Weekly Roundup 09/18/26 (Clarity fails to advance…

PodcastOn The BrinkMatt WalshSep 18

The discussion spans stalled crypto legislation, committee advances on crypto tax and Bitcoin-reserve bills, and new SEC flexibility for limited tokenized-stock trading. It also examines stablecoin yields, tokenized Tesla-share fragmentation, and concerns about inside information entering AI models, alongside funding announcements and a federal quantum-computing prize. Separate discussions address AI liability and oversight, while the speakers question the circumstances around a Venezuelan oil deal and Caroline Ellison's new job.

Crypto Regulation Stablecoins Tokenization Artificial Intelligence AI Safety Oil

Preview · 13 more points in the app

Read the Full Summary

Key Takeaways

The Clarity Act debate remains unresolved: a Senate cloture vote failed 49–50, while a House committee advanced separate crypto tax and strategic Bitcoin reserve bills. One speaker expects those bills to wait until after the midterms, though another says rulemaking on key Clarity Act provisions could meet much of the industry’s needs; with the bill’s failure leaving the status quo in place, stablecoin providers could continue paying yield, and Coinbase increased its stablecoin yield.

Crypto and stablecoin businesses drew capital alongside the launch of new infrastructure: Tari raised $13 million, Velocity raised $10 million, and Fin.com raised $20 million, while Circle launched its Arc blockchain with BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, and Visa among the validators. The funding spans on-chain credit and stablecoin payments and infrastructure, while Arc is built for stablecoin finance.

The AI regulation discussion included a host’s comparison between a large closed-source lab’s push for rules favoring a handful of major labs and an earlier effort to restrict DeFi. Another host argued that existing product-liability law and criminal prohibitions already apply when an AI model commits crimes, while also criticizing Dario’s reported proposal for bank-style oversight by an organization closely affiliated with and financially intertwined with the supervised firm.

GEO-POLITICS

Clarity Act Vote — The hosts link an earlier market-structure bill, which one says would have killed DeFi, to the Clarity Act debate. One host says the bill lost roughly three months after Coinbase objected to its yield-restriction language, followed by the Iran war and congressional inaction. A later Senate cloture vote failed 49–50, short of the 60 votes required; Tillis voted no to preserve the possibility of reconsideration. The White House had agreed to require Trump to sell his crypto holdings or put them in a blind trust.

“He really tried to ram market structure through that would have just killed DeFi. Yeah. It was clarity before Clarity and it was really obnoxious.”—

AI Regulation — One host compares a large closed-source frontier lab's case against open-weight AI—and for regulation favoring a handful of large labs—to an earlier effort to restrict DeFi.

“So compare it to, you know, a large closed source frontier lab effectively arguing that open weight AI shouldn't exist and that the government should be involved in regulating a…”—

Crypto Bills — A House committee advanced a federal crypto tax framework, and a separate bill to codify a strategic Bitcoin reserve was voted out of committee. One speaker presumes neither will receive a full House vote until after the midterms. The tax framework exempts crypto transactions under $10 and transaction fees, while treating mining and staking as ordinary income. One speaker argues staking rewards should not be taxable until the underlying asset is sold.

“So the house has apparently moved forward on two other crypto bills. The house committee advanced a federal crypto tax framework, the digital asset tax certainty act…”—

TECHNOLOGY

Tari Funding — Tari, an on-chain credit platform, raised $13 million from Blockchain Capital, Janus Henderson, and Strobe.

“First one up is Tari. This is an on chain credit platform. They raised $13,000,000 from Blockchain Capital, Janus Henderson, and Strobe.”—

Velocity Funding — Stablecoin payments company Velocity raised $10 million from Han, Miran Ventures, Circle Ventures, and others.

“Velocity is a stablecoin payments company. They raised 10,000,000 from Han, Miran Ventures, Circle Ventures, and others.”—

Fin.com Funding — Stablecoin infrastructure company Fin.com raised $20 million from XBA and Coinbase Ventures.

“Fin.com is a stablecoin infrastructure company that raised $20,000,000 from XBA and Coinbase Ventures.”—

ECONOMY

AI Liability — One host argues that existing product-liability law and criminal prohibitions already apply if an AI model commits crimes, so new laws are not needed for that scenario. This is the host's assessment of the current legal framework.

“I think our current framework works fine for what Dario is saying, frankly, you know, product liability is a thing…”—

AI Oversight — One host says Dario sought bank-style oversight while also wanting the supervisory organization to be closely affiliated with and financially intertwined with the firm it oversees. The host argues that this is not how banks are regulated.

“And if you want oversight, he was asking to be regulated the way banks are, but then he wanted the supervisory organization to be, like, closely affiliated firm that they…”—

MARKETS

Stablecoin Yield — With the bill's failure leaving the status quo in place, stablecoin providers could continue paying yield. The speaker says Coinbase increased its stablecoin yield and frames it as a test of whether those returns could draw deposits away from banks.

“So the bank lobby had this at the place where these brokerages that do stablecoins can't pay yield. And since the bill didn't go through, it's status quo…”—

Tokenized Tesla Shares — One speaker says Tesla stock has about 15 tokenized variants across major blockchains, trading at different prices. Different wrappers, liquidity, and premiums or discounts can make it easy to buy the wrong token, leading the speaker to argue that the market warrants regulation.

“I don't know if this is solvable at the regulatory layer, but have you ever looked up tokenized Tesla stock or something on any of the major blockchains?…”—

AI Liability Debate

The hosts argue existing product and civil liability can address harmful AI behavior, criticize Dario Amodei's proposed oversight structure, and compare his approach to Sam Bankman-Fried's regulatory ambitions.

Crypto Funding Deals

The hosts review several crypto funding announcements and discuss renewed interest in collectibles, especially trading cards, as one host reflects on his own collection.

Clarity Act Stalls

The hosts say the Senate Clarity Act vote failed amid election-year politics and disagreements over ethics and developer protections, while noting the stablecoin-yield restrictions remain unresolved.

SEC Tokenization Rules

The SEC's temporary exemption could enable limited tokenized-stock trading, but the hosts warn that fragmented issuers, prices, and liquidity need coordination and safeguards.

Crypto Tax And Reserve Bills

House committees advanced crypto tax and Bitcoin-reserve proposals; the hosts welcome a small-transaction exemption but question taxing staking rewards before holders sell.

GPU Pricing Data Scrutiny

The hosts question the Commerce Department's national-security rationale for asking a company to remove NVIDIA GPU-rental price data, calling economic-data censorship un-American.

Insider Trading And Ellison

The hosts criticize Robinhood engineers accused of trading on listing information, then discuss Caroline Ellison's new role at an effective-altruism nonprofit connected to disputed FTX funding.

MNPI Inside AI Models

The hosts consider whether confidential information used to train AI models could create insider-trading liability, concluding that misuse may be difficult to prove but could enable plausible deniability.

Poland's Venezuelan Oil Deal

The hosts recount reports that a Polish state oil group paid $230 million in Tether for Venezuelan oil that never arrived, and question the sanctions evasion and lack of recourse.

Quantum Computing Prize

A new $215 million federal prize aims to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum computing; the hosts discuss cryptographic risks, historical codebreaking, and AI's potential to advance quantum research.