[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Negotiations Continue in Washington, D.C. on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Clarity Legislation

Negotiations continue in Washington, D.C. on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency clarity legislation. Democrats said they will keep working to move the bill forward.

Source: @pete_rizzo_

Pete Rizzo reported on X that negotiations surrounding Bitcoin and cryptocurrency clarity legislation are continuing in Washington, D.C. He said Democrats have been working to pass the bill and stated they will continue negotiations going forward.

The bill is part of discussions aimed at clarifying the cryptocurrency regulatory framework in the United States, and whether bipartisan negotiations can progress remains a key focus for the market.

According to Odaily, a Morgan Stanley Ethereum trust received a notice of effectiveness from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The notice means the trust’s registration process has advanced. As institutional Ethereum-related investment products continue to expand, attention is turning to the next steps.

According to Odaily, Japan’s regulators are pursuing a restructuring of the legal framework for digital asset investment, raising the possibility that spot Bitcoin ETFs could be approved and listed as early as 2028.

On July 15, Japan’s parliament approved a plan to move Bitcoin and about 105 virtual assets from the Payment Services Act framework into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act framework. This is viewed as removing a major legal obstacle to listing related funds on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Major Japanese financial groups including SBI Holdings and Nomura are preparing to launch digital asset products. Japan is also considering changing crypto taxation from miscellaneous income tax rates of up to 55% to a separate taxation scheme of about 20.315%.

According to Watcher.Guru, forecasts have emerged that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise benchmark interest rates twice this year.

Rate hikes could strengthen the dollar and reduce liquidity, which is generally considered a headwind for Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market.

As tensions in the Middle East escalated, only one oil tanker passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the lowest level since May 7, while international oil prices climbed above $100 per barrel.

The Strait of Hormuz is considered a major global oil transit route. As war risk rises, concerns over energy supply disruptions are growing and may weigh on sentiment across risk assets.

According to Odaily, Injective said on X that its native token INJ has officially been listed on Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.

Coinbase users can trade INJ and use deposit and withdrawal functions to transfer INJ directly into the Injective ecosystem.

According to Wu Blockchain, Robinhood’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Robinhood Chain, launched in July 2026 and recorded about $3.1 billion in decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume over seven days.

A Bernstein report estimated that Robinhood Chain holds about $300 million in stablecoins and about $13 million in stock tokens. It said much of the early activity came from memecoin trading, while the use of tokenized real-world assets (RWA), such as stock tokens, is still in its early stages.

Robinhood Chain is built using Arbitrum technology and supports an ETH gas model and EVM compatibility. The network targets stock tokens, ETFs, DeFi, perpetual futures, and AI agent applications.

The report noted that stock tokens provide economic exposure to stock prices but do not represent direct ownership or shareholder rights. It also cited regulation, liquidity, infrastructure centralization, bridges, smart contract issues, and self-custody risks as key variables.

According to FinanceFeeds, the Finance Standing Committee of India’s parliament recommended creating an interim regulatory framework led by a government-recognized self-regulatory organization (SRO) to oversee the domestic cryptocurrency and virtual asset market.

The committee said that without a clear legal framework, retail investors could be exposed to operational, custody, and fraud risks. Under the oversight of the Reserve Bank of India or the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the SRO would implement a code of conduct covering consumer protection, platform transparency, and token disclosure standards.

It would also be responsible for exchange reserve audits, segregation of client and corporate funds, and the establishment of user complaint handling procedures. The committee stressed that strict oversight by the central bank or securities regulator is needed to address macroeconomic risks such as stablecoin dollarization, tax evasion, and violations of foreign exchange laws.

According to Odaily, B2C2, the cryptocurrency market maker 90% owned by SBI Holdings, has held acquisition talks with several potential buyers over the past 18 months.

B2C2 is seeking a valuation above $1 billion, but one source said achieving that price may be difficult under current cryptocurrency market conditions.

The talks come as mergers and acquisitions continue across the digital asset industry, driven by efforts to expand institutional businesses and achieve greater scale.

According to Odaily, Onchain Lens said that two wallets believed to belong to the same entity unstaked 2.92 million Hyperliquid (HYPE) tokens that had been staked for eight months.

The unstaked amount is worth about $170 million. The HYPE balance in the staking contracts of the two wallets is now recorded at zero.