Senate Shelves CLARITY Act Before Recess as SEC Says It Will Write Crypto Rules Itself

The United States Senate set aside the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act this week, giving priority to a package of nominations and a Russia sanctions bill and leaving crypto's main legislative effort with only days of realistic floor time before the August recess. Bitcoin fell about 3 percent to roughly 63,270 dollars as the odds of near-term passage narrowed, with Ether down about 3.7 percent to 1,873 dollars, according to market data and reporting on the delay.

The bill would divide oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), settling which tokens count as securities and which as commodities. Its supporters argue that clear jurisdiction is the precondition for institutions to build on public chains at scale.

The delay comes despite unusual industry unity. BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs and SoFi have publicly endorsed the bill, placing the largest asset managers and banks behind a single crypto statute. The obstacle is not industry opposition but a demand from several Democrats, including Senators Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, for stronger ethics provisions. Senators Gallego and Thom Tillis of North Carolina are finalizing a bipartisan ethics counteroffer that they aim to send to the White House within days, according to POLITICO.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins signaled that his agency will not wait. "We're ready, willing and able to come out with rules that address the same issues in the Clarity Act and other aspects of the crypto market," Atkins said, adding that he is committed to helping Congress advance the bill. That position turns a legislative stall into a choice between two paths. Either Congress sets the rules by statute, or an agency chairman writes them through rulemaking that a future administration could reverse.