A bipartisan push in Washington could end years of regulatory limbo—unlocking institutional capital and reshaping the future of digital assets as soon as April.
For years, the cryptocurrency industry has operated in what executives often describe as a legal fog—innovating at full speed while regulators argued over who was actually in charge. Now, according to Brad Garlinghouse, that fog may finally be lifting.
The CEO of Ripple says there is a 90% probability that the long-debated Digital Asset Market Clarity Act will pass by the end of April, a move he believes would close one of the most consequential regulatory gaps in modern financial history.
“The industry cannot run on enforcement alone anymore,” Garlinghouse has emphasized in recent discussions. “It needs rules.”
A Bill Years in the Making Reaches a Tipping Point
The legislation—already approved by the House in July 2025 with a commanding 294–134 bipartisan vote—stalled in the Senate amid turf battles over jurisdiction between financial regulators.
Now, that stalemate appears to be breaking.
Fresh negotiations, encouraged by the White House, are targeting March 1 as a key deadline to finalize sensitive provisions, particularly those governing stablecoins. Lawmakers, banking leaders, and crypto executives have reportedly intensified closed-door meetings in recent weeks, signaling a coordinated push to move the bill across the finish line.
Momentum also picked up after the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced a related draft on January 29—an often-overlooked step that insiders say helped align regulatory language.
Washington’s Regulators Begin to Align
A central goal of the CLARITY Act is to draw a clean line between the two agencies long locked in a jurisdictional tug-of-war: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Following the committee movement, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins confirmed that the SEC and CFTC are now coordinating through an interagency initiative informally dubbed “Project Crypto,” aimed at harmonizing oversight rather than competing for it.
If enacted, the law would:
Define which digital assets fall under securities law versus commodities regulation
Provide formal pathways for token issuance and trading
Establish compliance frameworks institutions can actually build around
In short, it would replace regulation-by-lawsuit with regulation-by-design.
Why the Push Is Happening Now
Several forces are converging at once:
1. Institutional Demand Is Waiting on the Sidelines
Corporate treasurers and large financial firms have shown growing interest in blockchain-based payments and stablecoins—but many have held back without federal legal clarity.
2. The Industry Has Already Been Building
Since 2023, Ripple alone has deployed roughly $3 billion in acquisitions, strengthening custody, treasury, and infrastructure capabilities in anticipation of institutional entry.
3. Policymakers Want to Keep Innovation Onshore
Washington’s tone has shifted from skepticism to competitiveness, with lawmakers increasingly concerned about losing fintech leadership to overseas jurisdictions that already offer clearer frameworks.
The Market Thinks It Will Happen—Just Not This Fast
Garlinghouse’s 90% confidence level is notably more optimistic than prediction markets, which currently price the bill’s chances at around 78% by year-end.
The main unresolved issue remains stablecoin incentives—specifically whether platforms can offer yield-style rewards. That debate previously slowed progress in Senate Banking discussions and remains the final technical hurdle.
Still, insiders say negotiations are now less about whether to regulate and more about how.
What It Could Mean for XRP and the Broader Market
For traders and institutions alike, federal legislation would represent the final validation layer after years of court battles and piecemeal guidance.
Ripple has already secured a major legal ruling that its associated token is not classified as a security in secondary-market trading. A federal statute would effectively cement that interpretation into law—removing the ambiguity that has kept large pools of capital cautious.
If the CLARITY Act lands in April, analysts expect:
A rapid institutional re-entry into large-cap digital assets
Expanded use of blockchain for cross-border payments and treasury management
A shift from speculative narratives toward real-world utility plays
Some market watchers believe the timing—coinciding with the current crypto pullback—could amplify the effect, creating conditions for a rotation back into fundamentally driven projects.
The Bigger Picture: From Experiment to Infrastructure
For more than a decade, crypto has existed in a paradox: technologically mature, yet legally undefined. The CLARITY Act aims to resolve that contradiction.
If Garlinghouse’s prediction proves accurate, April could mark the moment digital assets stop being treated as a regulatory problem—and start being integrated as a recognized layer of the U.S. financial system.
And for an industry long defined by uncertainty, clarity itself may become the most bullish catalyst of all.