market volatility.

Attention has now shifted toward the upcoming United States economic releases scheduled for this week. Markets will receive the latest Consumer Price Index inflation report before additional policy signals emerge. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will also deliver testimony that could influence expectations surrounding future interest rate decisions.

Velocity, a stablecoin treasury and settlement infrastructure provider, has raised $38 million in a Series A round as it seeks to deepen the plumbing enterprises need to use stablecoins for cross-border payments and finance operations. The deal brings the company’s total funding close to $50 million since it launched in 2025, according to Velocity.

The round was led by Dragonfly and FirstMark, with participation from Activant Capital, Capital One Ventures, QED Investors, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures and Ripple. Velocity said it will use the proceeds to expand its banking and payments network, create new products, and strengthen its regulatory capabilities.

Key takeaways

• Velocity raised $38 million in Series A funding to scale stablecoin treasury and cross-border settlement infrastructure.
• Backers include Dragonfly and FirstMark, alongside strategic investment from firms such as Coinbase Ventures and Ripple.
• The company says its software connects stablecoin networks to banking, custody, compliance and settlement systems for enterprises.
• Funding lands amid intensifying competition for the enterprise stablecoin market, including initiatives such as Open USD.

What Velocity is building for enterprise finance

Founded in 2025, Velocity develops software designed to bridge stablecoin networks with traditional financial rails. The company’s focus is on connecting stablecoin-based value transfer to the systems enterprises rely on—banking connectivity, custody, compliance workflows and settlement processes.

Velocity’s stated customers include enterprise finance teams, payment providers, fintech firms and financial institutions that want to incorporate stablecoins into cross-border payment flows and treasury operations. In practice, that means the product is less about issuing tokens itself and more about making stablecoin usage operational inside existing financial processes.

According to Velocity, the latest financing will support expansion of its banking and payments network and help it develop additional products. It also highlights “regulatory capabilities” as a priority, underscoring that firms moving stablecoin treasury workflows into regulated contexts need more than basic on-chain transfer functionality.

More capital flows into stablecoin infrastructure

Velocity’s Series A adds to a broader pattern: investors are funding infrastructure players that sit between stablecoin networks and real-world financial operations. In earlier coverage this year, Tether participated in a $5.2 million round for Ark Labs, which is building stablecoin issuance and settlement infrastructure on Bitcoin. The project focuses on a programmable execution layer intended to enable faster payments and more complex financial applications.

Other enterprise-focused infrastructure investments cited by Cointelegraph include OpenFX, which raised $94 million in a Series A to expand a stablecoin-based foreign exchange network. Trace Finance also secured $32 million to grow cross-border payment infrastructure that combines banking, foreign exchange and stablecoin settlement services.

Taken together, these moves point to a market where differentiation increasingly depends on integration depth—how smoothly stablecoin flows plug into liquidity management, compliance and settlement—and less on purely offering a token. Velocity’s emphasis on expanding its banking and payments network fits that trend, suggesting investors view “connective tissue” as a major constraint on enterprise adoption.

Enterprise stablecoin competition heats up

Competition for enterprise stablecoins is not standing still. In June, more than 140 companies backed the launch of Open USD (OUSD), a dollar-pegged stablecoin supported by major payments and crypto players including Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and Ripple. That development signals how quickly enterprise-facing stablecoin initiatives are moving from concept to rollout.

Velocity’s timing appears deliberate. Rather than competing directly as a stablecoin issuer, the company is positioning itself as the system layer enterprises can use regardless of which dollar-pegged stablecoin rail they choose. Still, as more stablecoin ecosystems and industry consortia emerge, the integration and compliance demands for treasury operations are likely to increase rather than decrease.

For investors and operators, the key question is whether these infrastructure providers can maintain flexibility across networks while meeting the regulatory expectations of banks, payment providers and financial institutions. Velocity’s stated commitment to regulatory capabilities suggests it views governance, controls and compliance tooling as part of the competitive edge.

