Read this article on bsc.news The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, the main US crypto market structure bill, is effectively stalled. A failed Senate vote in September and Democratic gains in
The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, the main US crypto market structure bill, is effectively stalled. A failed Senate vote in September and Democratic gains in the November midterms have left the crypto industry looking to regulators rather than Congress for clearer rules.
DLA Piper reports that on September 15, 2026, the Senate failed to advance the bill, nearly eliminating the chance that a digital asset market structure law is enacted this year. The vote was procedural. According to AMINA Bank research, the Senate voted 49 to 50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed, and cloture required 60 votes.
Fireblocks notes that every Democrat present voted no, and four Republicans joined them. Because the motion failed, the Senate never reached the bill itself, so the market structure provisions were never debated on the floor.
The bill had passed the House in July 2025 by 294 to 134, according to Forbes. Sen. Thom Tillis switched his vote to no at the end of the roll call, which allowed him to file a motion to reconsider. Fireblocks says this keeps the bill on the Senate calendar. AMINA Bank adds that the lead sponsor, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, had said before the vote that if cloture failed, "it's over."
Hopes of reviving the bill have faded further since the midterms. Disruption Banking reports that Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 elections, and that House Democrats are now discussing a market structure bill that would replace the CLARITY Act's framework with one led by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Decrypt, citing journalist Eleanor Terrett, the plan would expand Rep. Maxine Waters' Crypto Investor and Consumer Bill of Rights into a broader bill that gives the SEC more power and limits the CFTC's role. Bitcoin Magazine notes that no bill text has been released and the details so far come from industry sources rather than lawmakers.
For now, agency rulemaking is the more immediate path. Decrypt quotes one analyst saying the election does not automatically replace the leadership of the SEC or CFTC or stop their rulemaking. AMINA Bank adds a caveat: a future Commission can withdraw agency rules, so rulemaking offers less durability than a statute.
The outcome matters for token classification, exchange oversight and the division of authority between the SEC and CFTC, the issues the CLARITY Act was designed to settle. Any new bill would need to be reintroduced and negotiated in the next Congress.
Sources
DLA Piper: Senate fails to advance the CLARITY ActAMINA Bank: Why the Senate vote failed and what regulates US crypto nowDecrypt: Democrats to push broader crypto market structure bill
