<h2 id="header-0">Market Overview 📉</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/28ad1d516ea047de8bf53b426d98cdb6.png">
*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on September 18, 2026.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/">Bitcoin (BTC)</a> had a slow week, consolidating in the high 70s range, rising 0.30%, while <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/">Ethereum (ETH)</a> fared slightly better, rising 0.73% in the same period. Total crypto market cap rose in line with majors, rising 1.14% to $2.66T, from $2.63T the week before.

Weekly <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/liquidations/">liquidations</a> remained largely uneventful, although the middle of the week saw almost half a billion dollars in long positions liquidated on Tuesday, before tapering off to the end of the week. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/funding-rates/">Funding rates</a> across the board climbed higher, although the majority stayed within healthy levels.

📌 Michael Saylor’s Strategy has bought back another $139M in STRC. No Bitcoin was purchased. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/saylor/status/2099468945690374597">Link</a>

📌 The United Arab Emirates migrates their digital identity system, UAEPASS Digital Vault, to Avalanche. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.avalanche.com/about/blog/uaes-identity-system-serving-12-million-people-upgrades-to-avalanche">Link</a>

📌 The CLARITY Act fails to garner the 60 votes required to advance in the U.S. Senate. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2099932733329830024">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
Both equities and crypto markets chop this week, recovering from a dip earlier in the week from pre-FOMC derisking. The FOMC had minimal impact, with the hike already pre-telegraphed ahead of the meeting. The S&amp;P 500 is up 0.01% this week, while the Nasdaq showed more strength at 0.39% up.

Notable altcoin outperformers this week included <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/lisk/">Lisk (LSK)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/arbitrum/">Arbitrum (ARB)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/geodnet/">GEODNET (GEOD)</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/near-protocol/">Near Protocol (NEAR)</a>, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/uniswap/">Uniswap (UNI)</a>.

View <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/gainers-losers/">CMC Gainers &amp; Losers board</a>
<h2 id="header-1">Narrative of the Week 📰</h2>
Tokenized stocks remain the center of attention as the SEC makes its move after the CLARITY Act fails to advance.

📌 Kraken’s parent company, Payward, announces their collaboration with Hyperliquid to deploy permissioned HIP-3 markets on Hyperliquid for U.S. clients. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Payward/status/2100178016617869710">Link</a>

📌 Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev teases in-kind redemptions and voting rights for Robinhood’s tokenized stocks. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/vladtenev/status/2099546848558305423">Link</a>

📌 The SEC announces a five-year exemption for platforms facilitating tokenized stock trading, as well as exempting liquidity providers from dealer registration requirements. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-securities-regulator-rolls-out-five-year-exemption-tokenized-stock-trading-2026-09-17/">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
The narrative for tokenized stocks continues to grow, with the SEC’s recent move further integrating traditional markets into on-chain ones.
<h2 id="header-2">Major Project Updates 🗓️</h2>
📌 Circle’s Arc Mainnet goes live this week, with USDC as its native gas token and over 180 builders on the chain. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/arc/status/2100170550857404852">Link</a>

📌 Coinbase’s Base App wallet rebrands back to Coinbase Wallet, in an effort to better establish the wallet’s function as a multichain wallet. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/CoinbaseWallet/status/2098115997613900001">Link</a>

📌 Memecoin launchpad, Pump.fun, launches Holder Rewards, allowing token holders to earn rewards simply by holding tokens for longer. Additionally, Cashback mode will be removed as a launch option moving forward. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Pumpfun/status/2098818822417375528">Link</a>

📌 AI agent protocol, Virtuals, introduces Occupy, a launchpad on Base where every launched token is paired with a tokenized stock, with all tokens linked to the same stock feeding into the same treasury, that is managed by an AI Senate chosen by its holders. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/virtuals_io/status/2099897340303655034">Link</a>

📌 Cryptocurrency centralized exchange, CoinEx, announces plans to cease operations and wind down the company, citing poor market conditions. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/coinexcom/status/2099680522758721756">Link</a>

Why does it matter?
Circle’s Arc mainnet launch signals the transition from stablecoin issuer to a full network, powered by USDC, further cementing its spot in the stablecoin ecosystem alongside Tether and USDT.
<h2 id="header-3">DeFi Brief 🏦</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/d78c099d332e4afd900a42936586b54a.png">
*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on September 18, 2026.
Source: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/">https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/</a>&nbsp;

📌 Multichain liquidity protocol, Balancer, announces a governance vote to wind down the protocol, with the treasury in BAL tokens to be distributed to holders. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Balancer/status/2099581376744001556">Link</a>

📌 Uniswap launches the StablePair Hook, scaling fees with price drift on stable pairs to redirect arbitrage profits from bots back to liquidity providers. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Uniswap/status/2098097513806905533">Link</a>

📌 Trade[XYZ] launches Events, leveraging Hyperliquid’s HIP-4 Outcome Markets, enabling traders to trade crypto perpetuals, RWA perpetuals, and outcome markets, all from the same unified account. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/tradexyz/status/2098096746064724296">Link</a>

📌 Perpetuals markets, Cascade (formerly Perennial), shuts down after five years of operations. The platform is no longer operational. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/cascade_xyz/status/2098788900462284861">Link</a>&nbsp;

Why does it matter?
Balancer’s plans to wind down highlights the significant headwinds in the crypto industry, for even DeFi pioneers like Balancer, leaving only protocols with highly profitable business models to survive.
<h2 id="header-4">Fundraises 💰</h2>
📌 Institutional data provider, Kaiko, raises $110M in a Series B funding round led by S&amp;P Global, with support from BNP Paribas, Nasdaq, Coinbase Ventures, Susquehanna, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/KaikoData/status/2099468207392272478">Link</a>

📌 Global payment infrastructure firm, Fin.com, raises $20M in a seed funding round led by Expa, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Tenet Fund, and Second Sight Ventures. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/Crypto_Dealflow/status/2099857714201477535">Link</a>

📌 Stablecoin treasury platform, Velocity, raises $10M in a Series A extension round, with investors including Visa, Circle, Ripple, Haun Ventures, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/velocityxyz_/status/2099867081923572190">Link</a>

📌 On-chain credit market, Tare, raises $13.25M in a seed round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Strobe, Avalanche Foundation, Stani Kulechov, and more. - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/tarecredit/status/2100240222915035347">Link</a>
<h2 id="header-5">Tweet of the Week 📝</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/e0f297f433e74acf8083cd5223d031cd.png">

Source: @boldleonidas

Perhaps the CLARITY Act was just to show us that we never needed the government to make our coins pump.

CMC Market Pulse: Market Stands Strong Amid CLARITY Act Headwind

Table of Contents

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