Why investors care: stablecoins are moving into payment reality

The funding momentum also aligns with reported usage data indicating stablecoins are becoming part of everyday payment flows. A joint analysis by McKinsey and Artemis Analytics, referenced in the source reporting, estimated that stablecoins processed $390 billion in annualized real-world payments in 2025. The figure includes about $226 billion in business-to-business transactions.

While these estimates describe annualized payment activity rather than balances held on exchanges or in wallets, they matter for enterprise adoption because they point to sustained transactional demand. As stablecoin rails get integrated into treasury and settlement workflows, companies may look for providers that can reduce operational friction—such as reconciling transfers, managing liquidity and handling compliance requirements—without forcing teams to rebuild core financial processes from scratch.

Velocity’s focus on connecting stablecoin networks to banking, custody, compliance and settlement systems suggests it is targeting that operational gap. If stablecoin payment volumes keep scaling, the “last mile” of infrastructure—network connectivity and regulated settlement execution—may become a deciding factor for who can serve institutional and enterprise users reliably.

Next, investors and potential customers should watch whether Velocity can broaden its banking and payments network quickly while demonstrating that its compliance and settlement tooling supports real cross-border treasury workflows. With enterprise stablecoin competition accelerating—from initiatives like Open USD to other infrastructure funding—execution and integration depth will likely determine which providers become essential partners rather than optional add-ons.

The US Senate is nearing a vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a market-structure bill backed by Republicans that would set new rules for digital-asset activity. But a vocal bloc of Senate Democrats and civil-society groups says the legislation is incomplete, arguing it fails to address ethics concerns tied to President Donald Trump’s financial relationships with parts of the crypto industry.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Senators Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, and Chris Van Hollen—along with representatives for Americans for Financial Reform and Indivisible and actor Ben McKenzie—criticized the bill for what they characterized as “Trump’s crypto corruption.” The lawmakers argued that passing a new regulatory framework without curbing potential conflicts would effectively “protect” the President’s ability to influence the sector.

Key takeaways

• Democratic senators Murphy, Merkley, and Van Hollen signaled they will not back the CLARITY Act unless ethics safeguards are added.
• The bill’s Senate path is tight: it must clear a 60-vote threshold and then return to the House, meaning some Democratic support is likely required.
• Majority Leader John Thune says the Senate will vote before the Aug. 10 work period, though the exact timing was not confirmed in the Senate calendar as of Tuesday.
• The CLARITY Act has support from at least two law-enforcement organizations, which argue it would help combat digital-asset crime.

Ethics fight threatens a bipartisan milestone

The CLARITY Act has been moving through Congress for roughly a year, having already passed the House as part of a broader Republican “Crypto Week” agenda. As the bill heads to the Senate floor, opposition has focused less on whether rules are needed—and more on whether the proposed framework includes sufficient ethics provisions.

In the Tuesday remarks, Murphy argued there is “no reason” to create a new regulatory system for crypto if it does not prevent what he described as corruption across the industry. He warned that legislation could become “in and of itself a fundamental corruption” if it effectively shields the President’s influence over how the sector is regulated.

Other Senate Democrats have raised similar concerns. Van Hollen, Murphy, and Merkley cited recent disclosure activity by Trump as part of the broader push for safeguards. The article notes that Trump disclosed that he earned $1.4 billion from crypto ventures in 2025, a point connected to objections about the bill’s ethics posture. Senator Elizabeth Warren—an influential critic of many crypto-related policies—has also called for the bill to address “brazen financial corruption,” aligning her position with the group opposing the legislation’s current form.

Still, the ethics dispute also has practical implications: with the CLARITY Act requiring 60 votes, any Democratic refusal could make passage difficult even with Republicans’ slim majority. The Senate’s voting arithmetic becomes especially relevant as party leaders consider whether they can secure enough support to avoid a failed floor vote.

What the Senate vote means for timing and leverage

Majority Leader John Thune told Bloomberg Government News that the Senate would hold a vote before the August recess/work period, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 10. As of Tuesday, the precise timing was reportedly not yet reflected in the official Senate calendar.

