Senate Fails to Advance CLARITY Act

On September 15, 2026, a cloture vote in the US Senate failed on a definitive market-structure bill for the crypto industry known as the CLARITY Act. The failed cloture vote means the Senate failed to obtain the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. While the Senate may revisit a version of the bill in the future, in the near term the CLARITY Act is effectively dead.

The failed vote marks a significant setback for the crypto industry’s effort to secure a broad federal market-structure law after months of bipartisan discussions in Congress. The motion to proceed received 50 votes in favor and 49 against, falling far short of the 60 votes required.

Broadly speaking, the CLARITY Act would have established a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, allocating industry oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The failed vote suggests that meaningful regulatory progress may need to come through agency action rather than Congress. For example, the SEC recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets to provide a comprehensive federal offering regime for crypto asset securities. Both the SEC chairman and CFTC chairman have promised to continue to advance crypto rulemaking even without congressional action.