More than 200 crypto companies and organizations are pressing the US Senate to pass the CLARITY Act, warning that protracted delays could cause the measure to miss a key legislative window. A letter circulated Monday by Stand With Crypto urged Senate leadership to advance the bill to the floor without delay, arguing that the Senate Banking Committee’s recent bipartisan vote built momentum for durable market-structure legislation.

The CLARITY Act would set out the regulatory framework for crypto in the United States by detailing how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should oversee digital assets. Negotiations have stretched over several months as lawmakers and industry participants debated provisions—an impasse that has repeatedly stalled movement on the bill despite late-year opportunities.

In the letter, the coalition—led by Stand With Crypto along with The Digital Chamber, the Blockchain Association, and the Crypto Council for Innovation—asserted that passage would protect American jobs, sustain investment, and anchor the United States as a global leader in digital-asset innovation. The authors framed digital asset markets as a global and rapidly evolving component of financial infrastructure, stressing that policy choices will determine whether the United States remains at the forefront of innovation or cedes ground to offshore jurisdictions with less transparency and accountability.

“Digital asset markets are global, growing, and central to the future of financial infrastructure,” the letter stated. “The question before Congress is whether that future will be built in the United States — under U.S. law, U.S. oversight, and American values — or continue moving to offshore jurisdictions with less transparency, weaker consumer protections, and limited accountability.”

The call to action follows a broader dispute over two contentious policy levers: banning platforms from offering stablecoin yields, a view favored by some banking groups, and extending protections for developers of non-custodial, decentralized crypto platforms, a position championed by many in the crypto industry. Negotiations have thus far attempted to balance consumer protection, regulatory clarity, and innovation incentives, with unsettled disagreements delaying consensus on the legislation’s final form.

The letter’s signatories stressed that the bill, if enacted, would anchor market activities and employment within the United States while supporting a framework for oversight aligned with American values and standards. The coalition’s stance aligns with a longer-standing objective to provide clear jurisdictional guidance for market participants amid a shifting global regulatory landscape. As noted in coverage tied to the policy debate, the CLARITY Act remains central to ongoing questions about how the U.S. should regulate digital assets in relation to existing securities and commodities laws.

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

Key takeaways

• Over 200 crypto companies and organizations urged the Senate to advance the CLARITY Act, arguing that delay risks losing a critical legislative window.
• The act would define how the SEC and CFTC regulate digital assets, seeking to clarify regulatory oversight amid ongoing industry debates.
• The bill has stalled multiple times this year, with no confirmed floor schedule ahead of the midterm elections, despite bipartisan work in the Senate Banking Committee.
• Stakeholder positions diverge on two core policy questions: banning stablecoin-yield platforms and extending protections for DeFi developers, creating ongoing negotiations on the bill’s scope and safeguards.
• Analysts and industry participants warn that passage before the August recess is essential to avoid narrowing windows for legislative action; odds have shifted as time runs short.

Legislative momentum and timing

The CLARITY Act has enjoyed bipartisan attention in the Senate, particularly after the Banking Committee’s vote last month. Still, lawmakers have not scheduled floor time for the measure ahead of the November midterm elections, raising questions about whether the bill can clear the chamber within the current cycle. Analysts have underscored that any further delay risks constricting the window for passage, especially given the political calendar and competing priorities.

Galaxy Digital acknowledged the time-sensitive nature of the process, noting a downgrade in the odds of passage within 2026. In a separate assessment, the firm reported that the likelihood stood at 60%—down from 75%—with the expectation that the bill would need to pass before the August recess to avoid a protracted delay that could render it moot in practice. This assessment reflects the strategic constraint that negotiations must be resolved and reconciled before lawmakers depart for the recess period.

Policy content, ethics, and illicit finance considerations

Two central policy dimensions have shaped the ongoing discussions. First, banking groups have pressured for provisions that would bar certain crypto activities—specifically, platforms offering stablecoin yields—from circumventing traditional banking and regulatory safeguards. Second, the crypto industry has pressed for protections that would shield developers and operators of decentralized platforms from overbroad or misapplied enforcement actions. These areas have become focal points in the fight to secure broad bipartisan support and the 60 votes needed to advance the bill on the Senate floor without obstruction.

