Crypto markets rally on Clarity progress report, Asian chip-stock rebound

Jul 21, 2026, 11:02 a.m. 3 min readBitcoin price (CoinDesk)SummaryBitcoin climbed above $66,000 and broader cryptocurrencies rallied as reports suggested President Donald Trump agreed to a key ethics provision clearing the way for the U.S. Clarity Act in the Senate and AI-related stocks rose in Asia.Derivatives data show rising open interest and call-heavy options activity in bitcoin and ether, alongside broad-based inflows into major altcoins, even as volatility gauges and put skews signal ongoing demand for hedging.Solana’s tokenized asset volume hit a record in the second quarter amid rapid growth in real-world asset tokenization, underscoring institutional adoption.The crypto market rallied on reports suggesting the final hurdle for the long-awaited U.S. Clarity Act may have cleared. Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America, posted on X that President Donald Trump had agreed to a crucial ethics provision for the crypto market structure bill. The specific language has been shared with a group of Senate Republicans, marking a significant step forward for the legislation.The ethics provision is a major sticking point in holding back the bill’s passage through Senate. The legislation aims to provide a definitive regulatory framework, clearly distinguishing between digital commodities and securities to end years of enforcement-led oversight. Bitcoin BTC$66,145.81 rallied above $66,000, gaining 3.5% in 24 hours to its highest in just over a month. Othe cryptocurrencies, including ether (ETH), BNB BNB$576.40 and XRP (XRP) posted even larger gains. Among industry, the standout is the CoinDesk DeFi Select Index, which surged 9%.Additional tailwinds came from Asia, where the selloff in semiconductor stocks that dragged crypto lower last week reversed, fueling to a broad risk rally.Analysts are now closely watching the $68,000 threshold. Alex Kuptsikevich, the chief market analyst at FxPro, noted in an email: "slightly higher, approaching $68K, lies the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement zone from the May-June sell-off. The ability to consolidate above these levels would be a further confirmatory signal of an upside trend reversal."Derivatives positioningBitcoin momentum: Signs of participation in bitcoin’s price rally from derivatives traders are beginning to emerge. With BTC rising above $66,000 for the first time since June 17, open interest (OI) in futures tied to the cryptocurrency jumped to 770,000 from less than 750,000 just a day ago. This renewed capital inflow has bullish underpinnings, as evidenced by BTC's 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD), which is currently the most positive among the biggest tokens. That’s a sign of bulls leading the price action by trading via market orders rather than passive limit orders.Ether and altcoin dynamics: ETH futures are displaying similar dynamics, although open interest in XRP and SOL futures remains flat in comparison.Dogecoin divergence: Another notable OI gainer is the memecoin DOGE. Futures have seen open interest rise to 15.50 billion tokens, the highest since May 5. However, a negative 24-hour CVD suggests bears are leading the market.Broad-based altcoin inflows: Open interest also increased in tokens such as ADA, XLM and LINK, among others, pointing to broad-based capital inflows. Most of these tokens also exhibit a positive 24-hour CVD.Bitcoin volatility and hedging: BVIV, bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, stopped falling as the cryptocurrency’s price rose. Typically, the correlation between BVIV and the spot price is negative, so BVIV's swing casts doubt on the sustainability of recent gains. Perhaps some traders are picking up hedges (options) as prices rise, arresting the drop in the index, which is currently hovering close to a strong support zone. The same can be said for the ether volatility index, EVIV.Options skew: In Deribit-listed options, put skews have eased at the front-end, which is expected as the spot price rises. Overall, though, puts continue to trade pricier than calls across all time frames. That, at least in part, represents overhead call selling executed for yield generation alongside persistent hedging demand.Call volume dominance: Speaking of volumes, calls dominate the 24-hour rankings in bot bitcoin and ether, hinting at growing demand for upside exposure. Token talkSolana's tokenized asset volume reached a record $5.8 billion in the second quarter, marking a 114% quarter-over-quarter increase and a six-quarter growth streak driven by tokenized equities. This performance highlights accelerating institutional adoption and the network's capacity to scale high-volume transactions, reinforcing its role in bridging traditional finance with decentralized infrastructure.While Solana’s native token, SOL, fell by over 11% in the quarter, the decline wasn’t as steep as bitcoin’s 15% slide. So far in July, SOL has gained 6% versus BTC’s 13% bounce. In the meantime, the broader tokenized real-world asset market, excluding stablecoins, has grown dynamically to over $33 billion, nearly tripling from roughly $12 billion a year prior.Related Assets12345678910