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Story: SEC-CFTC Five-Category Framework Lands as CLARITY Act Sits Frozen in Senate

By Jean-Luc Maracon

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The CLARITY Act: Passed the House, Stuck Everywhere Else. The House voted 294-134 in July 2025 to pass the CLARITY Act. That's a pretty decisive margin.

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What the SEC-CFTC Framework Actually Does. Most of the five categories land outside securities law.

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Market Pressure and What's Next. Institutional flows are already shifting as investors try to price in regulatory risk.

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The regulators didn't wait. The SEC and CFTC dropped joint guidance that splits digital assets into five buckets — digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools,…

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It's not law. That's the part people keep glossing over. The framework is an interpretation, a jurisdictional map drawn by two agencies that can redraw it the moment a new…

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The House voted 294-134 in July 2025 to pass the CLARITY Act. That's a pretty decisive margin. But the Senate is a different animal entirely.

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The Agriculture Committee is still moving its section of the bill, but without Democratic support. The Banking Committee lost Coinbase's backing somewhere along the way.

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Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis reportedly hammered out a bipartisan compromise on the rewards question. Specifics? Unclear.

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Senator Bernie Moreno put it bluntly: if the CLARITY Act doesn't pass by May, digital asset legislation could stall indefinitely.

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Most of the five categories land outside securities law. Only digital securities fall squarely under SEC jurisdiction.

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Read also: SEC and CFTC Press Forward on Crypto Without Waiting for September Clarity Act Vote

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SEC Chair Paul Atkins has been pushing hard for regulatory clarity on crypto assets. He floated concepts like a startup exemption and a safe harbor provision — both of which, to…

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For traders and institutional investors, the risk here is pretty straightforward: an interpretation can change. A statute can't, at least not easily.

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Institutional flows are already shifting as investors try to price in regulatory risk. The market has been watching for signals, and the joint guidance gave them something to…

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The Senate Banking Committee is potentially looking at marking up its version of the bill, but merging that with the Agriculture Committee's section and then getting a floor vote…

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