The CLARITY Act (officially named the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025) is an important regulatory bill proposed by the U.S. Congress regarding the cryptocurrency (digital asset) market structure. It aims to end the long-standing dispute between the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) over jurisdiction of crypto assets and provide clear 'rules of the game' for the industry.
Background and Core Objectives of the Bill: The U.S. cryptocurrency industry has long faced issues of 'regulatory uncertainty.' The SEC often classifies many tokens as securities, leading to numerous lawsuits (such as enforcement actions against Coinbase, Ripple, etc.).
The CLARITY Act attempts to address this issue by clearly defining categories and divisions: categorizing digital assets into several classes, mainly including:
Digital Commodities: Mature, decentralized assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) → primarily regulated by the CFTC (similar to commodity futures).
Investment Contract Assets: Tokens that are early-stage or still under centralized control → still regulated by the SEC.
Stablecoins: Mainly referencing the passed GENIUS Act (signed into law by Trump in 2025).
Establish a CFTC registration system for digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and custodians.
Provides SEC registration exemptions for token issuance on mature blockchains (limited to $75 million within 12 months).
Protect decentralized finance (DeFi) activities and software developers while strengthening enforcement against fraud, manipulation, and illegal financial activities.
Prohibit the Federal Reserve from directly issuing or providing central bank digital currency (CBDC) related services to individuals (with anti-surveillance state clauses).
The bill was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill in May 2025 and passed in the House in July of the same year with bipartisan support as part of 'Cryptocurrency Week' (voting results around 219-210 or higher), seen as a historic victory for the crypto industry, driving short-term price increases for assets like Bitcoin. Current progress (as of January 18, 2026) shows that the House has passed it, but the Senate's review process has been bumpy.
On January 15, 2026, markup (review/amendment/vote) was originally planned in the Senate Banking Committee, but was postponed due to internal industry disagreements.
Main points of contention: stablecoin yields: banking lobby groups are concerned that allowing stablecoins to pay interest could lead to trillions of dollars in deposits flowing out of traditional banks (the CEO of Bank of America warned of a potential risk of up to $6 trillion). The GENIUS Act has prohibited issuers from paying interest directly, but third-party interest payments or on-chain yields still have gray areas.
DeFi regulatory intensity, **tokenized equities** restrictions, CFTC vs SEC power balance.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly withdrew support on January 14, stating that the draft is 'worse than the status quo' and blaming bank lobbying for excessive tightening.
The White House is reportedly dissatisfied with Coinbase's 'unilateral action' (described as a 'rug pull'), once considering withdrawing support, but later stated that it is still constructively pushing for compromise between the industry and banks (especially community banks).
Industry leaders like a16z (Andreessen Horowitz) crypto partner Chris Dixon are still actively pushing, emphasizing that 'now is a critical moment to move forward' to prevent the U.S. from losing its global crypto leadership.
The latest discussions on X (Twitter) indicate that both sides are still negotiating behind the scenes, with a potential restart of committee reviews expected in the short term.
The impact on the crypto market, if passed, would be seen as a turning point for the U.S. crypto industry from 'enforcement regulation' to 'legislative clarity': favorable for mainstream assets like BTC and ETH classified as 'digital commodities' (easier for institutions to enter).
Provide legitimate pathways for compliant exchanges and DeFi projects.
May attract more institutional funds, driving the development of tokenized assets and stablecoin ecosystems.
But it may also increase compliance costs, squeezing out some small/high-risk projects.
The fate of the bill remains uncertain, depending on whether banks and the crypto industry can reach a compromise on the yield issue. The crypto community generally believes this is one of the most important regulatory events of 2026, directly impacting whether the U.S. can become the 'crypto capital'.
