Senate fails to advance the Clarity Act

financeSep 15, 2026331,151

The Senate on Tuesday failed a cloture motion to advance the Clarity Act, with the motion to proceed receiving 50 votes for and 49 against, well short of the 60 needed to clear the procedural hurdle. Republicans had released a revised bill Sunday adding new ethics restrictions, but Democrats said those changes did not resolve concerns about public officials, including protections that could benefit President Donald Trump and his family; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said Republicans were "failing the whole system." The stalled bill would have created a market structure framework for crypto, splitting oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, setting registration requirements, and strengthening anti, money laundering protections. Markets reacted: bitcoin fell about 3%, while Coinbase and Circle shares slid roughly 8% and 10% respectively amid a broader sell-off. Sponsors warned the vote likely means waiting until next year for clearer rules, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said "it's over" if the procedural vote failed. Lawmakers face a calendar constraint: senators leave for midterm campaigning and scheduled recesses in the coming weeks, complicating any quick return to the measure. The vote also opened political pressure avenues; a crypto political action committee called Fairshake may target senators who blocked the bill.

Ezra Levin ❌👑

@ezralevin.bsky.social

BREAKING: The CLARITY Act failed—a big win for the people, and a HUGE loss for the Trump family and crypto execs.

33024d ago

Spiral Star Dancer1

Get rid of the music.

Indivisible ❌👑

@indivisible.org

The Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act is a step in the right direction, and a clear sign that crypto special interests can’t simply buy their way to a legislative win. 🧵

28124d ago

Indivisible ❌👑19

Last year alone, Trump pocketed $1.4 billion from crypto, and the industry has spent millions trying to buy influence in the 2026 elections to push legislation that would weaken oversight, leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and scams, and benefit industry insiders. But today, that effort failed.

mindyourthoughts7.bsky.social2

Absolutely I'm here for it because crypto and digital banking is a problem your money can finish overnight from your bank accounts what what they're doing and we have been compromised since Elon Musk in the Doge boys went in and stolen millions of our information. I am grateful for this ✌🏽

kkr0cks58.bsky.social1

Way to go to every citizen who called and wrote to their reps to vote NO on this legislation that would continue to allow crypto corruption by our legislators in Washington!!

Jamie Dupree

@jamiedupree.bsky.social

As expected, the Senate failed to force the start of debate on the CLARITY Act, a bill designed to set up a regulatory framework on cryptocurrency. Democrats said the bill did not do enough about ethics issues / crypto / government officials (read: Trump). 60 votes were needed to advance.

10024d ago

Kind of disingenuous not to mention that these “regulations” have loads of loopholes and allow the president to profit off of crypto massively. The only good regulation on crypto is one that outlaws it completely.

JacqueBlue3

That's a GOOD THING! It doesn't do anything to protect the people which is what should be the goal. Just like the SAVE Act, Laken Riley Act, KOSA... STOP giving bills to the trump regime!

AndrewRoger1

regulatory framework...lol-more holes than swiss cheese, endorsed by Trump. Hell no

Quoting this

Jeff Fecke9

LOL they couldn't even get a majority for cloture.

Northwest Progressive Institute6

An appropriate fate for a bad bill

Starry Knight Press2

Glad this one went down in failure! 👍 The Crypto-owned Dems, like Kirsten Gillibrand, couldn't get it done with their GOP allies.

Tina Smith

@smith.senate.gov

We certainly need real crypto regulations that are much stronger than the CLARITY Act. But there seem to be bigger fish to fry right now!

8424d ago

SpryOldLorax17

Honestly, at this point, I've been radicalized by crypto-proponents to the point that I think cryptocurrencies should simply be banned globally.

Bénédicte C2

Crypto is going to privatize profits but make the public bail them out when they fail. 👎🏻

Jane Thurber1

If Congress still had an Office of Technology Assessment, which it did until Gingrich ended it, you could probably do both.

