Senate stalls crypto's rulebook as Wall Street keeps building
The Clarity Act fell short in a 49-50 vote, but banks and payments firms aren't waiting for Congress to decide who's in charge.
In brief
The Clarity Act fell short in a 49-50 vote, but banks and payments firms aren't waiting for Congress to decide who's in charge. Without a market structure law, crypto rules can change with each administration or court ruling. That makes regulatory risk a business model risk for any firm putting capital into blockchain…
Quick answers
- Security or commodity?
- The bill would have decided how digital assets are classified and whether the SEC or the CFTC oversees them. Billions of dollars can depend on those answers.
- What is the key takeaway from Senate stalls crypto's rulebook as Wall Street keeps building?
- Without a market structure law, crypto rules can change with each administration or court ruling. That makes regulatory risk a business model risk for any firm putting capital into blockchain finance.
The Clarity Act stalls
On Sept. 15 the Senate voted 49-50 on a procedural motion for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. It needed 60 votes to move forward, so the bill stalled.
“Who exactly is in charge here?”
Four Republicans voted no
Senators Collins, Hawley, Moran and Tillis voted against advancing the bill. Tillis reportedly did it so he could ask for the vote to be held again later.
Prices fell on the news
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other major coins dropped after the vote. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott warned that without a law, the market stays lawless.
“without market structure actually being embedded in the laws of our country, you have the wild, wild west”
Security or commodity?
The bill would have decided how digital assets are classified and whether the SEC or the CFTC oversees them. Billions of dollars can depend on those answers.
Unfinished business from GENIUS
The GENIUS Act already made stablecoin rules law. Clarity was meant to settle the harder questions it left open, which Treasury Secretary Bessent calls key to America's tech race.
Lobbying hit a wall
The industry spent more than a year and heavy lobbying money pushing for this law. With the November midterms coming, its path through Congress has narrowed sharply.
Deal still had open disputes
Republican sponsors say the bill included 126 changes Democrats asked for. Fights remained over investor protections, enforcement, stablecoin rewards and ethics rules on Trump's crypto interests.
Clear rules attract capital
First Digital CEO Vincent Chok says firms that planned around US rules now have to look at other countries, and those countries keep building while the US waits.
“Institutional capital and businesses go where the rules are clear and the path forward is defined”
Wall Street keeps building anyway
Banks are weighing tokenized deposits, asset managers are launching tokenized securities, and payments firms are building blockchain settlement. Each of these bets depends on rules that aren't final.
The SEC won't wait
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins says the agency will keep writing crypto rules without Congress. But agency rules can be undone by the next administration or by a court.
“With or without that legislation, this Administration will deliver for American investors and technological innovators”
A delay, not a verdict
The Senate can hold the vote again, and the stablecoin bill came back from a failed vote too. For now the US has patchwork rules while Europe's MiCA law is already in force.
“Today's result is a delay, not a verdict.”
The bottom line
Without a market structure law, crypto rules can change with each administration or court ruling. That makes regulatory risk a business model risk for any firm putting capital into blockchain finance.
