Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, a revised CLARITY Act would direct US regulators to determine the compliance obligations of people controlling “non-decentralized” DeFi protocols. ESMA warned that growing links between crypto and traditional finance could amplify financial risks, while Hunter Biden said he has “not made a single dollar” from his LAPTOP memecoin.

Revised CLARITY Act targets ‘non-decentralized’ DeFi operators

A revised version of the CLARITY Act would direct United States regulators to determine whether people or groups controlling “non-decentralized finance trading protocols” must comply with securities, commodities and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.

The revised text, posted on Senator Cynthia Lummis’ website, defines such a protocol as one whose functionality, operation, or rules can be materially altered by a person or coordinated group. The definition also covers protocols whose controllers can restrict users or whose transactions are not governed solely by transparent, pre-established code.

Under the proposal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would develop activity-based rules addressing registration, conduct, disclosure, recordkeeping and supervision. Meanwhile, the Treasury would establish how existing Bank Secrecy Act obligations apply to affected controllers.

The bill specifies that software and distributed ledger systems would not be required to register in their own capacity. It also says participation in an incident-response or security council would not, by itself, establish control over a protocol. 

The revised text arrived ahead of a procedural Senate vote scheduled for Sept. 15. The measure requires 60 votes to advance, meaning Republicans will need support from Democrats despite continuing disagreements over ethics, anti-money laundering protections and stablecoin rewards.

ESMA warns growing crypto ties could amplify risks to traditional finance

Europe’s securities regulator has warned that growing links between crypto and traditional finance could increase the risk of shocks spreading across the broader financial system.

In its latest risk monitoring report published Thursday, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) called for closer monitoring of the “growing linkage between increasingly vulnerable crypto-asset markets and the broader financial system.”

ESMA pointed to growing adoption of tokenized equities and recent decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits as areas that could deepen links between crypto and traditional markets and increase the potential for financial spillovers.

ESMA also flagged prediction markets as an emerging risk, warning of heightened concerns around insider trading and market manipulation. The regulator said crypto use in prediction markets can make it harder to detect insider trading, wash trading 

Hunter Biden denies profiting from memecoin after his LAPTOP crashes

Hunter Biden has denied profiting from his LAPTOP memecoin after its launch-day price crash, adding that neither he nor his team had sold tokens.

Several X users accused the LAPTOP project of a “rug pull” after the memecoin lost more than 95% of its value in the first hour of trading on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the new token traded at $0.8562, according to CoinGecko data.

“The team’s allocation is locked. Nobody on our side sold, and nobody could have,” Biden said in an X post Wednesday. “I, personally, have not made a single dollar.”

Biden blamed the price action on insufficient liquidity and “snipers,” which are trading bots that quickly swoop up tokens when trading opens.

The Base memecoin takes its name from a MacBook Hunter Biden reportedly left at a repair shop in 2019. Trump allies used the New York Post’s reporting on files purportedly from the device against him and his father, former US President Joe Biden, during the 2020 election.