Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo says US regulators can keep building crypto rules even after the Senate fails to advance the Clarity Act in a tight procedural vote.
The Senate’s cloture motion on H.R. 3633 fails 49 to 50, falling eleven votes short of the sixty required to move the bill forward. The setback shifts attention toward existing regulatory authority.
Giancarlo tells journalist Eleanor Terrett that SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig remain ready to use their agencies’ current powers to build digital asset frameworks without new legislation.
He says both officials are determined to put sound regulatory structures in place so that financial innovation and market modernization continue under US law rather than moving to jurisdictions overseas.
All Democrats who participate in the vote oppose cloture, while Republicans Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Jerry Moran and Thom Tillis also vote no. Senator Chris Coons does not cast a vote.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong calls the outcome a disappointment but says the industry cannot keep waiting on Congress. He argues the SEC and CFTC already hold the tools needed for clear rules.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the result stings and urges Atkins and Selig to fill the legislative gap left behind. He calls on both agencies to move quickly on digital asset guidance.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott says the SEC and CFTC should set clear rules of the road for digital assets until lawmakers manage to pass permanent legislation through Congress.
The SEC already proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on Aug. 18, a framework offering two registration exemptions and a conditional safe harbor for certain crypto asset investment contracts under existing securities law.
One exemption allows qualifying issuers to raise up to five million dollars over four years, while a second permits as much as seventy five million dollars during any rolling twelve month period.
The CFTC has prepared its own market structure proposals under existing authority, with Chairman Selig saying in August that the agency’s work continues regardless of what happens to the legislation.
The failed cloture vote does not remove the bill from the Senate calendar, and lawmakers could bring it back during a lame duck session once elections in November wrap up.
