MN Capital CIO Michaël van de Poppe picks Ethereum, Chainlink, and Aave as his highest-conviction altcoin plays if the CLARITY Act passes. He explains the regulatory mechanism, token positioning, and what would break each thesis.
The CLARITY Act is approaching a pivotal phase in the U.S. Senate. The debate among investors is whether the legislation will function as a genuine catalyst for altcoins or trigger a "sell the news" event. Michaël van de Poppe, CIO of MN Fund, MN Capital, and New Era Finance, falls into the first camp. In an exclusive interview, he named three altcoins he is betting on as the bill progresses.
Van de Poppe argues that short-term market weakness has distracted investors. He sees the opportunity that regulatory clarity could create for select crypto assets. This article examines his three picks, the mechanism behind each position, and the factors that would confirm or break the thesis.
The CLARITY Act aims to remove legal uncertainty around digital assets. If approved, it would classify some tokens as commodities rather than securities. That distinction would shift oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from the SEC. Commodity status typically reduces compliance costs and opens the door to regulated futures and ETFs.
Van de Poppe sees this as a potential turning point. "I do expect a bullish outlook when the CLARITY Act is approved for the Ethereum ecosystem and specific U.S. tokens that were referenced earlier as commodities rather than securities," he said.
The bill has passed House committee markup. Senate floor debate is next. No firm date is set. Legislative calendars suggest a vote could come within the next two to three months. Delays or amendments would weaken the near-term catalyst. A final passage before the August recess would accelerate positioning.
Ethereum (ETH) is his top pick. The logic runs through institutional blockchain initiatives in tokenization, stablecoins, and financial infrastructure. These all run on or settle through Ethereum's layer-1. If the CLARITY Act removes the SEC overhang, institutions can move from pilot projects to production deployments.
"I do think that we'll start to see the actual upwards leg for the Web 3.0 ecosystem when this passes," van de Poppe said.
Van de Poppe's read is simple. Legal clarity on ETH's commodity status would unlock ETF issuer flows, custody expansion, and on-chain treasury allocation by corporate treasuries. The risk is that Ethereum's current fee revenue decline and layer-2 fragmentation dilute its value capture. A failure of the CLARITY Act or a surprise security classification would reverse the setup.
Chainlink (LINK) is van de Poppe's second pick. As the leading oracle network connecting real-world data to blockchains, Chainlink sits at the center of tokenization and institutional DeFi projects. The CLARITY Act could remove the "regulatory cloud" that has kept traditional finance on the sidelines.
Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) positions it for multi-asset settlement systems. If regulatory clarity accelerates institutional adoption, data feeds and cross-chain messaging become essential infrastructure. The market read: LINK is a derivative bet on the entire tokenization trend, not just one chain.
Aave (AAVE) is van de Poppe's third conviction pick. The decentralized lending protocol has been hammered by regulatory uncertainty over the past year. DeFi tokens broadly underperformed as the SEC pursued enforcement actions against exchanges and protocols. Aave itself was not sued, the overall regulatory climate froze institutional participation.
Van de Poppe expects sentiment to improve once the framework is clearer. "Projects with established utility and strong ecosystem adoption could attract renewed investor attention once regulatory concerns begin to fade," he said.
Van de Poppe argues the crypto market is closer to the end of a bear cycle than most realize. "We're at the end of the bear market," he added. That timing dovetails with the CLARITY Act vote. If he is right, the bill would provide a policy trigger for a regime change – not a sell-the-news top.
Van de Poppe's picks are conditional on the CLARITY Act passing and on each token's specific regulatory advantage. Ethereum offers the broadest institutional thesis. Chainlink provides execution infrastructure. Aave is a bet on DeFi sentiment recovery. All three share a common risk: the bill fails or gets watered down. That event would reverse the setup and shift focus back to regulatory headwinds. The next concrete marker is Senate committee markup. Until then, the market is pricing in a probability – not a certainty.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.