Legislators, including Senator Cynthia Lummis, have acknowledged the importance of addressing ethics and illicit-finance concerns as essential to maintaining floor support. Negotiators have flagged the need for amendments to these areas if the act is to cross the finish line. While the arc of negotiations remains unsettled, proponents argue that a carefully crafted framework could provide clearer jurisdictional boundaries, reduce regulatory uncertainty, and support continued innovation within a robust compliance regime.

As discussions proceed, observers note that the bill’s fate also hinges on how it interacts with broader regulatory approaches abroad, particularly in the European Union’s MiCA framework, and how U.S. policy aligns with global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism standards. The regulatory architecture proposed by CLARITY would add a defined path for enforcement and compliance that could influence how exchanges, wallets, and DeFi protocols operate domestically and with international partners.

Regulatory architecture, enforcement, and market impact

The CLARITY Act seeks to delineate the roles of the SEC and CFTC in regulating the crypto sector, potentially ending some of the ambiguity that has characterized U.S. market oversight. A clearer delineation could influence licensing requirements for exchanges, custodians, and other digital-asset service providers, as well as the treatment of token classifications for securities or commodities purposes. For market participants, this could translate into more predictable compliance obligations, clearer reporting standards, and a more stable path for innovation within a recognized regulatory envelope.

Industry stakeholders have framed passage as a signal that the United States intends to anchor digital-asset activity within American governance and consumer-protection standards. They argue that successful enactment would maintain domestic competitiveness, attract investment, and reduce the risk of capital fleeing to less transparent jurisdictions with weaker regulatory oversight. However, the path to consensus remains uncertain, and any final version would need to balance innovation incentives with robust protections and governance norms.

Analysts and compliance teams should monitor how the act’s final terms address stablecoins, custody, and the treatment of non-custodial DeFi infrastructure. The policy debate, while focusing on enforcement and oversight, also raises questions about cross-border data sharing, information-sharing agreements for illicit finance, and the overall jurisdictional clarity that institutions require to structure their U.S. operations and international partnerships accurately. The evolving framework will have direct implications for licensing regimes, AML/KYC expectations, and ongoing regulatory oversight for crypto firms, banks engaging in crypto activities, and institutional investors considering exposure to digital assets.

As coverage from industry outlets and policy analysts notes, the CLARITY Act remains a central reference point in debates over U.S. crypto regulation, with momentum existing but not guaranteed to translate into final passage this session. The negotiations continue to hinge on ethics, illicit-finance provisions, and the balance between investor protection and innovation-friendly regulation.

For stakeholders seeking a broader context, recent discussions emphasize aligning U.S. policy with international standards and ensuring that regulatory clarity does not stifle innovation or create undue burdens on compliant, compliant-first market participants. The outcome will shape how the United States regulates digital assets relative to competing regimes, and it will influence the strategic planning of exchanges, custodians, developers, and institutional investors alike.

Analysts are watching for concrete milestones: a schedule for floor debate, any committee reconcile proposals, and publicly released amendments addressing ethics and illicit-finance concerns. The path to a potential conference on the bill will determine whether the U.S. can deliver a clear, functioning framework for digital-asset markets before the legislative window closes. As Cointelegraph noted in its coverage of the CLARITY Act, the path to a durable regulatory framework remains a complex interplay of policy objectives, partisan dynamics, and practical considerations for market participants.

Closing perspective: while the industry remains hopeful that Congress will act, the practical trajectory of the CLARITY Act will depend on whether its negotiators can resolve core points of contention and translate bipartisan support into a coherent, enforceable framework before the August recess.

Blockchain-based lending protocol Morpho said it raised $175 million in a funding round co-led by Paradigm, a16z crypto and Ribbit Capital, as investors bet that credit markets will increasingly move onchain.

