Clarity Act Stalls, Leaving Crypto to US Regulators
The failure of a comprehensive digital-asset bill in Congress has prompted the SEC, CFTC, and OCC to advance their own crypto rulemakings and charters.
A comprehensive U.S. crypto-market structure bill, the Clarity Act, has failed to advance in the Senate following disagreements on stablecoin yields, AML/consumer protection rules, DeFi oversight, and specific ethics provisions. The legislative vacuum is now being filled by federal financial regulators, which have immediately begun to assert their authority. The SEC published an "Innovation Exemption" for certain tokenized securities venues, while the CFTC issued a no-action letter for "passive software providers" and submitted its own draft crypto rules to the White House. Concurrently, the OCC granted national trust bank charters to three stablecoin issuers. This shift from a legislative to a regulatory-led framework creates a complex compliance environment. Sophisticated counsel should advise clients that the development likely favors large, well-resourced financial institutions that can navigate the emergent multi-agency patchwork, potentially disadvantaging smaller banks and accelerating market consolidation. The next development to watch is the CFTC's proposed rules, expected to be published for comment after a 90-day White House review.