Bitcoin eyes $80,000 as U.S. CLARITY Act faces Senate deadlock

Bitcoin entered a period of price consolidation on Wednesday, 22 July, as momentum for the U.S. CLARITY Act slowed in the Senate amid mounting ethics concerns and political gridlock. Despite the legislative friction, market sentiment remains focused on a potential climb toward the $80,000 threshold, driven by institutional accumulation and changing betting market odds. Legislative hurdles for stablecoin regulation The CLARITY Act, formally known as the Creating Legal Accountability for Relief In Transparent Y-tokens Act, faces a darkening path through the U.S. Senate. Prediction market Polymarket currently places the odds of the bill passing in its current form at under 20%, a sharp decline from previous weeks. Lawmakers are reportedly stalled over provisions governing reserve requirements for stablecoin issuers and the extent of federal oversight versus state-level regulation. Ethics concerns have also emerged regarding the ties between specific lobbying groups and Congressional staff, according to sources familiar with the Senate Banking Committee's deliberations. The bill is intended to provide a clear regulatory framework for dollar-pegged digital assets, which currently operate in a legal gray zone in the United States. Bitcoin seeks new record highs While the regulatory picture in Washington D.C. remains obscured, Bitcoin (BTC) continues to test resistance levels above $70,000. Data from on-chain analytics platforms indicates that long-term holders, or "hodlers," are…