Senate Votes Loom on Crypto Regulation Bill Amid FTX Collapse Concerns

Nearly four years have passed since FTX, the crypto exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried and headquartered in the Bahamas, filed for bankruptcy. In that time, Congress has held hearings, the Justice Department has won a conviction for misappropriating customer funds, and creditors have recovered close to $10 billion.

However, Congress hasn't established safeguards that could have prevented or curtailed the fraud sooner. The House twice passed market structure legislation that would have given regulators the authority to stop FTX, most recently in July 2025 by a bipartisan vote of 294 to 134. The Senate Banking Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee cleared their own version of the legislation, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, earlier this year.

The bill is about to get its first shot on the Senate floor tomorrow, September 15, where it will be voted on whether to open debate. If the bill becomes law, exchanges serving U.S. consumers will have to adopt safeguards that FTX lacked, including segregation of customer property, qualified custody, and mandatory disclosure.