WuBlockchain’s weekly top 10 list was led by movement on the CLARITY Act in the U.S., BitMEX’s planned closure, rapid growth in tokenized RWA perpetuals, and a sharp shift in Ethereum staking queues.
Trump agrees to ethics terms in the CLARITY Act
U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to the ethics provisions in the CLARITY Act, clearing what the report described as the last major obstacle to moving the crypto market structure bill toward a Senate vote. The provision would restrict the president, vice president, members of Congress and other federal officials from profiting from digital assets while serving in office.
The bill text is expected in the next few days. The Senate needs to vote no later than the first week of August. If passed, the measure would return to the House for review and then go to the president for signature.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CLARITY Act is unlikely to complete a vote before Congress begins its summer recess, though he still wants to start Senate consideration before lawmakers leave. Disputes remain over restrictions on crypto activity by government officials and over stablecoin yield provisions. If the bill slips to the short session in September before the midterm elections, its chances of passing in 2026 would become more difficult.
a16z partner Chris Dixon said Congress should pass the CLARITY Act to define regulatory responsibilities for blockchain networks and digital asset markets and to add rules on customer asset segregation, custody and disclosure. He said the GENIUS Act has already helped expand the stablecoin market, while blockchain infrastructure still lacks a unified federal framework. If CLARITY passes, he wrote, the U.S. could once again lead in the way it did during the commercial internet era. If lawmakers delay, innovation and rulemaking power could shift to other markets.
London Stock Exchange targets overnight platform in 2027
London Stock Exchange plans to launch a standalone overnight trading platform in the first half of 2027. It would initially offer exchange-traded products, including funds tied to U.K. and U.S. equity markets. Proposed trading hours are 17:00 to 7:50 the next day, with a 30-minute pause for end-of-day processing.
The report said the move shows how traditional exchanges are trying to win back retail investors drawn to 24-hour crypto platforms. Coinbase and Kraken have already offered around-the-clock stock trading services. LSE CEO Julia Hoggett said Asian retail investors in particular could benefit. The exchange also plans to add Agentic AI-related trading capabilities to the new platform.
Argentina considers looser capital market rules for crypto
Argentina’s government is considering allowing mutual funds to allocate to bitcoin and other crypto assets as long as those holdings fit their investment policies. It is also weighing whether digital assets can be used as collateral for regulated loans. The draft would also explicitly allow stocks, bonds and other securities to be issued, stored and traded on blockchain rails.
The proposal is not final. It still needs the president’s signature and congressional review.
Brazil records first tokenized cattle collateral financing deal
Brazilian farm Fazenda Engenho Velho completed the first formally registered livestock asset tokenization collateral financing transaction on B3, the Brazilian stock exchange. The farm pledged 10 dairy cows as collateral and obtained a CPR-F agricultural credit certificate worth 100,000 Brazilian reais, or about $19,400.
Each cow is tracked with a Cowmed AI smart collar that collects health, behavior and location data and generates a unique encrypted digital ID linked to the loan contract. The structure is meant to digitize collateral management and reduce valuation discounts and manual verification costs in traditional livestock-backed financing.
Cowmed said its system currently covers about 100,000 dairy cows across Brazil and other countries. Over the next two years, it plans to push about 20% of those animals into tokenized collateral use.
Strategy launches Bitcoin Security Consortium
Strategy said it is launching the Bitcoin Security Consortium. Founding members include BlackRock, Coinbase, Galaxy, Anchorage, ARK Invest, Blockstream, Block and Digital Asset. The group committed $15 million over the next three years to support bitcoin developers and security research.
The consortium said its first major focus will be the potential impact of quantum computing on Bitcoin cryptography. It also said it does not intend to direct Bitcoin development and will instead support the long-term work of existing open-source developers and researchers.
Kraken parent moves to broaden xStocks
Kraken parent Payward is working with investment infrastructure provider GTN to bring Hong Kong-listed equities to xStocks. U.K., European and South Korean stocks are expected to follow, subject to regulatory approval.
GTN will provide execution, custody and record services for the securities that sit behind the tokens.
