The US Senate failed to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, with 49 votes in favor and 50 against. While some lawmakers remain committed to the bill, legislative time is limited. Following the vote, the SEC announced a five-year exemption for trading tokenized US stocks on decentralized blockchains, provided they offer full shareholder rights.
The CFTC issued a no-action position for passive software providers connecting users to regulated derivatives firms, potentially easing access to perpetual contracts. Additionally, the House Financial Services Committee approved the American Reserve Modernization Act, which aims to formalize a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and mandates federal audits of digital assets.
Standard Chartered projects that the price of the Arbitrum (ARB) network could reach $10 by 2030, representing a 70-fold increase. This forecast is driven by network revenue growth, which reached $5 million in September. Risks to this projection include competition from other blockchains and a slower pace of asset tokenization.
A Chainalysis report indicates that state-linked hackers, including groups from North Korea and Iran, increased their use of public blockchains for malware infrastructure by 420% over the past year. Meanwhile, a former Hong Kong bank official was sentenced to four years in prison for authenticating fraudulent letters of credit worth over $1.6 billion.