Thune’s pledge matters because it compresses the window for negotiations that could produce amendments or side arrangements. If lawmakers expect a vote before Aug. 10, there is less time to resolve disagreements over ethics language, stablecoin provisions, or other implementation details.

The political pressure around timing has also been heightened by developments on the Republican side. The article says Trump urged senators to pass the bill “in honor of” Senator Lindsey Graham after his death over the weekend. While the article notes that Graham did not appear to make public statements directly supporting CLARITY, it frames the President’s comments as additional momentum for the vote.

At the same time, the article highlights the narrowness of Republican numbers in the chamber following Graham’s passing, and notes that Senator Mitch McConnell was still hospitalized as of Tuesday. With the party reportedly holding a 52-47 majority after Graham’s death, the chamber’s effective attendance could be even more consequential for a time-sensitive floor schedule.

Law enforcement support adds a counterweight

Despite the ethics-focused pushback, the CLARITY Act also has backing from law enforcement organizations. The article says the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association have endorsed the bill, arguing it would help address digital-asset-related crime.

This matters for lawmakers trying to bridge the gap between regulatory design and political feasibility. While ethics provisions may be the deciding factor for some Democrats, law enforcement endorsements provide a separate policy narrative: the claim that clearer rules would improve compliance, investigation, and prosecution in markets historically associated—rightly or wrongly—with illicit activity.

The tension between those two narratives—ethics safeguards versus criminal enforcement benefits—could become the central question for observers watching the Senate whip count. If the ethics amendments are viewed as non-negotiable by some senators, the enforcement arguments may not be enough to secure the 60-vote threshold.

Where the bill stands and what to watch next

The CLARITY Act is expected to return to the House if the Senate amends it, meaning any changes—whether aimed at ethics, stablecoin-related details, or other market-structure mechanics—could restart parts of the legislative process. With the bill already cleared the House nearly a year after “Crypto Week,” supporters will likely want to avoid a cycle that delays implementation.

For investors, builders, and market participants, the upcoming Senate floor vote is less about short-term price noise and more about policy certainty. The key question now is whether Senate Democrats who raised ethics objections can be brought on board through clarifications or carveouts—or whether their opposition will be strong enough to force either a delay or a reshaped bill.

As senators head toward a vote before Aug. 10, watch for when the bill’s final text is released, whether ethics language becomes a sticking point on the floor, and how quickly negotiations can turn opposition into enough votes to reach the 60 threshold.

The US Senate is expected to vote soon on a comprehensive bill to establish market structure rules for digital assets, backed by Republican lawmakers, while some Democrats continue to push for ethics provisions.

In a Tuesday press conference, Senators Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, and Chris Van Hollen spoke alongside representatives for Americans for Financial Reform and Indivisible and Hollywood actor Ben McKenzie in opposition to the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The lawmakers said that the bill did not address what they called “[Donald] Trump’s crypto corruption,” referring to the US President’s ties to the industry through his memecoin, his family’s World Liberty Financial company and other businesses and investments.

“There is no reason to pass a new regulatory system for crypto if this system does not stop Trump’s corruption of the entire industry,” said Murphy. “This bill is worthless if it protects Trump’s dominance over an industry that he will have more control to regulate. In fact, the bill is in and of itself a fundamental corruption if it gives Trump’s corruption the protection of law.”

Senator Chris Murphy (third from left) addressing the press on Tuesday with Senator Chris Van Hollen (left). Source: Chris Murphy

The CLARITY Act has been under discussion in the US Senate since being passed by the House of Representatives almost a year ago this week as part of the Republicans’ “Crypto Week” agenda, in which the GENIUS stablecoin bill was also signed into law. The bill needs to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass the Senate and return to the House, meaning that some Democrats will need to support the legislation with Republicans’ slim majority in the chamber.

