CLARITY Act Draft Explains Who Regulates Crypto in the US

Ben Graham · 8 horas atrás

The US Senate released a fresh draft of the CLARITY Act this week, a bill designed to finally draw clear lines around crypto regulation. This comes after years of lawsuits, fines, and mixed messages that left everyday investors guessing.

The CLARITY Act, also known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 or H.R. 3633, is a proposed law that settles a key issue: who regulates crypto in the US? Currently, the SEC and CFTC disagree on their roles, which holds back new ideas and keeps people away.

The draft sets up two paths. The SEC handles early crypto projects that act like fundraising through investment contracts. The CFTC steps in when a token trades more like a commodity, such as gold or oil, once the blockchain becomes mature.

However, some problems have emerged.

US SENATE VOTING ON CLARITY ACT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

And most people don't know the exact reason behind this.

Today, the Coinbase CEO said that they won't support the Crypto Market Structure Bill.

And here are some reasons:

1) No yield on stablecoins

The Clarity Act will… pic.twitter.com/zTSSkzEbCD

— Crypto Rover (@cryptorover) January 15, 2026

The US Senate has postponed the vote on the much-anticipated Clarity Act. Coinbase has pulled its support, arguing that the current draft heavily favors traditional banks while imposing tough restrictions on key crypto innovations, including bans on stablecoin yield features, tokenized equities, and most DeFi activities, effectively stifling the industry’s growth rather than providing clear regulatory guidance.

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Clarity Act: Crypto Like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ETFs Receive Special Treatment

For now, the draft includes a streamlined process for assets already included in US exchange-traded products. If a token serves as the underlying asset for an ETF by January 2026, the law would classify it as a commodity from the outset.

For people new to the space, an ETF allows exposure to crypto through a traditional brokerage account, without the need to manage private keys or wallets. Bitcoin and Ethereum already meet this standard, which reduces legal uncertainty for holders. This clarity tends to attract institutional money, including pension funds and wealth managers.

The proposal also places several other well-known tokens, such as XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Hedera, and Chainlink, in the same commodity category as Bitcoin and Ethereum, provided they satisfy the ETF-related criteria.

This structure helps explain the steady market tone seen around recent regulatory developments.

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Here, Where The Issue Starts: Staking and Stablecoins Rules Change

The Clarity Act addresses crypto staking directly. Staking involves locking up cryptocurrency to support a blockchain network and earn rewards in return, similar to earning interest for helping secure the system. The draft states that these staking rewards would not be treated as securities by default.

This is significant because earlier SEC enforcement actions caused several US-based exchanges to discontinue staking services. Clear rules would allow self-custody users and decentralized finance protocols to continue operating without constant legal risk.

For stablecoins, the bill sets firm boundaries. A dollar-pegged stablecoin like USDC could not offer interest simply for being held. However, users would still be able to earn yield by deploying those stablecoins in DeFi protocols, which function as automated lending and savings markets. The intent is to ensure payment-focused stablecoins behave like cash equivalents rather than interest-bearing bank deposits.

Congress already gave the banks a gift in the GENIUS Act by prohibiting yield-bearing stablecoins.

There was no good policy reason for it to begin with, and it killed a whole class of innovative crypto products.

Now the banks want to mess up market structure with more? No way. https://t.co/4yKgyAGwTF

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) January 7, 2026

The draft also prohibits Federal Reserve banks from issuing digital products directly to individuals and blocks the creation of a central bank digital currency intended for monetary policy purposes. It includes provisions for regulating secondary trading of digital commodities and requires certain disclosures from issuers.

Coinbase Funder Retreats Support for Clarity Act

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly stated that his company cannot support the current draft, citing concerns over rules for tokenized equities, DeFi protocols, and restrictions on stablecoin yields. He described the proposal as potentially worse than the existing uncertain environment, which contributed to the delay in the Senate markup.

After reviewing the Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs, Coinbase unfortunately can’t support the bill as written.

There are too many issues, including:

– A defacto ban on tokenized equities
– DeFi prohibitions, giving the government unlimited access to your financial…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 14, 2026

On the other hand, supporters argue that the structure is a necessary compromise that could drive wider adoption, particularly for established tokens. Some expect the bill to pass in some form relatively soon and see it as a major positive shift.

There is still no guarantee that the Senate will pass this exact version. If the bill stalls or fails, the current patchwork of enforcement actions and legal uncertainty would likely continue, potentially slowing industry growth further.

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