Morning Minute: The Clarity Act Clears Its First Major Hurdle

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The views and analysis presented are solely his own and do not represent those of Decrypt. Be sure to watch our new daily news show covering the top stories in just 5 minutes, available for download on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

GM!

Here are today’s major headlines:

• Top cryptocurrencies are in the red today despite higher Treasury yields; Bitcoin sits at $80.5K
• Trump-Xi meeting wraps up with progress on trade issues, but a warning about Taiwan
• Senate Banking Committee approves the Clarity Act, sending it to the Senate floor
• Coinbase is now the official deployer of USDC on Hyperliquid; HYPE jumps 17%
• Thorchain hit by a hack this morning, losing over $10 million across multiple blockchains

✅ The Clarity Act Clears First Major Hurdle

The Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday by a margin of 15–9 in a bipartisan vote, representing a significant step forward for the legislation.

Every Republican voted in favor, while two Democrats broke ranks: Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. The outcome was reached despite failed late-night talks on ethics-related provisions.

Commenting on the results, Lummis said: “In the end, we have agreement on 99% of this bill. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join me in resolving the final 1% after we advance this bill from committee.” However, Alsobrooks cautioned that her committee vote does not ensure a floor vote unless ethics language is included.

Market reactions were swift. Bitcoin jumped to $82,000 following the vote. Circle saw its shares soar 19.9%, while Coinbase climbed 6.1%. Prediction markets increased the odds of the bill’s passage by 8%, bringing them to 70%—still far from certain, but now a strong contender.

Next up is the full Senate vote, where the bill needs at least 60 votes—about six Democratic supporters. Afterward, lawmakers will reconcile their version with the House bill that passed 294–134 earlier in July 2025 before sending it to President Trump for approval. Senator Lummis has repeatedly emphasized that missing this window would delay the next legislative chance until 2030.

📈 Coinbase Strikes Major Deal with Hyperliquid, HYPE Soars

Thursday brought an announcement from both Coinbase and Circle stating that Coinbase will now act as the official treasury manager for USDC on Hyperliquid under a framework called AQAv2.

Key aspects of the partnership:

• Coinbase will manage reserves, stake HYPE tokens, and share most yield with the Hyperliquid protocol
• Circle will serve as technical operator, handling cross-chain transfers via CCTP and native USDC bridging
• Hyperliquid will receive the generated USDC yield

As part of the agreement, USDC becomes the main stablecoin for all markets on Hyperliquid. This marks the first time Coinbase has formally assumed the role of treasury deployer on a major DeFi protocol—a milestone for institutional crypto partnerships.

For Hyperliquid, this partnership is a big win. They stand to gain significant new revenue (initial estimates suggest a 25% increase). And a direct competitor in perpetuals trading (which Coinbase offers) has essentially conceded ground.

Markets responded positively, with HYPE surging 20% on the day to reach $47—recovering losses from the past five days in just a few hours and setting a new recent peak.

💰 Cerebras Doubles in Value on First Day as AI IPO Trend Kicks Off

On its debut day on Nasdaq Thursday, Cerebras saw its share price skyrocket by nearly 100% above the IPO price of $185, pushing the AI chipmaker’s valuation above $100 billion by midday trading. The firm had secured $5.55 billion in funding—making it one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history—after raising its price range three times in one week.

Price discovery for the stock occurred primarily on Hyperliquid through TradeXYZ, where it traded in the $300 range ahead of its IPO, despite the official IPO price being set at $180. Once trading opened, the stock immediately surged to $300.

The successful debut boosted the entire AI infrastructure sector: Keel Infrastructure (formerly Bitfarms) rose 9%, IREN gained 5%, and Hive Digital climbed 8%. Both Arm and SoftBank had reportedly tried to acquire Cerebras in the weeks leading up to its public listing. With SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all anticipated to go public later in 2026, Cerebras’ strong performance suggests significant investor appetite—expect more excitement ahead.

🇨🇳 Trump-Xi Summit Concludes with Broader Openings—and Taiwan Warnings

The Beijing summit struck a largely positive tone, though one major caveat stood out.

