CLARITY Act Fails With 41 Nays: 'Congrats to the Big Banks,' Scott Melker Says
The CLARITY Act all but died for 2026 in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance as key Democratic negotiators who spent months on the bill voted no. Who Voted No Eleanor Terrett reported on X that the Democrats who crossed over included some of the bill’s most active negotiators: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) Widely-followed crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe posted on X that 41 nay votes killed the cloture motion outright. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) made the final floor pitch before the vote. “Do not let this day be the day we handed our future to someone else because we were too afraid to finish what we started,” she said. What the Industry Is Saying Widely-followed market commentator Scott Melker posted on X:: “Congrats to the big banks on lobbying to kill Clarity.” He added that the GENIUS Act remains law and crypto exchanges can still offer yield as a result. Meanwhile, analyst Noelle Acheson posted that nothing more on crypto market structure should be expected until after the midterms.
The CLARITY Act all but died for 2026 in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance as key Democratic negotiators who spent months on the bill voted no. Who Voted No Eleanor Terrett reported on X that the Democrats who crossed over included some of the bill’s most active negotiators: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) Sen.
Cory Booker (D-NJ) Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) Sen.
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) Widely-followed crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe posted on X that 41 nay votes killed the cloture motion outright. Sen. ) made the final floor pitch before the vote. “Do not let this day be the day we handed our future to someone else because we were too afraid to finish what we started,” she said.
” He added that the GENIUS Act remains law and crypto exchanges can still offer yield as a result. Meanwhile, analyst Noelle Acheson posted that nothing more on crypto market structure should be expected until after the midterms. What Comes Next CoinDesk reported that the SEC and CFTC move forward on their own regulatory agendas. The SEC recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets to clear a path for crypto projects to raise money without immediate registration requirements, and the agency is working toward approving a narrow version of securities tokenization.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins has warned those rules remain easy to reverse without a law backing them up. On the political side, Fairshake, the leading crypto super PAC with over $100 million in campaign cash, has not decided how to handle senators who voted no ahead of the November 3 midterms. A Democratic House majority puts Rep. Maxine Waters back at the helm of the House Financial Services Committee, while a Democratic Senate sweep hands the Senate Banking Committee to Sen.
), one of the industry’s sharpest critics. Meanwhile, the GENIUS Act stablecoin law remains the industry’s only major legislative win from this congressional session. Read Also: Coinbase CEO Says a 'No' on CLARITY Lets Other Countries 'Lead' Photo via Shutterstock