The CLARITY Act fell 11 votes short of Senate cloture on Sept. 15, shifting US crypto rulemaking to the SEC and CFTC, per Bernstein and StoneX analysts.
Crypto Regulation & US Policy News
Forty-nine US senators voted to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Sept. 15, falling 11 short of the 60 needed to clear a cloture motion.
The bill stalled after negotiations broke down over ethics provisions tied to President Donald Trump's crypto holdings, ending its near-term path through Congress.
SEC and CFTC Step In After Senate Setback
Bernstein analysts, led by Gautam Chhugani, told clients in a Sept. 16 note that regulatory responsibility now shifts to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The firm expects both agencies to move at a pace designed to recover time lost during the legislative process. Chhugani's team described the expected approach as "aggressive and swift."
The analysts identified several areas they expect regulators to address. Token classification for capital-raising purposes is one. Developer protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and self-custody systems are another. Exemptions for equity tokenization, faster approval timelines for real-world-asset perpetual futures, and coordination between the SEC and CFTC on single-stock perpetuals are also on the list. Changes to how federal sports event contracts are classified under swap rules round out the expected agenda.
The SEC had already begun laying groundwork before the vote. On Aug. 18, it proposed a framework for investment contracts involving crypto assets. That proposal includes exemptions for startups’ token issuances of up to $5 million over four years and for token issuers to raise up to $75 million over 12 months. SEC Chair Paul Atkins told CNBC on July 27 that the agency was "ready, willing, and able to come out with rules" if the Senate did not act.
Stablecoin Rewards Remain Unrestricted
The bill's collapse has a direct consequence for stablecoin rewards. A compromise version of the legislation would have banned yields on idle stablecoin balances and instead tied rewards to customer activity. Without the bill, that restriction does not apply. Platforms including Coinbase can continue paying yields on idle balances for now. "Stablecoins should be just fine since they are governed by GENIUS," the Bernstein analysts wrote, referring to the GENIUS Act stablecoin legislation.
StoneX Financial analysts, led by Mark Palmer, described the bill as dead for this Congress. They cited just 14 working days remaining in the Senate before campaign season begins. Senator Cynthia Lummis said the next realistic window for the CLARITY Act may not open until 2030. Polymarket odds of the bill becoming law in 2026 had fallen from 82% in February to 16% ahead of the vote.
StoneX also flagged a potential legal dispute over stablecoin rewards. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have each proposed rules that could treat a stablecoin issuer as violating the GENIUS Act's yield ban. The concern centers on issuers paying affiliates that then pass rewards to stablecoin holders. StoneX analysts said this conflict could reach the courts after the GENIUS Act takes effect in January 2027.
Related Article: CLARITY Act Failure Draws Measured Reaction From Crypto Industry
Bernstein said the CLARITY Act would have "fool-proofed the industry against political regime shifts" had it passed. With legislation off the table, the SEC and CFTC will now determine the shape of US crypto regulation through their own rulemaking authority.
