Clarity Act Vote Pushed to September

Robert Brighton of Vangrid | Yellow Card Raises $40M

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
August 07, 2026

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The Clarity Act's fate now hinges on a compressed September sprint, as Senate leadership punts the vote past recess and straight into election season crosswinds that could freeze crypto legislation for the rest of the year.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: Clarity Act Vote Pushed to September 👀
Founders Highlight: Robert Brighton of Vangrid 👨
Deal Flows: Yellow Card Raises $40M 💰️

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Narratives: RWA Tripled

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WHAT MATTERS

Clarity Act Vote Pushed to September

State of play: The Senate will delay its Clarity Act vote until after the August recess, with Majority Leader John Thune confirming lawmakers will take it up first when they return in mid-September, leaving a narrow window before election-season attention takes over.

Thune said Democrats remain unwilling to move forward now, but he worked with sponsors including Senator Cynthia Lummis to queue up a vote for September.
A source cited Democratic concerns over midterm political optics and crypto's growing industry influence as reasons for the delay.
The bill still needs 60 votes to clear the Senate, with support wavering on both sides, before heading back to the House and then to Trump's desk.
Stablecoin reward rules and the industry's clash with banks over interest-bearing deposits remain a key sticking point.
Trump is weighing an ethics proposal from Senators Ruben Gallego and Thom Tillis that would require him to divest crypto holdings and let state attorneys general enforce related bans.

Why it matters: The delay compresses Clarity Act's runway to a few weeks in September before midterm politics swallow the legislative calendar entirely.

Our take: Every recurring sticking point (stablecoin rewards, Trump's conflicts, illicit finance) is still unresolved, and Democrats have even less incentive to hand Republicans a win as elections approach.

For builders and investors: Treat September as a binary event risk, not a formality. Firms banking on near-term regulatory clarity for market structure should prepare for further delay or a watered-down compromise rather than assume passage.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Robert Brighton of Vangrid

Intro: Robert Brighton is the Founder of Vangrid, a decentralised spatial intelligence network built for the Physical AI era.

Previous background: Robert built his career across enterprise tech and business management at Microsoft, </salt>, and Michael Bailey Associates before moving into IT recruitment advisory at Expertwired.

He then pivoted to Web3 and AI, founding Praxis, a peer-to-peer mesh network for autonomous AI agents.

The big idea: Robert through Vangrid aims to turns 3B civilian smartphones into a decentralized perception grid.

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INSIGHTS

Tokenized RWAs Triple as DeFi Shrinks

Tokenized real world asset deposits more than tripled year over year to $7.4B even as broader DeFi deposits contracted 15%, with CoinShares framing the divergence as evidence of a "Hybrid Finance" convergence rather than crypto disruption.

Deposits into lending platforms and DEXs jumped from $2.3B to $7.4B, driven almost entirely by tokenized Treasuries, private credit, and delta neutral strategies rather than crypto native assets.
Overall DEX spot volumes fell roughly 70% while RWA trading volume climbed about 220%, with gold tokens like XAUT and PAXG capturing a significant share.
Perpetual futures tied to real world assets kept rising even as broader crypto perp activity slowed since October 2025.
CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said investors are moving Treasuries, gold, and equities onto always on settlement rails rather than leaving traditional finance.
Ethereum holds nearly 70% of RWA deposits, with Plasma and Solana gaining share.

DEAL FLOWS

Yellow Card Raises $40M

Deal flows soared this week - we saw $140M+ in deals 💼

Yellow Card closed a $40M strategic funding round from SC Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital, and Blockchain Capital to scale its Global USD Accounts product and expand stablecoin rails beyond Africa, bringing total equity financing to over $120M.

The capital will deepen Yellow Card's presence in Latin America and Asia Pacific, expanding local payment rails and currency coverage across more than 50 countries.
CEO Chris Maurice framed the bigger opportunity as connecting banks directly to stablecoin rails, unlocking dollar access beyond traditional correspondent banking.
Global USD Accounts let businesses hold dollars, swap stablecoins, manage treasury, and settle local currencies, with existing customers including Visa and Western Union.
Yellow Card has facilitated over $10B in transactions and holds licenses in 22 jurisdictions across North America, Europe, and Africa.

Deal flows in the past week:

Bundle, $5.5M Pre-Seed Round
Vangrid, $9M Seed Round
Moment, $22M Series A Round
Sapiom, $35M Series A Round
JPYC, $38M Series B-1 Round
Yellow Card, $40M Strategic Round

QUICK BITES

Tokenized RWAs triple deposits to $7.4B.
Coinbase launches 24/5 US stock trading for UK users.
Japanese stablecoin firm JPYC raises $38M in extended Series B.
Crypto bill ethics provision could let Trump defer millions in taxes.
Base app will become 'less Base-centric' under Cobie, Jesse Pollak says.
Senate delays Clarity Act vote until after August recess, Thune confirms.
Wintermute registers as SEC broker-dealer to trade stocks, options and crypto.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

V12’s read on How to raise a $10M Seed Round.
Blockworks' read on the Mechanics of Onchain Tranching.
Vadym’s read on What do you mean Risk? What do you mean Curator?

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