Bitcoin wobbles as Clarity Act stalls, U.S. buying fades

U.S. demand for bitcoin weakened after the U.S. Senate failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance the Clarity Act.

On Sept. 16 (local time), blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported that the Coinbase premium fell to as low as -0.079 on Sept. 15, the lowest level in a month.

The Coinbase premium measures the gap between BTC/USDT prices on Coinbase and Binance. A negative reading means demand from Coinbase users is relatively weaker than demand from Binance users. The indicator briefly turned positive earlier in the week, reaching 0.004, but widened its decline again on Sept. 15. The current level is the lowest since Aug. 16, when bitcoin traded at about $63,000.

The move came shortly after the U.S. Senate failed on Sept. 15 to put the Clarity Act back on the agenda for discussion. There are not many options to bring the bill back for debate before 2027. As a result, U.S. investor sentiment weakened and downward pressure on bitcoin prices persisted.

Supply-and-demand differences across exchanges also stood out. On-chain analyst Willy Woo pointed to cumulative volume delta data by exchange since Sept. 6 and said flows between Binance and Coinbase diverged around Sept. 11. Binance's cumulative volume delta began rising, while Coinbase kept falling. That means selling dominance was stronger on Coinbase.