House Passes CLARITY Act, Aims to Clarify US Digital Asset Regulations

The CLARITY Act is a proposed US market structure bill that aims to clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets. The House passed H.R. 3633 by a vote of 294 to 134 in July 2025, making it the most comprehensive crypto bill ever approved by a single chamber of Congress.

The current framework relies on the Howey test from a 1946 Supreme Court case, leading to contradictory enforcement actions where agencies classified identical assets differently. The CLARITY Act creates three statutory categories for digital assets: digital commodities regulated by the CFTC, investment contract assets under the SEC, and payment stablecoins overseen by banking regulators.

The bill introduces a maturity test evaluating when a blockchain network has become sufficiently decentralized to shift from SEC to CFTC oversight. This transition mechanism has no equivalent in existing law. Exchanges, brokers, and custodians face new registration requirements and must segregate customer funds from company operations.