Washington spent a year writing crypto's first federal rulebook. Tuesday's election buried it. Democrats took both chambers of Congress on Nov. 3, and traders stopped betting the CLARITY Act would pass before 20271. Every firm in the industry moved anyway. BitGo named a new trading chief on Nov. 4. Circle cut staff. A South Korean exchange lost its boss, and a London startup found new money to chase markets that run around the clock. Ten stories from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4, 2026, follow.
Congress Sweeps Away Crypto's Clearest Law
A bill that cleared the House by 160 votes now sits one election from dead2. Kalshi's traders priced the CLARITY Act's odds of becoming law before Jan. 1, 2027, at 6% on Nov. 4. In late October, the same contract traded at 28%. Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst at TD Cowen, puts the blame on what a Democratic Congress will do next. "Democrats will likely investigate Trump including his crypto entanglements," Seiberg wrote. “We see this as souring the political environment for crypto, which is why we do not expect the Clarity Act to pass over the next two years”. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in line to chair the Senate Banking Committee, draws a line this bill skipped. She voted against it in September, open to a different version entirely. “We can get crypto legislation that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on, but not this bill,” Warren said3. Her own door stays open. The market still prices this exact bill at 6%.
The CLARITY Act's Odds Fall From 28% to 6% by Nov. 4, 2026
Kalshi's price on the bill becoming law before Jan. 1, 2027, two weeks apart
- Two weeks before the election
- On Nov. 4, 2026
Source: Disruption Banking [1].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Two weeks before the election | On Nov. 4, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Odds of passing before 2027 | 28% | 6% |
BitGo Hands Pete Janney a New Trading Desk
Custody built BitGo's name. On Nov. 4 the custodian asked clients to trade through it too4. BitGo launched BitGo Global Markets, a unit combining spot trading, options, swaps and financing under Pete Janney. Janney joined BitGo in August, when it bought NYDIG's institutional trading arm for up to $57.5 million5. “Pete understands how institutions trade and manage risk, and I'm excited to have him leading Global Markets,” said Mike Belshe, BitGo's chief executive. Janney frames the unit as an answer to a narrower kind of client. “Clients who own digital assets need sophisticated solutions that go beyond buy and hold,” Janney said. “I look forward to accelerating that work and growing the Global Markets franchise at BitGo”. Custody still pays BitGo's bills. Trading is the part it wants to grow.
Circle Cuts Staff as Arc Mainnet Grows
Circle's stablecoin business grew and its headcount shrank in the same report6. The USDC issuer posted $865 million in third-quarter revenue and reserve income on Nov. 4, up 17% from a year earlier, while disclosing a 5% workforce reduction and $9.1 million in restructuring charges. Chief executive Jeremy Allaire's company said the cuts were meant to “better align our organizational structure with our operating model and strategic priorities”. Circle's Arc network, a payments chain it launched in September, already counts more than 100 institutional builders. Net income reached $226 million for the quarter. Fewer people are running a bigger machine.
SEC Calls Canton Coin a Commodity
A blockchain built for banks got a regulatory label this week7. Digital Asset, Canton Network's developer, got a promise of zero enforcement action from the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance for Canton Coin's minting. The letter holds while Canton Coin keeps the setup Digital Asset described. Its minting skipped a presale, fixed its yield at zero, and kept voting rights apart from simple ownership. Staff called the token a "digital commodity." Canton Coin rose 4% on the news. Miles Jennings, a16z's head of policy, called the letter "incredible" on social media. The letter binds only Canton's own minting setup. Every other project still waits its turn.
SEC Clears Governance Votes of a Securities Tag
A second piece of SEC guidance landed on Nov. 48. New staff FAQs aim at a narrower worry: whether a token holder's vote alone creates legal exposure. A broad governance vote, by itself, keeps a holder from counting as a "central party" who could turn a token into a security. Protocols have leaned on broad voting to argue they sit decentralized enough to escape securities law. The FAQ gives that argument a clearer floor to stand on. Crypto lawyers read guidance like this as the SEC writing rules one memo at a time, while Congress argues over writing them once.
Block Settles for $964 Million
Jack Dorsey's payments company posted a record quarter and a record settlement bill on Nov. 39. Block agreed to a deferred prosecution deal with the Department of Justice on Nov. 3. The settlement carries a $964 million gross cost, about $764 million net, over anti-money-laundering failures tied to its Cash App and bitcoin products. Its bitcoin-ecosystem gross profit fell 50% from the third quarter of 2025, to $52 million. Total gross profit still rose 22%, to $3.24 billion, and Block raised its full-year guidance anyway. A settlement is a cost. Block's raised forecast is a bet that cost stops there.
Block's Nov. 3, 2026 DOJ Deal Costs $964 Million Gross, $764 Million Net
Block's Nov. 3 deferred-prosecution deal, in millions, before and after credits
- Net after credits: $764M
- Gross settlement: $964M
Source: TradingView News [9].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gross settlement | $964M | The headline figure in Block's deferred-prosecution deal |
| Net after credits | $764M | What Block actually owes after credits for earlier resolutions |
Standard Chartered Takes Tokenized Deposits to Hong Kong
A 170-year-old bank picked Hong Kong for its newest product10. Standard Chartered launched round-the-clock tokenized deposits for corporate clients there on Nov. 2, running on the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Ensemble sandbox rails. Ole Matthiessen, the bank's global head of transaction services and digital assets, frames the pitch around a problem treasurers already have. “The value of tokenised deposits lies in their ability to help clients move and manage liquidity more efficiently,” Matthiessen said. A tokenized deposit is a bank balance recorded on a blockchain instead of a core banking ledger, so it can move outside banking hours. Hong Kong becomes the bank's first market for it.
