Whether companies can invest safely in U.S. crypto shouldn't depend on which party controls Washington, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Congress. He pressed senators from both parties
Whether companies can invest safely in U.S. crypto shouldn't depend on which party controls Washington, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Congress. He pressed senators from both parties to break their stalemate on the CLARITY Act.
Few people know how Washington and Wall Street work better than Cuomo. He has been an insider in the country's elite political and business circles since his youth. Born into the prominent Cuomo family, he is the son of former governor Mario Cuomo.
So, it was shocking when Andrew Cuomo’s governorship of New York since 2011 came to a screeching halt in 2021 following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct
Cuomo denied the allegations. Several district attorneys investigated the accusations, but none pursued a criminal prosecution resulting in a conviction.
Last year, he attempted a political comeback as he ran for mayor of New York City. Though he is a long-standing member of the Democratic Party, he ran as an independent candidate.
Ultimately, Zohran Mamdani from the Democratic Party won the election in what was considered a major disruption to traditional power structures in New York.
Related: Mamdani elected New York mayor, crypto entrepreneurs weigh leaving city
Here's how Cuomo became part of the industry:
On Oct. 6, he wrote an op-ed in CoinTelegraph in which he urged the U.S. Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act with bipartisan support in the U.S.
The CLARITY Act aims to establish a distinction between the regulatory oversight of the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) when it comes to digital assets.
The bill seeks to clarify which crypto assets are securities or commodities and accordingly assign regulatory responsibilities.
In short words, a single federal statute — not enforcement actions and court rulings — would offer the guidelines to regulate crypto assets in the U.S.
Though the House passed the CLARITY Act in 2025, it couldn't secure enough votes in the Senate last month and didn't advance further.
The crypto bill has faced opposition from two fronts.
The banks have a problem with rewards on stablecoins — a kind of digital dollar existing on a blockchain. Banks fear that their account holders will transfer their money to stablecoins because of higher rewards.
Members of the Democratic Party, on the other hand, want a strict ethics provision in the bill. Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), want to restrict senior federal officials and their spouses, including the president, from using their powerful positions to personally profit from digital assets.
Explained: Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (2:41)As the senators from the Republican and Democratic parties failed to reach a common ground, Cuomo urged them to "put politics aside" and pass the CLARITY Act because its lack leads to ambiguity.
"It’s bad for business, bad for investors, bad for consumers and bad for America."
Pointing to the possibility that the Democrats could control at least one house in the Congress after the November midterms, he expressed concern that they will try to prove that the Donald Trump administration was corrupt and that agency actions were designed to benefit individuals personally and political donors collectively.
"Whether those claims are fair or not, they will drive the politics. And the politics will drive the oversight."
Investments shouldn't depend on which party controls Washington. So it is essential that the Congress pass the bill so that companies can invest safely and intelligently in the U.S., he urged.
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