This week’s key word running through the digital asset market was the “Clarity bill”. Until last week, Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that “if we miss this session, there is no opportunity until 2030,” raising expectations for bipartisan passage. But in a Senate cloture vote held on Sept. 15 local time, the bill drew 49 votes in favour and failed to clear the 60-vote threshold. Bitcoin slipped about 3 to 4 percent to the $76,000 range immediately after news of the defeat.

• U.S. Senate finally rejects Clarity bill…Bitcoin down 3 percent • Michael Novogratz: “The Clarity bill is not over…It will go to the floor” • Senator Warren signals push for crypto regulatory legislation despite opposing Clarity bill

The three sticking points that ultimately could not be resolved were whether to allow interest payments on stablecoin holdings, how broadly money-transmitter rules would apply to developers and infrastructure providers, and ethics rules related to President Trump’s own crypto business.

The defeat does not mean the bill has been scrapped entirely, and the possibility of a revote remains. But with the congressional calendar tight ahead of the November midterm elections, and with pending bills automatically discarded when a new Congress (the 120th) begins after the election, the prevailing view is that a renewed push within this year has effectively slipped away.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (엘리자베스 워런), who has consistently opposed the Clarity bill, said separately from the vote outcome that she would continue pursuing her own crypto regulatory legislation. She has criticised the bill as designed to be overly favourable to the industry without investor protections, and she is expected to keep highlighting investor protection and conflict-of-interest prevention as core issues even in any future renegotiations.

The defeat ultimately showed that the fundamental gap between the parties over not whether a Clarity bill is needed, but what kind of Clarity bill it should be, remains unresolved.

• Caution on introducing financial investment income tax, but pressing ahead with digital asset taxation…Fairness controversy persists

In South Korea, the tax issue resurfaced. The government has made clear its position that it will implement digital asset taxation from 2027, and fairness controversy persists alongside the financial investment income tax, which it says will prioritise market stability. The digital asset industry says that, in addition to differences in the tax burden compared with stocks, preparations are insufficient, including verification of acquisition costs and taxation standards by transaction type, and is calling for a review of the start date. It also points to tasks that must be resolved before implementation, such as securing transaction information from overseas exchanges and personal wallets and building tax infrastructure.

• One computer to control the world?…Why quantum computers are dangerous for bitcoin • IonQ unveils 6th-generation quantum computer…Customer delivery in 2027 amid bitcoin security debate

The market also refocused on the quantum computing threat, a long-term vulnerability for bitcoin security. Google research was revisited suggesting that, if quantum computers are commercialised, elliptic-curve cryptography that underpins the security of bitcoin private keys could be broken with far fewer resources than previously expected. The principle that quantum computers could quickly solve problems that conventional computers could not solve even until all stars in the universe burn out again drew attention.

When quantum computing company IonQ unveiled its sixth-generation quantum computer that week and announced plans to deliver it to customers in 2027, the bitcoin security debate flared again. The industry view is that it is not an immediate threat, but warnings continue that a “collect now, decrypt later” strategy targeting exposed public keys may already be under way. Among long-term holders, discussion of switching to quantum-resistant wallets is slowly gaining traction.

• Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent Payward…Expands cooperation on tokenised stocks • Global banks speed up rollout of tokenised deposits alongside stablecoins

Traditional finance also accelerated investment in tokenisation infrastructure. Nasdaq invested $100 million, through its venture investment arm, in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, valuing it at $21 billion. As a case of a traditional securities exchange directly deploying capital into crypto exchange infrastructure, it shows that the boundary between Wall Street and the crypto industry around tokenised assets is becoming thinner.

In a similar vein, a trend has been spotted among global banks to accelerate the introduction of tokenised deposits in step with the spread of stablecoins. Analysts say banks are pursuing a dual strategy: defending payment and remittance areas that stablecoins could encroach on with their own tokenised deposit products, while securing the advantages of blockchain-based real-time payments within existing deposit regulatory frameworks.

• Would becoming a bank make it safer?…The two faces of U.S. federal charters for crypto companies • Nvidia weighs putting up to $10 billion into an Anthropic IPO

Separate from the Clarity bill, debate also continued among crypto companies over obtaining U.S. federal bank charters. A federal charter can provide benefits such as protection by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and access to the Federal Reserve payment network, but it also brings the burden of entering much tighter banking regulation, including capital requirements and ongoing supervision.

The industry described it as “a trade of giving up freedom in exchange for a safety net,” and raised a cautious view that obtaining a charter does not necessarily translate directly into improved safety. It is a point that reveals the industry’s dual attitude of craving regulatory clarity while also finding the regulatory burden that clarity brings burdensome.

There was also news of large capital moves at the intersection of artificial intelligence and digital assets. Reports said Nvidia is weighing a plan to put up to $10 billion into Anthropic’s initial public offering, raising the view that competition for AI infrastructure investment could indirectly affect fundraising conditions in the crypto industry. With huge funds flowing into AI data centre power demand and semiconductor supply chains, some pointed out that the crypto industry’s conditions for attracting venture investment could also shift depending on the pace of these broader capital flows.