CLARITY Act Failed. Now SEC and CFTC Could Rewrite U.S. Crypto Rules - Bitcoin Foundation

The CLARITY Act, which sought to establish a statutory framework for digital assets, has failed to advance. That outcome shifts the focus from Congress to the two agencies that already regulate much of the market: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

With legislation stalled, crypto oversight may increasingly take shape through agency rulemaking, guidance, and enforcement rather than a single comprehensive law. For market participants, that means the rules could evolve faster, but also less predictably, since agency priorities can change with new leadership.

What to watch: formal rule proposals, joint or conflicting positions between the SEC and CFTC, and how courts treat agency interpretations. For now, the practical takeaway is that U.S. crypto regulation remains a work in progress, and clarity may arrive piece by piece instead of all at once.