🔦 Crypto clarity

The crypto industry spent years fighting for a friendlier rulebook in Washington. It got a lot of what it wanted: the GENIUS Act gave stablecoins their first federal framework, regulators eased their approach to digital assets, and Wall Street pushed deeper into crypto products and infrastructure.

What crypto didn’t get this week was a way to make that détente stick.

The Senate Tuesday failed to advance the CLARITY Act, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move it forward, per Reuters. The bill would have put more of the current crypto regulatory framework into federal law, including clearer lines around which digital assets fall under the SEC versus the CFTC. Instead, much of that work now stays with regulators themselves. A major sticking point was ethics, with Democrats objecting to legislation backed by an industry in which President Donald Trump and his family have significant financial interests. Republicans added tougher ethics provisions before the vote, while disagreements over stablecoin rewards and other parts of the bill also remained.

And Thursday offered a pretty good illustration of what that means in practice.

The SEC unveiled a five-year exemption allowing approved platforms to trade tokenized versions of US stocks, potentially clearing a path for companies including Coinbase and Robinhood* to expand tokenized-equity products in the US. The exemption also gives certain liquidity providers relief from dealer-registration requirements. Crypto-linked stocks rose alongside the broader market Thursday.