After years of regulatory confusion, courtroom battles, and agency turf wars, Washington may finally be closing in on a unified rulebook for digital assets.
A renewed push behind the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025—better known as the CLARITY Act—is drawing fresh attention as lawmakers, regulators, and reportedly the White House align around a long-delayed goal: defining who regulates what in the U.S. crypto market.
White House Support Reignites the Debate
Momentum accelerated after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to pass the legislation “this spring,” framing it as a critical step toward establishing a coherent digital-asset market structure.
The bill, formally introduced as H.R. 3633, already cleared the House of Representatives—meaning the Senate now holds the key to whether the most consequential U.S. crypto legislation in years becomes law.
At stake is nothing less than resolving the long-running jurisdictional standoff between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, whose overlapping claims have shaped crypto oversight largely through enforcement actions rather than clear statutory guidance.
From Enforcement to Rulebook: What CLARITY Would Change
The CLARITY Act aims to replace regulatory ambiguity with defined categories for digital assets and clearer compliance pathways for market participants.
If enacted, the framework would:
Establish boundaries between securities and commodities oversight
Provide predictable registration routes for exchanges, brokers, and issuers
Reduce reliance on enforcement-driven interpretations
Create a more stable environment for token listings and trading activity
For an industry long forced to interpret regulation through lawsuits and settlements, predictability itself is seen as a major prize.
Regulators Are Already Preparing for a Post-CLARITY World
Even before legislation is finalized, regulators are signaling alignment.
During a February 11, 2026 House hearing, SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins revealed a joint initiative with the CFTC dubbed “Project Crypto.”
The initiative is designed to:
Coordinate token classification approaches
Prepare implementation frameworks
Serve as a bridge while Congress negotiates final language
Public coordination between the agencies is notable; historically, differences in interpretation have slowed or complicated crypto policymaking.
When regulators begin aligning before a bill passes, policy analysts often see it as a sign they expect legislation to stick.
Senate Advances Its Own Piece of the Puzzle
The Senate is not starting from scratch.
On January 29, 2026, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, describing it as legislation that builds directly on the House-passed CLARITY framework while incorporating additional provisions negotiated with Senate Democrats.
The emerging strategy suggests lawmakers are assembling a hybrid package—using CLARITY as the backbone while layering in Senate priorities such as enhanced consumer protections and intermediary oversight.
Why This Moment Feels Different
Crypto market-structure proposals have circulated in Washington for years, but several signals suggest this effort may have unusual traction:
Reported executive-branch backing gives the initiative political weight.
Parallel Senate drafting shows bicameral engagement rather than partisan deadlock.
SEC–CFTC collaboration indicates regulators are preparing for shared authority instead of contesting it.
Together, those developments point to a shift from theoretical reform to practical lawmaking.
What Happens Next
The path forward now hinges on Senate procedure:
Committee markups and revisions
Coordination between Banking and Agriculture committees
Whether Senate leadership schedules a floor vote on a combined package
If negotiations hold, lawmakers could deliver the first comprehensive U.S. crypto market framework—one that replaces the patchwork enforcement era with statutory definitions.
A Turning Point for U.S. Crypto Policy
For years, the defining question in American crypto regulation has been simple: Who’s in charge?
The CLARITY Act effort suggests Washington may finally be ready to answer it.
Whether that answer unlocks innovation or adds new layers of oversight will depend on the fine print still being negotiated—but for the first time in years, the direction of travel is unmistakable: toward a more defined, and potentially durable, U.S. crypto rulebook.