CLARITY Act breakdown and what it means for crypto
Read how the CLARITY Act establishes a federal framework for crypto asset classifications while defining the jurisdictional boundaries for the SEC and CFTC.
Long gone are the days when crypto lived in a total regulatory grey area. The CLARITY Act changes the game for the US market, forcing a level of federal oversight that the industry can no longer ignore. This 257-page bill is the best attempt so far to bring the world's largest economy under one set of crypto rules.
In this article, we talk about the bill's main categories, the Senate's current delays, and how it will affect your own investment portfolio in the long run.
Key takeaways:
The CLARITY Act is a US market-structure proposal defining how crypto assets are classified and whether the SEC or the CFTC oversees them.
In essence, the bill defines three main buckets for assets: digital commodities like Bitcoin, investment contract assets sold via ICOs, and payment stablecoins like USDC or PYUSD.
So far, the House passed the bill with a 294-134 vote, but it stalled in the Senate Banking Committee after the Jan 15, 2026 markup postponement.