Market Overview
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization climbed to $2.71 trillion, revisiting highs from the latter half of the previous week, but soon eased to around $2.65 trillion. Volatility followed reports that the CLARITY Act was advancing quickly, while the pullback came after momentum faded when Democrats introduced a counterproposal only hours before the final vote. The legislation is intended to establish a clearer regulatory framework for the US crypto industry; without it, significant uncertainty remains. Prediction markets assigned the bill a 19% chance of passing by the end of the year, roughly unchanged from the previous week and down from a 34% peak on Monday. Investors appear increasingly willing to price the market without the legislation, even as crypto trades near May levels, when the probability of passage exceeded 75%. Major cryptocurrencies posted mixed results over the past 24 hours, with losses more widespread than gains. Uniswap rose 5.6%, followed by Stellar at 5.5% and XRP at 1.6%, while Filecoin fell 10.7%, Internet Computer declined 6.9% and Tezos dropped 6.3%.
Bitcoin rose to $79.6K late Monday before sustained selling pressure drove it back to $77.4K, returning the cryptocurrency to the lower boundary of its consolidation range. Bitcoin needs a significant catalyst to break out, after which the liquidation of leveraged positions could accelerate movement in either direction. The longer the consolidation continues, the more margin positions accumulate and the closer stop-loss orders move to the prevailing price, increasing the risk of a sharp move. A break below $75K or above $82K could trigger a substantial rise in volatility. Although the range offers more than 9% of trading scope for short-term strategies, price action within it may remain noisy.
News Background
Spot demand for Bitcoin remains weak, leaving the recent rally without firm fundamental support, according to CryptoQuant. The current market resembles the January-to-March period, when derivatives were the primary driver of Bitcoin’s price.
BitMine purchased another 27,180 ETH last week, increasing its Ethereum reserves to 5.96 million ETH at an average acquisition price of $2.51K. Company Chairman Tom Lee said asset tokenisation on the Ethereum blockchain and the development of AI agents were expected to drive future growth.
Attorneys general from 18 US states have urged the Senate to reject the CLARITY Act in its current form. They argue that the bill would limit state regulators’ oversight of cryptocurrencies, reducing their ability to protect investors from fraud.
Market attention is now focused on the procedural vote on the CLARITY Act on September 15 and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on September 16.
Bloomberg Intelligence senior strategist Mike McGlone reiterated that a prolonged 20% correction in the S&P 500 could send Bitcoin down to its long-term support level near $10K, citing the emergence of three sell signals.
