CLARITY Act Setback: Coinbase Faces Fallout as Crypto Bills Stall

The CLARITY Act, one of the crypto industry's most anticipated pieces of US legislation, failed to advance in the Senate this week, falling short of the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor for debate. With the Nov. 3 midterm elections tightening the Senate calendar, the bill's path forward this year has narrowed considerably. According to Saxo Bank strategist Ruben Dalfovo, no company has more at stake in the stalled legislation than Coinbase. In a Wednesday note, Dalfovo said Coinbase's trading business is directly exposed to US market-structure rules that would govern registration requirements, tradable assets, and platform participation. Shares of Coinbase, Circle, and Strategy each dropped between 5% and 10% following the failed procedural vote and continued sliding the next trading day.

Beyond the regulatory fight in Washington, institutional interest in layer-2 networks is accelerating. Standard Chartered is projecting that Arbitrum will outperform both Bitcoin and Ether through 2030, driven by traditional finance firms moving assets onchain. Geoff Kendrick, the bank's global head of digital assets research, highlighted that Arbitrum now captures 10% of net protocol revenue from companies building on its network. Robinhood Chain, which launched in July, has materially shifted Arbitrum's economics, with September revenue expected to reach $5 million—more than five times prior levels. Kendrick forecasts ARB reaching $10 by 2030, a 70-fold increase from current prices near $0.14, supported by projections that tokenized assets will grow from $39 billion today to $4 trillion by 2028.

Meanwhile, Bitmine is repositioning its Ether treasury as a staking revenue engine, and crypto exchange Phemex is sounding the alarm on artificial intelligence. Phemex CEO Federico Variola said AI has been a "net negative" for crypto, citing risks from automated trading and market manipulation. The SEC, for its part, is pressing ahead with tokenized stocks and broader digital asset frameworks. Taken together, these developments paint a picture of an industry navigating regulatory headwinds at home while doubling down on infrastructure, tokenization, and new revenue models abroad.