Regulatory Momentum Continues Unabated Amid CLARITY Act Uncertainty
Coinbase and Grayscale argue that US crypto rules can advance even if the CLARITY Act stalls in the Senate. The bill, which aims to provide clearer cryptocurrency regulations, faces a 60-vote threshold for cloture on September 15.
The House passed the CLARITY Act with a margin of 294-134 in July 2025, but Republicans hold only 53 seats in the Senate and need outside support. Despite this, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong claims that senators he has spoken with support the measure, but negotiations continue over several provisions.
Armstrong points out that failure to pass the bill would not stop regulatory development as the SEC and CFTC are already preparing frameworks within their existing authority. In fact, the two agencies have made significant progress in building a parallel route to crypto clarity through actions such as separating crypto assets into categories and issuing tailored exemptions for some crypto-related investment contracts.
The SEC has issued an interpretation separating crypto assets into categories including digital commodities, stablecoins, digital securities, and collectibles. The agency has also proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which includes tailored exemptions for some crypto-related investment contracts. Meanwhile, the CFTC has issued a perpetual-contract framework and permitted a Bitcoin perpetual product on a registered exchange.
Coinbase and Grayscale argue that these developments show that regulatory clarity is expanding even before Congress settles the broader market-structure debate. However, they note that federal legislation would provide durability that agency interpretations cannot match as future administrations can revise regulatory policies more easily than statutes.