Bitcoin continues its downward slide, falling another –2% to around USD 66,500, after already dropping –7% last week. Beyond the tense geopolitical backdrop, the U.S. crypto ecosystem has taken a fresh hit with the revised version of the CLARITY Act, a bill intended to clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets. In its updated form, the bill explicitly prohibits crypto companies from offering yields on stablecoins, even indirectly. In other words, the sector may gain regulatory clarity but lose one of the key commercial incentives that made stablecoins attractive compared to bank deposits.
The impact was immediate: Circle, the issuer of USDC, fell, 20% this week. The company generates most of its revenue from the reserves backing the stablecoin, largely invested in U.S. Treasury bills, meaning its core business model is not directly targeted. However, one of its major ambitions, offering yield on stablecoin balances, essentially a crypto equivalent of an interest‑bearing checking account, now appears increasingly out of reach.
In the wake of bitcoin’s decline, other major cryptocurrencies also retreated:
- Ether (ETH) fell –3.31%, dropping back below USD 2,000
- Solana (SOL) lost –3.67%, trading around USD 83
- XRP slipped –3.39%, now around USD 1.33
The message from the market is clear: U.S. regulation has become a systemic source of volatility for the entire crypto sector.