Bitcoin stagnates around $64,000 as Clarity Act vote slips into September

The crypto market was hoping for a strong signal from Washington, but it will have to wait. The postponement of discussions in the US Congress on several crypto-related texts halted investors’ momentum, leaving bitcoin unable to break through its main resistance levels. This setback is a reminder of the extent to which American political decisions continue to dictate the pace of the markets. In an environment already marked by macroeconomic uncertainties, each legislative delay now fuels a wait-and-see attitude and pushes back hopes of a new bullish catalyst.

Bitcoin: the impasse of the Clarity Act and the institutional blockage in the Senate

The attempt to establish a clear regulatory framework in the United States is crossing a decisive zone of turbulence. The much-anticipated vote on the Clarity Act bill will not take place before Parliament returns, as senators failed to reach a compromise before their summer break. This delay postpones any legislative arbitration at least until September 14, the date scheduled for the resumption of work in the American Senate. The key factors of this blockage revolve around the following elements :

• A lack of transpartisan consensus: the text requires 60 votes in favor to be adopted, while it is currently struggling to gather 50 confirmed supports;
• Strict ethical requirements: Democrats condition their support on the introduction of stronger ethics and anti-conflict of interest clauses, targeting the financial situation of Donald Trump, who declared more than a billion dollars in income from crypto activities in 2025;
• A busy parliamentary agenda: Senate Majority Leader John Thune stressed that the start of the school year will offer a very narrow window of action of only three weeks, during which the text will have to compete with the emergency bill on financing the federal government and the sanctions component against Russia;
• A collapse in market confidence: on predictive markets like Polymarket, the probabilities of seeing the Clarity Act enacted during 2026 have collapsed to around 15%, compared to more than 70% recorded at the beginning of May.

This institutional blockage instantly translates into marked lethargy on the price of bitcoin. The first crypto by capitalization remains stuck around the threshold of $64,300, recording almost zero variation over the last 24 hours as well as over the entire week. Despite repeated attempts to boost, the asset proves unable to surpass the resistance zone located between $66,000 and $66,600. This lack of dynamism, however, occurs in a context of sustained institutional contributions.

Indeed, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $626 million in cumulative net inflows between August 3 and 5. These massive capital flows helped support the market structure and avoid a sharp decline by firmly defending the support zone established between $63,000 and $64,000. However, uncertainty surrounding the U.S. regulatory agenda prevents this capital from becoming enough of a driving force to cause a move higher.

A widespread contraction in the altcoin market with the exception of Hyperliquid

The wait for an American legal framework affects the different crypto alternatives asymmetrically. XRP emerged as the most heavily sanctioned asset among large caps, falling more than 2% in 24 hours to settle at $1.02, bringing its weekly loss to 5.5%.

Other major assets are also experiencing measured downward pressure. Solana falls by more than 1% near $73, down 2% over seven days, while Dogecoin slips below the symbolic threshold of $0.07. For its part, Ethereum demonstrated relative neutrality by remaining at $1,897, posting a marginal weekly decline.

Only BNB manages to stabilize around $591, gaining 1% over a week. In this gloomy panorama, the HYPE token of the Hyperliquid platform is a notable exception. Although it conceded a slight decline of less than 1% over the day to around $56, the asset outperformed the majority of the market with an increase of 1.3% over seven days, demonstrating a resilience specific to the usage metrics of its ecosystem.

This divergence within the alternative market is mainly explained by the arbitrage behaviors observed among institutional and retail investors. In times of global legislative uncertainty, capital tends to preemptively withdraw from assets whose regulatory structure remains the most ambiguous or exposed to the American framework.

This is the case for projects like Ripple, whose past legal developments maintain extreme responsiveness to Washington’s announcements. Conversely, protocols benefiting from high organic internal trading volume and clean traction manage to capture residual liquidity. This phenomenon of selective rotation reflects an increased maturity of the sector, where the systematic correlation with bitcoin temporarily fades in favor of a fundamental analysis of the individual performance of each network.

Macroeconomic pressure and the role of the Fed

In addition to legislative considerations, the trajectory of prices remains closely dependent on the policy of the American Federal Reserve. At its last meeting in July, the monetary institution chose to leave its key rates unchanged in the range of 3.50% to 3.75%, a decision marked by the dissent of three governors who voted in favor of a monetary tightening of a quarter of a point.

The coming week will be pivotal for the crypto market, with the release of the highly anticipated US employment data and monthly inflation figures for July. An unexpectedly strong employment report or persistent inflation would support the thesis of a prolonged maintenance of high interest rates, a scenario historically unfavorable for assets with a high risk coefficient. Such a configuration would increase the selling pressure on bitcoin, risking once again testing the strength of technical support at $63,000.

Ultimately, the crypto market is approaching the end of the summer period in a position of cautious observation between the rigor of monetary fundamentals and the promises of a deferred legal framework. While institutional demand via ETFs provides a temporary floor to prices, the lack of an immediate regulatory catalyst significantly limits buyer initiative in the short term. Investors’ attention will have to focus jointly on the ability of regulators to find common ground when parliamentarians return on September 14 and on the American macroeconomic trajectory. Only a favorable convergence between monetary easing and legal clarity will provide the visibility necessary to initiate a new phase of lasting trend as the final quarter approaches.