US Senate Republican leaders are pushing for a floor review of the CLARITY Act, a digital asset regulatory bill, on July 20. The bill aims to establish a regulatory framework for the digital asset industry but faces key disagreements between the two parties on issues such as government ethics rules and combating illegal finance. Without progress before the August recess, the legislative timeline before the midterm elections may become insufficient, and at least seven Democratic senators' support is needed for passage.
Bitcoin Liquidation Zone and Price Action
Analyst Killa noted on X that leveraged long positions with 3x, 5x, and 10x leverage are concentrated in the BTC $49,000-$56,000 range. He suggested that a final capitulation drop within one to two months could confirm this range as a bottom signal. Bitcoin briefly fell below $64,000, trading at $63,970.90 on OKX, down 0.11% daily. The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has been negative for 55 consecutive days since May 19, the longest streak on record, surpassing the 40-day negative run from January 16 to February 24 and the roughly 30-day stretch during the '1011 crash'.
Grayscale's Tokenization Outlook and Asia's Regulatory Moves
Grayscale published a report on July 9 predicting equity tokenization would evolve in three stages, with Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Canton Network likely benefiting from ownership structure changes. Currently, over 70% of tokenized equity market cap uses third-party wrapped tokens, where traditional stocks are placed into special purpose vehicles and investors receive tokens representing rights. Grayscale sees DTCC's tokenization pilot as the second stage, with Canton Network as the first blockchain used, and direct on-chain issuance by issuers as the third stage. In Asia, Japan is pushing for crypto ETFs, South Korea is discussing bank-led won stablecoin regulations, and Kazakhstan is expanding digital asset and stablecoin adoption. Malaysia has seized over 75,000 illegal crypto mining machines, while India's central bank reaffirmed its preference for a crypto ban.
Standard Chartered's Bitcoin Forecast and Market Moves
Standard Chartered maintains its Bitcoin year-end 2026 price target of $100,000. Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, attributed recent selling pressure not to a change in Bitcoin's long-term outlook but to market confusion over Michael Saylor's Strategy adjusting its Bitcoin strategy. Strategy is shifting from simply accumulating Bitcoin as a reserve asset to using it as collateral backing STRC preferred shares, which Kendrick described as heavily overcollateralized. At the time of reporting, BTC was at $64,322.89, and MSTR closed at $94.64. The notional value of STRC outstanding is approximately $10 billion.
Corporate and On-Chain Activity
Bitcoin holding company Emory Digital sold 1,400 BTC over the past two months at an average price of $62,200, raising about $87.1 million. The funds were used to invest in an AI data center project and repay debt, including acquiring a 25% stake in the AI data center and using $10 million to repay outstanding debt. After the sale, Emory Digital's Bitcoin holdings fell 48% to 1,514 BTC, worth about $97 million at current prices. EMPD shares rose 1.58% on Friday. On-chain, two hacker addresses bought 6,454.7 ETH with 11.718 million DAI on July 12. One address, known for stealing Coinbase user funds, purchased 4,049.7 ETH at $1,822 using 7.378 million DAI. Another address that received ETH from Tornado Cash in November 2023 first swapped 4,978 ETH for 16.294 million DAI, then bought back 2,405 ETH at $1,804. Separately, 190.88 million USDC (approximately $190.91 million) moved from Aave to an anonymous whale wallet, with the recipient's identity and purpose unknown.