Senate Rejects CLARITY Act, Crypto Regulation Left to Agencies
The US Senate has failed to advance the CLARITY Act, a bill aimed at establishing a federal regulatory framework for digital assets. The motion to proceed received 50 votes in favor and 49 against on September 15, 2026, falling short of the required 60 votes to end a filibuster.
The failed cloture vote means that the Senate has effectively killed the bill in the near term, marking a significant setback for the crypto industry's efforts to secure a broad federal market-structure law. Despite bipartisan discussions in Congress, the CLARITY Act would have allocated oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The SEC chairman and CFTC chairman have promised to continue advancing crypto rulemaking even without congressional action. This may indicate that meaningful regulatory progress will need to come through agency action rather than Congress.