Senate Blocks Clarity Act, Likely Killing It for 2026

Lawmakers blocked the Clarity Act on Tuesday a procedural vote, with the long-awaited legislation missing the 60 votes needed to advance it.

Senators mostly voted against advancing the legislation — 49 for and 50 against — that the digital asset industry has long called for. 

The bill aims to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins. President Donald Trump last month urged lawmakers to pass it but Republicans said that Democrats were deliberately holding it back. 

Bitcoin’s price dropped sharply on the news and was recently trading for $75,997, a 4% 24-hour drop. 

Both Republicans and Democrats blocked the bill but Democrats had mostly been accused of trying to deliberately stall it by pro-crypto lawmakers for months. 

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, of the crypto industry’s loudest critics, told congress ahead of the vote that the bill “posed a massive risk to families.” 

“This bill would put us all at risk of a crypto-fuelled economic crash,” she said, adding that the U.S. still needed proper crypto legislation. 

Warren’s biggest gripe — along with other lawmakers — is that Trump has unfairly benefited from deals in the crypto industry.