The SEC isn't waiting for the Senate. While New York's attorney general came out against the CLARITY Act and Franklin Templeton joined Wall Street's growing support for it, the SEC quietly kept building its own crypto rulebook — proof that Washington's clarity may arrive with or without a vote. We've also pulled together Kaupr's own coverage of how this bill got here — and what it really means.

Meanwhile, capital rotated out of chips and into crypto stocks, PayPal used a strong quarter to push back on Stripe's bid, and payments infrastructure kept expanding — from X Money's US launch to Tether's new foothold in Kenya.

Some of the stories in today's edition:

💎 SEC quietly writes its own crypto rules while the CLARITY Act stalls in the Senate
💎 New York's attorney general comes out against the CLARITY Act
💎 Franklin Templeton joins Wall Street's growing support for the CLARITY Act
💎 PayPal leaves the door open to a higher Stripe takeover offer after beating earnings 💎 X Money finally launches in the US, but X itself isn't the bank

— Morten

While the Senate continues negotiating the CLARITY Act's ethics and consumer-protection provisions, the SEC under Chairman Paul Atkins has issued joint guidance with the CFTC and begun developing separate rules on token offerings, broker-dealer custody and trading venues. If Congress eventually passes the bill, these initiatives are expected to form its implementation groundwork; if it stalls, they become the industry's main source of regulatory certainty instead.

Why it matters: The SEC building its own framework in parallel means the crypto industry may get much of the clarity it has lobbied for regardless of whether the Senate ever actually votes.

Source: While CLARITY Stalls, the SEC Is Quietly Writing the Rules Anyway — FinanceFeeds

New York Attorney General Letitia James has publicly opposed the CLARITY Act, warning it would weaken states' ability to regulate crypto and investigate fraud. Senator Cynthia Lummis defended the bill in response, pointing to new Treasury sanctions authority it would create against North Korea's Lazarus Group. A Senate vote is now considered unlikely before next week, with the bill otherwise pushed to September once Congress returns from its August recess.

Why it matters: Opposition from a state attorney general is a different kind of obstacle than the Senate's internal ethics dispute — it signals the bill's fight isn't only with Democrats in Washington, but with state-level regulators who don't want their own authority preempted.

Source: CLARITY Act Stalled in the U.S. Senate — Ethics Disputes and Time Running Out — Bitcoin Foundation

Franklin Templeton, which manages $1.79 trillion in assets, publicly backed the CLARITY Act on X, joining BlackRock, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab — a group now managing more than $30 trillion combined. Despite the institutional weight behind it, Galaxy Research has cut its odds of the bill passing in 2026 to 30%, and Senate Majority Leader Thune has said it may still fail before the August recess.

Why it matters: More than $30 trillion in combined institutional backing hasn't moved the number that actually matters — the Senate vote count — which shows the bill's problem was never a shortage of Wall Street support.

Source: Franklin Templeton Joins Wall Street Support for CLARITY Act as Senate Vote Deadline Nears — CryptoRank

The bill making today's headlines has a long paper trail. Four moments from Kaupr's own coverage, in order:

Jan 16, 2026 — The silent war over stablecoin yields in the Senate: The fight that would stall the bill for months first surfaces — how much yield can stablecoins pay?

Jan 16, 2026 — What the CLARITY Act could actually mean for users, builders and banks: A practical breakdown of what a yield ban would mean for each group.

Jan 27, 2026 — The CLARITY Act nears a decision in Congress: Jefferies calls it an "inflection point" for institutional tokenization.

May 4, 2026 — Final hurdle cleared in CLARITY Act — what's at stake: The yield compromise lands — banks win, but the industry gets a permanent legal foundation.

Crypto stocks were among Monday's top gainers — Strategy jumped 7% — as the broader market sold off and capital rotated away from chip and AI infrastructure stocks. Deutsche Bank strategist Parag Thatte noted that concerns around AI capital expenditure are overshadowing an otherwise strong earnings season, pushing equity positioning down to levels last seen in early April.

Why it matters: Crypto stocks acting as a landing spot for capital leaving the AI trade is a new pattern — for most of this year, crypto and AI names have moved together, not in opposite directions.

Source: Stock market news for July 27, 2026 — CNBC

PayPal beat Wall Street's Q2 estimates and raised its full-year outlook. CEO Enrique Lores didn't directly address Stripe and Advent International's takeover bid, but said the board would "carefully consider" any path that creates "superior value" beyond its current turnaround strategy.

Why it matters: A strong quarter gives PayPal's board a stronger case for its own valuation — the earnings beat itself becomes leverage to demand a higher price rather than settle for the existing offer.

Source: PayPal leaves the door open to a higher takeover offer following earnings beat — TechCrunch

SpaceX and Tesla have together erased $1.5 trillion in market value since mid-June, with SpaceX down nearly half from its peak. Options pricing points to another sharp swing around SpaceX's earnings report Tuesday, followed two days later by the expiration of its insider lockup period, freeing a large share of shares for potential sale.

Why it matters: The lockup expiration is the bigger unknown here — a wave of insider selling on top of an already volatile stock could extend the decline well beyond what earnings alone would cause.

Source: Elon Musk stocks take $1.5 trillion hit with fresh test in SpaceX lockup ahead — CNBC

X Money went live Monday for a portion of paying US subscribers, offering a deposit account, a Visa debit card, fee-free transfers and up to 6% annual yield. X Payments LLC is not an FDIC-insured bank — deposits sit at Cross River Bank, with a cash-sweep program extending coverage to $10 million in aggregate.

Why it matters: The distinction between X and its banking partner matters more than the flashy card or the yield — it determines whose balance sheet actually stands behind a user's money if something goes wrong.

Source: X finally launches X Money payments service in the US — Kaupr

Tether and the Nairobi Securities Exchange signed a Memorandum of Understanding on July 28 to explore tokenized securities, blockchain-based market infrastructure, and the potential use of USDT as a settlement layer, alongside investor education programs for local brokers. The deal builds on NSE's existing digital-asset push, which began with exchange-traded product plans in 2024 and a dedicated innovation lab launched in November 2025.

Why it matters: Tether is extending its reach beyond stablecoins into the infrastructure layer of an African capital market — a different kind of expansion than simply growing USDT's circulating supply.

Source: Tether signs MoU with Nairobi Securities Exchange to explore digital assets in Africa — Crypto Briefing

Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE) and Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (MSOL) began trading on NYSE Arca on July 28, both carrying a 0.14% expense ratio — the lowest in their respective categories — and both offering staking yield directly to investors. The launches follow Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Trust, which has grown to $381 million in assets under management in four months.

Why it matters: Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas called it the biggest Ethereum and Solana ETF launch since the original spot ETFs — a sign Morgan Stanley's distribution network, not just its pricing, could meaningfully broaden who actually buys these products.

Source: Morgan Stanley Launches ETH and SOL ETPs With Staking Yield — Crypto Times

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Wishing you a great Monday — and welcome back tomorrow morning for the next edition of Kaupr Daily.

Best regards, Morten Myrstad Founder & Editor