CLARITY Act May Favor Smart Contracts Over Bitcoin: Grayscale
Grayscale's Head of Research, Zach Pandl, believes that if the CLARITY Act passes in its scheduled Senate vote on September 15, it will be a positive catalyst for crypto. He thinks that the bill will normalize how crypto is regulated relative to other established industries.
The goal behind the legislation, according to Pandl, is to treat crypto as a 'normal industry', providing value to people around the world. He notes that every country has people using crypto, blockchain, stablecoins, and Bitcoin in some shape or form.
Pandl points out that Bitcoin may benefit less than other assets from the CLARITY Act's passage. This is because Bitcoin already carries a clear regulatory status as a digital commodity, limiting its potential upside. He suggests that smart contract platforms and application-layer projects, such as Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Sui, Chainlink, Uniswap, may benefit more.
Pandl draws parallels between the current market conditions and those following crypto's last major bottom in 2022-2023. He believes that the fundamentals of the asset class have not changed, but it will take some particular events to renew capital coming into the asset class.