Senate Crypto Bill Fails Key Vote, Leaving Oversight to SEC and CFTC

The US Senate's attempt at comprehensive crypto market structure legislation suffered its biggest setback yet as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act failed to advance beyond a procedural cloture motion, short of the 60 votes needed. The bill would have drawn a permanent line between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, assigning oversight of digital assets according to whether a token is classified as a security, a commodity, or a stablecoin.

The legislation's defeat came down to arithmetic: Republicans could not overcome the lack of crossover support from Democrats. More than 40 senators voted against the motion, with Democrats withholding support largely over ethics provisions seen as too weak and stablecoin yield language opposed by banks.

Bitcoin had already been retreating through Asian and European sessions, slipping from an overnight high near $79,500 to the high $76,000s. Prediction markets had cut the odds of the bill becoming law this year to well under 20 percent in the days before the vote.