Democrats Block CLARITY Act, Leaving Crypto Industry in Regulatory Limbo
The White House and Senator Cynthia Lummis have placed blame on Senate Democrats for blocking the CLARITY Act, a bill aimed at clarifying oversight in the crypto industry. The bill failed to pass with a vote of 49-50, short of the 60 votes needed.
A White House official stated that 'the Democrats are to blame for the failure of the Clarity Act because they put political games over doing what's best for American technology and innovation.' Senator Lummis echoed this sentiment, claiming that all Democratic-requested changes were incorporated into the bill, yet every Democrat voted against it.
The CLARITY Act aimed to create a comprehensive market structure framework for crypto, clarifying oversight between the SEC and CFTC, adding consumer and bankruptcy protections, and setting rules for crypto exchanges, brokers, and software developers. Despite the inclusion of over 120 Democratic-requested changes, including ethics language modeled on a bipartisan proposal, Democrats still voted against the bill.
The White House's crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, blamed big banks for derailing the crypto bill, stating that they 'turned President Donald Trump's crypto businesses into a political weapon even after Trump accepted what Witt called unprecedented ethics limits.'