XRP left holding the bag as Senate ghosted Clarity Act till September 📉

The U.S. Senate adjourned for its August break without taking up the Clarity Act, postponing a vote on the market-structure bill until at least Sept. 14, when lawmakers return with three weeks to address a backlog that also includes government funding and a Russia sanctions package. The delay hit XRP hardest among major tokens, with the Ripple-linked coin falling 2.05% on the day to $1.02 and 5.5% over seven days, the steepest decline in the top tier. Bitcoin held near $64,300, essentially flat on the day and over the week, while ether sat at $1,897, Solana slipped to nearly $73, Dogecoin dipped under 7 cents, BNB stayed at $591, and Hyperliquid's HYPE eased just under 1% to nearly $56 but led the majors on the week at 1.3%.

The Clarity Act, which would assign regulatory authority over digital assets either to the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, requires 60 votes to pass and remains short of even 50. Several Republican senators have publicly opposed it, and Democrats are pushing for stricter rules to prevent President Donald Trump from profiting from crypto while in office. Trump disclosed more than $1 billion in income from his crypto ventures in 2025. Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed the vote would come in September. Drafts of the bill would reclassify XRP, Solana and Dogecoin as non-securities under CFTC oversight, a federal answer to the long-running question of whether XRP is an unregistered security. Ripple agreed to pay $50 million to settle its cross-appeal with the SEC, but a statute would settle the issue for every exchange, custodian and regulator at once.

XRP traded around $1.03 with a roughly $64 billion market capitalization, hovering above the $1.00 psychological floor in what chart analysts describe as a grinding downtrend from the $3 level reached in 2025. The 50-day exponential moving average has crossed below the 200-day in a death-cross formation, and the token sits below both averages. The Relative Strength Index reads 35.9, with momentum bearish but not yet oversold, while the Average Direction Index at 11.9 signals a trend lacking conviction. Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds took in about $626 million between Aug. 3 and Aug. 5, enough to defend the $63,000 to $64,000 range but short of the $66,000 to $66,600 resistance zone.

XRP-focused ETFs did log net inflows for a fourth straight week, though the roughly $1 million total was down about 93% week over week, while bitcoin and ether funds attracted hundreds of millions, according to data source SoSoValue. "XRP's positioning looks patient in its own right, with order flow staying large even as volume metrics turn neutral — quiet absorption rather than capitulation or a confirmed breakout," Iliya Kalchev, analyst at Nexo, said in an email. Jake Claver, chairman of Digital Ascension Group, offered a longer view, arguing the token is positioning for a broader institutional role: "XRP is looking more and more like it will claim its spot as a global bridge asset and possibly be recognized by the BIS as tier-one asset in the future."

Attention now turns to U.S. employment and July inflation data due next week, with the Federal Reserve having held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% in July despite three dissents in favor of a hike. The broader crypto market added 1.4% over the week, pushing total capitalization to $2.19 trillion.