Crypto Stocks Plunge As Clarity Act Fails In U.S. Senate

Stocks of leading cryptocurrency firms plunged 10% on Sept. 15 after the "Clarity Act" legislation failed to pass a critical vote in the U.S. Senate.

Shares of Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) and Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL) each fell 10% on news that the Clarity Act failed to advance in the upper chamber of Congress.

The legislation received 50 votes for and 49 votes against, which was below the minimum 60 votes needed to advance the Clarity Act and move it closer to becoming law.

The Clarity Act would provide a regulatory roadmap for digital assets such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) and is viewed as important to the future development of the crypto sector.

The legislation's failure to advance is a major blow to the crypto industry and the leaders who advocated for it, such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Other crypto stocks such as Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) and Gemini (NASDAQ: $GEMI) also fell sharply immediately after the Senate vote was taken.

Analysts said that the crypto industry will likely have to wait until next year for clearer rules. The Clarity Act isn't expected to be revived until after November's midterm congressional elections.

While the Clarity Act was widely expected to fail in the U.S. Senate, the results of the vote sent Bitcoin's price down 4% to trade below $76,000 U.S., its lowest level in weeks.

Other digital assets, such as Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH), also fell after the Senate vote results became known.

BTC is trading at $75,850 U.S. in early trading on Sept. 16.