Related: ABA, state banking groups push back on CLARITY Act stablecoin yield provisions

Van Hollen, Murphy and Merkley are not the only Senate Democrats saying they will not support the bill without a clear carveout for ethics following Trump disclosing that he earned $1.4 billion from his crypto ventures in 2025. Senator Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken voice in the chamber against many crypto-related issues, has also called for the legislation to address what she called “brazen financial corruption.”

Despite the pushback from many lawmakers, the CLARITY Act has the support of two law enforcement organizations. The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association have backed the crypto bill, saying it would help address digital asset-related crime.

Senate majority leader says vote will happen before August work period

John Thune, majority leader in the US Senate, pledged to hold a vote on the crypto bill before the chamber breaks for a state work period on Aug. 10, according to Bloomberg. The exact timing of the vote was not available on the Senate calendar as of Tuesday.

The CLARITY Act already has support from Trump, who on Monday urged members of the Senate to pass the bill “in honor of” Senator Lindsey Graham, who died over the weekend. The president said that the South Carolina lawmaker had been “a big supporter” of the legislation, but Graham did not appear to have made any public statements directly supporting CLARITY.

The senator’s death left Republicans with a 52-47 majority in the chamber and, with Senator Mitch McConnell still hospitalized as of Tuesday, the party could only have 51 lawmakers present at the time of the potential vote.

Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of CLARITY’s proponents in Congress, said on Monday that lawmakers would release the text of the bill “in the next few days.”

Magazine: Crypto’s CLARITY Act faces partisan fight over ethics on Senate floor

President Donald Trump has strengthened support for a new UK-US stablecoin framework as the Senate races to advance the CLARITY Act despite growing opposition from banking groups over its stablecoin provisions.

According to a joint statement released through the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed that properly regulated stablecoins can improve cross-border payments, financial market infrastructure, and competition while providing businesses with more consistent regulatory treatment across both jurisdictions.

UK and US have aligned on core stablecoin standards

Created in September 2025, the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future said both governments consider stablecoins “an important vehicle for innovation in digital money.”

The statement said the two countries intend to support their use in cross-border payments, settlement, and capital market transactions while coordinating their domestic regulatory frameworks to reduce unnecessary differences between the two markets.

The joint position also sets out common expectations for stablecoins intended for use as money. According to the statement, regulated stablecoins should be backed one-to-one with clearly defined, high-quality liquid reserve assets under each country’s legal framework.

Reserve and liquidity rules, the statement added, should reduce financial risks without creating unnecessary barriers for new entrants or limiting cross-border competition. It also calls for regulated issuers to maintain clear custody arrangements, separate reserve assets from company funds, and provide timely redemption for token holders.

During insolvency or restructuring proceedings, the UK and US governments said stablecoin holders should have legally protected claims over reserve assets ahead of other creditors, subject to each country’s domestic insolvency laws. The statement further said issuers should clearly disclose customer rights so holders understand how their assets are protected.

Senate faces pressure as banks challenge CLARITY Act

The transatlantic agreement arrives as Trump continues urging the Senate to approve the CLARITY Act before lawmakers begin their August recess. The president has repeatedly linked crypto legislation to his goal of making the United States the “crypto capital of the world.”

The bill remains one of the most closely watched crypto measures in Washington, with senators still negotiating provisions covering market structure, stablecoin oversight and ethics rules affecting elected officials. The compressed legislative timetable has increased pressure on lawmakers to finalize the text before Congress leaves for its summer break.

At the same time, major banking organizations have intensified criticism of the legislation’s stablecoin language. Banking groups have argued that several provisions remain too unclear and could encourage consumers and businesses to move money from traditional bank accounts into stablecoins.

Those organizations have warned that sustained deposit outflows could place additional pressure on community and regional banks that depend heavily on customer deposits for lending. They have called on lawmakers to tighten the bill’s wording and introduce stronger safeguards before the legislation moves forward.

The joint UK-US position does not address those banking concerns directly, but it places significant emphasis on fully backed reserves, customer protections and clear legal treatment of stablecoin assets. As both governments continue developing their domestic rulebooks, the coordinated framework signals a common regulatory direction even as debate over the final shape of the CLARITY Act continues in Washington.