The ECB launched Pontes on 21 September 2026 to let wholesale transactions in tokenised assets settle in central bank money. In plain English, Pontes connects blockchain-style market infrastructure to the Eurosystem’s existing payment systems. It is not a retail CBDC. It is not an ECB cryptocurrency. It is public settlement infrastructure for banks, market infrastructures and institutional tokenised markets. The strategic importance is larger than the launch itself. Europe is

On 15 September 2026, the US Senate voted 49–50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to the CLARITY Act, H.R. 3633. The bill needed 60 votes to advance. It did not even secure a simple majority, with multiple Republicans voting against the motion. Senator Cynthia Lummis said the result meant “it’s over” for the bill. For digital-asset businesses, the immediate reaction was sharp. Bitcoin fell by roughly 3% to around US$76,000, Coinbase dropped about 8% and Circle