US Regulators Prepare Aggressive Rulemaking Amid CLARITY Act Failure

The US crypto bill CLARITY Act failed to pass a Senate cloture vote on Tuesday, falling short of the 60 votes needed.

As a result, US federal agencies will publish new regulations to compensate for the time lost negotiating the bill. Bernstein analysts expect 'aggressive and swift' rulemaking from the SEC and CFTC, which could include token taxonomy for raising capital, developer protection measures concerning decentralized finance, innovation exemptions for equity tokenization, and faster approval times for real-world asset perpetual futures.

Crypto industry leaders are looking to US regulators to fill the regulatory gap. Fireblocks US policy director Jessica Martinez said they would continue engaging with regulators if the legislation failed, while Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed optimism that US regulators will 'continue to work hard to issue rules to fill the legislative gap.'

However, some industry executives expressed concern that the solution won't give long-term investors the same confidence that legislation would provide. NEAR chief legal officer Abhishek Vaidyanathan noted that rejecting the bill leaves firms dependent on agency guidance and ongoing administrative discretion.