From Decrypt · By Tyler Warner
Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our daily news show 'FOMO HOUR' covering all of the top stories and market action.
GM!
Today’s top news:
Crypto majors pump out of Midterms then retrace; BTC at $79.6k
House Democrats talk about Clarity Act amendments
BTC and ETH ETFs flip to inflows, breaking outflow streak
STRC hits $100 par for the first time since May
Coinbase says 99% of customer assets are held in cold storage
BitcoinBTC · USD$79,650−0.8%Oct 29Oct 31Nov 2Nov 3Nov 5$81.8k$79.9k$78.0k$76.2k24h HighHigh$81,00424h LowLow$78,152VolVol$1.6B→Buy Bitcoin with USDCPowered by JupiterPrice data by CoinGeckoCoinGeckoMore Bitcoin news and projections →🗳️ Democrat Sweep Pumps Crypto as Market Structure Bill Resurfaces
Bitcoin spent Tuesday night under $76,000, a seven-week low, with traders bracing for whatever a Democratic Congress meant for crypto. By Wednesday afternoon it was back above $80,800, up 4% on the day.
The easy story is that uncertainty lifted and crypto exhaled. And that could be part of it. But oil helped. WTI fell 9% to $88 a barrel, down almost 17% on the week, as Iran’s parliament speaker said voters had “said NO TO WAR.” The DOW jumped 3% on the day and Nasdaq +1.6% in what was a huge green day across markets.
James Butterfill of CoinShares put it plainly: “For Bitcoin, real yields, dollar liquidity and ETP flows still carry more weight than the elections.”
But the policy news that landed Wednesday afternoon matters more than the candles.
Eleanor Terrett reported that House Democrats are discussing expanding Maxine Waters’ Crypto Investor and Consumer Bill of Rights, originally an amendment to the CLARITY Act in 2025, into a full market structure bill next Congress. The draft would fold in Democratic CLARITY provisions that the House rejected last year, plus provisions Senate Democrats and Republicans had already agreed on before the September cloture vote that killed the bill. Three industry sources described the talks to her.
That’s a genuine surprise. Twenty-four hours ago the consensus was that market structure legislation was dead for two years. Waters is the likely incoming chair of House Financial Services, and she is apparently planning to write a bill rather than hold hearings. But the bill will have some changes.
The new proposals under discussion would give the SEC a larger role supervising crypto markets and leave the CFTC with a smaller one. The draft is expected to carry ethics provisions restricting the crypto activities of Trump and other federal officials. Those provisions are what Democrats wanted all along, and what many thought would kill any chances the bill has of getting signed.