BitMEX says it will shut down on Sept. 23
Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX said on July 23 that it will formally shut down at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 23. The exchange has already stopped new user registrations.
BitMEX was founded by Arthur Hayes and was the first to invent and launch the perpetual futures product. Starting Aug. 26, it will stop opening new positions and will gradually force liquidations. After action from the U.S. government, Hayes gradually stepped away from the company’s operations. BitMEX later lost market share to offshore rivals including Binance and Bybit. Over the past few years, it repeatedly sought a sale but did not complete one.
After the shutdown announcement, Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said BitMEX invented the perpetual swap and once became the world’s largest crypto exchange, shaping a generation of later venues including Bybit. He said the product has survived the exchange itself and has become central to the crypto market. He also said perpetuals are gradually moving into compliance in the European Union, Dubai, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. Zhou paid tribute to Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Sam Reed.
CZ said BitMex pioneered 100x crypto perpetuals in 2014. He wrote that early limits such as BTC-only deposits, a single chain and one daily withdrawal batch through a multisig wallet looked inconvenient but helped the platform avoid hacks. He said the four founders fought for 18 months, pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations one month before trial, each paid a $10 million fine and accepted home confinement, with no prison sentences. He added that the business did not survive pressure from the Biden administration’s crackdown on crypto, though the liquidation process is orderly and users can still withdraw assets. He also expressed respect for Arthur Hayes.
Arthur Hayes wrote in a farewell post: “Thank you to our partners, BitMEX employees, and most importantly our customers. It has been an incredible journey. We created something special together. I’m immensely proud of what we built and that we were able to wind down responsibly on our own terms. Long live Satoshi.”
On the same day, BKX Services and David Namdar filed suit against BitMEX in federal court for the Southern District of New York. They accused the exchange of profiting through internal trading privileges, server freezes and forced liquidation mechanisms, causing combined losses of 622.66 BTC. The plaintiffs are seeking the return of the bitcoin and damages. BitMEX has not responded. The lawsuit was filed the same day the exchange announced the end of its 11-year run.
CryptoRank counts 17 crypto shutdowns or bankruptcies since 2026 began
CryptoRank data shows 17 major crypto projects or companies have shut down or gone bankrupt since the start of 2026, including BitMEX, Loopring DEX, Nifty Gateway, Movement Labs, Bitcoin Depot and ZeroLend. Those projects and companies had previously disclosed at least $8.9 billion in total funding.
CryptoRank said the exits are not limited to insolvent companies. Products that failed to retain users and liquidity are also leaving the market.
Tokenized RWA perpetual monthly volume rises to $470 billion
Monthly trading volume in tokenized real-world asset perpetuals rose from $85 billion in January to about $470 billion in June, a 450% increase over six months. Tokenized stock perpetuals grew about sevenfold, outpacing tokenized commodities.
SpaceX (SPCX) posted more than $66 billion in June volume, making it the highest-volume stock perpetual across exchanges. Binance, Hyperliquid and OKX together accounted for more than 80% of June tokenized RWA perpetual volume, with Binance representing nearly half.
Ethereum validator exit queue falls to zero
Arkham, citing beaconcha.in data, said Ethereum’s validator exit queue has dropped to 0, which means unstaking no longer requires a wait. At the same time, about 2.48 million ETH is lined up to enter staking, with an estimated wait of about 43 days.
The exit queue had previously exceeded 2.6 million ETH in September 2025. Around 40.9 million ETH is currently staked, equal to about 33.55% of total supply. Active validators stand at roughly 885,000, and the average annualized yield is about 2.64%.
Notable funding rounds this week
- AI safety company Neo said it raised $100 million.
- Crypto bank Augustus completed a $180 million Series B at a $1 billion valuation.
- Canton Network developer Digital Asset added $10 million in financing, keeping its valuation at $2 billion.
- Notabene disclosed a strategic investment from Ripple.
- Empery Digital said it made a $20 million strategic investment in Cardinal Data Power.
- Future Asset acquired a 97.15% stake in Korbit and plans to rename it Digital X, focused on a one-stop digital asset investment platform.
- Mandela Digital received a $5 million investment from Datavault AI.
More industry fundraising deals are available at crypto-fundraising.info.