CLARITY Act fails Senate vote, crypto blame game begins

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7. CLARITY Act fails Senate vote, crypto blame game begins

America’s crypto market structure legislation appears dead as a doornail after Republicans seriously underestimated Democrats’ desire to rein in corruption.

Tuesday’s cloture vote on the Senate’s digital asset market structure bill (the CLARITY Act) required a supermajority of 60 votes to advance, but fell well short of that mark. In the end, Republicans couldn’t even deliver all 53 members of their own party, or even a simple majority, with the final tally standing at 49 ‘ayes’ and 50 ‘nays.’

All Democrats voted in the negative while three GOP senators—Jerry Moran of Kansas, Maine’s Susan Collins, and Missouri’s Josh Hawley—joined them in rejecting CLARITY as written. Thom Tillis (R-NC) originally voted ‘aye’ but changed his vote to ‘no’ once he saw how the result was playing out.

The Tillis flip-flop was actually a procedural move that allowed him to submit a motion to reconsider the bill at some future date. Tillis later tweeted that Tuesday’s vote was “not the end” for CLARITY, saying his motion will allow senators to “continue working towards a positive outcome.”

But with the Congressional calendar tight and other high-priority issues facing legislators, the possibility of CLARITY being revived in the current Congress is slim to none. And with Democrats projected to make significant gains in both chambers in November’s midterm elections, whatever crypto legislation emerges in 2027 might look very different.