Bitcoin Drops to $76,000 and Crypto Stocks Slide as Senate Prepares Clarity Act Cloture Vote

Bitcoin fell roughly 3% to around $76,000 on Tuesday morning, dragging crypto-linked equities sharply lower, as traders grew anxious ahead of a pivotal 2:15 PM ET Senate procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The sell-off erased the coin's entire post-golden-cross rally and pushed the full top-20 cryptocurrency market into the red, with a $54 million whale short adding to the bearish pressure and traders eyeing $75,000 and $83,000 as the levels that would determine the next directional move.

Coinbase Global fell 7% to $178, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) dropped 5% to $130.32, Robinhood Markets slid 4% to $110.30, and MARA Holdings lost 2% to $11.20. The Senate is voting on a cloture motion, the procedural step required to end debate and clear the way for a formal floor vote on the bill, which would establish the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework dividing oversight of digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC. Sixty votes are needed to advance, meaning all 53 Republicans plus at least seven Democrats or independents must back it, a threshold that markets appeared increasingly skeptical could be met.

The Federal Reserve's rate decision, due Wednesday, added a second layer of uncertainty, with some reports flagging the possibility of a rate hike as a further headwind for risk assets including crypto. Unresolved sticking points in the legislation, including ethics provisions tied to the Trump family's crypto interests and law-enforcement language demanded by Democrats, have complicated efforts to secure the needed bipartisan support. Analysts have noted that if the cloture vote fails, the next realistic window for comprehensive crypto market-structure legislation may not open until 2030.