The round also included Apollo Funds, Circle Ventures, VanEck and Ledger Cathay, according to a post on the Morpho blog.

Morpho operates an open credit network that allows institutions and fintech firms to build lending products on blockchain rails. The protocol has more than $11 billion in deposits and is used by institutional clients including Bitwise, Galaxy and Anchorage Digital, as well as crypto exchanges Coinbase, Kraken and Binance.

The raise highlights the interest in blockchain-based financial infrastructure from banks, asset managers and other traditional financial firms exploring tokenized assets and onchain settlement systems.

Unlike many crypto projects that seek to replace traditional finance, Morpho is positioning itself as an infrastructure provider working with existing institutions. The company said its network can help unify fragmented lending markets and support programmable credit products at scale.

Morpho said it will use the funds to develop its institutional lending infrastructure to build programmable credit products.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz responded to criticism of his title with a long poem explaining his role in crypto and the XRP Ledger’s development.

The verse covered cryptography, payment rails, custody, decentralized exchanges, automated market makers, tokenization, derivatives, bridges and stablecoins. It also referred to Schwartz’s work explaining blockchain systems over more than 15 years.

David Schwartz responds to criticism with XRP Ledger verse

The exchange began after an X user appeared to downplay the meaning of Schwartz’s CTO emeritus title. Schwartz answered with a structured rhyme that presented his technical background and long involvement with Ripple and XRPL.

“I am the very model of a CTO emeritus,” David Schwartz wrote. He described himself as a ledger creator and referred to hashes, Merkle trees and transaction data before moving into broader financial infrastructure.

The poem also addressed payment rails, custody and liquidity. Schwartz said he could explain decentralized exchanges and automated market makers to technical and non-technical audiences.

His response used humor, but the content focused on his experience rather than a new XRP Ledger announcement. Schwartz did not introduce a product, amendment or release date in the post.

Ripple veteran outlines 15 years of crypto work

Schwartz helped develop the XRP Ledger with Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto beginning in 2011. The network launched in June 2012 as a payment-focused alternative to Bitcoin’s mining-based system.

He later joined OpenCoin, which became Ripple, as chief cryptographer. David Schwartz became Ripple’s chief technology officer in 2018 and moved away from daily leadership duties at the end of 2025.

Ripple now identifies him as CTO emeritus and a co-creator of XRPL. He also remains involved in public discussions about XRP, stablecoins, tokenization, network design and blockchain security.

“I’ve spent decades explaining crypto’s finer points,” Schwartz wrote. The line referred to his continuing public role after leaving the company’s day-to-day technology position.

XRP Ledger development continues after leadership change

David Schwartz’s post arrived as XRPL developers prepared version 3.2.0 of the network’s core server software. As previously reported by crypto.news, the planned release will rename rippled to xrpld and requires infrastructure operators to update some systems.

The release has been linked to performance work, code cleanup and fixes for number handling and rounding. June 15 remains a target rather than a confirmed release date from XRPL Operations.

Separately, as previously reported, it was found that average daily XRPL transactions rose 35.3% during the first quarter of 2026. The network also recorded growth in stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets while XRP’s market price weakened.

Schwartz’s poem did not claim responsibility for every recent development. It instead presented his historical role, technical knowledge and continued place in the XRP Ledger community.

Something revealing is happening on Google.

Searches for the phrase “Bitcoin to zero” have surged to the highest level ever recorded in the United States, hitting a peak score of 100 on Google Trends, stronger than the panic spikes of the 2022 collapse and the 2025 drawdowns.

The query is a window into the crypto market’s collective psychology in mid-2026: with Bitcoin down sharply from its highs, the Fear and Greed Index buried in extreme fear, and the longest Bitcoin ETF outflow streak on record, a growing number of people are typing the most existential question a holder can ask into a search bar.

Could Bitcoin actually go to zero?

It is a fair question, and it deserves a serious answer instead of either reflexive dismissal or doom-mongering.

The honest response requires separating what would truly have to happen for Bitcoin to reach zero from the panic that drives people to search for it, and understanding why the record-breaking fear in the search data is, historically, more likely a contrarian signal than a prophecy.

