CLARITY got a Senate majority and died anyway. The agencies write the rules

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act won a Senate majority on 15 September, 50 votes to 49, and died anyway, ten short of the 60 a cloture motion needs. Officials' crypto holdings and stablecoin rules were the sticking points. Two weeks later the SEC and the CFTC are writing the rules anyway, using authority they already had. Everything below follows from that swap of routes.

“Rules should be written so that well-intentioned people can follow them without having to abandon legitimate pursuits.”

— Hester Peirce, SEC, 18 August 2026

Hester Peirce, SEC commissioner, on the Regulation Crypto Assets proposal, 18 August

Who is doing what:

• The SEC has proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, with public hearings running to 20 October.
• The CFTC, under chairman Michael Selig, is using the authority it already has and has sent a full package to the White House.
• Both agencies work under Project Crypto, an interagency agreement sorting digital assets into five categories, from digital commodities to securities.
• Which category a token lands in decides which agency governs it. That is the whole question for XRP and most of the rest.

The SEC did not invent the numbers in its proposal. The startup exemption allows $5m over a four-year period, which is the Regulation Crowdfunding ceiling. The fundraising exemption runs $20m and $75m over twelve months, which are Regulation A's two tiers, with the larger one requiring an SEC-qualified offering statement and audited accounts. The window does more work than the ceiling. $5m across four years averages $1.25m a year, and a project planning a bigger raise lands in Regulation A territory with Regulation A obligations.

A rule is not a statute

The Senate vote still matters for that reason. Congress could not agree on how to handle officials who hold crypto, a fight that already cost the bill 870 judges in an ethics trade, and the market had priced the odds at 18.5% on the morning of the vote. What the agencies build now, a later commission can rebuild. Hester Peirce, who wrote the friendliest version of these rules, leaves the SEC this week after eight years.

Five categories decide the regulator

The five categories are the practical question. Project Crypto sorts assets from digital commodity to security, and that sorting decides whether the SEC or the CFTC sets your listing, custody and leverage terms. Selig has not waited for legislation either: his commission updated its accounting rules for tokenised assets and sent a comprehensive proposal to the White House. The SEC did the same thing two weeks ago, when its innovation exemption for tokenised stocks landed two days after CLARITY failed.

Bitcoin sits between $84,000 and $86,000, XRP and NEAR are near local highs, and the coverage calls it measured optimism about regulatory clarity. Nobody has shown a link between those levels and a proposal whose comment period is still open. The hearings end on 20 October.

A holder's position does not change today. A builder's route does, and it is legible for the first time: a ceiling, a window, a disclosure standard and a named regulator. Whether it survives the next commission is a separate question, and a Senate majority was not enough to settle it.

Informational material, not investment advice. Regulation Crypto Assets is a proposal with hearings running to 20 October, and the CFTC package is with the White House rather than in force.