Crypto Market Update: Senate Banking Committee Preps for High-Stakes CLARITY Act Vote

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,329.74, down by 0.5 percent over the last 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.45, up by 1.6 percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$95.12, trading 1.1 percent higher over the past 24 hours.

Today's crypto news to know

Senate Banking Committee preps for CLARITY Act vote

The Senate Banking Committee is gearing up to vote this week on the much-anticipated CLARITY Act.

Chair Tim Scott confirmed that the panel will hold a crucial executive session on Thursday (May 14) to tackle the legislation, which aims to explicitly categorize digital tokens as securities, commodities or entirely new assets.

The biggest contention in the bill is stablecoins — specifically whether cryptocurrency platforms can offer rewards that directly compete with traditional bank deposits.

A bipartisan compromise recently brokered by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks would completely ban passive holding rewards while permitting activity-based incentives like payment rewards.

Unsurprisingly, the powerful banking lobby remains opposed, arguing that the provision risks draining the foundational deposit base of the insured banking system. While Tillis acknowledged the banks' frustration, he refused to give further ground, stating they must simply "agree to disagree."

Strategy resumes Bitcoin buying, Saylor clarifies "never sell" doctrine

Michael Saylor's Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) is back at its aggressive accumulation habits, purchasing another 535 BTC for US$43 million following a brief pause last week. The latest acquisition brings the corporate treasury's massive stockpile to 818,869 BTC, pushing its total digital asset value to roughly US$61.9 billion.

The renewed buying spree came after Saylor refined his famous "never sell" philosophy during a podcast interview, clarifying that his actual stance is to "never be a net seller" of the asset.

The firm's recent earnings call reveals that Strategy now possesses the flexibility to pause common stock sales and potentially offload small fractions of Bitcoin to cover its dividend obligations. Those obligations stem from STRC, the company's highly liquid perpetual preferred stock that currently yields roughly 11.5 percent annually.

Strategy sold a staggering US$3.2 billion in STRC this past April alone to fund Bitcoin buys, generating a quarterly dividend requirement of around US$80 million to US$90 million.

However, Saylor maintains that the math overwhelmingly favors continued accumulation.

Circle secures US$222 million presale for New Arc Blockchain

Stablecoin powerhouse Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) has raised US$222 million in a massive token presale to fund its highly anticipated Arc blockchain, securing a fully diluted valuation of US$3 billion.

Venture capital heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz led the massive round with a US$75 million injection, accompanied by significant participation from traditional Wall Street titans BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Apollo Funds.

Alongside the funding announcement, Circle published the official whitepaper for Arc, detailing how the native token will power the network's governance, security and daily operations.

The layer-1 blockchain is heavily engineered to balance strict regulatory compliance with user confidentiality, utilizing a complex modular privacy system that incorporates zero-knowledge proofs and multi-party computation.

Circle recently announced its blockbuster Q1 earnings, which revealed a 28 percent surge in USDC circulation to US$77 billion and an explosive 263 percent jump in transaction volume.