This piece takes the question seriously, walks through the actual scenarios that could send Bitcoin to zero and why each is improbable, and explains what the search surge really tells us.

What the search data is actually showing

Start with the signal itself, because the “Bitcoin to zero” search spike is remarkable and worth understanding before judging what it means.

According to Google Trends data, U.S. searches for “Bitcoin to zero” climbed to a peak score of 100, the maximum on Google’s relative scale, marking the highest level on record.

This is not a modest uptick.

The phrase has spiked during previous market drawdowns, including the 2022 bear market and briefly in 2025, but the current surge is stronger than those previous peaks.

That means more people are searching for Bitcoin’s potential demise now than at any point in its history, including during the FTX collapse.

For most of 2023 and early 2024, interest in the phrase remained muted, reflecting calmer markets.

The sudden record-breaking rise reflects acute retail anxiety as Bitcoin consolidates after a sharp decline.

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 1708.48, down 1.4% (-23.82) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday.

None of the 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: ETH (-0.6%) and SUI (-0.6%).

Laggards: UNI (-2.9%) and AAVE (-2.6%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Memecoin activity stays strong as Dogecoin, MemeCore, and Little Pepe draw investor attention in 2026.

There is no time for the memecoin market to rest, is there? Having had an eventful start to 2026, a few memecoins have managed to remain relevant, but one particular presale has gone unnoticed, producing all the hype that made us fall in love with meme coins to begin with.  

Dogecoin has found itself navigating the concept of X Money. At the same time, MemeCore has begun to redefine the entire meaning behind meme coins, but for now, let us talk about Little Pepe (LILPEPE), which finds itself at Stage 13 in its presale, showing potential for gains of up to 1,200% from its current price of $0.0022. Here’s a proper breakdown of the four coins worth watching right now.

Little Pepe: The meme chain built to hit 1,200%

Little Pepe doesn’t just try to replicate Pepe and compete in its shadow. This protocol creates a whole new Layer 2 blockchain for memes, something very few competitors can boast. As of the time of writing, the presale is ongoing on stage 13 with the token selling at $0.0022 per token. In total, $28,248,147 has been raised, with Little Pepe raising $28,775,000 from the 17.25 billion tokens set to be sold.

The math here is compelling. Stage 1 investors who got in at $0.001 are already sitting on a 120% paper gain heading into the confirmed listing price of $0.0030. Investors joining now at Stage 13’s $0.0022 still lock in a 36.36% gain at launch, before any post-listing price movement is factored in. Post-launch, the projected return from the lowest entry point is 1,200%. Little Pepe has secured listings on both CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, and plans to list on two top centralized exchanges at launch. 

Dogecoin: Still the OG, and $0.50 is still on the table

Dogecoin (DOGE) is currently trading at approximately $0.082-$0.10. The SEC/CFTC classification of DOGE as a commodity has facilitated its listing on Nasdaq. X Money’s beta release in April has driven DOGE’s price up by 10%, and Deutsche Bank predicts DOGE will appreciate to $0.50 once X Money incorporates its 586 million users. Analysts expect DOGE to trade between $0.12 and $0.22 by 2026.

MemeCore: The meme 2.0 chain doing real infrastructure work

MemeCore (M) hit an all-time high of $4.82 in April 2026 after a hard fork on March 25 slashed gas fees by 100x and introduced account abstraction, triggering a 26.5% surge over seven days. As of now, M is priced at roughly $2.67-$3.04, with a market capitalization of roughly $3.8-$4.0 billion and standing around #23-28 on CoinMarketCap. The Memex no-code platform allows token creation without coding, while the LIFT Ecofund supports new projects that use its blockchain technology.

Pudgy Penguins: The NFT-backed meme with a community that won’t quit

Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) is in a rough patch, trading between $0.0063 and $0.0068, well below its all-time high of $0.0463 set in January 2025. Market cap sits at approximately $394–$424 million, ranking in the #80–115 range. On the surface, that looks like a story of faded hype. However, this is not reflected in the price chart: there are more than 535,000 PENGU token owners, and only 0.5% of the total is held by the top 10 token wallets. This is a very good indicator, meaning that the community is distributed.

