Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, three leading industry groups urged Senate leaders to prioritize a vote on the CLARITY Act before the August recess, as the legislation remained at the center of Washington’s crypto debate. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego slammed Republicans’ proposed ethics provisions as “not a serious effort,” while Hyperliquid’s tokenized real-world asset markets became the platform’s largest trading category by volume for the first time.

Crypto groups urge Senate leaders to prioritize CLARITY Act vote

Three leading US crypto advocacy groups have urged Senate leaders to bring the CLARITY Act to the floor before lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess, warning that further delays could stall long-awaited digital asset regulation.

In a joint letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Crypto Council for Innovation, Digital Chamber and Blockchain Association called on lawmakers to prioritize the market structure bill while bipartisan negotiations continue. The legislation has already cleared the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees but still requires 60 votes to pass, with several Democrats withholding support over concerns that its ethics provisions do not go far enough to prevent conflicts of interest.

Industry leaders argue the bill would establish the first comprehensive federal framework for digital assets, replacing what they describe as a fragmented regulatory system. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the legislation would strengthen consumer protections and law enforcement while encouraging innovation to remain in the US. Orest Gavryliak, chief legal officer at DeFi platform 1inch, said the bill would better recognize non-custodial protocols instead of forcing them into traditional financial rules.

Failure to secure a Senate vote before the August recess could delay consideration until closer to the 2026 midterm elections, complicating the bill’s path forward.

RWAs become Hyperliquid’s largest trading category

Perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) Hyperliquid’s weekly trading volume in tokenized RWAs exceeded that of all other asset categories combined for the first time.

RWAs generated $25.1 billion in trading volume from July 13 to July 19, accounting for 52% of Hyperliquid’s total weekly volume of $48.2 billion, according to Blockworks data.

“Hyperliquid’s RWA market alone was larger than the combined crypto perpetual volume of every other DEX,” wrote ARK Invest’s research director for digital assets, Lorenzo Valente, in a Thursday X post.

The milestone reflects growing demand for tokenized assets on Hyperliquid. Over the past month, RWA holders grew by 32% to 1.25 million users, while the total value of tokenized RWAs rose by 3.5% to $36.7 billion, according to data aggregator RWA.xyz.

Hyperliquid generated $7.6 million in revenue over the past week, according to DefiLlama. The perp DEX ranked third among crypto applications by weekly revenue, behind stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle, which generated $112 million and $45 million, respectively.

Dem senator calls GOP’s CLARITY ethics proposal a ‘piece of shit’: Politico

Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego says he will be working with Republicans to come up with a counterproposal to White House-approved ethics provisions in the CLARITY Act, saying the draft released this week was “not a serious effort.”

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans released the proposed text for the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, including language on ethics that would bar all US federal officials — including US President Donald Trump — from issuing or sponsoring any digital asset. Democrats said the ethics provisions fall short.

“Whatever piece of shit they sent back to us, that was not a serious effort,” Senator Ruben Gallego told Politico on Thursday.

“I can’t imagine that that’s a serious effort — after all the work that we’ve done with our Republican colleagues, that they would take the months and months of work and somehow interpret that and turn around and think what they offered was even remotely close.” 

Gallego said he would work with Senator Thom Tillis and other Republicans on a counterproposal.

“We are still in this fight,” Gallego told Politico. “We are going to send back language.”