US crypto rules need to survive the next election

Opinion by Andrew M. Cuomo, former governor of New York

The digital asset revolution is here, and it’s already transforming our financial system.

We’re no longer questioning if it will continue to develop. It will. The issue is whether the United States will establish clear, durable rules for it to develop here.

Right now, the answer is no.

The CLARITY Act was intended to solve this problem. It would have provided a national framework for digital assets, clarified the roles of federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and given businesses, investors and consumers a clear understanding of the rules.

The House passed the CLARITY Act in 2025, but Congress has yet to send a bill to the president. The Senate failed to advance the Act in September, leaving most to wonder: what happens now?

Those same federal agencies have rushed in with new regulations that significantly restructure the market. Both the SEC and CFTC have been hyper-aggressive in promulgating new rules, filling the void left by Congress, proposing a new federal framework for crypto trading platforms and a bespoke regulatory regime for certain crypto assets.