Xi Jinping opened by stating that “China’s door will only open wider” on trade—a clear signal that Beijing is ready to negotiate. The two sides made tangible progress on reducing tariffs and securing purchase commitments. High-profile attendees including Elon Musk and Larry Fink, along with a dozen other U.S. CEOs, witnessed early signs of easing tensions after months of escalating trade friction. U.S. and Chinese negotiators reportedly agreed on a framework for ongoing discussions, with concrete outcomes in agricultural purchases and tech cooperation expected to be formalized in a joint announcement on Friday.

Key wins included China placing an order for 200 Boeing jets and Nvidia receiving approval to sell its H200 chips to Chinese firms.

However, Taiwan remained a sticking point. Xi directly warned Trump that mishandling the issue could push bilateral relations “into a highly perilous situation.” On Iran, China is actively involved, and both sides discussed the Strait of Hormuz. While no joint statement was released on Day One, talks are described as substantive, and optimism remains high for a future announcement—which could serve as a major catalyst for oil and Bitcoin in the near term.

Although a formal trade deal hasn’t been finalized, the current truce holds ahead of Xi’s potential visit to the U.S. on September 24—a date now firmly on investors’ radar as summer progresses.

🟣 Kraken Drops LayerZero for Chainlink Amid Ongoing KelpDAO Fallout

Kraken announced it is moving all of its bridge infrastructure—representing over $3 billion in total value locked (TVL)—from LayerZero to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).

This shift follows the $292 million exploit of Kelp DAO, which occurred after attackers compromised LayerZero’s 1-of-1 DVN (Decentralized Verifier Network) setup—a vulnerability linked to the Lazarus Group. Kelp DAO had already migrated to Chainlink CCIP in April; Solv Protocol ($700M TVL) followed suit shortly after. Kraken’s move marks the third and largest institutional migration to date.

LayerZero has admitted fault for allowing its own DVN to act as the sole verifier for high-value transactions. However, its apology appears to be coming too late to regain trust.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Major cryptocurrencies are in the red following the conclusion of the Trump-Xi summit and a spike in bond yields; BTC up 1.5% at $80,500; ETH flat at $2,250; SOL unchanged at $91.10; HYPE surging 14% to $45.50
• Top gainers included Flare (+12%), HASH (+5%), and XDC (+5%)
• Oil rose 2% to $99 per barrel; Gold fell 3% to $4,560
• U.S. stock futures are sharply lower, with the Nasdaq down 1.2% as the 10-year Treasury yield climbs above 4.5%
• The CME plans to launch its first crypto market-cap-weighted index futures contracts on June 8
• Strive announced that its SATA preferred stock will become the first U.S.-listed security to offer daily cash dividends, starting June 16 at an annualized rate of 13%—shifting from monthly payouts to roughly 250 distributions per year
• Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs’ T3 Financial Crime Unit revealed it has frozen more than $450 million in illicit USDT since launching in September 2024
• The CFTC issued a no-action letter on Thursday, waiving swap reporting and recordkeeping requirements for designated contract markets that handle fully collateralized event contracts—a move that directly benefits prediction markets
• Security startup Calif used Claude Mythos Preview to develop the first public macOS exploit capable of bypassing Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement on M5 chips—and they built it in just five days

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme coin leaders saw slight gains; DOGE up 1%, SHIB flat, PEPE flat, PENGU up 1%, TRUMP down 1%, BONK flat, SPX flat, FARTCOIN flat
• MAGA (+14%), Goblin (+10%) and Rageguy (+50%) were among the top performers

📈 Myriad Market of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

• Thorchain suffered an exploit resulting in losses exceeding $10 million across multiple blockchains
• Crypto wallet infrastructure company Turnkey secured $12.5 million in funding from investors including Circle Ventures and Sequoia Capital;

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were mostly in the red again, though Hypurr’s surged; Punks up 1% at 29.9 ETH, BAYC down 1% at 9.8 ETH, Pudgy up 1% at 5.01 ETH; Hypurr’s jumped 26% to 355 HYPE
• Normies (+20%) and Gift of Time (+10%) were among the notable movers
• Dapper Labs paused new NFT minting for NFL All Day on Thursday, stating it is shifting resources to build a next-generation NFL digital collectibles platform