The bottom line

DOGE is the large-cap play with institutional catalysts finally aligning, and Dogecoin remains primed to hit $0.50 in 2026. MemeCore is the infrastructure bet for people who believe meme culture deserves its own chain. PENGU is the community-depth story waiting for sentiment to turn. And LILPEPE? It’s the presale opportunity that’s still technically open, though barely. With Stage 13 at 98.61% filled, a CertiK-audited contract, CMC, and CoinGecko listings already live, and a projected 1,200% return from Stage 1 baked into the tokenomics, the window to get in before launch is closing fast. For investors who’ve been watching from the sidelines, this might be one of the last chances to act while the price is still $0.0022.

Join the presale on the official website, read the whitepaper, follow updates on Twitter/X, Telegram, and join the 777K giveaway.

TLDR: 

• Chainlink price traded near $7.91 as LINK remained under short-term selling pressure despite the new FIFA World Cup partnership.
• ADI Predictstreet adopted Chainlink as its exclusive oracle infrastructure for FIFA World Cup 2026 prediction markets.
• Chainlink Runtime Environment will help automate market creation, resolution, and settlement using high-quality FIFA data.
• The partnership expands Chainlink’s real-world utility, but LINK still needs stronger demand to confirm a price recovery.

Chainlink price traded near $7.91 on June 9 as ADI Predictstreet adopted Chainlink as its exclusive oracle infrastructure for FIFA World Cup 2026 prediction markets. LINK was down 0.87% in 24 hours, while trading volume fell 5.99% to about $320.65 million.

The announcement added a major sports-related use case for Chainlink. However, LINK’s chart remained weak after its recent decline from higher levels. The token was still trading below the $8 area, with market capitalization near $5.75 billion.

Chainlink Price Stays Weak Despite FIFA World Cup Deal

Chainlink price remained under pressure even after a major integration tied to the FIFA World Cup 2026. Chainli price analysis reveals LINK is struggling to rebuild momentum after a sharp drop in early June.

The token recently moved near the lower end of its short-term range. The RSI stood near 34.75, showing that sellers still held control. This level also suggested that LINK was close to oversold territory.

LINK/USD 1-day chart | Source: TradingView

ADI Predictstreet announced that it had adopted Chainlink to support prediction markets for the FIFA World Cup 2026. The platform is the official prediction market partner of the tournament.

The deal gives Chainlink a role in market resolution, settlement, and data orchestration. ADI Predictstreet said Chainlink would help reduce slow manual resolution and outcome disputes.

ADI Predictstreet Uses Chainlink for Prediction Markets

ADI Predictstreet will use the Chainlink Runtime Environment to automate market creation, resolution, and settlement. The system will rely on high-quality FIFA data to support accurate outcomes.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to span 48 teams, 104 matches, and 16 host cities. The event will take place across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

This scale creates a major test for prediction market infrastructure. Fast settlement matters because users expect quick payouts after match outcomes are known. Chainlink’s oracle system is designed to provide that source of truth.

ADI Predictstreet CEO Dimitrios Psarrakis said the integration would support transparent outcome resolution and efficient settlement. Chainlink Labs Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said the partnership could help redefine live sports prediction markets.

The Chainlink has expanded its reach beyond DeFi and tokenized finance. The network has already been used across lending, payments, stablecoins, and institutional blockchain projects.

As reported, the Chainlink network has enabled over $30 trillion in transaction value, and its infrastructure powers more than 70% of the global DeFi market.

Still, Chainlink’s price has not yet reflected a strong market reaction. LINK needs renewed spot demand and stronger broader crypto conditions to confirm a rebound.

A move above $8.00 would be the first sign of short-term strength. Further upside could bring attention back to the $8.50 and $9.00 areas. A failure to hold near $7.80 may keep sellers active.