Ken Bazinet

@kenbazinet.bsky.social

When walls close in, Maine Sen. Susan Collins sells out faster than clam cakes on the 4th of July. Last week Collins wrote constituents touting the Trump crypto Clarity Act (Molly White first reported: tinyurl.com/baj6bsjz), but today she voted against it. That's panic, not policy. #FlippyFloppy

4324d ago

Quoting this

LeftofCenter2

Capricious Collins is at it again. #FlippyFloppy says it all. Maine deserves better.

Senator Jeff Merkley

@merkley.senate.gov

There’s no way I’d vote for a bill that permits Trump to continue his crypto grift. Insufficient anti-corruption standards and ethics guardrails ALONE is enough to make the CLARITY Act a non-starter.

4924d ago

Forbes

@forbes.com

The legislation seeks to place cryptocurrency under increased federal oversight, though some Democrats have argued it contains loopholes President Donald Trump and his family could take advantage of.

3324d ago

Step 🐸1

EVERYTHING has loopholes if you’re corrupt and rich enough LMAOOO

Michael Bennet

@bennet.senate.gov

I voted NO to advance the Clarity Act because it fails to rein in the President's rampant corruption, letting him and his family continue amassing billions from unethical crypto ventures.

3624d ago

Michael Bennet14

I've long called for real guardrails on cryptocurrency to restore Americans' trust in our political institutions and ensure no federal official can profit from their position of power. I cannot support legislation that falls short of that goal.

Senate Press Gallery

@senatepress.bsky.social

By a vote of 49-50, the #Senate did not invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to to H.R.3633, the Clarity Act. GOP Senators Collins, Hawley, and Moran voted no. Senator Coons did not vote. Senator Tillis changed his vote to no and entered a motion to reconsider.

1024d ago

Quoting this

MLC14

Wow!!! Even Fetterman a no! Way to go gang!

Jonathan Bernstein7

Crypto bill appears to be at least mostly dead for this Congress.

Attorney General Keith Ellison

@ag.state.mn.us

Good news out of D.C.: The Trump-backed Clarity Act failed in the Senate. Yesterday a coalition of 15 AGs and I came out against the bill because it would make it harder to stop cryptocurrency fraud. I’m going to keep fighting to protect Minnesotans from crypto scams. www.yahoo.com/news/politic...

2324d ago

Corey Frayer

@csfrayer.bsky.social

I spent months at SEC working with crypto to help them comply with the law. Both sides of Congress criticized us for not getting a deal with them It's rewarding to watch this bill fail as Congress learns what I already knew: crypto doesn't negotiate in good faith www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/...

2024d ago

Max from UNFTR

@unftr.com

Despite a Democrat's best efforts to enrich the Trump family and do the bidding of the crypto lobby, the CLARITY Act is officially done. (For now.) We don't win often these days so when we do, we should celebrate. Oh.. and f*ck you KG.

1724d ago

Blackraven

@blackraven30.bsky.social

Trump-backed crypto bill fails to launch as Dems, Republicans unite to block it www.yahoo.com/news/politic...

1424d ago

H.E. Cas Piancey

@cascoinfoundation.org

I really hope the CLARITY Act failing gets this whiny bitch to finally leave.

1724d ago

Kev - I see SMART people - On Bluesky

@57kev.bsky.social

Crypto industry darling Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand needs to go wake up NY. And I'd wager that these four Republicans didn't vote against it because it was the right thing to do but to come across as moderates. Susan Collins ME, Josh Hawley (Mo.) Jerry Moran (Kan.), and Thom Tillis (NC)."

724d ago

3 sources

cnbc.comSenate cloture vote on Clarity Act fails, dealing regulatory blow to crypto industry coindesk.comCrypto’s biggest Senate push falls flat as the Clarity Act fails to clear a crucial procedural vote yahoo.comClarity Act Stalls in Senate as Crypto Bill Fails to Clear Key Vote

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Senate fails to advance the Clarity Act

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