Korbit's Chief Executive Offers to Resign
A five-year run at the top of a Korean exchange may end early11. Oh Se-jin told Korbit's board on Nov. 1 that he intends to resign. More than two years remained on a term that ran through December 2028. Mirae Asset Securities, which placed three outside directors on Korbit's board in July, is expected to name his successor this month. “Procedures are under way following the current CEO's expression of intent to resign,” a Korbit official said. “However, nothing has been finalized regarding a final decision or a successor”. Mirae's three board seats arrived months before the resignation did. The sequence itself raises the question the filing will answer.
Binance Angles for a Way Back Into Malaysia
A market that shut Binance out five years ago is negotiating its way back in12. Binance has spent roughly ten months, since around January 2026, in talks with Malaysia's Securities Commission and its central bank over a licensed return. Malaysian regulators confirmed the talks this week. That same regulator ordered Binance to stop operating in the country in July 2021. Malaysia's regulator dropped Binance from its investor alert list in 2024, then added the exchange back this month, giving zero public reason. A spokesperson for Binance said the company is still weighing "the viability and structure of licensed business model in Malaysia". Five years after the 2021 ban, Binance sits back at the table.
London's LO:TECH Raises $12 Million to Trade Around the Clock
Markets built for a nine-to-five world are the business LO:TECH wants to replace13. The London firm closed a $12 million Series A on Nov. 2, led by venture firm MMC. That funding expands its always-on execution business into the United States and Asia. Chief executive Tim Meggs built the pitch around a fact traders already feel. “Capital markets were built for a world that opened at 8am and closed at 4.30pm,” Meggs said. "That's not how risk is traded any more". LO:TECH already serves more than 50 institutional clients and says its revenue has tripled since its last round. The new money funds licenses in New York and Singapore.
What to watch
The CLARITY Act's lame-duck window closes when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3, 2027, so any late Senate vote would have to happen before then. Circle's next earnings call will show whether its smaller staff can keep growing Arc's builder count. Korbit's board meeting this month should name Oh Se-jin's successor. The pick will settle whether Mirae Asset chose its new direction before it chose its new chief executive. BitGo's Global Markets unit reports its first results alongside the custody business it was built to complement.
Sources
- "Democrats Sweep Congress as Kalshi Prices 6% Odds for CLARITY Act Before 2027," Disruption Banking, Nov. 4, 2026, https://www.disruptionbanking.com/2026/11/04/democrats-sweep-congress-as-kalshi-prices-6-odds-for-clarity-act-before-2027/
- Micah Zimmerman, "TD Cowen: Democratic Congress Kills CLARITY Act For Two Years," Bitcoin Magazine, Nov. 3, 2026, https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/td-cowen-democratic-congress-clarity-act
- Kaia Hubbard, "Senate fails to advance Clarity Act amid Democratic concerns about crypto bill," CBS News, Sept. 15, 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-fails-to-advance-clarity-act-amid-democratic-concerns-about-crypto-bill/
- James Hunt, "BitGo launches institutional trading and financial solutions business led by former NYDIG executive," The Block, Nov. 4, 2026, https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-11-04-bitgo-launches-institutional-trading-and-financial-solutions-business-led-by-former-nydig-executive-432646
- Tanaya Macheel, "BitGo to acquire NYDIG's institutional trading business as crypto trading rebounds," CNBC, Aug. 27, 2026, https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/27/bitgo-to-acquire-nydigs-institutional-trading-business-as-crypto-trading-rebounds.html
- James Hunt, "Circle reports $865 million in Q3 revenue and reserve income, discloses 5% workforce reduction," The Block, Nov. 4, 2026, https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-11-04-circle-reports-865-million-in-q3-revenue-and-reserve-income-discloses-5-workforce-reduction-432671
- Zoltan Vardai, "Canton CC Rises 4% After SEC Staff No-Action Letter," Cointelegraph, Nov. 4, 2026, https://cointelegraph.com/markets/cantons-cc-rises-sec-no-action-letter-digital-commodity
- Micah Abiodun, "SEC Says Token Governance Votes Alone Don't Create a Central Party," Cryptopolitan, Nov. 4, 2026, https://www.cryptopolitan.com/sec-crypto-faqs-token-governance-voting/
- "Block DOJ Settlement: Jack Dorsey's Company Faces $764M Deal as Bitcoin Profit Plunges 50%," TradingView News, Nov. 4, 2026, https://www.tradingview.com/news/cryptonews:b18e6647b094b:0-block-doj-settlement-jack-dorsey-s-company-faces-764m-deal-as-bitcoin-profit-plunges-50/
- Rony Roy, "Standard Chartered launches tokenised deposits for corporate clients in Hong Kong," crypto.news, Nov. 2, 2026, https://crypto.news/standard-chartered-tokenised-deposits-hong-kong/
- Kim Jung-woo, "Korbit CEO Oh Se-jin offers to resign as Mirae Asset weighs a successor," Seoul Economic Daily, Nov. 1, 2026, https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/korbit-ceo-resignation-2026
- "Binance in talks with Malaysian regulators for licensed return," The Edge Malaysia, Nov. 3, 2026, https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/binance-malaysia-licence-talks-2026
- "London-based LO:TECH lands $12M Series A led by MMC," Tech.eu, Nov. 2, 2026, https://tech.eu/2026/11/02/london-based-lotech-lands-12m-series-a-led-by-mmc/