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SponsoredThe U.S. Senate rejected a procedural motion to advance the CLARITY Act, while TheDAO Security Fund launched a new Ethereum security funding round and Aave proposed institutional lending against custodied collateral.
The U.S. Senate rejected a procedural motion to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, putting the proposed crypto market-structure legislation on hold at this stage.
The official Senate roll-call record shows the Sept. 15 vote on H.R. 3633 ended with 49 votes in favor and 50 against, and the cloture motion was rejected. The motion required three-fifths of senators voting. The Senate had scheduled the vote for approximately 2:15 p.m. ET.
SponsoredThe procedural vote did not itself constitute a final vote on the CLARITY Act's substantive provisions. Instead, it concerned whether the Senate could move forward with consideration of H.R. 3633. The bill would establish a federal framework for regulating digital commodities and clarify roles for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The legislation was designed to establish clearer federal rules around digital assets, including how different crypto assets and market participants would fall under federal regulatory oversight.
The version described in the source material included provisions addressing self-custody and protections for certain non-custodial participants in the crypto ecosystem. It also incorporated language associated with the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act concerning developers, smart-contract deployers and node operators.
Those provisions were intended to distinguish software and infrastructure participants from entities performing regulated financial-intermediary functions. However, because the Senate did not invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, the legislation did not advance to the next stage through that vote.
While the Senate vote dominated the regulatory headlines, another major development came from Ethereum's security ecosystem.
TheDAO Security Fund has launched its second funding round through ETHSecurity Initiatives, a program designed to identify and fund security projects serving Ethereum's broader infrastructure. The fund's official website says its purpose is to direct resources toward areas such as formal verification, wallet security, incident response, core protocol security and L2 security.
The initiative is notable because the fund's capital originates from unclaimed assets associated with the aftermath of the 2016 DAO exploit. TheDAO Security Fund says it activated more than 75,000 ETH as an endowment in January 2026, with approximately 69,000 ETH staked and the staking rewards used to finance Ethereum security work.
The new ETHSecurity Initiatives round is focused on specific infrastructure needs rather than general ecosystem funding.
The source material identifies requests for proposals involving a formally verified compiler, client-verified ENS resolution, local-first Safe interfaces and shared fuzzing infrastructure. Developers and teams can also submit their own proposals for consideration.
TheDAO Security Fund says its broader funding history has already supported security-related work across formal verification, wallet UX, smart-contract security, incident response and protocol infrastructure. Its funding model is intended to use open mechanisms and expert participation when deciding where resources should go.
Aave is also exploring a new institutional lending model that would allow borrowers to use assets held by a regulated custodian as collateral for onchain borrowing.
An Aave governance proposal published Sept. 14 seeks approval for a Custodied Collateral Lending market using Aave V4's Hub-and-Spoke architecture. The proposal would create an isolated Hub and Spoke specifically for institutional collateral held with Anchorage.
Aave governance proposal for Custodied Collateral Lending
Under the proposed structure, the underlying collateral would remain with Anchorage throughout the loan. Borrowers would receive a non-transferable onchain accounting token called the Custodied Collateral Token (CoCT), representing the custodied position for use within the Aave market.
The proposed architecture also uses Chainlink infrastructure to synchronize the offchain custody system with Aave's onchain lending environment.
According to the Aave proposal, Chainlink's CustodySync solution would coordinate custody information, onchain state and Proof of Reserve data. Chainlink would not hold the collateral; the underlying assets would remain with Anchorage while the onchain system reflects the relevant collateral position.
Aave's V4 Hub-and-Spoke structure is intended to keep the proposed market isolated from other Aave liquidity pools. The proposal calls for a dedicated Hub and Spoke governed by the Aave DAO, with specific parameters and caps designed around the custodied-collateral market.
Traditional institutional investors can face requirements or internal policies that prevent them from moving assets into self-custody or directly depositing them into decentralized protocols.
The proposed Aave structure attempts to address that limitation by keeping the underlying collateral with a custodian while allowing its value to support borrowing through an onchain lending system.
The proposal initially targets a single CoCT representing BTC pledged as collateral and held in Anchorage custody. It also proposes a zero Hub-level draw cap for CoCT, while CoCT would be marked as non-borrowable on the relevant Spoke. The exact collateral factors, liquidation parameters, fees, interest-rate strategy and other risk settings would be addressed through subsequent governance and risk recommendations.
Several additional developments are also emerging across the ecosystem.
Bread's privacy-focused wallet has opened a waitlist, while L2Beat has introduced an ossification score for Layer 2 networks. The Ethereum Foundation is also scheduled to host an AMA, according to the updates cited in the source material.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced charges against two Robinhood employees in an insider-trading case. The matter is a criminal allegation and should be distinguished from the broader crypto infrastructure developments covered in this article.
Nethermind has also announced a 2.0.0-rc2 release, adding another protocol-development update to an already active week for Ethereum infrastructure.
The failed CLARITY Act procedural vote represents a setback for the bill's immediate progress in the Senate, but it is only one part of the broader crypto-policy landscape. The official vote confirms that the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 was rejected on Sept. 15.
At the same time, activity elsewhere in the ecosystem continues. TheDAO Security Fund is directing resources toward Ethereum's shared security infrastructure, while Aave is exploring ways to connect institutional custody with decentralized lending without requiring underlying assets to leave the custodian.
Together, these developments show how regulatory policy, blockchain security and institutional DeFi infrastructure are continuing to evolve alongside one another. For users and developers, the important distinction is that the CLARITY Act remains a legislative process, while the Ethereum security and Aave initiatives are already moving through their respective funding and governance mechanisms.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research (DYOR) and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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